《The First World Sphere》 Chapter 1 The Failed Human Resources Liaison (Prologue) Chapter 1 ¨C The Failed Human Resources Liaison (Prologue) The sun¡¯s glare made the day¡¯s heat much more intense. As I walked along the ridge of the mountain, sweat beaded on my brow and stung my eyes. I was out for a ten-day hike, a 100-mile trek through the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. It was a reprieve from my endless hours working as a vagabond sous chef. The terrain was very manageable, and the trail was well-marked. That was why I was shocked when the entire trail gave way beneath me, and I slid down the mountain in a rockslide. Fortunately, the pain didn¡¯t last long as large rocks quickly crushed me to death. I was now in a minimal beige room with no doors or windows, basically a box. A large onyx desk with multiple screens facing away from me dominated most of the space in front of me. Behind the desk sat a middle-aged Asian man in a fashionable dark blue suit with a gray tie. He began to explain he was the Next Life Specialist for my reincarnation. He explained I had accumulated enough positive karma that I would be able to have some input in my reincarnation. He seemed extremely bored with the process and kept checking the screen on the left like he was checking emails, watching a video, or something else that kept distracting him. He explained I could go to another universe in his sphere of influence or stay in this one. After my shock subsided, I inquired about a universe with magic. He tapped away, and then replied that there were two options with high aetheric content; that was what magic was evidently called, aether. I was all in immediately. He began tapping away and asked if I wanted to remain human which I replied in the affirmative. I didn¡¯t want to be an animal, or maybe he was referring to elves, dwarves, and such? He was already past the screen, though, and ignored my question when I inquired. With a few more taps on the keyboard, he checked his screen on the left again. Then before we could continue, he swore and slammed his fist down on the table, rattling the screens and desk. The room echoed from the strike. He quickly stood up and walked through the wall to his left. I sat there puzzled and then walked cautiously around the desk. The screen had an open email saying the man had been fired, indicating that this was his last shift. The language was not English, but I was still able to read it without difficulty. I muttered to myself that I thought he left a little early as I was still in limbo for my reincarnation. I looked at the other screens with my information and was surprised I could read it as well. The language was definitely not English. Was there some universal comprehension in this room? I walked to the wall where the man had disappeared and found it solid after running my hands along it. Other than being slightly warm, I didn¡¯t find any access. After a few minutes, I got bolder and took his chair to examine the screens. I began delving into my file displayed on the screen. It took a few minutes to figure out the navigation folders on the screens, but it was all very intuitive. My reincarnation was open and currently showed my race as human. I quickly found I could edit the body on the screen. Well, no harm in cementing some things up while I waited, right? I started by making a tall male physique with a linebacker build, green eyes, dark black hair, and well-endowed below the waist. I slid the aging ¡®expectation¡¯ to the max, giving me about 150 years of prospective life, according to the screen translator. Then I got to the interesting parts with abilities, traits, and affinities for skills. The screen read like a game to me. There were seven tiers of power of for abilities, with tier one being the lowest. If I selected ¡®random,¡¯ I would be assigned two to eight points worth of abilities based on my karmic accumulator. The random generator clearly showed my chance of getting each value when I hovered over it.
70% 2 points
25% 3 points
4% 4 points
0.9% 5 points
0.09% 6 points
0.009% 7 points
0.001% 8 points
With these points, you could purchase abilities. The cost for the abilities was reflective of the tier.
Tier Point Cost Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
1 1
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3 3
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5 7
6 11
7 13
I looked at the random generator for points and tried to manually enter a larger number in the output. After some attempts, I found the largest number accepted was 23. That was much better than my small chance of getting eight points, so I entered 23 and was prompted to confirm entry¡ªyes. Next, I found I could select my abilities rather than use the random generator. I was getting worried someone would show up soon, so I selected things that popped out to me from the massive lists. I didn¡¯t delve too much into the full descriptions as I felt I was pressed for time. I was doing something I should not be doing and figured someone would come by and change my work anyway. My selections... 13 points, Tier 7¡­create metal using aether 5 points, Tier 4¡­major aether core, multiply base aether by 5 3 points, Tier 3¡­metal shaping 1 point, Tier 1¡­slowed aging, age 50% slower 1 point, Tier 1¡­assess person So, with my selections, I was now fairly certain I would be able to create silver and gold from aether. Maybe it was not the best choice, but I didn¡¯t want to be some hero who went out and slayed monsters and saved maidens. Give me unlimited wealth and a comfortable life in a city. I was confident in my choices and even found a box that allowed me to keep my past life memories. I checked that without hesitation. The next screen was for traits, which were similar to the abilities but apparently non-magical in nature. It seemed the number of points was typically between two and seven for a human, but I could not enter anything manually, and the value was set at zero. After a quick search, I found I maybe had maxed out my possible points on magical abilities, or maybe it was because I was human, the text was confusing, and I didn¡¯t have time to delve further into the legal jargon. There was no override, at least none that I could find. I skipped to the next screen. The last selection section was for skill affinities. It gave bonuses related to learning and using skills based on knowledge. There was a very long list of skills, and I skimmed them. I found 23 schools of magic on the list, which drew my attention immediately. Skill affinities ranged from 1 to 7. At tier 1 affinity, there was a 25% increase in the learning speed of a related skill. It doubled at tier 2 to 50%, at tier 3 it was 100% improvement, and at tier 4 it was 200%. Tier 5 was 250% but also gave a 25% increase in the effectiveness of the skill as well. Tier 6 was 300% to learning speed and 50% to skill effectiveness. Tier 7 was 300% and 100% more effective. Once again, I was locked out of editing the available points, but my default was 5 points. If I selected randomize, it would be 0 to 0, so I stuck with the 5 points. The costs mirrored the costs I noted for abilities. I decided to choose the following skill affinity, using all my points: 5 points, tier 4, healing magic skill I felt great about my decision in terms of setting myself up for a great easy life. Learning healing magic three times faster than normal should be a good backup plan if my Scrooge McDuck fantasies of swimming in a vault of gold coins failed. The screen progressed to the next phase of my reincarnation. I was now looking at the default world in the universe where I would be reincarnated. On the screen was not a world but, in fact, a Dyson sphere¡­the world¡¯s magic stabilized the titanic shell and gave billions of square miles on the inner sphere to live on. The shell was thousands of miles thick with its own ecosystem as well, and if I understood everything properly, the shell hosted millions of dungeons within the aether ley lines, which were essentially the skeleton of the Dyson sphere. The outer surface of the shell, or Dark World, had its own civilizations, and it appeared some of them were space-faring. Crap, the magnitude of everything. I was not so sure anymore. Hundreds of billions, probably trillions of people, species, monsters, and threats, quickly passed in front of me as I promptly paged through. I had thought to go back and change my race but thought I wouldn¡¯t have enough time to redo everything. I quickly refined my search seeking information. Technology did not work well on the inside of the sphere¡­well it needed specialized magitech to balance the technology in the aether-rich environment. I was uncertain how much time I had left, and the butterflies in my stomach were growing. Did I have some sixth sense? I risked having my selections reset if someone showed up to replace my liaison. I should just jump in, but my curiosity made me just work faster. I tried to get as much information as possible. The Dyson sphere was called a World Sphere. There were 23 of these spheres in each galaxy within the universe. The spheres were the origins of all magic in the universe. The further from a World Sphere, the less dense the ambient aether was. Technology was secondary, but it did exist. Taking aether from the World Spheres in the form of aether crystals into the rest of the universe was a massive industry, apparently. The World Spheres were also known as aether wells, essentially an unlimited source of magic stemming from the central sun and infusing the ley lines embedded in the Dyson sphere¡¯s shell. Aether crystals could hold aether, like magic batteries. The easiest way to mine the crystals was through dungeons. Dungeon entrances were located across the sphere and portaled adventurers to secure dungeon instances embedded in the massive ley lines running through the sphere. Passing into the interior of ley lines any other way was almost certain death. Basically, this seemed like a gaming world. The brightness of the room started dimming. Was my liaison¡¯s shift over? Was someone coming? Were they coming for me? My mind was racing with numerous possibilities as the lights faded. I didn¡¯t want to push my luck anymore as it was getting closer to darkness. The screens were fading slowly¡ªlike they were powering down. I went quickly to the screen indicating where I would spawn in the sphere. I needed a stable civilization on the inner surface of the sphere as I liked sunlight. I promptly filtered the search criteria and found a place called Skyholme. According to the notes, these humans lived on massive floating islands and resided here for almost 2,300 years. A period of stability in a safe hold was good enough for me. Without reading further, I selected the location and hit the complete button, finishing my reincarnation. A few errors popped up, but I dismissed them as the text on the screen was so dark I couldn¡¯t read them anyway. My body slowly faded with my consciousness. I awoke and found my mind and vision fuzzy. It took me a while to figure out I was a baby in a womb. I guess I made a slight error as I had thought I would be reincarnated as a full-grown man. This might be better as I could learn the idiosyncrasies of this fantastical world as I grew up. Chapter 2 Skyholme Chapter 2 Growing up in Skyholme After I was born, I was frustrated. My thoughts were slow and cloudy. I had my past knowledge, but it was hard to grasp and hold onto. It was like remembering the plot of a book you did not like reading from years ago. I also had to work hard at acting as baby-like as possible. Let me just say I was not a fan of soiling my diaper and crying when I was hungry. When my eyes developed enough, I was able to see my family. My father, Caleb, was a solid man of above-average height and musculature, and I figured out he was a town or city guard by his dark gray uniform. He wore his black hair in a short ponytail, and his blue eyes seemed hard to me. I did not see the liveliness in his eyes that my mother had. My mother, Alurha, looked average but had amazing blue-green eyes that sparkled. Her dark blonde hair was worn as a long braid, and her brilliant white smile was always there when she looked at me. My mother was a leather engraver. She was an artist and specialized in cutting images into leather pieces. I also had an older brother, Pascal, who was about three years my senior. I quickly comprehended the language as my older brother was building his vocabulary. I listened to his inquiries with intensity. I grew up soaking in everything I could. I quickly gained movement, crawling, then walking. I learned the language extremely quickly. I started talking around six months, and by six years old, I had a good handle on my new existence, and everyone commented what a bright boy I was. I was named Storme. Apparently, I was born during a lightning storm while a flight of lightning drakes was attacking the island. I heard the story of my birth every time she introduced me. I learned many things. Skyholme was comprised mainly of eight large floating islands. The largest was the central island, and that is where most of the nobility and high-born lived. The other seven islands each had their regional specialty as well. Our island, Titan¡¯s Shield, trained soldiers, supplied armor and arms, and had a minor agricultural development focused on grains that produced bread and beer. Large airships and skyships transported people and goods between the islands. Our small town was named Hen¡¯s Hollow. Our small town was over one mile outside one of the cities and had a single skyship dock where my father worked. My father was a guard for skyship transports but usually spent his day at our tiny local dock checking passengers and goods¡ªnot that we saw many skyships. The history of the Skyholme empire was mostly told through song. Singing was a pastime everyone contributed to. The floating islands were once a single large island about 3000 years ago and were ruled by an arrogant avian race called the Haikarum. The large island had moved in a massive circular orbit over the lowlands, tracing a prominent aether ley line. An archmage from the Haikarum tried to draw the power of the ley line into the island, which caused the catastrophic shattering of the massive island. The remains of the Haikarum civilization were rocked into disarray, and a group of adventuring humans in an old airship conquered the islands. They killed the Haikarum without mercy. Of course, the songs we sang about their deeds made their genocide sound heroic. The various islands still followed the same path today, but no magic could pull the islands back together. They were locked in their orbits. The adventurers from the original airship soon started a settlement and that grew into the nation of Skyholme over a few hundred years. The Skyholme of today now controlled the eight largest islands and a few of the smaller fractured islands. The Triumvirate, the heads of the three prominent noble families, ruled Skyholme. Each of these three families had dozens of members, but a maximum of 23 was recognized in each true line of succession. The internal politics were supposedly brutal based on the adults¡¯ conversations in my presence. Each family of the Triumvirate was in charge of one aspect of life in Skyholme; commerce, military, or citizenship. The commerce faction was involved in all aspects of harvesting, dungeon delving, manufacturing, and trade. But it was the citizenship faction that had the true power. They controlled the people through laws, education, and immigration. The military faction was focused on training the city guard, navy, and battle mages. They were responsible for raiding, defending, and guarding Skyholme. Even though the Skyholme Empire was apparently xenophobic, they still had an interesting military unit that was surrounded by mystique. They were a werewolf half-breed that looked more human than werewolf. They were sterile, long-lived, and had superior physical skills, but most importantly, they had a high degree of loyalty if raised in a structured system. These warriors were called the Wolfguard. I once saw a Wolfguard on Titan¡¯s Shield when I was four years old and in the city with my father. He looked more human than wolfman but moved like an observant predator, and my blood chilled when he made eye contact with me. I later learned he was guarding a minor noble working for the military faction. They were visiting the local academy to select men and women to train in the naval academy on the capital island. The academies were where every child went in their 14th year. You first completed a local one-year academy and then entered a seven-year specialized academy. You could also pass on entering the academy and enter an apprenticeship with a master in a trade as my mother had done. After you complete your seven-year academy training, you will be 22 and have completed internships and education to be a contributing member of society; sometimes, you will have some debt to pay off. Not so different than my past life. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Magic also played a significant role in which academy you went to. If you had magic, someone would sponsor you to attend a better academy. Magic would manifest with puberty around age 11 or 12 when your aether core awakened. I was looking forward to my coming of age, where I could start to access the magic and abilities I knew were coming to me. I began playing regularly with children in my neighborhood at the age of six. My best friend lived two houses down and was named Gareth. He was a few months younger than me but looked two years older. It was easy to tell he would be a very large man. I took advantage of my time with Gareth, forging a lifelong friendship. Gareth and I delivered food, messages, and items in town to earn a few coins. We made good money for kids and quickly became known in town for our speed and reliability. I also learned the currency. Steel, copper, silver, gold, platinum, mithril, and adamantine coins existed. Each coin was the size of a penny, and 100 steel equaled 1 copper, 100 copper to 1 silver, 100 silver to 1 gold, 100 gold to 1 platinum, 10 platinum to 1 mithril, and 10 mithril to 1 adamantine. Steel coins were only utilized outside the cities as they could not buy much. Each metal also had a large coin called a ten-piece. A ten-piece was also called a ¡®large coin¡¯ for short. For our delivery work, we started making 30 to 40 steel coins per delivery and, on good days, could pull in a few coppers each. When Gareth and I reached our 10th birthday, we had more freedom, and we sometimes even had a delivery to the city, which was just over a mile away. We earned a few coppers for the extra effort on those treks. We usually would spend half our income on food and drink to replenish our energy. Our one luxury item was a pair of fishing poles. The wide stream that was outside of town had a fair number of small fish, and on a good afternoon, we could catch enough for our family with extra to sell at the local pub in Hen¡¯s Hollow. Gareth became a loyal companion, and we spent our mornings studying with a few local kids under Gareth¡¯s mother, who was a scribe. We learned letters and numbers to prepare us for entering the academy. Most of our day was spent running errands. It was a happy time for me, reliving my childhood. My older brother had his own crew, and they played at being soldiers, getting ready for the academy. I also now had a younger sister, Freya, three years my junior, who tried to tag along with Gareth and me. We allowed her to follow along on our deliveries and adventures as long as we were not going to the city. The World Sphere was very different from Earth. The first odd thing was the day-night cycle. Every day was identical; days, as close as I could tell, were 23 hours long. We had 13 hours of daylight, 9 hours of twilight split between morning and dusk, and one hour of semi-darkness. The central sun had some dark zones, accounting for the lighting changes based on its rotation. There were 23 also planets that rotated the sun as well. When a planet did eclipse the sun, it was usually marking a certain special event. There were 12 months, each with 35 days and a five-day holiday ¡®week¡¯ not included in the months to celebrate the past year and the coming year. My math made the entire year have 9,775 hours. On Earth, a year has 8,760 hours. So one year in the sphere was 42 days longer than on Earth. The second odd thing was the fog and haze. The mornings almost always had a few hours of mist, like we were stuck in a cloud. I assumed this had something to do with our altitude. The third thing about the World Sphere was the sky itself. It looked like a pastel painting of greens, blues, whites, browns, and yellows. It was definitely pretty amazing to gaze on, and I never got sick of looking at it, wondering about all the life and action happening in that marvelous prismatic sky stretching infinitely. The only respite I had from my childhood was the city¡¯s bookstore. Every sixth or seventh day, I would make it to the city on delivery with Gareth and borrow a book on magic theory for a week for a few hard-earned coppers. Developing a good enough relationship with the bookstore owner, Wigand, took me a while. Without access to aether, I just read the theory and puzzled out basic spell forms. Magic itself was fairly rare. Only one in nine people had enough aptitude and a large enough aether core to learn and cast multiple spells. Abilities were much more common. I knew I had a large aether reservoir in my future. In my readings, I found abilities were documented up to tier 3. Tier 4 abilities were considered rare, tier 5 was considered a generational talent in Skyholme. Well, tier 6 had no recorded instances in the Skyholme Empire that I could find in my youth. Personally, I planned to keep all my abilities secret. Spell books were very expensive, and I had my sights set on three tier 1 spells to purchase after I awakened. Cleanliness, remove all dirt from clothes, skin and hair Mend Flesh, repair damaged tissue Obfuscate Abilities, shield abilities from inspection abilities and spells The first one was cheap for a spell book at seven gold and was considered a tier 1 spell, but it was extremely complicated. It was a channeled spell, meaning the amount of dirt removed and cleaning determined the total aether cost. A spellbook was the size of a magazine containing 20 thick canvas pages, but fortunately, the pages only had writing on one side. The second spell, mend flesh, was also a tier 1 healing spell, but the spell book was typically an astonishing 34 gold. I only found references to the final spell in my readings, and I figured I would have to obtain it on the capital island. It was a passive spell that required a constant minor expense of aether. There was no cost listed for the spell in the store catalog, but I guessed it would be over 100 gold. This was more because of government control than the spell being rare. I also learned from my books that my assess person ability was slightly different for each person. It could give the name, age, sex, race, and relative state of health, or some other similar scope of knowledge of the inspected person. I would have to wait to see what my ability would tell me. My aether core formed a few days after my 12th birthday, and my magic finally emerged. I awoke sweaty and feverish. It seemed I immediately vomited the contents of my stomach and the previous week¡¯s worth of meals. Or at least that is what it felt like to me. I wanted to keep my core secret, so I suffered alone for hours alone in my tiny room. Like a second heart, I could feel the core when my body acclimated. Instead of circulating blood to my body, it circulated aether. I was one step closer to obtaining magic. Chapter 3 Abilities and Secrets Chapter 3 Abilities and Secrets I was excited to try out magic for the first time. In the morning, I raced out of the house to the only public bathhouse in Hen¡¯s Hollow. I paid the older woman, who was the attendant and owner, two copper coins. This got me a hot bath and a cold shower rinse, and my clothes were washed with scented soap and dried while I bathed. It was a splurge on my part, but I knew that creating unlimited wealth was in my future. Normally our family would spend 25 steel coins for just a cold shower with soap for all five of us. I was the only person in the bathhouse this early, as most people showered in the evening before bed. I soaked in the large heated copper-lined tub and used my assess person skill for the first time. The female attendant was barely visible beyond the screen, working on washing my clothes. I focused on the back of her head, not knowing what to do. Suddenly it clicked, and it was kind of like an instant brain freeze, like drinking something cold too fast. I didn¡¯t get a blue screen to appear in my vision but just knew the following information. Edel Swallowhorn Age 49 Friendly After clearing my mind from the excitement of using magic for the first time, I tried the ability over and over on her. On the 6th attempt, I finally received a little more information, and the brain freeze had also lessened quite a bit. Now it was just a brief, light chilly feeling behind my eyes. The maximum range of my skill at its evolved state was about 10 yards. Edel Swallowhorn Human Female Age 49 Disposition Friendly Intuitively I knew this was the extent of my ability to give me information. The amount and range of information varied for everyone with this ability, and this was my limit. My assess person skill would still be extremely useful. I got a person¡¯s name, age, race, and disposition toward me. At least now, I would never risk forgetting someone¡¯s name. My aether core was still a bit painful, like constant heartburn. It would take many years of puberty to form completely and for the pain to subside. I think my pain was more intense than the books suggested. Maybe I was just a wimp. I decided it would be worth it in the end, after all¡ªmagic. I might have been just over 12 years in sphere time, but it was chronologically closer to 13 and a half in Earth years. People also matured faster in the sphere, and my physical body was that of a 16-year-old on Earth, a gangly 16-year-old going through a growth spurt. I scrubbed in the tub with a grainy soap and a soft bristle brush and asked a question of the attendant, ¡°Edel, how long have you lived in Hen¡¯s Hollow?¡± She stopped scrubbing my clothes to answer. ¡°Storme, I grew up in Haven¡¯s Fjord but moved here with my husband some 30 years ago.¡± She paused, ¡°If you have time later today, could you and Gareth make a run to the soaper in the city for me? I will give each of you a free cube and 80 steel each.¡± She waited patiently for my reply. We had made runs to the city for her before and usually received about that amount, and we got a free cold rinse shower for the effort. I thought if I was going to the city later today, I should try to line up some other jobs and bring Gareth. ¡°Sounds good. How many blocks?¡± I replied, distracted by my thoughts. Edel replied with a sly smile, ¡°Eight blocks, two hard soap, and six scented soap.¡± Damn, that was twice the normal haul. Each block weighed about 5 lbs (2.2 kg) and was cut into 64 cubes. Typically I would have negotiated for more coin before agreeing, but the idea of developing my magic was clouding my mind. I exited the tub and headed to the shower stalls for my rinse. There wasn¡¯t a huge taboo on nudity, so I wasn¡¯t surprised when Edel stood and walked around the screen to hand me a towel since none had been put out this early. I noticed her line of sight drop below my waist briefly, and her eyes widened briefly. She regained her composure and returned to her task. Well, definitely no shrinkage from the bath, and I had made my reincarnated form well-endowed. My vertical growth hadn¡¯t caught up with my horizontal growth. I was a little over 5¡¯8¡± (1.68m), and if my memory was correct, I would reach 6¡¯3¡± when I finished growing. I took my cold rinse in the shower and went to get my clothes from Edel. Edel had an ability that allowed her to evaporate water quickly. It gave her a career drying plants for the herbalist and drying laundry in the bathhouse. Not a world-breaking skill, but she did well; her husband was the town¡¯s wood carver. ¡°Storme, my lovely niece in the city, is turning 14 in two weeks. Would you be available to escort her to her party?¡± She asked sweetly. I felt my face flush, and I responded quickly, ¡°Miss Edel, I must apologize, but I believe I will be engaged in other activities.¡± I took my clothes from her, dressed quickly, and left. I had too many things on my mind to be escorting a young woman to her 14th birthday party. I went to the common square, where there was a large water fountain with a lion, and sat on a stone bench. The square was where most town celebrations were held. It was still early in the morning, and I sat and thought. My first thought was how good my clothes smelled. Edel had used the vanilla soap on them as she must have remembered it was my favorite scent. Focus Storme. I needed to master my metal creation ability. I needed to purchase some spells. And lastly, I needed to go to the apothecary to see if they had something for my aether core heartburn. I pulled out a copper coin and tried to mentally duplicate it. No luck, but my metal-shaping ability cut the coin in half when I applied my will. Well, I guess that counted as my first use of metal-shaping magic. Ok, maybe I should try without a coin in my hand. I focused on the idea of copper, its color, smell, and taste. I got a brief sense of vertigo, and I felt a light weight enter my palm. I looked at a lump of copper metal in my hand. Success? I turned the shiny orange-red lump in my hand¡­maybe an ounce (28 grams)? Now I needed to make it into coins. I took a newer copper coin out of my pouch and studied it. One side had a triangle with images at each corner, a sword and shield, scales, and two men holding hands. The opposite side had the silhouette of the Skyholme palace, Skyhold, where the Triumvirate resided, and it had the date the coin was minted below. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. I studied the coin for twenty minutes before forcing my will and attention on the copper lump I had created. The lump flowed like water into ten coins in just a few seconds. I breathed heavily in excitement and a tiny bit of mental fatigue. I was startled when the baker passed me with a sack of bread meant for the pub. I was sure he hadn¡¯t seen my efforts, but I scolded myself for doing this in the open. My excitement was overcoming my common sense. My stomach was roiling with hunger, so I followed the baker to the pub. The pub had a few customers already. They usually served a heavy white gravy with bread, a small bowl of boiled oats with heavy cream, and a weak ale for a large steel coin in the morning. I ordered two servings and used one of my new copper coins to pay, getting eight large steel coins in change. The gravy didn¡¯t agree with me, but the two bowls of oats and cream filled me. I didn¡¯t like the weak ale either, as it tasted slightly sour. I left the pub to head to Gareth¡¯s house. This morning, I had lessons with Gareth and six other children from the town, including Freya, my sister. I found Gareth outside his house cutting firewood. Even though he was younger than me, Gareth was already just over six feet in height. He ate three times what other kids his age ate and was also starting to fill out. My own frame was extremely lean, and I was a bit envious of burgeoning muscles. ¡°Stormy!¡± He called when he noticed me walking toward him. Yeah, I hated that nickname. My mother had added the ¡®e¡¯ to my name to make it unique, and when Gareth and I were first learning letters, he pronounced the ¡®e.¡¯ He knew I didn¡¯t like being called Stormy, but he continued to do so. However, if another kid called me Stormy, he made them stop by word, threat, or force. ¡°Ready for numbers and transcription this morning?¡± he asked when I was within easy talking distance. Yeah, I was good at numbers. It was mostly basic arithmetic with some light word problems thrown in. Transcription was kind of boring. Each student spent time copying a book word for word. With Gareth¡¯s mother being a scribe, she thought it was a good way to learn. Well, at least the books were always stories of heroes, monsters, and faraway lands. The stories were usually parables, though, teaching some ethical principle or moral lesson. ¡°I bet I can finish the numbers before you today,¡± I replied with a smirk. Gareth knew he could not finish before me unless he wanted to get most of the answers wrong. ¡°Yeah, not a chance. How about we let Freya judge our script from the transcription?¡± His typical grin appeared on his face. My younger sister usually tagged along with us and was frequently called to choose a winner in our spur-of-the-moment competitions. She was mostly fair, but sometimes she got mad at me, which tilted the scales toward Gareth. I nodded, and we went inside the house to the ad-hoc classroom. My sister Freya was there, and she gave me a cross-look. Oh shit! I forgot I had promised to take her to the baker for a breakfast cake this morning. I had promised her before bed last night, but I forgot after my core awakened. Even though my script was neat and was at least equal to Gareth¡¯s, I knew I had no chance of winning now. I had been played. Gareth¡¯s grin only got bigger as we sat down. The tiny woman that had somehow birthed the monster of Gareth entered, and the other kids took their seats. I raced through the numbers problems certain I hadn¡¯t made any errors. We had twenty pages to transcribe today. The story was part of the tale of Farrod the Warrior. He was a solo dungeon delver, and the tale focused on how his greed and lust for coin led him to an early grave. I put effort into my copying efforts as the texts were eventually sold by Gareth¡¯s mother for a small amount of coin to pay for her time. She walked around the room and asked questions about the tale depending on where each student was in their transcription. It was to make sure we were reading and understanding the words and not just copying letters. Soon she announced time was up, and the six of us got ready to sprint out of the room. Gareth hadn¡¯t forgotten the bet and was whispering with Freya. I walked to Freya to interrupt their conspiracy, ¡°Freya, sorry about this morning. Here is a large steel so you can get some honey suckers.¡± Gareth immediately looked betrayed, his grin fading, thinking I would now win. Freya grabbed the coin from my hand, yelled, ¡°Gareth¡¯s letters were prettier,¡± and ran out the door. Gareth¡¯s grin returned immediately. Shit, so much for bribery. We turned and started to walk out together. Gareth put his hand on my shoulder as we walked. ¡°What is on the list for today? Mother was hoping we could get some spiced sausages in the city that she likes for her today. She gave me a copper to do so.¡± Gareth always had suggestions on things to do but always followed my lead. ¡°Well, I made a deal with the bathhouse lady to get soap in the city. But we will need our packs as it is eight blocks. I also wanted to show you something in private. Let¡¯s go to the barn.¡± My parent¡¯s house had a stable with two stalls, but we had no horses or farm animals. The space was more for storage now and a hangout for me, Gareth, and sometimes Freya. My older brother, Pascal, had a group of friends that played with wooden swords all day, so the space was secure from intrusion. Once we were secure in the building, I turned to Gareth, ¡°It happened last night. My awakening.¡± It took a brief second for him to process before his eyes bulged. Excitedly he asked, ¡°Can you do anything? Did any abilities manifest? Are you stronger? Faster? Can you throw lightning bolts? Fireballs?¡± Magic was rare, and abilities that utilized aether were a means to gain entrance to a better academy. ¡°I can do a few things. But this will be the biggest secret I have ever shared with you. You cannot let anyone know, not even my parents. Agreed? Blood-bonded brothers?¡± I said it in an even and serious tone. Blood-bonded brothers was our oath to each other to never betray each other and come to each other¡¯s aid if needed, no matter the circumstances. ¡°Blood bonded.¡± He said in all seriousness. He was rarely serious, so I nodded, accepting the oath. ¡°First, I have the assess person ability. The ability says you are Gareth Highguard, Age 12, Human Male, Disposition Loyal.¡± His mouth fell open. We had discussed many abilities from books, fantasizing which ones we might get lucky to get so he knew about the assess person ability. ¡°No way!¡± he squeaked out in his hoarse voice. ¡°You can work for the inquisition¡¯s office!¡± His eyes showed pride and joy for me. Well, he was going to be shocked in a few moments. ¡°I can also shape metal.¡± His left eyebrow cocked up, his facial expression of skepticism reminding me of Spock from Star Trek. I pulled a copper coin from my pouch and proceeded to shape it into a tiny cat figure, an ugly cat figure, but you could see it was a cat. ¡°Wow, a dog!¡± Gareth rasped out before collapsing in laughter when I said it was a cat. It was a cat, damn it. He thought my failure at sculpting was more humorous than the enormity of the ability or the implications of my shape-metal ability. I quickly changed the CAT back to a coin and handed it to him. ¡°Angelic saviors, Storme,¡± he muttered. Well, at least I knew he was being serious as he used my proper name when he was no longer joking. ¡°You are not going to tell your parents?¡± I shook my head no. Gareth looked incredulous but accepted my decision. A few moments later, Gareth said, ¡°You have hundreds of paths ahead of you, my brother.¡± He was still examining the coin when I held up my empty palm, closed it, and opened it to reveal a lump of copper. Gareth partially collapsed to the ground. ¡°Did you just? Is that real? You teleported it, right? Sleight of hand?¡± I just slowly shook my head. ¡°You can create copper,¡± he paused, ¡°Real copper? Is it temporary?¡± his voice was weak in disbelief. I finally spoke, ¡°It is real and permanent. And I think I might also be able to create other metals.¡± He was still in shock, so I gave him a few moments to recover before speaking again, ¡°So now we need to start making plans.¡± He looked up at me, our eyes met, and we both had huge grins and started laughing in unison. Chapter 4 Freya Chapter 4 Freya Freya raced through the cobblestone streets to reach the candy maker. Her thoughts were on what a large steel coin could buy. She was definitely getting a honey sucker. They lasted hours. It was her favorite, even though Storme said she was rotting her teeth. What else should she get? The honey sucker was three steel. She suddenly stopped. Storme had given her the coin, and she had voted in favor of Gareth. Was it a bribe attempt, or was he making up for not taking her to the bakery this morning? Storme was always saying she needed to slow down and think things out before acting. He called her impulsive! But Gareth had promised to bring her to the Gaskil farm to see the new puppies! Well, she should have at least spent time comparing their two scripts before deciding. Storme had drilled into her the importance of ¡®appearing¡¯ fair and impartial. Wait. Her thought process reversed. It wasn¡¯t a bribe. It was a trick to ditch her! Storme hadn¡¯t put on airs of disbelief at her pronouncement of Gareth winning like he usually did. They were up to something. Freya thought herself a tried and true companion to Storme and Gareth. She hadn¡¯t told anyone of the time they had released old lady Beatrice¡¯s chickens, only to walk down the road a few minutes later and offer to round them up for a few steel coins. Or the time the three of them went to Twin Rock Lake to go fishing since nothing was biting in the river by the town. It was the fact the blue pike they caught that day never traveled downstream that got them whipped. It was one of the few times Storme and Gareth were punished. Twin Rock Lake was near the edge of the island, and sometimes large birds of prey flew up from below to hunt the pike in the lake. She never told anyone that Storme and Gareth continued fishing at Twin Rocks. They wouldn¡¯t bring her anymore, but she covered for them in exchange for a few steel coins when they sold their catch. The blue pike was the tastiest fish on the island and could be sold for good coin in the city. Her mouth watered, thinking of the buttery blue pike Storme had once cooked for her. Well, Freya decided she would make haste to spend her large steel coin and then find the boys. Well, haste for a nine-year-old girl was a matter of perspective. After buying her first honey sucker, she sucked on it while deciding what else to buy. She wasn¡¯t impulsive! With a second honey sucker, two birch taffies, and a thimble of sweet water, she searched for her brother and Gareth. She started at the gate out of town to the city to check with the sentry to see if they had headed to the city. It was the most likely scenario if they were ditching her. Yadam, the sentry on duty, said he had not seen them today. Her next stop was the miller. They delivered flour for him regularly around Hen¡¯s Hollow. No luck again. She wandered through the small town, checking with the business owners they frequently helped but found no sign of them. Storme and Gareth were well respected in town. They were industrious boys that were always eager to help in exchange for a few coins, making people¡¯s lives easier. Freya also knew they did extremely well for themselves in terms of earnings. Two weeks ago, she had snuck into Storme¡¯s tiny room at home and pried out the loose wallboard to see his horde. He had stacks of 50 coins wrapped in paper. He had seven tubes of 50 steel coins, one tube of 50 large steel coins, three tubes of 50 copper coins, some loose steel and copper, and 34 silver coins! Freya eventually returned home and saw Storme¡¯s fishing rod outside the barn. Today wasn¡¯t the typical day he went fishing, so that didn¡¯t surprise her, but it had been her last guess. She went inside and checked Storme¡¯s small room, but nothing, and just to make sure checked his stash. Maybe they snuck into the city, avoiding Yadam, to go on a spending spree. After all, her birthday was coming up, so maybe they were out buying her something! But the coin roles were all still there. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. It was getting close to the midday meal, so Freya went to the leather worker¡¯s shop to see her mother. ¡°Freya! Sweetheart! What has you so down?¡± Mother asked when seeing her. Freya tended to wear her mood on her face quite openly. ¡°Storme and Gareth ditched me this morning,¡± she said melancholily. Well, I guess if she really thought about it, she had ditched them, but who was splitting hairs? ¡°Mother, I came by for lunch since Storme isn¡¯t around to cook.¡± Storme was a great cook. He came up with the tastiest creations. His ¡®cheeseburger¡¯ had swept the pubs and inns across Skyholme, but an innkeeper in the capital had claimed credit for the grilled culinary treat. Everyone in Hen¡¯s Hollow knew the truth, though. ¡°Sweetheart, I¡¯m sorry. Pascal and his friends are on the common fairground.¡± Freya gave her mother her best ¡®death¡¯ stare. She didn¡¯t want to spend what remained of the day watching boys and girls hit each other with sticks and playing soldier. ¡°Oh. I think Gwen and Sassy are at the tailor¡¯s shop¡­.¡± Mother tried again, and she turned up her death glare. Gwen and Sassy were the only other two girls close to Freya¡¯s age in Hen¡¯s Hollow. Gwen was the magistrate¡¯s daughter and always talked down to Freya. Storme had called her a ¡®stuck up bitch¡¯ in private, and when Freya had repeated the phrase to her face, Freya had gotten a good spanking from her father after Gwen had told her father. Freya had never revealed that she had learned the phrase from Storme. Another secret she had kept! Mother had gotten out her mid-day meal basket. Inside were pickled vegetables, rosemary bread, and some red apples. They ate in silence then something clicked. She hadn¡¯t checked the barn. Sometimes they all hung out inside, usually just when the weather was miserable, but they could be hiding in there. She quickly kissed her mother and hurried off while munching on an apple. Freya approached the barn through the high grass to be as quiet as possible. And when she was within three paces, she could hear them whispering. They were inside! How should she approach this? Should she scare them? Walk in like it was all a normal and fine day? Or should she try to listen in on their newest mischief? Not that she would ever turn them in but getting some ¡®leverage¡¯ on Storme would be great. She might get them to escort her to the city to the candy store there! They had a much larger selection. She moved to the back of the barn, away from the windows and the stall door. There were cracks in the siding she could look through and see Storme and Gareth. That is, as long as they were not in the loft. Her movements were slow and careful, and soon the whispering became coherent. ¡°Storme, try and make a dagger with these large steel pennies,¡± Gareth said. A few minutes passed, and then Gareth gasped and spoke louder, ¡°Wow, that is an amazing blade. How did you get the ripples in the steel?¡± Storme responded in a whisper, and his back must have faced Freya because his response was too low for her to hear. She moved down a few boards and was able to see the pair. Gareth held a spectacular short dagger that rippled in the light from the window. Where did they get that? It must have cost quite a sum. ¡°Storme, can you make another? We each should have one, and I will get sheaths from Master Aldrich.¡± Master Aldrich was the leatherworker that their mother worked for. He had to be very good to have earned the master title. Then Freya saw something she couldn¡¯t believe. Storme¡¯s back was to her, but Freya could see one of his hands. He held about ten large steel coins. The coins then flowed together like water while he held them and rippled in his hand as they formed a dagger a little bigger than the one Gareth held just a few moments ago. It took all her will not to gasp and give herself away. Her brother had magic, and he had awakened! Why didn¡¯t he tell everyone? Why didn¡¯t he tell her immediately? Was there something wrong with his ability to control metal? It seemed like a really useful feat. And they were told in the fables that there were no useless abilities. You just had to find a way to use them productively. She moved away from the barn ever so slowly, and when she was sure that they wouldn¡¯t see her, she went into the house and to her room. Freya thought for a long time, the longest she had ever thought about anything. She was not impulsive! Her brother was smart, very smart. He had his reasons for not telling anyone but Gareth. She would keep his secret, and hopefully, he would share his magic with her when the time was right. She heard her mother enter the house. It must be close to dinner time. Maybe she should ask Storme for a dagger for her birthday¡­ Chapter 5 The End of a Long Day Chapter 5 The End of a Long Day After Gareth and I enjoyed a good laugh at our impending good fortune, we got to work. ¡°How many coins can you make in a day, Storme?¡± Gareth asked. He was serious now and probably thinking about all the things we could buy. ¡°Let me see how many large steel coins I can make today. The smaller value coins will be easier to spend without drawing notice. We will have to think about creating a reasonable enterprise to cover our growing wealth in the future. I am not sure to what extent we should include Freya in our plans,¡± I informed Gareth. Gareth raised his left eyebrow. Yes, I had a soft spot for Freya, and if I didn¡¯t include her initially, I usually caved after she begged and pleaded for a little while. I didn¡¯t have any siblings in my past life. I was learning how to be an elder brother and genuinely cared about her. I wasn¡¯t sure where the disconnect had happened with Pascal. I think it had to do with the fact he was a bit jealous of me growing up as I had learned things quicker and was really well-liked and praised by the townsfolk. I focused and made my first steel coin. Well, a lump of¡­not steel. ¡°Looks like iron ore, not quite as shiny as steel,¡± Gareth helpfully supplied, taking the small chunk. ¡°Well, if you can¡¯t make steel, the copper will do.¡± He was trying to placate me because of my obvious failure and my frown. I thought for a few minutes trying to draw on my past life¡¯s knowledge. Steel had carbon in it. My ability could only create metal. Well, Gareth was right; I could always make copper. I was disappointed, though. Then I spotted the crates of coal in the corner of the barn we used in the stove. I retrieved one lump of coal, took the lump of iron from Gareth, and focused on my ability to shape metal. It was the first time I could feel myself drawing from the aether core in my chest as I blended the iron and coal. It didn¡¯t help my constant feeling of heartburn. The metal lump flowed over the coal, and I could feel the iron responding to my will to draw in the carbon. I zoned out for a bit, trying to find the correct balance and make it homogeneous throughout the lump. When I was finished, the excess coal fell away from my hands as dust. Besides needing to wash my hands, I now had a good lump of steel. I looked at Gareth, pride on my face. He spoke in a whisper, ¡°That was amazing! It took you a few minutes, but I will be an orc¡¯s cousin; you did it!¡± I turned the lump in my hand and focused on making it into a shiny new large steel coin. I flipped the coin in the air over to Gareth, who caught it with lightning reflexes. Yeah, Gareth was not only big but also a phenomenal athlete, quick, strong, had excellent balance, and while he rarely talked, he was also no dummy. ¡°Stormy, we probably should dirty up the coins a bit. I mean, if we started spending shiny new coins all around town, that would draw attention, right? I don¡¯t think I have seen more than a dozen coins this shiny in my entire life.¡± I nodded and had been thinking the same thing earlier about the copper coins I had made. ¡°Yeah, I know some basic magics can make coins clean and shiny, but it would be suspicious if we were always spending shiny coins and didn¡¯t have the magic to clean them. Ok, Gareth, let¡¯s see how much steel I can make.¡± I focused and started pulling on my aether to make a big lump of iron. I could feel the aether leaving my core again and focusing on my hand, pulling the most aether I had pulled to date. The ore ball grew, and I got distracted when the weight reached three pounds (1.35 kg), causing me to fumble and drop it, breaking my concentration. I had plenty of aether in reserve, but this was good for now. I looked up to see Gareth¡¯s jaw was slack, and his eyes bulged a bit. I picked up the lump and brought it to the coal crate, ignoring my friend¡¯s dumbfounded stare. I found I needed to be fairly close to the metal work, my shaping skill on it, no more than 20 inches (50 cm), before the effort became unwieldy, like trying to tie down a tarp in a wind storm with thin twine. The iron flowed through the coal as I felt out the best balance between hardness and brittleness. To make my feat even more impressive to Gareth, I formed the new steel into 48 new large steel coins. This took a few minutes as I had to do the first few individually before figuring out a trick to make them in batches. Gareth was right there when I was done picking up each coin and inspecting it. ¡°Damn, Storme, we are going to be rich.¡± While he was focused on our new wealth, I tried something new. I was combining my two abilities. I tried to create copper and create it directly into a large copper coin. Success! I turned over the shiny new copper coin, feeling the weight. Gareth interrupted me, admiring my work, ¡°Can you make other things? Armor or swords? Storme try and make a dagger with these steel coins?¡± He grabbed a handful of coins, pushing them into my hand. Huh, that was a good question. Did I need to have knowledge of blacksmithing, just know the shape or the end result I wanted? My metal shaping skill was much more powerful than I had realized. It gave me a ¡®familiarity¡¯ with the metal as I worked it, allowing me to balance the alloy or additives and eliminate impurities. I took 11 of the large steel coins Gareth had pressed into my hand and started working it into the shape of a large kitchen knife with a full tang. I had previously helped my mother replace the wood and leather wrap on knife handles, so I knew what I wanted to make. The knife was 10 inches long (25 cm). ¡°No, Stormy, make a dagger instead,¡± Gareth whispered, focused on my work. He was hypnotized by the flowing metal. I altered my thought, and with a thicker blade and tang, the two-edged dagger was now just 8 inches (20 cm). I then remembered watered steel from foggy memories, Damascus steel, folded layers. Could I do that? I restarted and folded the metal. It looked like a puddle in my hands to Gareth, but I was working hard to fold the steel. Two, three, four, five¡ªcompressing the metal after each fold. The 5th fold started to require effort. The 7th, and I could feel myself needing to invest some aether. I could have gone further but stopped after 11. I then reformed the short dagger with the full tang and handed it to Gareth. He gasped and spoke with excitement, ¡°Wow, that is an amazing blade. How did you get the ripples in the steel?¡± I was pretty tired and not sure how much aether I had left. I needed to experiment more to find my capacity. I spoke very lightly, ¡°It is just watered steel. Folded steel. The master weaponsmiths in the city do it this way in order to add aether dust to enchant the blade.¡± I admired the dagger with Gareth for a while before he spoke again. ¡°Storme, can you make another? We each should have one, and I will get sheaths from Master Aldrich.¡± I nodded and grabbed 10 of the large steel coins in each hand. I focused on one hand and then the other working the metal again. This dagger was much larger than the last, 13 inches (33 cm). When I was finished, I handed the new dagger to Gareth. He now held both blades. ¡°You know, Stormy, both of these blades are fine works of art. I will purchase sheaths and handles for them. But I think I should get the larger of the two. You know, since I am bigger, after all.¡± His grin had returned to his face. I was kind of spent, but I did have a good comeback after my morning bath reminded me of something. I cracked a big smile. ¡°Yes, Gareth, the bigger of us should get the bigger blade,¡± I said, reaching for the longer dagger. His face contorted in confusion. Well, even though I had fragments of memories from my past life, Gareth was still just twelve years old and didn¡¯t process my comeback. Well, even though nudity wasn¡¯t so taboo here, we still swam in our undergarments because the girls were usually there as well. So my friend didn¡¯t realize, even with his large size, that he was outclassed. ¡°Nevermind. Take the daggers to get them sized for sheaths and handles.¡± Gareth hesitated for a bit before starting to slowly turn toward the door. He probably didn¡¯t want to miss what I would do next, as today was highly entertaining for us both. ¡°I am just going to meditate for a bit and try to figure out my aether core. I promise I won¡¯t do anything exciting without you.¡± The ¡®Gareth grin¡¯ lit his face, and with his back to me said, ¡°Well, just don¡¯t get into any trouble without me.¡± With Gareth gone, I spent some time getting dirty. I cleaned up the barn a bit. My focus was cleaning out the loft to create a decent workspace. I managed to get filthy and blew out lots of dirty snot as dust invaded my nostrils. I was going to need another shower and my clothes cleaned again. The upper loft was eventually cleared, and the old family couch was mostly cleaned. I had it positioned on the far side of the loft with a short table in front of it. That way, we could sit by the tiny window at the back of the loft and not risk getting walked in on while I worked in the future. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. It was getting close to dinner, and my mother and father would be home in about an hour or so. I decided to run down to the river and wash up there rather than go to the bathhouse, which would be crowded at this time. Also, Edel would probably press me to meet her niece again. Oh, Edel! We hadn¡¯t gotten her soap in the city today. Ugh. I grabbed an old leather backpack from the barn. The city was about a 10-minute jog. I would swing by Master Aldrich¡¯s leather shop and hopefully catch Gareth. Otherwise, I would make the run myself. My reputation was important, so I had to get the soap today. I had missed Gareth, and Master Aldrich was examining the daggers when I arrived. His gruff voice stopped me in my tracks as I was leaving since I had not seen Gareth, ¡°Storme! How did you two come across these fine blades? I offered Gareth 80 silver for each, and he turned me down, saying they were yours.¡± His eyes were going back and forth from me to the daggers. ¡°Yeah, they are, but I am giving the smaller one to Gareth. Are you making the handles and sheaths?¡± I replied, anxious to get the soap job done but not wanting to be rude to Master Aldrich, who employed my mother. I also thought 80 silver was way too light a price for the daggers. ¡°Yes, I agreed on 2 silver and 50 copper with Gareth for both sheaths and another silver for wooden grips,¡± he replied evenly. Damn, Gareth, you should have negotiated that down to 2 silver total. Gareth sometimes got excited and forgot to think things through, or maybe he just didn¡¯t care because of my new ability. Small sheaths were made from leather scraps. I pulled out three large copper coins. One of the coins was a shiny new one I had made earlier. ¡°Here is a deposit Master Aldrich. Do you know where Gareth went?¡± I was already backing out of the workshop after placing down the coins. He eyed me up and down. It was obvious his mind was working. ¡°Gareth was off to the Perault farm to get some sausage,¡± he said. Damn, that was in the wrong direction from the city. And their sausages were not as tasty as the ones in the city that his mom liked. I yelled thanks before increasing my pace to a fast jog. I would have to go to the city without Gareth, and he would probably be upset. The run to the city was a straight road lined with small industries, farms, and orchards. The trip gave me time to think about other metals. I should try silver and gold tonight. We should also start forming a reason for our increased wealth. My first thought was daily work trips to the city to cover the increased coins. My second thought was maybe to cover the wealth by finding an old cache of coins left by the Avian race that used to rule the islands. There had been a book in the bookstore that had pictures of hundreds of coins. Even in this realm filled with magic, coin collecting was a hobby. Though the hobby was not well received on our island. The book had been in the discount bin if I remembered correctly. I slowed to a walk. I tried to create large copper coins while I walked. No issues, and by the end of the trek, I had 21 more large coppers in my money pouch. They were too shiny, though. I had come up with a plan to use them in the bookstore. I went through the outer city and straight to the soaper. The packages of soap were ready, and I carefully packed them in my backpack. The pack was really heavy for me alone, and my back was already aching as I got to the bookstore. The proprietor was named Wigand Goodholme. I developed a relationship with Wigand by delivering and picking up books for him that he was commissioned to repair. I had borrowed every cheap introductory book he had on magic for just a few coppers over the last two years. These books sold for between 50 and 200 silver, so he was doing me a big favor when he charged me a large copper to borrow a book for a week. He would loan me another as long as I brought it back in the same condition. ¡°Hi, Wigand! I have a favor to ask. Do you still have that old beat-up book on the different dungeon, kingdom, and adventurer guild coins? I found some rich woman who was looking for something like it, and she gave me a few coins to purchase it.¡± My speech came out a little rushed, and I needed to slow down when I talked. According to Gareth, that usually happened when I was lying. Wigand flashed his bright smile, ¡°I believe so. How many coins did she give you?¡± He was an entrepreneur, but I knew he wouldn¡¯t overcharge me. He was already going through a stack of books in a rack marked as discounted. ¡°Two silver. And she gave me a large copper to run the errand for her. If it costs more, then I can just return the coins to her.¡± I said, this time forcibly controlling my speech. Wigand opened the front cover and started taping his finger on the page, thinking. The prices were usually inside the front cover. Finally, he said, ¡°It is four silver. Hmm, ok, I will take the two silver. This book is over forty years old, and I don¡¯t think it will sell unless I bring it to the capital, and I don¡¯t plan on a trip there anytime soon.¡± He focused on me, ¡°But if your new patron needs another book, you will send her here? I can procure almost anything from my contacts.¡± I nodded eagerly. I pulled out the 21 shiny large coppers and handed twenty to him. He was clearly puzzling out what kind of patron had access to newly minted coppers. ¡°Does your patron have a name?¡± He was obviously more than a little curious. Maybe I had already miss-stepped? ¡°She is a foreigner from the lowlands but didn¡¯t look like an adventurer. At least she didn¡¯t have the guild¡¯s medallion around her neck. She cleaned the coins with her magic.¡± My speech quickened, ¡°I think she was just exploring the islands, and I mentioned the coin book I saw in the city,¡± I had definitely rushed my speech again. Damn it, Gareth was right. Fortunately, Wigand nodded and took the coins. I packed the book in with the soap. ¡°Wigand, how much for a lesser light stone?¡± It was the simplest bit of magic runecraft, a light stone that gave off light with a simple on/off control and could be recharged by someone with an aether core. He looked me over and pointed to my last large copper coin. I nodded and dropped the coin lightly on the counter. I swept up a light stone from the basket full of them on the display case. I said my thanks as I headed off. I knew the light stone usually cost 30 copper, so he gave me another discount. Shortly after exiting the city proper, I was on the road back home. Four figures lounging by the side of the road stood as I got closer to them. Shit. It was one of the local kid gangs. Three boys and one girl around my age. I usually had Gareth with me and was never bothered. I could see them whispering to each other as I approached. The apparent leader, a tall thin, red-haired boy, took the lead as the others spread out. I had no chance to outrun them with the backpack I was hauling. It was probably due to the fact I had a heavy backpack that they stopped me. The leader finally spoke in a high-pitched voice, ¡°This is a toll road. 20 steel to pass unmolested.¡± It was a simple shakedown. Unsurprisingly, the city kids probably had a lot of free time to cause mischief before they entered the academy at age 14. I wasn¡¯t going to pay. An adult should pass by soon. I looked down in both directions, and no one was in sight. Damn it. I turned to face the crew, who spread out and circled me. ¡°Don¡¯t make this hard,¡± the leader said with a more level voice. He was gaining confidence, but I guessed this was probably his first time trying this. I looked each bandit in the eyes, memorizing their faces. I wouldn¡¯t forget these kids anytime soon. I then used my assess person ability on each of them. The red-haired boy: Leon Mogensen Age 13 Human Male Disposition Unfriendly The black-haired girl to his right: Gudrun Busk Age 13 Human Female Disposition Neutral The fat kid with dark brown hair: Lornom Coalrock Age 12 Human Male Disposition Unfriendly And the last boy looked very nervous, and his face indicated he was related to the leader: Honmik Mogensen Age 11 Human Male Disposition Neutral I decided to try to scare the group. I put my pack down. I reached into it as they watched me like hawks and manifested a simple short blade of iron with a slight curve. They all took a step back and looked at each other for direction as I spoke confidently, ¡°There is a five silver bounty for the heads of bandits in the city. Who is first?¡± Well, I felt pretty cock sure with a weapon in my hand, and then a fist-sized stone slammed into my shoulder and ricocheted up into my head. Two more stones hit me, and I wasn¡¯t sure from which direction as I was already dazed. The pain told me one hit me in the left thigh just above the knee, and the other connected with my sternum. The head graze had me seeing stars, and by the time I oriented myself, I found the four racing to the city. I was bleeding a little from the head, but other than that, I would just have some nasty bruising. I ended up limping most of the way back to Hen¡¯s Hollow. I forced myself to walk as straight as possible when I reached the sentry. It was Yadam, and he knew me well. I headed straight for the bathhouse. Once there, I pulled out the soap, and Edel stopped her washing for a minute to extract two cubes of soap and also produced the promised coins. She mentioned something, but I didn¡¯t catch it as my eyes surveyed the bathhouse. Mostly old men and no sightline to the women¡¯s side. I waved to two business owners I knew before leaving. I could probably get some jobs if I socialized a bit, but I needed to rest. It had been a long day. I stopped by the pub. They had meals to go. Tonight was a loaf of bread with olive-seasoned paste, soft spiced jerky sticks, and boiled yellow carrots. I packed the food in the pack and headed home. It seemed to take longer than normal to get there. My family was in the kitchen eating dinner. I told them I had eaten already and was heading to bed. I was sure to keep the bloody side of my head out of their view. I was filthy, and I noticed my parents¡¯ slightly concerned looks. In my room, I realized that I must have dropped the impromptu short blade I had conjured when trying to scare off the city kids. The rock must have given me a concussion, and I dropped the blade. I went to my tiny room, stripped off all my dirty clothes, and fell face down into the waiting blankets. It was only a few seconds before I was fast asleep. Chapter 6 Unplanned Paths and Limits Chapter 6 Unplanned Paths and Limits Butt naked and lying face down, I was awoken by a pounding on the small door to my room. I moaned a little. My head, shoulder, thigh, back, feet, and chest hurt. The aether core heartburn was working full time as well. I was going to get back at those city bastards. The knocking continued, and I rolled over to see Gareth in my doorway, pounding on the open door. ¡°You look like a sow after the breeding season,¡± he said with real concern in his voice. I stood, and the bruises were evident, and Gareth¡¯s expression turned to anger. ¡°Who did this?¡± he demanded. ¡°Gareth, my friend, it was my fault for being careless,¡± I confessed. ¡°We will get revenge, but in the future. It was one of the groups of kids from the city, and I got their names with my assessment ability. I couldn¡¯t find you last night, so I did the soap run to the city myself,¡± he nodded slowly, putting the pieces together in his mind. ¡°They tried to shake me down on the road back to town. I created a short sword,¡± I paused. ¡°I must have dropped it when I got the rock to the head. The group took off after throwing some fist-sized rocks at me. The only real damage is the one that glanced up to my head.¡± I rubbed the massive bump above my right ear. The dried blood wasn¡¯t evident to Gareth with my dark black hair until I pointed it out. I pulled on some cleaner clothes while Gareth fumed, probably planning some type of revenge. ¡°We have bigger fish to fry,¡± I said, now dressed and trying to downplay the situation. Gareth had gotten himself into trouble a few times defending me. I noticed the food I had picked up last night, and my stomach reminded me I hadn¡¯t addressed its needs. The olive paste bread wasn¡¯t so good after sitting so long. The carrots were now mushy. Gareth took one of the jerky sticks and quickly chewed it down. ¡°I¡¯m going to the bathhouse this morning. You can grab some coins from my stash for the sheaths and handles. I gave Master Aldrich a deposit.¡± I was still a little fuzzy and could not remember how much. ¡°Get us some new matching belts to go with the sheaths,¡± I added. I started reaching for the remaining jerky, but Gareth swiped it before my hand got halfway. While munching on the jerky, he walked to the wallboard where I stashed my coins, popped it off with a solid strike, and took out two rolls of coins. ¡°I will see you at the bathhouse after I stop by Master Aldrich. I could use a hot soak myself,¡± he said as he smelled his armpits. I had just planned on getting a cold shower, but a warm bath might be good for these aches. ¡°I will also stop by the apothecary for a salve for your bruises.¡± He paused and grabbed a few silver I had in my stash before replacing the wood panel cover. We had worked hard to save some coins, and Gareth was already acting like we were nobles with unlimited coins. ¡°Spend frugally, Gareth, and barter, for goodness¡¯ sake! Master Aldrich is already suspicious. I devised a plan for laundering our coins in the city. While I was at Wigand¡¯s bookshop yesterday, I spun a tale I was getting a book for a benefactor from the lowlands who was visiting Skyholme. He seemed to buy it, and I think it should be a good cover for us in the city,¡± Gareth nodded, swallowing the last of the jerky. ¡°Laundering. I thought we were going to age the coins, get them dirty?¡± My past life idioms kept entering my speech, and Gareth could usually puzzle them out, but when he didn¡¯t, I had to explain. So I had to take a moment to explain the concept to Gareth. ¡°Laundering means obfuscating the origins of the coins. We are going to make people think our new fictional patron is supplying us with coins to buy her things. Oh yeah, the patron is a woman from the lowlands,¡± I struggled to remember what I told Wigand yesterday, but my head was throbbing. ¡°I think I said she was not a dungeon diver or adventurer, just a merchant visiting Skyholme. We can flesh out her background together later.¡± At least that idiom Gareth was familiar with. ¡°Yeah, my best idea was saying we found a cache of buried treasure,¡± Gareth responded, ¡°but that might be limited. How many times can you say ¡®we found buried treasure¡¯ before people start following you every minute of the day?¡± Gareth turned and paused in his movement, obviously thinking. ¡°I will bring you some breakfast from the pub as well,¡± he said, probably feeling guilty about eating my jerky well after the fact. ¡°Go get cleaned up.¡± He left, and I heard the front door close, and shortly another door opened in the house. Was it Pascal or Freya? Based on the time, my mother and father would be off to work by now. I had given Freya the larger bedroom. Well, Pascal got the biggest bedroom after my parents. We only had three sleeping rooms in the house, and my bedroom had actually been a writing and reading room. It had been big enough for a desk, chest, and one wall of shelves. It also had a large window that Freya¡¯s did not. Most importantly, it was on the other side of the house from the three bedrooms. I had snuck out numerous times to rendezvous with Gareth. In the room, I had been able to squeeze a long wide bench after removing the desk. My mother got me a great new mattress to reward me for giving the larger room to Freya. The shelves had various books, clothing that wasn¡¯t stored in the chest, two pairs of shoes, six hats, a collection of skipping stones, six roles of twine, a roll of fishing line, a box of fishing hooks and lures, four silk handkerchiefs of varying colors, a checkers board game with pieces, three decks of cards, three sets of throwing dice, one of which was dragon bone, three flutes, one of which was an expensive mahogany from a dungeon reward¡­or so said the man I bought it from, three empty glass flasks, twenty-eight carved figurines of various beasts and a wooden box with an assortment of steel and copper coins. My real horde was in the secret compartment in the wall. The mahogany flute was worth at least a full gold and was the one I practiced on. I was terrible at playing it, but I could get a rhythm going for a song. I hated singing, so supplying the tune was much preferred. Almost everything was trophies from work Gareth and I had done for the townspeople. I loved the dragon bone dice as they had been lucky for me when Gareth and I diced against each other. I also had made a GO board, but that was at Gareth¡¯s house. I also commissioned a chessboard but ended up selling it for 30 silver after Gareth didn¡¯t like playing because I beat him so soundly every time. Getting six times my investment back had made the sale worth it. I noticed Freya was in my doorway. She looked at me with a focus I had never seen on her face before. ¡°Father said to let you sleep. I told them you cleaned the barn yesterday and were tired. Also, last night at dinner, Pascal convinced father to bring him to Captain Callem¡¯s farm for a sword lesson. Father said I should check to see if you and Gareth wanted to come. Pascal was sour on that idea, but father told me to ask you directly.¡± Freya had spoken with poise and clarity, not like her. Something was up. Was she angry with me for not letting her hang out with us yesterday? I remembered who Captain Callem was. He was an old naval officer who had retired to our island, Titan¡¯s Shield. He had a small farm outside of town. He had been a marine and an arms master, I think. The title of ¡®arms master¡¯ meant he had achieved mastery over at least five different weapons. He had taught and mentored my father and uncle in the sword and bow when they were in their first year of the academy in Hen¡¯s Hollow. Father had mentioned that Callem had a sizable pension from the navy, and his small tobacco farm made him a good amount of coin on top of that. Supposedly his tobacco had a unique magical effect and was very expensive. I had never planned to fight in my reincarnation. I planned to live a slothful and hedonistic lifestyle once my abilities awakened. Now after my encounter yesterday, I wasn¡¯t so sure. I should at least be able to defend myself, right? ¡°When are they going?¡± I asked. Freya had a look of surprise materialize on her face. Well, I had made it known many times I had no interest in the sword. In my past life, I wrestled in high school and continued in my first year in college. After not making the varsity in college despite winning the wrestle-off in my weight class, I quit. The coach had tried to explain his decision, but I wasn¡¯t having any of it. I had busted my ass the summer before my freshman year of college, and then being told a senior deserved the spot because he had been on the team three years, fuck that! It was weird what I recalled from my past life. That experience had a lot of emotion tied to it. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Freya finally composed herself from the shock of my answer. ¡°Tomorrow after breakfast. It is father¡¯s day off. Also¡­¡± she paused, ¡°Are you going fishing today?¡± I had forgotten about our normal schedule. Today I usually went to Twin Rocks with Gareth. Selling a large catch was usually good for a silver coin or two in the city. I had to think that changing our routine might be suspicious, and the blue pike was our biggest revenue generator. ¡°Yes, we are going fishing, but just by the river today. Are you coming?¡± Her face lit up, and she was already nodding emphatically. ¡°Great. Get the poles together and wait by the barn. I¡¯m going to the bathhouse and getting some breakfast. I will get us a packed lunch.¡± Our favorite fishing spot on the river was just a 10-minute walk, but we usually stayed there for a few hours. A sloping rock formation was right by the river that was very comfortable to recline on. Hopefully, none of the other local kids would be there today. The best swimming hole was just 50 yards (45 m) upstream from the spot. Freya bolted out of the house. She returned an instant later to grab my tackle box on the shelf while wearing the biggest and brightest smile the entire time. After she had left in a whirlwind, I stood very stiffly and painfully and made my way to the bathhouse. When I arrived, Gareth was at the bathhouse and had two meat pies, one chicken and one lamb for me. There was an empty dish behind him as well. He must have gotten breakfast for himself, probably his second breakfast. I thanked him and ate in the small lobby, scarfing down both pies and ignoring the heartburn from the aether core. He then handed me a vial with a thick white paste in it. I uncorked it and sniffed. ¡°There should be enough for applying after the bath and tonight before bed,¡± Gareth said. The smell was reminiscent of lemons. Gareth reached down to the floor to produce and unwrap a package. Pulling out two black leather belts, each with a simple sheath holding the daggers. ¡°Master Aldrich had Antal mold white boar tusk harvested from a dungeon for the handles and wrapped them with leather stripes from a black forest rabbit. He said it would be a shame to use anything less on these fine blades.¡± He was grinning broadly. More likely, Aldrich felt guilty for charging such a high sum. Well, the work was very fine as I inspected it. The belts were plain, but all of Master Aldrich¡¯s work was of high quality and would last a very long time if properly cared for. Antal was a sort of medic in town. He had a low-tier ability that allowed him to shape bone. He could even mend a person¡¯s broken bone if they didn¡¯t resist his magic. It was his only ability, and he had made quite a good living. In fact, he was one of the wealthiest men in town and was responsible for most of the figurines of mystical beasts in my room. Not that many of the 300 people in town had much wealth. The surrounding farms added another 200 people to our total population during town festivals. There were no extremely wealthy individuals in Hen¡¯s Hollow, yet! Gareth interrupted my thoughts, ¡°I got us the private room with the two tubs.¡± I walked with him to the private room and saw Gareth walking before me, trying to sneak a peek into the women¡¯s showers as we passed. Yeah, we both did that when we visited the bathhouse, youthful curiosity. Right now, I was in too much pain to try to get a glimpse behind the angled screens. At the right angle, you could only see a small corner of the room, and the woman who bathed in that corner was almost always older women. The younger women generally swam in the river and didn¡¯t use the showers often. The private room we entered had two of the largest tubs in the bathhouse and water circulating through a small magically heated stove, keeping the water hot. I stripped and quickly slid into the left tub before Edel could come in and sneak a peek. Oh my! I was in heaven as the hot water melted away the aches and pains. Gareth took the other tub. Edel briefly appeared right after we submerged and took our clothes. After soaking for a bit, I spoke, ¡°We are going to fish the river today.¡± Even with my eyes closed, I could mentally see Gareth arch his brow in question, so I answered the unasked question. ¡°Yes, we will stick to our normal routine today. I will not make coins until tonight after I am sure my core is topped off.¡± It took an entire day cycle to replenish an empty core, exactly 23 hours for an untrained core. There were ways to accelerate the core¡¯s recovery, but I hadn¡¯t learned any of those skills yet. The books I had read on magic were general in their knowledge. I continued, ¡°But tomorrow, instead of instruction with your mom, we are going with Pascal and my father to Captain Callem¡¯s for sword instruction.¡± I smirked, anticipating Gareth¡¯s reaction. His tub water splashed as he sat up hastily. Excitement laced in his voice, ¡°You are not pulling my leg, Stormy. That would be a cruel joke if you were.¡± Gareth had always wanted to play with swords but followed my lead instead. He would make a fantastic warrior, but I had always pushed our path toward commerce. Fighting only increased your chances of getting injured or killed, but I had been na?ve. Trouble would find me¡­find us. It was best to prepare to defend our interests. ¡°Yes, Gareth, we are going.¡± I looked over to see his fist pump, splashing hot water everywhere. He would be wired all day and probably not sleep tonight. When we finished scrubbing and rose from the tubs, I saw Gareth catch a glimpse of my manhood. His eyes flashed to his own. He did another back-and-forth. I grabbed a towel and started dressing before Gareth joined me. Edel must have dropped the laundered clothes off, scented of vanilla again, my favorite. ¡°Why don¡¯t you take the larger dagger,¡± I said, handing his that belt and sheath. ¡°I think you need to compensate.¡± My face was twisted in a silly grin. It took him a minute to catch on to my innuendo. ¡°Well, Storme, we will just have to see who needs to compensate tomorrow in sword practice,¡± a little force in his voice laced the dark humor in his tone. Oh shit. Yeah, Gareth was going to beat me silly tomorrow. Maybe I should save some of the lemon-scented salve. After dressing, I used the lemon-scented balm, and it immediately had a positive effect. Together we left, stopped to get some packed meals for lunch, and headed to the barn. Freya was there, and the three of us went to the river. No one was swimming. The fishing went well¡ªfourteen harvestable fish between us. While we fished, Freya kept asking for us to take her to the city and reminded me at least five times her birthday was approaching. But we had evolving plans, and I wouldn¡¯t commit. Gareth kept talking about swords. He was trying to puzzle out what specific sword he should focus on. In the end, he was torn between the saber and the scimitar. Our island produced many of the city guards throughout Skyholme, so we were all versed in melee weapons growing up, and our first year of the academy would focus on the craft. It was a pleasant day, and the misty clouds let the sunshine through for most of the day. I napped and fished, speaking little but focusing inwards on my core. I didn¡¯t have mage sight, but from my readings, I knew a mage¡¯s core was like another limb. You just needed to learn how to control it. I didn¡¯t actually make progress as I kept falling into brief naps in the grass. What I needed was a spell. Innate abilities that drew on my aether core were fine, but imprinting a spell could train me on using my core and manipulating aether. Using our new daggers, we gutted the fish and made fillets to carry back. Gareth carried our load home in the fish bag, and we chatted about other kids in town. All of us contributed to the small gossip wheel of our tiny town. Back home, we split the fillets, and I went to cook for my family. I made a simple garlic butter to cook the fish and had a side of saffron rice with diced sweet peppers. I had been a good cook in my last life. Recipes seemed the easiest thing for me to recall from my past life. I think this was because I took so much joy in cooking in my past life. I was able to find most of the ingredients I was familiar with in the Sphere. My family gushed over the meal, and Pascal couldn¡¯t shut up about the trip to learn from Captain Callem tomorrow. My focus was not on the family. It was on what I would be doing in a few hours, testing my limits. With the family asleep and certain a full day had passed since I had last drawn on my aether core, I was ready. I decided to go for it, completely draining my core and making as much gold as possible. I hadn¡¯t made any silver yet, but I felt confident I could make gold. I focused on the manifestation and soon felt my core draining. It was like vertigo, no, fainting without actually fainting. When I knew I was tapped out, I looked at the product. A good-sized ball of gold was in my hands. I had done it! How much gold, though? I needed a little aether to use my shaping ability, so I waited an hour while laying in bed playing with the lump. Then focusing on my shaping skill, I started to make one coin at a time. Thirteen small coins with almost enough for a fourteenth! And I knew a mage¡¯s core would grow 10 to 20 times over puberty, according to the books I had read! I placed three of the coins in my common coin pouch and the remaining ten coins into the secret wall vault. Sleep came easy after that. Chapter 7 Weapons Training Chapter 7 Weapons Training Pascal was up early, and his obnoxiously loud voice was obviously meant to get the entire house up. When our mother called for breakfast, I dressed slowly to annoy him. With all my life experiences, you would think I would be above such petty brotherly antagonism but no. ¡°Gareth has been waiting outside for an hour,¡± Freya whispered to me when I finally got to the table to eat. Well, apparently, not just Pascal was excited. I turned in my chair to look out the window, and yes, Gareth was sitting in his regular spot on the stone wall across from the house. Mother had probably asked him not to disturb us until after we had finished breakfast. Not because he was unwelcome but because he could eat like there was no tomorrow, and she didn¡¯t make big spreads at breakfast. Pascal was grumpy. I was taking so long, and Freya was also showing some glumness since she had to go to instruction alone today. Caleb, my father, took my slowness as hesitation and obviously didn¡¯t want to push me. He had long been trying to get me interested in martial skills, and this was a crack in my armor. He finally spoke, ¡°So, Strome have you decided on a weapon?¡± Finishing the blackberry jam spread on simple bread, I replied to him, ¡°No.¡± A simple response and the truth. Disappointment clouded his eyes, so I decided to follow up. ¡°Maybe the saber or scimitar,¡± I said. Wait, wasn¡¯t that what Gareth had been deciding between? He nodded with a smile shadowing his face and nodding. Soon he offered his advice which I knew was coming, ¡°Callem taught me the basics of the long sword, spear, and short bow at my first year of the academy.¡± Oh no, I hoped this wasn¡¯t going to become one of his academy stories. They were entertaining, but I had heard them all at least four times. I got up from the table, and this spurred Pascal to speedily do the same, heading out the door to the road. I emerged shortly after, and Gareth waved. His grin was plastered on his face, and he was wearing his dagger on his new belt. I had forgotten to put mine on as it was not yet engrained into my routine. Father took the lead, with Pascal right next to him, talking excitedly. I fell in behind Gareth and whispered to him, ¡°Thirteen.¡± His eyebrows shot up. ¡°Holy angelic fervor Storme." Doing the math in his head, ¡°You could make over a gold every week!¡± his enthusiastic voice carried, but we should be far enough behind Pascal and my father. I shook my head no and handed him my coin pouch, wanting to see his reaction. He poured the contents out into his hand in anticipation. Eight steel coins, three large steel coins, two coppers, and three gold coins. He immediately fumbled the coins dropping the lot on the dusty road. He quickly dropped to his knees to pick them up like he had accidentally dropped the queen¡¯s jewels. My father stopped and turned to look but was fifteen paces ahead of us. ¡°I was just paying back Gareth for something yesterday, and he dropped my coin pouch,¡± I said straight-faced without mischief coating my voice. Gareth had thrown the coins and a good portion of the road into my coin pouch, hurriedly hiding the massive amount of wealth. We regained our stride behind them, and Gareth finally whispered, ¡°Thirteen gold? You are not playing with me?¡± I was silent, and he spoke again a few minutes later. ¡°You can magic up a year¡¯s wages in a day.¡± I was just quiet as I let Gareth ponder the implications. A year¡¯s wages? I think my father made less than twelve gold in a year after his taxes. He did have a two gold annual stipend for his equipment, so yes, I could make more in a day than my father did in a year. My mother made eight or so gold in a year, by my estimation. Sometimes she would get a large project like cutting the sigil of a minor noble on a handful of leather armor for their house guard. That might take her most of a month and earn her an entire gold or two for the effort if the work was intricate enough. Our family was in the lowest economic class in the Skyholme social hierarchy. Gareth interjected on my train of thought, whispering again, ¡°So what is next?¡± Well, I had given it a lot of thought, and I needed some spells. I had my eye on a difficult tier-one spell, cleanliness. ¡°I think I want to set up the mysterious benefactor from the lowlands as a cover story in the city after I make twenty large golds. Before that, I would like to get a spell to practice so I can develop my spell craft.¡± I paused before asking, ¡°What do you want, Gareth?¡± I left it open-ended for him. Gareth wasn¡¯t simple, and he would think hard about it. We walked in silence, and finally, the small farm came into view with the tobacco field to the right and the potato field to the left. Captain Callem was in the tobacco field and waved to us. Suddenly Gareth spoke. ¡°Stormy, I want you to make me a watered steel blade of my choosing and get it enchanted.¡± Even using my nickname, I could tell he was serious and had given this profound thought. Gareth was a fighter at heart, but his friendship with me had pulled him from his nature. He had had his opportunities to get into a fight every once in a long while, and his dominance in those fights had scared the other children from provoking us as a pair. ¡°Done,¡± was my response to his request. I would put all my effort into giving him the best sword I could manage in order to repay his friendship. Captain Callem approached our group. He was a square man that moved with a cat-like grace for his size. His thick hair and beard were snow white, and if it wasn¡¯t for his advanced age, I might have felt like a mouse under a cat¡¯s gaze. His most striking feature was his golden yellow eyes. From my father¡¯s stories, I knew he had one ability, perfect sight. It was a tier 2 ability that allowed him to see in most conditions with near-perfect clarity. According to my father, he had developed the ability to be exceptionally observant, and no doubt he was sizing us up. Pascal was practically hopping out of his shoes in anticipation of starting. My father exchanged a handshake and some private words with the Captain before turning to us. ¡°Captain Callem is an arms master. If he were to charge you for his time, it would be at the rate of one gold per hour. He will spend the next three hours with you boys, so pay attention and use it well.¡± My dad had his sternest face on and his command voice going. He didn¡¯t want us to embarrass him. I knew the Captain was giving his time for free. And we all knew people traveled from other cities and even the capital island to learn from him. These people had passed through our small town occasionally while they were on their way to his farm. Captain Callem brought us to a well-trodden practice yard next to his farmhouse. First up, Captain Callem went through sixteen limbering exercises because the range of motion and ease of movement were the important factors in combat. Just from these exercises, I knew I would be terribly sore tomorrow. It was like weight-resisted yoga. After that, we were all led to the far side of the combat yard behind the small farmhouse. There was a small shed with one side open. Inside there were racks and racks of weapons. I could see my brother and Gareth drooling, almost literally. I was trying to think of a quip when Callem said the next step was safety and care of weapons. When this was finally done, we had just one hour remaining. My father sat on a stone wall smoking a pipe with blue-white smoke coming out of it and watched us the entire time. ¡°Ok, boys, it is time to try to find the weapon you wish to train with.¡± This released the hounds, and Gareth went right for one of the two sabers. Pascal took a longsword. It took me a minute before I selected the gladius. Even this was too heavy for my current frame. The next hour had us practicing footwork with our selected blades. We never fought each other, but we definitely digested a large amount of knowledge. I felt I could now hold the blade properly and move with the short sword in my hand. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! The lesson even ran half an hour over before my father said it was time to go. We thanked Captain Callem and started walking back. I turned around and said I had left my pouch by the fence and was going back to retrieve it. It had been intentional as I had given my following action some serious thought after watching Gareth¡¯s joy today. I found Callem in the tobacco field and went to him, grabbing the pouch by the fence as I approached him, ¡°Captain Callem. Is it true you charge a gold per hour for instruction?¡± I asked patiently. ¡°Yes,¡± he paused, appraising me anew. I had been by far the worst of the three of us, and my mind and focus had wandered more than a few times. ¡°What do you seek of me?¡± he finally asked. ¡°I wish to come three times a week with my friend Gareth for training. Hopefully, you have time on 1st, 3rd , and 5th day after the mid-day meal to train us. We have book lessons in the morning so cannot come any earlier. But I ask that you do not reveal this to my father or brother.¡± I put on my most hopeful look. The powerful persona of Callem stared at me with his white hair blowing in a strong breeze that had gusted. Before replying, he digested what I said, ¡°Yes, that can be arranged. You will be here after mid-day meal all of those days, and I will train you for three hours,¡± I looked about to interject, but his severe look and eye contact gave me pause, ¡°Then you two will help around the farm for two hours.¡± Ok, he probably thought I didn¡¯t have enough coin to pay. ¡°I don¡¯t train students for less than three hours at a time. Any shorter, and the muscle memory doesn¡¯t take hold,¡± he explained, ¡°Also if I have another student here during that time, don¡¯t expect my full attention. In addition, I expect one gold coin per week for payment. The more you sacrifice for something, the more you will be thankful for it.¡± He finished. I just nodded and started looking around the farm. It was only an acre of tobacco, half an acre of potatoes, and a small raised bed of herbs by the farmhouse. His face lit into a bright smile, reading my mind. ¡°Oh boy, there is plenty to do around here. A mage friend in the capital visits me every other month to fertilize the fields and grow my tobacco with aether. I also was thinking of building a new drying barn.¡± He motioned to the shed holding the weapons racks, indicating it was his current drying barn. I puzzled out that he must remove the weapons to hang the leaves. The shed had that sickly sweet smell of tobacco when we cleaned weapons today. ¡°Agreed,¡± I said, reaching out with my right hand to shake and pulling a gold coin from my pouch with my left hand. After shaking on the deal, I placed the gold coin in his hand, which was much larger than I had thought, ¡°Here is the first week¡¯s payment!¡± I turned and left the man in shock. He obviously hadn¡¯t thought I had the coin on me and that I would try to negotiate the price further down. The coin was shiny and new, so I would have to make sure we aged the coins in the future, at least most of them. Catching up to the group, I fell into stride with Gareth. My father and Pascal were talking a few paces ahead of us, and Pascal seemed happy, but he obviously had wanted to spar by the few words I caught. He had learned enough to gain a significant advantage over his friends. Now, our father had taught him some basics, but for the most part, everyone in his friend group was on equal footing in terms of swordplay knowledge. ¡°Gareth, I got us lessons with Captain Callem. We will go to him three times a week after lessons with your mother.¡± I considered withholding the farm hand part of the agreement but decided not to. ¡°We will get a three-hour lesson each of those days, but after, we have to help on the farm for two hours.¡± I looked over at my friend. He had a grin so big it split his face. He just couldn¡¯t stop grinning. After a few minutes, he regained his composure and said, ¡°We should get there early each day to do the stretching. We don¡¯t want to waste any of the three hours of instruction.¡± He was dead serious. He wanted this. We had done everything I wanted since we were 7, and Gareth followed my lead without question. It was time to balance the scales. When we got home, Gareth and I went to the barn while Pascal ran off to show off his new skills to his friends. Father went to have lunch with my mother at work. I was a little shocked when we entered the barn. Some dust still hung in the air. Freya was filthy and pushing a crate across the floor. ¡°Storme! How did training go!¡± She burst into excited words. Standing and showing off the space she had apparently worked all morning on. I had moved a few things to make getting up to the loft easier, but not really organized. Freya had packed, stacked, dusted, and apparently thrown out some junk. Besides the dust in the air slowly flowing out the open door and windows, the place looked pretty good. ¡°I had Brianne help for a bit, but she went home sneezing. But I did promise to put in a good word for her with Gareth,¡± she rushed through the words. Brianne was the cobbler¡¯s daughter and had a crush on Gareth. She made this plainly known to anyone who listened. She was almost 14 and had a plain prettiness to her. Gareth hadn¡¯t taken an interest. He had liked one girl, Casrine. Well, every boy had been infatuated with Casrine. To his credit, she was the prettiest girl in town, but when she had finished her first year of the academy last year, she had attracted a benefactor to pay for her to attend a merchant¡¯s academy in the capital. Personally, I doubted her benefactor was doing it purely out of benevolence. ¡°Are you going to take me to the city tomorrow?¡± Freya asked. I had promised to take her if she helped out. But for the life of me, I couldn¡¯t remember what I had asked her to do. It definitely wasn¡¯t cleaning the barn, but she did do a good job. ¡°Yes, Freya, after breakfast tomorrow, you can come with us to the city,¡± Gareth¡¯s eyebrow cocked in question. ¡°You did a fine job in here,¡± I added, giving her some praise. ¡°I have some business at Wigand¡¯s, and Gareth can take you to Sweets and Treats.¡± It was her favorite candy store in the city. Well, only two candy stores in the city and one general store in Hen¡¯s Hollow had candy. Her expression was furrowed, ¡°And I will give a large steel coin. You, my dear sister, are going to rot your teeth.¡± She just burst into a bright smile as she ran and hugged me. Ugh, she transferred some dust to me. Not that I was very clean, and her nose wrinkled at my body odor. The three of us retired up to the loft, and I told Freya about our upcoming lessons with Captain Callem. She would have to cover our absence which wouldn¡¯t be too difficult as we frequently spent all day on our various enterprises. After figuring it out, she was even more upset that we would be gone six to seven hours three days a week. I appeased her, saying we would bring her to the city with us every 2nd day of the week, and I would give her ten large steel coins to save or spend. That was the upper range of what she made ¡®helping¡¯ with our various errands every week. We all went to the river to swim so we could clean up. There were other town kids there, and soon, we were all playing in our underclothes in the water. Things briefly got interesting when Brianne showed up and talked privately to Gareth out in the middle of the shallow river before leaving in a huff. I was curious about the exchange, but Gareth wouldn¡¯t tell me what it was about. He just blushed and didn¡¯t respond. The misty evening clouds denoting twilight moved in, and we meandered home. I made dinner that night. I fried something similar to polenta, adding a white cheese sauce with chunks of bacon, and made a salad with sweet peppers, red onions, and a simple oil and vinegar dressing. Pascal delighted in relaying his tales of sword practice with his friends and his ¡®outstanding¡¯ victories. I remained silent through dinner other than mentioning me, and Gareth would bring Freya to the city tomorrow. I lay in my bed later that night. It was time to manifest some coins. I decided to go with silver this time. There was a lump of silver on my chest when I had finally depleted my aether stores. It was quite heavy. I started turning the lump into large silver coins. In the end, I had six large silver coins and enough remaining material for six regular silver. So the total value of the silver was just two-thirds the value of a single gold coin. So I had made much less than the value of gold. In terms of ounces, I could make 1.3 ounces of gold compared to 6.6 ounces of silver. So was my ability a multiple of five? Could I then make two platinum coins? I would have to wait till tomorrow night to find out. I added the six silver to my pouch and the large silver coins to my stash. My dizziness from draining my core soon faded, and sleep embraced me. Chapter 8 Captain Callem Chapter 8 Captain Callem Captain Callem was up early to walk, weed and water his fields. He had a lot of pride in working the land after spending his life serving the citizens. He was once Commander Callem, overseeing all the naval training for Skyholme. Under his guidance, the navy had built and crewed more ships than ever in its long history. The new administration had since slowed its growth due to bureaucratic hurdles. The survival rate of marines had also increased during his time. This was due to the improvements he instituted at the naval academy. But as with all good things, that had come to an end. The first lord councilor to the Triumvirate¡¯s Military arm was retired with a dagger in the back. His death had not been made public knowledge. The man had been a friend and supporter of Callem. The intrigue of the three ruling families was outside his duty to the realm, but his friend¡¯s assassination had hit him hard. Callem had two daughters to worry about and five grandchildren. If he made waves, he risked them coming under scrutiny by the unsavory politics of the capital. It wasn¡¯t long till Callem was asked to step down to a lesser role or retire. Callem had too many friends and too much influence in the capital for the new lord council to trust him. He did neither and was demoted to Captain and sent to Titan¡¯s Shield to oversee the barracks in Hen¡¯s Hollow. Barracks? Now that was a joke. Nine men, five were assigned in rotation to the town gate and the other four to the airship dock. Also, not a single one of them lived in the barracks. The only good thing was the barracks served as the first-year academy for the town, which meant he could watch the training of the fourteen-year-old kids coming of age. His input completely overhauled the training and expectations at the small facility. He wasn¡¯t permitted to teach since he was on active duty, but occasionally, he would selectively mentor one or two students. One of those students was Caleb Hardlight. And today, Caleb was bringing his son out to his farm in the morning for a lesson in swordsmanship. He looked over his farm with pride. He had enjoyed smoking tobacco. After much research, he had gotten ahold of a strong strain of sweet tobacco whose seeds had been harvested in the dungeons in the lowlands. Most seeds from dungeons were difficult to grow since they required aetheric soil. He was fortunate to have a friend who made it possible. His tobacco, when prepared, gave off a pleasant blue-gray smoke and had the added effect of increasing one¡¯s reaction speed for a short time after smoking it. The tobacco had the side effect of staining the smoker¡¯s teeth with a blue tint. For Callem, it was a pain to get the special toothpaste from the town¡¯s apothecary to keep his teeth white and healthy from his tobacco habit. He suddenly seethed, looking over his cash crop as he had a flashback. The bastards in the capital had given him a Captain¡¯s pension even though he had spent 42 years as a commander. A sizable difference, nine gold a month compared to thirty gold a month. Oh, it was still a sizable sum out here in the poorest regions of Skyholme, but after everything he had given Skyholme, he hadn¡¯t expected to be shorted. Well, the joke was on whatever bureaucrat had shorted him. He sent his pension to his two daughters now and lived off his efforts on the farm. He had been retired for six years and earned nearly 200 gold in profit annually from selling tobacco harvests about five times during the year. A lot of the credit had to go to his mage friend, Sebastian. He was a war mage specializing in earth and nature magic. When he first moved out to Hen¡¯s Hollow, Sebastian had cleared the land, built the house, and came by every other month to accelerate the field¡¯s growth. In exchange, Callem had a fermentation and distillery in his basement, making a fantastic vodka using the three varieties of potatoes he grew. His vodka was excellent, but he only made five gallons every month and stored the product in special oak casks in his cellar to age it. He also grew sweet potatoes to sell in town and consume himself. Technically he didn¡¯t have a license to make vodka, but he dared the brewer¡¯s guild to object. His other venture and pastime were training young men and women in combat. His remaining friendly contacts in the capital city would send their children to him before entering their first year of the academy, and he would take a large gold for every three days of training. Right after he had built the farmhouse, he had been training two or three children every month. Now as time distanced himself from the capital, he only had four or five come to his farm every year. His musings ended as Caleb came into the clearing walking beside a boy. Two more boys followed the pair, one quite large, and Callem wondered if he was still under 14 years old. Callem walked to Caleb, and the two separated from the boys to speak privately. Caleb started, ¡°Thank you for taking your valuable time today to work with the boys. The large boy is my younger son¡¯s friend, Gareth. My eldest, Pascal,¡± he gestured with his head to indicate the non-descript boy with excitement in his eyes, ¡°has gotten the basics from me and practices every day. My younger son there, Storme, is probably only here because of his friend.¡± Callem had a unique ability, true sight, which allowed him to see extreme details and clarity even in the dark. This allowed him to glean dozens of details through observation. Over the years, he had been able to sort and refine what he was seeing. He assessed the boys as they walked forward. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Pascal was particularly fit but had a poor range of movement. His eagerness would also get him into trouble in a fight by overestimating his abilities. The big lad moved surprisingly well. He probably had manifested some ability because he didn¡¯t have the marks of a trained fighter. The smaller boy, Storme, was distracted, and it was obvious his heart wasn¡¯t in today¡¯s session. It also looked like he was nursing some injuries or strained muscles from his movements. ¡°I will do my best to get them self-aware in the next three hours,¡± he told Caleb. Caleb turned to the boys, ¡°Captain Callem is an arms master. If he were to charge you for his time, it would be at the rate of one gold per hour. He is going to spend the next three hours with you boys, so pay attention and make good use of it.¡± Well, that sounded about right. Caleb had been a good student, but Callem could see from the man¡¯s movements that he had not been diligent in his practice. He first brought the boys back and showed them the sixteen basic facilitated stretches for joint and muscle movement. The big lad was by far the most limber of the three and could probably make a good acrobat if he had the mind to. He now needed to teach the boys weapon care and safety and to see who had good focus and attention to detail. He demonstrated to the boys how to clean, store and do minor repairs and then set them to it. Once again, Gareth was at the top of the class, meticulously cleaning the weapons in his charge, tightening wraps, and carefully stowing the weapons when finished. Now came the fun part for the boys, ¡°Ok, boys, it is time to try to find the weapon you wish to train with.¡± The excited boys wandered through the racks, and Gareth immediately pulled a saber¡ªthe better of the two sabers, Callem noted. Pascal, after a brief hesitation, went for a long sword. The weapon would be too heavy for him at his age and development¡ªa poor choice. Storme moved among the shorter blades. He was smart, but he should have sought a spear or staff. He pulled a gladius and joined the other two. ¡°Okay, staying on your feet, boys, is the most important thing to know to stay alive in a fight. We will now spend the next hour drilling proper movement skills with your selected weapons.¡± The next hour was very enjoyable. None of the boys complained, and Gareth rarely needed to be corrected twice. This boy would be an amazing swordsman if he devoted his life to it. It had been a long since he had seen someone with such potential. Pascal was doing well enough as well. Once he fixed his mobility issues, he should make a passable swordsman. The last boy, Storme, had some potential as well. He was obviously fighting through some discomfort from injuries but didn¡¯t complain and worked hard to try and match his bigger friend. The lesson ended up going a little long, but that was ok. ¡°Good work today, boys. Remember the stretches and do them at least once a day. Practice the footwork with or without weapons. Balance will be key to attacking and defending. ¡°You all did well,¡± Callem said, leaving the boys after shaking Caleb¡¯s hand and telling him he had good boys. As Callem walked back, he began thinking of ways to get Gareth out here regularly. It would be a shame to waste such innate talent. He was surprised to see the smallest boy returning and grabbing a small sack by the fence post. He must have forgotten it, but then he approached. ¡°Captain Callem. Is it true you charge a gold per hour for instruction?¡± What did he want private instruction? ¡°Yes, what do you seek of me,¡± Callem said, trying to run out the possible conversation possibilities before they were spoken. ¡°I wish to come three times a week with my friend Gareth for training. Hopefully, you have time to train us on the 1st, 3rd and 5th day after the mid-day meal. We have book lessons in the morning so cannot come earlier. But I ask you not to reveal this to my father or brother.¡± Storme said with a hopeful expression, but on the inside, Callem was jumping for joy, but that joy did not show on his face. Don¡¯t seem too eager. He reprimanded his inner mentor. He needed to bring the price down to something the boys could manage too, ¡°Yes, that can be arranged. You will be here after the mid-day meal on those days, and I will train you two for three hours,¡± he said, and before the boy could object he continued, ¡°then you two will help around the farm for two hours.¡± That should be something they could manage. ¡°I don¡¯t train students for less than three hours at a time. Any shorter, and the muscle memory doesn¡¯t take hold. Also, if I have another student here during that time, don¡¯t expect my full attention. In addition, I expect one gold coin per week for payment. The more you sacrifice for something, the more you will be thankful for it.¡± He was about to add if they didn¡¯t have the gold, they could work for three hours on the farm, but the boy just nodded. Storme started looking around, probably trying to imagine what he would have to do. ¡°Oh boy, there is plenty to do around here. A mage friend in the capital visits me every other month to fertilize the fields and grow tobacco. I also was thinking of building a new drying barn.¡± The boy¡¯s hand shot out to shake, and he said, ¡°Agreed.¡± Callem covered his surprise when the boy slipped him a coin. ¡°Here is the first week¡¯s payment!¡± Seeing that it was a gold coin, his jaw dropped a little, and the boy was already off to rejoin his band. What were the gods working at? He wanted to train Gareth so bad he was ready to do something extreme, and instead, the boy was hand-delivered to him. He could also use the labor on the farm to train the boy¡¯s muscles. If he was correct, Gareth would be one of the best swordsmen of his generation. Hopefully, he wouldn¡¯t be foolish and run off and get himself killed in a dungeon. That thought pulled at his heart. His only son had died in a dungeon. Callem¡¯s mind began to forecast what he would need to train Gareth. He should have them start by rebuilding the obstacle course in the woods¡­ Two days later, the boys were walking into the farmhouse clearing wearing packs and having a lively conversation. Chapter 9 Obtaining the First Spell Chapter 9 Obtaining the First Spell I awoke so sore I couldn¡¯t move. Yes, that was a lie. It was just excruciating to move. The pain triggered a memory of the first day of wrestling practice in high school when the coach decided to check out the team¡¯s conditioning for the entire practice. I grabbed the lemon-scented salve and used the rest of it on the most painfully sensitive muscles and more significant bruises. I sat in my bed and found the leather backpack nearby that contained the book of coins and the light stone. It was still a little dark outside, so using the light stone, I explored the pages. The coins within were drawn to scale, and weights and metal alloy content were for each of the coins. The book was well written as well. Each page had a brief history of where the coins came from and then located that site within the World Sphere before having detailed images and denominations of the coins. The most fascinating coins were the dungeon coins. Each dungeon manifested loot, which usually included coins, according to the stories I had read. But dungeon coins usually depicted monsters on both sides, usually floor challenge bosses. If I had a bestiary, I could probably figure out what monsters resided in the dungeons just from the coins. According to the book, most civilizations in the sphere melted down dungeon coins and restamped them in their local currency. Dungeon coins were pure metal. Civilizations added other metals, reducing their purity but increasing their hardness. I thought this was truly a waste looking at some of the artwork on the dungeon coins. I had only made it a quarter of the way through the book before the house started stirring. It was my father¡¯s turn to cook, and I smelled bacon and eggs. I thought I had better get up before he burned the eggs. At breakfast, Freya was super excited, and I was happy as well because I had managed to save the eggs from my father¡¯s cooking. Freya rarely got to go into the city. Since Gareth and I were usually just on errands when we went to the city, we didn¡¯t take her often because she wanted to explore the various shops. After breakfast, I got my best backpack, dressed in my best clothes, and gathered all my coins. I planned to spend most of the day in the city and had a few purchases in mind. My gold coins needed to be altered to include 11% silver. I could do that while we walked, sticking my hand into my money poach. Doing this would be a pain but would also increase my gold coins by 10%, so it was worth the effort. When I exited my room, Freya was ready to go, and I slipped her the promised coins for her to spend at Sweets and Treats. Gareth was outside waiting, but he had other plans, ¡°Storme Captain Callem said we should do the stretches every day.¡± How could the big guy still move? And he wanted to stretch? I conceded and stretched with him while groaning and grimacing the entire time but only voiced two or three complaints aloud, well two or three loudly enough for him to hear. Freya thought it was hilarious, especially since Gareth didn¡¯t complain once and kept correcting my form. An hour later, we were off to the city. Freya and Gareth were having a lively conversation while I wept internally from the pain of simply walking and trying to focus on altering my gold coins. At the city gates, I palmed Gareth three large silver coins as I was heading in a different direction. I noticed a few local kids around the gate but didn¡¯t recognize them. I used my ability to get their names in case I needed them later. I was then off to see Wigand. I entered Wigand¡¯s shop a short time later with a rough plan. I would put a deposit down on a spell in the name of my mysterious benefactor. However, when I entered the shop, I stopped dead. Under the one long glass case reserved for his most expensive books was a large book bound in a silvery, shimmering cover. ¡°Storme!¡± Wigand said with a massive grin on his face. ¡°It is an impressive book. A patron brought it by. Found it in storage after his grandfather¡¯s passing. He charged me with selling it. The cover is from a lightning drake hatchling hide. It shimmers like that because the scales have not formed yet. The cover itself is worth a large gold but the contents! It contains within its pages the original schematics and runic inscriptions for the original Harbinger Skyship!¡± Well, that sounded impressive, but I didn¡¯t know what it meant. Fortunately, he continued, ¡°The Harbinger Warship Storme! The core battleship of Skyholme¡¯s fleets!¡± I tried to remember, but it was outside my current education. Exasperated at my lack of excitement, ¡°Storme, the first Harbinger, was built some 2000 years ago, designed by the famed shipwright Vaso Vidalatos. The Harbinger became the ship that allowed us to successfully claim all eight islands and has been integral to repelling attacks from beasts, lowland kingdoms, and expanding our influence in the sphere. The Harbinger boy!¡± He went to a shelf behind him, returned with a book, and thrust it into my hands. The title read, The History of the Skyholme Navy. ¡°You can borrow that for a week, no charge.¡± Then it clicked for me. Wigand had a dozen skyship miniatures in his back room. I had been back there twice, and each skyship was a meticulous model, even having small figures on the deck. Wigand had said they were famous warships that had perished in battle. ¡°So, are you going to purchase the book for yourself?¡± I asked, making small talk, and Wigand scoffed. ¡°Oh, I will page through it¡­but the price? If I had a conservative estimate¡­20 platinum, but most likely two to three times that number at auction. I could never afford that even if I sold all my books. Well, maybe if I sold all my books. But I am in line for a 10% commission on the sale, which I could make in half a year! The High Auction House in the capital is coming to get it tomorrow morning.¡± He looked disappointed at the last. ¡°The book has magic laced into it. It will never rot but can not be duplicated by magic means.¡± He sighed. He pulled the book out and placed it on the counter. ¡°You may look.¡± I came forward and touched the clasp. I sent my metal sense into it¡ªit was platinum. It was my first time getting a feel for the metal, and I thought now I might be able to use my ability to create it. I started paging through and was instantly enthralled with what was detailed within. The beginning text detailed the best lumber and the preparation of the wood after it was harvested. Then came the ship¡¯s construction schematics. It was awe-inspiring and detailed. The ship looked sleek and predatory. Much more impressive than the cargo haulers and shuttle airships I had seen growing up. I was hooked and intense in my study as I turned each page. A stupid grin and smile were pasted on Wigand as he watched me. Then the book¡¯s second half had the runic inscriptions that made the skyships fly powered by aether crystals harvested from dungeons. Studying the runes made me dizzy, but they did remind me of something I had flashes of from my past life, circuits. There was a flow to them far beyond my understanding, but it drew me in. I wanted to understand, and I wanted to build my own skyship. Reluctantly I closed the book. I needed to focus on today¡¯s business. ¡°Wigand, I came here today on behalf of my patron. She is seeking a book on creation magic, creating objects from aether directly. She has promised to get me a tier 1 spell if I can procure such a book. So I am also seeking the cleanliness spell for myself. She advised me, for a first spell, that it is versatile and also what she uses to make her coins shiny and new.¡± My gaze fell on Wigand¡¯s prized book, my thoughts were still straying to what had just regaled my vision. Sixty platinum for that book¡ªI asked, ¡°How much does it cost to build a Harbinger?¡± I was off-topic, but I thought the side comment would help obfuscate my requests and perhaps give me something to strive for. As he was putting away the silvery tome and locking it behind his security measures, Wigand responded, ¡°The classic Harbinger costs about 250,000 gold to build, or at least that is what the Triumvirate reports as the cost. But that includes overpriced parts and labor to grease the wheels of governance. 80,000 gold¡ªYes, that is what it would cost without any armaments or inflated labor costs. Armaments can vary greatly. Beyond that¡­the upkeep, crew, aether crystals¡­20,000 gold annually to operate.¡± Wigand¡¯s dreamy look revealed he had researched and fantasized about this. Wigand¡¯s focus returned to the sale, ¡°Ah well. Ok, a book on creation magic. It is mostly the purview of the dungeons. A dungeon¡¯s consciousness can create organic and inorganic things from the aether. Magi can create inorganic things with tier 5 spells or higher. There are maybe six magi in Skyholme with that type of power. But it is extremely inefficient. Then there are god-class beings. They reside mostly on the 23 moons.¡± He pulled a hefty tome from beneath the desk that indexed hundreds of titles, and began paging through a particular section. ¡°Here is a good book for your patron, The Complexities of Aether Creationism, A Qualitative Comparison of Dungeon and Mortal Spellcraft. Let¡¯s see. It is available for copying only from the Triumvirate Grand Library, though. Let¡¯s see¡­48 gold for the copy, adding the tax and transport cost, 55 gold¡­and my commission,¡± he looked me in my eye, ¡°60 gold total.¡± Wow, I had hoped for maybe ten gold, but this mysterious patron was hopefully going to be my cover for other purchases in the future. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. ¡°That is easily within her means. How long? And the cleanliness spell?¡± I replied, a little upset that the cost would take me five days to manifest. ¡°Ah, the cleanliness spell. Glad you came to me instead of going to Margold¡¯s shop. I may not be a mage, but I will not steer you wrong. The cleanliness spell is common, and there are dozens of variations of the spellbook from which to learn the spell. As with any spellbook, the evolutions detailed within determine its true value.¡± I had learned that all spells evolved, basically leveling up. Each evolution allowed changes to the spell framework. You could make a fire spell hotter or bigger, for instance. ¡°The best cleanliness spellbook accordingly,¡± Wigund continued, ¡°is Guidance for Personal Manicuring and Hygiene, The Comprehensive Handbook for the Cleanliness Spell by Archmagi Sana Velin. It has over 250 evolutions and is considered the best reference for the spell. And today is your lucky day, Storme! I know where to obtain a copy. It would cost 20 gold, though, since it is a rare version,¡± he looked at me, and I nodded. That was much more than the 6 or 7 gold I planned to spend. ¡°The spellbook was in the estate of a war mage who recently lost her life. Her items have not yet been sent for sale, but one of my patrons has a list of the items the family is going to sell, and the book was among them with the buyout price of 20 gold. If I act in the next three days, I can get you the spellbook.¡± I pondered, then pulled ten shiny gold coins from my pouch. I can pay for the spellbook in two days and bring a deposit for the other. Will ten gold be enough of a deposit now? So 20 golds in two days?¡± I asked. Wigand thought for a moment before responding. I added, ¡°She had only promised me ten gold for a spellbook if I completed all her tasks, Wigand. But I am sure Gareth will loan me his ten gold.¡± It was a patchy excuse explaining how a twelve-year-old could get 20 gold. ¡°Yes, that should be enough to submit a request for starting the copying request.¡± He responded after doing the math in his head. ¡°Ok, when Gareth and Freya get here, have them wait. I have a few errands.¡± I said as I left. Relieved, I left the shop in high spirits, not even feeling the sore muscles. My next stop was at the pie street vendor I was friendly with. We sold her blue pike to make fish pies, and I got a chicken and vegetable pie at a discount today. My next stop was at the dressmaker. I had placed an order for a light blue dress for Freya two weeks ago and came to pick it up today. Her birthday was soon, and she had repeatedly mentioned she was envious of Gwen¡¯s blue dress. This one should upstage Gwen¡¯s by a good margin. I paid the three silver I had due for the dress and packed it at the bottom of my backpack. My next stop was the cooper shops. I was looking for a small barrel butter churner. They sold a four-gallon churn barrel that was mounted to a rack with a handle. I wasn¡¯t going to make butter but ¡®age¡¯ my coins in it. Once I learned the cleanliness spell, I could pretend I was using the spell to make my coins shiny and new. Until then, we should dirty up the coins some. Wigand had definitely been curious about my shiny coins and the mysterious patron. Well, it was much bigger and heavier than expected, but I still paid the 20 silver coins for it. With some straps, Gareth could carry the barrel, and I could manage the stand. My next stop was the butcher, two smoked hams, forty sausages, and 1 lb of ground beef. I had introduced ground beef to Skyholme, so the product was relatively new, but people had fallen in love with cheeseburgers, so it was available in most butchers now. I then bought some spices in the apothecary for cooking. My funds were quickly dropping. My last stop was the cheese shop for a block of hard-aged cheese similar to parmesan. Tonight I would make fresh pasta noodles with tomato meat sauce. I returned to the bookstore, and Gareth and Freya were waiting for me. Freya was chewing on some caramel and looked happy. We all went back to the cooper to get the churn. I had to keep deflecting questions about why I had purchased it. But between Gareth and me, we convinced Freya to help us sneak it into the loft in the barn. Leaving the city, we did see the adolescents that had accosted me last time on the road. They were watching from a distance by the city gates. I pointed them out to Gareth, and he eyed them, burning their faces into his mind. They didn¡¯t make a move on us, but there were six of them now, and I think I remember one of the new ones watching me during my shopping spree. Well, the trudge back to town was not very fun. Even Gareth looked uncomfortable with the barrel strapped to his back. We had no trouble getting the churn into the loft and were exhausted lying there. I caught Freya trying to sneak into my backpack, and she left us in a huff when I yelled at her, something I rarely did. Before my parents came home, I was in the kitchen. Freya made the noodles with flour and eggs, and Gareth cut up a light salad. Since I had paid for most of tonight¡¯s dinner, Gareth would be eating with us. Gareth had already brought the sausages to his house and told his parents he was eating with my family. The sausages were his mother¡¯s favorite, garlic, herb, and pork mixture. I made the meat sauce with two types of onions, tomatoes, and some seasoning before adding the cooked ground beef. The noodles were cooked, and the sauce was added on top with thin slices of hard cheese. Mother and father returned home, and soon everyone was eating. Pascal showed up a little late but joined us at the crowded table. There was enough for everyone to have seconds, and we all did. The small talk centered around the news of the recent skirmish with the Sadian Kingdom. It was rumored that we had lost two skyships in the conflict over control of one of the dungeons in the lowlands. The dungeon had evolved and was producing violet aether crystals in tiny amounts. It was the purest aether crystal, though. It wasn¡¯t so much the fact that we needed the crystals but wished to prevent the Sadians from getting them, according to the rumor. The Sadian and Skyholme peoples had been at war for the last millennia. We had the high ground, better skyships, and didn¡¯t have to deal with many of the challenges of bordering other kingdoms and beast-filled wilds. ¡®At war¡¯ might also be too strong a phrase. There was a major skirmish like the recent one every other year or so. The last major conflict was over two hundred years ago when the Sadians sent over 200 skyships to try and gain a foothold in Skyholme and failed to do so. The Sadians did have one advantage over us. They had better warriors and more numerous magi. They were also tolerant of other races, the people of Skyholme were humanists, and very few non-human races were allowed to reside on the islands. From my understanding, a few non-human outside traders had citizen status in Skyholme. Of course, the Wolfguard also lived in the capital but did not have citizenship status. From my point of view, the Wolfguard were closer to slaves. With dinner finished, I retired to my room, and Gareth went home. I was sure he would be topping off his meal with some garlic sausages. I didn¡¯t have to do dishes as I had cooked. Pascal was already working furiously on them so he could go bathe in the river. Tonight I was going to attempt making a platinum coin. I had a good understanding of the metal from Wigand¡¯s ship today. I tried to do so for the better half an hour. I couldn¡¯t do it. I had enough aether, but as I formed my will to the metal, I kept defaulting to one ounce worth of the metal. I was fairly certain I could do about one-third of an ounce of platinum but couldn¡¯t control the aether investment. I needed more practice and refinement with ability. I was getting overly tired from all the attempts, so I just made 13 gold coins and a little extra gold, exhausting my aether. But I compared the little extra with that of last night, and it was definitely more. I slept well that night, exhausted and still sore. In the morning, Gareth brought some fig pastries and woke me early. He had talked to his mother, and we could start our lessons with Callem early today. I didn¡¯t match his enthusiasm. I was so excited that I didn¡¯t hide lacing my ¡®joyful¡¯ response with sarcasm. Lessons flew by. Numbers tables, a few questions, and we read and discussed three short ballads. Then Gareth was dragging me away as soon as we finished. I panicked a little as I had left my pouch on my bed with the 13 new gold coins. My family wouldn¡¯t steal them, but if they found them, they might question where I obtained them. I put it out of my mind. We were soon joking back and forth as we walked to the tobacco farm. I was trying to tease him about his exchange with Brianne at the swimming hole. I was curious about what had made her angry, but he wouldn¡¯t divulge what was said. As we got closer to Captain Callem¡¯s farm, our conversation turned to using the butter churn to age the coins and what we should add with the coins; rocks, metal cubes, dirt, some oil, water¡­ It was an in-depth conversation about how much and what would be best to age the coins. We came out of the woods to see Captain Callem looking at us, and I swear he smiled in anticipation. Gareth also seemed eager to start. I was the only one apprehensive and still sore. What had I gotten myself into? Chapter 10 Gareth, The Protege Chapter 10 Gareth, The Prot¨¦g¨¦ We walked toward Callem, and before I could speak, Gareth spoke firmly and clearly, ¡°Captain Callem, we are early and don¡¯t want our instruction time to begin just yet. Storme and I will complete the daily stretches before we start. Is that ok?¡± Whoa. I stared at Gareth, who had his face relaxed and had his eyes locked with Callem. What the hell, Gareth! An hour of stretching¡­three hours of combat training¡­three hours of farm work. Adding an hour to our commitment? I felt betrayed as we had not discussed this, or had we? I did the same to Gareth sometimes, explaining my reasoning after the fact. ¡°That will be fine,¡± his deep voice intoned. He then proceeded to return to pulling weeds among his tobacco plants. Gareth was already walking to the packed earth training ground by the shed. I noticed six different training dummies set up in the yard that had not been there the last time. ¡°Gareth,¡± I intoned with irritation in my voice, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me about this?¡± He looked at me without his normal grin and sighed. ¡°Storme, do you know who Captain Callem actually is?¡± What? No, you didn¡¯t tell me anything, and why wait till now to reveal this? We were best friends, damn it! ¡°Captain Callem is Commander Callem Dregalla. He was the First Sword of the Skyholme, recognized as the best swordsman in all of Skyholme for 17 straight years. The streak only stopped because he stopped competing in the Annuals. When he was promoted to oversee the training of all naval personnel and raised to Commander, he just stopped competing for the title.¡± Gareth looked reverent in his eyes, ¡°Freya and I went to the library in the city yesterday after Sweets and Treats and lunch,¡± he smirked and got his grin back, ¡°She didn¡¯t tell you about the lunch or the library trip?¡± First betrayed by Gareth and now my sister. ¡°Well, I researched and read the news posts from when Callem was in his prime. He was unbeatable in combat duels and earned many accolades in combat. He single-handedly boarded a Sadain warship and killed everyone on board while in the midst of an aerial engagement.¡± Captain Callem called in his booming voice from twenty paces away as if he was listening right next to us. ¡°I hate that tale, boy. There were six of us that boarded that ship. Four of us lived, and all the credit was given to me because I killed 27 men and women myself. Get to your stretching, boys, and stop bringing up fables.¡± I was a little startled by his interruption. I started the progression of stretches with Gareth. Gareth seemed reluctant to say anything else for fear of Callem overhearing us. We finished the stretches in quiet, well, almost silence. Gareth corrected my form every time I made an error. At the conclusion of stretching, Callem approached us again. ¡°Ok, boys, let us continue with footwork. The next hour and a half were brutal for me, and my body was broken and abused. ¡°Good boys. I have two weighted training blades for you.¡± He retrieved two heavy, dull blades and handed us each one; Gareth¡¯s was bigger. ¡°These blades are dull and useless in real combat but are perfectly balanced and twice as heavy as a normal blade their size. I am going to teach you the 23 master sword forms. Each form has 23 movements, and each movement has 23 variations.¡± That was like¡­it took a moment to do the math in my head 12,167! My face fell as I muttered the number. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Storme. The variations are based on the blade. Suppose you stick to just one sword type, just 529 movements. The first form is called the Snapping Tortoise. It is heavily defensive and only has five of the twenty-three movements dedicated to attacking.¡± The next hour proceeded as we practiced the first two movements. My arm was dead after just half an hour, but Gareth showed only eagerness. He rarely needed correction while I constantly did as we put the movements into muscle memory. ¡°Now I will attack each of you, and you will defend.¡± Wait, what? Before I could respond, Callem had another training blade in hand, swinging simple strikes at each of us. First Gareth, then me. My aching arms could barely hold the training sword, but I blocked the first six deliberately telegraphed strikes before the seventh bashed my own sword into my forehead, knocking me out. When I woke, I just heard the clang of steel. Gareth and Callem were still at it, but Callem¡¯s strikes had increased in speed. As I sat up, they stopped. ¡°Storme, sorry about that,¡± Callem said with sincerity. ¡°I had judged you capable of handling three or four more strikes. I am out of practice sparring with a student.¡± Sparring? I had been defending my life. I felt a large lump on my head. Did I crack my skull? ¡°Storme, in the kitchen, there is a white cabinet. There are restorative vials in there. The small white ones will erase your injury. Go and drink one.¡± I walked jelly-legged to the farmhouse. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. The farmhouse was actually quite nice on the outside. Twenty yards by fifteen yards and two stories built completely out of stone. The wood trim was in excellent care, and I entered the large front door and was stunned by the interior. The house was immaculate. White walls and clear, stained, fine woodwork were everywhere. The living room, kitchen, and dining room were one massive room. A staircase led upstairs, and the first floor had three doors to other rooms. No, one of those doors was under the staircase, so it probably led to the basement. The kitchen was small but had two cold storage boxes powered by a runic script and small aether crystals. I peeked inside and found one was a freezer and the other a fridge. The cooking top was also rune scribed for heat. All of them were very expensive luxury items. I found the white cabinet and opened it to find an assortment of neatly labeled vials. I heard Callem yell, asking if I needed help. I had been dawdling. I grabbed one of the small white vials and drank. The taste was best described as sour apple. The elixir acted fast, and all the pain in my body vanished in just a few seconds. I headed back out to the yard, dragging my feet just a bit. Half an hour later, I really wanted another elixir. I had a few bruises but nothing serious. With the lessons done for the day, Callem complimented us. ¡°Storme, you did very well, do not think you failed today.¡± He put his hand on my shoulder and looked into my eyes, and I could tell he was serious. ¡°I know you are not as motivated as Gareth, but I have worked with hundreds of boys, girls, men, and women, and I can honestly say you have the potential to be better than the majority.¡± His eyes and voice said he was sincere. ¡°Gareth, do not get a big head, but I think you could surpass me in time.¡± So much for not letting Gareth get a big head. It was swelling before my eyes. ¡°Ok, you boys have some work to do for me. This way.¡± He turned and headed into the nearby woods. Gareth followed like a puppy. I hesitated and needed to consider. I was at a crossroads. I was sure Callem would continue to train Gareth if I bailed, but I didn¡¯t want to abandon my friend on his journey. I didn¡¯t care that he would far surpass me. I decided we would be taking the journey together, which is what mattered. I hastened after them. In a clearing after a short trip through the woods, the site I beheld had me thinking about changing my mind. Gareth was puzzling out what he was seeing, but I knew. It was an obstacle course straight out of hell. Narrow beams ten feet off the ground, ropes, suspended bags, walls, a pond with rock hopes. I didn¡¯t want to be on American Ninja. There was also an archery range on the far side¡­or did that mean he was going to shoot arrows at us while we did the obstacles? Before I could do an about-face and return to the farm, Callem spoke, ¡°The course is a little overgrown, so rather than work the fields today, we will clear the brush and check the ropes.¡± Callum had a devilish grin, and Gareth was tickled pink with the idea of the training course by the stupid look of joy on his face. We got to work and finished in just over three hours and were allowed to head home. ¡°Gareth, I think I am going to buy a cart,¡± I said after I had forced my body down the path for half a mile. ¡°Why Stormy?¡± he asked, already knowing the answer. ¡°So you can pull me home after training,¡± I replied without humor in my voice. Gareth had a response ready, ¡°You should just get a horse or reindeer.¡± That wasn¡¯t a bad idea, but it would draw attention to me as they were expensive animals to maintain. He suddenly went off-topic, ¡°Tell you what, we race home, and the loser buys lunch for the next week.¡± Before I could reply, he was off. I didn¡¯t chase him as he sprinted away. I was slightly fast than him over rough terrain, but his long legs easily beat me on straight paths. The only solace I took was that he was moving a bit gingerly, so that inhuman boy had felt today¡¯s training a little, at least. On returning to town, I went to the pub and gorged on milk, bread, roasted chicken, glazed vegetables, and beer cheese soup¡ªall without Gareth. I rolled myself home and went to my bedroom after letting my parents know I had returned. Freya came in, and I quietly relayed the day¡¯s tales, making sure she knew how gallant her brother was. I did tell her I was a little upset she hadn¡¯t told me about the library trip and what they learned about Captain Callem. She then told me she had just looked at the picture books in the library and didn¡¯t know what Gareth had been researching, but he did mention a Commander, somebody. Ugh. I gave her a lecture about paying attention to her surroundings and the absolute importance of sharing relevant information with her brother, me, not Pascal. She was a little huffy but seemed to acquiesce. After she left, it took me a while to find a comfortable position to settle into. I generated the gold coins and stuffed them under my pillow, not wanting to travel the five feet to the secret cache in the wall. At least tomorrow, there was no training, and I could go claim my cleanliness spell! Chapter 11 Magic Isnt Easy Chapter 11 Magic Isn¡¯t Easy I woke often during the night, trying to reposition my body to avoid pain. I also came to one conclusion; I needed more pillows! I slept in short bursts and dreamed of getting beaten by a sword, casting amazing magic, running a merchant empire, and buying a horse, only to find the horse talked and didn¡¯t like to be ridden. It was a crazy night, and the fatigue, large amounts of food in my stomach, and growing anxieties needed to be addressed. I was up far too early, consolidated my wealth into my money pouch, and went to the barn before anyone else was up. I was going to age the gold coins, but to my absolute horror, I found butter in the butter churn! Freya! I scraped out what I could and disposed of it in the refuse pit. I then added the coins, some stones, metal nails, dirt, and coal. Then I began to churn the coins. It was a little noisy, but the barn should be far enough from the house to not wake anyone. After thirty minutes, I used some wet rags to clean the coins. I thought they looked passable, and I placed them into my pouch. The butter remnants had probably helped dirty the coins, but I would have to talk with Freya to see what she was up to with making butter. I walked to see Gareth at his house and couldn¡¯t help but grin. Gareth was cutting wood but was definitely moving with a lot of discomfort. He noticed me and seemed to stand straighter, trying to hide his own pains. ¡°Stormy! Ready for the morning stretches?¡± His grin was on his face. So that was it. We were playing a silent game of who could endure the pain the best. We began the stretches, and we began the tough guy game. Soon I was moaning and groaning over the movements as my muscles were doing their best to tell me enough already! After a while, Gareth stopped being so exact in correcting my movements, and I was thankful when we finished the routine. ¡°Stormy, we need to complete the series in 30 minutes, according to Callem.¡± I just glared at him while he grinned. Maybe I wouldn¡¯t give him an allowance today in the city as recompense for these assaults on my body. I moaned and sighed, ¡°We should get to the city in haste this morning. I want to purchase my spell and return to practice it. What if we go to Twin Rocks Lake with our poles when we get back? You can fish, and I can practice my spell.¡± Gareth seemed to consider. ¡°You want to go back to the city to sell fish later today?¡± I hadn¡¯t thought of that. No. that would be a waste of time, and I churned over some ideas before responding. ¡°You know that camping kit you always wanted at the adventurer¡¯s shop? Why don¡¯t you get it and we can cook the fish by the lake for dinner? I will write down some vegetables and cooking supplies you can also get.¡± Gareth immediately fist-pumped. Ok, I should have never shown him that gesture from my past life. We spent a short time getting breakfast and packing snacks at the Hen¡¯s Hollow general store. I returned home and strapped on my dagger at Gareth¡¯s insistence. Freya was up and devastated she wasn¡¯t going with us to the city today. However, her birthday was just around the corner, and I teased her about her present. If she ransacked my room looking for it, she would find the dress in the bag under my bed, and that should make her happy. Soon Gareth and I were walking toward the city. It was the smallest city on Titan¡¯s Shield but big enough for us. The city was called Solaris, after a sun god. Religion was not practiced much by the citizens of Skyhomle. The only representation of the god in the city was his likeness in a fountain in one of the squares. The maps of Titan¡¯s Shield showed it to be oval in shape, with the widest part around 150 miles (240 km) and the short side of the oval being 80 miles (125 km). There were four cities on the island, forming a diamond shape. Our city was at the bottom, while the island¡¯s capital city was at the top of the map and was called Aegis City. It was the capital because it was built on top of one of the two dungeons on our island. The other dungeon on the island was up in the mountains overlooking the capital, so yes, the city of Aegis had a monopoly on both dungeons. The other two cities were similar to ours in that farms and light industry surrounded them. If you also looked at the map of the island, it was clear our small town of Hen¡¯s Hollow was close to the edge, just a few miles from a very long drop. During the walk to the city, Gareth asked, ¡°Do you think we should get some recovery potions from an alchemist?¡± He was being serious, and I remember Captain Callem had an impressive array of potions. But I had read a lot and knew some general things about potions. ¡°We should stay away from potions, Gareth. Heavy use when you are young can stunt your growth. Well, maybe in your case, that would be good for you.¡± I ducked a lazy swing by Gareth. But it was true. Using potions did adversely affect the growth of young people. Or, to be more precise, poorly made potions had adverse effects, and one thing the Skyholme people lacked was quality alchemists. Oh, there were a lot of alchemists and even some good ones, but the prices were extremely high, and the effects were not too impressive from what little I understood of the other civilizations throughout the sphere. This was in part due to Skyholme¡¯s limited array of ingredients. We had very few dungeons on Skyholme, and our trade with the lowlands was constantly in turmoil. The genuinely effective alchemy ingredients rarely grew outside of dungeons. ¡°Ok, Gareth, get us each a minor restorative potion for minor wounds. That should be what, 50 silver each, maybe? Here take three gold for everything today but stay with me until Wigand¡¯s. The local kids have been eyeing me.¡± Gareth¡¯s face clouded in anger as I reminded him of my body being used as target practice. ¡°You will stay in Wigand¡¯s till I return?¡± He looked at me, waiting for the question to be answered. ¡°Fine, yes, you want an oath or something?¡± I was teasing him because I planned to get my spell and fall into the bookstore¡¯s big plush leather reading chair. My aching body was looking forward to it. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. We ran into no problems getting to Wigand¡¯s, and Gareth left for his errands. On entering the shop, Wigand came out of the back room with his usual good cheer. ¡°Storme! So good to see you! I got your spellbook in the back! And have a few other books you may be interested in.¡± Wigand was always the salesman. I smiled tightly in response. I pulled out the 20 gold coins. It was ten for my spell book and the ten gold deposit for the other. ¡°Fantastic! When the copy is ready, I will let you know to get me the remaining 50 gold from your benefactor.¡± Fifty gold. An unreal sum when I stopped to think about my family. My abilities and wealth would improve their quality of life after the academy. Wigand went to get my spell book, and when he returned, it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. It was a thick book with a black cover and the title in silver letters embedded in the leather, Guidance for Personal Manicuring and Hygiene, The Comprehensive Handbook for the Cleanliness Spell by Archmagi Sana Velin. It wasn¡¯t overly special compared to any other book I had read, but it was mine, and as I took it, I am ashamed to admit I hugged it to my chest for a brief moment before realizing what I was doing. Wigand had a knowing smile, and his eyes were on me. ¡°So Storme, I have two other books you may be interested in as you are just beginning down your path to magic. I take it you do not have a teacher,¡± He looked embarrassed for a second. Wigand didn¡¯t like to pry into other people¡¯s business unless asked. ¡°Well, I have two books, as I said, Understanding Spell Imprinting and Aether Core Facilitation. Both are very old, out-of-date printings from the Skyholme Magus Academy in the capital, but they are two important primers for new mages. I got both books at the same estate sale. I got them with your cleanliness spell for very cheap.¡± Spell Imprinting was the process of learning a new spell. I knew this much. A mage could only learn so many spells based on his or her capacity to lock the spell form to their aether matrix. The process was commonly called imprinting from my readings. Once locked in, a mage could evolve a spell as it essentially ¡®leveled up.¡¯ ¡°How much?¡± I asked, very interested. Wigand relaxed and smiled, ¡°Two gold for both or a gold and fifty silver for the imprinting book and fifty silver for the aether core book.¡± Extremely reasonable as both books should be a few gold coins new. I paid him with one gold and ten large silvers. Both books were well-worn and contained about twenty pages each with text on both sides. I went to the comfy chair to read, and Wigand went about his work, sensing I didn¡¯t want to be disturbed. I opened the spellbook because, just like in my last life, I skipped the directions, confident I could figure it out on my own. I read the forward by Archmagi Sana Velin. Many have overlooked the usefulness of the basic spells. I have always believed that a spell is a living, evolving companion to magi. Within those evolutions, a simple spell can be utilized far beyond the originally intended scope. For this tomb, I talked to dozens of mages from all walks of life who had mastered the Cleanliness spell and detailed their evolutions within. One woman had extended the range to clean others, another mage increased the range so far he could clean entire rooms! One hunter frequently used the spell during tracking to eliminate his odor. A warrior who battled in the arena used it to sterilize his injuries. In all, you will find 254 unique evolutions within. -Archmage Sana Velin, Instructor of the Tertiary Codex Well, I was super excited as I turned the page. I was ready to learn my first spell. The spell forms made me dizzy looking at them as I paged through. Four pages full of magic lines that made little sense to me, and this was a basic spell, granted with some complexity. I just had to burn those four pages into my memory right? I spent twenty minutes and just got nauseous looking at the curvy lines forming spiraling circuits. I turned to the evolutionary index for the spell. The first thing that caught my eye under the ¡®adding a lingering scent¡¯ was that vanilla was listed as an option. Ok, my first evolution would definitely be that. Other things that attracted me; extending simple effects, the fresh breath evolution track, and the health track for the elimination of bacteria and disease within a caster. After each evolution, there were details on coercing the spell to initiate the new desired effect, the book provided a structured overlay for the spell form alteration. The spell truly had some depths. I spent almost two hours picking out the evolutions I wanted before Gareth returned with an extremely large pack. ¡°So Stormy, are you a wizard yet?¡± His grin turned to a laugh as I stared at him with indignity. ¡°Ok, let¡¯s go. The pack has a folding fishing pole in it, so I don¡¯t need to stop and get mine at home.¡± He knew me too well. I would spend my day on the spell and not fishing. The walk to Twin Rocks was down a lightly trodden path and a good hour from the city. We could circle around Hen¡¯s Hollow without losing any time. Not many people went there. Besides the blue pike, there wasn¡¯t much. At the lake, we set up between the two big rocks on the shore for which the lake was named after. The lake had good depth here, and we usually did well fishing there. Gareth set his line and set his pole and then went to stretch but, before doing so, tossed me a small vial which I caught. ¡°The restorative potion. Expiration is on the cap.¡± He said, turning away and going through the stupid limbering exercises for a second time today. I put the vial half the size of a test tube in my pocket. We would need a separate pouch on our belts for them. I went to my studying while Gareth proceeded with his own training. After a short while, I reluctantly picked up the spell imprinting book and read it cover to cover and was deeply saddened. Imprinting a spell took weeks! A tier one spell took a new mage on average 20 days! The best advice they had was to trace out the spell forms over and over. I was unhappy as I had been hoping to cast my spell today. The other book was a quicker read. It focused on understanding how to focus inwardly and find your aether core. But most importantly, it described the aether in a newly formed core as thick molasses. You needed to thin the aether by ¡®stirring¡¯ it constantly and using it up to draw in the fresh aether. So this cheaper book was actually more useful. It was probably why I couldn¡¯t make less than an ounce of metal at a time. I needed to thin out my aether to be able to control it better. The book highly suggested getting magic devices to charge with aether if the mage didn¡¯t have a spell or ability to empty their core. Apparently, regularly drawing on the aether core was important to help it grow and do the exercises described within. I added this to my to-do list, well, I just had to remember to make coins every day. Maybe I could disguise myself as just a mage with spells and no abilities in the future. The last thing I wanted was to be chained in some noble¡¯s dungeon, making endless amounts of coin for them. I put away the spellbook and imprinting book and started focusing on my core. There were 23 suggested exercises detailed in the book. All of them are supposedly simple but hard to master. I was on exercise 5 when Gareth yelled. ¡°Storme, move it!¡± I looked around in panic and didn¡¯t see anything besides Gareth running at me. Then a massive beast of black feathers and talons barreled into me from above. Chapter 12 Sebastian Chapter 12 Sebastian The large bird grasped my right shoulder and left bicep in his talons. One talon pierced my upper chest on the right side. The momentum of the raptor took my left arm into a painful rotation, pulling it out of its socket and tearing ligaments and muscles. I was now pinned to the ground and looking up at a giant black eagle. It had a foot-long beak whose sharpness looked like it would make easy work of my tender flesh. When we locked eyes, I saw my end in its black eyes. Gareth suddenly appeared behind the eagle¡¯s head, flying through the air out of its line of sight. The eagle didn¡¯t pick up on his presence as he landed on its back, wrapped his left arm around the neck of the raptor, and drew his dagger clean across its neck with his other arm in an instant. The bird tried to turn, but it was far too late for it to respond to the attack. Its neck tendons were most likely cut, and the large bird hung over me for a brief second before collapsing onto me, completely burying my body. The death collapse movement wrenched my arm and shoulder more, and I felt the talon release from my chest, alleviating pressure but allowing my lifeblood to flow from the wound. The weight of the bird was not my biggest problem. The blood from Gareth¡¯s attack flowed freely from the eagle¡¯s neck, and the feathers were suffocating me. I was drowning in blood and suffocating at the same time. It was a short time later that Gareth had pulled the beast away. I couldn¡¯t speak; the only sound I could make was a rasping moan. My eyes were mostly out of focus, but I could see the panicked look on Gareth¡¯s face. He fumbled through a pouch on his waist, produced the restorative vial he had purchased today, and poured it into my mouth. ¡°Shit, still bleeding,¡± was all he said as he ran to my pack and dumped the contents out. Was it weird that I was more concerned with the rough treatment of my books than my ebbing life? Gareth returned with the vial he had given me a few hours ago and again forced the liquid into my throat. How the hell was I still conscious? My mind was currently clear and, Oh shit! Two potions consecutively before the first dissolved! It was a simple thing told in a child¡¯s rhyme. The dangers of combining two potions within the digestive tract. It was rarely a pleasant experience for the imbiber. It was a major error on Gareth¡¯s part, but as long as they were from the same batch, I should be all right. At least, I hoped so. A few moments later and Gareth finally relaxed. ¡°It stopped bleeding, but your arm is all messed up. What should I do?¡± Well, I was in no place to give advice as my shock was starting to wear off, and the pain was doubling every second as my body figured out my condition. Tears started streaming from my eyes, and then I screamed. Well, it wasn¡¯t a scream, as I now knew some of my ribs were broken. ¡°Quiet Storme!¡± Gareth whispered urgently, rushing back to me, ¡°The shadow eagles usually hunt in pairs.¡± He was scanning the sky now. My thoughts drifted to shadow eagles. We learned about them in school. They had not been seen on the island in over twenty years, and Gareth and I had decided the stories of them were more to scare young children from venturing toward the edge of the island and risking falling. Even the tales said the eagles just targeted small children and livestock. Guess in the raptor¡¯s eyes; I fell in that category. ¡°Ok, Storme. I need you to wait here. I am going to Callem. He is a little closer than if I went all the way back home. But I am going to have to move you beneath the ironwood tree by the water for cover. This is not going to be pleasant.¡± Well, it didn¡¯t matter as Gareth¡¯s first tug under my arms pushed me into unconsciousness. I awoke with Callem kneeling over me, but I couldn¡¯t open my eyes and just recognized the man by his voice. I wasn¡¯t sure how long he had been there, but he was checking my body. I felt his hands inspecting my injuries gently. ¡°It is not good, Gareth. The vial I gave him will deaden his nerves and keep him from feeling the pain. He is going to need a good healer from the capital,¡± he paused, ¡°I have a friend who will come. We will get him back to the farmhouse first. Once he is safe there, you can go tell his parents.¡± I managed to shake my head somehow ¡®No.¡¯ Iron was in Callem¡¯s tone of voice, ¡°Fool boy. You are halfway to the grave, and if not that, you are probably going to be crippled unless you receive some upper-tier healing,¡± he sighed loudly. ¡°Gareth, tell his parents what you will,¡± Callem said with some frustration. Although I couldn¡¯t think clearly, I still muttered two words before slipping away to unconsciousness again, ¡°My books¡­.¡± I awoke and could hear three distinct voices talking. One was Callem, one was feminine, and the third was male. I kept my eyes shut and listened. The female voice was speaking, ¡°¡­are you sure? I repaired all the damage to the flesh and bone. The scar on his right shoulder will not be difficult to remove. There is also no sign of any further infection.¡± The unfamiliar male voice spoke next, ¡°Nisil, that will be all. Callem wants the scar to remind the boy of what happens in your youth when you are foolish. Hopefully, he will learn from this little adventure. You can wait on the Wind Splitter.¡± I heard someone rise and exit the house. The unfamiliar voice continued, ¡°So, friend, you called me urgently out here on the communication stone to tend to this unremarkable boy. Who is he? I don¡¯t see any resemblance on his face to you, so not a relation. I know you called me because Nisil was attached to me; she is definitely one of the better healers in all of Skyholme, but explain it to me in more detail so I can better ask a favor in return.¡± Callem¡¯s deep voice responded, ¡°Geese Sebastian, you talk like a damned politician. Trading favors¡­ The boy is one of a pair of disciples I took on in the sword arts.¡± His tone changed slightly: ¡°The other boy will be exceptional, probably surpassing me in time. This boy will also be a fine swordsman, but I am mainly teaching him because the boys come as a pair. They are fast friends like you and me.¡± ¡°Fast friends, are we now? And you are mentoring boys to be master swordsmen now. I thought you said you would never do so again after your son¡­¡± the other man stopped in his speech as he realized his error. Callem¡¯s son had died in a dungeon, or so my father had told me. He regrouped and continued, ¡°Well, I suppose so. You might have saved my life a half dozen times... but then you ran here and left me to that viper¡¯s nest in the capital.¡± I heard some movement in the kitchen. ¡°I am parched, old friend. How about some of the 30-year-old vodka on ice with that red fruit juice you like so much?¡± His tone was lighter, and it was obvious he wanted to get past the blunder of mentioning Callem¡¯s son. ¡°You mean the juice you like so much that costs me 20 gold to import from the Sabian merchants? And the vodka I made with my own two hands and aged in my own white sugar oak casks imported from the lowlands? What happened to the 5-gallon cask you took with you last time you were here to grow my tobacco?¡± It was the first time I heard Callem sound exasperated, but his voice had no malice. The mention of his son was now safely buried in the conversation. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me how you get the juice! I might have to report you to the Triumvirate smuggling office!¡± Sebastian replied jokingly. ¡°I still have some of that cask left, but the headaches of running the shipyards require a good shot every evening, so it is running low.¡± Movement in the kitchen paused the conversation, ¡°Did you know Lord Leif Dintho has nearly doubled the cost in the last year of black cedar he is selling to the navy? I checked, and the general market price has barely budged. He is the only supplier, and when I told the Triumvirate in my monthly report, they just signed off on the cost increase. But you know what I did to spite the corrupt asshole? I redrafted our three standard ship hulls to reduce the inclusion of black cedar by half! You wouldn¡¯t believe the hell storm that was created!¡± The man was extremely lively and passionate in his speech and laughing at his own cleverness. ¡°I am done with politics, Sebastian. You can save Skyholme on your own. I am just going to enjoy my years here. And you know that other boy, Gareth is his name, he might be the weapon you are seeking to stabilize the navy if you can steer him on a righteous path. I also want his abilities assessed. Are there any assessors or readers independent of influence? I don¡¯t want his abilities spread to the houses or the Triumvirate until he can fend for himself.¡± Callem was steering the conversation away from politics. The man sighed and, after a pause, said, ¡°Wynna and her daughter Ennet. They are two of the better readers in Skyholme. They keep their readings private. At least I have not heard anything about them giving out information they have gleaned in my 72 years. That can¡¯t be said of any of the other powerful readers. No matter how much they profess confidentiality, they are all in the pocket of one house or noble. If you are that worried, you can always take him to the lowlands for an assessment. I will even fly you there myself.¡± The man continued. I heard liquid being poured. When had Callem moved? I hadn¡¯t heard him shift position. ¡°This drink is fantastic, but it doesn¡¯t settle our debt of you dragging me out here. I do have a favor to ask of you.¡± Callem spoke immediately, ¡°Name it, and if within my power, I will do it, friend.¡± I think Sebastian was finishing off his glass as there was a long pause. ¡°My granddaughter, Cilia, is in her fourth year at the naval academy. She wants to captain a ship as I did in my heyday,¡± he paused, sighing heavily, ¡°Well, earlier this year, there was trouble at the naval academy,¡± he paused. ¡°Another officer assaulted her in training.¡± I heard wood splinter from the direction Callem had been speaking. ¡°I know this would have never happened under your watch. That idiot in charge of the academy always lets things slide and looks the other way for favors. I took care of what I could, Callem. The cadet was the son of Halifax Bricio. The cadet is 22nd in line to succeed the Bricio seat on the Council of Three. He is still enrolled in the academy, but Cilia has been moved back a year, repeating her 3rd year.¡± Sebastian sighed, ¡°I know she is being punished for his transgression. But at least she will not be in his classes any longer. I need you to teach her how to defend herself. Her martial skills are the only area she ranks low in at the academy. She can come here in 8 months and train with you for two months between academic years. The Bricio cadet also has two Wolfsguard with him at all times. While I could temporarily assign my Wolfsguard Nisil to her, it wouldn¡¯t help. She needs to be able to stand on her own two feet in the navy. She is too stubborn to give up her dream. I have tried to convince her many times in the last few weeks. If this is too much, just say so, and I will hire others in the city, but her additional training will be noticed and may adversely affect her.¡± I heard an empty glass being set down. Callem finally replied. ¡°Cilia is the tall gangly granddaughter?¡± Master Callem was quick to reply. ¡°Tall, yes, and she has filled out. She is strong for a woman her age and a pretty good athlete, but her mind is sharpest. She has a small aether core and can only imprint a few spells.¡± Pride rang in his tone, ¡°I will also set up an appointment with Wynna as payment.¡± Sebastian added, sounding hopeful. ¡°Two months. Not a lot of time. I will focus on hand-to-hand, and she can choose one weapon to focus on while she is here. The boys can help. Ok, it is a deal. Get me an appointment with Wynna as well,¡± he sounded like he was thinking hard, ¡°for both boys. I doubt Gareth will go without Storme to see a reader, so make an appointment for two.¡± The pair sounded like they moved together and were shaking hands. ¡°I will bring out three pouches of tobacco to the ship, but it is time for you to get moving. An extended and unexpected absence like this may draw eyes to me. And if you want more of the fruit juice and vodka, you can stop by anytime for a drink.¡± The door closed. ¡°So Storme, how much did you hear?¡± I nearly jumped off the couch but slowly sat up. It was work to even sit up, and I was lightheaded. ¡°You can wipe the surprise from your face. You don¡¯t snore but have a low pitch whistle when you sleep. Sebastian didn¡¯t notice that it had stopped. I did.¡± ¡°Captain Callem, I woke shortly before Nisil left,¡± I said. He was nodding, replaying in his mind what had been said. ¡°Well, that was Admiral Sebastian Woodcraft. He is a powerful earth and nature archmage. I count him a friend,¡± he sighed, ¡°one of the few I have left, alive at least. In case you are wondering, he changed his last name when he became recognized as an archmage, it had been Riffolk prior. Riffolk is a minor house of nobles in the capital that is known for¡­unsavory things. He dissolved his bonds to his family when he reached the status of an archmage. Why do I tell you this? It is more for your safety. Even though he has cut ties with his family they are still like mosquitos around him. Keep your distance from Sebastian until you are old enough to fend for yourself. So do you know what a reader is?¡± Callem had moved to sit in front of me. I shook my head no. ¡°Well, man has always quested to quantify everything he lays his eyes on. I bet some mathematician out there has calculated how many blades of grass there are within the entire sphere.¡± He huffed, ¡°I digress. By assigning numbers to certain descriptors, readers can access how strong, smart, fast, fit, and many other things you are. Depending on their power will determine how accurate their readings are. Some magitech devices do the same thing, but in Skyholme only the Triumvirate is allowed to utilize them. Readers are not outlawed yet. Some of the more powerful readers with tier 2 or tier 3 reading abilities can read others¡¯ actual abilities, affinities, and racial traits. We do not have many in Skyholme, but many are in the lowlands. I believe your friend Gareth has the tier 3 ability, Giant¡¯s Constitution. He also has at least one other ability that has improved his reflexes, but I haven¡¯t been able to ascertain which yet by observation. If I can identify his abilities, I can serve him better as his teacher.¡± He was looking at me for approval¡ªpermission. ¡°How much do readings cost?¡± I asked. He misinterpreted my question. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I will cover the cost for both of you. If you choose not to reveal your abilities to me, I am also fine with that. I know your aether core awakened. Sebastian saw your books. He even offered a platinum coin for your cleanliness spell book. Quite the collector¡¯s item, he said. Guess all of that particular author¡¯s spell books are enchanted not to be able to be copied. You missed that part of the conversation.¡± ¡°Well, you should rest after you eat. There is plenty of food in the cold chest. I need to see Sebastian off.¡± Callem rose and looked a little older, if that was possible. He retrieved some pouches of tobacco and went outside. I hobbled over to the fridge. I started in on a complete strawberry pie. I was surprised when it was completely gone. Next, I cut off some cheese and large slices of ham and made two sandwiches with a few slices of herb bread. While I was working on the second sandwich, Callem returned. ¡°Gareth is back.¡± As if by magic summoning, Gareth burst into the house. He looked me over intently, ¡°Storme, you look good. Can you use the arm?¡± I moved it to show him I was whole and functional. ¡°I told your parents and mine we were out here helping Captain Callem on the farm for the next three days for a gold coin. So I didn¡¯t lie. I mean, I didn¡¯t say who was getting the gold coin,¡± he grinned at his joke as technically we paid Callem a gold and were still working 9 hours for the lessons. Callem interrupted our reunion. ¡°Let Storme get some sleep. I will get you both some bed rolls, and you can sleep in my common room tonight. I believe you both have a sword lesson tomorrow.¡± I groaned, my body already shivering in anticipation of a new wave of pain. Chapter 13 Vested in the Sword Chapter 13 Vested in the Sword Gareth had to wake me in the morning as I hadn¡¯t risen. My body was in full recovery mode. Callem had slipped out and was already in his fields, watering individual plants. He was wearing what I guessed to be a large oxen yoke, and two massive buckets hung on either end. As he walked the rows, he pulled a rope attached to each bucket, releasing water over each plant. He noticed us in the doorway gawking. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, boys, you will work yourselves up to this. Your breakfast is under the cover on the counter.¡± He returned to watering. We removed the cover on the counter to find an array of fresh fruit, muffin cakes, cold sliced ham, and hard-boiled eggs. A pitcher of sweet-smelling red juice was there with ice cubes floating in it. How in the hell did he prepare all this without waking either of us? After glancing at each other, we dug in and quickly vanquished our shared enemy of the prepared food. I was happy almost to match Gareth¡¯s caloric intake this morning. I knew healing magic typically used body stores to heal, and I had had an awful lot of healing done yesterday. Satiated, we both sat near the bedrolls holding our bellies. I was dressed in oversized linens. The eagle and the blood completely ruined my other clothes. Apparently, the linens were from a prior trainee of Callem but would do for me until I could get clothes from home. They were only slightly baggy on me. My leather belt worked well to hold the linens to get a decent fit. I looked at Gareth, ¡°Where do we go from here?¡± He looked a bit uncomfortable at my question. ¡°I want to stay here, Storme. I talked to my parents when I tried to explain my reason for heading out here for three days with you, and even though I fumbled the words I found in my heart, I want to be here. I want to learn as much as I can.¡± Before I could respond, Callem had returned to the house from the fields. He started talking with Gareth, and I tuned them out as I began to think. I didn¡¯t want to invest my remaining youth swinging a sword around all day. Three days a week had been my self-assessed limit. We needed to have a serious talk. Callem was refilling the pitcher with the red drink that reminded me of a strong fruit punch but not overly sweet. I spoke, ¡°Callem has Gareth expressed his interest in moving out here to stay with you?¡± I broke the ice, ¡°We could help you full-time five days a week and return to Hen¡¯s Hollow for two days to stay with our families.¡± I took a deep breath before continuing, ¡°I am not nearly as committed as Gareth, but I will train with him for most of the day before focusing on my aetheric studies.¡± I was preempting Gareth to control the situation and restrain Gareth¡¯s expectations. I was pretty sure he would train every hour of every day if given the option. Gareth was a little confused, and his face kept transforming, first happy, then contemplative, then a little bit unhappy. I couldn¡¯t really worry about what was going through his mind right now. Personally, I was thinking of Freya; she might never forgive me for this. Then there was my brother; he also probably wouldn¡¯t forgive me. Father would support my decision as he always hoped his sons would aspire to a higher standing in the militaristic Skyholme Empire. Callem slowly nodded. ¡°I do not think you should have hidden what happened to you with the eagle attack Storme. But I have always thought you need to make your own decisions, no matter your age. However, if your parents ask, I will not lie to them.¡± I suddenly felt guilty. This man was good. He was probably either trying to decide on my character or build my character. ¡°Callem, thank you. I will tell them what happened¡­but maybe not that I nearly died.¡± I said. He nodded at my reply, which I assumed was approval. ¡°Good. You both can stay here and train. Before we get too far along, I need to assess you!¡± He started asking us both questions. He wanted to get a fair appraisal of our knowledge, math, writing, history, dungeon lore, bestiary lore, and politics. We had strong responses to his test questions for the first two subjects and did ok with the verbal history exam. We could barely answer any of his questions in the last three subjects. Well, the biggest animal threat on our island was the wild foxes which controlled the rabbit population. Well, if you ventured too close to the edge of the island, something from below could get you...like a giant black eagle. His questioning lasted two hours, and we were mentally exhausted by the end and embarrassed by how few questions we could answer toward the end. Callem voiced his assessment of our knowledge. ¡°Ok, normally you boys would get most of this knowledge in the academy. You are expected to know basic numbers and be able to read before the academy, and both of you far surpass that minimum.¡± Gareth beamed at the compliment. I remained blank-faced, waiting for the ¡®but.¡¯ ¡°Though you are still a little behind the children in the Skyholme capital who have personal tutors as soon as they can walk.¡± He shifted his stance fluidly and started pacing. I knew this was what Callem had also wanted, to get his hands on Gareth full-time. From the outside, he seemed contemplative. ¡°You will stretch and work the farm with me in the morning. In the afternoon, we will focus on combat training. In the evening we will spend two hours on books. I will purchase the required texts. You will have three hours after dinner to do what you will in your free time. If you had the mind, you could make it to town and spend an hour with your family before returning. As Storme suggested, you will spend every 6th and 7th day with your families. I will feed you three full meals daily and pay you one gold per week to split between you.¡± He was trying to flip the script. He didn¡¯t know money was not an obstacle for us. It was his final ¡®lure¡¯ attempt. Gareth didn¡¯t need any extra incentive, and somehow I had convinced myself to remain with Gareth. Who was following who now? Gareth had that pleading look on his face with his best puppy dog eyes as he looked at me to answer for both of us. Callem had made a good case. Outlining a schedule our parents would agree to and pay that should far surpass what kids our age could make. My portion would probably exceed what my mother and father made. I nodded to Gareth, and he screamed, ¡°Agreed!¡± like a little kid, afraid it was all just a prank, or he would wake up from a perfect dream. Well, the first day wasn¡¯t as bad as I had thought. We stretched as a trio, weeded the fields, and continued clearing the obstacle course. Watering wasn¡¯t required as the morning had provided some rain. Usually, the island had a heavy mist in the morning that did a fair job soaking the earth. Only when the mist and rain were missing for two or more days did Callem need to water the fields. In the afternoon, we actually learned about bows and not swords. Well, not actually about bows but arrows. Callem drilled into us that the importance of archery was two parts, the bow and the arrow. So we spent hours going through six bundles of arrows removing the bad ones and repairing those we could savage under Callem¡¯s direction. In the evening, we went to the spring to clean off and pull the splinters out of our hands and forearms. The food the first day was plentiful, and Callem muttered more than once he had erred in not considering the cost of food for two growing boys. The evening found us having free time after we aced some math problems for Callem. Callem also stressed that we should call him Callem, not Captain Callem. I went and worked through my aether core exercises that evening. I managed to understand the first seven and put them into practice. Fortunately, the text was very good at explaining what needed to be done during each step of the exercises. I might fail a few times before getting it, but I have encountered no major problems. That night I made a stack of gold coins and had Gareth stash them in his pack. I still planned to take Freya to the city once a week and visit Wigand. I needed 50 gold coins to complete the transaction with Wigand. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. The next two days were more of the same, except my strength had returned, and the intensity had ratcheted up. We spent just thirty minutes with bow practice before proceeding to sword forms in the afternoon. While I was mastering just one sword, Gareth was rotating through different blades mastering the current sword form we were working on with each one. I settled on a saber as that was closer to a katana. A katana was thinner and lighter than a saber, but Callem didn¡¯t have one for me. And it was the blade I felt most comfortable with since it focused on slashing attacks instead of the piercing attacks of a gladius. I hoped to obtain a katana eventually because of the samurai stories in my past life. Well, truthfully, neither of us was ¡®mastering¡¯ the blade after a few days, but we gained confidence and comfort with the forms. Callem let us use a salve that helped form calluses on our hands quickly, which we were both thankful for. I learned 18 of the 23 exercises for working my aether core. Like my first sword form, snapping tortoise, I was far from mastery of the aether core exercises but was slowly becoming proficient. Being self-taught from a book was probably much more challenging than having an experienced mage teach me. The next day we were released to go home after a massive breakfast. Callem told us he was going to the capital island to pick up some books and restock his pantry over the next two days. He said we should just stretch in the morning and relax with family on our ¡®off¡¯ days. I was going home to face Freya. If we walked fast, we could get home in a little over thirty minutes. It was about three miles (5 km), by my estimation, to the edge of town. As soon as we entered the town, Gareth went to see his parents to convince them to let him live and train on Callem¡¯s farm. After a short search of my house, I found Freya out in the barn. She ran to me and hugged me. ¡°Hiya Freya. Do you want to go to the city today? We have some things to talk about.¡± ¡°Yes! I was hoping you would say that! But it would help if you put on some actual clothes. You realize that you are wearing woman¡¯s clothes?¡± Her statement had me stumble a bit. The oversized clothes Callem had given me were women¡¯s clothes? ¡°Yes, silly, the cut here and here is for breasts! And the sagginess around your waist is for larger hips!¡± She was laughing as she explained it to me. Well, at least no one in town saw me. I went into my room and found the bed neatly made and everything on my shelves organized. Freya was in the doorway shortly after and stumbled on her words, ¡°I, uh, had nothing to do, so I, uh, cleaned up the room.¡± I looked her seriously in the eyes and asked, ¡°Did you dust underneath the bed?¡± She turned crimson. ¡°I am sorry, Storme. I was just cleaning and came across the package and¡­I thought it was a pillow¡­yeah, and so I¡­it is so pretty! I love it!¡± She came and hugged me again. ¡°Can I wear it on my birthday? Gwen is going to be so jealous! I can not wait! Oh, did you know a traveling troupe from the lowlands is coming to the city? They will be there on my birthday! They have a beast menagerie, acrobats, games, bards, and master sword duelists. Will you take me? It is two silver per person, according to the posters. Please¡­¡± She had the same puppy dog eyes Gareth gave me when Callem offered to train us five days a week. ¡°We can talk on the walk to the city. Can I change now?¡± Freya left and shut the door, but I could feel her waiting on the other side. I got my best clothes on, which were quickly becoming mediocre. I needed to buy new clothes today. Did Callem intentionally dress me in girl¡¯s clothes? No matter. I left the house with Freya in tow. We quickly found Gareth cutting wood. He was three days behind on his chores and hadn¡¯t had the guts to ask his parents to move to Callem¡¯s farm yet. Freya and I helped him finish his chores, and we all left for the city. ¡°So, Freya, I have some bad news.¡± I had had some time to think out my approach to breaking the news to her. ¡°You know when we turn 14, we go to the academy and live in the old barracks building at the edge of town?¡± She nodded, ¡°I know Pascal is going next year.¡± She had a concerned look on her face, and she was bracing for the bad news. ¡°Well, Gareth and I are sort of starting early. Next 1st day, we are going to go live with and learn from Captain Callem.¡± It was best to rip the band aide right off. Then give some news to soften the blow. ¡°We will come back every 6th and 7th day. And Gareth and I will spend one of those days entirely with you doing whatever you want.¡± Gareth¡¯s eyebrow went up at that. Take that little bit of revenge Gareth for the extra stretching! ¡°Yeah, Storme and I talked about it, and we figured you would want to go to Sweet and Treats and Madam Marget¡¯s Tailor shop. We are making decent coin and can get you a few things.¡± The bastard was setting me up as the grin was on his face. Ok, let¡¯s continue this volley, Gareth. The clothing store had expensive dresses and accessories for women and girls¡ªsupposedly the height of fashion from the capital. ¡°Yeah,¡± I gave him a sour look. ¡°I will take you to Sweets and Treats, and Gareth will take you to the tailor shop every week.¡± Game set and match, Gareth! Freya was sure to spend much more time in the clothing shop. Freya responded with excitement, ¡°You said you would both hang out with me, so we all stay together in Sweets and Treats and at Marget¡¯s Finery.¡± And the pass is intercepted by Freya and spiked in front of both of us. At least she wasn¡¯t as upset as I thought she would be. We entered the city, and I gave Gareth four large silvers after they dropped me off at Wigand¡¯s. I found Wigand in the back and handed him 30 gold coins. Some of the coins had a shiny new appearance as I had not had time to age them. Wigand stared at them for a bit before depositing them in his lockbox. ¡°So I haven¡¯t seen my patron recently, but I did have a note from her with the coins attached. She will return in a week to get me the rest of the funds. She went to the lowlands for something.¡± I didn¡¯t rush my words this time while spewing the lie. I hoped to have a few platinum coins by then. My aether core was becoming more malleable, and it had just been a few days of the exercises. ¡°I was looking to get another spell if my patron allows. Can you get a copy of the mend flesh spell?¡± After nearly dying, I decided to learn some healing magic. The mend flesh used the body¡¯s own fuel, mostly fat stores, to knit flesh back together, accelerating healing in a sort of stasis field created by the invested aether. The spell was tier 1, but the spell book was usually over 30 gold. Wigand looked thoughtful, ¡°The mend flesh spell¡­ complicated spell to learn. Have you already learned the cleanliness spell Storme?¡± I flushed red. No, I had given up on that until I could master the aether core exercises, and then I could progress to learning the spell imprinting process from the other book. ¡°I¡¯m getting close,¡± was my reply. Wigand nodded and went to the massive index. After a short time, he responded. ¡°I have a line on two versions of the spell. The first is 35 gold, the generic spell book you can get at any mage academy. The second is an older spell book recovered from a wrecked Sadian skyship. Apparently, it was the ship¡¯s chief healer¡¯s personal spellbook of the mend flesh spell and had copious handwritten notes. It is 42 gold. But it has been posted for over a year. If it is still available, I should be able to get it for 40 gold if you are interested?¡± I made my best sad face. ¡°I will have to check with my patron as she hadn¡¯t mentioned any new payments to us, but I would like the forty-two gold version if you can confirm its availability. I will know next week. We have to finish our current tasks for her.¡± Ugh, I was terrible at lying, which turned my stomach a little. I left the shop and then traveled to the clothier shop nearby that specialized in boy¡¯s clothes. I quickly selected six comfortable outfits, three for working the farm and three for combat training and running the obstacle course. I added two heavy pairs of boots as well. I wasn¡¯t looking forward to breaking them in. Maybe the salve we used for our hands would help with that? When I left, I had a large wrapped package of clothes, boots, and 18 pairs of quality socks. The only thing in the package for Gareth was half the socks. His feet were extremely unsanitary, and sleeping next to him on the floor in Callem¡¯s living room made me appreciate the fresh air outdoors all the much more. I had been thrifty, only spending 13 large silver on everything. When I finally got there, Gareth and Freya were still in Sweets and Treats, and she had a big bag of candy. Gareth paid for the candy, and we went to a restaurant in town for lunch which I paid for. We then took the road home and went swimming. I spent my time focused on my exercises and tanning my upper body while the locals were swimming. I noticed Brianne was with Edward, a boy closer to her age and the son of the stone mason in town. I found it humorous that Gareth kept glancing at the pair, clearly jealous. My one mistake was displaying my scar as I had my shirt off. Freya thought it was a tattoo and promised to keep my secret of getting a tattoo from our parents. Oh well, it was a good day, and my body needed rest. I knew Callem would soon be cranking up the training intensity, so I would enjoy this moment. I fell asleep in the sun, enjoying my second chance at youth. Chapter 14 Settling In Chapter 14 Settling In Waking up in my own bed was nice, especially on a mattress and not a hard floor. I needed to confront the parents today. I could already hear Freya talking to my mother at the other end of the house. Shit. I forgot to tell her I was going to that myself at breakfast. I remained in my room as the house came to life and breakfast was prepared. Even if they said no, I would still be going. Hoping it will go well. I left my room to face the music. I entered the kitchen. Breakfast was on the table, with buckwheat porridge and candied nuts to mask the heavy blandness. The nuts were local and common but had a bitter aftertaste that the candying did not mask well. Ok, the day was not starting well. Mother asked, ¡°So Freya said you have a big announcement?¡± Well, she hadn¡¯t broken the news yet, at least. Father stopped spooning the porridge into his mouth and looked at me. Pascal took the opportunity to pour half the remaining nuts into his bowl and then stopped to look as well. ¡°Yes, um. You know I was working for Callem, I mean Captain Callem, the last few days. Well, he sort of recruited, no, um, asked us if we¡­that is Gareth and me, if we wanted to work his farm and train on his farm,¡± My speech went from halting to fast-paced suddenly, ¡°It would just be for five days a week. I would be back for the 6th and 7th days. And we will learn more than just fighting and tending his fields. And he is paying us and feeding us. It is ok, right.¡± I breathed deeply, unsure how I had become winded from those few words, but my pulse raced, and my aether core hummed and burned, responding to my anxiety. Father was the first to speak, ¡°Captain Callem is going to train you himself?¡± The words were cold and questioning, sounding doubtful. I just nodded, thinking he was upset, but then his face broke into the biggest-toothed smile I had ever seen from the man. ¡°Alurha, we are going to have a master swordsman for a son!¡± He was soon up and hugging me. I was keenly paying attention to everyone to gauge their reaction, Freya was smiling, and my mother had a small grin, but that was apparently at seeing father happy as she was eying him more than me. Pascal had stormy resentful eyes and a darker facial expression. Well, 3 out of 4 was good, right? Instead of going to work today, my mother started helping me pack. She put everything in my bedroom except one set of clothes in a crate and asked if I needed anything else. I said pillows and explained how it was hard to sleep when my body was so sore. She went out and bought me nine new super fluffy feather pillows! She explained that since she didn¡¯t have to feed me, she would have extra coin, and spending it a little early on me was just common sense. She also gave me a drying rack for clothes, detergent, three newish towels, some old dishes and pots, two of my dad¡¯s old jackets, a needle and thread, and six sweet rolls wrapped in paper. I could see she was both proud and worried about me. Freya confirmed that I would be back for her birthday and to take her to see the traveling show in the city on her special day. Pascal was nowhere to be seen, clearly jealous I was training with Callem. I made sure my mother never saw my collection of mage books. It was not something I wanted to reveal yet. Eventually, I had two large crates outside storing most of my worldly possessions inside them, and I found Gareth with a single overstuffed backpack walking toward me later in the day. His eyebrow rose in question at the crates, and I just shrugged, ¡°Gareth, you remember when I said I would buy a cart so you could pull me? Well, that time has come!¡± I laughed my most evil supervillain laugh, and he actually edged away from me. Well, it ended up just being a large two-wheeled wheelbarrow. Gareth did, in fact, push it most of the way, and the one time I jumped in, he just stopped until I paid him a large silver, then he pushed me a few hundred feet before demanding another. I started walking, exclaiming, ¡°Good and honest help is hard to find in these woods!¡± It was late in the day when we did get to Callem¡¯s farm and were shocked to find a new building opposite the training yard from the farmhouse. It was not very big, just 16 feet by 32 feet. It was stone, and we entered to find a common room and kitchen with ladders on each side leading up to sleeping lofts. The kitchen was fully furnished, and the common room had two plush chairs and a small dining table with four chairs. We investigated both of the doors. One led to a tiny washroom, and the other had stairs down to a fully stocked larder. The larder was very cold, and I noticed the runic markings on a stone in the center. Looking around, there was enough food to feed us for a year! Callem descended the stairs as we gawked at all the food on the stone shelves. ¡°Boys, good to see you are back. Called in a favor,¡± Callem winked at me, ¡°From an earth mage to get this outbuilding done. We can¡¯t have you two sleeping on the floor with the type of training we will be doing. The furnishings I retrieved from my storage unit in the capital.¡± He muttered under his breath, ¡°I haven¡¯t visited those memories in a while.¡± He recomposed himself, ¡°The larder down here,¡± he hesitated, thinking what to say, ¡°...well, you two need to learn how to cook your own food. I said I would feed you, not cook for you.¡± Gareth excitedly butted in, ¡°Storme is the best cook in Hen¡¯s Hollow¡­¡± his voice died as I gave him a death stare. The last thing I wanted to be doing after working myself to exhaustion every day was to cook for three hungry men. ¡°Is that so?¡± Callem responded with a smirk and eyed me deviously. I swear he could read minds. ¡°Well, I will prepare breakfast every morning, and you will eat in the house with me. Mid-day meal will be from the larder here, prepared by both of you. The evening meal will be a hearty stew that I will put on in the morning to cook all day and will be eaten here as well. You will clean all the dishes from each meal here.¡± Yeah, I would be preparing the mid-day meal by myself as Gareth was a terrible cook. He could make a baked potato taste awful. I surveyed the larder, making mental notes and putting together meals in my head. ¡°Now, boys, come to the house, and I will show you the new library!¡± Callem sounded excited and seemed much younger today by his enthusiasm. The ¡®library¡¯ had two copies of twenty-one texts, each thick with pages. They covered beasts, dungeons, politics, law, culture, and trade. All the books were old, and Callem conceded he got them from the naval academies¡¯ storage units. They were supposed to be handed down to lesser academies when the naval academy got the newest copies but had been packaged in crates and put into storage instead. Callem told us he had purchased them for a few coins since he knew the logistics officer in charge of the academy. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. After all, was said and done, Callem produced his stew for the evening. It was a bit mushy, and when I asked how he made it and offered suggestions to improve it, I was named the new stew chef. Callem, the sly fox, had been waiting for me to criticize his cooking. So from now on, after breakfast and stretching in the morning I would be given an hour to prepare the dinner meal. At least I wouldn¡¯t have to work the fields during that time. It wouldn¡¯t have been so bad if not for Gareth openly laughing at my error. You should never insult a man¡¯s cooking by saying you can do better! The plush chairs in our living room, our new bunkhouse, were well-worn, well-made, and extremely comfortable. There were lanterns fitted with soft aether light stones. I marveled at the time, effort, and expense Callem had put into making us comfortable¡­well he was going to do his best to make us very uncomfortable during the day, I surmised. The upper lofts were very comfortable as well. There was a loft on each side measuring 5¡¯ by 20¡¯ (2m x 6m), and each loft had two narrow beds, three chests under each bed, a long shelf over each bed, and two armoires. The beds were in the center of the lofts, end to end. So Callem could host four students here in his new guest house? Something must have happened, or at least I was forecasting Cilia would be coming with someone else. Gareth and I selected opposite sides of the loft, and I unpacked, hauling my stuff up the ladder. I knew all these pillows would be a godsend starting tomorrow night. I spent some time working on my aether core before falling asleep. We had cold roasted pork, soft cheese, and a thick applesauce in the morning¡ªno fruit juice this morning, just water. We stretched together, and they went to the fields while I went to the house to set up dinner. I prepared lamb stew with potatoes, carrots, and red wine for the stew. After coating them in flour, I braised the lamb cubes to hold them together and seal in the juices while the stew simmered. I accessed Callem¡¯s larder in the house and found a decent-sized distillery in the basement and dozens of full oak casks marked vodka with different dates on them. His larder matched the size of the one under the bunkhouse. There was no way we were going hungry. He had twenty-two large casks of the fruit juice too, and three were empty when I taped on them. He didn¡¯t have an extensive selection of wine, though, just 37 bottles; all were local vintages in Hen¡¯s Hollow. There was no stigma in regard to kids drinking wine in the Skyholme culture. Most wines had very little alcohol and were very fruity. After the stew was simmering over coals, I joined them in the fields, and then we began the real work¡­ Five days had passed, and not a single inch of my body did not hurt. Callem knew how to push us without quite breaking us. My favorite part of the day? It was falling face first into the cold spring we used to bathe a quarter mile from the dwellings. The cold water shocked me enough to forget the muscle pain. This morning was the absolute worst day so far. We learned there were actually 23 stretches. The five we hadn¡¯t learned were because they were for acrobatics. Callem didn¡¯t seem to care, and so we started to force ourselves into being able to do a split. He did so without hesitation when we asked him if he could do a split. How could a man as square as him splay his legs and get his pelvis to the earth? I shuddered, thinking about how far I still had to go to match that feat of mobility. My only solace was Gareth had struggled as well. Gareth splashed into the water a few seconds after me. It had been a productive week, as I reflected. I let the cold water numb my poor body. The bend in the stream here was shaded, and the natural sandy-bottomed pool here was perfect for us. It was actually the only place deep enough to submerge in the nearby stream. Tonight¡¯s stew was a meat and bean chili with sweet peppers. It was the second time I had made it this week at Callem¡¯s request. Callem had eaten over half of the first batch himself. The man loved my cooking, and I couldn¡¯t believe how much he ate. I had already scaled up my stew twice. I was now using the biggest pot Callem had in his kitchen. There was one good thing that came from cooking dinner and preparing lunch. I didn¡¯t have to do the dishes! Callem and Gareth did all the day¡¯s dishes together while discussing sword mastery after dinner. Gareth was outpacing me in learning the art of combat. It seemed I would only master one blade to his 23, but I was fine with that. I was actually a decent archer when Callem had us practice with the bows. Gareth was better, of course, but only by a slight margin, and Callem could usually find and correct my faults. Just a few comments from him had me improving swiftly. We were working with smaller bows with low draw weight for now. And Callem had us making our own arrows as well. I was actually better than Gareth at fletching. It had absolutely nothing to do with me using my metal shaping skill to fit the arrowheads. Yep, that had nothing to do with it. Gareth wasn¡¯t training us to be fletchers just to be competent enough to make arrows if we needed to. The obstacle course, or the ¡®course of ultimate pain¡¯ as I liked to call it, was fun at first. Then Callem added weighted vests, shot arrows capped with leather balls at us, had moving obstacles on pendulums, and secretly changed the obstacles during the night to trip us up, and I mean literally trip us up. He said it was the first phase of teaching a soldier to be aware of everything in combat and expect the unexpected. He was definitely having more fun than us. Gareth was having fun because he seemed to recover three times as fast as me. Callem withheld salves and potions, saying I needed to train my body¡¯s healing processes. Yeah, at least the cold water felt good as it sapped away the heat from my muscles. The best part of the last five days was my aether core training. I had gotten all 23 exercises down and practiced them each night until I passed out from fatigue. I also never forgot to add to my growing horde of gold coins. To my surprise, the number of gold coins had increased to 14. I also felt, no, I knew, I was extremely close to being able to make just a single gold coin at a time which would mean I was close to making my first platinum. ¡°Stormy?¡± Gareth asked to see if I was paying attention. ¡°Yeah, bud, what¡¯s cooking in your head tonight?¡± The cold water soaks had served as a time of reflection for us, but we usually relaxed and just talked nonsense. ¡°You have a meal request?¡± He let out a sigh, ¡°No, I was just thinking I wanted to become an adventurer.¡± I was quiet, so he continued. ¡°I want to see more than just Skyholme. I actually don¡¯t think I want to live here, in Skyholme, that is.¡± This was Callem¡¯s fault. He had revealed the corruption of politics within the capital in our nightly lessons. A fairly na?ve boy like Gareth had not taken it well, but he worshiped Callem, so Gareth took everything he said literally during lessons. ¡°Gareth, we are 12.¡± I said emphatically, ¡°It is too early to think about these things. Can we revisit this conversation after our first year of the academy?¡± I hadn¡¯t soured on spending my life in Skyholme. I was sure I would find the old adage, ¡®power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely¡¯ would hold true anywhere I went within the sphere. The mood mellowed, and soon we were walking back to the house, a little gimpy but clean. We talked about going home tomorrow and planning what to do for Freya¡¯s birthday. Basically, we planned to escort her to all the various acts from the traveling troupe coming to the city. At dinner, Callem ate so much chili I couldn¡¯t believe he didn¡¯t burst. I showed him to take the spiciness off the chili with a slice of yellow cheddar cheese and buttered bread. He ignored it and just ate the chili as if reveling in the spicy heat. I could only thank our fortune that we would not have to sleep in the same room as him tonight. That night lying in my bed, something amazing happened. After my exercises and getting close to falling asleep, I decided to take another shot at making platinum before making the gold coins. I made two platinum coins and half of a third! Chapter 15 Traits, Abilities and Affinities Chapter 15 Abilities, Traits, and Affinities Unfortunately, my excitement kept me up most of the night. I had made 250 gold worth of platinum! That was damn amazing. I don¡¯t think I had ever seen a platinum coin before now¡­its silvery shininess made it look like silver. I would have to check and see if there was something about platinum coins that made them unique¡ªshort periods of sleep had my dreams wandering again. This time I was dreaming mostly of traveling the skies of the Sphere in my own skyship and shooting down giant black eagles in petty revenge. On waking, Gareth dragged me to breakfast. Breakfast was rosemary bread with hard cheese baked into the loaf. The sliced bread was slathered with butter and a potato and egg salad. Callem had also brought out the expensive fruit juice this morning to celebrate the end of the week of training. He also had ten large silvers on the table for us. ¡°Boys, it was a fine week. Next week I want to build that new drying shed, so I will be getting some dried lumber in town. I will get more of those spices and various peppers for the chili while I am in town,¡± Gareth moaned softly. He was probably sick of chili. Callem continued, ¡°Weird name for a food, chili. It burns going in and going out and isn¡¯t cold at all.¡± He laughed at his joke, and we ignored the quip. I had used the spiciest peppers I could find when I cooked the last batch in hopes of turning Callem off to the chili stew, but it only heightened his passion for it. The man had a cast iron digestive system, something neither Gareth nor I shared. Callem had become more lively every day as Gareth had made quick progress. I attributed his liveliness partially to enjoying the new ¡®delicacies¡¯ I had been making. He was also more passionate about his tobacco fields. He said he was trying to improve the quality of the leaves to earn more money to pay for the prodigious amounts of food we were consuming. I thought of something, ¡°Have you ever used Edel to dry your tobacco? She does that service for the town¡¯s herbalist all the time.¡± Callem looked at me, confused momentarily, while I explained her ability to evaporate water from clothes and dry out herbs. I told Callem that she worked in the bathhouse during the day, and he was interested in meeting her today. ¡°Hmm, I think I will walk with you boys to town this morning to meet this ¡®Edel.¡¯¡± He looked at us and decided we were not thrilled at the prospect, ¡°Well, maybe I will wait till after lunch to go to town. There were leftovers from last night.¡± As I had used an enormous bird, a good amount of barbeque-pulled chicken was left from last night¡¯s meal. I had been planning to use that as a pizza topping, but Callem had quite the appetite, and none would be left after his lunch today. When we trained, he worked twice as hard as we did, and I think the old man was leaning out even with his increased food consumption. Our walk to town was without Callem, and I had the opportunity to show Gareth the coins, ¡°Platinum, Storme! Princesses ransom right there, well maybe enough for a princess¡¯s handmaiden.¡± He was still looking at the coins. I expressed my concern at their similarity to silver to him, ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t know how Skyholme denotes it from silver. I can feel the difference with my metal shaping skill, but they look very similar on a quick inspection.¡± Gareth flipped one of the coins in the air and caught it, ¡°It is definitely heavier than silver, though. Do you think we can spend it in the city? Are you going to try to use it at Wigand¡¯s?¡± I thought for a while while we walked, unsure what I would do. Finally, I told Gareth, ¡°Why don¡¯t you sew one of them into your shoe? I will remove the imaging on the faces to make it a blank coin. It can replace the gold you have there as your emergency fund.¡± That gold had been upgraded from silver just a few days ago at Gareth¡¯s request. While pocketing the coin, Gareth said, ¡°Nah, I will just put it in my other shoe.¡± I just smiled as he grinned. I had been drilling into him the importance of keeping a low profile, and I think he was more cognizant now of his actions and spending. Maybe I should take my own advice? Maybe it was time for my mystery benefactor to leave Skyholme. We found Freya waiting at the edge of town. Since we were not around to escort her, she was limited in how far she could go. She could only go to the town limits. She ran to us smiling. ¡°Are we off to the city?¡± She bounced around excitedly. ¡°Yes, Freya, we will go today. I just want to drop off some butter and herb bread I baked for our mother. Gareth wants to go see his mother too.¡± I said, smiling, happy to see my excitable sister as well. Mother was busy with a large order, engraving 36 sword scabbards for a branch of the city¡¯s constables, but she was happy to see me. We talked for a short while about my training. After seeing her, I went to the general goods store in town and bought a few things with my fifty silver. It did feel better spending the silver I had earned from all the hard work I had done for Callem. It was an extremely high wage based on what my parents and most of the people in Hen¡¯s Hollow earned. A normal farmhand might make five silver coins a week if he was also given room and board. We hadn¡¯t priced out what Callem got for his tobacco, but it must be substantial. I also guessed Callem didn¡¯t realize what a vast sum he was paying us. I bought 40 pieces of paper, an ink well, and two simple fountain pens in the general store. I wanted to start on my spell soon, and one of the ways to imprint it was by copying the spell forms over and over on paper. I also traded in my backpack for a bigger and much better-made one. This cost me four large silver coins even after the trade since it had a simple durability rune sewn into it with silver thread. I hemmed and hawed with the proprietor about the investment to act like the coins were a lot of money to me. I also bought twenty-two small sacks as well. Callem had shown us a few edible plants we could harvest, and I planned to add them to our diet and season our food. I also added two glass bottles. One would be for garlic-infused olive oil and the other for vinegar. We needed more veggies in our diet, and salads were in our future! I dropped everything off in my room at home and found Gareth doing chores. Gareth was an only child, so with him gone, more had fallen to his parents. I helped him, and Freya did as well when she eventually showed up. Where had she gotten off to? When we finished the chores, we headed for the city together. Freya bombarded us with questions as we walked, and we took turns answering her. She mainly wanted to know what we were doing to become master swordsmen. We eventually reached the city and went straight to the candy store. Today at Sweets and Treats, she was very restrained, spending just two large coppers of my coins. At Marget¡¯s Finery, she got a blue scarf and hair ribbons, all to match the dress I was giving her on her birthday. We did see numerous postings in town for the coming troupe. I was surprised our small city had drawn them. I think the last time we had a traveling troupe was five years ago, and it was not this extravagant. My parents hadn¡¯t brought us to town to see it, so this would be my first experience. We went to a relatively pricy restaurant, and I volunteered Gareth to pay with some of his large silvers we earned from Callem, as we had each taken five. The food was only average for the price. I had the pheasant stuffed with herb-infused rice. Gareth had a dungeon steak and buttered lemon-coated vegetables. Freya had three desserts. During the meal, Freya commented that I had gotten taller. I would have to confirm that myself, as I was desperately waiting for a growth spurt. Freya also said she had started doing my old deliveries in town. This was fantastic for her as it would teach her responsibility and allow her to save some coins on her own. I told her I was proud of her. When Gareth said she could pay her own way at Sweets and Treats next time, she gave him a dirty look. Ha! Gareth would be on her naughty list for that jab. The walk home was pleasant, with Freya zipping around us, burning off her sugar high. I did check when I got home, and I had grown a bit! This put me in a fantastic mood, and I put together a nice dinner for the family of braised pork loin with an apple chutney sauce and red wine vinegar cucumbers. Pascal was still quite upset with me by his expression and treatment of me at dinner. He had asked our father incessantly, pleading that he should join us for the training with Callem. Father gave me a chance to capitulate, but I didn¡¯t. Fortunately, my father didn¡¯t press me further. In my room, I created gold coins, 14 in total were made from my aether. I also spent time on my aether core exercises and began focusing on imprinting a spell. When we returned to Callem¡¯s, I would begin the process, but I would hopefully have two spells to choose from. I had a heavy and restful sleep with no powerful dreams. I was up and stretching with Gareth in the morning before we returned to the city. Gareth wanted new boots, and I needed to get to Wigand¡¯s bookstore. We parted in front of the bookstore, and Gareth said I should wait for him to return. I hadn¡¯t noticed anyone following us, but after he pointed out two of them, I was certain one was Leon Mogensen, the red-haired leader from a few weeks ago. I told Gareth I would definitely be waiting for him to escort me. Wigand looked up as I entered, and his face showed something I hadn¡¯t seen there before. His forehead was creased in concentration as it looked like he was trying to puzzle me out. It soon evaporated to his normal salesmen¡¯s smile. ¡°Storme, it is so good to see you! What news do you have for me in regard to your fortunes?¡± ¡°Wigand, it has been a fruitful week, and I have seen my patron. She has given me the coin for her book and some extra as well. It was an advancement on her part for a long list of tasks I have yet to complete, though.¡± Wigand closed his eyes momentarily like he was looking inward for the proper question. I interrupted his contemplation, ¡°I do have a request. I have never seen a platinum coin. Do you have any I could look at? Someone said they look just like silver coins.¡± My question seemed to sidetrack what he had been preparing to say. ¡°Platinum? I have two in my vault in the back¡­¡± he paused, looked frightened for the briefest second, then smiled again. I was definitely not a criminal and wouldn¡¯t be stealing from him. He started to his backroom before pausing. Then waved me to follow. His back room was as I remembered it. The model ships, tables, benches with books he was repairing, and shelves with neatly ordered books. ¡°Storme, the platinum coins in my lockbox are not actually mine. They are a down payment on a book I am procuring for a client.¡± He went to the vault. It looked like a modern steel safe but with a key lock instead of a combination lock. He pulled out the key and opened it. Inside was an ordered stack of books, three trays of coins, a handful of rings, and a bunch of rolled-up scrolls. ¡°Here,¡± he said, handing me a coin he plucked out while I had been focused on trying to read the titles of the books inside. His visage turned hawk-like on me as I studied the coin. The coin had the same markings except that the center of the coin was punched out and replaced with a small circle of gold. I reached out with my metal shaping to get a clear picture of the coin and returned it to him after I was confident I had gleaned everything I could. The coin had a fair amount of silver in it too. I wondered if it was counterfeit. I estimated it was 80% platinum, 10% gold, and 10% silver. ¡°Thank you. I just wanted to make sure the coin my patron had given me was really a platinum coin.¡± His eyes bulged at my statement, and he carefully put the coin away. I could see he was checking on the other platinum coin he had before closing his vault. During this time, I reached into my pocket, added the gold to the center of my platinum, and matched the coin to the one I had just held. I added the silver as well. I handed the new shiny coin to Wigand, and he studied it for a good while before saying, ¡°I don¡¯t see many platinum myself. Newly minted like yours sure makes them look pretty, though. Where did you say your patron exchanged her coins?¡± Wigand prompted. Was he testing my story? My heart suddenly raced a bit as some anxiety in his voice accompanied his inquiry. Then my anxiety kicked in and caused me to rush my fabricated words again, ¡°Oh, she has been to all the islands, I think. Started in the capital and has been visiting the other islands, even the smaller ones.¡± Wigand was waiting for more, but I clammed up after that. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. He studied me, but he let it drop. ¡°Just give me a moment to confirm the coin.¡± He went to a desk, pulled out a rack of tubes, and placed a drop on the coin. ¡°Huh, it is genuine. Ok, Storme,¡± He studied me again. ¡°Tell me the truth.¡± I braced myself. ¡°Your benefactor is from one of the ruling families, no?¡± Unsure of what to do, I nodded slowly, confirming his guess. ¡°Oh, Storme!¡± he shook his head. ¡°You are probably being prepped to be some pawn in their machinations. Did she promise to pay your way through one of the academies in the capital?¡± I was still in shock at Wigand¡¯s guessing, so I nodded. He sighed heavily and sat down behind his counter. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have revealed your aether core to her, or did she find you by another means? Wait! Don¡¯t tell me. I probably know too much already. Be careful, boy. The games of houses are not safe. Be wary of anything she asks of you. That is all the advice I will give.¡± Wigand was lost in thought but returned to the present, his sweaty face now dry. He had been worried about me. He was still worried about me by his look. I wondered what had happened to him in the past but decided not to ask at this time. ¡°I have your spell book over there. I procured it two days ago, trusting you would be back. Don¡¯t look surprised. If you hadn¡¯t shown up, I had another buyer lined up. So that is 40 gold plus 20 gold for the book of aether creation. That means I owe you four large gold. Is there anything else you need before I get your change? Another spell? Is your patron seeking another specific book?¡± I felt a little uncomfortable, and Wigand¡¯s normal smile felt like it was now pitying me for my predicament. ¡°None of the tasks I have assigned by her are regarding books,¡± I sputtered out. ¡°If I do need another, I will come directly to you.¡± He was appraising me. I think he wanted to say something but held it back. The air was getting heavy in the backroom as Wigand finally retrieved the four large gold from his vault and handed them to me. I took them and my new spell book and quickly left the store. Yeah, and I had been telling Gareth to be careful, and now Wigand thought I was the pawn of some powerful and wealthy noble from the capital island. Well, maybe it was not a bad thing. It did explain the shiny coins. ¡°I will have the creation book in three days, Storme.¡± I heard Wigand say in crisp words as the door was closing. I was self-aware enough not to wander from the entrance of the bookstore and awaited Gareth¡¯s return. He came by thirty minutes later with a cocky grin on his face. His two old boots under his arm and a pair of new dark brown boots on his feet. I started walking, and he quickened his pace to fall in beside me, ¡°Nice boots,¡± I said, knowing he wanted the praise. We had a good amount of back and forth as I explained my interactions with Wigand. And yes, he did call me out on the hypocrisy I had been preaching to him about being reserved in our spending. Gareth was intrigued with the idea of making our mysterious patron some noblewoman from the capital, a beautiful and young noblewoman like in the stories. We both decided to head back to Callem¡¯s today, after getting a massive meal at a tavern we liked, The Maid¡¯s Folly. It had good, prodigious amounts of food for a reasonable price. They even served cheeseburgers. Gareth beat me by consuming five medium cheeseburgers to my four and a half, but I claimed victory based on body weight. With full stomachs, we headed back to Hen¡¯s Hollow. We did spot the kids from town again playing near the gates. Leon was with them and gave me a staredown from a distance. Yes, the city was becoming uninviting. Gareth and I decided after taking Freya next week to see the carnival we would try to avoid the city going forward. There was not any real threat within the city, but the road to Hen¡¯s Hollow was wooded and didn¡¯t receive much traffic. We discussed the possibility of getting airship tickets to visit one of the three other cities on Titan¡¯s Shield or even another city on another island now that we had the funds. We said our goodbyes to our families and gathered our things back in town. We could be back at the farm and still have a few hours before making dinner. The small farmhouse was alive with loud conversation when we approached the farm. Callem had female company? My first thought was he had convinced Edel to come out here to dry his tobacco leaves. We slowly ventured to the door and knocked. Callem¡¯s voice boomed, ¡°Boys, if that is you come in!¡± We entered and saw an older woman and a middle-aged woman at the table with Callem, with a spread of meats, cheeses, and sliced bread between them. A pitcher of red fruit juice was there as well. ¡°What luck you are back tonight instead of in the early morning, boys!¡± He stood and made a half-bow to introduce the women, ¡°This is Master Reader Wynna and her daughter Master Reader Ennet.¡± Not sure what to do, I bowed and elbowed Gareth to do the same. Callem smiled, so I guess it was the right thing to do. ¡°They are visiting Hen¡¯s Hollow on Holiday and are in incognito.¡± He said as if it was a well-known joke, and the women smiled. ¡°Well, sit boys, there is much to talk about and much to do so these women can be on their way.¡± The older woman, Wynna, spoke first, ¡°Master Callem spoke with us a few days back about two exceptional boys he would like us to read. We were so intrigued that we found time to leave the capital and come here, hoping to meet these boys. So I pushed up your scheduled reading and decided to come to you.¡± The younger woman scoffed. ¡°Yes, mother, it had nothing to do with Lord Garaie sending his servants for the tenth time this month to recruit me to his household,¡± the younger woman said with icy humor in her tone. ¡°Well, if you want to marry his third son, daughter, you have my blessing.¡± The slightly comedic exchange ended as they both smiled at what seemed like normal banter. ¡°Ok, down to business. Callem has paid our price, and we are here for a reading. Boys, do you know what a reading is?¡± The older woman asked. We both shook our heads no. She turned and gave Callem a disapproving look. He just shrugged in response. The woman got us seated and comfortable at the table, and we started picking at the food while she spoke. ¡°Well, readers are capable of reading a person¡¯s soul imprint. What is written on the soul, to be exact. Some readers can only gleam tidbits of information, and some can read a person like a book. What can they read, you are asking yourself? Many things, depending on their aptitudes. Some things include how long they will live, their strength, fitness, intellect, fortitude, reasoning, what abilities they have been blessed with, the size of their aether core, what traits they have, what skill affinities they have, what skill competencies they have, where their passions lay and many other things.¡± She took a breath to continue, ¡°Callem has asked us to read your abilities, traits, and skill affinities to help you in your training. Abilities are what you are born with and are formed from your connection to the aether. If you were born outside the Sphere, you would most likely not have any abilities or just a single tier one ability if you were extremely lucky. Traits are also aether linked but revolve around your bloodline from your race and ancestry. Finally, we will read your skill affinities: your ability to learn certain things faster. Some people are more effective at performing those skills beyond what should be possible. Some say skill affinities are residual advantages gained from past lives, but I digress. We can also read your skill competency, reflecting your current knowledge and ability, but we are not doing that today.¡± She looked pointedly at Callem. Callem muttered something about how they wanted all his gold. The older woman had finished and waited for us to digest everything she had said. We both knew about abilities, traits, and affinities. We had spent days fantasizing about what we would have when we reached puberty. There were books talking about hundreds of affinities and traits. All the books only listed tier 1 and tier 2 abilities, nothing higher. I asked a question, ¡°Can you gain new abilities, traits, and affinities after you are born?¡± The woman arched an eyebrow at Callem. I took it as a sign I had asked a very introspective question. ¡°That is a very interesting question, and the answer is yes. The wealthy pay vast sums to do so. Sometimes they succeed, and sometimes they do not. Sometimes the failure is catastrophic, but not usually,¡± she concluded. ¡°In terms of abilities, imagine your soul to be a beautiful painting of a landscape with a lake, trees, and mountain. Every time you try to add something new to the painting, the colors can run and ruin the image. This could damage the current abilities the person already has or even erase them completely from the painting. Everyone generally has two free attempts to add something new to their soul, but after that, you are playing Death¡¯s Dice.¡± Death¡¯s Dice was a game if you rolled doubles of any number, you would lose all your points up to that point in the game. She continued, ¡°There are exceptions, though. A dungeon elixir, for example, could add an ability, which would be like painting a beautiful swan upon that lake in the painting without disturbing the painting at all. Of course, the Triumvirate confiscates all dungeon essences, so put it out of your minds.¡± She added the last sentence with hardness. ¡°Regarding adding traits, races and beasts have different ones for a reason. You can add them via strong aether magic or dungeon elixirs, but your body will change too, add cat¡¯s grace, and you might grow a tail and whiskers, for example.¡± She looked at us sternly and warningly, ¡°And most likely, you will never be able to have children. 90% of those who have changed thus can never conceive or contribute to conceiving a child.¡± She waited for her warning to sink in before continuing, ¡°What is last, oh yes, skill affinities! That is the easiest to gain, but each person¡¯s soul can only hold so many affinities. Once it is full, that¡¯s it. A person can have three, perhaps four affinities at most.¡± She stopped to take a long pull of the juice. ¡°Now Callem has paid for us to read both of you. We are doing abilities, traits, and skill affinities today. That will be all. This is typically a private matter of the individual.¡± Callem rose and left the house. Gareth and I stared at each for a moment and nodded. ¡°We have no secrets between us,¡± I said. The women smiled at us. The younger woman, Ennet, picked up the conversation, ¡°So we will be doing a blood reading on each of you. How this will work is one at a time, we will cover our hands over yours above an enchanted parchment to collect the blood. We will activate our abilities, and you will bleed onto the parchment below, and everything will be written out for you to read in a script you are familiar with. It is a bit of a messy method, but it is how our ability works best.¡± Neither of us was squeamish as we had to bleed many times under Callem¡¯s tutelage. Gareth went first, and the woman prepared as they had mentioned but also put a small blanket over the clasped hands so they could not see what was written in his blood. The process ended up taking about three minutes. Gareth¡¯s blood dripping onto the parchment seemed to drip in a steady cadence before Ennet announced it was finished. Both women smiled at Gareth as he secreted away his parchment. I was up next, and the experience was unpleasant. It did feel like someone was crawling through my soul and reading it. My palm burned briefly, and I felt my blood being pressed out of my skin. The sound of it dripping on the enchanted paper was more disturbing than I had thought it would be. It took no longer than Gareth¡¯s reading, and the older woman did cock one eyebrow in surprise for the briefest instant. She had definitely caught something about me during the reading. I stored my paper in my pocket without looking at it, and my angst rose slightly. ¡°Boy, Storme, correct? Come talk with me.¡± The older woman, Wynna, said. We went off to a corner of the kitchen, and I thought my secrets had been exposed. Before I could plan to deal with the repercussions, she said, ¡°Caught my surprise, did you? I have been doing this for years and can feel a person¡¯s strength during a reading. My daughter has not reached that height yet. What I felt, Storme was something stronger than I have ever felt before,¡± she pointed at my paper. ¡°I have felt tier 4 powers before, so I know what is written on that paper is probably tier 5. Whatever it is, I suggest you keep it secret no matter how useless or powerful that ability is.¡± She waited till I nodded. The woman looked tired from doing the readings, and when Callem returned, we all ate a little, but Gareth and I were anxious to read our papers. ¡°Boys, you can go. And boys, you have no obligation to share anything on those papers with me. After you burn the text into your mind, I suggest you burn the parchment. Understood?¡± We both nodded and rushed out to the bunkhouse. We sat in our living room in the comfy chairs, looking at each other and seeing who would break first. ¡°Fine!¡± Gareth yelled fairly quickly, ¡°I will go first.¡± He opened his parchment and read, and his eyes bulged. Soon his grin split his face before he handed me the paper. I took it slowly, realizing the trust my best friend was putting in me. Abilities Giant¡¯s Constitution, Tier 3 Vestibular Movement Sense, Tier 2 Traits Adaptive, Tier 1 Charismatic Attraction, Tier 1 Skill Affinities Melee Weapons, Tier 4 Riding, Tier 1 It was probably everything Gareth wanted, with a cherry on top. I was shocked at how close Callem was to pick out his abilities just by watching him that first afternoon! The movement ability was a step from the generic balance skill we read about. Both of the traits were well-known and common. The adaptive trait basically meant a person could get comfortable in new environments and learn slightly better than the average person. The charismatic attraction meant he had a strong natural charm for others of his race. He was going to be a ladies¡¯ man for sure. His first skill affinity of melee weapons was a bit unfair, to me at least. EVERY melee weapon, I mean, come on! The second was new, as neither of us had ever ridden any animal. Looks like I would be buying Gareth a horse, no, a pony. It was my turn, and it¡¯s not like there would be any surprises for me, so when I read through the paper once, twice, and then a third time very slowly, Gareth got impatient and swiped it. Abilities Aetheric Conversion to Metal, Tier 7 Greater Aether Core, Tier 4 Metal Sculpting, Tier 3 Long-Lived, Tier 1 Assess Person, Tier 1 Traits Past Life¡¯s Knowledge, Tier 3 Skill Affinities Healing Magic, Tier 4 Lightning Magic, Tier 2 Cooking Tier 4 There were two items I wasn¡¯t expecting. The lightning magic was one, but the other was my past knowledge being revealed. And that was considered tier 3? It must be based on how valuable the information I retained was rated. I figured I remembered maybe 10% clearly and another 20% foggily. Gareth finally spoke after reading it, ¡°What the hell, Storme! We need to talk!¡± Chapter 16 The Big Reveal Chapter 16 The Big Reveal ¡°Talk about what?¡± I knew Gareth was shocked at my list, but I was stalling for time. ¡°What! A demon screwing an angel tier seven ability, Storme!¡± Gareth said a little too loud for my liking. I gave him a hand signal to bring down the volume. ¡°Storme, tier seven abilities don¡¯t exist! They are a myth, legend, things of gods¡­wait, are you a god in disguise?¡± Gareth was studying every inch of me as if he had never seen me before, and I was still formulating a response when he said, ¡°Is that why your¡­¡± he pointed at my crotch, ¡°Is so disproportionate to your body? Oh crap are you an Incubus? they have big¡­¡± he pointed at my crotch again. I started speaking slowly, ¡°What? No, I am just a normal boy.¡± I tried to look as innocent as possible. He grabbed the sheet and reread it, shaking his head as he did so, and then looked at me again, focusing on my eyes with his own. ¡°Healing magic? Lightning magic? Past Life Memories? Tier 3 past memories! That is like 30 years of memories. What do you remember then if you were not a god or demon? Wait, were you a woman? Is that why you never told me? Maybe an elf woman in your past life? Now that would be cool!¡± Gareth¡¯s grin had turned fiendish, but at least it was there. ¡°No.¡± I needed to play this well. I was surprised I had remained so calm, at least outwardly, ¡°I was a cook, and I went for a walk one day and fell off a cliff and died.¡± Yeah, that should work, and Gareth could draw the proper conclusions. Gareth sat heavily in the chair, thinking momentarily, ¡°That makes sense. That is why you are such an awesome cook and keep coming out with new meals. Where in the Sphere did you grow up? Were you a human man?¡± Gareth was leaning forward in the chair, focused on me. I could tell this was exciting to him, and it looked like our friendship was still secure. I personally didn¡¯t like being under the microscope of someone I counted my best friend over two lives. I didn¡¯t want to lie to him, so I would have to be general. ¡°I don¡¯t have great recall about it. But I worked in a restaurant, and I was a man.¡± I stressed the last, ¡°I don¡¯t recall much about my family, city, or country. Most of what comes to me from my past life is my time in the kitchen at the restaurant.¡± He was nodding and gobbling it up. I could reserve the truth for another day when we were much older. What I said was mostly the truth. My past life was fading. I could recall things if I really focused, but it took effort. ¡°Ok, when you remember more, just tell me about it?¡± It was a question, and I nodded. ¡°So angel freaking lightning! When will I see you zap birds from the sky with bolts of fury?!¡± He was way more excited about this than I was. How did I get the lightning magic affinity anyway? I was positive I didn¡¯t select it¡­ Oh, a thought occurred. My mother had told the tale a thousand times about why I was named Storme. I was born under auspicious circumstances of a lightning drake attack and severe thunderstorms. Mother had said multiple lightning strikes were close by. Maybe this triggered the affinity somehow? Well, I had this bonus and should not focus on how I got it but plan to get a lightning spell to use it. Over the next three hours, Gareth relentlessly asked questions about my abilities and affinities, and past life. Whenever I tried to steer the conversation back to him, he cut me off, ¡°Stormy, you are our ride out of Skyholme! Let¡¯s make sure we maximize your potential!¡± Maximizing potential was something I always preached when we ran around the town and city doing jobs for the people. It kind of felt like he was throwing it back at me. Eventually, I climbed to my loft and told him I needed sleep for tomorrow¡¯s punishing regimen. I only managed to do seven aether core exercises and make some gold coins before passing out. The morning brought a small surprise. Wynna and Ennet had stayed in Callem¡¯s house in his guest room. That they stayed was not such a surprise, but he had a guest room! Why had he made us sleep on the floor? Callem had also gone all out for breakfast. The spread of fruit was amazing. Many of the fruits I was unfamiliar with but enjoyed trying. My favorite fruit was something similar to kiwi in size, seeding, and texture but had a yellow-orange flesh and tasted closer to banana strawberry to my taste buds. It was called Bramble Fruit because it grew in a dungeon on a heavy vine with large thorns. The thorns were also poisonous, according to Wynna. Wynna had brought the fruit with her. There was also something similar to coffee-flavored milk to drink. It was called Dark Milk. It came from something similar to a coconut from the way Callem described it. It was found in the tropical area of the lowlands and was a normal breakfast drink down there. It was another contribution by Wynna and Ennet. Soon after everyone finished eating their fill, conversation broke out. ¡°So, boys, were you pleased with what your papers told you?¡± Callem initiated with his face impassive. I was hesitating, unsure what to say, and Gareth saved me. ¡°Yes, Callem. I have the tier 3 ability giant¡¯s constitution.¡± Ennet gasped while everyone else held their poise. Callem slowly nodded and then spoke. ¡°That is an exceptional ability. You have increased size, fitness, and recovery. But maybe you shouldn¡¯t reveal your abilities in front of our guests. I had just asked if you were pleased with the contents of the paper. A tier 3 ability with heavy combat implications, well, a noble house would sacrifice quite a bit to get you under their thumb.¡± Gareth turned bright red at his error and at being rebuffed by Callem. To their credit, Wynna took her daughter¡¯s hand, ¡°I wish to see the fields and this training course they talk about. Let us go for a long walk.¡± They were soon out the door. Callem intoned in a light chuckle, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, boys, they will not reveal anything. Having spent the last day with them, I know they are honorable women.¡± I would have to use my access person on them when they returned; I mentally noted to make sure. It was an ability I was constantly overlooking for its usefulness. ¡°So, Gareth, it is a formable ability. As you finish growing through adolescence, it will get stronger. The only downside is you can expect to be somewhere between 6¡¯6¡± to 7¡¯ tall, making you a clear target on any battlefield. It is a very rare ability to have at tier 3 as well for getting it as a human. There may only be a dozen men on all of Skyholme with similar abilities, and most have it at tier 2.¡± He had a teacher¡¯s pride on his face. Gareth continued, ¡°I also have a tier 2 ability, vestibular movement sense.¡± Callem slapped the table so hard it cracked. He was torn between being upset about the table and happy hearing what was apparently excellent news. ¡°I knew it!¡± Callem exclaimed. ¡°Big and dexterous. You are going to the greatest weapon master of your generation!¡± Callem was beaming. ¡°Anything else you wish to share with me?¡± Gareth paused momentarily before saying, ¡°The adaptive trait at tier 1 and skill affinity for melee weapons at tier 3.¡± Gareth intoned in finality. It was apparent this was all he would reveal, but Callem¡¯s mind was already churning a mile a minute. Gareth had revealed everything that would help Callem plan his training in his mind. ¡°All melee weapons? No specific branch?¡± Callem asked. Gareth nodded. ¡°Damn boy, that is pretty amazing. Adaptive is useful but pretty generic among humans and other races. But all melee weapons. We need to start expanding your repertoire in training to expand your arsenal. We definitely shouldn¡¯t limit you to just swords.¡± Callem started pacing while shoving food into his mouth, planning in his mind. He was probably thinking of ways to torture us to bring out Gareth¡¯s potential. I snatched all the remaining Bramble Fruit before Callem could get to them, and as a consolation prize for the months of pain, I foresaw ahead of me. Gareth was just waiting with a somewhat eager look on his face. ¡°Ok, we have quite a bit to work with. No aether core awakening?¡± Gareth shook his head no in response to Callem¡¯s question. ¡°Ok. We need to get you as many masteries as possible in melee weapons for the next eight years. We also need to be on the lookout for a defensive ability to add to your skill set. It is best if it comes from a dungeon. The best we could afford is a tier 1 ability. It should cost between 8 and 10 platinum. I can make that in a few years.¡± The shock of his statement was plastered on both our faces. Callem was committing a vast sum to Gareth¡¯s future growth. Callem smiled at Gareth, ¡°Don¡¯t look surprised, boy. You are my legacy, and I have maybe 15 to 20 good years left. My daughters are well taken care of, but I have been searching for meaning out here, and you have given me something to grasp onto.¡± He paused. ¡°Is this what you want?¡± Gareth didn¡¯t hesitate at all before nodding energetically with a sloppy grin. ¡°Just don¡¯t get cocky, boy. Up here in Skyholme, you will be the big fish in the small pond. Down in the lowlands of the sphere, there will be hundreds of thousands stronger than you.¡± Gareth seemed to take that advice to heart and was nodding at the wisdom. I had been a bystander so far, and I probably would have made the same faux pas of revealing my abilities in front of the women. Maybe because I didn¡¯t want to be upstaged by Gareth, I butted in with my qualifications, ¡°Callem, I have one ability and two skill affinities. I have enhanced aether core at tier 2, affinities for healing magic at tier 3, and lightning magic at tier 2.¡± That should be enough revealed to get some praise. ¡°For all the Hellspawn from the Red Moon!¡± Callem exclaimed. His face creased in worry, and then he thought. ¡°The damn magi academies in the capital would fight over you if they knew that! Tier 2 aether core! You are practically an archmage already!¡± Ok, maybe I messed up revealing what little I did. ¡°Anyone found with just a tier 1 core upgrade is married immediately into one of the Triumvirate families, which is rare in humans.¡± He sat and started thinking. He then started talking to himself, ¡°Sebastian, no, he would just try and use you for his own goals, and being around him is dangerous. Isaias is dead... Reid went to the lowlands, Bennett¡­no, he is an asshole.¡± He refocused on me. ¡°Sorry, Storme, I just can¡¯t think of any mages I trust to train you in your magic without pulling you into a viper¡¯s nest.¡± Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. I waved my hands, ¡°No, I am good with self-learning. I am doing fine. I think I just need time to learn spells on my own and maybe some help getting some spell books.¡± Callem slowly nodded, acknowledging his defeat. Even though I was not his primary disciple, he still looked pained at not being able to help me. ¡°What about another reading Storme? Wynna can read the potential size of your aether matrix. That should at least let you plan which and how many spells to imprint.¡± He looked hopeful I would accept his offer, so I just nodded. He went to the door and yelled nicely for the women. Then went to his room and retrieved two large golds. Soon I was sitting with just Wynna in the private guest room. The room was very nice and had a full-sized bed and fresh flowers laid out in vases with their aroma lingering in the air. A small table with two chairs is where we took up residence for the reading. Much like last time, it was going to be a secret blood reading. ¡°Well, Storme, here we are again.¡± She smiled at me. ¡°I hope you didn¡¯t reveal too much to Callem. He is a good man but secrets never remain secrets forever.¡± I took a moment to use my access person skill on her. Wynna Erdre Human Female Age 63 Disposition Very Friendly That made me much more comfortable. ¡°Can we get this completed so I can begin practice today?¡± I said as nicely as I could and not wanting to be rude. ¡°Yes, Storme,¡± she began without any further delay, and the next unpleasant reading began. It was like spiders going throughout my body, and my aether heartburn seemed to flare up in response. ¡°Ok, it is finished. You will find a lower and upper range for the number of spells you can learn on the sheet. Your aether matrix is like a muscle. The more you work on it, the bigger it can become. I will leave you to look. My readings are fairly accurate. Both marks should be within two of their actual. So plus or minus two points for both numbers¡± She winked and left the room. Tentatively in anticipation, I looked at the paper. Aether Matrix Size 22, Aether Matrix Maximum Size 103 Damn, that was huge. I smugly thought I had more than one thing on me that was huge. Each tier of an imprinted spell took up one count on my aether matrix. So I had 22 points right now, which was essentially the amount of a fully trained high mage from the books! And that could still grow. Perhaps I should be looking at tier 2 and tier 3 spells. Slow your horses Storme, I chided myself. Let¡¯s get the two spells we have learned before proceeding with big planning. Wait, a stored bit of knowledge popped to the forefront of my thoughts. I read something about magic affinities and spell imprinting. It was something that the space required to imprint higher-tier spells was reduced if you had a certain tier of skill affinity. I would need to find that reference again. I remember in which book the reference was in Wigand¡¯s shop. I exited the guest room while inside my head, and everyone stared at me. ¡°It is good news,¡± was all I said with a slight smile. Gareth looked relieved, and Callem looked smug. ¡°Well, boys, the ladies are staying here for the week, so be on your best behavior. They plan to attend the carnival in the city.¡± Callem looked happy at his revelations. Was he interested in one of the women? ¡°We have burned too much of the day already! To the yard!¡± Callem ordered his troops. The women spent the day watching us train. My body was adapting fairly well to the training, and I knew I wouldn¡¯t be as sore this evening. Callem decided Gareth would forgo practicing the bow even though he was pretty damn good at it. He would let me continue, though. Gareth had pulled out staves, maces, axes, polearms, and shields from storage during the day. They didn¡¯t match the quality of the swords Callem had, but there were now another 38 melee weapons for Gareth to learn. During a short break, Gareth asked me if it was alright if he got Freya a puppy for her birthday. Freya had always wanted a puppy, but there was a tax on dogs in Skyholme, five large coppers every month resulting in 6 silver a year. I wasn¡¯t sure if this was because resources were limited or if they wanted to limit large pets to rich people, as there was no tax on cats or birds. So, he was asking if I would pay the tax. I agreed. Callem was also a little more intense when we finally got to sword practice. It was a pecking order for sparring after training sword forms for a few hours. I would get beat senseless by Gareth, and then Callem would beat Gareth senseless. I could see our fast progress as Callem was a great teacher. I was thankful when the long day finally ended, and we were released. Gareth asked me that evening in the cold pool, ¡°Storme, you did a smart thing holding back. I thought Callem needed to know the extent of my abilities.¡± He sighed, ¡°You will be the greatest mage Skyholme has ever known, and I will be its greatest swordsman. You can rest assured I will be there protecting your back. And thank you. I know that this training is not your favorite thing, but I recognize you are here to support me.¡± We shared a look, our friendship growing stronger. Dinner that night was just slow-cooked barbeque chicken and coleslaw. It was very quick to get going for me in the morning, giving me bonus free time to study. The conversation with the women at dinner was slightly muted to start but slowly warmed up. Nothing of importance was said other than learning the women were, in fact, hiding out. They were also enjoying the vacation from their readings in the capital. After dinner, I excused myself first. That night I did some aether core exercises, made some gold coins, and then went to the spell books. I started with the cleanliness spell since it should be a little simpler than the mend flesh spell. Unfortunately, it was the same as the first time. The spell forms just made my headache. Frustrated, I opened the mend flesh spell book for the first time. My eyes seemed to be able to focus on the first page, and it sort of made sense¡­the second page¡­I could see the connections to the first set¡­the third page¡­yes! Finally, the fourth and final page¡­ I could see how they all connected, and they even made some sense. The healing spell was like reading Shakespeare in 8th grade compared to the cleanliness spell, which was like trying to figure out how to speak Russian from an original Tolstoy work. I could really do this! It was extremely late when I finally went to sleep. The next four days were groundhog day to me. Breakfast, stretch, set dinner on, obstacle course work, farm work, lunch, sword practice, dinner, and finally, studying. Callem tried to vary things from day to day, but I truly looked forward to making some coins and then delving into my mend flesh spell book. The notes of the previous owner were very helpful as well. I had also been writing out the four-layered spell form on paper and could feel myself getting close. We got to know Wynna and Ennet fairly well at breakfast, lunch, and dinner as we became more comfortable with their presence. I also noted that Callem was possibly growing sweet on Wynna. I was happy for him. They were good people, and their disposition had upgraded to Friends from very friendly. It didn¡¯t hurt that they both loved my cooking. Wynna liked the pork fried rice the best, and Ennet liked the pizza. I was still a burger guy and even made some passable French fries even though I didn¡¯t have good ketchup yet. We learned Ennet had been married twice previously with no children from either marriage. Both marriages did not end amicably. Wynna¡¯s husband, Ennet¡¯s father, had died in a shade shadow cloud encounter. A shadow cloud was a massive dark cloud full of shadow monsters that the island floated into during their orbits. It happened every seven years to the capital island, but the populace was usually prepared or evacuated to the other islands. They didn¡¯t offer how he died in the storm, and we didn¡¯t pry further. Well, by the end of the training week, we were all excited about the carnival. Callem was going to escort the women. Gareth and I would need to collect Freya. Her birthday was on the 7th day of the week, so we had the 6th day to plan. Gareth also had to get one of the puppies on the Gaskill farm for Freya¡¯s birthday present. I needed to talk with my parents and get them some coins to cover the puppy tax. We left as a large group after breakfast on the morning of the 6th day. Gareth and I each pocketed five large silvers from Callem before leaving. I had fused my gold into large coins, and my pouch was extremely heavy. I should have given it to Gareth to carry, but traveling with the adults, I didn¡¯t want to pass it off in case Callem noticed. Freya was waiting on the edge of town and rushed to me, hugging me. ¡°Storme, is this Callem and his wife?¡± It was the first time I had seen Callem embarrassed. The flush in his cheeks evaporated just as quickly as it had come. ¡°I can¡¯t wait till tomorrow Storme! Can we go today? The carnival has been going on since yesterday. The other kids in town have already gone at least once already! I already know what I want to do too! You get ten tickets for a silver coin, and shows only cost a few tickets. Can we go today, Storme!? I can get my dress on, and today can be my birthday instead of tomorrow!¡± She was finally out of breath. Wynna spoke first, ¡°Freya can you give me and my daughter a tour of your wonderful town? We just passed through a week ago and didn¡¯t have time to investigate all the attractions.¡± I nodded a ¡®yes¡¯ to Freya. ¡°If you do a good job Freya they might tip you!¡± I voiced loudly as they walked away, Callem reluctantly in tow. I went home to find my parents and get permission for the puppy. I also needed to find the book on the History of the Skyholme Navy I had borrowed from Wigand and never read. I think Pascal had taken it. Pascal was home and, like a petulant boy, retrieved the book from his room and then left in heated anger. He would cool off eventually. I found my mother at work, and she was very open to the idea of the puppy. I gave her four large silver to pay for the dog¡¯s taxes and food. She didn¡¯t want to take it but reluctantly did. She then asked me a serious question. Was Gareth sweet on Freya? I had to think about that. It would be a good thing. They were the two most important people to me in this new world. I told her I didn¡¯t think so, at least not yet. I told her I would have to return to her in five years. Mother also asked me about the butter churn in the barn. She had cleaned it out and used it recently and wanted to know if I planned to utilize it or bring it to Callem¡¯s farm. Freya had told our mother I had purchased it, and she had tried to make butter, but it didn¡¯t taste right because she had forgotten to add salt. Freya had thought she had done something wrong and thought I might be mad at her for leaving the ¡®bad¡¯ butter in the churn. I told her it was ok and for them to continue using it. I would have to find another way to age my coins or just risk spending them, as there didn¡¯t seem to be any repercussions for spending the shiny coins. Once I mastered the cleanliness spell, it would completely obfuscate the coin¡¯s origins. My next stop was lunch in the pub. Gareth was there with a puppy. It reminded me of a Bernese Mountain dog pup but mostly white with some brown and light spots of black. Gareth was excited, saying it would get up to 180 lbs (80kg) like his father. Oh yes, that was right, these big fluffy monsters were sheep-herding dogs. He would be Freya¡¯s fantastic friend and protector, and I told Gareth so. But I probably should get a few more coins to our mother to pay for the food...no, Freya should have to earn money for the pup¡¯s food. Who was I kidding, though? All she needed to do was bring the dog by the pub and butcher for free scraps in town. Gareth and I took the puppy to the river for the rest of the day and played with him. I returned home to our mom cooking chicken fajitas for dinner. I showed her how to cook them and make the cornmeal tortillas. Freya was proud and vocal about getting a silver coin tip today from giving the tour to Callem and the woman. The dinner was good, and Pascal had mellowed from our earlier encounter. The dinner had a bunch of innuendo about Freya¡¯s presents, and she eventually went to her room in a huff, missing the constant queues about the puppy. The entire family will be going to the carnival tomorrow. Gareth and I would have to supervise Freya. In the morning, Gareth brought the puppy in and used it to wake Freya up, who screamed in joy, scaring the pup so much it peed in her bed. We laughed about it, and Freya didn¡¯t care. She wanted to call him Fluff Monster but eventually was talked into something more reasonable, Monty. Finally, the dog fell asleep and was locked in her room with a water bowl as we headed off to the carnival. Chapter 17 The Carnival Chapter 17 The Carnival Freya wore her new blue birthday dress with blue ribbons and looked adorable. I had secreted coins into the bottom of my new backpack with some drinks. My belt pouch contained four gold, a few silver, and large coppers. I also had Wigand¡¯s book and planned to return it to him. I hoped to be able to sneak away during the carnival to finish my business with Wigand today. On the road to the city, Freya said she first wanted to see the play Ashton¡¯s Valor. It was a common ballad about a woman who became a knight and rescued her true love. It was two hours long, but the other kids in town told Freya it was awesome. After that, she wanted to play some of the games for prizes or, more precisely, have Gareth or me win her some prizes. Then she wanted to go to the beast menagerie with various monsters and beasts from the lands throughout the Sphere. Then she wanted to see one of the magicians perform real magic. To top off her birthday, she wanted to get a ride on the unicorn, which Gwen had not been able to do. Also, if time permits, she wanted to see the baby dragon. I doubted it was a real dragon. Probably just a drake hatchling or common lizard. As we got to the city, there was a massive airship sitting in the fields just outside of the city. The massive vessel made me think of Noah¡¯s ark from its prodigious size. Painted on the side in the sizeable familiar script was The Wonders of the Sphere, Traveling Carnival. Surrounding the airship was a tent city. Around the tent city was a short wooden fence. It was a fantastic sight covering maybe a half mile square (800 m). In addition to the carnival airship, several visible airships and skyships were docked inside the city limits, with more coming and going. Freya answered the question before I asked, ¡°They are only performing here. The Triumvirate is just allowing them one week to put on their shows for some stupid security reason. But it has brought thousands of people from all over Skyholme, even nobles from the capital!¡± I looked at the people milling about around the tents. Even from here, I could see half a dozen Wolfguard escorting important-looking people in finery and a large array of clothing from low to high born. Freya pointed, ¡°Look, the Blackguard!¡± I turned to see a Wolfguard in a trim black leather uniform outside the fenced area. Freya continued, ¡°There are supposedly three hundred Blackguards in the city to keep the peace and watch the performers. At least, that is the rumor. Gwen said she counted no less than fifty when she was here two days ago, but that is probably a lie.¡± Well, anything Gwen said was a lie, according to Freya. We reached the fence gate where people were entering. We saw hawkers for food and souvenirs from around the sphere as we approached the crowd. Others were walking advertisements for the various large tents that housed specific shows. The paths were getting crowded, but Freya led us straight to a ticket vendor and I gave him a shiny gold, which the man licked before returning me 30 tickets, nine large silver, and seven silver coins. Freya then dragged us to one of the larger tents with a big advertisement on it for the performance of Ashton¡¯s Valor. It cost us three tickets each to enter. Inside there was a large stage set up and seating for maybe five hundred people. A quick inquiry had the next show starting in 40 minutes. We were early and learned the front row, where we first tried to sit, was considered ¡®principal¡¯ seating by the young elf male who was acting as an usher. Those seats were larger, padded, and right in front of the stage but cost ten tickets each. Freya gave me her puppy dog eyes, and I gave the elf usher three silver coins for the center front-row seats. Soon after we had sat down, the stands behind us started to fill quickly, and you could hear the hawker outside yelling the countdown to the start of the show. A young woman in finery sat next to me and looked me over before holding her nose up and trying to avoid acknowledging my presence. A man I assumed was her father sat next to her. Freya was between me and Gareth, and I decided to make the best of the situation by ignoring the young woman and enjoying myself. I ordered us drinks and a snack. The drink ended up being a ginger beer, nonalcoholic, that was chilled and quite good after you got past the bite. The snack was salted caramelized nuts, but I couldn¡¯t place what kind of nuts through the salt and sweetness. Gareth ordered some meat on a stick which I paid for as well, and the meat reminded me of sweet teriyaki chicken but chewier during consumption. Soon the show did start, and I turned briefly to the stands behind us to find every seat had been filled. I counted fifty luxury seats and estimated another 500 other seats. So that would be around two gold per show they netted, plus more for the food and drinks. I had spent one silver and six large copper alone on snacks and drinks. They did four shows a day, so maybe this troupe netted ten gold a day? My musings ended as the show got underway. The show was put on entirely by elves. They had many varying body types, like humans. These elves were mostly slender, at least the ones that were in the cast. They also did have a unique charisma to them. The lead actor was a gorgeous elven woman with dark hair and aquamarine eyes. She was very good at her part and drew you in when she spoke. Actually, all the actors were excellent. The play was similar to a modern performance of Shakespeare, except they had the added benefit of illusion magic for special effects. I could see the two elven mages casting spells far off-stage. In all, there were maybe 20 elves in the troupe. I scolded myself for putting effort into sorting the behind-the-scenes work. I returned to focus on just enjoying the performance. The play was two hours, but definitely worth it. It had a lot of romance, comedy, action, and magical special effects to entertain the audience. The cast got a standing ovation when it ended. As we were leaving, Gareth was clearly smitten by the lead elf woman. He kept staring back at her as we were getting ready to leave. Well, his teenage hormones were starting to kick in. Being in the front row, we got the unexpected extra benefit of meeting the five leads in the cast as we were leaving. This made Freya ecstatic, and I was sure she would be bragging to Gwen non-stop about it. The young woman who sat next to me handed one of the male actors a large silver and complimented him on his performance, and she had that same infatuation look Gareth had for the lead actress. I guess it was normal to tip actors? I used my ability on the lead elf woman. Niserie Imiduis Elf Female Age 148 Disposition: Indifferent I pulled out a shiny gold coin and handed it to the lead woman with a slight flourish so the snobby girl who sat next to me could see, ¡°Your performance was marvelous, Niserie. My friend, Gareth, and sister, Freya, greatly enjoyed the show.¡± I said with respect, giving a partial bow. ¡°Please accept this coin on behalf of your entire troupe.¡± Yes, I was trying to be spiteful to the young woman who had looked down on me; she gave just a large silver in appreciation! Well, here is a gold coin worth ten times that amount! Niserie locked eyes with me. Damn, she was more beautiful this close. She then clasped her hands over mine and said, ¡°Thank you for your generosity, young man. Perhaps you will see a second showing.¡± Her touch sent pleasant tingles to every extremity of my body. And her intoxicating smile fogged my brain. Maybe my hormones were ragging too! They were trying to get past my aether core heartburn. I stammered a response, ¡°Uh¡­sorry Niser..ie¡­we only have¡­come¡­have time for the one.¡± Freya¡¯s face was laughing at me, while Gareth had a shadow of jealousy on his. Well, next time, Gareth, you can give the damn coin! We were pushed along and out of the tent by the remaining people in the front row who were waiting to thank the actors. Outside I was sweating a bit, even in the cool air. Gareth seemed to catch his breath, ¡°Whoa. That was great, but I think one or two of those elves had some type of charisma ability!¡± Yes, that was it! I just nodded at Gareth¡¯s intuition. Freya spoke, ¡°Guys, come on! We don¡¯t have much time before they close down for the day.¡± She started dragging us, and we could clearly see the countdown showing the carnival was open for another eight hours! What did Freya think, that we would stay for eight more hours? She dragged us to the rows of small tents with games. ¡°Gareth and Storme, win me a prize!¡± It was kind of a demand, not a request, by her tone. The tents were crowded with people trying the games. I found something to try. It looked like a mini laser rifle shooting game. You had six shots to hit six targets. I paid for my chance with a ticket and picked up the metallic rifle with Gareth and Freya looking on. It was somewhat heavy, and I extended my metal shaping sense into the rifle. There was a spell form inside! Pulling the trigger activated it, casting the small flashy bolt out the end. The sights seemed like a normal rifle, but¡­there something was wrong at the barrel¡¯s end. Oh, this was interesting. The end of the spell form had a metal gyroscope inset at the nozzle. Each time you fired, it ¡®wiggled¡¯ the bolt a little. So even with the targets being just 10 feet away, hitting them would make it hard. I used my metal shaping skill to steady the gyroscope and quickly went six for six on the targets before handing the rifle back to the stunned Carnie. Freya got a pair of red silk ribbons for her prize. I didn¡¯t tell Gareth; he tried the rifle game thrice before giving up. A short walk later, Gareth took on the challenge of catching and putting balls into large cans. You stood at one end, and six young ball tossers threw 60 softballs at you. You needed to catch and dunk 10 of the same color before they hit the ground. The balls were different sizes, weights, and three different colors. The better you did, the faster the balls came from the tossers. Gareth did it on his first attempt. Freya got a small jar of hard candy for her prize this time. The last game we played was against other carnival goers. It was like skee ball. The first competitor to get 12 balls into the single hole down the ramp won. Of course, there were 12 stations. Gareth got a little too pumped up, wanting to win. All three of us played the first game, and we lost. Gareth played three more times before giving up. There was a smug kid with a Wolfguard behind him who kept beating Gareth by a single ball. We had to pull him away from the game. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Our next stop was the beast menagerie. It was the biggest tent of all. The tent was sectioned off with wooden walls to separate the exhibits. Each stop had a showman telling of the beast and where it came from within the Sphere, and how dangerous it was. It had cost each of us two tickets to enter, and we moved with a group of 20 or so from exhibit to exhibit. The first exhibit was a panther the size of a horse. Its eyes were coal black; if the lighting hadn¡¯t highlighted the beast in the large cage, it would have been hard to find it in the shadowy enclosure. The announcer said the beast hunted the Jungles of Terminalia and was the apex predator there. The next exhibit was a large water tank with three mermen in it. Gareth commented it would have been better with a female of the species. We were told the mermen lived in massive underwater cities across the Sphere. These three were ¡®rescued¡¯ from a leviathan by the carnival. It was interesting to watch them swim, but soon we moved on. The next monster gave us a scare, a nine-foot-tall snow-white yeti. It was chained. It was clearly unhappy with its fate, and red-brown eyes burned with hate. We moved quickly to the next exhibit as the beast had an intimidating aura. The next exhibit was a small ice elemental the size of a cat. It was snowing in its enclosure, and the walking ice statue was not overly interesting otherwise. Soon we were moving from exhibit to exhibit. A troglodyte, a bullywug, a giant forest python, a stegosaurus, an imp, three kobolds, a trap door spider, an owlbear, and their piece de resistance in the final exhibit was an adult griffon who was actually tamed. There was a quick sketch artist at the griffon, and he would sketch you riding the griffon for two silver. We passed on it as you did not actually get to sit on the griffon. The walk-through took two hours, and we saw and heard a lot. Seeing the beasts up close that we had read about in stories was eerie. Next on Freya¡¯s list was a magician. There were multiple acts to choose from, and as we were looking, Gareth talked her into seeing the acrobat troupe instead. So we spent an hour watching ten acrobats do amazing feats that would make an Olympic gymnast go pale in fright. We were all enthralled as every display they did seemed to defy common sense. I thought these tickets were well spent and hoped Callem didn¡¯t see this show and get some ideas to add to the obstacle course. The last two items on Freya¡¯s list, the dragon tent, and unicorn, had extremely long lines. I didn¡¯t want to wait, so I talked Gareth into waiting with her while I went to the city to visit Wigand¡¯s bookstore. We agreed where we would meet up later. The meeting location was one of the fence gates monitored by ticket sellers near the city side of the enclosure. Since the city was crowded and there were Wolfsguard around, I didn¡¯t fear the gang of kids that had molested me in the past. Getting out of the tent city took a little while as the population density had grown. I heard someone saying more adult acts were performed later in the evening. I was slightly curious, but I had things to do. There was also some pyrotechnic display just before the main exhibits and attractions closed, so the crowd was growing to see that since it was essentially free. Also, I could smell dozens of food vendors sending aromas into the air, which slowed me. I had not eaten since the play. I was checking the food on display as I passed. Maybe I could get inspiration for my own cooking? The other large tent in the complex maze was the trader¡¯s tent. I wish we had gone there as I am sure there would have been many items of interest to purchase. I planned to run to Wigand¡¯s and get back here to convince Freya to go shopping. I noticed a large number of city guards on duty with the influx of people into the city as I entered the city gates. The streets were crowded, and I heard several people say what a dumpy little city this was. I am sure it was compared to the capital. I pushed on toward my goal. Thankfully Wigand was open. I entered to find six customers browsing his shelves, and he was hawkishly watching them. ¡°Wigand?¡± He jumped at my voice. ¡°Oh, Storme! Good to see you!¡± His facial expression did not match his greeting, as the volume of customers probably stressed him. ¡°I have your book¡­give me one second while I go grab it.¡± He went into the back room, and I took the opportunity to pull out the Skyholme Naval text. When he returned with the large book in a fresh leather binding, he said, ¡°Very good! I had forgotten I had loaned you this book.¡± I took the large tome I had purchased and placed it into my pack while he returned his book to the shelf behind him. He turned to face me, ¡°So Storme, what else can I help you and your patron with?¡± I just shook my head, ¡°Nothing currently. I want to return to the festivities, but I wanted to browse your shelves for a bit.¡± His face creased in thought. He leaned in and whispered low to me, ¡°I have some new spells you might be interested in¡­just got them. Forty gold each,¡± he winked at me. ¡°Rare spells. Condense ice and Ice Shield.¡± Those spells were more uncommon than rare, and neither interested me currently. ¡°Not today Wigand. I just don¡¯t have the coins,¡± I walked into the aisle where his magical references were located. He followed my movements and the other six patrons in the store. It took a few minutes for me to find the book I was looking for, Introduction to Your Magic Skill Affinity. I read the text over a year ago. It mostly described the 23 magic skill spheres and how having a tier one or tier two affinity affected your practice of spells within that sphere. I found the passage I was looking for near the end. If you are fortunate enough to be bestowed with a tier-two skill affinity in a magic sphere you will most likely be able to imprint spells for a lower cost. It is generally accepted that a tier 2 spell can be imprinted for the cost of a tier 1 spell. Tier 3 spells can be imprinted for the cost of a tier 2 spell. Reducing the cost of tier 4 spells requires higher skill affinity than tier 2. It should also be noted that even with a skill affinity of two, mages are not always successful in reducing imprinting costs. You should purchase a high-quality spellbook with good spell forms to ensure a successfully reduced-cost imprinting. Spellbooks from dungeons are highly suggested as they always ensure a reduced spell cost. I read the passage twice before returning it to the shelf. I was uncertain if this was an attempt by the conglomerate that made spell books to get new mages to purchase more expensive spell books or if it was, in fact, true. I would have to either try it or find someone to advise me. I slipped out the front door while Wigand was busy with another customer who was paying for two books. I was not planning to return to Wigand¡¯s store anytime soon. I made my way down the street, and my focus was split on thinking and avoiding traffic. I was suddenly shoved strongly into an alley. I swore in disbelief. I hadn¡¯t been paying enough attention and was going to give the idiot a piece of my mind. There were five boys my age blocking the exit to the street concourse. I recognized all of them. I crawled deeper into the alley before scrambling to my feet. This was not good. I reached down, yes, my knife was on my hip, drew it, and took a defensive stance. A larger shadow filled the mouth of the alley, and I was screwed. Wait...he wore a city guard uniform. A smug grin came on my face as I said, ¡°Don¡¯t look behind you boys, but you all are done for.¡± The red-haired boy laughed. Soon I could see why. The guard was also red-haired and shared features of the gang leader. Fuck. Ok, Storme. Pull your shit together. I positioned my body and feet with the blade. All the boys produced clubs except the red-haired boy who had that stupid short iron blade I had made in our first encounter. Not to worry, I told myself. They had range, but I had the skill and better movement speed. Three of them could come at me at most, and I would just have to injure one quickly. The guard turned his back to the alley, probably making sure no one disturbed his brother¡¯s mugging. I had been gaining more and more confidence as the boys refused to advance. I mean, I thought I looked pretty confident. Callem had taught me well with a sword; a dagger was just a really shorter sword. Two of the boys smirked. Go time was coming. Then I heard a scraping of a hard shoe on a stone behind me. I turned in time to see a girl swing a club. My quick feet sidestepped, and the club barely touched my shoulder. My dagger slashed her arm as I moved behind her, putting her between me and the advancing boys. The girl was tough; she dropped the club but didn¡¯t cry out. She moved to the side and let the boys pass as she wrapped her arm. I backpedaled and kept my ears on alert for more ambushers behind. I realized my mistake too late. The alley started to widen quickly, which allowed the boys to surround me. I turned to run, but my heart fell. The alley was dead, and I was now 50 feet into it. Even if I screamed, I was sure no one would come with the city guardsman at the entrance. At first, I hadn¡¯t wanted to kill anyone, but the look in their eyes made me fear for my life. I got the wall at my back and waited for them to make their move. The girl was out of it, as I was sure I had cut the tendon in the forearm of her dominant hand. So it was just five-on-one. Great odds, right? The red-haired boy who had claimed the short sword I had dropped started ordering his thugs. It was going to be an all-out assault, meaning I would have to take the initiative. Just before they attacked, I moved quickly to the right and got a weak swing on my back as I moved too close for the boy to hit me with full strength. My dagger cut through his quad muscle and to the side of his thigh. As he dropped, I rolled away, planning to run back to the mouth of the alley and tackle the guard out into the pedestrian traffic, screaming bloody murder. I came out of my roll too slow, though, and the red-haired boy got me in the temple with the hilt of the sword. It was a lucky swing on his part as he had been planning to strike me in the side with the blade, but I was too fast¡­well, not fast enough. I stumbled from the blow, slightly dazed but lost my sense of direction and ran into the stone wall. I knocked my head as I had not quite braced myself. I was groggy when I came to and heard voices. ¡°¡­.what the¡­¡± ¡°¡­.so much¡­.¡± ¡°¡­.how many gold¡­¡± ¡°¡­is that a platinum¡­¡± My head was clearing up, except I didn¡¯t like what I was now puzzling out from the voices. ¡°We should kill him.¡± A number of voices opposed this suggestion. ¡°He isn¡¯t a lord, and he probably stole all these coins,¡± the red-haired boy was trying to convince his friends. They had emptied my pack on the ground, and my new book was soaking up gutter water. My coin purse on my hip was gone, and they found the wrapped-up coins at the bottom of my bag. God damn it. I tried to rise. ¡°He is up. Beat him to unconsciousness.¡± It was the red-haired guard who had given the command. Greed was heavy in his eyes as our eyes met. I was too woozy to defend myself effectively other than back up as the clubs started raining down. My dagger was nowhere near me. They were not overly strong but kept targeting my head and ribs, and my wrists and fingers were soon broken as I covered my head. Darkness was coming, and I felt a blade push through my chest, the fucking blade I had made in haste in our first encounter. One of the kids swore, ¡°What the demon-cursed shit, Leon! You killed him! Why?¡± The irony of being killed by my own creation was not lost on me. I couldn¡¯t see anymore, just a blurry red haze. Blood was in my lungs as I struggled to take a breath. A few greedy street toughs ruined all my big plans. I was dead, and I knew it. My ears heard them stream out of the alley, leaving me to bleed out. I reached within myself, trying to find the spell I had been trying to learn for five days. I had been close if I could just¡­seconds felt like hours while I struggled to overlay the spell forms¡­damn it! Imprint ALREADY! I felt something click in my mind and pushed my aether through the spell form a few times, directing the flows to my organs before passing out. <<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>> Arturo watched as the city guardsman and local kids streamed from the alley. They were excited about something. The boy had probably just been mugged. It wasn¡¯t his concern. He was in the city due to the carnival, tracking the workers that ventured into the city. Minutes passed, and the boy didn¡¯t emerge. After nearly an hour, Arturo dropped his chameleon ring effect, stepped away from the wall, and headed toward the alley. He was cautious entering but, noticing the broken body on the ground, started walking purposely forward. Damn, lots of blood and the boy¡¯s head and hands were a complete mess. Maybe if he hadn¡¯t waited so long to enter the alley, the boy might have lived? Probably not. The boy¡¯s chest rose slightly and fell. Arturo squatted down in the blood pool and looked more closely at the boy. He was breathing very shallowly and strained. He moved the shirt where a blade had obviously punctured the boy¡¯s chest garment. The wound was closed¡­ This young boy suddenly got a lot more interesting. Chapter 18 Arturo/ Callem Chapter 18 Arturo / Callem Arturo Arturo studied the scene. He was looking for a vial from a potion. He noted nothing in the mess of the alleyway. Then this boy probably had a healing ability then. Or maybe he had already imprinted the mend flesh spell? No that was unlikely as that would have taken months for someone so young. He had common clothes on and no house signet ring on his hand so he had no mage tutor. It was probably a healing ability as regeneration would not have saved him. The boy had numerous facial lacerations and fractures and his hands and forearms had bone sticking up at angles under the flesh. His dagger sheath was empty and his backpack was gone. There was one large tome in a puddle of blood. He picked it up and read the title, The Complexities of Aether Creationism, A Qualitative Comparison of Dungeon and Mortal Spellcraft. Interesting reading for someone so young. Maybe he was an apprentice to some obscure mage out here in the lower cities? Arturo leaned against the wall deciding on a course of action. He had two subordinates who could take over and bring the boy to a healer. The carnival workers were much more interesting after all. His office had confirmed three spies from the Sadians within their number. On top of that there were four others that were divined as having malicious intent. Not a large number when you consider their massive airship had just over 600 people on arrival. He selected the communication stone in his vest for his agent, Jurmaer. After some thought he activated the stone and waited for the return activation signal then spoke, ¡°A boy in the city has been accosted.¡± Before he could continue Jurmaer spoke. ¡°Someone from the troupes?¡± Jurmaer asked. ¡°No just a city kid but he may have a high tier healing ability,¡± Arturo responded calmly. ¡°I plan to bring him to the medical clinic in the city. You will need to change positions to watch my street as well.¡± He heard Jurmaer frustrated sigh on the other end before acknowledging in the affirmative. Arturo put the book on the boys chest before lifting the boy. Ugh, he would have to pay for magical cleaning to get the blood out. He wished he had his anti gravity medallion with him but he only wore it when he was serving aboard a skyship. The aether crystal cost to power it was just too high. Oh well, he walked the four blocks to the healer¡¯s clinic and brought the boy in and let them do their work as he faded into the background and when he wasn¡¯t observed activated his chameleon ring again. Callem Callem was working on another prize for Wynna, to the distressed dismay of the carnie behind the counter. He noticed Gareth and Freya were running toward the city between the tents in the distance. He could see panic on their faces even from this distance with his enhanced sight. It had been a wonderful day so far. Ennet had let Wynna spend time alone with him and there was definitely something there. Something that hadn¡¯t stirred within him for years was coming to the fore. She was a remarkable woman. Well read, kind, funny, and attractive for her age. He could help her with her fitness since it was lagging but he figured to let the relationship progress before pressing that. Right now his concern was on Gareth. Where was Storme? He excused himself from Wynna¡¯s company saying his students appeared to be in trouble. He followed Gareth and Freya from a modest distance in case this was nothing. Callem was able to follow at a brisk jog, his movement didn¡¯t portray that he was following the kids though. He just seemed in a rush to get somewhere. The couple picked up their running speed when they could, Gareth didn¡¯t let Freya fall too far behind, keeping an eye on her as he ran. The girl was giving it her all and there was an obvious emergency. When they entered the merchants ward of the city they started frantically searching the buildings until they found the healer¡¯s clinic and went inside. Callem guessed Storme was inside and walked through the door shortly after them. He found Freya crying over her unconscious brother in a room in the back. Gareth had anger and worry on his face as the healer was talking to him. Relief flooded Gareth¡¯s face as he noticed Callem in the doorway. The healer paused looking at the impressive new arrival filling the doorway then continued as Callem nodded to him. ¡°¡­as I was saying. He has multiple facial fractures, hand and arm fractures, two broken ribs and a shattered knee cap. We repaired the two skull fractures as they were pressuring his brain. Surprisingly he had no internal organ damage beyond a lung laceration that probably occurred in transport here from one of the broken ribs. He should pull through but the cost of additional healing¡­¡± The man trailed off. ¡°I will pay the cost,¡± Callem filled in for the healer. The middle aged healer looked relieved. He seemed indecisive on whether to ask for payment first. Callem passed him a large gold coin to which his eyes widened, ¡°Yes this should cover most of the costs if not all. I will need to complete the bone repair over two days unless you want to purchase an aether restorative potion for me¡­?¡± He left the question hanging. Callem gave the greedy healer a hard look that got the man to start casting his spells. Callem then turned and looked at the far corner of the room and spoke in ironclad words, ¡°I hope for your sake inquisitor this was not of your doing or scheming.¡± Arturo Arturo had watched as the boy, Gareth, had arrived with the boy''s sister. Someone must in the city recognized the boy as he carried him and let his friend know. It was all a very touching reunion but not very interesting. Then a large square man entered the doorway and Arturo suddenly felt constipated with worry. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. He knew this man but hadn¡¯t he been exiled off to retirement and he should have died already, right? The man, Callem, had been the arms instructor at the academy when he attended many years ago. The man was a focused teacher and to his knowledge was neutral in almost all politics. Arturo had chosen the far corner of the room that had no windows and one door. He was lamenting his choices when Callem turned to him and spoke in the coldest tone he had ever heard, ¡°I hope for your sake inquisitor this was not of your doing or scheming.¡± Arturo knew that Callem¡¯s eyes could see through most minor illusions but had hoped to remain unnoticed. There was no point now so he dropped his chameleon ring effect and startled the healer, boy and girl. They all seemed on the defensive. ¡°No Commander. I found the boy in an alley and brought him here.¡± He addressed Callem with the highest title he had had in the navy in a show of respect. His thoughts were also reordering. So Callem. Was Callem related to this boy somehow? It would make complete sense. Maybe Callem had remarried and had children in his time away from the capital. Callem¡¯s voice was still hard as he retorted, ¡°And I assume the attackers were left to go free? Inquisitor¡¯s don¡¯t take action, they just report what they see.¡± Arturo fumed internally but calmed before his anger showed. His job was information gathering and interrogation. Anything beyond that without approval from the chain of command¡­ ¡°I did not catch the culprits in the act.¡± Arturo responded evenly. Well that was the truth. He knew what was happening in the alley but he didn¡¯t actually see it. He needed to watch his words because he knew Callem had a sort of truth sense about him. During his time at the academy nothing got past the man. He decided to reach for information, ¡°Are you this boy¡¯s benefactor?¡± Well that was obvious as he had just paid for the healing but perhaps he would volunteer more. Callem responded with some moderation in his tone now, coming down from his initial anger. ¡°These two boys,¡± he smoothly gestured to Gareth and Storme, ¡°are my students and farm hands. They are under my protection and employment.¡± The words had some bite. Arturo leaned against the wall comfortably for the first time in this encounter. Well at least he had something to report today, the great Commander Callem had taken on students. A number of people in the city would be interested to hear this news. Maybe he could gain some goodwill from Callem and play both sides? He was probably one of the most powerful fighters on the islands even with his advanced age. ¡°I am glad I was able to get him to a healer for you then. I will look into the assault and see if I can bring them to some justice.¡± He pushed himself off the wall and walked calmly past Callem and was planning to exit the room. Callem Callem was fuming on the inside. Inquisitors were the spies of the Skyholme elite and cared nothing for the common folk. It was obvious from his words he could have prevented the assault. He had just used the plural, ¡®them¡¯, to describe the attackers. Inquisitors never lifted a finger unless it was beneficial for them or their masters. His shock at seeing Callem had indicated he didn¡¯t know the boy was attached to him initially. He decided his best course was to get the inquisitor as far from the boy¡¯s as possible and warn this one off. So before he left the room Callem said, ¡°No. I think it best if the boy takes care of his own problems. That way in the future he will not start things he can not finish. I wish for you take yourself from this room as well and I hope to not find you or any of your associates near me or mine in the future. I gave my oath to never take sides and in return I was promised to be left to my own devices. You will honor that.¡± The last sentence was in his even toned command voice. Arturo responded after having a slight look of disappointment on his face, ¡°As you wish Master Callem.¡± He took measured steps to the doorway and Callem allowed him to leave. ¡°If you need anything from us in the future¡­¡± ¡°I will not Arturo.¡± Callem said in a voice going hard. He had finally remembered the man. He had taught him as a boy at the academy. His face had changed quite a lot but the familiarity was there. He recalled that Arturo was a ladder climber. A boot licking kid who did whatever the most powerful person in the room wanted. He had modest skill with the blade if he remembered correctly. Gareth would easily outstrip his bladework within the year. ¡°As you will.¡± Arturo said slightly surprised Callem remembered him. He made his exit and left the building. Callem returned his attention to the healer¡¯s progress. Storme was gaunt already from the healing. Low tier healing spells used the bodies energy to heal and a lot of healing had been done. ¡°How comes it healer?¡± He asked softly now that the encounter with Arturo was over. Gareth looked worried from the encounter but Freya was focused on Storme. ¡°I have just finished with the facial bones and his hands. There was a lot of work there. He still has the knee cap, ribs and one forearm bone. There is still a large amount of swelling as well. I am pretty spent as is the boy.¡± The healer did look tired. ¡°Good enough, Gareth get a cart and horse to bring us back to Hen¡¯s Hollow. There is a bone healer there that can finish the work there. Then we will be headed to my farm for the boy to recover. Freya will accompany us till Hen¡¯s Hollow and I will talk with Storme''s parents there.¡± Callem just stated the plan and it went into motion. Two hours later Storme was being serviced by the bone shaper in town, Aantal, fixing his remaining bone injuries. Bone shaping didn''t require the bodies stores to work so the unconscious Storme wasn''t being drained by the healing. Callem had a conversation with Alurha and Caleb about the attack. They both acquiesced to Callem¡¯s plan to keep Storme at his farm till he entered academy at 14. Callem wasn¡¯t sure why he felt the need to protect and train Storme. He was going to be unique talent in Skyholme. A powerful mage and competent warrior. Maybe he just wanted to keep him out of the grasp of the noble families in the capital. Whatever his ulterior motive it was obvious that Storme couldn¡¯t protect himself. First, the giant eagle and now the ruffians in the city tried to kill him. Freya was upset at this plan as she wouldn¡¯t see her brother anymore. Callem said she could come out for 6th and 7th day once a month and stay overnight. It would be good for Storme as well. Gareth would escort her for the round trip. Callem wasn¡¯t sure why the inquisitor had helped Storme but whatever it was it couldn¡¯t be good. It was best to keep the boys out of sight and mind from that group for now as well. He was also going to have to do a better job preparing them for the harsh challenge of the elite academies. He was reworking his training plans for the boys in his head¡­ Chapter 19 Dungeons Chapter 19 Dungeons I woke disoriented. My eyes burned and it hurt to open them and look around. Familiar markers in my surroundings made it clear I was back at Callem¡¯s in our training house. A bed had been made up in the lower room near the table for me. I tried to sit up but felt weak and my skin was on fire. It reminded me of the time I went to the beach with some friends and fell asleep in the sun for 5 hours without sunscreen. I worked myself into a sitting position. Well, I wasn¡¯t dead which was a positive. I heard the sounds of sword practice outside and Callem¡¯s voice giving corrections and suggestions. My stomach growled at me indicating it needed filling. I stood and tried walking but my right knee was very stiff and I had to force it to bend even though it protested. I went into the cold cellar and started slicing off a slab of smoked ham, grabbed two good-sized blocks of hard cheese, six apples, a jar of apple butter, and a jug of chilled water to wash it down. Getting back up the stairs was a chore in its own right. I took a seat at the dining table and started to fill my protesting stomach. My mind was fuzzy on the details. I had been forced into an alley¡­I was mugged¡­beaten¡­I started to get flashes of scenes. That fucking red-headed boy from the city. I tried to recall his name but it wouldn¡¯t come. Then I remembered he had an older brother. The city guardsman! Shit! The memories suddenly locked into place sequentially and I recalled the encounter and the gang taking my purse and backpack. I went through stages, awareness, an adrenaline rush, anger, dispersion of rage, and finally calm reflection. My first thought was I had almost died twice in the last few weeks. Twice! And I was 12! I was supposed to have a luxurious new life here and I was nothing but a punching bag. I was having regrets about my ability selections. I mean there were some pretty ridiculously powered tier 7 abilities, and I choose metal mage? I had just skimmed that list so long ago but I should have chosen wiser options. The apples were now just cores with most of the apple butter gone with them so I started on the ham and cheese, stacking them together. Well, I could become a powerful mage if what Callem had said was true. I stood and started pacing to work out my muscles and the protesting knee. My skin was tight and burned a bit and on inspection, I could still see some bruising. I detoured to the one mirror in the house and saw my face intact with some yellow-blue bruising. Well, at least I wasn¡¯t disfigured. I remembered hearing bones cracking during the pummeling, I shivered in a wave of phantom pain at the memory. My thoughts returned to my own survival and hopefully prosperity. Spells. I needed spells, tier 2 lightning spells are preferred but tier 2 or tier 3 healing spells would be ok¡­I stopped in stride and looked within myself. The mend flesh spell was there! It took me a while to feel it out and figure out its evolutions. It had two evolutions. The first was a self-diagnostic. It let me use the spell to look at my person for injuries. The second evolution allowed the spell to target other soft tissue beyond blood vessels and skin. This second was actually the most common first evolution of the spell and the most useful according to my book. I scrambled up the ladder to my loft. Everything was there as well as the book I had bought, The Complexities of Aether Creationism, A Qualitative Comparison of Dungeon and Mortal Spellcraft. It was stained with dried blood. I ignored it for now and grabbed the mend flesh spell book and sat on the bed to read for a bit. Evolutions occurred at spell levels 1,2,3,5,7,11,13,17,19 and 23. It took a mage on average 20 years to reach level 23 of a tier 1 spell with regular casting and studying. Well, I had a massive aether core so I assumed it wouldn¡¯t take me nearly that long. I paged through the book as I wanted to reference the spell form that I wanted for the next evolution; diagnose other. It was another common evolution but I wanted to have the evolution clear in my head so I studied it. It was less than an hour before the door opened and Gareth came in to check on me. He scanned the room and quickly found me in my loft, ¡°Stormy! Up and about I see!¡± He was grinning. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t go getting into scraps without me. It hurts my feelings you know!¡± I retorted with sarcasm lacing my words, ¡°Next time I am against ten to one odds I will be sure to invite you!¡± How many had there been in that alley? At least seven I think, maybe eight. ¡°So how long have I been out of it?¡± I asked and started making my way down the ladder. ¡°Callem had you under a sleeping draft to let you rest. It has been just under a day. No need to worry. The healer in the city did good work according to Callem. Antal¡¯s bone-shaping ability finished the work the healer in town couldn¡¯t do because he ran out of aether. Antal did have some issues with your kneecap. Said it might be stiff for a while as the tendons are not quite correct.¡± Gareth sat down all sweaty and finished off the remaining ham, cheese, and jug of water. Callem walked through the door saying, ¡°Is our slumbering vigilante awake?¡± He was obviously joking and he knew I was awake since Gareth and I had not been talking quietly. ¡°So Storme we can discuss the incident when you feel up to it. For now, your parents have given me wardship over you. You will not leave the farm without my permission.¡± I was shocked to hear that but not overly disappointed. I was about to mention Freya when Callem beat me to it, ¡°Your sister will visit two consecutive days every month.¡± I sighed, content with that information. Callem sat in one of the chairs at the table. ¡°So Storme you have had quite a bit of healing done and it will take you two of three days of gorging to replenish your body¡¯s stores.¡± He held up a hand to stop my question, ¡°No potions. I do have the restoratives but they are not needed. So for the next three days after stretching, we will work on one of the texts.¡± Gareth butted into our conversation, ¡°Can it be the Dungeoneering book!?¡± His excitement was palpable. Callem had a sour look on his face that he erased quickly. ¡°I suppose we can work on that book. Everyone needs to know the basics about dungeons. That reminds me Storme. I already told Gareth. Wynna will be staying here for a while.¡± Callem¡¯s face was unreadable and he held back his body language as well. I knew those two were getting it on or at the very least getting along. I smirked and Callem continued, ¡°She will be helping with your book lessons in the evening and will be preparing lunch for all of us.¡± Well, that was great news, one thing off my plate so to speak, I was no longer being responsible for lunch. It looked like dinner was still my domain though. ¡°Ennet has purchased a house in Hen¡¯s Hollow and will be moving her business there.¡± Callem read my confused look, ¡°Wynna is retiring. At least she doesn''t plan to entertain any new clients.¡± Callem stood and walked toward the door. He looked over his shoulder at us, ¡°You have an hour to bathe before lunch and then we will begin on the books. Storme you smell like you crawled out of a latrine!¡± I sniffed myself and that was definitely not an understatement. Callem finished his chiding before closing the door behind him with the final word, ¡°With Wynna in my house personal hygiene will need to be improved around here!¡± Gareth and I locked eyes and laughed. Generally, we were the cleaner and better smelling of the three of us. Gareth spoke, ¡°About time we delved into that dungeoneering book. He was always putting it off.¡± I started to speak but he cut me off, ¡°I know his son died in a dungeon but that doesn¡¯t mean we would. Not that I plan to try my luck anytime soon.¡± Gareth had been inching toward the door and then sprinted out yelling, ¡°Race you to the stream!¡± I still was moving very gingerly but made an effort to catch him. I was pretty sure he slowed down just enough to let me think I had a chance to catch him. I dove in while still dressed while he was removing his clothes. I figured my clothes needed washing anyway. ¡°I win!¡± I yelled as my head emerged. Gareth was on the shore half undressed with his mouth agape. ¡°Well, that is just not fair.¡± He stated sullenly. His grin quickly appeared though as he ran full tilt and did a cannonball right next to me. When the water settled we both relaxed and Gareth asked, ¡°So Strome it was those kids you pointed out to me before, wasn''t it?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± I sighed heavily, ¡°but it¡¯s not good. He has a brother or maybe it was his father in the city guard.¡± There was silence between us as I scrubbed my clothes near one of the short waterfalls nearby. ¡°We need to bid our time Gareth,¡± I finally said. ¡°We will even the score. Hell, they took all my coins too and there were a few platinum in there. If they see me alive again I don''t expect the encounter will be pleasant.¡± I finished clothes washing and put on just undergarments that were still wet. ¡°I think it is good we are here. We are learning from the best and I should be able to work on my spells. I am going to need more spells though. I can¡¯t leave according to Callem but you can. Would you be up for making a trip to the capital in a few weeks?¡± Gareth¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Hell yes Stormy!¡± Walking back we started planning his trip to the capital. After he got there he would buy some fine clothes to have the bearing of a noble with wealth and then go to a magic shop, drop a few platinum coins on some spell books and return. It was a simple plan. We changed into better evening clothes in our lofts when we returned and went to the farmhouse. Lunch was laid out, a hearty pea soup, grilled cheese sandwiches with bacon, two pitchers of fruit juice, and some baked breaded fish. Forgetting our manners in front of Wynna we dug in. I was a little off pace as I had stuffed my stomach just over an hour ago but I still managed to consume quite the volume of food. The fish was a bit dry but other than that everything was good. Satiated we sat in the ¡®new¡¯ living room. Four large plush couches surrounded a large square coffee table. Wynna was already redecorating Callem''s house. ¡°So boys I have never taught before but I like to think of myself as fairly well-read. What we will do is read a chapter and then discuss what you read as a group.¡± She handed me and Gareth the book and I read the title, The Basics of Understanding Dungeon Ecology. Wynna continued, ¡°Most of the knowledge in these two books is from two old adventurers, Mundu Aetherseeker and Jamath the Traveler. Mundu had a high tier ability that allowed him to commune with dungeons. Some say he could talk to dungeons but since he lived more than 20,000 years ago I don¡¯t know if legend had surpassed reality. Jamath had a powerful ability for navigation and location sensing. He could enter a dungeon portal and know exactly how far he had traveled and from which direction. So with that primer boys, let''s start on the first chapter.¡± This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. I opened my text, Chapter 1 Dungeon Portals. I quickly read the twenty-page chapter. Dungeon portals were an archway engraved with standardized symbols throughout the sphere. Apparently, Mundu was footnoted as having translated all of the symbols. Each dungeon had twelve standard symbols. The first was the number of people allowed in at one time. This could range from one to twenty-three. Once the dungeon cap was met the dungeon could not be entered by any others. If the cap had been reached then all entrants had to leave before the dungeon would reset as well. So you couldn¡¯t effectively swap members of a dive team unless everyone exited the dungeon. It was unlikely a dungeon could become locked by someone living in a dungeon because the longer you stayed in a dungeon the harder it tried to kill you¡­well, there was a passage from Mundu that said if you stopped making consistent progress it would try harder and harder to kill you anyway. The second symbol was the relative difficulty of a dungeon, from one to seven. The difficulty was relative to the preparedness of the dungeon dive team. If you knew what to expect and prepared for it you would be mostly fine. The third symbol was the number of challenge monsters to overcome the dungeon. From the description, I equated this to how many levels a dungeon had. The fourth through sixth symbols described the terrain or terrains inside the dungeon. The seventh to ninth symbols described the types of natural resources that could be found within. These were types of plants, various metals, etc... The tenth symbol denoted the dungeon''s age, usually over 100,000 years. The eleventh symbol was the grand prize for defeating all the challenge monsters within. The was usually a dungeon-created magic item, a certain spell book, or a valuable item like a violet aether crystal. This symbol could change if a party claimed the prize. The twelfth symbol was fluid and showed how many people were currently challenging a dungeon and if there was space for any more. Those were the twelve common symbols every dungeon had. Mundu noted there was sometimes a thirteenth symbol but since it was rare to see it it was not included in this book of basic knowledge. Gareth finished reading shortly after me and we started the discussion. Callem was more knowledgeable than Wynna on dungeons so he trumped input on our questions for this chapter. Gareth wanted to know how big a dungeon dive team was typical. Callem said most dungeons ranged from four to seven divers allowed. So most adventuring teams had six to eight members. All the dungeon entrances on the Skyholme islands had limits between five and seven challengers. I was mostly curious about resources and Wynna said there was a chapter covering that aspect so she delayed answering the question. We both were curious about dungeon ages, how old did they get? Wynna fielded this question. The oldest dungeon was noted at 370,000 years old. A dungeon evolved every 20 to 50 thousand years. When it reached maturity at tier 7 difficulty it would have some unique prize at its final boss monster that would incorporate its core essence. This powerful artifact, once removed from the dungeon, would collapse the dungeon forever. The space from the collapsed dungeon would allow for new dungeons to form within the sphere. Wynna put a halt to questions and told us it was time for the next chapter. It was called Chapter 2 Dungeon Size and Terrain. I was a little surprised to learn a dungeon could be anywhere from a few hundred feet up to a few thousand miles! I mean the size of planet earth, that just sounded ridiculous. The terrain also was so varied it sounded mystical, traveling from desert to a glacier in just a few steps. We finished reading and Wynna expanded on the text. The dungeons themselves were in a massive aether ley line matrix inside the shell of the world sphere. These ley lines were 3800 miles in diameter (6100 km), their diameter had been confirmed by dozens of independent researchers over the millennia. The ley lines can not be penetrated from the outside. Anyone who has tried had died from aether backlash, a defense mechanism that effectively burns away all material in a large swath area where a serious attack comes from. The dungeon entrances portal people inside the ley lines to complete trials. She had called them trials because that is what many songs called them she explained. Most people thought of dungeons as places to be exploited for resources and aether crystals. My first question was how thick was the shell of the sphere. Wynna smiled at my question, she said between 14,000 and 20,000 miles depending on where you were. My mind was spinning a bit. I had not been fantastic at physics in my old life but shouldn¡¯t gravity be crushing us like zits? I didn¡¯t voice this question. Gareth was asking about how someone dug down to the aether lines. Callem answered his inquiry. There were 23 passages through the sphere shell to the outer sphere. The really powerful nations controlled these gateways that measure a few thousand miles across. They were transit highways for resources gathered within the sphere to be sold to Dark World civilizations and the rest of the galaxy. Wait, Callem knew there was more out there than just the sphere? Gareth was pounding Callem with questions about life outside of the sphere until he silenced him. Callem said today¡¯s lessons were about dungeons, not the expanse of the sphere or what lay beyond. Chapter 3 of the book was all about resources. The book detailed that anything in a dungeon was real and as long as you could carry it out you could keep it. The natural resources depended on the environment. Monster harvesting, lumber, herbs, metals, rocks¡­ I asked about bringing a cart and Callem and Wynna laughed together. No, the dungeon wouldn¡¯t allow that due to its ¡®sense of fairness.¡¯ Enterprising adventures could build devices inside a dungeon to help transport more materials out though. Any transport device bigger than a backpack brought into a dungeon though was made useless or destroyed by the dungeon during the transition through the portal. Callem then brought up the point of aether-infused ingredients. Plants, metals, and rocks in more powerful dungeons had aether laced into their makeup. This made them extremely valuable for alchemists, enchanters, and in magitech devices. His own tobacco plants were from a dungeon and even retained a slight aether property. Most aetheric seeds brought out of a dungeon were sterile but every once in a while you got lucky. The conversation lasted a while about environmental treasures. Some cities in the lower lands lived completely off the harvest of a single dungeon. Wynna soon had us move to chapter 4, aether crystals. Both me and Gareth had heard of aether crystals and knew they only came from dungeons. I read the chapter twice to make sure I understood. Aether crystals were found inside monsters in a dungeon. A sort of prize you got for defeating the foe. There were also aether crystal deposits in some dungeons that could be mined. These dungeons that had aether crystal mines were highly sought after. Aether crystals came in seven grades or tiers. The first three grades red, orange, and yellow were the lowest. The amount of aether they contained tripled each grade. So orange contained three times that of red and yellow nine times that of red. These low-tier crystals were used mostly in enchanting, they were ground up into a powder and mixed with metals to inscribe runes. The crystals also varied in size, from the size of a grain of rice and up to the size of a basketball. The three-fold increase in capacity held true for the next three grades, green, blue, and indigo. These crystals had a much larger capacity and were extremely durable compared to the first three tiers. They were mostly used as batteries for magic devices. The red, orange, and yellow became brittle after a few recharges. Inside the sphere, the crystals recharged naturally from the ambient aether. There was a skill that could be learned that allowed a mage to draw aether directly from a crystal or charge a crystal with their own aether. However, the higher the tier crystal the harder the resistance to move aether in both directions. That is why higher-tiered crystals were used in enchanting batteries. The mid-tier crystals could hold a lot more aether and generally lasted thousands of recharges before breaking down. The final aether crystals, blue, indigo, and violet were virtually indestructible by normal means. These were the crystals used to power the strongest magitech devices and also skyships and starships. A violet aether crystal could contain 729 times the amount of aether as a red crystal of similar size. Wynna said if we had trouble remembering the grade scale think of a rainbow. I flashed back to high school, ROY-G-BIV. Huh¡­was magic and science linked somehow? Gareth was already into his questions. He wanted to know what type of crystals and how big they were, and which came from which monster. Neither Callem nor Wynna had complete answers for him. I asked about the value of aether crystals. It varied according to Wynna. Red, orange and yellow were not that valuable in the grand scheme but orange was five times as valued as red, and yellow was twenty-five times the value of red. So essentially each tier was 5 times as valuable as the last. After those three basic crystals, the value skyrocketed. Aether crystals were a universal currency in the cities in the sphere. They were also the largest export through the passages to the Dark World and the universe beyond Callem mentioned. Wynna explained what she knew about aether from her readings. The sun at the center of the sphere generated the aether and that aether was harvested in the ley lines. Very little aether escaped the sphere. If a mage lived on the outside of the sphere he or she would find his aether core regeneration greatly diminished. The further the mage traveled from the sphere the slower the regeneration was. It would never reach zero but what might take a day in the sphere might take a year to accumulate on another planet far from the sphere. She had read some old adventurers'' tales that detailed men and women traveling far away and the frustrations they encountered in the thin aether environments in other star systems. It was getting late and we still had three chapters to go so Wynna said we would finish the text over the next few days. We had a cold dinner of sausage and buttered bread for dinner as no one had cooked. Gareth took his copy of the Dungeon book to read in his loft. While Gareth was reading about dungeons I did my aether core exercises and produced two platinum coins. I needed to start filling my purse again. I would need some gold later to complete them but this was fine for now. I had some aether in reserve so I started working my mend flesh spell. First I used the diagnostic and found lots of lingering injuries. Mostly strained tendons and capillaries were still being repaired. I was surprised how little aether I needed to completely heal everything. I found everything that needed attention including my troubled knee and healed myself completely. Of course, I was hungry again and snuck down for a snack. Gareth joined me and said, ¡°Storme I want to try out a dungeon sometime.¡± He had a serious look on his face. ¡°Gareth after we finish our academy we can try diving.¡± He grinned happily I was on board. Gareth slapped me on the shoulder before tossing a handful of nuts in his mouth. Well maybe I could avoid another life-or-death moment for at least 10 years, that was how long it would be until we graduated from the academy. Sleep was welcome in my flotilla of pillows. Chapter 20 The Second Spell Chapter 20 The Second Spell I was happy to just be hungry when I woke, with no lingering pain. I quickly made use of the diagnostic spell and I was happy at what little wrong I found. Gareth was still asleep which didn¡¯t surprise me as he had read really late into the night. I was quiet as I made my way down my ladder. I had my cleanliness spell book in hand and started studying. It was just thirty minutes later when I heard Callem yell for breakfast. I calmly walked out as Gareth was scrambling to get up and dressed and he yelled after me, ¡°Damn it Stormy you could have wakened me! Callem is going to work me over in practice today if I¡¯m late for breakfast again.¡± I was out the door. My fiendish plan was just to get the choicest morsels at breakfast. Gareth was a fast and relentless eater after all. Breakfast was potato pancakes with butter and a side of boiled oats with fruit. No juice unfortunately this morning. Both items were plentiful though. Gareth barged in just a minute after I had sat down. I had already loaded my plate. Gareth sat and was piling the pancakes on his plate. I snagged two more before he got them all. Callem immediately said we would not talk about dungeons at breakfast. This news had Gareth portraying a deflated and disappointed look. Getting close to finishing breakfast Callem spoke, ¡°We will stretch together then Gareth and I will work on harvesting the tobacco. Storme you can work on dinner after stretching then study your spells till lunch.¡± ¡°I already learned the mend flesh spell,¡± I said between mouthfuls and noticed everyone staring at me. ¡°Yeah, it sort of locked in while I lay there dying in the alley. If I hadn¡¯t imprinted it I would be dead.¡± Wynna looked concerned, Gareth shocked and Callem thoughtful. Callem spoke first, ¡°So Storme the mend flesh spell¡­how many times can you cast it and what are your evolutions?¡± Light suddenly dawned on Gareth¡¯s face and it went panicky. ¡°My spell is just second level and I just have a self-assessment and mend organs, tendons, and ligaments.¡± Callem was thinking and Gareth looked resigned, already knowing the outcome of Callem''s deliberations. ¡°Well, it would be best for you to practice that spell as much as possible. We should increase the intensity of our training then to help you level it. Spells don¡¯t adversely affect growth like potions so no limits on your casting.¡± Oh shit. Gareth would have two days of getting beat down and then I would join him. I gulped and nodded finally catching up to Gareth''s worry. We went outside and did the stretches at a quicker pace after Callem noticed I was moving ok. He probably figured I had cast the mending spell on myself. After stretching I was off preparing dinner. I decided on an orange chicken with pork fried rice. I would add some broccoli florets to the rice for fiber. I would just get everything ready to cook for now. Before dinner, I could quickly make the meal. Wynna was there watching me from a couch with a book in her hand. She tried to start a dialogue, ¡°I may have retired but if you or Gareth need a reading all you have to do is ask.¡± ¡°That is very kind of you. If you don¡¯t mind me asking what are your intentions with Callem?¡± I had put on my adult face. I was more trying to deflect her attention from me but I was also curious. Wynna didn¡¯t look upset at the question, more thoughtful than anything else. ¡°Callem and I are both at the tail end of our lives. We both didn¡¯t think we would find much joy in our remaining time. Callem found something to invest in you two and had enough left over to share with me.¡± She paused and I was nodding. ¡°We enjoy each other''s company and still have some intimacy left in our bodies.¡± She winked at me and that was enough for me. I then steered the conversation to the carnival. She told me about her impressions of the play. She was very insightful regarding the implications and lessons within the simple plot. Much like an English teacher reaching for layered meanings in Shakespeare. Soon I got up and left as I had finished prepping dinner but I found myself liking the older woman. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Back in my loft, I delved into the cleanliness spell. Now that I had one spell imprinted the next shouldn¡¯t be as hard? Yes, it was still hard. My best analogy was being able to memorize and write a 30-page short story from memory without any errors. I felt I made some progress before lunch. Wynna made a hearty vegetable soup and some quite tasty warm crusty bread with a choice of a butter spread or olive tapenade spread. Fortunately, there was a lot of soup and bread for three hungry men. Callem had me heal Gareth, I found just some minor bumps and bruises when I explored with my skill. I couldn¡¯t assess him like myself but the spell naturally sought his injuries. At first, I was a little hesitant as I didn¡¯t want to cut into my coin creation at night but the amount of aether was actually minimal. After lunch, I returned to my studies and Gareth and Callem started practicing outside. The clang of weapons was a bit distracting but I had learned how to tune things out growing up in a small house. Before I knew I had to make dinner. Callem brought out some of his fruit juice stash and a bottle of wine for him and Wynna. Everyone said the dinner was excellent, but Wynna said she would need to get her wine collection transferred from the capital after sampling Callem''s offering. When dinner was finished we again took up positions on the couches. First I cast my healing on Gareth, he had a few good bruises and one small laceration on his thigh. Callem was already turning up the intensity in sparring and Gareth was loving it by his mannerisms even with the increased injuries. As we began class Gareth had finished the last three chapters last night so I was behind. I said I could read and tune everyone else out as Gareth asked all his burning questions. It was something I was getting really good at, tuning out distractions. I started the reading. Chapter 4 was about reward chests from dungeon challenge bosses. The chests were generally well-made and contained coins and items of value. Sometimes artwork, sometimes minor enchanted items, sometimes well-crafted weapons, sometimes aether crystals. The items were usually much more valuable than the coins also contained within. The chests themselves were also valuable so some divers hauled them out as well. The 5th Chapter was mostly a chapter warning of dangers in dungeons. Traps, staying too long, underestimating beasts and monsters, environmental dangers, and warnings not to eat or drink anything not confirmed safe by the Adventurer''s Guild. The final Chapter in the book was just giving examples of how to prepare for certain environments and challenges. I tuned into the conversation but didn¡¯t ask any questions. Gareth was mostly interested in ways to fight beasts and monsters with his abilities and it was a back-and-forth between Gareth and Callem. I was glad when the session ended. I wasn¡¯t interested in risking my life in a dungeon. I already had all the wealth I would ever need at my fingertips. I hoped Gareth would grow out of his interest in delving into dungeons. If we traveled the sphere exploring safe cities and I kept him in luxury that should be enough for him, right? That night I made two more platinum coins, did my aether core exercises, and studied the cleanliness spell. The next day Callem decided I was recovered enough to rejoin training. He had reworked my schedule. My new daily schedule became breakfast, stretching, preparing dinner, conditioning training, an hour to work on and study spells, lunch, observation training, weapons training, dinner, book discussion with Wynna, and then a few hours of study on my own. The book discussion was to be limited to just 90 minutes in the evening to give me time to study spells before bed. The observation training involved Callem teaching us how to recognize changes in the environment and be more observant. Callem kept changing things in the practice yard, his kitchen, and dining room during the night. We had to identify the changes the next day. It wasn¡¯t fun at first but at least it was something that I was better at than Gareth. I caught maybe 70% of the changes while Gareth was around 50%. The training was working as I started noticing things quicker and puzzling things out. I felt like I was being trained as a detective. Move over Sherlock Holmes! The days started to blend together and before I knew it ten days had passed and I hadn''t realized we hadn¡¯t had a single day off. Gareth didn''t seem to mind but I did. When I brought this up Callem said I had two off days coming up on this 6th and 7th day. Freya would be visiting. I was excited to see my younger sister, it felt like it had been ages. I refocused my efforts and two nights later my cleanliness spell was finally imprinted! Chapter 21 I Want One! Chapter 21 I Want One I had imprinted the cleanliness spell but when focusing inward discovered I had erred. The first evolution at level one was supposed to extend the range from just the body to include the clothes the caster was wearing. Instead, I must have focused subconsciously and forced a different evolution. I had been planning on this evolution for the 5th or 7th level of the spell. It was the vanilla aromatics that lasted around an hour after casting the spell. Gareth would roast me if I cast the spell and couldn¡¯t clean my clothes. I had been bragging about it for weeks about how I would never have to do laundry again. I started to spam the spell hoping to push it to level 2. And I made sure to focus on the correct evolution this time. It took one-quarter of my aether core stores and two hours before the spell hit level 2 and the evolution was correct this time! I could now use the spell to instantly clean up after training, before bed, and on waking up. It was pretty late but I got my light stone and opened the spell book. I had noted a few evolutions I wanted to research and needed to pick my 3rd. I looked them over and was torn between the mouth cleanse or hair trim. Eliminating bad breath¡­or¡­being well groomed and looking good. I started pushing the spell again. The aura for cleaning extended about 3 inches (8cm) from my body. This meant my bedding and pillows were immaculate after twenty castings while rolling around and they smelled of vanilla. Also, I confirmed that I was able to make old coins shiny again! I would be able to use this as my excuse when I spent my new coins from now on. I fell asleep having forgotten all about making coins with my remaining aether stores¡­not that my aether stores could have made more than a few gold coins. In the morning I was in a fantastic mood. Rather than reveal my spell I decided to hold the secret until after Gareth and I were both filthy, maybe we would have to run the obstacle course today, this time I would look forward to it and I planned to get extra dirty. Breakfast flew by, then stretching, and after I prepped some veggie lasagna and a vanilla cream tart for dessert. I rarely made desserts but felt the satisfaction of making something with vanilla. Conditioning today was weight training oriented. No obstacle course training was planned by Callem this morning. However, after some needling of Gareth about how I could best him on the B course Callem decided we should run the course in parallel. The B course was currently an elevated course through some blinds. Callem usually tossed things at us or fired arrows capped with leather bags at us to distract or knock us off. The very end of the course was a mud crawl though which is why I choose it. I had a plan that I hoped would get me close. Gareth was up the ladder and into the course a few steps before me even with my best effort. Callem was on him though and projectiles slowed him down just enough for me to catch up going into the rope section. Gareth pulled away again which frustrated me a bit. A capped arrow hit my hip throwing me sideways and letting Gareth open his lead even more. For the rope descent, I just jumped down the 10 feet rather than climb as Gareth had done. I did my best parkour roll to minimize the landing but definitely strained my ankles. We were almost even now as we hit the obstacles in the mud. The final obstacles were a series of eight walls. The area where the walls were was irrigated from the stream to maintain the muddiness. We had to alternate climbing and going under the walls. The walls were just 8 feet tall (2.4m) and had plenty of handholds. Being smaller I was able to get the under quicker and pushed through the mud. The finish was close and Gareth had me by six steps. It had been one of the closest parallel runs I had with Gareth on the B course. We were both caked in mud and mud was in all our body cracks. Gareth was smiling and grinning at me in his victory under his mud mask. Callem approached and spoke, ¡°Best effort I have seen from both of you in a long time! I assume there was a wager attached?¡± Gareth was facing Callem and said, ¡°Storme¡¯s on dishes tonight!¡± Oh, I forget that bit. It was now a doctrine that if I initiated a challenge and lost I had to do the dishes. If it was Gareth¡¯s challenge and I won he had to do my laundry¡­which now wouldn¡¯t be that much of a reward. I cast my cleanliness spell and reveled in becoming clean in seconds. Callem eyebrows rose in surprise which caused Gareth to spin and stare at me. His jaw dropped. I was inhaling the vanilla scent and smiling as Gareth was at a loss for words. ¡°Well, I am off to study¡­¡± Gareth groaned in frustration at being tricked. ¡°Stormy! Wait! Do me! I concede you won! Do me!¡± I was laughing at his pleading. ¡°Sorry, Gareth. I would need to invest like four evolutions to clean others and that is not going happen.¡± I waved as I headed away leaving the pair. Callem said something about giving Gareth some time to clean up and could hear the humor in his voice. Inside I got some water and then spent time healing up. I had pushed hard on the course and had two minor sprains in my ankles, and a bunch of contusions. I had dislocated my right pinkie finger climbing the walls and just noticed. I used my mending spell to correct everything in just a few castings. I smiled inwardly as I achieved a new level. It was my lucky day as the mend flesh spell hit level 3 and I set my evolution. I choose scar removal without thinking. My healing didn¡¯t leave scars but it couldn¡¯t remove existing scars¡­until now. I had a few small ones myself including the large one from the eagle but mainly planned to help mother and father. Mother had three scars on her arms from burns and father had dozens from his training. Well, when I informed them of my magic I would do so. I had originally planned to select assess other but since my spell could find the injuries I didn¡¯t think it was necessary at this time. I had plenty of evolutions coming in the future. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! I decided to cast the cleanliness spell a few more times to work on leveling it and shortly after that hit level 3 too. I choose ¡®mouth cleanse¡¯ for the evolution. It probably wasn¡¯t as useful in a world with magic but dental hygiene was important. I was pretty high on myself right now. Gareth had an impressive athletic physique and ability. I was a freaking mage! The rest of the day was normal and I received praise from Wynna and Callem for my progress in my spells. Gareth spent his time trying to convince me to guide my evolutions toward being able to use the cleanliness spell on others. The lasagna at dinner was a hit and so was the tart. Callem was the first to pick up the vanilla ingredient in the tart relating to my new vanilla scent. When we finally got back to our room Gareth continued asking me about the cleaning spell. He wanted to know about my evolution choices. I told him about the mouth cleanse and my planned upgrades beyond. The hair styling, minty breath, extending the time of the vanilla scent, the bowel and bladder cleanse, and then adding various scents beyond just vanilla. His reply was expected¡­ ¡±and that is more important than letting your best friend share in your fortunes?¡± The compromise we came to was that I would buy him an enchanted item to do the same thing as my spell. I fell asleep after doing my aether core exercises and making a few gold coins. The next few days were not as exceptional. No spell evolutions or spell levels but I did add to my coin collection and finally, the day arrived for Freya¡¯s visit. I was torn between the joy of seeing Freya and getting a two-day break. Gareth went into town early in the morning and returned with Freya and Monty. Monty was growing rapidly. He was already twice the puppy in just two weeks! We spent the morning playing with the puppy and I showed Freya how to use tiny food rewards to train him. The puppy was smart and soon had learned to sit, stay and come. Freya had the town gossip on her lips. The carnival was the big news. Apparently, the Yeti had escaped and caused some damage, and injured a bunch of people. The Wolfguard had also arrested three of the performers before the carnival left. One was the elf woman that was the lead in the play! It took me a moment to recall her name, Niserie. That news had Gareth upset as he had been infatuated with her. Mother and father were doing well according to Freya. Father was up for a promotion. Pascal was annoying as he got closer to entering the academy but at least he was nice to Monty. I gave Freya two large silvers for the upkeep of Monty even though I had given mother some coin already. We were still getting paid 5 large silvers a week by Callem and I wasn''t going to get the opportunity to spend them anytime soon. That evening Freya slept in the other bunk in my loft. Monty was desperately trying to find a way to climb the ladder up to her before he calmed down and just kept an eye on her from below. She was a little annoyed that I studied late into the night with a light stone. My focus was on the mend flesh spellbook as I was searching for my ideal level 5 evolution. The next day was much of the same after we completed our stretching, Freya even joined us. Then we explored the woods around the farm with Monty who was interested in everything, especially treeing the red squirrels whenever they got brave enough to venture to the ground. I was happy to notice the puppy didn¡¯t let Freya out of his sight while we walked. Freya tried some of the obstacles on the course and determinedly finished each one she attempted. Sometimes with a little help from Gareth or me. There were no good fishing spots near the farm but we went to the small stream and fished anyway. The conversation was now mostly gossip about the town kids. Gareth wanted updates on a few girls in town and Freya was just bragging about how jealous Gwen was of Monty and her successful business ¡®empire¡¯. Freya was making almost a silver every week on her own. Too soon it was time for Gareth to take Freya home. We went and ate lunch with Callem and Wynna and then they left. Gareth was pulling a large cart with tobacco leaves for Edel in town to dry for Callem. Callem mentioned after they left that Sebastian, his mage friend, would be visiting soon to fertilize the fields and do the next round of plantings. He would also be recharging the accelerated growth runic item buried underneath both fields. I spent the evening opening up the bloodied tome, The Complexities of Aether Creationism, A Qualitative Comparison of Dungeon and Mortal Spellcraft. The author was a pompous scientist and it was difficult to read. The author was infatuated with the powers of dungeons. The book was full of hypotheses that were ludicrous and based on no concrete observations. The few facts that I found were interesting. Only tier four or higher spells were able to create anything out of aether directly. Lower-tiered spells could transmute material but not create matter. The aether conversion rate to matter was also terrible. A powerful archmage emptying his entire aether core could make a little over an ounce of gold. The author hypothesized that mundane aether creation was super inefficient, like using an ocean to put out a campfire. The author then made some theories about dungeons being 100 to 500 times more efficient than mundane magic. It was based on his equations, which apparently were based on little factual evidence, on how much aether dungeons accumulated to make their environments, monsters, and rewards. I closed the book. I was over halfway through but I had enough and shelved the book. I did learn that my tier seven 7 metal creation ability was much closer to a dungeon''s ability than a magic spell. I made some platinum coins before falling asleep. Gareth was staying with his parents tonight and would be back early so at least the room was quiet. He didn''t snore, just breathed really loudly. In the morning as we were eating breakfast Gareth returned and told Callem his tobacco leaves were being processed by Edel. We soon returned to training and the days blended together. Five days after Freya¡¯s visit the most beautiful thing I had ever seen happened. A copper-paneled skyship came to the farm and landed in the training yard. It was eerily quiet as it flew and moved gracefully like a fish of the sky. It was 60 feet long, 40 feet wide, and 20 feet high. (18m x 12m x 6m). The skyship was enclosed with no top deck like a sailing ship and after it landed a ramp descended in the rear. A well-groomed older man in an immaculate naval uniform walked down the ramp shortly after. An older-looking female Wolfguard soon followed him in a plain blue civilian dress. Sebastian had arrived and all I could think was I wanted that skyship! Chapter 22 The Wind Splitter Chapter 22 The Wind Splitter While Gareth and I gawked at the beautiful shiny ship the ramp closed. Callem had entered the house with the newly arrived guests. We walked around the parked ship, getting an up-close view. The landing struts were relatively short and looked like they could retract. The copper plating had seams but no rivets and the plates were smooth with graceful curves. We could not find any thrusters, windows, weapon mounts, or other entrances besides the outline for the ramp that had lowered. If we hadn¡¯t known it was the ramp¡¯s entrance we wouldn¡¯t have been able to find it. Gareth spoke first. ¡°This is the finest skyship I have ever seen. It looks like it is really fast.¡± Gareth¡¯s observation was spot on in my opinion. It looked like a racing ship with its sleek curves. Most skyships had an open deck on top like a sailing ship. My best guess was this was not a combat ship. Maybe it was a scout or messenger ship. Callem yelled from the doorway for us to come in. As we walked toward the door I used my cleanliness spell to remove the dirt, grime, and sweat of today¡¯s training. When the vanilla scent hit Gareth¡¯s nose he smelled his own pits and groaned but entered the house with his chin held high. We entered the farmhouse and we found a large spread of food being put out by Wynna. The Wolfguard woman was seated, sipping on some of the red juice. Callem introduced the guests, ¡°Boys this is Sebastian, a very old friend, and an admiral in the fleet. This woman is Nisil, a skilled mage who protects him and makes sure he does not get into too much trouble.¡± Sebastian guffawed, ¡°Protects me? Well, I suppose that I am her charge. I am not a full admiral anymore Callem so stop introducing me as such,¡± Sebastian¡¯s stiff and proper demeanor suddenly relaxed. ¡°I just build ships for the navy. I mostly do paperwork and work with the engineers on schematics. The only ship I command is the Wind Splitter outside and that has a massive crew of two!¡± He gestured to Nisil indicating the extent of the crew. I asked the burning question Gareth and I had, ¡°Can we go inside the Wind Splitter and possibly go for a ride?¡± I looked hopeful and locked eyes with Sebastian¡­I hope I wasn¡¯t making pathetic puppy dog eyes. ¡°Well, Storme you are looking much better!¡± Sebastian eased into one of the couches. ¡°I suppose I can do a favor for the boys who will be helping train my granddaughter.¡± Gareth had a confused look and that kicked my memory into gear. Callem and Sebastian had negotiated to have his granddaughter come here to learn defensive skills. She was assaulted by someone if I recalled. ¡°Callem has bartered to have my granddaughter, Cilia, come here and train for a bit.¡± His follow-up had eased Gareth¡¯s confused look. ¡°After some food boys I am sure Sebastian will show you his ship,¡± Wynna joined the conversation. We all took up seats on the large couches and the food was spread across the large table in the center. We all started eating. Callem was the next to speak, ¡°So what news in the capital?¡± Sebastian put down his drink. ¡°No good news I am afraid. The Sadians have attacked three times in the last month. Only one serious attack but they are obvious probing attacks for a larger assault. We are rushing out three new Harbinger class warships in the next two weeks. Putting damn green crews fresh out of the academy on them though, waste of good ships.¡± Harbinger? I entered the conversation. ¡°Isn¡¯t the Harbinger an old class of warship? Don¡¯t we have anything newer?¡± I thought my input was insightful and I wanted to be seen as intelligent in front of Sebastian. The well-groomed mage answered me, ¡°Yes the Harbinger has been around for a while,¡± he paused, ¡°We have updated the design seven times over the centuries. It is a solid ship for the cost and size. I tried to switch the construction to the Wasp-class a few years ago. The Wasp is a better ship. It is smaller, faster, just as well-armed, and cheaper to build. That was shot down by the families that control the supply chain for the materials to build the Harbinger though. I did get six Wasps built in my time controlling the yards but the admiralty has incorporated them as scout ships instead of core warships." He sipped his drink and focused on me, "So to answer your question we still focus on building the Harbinger.¡± Sebastian¡¯s tone was a little bitter. Ok, it was very bitter. ¡°Yes, boys and their toys.¡± Wynna quipped, ¡°Well any other news from the capital? That is one thing about having moved out here. It just takes so long for news to reach us unless we use a communication stone.¡± Callem sipped his juice with vodka and smiled. ¡°Three things you may be interested in. The Triumvirate has reinstated the Inherited Indenture Law, the dungeon tax has increased by 25% for the next year and The Blackguard has been assigned to a few Harbinger warships, the Firestorm, and the Dark Howler. The Blackguard hasn¡¯t been assigned to warships in about 50 years,¡± Sebastian supplied. ¡°On the second point, that means your next load of dirt Callem will cost 8 gold instead of 6.¡± Callem explained Sebastian¡¯s last statement as Gareth and I were confused, ¡°Sebastian is here to revitalize the soil. I contract a dungeon delver company to haul out soil from a dungeon. It is extremely fertile and has some residual aether properties that help the tobacco grow and maintain its aether effects.¡± Callem face erupted into a grin, ¡°You boys will be unloading four tons of dirt this afternoon for your training!¡± (3600 kg). Gareth was unfazed but I was already trying to figure out how many wheelbarrow trips that would take. ¡°I could dump it like usual¡­¡± Sebastian had started to speak but Callem waved him off maintaining his grin. ¡°Why did they reinstate Inherited Indenture Law?¡± Wynna asked, turning the conversation. Sebastian answered, ¡°It was Triumvirate Bricio who rallied to get it reinstated. He even reset the limits from one platinum to fifty platinum on damages to be repaid.¡± Wynna gasped. ¡°And the work rates have not increased, actually for skilled or magical indentures the rate has been equalized for ¡®fairness¡¯.¡± Wynna got her teaching lecture fa?ade on. We were about to get a lesson, ¡°Boys, slavery is illegal in Skyholme. Well, it is illegal to have humans as slaves,¡± she added and looked sadly at Nisil. ¡°However, if you commit a crime or owe a large debt you can be put into indentured service to the offended party. You are tattooed by a mage so they can track you and can''t hide or escape. The family that holds the indentured contract must supply food, housing, and fair treatment. In addition, the person¡¯s debt is reduced by 50 silver per week. So, at most a person was going to be indentured for 200 weeks. I think mages had also been at the rate of up to 2 gold per week depending on their arsenal of spells?¡± Callem and Sebastian nodded in affirmation. ¡°Which has now been rescinded to make everyone just earn 50 silver per week toward their debt. Now it also appears a very old law allows a family member to take someone''s place for a crime or debt. So a father can put a child in his place. Also if a person hasn¡¯t paid their debt completely it passes to the eldest born.¡± Wynna was not at all happy from her tone. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. I asked a question, ¡°Can more than one family member take on the debt at once?¡± Sebastian¡¯s eyebrows rose, ¡°Yes. I think that is why the Bricio¡¯s increased the debt limit. It allows their indentured enterprises to enlist more family members at once. The Bricio¡¯s are the ONLY family in the city allowed to buy and sell indenture contracts and they always sell them at higher rates than they are worth.¡± A thought drifted to me. Bricio¡­that was the last name of the cadet that raped his granddaughter. I already didn¡¯t like them now I had more reasons. The food on the table had been mostly consumed. I noticed that Nisil had only eaten a little but drank a lot of juice. As we were cleaning up Sebastian talked with Callem just loudly enough for me to stretch my ears to hear. ¡°So Callem," Sebastian started, "Cilia is looking forward to coming here. I did manage to get her friend to join her. She has a minor healing ability, nothing spectacular but that should suffice the needs you mentioned. Oh, don¡¯t worry I will still provide the list of recovery potions you gave me. With some healing, you can have them train harder though.¡± Callem had listened intently and then gave a little grin. ¡°Oh, I hadn¡¯t realized you would be able to find someone so we made other arrangements. Storme has imprinted the mend flesh spell.¡± What was this ¡®we¡¯ Callem mentioned? My guess was that he was just needling Sebastian most likely. ¡°That boy?¡± Sebastian was pointing at me now with shock on his face. ¡°At twelve? Impressive and curious. And you are still training him to fight by the looks of his developing frame. I could¡­¡± Callem cut him off, ¡°No the boy is just fine under my tutelage. His magic isn¡¯t overly strong.¡± Callem said with a straight face. ¡°He just has a little skill affinity for healing magic.¡± Sebastian nodded taking the rebuttal and comment. ¡°Well, keep him under wraps. If the triumvirate gets smart they will be drafting him for a full-service term.¡± Yeah, that wasn¡¯t going to happen. Even if they drafted me, I could easily pay the 100 gold to buy out the draft card. ¡°What can you tell me about your granddaughter¡¯s friend?¡± Callem asked and I slow-walked the dishes to the cabinets to make sure I heard everything. ¡°She has been her roommate since entering the naval academy. Her name is Leda Aethen. Her family owns a minor enchanting shop in the lower city of the capital. She doesn¡¯t have a very strong aptitude for enchanting or magic in general. She has four tier 1 spells to my knowledge; light healing, light flare, updraft, and air shield. Her sword skills are average but she is very good with a staff. I haven¡¯t met her personally but she is a real spitfire according to Cilia.¡± Callem took a moment to think and I was basically loitering now as the dishes and food were cleaned up. ¡°How are the young women at hand to hand and wrestling?¡± I didn¡¯t hear Sebastian¡¯s response as I was pushed out by Gareth. Nisil opened the ramp to Wind Splitter and we were led inside. The inside was actually white wood with gray growth rings. The white wood helped the light stones placed throughout the ship brighten the place. The entire lower level of the ship was just one large cargo deck with two sets of stairs going up. The bay was full of large crates. Nisil indicated the eight crates in the back were the dungeon soil. We opened the first crate and it was just dirt to me. It had the normal earthy odor and a hint of fresh-cut grass. We got two wheelbarrows and started working, Callem came after we had already unloaded the first two wheelbarrows and we learned there was a correct way to shovel. The task took a good two hours of constant work to dump in the fields. Then we got to watch Sebastian work his magic. The piles of new soil melted and merged into the earth. The field roiled as he turned the soil and then neat rows ready for planting emerged. With his task finished Sebastian was ready to give us a tour of the Wind Splitter. We walked up the ramp with Sebastian and he began speaking, ¡°The ship was unearthed a few hundred years ago on one of the Skyholme islands and was in the navy museum as a wreck and curiosity. We learned it was a dark elven transport. Not the dark elves you are thinking of. Just elves that live on the outer sphere in the Dark World. The ship was used to take cargo from the inner sphere to the outer sphere and before you ask we have no idea how it ended up on Skyholme. The nearest passage to the outer sphere is over a hundred thousand miles away,¡± Sebastian was walking up the stairs and we followed. We entered the central room on the upper deck. It was filled with runic markings on floor-to-ceiling panels throughout the room. ¡°This is the engineering room. These panels control the anti-gravity units embedded in the hull. Those over there are the movement controllers. This is the central power core.¡± He pointed out two fist sized violet aether crystals embedded in the runes. ¡°Those two stones can power the ship for a week continuously and fully recharge in about a month. The ship can also be sealed and has its own life support,¡± he indicated another panel. ¡°But I haven¡¯t restored those runes yet and finding more violet aether crystals to power them¡­well enough about my problems.¡± I ran my fingers over the silvery runic script. ¡°Those runic etchings are made from platinum mixed with powered green aether crystal. It lasts much longer than the standard silver mixed with yellow crystal. I am not wealthy enough to use mithril which has the best aether conductivity and would last thousands of years¡­¡± He had a dreamy look on his face. I asked about the white wood. ¡°The bone ashwood? Yes, that is fantastic lumber. It is light, strong, works well with enchantments, and is easily repaired with magic. It is common in the sphere and also dungeons. The downside is the trees take a long time to grow so finding a supply of large timber is difficult. The outer hull is covered in quarter-inch copper alloy plating strengthened with runic inscriptions¡± We walked to the forward room which was the bridge. It had three chairs in the large room and a window. ¡°The window is one-way viewable panel. The central chair is the pilot¡¯s chair and links to the runic panels in the engine room to control the ship. The external remote viewer is also connected to that chair. The right chair is the navigator¡¯s chair but I haven¡¯t been able to restore the functionality. The third chair was the weapon¡¯s operator chair but alas this ship has no weapons,¡± he sighed. The rest of the rooms on the upper deck were not as interesting. Three small crew cabins, a captain''s cabin, a small office with books and a comfortable chair, a larder, a small dining room with seating for ten, two guest cabins, and a common bathroom that had running water both hot and cold. With the tour done Sebastian took us off the ship and went and talked to Callem. A bit later Sebastian and Nisil were on board and lifting off. Sebastian promised us a ride in the future when he had more time. It was eerily quiet as the Wind Splitter lifted off. Callem approached us. ¡°Hope the tour was good. As you heard we are going to have some guests in a few months. Our training is going to start to include some hand-to-hand, some wrestling, and also some stave work to get ready for them. We are going to teach them to defend themselves in any circumstances.¡± Callem went into more detail about how the training would change and we listened. I was going to lose a little of my free study time which Callem said was due to the fact I didn¡¯t have any new spells to learn. So then I needed to get Gareth to the capital to get me more spells! At the end of the day in our bunkhouse lofts, we started talking about when Gareth would make his way to the capital. I planned to have 100 platinum for him so that was going to take some time. But we both decided that he should go in less than a month. My creation skill was close to making enough metal for three platinum at a time. Since I had been using aether to heal and also advancing my cleanliness spell I was stuck at two platinum daily. I had also been making some gold coins but now planned to focus on just platinum. I fell asleep with dreams of getting my own ship similar to the Wind Splitter. Chapter 23 Gareth Part 1 Chapter 23 Gareth Part 1 The morning sun came and Gareth woke before Storme. Gareth was the heavier sleeper and rarely got up before Storme. He quietly lowered himself down the ladder and dressed. If you were late for breakfast Callem usually was a bit harder on you during training. Well on Gareth anyway. The one-time Callem made Storme do extra work during training Storme made a very bland dinner the next day in retribution and that was enough for Callem to minimize his punishments for being late for breakfast. For Gareth though, the sparring in the evening was more intense and required more healing from Storme. It was Callem''s attempt to ingrain in Gareth that being on time was important. He heard Storme stirring just as he quietly shut the door. Damn, Storme wouldn¡¯t be late but that was ok as he would still get the best portions at breakfast. Storme said he had an internal clock that got him up on time every morning which Gareth assumed had something to do with his magic. Gareth entered the farmhouse and started helping Callem and Wynna lay out breakfast. Blueberry pancakes with butter, fried eggs, greasy pork sausage, and some iced tea. Iced tea was another invention of Storme. Tea was supposed to be hot but Storme added some ice cubes, lemon juice, and sugar and made it a great drink to pair with meals instead of something you sipped after a meal to soothe digestion. Almost all of Storme¡¯s culinary creations were great except when he started kicking up the spiciness of dishes. He made a ¡®five-alarm chili¡¯ for Callem two weeks ago and Gareth still hadn¡¯t forgiven him. Callem loved it but the chili burned going down and coming out for Gareth. If Storme wanted he probably could have made a fortune establishing a restaurant. Maybe he could convince Storme to buy a restaurant where Gareth could eat for free whenever he wanted. He would have to wait for the right time to bring this up. After setting the table Gareth pulled half the pancakes to his plate just as Storme entered. Storme liked blueberry pancakes and his annoyance showed on his face, especially after Callem and Wynna took all but one of the pancakes quickly after Gareth. The air carried the smell of vanilla into the room from the door. He was a bit envious of Storme¡¯s spells but he had his own gifts. He was progressing at a phenomenal rate according to Callem. In another year Callem said he would be unbeatable by anyone his age. Storme was also doing well with the sword and had learned a lot of movements of the sword forms but Storme had not mastered them. When they sparred with swords Gareth had to hold back enough to make it interesting and still improve himself. Storme was closing the gap due to physical growth but his skill development would never equal Gareth¡¯s. Both boys were growing quickly and Gareth was now 6''1" (1.86m) to Storme''s 5''8" (1.72m). Both were boys were tall for boys their age and Gareth could pass for 17 or 18 years old, well, Storme maybe 14. Storme''s body type was a bit gangly compared to Gareth''s thicker frame. Both boys were well-muscled but Storme had a leaner build. Gareth was worried about what his Giant''s Constitution ability might turn his body into. Callem had assured him that it would just make him a larger man and not turn his features to mirror a giant. Both boys ate enough for three boys and sometimes they made it a competition at meals, apparently Storme was not playing the game this morning as he ate sparingly. During stretching later that morning Gareth started needling Storme about his inflexibility, well his inflexibility compared to Gareth. Storme returned the favor by needling him about Brianne. It was a sore subject for Gareth. He had let slip a few times about his jealousy over Brianne hanging out with another boy in town. Brianne had offered to teach Gareth how to kiss and practice kissing with him. Gareth was nervous at the moment she asked and declined her invitation while they were swimming together and had regretted it ever since. Brianne was two years older than him and was fairly attractive in his opinion. Brianne had stormed off and not talked to him since he declined her invitation. He just hadn¡¯t been prepared for her forwardness. He hadn¡¯t told Storme but Gareth was pretty sure he had figured it out. Gareth had taken a much greater interest in girls and young women in the last few months. The only woman Gareth had seen Storme ogle over was the elven woman from the play. She caught Gareth¡¯s eye as well with her lithe figure and charismatic glow. Gareth had been a little concerned that Storme didn¡¯t like girls for a while. Which was ok with him but Gareth was definitely only interested in girls. Stretching ended and Storme went inside as Callem and Gareth bombarded him with suggestions for dinner tonight. Callem directed Gareth to the fields to finish planting the tobacco and watering both fields. Gareth was able to do three times the amount of work now compared to when they first moved to the farm, a mark of his improving fitness. The hard morning continued as Storme joined Gareth on the obstacle course. They had three timed runs today for Callem. They usually completed against themselves by competing against the clock. Gareth was just too fast for Storme to compete with when he went all out. Storme improved his time for the C course from 7:44 to 7:19 on his first run. His second and third were 7:55 and 7:58. He put in an amazing effort to achieve his new best time. And after each run, Storme came up to Gareth clean as if he just stepped out of the shower and smelled of vanilla. The vanilla scent was a little over the top for Gareth. It was pleasant for sure but after a certain point, he would get sick of it. Gareth had improved his best time as well today. 6:32 was his previous best and he ran 6:27, 6:31, and 6:39. Callem praised both of them. Gareth was filthy after working and training the morning. He looked forward to lunch as he had burned a lot of his energy stores but Callem made him wash up a bit before entering the house. Lunch was bacon sandwiches which Gareth had three of. He tried to uncover what Storme was preparing for dinner but he had taken to hiding it so it would be a surprise. Gareth tried to get Wynna to reveal the upcoming meal but failed. Storme and Wynna had definitely bonded a bit in the kitchen. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. The early afternoon was staff practice. It was something that Storme was actually quite good at. Storme could hold off Gareth even when he went full tilt. Storme even scored a hit or two in sparring. They were just glancing blows but still counted as hits. After staff practice, Storme went to study for a bit while Callem did some advanced sword training with Gareth. The special training was all about reading the opponent''s movements. Eye movements, muscle movements, shifting clothing, and unfortunately feints. Callem was his subject and the man could make it impossible to read him if he tried but as Callem got further and further along Gareth was finally getting it. That was until Callem introduced feints and Gareth¡¯s nightmare for the last few days began. Deciding on whether something was a feint, distraction, or actual movement was impossible. He got it right maybe 10% of the time when they started. To his credit, he was already up to 25%. Yes if you do the math just guessing he should be at 33% but this was Callem and you couldn¡¯t guess or maybe Callem was changing the movement partway through based on Gareth''s own reaction? Gareth had to read, decipher and then react in a split second. After every engagement, Callem would question him on his thought process then make suggestions and reveal what his actual intentions had been. Soon the sword practice came to a close as Storme rejoined them. They were now working on wrestling, hand-to-hand combat, and restraints. Wrestling was just hand-to-hand combat without punching or kicking. Restraints were about subduing your opponent and also breaking from an opponent''s hold. At first, Storme was the victor in the wrestling to Callem¡¯s surprise. Although Storme was smaller, he was wiry and later told Gareth he had some experience in his past life with wrestling. Well after a week Storme¡¯s advantages faded but he was still a very tough competitor. Gareth¡¯s skill affinity didn¡¯t extend to wrestling or hand-to-hand combat so he had to use his superior agility, speed, and strength. Today Storme won three bouts out of ten which meant he was having a very good day. What annoyed Gareth the most was after each bout he would use his cleanliness spell on himself and complain about how bad Gareth smelled. Unfortunately, there was no hand-to-hand combat training today. Gareth usually won every bout in that discipline. After they finished Storme healed them both up then they engaged in a handful of sword duels to help Storme''s technique. Callem actually let Gareth do the teaching now. Callem just corrected Gareth on his ability to facilitate improvement in Storme¡¯s forms. Storme had trouble chaining the different forms together in a fluid act. He was still completing Tortoise Shell completely before switching to Fox¡¯s Lunge. Couldn¡¯t he see he only needed to do about 80% of the Tortoise Shell defense form before switching to attack in a fluid motion with Fox¡¯s Lunge? He also rarely chose the optimal sword form based on what Gareth was presenting to him. Well, a sword master wasn¡¯t made in a day¡­unless that person was Gareth. He smirked to himself and almost let Storme pass his defenses to graze his thigh. Sword practice ended and they had time to clean up. Storme still loved swimming in the cool waters so they went together. As they were in the pool Storme swore. ¡°Fucking shit.¡± Gareth was on alert. ¡°No, no worries. My cleanliness spell advanced to the 5th level and I wasn¡¯t paying enough attention to focus on the evolution. Give me a second while I figure out what the new evolution now does.¡± He sounded pretty upset and two minutes later Storme sounded much happier, ¡°Actually it is not too bad. It appears my healing affinity must have aided in the evolution a bit. I didn¡¯t realize that could happen¡­¡± Before he could ramble on Gareth interrupted, ¡°What did you get!¡± Storme grinned and relaxed into the waters. ¡°It is a skin renewal and hydration effect. Basically, it makes my skin appear like I just came out of the shower and used a body oil rub.¡± Storme said with a cocky grin. ¡°You mean like a noblewoman?¡± Comparing Storme to a woman always got him irritated so Gareth did it often. What were friends for if not to keep you grounded? ¡°Let me demonstrate this new power I have and see what you have to say after.¡± Storme had some iron in his tone. He stood and a few seconds passed and I suppressed my reaction as he did look quite a bit better. Healthier, attractive, and fairer looking. I held my face in check then answered. ¡°Let me know when you cast the spell,¡± Gareth said. Storme looked crestfallen but before the trickery could continue Gareth continued, ¡°No I am kidding, your new evolution works as you advertised. You look much prettier. You should be able to find a good man if you use your spell prodigiously!¡± Gareth started laughing and Storme joined in after a few seconds. Dinner tonight was Philly Cheese Steak sandwiches with a fruit salad and fried squash. He wasn¡¯t sure why Storme insisted on calling the steak Philly, wasn¡¯t that a young horse? And who would eat horse meat? But the sandwiches were awesome and it was the third time Storme had made them since we moved to the farm. He kept wanting to get feedback on the bread. He wasn¡¯t sure if it paired well with the sandwich. Wynna had baked it to his specifications so Gareth wasn¡¯t going to say anything other than saying it was perfect. Never insulting the chef was his motto...unless Storme needed some grounding. After dinner, they had our lessons with Wynna. To Gareth''s dismay, it was the recent history of the Skyholme Triumvirate. It was a boring subject but Wynna wanted to make sure they understood the political climate so she circled back to this subject at least once a week. After their time with Wynna he sat with Callem for a bit of weapons knowledge while Storme went off and did his magic thing. Callem brought out weapons and quizzed him on how to defend against them and what advantages they had vs various weapons Gareth might yield. He was already starting to puzzle out some things without Callem telling him which was making him very happy. Gareth went back late to find Storme still up. ¡°Hey Gareth I made three platinum today even with all the healing I did today,¡± Storme said to Gareth from his loft. ¡°Even with all the prettying up, you did today as well on top?!¡± Gareth retorted with his grin. ¡°So are you close?¡± He asked in anticipation. ¡°Yep, I have 107 platinum coins ready. Sixth day is two days away and I should be able to get you another four and add to the gold count I have,¡± Storme paused thinking, ¡°Six large gold and 19 regular gold coins right now.¡± Gareth still hadn¡¯t quite grasped what an immense amount of wealth that was. Gareth was just thinking in two days he would be off to the capital and could explore the sites he had only read about in books and discussed with Wynna, Storme, and Callem during meals. Two more days¡­he fell asleep thinking about his coming adventure. Chapter 24 Gareth Part 2 Chapter 24 Gareth Part 2 The next two days were difficult for Gareth as his mind was distracted. Callem kept getting on him but it didn¡¯t help Gareth refocus. Storme had scored multiple times in sparring and it made him insufferable. When the morning of the 6th day finally arrived Gareth raced to Hen¡¯s Hollow to bring back Freya. She would stay with Storme, Callem, and Wynna for the two days that Gareth would be gone. Callem thought Gareth was going to the capital of Titan¡¯s Shield and not the capital city of Skyholme, Skyhold. It was not a lie as Gareth would have to stop in the capital on the way to Skyhold. Gareth didn¡¯t spend much time getting Freya and Monty, rushing them back to Callem¡¯s farm. He talked with Storme briefly going over the plan bullet points as he took the purse containing 111 platinum, 6 large gold, and 25 gold. Gareth had plenty of time to get to the docks in Hen¡¯s Hollow for the transport to the capital on Titan¡¯s Shield. He arrived and had to wait nearly 40 minutes for departure which was very awkward as Storme¡¯s father was there. Caleb, Storme''s father, kept trying to make conversation, asking what Gareth was planning to do in the city and asking how Storme was doing. Gareth felt guilty not telling the truth to his inquiries. Finally, the ship was ready to leave and he paid his five large copper for transport to the capital. Thankfully Caleb was not assigned to the trip. Gareth made his way to the rail to watch as the ship lifted and drifted across the land. Gareth was hypnotized by trees, rivers, towns, farms, and roads passing below him. Other passengers also watched from the rails and the trip ended far too soon for Gareth. The capital of Titan''s Shield was much more impressive than Solaris, the city near Hen¡¯s Hollow. This city had many more buildings and they were much taller, some reaching ten stories into the sky. The large number of people he saw wandering the streets just before the ship landed in port mesmerized him. A typical day in the capital was just as crowded as the carnival had been at its peak. He looked for the dungeon''s entrance but could not orient himself before the ship nestled down between the buildings. He was a bit lost as he disembarked but since he was on the airship docks it shouldn¡¯t be too hard to find the right ship to reach the capital island. After asking a few questions he found a passenger transport to the capital. There were actually three ships headed there today in the next few hours, two were headed to the lower city and one to the upper city. He figured the upper city would get him closer to the trade district with the best shops so he got a ticket for that liner. The cost was five large silver! That seemed excessive to him but the dock master said the ship was faster and more comfortable, so he paid. It would also save him a half-mile walk from the lower city to the upper city. He only had a rough map from one of his textbooks and Storme said the best course was to just walk straight to the trade district directly from the docks. Everything he needed would be there. Even though Gareth was in his best clothes he got a lot of disdainful looks from the other passengers. He bore with it and went to the wide bow of the skyship, ignoring the pompous people denigrating his appearance. He stayed on deck the entire time and watched the island fall below as the ship took off the ground. His stomach dropped as the speed was much faster than his previous transport. Soon the vessel cleared the edge of the island and the vast world far below appeared. It was tiny as they were miles up but Gareth studied the lands below with intense interest. A hunger for exploring the unknown lands below grew within him. Time passed too quickly for him again as he gazed and the ship was flying over the capital island now. The ship passed over large country estates. Some were academy compounds and some were estates of the wealthy. A few small orchards, vineyards, and fields dotted the land. Even the forests and lakes seemed groomed to act as boundaries to various estates. The ship passed over a small city with white stone buildings and tiny people walking the streets. It was not the capital of Skyholme, just a vast urban expanse of the capital. Gareth looked up and the capital city etched the horizon with impossibly tall buildings silhouetting the skyline. From his lessons he new magic reinforced the stone letting them extend buildings hundreds of feet into the sky. The opulence and enormity of everything made Gareth envious but he knew from readings most buildings were from the avian race that once inhabited the island. The tall buildings had been renovated by the Skyholme people but the architectural legacy could still clearly be seen. The ship lowered and landed on a port building near the trade district in one of the urban districts just outside the center of the city. Tall buildings surrounded Gareth and he felt very small. Gareth disembarked and walked straight to the trade district as a deckhand indicated the way. Pairs of smartly dressed, large, and imposing city guards walked the streets. Dozens of well-dressed men and women walked the streets and Gareth got looks of disdain. Gareth traveled as far off the main concourse as possible. At least the presence of the guard pairs made him feel somewhat safe carrying around the small fortune. His goal today was just to get some new clothes to pass as a rich noble¡¯s son. He would then stay in a fine inn tonight and enjoy the comforts of the city. Gareth refocused, ok Storme said the most important thing to impersonate a pompous ass of a noble was to act like one. Gareth straightened and started walking down the street and soon found a tailor shop in the heart of the trade district that seemed to specialize in men¡¯s clothing. He entered the shop and found one man being fitted for a long coat by a male tailor and immediately another tailor approached him from behind a desk. The tailor was old and partially bald but had a friendly smile. ¡°What can we do for you today young sir.¡± The man was evaluating Gareth, sizing up his potential sales. At this point, the man probably didn''t think much of his possible fortunes. ¡°Good man,¡± Gareth said. ¡°My family has sent me to the city to get some outfits for my sister¡¯s wedding. I have been training in seclusion for three years and just now my father thought I should rejoin the family functions. I need an everyday outfit and one for the wedding.¡± It was a story Gareth thought sounded plausible. The man looked at him again reassessing his initial appraisal. ¡°What is your budget?¡± he finally asked. Storme had told Gareth to spend at least 100 gold on each outfit. Gareth pulled out three platinum coins and placed them on the counter to which the man just raised an eyebrow. Was it not enough, or too much? ¡°My father gave me a little more but I wanted to see what you have to offer first.¡± The man nodded and smiled. He pulled the coins into his hand and quickly inspected the three shiny coins before placing them in his pocket. ¡°Ok you want one formal outfit and what about the second?¡± The man asked. ¡°Just casual clothing for going out in the city but something that I can move freely in. I don¡¯t know what the current fashions are but I want to fit in with the capital¡¯s aristocracy while I am here.¡± Gareth said. ¡°Very good. Let us start in the back room, with me please young sir.¡± Gareth followed him to a private room. ¡°Please strip to your underclothes.¡± Gareth complied and was standing in his underwear. ¡°Ah yes, new underclothes as well?¡± He asked and Gareth nodded slightly embarrassed. First, the man took many measurements, some times the man''s hands across his body made him a bit uncomfortable. When finished the man brought out three under shirts in different materials for Gareth. "We have common cotton, trap door spider silk from the local dungeon, and dungeon linen from the lands below." Gareth was drawn to the spider silk shirt and the tailor read his eyes, ¡°fantastic choice. The shirt has some elasticity and can be enchanted with silver runic thread. It is extremely durable and should last you many years. We offer the comfort enchantment and the temperature management enchantment. Are you interested in one or both?¡± Gareth was tempted to ask how much but that would reveal his ignorance, so he just said both. He decided on a light gray color for the shirt and somehow he agreed to get three undershirts, four pairs of underwear, and eight pairs of socks in the same material all with both enchantments. Next, the man brought out shoes, ¡°The best way to build an ensemble is from the ground up. You will want light boots for the city walking and some shoes good for dancing for the wedding.¡± A parade of shoes in various styles and colors was shown to him. He decided on the simplest designs for both the boots and shoes made from a dark brown leather that the man said was from the dungeon monster called the giant terror mole. He just got the comfort enchantment on the shoes and boots. With the shoes chosen the tailor put together a complete dress outfit for the fictional wedding as Gareth tried to hurry him through the selection process. It included pants, a decorative belt, and a decorative scabbard for his dagger, a long-sleeved shirt, a vest, a long coat, a fashion scarf, a low-brimmed hat, and silver bands to go around the wrist and hold his sleeves in place. To the tailor¡¯s disappointment, Gareth declined to get any of those items enchanted saying he only planned to wear the outfit once. The casual clothes the tailor selected were light brown pants in the current fashion made of a mix of leather and linen that made them heavy and durable. He didn¡¯t get any embellishments on the pants but did get both enchantments they offered. For the shirt, he went with a loose-fitting white shirt that buttoned up the front. The buttons were made from silvery ivory bone. Well, he had a selection of buttons put before him and those looked the most attractive to his eyes. Gareth ordered both enchantments for the shirt. For a coat, he went with a long coat, similar to a duster from the old west. It was dark gray and made from the hide of a stone auroch from the lowlands. It was thick and a bit heavy. With the enchantments, the tailor assured Gareth the coat would be extremely comfortable. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. After going through about a dozen hats Gareth picked out a hat that resembled a fedora made of the same material as the duster. With the long three-hour process done it was time to pay and Gareth was extremely thirsty. The tailor moved to the counter and started to write out the invoice. Trap Door Spider Silk Under Shirt, Light Gray x 3 15 gold Trap Door Spider Silk Underwear, Light Gray x 4 16 gold Trap Door Spider Pairs Socks, Light Gray x 10 10 gold Terror Mole Shoes, Dark Brown x 1 30 gold Terror Mole Boots, Dark Brown x 1 40 gold Yak Deep Blue Dress Shirt x 1 8 gold Rock Wool Off Deep Blue Dress Pants x 1 10 gold Giant Badger Leather Hide Dress Coat x 1 15 gold Giant Silk Worm Black Vest x 1 5 gold Tellomere Yellow Scarf x 1 25 gold Constrictor Low Brimmed Hat x 1 3 gold Fine Leather Belt and Scabbard x 1 11 gold Silver wristbands x 2 8 gold Durable Leather/Linen Pants x 1 3 gold Linen Long Sleeve Shirt, White x1 1 gold Ivory Buttons x 16 8 gold Auroch Long Cloak, Dark Gray x 1 20 gold Auroch Brimmed Hat, Dark Gray x 1 5 gold Comfort Enchantments, Standard Silver Thread x 23 46 gold Temperature Management Enchantments, Standard Silver Thread x 21 42 gold Multiple Enchantment Discount -21 gold Total Invoice¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­300 gold Gareth hid his astonishment. The total was exactly what he had given the man before the fitting and selection. He knew he was being taken advantage of, it was painfully obvious. The tailor spoke, ¡°We can have the garments ready in three days and delivered to your residence.¡± Gareth was about to ask ¡®and how much for that service¡¯? But he held it in. ¡°I need everything by tomorrow morning. Can you also add on another Auroch Long Cloak?¡± His tone was firm and not voiced as a question. The tailor backed a step up looking a little embarrassed. ¡°Sorry good sir but our weaver enchanter is quite busy. If you wish to forgo the enchantments we might be able to have everything ready in the morning.¡± He was trying not to upset Gareth, that was obvious by his mannerisms. Gareth reached into his pouch and placed another platinum coin on the counter. ¡°And now?¡± Gareth intoned with casual curiosity. It was Gareth''s attempt at being a rich pompous noble. The man was staring at the coin and the gears in his head were turning. ¡°Give me a few minutes to discuss this matter with the master tailor and the weaver enchanter.¡± The tailor hurried out a door in the back and Gareth had to wait twenty minutes for him to return. The tailor seemed a little out of breath when he returned but said, ¡°I have excellent news. We can expedite the items you have selected and add on the additional cloak. The charge for the cloak with be just 20 gold, and the enchantments will be free. The expeditious completion of your order will be 80 gold as we will have all eight of us working overnight to complete everything.¡± Gareth nodded, not expecting any other result after seeing the greed in his eyes. Gareth was growing up quickly. ¡°Can you recommend a good inn nearby? I will stay there tonight and you can drop my clothes off as soon as they are completed.¡± The man didn¡¯t take but a breath to reply. ¡°The Gentle Tauren is just three buildings down on the left. Tell the innkeeper, Broderick, that you were sent by Danlius. He will take good care of you.¡± Gareth thought ¡®sure he will.¡¯ He was quickly becoming cynical. ¡°And your name sir?¡± It was strange in the entire period Gareth had not given or received the man¡¯s name until now. ¡°Gaston,¡± Gareth said. He didn¡¯t want to use his real name and that was the first thing that came to his head. Gareth left, finally free of the tailor, and planned to never go through that ordeal again. Shopping for clothes was exhausting, boring, and painful to the purse. At least the money wasn¡¯t his. He made his way to The Gentle Tauren. The inn was four stories tall and made of the same white stone common throughout the city. Inside the common room were neatly aligned tables, a bard strumming a small harp near a large quiet fireplace, and three attractive waitresses waiting near the kitchen door to serve patrons. A few patrons were eating and drinking throughout the room. A slightly overweight and average-looking man stood behind the bar. He had salt and pepper hair but after just a moment of studying the man, Gareth knew he was a skilled warrior. The pudge on the man hid muscles and his dark eyes were observing everything inside the inn¡¯s common room, including Gareth. Besides the cleanliness and brightness of the room, it was what he had expected. Well, the serving women were more attractive than he expected. Gareth walked to the bar, ¡°Broderick?¡± The man nodded, ¡°Danlius sent me,¡± Gareth said. The man laughed instantly, ¡°Really? I am absolutely shocked that old fart sent someone to my establishment again. You still got your invoice on you?¡± Gareth nodded a little as he was caught off guard as the man made a gesture to hand it over. Gareth did so reluctantly and the man scanned it. After he read it twice he handed it back to Gareth. ¡°Not too bad boy. I used to be a dungeon delver in my younger years and I supplied many monster and beast carcasses to tailors throughout Skyholme. The last man that came through here from Darious, well let us say I told him the truth about how much he overpaid.¡± A pit was descending in Gareth¡¯s stomach. Broderick continued, ¡°Oh it''s not too bad. The materials for what you have listed would amount to around 80 gold¡­well maybe a little more with the trouble we have been having getting imports from the lowlands. So let''s say 100 gold for the capital. The tailor should get around 40 gold for his work and the enchanter about the same. So a good price would have been 180 gold. I take it you didn¡¯t haggle.¡± Gareth shook his head no and the man laughed again. ¡°Well unless you are made of coin take it as a life lesson boy.¡± He produced a glass mug and filled it with a foamy beer that Gareth drank immediately. The beer was excellent, cold and nutty, flavorful. ¡°My own brew. Well, my own recipe anyway. I don''t dabble anymore.¡± The man said. Gareth sat at the bar. He wasn¡¯t going to tell Broderick he paid another platinum to get the clothes in the morning. ¡°Can I get a room, dinner now, and breakfast first thing in the morning?¡± ¡°Sure! We are between lunch and dinner in the common room but I have pheasant pies ready to go into the oven. Or you can order something. I would suggest our boar cheeseburgers.¡± Gareth had eaten dozens of burgers and was almost tempted to tell Broderick that his friend had invented the cheeseburger. ¡°The pheasant pie sounds fabulous, and two of your boar burgers as well,¡± the innkeeper''s eyes rose in mild surprise but just nodded and went to the kitchen. He returned shortly and positioned himself in front of Gareth. ¡°So what type of room are you looking for? The only rooms we have with any view are on the fourth floor, two of them are open right now.¡± The man patiently asked. ¡°No, something simple is fine but I would prefer a bath after dinner, is there a bathhouse nearby?¡± Gareth asked. ¡°Bathhouse? Not in the upper district. All buildings here have their own running water and all my rooms have showers¡­a few have baths too.¡± Gareth felt he had just blundered. He was coming across as an ignorant farm boy. ¡°Just a room with a shower is fine. Can I get another ale?¡± Broderick smiled and got him the ale and a silver key. He noticed the three waitresses were watching him and talking to each other. What was that about? Soon a large dinner plate-sized pie was in front of him. He dug in and the flaky crust, smooth thick gravy, hearty meat, and vegetables filled him up. Before he realized it two massive burgers were on plates to his right. Broderick had stepped aside to let him eat and a short waitress with blonde hair had delivered the burgers. Gareth made it halfway through the second burger before reaching his limit. He had been receiving refills on his cup during the meal as well. ¡°Room 6 on the second floor,¡± Broderick said as Gareth slide off the stool and stumbled a bit. He had enough sense to wander toward Broderick. ¡°Can I pay for the meals and room now? I might leave early in the morning.¡± Gareth felt the alcohol working. He had never drunk so much before and he was fighting to control himself to appear unfazed. The most he had before was splitting a liberated bottle of wine with Storme and this was much worse. He thought he was doing a fantastic job of maintaining his composure. ¡°The room is 2 gold and let''s call dinner tonight 1 gold. Breakfast will be 20 silver¡­but maybe you will want a double portion?¡± he asked obviously amused at Gareth¡¯s prodigious appetite. Gareth reached into his purse and fingered the large gold there and placed it on the counter. The shiny coin glinted in the aether lights lining the walls and Broderick¡¯s eyes furrowed at the sight of it. ¡°If I was a betting man I would say that is a dungeon coin.¡± Gareth''s stomach dropped and suddenly he was at risk of returning the pheasant pie and one-and-a-half burgers to Broderick. ¡°Well, all coin is good at my inn.¡± He swiped the coin before it could draw attention from anyone else in the room. He soon returned Gareth¡¯s change which Gareth put away without counting. ¡°Don¡¯t worry young man. Your coins may be a bit shiny but not unusual. Mages have tricks to make them so¡­brilliant. I have a thousand stories of stranger things coming through here.¡± That made Gareth relax. ¡°You clean up and get some rest. My ale is quite strong. I would suggest avoiding Nina over there tonight.¡± He indicated the blonde waitress that had served him. ¡°That is if you want to get a good night¡¯s sleep.¡± Gareth blushed and unsteadily started walking to the stairs. He paused and returned to get the last half of a burger and went to his room. Broderick smirked at the young man. It was a nice and simple room. The bed was ridiculously soft and it had a flush toilet! He had read about them and actually flushed it three times before actually using it. The shower took a few minutes to figure out as well. There were two nobs, one for hot and one for cold water. He did the hot shower first and then finished with the cold shower. After the shower, his stomach had made enough room for the rest of the burger so he finished it. He was laying naked on his bed ready to pass out when a knock came. Gareth got to the door with a towel around his waist and found the waitress, Nina, there. She stumbled on her words seeing his muscular upper torso, ¡°Sir I came to check on you and see if you needed any assistance with anything in your room.¡± Gareth thought for a second. Well if she came earlier she could have helped him with the shower controls. Too late now. ¡°Will you need your clothes laundered?¡± she asked. No Gareth thought. He would have new clothes in the morning and his clothes were still fairly clean anyway. Seeing him not saying yes she tried again, ¡°Are you interested in any pies, cakes, or torts to complete your meal?¡± Well if he hadn¡¯t just eaten the rest of the burger he might have¡­ Gareth finally responded, ¡°I think I am ok. I just need to stretch out on my bed and dry off a bit. I should probably do my limbering stretches before bed as well.¡± Gareth was talking mostly to himself and didn¡¯t notice the smile creeping onto the young woman¡¯s face. He missed that look turn to shock when he shut the door. Gareth was feeling the long day and had missed out on stretching. It wasn¡¯t long after that he passed into a deep slumber on the very comfortable bed. The only thing that bothered Gareth was the pillows had a feint aroma of vanilla. Chapter 25 Gareth Part 3 Chapter 25 Gareth Part 3 A loud knock woke Gareth. Before he realized it he stumbled out of bed and opened the door without the towel. Broderick stood in the doorway with a massive package that contained all of his new clothes and shoes. ¡°They came late last night but I held them till early this morning for you. You sleep quite loudly according to Nina. I found her listening at your door after dinner service.¡± Broderick had a devilish grin on his face. ¡°So, breakfast serving will be in about 15 minutes¡­¡± Broderick was studying Gareth, ¡°You look pretty good for having downed five cups of my personal brew. I actually thought that you might be late for an engagement so I came to get you up myself.¡± Gareth nodded and took the bundle. ¡°Thank you, Broderick.¡± At least he had remembered the man¡¯s name. Gareth¡¯s body felt fine with his Giant¡¯s Constitution but his head was still a little foggy. ¡°I will be down when I am dressed¡­did I already pay for breakfast? I think I remember doing so.¡± Broderick had a big grin on his face, ¡°You did at that, double portion as well. See you in a bit.¡± He left and Gareth closed the door and unpacked his new clothes. He lamented the dress clothes, such a waste of coin just for a cover story but that was Storme¡¯s plan. Maybe he could use pieces of the outfit as gifts for his family. His mother would love the yellow scarf. He dressed in his ¡®new¡¯ common clothes which were extremely well made. Now that he had a chance to really look at himself in a mirror he thought he could really pass for one of those snobbish nobles in this outfit. The clothes fit his frame extremely well as he went through his basic movements. He did his stretching progression and found no issues. The best part of the clothes was the new underclothes. He wasn¡¯t sure if it was the material or the enchantments but he now knew he wouldn¡¯t be able to live without them in the future. Gareth went down to the common room carrying a large bundle. He had repacked all the clothes including the set he had worn to the city. He got a lot of stares and felt like he was being evaluated again by the staff. ¡°Don¡¯t worry! the women approve. You look dashing Gaston. Your new threads cut your athletic figure extremely well. Well have a seat and Nina will bring your breakfast.¡± Gareth sat and placed his bundle on the chair next to him. Breakfast was two large sausages, a big pile of scrambled eggs, a pitcher of cider, and a hearty rye bread baked with nuts and smothered in butter. Nina hung over Gareth as he ate which just made him eat faster as Gareth thought she was waiting to clear the plates. Following breakfast Gareth talked with Broderick, getting directions to the Mage¡¯s Spell Emporium which supplied textbooks and spells to the Mage Academy near the citadel. Soon Gareth was out the door with his large bundle of clothes. He needed to get a few good spells for Storme. But he had half a day to explore the city, how long could selecting spells actually take? He went into a sweet treat shop and filled a bag for Freya and sampled a number of delectable items himself. Then he went into a pet store and got some toys for Monty. His next stop was a weaponsmith. They had a number of finished weapons on display. A few were rippled steel like the daggers Storme had made. The proprietor said the ripple was made by folding the steel. Before each fold, the metal was coated in aether crystal dust. This process made adding enchanting runes much easier. The broad sword he found that he was interested in was 15 platinum coins. It had a sharpness enchantment and thunderstrike enchantment. He resisted his urge to buy it but spent another hour looking at all the various weapons. Callem had taught him how to spot quality and 90% of the weapons in this shop exemplified those traits from his teachings. Reluctantly he moved on and his next stop, the emporium for spells. As he was passing an elaborate storefront with two guards guarding the entrance a man came out in haste with a greeting, ¡°Why, my young noble friend, are you carrying your own things? You need a porter or better yet a servant! Come inside and let¡¯s see if we have something that fits your needs!¡± Gareth was going to walk past but something pulled at him¡­it was the crest etched on the building. He recognized it as the Bricio family crest. Was this a place they sold indentured contracts? Mostly from curiosity, Gareth considered going inside. The man who was trying to lure him inside spoke, ¡°Young lord what do you need? We have over 100 contracts up for sale at this site!¡± The man had a slimy quality to him. Gareth paused and studied the building. It was a large footprint but only two stories in height. The stone was white but had black wooden trim. The emblem on the double doors at the entrance was similar to the Bricio family crest but the colors did not match¡­so it was probably an offshoot or subordinate branch or maybe just a business enterprise. Maybe this was an adventuring or mercenary hall? ¡°It is close to mid-day meal and I would be honored to offer you our hospitality.¡± Gareth was hungry again and he did have some free time to eat. He decided to enter even with his reservations about the man. The man introduced himself as Danic Bricio. So he was a member of the Bricio family. He brought him to a modest room that was cast in rich furnishings and a long stage surrounded by tables. He seated Gareth at a table close to the stage and two guards entered and bracketed the archway that was his exit. Gareth wasn¡¯t nervous but a little wary. Danic started in on the conversation. ¡°Forgive me for making assumptions but I am excellent at reading people. Not a reading skill just my mental aptitude at play. I see you are out for a shopping trip in the city and I see a renowned tailor¡¯s mark on your bundle so I am assuming you come from a well-off family.¡± Gareth nodded at the man¡¯s guesses making him smile. A servant came out and poured them some wine and left some heavenly-scented bread with roasted garlic dredged in an oil Gareth was not familiar with. ¡°I assume by your age, 16 or 17 by my estimates, that you are enrolled in an academy in the upper city.¡± Gareth paused on his third slice of bread. What harm could there be to lead the man on so he nodded. Giddy with excitement the man said, "Of the four academies, definitely not the Mage Academy. Not the Naval either or you would be in your common uniform. That leaves the Scholarium or the Adventurium academies. By your muscles and gait, it must be the Adventurium?¡± Gareth made direct eye contact and nodded. ¡°You are an excellent reader of people,¡± Gareth said as the servants brought out a pea soup with small cubes of fried meat in it. It was excellent and Gareth tried to show his best table manners by eating with a spoon instead of using the bowl like a cup. ¡°Very good! It is a fun game. I do not have any reader abilities so I try to puzzle things out.¡± Gareth gulped but remained poised. He should have thought of that. And there were skills used to detect lies. He was being careless. ¡°Well, I see you are struggling to carry all your packages so I assume you are without a servant?¡± Gareth nodded as it was the truth. ¡°Excellent we have some fabulous options for you! Are you looking for something long-term or short-term?¡± Gareth had to process the words and recount what he had said. Did the man assume by his coming inside he was in the market for a servant? He was already eating the man¡¯s food so he should play along so he said, ¡°Long term.¡± ¡°Very wise! Most young people don¡¯t understand that a servant can be an excellent companion to attend to your needs as you age. Training someone early is the best way to get the most out of a contracted. Any particular skills you are looking for?¡± The man had stopped talking to finish his own soup and it was clear that Gareth had to say something. ¡°I think a sparring partner would be great,¡± he thought hard what does a servant do? ¡°They would have to be able to scribe letters I dictate as well,¡± he thought quickly. ¡°They must be competent and trustworthy with my coin as well.¡± Well, maybe the last would be seen as an insult to the man. An entire roast was brought out and was carved for just the two of them. Some raw and cooked vegetables accompanied the meat as well. ¡°Hmm,¡± The man was thinking. ¡°Good martial skills, and someone with good penmanship¡­maybe a calligrapher¡­someone well versed in the customs of the upper class and with a long outstanding contract¡­I can think of a few options.¡± He pulled out a pen and wrote down something and handed it to the servant. "Let us finish the meal and then we can sip some wine while the candidates are revealed. That is my favorite part of these working lunches, the big reveal!" Gareth had three large servings of meat before he was finished and Danic made idle chat obviously trying to ferret out Gareth¡¯s origins. Gareth gave obscure answers and focused on eating. With the meal done Danic clapped his hands and jumped up onto the stage. ¡°My good man Gaston I have five excellent servants for you. The first is a man who has ten years left of his contract. He spent his early years as a duelist and then as a guard on merchant skyship.¡± He gestured and a man walked out in a simple beige top and pants with leather sandals. The biggest feature was the tattoo that covered the entire left side of his neck¡­no it was the mage mark for the indentured! He was essentially in a slaver''s den. He studied the man. He was shorter than Gareth at 5¡¯8¡± (172 cm) and Gareth could tell he was not a great swordsman by his gait. Not a good range of movement and his steps were heavy. Danic listed the man¡¯s accomplishments but they were obviously drummed up. Seeing Gareth¡¯s lack of interest he stopped talking about how well-read the man was and motioned for the second candidate. Gareth was already trying to figure out a way out of the compound. He should just see the showing to its conclusion decline every option and leave. The second candidate was a younger tall man at 6¡¯ (182 cm). His reddish hair and brown eyes made him look like a foreigner. Most people on Skyholme had dark hair or some shade of blonde. Gareth guessed him to be about twenty and he had some potential as a swordsman. Danic stressed the boy was the son of a merchant and was skilled with numbers and letters and had excellent handwriting. He was capable with a long sword and bow as well. Gareth let him finish his pitch. The man had seven years on his contract and if Gareth wanted it he could buy it for 10 platinum. Seeing Gareth not flinch at the sum had Danic grinning. The first candidate was led away and the second remained as the third was brought out. Every candidate had the same tattoo on the left side of their neck. This man was middle-aged and a veteran. He had actually sold himself into indenture to give the money to his estranged daughter and grandson. He was fifty years old and his contract was 5 platinum for five years but could be renewed indefinitely. By Gareth¡¯s estimation, he was fit and a good warrior. Seeing no objections the man stayed on stage as the fourth candidate came out. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. It was a Wolfsguard! Gareth sat straighter in his chair and Danic noted his increased interest, ¡°What we have here is a washout from the Blackguard program. The new laws allow them to be indentured for life. But don¡¯t be fooled the wolfman here is a great swordsman, the Blackguard standards are just very high. He isn¡¯t capable of writing though¡­but the status you would gain by having a Wolfsguard servant!¡± He paused, ¡°In addition to his 25 platinum cost though there is a 5 platinum annual tax to Skyholme as long as he lives within the islands.¡± Seeing Gareth¡¯s focus sharpen on the Wolfsguard Danic called for weapons and had the old man spar with the wolfman. The younger man was brought away. Gareth was focused on the sword work and movements. Both were as good as advertised, if not better. The wolfman¡¯s superior strength and speed kept the older man on the defensive though. Gareth knew at this moment in time he probably couldn¡¯t beat either of them in a sword fight. Danic''s inner child was screaming for joy as he saw Gareth¡¯s intense focus on the contest. He thought he had finally found a buyer for the wolfman. Well, he had buyers but no one the family head would approve of. The annual tax had been a killer to other potential buyers as well. He wondered who this Gaston was attached to. With the sparring done Danic tried to get a commitment from Gareth for the Wolfsguard but he didn¡¯t bite. Maybe the kid''s father wasn¡¯t as rich as he had figured? Well, he had one more option. Maybe the boy would want a plaything for a servant? He didn¡¯t think Gaston had the aura of wanting to dominate a woman and he was usually fairly good at judging this trait. ¡°I have one last potential contract you may be interested in. She is a half-breed but does check all your qualities. A good swordswoman, educated, she will be loyal as the Triumvirate has leverage on her.¡± Gareth''s attention snapped to Danic. ¡°She was part of the carnival a few weeks back. Her mother was taken in as a spy and her good behavior ensures her mother''s survival. Also, she has a tier 5 mage mark¡­makes her more costly but¡­¡± he waved his hand and a half-elven young woman came out on stage. She had long silvery blonde hair, large blue eyes a very attractive face, lean athletic frame and stood at 5¡¯9¡± (185 cm). Gareth''s intense study of the young woman made Danic focus on the young man''s reaction. The boy wasn¡¯t lustful but perhaps infatuated. He would probably not like the cost. The girl did have a severe restriction on her file but for the right amount of coin, anything was possible. ¡°So this fair maiden was part of the tumbling troupe. When her mother was being brought in for questioning she defended her from two Wolfsguard with a rapier for a brief amount of time. She was almost as quick as the Blackguard according to the arrest record! Well, she was questioned after being subdued and found not to have any connection with her mother¡¯s links to the Sadians. But she was put on trial for attacking the Blackguard and now has a contract for life! She does need some taming but I am sure you could handle that? The tier 5 tattoo should be invaluable for the training as well.¡± Gareth¡¯s only thought, seeing the passion to be free in the young woman¡¯s eyes, was freeing her. ¡°Her contract is 45 platinum plus 5 platinum still owed in damages from the day of the incident.¡± Danic had put the number quite high to see if it was out of reach for the man and to have some wiggle room if Gaston decided to haggle a bit. Fifty platinum! That was a lot but he had it. Wait. He still needed to get the spell books for Gareth. ¡°I will need some time to think on it,¡± Gareth finally said after obvious introspection. ¡°I may need to talk with my father as well as the expense is quite large.¡± The elf looked in her late teens but didn¡¯t elves age slower and live longer? ¡°Well do not wait too long! Our next phase of program training is coming and the more skills we teach them the higher their contract sells for,¡± the man¡¯s sliminess was in full force. The only indenture that had made continuous eye contact with Gareth had been the old man. If he had been here to actually get a servant he probably would have chosen him. The wine at lunch had been potent but Gareth¡¯s constitution gave give good legs to do his final task. He left the compound, reluctantly shaking Danic¡¯s hand and telling him he would be thinking hard about the servants he viewed today Gareth¡¯s mind kept returning to the girl at the Bricio compound and he nearly passed the entrance to the Mage¡¯s Spell Emporium. The store was made of the same white stone most of the buildings in the city were made of. Behind the door, Gareth found an immaculate lobby with a half dozen men and women looking at tomes on shelves surrounding the lobby. Looking up the building extended two more stories with terraces overlooking the lobby. Gareth could see shelves lining the terrace walkways with a few people perusing them. A large skylight was directly over the lobby giving lots of natural light. Not that it needed it as there were more aether lights in here than he had ever seen. A young woman interrupted his gawking, ¡°Young lord how can we be of assistance today?¡± Gareth took the beauty in for another few breaths before turning his attention to the woman. She was dressed in simple finery and quite beautiful. Her blue-gray eyes made him pause as he took her in. Gareth was a sucker for eyes he was learning. ¡°Umm yes. Sorry just haven¡¯t been here before. I am actually here for my younger sister.¡± Gareth got control of his overloaded senses and told the prepared story. ¡°My sister just recently awakened and she has no spells so my parents sent me here to purchase a few. She has a skill affinity for lightning magic¡­¡± He paused lost in the woman¡¯s eyes again. ¡°Oh, lightning affinity. That would be the fifth one in the last three weeks! It has been a pretty popular spell skill sphere so the cost for most lightning spells has increased recently. Supply and demand you know. Well since it is your first time here I will give you the tour.¡± She turned and motioned for Gareth to follow. She led him around the first floor to each of the shelves and indicated the collection of books on each. The first floor contained lesson books for the Mage Academy and some books on general magic theory. No spells were actually on the first floor. She took him up the rear staircase to the second floor and showed him around. The second floor contained 1st and 2nd tier spells mostly divided by their sphere of magic affinity, a colored dot on the spine indicated the spell¡¯s affinity. She told him some spells had multiple affinities and pointed out how that was denoted by multiple dots with the cross affinity. Inside the cover of each spell tome was a slip of paper indicating the price. The third floor had 3rd tier spells and a few 4th tier spells. She didn¡¯t take Gareth up there. Gareth thanked the woman but she just remained by him. Then she explained. All guests were escorted while on the 2nd and 3rd floors. Gareth just nodded and started looking at books. It took him a minute to find the obfuscate spell Storme wanted. It was in the darkness magical sphere. He opened the book and coughed, tier 1 spell, Obfuscate Abilities, 120 gold. Ok, this was the top priority on Storme¡¯s list. There were seven copies of the spell but 4 copies had one author and the other 3 were by a different author. Gareth asked the difference and the woman briefly looked through both tomes. She then told him about the two authors in detail which meant absolutely nothing to Gareth. He then just asked her to recommend one of the spell versions and she lifted one of the books. The young woman asked if he would be purchasing the spell and he nodded. She made a gesture that she would hold the book while he continued to shop. He spent some time walking through the lightning sphere magic spell shelves on the second floor. Tier 1 spells for lightning were phased lighting (30 gold), electrical transference (25 gold), lightning arrow (50 gold), static wave (20 gold), and lightning shield (50 gold). There were a few copies of each spell with some books having different authors again. He left the tier 1 spells and looked at the tier 2 spells. Lightning spear (140 gold), thunderwave (120 gold), lightning sphere (250 gold), flash step (300 gold), and lightning rod (190 gold). Not as many copies or versions of these spells existed. Gareth was supposed to get one offensive and one defensive lightning spell. He pulled the thickest copy of lightning sphere and lightning spear spell and gave them to his escort to hold. All he had left on his list was to get a tier 3 or tier 4 healing sphere spell. As he started making his way to the 3rd floor his escort halted him. ¡°Sorry, sir the 3rd floor is restricted to members only.¡± Gareth looked confused and she clarified. ¡°Sorry I didn¡¯t tell you but I didn¡¯t think you would get any 3rd tier spells for your newly awakened sister. We have a membership program. It gets you 10% off all purchases but costs 500 gold¡­¡± She paused, ¡°and we only sell our tier 3, 4, and 5 spells to members. Do you want to purchase a membership for your sister?¡± Gareth pondered what to do. The woman continued while he thought, ¡°Your sister needs to be present to get her membership but¡­we could give you a token that she can present when she comes to the shop herself.¡± Gareth nodded and pulled out 5 shiny platinum coins and handed them to the young woman. The woman took them. ¡°I will be right back.¡± She went downstairs and Gareth observed her from the terrace. She went to a desk and looked to be confirming the authenticity of the coins. Soon she rose and went to an older man and after talking to him briefly he handed her a large emblem. She came back up the stairs and handed Gareth a large copper emblem with something Garth assumed was runic script on both faces. Gareth took the token and pocketed it. ¡°Ok, he said I can take you to the third floor now but just this once. The owner said he would make an exception this time but generally, only the one linked to the token is allowed up there.¡± They walked up the stairs and Gareth sensed many eyes on him. He asked and was directed to the healing sphere section and uncomfortably looked at the tier 4 spells. Infuse Vitality, Restore Amputation, Spirit Fortification, and Ranged Healing. Gareth had no idea what was good so he just pulled the last spell book which was the thickest of the bunch, Ranged Healing. He looked at the paper inside the cover, 1000 gold! He shakily handed the spellbook to his shadow. He figured that was enough but noticed another spellbook with the gold dot marked for healing spells and the silvery blue mark for lightning. It was a spell that combined the two spheres. He pulled out the book and looked at the title, lightning reflexes. He looked inside, tier 4, 1200 gold. Being a mage was really expensive. He read the spell description on the first page of the tome. The spell greatly increased the mage''s reflexes and reaction time. The healing aspect of the spell came from maintaining the body of the mage¡¯s integrity from the accelerated speed. Maybe this spell could make Storme a better swordsman? More of a challenge for him? He handed the book to the young woman. She said, "This book has been here for a while. Not many mages would use four spell slots for a spell that essentially focuses on melee combat." The young woman slid the spell book with the others under her arm. ¡°I think that will be all for today,¡± Gareth said. He followed the woman down to the first level and to a desk. She slowly pulled each paper from the book and double checked the paper matched the title of the book. She got a sheet and tallied the total. ¡°So sir that will be 2,926 gold and 8 large silver. She turned the sheet so he could look at the math. 2,710 gold total with a 271 gold discount and then a 15% triumvirate tax and 5% capital city tax. Gareth pulled out 30 platinum coins. Their new shininess was clearly evident. The woman slowly confirmed each coin with a strange runic item. She explained, ¡°No offense, we just confirm the platinum content of all new patrons to the store.¡± When she was done she carefully bundled the tomes together and wrapped them in a white leather hide and bound it with leather straps. Gareth was happy. He still had the 50 platinum if he returned to the Bricio¡¯s slave market to free the girl. Gareth knew it was the right thing to do. However, it would draw attention to him and be the exact opposite of keeping a low profile. Screw it. Carrying multiple unwieldy bundles he made his way back to the Bricio compound. Chapter 26 Aelyn Arrives Chapter 26 Aelyn Arrives Storme was happy to see Freya and Monty. Gareth had been expeditious in bringing her for their two-day stay. After dropping them off Gareth was practically running back to the city to go on his own solo adventure. The first thing Freya mentioned was that Pascal¡¯s 14th birthday was coming. Fourteen was the age of maturity in Skyholme. I had found that the humans within the World Sphere aged physically faster than I was accustomed to. By my best estimates, the age of 16 was closer to age 19 in terms of physical growth from the Earth I came from. So at age 14 kids in Skyholme had the raging hormones of a 16 or 17-year-old and were going into their final growth spurt. Generally, the 14th birthday was the last birthday someone celebrated with a party. My family still noted the birthdays of our parents with small gifts but the real celebration was the five-day holiday that ended and started a new year. It was like Christmas, Hannukah, New Year and Birthdays rolled into a five-day party. Freya was pushing for me to get Pascal something nice. She said I should try to mend fences with him as he was still a bit mad and envious of me and Gareth for training with Callem. After talking with her for a bit I learned Pascal¡¯s preferred sword was just a standard long sword so I said I would have one ready for her to bring him before I left. I would give her the sword and some coin to buy a scabbard as I wouldn¡¯t be present for the celebration of his 14th. We spent a few hours playing and teaching Monty new tricks. Roll over, play dead, and shake. Just simple tricks from my past life but the dog mastered them all in a short time. Freya and I then went to Callem¡¯s house and cooked with Wynna. We made berry filling for phyllo dough and then made the phyllo dough. For a meal, we made a basic lasagna and garlic spinach for the side. Callem enjoyed the meal with us. After Freya and I went to my bunkhouse and played some board games into the night. When she finally passed out from exhaustion I got to work on Pascal¡¯s long sword. I got some coal and manifested the iron and made the steel and worked the steel to make as strong and durable of a blade as I could. I folded the steel again but was able to tighten the lines enough that it just shimmered instead of showing the wave pattern. I realized that I probably hadn¡¯t even come close to exploring the depths of my shape-metal ability. It was a tier 4 ability and those abilities were extremely powerful. I was quite impressed with the finished blade myself. I figured this was good practice for when I finally made a blade for Gareth. It still needed a handle and sheath but it was more than adequate for Pascal. Hell, it was the finest blade I had seen outside of Callem¡¯s personal collection. He had seven remarkable blades he kept in his bedroom that he had shown us a few times and let us clean. I wrapped the blade in one of my blankets and put it aside for Freya to bring back. I focused on my aether core exercises for a bit before repeatedly casting my cleanliness spell. I knew I would be getting new spells soon and I was hoping to get the spell to level 7 for a new evolution. The spell still hadn¡¯t reached level 6 yet so I was pushing it. I fell asleep with the smell of vanilla filling the room. The next day Freya and I had a simple breakfast of diced ham mixed into scrambled eggs topped with shredded cheese. It was my go-to easy but tasty and filling breakfast. Monty seemed to really like the dish as well. After lunch, Callem and Wynna would be taking Freya back home so I let her decide what to do for the rest of the morning. She wanted to see my sword skills. The little brat, this was my day off! Callem just smiled as Freya repeated her request to see her brother¡¯s sword mastery. I was hardly a master. In the practice yard, I did my stretches and instead of the sword, I decided on a staff demonstration. It was a little more flashy and I was actually more comfortable with that as a weapon. After my demonstration, Callem grabbed a staff and we engaged in a few friendly bouts. So as not to embarrass me too much in front of my sister Callem let me show off my prowess without giving me too many bumps and bruises. Freya for her part clapped at my effort and Monty barked and needed to be restrained a bit as he didn¡¯t like Callem hitting me¡­or maybe he just wanted to play with the big sticks? Lunch finally came and I was super dirty and sweaty. I healed myself and used my cleanliness spell. Callem asked for healing which surprised me. I had injured him? Then he showed me his injury and I nearly fell over. He had gotten a big ass splinter when his practice staff had cracked a little from hitting me. As I was walking Freya to lunch she asked me, ¡°Was that magic? Cleaning yourself instantly and healing the welts on your skin?¡± ¡°Yes Freya,¡± I told her. ¡°I can do a little magic now. Nothing extraordinary just some simple healing and a cleaning trick.¡± ¡°Can you use magic on me? I can''t wait to tell Gwen my brother is a mage!¡± She was excited. ¡°Oh no! It is a secret and I can''t really do much other than heal you.¡± She had a scrap on her forearm and I quickly healed it. I also removed some small scars on her hands and arms. ¡°Storme you need to tell mother and father. They would be so proud! Healers are held in such high regard! I bet you can marry into a noble house with your skills!¡± Freya¡¯s mind was going down a road I didn¡¯t want to travel. It took time to calm her down and we had some nice finger sandwiches that Wynna made for lunch. After getting her to promise to keep my secret she left with Callem and Wynna for the town. I gave her the wrapped sword for Pascal and 20 large silver coins to get a quality hilt and scabbard. After they left it took me a second to realize I was alone! I went swimming in the buff, wallowing in the cool water. Then tidied up my loft. I used my cleanliness spell to make sure all my sets of clothes were clean as well as my spare blankets and pillows. I had a lot of pillows and had gotten comfortable enough in training I didn¡¯t need them all anymore. Each loft had two beds that were head to head and a large closet armoire built into the walls at the ends of the beds. Under the beds were three medium chests to store possessions. On the wall over each bed was a full-length shelf. Like Gareth, I had spread my belongings to the other bed in my loft but thought it was time to contain my things. We were having guests in a few months and Gareth would have to move to my loft or vice versa. I neatly packed my loose belongings in one of the chests under my bed. Laying in a clean and organized loft I started reading my aether core book and practicing when I heard Callem and Wynna return. I could hear them talking as they returned and heard their door open and shut. Gareth should be returning soon as well. The transport skyship should land around dinner time and then it would take him 40 minutes or so of walking time to get back to the farm. I went and ate dinner with Callem and Wynna, some fabulous crusty cheesy bread and smoked ham they had gotten in town with some apple cider. The apple cider was an import from another island and was extremely good but a little thick for cider with its pulpy texture and slight fermentation. I returned to my loft and had trouble studying. I was anticipating that Gareth had found me some remarkable spells. My eyes perked as I heard Gareth loudly arguing with a female voice I didn¡¯t recognize. I couldn¡¯t make out the words yet but both parties were not happy with each other. I rushed down my ladder and outside to see Gareth coming out of the trees with a tall young woman who was extremely attractive. Many things went through my mind, did he kidnap her? Did he somehow get roped into marriage while in the capital? Did she kidnap him? The last was because of the tongue-lashing she was giving Gareth. Callem and Wynna were also outside watching the procession. As they got closer I could see a large mark on the side of the young woman¡¯s neck. I had moved to stand next to Callem and Wynna and it was Wynna who spoke first among us and he tone was angry, and I mean mother ready to beat her kids angry, ¡°Gareth I thought you were much better than this! How could you do something so foul and unjust!¡± Before Gareth could respond she stormed away into the house and slammed the door behind her. I was trying to puzzle out what was going on. Callem spoke next and his tone was hard as well but not angry, ¡°Gareth get into the house and you can explain yourself. Storme join us as I am sure you played some role in this travesty.¡± What, me? I just wanted books! At least I could be happy to see the young woman was carrying a large strapped white bundle that was very square¡­maybe four spell books? ¡°Inside, NOW!¡± Callem yelled, breaking his cold calm. ¡°You as well girl!¡± His command voice had all three of us scrambling inside. We were all seated on different couches surrounding the large square coffee table. Wynna was not there but I was sure she had her ear to the door. ¡°So, Gareth,¡± Callem began in a very gruff and aggrieved voice, ¡°It seems you have taken on an indenture contract. What possessed you to do so? And where did you get the funds?¡± I connected the dots as Callem spoke. The large tattoo on the young woman¡¯s neck must be the mark of the indentured. We hadn¡¯t been told that in our lessons. ¡°Well!?¡± Callem¡¯s patience was wearing thin at Gareth¡¯s silence. ¡°I¡­I thought I was doing something good.¡± He squeaked out. ¡°I wanted to free her. I didn¡¯t know she couldn¡¯t be released from the bond.¡± Callem¡¯s eyes at least softened slightly as his gaze went to the young woman. ¡°And you girl, your name? And what great evil have you committed that has gotten you a life bond?¡± The girl was on her guard and not at all as animated as she had been when I had first seen her verbally laying into Callem. ¡°My name is Aelyn, Aelyn Imiduis. I committed no atrocity!¡± Her voice had grown a spine as she spoke. ¡°You people are the wicked ones. We came here with the carnival and were ripped from it on the last day proclaiming we were spies and saboteurs!¡± I could see she was holding back tears. My god Gareth, what fucking mess had you gotten yourself into? ¡°This oaf over there,¡± she pointed at Gareth, ¡°bought my contract and took me. I don¡¯t care what he paid, 50 or 100 platinum! I will break this evil mark and free myself!¡± If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. I was processing what she had said. Did she say Gareth had spent 100 platinum to get her contract? To my shame, I only thought of how few and meager spells the remaining 11 platinum could have purchased. But Callem brought up a point I had overlooked and yelled, ¡°How in Demon¡¯s spawn pits did you get 100 platinum boy!¡± Surprise, anger, and worry were lacing his words. My thought was Gareth had just fucked us both. Gareth was stumbling and gasping, not finding the words, and then made eye contact with me. He wanted me to bail him out. He wasn¡¯t going to break our promise. Come on Gareth, you had a simple mission, get to the capital, get clothes, buy spells and return. Well if I couldn¡¯t trust Callem then I couldn¡¯t trust anyone really. I spoke, ¡°They were my coins. I gave him 111 platinum to go to the capital and purchase a few spells for me.¡± All eyes were now locked on me and I heard the door open behind me, Wynna had entered the room. Callem¡¯s jaw was briefly unhinged, Gareth had relief on his face and Aelyn had a mild shock, and for the first time since arriving she was actually studying me as if noticing me for the first time. Callem regained his composure first, ¡°And where did you find so many coins Storme?¡± At least his voice was not hard and interrogating like it was with Gareth. I squeaked out my response, ¡°I made them.¡± I heard Wynna rushing into the circle of couches, ¡°Oh Storme! How could you! When they find out the coins are not real¡­well they probably already have¡­how much did you spend Gareth? I have savings and should be able to cover¡­oh boys this is a fine mess but we will get through it and you will learn from your mistakes.¡± She sounded concerned and motherly. We had definitely grown on her in the last few months. ¡°Wynna the coins are real¡­well at least the platinum is real. I can turn my aether into metal.¡± To illustrate my point I created a steady stream of small gold coins rolling out onto the coffee table until my aether almost bottomed out. I had gotten really good at combining my abilities and it was actually fun to show them off even under the current circumstances. The next few minutes had Wynna, Callem and Aelyn examining the coins while Gareth looked relieved the attention was off him. I gave him a look that said ¡®don¡¯t get comfortable Gareth, me and you will be having words after this!¡¯ Wynna asked a few questions about my ability, ¡°How many coins I could make? What metals? How long they lasted? Where else had I used the coinage?¡± Callem still had disbelief on his face and Aelyn was now dressing me down with a hungry stare that made me very uncomfortable. After answering Wynna¡¯s questions it was Aelyn that spoke next, ¡°Since they were this boy¡¯s coins he is the owner of my contract Gareth. Give him the ring.¡± I didn¡¯t realize what this meant but Gareth took a ring out of his pocket and tossed it at me like a hot potato. ¡°I don¡¯t want your contract, you are free!¡± I yelped dropping the ring like it was hot. Wynna was now seated next to me and picked up the ring and briefly studied it before putting it on the table. ¡°Storme,¡± Wynna said. ¡°The magic binding her to the contract is quite strong, tier 4 I¡¯m guessing.¡± Gareth interrupted with, ¡°Tier 5 actually.¡± This didn''t help his case as Callem and Wynna gave him a stare that caused him to shrink into the couch. Wynna winced at the new information. ¡°The mark on her neck is permanent, it can only be removed by the mage who cast it or a tier 6 spell that can overpower the magics in the mark. No one in Skyholme can help her. In the low lands there are mages strong enough," she paused, "Have you worn the ring Gareth?¡± He violently shook his head no. ¡°So this ring is tied to her mark. She must obey the wearer.¡± ¡°And the longer I go without someone wearing the ring the more the mark burns me. Three days without a wearer and I would be incapacitated with pain.¡± Aelyn supplied. This got a pitying look from Wynna and made Gareth shrink even further. ¡°You or Callem should wear the ring then!¡± I voiced loudly, ¡°Or Aelyn can wear it herself, yes let¡¯s do that!¡± Wynna at least seemed thoughtful and Callem was still processing that I could make coins out of thin air but it was Aelyn that spoke, ¡°No, if you are all giving me a choice I want him to wear it!¡± Her finger pointing at me didn¡¯t make me feel any better. ¡°If I put the ring on it would just accelerate the burning pain. The ring can only attune to one person. If that person dies I have to bring the ring back to the archmage that linked it to my tattoo to reset it. That way they can sell me again.¡± ¡°Ok wait a second. What if I just learn a tier 6 spell and free her of the tattoo?¡± It was Callem who laughed at my suggestion first, followed by Wynna and Aelyn. Gareth chuckled not getting the joke. I definitely didn''t get it. ¡°Tier 6 magic Storme?¡± Wynna said. ¡°First finding a spell capable of breaking the mark and removing it, then imprinting that spell? Archmages struggle to imprint tier 4 spells due to their complexity. Maybe in 50 years, you might have the capacity to do so¡­¡± She trailed off. ¡°Storme put on the ring,¡± Callem said, the matter apparently decided. ¡°Aelyn has chosen you for now and I trust you will not abuse her trust and will work to free her of her bond.¡± I reluctantly took the ring from the table and slid it on. It sent tingles through me and almost immediately I was aware of where Aelyn was. ¡°Make sure she promises to never reveal your secrets Storme. Now Storme let''s talk about the bigger problem. Your coins.¡± I had to tell Callem everything. Everything I had used my aether created coins on since I had started making them. Wynna had started taking notes as I spoke and this process made me uncomfortable. It was a story highlighting my decision-making processes. Callem did not look amused when I finished. ¡°If anyone asks Storme you got the coins from me. The same goes for you Gareth. And give me all your remaining coins.¡± Gareth slowly produced and handed over his money pouch. Callem emptied it and mixed them with the gold coins I had made earlier. Callem picked up one of the remaining platinum coins and studied it. ¡°Shiny,¡± was the extent of his appraisal. He looked at a few more coins before returning to look at me. ¡°Don¡¯t make any more platinum coins.¡± It was not a request. But I took it as permission that is was ok to still make gold coins. I nodded in acquiescence. ¡°I need to think more on this with Wynna. Storme you will take Aelyn to the bunk room and get her settled in. Gareth I still have some words for you so you can remain for now.¡± I got up and left the hot seat. How was I feeling like a kid who had their hand caught in the cookie jar? I was just using my abilities to beat the system. That was why I had chosen the abilities I had! Aelyn followed me with the white square package. Well, at least I could see what spells Gareth had obtained for me. In the bunkhouse and told Aelyn about the larder below and the two lofts. I told her Gareth would move his things to my side but she nixed that. She said she would be fine sleeping in the bed adjacent to mine in my loft. I got the uncomfortable feeling she had something planned for me or at least planned to use me somehow. The other bed in my loft just had a lot of pillows on it which made me a little embarrassed. I told her they were so I could find a comfortable position to sleep in after a hard day''s training. I got her some blankets from one of the chests under the bed and took the white package from her. Aelyn made her bed and was trying to be busy organizing her space but since she didn''t own anything it was mostly arranging the pillows. I would need to get a partition for the beds as they butted against each other. I told Aelyn where the stream was so she could bathe if she wanted to and gave her some of my clothes to change into after. I also gave her some soap and a towel that I had and really didn¡¯t need. As per Callem¡¯s advice, I asked Aelyn to never reveal my secrets or do anything to harm me. She confirmed the order with an all-too-sexy smile. Yep, she had plans for me. Thankfully she left to go bath. My excitement over new spells had been thoroughly quashed by the incident but I unwrapped the package anyway and looked at the receipt. The obfuscate spell! The most important spell by far and at least Gareth had obtained it. Ranged heal? I found the spell tome and opened it and started reading the spell synopsis. It was a tier 4 spell that was fairly powerful and filled my need for repairing the bone structure. The aether cost was steady out to about 10 feet (3m) and then increased quickly the further away. So not an all-powerful healing spell for long ranges but it did a much better job healing than my current basic mend flesh spell even with the higher aether cost it would be very useful. I put the spell tome down and went to the obfuscate spellbook and paged through it. It was definitely the spell I would be working on next. After paging through it and getting a headache from my initial perusal of the spell forms I looked at the three lightning spells. Lightning Sphere and Lightning Spear were both tier 2 offensive spells. One of these should have been defensive, right? Maybe Gareth didn¡¯t read the synopsis? The lightning sphere created a ball of contained electricity that acted as a sort of hand grenade on contact after leaving the mage¡¯s hand. Lightning spear flung a 6¡¯ (2m) lighting bolt at a single target. I had brief dreams of obtaining the nickname Zeus...but that name meant nothing in this realm. Aelyn had returned and was wearing my clothes which were very baggy on her. I yelled down to her from the loft as she came through the front door, telling her she could get what she wanted from the larder and she went to the basement to do so. My final spell was Lightning Reflexes and I was surprised to see it was a tier 4 spell as well. The spell synopsis was quite wild. The spell essentially accelerated a mage so much that it appeared time was slowing around him. The spell had a component to stabilize and strengthen the mage¡¯s organs and skeletal frame to prevent him from being ripped apart. The spell did have issues in that it required a lot of aether to maintain. Hopefully, with my aether pool, it wouldn¡¯t be a hindrance. I still wasn¡¯t sure which spell I should learn after the obfuscate spell though. Aelyn had returned and climbed up to the loft and handed me a jug of pear juice and a sloppily made sandwich from sliced beef, tomato, and a garlic spread. ¡°No eating in the loft," was all I said as I returned to the spell books ignoring the young woman. It was a rule me and Gareth had to keep bugs and mice out of the sleeping area. I think she was upset but I couldn¡¯t focus on her right now. I was engrossed in the obfuscate spell book. Aelyn returned to the loft a little later and slipped into her bed. She was obviously exhausted as when I finally looked up she was sleeping. Gareth entered a short while later and looking down on him he looked like a beaten man. He had his pride, ego, intellect, and our trust greatly thrashed in the last few hours. I gave him a bone, ¡°Nice job on the spell selections Gareth. They are all extremely useful.¡± He perked up at that. He started eating the sandwich that Aelyn had made for me and drank the juice as well. Well, I could do without food tonight. Soon Gareth was up on his side of the loft and in his bed. ¡°Did she decide to sleep over there or did you tell her to?¡± Gareth asked hesitantly. ¡°What Aelyn? Yeah, she just choose this side. I think she is asleep so we should be quiet.¡± I responded as I used my light stone to read. I planned to put out my own aether light in just a few minutes. ¡°Storme?¡± Gareth whispered loudly. ¡°Yeah?¡± I responded. ¡°I¡¯m sorry I screwed this all up.¡± His low voice was hurt and ashamed. After a long pause, he said, ¡°I did get you a nice present, a new coat.¡± After another long pause, ¡°And some new underwear which are pretty awesome.¡± He didn¡¯t say much after that and his heavy breathing that signaled he was asleep soon started. I closed my book put out the aether light and went to sleep myself. Chapter 27 The Perfect Man Chapter 27 I awoke and was uncertain if yesterday had not just been a bad dream. I looked at the bunk next to mine. The bed was neatly made and the pillows were neatly arranged. Ok maybe it was¡­but no in the lower room Aelyn was there and she had a bunch of things out from the larder and was cooking. No, she was trying to cook. After watching her for a few minutes nothing she was doing made any sense. I groaned and descended the ladder as I pressed my cleanliness spell a wave of vanilla washed over me and my body felt like I had just exited the shower. I announced myself, ¡°Morning Aelyn. Callem makes breakfast in the farmhouse. No need to,¡± I waved my hands at the mess, ¡°do this.¡± She had a look of disappointment and I felt slightly guilty. I could see Gareth up on his bunk pretending to sleep. He was definitely awake as I knew he usually slept on his stomach and he was facing us on his side with his eyes falsely closed. ¡°I¡¯m sorry I didn¡¯t know,¡± she looked a little abashed. ¡°I just thought¡­¡± ¡°No, problem. Gareth get down here and help put these things away,¡± I said. Gareth gave the fakest yawn ever and started to move and dress slowly. The ring on my finger suddenly felt heavy with responsibility as I watched the young woman. I used my access person ability on her. Aelyn Imiduis Half Elf Female Age 19 Disposition Hopeful She was quite beautiful now that I studied her. She was tall, maybe a little taller than me right now, perhaps 5¡¯9¡± (175 cm) or a little taller. She had light blonde hair just past her shoulders that had a silvery highlight to it. Her shoulders were square like a swimmer''s. Underneath the baggy clothes I had loaned her she had a lean and muscular frame. She had light curves on her hips and chest. If I had to compare her to my old life I would say she could easily be a top runway model. ¡°Why?¡± I asked, cutting the silence. When she looked puzzled at me I added, ¡°Why me? What do you want from me?¡± Gareth was still up in his loft and we were talking quietly enough he couldn¡¯t hear. She locked her eyes on mine and it was a few seconds before she decided to answer me. ¡°I...I¡­You are young. You won''t take advantage of me and you have the potential to be a powerful protector.¡± My skeptical look had her continue. ¡°You seemed to be my best option with your abilities to get me free one day. If I am good to you you can buy my freedom from this in the lowlands!¡± she said with passion as she indicated the tattoo. What was I to say in response? Internally I was struggling and at a crossroads. Should I be the good guy and commit to helping Aelyn and never take advantage of our relationship? Should I just lead her on and never actually plan to help her? Or should I just abuse the power the ring had over her? The last one was really never an option for me as it didn¡¯t fit my personality. I was quiet as her beautiful face slowly produced tears. Gareth was coming down the ladder. I whispered to her, ¡°Fine! I will do what I can to free you of the mark.¡± Aelyn wiped the tears before Gareth could notice them. I didn¡¯t think they were crocodile tears but it was definitely an attempt to garner pity from me. The cleanup of Aelyn¡¯s breakfast mess was quick after that but it was clear there was tension between Gareth and Aelyn. I was tempted to intervene but didn¡¯t have the energy right now. We all left to go to the farmhouse for breakfast. Wynna had a large spread out and a smile on her face, ¡°Everyone sleep well? Aelyn were the boys gentlemen?¡± Aelyn looked at me before responding and I just nodded. Why did I have to nod for her to speak? ¡°Yes. They were good to me and the accommodations are pleasant. The vanilla smell is nice too. I was expecting the boys living arrangements to smell unpleasant.¡± She responded and seemed relaxed for the first time since I met her. I saw Gareth was about to comment on my vanilla scent and gave him a hard glare. He clapped his mouth shut holding in his quip. ¡°Excellent! Callem will be out in a minute to talk with everyone. We have been up most of the night deciding what to do,¡± Wynna said. I was not comforted by those words. We all started to dig in. I went for some slightly burnt toast with scrambled eggs and filled the other half of my plate with thick-cut bacon. I thought if the shit was about to hit the fan at least I could have a good last meal. Callem came out and joined us. Everyone slowed their eating except me waiting for Callem to talk but he just started eating too. Fifteen minutes later the food was gone and just empty plates were left and all eyes were on Callem. He laid back in his chair and spoke. ¡°It has been an interesting night.¡± He gathered himself. ¡°Here I thought Gareth was going to be the one causing an uproar in the capital one day,¡± Callem sighed and looked and me and then at Gareth. ¡°You didn¡¯t know but myself, Wynna and Ennet had things in motion to be your teachers at your first year of the academy in Hen¡¯s Hollow.¡± It was a shocking revelation to me. When you turned 14 you did one year of the academy, usually near your home before proceeding to an academy for your career. ¡°Hopefully we can still get to that point.¡± Callem sipped on some juice. Callem continued with all of us silent and in rapt attention. ¡°From what Storme and Gareth told us last night we will make contact with friends in the capital to see if there is any backlash from Gareth¡¯s spending. A few dozen platinum is not a big deal¡­but a few dozen platinum spent by an unknown boy might stir interest from the wrong crowd.¡° My mind started putting some pieces together and I told Callem and Wynna our original plan, ¡°Callem we had planned to set up a mysterious patron for ourselves to funnel the wealth.¡± I didn¡¯t use the term ¡®launder¡¯ because I didn¡¯t feel like explaining the slang to Callem. Callem looked thoughtful and nodded. It was Wynna who spoke. ¡°Callem it would draw eyes to use and away from the boys. We just need to control their impulsive spending.¡± She eyed Gareth and then me. Why was she eyeing me? I hadn¡¯t spent dozens of platinum openly! Wynna nodded mostly to herself then spoke, ¡°Yes. Callem can go to Solaris this week and open an account for you Storme at the Depository.¡± That was basically a bank run by the Triumvirate. I added, ¡°Um, we have been saying our patron is a woman from the lowlands.¡± Wynna pursed her lips in slight irritation. ¡°Well, I can make a deposit for you then. You can just tell them I am your patron.¡± Wynna smiled but it felt forced. ¡°It is well known I am quite wealthy in the capital so it should not draw too much attention. But let us limit the deposit to say¡­10 platinum. That is a sizable amount and should last you two until you graduate from the academy. As to the boys that assaulted Storme in the alley I will file a report with the guards in regards to the amount of coin that was taken.¡± I hadn¡¯t told them that there had been a guard who had assisted in the attack. ¡°Wynna,¡± I started but she didn¡¯t seem angry at my interruption, ¡°thank you. But I think one of the people who assaulted me was a guard or at least related to one of the boys. He guarded the alley entrance while I was attacked.¡± Gareth and Callem''s eyes immediately flashed with a hunger for vengeance. Callem spoke with steel, ¡°Do you know who?¡± ¡°Unfortunately other than the red hair I can not recall his appearance,¡± I said with my head down. Callem had trained me better than that and I hadn¡¯t used my assess person ability either. ¡°Don¡¯t mention the amount of coin then Wynna when you file a report. It might cause a ripple effect we don¡¯t want. Just deposit the coins for Storme after you file and you can give him the access medallion when you return. They cost five gold Storme so add that to the 10 platinum you are giving Wynna. A medallion is a magic device that you can use to access your coins stored at any Depository in Skyholme. Better yet I will go with you to Solaris Wynna for your protection.¡± At first, Wynna looked a little put off but then spoke with a grin. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Maybe we should spend the night at that inn where your friend works?¡± Her eyebrows arched in mischief. Callem quickly caught on but looked at Aelyn who had been quiet this entire time, ¡°Yes we can stay there. I believe I can trust these boys with Aelyn for a night. If they don¡¯t behave just let me know girl. Aelyn you have some skills? Well if not you soon will. You will begin training with the boys. Sebastian is bringing his granddaughter here soon with her friend so that should make you comfortable. It is a few months earlier than planned but when I talked with Sebastian recently he wanted to get her out of the Naval Academy sooner rather than later.¡± Callem was nodding to himself like he was the wisest man in the room. He was probably thinking that three women vs two boys would even the odds. He drank some juice. Callem stood and said ¡°Time for stretching!¡± We went outside and started the stretching routine. We found out Aelyn was in the acrobat troupe at the carnival and she crushed all of us on mobility and flexibility. It sucked for me because I was still at the bottom of the ladder. She also took get pleasure in correcting Gareth''s form which caused me to smirk for joy. When we finished I went inside to make dinner. Callem decided Aelyn could either help with the farm work or help me. She decided to help me. I quickly found out she was terrible in the kitchen and told her to just watch and we talked. Wynna stayed in her bedroom and that allowed us to talk freely. I asked her to tell me about herself. Her mother had been a dungeon delver and had gotten pregnant in a dungeon by someone in her party. That was really the only place inter-race conception could happen, the dungeons somehow assisted and it was how the Wolfsguard were bred according to rumors. One full-blooded Wolfkin and one human. Once her mother got pregnant she stopped dungeon delving and joined her family who was the acting troupe in the carnival. That is where she grew up, traveling from city to city on the massive airship. She got some teasing from the elves in the troupe for being a half-breed so she joined the acrobat troupe in the carnival from age 11 onward. She learned the rapier for one of her acts. She took to the weapon and learned from various swordsmen in various cities. She wasn¡¯t a master swordswoman herself but was moving in that direction. When I asked about her sword act she said she was positioned in a circle with twelve men surrounding her. They all attacked her at once and she fended them all off. It was a flashy and choreographed act with her utilizing her acrobatics, tumbling, and sword skills. The other act she participated in was just a high-flying tumbling act with the troupe dressed in skin suits to show off their athletic bodies. I think we had seen the act but I didn¡¯t mention that to Aelyn since I didn¡¯t recognize her from the show. It all sounded very impressive to me. For my end, I prepared teriyaki chicken with pineapple rice. I had a pineapple substitute that worked just as well as pineapple. Pineapple was one of the things I hadn¡¯t yet found in this new world. I was certain I would eventually find it as it seemed everything from earth was here in some form. When I finished preparing dinner it was time to go to training so we headed out to the obstacle course with Callem and Gareth. Callem explained course A to Aelyn. Gareth ran the course first to show Aelyn how it was done. Aelyn ran it second and tried her hardest to beat Gareth¡¯s time. She was just 9 seconds off his time! I cheered her and patted her on her back. She was breathing hard and she wanted to go again. She probably had figured out some ways to cut her time. She wanted to beat Gareth so badly. I ran a disappointing course after Aelyn, 19 seconds slower than my best time and well behind the other two. Callem decided for us all to do course B instead of rerunning the A course. It focused more on agility so Aelyn should have a chance to beat Gareth. As Gareth ran the course I asked Aelyn, ¡°What is your beef with Gareth? He is a good person and he freed you.¡± Aelyn studied me and finally made to give me an answer. ¡°I have a small aether core. I have only imprinted one spell, read surface thoughts. I read his thoughts and¡­his thoughts were of what I looked like naked¡­kissing me¡­and¡­¡± I waved my hands in understanding and for her to stop before my opinion of my best friend dropped. She continued, ¡°When I read you last night¡­your thoughts¡­¡± ¡°Whoa, stop there. Please don¡¯t do that again! You shouldn¡¯t do that to anyone without asking.¡± I was shaking my head. Gareth had finished the course and was returning to us. Callem had Aelyn line up and start. She beat Gareth¡¯s time by 6 seconds! I had cheered her the entire time. Gareth gave me a sour look as I cheered for Aelyn. But his eyes did pop when she navigated the course with rolls, tumbles, and flips. Gareth was learning from her movements and I just hoped Callem didn¡¯t get any ideas on how to make the course more difficult. Who was I kidding? Of course, the course was going to get an upgrade. Callem congratulated her. It was great that someone could challenge and push Gareth as he was getting further and further ahead of me. We moved to the training yard and Callem wanted to evaluate Aelyn¡¯s skill with the rapier. I was the third wheel as Gareth and Aelyn spared, Gareth with a lightened broad sword, and Aelyn with a rapier. Aelyn bested him in the first nine engagements. It made Gareth frustrated and I was cheering for both Aelyn and Gareth equally. How had she won me over so quickly? It had to be the eyes. I was always a sucker for pretty eyes in my past life and hers had a depth to them. The matches continued and soon Gareth was winning 1 out of 3 engagements but that seemed his limit and Callem stopped the practice. ¡°Aelyn you will be a master of that rapier in a few years,¡± Callem said with respect in his voice. ¡°You are incredible Aelyn. And Gareth you made a lot of progress. You just had trouble with her speed as she has a much lighter weapon and better mobility. We will start to work on counters for her style of swordwork.¡± Gareth looked relieved. He was probably worried Callem had found a new prot¨¦g¨¦e. ¡°Storme why don¡¯t you go study for a bit?¡± I was happy to get away without sparring and embarrassing myself in front of Aelyn. I went to my loft after using cleanliness and got to work on my obfuscate abilities spell. All too soon I was called to lunch and both Gareth and Aelyn were an absolute mess. Gareth had a smirk of victory on his face and Aelyn the shadow of defeat on hers. Callem said Gareth had won 8 of the last 10 engagements. That was a huge turnaround in such a short time¡­just two hours or so. Lunch was just sandwiches that Wynna had made and some fruit juice. Aelyn asked how I was always clean all the frigging time. She was covered in dirt, nicks, and bruises. I healed her and she gasped and looked at me like it was the first time she had ever seen me. She asked me how old I was and when I said 12 she thought I was lying. She thought it even more absurd that I was actually older than Gareth by a few months as Gareth was over 6''1" (186 cm) afterall. After lunch, Callem said we would be practicing wrestling and I moaned. Gareth was dominating me lately. I thought about not healing Gareth before the match but caved and did heal him. If I hadn''t healed him he would take it as a sign to be extra aggressive to equal out our disadvantages. Wrestling was more of a submission form of combat, immobilize your opponent and get them to submit with an arm or leg lock. I was shocked as what Callem had in mind was me against Aelyn since we were of similar size. She took the first two bouts with an arm lock because I was hesitant to wrestle a woman. I wizened up with encouragement from Gareth and got Aelyn seven times in a row. She wasn¡¯t very skilled in wrestling and that was why I found it easier to win even though she was quite quick and slippery. As long as I treated her like any other combatant I could lock her up when we engaged. Callem was grinning openly as he now had another exceptional student. After wrestling, we went to practice with staves. I easily bested Aelyn as she was unfamiliar with the weapon and Callem was instructing her. Then I was paired with Gareth and he had his chance to get revenge for all the times I cheered Aelyn over him today. I actually got two concussions from him that I had to heal. Callem was a bit angry with my injuries as head strikes were generally off-limits unless we were wearing the hard leather caps and today we were not. It was finally time for dinner and after cleaning the practice yard Aelyn went to wash in the stream and Gareth didn¡¯t know what to do. There really was only one spot in the stream deep enough to wash. He ended up waiting for her to return before going to wash. I just used my spell to clean up and used my brief amount of spare time to study my spell. While Gareth was gone Aelyn talked to me. ¡°So what other magic do you have? Cleaning, healing, cooking, gold producing¡­you are basically the perfect man.¡± I blushed hard at Aelyn¡¯s words. ¡°You brought me some new spells. I hope to learn them in the next few months.¡± I said. Wow in less than a day the young woman had befriended me and learned all my secrets. Gareth returned, clean and smelling a lot better. I hit my vanilla scent a few times to irritate him. We went to the farmhouse and I cooked the prepped meal. Aelyn was very impressed with the dish, having two servings. I had made enough for 10 people but it was all gone in an hour and Gareth also seemed impressed at Aelyn¡¯s stomach. During the meal, Callem and Wynna did most of the talking with Callem relaying the results of the days training. I noticed that Callem had managed to praise all of us multiple times. I wish I had made a dessert tonight but hadn¡¯t thought about it. I really wanted to make ice cream. I just needed a cold container...maybe I could use ice from the freezer to insulate a bucket? We sat down for lessons with Wynna after the dishes were done. Tonight we had Aelyn with us and Wynna¡¯s lessons were on the cultures and inhabitants of the lowlands. It had only been an hour of listening to Aelyn describe her impressions of various cities and cultures. She did have a nice feminine voice I noted. Finally, Callem stood and said time was up. Aelyn could stay and discuss swordsmanship with him and Gareth or go to the room and relax. I decided for her, ¡°I think Aelyn could learn more from you two. She would be bored watching me read books.¡± I was deflecting her attention as I had been slightly smitten by her today. The fact that I realized my attraction to her was my defense against her charms. I retreated to my room, leaving everyone. Later on, in the evening Aelyn and Gareth returned. Since Aelyn was next to me she was able two whisper two words to me before she crawled under her blankets. Those two words were, ¡°thank you.¡± Chapter 28 Cilia and Leda Chapter 28 Cilia and Leda We spent three days incorporating Aelyn into our daily training. She seemed deeply motivated to not only impress me but also to outdo Gareth. Unfortunately for Aelyn, other than flexibility, Gareth only took a few hours to surpass her when he committed. I was actually extremely happy that Gareth had someone pushing him so hard. I had failed in that role as his friend. We were eating dinner on the third full day after Aelyn¡¯s arrival when Callem announced, ¡°Sebastian is here.¡± Aelyn was puzzled but Gareth and I rushed outside forgetting the meal. I wasn¡¯t sure how Callem knew the skyship was approaching. To me the ship was silent. All of us were eventually outside to greet the arrivals. It was still amazing for me to see the Wind Splitter moving so gracefully without sound. It was a beautiful ship and scored high on my aesthetic scale. After landing the ramp descended and Sebastian walked down the ramp shortly followed by Nisil. A minute passed and then two young women exited the craft as well. The woman on the right was tall, almost six feet (182 cm). She had rich blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. My focus was on her as they approached. Her eyes were a light brown, almost golden. She had a square build and was obviously well-muscled by her movement. Her hips were narrow and her chest was mostly flat. Her face took away from her potential beauty though. It was hard and she pursed her lips tight. Her eyes, even with their intoxicating golden color, had a fury written into them. The woman walking next to her was much shorter, maybe 5¡¯5¡± (165 cm), and her hair was a shiny black. Her skin was dark too, closer to the Mediterranean in color. She was the darkest-skinned person I had met on Skyholme. Her eyes were a dark brown but had a liveliness to them that the other girl lacked. She was also curvy with an ample bosom and hips. She did have an athletic grace to her walk but didn¡¯t strike me as overly athletic from my observations so far. As they approached we were sizing them up as they were us. Callem and Sebastian had already retreated inside the farmhouse to talk in private, leaving us to introduce ourselves. ¡°We have six trunks on the ship boys. Bring them to our quarters,¡± Cilia commanded us. She was the tall one. Gareth and I looked at each other and then at Aelyn. None of us moved. The smaller young woman spoke next, ¡°Hi! I¡¯m Leda and this is my friend Cilia.¡± She elbowed the stern blonde young woman. ¡°Perhaps you can give us a tour of the¡­¡± she looked around at the small farm, ¡°fields?¡± She was attempting humor and not making fun of being in the middle of nowhere by her demeanor. This was not off to a great start and Cilia made it worse, ¡°If you boys are not going to get the trunks you can have the servant girl get them for us.¡± My temper flared. ¡°She is no servant, and you will treat her with respect! Aelyn is our friend and you came here to learn, not to boss us around!" I swung to focus on the short girl ignoring the tall one, "Leda we would be happy to give you a tour while Cilia decides how much of a stuck-up bitch she wants to be.¡± I spoke in a low tone but with inflection. I turned and started to walk away with Gareth and Aelyn following. I could hear the two young women whispering back and forth before they eventually followed us. The two were quiet as I led them to the clearing where the obstacle courses were. We explained the three different obstacle courses and answered Leda¡¯s questions. Cilia was quiet but still looked like she had a rod shoved up her ass. Leda asked if Gareth was really 12 and actually went into his personal space to squeeze his biceps and grasp his shoulders. He had the body of an athletic adult man and just his youthful face betrayed him as being young. If I met Gareth I would definitely guess him to be at least 17, maybe as old as 19. He flushed as Leda got a little handsy and I caught Cilia rolling her eyes at her friend''s forwardness. Leda just got a few handfuls of muscle before separating from Gareth so we could continue the tour. Our next part of the tour was the part of the stream we used as a bathing spot. This had both women incredulous. No showers like at the academy? We returned to the training yard and the new large drying shed that we had built with Callem. The shed was actually being used to store farm tools right now. Callem had been extremely happy with Edel¡¯s drying work on the tobacco leaves and planned to use her in the future so the shed we worked so hard to build was being repurposed. The old drying shed was now storing training dummies and training weapons. Leda went to the rack with the staves and picked a short one and challenged Gareth to a quick spar. He agreed immediately. As they walked to the center I moved next to Aelyn. Cilia was on the opposite side of us. ¡°Aelyn what is going through Gareth¡¯s mind,¡± I asked. She looked at me questionably. ¡°I know what I said not to read people but I am just curious.¡± She focused on Gareth as he limbered up. ¡°He is thinking of ways to get behind Leda and pin her with his staff. Ugh, he is going to reciprocate her handsy action and try to cup her breasts.¡± She said with some disgust. Oh, this was not good. I didn¡¯t think Gareth knew Cilia had been raped and manhandling Leda would ruin his reputation with the two new arrivals. I yelled, ¡°Hey Gareth it isn¡¯t right that you get the first crack at the newbies. Let me take the first! Come on brother!¡± I said stressing brother. That was our sign for him to retreat. He looked about to protest but did relent and walked to me handing me the staff. I whispered to Aelyn, ¡°Please tell Gareth what an idiot he is in no polite words.¡± Aelyn smiled at my request. I walked to the engagement circle and squared off with Leda. The smirk of superiority on her face made me not want to give her anything easy. In our first engagement, I managed to catch her ankle with my staff and get her down and retreat from her quick recovery sweep with the staff. Her smirk was gone at least and a fiery determination was now firmly in its place. I tuned out the others who were cheering me on and Cilia was cheering her friend on. We had a minute of quick exchanges with neither gaining the upper hand as we sized each other up. She was good with the staff but not that good. I actually felt pretty confident but remained solidly on guard and kept giving her the same opening. When she ran out of patience she finally took it I put her on her back and pinned her to the ground on her back before she could recover. We recovered and she was smiling now. She was enjoying herself even though she was losing. It took me six minutes to get her down again and pin her, this time face down. After that, she relinquished the victory to me. Leda had smiled but Cilia was not happy. I checked on Gareth and he looked miserable so Aelyn had put him in his place. Cilia spoke, ¡°Grandfather and Callem have been watching us. We should head inside.¡± I looked and yes they were over by the farmhouse door watching. We put away the staves and Leda walked next to me. ¡°You are pretty good. But now I am as filthy as are you. Perhaps we should go wash up in the stream?¡± I looked at her and she was definitely a nymph with a look of lust in her eyes. She was 18 I think and fairly attractive. Eighteen in this world meant she was physically the age of a 20-year-old. If my aether core heartburn wasn¡¯t ever present I was sure my own libido would grow to match Gareth¡¯s at her advances. Fortunately, my aether core had masked my hormonal overdrive so far. ¡°I am fine but you can go with Aelyn before bed tonight if you forgot where it was,¡± I cast my cleanliness spell on myself and she gaped at me as the dirt, sweat, and grim melted from me. ¡°You wasted a slot on that spell? Well, I guess I should say I am a little jealous. And what is that scent?¡± She moved to get closer to me but I managed to get Aelyn between us before she could sniff me. With Aelyn between us, she focused on the girl. ¡°You are a pretty one. Who commands you here? Callem?¡± Aelyn to her credit didn¡¯t miss a step, ¡°The boy who just dominated you in the ring.¡± I think Leda licked her lips as she was once again eyeing me like a piece of meat. ¡°Dominated? Yes, I suppose so. Does he dominate you as well?¡± Her tone was playful. ¡°No, Storme is extremely respectful, protective and a perfect gentleman,¡± Aelyn said with complete seriousness. That seemed to shut her up and I noticed Aelyn had said it loud enough for everyone to hear. We entered the house with Sebastian and Callem. Wynna had set out some snacks. Callem spoke, ¡°Storme go take a walk with Sebastian. We are going to take some time getting to know each other here. And Storme? Nice work with the staff this evening.¡± He was obviously proud I had bested someone 5 years my senior. I left with Sebastian feeling pretty good about myself. Sebastian led me up the ramp into his ship. ¡°We can talk freely now Storme. The Wind Splitter has runes that prevent scrying.¡± We went up the stairs to his office on the ship and sat down in wooden chairs. ¡°Storme, things are happening in the capital,¡± He sighed. ¡°Callem said you display a maturity beyond your years. Cilia needs to get out of Skyholme. Her assaulter, Jorl Bricio, is working to corner her. I had to pull her from the naval academy as setting her back a year wasn¡¯t enough to take her out of his sites. I would like both you and Gareth to try and help convince, indirectly of course, that returning to the naval academy is a mistake,¡± He seemed deflated. ¡°I can''t protect her if she chooses to return.¡± I was at a loss for words. ¡°What do you need me to do?¡± was all I could say. ¡°I was hoping you and your friend could convince her to join the adventurer''s academy or perhaps seek adventure in the lowlands. The lowlands may be dangerous but if she persists in the navy¡­¡± he paused with a sad look on his face. I concluded that he was disgusted with what the Skyholme navy or the politics were in their current state. Sebastian stood, ¡°There may be a Sadian attack coming soon. Not a skirmish, but an attack on a large scale. Cilia can not be in the naval academy when it occurs. If she is then she will be assigned at the whim of Bricio family.¡± My face creased in puzzlement. ¡°Callem has taught you well. The Bricio¡¯s may just be one of the three families but they essentially control all of Skyholme now. They have either married into, have leverage on, or outright bribed enough members of the other two branches to do whatever they please.¡± I didn¡¯t know what to say. Sebastian was laying quite a bit on a 12-year-old boy even if Callem thought highly of me. He got some of the vodka and fruit juice and mixed it and sipped before drinking. It was obvious he was getting the courage to do something. ¡°Best case scenario is the Sadians weaken the Skyholme navy and the military gets a reset and increased funding. The failure would weaken the Bricio¡¯s considerably.¡± Oh shit, he was talking about treason. Intentionally making the Sadian attack a little more successful than it should be. I could see why he was reluctant to tell me this. He nodded in response to my eyes widening. ¡°Callem was right about you. I can see that.¡± He sipped some more of his mixed drink, ¡°Worst case scenario is the Sadians get a foothold on one or more of the islands and we enter a drawn-out war.¡± Sebastian said. ¡°Your family should be safe. Callem and Wynna said they would protect them and get them to the lowlands if necessary. He will tell you this himself.¡± I shifted uncomfortably in my seat at the mention of my family. War was unpredictable. ¡°After talking with Callem I know how exceptional you can be and as a reward for watching out for my granddaughter, I would like to offer you some assistance and a bit of advanced payment in the form of knowledge. I am a bit of a collector of spells and have an extensive library. I wanted to offer you three spells from my collection.¡± I looked around the room and didn¡¯t see any spell books. ¡°In addition to the spells I have the complete first two years of texts from the mage academy in the capital, 11 textbooks in total on the basics of magic.¡± Again I looked around and didn¡¯t see anything. ¡°They are in my personal space,¡± Sebastian grinned. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Sebastian stood and waved his hand and a portal appeared in the wall. Looking inside the archway there was a short hallway with shelves lining both sides. ¡°Impressive, isn¡¯t it? It is a dimensional space connected to my aether core. It is a tier 3 spatial magic spell. It measures 10¡¯ by 10¡¯ by 20¡¯ after five evolutions on my part. I wouldn¡¯t suggest selecting it as one of your spells though. Maybe the tier 1 version of the spell. Using three slots on your aether matrix for the dimensional closet spell this early in your career¡­¡± He let it hang for a second like I should know what he meant, but I didn¡¯t. He went in and picked up a bundle of 11 books on a small end table, ¡°these are the textbooks I mentioned. Feel free to pick any three books in here as well. I will advise you as best I can. I don¡¯t have a descendent that is on the path to becoming an archmage so my collection will go to waste. My descendants will probably just sell them all off piecemeal when I die. Maybe they will help you become a powerful archmage who can save Skyholme from the Bricio¡¯s¡± Sebastian sighed as he stared wistfully at his collection. I didn¡¯t know what to tell the man who appeared defeated. I walked down the short hallway and looked at the books. A silvery book drew my attention and pulling it out I recognized it. It was the manual for building a Harbinger ship. The one I had seen in Wigand¡¯s shop. ¡°Ah Storme, that is not a spell book. It was a gift from Braden Torrent. Yes, that Braden Torrent. A sitting member of the Triumvirate for the Torrent family. They are in control of the military branch and have been on the decline for years as the Bricio and Miaden families have squeezed resources and raised prices and lowered military funding in favor of covert operations. They are mostly honorable, well honorable for the nest of corruption that is the capital of Skyhold. Well anyway, I digress you probably don¡¯t want that book though but it is valuable. Here let me show where the pocket space spell is.¡± Sebastian went to a shelf and pulled out a book and handed it to me. I opened the book and looked at it. Pocket Space Spell, Tier 1 space magic spell. It created a space that was 2 foot square (61 cm). ¡°It should take you a week or two to imprint this spell as it is fairly simple. The one drawback of these personal dimension space spells is they do take up a small portion of your aether core reducing your available aether. The space is actually nested within your aether core. When you first cast the spell you orient the doorway to your person. Then every time you access the space it appears in the same orientation to your body as when you first cast it. So take that into account when you are able to cast the spell. You can always cancel and recast the spell and no you can not cast multiple iterations of the spell to gain multiple spaces.¡± Sebastian finished his quick lesson on the spell. ¡°Can I cast the tier 1 and tier 3 versions of the spell to get multiple spaces then?¡± I asked. Sebastian responded, ¡°Unfortunately no. Your aether core can only support one dimensional space. How best to explain,¡± Sebastian thought for a second before continuing, ¡°Imagine your aether core as a bucket of water. The pocket space is a ball that floats in the liquid within the bucket in three dimensions. If you add another ball and they collide¡­bad things happen. There are techniques you can learn to fix the balls in place within your core¡­but that is well down the road in your development. The warnings are in the spell book you hold so pay attention and read it well before casting the spell once you imprint it.¡± I thought for a good few minutes before replacing the book and pulling out the personal dimensional closet spellbook that had been next to it on the shelf. This spell on examination started with a 10¡¯ x 10¡¯ x 10¡¯ space (3m x 3m x 3m). Well if I was only going to get one space to store things I should go big. ¡°I think I will take this spell instead. Do you have any spells for defense with a lightning affinity?¡± I asked. Sebastion arched an eye but didn¡¯t object to my exchange of dimensional spells, he just nodded. Then Sebastian put his hand to his chin and thought for a moment, ¡°No, I only have a few lightning spells and no defense-oriented spells for lightning. You need a good defense spell?¡± I nodded to his question. ¡°Ok I have two that might interest you, one is aether shield. It is a tier 2 spell with no affinity and the shield is about a yard (1m) in diameter to start and invisible to anyone without aether sight. It has no affinity like your cleanliness spell which makes it very versatile in its evolutions. It does take a fair amount of aether to maintain which is a negative. I haven¡¯t imprinted it myself. The other is a tier 1 spell called deflect. The deflect spell acts passively and deflects one attack before dissipating but only works against physical attacks. The aether shield is quite rare, a dungeon prize if I remember correctly from deep in the Nightmare Crypt dungeon in the city of Brightstand.¡± Sebastian was done and retrieved both books for me to look at. I perused both books and I was definitely taking the aether shield spell after looking at both. The spell book itself had a heavy copper cover with a hydra on the cover which I assumed was the monster the dungeon delvers had to defeat to earn the book. The script was in the common language which was good and the spell forms inside were quite orderly compared to what I had seen so far. ¡°Yes, dungeon spell books are essentially perfect spell forms. They are what all spell forms evolved from but the problem with them is they don¡¯t detail any evolutions in spell books, and you cannot copy these spell books. They also dissolve once the spell within is successfully imprinted for the first time.¡± Sebastian supplied. ¡°I will take this one then,¡± I said and Sebastian smirked as he recognized I had made a good choice. ¡°Don¡¯t show it to anyone. It is worth quite a massive sum and many people would kill you for it whether to use themselves or sell it. I haven¡¯t used it because I don¡¯t have any space left to imprint spells. I was hoping I could make enough space over the next decade to imprint this very spell but you can make much better use of it than I can and I have lots of other options. And I expect you to protect my granddaughter.¡± I nodded. ¡°Ok one more choice.¡± Sebastian said. I thought about the Harbinger book. I had no aspirations of building a Harbinger ship but having all the runic script for building a skyship¡­ Sebastian seeing my eyes on the silvery-covered tome spoke again, ¡°I think I know a book you may want.¡± He went to the back of the shelves and pulled out a book. He handed it to me and the cover was an image of the Wind Splitter. I eagerly opened it and it was similar to the Harbinger book but detailed the Wind Splitter construction and runes. It was mostly loose pages neatly placed inside and not in an organized way. ¡°I have been compiling that book myself. That has my copied notes, research, and everything I have found out during my restoration of the Wind Splitter. I was hoping to eventually get a new class of ship into the Skyholme fleet, a fast transport for troops and supplies. I doubt I will have much say in things anytime soon¡­¡± He tailed off, clearly disappointed with his role in the Skyholme navy. ¡°I have copies of these notes anyway. If you prefer this over a third spell I am ok with your choice.¡± I nodded. ¡°Ok Storme," he motioned me out of his dimensional space. I looked at the massive collection as the entrance disappeared and hoped one day I could match such knowledge in my own space. ¡°I have one other gift for you,¡± he went to the desk drawer and retrieved a marble. ¡°This is an anti-scrying item. It is also a dungeon-created magical object obtained from a prize chest.¡± He handed it to me and I took the black marble. ¡°All you need to do is continually channel a minor amount of aether into it and it will prevent anyone from remote viewing you. It has an effective range of about 55 yards (50m). It is actually a gift from Callem. I obtained it at his request. He thinks either you or Gareth may have need of it in the future.¡± Sebastian sighed for the umpteenth time. Sebastian led me down and out of the Wind Splitter. The fourteen books were heavy but a prize I was not going to let go. We had spent over two hours inside and as we walked to the farmhouse Sebastian continued, ¡°I wish I had time to mentor you Storme but Callem is certain only bad things would happen if it was known I was tutoring a promising young mage. My last two apprentices were kidnapped by my old family to try and get leverage on me. Yes, they are bad people. If you run into anyone with the Riffolk surname definitely don¡¯t trust them. They control most of the seedy underworld in Skyholme and are heavily connected to the Bricios.¡± He didn¡¯t say what had happened to his apprentices but the pained look on his face was enough for me to guess. We entered the house and everyone else was in deep conversation. Cilia still had her hard look and Gareth looked so uncomfortable that I almost laughed. Callem spoke, ¡°Ah good! Sebastian, did you give the boy the bauble you wanted to give him?¡± Sebastian laughed, ¡°Yes it just took me a little to find it and he wanted to see the bridge and for me to explain the controls for the Wind Splitter.¡± ¡°Well, it is all good we have just been detailing the new training schedule. We are going to focus on unarmed combat for the next few weeks before incorporating sword work.¡± Callem said. Was that why Gareth was looking miserable and uncomfortable? Callem continued, ¡°Sebastian we will need your skills to expand the bunkhouse. It has been determined it would be best to add a third loft with two beds for Cilia and Leda. Aelyn has apparently taken a rather protective big sister role in regards to Storme.¡± A look of jealousy was on Gareth¡¯s face and Aelyn had a smirk on hers. I was curious about the extent of the conversation that had occurred. ¡°Boys why don¡¯t you go and get the young woman¡¯s chests on the Wind Splitter while the rest of us go and work on the bunkhouse upgrades.¡± Gareth jumped out of his seat and to the door. Aelyn made to follow us but I waved her off. Gareth needed some ego soothing it appeared. We both went up the ship¡¯s ramp and found the crates before I spoke, ¡°Gareth we are brothers, closer than brothers. You never have to fear I would place you second under any circumstances.¡± Gareth looked at me and he wasn¡¯t wearing his usual grin. ¡°Storme I have the charisma trait but I can''t seem to get any of the girls interested in me! Well maybe that Leda girl but she scares me a bit now. What the hell is wrong with me? Did you know Aelyn can read minds? She berated me for what I was thinking about Leda before we were about to engage with staves.¡± Gareth had never been so upset before. His hormones must be raging even at 12. Maybe it had something to do with his rapid growth pushing him through puberty. ¡°Gareth you have nothing to worry about. Aelyn has been abducted and branded by Skyholme and has trouble trusting people. Cilia was sexually assaulted and probably wants nothing to do with men. And Leda... scares me too.¡± This seemed to make him feel a little better. ¡°You will have absolutely no problem getting as many women as you want in just a few years. Just give it some time.¡± We started moving the chests in silence. Inside the bunkhouse, Sebastian was shaping lumber from outside into a new loft. It didn¡¯t flow like water like my metal shaping ability but seemed to warp the wood. The new loft was a cantilever on the far side to give it similar space to the other two lofts. The new loft was similar set up with the furniture. By the time we got all the girls'' chests inside Sebastian was done. One of the chests had mattresses and bedding for the wooden bunks in the new loft, I asked Sebastian to put a panel divider between my bed and Aelyn¡¯s. Aelyn nixed that saying there was no reason for Sebastian to waste his aether on such a thing. The look of amusement on Sebastion''s and Callem¡¯s faces was not to my liking so I insisted on the upgrade to my loft. Sebastian relented and added a wood panel, stretching a log into the panel, and he added small shelves on each side of the separation panel, expanding the storage for my books. I smiled because it finally felt like I got the win. Instead of helping Cilia and Leda unpack I went to my loft and started studying. Aelyn was up in the loft shortly after with a plate of food. When I said no food in the loft she just icily said that was the rule for my side of the loft. Her side of the loft had no such rule. She had said it loudly enough that everyone heard. It drew everyone¡¯s eyes to us. I just rolled my eyes at her antics. I never understood women in my past life and had made no progress in this one. I ignored everyone and studied my spellbook for the obfuscate spell and its evolutions. I needed this spell before I could focus on the dimensional closet spell. I did my aether core exercises and spent two hours spamming my cleanliness spell. It only used up half my aether stores and I was so tempted to make coins but held back with all the new additions to the bunkhouse. Maybe once all the aether lights went out. Everyone else was in their bed and I heard Aelyn whisper to me. ¡°I am sorry Storme I lied to you.¡± She was quiet enough that I didn¡¯t think anyone else could hear. ¡°What about?¡± I asked sounding unconcerned. ¡°My read surface thoughts is an ability. I have been using it on the others. Sebastian has some type of shield against it. Callem¡¯s discipline makes him hard to read but the others¡­¡± She said sounding sorrowful about her actions. ¡°What do you want to tell me?¡± I was overly cautious. ¡°Cilia is angry. She is angry at everyone around her for what happened to her. She respects Callem and loves her grandfather but she is extremely angry and wants revenge on her attacker. She is associating you and Gareth as being similar to him.¡± She paused and when I didn¡¯t ask a question she continued, ¡°Leda is in love with Cilia. Everything she does is to protect her. She was trying to draw Gareth¡¯s and your attention to her away from Cilia. Cilia tends to get overly aggressive against men so she was trying to temper her a bit.¡± Well, Leda''s actions made some more sense now. ¡°And Gareth?¡± I asked now committed but not really wanting to know the answer. ¡°He is a typical male. I have read many men in the past and his thoughts are focused on fornication. He thinks a lot about what he has seen farm animals do and that spurs him to think about women in the same way.¡± That was more information than I needed. Gareth was 12 but was acting like an 18-year-old. I would have to talk to Wynna. Maybe she knew something that could help him. ¡°Wynna is an overprotective mother hen. She is very fond of Callem and you two. She hasn¡¯t made up her mind on me yet though. She asked me if I would let her do a reading on me and I declined.¡± Another long pause. ¡°Do you want me to let her do a reading?¡± I thought for just a moment, ¡°She has a method that allows only you to see the results of a reading. It is up to you but it may help her build trust with you.¡± I said. ¡°Ok,¡± she said. She seemed done but then said, ¡°I haven¡¯t read you again Storme and I never will unless you ask.¡± That seemed to finish the conversation. I went to sleep with many thoughts having forgotten about making coins. My first thought was how could I make sure Freya and the rest of my family would be safe if the Sadians attacked Titan¡¯s Shield. Chapter 29 New Friends in Progress Chapter 29 New Friends in Progress The next morning there was still some tension with our new arrivals. Aelyn had just come a few days before and now we had two more young women of the same age in the mix. The big negative to the first morning was how loud Leda was after waking up. She was a loud talker and I was thankful at least Cilia''s responses were soft from their loft. So far it was Cilia''s only positive trait. The five of us dressed in our workout clothes and moved to the farmhouse for breakfast. Callem was inside and had ham steaks, pancakes, fresh fruit, and red juice out. He was all smiles this morning as well¡­Callem rarely smiled. He was probably thinking about how to torture all of us today during training. As we dug in I learned the new daily routine they had discussed last night. After breakfast, we would all stretch and most of us would do farm work for two hours. During this time I would prepare dinner with Wynna, avoiding the farm work. We would then do an abbreviated stretching routine as apparently Cilia and Leda had failed to meet Callem¡¯s minimum expectations for mobility. Then we would work on wrestling, hand-to-hand combat, and submission holds and escapes for three hours. Then we would have lunch prepared by Wynna. After lunch, we would have a free hour. Then we would be doing strength and conditioning training for two hours. Then we would have two hours for practicing sword forms with absolutely no sparring. Then we would have two free hours before dinner to bathe, relax or study. My two free hours might be a little limited as I had to finish dinner for everyone. After dinner, we would have an hour or so of instruction from Wynna and Aelyn about the lowlands. When I asked when we would get a day off Callem just said he would give us a day off when we needed it. Which to me meant we would never get a day off. Well, when we started the stretching routine I was in heaven. Cilia and Leda both were less flexible than me! I was no longer at the bottom of the ladder! I kept my face straight not revealing my joy and it seemed Aelyn went out of her way to show how much better she was at stretching than the two new arrivals. It was humorous to watch the young woman setting their hierarchy of competency in stretching. Gareth was engrossed watching all three of them. After stretching I went to make dinner and decided to go with southern fried chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy, coleslaw, and cornbread. It was the first time I would be making this meal and it really required little preparation on my part so it gave me time to study the obfuscate spell. I prepared enough for twenty people and I hoped it was enough to feed everyone as I had been wrong before. Wrestling and hand-to-hand combat did not go well after. Everyone was trying to prove that they were the best. There was really no contest as Gareth could easily best any of us. Aelyn was slippery, quick, strong, and learned quickly. She elbowed Gareth in the sternum twice when he had wrapped an arm around her and cupped her breast to hold her while they tangled their legs. Cilia was also fairly aggressive against me and Gareth. I did my best to not grab anything that would cause me to get an elbow to the sternum or face but she did not make it easy. Leda on the other hand was having a blast as it was apparent she liked to be dominated. She may be in love with Cilia but she obviously liked men as well and she made an effort to put me and Gareth in compromising positions. I was glad my aether core growth was still hindering my own libido once again. Gareth wasn¡¯t so lucky and had to break an engagement with Leda twice due to his growing embarrassment. The girls were shocked as I healed everyone a few times during the training with my healing spell. I ignored inquiries by Leda asking how much aether I actually had but knew it wouldn¡¯t be the last time she asked as I spammed my minor healing spell. I was happy for lunch which was a hearty vegetable stew and sandwiches. The sandwiches were smoked turkey, cheese, lettuce, and bacon with a mayo spread. It was a combo I had suggested to Wynna in the morning while I was cooking. I was happy to see Leda talking with Aelyn at lunch. She was offering to share some of her clothing with her so she could dress better. Wynna took that as a cue to promise to go to town tomorrow to get some clothes for Aelyn. After lunch, I was sitting and studying my spell under a tree at the edge of the fields when Leda sat down next to me. Aelyn was practicing her tumbling nearby and was keeping an eye on the interaction, probably reading Leda''s thoughts. ¡°So Storme,¡± she started, ¡°tell me about yourself.¡± I put the book down and tried not to show irritation at being interrupted. We were going to be living together for a few months and I planned to try to be nice. ¡°You first,¡± I said deflecting the question. She had a bright white smile on her face highlighted by her brown complexion. ¡°Well, I come from a good family. We have been enchanters for six generations. Both my older brothers and older sister are carrying on the legacy but I am terrible at it. My father sent me to the mage¡¯s academy and I only had minimal space to imprint spells so I transferred to the naval academy in the first month. I am in training to be an attendant. That is someone who serves as the right hand of an officer, doing their paperwork, handling meetings, and such. That is how I was paired with Cilia since she is on a captain¡¯s track.¡± So captains were not chosen because of merit in Skyholme apparently. She continued, ¡°and you?¡± ¡°Tell me about enchanting. I have always been interested in the craft but never had the opportunity to study it.¡± Once again I deflected to make her talk and closed the book to show she had my attention. She seemed to acquiesce and started talking, ¡°Well enchanting is really about creating spell forms with metals. You need to have a steady hand and be good at working metal. Silver mixed with tier 3 aether dust is the most common for writing out the runes. Those enchantments should last longer than a human¡¯s lifetime. The silver will degrade over time but like I said it should last fifty to seventy years as long as the silver lines are thick enough. You could use platinum which lasts ten times as long but that gets expensive. Then there is mithril which doesn¡¯t degrade at all over time. Then there are the materials you put the runic spell forms into. Certain types of wood are good insulators. Gold is a good insulator as well but once again that gets expensive and the gold will actually degrade over time, usually around the same pace as platinum. Adamantine is the prime insulator, aether can not permeate it at all and it never degrades. My family mostly uses wood and silver to make household items. Cooling chests, freezer chests, cooking tops, room heaters, various lights, and sound capture boxes for recording music are our main products.¡± Leda was finally not flirting and seemed to be happy to talk about her family. ¡°You have to give me something about yourself though. Come on! Cilia and I are curious, not that she would ever ask!¡± Stolen novel; please report. I took a deep breath and then spoke, ¡°I have a younger sister and older brother. My father is a skyship guard and my mother is a leather carver. I have been friends with Gareth since before I was allowed to go out on my own in town. As you know I have an awakened core and you also know I have some healing magic and the cleanliness spell.¡± I thought that was enough. ¡°Yeah, I never thought I would ever be jealous of someone¡¯s magic like I am of your cleanliness spell. What is that smell? I can''t seem to place it.¡± She asked. ¡°Vanilla,¡± I said. ¡°Vanilla,¡± she mumbled committing the name to memory. ¡°I only have one free spell slot left and I am seriously considering that spell. Can I borrow your spell book?¡± She asked with big eyes and a grin. She actually looked kind of cute and I could see Aelyn eyeing her interactions with me from a few yards away. Aelyn reminded me of a mother hen ready to protect her chicks. Is that what Aelyn thought of me, a chick that needed protecting? ¡°Sure, do you have any enchanting books I could borrow in exchange?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes! I have three basic primers with me. One for the heating rune, one for the cold rune, and one for the light rune. You can borrow all three while I work to imprint the cleanliness spell.¡± She was actually pretty excited as she left and Aelyn came to me and squatted to talk to me. ¡°She was being genuine with you. She truly wanted to know more about you,¡± She paused. ¡°Can I borrow the cleanliness spell after Leda?¡± This caught me off guard. ¡°Do you have any spells? How much space does your aether matrix have?¡± I asked but she shrugged her shoulders not knowing the answer. ¡°I never had money to get a spell I really wanted. I probably wouldn''t have had the patience to learn it anyway. I did talk with Wynna and she said when she went to town tomorrow she would bring her daughter back to do a joint reading on me. Apparently, they are stronger together when they do a reading together. Is that ok?¡± ¡°Aelyn that mark on your neck means nothing to me. You can do whatever you want. There is no need to ask for my permission. I would prefer if you didn¡¯t go around reading other''s thoughts but I must admit the ability is useful.¡± I responded while making eye contact with her. She nodded and returned to her practice. I went back to my book. Conditioning was actually fun for me today as well. Gareth and Aelyn had their own private competition but I was able to outclass Leda easily and even though Cilia was quite strong I still manage to best her on the obstacle course work and during the weight training which annoyed her to no end. I don''t know if it was the fact I was 5 years her junior or the fact I was a male. We moved on to sword forms next and it was clear Cilia was decent. Callem still spent a lot of time correcting her. It was the first time I noticed her put in a huge amount of effort. She knew the value of Callem''s feedback. Gareth for his part was able to do his forms easily and still observe everyone else and add voice correction every once in a while toward us. He usually directed his comments at me as Aelyn and Cilia seemed to ignore his corrections for a minute before actually making the suggested correction. With everyone being sore from the conditioning the sword forms were not easy. ¡®Not easy¡¯ was Callem¡¯s way¡­something to do with working through adversity. When we were finally done I was glad to get a chance to study for a few hours while the girls went to bathe in the stream. Gareth tried to talk to me but I told him I needed to study so he went for a walk in the woods. After he left I hoped he didn¡¯t get caught spying on the girls bathing because I was fairly certain that was his plan. I was called by Callem to make dinner and prepared a massive southern fried chicken dinner for everyone. I was amazed at how famished everyone was. After I told them they were supposed to eat the chicken with their hands I had trouble frying it fast enough to keep it stocked on the table. There wasn¡¯t much conversation at the table other than everyone giving suggestions to Wynna on what types of clothes to get Aelyn in Hen¡¯s Hollow. I also gave her a list of ingredients I was running low on. I planned to make mini bacon cheeseburger sliders tomorrow with a three-bean salad and roasted corn on the cob. After dinner Callem said I could heal everyone who needed it. I had healed myself earlier so I just had to get everyone else. The lesson tonight was on the Sadian kingdom. Wynna had a map showing their territory in detail and the arcs that the Skyholme islands traveled over their lands. We had five outposts in the lowlands according to the maps on the table. Three were near the Sadians and the other two were by dungeon entrances. Aelyn did most of the talking tonight about the cities on the map and we all listened intently. After dinner, I went to my loft immediately and returned to my study but Leda interrupted me by climbing up to my loft with the three enchanting primer books so I gave her my cleanliness spell book off my shelf. She was shocked by the author, Sana Velin. Apparently, she was more famous than I had known and all her spell books were quite valuable. She promised to treat it with respect. My head rested on the wooden wall divider between my and Aelyn¡¯s bed so when she climbed up into the loft an hour later we could talk quietly. She told me Gareth was upset as he felt that I was becoming attached to her. Aelyn suggested I actually move my bed over to his loft as she felt it would solve a lot of his insecurities. I didn¡¯t want to do this because he breathed so loudly when he slept. I also had to constantly clean his clothes to keep the smell down. At least Aelyn slept quietly. In the end, I decided to take her advice. I yelled across the room and asked Gareth if it was ok if I moved over there tomorrow. He was giddy in his response and said he would move all my things for me during our free time tomorrow. Maybe I could make some earplugs? I was the last one asleep as I struggled to imprint the obfuscate spell. I did get some good news as I was able to feel my mend flesh spell had advanced to level 4. One more level and I could evolve the spell again. My cleanliness spell was also on the verge of level 6. Even though I only had the two spells they were advancing. I fell asleep doing aether core exercises and casting my cleanliness spell filling the bunkhouse with a vanilla scent. Chapter 30 Enchanting Primers Chapter 30 Enchanting Primers The next day was much of the same as our first-day training except I had to make lunch as well as dinner today because Wynna was heading into town. I gave her a note for my parents and another note for Freya as well. I just wanted them to know I was doing well. Gareth, seeing me do this also scribbled a short note to his parents. Gareth was also in a much better mood. So, Aelyn had been correct in that my moving to his loft would solve a lot of his insecurities. I prepped the mini burgers as I had planned and for lunch, I put a pea soup simmering, got rosemary bread ready to bake, and thin-sliced some smoked bear meat into a marinade to soften it up. I mixed some herbs in a creamy cheese to make a spread to go with the bear meat and bread. I didn''t have any free time this morning for extra studies so I needed to plan simpler meals in the future. After the long three-hour hand combat practice I healed everyone and we had lunch. It was the first time that Cilia commented on my cooking skills saying everything was delicious and even better than the academy cooks. Was that a compliment from the ice queen? Her comments had everyone including Callem pause to stare at her. It was like everyone was silently asking if Storme had cracked her icy exterior with just his cooking. She responded by continuing to eat and just mumbled with a full mouth, ¡°It is true.¡± Gareth moved all my things after lunch while I just studied and started to trace out the spell forms for the obfuscate spell. Conditioning seemed to come too soon for me and Callem was feeling a little mischievous today. We had to run all three obstacle courses back to back to back and would all start together as well. The winner would get to take off from combat practice tomorrow. Ugh, I knew that would be Gareth and he would turn down the reward. When we started I was practically tackled by Leda. When I fell Leda dashed ahead of me. She was trying to help Cilia get a lead on me for sure. Gareth and Aelyn were already a few steps ahead of us and I was a little pissed off with the skullduggery. I recovered quickly and in less than a minute had caught Leda and hip-checked her into some netting as revenge. She wouldn¡¯t recover from that! I pushed myself even harder and soon was coming up on Cilia. A bag-tipped arrow hit my knee causing me to lose a few steps and develop a slight limp. I took a moment to glare at Callem while running but he just had a big smile on his face enjoying his arrows causing havoc. Rather than interfere with Cilia I just tried to pass her with my own efforts which spurred her on. We were both well off the pace of Gareth and Aelyn so we were racing for third. After we entered the third course I was a good ten yards in front of her and knew I had the win locked up. Callem didn¡¯t think so and had turned from harassing Gareth and Aelyn to just focusing on me. What the fuck? A storm of arrows and swinging bags were released on me. I eventually got knocked off a beam and fell seven feet (2m) to the hard earth, knocking the wind from me. I needed to cast a heal to gather myself and climb back up and in that time Cilia had gotten a lead back. Leda was cheering for her friend from way back in the course but that just got me angry and I put all my effort into trying to catch her. My efforts were not wasted as just before the finish I was on her heels. She crossed first but not by much. I collapsed to the ground trying to get as much air into my lungs as possible. I was wet with sweat and more sweat was pouring from my pores to try and cool my overheated body. ¡°Well if I was judging by just the effort today Storme would be the winner,¡± Callem said. ¡°But Gareth you finished first by seven seconds so you can take off from tomorrow¡¯s hand-to-hand training.¡± Gareth was breathing heavily but still standing and responded, ¡°If Storme gave the best effort then he deserves to get it off. Can I give him the reward?¡± I was on my back trying to get oxygen into my lungs, wheezing. I saw Cilia bent over breathing heavily too but she did eye Gareth impishly and looked to see Callem¡¯s response. ¡°Yes, that is doable. Any winners in the future are free to give their rewards to someone else.¡± Callem said with finality. Well, it appeared I was back in Gareth¡¯s good graces at least. He smiled at me and gave me a thumbs up which took some effort on my part to return. Sword forms went by quickly and I was happy to get to studying my spell again but my mind kept going to ice cream. I hoped the herbalist had the vanilla beans I had asked Wynna to get. The heavy cream and milk should be easy to get for Wynna. Wynna did return a while later with Ennet helping her carry a bunch of packages. While the girls went and opened all the clothes that Wynna had gotten for Aelyn I went to the groceries. Yes! She had gotten everything I needed to try my hand at ice cream. I had made it from scratch a few times in my past life, it was just going to be about getting it cold enough. For the remainder of my free time, I went and prepared the ice cream. If it worked I could make chocolate ice cream and then chocolate milkshakes! Cheeseburgers, fries, and a chocolate milkshake. I was drooling just thinking about my favorite meal of indulgence. I had the mixture chilling and stirred it at intervals while I made dinner. The bacon cheeseburger sliders were a huge hit but when Leda mentioned that a restaurant owner in the capital had invented them Gareth let out a huge laugh and said that was a lie, Storme had been making them months before the guy had claimed credit. This got everyone to stare at me. When I didn¡¯t say anything Gareth said, ¡°Tell them Storme, you invented cheeseburgers.¡± Gareth was looking at me and I knew that look, it was ¡®back me up, brother¡¯. ¡°Yes, I was the first person in Skyholme to make cheeseburgers,¡± I said confirming Gareth¡¯s proclamation. Cilia asked the next question, ¡°How are you such a good cook? Do you have a high affinity for the cooking skill?¡± All eyes were on me and I saw Gareth was about to answer her. Not wanting my past life knowledge to be revealed accidentally by Gareth¡¯s big mouth I responded to her. ¡°Something like that Cilia. I like food and making it taste good is a bit of a passion of mine.¡± I said. ¡°I even have a special treat for everyone tonight after lessons. I just like making food not talking about it.¡± I grabbed two more sliders leaving just ten left. This caused everyone to reach for the remainder before they were all gone. That thankfully killed the conversation thread. Ennet did mention that if I was ever in Hen''s Hollow she would pay for me to come and cook for her and give me free readings in addition. I don''t think the woman in her 40s was implying any innuendo with her request but Aelyn did sharply eye the woman after the comment. I planned to not ask Aelyn what Ennet had been thinking. Some things were better just not being known. The lesson tonight was reviewing currency in the lowlands. We talked about coins and aether crystals. Generally, all nations used metal coins but aether crystals were recognized as a hard currency, universal in all kingdoms. The dungeon crystals were a lot more prominent in the lowlands. In Skyholme they were a controlled material to feed the Triumvirate¡¯s war machine and control the populace according to Callem and Wynna. As the conversation petered out I went and retrieved the ice cream from the freezer box and stirred it. It was a little soft but looked ok. I spooned the dessert out into the bowls and passed it around and it was as big a hit as I was hoping. I think Cilia actually smiled at the taste but quickly hid her happiness. Gareth ate his portion so fast he got brain freeze by the contorted look on his face. He probably had thought he could get seconds if he finished quickly but alas there was no more. I had to figure out how to get chocolate next. Sweets and Treats in the city was the only place I knew that had it and it was expensive. Hopefully, Callem would let me spend coins freely soon. We all headed back to the bunkhouse except Aelyn. She was going to get her reading from Wynna and Ennet tonight. Back in the bunkhouse I climbed into my bed and found Gareth¡¯s clothes and bed linens didn¡¯t smell that great. I put my head at the far end of my bed and tried to focus on my aether core exercises and studying my spell. As it got later in the evening Gareth climbed up to the loft and started talking. I tried to multitask studying and holding a conversation with Gareth. It was hard and I didn¡¯t get much studying done before Gareth¡¯s heavy breathing started. Well, at least I would get some studying time back tomorrow during my time off from hand-to-hand combat. Aelyn returned much later that night from her reading. She didn¡¯t say anything, just climbed up to her loft, went under her covers, and turned off her aether light. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The next few days had us all working extremely hard. Aelyn¡¯s new wardrobe made her extremely happy and she didn¡¯t seem to mind having a loft to herself. I, on the other hand, was wishing Aelyn was my bunk mate over Gareth. I had made some beeswax earplugs but they didn¡¯t help as his breathing actually vibrated the entire loft. If his breathing eventually became snoring I would have to sleep outside. Cilia was opening up more as well, talking to us a little more each day. My extensive use of my healing spell had it close to level 5 already. My cleanliness spell had hit levels 6 and 7 from me spamming it at night to combat the odors from Gareth¡¯s side of the loft. The evolution ended up being a small range extension, not what I had wanted but the cleaning aura now extended about 18 inches (45 cm) from me. I needed to do some focusing exercises described in the texts Sebastian gave me in order to control my spell evolutions. This was not the first time I had the wrong desired spell evolution. This failure caused me to start to investigate the textbooks that Sebastian had given me. The first text I read was the aether core book, Understanding Your Aether Core, A Newly Awakened Guide. It was much longer than the book I already had from Wigand''s and contained a lot more detailed information, and I found a handful of ways to better perform my aether core exercises. I next read the spell imprinting text, Spell Imprinting, A New Mage''s Guide, and it was ten times better than my old book. I was a bit upset with myself for not reading them immediately when Sebastian had given them to me. I was now pretty sure I could imprint a tier 1 spell in less than a week of hard study after what I learned from the text. The third book I read was about advancing, leveling, and evolving spells. It was called Spellcraft, Leveling and Evolving Your Spells. This book said casting spells under duress and in times of need advanced them quickly as it ''stimulated'' your spell matrix to a greater extent. Combat was mentioned as the best way to expedite advancement. It had numerous ways to check on a spell''s progress so you could prepare for evolutions as well. I was kicking myself and I read the text twice to make sure the information would stick. I sorted the other eight books into two stacks. One pile was the books I planned to read and the rest were books I would hold off on. The pile I planned to read contained four books; Methodology to Expanding Your Aether Matrix, Utilizing Your Spell Skill Affinity, Defensive Against Magical Arts, and Utilizing Aether Crystals to Recharge Your Aether Core. The other pile had Understanding Your Responsibilities as a Mage of Skyholme, How to Choose the Best Spells to Complete Your Aether Matrix, Supportive Magics and Using Aether Items, and Introduction to Progressive Magical Theory. It had been eight hard days of training for us and we were all dragging from fatigue. I noticed we had all greatly improved. I was shocked when Callem said during lunch we would have tomorrow off. An entire day free of training. He even said no one was allowed to even stretch! Cilia and Leda planned to spend their off day going on a picnic lunch which they asked me to make for them. I turned them down to their disappointment. Gareth planned to spend his day soaking in the stream as he had had limited time over the last eight days to use the spot due to the woman monopolizing it. He invited me and I was tempted but told him I needed to learn my obfuscate spell. Aelyn said she just wanted to sleep in. That was how I found myself in my bunk working on my spell and I didn¡¯t notice Aelyn climbing the ladder until her head popped up. She moved into the loft and sat next to me on my bunk and pulled out a sheet of folded paper and handed it to me. ¡°My reading from Wynna and Ennet. I want you to read it.¡± I took the paper and unfolded it and looked at it. The script was deep red from the dried blood used in the reading like mine had been. ¡°They are excellent readers,¡± Aelyn added. ¡°I wasn¡¯t aware of my traits, skill affinities, and the size of my aether core and matrix.¡± Abilities Read Thoughts, Tier 2 Nimbleness, Tier 1 Duelist, Tier 1 Enhanced Mobility, Tier 1 Traits Improved Sight, Tier 1 Long-lived, Tier 2 Skill Affinities Acrobatics, Tier 3 Long Bow, Tier 2 Aether Matrix Current 3 Maximum 6 Aether Core Current 6 Maximum 19 There was nothing really unexpected as I read down her list. ¡°It is impressive Aelyn.¡± If this was a move by her to try to learn my secrets, it wouldn¡¯t work. Well, she already knew most of my secrets. She smiled and it made her face very beautiful. Aelyn spoke, ¡°I am above average in terms of abilities. I showed you because I wanted your help.¡± Her big blue eyes locked to mine and I could see her pleading to me in the depths. How could anyone resist that? ¡°What can I help you with?¡± I asked tentatively. Aelyn hesitated for a second, ¡°I want to get stronger and use my magic," she said. "I mean Callem is making me a much stronger fighter but my potential magic¡­Can you teach me magic?¡± I looked at her sheet again. Studying the sheet intently I spoke to Aelyn, ¡°Your aether core is currently 6¡­I don¡¯t know what that means in terms of size or amount of actual aether but your maximum size is 19 so you should work on that. Your matrix is small so selecting the right spells to imprint will be important.¡± I reached around her and pulled the newer text I had recently read regarding aether core exercises. ¡°Here is the first book you should work on. Focus on learning all the exercises within to expand your aether core.¡± She paged through the book for a little while and I watched her. ¡°If you have questions just ask,¡± I added before returning to my own studies. Aelyn started focusing on the book. She pulled her legs under her to sit Indian style and made herself comfortable next to me. Here position mirrored mine with both of us on my bed with our backs to the wall and heads just below the long shelf. Couldn¡¯t she study over in her loft? And wasn¡¯t she a little too close? I mean our knees were touching. I shuffled a little away from her, turned 90 degrees, and said, ¡°You should also think about what spells you want to learn. You can learn three tier 1 spells. You should select spells to either increase your strengths or fortify your weaknesses.¡± Aelyn turned her sitting position to face me and moved closer, both her knees touching mine. ¡°What do you suggest?¡± ¡°I would focus on your strengths Aelyn. Three spells, one to hide your mind reading ability¡­so you can learn the obfuscate ability spell I already have. For your other two spells? Maybe the dimensional pocket spell to store things you need. The last spell¡­ maybe a defensive or escape spell.¡± She nodded as if I was bestowing some sage wisdom on her. Aelyn started in on her book again without repositioning herself. I decided to ignore her and just studied my own book not moving. I noticed she smelled a bit earthy and sweaty, not unpleasant, but I tried to cast my extended-range cleanliness spell onto her. It didn¡¯t work. Sentient and sapient beings had an aura that extended a few inches from their skin to prevent simple spells from violating the space. I would need two evolutions of the cleanliness spell to break that barrier and another to extend the range of the spell to completely encompass another person. Oh well, I returned to my own studying and could feel myself making progress. Cilia and Leda barged in a few hours later. Aelyn and I had not moved from the loft. They both looked up surprised to see us in my bed facing each other, extremely close. My back was stiff but I just waved awkwardly to them. Cilia had a dark expression and Leda¡¯s wore a face steeped in curiosity. Gareth soon followed them in and his expression was of abhorrent shock. It wasn¡¯t like we were kissing although we were definitely close enough to be doing so¡­maybe that is what they thought? I didn¡¯t have time for this so I moved off my bed and found I was extremely stiff from sitting still for so long. I went down the ladder and into the basement for some food. I figured I would cook an earlier dinner for everyone so I gathered ingredients for mac ¡®n¡¯ cheese and seared garlic and pepper steaks. While I was cooking Aelyn had made herself at home in my bed, stretching out and continuing to study the book. This left Gareth with nowhere to go as Cilia and Leda had plopped themselves into the only two comfy chairs. He tried to help me make dinner so I sent him to Callem¡¯s larder for the red juice. It got me thinking about Aelyn¡¯s game. She was claiming me in front of the other two women, right? That was her purpose for being in my bed when the others had returned. Her being in my bed in my loft was her way of saying this one is mine, hands off? It did make me feel special if that really was her intention. But as in my last life, I never understood women, and when I assumed anything I was usually wrong. Dinner was a hit with everyone and it also got Aelyn down from my loft. Leda had mentioned that she had made real progress on the cleanliness spell today which reminded me that I had borrowed some enchanting primers from her. After dinner, I decided I should at least read them. So while everyone was cleaning up I went to my loft and spread out on my bed leaving no space for anyone else and grabbed the three primer books. I ignored everyone¡¯s conversation below and focused. I noted happily that at least Gareth was being allowed into the conversation of the three young women. The enchanting primer books were fascinating and I realized that I could use my metal shaping skill extremely effectively to produce these simple enchantment runes. With the cold runes, I could possibly make a great ice cream churn bucket. I started sketching out my ideas on some paper, where to put the runes, and how to set up the controls for the runes. There were two ways to power a runic device, channel aether to it or embed a rechargeable aether crystal to power it. When you channeled aether into it the aetheric dust embedded in the silver it remained active for a period before the aether fizzled out. I was puzzling things out late into the night when I fell asleep not realizing Gareth had been asleep for quite some time already. Chapter 31 Unfathomable Aether Core Chapter 31 Unfathomable Aether Core The next morning I was excited and up early. I only had a few hours of sleep but if I could make a magic device to make ice cream! I was the first one to the farmhouse and was glad to see Callem was back. Wynna was in the larder below so Callem had a few minutes to talk to me. ¡°Good morning Storme. Yesterday we went and got supplies in the city.¡± He paused as if coming to a decision and continued, ¡°Wynna has registered as a mentor and set up an account for you with the coins you created. Well, not your coins. She used her own coins and kept your shiny platinum.¡± Callem took a thick bracelet out and placed it on the counter. ¡°This bracelet will let you withdraw coins from the depository. You need to place a drop of your blood on the aether crystal embedded here to link it to you.¡± He stopped talking as Wynna came up from below with a tray of food to prepare for breakfast. She saw the bracelet on the counter and gave a curt nod of not being happy about it. They obviously disagreed on whether it was wise to give me access to my own coin. She forced a smile. ¡°Storme! How was your day off? Callem said you all needed it. Who did you spend your time with?¡± Wynna said being a bit nosy. ¡°I just studied, rested, and ate. Nothing that great.¡± I said. Then I thought of something. ¡°Wynna, Aelyn showed me her reading,¡± Callem¡¯s and Wynna¡¯s faces expressed extreme surprise, so I paused. ¡°Wow, Storme. We both warned her to keep what was on that sheet a secret and to destroy it after she read it. She has shown you a large amount of trust, A LARGE AMOUNT of trust Storme. Keep her secrets.¡± Wynna said with sincerity. ¡°Um, yes I will. I wanted to ask about getting my aether core size read as I am curious. None of my texts mention it in terms of actual numbers,¡± I asked, keeping my tone low and pleading somewhat. Wynna spoke, ¡°I don¡¯t have that ability Storme, Ennet does. But maybe I can give you an idea? Well, Storme an average person without an awakened core has an aether count of 1, this is just what saturates a normal person¡¯s body within the sphere. They cannot control it as they need a core to manipulate the aether. But one point can be utilized for abilities that require aether even if they do not have an aether core. As a person ages, they are able to use this minor amount of aether much more effectively, extending the use of their powers but their total aether pool never increases without an aether core.¡± ¡°A person with an awakened core usually has between 3 to 23 times that amount of aether on awakening, so their reading score usually falls in the range of 3 to 23 as their current value. As you have probably read, an aether core matures it expands slightly in size and density to fall somewhere between 10 to 20 times its initial size on awakening. That is where the maximum range in Ennet¡¯s reading comes in. With your enhanced aether core at tier 2.¡± She stopped and looked at Callem with a guilty expression as I had not told her about my aether core tier and Callem thought it was just at 2, not at enhanced core. So I deduced Callem had dropped my secret but I didn¡¯t hold it against him. He did look awfully guilty so maybe I could get something out of him later? Wynna¡¯s pause ended and was continuing her lecture, ¡°Well each tier is three times as powerful as the last generally, so that means you should have had nine times the average on awakening¡­somewhere between 27 and 207 in terms of aetheric points available to you when you first awakened.¡± Wynna said doing the math. Then a shocked look passed her face. ¡°That means when your core is fully mature you will have between 270 and 4140 aether!¡± She was shaking her head. ¡°That is incredible Storme. I hadn¡¯t put the numbers together in my head until just now. Archmages without an expanded core ability usually have somewhere in the range of 500 to 1000 I think. I am not sure about that though. I must have read something to that effect a long time ago,¡± she had a distant look on her face. Then returned to focus on me, ¡°You could try casting a tier one spell over and over and count the castings. Usually, a tier 1 spell uses about 1 relative aetheric point,¡± she paused pulling up knowledge from memory, ¡°tier 2 about 2 aetheric points, tier 3 costs 4 points, and tier 4 costs 8 points. I assume a tier 5 spell costs 16 but I didn¡¯t read that, just following the progression from a textbook I read many years ago.¡± I thought for a bit while helping with preparing breakfast. Callem was silent and not making eye contact with me. Wynna was studying me. No, she was realizing that I might be a monster in terms of my aether core capacity. I thought for a moment, that the last method didn¡¯t work for me in my current state. My cleanliness spell varied in aether investment based on how dirty I was. Also, every time you leveled a spell it cost a tiny bit less aether as the mage¡¯s efficiency increased and took a little less time to cast and the cleanliness spell was already level 7. My mend flesh spell was sort of in the same boat as I unconsciously chained it over and over until I felt the healing was done. Seeing my consternation Wynna said, ¡°I am sure Callem can bring you to visit Ennet if you really want a reading.¡± I looked at Callem for a second and I sensed he would say no but then he nodded. I was also doing some more math in my head as I had a tier 4 core which meant my initial core fell between 243 and 1863! And my maximum core would be between¡­2,430 and 37,260! I was a monster! It now made sense how casting spells had trouble draining my aether pool and I needed to create the coins to empty my core quickly. Callem spoke, breaking my inner haze of math calculations, ¡°Yes Storme I can bring you to Hen¡¯s Hollow. We can see your family and Ennet while we are there. Your brother¡¯s birthday is in just a few days away?¡± Oh, I hadn¡¯t planned on attending. And the fact Callem remembered when Pascal¡¯s birthday was and I didn¡¯t remember it made me feel guilty. That I could see Freya and my parents made the decision easy for me. ¡°That sounds good.¡± I paused for a second running some scenarios through my mind trying to decide if what I was about to ask would be a good idea in the long run. ¡°Callem can I ask a favor?¡± Callem looked defensive but nodded so I continued, ¡°My brother Pascal. He has a passion for the blade and for his birthday present, I was hoping he could come out here and train with us for a while. We have a free bunk.¡± I supplied helpfully. Callem relaxed as my request was not as bad as he thought it could have been. He thought for more than a few minutes. Probably calculating how Pascal would fit into his training regimens with us. It took Wynna elbowing him not too subtly for him to agree. ¡°Yes, that is fine. Let¡¯s say just for a month.¡± Ok, I had been thinking more like a week but a month was ok. ¡°And Storme this will be my apology for telling Wynna about¡­¡± I waved away his apology, ¡°No, it is all good Callem. I actually don¡¯t mind at all as I trust Wynna completely.¡± This actually gave them both smiles and we prepared breakfast in good humor. My motives for inviting Pascal were a bit more selfish. I was thinking if Pascal was stronger then he could help protect our family better. With my wealth and Gareth¡¯s thirst for adventure, I didn¡¯t think I would remain on Titan¡¯s Shield forever. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. The others soon came in like ravenous beasts from a long fast and devoured everything we had prepared. I got a stack of blueberry pancakes with butter and some summer sausage with melted cheese from the buffet. After breakfast, I figured out I had four days before Callem would bring me to Hen¡¯s Hollow. The workouts were just routine for me now as I wasn¡¯t as focused on progressing physically as Gareth, Aelyn, or Cilia. Leda and I had a similar train of thought, we put in a fair effort but didn¡¯t kill ourselves. The studying of mage craft was where I focused my real energies. With two days left before we would go to town, I finally imprinted my obfuscate spell! The spell essentially put a black unreadable haze over my entire aether soul. Wynna couldn¡¯t read anything from me when I asked her to try so it worked! The first evolution of the spell allowed me to reveal only what I choose. For now, that was set to show just my assess person ability at tier 1. Controlling this aspect of the spell was like having a mental image of a sheet of paper and covering everything on the page except what I wanted to reveal. For my second evolution, I planned to alter what people reading me would see. Each evolution could only alter one aspect, one line on the sheet. You could turn those alterations on and off independently to either show the truth or falsify it. I was also happy to see maintaining the spell draw so little aether. I didn¡¯t even notice the expenditure. Before Callem took me to Hen¡¯s Hollow I was able to get the obfuscate spell up to level 3. My second evolution was focused on what my aether core size displayed. This was a percentage of its actual so I needed to get that reading from Ennet to know where to set it. Getting my precise aether core size was needed. In my third evolution, I decided to alter what my enhanced aether core ability showed. I decided to show it as a tier 2 rank instead of tier 4. Since everyone already knew I had lots of aether this should give me an excuse to cast a lot of spells in public. With that alterations completed I decided I could leave the aether core enhancement ability ¡®visible¡¯ to explain my large aether pool. During the walk into town, Callem asked if I knew anywhere that sold chickens. Apparently, Wynna had asked him to get some as she liked fresh eggs and I used them a lot in my cooking. I told him the Gaskill farm had chicks and coops for sale. Other than that I knew the Gyles farm had a lot of chickens as they supplied eggs to almost everyone in town who didn¡¯t own their own chickens. I told him I liked the Gaskill¡¯s better so Callem said we would stop there on the way into town. The Gaskill farm was large. They had three large fields and raised sheep for milk, wool, and meat. They also had a number of chickens and geese. I saw Monty¡¯s parents, two massive fluffy hounds that came bounding up to us, tails wagging and not barking. I stayed in the background as the Gaskill¡¯s came out and greeted us. I petted the dogs. The Gaskill twins, Meridith and Feradith were there as well. They were my age and had grown since I had last seen them. They were identical twins, blonde, blue eyes, tall and well-muscled from working on the farm. I wouldn¡¯t call either of them cute but they had their own allure, a sort of rough-neck cowgirl look to them and they were always smiling which I found extremely attractive. Something struck me¡­did Gareth want to get the puppy for Freya so he could see the twins? They would be in our first year of the academy so maybe¡­ I was lost in thought as Callem was negotiating and the twins moved next to me to talk. They looked the same so I wasn¡¯t sure which one asked the question, ¡°How is the puppy Gareth bought doing?¡± ¡°He is doing great! He is with Freya, my sister. He is extremely smart. I think you met my sister two years ago at the New Year festival. That is the last time I saw either of you! I bet I can tell who is who?¡± They both had wide smiles. ¡°Bet? What should we bet?¡± one of the girls asked the other. The girls seemed to talk to each other mentally before she looked at me and said, ¡°Ok Storme how about we will cook you a meal at the academy if you guess correctly? If you lose you have to cook each of us a meal on different days.¡± It was well-known in town that I was a great cook so their wager made sense. Although the scales of the wager were not equal I had no chance of losing with my assess person ability so I agreed. ¡°Sure! Your Feradith and you are Meridith.¡± I pointed each in turn. Their smiles didn¡¯t waver as they answered. ¡°Correct! Well, I guess you had a 50-50 chance!¡± The girls hadn¡¯t lied or been at all upset which was a positive trait in my estimation. Callem called me over and I found out he had bought 20 chickens, a rooster, a large chicken coop, and a large wagon to transport everything back to his farm. The Gaskill¡¯s would load everything and we would pick them up on the way back. The twin''s father called them back to work and they left me reluctantly. There were about 7 kids on the farm with the addition of the parents and grandparents, 11 people in all. I scanned the large group as they started to work on gathering the chickens into individual cages and caught the twins turning to eye me as I was leaving. I was sure once they saw Gareth their interest in me would instantly fade. Our next stop was Ennet¡¯s. Callem left me there to go get supplies at the general store. I knocked and Ennet was happy to see me when she opened the door, ¡°Storme! I am happy to see you! Are you here to make me dinner?¡± she asked teasingly. I smiled and said, ¡°That could be arranged. But I am also here for a reading.¡± She grabbed my bicep and rubbed it before gently pulling me inside, ¡°I know! My mother and I have communication stones and she told me you were coming!¡± I thought she was being a little handsy but that was ok. ¡°You are getting bigger Storme,¡± she released my bicep. I decided to defuse being uncomfortable, ¡°Ok let me see what you have in your kitchen,¡± I waved off her objections to my cooking. I needed her to do me a favor and doing a favor for her in return was natural. I quickly put together a simple pasta dish with roasted vegetables and an alfredo sauce. After we both ate the hasty meal we were sitting down for the reading and Callem returned. Since the reading wasn¡¯t done yet Callem decided to wait outside but not before taking a bowl of the culinary concoction I had made. ¡°Storme I know my mother has told you what to expect so I will get right to it. Read the paper and immediately destroy it¡­I think I might also be able to show you what the value of your core was when it awakened but it will be my first time trying to do that¡­so that might be on your paper as well.¡± Ennet was serious as she prepared and then did the reading. I got that uncomfortable feeling as my blood exited my hands to write the text on the paper. Ennet left immediately when she was done. There was a candle burning on the table for me to destroy the paper after I read it. I revealed the paper to my eyes, Aether Core Awakening 1,153 Current Aether Core 1,384 Maximum Aether Core 23,060 I immediately burned the sheet of paper. I was a little disappointed with a few facts. First, my maximum aether was only about 23,000, short of my estimated potential of 37,000. I know I was crying over nothing. My current aether core was already slightly larger than a top archmage according to Wynna. The second thing I was unhappy with was my core had only expanded by 231 from all the practice I had been doing in the last few months. Ennet returned shortly after I burned the paper. I must have looked disappointed because she said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry Storme. My readings are not completely accurate. Well, your current aether core number is accurate but your maximum core size could be low by as much as 10%. It really depends on how dedicated you are to your training in the next decade as your core cements itself. Aether cores are fluid by nature during development.¡± She came up and gave me a hug. ¡°You will be an amazing mage Storme, just work hard at it.¡± I left, rejoining Callem and we headed to my home for Pascal¡¯s birthday celebration. Chapter 32 Pascals Fourteenth Chapter 32 Pascal¡¯s Fourteenth Celebration As I walked with Callem I recast my obfuscate spell and set it to show my aether core at 10% of its actual size. So someone with a reading ability would see it as 123, still extremely large for a 12-year-old but not overly frightening. I asked Callem what he had purchased at the general store to start a conversation during the walk. He said just some consumables and showed me the list. He had a long list that was focused on restocking the two larders on the farm. He had purchased everything I had requested for cooking and much much more. We were consuming food at a prodigious rate with 7 people living there. I noted he had bought enough ingredients to make chili a dozen times over and ingredients to make ice cream a few times. Dessert was a bit of a new concept for everyone and it was something that was growing on Callem. All the supplies were being shipped out to the Gaskill farm to be loaded onto Callem¡¯s new cart. Callem also mentioned that Wynna was paying a fair portion of the food bill. Apparently, his new live-in girlfriend was paying rent in food. Getting a little bolder I asked if we could go to the city today to buy a few things. Callem hadn¡¯t given me any money for working his farm in quite some time. Callem, like he always did, was processing the question. Before responding, ¡°What do you need in the city Storme?¡± I was ready with an answer, ¡°I want to get some chocolate to make chocolate ice cream. I also wanted to go to Marigold¡¯s Mystical Emporium to get some spells. I don¡¯t have any coins but I could use the bracelet or I could¡­¡± I left the rest unsaid especially after Callem¡¯s cool gaze fell on me. Callem stopped walking and his brow creased. A few moments later he spoke, ¡°Yes. Yes, we will go to the city and I will accompany you. Can you create coins now in your pockets?¡± I nodded. ¡°Well make as much platinum as you can. I have five of your platinum with me so no need to use your bracelet to withdraw funds. I will go with you and I will supply the coins for your purchases. That should divert all attention to me. We should make an effort to spend a few platinum. That way it should get back to the thugs that robbed you whose coin they actually stole.¡± Callem look turned a little malicious. ¡°If you see them point them out to me.¡± He had a grin now. ¡°How many more can you make?¡± Callem asked. ¡°I should be able to make two complete platinum coins,¡± I responded. ¡°Good. You can palm them to me at the party.¡± Callem paused again. ¡°When we get to the city do not speak out of turn. You are smart enough to know what not to say. After this trip everyone should think that your benefactors are Wynna and me,¡± I nodded. My thoughts had turned to what spells I hoped to purchase. Callem started walking again and I had to jog a little to catch up. I think he was excited. It was great to see my family¡¯s house. The noise from inside was quite loud as everyone was singing a folksong regarding reaching the age of maturity. It was around lunchtime and I actually didn¡¯t know when the party was. I guess it was now. Callem held us back until the song finished and then we entered. Everyone turned to us and everyone went as still as a statue. Oh, they hadn¡¯t expected me back and I surprised them. ¡°Hi everyone!¡± I said awkwardly and waved. My entire family was there. I could hear Monty pawing at the bedroom door of my sister¡¯s room anxious to mingle. In addition, Pascal¡¯s five friends were there and Brianne was as well. Brianne was standing awfully close to Pascal too. These seven would all be going to the academy together in a few months. They were the seven from town and there was another half dozen or so from the outlying farms too that would make up Pascal¡¯s first-year class. ¡°Uh, happy fourteenth brother,¡± I said as I moved into the room. Then I noticed no one''s eyes were following me. They were locked to the doorway behind me. I turned and Callem stood there taking up the entire doorway. I guess I was a little pompous to think they were surprised to see me. ¡°Everyone this is Callem. I mean Captain Callem. I have been out living with him for a while now.¡± Mother and father were the first to move. They both went to Callem and started talking with him in soft voices so no one could overhear. I moved to the group of Pascal¡¯s friends and soon found Freya hugging me. ¡°Storme, I missed you!¡± She pulled me down to whisper, ¡°The sword is in my room. Mom did the engraving on the scabbard and Antal did the handle. Mom paid for the scabbard and dad got the dragon bone for the handle. It looks marvelous! Pascal is sure to love it!¡± I had actually forgotten I had made Pascal a sword for his birthday. My life was so stressful and I had been intently focusing on learning spells. ¡°We are going to eat first and then do gifts!¡± Before I could ask her what happened to all the coin I gave her to buy the scabbard and handle Freya had moved off. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Callem had finished talking with Caleb and Alurha and they were all smiles. Mother motioned me to the small kitchen to help with the food. Of course, I wouldn¡¯t get away without cooking. The meal was to be chicken fajitas with honey ginger rice. There were a few bottles of wine on the table as well as it was customary for your 14th birthday to drink a glass of wine or beer. Most kids had tried alcohol long before this birthday though. Both me and Gareth had downed a bottle or two ourselves. ¡°That blade is marvelous Storme! How did you ever get Callem to part with it?¡± My mother asked in a hushed whisper as we heated up the food. My mother thought Callem gave the blade to Pascal? Of course, she did as it was probably quite valuable. I held my tongue not wanting to say something in error. They had just talked with Callem and I looked over at him and he winked. Son of a bitch, he had taken credit for the sword! I was angry for the briefest moment before thinking that this was a good thing. I didn¡¯t need the recognition. Soon everyone was eating and happy. I listened here and there as this group was not really my friends. They were mostly talking about their upcoming entry into the academy. Freya had accidentally let Monty out and she was chasing him to get him back in the room. The excitement of the guests was too much for him though and he was dodging her at every turn. I sat on one of the few chairs and just relaxed for a bit. Brianne came up to me and leaned against the wall to my right. ¡°How is Gareth doing?¡± she asked. ¡°He is doing pretty good,¡± I said. This crowd was not Brianne¡¯s normal group. She usually hung out with the younger kids in town. ¡°Do you want me to pass a message onto him for you?¡± I asked as Brianne had not moved. ¡°No I was just wondering if he was ok,¡± she said. She didn¡¯t move and a minute later added, ¡°On second thought just tell him I was wondering why he wasn¡¯t here as well.¡± After a brief pause, she added, ¡°And also tell him that I was happy to hear he was doing well.¡± She smiled at me and moved away. Well, Gareth still had a chance with Brianne if he was interested. Maybe she came to this party in hopes of running into him? I didn¡¯t understand women at all. Soon the gift-giving started. Pascal¡¯s friends started. They gave him some silly gifts that I assumed had some meaning from the years they had played and practiced together. Freya went to her room and returned with the sword. It was wrapped in fine white cloth. Mother intercepted her and tried to give the sword to Callem to present to Pascal but Callem motioned to me and mother walked over to hand the package to me. It was obvious it was a sword but still, all eyes were on me. Taking the sword I approached Pascal, ¡°Brother what we have here is a gift from your family. The blade was given by Callem¡­I mean Captain Callem but mother made and engraved the scabbard, father had the work done on the hilt and Freya was instrumental in getting it all completed, carrying it from Callem¡¯s farm to here. I¡­¡± what did I do then? ¡°I¡­I have paid Callem for his time to teach you how to use it properly. He will¡­¡± I didn¡¯t have a chance to finish as Pascal jumped up and actually hugged me. Chatter began as Pascal then proceeded to unwrap the blade and then draw it. Everyone was awed by the blade, even me. It was passed around and when it got to Callem he spent a good minute studying it before passing it along. I inspected the handle and sheath and both were impressive and highlighted the blade I had made. Everyone was clapping and congratulating and clapping Pascal on the back. I moved to be next to Callem to talk. ¡°It is a fine blade Storme,¡± Callem said. ¡°Definitely created by magic and should serve your brother extremely well. Do you know what such a blade is worth?¡± he asked. I didn¡¯t really care. It was just an hour or two of work on my part but I decided to humor Callem with a guess. ¡°Fifty gold?¡± Callem huffed. ¡°No. Not even close. People would pay three hundred on a bad day for a blade like that. Twice that on a good day and if it was prepped for enchanting.¡± I was in a little shock. Maybe making coins was the wrong way to make my fortune. That blade may make your brother a target. I will make sure your parents know to let him know to temper his enthusiasm in showing it off.¡± I took this moment to stuff the two platinum coins into Callem¡¯s pocket. Callem moved away from me to make another fajita and talk with mother. Callen and I soon after made our excuses to leave. I got hugs from everyone in my family and Callem said Pascal could come to the farm tomorrow for four weeks of training with his other students. Pascal was over the moon and I had to smirk a little as Callem hadn¡¯t mentioned the three young women. Pascal was probably just thinking it would be me and Gareth. He was going to be in for a shock! We started on the road to the city and Callem started talking about blades non-stop. I threw up my arms and said I got the hint. He wanted me to make him some swords. He had a giddy childish grin on his face. Then he began detailing six different blades he wanted me to make for him, two blades were for him, one for me, one for Gareth, one for Aelyn, and one for Cilia. As we approached the city he said it was time to watch our language and keep our eyes peeled. We ended the one-sided sword discussion and passed through the gates. Chapter 33 Callems Shopping Spree Chapter 33 Callem''s Shopping Spree After passing through the gates, I fell in behind Callem. He was leading this shopping expedition. Our first stop was actually a clothing store. When he told me Gareth was outgrowing his clothes I understood why we were here. He went through the racks and pulled a few shirts here, a few pants there, some socks, a few belts, some underclothes, and a few pairs of shoes. It was all good quality and cost Callem a little under three gold coins from his own purse. The man fashioned the clothes into a large makeshift backpack and I was stuck carrying it. Soon I was once again following Callem. Thankfully we were headed to Sweet and Treats next, a familiar place for me. While I was getting cocoa powder, bittersweet chocolate bars and semisweet chocolate bars in quantity Callem was stuffing numerous items into his own large basket! I noticed he was staying on the high-end shelves as he pulled things into his carrying basket without rhythm or reason to my eyes. My own package of chocolate weighed over fifteen pounds (7 kg) as I just took everything they had in stock and had the clerk package it. The clerk was shocked but said my total was 2 gold, and 8 silver after a small quantity discount. Chocolate imports were infrequent, so it was fairly high in cost. Callem on the other hand must have had 40 pounds (18 kg) of finished candy. I smirked to myself thinking what would happen if I gave such a bundle of candy to Freya on her fourteenth! Callem¡¯s total easily outclassed mine at 6 gold, and 39 silver. Other shoppers were just gawking at us as Callem paid with a large shiny gold and received one gold and 53 silver in change. We walked out and my backpack was much heavier. Callem said not to worry. Just a few more stops and then we could go back to the Gaskill farm to unload it all into his new cart. I really wanted to ask him if he was going to carry anything but I knew his response would be one of two things. Either he would say it was good weight training or that he had to be unencumbered in case of an incident. I hadn¡¯t seen any of the ruffians that nearly killed me the last time I was in the city but I was constantly on the lookout and Callem kept checking to see if I noticed things, quizzing me like we were doing observation training. Unfortunately, our next stop was not Margold¡¯s Mystical Emporium. It was a jewelry shop. At least I got to put my things down while Callem shopped. He got two necklaces, a brooch, two pairs of earrings, and a beautiful silver gilded jewelry box. The total was 46 gold! Callem happily paid with a shiny platinum coin. At first, I thought he might get an engagement ring for Wynna but that was not a custom in Skyholme. He was just going to lavish her with gifts it appeared. I thought about asking him what his intentions were with Wynna, trying to be all grown up but discarded that notion. I already acted well beyond my years and teasing Callem like an adult was not a wise course of action. Our next stop was a weird storefront which I didn¡¯t recognize until we entered. It was a specialty men¡¯s store. Callem was a big man so he needed to shop here I guess. He didn¡¯t get much, a new pair of leather boots, some underclothes, three sets of sleeping clothes, and four new shirts. The total was 2 gold and 3 silver mostly because the boots were expensive. At least Callem was carrying his own clothes and jewelry for Wynna! Our next stop was the cooper. I had told Callem I needed a special setup to make ice cream and that was why we were here. At his urging, I talked to the barrel and bucket maker to get something that would work better than my improvised setup. It took ten minutes before I got nested buckets with room for ice and matching lids. It cost just a few silver coins and they were of high quality. I hadn¡¯t told Callem I was planning to try my hand at enchanting yet. I was pretty much all shopped out but Callem went to the butcher next and thankfully just placed a massive order. He paid in full, 9 gold, for the order and its delivery to the farm. The butcher in the city was much better than the one in Hen¡¯s Hollow so I had no objections to his purchases here or the extra time it took. I made sure the order included lots of bacon. I found I missed having bacon and egg biscuit sandwiches in the morning. We went to a pottery shop next. Callem was planning to buy a tea set for Wynna. While he was shopping the various sets I found a set of dinner plates that were pretty spectacular. There were 23 plates and each one had a painting of a mythical beast. Well not mythical as they all existed in this world. Callem had a great dining set but these plates were too cool to pass up. The artist in the store said the plates were black iron stone, painted with glazes, and sealed with a clear glaze. They cost 40 silver each. He was trying to upsell his work saying it took him two days to paint and fire each plate. The stone was extremely strong and was shaped by a mage''s spellwork. There were three sets of plates, 69 in total. Even though the creatures were the same the artist had them in different poses and backgrounds in different sets. Callem was done, paying 2 gold and four silver for ten aqua blue tea cups, a matching tea kettle, and three accessories for sugar, honey, and milk. When I asked Callem if I could get all 69 plates he came over and looked at them before paying the 28 gold for them from his purse. They would send a runner to the Gaskill farm to drop off the tea set and plates which I was thankful for. Each plate weighed over a pound! (.5 kg) Leaving the potter shop we finally turned in the direction of Margold¡¯s! I thought Callem would tease me and we would take another detour but we finally arrived before the shop. I had only peeked in the window of the shop prior to today. I had never actually gone inside so I was thoroughly excited. Callem leaned into me briefly while adjusting his load and whispered, ¡°Your budget is five platinum here and then we can return to the farm.¡± My eyes widened for a second before I nodded and entered. The shop was arranged with three long shelves of books on the right. One shelf had textbooks, one shelf had spellbooks and the last shelf was labeled as enchanting and alchemy. On the other side of the shop was a selection of magical ingredients and items. The proprietor was located behind a large black lacquered desk. She was an older woman, well dressed with long salt and pepper hair. Behind her was a large array of potions and crystals on the shelves. Only three other patrons were currently in the shop. Two I immediately presumed were guards by their disinterest in the goods in the shop and their sword belts. The third person was shopping for a spellbook in the first row. Callem sat down in a chair by the door and I unloaded the burden I was carrying next to him. ¡°One hour Storme,¡± was all Callem said as he started digging around in his massive candy sack for something good to eat. That shouldn¡¯t be hard as he had practically bought out the candy shop. My mental list only had two items, tier 3 aether crystal dust, and the tier one dimensional space spell for Aelyn. It didn¡¯t take me long to find the spell book for Aelyn. They only had about 100 different tier-one spells here and a dozen or so tier-two spells. There were multiple copies of the tier-one spells by different authors. The spell I choose had six copies on the shelf, all identical. This was a far cry from the selection Gareth had relayed to me while he shopped in the capital¡¯s spell shop. At least the bindings were color marked by magic sphere, similar to Gareth¡¯s description. I wasn¡¯t going to find anything unique here but Callem gave me a five platinum allowance. So far I had a book costing 12 gold. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. I walked the rows and didn¡¯t find anything piquing my interest other than a tier 2 healing spell for combating poison, 60 gold. I added it to my stack. There was a levitate spell but I thought to myself that I should probably just get the fly spell to imprint instead. I was about to move to the front to get my aether dust when I noticed the alarm spell. I had walked by it twice in my perusing. It was just a tier 1 spell but I opened it and studied the description and its utility. It would be super useful after a few evolutions as it could wake you from sleep if danger was close. I added the book, just 4 gold. I think my biggest hang-up on not getting more spells was the fact I didn¡¯t want to waste space in my spell matrix with tier 1 spells. I wanted at least tier 2 spells. And tier 2 spells that were actually useful to me. I approached the desk with the woman and she had a kind smile, pleasant wrinkles, and bright eyes. I placed the books on her desk. She was starting a slip for my purchases and she started talking, ¡°Newly awakened?¡± ¡°Yes, I got a few lesson books and plan to start on spell imprinting soon,¡± I replied eyeing the shelves behind the woman. ¡°Good choices on the alarm spell and pocket space spell. Both are easy to learn and have good utility. The poison spell? That is used mostly by adventurers in delving dungeons.¡± She left her question hanging and I figured it would be ok to lie a little. ¡°Yes my uncle over there,¡± I pointed at Callem, ¡°wants me to attend the adventurer¡¯s academy after my first year of the academy.¡± I paused and then said, ¡°I plan to try my hand at enchanting as well. What do you recommend for a beginner?¡± She had a knowing look in her eye. ¡°Enchanting is difficult and you will find yourself investing in spells to make yourself into a competent enchanter if you travel that path,¡± she said. I already had a cheat with my metal shaping skill. She continued, ¡°It is a financially rewarding path though.¡± She winked at me. ¡°I would suggest a roll of thin silver wire with tier 1 aether dust already embedded. That should allow you some practice at writing out runes. You will need the stylus that the wire feeds into as well to write out the runes ¡± I nodded at her advice. ¡°Do you have any silver wire with tier 3 aether dust?¡± her eyebrows arched at my question. ¡°Yes¡±, she went behind her and pulled a coil of wire, ¡°10 gold for the spool, mostly due to the cost of the aether dust.¡± I nodded. ¡°How much for a unit of just the tier 3 aether dust and a stylus for writing the runes?¡± I asked trying to decipher the labels behind her. A unit was about the size of a golf ball from the looks of it...or I should say in a small bag the size of a golf ball. ¡°Five gold for a unit. That is about the amount in each spool. We have three styluses for sale. The basic one is two gold, and the other two are nine gold and twenty-four gold respectively. The expensive one should last a few thousand hours and has a fine point. The two cheaper ones will last a few hundred hours of use but truthfully they are the same except the nine gold one is made from rarer materials¡± She added looking at me anew. Maybe she had some respect for the amount of coinage I was going to spend? Damn, I thought. It was hard spending five platinum. ¡°I will take the stylus for 24 gold, 10 units of tier 3 aether dust, and two coils of wire with the tier 3 aether dust. Do you have any spell books, not on the shelves?¡± I asked hoping there was a book I could buy to get utilize my 5 platinum limit. The old woman was looking at me harder now as she added the items to my invoice slip without breaking eye contact. ¡°Yes, a few tier 3 spells and two tier 4 spells. I can also get you most spells in under a week for a price from the library in the capital.¡± I waited for her to continue. ¡°For tier 3 I have Compulsion, Hail of Ice, Fire Mantle, Illusionary Companion, Wind Step, Advanced Water Breathing and Summon Greater Fog. For tier 4 I have Dimensional Step and Paralysis.¡± She looked at me waiting. The tier four were probably both over five platinum so no need to ask further on those. What sounded most interesting from the others? ¡°I am not interested in ordering a spell right now,¡± I said thinking Callem wouldn¡¯t let me back into the city anytime soon. ¡°Can I see the Illusionary Companion spell?¡± The woman went under the counter and unlocked a cabinet and brought the tome out. It was extremely thick and I went inside the cover and looked at the price, 350 gold. Excellent. I had too many spells to imprint already and this was mostly to get me to 5 platinum. I perused the spell. The spell created an illusionary and animated figure the mage could control with his mind. My hour was almost up. ¡°I will take this spell book as well.¡± The woman totaled everything to 530 gold. That was great but before calling Callem over to pay I asked about some of the enchanted items she had in her store. ¡°What enchanted items do you sell?¡± The woman was very attentive to me now. ¡°I have an array of aether lights from a few silver to a few golds. I have fire starters, water condensers, cold chests, heater stove tops, leather armor-enhanced bracers, shielding brooches, and communication stones are my usual high turnover items.¡± Most of the items she had in stock were imported from the capital. Any enchanter worth his salt established his business there. The capital was where all the trade passed through. Any dungeon harvests or dungeon imports would pass through the capital making it the easiest place for a good enchanter to get materials. I found a better aether light stone for 5 gold. It had adjustable brightness and an extremely small rechargeable tier 4 aether crystal. I thought about getting me and Gareth communication stones but we really didn¡¯t need them. The shielding brooches were a definite possibility and started at 20 gold but before I could explore the selection Callem was approaching. ¡°Storme are you finished?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± I said reluctantly adding the improved light stone to my pile. The woman handed Callem the completed slip after adding the stone. 535 gold. Callem produced five shiny platinum coins and four large gold to pay. The woman pulled a device to check the coins and confirmed they were good which caused me to grin at Callem. The woman packed up my purchases neatly into a complimentary leather satchel. The woman handed Callem his change, 5 gold coins. Callem dropped the five gold coins in my pocket as I struggled to juggle all the packages into a comfortable carrying position. ¡°For working on the farm and cooking,¡± he said in a low voice. Wait did he just pay me with my own coin for working for him? I didn¡¯t see his face but by his gait, I knew he must be grinning. Our shopping spree finally concluded we headed back toward the Gaskill farm. Callem was relatively silent during our walk. When we got to the Gaskill¡¯s and the cart was overpacked with goods and I was wondering how we were going to get the clucking mass of goods back to Callem¡¯s farm when he got in front where a horse should be and started to pull the load. I quickly placed my burdens in the cart and tried to join him in pulling but Callem waved me off, ¡°No need Storme. I need some exercise.¡± The trip back to the farm was slow and I talked with Callem the entire way about menial things. The man was inhuman as he never breathed hard pulling the massive load at a steady pace. When the farm was finally in sight I was surprised things had gone so smoothly. I cursed. Every time I thought things were going well something bad tended to happen. Chapter 34 Aelyn (POV) Chapter 34 Aelyn Aelyn was feeling only slightly better after the last few days. When the Skyholme Inquisitors came for her mother, she was furious and tried to defend her. Even as her mother told her not to interfere, she fought with everything she had. The Inquisitor¡¯s hybrid wolfmen wanted to subdue her, and she managed to wound two of them before being restrained. The Inquisitor looked her over before ordering his men to take her with her mother in case she was a spy as well. In custody, they had to wait an entire day before being questioned. The carnival proprietors had made endless efforts to get back their abducted members. They ultimately failed and were forced to pack up and depart with their massive airship. Aelyn and her mother, Niserie, were questioned in front of each other by a Truthseeker. Niserie was first and looking into her daughter¡¯s eyes, shedding tears as she was forced to answer questions. Aelyn was close to her mother. Aelyn had moved out of their cabin on the ship three years ago, but they had breakfast together every morning and talked. She had known her mother acted as an intermediary for some type of information network and sometimes did freelance work. The Truthseeker had a powerful magic item that caused Niserie¡¯s eyes and ears to bleed when she resisted answering with the truth. She was proud of her mother as she hadn¡¯t screamed through the obvious pain. When they threatened to turn the device on Aelyn, Niserie relented to the item¡¯s pressures. Niserie said she was part of the Hand of Crimson Moonriders. They were an information network for one of the powerful beings that lived on one of the 23 planets orbiting inside the sphere. This initially scared the Truthseeker until they realized how minor a member she was in the organization. Niserie then revealed that she was doing a freelance mission on Skyholme. She was to pick up documents from certain individuals who worked in the Skyhold Fortress. She was to bring those documents to a Sadian contact in the lowlands. She didn¡¯t have the names of the people, just excellent descriptions of each of them. This made it easy for the Inquisitor to identify them. After exhausting their questions, they turned the device on Aelyn. Her mother told her not to resist and just answer their questions. The questions revealed nothing other than a few embarrassing facts to her mother about her dalliances with young men. Seven young men had been in the cities they had visited in the last two years. Thankfully the Inquisitor didn¡¯t ask for more details other than confirming Aelyn just had sex with them and had not been involved in any spying or espionage. Her mother sobbed as her daughter was exposed so callously in front of the Truthseeker. She would never forget that man, Lytham Bricio. She read the man¡¯s surface thoughts; this man was wicked, malicious, and devious all rolled into one. It took a few days before Aelyn was separated from her mother and sentenced to life in servitude. Her mother told her to forget about her and live her best life. Aelyn knew her mother was lost to her. Being branded was painful, and the mage cast a spell linking the brand on her neck to a magical ring. He was one of the foulest men she had ever met. Reading his mind revealed the depravities he was thinking of doing to her. It almost made her vomit right there. He had directly asked Lytham if he could take Aelyn as a prize after the spell was completed, but Lytham said no. It was the only kindness Lytham had done for her. But then Lytham added if they no longer found a use for the mother, he could have the girl. It made Aelyn sick thinking of a possible fate with the insidious and lecherous mage. Aelyn spent days trying to be broken by her handlers. Thankfully she was not raped, just beaten when she refused to do what was asked of her, like cleaning toilets, scrubbing floors, washing clothes, and preparing food. She had been trotted out in front of a few people like a prize pig when they tried to sell. No one purchased her at the ridiculous price they had asked. That was until a young man came. The boy looked like a young warrior. She didn¡¯t think much about the encounter as the sum for her was so exorbitant. But the boy returned later with the funds in full. She made an effort to read his thoughts. The boy was thinking of what Aelyn looked like naked and what her skin would feel like under his hands.¡­and kissing her lips. She stopped reading him. This boy was no better than Lytham and the mage who branded her. To this boy, she was just an object to be used. The boy tried to play innocent as he took her home. He said he was freeing her. She told him she was life bound by the brand and could never be freed. She explained the brand to him but knew the boy was pretending to be ignorant of the brand. Why else would he spend so much on her? Then the boy made the mistake of commanding her to speak her mind. She laid into him so hard that he shrunk away and drew eyes from the passersby. The skyship ride back to his island was in silence. The walk back to his ¡®secret training farm¡¯ didn¡¯t go well as he repeatedly tried to quell her concerns. Aelyn didn¡¯t need to reread his thoughts to know he wanted her. Things started to change at the farm as Aelyn was introduced to the other players in her new captivity. She tried to read everyone¡¯s thoughts, but the large man was virtually unreadable. This occurred when someone¡¯s will outstripped her ability. The older woman was concerned for Aelyn¡¯s well-being. And the other boy¡­he was just focused on his spells and worried about how badly his friend, Gareth, had screwed up. This the other boy, Storme, made coins out of nothing. Real actual coins! Aelyn¡¯s mind was churning. What if she could get this boy to take the ring and then befriend him? She might even be able to influence him to take her away from these devil-infested floating islands. He wasn¡¯t ugly either.¡­ Maybe in time, he would free her as well but she didn¡¯t hold out much hope in that. It didn¡¯t take much to get Storme to wear her control ring. The old man seemed to think it was the best course of action. With the ring, Storme could force her to do pretty much anything with the threat of pain. He would also always know where she was. She was confident in her ability to win him over. She had learned how to seduce young men during her time at the carnival. Also, anytime in the past when she set her mind to something she always succeeded. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. After a few days, things got better for Aelyn as the boy definitely wasn¡¯t planning to take advantage of her. Maybe he preferred other boys? Or maybe he was just too young to be interested? But she was also now in an environment where she could improve herself, and she would take full advantage of it! It was actually fun competing with the big boy, Gareth. How the hell was he only 12? He was an exceptional athlete and swordsman. Aelyn actually thought it might not have been so bad if Gareth had worn the ring. With him being 12, she could have controlled him much easier than Storme as he was constantly thinking about women. Storme was much more resistant or perhaps ignorant of her charms. The arrival of the other two girls caused some consternation for Aelyn. She didn¡¯t want anyone interfering with her attempts to befriend and control Storme. Storme was a masterpiece in her mind, with unlimited wealth, a competent healer, and a great cook rolled into one! His body was fit and maturing into a fine young man, not quite as impressive as Gareth, but he wouldn¡¯t look bad on her arm. Argh, she needed to stop this line of thinking and focus. Aelyn wasn¡¯t sure why she told Storme to move over to Gareth¡¯s loft. She had Storme where she wanted him, close and slowly breaking down his barriers. But she saw the boy¡¯s friendship starting to strain, and Storme was completely ignorant that he was pushing his friend away. For some reason, she pushed them back together. She probably could have moved into the space voided by Gareth, but she found she liked Storme too much to facilitate breaking their close friendship. She found a golden opportunity to get closer to Storme when Storme encouraged her to get a reading. Aelyn had been shocked by her reading from Wynna and Ennet. The readers at the carnival were not strong and somewhat imperfect. From the carnies, she knew two of her abilities; Read Thoughts ability at Tier 2 and Nimbleness at Tier 1. Wynna and Ennet, on the other hand, read her entire aether soul. Abilities Read Thoughts, Tier 2 Nimbleness, Tier 1 Duelist,Tier 1 Enhanced Mobility, Tier 1 Persuasion, Tier 1 Traits Improved Sight, Tier 1 Long-lived, Tier 2 Skill Affinities Acrobatics, Tier 3 Long Bow, Tier 2 Seduction, Tier 1 Aether Matrix Current 5 Maximum 8 Aether Core Current 10 Maximum 32 She couldn¡¯t show Storme this list. If he saw them, he might think she was manipulating him with her seduction and persuasion abilities. In truth, she was manipulating him but not with malicious intent. She needed to ¡®lesson¡¯ the reading a bit. She definitely couldn¡¯t show him the persuasion ability or the seduction affinity. Aelyn was actually puzzled about her array of skill affinities. Just exactly what was she in her past life or lives to have these skill affinities? Not something to dwell on at this time.... Also she should maybe lower her aether scores a little bit as well to reduce her profile. It had taken Aelyn a few days to get a similar sheet of paper so she could copy over her reading with some slight changes. She felt weird about writing out the text in her own blood but wanted it to match in script and color. She was hoping to show Storme her reading. This would help him trust her more. When the sheet was finished and she looked at it. Abilities Read Thoughts, Tier 2 Nimbleness, Tier 1 Duelist,Tier 1 Enhanced Mobility, Tier 1 Traits Improved Sight, Tier 1 Long-lived, Tier 2 Skill Affinities Acrobatics, Tier 3 Long Bow, Tier 2 Aether Matrix Current 3 Maximum 6 Aether Core Current 6 Maximum 19 Aelyn hadn¡¯t really thought herself a mage. She knew her core had awakened, and sometime in the future, she planned to learn a spell of two but never had the time. She did use her aether to use her read thoughts ability, so she was used to drawing on her core. She found the right time to approach Storme on a day off. She climbed into his loft bed with him while everyone else was gone. She asked him to help her with spellcraft, and he immediately assisted, giving her his own textbook and promising her spells. Getting in his bunk space didn¡¯t really go quite as planned as he seemed a little afraid of her closeness and somehow managed to ignore her as they sat face to face, knees touching. She was tempted to read his thoughts but held back. This actually surprised her a bit. Was the boy winning her over? Who was manipulating who? When the others returned, the encounter was ruined. However, Aelyn felt she had made progress. She had come into his private space, his bed, and not been rejected outright. She wasn¡¯t trying to seduce him. She just wanted him to be very comfortable with her presence¡­with being in close proximity to her. The training the next few days was intense and Aelyn felt she was making gains on Gareth which was pushing Gareth even harder to keep his margin. Storme had sort of checked out of training and was focusing on his spells. This made Aelyn work on her own aether core development at night as it was another possible avenue to getting closer to Storme, getting Storme to be her magic teacher. The two women, Cilia and Leda, had started talking to Aelyn more as they trained together. They all bathed every night together and she didn¡¯t dislike either one. She was slightly worried the Leda girl might seduce Storme out from under her. That girl held very few inhibitions and when they bathed together she talked freely about intimate acts. On the morning that Callem and Storme were headed into town Aelyn had wanted to join them but had been rejected. This hurt her feelings a little bit but she decided she would take out her frustrations on the others during training. Training that day was extremely intense for everyone. It was only broken up by a large shipment of meats that had arrived during the day. Everyone had worked together to bring the meat to the basement larders. Callem wasn¡¯t there to temper and control the interactions among them, and things got out of control and heated. Leda¡¯s minor healing skills were not enough, and everyone was anticipating Storme¡¯s return and his healing wave. The worst part of the day was the food. Wynna had tried to prepare a good lunch and dinner, but something was missing with Storme not being present. Everyone felt it. It was not that the food tasted bad¡­.it was his presence that somehow cemented them all together. It was Gareth who jumped up first from the plush couch. They had been discussing the uniforms of the soldiers in the lowlands and Gareth rushed outside without saying a word. Everyone soon followed and found Callem pulling a large cart laden with chickens and packages. Aelyn found herself smiling and grinning unbidden at Storme¡¯s appearance walking next to Callem. Chapter 35 Skipping Enchanting 101 Chapter 35 Skipping Enchanting 101 We got to the farm and everyone came out to greet us. At first, I thought they were excited we had returned, but as they got closer, the three girls looked beat up, bruised, and with cuts on their arms and faces. Gareth had a black eye and a bandage on his arm and spoke first, ¡°Storme, heal me first!¡± That had all of them voicing their persuasions for me to heal them first. Only Aelyn stood back as the other three mobbed me. I started with Gareth and proceeded to Cilia, then Leda and finally Aelyn. I found my mend flesh spell had finally progressed from this work, and the evolution to level five allowed me to assess another person¡¯s injuries. I already could assess my personal injuries through a diagnostic evolution, allowing me to extend that skill to others. This should have been my second evolution, but I had just put it off. Once things settled, Callem questioned everyone about their day and then handed out presents. Gareth got clothes, and the girls got the massive bag of candy¡­well after Callem pulled out a few specific sweets for himself, Wynna got the silver jewelry box stuffed with the items Callem had selected. I handed the pocket portal spell book to Aelyn as well. She was a little flabbergasted and unable to thank me for a good minute. Then she gave me a short but intense hug. I didn¡¯t say anything but noticed the others pretending not to notice the extended embrace. Everyone contributed to unloading the cart and setting up the chicken coup on the far side of the tobacco field. Callem had gotten one rooster to protect the hens from the local foxes. We released the chickens one by one and watched them as they explored. I was bored and started bringing my own haul to my loft. I had the enchanting materials, the ice cream buckets, the 69 plates, and the chocolate which actually went to the larder in our basement. It didn¡¯t take long for everyone to come into the bunkhouse. Gareth climbed into our loft and began talking about what I missed. I half listened as I rearranged my shelf. I put three books on the end of the shelf along with my new aether light stone. This gave me easy access to them at night. The three books were aether shield, alarm, and dimensional closet. I hadn¡¯t decided which of these to learn next. Well, ideally, I wanted to imprint the dimensional spell, but since it was a tier 3 spell, I worried it would take too long. In order to get Gareth to stop talking I had him look at the stack of plates and he was quickly engrossed in them. Each one was an artistic masterpiece in my opinion. I paged through the alarm spell and thought I could learn it in five or six days. It was fairly simple but felt I didn¡¯t need the spell¡¯s utility right now¡­but leveling it up would make it invaluable in the future. The aether shield spell was next and it was complex but I thought maybe it would take me three weeks¡­maybe four. The dimensional closet spell was the last one I reviewed and it was incredibly complex. It was the first tier three spell I had looked into learning and I didn¡¯t have an affinity for space magic so it was a migraine-inducing perusal of the spell forms. I had no idea how long it would take me. My best comparison would be saying it was a book in a foreign language and I needed to translate each word, one at a time. After completing the translation I had to memorize the book cover to cover. I had a few new tricks I could apply but still didn¡¯t see this as taking a short amount of time. Eventually, I slid the alarm and aether shield spells back on the shelf and got to work on the dimensional closet spell. Gareth called me down for some food as I had lost track of time. It was a beef stew, heavy on vegetables and needing just a little salt. I used some buttered bread to clean the bowl. Leda asked me to make chicken parmigiana for tomorrow¡¯s dinner and Cilia tried to talk over her friend asking for spiced pepperoni pizza. Gareth said I would make fried chicken. I waved them all off and asked Aelyn what she wanted. Without hesitation, she said ice cream and Mac and cheese. The half-elf girl was apparently a junk food junkie. It certainly hadn¡¯t hurt her figure. I would make mac and cheese and add some broccoli to give it some fiber. For the ice cream, I would plan on trying my hand at chocolate ice cream. I climbed into my loft and put away the spell book for now. I got the buckets, stylus, and silver enchanting wire. I wasn¡¯t going to use the stylus, just pretended to use it as a cover for my metal-shaping ability. I got the book for the cold rune primer out and opened a parchment and began sketching out my design. It was fairly simple as I just wanted the outer bucket to create an inward aura to maintain the temperature exactly at freezing. I planned to use enough silver wire to hold a charge for two days, about half of a roll if I was correct in my quick calculations. I was extremely good at math so I wasn¡¯t worried about that aspect. It was late when I was ready to try my hand at inscribing the bucket. It was a bit frustrating to use the stylus, just using my shaping skill would have made the process take just a minute. I was trying to hide my metal shaping skill from my bunkmates. I fake traced the runes wasting over two hours and Gareth¡¯s loud sleep breathing didn¡¯t help my focus tonight. When I finally finished, I just put the bucket down and fell asleep. Morning came too soon. I was exhausted and not able to match everyone else¡¯s positivity this morning. Why was everyone so chipper? At breakfast, we had fresh eggs, bacon, fruit, and toast. It made my mind wander as I was eating the toast. We didn¡¯t have jelly or peanut butter in the larder. I hadn¡¯t actually seen any peanuts in this world so I asked Callem and Wynna and neither of them was familiar with the treat. We did have cashews that could be made into a sort of peanut butter. For jam, all I needed was a touch of lemon juice, sugar, and high-sugar fruit. Mash it all together and heat it all in a pan to reduce the water and then cool. It would make a good ice cream topping as well. The banter during stretching was quite intense. Apparently, some feelings had been hurt yesterday with no one to monitor the group¡¯s training. My mind was focused elsewhere, though, and I was soon in the kitchen after stretching. Prepping the mac n cheese was quick. Three types of cheese this time around, and Wynna made fresh egg noodles. I then tried out my new ice cream bucket, my first magic item! I put water inside the big bucket and then nested the smaller bucket within. Then I channeled my aether into my first enchanted object. The water froze instantly, and the runes started to glow and smoke. I stopped channeling and just prayed I didn¡¯t ruin the bucket. I watched the bucket carefully and went to try to make cashew butter and some berry jam. I had obviously channeled too much aether into the runes I had made. Did I burn them out? I wasn¡¯t worried about the waste of silver runic wire but lamented the possible loss of the perfect buckets for making the ice cream. I had a large pot of jam going and Wynna was working on the cashew butter at my direction. Wynna interrupted our normal back-and-forth inconsequential banter this morning, ¡°Storme I have been thinking a lot about your obfuscate spell. I think instead of completely shielding your aether soul you should just cover up what you don¡¯t want others to see. Let me explain. You see readers can read a multitude of things. They can quantify your physical, mental, and magical statistics. They can read potentials¡­well let¡¯s just say there is a lot there. If you block everything then a reader can tell you have access to the obfuscated spell. So don¡¯t hide everything¡­just the things you don¡¯t want others to see.¡± She finished. ¡°That just makes too much sense.¡± I recast the spell covering the abilities, traits, and skill affinities I wanted to be hidden with some mental effort of will. ¡°Wynna can readers see status effects¡­like the fact I have the obfuscate spell active?¡± I asked. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°I don¡¯t have that ability but yes some readers can. You should be able to hide that with your spell I think. Just focus on what you what hidden when you cast it¡­ maybe?¡± I recast the spell again and ¡®felt¡¯ the spell status was now being hidden. Why hadn¡¯t this suggestion been in the spell book? I was just thankful that Wynna had figured it out for me. My spell even advanced to level 4 for this brief amount of effort. I kept checking on the bucket and it seemed I was cooling the entire farmhouse with the bucket, like an overcharged air conditioning unit. A thick layer of ice was forming on the outside of the bucket and the inner bucket seemed clear of ice for the moment. It just had a light fog. The enchantment seemed to have stabilized so I got the ingredients for the chocolate ice cream together and made the largest batch I could, 3 gallons (12 liters). The device worked too well. I was quick with my mixing and the ice cream hardened too fast. I must have made some errors as the temperature was obviously below freezing. Did the over-investment of aether do something? I had to wait until the enchantment exhausted itself¡­or could my metal shaping skill get me an image of the runic workings? I touched the exposed runes and sent out my senses. The rune was correct¡­the silver was over-saturated with aether¡­and the functionality¡­I think I saw the problem¡­the regulator extension of the rune that was supposed to hold the temperature at freezing was reliant on the aether content¡­so over-saturating just supercharged the rune. I also could sense I burned up about one-third of the silver! Another odd effect was the over-saturated silver resisted my metal-shaping ability. This device was supposed to last for hundreds of uses! I tried to get a feel for how much aether I put into the device, feeling out my aether core¡­.it felt about 70% full or thereabouts so 30% of 1200 was 360! Oops! I guess I should feel fortunate I hadn¡¯t blown myself up. I had a book on how to properly fuel magic items. Guess I needed to read it, to charge my aether light stone. I had just used a kiss of aether, so I should have known better. I found my fingers now had frostbite as well, so I quickly healed myself. It took some effort to transfer the hard ice cream to another container. I put the finished ice cream in Callem¡¯s freezer box. I sampled the chocolate ice cream, and it was good. Not nearly as sweet as modern ice cream but much creamier after it melts in your mouth. The chocolate content also needed some tweaking, and maybe the tiniest addition of salt should be added to the cream before mixing and freezing. I looked at my ice cream bucket as the outer layer of ice was slowly growing and sighed. The enchantment was going to last much longer than two days I surmised, and the bucket would be completely encased in ice and useless. Well, at least everyone would have ice cream tonight. My foray into enchanting was over for now. Conditioning this morning was brutal as we all had to carry half our body weight through obstacle courses A and C. We were all filthy, sweaty, and miserable at the end and I knew it was Callem¡¯s punishment for the group beating on each other yesterday. I wasn¡¯t sure how I got included in the punishment but I didn¡¯t complain, especially since cleaning off took me a few seconds while everyone else needed to bathe and wash clothes. Lunch today was the cashew butter and jelly sandwiches with cold milk and some fresh fruit. Everyone except Leda liked the lunch. She didn¡¯t like cashews in general, so I couldn¡¯t blame her. During our free hour, I talked with Leda and showed her my failed ice bucket sculpture which was now three feet in diameter (1m), outside and growing. She laughed at me a little before explaining there were several additional runes to attach to control such a complex device. She had loaned me just the primers and not the generic control runes and linking runes for, say connecting to an aether stone power source. She said I had basically designed a maul to kill an ant. Enchanting was about finesse, she stressed. Leda then said no need to worry. She was terrible at enchanting as well. When I asked her how much aether I should channel into such a device she asked how much tier 3 silver wire I had used. After I told her, she said about as much as a tier 2 spell took to cast. Well damn, I estimated I used 360. This was 180 times as much as was needed! I then asked her about overcharging an item. She said tier 1 dust would quickly dissolve the silver if a device was overcharged. Tier 2 would hold aether better, but the runes would glow white and burn the silver after. Tier 3 aether dust silver would try to act like a sponge to hold as much aether in reserve to power the device. Aether technically had no mass or minimum volume, according to mages but aether crystals and aether cores were the only places aether could be stored. When I asked if I could blow myself up if I overcharged something, which was a big worry of mine, she said no. Then she said well¡­yes but that would only be because the runework was incorrect, oversaturated runes just burned the silver, gold, or platinum quicker and the excess aether bled into the environment. I briefly thought of making an aether bomb but decided I needed MUCH more experience in the enchanting field before trying something so brash. We got to choose our weapon practice today, so I picked the bow since it would be the least physical effort on my part. That only lasted half the session before Callem pulled me to spar with staves with Leda. I was smart enough not to complain to Callem. Leda had gotten much better, and we were pretty much equal now. I still managed to win two out of three times but that was mostly due to Leda trying stupid things to get me in a compromising position. Gareth was working with a broadsword, Aelyn a rapier, and Cilia a saber. I didn¡¯t follow their practice too closely as Leda had me on my toes. It was no surprise that dinner was a hit. Chocolate ice cream was even better received. I was shocked our group ate half of it. Gareth and Aelyn both got brain freeze from eating too fast and that just cracked me up when I explained what happened to them. I then gave everyone a short lesson on dessert ¡®portion control.¡¯ Callem asked me to help him in the larder as everyone else was cleaning up and getting ready for tonight¡¯s lesson. In the basement, Callem had me pause at the bottom of the stairs. ¡°Storme you see this brick I am pressing here?¡± I stopped and focused and Callem was pressing on a brick that had a dark gray protrusion on it. I nodded. ¡°Well, Sebastian installed it. It is an illusion charm. Anyone scrying will see an illusion within the cellar of the people doing menial things.¡± He then walked to the far wall and trigged another stone that opened a secret passage. ¡°This is another new addition of Sebastian¡¯s. I doubt we will ever need it but this passage emerges 200 yards away from the farmhouse. Show the others when you can.¡± I nodded at all this cloak-and-dagger stuff. What was Callem worried about? ¡°I think it would be ok for you to practice your metal creation and shaping abilities for half an hour in the morning while you prepare dinner.¡± He held up his hand, which usually meant he knew my next question. ¡°I will extend the farm work the others do in the morning by 30 minutes, so you don¡¯t have the extra time, and it won¡¯t interfere with your dinner duties.¡± Yes, the extra time ensured I still had time to make dinner. ¡°Well, that wasn¡¯t my question actually. Can I make more platinum coins?¡± I asked. Callem nodded slowly as he was considering my request. ¡°Yes, you can.¡± He looked around and went to an empty juice cask. ¡°Put them in here and make sure you don¡¯t leave any out in the open when you turn off the illusion. Also, put the weapons you are working on in the chest over there.¡± Callem pointed out a new large chest that was a new addition to his larder. ¡°Inside the chest are the notes on the weapons I want you to make. I will inspect them in the evening and leave you notes to make changes to them.¡± ¡°Why all this subterfuge Callem? Is there something going on that I should know about?¡± I asked. ¡°Sebastian thinks the Sadians are going to attack¡­that is the reason for the tunnel. The reason for the illusion spell is in case the Inquisition starts sniffing around the farm.¡± A panicked look spread on my face, ¡°Don¡¯t worry Storme. It is very unlikely. They have bigger things to worry about right now. But the man who brought you to the healer at the carnival was an agent of the Inquisition. Sebastian has some connections and there have been no inquiries in regards to you¡­some people have been interested in me but nothing serious.¡± I nodded feeling somewhat relieved. I was more than a little excited to reacquaint myself with making platinum coins. It made me feel powerful to create such wealth. Callem was leaving, so I followed him. We returned upstairs, ending the illusion as we climbed the steps. The discussion tonight revolved around the twenty or so kingdoms that Aelyn had visited in her time with the carnival. It was interesting and the most animated Aelyn had been in the time I had known her. Later as I was in bed struggling through my dimensional closet spell I felt things were going too well. Something bad had to be on the horizon. Chapter 36 Reconciling with Pascal Chapter 36 Reconciling with Pascal The following day as we were all heading to breakfast, we found my brother already eating and talking energetically to Callem and Wynna. He was ready to get started and brought a massive backpack. His gear had clothes, training weapons, and his new blade. I was a little upset as it looked like he had used the entire block of butter on his pancakes. Who needs half a pound of butter on a stack of pancakes? I went to the larder to get more and gave Pascal a lazy welcome wave. When I ascended the stairs from the larder, the others were eating, and Pascal¡¯s mouth was agape, staring at the young women who had entered behind me. Yes, they were all well above average in looks my brother, but your creepy stalker stare will not win any of them over! I was laughing to myself at his misfortune but then realized my own misfortune. All the pancakes had been consumed while I was gone! My own shocked stare caused Gareth to easily swipe the butter I had laboriously claimed from below so he could lather his large stack of pancakes before him. I made a cheesy bacon and egg scramble in the kitchen and ate some fruit for breakfast. I tried to look as melancholic as possible but didn¡¯t garner sympathy from anyone! Did these people realize who made their dinners!? I left the conversation after eating my breakfast and headed to the yard first. Stretching was amusing. Pascal had terrible mobility compared to everyone else, but he couldn¡¯t stop gawking at Aelyn, Cilia, and Leda as they stretched. He hadn¡¯t even said one word to any of them yet as far as I knew! The girls, for their part, were ignoring the newcomer which was good because his roaming eyes were getting creepy. Gareth had been the same way when the girls first arrived but had mellowed out his own lusty demeanor. After stretching, I went inside to make dinner while trying to think of a proper punishment for shorting me on pancakes this morning. I decided on a beef stroganoff with a spicy kick. Maybe Callem would like it but the others¡­. It was a short prep and I was soon in the basement and opened the large chest. I took out a folio of notes Callem had left. There was a broadsword for Gareth, a rapier for Aelyn, a saber for Cilia, and a longer saber for me. I knew Callem wanted two weapons for himself, but they were not included in these notes. I spent twenty minutes on the saber and ten minutes on the broadsword before putting them away. I needed coal down here to make the steel. The weapons were currently just iron. I wrote that note for Callem and then went and made 20 gold coins, storing them in the juice cask. I wondered if my ability had improved at all? I would still need to heal today so I couldn¡¯t get a full recharge of aether to find out. I went out to join the others for conditioning. Pascal was filthy from weeding the fields but had a sloppy grin on his face. Probably from watching the girls work in tight tees and tight pants. The pants were essentially a loose dark blue spandex that Wynna had gotten them. They were easy to clean and cool during the day¡¯s work. As we moved to the obstacle courses I saw Callem give me a wink. If I knew Callem he was about to put Pascal in his place for staring at the girls all morning. We were all going to run all three courses separately for personal best times on each course. Pascal would be getting his ¡®baseline¡¯ time for the courses. Callem stressed we were competing against ourselves. The person with the most improved time would get out of farm work tomorrow. This perked up all the woman¡¯s ears. I asked Callem if that meant I just wouldn¡¯t have to make dinner tomorrow and four sets of panicked eyes turned to Callem for an answer. Callem¡¯s response was, ¡°you all better not let Storme win!¡± Sometimes I hated the man. I improved my time by 4 seconds on course A, 9 seconds on course B, and was 2 seconds slower on course C. This wasn¡¯t really fair as Callem had increased the difficulty on course C and I was tired. After all, was said and done Leda won the prize by improving by 49 seconds overall. I arched an eyebrow at her when Callem announced the results hoping she would transfer the reward to me as Gareth almost always did. Nope, she ignored my suggestive eyes. For Pascal¡¯s part, he was still sucking wind on the ground. He had done his best but was far slower than everyone else. I think Leda was happy to no longer be at the bottom of the ladder. It was a feeling I knew well. When Cilia and Leda approached me for healing, I realized Pascal didn¡¯t know this secret of mine. As I healed them, which required contact, Pascal was watching with wide eyes. He was probably shocked at first that they were seeking physical contact with me. Then his shock was from their bruises disappearing. ¡°Yeah, Pascal, I have some magic. Just healing and a personal cleaning spell.¡± I used the cleaning spell and his eyes popped open further as my clothes looked fresh and my skin radiant. ¡°You need healing?¡± I asked. He seemed reluctant to take it at first either from pride or reluctance of having the magic cast on him. His hesitation caused me to turn and walk back to the farmhouse without healing him. It was almost lunchtime and I was thirsty and didn¡¯t want to wait. Aelyn fell in beside me. ¡°Is your brother going to be ok sleeping in the loft next to me?¡± she asked. It took me a second to clear my thoughts. Oh, that was the only free bunk. I could just imagine his discomfort! Freya said he farted in his sleep so loud it shook the walls. Sounds like I should make some chili tomorrow! Lunch was pasta and vegetable soup with croutons on top. I think Wynna was experimenting with a recipe. It was ok but sort of bland. We had a free hour after lunch and Pascal decided to bother me. ¡°So Storme you have magic? Do mother and father know?¡± he asked nicely. Well, nicely for Pascal. I sighed and returned the courtesy, ¡°No. Freya does know though. You can tell them when you go back. It is just a little magic, nothing spectacular. I am trying to learn a third new spell and it is fairly difficult. It would be my first strong utility spell.¡± I didn¡¯t offer him the spell¡¯s name and thankfully he didn¡¯t ask. I think he was still in shock by everything today. He moved all his gear up to the open bunk in the loft. I smirked to myself as he didn¡¯t realize the bed next to him was Aelyn¡¯s. In the afternoon we did some wrestling and submission holds Pascal got thoroughly trounced by the women. But it was not wasted time. Both Gareth and Callem worked with Pascal to improve and teach him. He was super attentive and his infatuation with the girls was starting to wear off. I thought that was impressive, just half a day and he was able to focus past their allure. We moved into sword practice next and I was matched with Pascal to start. I easily parried and stuck him repeatedly. After six winning exchanges, I saw Callem look at me questionably. Fine! I started to give Pascal feedback to improve on his errors. He didn¡¯t hesitate in making the corrections. Did he have a newfound respect for his younger brother? Where had this come from? We had two hours after sword practice to clean up and rest before dinner. Regretfully Gareth explained the bathing situation to Pascal. Pascal seemed to think that if there were three men and three women, each should get equal bathing time. I just cast my cleanliness spell to emphasize they were on their own. When Pascal saw me in my loft and asked who I was sleeping next to with some slight jealousy in his voice, I nearly laughed. When I said Gareth, he got a puzzled look and looked at his loft. Wait¡­I was going about this all wrong. Why was I trying to punish Pascal for a life of ignoring me and looking down on me? I should be using this as an excuse to escape Gareth¡¯s noisy sleeping and foul foot odors. I was cleaning his bedding every other day with my spells extended range, but could I move back to the other side with Aelyn¡­even if it was just for a month? If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°Pascal, if you are not comfortable sleeping next to Aelyn I will switch with you,¡± I said. He was thinking really hard before answering, so I just went back to studying and waited for a response. The woman returned from bathing and Pascal finally spoke up. ¡°Storme didn¡¯t you say you would switch beds with me?¡± I looked down to find all the young women in their underclothes. A look of mischief on all their faces. I would bet a platinum that Aelyn had told them about my needling of my brother since his arrival and they had just joined in, even Cilia was participating which was a huge surprise to me. I packed my clothes into my bedding and made a large bundle to transfer my things. I made sure to give Gareth an irritated look at having to move. Gareth started helping me with my books and then Pascal did as well. Soon all my belongings were in the other loft. Aelyn was soon in her bed studying her spell as well. I was giddy when it came time for me to leave and prepare dinner. Everyone came in and sat as I placed the stroganoff on the table. Now I must say I did feel slightly guilty. The girls, for their part, had helped me tease Pascal and Wynna did nothing wrong. It was really Pascal, Gareth, and Callem who had snagged way too many pancakes this morning to their plates. Everyone was greedily spooning the gravy over the noodles and I waited. Gareth was first, he didn¡¯t like spicy food and was downing a cup of fruit juice to cool his mouth. The girls were next to fall with Wynna following. Pascal didn¡¯t seem to know what to think. He really had poor taste buds. Callem was just shoveling the mixture into his mouth and grinning, obviously reveling in the over-spicy taste. I threw up the flag. ¡°Sorry, everyone. I got a little bit miffed about not getting pancakes this morning.¡± This just got me death stares saying you did this to us because you didn¡¯t get freaking pancakes! ¡°I have a solution to help you through it¡­it is called a chocolate milkshake!¡± I went to make milkshakes. I found a sizable portion of the chocolate ice cream was missing and when I looked up a guilty Callem and Wynna looked away. Well, it was their house. There was still enough ice cream to make everyone a sizable milkshake. I made them a little thin so they could be drunk and it allowed everyone able to finish dinner. We had no study round table tonight. Wynna said it would allow Pascal could settle in. I was the first one back in the loft and studying as everyone was on clean-up duty. Aelyn came up to the loft and whispered to me. ¡°There is a plot afoot to put pepper juice in your shorts,¡± I smirked. It was a childish prank, ¡°It was Wynna¡¯s idea. She has a salve that she thinks should resist your cleaning magic.¡± Now I was a little hurt? Et tu Wynna? It was actually nice to listen to Aelyn¡¯s voice. It was very pleasant, especially when compared to Gareth¡¯s deep voice which I could hear from across the room clearly. Pascal and Gareth were in a deep and loud conversation. The discussion was about which sword form is the best to counter which sword form. ¡°Your brother is ok,¡± Aelyn said. ¡°He may have been gawking but he felt guilty about it. He has had sex already with¡­¡± I stopped her, ¡°I don¡¯t need to know about that.¡± Aelyn was quiet for a while we both studied of magic. ¡°Thank you again for how you have been treating me. I can¡¯t believe how nice you have been to me.¡± Before Aelyn could continue Leda screamed. ¡°I did it! Storme! Storme! She scrambled down her loft and up into mine and Aelyn¡¯s then straddled my knees on my bed. ¡°Watch Storme!¡± Nothing happened that I noticed. She looked disappointed, ¡°Well, I am already clean so you can¡¯t see but I imprinted the cleanliness spell!¡± I nodded and said, ¡°That is fantastic Leda. It looks like you forgot to return the book in your haste to show me.¡± She blushed and her dark skin turned darker. She slowly removed herself from above me. I was ashamed to admit my body had started to respond slightly. Any longer it might have gotten embarrassing for me. Since physical aging was quicker in the sphere I had close to a 15-year-old body. ¡°Make sure you take some notes on the first few evolutions you want before returning the book. I tend to be rather indecisive on my own evolutions.¡± Leda was climbing down from the loft slowly and not making eye contact with me but nodding at my advice. ¡°If I learn the pocket space spell can I celebrate on top of you too?¡± It was a very quiet whisper from Aelyn that I wasn¡¯t sure was intended for my ears. I blushed and actually got a little distracted in my studies as I replayed her words in my head over and over, imagining Aelyn on top of me. If I had looked over at the other loft I would have seen both Gareth and Pascal¡¯s mouths hanging open from the series of events. The next week of training had Pascal settling in. Gareth and Pascal were getting along famously. Gareth was working with Pascal nonstop and Pascal was no longer shy about asking for healing from me. Pascal was making good progress, according to Callem, and should be at the top of his class in the first year of his academy. Callem also talked about the Annuals. It was a massive tournament for melee combatants. Usually, the pre-academy bracket entrants came from the large cities but he thought Pascal might be able to do ok. He had been planning on having Gareth win it next year. The other two tournaments were the Academy and Post-Academy brackets. The one with the highest prestige was the post academy, and it had a sizable winner¡¯s purse. At the end of the week, the massive ice sculpture in Callem¡¯s yard was finally beginning to shrink. This caused Gareth, Cilia, and Leda to chip away at the ice surrounding the bucket. This was due to the fact I said no more ice cream until I got my bucket back! The hot pepper juice in my underwear did occur but I had been checking every time I changed so I just faked being burned and ran to the stream after casting my cleanliness spell a few times leaving a cloud of vanilla scent in my tracks. Wynna¡¯s salve did not prevent the spell from working. I thought the women deserved a win and everyone¡¯s laughter was worth it even if it was at my expense. I wasn¡¯t going to retaliate because I didn¡¯t want it to escalate. My progress with the basement weapon crafting was going well. After Callem had gotten the coal I made rough stock weapons and then completed one weapon each day. Callem left notes on how he wanted the weight and lengths adjusted for each weapon, and I did my best to do so. The best progress came when Callem was in the basement with me, directing me in person. After the week I had all four weapons done, Callem was going to bring them to Antal for bone handles after getting everyone¡¯s grip impressions on clay. I was only making gold coins and after some calculations, I guessed with a full aether core I could make about 30 now. So my efficiency with the ability and my aether pool were growing steadily. My relationship with Pascal was actually pretty good. He was still envious of me but there was a strong undercurrent of respect and he knew how hard I was working. We even talked a little and I found out he was interested in Sashan, a farmer girl a year older than him and currently in the academy. He was also interested in another girl that was in his immediate circle of friends. He couldn¡¯t decide which to pursue. I didn¡¯t recognize the name or his description of the farm girl but I listened to him talk about her anyway. I was actually glad Gareth was here to distract Pascal. Otherwise, he might interrupt my studying nonstop with his desire to talk to his little brother. I felt like I had made minimal progress on imprinting the spell. That was the only sore point for the week. I even spent time going to my reference books to help expedite the process but made no substantial gains in my mind. After the week Callem said he was going to town with our grip impressions. He didn¡¯t tell anyone why but did say he would bring back Freya and Monty for a visit. This got me excited and I wanted to get the bucket free as well! My sister needed to try ice cream for herself, her sweet tooth would love it! Chapter 37 Magic Weapon Crafting Chapter 37 Magic Weapon Crafting After giving Pascal a week to acclimate to the training, Callem had us all run the three courses again for individual time. Callem had added a few twists here and there to ¡®improve¡¯ their difficulty. Gareth and Aelyn both made minor improvements to all three times, Cilia improved on two courses, and both me and Leda were a few seconds slower than our personal bests. Pascal had massive improvements on all the courses from the prior week, and of course, he was preening like crazy even though all his times were slower than everyone else¡¯s by a good margin. As we finished the morning training, Callem left to go get Freya and Monty. We would have the afternoon off, and Freya would stay overnight and be brought home after breakfast. Lunch was brown rice with vegetables topped with a thick sweet sauce. It was another experiment by Wynna, and during lunch, I helped her refine the recipe to more of an Asian-inspired style. It needed some spiciness to offset the sweetness. We were all lounging inside the bunk on a break. Well, Aelyn and Gareth were chipping away the last bits of ice from the buckets. It was still functioning, just at a much lower power, close to what I had envisioned when I set the runes. I made the mistake of mentioning different types of ice cream and milkshakes; chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, cookies and cream, coffee, and blueberry. At least those were the ones I could do with the ingredients at hand. The coffee would be from the coconut-like nut that Wynna liked. I also made a note to try Thorn Berry ice cream if we could get more of them. That was a kiwi-like fruit that tasted like strawberries and bananas. Our discussion of ice cream and milkshakes was cut short as an excited Monty burst through the door. The dog was over 100 pounds (40 kg) and bowled over Leda without trouble and then made a beeline for me. I was sitting in a comfortable chair and braced myself. Monty¡¯s momentum took him into my lap and knocked the chair backward, sending us both sprawling. The beast pinned me and licked my face making sure I was ok. Freya entered shortly after the beast wave, and her first words were, ¡°It stinks in here.¡± Well, I couldn¡¯t disagree with her olfactory senses. I had taken to essentially spamming my cleanliness spell while in the bunkhouse. I even used my extended range to clean Aelyn¡¯s bedding when she was out bathing. Aelyn herself had a pleasant earthy smell, but her bedding smelled of stale sweat and acidic body odor. With the scent corrected, I slept much better and was surprised that Aelyn hadn¡¯t commented on the improvement. Well, Freya had a list of things she wanted to do. First, she wanted me to show her some real magic. Then she wanted to see her brothers square off against each other in a duel. She wanted to try running the obstacle course herself as, apparently, Callem had told her during the walk back how much Pascal had improved. And finally, she wanted to try ice cream, which was a thought Callem must have put in her head as well! When Aelyn told her how many flavors there were, she wanted to try them all. So it was looking like my afternoon off was not going to happen. Why couldn¡¯t Freya just want to lounge by the swimming hole and lazily throw a stick for Monty? Freya suddenly stopped her verbal onslaught and looked around the bunkhouse. ¡°Who are all these pretty girls? And why are they in here with you?¡± I wouldn¡¯t say I liked the tone of the last sentence because it either was said with jealousy or insinuated that I was not good enough to get a pretty girl. ¡°I¡¯m Leda,¡± Leda said from up in her loft. ¡°Storme is my boyfriend.¡± This caused everyone to freeze, and even Leda¡¯s light, playful laugh didn¡¯t break the awkwardness for a good minute. It only got worse. ¡°I¡¯m Aelyn, Freya,¡± and Aelyn bowed to her. ¡°I am Storme¡¯s devoted servant. I do anything he asks of me. Anything.¡± Her tone was so soft and submissive, and alluring all in one. I saw Pascal¡¯s mouth fall open, and I could see Gareth covering his mouth in quiet laughter. Not to be outdone, Cilia teased both Freya and me as she leaped from the upper loft and landed softly in front of us. ¡°I am Cilia. I am your brother¡¯s faithful bodyguard. I make sure his body is clean and unmolested.¡± Cilia said with her ice queen voice and stoic stature, but I could see a grin on the corner of her lips. She was no longer the ice queen and had accepted everyone, even Pascal, with his lecherous stares. Freya was slowly nodding at all this new information as the truth of my situation. I could just imagine her telling all of this to my parents. I needed to correct this. ¡°Freya, everything they are telling you is bullshit. I am their servant. I cook and clean for all of them. I tend to their wounds when they are hurt, and I serve as a training dummy when they practice swords.¡± Aelyn was the first to process my words and slowly nodded, as everything I had said was essentially the truth. Cilia nodded as well and then winked at Freya. That must be some secret female language. Freya then bowed to Aelyn and Cilia, who were in front of her, ¡°Then mistresses, may I please ask if my poor servant of a brother can have the afternoon off to play with me? And brother, you shouldn¡¯t use such language with your bosses.¡± So apparently, it was more believable to Freya that I served the pretty young women rather than the other way around. I think Monty was the most confused about all the interactions. He was now sitting and tilting his head and looking at each person in turn. It was Gareth who broke the stalemate by bursting into laughter. This caused a chain reaction for everyone else to follow with their own laughter. Soon we were all outside at the obstacle course, cheering Freya on as she slowly and methodically made her way through the easiest course. After she was done, we all did our own run and a moderate pace. Aelyn did it with the most flourish, using her tumbling and acrobatic skills to show off. Gareth did his run with brute force. I took my sweet old time, as did Leda. There was no need to impress my little sister. Pascal put in the maximum effort as he was the last to go. How had we gotten ourselves in a position to do training today? Was it our afternoon off? Next, we showed off our sword skills to Freya. She clapped and cheered everyone on. I let Pascal have a draw with me. He still wasn¡¯t close to my level of competency, but I didn¡¯t want to shatter the relationship I had mended with Pascal by besting him in front of our sister. Gareth and Aelyn put on the best show, like a scripted duel. Maybe it was scripted, as I knew Aelyn had done that as one of her acts. I then healed everyone in front of Freya to show her magic and then removed a few scars on the back of Freya¡¯s hand. This caused the girls, who were not aware of this aspect of my ability, to ask for scar removal as well. Leda immediately pulled off her shirt. She was still wearing a bra and asked me to get the scars on her lower back. Embarrassed, I said, ¡°This is something we should do in private.¡± This made Leda blush. Aelyn quipped, ¡°Yes, in private. Can I make an appointment for tonight?¡± I threw up my hands in utter defeat and walked away. Everyone fell in behind me like I was the mother duck, and they were my ducklings. I went to Callem¡¯s house, and they all followed me in. I turned to them, ¡°I am not removing anyone¡¯s scars!¡± I probably said it a little too heated, so I followed it up with, ¡°I am making ice cream right now! Get my buckets!¡± I don¡¯t think the comic scramble out the door could be made justice with words. Cilia and Gareth ran into each other and bounced in the door frame stopping their progress cold. Aelyn tried to navigate the bodies, but Gareth¡¯s quick recovery caused her to trip, causing a stack of three people in the doorway. Monty, who was outside, thought it was a game and jumped on top, trying to lick everyone¡¯s face in the tangle of limbs. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Thankfully, shortly I was alone in the kitchen with Wynna. The others were entertaining Freya and Monty, which I now knew was going to be interesting. Callem came out of his room and asked me to help him in the basement to move some things. So, I paused in my ice cream endeavors to head below. After initiating the illusion field, Callem spoke, ¡°Storme, I have some news from Sebastian. Well, from a friend of Sebastian anyway. Apparently, Callem Dregalla is alive and well and delving into dungeons these days for platinum!¡± He laughed at the absurdity of it all. I knew Callem hated dungeons. ¡°I think it is safe to say all the attention of your sudden wealth will be attributed to me and my new live friend, Wynna.¡± I started to speak but stopped. ¡°Storme, you need to be careful going forward, but you know that. I think Gareth¡¯s excursion into the capital has also been attributed to me. Casting my motivations for bringing Aeyln here was difficult. We had to rely on a few of Wynna¡¯s friends in the capital, and some of my old friends, what few I had left, think less of me for purchasing an indentured,¡± Callem said, but instead of being angry, he had a half smile. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I care nothing for my reputation, and the people that know me best wouldn¡¯t believe the shit we planted out there.¡± He was chuckling now. Callem sighed, ¡°Well, time to work, Storme.¡± Callem went over to the large chest, opened it, and pulled out some leaflets with his notes, two hand axes, some throwing daggers, and long hunting knives. ¡°You have some aether dust?¡± I nodded. ¡°Good. Storme, I want you to make these,¡± he indicated the array of weapons, ¡°but I want you to fold in the aether dust between the layers like a master smith. This will prep them to receive enchantments.¡± Callem moved everything to a table. ¡°I want you and Gareth to start carrying a hand axe, some knives, and throwing daggers. We will start training with them once your brother leaves. You need a permit to carry a sword in the capital and other cities but not these other weapons.¡± He moved toward the stairs. ¡°I have a new crate of coal in the far corner to turn the iron into steel.¡± Callem left, and I looked at the weapons before me. Two hand axes, one smaller and designed for throwing and the other heavier and used for cutting. Six different throwing daggers of various weights and lengths. Throwing knives were the thrower¡¯s preference for the most part, which was the reason for the variety. Of the six hunting knives, three specialized for skinning and dressing a beast, and three for combat and utility. How many did he want me to make of each? I created a large block of iron and went to get the coal. Since I didn¡¯t have the aether dust right now, I decided to just make a large block of steel and call it a day. I put everything back into the large crate and went upstairs to make ice cream. I felt like I was an arms dealer who had a front of an ice cream truck. The bucket was functioning as originally intended, and I made batches of chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, and cookie dough ice cream. I didn¡¯t have any Oreos, so I just made a batch of cookie dough, solidified it in the fridge, and then cut it into tiny cubes. It must have been about three hours of constant work with Wynna¡¯s help and taste-testing approval. We now had four flavors of ice cream in the aether-powered freezer unit, each around two gallows worth (8 liters). After the ice cream, I had to make dinner. I prepared chicken cordon blu this morning with wild rice and green beans. The cheese wasn¡¯t swiss but was sharp enough to substitute, and the sauce topping was quite rich as I had used leftover heavy cream from the ice cream. When I was close to finishing, Wynna called everyone in. The mass of bodies crowded the table designed for up to six now held nine settings. Callem brought out the good red juice, and everyone dug in. The dinner disappeared so fast that I was awe-struck. Everyone was clambering for dessert. I got large stew bowls and spooned a decent scoop of each flavor into each bowl. Before serving, I announced, ¡°No seconds tonight! Eat slowly with small spoons and savor the ice cream!¡± I felt like a mother telling her children to slow down and chew their food. Freya¡¯s eyes lit up with each bite, and everyone else was making contented sounds. The chocolate had been much improved this round, and I was also happy with the other flavors. I made my escape from the dishes and laughed when Freya tried to follow me. I told her only the cook escaped washing dishes. And there were a lot of dishes¡­well, that was my habit. I had never been a messy cook in the kitchen in my past life, but since I didn¡¯t have to clean up¡­ I had thirty minutes of privacy before the bunkhouse was rowdy again. Gareth and Cilia played with Monty, tug of war with one of Pascal¡¯s shirts. It was an old shirt, and Pascal was trying to sleep in one of the two comfy chairs. Leda was up in her bunk, and Aelyn joined me in our loft. ¡°Your sister is sweet,¡± Aelyn said. I paused in my studies, ¡°Do you have any siblings, Aelyn?¡± The pause made me think perhaps they no longer lived, ¡°Two brothers. Both are older by a few decades. I met them once.¡± She paused, and I sensed strain in her voice. ¡°They didn¡¯t accept me. They live in Cullinbar, an elven city far from here.¡± Her tone sounded hurt, but she continued, ¡°My human father passed when I was young. I think my mother said he had some children earlier in his life, but I never cared to search them out.¡± ¡°I am sorry, Aelyn.¡± I paused before returning to my studies when I heard her grab her own book off the shelf. Cilia made a bed up in the lower area for Freya as all the bunks were full. I was studying late into the night when I heard Freya say very loudly, ¡°Pascal stop farting!¡± I heard Aelyn whisper to me, ¡°He does fart a lot in his sleep.¡± Laughter ensued from all the lofts at Freya¡¯s words, and Pascal in response just ripped a long, loud one. After a large breakfast, Freya left in the morning, and we were back into our training routine. Wynna was tasked with escorting her. My magic smithing was going fairly well. I had to be careful not to accidentally charge any of the aether dust. If I did the metal I was mixing it with got extremely difficult to shape. I made everyone except Wynna a set of six throwing daggers based on their preferences during practice. There were three weights and sizes, and Callem decided which size and weight everyone would get and practice with. When the girls asked where the blades had come from, Callem said he had a good friend, a weaponsmith. Everyone got a full set of hunting knives as well. The quality of the blades made them have high value and Callem warned everyone about flashing them in public. The axes were where I was using my tier 3 aether dust. I made six throwing hand axes and six cutting hand axes. Callem had secreted them away to ship to an enchanter in the capital that he was friends with. Callem also held onto the knives and throwing daggers after we all practiced with them and cleaned them. My other project was working on a bigger broad sword for Gareth. As he grew in stature, he would outgrow the one I had already made him. Plus, I had promised him the best magic blade I could make. I used all my remaining aether dust on the blade for him, and it was impressive. I planned to give it to him on his 14th-day celebration, hopefully already enchanted. The weeks started to blur together, and soon Pascal was packing and getting ready to return. Three weeks had passed since Freya¡¯s visit, and I was hoping Callem would bring her back soon. Pascal was extremely content with his time on the farm. His sword skills had greatly improved, and he had learned a large array of other combat skills. He actually hugged me before he walked back home with his large pack. My progress on learning the dimensional closet spell had at least progressed. I ¡®felt¡¯ I was over halfway to imprinting the spell. So maybe another month or so. I was actually quite excited about the prospect of having the space. The day after Pascal left, I looked at my creations in the larder. I had nothing to really do. All my tasks were checked, and dinner was prepped upstairs. Maybe I should try something new. I held out my hand and focused, I had never seen the metal before, so I was going in blind. It took time to envision what I wanted, and with my eyes closed, I felt a small weight announce itself in my hand. It was a silvery-white mass about half the size of one regular coin. It was mithril. Checking my aether core, I was under 10% full, so this took about 80% of all my current aether to create since I had already done a fair amount of casting this morning. I put the metal on top of everything in the large crate for Callem to find. I was hoping it would knock his socks off! Chapter 38 A Kick to the Balls CHAPTER 38 A Kick to the Balls I was largely disappointed the next day when Callem didn¡¯t mention the mithril at breakfast. After stretching, I went down to the larder and found the mithril gone, so he must know. I prepped some pizza crusts and sauces for dinner. Callem liked a buffalo chicken pizza, and everyone else liked the more mundane toppings with tomato sauce. The morning practice was to be wrestling, and I couldn¡¯t read Callem¡¯s face. Did he not realize I had made mithril? My first match for wrestling was Aelyn. She was getting really good, and even though I had some strength over her, she almost always won due to her agility. That made me upset as I had thought myself a good wrestler in my past life, and getting beaten by a girl was irksome. She slipped behind me and locked hands around my waist, and leveraged me to the ground. She managed to keep my back to the ground and straddle my chest. I was about to bridge and rotate to get out of it when she put her face three inches from mine and whispered, ¡°I imprinted the spell.¡± She was up and off me and walking away smugly as I lay there in shock. I had lost the match and the race to imprint the dimensional spell. I pacified myself with the thought that hers was just a tier 1 and mine was tier 3. Aelyn had been getting more playful recently and I recalled she had said she would replicate Leda¡¯s actions when she learned the pocket space spell. I watched her hips sway as she walked away. Something stirred in me at her preening about. I quickly focused on my aether core burn to subdue the sexual arousal. It was like focusing on getting nauseous in order to tame my arousal. After two more matches in which Gareth dominated over Leda and then Aelyn I was matched against Cilia. As we met in the center of the ring, Cilia said, ¡°Aelyn rode you like a broken-down nag. I am going to do the same!¡± Well, smack talk was a new thing for our group over the last few weeks. It was introduced by Pascal and it had quickly turned on him as he had rarely won any contests unless Callem stacked the odds in his favor. The smack talk was all done in jest and to add some levity to the situation but for some reason, today Cilia¡¯s words irked me. I had not ramped up my intensity and focus for months. Cilia came at me and I easily grabbed her right wrist with my right hand pulling her slightly sideways and stepping behind her hips. I wrapped my left arm around her upper torso and pulled her off balance to spin her to the ground. The movement was so insanely smooth I was in awe of myself. I even caught a surprised visage on Gareth as I was bringing Cilia to the ground. I didn¡¯t let Cilia recover. In fact, I kept giving her false hope as she got back to knees I kept my hips pressed behind her and countered everything she did. It was energy-draining on both our parts but I just wanted her to wear herself out and concede the match without me getting an arm bar or leg lock on her. But she would not surrender and only tried harder. This went on for a good five minutes and I actually smiled at her fruitless resistance. Unfortunately, I started to get aroused and Cilia¡¯s grunts and efforts to push her hips back to create space for attempting escapes didn¡¯t help. I tried to focus on my aether core but it didn¡¯t help with her constantly pushing her hips into mine. I decided to break the engagement but Cilia made a quick roll underneath me when I let up for just a breath, she saw my semi-hard arousal. She got a look of disgust on her face, which turned to anger. She kneed me hard enough in the groin to get me a few inches airborne. Then using both legs drove both her heels into my scrotum. Without any aid from me, I was thrown back 10 feet by the powerful double kick. As I flew I could see the look of horror on her face at what she had just done. I landed and rolled myself into a ball immediately. I couldn¡¯t focus through the pain. I felt wetness on my hands as I covered my groin. I heard Callem yell for Aelyn to get a healing potion in the house in case it was needed. He was yelling for Gareth to restrain me and for Leda to use her healing on me. Through blurred vision, I realized I was screaming and saw Callem quickly pin my waist with one arm while Gareth restrained my arms. Callem pulled my pants down with his free arm. I heard Leda express some fear, ¡°It¡¯s so bloody and swollen!¡± Aelyn was whispering something I couldn¡¯t make out. Gareth spoke, ¡°It is not swollen, that is how big it always is.¡± His voice was laced with concern, not humor. Callem spoke next, ¡°The scrotum is torn and ruptured. I will get everything back in place and you can heal him Leda. LEDA! You need to heal him enough so he can regain his senses. He will finish the job, but you need to start!¡± Nothing Callem said made me feel better. Leda¡¯s voice quavered a bit, ¡°Are you sure it¡¯s not swollen?¡± ¡°LEDA! Heal him, it is not swollen, and the force was directed lower. And Gareth said that is his normal¡­size.¡± I passed out as I felt Callem putting everything back in place. I awoke in Callem¡¯s guest room with Wynna by the bedside. ¡°Storme it is going to be ok. Callem said if you are up for it you should try to heal yourself. Leda did some minor healing to close things up and stop the internal bleeding.¡± Wynna was holding my hand, ¡°Try to heal yourself,¡± she repeated. I focused and used my self-diagnostic spell on myself. It was still damaged and needed a lot of work. I channeled the aether to the spell to heal myself. It was discomforting as the healing took place and the spell moved everything to its correct place. After a few chain castings, I was completely healed. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. I sat up, but phantom pain erupted. The memory was too fresh. As I got out of bed, Wynna supported me, and I walked a little bow-legged for a moment before regaining composure. In the common room, I got to the couch and sat down across from Callem, who had been waiting for me apparently. He was accessing my mental and physical state with his golden eyes. ¡°I¡¯m good, Callem. Or at least I will be in a little bit.¡± ¡°Storme, no one should go through something like that as young as you are. This is the third time I have found you in grievous injury.¡± Callem adjusted his position, ¡°We have two options Storme. We can do nothing and continue as we have done or¡­¡± he took a deep breath. ¡°Normally, I wouldn¡¯t suggest anything this extreme¡­especially for someone so young. We could train you to function through the pain. If we do so, you should be able to access your spells no matter how much pain you are in. It is not an easy path, and I am not sure if it is the right one for you.¡± Callem waited for my response, ¡°So you would what, injure me and I would try to cast spells?¡± This did not sound good to me. ¡°It would be a gradual thing. There are exercises, focus exercises, I will teach you in order to focus at first and endure other stimuli. Then yes, we would gradually increase your pain tolerance¡­¡± Callem¡¯s golden eyes never looked so torn. ¡°Is this something you have done before?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, and I have done it many times in my past to others. The elite marines, not the Wolfguard mind you, the elite marines. We used to take the top twenty men and women every year from the sixth year of the naval academy who were slated to be marines. Usually, seven or eight passed from that group each year and they became the elite marines, the pride of the Skyholme navy, the shock troopers. The program was discontinued in favor of expanding the Wolfguard and assigning them to skyships in times of need. Well,¡± Callem sighed a pained breath, ¡°the entire remainder of these elite marines I personally trained, 137 strong, was sent on a mission to seize the Sadian town of Forestdeep. It was a suicide mission but they succeeded. When they sent a communication to bring in reinforcements¡­no reinforcements came. They held out for eight days¡­¡± Callem was lost in bad memories, and I think his eyes watered. ¡°Ok, Callem I am in.¡± I didn¡¯t want to become some badass spec ops guy. But I did want to increase my chances of survival. I was certain Gareth would want in as well. Hell, he would probably think it was all fun. ¡°When do we start?¡± I asked tentatively. Callem sighed, ¡°We will start with meditation and focusing exercises.¡± He got up and grabbed a thick book on the counter. ¡°In the first chapters of this book are two important meditation exercises. One teaches you to focus on one thing, ignoring other things. The second set of meditation exercises starts you down a path of becoming aware of your pain senses and turning them off. You will need to practice and grasp them well before we go any further.¡± ¡°Thanks, Callem,¡± I said and walked out shortly after. Cilia was outside the door waiting for me. She approached me and stood in front of me. I had some phantom pain seeing her, reliving the experience. Cilia spoke was sadness in her voice, ¡°I am sorry.¡± She breathed deeply. ¡°When you¡­when I saw¡­I remembered¡­I panicked¡­I saw his face, not yours¡­¡± I put up my hands to stop her. I thought briefly before speaking, ¡°You did the right thing Cilia. This is why you are here. I do not hold anything against you. If you are ever in that situation again do exactly the same, don¡¯t hesitate.¡± I paused. ¡°I am sorry that I¡­¡± Cilia stopped me, ¡°No, don¡¯t apologize.¡± She waved me off. ¡°Let¡¯s just drop it.¡± She tried to make levity of the mess with her next statement, ¡°Leda was very impressed with your manhood.¡± I rolled my eyes. I showed her the book Callem had given me, ¡°Callem gave me some homework. I should get to it.¡± As I was walking away Cilia said, ¡°Callem gave me the punishment to make dinner tomorrow. So you have it off.¡± I stopped and turned, ¡°Why is Callem punishing everyone?¡± I grinned at her. ¡°I better help you prepare it.¡± I managed to make it to my loft after getting checked by everyone. Aelyn climbed up just as I was opening the book Callem had given me. ¡°So Storme, are you going to move back to the other loft?¡± Aelyn asked. ¡°If Gareth asks, I will,¡± I replied. I started reading. The best part of the book was it had some aether magic, which helped guide the reader. I multi-tasked while talking. ¡°Good, he won¡¯t ask. I just talked to him and told him you sleep better away from his loud breathing at night.¡± She was smiling. ¡°Do you want to see my spell?¡± I nodded and gave her my full attention. She cast the spell, and a small portal appeared in front of her. I looked inside, and it had a bunch of Aelyn¡¯s clothes. ¡°You know if you put all your clothes in there, I won¡¯t be able to clean them,¡± I said jokingly. I had been cleaning her bedding and clothes since I had moved back to the loft. ¡°The spell is impressive. Callem has some weapons I made for you. You should store them in your space in case you need them.¡± The conversation petered out, and I started in on the meditation techniques Callem had given me with the aid of the book. The next few weeks, I found my plate ridiculously full. I was spending every waking hour training or studying. The meditation techniques were not difficult to learn, but mastering them took time, even with a magical book guiding me and Callem answering questions for me. The great news is the focus meditation was helping me advance in my imprinting of the dimensional spell. It took me just over two weeks to learn both meditation techniques to Callem¡¯s satisfaction. I was far from being a master but had enough of the basics for him to proceed. The next phase was meditation while under duress. Noise while running the obstacle course, in sword practice, while cooking, and whatever else Callem could think of. I was a little shocked when I was meditating while working on my spell and it imprinted! It had taken almost two months and finally, I had it. The new year was coming soon, just a few days away so the timing was perfect. Chapter 39 The Dimensional Closet CHAPTER 39 The Dimensional Closet The spatial spell was finally complete and imprinted. For the first evolution at level one, I allowed the entrance to be altered to any size. The space itself was a cube, 10¡¯ to a side (3m). The maximum size of the doorway was one side of the cube, but with evolution, I could reduce that size. The side and orientation of the doorway were fixed on the initial casting of the spell to the caster. When accessing the space, all I needed to do was focus inwardly on my core and open the doorway. The doorway was fluid and couldn¡¯t cut a person or object in half when summoned, that knowledge was included in the spellbook. I left my loft and went to prepare dinner early. I ignored Gareth¡¯s question asking what I was making for dinner. He was excited because I was starting an hour early it had to be something special. Inside the farmhouse, I found Callem and Wynna on the couch sipping some wine. Wynna had retrieved her entire stockpile of fine wine from her old residence in the capital, some three hundred bottles, and they took up a corner of the cellar below. I saw the mithril chunk on the table near the half-finished wine bottle. ¡°Storme!¡± Wynna said, ¡°You are early! Are you making a dessert tonight? You didn¡¯t mention anything this morning.¡± I studied her for a second. Still nothing about the mithril, it was right there! Fine, I could play this game. I hadn¡¯t made any more mithril, I had just been adding platinum and gold to the growing hoard in the old cask. ¡°No, just heading to the larder for¡­for some juice.¡± Yeah, that sounded lame, but I was thirsty. Callem raised an eyebrow figuring I was up to something. ¡°Hold up a minute. We should talk.¡± I stopped at Callem¡¯s words. Finally, he would talk about the mithril. ¡°The end of the year celebration is coming in a few days. I thought it would be a good idea if we could do a gift exchange before everyone went home.¡± I stopped to process his words, confusion on my face. ¡°Yes, you can head to Hen¡¯s Hollow for the celebration. I will be there with Wynna at Ennet¡¯s house anyway.¡± This was great news. ¡°Also, Storme, Wynna, and Ennet are headed to the capital tomorrow. They need to do paperwork as their old residence has finally been sold. We were just discussing that you may want them to pick up gifts for your friends or family?¡± ¡°Is it ok if they use my coins?¡± I asked hesitantly, and I moved to sit on the couch opposite the pair, some possibilities opening before me. Wynna supplied her view, ¡°No, I will not use your coins. We are getting 64 platinum for the old building we owned in the city. I will use those coins, and you can repay me from your¡­magic coins,¡± she giggled at the thought of it. ¡°The knowledge that I had sold the house in the capital will make it more feasible for you to add to your balance at the depository as well.¡± ¡°Ok,¡± I thought briefly, getting excited about increasing my balance. But what should I get my friends? ¡°Can you get me three, no four potion belts, each with six potion slot holders. That will cover Gareth, Callem, father, and Pascal. And get two minor stamina and two minor healing potions for each.¡± Potions were only one to three ounces (30 to 90 ml) of fluid and came in vials. ¡°Better make those potions in combat vials,¡± I added. A combat vial was a small glass vial dipped in silver. The silver was engraved on the outside with a durability rune that could be recharged. If the vial was properly washed it could be reused. The stopper on the vials had the potion¡¯s name and its expiration date. The shelf life of potions was usually 6 months to a year, depending on the skill of the alchemist and his kit. A great alchemist could usually get their potions to have a shelf life of over ten years according to Gareth¡¯s research. No such skilled alchemist resided in Skyholme. Callem was the one who mentioned the combat vials to me more than once from his studies on delving into dungeons. He mentioned there were preservation runes to extend the shelf life of potions as well but regular vials could only take one runic inscription. Any more and the runic could affect the potion within. Wynna nodded then added, ¡°I think Cilia would like that as well.¡± Oh, I hadn¡¯t even thought about Cilia and Leda. I nodded in the affirmation that it was a good idea. What to get Leda then? Wynna supplied, ¡°I think Leda would like the spell book Arcane Missile. She mentioned it once when we talked.¡± Wynna waived her hand like it was no big thing. ¡°Is that a tier 1 spell?¡± I asked, unfamiliar with it. ¡°Yes, it should be seven or eight gold and is fairly common. According to Leda it has great range but minimal impact on its target when it is first inscribed. After a few evolutions, it can be used well in combat. I think she means to act in support of Cilia with it from our conversations.¡± I nodded. ¡°That sounds great. Maybe I should get a spell for Aelyn as well? I was thinking of Shadow Merge or Quick Step? She is currently working on the obfuscate spell.¡± I waited for Wynna¡¯s wisdom. ¡°Quick Step would be better for her,¡± Callem interjected. ¡°It would help her in combat more. Shadow Merge requires the mage to be stationary, I think,¡± I nodded to his implied question. ¡°Movement is her strength, and she should maximize it.¡± So who did I have left on my list left? Mother, Freya, Monty, Wynna, and probably Ennet. ¡°Can you get some treats for Monty in the city? Gareth said he saw a few pet stores.¡± Wynna said no problem. For mother¡­¡±Can you get a nice set of leather graving tools for my mother? I don¡¯t know how much they cost but something expensive.¡± ¡°I know just the place in the city Storme. It won¡¯t be an issue. What about your sister?¡± Wynna asked as I was still thinking. ¡°How about some basic textbooks? Hen¡¯s Hollow doesn¡¯t have access to good education material, and Callem keeps reminding me that the education in the capital is far superior to what we learn out here.¡± Wynna smiled at that. ¡°Perfect! She may not be too happy with you, but it is a fantastic gift!¡± Wynna¡¯s eyes were lively, probably thinking about Freya¡¯s response. ¡°Then you should probably get her some candy too. I will give that to her after she opens the books.¡± I said, chuckling to myself. ¡°For you and Ennet, how about some wine? I don¡¯t know what to get you two, but I count you friends and owe you a lot.¡± ¡°That would be perfect as well, Storme. There are two vintages I have wanted to try. My friends in the city said a shipment just came in from the lowlands.¡± Wynna and Callem both looked happy that I hadn¡¯t forgotten the two master readers. I rose and headed downstairs. Still no mention of the mithril though. I would not lose this battle of patience. In the basement, I opened my dimensional space. I made the doorway the size of a normal door. First, I checked the edges of the door. Not sharp but firm and slightly elastic. I knew the door couldn¡¯t close if an object was wedged in the archway. If there was an object wedged, it would be expelled outside the doorway so it could close. Inside was¡­dark. The sides of the box were all matt black. Evolutions could change that, but that would be a waste of evolutions. I was still contemplating the fact that this space was essentially inside my aether core. So the paradox of having my aether core inside and still being to enter it was still perplexing to me. There were two paragraphs in the spell book explaining how it was possible, but I didn¡¯t grasp the logic. There were so many evolutions that I wanted. The expansion of the space allowed the box to increase two feet in any direction (0.6 m). Right now, the space was sufficiently large for me. The next evolution that I wanted to learn was the material exchange ability. This allowed me to put things into the space by touching them. I could also remove things from the space. I needed a single point of reference when the evolution occurred, so that was typically either the right or left hand. I walked out of the space. I had a semi-cheat I was eager to try. The spell cost about 40 aether units to cast. This was much higher than a typical tier three spell cost. Tier 3 spells typically cost about 4 aether units to cast. After it was cast the dimensional space reduced a mage¡¯s aether pool by 4 available aether units. If you canceled the spell you got that aether back. Items within the space when the spell was canceled got thrown back into the world. The book clearly noted that canceling the spell and a mage dying were two different events, though. When a mage died, their aether core collapsed, meaning everything that was stored in their aether dimensional storage disappeared as well. Well, my cheat was to cancel and recast the spell until I ran out of aether to try and level it up. It was one of the suggested methods in the spell book. It took about five castings to get to level 2 and about twenty total castings to get to level three. For me, the 800 aether was about 60% of my total aether. A normal mage might need a few days to accomplish this! I started the process and found I needed to wait about a minute between castings after canceling the space in my core. This was because my aetheric heartburn got super intense as the dimensional space dispersed. That had not been noted in the book! But maybe most mages who learned the spell already had their aether core fully formed. It took four castings, and I was able to evolve the spell to get the exchange property. I chose my left hand as the point of reference since I was left-handed. Fourteen more castings, and the spell hit level three, and I choose my next evolution. I choose stasis. It made items within age at one-tenth of their normal speed. This would allow me to store cooking ingredients. I could evolve this aspect again to slow aging to one hundredth with another evolution. And yes, this was an excellent cheat to extend the shelf life of potions as well. Many alchemists and herbalists learned the spell just for this reason. Aelyn¡¯s pocket space spell only slowed aging by half with her first similar evolution, so the tier three version of the spell and its evolution was much more powerful. The one negative, or maybe it was positive, was the dimensional space could not be closed with a person inside of it. Well, a person or being that had an aetheric field anyway. I couldn¡¯t use the exchange ability to bypass this either, so no zapping enemies into my storage. Small insects were not an issue with no aetheric field, but a small mouse sneaking in? The mouse needed to be found and expelled or killed to close the doorway! The good thing was since the space was essentially part of the mage finding the living creature preventing the door from closing was fairly easy. There was a track of using evolutions for the mage to hide within his own personal space detailed in the spellbook. It would take up six spell evolutions, but I was not planning to make that investment. Other evolutions I was planning to add were air recycling and temperature control evolutions. If I was going to put organic material in the space, I needed to keep the air clean. The temperature control may not be needed unless we were hiking in a desert and needed a cool place to recover, or perhaps we were on a glacier and needed someplace warm to retreat to. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. There was a parade of footsteps upstairs. Everyone was here for dinner. It was usually plated and ready to eat when they arrived, but I had gotten distracted down here. Well, they would have to wait a few minutes. I looked at my space before closing the door. I needed shelving as Sebastian had in his space to organize my things. I went upstairs, and everyone was dumbfounded. Where was the food? ¡°Hold your stomachs. I will get out our dinner soon. Wynna is going to go to the capital for shopping, so if you need anything, ask her.¡± That started a flurry of activity. Everyone crowded Wynna, and the conversation was going full force as Callem revealed we would be free to go home for the festival, and our group would be exchanging gifts before everyone left. I mixed two large salads with dressing. The stove quickly got the water boiling, and the fettuccini was fresh from Wynna this morning, so it cooked quickly in the water. The alfredo sauce was brought to temp slowly as it would burn if I heated it too fast. Soon I was plating piles of noodles and cheese sauce. Callem had everyone stop their verbal battering of Wynna and had them go and eat. Callem went downstairs and got two large pitchers of fruit juice and muttered he was running low. The conversation at dinner was very animated as everyone wanted things from the city and to talk with Wynna privately later to tell them what to get others on their behalf. Wynna, for her part, was already taking notes. I was sure the notes already included everything I had mentioned earlier. I wondered if I could get Wynna to get me some shelves for my dimensional space. I thought about what I would need before asking her. I would need two shelf units ten feet long and fairly deep, about 2 feet. If I got a shelf every two feet in height, that would be at 0, 2, 4, 6, and 8, so five shelves on each. They also should be heavy-duty. Oh, and I should get some book ends. No, maybe a specialized bookshelf for the third wall. That shelf wouldn¡¯t need to be as deep, just 18¡±, to hold only books. I would have to wait, though, as Wynna¡¯s appointment calendar was full after dinner, so much so that Callem canceled class this evening. I got the last appointment after Aelyn, who, at Wynna¡¯s urging, was meeting her as well. Back in the bunkhouse, I was getting everything packed. I planned to bring all my possessions into my storage. Aelyn returned from doing dishes, and at first, she was quite upset at seeing me packing my belongings. She had thought I was preparing to move back to Gareth¡¯s side of the bunkhouse but quickly calmed when I explained about my storage space. She asked if I wanted the obfuscate spell back, and I told her to return it after she had imprinted it. We spent the next hour talking about the spell and how I had found it useful, and how to manipulate the spell once she imprinted it. Aelyn was called in to see Wynna when Leda returned from her session, so I was alone. I needed to choose my next spell. It was going to be either the alarm or aether shield spell¡­.or maybe lightning reflexes? Lightning reflexes was a tier 4 spell, though and I had struggled with a tier 3 spell. I needed more practice. I decided on alarm as it shouldn¡¯t take too long to imprint. It would be the only book left on shelf after tomorrow when I moved all my possessions to my space. Twenty minutes later, I was called in to see Wynna as Aelyn returned. She was alone on the couch and had a leaflet of notes. ¡°So Storme, have you thought of other things you need from the city?¡± She smiled but looked a little tired. ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry about me, Storme, I will have runners in the city get most of these things. I already planned to hire a skyship to get my furnishings moved to Hen¡¯s Hollow, so transport is not an issue.¡± My eyes lit up at the last bit. ¡°Wynna, Callem already has a list of the rarer cooking ingredients I need, but I was hoping to get some shelving.¡± I described what I wanted, and she nodded along, taking notes. ¡°There is an excellent carpenter who has a large warehouse in the lower city. I should be able to find what you need there. It may not be to your exact size requirements, but it should be close. So three shelf units for your dimensional space that measures 10-foot square(3m)?¡± I nodded. ¡°That will be an impressive space, Storme. I have seen the smaller dimensional spaces, and they are incredibly convenient. Is there anything else you will need for your space? A chair? A desk?¡± I broke the news, ¡°Oh, I imprinted the spell already, I just need to furnish it.¡± Wynna looked up, and I was happy to see her amazement. Callem, as if he had been listening, came out of the bathroom. ¡°Really?¡± Callem asked in disbelief. I nodded. ¡°At your age¡­tier 3 spell, right?¡± I nodded again. ¡°That is amazing.¡± They both congratulated me on what I guessed was a remarkable achievement. I mean, I had earned it with all my work, but it still felt good to receive the praise. We returned to my shopping list to outfit my new space. I started by detailing the three shelves I wanted for each of the walls and then continued, ¡°Oh, I think large light stones, twelve, I think. And a comfy reading chair¡­and a small table, maybe two feet by four feet. Ten small casks of water too. Best to have water at hand if needed. I will add food stores as I go.¡± Her eyes widened a little as I expanded my list. I thought it best to stop there, though. I thanked her for helping and went to my loft in the bunkhouse. Aelyn was already asleep. The next day at breakfast, everyone was animated. Wynna was leaving right after the meal, and everyone had a few additions to their list after they had thought overnight. I added four casks of apple-pear wine. It had very little alcohol and was generally a kid¡¯s drink, but I liked it. A cask was roughly four gallons (16 L), so that should last me a while¡­I told Wynna to add ten mugs to my list, which got weird stares from everyone. I had revealed my space to the group just yet. After stretching that morning, I moved everything from my loft to my space, with the exception of my bedding and the alarm spellbook. I would move it out in the morning and multicast the spell to try to raise the level as much as possible before Wynna returned, and then once I added the shelving, I would move everything inside permanently. I returned Leda¡¯s enchanting primers to her bed and found her sheets smelled like lilacs¡­she was evolving her spell. I grabbed the cleanliness spell book and brought it to be added to my other things. She had mentioned she was done with it but just hadn¡¯t returned it. I was just making pizza tonight and trying out some new toppings, seven pizza crusts in total were being prepared. I would add the toppings before cooking. I wasn¡¯t the only one distracted as training progressed during the day. Apparently, everyone was thinking about the gifts they had gotten for others and what everyone might get them. Callem started to get frustrated at the lack of focus and made us run the obstacle course. The winner would get to decide the topic in lessons tonight. Without Wynna here, Callem would just turn it into a discussion, most likely. He was going to start us at intervals, a stupid suggestion I had made. We would start in reverse order of our best finish by our times. If we all ran our best time, then we would finish at the same time. The start model gave a lively run of the course, but I hated when Gareth started behind me. He always gave me a little extra shove when he passed me, and yes, he always passed me. Leda started first, then Cilia, then me, then Aelyn, and finally Gareth. I decided I wanted to win today, so I took risks. Jumping off 12¡¯ (4m) walls and rolling down cargo netting. I thought I had the win with just a fifty-foot climb up a ladder and fire pole descent and a short sprint left. But then Aelyn was on me during the climb and just as I was about to reach the top she pulled even. She gave me a cheeky grin as she passed me. Gareth somehow also swung up onto the platform right after her, passing me as well. They were human squirrels. Aelyn was on the fireman¡¯s pole first, but Gareth was right on top. Somehow his descent was faster, and he flattened her at the bottom and sprinted the 20 yards (18 m) to Callem for the win. I was dumbstruck and helped Aelyn up when I got to the bottom, and we hobbled to the finish together. I did have an itch in the back of my mind. There was no way Gareth should have caught Aelyn. Did she intentionally let Gareth pass her? The others stumbled in after us. Callem said, ¡°Excellent! You all improved on your best time! Three times in this format, and three times you all improved!¡± I didn¡¯t like the tone of Callem¡¯s voice. It was one of excitement, like a kid with a new toy. A toy I had given him. Gareth had recovered enough to speak. ¡°Dungeons!¡± He yelled hoarsely. ¡°Tonight, we will all talk about dungeons!¡± We all moaned. It was inevitable, and it was probably why everyone had pushed hard today. Gareth only wanted to talk about dungeons. The rest of the day progressed, and after dinner, with everyone clean and healed, we settled in for tonight¡¯s discussion. Leda sat crossed-legged in a loose shirt, and her bust was visible, and Gareth kept getting his eyes drawn back to it. Callem started, ¡°Ok, Gareth, so what are we going to talk about in regard to dungeons tonight?¡± Gareth sat up and said, ¡°Instance dungeons. They were in the new book that you got for me. They are rare and interesting. From what I read, they are mostly found in young dungeons. They allow multiple groups inside at once, each group experiencing a different dungeon. Similar but not exactly the same terrain.¡± Gareth rushed to the end. Callem looked a little aggrieved. ¡°Ah, instance dungeons.¡± Callem hesitated and then continued. ¡°Let me tell you the story of my son, Gylan.¡± Callem got up and got a bottle of wine and poured himself a glass, sat down, and resumed. ¡°Gylan was an energetic boy. From the time he could walk, he never stopped moving. As he grew he made friends, many friends. They got it into their heads to be dungeon divers. I supported him. I trained him. He finished third or fourth in the Annuals every year at the academy.¡± Callem sighed. ¡°He was the top swordsman at the adventurer¡¯s academy. But there were twin boys from the Torrent family enrolled at the naval academy. They were exceptional lads in their own right and had advantages in terms of abilities. Well, I digress. Gylan and his friends were all at the top of their class in the adventurer¡¯s academy and, on graduating, started their own delving company. They were very successful in the dungeons on Skyholme but soon wanted new challenges. They got a transport to the lowlands and settled in an adventurer¡¯s guild town.¡± Callem sipped his wine. ¡°An adventures guild town is a town that is located in remote areas but has access to multiple dungeons nearby. The town was called Hero¡¯s Rest if I remember correctly. The town was adjacent to an instance dungeon. It allowed up to twenty-three groups to enter at a time. Gylan¡¯s group was there for over a year, running that dungeon and others nearby, amassing fame and wealth. They did extremely well, and I talked with my son every few days using stones. They were getting ready to move to a big city with a more challenging dungeon. Well, I didn¡¯t hear from Gylan for weeks, and I was getting worried. I went to the town of Hero¡¯s Rest.¡± Callem drank the rest of the cup and refilled it. We were all listening in rapt attention. ¡°The instance dungeon had evolved. Seventeen dungeon diver teams were inside at the time, Gylan¡¯s group was one of them. Ninety-eight men and women in total. Only six made it out alive, one from Gylan¡¯s team. She was shell-shocked when I found her in the tavern. She told me the horrors of being inside during the transition. The adventurer¡¯s guild said the turmoil was mostly due to the instance dungeon transitioning to a regular dungeon with just one instance from 23 separate instances. The adventurer¡¯s guild was less concerned with those who had been lost and more focused on mapping the newly tiered-up dungeon. So you see, no matter how well you are prepared, dungeons are unpredictable.¡± Callem stopped, and I hoped this might dissuade Gareth from delving. After a few minutes of awkward silence, Gareth spoke. ¡°Callem dungeons are notoriously difficult but fair. When a dungeon tiers up, it conflicts with other dungeons as it tries to expand its footprint within the aether ley lines. Do you think some of those adventurers who didn¡¯t return were pushed into other dungeons? It is extremely rare, but you can travel between dungeons¡­¡± Callem was already shaking his head, no. ¡°Yes, the adventurer¡¯s guild thought that might be a possibility. But,¡± he sighed, ¡°In the decades that have passed not one of those adventurers who perished in that dungeon has returned to my knowledge.¡± Gareth persisted, ¡°But Callem, he could have exited anywhere with the sphere¡­he could have emerged millions of miles away! Or even on one of the 23 moons!¡± Callem was shaking his head. ¡°Hope is a powerful thing, Gareth. I will always have it, but no diviner or magic could locate Gylan.¡± Callem looked at Gareth, ¡°I will not try to alter your path Gareth. But understand the dangers ahead of you on the path you wish to walk.¡± That ended the night. We returned to the bunkhouse, and I noticed Gareth at least looked contemplative. Unfortunately, just before I climbed into my bunk, Gareth whispered to me, ¡°We should go and try to find Callem¡¯s son when we go to the lowlands.¡± Well, I liked that about Gareth, he was an optimist. Chapter 40 Gift Exchange CHAPTER 40 Gift Exchange Callem confirmed we could head to Hen¡¯s Hollow at breakfast the next day for the festival. We would be able to spend it with our families, which had everyone¡¯s excitement renewed after last night¡¯s somber story. The end of year/start of new year festival was a huge event. Leda decided to head home to spend it with her family in the capital, and Cilia was going to be going with her. They were going to use the transports in Hen¡¯s Hollow, as Sebastian was not coming to retrieve them. The festival itself would be five days long all across Skyholme. The first day of the festival was a family event called the Day of Remembrance. This was a day when everyone remembered those who passed during the year and those who passed prior. Usually, the time was spent telling stories of those people being remembered. In the evening, you exchanged gifts with friends and loved ones, kind of like Christmas. It was a substitute for not celebrating birthdays. The second day of the festival was a celebration of the past year¡¯s events, and the town commons in Hen¡¯s Hollow got extremely lively. It was a big social event with dances, food, alcohol, games, and plays. The event¡¯s third day celebrated the coming year and was a continuation of the previous day¡¯s partying. There were usually large groups singing together in the streets, and lots of drinking also happened on the festival¡¯s third day. Usually, some type of illusionary fireworks display happened in the darkest part of the evening. Well, our little town hired a mage for illusionary fireworks every year. In the cities, they had actual fireworks to go with large illusions in the sky. The fourth day of the festival had a morning meal which was supposed to be spent with loved ones or someone you were courting. And that was the last event of the festival. The rest of the fourth day was ¡®clean up,¡¯ and the fifth day was the day of recovery from partying so hard to get ready to return to work. I was looking forward to the festival, seeing Freya and my family. The training today progressed slowly as we all anticipated Wynna¡¯s return. We were not disappointed as a modest-sized transport skyship landed on the commons. It was not a beautiful ship like the Wind Splitter. It was a clunky, boxy thing but functional. It didn¡¯t glide and move gracefully and was constantly making adjustments to its approach. There was an open upper deck, and Wynna and Ennet were on it waving to us as it landed. After the ship landed Wynna came and hugged Callem and then directed the unloading of the ship. Lots of furniture and crates came out of the hold. The shelves Wynna got me were beautiful. She said they had a hard white maple from a dungeon. They were molded by spell magic and had an organic look to them with some curves. There were three shelves, and they were all the same size. The wood was white with thin black growth lines, I thought zebra wood would have been a better description. The size was off, though. The shelves were all nine feet long (2.75m), there were six shelves on each unit, and the depth of them was 22 inches (0.55m), the top shelf was just over seven feet in height (2.1m). So unfortunately, they would not all fit if one went on each of the three sides¡­unless I expanded the space. A beautiful desk made of the same wood came next, and it was large, 3¡¯ x 6¡¯ (.9m x 1.8m), and it was an office-style desk with drawers and everything. Not something I requested. Then a chair came, it was a swivel rocker from the same wood and was padded with dark brown leather. Wynna came to stand next to me. ¡°Sorry, Storme, I couldn¡¯t break up the set. There is a bed, armoire, two burrows, and two blanket chests too.¡± I watched as the men from the ship unloaded everything and brought it to the basement. ¡°Thank you, Wynna. The wood and craftsmanship are beyond reproach,¡± I said. It wasn¡¯t a lie. I went to the basement while everyone else was upstairs picking through their haul from Wynna. She had packed everyone¡¯s requests in individual crates with their name on them. Well, I could jam all this furniture into my space. The bed, at least, was just the frame. It was not assembled and would be bigger than a king bed if I had a mattress and was put together. The wood was extremely dense as it was incredibly heavy. I would need help getting everything into my space. Fortunately, Callem came down the stairs. ¡°We have forty or so minutes before we need to head back up. Let¡¯s get everything into your storage space.¡± With that, I opened the space with a full 10¡¯ x 10¡¯ (3m x 3m) door and Callem helped me cram everything inside. We lined up the three shelves to the right. I really only needed access to one shelf currently. Everything else we packed and stacked, starting at the back of the space. The desk and chair were the last items put inside. When we finished, I had just enough room to access one shelf and utilize the desk and chair. I still needed the casks of water and wine, but I could wait on them. I closed the portal and smiled. Even though the space was a mess, it was more like a hoarder¡¯s storage closet, I had made progress in my plans for the spell. I went upstairs with Callem and found the skyship gone. It was headed to Hen¡¯s Hollow to unload the rest of the cargo to Ennet¡¯s house. There were stacks of things still in the practice yard. Callem clapped his hands and started directing us. We were going to be getting a workout. Gareth got the job of bringing my casks to the basement, and I had to slide crates inside the house with Cilia. One crate was labeled with my name, I checked quickly, and it was the gifts I had gotten everyone. It took everyone a few hours to get everything where Wynna wanted it. The guest room was now packed with furniture and crates. Wynna tried to convince Callem to expand the house to include two more bedrooms. There was a lot of excitement in the bunkhouse as each of us had a crate with our names on it. I wondered what everyone had gotten me. I was looking forward to finding out tomorrow after dinner. We ended up getting a short break before weapons training. Callem had us back on axes and throwing daggers today. We were supposed to wear them while in town during the festival for protection. After dinner, Wynna canceled the discussion so she could unpack. This gave me time to study. I also went to the basement and loaded my casks into my storage space on the shelves. I put down some old clothes to protect the shelves, worried I might damage the beautiful wood, but it was probably not necessary. The space looked like the beginnings of a hoarder¡¯s closet. Back in my loft, I reread some of the notes in the spell book for the dimensional closet. One particular note near the end of the book I read a few times pondering. It said a dimensional closet cast before an aether core fully matured would expand with the core. I had not thought too much of the note as it said the space would only expand around 6% in volume if cast early after a core was awakened within a year. This was not a huge increase, but there was no mention if an aether core ability could affect that percentage. Would my tier 4 greater aether core affect the space? It made me think that recasting the spell over and over to increase the level might be a bad thing as it would be resetting the space. Right now, I could think of it as a seed in my aether space that could grow. With a tier 4 enhanced core would the percentage be 24%? Or if it held that each tier was three times as powerful as the last, could the multiple be 81 times? That would mean a possible expansion of the space by 486%! The note in the spellbook did mention it was a volume expansion, not linear. So that would be 1,000 square feet to start¡­going to at most 4,860 square feet. I got out a pencil and paper and did some math¡­that would make the new space about a 16.5 foot box. Well, I really hoped that would be the case. I could check on the shelves and see if they got further from the walls as my core matured to confirm my hypothesis. I didn¡¯t study too much before going to sleep. Everyone else was going through their crates in secret. I did think that I should be able to imprint the alarm spell shortly after the festival. Breakfast in the morning was still lively, with everyone teasing everyone about what they might have gotten them. The big reveal would be tomorrow night. The day after, we would be heading to Hen¡¯s Hollow. The banter continued through stretching. I was quiet and anticipating playing with my dimensional space. I prepared a simple marinade for chicken thighs, breasts, and wings for dinner. I would grill them tonight and cook some long-grain rice with diced vegetables to go with it. The preparation took me all of 30 minutes. That gave me about 90 minutes to play in the basement. I did start Wynna on some chocolate eclairs for dessert while she was getting lunch ready. She was a good baker but still not a great cook. She was making some progress. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. In the basement, I opened the space and looked closely at the wall and shelf¡­about one finger width separated them¡­but was the shelf flush to the wall last night when we brought it in on this side of the space? I muscled the shelf against the wall after taking the casks off it. I doubled checked, and it was flush now. I replaced the casks. I closed the doorway. Ok, I thought it was time to practice the exchange ability for the spell. I started with my dragon bone dice. They were lucky, and I got some insights from them. When I had an item appear it was oriented as it was in the space. I learned this by studying the pips on the dice as I pulled them from my space a few times. This meant I would need to make sure any weapons would have their hilts oriented toward me when I stored them in the space. Putting objects in the space was easier than I thought. I had a quick flash in my mind of the space and could place the object anywhere inside where it would fit. Apparently, gravity didn¡¯t take hold until the doorway was opened. I did realize that I hadn¡¯t needed Callem¡¯s help yesterday to get everything inside. Next, I tried removing one of the shelves from the space and found I needed to have an area available for the shelf to appear that had only air. The shelf displaced the air causing a small pop when it did appear due to its volume. This also drew some aether from my core, which surprised me as the evolution did not say the ability required aether to use. The dice drew so little aether I hadn¡¯t noticed, apparently. So the mass of the object exchanged with space affected how much aether was needed. In order to measure the aether I started moving the shelf back and forth. My best guess was it took 17 exchanges of the shelf to use up 1 unit of aether. The shelf unit weighed around 300 pounds (136 kg). So one aether could move 5,000 lbs (2300 kg). I then spent time rearranging the space with the exchange ability. I checked on the leveling progress of the spell¡­ and yes it had moved to about 20% toward level 4. This was fantastic! I could level the spell by using the exchange ability! I went upstairs and checked on Wynna. I helped her finish the eclairs. As I was filling the eclairs I thought, could I fill my aether space directly with the metal I created? Essentially making the metal within my dimensional space. It took a lot of focus on my part, but I succeeded! I could now empty my aether core at night by making coins directly into my storage closet! As was typical, my mind was churning over other thoughts during training. I found myself isolating myself from everyone and focusing on making gold coins on the shelves in my space one at a time. As the day progressed, I found I had mastered the skill and could make the coins as easily into the space as outside of it. At dinner, I grilled the chicken and cooked the rice and vegetables. It wasn¡¯t my best effort, but everyone enjoyed it and the eclairs even more. I think the eclairs were Leda¡¯s new favorite food, and she had chocolate icing on her lips and cheeks. I got some free time while everyone cleaned up. I checked my crate to make sure all my gifts were there. Each was wrapped in a white cloth. I rearranged everything inside the crate for ease of access for tomorrow night. Tonight¡¯s discussion was led by Callem. The entire 90-minute session revolved around recognizing people who may be watching you. It was actually pretty interesting, and we all asked questions as the session progressed. After the session, I immediately used my cleanliness spell and climbed into my loft. I was studying the alarm spell when Aelyn climbed into her bed. ¡°I don¡¯t think I want to go into the town for the festivities,¡± she said. She obviously either wanted to ask me to ask ¡®why¡¯ or just wanted some attention. ¡°Aelyn, are you worried about the brand?¡± I asked after a few minutes of thinking about it. She didn¡¯t respond immediately. I returned to studying, and then she interrupted me again, ¡°Yes. It just doesn¡¯t feel right. And I only know you and Gareth. It would be awkward for me celebrating.¡± Ok, I think she wanted a response. I didn¡¯t wait long before saying, ¡°I am sorry to hear that. Either my family or Gareth¡¯s family would welcome you if you came. If you reconsider, just let me know.¡± I waited for a while before returning to studying. She didn¡¯t say anything else before I went to sleep. The next day Callem was particularly hard on us. Stretching was done with constant corrections under his gaze. I was really close on one of my splits, but Callem¡¯s pushed me past my comfort range today with a firm hand pressing down on my shoulder. I wasn¡¯t the only victim. Callem then said everyone¡¯s focus was wandering, and when that happened, you were unprepared to react in battle. So today, every time anyone lost focus, everyone would pay the consequences. The day progressed with Callem ¡®finding¡¯ people wandering in their focus and punishing everyone. At least he didn¡¯t pick on me and Leda exclusively. It was a painful day all around. After dinner, we had an hour before the gift exchange. The exchange would take place in the Callem¡¯s farmhouse, so we gathered our gifts and went to the couches at the appointed time. I was a little excited, and Callem started. He had a book for everyone, Gareth¡¯s was about dungeons, of course, Surviving Your First Delve. My book was about weapon runic inscriptions, Bran¡¯s Guide to Selecting and Inscribing Basic Weapon Runes. It was extremely thick and I was paging through it so I missed what the other books were handed out. Wynna was next to give out gifts. She gave each of us an enchanted light stone. The stones were similar to the stone I had recently purchased but had a wider range of brightness and longer life after a recharge. They were made with tier 5 aether dust based on the descriptor note in the wooden gift boxes they came in. Leda whispered that they were extremely expensive. We were all playing with the stones when Callem asked who was next Leda jumped in. Leda gave Gareth another book on dungeons. It was a guidebook to the two local dungeons on Titan¡¯s Shield for new delvers. Leda gave Aelyn an enchanted bracelet, but I didn¡¯t catch what it did as she whispered it to Aelyn. She handed Cilia a pair of boots that excited her and I assumed were also enchanted besides being ¡®stylish¡¯. The benefits of having a family in the business of enchanting, I guessed. My gift was a massive tome, another book. The title of the book was volumes I, II, and III on the basics of runic enchanting bound into a single book. Leda explained that the tome included all basics for connecting basic primer runes in enchanting. She also said I could have her books on the primers I had borrowed. I was ecstatic about her gift. If I ever had time to practice enchanting, I would at least have the references I needed to experiment. Cilia was next, and she had stylish outfits for everyone. Her uncle was apparently a famous tailor in the capital. I pretended excitement but knew I would probably grow out of the outfit quickly. I was in the middle of a growth spurt. Well, I could wear it to the festival at least. Callem went and brought out some of the red juice and the remaining eclairs, and some cookies. With three of us left Gareth went next. Gareth got each of the girls leather armor, just the upper body. As they brought out the armor I thought they fit the girl¡¯s curves a little too well. The suits were made by Master Aldrich so were high quality but I still wondered how Gareth relayed the girl¡¯s dimensions so accurately, maybe Wynna helped? Callem was next, and Gareth got him a large case of spices. Every hot spice you could imagine. Callem was super pleased with the gift. Gareth¡¯s gift for Wynna was a heavy blanket throw. It was made by a popular quilter in the city. I was up next and excited. What had my best friend gotten me? Two pairs of underwear and socks. I tried to act excited, and Gareth said they were the same underwear he had been bragging about for months. When I asked him if these were the same ones he had worn, he flushed red and said no. He had another gift for me, a very nice cloak that was dark green. I think it matched the one he had walked around in when it was raining. I appreciated the cloak, it was a fine gift. It was my turn next. Before I could present my gifts. Callem presented everyone with the axes and a set of throwing daggers I had made. The throwing daggers were the size and weight that each person preferred during practice. He then brought out the weapons I had made for everyone. Everyone knew these gifts were coming, but they still were super excited. Cilia and Leda were not aware I had made them, they thought I had just procured them. Callem reminded everyone not to flash these weapons around as the quality was exceptional, and it may attract attention. After the excitement died down, I got to give out my gifts. Yes, everyone was getting more from me. I started with Wynna¡¯s wine, six bottles. She smiled and thanked me as she had selected the vintages herself. Next up were the potion belts with the potions. I read the labels in passing them out, and Wynna had gotten the intermediate brews inside of the minor ones. I didn¡¯t think Callem would ever wear the belt, but I was planning to make him some blades early in the new year, so this would do for now. Gareth was probably the happiest of all, exactly what a delver needed. He nearly flipped when he noticed the vials were the hardened runic vials that adventurers used. The next gift I produced was for Leda. It was the spell book for Arcane Missile, and she was thrilled. The last gift I had was for Aelyn and it was another spell book. She was extremely happy and hugged me since she had been sitting next to me. This prompted Leda to get up and do the same. Gareth then jumped up and hugged me as well laughing the entire time, but Aelyn and Leda had retreated away from me so he couldn¡¯t dog pile me and them together, which is what I suspected was his goal. The gift exchange was a big success, and everyone was happy as we headed off to bed. I went to the cellar and put all my gifts into storage. Tomorrow I would get to see my family and hopefully have a few days off from the riggers of training. I planned to mentally relax and enjoy myself. No spells, stretching, obstacle courses, sword training, or enchanting. Chapter 41 End of Year Celebration Chapter 41 End of the Year Festival Before breakfast, we were all getting dressed in the clothes that Cilia had gifted us. Except for Gareth, who was trying to squeeze into the outfit he had gotten during his trip to the capital. He had already outgrown the expensive outfit. He was not happy, but all of us were laughing quietly at his vulgarities and how tight the clothes were on his frame. Eventually, Gareth gave up and tossed the clothes down from the loft. ¡°Stormy, I have outgrown these boys¡¯ clothes. You can have them.¡± He was trying to make light of his obvious frustration. He dressed in the clothes Cilia got him. At breakfast, Gareth¡¯s excitement returned as he planned to seek out Brianne to spend the festivities with her. He thought his new physique, a well-muscled 6¡¯3¡± (1.9m), would impress her. I didn¡¯t have the heart to tell him that she might be taken already. Pascal hadn¡¯t mentioned it during the time he spent training with us, but at his 14th celebration, it certainly looked like they were an item to me. Aelyn still didn¡¯t want to go into town and hadn¡¯t changed her mind. Well, I asked her twice at breakfast to come, and shockingly she said yes the second time. I was just asking to be nice but mustered a genuine smile. She could stay in my old room, and I would sleep on the bench in my family¡¯s common room. Introducing her to my mother and father would be tricky, especially with her mark. I thought about the festival. After the festival¡¯s first day, I would be alone in town with Aelyn. I figured I would spend the rest of my time fishing and relaxing at the swimming hole near town. Hopefully, Aelyn would be up for that. I planned to do no stretching or exercising whatsoever! I would practice my focus exercises because those required no movement. I was going to leave the alarm spellbook behind as well. This was going to be a mini vacation for me, both physically and mentally. Callem and Wynna said they would be spending the holiday with Ennet at her house in Hen¡¯s Hollow. Callem told us to find him there if we needed him. He reminded me that I was not allowed to go into the city, and to just enjoy the festival in Hen¡¯s Hollow. Wynna had mentioned that Ennet had found someone, the miller¡¯s son, whose wife had passed last year. If I remember correctly, the miller¡¯s son was around thirty with no children. I wasn¡¯t sure how his wife had died in a world with magic healing. Dying due to an illness should be pretty rare. I chastised myself for thinking about something that didn¡¯t affect me. I should just be happy to be away from Callem¡¯s exercises and supervision for a few days! I reminded myself not to visit Ennet or look into the miller¡¯s son. I dug out the six bottles of wine for Ennet from my pack and passed them to Callem to pass along. That way, I would save myself a trip. I could connect with Ennet sometime during the festival, just not on the first day. The morning breakfast was sausage, egg, and cheese sandwiches. We really had gotten too many chickens, and it seemed like every meal now had eggs included. At least it was a versatile ingredient for cooking. I was hoping to use my next evolution on my personal dimensional space to extend the stasis effect, and then I could store the excess eggs there. The second evolution would only increase the slowed aging to 100 to 1 when the dimensional access door was closed. When the doorway was open time passed normally. We headed out for Hen¡¯s Hollow right after breakfast. It was still quite early; most likely, I would get to town before my family finished breakfast. We walked Celia and Leda to the skyship dock on the edge of town and said our goodbyes. I headed to my house with Aelyn, and Gareth went to his parent¡¯s house. I had a large backpack with my gifts. Monty was the first to greet me. Running from the overgrown side yard and tackling me. He was one big puppy, easily over 100 pounds now, and very fluffy. His fur had hundreds of seeds stuck in the fur. I would have to talk to Freya about grooming him more often. I wrestled with him while Aelyn watched. I think I caught her smiling. I was surprised at how strong the pup was, and he won, getting victory licks on my face. Freya came running out of the house and tackled me as well as I was standing. ¡±Storme! Father said you might come! It has been forever since I have seen you. I missed you! I have so much to tell you. Gwen and I are friends! Bet you can¡¯t believe that! Well, she sort of works for me. I have another five other kids in town running for me as well! My courier business has been doing really well!¡± She was already out of breath. ¡±Slow down, Freya. We will have all day to catch up!¡± I said, glad she was doing well and happy. ¡°Are we going to give gifts in the morning or after dinner?¡± I asked her after she broke her embrace. She noticed Aelyn for the first time. ¡°Aelyn!¡± She ran and hugged the stunned girl. ¡°I told mother and father all about you! They will want to meet you!¡± Freya started pulling the stunned half-elf towards the house. ¡°Gifts are tonight,¡± she yelled at me. ¡°Hope you got me something awesome!¡± We all walked into the house while Monty circled us with his tail wagging enthusiastically. Once inside, mother came and ambushed me with a hug. They were cleaning up after breakfast, and I moved to break the hug and snag some breakfast rolls. Father spoke first, ¡°Are you Aelyn? You are welcome at our table for the festivities! Freya told us all about Storme¡¯s little harem!¡± My mother whacked my father on the head with a dirty wooden spoon. ¡°I mean all about his female friends,¡± he corrected himself. Slightly abashed, he asked, ¡°When are we going to see your wizardry?¡± He was all smiles for pride in his son. ¡°Maybe we can spar later and you can show me your sword skills too?¡± Father was in a great mood, apparently. I didn¡¯t want to do any work on my mini vacation. ¡°Father, next vacation, I promise to engage you in some swordplay. I am under orders to get some rest.¡± The disappointment was written on his face. ¡°How about some magic? Mother, I can remove those scars on your arms?¡± This caught everyone off guard, and soon I was removing scars from everyone. Father had the most, nearly thirty scars all over his body from a lifetime of combat practice. With the magic display finally done, we sat at the table. Mother said, ¡°Storme, I am sorry, but it will take time to prepare your room. We have been storing things in there and never bought another mattress.¡± She gave a cross look at father. My guess is she had suggested many times to get another mattress, and he declined. ¡°No matter. Aelyn and I can always get two rooms and stay at the pub. Don¡¯t worry, mother. I will spend the entire day with you here!¡± I waved off her concern as best I could. The pub wasn¡¯t an inn but had small rooms for rent upstairs. With the city so close, Hen¡¯s Hollow had no need to have a real inn. ¡°Can I stay with Storme and Aelyn?¡± Freya blurted out. ¡°No, Freya, they don¡¯t allow dogs,¡± I said before she could worm her way to staying with me. ¡°And the beds are tiny there.¡± Freya had a petulant look on her face and slunk down in her chair at the rejection. I wasn¡¯t going to give in, though. ¡°So Storme, Pascal says you are going to the adventurer¡¯s academy in the capital?¡± Mother asked. I had a bun halfway to my mouth and froze. Aelyn looked at me, amused. I directed my gaze to Pascal with a cocked eyebrow. He had a guilty look. ¡°Sorry, Storme. Gareth told me in confidence that he was going to convince you to attend the adventurer¡¯s academy.¡± Well, that was news to me. Gareth had not mentioned anything and was probably coming up with some plot to convince me. At least Pascal¡¯s loose lips would give me time to counter him. ¡°I haven¡¯t decided where to attend just yet. The adventurer¡¯s academy is a possibility.¡± I deflected the question. I still have a year before I enter the first-year academy and then a year at the academy before I have to decide. But Callem and Wynna have already offered to sponsor Gareth and me wherever we choose to attend.¡± Well, I planted that seed now. With a sponsor, my wealth wouldn¡¯t be as much of a shock to my family. The conversation progressed to get me caught up on my family. Father had been promoted and was in charge of the other six men at the port. It meant he traveled more often on the transport runs, doing four a week instead of one, but the pay raise made it worth it. Mother had failed to pass her master¡¯s test but griped that it was political as the city leather cutters guild voted heavily for their cutters over the cutters from the surrounding towns. Freya was building a business empire. She was making over two silvers every week, and most of the kids in town either worked for her or looked up to her. Pascal was at the top of the pack for the kids going to the first-year academy in town starting next week. He was doing his best to teach his friends what he had learned at the farm. Monty was the favorite dog in town, and just as I had thought, he was getting scraps from numerous people in town which is probably helping him grow at a prodigious rate. For my part I told them about my two spells, mend flesh and cleanliness. They were very impressed as I demonstrated the cleanliness spell. I felt I didn¡¯t need to reveal my other two spells. I answered a few questions about my magic, and then mother said, ¡°Tell me about these young women you are training with,¡± she eyed Aelyn, who had been sitting quietly. ¡°Pascal says they all look up to you even though you are much younger than them. Freya says the same.¡± What do you tell your mother when you encounter such a situation? Father had a smirk on his face, Pascal a grin, and Freya a smile. Aelyn had her eyebrow raised in curiosity at my response. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡±They are fellow trainees. Nothing more. Well, maybe I would say they are friends. I heal them and cook for them.¡± I said slowly. Mother was waiting for more, eyeing Aelyn and then me hoping one of us would give more of an answer. When I didn¡¯t continue, she just nodded and gave a slight nod. ¡°Isn¡¯t it time for Remembrance?¡± I asked, trying to push the conversation off of me. Remembrance was where we told stories of those who passed in the previous year and long before that. This meant mother and father told stories of relatives we never met or didn¡¯t remember as they passed when we were young. Father started with stories of grandfather. He told tales of the man, Jorric, and how great he was and the things his father taught him. Grandfather was a city guard. While off duty, he died trying to break up a tavern brawl in the city. Mother and father alternated, talking about our past relatives. They told the stories as we prepared lunch and long into the afternoon. We heard the same stories every year, but they were still fascinating. Father talked mostly about achievements, while mother talked about personalities and how they treated others. Before we realized it, dinner was upon us, and I was recruited to make it. I supervised, and everyone pitched in. A large salad, grilled chicken, and a cheesy potato casserole. Dessert would be chocolate chip cookies fresh out of the oven. The meal was fantastic, and after the cookies, Freya was the first who jumped up and wanted the gift-giving to ensue. Since birthdays were usually only recognized up to age 14 adults only got gifts on this day. Skyholme culture had adopted a New Year gift-giving celebration for everyone¡­sort of like Christmas from my old world. I whispered to Aelyn not to worry about giving gifts. I started. I gave mother her leather carving tools, and she was ecstatic. Apparently, the smith who made them was famous. Thank you, Wynna! Mother and father gave me goggles? They looked like aviator goggles. Apparently, they were designed for drake riders, skyship pilots, and navigators. They were magical, sharpened your vision, and tinted in response to bright light, basically sun shades. Pascal whispered to me that they were expensive, but father got them in the lost and found in a city port for cheap. There was a guard lost and found for the guards of the transports. After a certain time, the items were available for sale to guardsmen. Father explained that he got them for me because Freya had said I planned to get my own skyship. Well, I had told her about the Wind Splitter with enthusiasm¡­I think she must have expanded on my words. I gave father his potion belt next, and he was a little shocked. He knew the four potions were expensive, and he gave me a bear hug. I gave Pascal his belt next, and he was also happy. Pascal had gotten me an elven cookbook¡­well, at least the recipes were not in the elvish language. I had seen this very book in the discount rack at Wigand¡¯s. I gave Monty his treat bag next and got a lick after he took a bone to the corner of the room and started crunching loudly on it. Freya was beyond the limit of her patience. Being last was too much for her. I pulled out the six school textbooks for her, and she looked shocked and unhappy and frosted a smile at me. I pretended that was all I had gotten her for a good minute, but before we moved on, I reached into my bag and produced two boxes of candy samplers from a famous candy shop in the Skyholme capital. Freya¡¯s smile returned, having forgotten about the expensive books in place of the cavity-inducing treats. Freya then gave me the gift she had gotten for me. It was a dark brown leather vest. It looked expensive, and she showed me the interior pockets with excitement. Apparently, it was the height of fashion, so I put it on. It was a little big, but Freya said that was so I could grow into it. The gift-giving proceeded until everyone had exchanged gifts. It was late, and I hugged everyone and headed to the pub with Aelyn. Hopefully, there were rooms available. I hadn¡¯t thought about it till now, but a lot of the outlying farmers came to the town for the festivities starting tomorrow. At the pub, my worries were found to be valid. They had one room for tonight only, the room was reserved for tomorrow. I looked at Aelyn with a guilty expression. I told her I would sleep on the floor, but she said it was fine and we could share the bed. We went upstairs with the key and found six doors¡­it was my first time up the stairs, and didn¡¯t realize they had this many rooms. As I was looking for my room in the hallway, a door opened, and I was shocked to see Meredith¡­or maybe Feradith? ¡±Storme? Fera, it¡¯s Storme! Almost immediately, a door across the hall opened, and their father was there, as well as their mother holding the youngest Gaskill. The stern look on the man¡¯s face at seeing me with Aelyn behind me made me explain myself. ¡±Sir, I got a room here tonight¡­my family repurposed my room, and I surprised them by coming home¡­I didn¡¯t know you were staying here¡­I mean, I am not here to see your daughters¡­.¡± I was making assumptions about why he looked so cross. Ms. Gaskill whispered something in his ear, and he softened quite a bit. ¡°Sorry, Storme. If you spend time talking with the twins, just keep the door open.¡± One of the girls squealed a little. Their mother eyed Aelyn with suspicion but didn¡¯t say anything before pushing her husband in and closing the door. I felt a hand pull me from behind into the twin¡¯s room. I oriented myself and found the twins and their younger sister sharing a room. ¡°Storme! It is good to see you! After Captain Callem bought all those supplies and chickens from us, father promised we would spend two nights in town for the festival! We just got in. Our brothers and grandparents are taking care of the farm! Have you seen Gareth? Can you and Gareth be our escorts for the festival? Who is your servant? She is so beautiful!¡± The younger sister was on the bed and watching us. I liked these girls; they were genuine and were always smiling. They had also cleaned up and were wearing their best clothes. They had a cowgirl out-for-fun vibe to them. ¡°This is my friend Aelyn. She is training with us on Captain Callem¡¯s farm. You heard I surprised my parents, so my room didn¡¯t have a usable bed. It is up to Aelyn, but I think it would be fantastic if you joined us for the festival!¡± Aelyn didn¡¯t look as excited at the prospect but remained quiet. I knew Gareth would be down after finding Brianne taken, so this would make him happy. I had never actually confirmed Brianne was taken, though... Either way, Mera and Fera, their nicknames, I learned, would be fun to spend the day with. Maybe their energy and endless smiling would rub off on Aelyn. I talked with them for a little while until their mother came and told them it was time for bed. In my room, we found the bed was small. Aelyn seemed unperturbed and lay down. ¡°Oh, just lay in front of me! There isn¡¯t much room, and neither of us is going to sleep on the floor!¡± I scooted in as the small spoon and spammed my cleanliness spell. The bed definitely needed a good cleaning. Aelyn wrapped an arm around me to get comfortable. Her body heat was very pleasant against my back, and I started to get aroused. To distract myself, I started making coins into my dimensional space until her breathing evened out, and I knew she was asleep. I made lots of copper coins for tomorrow. If Gareth and I were to entertain the twins, I should have many small coins ready. Gareth, to my knowledge, had already gotten smaller denominations of coins for the festival. I soon fell asleep myself. In the morning, I got woken by soft knocks on my door. The twins were ready to go, and it was early. After a short discussion under the gaze of their parents, I would buy them and Aelyn breakfast at the pub and take them to the baths. While they were cleaning up, I would go get Gareth. Using the baths was the twin¡¯s idea, and their father seemed overly suspicious. Aelyn was reluctant to join the twins as they were strangers, but I didn¡¯t give her a choice. Breakfast was buffet style as many townsfolk were coming through the inn today. I paid for all four of us and filled my plate twice. Mera challenged me to see which of us could eat more. Mera put up a good fight, but I won, to the amusement of her sister and Aelyn. I escorted the three lovely girls to the baths and gave Edel enough coin for the girls to get the private tubs and have their clothes washed. The girls felt awkward that I was spending so much on them, but I waved it off, saying Captain Callem paid us ridiculously well on the farm. Aelyn whispered something to them as well, which got me anxious, but they still wore smiles after. I went to Gareth¡¯s house with the good news and to collect him. Unfortunately, his mother said he was spending the day with Brianne. I was shocked as I was certain Brinane would be occupied today. If not with my brother, then with someone else. Oh well, it looked like the burden of escorting the three girls would be on me. As I was returning to the bathhouse, I saw Pascal with one of his female friends that he sparred with. So maybe Brianne was not taken. At the bathhouse, I had to wait half an hour for the twins and Aelyn to finish¡­and it appeared they had drawn Aelyn out of her shell as I could hear her talking and giggling with them! What stories were being said? When they exited the bath, they all looked fresh, happy, and cute. They were a little broken about there being no Gareth, but Mera took my arm, and Fera took Aelyn¡¯s, and we were off to the festival. When we got to the town commons, we immediately ran into Gareth and Brianne. The twins flocked to Brianne and started talking with her. Aelyn moved to listen but didn¡¯t participate. Gareth and I moved to a sidebar. Gareth was excited about Brianne but kept eyeing the twins. They were two years younger than Brianne but were tall and prettily dressed in their best clothes. I think Gareth was jealous of me. He told me his parents gave him an adventurers pack as a gift. The pack was heavy and tightly packed with gear. The contents included a tent, a down feather sleeping bag, a runic firestone, a cooking set with a small box of various seasonings, a shaving kit, twelve tightly wrapped ration bars, a runic water skin, a heavy rain cloak, two different skinning knives, a hand axe, 20 feet of cord, two bandages, six small watertight sacks, two steel flasks, and 6 small bells. He couldn¡¯t wait to show it to me. The girls were finished, and Brianne pulled Gareth away with a smile on her face. As my party walked the festival, I spoiled my three dates. I think I was showing off my wealth a little, too¡­dropping lots of coppers and large coppers. We found Wynna and Ennet had set up a tent for readings. They were charging just five silver for a reading for townsfolk only. With their skills, five gold would have been a bargain. It took some cajoling, but the twins eventually allowed me to pay for a reading for them. Even though I told them not to tell me what they found out, they did anyway. They were just too excited. Mera had a tier 2 ability called fermentation. I think it sped up and gave some control over the process of wine and beer making. It also had some alchemy uses. Mera hadn¡¯t been aware she had the ability, so she was quite excited. Fera had two tier-one abilities, the strength of the ox and the other harvest. Harvest was a common ability in farmers. It allowed her to accelerate the growth of a plant. She already knew she had the ability, so it wasn¡¯t a surprise. The strength of the ox was a revelation for her, though, and it should give her added strength as she went through puberty. The day was fun, and we ate, danced, played games, ate, sang songs, people watched, ate, and were looking forward to the fireworks tonight. Aelyn started to really get along with the twins, which made me happy. After visiting and sampling our seventh food cart, the town bell sounded twice, paused, then sounded twice. It kept repeating, and the entire festival froze like a moment in time. That was the alarm for an attack by Sadians! Chapter 42 Applying what you have Learned CHAPTER 42 The center of town started moving again as people realized what was happening. Being on the perimeter of the second most populous island meant we had trained for this. All able-bodied men were to head to the city to help with the defense. Everyone else was to gather as many supplies as they could carry and follow to the city as well. In the event the city was unreachable, the townsfolk were to band together and defend the town. In all, it was a simple plan that seemed too difficult to follow. As each person first looked for their family and then either headed home or to a friend¡¯s house. ¡°Meredith and Feradith, I have to go,¡± I said worriedly, trying to find my parents and Freya. My thoughts were churning. I had put my hand ax and throwing daggers into my storage last night. Spending the entire day with the twins, I hadn¡¯t thought to bring them out. I brought the axe with its belt to my hand and strapped it around my waist, ignoring Mera¡¯s look of disbelief. Next, I got two throwing daggers secured on my person. Aelyn was herself bringing forth various weapons and suiting up for a possible encounter. Mera had elbowed her sister, who had been searching the quickly dispersing crowd for her family. Fera saw the daggers appear last as I secured them and asked, ¡°You have magic, Storme?¡± I had been scanning the crowds as well, looking for family, friends, and Gareth. It was Gareth who found me first and came toward me with Brianne in tow. I had been formulating a response to Fera but discarded it. ¡°Storme! My dad and yours have gone to the city to help with defense. Our dads want us to hold up at Callem¡¯s farm with our families. I think Callem told them all to head out there. I haven¡¯t seen him, though.¡± Gareth was breathing slightly heavily. ¡°We have plenty of food, and it should be well out of the path if any Sadian skyships land on this part of the island.¡± Gareth, for his part, seemed extremely calm. I gave him a short nod. ¡°Fera and Mera, you can join us at the farm with your family if you want,¡± I said, remembering the twins were with us. ¡°Our parents went to the city with our siblings to enjoy the larger celebration there today,¡± Fera said with uncertainty on her face. ¡°Our grandparents stayed at our farm. Maybe we should head there?¡± She added worriedly. I decided to take charge, ¡°No. You are coming with us then. Your farm is a good two miles away, and your grandparents are smart enough to know what to do. Gareth, go get your mother and as many supplies as you can and meet me at my house. We will leave from there.¡± I walked fast home with Aelyn, Fera and Mera following. My mother was packing large satchels with food when we entered the house. She jumped at me, slamming the door open, ¡°Sorry to scare you, mother. This is Fera and Mera. We are all going to Callem¡¯s farm to wait out the attack.¡± I said as I made my way to help her. The twins paused briefly before helping as well. Aelyn remained at the door and scanned the streets. She was smarter than me. I should have designated someone to stand watch. I expected Freya to be in her room packing, but after a few minutes asked, ¡°Where is Freya?¡± My mother looked up, noticing for the first time that she was not with us. Her brow creased, worried in thought. ¡°Oh no, I think she went swimming with Gwen. They were in the pie-eating contest together and were a mess!¡± Of course, nothing would be simple. ¡°Pascal¡¯s coming!¡± Aelyn said from the doorway, and he entered thirty seconds later. He looked a little shocked at all the activity in the house. I noticed a hickey on his neck, so he had been busy. Pascal regained himself, ¡°Came to get my sword and head to the city for the defense.¡± Our mother looked at him like he was an idiot. ¡°I can fight,¡± he said, gaining confidence in front of our family matriarch. Mother just resumed her packing, accepting Pascal was now old enough to make his own decisions. ¡°I am going to get Freya and Gwen with Gareth,¡± I announced, moving toward the door. ¡°I¡¯m coming,¡± Aelyn said, and I just nodded and turned back to the group. ¡°Mera, stand watch at the door. We should be back in 20 minutes with the girls.¡± I bolted out the door and down the street to Gareth¡¯s house. Gareth and his mother were still packing. ¡°Head to my house,¡± I said to Gareth¡¯s tiny mother. I gave Gareth a different order, ¡°We are headed to the swimming hole. Freya and Gwen are up there.¡± Gareth looked at what he had been working on for a second before grabbing his hand axe and moving toward me for the door, leaving the pack behind. As a trio, we ran toward the swimming hole, and even with my heart thudding and the noise from running, I heard something that put dread in my heart. The warning bell in the center of Hen¡¯s Hollow switched to a constant cadence. This meant that enemies were on the island and within sight of the town. How? This made no sense to my addled brain. With all the magical scrying the Skyholme navy employed, we should have had more warning! My thoughts parted to clarity as I heard barking, it was Monty. Gareth had already increased his pace, but the exercises I had been doing to keep my mind clear. ¡°Gareth, don¡¯t get ahead of us! If there is a threat, then we need to meet it together!¡± Gareth slowed, clearly not wanting to. I increased my own pace to my fastest speed and got my throwing axe ready. A yelp of surprise and pain from a dog echoed, and my heart lurched. This could not be happening! We broke through the clearing, and even though I was shocked at what I saw I continued at a full run. Five massive gray-skinned humanoids stood on the banks. Monty was down on the shore¡­Freya and Gwen were in the middle of the shallow river, not sure what to do. ¡°Gareth, center. Aelyn, left.¡± I said as I moved to engage the ogre on the right. Their name came to me from the collection of monster plates I had collected. Our bestiary training with Callem had taught us they were strong, hardy, and usually simple-minded. Gareth, having been given a directive, raced ahead of us at the only ogre currently facing us. Gareth had a dagger in each hand. The ogre started to swing a massive maul parallel to the ground. The idiot ogre had so clearly telegraphed his attack even I could dodge. Gareth went into a slide between the monstrosities legs. Using a dagger in each hand, he cut both of the ogre¡¯s femoral arteries. Coming up from his slide behind the ogre, he threw the daggers at the back of the necks of two different ogres. The penetration wasn¡¯t much, and they were turning around. I had my own ogre to worry about. It was also turning. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. My goal was to hack into my ogre¡¯s neck, hopefully hitting a carotid artery. Instead, I got the shoulder, and his turning body yanked the axe from my grip. My opponent was wielding a massive sword, and he did not look happy as his bloodshot eyes narrowed in on me. Freya and Gwen were yelling, but I needed to focus. Even if something was coming from behind me, I should have time to circle and see. My ogre flicked his wrist, and his blade raced toward me. If I hadn¡¯t seen his forearm flexing in preparation for the attack, I would have probably died right there. Of course, of the five ogres, I got the trained swordsman. Cynically I thought he was probably the only skilled warrior in the group. His swing came up short as I had moved just out of reach. My opponent was wearing well-made and form-fitting leather armor. He was definitely not a grunt, even if he smelled like rotting garbage. I managed to turn off my olfactory sense enough to continue. I circled to see how my friends were doing. Gareth¡¯s first victim looked to be bleeding out, moving feebly. His other two opponents did not look good. One had Gareth¡¯s throwing axe embedded in his chest and was dripping blood from his dominant hand, and was missing a few fingers. Aelyn for her part, had put a dagger in the kneecap and both eyes of her opponent. The ogre was swinging wildly, and Aelyn was deciding whether to finish hers or help Gareth, who just wielded his hand axe now. If I could keep my opponent occupied, they should be able to come and¡­I had magic. My ogre turned to help his brethren, and I summoned throwing daggers and peppered him. When he turned in irritation, I aimed for his eyes, and he easily deflected the daggers with his blade. I definitely needed more weapons in my storage. My ogre footwork suddenly changed, and fuck¡­he was a swordsman. The steps were from Dragon¡¯s Might. One of Gareth¡¯s favorite offensive sword forms. At least I knew that even though the attack was overpowering, it had some openings. The ogre¡¯s advance was faster than I anticipated. Fuck, he had reach, speed, power, and skill. How the hell was this fair? He came in heavy from my right side, and I moved heavily, focusing on his body and arm movements to counter his attack. I recognized it too late and had to interpose my axe to force a glancing blow. Nope¡­he was a lot stronger than Gareth, and my axe grip failed and the axe from my hand. His blade cut deep into my chest and threw me back. Thinking he had finished me, he turned. I used my hand to hold the gash together and worked my healing magic. The cut had sliced my pectoral muscles and completely ruined the outfit Cilia had gotten me. Aelyn and Gareth only had one ogre standing when my opponent joined the fray. Gareth peeled to engage him, and Aelyn took the remaining foe. I moved to get Freya and Gwen out of the water. At the shore, I waved them toward me; Freya¡¯s eyes were open in shock. Of course, she had probably thought I was dead. Monty was at the shore, and I got to him¡­barely alive. I forced my healing magic into the dog. I was very inefficient with my aether, but that didn¡¯t matter. Monty¡¯s wounds closed, but he had lost a lot of blood, and I had used a lot of his body¡¯s stores to heal him. My own chest healing was still incomplete, but I needed to help my friends. When Gwen and Freya got to me from the river, I whispered, head to our house as fast as you can. When we finish here, we will carry Monty there. It was Gwen who we spoke too loudly, ¡°Monty¡¯s alive!¡± The sword-wielding ogre spun his head, and anger burned in blood shot eyes at seeing me alive. ¡°Go!¡± I yelled at the girls. They stumbled and ran away toward town. Gareth wasn¡¯t letting the ogre disengage. Even with the shorter weapon, Gareth was able to dodge and move easily around the ogre¡¯s attempts. At least it looked like the ogre only knew one sword form, and now that I watched his movements, I would say they looked unpolished, unlike Gareth, who looked like flowing water in comparison. I continued to heal myself as I moved toward the fight. Seeing I had no weapons, the ogre ignored me to defend from the pesky Gareth. Gareth had cut the ogre¡¯s skin multiple times, but with the shorter reach of the axe he hadn¡¯t done much damage. When I was sure the ogre wasn¡¯t looking at me, I summoned my saber and rushed to help Aelyn. The ogre didn¡¯t notice me, but the sword wielder had barked a warning. Fortunately, my opponent didn¡¯t comprehend the danger as I slid my sword into his rib cage from behind. I rotated the sword, letting it do as much internal damage as possible before retreating. The ogre turned, already frothing blood from its mouth. Now outnumbered three to one, the ogre swordsman tried to flee. Gareth didn¡¯t want to let him and kept blocking his escape route. ¡°Gareth!¡± I yelled. ¡°We don¡¯t have time!¡± Gareth let the ogre¡¯s next feint work so it could run away. ¡°Gather what you can quickly, and then Gareth, I need you to carry Monty.¡± We all gathered our easily found weapons in seconds and moved towards the town with Gareth carrying a heavy Monty. ¡°Those were Calthorn mercenaries,¡± Aelyn said as we moved at a much slower pace feeling the danger lighten. Gareth asked, ¡°Why would mercenaries be up here in Skyholme?¡± Aelyn scanned around us and spoke as we moved, ¡°Calthorn mercenaries emblem in the black bramble they had painted on their leather armors. They are a very expansive company that includes dozens of races. I don¡¯t know why they are here. I have seen them in many cities in the lowlands. I think they usually participate in wars and raids in the lowlands.¡± I guess that made sense. If you had the gold, mercs were disposable. The combat skills of those ogres were not impressive. The leader was competent, but if Gareth had his sword, I guessed it would have been no match. We broke into the outskirts of town. The bell had stopped, and I didn¡¯t hear anything as we entered my house. Freya was crying in her mother¡¯s arms, and the twins were holding Gwen close, comforting her. ¡°Brianne went to find her family,¡± Gareth¡¯s mother said when I couldn¡¯t find her. My mother came to me and started fingering the damage from the sword and my blood-soaked clothes. She was shedding quiet tears as well but wiped them before Freya could see. ¡°Grab the packs,¡± I ordered. ¡°We are moving out now. It took a few minutes before we left the house loaded down. We borrowed a small cart from our neighbors to load Monty and some of the provisions. The twins took turns pulling while Gareth, Aelyn, and I scanned the woods on the way. We were about 100 yards into the woods when we heard fighting and small explosions back in town. Gareth looked like he wanted to return, but I shook my head no. Those explosions were probably magic. Gareth didn¡¯t have good defenses against magic. We moved quickly, and Monty started whining as he came to awareness. I whispered to Freya that once we made it to the farmhouse to feed him soft food to recover. My own healing was finally done, and I could move without pain. Before entering the clearing for the farm, Aelyn went and scouted all the buildings. It was clear, and we moved into Callem¡¯s farmhouse. It had the escape tunnel in the basement, and I showed it to everyone as we settled in. The mood was tense, and I couldn¡¯t believe Gareth kept checking out the twins when they were not looking. Not the time Gareth! His mother even clapped him on the side of his head. Since we had all worked up quite the sweat, the twin¡¯s tops were stuck to their bodies like a medieval wet tee shirt contest. They did have nice breasts, and their¡­ I shook my head. I used my cleanliness spell on myself and started giving orders to settle everyone in. We would sleep in the basement, so I needed to get blankets and beds down there because the cold runes were active. I went and packed up our bunkhouse, shoving gear and weapons into my storage space to make transport easier. It was hours before the basement was set up for the group. Everyone was somber. I didn¡¯t find any of Callem¡¯s or Wynna¡¯s communication stones in their room, so we were effectively cut off. We would keep watch in rotation at the front door. There was not much we could do now but wait. Chapter 43 The Calm After the Storm CHAPTER 43 The Calm after the Storm The first evening on the farm, we were all tense. Every once in a while, a roil of thunder reached your ears if you were outside. Powerful magics were being unleashed a few miles away. It seemed they were coming from the city, but it could have been in the skies above. The twins made dinner while our mothers comforted Freya and Gwen. Gareth, Aelyn, and I were on the lookout and moving items to the farmhouse. The food wasn¡¯t bad. It was simple rice with diced beef and some vegetables cooked in butter. I complimented the twins on their efforts, and they jokingly said it was their payment for losing their bet to me. Gareth¡¯s ears were sharp, and he was eavesdropping on our conversation. I said, ¡°I don¡¯t know, ladies. A simple dinner like this? If I had lost, I am sure you would have required something spectacular of me, and there would have been dessert.¡± They giggled, and Gareth was eyeing me for an explanation that I was not going to give. Mera said in good humor, ¡°Fine, Storme! You will get our special meal and a dessert after the meal.¡± I wasn¡¯t sure if the dessert was innuendo, but either way, I was happy Gareth was in the dark. Sometimes it was fun to tease your friends. Aelyn was outside on watch, so she didn¡¯t hear the exchange. Aelyn had sharper eyesight than Gareth and I due to her half-elven heritage. Therefore she volunteered to take double shifts overnight, watching for danger. We all huddled in the cellar with Aelyn at the door on watch, waiting. With morning the sounds of combat lessened, and I went to relieve Aelyn. She said, ¡°I saw a number of skyships during the night. I am not familiar with the silhouettes, but there appears to be intense combat around the island.¡± ¡°Thank you, Aelyn, for watching through the night. Let me show you the two standard silhouettes for the Skyholme navy.¡± I made a small hand-sized model of a Harbinger out of copper and handed it to her. I then made a model of the Wasp-class ship and handed her that bronze model. ¡°These are good. You could sell them¡­but I guess you don¡¯t need the money.¡± Aelyn said as she rotated the figures in her hands. A distant explosion in the direction of the city let us know the conflict had not yet concluded. ¡°The Wasp is the scout of the navy. Not many were built, according to Sebastian, but you may see some. The Harbinger is the most populous ship in our navy.¡± I was switching my sight from the different approaches to the farmhouse as Aelyn lingered. When she didn¡¯t leave, I asked, ¡°Is there something else? You should really get some sleep.¡± Aelyn hesitated before heading below. Gareth¡¯s mother and the twins brought up food to cook, and I resumed my watch. Mera brought me a bacon and cheese sandwich and sat next to me, ¡°So this is where you and Gareth have been training. We heard rumors when we visited Hen¡¯s Hollow,¡± she smiled and handed me a cup of red juice. ¡°So are you going to the Annuals with Gareth?¡± she asked. The Annuals, I thought. That was the big combat tournament held in Skyholme every year. There were three categories, pre-academy, academy, and post-academy. I somehow doubted they would happen with a war going on. ¡°I don¡¯t think so. Fighting is Gareth¡¯s thing. I am not sure they will be held with the Sadians stopping in for a visit either,¡± I added. ¡°Oh, Storme! That is funny! I don¡¯t think the Sadians will stay here long, though. We read our histories, and the fighting usually lasts just a few days before they retreat.¡± She spoke optimistically. ¡°What about Aelyn? She is really pretty, and you don¡¯t treat her like an indentured. Are you two a couple?¡± That was a direct question. Mera was studying me, waiting for an answer. ¡°No, she is just a friend. I will help her remove the mark, and most likely, she will move on.¡± A big white smile lined her face at my statement. Did this girl have designs on me? She was pretty enough in a tomboy sort of way. And her best asset was her constant smile and optimism. I added, ¡°I am working on developing my magic, so I have not given much thought to dating and the like. Once I have advanced far enough, I will reconsider.¡± Hopefully, that would let her down easily. ¡°Mother says most people who get married meet in the first-year academy,¡± she replied, still smiling. Well, that was going to be a very small pool, 12 to 14 of us living in the old barracks. Fera came over and handed me another sandwich. I nibbled on it, not really hungry. Fera gave an update on Monty. He was up and about below and drooling at all the hanging meat. His attempts to get some were keeping Freya and Gwen occupied. I told her she could let them know to give him some. He had gotten a lot of healing and was probably extremely hungry. Fera and Mera looked at each other and asked, ¡°Can someone go and check on our grandparents at our farm? We are worried about them.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think it is a good idea. We encountered mercenaries by the swimming hole attacking Freya and Gwen, so I think there may be more small groups out there,¡± I said, trying to get them to dismiss their request. They nodded and dropped the request. Gareth approached our little group with a plate containing two and a half sandwiches, soon to be just two, as he was finishing the half now. ¡°So Gareth, I heard you were going to the Annuals this year! Going to compete in the post-academy group?¡± I said jokingly. He looked at the twins and tried to speak with a mouthful of food that he forced down. ¡°Uh yeah, I was going to try my hand at the pre-academy group. The bracket is only 32, and I have to win a few bouts locally to get a slot in the 32. I was going to ask you to join me in trying to get a bid,¡± Gareth said, slightly perturbed at getting outed by the twins before talking to me. He was doing his best to impress the young women, and maybe he was succeeding. I gave him a sidelong glance that said not on your life! But he persisted, ¡°Callem thinks you can make it. Solaris city has two slots in the tourney based on our population for the pre-academy group. That means we need to be better than the kids in the city and surrounding towns.¡± He tried to get me to commit. He added, ¡°You may run into the kids from the gang that attacked you in the qualifications!¡± Damn you, Gareth! That would be the one thing that might get me to join. ¡°I will think about it,¡± I said, conceding. The twins seemed excited at the prospect of convincing their dad to take them to the city to see both of us fight in the qualifiers. Something in my vision flicked, and I looked up and located a skyship. It must be at least a mile up. I guessed it could be a Harbinger but was only 80% certain. A smaller and faster ship approached from a distance, and we all watched as lines of magic spells bombarded the ships. You could see debris being blown off. Then a third ship appeared out of nowhere. It must have had invisibility or camouflage and laid into the Harbinger with fire and lightning. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. It was fascinating to watch the dance above us. The smaller ships circled and worked like sharks circling a whale. The battle passed right over our heads, and some debris fell in the woods a few hundred feet away. One piece was clearly a body. It wasn¡¯t far away, maybe 200 feet, and the sound hitting the ground was a dull thud. Whoever that was, they were most definitely dead. ¡°I think that was a Wolfsguard,¡± Aelyn said. I turned, shocked to see her behind us. She should be getting some sleep. ¡°At least, that is what it looked like to me. I will go check it out if you want me to.¡± It wasn¡¯t far away, just beyond our obstacle courses. It should be safe to check it out, as I was sure the victim was dead. Then again, in a world of magic, you never know for sure. ¡°Gareth, go with her and just check it out and come right back,¡± I said. I wondered how I had been put in charge of making the decisions. Aelyn and Gareth, with weapons in hand, moved to the woods and the downed Wolfsguard. They came back a few minutes later, and Gareth spoke to me and the twins, ¡°Definitely dead. And not a Wolfsguard. Aelyn thinks it was a wolfkin. Don¡¯t know what business they have being up in skyships, though.¡± Gareth looked a little sick, so I guessed it was a gruesome mess. I thought about looting the body, but we didn¡¯t need to. ¡°A ship is going down,¡± Mera said, and we all looked as one of the smaller ships was breaking up but not over the island. Whoever was on the ship had a long descent to the lowlands with no stops on the way. The other smaller ship fled, and the larger Harbinger gave pursuit, but it was obvious it was not going to catch it. Our group watched the sky and the approaches to the farm together. Gareth got his wish as he and the twins were sitting close to him, and he could brag about himself nonstop. Aelyn had returned to get some rest, so I was tortured with Gareth¡¯s tales of his own prowess. I began spamming my cleanliness spell until Mera asked what the strangely pleasant smell was. Then I told them about my cleaning spell and had them hooked as I demonstrated it. Soon I was using my healing spell to remove their scars as well. Gareth didn¡¯t look too happy at being upstaged. I could hear him already tonight whispering something like, ¡®Come on, Stormy, there are two of them. Do you really need both!¡¯ That reminded me of my alarm spell. If I could learn it, I could set alarms around the farmhouse, and we wouldn¡¯t need to be out here watching so intently. ¡°Hey, Gareth, I am going to study my spell inside. You and the twins can remain on watch.¡± Gareth looked thrilled even though Mera decided to help prepare lunch so he would only be spending time with Fera. I made myself comfortable on the couch and summoned my alarm spellbook. I ignored the activity around me and focused. The spell wasn¡¯t overly complex. It was basically like writing a simple ¡®if-then¡¯ statement with the runes when you cast the spell. When lunch was ready, I ate it blindly, not tasting the food. Evening rolled around, and Aelyn returned to take watch. I was surprised when Mera said she would go on watch with Aelyn. Monty came upstairs with Freta and Gwen, with my mother following. Freya ran to me and hugged me. She cried into me, saying she thought I had been killed at the river when the ogre connected with his sword. I just held my sister and told her it would take at least six ogres to take her brother down.
It was two more days before Callem returned to the farmhouse. We hadn¡¯t seen many skyships over the two days and thought the attack had been repelled, but I still kept everyone at the farm. Gareth had made progress on seducing both Mera and Fera. They talked quite a bit during meals. My focus on studying my spell had dropped me temporarly from the equation. Freya and Gwen were recovering from their PTSD. Monty was back to his old self as well but eating twice as much, a reward for his heroism. I rushed to Callem as he approached the farmhouse. ¡°Callem, is everything alright? Is it over?¡± ¡°Inside Storme. I will fill everyone in, but inside.¡± He walked inside his home and looked around the room, taking everyone in, and nodded as if confirming something. There was electricity in the air now that Callem was here. He had this presence to him. It made you feel safe. A lot of idle chatter was deflected by Callem as we all settled in the living room to hear the news. Callem started, ¡°Gareth, your father is safe, as are Caleb and Pascal. Pascal was injured but is doing fine.¡± He looked a the twins, ¡°I am sorry, but your farm was attacked, and your grandparents didn¡¯t make it. The rest of your family is well, though. The girls were in shock, and Fera was next to me, so I put my arm around her and hugged the shocked girl. It wasn¡¯t long before she was crying, and Mera joined the therapeutic expulsion of emotion through tears. Everyone in the house consoled the twins, and eventually, our mothers shepherded them to Callem¡¯s guest bedroom to sleep it off. With the twins resting from the pain of loss, Callem resumed his news. ¡°It was an extensive attack. I talked with Sebastian through stones, and they attacked three of the islands. It was the Sadians, beastkin, and a slew of mercenaries. The past is coming back to haunt the Triumvirate.¡± Callem paused and looked at the two young girls, Freya and Gwen, in his midst. He seemed to change his approach to what he planned to say. ¡°For many centuries, the Skyholme people raided the lesser beastkin tribes in the lowlands. Against our powerful ships, they could do little to resist. We took what we wanted from them, including their young woman. These women were used to create the Wolfsguard. It appears the tribes have now united under a single leader and formed a pact with the Sadians. The Sadians built the tribes their own skyships in return for helping attack Skyholme, which I assume they were more than happy to do.¡± Callem paused and went and got a drink from the counter. ¡°Sebastian told me in confidence,¡± he looked at all of us one at a time, ¡°that we lost half our skyships in the assault.¡± We all took a deep breath. That was a lot of ships and crew. ¡°It is bad, but we took at least two of their ships for everyone we lost. Both sides had massive losses. Cilia and Leda are being called to return to the naval academy. The Triumvirate has issued a conscription order. Somehow my own age fell out of the range!¡± He chuckled darkly. ¡°The city of Solaris was only attacked with mercenaries, just to distract the navy from the real heavy assaults. It worked. Many people in the other cities were killed. The only good news is Sebastian doesn¡¯t think the Sadians are in any position to push their advantage. It should be years before they have enough ships to stage another assault.¡± Callem looked at Storm and me. ¡°There will be a declaration shortly. They are asking those willing to enter the first-year academy early and join the city guard or navy to bolster the defense forces of Skyholme.¡± I was almost 13 and would have entered the academy in the next year. I knew Gareth was going to volunteer. He was already bouncing in his seat from excitement. If I joined him, then I would be going to the first-year academy with my brother and his friends. Callem looked at our mothers, ¡°I had been planning to take over the first-year academy next year when these two entered, but I think it won¡¯t be hard to push my plans a year early, especially since instructors will be sorely needed. If you allow it, I will do everything I can to prepare your sons.¡± Gareth looked at his mother like a puppy. We technically needed to reach our age of maturity in order to enter the academy. If we went earlier, then our parents would need to approve unless the Trivumerate passed a law to change that. At this point, that wouldn¡¯t surprise me. My own mother was focused on me and caught my gaze. She spoke, ¡°Storme will enter under your care, Master Callem. My husband has a lot of faith in you, and you have already transformed him into an exceptional person of character in the short time he has been out here.¡± This was all Gareth¡¯s mother needed to acquiesce as well. So it looked like we were going to the academy, which started in just a few weeks. The conversation devolved after that as Freya spent an hour trying to convince our mother that she should also go to the academy with her two older brothers to keep an eye on them. Of course, she wasn¡¯t buying any of it, and it got a lot of good humor going around in these not-so-bright times. My mind, however, was focused on another plan. Sometime in the next few years, before the Sadians returned, I needed my own skyship and to get my family to the lowlands. I could forecast this war easily enough. If it was a war of attrition, the dysfunctional ruling Triumvirate of Skyholme would lose. Chapter 44 Qualifiers CHAPTER 44 Qualifiers Things do not return to normalcy. The farm became fairly quiet. In fact, Wynna moved to Hen¡¯s Hollow to stay with her daughter Ennet. Callem left every morning to go to Hen¡¯s Hollow to supervise the rebuilding of the old barracks that were used as the first-year academy for those kids coming of age, their 14th birthday. I suspected I was funding a portion of the reconstruction as Callem had asked for 50 large gold coins from me. It left the three of us to train on our own. Gareth mostly supervised us in the weapons training while I supervised the strength and conditioning. Aelyn was responsible for making sure Callem¡¯s crops continued to thrive. The three of us took a day off to go to the funeral of Mera and Fera¡¯s grandparents. Death was not that uncommon with the World Sphere. We were definitely sheltered living up on these large floating islands, but we had learned there were just so many warring factions in the sphere that death in battle was commonplace. Still, I had a lot of sympathy for the twins. Their grandparents had protected their two younger brothers, who hid in the root cellar when the mercenary ogres attacked. I wasn¡¯t certain, but one of the ogres might have been the swordsman we let get away. I didn¡¯t harbor guilt due to this since seven ogres had attacked their farm, looted it, and retreated in a skyship. At the funeral, the bodies were burned in a ceremony to return their ashes to the sphere. A lot of nice things were said about them. I learned that their grandmother had been a dungeon delver and had settled in Skyholme over 60 years ago. It was their grandfather who had been the farmer. The twins thanked Gareth, Aelyn, and me for coming, and we had a grand meal to celebrate the lives of their grandparents after the burning. I was a little surprised when the twin¡¯s father came and sat next to me while I was picking at some food. ¡°Storme Hardlight.¡± He said as he looked at me. ¡°Thank you for getting my daughters to safety.¡± I was waiting for him to say more, and when he didn¡¯t, I responded. ¡°No problem, sir. I just got them to the safest place I knew.¡± Of course, that was not the case, as the ogres had rampaged the countryside farms, stripping many of them of flocks and stores. Callem had said one night this was a coordinated attempt by the Sadians to reduce our numbers and food. ¡°My daughters¡­¡± The very tired man spoke slowly. ¡°They said you have magic and are a good fighter. That captain Callem taught you and your friend to fight and defend yourself?¡± I was puzzled, but I think I knew where he was going. He was going to ask me to marry one of his daughters. The man continued, ¡°If I sent my two girls early to the academy do you think captain Callem could do the same for them?¡± Well, that burst my bubble of self-confidence a bit. ¡°Callem is a fantastic teacher, sir,¡± I said, then paused. ¡°If you want them to learn from the best and be able to defend themselves, then sending them to the academy early can only be a good thing.¡± I looked over at him, and he still seemed to be thinking about it. Finally, he rose, ¡°Thank you for coming, Storme. We didn¡¯t expect such an outpouring from the town and surrounding community. As Gaskill¡¯s we mostly keep to ourselves. As for your advice on captain Callem. Thank you. I will try to convince my wife. If Mera and Fera do attend, keep an eye on them.¡± We both looked over at the twins having a lively conversation with Gareth. He was probably telling them how he had destroyed me on the obstacle course this morning and how I fell ten feet into the mud pit with his assistance. ¡°I will, sir. It should be a lively academy class. Callem said over 20 this cycle.¡± I added. He nodded and walked away. Gareth would be happy with the news. Two days after the funeral, Callem came to fetch us to go to the city. Gareth had wanted to join the Annuals. He was keen to test his mettle against other boys. Well, Gareth looked more like a man than a boy. Callem escorted us to the city of Solaris. Tryouts were in a small arena. There must have been 100 boys here trying their luck. The captain of the city watch was in charge. The contestants who wanted to vie for one of the two slots from our city first needed to be screened. The top 32 from the screening would go into a tourney bracket. Over the next week, each day, a new round would be held. I scanned the group and saw him, Leon Mogensen. He hadn¡¯t seen me yet. It looked like he was here to compete. This was the one thing that could have gotten me into this silly test of masculinity. Gudrun Busk, another of my ambushers, was also trying out. ¡°Hey, Callem, you can sign me up as well,¡± I said, staring at two of the boys who had left me for dead in the alleyway. Callem studied me for a while before nodding and went to add my name to the rolls. I sat with Gareth in the stands and pointed out Leon and Gundrun to him. There were two other young men in their group, probably also trying out. My assessment skill couldn¡¯t work at this distance. My brother walked into the stadium with our father and also went to register, and they came and sat by us. My father spoke, ¡°So Gareth is probably the favorite. I mean, he looks like a seasoned fighter just sitting here!¡± I don¡¯t know if it was my father praising Gareth or something else, but I needed to reply. ¡°Gareth, we will be one of the two slots from the city. I will probably take the other.¡± Pascal and father looked toward me at my announcement. Pascal spoke, ¡°You are competing too? I thought this was beneath you?¡± He sounded a little worried and ticked off. He had taken an arrow and a small fireball during the Sadian attack but had been healed to full health already. He also knew I was a better swordsman than him if I tried. ¡°Yeah, Gareth convinced me,¡± I said as I stared across at my enemies. They had noticed me, and Gudrun had pointed me out for Leon. The organizers started calling names to a private room. The private room was just for a pair of soldiers to assess how competent you were with a sword or other weapon. You could only wield a sword, spear, staff, or mace. All other weapons were mostly off-limits. Of course, there was a lot of variance in these weapons. This testing went very quickly. Gareth and Pascal went before me, and when my turn came, I chose to use the staff. The town guard who tested me had a sword and shield and was overconfident when he saw me. I managed to clip his unprotected shin in short order. When he attempted a reprisal, the captain of the guard halted the exchange and sent me back while calling for a healer. When all the testing was done, the guard captain came out and read off 24 names. I was not on that list. I was shocked as both Pascal and Gareth were. Leo, Gudrun, and one of their associates, Terraz Shide, were included. There appeared to be a lot of upset people and some angry voices. Two men flanking the man tapped their spears on the platform, creating an echo to silence the crowd. The guard captain then announced he was going to read off eight pairings. Each paring would fight for the final slots in the Solaris pre-academy annuals. Bringing the total number to 32. I was paired with one of the few women trying out, Mia Silverstone. Callem sat next to me as I stared at the young woman, ¡°She is good, Storme. Did you see the way she walks? Good grace there. I can only assume the guard captain has some bias against women. Of the 13 who came today, only one was in the 24 selected, and four have to earn their way in. Eight didn¡¯t make it past the selection stage. Don¡¯t expect an easy fight.¡± Callem was right. Mia was a head shorter than me but thick of body. But other than soft breasts, the rest of her body appeared hard. She was also studying me intently. Her weapon appeared to be a thin short sword at her hip. She was clearly at a disadvantage to my longer-reach staff. Then a young boy came running into the stadium with a spear and handed it to her. So the captain had intentionally put Mia at a disadvantage against me, hoping she would get knocked out. The sour look on his face as Mia took the spear confirmed it. You were allowed to change weapons. But you were only allowed one weapon into combat. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. I half-watched the first three matches as I waited for mine. Soon I was standing across from Mia. She was not pretty at all. A flat face, square shoulders, and a scowl so deep it appeared frightening. She was definitely out for blood. I wished I hadn¡¯t bragged to my father about making it to the final two. If I got knocked out here, I wouldn¡¯t even make it into the mini-tourney for the only two slots. A mage came and cast a dulling enchantment on her spear tip. We then faced off, and the combat began. I was heavily on the defensive as she came at me fast with stabs and sweeps. I could predict her movements by her feet and the muscle tension. This saved me. I guess what Callem had been teaching us worked. After a dozen exchanges, she was getting more and more frustrated. I could tell she was good with the spear, but it was not her preferred weapon. Confident I had learned her patterns, I countered her thrust with a downward slash and sidestep. She saw the fault immediately and tried to retreat and reset, but my follow-up sweep was too fast. She tried to duck under, but her timing was again off, and I hit her in the side of the head. She crumpled to the ground. The healer rushed out, and thankfully she was all right. She was carried away, and I could see the guard captain smirk and give me a nod of approval. There was something else going on here, I thought. When I sat next to Callem, he told me. ¡°Been talking with a few of the city folks in the stands. That girl, Mia, is the daughter of Haggrim Silverstone. He is a silversmith in the city. The guard captain,¡± he pointed at the guard captain who was supervising the next bout, ¡°is Fazal Balkar. He has a son over there,¡± Callem indicated a boy already in the bracket. ¡°Mia turned down his son¡¯s request for betrothal. So some bad blood there. Fazal isn¡¯t known to be a kind person, so I am guessing his son is the same.¡± Gareth butted into our conversation, ¡°If I get a chance, I will put him in his place.¡± Gareth was eager to play the knight in shining armor for the girl he had never met. ¡°I doubt you will get the chance Gareth,¡± they were already putting up the bracket of 32. Gareth and the boy, Vazneth Balkar, were at the top of each bracket of 16. ¡°Most likely, the guard captain put all the lesser opponents in his son¡¯s side of the bracket.¡± I noticed my name was there. I would have to fight him in the second round. So the guard captain didn¡¯t think too highly of my skills. The guard captain stood and announced, ¡°This evening, we will hold the first round of 16 duels. The winner of each duel will receive a large silver for their victory!¡± Some cheers went up from the crowd. ¡°The city lord has also been generous, and the loser will receive a silver coin as well!¡± Some very subdued cheers. ¡°The contests will begin in two hours! Tell your friends, and let us fill this arena to cheer on the next generation of warriors of Skyholme!¡± The cheers came subdued as most people were already filing out. As we walked out, Aelyn congratulated me on my victory. Callem and Gareth lectured me on what I did wrong and what I could improve upon. We ate in a small tavern. Callem seemed to know the busty middle-aged waitress, and our food and drink were brought out promptly. ¡°Not as good as what you make Storme, but extremely palatable.¡± The food was seared steaks with a creamy butter sauce. Callem continued, ¡°So in this farce of a tournament, you need to knock out your opponent or get them to concede. The healer mages are decent enough, but death is still possible. So protect your heads.¡± I thought about poor Mia and the solid blow I gave her in our match. Gareth spoke, ¡°Callem are all tournaments like this? Rigged by the people who set them up?¡± Gareth and Callem had been talking about the brackets on the walk here, and I hadn¡¯t paid much attention. My father and Pascal walked in and sat with us as Callem ordered them food from the waitress. ¡°Usually, yes. The Annuals in the capital is a seeded tournament, but the seeds are determined by one of the lords. Pay him enough gold, and you can be seated in a favorable bracket.¡± Callem said as he chewed on his steak. ¡°So the key is to show as little as possible in your victories,¡± my father inserted himself into the conversation. ¡°If your next opponent doesn¡¯t know what to expect or the man seating the brackets doesn¡¯t know your true ability, you have the best chance. Gareth showed a lot in his evaluation, so he got seated first.¡± Gareth blushed in embarrassment. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Gareth. I don¡¯t think there is anyone in the city pre-academy group that can challenge you. But you should be aware that whatever you show will be relayed to your opponents when you travel to the capital for the Annuals. Also, I have the prize list here for this tourney.¡± Father unrolled a parchment, and it showed each victory got you a large silver. A defeat, a single silver. If you won your side of the bracket, you got one gold. And if you won the entire thing, you got a large gold. A large gold is about what my father made in a year after his promotion. The reward was probably so high to encourage the wealthier young men and women to participate. We talked about strategy during the meal, and I half-paid attention as I worked my new alarm spell. The spell allowed me to set a temporary point. If a living creature came within 20 feet of it I would get a mental alert. For the first evolution, I altered the alert to give me a mental flash of the creature approaching the alarm. For my second evolution, I made the alarm spell give a loud beep to alert others when a specific action occurred. This action was currently very broad, and I needed further evolutions to make it more specific. I was currently spamming the spell to get it to level 3 and reach my third evolution. There were quite a few useful evolutions, and I hoped to get the spell to level 11 in the next few months. When we returned to the arena, there was an entrance fee of 5 coppers per person. As participants, we didn¡¯t have to pay. Gareth was the first to fight, and we didn¡¯t even need to cheer him. Using a broadsword, Gareth easily overpowered the poor boy. The boy had some speed, but even larger, Gareth was faster. I was happy to see two of Leon¡¯s minions get eliminated on Gareth¡¯s side of the bracket. When we started the fights on my side of the bracket, Zaneth fought first. He was big, and Callem said he was probably closer to 15 than 14. He was a decent swordsman, but I was able to see multiple flaws in his style, at least compared to Gareth. I thought I might be able to match him. But first, I needed to win my next match. It was Gudrun Busk. I looked up at the bracket board, and his name was there. But I had thought someone else had been placed there before we went for dinner. I looked in the crowd, and Callem looked perplexed as well, as he remembered the same thing I had. Well, they had recognized me, so maybe they had some pull. Then I noticed a red-haired guard in the crowd¡­I assessed him when I stepped close. Logain Mogensen. It was Leon¡¯s brother¡­the same one who had stood guard at the entrance of the alley when they robbed and nearly killed me. Maybe they thought Gudrun would knock me out. But this is why I had entered this little tournament, personal revenge. Plus, it helped Callem was here in the stands, so I felt protected. Gudrun was using a buckler and scimitar. He was very fast with his slashing attacks but I had range on him, and we were equal in size. My footwork was also superior. The trap did spring as he released some glass dust into my path of advancement. It had been concealed in his buckler arm and appeared to be regular sand. I rolled away from his onslaught and cast my cleanliness spell to eliminate the glass dust. I needed to do a touch of healing to my eyes as I retreated. Gudrun pressed his attack, thinking I was disabled. My staff shot straight out into his groin. A surprised look on his face was turned to pain. He hadn¡¯t surrendered, so half a heartbeat later, my staff was slamming into the side of his skull. It was a much harder strike than Mia had taken, and the boy crumbled like all his bones had been removed from his body. I was declared the victor and gave the upset Leon a staredown before returning to my seat. Unfortunately, there was a conference. The mages observing the fight had seen my magic. With Callem and my father, I had to go answer some questions as to what magic I had used. The proctoring mage confirmed it was the cleanliness spell a healing spell. Both were legal, but I had failed to register them as part of my combat repertoire, which made them illegal to use. At least, that was the argument I was facing. It was Callem¡¯s turn to play the hero. Callem knew the rules of the Annuals better than anyone. Defensive spells didn¡¯t need to be registered, just offensive spells so the proctoring mages could better prepare to intervene in a life-or-death situation. After nearly 30 minutes of arguing, I was declared the victor of the match. Callem also made a point to record the brackets so they could not be altered again. Gundrun didn¡¯t face any reprimand for his attempt to blind me with the glass dust. My father brought it up, but since the boy lost, the point was considered moot by the guard captain. I got my large silver coin reward. I placed it in my pocket and moved it to my dimensional closet. This was not a coin to me but a trophy of vengeance. I was happy to see Gudrun have trouble walking, even after the healing. That brief bit of revenge was sweet, and I hoped there was more to come. On the walk back to Hen¡¯s Hollow, Aelyn was the most excited of any of us. Pascal had also won his first bout and was in my bracket. If I beat Zaneth tomorrow and Pascal also won, we would face each other. Pascal was scheduled to fight Leon, and I was torn as to whether I wanted him to win or lose. If my brother lost, I would get a chance at revenge in the arena. Of course, when we got to our house, Freya was upset that she didn¡¯t get to see her brother and Gareth fight today. She thought we were just registering. She spent dinner trying to get permission from our parents to go tomorrow. They eventually caved, and Mother, Wynna, and Ennet would escort her. The next day I hoped to get some revenge for Mia and put the guard captain¡¯s son in his place. I was sure there would be some new trick that I would have to overcome to win. That seemed to be the nature of this tourney. Chapter 45 Partial Retribution CHAPTER 45 Partial Retribution Callem stayed in Hen¡¯s Hollow with Wynna as Aelyn, Gareth, and I went to his farm to rest up. I laid out dozens of alarms around the property to practice the spell. The one mistake I made was the one in the bathroom. The spell gave me a brief two-second image when I focused on the specific alarm being activated. So it could be used as a pepping tom spell if desired, but seeing Gareth was not the image I wanted to be burned into my mind. I altered the privy alarm to be a loud noise to trigger when ¡®anyone sat on the toilet seat.¡¯ Of course, Aelyn, in the middle of the night, got the shit scared out of her instead of Gareth. I made breakfast for everyone in the morning, and it was the first time that I thought Aelyn had been angry with me. Gareth thought the whole thing was hysterical. Gareth and Aelyn practiced with me in the morning after we weeded and watered the fields. They both wanted me to win. We traveled to Hen¡¯s Hollow for lunch and ate at my parent¡¯s house. Freya told us, ¡°Everyone is coming, Storme. Well, most of the town! They all want to see you two take it to those city boys! It is going to be EPIC!¡± Freya using the phrase from my old world, brought a smile to my lips. It was just more pressure on me to win my duel. Freya was not kidding. Almost 100 people from Hen¡¯s Hollow and the surrounding farms were headed to Solaris. Even Mera and Fera were coming with their family. The support was very touching. The field would be whittled to 8 in the evening, and then after dinner, it would be reduced to the final 4. I assumed this was to generate more ticket sale revenue. Tomorrow the last four would face off. Freya and Aelyn were talking on the way in, and it sounded like Aelyn was relaying the fights from yesterday to Freya in extreme detail. Hopefully, Aelyn hadn¡¯t changed anything to get back at me for the alarm spell mishap. The city, like yesterday, felt like it had recovered fairly quickly from the attack. Our small city was more of a distraction in the grand scheme of the major assault. We had mostly mercenaries raiding farms and Sadians keeping the population contained in the city while other grander attacks occurred in the skies between, below, and above the islands. Callem had said it was the most effective attack the Sadians had ever orchestrated. This was mainly due to a large number of beastkin allies and the plethora of mercenaries they sent at us. The little stadium with about 2000 seats was packed, and food vendors were walking the aisles. Doing the math in my head, the city was making more coins than they were paying out to the winners of this event. Pascal, Gareth, and I went down below to wait for our turn. It had me thinking of gladiator combat for some reason. Pascal was called first, and we watched his match through the door. He surprisingly lost. We were both stunned. He came storming back into the room, ¡°Shittin cheater. Used a blasted magic sword. Callem told me not to use the weapon you made me, Storme. It was bloody dragon¡¯s shit! His sword enchantment hit like a skyship!¡± Pascal continued to rant, and the healers continued to work on his broken wrist and partially healed leg. That was how he had lost. The strength of the blow broke Pascal¡¯s wrist on his sword arm. I thought that maybe Liam had used the funds they stole from me to buy that magic sword. Enchanted weapons were somewhat illegal, but I was sure they would find nothing if the organizers checked. There was a gray area on using a magic weapon if it was from an innate ability. Gareth and I consoled Pascal. ¡°You made it to the top 16 in the tourney, Pascal. Dad is going to be really proud, and it should be something to help you get into a good second-year academy.¡± If no one sponsored him to an academy I was thinking of doing it anonymously. He was my brother, after all. I was called next. I had to fight the son of the tournament organizer. As I approached, he whispered, ¡°Go down easy, or I will punish you.¡± What kind of verbal threat was this? Not a good one. I replied, ¡°You sound better with your mouth closed.¡± Maybe I was reaching, but it got the effect I wanted. Zaneth looked puzzled for a long time, even as the fight started, and then his eyes widened in realization. Thank god. I thought I had wasted my breath on a decent comeback. Zaneth wielded a long sword and shield, nothing special. I was sticking with my staff. We both parried each other for a bit, and I would say we were equally matched, skill-wise. I was waiting for the cheat to happen, and I almost realized it too late. He had used some type of rot enchantment on my staff. The staff was a dungeon hardwood, so it should last a long time, even against steel. When a large chunk flew off when I parried an attack, I realized it. If I wanted to win, I had to finish this quickly. Zaneth smirked as he saw me puzzle out what was happening. He went completely on the defensive, waiting for my staff to fail so he could finish me. I backed up, coming up with a plan. I saw Mia in the crowd and decided to give her a nod. Zaneth was the boy who had been trying to leverage his father¡¯s power to get her to marry him. At least, I hoped she realized I was directing the nod at her. If I took out Zaneth, it would be some revenge for her. I made my move. I went in for a flurry of attacks forcing him to use his shield and blade to defend and back peddle. When my staff inevitably broke, we reversed positions, and he pressed me. I waited as he had the longer reach. I just needed him to take a wide swing¡­ There I moved in quickly inside his sword arc. He wasn¡¯t expecting it. I bear-hugged his shield to his chest, pinning that arm, and drove him into the ground with me on top. My weight knocked the air from him. Using my two free hands, I grabbed his wrist and freed his sword. Getting control of it, I held the blade to his throat. He squeaked out, ¡®I yield.¡¯ I said I couldn¡¯t hear him and made him scream it so everyone could listen to his plea. The nasty look the guard captain gave me made this worth it. His son had been knocked out and beaten with his own sword. I slowed my steps and soaked in the cheers of the crowd¡­oh my. The adrenaline rush and the endorphins from successful combat were¡­intoxicating. No! I got control of myself. I planned to make lots of coins. Live a luxurious, indulgent and hedonistic lifestyle. The rush would not persuade me on a path of combat. That would be stupid! I got claps from Pascal and Gareth while sitting in the competitor¡¯s area. My opponent had fled the stadium in embarrassment. I did find Mia in the crowd, and she gave me a nod in return. At least, I assumed she was nodding at me. If the opportunity arose, I would be interested in talking to her to get her story. Right now, I was getting enough adulation from the people from Hen¡¯s Hollow¡­including the two twins, Fera and Mera. Gareth¡¯s match was two bouts later, and it was boring. Gareth disarmed him, let him pick up his sword, and then did it again. Frustrated he couldn¡¯t get a good fight from his opponent he ended the match. So both me and Gareth had made it into the final eight. My family and Gareth went with Callem, Wynna, and Ennet to get a large meal. Even though Callem warned Gareth not to eat so much, he didn¡¯t restrain himself. The young waitress even handed each of us a beer, compliments of the tavern owner. I pretended to sip on mine, slightly paranoid it might have been spiked with something. Gareth chugged his and ordered a second, which Callem drank in his stead, to Gareth¡¯s bemused disappointment. Freya sat next to me, and she relayed the fight I had just won to me in excruciating detail. Everyone thought I was going to lose in the stands when my staff broke. Then I threw away my broken weapon, pinned my opponent, and used his own weapon on him. A story for the legends¡ªthe legends of Hen¡¯s Hollow, anyway. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. After dinner, as we walked, Callem talked with Gareth and me, ¡°Boys, the first-year academy starts in three weeks. I have some of the rooms ready, and when we get back to Hen¡¯s Hollow tonight, you can stay there. After the tourney finishes tomorrow, we will all return to the farm and pack what we need.¡± Gareth asked, ¡°Are we leaving the farm permanently?¡± I think he was also a little peeved that Callum hadn¡¯t praised either of us for our accomplishments so far in the tourney. ¡°I will continue to maintain it, heading back every third day to weed and water. You boys have outgrown the place. After the academy¡¯s first year, you will need to make some decisions. I expect quite a few sponsors to approach you, Gareth. You as well, Storme, if news of your healing spell travels. You will be shielded from the draft until your 16th year. Hopefully, the needs of Skyholme¡¯s navy will have died down by then.¡± Gareth sounded a little whiny, ¡°So after the first-year academy, you will no longer train us?¡± Callem smiled genuinely at Gareth, ¡°As long as you are within reach, boy, I will always find the time to teach you a new trick or two. The day that you surpass is the day I will stop teaching you.¡± I walked ahead and let the two have their moment together. I was not going to be dragged down this rabbit hole of enjoying sword combat¡­ no matter how intoxicating victory was. At the stadium, there were just eight of us remaining. I didn¡¯t have a spare staff, so I had removed one of my lesser sabers from my storage in secret. I preferred the staff and probably should have found time to get a new one in the city during the break. The stands quickly filled as everyone paid five coppers again to get a seat. I could hear some modest betting going on. Now that the crowds had a chance to watch us, the odds makers could figure out what they were willing to level for each match. I saw my father and Gareth¡¯s visiting one of them and assumed they were betting for us to win. The environment was quite lively, and I don¡¯t think everyone who wanted to watch got into the stands. People were standing in the back, and Mera and Fera were among them. The matches were announced, and I was going to be first against Leon Mogensen. The announcer read, ¡°Storme Hardlight of 13 years will be battling Leon Mogensen of 14 years.¡± I was still twelve. My 13th birthday was still weeks away. But I guessed they didn¡¯t want to say I was 12 and had beaten the guard captain¡¯s son, who was 14. People in the sphere did mature physically faster. I looked to be almost 15, and my opponent may be 17 from my old world. Gareth was the exception. Even at 12, if you discounted his youthful face, you would think he was 18. It had to be a side effect of his giant¡¯s constitution ability. Leon had looked worried that I had produced a saber instead of a staff, but now the ginger boy had a smug look on his face. If all he had was the heavy hitter enchantment, then I would just need to not block any of his attacks, just parry. When the fight started, he came at me like a bull, full of overconfidence. I refused to engage him directly for five minutes. He was breathing heavily, so he didn¡¯t have conditioning even close to mine. He started to taunt me next to goad me into attacking him. Maybe he would be stupid enough to admit he ambushed me in an alley and tried to kill me. After fifteen minutes, the crowd was becoming restless. I was wielding just a saber, no shield. In comparison, my opponent had a magic weapon and buckler. I didn¡¯t like a shield in one on one combat. If it had been two opponents, then definitely a shield, but here it would hamper my superior mobility and keep me too square to my opponent. He finally got a jab that struck home, albeit a verbal one. ¡°Maybe your young sister would stand still while I stab her with my sword,¡± he said while grabbing his crouch. My rage emerged unhindered. I turned to the attack and caused him to stumble back on his tired footing. I clipped a small chuck off his shield and left my saber out there for him to hack down to the ground and possibly break it. Callem would give me hell for what I was about to do. I let him strike the saber; yes, it was a heavy hitter enchantment. But I used the momentum he gave my sword to pirouette extremely fast, swinging my blade in a 360 circle and adding momentum and power. The fact that I had to turn my back to him in the spin would get me hell from Callem, but I had so little faith my opponent would take advantage in the brief moment I exposed myself. With his shield and sword on the right side of his body, his eyes popped as he realized what was happening. The speed would not have been possible without his magic assistance. He tried to back up, but his weight was all forward. My sword cut into his leather shoulder pauldron and into his arm and lodged in his bone. I was slightly disappointed. His reaction to back up had raised his head and neck above my sword¡¯s arc. If he had been just a little lower¡ªI could have separated his head from his body in the swing. Leon¡¯s screams of pain rang out, but the crowd was already erupting in cheers at my victory. I was disappointed to lose my chance for ultimate revenge in front of a crowd. Then that stupid bloody rush hit me. The adrenaline. The adoration of the crowd. The ecstasy of defeating a foe. I raised both my hands as the guard captain called the match in my favor. I turned and left and went into the stands to join my family, leaving my sword in Leon¡¯s arm as he screamed and the healing mages tended him. It was a crappy saber compared to the collection in my dimensional space, anyway. It was an old experiment to increase the hardness of the blade. My family hugged me, and I dragged Aelyn into the hug as well as she was sitting next to Freya. I didn¡¯t think I was overly impressed with my fight. But I was satisfied as I had gotten some mark of revenge. Gareth¡¯s opponent at least put up a fight. Well not a fight, but he was a big round boy and was able to take a few hits. The townsfolk were already planning a party back in town to celebrate that not just one but two of their own had made it into the top four. Gareth was easily going to win, and I was making plans to bow out of the competition. I had achieved my goal. The town moved as a pack back home, and the party started. I saw Callem slipping a large gold to the tavern keeper. It was shiny, so definitely one of mine. Mera and Fera had corned Gareth and me, and we started talking. They were excited that they would be joining us at the first-year academy. Being the town heroes for a night was exciting, but I needed to talk with Callem. I found him talking to someone I was not expecting to be here, Mia. Mia was the young woman I had defeated to get into the tournament. ¡°Storme,¡± Callem introduced us, ¡°Mia.¡± ¡°This young woman is planning to come out and do her first year academy in our humble town. I was working out the details with her. The town charter requires her or her family to be a resident, so I was going to ask my friend Edel Swallowhorn to rent out her spare cottage. Her father has given her the funds, and I was going to set it up formally. Why don¡¯t you introduce Mia to Gareth and the Gaskill twins while I am gone.¡± Callem gave me a wink as he left. Mia looked at me for a good minute in the noisy tavern before saying, ¡°Thank you for beating Fazal¡¯s son and making him look the fool. If I were you, I would stay away from the city for a long while.¡± She had a cute smirk on her face. She was a head shorter than me, with rich black hair tied into a ponytail and lightly tanned skin. She was definitely sporting an athletic build with a plain but pleasant face. ¡°So Mia, your dad is a Silversmith, and you are not going to follow in his footsteps?¡± I asked as I walked her over to my friends. ¡°No, I have three older brothers, all apprenticed to him. I don¡¯t like the jewelry business anyway. I have been getting into fights since I was five, and the healer¡¯s bills have given my dad a headache.¡± She was all smiles. ¡°When I learned who trained you and your older brother, I decided to come out here and see if he would train me too. When I heard he was running the first-year academy in Hen¡¯s Hollow, I couldn¡¯t miss the opportunity, so here I am!¡± We reached the group, and I introduced Mia to everyone. Mia was friendly to everyone, including Aelyn, so she seemed like a good person. I did have to clean up some confusion. She thought Gareth was my older brother, but Callem had thought she was referring to Pascal. I made sure to let her know that I was, in fact, older than Gareth by two months. The party dragged well into the night, and everyone seemed to forget that tomorrow Gareth and I had to compete again in the evening. Callem came and found us, escorted Mia to her new living accommodations, and said the barracks were open and Gareth and I could go pick out any furnished room. We said goodbye to the twins and went to the barracks. The barracks was a long building on the far side of our small skyship dock. The skyship dock was just a square solid stone tower with wooden stairs wrapping around it. It was 20 feet in height, and the top was about 100 feet to the side. The barracks was a stone building about 150 feet in length and 50 feet in width in the shadow of the stone monolith. Gareth got excited, ¡°Look, Storme! Callem has built a new obstacle course here! It looks even bigger and harder than the one at the farm!¡± I groaned at the realization that our time in the academy was just going to be a continuation of our time at the farm. Hopefully, I wouldn¡¯t have to cook for everyone as well. Chapter 46 Champion Crowned CHAPTER 46 Champion Crowned After getting over my disappointment at seeing the obstacle course, we made our way to the barracks building. Aelyn asked, ¡°So what am I going to be doing while you guys are in training for the next year?¡± My mind turned over the question. Callem had not mentioned anything, but I was sure he had a plan, ¡°I am sure Callem has something figured out.¡± Aelyn seemed slightly uncomfortable at not knowing her fate. I was sure students could bring servants in the capital at the fancy first-year academies, but I didn¡¯t know if that applied here, and I didn¡¯t want Aelyn to think of herself that way. Gareth was already at the building. I was curious about the renovations. Since the building was essentially abandoned when not in session we had explored it in the past. Half of the building was two long bunk rooms on either side of a hallway. They led to a large dining room in the center. At the other end were the six separate classrooms; one served as a makeshift armory. The exterior of the building looked exactly like I remembered, so where did the money I created for Callem go? We entered the large doors by the bunk rooms and paused. The hallway had a new tile floor, new paint on the walls and ceiling, simple aether lights in the hallway, and the hallway had more doors than I remembered. We opened the first door, and it was a small room 10 feet wide and 20 feet deep. The room had a bed, armoire, desk, and chair on each wall. It was like a college dorm room from my old world. Gareth was excited as he thought he would have to sleep in a room with a dozen other boys. Now he just had to share a room with his blood brother, ¡°Storme this is awesome! It is just like the academies in the capital! We get to remain together and get some privacy.¡± My mind was in turmoil. I was going to have to listen to Gareth¡¯s loud sleep breathing every night for an entire year. Maybe I could commute from home? It wasn¡¯t generally allowed, but it was just a 5-minute walk. And Gareth¡¯s stinky feet¡­ Gareth moved into the room, inspecting everything. The furniture was new and had the smell of freshly sawn wood. The beds didn¡¯t have mattresses or linens. ¡°Let¡¯s check the other rooms, Gareth. Maybe some of them have a different setup.¡± I moved down the hall with Aelyn behind me. Aelyn whispered with a chuckle, ¡°I know there are magical earplugs that block out loud sounds.¡± She had seen my face when I realized I would be bunking with Gareth. Due to the narrow room and the beds being across from each other, it meant I would be sleeping about 6 feet apart from Gareth¡­too close. There were 15 rooms in total. All had the same furnishings, with some having a few extras like armor stands, lockable chests, and shelves. The furniture was still being delivered, and I assumed every room would eventually have the same. Some rooms had mattresses, linens and were fully furnished. The two rooms at the end of the hallway that led into the dining hall looked to be larger, and they even had a large window. I did some quick measurements, and yes, a little over 12 feet wide. Two extra feet away from Gareth¡¯s noisy sleeping wasn¡¯t much, but at least it was something. Gareth caught up to Aelyn and me as I was checking out both of these rooms on opposite sides of the hallway. One window faced the ship dock monolith, and the other faced the training yard. Not wanting to look at the training yard, I moved into the other room. ¡°Gareth, what do you think about this room? It is larger, and we can see the skyships coming and going from the window.¡± Gareth walked to the window and looked out and up, ¡°Nice thinking! And we are right next to the dining room, so it will be easier to sneak a late-night snack.¡± Aelyn chuckled. I was already thinking about getting some type of silence spell in order to make the next year more bearable. We checked out the dining room next. Once again, the floor was new, and the walls and ceiling had been painted. All the furniture was new and had a fresh coat of urethane on it. There were five long tables with seating for eight at each. This was a total of forty seats, and there were going to be a total of 30 beds. So I guessed the instructors would be eating with us. Another hallway was on the far side of the dining room and led to a kitchen with stairs down to the larder, which was empty. The remaining rooms in this hallway contained classrooms, four in total. Each classroom had twelve seats facing a large desk and chalkboard in front. Outside was a brand new privy, the training yard, and the new obstacle course. It looked like there were a large number of training dummies also stacked in a shed. The goal of the first-year academy was basic education to make sure kids could read and write and know some history. But the primary reason was to teach the new 14-year-old adults how to fight. You had a choice of attending the academy or going straight into an apprentice position for a trade skill. The sphere was dangerous, so most parents required their kids to complete the one-year course before entering their trade apprenticeship. We moved back to the selected room and settled in while Aelyn took a bed in the room across the hallway. ¡°So Stormy, we haven¡¯t talked about tomorrow. When we fight in the finals against each other, we should give the crowd a good showing. You know, make it entertaining.¡± I was still thinking of how to get out of the additional fights at the actual tourney in the capital. ¡°Gareth, you don¡¯t know that I am going to win my match,¡± I started to say. ¡°Oh please, Stormy! These guys are all terrible compared to us. I may be better than you by a fair amount, but no one in our little corner of the island is a match for you. We should talk about choreographing our fight.¡± As if by magic Aelyn appeared back in our room. She had been listening in. ¡°I have a few suggestions,¡± she said excitedly. One of Aelyn¡¯s shows in the carnival was a choreographed fight against a multitude of opponents. Both Gareth and Aelyn were super excited and, without input from me, began to discuss how the fight should progress. I lay on the somewhat uncomfortable mattress and closed my eyes, scanning my dimensional space. I should start thinking about what my next spell should be. I narrowed the list to either the Aether Shield or Lightning Reflexes. Both were reward spellbooks from a dungeon, so they were a little easier to learn. Aether Shield was a tier 2 spell, and I now had confidence in learning it fairly quickly. Lightning Reflexes was a tier 4 spell, but its affinities overlapped with lightning and healing, so I might be able to learn it after a few months. Aether Shield was a pure defensive spell, while Lightning Reflexes could be used offensively or defensively. I summoned both books from my space and paged through them while Aelyn and Gareth were starting to act out the choreography in the small room. Gareth just kept asking if I was paying attention and if I had any input. I just nodded and continued to read through the spell books trying to make a very important decision. ¡°Come on, Stormy!¡± Gareth pleaded. ¡°This is for your own good. I want you to look as competent as possible in our fight in the final!¡± I looked up from the book and slipped both books into my space. Well, Gareth just made my mind up for me. Maybe the Lightning Reflexes spell would give me an edge in our future combat sparring and briefly bring down my friend¡¯s hubris. Even though I wanted to get some sleep, we all moved into the dining room and moved some tables, and practiced the mock fight. Of course, I felt this gave me some pressure to win my first match tomorrow night. We slept a few hours and then continued. It actually got a little fun¡­well, fun because I started mixing in things that Callem would pull his hair out at. Things you would never do in real combat, like flips and rapid blade exchanges. Aelyn contributed a lot as she had a repertoire of moves that she knew the crowd would love. My stomach growled, and I called an end to the preparation. Having fought with Gareth for months, I felt it would be a pretty good show. We traveled to Ennet¡¯s house to meet with Callem and Wynna. The town was planning another mass exodus to the city to watch their two prodigies. Callem smiled as we entered the house. ¡°Ah, boys and Aelyn, are you ready for the festivities tonight?¡± We nodded, and Gareth spoke with fervor, ¡°Callem, the academy is fantastic! How many students are you expecting? We counted 30 beds.¡± Callem laughed, ¡°Twenty-eight currently. After Mia, we turned away another seven last night. Your exploits in the tournament have drawn some attention to Hen¡¯s Hollow.¡± ¡°Will you fill the other two beds?¡± I asked while looking for some snacks. The tavern¡¯s food was a little bland. I found something like grapes and helped myself. ¡°We are leaving the two beds open for anyone else from Hen¡¯s Hollow who decides to go. Twenty-eight is a large number, and I am still trying to pull in two more teachers.¡± Callem said slowly. ¡°I have recruited Elora Cassior. She is a famed master of the staff and well versed in dungeon delving.¡± Gareth perked up, and Callem held up his hand to stop a bevy of questions. ¡°My second teacher joining us is Aldon Aethon.¡± Callem paused, hoping we would maybe recognize the name. ¡°Aldon is Leda¡¯s uncle, a famed enchanter in the city. He is doing his niece a favor to take some time off from the family¡¯s business and come out here and teach.¡± The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. My eyes bugged out. Callem held up his hand to stop my questions this time. ¡°Aldon will also be teaching history. The other two teachers I am seeking have not committed, so I will wait before revealing them.¡± Callem¡¯s eyes twinkled at our excitement. ¡°I have also taken some actions against Fazal Balkar. He is going to be replaced for this evening¡¯s festivities. Mason Torrent, the city magistrate¡¯s son, is going to administer the final duels himself.¡± Callem finished with a new serious tone. Callem must have been hiding his anger well at the petty tricks they had tried in the early rounds. Callem had professed not to have any pull in the city, so I assumed he had found a friend who did have some influence. ¡°Don¡¯t look too excited, Storme. Your opponent is Mason¡¯s nephew. But the Torrent family is fairly honorable, so I don¡¯t believe anything deceitful will happen.¡± Callem finished. I remembered that Aelyn was in limbo, so I asked about her. ¡°Thank you for everything, Callem. It sounds like we will have some of the best teachers of any first-year academy in Skyholme. What will Aelyn be doing during the year?¡± I asked politely. Aelyn¡¯s ears twitched at her name. Wynna answered, ¡°Aelyn will be living in town with us. We are preparing a room for her. I think Callem was going to ask her if she wanted to run the student¡¯s conditioning program. She might like to be in charge of you boys.¡± Gareth¡¯s eyes flashed in panic as he and Aelyn were quite competitive, and he had been smack-talking her a lot. Aelyn let loose a ferocious grin. ¡°I would like that!¡± She chirped and looked at Gareth. ¡°Thought you might,¡± Callem laughed. ¡°I have been working on some new surprises for the obstacle courses and have two long runs mapped out. We can talk more in the stands at the arena this evening. Knowing looks were exchanged between the two. I guessed Gareth¡¯s competition with Aelyn was going to inflict as much damage on me as on him, probably more. At least I could heal myself. Soon we were packing up and heading into the city. I asked Callem if he could stop and purchase me a half dozen heavy staves. I would drop them in my dimensional space to have them in the future. Gareth and I went directly to the arena, and there were massive lines waiting for tickets. I hoped my family could get in. What was I thinking? I really didn¡¯t even want to fight¡­well, maybe I did. I just couldn¡¯t decide. I really thought the play fight me and Gareth would put on would be fun for the crowd¡­so that is what I wanted. I didn¡¯t want to fight, but I did want the adoration of the crowd. I wanted to be the center of attention. I tried to use my focus exercises to dispel this rising need from my psyche. It didn¡¯t work. I would need to work on it. At the arena, we were let in with the other two competitors. The two 14-year-old boys didn¡¯t mingle with us, so we waited by ourselves. A mage came by and inspected all four of us and asked us if we planned to utilize any spells. I just noted my cleanliness spell and my mend flesh spell. He asked to examine our weapons, and I was still waiting on Callem for a replacement staff, so the other three went first. Gareth¡¯s opponent had a shield and broadsword. He was a square young man, strong but not as tall or nearly as agile as Gareth. My opponent was a Torrent. The Torrent family was one of the three controlling families of the Triumvirate, but my opponent was very far removed from the line of succession in the city. He was a very minor noble, just sharing the name of the ruling family. The mage waited impatiently for my new staff to arrive, and when it did, he quickly examined it before handing it to me. Callem knew my preferences, and this staff was made of dungeon wood and had thin metal bands around the ends. We watched as the arena filled with spectators, and the food hawkers were very busy. The arena was packed beyond capacity, with many people standing. I noticed a lot of familiar faces in the crowd of town. I could only see one-half of the arena stands, so I wasn¡¯t surprised when I couldn¡¯t find our families and Callem. With the stadium packed, Mason Torrent spoke, ¡°Welcome all to this grandiose exhibition of the next generation of heroes of Skyhomle!¡± Cheers erupted at his pronouncement, and I soaked in the applause even though they could not see me in the holding pen under the stands. ¡°Tonight, we have entertainment aplenty. The first act will be the Marvelous Ferouzzi Troupe performing the last battle at Axe Helm keep!¡± More cheers. This battle was a mythic tale told of the bravery and steadfastness of a dungeon-delving team of six who defended a small village against wave after wave of insectoid monsters in the lowlands. It was a bit strange they did not choose some Skyholme heroes to reenact. ¡°Then we will have¡­.¡± Mason continued to set the schedule. First up would be Gareth, then another act, this one a magical display of illusion mastery. Then it would be my turn to fight. After my fight would be the singing act of a famous singer from the capital. Who I later found out was Mason¡¯s wife. Then the finale¡­the championship match. Maybe it would be Gareth and me. I didn¡¯t watch the first act as I was getting familiar with my new staff. Callem had gotten the length and weight correct. It just needed a little breaking in. Cheers erupted as the troupe finished, and it was Gareth¡¯s turn as he was announced. As Gareth was leaving, he patted me on my back, ¡°Don¡¯t lose.¡± Gareth prolonged the fight. At least, I assumed he did because the crowd cheered for a long time at the sounds of swords clattering. My opponent sat and tried to stare me down, psyching me out. Of course, that wouldn¡¯t work on me. Gareth entered, and I was shocked to see he had two cuts, one on his cheek and one on his arm. I quickly healed him while the illusion display started, and Gareth explained, ¡°I was trying to make things more interesting. The cut on my arm was planned, but this,¡± he pointed to his face, ¡°was not. I slightly underestimated my opponent¡¯s reach.¡± He shook his head, disappointed in himself. ¡°Callem is going to punish me for my stupidity. I saw his disapproving look in the stands. Well, Stormy it is up to you, Don¡¯t lose!¡± Gareth took his seat, and soon the illusion show was over, and our names were called. I stood across from my opponent and was finally able to see my family. Ok, this was some motivation. When we started, my opponent pressed, and he was very good. He was the third-ranked fighter from the evaluations after Gareth and Zaneth. He didn¡¯t have many weaknesses other than the fact he was not familiar with fighting against an opponent with a staff. I was able to keep him at bay using both ends of my staff as I backpedaled and studied his movements. It was clear he was trying to bait me on some openings in his form. I had been tricked way too many times by Gareth to fall for them, though. I suddenly thrust my staff at his midsection, taking him off guard and scoring a hit on his solar plexus. He stumbled back, surprised at the force of the strike. My staff was heavy, and I had put my mass behind it. He was smarting from the strike, and his pressing attack slowed. My next strike aimed for his knee, which he blocked down but I pivoted my staff to bring the other end toward his head, sensing victory. To save himself, he rolled forward to avoid the blow to his head, but I was able to adjust my target ad got him solidly in the back, causing his roll to turn into a stumbling sprawl in the sand. He managed to recover, but not before I got two solid strikes on his torso. If I had been wielding a sword, a weapon the young man was familiar with, this would have gone differently. I probably could have won with a sword, but it would have been more challenging for me. I saw the defeat in his eyes now. He knew he couldn¡¯t beat me, and it was just a matter of time. I gave him face, and let him exchange with me three more times before surprising him with another quick thrust to his solar plexus. This put him over the edge as even with his leather armor, two strikes to this spot of nerves crippled him. He couldn¡¯t move well and soon yielded. I shook hands with him, not quite believing I had won. I had a great teacher and skilled training partners in Gareth and Aelyn, so maybe I just underestimated myself a bit. I smiled at the cheers raining down upon me as I headed to the holding room. As I entered the room with Gareth, he hugged me and said, ¡°Knew you could do it! That was classic defense and opportunistic attacking! So are we still on for our little show?¡± I nodded and thought, why not. I healed both of us completely as a beautiful song was sung outside. The crowd remained quiet, listening. We were called out by Mason Torrent, ¡°Storme Hardlight and Gareth Highguard will represent our city in the Annuals this year at the capital!¡± Cheers came, and we both grinned at each other. ¡°But we would still like to crown a champion tonight! These two will battle for the opportunity to dine with me and my father in the magistrate¡¯s estate! And the winner will be awarded a large gold coin and this!¡± He raised a small ring in the air, and we both looked at the fancy ring. ¡°This is a ring of strength to help them achieve success in the capital!¡± The cheer erupted again, this time for Mason¡¯s generosity. It was generous as the ring might be worth two or three platinum. He whispered to both of us, ¡°I hope this is enough motivation to put on a good show, boys.¡± When he was seated, our combat display began. We went at each other, exchanging a series of twenty weapon blocks before one of us disengaged with a flamboyant summersault or tumble. The crowd was eating this up based on their cheers. I was sure any seasoned warrior would realize what a farce our combat was. We continued for almost twenty minutes, and with both of us breathing heavily and tired¡­well, I was tired¡­Gareth was probably faking it¡­we engaged for the last time, and it finished with Gareth¡¯s sword at the back of my neck. I, of course, yielded, and the crowd went wild. We both found our families in the crowd, and Callem did not look angry with us. He looked amused. I left the arena and headed to the stands while Gareth went to meet and receive his prizes from Mason Torrent. I got lots of claps on my sweaty back as I sat with my family and next to Callem. Callem leaned into me and whispered, ¡°Quite the show. Didn¡¯t think you were going to give it this much effort. A bit flashy at the end, but I can understand why you both did it.¡± He patted me on my back. ¡°Oh, Storme, one more thing. One of the teachers I was hoping to come and teach at the academy has agreed. Archmage Sana Velin will be taking a one-year vacation from the lowlands to spend some time in our small town.¡± Callem looked extremely smug. Sana Velin was a spell researcher of quite some renown and had authored my cleanliness spellbook. I missed the ceremonies processing the words Callem had said. I was going to have a teacher for my magics. And not just any teacher. ¡°Who is the other person you are trying to get to teach at the academy, Callem? You said there were two more.¡± Callem looked at me appraisingly. He answered, ¡°He is a famous monster hunter that left Skyholme when my son was lost. He trained my son and his friends. I haven¡¯t been able to track him down yet, but I am assuming he is still alive.¡± Callem looked off into space. ¡°Sebastian recruited Sana Velin for me when I asked for him to get a mage mentor from outside of Skyholme to teach you. She grew up in Skyholme but moved to the lowlands a century ago. She wishes her return to be kept secret. She is coming back to check on her descendants mostly, but Sebastian has piqued her interest in you.¡± This was going to be a very interesting first year of the academy for all the young men and women in Hen¡¯s Hollow. END OF ARC ONE Storme Hardlight Character Reference Sheet Although this is not a typical litrpg with a system controlling outputs and quests, there are methods to ascertain an individual¡¯s characteristics, abilities, and skills. The aether, while not sentient, can improve a person beyond normal genetic ceilings. While this character sheet may be edited in the future, it is a baseline. This is really a lot of background noise that I thought readers might like to look at. For skills, I am loosely going by the below table. Please note that learning occurs faster under duress, intense focus, or a skilled instructor. Skill Level 3 = Neophyte (basic understanding) Skill Level 7 = Adept (recognized as competency) Skill Level 13 = Skilled (professional) Skill Level 23 = Mastered (expert in the skill) For stats, it is racially and gender-focused. 10 is the average for an adult. From 11 to 20 there is 10% relative increase per point over the average. From 21 to 30 there is a 7.5% increase per point. From 31 to 40 it is 5% increase and from 41 to 50 it is 2.5%. Every point further it is 1% increase. So if an adult male human had 68 in strength, that would be...100%+100%+75%+50%+25%+18%=3.68 times stronger than an average male of the race. Storme Hardlight Age 12, (Birthday 2nd month, 3rd day of the year) Current Height: 5¡¯11" (adult height will be 6¡¯3") Eyes: Green Hair: Black, shoulder length Physical and Mental Statistics
Age 12 ¡®Storme¡¯
Strength 9.7 muscles
Dexterity 12.8 body awareness and control
Speed 12.7 the quickness of hands and feet
Constitution 10.8 body resistance
Stamina 9.8 body endurance
Aether Channeling 17.2 ability to pull aether into core
Intellect The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. 12.4 memory, ability to learn
Reasoning 13.9 Problem-solving
Willpower 10.8 mental resistance
Presence 12.2 bearing, charisma
Abilities
Aetheric Conversion to Metal, Tier 7
Greater Aether Core, Tier 4
Metal Sculpting, Tier 3
Long Lived, Tier 1
Access Person, Tier 1
Traits
Past Life¡¯s Knowledge, Tier 3
Skill Affinities
Healing Magic, Tier 4
Lightning Magic, Tier 2
Skill Level 3 = Neophyte (basic understanding) Skill Level 7 = Adept (recognized as competency) Skill Level 13 = Skilled (professional) Skill Level 23 = Mastered (expert in the skill) Common Skills
Animal Handling, Level 3
Baking, Level 9
Cooking, Level 24
Farming, Level 4
Fishing, Level 7
Fletcher, Level 3
Herbalism, Level 4
History: Skyholme, Level 7
Instrument: Flute, Level 3
Mathematics, Level 20
Meditation: Focus, Level 5
Metal Sense (Requires Metalsculpting Ability), Level 8
Observation, Level 7
Reading/Writing: Common, Level 13
Weapon Crafting, Level 7
Aetheric Skills
Aether Core Control, Level 4
Aether Core Manipulation, Level 9
Aetheric Lore, Level 3
Runecraft, Level 2
Spell Imprinting, Level 8
Sphere: Aetheric Magic, Level 4
Sphere: Darkness Magic, Level 3
Sphere: Healing Magic, Level 13
Sphere: Spacial Magic, Level 5
Physical/Combat Skills
Acrobatics, Level 9
Archery: Short Bow, Level 7
Axe: Hand Axe, Level 4
Climbing, Level 7
Combat Awareness, Level 5
Dodge, Level 7
Duelist, Level 9
Hand to Hand, Level 8
Pain Tolerance, Level 6
Parry, Level 10
Running, Level 6
Shield, Level 5
Staff, Level 14
Swimming, Level 6
Sword: Saber, Level 10
Thrown: Daggers/Knife, Level 5
Wrestling, Level 14
SPELLS:
Cleanliness Spell (Tier 1, no affinity-aetheric spell)
1 Vanilla Aroma (lasts 1 hour)
2 Clean Clothes
3 Mouth Cleanse
4 -
5 Skin Renewal (after shower clean and skin hydration)
6 -
7- extended range to 18¡±
8-
9-
at level 11 either choosing bowel cleanse or hair styling
Mend Flesh (Tier 1, Healing Affinity)
1 Self Diagnostic
2 Mend Organs
3 Scar Removal
4 -
5 Diagnose other
6 -
Obfuscate Abilities (Tier 1, Darkness)
1 Hide aspects of aethic soul
2 Control Aether Core Size Viewed
3 Alter the what the ¡®Greater Aether Core, Tier 4¡¯ shows to readers
4-
Dimensional Closet (Tier 3, Space)
1 Change size of doorway
2 Material Exchange
3 Poor Stasis (slows aging to one tenth normal)
Chapter 47 The New Class Chapter 47 (Arc 2 Chapter 1) The New Class I had to put up with Gareth constantly bragging about his meal at the estate of the magistrate. What hurt the most was his claim the food was as good as mine. The magistrate even offered to sponsor Gareth to the Naval Academy in the capital city in return for serving on his personal skyship for six years. During the meal, he was seated next to his youngest daughter. She was almost thirty, but Gareth professed she was pretty...and single. I was glad Gareth was getting his just recognition, but his head was getting too big, and I was having trouble containing it. In the two weeks leading up to the start of the academy, I made some progress on learning the lightning reflexes spell. I was hiding the spellbook from Gareth as I wanted to surprise him when I finally learned it. It was not an easy spell to learn. I had no idea how long it would take, but there was good news. The spell made sense. It was partly from being a dungeon spellbook and the fact I had affinities for both lightning and healing, the aspects of this spell. The spell was pretty insane when I looked at it. It increased movement speed by around 50% at the cost of one aether per second. Being a dungeon spell, there were no evolutions detailed in the book, but I was already puzzling some things out. Reducing the casting cast and increasing the speed seemed the obvious ones. I had a few other spell advancements. My obfuscate abilities spell reached level 5, and I chose to edit my healing and lightning affinities. I had both showing just tier 1 now to anyone attempting to read me. This would hide my tier 4 healing affinity and tier 2 affinity for lightning. My dimensional closet hit level 6 because I had been using the exchange property of the spell liberally. At level 5, I confirmed that space was increasing at a rate equal to my aether core growth, so it made sense to increase the depth of the space by 2¡¯ for the evolution. With my core growth, this would translate to more than 3¡¯ of growth when my core fully matured. I planned to reach level 7 as soon as possible to extend the space again to take advantage of the bonus growth from my greater aether core. At level 3 in my alarm spell, I selected the silent alarm option. This evolution allowed me to tag up to three people who would hear the alarm go off in their heads, making no sound. Of course, in the two weeks after Gareth won the tournament, Callem also put us to work to get barracks ready for all the students. I didn¡¯t voice it, but I found it irritating that not only was I paying for the upgrades, but I was also doing the physical labor of painting and setting up furniture. Gareth, for his part, was ¡®reserving¡¯ the larger room across the hall for Mera and Fera. I didn¡¯t know if there were going to be assigned rooms, but I would be adamant about taking the larger room we had been using while working on the facility. We were not the only ones helping to get the improved facility ready. Pascal and his group of friends were clearing bushes to extend the practice yard and expand the already daunting impediments on the obstacles courses. One thing I did manage to secure was upgrades to Gareth and my room. This included nicer furniture, better mattresses, and nice soft linens. Gareth asked I ¡®upgrade¡¯ the mattresses across the hall and their linens as well. This cost me just under a large gold, but I liked the twins, so I paid with little fuss. When the day finally came, it was like sending off your children to college in my old world. Callem was the only instructor here as parents sent their kids off for a year of instruction. Each new student brought a large pack of clothes. Some brought weapons and armor. The one theme persistent with everyone coming was the incoming students were here to learn how to defend themselves and possibly get into an advanced academy for a career path. If Callem kept the same structure as past academies, then we would spend half the day training, the afternoon in classes, and have our evenings free to socialize. The age of 14 was considered the adult age in Skyholme. This meant we were not going to have any of the teachers living at the barracks. So the first-year academy not only taught you to fight but how to develop long-term relationships and possibly find your future husband or wife. As soon as Mera and Fera showed up, Gareth and I moved into their room to socialize. Gareth did most of the talking, and I just lounged on the bed while the twins unpacked their clothes. I was playing with the spell forms in my head for the lightning reflexes spell, so I was distracted. ¡°Storme. Storme.¡± Mera had been trying to get my attention, and she finally succeeded. ¡°Sorry, I was working on imprinting a new spell,¡± I said. Her interest was instantly piqued. ¡°What spell, Storme!¡± She sat next to me on her bed. Gareth and Fera had left the room, leaving us alone. ¡°Well, it is a secret, so you can¡¯t tell Gareth.¡± She nodded. ¡°It isn¡¯t that impressive of a spell,¡± I said, downplaying it. ¡°It just makes me faster for a short time. Hopefully enough to defeat Gareth in a friendly duel.¡± ¡°We went to see you fight in the qualifiers. You were amazing. We had to promise father quite a bit of extra work on the farm to go to the second day, but it was worth it! You are amazing! Am I going to be able to fight like you after the academy?¡± She asked while looking into my eyes. Was she about to lean in? ¡°If you work hard enough, you can. It will take a lot of investment on your part,¡± I said supportively and ignored her closeness. Mera grabbed hold of my arm, ¡°Will you help me?¡± Realization dawned on me. This was a trap to get me to spend more time with her. It wouldn¡¯t be a bad thing, but it would take a lot of my time. I ran through the possibilities and decided, ¡°Gareth is a much better fighter and teacher than me.¡± A mask of disappointment was on Mera¡¯s face. ¡°Magic is really my thing. If you wanted to learn magic, I could help.¡± I tried to salvage the conversation. Mera looked somewhat sad, ¡°I do have a very small aether core, as does my sister, but the difficulty to learn magic¡­.¡± I was torn as to what I should invest in this relationship with Mera pushing so hard. We were both close to age 15 physically, but in reality, I had foggy memories from a past life. I hadn¡¯t planned to be in any type of romance until I was at least age 16 here. Mera was attractive in a tomboy kind of way, and she had a great smile. ¡°Callem has a magic instructor coming to teach at the academy. I am sure you could learn from her if you have an aether core, no matter how small.¡± Slowly her eyes brightened, ¡°I could learn magic? Fera too?¡± ¡°Definitely. It just takes time. We should find out tonight at dinner about classes and such.¡± I said. I cast my cleanliness spell. The smell of vanilla hit her, and she looked at me in question, ¡°Magic,¡± was all I said, and she giggled. Our conversation turned to more mundane topics as we talked about the other students. Twenty-eight was quite the number. Gareth and Fera returned, with Gareth looking like the cat that got the canary. Fera also had puffy lips¡­so they had been kissing. I looked at Mera next to me, and she looked away, embarrassed. I think she was supposed to kiss me while they were gone. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. With Gareth and her sister in the room, she lost confidence, and soon the conversation went to speculation as to what would happen at the dinner. I doubted there would be any sorting hats. The dinner was catered from the tavern, and plates of food were on the table with pitchers of water. I knew the pantry below the kitchen was now mostly stocked, as Gareth and I had spent a few days carrying down the barrels and meats. The fact that I did not see any cooks had me extremely worried. The tables were positioned, so one head table faced the others. Callem and Aelyn were sitting there with a middle-aged man. Callem stood once everyone was sitting. Some people were already picking at the food before them. ¡°Welcome!¡± Callem¡¯s command voice rang through the room. ¡°This will be your first year of the academy, and I, Callem Dregalla, will be your Head Instructor.¡± The room broke into chatter as everyone was obviously excited. I could see Mia sitting two tables away, grinning. ¡°We will be doing things slightly differently than past academies in Hen¡¯s Hollow. The year will be divided into three terms. For the first term at dawn break, we will start with two hours of conditioning administered by Aelyn Imiduis,¡± He pointed to Aelyn at the table with him. Her cold look gave me the chills. She was looking forward to this. ¡°If anyone one of you attempts to order her around based on her mark, then she has permission to beat some sense into you,¡± Aelyn smirked. I held Aelyn¡¯s ring, so technically, I was the only one who could order her, but Callem made it seem he was, in fact, the holder of Aelyn¡¯s contract. ¡°After conditioning, will follow breakfast. Breakfast will be prepared by local women and girls in town, so treat them with the respect they deserve and don¡¯t complain about the food.¡± Relief flooded through me as I wouldn¡¯t have to cook. ¡°After breakfast, you will be broken into four groups for classroom instruction based on your needs. The classrooms will be for 3 hours in the subjects of reading/writing, mathematics, dungeon delving, and spellcraft. For spellcraft, you need to have an awakened aether core.¡± There was a lot of buzzing going on now. I don¡¯t think there had ever been spellcraft taught in Hen¡¯s Hollow. Typically 1 in 10 people had an awakened core. With the twins having small cores, the math said at most, just one other person in this room would be able to cast spells. But I would have to wait and see. Callem continued, ¡°After morning classes, will have lunch followed by weapons training. We have four weapons masters. Aelyn here is a master of the rapier, instructor Elora is a master of the staff, Elijah Habriel is a master of the axe, and I will cover the remaining weapon classes.¡± Murmurs of awe rang through the dining hall. I thought calling Aelyn a rapier master was a bit of a stretch. Was Elijah the monster hunter Callem had talked about? He hadn¡¯t mentioned whether he was successful in tracking him down. Callem raised his hands to quiet the crowd, ¡°After weapons training, you will all be bathing in the town bathhouse before evening classes.¡± Callem looked at me and grinned, knowing I would have a free one-hour block of time while everyone else rushed to the bathhouse. ¡°Evening classes will be your choice of artificing, history, herbalism, or monster hunting.¡± It was clear that Callem had recruited Sana Velin and Aldon Aethon to be my teachers. For Gareth, he recruited Elora Cassior and Elijah Habriel. ¡°Following classes will be dinner. After dinner, you will be lectured for one hour on Skyholme law and politics,¡± Callem finished. The last was a requirement in order for the first-year academies to get funding from the Triumvirate. There was a lot of buzz at the tables at the schedule. Callem raised his hands again to silence everyone, ¡°This is instructor Aldon Aethon,¡± he indicted the middle-aged man. He will be teaching history and artificing. ¡°The other three instructors will be introduced at breakfast tomorrow.¡± Callem grinned widely, the old man seemingly full of energy. ¡°Also, I almost forgot! In order for you to select which classes you wish to take, we have the esteemed readers, Wynna and Ennet, here to give each of you a private reading.¡± We all turned to see the two women in the doorway. Callem¡¯s voice boomed, ¡°Do not share your results with anyone! If you need help selecting your two classes, then talk to either Aldon or me this evening.¡± Every student here would have been too poor to afford such a reading normally. Callem was going all out. Even though he obviously was doing this for our benefit, he was going to do his best to prepare the remaining students as well. ¡°One final announcement!¡± Callem bellowed again, seemingly having forgotten something. ¡°Normally, you would have every seventh day off, but not this week.¡± The students went quiet. ¡°This seventh day, there will be a field trip to the capital to watch two of your classmates compete in the first two rounds of the pre-academy Annuals!¡± The apprehension about losing a day off changed into cheers. I didn¡¯t think any of these students had ever been to the capital before. I knew the town had rented an entire skyship to go watch us compete. So Callem must have reserved seats for everyone in the academy. While the excitement raged around us, I ran through the entire schedule in my mind. Damn Callem. If you added up the time, we were not going to have any time in the evening to do anything but sleep! Which was perhaps the point. Unfortunately, I needed to study my spells, and learning how to be a good enchanter was also a priority for me, so I hoped to practice artifcing. As things quieted down the line to get a reading started to form and Gareth and I retreated to our room. Since the twins already had a reading recently they left the dining hall with us. They joined us in our room. Mera said, ¡°Why is your furniture so nice!!¡± She was going around and exploring every nook. ¡°Storme, why is your side of the room so bare? I thought you have been living here for the last two weeks?¡± Gareth answered her, ¡°Storme purchased us nicer furniture and mattresses. I convinced him to get the same mattresses for your room.¡± Was Gareth taking credit for the mattresses? Why not just scream from the mountaintop that I was spending gold like water? Mera and Fera thanked Gareth instead of me¡­and I was slightly jealous. ¡°So Storme,¡± Mera started, ¡°Where are all your spell books? I thought you were a mage. And you said you were working on a new spell?¡± My side of the room was quite bare since I stored pretty much everything in my dimensional closet. I didn¡¯t plan to leave my spellbook lying around because I didn¡¯t want Gareth to see the spell. ¡°Everything I need is in my trunk,¡± I indicated the closed trunk at the foot of my bed that was locked and actually empty. ¡°Oh,¡± Mera sounded slightly disappointed. ¡°Can you clean our room with your vanilla spell? Maybe we could do you favors for keeping it clean,¡± she suggested with a half smile. ¡°Sure,¡± I committed to the simple request. My range was one and a half feet, so it just took walking around the room and casting the spell a dozen or so times. She smiled at me. Excited students kept coming back from the dining hall area. The twins and Gareth started getting into a conversation about what weapon would be best for each of them. I really wanted to study my spell but didn¡¯t want to bring the book out. I lay down and focused on my dimensional space. I found the book quickly and tried something new. I tried to manipulate the book on the shelf, changing its orientation and opening it to the page I wanted to study. I minor drain of my aether, and the book was on the desk¡­ I got excited. It took about 30 minutes before I could get the book open to the correct page. Then I focused close to the page, like zooming in. It was a success. I could see everything clearly and study the spell this way! The only drawback was not aware of the things happening around me in the real world. I could hear muffled conversations, but that was it. I don¡¯t know how long I spent studying the spell, but when I returned to awareness, the twins were gone, and Gareth was on his bed reading one of his dungeon books with a light stone. ¡°Back with us, Storme?¡± Gareth asked. ¡°You know, I think Mera really likes you. You should make more of an effort with her,¡± she said off-handily. ¡°I know.¡± I decided to be a little honest with my best friend. I whispered, ¡°You know my past life knowledge. Well, it makes me feel a bit older, and she is so young¡­.¡± I confided in him. Gareth rolled over on his side to look at me, ¡°Storme, by the time the first-year academy is over, most everyone here will have had sex. Fera has already asked me to be her first.¡± I thought about his statement. My aether core burning had muffled my sexual awakening in this life. Since people matured physically so much faster in the sphere, I guess I shouldn¡¯t be surprised. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s best you don¡¯t have sex with anyone Storme,¡± Gareth said. ¡°You might hurt them with that oversized weapon of yours between your legs.¡± I threw a pillow at him, which he caught and added to his collection. I was definitely going to have to figure out how I was going to approach relationships. I lay down, using my one remaining pillow. I liked Mera. I liked Aelyn¡­and Aelyn was 18¡­basically an adult in either world. But there was her indentured mark. I couldn¡¯t ask or approach the subject with her until we got it removed. Chapter 48 Academy Life Chapter 48 (Arc 2 Chapter 2) Aelyn came down the corridor, banging a drum to wake us up. It had a high pitch bass that was annoying enough to get us moving. She yelled, ¡°15 minutes to get dressed and outside on the grounds, boys and girls!¡± She sounded way too happy to be getting ready to administer training to us. I looked at Gareth, who had my pillow over his head. Well, I did throw it at him last night so he could keep it. I pulled another pillow from my storage. Gareth asked, ¡°Are we going to be on time or be late, Stormy? I think it would be funny to agitate Aelyn a bit.¡± ¡°No, Gareth, we are going to be on time. If not, I am sure she has punishment lined up for us. Maybe extra hard training doesn¡¯t faze you, but I want this to be as easy as possible,¡± I replied, rolling out of bed and stripping down. I had just pulled my clothes out of my dimensional storage when Mera came into the room. I was bare-chested and wearing cotton boxers. ¡°Oh my¡­I wanted to make sure you were up¡­sorry, Storm. I didn¡¯t¡­.¡± Instead of leaving, she just continued to stare at me as I returned her gaze as pulled up my workout pants. ¡°Is there anything else?¡± I asked while sitting down and putting on my socks. ¡°No, no.¡± She flushed bright red. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, at home, we typically don¡¯t knock, and I thought you were still sleeping.¡± My eyebrow arched, and she retreated. ¡°Damn, Stormy. You shouldn¡¯t tease her like that. Give her an eyeful, and then act all calm and collected. And now she won¡¯t come barging in here again¡­who was that, Mera or Fera?¡± Gareth whispered the last. For the twins, I had somehow instinctively triggered my assessment ability when I saw them, so I knew. ¡°It was Mera.¡± ¡°Damn it, Storme!¡± He said a little louder. ¡°I am sure Fera was just a step behind her, and you scared them off.¡± ¡°Well, you heard her. They are used to people just barging into bedrooms at home, Gareth. So feel free to do it to them,¡± I said sarcastically. Gareth really seemed to be thinking about my words as I finished dressing, and he was just starting. In the practice yard, our motley crew of teenagers was assembling. Gareth was on time, barely. Aelyn started speaking even though we were missing a few stragglers, ¡°So welcome to basic conditioning. The core of your training is going to revolve around three different obstacle courses and two different runs. You will be doing all five every day and will be timed. If you are faster on all of them from the day before, then your condition for the day will be done!¡± This got a number of people excited. ¡°If you are not, then you have to do 100 hundred burpees before breakfast!¡± They all looked around, confused, and I facepalmed. I had shown Callem burpees on the farm, and he incorporated them into our workout. Burpees were never fun, no matter how good of a shape you were in. ¡°Normally, we would start with stretching, but Callem wants to teach you himself during the combat session. So let me show the first run!¡± Aelyn began jogging, and I followed her¡­then a string of uncertain teens did likewise. The first run was the short run, just 1.5 miles. The long run was next and was right at 5 miles. Many of my fellows were struggling mightily. Aelyn then demonstrated the three obstacle courses. Highlighting her agility and speed. Gareth leaned over and whispered to me, ¡°I hope I get to race her on these new courses.¡± I sighed at his excitement that I did not share at a new challenge. We all got through the first course before Callem came out to the yard and said morning conditioning was complete. Aelyn had used the entire 2 hours of her time and didn¡¯t look happy that we didn¡¯t get to try all three obstacle courses. I was happy to not be playing American Ninja on our first day. A bunch of very tired and dirty teens made their way to breakfast. My brother, Pascal, was all animated, as he had done pretty well. Gareth, of course, had dominated. I held back to finish in the middle of the pack. I knew if I set my base time too high, then beating it every day would be more difficult. I noticed Mia walking beside me as we headed to eat. She appeared like she wanted to talk but held back. The twins finished near the bottom and looked miserable. They were strong but lacked aerobic fitness. In the dining hall, Callem was already seated at the large table. Aldon was to his right. The three instructors we didn¡¯t meet were to his left. Aelyn sat next to Aldon. Once everyone was seated, Callem stood. ¡°Great job on the conditioning this morning. In the future, you may want to get up early and stretch. If you sustained any injuries, you can see our resident healer, Storme Hardlight.¡± I was a little shocked by that announcement but calmed quickly. It was actually a great thing Callem was doing for me. The more practice I had with the spell, the faster it would level. It took minimal aether to cast too. ¡°Our other three instructors have arrived. This is Selina, and she will be the spellcraft and herbalism instructor.¡± The woman appeared middle-aged, with rich dark brown hair. I knew she was at least 200 years old, so she was aging well. She had a smile on her face as she scanned the room. Her eyes kept coming back to me, though. ¡°Selina is an accomplished mage and researcher.¡± I knew this was, in fact, Sana Velin in disguise. She was an archmage. She had signed my copy of the cleanliness spell as an Instructor of the Tertiary Codex. So maybe I would be able to find out what that was. She stood and bowed to us and then spoke in a soft voice, ¡°Thank you for welcoming us to your town. I hope to educate those of you with aetheric cores to cast your magic efficiently.¡± And that was it. She sat down and was quiet. Callem appeared to have expected her to say more, too, but she didn¡¯t, and he pressed on. ¡°Sitting next to Selina is Elijah Habriel, the famed monster hunter.¡± A few students gasped, and Gareth elbowed me. ¡°He will be teaching monster hunting.¡± The man looked to be in his late 50s with mostly white hair. He had a stubbly beard and was eating an apple, and was not at all focused. I did catch his eyes briefly, and he had the look of a man who had seen things that shouldn¡¯t have been seen. He didn¡¯t even stand to introduce himself and just munched on his apple. Callem looked a little perturbed but continued. ¡°Finally, we have Elora Cassior.¡± The woman he indicated was tall, even sitting. Callem had said she was a master of the staff. ¡°Elora will be teaching reading/writing and dungeon delving.¡± Gareth elbowed me again. He was excited to get actual classes in dungeons and killing monsters. The woman was well-groomed and looked to be in her late 30s. But if she was a good dugeon-delver, she might have consumed some elixers to extend her life. She stood and spoke clearly. ¡°Thank you, Callem, for offering me this opportunity. I saw much potential today when you were under young Aelyn¡¯s direction. I hope to bring that out in each one of you.¡± She smiled brightly and sat. She had this motherly quality about her. It was like she genuinely wanted us to succeed. Callem nodded in thanks to Elora. ¡°Aldon, who was at dinner last night, will be teaching math and artificing. If you wish to take the artificing course, you need to speak to him personally. Now we will eat, and right after, you will select your classes!¡± Callem looked to be 20 years younger. He was made for this. Hopefully, after we finished our first year of the academy, he would continue as the administrator in Hen¡¯s Hollow. The food was brought out by the local woman¡­and Freya! I shouldn¡¯t have been shocked to see her with her beaming smile. She had probably wrangled to get a few coins to come and help. She bee-lined with her tray of food for our table. ¡°Good morning Storme,¡± she said with glee. ¡°Here is your food, and I will fetch the pitchers of cold water for you.¡± I messed her hair up as she passed by. I wondered where Monty was¡­I guessed he was in the kitchen getting meat scraps. It was good to be able to see my younger sister every day. Unfortunately, she was not allowed to eat with us. She had to serve, clear, and do dishes. When the breakfast was complete, each of the instructors sat at a table to register for classes. A lot of the group didn¡¯t have any choice as they were deemed insufficient in reading/writing, math, or history. I made my way to Aldon¡¯s table, and he smiled as I approached. ¡°Storme! My niece Leda told me quite a bit about you! I look forward to teaching you the basics of enchanting and artificing!¡± He seemed like a nice teacher, and we talked for a good 10 minutes before Mia came up behind me. ¡°Master Aldon,¡± she started, ¡°As we discussed last night, I would like to partake in your class.¡± She produced some neatly folded wire figures and handed them to him. He inspected them for a very long time before nodding. He must have given her a test last night to join the class. ¡°Your manual dexterity is good, as is your projection of shapes. You can take my class.¡± Mia looked relieved and then smiled weakly at me. Did she have a crush on me or something? She was a year older than Mera and had a fit body that was rough around the edges. Not unattractive but not beautiful either. I smiled back at her and went to Selina¡¯s table next to register for spellcraft. The woman had clearly been waiting for me. ¡°Storme, it is a pleasure to meet you. Callem has spun quite the tale to get me here.¡± I looked around, worried that someone might overhear, but there was silence. ¡°Just an aspect of the privacy spell Storme. It has a huge myriad of uses. So it looks like there will be six of you in class. The blonde twins, Aelyn, Byron, and Gemma.¡± Aelyn was going to be in my spellcraft class. That was great. She needed something better than the books I let her borrow and my poor instruction. Byron and Gemma were cousins. Byron¡¯s parents ran the flour mill, and Gemma¡¯s parents ran the bakery. The greater family was responsible for processing most of the wheat and corn that grew around town and making ale, flour, and bread. The extended family was very respected. I thought the bread and ale they produced were very average but would never voice it. It took almost an hour for everyone to choose courses, and then we went to our first class. Mine was spellcraft. Selina introduced herself and pulled out six texts on aether core utilization. She said before we could proceed, everyone would need to learn all 23 aether core exercises. So we spent the next two hours going over each exercise. I had somewhat mastered them, so it was boring for me, but I helped the twins. Both twins picked things up quickly. Aelyn helped Byron and Gemma. Selina helped everyone, and Selina even showed me some new approaches to the exercises. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. I was surprised that Selina was here, being such a famous mage. What had Callem told her about me to get her here? Hopefully, I would find out eventually. I was definitely going to learn a lot from her over the next year. She was patient and extremely knowledgeable. I was really hoping she was going to give me a lot of help with spell imprinting. A bell sounded, and that meant we were off to lunch. Lunch was a lighter meal than breakfast, with a variety of soups and slices of bread. We had weapons training after lunch, so it made sense. I guessed dinner would be a large feast to replenish our calories. Once again, Freya served. She was cutting bread and cheese, and I complimented her on her fantastic job. A short bark from the kitchens confirmed Monty was indeed getting fed in there. We made out way to the yard after lunch, and I liked not having to do dishes or cook. I could definitely get used to this life! Callem got everyone aligned and ran us through the stretching routine. The other instructors wandered among us, making corrections. When the stretching finished, Callem spoke, ¡°You will be training with two weapons of your choice. One weapon will be your primary weapon, and the other your backup. You will spend four days a week on your primary and two days a week with your secondary. You can register your selected weapons with Aldon. He will not be teaching during this period. Selina had volunteered to teach daggers and short blades if anyone was interested. She may not be a master, but she is quite proficient and will not lead you wrong.¡± I was definitely choosing the staff as my primary weapon. It would give me cross-over proficiency with a spear. For my second weapon, I was deciding between the saber and bow. I was good with both weapons, and having a long ranged weapon would be useful. But then again, I would eventually have spells capable of long-range defense and attack. So saber it was. Callem was very excited that I chose the saber as he would be able to continue in my sword instruction. For the staff, I was going to be taught by Elora. Mera, Fera, and three other classmates had also chosen the staff as their primary weapon. It was a good choice as it was a versatile and cheap weapon. Gareth had chosen the broad sword and hand axe at Callem¡¯s suggestion. Elijah was a very talented fighter, and Callem thought Gareth could learn quite a bit from him. When we broke into our groups, I once again worked with the twins. It was fun, and they obviously had a lot of respect for what I was saying. With six classmates in the group, we got to rotating partners, and Elora worked with each group. Most of what we were learning was footwork and staff forms. I knew them all already, but Elora made sure to show me what a true master was. We sparred in front of the group near the end, and her speed was so ridiculous. I didn¡¯t even see the staff, as it struck me multiple times. She was able to temper the power of the strikes too. She later apologized. She said Callem said it was ok to go a little harder on me since I had my healing spell. When the lesson finished, Callem brought everyone together and congratulated them. Everyone was to see me for healing before heading to the baths. This meant my staff training group got healed first and was racing off to the bathhouse in town. Just about everyone had some sort of injury, so my spell was getting a great workout. It took about 20 minutes to get through to everyone. I used my cleanliness spell, and Callem approached me with Selina. ¡°Storme, this is archmage Sana Velin.¡± I nodded as he had already told me. Sana spoke next, ¡°Always call me Selina. It was my husband¡¯s nickname for me, and I don¡¯t want my descendants to know I am back in Skyholme. You did brilliantly in the spellcraft class Storme. Callem said you had multiple spell affinities and an enlarged aether core.¡± I nodded. Callem spoke next, ¡°Last time Selina snuck back to Skyholme, and we became friends¡­well, Selina has a wealth of knowledge she can share with you, and I think you should spend time with her on your day off when you can. I know you have the Annuals tourney this first week, but after?¡± He asked the question, and I nodded enthusiastically. Finally, I had someone to fill in all the holes in my magic knowledge. I thought I had done exceptionally well on my own to date but knew I needed help. ¡°Fantastic, Storme! I have two spells here,¡± she pulled two books from her waist pouch. It must have been a dimensional storage device. Those were extremely expensive items. ¡°You already have a copy of my cleanliness spell. These are the other two tier-one utility spells I teach all my apprentices. Master these three spells and their varied evolutions, and you will be better prepared to tackle any spell in the future.¡± She smiled as I took the spell books. Protecting Oneself from Prying Ears and Eyes, The Comprehensive Handbook for the Privacy Spell by Sana Velin. Introduction to Wards and Glyphs, The All Around Guide to the Arcane Lock Spell. ¡°I didn¡¯t write the second, but it is by far one of the most useful spells you can learn. The evolutions of the spell are so versatile! I look forward to working with you on the spells, but for now, I know you want to focus on the upcoming Annuals,¡± she smiled happily, and I could see the age and wisdom in her eyes. I had just received two basic spells for free from one of the most renowned mages in Skyholme history. If I had a choice, I would drop out of the tournament in a second and focus on my spellcraft. But of course, I had too many people counting on me, so I had to follow through. I talked with Selina alone and reviewed the obstacles I was facing in my spell imprinting, and she offered some suggestions. Her real knowledge was in creating a framework for spell evolutions. Over the next year, she would teach me everything she knew in this aspect of spellcraft. The students trickled back from the baths, with the twins returning first. Gareth raced back and found me. He informed me he had caught a peek at all the girls in the baths and said I should join the group next time. My response was a wisp of vanilla in his face. My artificing class with Mia and Aldon Aethon was next. He gave each of us two textbooks. We were starting with the basics. Learning materials and basics of prepping materials for enchanting. I was going to kiss Callem for bringing in Aldon. I had made so many mistakes in my foray into enchanting with the ice cream bucket. Just from this three-hour session, I was extremely confident I could make a far superior device. Mia, for her part, looked quite lost, and I think she was only taking this class because I was in it. Unfortunately, Aldon didn¡¯t plan to have us do any enchanting for a few weeks. Foundations, he kept saying¡­you need to build on foundations! I didn¡¯t mind because I found artificing fascinating. Maybe after a year, I could build my own skyship! As classes ended, we went to the dining hall to find a massive spread of food. I was amazed at how much they had prepared. The food was going fast with so many hungry teens. I went to the buffet table and loaded my plate, and sat down. I was quickly joined by Mia. I waited for her to speak. She didn¡¯t have time as a boisterous Gareth sat down with the twins shortly after. All three had been in the dungeon delving class and were excited about the conversation. I half-tuned them out¡­maybe I should learn the privacy spell sooner rather than later. Mia was surprisingly quiet the entire meal. I wanted to talk with her privately to find out why she was hung up on me. Callem called everyone¡¯s attention to the instructor¡¯s table. For the next forty-five minutes, he read through Skyholme law. We needed to pass a simple written exam at the end of the school year. Just 50 questions that needed to be answered in paragraph form. Our town needed 80% of the students to pass to get funding for their academy next year. So we made an effort to pay attention. Elora kept it interesting as she had examples, usually humorous in relation to the laws that Callem was reading. Finally, the pain of listening to the law was over and we were released! Seven hours and half hours was all we had till this started all over again! In my room, I lay on my bed, and Mera sat at the foot of it while Fera and Gareth were on his bed. I paid attention to the conversation briefly. Gareth was advising the girls how to use their staff against various monsters he learned about in his morning class. Even though the twins tried to talk about their spellcraft class, Gareth muscled the conversation to weapons over and over. I think he was a little jealous that they would have magic, and he wouldn¡¯t. I tried to multitask. I studied portions of my lightning reflexes spell while participating in the conversation but failed. I think the twins thought I was ignoring them, but I needed to make progress. We ended up getting just a few hours of sleep and groggily were awoken by Aelyn again. There was some good news at breakfast. Apparently, Elora had pressured Callem into shortening the instruction blocks by 15 minutes except for the one-hour bathing period. This meant we would get back 2 hours in the evening. ¡®We were not soldiers,¡¯ I had heard her telling Callem when everyone was bathing. The week flew by, and it was my best week for magic in a very long time. My cleanliness spell hit level 11! I cleaned the twin¡¯s clothes every night when I made a loop of their room. My evolution at level 11 was to increase the range away from my body from 18¡± to 36¡±. This made cleaning areas much quicker. It also meant I was just a few evolutions from being about to clean another person. Maybe Gareth would get his wish and never need to bathe again. My mend flesh spell hit level 8. At level 7, I selected the option to correct poor healing. This was a more advanced form of the remove-scar evolution. Injuries that healed improperly could now be corrected. I was still just limited to soft tissue and couldn¡¯t affect bone, but that was fine. I had another spell that could repair bone¡­when I got around to imprinting it. The best part of my new evolution is it took a lot of aether. This meant I could use it to advance the spell faster if I practiced this aspect. I would, of course, be a good samaritan to use this spell on anyone who needed it in town. The dimensional closet hit level 8 as well. Instead of making coins at night, I just pulled shelves in and out of the space over and over. Using the aether on the spell helped advance it slowly. Gareth got irritated by the popping sound the shelves made when they disappeared, but I told him he could cover his ears. By my rough math and guesses, I thought the space would be about 16¡¯ in height, 19¡¯ in-depth, and 19¡¯ in width if I didn¡¯t add any more increases to its dimensional aspect. I would have to wait until my aether core matured to be sure, but I was going to evolve a different aspect of the space at level 11. I didn¡¯t work on my alarm spell other than cast it on the barracks entrance every night. That would allow Gareth and I to be silently altered when Aelyn got here in the morning and could prepare for her banging by covering our ears. And yes, I reclaimed my pillow after cleaning it with my spell. Callem did make an effort to work with Gareth and me to help prepare for the Annuals. Thirty-two would be reduced to eight after this trip to the capital. Our classmates were so excited, and all the instructors were coming as chaperones. My classmates were going to have a chance to go shopping. Gareth and I would not since we were in the tournament. I didn¡¯t think that was fair, especially when Callem asked for me to make two large gold to pay for everyone¡¯s admittance to the stadium for the event. Pascal and his crew, as well as everyone else, were extremely supportive of us, though. There was not a lot of jealousy going around. I learned Gareth¡¯s odds of winning the whole tourney was 9 to 1, the sixth-best odds of all 32 competitors. I gave Callem a platinum to bet on him. He agreed to do it. My odds were 144 to 1. And I was not going to bet on myself. If I could bow out gracefully somehow, I would. When the day came, we all went to the skyship docked next to the barracks. Half the town was squeezing on board. It was going to be an epic event in the history of Hen¡¯s Hollow. I also made sure to store away a half dozen staves for the occasion. As we lifted off from the port, I watched the land fade away beneath us, enthralled with the feeling. I didn¡¯t see Mia standing next to me. We were alone, and she said, ¡°Storme can I ask a favor of you?¡± I looked at her, and she looked extremely serious. Over the week in enchanting class, I got to know her, and she seemed normal enough. A good fighter with short blades in the yard and fitter than almost everyone else, not named Gareth or Storme. I said, ¡°I will hear your request but make no promises.¡± She took a deep breath, ¡°Can I join your dungeon delving team?¡± God damn it, Gareth!!! Stop spreading rumors!!! Chapter 49 Pre-Academy Annuals Chapter 49 (Arc 2 Chapter 3) Pre-Academy Annuals ¡°Mia, I am not planning to start a dungeon delving team,¡± I said with conviction while making eye contact. ¡°But Gareth said you two had a sponsor with deep pockets to sponsor a dungeon delving team,¡± she said plaintively. That was an interesting concept. I could probably sponsor a dungeon delving team in secret. My wandering thoughts returned to Mia, ¡°No, Gareth is just voicing his dreams. He may delve into dungeons one day, but I have no plans to do so.¡± Best to end this rumor here and now. Mia was quiet and turned to watch the grounds far below our railing. It was a few minutes before she spoke again. ¡°What are your plans, Storme? You are a talented mage, and Master Aethon says you are going to be an exceptional artificer.¡± I laughed internally. I was terrible at manipulating the enchanting wire into runes with a stylus. I had gotten so frustrated that I had been using my metal shaping spell when Mia and Aldon were not looking. ¡°I think my ultimate goal is to build my own skyship one day. I am not much for the adventuring lifestyle, but owning a skyship that can take me anywhere¡­that is a dream I hope to make a reality,¡± I said truthfully. I had already been managing ideas in my head. Once I got a few more spells imprinted, I would take some time to review the construction manual on the Wind Splitter. ¡°If you go to the lowlands, will you take me with you?¡± Mia asked. I looked at her, but she didn¡¯t meet my eyes and continued looking below. I guessed, ¡°Are you craving adventure or an escape?¡± She looked at me with a sad expression. ¡°A little of both but mostly the latter,¡± she started. ¡°Living away from the cities, you don¡¯t see how the three ruling families control everyone¡¯s lives. The only escape is if you have enough money to have them look elsewhere or if you ally yourself with one of the three families, tying yourself to them.¡± I asked directly, ¡°So you came to Hen¡¯s Hollow and are studying enchanting to tie yourself to me?¡± She giggled. ¡°No, I came to Hen¡¯s Hollow to be instructed by Callem,¡± she said seriously. ¡°I joined the enchanting class to learn about enchanting. It is a valuable skill, understanding enchanting even if I am not good at it. You were just a bonus,¡± she offered a weak smile. My bubble deflated a little. ¡°Oh,¡± she patted my arm, seeing my distress, ¡°after seeing how good you are, I want to use your sail to raise me as well. You are a skilled fighter, but with your healing spell and artificing¡­you are going places, Storme. Just a warning, though. If your jewel is too shiny and bright, one of the families will want to keep you in their pocket.¡± Mia left to let me think, but my vision quickly focused on the lands below. So vast and beautiful from this high up. The World Sphere was a dangerous place, and I thought I would be safe here, but that was not going to be the case. Mia was right. The brighter I shined, the more likely I was going to be targeted. I was currently shielded behind the mask of Callem and Wynna being my sponsors. How long their protection would hold might determine when I needed to leave Skyholme. The skyship approached the capital island, and I finally got to see all the sites that Gareth had excitedly told me about. It looked like a small city from my old life, with tall buildings and people bustling everywhere. The memories from my past life were becoming harder and harder to see clearly. Even when I first arrived here, they took an effort to recall. I assumed that if I didn¡¯t try to remember specific things, I would lose them altogether. As we passed over the lavish estates and made our way to the heart of the capital city to land, I started focusing on the exercises Callem had taught me. I planned to lose my first match quickly to get out of this tournament. Maybe I would have some free time to shop while the second round was progressing. Callem came and gathered Gareth and me as we landed. My family, academy class, and all the townsfolk would be heading to the spectator entrance. We walked to a large Collesum. This structure must seat twenty thousand or more. Callem knew exactly where to go, and soon, we were beneath the structure and walking down a hallway with rows of rooms. An old and fit man yelled, ¡°Well, I never thought I would see that ugly mug again! Callem, is that really you? I heard you were still kicking and a farmer to boot!¡± Callem smiled and hugged the man. ¡°Nathan Harper! Are you still in charge of this old building? It has been a while.¡± The two men whispered for a few moments before Callem turned and introduced his apparent friend. ¡°This is Nathan Harper. He has been in charge of the Annuals and this building for some fifty years! A good man and gave me some of the best advice before my first tournament,¡± Callem said cheerily. ¡°Fifty-seven years Callem and the advice I gave him boys was simple, ¡®Don¡¯t lose,¡¯¡± the two old men broke into laughter at the statement. Gareth tried to laugh, but I just pressed my brows together. ¡°Well, I have your two rooms prepared. Unless you want just one?¡± Callem answered, ¡°Yes, just one room.¡± He looked at us. ¡°You will be made to wait in your room until called for your match. You are not allowed to watch the other matches.¡± Callem gestured, and Nathan Harper led us to a heavy wooden door. Beyond the door was a finely furnished room with a large spread of food on the table. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t eat anything on the table, boys,¡± Nathan said. ¡°Usually, only the post-academy fights involve subterfuge, but it is not uncommon at your pre-academy Annuals too. Callem remember when I switched your room at the last moment for what¡­ your third championship?¡± Callem chuckled, ¡°Yeah, the man couldn¡¯t stop vomiting the entire fight. Easiest championship I ever won.¡± ¡°Well, if you don¡¯t mind, boys, I wish to talk with my old friend for a bit while you focus.¡± Callem and Nathan left already in conversation. Gareth looked at the food longingly. I pulled a sandwich out of my dimensional space and handed it to him. Maybe I shouldn¡¯t do that, though. There may be scrying spells or spies. Gareth took the sandwich and greedily devoured it. I made a fake motion like I was retrieving a water skin from under my cloak, took a long pull, and then handed it to Gareth. I sat on the nice plush couch after putting down the two staves I had carried with me. ¡°So Storme¡­this is kind of a big deal, huh?¡± I nodded and looked around the room. It had a lot of nice touches. Smooth rock walls, black marble flooring, very nice furniture, and even a bath in the corner. ¡°Storme, what if I don¡¯t live up to Callem¡¯s expectations? What if I let my parents down and the town?¡± My eyes focused on Gareth to see if he was joking, but he was serious. He actually looked nervous. ¡°Then my advice to you, Gareth, is don¡¯t lose.¡± His eyes popped, and we both laughed. It wasn¡¯t long before Callem returned. ¡°So I got the bracket information. Gareth, you are facing a young man from the lower capital city. He is small and fast and wields a short sword and buckler. He likes to win by getting many small strikes and targeting the larger veins. He has an electrical surge ability that might stun you, so watch for his bare hand if he tries to touch you. It is an extremely short stun but enough for him to get inside your guard and strike and retreat.¡± If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°For you, Storme, we have a treat. Naberius Bricio. The younger brother of one Abaddon Bricio. If you don¡¯t recall, Abaddon is the boy Cilia is furious with for assaulting her. And Cilia and Leda will be in the stands today!¡± He clapped me on the back, and I groaned inwardly. Why had fate dictated this course of events? I just wanted to put on a show and bow out gracefully after losing. Now I had the honor of a friend to defend? Bullshit. Suddenly I was getting butterflies in my stomach. ¡°He is a large boy, probably 15, but just entered his first year of the academy. The Bricio¡¯s are notorious for doing this, but he wields a simple long sword and shield. Nathan said he is left-handed but likes to attack across his body, so expect him to use a lot of feints to the other side. When he retreats, he always has his left leg trailing, so you should be able to target his kneecap to disable his movement. He also is rumored to have received an ability from a dungeon essence, but Nathan doesn¡¯t know what it is. That should keep you are your toes out there.¡± Callem looked happier than a pig in shit. It was clear he missed this. ¡°So Callem, why all the advice all of a sudden,¡± Gareth asked. Callem had been pretty quiet in our qualifiers, and now he was handing out advice like popcorn at a movie. ¡°Well, I need to make it an even playing field. I am sure your opponents have received even more extensive reports on you two. Storme, I registered your healing and cleanliness spell, so free free to use them at will out there,¡± Callem said smiling. So was that encouragement or saying I was probably going to get injured? I shook it off, and Gareth noticed I was now the one worrying. Gareth said, ¡°Storme, just go out there and don¡¯t lose.¡± I didn¡¯t laugh. I took my staff and began going through some simple forms that I had learned from Elora in the last week. I began planning some sequences. A knock at the door and Gareth was called for his duel. I continued to focus on my last-minute preparation. Gareth returned fifteen minutes later looking dejected and had a cut on his forearm. I was in shock¡­Gareth had lost? Then my best friend put on a massive grin and held up the scratch, ¡°Stormy, you should see the other guy!¡± I shook my head at my friend¡¯s joke and healed the cut. It was over an hour before I was finally called for my match. The large bowl coliseum had thousands of people, maybe more than my original guess of twenty thousand. I ignored my opponent in the center as I looked for my family and couldn¡¯t find them. The announcer was calling out details of both of us. He made a snide comment about bringing a stick to a sword fight in regard to my staff. Typically every fighter in the Annuals used a sword. It was considered a manly weapon, but other weapons were allowed. I focused my attention on my opponent. Well-muscled, maybe 6¡¯1¡±, with black hair and eyes. He looked overconfident. I probably had looked like a country bumkin scanning the crowds when I entered. I twirled my staff slowly as I waited for the announcer to finish. I studied my opponent intensely, and he stepped back in a defensive stance¡­was my gaze that intimidating? After a few more minutes of verbosity from the announcer, we finally started. I stocked forward and watched the footwork and muscle tension of my opponent. That was what usually determined the attack. I missed all the signs and barely batted his four quick sword strikes aside and regained my stance. So he was extremely well trained and didn¡¯t telegraph his attacks as I would expect. His sword had taken a few little nicks out of my staff but nothing serious. His confidence was growing, and the crowd was becoming restless after our first exchange. Ok if Callem said he dragged his left leg slightly on retreat¡­I went into my first series of attacks and managed to clip his shin with a solid strike. My movements were a blur, and I was surprised he had been able to keep up. I didn¡¯t manage to break anything, but he was suddenly less confident and in obvious pain from my successful strike. Well, no time like the present to press an advantage. My staff became a whirlwind of movement as I pressed forward, not looking for an opening but just pressing and giving myself enough time to respond to any feints. He tried to counter twice, but the first time I barely missed his elbow, and the second time I clipped his hip. He was now fully focused on defense and had no ambitions to attack. I started sweating in the light leather armor I was wearing, but Naberius was already dripping with sweat. How long had I pressed? The cheering of the crowd was white noise as I was focused on my opponent. He gave me an opening, and I thought it was just a feint, so I didn¡¯t take advantage. Then he gave me another¡­no, it was not a feint¡­he was getting tired. I guessed my varied sequences had gone on for fifteen minutes or so. So my biggest advantage was I was fitter than him. He stumbled, and my staff clocked his shield across his body, allowing me to hit his ribs soundly. I didn¡¯t pause as he stumbled back, and his defense became weaker and weaker. He finally used his surprise¡­it was a misty fog that materialized. Unfortunately for my opponent visibility was still about three feet, so all I needed to do was press my attack and not let him get further away than that. I finally took him with a blow to his left temple and then his right, and he collapsed like water splashing to the earth. The fog instantly cleared, and mages rushed in to tend to him. The crowd was stunned momentarily before cheering. I was announced the winner and led away. I scanned the crowd again but only found Leda and Cilia a few rows back, clapping violently, smiling, and waving. They were dressed in navy uniforms. When I entered our room I thought to pull the same fake look of disappointment that Gareth had had but instead leaned my staff against the wall and hopped on the couch, and closed my eyes like I didn¡¯t have a care in the world. ¡°Come on, Storme, give me the blow-by-blow! You were out there for a long time. Was it a tough fight? Did you already heal yourself?¡± Gareth was pleading. ¡°Heal myself?¡± I said. ¡°Why would I let anyone hit me?¡± My bravado ended as Callem entered. ¡°Storme, you have been holding out of us! Elora said that was some fine staff work. You should have seen the Bricio booth in the stands. Faces of abject anger and irritation! It was marvelous!¡± Callem was giddy. ¡°Well, the brackets were announced prior, so they can¡¯t fiddle with them for the next round. Gareth, you have the tourney favorite next. He is fast and strong and has a few tier-one abilities. Definitely a strength enhancement¡­the others are not documented. It should be your hardest fight.¡± Gareth didn¡¯t look concerned. Callem continued, ¡°Storme, you have a much easier path to finish your day. I think they had been setting up Naberius to have two easy wins today. He was the only Bricio in the pre-academy annuals this year.¡± I opened my eyes and moaned on the inside. If the Bricios were as petty as I thought, then I might hear from them again. At least Cilia was happy about the indirect revenge. ¡°Your next opponent Storme will be a somewhat skilled saber wielder. The match was close, but she prevailed. If you attack with the same focus, it should be an easy win for you.¡± Callem¡¯s words fell on deaf ears. I planned to step out. Whatever woman I was facing was going to get a gift win from me. My shopping plans were already spoiled. I was in a foolish mood. However, it did feel pretty damn good to win and make Cilia happy. It was less than an hour later when a knock came at the door, and Callem answered. After a brief conversation, Callem announced, ¡°Storme, your opponent has withdrawn. She is ill, and the mages can not figure out the issue.¡± By Callem¡¯s tone of voice, I was fairly certain this was a move by the Bricios to ensure that Naberious would have advanced. I had spoiled this, but the plan had probably already been enacted. I grunted at Callem¡¯s words and closed my eyes to take a nap. I was tired and pissed off. I had made the final eight, so I was going to have to go through this all again! Soon Gareth was called to his match, and was a long while before he returned. He didn¡¯t look great. His arm was bandaged, and he had a limp. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Stormy, I won. It wasn¡¯t even as close as it looks. I just got surprised a few times when I thought I had already won. Apparently, he had some type of berserker ability to ignore pain. Almost had to kill him to win, but I did!¡± He smiled and was missing a tooth. He touched it. ¡°Yeah, the healers should be here in a minute to work on me. The other guy needed a lot of work.¡± I listened to Gareth tell the tale of his fight as we waited for Callem. Gareth had been too certain some of his strikes had incapacitated his opponent, so he had been surprised. He was good at retelling the tale and made it sound like a battle for the ages. The healers came and just needed to fix Gareth¡¯s tooth as I took care of everything else. Callem entered and threw up his hands, ¡°Sorry, Gareth! I only found out about the berserker ability when I returned to the stands. We can talk about your mistakes later. The skyship will be leaving in an hour, so we need to get back to it.¡± It was a large crowded mess in the streets as Callem guided us back to the ship. I think he was worried about some type of retaliation but didn¡¯t voice it. I remained vigilant, but we reached the ship safely. Freya jumped into me and hugged me. The rest of my family hugged and congratulated me, and then I was led through the mass of people on the deck getting congratulations. Elora grinned at me and said I was, ¡®making progress.¡¯ The twins each hugged me, but I was sad that Aelyn hadn¡¯t traveled to see the fight. I guess I had wanted to impress her too. On the bow of the ship, as we lifted off, I was alone as casks of ale procured in the city were being broken out and drunk on the trip home. Two of tiny Hen¡¯s Hollow¡¯s own were in the final eight of the pre-academy annuals! Chapter 50 Morning After Chapter 50 (Arc 2 Chapter 4) The beer and wine were flowing freely as we returned to Titan¡¯s Shield and our small town. I sipped a mild beer when it was shoved into my hand and watched the ground pass below. Many people came by and congratulated me. Gareth was downing drinks fairly quickly and getting bolder and bolder with the twins. My father said he was proud of me and that he had won 150 silver betting on me on my first match. All bets had been returned for the second match when my opponent was found too sick to fight. When the skyship landed, I went the short distance to the barracks academy building while the party moved into the town. I went into the larder to get some things to make dinner. I was pretty hungry and didn¡¯t feel like braving about the party in town. I was cutting up some salted pork when Aelyn walked in. ¡°Oh, I thought you were in town? It was so noisy that I thought I would come here for some peace and quiet. I heard you won both of your matches,¡± She said. ¡°Just one. The second match was a forfeit,¡± I said, and she nodded. ¡°Are you making anything good?¡± She asked, interested in my food prep. ¡°Sweet and sour pork on rice. It should be ready in thirty minutes. I will make plenty for both of us.¡± I continued my prep work. Aelyn said, ¡°Leveled up my dimensional space to level 3. I took the stasis option twice¡­been storing your cooking in there to have for later¡­.¡± I looked at her, and she seemed embarrassed. ¡°I will make three portions so you can put one in your space,¡± I smiled at her and focused on cooking. She watched me intently working. As I was plating the sauce-covered pork on the rice, I asked, ¡°How goes your magic? What are you doing in your free time?¡± I knew Aelyn had a lot more free time in town. She was staying with Ennet, Wynna, and Callem. ¡°I have yet to imprint a new spell, but my aether core has grown to 9, almost half of my maximum,¡± she said slowly. ¡°That is amazing, Aelyn! You must be working hard on those 23 exercises!¡± I slid two plates toward her, and she took one and immediately opened her dimensional space to place it in and started eating the other. I ate as well. The pork was slightly chewy but edible. I really should have used fresh pork or made crispy pork instead. I ate it anyway, eliminating my hunger. Aelyn asked, ¡°So what is after your first year of academy?...and¡­will I stay with you or Callem?¡± I chewed my food and poured some water. ¡°Well, I think I am going to open a restaurant in the Aegis city, the capital on Titan¡¯s Shield. Mia made an off-hand suggestion about dungeon-delving teams, and I think I am going to underwrite my own. I can¡¯t do it in Solaris city because of all the bad blood there, and the capital island is too risky. So Aegis makes sense. So my restaurant will house my adventuring team upstairs. I still need to talk to Callem about it, but the idea is starting to grow on me.¡± As we ate, the drunken students started returning. Gareth was plastered between the twins, and it was hard to tell who was holding who up. Gareth dropped on his two blondes in their room, sat across from me, and finished my plate without asking. I could only imagine how much he must have drunk to overcome the giant¡¯s constitution ability. I looked at Aelyn and smirked when I saw her face flash mischievously. Tomorrow was not going to be fun for the academy class. Since alcohol was technically a poison, I couldn¡¯t use my healing ability to correct everyone¡¯s intoxication. Well, maybe the after-effects of drinking could be cured, but I think it was best to let them suffer and learn from their mistakes. Aelyn left, and I went to my room. Gareth was already sleeping in an awkward position on his bed. Like he fell sideways and missed his pillow and forgot one leg. I lay down on my bed, and Gareth¡¯s breathing got louder and louder. Instead of working on my lightning reflexes spell tonight, I decided to start on the privacy spell. The privacy spell was a tier 1 spell in the school of illusion. The basic casting of the spell was creating a five-foot bubble around the caster that didn¡¯t let sound in or out. I would have to use my level one evolution on the timer evolution. Basically, this would allow me to invest aether on casting to create a stationary bubble. Usually, the spell drew a tiny amount of aether to remain active, centered on the caster. One full unit of aether would sustain the bubble for almost 30 hours in a stationary anchored position. Another mage could dispel the enchantment, or I could dissolve the spell form myself by touching it. I hoped it wouldn¡¯t take more than a week to learn this spell. I was already thinking of quite a bit of mischief that I could get up to with this spell. It was essentially a move silently spell. I fell asleep studying the new spell. Aelyn came barreling into the corridor in the morning, getting everyone up. Gareth rolled over and quickly vomited on the floor. It took him a few minutes to orient himself. It had been about 4 hours since he had passed out. I only had gotten about two hours worth of sleep myself. I pushed my friend away as he was about to fall into his own vomit. I then used my cleanliness spell to remove the pile and splatters of vomit. I went in the corridor and heard a few others losing whatever treats the town had supplied from last night¡¯s party begin to decorate their rooms. Aelyn, for her part, was grinning like a mad woman. I caught her elbow, ¡°Aelyn get them outside and running. You can have your fun. I will clean up this mess,¡± I indicated a classmate exiting her room and suddenly vomiting when she saw the deposit on the floor from across the hall. Aelyn soon had everyone outside and staring daggers at her. I quickly made my way to each room and made short work of the messes. I was soon back in my bed and studying my privacy spell. I had nearly one and a half hours of uninterrupted study. The townswomen were preparing breakfast, and one popped her head in. I just waved at her and was left alone. When my classmates returned, they looked like they wished they had never woken up this morning. I walked to the twins and tried my healing spell on them to see if I could, in fact, cure the lingering effects of a hangover. The answer was yes, as Mera suddenly looked a lot better. I did the same for Fera but held my finger to my lips to indicate not to say anything. Gareth needed to learn a lesson. Breakfast was simple porridge with honey and toasted bread with butter. Some of the townswomen didn¡¯t look too great either. I hadn¡¯t seen Freya, so I guessed she was laid up as well though I doubted she had more than a few sips of anything. Mother would have been keeping an eye on her. Many people were afraid to eat and just played with their food. Someone came and spoiled the surprise¡­all the vomit was gone. One of the women was about to point at me, but I shook my head no. I let the townswomen take credit. This was more for my own sanity. I was already cleaning the twin¡¯s room. The last thing I wanted was everyone asking me constantly to clean theirs. Slowly everyone recovered during the day. I was glad when the bathing hour came and the smelly clothes and bodies left the building, giving me time to work. Selina found me studying the privacy spell. ¡°Storme, do you have a moment?¡± She asked, sitting on my bed. I nodded and sat up. ¡°I see you are working on the privacy spell. That is fantastic.¡± She looked at me seriously and asked, ¡°You have the Annuals again this off day, so our one-on-one lessons are on hold for another week. But I wanted to ask you if you were going to focus on spellcraft or fighting. For the second and third terms, Callem is going to allow the students to focus further. After seeing your fight, I can see you are quite adept at both arts.¡± Yeah, somehow, in my bout with Naberius, I had made some kind of big leap forward in my skill with the staff. During the fight, I no longer had to think¡­instinct took over, and I was visually processing everything so fast¡­ You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. My mind tuned into Selina¡­I looked at my aether core¡­no the lightning reflexes spell was not imprinted yet. But I had definitely triggered something from studying the spell that increased my reactions. ¡°Storme?¡± Selina was trying to get my attention. I focused on her. ¡°So Storme, Callem did ask me here to teach you the casting arts, but I don¡¯t think we will have time for you to learn everything if you divide your efforts. So are you committed?¡± ¡°Yes, definitely yes,¡± I said without hesitation. She smirked, ¡°I will inform Elora then.¡± She stood and started to leave. Elora was at my door and about to enter. ¡°He is going to focus on his spellwork,¡± Selina smugly said, walking past Elora, who looked slightly peeved. She looked into the room at me, and I gave an apologetic shrug. I tried to salvage the situation, ¡°Elora, I still want to practice the staff and work towards mastery. I want to take advantage of having the best teacher in the art. So whatever free time¡­.¡± I slowed my words. What the hell was I saying? Danger, Will Robinson, danger. It was too late as Elora now looked happy and left, and I fell onto the bed, grabbed a pillow, and screamed into it. I wanted more free time, not less! In my haste to placate everyone, I had stepped into it. I went and found Callem and asked him about the next two terms and what I had agreed to. Essentially the 3-hour weapons training session would be a special one-on-one session with Selina. So I would no longer have any weapons training? He nodded, but there was always the one-hour bathing time everyone else used, and the instructors talked about limiting my conditioning time to just forty minutes so Callem could work with me on the saber and Elina, the staff. Seeing my distress, Callem voiced, ¡°Storme, you are young. Take advantage of these opportunities. I can not shield you forever.¡± I knew Callem was, in essence, a deterrent, and he was right. I would need to gain as much knowledge as possible. The current fatigue and pain would be secondary to preparing for a long life. I nodded and accepted my fate. The classes during the week went well, except that Elora was even more focused on me. She kept trying to bring out my accelerated instincts with the staff that I had demonstrated. It took a few spars with her to get used to the feeling of giving over to my instincts¡­it was like putting your subconscious in charge of your body movements. I was curious if I had developed a new ability, but Callem said it was just a skill called combat reflexes. Callem explained I had reached a threshold in the skill, hitting level 7, and that was why my quantitative leap. Gareth had long surpassed this mark. When I dueled against Gareth now, I could finally see what he meant. Reacting to an opponent but reading such minute movements. It took two whole sessions with Callem to get the same results while wielding my saber. But I was eventually becoming markedly better. As the day approached for us to return to the capital, Callem sat me down. ¡°Storme, I have some favors to ask of you. Many of the students can not afford their own weapons. I could purchase them with coins you create, or you could create them with your skill. It is up to you if you want to invest in your fellows.¡± I had no issues with this request, but maybe I could get a concession from Callem in return. ¡°Callem, I don¡¯t have an issue with buying them weapons, but it¡¯s better if you use the coin to buy them. How about we make a field trip to Aegis City? I want to purchase an inn there with my coin. I want to eventually run a restaurant there and house my personal adventuring team there.¡± Callem looked at me strangely. I continued my explanation, ¡°I always wanted a restaurant. I will hire people to cook and run it. As for the adventuring team, I hoped to use them as a cover to get my own skyship eventually. Aegis has the two dungeons, and Gareth has mentioned a thousand times that individual adventures there are always looking for sponsors.¡± Callem was thinking for a long period, and I waited. ¡°That might not be a bad idea, Storme. It would be a cover for your wealth. No matter how much I hate dungeon delving, it can be a profitable venture. Are you looking for me or Wynna to make the purchase and set up the team for you?¡± I had actually just been thinking of using the team to harvest ingredients for the restaurant. But it was definitely going to be a good cover for expanding my purchasing power in the future. I was actually surprised Callem was on board so easily. I guessed this mostly due to Gareth. With Gareth¡¯sheart so set on dungeon delving, Callem probably thought this would set him up to be safer and successful. ¡°I think you would be a better choice than Wynna for this venture. Let¡¯s not tell Gareth about this, Callem. I don¡¯t want him pestering me every second of the day to go and join the team on a delve.¡± Callem chuckled. ¡°Keeping secrets from Gareth? I find that hard to believe.¡± He was laughing softly now. He was probably thinking of Gareth¡¯s reaction when I finally told him I was already delving into dungeons¡­albeit indirectly. ¡°The day after the Annuals, we can go Storme. I also need to take care of some business in Aegis City. I will help you purchase your inn and interview some potential delvers for your team.¡± I felt relieved. I think this venture could expand into something much more significant over time. Callem spoke further, ¡°So Storme, the pre-academy and academy finals will be held together. Eight participants from each group will be competing for their respective championships. The fee for tickets has increased from 1 silver to 10 silver, so not many people from town will be traveling to see you and Gareth,¡± he held up his hand. ¡°Your parents are going. Freya is not.¡± I nodded but didn¡¯t tell him I planned to bow gracefully out, hopefully. ¡°I still have your betting ticket. You asked me to bet on Gareth to win it all. The payout will be nine platinum. I suggest that be your budget when we go to Aegis city,¡± Callem intoned. I had forgotten I had Callem place a one platinum bet on Gareth at 9 to 1 odds. My odds had been something like 144 to 1. ¡°So Gareth is going to win?¡± I asked with a grin which Callem returned. ¡°The person he defeated in his last match was probably the best fighter after Gareth. Since you two are on either side of the bracket, you might face him in the finals, but you have two difficult matches upcoming.¡± As long as I wasn¡¯t goaded into actually fighting, I planned to lose my first match. ¡°Who else is going to watch? Should I pay for the entire class to go?¡± I asked Callem, who thought for a second. ¡°No, it is best not to spoil the students too much. I can arrange it if you want Mera and Fera to go.¡± He asked while winking at me. I don¡¯t know what that meant. Gareth was the one pining for Fera, and Mera was pursuing me, but I hadn¡¯t returned her interest. ¡°Yeah, that is fine. Could you also get a ticket for Mia?¡± I asked. I wasn¡¯t sure why I had asked for her to come. ¡°She is already attending. She has her own funds to draw upon.¡± Callem seemed to revel in my youthful interactions. I wanted to say I was not juggling women. They were all just friends, Aelyn, Leda, Cilia, Mera, Fera, and Mia. Callem left me. I imprinted the privacy spell the day before we left for the Annuals. I selected the anchoring evolution at level 1. This let me invest aether on casting to create the soundproof bubble. I spammed the spell, and my second evolution allowed me to control the shape of the bubble. I could now pull the bubble close to myself and walk around completely silenced. Or I could anchor the bubble somewhere and alter its shape. The max was a 10¡¯ diameter sphere. It did take a lot of mental effort to make shapes over spheres of boxes, but it was possible. My other spells had also been leveling. Cleanliness had gone from level 11 to 12. Mend flesh had gone from level 9 to 10. Both were now just one level from a new evolution. The dimensional closet had reached level 11, mostly due to me constantly spamming the spell at night by removing and returning objects. The evolution I selected improved the stasis effect. Now objects left inside aged 100 times slower. Stasis ¨C slows object aging to one-hundredth normal. This would allow me to store food for long periods and, more importantly, extend the shelf life of potions. All potions had shelf life depending on the ability of the alchemist. Now a potion that would normally be viable for 60 days would last 6000 days in my dimensional closet. I needed to be aware that when the portal access was open, the objects inside did age normally. For the evolution at level 13, I was thinking of working on evolutions to make the space more habitable. Unfortunately, the stasis effect wouldn¡¯t occur if I was inside, but having a space, I could retreat to would be invaluable. It was still a paradox in my mind¡­since the space was essentially in my aether core, how was I able to take my physical body inside of it? Well, I think I was leaning toward the air cycling upgrade next. That way, I would have unlimited breathable air if I locked myself inside the space in the future. The alarm spell had hit level 6. At level 5, I selected a flash effect when it was set off. I was hoping to make a sort of flash-bang magical grenade by combining the effects. The flash was not bright, and the bang was not loud enough. There was an evolution to make the sound louder but not the flash. It shouldn¡¯t be too difficult to figure out, though. I figured my new privacy spell would protect me from the sound, and I just needed to remember to close my eyes. I returned to working on my lightning reflexes spell, but I had been tempted to work on the tier 2 healing spell neutralize poison. The reason being I confirmed that it could purge the effects of alcohol within the body. After my classmate¡¯s recent incident with drinking, it was now on my list of spells I needed to know. The crowd on the skyship was much smaller this time, and we hadn¡¯t rented a whole ship. Elora stood with me on the bow, and the entire time we discussed what sequences I should use in my first match. I was pretending to care¡­I planned to lose¡­or did I? Chapter 51 Misguided Guile Chapter 51 (Arc 2 Chap 5) Misguided Guile The ship landed in the upper city, giving us an easier walking route to the Colosseum. The streets were packed, and excitement was in the air. It was clear to me the Triumvirate was using the Annuals to help the people forget about the recent Sadaian attacks. Many people were talking about the Annuals the next day for the post-academy group, the elite fighters. There were 16 participants left, as they had started with 64. Tickets to see those finals were 50 silver. I already heard Gareth trying to convince Callem to stay another day so he could watch those matches. We were given a different room by Callem¡¯s friend this time, and he winked as he left us. I had been smart and brought a satchel this time. That way, I could reach in and withdraw items from my dimensional closet. I ignored the appetizing food on the tables and retrieved some mixed nuts and a skin full of red juice. I took a sip and passed the skin to Gareth, who drained it. He shrugged when he handed it back to me. I had a water skin in my space and one cask of red juice. I would have to fill my juice skin at another time. ¡°Stormy, let¡¯s bet who wins their match quicker. Let¡¯s say two gold,¡± Gareth suggested. ¡°Sure, Gareth, I bet two gold that you finish first,¡± I said smugly. His frown made me realize he got my twist. It was probably the fourth or fifth time I tried to pull the same trick. It only worked the first time. ¡°Never mind,¡± Gareth mumbled. Callem finally arrived with his fighter intel. He had a spring in his set and came to me first, ¡°Storme, you have an interesting opponent. He wields a bastard sword and goes from one to two-handed style freely. He has solid skills but lacks speed. You can just keep your distance and whittle away at him. He should be similar to fighting Gareth but not as fast.¡± I was already trying to think of a good way to lose. I didn¡¯t want to get injured too badly, so I would engage him and get a read on him first. Callem was finishing up with Gareth, who looked excited. I pulled out the water skin and drank. I laid down on the couch, put my staff next to me, and rubbed my hand along the smooth black wood. I think I fell asleep as Callem shook me awake. ¡°Storme, Gareth just left. You should stretch and center yourself.¡± Callem then also left to watch Gareth fight. My mental exercises had progressed, and I assumed the clarity I had gotten from them had contributed to my jump in skill with the staff. We hadn¡¯t progressed to focusing through pain yet, but I knew that was just around the corner. Callem had been busy preparing the barracks for the academy, so my training in this aspect had faltered. A light knock on my door a short time later surprised me. It was too quick from Callem¡¯s departure for my own call to fight. I cautiously went and opened the door. A small female Wolfguard stood on the other side. She had a brilliant white fur coat. ¡°Master Storme Hardlight. I have a message requiring a reply.¡± Her voice was very soft and silky for having a slight muzzle. I was shocked by her appearance, but she was patiently waiting for me. Finally, I said, ¡°Yes, you can relay your message.¡± The Wolfguard had the mark of the Miaden family on her tight-fitting and expensive-looking outfit. The Miaden¡¯s were responsible for commerce in Skyholme, but Callem had lectured us that they were pretty much under the thumb of the Bricios. ¡°My mistress wishes for you to lose your match. She will pay you ten platinum to do so,¡± The young Wolfguard stated. This offer might be tempting if I hadn¡¯t had access to unlimited wealth. But then again, I was planning to lose anyway. I played the thought in my mind before replying. ¡°My counter-offer is the ten platinum and a small favor. The favor will not be anything grand. Just help in buying some property in a city,¡± I stated. The Wolfguard looked uncomfortable. She probably wasn¡¯t able to negotiate. ¡°You should hurry back and get an answer. I expect to be called shortly.¡± She turned and sped away. She returned ten minutes later with a small bag and handed it to me, ¡°It is agreed.¡± She turned to leave, and I dropped the new coin into my dimensional space. ¡°Who is your mistress?¡± I asked curiously. ¡°Loriel Handram Miaden,¡± the Wolfguard bowed and rushed away. Handram Miaden was the son of the current ruling member of the Triumvirate. So I guessed this must be his daughter. I wished I had paid slightly more attention to the genealogy charts of the Triumvirate. Since Loriel had a Wolfguard, it either meant she was one of the 23 in the line of succession or her grandfather on the council really favored her. Each family only had 200 personal Wolfguard to command. Most patrolled their residence, according to Callem, and the remainder served as companions for important family members. Typically the sitting member of the Triumvirate had twenty-three personnel guards that he was allowed to bring into the council. I remembered that last bit because I noted if I ever saw anyone walking with twenty-three Wolfguard around him, I was to make haste in the other direction. Gareth returned a few moments later and looked tired but wore a cheeky grin. ¡°Storme, you are up after the next match! I won handily and can¡¯t wait for you to join me in the final four! Can you¡­¡± He indicated my satchel, and I pulled out a roast beef sandwich on cheese bread with spicy mayo. Not Gareth¡¯s preferred sandwich, but it was mine. He didn¡¯t care and consumed it in short order. He regaled me with the tale of his most recent victory while I stretched and limbered up. I guessed his match was not as close as he was making it sound but dominating your opponent doesn¡¯t make for a good tale. With a sharp knock and an announcement, I was to make my way to the arena floor. I clasped arms with Gareth and headed out with my preferred staff. My opponent looked old, maybe 20 from my old world. He had decided to drop the soft leather armor most participants used in favor of some stiffer leather. This would be more effective against my blunt weapon, but it didn¡¯t really matter. I tuned out the announcer as he drolled on, and the two of us faced off. I just studied the man opposite me. He seemed slightly nervous, and his eyes said he was apprehensive about engaging. When the announcer finished, the man was already in a defensive stance with one hand on his bastard sword. It was massive and heavy. I was surprised he could wield it one-handed. He had two hands on it right now, giving him a pivot point to leverage the blade quicker. I went after him with a sequence and watched him block aptly. When he didn¡¯t press after the exchange, the crowd booed him. I needed him to attack, so I increased my tempo and chained some attacks together, he defended well, and I only got two glancing blows. But something was wrong. I paused. Could he have been paid to lose as well? That seemed ridiculous. But his lack of an offense or any probing attempts made me more and more certain. I had to get bribed because my opponent had been bribed as well. My following sequence targeted his blade. If he wasn¡¯t going to fight me, then I would make it appear he was, directly slamming my staff into his blade. At least the crowd loved it. I was sure any staff masters or blade masters in the stands would see through my farce of attacks, but it was all I could do. I had committed to losing this match but wanted it to appear like I had tried extremely hard. Finally, I got him to give a weak thrust and moved the tip enough to strike and get a glance on my shoulder, creating a sizable cut and a steady flow of blood. I pretended outrage as I stepped back, healed the wound, and then used my cleanliness spell to clean my clothes, leaving no evidence other than a slice on my heavy canvas shirt. The crowd roared. I stepped back into him, twilling my staff for the enjoyment of the screaming crowd. I went through a long and varied sequence that would make Elora proud. Except for the fact that I pulled the strike every time I connected with my opponent to minimize the damage. He was completely on the defensive now. It took him a few moments to realize that he was not taking much damage when I connected. He started to understand my intentions. Now we both knew we planned to let the other win. The panic on his face told me he couldn¡¯t allow himself to win for whatever reason. It caused me to panic a little as well, so I stupidly deflected his blade thrust into my stomach during a poor lunge on his part. A half dozen healing mages were present, so I expected this would end the match, and it looked like I had just made a slight mistake, not deflecting the blade completely across my body. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Now I had been in a few life-or-death situations from injuries in the past. This was a bit weird, allowing myself to be impaled. I was in shock, and shortly after followed the pain. I immediately went to my knees as the entire crowd went silent. My opponent didn¡¯t know what to do, so he slowly withdrew the sword. I was surprised as I maintained eye contact with him. I could feel the hole filling with bile and blood. I went and focused on mending my internal damage. I would have to tell Callem I could use my healing while in extreme pain now. Maybe it would make him not be upset with me for intentionally losing. This hadn¡¯t been my plan. I had planned to take a few glancing strikes, heal up, pretend to be out of aether, and then tap out after taking another light injury when I realized I couldn¡¯t heal. Unfortunately, I read that my opponent planned to end the match sooner, so I took drastic action. I shot my fist into the air and opened it. This signaled to the moderators that I was conceding. There was shock still going through the crowd. I had dominated my opponent throughout, and I was just quitting. My organs were healed enough that I wasn¡¯t worried, but I didn¡¯t close the gaping wound in my belly. I let the healing mages rush in, heal me, and help me off the arena floor as cheers slowly rained down for the victor. He was still stunned, standing there looking at the sword that had betrayed him and won him the match. Whatever penalty he would have to endure for winning instead of losing was his to bear. The mages led me down a different corridor¡­the loser¡¯s corridor. The room I was left in was rather plain compared to the competitor¡¯s room. A man dressed in heavy ornate robes entered. ¡°Storme Hardlight. Congratulations on your performance in the pre-Annual tournament. I am here to give you your reward for making it to the top 8,¡± he fished into his robe and pulled out a bag, and left it on the table with a chink of coins. He read a parchment and spoke, ¡°Seventeen gold, 73 silver, and 40 copper coins. Thank you for participating.¡± His words seemed completely disingenuine. Before he could leave, I asked a question. ¡°Lord, what will the winner get?¡± Callem hadn¡¯t told us what prize money we would receive. The lord or magistrate seemed a little peeved but did look at his parchment and told me, ¡°Eight large golds and one dungeon essence. Lord Holland will decide what the essence will be.¡± He made an irritated gesture at me. ¡°Can I leave?¡± I asked, asking him another question. ¡°Your mentor or sponsor will come and escort you to the stands,¡± he said. I waved him away as I had no more questions. I now had to wait for Callem. I started preparing responses to the questions I knew he would ask. A soft knock came at my door, and I opened it to find the small white-furred Wolfguard there, ¡°My mistress wishes to meet with you.¡± She moved aside, and a short young woman in a black and deep purple hooded cloak entered. Rich, silky black hair cascaded around her shoulders. She was a head shorter than me and had a beautiful heart-shaped face. The woman introduced herself, ¡°I am Loriel Miaden and wanted to thank you in person for losing for me. I had a bet with a Bricio on who would win your match and had been informed your opponent was paid to lose. That is why I took such drastic measures. Your match was entertaining, and it was clear you could have defeated your opponent, so I came to apologize in person for asking you to do so for my benefit.¡± She motioned to her Wolfguard, but I was already smitten with her golden brown eyes. Something in my aether core told me she was trying to influence our interaction. The Wolfguard produced another coin pouch and handed it to me. Loriel continued, ¡°I would like to make you an offer. I will be your sponsor for whatever academy you wish to attend, and in return, I will only ask for ten years of service after you graduate.¡± Who wouldn¡¯t want to work for such a beautiful and charming young woman? Maybe she would even invite me to her bed. She was so charming and¡­ I realized the trap. I started to draw on my focusing exercises to clear my mind. This innocent-looking young woman was a pit viper in disguise. As my mind cleared, she started to look confused since I hadn¡¯t agreed immediately. She smiled, ¡°Well, aren¡¯t you just full of surprises? Excellent mental fortitude. Don¡¯t be angry with me. I was using a tier 1 ability persuasion on you. It wouldn¡¯t have let you do something you didn¡¯t want to do. My ability cuts to the core of a person¡¯s true desires.¡± She was so unapologetic for her actions that I hardened myself to just get my perk from completing her request and then cutting all ties with this woman. ¡°Loriel, you promised me a favor, and I wish to collect,¡± I said evenly. ¡°I wish to purchase a large inn in Aegis city. Something decent in an area of the city near the skyship docks.¡± Confusion clouded her face. I supplied, ¡°You are of the Miaden family, the commerce faction. So you can help smooth my transaction.¡± Understanding of my request spread on her face. ¡°A large inn? Aegis city? I have visited the city a few times. I am just the 22nd in line for the seat, so I am not sure how much sway I hold, but I can ask my uncle. He is responsible for land transactions in Aegis.¡± She looked at me again, slightly upset, probably because I hadn¡¯t succumbed to her ability. I handed her back the pouch she had given me without looking at it. ¡°I will pay for the property completely. I just need you to grease the wheels, as I don¡¯t want to be beholden to anyone. I will find the property myself as well and send you a message. Uh, how do I send you a message?¡± Loriel stepped back and looked me up and down again. ¡°I don¡¯t know what game you are playing, Storme. Inns are not profitable. It would take you years to recoup your investment.¡± She took a breath, ¡°But it is a small favor, relatively speaking, for my family connections.¡± Mentally I relaxed. I was afraid she was going to ask me for something else. A devilish smile overcame her, ¡°In return for this favor, I want one of the rooms to always be reserved for me in perpetuity. If I perish, you can rent the room to someone else. But until that day, I will always be welcome to stay at your inn.¡± She seemed to be plotting something in her head that suddenly made me wary. ¡°My companion here will stay with you, and you can send her to me when you find the property you wish to purchase.¡± The Wolfguard¡¯s face looked shocked, but she hid it quickly. Loriel finished the conversation by stating, ¡°No contract is necessary. My word is good.¡± I thought to voice an objection but held my tongue. Kicking myself for my curiosity, I asked anyway, ¡°What was the bet I helped you win?¡± An amused Loriel grinned, ¡°It was for letting Abaddon escort me to the Triumvirate ball. He has been trying to maneuver himself to get me into a marriage. You may know him. He has assaulted various navy cadets, including your friend Cilia.¡± My heart increased its pace from anger. Don¡¯t get involved in politics, Storme, was ringing in my head repeatedly. While I was still calculating my next actions¡¯ effect, she leaned in, gave me a peck on my cheek, and left. Another Wolfguard in the corridor fell in behind her. This one was an old and grizzled brut. I looked at the small white one left behind and gave a half smile. I wasn¡¯t skilled in reading the facial expressions of the Wolfguard, but the young woman just shook her head. Her soft, somewhat melodic voice filled the room, ¡°I thought you had been smart. Do you realize why Loriel left me to shadow you and carry a message to her? Everyone knows I am attached to Loriel. Now by seeing me with you, they will think you are now attached to her. She has casually drawn you in. You will be nothing but a temporary shield against Abaddon for her.¡± A cold chill went down my spine. ¡°Why are you telling me this? Isn¡¯t this a betrayal of your mistress?¡± I asked, looking over at the young wolf woman. ¡°I am not a Wolfguard, you idiot. Do I look like a Wolfguard with large muscles and weapons hidden all over my body? I am just Loriel¡¯s playmate. We grew up together, and I have been waiting on her ever since,¡± she said with no malice. ¡°I would never harm her, but I also hate how she manipulates the common people to her own ends.¡± She seemed finished with her mini-rant. ¡°So don¡¯t follow me then.¡± I pulled out my prize money from the pre-Annuals and handed it to her. ¡°Go and stay in Aegis city. I should be there tomorrow with my teacher Callem.¡± The white wolf woman seemed to think and then nodded. ¡°I will be in the Lyrical Nymph, it is a tavern near the primary docks in the city. ¡°What is your name?¡± I asked as she was leaving. ¡°Bylura,¡± she said with some surprise that I had asked her name. ¡°It means white storm in wolfkin speech,¡± she added with a smirk. Then she was gone. I didn¡¯t have to wait long before Callem arrived, ¡°Storme, I was detained at the end of the corridor. Is there anything wrong? Is that why you threw the match?¡± concern laced his voice. He was looking me over for injuries, but they had been long since healed. ¡°I am fine. And yes, I was paid to throw the match, as was my opponent. I foolishly let myself get trapped in the web of politics,¡± I said morosely. Callem listened intently as I told him what had happened and finally responded. ¡°You did well sending the wolfkin away. Being seen with her would probably draw eyes to you. The Miaden family holds so little power these days as most of their upper-tier members have been tied to the Bricios by marriage. Loriel and Abddon is just another chain.¡± Callem sat and looked thoughtful. He finally looked at me, ¡°You did the right thing taking the coin. A boy like you turning down ten platinum may have drawn more attention than was warranted. As for your plans to build a restaurant and sponsor an adventuring team in Aegis¡­the death toll from the attack was heavy there. I inquired today in the stands from some friends, and there are some decent opportunities. I assume you plan to spend your following years of academy there instead of the capital?¡± He asked with knowing eyes. Callem was insightful. I nodded, ¡°Yes. I don¡¯t want to go near the capital, even if they have better academies. So I was considering the Aegis Adventuring Academy or the Enchanter¡¯s Academy. I really wanted to attend the Mage Academy in the capital, but that seems too dangerous. The Aegis Adeventuring Academy has an inferior mage program but good enough for me,¡± I finished revealing my plans going forward. Callem nodded in what I hoped was approval. ¡°Very good, Storme. We can leave tomorrow for Aegis or go directly after the tournament,¡± Callem said, asking my preference. ¡°Tomorrow. It is better to wait a day, plus I want to celebrate Gareth¡¯s victory with him.¡± We both grinned. ¡°Well, let¡¯s go and watch young Gareth take the capital by Storme,¡± Callem assented. ¡°Hopefully, his head doesn¡¯t get too large,¡± I mumbled. Callem slapped me hard on the back. ¡°I am sure, as his friend, you won¡¯t let that happen,¡± Callem said, and we laughed as we headed to the stands. Chapter 52 Champion Crowned Chapter 52 (Arc 2 Chap 6) Champion Crowned I headed to the stands to sit with Callem, Wynna, Ennet, my parents, Gareth¡¯s parents, the twins, and Mia. Callem went up the stands and talked with Elmore while I got condolences from everyone. My mother hugged me and fingered the hole where the sword penetrated my leather vest and shirt. I guess that couldn¡¯t have been pleasant for her to watch. The twins were seated behind me and patted my shoulder in consolation. Mia just voiced that I had fought extremely hard and was sorry I lost. I didn¡¯t have the heart to tell everyone I lost on purpose. I had done a good acting job as my father didn¡¯t think it was intentional and thought my parry was too slow and offered to train with me in my spare time. I didn¡¯t have any free time. The support around me felt good, but it wasn¡¯t long before Gareth was headed back onto the arena floor. He was scanning the stands vigilantly, probably looking for me since I was not in our preparation room, and Callem must have told him I lost. Somehow he found me, pointed his sword in my direction, and made the hand sign we used for Blood Brothers. When the fight started, it was over in a brief moment. Gareth feinted and got a solid strike below his opponent¡¯s knee. It was a crippling blow and was followed by the flat of Gareth¡¯s sword to his temple, knocking him out. The whole exchange took less than 20 seconds for Gareth to claim victory. Gareth raised his sword to me again and made our Blood Brother sign. If the man I lost to managed to win his next match, he would face Gareth in the finals. We had to wait as the semi-final for the Academy Annuals match was next. This was the mid-tier bracket and had participants that had been in an academy for over a year. The two combatants were extremely proficient, both wielding long swords and shields. The combat was intense, and I guessed both could give Gareth a run for his money. They were also 5 to 7 years older. The match was won when the slightly shorter fighter blinked behind the other one. The other man was waiting for this, thrusting behind himself and rolling away from the surprise attack. Callem leaned down to me to whisper. ¡°His short-range teleport takes too long and leaves him dizzy. It was foolish to try it in this competition. I¡¯m going to talk with Gareth to help him prepare for the finals. You can¡¯t come, so don¡¯t ask,¡± Callem rose and left the seats. Elora came down from her seat and pulled me to the side. ¡°Gareth told me you threw your match. I suspected the parry was terrible and thought your opponent used an ability on you to slow your reaction. It was an entertaining match, and you made me proud.¡± She considered her next words and offered some wisdom, ¡°Sometimes choosing to lose still results in a win.¡± We returned to our respective seats. I was glad not to have disappointed Elora. I spent the next twenty minutes talking with the twins and Mia while the man who defeated me fought like a madman. I guessed he was tasked with winning this match instead of losing. The fight got bloody fast as both fighters cut each other numerous times and used their abilities for advantage. Mera kept saying how well I had done to make it this far. She was trying to cheer me up, but I was starting to feel a little pain bowing out. I was learning I really preferred to be the center of attention rather than a spectator. The man who had defeated me won similarly to our match. His opponent missed a parry from fatigue and took a blade through his lung. The frothy blood was a clear sign it was over, and the match ended as the healers came out to attend to both. The winner glanced up, and I followed his gaze¡ªthe Triumvirate box¡­all three of them. I saw Loriel in one, and she somehow met my gaze in the stands. Although she was 80 yards away, I felt a chill go down my spine. I leaned into Wynna as the crowd was cheering loudly and asked her a question she probably knew the answer to, ¡°Wynna, how old is Lorial Miadon?¡± Wynna followed my gaze to the box and the young woman. ¡°Twenty-two, I think. Maybe twenty-one, she started academy early and just finished.¡± She looked at me and continued, ¡°Come on, Storme, you are smarter than pining for a member of the Succession.¡± I mumbled to myself, ¡°Unfortunately, I am being forced into proximity.¡± I saw Callem climbing the stairs toward us. He sat with us. ¡°Gareth wasn¡¯t in the room,¡± he said, concerned. Everyone in our group started talking at once, and Callem hushed them. ¡°He is in no danger. They just didn¡¯t want me to give him advice before the finals. It is a typical mind game, and I already warned Gareth they might try something like this.¡± We waited almost an hour before the final matches began. Tumbling troupes and illusion mages entertained us. The young women around me watched, fascinated. I was sweating from the heat of the crowd, and every time I looked at the Triumvirate boxes, Loriel seemed to be looking at me. In the center box, clearly marked with the Bricio family crest, were several men dressed in black. It didn¡¯t take me long to locate Abaddon. He was Cilia¡¯s age and wearing a captain¡¯s uniform for the Skyholme navy. His black hair, eyes, and uniform made him look like a model villain. Slicked back hair and teeth too white to be natural. I burned his visage to my memory. I was going to make sure I gave him a wide berth. Gareth finally entered and looked like a cobra ready to strike. Just from his eyes and his confident walk, his opponent was already acting timidly. Having already fought the man, I knew Gareth had an easy track to the championship. Gareth spared a glance at me in the stands and a nod. When the fight started, it was over just as quickly. Gareth twirled and swung a lightning-fast attack taking off the man¡¯s right hand. He fought on briefly with one hand, but Gareth disarmed his weapon with a hard strike. The man quickly conceded after losing his weapon. The crowd erupted in applause and screams, and I joined them. Gareth was dominant and left no doubt who was champion today. It was as Callem had envisioned, maybe a year earlier than planned, but Gareth would now be the focus of many wanting noble families. He probably should have made the fights appear closer, but the anger at my loss had probably clouded his vision. We had to wait for the last match before the ceremonies. The final of the academy Annuals was must closer and featured some fire magic and illusion magic. The purists hated that abilities were allowed in the Annuals, but it had become hard to discern if someone was using an ability. Spells were only allowed if they were not ranged spells which made little sense as ranged abilities were allowed. In the end, it didn¡¯t matterto me as I never planned to participate again. When the final match ended, the smell of charred flesh filled the stadium, and the winner sported his burns proudly. Could I have functioned with so many burns? Probably not. The awards were next. The second placers got a hefty coin pouch. The man who defeated me did not look happy with the reward and glanced up at the Bricio booth. I did as well, and Abaddon looked malicious in returning the man¡¯s gaze. I told myself it was not my problem and waited for Gareth to receive his award. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Gareth was introduced to cheers and approached the administrator, who showed him a collection of large gold coins and then placed them in his hands. To Gareth¡¯s credit, he wasn¡¯t impressed with the wealth. He might be a little more appreciative if he hadn¡¯t spent dozens of my platinum coins a few months ago. His next reward got oohs and ahs from the crowd. Two dungeon essences were put before Gareth. Both were tier 1, and he could choose just one. The man presenting the rewards was Gunder Miaden. Third in line for the Miaden triumvirate seat. He explained what the two essences were to the crowd. The first was a nascent aether core. It awakened an aether core for someone who didn¡¯t have one. It was an extremely weak awakening, Wynna whispered to me. The second essence was the tier 1 ability called hasten dream. It allowed a person to sleep for just 2 hours and get a full night¡¯s sleep. I willed that Gareth choose the nascent aether core but, after a brief hesitation, he selected the other essence. I clenched my fists in frustration over my friends idiocy. Two new tier 1 essence were added for the next winner to select from an array of three. The first was a hardy essence, allowing a person to require no food and sustain themselves with aether essence. The other was a clear-sight essence. Improving the vision of the person using it. The man briefly reached for the nascent core but then picked the clear-sight essence. Wynna whispered that would give him a lucrative job as a spotter on a skyship. I thought both had made a mistake and said so to Wynna. She said most people had trouble learning magic spells, and the nascent core would only give a tiny core with 2-3 in relative essence. It also wouldn¡¯t expand like a naturally awakened core. I still didn¡¯t agree. Gareth could have learned the cleanliness spell and stopped bothering me about evolving the spell to include him. The fanfare lasted an hour, and I was impressed with the stamina of those in the stands. It had been about a nine-hour event, start to finish. I walked with everyone back to the skyship dock, and Gareth joined us. We fell back of the pack and talked. ¡°Stormy, I can¡¯t believe they made you lose your match. That is pig shit. I got you some revenge, though,¡± he said with his trade marked Gareth grin. ¡°Yeah, about that, Gareth¡­they gave me ten platinum to lose.¡± He looked in shock at me, not believing it. ¡°And you took it?¡± He sputtered. ¡°Of course. Business decision. I wasn¡¯t going to win, and it was one of the families that asked me to do it. Of course, I might have drawn the eyes of another family because of it. Just one big mess no matter what I decided. Anyway, why didn¡¯t you take the nascent aether core!¡± I said, clearly sounding irritated. ¡°Business decision Stormy, I was offered a platinum not to select it. Plus, I can train six more hours daily with my new ability!¡± I rolled my eyes at my friend¡¯s one-track mind. ¡°You realize you could have learned the cleanliness spell with a core?¡± I said as he suddenly appeared shocked. He cheered up quickly, though, ¡°Probably wouldn¡¯t have the patience for it. Too much studying. I remember how long your first spell took.¡± The conversation fell to talking about the matches. Gareth had been so angry that I had been forced out that he ended both matches as quickly as possible. It had been what I had assumed, so I wasn¡¯t surprised. When we all boarded the skyship, the party was more subdued than when we had almost the entire town on board. The preferred beverage was a sweet wine provided by Ennet and Wynna. I drank two cups and started to feel woozy, so I ended my drinking there. The twins were hanging on Gareth the champion like grapes on a vine. When the ship docked, and we moved to the center of town to celebrate with everyone, I found Mia on one arm and Aelyn on the other. Instead of retreating this time to my room, I enjoyed the celebration with the townsfolk. Somehow I ended up in a corner with Mia, and we kissed drunkenly for a few minutes until a drunk Aelyn came and sat between us, ending our fun. I had had six¡­maybe seven drinks, so I couldn¡¯t really focus. I knew my healing spell could erase the morning-after effects, so I was going at it steadily. I leaned into Aelyn to kiss her since she had briefly taken away my partner and our lips met. Then she looked ashamed and left. Mia was no longer in the mood after Aelyn¡¯s antics, so we just went and sang some songs and performed some terrible drunken dances. My head felt two sizes too big when I woke. It took me time to figure out where I was. I was in Ennets house on her couch. I guessed Callem deposited me here. I sat up, and my stomach protested. I tried standing, and my stomach beat me to it. The pinkish vomit seemed to never end as I cleared the contents of my stomach. I immediately focused and cleaned the mess up with my spell, then focused on curing my hangover. It was imperfect. My head still felt slightly like cotton, but I felt much better. Wynna came out of the room and looked around, expecting to see a large mess. ¡°I already cleaned it up,¡± I said, slightly embarrassed. She nodded as Ennet emerged as well to see the nonexistent damage to her house. My heaving and splattering sounds had been quite loud. Wynna spoke first, ¡°Callem will be up shortly to take you to Aegis City. Are you still planning to go today?¡± I nodded, ¡°Yes, I have to release the wolfkin from my service sooner than later. I don¡¯t want it hanging over my head.¡± Callem emerged and looked a little haggard himself. I hadn¡¯t seen him too much last night as the adults had their own party. ¡°Let¡¯s go, Storme. The ship leaves in 20 minutes.¡± We walked to the platform that overlooked the barracks and boarded. I could see the over students emerging to Aelyn¡¯s calls. A few were already clearing their stomachs. I was saving myself from that. I reached out and healed Callem of his minor hangover. He just grunted in appreciation and mumbled something about not being as young as he used to be. The flight was a 90-mile trip to the other side of the island. We passed over Solaris City first, and some rage built in me seeing the city. I had effectively been ostracized from that city due to the red-haired punk and his connections. Callem seeing my anger, said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Storme. I have talked to several people, and progress has been made in cleaning up the city guard. You might have another crack at Leon Mogensen. The first-year academies will be sparing against each other in a few weeks. That was good news. Callem had my back, albeit a little late. I watched the unfamiliar terrain below, the towns I had never visited, and the places I had never explored. I started to feel the itch to visit these places. There was so much more to the World Sphere than just Hen¡¯s Hollow. As we approached the city, it had tall buildings like the capital of Skyhold, just not as tall or aesthetically pleasing. The old ship we were on lumbered in an arc before landing among six other ships. Callem informed me, ¡°Aegis City had a much harder time in the recent attack by the Sadians. They are still rebuilding the upper city.¡± As we disembarked, Bylura approached us, ¡°Stormy thought you might be on the only ship from Hen¡¯s Hollow today. I apologize. Loriel wanted to make sure I was seen with you. Don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you.¡± Her melodic voice was at least pleasant, even if a scheming woman employed her. Callem looked the wolfkin over. ¡°Runt?¡± He asked with some inflection in his voice. The young wolfkin had a sour face. At least, I thought that was how I should read it. ¡°Yes,¡± she said with some sadness. Callem explained, ¡°Storme runts birthed by the wolfkin for the Wolfguard are usually put down. Sometimes,¡± he indicated Bylur, ¡°They are made into companions for younger members of the Triumvirate families.¡± I nodded, and he continued. ¡°They usually don¡¯t count toward their allocation of Wolfguard troops. But they can never be trained in combat.¡± That last little bit had me cock an eyebrow, and Callem nodded, affirming my suspicion. Bylura moved like she was trained in combat. Bylura interrupted us and said, ¡°I found three properties you may like, Storme, in this district. Shall we check them out?¡± ¡°Go ahead, Bylura, we will follow,¡± I said, and Callem and I fell in behind her. Chapter 53 Headquarters Chapter 53 (Arc 2 Chapter 7) Headquarters We followed behind Bylura. The wolf girl¡¯s ears constantly moved, making her look cute from behind. When Callem spoke, her ears stilled as she tried to focus on our conversation, ¡°Storme, are you sure you want your building in the skyship docking area? Your restaurant may not get a lot of traffic from locals. The upper city with the road to the mountain dungeon or east city where the other dungeon is located would be better.¡± Callem was offering his advice, but my choice was not based on making coins. It was based on the closeness to the skyship docks and one of the highest security zones in the city. The naval docks were adjacent, and both the navy and city guard had barracks within this mostly warehouse district. ¡°No, Callem, I plan just to have a small restaurant. I also don¡¯t actually plan actually to work in the restaurant.¡± I was being careful with what I was saying since Bylura was listening. As we walked, I studied all the buildings and people we passed. The city was clean, and the people were well dressed but still had an edge to them from the Sadian attack. Only a few signs of the attack remained, and I could see workers fixing buildings and a few mages assisting with spells. In another few weeks, it would look like nothing had happened. The Triumvirate was trying to erase the memory of the attack as rapidly as possible. The Annuals had been a great distraction in the capital, but here it looked like the people were still healing. Bylura stopped at a small tavern off the main thoroughfare just after leaving the warehouse district. We walked inside, and it smelled bad and looked worse. Bylura stated, ¡°This is the cheapest building Loriel¡¯s contact found for you. 1200 gold with an annual tax of 31 gold and 22 silver.¡± I walked through, and the smell of urine and vomit in the bathroom made me gag. I spammed my cleanliness, doing the owner a favor. The upstairs had just three large rooms, and all were stuffed with crates. ¡°It¡¯s too small for my needs, and I was hoping for something on the main road from the docks to the east city,¡± I said after my thorough inspection. Bylura scrunched her canine nose. I think she was agitated but didn¡¯t want to show it. ¡°The next offering is quite a bit more coin,¡± she led the way back to the main street. I asked Callem, ¡°So do you think she was illegally trained to fight, or is she an actual Wolfsguard?¡± I asked of Bylura. Bylura missed a step, and her ears perked, straining to hear. Callem grinned at me. ¡°Definitely not a Wolfsguard,¡± was all Callem said as we walked. A much less haughty wolf girl showed the next building. ¡°This inn is called The Puzzled Goose. One of the co-owners was killed in the recent attack, and the other owner is selling. 4500 gold, and tax is 35 gold,¡± she said smugly. I think Bylura thought I couldn¡¯t afford it. I had my winnings from my bet on Gareth, sixteen platinum, plus another ten platinum from my deal with Loriel. So that would put my fortune at 2600 gold if Loriel had checked. The inn looked well run, had a nice common room that could seat 10 at a bar, and had four tables with six chairs each. Not very large. The inn had a second and third floor, with five rooms on each floor. It would not be a bad option if I hadn¡¯t walked into the kitchen. The kitchen was tiny, and there was a hidden suite on the first floor for the owner. He had bastardized his kitchen to create a low-cost bedroom for himself. ¡°Not bad,¡± I said, turning to Bylura. ¡°You have one more property? I assumed you saved the best for last?¡± I could always rip out the bedroom and restore the kitchen to its former glory, but The Puzzled Goose didn¡¯t feel like the right choice. The white wolf girl didn¡¯t say anything, and she just walked ahead. I turned to Callem, ¡°Maybe you can give her some tips on hiding her training when she walks?¡± He looked at me, and the girl¡¯s ears looked to be straining toward us. Callem took the hint. Speaking loudly, he stated, ¡°If I wanted to alter my gait so that an observer wouldn¡¯t be aware that I trained in the Falcon¡¯s Strike style of the sword, I would¡­.¡± Callem went on to detail four different things he would do to obfuscate his walking. That was a problem with trying so hard to train muscle memory for sword forms. It bled into your everyday movements. I sometimes found myself cooking using various motions from sword forms. I would try to resist doing this in the future as I wanted to appear as unassuming as possible. Currently, for me¡­ not a big deal, but if they found out Bylura was training in combat, I assumed she would either be killed or count towards the Miaden¡¯s house count of 200 Wolfsguard. Watching the girl try to incorporate Callem¡¯s suggestions in real-time was funny, and I didn¡¯t fail to notice that she had looped us around to give herself more time to listen to Callem and practice. When we got to the final building, it was huge. It was a full-fledged restaurant, seating for 120, a large kitchen, a large cellar, and a second floor with seven staff rooms. It was fully functional, and I couldn¡¯t understand why anyone would want to sell it. It was on the main road and right on the border of the dock and trade districts. ¡°So, Bylura, how much is this one?¡± I asked after the tour. ¡°It is not for sale,¡± she started. ¡°It is owned by the Miaden family, but my mistress would allow you to invest 2,000 gold for a 20% share in the profits of the building.¡± I scoffed. ¡°20% of the profits? You could just narrow your margins enough to minimize profits and pay me nothing!¡± Where did that come from? It must have been some tidbit of information from my past life. Bylura seemed a little taken aback, and Callem¡¯s eyes widened at my insight. ¡°I am not looking to invest,¡± I stated firmly. ¡°Now, let¡¯s look at two properties I noticed on our entertaining tour today.¡± Callem seemed amused as I now led the way to the exasperated wolf girl. I was in front, so the two walked side by side, and Callem started whispering to her and helping her with hiding her martial ability. The first building I came to was a four-story bakery. The upper three floors were apartments, and the bakery didn¡¯t appear to be doing too well. The location was perfect, but he couldn¡¯t sell the building after the building¡¯s owner was summoned. The apartments housed a fair number of naval personnel and made good profits even though the bakery was doing terribly. So that killed my first choice. My other choice was a literal warehouse by the trade docks. It was on the corner of skyship docks and the main thoroughfare. It was solid aged stone and had one side facing the docks that was three hundred feet long and another section along the road that was a hundred feet. The building was just over forty feet in height was a flat roof¡ªa fairly massive structure. What drew my interest was that the center half of the building had collapsed, and no effort had been made to haul away debris from the interior. Bylura looked seriously confused when I asked about the building. She didn¡¯t have a clue, so she was going to have to go and talk with her Miaden contact in the city. I noticed a food vendor cart with seating set up across the street and told her that Callem and I would wait there for her to return. She hurried off. As we sat with a hot drink and some sweet pastry rolls, Callem asked, ¡°I don¡¯t know, Storme. This Loriel seems to be trying to tie you to her. That offer for 20% was extremely generous even if it was a ploy, as you pointed out.¡± He sipped, and I could tell he was intently people-watching in this high-traffic area. ¡°And this building,¡± he pointed across the street, ¡°I don¡¯t see what you do in it. Are you just yanking the wolf girl around?¡± If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. I gave Callem a devilish smile, ¡°Potential. That building has potential. The location is perfect, and with some major renovations, the back half could be made into a nice little hanger while the front half could serve as a restaurant and still have enough space for a second and third floor to add housing for the adventuring team.¡± My excitement didn¡¯t translate over to the skeptical Callem. It was twenty minutes longer before Bylura brought back a middle-aged man in finery with the Miaden house crest pinned on his robes. ¡°Good morn, Storme,¡± the man sat wheezing a bit to face Callem. ¡°I apologize for not giving you the tour personally today. The wolf kid insisted that she bring you herself.¡± Bylura rolled her eyes at his comment. ¡°Magistrate Nassir, this is Storme,¡± Bylura indicated to me instead of Callem, and he flushed in embarrassment. ¡°And I only said I would give him a tour of the buildings because I didn¡¯t know when he was arriving!¡± she added, irritated. An embarrassed Nassir turned to me, ¡°Storme! I can see why Loriel Miaden is interested in such a fine young¡­.¡± Bylura elbowed him, and he got the point. ¡°So yeah¡­you are interested in the warehouse across the street. Um, let me see.¡± He pulled some papers out of the satchel under his robes and sat at our table. While he fumbled with the papers, I slid the tray of pastries to Bylura, who had some drool on her mouth. She reluctantly took one and then another. Secreting both into clothes for later. The magistrate continued, ¡°So the building is owned by Dunnar Miaden¡­who died in the assault when the building collapsed from an attack. No beneficiaries. It has been emptied¡­.¡± He paged through some more documents. Callem studied me and the magistrate while sipping on the aromatic tea in his hand. He was curious about what I was going to do. He had been treating me like an adult for some time now. It was almost as if he guessed I was older than I appeared¡­ ¡°So here¡­yes, the chain of custody. The warehouse belongs to the Miaden central family now¡­so I guess we can sell it to you.¡± He paged through some more documents, ¡°A warehouse this size¡­fair price should be 12,000 gold.¡± He looked at me, and I just gestured to the half-destroyed structure. ¡°Ah yeah¡­it does have some problems.¡± ¡°And as you have already mentioned, Loriel wants to do me a favor. And I will need the property rezoned for restaurants and housing.¡± I said while being patient as he got a little more flustered. ¡°7,800 gold with the rezoning¡­.¡± He offered tentatively. He was looking for approval at the offer. ¡°6,000,¡± I countered, ¡°or 7,000 if you clean the debris and supply the material to fix the collapsed section.¡± I finished. I wasn¡¯t aware of the building costs or codes, but I figured getting a head start on the rebuilding would be easier. Nassir was doing the math in his head. Would it cost the Miaden more or less than 1,000 gold to meet my demands on the warehouse? ¡°7,000 gold. Yes, 7000 gold for the property is doable. We can clear the building in maybe 20 days and get you the replacement stone in less time. Most of it will be your own recycled stone by the Miaden construction mages, though. The crews are mostly finished in the rest of the city. Should I start the paperwork?¡± He asked hopefully. I looked at the building. It was on the corner with the long side facing the plaza on one side, and the other side had a narrow alley shared with a similar warehouse. My warehouse had open space in the rear, about 200¡¯ of rough ground, before reaching the city wall. I guessed there might have been an old warehouse standing there in the past. ¡°The land behind the warehouse to the wall. How much for that land as well? I don¡¯t plan to build anything, but I don¡¯t want any surprises popping up.¡± I planned to have my hanger entrance on that side and didn¡¯t want a spiteful lord building a structure there in the future. Nassir pulled out some maps and cross-checked some things, ¡°The city owns it. We can do 1500 gold without any building permits. I can not negotiate on the price. It is fixed,¡± he added worriedly, perhaps thinking the sale was in jeopardy. So 8,500 gold before construction. I looked at Callem, who seemed amused. ¡°Callem, did you bring twenty-five platinum with you?¡± He gave me a guilty look. ¡°Thirty-nine Storme,¡± he said slowly. Callem had my winnings from Gareth and then some. I wasn¡¯t sure why he had brought so much additional coin. I reached into my bag and pulled out the ten platinum I had gotten from Loriel and another bundle of fifty platinum coins. I placed them on the table, two pouches. ¡°Callem, you need to add twenty-five so our new friend here can start the transaction and begin to clear the warehouse.¡± Bylura and Nassir¡¯s eyes popped at the bags of coins on the table. Callem just added his own pouch to the two I had already placed without changing his facial expression like it was the most natural thing to drop a fortune on the table. Nassir slowly took all three coin pouches. ¡°I will get on this.¡± He stood like he might be stopped suddenly. Bylura said with some exasperation, ¡°You are just going to trust him with your coin without any guarantee notes?¡± I said, ¡°Yes,¡± to her, and I got the exasperated look from her that I wanted. My indifferent spending made the wolf girl turn and leave in a huff, her job done. I addressed Callem, ¡°Callem, we should head into the trade district for your shopping trip.¡± I yelled to the leaving wolf girl, ¡°Bylura, if you could do me a favor and send an architect to Hen¡¯s Hollow for a week to work with me on my new building. I am sure Loriel knows a good one.¡± She held up a fist without turning around. That was a gesture that was similar to the middle finger in Skyholme. I wasn¡¯t sure why she was upset with me but I thought it was funny. As we walked away, Callem asked, ¡°That was a lot of coin. They will assume it was my coin, but even that may start to raise questions. What is your plan, Storme?¡± ¡°I am thinking long term. Half of the building is going to be a hangar. I am going to build my own skyship. The other half will be the restaurant and have residences on the upper two floors. The dungeon delving team will help gather resources to build the skyship and live on the upper floors. I will be attending the academy here in Aegis City next year. The dungeon academy. I will make use of their combat mage track.¡± I spelled out my plan to Callem. ¡°And where does Gareth fall into your plan?¡± Callem asked, interested. ¡°That is why I decided on the dungeon academy to continue learning my magic. I don¡¯t plan to delve into dungeons, but the capital academies are too dangerous with their politics. We have talked about this before, and Cilia¡¯s experience reinforced my reluctance.¡± I said. After a pause, ¡°And Aelyn?¡± Callem finally asked. ¡°With the skyship, we can get to the lowlands and remove her indentured tattoo,¡± I said without hesitation. ¡°I was looking forward to interviewing your prospective dungeoneers. Since we are not doing that today, when do you think you will need my help with that aspect of your grand plan?¡± Callem said while making eye contact. His golden eyes seemed to look right through to my soul. ¡°So you are on board?¡± I asked Callem. ¡°On board your future skyship?¡± he chuckled. ¡°I am too old for such an adventure. But kidding aside, Wynna and myself will move to the city while you two are in the academy here.¡± I reached a little, ¡°I would be happy to include an apartment for you two in the new headquarters.¡± ¡°Headquarters? I guess that fancy term could describe your building. Yes, that would be most thoughtful of you and lend credence that Wynna and I were both somehow involved in financing this project,¡± Callem said. He grinned, ¡°Would we be able to eat for free at your restaurant?¡± I started laughing, ¡°Fine! But then you two will have to pose as the building owners for real! Your names are going on the deed together. So plan to marry Wynna.¡± Callem stopped laughing and looked at me with a serious stare, ¡°Agreed. But if you are putting her name on the deed, she will want input into its design. You opened that can of butterflies!¡± We entered a weapons shop. The weapons didn¡¯t match the ones I created with my skill, but they were quality. I wandered around while Callem started talking with the old smith and adding various weapons to the counter. Callem was using the coin I created to get the students at our academy better weapons to practice and train with. This smith did not use the folding steel method. His weapons were still all high-quality steel with no defects I could find as I touched them and used my ability. I got some ideas with shapes and ways to reinforce my own work. During the two hours we were in the shop, Callem bought four bundles of weapons that were carefully wrapped together. He knew the old smith personally, and they were lively in talking about old times and discussing the weapons Callem was selecting. Callem slung the packs of weapons on his back as we returned to the skydocks. We had over two hours to wait. The cool thing was I could clearly see my new building while we waited on the platform. I could add a nice garden on top of the building, and we could watch the skyships come and go from there. Eventually, our skyship back to Hen¡¯s Hollow called for boarding. I focused my thought on the trip back home, putting together the perfect headquarters in my head. Chapter 54 Gareths Folly Chapter 54 (Arc 2 Chapter 8) Gareth¡¯s Folly It was late evening when we landed. When I got back to my room, dinner was over, and I found a lamenting Gareth on his bed. He bemoaned, ¡°Oh Storme, I wish you hadn¡¯t left today. I did something stupid. So very stupid.¡± I touched my friend and looked for wounds with my spell¡ªnothing. I sat on my bed across from him, waiting for him to elaborate. ¡°So, what happened to you today? Can it be remedied? Did you piss off Aelyn?¡± I asked as I started using my cleanliness spell to clean up the room, which had reverted to smelling like old socks in the twelve hours I had been gone. Gareth just pulled a pillow over his own head and moaned into it. ¡°Well, Gareth, I am hungry. If you want to talk, I will be in the kitchen.¡± I left the room and noticed the twin¡¯s door across the hall was ajar and peeked in. I knocked and said, ¡°Mera and Fera, I am cooking if you are interested.¡± ¡°Storme, you are back?¡± Fera whispered. Some hushed whispers, and then Fera said, ¡°We are coming.¡± The two girls languidly walked out of their room, and we moved to the kitchen. I knew they played some role in Gareth¡¯s current state by their moods. I went to the cellar to gather materials for making a four-cheese mac n cheese. We had some dried pasta, so I got the water boiling with two types of salt. ¡°So, Mera and Fera, can you tell me what my friend has done that has signaled the end of the world for him?¡± Mera twirled her hail in her finger. Fera wouldn¡¯t make eye contact. Mera finally spoke as the cheese was melting in the butter, flour, and milk. ¡°Gareth and Brianne were found naked in the woods by Jollete. It was the same spot that Gareth took Fera to kiss.¡± Fera clicked her tongue in anger. I hadn¡¯t really been aware of Brianne since we started the academy. She was in our class but hung out with Pascal and his friends. I thought Gareth had gotten over her. Fera added, ¡°They were not completely naked.¡± Mera rolled her eyes at her sister. ¡°They would have been if they were not interrupted,¡± Mera hissed. Oh, Gareth. He was probably getting wooed by every eligible girl in Hen¡¯s Hollow after he won the tournament. Sponsors would probably send beautiful girls here to woo him as well. His stock was really high. Callem had even told me he would have finished in the top 8 for the Academy Annuals. If he participated next year by that time, he should be good enough for a top 4 finish. The girls bickered a little back and forth as I cooked. I wasn¡¯t sure if intervention on my part would be wise. I had flashes in my past life of trying to fix something, and it only snowballed worse. I couldn¡¯t recall details, but interfering was just a bad idea. I did offer advice anyway, ¡°Fera, Gareth is not what you would call strong when it comes to resisting the attentions of the opposite sex.¡± How best to describe his unraveling libido¡­ ¡°His thoughts will always be focused on the breasts in front of him.¡± That should be clear enough for them to understand. Maybe I had said too much. Mera moved in front of me, blocking me from stirring the cheese sauce. ¡°And you, Storme, where are your thoughts focused?¡± It wasn¡¯t a sexy voice, but it was an attempt at one. At least the young woman was smiling suggestively. ¡°My thoughts Mera,¡± I placed my hands on her shoulders, and she smiled brighter, ¡°Are on cooking.¡± I gently moved her aside. Her face fell, but she grinned as she resisted a little. ¡°Is the food ready?¡± Fera asked, grinning at her sister¡¯s attempt to entice me. ¡°Well, I know good food always makes me happier.¡± I plated the drained pasta and poured a helping of sauce over each, and stirred it to consistency before sliding it to the girls. Even though the girls had eaten two hours ago, they greedily ate a healthy portion. I assumed they had worked hard today. When we finished, I used my cleanliness spell to clean the pots and dishes. It made things extremely quick, and the girls then begged me to clean their room tonight as well. I consented since our room smelled so ripe. I guessed theirs did as well. It wasn¡¯t as bad as I suspected because they had packed their dirty clothes in a ball. It had rained during sword training just before the Annuals, and those clothes were at the bottom of the pile. I walked the room after the clothes as the girls put away their clean clothes. I wasn¡¯t sure, but they seemed to be folding their undergarments openly in front of me and giggling about it. They begged me to hang out and help them with their aether core exercises when I was finished cleaning. So I sat on Mera¡¯s bed with my back to the wall and one twin on either side of me as I guided them through the 23 exercises. I gave them some pointers that helped me when I taught myself. Really, Selina was a much better teacher than me; all the twins needed to do was practice. It was extremely late when I made to return back to my room. The girls restrained me for a brief second, and both gave me a peck on the cheek at the same time. ¡°Just a thank you, Storme. For cleaning and helping us study. Maybe we will give you the same if you help us again tomorrow night.¡± Fera said suggestively. I paused at their appearing innocent antics. Fera obviously wanted Gareth aware I was spending time with her, and Mera was still after me. ¡°I don¡¯t mind helping you two study, but I have quite a bit of studying to do independently.¡± Their smiles evaporated. ¡°How about on the 1st and 3rd day? I will help you both after dinner?¡± The smiles that had almost vanished immediately returned. They nodded enthusiastically. I opened my room door and found Gareth in the position I had left him. His loud breathing came even through the pillow. After setting a half dozen alarms around the room, I clapped a silent sphere around myself. The door, window, floor, bed, and the chest were alarmed. It was mostly just practice, but the small routine may save my life one day. Each alarm would instantly wake me with a loud sound in my head and an image of the intruder. After my day off, getting back into training was not fun. Aelyn and the teachers seemed to think I needed to do twice as much work today to make up for missing yesterday. Today was also my time with a saber, so Callem was my teacher, and he made me work hard as well. I watched Brianne a bit, and she did still have eyes for Gareth. The other kids were teasing both Gareth and Brianne all day, so I called attention to myself at dinner and stood on the table. ¡°So yesterday I heard I missed an eventful day at Academy,¡± I started, and hollers and cries rang out in affirmation. I let them play out before continuing. ¡°While I admit teasing our fellows is fun, there is a line and a time to stop. I am asking everyone here to abide by this rule. You are allowed to chide and tease someone for one day after an incident. After that time, the harassment is to stop. If it does not, then I will no longer heal you!¡± Everyone was silent as I sounded dead serious. I looked around the room and made eye contact with everyone, and I think my teachers had some pride on their faces. I started to step off the table but stopped and stood again, and the room was deathly silent, waiting on my words. ¡°We are going to be here together for the next ten months. It is everyone¡¯s responsibility to help every other person in this room become the best person they can be in that time. Respect each other as you respect our talented instructors.¡± I sat down across from Gareth. The twins hadn¡¯t sat with us at any meals today to show their anger, and he was starting to look green. Freya had heard my little speech as she was cleaning dishes and looked at me with eyes of¡ªmaybe admiration. Gareth whispered, ¡°Thanks Storme. It just sort of happened. I didn¡¯t think anyone would stumble on us. She said she just wanted to practice kissing, and before I knew it, our shoes and shirts were off.¡± I shook my head back and forth slowly, ¡°Ah, Gareth, you are going to learn a lot in the next ten months on what not to do when it comes to women. I wish I could give you advice, but I doubted my advice is that good, and I doubted you would heed it anyway.¡± I had very little wisdom or memories to help my friend. As Gareth had mentioned, sex was going to happen¡­ first-year academy was essentially Skyholme¡¯s version of sex education. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Sitting to my right, Mia asked, ¡°Are you going to follow your own advice and not harass Gareth after a day when he does something stupid?¡± I looked at the young woman and back at Gareth, ¡°No, I am the exception to the rule. Someone needs to keep him grounded.¡± Gareth¡¯s eyes twinkled in mock shock to go with his open mouth. ¡°Besides,¡± I grabbed my mug, ready to finish it, and go to my room, ¡°It¡¯s not like I¡¯m not going to heal myself if I break the rule.¡± Mia laughed, and Gareth¡¯s face was in comical disbelief. Leaving the table, I told Gareth, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I will do it all in private, and I expect the same of you. We will keep each other grounded.¡± The Gareth grin manifested on his face. In my room, I had planned to continue studying my lightning reflexes spell, but after some consideration, I switched to focus on the neutralize poison spell. It was a tier 2 spell that had a lot of utility. It could easily take care of being drunk and quickly remove up to tier 2 poisons. Tier 3 poisons could be eliminated with multiple targeted casting. With some evolutions, it could hold off the effects of tier 4 poison but not eliminate it. Hopefully, those tier 4 poisons had a duration that could be overcome with time. Gareth came in and plopped down with a sigh on his bed. He normally would be hanging out with Fera right now. I let him be. I had done quite a bit for him with my speech at dinner and wanted to learn this spell quickly to return to my first offensive threat spell, lightning reflexes. Since he was being ignored, he left the room, so I put up a privacy screen and focused. Before going to sleep, I started making platinum coins. I was going to need some wealth in order to build my headquarters. The next day I was shocked at how my words had affected the group. Everyone was being overly helpful to everyone else during class sessions. At meals, the jokes and jabs were flying non-stop, but everyone seemed supportive. The twins were back eating with us but sat on either side of me. Normally Fera would have sat next to Gareth. I was sure the relationship would mend in time. The enchanting class became a huge focus for me. If I was going to establish a headquarters, I wanted it to be filled with as many magical artifacts as possible to create a high standard of living. I planned to spend the next few classes perfecting my aether lights. It was one of the simpler enchantments to do, and the quality of the materials would determine how good the device was. My aether light was going to be a softball-sized white globe. I wanted a touch enchantment with four settings. Off, 125 candles, 500 candles, and 2000 candles. Each touch of the ball would cycle through the settings. Instructor Aethon was fascinated with the project and was helping me write out the enchantments. They were a lot more complex than I had planned. I planned to use a durable type of frosted glass ball and then use my metal shaping to do the runic script on the inside of the ball. The recharging aether crystal would be at the hole in the blown glass. I hoped to start making them in a week or so. Well, that evening, I made good on my promise to tutor the twins in magic. They were eager students and really liked sitting on either side of me on the bed to study. They had wanted to study in my room, but I knew they just wanted to torment Gareth, so I insisted we study in their room. Of course, they kept the door wide open, and with our room being across the hall, Gareth would see us. Being so spiteful was not how I imagined the twins, and I told them so. They just rolled their eyes at me in unison, a little spooky with their coordination, and said they just wanted Gareth to know what he missed out on. The fourth, fifth, and sixth days of the week progressed a little too slowly for me. I was starting to feel the burden of routine. The twins were also tying themselves strongly to me in an attempt to make Gareth jealous. On the fifth day, Gareth had given up and was seen sneaking away with a more receptive Brianne, which only infuriated the twins. He was much stealthier and they were not discovered this time. I wasn¡¯t sure what they had done, but Gareth was in a much better mood after. The special order globes for my enchanting lights came in on the sixth day, a crate of 24. We were still working on the actual runic script for the lights, but I now had something to practice on when I was ready. Master Aethon had also purchased twenty-four bottles of hardening resin. He thought it would be a good idea to coat the globes with it to protect them. The resin could also be tinted in different colors if I was interested. It was a good idea. On the sixth day, everyone was excited to get the following day off. For me, that meant I would be spending my day with Selina on additional spell lessons. I was physically and mentally fatigued and not sure I wanted another lengthy instruction period. During the week, my spells had leveled, and I was beginning to think the larger variance in how I was using them was adding to the increased speed. I made a mental note to see if Ennet would do a reading on me so I could see the progress of my aether core. My cleanliness spell had reached level 14. I completed the range evolution to extend it from 3 feet to 6 feet. Since I seemed to be spending a lot of time cleaning up other people¡¯s messes, it made sense to speed up the process. It also allowed me to clean ceilings with ease. My mend flesh spell reached level 12, and at level 11 the evolution that I added was something called replenish. It restored a person¡¯s muscle energy and removes fatigue. It was not as effective as I had hoped. It didn¡¯t offer endless stamina, just washed away fatigue and eliminated muscle burn. It was also only effective once a day which I didn¡¯t understand, so I asked Selina. Selina explained the limitations had to do with aetheric aura manipulation on a person and the tier of my spell. The lengthy lecture on the topic was over my head at this point in my mage craft. Obfuscate Abilities ticked up to level 6. The dimensional closet ticked up to level 12, but I was no longer emptying my core at night with this spell. I had switched to using my aether to stockpile platinum coins. My alarm utility spell reached level 8, and at level 7, I increased the brightness of the flash effect. I estimated it would be effective in the dark conditions to blind someone, but I was going to have to scale the brightness again to have the same effect in daylight. I didn¡¯t care about actually blinding someone because magic could easily heal the injury. Once I got my alarm spell and imprinted lightning reflexes I was fairly certain I would be able to defeat Gareth in combat. My privacy spell went from level 2 to level 6. This was mostly because I worked on this spell in class with Selina. At level 3, I added a milky opacity to my bubble to obscure sight. At level 5, I amplified the bubble so I could see out while people couldn¡¯t see in. I was getting close to imprinting my neutralize poison spell. I hoped to get enough help on the seventh day with Selina to cross it off my to-do list. Selina had me meet her in town at her rented loft apartment. It had a nice view of the town square and was nicely decorated. Selina explained a few things in the place from her travels, mementos. Then we got to work. It was around lunch when I imprinted the spell. Selina was impressed and happy for me. The first evolution was to be able to use the spell on something else. We started working on the lightning reflexes spell next, and I brought the book out. Selina was helping me see the patterns in the spell forms. We went to the tavern for lunch, and there were a number of students from my class there. The food was very average, but I was hungry. I was sipping on a weak ale and testing out my new spell. We were getting ready to return to Selina¡¯s place when a familiar small wolfkin entered. Of course, Bylura was drawing a lot of attention. We just didn¡¯t get Wolfsguard in Hen¡¯s Hollow. On seeing me, she approached with a lopsided grin. She sat at our table, and Selina raised her eyebrow as the wolf girl started talking. ¡°Storme, I brought you an architect. She was personally selected by Loriel.¡± The girl took my plate and started eating. After two bites, she made a face and slid it away from her with a sour look on her face. I made the action of looking around the tavern room. Bylura took my cup and drank my ale, ¡°She is looking for a place to stay in town. Most likely, she will head to the nearby city as your quaint little town doesn¡¯t have much to offer.¡± Her tone indicated she didn¡¯t think much of Hen¡¯s Hollow herself. ¡°So Bylura, you were sent to me again. Did you volunteer because you missed me?¡± I asked. Her eyes narrowed at me. ¡°I am the only one Loriel can trust,¡± she said with a little annoyance. ¡°Well, now that you know where I am, will you bring this architect to me?¡± The wolf girl didn¡¯t seem to like taking orders. She just reclined in her seat and gave me the stink eye. Freya came barreling into the inn, found me at my table, took a seat, and stared at the wolf girl who seemed suddenly uncomfortable. ¡°Freya, Bylura. Bylura, Freya,¡± I introduced them. Monty came into the tavern, rushed to Freya, noticed Bylura, and let out a cautious bark. Bylura probably weighed as much as the large fluff monster Monty. When Bylura didn¡¯t back down, he started growling at her, and Bylura growled back¡ªa canine showdown. I started laughing at the display of dominance. Bylura stood up and left in a huff. As she was leaving, Freya looked disappointed. She turned to me and asked, ¡°She is adorable. Do you think she will let me pet her fur?¡± ¡°Oh, definitely ask when she gets back, Freya,¡± I said, anticipating the interaction. I started talking with Freya about her business operations. She was doing better than Gareth, and I had in our endeavors. She was making about 20 silver a week. She also had a small army of town kids helping her. When Bylura returned, Monty was on alert. A woman, maybe in her 20s, followed her. She had dark blonde hair tied into a bun. Her eyes were dark brown, and she was wearing a sharp outfit that looked fairly expensive. Bylura locked eyes with Monty as she approached. Monty was quiet this time but hadn¡¯t deferred dominance to Bylura. ¡°Storme, I present your architect, Isla Carille Bricio,¡± she said with a smile. A Bricio? Well, this was not going to be fun especially when I declined her services. Chapter 55 Floor Plans Chapter 55 (Arc 2 Chapter 9) Isla Carille Bricio. A Bricio? Was this some kind of joke? Why would Loriel send a member of Bricios? The Bricio family was everything that was wrong with Skyholme. Power-hungry, manipulative, and willing to use people to achieve their ends. ¡°I am sorry, Isla, but I think I was hoping for¡­¡± I started to say as I searched for the words to not sound like an ass. I also didn¡¯t want to make an enemy either. The young architect looked at the people around the table and pursed her lips. Bylura spoke first, ¡°Isla is a good friend of Loriel. A good friend Storme. She has been helping Loriel fend off the marriage proposals of Abaddon Bricio. You can trust her.¡± The wolf girl sounded annoyed. I really didn¡¯t trust Loriel either. I had just hoped she would send me someone competent¡­someone unaffiliated, but I should have known better. Isla sat across from me and steeled herself, ¡°Can we talk privately?¡± I nodded and asked everyone to give us the table. When we had the table to ourselves, she resumed. ¡°My name is Isla and I am Bricio. I ask you don¡¯t look at my name, though. My father may have been a Bricio, but I don¡¯t associate with him or my extended family.¡± Her brown eyes looked pleading. ¡°Since I don¡¯t see eye to eye with my father or family, it has been difficult getting jobs in the field that I spent my years at the academy learning.¡± I looked at the 20-something woman with her pulled-back dark blonde hair. Her face showed uncertainty. I asked, ¡°So Loriel sent you to me as a charity case?¡± The phrase confused her for a moment as she puzzled out the meaning. ¡°Charity? I will have you know I am a damn fine architect!¡± Her voice was heated as she started to get angry. ¡°Calm down. If I hire you, will I draw the ire of the Bricio family? And what are your rates?¡± I had gotten defensive since she had gotten angry. I was looking for other reasons not to hire her. Reasons that she would offer herself. She paused and then spoke, ¡°My father hasn¡¯t prevented me from getting jobs. The Miaden¡¯s have. Architecture is their purview, and they have a number of family members in the field. So not only am I a woman, but I have the wrong last name.¡± She took a long exhale. ¡°As for my rates¡­how are a ten gold retainer and 20 silver a day?¡± She added hopefully. The rate seemed reasonable. I needed to make a decision. Should I trust Loriel, who was using me as a pawn on a chessboard to block the Bricios? Isla seemed genuine, and maybe she was innocent in the political game. Maybe hiring someone with the last name of Bricio would keep the Bricios from looking at me more closely. ¡°What are your ideas on my new building?¡± I asked skeptically, trying to stall. I was at least willing to listen. The woman smiled and pulled out a pamphlet of papers, ¡°Loriel got your entire building and the land behind it flexed. You can have virtually any type of building on it. Please remember you promised Loriel that you would hold one of the apartments for her use. Here are my sketches.¡± I paged through her drawings. She had the entire first floor with a row of shops facing the plaza. She had 40 large apartments on the second and third floors. I looked through the drawings and she had done an excellent job in such a short time. It was not what I had envisioned but had elements of what I wanted. ¡°I can see you put a lot of effort into this. I was thinking that a third of the building would remain a very large warehouse, 100¡¯ x 100¡¯ in size, with a 40¡¯ ceiling. The side facing the city wall would have massive doors to allow a small skyship to enter. The rest of the warehouse would have three floors.¡± I sketched my own rough drawing for her. I continued, ¡°I think at most 20 apartment units¡­each with two bedrooms. The first floor would have a restaurant and bakery facing the main road. And the most important thing is a very large kitchen and storage pantry.¡± Isla had taken notes while I spoke. She looked at me seriously, ¡°Give me a day. I will stay in the room above this tavern. I will show you what I can do.¡± She continued asking me questions and taking notes for the next hour. I slid her a shiny platinum coin when she finished to retain her services. We had never formally agreed to the retainer, but she had shown enough interest and capacity for me. A platinum coin would be enough to cover her services for an entire year, and I noted that term when I gave her the coin. She nodded and left with a smile on her face. Bylura came up to me after Isla left, ¡°So, did Loriel do good for you or what?¡± ¡°Isla seems competent. So are you headed back to your mistress now?¡± I asked the wolf girl. ¡°Nope,¡± she said excitedly. ¡°I am to keep an eye on you.¡± My eyes narrowed, and she gave me a wolflike grin. ¡°I have been given a Proctor de Factum badge for your academy. I am the official auditor of Hen¡¯s Hollow Academy!¡± The wolf girl was practically jumping in place. She explained, ¡°I am to observe your academy class for 90 days and write a report for the Skyholme Acadadium Primus. It governs the monetary funding for all first-year academies.¡± The girl said excitedly. My head started to hurt. I didn¡¯t want to be under a microscope. ¡°Can you even write? Are you not too young? And you are a wolfkin?¡± Each question was like a body blow to the girl, and I felt guilty afterward for taking my anger out on her. She was just another tool of Loriel. She sat hard on her seat. ¡°I can write,¡± she said morosely. ¡°The badge belongs to Loriel. She called in some favors to be named auditor. She is the one who worked to get the position. It doesn¡¯t require a person to actually be present to do the assessment themselves, so she gave the task to me.¡± She bowed her head. ¡°It was just a way for me to keep an eye on you. I am to return to Loriel if anyone else makes a move to solicit your services.¡± ¡°Why me! Gareth won the tournament, not me!¡± I said with exasperation and helplessness. Bylura spoke slowly and carefully, ¡°I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t know if anyone else is interested in you, but Loriel is very interested. She is not a bad¡­¡± My gaze of annoyance stopped her from trying to convince me of Loriel¡¯s good intentions. I sighed, ¡°You can go tell Callem and show him your badge. He is in charge of the academy training. I am sure he will love to have a pup underfoot.¡± I wasn¡¯t sure why I was angry at Bylura. I think it was just because I was angry that Loriel had her eyes on me, and Bylura was going to be a constant reminder. The sooner I built a skyship and had the freedom to leave Skyholme in a time and choosing of my own, the better. Bylura slunk away, and it allowed Freya to return. I was going to lose the rest of my time working with Selina today as the archmage had left already. Freya and I decided to head to the swimming hole with Monty. Swimming was a release, but it suddenly made me feel old with all the young town kids here. Had I really grown this much in a few months? I think I was feeling the pressure, and the hazy past-life memories were making me feel more adult-like. I was certainly being treated like an adult by Callem. The question was if I should embrace it or not. ¡°Storme?¡± Freya got my attention. ¡°What do you want for your 13th birthday?¡± I looked confused and then remembered I was going to be 13 in two days. ¡°Just sneak me a large package of treats from Sweets and Treats,¡± I said, giving her a relatively easy mission. She made regular trips to Solaris with her business. The kid gangs had been essentially wiped out with them starting the academy, so it was safe. She also had Monty and her little crew of friends going with her. ¡°I know just what to get you! The twins love chocolate honey clusters,¡± Freya said excitedly. I ignored Freya¡¯s needling as she listed off Gareth, Callem, and Aelyn¡¯s favorite sweets and never mentioned getting me what I liked once. I didn¡¯t have a strong sweet tooth, well maybe ice cream, so I didn¡¯t care what she got for me. Gareth was probably going to eat most of what Freya got me anyway. As the evening closed, I returned to the barracks to study a little and get some much-needed rest. The building was still mostly empty, with the students not yet returning from their day off. Most were probably eating dinner with their families. Or, in Gareth¡¯s case, he was probably sneaking off with Brianne somewhere. I took out the actual lightning reflexes spell book. My hubris in trying to learn a tier 4 spell was in front of me. I wanted to fling it across the room in frustration. I had other spells I could learn. Aether shield, for one¡­and that one was only tier 2. The arcane lock spell was the only tier 1 spell I had that I hadn¡¯t learned, and I was certain I could learn it in less than a week. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. I paged through the spell forms for the lightning reflexes spell. They were just so complex. Even Selina being an archmage, said she only had three tier spells imprinted and one tier 5. She encouraged me, but I knew she thought I was too early in my development for a tier 4 spell. I locked all my other spell books into a trunk in my dimensional closet. It was more symbolic. I was not going to touch another spell book until I learned this spell. I cocooned myself in an opaque privacy egg and tuned out the world after setting my alarms and emptying my aether pool by making platinum. Gareth returned to the room two hours later, but I didn¡¯t leave my study bubble. The next two days of training went surprisingly well. My saber session with Callem showed a marked improvement. My session with the staff had me teaching the twins, and they had made huge gains as they focused on my teaching. Their aether manipulation also gained considerable ground. It was as if they were demonstrating how dedicated they were to garner praise from me. And, of course, I did praise them repeatedly. Bylura did make daily appearances. Usually, she would stand next to Callem for an hour and ask him questions while watching us. She always had lunch at the instructor¡¯s table as well. She ignored me to the fullest of her ability, though. As promised, Freya got me a massive bag of sweets and a long hug to go with it. Gareth, Mia, and the twins were already well into my bag by the time we got back to our room after dinner and our lesson on Skyholme law. The rest of the week had me working hard on the spell imprinting, but it felt like I was trying to run up a greased incline. The faster I ran, the more effort I expended, but I made no progress. I was desperately looking forward to the off day when I could sit with Selina and get advice one on one. Unfortunately, Selina canceled on me! I was outraged but remembered she had planned to check on her descendants on the capital island. She did leave me some notes to help me. I was in my room alone when Elora came knocking, ¡°Storme, since Selina can not teach you today do you want some personalized staff practice?¡± Of course, Elora would ask. She taught me four classes a week, but my role had been switched, mostly helping her instruct instead of being her student. I did spar briefly with Elora, but it only served as a demonstration for the rest of the class. ¡°Sure, Elora. I have a few hours and need a break from this stupid spell!¡± Hitting things with sticks was always a great stress relief. It was the best session I had had with the staff. Elora taught me a few interesting sequences and a few feints that I thought might even work on Gareth the first time I used them. We practiced for five hours! I could believe it until Elora said I should go and rest up, I had done enough for today. In the evening, Gareth came into the room was a stupid grin and a massive hickey on his neck. ¡°Stormy, how was your day? Any of the sweets left?¡± I produced the bag from my storage and handed it to him. Almost nothing was left, and after Gareth helped himself, there was just an empty bag. ¡°Stormy, can you cook us some dinner? I think the twins will be back soon. They went to see their parents this morning. How about some pizza?¡± Gareth suggested. I looked at my friend, who was smiling and extremely happy. A knock at our door found Bylura and Isla standing there. Isla spoke, ¡°I thought you would have come by the tavern today.¡± She looked unhappy. ¡°Oh, I thought you would have sent Bylura when you were ready to show me,¡± I said, and I looked at Gareth, whose eyes were locked on Isla, who was wearing a tight yellow top and tight black pants. A light blue coat hung on her feminine frame. It was a blatant attempt to seduce me, but I was not fooled. ¡°Let¡¯s go to one of the classrooms for privacy,¡± I said. I was keeping the project a little bit of a surprise for Gareth. He knew that I planned to open a restaurant in Aegis City, but he didn¡¯t know I also planned to build it as a base of operations for a personal dungeon team. Once we were in the room, I anchored a few privacy screens so no one would overhear or see the plans Isla would show me. I also thought about telling Bylura to leave but figured she could always get the information from Isla later, so it was not important. Isla produced the first-floor plan. It did have the north section of the building listed as a warehouse, and the hanger doors were large enough for me to build my own Wind Splitter. She had detailed out the mechanicals for the large door. ¡° No windows,¡± I said after studying the hanger section. ¡°I don¡¯t want any windows in this section at all that will serve as the hanger for a skyship.¡± She made some notes. The first floor flowed south into a dedicated warehouse that was 50¡¯ by 100¡¯ on the first floor. ¡°I want a large set of stairs here going all the way up to the third floor and onto the roof.¡± The ceiling for the first-floor section was 15¡¯. The second floor of the warehouse was listed as warehouse floor two. ¡°This second floor is going to be a brewery. Please draft in the appropriate equipment and storage. You can order the equipment as the restaurant with brew its own ale.¡± I flipped to the third floor and back a few times. ¡°The third floor is going to be a recreation and training room. This section here can be made into a common room. The rest can be for combat training so keep the area open and add plenty of aether lighting.¡± I flipped but didn¡¯t see any plans for the roof. ¡°I want gardens on the roof to supply some fresh produce for the restaurant. Nothing too fancy. Just a nice simple place to relax and watch the skyships come and go,¡± I said. Isla made notes but looked skeptical. As I was studying the plans further, she asked a question. ¡°What you are asking is going to require a lot of reinforcement in the structure and quite a few stone mage hours to convert¡­.¡± She was insinuating that she doubted my funds. ¡°No worries, Wynna and Callem have assured me they have the coin. Once I get the plans mostly approved, you will also have to get their feedback.¡± She nodded but still seemed a little skeptical. ¡°How much to reserve the services of a stone mage and construction crew?¡± I asked, sounding a little haughty. ¡°About 500 gold for a week for the best crews. 200 gold for one of the lesser crews,¡± Isla offered. I kept flipping through the plans and dropped 20 platinum from my dimensional storage on the table. ¡°Are you willing to work as my foreman for the construction?¡± I asked, looking at the first floor again. I was studying the massive kitchen, food storage restaurant, bakery, and restrooms this time. ¡°I¡­I do have the required licenses to do so¡­¡± Isla started. ¡°Excellent, you are hired. Take your fee from the¡­.¡± I waved a the pouch. ¡°You can hire the best available crew, and when you need more, just let me know, and I will get it from Callem. Now the restrooms need to be expanded, and I want to be walled off this area here for a private dining and function room. The bakery is slightly too small, so let¡¯s add a bit here. I also want the staff to have lockers, so put them on the back side of the restrooms.¡± She made some notes. ¡°How do you want to supply water to your building?¡± she asked. ¡°There is no access to the city water, just the city sewers.¡± I looked at the building and pointed to the roof. ¡°Can we add a water tank here and have gravity-feed water to the building? We can fill the tank with water enchantments.¡± I said after looking over everything. ¡°If we move your water tank here, I think it is possible, as this wall can better support the weight,¡± she said. We talked about the plumbing for the structure. Magic had replaced much of technology inside the sphere, but they still knew the principles. Our meeting lasted another hour as we refined the building. She had 20 large apartment units; the only negative was that the second-floor units facing the adjacent warehouse would not have a view. The third-floor apartments on that side were a few feet above the roof of the building. I was still torn on whether to give the apartments small balconies. Other than that, I felt this revision of the building plans would meet my expectations. Isla seemed to be energized by the changes. Bylura obviously hadn¡¯t been able to read the plans, resorted to just listening, and hadn¡¯t supplied any input. The two left together, and I returned to my room. I found the twins on my bed talking with Gareth. They made space for me to sit between them. ¡°How was the visit with your family?¡± I asked the girls. ¡°It was hard. So much is going on at the farm. Our brother¡¯s wife is due with the baby soon. Demand for eggs is down, so our father is trying to expand into beef, but the permits to raise cows are so expensive,¡± Mera said. I didn¡¯t want to get their hopes up, but maybe I would supply my restaurant with ingredients from the farmers around Hen¡¯s Hollow. Depending on how fast the builders worked, I was still months away from opening. And that would all depend on construction going smoothly. ¡°Mera, you have a tier 2 ability called fermentation. Would you be interested in employment? Gareth probably told you I am trying to open a restaurant in Aegis City. There is the possibility a small brewery may be included in the floor plans.¡± Mera¡¯s eyes went wide. Any tier 2 ability was extremely powerful. ¡°You would hire me?¡± She sounded skeptical. ¡°How does one gold a week sound to start? Well, after the first-year academy, I would sponsor you to an academy in Aegis City so you could work the brewery.¡± Her jaw dropped. Fifty gold a year was a massive sum. ¡°Of course, you need to work hard for it. Your ability can expedite the maturation of ales and spirits, so your skill has a lot of value,¡± I added. Fera, on my right, had grasped my arm and was telling her sister with her eyes to accept. I looked over to Fera. ¡°Fera, your ability was harvest? There will be a small garden for growing produce and herbs for the restaurant. I would be interested in hiring you well and paying for your academy as well in the city so you can attend with Mera. How does 15 silver a week sound?¡± It was much less than Mera¡¯s pay, but her plant growth ability was tier 1 and not that rare. Some spells could do the same thing as the harvest ability as well. ¡°Stormy are you going to hire me as well,¡± Gareth pleaded. ¡°I can be a taste tester or carry barrels.¡± Gareth was trying to be funny; his pleading tone was fake. He just wanted to be included in the conversation, in my opinion. ¡°I am going to need waiters to serve food, Gareth. I can pay you two silver a week,¡± I said seriously. A pillow flew at me so fast it knocked my head into the wall. The girls came to my defense and retaliated with pillows from my bed. It was almost a fair contest, us three against Gareth, but he could catch and return pillows with ridiculous speed. He targeted me much more frequently than the twins. I wished I had my lightning reflexes spell at this time. The girls eventually went to their room, but I promised when the restaurant opened, we would make a formal contract of employment. I had been wanting to snag Mera¡¯s fermentation ability for a while, and it almost seemed too easy. (readers, the sketch of the inn floor plan can be found in Patreon subscriber¡¯s book notes if you are interested. It is in an excel tab) Chapter 56 Lightning Quick Chapter 56 (Arc 2 Chapter 10) Lightning Reflexes The week was miserable for everyone. Cold heavy rain fell non-stop from the 2nd to 5th day. Having so many days of continuous rain on the floating island was more than unusual; none of the instructors could remember it raining for so long. That didn¡¯t stop the instructors from continuing to hold classes outside. I also got a workout using my cleanliness spell to clear areas of flooding in the barracks as the leaks were being repaired. Callem even left for a day to make sure his farm didn¡¯t have much flooding. He did lose his current tobacco crop but there was no damage or flooding to the buildings. I decided that I needed some type of warmth spell. Shivering in the rain and then coming inside the barracks after a session¡­ it seemed to take forever to get warm again. I felt sorry for everyone else who couldn¡¯t dry their clothes at will. Drying piles of wet clothes became a task I did with regularity during the week since I felt sorry for everyone. It took more time than normal, but my cleanliness spell accomplished the task. It was just another notch in my favored status among the other students. I think Pascal was gaining favor just for the fact that he was my brother. The twins were talking to Gareth again but still hanging on me. I developed a solid friendship with Mia as well. The enchanting class had us working together, and when I completed my first touch light globe, she took it to her room to use. My second touch light globe was shipped to the capital for sale on the fourth day. Instructor Aldon Aethon said it sold immediately for 50 gold. I was surprised they had placed it for so much, but it was a new novelty for the rich. The light cost less than three gold to manufacture and only 20 minutes of my time if I used my metal shaping skill. Most of the cost of the light was in the small tier 4 aether charging crystal in its base. If I didn¡¯t have my metal shaping ability, I probably wouldn¡¯t have been able to make the runes by hand with the stylus. Even Master Aethon said the runes would take him over two days to draw out with a stylus. Instructor Aethon said it was a novelty item to show at parties. After a few dozen units were sold, the price would drop quickly. My idea would also be copied by the other two enchanting shops in the city in short order. I think instructor Aethon was also getting wise to my metal shaping skill. I had done my best to hide my metal shaping skill, but my lack of patience in manipulating wire by hand with the stylus had led me to take shortcuts. To his credit, he never asked about my advanced wire manipulations. He just complimented me on the final product. I added six more lights for him to sell, one coated in a blue epoxy resin during the week. Aldon was flying to the capital on the 7th day and would sell them in the Aethon family shop. He also gave me 44 gold for my first light globe. That remained after taxes, transportation costs, and a small fee for selling it in his family shops. The short burst of revenue from the lights would be an additional cover for my spending in my warehouse renovation. On the 7th day, the twins wanted to go into the city with me. I was still sour on the city of Solaris from my prior visits. I also had private lessons from Selina and planned to meet with Isla to see her progress on her plans for the warehouse. I handed the twins a stack of silver coins from my storage space. I had gotten used to reaching into my pocket and producing coins from my dimensional closet, but their eyes bugged when I handed them a fistful of coins containing 20 silver coins and two large silver coins. They both stared at the pocket the coins had come from. Note to self: only pull objects from items if it was feasible to believe they could have been in there in the first place. ¡°Storme, we can¡¯t accept this! This is¡­and you are not planning to go to the city with us!¡± Fera exclaimed. I waved them off. ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± I said, having failed to consider how much 40 silver was to the twins. ¡°Just consider it an advance on your services. You are still interested in going to an academy in Aegis City and working for me.¡± Mera jumped and hugged me. Had I just moved into the role of sugar daddy for the twins? As they were leaving, I heard them discussing how much to give to their parents and how much to spend on themselves in the city. The twins were really good people. Gareth had already left to god knows where. I assumed he was meeting Brianne somewhere. That left me alone with a few hours to kill before I met with Selina at her apartment overlooking the square in Jen¡¯s Hollow. I raided the larder and made some spicy pork meat buns. The bread was a little too crusty but other than that, they were good. I made 24 of the buns, and my fellow students who hadn¡¯t left for the day came and partook in my culinary efforts, finishing off all of them except the two I reserved. One for Selina and the other for Isla went into my dimensional storage. I knocked on Selina¡¯s door, and when it opened, a young woman was on the other side, causing me to pause. Selina called from inside the room, ¡°Storme, that is my great-great-granddaughter, Talia. She is going to join us for your session today.¡± I stepped into the room, and it was clear by her dress and perfume Talia was wearing that this was a setup. It wasn¡¯t that she wasn¡¯t beautiful, but I didn¡¯t like being ambushed by Selina. Not wanting to anger Selina, I behaved myself during the lesson. Talia was in her fourth year at the Mage Academy in the capital. She was talented as mages go for her age. What irked me the most about this ambush was that Selina wouldn¡¯t help me imprint my lightning reflexes spell today. Talia was here to help me with magical defenses. The lesson focused on aether sensing. Picking up the feeling of aether being gathered in a person about to cast a spell. It was definitely a very useful session but something that Selina could have taught me without using Talia as a foil. When her granddaughter left in the evening, I produced the still-warm meat bun from my space. Selina started eating and talked, ¡°So what do you think of Talia? She is pretty and talented. She didn¡¯t brag, but she is ranked 5th in her class at the mage academy.¡± I tried to figure out what to say not to upset Selina. ¡°I don¡¯t think I am ready for any type of relationship,¡± I started carefully. Selina chuckled. ¡°While I hoped you might be interested in her, I also thought she might be a good fit for your dungeon delving team. Of my nineteen great-great-grandchildren, she is the only one I revealed myself to. She is smart¡­smarter than she came off today since she was ogling your body,¡± my eyes opened wide. ¡°You didn¡¯t notice?¡± Selina chuckled again. ¡°Storme, for being so wise for your age, you certainly fail to see a lot of what is right in front of you!¡± ¡°I am sorry, but did Callem tell you about my plans?¡± I asked while my face flushed in embarrassment. Maybe there was a spell I could learn that would tell me exactly what women were thinking. Or Aelyn could just read their minds and tell me. Selina scrunched her middle-aged face, ¡°Was that a secret? Callem told all the instructors of your purchase in Aegis City and asked us to be on the lookout for potential members of a delve team. I met Talia last weekend; she is training to be a combat mage. I thought her¡­personality would be a good fit,¡± Selina finished and waited for me to reply. ¡°I think it will be a few months before I can start hiring a delve team. I planned to read some of Gareth¡¯s books before going with Callem to the delving adventurer halls in Aegis City to interview candidates,¡± I said, making the venture sound all the more real in my mind. ¡°Keep Talia in mind then,¡± Selina sounded disappointed that I didn¡¯t jump on her offspring immediately. ¡°Selina, I wanted to ask you about getting some more spell books. The cold rain this week made me wonder if there is a spell out there to regulate temperature around the body,¡± I inquired. She tapped her chin with her index finger, ¡°Both your cleanliness spell and privacy spells can address this with the correct evolutions, but I suppose evolutions are getting scarcer and scarcer for you.¡± She paused, then said,¡± Two spells I know of, thermostatic aura is a tier 3 healing spell. It creates a small bubble around the mage at a constant temperature. The aether cost varies based on the temperature differential. The other spell is called divert the elements. It is a nature spell that is tier 2 and funnels wind, rain, heat, and cold into an object. The first spell might be better for you as you can evolve the size of the aura¡­.¡± ¡°Can you get me a copy of the thermostatic aura spell?¡± I asked hopefully, making a decision. Selina nodded. ¡°I should be able to commission a copy through Talia,¡± she grinned at me. Having her granddaughter do me a favor would connect me to her. ¡°Fine,¡± I gave in. ¡°Let me know the cost, and I will arrange the coins.¡± Selina¡¯s wolffish grin didn¡¯t help my mood. I left Selina and headed to the tavern to meet with Isla. Isla and Bylura were talking in their room when I arrived. Bylura quickly excused herself, and Isla turned to me irritated, ¡°I looked for you at the barracks, Storme. No one knew where you wandered off to after you cooked some meat buns!¡± she sounded like she was scolding me. ¡°Well, I am here now, and I have paid for your services, so you will serve at my pleasure when the time is convenient for me,¡± I returned her tone back at her, and it hit her like a slap. ¡°Show me what you have completed,¡± I instructed in a calmer voice after a pause. Isla hesitated and was reorienting herself in the conversation. I was getting fed up with women who thought they could do what they wanted to me and boss me around. She slowly added, ¡°I went to Aegis City during the week and hired a build team to start reinforcing the outer walls of the warehouse. I plan to just use the existing warehouse as a shell around your building. I have the plans here for you to review. Wynna made a few suggestions, and Callem just looked them over.¡± She had reverted to all business, and her tone mellowed. I took the plans and started asking questions when I had a little trouble deciphering the engineering jargon. The largest expense was going to be the plumbing. The pipes were going to be magic-hardened fired clay, but the sheer amount of plumbing required was a headache. Maybe it would be easier to establish each apartment with its own water accumulators. No, the cost would be substantial, and charging devices would be time-consuming. ¡°I want a second roof cistern for hot water,¡± I stated, not looking up. If I was going to invest so much in plumbing might as well have hot water too. Maybe I could use my metal shaping and make copper pipes. I finally looked up at Isla, who was writing notes slowly. She said, ¡°Running hot water is a luxury only found in the capital and people who like to flaunt their wealth.¡± The last was slightly accusatory. ¡°I am only building this once, and getting it right the first time is important to me,¡± I said, sounding unconcerned. ¡°Building such luxury apartments in the lower city is a waste. You are not going to find enough people wanting to rent them,¡± she said, trying to tease out my intentions. ¡°Filling the apartments is my problem. I think I am only going to add balconies to the living units facing the plaza. The ones facing the adjacent warehouse will just have windows. I am going to need to furnish all the apartments with the basics. Next time you are in the city can you get me cost estimates for all that furniture? The furniture should be ordered soon so it is ready when the apartments are finished.¡± This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. Isla made some notes, ¡°I should probably travel to Greatwood Island. They do the best work, and I can get you some good pricing with demand currently down. Do you want all 20 apartments fully furnished?¡± She asked, looking expectantly at me. ¡°Just 19 apartments. Loriel can furnish her own,¡± I said with a grin. ¡°And that includes basic bedding and kitchenware. Can you handle all of that?¡± Isla pursed her lips at the volume of the task. ¡°Yes, and I can focus on completing your skyship warehouse first so we can store the furnishings as they are produced,¡± she tapped her index finger on the table. ¡°I will need deposits for everything,¡± she added. Well, hopefully, Isla had good taste, ¡°I don¡¯t have any coin. You can stop and see Wynna with these plans and see if she wants to make any more changes. She will give you enough coin to cover the deposits. We spent another hour making changes and discussing the plans for the second-floor brewery. I think I had brewed some home beer in my past life, but the memory was foggy, and I couldn¡¯t draw on it. I had asked Isla to set up four brewing stations, and she could bring in a consultant if needed for the setup. I left Isla working and stopped by Ennet¡¯s house, where Aelyn, Callem, and Wynna were staying. Only Aelyn was there. ¡°Hi, Aelyn. I just came by to drop off some platinum for Wynna to give to Isla Bricio. Isla has the plans for the warehouse renovations for Wynna to review. She should be stopping by this evening.¡± I produced a bag of 30 platinum coins from my space and placed it softly on the table. Aelyn was cooking some fried chicken or at least trying. I moved to the kitchen to help her and gave her a cooking lesson while we talked. Aelyn stood close while we cooked together, her hips frequently lightly bumping me. She seemed happy, and Callem and Wynna were treating her well. I promised her again that I would remove her tattoo and break her binding to the ring I wore, which got her to give me a satisfied smile. We talked about Aelyn¡¯s spell imprinting. She was working on a spell called shadow merge. It was a simple illusion spell that made the mage invisible in a shadow. The mage couldn¡¯t move while in the shadow, but it was a very effective hiding technique. She had received the spellbook from Wynna as a gift. I packed some chicken fingers in my pocket space and left Aelyn at the house. I went to the smith in town to find out the cost of copper. I ordered a platinum coin¡¯s worth of copper bars through the smith. I figured this would be easier than making the copper for the pipes. The smith said copper was mined in a dungeon of the capital island, and it should only take a week to get it transported here. I told him to contact Isla at the tavern and have her transport it to Aegis City. She was going to love me for the extra work. I went to the general store and got two dozen notepads. The weather was chilly, so I went to Callem¡¯s farm for some peace and quiet the rest of the day. It was a brisk 30-minute walk and I heard someone in my old bunkhouse when I got there. I snuck closer under the effect of my privacy spell and listened at the window. It was Gareth and Brianne. Although I was certain it was their voices, I couldn¡¯t hear what they were saying. It didn¡¯t take a genius to figure out why they would be all the way out here. I decided not to disturb them at the moment. I left a personalized alarm on the door that would only alert Gareth with a loud bang when he left. Then I added six more in a row. It was the least I could do for my friend who made me waste my time trudging all the way out here only to have to return. It was late when I got back to my room in the barracks. A lot of the students had returned, including the twins who had gotten me a deep blue nightshirt in the city as a thank you. It was pounded linen and extremely soft. I thanked them for the gift. They tried to get me to cook them a late meal, but I wanted to study, so I just gave them the crispy chicken fingers in my dimensional space after I went to the basement larder. Since the chicken was still warm, they asked how I cooked the chicken in the basement. I told them I had just reheated the plate and I ignored their confused stares. I then locked myself in my room, set my alarms, and wrapped myself in a privacy screen. It was late when my alarms went off. Gareth was back and immediately jumped onto my bed through my privacy screen. ¡°Storme, you bastard!¡± He said a little unseriously as he tried to pin me. ¡°I shit my pants when those alarms kept going off! I thought Callem had found me out!¡± It didn¡¯t take long for Gareth to pin me. ¡°Hey, Gareth, you win. Now get off me! I didn¡¯t disturb you and Brianne. I let you do whatever you were doing. The alarms were just to let you know I was there. The fact you shit yourself was your own fault!¡± I said, struggling. He let me up after a minute and sat on his bed. ¡°If it wasn¡¯t me, I would think what you did was funny. But the fact the alarm only went off in my head¡­Brianne thought I was losing my mind!¡± Gareth huffed. I shook my head. ¡°Well, at least you had some fun today, brother,¡± I told him about my day. Gareth was shocked, ¡°So a bad day for you is turning down a date from the twins. Spending a day practicing magic with a beautiful young mage. Spending hours with a beautiful architect while spending dozens of platinum. And then having dinner with Aelyn? Really Stormy?¡± I shrugged, ¡°Yep, just look at all the things I had to do today. On my day off! Now if you don¡¯t mind, I need to work on spell imprinting for a bit longer before getting some sleep. Next time just tell me your plans so I don¡¯t waste my time going somewhere where I am not wanted.¡± After resetting my alarms, I set up my privacy screen and focused on the spell of lightning reflexes. When I woke, I made some platinum coins and joined my fellows for conditioning with Aelyn. Aelyn spoke, today we are going to play a game. The team leaders are Storme and Gareth. They will select members alternating selections, and then we will run all courses sequentially. The team with the best average improved time will get out of conditioning tomorrow.¡± A buzz rang up among the students. A morning off from conditioning was definitely a prize worth going all out for. I selected the twins with my first two picks and then Mia. Gareth chose the fastest males with his first three picks. I would have selected my brother next, but Gareth had already selected him. I picked lean students after that, and when we were done, Brianne was the last selected and fell on my team. Gareth had selected his team to win, and Brianne was the slowest student. The death stare she gave him had Gareth sweating and realizing his mistake too late. I circled my team up and got my three fastest people to plan to assist the slower people over the more difficult obstacles. I hoped this would help improve their time substantially. At first, Gareth¡¯s team looked confused as our fastest three runners stopped and helped the slower members of our team. But when the body of the team was well ahead of the slower runners in the other group, it was obvious we were going to win. Gareth tried to protest the victory, saying I had cheated by helping the others Aelyn just smirked as she averaged out the times ignoring him. We didn¡¯t win by a lot, but it was enough, and we got the reward of being able to sleep in tomorrow. I saw Bylura and Callem talking as we moved from the training yard to breakfast. They had watched our display. At breakfast, it was clear Brianne was angry with Gareth for not selecting her for his team, but at least she was on the winning team. The rest of the week, I got to see Gareth¡¯s relationship with Brianne implode. Even though he was downcast, I just told him there would be more women in his future and not to stress about it. At least he didn¡¯t blame me for winning the race. On 4th day Callem announced at lunch that we would be having a scrimmage with the first-year academy in Aegis City. It was going to be a week from this 6th day, so it was still nine days away. It was going to be a descending-ranked match. That meant the top two fighters would face off, then the second-ranked fighters, then the third¡­.all the way down the roles. We would be spending the next few days ranking everyone. I ranked third behind Gareth and Pascal. At first, I was confused, but then I learned who my opponent would be. Leon Mogensen. The red-haired devil. I had zero concerns going into the competition. My staff and sword work had improved by quite a large margin since the qualifiers when I had last bested the young man who had tried to kill me. Defeating him again still wouldn¡¯t erase what he had done to me, but it would make me feel better. The city academy had 33 members to our 28. It was decided the bottom five of their academy would draw random names to fight. I would have to fight twice, and my second match was against their 31st-ranked. Everyone in our academy was excited to test their skills against the city academy. The twins asked for extra lessons from Gareth, who obliged. To my consternation, the twins took pity on Gareth after Brianne gave him the cold shoulder for not selecting him in the team conditioning competition. Gareth¡¯s relationship with Fera was almost back to pre-Brianne levels by the time 7th day came. Gareth and the twins invited me to the city to watch a play, but I turned them down. Selina was going to help me with my lightning reflexes spell. I arrived early and was glad that Talia was not in her small apartment. We spent ten hours working on the spell. A lot of it was review from the previous weeks, but I finally made a small breakthrough! The first and second spell forms were easy to picture in my head now. I was so close to imprinting the spell. I actually hugged Selina before I left because, for the first time, I felt I had made significant progress with the spell. When I knocked on Isla¡¯s door near dinner time, she answered and wore an irritated face but didn¡¯t voice her frustration. ¡°Storme, thanks for stopping by. We have a lot to discuss.¡± I entered and sat at the small table in the room that was covered in drawings and notes. I started sliding the papers around, but Isla interrupted me. ¡°I talked with Wynna, and she gave me some funds. I have ordered the furniture for the apartments and equipment for the kitchen and brewery. Wynna has taken on the task of ordering the mattresses, curtains, and other linens.¡± My eyebrows shot up. Maybe Wynna and Callem would help pay for some of the things¡ªprobably not. ¡°Wynna and Callem selected the corner unit on the second floor for their residence. Loriel has selected the corner unit on the third floor for hers,¡± Isla added. So the best two apartments were now claimed. I tapped the unit on the third floor, closest to the hanger and facing the plaza. ¡°This unit will be mine. And the adjacent unit will be Gareth¡¯s. The unit across the hall from me will be Mera¡¯s and Fera¡¯s.¡± I pointed out the apartments. Isla noted the allocations. We spent time reviewing how much I wanted to invest in reinforcing the warehouse and the structure we were building inside of it. I went with a modest strengthing plan that Isla suggested. We then talked about the copper bars I had ordered, and I told her of my plans to hire someone to make copper pipes. Then we got to the fun part. The layout of the restaurant. The private function room would have a large table with seating for 23. The main dining room would have tables and seating for 240. The bakery would have booths and seating for just 24. For the main dining room, I wanted the walls painted with murals of fantastic creatures. I gave her the address of the artist who had made my plates. He had 23 creatures that he drew. I had three sets of the plates, each set had the same creatures but in different poses. I want the murals to be floor-to-ceiling, so 15 feet in height. That meant the dining tables could be placed along the walls, which I was fine with. It was getting late, and Isla now had a new laundry list of things to do. My next off day, we were going to travel together to Aegis City to review the progress on the building. The workers she had hired had been busy, and the repairs should have been completed by then so she could begin the interior construction. I was excited. I left a happy architect. She should have enough funds for a month at least. I would just stockpile some coins to give Callem. It was extremely late when I returned to the barracks. I found Fera on Gareth¡¯s bed studying a dungeon-delving book together. Mera was on my bed with the same book. I grabbed some of Gareth¡¯s other books and began to page through them on my bed next to Mera. Gareth was shocked for a moment before returning to studying with Fera. I was looking for the suggested dungeon team composition. It depended largely on how many people a dungeon allowed inside. The core of the team was always a melee fighter. The second member was something I would call a tank. The third member was a support healing role. The fourth was a ranged scout to protect the flanks in battle. The fifth was a powerful magic class that had strong ranged spells. And the sixth spot was called the flex, based on the type of dungeon terrain and monsters the team was going to encounter. Six was the usual number of adventurers that a dungeon allowed inside to challenge it. I made notes in one of my new notebooks and then asked Mera to leave so I could get some sleep. The next day instructor Aldon Aethon handed me 46 large gold coins. All the light globes I had produced were sold. I was experimenting with various colored epoxy now. But it was as Aldon had predicted; others were copying my glode design and functionality. His best guess was the price point was going to stabilize at around 12 gold. With materials and tax, I would get about 8 gold per sale. Not a lot, but I would only make ten of the globes every week. Partly to cover my wealth and partly to work on my enchanting. On the fourth day, in the evening, I was studying the lightning reflexes spell, and something clicked for me. I ended up working through the night, and by morning I felt the spell book crumble in my dimensional space. Dungeon spell books only worked once, which meant¡­it was the most beautiful thing I had seen on my aether matrix. The lightning reflexes spell was clearly imprinted there. I almost got out of bed to try it but forced myself to get a few hours of sleep before conditioning. Chapter 57 Spellcraft Chapter 57 (Arc 2 Chapter 11) I woke early and was anxious to increase the level of my lightning reflexes spell. Although I wanted to demolish Gareth in a spare badly, I decided to keep the spell secret. If I openly displayed the spell, then the news would travel, and I would lose my advantage. The spell enhanced my speed by 50%. The spell was a balance between the lightning sphere and the healing sphere. With the accelerated movement, you damaged your body, so the healing aspect countered it. The spell also had a massive aether drain of one unit per second. With it being a tier 4 spell, a mage would need to use eight slots on their aether matrix to learn the spell. So that is why the spell wasn¡¯t coveted. A mage wouldn¡¯t want to use so much space on their aether core for a melee combat enhancement that would drain their aether. Fortunately, with my affinities, the imprinting cost only took up two slots, as much as a tier 2 spell. That brought my total spell slots used to twelve. During my last reading, I learned I had 22 spell slots that would grow to around 103 when my aether core fully matured. I figured I should start to be more discerning in which spells I imprinted. I looked at my spell list on a sheet of paper in my dimensional space.
Imprinted Spell List Tier Slots Affinity Level
Cleanliness 1 1 Aether 14
Mend Flesh 1 1 Healing 12
Obfuscate Abilities 1 1 Darkness 7
Dimensional Closet 3 4 Space 13
Alarm 1 1 Divination 11
Privacy 1 1 Illusion 7
Neutralize Poison 2 1 Healing 1
Lightning Reflexes 4 2 Lightning/Healing 1
My obfuscate ability spell evolved at level 7 to add a fake ability line. I wasn¡¯t sure what I would add, but I thought it might be useful to fool someone down the line. The dimensional closet spell got the air recycler evolution. This allowed me to keep a breathable atmosphere in the space with a tiny bit of aether. The only issue with using this spell was that I learned if I entered the portal and closed the portal, it would be anchored in place relatively¡­and the islands were constantly moving. So hiding out in the dimensional closet was currently not feasible. I thought I could anchor the portal opening to an object in the real world with an evolution which would solve my issue, but using a spell evolution, when they were coming slower and slower, on this irked me some. The privacy spell evolution allowed me to allow outside sound into my bubble while keeping sound on the inside contained. I chose this because Gareth had crashed through my bubble a few days ago, surprising me. I could already see out, but the privacy bubble had been a barrier to sound. My alarm spell got another uptick in brightness. It was now enough to blind someone in the day temporarily. One more evolution on brightness, and I think I would be able to cause permanent damage to someone¡¯s eyes. So after that next evolution, I could focus on increasing the volume. My tier 1 evolution of the lightning reflexes spell had increased the speed by 10%. So now I would have movement enhanced by 55%. Since it was a dungeon spellbook, it didn¡¯t have a list of evolutions like most spellbooks. I spent my morning of conditioning trying to puzzle and feel out possible evolutions. Selina had taught me a lot about spell evolutions, and two were readily apparent when I examined the imprinted spell. One was increasing the effectiveness of the speed enhancement by 10%. And this was compounding. So the next evolution would be 55% x 110% = 60.5%. I could also increase the spell efficiency by 10%. I wrote out the effects of the possible evolutions.
Spell Cost Speed
Per Second Enhancement
Base 1.00 Base 50.0%
Evolution 1 0.90 Evolution 1 55.0%
Evolution 2 0.81 Evolution 2 60.5%
Evolution 3 0.73 Evolution 3 66.6%
Evolution 4 Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. 0.66 Evolution 4 73.2%
Evolution 5 0.59 Evolution 5 80.5%
Evolution 6 0.53 Evolution 6 88.6%
Evolution 7 0.48 Evolution 7 97.4%
Evolution 8 0.43 Evolution 8 107.2%
Evolution 9 0.39 Evolution 9 117.9%
Evolution 10 0.35 Evolution 10 129.7%
Since I had a large aether pool, focusing on the speed enhancement made sense. I learned there were three factors in leveling up a spell. First was the amount of aether used. Funneling aether through an imprinted spell on your matrix matured it. The second was using the spell in different ways¡­expanding its utility. And the third was using a spell under duress, like in combat. These three primary learning methods were well documented. Since the lightning reflexes spell was such an aether hog, I expected to level it up quickly. I barely touched my food at breakfast as I examined the new spell. I found a unique evolution I termed ¡®overdrive.¡¯ It doubled the speed enhancement but for four times the cost in aether, and the healing aspect of the spell looked slightly lacking in overdrive mode, so you would either be extremely sore after or just tear apart your muscles. I had a healing spell but thought investing in the compounding effect of strait speed enhancement was best. I couldn¡¯t tease out any other evolutions from the spell by the end of breakfast. Spellcraft with Selina was after breakfast, and I told her privately about my success in imprinting the spell. She gaped at me and mumbled something about a 13-year-old imprinting a tier 4 being insane. She did work with me to find two other evolutions for the spell during class while Aelyn, Mera, Fera, Byron, and Gemma worked on imprinting spells on the other side of the classroom. They didn¡¯t complain that I was hogging Selina as I usually helped everyone in the class and only got passing advice from Selina with written notes. One of the evolutions was useless to me currently. It allowed my eyes to process visual information more quickly. When my speed exceeded my vision by too much, I would need this evolution. The other evolution was controlled deceleration. It used aether to slow down my entire body. I think it could be used to save myself from taking damage from a fall of impact. Maybe I could jump off the islands and use it to stop myself from going splat in the lowlands? I needed to practice with the spell before deciding on evolutions beyond speed enhancement. I also needed to select my next spell. Selina said the thermostatic aura spell should be here in the next two weeks, and I owed her 280 gold for the spell. I produced three shiny platinum for her, and she pocketed them. I looked at my remaining spell books.
Spell Books Tier Affinity
Lightning Sphere 2 Lightning
Illusionary Companion 2 Light * Illusion
Lightning Spear 2 Lightning
Ranged Healing 4 Healing
Aether Shield (dungeon) 2 Aetheric
Arcane Lock 1 Aetheric
After the nightmare of learning the tier 4 lightning reflexes spell, I shelved the ranged healing spell for now, even though it would allow me to repair bones, a restriction on my mend flesh spell I could not overcome with evolutions. The arcane lock was a utility spell that evolved by adding wards into the arcane lock. It started by just ¡®supergluing¡¯ a door or lid shut using aether. Enough force could overcome the lock, but it was very effective. For example, using it on a potion cap would make it impossible to open the stopper without breaking the vial. The aether shield spell was calling to me as well. It was a very useful defensive spell. Or I could learn my first offensive spell, lightning spear, or lightning sphere. I decided I needed a quick win. The arcane lock spell should take me less than a week to learn, and I was already thinking of using it to have some mischievous fun at Gareth¡¯s expense. Locking him in the privy for one. After the arcane lock, I would learn the aether shield spell. Lunch and weapons training couldn¡¯t pass fast enough. When the class went to bathe, I went deep into the woods to experiment. When I first activated the lightning reflexes spell, I could see why the vision enhancement was needed. I could acclimate at 55.5% of the increased speed, but processing visual data at a faster speed was difficult. The spell hit level 2 quickly, and I added the evolution for the visual processing. It was like night and day now as the evolution also appeared to affect my brain¡¯s ability to receive and interpret visual data. I couldn¡¯t believe how fast I was. I could easily beat Gareth on the obstacle course and would also be a match for him in combat. I increased the speed to 60.5% when the spell hit level three. When I got used to the new speed, I was already approaching level 5 of the spell, but I heard the bell ringing for classes about to begin, so I returned to my artificing class. My aether pool was down to just under 10%, and I could see why the spell was unpopular. Any normal mage could only sustain the spell for a minute or two. I needed to find out my current aether pool, so I planned to visit Wynna and Ennet tonight. I made two more globes in enchanting class and started working on making my ice cream device with the help of instructor Aldon. I wasn¡¯t planning on selling my ice cream churn but planned to offer various flavors at my restaurant in Aegis City. One of my notebooks had my planned menu. The bakery would be open for just breakfast, offering simple breakfast sandwiches with eggs and meat and selling loaves of bread. The restaurant would focus on various burgers and chicken sandwiches with an option for three different types of fries. Beverages would be cold beers or milkshakes. Definitely not a fancy high-end restaurant in my old life, but it should be a hit here. I had kicked around names to call the establishment. The Genie¡¯s Last Wish, A Maiden¡¯s Virtue, and The Polished Platinum were at the top of my list. I dropped the Maiden¡¯s Virtue as it was too close to the Miaden family name and might upset the family. The Genie¡¯s Last Wish might have been good, but none of the mythical creatures would be genies. The Polished Platinum also sounded too alliterative. Maybe the Shiny Platinum¡­that would throw my coin creation in the face of the ruling families. My cleanliness spell could make any coin shiny and look new. Since my ability was financing the project, I decided that Shiny Platinum was a fitting name. After classes ended, I made my way to Ennet¡¯s house with Callem. Callem talked to them, and they prepared for the reading. ¡°Storme, don¡¯t be disappointed if you haven¡¯t grown as much as you wanted. It has only been a few months since your last reading,¡± Wynna advised. Ennet eyed her mother questioningly, ¡°Oh Storme, Ennet wanted to know if you would rent one of the apartments in your building to her. She plans to move her reading business to the city.¡± I gave it some thought. ¡°Yes, she can rent the apartment next to yours on the second floor. Will her boyfriend be moving with her?¡± I asked curiously. Ennet spoke, ¡°No, we broke up two months ago, Storme. You should stop by more often since you are so far behind on the gossip.¡± She was eyeing me, making me slightly embarrassed as she was three times my age. She wasn¡¯t unattractive, but I had the mental hangup of my old life. If fact, I was closer in mental age to Ennet than the twins and Aelyn. Granted, much of my past life¡¯s knowledge was a blurry mess to my recall. Either way, I hastened the reading, took my paper, and left the house. Walking, I unfolded the parchment. My aether matrix showed 28, so it had increased by 6! My max matrix had also increased to 105 from 103! Being tutored by Selina was definitely paying off. The next line also made me feel pretty good about my progress. My current aether core was 2,406, over a 1,000 point increase. Even more importantly, my max potential aether core had increased from 23,060 to 23,402 on the paper. I would have to think of a way to thank Selina. It was definitely not going to be by dating Talia. ¡°Storme!¡± I jumped and went on alert. It was just Isla walking the street, though. She approached, ¡°Storme did you come to see me?¡± She asked eagerly. I evaluated her body language and tone. She was too excited¡­she was interested in me. Selina had been right. I had put on blinders when interacting with women. ¡°Uh, no.¡± I said, but seeing her face fall, I added, ¡°But I have some free time.¡± She brightened and went to the tavern. We went to her room, and she pulled out her plans. ¡°The warehouse has been rebuilt already, and we started putting in the supports for the new building. I hired six Miaden security guards and insured the building. I didn¡¯t want anything stolen from the warehouse.¡± She said as she organized her papers. ¡°That was extremely smart, Isla. Do you need more funds?¡± I said to her, and she blushed at the compliment. I seemed to have that effect on women. Was I really that attractive? ¡°No, no. The coins Wynna gave me should be enough to last for a while longer. They were enough for the furniture and the entire structure.¡± She pulled a contract out and placed it in front of me. I looked at it. It was for the painter. I told her to go see. She said, ¡°He wants 14¡¯ x 14¡¯ panels installed on the walls. It will be easier for him to paint on them, and the quality will be much higher,¡± and I nodded. ¡°He wants 50 gold per image plus the cost of paint and the clear coat resin to be sprayed over the finished artwork to preserve it.¡± That made sense. Twenty-three images times fifty gold was 1,150 gold or roughly 12 platinum plus materials cost. Isla slid a paper with the cost of paint, resin, and panels, 20 gold for each piece of artwork. So 1,610 gold. ¡°That is fine,¡± I said after a few minutes of thought. ¡°Ask him to include hordes of treasure behind the creatures. Dungeon prizes. Make sure the hordes include platinum coins. Shiny platinum coins.¡± I said, smirking to myself. I produced a bag with 46 large gold coins. The coins I had received from Aldon for the sale of the globes. ¡°Here is 460 gold to give to the painter so he can get started. I want the images to look as realistic as possible. Tell him I will give him a 300 gold bonus if I like all 23 images.¡± ¡°He was sending me sketches for you to choose from,¡± Isla added, looking for a document she failed to find. ¡°He wasn¡¯t going to start any of the images until you approved each one. Unless you want me to bring them to Wynna?¡± She asked. ¡°No, bring them to me,¡± I said decisively. ¡°I found you an interior designer for the restaurant that we can meet when we travel to Aegis city on the 7th day,¡± she added, sliding me a paper named Harold Miaden. I had forgotten we were headed to the city together to see the progress. ¡°That is fine. I should get going to get some sleep before conditioning tomorrow.¡± As I left, Isla made no secret of counting the gold coins in the bag. Gareth was in the twin¡¯s rooms when I got back. It was late, so I set my alarms, set my privacy screens, cast my cleanliness spell, and fell asleep. Gareth woke me, and I was extremely stiff upon waking. Using my lightning reflexes spell had some lingering effects, apparently. I used my mend flesh spell to alleviate the soreness and stiffness in short order. The entire day was dedicated to getting ready for the inter-academy match tomorrow. I didn¡¯t have time to sneak off and level up my spell in secret, so I just focused on preparing with everyone else. We were going up against the premiere first-year academy in Solaris City. There were four academies, apparently, and this one resided in the upper city. We walked as a group through the city and were led by our instructors and Bylura. It was the same arena where the qualifiers were held. The opposing academy students were lined up, and I easily picked out Leon. This was going to be fun. Chapter 58 Dueling Chapter 58 (Arc 2 Chapter 12) As we stood across from the opposing academy, two men wearing the crests of the mage academy entered. They dictated the rules, which were very similar to the qualifiers. The largest difference was that killing someone intentionally would result in a ten-year sentence as an indentured. Guess I wasn¡¯t going to kill Leon today. Although the mage had said intentionally killing¡­. We had an hour to warm up as the stands filled. It was mostly family members, and watching the exhibition match was free. I saw a few faces I recognized from our little town. The disturbing trio was Loriel flanked by Bylura and Isla. Her large Wolfguard bodyguard was standing behind her, and many seats were empty around them. I just hoped Loriel didn¡¯t cheer loudly for me. I was already regretting letting the young woman into my social sphere. I didn¡¯t see any Bricio¡¯s in the stands. At least none that I recognized. My mother arrived with Freya, and I waved to them. Father was on a skyship guard route. I stretched with the twins, Mia and Gareth, in a corner. Gareth spoke first, ¡°So what is the plan, Stormy? Should we give them a false sense of hope before crushing them?¡± He followed this with his best evil laugh that sounded ridiculous. Fera, who was fighting 11th, asked, ¡°Storme, do you really think we can win? You and Gareth can win, but us? I mean most of those,¡± she indicated the other academy students on the far, ¡°have had trainers since they were able to walk.¡± She should have asked Gareth for a confidence boost but had asked me. Why was everyone deferring to me? ¡°Yes. Your staff skills are remarkable, Ferra. Just hold your strength ability in reserve. If you need to use it, do it on a parry and then use the opening to get a cranial strike.¡± This was the tactic that she had worked on with Gareth. Her strength of the ox ability allowed her to double her strength temporarily. It was a relatively weak tier 1 ability. A better tier 1 strength ability was the lion¡¯s might. This gave a passive 30% increase in strength. Mia asked, ¡°So how are you ranked third in our academy Storme?¡± I laughed, ¡°A favor from Callem. He used my duel with Pascal when I used Gareth¡¯s broadsword to rank Pascal ahead of me. Being 3rd allows me to match against Leon. He was the one who stabbed me in the alley.¡± The twins looked at me sharply with narrowed eyes. They had heard of the incident but didn¡¯t know the attacker was known. Mia looked over at Leon, ¡°He really tried to kill you? I guess it makes sense he got away with it. Half his extended family are guards in Solaris.¡± Mia being from the city, was familiar with many other kids around her age. ¡°Callem has been working to see his family feels some pain for what he did. A bunch of his cousins were called to serve in the lowlands. One of the dungeon towns, I think. His father was also assigned to a small town on Deepwell Island.¡± I said. Mera interjected, ¡°Deepwell? The water island with the massive lake. But there are only a few fishing villages and one water-themed dungeon.¡± ¡°Exactly!¡± I said. ¡°Callem still has some friends. Wynna told me he tried to bring charges against Leon and his older brother, who was a guard from the attack. Unfortunately, the matter was buried with no witnesses and the truth seekers unwilling to pursue his inquest.¡± Gareth asked his question again, ¡°So should I draw it out, Storme, or just drop him?¡± ¡°Your call Gareth,¡± I said, and he rolled his eyes at me. The pairings started with the top pair and worked down to thirty-three. There was a point system that we were informed of. The higher the ranking, the more points you get for a win. What was on the line? Apparently, 89 gold in funding for the winning academy. Not a lot, but it would cover food costs for a thrifty academy for the year. The first match started. Gareth danced and played with his opponent for a good twenty minutes before disarming him by breaking his wrist. The boy had a healing ability, but it was too slow, and Gareth¡¯s sword at his neck caused the mages to intervene and end the match. Pascal¡¯s match was entertaining as it was a match of equals. Pascal had his teeth shattered when his opponent smashed his hilt into his face. Pascal fought on, ignoring the injury. Pascal won when he cut deep into his opponent¡¯s calf muscle, effectively ending his ability to dodge. Pascal¡¯s face was a mess, with missing teeth and blood all over himself as he smiled at us. I congratulated him as he headed to the healers to get new teeth grown. My match was next, and Leon and his fellows no longer looked cocky. I entered the ring with staff twirling. Leon was now wielding a spiked mace. The wrist strap on the weapon made me slightly weary. It was too worn and thick to be for just making sure he didn¡¯t drop his weapon. I decided to needle him, ¡°Have you had trouble yanking yourself since I almost took off your arm?¡± I had been wielding a saber in that match and now had a staff. Leon¡¯s face hardened, ¡°I am going to smash your balls up and into your mouth to shut you up.¡± I just grinned, looking forward to this. When the fight started, his trick became evident. The strap-on mace was magical and allowed him to change the mace¡¯s direction instantly. I got caught in the rapid back-swing and intervened with my staff, but the fingers on my right hand were crushed. Leon smirked, but when I didn¡¯t cry out in pain or retreat, he looked baffled. It was much harder to manipulate the staff, but I had trained physically and mentally to work through the pain. My mend flesh worked on my hand. Definitely some broken fingers¡­.and my pinky was missing. Oh, it was stuck to his spiked mace. That was an extraordinary enchantment on the mace. Changing directions like that instantly¡­.some type of inertia change. I would have to ask Aldon about it. My mind returned to Leon, who had also recovered from me not falling down and whimpering. Now that I knew he could instantly change directions with his swing, I knew I could take him. Some blood trickled from his nose. I was confused as I had not hit him in the face yet. Then I figured it out. It was the backlash from his enchantment, the recoil cost of changing the maces direction. I knew this from studying skyship enchantments. Skyships had a magical inertia sink. Sharp changes in direction went there, protecting the crew. The runic device was large and could not be carried easily. So Leon paid the price for his successful strike. I grinned madly, knowing he couldn¡¯t use his trick again without sustaining serious injury. I spun into my attack and laid into him. The flurry of blows broke his jaw, kneecap, sternum, and clavicle in seconds. I broke his jaw so he could not voice his surrender. My next series was going to target his wrist and ribs, but he dropped his mace and ran away. Well, stumbled and fell and crawled away. Well, how was this fair? I bent down to the mace and retrieved my pinky from a spike as I was declared the winner. I went over to the healing mages and got my finger reattached, and the bones healed. While I was being healed, I watched the 4th bout, Mia. She easily handled a large boy. I walked over to Gareth, and he complimented me on my stoicism. He said he would have been tricked by the changing direction mace too. I just grunted. I wasn¡¯t done with Leon yet. My anger seemed to boil to the surface whenever I saw him. The matches proceeded, and the twins both won. In fact, we only had two losses to the other academy. Our 16th and 21st members both lost through some tricky on the part of their opponents. When my second match came around, I was paired with a tiny girl who had the deer in the headlights look. She was 5¡¯3¡± with dark hair and light brown eyes. She had a shield and a short sword. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. She remembered what I had done to Leon. Rather than defeat her, I slowly engaged her and gave her a 20-minute lesson on defense and attack. At first, she was confused but eventually understood I would not beat her senselessly. After 20 minutes, I told the official that I conceded the match to her. This got her staring at me with perplexity had curiosity mixed in. She only weighed about 120 pounds, and I outclassed her in every physical category. We had already won the matchup and secured the reward, so there was no reason to draw this out. Her body also showed signs of bruising and injury. Back with Gareth, he whispered, ¡°That was awesome. She is cute and will surely reward you for that!¡± I looked at my friend¡¯s eager and happy face and looked in amazement at his one-track mind. ¡°Gareth, I just humiliated Leon more by letting her win. Besides, she had bruises on her ribs and arms. My guess is she gets beat up daily in training. I just don¡¯t understand how someone so small is in the Solaris elite first-year academy.¡± Mia was close by and answered my question, ¡°She is the illegitimate daughter of Hiram, the cloth merchant. We played together when I was younger. Mikaela is her name if you are interested. Hiram¡¯s main business is in Aegis city, and he employs Mikaela in his estate in Solaris, away from his family.¡± I was about to offer to take my group of friends to a restaurant when Bylura appeared from the stands. ¡°Storme, Loriel wishes to dine with you to discuss your joint business ventures.¡± My tempura started to flare, but I got it contained and restrained before showing any anger. There was no joint business venture. I was paying for everything to renovate and furnish the warehouse conversion. ¡°Sorry, everyone. It looks like I need to clear something up.¡± I palmed Gareth a gold coin before realizing that he had his own winnings for winning the pre-academy tournament. He took it anyway and gathered the three girls to go and look for a restaurant. I told Callem where I was going, and he just looked hard at Bylura, who flinched slightly from his gaze, but Callem nodded. I followed Bylura to the main road and further until we came to the upper side of Solaris. The noble district here was not as vast or impressive as the one in Aegis City or the capital. I absorbed my surroundings as I had never been to this part of the city. Bylura stopped and led me into what I assumed was an ale house. It smelled slightly perfumed and had large booths that could seat eight people. We went upstairs and into a small room with a large window. Loriel and Isla were seated at a table with her drawings spread out. I sat at the table, and a waitress brought me multiple pitchers of various drinks and a cup. I selected a weak-smelling wine. Loriel appraised me before speaking, ¡°Isla has shown me her renderings of your building.¡± I stopped her there, ¡°That is a breach of my trust. I pay Isla, not you. If she is going to run off at your beck and call, I think I will be replacing her.¡± Isla looked horrified and quickly looked to her friend Loriel. Loriel hand trembled just slightly when she reached for her drink¡­.was that in anger or regret of overstepping? She sipped and ordered her thoughts, ¡°I apologize for overstepping. Isla was just showing me my apartment. Since I had to furnish it myself, I wanted to see the dimensions.¡± She sipped again, then spoke, ¡°Congratulations on your victory today,¡± she eyed my pinky finger, ¡°You are quite the warrior.¡± I remained quiet, and her eye twitched in what I assumed was annoyance. ¡°I wanted to make a business proposal to you.¡± Her tact had switched to caution, as she had misread me. I spoke without pause, ¡°I am not interested.¡± Her temper flared, and she said. ¡°You will at least have the courtesy of hearing it before declining it,¡± she growled, losing her lofty demeanor. Bylura and Isla winced. I put on a grin, laid back in my chair, and rolled my hand to indicate to proceed. Probably not the best tact for one of the more powerful people in Skyholme, but I wanted to appear in control, and if I could dissuade her from trying to meddle with me, all the better. ¡°So I have renters lined up for your apartments, 40 gold per month. That is much higher than you could find on your own. In return, I want a 25% stake in your building. I did the math, and 15 rooms currently unassigned equaled 600 gold a month. I had talked with Wynna, and she thought if I rented the apartments three or four gold a month reasonable. Of course, I had no intention of profiting from the rooms. They were to house my delve team and eventually the crew for my skyship. ¡°I am sorry, Loriel, but I am still uninterested,¡± I said clearly. I decided to lighten up my aggressive stance. ¡°I have other plans for the rooms.¡± Loriel sat straighter. ¡°Your funds are not bottomless, Storme. How will you finance your skyship?¡± Everything clicked into place. Loriel was helping me generate funds for the skyship. I guess if she looked at the building plans, it was not difficult to figure out the hanger and large doors were intended for a skyship. I tempered my reply, ¡°I will figure things out in time. I am in no rush. I have done you favors, and you have done me some. Our scales are balanced, and I wish to remain out of your orbit.¡± Bylura eye¡¯s widened, and Isla looked at Loriel for her reply. Loriel gripped her cup tightly. She clearly had plans, and I was messing with them. ¡°Agreed. Neither of us owes the other a debt at this time. I will let you know the price when you require a favor from me. Bylura with me. We return to the capital.¡± Loriel rose and left in hard steps. Bylura chased after her. That just left Isla and me at the table. ¡°Can I walk you back to Hen¡¯s Hollow?¡± I asked the woman, who seemed a bit shocked at everything. ¡°Yes, yes, you can. You know she was only trying to do you a favor. A big favor.¡± I looked her in the eye as she gathered her things. ¡°It is not a favor if it is expected to be returned in the future at a much higher cost. I do not need Loriel,¡± I said, walking toward the exit. I think I heard Isla say, ¡®She needs you,¡¯ in a whisper, but I couldn¡¯t quite make out the words clearly. On the walk, we turned to business. She updated me on the construction, furniture, and all the little things she was keeping track of. We will be visiting the warehouse tomorrow, on the 7th day, and I was excited to see the progress. She even had a meeting scheduled with the artist. I walked her all the way back to the inn in Hen¡¯s Hollow before turning towards the woods. My aether pool was full, and I wanted to level up my lightning reflexes spell. It was extremely late when I got back to my room. Gareth had decided to sleep elsewhere. I cleaned the room and fell into my bed. Level seven and two evolutions. It had taken 6 hours and a lot of chasing of small wild animals, but I had gotten excellent results. At level five, I increased my speed to 66.6%. At level seven, I took the controlled deceleration. For one, I had run into two trees in the night and had to heal my injuries. But also, I think this aspect of the spell might counteract the change of inertia enchantment that Leon had used on his weapon. Maybe I could use such an enchanted weapon with no backlash! I couldn¡¯t sleep in my privacy cocoon as I was extrapolating all the options of being able to use such a spell in combat. That coupled with my 66% enhanced speed¡­.maybe I could beat Callem. It was all dreams of fancy, and when morning arrived, Gareth was not back. I had to meet Isla at the skyship platform. I was slightly worried about my friend. Maybe it was time to get my communication stones. I was cooking breakfast when Gareth entered, following his nose. Where did he come from? Was he back with Brianne? ¡°Morning, Stormy! What are you making us for breakfast?¡± I had only gotten enough to make myself breakfast, so I indicated he needed to get the ingredients himself. When he returned, I asked him. ¡°I noticed you didn¡¯t return last night. Where did you make your bed?¡± I whispered so no one could overhear. His eyes panicked just for a second before he answered. Slowly he said while watching for my reaction, ¡°I slept in the twin¡¯s room.¡± It was a little bit of a gutshot. I liked the twins. Mera had said she had a crush on me. ¡°I am sorry, brother, but after we had dinner in the city and got back here, we were hanging out in their room, and I just kind of fell asleep between them.¡± He looked guilty and continued, ¡°We just got a little handsy¡­.and kissed a bit.¡± My stomach knotted as I was definitely upset, but I tried not to show it. ¡°Gareth it is fine.¡± I calmed myself, ¡°They both respect you a lot and are good people. Just don¡¯t hurt them.¡± What was I saying? I was giving my friend the blessing to pursue two women. I needed to get out of here. I finished making the baked breakfast quiche and packed a bunch in my bag. I left to meet Isla at the Skyship pad. Isla was waiting for me. I was happy to have this distraction today. What did I care if Mera and Gareth were getting intimate? I still had Mia, Aelyn, and half a dozen other women who made advances on me. I was also in the middle of a growth spurt and approaching 6¡¯. I also had my magic. That would be my true mistress to keep me warm at night. The skyship landed, and we boarded. I sat inside the passenger cabin instead of watching the land pass below. Isla sat next to me with her overstuffed satchel. She could sense my mood because we didn¡¯t talk the entire trip. As we approached Aegis City, I moved to the bow to see my building as we landed. It was something substantial and had permanency. Chapter 59 Loriel Chapter 59 (Arc 2 Chapter 13) Loriel POV Loriel was born into wealth and privilege. Her childhood was filled with false friends and endless education. Her mother had a large inheritance and was forced into an arranged marriage to a Bricio. Her father was a minor noble in the Bricio family with no future, so marrying the wealthy daughter of the Miaden family was only to his benefit, and he took her last name. Her mother had been in love with another who suddenly stopped seeing her. She learned much later that he was threatened away from pursuing her. She rarely saw her father growing up, but she was close to her mother. She had no siblings, only playmates arranged by her father. She spent a lot of time with her mother and was open and truthful about the political dynamics in Skyholme. It was a climb for wealth and power, and the Bricios were winning. She told Loriel that her father was unfaithful, and in retaliation, her mother never shared his bed again after Loriel was born. Her father wasn¡¯t malevolent, just deceitful and callous. Her mother did get her a playmate when she was ten. A runt wolfsguard that was to be killed. She named the pup Bylura, and the wolfkin grew up quickly. Bylura was not only a runt but apparently lacked a strong loyalty gene that made the Wolfsguard so obedient through a bonding ceremony. She was loyal in her own way but not completely obedient, a rebel. If anyone had known this, then Bylura would have been killed immediately. So instead of being a servant Bylura became a surrogate friend for her. Loriel awakened just before her 12th birthday. Loriel was a disappointment to her father. She had a very small aether pool and no noteworthy abilities. It was her intellect and reasoning ability that were her strengths. She entered the academy at age 12, earlier than most, and she quickly excelled. The lack of a strong ability meant she wouldn¡¯t be selected for one of the 23 succession roles or given an essence to fortify herself. By her third year of the academy, she had learned four tier 1 spells and one tier 2 spell, maximizing her current aether matrix. It was difficult to level the spells since she had so little aether to practice them. From her time in the academy, she also understood more about the dynamics of politics on Skyholme. Her family, the Miadens, were hollow. Many of her family members were married to Bricios, and their partners controlled the relationship. Not quite enslaved, but definitely shackled. She didn¡¯t want this life, and her mother shielded her from her father¡¯s attempts to arrange a marriage for her. In her fourth year of the academy, her mother disappeared. Her father said she had fled to the lowlands with her lover. Loriel knew her mother didn¡¯t have a lover. So her father had most likely been responsible for her disappearance, or someone else within the Bricio family had orchestrated it. She was now vulnerable. Her father didn¡¯t know that her mother had left her entire estate to Loriel. The documents were ironclad, and she immediately made her father destitute. He retained her mother¡¯s estate on the capital island because he forged documents saying her mother had ¡®gifted¡¯ it to him at their wedding. The magistrate that had drawn up the paperwork had died a few years ago, so the document was deemed legitimate. Loriel moved quickly to remove everything not tied down on the estate, though. Her father now had a large tax bill and no assets. The Bricios helped him by having him remarry a recently widowed minor Bricio noble with some wealth of her own. Loriel¡¯s assets were extensive, and she drew up multiple documents to make sure her father never got his hands on any of her wealth. He did start to maneuver to get Loriel married off to another Bricio, but his influence on her was minimal now that she was 16. She was constantly on guard, and it wore on her. She needed friends and allies, so she started targeting other people like her. Outcasts and pariahs of their respective families. Slowly her influence grew, and she developed a circle of friends in her remaining academy years. She graduated with a focus in commerce and administration at age 19. She immediately focused on growing her wealth. She couldn¡¯t extend her influence in the political system dominated by the Bricios, but wealth could buy influence. In a short two years, she had nearly doubled her holdings and was worth just north of a million gold. Most of her wealth was tied to her assets which kept growing her wealth. Her great-grandfather noticed her drive and capability and called to meet her. He was the sitting member of the Triumvirate for the Miaden family. She had only met him twice in passing at parties, so she was very anxious. Her greatest fear was he would force her to marry. He was the only one who could do that. If he did, she would flee Skyholme with what she could to escape her mother¡¯s fate. He wasn¡¯t what she imagined. He was old and seemed tired during their meeting. He talked and she listened. He was impressed with her to date and was going to reward her. He was bestowing the 23rd line of succession on her. Her jaw had dropped. He was giving her instant political power. He cautioned her that it was her independence that impressed him. She was free of influence from all the families. He gave her a gift. It was a dungeon essence. She would gain the tier 2 ability of enduring self-tenacity upon consuming it. Any tier 2 ability was precious, and this one more so. It would give her the ability to resist all forms of influence up to tier 2 entirely. Tier 3 manipulations would fade quickly. Even tier 4 influence would even fade given enough time. He confided he held this precious dungeon essence for a very long time, looking for someone worthy to consume it and fix Skyholme. He then said Loriel might not be the one, but he was old, and people may influence his successor from outside of the Miaden family. So Loriel was his best option. That was not an inspiring speech on his part. He told her to gain allies outside the three families, from the commoners. He gave her one of his true Wolfsguard. All heirs had at least one Wolfsguard, and Bylura didn¡¯t count. His name was Gammon, and he was an excellent warrior but rarely talked. She was twenty-one years old and had a title now and wealth. How was she going to find allies and bring them to her cause? After two weeks of being named the 23rd heir, she was starting to be pressured. The Bricios were pushing one of their young men on her. Abaddon Bricio. He was an excellent warrior and was already moving up the navy ranks. When she checked into his true background, she was disgusted. Abaddon was a bully, rapist, and vindictive. Unfortunately, being the 23rd heir had raised her value too high for the Bricio¡¯s to stop. So she needed to find someone to marry that was free of influence. She had to get inventive. She started watching the pre-academy Annuals. She was looking for a smart, capable warrior not yet in anyone¡¯s pocket. Of course, she was not the only one looking. Many wealthy nobles were looking to offer their patronage to a promising warrior. This patronage could only be officially offered at the end of their first year of the academy, as per Skyholme law. That didn¡¯t mean the patrons couldn¡¯t lay the groundwork or make offers. As she sat in the stands, she found many young men that drew her attention in the field of 32. She researched the ones she liked, and only one stood out. Storme Hardlight. Storme fought with a staff which probably turned many people off from pursuing him. But he had registered two tier one spells, mend flesh and cleanliness. He was only 13, and he had mastered two spells on his own. She had the help of numerous mages to teach her the few spells she had over the years, so Storme was a prodigy. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. He was also extremely handsome and charismatic. As he progressed in pre-academy Annuals, Loriel was more certain he would be perfect for her needs. He was young which meant impressionable. She could groom him to be an ally and an emergency husband if the pressure was increased upon her. Abaddon had sent her a request to attend the Annuals gala with him at the Shyhold Citadel. It was the celebration put on via the Trivumverate. She maneuvered Abaddon to putting conditions on the match in favor of Storme winning. She immediately learned Abaddon bribed Storme¡¯s opponent to lose. She then did the same to Storme, paying a massive sum of coin to convince him to lose as well. She would get the better of Abaddon and move Storme to her corner by giving the boy immense wealth. That is where her plan started to fall apart. Storme already had informal patrons in the form of Callem Dregalla and Master Reader Wynna. Both were rumored to have substantial wealth. Storme took her coin and lost for her benefit, but after the match, she owed him a favor. She decided to mark her territory anyway by attaching Bylura to Strome. Every noble knew the little white wolf girl was hers, so seeing Bylura with Storme would mark him as Loriel¡¯s in their eyes. He called in the favor shortly. He wanted to purchase land in Aegis City for a restaurant. Bylura would aid him in selecting and purchasing the land. She researched his potential funds, guessed his price point, and planned to offer him a deal on a property outside his means. Then he selected a half-destroyed warehouse by the skyships docks! The docks were definitely not an ideal place for a restaurant. Since they were frequently attacked when the Sadians assaulted the cities smart business owners moved to the trade or noble districts. At least those that could afford it. He kept resisting her efforts to put him in her pocket financially. Callem and Wynna had apparently planned to invest heavily in his project. She had sent Storme one of her closest friends, Isla Bricio. She had a very similar situation to herself, with no abilities of note, and was discarded by her father. Loriel had taken her under her wing, but Isla had too much pride for handouts. Isla wanted to work in her profession as an architect. Storme accepted Isla, and Loriel felt she finally had her hooks into Storme. This was not the case, as Storme started spending Callem and Wynna¡¯s platinum without restraint. How was she supposed to step in and offer her financial support? She had Bylura spying on Storme by being Hen¡¯s Hollow¡¯s academy evaluator. The notes that Bylura sent her got her flummoxed. Storme had an indentured half-elf. A real beauty, according to Bylura, named Aelyn. An inquiry found another boy, the one who had won the pre-academy tournament, had purchased the half-elf for Callem Dregalla. That was the assumption, but Bylura clearly noticed the indentured ring on Storme¡¯s hand. So her backup plan of having Isla seduce Storme was invalid if he already had access to a beautiful young woman. Bylura reported all kinds of other interesting facts about her target. Storme was, in fact, an excellent cook. The other students raved about his food. He also had twins doting on him all day and night. They were average looking but very fit. Another young woman named Mia also seemed to be in Storme¡¯s circle. So he had four women¡­.at least so far that she uncovered. Bylura informed him that he had a younger sister with a monstrous guard dog that was unfriendly. Maybe the sister was a way to Storme since he seemed to dote on her. Bylura also said Storme¡¯s spells were very advanced. His cleanliness spell had lots of evolutions as did his mend flesh. This meant he either had a large aether pool to level them quickly while he was young, or he had some type of aether pool restorative ability. Bylura also heard rumors Storme had both the privacy spell and alarm spells learned. He would be sought after just with his mend flesh spell but three other utility spells as well? She needed to get him into her camp sonner than later. When she heard the Hen¡¯s Hollow academy was going to be matched with the upper city academy in Solaris, she decided to go and watch in person. The matches were fun to watch with Bylura at her side, giving her tons of information. The first boy was Gareth, Storme¡¯s best friend. He was the one who had won the pre-Academy annuals, and his connection to Callem Dregalla shielded him from a host of potential patrons. She was much closer for the match; the boy looked over twenty and was a marvelous physical specimen. She tingled inside watching him fight. His masculine nature and confidence were attractive. Maybe she could seduce this boy instead. With such a monstrous young man at her side, Abaddon would keep his distance. The next match was Storme¡¯s brother Bylura informed her. He was a competent fighter and managed to grind out a win as well. How did a small village like Hen¡¯s Hollow produce such good warriors? It had to be the old man, Callem. Loriel knew he had been famous before she was born. She would have to look into Callem¡¯s history further. Storme¡¯s fight did not go well to start. His opponent used some type of magic or ability to gain a strike on Storme, shattering his hand. Isla grabbed Loriel¡¯s in fear for Storme. Had he won Isla over in the short time they had been together? Loriel¡¯s backup plan was to have Isla seduce Storme. Isla had mentioned she was impressed with Storme for his maturity and deep pockets. Loriel thought fostering romantic interest would take more time¡ªapparently not by the death grip on her hand. Storme ignored the pain and fought on. He looked angry as he pummeled his red-haired opponent until the boy hobbled away in fear, conceding the match. Storme picked something off the dropped mace¡­.his own finger? Loriel almost vomited. She watched him get healed by the mages, and she almost missed the next match. Byulra drew her attention to the match as Mia, one of Storme¡¯s girls, was fighting. She wasn¡¯t that pretty, Loriel told herself. She was a good fighter, though. Was this Storme¡¯s type? She had gone to the Academia Academy and hadn¡¯t gained any skills in fighting. She turned to her Wolfsguard, Gammon, and asked him to set up a training program for her. She wanted to learn the staff. He cocked his head in surprise. ¡®Just do it,¡¯ she growled at him. He was a great warrior and much smarter than he appeared from saying so little. But sometimes, his body language telegraphed what he was thinking. Right now, he was thinking that Loriel was more a bookworm than a fighter. The rest of the matches proceeded, and she was not impressed with the blonde twins. They were excellent with their staves but not nearly as attractive as herself. She caught herself. Was she really considering Storme as a potential partner? No, it was much too early for that. She was 21, and he was 13. Although, he did look closer to 18. No. She needed to be objective and think about what Storme¡¯s utility was to her. She turned to Bylura and asked about Aelyn, the fourth woman. Bylura said she was not here. That was disappointing as she wanted to look on the beauty. As the contests were ending, she decided to meet Storme face to face and had Bylura go and retrieve him. They would meet in a private room in a small ale house she owned. Storme immediately flipped the meeting. He attacked Isla for showing the building plans to Loriel. That was, in fact, a very minor crime in Skyholme. She remembered she was promised a room, so she grasped at that detail to explain her transgression. She decided to try to placate Storme by offering him a substantial revenue stream for his apartments, much higher than their value. She thought even he wouldn¡¯t be able to resist. He turned her down without even hearing her out. Finally, she got angry at him. She forced him to hear her out. She mentally raised the rent from 20 to 40 gold for each apartment when she made the offer. It was an amount he shouldn¡¯t be able to refuse. He turned her down again, saying, ¡®he had other plans for the rooms.¡¯ She had easily surmised that he planned to buy or build his skyship. So in a calm voice, she asked him how he would make the coin for it. He proceeded to say that they were now equal in the favors given and received. It made her angry, but she admired the young man. She would have to find another way to win him to her. She decided to give him space. She took Bylura with her, and they would fly back to her estate. Of course, she still had Isla in place to gather information on Storme. Hopefully, he didn¡¯t dismiss her as well. On her skyship, Gammon met her on deck and tossed her staff, which she dropped. I guess she did ask for this. She picked it up and faced him. Chapter 60 Training at Twin Rocks Chapter 60 (Arc 2 Chapter 14) Training at Twin Rocks When we disembarked, I could see my large warehouse. The damaged sections had been completely repaired. I paused. The color of the stone was not very attractive, gray with splotches of black. ¡°Is the painter going to meet us?¡± I asked Isla. She paused next to me. ¡°Yes, he should be inside now. A few panels that he requested have arrived, and I think he is anxious to get started,¡± she said, confused as to what I was looking at. ¡°Good, I will wait here. Go and bring him up to the platform,¡± I said, settling in. She looked about to question me or object but held her tongue and nodded. The landing platforms for the skyships were about 20¡¯ in height. My warehouse had a large plaza about 150 feet in width between it and the platforms. It gave the side of my warehouse a very flat stone canvas for something. The right side, from my viewpoint, would have windows installed as the renovations started but the left side.... It was the perfect place for a billboard. Maybe not a conventional one. But a 100¡¯ long and 40¡¯ high mural would be something. My imagination was running wild as Isla returned and introduced me to the painter. ¡°Tatem Inkshear,¡± he bowed. I remembered him when he had sold me the plates. The man was middle-aged and looked slightly nervous. Maybe he thought I had changed my mind. ¡°So you won¡¯t have any issues with the 14¡¯ high paintings?¡± I asked, and he quickly affirmed they were not an issue. ¡°I want the entire exterior of the warehouse painted white. But the left half, I indicated, I want a massive mural 100¡¯ long and 40¡¯ high.¡± His eyes popped. ¡°I...that....it is possible....what do you want the mural to be of?¡± he asked, dazed, and he was now also starting at the warehouse. ¡°I think a dungeon-delving team fighting a twelve-headed hydra,¡± I looked at him as he processed my request. The hydra had been my favorite plate. It was a ten-headed hydra, and each head was doing something different. ¡°So the entire left third....¡± he mumbled to himself. ¡°Tatem, you can hire other painters for the unimportant parts. The detail of the hydra and adventurers is what is important,¡± I said. ¡°We also need the name of the restaurant clearly written on the right side somewhere in massive script. The Shiny Platinum.¡± I finished and waited on him. ¡°I need the stone made flat. I think the mage working inside could use his skill to flatten and harden the stone to a polished finish,¡± he was nodding to himself. ¡°Maybe five months with help....¡± he guessed on how long it would take. I looked at Isla, who had a stunned look. ¡°I can talk with the build team and the mage....¡± she was paging through her folio. She looked at the side of the warehouse and then the paper. ¡°I think the mage would charge around 80 gold to refinish the left side of the wall and prep it for Tatem,¡± she finally answered. ¡°The whole warehouse. Not just where the painting will be. Could the mage do it in white stone? That way we can save on painting the building white.¡± She scrunched her face in thought. ¡°I don¡¯t think so. The white stone would have to be quarried in a dungeon. It would cost twice as much,¡± she tabulated on a piece of paper. ¡°Maybe 1,000 gold for the entire building, but the white stone is glossy and would add a nice aesthetic to the building. Do you think Callem would spend so much on the exterior?¡± Isla asked. I was envisioning the change in my mind, ¡°I will convince him. Can you seal the hydra mural when it is done so it doesn¡¯t fade, Tatem?¡± Brought back into the conversation, he answered quickly, ¡°Yes, I can use permanency paints and coat it with a clear protective coat. Just starting at the magnitude of the project...I can make the adventurers life-size....people can walk up and stand next to them....then look at the massive beast...I will do it for free. I mean, I will do it for the cost of materials. I have to do this,¡± his eagerness coated his voice. ¡°I¡¯m glad to hear it. I hope you make it your masterpiece, but please finish the 23 panels inside first. Isla said you have sketches?¡± I asked, but he seemed distracted. I could see his eyes were imaging the future mural. ¡°Yes,¡± he finally said, and we made our way inside. A few men were bringing in wheelbarrows of stone, and a mage was casting a spell, causing the stone to melt together and flow to the ceiling to create support columns for the future structure. The mage mesmerized me while at work. I interrupted him, and he was briefly annoyed until he found out I was the one paying him. The stone spell he was using was a tier 2 spell that he had leveled up to 16. He had been doing construction for 11 years and had been trained in a small mage academy on another island. He wasn¡¯t skilled enough to work in the capital, but his team was considered a top-build team in Aegis City. We talked about my idea for coating the warehouse¡¯s exterior in a white stone that could be painted. Tatem joined the conversation as we zeroed in on the perfect stone facade for beauty and paintability. Isla waited patiently as we finished. Then Tatem took me to a table with his sketches. A lot of the actions and poses were similar to the plates I already had. His memory clicked, and he remembered selling me the 69 plates. ¡°Isla, a woman¡¯s input would be appreciated here,¡± I said, dragging her into the decision-making process. Isla¡¯s biggest input was changing some of the female monsters to male. So the naga and rakshasa were switched in their sexes to male, and the ogre got a noticeable bulge added to his loin cloth. We still had an array of feminine monsters; medusa, harpy, succubus, lamia, and vampire. The rest of the monsters were large beasts. Isla was also charged with choosing where each panel would be placed on the walls. She seemed to revel in the weight I was giving her feedback. My excited artist, Tatem, went home to make new sketches for final approval. I told Isla she had been privy to the conversation so she could approve the final image without me. I spent time with Isla touring the completed section. The warehouse/ hanger was completed, but they were still working on the massive doors. I noticed the guards she had hired were just milling about in the corner by crates of copper bars and some furniture that had arrived already. ¡°So, are you going to hire a metal mage to make your copper pipes?¡± Isla asked as we passed the guards. ¡°No, I am working on imprinting a metal-shaping spell,¡± I said without breaking stride. ¡°That would be impressive. I heard metal spells are difficult to obtain and even more difficult to learn,¡± her tone was filled with praise. Looking at her she definitely had become infatuated with me. ¡°It will take some time, but I hope to imprint before the end of the first year academy. It is going to make my enchanting work go faster, as well as I plan to do most of the enchanting work in this building myself,¡± her eyes went wide at my statement, but we moved into the area where the kitchens and ovens were going to be located. I spent an hour feeling out the kitchens and changing the layout as Isla took notes. When we finished we went to the merchant quarters to eat at a nice restaurant. ¡°So Storme, I wanted to apologize for sharing my work with Loriel. I promise it will not happen again. Loriel¡­.¡± I stopped her. My tone was slightly hard, ¡°Learn to separate your friendships from your work life. You underestimated me because I am young. You do good work, but I can not tolerate people in my employ going behind my back.¡± My tone had her cringe slightly as I had been so amicable all day. She just nodded. As we were eating, Isla spoke, ¡°I¡­.I want you to know that Loriel plans to talk with two friends of yours¡­.Leda and Cilia. She is planning to get them to help crew her personal skyship. Those in line for the house seat are entitled to seven personal crew from the navy ranks.¡± Her hesitation in telling me was a cue that I was perhaps swaying her away from Loriel¡¯s camp to mine. Or this could be a setup with both of them fabricating this scenario to get me to trust Isla more. I hadn¡¯t paused in my eating of the meal as she informed me. I was acting unconcerned but was thinking if this was good for Leda and Cilia. It would pull them out of the Navy, which should make them safer. But it was a clear attempt for Loriel to gain leverage on me. It might seem all kosher on the surface, but it was in the guise of her doing a favor for me. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. I decided not to show my irritation, ¡°Cilia always wanted to captain her own ship. I think, given the opportunity, she would jump at it.¡± Isla didn¡¯t speak for the rest of the meal. I paid for the meal and went into a large bookstore in the city. I wasn¡¯t looking for spell books but for dungeon books. Gareth had a small growing collection, but if I was going to manage my dungeon team, I needed my references. I purchased a copy of every dungeon delving book the caretaker recommended. My particular interest was focused on the dungeon resources that could be harvested from the dungeons on the islands and the few dungeons that Skyholme controlled in the lowlands. I also added a few books on free city dungeons that were controlled by the adventurer¡¯s guild that spanned the Sphere. Thirty-six books in total, triple the size of Graeth¡¯s library. We had one final appointment for the day that I was hoping would be quick so I could make the ship back to Hen¡¯s Hollow. We were going to meet Harold Miaden, an interior designer. It was just a short walk, and he had dozens of ideas¡­not a single one I liked. In the end, I went with a dungeon maple for the floors, chairs, and tables with black dungeon mahogany for highlights. It was simple and affordable as both woods were easily farmed from the local dungeons. I would be lighting the spaces with my own light globes. Harold didn¡¯t like my ideas saying the ambiance was half the dining experience. The panels of the monsters didn¡¯t impress him, and he wanted me to have massive curtains over them and only show them for certain occasions. In the end, I couldn¡¯t believe I had paid this man nine gold for nothing. Isla was embarrassed as Harold had tried over and over again to get me to see things his way. As we left his offices, I told Isla to fire him. She knew what I wanted with the furniture. I was planning to travel back to Hen¡¯s Hollow with Isla on the only flight today to my small town, but she professed she had a number of other things to do in town. Mainly she was ordering the stoves and ovens now that she had a clear idea of what was needed. They would be of high quality so I could enchant them when I was ready. She also had to set up a contract with the dungeon delvers and furniture guilds for the maple and mahogany furniture. That meant I was going to have to hire a porter for all my books instead of sharing the load with Isla. To keep up appearances, I had them transported in a crate to my warehouse and then secreted them to my dimensional closet, leaving an empty crate behind. I just made the ship before it departed. I returned alone and was anxious to return to training my lightning reflexes spell, but I needed to balance the large aether expenditure from the spell with continuing to make more platinum coins. It was late when I got back to the barracks, and Gareth was not in his bed. The twins¡¯ door was shut, and I didn¡¯t want to knock. My stomach roiled¡­.jealousy¡­.Storme, get a grip, I told myself. I did what any adolescent would do in my situation. I went out to train. I ran through the woods toward Twin Rocks Lake with my lightning reflexes spell active in spurts. I wanted to get accustomed to using it in short bursts to conserve aether. Going back and forth was causing some disorientation that I was slowly becoming accustomed to. The focus on the training quickly broke my thoughts from Mera. Between the two rocks where the giant eagle raptor had attacked me, I rested and cast multiple alarm spells. I pulled out my saber, ran through sword forms, and then did the same forms under the lightning reflexes spell. Faster, I needed to go faster. I hit a spell evolution and worked the spell evolution into the overdrive mode. It was stupid to then proceed in overdrive mode with the swords forms, but it felt liberating. A 132% enhancement in my speed made me feel unstoppable. The soreness from overdrive mode was not as bad as I had envisioned. Oh, it hurt for sure, like I had just been forced into a pretzel with my joints being strained beyond normal, but my pain tolerance was now such that I could spend a minute to spam my mend flesh spell and recover¡­.except¡­. my diagnosis from the mend flesh spell indicated I had a spiral fracture on my ulna. So I learned, in overdrive mode, the protections from the spell were limited. Instead of returning, I continued to train and reveled in the pain. Was I becoming a masochist? Lightning reflexes at regular intensity did protect the spiral fracture from getting worse. With all the torque I was putting on the bone, it should have fractured further but held. I switched to my staff and repeated my forms with the staff, soaking the pain like a drug to distract myself. I realized it was getting close to conditioning time at the academy as I had trained through the night and into the morning. Was this how Gareth felt when he was driven? Aelyn would be cross if I was late, so I ran back and smirked that I hadn¡¯t dispelled my alarm spells. Two were mental alerts for myself, but the other three I had set were my developing flash-bang variation. I cast my cleanliness spell and found Aelyn just getting ready to head into the barracks and wake everyone, ¡°Aelyn, I broke my wrist and needed to see Antal in town to repair it.¡± Concern laced her voice, ¡°Were you attacked? What happened? Should I go and get Callem?¡± I gave a half-hearted laugh to bush off the injury, ¡°Just training my sword forms. Nothing too dangerous, I assure you.¡± Aelyn did look quite ravishing, and her genuine concern for me was touching. I realized that my aether burn from my core was minimal¡­.so my libido was starting to kick in. I was in the middle of a growth spurt as well. I waved to her as I left the training yard and headed into town. Gareth was coming down the road from town, ¡°Hey, Stormy. How did your date with Isla go?¡± He said, trying to bait me. ¡°The restaurant is coming along. Did you not stay in the barracks last night?¡± I asked. ¡°No, I had dinner with my parents and stayed in my old room. They are talking about adopting an orphan from the recent attacks. Guess they miss having me around.¡± He grinned. I felt relief, knowing he hadn¡¯t been in the twins¡¯ room last night. ¡°Well, they certainly have a lot more free coin with not having to feed you!¡± I joked, and we laughed together. ¡°Aelyn is in the yard waiting. I broke my wrist and will return shortly after seeing Antal.¡± Gareth looked concerned, so I added, ¡°Just a training accident.¡± He narrowed his eyes, ¡°Either way, next time you go to Aegis City, I am coming with you as your bodyguard.¡± He sounded firm in his statement. I guessed he wanted to keep an eye on me as well as do some sightseeing of his own. ¡°Fine. Next time I plan to go, you can come if you can beat me in a duel.¡± I said with a stupid mischievous smile. I envisioned giving Gareth a sound beating like he had done to me so many times. He laughed it off, thinking I was making a joke. I got my arm healed and returned to get in most of the conditioning. At breakfast, Mera wouldn¡¯t look me in the eyes. Gareth had obviously told her that I knew about him sleeping in the bed with her and her sister. She looked embarrassed, and that, in turn, made me feel guilty. I had flashes from my past life of how poorly I had been in relationships and didn¡¯t know what to say. It was Fera who broke the silence at breakfast. ¡°Storme, are you still going to hire Mera at your brewery?¡± she asked for her sister. So that is what had concerned Mera. ¡°Of course,¡± I said without hesitation. In a neutral voice, I tried to say the following, ¡°Mera, you are free to do whatever you wish. I will respect your decisions.¡± Mera was crying, and I didn¡¯t know what I had done wrong. She got up and left the table. Mia was watching the drama like an old woman watching a soap opera. Fera gave me a cross look and went after her sister. I heaved a sigh, ¡°A lot of drama.¡± Gareth was shrinking in his chair as he was technically the cause of all this. I was the one who had to sort out my feelings and soothe everyone hurt by his actions. We had spellcraft right after breakfast, and Selina gave me the spellbook for the Thermostatic Aura spell. It was in pristine condition, and Selina said it was just copied. Usually, older copies were better since mages would leave notes in the margins, but I was happy as a few evolutions were noted within. Mera and Fera entered the classroom, and it was clear Mera had had a good cry with her puffy eyes and red eyes. Reluctantly the two sat at my table like usual. Aelyn wasn¡¯t here today. She usually came to the class three or four times a week, though. I looked at Mera, who had trouble making eye contact, ¡°Mera, I like you,¡± I started. ¡°We will always be friends. Remember that.¡± She looked ready to cry again, but her sister calmed her, and the lesson began. I still couldn¡¯t figure out what I was saying that was wrong. I slid the new spell book into my dimensional space when I went to the privy. I planned to work on the arcane lock spell first and then the aether shield spell. After those two spells, I needed an offensive spell. Then maybe I would try my luck with either the tier 4 ranged healing spell or the tier 3 thermostatic aura spell. I just had so much work in front of me. The week at the academy did not heal my relationship with Mera. She was angry with Gareth and in misery with me. I did not like all this teenage drama and did my best to ignore it. I saw Mia and Aelyn talking a few times, and I assumed they were having fun watching us try to navigate the speed bump in our friendship. I went to the woods every night to work on my lightning reflexes spell advancement. The only issue was that I had only made 11 light globes to sell this week and had seven platinum coins in my dimensional space. I learned the arcane lock spell on 5th day, which was extremely useful. The first two evolutions I used were to extend the duration. The lock lasted one day when learned, and after two evolutions, that time was extended to nine days. The third evolution was a glyph that allowed the caster to bypass the lock. So now I could cast the arcane lock on the privy door, and I would be the only one who could open and close it for nine days. I didn¡¯t get to evolve the spell further before our day off came. Selina said Talia was visiting this off day and would be practicing with us. I really wanted to get a jump start on the aether shield spell, so I was disappointed until she mentioned that I should talk with Callem. I had less and less time to talk with Callem. He was fully vested in making every student the best they could be. He had another academy vs. academy match coming in two weeks but wasn¡¯t sure if we would be going to Aegis City or traveling to Stonefell Island. After we decimated the Solaris top academy, he was finding it hard to get a match. When I did talk with Callem, apparently, Selina had gotten him on board with Talia being my first interview for my aspiring dungeon-delving team. So I guess I was not going to get out of meeting Talia on my day off. At least I could schedule the interview for first thing in the morning, as Talia was landing in Solaris City early¡­. Chapter 61 Callems Killing Intent Chapter 61 (Arc 2 Chapter 15) Callem¡¯s Killing Intent Early on the morning of the 7th day, I made my way to meet Callem at Ennet¡¯s house. Aelyn and Wynna were making breakfast when I knocked, and I quickly joined them. Aelyn kept looking at me, and finally, I told her she should just ask her question. ¡°Storme, why didn¡¯t you ask me to join your delve team?¡± she seemed hurt at being left out. ¡°I don¡¯t have a delve team. At least I don¡¯t plan on delving myself. I am just hiring some adventurers to harvest specific materials for me. I plan to have a team gather consumables for the restaurant and materials to construct a skyship,¡± I replied, and she seemed a little less dismayed. ¡°Callem and Wynna seem to think you are planning to attend the dungeon delving academy in Aegis city,¡± she retorted. I hadn¡¯t told Aelyn of my more in-depth plans since she had been living in town at Ennet¡¯s house. ¡°That is true. But it is only to utilize their magic training classes. Like I said, I don¡¯t plan to delve myself.¡± Aelyn still seemed confused. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Aelyn. If everything goes to plan, then that mark on your neck will be removed in less than a year,¡± I said confidently. ¡°You will be free of Skyholme and me,¡± I added, and she showed uncertainty on her face. Either she was doubting my words or didn¡¯t want to be free of me. I was betting on the former. Callem entered the kitchen, and I was relieved to end the conversation with Aelyn, ¡°Callem, are you ready to head to Solaris? Selina said she would meet us at the skyship docks and go to a private place to interview Talia. Then we can take a ship to Aegis City and hit up the adventuring guilds.¡± We quickly stuffed all the food into our mouths and started for the door. I paused. Aelyn looked melancholic the entire morning so I thought I would offer her to come along. She hated being in public with the tattoo branding her as an indentured, so I assumed she would say no, ¡°Aelyn do you want to come? Your input would be appreciated.¡± ¡°Yes!¡± she said too excitedly, and her face instantly brightened. I guess she just wanted to be included. I noticed Wynna and Ennet had smiles they were trying to hide as they did the dishes, and Aelyn ran to change. We walked into town, and I told Callem what I was looking for in my delve team. Two core front liners who were strong in defense and good at melee. A support member that was good at healing. Two scouts with good ranged combat capability. The sixth member was to be a mage who had good offensive spells for both area effect and individuals. In addition, I wanted at least two porters. Porters were responsible for carrying out the dungeon loot. So eight members in total. Callem thought I could find everyone except the support healer. Healers were rare in Skyholme as the navy usually scooped them up, and there just wasn¡¯t enough to go around. He suggested I look for two mages and give one of the mages some incentive to learn a healing spell or two. I knew mages didn¡¯t have a large aether matrix, so utilizing space on their spell matrix for a tier 2 healing spell was difficult to make over a powerful tier 2 defensive or offensive spell. Aelyn was quiet, but she carefully listened to the conversation. We found Selina waiting on a bench for us. The skyship from the capital had not arrived. She was surprised to see Aelyn but started asking her how her third spell imprinting was progressing. I was not aware Aelyn was working on the privacy spell. I thought she had told me she was working on the cleanliness spell. I guess I was really growing apart from her after we longer slept in the loft together. Callem and I moved slightly off to the side, and he was relaying what kind of defensive skills my two front liners should be able to demonstrate. The skyship landed shortly after, and Talia disembarked, and as she approached, Selina introduced Aelyn and Callem. Aelyn was making lightning eyes at Talia, which she returned. Why the fireworks? Talia and Aelyn walked on either side of Selina as Callem, and I followed them to the meeting location. Callem chuckled and said in a low voice, ¡°I think those two are ready to face off for your attention, Storme.¡± I looked confused at the trio walking twenty paces in front of us. I didn¡¯t have time to consider Callem¡¯s words more seriously as he started quizzing me on my observations as we walked. It was a game, and I had to keep my eyes forward, and he would ask for details about things or people we had already passed. I was getting about 70% correct and 20% partially correct, which I thought was really good. Selina turned into a tea house, and we were seated upstairs on a balcony. Selina cast a transparent privacy shield as we settled in. The privacy barrier encompassed the entire balcony. Aelyn sat to my right, Callem to my left, and Selina and Talia across from us. Selina poured some tea and relaxed. She was only here as an observer. I think she was hiding a smirk at Aelyn¡¯s and Talia¡¯s dagger eyes. Everyone was waiting for me to start, so I did. ¡°Talia. Selina has mentioned that you are training to be a combat wizard and asked you to be a member of my delve team.¡± Talia looked confused and looked back and forth between Callem and me. I set her straight, ¡°Callem is financing the team, but I am running it. What makes you qualified?¡± I always hated being put on the spot in interviews. I felt no matter my response, I was doing poorly. She turned and focused on me, making eye contact. ¡°I am in my fourth year at the Mage Academy. My imprinted spells include a tier 2 fire whip, a tier 2 ice lance, the tier 1 wizard lock, privacy, light, aether bolt, aether armor, and alarm spells. I am currently working on the tier 3 spell fireball. I have finished 3rd in mage duels at school and am currently ranked 4th overall in my class.¡± She nodded after relaying all the information. ¡°What level are your spells?¡± I asked while taking mental notes. Talia looked at Selina, who answered for her. ¡°Storme, even in an interview, asking a wizard their spell levels is impolite. But it is ok in this instance,¡± she smiled and nodded to granddaughter. Talia looked back at me. ¡°I learned the light spell first, so it is my highest-leveled spell at 15. My light and privacy spells are level 7. My alarm spell is level 9. My aether bolt just reached level 12. Wizard lock is level 3,¡± she said softly. ¡°We just began actual combat last year, so my aether armor is only at level 8 but should reach 11 by the end of the academy year.¡± She grinned now as she finished, ¡°Fire whip is level 7, and ice lance is level 6!¡± I had to remember that my aether pool was 30 times larger than most young mages. This not only allowed me faster recovery of aether but a lot more of a pool to practice spells with. I had been awakened for just under one year and had already surpassed Talia, who had five years training on me. ¡°That is very impressive, Talia,¡± I said. She beamed at the compliment. ¡°How much more space does your aether matrix have for spells?¡± Her smile faded, and she looked at Selina, who nodded. ¡°After the fireball spell is imprinted, I will have six more slots,¡± She seemed uncertain. So she had 20 slots for spell imprinting. Somewhat average for a mage. Selina interrupted my thoughts, ¡°She will have nine slots for additional spells. I am giving her a dungeon aether matrix expander that will add three slots to her core.¡± Talia leaned in and hugged her great great great grandmother. ¡°Of course, she will have to consult me on what those spells will be to occupy the additional space.¡± I wanted to ask Selina if she had a spell expander for me. I read about them, and they increased an aether matrix by a percentage. They didn¡¯t affect the size of the aether core; those were different dungeon prizes. I think a tier 1 would increase it by 5%, a tier 2 was 15%, tier 3 was 25%. So a tier prize like that from a dungeon was quite the prize. ¡°Quite a generous gift Selina,¡± I said as she smiled at me. ¡°What are your plans for the remaining spells, and where is your focus?¡± I asked Talia. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°I am planning to learn a tier 3 defensive spell, another tier 2 offensive spell, and a tier 1 utility spell,¡± she looked at Selina, ¡°the other three slots are yet to be determined.¡± She took a breath, ¡°My advancement focus will be on the fireball and ice lance spells. I hope to push both to level 23 before I graduate.¡± Level 23 was the point where a spell matrix pushed its own evolution. In addition to getting your regular spell evolution, the entire spell got about 10% stronger across the board. Not many mages got a spell to level 23, as the amount of practice and slower progression at higher levels made it difficult. I turned to Callem, now finished with my questions. Callem asked his questions about Talia¡¯s actual combat experience. She had only her first year of academy training for practicing with melee weapons and hadn¡¯t practiced since. Selina pursed her lips as Talia answered and gave Callem a squinty stare. She could still get some practice, but I didn¡¯t want any team members unable to defend themselves in close quarters. We were ready to break the meeting when Aelyn chimed in. Aelyn asked her about Talia¡¯s friends at the academy and whether she had any outstanding debts. Talia¡¯s answers were short and hard-toned. How did these two spawn animosity in the short time they had met? When Aelyn finished, I made my decision. ¡°So, Talia, this is my offer. A one-year contract, starting at the end of this academy year. You will be given housing and meals at my inn in Aegis City. You will be required to delve once a week. Your pay will be five gold per successful delve with a 20% bonus if you exceed quotas by 30%.¡± Her confusion was evident, so I clarified, ¡°My delve team is going to focus on harvesting. I need a strong team to clear an area and smart delvers to collect what I need from each attempt.¡± She was considering and asked, ¡°What about failed delves?¡± I hadn¡¯t considered that, so I came up with an answer on the spot, ¡°No penalty for up to 5 failed delves in an annual cycle, after that, then a three gold penalty from the weekly wage for each failure.¡± She nodded as that seemed fair. ¡°Also, since you will still be in the Mage academy, we will schedule the delves on your day off and pay for your skyship fees to travel back and forth from the capital,¡± I added. That seemed fair, and hopefully, Talia would emerge as a good dungeon combat mage. She left excited, and Aelyn mumbled about being ¡®too generous to an inexperienced mage.¡¯ She was definitely jealous of Talia, and I thought it was cute. I distracted her, ¡°So Aelyn, are you coming to Aegis City with us?¡± ¡°Yes, someone has to look out for your best interests.¡± When we were on the skyship, Aelyn joined me at the bow. She leaned into me as her hair wiped behind her. The anti-wind enchantment must be damaged on this ship. ¡°Storme, you could have done better. Her thoughts were mostly focused on you. Winning you over like a prize horse. Selina told her of your massive potential, and she has her sights on winning you and riding you like that prized horse.¡± At least I now knew why Aelyn didn¡¯t like Talia. She thought Talia was going to take advantage of me. I wasn¡¯t concerned. ¡°Thank you for letting me know, Aelyn. Were you able to read Selina?¡± I asked curiously. ¡°Demons, no! I tried once, and she whiplashed my mind. Talia is just starting to put her mental defenses up. They are not good enough to stop me,¡± she smiled. As the skyship landed, I pointed at the warehouse, ¡°That is my building, Aelyn.¡± She looked impressed at the building, which now looked almost new and had in large script, The Shiny Platinum Restaurant & Bakery. ¡°You do seem to like to have big things, Storme,¡± she laughed softly. I had no response, and we joined Callem on the long walk to the adventurers guild hall. Callem had rented a private training room to test our candidates. We were actually an hour early, and Callem asked if Aelyn and I would want to challenge him in the interim. Aelyn jumped at the chance, and I produced a staff from my dimensional storage. I had a dozen in there now of varying quality. Aelyn and I tried to circle Callem but couldn¡¯t penetrate his defenses. Aelyn bravely sacrificed herself repeatedly to try to get me an opening. I wasn¡¯t sure if it was Callem¡¯s grin or the beating Aelyn was taking on my behalf, but I thought Callem needed a surprise. I activated my lightning reflexes spell. As if sensing the spell, Callem¡¯s stance and forms changed to balance the increased rate of attacks. It was like I was getting closer but still unable to touch him with the staff. Callem was, for sure, slightly slower than me, but since he was wielding two heavy short swords, he still managed to block me every time. This did give Aelyn a chance to actually press the attack. After 5 minutes, I felt my spell advance to level 12. Maybe if I could reach level 13 and increase my speed again, Callem would be caught off guard. I had about 35 minutes before I emptied my aether. Aelyn seemed to sense my determination and joined the assault on Callem with a new fervor. Callem was just wearing a stupid grin, and his eyes were twinkling in delight. Then he goaded me, ¡°Oh, Storme, even with this spell, Gareth can still beat you. You need to get inventive.¡± I started chaining the special sequences I had learned from Elora. They didn¡¯t phase Callem in the least. At least the old square man was sweating. Fifteen minutes later, my spell reached level 13, and it evolved again. I needed to disengage and let the spell matrix weave the enhancement in and recast the spell. Callem thought I had given up, and Aelyn looked confused. When I returned to combat, Callem was caught slightly off guard, and my staff connected weakly with his elbow. His eyes widened, but I didn¡¯t erase the grin or twinkling eyes. Fine! Callem, you asked for this! I went into overdrive on the spell, increasing my speed from 73% to 146% faster. My first strike got his left knee and then his right shoulder. His eyes suddenly changed after the two solid hits and changed from twinkling enjoyment to hard and focused in a blink. I never thought ¡®killing intent¡¯ was real. It was just something they put in anime from my past life to make people sound dangerous. But Callem¡¯s eyes and aura suddenly made me feel like I was in a deep well, and he was looking down at me from the opening far above. Aelyn immediately disengaged and recoiled, leaving me to fend off Callem myself. The blows came fast and quick, and I think I hit him eight or nine times, but I sported eight slashes myself, and my staff was missing chunks. I don¡¯t know why I continued to fight. Callem could have ended me at any time, but he was letting me proceed. Finally, my aether ran out, and I collapsed in exhaustion. Callem stood over me momentarily before falling next to me, crossing his legs underneath him. Callem was soaking wet, breathing heavy, and he was bleeding from his forehead where I connected. We didn¡¯t speak as I desperately used my aether as it filled to my core to stop my own bleeding. I touched Callem and examined him with the spell. Six sizable bruises and a very light concussion. Everything else was minor. I did his concussion first and then alternated between us. A knock at the door, and Callem yelled, ¡°Ten minutes.¡± He looked at me, ¡°I wondered when you were going to challenge Gareth or me. I followed you a few nights and watched you working on the spell. It is extremely impressive. If I hadn¡¯t been prepared mentally for it, you would have had the upper hand.¡± I laid down on the ground and saw Aelyn nursing her own injuries on a seat in the corner. I waved her over, and she had two torn ligaments which I healed. ¡°Callem, that is bullshit. You could have had me at any time.¡± ¡°Not so, Storme. If you hadn¡¯t pulled the strike to my head, you might have dazed me or knocked me out,¡± he said seriously. I didn¡¯t even remember connecting with his head. The entire fight was just a blur to me. ¡°Well, it cost me. I have four broken bones, and it will take me an hour to regain enough aether to heal my ligaments and tendons,¡± I groaned in pain as I stood. Callem looked concerned, and I waved it off, ¡°A side effect of the spell when I double its effects. You didn¡¯t do much damage to me other than ruining a perfectly good set of clothes.¡± It took a second to use my cleanliness spell to eliminate the blood, sweat, and dirt, so the cuts Callem left all over my outfit were now easily seen. I pulled a new set of clothes out of my space and changed. ¡°So when are you going to challenge Gareth,¡± Aelyn asked eagerly, now that things had settled. Callem looked at me as well, interested in my answer. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t want to destroy his confidence. Also, my spell leveled twice during the forty minutes of our fight with Callem. That shouldn¡¯t be possible,¡± I said with some excitement and surprise in my voice. ¡°I figured when you increased your speed. Fighting against a superior opponent will do that, and I didn¡¯t pull many of my strikes. You should have felt truly threatened,¡± he replied nonchalantly. I shouldn¡¯t be surprised, as that was how he sparred with Gareth. ¡°If you want, I can join you on your nightly excursions and train with you at Twin Rocks.¡± My eyes popped. He had been following me. I liked the run to the lake, and it was my favorite spot, especially when there was no wind, and the lake was calm. ¡°I would appreciate it. I think my lightning reflexes may be my best offensive and defensive spell.¡± A devious grin came over Callem, ¡°Since you don¡¯t mind me training with you, I am sure Elijah and Elora wouldn¡¯t mind a late-night run out to the rocks as well.¡± I groaned. How did I get myself into these things? ¡°We should focus on the task at hand. A friend of mine put together a strong list of candidates for us.¡± Callem stood slowly, feeling his body out. I remembered when he realized what a prize Gareth was all those months ago. Now he was looking at me the same way as he tested out his deceptively old-looking frame. Well, at least I could control who I hired, ¡°Let¡¯s meet the contestants,¡± I said while still healing myself. Chapter 62 A-Team Chapter 62 A Team ¡°If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them....maybe you can hire The A-Team" ¨C for those that get this reference, kudos! I sat on the bench next to Aelyn. I just couldn¡¯t take the effort of standing. It was more the damage from the overdrive of the spell than from Callem¡¯s beating. Callem sat next to me and announced, ¡°We are ready!¡± A short man came into the room and looked around, and then moved and gave Callem a folder. He handed it to me. ¡°There should be a place for each candidate. They will come inside in order.¡± We waited a few minutes before a tiny girl entered. I looked at the first page and asked, ¡°Lana?¡± The timid girl nodded, ¡°Yes. I am a porter. I just graduated this year from the general academy in the lower city. I have two spells. One is a dimensional space, and the other is invisibility.¡± She had gotten some confidence during her explanation of her abilities. ¡°How large is your dimensional space? Do you have any open space on your aether matrix?¡± I asked, curious. ¡°Three feet by four feet,¡± she said confidently. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I have more space. The spells I learned were borrowed. I can¡¯t afford spellbooks.¡± I guessed the space might be suitable for a new graduate and a porter, but I needed porters capable of bringing out large trunks of trees. ¡°Do you have experience gathering resources? Wood? Copper? Iron?¡± I asked, hoping to find something to make her more appealing. She shook her head no. I said, ¡°Thank you for your time. If we consider you, we will contact you.¡± I used my assess person on her as she turned to leave. Lana Forestfang Human Female Age: 16 Disposition: Neutral After she left, Callem spoke, ¡°Not much combat training on that one. If you want, I can set up a reading with Wynna for her. We can send her a token for the skyship, and she can meet Wynna in Hen¡¯s Hollow.¡± ¡°The only way I would consider her is if she could learn the dimensional closet spell. Her space is too small for the large-scale operations I am planning,¡± I informed Callem. He looked at her sheet in my hand. ¡°She is an orphan...see no parents listed. Look how far she came on her own,¡± Callem lobbied for the girl. I gave him a sour look. There had to be better candidates than Lana. ¡°If she has an aether matrix of at least 18, then I will consider her Callem. I need her to be able to grow. I am also not sure if she graduated from an Academy. She is only 16. I don¡¯t mind supplying the spell books,¡± I said, prevailing to Callem¡¯s earnest eyes. He really did have a soft spot for the oppressed. The following two candidates were busts. They were both front-liners. They did ok with my questions and had both attended dungeon academies, but when Aelyn spared with them, it was obvious they had trained only to face monsters. I had fully healed Aelyn. I still had quite a ways to go on myself before I would test the combat abilities of candidates. Also, their sword forms were not great, and they didn¡¯t adapt well to variation. Even Callem seemed disappointed, ¡°Well, I guess they could be trained, but I would pass. Both seemed a little inflexible in their combat thinking. Probably a product of an academy that teaches dungeon critters always do the same thing.¡± My next interview was with a mage. He was in his fifth year at the dungeon academy in Aegis City. When he entered the room, I noted he had dirty blonde hair, brown eyes, and a crooked nose. He was Aelyn¡¯s height. ¡°Oliver Klozoff,¡± he bowed. ¡°I hope to interest you in my unique set of spell works. I have four camp defense spells, alarm, light, shadow sentry, and vermin shield. I have one offensive spell, arcane spear. I am also currently working on the rain of ice spell.¡± Oliver seemed promising, but he had focused on his magic and wouldn¡¯t be good in a straight-up brawl. Also, comparing his spell list to Talia¡¯s, I was underwhelmed. I managed to say, ¡°Thank you for your time. You are an impressive mage. If your skills mesh with our needs, I will contact you.¡± He seemed reluctant to leave but eventually did. Four interviews were down, and I was exhausted. Four candidates, and so far, nothing. Callem supplied, ¡°Storme, there are four registered guilds in Skyholme for Dungeon Delvers. Most of the candidates in the Delving Academy have already joined one of the guilds before graduating. You are looking for the hidden gems.¡± I paged through the remaining seven profiles. It was going to be a long afternoon. The next two candidates were busts¡ªa male scout and a female front-liner. Callem didn¡¯t like the way the scout moved and fought. The female front liner was too pompous for me to like her. It was like I would be doing myself a favor by hiring her. That just rubbed me the wrong way. I was shocked when the next candidate was an elven male. He bowed and introduced himself as Gimble. He explained he was a dungeon explorer and interested in dungeons in Skyholme. He had all the required paperwork to work in Skyholme. He just hadn¡¯t found any takers. ¡°I have been in Aegis city for a month, and your people don¡¯t take well to outsiders.¡± He looked at Aelyn and appeared to study her mark. ¡°I haven¡¯t been able to travel from this city and am getting frustrated. I am an experienced scout, over thirty-eight dungeon dives among seven different dungeons,¡± he added. I looked at Callem, who had been studying the elf with intensity. Callem intoned, ¡°Aelyn, test his skills.¡± She jumped to face the male elf, and we watched an intense display of swordsmanship on both ends. Aelyn faltered after two minutes, and he got a death blow on her neck, stopping before drawing actual blood. He held the blade at her neck for a brief moment before sheathing it. Aelyn¡¯s eyes were wide and contemplative as she was in shock at losing. Aelyn moved to sit next to me in a trance, and I said, ¡°Don¡¯t feel bad. He is quite good.¡± She shook her head, clearing her thoughts, then looked at me. ¡°He knows my mother,¡± Aelyn said deadpan. Gimble face twisted in surprise at her admission. Aelyn added, ¡°He is here to free me.¡± Gimble was assessing Callem and decided not to make a move and spoke, ¡°I am a member of The Hand of the Crimson Moonriders. I am here to free Aelyn. A favor to your imprisoned mother.¡± Gimble took a few slow breaths. I knew the look he had. He was deciding how effectively he could fight against us. I decided to defuse the situation, ¡°If I could transfer the ring to you, I would. But it would have to be reset by the mage who branded Aelyn.¡± Aelyn cringed at the thought. ¡°I wish for Aelyn¡¯s freedom as well. Do you have some way to remove the mark yourself and take her with you?¡± ¡°Yes. Once we leave the city¡¯s anti-teleport range, I can bring her to someone who can remove the mark,¡± he said confidently. My heart was conflicted, but I was ready to say yes, but Aelyn spoke, ¡°No.¡± Everyone was confused. ¡°I will not go with him. I am not sure if he is telling the truth, and I don¡¯t need rescuing.¡± The three males in the room looked at each other confused, and Gimble spoke, ¡°I can assure you I am a friend of your mother¡¯s. I have known her over a century, and I can even bring you to your brother¡¯ in Cullibar.¡± ¡°I said no!¡± Aelyn intoned. I was about to speak, but Aelyn said, ¡°No!¡± Gimble was at a loss for words but eventually said, ¡°I can remain in Skyholme for a few months. If you change your mind, you can contact me.¡± The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. I tried to salvage the situation. ¡°Gimble, are you still interested in being part of my delve team? Just while you wait for Aelyn to change her mind,¡± Aelyn¡¯s glare at me made me cringe. Gimble thought for a moment, ¡°Terms?¡± I breathed some relief, ¡°Housing and meals. Five gold a week for one delve a week. They are resource delves. Exceeding quotas by 30% gives a 20% bonus.¡± I watched his face as he thought about it. Damn, he was hard to read. The only active part of his face was his eyes. ¡°I cannot leave Aegis city and only delve the two dungeons here. As long as those are the targets, I would be amenable to the contract as stated. I can not commit to a long-term contract as my superiors may call me away,¡± Gimble finished. I pulled out a shiny platinum and handed it to the elf. He flipped it in his hand, studying it. I told him, ¡°First ten weeks pay. The other half is for your loggings and food for ten weeks. I expect my team¡¯s residence to be completed near the skydocks in ten weeks. The first delve will be once I have completed filling out my team. So far, I only have one mage and yourself.¡± Gimble studied me, ¡°And you do not plan to join any expeditions?¡± ¡°No, I do not. With your experience, would you be interested in being my leader?¡± I asked. He smirked, ¡°Well, aren¡¯t you the crafty one? My experience is real, and I assume I am going to be leading a bunch of novices?¡± ¡°Most likely,¡± I said, watching the elf. How did he not show any emotion or body language? ¡°Two conditions. First, Aelyn is to be assigned to my team,¡± he started, and Aelyn started to protest. I said, ¡°Agreed,¡± overriding her arguments and fury creeping into her face. Well, she did say she wanted on my delve team. ¡°Second condition is I want approval on my group¡¯s members,¡± he finished, and I went into thought. At first, I was irritated as I was aware my face showed my contemplation clearly while Gimble¡¯s remained blank. Even Callem couldn¡¯t hide his body language as well as this elf. I did not want to give an outsider say in the team composition. ¡°No,¡± I finally said. ¡°You will work with the members I hire. Your job is to train them and keep them alive. As you said, your time is limited in Skyholme.¡± His impassive expression broke a little, ¡°Agreed.¡± He paused, then turned to Aelyn. ¡°Aelyn, as your delve leader, I wish to train you in another training room.¡± Aelyn looked panicked, but I just motioned for her to leave with Gimble. I doubted Gimble was even his real name. Aelyn pouted a little but left with him. When he turned, I tried to use my assess person ability on him, and the skill failed me for the first time. I was a bit shocked, but I should not have been surprised. Callem spoke as the door shut, ¡°He is a good fighter, but I am guessing his true skills lay elsewhere.¡± Yeah, spies were like that, I thought. ¡°I think Aelyn will be ok. He was difficult to read.¡± A knock at the door, and the next prospective delver entered. Three more duds, and we were on the final profile sheet. The muscled figure that entered the room confused me for a second. Was this a male or female? I thought the figure was feminine, but I wasn¡¯t sure. I looked at the sheet, Sammie Blackhawk. Callem was studying the new applicant. The person was square like Callem but young. When she turned to close the doorway showing a profile¡­definitely a woman. It was the voice that confirmed it for me, a feminine voice, ¡°Thank you for taking the time to meet with me. My name is Sammie. I have not attended any academies. I spent the last five years as a lumberjack. My mother thought I could do better for myself.¡± She paused and looked at us. I used the pause to use my ability on her. Sammie Blackhawk Human Female Age: 19 Disposition: Neutral She was tall, just slightly shorter than my own height. Her sheet didn¡¯t even designate her desired role on a delve team. I asked, ¡°Are you applying as a front liner or as a porter?¡± Sammie thought for a moment, ¡°I can swing an axe with power, but I have no combat experience. I hope to learn how to fight, but in the interim, I can hopefully be a porter.¡± She sounded reconciled to a lesser role. Callem leaned into me and whispered, ¡°I will test her. I am guessing she has an ability or two from her size and movements. I think this might be your hidden gem.¡± Sammie had decent instincts as Callem ran her through some basic attacks. Sammie¡¯s pitiful counterattacks made me sigh. She had a long way to go, but I could see potential, as Callem had mentioned. Sammie got frustrated and took a two-handed overhead swing at Callem. Of course, she opened herself to a killing blow by the action, but Callem let her swing and blocked it. Callem grunted on blocking the powerful swing. Ok, definitely an ability there to make Callem strain. A few more swings and Callem called a halt. Sammie¡¯s eyes were misty, thinking that she had just failed to make the cut. She rasped, ¡°I can still be a porter. I couldn¡¯t beat the old man, but I can still carry¡­.¡± I interrupted her, ¡°You did great, but do not call Callem and old man. I will hire you as a front liner. You will also serve as a porter and a lumberjack.¡± Her face was twisting from emotion to emotion as she learned she had, in fact, been hired. ¡°Your pay is five gold per week and housing and meals.¡± Sammie caught up and couldn¡¯t understand, ¡°Five gold coins? A week? I won¡¯t do anything besides delving,¡± she sounded dubious. ¡°Callem, can you go and get Gimble and Aelyn?¡± I asked, and he nodded with a half-grin. ¡°So Sammie, you have five weeks to learn the basics of combat from the team leader. His name is Gimble,¡± I said with a smile. It did feel good to give people a chance to improve themselves. Callem, Gimble, and Aelyn reentered the room. ¡°You?¡± Gimble laughed, seeing Sammie. ¡°Guess we will get the chance to work together after all.¡± The laugh from Gimble had thrown me off. His entire demeanor had changed. Like a switch had been flipped, was this an act or his true persona? Gimble continued, ¡°We have talked the last few days in the common room. Never got your name, though.¡± ¡°Sammie,¡± Sammie supplied. ¡°Well, it looks like I will be training you after all!¡± He turned to Callem, ¡°This is one of the two individuals I hoped to bring onto my team.¡± I asked, ¡°And who is the other?¡± ¡°A healer. He is working for the Skydragon Guild. He is miserable and hates his guild mates. He is only 14 and just has the healing hands ability,¡± Gimble supplied. ¡°Can we poach from a guild, Callem?¡± I asked. Callem looked thoughtful, ¡°The Skydragons run three or four delve teams, I think. I really haven¡¯t followed the delve team politics in a while. If the rules are the same, then you can buy out a person¡¯s contract¡­if he signed a contract.¡± ¡°I will figure it out,¡± Gimble said, moving out of the room. Aelyn and Sammie started talking, and I could hear Aelyn explaining the meaning of the mark on her neck. It was clear that Sammie didn¡¯t receive a standard of education. She didn¡¯t strike me as being stupid, just innocent. I reached into my pocket and pulled some coins from my dimensional closet. Nine large gold coins and ten large silvers. One platinum total, the same as I had given Gimble. ¡°Sammie, here is your first five weeks¡¯ pay and five weeks¡¯ worth of housing and meals. Our center of operations is being built. Stay close to Gimble and keep your coins close to your person,¡± I said, placing the coins in her hand. Sammie¡¯s eyes just stared. Aelyn thankfully pulled her off to the side to counsel her on her instant wealth. Callem stood next to me, ¡°Definitely a gem there,¡± he indicated to Sammie. I will go and get her some tokens to come to Hen¡¯s Hollow to train a few times. I will also get Lana a token.¡± Callem¡¯s eyes were lively, watching Sammie like he had watched Gareth the very first time he taught us the basics¡ªpoor girl. Gimble returned with a young man. Even though he was 14, he looked closer to 12. He was older than me but looked younger, probably from malnutrition. Gimble introduced the young man, ¡°This is Remy. He is from the lowlands. He was a merchant¡¯s son. His father went bankrupt on a trip here five years ago. His father disappeared along with his ship. He was staying at the inn when these events took place.¡± I looked at Remy. He was definitely meek. But if he was abandoned at age nine, I could only imagine his struggles. I assessed him with my skill. Remy Flameshore Human Male Age 14 Disposition: Neutral ¡°What is his buyout?¡± Callem asked, returning with a fistful of skyship tokens. Gimble faced Callem and said, ¡°Two hundred and thirty-eight. He is getting two gold off his debt per dive. But then needs to eat and accumulates the debt back.¡± At least he avoided being marked as indentured. I asked curiously, ¡°With healers in such demand, why has no one paid off his debt already?¡± Remy answered softly, ¡°I only have a weak healing ability. It is just tier 1, only slightly stronger than a tier 1 magic spell.¡± He sounded defeated. He sounded like he did not value himself. Callem was talking to Gimble and handing him the tokens. Sammie and Aelyn were also talking, leaving me Remy. ¡°Remy, do you have any other abilities, spells, or skills?¡± Remy shrugged, ¡°I don¡¯t know. I awakened just over a year ago. The healing ability manifested when I got injured and healed myself.¡± ¡°Are you interested in joining my delve team?¡± Remy was looking at Gimble for direction. The elf rogue had some charisma when he wanted to use it. He had probably been gathering information in the city since he arrived a month ago. I missed the interaction between Remy and Gimble, but Remy said, ¡°Yes, I would.¡± ¡°Excellent. Gimble, here are some coins to buy out his contract and Remy¡¯s advance in pay. I am trusting you with their well-being,¡± I placed four platinum coins in his hand. He didn¡¯t look and just pocketed the coins while grinning at me. The grin felt almost genuine. Gimble said, ¡°Callem said to send Sammie, Remy, and Lana to Hen¡¯s Hollow next 7th day.¡± He was beaming. Not being able to read the elf was making me feel uncomfortable. I would need to learn more about his organization, The Hand of the Crimson Moonriders. It was another hour of socialization before Callem, Aelyn, and I left. Callem spoke, ¡°Not bad, two scouts, two porters, a healer, and a mage in a single day. Your delve team is shaping up.¡± I didn¡¯t want to say that I was missing the core of any team, the front liners. Baby steps, Storme, baby steps. Chapter 63 Dungeon Economics Chapter 63 Arc 2 Chapter 17 Dungeon Economics Callem seemed to be enjoying my dungeon delve project more than me. As we walked back to the skyship platforms, he was going into a verbal training montage he was compiling for Sammie. He had some guesses as to her abilities as well. She had at least two, maybe as many as four. I turned the conversation, ¡°Callem. What do you think about Gimble?¡± Callem didn¡¯t hesitate to offer his opinion, ¡°Above average fighter. A small array of spells. His motives...I think he is telling the truth. Or at least mostly telling the truth.¡± I was happy that I was not the only one who had trouble reading the elf. Callem looked at me, seeing some concern, and added, ¡°I don¡¯t think he is a threat,¡± he looked behind us at Aelyn trailing us. ¡°He will do everything to fulfill his debt to Aelyn¡¯s mother. Aelyn should have taken him up on his offer. As for leading your dungeon team? That was a brilliant move. I sensed he has some hidden leadership skills. The way he enthralled Sammie and Remy. He will also be too proud not to do a great job preparing them.¡± ¡°I was just hoping Aelyn would change her mind when I asked him to lead the team,¡± I said as I looked back and checked on Aelyn. Callem chuckled, ¡°She will be mad at you for at least a month. She does talk with Ennet and Wynna. I will inform you if I overhear anything I think you should know.¡± ¡°Callem, you are going to spy for me? I¡¯m flattered,¡± I tried to slap him on the back, but it felt like hitting a wall. We stopped at the warehouse and went on a tour. The first floor had walls. The second floor was already being started on. We talked with the stone mage, and he was not using any wood, just stone. Isla had paid for a double hardening on the stone. The mage thought it was pointless. Even one hardening, he argued, was overkill for a three-story building. I would have to ask Isla about it. I had some paranoid guesses. Was she stalling the building¡¯s progress? Was there some type of kickback she was receiving from the extra expense? The painter had finished his first panel and had sketched lines on two others. The finished panel was of a succubus provocatively sitting on a slightly phallically shaped throne. She had a shiny silver coin in her hand that she was playing with. It was extremely erotic, maybe too erotic. I decided I was not building a family-friendly restaurant. From that perspective, the mural was fantastic. The artist was not here, but I found some sketches for the massive mural outside. It looked like he was moving the mural into an intricate action sequence. There were six adventurers, and the hydra had each head doing something different. It was going to be epic. Aelyn looked over my shoulder at the drawings as I paged through them. She remained quiet but grunted in appreciation at some of the enlarged drawings. The artist had full page sketches of each adventurer...maybe I should give the artist models...models of my adventurer team. I put the thought on the back burner. Callem was on the second floor, and we joined him. Some window openings had been completed, and Callem was watching the plaza and skyships beyond, ¡°This is the view that Wynna chose. It is actually pretty amazing. I forgot what it was like to be in the middle of the city, Storme,¡± he looked at me, ¡°One day you will tell me won¡¯t you?¡± A cold chill went down my spine. Tell him what? The open-ended question seemed like a trap to reveal something I was keeping secret. Callem already knew most of my secrets. He was a good person. I trusted him like my own grandfather. After a few minutes of watching a few sky ships land and depart, I said, ¡°Callem, if you ask and I can answer, I will.¡± After a few moments, he said, ¡°Some secrets are best kept to oneself. I have more than a few of my own that I will never reveal. We don¡¯t have much time before our skyship lands. We should head up there.¡± We left things unsaid. We collected Aelyn and went up to the platform. We boarded the ship and returned to Hen¡¯s Hollow. I walked in silence with the two to the center of town. They veered off to Ennet¡¯s house, and I went to see Isla. Isla was upstairs in her room alone. She opened the door as I knocked, ¡°Storme!¡± she greeted me energetically. ¡°Come in!¡± ¡°Where is the pup?¡± I asked, looking around the room. ¡°Bylura returned to Loriel. I think she is working with Cilia and Loriel as they purchase a small skyship,¡± she was making some tea on a magic hot plate and setting out some cookies. She seemed way too excited. She sat across from me at the small table when she brought me a cup of tea. ¡°Did you see the progress when you visited the city today? I think the walls for the second floor will be done by the next 7th day.¡± I asked casually, ¡°The progress is amazing,¡± definitely compared to a non-magic building¡¯s pace of construction. I ventured my question, ¡°We talked with the stone mage. He mentioned something about doubling up on the stone hardening.¡± Isla looked thoughtful, ¡°Yes, I haven¡¯t run the numbers yet, but a third may be necessary.¡± She stopped there and didn¡¯t continue. I wanted answers, ¡°Why is it necessary? The mage said it was overkill?¡± Isla looked confused, and then a light bulb went off, and she grabbed some papers from a stack, found one, and handed it to me. She explained, ¡°Loriel got your warehouse zoned for skyships. The entire warehouse. So I thought it would be a good idea to have the roof capable of supporting the weight of a skyship.¡± It was not a bad idea. Unnecessary, but not a bad idea. I had been spending coins without restraint. Isla seemed to read my thoughts. ¡°Loriel was only able to make it happen because the warehouse was adjacent to the skyship platforms.¡± I was not too fond of this happening without my knowledge. I also pieced some things together. Loriel was buying a personal skyship, and she was crewing it...Isla was making the roof of my warehouse capable of nearing the weight of a skyship. I thought it best to nip this in the bud, ¡°The reinforcement is fine. But I want the entire roof covered in gardens. It can serve as an emergency landing for my skyship, but I don¡¯t plan to use it as such.¡± Isla¡¯s eyes slowly realized what I was saying. She wanted to say something but wisely held her tongue. ¡°Loriel needs to understand this is my building. If she wants a private dock for her skyship, then she can renovate a building of her own.¡± The remaining review of the progress was done with short responses. Isla was probably trying to come up with a way to tell Loriel that her private landing pad had just been removed from play. I went home to have dinner with my family. I was allowed to make dinner. They had a roasted chicken. Instead of using the chicken as is, I made a pie crust and cut up vegetables and a heavy gravy. The chicken pot pie took time and gave me time to talk with my family for a late dinner. Freya was upset with her tutors. They wanted more of her time every week, and she wanted to run her business empire. Freya was under the impression that she didn¡¯t need the academy or an apprenticeship. It was probably true as she was making almost as much as father was making as a skyship guard. She had nearly twenty kids in Hen¡¯s Hollow working for her. The older ones ran to the city while the younger ones ran small jobs in town. She was a minor crime boss¡ªwithout the crime. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Mother was getting ready to take her master¡¯s test again. This time she planned to travel to the guild in Aegis city instead, bypassing Solaris¡¯ city guild. Father¡¯s promotion had resulted in him being away more often from home. Pascal was not at dinner but had been by for lunch today. I let them know that Callem and Wynna had purchased an apartment building in the Aegis city, and I was opening a restaurant on the ground floor. This got a lively conversation going, and I admitted I planned to attend the academy in Aegis City and not in the capital. Freya was the most excited to have her brother close. Well, just a short skyship ride away. The questions on which academy I planned to attend were deflected. Father wanted me to attend the officer school for guards, while my mother was hoping I would go to the scholarium. The problem with the scholarium was they didn¡¯t teach any magic. It was a school for people without an awakened aether core. After dinner, I hugged my family and went back to the barracks. Gareth was in his bed and studying his textbook for his dungeon delving class. I asked, ¡°Where are the twins?¡± Gareth looked up from his book. ¡°Their brother had the baby, well his wife had the baby. They are out at their farm and will be back early tomorrow,¡± he dove back into his book. I cleaned the room with my spell, lay down, and cycled through my array of focus and aether exercises. Our door was cracked open, and Mia knocked and entered, ¡°Storme, can you help me study for the enchanting exam?¡± She said it like she was afraid to ask. ¡°We have an exam?¡± I asked, slightly confused. ¡°Well, the practical. I have to be able to use the stylus to write out any two basic runes. Since you are already making magic items, I don¡¯t think you need to show proficiency,¡± she said softly. She looked at Gareth, ¡°We can practice in my room so as to not disturb¡­¡± she indicated to Gareth. ¡°All you need to do is practice writing them,¡± I said, confused and not getting up. I was probably worse with the stylus than Mia, as I used my metal-shaping ability. She didn¡¯t move and then said, ¡°Can you watch me and point out my mistakes?¡± It was closer to a plea than a question. Gareth glanced sideways and motioned with his chin for me to go. I finally got it. Mia wanted some private time with me. The twins were not here, and my relationship with Mera was on rocky ground, so Mia was making a move. I had so much to do, though, ¡°You can practice at my desk over here and call me over when you need help.¡± Mia tilted her head, considering, ¡°Ok, I will be back in a minute.¡± She returned, worked on her enchanting, and called me over every few minutes to check it. I pointed out her mistakes, and she tried again. After two hours, she left to go to her room. Gareth closed the door after she left and asked, ¡°Why are you not interested in her, Storme? She is practically throwing herself at you.¡± I huffed, ¡°I am just not ready, Gareth.¡± He rolled his eyes and continued with his book. The truth is I was ready. My aether burn had mellowed out, and I was using my focus techniques to avoid any potentially embarrassing situation. My physical body was close to a seventeen-year-old teenager from Earth. I was still waiting to grow another two inches and fill out to match what I expected my adult form to be. I was growing faster and hoped by the end of the year to reach my physical maturity¡­catching up with my already mature reproductive equipment. I set my alarms and privacy spells. I pulled a dungeon resource book out and a note pad. In five weeks, I might be sending my team on their first resource-gathering mission. I had three types of wood I was considering for my skyship. Only two were accessible in Skyholme¡¯s dungeons. And of those two, only one was available in Aegis City¡¯s dungeon. The book of resources did have a reference for all the levels of a dungeon. I looked at the first level of the two dungeons in Aegis City since that seemed the best option for my crew. I found three resources I thought might be valuable. I had to pay ten gold per delve attempt, and that got me an 8-hour window to operate in the dungeon. Every hour past eight, the waiting guild reservation was paid a penalty. Also, departing adventures were scanned for dungeon essences. The Triumvirate purchased all dungeon essences at fixed costs. I didn¡¯t have to worry about that, as I didn¡¯t plan to have my party fight the bottom-floor guardian. Honey. There were giant bees and bee hives where honey could be harvested. It sold for nearly 120 silver per gallon. Sugar was a valuable commodity. I could have Mera make mead with honey, so stockpiling it wouldn¡¯t be a bad idea. The typical harvest on a delve was listed at 9 gallons of honey. My team could do better if they just focused on harvesting the honey. Frost berries. These grew under snow drifts and were difficult to harvest but highly useful in alchemy and made a great jam. The snow drifts were miles across and right before the final level one boss in the same dungeon as the honey. Those were the only two commodities in significant amounts on the first level besides oak trees. There were dozens of rarely occurring herbs listed as well, but bulk quantities would be difficult to harvest in a short 8-hour span. The spawning monsters had some harvestable materials, bee poison sacs, bee wings, and frost goblin hearts. I didn¡¯t have a practiced harvester in my group, so I didn¡¯t consider these low-value items anyway. The math was not good. To break even on each delve, I looked at 35 gold in salaries and fees on top of housing and food for all my six potential delvers. If they got 10 gallons of honey, it was made into forty gallons of mead. At current market prices, this was just under 12 gold. So converting the honey to mead did not add any value to the product. Hopefully, I could overcome this flaw with a higher-quality product. Frost berries sold for 30 silver per pound. Harvest amounts were somewhat unlimited, but I figured five pounds was a good target. So my total had about 14 gold worth of goods coming out. I would be the laughingstock of every dungeon delve company if they found out. Maybe after Gimble got them experienced enough, they could tackle the boss and do some harvesting on the second level. There were giant boars down there, and the aether-infused meat was quite tasty, looking at the charts in my books. I put down my books and notes back into my dimensional storage. If I didn¡¯t have unlimited funds getting a new dungeon delving team starting up would have been a headache. I thought about assigning rooms to the new delve team but planned to have them all on the third floor. So would have to wait. I got up and went to the bathroom. I really wanted the bowel purge upgrade for my cleanliness spell, but I was getting close to the upgrades to clean others¡­tough decisions. As I was returning from the privy, I heard people having sex. They were trying to be quiet, but what they were doing was obvious. I got to my room and reset my privacy screens. I thought about who I would want to share the experience with. Aelyn was the first woman to enter my mindscape, but it felt wrong. I tried to imagine her without her mark but couldn¡¯t do it. My thoughts drifted to Sammie, and I dropped that quickly. Sammie was essentially a female version of Gareth. That almost killed my thought process right there. I tried Mia¡­.no she just felt like a friend. I flashed to Isla, she was older, and attractive, and I liked that she deferred to me. I didn¡¯t dwell on it, just used my cleanliness spell and went to sleep. On the 6th day, we were going to have a match against another academy. Callem still hadn¡¯t found a willing opponent for us after we had obliterated the top academy in Solaris city. On the 7th day, my delve team was coming to Hen¡¯s Hollow for a reading from Wynna. Well, Sammie, Remy, and Lana were coming. Lana still had not made the cut, but if I couldn¡¯t find another porter, I guess I could give her a trial run. The week did not go well. Aelyn seemed apathetic. Callem didn¡¯t have any keys to her emotive state for me. The conditioning sessions were not as intense because of this. Everyone was tense in weapons training because a first-year academy from the capital island was coming out for the competition. The townspeople did their best to build a makeshift arena in our training yard. The upcoming contest had everyone extremely uptight except for Gareth. Callem had announced the prize to the winning academy was four hundred gold, which didn¡¯t help everyone¡¯s anxiety. Four hundred gold was a massive sum for our tiny academy. The entire town of Hen¡¯s Hollow would also be out for the contest. The tension with Mera didn¡¯t abate and only worsened when Gareth and Fera seemingly started to get much closer. I had my own focus on learning the aether shield spell, getting the crap beat out of me by the weapon¡¯s masters at Twin Rocks, and finishing my design for an ice cream churn. Instructor Aethon convinced me to sell my ice cream maker in his family¡¯s store and even license it for his family to manufacture. Tasting good chocolate ice cream for the first time would do that to someone. My aether shield spell was moving close to imprinting by the end of the week. If I could have spent 7th day with Selina, I probably could have finished the imprinting process. Instead, I was going to be with my dungeon crew as they got their readings from Wynna and Ennet. The entire dining hall was quiet on the morning of the 6th day. It was Gareth who stood up and tried to give his first rousing leadership speech. It went well, except he ended it with, ¡®Don¡¯t Lose.¡¯ I facepalmed. Chapter 64 Captivating Beauty Chapter 64 (Arc 2 Chapter 18) Captivating Beauty We had hours to warm up, and I was fighting second this time, knocking Pascal down to third. Since the barracks were adjacent to the yard, we got to see the massive and fancy Harbinger ship land. The Harbinger class ship was the mainstay of the Skyholme navy, but this one was a renovated ship with no weapons. I guessed it was either owned by the academy, or one of the students had connections. The other academy students who exited were an array of individuals with the exact same uniform. White with gold trim. It made our motley crew look like a bunch of refugees. I steamed a little since this was an intimidation tactic, and it was working. I could see uncertainty catching. I sighed and spoke, ¡°Looks like they couldn¡¯t decide what to wear, so one person chose it for all of them. I hope they all have the cleanliness spell, too, because they are all going to be eating dirt when they fight us.¡± Mia chuckled first. It got everyone going. So as they approached the yard, my group was all snickering and giggling at them. The only real way to ensure we maintained confidence was for Gareth and me to dominate our opponents. I moved next to my friend, ¡°Gareth, end it quickly. No playing with your opponent today.¡± He looked a little perturbed, so I explained, ¡°We need to break their morale. That means we need to show them how outclassed they are.¡± He nodded in understanding. We continued stretching, and they had some really handsome and beautiful members of their academy. I guessed maybe magic could buy looks for Skyholme¡¯s elite. Wait, most of them were wearing makeup. Really? I was speechless. The spectators from the capital island came from the Harbinger ship and other skyships docking. They traveled well with a sizable crowd that was easily going to dwarf ours. It was going to be standing room only very quickly. I nearly started laughing when I saw Freya selling meat on a stick and sending her runners for resupply. She was going to make a killing today. If she was smart, she should charge triple the price to visitors. Even at that price, they would think the food cheap. Things got interesting when we got a closer look at our opponents. Gareth was facing a massive dark-skinned male around my height. He moved with a fluid speed as he sped through sword forms in his warmup. He was impressive, and I noticed Gareth side-eyeing him. My opponent was a woman. She was tall, maybe 6¡¯1¡±, and was wielding a staff. She had a platinum blonde ponytail with red highlights that whipped around as she did a warmup routine. Studying her, I noticed her lower body had power, she was extremely effective in adding speed to her staff with her narrow hips. Her flexibility was on par with mine. She performed a split when she saw me tracking her and smiled at me teasingly. I think it was another intimidation tactic, so I did a high kick and held myself in the pose for a few seconds before transitioning into a rotating back kick with the other leg. This got a lot of stares from our visitors and claps from the stands by the locals. It was not a difficult move to do without a target. Gareth, seeing how well they received my effort, was quickly put on a display of backflips, kicks, and rotations. Faster, stronger, and with more grace than I had shown. Gareth¡¯s demonstration was made scarier by the fact he was so large. My opponent focused on Gareth with obvious fascination. I admit I was jealous as the bright blue eyes of the staff wielder remained locked off Gareth. Whoever she was, she was a natural beauty. We had maybe 1500 spectators as the warmups finished, with more locals trickling in as they closed their businesses for a few hours to watch. The opposing academy removed their bright white and gold uniforms to reveal tight-fitting gray clothes underneath. I noted that these clothes were just loose enough not to show their muscles flexing. This was very clever, and Callem¡¯s sour face made it clear he was not happy. Reading an opponent¡¯s muscles was one of things he trained fervently at our academy. That advantage was now slightly muted. Callem, being the head of the host academy, got the inter-academy tournament going. He regained his irritation at the uniforms of our opponents and spoke, ¡°Thank you all for attending a display of the great youths of Skyholme as they forge their skills in the first year of the academy. I thank our guests for being gracious to come out to our humble school and compete with our students. The first duel¡­.¡± Callem continued and listed off all the pairings. The visiting school only brought their top students, enough to match against us evenly. Gareth was soon in the center with his opponent. The match started, and neither moved for seconds. Then Gareth attacked two-handed and switched to one-handed a few breaths later. His opponent parried the first three strikes but missed Gareth¡¯s punch when he went one-handed. The solid connection could be felt by the thud and flow of blood from the boy¡¯s nose. Gareth didn¡¯t give him time to recover. Gareth quickly went to two hands, chopping at his legs. The boy tried to retreat but deflected Gareth¡¯s sword into his shins. Bone and blood were produced as he toppled with a grunt. The match was called in Gareth¡¯s favor, and some stunned people were in the crowd. My opponent was extremely concerned and moved to the fallen boy. I guessed they were a couple. She was definitely too attractive not to have a suiter. It took a few moments for the healer to get the boy stabilized and helped out of the arena. Gareth stood by me, ¡°Was that fast enough, Stormy?¡± ¡°Yeah, maybe a little too bloody, though,¡± I said as I saw malice forming in the opponent¡¯s eyes. ¡°I didn¡¯t have a choice,¡± Gareth said. ¡°He had the ability to read my mind for my next move. I had to adlib the entire match and not think at all¡­just letting my body act.¡± My mouth didn¡¯t work for a second, then I asked, ¡°How did you know?¡± ¡°Instinct. It was one of the tier 2 abilities Callem had been training me to counter. I knew it by how he reacted to my first sequence,¡± Gareth relayed. That was incredible. I was being called forward. The pretty blue eyes of my opponent had turned icy cold. I approached and stood across from her, and she rasped, ¡°Your boy toy embarrassed my brother. Now I have to embarrass you.¡± So Gareth got the pretty girl angry at me? I said the first thing that came to my head, ¡°So he was just your brother? Does that mean you are single?¡± Her eyes flashed in confusion before going cold again, and she launched a flurry of attacks. She was good as she pressed me and had me on my toes. I tried to tease her a little, ¡°You know your eyes are quite beautiful when you are not furious.¡± My comment spurred her on, and I finally retaliated with some offense of my own. I nearly stumbled as she didn¡¯t block a blow to her knee. I didn¡¯t want to hurt the pretty young woman for some reason. I tried to pull my strike and thankfully did. As I connected with her knee, my knee buckled instead. Her face turned smug. I was forced to roll away from her counterattack. The bitch had some type of ability that transferred wounds to the attacker! Thankfully my self-inflicted damage was quickly healed. I switched my mentality to just stick exchanges, avoiding body strikes. Her smug visage faded as my limp disappeared in seconds. She disengaged, and her chest was heaving, and she was sweating profusely. I was covered in dirt from my roll and sweat as well. I cast my cleanliness spell on myself and smiled at her, ¡°Your makeup is running. I actually think you are more beautiful without it.¡± Her eyes softened a little from the constant icy stare at my compliment. My plan was to make her mad and wear herself out. If I couldn¡¯t hit her, that meant she would either have to exhaust herself or I would have to wrestle her into a submission hold. I was still a little bit weary of getting close to her for the latter. She was an exceptionally skilled fighter. She spoke, ¡°Sorry, Storme, but I am ending this now.¡± Well, that was not fair. I had missed her name when they announced the pairings, and she remembered mine. ¡°Wait!¡± I said, and she paused in whatever she had planned. ¡°How about a bet? If I win, you have to take me on a date. And if you win, I have to take you on a date?¡± The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Unfortunately, she ground her teeth immediately, ignoring my attempt at funny deception. She was a quick thinker, ¡°Do you think I am an idiot!¡± Her attacks increased in fervor, and I was struck with a blow from nowhere to my shoulder. I scrambled away, and she dogged me around the arena. I was trying to figure out where the attack had come from. It was a solid strike with force but not incapacitating. Two more strikes, and she was panting, and her eyes had a look I was familiar with¡ªaether exhaustion. Maybe the strikes were a type of telekinetic punch? She was using aether for them. Her other ability must use aether too. So she was running low on aether? I put on a Cheshire grin. This had her pause and step back as she tried to figure out why I was now confident. She had landed a half dozen phantom punches, and I was now smiling. I cast an alarm spell on the top of my staff. The effect was the bright flash, and it would go off when the conditions were met. The conditions were contact with another weapon. I asked, ¡°I wish our dance could continue, princess, but my fellows are anxious about their chance to fight. If you wish to dance again, know that I am amenable.¡± Maybe she had some charm ability or something similar, but her beauty enthralled me. I moved in, and she blocked my attack setting off the flash. She wasn¡¯t prepared and was blinded while I opened my eyes to see her spinning a defense with her staff and retreating. It was too slow, and I engaged. The first two strikes were to her ribs and sternum. The third strike was a knee strike, and I grimaced as her transfer attack ability activated. I gambled with a series of four strikes to her thighs and had no reprisals. I risked flashing the butt of my staff to her forehead and connected, knocking her out cold. I was declared the winner and walked back to my side of the arena. I noticed her brother giving me a death glare as he joined the healers to help his sister. I sat with Gareth and asked, ¡°So I missed the names of our opponents. What was her name?¡± Gareth¡¯s jaw dropped. ¡°You didn¡¯t even know her name? You were flirting with her the entire time you were fighting!¡± Gareth looked at her, sitting up, ¡°Tessa. Tessa Torrent. I don¡¯t know how she relates to the Torrent seat on the Triumvirate, but I am guessing she and her half-brother are being groomed for one of the 23. Both seem to have exceptional abilities. Callem said Tessa had a captivating aura. It just draws attention to her, it doesn¡¯t charm or affect the mind in any way. Not that she needed it with how she looks.¡± Pascal¡¯s fight had started, and I half watched the fight, and half watched Tessa as she recovered. She was eyeing me as well without being too obvious. I broke contact and scanned the crowd for my family and groaned. Isla was in the stands with Loriel and Bylura. And¡­Leda and Cilia were with them. Maybe they had purchased their skyship. Once Loriel made sure I had seen her, she left with her entourage. I returned to the fight, and Pascal with losing, losing badly. A few exchanges later and it was over with Pascal¡¯s getting healers to fix his smashed hand and shattered elbow. Mia redeemed us in the fourth match, winning a drawn-out combat. We lost the next three duels from there, but all were close contests. The primary reason was our opponents had minor abilities to give them the edge. Our weapon skills were on par with theirs. We won the next seven contests, with Mera and Fera among those wins. By this point, the other academy had run out of students with useful abilities for combat. The remaining contests were split evenly, so we ended up winning the day. When Callem announced the final results, the locals cheered their hometown heroes as the opposing students dressed in their whites and made their way to the ship they rode in on. I was making my way to the barracks through the crowd when someone tapped me on the back. I figured it was just another townsfolk congratulating me in person, but when I turned, the tall blonde Tessa was there, her half-brother standing behind her like a bodyguard. She definitely had a captivating aura. Her face was smeared, and her hair was amess, but I still longed to burn her image into my mind. I cycled my focus exercises so I did not appear like a love-struck puppy, and they worked a little bit, but the fact was Tessa had raw charisma too. Her brother looked extremely agitated at this encounter. She spoke, ¡°If you are ever in the capital, you can find me, and I will take you up on that offer to dance.¡± She then walked by me without another word toward her ship. Her brother followed with a glare. In my room, I cleaned and waited till noon. Everyone else had moved into town for the celebration. My dungeon team was arriving slightly after mid-day for their readings. I studied my spell from the window in my room while watching the skyship pad. When the blue-green transport landed that I recognized as traveling only around our island, I got up and headed to meet my team. I found Callem, Wynna, Ennet, and Aelyn already there, talking with Sammie, Remy, and Lana. I was in a good mood, so I came in smiling to the group, ¡°Welcome! Where are we headed to get everything done?¡± Wynna replied to the group, ¡°We are going to Ennet¡¯s house. We will do the readings there. Then Callem is going to set them up all at the farm for the week.¡± My mind skipped. The farm? I still had not approved of Lana as a porter¡ªdid Callem tell her something different? I pretended I knew the plan already. ¡°That sounds great. I can cook while everyone is getting their reading,¡± I said, falling in with the group as they walked. I walked next to Callem. Callem said, ¡°I am going to work with Sammie for the next week in the mornings and evenings. Elijah and Elora will meet you at Twin Rocks for your nightly training.¡± And just like that, my day went south. Elijah was an axe master, and I matched poorly against him. He liked to throw axes and switch from two-hand heavy axes to two one-handed axes in the middle of combat. I had healed many a flesh wound from his ¡®enthusiastic¡¯ training methods. I started to prepare spaghetti and meatballs. The sauce would take about two hours to marinate the meatballs, and the pasta wouldn¡¯t take long. A large arch led to the living room, and as I had just laid out my ingredients, a knock at the door had Callem quickly moving to open it. Talia was at the door. Wynna started introducing Talia to everyone. I guessed Callem had told Selina, who told Talia that her dungeon team was meeting in Hen¡¯s Hollow. I yelled from the kitchen, ¡°Is Talia going to the farm too?¡± Callem¡¯s bright yellow eyes looked mischievous, ¡°Yes, just for tonight¡¯s session, though. She still has classes in the capital.¡± I nodded and thought it was great that Callem had taken such an interest in preparing my dungeon team. A little more heads-up would be nice, but I trusted him. Wynna was speaking loud enough for me to hear as I mixed the egg, ground beef, bread crumbs, and spices together. ¡°So readings are private. Everything on your sheet will be known only to you. After you finish reading it, you can go and talk with Storme, your employer.¡± Sammie asked a question, ¡°But if he is paying for the reading, why doesn¡¯t he get to see everything on the sheet?¡± Good question! Yeah, why Wynna? ¡°Storme knows readings are private and is trusting you to tell him what you think is necessary. Now who is first? We will go into the sunroom,¡± Wynna finished. Sammie was first, and as I was rolling out the meatballs, she came into the kitchen, and I paused, waiting for her to talk. She just put the sheet in front of me to read. ¡°Trust, right?¡± she said. I nodded and looked at it. I noticed Callem looking through the large arch with eager eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t tell Callem what is on your sheet,¡± I said loudly enough for him to hear. ¡°Only if he guesses correctly can you confirm it.¡± She nodded with solidity. I liked her. I studied the sheet. Abilities Focused Strike, Tier 1 Power of One, Tier 1 Wyvern¡¯s Heart, Tier 2 Harmonize with Wood, Tier 1 Traits Adaptive, Tier 1 Strong Bones, Tier 1 Affinities Axes, Tier 1 I hopefully kept my face impassive as I read the sheet to irritate Callem. I put the paper on the stove, letting it burn up in the magical heater. I was getting the sauce ready next, so it was already lit. A person usually had just one ability at tier 1. Sometimes it took some effort to find a use for it. Two-tier 1 abilities were still common. But three tier 1 abilities¡­that was rare. And on top of that, one was a tier 2 ability? Sammie was special. Focused Strike just doubled the power of a single attack. Not powerful, but it had a short cooldown of 30 seconds and used almost no aether. Since Sammie did not have an awakened core that was good news for her. Power of One was useless in a group setting. It was similar to Aelyn¡¯s duelist ability. When Sammie fought by herself, she experienced a slight increase in all physical traits. Harmonize with wood was a sculpting ability. She could use it to mold wood with her mind. It was tier 1 and only affected a small area so no making furniture or building skyships. But she could make small things like small sculptures and objects. It used aether, and her pool was small, so she couldn¡¯t make much. I knew most of the tier 1 abilities as Gareth, and I had studied books on them. Tier 2 abilities were very rare, and I think Wyvern¡¯s Heart was an increased endurance ability. Her traits were her genetic characteristics. Adaptive was common for humans, and strong bones meant she had dense bones that were hard to break. Not bad at all for a future tank! ¡°Sammie, everything looks great. Remember, don¡¯t tell Callem until he guesses correctly.¡± She nodded emphatically. ¡°Callem will help turn you into a strong front liner. You have all the tools, and I am happy to have you on my dungeon team.¡± She beamed at the praise and looked longingly at the food I was preparing. Thankfully I was prepared enough for ten people. Sammie sat down, and I was excited to see what other secrets Remy and Lana held. Chapter 65 The Secrets Out Chapter 65 (Arc 2 Chapter 19) The Secret''s Out Sammie was happy when she went to join the others. Talia had been next and still hadn¡¯t emerged, so I had the meatballs browning in the oven as I prepared a lot of sauce. One of the keys to great meatballs is getting the right balance of fat into the sauce. Too little and the sauce is bland; too much and it is greasy. That was why I watched the meatballs browning. If the meat was too lean, I would need to add some fat to the sauce while it marinated at a simmer. That was another mistake a lot of people made. They didn¡¯t let the meatballs simmer in the sauce long enough before serving, letting the flavors blend. My thoughts were interrupted as Talia emerged from the sunroom. She looked happy but just went and sat on the couch. She didn¡¯t move to the kitchen to give me any information. Fine. I watched Remy head in next. I wasn¡¯t expecting much from the kid. He was going to be our introductory healer. I turned the meatballs over and pureed the boiling sauce with a mixer. The mixer was used to make whip cream but it worked well here. When Remy emerged, he had the paper in front of him, still reading it as he walked into the kitchen. He placed the paper down and oriented toward me. I tried to read the boy...was it shock? Disappointment? I cleaned my hands and looked at his page. I couldn¡¯t read it. It was in a language I was not familiar with. Remy seeing my confusion, answered, ¡°My native tongue is different.¡± I remembered Wynna saying the sheet would conform itself to whatever script the target was most comfortable with on my first reading. ¡°Well, you can tell me whatever you want then,¡± I said, moving the paper toward the stove and seeking a cue from him that it was ok to destroy. He nodded, and I sent it up in flames. He moved close and whispered to me, ¡°I have two abilities. Healing hands, which is tier 1. The other is hibernate, also a tier 1 ability.¡± He looked at me for approval. Hibernate allowed a person to sleep for years and not age. It requires you to have enough fat stores to make it through the period at a lower metabolic rate. It was not a useful ability for Remy. I supported him, though, ¡°Two tier 1 abilities! That is great!¡± He cracked a smile and resumed. ¡°I have three traits. Mathematician at tier 2, thermal sight at tier 1, and cryptologist at tier 2.¡± he shrank into himself a bit. The thermal sight just meant he could see heat signatures at night. The other two skills were interesting. Maybe he could be my accountant? Not so much for tracking the coins, but tracking purchasing and dungeon harvests. He definitely wasn¡¯t built for delving. But for right now, he was my only healer...unless I joined the delve team, and I preferred the safety outside of the ley line dungeons. ¡°That is awesome. We can absolutely use your skills,¡± I said with a smile. ¡°I have proficiencies as well. But some of them I don¡¯t understand.¡± He turned to a face of concentration, ¡°Mechanical engineering is tier 4, and mathematics is tier 4. I was only taught basic numbers by my father when I was young. I remember picking it up easily, but when he disappeared, I stopped.¡± My mind was in high gear. Remy¡¯s skill set was that of an engineer...strong math and engineering. I knew spaceships existed on the outside of the Sphere. The high aether concentration on the inside of the Sphere interfered with conventional electronics unless they were hardened against it. Also, with magic being so prevalent, it was unnecessary for most civilizations to invest heavily in manufacturing. From our evening conversations with Wynna, I knew the closer you got to the massive tunnels that connected the inner and outer Sphere, the more likely you were to find aether and technology blended. Gunpowder and combustible fuel were not used because it was too easy to ignite with simple magics. My appraising eyes focused on Remy, ¡°Yes, Remy. We can definitely use your skills.¡± He left to sit and converse with the others as I got all the meatballs into the sauce and started working on the spaghetti. Just flour, eggs, salt, some oil, and a touch of seasoning. The dough was done when Lana came to the kitchen. She held her sheet to her chest like it was something precious. My hands were sticky with dough, and I waited on the tiny girl to reveal what she pleased. She looked at the simmering pot and the dough and then into my eyes as she reluctantly handed me the sheet. I said, ¡°You can choose what you want to tell me. I do not have to see all your secrets.¡± I tried to sound as supportive as possible. She shook her head; no, ¡°Sammie and Remy told you everything. You are giving all of us an opportunity beyond our dreams. You can see everything.¡± She held out the paper confidently to me, and I took it. I was feeling old with the weight of responsibility and the trust these young people were putting on me. My demeanor had evolved since I had awakened, and Callem¡¯s training had given me confidence. The snippets of my past life also helped, but they were getting foggier and foggier. The paper read; Abilities Aether Infusion, Tier 1 Precise Auditory Recall, Tier 1 Traits Adaptive, Tier 1 Fearless, Tear 1 Affinities Illusion Magic, Tier 4 Aether Core: 44 Max Aether Core: 77 Aether Matrix: 23 Max Aether Matrix: 32 Aether infusion allowed a mage to recharge their aether core quicker. And the precise auditory recall meant she could remember any sound she heard. Her aether matrix and core were large enough to become a successful mage¡ªa step or two below an archmage. ¡°How?¡± I asked, confused. Lana shrunk back a little, ¡°What? Is it not good? I thought¡­¡± Tears were starting to form. I clarified to stop the waterworks, ¡°How did no one find you? You have the tools to be a very talented mage, maybe exceptional.¡± What I said was true. A tier 4 illusion magic affinity meant she could imprint tier 4 illusion spells at the cost of just two on her aether matrix instead of eight. I didn¡¯t know any tier 4 illusion spells off the top of my head, but I wouldn¡¯t mind investing in some for her. I addressed Lana, ¡°First off, you are hired.¡± I reached into my pocket, summoned a roll of 100 large silver coins, and handed them to her. I reached below the counter and summoned a spellbook. ¡°Second, you will be learning this spell next. I produced my tier 3 dimensional closet spellbook for her.¡± Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Lana was stunned and crying as she fingered the roll of silver coins in one hand and touched the spellbook on the counter. She spoke, ¡°I stole the book.¡± Her eyes were unfocused. ¡°The invisibility spellbook. I stole it. After I learned the spell, I returned it, I swear.¡± She was sobbing. Wynna was coming to check on her, but I signaled it was fine. ¡°And did you steal the dimensional spell too?¡± I asked. ¡°No! No!¡± she pleaded. ¡°I just studied it in the library at night after snuggling in while invisible. It took me almost a year. I never told anyone I had magic. If I did, I would have ended up enslaved to an organization like Remy. I just went through the academy hoping to graduate.¡± Even with her fearless trait, she was acting meek and timid. Fearless just meant she was immune to fear effects from spells and auras. It didn¡¯t affect how she would act it just kept her mind clear enough to act in dangerous situations. ¡°Ok, Lana. Is it ok if I share your information with a magic instructor? She may train you for free. If not, I will pay her.¡± Lana actually had more potential than Talia in magic. I asked another question, ¡°You said you graduated from a lower city academy? What did you study?¡± Lana blushed, ¡°I¡­I didn¡¯t graduate,¡± she admitted. ¡°I just cleaned the building for food and a bed.¡± This admission finally made everything make sense on how she had been overlooked. ¡°That explains why you are 16. If you had graduated from the academy, you would have been between 22 and 23,¡± I mumbled. ¡°What¡­¡± she paused. ¡°You knew I was 16? Do you have an assessment ability?¡± I put my finger to my lips, the universal signal for silence. She nodded. I continued with my questions, ¡°And how did your information end in my folio when I was doing interviews?¡± I asked with a smirk, already knowing the answer. ¡°I¡­I¡­I put it there,¡± she returned my smirk, having finally gotten comfortable with the fact I was not going to throw her out, and I had made her privy to one of my secrets. We rejoined the group in the living room after I destroyed her paper. We socialized for an hour as the group got comfortable with each other, and then I went and cut the pasta, boiled it, tossed it in garlic butter, and served everyone meatballs on top. Sammie and Callem seemed to have a contest on who could eat more, each having multiple portions. Callem took the delve team, Aelyn included, out to the farm. I left to go talk with Isla. Isla was not in her room above the tavern in town. She must be with Loriel and the group that came today to watch the action. I tried Selina next, and she was in her rented house. I spent an hour getting help with my aether shield spell before broaching the topic of Lana. Selina was so interested in the girl she left me to head out to the farm. It was getting late in the evening. I thought about looking for Mia. Maybe she would want to practice with her stylus. I didn¡¯t find her in the barracks, so I went and made five light globes in the enchanting lab to keep my mind occupied. When I retired to my room that evening, Gareth was not there. I set up my privacy screen and alarms. I studied the aether shield spell, did my exercises, meditation, created some coins, and read some dungeon-delving books. I was having trouble sleeping, and images of Tessa kept popping into my head. My delayed pubescence was taking hold. I used my focus exercises to eliminate my excitement. I wondered if Tessa¡¯s ability had a lingering effect or if I was actually experiencing some actual infatuation with her. The new week started with Elijah doing our conditioning since Aelyn was out bonding with her new dungeon team. We ended up not seeing her during the week, and everyone began to miss her as Elijah managed to be even harder on us than Aelyn. I realized how much leeway she had been giving me in particular, as Elijah managed to push me harder and harder every session. My nights out at Twin Rocks were not fun either. My aether shield spell was imprinted on 3rd day, and Elora and Elijah had taken to attacking me from opposite sides when I used the overdrive mode of the lightning reflexes spell. I wasn¡¯t sure if this was a good sign or not, but it did level my aether shield spell quickly. My spell progress as a while was doing well. Aether shield had reached level 6 in just this week. My evolutions were quick cast at level one, allowing me to establish the shield in a blink for a slight cost increase in aether. At level two, I went for dual-cast in order to maintain two shields. At level three, I strengthened the shield so it could last longer and it could even take my weight briefly before sinking. At level 5, I took the standard fixed evolution. This allowed the shield to remain stationary instead of moving with my body¡¯s orientation. I could use it as a step to add height to my leaps and do insane flips in the air. The step was invisible to anyone without aether site, so I thought I would look amazing. I even confirmed I could use the spell to create steps. I cast two, walked to the second step, disappeared the first step in order to create a 3rd high step, and just repeated. I liked aether spells because your imagination was the limit of their utility. Aether lock had also reached level 6, and at level 5, I had taken the evolution of shatter arcane lock. This allowed me to break another mage¡¯s aether lock spell by ¡®unweaving it.¡¯ Privacy reached level 9, a two-level increase but no evolutions. The most interesting effect was my alarm spell. At level 13, I discovered a unique evolution that was not mentioned in the text. It protected the mage from the flash effect of the spell. In other words, I wouldn¡¯t see the flash at all. This was used to an interesting effect when I fought Elora and Elijah, as I could keep chaining the flash alarms and disrupt them. Both had some blind-fighting ability, but going back and forth with the flashes got them disoriented enough that I could sometimes win against both of them in overdrive mode. The lightning reflexes spell made it all the way to level 16, which I thought was amazing in itself. I had a very difficult decision to make at level 17. My cleanliness, obfuscate abilities, and dimensional closet all gained one level with no evolutions. Mend flesh had reached level 14, giving me an evolution at level 13. This evolution was called body sculpting (self). I had thought of it after seeing how perfect Tessa and all her fellow students looked. Right now, I could just use it on myself and only tighten my skin and remove fat. I was happy with the way I looked, so I didn¡¯t use the spell on myself, but maybe future evolutions would allow me to use it on others. I was planning to learn a new healing spell in the not-too-distant future, so these vanity upgrades were acceptable. As the sixth day came, everyone was excited to get out from Elijah¡¯s supervision and get Aelyn back for the next week. I think that might have been his plan all along. Even more exciting was next week was the last week of our first semester. We had two more semesters to look forward to. Some students were stressed about competency testing, but I doubted anyone would fail. Gareth asked me what I was doing on my 7th day. I told him I planned to head to Aegis City with Aelyn to meet Isla at the restaurant. He asked to join us as the twins were going home, and he didn¡¯t need to study. I was still trying to keep my dungeon team a secret from Gareth, but I knew he had his suspicions. I hadn¡¯t spent much time with Gareth, so I agreed. But I made one massive miscalculation. There was only one skyship from Hen¡¯s Hollow to Aegis City every day. My dungeon crew practicing out at the farm were also returning to Aegis City on the 6th day, and I hadn¡¯t had time to warn them that Gareth was in the dark. It only took Lana coming up to me excitedly on the deck to tell me about her progress with Selina. Lana was very petite and cute once she cleaned up. Gareth immediately butted in, ¡°Stormy, I didn¡¯t know you made some new friends! My name is Gareth. Gareth Highguard.¡± I supposed I was going to have to get used to this every time a semi-attractive young woman was around me. ¡°Damn Gareth, we are going to have to ask Wynna and Ennet to do another reading on you. I think they missed one of your abilities or traits.¡± Gareth perked up, ¡°Really, Stormy? What did they miss?¡± With my best delivery, I said, ¡°Philanderer extraordinaire, tier 7.¡± Lana and Gareth looked confused, and my joke fell flat. After the crickets stopped, Lana indicated a smiling Gareth, ¡°Is he on our dungeon delve team too?¡± Gareth¡¯s eyes got wider and wider. So wide that Lana looked scared. ¡°Stormy, did she just say what I think she just said? Because if she said what I think she did, then we need to talk!¡± In a comically exaggerated act, Gareth put his arm around tiny Lana and ushered her off to the side to talk with her. ¡°So Lana, please tell me everything about this delve team. Every. Single. Detail.¡± He turned to look at me with a wink, and Lana looked like a mouse under a cat¡¯s paw. Well, guess I couldn¡¯t keep it secret forever. Chapter 66 Spell Shopping Chapter 66 (Arc 2 Chapter 20) Spell Shopping The proverbial cat was out of the bag. I watched as Gareth kept Lana from escaping his inquisition and was about to intervene when Sammie put herself between Gareth and Lana. Gareth held up his hands in innocence as Sammie laid into him, protecting her teammate. Gareth went to plan B and started pointing at me, but Sammie didn¡¯t turn around. I started laughing, and Gareth seeing my mirth stepped around Sammie and approached me. Sammie was talking to Lana as Gareth got close enough to talk, ¡°Stormy! So who is that mound of muscle? She wouldn¡¯t even tell me her name! Come on, you know I know more about dungeons than anyone you know. Was this group my surprise birthday gift?¡± He put his arm around me and pulled me tight to face Sammie and Lana. His attempt at camaraderie was more to show that we were friends to the two young women rather than a display of true affection. I decided to needle him, ¡°I already have a team leader Gareth.¡± I removed his arm from around my shoulder. ¡°Besides, we already agreed you were going to be a waiter in the restaurant.¡± ¡°Stormy!¡± he held his heart with both hands as I had just stabbed him. ¡°How could you!¡± he said mockingly. ¡°I will even work for free! Just let me on your delve team.¡± I pretended to give it some serious thought. Whenever Gareth needed money, all he had to do was Storme¡¯s Bank and make a withdrawal. With his winnings from the tournament, he hadn¡¯t asked for any coins recently. ¡°Fine, if you can convince the team leader to take you on, I will allow it. His name is Gimble, and Sammie, Lana, and Remy are headed to see him at the Guild Hall to train. His eyes lit up, and he gave me a genuine hug. Gareth spun around, scanning the passengers, ¡°Which one is Remy? I am guessing that is her, definitely your type Storme.¡± He pointed at a woman in a flowing blue silk top with dark brown canvas pants. He didn¡¯t wait for me to affirm it and just walked straight toward her. Sammie and Lana approached me. Sammie spoke, ¡°Is that man actually your friend?¡± She asked, sounding dubious. ¡°Yep, my best friend. He is actually younger than me. Don¡¯t be fooled by his goofiness, it is how he seduces innocent women. He is actually an exceptional athlete and warrior.¡± Sammie was studying Gareth intently as the woman he was talking to suddenly slapped him. I chuckled, ¡°He has gotten more brazen with women recently.¡± Gareth was scanning the other passengers who were now giving him a wider berth. He approached another woman in athletic clothes. Lana, who was hiding behind Sammie, asked, ¡°What is he doing?¡± ¡°I told him Remy was on board. He is trying to find him, but I think he assumed I hired another pretty face to match you two,¡± I said and saw Sammie blush and Lana hide behind her friend¡¯s large frame to hide her own red face. It was a few minutes, and two failed Gareth attempts later when Lana voiced, ¡°We should warn Aelyn about Gareth if he is going to join the team.¡± I started laughing, ¡°No need. Aelyn and Gareth already know each other.¡± I decided to throw Gareth a bone, ¡°Gareth is the one who liberated Aelyn. We are still trying to find a way to remove the servitude mark.¡± Sammie said quietly, ¡°That is what Aelyn said about her mark. When do you think you can free her of it?¡± Sammie obviously liked Aelyn and didn¡¯t like the idea of marking people. ¡°I hope to get a solid dungeon team and then visit the lowlands. While we are down there, I will find someone,¡± I said sincerely, and both Lana and Sammie nodded. ¡°I think Remy went below deck to look at the runic script for the enchantments. At least, that was what he was talking about with an engineer earlier,¡± We all laughed. Gareth had exhausted the three women on deck and was reluctantly moving on to the young men. He did look over for help, but I just gave him a thumbs up. Remy joined the group when we landed, and Gareth immediately started talking to him. My group entered the warehouse restaurant entrance with Gareth and Remy talking in the back. The painter was hard at work on his fourth panel. Gareth and Remy paused to take in the succubus painting while I looked at the three new additions. The first was a black dragon with shimmering red eyes. On its back was a female warrior in shiny plate mail waving a sword, and she had black hair streaming behind her. The third image was an ogre in all its glory fighting an indistinct adventurer. A smashed-open chest was on the ground nearby with gold and silver coins strewn about. The current panel, the artist, was working on was a pack of harpies hovering over a dead cow with blood and gore on them. Each harpy had a necklace with a silver coin on it. I approached and complimented him on his work so far. He said Isla was on the third floor with the stone mage. ¡°Sammie, why don¡¯t you take Gareth, Remy, and Lana to see Gimble. I think all the talk about the building will be boring for you. But the apartments are being built upstairs. I am guessing three or four more weeks before you can move in here.¡± They had to drag Gareth and Remy from the succubus panel. I went upstairs. The second-floor walls were complete, and I walked into a few rooms. The stone mage had done a good job. The walls were smooth, and the bathrooms had cavities for future plumbing. I walked to the third floor and found the stone mage working on some walls. We talked briefly before he said Isla was on the roof with the arborist. I asked him about adding toilets, showers, and sinks to the apartments. He said it was on his list after finishing the structure. I climbed the ladder to the roof as the stairs had not been set by the stone mage yet. Isla was talking with an old man and a younger boy. Isla waved to me and smiled, ¡°Storme! Did you see the progress!? Did you check out the warehouse? We have received most of the furniture already!¡± She was giddy with excitement. ¡°This is Barrow Winters. He is an expert arborist, and we were discussing the options for the roof. The young man is his apprentice.¡± I shook hands with the white hair and wrinkled man. ¡°You are young,¡± he started. ¡°Isla was telling me you wanted gardens up on your roof here. I told her it was possible, but keeping everything hydrated is going to take a lot of water.¡± ¡°Not a problem. There will be tanks on the roof for plumbing with condenser runes on them to harvest water,¡± his eyebrows went up in surprise at my statement. ¡°I am an enchanter,¡± I explained. He nodded. ¡°So Storme, there are a few options. I would suggest putting a solid wall around the perimeter to start, maybe five feet in height. Otherwise, the winds might destroy everything. Most of the gardens will need to be closer to that wall, but I do know so hardier plants for the center of the roof. If you are interested, I know a few species of dungeon trees, but then we will need a raised bed, so we have room for their root systems¡­.¡± The conversation lasted hours as his apprentice took notes. Most of what I wanted up here was to supply the restaurant with fresh produce and herbs. We decided on a number of fruit bushes, trees lining the perimeter, and the rest of the space was going to be gardens and paths. Isla had waited for us to finish. I took the ladder down to the third floor. ¡°The stairs to the roof will be installed this week. The stone mage is planning to add arches in the hanger so that end of the roof can support a skyship as well.¡± She paused, ¡°I will need more funds.¡± We walked to where my room was going to be on the floor. A window opening had been added. ¡°I want a larger window, floor to ceiling, for my room.¡± I looked at Isla, ¡°How many coins do you need?¡± She pulled a parchment out of her pocket and handed it to me. It was an itemized list. I looked it over. She had everything on the sheet that she had spent to date and expected future expenses. ¡°I thought you would want to know the final cost. Or at least a close estimate,¡± Isla said. I continued to review the list. Construction, furniture, security, kitchen appliances¡­ twenty-six lines in total. I spent a while reviewing the list. ¡°Do you have receipts?¡± I asked in jest. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Isla didn¡¯t hesitate, ¡°Yes, the recent accounting is off by 2 gold, 19 silver. I will reimburse you if I can¡¯t find where it was expensed.¡± That was an unexpected admission. To complete the building, I looked at the bottom line, 41 platinum, 88 gold. I reached into my pocket, pulled 7 platinum from my space, and handed it to her. ¡°When do you need the rest?¡± I asked. Isla took the coins, ¡°I need half by the next 7th day. So another 15 platinum,¡± she smiled. ¡°I was going to see Wynna tomorrow and ask. If I don¡¯t get the coins, it just means I might lose the build teams, and finishing will take longer. Right now, I expect construction to finish in three weeks.¡± Isla was beaming. It had been an extremely fast rebuild. I was thinking about getting Wynna the 35 platinum when Isla started talking again, ¡°You were amazing yesterday. Loriel was smug when she said you were going to lose to Tessa. I even won two gold from her when you won.¡± ¡°Did Loriel know her injury transfer ability?¡± I asked. ¡°Is that what that was? Yeah, she said something about punching yourself in the face when you would fight her,¡± she said while pocketing the platinum coins. ¡°And she didn¡¯t tell me?¡± I left the question hanging. If Loriel was trying to get closer to me then not telling me about Tessa Torrent¡¯s ability was a huge negative. ¡°I¡­I don¡¯t think¡­I think she was just as surprised about the matchup. Tessa should have been fighting first, not second,¡± she made excuses for her friend. But maybe that was true. I would have lost to her brother unless I activated my lightning reflexes spell. ¡°Make sure she doesn¡¯t land her skyship on my building!¡± I said while walking away and descending the stairs. I planned to purchase a spell book before returning to Hen¡¯s Hollow. Isla raced to catch up with me. ¡°Do you want to get something to eat?¡± She asked with a hopeful smile. I gave in, and we ate at a small restaurant near the store that sold spellbooks. I listened to Isla prattle on about the project, only half interested. The warehouse conversion was just a way to funnel funds and build a skyship in secrecy. I was thinking about my current spellbooks. I planned to learn thermostatic aura, a tier 3 spell, next. I wanted a more powerful healing spell as well. The ranged healing spell was tier 4, but I didn¡¯t want to invest weeks learning it. So a tier 3 healing spell that could repair bones is what I was seeking at the spellbook vender. The two offensive lightning spellbooks I had were currently at the back of my list to learn, as I couldn¡¯t practice them and level without revealing I had them. The more spells I kept to myself, the better off I would be in an unforeseen confrontation. Isla was tapping my arm to get my attention, ¡°So do you think I could rent one of the rooms?¡± I was brought back to the one-sided conversation. My face contorted in uncertainty. Had she been smiling all day to preempt this question? ¡°I don¡¯t think I have further use of your services¡­.¡± I started. ¡°Oh,¡± she grinned, ¡°but you do! I have a small background in skyship construction and have been studying the subject in depth. I can help you build your skyship!¡± I was curious, ¡°What is your background?¡± Her grin faded, ¡°I took a course at the academy, and¡­.we made a field trip to the naval yards.¡± My eyebrows went up in question, and she slouched in her chair. I sipped the weak ale, ¡°Well, let me see how the warehouse comes out and if you can hold to this budget,¡± I tapped the paper. She smiled weakly. I already knew cost overruns were normal. ¡°Do you think I can open the restaurant in three weeks? If that is the case, I need to look for some cooks and waiters. Please get me information on suitable salaries for restaurant staff.¡± I stood and left enough silver coins to pay for both our meals. ¡°It was nice to have lunch with you, Isla,¡± I gave her a strong smile and walked out. I no longer had any trepidation walking by myself. I felt I could handle anything with my aether shield and lightning reflexes spells. I made my way to the spellbook vender. The shop was much fancier than Margold¡¯s Mystical Emporium in Solaris. It was called Kali¡¯s Spells and Cantrips. I started to make my way to the back and was intercepted by a middle-aged woman with salt and pepper hair. ¡°Young man, if I may guide you to a desk?¡± She asked politely. I was confused so she explained. ¡°There is a directory of our spells there, and they are indexed with short descriptions. If you wish to view a spellbook, just call an attendant, and they will bring it to you,¡± she fully detailed the process. ¡°That is not what I was expecting,¡± I said, and she gave me a thin smile. ¡°Yes, we have found this the best way to serve our patrons. Refreshments will be brought to your table,¡± she sounded slightly irritated. I had to remember I didn¡¯t look like your typical mage. I was wearing nice comfortable clothes and was quite young and muscular from working out. I sat at one of the tables and was eyed by a woman and an older man who was enjoying a drink and finger food while paging through a large tome. A similar tome was on my desk. A glass and pitcher appeared, and a young woman asked if she could get me anything from the tavern across the street. I told her I had just had lunch and pulled the large book to me. The book was indexed, and I went to healing spells first. Tier 3 spells, lesser restoration, restore sight, bottomless stamina, and paralyze. The lesser restoration was the spell I came here for. It restored a person to their optimal state when it healed. It could reset bones, and the aether cost depended on the amount of damage being healed. It was a slow-acting spell but was a repair-all. I called an attendant to get me the oldest copy listed in the index. Older usually meant better, as the prior mage would have left notes. The bottomless stamina spell just burned through a person¡¯s fat stores to keep them going. Some potions could do the same and not sacrifice a person¡¯s health. However, the spell could be used as a weight loss spell. The paralyze spell was very interesting. It saturated a person¡¯s nervous system and incapacitated them that way. When the attendant brought me the lesser restoration spell book, I asked for that book but was informed I could only review one book at a time. I paged through the lesser restoration spellbook, and it was old and well-used. As I suspected, it had notes inside, but in a foreign language I was unfamiliar with. I called over the young attendant and asked if they had a copy of the spell with notes in the common tongue. She took the book and went back to the shelves. I turned to the lightning spells. They had a tier 5 spell for sale! It was called Eye of the Storm. It created a zone of lightning bolts in a 100-foot sphere around the mage. The mage was immune to the lightning, and with spell evolutions, the mage could also select others in the spell¡¯s sphere to be safe. The cost of 2500 gold for the spell was too much to spend today. The lesser restoration already cost 340 gold. The only other lighting spell in the book I liked was lightning wall. It was tier 4, and it created a 144-square-foot lighting wall 5 feet thick. It would be useful in blocking off corridors or putting your back in an open space when fighting. The attendant put down a new copy of the lesser restoration spell, and I paged through it, looking at the notes in the margin. ¡°Thank you. I will take this. Can you bring me the paralyze spellbook next?¡± I told the young woman helping me. The old man, still paging through the index book, looked at me in surprise. The young woman was more energetic now, and the paralyze spellbook was quickly in my hand. I read a more in-depth description, and the spell was not that great. It required touch to use, and you needed to maintain contact to keep the effect. The evolutions allowed for the paralyzing effect to linger after you stopped contact with your target, but I decided the spell was not worth learning at this time, and it was 400 gold. I gave the book to return to the shelves and went to the illusion spells. I wanted to get Lana one or two spells. I still had the illusionary companion spell, but that was a waste for her. Her tier 4 affinity with illusion magic meant she learned illusion spells at two tiers lower than I did for healing spells. That meant she could learn a tier 4 illusion spell, and it would only take two slots on her aether matrix instead of eight. A tier 3 illusion spell would take one slot instead of 4. So I was looking for tier 3 and 4 spells for her to learn after the dimensional closet spell. The only tier 3 illusion spell was phantom mount. This just created a personal mount for the caster. It was limited in how much it could carry and its speed. Not terribly useful. Both of the tier 4 spells seemed like good options. Phantom fighter created an apparition that fought on behalf of the caster. It dissipated when it took a certain amount of damage, but evolutions could make it stronger, faster, and hardier. This could be a very effective spell for Lana. It would cost eight aether units to cast, and she only had 23 currently. I looked at the other tier 4 spell, greater invisibility. This spell created a globe of invisibility centered on the caster. Useful for a group trying to sneak around. The phantom fighter spell was 800 gold, and the greater invisibility spell was 750 gold. I checked my current platinum coin balance in my space. Just 19 platinum and 40 large gold. I needed to start making more coins and not practicing my lightning reflexes spell every night. I asked for both spell books in turn as I couldn¡¯t decide. I actually would have liked to learn the phantom fighter spell myself, but I was not going to commit eight slots on my aether matrix to that tier 4 spell. Maybe there was something similar for summoning a lightning elemental? After reviewing both spell books, I choose the greater invisibility spell. Since she already knew the invisibility spell, it should be easier for her to learn this one. The notes from the previous owner were quite good as well. I purchased both spellbooks for 1,090 gold. I gave my attendant a large gold tip for all her help. Tipping was not common in Skyholme culture, but it was practiced sparingly. I think I might have overtipped because the two other female attendants were jealous of their partner. I slipped both books into my dimensional storage and left the shop. I would have to talk with Selina about getting me specific spells from the capital. Maybe I could ask Callem to contact Sebastian as well. The fallout from the Sadian attack should have settled by now. I looked both ways on the thoroughfare and decided to go check on how Gimble and Gareth were getting along. I smiled to myself. I would give Lana her spellbook as well. Chapter 67 Team Building Chapter 67 (Arc 2 Chapter 21) Team Building When I entered the adventurer¡¯s hall, there were a lot of men and women lounging and drinking. Much more than last time. I went to the small bar and inquired why. The dungeons were shuttered while the delve teams from the Skyholme capital monopolized them for two days. I asked if this was a common occurrence, and it was when a high-value reward was posted on the dungeon arch. That was right, I remembered; the prize for completing the dungeon was posted on the arch and changed each time it was completed. The Triumvirate ran their own dungeon teams, and when they wanted to, they could jump the queue. The prize they wanted was a tier 2 essence ability. I found where Gimble and my team were practicing. I knocked loudly on the large door and waited. It was Remy who cracked it to see who was there and let me enter. The sight before me was interesting. Gimble looked worn out; Gareth was dirty but had a grin on his face; Sammie was cradling her arm, which looked broken; Lana was sitting in the corner studying the dimensional closet spell. Remy looked relieved that I had just arrived. I paused in the room and pointed at Sammie. Remy answered, ¡°Just waiting for me to get enough aether to heal it.¡± ¡°Who broke her arm?¡± I asked, but I was already guessing it was Gareth. It was affirmed when Sammie pointed at him. Gareth defended himself, ¡°It was three on-one. I didn¡¯t mean to break it when I threw her. She cut my shoulder in the last round.¡± I shook my head slowly in disappointment. ¡°Gimble, how are things going? Your honest assessment if Gareth can fit in on your team.¡± I asked the mature elf. I had thought Gareth might try to assert himself in the group. Maybe even attempt to displace Gimble. Gimble¡¯s response surprised me, ¡°It is not as bad as it looks. Gareth listens quite well. Since he defeated me in melee duels, I was working on teamwork attacking with Sammie and Remy in support. Sammie is a bit reckless and better when on her own. Remy was just using his slingshot to distract Gareth but has not learned good timing yet.¡± He pointed at Lana, ¡°She has zero offensive capability.¡± Damn, maybe I should have gotten the Phantom Fighter spell instead. I didn¡¯t want to go back and spend more coins at the magic shop, though. I walked over to Lana, ¡°Here is a new spell. Put it in your storage space, and only after learning the dimensional closet spell can you start working on it.¡± She nodded, and her jaw fell open when she read the cover. She ignored me and paged through it before I gave her a look, and the young woman opened her small space and placed the book inside. I turned to the group. ¡°Ok, I was planning to head back to Hen¡¯s Hollow, but I can work out for a bit.¡± A staff appeared in my hands. I spun it slowly. Gareth¡¯s eyes flashed in worry. ¡°I will take Remy¡¯s place,¡± A huge sigh of relief came from his corner, ¡°Once Remy heals Sammie, you three can attack me to work on your teamwork.¡± A very confused Gareth asked, ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it make more sense for me to be the target?¡± Gareth was relieved that he wasn¡¯t going to have four people attacking him but clearly thought himself the most capable fighter here. ¡°No, you three need to learn to work together. Don¡¯t worry, I will go easy on you, and I can always heal you if I need to,¡± I said with smugness. ¡°Wait, you can heal?¡± Remy squeaked from behind me. ¡°Just flesh wounds, no bones yet.¡± I turned to the three. ¡°No head blows or puncture strikes.¡± I had to wait ten minutes before Remy healed Sammie. Gareth seemed overconfident, and Gimble was cautious. I launched myself at Sammie getting two quick strikes to her before Gareth and Gimble closed. Gareth¡¯s strike hit my aether shield, and his confusion allowed me to strike his knee up into his groin. A block softened the groin shot with his hand. Gimble was held at bay by my other aether shield long enough for me to get two more strikes on Sammie, who collapsed. Gareth tried to move in, but I dropped my shield on Gimble and placed both aether shields in Gareth¡¯s direction so I could engage Gimble one on one. The elf was good. I was tempted to use my lightning reflexes spell, but showing my aether shield was going to be my limit today. I backed Gimble up, but Gareth flanked me, so I canceled and resummoned an aether shield platform. I ran at Gareth and used the platform to vault over him. I blocked his strike while airborne, but it twisted me slightly, and my landing was going to suck. My staff flashed to get a strike on Gareth¡¯s elbow while I was flying over him. To avoid the painful landing, I activated lightning reflexes just before impact to use controlled deceleration from the spell before canceling the spell. I was surprised that it worked so well as I came to my feet perfectly fine. Gareth¡¯s mouth hung open. Lana¡¯s eyes were wide. Gimble¡¯s face was a blank mask trying to figure me out. Remy was at my back, so I didn¡¯t see him. Gimble spoke, ¡°Sammie can you stand?¡± She groaned and got to a knee, ¡°Barely, give me a second.¡± I waited as she rejoined Gareth and Gimble. Gareth finally voiced his thoughts, ¡°What the hell Stormy? You have been practicing. And what is with your new spell? Are we keeping secrets from each other now?¡± His grin told me he was just trying to make me feel guilty. Gimble gave a hand signal, and Gareth moved to my left in response. Sammie came straight at me and Gimble to my right. I moved left to meet Gareth and left my aether shields low, this time to serve as invisible tripping hazards for Gimble and Sammie. Fighting Elijah and Elora helped me develop many tricks for the mostly invisible aether shields. Sammie tripped and blocked Gimble¡¯s path, allowing me to engage Gareth briefly. He won the exchange and forced me back. It was a game of cat and mouse as I liberally used and recast my aether shields to keep from being attacked by multiple opponents. My luck ran out when Gareth figured out a flaw in my spell. If he destroyed the aether shield, I had a short cooldown before I could recast that particular shield. It was only about 3 seconds, but that was enough for three people to get to me. I sat heavily after conceding the first engagement. Gimble said two-on-one from here on out. So we began to cycle which two people would attack whom and who got to sit out. Gimble was good with his advice and commands once he figured out my tricks. He was a good leader, and I could see Gareth learning from him as we continued. Maybe having Gareth on the team would be a good thing for him. Three hours later, I sat down. I was a complete mess of dried blood, sweat, and dirt. I cast my cleanliness spell and healed my body. Gareth stood next to me, sucking on a water skin, ¡°Admit it, Stormy, you had fun. And when did you get so good?¡± I smiled at him, ¡°Yeah, that was fun. I have been taking some private lessons. Let¡¯s just say I am used to getting an axe to my thigh and a staff to my back.¡± His eyes popped. ¡°You are practicing with Elijah and Elora, and you didn¡¯t invite me! I don¡¯t know if we can be friends anymore, Stormy.¡± Gareth joked as Gimble came and sat with us. ¡°Gareth,¡± I started with some mirth, ¡°you practice with them every day!¡± Gareth looked hurt, ¡°But that is not the same as private lessons with your best friend!¡± Gimble interrupted our back and forth, ¡°Sammie is getting there. She is learning quickly, but I think I should take her shopping for some armor and gear.¡± I reached into my pocket, created a platinum coin, and then produced it for Gimble. He looked at it and then at me with a blank face before pocketing it. I stood and changed my shirt. It had a few holes in it. ¡°Coming back to the barracks?¡± I asked Gareth. ¡°We can make the only transport if we leave now. Gareth looked indecisive as he looked at Gimble and Sammie. ¡°Yeah,¡± Gareth moved to join me, ¡°can I come and practice with them next 7th day? Is Aelyn coming?¡± ¡°Gareth, it is your decision. Just remember, Gimble is in charge,¡± I left my dungeon team in the training room with Gareth trailing me. As we left the adventurer¡¯s hall, Gareth started, ¡°So if Sammie and I are the front liners, and Aelyn and Gimble are the scouts, who are going to be the support and ranged?¡± This is exactly what I didn¡¯t want to get into with Gareth. Party composition and logistics. ¡°I don¡¯t think Lana and Remy are good to bring into a dungeon.¡± Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Gareth kept talking, and I finally got annoyed enough to answer, ¡°I have a combat mage. She is strong for her age, and Lana will eventually be more powerful than her. Remy has experience delving and will be the healing support. I don¡¯t plan to do much other than harvest resources the first few months to allow the team to get accustomed to each other.¡± ¡°You said she? Do I know this combat mage? What does she look like?¡± Gareth¡¯s focus was now on another woman in the dungeon team. I started to think allowing Gareth into the team was a mistake. What if he alienated every female member of the team? We stopped for some meat on a stick. It was expensive in this part of the city but worth it. It was some type of bird meat from the dungeon. We had an hour before the skyship left, so we stopped at the warehouse again. Gareth stopped to study the succubus painting, probably burning the image into his mind. I went to the warehouse and checked on things there. It was full of furniture and crates. The guards at least intercepted me until two remembered me from a few weeks ago. I went to the pile of growing copper bars. I started practicing my metal shaping ability. When one of the guards asked curiously about my skill, I just said I had learned a new spell and was trying it out. I made 10-foot-long copper pipes the diameter of my thumb. I was probably making them too thick, but I didn¡¯t know what was required. I made 12 copper pipes and then thought I should stop and pretend I was aether exhausted. I had barely used 50 units of aether in my estimation, but I didn¡¯t know what these Miaden guards would report to their superiors. I found Gareth talking with my artist. They were having a lively conversation over some of his sketches. I could see why Gareth was involved. Three sketches were laid out. The Seraphin, with her wings spread behind her, wielding a sword against a demon. The other image was of a female vampire posing on a white horse with a black dress and red eyes. The platinum coin was part of the bridle on the horse. The third image was a female Lamia watching over her children in a woodland scene. Her halter top had a platinum coin between her breasts. Gareth was trying to convince the artist, Tatem, to make the angel¡¯s armor sexier when I started listening in. She was wearing a fitted steel cuirass breastplate and had armor covering most of her flesh. ¡°Gareth, the images are already approved as they are by Isla. It is time to go,¡± I was shaking my head at my friend. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± I walked away, and Gareth followed after a brief hesitation. ¡°Stormy, you should consider what your patrons want to see in our restaurant. I could stare at that succubus for hours. If all the other images were just as enticing, this place would be packed every day!¡± Gareth tried to persuade me. ¡°Our restaurant?¡± I asked, referring to his description of the place. ¡°Yeah, I remember you saying you would buy me a restaurant one day. So I am assuming this is it,¡± his bright smile looked down on me with not an ounce of seriousness. I tried to recall the conversation, ¡°I think I remember the conversation. I believe I said I would buy myself a restaurant, and you could eat for free whenever you wanted.¡± He slapped me on the back and grinned. He remembered the words as I stated and was just checking to see if I had recalled the same. ¡°Glad you remember! So when do I get to look at the menu?¡± he teased me as we walked. I was laughing internally because since he had joined the dungeon team, he was already going to receive that benefit. ¡°Consider it done, my friend. But you still need to tip the servers when you eat. The menu is a work in progress. I tasked Isla with researching wages so I can start to hire cooks and waiters.¡± I said as we climbed on board our transport. I went to the railing while Gareth excused himself to talk with a young woman who appeared to be alone. Even though this transport was going to Hen¡¯s Hollow, a lot of people used it from Solaris since it was slightly cheaper. Most passengers would walk the mile to Solaris just to save a few large coppers. I looked at the warehouse as we lifted off. It had transformed from an eyesore to something else entirely. I needed to start to start working on the enchantments for the apartments and the restaurant. I checked my aether and created two platinum coins in my dimensional closet. This left my aether core about 25% full. I needed to temper my nightly training this week so I could give Wynna some coins. I checked on Gareth, and he was talking to the young woman now, and she was smiling and giggling at his attention. Gareth¡¯s confidence and boldness had grown since winning the pre-academy Annuals tournament. He was larger than most grown men, and his youthful face made him attractive. I was over 6¡¯1¡± in height, and Gareth was still half a head taller than me. I was glad he was on my side and my friend. The ship landed in Hen¡¯s Hollow, and the crowd moved down the road to Solaris while Gareth escorted his new acquaintance. Monty came bounding up the steps and bowled into me. Freya was a few steps behind him. She gave me a hug, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you ask me to go to Aegis City today? We barely spend any time together.¡± I said incredulously, ¡°I see you every day at breakfast and lunch!¡± She whined, ¡°That doesn¡¯t count! I am serving and cleaning up!¡± I felt she was about to ask a favor of me for this ambush as she was trying to make me feel guilty. And it came with her next sentence, ¡°Do you think Wynna and Ennet can do a reading on me?¡± ¡°You awakened? At eleven? That is amazing!¡± I said with excitement. She kicked the dirt, ¡°No, but they should be strong enough to read my core. I know most readers can not until a person awakens, but¡­¡± ¡°Did you ask them?¡± I stopped her pleading. ¡°They said they would do it after I awakened, but you could convince them to do it for me now.¡± She had her puppy dog eyes going, and Monty was licking my hand in support of Freya. ¡°What is the rush, Freya? Your business empire is doing well, and you are happy.¡± I asked her as I started to walk towards the barracks. She fell in step, and Monty obediently walked at her side. She kicked the dirt, ¡°If I know what my awakening will be, I can make plans. I don¡¯t want you to get too far ahead,¡± she mumbled. It was sweet that she thought she was losing her brother and wanted to try and keep up. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Freya. I will always be here for you. How about I include you in my restaurant business?¡± I said with a smile. ¡°Could I be a cook? No, I could be your top waitress!¡± she shrieked in joy. ¡°No. Something even better. You can be my intermediary for food supplies for the restaurant. I want to source as much as I can from the farmers around Hen¡¯s Hollow. The Gaskill¡¯s wanted to raise cows, and I need steaks to grind into hamburger meat.¡± Monty barked as meat was a trigger word for him. Freya looked serious. ¡°What is my cut?¡± She went all business-like, no longer my helpful sister. ¡°Five percent commission,¡± I said, thinking that was probably too much. ¡°Fifteen,¡± she countered without a second pause. I grinned and said, ¡°Maybe Gwen would be interested would be interested¡­¡± Freya looked hurt, ¡°Fine! Five percent, but I can bring home samples to test their quality.¡± I chuckled at her efforts to scam her brother. If the restaurant did well, I assumed we would buy 20 to 25 gold products from Hen¡¯s Hollow every month. That meant over a gold worth of income for Freya. ¡°I will get you a list, Freya, and you can negotiate with the farmers. And you should talk with our father about shipping procedures from Hen¡¯s Hollow to Aegis City.¡± Of course, she wanted to get started immediately. We went to a classroom, and I used one of the chalkboards to put up estimates. I decided to stay on the low end. The list wasn¡¯t too long as the 23 menu items were just going to be various burgers and chicken sandwiches. In order for Freya to bargain in good faith with the farmers, I gave her 20 gold coins and one large gold coin. The large gold was for the Gaskills to purchase a few cows and the permits to get started. Due to limited open space on the islands, raising large livestock was regulated. With the dungeon harvests, large livestock was not really needed, which I assumed was a reason for tighter regulations. Freya had wide eyes at the large gold, but the regular-sized gold coins hadn¡¯t fazed her. I spent twenty minutes talking to her about my own experiences in flashing wealth around. She at least seemed to take me seriously. Freya left with a spring in her step, and Monty circled her excitedly, feeding off her enthusiasm. Hen¡¯s Hollow was a community and I did not have to worry about her with the coins here. I wasn¡¯t surprised Gareth wasn¡¯t in our room. I set up the privacy bubble and my alarms. I started working on imprinting my new spell, lessor restoration. The spell was fairly powerful but only worked on a region of a person¡¯s body and drew on the caster¡¯s aether till the damage was repaired. It restored the damage to the state it was in one day prior to the casting. So it was useless in healing someone who was injured over a day ago. It was definitely a combat-healing spell. It still required contact with an individual to work, and you needed to utilize an evolution to cast on someone other than yourself. Before going to sleep, I made three platinum coins, draining my aether stores. When I woke, it was my alarm alerting me Gareth was returning. I dropped my privacy screen, and my friend said he spent the night at his parent¡¯s house after having dinner with them. I also learned his new acquaintance from the skyship was a seamstress. She went to Aegis City to get lessons from a master tailor. I asked him how this fit into his relationship with the twins. He said they were still sort of mad at him but didn¡¯t elaborate on why. Conditioning was actually fun this morning with Aelyn. We played a game similar to soccer, but the goal was smaller, and there was no goalie. It was also just 6 on 6. Gareth¡¯s team won and was rewarded with tomorrow off from conditioning. I knew Gareth would still do it, but his teammates would take advantage to sleep in. I would have tried harder if I had known about the reward prior to the game. Mia and Fera had been on my team, and neither was happy with Gareth¡¯s team winning. At breakfast, Callem spoke to everyone. We had two weeks remaining of official classes. During that time, the instructors would administer practicals to the students in their classes. We also needed to select our courses for the next semester. It would be our second semester of three. I already knew what courses I was taking. I would be taking an enchanting/artificing course with Instructor Aethon during the first classroom period. Instead of weapons training, I would have one-on-one spellcraft with Selina after lunch. During the afternoon classroom session, it was going to be regular spellcraft instruction with other students. Then we all had the required Skyholme history and law after dinner meal. I also promised to continue my staff training in my spare time. I figured this could be my time out at Twin Rocks rather than eat into my personal time. I was looking forward to finishing these two weeks because we had an entire week off right after, and that coincided with when my building would be mostly finished in Aegis City. I was excited to get my adventuring team going and start collecting material for building my skyship. Chapter 68 Daddys Got a New Pair of Shoes Chapter 68 (Arc 2 Chapter 22) Daddy¡¯s Got a New Pair of Shoes The week turned into a frenzy of worried students. Conditioning became a week of light games and challenges. The instructors didn¡¯t want us mentally or physically tired for the real challenge. We needed to pass certification for our primary and secondary weapons. We also had to demonstrate sufficient knowledge in our classroom studies. That meant hanging with our instructor until they said we were done. For my staff proficiency, Elora required that I didn¡¯t use any spell craft for assistance. This irked me but did show me how I had started to become reliant on my spells in combat. There were dangers out in the Sphere where aether went wild, or aether sinks that could drain a mage¡¯s aether in seconds. The aether sinks were especially dangerous as they were almost always a new dungeon establishing an entrance and pulled in the unwary traveler. This process could take a hundred years or more. I was surprised I had remembered that from all of Gareth¡¯s ramblings at the meals about dungeons. Fortunately, I managed to test out of the staff on my first attempt. But Elora ruined my joy by whispering to me, ¡°See you tonight at Twin Rocks.¡± Mera tested out as well, but Fera failed. She had 11 more chances over the next 11 days of classes. Elora mentioned that if she failed all 11 times, she would spend her break at the academy working on her skill. I doubted she was going to fail. The instructors just wanted to ensure the students¡¯ efforts met the expected standard. My saber qualification was going against Callem. Even before my first test, I knew I was going to fail. The testing was too arbitrary. If I couldn¡¯t use my spells, then I had no chance against Callem and just had to work hard enough that it was acceptable to him. Well, that didn¡¯t happen on the first day. About 50% of the students failed with their primary weapon, and 80% failed with their secondary weapon. Things didn¡¯t let up there. In spellcraft, Selina had requirements for each person to pass. Most of the class still needed to imprint their first spell. I had to imprint my current spell, which I thought was completely unfair. I learned multiple spells during the term, including a tier 4 one. The good news for me was the lesser restoration spell was in the healing sphere, which I had a tier four affinity for. Two weeks was about the amount of time I would need to imprint the tier 3 spell. Artificing class was more pleasant. Instructor Aethon just wanted me to complete four enchanted artifacts. I could do that with my metal-shaping ability in one class, but I would draw it out over the week. Mia only needed to finish one simple working device. Most of my time would be spent helping her as she was still having trouble with the exacting nature of the runes. You needed at least three runes for a working device, and they had to intersect at the correct points when you overlapped them. I had a chance to talk with Aldon about next semester. I wanted to work on all the common devices I would need to outfit my restaurant, bakery, and apartments in the city. I also wanted to start getting familiar with the runes for skyships. The heating runes for stoves and ovens were simple, and I could duplicate them from the books. The walk-in freezer, roof water condenser, and one-way viewing glass would need some work on my end. I was excited about the second term and hoped to get the ovens and stove tops enchanted on this seventh day at the Shiny Platinum. After dinner, we had a written test for all the post-dinner lectures we had been given about Skyholme history and law. I had not listened too intently as my mind had wandered to more important things. If this test had been multiple choice, I probably could have done well, but it was not. When I got only 27 of the 50 questions correct, Gareth was quick to grab a sheet and announce to everyone in the dining hall that Storm Hardlight was not, in fact, not perfect. I didn¡¯t mind his display. It just irked me that he had passed the test by getting 45 of 50 correct. Both the twins passed the test and said, ¡°Storme, you can come to our room, and we can help you study every night till you pass.¡± This, in turn, irked Gareth. He was still mending his relationship with the twins. I thought this might be an opportunity for me to do the same as they had grown distant. ¡°I would love to get your tutoring, Mera and Fera,¡± I replied with a smile. I planned to sneak out to Twin Rocks right after and not return to my room. That way, Gareth would think I spent the entire evening in the twin¡¯s room. That night, we studied on Mera¡¯s bed with a twin to either side of me with the door closed. Reviewing Skyholme law and history was boring, but we covered every question I got wrong. We then switched to helping the twins with their spells. Both twins were working on the privacy spell. Late at night, I slipped out their window, explaining I was going to go get extra training with Elora and Elijah. They were totally on board with tricking Gareth into thinking I slept in their room, and Mera said if I wanted to, I could actually sleep in her bed with her when I was done training. My jog out to Twin Rocks had me thinking about next term and what enchanting work would be needed on the skyship. I had the manual to build a ship the same as the Wind Splitter, but I was already thinking of improvements in my head. I heard fighting ahead as I approached and rushed to help. I was extremely disappointed to find Callem, Elora, Elijah, and Gareth engaged in combat. It looked like Elora, and Gareth was holding off the other two. Gareth yelled while blocking two quick strikes, ¡°Stormy, we couldn¡¯t wait for you any longer and got started!¡± Gareth wore a grin the entire time as the round of combat finally concluded. They were all breathing heavily, and the intensity of the combat was no joke. Callem looked at me and smiled, ¡°Hope it is ok, but Gareth asked to join us out here,¡± I nodded distractedly¡ªI guess there was no reason to return to the twins¡¯ room after practice now. ¡°Storme, you can heal everyone, and we will get pairings for the next round. Since your saber skills are lacking, why don¡¯t you just use that weapon for tonight.¡± I healed everyone, and there were quite a few somewhat serious injuries. Well, if Gareth was going to spoil my secret training, then I was going to spoil his sense of superiority. The first pairing was Gareth, and I paired against Callem and Elijah. The saber was a much more limited weapon for me. I had a shorter range and took longer to recover from strikes. I quickly fell to Callem, even after directing both my aether shields at him. I didn¡¯t see how Gareth had fared, but he fell as well. I healed the painful injuries, and we went again and again and again. Every time it was Gareth and me paired against a pair of the masters. I wanted to oppose Gareth so I could surprise him with my lightning reflexes spell. It never happened. Obviously, Callem had some type of plan in place. Gareth and my teamwork slowly improved, and we started communicating better. I started using my aether shields to protect him. We developed a short verbal code for when I used an aether shield to protect him, which had a great effect. In one match, I used both aether shields to protect Gareth¡¯s flank from Elora, allowing us to attack Callem simultaneously. Gareth got a killing blow. After that, the gloves were off, and the masters beat us every time. Finally, I said, ¡°I have had enough.¡± Gareth and the weapon masters were having a grand old time, but it had been over three hours, and I hadn¡¯t had a break. Normally these sessions would be a 20-minute jog out here and two hours of training and instruction. This session was well past three hours, and they highlighted my inadequacies with the saber. ¡°The saber is such an inferior weapon to the staff! I should be using a sword with a two-handed grip and a heavier blade. You are just beating my light weapon aside and forcing me on the defensive every engagement.¡± I sat down and healed my recent wounds. Callem smiled, ¡°About time you realized it. Elijah, you win the bet. He thought you would figure it out the first day. I thought you would be stubborn and take at least three. Elora gave you a week because she thought you would just practice harder.¡± Elora scoffed, ¡°Yeah, and you were twice as hard as him as you needed to be. If you built the intensity slowly, he would have tried to adapt.¡± Elijah added, ¡°Real combat doesn¡¯t give you a chance to adapt Elora. He needed to stop wasting time on that steel twig. He has grown at least two inches and put on 20 pounds of muscle this term. He needs a bigger weapon, and it was a decision he needed to make on his own.¡± It was true. My body was filling out, and I was almost 6¡¯2¡±, still five inches shorter than Gareth. Working with the heavy staves, my wrists were strong, and my forearms were well-muscled. Elijah added, ¡°I would suggest the twohanded axe, but you have spent too much time learning the sword forms with a bladed weapon. You can¡¯t switch to using a shield due to the somatic hand elements of your spells. So I suggest¡­.¡± Callem had given him a look. I knew a dozen different sword types and had practiced sparingly with most. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. The somatic element of the aether shield was just a simple gesture like tossing a small net with my off hand. So I couldn¡¯t go with a sword so heavy it required me to always have two hands on it. Callem and everyone waited on my decision, and I disappointed them, ¡°Thanks, I will think on it.¡± I cast my cleanliness spell and walked back toward the barracks. I could hear Gareth asking for more sparing practice. Since he had gotten the hasten dream ability, he had lots of free time at night. He usually spent it reading and studying his books. I didn¡¯t have that luxury and needed a good six hours of sleep. Today I would be lucky if I got five. I had an idea of what kind of sword I would switch to. I wanted a two-handed slashing weapon as that was the familiar style with the forms I had learned. That meant a katana-style blade. The blade would be heavier than a typical katana and slightly longer to take advantage of my arm length and height. I would have to make some and test them out over the next few days. At the barracks, I noticed the twins had left their window open for me. It was a nice gesture, but I didn¡¯t need to utilize the entrance since Gareth had found me at Twin Rocks. I set my alarms and privacy and passed out after dropping some platinum coins into my dimensional space. At breakfast, Freya sat across from me. ¡°So Storme, I have worked out seven supply contracts and gotten the Gaskills to start shipping two hundred pounds of beef and two hundred pounds of chicken breast meat every 3rd day. The third day is the cheapest transport day according to father. Your quotas for flour, eggs, and butter¡­.¡± Freya¡¯s organization and promptness in completing the task surprised me. She was trying to impress me, and I would say it had worked. She was definitely going to do great things. I had her focus on the bakery supplies. I would need to enchant the walk-in freezer before we could start receiving meat. I told Freya she was doing a remarkable job. Mia, who had listened in to the conversation, asked, ¡°You are starting a restaurant in Aegis city?¡± ¡°I am heading there on the 7th day. Do you want to come and check it out?¡± I asked, not looking at her and eating my cold omelet. Since I had spent most of the breakfast talking with Freya, I hadn¡¯t eaten much of anything. I had hoped to hire some staff when I went to Aegis City on this 7th day. Hopefully, Isla found me some candidates. Mia was beaming as she said, ¡°That would be great! I will get a skyship token.¡± Mia was gone before I could offer to pay for her. During combat training, I remained working with my saber. Most students were working on their failed weapon certifications. Some were retaking it, and others were just practicing. It was more disorganized than normal as the instructors traveled among us and helped or tested where they could. I was planning to create some new weapons tonight, so I just focused on practicing the sword forms. The rest of the day went well, but Freya checked in at lunch and dinner. She was meticulous in her planning and attention to detail. She confessed it was due to the responsibility of being given such a large sum of coin. She thought it was Callem¡¯s coin and not mine. I wouldn¡¯t dissuade her if that got her to do a better job. That night I made four different katana-like blades. I was sure mine were thicker and wider than a true katana. These were all blades for me to practice with at Twin Rocks to figure out which blade length was the best for me and to start to get accustomed to a two-handed style. During classes and at Twin Rocks, Callem and the other masters were very patient with me. Callem helped me refine the best blade for me, and my techniques began to transition over. Usually, I would spend two hours at Twin Rocks and leave Gareth with the masters. It was kind of a fun party for them, testing and improving their skills against each other. The only point I missed was leveling my lightning reflexes spell. That was fine, as I needed to make platinum coins anyway to finish the warehouse. I was still looking forward to my big reveal to Gareth. Mera learned the privacy spell first. She had a very small amount of aether but eagerly cast the spell over and over to work on evolving it. Fera learned the spell two days later, and the twins were now both mages. I offered to bring them to Aegis City to celebrate, and they accepted. They were also going to see the converted warehouse as they had accepted my offer to work for me. Callem informed me the dungeon crew of Lana, Talia, Remy, and Sammie would be coming to Hen¡¯s Hollow from the sixth day to the seventh day to train with Selina, Elijah, and himself. That meant Aelyn and Gareth would be training with them as well. Gareth was excited when I told him and Aelyn¡­not so much. On the fifth day, I dropped off 36 platinum coins to Wynna while everyone else was at the bathhouse. Isla picked up 35 coins the next day from Wynna, keeping the guise that Callem and Wynna were financing the conversion of the warehouse. I didn¡¯t travel to Twin Rocks on the sixth night with Gareth. Instead, I was in the artificing classroom. I sealed the door and set up privacy curtains and alarm spells. I was going not only to make myself a new blade but also to enchant the blade. I started by creating tier 4 aether-infused mithril wire. I didn¡¯t have a lot of mithril, just a small coin in size, but I was planning to embed the wire in the sword. I coated the thin mithril wire in gold. I had tried and failed to create adamantine, the best insulator, but I had no idea what it looked like to get a mental image. I would need a sample before I could try my hand at creating that ridiculously precious metal. I was going to be ambitious in this project. I was going to attempt three simple runes with the powering tier five aether crystal in the hilt. With the sale of my light globes and ice cream makers, I could ask Instructor Aethon to bring me pretty much anything to experiment with. The tier 5 blue crystal was small but was still worth 500 gold. Since all three runes were connected to one crystal, they would all be active when activated. The three runes were hardness, sharpness, and anti-aether aura. The last was just a countermeasure for someone casting magic against the blade. It meant I could not use my alarm flash-bang spell on the blade, but I was fine with that. The aura from the rune was not strong enough to cut fireballs in half but might disrupt tier 1 spells if the blade was brought in contact with them. It would drain the crystal in the hilt, but a tier 5 crystal had a large reservoir, and I could fill it as well. I spent hours working on the blade and hilt. Since I was burying the runes inside the blade with my shape metal ability, the blade should appear normal. The blade was 29 inches (74 cm) in length, and the guard and handle were 10 inches (26 cm). Tier four aether dust was used as I folded the steel on itself. I couldn¡¯t get tier 5 dust as the cost was prohibitive for the Aethon family to stock it. When the blade was finished, I etched the runes with the mithril wire coated in gold. I was making the runes extremely small, and it was slow work, even with my ability. When I finished, I ran the final threads of wire to the aether crystal embedded at the base of the handle. Then, with care, I pushed all the wire in unison into the blade. I fixed the aether crystal in place and looked over my creation. The last bit would be to get Antal in town to use his bone-shaping ability to finish the handle and then balance the handle and blade. If I was correct in my estimations, I wouldn¡¯t need to make any adjustments. I marveled at my work. I had started with the idea of a katana, except it was slightly wider, and the blade¡¯s curve was not as pronounced. The blade shape was probably closer to a falchion, albeit a two-handed falchion. I wrapped the handle tang in leather and practiced with it for a while in the sealed room. I could wield the 4.2 pounds (1.9 kg) weapon one-handed or two-handed. It would take some time to get used to a heavier blade as the saber had been just under 3 pounds (1.4 kg). I was too tempted not to try the runes and activated them and slashed a chair. The wood parted under the sharpness rune, and the blade lodged in the stone floor. By using mithril in the runes, I could overcharge them and not risk damaging the integrity of the weapon. The overcharged sharpness rune of mithril was too powerful. I swore. I would only be able to use this blade in actual combat. After disposing of the damaged chair, I went and made breakfast for myself because I was famished. That magic forging session had taken me over seven hours, and I was hungry and tired. I started making raspberry pancakes because they were quick, and I could smother them in butter. When I had over eight large pancakes, I left the dishes and went to find Antal in town. It was still early, but I woke him and his wife, ¡°Master Antal,¡± I said when he came to the door.¡± ¡°Strome? Is someone injured? How can I help?¡± He said after recognizing me. I suddenly felt guilty for waking the man. ¡°No emergency. I just have a secret request. Can we go to your workshop?¡± He nodded and told his wife to go back to bed. I had an excellent reputation in town, and most people would oblige if I said something needed to be secret. I placed the wrapped blade on the table and a wyvern horn. ¡°Master Antal, this blade was recently placed in my care.¡± I unwrapped it and let Antal assume it had been given to me by Callem. ¡°I need the hilt completed with this wyvern horn. I came so you could match the grip to me.¡± Antal was handling the blade like it was a precious artifact. It took him some time to finish his inspection, but he eventually put it down. ¡°It is a beautiful blade. I have never seen a sword like it,¡± he started. I put a large gold coin on the table next to the blade. ¡°Unfortunately, you didn¡¯t see this one either,¡± I said, and he nodded. It was fifteen minutes later of watching him work and fitting the grip to me. His ability was very slow working. ¡°I compacted the bone as much as I could, and the grip looks complete,¡± he said. I picked up the blade and went through some sword forms. It felt amazing. I put the unused portion of the wyvern horn into my dimensional space. Wyverns were not rare around Skyholme, but the horns were costly. This one had cost 20 gold and came from Aethon¡¯s family shop in the capital. Antal had only used about 20% so I could use it again. I thanked Antal and left. The new blade went to my dimensional space. It was early morning, and the skyship to Aegis City was leaving in an hour. If we missed it, we would have to catch one in Solaris. I thought it best to collect the twins and Mia. Chapter 69 A Day with the Girls Chapter 69 (Arc 2 Chapter 23) Fera and Mera were already up and had been waiting for me to knock. They were dressed in their best clothes. Fera excitedly asked, ¡°Should we get breakfast here or in the capital?¡± ¡°We can get it in the Aegis City. We have to go get Mia from her room,¡± I announced, turning, but I saw the twin¡¯s faces frown at Mia¡¯s name. Knocking on Mia¡¯s door and announcing myself, she answered with a big smile which quickly fell on seeing the twins behind me, ¡°Ok, I am not sure why you are all unhappy with each other coming today, but we are going to have fun. I am hiring some people today, and I need a woman¡¯s intuition to know if they are the right people.¡± They all seemed to buy my line of bullshit and were happier to be in each other¡¯s company. I wanted to enjoy the day off as much as possible, and I had just pulled an all-nighter making my new sword. I would have probably been extremely irritable if the women did not get along for the entire day. We didn¡¯t have to wait long for the skyship, and I paid for everyone. Mia was going to protest, but I eyed her with a challenge, and she didn¡¯t insist. On the flight, the three women formed a circle to talk amongst themselves and gratefully sat alone. I closed my eyes and went into my dimensional space. The sword was lying there, and very carefully, I made a generic clone of the blade in iron. If I had time today in the city, I would leave the cloned sword behind to have a sheath made for the blade. I was shaken awake, and my eyes flashed open in preparedness. I jumped to my feet to see Mia in front of me with the twins behind her. She said, ¡°We landed.¡± I had fallen asleep after I had made the replica blade. I stood and gave a sly grin like I had been faking my little nap. I bowed, ¡°Ladies, may I escort you to breakfast?¡± We went to a small inn not too far down the road. The meal was forgettable, but my company was all questions about the restaurant. They were confused when I told them we had already walked past it. Confusion rained as we had not left the warehouse district. When we returned to the docks, I turned into the first warehouse. The large restaurant dining room looked great through massive glass panes. The floors were polished gray stone, and I counted 11 completed and installed artistic panels. The artist, Tatem, was working on the 14th and 15th panels. Heavy tables were stacked along one wall. The chairs must still be in the warehouse or had not arrived. ¡°Storme!¡± Tatem noticed me and waved me over. The two panels he was working on were a pair. The landscape crossed between the two paintings. The one on the left was a large troll. He was getting ready to fight the creature in the right panel, a manticore. The two panels were sketched, and he was about halfway through the painting process with the troll. If they came out like the other 11 images, they would be life-like. ¡°What do you think?¡± Tatem asked. ¡°Amazing work, as always. How long till you finish all 23?¡± I asked while the woman looked at all the completed panels. Tatem put down his brushes. ¡°I think I will finish these two soon, so that would be 15 completed. I have sketched out the next two. There is another completed panel waiting for clear coating over there.¡± He was beaming in pride. ¡°The outside wall is going to take me ten weeks or so. I have lined up three assistants for the work,¡± he said with determination. I studied his paintings for a few minutes with Mia, Fera, and Mera. Tatem offered, ¡°Isla is on the second floor if you are looking for her.¡± I left the three women as they still had not had enough of the works of art. Since they were essentially life-sized, this was the first time they had to study these creatures. Isla was in the corner apartment that Loriel had reserved for herself. She was setting up furniture with Bylura. Bylura gave me an appraising stare before going into the bedroom. Isla looked at me and said, ¡°Loriel said I could use her apartment while I worked on finishing the building.¡± I decided to tease her, ¡°That explains why you are in here instead of working on the building.¡± Isla didn¡¯t like my comment, and her furrowed brow. She ignored my comment and announced, ¡°I have the projections for restaurant staff on that table over there.¡± She pointed to a piece of paper on top of her work folders. ¡°I have lined up thirty-seven interviews for you starting at noon today.¡± I suddenly didn¡¯t want to be here. Spending my entire afternoon in interviews did not sound like fun, ¡°We will interview the cooks and bakers first. Then I have errands to run. I have some friends downstairs who will interview the waitstaff for me.¡± Since I was paying their way today, I figured Mia, Fera, and Mera could do me a favor. I picked up the paper and reviewed it. Head Cook Low 20 silver/week High 90 silver/week Cook Low 10 silver/week High 25 silver/week Server Low 2 silver/week High 10 silver/week Bartender Low 5 silver/week High 30 silver/week Baker Low 5 silver/week High 20 silver/week Dishwasher Low 1 silver/week High 3 silver/week I had not asked to hire a bartender, but it was on the list. Seeing me study the list for a long time, Isla relaid, ¡°I had a few people go around to the restaurants, taverns, and inns in Aegis City and compile the information. They hit up almost every place that sold food in the city.¡± She had been very thorough. On the backside of the sheet listed the places she had her gofers go and what each place was paying. She added, ¡°Most places also give the benefit to employees to take home leftovers as well, usually by seniority.¡± I nodded, took a blank page from one of her folders, and wrote out my needs. The bakery would have one shift of 9 hours in the morning to do breakfast. The restaurant would have two shifts, one for lunch and one for dinner, each about 7 hours, longer for the cooks. Bakery¡­2 bakers, 1 cook, 2 servers, 1 dishwasher Restaurant¡­2 head cooks, 6 cooks, 6 servers, 3 dishwashers, 2 bartenders Adding up the cost, if I paid everyone the high end, that would be 5 gold and 47 silver per week. I adjusted the head cook¡¯s wage down to 75 silver. The menu was simple, and they were just essentially kitchen managers. I adjusted the dishwashers to 8 silver. They cleaned the facility and did the dishes and were usually young adults who decided not to attend the academy and were desperate for work. The servers I increased to 12 silvers a week. I added two more servers and two more dishwashers. This brought the annual salary to just under three platinum. I would have Remy do the accounting, but I still needed a manager as well to keep everyone on task. I handed the completed sheet to Isla, who reviewed it and nodded. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have too much trouble hiring your staff with these wages. Why so much for the dishwashers?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what it costs to live in the city, but I want my employees to have a livable wage,¡± I said with a nod. ¡°How is the plumbing going?¡± Isla was still looking at the staffing sheet and absentmindedly dug into a folder and handed me a different sheet. It was the plumbing diagram with piping estimates and enchanting requirements. Her engineering plans were not too difficult to understand, but the length of copper pipe required was immense. ¡°Just focus on getting the plumbing to the kitchens for now,¡± I informed her. ¡°I hope to open the bakery in two weeks and the restaurant the week after.¡± Her eyes went wide. ¡°That is¡­that is ambitious. When are you opening the apartments?¡± ¡°If you can get the first-floor bathrooms working, then the bakery can open. But, it will be a few weeks before the apartment plumbing is completed,¡± I said, reviewing her plans. They were good, using as little copper pipe as possible. I could save a ton of pipe if I enchanted a heating element in every unit. Keeping those twenty aether stones charged would be a full-time job, though. Best to stick with just one hot water tank on the roof. Maybe I was trying too hard to give the apartments hot water. ¡°There is not going to be any hot water feeds to the first floor. That should save you time and resources. The cooks can heat water if they need it warm or hot.¡± I handed the papers back. ¡°I am going to the kitchen to start on artificing the ovens and stovetops. I do not like to be disturbed when artificing. When it is time to interview people, let me know.¡± The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. I was in the kitchen below. We had two banks of ovens, one for the bakery and one for the main kitchen. I had enough materials in my storage to complete the ovens today. I set up a privacy screen and started. I planned my work to be good but not exceptional. I was also just going to use tier 3 aether crystals to power the devices. They were large enough to only need recharging once a week for our needs. I would need to have the stone mage sink them in the walls so they couldn¡¯t be easily stolen. I finished with the ovens and looked at the rest of the kitchen. The stove tops would be easy, but I also wanted a large griddle and four deep fryers. All of these devices would be aether hogs. I was still sketching it out in my mind when a soft knock let me know it was time. We had 14 cooks applying for the job. They all thought it was just one opening. I just needed cooks who were open, willing to learn, and had good attention to detail. I didn¡¯t plan to spend more than three days teaching them to cook everything on the simple menu. The bakery side was just breakfast sandwiches and pastries. I was not planning on spending time in this kitchen as a cook. Of the 14 applicants, I hired seven cooks and one baker. All were on the younger side. After each interview, I listened briefly to Isla¡¯s, Mia¡¯s, Mera¡¯s, and Fera¡¯s opinions before deciding. Everyone¡¯s pay would start immediately, and they could come in and help set up the furniture in the bakery/ caf¨¦ and the restaurant until we officially opened. I stood, ¡°Isla has my list for the rest of the staff. No need to hire everyone today. Just get good candidates that have a positive attitude and willingness to do the work. The only extra benefit they will receive is one meal from the menu during their shift.¡± Mia stood, ¡°Where are you going? I will go with you.¡± Mera and Fera rose to follow as well. ¡°No need. I am going to talk with my dungeon team leader.¡± The three women had fun during the interviews. Being in control of a person¡¯s fate gave you power, and they seemed to like it. However, the two hours of interviews were more than enough for me. I stopped on my way to the Adventurer¡¯s Guild Hall and dropped off my facsimile sword so I could have a functional sheath made. I should have given the business to our Hen¡¯s Hollow resident master, but I was here now. Seventeen silver for the custom work, and I would be able to pick it up the next seventh day. I found Gimble in the common room, and we talked about the team¡¯s progress. Since he was not able to leave Aegis City, the team went to Hen¡¯s Hollow to train with Callem, Aelyn, and Gareth. ¡°So, do you think they are ready to attempt a delve?¡± I asked. Gimble slowly nodded, ¡°If Gareth is on the team, then yes. I don¡¯t think Remy has any business being in a dungeon, though. His utility is limited, and he doesn¡¯t have the awareness required to be in such dangerous situations. You probably don¡¯t know, but most of his debt was penalties assessed by his dive team for failures.¡± I sighed. I liked Remy, and I was paying the young man a huge salary. ¡°Is there an available slot next seventh day for the Icy Vault?¡± The Icy Vault dungeon had the bees and berries that I wanted to harvest, and the entrance was within the city. Gimble finished his cup and went to the counter of the guild hall. He returned shortly, ¡°The overnight slot is still available,¡± He pointed at a chalk board, ¡°Do you want me to purchase it?¡± I thought and slowly nodded. Gareth and I would be done with first-year academy next seventh day, so there would be no rush in getting back. ¡°Yes,¡± I produced the coin for Gimble. He went and registered the delve and came back with a bronze-stamped token. ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t want to replace Remy on this first delve? See your new team in action?¡± Gimble was smiling, and his eyes twinkled. This must be his leadership ability at work. I felt¡­wanted. It wasn¡¯t an influence ability, as my mental training would have countered it. ¡°No. I may change my mind at the end of the week, but no.¡± I stood and left the adventurer¡¯s hall. I was curious about dungeons but didn¡¯t want to take the risk. I slowly walked back to the warehouse. I didn¡¯t want to get back before they finished all their interviews. I stopped and purchased some new simple clothes. I had been wearing Gareth¡¯s old clothes, with my frame filling out so quickly. They fit well, and my cleanliness spell made the idea of wearing his clothes bearable. I had the coin to get new clothes and the perfect opportunity today. I moved from shop to shop, filling a bag, paying, and then dropping the linens into my storage before entering the next establishment with an empty bag. I would spend time later organizing the mess I was making in the dimensional closet. I spent 26 gold on simple clothes and could now wear something different every day for two months. With my cleanliness spell, I didn¡¯t need a lot of clothes, but I did tend to damage my outfits when practicing all out, a disadvantage when your opponent knew you could heal yourself. As I walked into the warehouse, I found seven people still waiting to be interviewed. I thought about not rejoining the women but ended up walking into the current interview, ¡°I thought you would have finished by now!¡± I smiled as I sat with them. A young woman was seated across from Isla with the others flanking her. Isla retorted, ¡°We did, but news has traveled, and more people keep showing up.¡± She pulled a sheet to herself. ¡°We have hired seven dishwashers, two bartenders, and seven servers!¡± she said proudly. I squeezed in between Isla and Mia and looked at the list ignoring the young woman being interviewed. I looked at the list, ¡°You hired an extra dishwasher? And most of these names are women.¡± Mera defended the group¡¯s extra hiring, ¡°She looked so miserable. She was too young to be a server and is taking care of her younger brother, who is sick. You will like her Storme. She will work really hard.¡± ¡°It is fine.¡± I waved my hand. ¡°Please finish up quickly.¡± I sat quietly and watched the interviews as a spectator. Everyone had a reason for wanting to work here. They didn¡¯t make enough to support their family, their current employer abused them, they had to work 12-hour shifts, and they didn¡¯t get to see their family. I was not good at discerning if they were telling the truth, but the four women as a group seemed to be able to puzzle out what they agreed was the truthful. At least Mia and the twins seemed to be getting along well. We filled out our roles, reaching 10 servers when the final person was interviewed. With 30 employees starting tomorrow, I had no idea how Isla was going to keep them occupied. ¡°Next seventh day, Isla, I will return and stay for the week. Make sure the furniture is in my room. I have to see my dungeon delve team off that day, but I will start teaching the cooks the following day. We still need another baker and chef. Try and find someone I can work with during the week.¡± I stood and stretched. ¡°Mera and Fera, do you want to see your rooms? They are up on the third floor. Mia, you can accompany us if you wish.¡± They eagerly stood and were stiff themselves. Mia asked with disbelief, ¡°They have rooms?¡± As I led the way to the large stairs, I answered her, ¡°Yes, Mera is going to be my brewmaster and Fera, my horticulturist. The roof is going to be covered in gardens.¡± Isla was trailing us even though I had not invited her, ¡°The stone mage is on the roof right now making raised beds and setting up the windscreens.¡± I wasn¡¯t sure why she was accompanying us. We stopped on the third floor, and I showed them their room. It faced the adjacent warehouse, but their windows showed the rooftops heading toward the city. Not a bad view. They were excited, and it was a nice place to live. We didn¡¯t have any glass yet for the windows. Isla started to go into detail about the apartment¡¯s features. Mia seemed a little jealous as the twins talked about how they planned to decorate the apartment. When I mentioned that the room across the hallway was mine, the twins were excited. I just told them it would be just like the first-year academy. We walked through my apartment, and the two bedrooms had no walls yet. I told them I was going to install a floor-to-ceiling window with one-way viewable glass. I had a great view of the skyships coming and going, and we all watched a few landings before heading back down. Fera spoke, ¡°I can not believe how awesome this building is Storme! I can¡¯t wait to attend the academy in Aegis City and live here!¡± I took all four women into town for dinner and was mostly left out of the conversation. Mia looked like she felt left out, and I had actually come up with a job for her while I had been enchanting the ovens. ¡°So, Mia I hope you liked the building. I wanted to ask you if you also wanted to work for me,¡± her eyes popped already indicating she planned to say yes. The twins were grinning at the announcement. The twins liked everybody as long as you were not competing with them. Mia eagerly asked, ¡°Do you want me on your delve team?¡± ¡°No. I need someone to hire and run security for the warehouse and restaurant. There will be quite a few valuable enchantments throughout the structure, and the warehouse will hold a skyship and serve to hold our dungeon harvests. I need someone capable of hiring and managing a small group of guards. I am currently paying for security from the Miaden¡¯s, but I am sure we can find competent guards for much cheaper in Hen¡¯s Hollow and Solaris City. I would even be willing to sponsor them through the city guard academy here in Aegis City while they worked,¡± I explained. I could see a worried look on Isla¡¯s face as I mentioned ending the Miaden guard contract. The Miaden guards were tied to Loriel, and I wanted to break that chain as soon as possible. ¡°How many?¡± Mia asked excitedly. ¡°I was thinking of you and nine others. Three shifts of three. Pay would be 25 silver a week,¡± I said, speaking off the cuff. As the guard captain, you would be paid the same but get an apartment for your use as part of your compensation.¡± Her eyes went wide, and she was nodding yes before her mouth caught up. I was going to need guards, so this worked out well. Mia was smart and a capable fighter. Maybe I should have offered this position to my brother, but I felt Mia would be a good fit. After dinner, the woman had an hour before the skyship returned, and they went shopping while I walked with Isla back to the warehouse. I gave her a few large golds to start paying the new employees and told her Remy would be taking over accounting shortly. I had enough time to add heating runes to the largest griddle and start enchanting work on the walk-in freezer unit. I would need to talk with Instructor Aethon during the week to get more enchanting materials. I paid him, and he had them transported from the family business in the capital. With Mia and the twins with me, I returned to Hen¡¯s Hollow. As I was leaning on the railing, Mera came up to me alone and unsolicited, leaned into me, and kissed me. I was a little shocked but started to return her efforts. After a few moments, she broke the kiss, said, ¡°Thank you,¡± and walked back to her sister, who congratulated her sister¡¯s boldness. Mia was not on the deck, so she missed the display. Maybe it had been a mistake on my part to return the kiss, but it was enjoyable. I watched the twins talk animatedly 20 feet away for a while before returning to my own thoughts. I needed to focus on my own development. Building the skyship was still my first priority. Maybe I would take up Isla¡¯s offer to manage its construction. Just one more week of the academy and then an entire week in Aegis City. Maybe going into the dungeon and exploring the dungeon would be a nice break for me. Chapter 70 Secret Sauce Chapter 70 (Arc 2 Chapter 24) Secret Sauce When we landed, Mia and the twins rushed back to the barracks. I guessed they were going to tell everyone about the warehouse and their time in Aegis City. It was the second-largest city in all of Skyholme, although the capital was sometimes split into lower and upper cities when referenced. Either of those partial cities would still have larger populations than Aegis City. The recent incursion by the Sadians had done a fair amount of damage and caused a fair amount of death in the larger cities that were the focus of the attack. The death and destruction had allowed me to purchase the warehouse. I found Gareth in our room studying his dungeon books. He tried to tell me about the training with delve team, but I professed I needed to work on the lesser restoration spell. I had a week to learn it, and I was getting close. This was the 11th spell that I was imprinting. I was getting a good feel for the process and knew when I was getting close. A lot of my spells had leveled, but the only spell that had an evolution was aether shield when it reached level 11, and I increased the diameter of the round shield from 3 feet to 3.3 feet. I spent some time in my privacy bubble updating my notes on my spells.
Imprinted Spell List Tier Slots Affinity Level
Cleanliness 1 1 Aether 16
Mend Flesh 1 1 Healing 15
Obfuscate Abilities 1 1 Darkness 9
Dimensional Closet 3 4 Space 15
Alarm 1 1 Divination 14
Privacy 1 1 Illusion 10
Neutralize Poison 2 1 Healing 1
Lightning Reflexes 4 2 Lightning/Healing 16
Arcane Lock 1 1 Aetheric 5
Aether Shield 2 2 Aetheric 12
My awakening had been just under a year ago. This progress for a year was beyond what anyone could expect. I definitely needed to start thinking about offensive spells if I was going to enter a dungeon. I froze¡­did I really just think I was going to go into a dungeon. I had been toying with the idea of replacing Remy on the first delve for the team to see them in action and cross it off my bucket list, but now I was going to prepare to delve. Well, lesser restoration and thermostatic aura were definitely my next two planned spells. Both would take just one slot on my aether matrix and could add to my survivability. I looked at my list of what spells I wanted to level. Most of my aether was being used to create gold and platinum coins. It seemed I was quite literally the goose that laid the golden eggs. Aether shield would hit level 13 on its own due to training at Twin Rocks. Cleanliness was something that I could probably get to level by the end of the week to get another evolution. Privacy as well could be leveled just with my current practice. The ugly duckling on my list was the neutralize poison spell. I had learned it so I could avoid getting drunk or at least cure my drunken state instantly when needed. I had figured to go to the local inn and tavern and cure people but never got around to it. Finally, I also wanted the lightning reflexes spell to reach level 17. I could not practice it because Gareth was coming to our training sessions, and I wanted to surprise him in a match with the spell. Now that my finances for the Shiny Platinum were mostly settled, I could practice the spell again. I dropped my privacy screen, ¡°Hey Gareth, can you let me train with weapon masters by myself tomorrow night? I want to get feedback on my new sword.¡± Gareth dropped his book on the ground with a thump, ¡°New sword? Where is it? Come on, Stormy; you really need to share monumental things like this with me.¡± I brought the blade from my dimensional space and handed it to him. He ran his hand along it and was sufficiently infatuated with the blade. ¡°You do remember you promised to make me a magic blade. This one is magic, right? That is an aether crystal in the pummel.¡± With some angst in my voice, ¡°No, you can not have my sword!¡± ¡°I just meant you can make me a blade as well. The one you already gave me is spectacular, but this,¡± he held the blade out straight, ¡°I can tell, is remarkable.¡± He handed it back to me. ¡°I want a broadsword like the one you made me but slightly longer and heavier. Whatever enchantments you put on yours, I want on mine.¡± He paused, then slowly asked, ¡°Storme can you make it before the delve?¡± ¡°How did you know we were going the next seventh day?¡± I asked, and his eyes popped. Oops. I guess he had just inferred whenever the first delve was and tricked me into confirming. ¡°Really!¡± he exclaimed, and I nodded. He was so excited he just handed me the sword and left the room without saying anything else. He probably had to go burn off some energy¡­or maybe he was going to run out to the farm and tell everyone. That was probably what Gareth would do. I placed the blade back in my space and added even more enchanting material I needed to my purchase list for Instructor Aethon. Before going to sleep, I made a second replica of my sword without enchantments. This one at least matched the weight and would be functional to practice with tomorrow. Gareth didn¡¯t return, and we started our new week the following day. While Aelyn was running conditioning, I noticed she wasn¡¯t quite as hard on Gareth as normal. Maybe the delve team training was getting them closer together. I started practicing with the replica sword at practice, and both Callem and Gareth helped me learn the alterations to the sword forms. I had very little experience wielding a two-handed weapon. The movements were different, and the blade I made should allow me to transition between one and two-handed styles freely. By the end of the two training sessions this day, I realized I should have taken the spear as my secondary weapon. A spear was about 80% similar to the staff. Selina was gone for the day, so I was left teaching the spellcraft class for her. I assumed she was working with Lana and Remy out at the farm. Artificing class was mostly me negotiating with Instructor Aethon for all the materials I wanted him to get me. Ultimately, I gave up a 30% stake in my ice cream maker, paid him two platinum, and still owed him seven light globes for his personal use. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. That evening I finally passed my Skyholme history and law test, 46 out of 50 correct. The written exam had all new questions, but the twins did an excellent job in helping me prepare. I was surprised it was just me and Callem out at Twin Rocks that night. He would personally tutor me with the new weapon every night. At first, I was worried, but it quickly became evident he was here to instruct and not beat me senselessly. The week burned quickly; on the 3rd day, I imprinted my new spell, lesser restoration. I immediately began using it. There were not as many injuries among the students as the intensity had dropped, but I managed to get the spell to level four by the end of the week. I didn¡¯t need to use any evolutions on assessing a person¡¯s injuries as my mend flesh spell could already do this for me. My first evolution was to use the spell on others. The second evolution was to repair improperly healed bones. If someone didn¡¯t have a bone set or magic healing, their bones would heal improperly. This evolution addressed this. At the third level, my evolution was a flash heal. It was a burst of healing aether that I didn¡¯t direct. Normally healing would take me a few seconds of focus to repair the injury. This evolution was instant and did a fixed amount of healing. Extremely useful in a fast-paced battle. Also, on the third day, my privacy spell reached level 11, and the evolution was a shield from odors. It prevented the smell from leaving or entering my bubble. This was more powerful than it first appeared. Essentially I was sealing myself off from the exterior environment. I was creating an environmental bubble. It meant I had limited air inside, but I knew the basics of an air recycling evolution from my dimensional closet spell. It also meant I no longer had to smell Gareth¡¯s feet at night. On the fourth day, I advanced my cleanliness spell to level 17. I had been cleaning everything in sight to get this spell leveled. I chose to invade a person¡¯s aura. I could now clean another person¡¯s clothes¡­at least on the surface. I couldn¡¯t eliminate the smell or dry clothes on a person¡¯s body. I needed one more evolution for that. Then one final evolution to increase my range, and I would be able to use my cleanliness spell on a person¡¯s body like I was doing it on myself. So those were my two evolution plans for levels 19 and 23. I was shocked when Callem said I had passed my secondary weapon proficiency check. I was much better with the saber than I was with my two-handed falchion. I just accepted it. I actually found the new weapon growing on me. With two hands, you had a pivot point and much greater flexibility in your attacks and controlling the tip of your weapon. Callem even helped me push my lightning reflexes to level 17. Giving me an 80.5% percent increase in speed at the normal enhancement and 161% speed in overdrive mode. Overdrive mode at that speed did damage my body more, meaning I had to be careful when using it. At lunch, on the sixth day, Callem invited everyone¡¯s family to the barracks to celebrate. The food quality had been enhanced by our winnings from the inter-academy bouts. Callem had told me privately that most of the gold coin was transferred to the town coffers for future academy classes. I wasn¡¯t shocked when everyone was listed as passing the first semester, and no one would need to remain at the barracks for the upcoming off week. A few students had failed one class or their secondary weapon proficiency, but that was not going to prevent them from being listed as passing. The Gaskills practically corned me and hugged me one at a time. Mera and Fera looked on at the spectacle, smiling. Mera hadn¡¯t made another move since the skyship kiss, so I guessed that was just a thank-you for bringing them to Aegis City. Freya had sourced beef and eggs from them, and they now had a herd of twenty-two meat cows and six dairy cows. They were not a big enough operation to supply the restaurant. They could only sell one cow every month until their herd grew. I doubted the land they owned could support more than fifty cows. But it was a profitable venture for them, and we would probably have to source the extra meat from another island. I was handing off the restaurant logistics anyway and didn¡¯t focus on it. My parents were excited for Pascal and me. Mother had passed her master¡¯s test and now had her license. It would allow her to charge more for her services and even take on an apprentice. The news about my restaurant had reached their ears, and they were excited to come and see it when they could. There was a lot of alcohol being drunk at the celebration, and I got mischievous. I started liberally casting my neutralize poison spell. I walked the crowd, touching people and using it. With over 100 people drinking heavily, I got the spell up to level four before the night¡¯s end. Some people I cured of intoxication still acted drunk, which made me laugh. At level two, my evolution was to determine the effect the poison had on a person, a standard assessment for the spell. The third evolution was another standard evolution, and it was to hold the effects of the poison at bay while constantly using a trickle of aether. This allowed the castor to combat higher-tier poisons as the spell couldn¡¯t neutralize them. You just either had to hope the poison had a half-life or someone with a stronger spell could reach the patient. A few people noticed the lack of drunk people and blamed the tavern owner who supplied the barrels of delivering water down ale. No fights broke out, just some very lively discussions from my antics. It was a hard spell to level, and I was glad I took the opportunity. As the night wore on, I was asked to dance by a dozen women, and I obliged each one. Mera was one of them, and I thought for a moment I was going to get a second kiss, but I switched to dancing with her mother before she got the courage. The barracks were almost completely empty that night after the party. I observed that Gareth had left with Brianne to rekindle their brief affair, probably in celebration. They were stealthy about it, but Monty had tried to herd Gareth back to the party, so I noticed their attempt to escape unnoticed. I wanted to get some sleep as tomorrow was going to be a long day. I set my privacy bubble and alarms up and fell into a deep sleep. My alarm woke me, and I became instantly alert. The spell sent me the image of the intruder. Mia had opened the door to my room, stepped inside, and stopped. The alarm didn¡¯t make any noise to her, and my privacy shield was up. She lingered for a good ten minutes, uncertain of her next move. I thought about dropping my screen and confronting her. As my indecisiveness played out, Mia retreated and softly shut the door. I thought about pursuing her but cleared my head, reset my alarms, and returned to sleep. I was up in a few hours prepping. The crate of enchanting supplies I ordered was in the artificing classroom, and I moved it to my dimensional space after confirming everything was there. I spent time working on Gareth¡¯s new sword, just starting the basics of it. My own sword had taken me about five hours to complete, and I assumed this one would be the same. Before finishing it, I made my way to the skyship platform. Remy, Lana, Sammie, Aelyn, and Gareth joined me before liftoff. Gareth had a self-satisfied grin on his face. I was surprised when Mia joined us; she smiled, and during the trip, she began to talk about who she decided to ask to join my building guards. I didn¡¯t bring up her entrance into my room last night. Mia was planning to ask four of our classmates and five others she knew from growing up in Solaris City. I was disappointed that she didn¡¯t select everyone from our academy class, but I did put her in charge and would trust her judgment. The cost for the city guard academy in the city was four gold per year for non-future city guards. The problem she was having was if everyone she hired went to the academy, then who was left to watch the warehouse during the day? And if they went to the academy during the day, they would be too tired to watch the warehouse at night. I admit I hadn¡¯t thought it all the way through myself. I would be paying for ten people to attend the guard academy at four gold each year, for seven years¡­280 gold. I didn¡¯t plan on being in Skyholme seven years from now. ¡°Mia, you can attend any academy, and I will pay for it. But you need to hire guards that can start working immediately. I want to rotate out my current guards as soon as possible.¡± She looked hugely disappointed, so I thought of a compromise, ¡°Hire nine experienced guards immediately. I will budget enough for you to send four people to the guard academy in Aegis City. They can work during their weeks off from school.¡± It was over one platinum, and I think I was only doing it to keep Mia happy. Mia seemed happy and then asked, ¡°So I could attend the dungeon academy if I wanted to?¡± I nodded, ¡°Sure. Why not.¡± It cost a lot more, but coins were not an issue for me. When the ship landed, we all walked to the warehouse. All of the second-floor windows and some of the third-floor windows were in. My two massive windows remained open to the elements. I gathered my dungeon crew around me just outside the doors, ¡°This building is our base of operations. When the restaurant opens, you will be able to take all your meals here for free. The apartments upstairs will be assigned to you. They should be ready in a week.¡± They all looked in awe at the massive building. I noticed my thirty-some-odd staff were all inside and not doing much other than talking. I got my delvers attention, ¡°I am sure Gareth told you that you have your first delve tonight in the Icy Vault dungeon. Go and see Gimble in order to prepare. I will be there to see you off tonight!¡± Everyone except Mia left, Gareth leading the pack with enthusiasm. I went inside the restaurant and noticed my motley restaurant crew. Everyone was wearing mismatched clothes. ¡°Ok, all servers, dishwashers, and the two bartenders, come over here!¡± I soon had nine women and eight young men standing before me. ¡°Ok, the first thing we need is uniforms. You.¡± I pointed out the oldest woman. She looked to be in her early thirties. ¡°You are to take everyone here to a reasonable tailor. I want everyone in the same black pants and black long sleeve button-up tops. The buttons are to be shiny steel buttons. You are to have everyone sized and get everyone five pairs of pants and five tops each.¡± She nodded but looked like a deer caught in the headlights. I ran the math, 170 pieces of clothing at a fair price of four silver per piece¡­about seven gold. I handed her one large gold coin. ¡°If you have enough left over, try and get everyone black socks and shoes as well.¡± I waved my hands for them to get moving, and they shuffled out. I was left with six cooks and one baker. I asked where the eighth cook was, and someone said he had left to go home and sleep off a hangover. He was fired on the spot. Best not to show too much leniency with your staff this early. I started writing out a long list of ingredients for this group to go and fetch. I was going to spend my afternoon teaching them how I wanted them to prepare the menu. Each burger and sandwich would be named after one of the paintings. The artist wasn¡¯t here, but he had 16 of the panels up and completed, so he was getting close to finishing. I had one young man volunteer to be responsible for the coin. I announced on the spot that he was now one of the two head cooks, which shocked everyone. His pay had just tripled. I told the group that I would promote one more person to head cook based on their ability to replicate the dishes. The man with the coin started giving orders, and I could tell I had made a good choice. Mia was the only person left. I looked at her and asked, ¡°Are you going to go and look for guards?¡± She shook her head, nodded, and left. I went into the kitchen and brought out my enchanting materials. I finished the walk-in freezer, a second large griddle, and one of the deep fryers. I wasn¡¯t sure I got the temperature right on the deep fryer, so we would have to wait and see and make adjustments to the runes if needed. The cooks and bakers came crashing back into the kitchen, weighed down with food. We started by heating the lard and trying the four types of potatoes in the fryer. A little salt and the samples were well received by the kitchen staff. I showed them my best imitation recipes for BBQ sauce, ketchup, thousand island, mustard, mayo and thai sweet chili. I had them make more fries and use the fries to try out the sauces. I think I had won them all over. I stepped back and let them practice while I took my baker aside and started to work on rolls. He actually knew more than I did, and I explained what I wanted, and he worked on samples. I wanted a white sesame seed bun. We had seeds that were similar to sesame seeds. Our seeds would be browned to give the bun a light nutty flavor. The next was a pretzel-style bun. He already knew the perfect recipe. The final was a buttery brioche bun. The last was going to be used in the breakfast sandwiches, so it had to be perfect. Although I was excited about starting things up, and the cooks were even more excited to be using enchanted ovens, stoves, and fryers, I was wearing thin. I was constantly trying to assert the importance of maintaining a clean kitchen. One young man ran my patience too thin with his messy habits, and I gave him three large silvers as severance and fired him. Everyone else quickly got in line after that. I left the group working on the fries, sauces, and bread. Tomorrow we will try the burgers. I let them know the freezer was active and charged all the aether crystals before leaving. The first ten feet of the walk-in should be just about freezing if I set the runes properly. I guess I will find out tomorrow. I moved over to the large storage room that was going to be a hanger and made a lot of copper pipe. I asked the Miaden guards to carry up a few crates of copper to the roof for me, and they looked at me like I had two heads. Yep, definitely needed new guards. At least the cooks were eager to help, and soon I was on the roof making my large 2,500-gallon water tank. The hot water tank would be adjacent and only 250 gallons. I needed to get water to the kitchens, and it was getting late in the day. The copper tank was made under my privacy spell, and it took me two hours to get the runes correct. I had to have the text references open next to me because I was unfamiliar with nine interconnected runes condensing water. The runes would turn off when the water level reached a certain point. I created the hot water tank but didn¡¯t work on those runes. It was time to go meet my delve team for the first foray into a dungeon. The shop where I purchased my scabbard was closed when I checked on my way to the Guild Hall. It was late, and many people in the city were out drinking. I took the opportunity to remove the alcohol poisoning from a few people I bumped into. One person tried to find my purse, but all my coins were in my dimensional storage, so all he got was a purse with fifty steel coins, which was half a copper. I could have stopped him, but I did not want to waste time. I entered the hall and found my entire team anxious but ready to go. Surprisingly Gareth looked the most nervous of the bunch. Gimble was calm and asked, ¡°So we can only take six in¡ªwho am I leading?¡± Chapter 71 First Delve Chapter 71 (Arc 2 Chapter 25) First Delve I already knew six was the limit. ¡°Gimble, it is your call on who enters. You are in charge here,¡± I stated with an assuring smile. Gimble looked at me and said, ¡°Even though Remy has a lot of experience in the dungeon, I think having a strong healer will help expedite their first delve.¡± He had a grin, and Remy looked pleadingly at me. ¡°Fine, I always wanted to see the inside of a dungeon. One time should be fine,¡± I replied, conceding to join the delve. Gareth, who was still anxious and excited, mumbled clearly for everyone to hear, ¡°Famous last words, Stormy.¡± He turned, but I caught the grin on his face. We left to take a walk to the dungeon entrance. Everyone was talking quietly amongst themselves. Gareth and Sammie each carried two ten-gallon buckets on a yoke. The forty gallons were our target harvest for honey this delve as well as a few bags of the berries. As we approached the dungeon entrance, Gareth bounced excitedly like a kid. Two guards in Skyholme military uniforms stood guard, and Gimble handed one of the guards the bronze token. We were allowed to approach the stone archway entrance surrounded in runes. The entrance was a black pool of darkness. The runes gave a lot of information on what to expect in the dungeon. Gimble stepped forward to explain the runes, even though everyone here should know exactly what the runes explained about the dungeon. Gareth wanted to explain, but Gimble just eyed him, and he calmed down, ¡°Most dungeon entrances are arched like this one, and you read the runes from left to right,¡± Gimble started. ¡°The first rune on this dungeon shows the number of challengers that can enter at one time. It shows the number six clearly here,¡± he pointed. ¡°The black void in the archway shows that we can enter as the twelfth rune down here at the bottom of the arch shows no one is currently on the first floor. If the dungeon was full, then this black void would be a solid stone, or sometimes a metal wall, blocking our entrance. Always check these two runes before entering,¡± he paused and looked at everyone to make sure they understood. He continued, ¡°Now, it is important to always max out your party. You don¡¯t want to enter a six-person dungeon with just five members. Otherwise, a sixth uninvited person can enter behind you.¡± One of the guards scoffed and chuckled at his explanation, but Gimble ignored the interruption and continued. ¡°When you defeat the first level¡¯s guardian, an arch to the next level will appear. It is similar to this arch. If all party members enter the second level, then the first level will reset, allowing more people to challenge it.¡± Gimble cracked his back, and I noticed an hourglass draining by one of the guards. Our time to enter was almost here. I asked a question to Gimble and the guards, ¡°Gimble, since we are only harvesting on the first level, could we all exit and reset the dungeon and go back in our eight-hour block of time?¡± One of the guards, the older man, stepped forward. ¡°Sir, that is acceptable. Not common for this dungeon as most delvers go to the second layer to harvest there, and it usually takes about six hours to defeat the first-floor guardian.¡± I nodded at the guard¡¯s helpful answer. So maybe I could double my honey quota. Gimble nodded and continued his explanation, ¡°The second rune denotes what the dungeon thinks the difficulty of the first floor is. I will repeat myself¡­it is what the dungeon believes the difficulty on the floor is. This one shows tier 1,¡± he pointed at the rune. ¡°The two monsters on the other side are giant frost bees and lesser frost goblins. We have trained on how to combat each of these, but if you were unaware of their powers, you could easily become overwhelmed.¡± I had researched the monsters and knew the frost bees were just large bees that had ice-crystal-looking hives in the frozen forest. Their stingers were only three inches long and didn¡¯t do much damage. Since the bees made a loud buzzing sound, they didn¡¯t surprise you, and each hive only had twenty-three bees and one queen. The danger was the sting did have a minor cold slowing poison. It could stack and freeze you in place with enough strikes. The queen was just a stronger and bigger version of the rest of the hive. The frost goblins were three feet tall and wielded blades of ice. They fought poorly, and the only real danger came if you decided to try and kill the hobgoblin chief floor boss at the end of the floor. Then you would have to deal with maybe fifty of the goblins at once while you fought the chief. The goblins did hide under the snow drifts but never appeared in groups of more than six when they attempted their ambushes. Gimble was on to the third rune, ¡°This rune indicates the number of levels, floors, challenge monsters; however, you interpret a dungeon. This dungeon has five levels. It is important to note that this dungeon has no lower-level restrictions. So there could be hundreds of delvers on the lower levels.¡± The guard interrupted Gimble, ¡°Each group is deposited in a different area on the lower levels. The second level is a maze that is a few dozen square miles.¡± Rather than be irritated, Gimble just nodded in appreciation. I had read that the danger was mostly getting lost in the maze and being unable to find the archway to exit. The guard added, ¡°Your timer has started. You can enter at any time.¡± Gimble nodded but still continued his explanation. ¡°The fourth through sixth runes show the terrain on this level¡­wooded, snowny plains and cliffs for this dungeon. The next three runes show resources¡­honey, lumber, and snow. A dungeon only shows the top three resources it thinks are relevant. You can find many other things of value if you put some effort in. The tenth rune is the dungeon¡¯s age, this one is 12,430 years old, extremely young as dungeons go. The eleventh rune is the dungeon prize for defeating the entire dungeon. Not the first floor, the entire dungeon.¡± I looked at the marking, and it was an axe. So it must be a magical weapon. One of the guards interrupted again, ¡°If that symbol is a dungeon essence ability, you must sell it to the Triumvirate when you exit. We will know if the dungeon prize changes and search all exiting teams.¡± I knew the guards were just doing their jobs, but I was a little angry at being told that the Triumvirate could swoop in and take something we worked hard to get. Gimble appeared done and put on a heavy cloak lined with fur. The others were doing the same, and I realized I had not brought warm clothes. I had the cloak Gareth bought me in my dimensional space and would remove it after entering. Gimble indicated with his finger, ¡°Gareth and Sammie, you two go first. Talia and Aelyn, you two will go second. Remy and Lana, you two can wait for us to return.¡± Remy gratefully went over to a stone bench and sat down. Lana followed him but looked at me for approval. I nodded, and she pulled out the dimensional closet spell book as she sat next to Remy. Maybe we could cycle who got to go in in the future. That would make sense if they did two runs every time we made a reservation. Otherwise, I was paying them to sit around. I followed Gimble, who had disappeared into the blackness already. I was feeling my adrenaline spike as the blackness folded around me and chilled me in its embrace. The white blinded me as I got oriented on the other side. I had just been teleported thousands of miles and was now within the ley lines of the Sphere. The first thing I noticed was the sky was pearly green with a prominent sun. Gareth seeing me staring up, said, ¡°It is an illusion, Stormy. It is about 200 feet to the ceiling in here. It is also buried deep within a ley line. If that sky was on the surface, then the sky would be alive with purple-veined lightning.¡± Gareth had studied dungeons extensively, and I knew he would become an expert in a few years. I looked down to find a line of trees to the left and open white fields to the right. Cliffs looked to be jutting into the sky far to the right. I felt a chill breeze and summoned my cloak, and got it on. Gimble stood before us, ¡°If we followed the forest line, then we would reach the frost goblin village in three miles or so. But our primary goal is to harvest honey, so we will make our way into the woods and look for the ice crystal hives.¡± Gimble set the formations with Sammie and Gareth in front and me directly behind them. Talia was in the middle, with Aelyn and Gimble screening the back of our formation. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. It wasn¡¯t long before we heard our first buzzing. A white, black, and gold bee was coming to investigate. Talia fired an ice lance that missed the bee. She swore as it bee-lined for her. It was not overly fast, and I moved to get in front of her, but a lash of fire sprang from her hand, and the bee crashed down directly on me as its wings curled in the fire. I moved but was still stuck by the bee¡¯s stinger. The stonger barely penetrated, but I felt a cold wave expand from the spot. I pulled it out and tried my neutralize poison spell. The cold vanished instantly. With the spell, I also now understood the poison¡­it slowed blood flow in the target. Gareth yelled, ¡°Stormy are you good?¡± Gareth had not left his position in the front. ¡°Yeah, just a little prick,¡± I said as Talia was trying to apologize. I knelt and looked a the twitching bee. The tiny poison sac was somewhat useful in alchemy but very difficult to extract. More buzzing started to come through the trees. Gareth and Sammie tightened the formation at Gimble¡¯s call. I healed my small wound and joined the easy bee massacre. Gareth did lose one of the throwing daggers I made him. It cut through a bee¡¯s wing and kept going, getting lodged high in a tree. That was our biggest problem. When no one was looking, I intentionally knelt before a killed bee and stabbed my hand gently on the stinger. The coldness flowed into my hand, and I smiled. Gimble had noticed and looked at me questioningly. I admitted, ¡°I have a neutralize poison spell and have not been able to level it.¡± He nodded like self-inflicted harm was natural. I then moved to the back with Gimble and started using the stingers that Sammie and Gareth didn¡¯t mangle too much. Two quick spells and the evidence of my masochistic efforts were erased. The first hive we found was hex-shaped crystals going up a tree about 20 feet. Seven bees came to greet us, but we were now used to their movements, and they were quickly downed. The queen emerged and was a much larger version of the smaller bees. It was also faster and had some type of ice shield spell that was easily shattered. Gareth just roared and burst through the shield in one swing and nearly cut the queen bee quickly in half. I could tell he was trying to impress Talia as he looked right at her with splatters of bluish blood on his face. The harvest of the combs was next. The white waxy honeycombs had cells about the size of your fist that you punctured and drained of the honey. The honey had an extremely weak cold aetheric aura to it. I was planning to use it in making mead and not for alchemy, so cold affinity didn¡¯t concern me. The beeswax didn¡¯t have much of a use in a world of magic, but rather than waste our efforts, I just started pushing the entire honeycombs to my dimensional storage. ¡°Stormy, if you were going to do that, then why have we been lugging around these barrels?¡± Gareth complained. ¡°Practice, Gareth. I won¡¯t be here to do your work every time you delve,¡± I said as Gareth punched a cell and started liking his fingers. I needled him, ¡°Gareth, that is gross. I know where that hand has been.¡± He was sucking his index finger and suddenly stopped. He looked at me and then at the finger, shrugged and continued to like it. Aelyn rolled her eyes as she was climbing and retrieving more honeycombs. Sammie looked to have been about to copy Gareth, but after my statement stopped and helped Aelyn. We spent six hours harvesting hives without any issues. I managed to raise my neutralize poison spell to level seven. At level five of the spell, I added a small range effect to the spell. This allowed the healer to cast the spell and avoid contact poisons. At level seven of the spell, I added a minor element to repair the damage done by poison. This was only good for tier 2 poisons and below, though. With my other healing spells, this evolution was not really necessary, but it was a standard evolution and the base for some stronger evolutions in the future. We had only explored about a square mile of the woods and had exceeded our harvest goals. Gimble asked, ¡°We have about two hours left, Storme. We can probably get another hive or two if you want, or we can explore the snow drifts and work on fighting the frost goblins as a team.¡± ¡°You are the party leader Gimble. You make the decision,¡± I said as I added the last of the latest honeycombs to my storage. ¡°Ok, we will move into the snow. Slight mounds mark the berry bushes underneath. I hope you all brought your gloves to dig,¡± he said as he began walking out of the forest. We followed, and the first goblin made me jump as it exploded from the snow to Gareth¡¯s left. He wasn¡¯t surprised and skewered the small creature. It was white-skinned, naked, and ugly as all hell. Thankfully the misshapen creature was so ugly I had no trouble summoning my new sword and spreading out to kill them. Gareth, Gimble, Sammie, and I took care of the goblins while Aelyn and Talia dug for the berries. The berries looked like cherries but tasted closer to strawberries, in my opinion. They were fiberous and didn¡¯t have a lot of juice. They were used mostly in alchemy. Talia asked, ¡°Are you going to start an alchemy lab, or do you plan to sell these?¡± ¡°Just sell them. They are relatively easy to harvest, and there is a small market for them,¡± I replied as I approached a divet in the snow I knew had a frost goblin waiting underneath. It sprang up, and I took the head in mid-air with a two-handed swing. The splatter of red blood on my clothes was gone quickly as I cast my cleanliness spell. Talia muttered, ¡°Definitely learning that spell soon.¡± She addressed me, ¡°I have a suggestion Storme. There is a friend of mine at the Mage Academy in the capital. He is in his second year but is doing well. He is on the alchemist path. He could supply our team with useful potions. And the excess potions could be sold at a substantial profit.¡± Gareth was listening and yelled, ¡°Can your friend brew the explosive fire potion? Or the black sight potion? How about the fire breath potion?¡± Gareth was getting more and more excited as he listed an array of potions preferred by delvers. I gave Gareth a look to cool his enthusiasm. Talia spoke much quieter this time, ¡°He is working mostly on tier 1 potions right row. His best is the standard healing salve. He makes a very good alertness potion as well. It helps a lot of the student¡¯s study but only lasts an hour, and you can only use it every other day, or you get a massive migraine.¡± Her expounding on her friend¡¯s ability was not helping his case. Skyholme did not have very good alchemists comparatively in the sphere. Most of that had to do with the limited alchemical ingredients we got from the dungeons on the islands. ¡°If you want, I would be willing to meet your friend, but no promises Talia. Even more likely, my answer will be no. I am already stretched thin with my restaurant.¡± She gave me a dubious look. I guess it was obvious I was lying. I was paying my delvers twice what we would earn on this one delve. We returned to locating goblin holes and dispatching them until Gimble said we had thirty minutes to exit the dungeon. As the snow was packed here, we moved to the line between the trees and open plains, and we could move faster back to the exit. When we exited, we found a fully geared team of six in heavy armor with heavy packs waiting for their turn. I noticed we still had about ten minutes left on our timer, but the two guards waved the other team in. I looked at the guards curiously, and he explained, ¡°They are a clearing team. They are planning to go all the way to the fifth level and claim the dungeon prize.¡± Gareth moved and whispered in my ear, ¡°That was Scarecrow and company. Famous delvers in the city. They are the third-ranked team on the island.¡± I looked at Gareth and said incredulously, ¡°Fanboy much?¡± He was puzzled at my phrase, and even I had to think about my kneejerk reply to recall what a fanboy was from my past life. Gimble was already checking on Lana and Remy. Remy was sleeping, and Lana had bloodshot eyes from studying the spellbook. Had she been studying straight for the eight hours we were inside? My extremely dirty, smelly, and tired team made its way through the city to a bathhouse. I left them there while I went back to the warehouse. It was extremely early, and I planned to get a quick nap before giving my second day of cooking lessons. I stopped on the second-floor brewery and emptied all the beeswax filled with honey out of my space. I guessed we had gathered maybe 45 gallons (180 liters) of honey and a few hundred pounds of beeswax. Most of the brewery equipment was here but not assembled. I would have to hire someone to train Mera so she could get started on making mead with her fermentation ability. Looking at the impressive pile, I wondered if the beeswax couldn¡¯t be used as a thermal insulator. If I lined the walk-in freezer, it should make the cold runes use less aether. I stopped in the kitchen, wrote out a list, and left three gold coins on the counter, which should be enough to cover the cost of everything on the list. This was a test of my cook¡¯s honesty. I wondered if they would pocket the extra or completely use the funds to get as many foodstuffs as possible. I went to my room which now had some sparse furnishings. Two large leather couches faced each other in the living room. Since the bedroom windows were not installed, yet I slept on a large leather couch in the living room after adding a dozen alarm spells and my privacy cocoon. As soon as I lay down, I realized how tired I had been and passed out before emptying my aether pool to create coins. Chapter 72 Ledger Before Lust Chapter 72 (Arc 2 Chapter 26) Ledger Before Lust An alarm spell woke me, and I checked the image the spell sent me. Isla was in my room. I needed to get the locks installed on the doors. In the future, I would also use my arcane lock on the room door. I dropped my privacy bubble, and Isla jumped as she was staring right at my privacy screen. ¡°I am sorry, Storme, I didn¡¯t know you were in here. I was just checking what furniture had been delivered up here,¡± she said while blushing. I extended my arms over my head, locked my fingers, and stretched. ¡°No problem, I got a few hours of sleep. Are the cooks here?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, they are downstairs, and I think they are unpacking things and confused about why they had to get so much heavy cream and chocolate,¡± she stated, but she also sounded curious. ¡°Very good. Can you see if the glass for my windows is coming soon?¡± I asked while walking to the door. Isla pulled out some paper, ¡°Each of your bedrooms has three panels of glass, and they are ready for pick up in the capital. I was waiting to hire a transport, but Loriel offered¡­.¡± ¡°No. Your only job today is to get those window panels installed and set up my bedroom. I am staying here the rest of the week, and I don¡¯t want to sleep on a couch¡ªeven if it is very comfortable. Nice choice with those,¡± I said to her. The panels were special in that they had aether dust embedded in the glass so I could enchant them and make them one-way viewable glass. ¡°If you had told me you were planning to stay here, I would have had the room ready for you. You can have Loriel¡¯s room. It is fully furnished,¡± she stuttered uncomfortably at her failure. ¡°I am not annoyed. Just make sure it is ready tonight. If not, then get me a decent room at an inn,¡± I tried to quell her angst at the minor oversight. She left the room with purpose in her step. I went down to the kitchens to see what was happening with the cooks. I found the group milling about and waiting, ¡°Ok, today¡¯s first lesson is how to make ice cream!¡± It took less than an hour to teach them to make the vanilla and chocolate ice cream. Then I sent some cooks out for containers to store the ice cream in and also to store the honey in. The other cooks were making batches of sauce and fries to practice their skills. My baker had samples of the three types of buns, and the pretzel and brioche styles were acceptable. The sesame bun needed work, the bread was too dense, and the seeds didn¡¯t taste right. I sent my one baker on a mission to find a second baker and pastry chef in the city. A pastry chef was more of a dessert specialist chef than a baker, and I had to explain that to him three times before he understood. I found the stone mage working on the third floor, and I explained about making the walk-in freezer walls hollow so I could fill them with beeswax to insulate the room. After some back and forth, he was ready to do the walls and ceiling. After I filled them from above with melted beeswax, he would seal the access points. Magic made life so much easier. I took a break as it was lunchtime, and I wanted to go and pick up my scabbard. I grabbed a bowl, filled it with fries and BBQ sauce, and left. As I walked and ate the fries, I got weird stares but thought that I could make paper boats and use the beeswax to coat them¡­we could sell portable lunches. The first shop I entered that sold paper killed my dreams of a food takeout empire. The paper cost too much. I slipped the bowl into my storage space when I finished the fries. The leather shop was next. My scabbard was ready, and it was elegant and functional. I would only use it when I needed to carry a sword on my person. Most times, I would leave the blade in my dimensional space and remove it when needed. I walked around the shop and selected some very simple leather armor for myself. It was a soft leather set except for the hardened chest piece. I knew why I was purchasing it. I planned to go back into the dungeon with my team. It was a great workout. It was fun. And it was productive. In addition to my neutralize poison spell leveling, my lesser restoration spell had reached level 4, and my cleanliness spell reached level 18. I stored the leather armor in my dimensional space and returned to the warehouse. The kitchen was abuzz as my delving team, now well rested, was sampling the four varieties of fries and the myriad of sauces. My baker had a pastry chef candidate and two bakers interested in joining the staff. I just hired all three of them after finding them competent after a short interview. I spent a few minutes with the pastry chef before giving him a few coins to get supplies. The bakers were set to work on the three types of rolls for now. I was having flashbacks of my past life of a restaurant kitchen buzzing with electricity during a busy service. I stepped out with Remy and brought him up to his room. At least his room had windows and a bed already, I noted sourly. ¡°So Remy, you don¡¯t seem to like dungeoneering overly much,¡± I started. ¡°Storme, I will do whatever you need of me. I am grateful for you securing my contract. I have not said no to anything and have done whatever you asked. Please don¡¯t¡­¡± He rambled nervously. I held up my hands, ¡°I am not firing you. I just need you to use your skills elsewhere.¡± He looked much more relieved. ¡°I need an accountant in charge of paying everyone and someone to track expenses and sales. I want that person to be you.¡± His jaw didn¡¯t work. Finally, he muttered, ¡°Everyone?¡± It seemed the scope was kind of too much for him. He had been in charge of just his own person for so long, and now he would be responsible for dozens of people. ¡°Yes. You can talk with Isla. She has the information on the restaurant staff. The delve team¡­well, I have not really been tracking that too well. You will have to ask everyone what I have paid them and when they were hired and set up regular payments. I think it will be easier as everyone should be living here by the end of the week. We have running water in the kitchens and a few of the apartments,¡± I relayed to him. ¡°This is your room, by the way.¡± His head was suddenly on a swivel, looking around. Its decor was nice but nothing special. It was his own space. ¡°I will let you get settled in. After you are comfortable, you can go and buy some accounting books. Keep four books, one for the restaurant, one for the bakery, one for the dungeon team, and one for employees outside of the first three. That will include nine guards and Mia. Mia is in charge of building security, and she will also have four other guards I am paying to attend the guard academy in Aegis city.¡± The more I talked, the more ridiculous everything sounded. I was responsible for over fifty people! ¡°Remy, is everything acceptable to you?¡± I asked the shell-shocked boy. He nodded, ¡°So I won¡¯t have to delve into a dungeon ever again?¡± His voice sounded hopeful. ¡°Your skills will be needed to heal, but I think we can keep you out of the dungeons,¡± I confirmed. The first level of the dungeon was so easy that I didn¡¯t think his healing would be needed. I did note to add a healing potion belt with some cure poisons in it for everyone. Being over-prepared is never bad, and Gareth already had one such belt. I assigned the task to an overwhelmed Remy. I went back to the kitchen and brought the cooks together. It was time to make burgers. I showed them how to select the steaks for the grinder. Too lean was bad, and too fatty was bad. You needed a middle ground and wanted to cut off tendons and gristle. We made the ground beef, and I got the enchanted griddle heated. I showed them how to form a patty and season it. I cooked twenty-one patties at once. I had three types of cheese available and cut seven slices of each. In batches of seven, I topped and added the hamburgers to the freshly baked buns. I cut the burgers into quarters and called everyone in to sample them. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. It was a feeding frenzy, and I think Gareth had two burgers by himself. With round one done, I told the cooks to practice. If everyone got full from the practice cooking, then they could give samples out on the streets. I left my notes on the 23 different burger combinations I had planned. Five of those were crispy chicken sandwiches, but that could be addressed later. One cook volunteered to go and get the missing ingredient toppings for some of the creations. I promoted him to my other head cook for his initiative, but I think he just wanted to try the tasty combinations. I told everyone the plan was to open on this 6th day. Today was 1st day, so they only had a few days to practice. I was exhausted but also excited as I made my way up to my third-floor room. Gaeth followed me with a massive plate of fresh French fries. He followed me into my room and sat on my couch, ¡°Your couches are a lot nicer than the two in my room.¡± He settled into the stuffed leather padding. ¡°So Stormy, when is our next delve? And how much did we make on the first?¡± I sat on the second couch and watched Gareth drip some sweet Thai chili sauce onto his shirt from a fry on the way to his mouth. I thought about our harvest, ¡°I think I lost about 20 gold.¡± Gareth¡¯s jaw dropped in disbelief. ¡°What? But we must have brought back hundreds of pounds of that honeycomb!¡± Gareth leaned forward and put the empty bowl on the polished stone floor. I explained to him, ¡°The honey was the only true value Gareth. Maybe forty gallons. I am paying six delvers six gold, and I paid ten gold for the token to enter. That is forty-six gold, not to mention the cost of boarding and feeding my team. The forty gallons of honey can be made into one hundred and sixty gallons of mead worth about forty gold.¡± ¡°Wait! You are paying everyone six gold for one delve?¡± Gareth exclaimed in disbelief. ¡°Just five gold and a one gold bonus,¡± I retorted. Seeing his disbelief, I understood his incredulity, ¡°Your contract was just all the food you can eat,¡± I said, pointing at the empty bowl on the floor. He looked at the empty bowl like it was an enemy, then shrugged undaunted, ¡°Well, we need to go deeper into the dungeon then¡­.And I want to renegotiate my contract, Stormy.¡± He said, flittering between seriousness and a smirk. I laughed openly, ¡°Fine. I was just joking with you anyway. Everyone will be paid the same. Remy is paying out the coin, so you can see him. I don¡¯t think going deeper is the answer. The honey could be the key. According to the text, we got four times the amount of a normal harvest. If I can get the team to get that in four hours, reset the level and do it again, I might make a weekly profit. The key is getting Lana to learn the dimensional closet spell.¡± Gareth, who never really focused on the monetary aspects of dungeons, protested, ¡°But the boars that wander the second level of the dungeon are easily worth a gold each Stormy! And if you reach the second level, there is no time restriction on how long you can stay.¡± I pulled out my reference book from my dimensional space and opened it to the chapter. Gareth moved over to my couch and looked on while I checked out his assertion. The boars weighed around three hundred pounds and yielded about 150 pounds of viable meat at one large copper per pound. So about about 15 silver. The tusks went for a silver each. The real value was the aether stone the boars had inside them. It was tier 1 but not small, with about 2.5 units of red crystal. They could sell for around 50 silver each. Gareth had done the math as well and figured his estimate was off. ¡°Sixty-seven silver is noting sneeze at Stormy! And you can use the meat in the restaurant,¡± he pleaded his case. I thought maybe bacon would be nice to make ourselves rather than source it. Five of the twenty-three menu items had bacon. I slowly agreed, ¡°We can check it out next time.¡± He jumped up in excitement, ¡°When is next time?¡± ¡°Next, sixth, or seventh day. If we can get a slot,¡± I replied, enjoying my friend¡¯s enthusiasm. ¡°I will go and check right now!¡± Gareth was rushing out of the room not waiting for a response. I took a short nap and then started working on Gareth¡¯s new blade. I was interrupted by the arrival of the window panels for the two bedrooms in my apartment. The stone mage came down and used stone to secure them, and they looked great. Isla entered just after they were installed, ¡°Storme, your beds and linens are on the way up now for your rooms.¡± She looked at the glass, relieved, ¡°And they already installed your windows!¡± ¡°You did great, Isla. I need a writing desk and an enchanting workspace in the second bedroom,¡± I told her, and she turned and left in a hurry to get it done. I moved to the aether-infused glass and pulled out my enchanting materials. I set up a privacy screen and got to work. This was going to be my first time connecting all these particular runes together and powering them with an aether crystal. I would connect all six panels with my runic wire so they draw from just one aether crystal battery. I was adding three active runes. The first rune would make the glass viewable in only one direction. The second rune would strengthen the glass, and the final rune was a camouflage rune. If it worked as advertised, then the glass on the exterior should match the wall around it. It was an incredibly ambitious project. The reason I was attempting it was a proof of concept. If this worked, then I was planning to try the same thing with my skyship, giving it a coating capable of making the ship blend in with the background. True invisibility would pull a large amount of aether to maintain the runic spell. This camouflage runic pattern would be much more efficient. It was late evening, and I had only done the simplest steps of connecting all six panels when a knock at my door interrupted me. ¡°Storme, it is Isla. I have the desks, workstations, and the rest of your furniture.¡± Isla entered and looked haggard. I guessed she had been running around all day to accommodate me. I gave her some praise, ¡°Fantastic! You can bring everything in, and great work!¡± She blushed slightly. The scribe desk was large and had a fair amount of storage. The enchanter¡¯s desk was just a large bench with simple storage underneath. With these two massive desks in the room, it got crowded with the full-sized bed, ¡°Isla, can you have the laborers take this bed away and bring in a smaller bed? I think my only guest will be my sister anyway.¡± She gave the orders to the movers and then collapsed on the leather couch, ¡°There is a one-person bed in Loriel¡¯s room for Bylura. They will bring that.¡± I shrugged. The furniture and the smaller bed were set up while I worked. After they left, Isla came in with linens and began to make up the beds. When I dropped my privacy bubble to rest, she asked, ¡°When do you think you will have time to make the rest of the copper pipe for the plumbing?¡± I sat on the bed next to her, ¡°How much more do you need?¡± ¡°There are notes by the copper bars. We have a number of leaks that you can probably fix quickly as well. There is a central chimney that drains straight down to the sewers. It is narrow with a ladder but could save a lot of expense,¡± she asked hopefully. I was getting tired of my enchanting work, so the chance to stretch my legs sounded good. I walked with Isla as we tackled the leaks. The installers had put my pipes end to end and then wrap them. I wasn¡¯t sure what the material was, but it would never hold under pressure. Copper piping was not something these builders had dealt with before. Finding the connections and making all the pipes fuse together was easy. I even had time to get the pipes set to my bathroom to give me cold water. At least all the shut-off valves seemed to work. The chimney was way too tight for someone my size, and I ripped my shirt. Back in my room Isla was reviewing the progress while I changed. The blush on her face as I took off my shirt raised something in me that was quickly gone when Gareth came barging in. He paused to see Isla and then me without a shirt. He thought about turning around but instead started talking, ¡°Storme, sorry for the interruption. Isla, right?¡± He smiled with his Gareth grin, ¡°Well, you might have to tackle him onto the bed to get anything out of him,¡± he chuckled at his joke. He then looked at me, ¡°Stormy, I got us the afternoon delve on the 6th day. And you owe me twelve gold.¡± He turned and left. Isla looked like she might just take Gareth¡¯s advice. I said, ¡°You really need to install those locks on the doors soon.¡± The room was awkward for a bit. I looked at Isla, and she was an attractive woman. I offered, ¡°Why don¡¯t you go and get us some dinner, and we can continue to talk about progresson the building in my room? In the meanwhile, I will be working on windows.¡± Hope flared in her eyes as Isla left the room. I was working on the windows when a knock came. Expecting Isla, I opened the door, ¡°You don¡¯t need to¡­.¡± Remy was on the other side with a mess of paper and five heavy books secured in his arms. He walked in as he seemed about to drop the mess. He entered the second bedroom and placed everything on my desk, ¡°I have talked to everyone, and Isla gave me all her accounting work, but I have a hundred questions¡­.¡± When Isla returned with a platter of food, she was sweaty from carrying it and looked disappointed to find Remy here. Remy just said, ¡°Isla, it is fortunate you are here. I have dozens of questions for you as well! Isla and I helped sort out the accounting books for the next five hours. When we finished, Isla, already tired from the long day, went down to her room. At least Remy was satisfied as he had a firm grasp on his new job. Chapter 73 Finishing the Shiny Platinum Chapter 73 (Arc 2 Chapter 27) Fnisihing the Shiny Platinum After Remy and Isla left, I worked through fatigue and finished the enchanting on my windows. The crystal I was using to keep them charged should last about thirty days in between recharging as none of the enchantments drew a lot of power. I went outside, and it looked like it had worked. The wall looked seamless and you could not see the windows to my apartment. It was early morning, and Talia was leaving to return to the Mage Academy on the capital island. ¡°How was your room?¡± I yelled from the plaza. ¡°Oh, Storme. I didn¡¯t see you over there.¡± She walked to me, ¡°It was great! I spent the evening with Lana and Sammie. They are very nice! I think we are going to get along great. Gareth even joined us for a while.¡± I was shaking my head at this. I hoped Gareth wouldn¡¯t alienate all the women on the team. ¡°Did Aelyn not join you?¡± I asked, realizing she hadn¡¯t mentioned her. ¡°No, she was with Gimble in the training room on the third floor. I think she went to sleep right after that. I am glad Selina convinced me to join your team,¡± she said with a genuines smile, showing her white, perfect teeth. We talked idly for a few minutes then Talia rushed to make her transport. After Talia left, and I went to the kitchen to eat, only to find Gareth with a bucket of chocolate ice cream and a spoon, ¡°Stormy! How did it go? I saw Isla returning to her room¡ªmuch later!¡± Gareth¡¯s reward for winning the Pre-academy Annuals tournament had been a dungeon essence bestowed ability. It was called Hasten Dream, which allowed him to only need two hours of sleep to get complete rest. This meant he was up most of the night reading his dungeon books or doing extra training. When we finally moved permanently to the city the next year, I could imagine him enjoying the nightlife here a little too much. ¡°It went fine, Gareth. We hammered out quite a few things. I am pretty sure it was an evening she will never forget,¡± I told him slyly. ¡°About time! Well, I met this woman last night too! She was one of the guards in the warehouse. I am meeting her for lunch today. So Storme, I really need to get that twelve gold.¡± Gareth pulled out the stamped dungeon token and handed it to me. ¡°Gareth, a token only costs ten gold,¡± I stated simply. ¡°Yeah, I had to buy it from another team. All six slots were filled for the 6th and 7th days this week. I found the team captain in the Adventurer¡¯s Hall, and he sold me this token for just two gold over the standard price,¡± Gareth patiently explained, like that was the most natural thing in the world to do. I shook my head in disbelief, ¡°In the future, Gareth, only the team leader or I can purchase the token. It would be a shame to waste it, though.¡± I pulled out twelve golds and handed them over to a grinning Gareth. He quickly slid them into his money pouch and continued eating the ice cream. ¡°So, Gareth¡­this kitchen,¡± I indicated the massive space, ¡°Is under the supervision of my two head cooks. You can not go and grab things from the freezer. If you want something to eat, you need to ask the servers. Your apartment has a small kitchen, and I will enchant your ice box in your apartment and cooking top eventually.¡± Gareth smiled, ¡°Tell Vidalia, she told me to help myself.¡± ¡°Who is Vidalia?¡± I hadn¡¯t learned the names of everyone yet. ¡°The older woman server. She told me I could help myself,¡± he smiled innocently. I had schooled the cooks but not the servers yet. I needed a restaurant manager to take care of the staffing and education. ¡°Gareth, do you think your parents want to move to the city? Your mom¡­¡± I started. ¡°No! Please, Stormy!¡± He started begging. ¡°My parents just adopted Geoff. If my mother were here, she would always look over my shoulder and judge me! I like being free.¡± He tried to make puppy dog eyes, but on his massive body, he just looked ridiculous. I sighed. His mom was a tiny woman but educated and not afraid of anyone. She would have been perfect for managing the restaurant. And I think Gareth needed someone looking over his shoulder. I didn¡¯t have the time to do it. ¡°Fine. I will think of someone else.¡± A relieved Gareth patted me on the back, ¡°Thanks, Stormy. I am going to the Adventurers Guild Hall with Sammie to practice against some other delvers.¡± Gareth handed me the empty bucket of ice cream and walked out. I worked on some of the enchantments in the kitchen while waiting until all the staff arrived at the restaurant. I then spent a fair amount of time educating the group about expectations, sanitary practices, dress code, treatment of customers, treatment of my delvers, attitude while working, and being to work on time. I think it went well. Since I was paying a premium for their services and I had already made a few examples by firing people, I think they understood my expectations. I wanted the restaurant to run on its own. I didn¡¯t want to be involved other than supplying coin to keep the place running. I doubted the restaurant would turn a profit, but it should get close to breaking even. I spent an hour showing the cooks how to batter and bread the chicken in flour, egg, and seven spices for deep frying. Then I left them to practice. I had my two bartenders go out and order casks of ale. Since I wanted to sell the beverages cold, the casks were to be stored in the walk-in freezer off the kitchen. Enchanting every cask with cold runes that they came in was not feasible. I had enough work ahead of me to finish all the enchantments on the building. My next task was borrowing two cooks to heat the beeswax and pour it into the walls to insulate the walk-in freezer. When they tried melting it in the pot, the wax was not normal. It was white and had a much higher melting point than normal beeswax. Even with a funnel, the dumping of wax into wall was extremely messy. The worst part was the cavities were about 4¡± thick and all the wax we harvested barely dented the amount needed for the four walls and ceiling. By my estimates, I was going to need about 220 more harvests the same size to completely insulate the walk-in freezer. I just shrugged my shoulders and figured it gave us somewhere to dispose of the wax. The rest of my day was spent being a plumber. I made the copper pipe and connected it. The cold water was pretty much finished, with just the hot water for the apartments remaining. I tried the chicken sandwiches the cooks made at lunch and was extremely happy with the product. I had the cooks keep practicing the 23 menu sandwiches. When someone ordered a burger, they selected one of the four types of fries, a dipping sauce, and one ale for a complete meal. Milkshakes were coming once I came up with a blender. For now, we would just serve the ice cream in a bowl. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. After lunch I was on the roof and enchanting the hot water tank. I embedded the charging aether crystal for the runes in the metal and hoped it wouldn¡¯t be noticeable. It was another expensive investment. The runes were placed in the bottom of the 250-gallon copper tank. They heated the bottom to just below boiling. I installed the piping for hot water in my room first. I made my own shower head and valves with my metal shaping skill. It took some experimenting, but by dinner, I had a working shower. The problem was the water pressure was so low. I would need to pressurize the tanks on the roof. It wouldn¡¯t be hard. A small rune to boil water to create steam with a pressure release valve to prevent it from exploding. I tried the Ogre burger for dinner. A 1-pound patty on a pretzel bun with a sharp-smelling and tasting cheese with caramelized onions and ketchup. The burger was fantastic! As I was eating, Remy brought me my accounting books. I couldn¡¯t believe he was done already. ¡°Storme, I have finished with all the accounting for the warehouse construction,¡± he paused. ¡°Isla fairly well documented the substantial investment in this building. I did find one supplier double charging her for their work. The stone delivery volume just seemed off, so I confirmed it with the stone mage.¡± He put a sheet in front of me, and I reviewed it. He was correct. The invoices were for two consecutive dates, and the stone mage signed off that he only received one delivery on the first date. This happened again in the following week. I asked, ¡°Did you confirm that maybe the amount of stone delivered was twice as much on the first date?¡± ¡°The mage confirmed that was not the case. He said a Bricio delve team runs this company, and they frequently pull off scams like this. He said it is usually hard to prove since we didn¡¯t challenge them immediately. He suggested just filing a grievance with the Miaden Traders Guild,¡± Remy finished. I looked at the amount we were cheated out of 3 gold and 18 silver. I thought for a long minute, then said, ¡°No. Put it down as a loss. But find out all the connections this delve team has and do not deal with them in the future.¡± I didn¡¯t know if Remy had the capacity for this task, but I had confidence in him. We reviewed the other books, and it was as bad as I thought. With my menu pricing of one silver per meal, I would have to serve around 2,500 meals a week to break even. It was achievable if the menu was well received. My idea of a fast-order-to-serve restaurant may be a hit¡­if not, I would just ignore the losses. The delve team is what concerned Remy the most. I had seven delvers I would potentially be paying 42 gold a week, plus he listed the value of meals and housing at another 4 gold per week. His concern was probably because he didn¡¯t want to lose his job. ¡°Well, Remy, you can move yourself from the delver payroll to the general payroll. That means the delve team just needs to make over 40 gold per delve,¡± I stated with a smile. He nodded, unsure of my ascertain. I told him he was doing a fine job and he could give me weekly summaries. I let the staff go home early and told the bakers and pastry chef to be in early tomorrow. I needed to set up the breakfast bakery offerings, and then I would be done with training and could open the restaurant. I made my way up to my room and found my door locks had been installed. This was great, but I still planned to use my arcane lock spell on the door. I took out Gareth¡¯s sword and worked into the night to finish the blade. The enchantments matched mine, so I had some practice connecting them. The aether crystal in the hilt would need to be recharged between delves, but other than that, the blade would serve him well. I wrapped it in a blanket and put it on the desk. I finally felt I had some time to myself. I sunk into my leather couch and pulled out my book for the thermostatic aura spell. I fell asleep studying it. When I woke, I was energized for the day. Everything was breaking smoothly. For the next few days, I worked on the plumbing and trained my kitchen staff and servers so we could open on 7th day. The delve team practiced under Gimble¡¯s supervision in the sizeable three-floor training room. I was too busy to join them. Before the delve, all the artificing for the restaurant and bakery was completed by me, and the plumbing for the apartments was done as well. The only annoying thing was I had to improve the faucet and shower valves with my metal-shaping ability in all the rooms. The bakery was ready to open on the 4th day. We sold loaves of bread to take home and a small assortment of breakfast sandwiches. We had a beverage similar to coffee but closer to coffee-flavored milk than coffee. We put up advertisements for the restaurant opening on 7th day, and the stone mage finished the exterior fa?ade of the warehouse, smoothing the stone and coating it in a nice white finish. It made our building stand out among the dreary gray building in the warehouse district. The bakery started extremely slow. Almost no customers on the first day. We were expensive¡ªa large copper for a sandwich and beverage. We had to give out two hundred samples on the second day we were open before the foot traffic started coming. The biggest seller was the honey cinnamon buns. We baked them in batches of four and sold them the same way. Each bun was massive, the size of an adult fist. Even at four copper for four, they were sold as quickly as we could bake them. Apparently, Aegis City had an untapped sweet tooth. Mera and Fera arrived on 4th day. I had sent them the request as I wanted Mera to spend a few days with a master brewer. Isla had found one that was amenable for a few silver. So Mera would spend her days with him to learn the basics. I told her not to reveal her fermentation ability to him. Tatum felt the pressure to finish the panels before the 7th-day opening, no matter how many times I told him to take his time. Quality over quantity. I spent half a day with him working on what color light globes I should make to illuminate each of his paintings. The directional globes I made were usually a softer white light with a single added color element. We had the stone mage embed them in the ceiling. It meant the servers would need ladders to turn them on and off, but that was fine. He managed to finish 20 panels and was working on the last three when opening day came. Rather than wait for the painter¡¯s 300 gold bonus, I handed Tatem three shiny platinum and told him he was a fabulous artist. Later in the week, Mia found someone to manage the staff. His name was Marcellus Hernan. He was one of the candidates to take over the guard duties for the warehouse. He was an older man who had taught at the guard academy for many years. His pension was small, and he needed work as his daughter and six grandchildren had moved in with him. His son-in-law had been killed in the Sadian attack. Marcellus had actually been helping Mia find guards. Since she was so young, she hadn¡¯t received much respect when she made inquiries. Marcellus not only knew good people, but after he made introductions, potential guards were much more receptive to Mia¡¯s job offer. Our entire guard contingent was lined up to start next week on 1st day. Before opening day, we had our second delve attempt. Lana was still working on the dimensional closet spell, so I volunteered to take her place. The six delvers were Gimble, Gareth, Sammie, Aelyn, Fera, and myself. Talia had classes on the 6th day, and we never informed her she needed to be back for delve. Fera had been working with the arborist, and Gareth asked her if she wanted to come. He promised to protect her, and she agreed to tag along. Gareth took her on a big shopping spree for leather armor and a heavy cloak. I guessed his date with the older Miaden guard woman had not gone well because he never mentioned it. Fera and Gareth were talking excitedly while we waited for the hourglass to expire so we could enter. When the older guard nodded to Gimble, he led us into the stone arch for our second delve. Chapter 74 Chapter 74 (Arc 2 Chapter 28) We gave Fera a few minutes to stare around in awe at the dungeon before moving into the forest. Without Talia¡¯s ranged assistance, the large bees were slightly more difficult to deal with. Fera had a staff, and Gareth was working with her, encouraging her to strike a bee. When she finally got one of the bees, she was beyond excited and gained confidence. I continued secretly using the bee¡¯s stingers to train my neutralize poison spell. When we approached the first hive, I asked Gimble, ¡°Are the hives all going to be in the same location as last time we were here?¡± Gimble approached and said, ¡°Some dungeons just reset and recycle. Some dungeons make changes, so it is not easy for delvers to pass the level each time.¡± Gareth yelled as he cut a bee in half, ¡°This dungeon just resets. That is why delvers can run it so quickly. All the levels just reset so you know where everything is.¡± I nodded, ¡°Ok, everyone. Let¡¯s start mapping where the hives are near the dungeon entrance. If we can map out the closest hives and hit them quickly, then we can leave and make two runs every visit.¡± Gareth offered, ¡°You can just buy the map in the adventurer¡¯s guild hall for a few gold coins. I would suggest getting maps of the entire dungeon, though, as it will be about ten gold for all five levels.¡± I produced a large gold coin and tossed it to Gareth, ¡°You can get it when we get back.¡± Gareth caught it with a flash, and it disappeared into his pocket. We started making faster progress. Gimble cautioned us to keep our wits about us as we got slightly bolder in taking on more and more bees at once. Fera got stung on the third hive when Sammie and Gareth got overwhelmed. She crumpled, ¡°So cold,¡± she rasped. I moved to Fera and used my spell to remove the poison. She recovered as the others handled the bees, Gareth clearly taking out his anger on the bees for stinging Fera. It was less than a minute before she stood, ¡°Thank you, Storme, my muscles just sort of locked up.¡± ¡°It is ok, Fera. I know it is hard the first time you get stung. After a few times, your body figures out how to continue functioning through the coldness and pain,¡± I offered in support. Everyone gave me strange looks, so I explained, ¡°I have been training my spell up by stinging myself from the dead bees.¡± Gareth nodded, ¡°I thought you were trying to harvest the poison glands, Storme. They are extremely fragile, and you really need a spell to reach them and retrieve the glands. I think the spell can be found in the first-floor challenge monster chest about 10% of the time.¡± ¡°You can get spells from challenge chests on the higher levels,¡± I asked Gareth. Gareth nodded, ¡°It is rare, but dungeons have a massive variance in rewards. A whole class of adventurers just log floor rewards to see how likely they are to be found in dungeon chests. I have a book that details the chances for all the dungeons in Skyholme if you want to borrow it,¡± Gareth offered. I closed my eyes, searched all the dungeon books I had purchased, and materialized one in my hand from my dimensional storage, ¡°This one?¡± I asked, holding up the book and reading the title, ¡°Statistical Analysis of the Chest Rewards for the Dungeons of Skyholme.¡± Gareth¡¯s jaw didn¡¯t work for a second, then he said, ¡°Yes, this is it, and it is the seventh edition. Mine is just the fifth edition, so yours should have better information. Are we going to attempt the floor boss on this delve?¡± Gareth asked excitedly. I ignored him for a moment, opened it to the page for the Icy Vault dungeon, and looked at the first floor.
Icy Vault First Floor Reward Chest
Sample Size 366
100.0% 3 gold, 3 silver
9.3% Spellbook: Surgical Harvest, Tier 1 Healing spell
24.0% Frostskin Gloves
35.2% Frostskin Boots
35.2% Seeking Shot Slingshot
0.5% Anomaly
I looked at Gareth and asked, ¡°So it is always the same amount of coin?¡± Gareth nodded, ¡°Yeah, entrance to Skyholme dungeons controlled by the Triumvirate are usually priced at the cost of coins you would receive from the first two floors. You also have to give exchange those coins for Skyholme coins when you leave the dungeon.¡± I remembered that. I looked down at the item descriptions. Gareth moved to look over my shoulder while the others pulled out the wax-filled chambers. Gareth said, ¡°The surgical harvest is a popular spell for delves. Stronger monsters have aether crystals in them, and it makes it easy to get them out without cutting them out.¡± He tapped the two clothing items and left a blue smear of bee blood in my book, ¡°Sorry bout that. These two items are both some sort of white leather. They are extremely comfortable from the accounts I read, but they get dirty so easily and cannot be dyed.¡± I focused my cleanliness spell and cleaned the blood from my book. Gareth said, ¡°See no problem for you. The gloves and boots are popular in the capital. I think they go for around 50 gold each. But the sales are taxed by the Trivumverate around 20%.¡± ¡°How about the spellbook?¡± I asked curiously. Gareth squinted, thinking, ¡°Forty gold, I think. It is a very common spell.¡± I nodded, ¡°So I could just buy it. I think I remember seeing it at Kali¡¯s Spells and Cantrips.¡± Gareth, sensing that he was losing me from trying to attempt the floor boss, said, ¡°Storme, you would look really good with white gloves. And with your cleaning spell, they would always be white!¡± I could see Aelyn smirking at Gareth¡¯s efforts. Gareth turned to Gimble, ¡°We could take down the hobgoblin, right?¡± Gimble looked over from scanning the sky for more bees. ¡°If Talia was here, then I would think we could safely handle the goblin village and the hobgoblin chief. We should wait till we have her back in the group,¡± Gimble said in an even tone. I was waiting for Gareth to argue, but instead, he nodded and dropped it. As we continued to harvest the beeswax cells at a good pace, I asked Gareth, ¡°What does anomaly mean in the reward chest? It is rare, showing only twice in 366 delves.¡± Gareth shrugged while stabbing a bee on his sword and flicking it away, ¡°Usually, it means the dungeon is awarding something typically found in a chest from the lower floors of the dungeon. But it could mean almost anything. Dungeon essence, double loot, no loot, something completely useless. I think anomalies occur more frequently if you solo a dungeon.¡± Gareth pointed out the next hive in the distance with his sword. ¡°I think after we hit this hive, we will exit and reset the dungeon,¡± I stated, and Gimble nodded. Gareth charged forward, to Sammie¡¯s dismay, as she followed him. He wasn¡¯t being reckless. He just found this was the easiest way for the bees to focus on him. He felt it was his fault that Fera had gotten stung. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. When we finished the hive, we made our way to the exit with good speed. We had just about matched our first honey harvest, and with some work, we could double it. As we exited the dungeon, the two guards were standing and talking with a man in armor. A nearby backpack indicated he was clearly a delver. Probably getting ready for a long delve¡­nope his body odor assaulted me as I got closer. He must have recently exited. I turned to Gimble, ¡°You all can head back in and start again on the hives. I want to see if this delver has time to answer some questions.¡± Gimble looked at the delver and then at me and said, ¡°If you are not with us after we finish the first hive, we will exit.¡± Fera and Sammie did look a little tired. I nodded and turned my attention to the delver, that was looking at me curiously. When I approached, he asked, ¡°Are you the new delve team in Aegis city?¡± I held out my hand to shake and did so, ¡°Storme Hardlight.¡± ¡°Roarke,¡± we shook. ¡°The guards were telling me you are focusing your efforts on the first floor?¡± I nodded, ¡°Yes, we are trying to get honey in significant quantity.¡± He chuckled, Bee careful! It is not in any of the books, but the dungeon hates it when you just focus on the bees. You might spark a swarm.¡± My eyes went wide in, and I planned to run into the dungeon to get my team out. ¡°You don¡¯t need to worry. It takes around twenty delves of only harvesting the bee¡¯s honey to initiate a swarm. The last time it happened was twenty years ago, but it did wipe out an experienced party. All the bees from the woods just attacked the group.¡± ¡°Thank you, that is valuable information and saved us from possibly doing the same.¡± I took a large gold coin from my storage space when I put my hand in my pocket and passed it to Roarke. He flipped the coin and pocketed it to wide-eyed guards, ¡°No problem. The dungeons are alive, and don¡¯t let anyone tell you any differently.¡± ¡°So, how far did you go with your team?¡± I asked, curious about the experienced delver¡¯s mission. ¡°We always work our way to the third floor and kill the frost moles down there for their aether crystals. The frost goblins riding them are not too challenging, but those mole teeth and claws are vicious. Each one gives a decent red crystal, usually four of five units worth. Every once in a while, you can find a goblin leader riding a pack leader and get an orange crystal. That is an easy six gold.¡± He shifted his stance. ¡°We usually spend about ten hours before returning hunting. Since you are new, you should know that if you spend any more than twenty-three hours on a single dungeon floor, the dungeon gets¡ªantsy. It tries to get you to leave or advance by increasing the threats you are facing.¡± He thumbed his finger at the entrance, ¡°We usually have three teams enter every time we make a reservation. If you have quality teams, they can reach the second floor in a few hours, letting the next team in, and then we can merge on the second or third floor. That way, there is almost no danger to us. It was nice talking Storme, but I have to get to our guild house, shower, and celebrate.¡± I watched him walk away, and one of the guards said, ¡°Roarke is the guild leader for the guild Inevitable Carnage. One of the better men that delves. He usually only loses a team member once or twice a year, and he takes it pretty hard each time.¡± I nodded and logged the guild and man in my memory. I returned to the dungeon to catch up with my team. Once again, Gimble let us know when it was time to exit. We more than doubled our harvest from last time. Just like Roarke, my team smelled terrible, and they made their way to the bathhouse. Most of the showers were working in the Shiny Platinum, but I still needed to work on increasing the water pressure. I left my team to clean up while I cast my cleanliness spell and continued to the restaurant. I went to the warehouse and emptied our harvest of wax and honey. It was more than twice our first delve. We had plenty of containers to store the honey. Remy had ordered two hundred casks that could hold 12 gallons each. About half had already been delivered. I collected six cooks to get them in to get the honey into the barrels and melt the wax between the walls. The delve team returned clean and in great spirits, and I had the cooks prepare food for them and let the alcohol flow freely. In the middle of the celebration Mera returned from her apprenticeship with the brewer and joined us. I made a show to give Fera six gold coins, the amount I paid delvers for their one delver per week. I stayed late and returned to my room alone. Remy knocked almost immediately after the door had been closed and handed me the harvest catalog for the delve. 96.2 gallons of honey. I smiled. We had just made a profit on delve. If we sold the honey outright, that was about 110 gold. Remy had detailed the delve team, which included myself, for a weekly expense of 52 gold, and 19 silver. That didn¡¯t include weapon repairs and taxes if we sold the honey, but this was much more promising than I had thought it would be. A drunken Gareth knocked, ¡°Stormy! Let me in! Where did you go? People are asking after you.¡± I opened the door, and he stumbled into the room. I touched his neck and cast neutralize poison. He halted his stumble and shook his head, getting to his senses. ¡°Bloody demon¡¯s piss Stormy! Do you know how much I have to drink to get drunk? All that work, and now I have to start over!¡± Gareth fell heavily on my couch. ¡°Why are your couches so much nicer than mine?¡± I rolled my eyes at him. He was 13 going 20. ¡°Gareth, the good news is we actually made a profit on the delve. Not having to drain the honey out of wax saved us a lot of time, and we doubled our harvest.¡± ¡°That¡¯s all well and good, Stormy, but the celebration is just half done. Come and join us!¡± Gareth begged. ¡°Mera was asking after you when you let,¡± he winked, but it just came off as creepy from the man-boy. ¡°We return to Hen¡¯s Hollow for the second term tomorrow night. The restaurant opens tomorrow, and I need to have a clear head to make sure that it goes smoothly. Hopefully, after tomorrow it will run itself,¡± I advised Gareth, ¡°Fine! Can I tell Gimble to get token¡¯s for every seventh day? I don¡¯t think Fera will want to try a dungeon again, but she may have changed her mind after you gave her six gold!¡± Gareth sounded excited. ¡°Sammie also came a long way today. We are working much better together. I hope we can try the dungeon boss next seventh day,¡± He asked with his best puppy dog eyes. ¡°Yes, if Gimble thinks it is a good idea. I should have your sword finished by then as well,¡± I said, and the good news overload had Gareth rolling off the couch and giving me a bear hug. Gareth forgot all about dragging me back down to the party and went to find Gimble to make sure he got tokens for every seventh day. I sat down on the couch after setting my alarms and arcane locks. I pulled out my thermostaic aura spellbook and started studying. I added a privacy bubble when noisy people started to go to their rooms. I put the book aside a few hours later and worked on Gareth¡¯s sword, finishing it. Before going to sleep, I created a number of gold coins for Remy so he could pay the bills when I returned to Hen¡¯s Hollow for the week. I managed to get my exhausted body to my extremely comfortable bed and fall asleep. I was woken by my alarm spell. It triggered when someone knocked. The image the spell displayed in my mind was Talia with a young man standing behind her. It must be the seventh day, and that must be her alchemist friend she wanted me to hire. I cast my cleanliness spell and made my way to the door. ¡°Talia, I said as I opened it. You missed all the fun yesterday. I assume this is your alchemist friend? I have much to do today so let us start this interview!¡± I tried to sound as upbeat as possible, but my body ached from the eight-hour delve. Talia had a bright smile but excused herself from the interview. The man had a sweaty palm when I shook it, ¡°My name is Lachlan Cade. Talia said you were looking for a good alchemist?¡± The truth is I didn¡¯t think I needed an alchemist at all. ¡°Perhaps. Tell me what you can do for me that makes it worth paying you six gold a week?¡± ¡°Six gold a week?¡± He seemed to consider. I interrupted his thoughts. ¡°That is six gold for a full day¡¯s work, Lachlan. I am assuming you only get one day off per week to work for me. What did you have in mind?¡± I asked carefully. The young man shifted, still uncomfortable, ¡°Oh yes, that would make sense. That sounds fair.¡± I grumbled, ¡°I still have not been given a good enough reason to hire you. What can you offer the Shiny Platinum?¡± He sat taller, ¡°I brew an excellent topical healing salve. It can close wounds quickly to prevent blood loss.¡± My stare didn¡¯t help the young man¡¯s confidence, ¡°I have an alertness potion. If I had higher-tier ingredients, I could extend the effect from 1 hour to 4 hours. It helps sharpen the mind in that time.¡± I still wasn¡¯t impressed. He fumbled, ¡°I found a reference to Frost Berry Mead in the academy library.¡± My eyes opened in interest, and he rushed forward, ¡°The ingredients are the honey, frost berries, and stinger gland from a queen bee. All found on the first level of the Icy Vault!¡± Interested I asked, ¡°What does the potion do?¡± He sighed, a little defeated, ¡°It is kind of useless but tastes fantastic and is extremely intoxicating, according to the texts. The potion makes the imbuer warm and cozy in almost any cold climate. The effect lasts for eight hours, and the shelf life of the potion is 180 days.¡± I churned over the information in my head, ¡°How long does it take to brew this potion?¡± Lachlan pulled out his notes, ¡°The yeast from the queen¡¯s gland works extremely quickly. It takes about two hours to turn a gallon of honey and berries into Frost Berry Mead.¡± ¡°So it is a one-to-one conversion? Is no water added? If I just turned the honey into mead, then I could get four gallons of mead for every gallon of honey.¡± I asked. ¡°No water is added,¡± he said morosely. ¡°Do all the levels in the dungeon have similar potion recipes? It seems this was intentional by the dungeon,¡± I asked curiously. Seeing a chance, Lachlan got excited, ¡°Yes, most dungeons do something like this. The Icy Vault dungeon has supplied potion recipes for each of its five levels.¡± ¡°Excellent! You are hired. You can request materials from Remy to equip an alchemy lab in a corner of the brewery. I want you to copy all the recipes from all the Skyholme dungeons and beyond. Compile them into a book and get it to me,¡± I said. I had no plans to get into alchemy but having a list of the ingredients that made the potions would help us identify what we should focus on harvesting. None of the text I read said anything about the queen bee¡¯s glands. He looked like he wanted to object but just said, ¡°Thank you.¡± Shook my hand and left to find Remy. A somewhat useless alchemist but maybe the Frost Berry Mead would be a big seller in the restaurant. I went down and helped get ready for our first opening. I lightly guided the kitchen staff, and when the doors opened, I eagerly went to see. The first customers into the restaurant shocked me. Lorial Miaden, Bylura, Isla, Tess Torrent, Leda, and Cilia. They were all together and sat at the same table. Lorial¡¯s massive Wolfsguard stood directly behind her, keeping an eye on others entering the restaurant. I decided to go and say hello to this unexpected gathering. Chapter 75 Chapter 75 (Arc 2 Chapter 29) The table of five women and Bylura, the runt wolfsguard, looked at me as I approached. Many had smiles on their face, and it was Leda who jumped out of her seat wearing a dark gray uniform to come and hug me. Leda spoke, ¡°Storme, it is good to see you,¡± she said in my ear before backing up. ¡°We saw you fight and knew you would win every time!¡± I saw Tessa Torrent grimace. Her platinum blond hair was done up in a bun. She was also wearing very fashionable clothes. Lorial seeing me staring at Tessa, spoke with a sly smile, ¡°I ran into my good friend in the capital a few days ago and told her about this fabulous new restaurant opening in Aegis city. I told a lot of my friends,¡± she waved her hand around at the filling dining room. Tessa¡¯s face was turning red under her makeup, ¡°I asked to come when I heard it was your restaurant. What do you suggest on the menu?¡± It was obvious she didn¡¯t want Loriel to take credit for her presence here. Cillia was smiling at me but had not stood, maintaining decorum unlike Leda. I addressed Tessa, ¡°If you like something spicy, then I suggest the BBQ gargoyle burger with the red pepper fries.¡± She looked down at the menu and then over at the painting of two gargoyles with silver orbs for eyes standing in the rain. ¡°I dint think I have ever tried gargoyle before,¡± she started, and I laughed. I hit my cleanliness smell, giving me a strong scent of vanilla, and walked over to her chair. Loriel¡¯s massive wolfsguard tensed as I approached Tessa, who was seated next to Loriel. I ignored him and showed her how to read the menu. ¡°This row here is all the burgers made with beef, and this side is the chicken. Here are the toppings and sauces for each sandwich. Then you have to select what type of fried potato stick you want and the dipping sauce. Right now, we just have ale, water, and stout for drinks.¡± I had been close enough to smell her perfume, and it reminded me of strawberries. My explanation of the menu got the others to figure out what they wanted. I stepped away from the table and told the waiting server the meal for this table was on me and gave her a large silver. I made to retreat to the kitchen. I heard a few people complaining about the cost of the food. They shouldn¡¯t complain once they receive it, though. The size of the burger and the amount of fries were twice of food a normal restaurant would plate out. Most of the conversation was about the murals, which made me happy. The lighting on them added to their depth. I stopped and announced loudly, ¡°Thank you for coming to our opening. Please feel free to walk the gallery of murals. The Shiny Platinum is a place of exquisite art and food!¡± My announcement had half the seated people start to wander. It caused chaos for the servers trying to get orders and keep track of people at their assigned tables. The only child in the restaurant was staring at the panel of the black dragon fighting an adventurer. He was enthralled so much by the dragon that I paused and closed my eyes. I went into my pocket and created copper, and then made a fist-sized replica of the dragon. I pulled it out and handed it to the boy, smiled, and continued to the kitchen. I started asking why we didn¡¯t have twenty burgers on the grill already. They hadn¡¯t received orders, but they could see all the people out there! Soon chicken and burgers were being cooked in anticipation of orders. The barkeeps were going into the walk-in to fill drink orders. Baskets of fries were being dropped in the hot lard. I checked the stock of rolls and got the bakers going on more. Then I schooled my two head cooks for the next hour. Things never went smoothly on an opening, but they were managing. The dishwashers were being sent on runs in the city to get supplies that were getting low. When I felt the chaos was manageable, I headed up to my room. I was surprised to find Remy next to me. He had been helping below. Remy nervously started, ¡°Storme, what do I do with the coin? It is so much, and I don¡¯t know where to put it. Someone paid with a gold, and I had to run to my room to make the change.¡± It was one of those things you didn¡¯t think of. Since I had set the cost of a meal at one silver, I just assumed everyone would pay with one silver coin. ¡°Remy, you should hire a money changer to work during hours, so you don¡¯t have to do all this work. We can head over to the Depository in the city and establish an account for the restaurant and bakery as well. Let¡¯s do that now.¡± I already had an account at the Depository that Wynna had set up for me. I had circumnavigated using it but just making coins for expenses. As we walked, I explained, ¡°When you need to make a deposit or withdrawal, you should grab two of the three guards from the warehouse to accompany you.¡± Remy nodded as we talked about his security and how to document different business transactions. It took over two hours to get Remy set up at the Depository and get his token linked to just him. I deposited three platinum into the new account. If the restaurant did well, then I should never have to add more to the account in the future. I was glad this was one more headache I wouldn¡¯t have to deal with. On the walk back, Remy started talking, ¡°I have been looking into the delve team that shorted us on the stone. They primarily deal in stone, lumber, and soil from dungeons. I think they operate in the capital at the Whitestone Chasm dungeon. That is the dungeon that the Bricio¡¯s have complete control over. It is located on the estate of the Halifax Bricio. He has two sons who manage the dungeon, Abaddon Bricio and Baladan Bricio. The dungeon is their own private bank.¡± I knew of Abaddon Bricio. He had raped Cillia at the naval academy, and Loriel was trying to escape his intentions to wed her. I looked at Remy as I walked and asked, ¡°How did you figure all this out so quickly?¡± Remy stuttered, ¡°I spent a lot of time at the adventurer¡¯s guild hall. Many of the delvers that hang out there have been around for a while. They like to talk. One veteran, Ullmark, used to work on the Bricio estate and used to delve the dungeon.¡± I thought as we were getting closer and closer to the warehouse, ¡°Why did he leave?¡± Remy looked uncertain, ¡°I think he didn¡¯t like the Bricio¡¯s¡ªor maybe what he saw. He knows to keep his mouth shut. The Bricio¡¯s are pretty unforgiving.¡± Remy looked a little scared himself talking about the Bricio¡¯s with his eyes darting around. ¡°Is this Ullmark part of a delve team?¡± I asked. ¡°No, he is kind of a freelancer. He charges two gold per delve to help teams in the Icy Vault,¡± Remy said. ¡°Do you think he is a good person?¡± I asked Remy seriously. ¡°Good? Not bad, for sure. He used to buy me an ale when I was depressed. He always helps new delvers too. Gives them a quick education on the Icy Vault,¡± Remy said, looking at me questioningly. I nodded, and said, ¡°Tell Gimble to go interview him to see if he is a good fit for our delve team.¡± Remy shook his head, ¡°I don¡¯t think he will join. He likes his independence.¡± ¡°That is fine. There is no problem with Gimble talking to him and asking,¡± I said as we reached the Shiny Platinum. ¡°I am going to be working on finishing the plumbing for the apartments and enchanting the kitchens. If something that needs my attention comes up try to handle it yourself before coming to get me. I am taking the late skyship to Hen¡¯s Hollow and will be resuming my academy training. We will be back every seventh day for a dungeon delve.¡± I shook my head. Somehow I had become a delver. I knocked on doors and then bypassed locks with my metal-shaping ability. I left the doors open as I finished the plumbing and did some quick artificing for the small fridge units and the stovetops. I had finished the third floor and was just starting on the first room on the second floor, it was Aelyn¡¯s room. Aelyn came to the door when I knocked and was surprised to see me. Her face turned red. Was Gareth in the room? I asked myself. ¡°I wanted to finish connecting the water and the enchant you cooler and stove,¡± I explained to her. She nodded and was about to move aside when Isla shouted from the other end of the hall. ¡°Storme! Come and join us!¡± Isla was beaming as they were making their way up the stairs to the third floor were Loriel¡¯s room was. It was Cillia, Leda, Tessa, Loriel, Bylura, Isla and Gammon, Loriel¡¯s wolfsguard. Soon Leda and was aving her hands for me to join them. It was Tessa with the group that finally made up my mind though. ¡°Sorry Aelyn, I will work on it next seventh day. Do you want to join us? I don¡¯t want to be outnumbered six to one,¡± I asked already knowing her answer. Aelyn surprised me, though, ¡°Yes. I haven¡¯t talked with Leda and Cillia in a long time.¡± She closed the door behind, and a missile was launched from the other end when she got into the hall. I dodged the human projectile of Leda, who embraced Aelyn, ¡°If we had known you were here, you could have eaten with us and come shopping with us!¡± She took Aelyn¡¯s arm and escorted her to the waiting group. I smelled a strong indication that Leda was heavily intoxicated. I almost neutralized it but then thought maybe the entire group was a bit tipsy. Maybe I could get some answers. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. We went to the corner apartment which Loriel had claimed, and the living room was a horseshoe of padded furniture for entertaining. I took a seat on a two-person seat, and Aelyn immediately sat next to me, like she was claiming the spot. Everyone in the group had signs of intoxication¡ªexcept Bylura. ¡°Bylura, please get us some of the Miaden Red vintage,¡± Loriel said. Bylura went and poured out glasses of red wine and handed them out. I took a glass and sipped it. Very fruity and high in alcohol content. Tessa was the first to address me, ¡°Storme, I was very impressed with your restaurant.¡± A chorus of affirmations came from the others. The conversation switched to the food and especially the fried potato sticks and dipping sauces. We had four varieties of potatoes, and two were slightly sweet, and two were more starchy. Interestingly, they were all different colors: purple, gold, white, and blue. The drunk women tried to decide on the best fry, but everyone had a different opinion. Loriel sent Bylura down to the restaurant to get the assortment of sauces and plates of each variety of fry so they could decide. While we waited for Bylura, Loriel talked, ¡°So Storme, now that you have what is sure to be a successful restaurant. What are you going to do next?¡± I had an eager array of beautiful women hanging on my every word, ¡°The restaurant still needs some tweaking. A wider array of beverages. And I want to offer different sides other than the fried potato sticks¡ªmac ¡® n¡¯ cheese and fried onion rings.¡± Aelyn squeezed my arm. Aelyn loved junk food, and onion rings were at the top of her list. Two servers from the restaurant entered with trays of sauces and fries. Bylura followed them in. The servers bowed and rushed out. I looked at Bylura, ¡°Bylura if you used my name to get this delivered so quickly, I am guessing you didn¡¯t pay for the food?¡± Her eyes met mine with a challenging stare. I tossed her two silver coins, which she snatched out of the air. ¡°Go give these to the two servers.¡± Bylura left in a huff. I smiled inside because I knew what was going to happen after I said my next, ¡°I also plan to add milkshakes to the menu. That is ice cream blended with milk to make a thick creamy drink.¡± ¡°You have ice cream!¡± Leda shouted. Aelyn squeezed my arm in excitement as well. ¡°Yes, we have just chocolate and vanilla, but it will not be on the menu for a while. I suppose I could have the head cook make up some special milkshakes so you can try them,¡± I said conspiratorially. Tessa asked, ¡°What is a milkshake?¡± Left to go to the kitchens, which were extremely busy. Surprisingly the restaurant was still full, and there was a short line outside. I guessed the novelty of my establishment was spreading through the city. I didn¡¯t hear any complaints about the pricing either. I pulled a cook aside and had him make the milkshakes and send a server up with them when they were ready. I found my manager and asked him how things were going. The old veteran was sweating but smiling, ¡°I will say, other than the few wolfsguard standing behind a few of the customers, things are going great. The wolfsguard scare the customers a bit,¡± he explained. ¡°That can not be helped,¡± I said and only spotted one wolfsguard currently standing at a table with an array of men in magistrate suits. My manager supplied, ¡°The Miaden port controllers. Their offices are on the other side of the docking platforms. With how much they are enjoying the food, I expect you will see them in here every day.¡± ¡°Give them bottomless ale,¡± I said, and then I had to explain the concept. Basically, free refills to garner goodwill. I was about to head up the stairs when the manager stopped me, ¡°Storme, sir. The young boy you gave that statue of the dragon to¡ªhe asked if there were more of the other creatures in the paintings.¡± It took me a second to remember I had made a copper figurine of the black dragon and handed it to the only child who was eating in the restaurant at the time. I thought for a bit. I had made it on impulse and not given it a second thought. It was pure copper, too, a soft metal so the boy could bend the wings and legs into other poses. If I was going to merchandise figurines, then bronze was an alloy that was much better. Did I really want to waste my time on making figurines, though? ¡°No, there are no more figurines. But install some shelves on the wall over there,¡± I pointed. ¡°I will see if I can find a crafter to make some. They won¡¯t be cheap, though.¡± He nodded, and I made my way upstairs. I wanted to get some questions answered. I entered, and the milkshakes were right behind me. The cook must have worked hard to get them done in so short a time as my conversation with the manager. I watched as the woman around the room sampled the drinks. Definitely a lot of sweet tooths here. ¡°So, Loriel. Tell me about your problems with Abaddon Bricio,¡± I went straight to the point. The entire room went silent, and Gammon¡¯s muscles flexed. Cillia¡¯s face had been soft, and although she had been quiet and enjoying the conversation, it suddenly went hard. That same hardness when I first met her. Leda put her arm on her for support. Even Tessa had a look of disgust on her face. Loriel cautiously asked, ¡°Why do you ask?¡± ¡°I recently found out a company that his delve team supplies cheated me out of a few golds,¡± I said unconcernedly. Tessa entered the conversation, ¡°You should just avoid dealing with them. If you blow too much wind at him, he will retaliate, Storme. My family has had unpleasant dealings with them in the past. If my father didn¡¯t passionately hate his entire family, then I may be stuck in Loriel¡¯s shoes.¡± Isla spoke, ¡°Loriel may be in the line of succession for the Miaden seat, but she is on her own. She has no support. She has to fend off everyone.¡± Loriel waved her hand to silence her friend¡¯s support. Loriel looked at me for a moment as the room remained silent. It is evident that she was the power focal point of this group she was assembling around her. A group she was trying to get me to be part of, but I kept resisting. I wanted to know why Tessa was now in this circle. Was she here because of our duel and how I acted like a love-struck puppy? Loriel finally spoke, ¡°There is much more going on in Skyhold than most people know. The very balance of power and the fate of the people are played for sport. A few generations ago, the Bricio¡¯s raised the stakes. They took pieces off the board with subterfuge. Successors disappeared in dungeons, went to the lowlands and never returned, came down with incurable illnesses, suddenly resigned and went into seclusion, and many more things not in the histories Storme.¡± So far, her pitch had nothing surprising in it. I wasn¡¯t moved at all. She continued, ¡°The recent onslaught by the Sadians,¡± she looked around the room at her audience before continuing, ¡°was the first terrible move in generations by the Bricio¡¯s. Not only is the Skyholme navy greatly weakened, but we lost dozens of our most powerful mages, dozens, Storme. They will lay the blame at the feet of the Torrent family, but everyone in Skyhold knows the Bricio¡¯s were the ones making the decisions.¡± I knew that thousands had died in the attack. Mages were rare; only one in ten persons were born with an awakened core strong enough for high-tier magic. I looked at Cilia for confirmation. Cilia nodded, ¡°My grandfather has told me something similar. He thinks there will be a draft once the new Harbinger skyships are ready. The navy does not have enough combat mages for the vessels or to recharge their aether power crystals.¡± ¡°So, what is the point of your collection of friends here?¡± I asked Loriel, trying to get to the point of her pursuit of me and bringing them into her inner circle. Tessa, who was very new to this group, looked a little apprehensive but looked to Loriel as well. Loriel bit her lip, thinking, ¡°At first, I just wanted to surround myself to be protected. It is not just Abaddon who I am concerned about. Now I am making plans to flee if Skyholme collapses like I think it will. The Bricio¡¯s are working to enforce terms of service from all mages with power. The kickback will be immense, and I think it will tear Skyholme apart.¡± I looked doubtfully at Loriel. Sebastian had similar thoughts, though. The Triumvirate had a strong enough pulse for the people to know if something was going to start a civil war. Loriel continued, ¡°It has already started, Storme. Ask Talia next time you see her. She will confirm it for you. The lesser mages at the Arcanium Academy, not already contracted, are being funneled to the navy.¡± I stewed a bit as my company regained their stomachs and finished most of the food. Why was I being dragged into this? What could I do to protect my family? I asked open-endedly, ¡°How long do you think?¡± Loriel grabbed the last purple fry on the tray and munched it unconcerned. She was hiding a smugness¡ªshe thought she had won me over. She finally said, ¡°The draft would occur at the end of this academy year. It will just include mages, not bound. That will coincide with the commissioning of five new Harbinger skyships. This round will cause some unrest but will only target the low-hanging fruit, the mages not tied to Triumvirate families.¡± Rather than fall into Loriel¡¯s camp I stood, ¡°Thank you for the information.¡± I looked at Aelyn, ¡°We should head back to Hen¡¯s Hollow.¡± Loriel quickly said, ¡°I can fly you back at any time on my skyship.¡± Cilia and Leda wearing their dark gray uniforms looked hopeful I would accept. ¡°No, we can take the regular transport. Thank you for getting the restaurant off to a great start. Loriel, the rent for the apartments is three gold per month. The agreement was you could have one of the apartments, not live here rent-free. Remy is two doors down. You can pay him.¡± I left the room with murmuring going on. Aelyn asked as we went down the stone stairs, ¡°You are charging her rent too? Don¡¯t you think that was a little vicious?¡± I chuckled, ¡°Not in the least. These apartments are worth more than triple that. Looking at the furniture in her living room she probably spent two or three hundred gold in that room alone. This way, I am not doing her any favors that she has to repay me in the future.¡± We reached the top of the platform, and I asked the air, ¡°Why was Tessa Torrent there?¡± Aeyln interjected, ¡°What? What do you mean?¡± I faced her, ¡°They said they recruited her because I flirted with her when we fought. I definitely found her attractive,¡± Aelyn frowned, ¡°but I thought she would be smarter than get pulled into these games. Maybe my hope was hollow wishing.¡± Aelyn offered, ¡°She was there for you, Storme. Not Loriel. I could see her staring every time your eyes were off her and¡­.¡± I grinned somewhat madly, ¡°What did your ability tell you Aelyn? Did you read anyone else?¡± Aelyn sighed, ¡°yes. I have been working on my ability with Selina. It is kind of like a spell form, and it has gotten slightly stronger. I still can not read Callem.¡± I looked at her impatiently. ¡°Tessa is infatuated with you. Someone outside the three houses with a confident bearing.¡± I wanted to fist-pump but just nodded slightly. ¡°Isla is the same¡­though she thinks of you in more physical terms.¡± I turned away from Aelyn to hide my grin. I asked, ¡°and the others?¡± Aelyn quipped, ¡°Bylura wants to tie you up and whip you. She can not decide if she wants you shirtless or completely naked, though.¡± We both chuckled. ¡°Leda was actually thinking about me¡ªshe did have some thoughts of you, but she wanted to kiss my lips.¡± I nodded as Leda preferred the female gender. ¡°And Cilia?¡± I quired. ¡°Cilia¡¯s thoughts were elsewhere. A little confusing, but I think she was thinking about revenge on Abaddon. You didn¡¯t ask about Loriel.¡± Aelyn relayed. ¡°What did you glean from our heiress to the Miaden seat?¡± I asked curiously. Aelyn smiled devilishly, ¡°Oh, she definitely is fantasizing about you. But I think what she said is true. She is worried about the fate of Skyholme. She was harder to read than the others.¡± I nodded, ¡°Aelyn forgot what I said about not using your ability. It is too useful. We should spend more time together than just dungeon delving too.¡± Her pale elven face flushed pink. ¡°I need your help to navigate this cesspool of upper society. When we get back, we are going to talk with Callem and see if Sebastian can confirm what Loriel said. If it is true, then I need to start planning to keep my family safe.¡± Our skyship finally called for us to board. We were headed back to Hen¡¯s Hollow after a working vacation. Chapter 76 Gaston? Chapter 76 (Arc 2 Chapter 30) Gaston? On the return trip to Hen¡¯s Hollow, I didn¡¯t see Gareth, Mera, or Fera on board, so I was slightly curious about where they had all gotten off. Mera had made good progress with the brewer, and I hoped she would be able to start fermenting some mead soon. Aelyn seemed happy to be traveling with me. We talked a little about the Icy Vault dungeon. When the skyship landed, we made our way to Ennet¡¯s house together. We found Wynna, Callem, and Ennet having some post-dinner wine. Ennet said, ¡°Storme, you are about two hours late to make us all dinner!¡± The food was still out, and Aelyn picked out a few things on a plate and sat. I remained standing and asked, ¡°Callem, have you talked to Sebastian recently?¡± Callem got serious as he spoke, ¡°No. His communication stone was confiscated, and I received a letter from him maybe three weeks ago. It didn¡¯t say much.¡± I told Callem about my conversation with Loriel Miaden, and his response was, ¡°You are flying in high circles at such a young age, Storme, but we are not surprised. What Loriel is saying makes sense. The last time I talked with Sebastian, he didn¡¯t emanate a positive outlook.¡± ¡°Do you think if I traveled to the capital, I would be able to speak with Sebastian?¡± I asked after thinking for a while. Callem nodded, ¡°I don¡¯t think anyone would stop you. What is your goal of meeting him?¡± Callem didn¡¯t seem concerned, but Wynna did. I leaned against the counter, ¡°I want to confirm what I have been told. I also want his advice on how to proceed with building my skyship. Should I purchase some communication stones as well to give him?¡± Callem looked over at Wynna, ¡°I don¡¯t think they would last too long. The navy has been tight on security since the Sadian attack. I don¡¯t think they want the people to know just how bad things are.¡± Wynna continued, ¡°My friends in the capital are grumbling about higher taxes to rebuild the navy and lack of goods from our lowlands outposts.¡± Callem nodded at this as well. ¡°You should take Gareth with you if you do go to the capital Storme,¡± Callem started. ¡°Sebastian has an apartment two blocks away from the navy yards. If I went, it might raise some eyebrows. I will give you a communication stone to give him from a pair I recently purchased. But as Wynna said, they would most likely confiscate it again.¡± Aelyn pipped up, ¡°I can go with him.¡± I looked at Aelyn and shook my head, ¡°I don¡¯t want to risk you being in the capital with your mark.¡± I figured the less I had to worry about, the better. I wasn¡¯t even sure about having Gareth with me. ¡°Sorry, Aelyn. I just plan to make my way to Sebastian and have a quick talk and then come back.¡± She looked devastated, but I wasn¡¯t going to change my mind. I added, ¡°Your apartments at the Shiny Platinum are ready.¡± I produced a key for Ennet and a pair of keys for Callem and Wynna. ¡°Ennet, when do you plan to move your business to Aegis city?¡± They all took the keys which were numbered to correspond to their apartment doors. Ennet said, ¡°Around the time you finish your second term Storme. I found a shop front in the upper district that I already purchased, and it is being remodeled.¡± Wynna added, ¡°Yes, and I am coming out of retirement one day a week for the big customers,¡± she said with a smile even though her voice sounded annoyed. The conversation started to turn to private matters, so I left their company and went to the barracks to get some sleep. Gareth was not in the room, but Mera was across the hall. I learned Mera, Fera, Lana, Sammie, and Gareth went to see a play in Aegis City and returned to Solaris City earlier in the day. Fera and Gareth were somewhere about, but she didn¡¯t know where. I offered to make Mera dinner, and we went into the kitchen to find a number of other students doing the same. I kept it very quick and simple, making horseradish sauce for a corned beef sandwich. We talked over the meal about her lessons in becoming a brewer. She had been trying out her fermentation ability and had already made small batches of strong beer at the Shiny Platinum. I was upset I hadn¡¯t had the opportunity to try it. I hadn¡¯t been into the large brewery setup which Mera had taken to assembling with her sister during the week. I just wanted to approve the final products anyway. It was best to let Mera take ownership of it. After eating, I went into Mera¡¯s room, and we discussed plans for making our mead and ale for the Shiny Platinum. Her ability was powerful. She could ferment one hundred gallons of beer almost instantly, saving two weeks¡¯ worth of time. So she could single-handedly provide the establishment with a few different beverages and still have excess to sell on the market. I planned to get my coin¡¯s worth out of her. Fera returned with puffy lips and a happy countenance. I assumed Gareth had managed to patch things up with her and left the twins to talk about it. In my room, I found a grinning Gareth in his bed, reading a dungeon book. ¡°Good day?¡± I asked. ¡°Stormy, it couldn¡¯t have gone any better,¡± he exclaimed. I set privacy and alarm spells while listening to Gareth regal me with tales of his time with Fera. Their relationship was patched and proceeding. I was a bit jealous, but hearing after hearing from Aelyn today about what other women thought of me, I wasn¡¯t concerned. I explained to Gareth about the new possible member of the delve team, Ullmark. I also told him I wasn¡¯t going to Aegis City the next seventh day for the delve. He insisted on coming with me to the capital for my own protection. I conceded the point because it seemed he was not going to take no for an answer. Gareth started talking about going to the tailor shop run by Danlius. He needed new elegant clothes since he outgrew his old ones. I hoped Gareth did grow too much more. I told him we could stop at the tailor shop, but he would have to use his own coin. He mocked being hurt by my refusal to play sugar daddy. He also said we should leave on the sixth day and stay at The Gentle Tauren. It was a great inn, and the innkeeper, Broderick, was very friendly. He let slip that he was anxious to see Nina again. Apparently, Nina was a server/housekeeper at the inn. Gareth was trying to tell how he had misunderstood her advances the last time he stayed there, and now that he understood, he wished to take her up on them. When I asked him how this would affect his relationship with Fera, he suddenly went silent. I eventually closed myself off in a privacy bubble to study my spell. Tonight, with the finances of the Shiny Platinum secure and the dungeon team looking to be making a profit, I didn¡¯t feel the need to make silver, gold, or platinum coins. Instead, I started making a stockpile of mithril to use in completing the enchantments on my skyship. The first day of classes for the second term was totally different. I only had half as much time conditioning with Aelyn before heading to class with Selina for private lessons on spellcraft. Selina was working on more advanced studies with me. This included spell design, aether core stabilization, spell transcription, and aetheric theory. Selina wanted me to be able to write out my own spellbooks! It took mages decades to successfully transfer spells from their aether matrix to pages. First, the mage had to recognize the base spell and ignore all the evolutions. That was if they could even see the spell imprinted clearly on their aether matrix. The aether core stabilization was extremely important for archmages who wanted to utilize their core for multiple spells. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Currently, I only had my dimensional closet spell hovering in my aether core. I was learning that there were two ways to stabilize my aether core. Since my aether core was still growing, the second method was required. This meant circulating the core in a steady whirlpool. It was much harder than cementing your aether flow and anchoring everything in place, but it had a lot of benefits. The first benefit and largest benefit was it increased your aether pool recovery. It meant you needed to fix your spells in synchronous orbits around the core, so they didn¡¯t interact with each other. Simple on paper, but it took mages years to master. If you had multiple spells in your aether core, they could interact. If they were in the same sphere of magic, the interaction could be devastating. That was why mages couldn¡¯t cast multiple-dimensional storage spells. If they were different spheres of magic, they could bounce off each other and create chaos in your aether core and do damage. I wanted to learn a chronomancy spell that gave me an internal clock and allowed me to set timers. This clock/timer would be on my aether core. Unfortunately, the time and space magic spheres were closely linked, so I needed to master the aether core stabilization before I could learn the spell. I wasn¡¯t going to risk my dimensional closet. The whole process was made even more difficult since my core was still expanding. Mages usually didn¡¯t learn how to do this until their core was fully formed. Selina didn¡¯t care and just kept giving me more and more advanced aether core exercises to help. Thankfully, my artificing class was just me. Mia was taking a leadership class instead. Instructor Aldon just asked what I wanted to focus on in every class, and we worked on that. He was not too familiar with enchanting skyships, but he brought dozens of books to help us learn together. In enchanting, there are three primary conductors of aether, silver, platinum, and mithril. These carry the aetheric energy through the spell forms. In order to prevent the aether from interacting and bleeding out when you have high volumes of aether, you need an insulator. The three primary insulators are wood, gold, and adamantine. When you have a large skyship like a Harbinger, they use platinum and gold to write out the aetheric runes. Since the ship has such a high volume of aether running through the lines the platinum and gold disintergrate over time. The runes needed to be rewritten every year causing the maintenance of a skyship to be immense and keep the value of metals high! A heavily used Harbinger ship could run through thousands of gold worth of material in a year. If dungeons didn¡¯t supply a constant source of fresh gold and platinum, then the entire Skyholme fleet would eventually be grounded. Then there was mithril and adamantine. Neither material degraded with heavy use, but the problem was it was so rare and found in such small quantities and only in dungeons. I hoped to have enough mithril to build my skyship and eventually learn how to create the adamantine. Until then, gold would suffice and would hide the mithril underneath. After enchanting, I had general spell practice with Mera, Fera, Aelyn, Byron, and Gemma. Since everyone now had learned at least one spell, we practiced spells in unique ways. The more creative, the quicker the spell would level. This was a fun class for most of us. My focus was on the alarm and cleanliness spell. Since I had an absurd amount of aether I didn¡¯t have to hold back. I never cast more than forty spells in a class, though, pretending that was my limit. Dinner was still followed the law and history of Skyholme. It was boring, but I tried to pay attention. After dinner, Gareth and I walked out to Twin Rocks for some extra instruction. I didn¡¯t practice my lightning reflexes spell since I was currently saving most of my aether to make mithril, so my skill with the two-handed falchion was growing rapidly. Every day was a massive drain, mentally and physically. The first week, I did see my cleanliness spell hit level 19. I evolved the spell to affect others. This allowed me to clean the clothes that they were still wearing. I didn¡¯t reveal this to Gareth, though. Otherwise, he would be asking every few minutes. When the spell reached level 23, I could evolve the range again, and I would be able to clean other¡¯s bodies as well, using the full range of the spell¡¯s capabilities on them. The only other spell that reached an evolution in the first week was lesser restoration. It reached level 6 since I was still responsible for healing the entire class. At level 5, I selected an evolution termed oxygenate blood. This was basically a very short-term aerobic boost. It removed the lactic waste products and oxygenated the hemoglobin. It gave about a 15-second boost, erasing fatigue completely. Of course, I could chain it and continue until my aether ran out. It cost 3 units of aether to cast, so 12 units per minute. Not a very efficient use of aether unless it was to beat Gareth on a long-distance run. At dinner, on the sixth day my spells looked like this:
Imprinted Spell List Tier Slots Affinity Level
Cleanliness 1 1 Aether 19
Mend Flesh 1 1 Healing 16
Obfuscate Abilities 1 1 Darkness 10
Dimensional Closet 3 4 Space 16
Alarm 1 1 Divination 15
Privacy 1 1 Illusion 10
Neutralize Poison 2 1 Healing 7
Lightning Reflexes 4 2 Lightning/Healing 16
Arcane Lock 1 1 Aetheric 6
Aether Shield 2 1 Aetheric 12
Lesser Restoration 3 1 Healing 6
I had a lot of spells on the cusp of an evolution. Gareth was impatient to leave after Elora had finished reciting six pages of Skyholme laws and explaining the text to everyone. Mia, Fera, Aelyn, and Mera were going to the Shiny Platinum tomorrow. Aelyn was going dungeon delving without us, and I think she was quite angry with me for not taking her to Skyhold. Gareth and I walked the road to the skyship docks in Solaris. Gareth was wearing his best clothes and was extremely animated. He had even cut the large gold and regular platinum out of the linings in his shoes in case I was serious about not buying him new clothes. I think it was time for Gareth to learn that coins didn¡¯t grow on trees, so I planned to keep my promise. When we got to the docks, we were told the skyship hadn¡¯t sold enough tickets to make the trip. It needed at least ten passengers in order to depart. So I ended up buying ten tickets to the delight of the private skyship owner. I wouldn¡¯t have to deal with this when I had my own skyship. The flight ended up having three other passengers, and I steamed a little since I had only needed to buy seven tickets and not eight. No wonder the owner had been so happy. Gareth and I were accustomed to flying on a skyship, but that didn¡¯t stop us from going to the railing and watching like kids. I was sure if any of the passengers had been attractive women, Gareth would have been otherwise indisposed. We landed in the lower city and had a good thirty-minute walk to the upper city to reach Gareth¡¯s inn of preference, The Gentle Tauren. Even the lower city was clean, and we passed by the Aethon artificer store. I noticed my ice cream makers and light globes were prominently displayed in the window. The taverns were loud, and Gareth took a moment to peek into each window. I guessed it was curiosity and once again figured Gareth would get himself into trouble when we moved to Aegis City next academy year. We had to pass through four city guard checkpoints on our way. We were never stopped or questioned, though. I guessed these were just choke points between certain areas of the city. The number of people still out at this late hour amazed me. The Sphere never had total darkness, meaning people didn¡¯t need much artificial light outside of buildings. Gareth pointed out the tailor shop as we passed it. It did look extremely luxurious. The inn was a short distance away and was not too busy when we entered. A musician by the hearth was singing and strumming in a low crooning voice. About a quarter of the tables had patrons drinking or eating meals. The barkeep looked us over critically. He was probably trying to figure out if he remembered Gareth. Gareth had grown a few inches, but his face still had that same youthful countenance. It wasn¡¯t the barkeep who recognized him first. A server came out of the back room with a tray filled with bowls. She immediately chirped loudly, ¡°Gaston! Your back!¡± I looked over at Gareth with amusement on my face, ¡°Who is Gaston?¡± Chapter 77 Improving the Personal Spell Library Chapter 77 (Arc 2 Chapter 31) Spell Library Gareth fidgeted uncomfortably as he explained, ¡°When you sent me here last time, I used an alias. I thought Gaston sounded masculine.¡± He offered a weak smile. The waitress had deposited her load of heavy soup bowls and was approaching us. She looked to be in her late teens by Skyholme standards and had a bright smile. Definitely an attractive young woman. Gareth stepped forward, ¡°Nina, I was hoping you were still working here. We are planning to stay the night. My friend here is called Skye, and he was about to get us two rooms and dinner.¡± Gareth turned and winked at me, out of sight of Nina. Nina looked at both of us and asked, ¡°Is Skye your servant? I can get your rooms readied,¡± she asked with a suggestive undertone. Before Gareth could answer, I stepped forward and bowed my head slightly in greeting to Nina, ¡°It is a pleasure to meet Nina. I am, in fact, Gaston¡¯s charge. This brute of a boy is my bodyguard.¡± Gareth rolled with my play, ¡°Nina, I only have to guard him when he is wandering around the city. I have the nights to myself.¡± I couldn¡¯t see Gareth¡¯s face, but I was sure he was offering his most charming smile to the young serving girl. I didn¡¯t understand how someone so small could have an interest in a young man as large as Gareth. Rather than continue the game with Gareth, I moved to the bar. Nina and Gareth started a conversation in whispers. The barkeep smiled as I approached, ¡°Pleasure to meet you, Master Skye. So you need two rooms and meals? We have pheasant pie and boar burgers. The last time Gaston was here, he got a room on the third floor. I have a pair of adjacent rooms on that floor. One has a tub, and the other has a shower. My name is Broderick,¡± he held out his hand, and I shook it. ¡°That is fine. Give me the room with the bathtub. Gaston can have the other. As for food, I will take the boar burger,¡± I said, looking around the common room. It was clean with high ceilings. A mug was placed on the counter, and I turned back, taking it. I sipped it and commented, ¡°It¡¯s good.¡± ¡°Thanks. It is my own recipe. It will be six gold for the meals and rooms,¡± Broderick said, and I almost choked on the ale. Six gold was a small fortune in Hen¡¯s Hollow. I pulled out a large gold, and Broderick picked up the shiny gold coin and turned it over in his hand. ¡°If I didn¡¯t know any better, I would say this was a dungeon coin.¡± He placed two keys on the counter, and I tossed the one Broderick indicated had just the shower to Gareth, who caught it easily on the other side of the room before returning to seducing Nina. I took a draft of the cold ale. ¡°No, not a dungeon coin,¡± I explained, ¡°I just have the cleanliness spell and like to clean my coins.¡± I proved the point by using the spell and cleaning an area around my person. A clear line appeared on the floor, delineating the range of the spell. Broderick chuckled, ¡°You never realize how dirty your floor is until a mage comes by and cleans your place.¡± Broderick thought for a second, ¡°You have a good range on your spell. If you could clean the common room, I would be willing to waive your fee for the two rooms and meal.¡± I looked at Gareth, who was deeply engrossed in his conversation with Nina. I asked absently, ¡°Is that a fair price for cleaning a room this size?¡± I wasn¡¯t looking at Broderick, but he replied, ¡°I would normally pay about three gold once a month for a mage to come by and clean the common room. Unfortunately, since the Sadian attack, mages have been in short supply.¡± I turned back toward the barkeep and held out my hand. He placed the large gold coin in my hand. I started walking the room and cleaning it as only a mage could. I even cleaned the clothes of the patrons and the minstrel. They were oblivious to their new, clean appearance as I finished, and I avoided Gareth¡¯s clothes as a joke. Gareth was having some trouble keeping Nina¡¯s attention at my display of magic, her eyes kept following me. I returned to the bar and sipped my ale. Broderick was staring at me with his jaw slackened. He finally said, ¡°Well, that was unexpected. Quite the well you have there.¡± ¡®Well¡¯ was slang for an aether core. I had cast my cleanliness maybe 20 times to make sure I got every corner of the room. I felt the need to cover myself, ¡°Yes, I am a mage and have recently started dungeon delving as a support mage. The cleanliness spell was the first spell I learned and is quite evolved.¡± Broderick put on a large smile, ¡°I delved into quite a few dungeons in my heyday. The Gentle Tauren was bought from my efforts. If you ever need a place to stay in the capital and don¡¯t mind burning some aether,¡± he indicated the extremely clean common room, ¡°know the Gentle Tauren is always open to you Skye.¡± I winced at the alias that Gareth had tagged me with. It was probably a joke, and I knew he was going to call me Stormy Skye at some point in the future. The boar burgers soon came out, and the meat was too dry and the sauce too spicy for my liking. The portion was large, but I considered the meal average at best. The barkeep filled up my ale, which was half empty. It was strong, and just the half glass had me with a strong buzz, easily cured a second later with a quick spell. I needed the ale refilled again to get the burger down. Broderick started talking about his own dungeon delving in his youth. Broderick was easy to talk to and quickly switched the conversation to topics I found interesting. We talked about dungeon treasures mostly, and when I turned around an hour later I found Gareth missing. Broderick chuckled at my confusion, ¡°Nina brought Gaston¡¯s meal upstairs twenty minutes ago.¡± I did remember tossing Gareth the key to his room. After another sip of the ale, I asked, ¡°Would you consider selling me this recipe?¡± Indicating the ale. He seemed to consider, ¡°I have sold it in the past, but I do not want local competition,¡± he stated. ¡°I operate a small restaurant in Aegis City. I will only sell it there,¡± I offered. Broderick seemed to waver but eventually said, ¡°One hundred gold and your word not to sell the ale to any restaurant in the capital.¡± I nodded, and he held out his hand. I placed a shiny platinum in it. He turned over the coin, studying it for a long time before pocketing it. His appraisal of the coin turned to me, and finally, he leaned in close, ¡°The secret is the yeast from the hot springs in the Black Moor Dungeon. The hops and grains can be sourced from anywhere. I discovered the yeast on one of my last delves. It does take a spark of aether to activate the yeast, but it always makes fantastic ales.¡± Aether-infused yeast¡­this was the second occurrence. The queen bees in the Frost Vault also had yeast. It appeared dungeons were very aware of micro-biomes. If I was not mistaken, the Black Moor dungeon was on this island and one of the more profitable dungeons in all of Skyholme. I could probably just task an experienced dungeon team to get me hot spring water samples. I was about to head to my room but paused. ¡°Broderick, how late is the Mage¡¯s Spell Emporium open?¡± I doubted it was still open, but I would ask when it opened in the morning. Broderick grinned, ¡°New to the capital then? It doesn¡¯t close. Many of the stores in the upper city never do,¡± his wide, friendly grin remained on his face. That made some sense, as the Sphere had no true night. Just extended dusk and dawn. I got directions from Broderick and went to buy some spells. It was partly to spite Gareth. He had come to protect me, but the first chance he got to get some alone time with a pretty young server, he took it. I figured I would rub it in tomorrow that I had to travel the capital¡¯s dangerous streets alone. Not only did I doubt the capital was at all dangerous, but I also was extremely confident in my ability to defend myself. The spell emporium was as Gareth had described. The store was made of the same white stone most of the buildings in the city were made of. As I entered, I found an immaculate lobby with a few men looking at tomes on shelves surrounding the lobby on the first floor. I looked up, and the building extended two more stories with terraces overlooking the lobby. I could see shelves lining the terrace walkways. A large skylight was directly over the lobby. It was a murky twilight outside, so the skylight was currently lined with light globes¡­light globes that were very similar to the ones I made. More aether lights were lit on the terraces giving extra light to help illuminate spell books lining the shelves. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. I stood in awe of thousands of spells contained here. Gareth¡¯s description had been accurate but didn¡¯t do it justice. As I was looking up, a young woman in dark blue robes approached me, ¡°Do you need help?¡± I focused on the woman and smiled. Dark brown hair with sky blue eyes greeted me. ¡°Yes, I have my token here.¡± I made a show of pulling the token Gareth had given me. She took it and went to the desk to check the token. The young woman returned and said, ¡°This token has not been linked to anyone. We confirmed it was purchased. Do you wish to link it to yourself,¡± she said with a bright smile. I cursed Gareth for not letting me know about the step of binding the token. ¡°Ok, let¡¯s do that.¡± The attractive assistant brought me to the desk, and the medallion was placed on my palm, and a simple linking spell was cast. The young woman was smiling the entire time. When it was linked, she asked, ¡°So how can I help you? Your membership token gets you 10% off of all spells and access to our tier 3, 4, and 5 spells.¡± ¡°I am looking for a few spells. The tier 1 chronomancy spell, absolute time. The tier 1 surgical precision spell. But if a tier 3 healing sphere spell can do the same thing as the surgical precision spell, I would be interested in that spell instead. I am also looking for the tier 2 illusion spell, personal invisibility. I will also browse the lightning spells.¡± The young woman bit her lip, thinking. ¡°I am sorry, I am new here. I am in my second year studying magic at the mage academy. I just work here nights, and you are only my third customer. I will go ask about a tier 3 healing spell that can replicate the surgical precision spell.¡± She left quickly and went to talk with an older mage behind a desk. They talked for a while before she returned. ¡°I am sorry, but I never asked your name! I am Jenna. Jenna Corals.¡± She said with a bright smile. ¡°Storme Hardlight. It is nice to meet you. Did you find a tier 3 spell that can replicate the surgical precision spell?¡± I asked, starting to lose a little patience. I did want to get some sleep tonight. ¡°Yes, we have copies of the tier 3 healing spell tissue extraction. It works on living creatures and dead creatures, while the surgical precision spell just works on dead creatures.¡± She looked closely at me and blushed, ¡°You are quite muscular¡­are you a dungeon delver? I only ask because the surgical precision spell is used mainly in dungeons.¡± I didn¡¯t think admitting it would cause any harm, ¡°Yes. I am part of a small dungeon team in Aegis City.¡± Her eyes went wide in excitement, but my impatience was written on my face, ¡°That must be so exciting! Let me bring you to the time sphere shelf so you can select your copy of the absolute time spell.¡± I paged through the four different copies of the tier 1 absolute time spell. I finally selected the copy that focused on evolutions around time management. Jenna was patient while I looked through the books. She took the book I selected and led me to the illusion spell section so I could select my personal invisibility spell next. There were only two copies of the invisibility. One was a dungeon spell book, which meant it would be easier to learn and be destroyed on imprinting, but it didn¡¯t detail any evolutions. The other version was a copy from the Mage Academy. I ended up handing both spellbooks to Jenna for purchase. I figured I could learn from the dungeon spell quicker and then study the evolutions in the other book. Jenna was confused until I explained my plan with the two books. She then asked if I wanted to look at other tier 1 or 2 spells. All tier 3 and higher spells were on the upper levels. I walked all the healing and lightning spells to ensure I didn¡¯t see anything I wanted. Jenna put my already selected spells at a desk with the older mage she had conferred with and joined me as I walked. I checked my dimensional space, and I had 15 platinum. The two personal invisibility spells were 400 gold together. The absolute time spell was just 10 gold. My aether pool was almost full, so I could add to my platinum collection if needed. I didn¡¯t find any interesting tier 1 or tier 2 healing spells, but I did find a useful utility spell, illusionary garb. It was tier 2 that created an illusion around the mage with clothes that moved with the mage. It was cheap at just 60 gold, but I didn¡¯t think I would use two units of my aether matrix to imprint. I handed it to Jenna. Sebastian had a large library in his dimensional closet so why couldn¡¯t I? I added the tier 2 water sphere spell, fog, to Jenna¡¯s burden. This spell created a large 25-yard radius of thick mist around the caster. One of the evolutions gave the caster perfect sight within the obscuring mist, making it a very valuable spell to escape or confuse your enemies. It was only 100 gold. I could have spent many more hours going through spell books, but it was approaching midnight, and Jenna looked tired. She guided me to the upper floors, and I selected a copy of the tissue extraction spell. The spell required contact and had a moderate cast time. It was geared to excising necrotic tissue from specific undead attacks. This was preferable to reversing the damage as it was quicker and took less time in battle. As Jenna stated, the spell could also be used like the surgical precision spell. Although it used four times the amount of aether as the surgical precision spell, I could skin and dismantle an entire monster with a single casting, saving time. The spell was 500 gold, and I added it to my pile, ¡°Thank you, Jenna. I think I am done for the night.¡± She looked relieved, and we went to the desk. While the older mage cataloged the sale and prepared the bill, I asked Jenna, ¡°So, are mages being recruited from the academy to the Navy?¡± Jenna looked confused at the question but answered, ¡°The navy recruiters have been more persistent in the upper classes. They are offering very enticing bonuses from what I have heard.¡± The older mage looked up, paying attention, but continued his work. ¡°If you don¡¯t have a sponsor, they have always targeted you. My uncle is sponsoring me through the Mage Academy, and he got me this job recently because his taxes have increased. So I need to pay part of my schooling at the academy.¡± The mage slid the bill to me, and I looked at it. 873 gold. I placed nine platinum on the table with my token. He checked my medallion even though he had just linked it to me three hours ago and then left to check the platinum and get me my change. He returned with the twenty-seven gold, and I handed the two large gold and seven regular gold to a stunned Jenna, ¡°This is too much¡­we usually get at most a single gold for helping a customer.¡± ¡°Well, Jenna, you did a great job. Best of luck with your academic studies.¡± As I was leaving, she caught up to me. ¡°Storme, do you want to get breakfast¡­I mean something just get something to eat¡­it is too early for breakfast. Maybe a drink? I mean, after I get off in three hours,¡± her eyes were filled with desire and excitement. I was tempted but exhausted, and I planned to talk with Sebastian and then return to Hen¡¯s Hollow as quickly as possible tomorrow. ¡°Maybe next time Jenna. I have a full schedule tomorrow,¡± I smiled and exited the building with my bundle of books. When I passed by Gareth¡¯s room, I could hear giggling inside and shook my head. In my room, I added my new spell books to my storage and set up my series of alarms and privacy spells. I fell asleep after adding some mithril to my storage. My alarm woke me as Gareth was knocking on my door. I hated that my friend only needed a few hours of sleep to get fully rested. I opened the door to a beaming Gareth, ¡°Stormy, we should get to the tailor early and then have him make alterations while we visit Sebastian.¡± I had slept in my clothes, so a quick use of my cleanliness spell and I was walking out the door. I think I got maybe five hours, but it felt like less. My exuberant best friend was practically skipping down the stairs. ¡°Good night?¡± I asked. He whispered in a low tone, ¡°Storme, she knew things¡­.¡± He looked around, afraid of being overheard. I will tell you later on the ride back to Titan¡¯s Shield. ¡°No need Gareth. I get the picture. And it¡¯s not a picture I want to be stuck in my head,¡± I joked with him. He mocked being hurt as we made our way to the tailor. While Gareth shopped, I selected some comfortable underclothes. I didn¡¯t want to spend any coin on clothes until I was fully matured. I figured I was about an inch shy of my final height, and my body was still filling out from the recent growth spurt. We physically matured much quicker in the Sphere, and I figured it had to do with the aetheric density. It meant monsters also benefitted from the same effect. That was a fact Gareth had told me from his classes with Elijah, who was a famed monster hunter. When Gareth finished his shopping, his total came to 156 gold. He gave me his puppy dog eyes as he counted out the coin. I didn¡¯t cave even though I knew Gareth was spending most of his coin on fashionable enchanted clothes. I was also laughing mentally as I knew he would have outgrown everything in six months. He didn¡¯t get anything that needed to be tailored, so we left with our packages, and Gareth started immediately, ¡°So Stormy, since I used up my emergency fund, I will need to get it replenished.¡± I joked, ¡°I am surprised you had any coin left after tipping Nina.¡± Gareth got confused, ¡°Why would I tip Nina?¡± My eyes snapped to Gareth. I suppose she could have just wanted intimacy with Gareth as he was tall, dark, and handsome, but based on Broderick¡¯s words, I assumed she was a working girl. I spent the next ten minutes explaining to Gareth my point of view from his interaction with the young woman. ¡°I think you are wrong, Storme. We had a connection. The things she did¡­.¡± I stopped him. ¡°Gareth, why don¡¯t you go back and see if she is happy to see you. You left her sleeping in your room? When she woke up, I am sure she was not happy to find no coins on the nightstand,¡± I said without humor in my voice. Gareth seemed to be thinking hard about my words. We reached Sebastian¡¯s address, ¡°Go, and I will wait here after I talk with Sebastian.¡± We approached and knocked on the door. A butler in a black navy uniform answered the door. Gareth made his decision and left to see Nina, not wanting to risk a misunderstanding. I introduced myself and followed the butler inside to talk with Sebastian, who had not yet left for the Navy shipyards this morning. Chapter 78 Serious Talk Chapter 78 (Arc 2 Chapter 32) Serious Talk The naval butler attendant led me to an office inside the richly furnished house. Sebastian was at his desk, but my attention was drawn to the walls that were covered in the schematics of the Harbinger-class warship and the Wasp-class scout. ¡°Storme! What a surprise! Is there something wrong? I never expected you to visit me in the city,¡± the older mage rose and cracked his back from a long period of sitting. He then came and shook my hand with a strong grip. ¡°It has been a long time, Sebastian. I came to ask questions and seek advice from you,¡± I said after shaking his hand and returning to inspect the detailed drawings on his walls, comparing them mentally to my book on the Wind Splitter. Sebastian stood beside me, ¡°You must have grown three inches since I last saw you. I didn¡¯t see you fight in the Annuals, but Cilia said you were remarkable. Thank you for getting her assigned to Loriel Miaden¡¯s staff. It relieved a burden on my mind knowing she is free of the influence of Abaddon and the Bricios.¡± I turned and looked at Sebastian. He looked much older than I remembered. Dark circles lined the orbits of his eyes. I spoke honestly, ¡°I didn¡¯t play a role in Cilia¡¯s assignment. I am here for information and advice. I also have a communication stone for you from Callem.¡± I passed him the stone, and he looked at it in his hand thoughtfully. ¡°Thank you, Storme. I will talk with Callem when I get the time. There has been a crackdown for fear of spies, but I can keep this.¡± He put the stone in his pocket and added, ¡°Cilia has professed your friendship with Loriel is somewhat strained.¡± I started laughing so hard I couldn¡¯t speak. When I regained myself, I offered, ¡°Loriel is more like a thorn in my side.¡± I sighed, ¡°But I will admit Cilia is probably in good hands. I think Loriel is selfish but will look after her own.¡± I pressed Sebastian for one of the reasons I was here, ¡°Loriel told me she is worried about the state of Skyholme and civil unrest. She plans to put herself in a position to flee the islands. I am ready to begin my own construction of a skyship, and I came here for advice and to ask you how fast I needed to build it.¡± Sebastian looked thoughtful and directed me to the kitchen, and we sat. He poured me a glass of his favorite red juice and spiked his drink with some of Callem¡¯s vodka. It took him a moment as he corralled his thoughts, ¡°Civil unrest,¡± he focused. ¡°No. I don¡¯t think it will come to that. Granted, I am mostly on the outside looking in. They have me focused on getting eight new Harbingers sky-worthy before the new year. I am either working in my office or at the shipyards.¡± ¡°So there won¡¯t be a draft for mages,¡± I asked, digging. Sebastian sighed heavily, ¡°That will happen. We can barely staff the fleet currently flying. We need six upper mages for each of the eight Harbingers I am building.¡± Sebastian resolved my confused face, ¡°An upper mage has an aether pool between 70 and 100. They are needed to keep the ship¡¯s primary power aether crystal charged in battle,¡± he explained. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen the official roles, but I know several retired mages have returned to service after the Sadian attack. Any mages forced into service are being given a dungeon essence and a healthy wage. They shouldn¡¯t complain too strongly.¡± ¡°So I don¡¯t need to rush the construction of my skyship?¡± I pressed. Sebastian laid back and finished his drink in one go. ¡°I would say the next Sadian attack is years away. We bloodied them, as bloodied us. Their alliance with the beastkin has eliminated one of the threats to their kingdom in the lowlands, but they still border other threats. When their strength does rise again¡­if they have the same amount of ships¡­Skyholme may fall,¡± he admitted grudgingly. ¡°We lost some of the strongest and most brilliant captains to win this last engagement. Our best hope is for the Bricios to be knocked from power.¡± He looked around like he suspected someone of jumping out and arresting him. ¡°They have placed their personal wealth and power above the security of Skyholme. Good men like Callem Dregella have been pushed aside or assassinated. We have been weakened, and only now is everyone waking up to the reality.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t this your best-case scenario? People turning on the Bricios?¡± I queried. ¡°Storme, a cornered wyvern is more dangerous than fighting a wyvern in the open sky. The Bricios will not give up their wealth or power easily. They are entrenched deeply in other families. The Bricio resistance to change is what is likely to destroy Skyholme.¡± He poured himself more juice without Callem¡¯s vodka. ¡°It is not for you to worry about such things. It will be years, and we will have warning, Storme. You wanted to build a skyship? Let¡¯s talk about that!¡± He forced a smile, obviously wanting to drop the current topic. ¡°Are you going to build another Wind Splitter? And how is your progress coming on the two spells I gave you?¡± I grinned, ¡°I have imprinted both of those spells.¡± ¡°Fantastic, Storme! Callem said you were special!¡± He slapped the table hard in excitement. Pride welled within me, but I stayed focused on the skyship, ¡°What advice do you suggest for building a skyship? I have a concealed hanger in Aegis City. It is large enough for the Wind Splitter if you wish to visit.¡± Sebastian¡¯s face fell. He drank his juice, ¡°The Wind Splitter was commandeered as a scout by the navy and was downed.¡± He laughed painfully, ¡°Still waiting on receiving fair compensation.¡± Sebastian sat taller and said, ¡°Let¡¯s talk about how to build a skyship from the ground up.¡± ¡°You will need an engineer. Most of building a skyship is math. Lots and lots of math. You will also need an experienced foreman. Also, you will need a professional shaper to build the wooden skeleton. You could go with metal, but that is usually reserved for ships traveling outside of the Sphere. And you will also need an experienced enchanter. A few laborers would round out your build team.¡± Sebastian offered. My mind went to Remy. He had affinities in math and engineering and seemed to be a perfect candidate. Isla wanted to be the foreman, and if I had no other choice, I would go with her. I planned to do the enchanting myself. The shaper was my biggest hurdle. A shaper was a mage capable of shaping and hardening wood. Sebastian interrupted my thoughts, ¡°You also need a large aether core to power your vessel. A ship the size of the Wind Splitter should have at least a tier 5 blue core. I would say at least 100 units in size. That is about 12,000 gold for the ship¡¯s power core, Storme.¡± I nodded absently. Hopefully, I could find something better than the minimum when I was ready to finish my skyship. When I didn¡¯t reply, Sebastian thought I was concerned about the cost and offered, ¡°An airship is much simpler and would cost much less he offered.¡± I shook my head. An airship was much slower and was assisted by the wind to move most of the time. I brought out the manual from my storage space, and we spent the next three hours going over the plans in detail and Sebastian advising me on the materials. When we finished, Sebastian said he would talk to an old shaper for me. He had built civilian traders for over seventy years and was retired, but he might be convinced to join me on this project. I thanked Sebastian for his time and left. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. I found Gareth sitting on the steps to the small villa. He looked up miserable, ¡°Storme, you were right. She was not happy to see me. She was expecting coin after our night together.¡± Gareth was quiet for a while as we walked back to the docks. He finally spoke, ¡°I gave her my last two gold Storme. But you what? It was worth it.¡± I looked at my friend and could see him getting himself into lots of trouble in the future. ¡°Can you do me a favor, Storme, and not tell Fera?¡± ¡°Gareth, we are as close as brothers. I will not tell Fera. But I will also not lie to her if she asks me,¡± I said solemnly. He looked at me and nodded. ¡°Thanks, Storme. That is fair,¡± he said while contemplating his life decisions. When we landed in Hen¡¯s Hollow, I went to talk to Callem. I told Callem I gave Sebastian the communication stone and what we had talked about. Aelyn and Ennet returned in the middle of our conversation. Aelyn sat down and told me about the delve this morning. They went in with Gimble, Sammie, Talia, Ullmark, Lana and herself. Ullmark was the old delver I was trying to recruit. Aelyn told me about him, ¡°Ullmark was good to have along. He served on the front with Sammie. It felt more like we had two instructors with us, Ullmark and Gimble. We didn¡¯t harvest a lot of honey as Lana¡¯s dimensional storage was much smaller than yours, Storme.¡± Callem spoke, ¡°Sounds like you got lucky, Storme. Ullmark sounds like a great addition to your team.¡± Aeyln added, ¡°He was just along to see us in action. He hasn¡¯t made a decision yet. Remy paid him five gold, more than twice his normal fee, in order to get him to join us. But I think Sammie might have won him over. He was treating her like his long lost daughter while they fought on the front line, teaching her while protecting her.¡± ¡°Storme, do you want me to vet Ullmark?¡± Callem asked, interested. ¡°Wynna, Ennet, and I are going to the Shiny Platinum on the 4th day to see the apartments. I can talk to him then.¡± ¡°That is fine, Callem. Ullmark used to delve the Bricio dungeon but quit because he was disgusted with working for them. I thought he had decent morals and thought he could help the team on the lower levels of the Frost Vault,¡± I said, explaining my reason for asking Ullmark to be recruited by Remy and Gimble. Callem left, and I talked with Aelyn alone in the kitchen for an hour. She talked about her experiences in the Frost Vault this morning, and I listened and asked questions when necessary. I left when Ennet came into the kitchen to make dinner. Not feeling up to cooking, I escaped the house. I went to the larder in the academy, made a few sandwiches, and locked myself in the artificing classroom. Now that I was the only student of Aldon, I shouldn¡¯t be disturbed. I used an arcane lock on the door and windows. I followed this by anchoring privacy screens by the door and window. I brought out a few staves to practice my enchanting. I followed this with material and the script for the instant change of direction runes. This would allow me to instantly change the direction of a swing, but there would be a backlash to my body. When these runes were installed on a skyship, the change of direction had an inertia sink, so the passengers didn¡¯t feel the change. The runes for an inertia sink were extremely large, and you couldn¡¯t make them small enough to add to a weapon. I had a cheat, as my lightning reflexes spell had protections for such rapid speed alterations. The staff was a proof of concept for me. It took an hour as I had to enchant both ends of the staff. I tested the staff at full force and broke my left wrist. I swore and was glad I now had the lesser restoration spell to heal the broken bones. After I healed the damage, I worked to figure out the issue. After two more tests, I found the issue. The change of direction was magnified to two times the expected speed because both ends of the staff activated on each strike. The torque from the first strike had been so high it easily overcame my lightning reflexes spell defenses. Now that I understood the issue, I started to practice with my new toy. I just needed to make sure I was prepared and had my hands positioned properly. I returned to my room to find Gareth lamenting on the bed. ¡°I told her, Storme, I decided I couldn¡¯t hide it from her. I told Fera about Nina. She slapped me and isn¡¯t talking to me again.¡± I shook my head at my friend and patted him on the shoulder. ¡°You did what your conscience told you to do,¡± I said, consoling him. I then produced a sandwich from my storage and handed it to him. ¡°Food always makes you feel better.¡± He munched away, spilling crumbs onto his bed, knowing I would clean up after him with my spell. I set the alarms and arcane locks, and I crashed heavily on my bed and set up a privacy screen. I made some mithril and then summoned two spell books. I had been working on thermostatic aura spell but now held tissue extraction as well. Both spells were tier 3 and in the healing sphere. I felt like I was getting extremely close to imprinting the thermostatic aura spell, so I put the tissue extraction spell away and continued to study it. The next day Gareth¡¯s self-inflicted misery had me eating all meals with Mia, Fera, and Mera. The meal conversation all centered on Gareth¡¯s wandering lust. Then in the evening, I had to listen to Gareth bemoan his own idiocy. I was making a concerted effort not to get involved or take sides. This was how my week proceeded socially. My personal progress in magic was much better. I imprinted the thermostatic aura on 2nd day and moved on to imprinting the tissue extraction spell. The thermostatic aura had two primary evolution paths. The first was controlling the temperature, and the second was increasing the area of effect. On learning the spell, I only controlled the temperate three inches from my skin. I could adjust that temperature by 50 degrees C in either direction. My evolution at level one was to increase the temperature range to 150 degrees C. Each progressive evolution invested this was increased the range by another 100 degrees but drew more aether. I would need about ten evolutions to be about to walk through fire unharmed. The spell book noted the adult dragon fire burned around 4000 degrees C, so I knew I could not stand in front of such a nightmare. The other tract for this spell was to increase the range to encompass other people. My next four evolutions would focus on increasing the aura bubble out to four feet. That would allow eight people to surround me comfortably. I would be happy to travel the Icy Vault dungeon now without layering up my clothes. During the week, I leveled up and evolved a number of spells. Lesser restoration reached level 7, and I added the evolution perfect skin. This was a huge improvement over the scar removal and body sculpting evolutions from my mend flesh spell. Now I could handle old burns, birthmarks, body hair, and slight body imperfections could be corrected. My cleanliness spell had reached level 20, getting closer to the level 23 goal. I had been investing a lot of aether into this spell and was eager to be able to use it on another person. When my dimensional closet reached an evolution and level 17 I decided to expand the height of the space by 2¡¯. When my aether core finished its development, I would have a cube of roughly 19¡¯ in dimension. I planned to build a deck inside the space. The second floor would have an 8¡¯ ceiling, while the first floor would have a 10¡¯ ceiling. When I started construction on my skyship, I would funnel material into my space for this effort. My alarm spell reached level 17, and I increased the volume of the sound. It was about as loud as a gunshot. I would need to add one more sound increase to get the flash-bang effect that I was seeking. I also needed to protect my own ears from the loud sound with an evolution. My heavily used privacy spell reached level 14, and at level 13, I added the air recycling effect to my containment bubble. Between my thermostatic aura and privacy bubble, I could survive in extremely harsh environments. That is as long as my aether didn¡¯t run out. On the 5th day, Callem talked to me about his visit with Ullmark during his visit to Aegis city the prior day. Apparently, he was much older than he appeared, as he had a slow aging ability. He was a fan of Callem and was joining the dungeon team for a few sword lessons from Callem. Callem had never displayed hubris before, but now I could see a flicker of it. Ullmark had watched Callem win all his titles at the Annuals. Ullmark would talk with me when I visited the Shiny Platinum. Before the 7th day, I had made some surprising progress on my aether core. I managed to stir the core, stirring the vortex. It was not stable and settled when my attention wandered, but I found when I focused, I could increase my aether core filling by about 50% while I meditated on the movement. The goal was to stabilize the vortex, so it was natural and done subconsciously. Since my aether core was still expanding, that was going to be extremely difficult, according to Selina. Early in the morning, Gareth, Aelyn, Fera, Mera, Mia, Callem, Wynna, Ennet, Freya, and I boarded the transport to Aegis City. Freya had convinced me to let her see the Shiny Platinum. I knew it was so she could brag to her friends, but I was ok with that. While I was in the dungeon, I would task Wynna and Ennet with keeping an eye on her. Chapter 79 Ullmark Chapter 79 (Arc 2 Chapter 33) This was Freya¡¯s third trip on a skyship, but just like Gareth and I, the excitement hadn¡¯t worn off. She was at the railing and watching the lands fall below as the ship moved toward Aegis city. Gareth was in a deep conversation with Callem, so I stood beside Freya. ¡°How are you doing, Freya? You have been doing an excellent job in getting the restaurant supplied,¡± I offered with enthusiasm. Freya¡¯s face brightened, ¡°It has been fun. I like visiting all the farms and setting up contracts. After the Gaskills signed on, everyone else was eager. I have been hitting the increased quotas for the Shiny Platinum.¡± I asked my younger sister, ¡°Do you think I can convince our mother and father to move to Aegis city?¡± I wanted to get my family close to where my skyship was moored in case we had to flee the sky islands. Freya looked perplexed at my question, ¡°I don¡¯t think they could live in Aegis city. The prices are so extreme. Mother just got her master carver¡¯s pin, and I think she is considering opening her own shop. Father is not home much. His duties have doubled as some of the skyship guards under his command have been reassigned to the larger cities.¡± I nodded and sighed internally. Convincing my parents would not be an easy task, ¡°What about you, Freya? Would you want to move to Aegis city next year? I will be in the dungeon academy, and Pascal will be in the guard¡¯s academy.¡± I disagreed with my brother¡¯s decision. I would have offered to pay for his education, but he wanted to follow in our father¡¯s footsteps. By going to the Aegis guard academy, he would have a long term of service after he graduated. Freya was considering my question. She had a small business empire and employed almost every child under the age of 13 in Hen¡¯s Hollow. But I also knew the amount she was getting from the contract of supplying the Shiny Platinum put those funds to shame. After turning the question over in her mind, she asked, ¡°What did you have in mind?¡± Freya had a look on her face like she was ready to negotiate. I put on my own devious face, ¡°I figured you could rent one of the apartments at the Shiny Platinum, and I would pay for your tutors while you continued to supply the Shiny Platinum.¡± Freya¡¯s lips puckered in distaste, ¡°How about no tutors?¡± I had been paying for her special tutors since entering the academy, and it was the worst part of her day. ¡°Mother wouldn¡¯t allow it if you were not getting an education before the academy,¡± I said seriously. Freya mumbled, ¡°I already make more than her.¡± I sighed. I had created a monster. I shouldn¡¯t have been paying her so well. I would have to think of a way to cut her off without getting her upset with me. ¡°Well, think about it. You are to spend the day with Wynna and Ennet, and I don¡¯t want to hear anything about you wandering off alone. If I do, then I will never take you to the city again,¡± I warned her. The skyship landed, and I made my way down the ramp. Tatem, my artist, had started painting the side of the building. The massive hydra was already sketched out, encompassing half of the side of the building. A large number of departing passengers stopped and looked at it before going into the restaurant to check it out. The restaurant was not open for business until noon, but they could still see the panels inside and wander over to the bakery. The hydra was a great advertising platform. I started to rethink my position of not making miniatures. The shelves I requested had been installed to display miniatures of the beasts in the panels. I was going to see if I could find a metal sculpture to create them, not wanting to waste my own time and aether creating the bronze and shaping them. Maybe I would make a few¡­ I took the stairs up to the apartments to look for Gimble. Lana was in the hallway and directed me to the training room. In the training room, Gimble and Sammie were engaged while Talia and an older man looked on. I walked over to stand next to the older man and asked, while watching Sammie get some instruction, ¡°Ullmark?¡± ¡°Yes. All you, the young pupil of the mysterious Callem Dregella?¡± He asked while appraising me and still watching Sammie. I did the same to him. He had salt and pepper hair and a well-trimmed beard. Ullmark wore clean heavy canvas adventuring clothes worn where the straps for leather armor would have rubbed. He carried just a long sword on his belt. ¡°Callem is my mentor or at least one of them,¡± I answered. ¡°His true protegee is Gareth, who I am sure is either apologizing to a young woman or wooing a new one,¡± I said, offering a smile. Ullmark smiled back, and we shook wrists. ¡°I am willing to join your dungeon squad,¡± he shook his head in disbelief. ¡°I never thought I would tie myself again to a team.¡± I thought quickly, ¡°You can leave at any time, Ullmark.¡± ¡°Ahem, yeah, I have already selected a room below,¡± he grinned and chuckled. ¡°I admit the apartment put it over the talk and free food below? You are going to end up with overweight delvers, Storme.¡± We talked briefly about the details of his contract. It was the same as everyone else. Gimble approached, and the team for the dungeon entrance was Talia, Sammie, Ullmark, Gimble, Storme, and Gareth. We didn¡¯t require two scouts for the run, so Aelyn was out. We were going to meet up in six hours to travel over to the dungeon. I went and checked on Mera in the brewery. My new alchemist, Lachlan, had set up in the corner of the room but was not present. Mera and Fera were working together to start a batch of beer. I told Mera about the special yeast that Broderick had mentioned and promised to get her some to culture. I sampled her first few attempts that had been filtered, and it was good, not great, but good. Remy found me and was excited to go over the numbers. The delve last seventh day had lost 22 gold and 3 silver. The restaurant and bakery had made a 3gold and 88 silver profit in the first week! This past week was already 6 gold positive and didn¡¯t include today¡¯s service. I was a bit shocked as it looked like even with our high staffing expenses and food costs, we were going to bring in 7 to 8 gold a week. It may just be from the novelty of the restaurant, though. Remy said our cooks were already being heavily recruited to gain our secrets. That was funny because we didn¡¯t have any real secrets other than my enchanting work for the griddles and oil wells. I told Remy that he could tell the manager that he could add staff as needed. I also asked Remy to get me a large supply of bronze and gave him two large coins to acquire it. I spent the remainder of the lull before the delve to work on the plumbing and kitchens on the second floor. Gareth found me 30 minutes before we were scheduled to leave, ¡°Come on, Stormy! Gimble said we would try the first-floor boss today!¡± At least Gareth didn¡¯t seem moody anymore. I went to my room and changed, and met the group. As we walked the street, Sammie asked me if I planned to put on warmer clothes. There was a chill in the air, but I had my thermostatic aura spell activated, and the air around me was at 20 C. We arrived a few minutes early, and Ullmark went and talked to the guards while we waited. Just before we entered, Ullmark approached me and said, concerned, ¡°Someone has been buying up the token for the shift before us. My friends,¡± he indicated to the guards, ¡°said it was a new team from the capital island. They are experienced by their demeanor.¡± He paused before offering advice, ¡°If you do decide to take down the boss today, I don¡¯t think it is a good idea to go to the second floor. The second floor is a general maze; all teams get randomly assigned locations. If the new team is targeting us, then we should get more info before encountering them.¡± If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. I hadn¡¯t really considered someone would want to kill us in a dungeon so soon. I slipped Ullmark two gold, ¡°For your friends and let them know we appreciate any information they have in the future.¡± The hourglass expired, and we were allowed to enter. As we moved through the trees, killing bees, Gareth made his best attempts to impress Talia. Ullmark had placed himself in the center of the front line and, as Aelyn had mentioned, was being protective of Sammie from both the bees and Gareth. When we stopped for a rest, I mentioned it to Ullmark privately. ¡°You seem focused on keeping Sammie safe. Is there a reason?¡± I asked quietly. He looked at me for a bit before admitting, ¡°She reminds me of my daughter. Not the looks¡­my daughter had black hair and brown eyes¡­but she has the same naivete to the world.¡± I asked another question, ¡°Where is your daughter now?¡± He sighed heavily, ¡°She passed away five years ago. Oh, not like that, she was 97. When she went to the academy at 14, I was drinking, and my wife kicked me out. I didn¡¯t support them and never contacted her again. I did go to her funeral. Later in life, I regretted my decision. Working for the Bricio¡¯s makes a man mean¡­I didn¡¯t realize it until too late.¡± He looked at Sammie, ¡°She is kind of my second chance. That is why I give advice to the younger delvers at the guild, imparting wisdom I never gave to my own daughter.¡± ¡°How old are you?¡± I inquired of the man who appeared younger than Callem. ¡°I don¡¯t really remember. Had some decades, I didn¡¯t really track things. I came to Skyholme about 150 years ago. Before that¡­I was maybe 50. So I will go with 200,¡± he smiled at my astonishment. ¡°Yeah, I told Callem my only ability is tier 2, and it slows my aging. I have seen and done a lot in my life.¡± Gimble called for the rest to be over, and we all started on the bees again. We were moving through the woods to the goblin camp. We had been at it for about 5 hours when the woods suddenly ended in a large snow-covered clearing. A short eight-foot wooden palisade of upright logs circled the frost goblin village. Ullmark talked to every, ¡°Ok, we want to draw the goblins away from the walls and eliminate them first. Then we knock down the wall on the far side and draw the goblins out in two and three. The hobgoblin chief in the round structure in the center of the village. He will have four guards with him and one shaman. The shaman is the one with the bee wing cape. It is really pretty but fragile. It sells for about 5 gold if you can avoid damaging it, but for our first attempt just hammer the shaman first. He can heal the others.¡± He took a breath, ¡°If it goes to shit, cover each to the breach in the wall, and we can hold there. The hobgoblin will not pursue us to the outer walls, so we just have to deal with the four guards and shaman.¡± Gareth was bouncing anxiously. I assumed he had read about this floor boss a hundred times and had a mental picture of exactly what he would do. We made our way to the wall and drew the goblin patrols to us. They had no ranged weapons and never came in groups larger than three. When the patrols were cleared, we created the breach. The three front liners of Sammie, Ullmark, and Gareth did all the work as the goblin corpses piled up. Ullmark went into the fortified town a few times to get the attention of groups. Gimble was keeping track of the time, and Talia and I watched the open area around us. Finally, Ullmark said we could enter the town. The smell reminded me of rotting eggs and urine. We only faced single goblins as we circled to the center of the town. Gimble said we only had an hour left before our eight-hour clock expired. This meant we would have to defeat the hobgoblin and then exit on the second floor of the dungeon. The round hut was prominent in the center, the only two-story rough wooden structure. Ullmark spoke, ¡°When we get close, they will all rush out at once. Talia focus on the shaman with ranged spells. I will keep the hobgoblin busy, and everyone else will take down the guards as quickly as possible. Then join me in attacking the chief. He is a lot tougher than he looks, and don¡¯t think just because he slows down, he isn¡¯t dangerous.¡± A stray goblin came streaming out of a small hut, and Sammie cut it down. We then approached the central structure. A loud scream echoed from inside. It was a challenging scream. A six-foot, well-muscled goblin charged out and ran at us. His bodyguards followed, but I did not see the shaman. I summoned my two-handed falchion, dropping my staff. Taking limbs would bring this encounter to an end quicker. I moved far off to the right and engaged the further bodyguard. He was dressed in heavy furs that protected his entire body except for his hands and head. His misaligned yellow teeth grinned as he sought me with a black steel short sword. I easily parried his attack downward, spun, and brought my falchion to his ear. I was surprised when my blade took off the top half of his head. Sammie was next to me, and she was evenly matched with the next bodyguard. I flanked him, allowing Sammie to embed her axe in his chest, and then I repeated my beheading attack, this time striking the next and getting the entire pumpkin this time. I smiled at Sammie only to be thrown violently back. The shaman had appeared, and a basketball-sized ball of ice had slammed into me. I coughed blood, and a quick check told me my ribs were broken. So much for my leather armor. I stumbled to my feet while casting lesser restoration instant healing to get my ribs back in place. Looking around, I could see Talia firing streaks of fire at the shaman, who was protected by a magical shield. Sammie had checked on me before going to help Ullmark, who was bleeding and at a standstill with the hobgoblin. Gimble was kneeling over Gareth, who was dazed and having trouble standing. A large ball of ice told me what had happened. Gareth had been struck in the back of the head with it. Probably when he maneuvered behind it to kill it. I needed to decide on the bigger threat, the shaman on the hobgoblin. Talia couldn¡¯t break the shaman¡¯s defenses, so I cranked up my lightning reflexes spell and charged. The hobgoblin tried to interpose himself, but I blocked him with an aether shield, not that he was fast enough to catch me anyway. The shaman panicked and moved its shield toward me, allowing Talia¡¯s magic to strike him and stagger him. I went into a slide on the snow of took him out at the knees. Both legs fell as his upper body collapsed, and he screamed in pain and disbelief. With his focus on his pain, I quickly removed his head. The hobgoblin had disengaged and was trying to get me before I reached his shaman. He came at me with a visage of furious rage. Both Sammie and Ullmark were on his heels. I was still juiced from my lightning spell and wasn¡¯t worried about the hobgoblin¡¯s speed. As he reached me in his charge, he tripped on my invisible aether shield, falling face first and exposing the back of his head. I had already started the arc of my blade, and it sunk into the back of his neck. I was surprised I hadn¡¯t severed his head. The hobgoblin twitched, still not dead but his spinal column severed, making his body useless. I scanned the area and, with no other threats, moved to Gareth and Gimble and deactivated my spells. I immediately assessed Gareth¡¯s condition. Severe concussion and some vertebrae damaged. Twenty seconds of healing magic, and he was standing and shaking his head. ¡°It¡¯s over?¡± He asked, confused. Gimble started talking to him to explain things, and he swore. ¡°I was trying to keep an eye on everyone else while dispatching my opponent. The shaman must have arrived late, and I had my back to him.¡± Gimble said, ¡°Gareth, you learn from mistakes. Focus on your sphere of combat, and you can¡¯t control everything around you.¡± Gareth looked embarrassed. ¡°I should have been wearing a helm. I have one, but the bees and goblins had been so easy I didn¡¯t think I needed it. How did everyone else fare?¡± He looked at the group circling him. I moved and healed Ullmark, who had two minor cuts. Sammie had a sprained wrist and laceration on her thigh, which I also healed. Ullmark said, ¡°It went well. Storme took care of the hobgoblin, shaman, and two guards. The shaman used to have only energy bolts, shields, and ranged healing for attack and defense. This ice ball is new. We should report it to the guild, as there might be a reward if we are the first to do so.¡± Gareth looked at me like he didn¡¯t know me. He started to ask how I managed to kill almost every enemy myself, but I waived him off. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t there be a treasure chest around here somewhere?¡± I said, doing a circle. I didn¡¯t want Gareth to know about my lightning reflexes spell until I could surprise him with it in a duel. Ullmark said, ¡°It is in the chief¡¯s hut as well as the arch to the maze on the next level. We all went inside, and the smell wasn¡¯t terrible. As Ullmark said, an arch similar to the one we used to get into the dungeon dominated the space. A small chest was on a table. I examined the runes. There were 12 delvers already in the maze. Gareth was opening the chest, and for some reason, I had wanted to yell, ¡®check for traps,¡¯ but held my tongue. Gareth spoke, ¡°Three gold, three silver. It looks like the boots and a spell book.¡± Talia was moving to the chest. Talia gasped, ¡°It is not the surgical harvest spell. It is called the ice ball. She was paging threw it. It is a tier 1 water spell. I am not familiar with it.¡± Gimble said, ¡°I am guessing the dungeon evolved the shaman, and we were the first to defeat it. That is why the spell was within the reward chest.¡± Gareth was nodding emphatically at the explanation while putting on his new white boots. Since he opened the chest, they had sized to his person. I walked to the chest, and the coins were gone as well. I would have to tell Remy to take it off his weekly pay. The boots would be deducted as well¡­that was another 40 gold? He wasn¡¯t going to be happy. I asked Talia if she was interested in the spell, and she shook her head no, but her eyes said yes. New spells were probably curiosities. I dropped it onto the shelf in my dimensional storage. Ullmark and Gimble were picking up the weapons outside and looting the goblins. The hobgoblin had an aether crystal, as did the bodyguards and shaman. It was a bloody mess digging them out of the skulls, and I was glad I didn¡¯t have to do it. I walked the goblin town with Sammie, and we killed two more goblins. Gimble called us to the town, saying we had just a few minutes to get back. We entered the arch as a group, on guard and ready for trouble. Chapter 80 The After Party Chapter 80 (Arc 2 Chapter 34) Gareth wore his new white boots and was practically prancing around as we gathered to make our way through the portal to the second level. I had been given a multitude of items from the hobgoblin, guards, and shaman to take with us in my storage space. It was everything that Ullmark said could be sold for a silver coin or more. The bee wing cloak on the shaman was intact but covered in blood. I just needed to pick it up and use my cleanliness spell before adding it to my storage. It looked like shimmering translucent veined silk. It was hard to believe it only went for a few golds, but Ullmark said it became extremely fragile once it left the dungeon. Gimble reminded us our time was coming to a close, and we needed to enter the gate to the second level. Ullmark took the lead, ¡°Once you enter the gate, you need to turn around and exit. This will bring you back to the entrance outside the dungeon. Do not tarry. There are about a dozen gates within the maze¡­.¡± Gareth interrupted, ¡°There are 13, and the gate to the third floor, so I guess that is 14.¡± Ullmark nodded, ¡°Thirteen gates to get out of the dungeon. Since there are only two teams in the maze currently, I doubt they are covering all the gates. We enter as a group and exit as a group.¡± Everyone nodded. I entered first with my lightning reflexes spells turned on in overdrive, everyone else a step behind. I emerged into a long corridor with rust-brown walls and a high ceiling. Everyone else came through and looked quickly before exiting back through the gate. I lingered and listened. I could hear a pig squeal and the faint ringing of weapons. Gimble was at my shoulder; everyone else had left. I looked at him, ¡°No ambush.¡± He nodded, ¡°Still, it is odd someone is buying the time slot right before ours. Maybe they just like this time every seventh day,¡± He shrugged. ¡°We should get going before they think we got slain.¡± I nodded and looked around one last time. A soft light seemed to emanate from the red stone. I turned and entered the gate alongside Gimble. We had only been a minute behind the group, but they still looked relieved to see us. I spoke cheerfully, ¡°Good work, everyone. You all earned your 20% bonus for the week. Get back to the Shiny Platinum, and then you can all party in Gareth¡¯s room.¡± Gareth looked at me sharply, and I smiled. Gareth was a bit of a slob, and since he didn¡¯t have access to my cleanliness spell, I was guessing his room had deteriorated in the few days he had resided in it. I walked behind the animated group as Ullmark dropped back and started talking with me. ¡°Storme, you have a pretty good team. I will find out what I can about the other dungeon team during the week and let you know before our next delve.¡± ¡°Ullmark, that would be good. I don¡¯t think I have too many enemies that could facilitate running a dungeon team. But I think maybe Loriel might be drawing some to me. If that dungeon team was targeting us, I almost want to confront them and eliminate them,¡± I said, speaking my mind. Ullmark grimaced, ¡°One of the reasons I like dungeons is you always know what you are getting. There are rarely any surprises,¡± he chuckled, ¡°I say that, and today we got one.¡± He shook his head in disbelief. ¡°Do you want to go to the delver¡¯s guild hall and report the new shaman variation with me?¡± I was actually mildly sore and recovering from the overdrive use of my lightning reflexes spell. I thought for a long minute before saying, ¡°Yes. It will be good to see how the process works.¡± We talked about the team as we walked, and Ullmark didn¡¯t seem concerned if Gareth seduced and had sex with every woman on the team. He admitted that some delves lasted days, and it was almost inevitable that team members got more intimate. He waved his hands, saying he had long since outgrown his urges. He shared that he patronized a good brothel on the northern side of the merchant district. Information I did not need to know, and I turned down his invitation to join him. The Adventurer¡¯s Hall was a blue-gray stone building. It had a large taproom and seating with tables set for cards, dice, and other pastimes. Nine men and three women played and drank when we walked in. They just glanced at us before returning to their games. Ullmark leaned into me, ¡°All familiar faces, so no one here is from the team entering before us.¡± I followed Ullmark to a side room, where a very bored middle-aged man read a book. Ullmark said, ¡°Guildmaster Sawyer. I have come to see if a dungeon evolution has been noted.¡± The man put down his book and quickly came to attention, ¡°Ullmark, what do you have for me?¡± Ullmark took a seat across from the man, and I joined him. Ullmark started, ¡°The Frost Vault. First floor. The shaman supporting the dungeon boss used a new spell. It was a large ball of ice,¡± He used his hands to demonstrate the basketball size. ¡°It had good speed, and the shaman cast two within three seconds. It knocked two of my team down. One with a strike at the back of his head.¡± Sawyer reclined in his chair. He started rocking in his chair and thinking. ¡°Ice ball spell? That is interesting.¡± The guild master was thinking, and Ullmark tapped his desk to get his attention, ¡°Yes, it is a new development. Twenty gold once it is confirmed. I am just thinking that the new team from the capital had a member who cast that same spell in our tap room not two days ago.¡± Ullmark gasped, ¡°Do you think he is seeding? That type of quick turnaround for a seed isn¡¯t unheard of.¡± I looked confused, so Ullmark explained to me, ¡°You can help a dungeon evolve by leaving items created in other dungeons. Once the dungeon resets, the dungeon absorbs the items left behind and can incorporate them. It is not typically done and considered illegal in Skyholme.¡± The guild master was nodding. I asked, ¡°What about items not created in a dungeon? Can the dungeon use those?¡± The guild master answered my question, ¡°No, but they can use them as chest rewards. It has to do with dungeon theory. Items created entirely from raw aether can be broken down and understood by a dungeon. Items not created with 100% aether can just be stored and used at a later time by the dungeon. I can lecture you for hours of dungeon theory, but I need to post the updates and the reward for confirming it.¡± We left the guild hall, and I realized that I might be able to seed a dungeon with metal I created from my ability. Maybe even weapons. It sounded like some interesting experiments for the future. Maybe I could get the dungeon to offer up mithril coins? I told Gimble he could use the reward money to purchase my delve tokens. He nodded, and we returned to the Shiny Platinum. Gareth¡¯s room was adjacent to mine, and there was definitely a party going on in there as a server came up with drinks, burgers, and fries. I thought about joining them but noticed Bylura when the doors opened. That meant Loriel was probably inside as well. I paused and peeked when the server exited. Loriel, Cilia, and Leda were inside with the entire team. I was going to come back after I emptied out my storage space. I went to the brewery on the second floor to drop the honey first and found Mera, Fera, and Lachlan. At first sight, it appeared that Lachlan was trying to impress the twins with something he had brewed. As I approached, he was singing the praises of his alertness potion. ¡°Mera, how is the brewing coming?¡± I asked, disrupting the group. Mera put on a big smile and handed me a glass that was about half full. I sniffed it and tasted it. It was a mild brew with no sour taste. ¡°How is it?¡± she asked hopefully. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°It is good. You are getting better. I should have the special yeast soon to brew the Frost Mead,¡± I said, handing her back the glass. ¡°You should really head to the party. No matter how you feel about Gareth, the room is packed with your friends.¡± Fera sighed, ¡°Why does his sense leave him every time he sees another woman?¡± I didn¡¯t like being put on the spot to defend Gareth. I did anyway, ¡°He will grow out of it. He is just learning how to deal with his new awareness.¡± Mera inserted herself into the conversation, ignoring Lachlan, ¡°Why are you not like Gareth?¡± Mera and Fera were focused on me, and I was not going to escape answering. I answered, ¡°I feel like I am too young for such pursuits. I have so many things I want to learn, and I feel like I don¡¯t have enough time. I am running the Shiny Platinum for Callem and Wynna and¡­.,¡± I waved my hand at the brewery, ¡°I keep adding more to my plate.¡± I was going to say more, but Mera interrupted. ¡°You need to have more fun, Storme. No one works harder than you. Walking through the city, everyone talks about the restaurant and the paintings. Callem and Wynna were wise to trust you with their fortunes.¡± Mera smiled tentatively, ¡°Any woman would be lucky to snare you, Storme.¡± There was an awkward silence, and I finally said, ¡°We should all go to the party. I just have to empty my storage.¡± I watched as Lachlan and the twins left. I then removed the honey-filled wax cells, descended the stairs to the general warehouse, and emptied all the items Ullmark told us to take. I kept the bee wing cape, though. It might be a nice birthday gift for Freya. I retired to the third floor and found the party in full swing. Even Ennet was here with Freya. Ennet had a glass of wine and was talking with Ullmark. Lalchan was tied to Mera¡¯s hip, following her around the room. Gareth was in the center of a sofa with Sammie on one side and Loriel on the other. He was clearly intoxicated. Gareth noticed me, ¡°Stormy!¡± Gareth smiled and stood. ¡°We were talking about your heroics today! I was unconscious, but Talia said you were incredible.¡± Talia had a sneaky smile, ¡°When the shaman came out late, I tried to distract him with an ice lance, but he was shielded. Gareth was about to kill the guard he was fighting, and the mage slammed a ball of ice into the back of his head,¡± Gareth blushed in embarrassment. ¡°Then the mage attacked Storme. Storme was thrown back with a second ice ball, and I thought we were in trouble.¡± Talia then went on to describe how desperate things were before I got up with a very angry look on my face and proceeded to cut through the goblins. Kill the shaman by cutting off his legs and then I sank my sword into the back of the hobgoblin¡¯s neck. At the conclusion of the retelling, everyone cheered and clapped. I loved and soaked in the adoration but kept a straight face. A server entered and brought in more drinks. A second server came with buckets of fries and sauces. The party continued, and I moved to the kitchen counter and sat. The kitchen and sitting room were just one large room, so I could see everyone from my resting spot. Loriel and Gareth were whispering heavily between each other, and I groaned internally. If Loriel couldn¡¯t get to me directly, then she was going for Gareth. Cilia came and leaned on the counter next to me. ¡°Hey, Storme. Your restaurant is good. Are you going to add anything to the menu?¡± Cilia asked in a soft voice. ¡°Maybe. I do not want it to get too complicated, as one of the draws is being able to get the orders out quickly,¡± I replied cooly. Cilia said, ¡°Well, if you are taking requests, you know Leda and I have some ideas,¡± she advised. They had been at the farm with us for months, had plenty of time to sample my cooking, and had favorites. When I didn¡¯t respond, Cilia continued, ¡°You should come for a ride on the skyship. Loriel named it Starry Sprinter. You would like it. You can bring Freya.¡± Celia was looking good. Healthy. Happy. She was talking with enthusiasm and life. The RBF had been diminished and almost unnoticeable. I looked at her and said, ¡°I am glad you are happy, Cilia. But I think I will keep my distance from Loriel.¡± After some silence, Cilia said, ¡°Gareth has agreed to escort Loriel to the Triumvirate Sowing Festival.¡± My eyes went wide. I only had one word, ¡°Idiot.¡± I could see it now. Gareth¡¯s drunken smile and Loriel¡¯s closeness. She had manipulated him. I thought I had warned him, but Gareth wouldn¡¯t heed such warnings if there was a woman involved. His common sense went right out the window. I would need to talk with Gareth about this in private. It shouldn¡¯t take too much to convince him to cancel his date with Loriel. I talked with Leda, Lana, and Gimble for a bit before dragging Freya to my room so she could sleep before we took the skyship in the morning Hen¡¯s Hollow. Freya was exhausted, and I showed her to my spare room in my apartment, ¡°Storme, your furniture is so much nicer than the other apartments,¡± Freya said sleepily. ¡°You can thank Isla for that. Now get some sleep,¡± I tucked in Freya, who quickly fell asleep in the comfortable bed. I went down to the restaurant, planning to make myself a burger. The restaurant was still open for service. Only about a quarter of the tables were occupied as it was extremely late¡ªor early, depending on preference. I asked a server why we were still open. She told me we stayed open as long as we had customers. Usually, we closed when the bakery opened in the morning. I talked with some cooks and servers, and they had enough staff to remain open, and no one seemed upset with the hours. Working half a day was normal, so the extreme hours did not bother them, especially with the pay they were receiving. I made a burger myself rather than having the cooks do it for me. I ate in the dining room and was surprised when Remy came downstairs to collect coins. I waved him over, ¡°Remy, how has it been going?¡± Remy looked tired but happy, ¡°I just logged your dungeon harvest. What do you want me to do with the black steel weapons, leathers, aether crystals, and rough furniture?¡± ¡°I think everything will be sold. I kept the aether crystals I wanted. You can hire someone to come in and haul it away for sale,¡± I said, waving off the problem. Remy looked relieved. He had been extremely busy. I was about to ruin his day as I produced the book on building the Wind Splitter. ¡°This book,¡± I said while placing the book on the table and tapping on it, ¡°Is a manual to build a skyship. I need someone who can help facilitate its construction. I want you to peruse it and let me know if you are interested on the next 7th day.¡± Remy took the book and opened it. He was soon engrossed in the images. I ate my burger and left. Remy didn¡¯t even notice me leaving, so I assumed his engineering affinity had triggered. I returned to my room and checked on Freya before going into my own room and setting up my alarms, arcane locks, and privacy screen. I made some mithril and then did some aether core exercise. Getting my aether to spin in a vortex required a lot of focus. You needed to keep the aether moving at a constant speed. It was frustrating, and I started trying different things. Most times, I got negative feedback. Then, I stumbled upon something unique. My aether core was essentially a perfect sphere. I had been trying to spin the aether on a bisecting two-dimensional plane. There were accepted ways to do it in three dimensions. The easiest way was to circulate the aether on the edge of the sphere, but the flow patterns got convoluted quickly, and the aether movement halted. I added a funnel at the top of my aether core and a matching funnel at the bottom, meeting in the center. Then, I moved the aether in a continuous pattern. It didn¡¯t work well until I defined an aetheric gravity plane in the center of my aether core. My gravity plane was not thick; one side attracted aether, and the other repelled aether. So as the aether circulated, the gravity plane did the work for me. The gravity plane was shaped like a washer. It was just a construct but was working to circulate my aether. It took a lot of adjustments to get the flow of the aether stable: adjusting the strength of gravity, defining lines of flow for the aether around the sphere, and finally, thinning out the aether. That was what had been causing me the most problems. As my core replenished its aether, the density was no longer uniform and caused problems with my flow. My sphere-funnel design naturally thinned the aether to make the density homogeneous. Once the density was uniform, everything just flowed smoothly and didn¡¯t need me to pay attention. I kept tweaking the flow patterns and the gravity plane strength until it looked perfect. I centered my dimensional closet construct in the center of my washer gravity plane. It was extremely stable, and I spent time confirming the spell was not going to move. I even came up with an idea to add more spell constructs. I just added more washer-shaped cylinders in the central funnel. I should be able to anchor more aether core-anchored spells. I had enough room to easily add one above and one below my center gravity plane holding the dimensional closet. I would have to wait a few days to make sure everything was stable and talk with Selina to see if what I had down was feasible. My core was still expanding, and the gravity constructs were an experiment. My alarm went off, and it was Freya. It was morning when she had left her room and knocked on my door. I ended my privacy screen and met her. I was exhausted but extremely excited. I took Freya down to the bakery, which was already emitting the smells of freshly baked bread and treats. Freya ate an entire tray of our honey cinnamon buns. I didn¡¯t know where my small sister put it all, but she did have a sweet tooth. I let her take a package of the buns for our parents but doubted they would ever get to sample them. The buns were extremely popular, and my bakers said they were selling 400 batches daily. Many small restaurants used them as desserts. I didn¡¯t know we had contracts to deliver so many buns each day. Since we were not giving any bulk discounts, I was okay with the sales. It wasn¡¯t long before Mera and Fera came down. They were soon followed by everyone else who needed to return to Hen¡¯s Hollow. As we all boarded the skyship, I approached Gareth for a conversation. Chapter 81 Chapter 81 (Arc 2 Chapter 35) As the skyship lifted off, I moved to stand next to Gareth. He spoke first, ¡°Thanks for sending everyone to my apartment, Stormy. I asked the dishwashers to clean it this morning after the party. Don¡¯t worry, and I tipped them.¡± He was all smiles. I pivoted my approach and decided to try and tell Gareth he would be accountable for the coins and boots from the reward chest. ¡°Gareth, why did you open the dungeon chest? Doesn¡¯t the team leader decide who opens it?¡± Gareth looked puzzled momentarily, ¡°No one else seemed as eager to open it as me.¡± He deflated a little realizing his mistake, ¡°I will defer to Gimble next time. I traded the dungeon coins for Skyholme coins at the Exchange and gave them to Remy. He handed me six gold coins for the week¡¯s salary.¡± That was good news, ¡°And the boots?¡± I asked. ¡°Did you give them to Remy as well?¡± Gareth¡¯s face flushed, ¡°I was going to ask you to keep them. My 13th birthday is coming up,¡± he asked hopefully. He had been wearing the boots last night and showing them off. ¡°How about you can keep the boots if you tell Loriel you can not escort her to the Sowing Festival.¡± Gareth furrowed his brow, ¡°I thought you were not interested in her? She asked me to go, Stormy. It is a Triumverate party. The food should be great, and she is even paying me to escort her.¡± He quietly added, ¡°I already took her coin.¡± I groaned, ¡°Gareth, she is using you. She is trying to tie you to her. We talked about this! How she needs friends to shield her from her powerful enemies.¡± I didn¡¯t understand how Gareth could be so dense. Well, it was Gareth who seemed to lose common sense when a pretty woman was in front of him. ¡°That is what she told me. She said she needed me as her date to make sure Abaddon Bricio didn¡¯t ask her to dance. I am going to be her Guardian Knight,¡± Gareth said with a weak and unsure smile. I got the sense this was going nowhere. I could ask him with our oath as Blood Brothers, which would probably work, but that felt like I was forcing Gareth. I decided I would let him proceed, ¡°Fine, Gareth, but just know if you get yourself into trouble at the dance, I will probably get myself into trouble getting you out of your trouble.¡± Gareth nodded thoughtfully, ¡°You should just come to the dance as well. That way, we can watch each other¡¯s backs. Loriel said Tessa Torrent was going with her half-brother. The guy I defeated in the inter-academy tournament. I am sure she would prefer to take you instead.¡± I smelled a setup. I hadn¡¯t been able to contain my visible attraction to Tessa, and I sensed Loriel casually dropping that Tessa didn¡¯t have a date to Gareth was intentional. She was trying to rope me into her circle indirectly. ¡°I will think about it,¡± I said indecisively. Gareth reached into his pocket, pulled out a communication stone, and handed it to me. ¡°Loriel gave me this communication stone. If you want her to ask Tessa for you, just use this. The dance is in two weeks, so you should probably ask her sooner than later, Stormy,¡± he said with a grin. ¡°And Stormy, can I borrow a few platinum to get something to wear? I mean, it is a fancy Trivumverate event, so I need to get something in current fashion.¡± He had a grin with a pleading look on his face. I was still fuming but remained calm on the outside. Loriel wanted me to contact her? Well, that was not going to happen. I handed the stone back to Gareth. ¡°If Tessa needs a date, then she can come to Hen¡¯s Hollow and ask me herself.¡± Figuring Tessa wouldn¡¯t lower herself to come to Hen¡¯s Hollow and beg for me to escort her, I figured the topic was done. My relationship with Gareth felt strained as we began academy classes the next day. Loriel was succeeding in driving a wedge between me and my best friend, my brother. I tried to mend things with Gareth. I told him he could keep the boots in exchange for four weeks of not receiving his 6 gold a week salary for being a member of the delve team. I planned to take Gareth back to the capital island on the 7th day and buy him an outfit for the Sowing Festival. That would keep him away from Loriel on this day off and hopefully give us time to reaffirm our bond. When I was in class with Selina to start the week, I explained how I achieved constant aetheric flow in my aether core. I needed to make a model to show her the shape. I made a weird round donut to explain how the aether was flowing. When I explained the small gravity plate inside, she became extremely interested, ¡°Storme, that is ingenious. We need to experiment on your core. We need to see if it remains stable when you get knocked out. When you enter an aether dead zone. When you drain a large amount of aether when you add more fixed constructs, and if your growing aether core affects the structure and functionality.¡± I already knew draining my core didn¡¯t affect my aether cycling as I had made mithril recently, and it remained intact. My face paled a little bit at the various possibilities of testing the others, ¡°Are all those things really necessary?¡± Selina had an incredulous expression, ¡°Storme, if you are engaged in combat, do you really want your aether core to become unstable?¡± Selina¡¯s hard gaze subdued me. The next few days, we tested the stability of my aether core. Selina knocked me out with electricity, a blow to the head, a mind black spell, a sleeping potion, and a concussive blast. Yeah, it was not a good few days. The aetheric flow was not disturbed, but Selina could attack my aether core directly and disrupt the flow with a aetheric drain spell. It caused an imbalance as the drain came from one point on my aether sphere. This caused massive heartburn for me, and I had to fight through the pain with my focus exercises to remain functional. Selina offered, ¡°If you want, I could loan you my spellbook for Aetheric Fortress. It is a tier 3 spell and serves to prevent others from manipulating and draining your aether core. Usually, mages learn the spell so devices can not be used to subdue them and contain their aether core.¡± ¡°That would be most generous of you. I have never heard of the spell,¡± I asked, interested. ¡±I got the spell in low lands a few decades ago. It was in the halfling city of Fareth. They had a strong opposition to slavery and a few spells available in their Mage University to counter it. This was the most powerful one,¡± Selina explained. I asked, ¡°Would this spell break Aelyn¡¯s indentured mark?¡± I waited for Selina¡¯s response anxiously. She considered the question and then said, ¡°No. It might have prevented someone from casting a binding spell on them, but it won¡¯t cancel the spell already cast.¡± My face fell. She added, ¡°The spell can only be cast on yourself. It requires an anchor point in your aether core as well. Each evolution just increases your defensive strength. Every five evolutions increase the spell¡¯s tier effectiveness which starts at tier 3. So are you interested?¡± ¡°Absolutely. Even though it will take four slots on my spell matrix it sounds like it is more than worth it,¡± I said without having to think too much. Selina dug through the bag and handed me the well-worn and small book. I opened the spellbook, and the writing was small¡ªthat was right, she said it was from a halfling community. At least the script was in the common tongue. The spell forms didn¡¯t look too complex, either. ¡°You can put that away. We are not done testing your innovation for stirring your aether core,¡± she said with a devious smile. On the third day of the testing, I added a second washer with an inverse gravity plate on the outside. This was Selina¡¯s idea, and it had a lower gravitational pull-push than the center planes. This allowed me to control the flow more. Selina ended up getting upset as her she was circulating her aether in the disc method that she had instructed me to learn. My new method was much easier to learn and more efficient and stable. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Selina explained, ¡°Circulating your aether along a predefined path for a long time is like a river carving into rock over time. At a certain point, you can no longer alter your flow. It usually cements itself after about five years of constant flow along a path. Your method just sets the boundaries in this¡ªdonut shape, you called it. The gravity plane is innovative, but the shape combined. I need to write a paper on this, Storme.¡± Her anger at her own core being fixed was overwhelmed with the prospect of adding to magic knowledge. Selina continued, ¡°The sphere is vast, Storme. I have traveled about 20,000 miles from Skyholme but have only seen a tiny amount that the Sphere offers. I am certain your method has been discovered and used out there somewhere, but in the dozen magical academies I have visited, your method has not been detailed in any of them.¡± I processed what Selina had said, ¡°So is this information valuable?¡± Selina grinned madly, ¡°Very. If my guesses are correct, this method should expand your aether core more than normal growth using the exercises. Don¡¯t ask how much. It will depend on how fast the aether circulates. But will make mages much more powerful.¡± On the fourth day, we found a weakness in my method. The aether units in the core needed to be over 50 in order to have enough density to keep the circulation going. When I emptied my aether, it got unstable. My total was so high, and with the circulation replenished so quickly that even when I emptied my aether core, it took less than ten minutes to draw in enough aether to stabilize again. Ten minutes was not enough time for the structure and the gravity plates to completely destabilize. Selina said my aether paths would be so engrained after five years it wouldn¡¯t even matter. Selina asked, ¡°So, Storme, when I write this paper do you want your name on it? I am going to have to reveal that I am Sana Velin if I am going to publish the paper at the Magus Academy in the capital. That should be fun,¡± she groaned. I thought about it and finally said, ¡°Use my alias, Stormy Skye.¡± A confused Selina started laughing. I added, ¡°Gareth gave me the name.¡± I started laughing at the absurdity of the name as well. We agreed on the point, and the paper would not be submitted until the end of the academy year. Selina was going to try to alter her own aether flow in her core but didn¡¯t sound optimistic. After dinner and the lecture on the fourth day, I was in my room alone. Gareth had taken to getting some extra training in after dinner. It was because of his failure in the dungeon. I knew this because he was wearing his helmet when I saw him training. I only went to Twin Rocks on 1st, 3rd and 5th days now so I could get more rest. I was working on imprinting my tissue extraction spell. After I imprinted this spell, I would either work on the aether fortress spell, invisibility spell, or the absolute time spell. I was leaning toward the absolute time spell because it was just tier 1, and I knew I could learn it in about a week. Getting an easy win would be nice. My alarm on my door went off, and I assumed it was Gareth returning early from training, and it was. A grinning Gareth was entering the room but the flash image in my mind from the alarm spell also had someone behind Gareth. I dropped my privacy spell and stumbled to stand off my bed. Gareth entered the room with a huge grin, and Tessa Torrent walked behind him. I spammed my cleanliness spell a few times while putting on a smile. Gareth didn¡¯t say anything and was just grinning while Tessa was looking around the room, curious. When no one spoke, Gareth heaved a sigh and said, ¡°Storme, Tessa came to visit you and ask you something. We don¡¯t you take her for a walk along the southern stream.¡± It was a nice walk in the twilight. I spoke quickly with a note of nervousness, ¡°Yes! Let¡¯s go for a walk along the river path.¡± I quickly put on my boots under the stare of Tessa while Gareth fell on his bed and relaxed. He looked like he was the cat that just got the cream. Tying my boots, I got control of my excitement and emotions. I stood and moved close to Tessa to direct her out of the room. When we got outside of the building, Tessa said, ¡°That has to be the cleanest room I have ever seen. Why is your side of the room so sparse? Do you keep all your things at the Shiny Platinum?¡± I decided to roll with it. With a controlled tempo to my speech, I replied, ¡°I try to keep my important items in a place where they can be best utilized.¡± I was not going to tell her I had a dimensional storage. Tessa walked next to me, following my steps as she didn¡¯t know where we were going. Tessa said, ¡°Loriel loaned me her skyship to visit you here. She said if I came here and asked you, you would agree to escort me to the Sowing Festival.¡± Of course, she did, I mused. ¡°Why do you need an escort to the Festival?¡± I asked and relaxing. The aura that Tessa exuded seemed to fade. She hesitated, ¡°There are four galas the Trivumverte hosts at castle Skyhold. The two over the New Year, the Sowing Festival and the Harvest Festival. There are other minor ones, but these are the political gatherings. All 23 family seats attend, and all important family members get invitations as well. When I received an invitation, I could not decline. If I did, I could be expelled from the family.¡± I nodded, pretending to understand the deeper politics, ¡°And why are you here, asking me to be your escort?¡± I looked at her, and studied her silvery blonde platinum hair drawn back and weaved into a ponytail. Her light blue eyes were difficult to see in the low light, but they had depth. She was also tall, just an inch or two shorter than me, maybe 6¡¯1¡±. She turned to me and smiled with mild confidence. Even though she was 14, she was physically mature¡­appearing 18. ¡°These events are match-making events. When a family member reaches the age of fourteen, their marriage can be arranged. If I have an escort, then you can challenge any attempt to bind me to a marriage contract.¡± I frowned, ¡°So you need me to be your hired sword? I am assuming your escort needs to fight or something?¡± ¡°No, no. Combat rarely ever happens. Just having you at my side means I can dissent any match the Torrent high seat arranges. Loriel is the 23rd in line, so she can not be forced into any marriage now. When I graduate from the academy, I am to be elevated to the 22nd seat, and my brother will be the 23rd,¡± Loriel stated. ¡°So you need me to attend, what four galas every year with you for the next seven years?¡± I sounded a little testy. I guess I had hoped Tessa actually was interested in me and not my combat skills. She spoke softly at the harshness of my words, ¡°No, only the Sowing Festival has marriage pronouncements. The sowing or planting festival, sometimes called, is the start of the new harvest season and is always followed with new marriage announcements. These days things are so uncertain, and I am more than a little worried. There have been proclamations to encourage families to have more children. Immigration has been so reduced over the last century that there is actually a population decline in Skyholme. The Triumvirate wants the families to show the people the way. Anything can happen, and I am¡­I am desirable.¡± I would have to agree. With her noble looks and firm-fitting leather armor, she was now wearing made her an 11, in my opinion. She had makeup on but defiantly didn¡¯t need it. When I said nothing and studied her, she said, ¡°Loriel said I might have to pay you. What do you require for your services?¡± She wasn¡¯t begging, but this sounded, to my disappointment, like a business transaction. If I went to this gala then I could keep an eye on Gareth and make sure he didn¡¯t do anything stupid. Gareth wasn¡¯t dumb, but he was swimming in a pool that he had no idea how to navigate. I sighed, ¡°What can you offer? Just start with your best deal, and don¡¯t try to haggle with me.¡± I was committing to this. Tessa was about to speak and then stopped and started thinking about what to say. I waited patiently until she spoke, ¡°I will give you five large gold for an outfit for the event. And you can call on my favor once every year for as long as I reside in Skyholme.¡± ¡°What does a favor entail?¡± I asked with my mind going into the gutter briefly. ¡°The Torrent family has connections in the city. If you want a token to a specific dungeon, I can make it happen. If you get in trouble with the law, I can arrange to get you released. It is really open-ended.¡± I thought for a moment then said, ¡°Can you get my father transferred to Aegis city and promoted so he doesn¡¯t have to ride the skyships?¡± Tessa asked a few questions about my father¡¯s job and then said, ¡°It can be done. The transfer can happen before the gala, but the promotion will take a few months.¡± I think I surprised her with my request, but it would make going to this event worth it. ¡°Then we have a deal,¡± I said with a smile and held out my hand. She dug into her belt pouch and produced five large gold coins. I laughed, ¡°I don¡¯t need your coins, just the favor. I was offering my hand so we could shake on the agreement.¡± She blushed in embarrassment, and her mature visage turned cute. We shook, and Tessa went to the skyship platform while I returned to my room. Gareth¡¯s grin on the bed was huge and expectant. I just looked at my friend and said, ¡°We will leave on the night of the 6th day to get clothes in the capital. We will spend the night at the Gentle Tauren and then fly to Aegis City in the morning to make the dungeon delve. Don¡¯t say a word! I am still mad at you for dragging me into this.¡± Gareth burst anyway, ¡°Mad at me! Thanks to me, you have a date with one of the prettiest women in all of Skyholme!¡± I rolled onto my bed, still looking crossly at my friend, and put up my privacy screen. My cross look did transform into a grin as I picked up my spellbook and continued to study. Chapter 82 Chapter 82 (Arc 2 Chapter 36) The week dragged on for Gareth, who was excited to get to the capital and get a new outfit for the Sowing Festival. I think he was using the communication stone to talk with Loriel every night. I thought about taking the stone and storing it in my dimensional storage, but I thought he needed to make his own mistakes. I would pick up the pieces when everything fell apart. During spell class on the sixth day, I managed to imprint the tissue extraction spell. It was quicker than I expected, and that was entirely due to Selina¡¯s help. She helped me by showing me how to use already imprinted spells to expedite the process. The more spells in a particular sphere you had on your aether matrix, the easier it was to imprint spells from that sphere. So I was gaining a boost from my skill affinity from healing magic and the five prior healing spells I had learned. For the first evolution of my new spell, I selected organ removal. This allowed me to select one organ and cut all tissue connecting it to the body. This would allow me to harvest the glands from the queen bees in the Frost Vault. The spell would work on living creatures and dead ones, but like the cleanliness spell, I would need multiple evolutions to overcome a person¡¯s innate defenses. A person could also allow the caster to work on their body like Antal used his bone-shaping ability of people. I could spend five evolutions just to be able to kill someone by touching them, but I was more focused on the spell evolutions to help with dungeon harvests. It would be a nightmare to fight a mage and then have all your arteries and veins to your heart instantly cut. You would either need to drink a healing potion instantly or cast healing magic on yourself. With my latest spell imprinted, I needed to select my next spell. I closed my eyes and scanned the shelves in my dimensional closet for the absolute time spell. I was about to extract from the space when I looked at the lightning spear book on the same shelf. I have imprinted a large number of defensive spells and spells that helped in melee combat. I didn¡¯t have any ranged spells in my repertoire yet. Now that I was in a dungeon, I could freely practice flashy ranged magic and not draw attention to myself. My team would keep my abilities secret, so maybe I should learn an offensive ranged spell next. It would also be easy to quickly level it up in the dungeon. Lightning spear was a tier 2 spell in the lightning sphere. I pulled the book out and examined the description. The spear started four feet long and was just an inch in diameter. It had a range of fifty feet; if it didn¡¯t hit anything, it would dissipate. One thing I did not like about the spell was the speed of the spear started at just 75 mph, which was half as fast as an arrow from a recurve bow. The damage from the spear was energy-based, similar to a laser. There were evolutions to add an electrical discharge to the spear that could overload a target¡¯s nervous system and possibly paralyze them briefly. The notes from the prior owner of this spell book were not overly optimistic about its power. Then again, he only had achieved four evolutions by his notes in the margins. The prior owner also appeared to have a terrible time hitting his intended target¡ªso you needed to be able to aim as well. The other offensive spellbook I had was lightning sphere. That was essentially a grenade that you summoned and physically threw. It was an area-of-effect spell but was limited by how far you could throw it. I could also learn the ice ball spell from the spell book we just received as a dungeon reward, but the lightning sphere was a tier 2 spell, and I had the lightning affinity, so I would only need to utilize one slot on my aether matrix to learn it. Selina approached me, looked at the spell book, and nodded, ¡°A good choice Storme. Two evolutions and the spear will achieve excellent speed, making it hard to block.¡± She continued over the Mera to help her and her sister. With Selina¡¯s affirmation, I opened the spell book and started the imprinting process for the lightning spear. At dinner that evening, Gareth tried to rush me to finish eating quickly so we could go to Solaris city, catch a skyship to the capital island, and purchase new clothes for the Sowing Festival Gala. Irritated with his child-like probing, and since Mera and Fera were seated across from me, I asked Gareth if he was just eager to see Nina again. He quickly calmed down as Fera glowered at him. I talked with Mia while I ate slowly as she was finalizing the transition of the guards at the Shiny Platinum. Removing the Miaden guards was a priority before I began my construction of the skyship. When I finally stood, Gareth also jumped to his feet, and we left for the mile-long walk to the city. Gareth put his arm around me, ¡°Stormy, that was just mean. Fera was just starting to talk to me again.¡± I looked at my friend and asked, ¡°So you were not planning to spend time with Nina at the Gentle Tauren?¡± Gareth stumbled a bit, ¡°Well¡­you know¡­I gave her two gold last time I was there, and she said she hoped to see me again.¡± I laughed, ¡°Gareth, did you think that maybe you overpaid? I am guessing she makes maybe twenty gold a year. Are you going to pay her two gold every time we stay at the Gentle Taruen? If that is your plan, then I expect she will be ecstatic every time we show up.¡± Gareth took his arm off my shoulder, and we walked in silence for a while. When the outer gates were close, he said, ¡°Can I borrow two gold?¡± I just shook my head and didn¡¯t respond. When we landed in the capital we went straight to see Danlius, the master tailor. He was probably the most expensive tailor in the upper capital, but Gareth trusted his opinion. The last time we were in the capital, Gareth had spent his entire savings on clothes. I had just gotten some underclothes. Danlius smiled as we entered, ¡°Gaston! You have returned! What can I help you with today?¡± I moved forward, not planning to let Gareth do the talking. ¡°Danlius, we need current fashion for attending a formal dinner with a succession member of the Triumvirate.¡± The man¡¯s eyes sparkled. He spoke softly and leaned in, ¡°Who are we trying to impress?¡± I was not about to contribute to the gossip wheel in the capital. ¡°Gaston, is trying to impress the daughter of someone we do not wish to disclose. I am going for moral support.¡± Danlius nodded, but I could tell he wanted to dig but held his tongue, ¡°Very good. Will there be dancing?¡± The man was clever. If I said yes, then it would mean we were going to more than a dinner. ¡°Maybe after the meal. It depends on the host,¡± I deflected. At least Gareth had been silent and let me do the talking. Another attendant joined us as we were brought to the back room, and an ensemble was assembled on both of us. I declined to get any enchantments on the clothes. Gareth was still growing taller and wider. I was close to my expected height but was still filling out. I knew I was close to my last growth spurt as the aether burn from my core was lessoning. According to Selina, it would become very mild when my body finished growing and then would go away completely in a few years. When I couldn¡¯t recognize the burn any longer, my aether core would be fully mature and barely expand its capacity further. I was extremely diligent in my exercises to make sure I ended up with as large an aether pool as possible. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. The fitting took over an hour. Gareth was extremely finicky and wanted brighter colors while I preferred the more neutral and bland colors. He ended up with a primary lavender and olive green outfit. My outfit was dark gray, white, and black. We received separate invoices and were told our clothes would be ready in the morning. I reviewed my invoice. Black Trap Door Spider Silk Socks x 1 10 gold Black Acid Drake Leather Boots x 1 50 gold Dark Gray Wool Pants x 1 5 gold Black Fine Leather Belt w/Scabbard Hook x18 gold White Trap Door Spider Shirt Shirt x 1 15 gold Black Giant Silk Worm Vest x 1 6 gold Dark Gray Wool Coat x 1 8 gold Total Invoice¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.92 gold With the exception of the boots, I had been fairly thrifty in my selections. Gareth was still staring at his invoice, and I was just waiting for him to ask me to pay for it. I handed Danlius ten large gold and soon got my chance. Gareth finally spoke up, ¡°Stormy, I mean Skye. Can you help me out a little?¡± I leaned over and looked at his total. Even without enchantments, it was 162 gold. ¡°How much did she give you to bring her?¡± I asked, holding back a laugh. Gareth gave me an unamused look, ¡°Thirty gold.¡± ¡°Wow, my date offered me 50 gold to bring her! It is actually costing you 132 gold to take your take. I hope the food is really good!¡± I joked at my friend¡¯s expense. I caved and said, ¡°Put all your coin out, and I will make up the difference.¡± He brightened a little and pulled out three large gold coins and seven regular gold. I placed 125 gold on the counter, obfuscating I was removing it from my storage. When we got to the Gentle Tauren, Broderick yelled, ¡°Gaston and Skye! Will you be staying the evening?¡± I moved to the bar, and he nodded when I motioned to the room. The loud announcement of our entering was for Nina¡¯s benefit as she scrambled down the stairs. I started using my cleanliness spell around the first floor, and I sat at the bar when I finished. Broderick placed two keys on the counter and kept two hands over them for a second, ¡°Can you do both of the rooms as well?¡± I pretended to give it some thought. ¡°I will do my room and another room of your choice,¡± I said, thumbing Gareth and Nina huddled in a corner. ¡°Gareth can scrub his own room if you need it cleaned too,¡± I said with a grin. ¡°Nina, two ales and two burgers for our guests,¡± he bellowed to the young woman. He returned to our conversation, ¡°You can clean these two rooms then. I admit I gave them to you because they most need a mage¡¯s cleaning.¡± He placed a third key on the counter, ¡°This room is not as nice as the others.¡± I took that third key and tossed it to Gareth, waiting for Nina to return from the kitchen. Curious, I used my assess person ability on Broderick. Broderick Gray Human Male, Dragon-Blooded Age 36 Disposition Friendly Broderick¡¯s face soured immediately, ¡°You shouldn¡¯t go using your magic on people without asking, Skye. That felt like a reading.¡± Completely embarrassed, I responded, ¡°Sorry, I didn¡¯t realize people could sense it when I used it.¡± Broderick took a minute before he smiled again, ¡°I am not like most people.¡± He paused, ¡°I have an aether sense ability that tingles when people use magic on me. Yours was very faint, so I assume it was a weak reading ability. Well, tell me what it said.¡± ¡°It is just a tier 1 assess person ability. Your name is Broderick Gray. Human Male, Dragon-Blooded. Age 47. With a disposition of friendly,¡± I relayed to the innkeeper. ¡°Well, don¡¯t expect it to say friendly if you read me again,¡± But he slapped my shoulder and grinned. ¡°I am kidding with you. But I am not as forgiving as most. You are young and made a mistake.¡± He sighed, ¡°The Dragon-Blood is from my father. He obtained it from a dungeon essence and passed it down to me.¡± I was not aware of an ability called dragon-blood. As I was considering asking Broderick more, he explained, ¡°It is a trait. It allows me to heal faster, and my bones are almost unbreakable. It made being a front liner on my dungeon crew more bearable.¡± I nodded, ¡°Thank you for telling me. You didn¡¯t have to.¡± He laughed, ¡°If I didn¡¯t, you seemed the type who would spend hours in the academy library trying to find the answer.¡± My food and ale were brought to me by Nina, and I toasted Broderick, who left to tend to other customers. I surmised traits were genetically linked. So Broderick¡¯s father must have incorporated dragon genetics into himself from the dungeon essence. When I finished eating, I went up to the rooms. They were both on the fourth floor, the top floor of the inn. These must have been the nicest two rooms the inn had to offer. The furnishings were finer, and the rooms were larger, with a large sitting room each. I cleaned both rooms thoroughly with my spell and then returned one of the keys. I kept the room with the balcony overlooking the square, and people watched into the evening before setting alarms, arcane locks, and privacy spells. I was in the common room eating breakfast at the bar when Gareth came down and sat with me. Broderick gave him teas and a plate of fried eggs. I asked my friend, ¡°How was your evening?¡± ¡°Good, Stormy.¡± He started eating and talking between mouthfuls, ¡°Nina is really great to talk to.¡± He leaned in, ¡°Two large silvers, in case you were wondering. I definitely overkilled it with two gold last time.¡± He swallowed his mug of tea and asked, ¡°Do we have time to make it to Aegis City for the dungeon run?¡± I shrugged, ¡°Not sure. If the clothes are ready, maybe.¡± Gareth started dragging me out. At least I had finished my breakfast. Our clothes were ready and packaged. I put mine into my dimensional space, and Gareth whined a bit when I made him carry his. I realized he was getting a little spoiled. While Gareth talked to a young woman, I worked on my lightning spear spell on the skyship trip. He definitely made some progress by the time we landed, as he knew her name and that she worked as a sorter in a wool factory. He even drove to impress her by saying he rented an apartment in the large building with the hydra being painted on it. Tatem had added the sketches of the adventurers to go with the hydra, which was outlined and had some shading. No color had yet been added to the mural. We found the entire team in the bakery, waiting to see if Gareth and I would make it. We had over two hours before we needed to make it to the dungeon, so Remy asked to talk with me. He was sitting across from me in a private booth and said, ¡°Yes.¡± He then produced the manual to build the Wind Splitter and repeated, ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Excellent! You can take a stipend to travel to the trader shipyards to get a better handle on the process. I hope to start construction next year, but I want to start stockpiling materials now.¡± Remy looked as excited as I felt. We spent an hour talking about personnel and materials. Sensing our conversation would not end soon, Gimble slid into a seat next to Remy. ¡°Storme, are you coming with us today?¡± Gimble asked. ¡°Yes, Gimble. I learned a new spell to harvest the bee queen glands,¡± I said neutrally. Gimble¡¯s eyes went up in mild surprise. Gimble asked, ¡°Do you want us to tackle the hobgoblin again? Ullmark found out the dungeon team before us was hired by the Miadens in the capital. They are seeding the Frost Vault with unique dungeon prizes from the lowlands in hopes of getting it to become more profitable. The guild master was furious they hadn¡¯t informed him of their intentions.¡± ¡°How is it possible that they did it without telling him?¡± I asked, trying to figure out the politics. ¡°The adventurer¡¯s guild is a Sphere wide organization, but the Miaden family oversees the dungeons on the Skyholme islands. There is some competition between them,¡± Gimble explained. ¡°The Miaden family controls and taxes the dungeons. The adventurer¡¯s guild creates the delvers¡¯ guide and polices the delvers. It is a terrible system, but in my time here, I know Skyholme couldn¡¯t exist without the resources that they pull from the dungeons.¡± ¡°So we are safe to explore the second level of the Frost Vault?¡± I asked after considering. Gimble nodded, ¡°We can try some of the boars in the maze. I don¡¯t think we should try to tackle the hobgoblin rider to reach the third level.¡± ¡°Ok, you can assemble the team. I am going to talk with Remy for a few more minutes,¡± I said while Gimble left. Remy gave me an update on the Shiny Platinum. Revenues were down slightly but seemed stable. We had lost two cooks but hired three. None of the servers or dishwashers had left. He also mentioned that he had purchased a large amount of bronze for me, and the ingots were stored in the warehouse. I had forgotten that I planned to make some bronze miniatures of the monsters in the paintings for display and sale. I went and grabbed the bronze into my dimensional space and joined Gimble, Ullmark, Sammie, Gareth, and Aelyn to head to the dungeon. Talia was here but wanted to study a spell, and Lana still had not imprinted the dimensional closet spell. I walked with Aelyn, and we talked about how she was doing. Aelyn was surprisingly upbeat, and she even smiled a bit. When we arrived at the dungeon arch, Ullmark talked to the guards and nodded everything was ok. We turned in our token and entered at our assigned time. Chapter 83 Chapter 83 (Arc 2 Chapter 37) We tore through the dungeon and planned to record our largest harvest of honey and wax. After we killed the first queen bee, I found that my spell couldn¡¯t lock onto the poison gland. Gareth¡¯s overly aggressive attack had ruptured the sac. When the spell didn¡¯t find a viable target that I was visualizing, it wouldn¡¯t activate. We were much more cautious about the second queen bee, and I was able to cast the tissue extraction spell. All I needed to do was focus, and the spell removed the stinger, freed the gland beneath from tissue, and cut an incision to make collecting easier. I retrieved the rubbery marble-sized sac. I dropped it into a jar and placed it inside my dimensional space, easy peasy. Our pace picked up, and we were able to collect three out of four glands from the queen bees. I was getting decent spell advancement for neutralize poison and tissue extraction. We got a little reckless with our pace and had a few stings among the group. My tissue extraction spell reached level five by the time we reached the clearing for the goblin settlement. My spell evolutions were skinning at level 2, which would completely detach the hide of an animal. At level 3, the evolution was butcher. This evolution let me extract one cut of meat from an animal. At level 5, I took the remove bone evolution. This cuts all the tissue around a single bone and lets the castor remove it. Each cast of spell could do all the evolutions at once, so I could get a bone, cut of meat, the hide, and one organ with each cast. Clearing the frost goblin camp went quickly as well. When we were ready for the hobgoblin chief, I was held back in reserve this time to handle any unforeseen issues. Aelyn and Gimble were on the flanks when the boss and support emerged. Once again, the shaman delayed his appearance. Now that we were aware of the ice ball spell, it didn¡¯t take much to dodge it. After two guards were downed, Gimble moved to engage the shaman, and I joined the attack on the hobgoblin who had incurred multiple wounds from Ullmark. The battle was surprisingly orderly compared to our first attempt, and Ullmark said that was normal. Once you knew what to expect in a dungeon, it rarely changed. My spell did quick work to harvest the small aether crystals as they were classified as an organ for the tissue extraction spell. After the goblins and hobgoblin were done, the spell reached level 6. I was not sure why this particular spell was leveling so fast. It had to be because I was using it on dungeon creatures. When I asked Gimble and Ullmark, they just shrugged. I would plan to ask Selina during classes tomorrow. Gareth asked anxiously, ¡°Gimble, who is opening the chest?¡± Gimble looked at me, and I pointed at Aelyn. Gimble nodded and announced, ¡°Aelyn is going to open it.¡± Aelyn, hearing her name, looked up, confused. Gimble rumbled, ¡°Get to it, girl.¡± Aelyn held up the frostskin boots and the three gold and three silver from the chest. I smiled, ¡°Aelyn, they are sized to your feet, so you can put them on and keep them.¡± Ullmark added, ¡°If we ever venture to the fifth floor, Aelyn, you will want to wear those. The fifth floor is a frozen lake, and it is difficult to stand.¡± After the excitement of the chest, we collected the trash items that Ullmark indicated. Ullmark looked at me, and I nodded, so Ullmark announced we were going to the second level and try our hand at some boars. At the arc inside, I noted that there were six delvers on the floor ahead of us. We entered and arrived at a different location than last time. Instead of a straight hallway, the hallway went about 30 feet into a T intersection. Once everyone was through, Ullmark took over. ¡°Ok, everyone with the boars on this level needs a pair in front to blunt their charge. If the boars have a long-running start, we must all retreat to the hallway corner. They can not turn when charging. When they build up speed, they become unstoppable,¡± Ullmark informed the group. I saw Gareth smirk and knew he was thinking of trying to stop a boar¡¯s charge. We started wandering the maze, and Ullmark was leaving chalk marks pointing us back to our door. He told the group the dungeon would erase the marks in 23 hours. We actually turned the corner, and a boar surprised us¡ªwell, it was a mutual surprise as the boar was uncertain what to do before lunging with its tusks at Gareth. The boar was not small, its shoulder coming to Gareth¡¯s waist, and the tusks were six inches long and thick. Gareth blocked with his sword but was thrown off balance by the beast¡¯s power. Sammie cut into the boar¡¯s shoulder with her axe. Sammie managed to keep hold of her axe, immobilizing the boar and allowing Gareth an easy slash at the spine, disabling it. Gimble called out, ¡°Nice work! We have one more coming from this side passage, so retreat to the intersection.¡± We all moved together, and when the boar reached the corner, Ullmark and Gareth engaged it. This fight was more bloody as it took multiple blows to bring down the beast. I was allowed to harvest the aether crystals from the boars, livers, hides, tusks, and some select cuts of meat. The spell was guiding me, but I had never butchered a boar before, so I knew I was only doing an adequate job. The tusks were the same ones that Antal had molded the handles of my first dagger blades from. Antal was an excellent shaper of bone, and he had made my small bone carvings of monsters that I cherished growing up. Maybe he would be interested in making models of monsters depicted in the Shiny Platinum to be sold. He could display them alongside my bronze figurines in the small curiosity shop. We started to move cautiously through the maze and backtracked a few times when Ullmark ordered it. When we were paired, I asked him if the boars were the only monsters on the floor, as I had remembered something about rats. ¡°No, Storme, traps on this floor will have you fall into a chamber below. In that chamber are usually a half dozen large mole rats. The trap is obvious as the floor gets steeper as you approach it. The mole rats are difficult to deal with as their mouths have an acidic glue that allows them to latch onto you, and then their sharp claws tear easily into the flesh.¡± ¡°There is always a small reward chest for clearing the trap room, but the danger is not worth it,¡± Gareth added from the front of our procession. We had taken down six boars when we finally found a second arch. Ullmark pulled out a map and thought for a bit, then said, ¡°Ok, Gimble. We are in the northeast corner of the maze. I can lead us to the floor boss or another exit.¡± Gimble pulled out his time-keeping device, ¡°It has been over eight hours. Let us head back.¡± I just nodded, and everyone did look tired. My dimensional space had a fair amount of honey and boar parts. We used the gate to return. The guards acknowledged us, and our group returned to the Shiny Platinum. The restaurant was packed with a few people waiting. I dropped off the honey-filled wax cells in the brewery, the boar meat and liver in the walk-in freezer, and the boar hides, tusks, and miscellaneous items in the warehouse. I found Remy in his room studying the Wind Splitter manual. I sent him off to log the harvests. I went down to the kitchen and showed a cook how to set up a slow smoker. We would replace the worst-performing menu sandwich with a BBQ pulled pork sandwich. I had decided the menu would never have more than 23 items. After a few hits of the cleanliness spell, I was back in my room. With Gareth¡¯s room adjacent to mine, I could hear them celebrating a successful delving run. I cast my alarm, arcane locks, and privacy spells and opened my lightning spear book on my comfortable couch. I was interrupted by Remy an hour later. Remy just gave me the catalog of the harvest and potential revenue. It looked like we had done well. Maybe a ten gold profit after paying the team and expenses. I created a large gold in my palm and flipped it in the air. All that work for something I could create in just moments. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. I returned to my studying. It was late in the evening, and I decided to take a skyship back to Solaris City in the morning and then walk back to the academy barracks. That way, I could sleep here. After creating my mithril and going through all my mental and aether exercises, I cuddled under my soft sheets. Almost immediately, a loud knock on my door set off my spell alarm. I didn¡¯t recognize the old man that the alarm spell flashed into my head. I opened the door ready for anything. ¡°Storme Hardlight?¡± The old man asked. I nodded. He held out his hand to shake, ¡°Rippon Kirkwood. Sebastian said you needed a shaper.¡± I shook his hand and used my assess person ability. Rippon Kirkwood Human Male Age 94 Disposition Neutral ¡°Please come in,¡± I said after confirming his identity. The man was clean-shaven and had messy shoulder-length white hair. His body seemed wiry and strong as he entered in some simple and unfashionable clothes. Rippon looked around the apartment and decided on the couch instead of the hard seats at the dining room table. ¡°I was not aware you were coming. Sebastian said he would track someone who might be interested but didn¡¯t say when or who.¡± The old man grinned, ¡°Yeah, I went to Hen¡¯s Hollow after talking with Sebastian this morning, and your parents said I could find you here. They were discussing moving to Aegis City.¡± My focus on Rippon drifted, ¡°My parents were what?¡± Rippon smiled knowingly, ¡°Your father received reassignment yesterday. They were discussing his modest raise and if they should move to the city to make it easier for his guard duty.¡± I nodded; Tessa must have come through. ¡°Rippon, Tell me of your qualifications as a wood shaper.¡± The old man relaxed into the cushions, ¡°I have built over a hundred merchant and transport ships in the civilian yards. I retired five years ago and have been bored out of my mind since. When Sebastian asked to meet with me, I might have even agreed to help at the naval yards. Then he told me some young man was planning to build a high-speed light transport. I decided to meet you for myself.¡± He motioned with his hands, indicating, and here we are. If Sebastian sent him, then I thought I could trust him, and he also indicated he didn¡¯t like the navy for whatever reason. ¡°I am trying to stockpile the materials now,¡± Rippon fidgeted, ¡°but I would be willing to hire you starting immediately. What are your terms?¡± A small grin formed on his face. I could tell the old man was eager to start building skyships again. He thought for a moment, ¡°I will need an apartment in the city. Nothing fancy. A gold a week and an aether battery once we start construction.¡± I nodded. An aether battery was used by people who had small aether cores so they could cast more spells. It was very inefficient and took time to recharge your core from one. I countered, ¡°You can have one of the apartments in this building. I own the building, and there is an apartment open somewhere. You can have as many meals as you want for free at the restaurant and bakery below. I will pay you three gold a week.¡± I pulled a platinum from my storage and handed it to him, ¡°For your aether battery. If you remain with me until the skyship is complete, you can keep the aether battery.¡± The man¡¯s eyes got wider and wider as I continued to speak. He shook his head. ¡°I have been using my skills to make furniture these last few years. I would have probably paid you to take me on! Don¡¯t worry, I am an excellent shaper. One of the best in Skyholme, just not the fastest any longer. I accept your offer!¡± ¡°Fantastic! Let me give you a tour of the facilities and find you a room,¡± I said with excitement. Maybe we could accelerate my timeline if I could get Rippon and Remy working soon. We started the tour in the hangar. Rippon was slightly stunned and asked for additional lighting to be added, but other than that, the space was perfect. We walked into the adjacent storage room next, which had our recent dungeon harvest. I told him that most of the apartments were for my dungeon team. I introduced Rippon to our guards. We moved up to the brewery above, and no one was here, but we sampled some ale Mera must have made earlier today. She was getting better. The next stop was the large recreation and training room. We then moved to the apartments. I found an open one and handed him the keys. The apartment was fully furnished, and he was extremely happy with it. Our next stop was Remy¡¯s room. We found Remy counting out silver coins for deposit. The manual was open on his dining room table with pages and pages of notes. ¡°This is Remy. He is going to be training to be the engineer for the build,¡± I said with a smile. The old man looked skeptically at the young Remy. I reassured him, ¡°Trust me, he is more than capable. Since you have connections, maybe you can bring him by the civilian shipyards and show him around?¡± Rippon seemed to be studying Remy, who had gained a lot of confidence in his managerial role and didn¡¯t shy away from the inspection. Finally, Rippon said, ¡°I haven¡¯t been to the yards in a while. It would be good to reconnect with some old friends. Do you want to tag along, Remy?¡± Remy nodded, clearly excited. I stood, ¡°Great! I will leave you two to get acquainted.¡± I pulled a few large silvers from my pockets, ¡°For your expenses. Also Remy, Rippon is going on the payroll starting today, and his rate will be three gold per week. Make sure and introduce him around so the restaurant staff knows who he is.¡± I returned to my room eager to get some sleep but had trouble as the excitement of hiring a shaper kept me awake. I eventually pulled out my spellbook and fell asleep studying it. I was late returning to Hens¡¯ Hollow as I had overslept and missed the transport to Solaris. I spent a gold coin getting private transport to Hen¡¯s Hollow. Aelyn apologized as she hadn¡¯t realized I was in my room when everyone gathered to fly back in the morning. Since I had not attended the party in Gareth¡¯s room, they assumed I had already returned on my own. I was punished for being late by having to help with dishes after breakfast. It actually gave me a chance to talk with Freya. Freya relayed the good news I was already made aware of. Father had been called to Aegis City to serve as the east dock captain. He was getting a pay bump but was actually going to have to do less work. He was just in charge of six men who logged all skyship arrivals and departures. He was still working on convincing our mother to resettle in the city. I told Freya that I would charge our parents a very reasonable rate for an apartment¡ªfree. Freya kept asking me how I had managed to get our father the promotion. She wasn¡¯t stupid. I had been asking her just last week how I could get our parents to move to Aegis City. I just told my younger sister that I had made significant sacrifices. In lessons with Selina, I asked about the rapid spell advancement of the tissue extraction spell. She didn¡¯t think the dungeon environment played a role. Combat definitely plays a role in rapid advancement, but not the dungeon itself. We spent some time puzzling it out, and eventually, the answer was simple. I had been subconsciously using my mend flesh evolution, diagnose other. This spell gave me a clear mental map of the creature and made the tissue extraction spell work more efficiently. It was not unusual for two spells to synergize like this. In order to get the rapid leveling, you needed to cast both spells in succession. I had been so used to casting the diagnostic aspect of my mend flesh spell that I didn¡¯t even realize I was doing it. During the rest of the week, Gareth couldn¡¯t help but talk about his upcoming date with Loriel. We were both going to meet Loriel and Tessa at Loriel¡¯s apartment next to the Skyhold Citadel. We would then be escorted by a half dozen Citadel Wolfguard to the Sowing Festival. On 3rd night out at Twin Rocks, my aether shield spell reached level 13 and got an evolution. I added a third shield. What was great about this evolution was Elora and Elijah didn¡¯t realize I was working with three shields most of the evening, and I surprised them multiple times. On 5th night, they decided to get some revenge for my trickery two nights before, and I managed to imprint my lightning spear spell as I was reaching for a ranged combat option as they cycled around me. I caught Elijah in the chest and burned a hole through his leather chest piece. We stopped and looked at the circular hole. It had burned his leather armor and singed his shirt underneath¡ªa completely underwhelming result from such a cool named spell. The armor was made from a dungeon beast, which made it more resilient, but I was still disappointed. The first evolution of the spell was to increase the speed from 75 mph to 150 mph. With Elora and Elijah, we worked on dissecting the spell. It looked cool¡ªa blue-white lightning bolt speeding toward a target. It didn¡¯t have much impact on a tree, with just a burn ring in the bark. At the second evolution, I increased the energy of the bolt. Now it burned about an inch into the tree, and left a smoldering fire. I kept casting until I reached the third evolution, increasing the power again. Now, the hole was almost two inches deep. We tried the spell on a boar¡¯s tusk, and it burned about half an inch into it. Elijah encouraged me to continue increasing the power of the spear so I could eventually burn through a skull. A headshot would be an instant kill if I could reach the brain. The problem was the aim was not easy. There was a lot of deviation after five feet. I could see why the mage who owned the spell before I had been frustrated. We ran out of practice time and returned. I was definitely going to work on leveling this spell in the future. The next spell I planned to work on was absolute time. The rest of the week quickly passed, and we were ready to leave. Gareth had us skip dinner so we could reach the capital sooner. We had to take a skyship to the lower city and walk to the upper city. Then Gareth used the communication stone to call Loriel. Bylura came and escorted us to Loriel¡¯s entrance at the Citadel. I was really doing this¡ªattending a party hosted by the Triumverate. Chapter 84 Triumvirate Politics Chapter 84 (Arc 2 Chapter 38) Triumvirate Politics We walked with Bylura dressed in a servant¡¯s uniform for the Miaden house. I asked the white wolf girl, ¡°Are you attending the Triumvirate Festival?¡± As we walked, the wolf girl looked at me cautiously, ¡°Yes, I will be Loriel¡¯s attendant with Gammon.¡± Gammon was Loriel¡¯s only personal Wolfguard. We walked through six security checkpoints as we moved into the Triumvirate residences within the Citadel. The snow-white stone was polished like marble, and servants rushed up and down the corridors. The Citadel had Wolfguard at every intersection in their pristine black uniforms. Two thousand Blackguard in the Citadel were supposedly neutral Wolfsguard to the politics of the three families. They served as a peacekeeping force for the rulers of Skyholme from each other. Bylura led us to a wing marked with the sigil of the Miaden house. We got a lot of interested looks as we walked to Gammon, who stood guard over a large door. He opened the door for Bylura, Gareth, and I. There was a large ornate anteroom beyond with a few maids moving about. Bylura indicated a door on the far side, ¡°You can get dressed inside that room.¡± Gareth and I moved inside to find a large sitting area lined with shelves. There were more curiosities than books on the shelves. Gareth took his satchel and took out his clothes. I just brought my outfit forth from my storage space. After we both dressed, we helped each other fix our hair gel. We both wore our hair at shoulder length, and the gel would keep it from being too wavy. Gareth had some makeup, and I almost made fun of him but held my tongue. I only needed to use my cleanliness spell to refresh my skin. We returned to the anteroom and found Tessa and Loriel in form-fitting dresses. Tessa wore a sheer silk black dress to contrast with her platinum hair that cascaded down her back. Only her neck and hands were bare. Her jewelry was silver with white agate gemstones. I let my jaw fall open and made to speak, ¡°Tessa, you look to be the picturesque beauty. I see you are not wearing a necklace. Fortunately, I brought one for you.¡± I reached into my coat pocket and pretended to search for it. ¡°I know it is here somewhere.¡± In my other hand, I was making weaving a silver chain necklace. It took over a minute, and I sensed she was about to tell me it was okay, but then I produced it. It sparkled as the silver was new and pure. I had made it without a clasp and handed it to her. Tessa blushed on receiving it, and a smile was on her face as a maid took it from me to put on her. Without the clasp, she had to navigate the chain over her hair. I finally noticed Loriel, who was sporting a rich royal blue dress. She looked ravishing as well, but I was focused on Tessa. Gareth tried to garner some favor, ¡°Storme, did you bring the gold necklace I got Loriel?¡± Really Gareth? I was already doing him a favor by coming to this party. ¡°You just told me to get her something. I picked up a bracelet, remember? I reached into my pocket and made a thick silver bracelet with etchings going around it of a lioness chasing down a peacock. It took me another minute to produce and hand it to Gareth. It was also silver as I was going to conserve as much aether tonight. I was going into what I perceived as enemy territory, after all. The bracelet had more silver than the necklace but was not nearly as intricate. Loriel took and turned it in her hands, inspecting it with Tessa. ¡°It is beautiful, Gareth, thank you,¡± Loriel said while sliding it on. ¡°The dinner will be starting soon, and we will be called to sit.¡± We stood and talked in the anteroom, and Loriel explained she rarely used this apartment. It was reserved for the 22nd in line to the Miaden seat. Each of the families had its own wing of the Citadel. Each person in the line of succession had their own apartment in the respective wing. The sub-levels of the Citadel housed the 2,000 Blackguard that patrolled the guards. I turned down a red wine while we waited. Gareth drank two glasses. Finally, a knock came, and our escort to the dining room arrived. Four Blackguard in uniforms flanked us as we were escorted to a massive room filled with dining tables. We were one of the last ones to be seated, and after we were announced, we only attracted a few eyes until they saw how beautiful Tessa was in her dress. She was definitely a polished gem. The Miaden family and Torrent family were seated on opposite sides of the room, so Gareth was on his own. I did tap him before we departed and removed his intoxication with neutralize poison. He would probably drink more, but it was all I could do for now. Our table had four others at it. Tessa¡¯s half-brother and his date. There was also another Torrent male who appeared to be in line for a succession seat. A raised platform held the three current seats on the Triumvirate ruling council. It was my first time seeing them, but I was not impressed. I ignored all the pomp and focused on talking with Tessa. I learned a lot about her as the food was brought out. I didn¡¯t eat anything, partly from paranoia, which was probably misplaced. Tessa had two half-sisters and a half-brother. She was the oldest. She was fifteen years old. Normally, you entered the First Year Academy at fourteen, but many Triumverate families held their children back a year so they had a better chance of doing well in their first year of the academy. Due to the faster aging and longer years within the Sphere, Tessa was closer to nineteen in physical maturity. Tessa confided that she would attend the city¡¯s naval academy next cycle. This got a cold feeling in my spine as I knew Abaddon Bricio was still attending the academy. Midway through the meal, the entertainment came out. Illusionists created lifesized battles on the center floor of men fighting beasts. It drew our attention, especially when you had things like a thirty-foot dragon snapping at a knight before you. Finally, the meal portion of the festival was completed, and the center man on the Triumvirate platform stood and spoke. Tessa whispered it was the Bricio seat. He spoke, ¡°Thank you for coming to honor the tradition of the Sowing Festival, the first planting.¡± I noticed not everyone in the room seemed happy as he spoke. ¡°As is the tradition, we have gathered a role for marriages¡ªmay the blood remain strong.¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Tessa whispered to me, ¡°They use that phrase to justify intermarriage among the families.¡± The first marriages he announced were for people marrying into the families not already having any links. Many of the people announced were not even present. Tessa informed me, ¡°These people marrying into the families most likely have powerful abilities. Since the Bricios control most of the readers in Skyholme, they arrange marriages to their extended family.¡± She sounded a little angry, and from the looks of people at other tables, she was not the only one. The next set of announcements were done in pairs. The Bricio seat and Miaden seat at the Triuverate table stood to announce a marriage between their two houses. This was usually met with some applause, sometimes some mutterings. Tessa whispered, ¡°There are a lot of widowers from the attacks last year. The Torrent House lost the most as many of us serve onteh skyships. Most of these marriages are arranged by the Triumvirate seats to maintain ties and control assets.¡± I stopped paying attention and just looked around the room. Gareth was on the far side and definitely appeared intoxicated again with his high degree of animation. Loriel, to his left, looked split between embarrassment and awkwardness. I started chuckling, and it occurred to me that Gareth might be doing me a favor by being Loriel¡¯s escort. She definitely was not going to ask him again! There were a lot of gasps at the most recent announcement, and I leaned into Tessa and asked her why. She stated, ¡°Argile Bricio is wedding Cheryil Bricio. Cheryil lost her husband in the Sadian attack but she is nearly 70, Argile is just 24. It is an open attempt by the Bricios to keep Cheryil¡¯s estate and assets under their control. It is not an unusual thing to happen. Just the large age gap is a surprise. Cheryil was a Torrent before marrying Vennir Bricio.¡± I nodded, pretending to care. Tessa pointed at Cheryil at one of the middle tables. She sat straight-backed and stoic. The announcements continued and transitioned to formal requests for marriage. Tessa whispered to me, ¡°When someone makes a request of me, just stand when I do, and I will announce my intention to not wed this year.¡± I nodded and thought things would go smoothly. Loriel had five requests to marry, and every time Gareth hastily stood with her, his large body rattled the table to the amusement of everyone and Loriel¡¯s continued embarrassment. I caught a grin on Gareth¡¯s face and realized he was doing it intentionally. His whole charade¡ªhe winked at me on the most recent refusal by Loriel. No one made a request for Tessa, and I thought that was odd. She was clearly the most desirable young woman here, at least by looks. When Abaddon stood from amid the tables in the middle, I felt a cold chill of anger go through me. He started with a clear and masculine voice, ¡°It is with the blessing of my father and her father that I propose a harmony agreement with Loriel Miaden.¡± Tessa leaned into me and explained, ¡°A harmony pact is just a long-winded way of asking for a date. Loriel is the wealthiest person here who is not married. Everyone knows Abaddon is a terrible person and only after her wealth.¡± I nodded and knew just what type of devil he was. Once again, Loriel stood and declined with a now clearly intoxicated Gareth at her side. Abbadon then spoke, ¡°I ask to face your champion for the honor then.¡± The whole room went silent. Tessa leaned into me, ¡°It is an old custom. A battle to first blood. No one invokes it, as it is seen as being petty. It¡¯s not surprising Abaddon would try. It would be a major slap in the face if she didn¡¯t give him this.¡± Loriel had to restrain Gareth as she declined even the right of combat to spend time with Abaddon. Abaddon put on an amused look, except his eyes definitely emitted hatred. He sat and leaned to talk with someone who appeared to be his younger brother. His younger brother stood and faced our table, ¡°With my father¡¯s blessing, I ask Tessa Torrent for a harmony agreement.¡± The young man looked smug in his pronouncement. A lot of anger murmurings could be heard among the Torrent tables. I recalled Tessa¡¯s branch of the Torrent family had a feud with the Bricios. Tessa stood and froze as I joined her for the expected theatrics. It took her a moment to regain herself, and I suspected maybe a spell had been cast, but she finally said, ¡°I decline to associate with you or your family.¡± A massive grin emerged on his face, ¡°That sounds awfully close to besmirching my family¡¯s name.¡± I looked at Tessa and could see sweat trickling down her neck. I didn¡¯t understand what was happening. Tessa was quiet before she finally forced out the words, ¡°Your family has no honor.¡± A massive eruption of gasps and talking erupted, but the young man just smiled like this had been expected. The sweat was beading on Tessa¡¯s brow, and I was uncertain what I should do. As if inclined to accept it, the Bricio sighed heavily, ¡°Then I guess I must request an honor duel to appease my family¡¯s honor.¡± More gasps and louder talking. The Torrent side of the room seemed extremely angry, and the Torrent Triumverate seat stood at his table. He bellowed, ¡°Baladan Bricio, this is not the forum or place for such a pronouncement. I decline your request of challenging my granddaughter¡¯s slander.¡± I could already sense something was amiss. Tessa was still sweating and seemed statue-like. Then, the three members of the Triumvirate hastily convened, and the Bricio of their number stood. With a masked grin, he announced, ¡°It has been decided in a 2-1 vote to allow the challenge.¡± There were some angry shouts as decorum started to break between the Bricio and Torrent tables. Baladan smiled at the obviously expected pronouncement. He focused on Tessa, ¡°And who will be your champion?¡± Tessa¡¯s hand was slowly coming up, and I could see she was going to point at her half-brother. This was all orchestrated to get her brother into an honor duel. It had nothing to do with me. I moved to the other side of Tessa to put myself between Tessa and her half-brother. As her hand raised, she was pointing at me and was clearly sweating, trying to fight whatever was compelling her. She was obviously under outside influence, and I didn¡¯t understand how it wasn¡¯t obvious to everyone in the room. When her finger reluctantly pointed, I spoke, ¡°Well, I guess that¡¯s me. I get to fight you? Can we go right now? I hope you make it a bit of a challenge.¡± The room erupted in a cacophony of voices, and Baladan and Abaddon looked angry at my intrusion into their plans. I don¡¯t know why I did it. Well, I did know. I wanted to impress Tessa and rescue her from this obvious trap. The three Triumvirate seats took time to get order restored, and I could tell the seats had little respect from the other houses. The political landscape of Skyholme looked awfully dire to me from this brief window into its operations. Tessa finally relaxed and used me for support. Whatever had been influencing her had expired or stopped. There was a lot of talking going on, and Tessa regained enough of herself to speak to me, ¡°Storme, you shouldn¡¯t have done that. You challenged Baladan directly. My grandfather could have defused the situation.¡± I shrugged my shoulders, ¡°It should be fine.¡± I wasn¡¯t overly concerned. Even if I lost the fight, it was just to first blood, and the Torrent family losing some honor wouldn¡¯t affect me much. Tessa sat as the discussion raged around us, and I sat with her. Tessa said, ¡°It is an honor duel, Storme. When you accepted, you allowed Baladan to set the guidelines. He will get to choose the victory conditions, what weapons can be used, where and when it will occur.¡± I felt a coldness run along my spine. I asked, ¡°And by victory conditions, you mean it could be something other than first blood?¡± Tessa looked me in the eyes and said, ¡°Yes.¡± Chapter 85 Honor Duel Chapter 85 (Arc 2 Chapter 39) My mind started to process how I could get out of this. I could see Loriel explaining what was happening to Gareth, and I could see his intoxication vanish. He was clearly angry, and Loriel was doing her best to keep him calm. This was Gareth¡¯s fault¡ªno, it was Loriel¡¯s¡ªmaybe a little bit of mine. The three Triumvirate members were discussing how to proceed with the Torrent member clearly agitated and angry at the proceedings. Well, he probably was not as concerned now that I had stepped in the line of fire. I asked Tessa calmly, ¡°So what caused you to speak as you did? Were you controlled? Can you voice that you were being manipulated?¡± She looked down, ¡°I think it was something in the food. Not an outside influence. It made me speak my mind, some type of powerful truth potion.¡± She looked apologetic. ¡°So what is the play here by the Bricios?¡± I asked, seeing them grinning at their table even though I had interrupted their plans. She seemed to consider, ¡°I think they want to prevent my brother from assuming the 23rd seat of the Torrent family.¡± After some thought, she added, ¡°It wouldn¡¯t have worked. My grandfather would have let my uncle step down, and my brother to assume the 23rd seat. It would have been six years early, but my uncle would have received compensation. Those in line for succession can always order someone to stand in for them in duels.¡± I mulled over my mistake. Well, it wasn¡¯t like I had read the manual of how to be a lord in Skyholme. I cycled my mind exercises to remain focused, ¡°What can you tell me about Baladon? Will he fight me?¡± I asked Loriel. She seemed to consider before answering, ¡°He will only fight you if he is certain he will win. He is in his third year at the Mage Academy and has been given dungeon essences to increase his abilities. He fought in the pre-Acadmey Annuals four years ago and came in second, so he is a competent swordsman, but he has been focused on his magic. He may be rusty,¡± she offered with a half-hearted smile. ¡°He has an affinity for fire magic and likes to put on showy displays.¡± ¡°What type of person is he? Is he like his older brother Abaddon?¡± I asked while making eye contact with him. Tessa followed my gaze, ¡°He is not as cruel as his older brother. At least not publicly. I would say he is smarter and more calculating. I think this plan probably has more depth than we are seeing.¡± I swore to myself. I had been careful stepping around Loriel and her piles of shit. But once a pretty woman put herself before me, I blindly stepped straight into it. We were being summoned to the Triuverate table, probably considered an honor on most occasions. Well, I could always tell my parents I met the ruling council tonight if I lived through this. A privacy screen was assembled around Tessa, Baladon, the Triumvirate, and myself. It was the Bricio Triumvirate who spoke. ¡°Nephew, since your honor has been trodden upon, what do you seek as restitution?¡± He already had a knowing smile on his face. Baladon smiled, ¡°I have nothing but respect for Tessa Torrent. So much so I am willing to forgo this duel if she accepts my marriage proposal. May the blood remain strong,¡± he added snarkily. He already knew the Torrent seat, and Tessa would not agree, and the Torrent member of the Triumvirate spoke. ¡°Not acceptable. I will offer you the apple orchards east of the city to settle this issue,¡± He said with a hardness in his voice. Tessa gasped, and Baladon seemed surprised by this and considered the offer. Baladon considered for a few breaths but reluctantly shook his head no, ¡°That will not be enough. I am afraid I will have to ask for a duel,¡± smugness was now written all over his face. The Bricio Triuverate member smiled gleefully and interjected, ¡°And what are your terms, nephew?¡± Baladon bowed to the three and spoke, ¡°I know Tessa¡¯s champion has magic, as he registered spells in the pre-Academy Annuals this year. So I wish a mage¡¯s duel till one of us yields or is killed.¡± The Bricio Triumverate said, ¡°That sounds very fair of you.¡± His smirk and evil-looking grin told me it was not expected to be fair. The Torrent seat interjected, ¡°It is not! Damn you, Otieno! Baladon has three years at the mage academy under his belt. This common boy fought with a staff at the Annuals, not spells!¡± ¡°Pomare, calm down,¡± Otieno Bricio said with a terrible smile. ¡°I am sure Baladon will allow blades as well. But only blades and armor he currently owns.¡± I was quiet up until this point, not wanting to interject. I asked, ¡°So Baladon is going to fight me? What if I kill him by mistake?¡± I tried to sound confident. The three members of the Triumvirate looked at each, shocked at my question. If I could sow enough doubt in Baladon, maybe he would back out of the fight. Otieno Brico laughed, ¡°Boy, if Baladon falls to you, then it is his own folly. He is setting the rules of engagement.¡± It was obvious no one had much confidence in me. I was four years younger than Baladon. They continued talking, ignoring me as Tessa squeezed my hand and whispered that she was sorry. I was just thinking of a way to ensure my victory. My biggest worry was Baladon would discover what spells I had imprinted before the duel. I paid close attention, trying to figure out the dynamics of the ruling Three. It appeared the Miaden seat was in the pocket of the Otieno Bricio, as he just agreed with everything Otieno proposed. Well, maybe not in the pocket, but disinterested. Maybe he was getting concessions for going along with this farce. Pomare Torrent was clearly on Tessa¡¯s side, but he had drawn a line on how far he would support me in the contest. I guessed orchards just outside of the capital were extremely valuable, and it had almost enticed Baladon to drop the duel. I was obviously not of his house and just Tessa¡¯s escort tonight. Baladon seemed overconfident and tried to rub as much salt into the wound as possible. The final conditions of the duel of honor, if you could call it that, were swords only, along with any spells the individual had imprinted. The duel was to when the first combatant conceded the match after taking at least one injury from the other party. So I couldn¡¯t just concede when the match started. The duel would be in four days, which was not a point I wanted to concede. If I had to fight, then my advantage was to have the duel immediately, given Baladon no time to do a thorough background on me. I tried to push toward an immediate resolution, ¡°Lord Otieno, we already have an audience assembled who has witnessed the slight to the honor. Wouldn¡¯t it be better to get it over with this very evening? That is unless Baladon is fearful he might lose and needs to prepare further?¡± Baladon finally looked slightly unsure of himself. Otieno was considering my words and ignoring the uncertainty on his nephew¡¯s face. He finally said, ¡°How does the council vote? It would make for a cap to an entertaining evening.¡± I nodded affirmatively at Pomare Torrent. Pomare said, ¡°If that is what the boy wishes, then I will agree.¡± The Miaden seat was quiet, so Otieno was the deciding vote, ¡°Yes, a most enjoyable end to the evening.¡± The privacy screen dropped, and Otieno addressed the room, ¡°It has been decided that this duel of honor will proceed. It will be a battle of magic and blades! We will have our post-dinner beverages in the Audience Chamber while these two young men settle the discord between the Torrent and Bricio houses!¡± Tessa walked with me as we moved deeper into the older parts of the Citadel. Tessa explained, ¡°The Audience Chamber was where the Haikuram met to discuss politics. They were a democratic society, and the chamber houses up to twelve thousand, but it is only used for private sport by the nobles now.¡± The Haikuram were the avian race that ruled Skyholme when it was one single large island. We came up a ramp into a brightly lit domed chamber. My eyes were drawn to the light source in the center of the ceiling. It was suspended by large silver chains wrapped in runic script. The light source was a large glowing purple gem, no, it was violet, a violet aether stone nearly larger than a person¡¯s head! It must be worth a massive fortune! Seeing my eyes focus, Tessa said, ¡°That is the Heart Stone. It is an aether stone that powers the enchantments that protect Skyholme from teleportation. As long as that array is powered, no one can sneak into the islands.¡± I wanted to contest that since I had seen Sadian ships using invisibility during the attack, but the suspended stone entranced me, and I did not feel the need for questions at the moment. When I had my fill of the stone, I looked around the rest of the ceiling as there were many standard white aether lights adding to the lumination of the chamber. The large chamber was circular. It looked like an amphitheater with tiered seating going up at least 70 rows. The floor was covered in white marble veined with gold, and I could make out various large silver circles that were encompassed with runes, probably tied to the anti-teleportation rune. The tiered seating was bench style but was segmented with rainbow-patterned seating. The color followed the rainbow but was pale in color and not ostentatious, more an artistic effort. The closest seats were being filled while servants brought drinks for this evening¡¯s entertainment. Still looking up, I noticed there were massive murals painted on large panels along the ceiling. The panels were artistically impressive and lifelike. They depicted avian humanoid beings in various actions. There were battles showing triumphs and tragedies. The most catching one was of the avians battling a large black dragon with silver streaks throughout its scaled body. Another mural appeared to show the breaking of the island. A wizard who appeared villainous in his depiction was casting a spell above the island, and the island was breaking apart. That must have been the wizard who shattered the island. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Tessa confirmed my guess, ¡°The Haikarum wizard Kurota attempted to draw the power from the ley lines of the Sphere up to the island. His hubris destroyed the island and shattered his people.¡± I looked at Tessa, who was studying the murals as well. The nobles apparently had a much broader education than I was privy to. Standing on the floor of the chamber, I looked for Baladon. I thought he would have been with us, but I didn¡¯t see him. Tessa offered, ¡°I am guessing his family is equipping him with items to help him win. As soon as you receive an injury, concede defeat, Storme. My only loss of honor will be spending time with Baladon.¡± I didn¡¯t like the thought of that happening. ¡°So if I kill him before he concedes defeat, what consequences will there be for me?¡± Tessa didn¡¯t seem to share my optimism from her pained expression but gave me a thoughtful answer. ¡°If you killed Baladon, you would draw his brother¡¯s ire. Abaddon is a spiteful person,¡± she warned. ¡°The entire Bricio family, for that matter.¡± I nodded, taking the wisdom. I was certain I could kill him but was it worth it? There was a quick illusion replaying a past duel in the chamber while the spectators got comfortable. Maybe the illusionist was trying to set the bar for how entertaining the duel needed to be. I found Gareth, Loriel, and Bylura sitting in the stands with four Wolfguard behind them. I guessed that maybe Gareth hadn¡¯t been overly cooperative, hence the Wolfsguard behind him. At least Loriel looked upset at my plight next to Gareth¡¯s furious gaze. Pomare Torrent was showing obvious anger as he talked with members of his house. I noticed on the upper seating the Wolfguard had situated themselves at intervals, easily over five hundred in the black uniforms. These must be the neutral Wolfguard for maintaining peace. Otieno Bricio was sipping a red wine and talking with Abaddon and three other Bricios I didn¡¯t recognize. There were all clearly confident in the outcome of the match. Most of the rest of the crowd just seemed anxious for a spectacle. Finally, Baladon joined me on the floor with a Wolfsguard attendant. Baladon was wearing a fine weave of silvery mesh. The color and the way the light hit it told me it was mithril. He had a simple long sword on his belt as well. I used my assess person ability on him. Baladon Bricio Human Male Age 18 Disposition: Hatred His gait told me he was a competent swordsman. A Wolfsguard came with a weapons rack since I hadn¡¯t brought a sword. I eyed Baladon¡¯s long sword handle, and the aether stone in the hilt confirmed his blade was enchanted. All the swords I was being offered were just good quality weapons. I took an oversized scimitar. The hilt was long enough to use two-handed. I could have pulled my falchion from my dimensional space, but I thought it best to keep my space secret. At least for the moment. Soon, Tessa was headed to the stands, and she went and sat with her grandfather and the other Torrents. She was unhappy and clearly showing remorse for the situation I had been put in. The Wolfguard, who had brought the swords for me to select from, showed me where to stand on the floor. When Baladon and I were both situated, the crowd went quiet, and a loud gong rang. Baladon stood thirty paces away and looked smug. He started with a small fist-sized fireball that zipped toward me. I managed to evade the fast-moving flame. He started peppering me with additional fireballs that moved as fast as a thrown rock. I didn¡¯t sense a lot of heat or destructive power in them, and I could tell he was just entertaining the crowd and keeping me at a distance. This spell had a low cost of aether and was just a flashy display. Tessa had told me he liked to show off. I tuned out the crowd and focused on my opponent. We both were at a disadvantage as we didn¡¯t know what the other had in their repertoire of spells. I was going to hold my lightning reflexes spell in reserve. For now, I needed to figure out his offensive options and be prepared to defend. I summoned two dice into my offhand as I moved and cast my alarm spell on them. The trigger would be them hitting the ground, and both would flash and make a loud sound. I had an evolution that would protect me from the flash, but my opponent would not. After his seventh mini fireball, his expression changed. It seemed he was done playing to the crowd. He changed his spell to a fire arrow, a tier 2 spell that he had obviously greatly increased the speed of with his evolutions. The speed of the first arrow caught me completely off guard as it zipped into my chest and burned my chest with a minor splash effect. The intense flair of pain caused me to throw my dice. I added an aether shield from the waist up. A second fire arrow hit my aether shield as the dice landed, but I was already healing myself. The fire arrow had enough impact to take out my aether shield, but I quickly added another in its place. Baladon was taken by surprise as he watched the dice land 10 feet in front of him and flash. He had been staring at the dice and was unprepared for the effect. If he didn¡¯t have a healing spell, he would be blinded. The crowd didn¡¯t fare much better. There were mages surrounding the area for protection, but they had not expected my flash effect or booming sound either. I raced forward as Baladon struggled to orient himself. He was panicked and summoned a vial to his hand. It must have been a healing potion. I wouldn¡¯t be able to close the distance in time to stop him from drinking it. I almost activated my lighting reflexes but held off. There were too many people in the stands that I didn¡¯t want to be aware of this capability of mine. He must have sensed me rushing him because a fire ring burst from around his body. It was a tier 3 fire spell called fire halo. The wave shattered my aether shield, and I shielded my eyes as I was thrown back and activated my thermostatic aura to try and suffocate the flames destroying my expensive clothes. I recovered quickly and moved to engage with the sword. Baladon had consumed the potion and was blinking his vision back as my smoldering body got within five feet of him. My aether shield had been destroyed again, so I recast it. He was surprised I had managed to get so close, and Baladon suddenly disappeared. Taking a chance, it was an invisibility spell or item. I went into a slide and swung the sword one-handed in a big arc. I connected with something, and my blade had a faint crimson line on it when I returned to my feet. I continued to ignore the raucous crowd, tracking the drops of blood appearing on the floor to orient myself to Baladon. I doubled up my aether shield in his direction. If he healed again, I would lose my means of tracking him. I took two steps in his direction, and my fears were realized when the blood drops disappeared. I quickly cast a third aether shield to form an arc in front of me. A large 30-foot column of flame splashed into the shield on my left, quickly destroying it. I was protected just long enough to roll away from the continuous flame. Baladon was standing there winded when the flame stopped, his invisibility spell disrupted by his attack. He was shocked I was standing unharmed. He was sweating profusely, and it looked like he might be close to running out of aether. That flame jet spell might have been the tier 4 dragon¡¯s breath spell. No, the heat wasn¡¯t intense enough. It was probably a tier 3 version of the spell. I was able to reestablish my arc of aether shields and started walking toward him. He drew his long sword and took a defensive stance. He was definitely low on aether, but I wasn¡¯t going to be fooled into believing he was empty. He tested my aether shield with a mini-fireball and frowned. I could see his mind turning. I was now completely healed, and had a defense against his ranged attacks, and he still didn¡¯t know all my tricks. I could end this in seconds if I went into overdrive with my lightning reflexes spell, but I felt confident I wouldn¡¯t have to. I engaged him with my aether shields and scimitar. He was an excellent swordsman but had significant fatigue. On our first exchange, he destroyed one of my aether shields but suffered a slash to his thigh. He was already retreating and imbibing another healing potion. I knew fighting against my aether shields was frustrating. They were essentially invisible, and there was no dirt to kick up to highlight them. That was how Elora and Elijah dealt my aether shields. They kicked up enough dust to highlight them. Baladon found a similar approach as he retreated. A low aether cost spark spell. It cast a shower of sparks that did no damage but highlighted my shields for him. He frowned deeply when he realized I was able to manifest three separate shields. I just grinned at his depressed visage. He gathered himself and attacked with his blade. His next attack almost got within my guard, and he gained some confidence and started pressing me. He definitely wasn¡¯t rusty with his sword practice. He tried to mix in a fire arrow, but I recognized the hand gesture and rolled away in plenty of time. The speed of those fire arrows made them difficult to dodge up close, and I planned to increase the speed of my lightning spear in the future to get a similar advantage. I smiled as his eyes seemed somewhat sunken. His aether was definitely close to bottoming out. I tried to get him to concede by holding up my sword and indicating the now-dried blood on the blade, ¡°I believe I have injured you. That means you can concede if you wish, correct?¡± I had spoken in a mocking tone, and this spurned him on. His calculating nature was overridden by anger. I would say we were matched equally as swordsmen. Maybe he even had a slight advantage. Unfortunately, I had my aether shields, and even his sparkles were fading as his aether pool bottomed out. When he learned he could temporarily destroy my aether shield with enough damage, he spent his energy attacking them to try and engage me directly. I made him pay with his somewhat reckless attacks with numerous cuts. Baladon seemed to have endless healing potions in his dimensional space. He would retreat and drink another potion whenever I got a serious strike. I was guessing these potions were all from the same batch. Otherwise, he would be vomiting all over the place as they interacted in his stomach. That was a danger with potions. You couldn¡¯t mix them, so you had to wait for them to completely metabolize before switching to another type. His frustration grew as we danced across the floor, now speckled with blood. I was almost certain he would have some type of aether restorative potion in his bag but couldn¡¯t use it since he had already used a healing potion. Mixing potions led to terrible results. He stumbled on an engagement, and I grappled his mithril chain shirt and used my metal shaping skill to tear it. The chain shirt hand had been protecting his chest, and it now flapped helplessly, exposing his heart. He was shocked the vest had been damaged but even more so at being exposed. Slashes on his arms and legs were one thing¡ªa piercing strike to his heart was another. He gawked at the damage I had done to the mithril shirt and seemed uncertain about whether to continue. His face soured. But Tessa said he was smart. I was not fatigued at all. He should be able to see where this was headed. He tossed his sword to the ground and announced to the crowd, ¡°I concede.¡± The look of hatred on his face told me he was not going to let go of this embarrassment. I was even more grateful I had kept a few spells in reserve. I tuned back into the crowd, and gasps of surprise, cheers, and boos rang down. Some people were still recovering from the blinding flash of my spell as mages were still walking among them and healing. I noticed Nisil, Sebastian¡¯s Wolfguard healer, among them. Sebastian was not in the stands, though. Nisil had also not been with Sebastian when I had visited him. Maybe, like the Wind Splitter, she was called into service of the Skyholme for her healing prowess. I scanned the crowd. I had definitely drawn a lot of attention today. Gareth was fist-pumping in the stands, but the four Wolfsguard remained behind him. I wouldn¡¯t have been surprised if he had tried to join me on the floor a few times during the fight. The fire halo spell was the only time I was in any danger. If that spell¡¯s blast had knocked me out or if the aether shield hadn¡¯t muted the fire wave, I might have lost the fight. When everything died down, I could see the three Triumvirate seats coming to the floor with Tessa in tow. Pomore Torrent had a grin on his face, Otieno Bricio looked like he was choking, and the Miaden seat looked smug at the disgrace the Bricios had just suffered. I held my face neutral as they approached but almost grinned when I saw Tessa¡¯s beaming face. It was time for the judgment to be announced. Chapter 86 Baladon鈥檚 POV Chapter 86 (Arc 2 Chapter 40) Baladon¡¯s POV Baladon was a prodigy among his family. His older brother, Abaddon, always thought directly and was unrestrained in his actions. Their father and uncle, Otieno, had to cover up a lot of Abaddon¡¯s missteps recently as he was getting bolder. But Abaddon had a leader¡¯s charisma that Baladon lacked. Even with Abaddon¡¯s malice, he still attracted followers. For this, he admired his brother. Otieno Bricio was the sitting member of the Three, and he brought the brothers in on a plan to weaken the Torrent family. Otieno wanted Keelan Torrent to replace Abbos Torrent in the line of succession. Keelan had a half-sister Tessa, who was a model of beauty, and they were extremely close. Their grandfather favored both Keelan and Tessa, and he had made public the knowledge they would be added to the line of succession when they completed their eight years of the academy. Otieno¡¯s plan was simple. Tessa would bring her brother to the Sowing Festival, and Baladon would conspire to get Tessa to disparage the Bricio family. Baladon would call for an honor duel, and Tessa would point out Keelan. Then Otieno would step in and raise his favored grandson, Keelan, to the line of succession to avoid dueling Baladon. Very simple. It went well with a Bricio mage planting thoughts in Tessa¡¯s head to choose her brother as champion and to disparage the Bricio house. Both thoughts would seed easily as they were well within her nature and feelings toward Baladon. Then, they would supply her with an Unfiltered Truth potion. This was extremely delicate, but the Bricio¡¯s had enough agents within the Citadel to make it happen. Everything proceeded smoothly until Tessa was to select Keelan as her champion. Her escort then stepped between Tessa and Keelan, professing he was selected! It was ridiculous as everyone could see she would have selected her brother, but Tessa could resist the truth potion enough not to voice an objection. Abaddon knew the young man with Tessa. He didn¡¯t remember his name but did know he had thwarted a plot to get Loriel Miaden to his bed forcibly. Baladon doubted his brother¡¯s plan was very inventive, and if it had succeeded, it would have been another mess for the family to clean up. Abaddon remembered that the boy had wielded a staff in the pre-Annuals and was from a tiny village on Titan¡¯s Shield. That told Baladon he was probably extremely poor but had some type of aptitude with the weapon. At the Triumvertate table, Otieno looked extremely upset his plans had failed to come to fruition. His own father wanted to get what he could from this hiccup, which at this point was going to be embarrassing to Tessa Torrent. Abaddon even leaned in and promised to purchase Baladon a tier 3 spell if he succeeded in the duel. That alone was a reason to win. Baladon spent all his allowance from the Bricio dungeon on spells. His aether matrix was currently full, but he might be able to expand it enough to add another tier 3 spell in the future. He had his eyes on a few not in the Bricio library. When they were summoned to the table to negotiate the terms of the Honor Duel, Pomore offered his apple orchards to Baladon to drop the matter. The orchards were worth a lot more than a tier 3 spell. But Otieno Bricio gave him a hard look, and he had to decline the offer. It is better to stay on the good side of Otieno and not let greed cloud his judgment. The terms for the duel were a contest of spell and sword. This would be the easiest duel of Baladon¡¯s life. He had five offensive fire spells at his disposal, and the young man before him probably only had magic for less than a year. He had also made sure that only bladed weapons could be used so the boy¡¯s proficiency with the staff would not come into play. His father pulled him aside on their walk to the Audience Chamber, giving him a rack of twelve healing potions, his prized necklace of invisibility, and his mithril weave shirt. His father didn¡¯t want to take any chances. He would have to return the necklace and mithril shirt, but he could keep the potions. The rack of potions was all from the same brew, so he could drink them in succession without fear of an adverse effects. They all then proceeded to the chamber, ready to enjoy the show. As they were situated on their marks, Baladon¡¯s thoughts were to just keep the duel interesting and not let the boy close. He started with his fire igniter spell. It had ten evolutions and was a pretty fireball that could be thrown up to fifty feet. It barely took any aether to cast, but it was flashy and should keep the boy away. The problem was that the small fireball was easy to cast, and the boy, Storme, was mocking him by sidestepping the fireballs and not moving closer. Baladon decided the boy needed a lesson and cast his fire arrow. It was almost impossible to dodge at 600 mph. He got a satisfying strike on Storme. He was going to return to his fire ignitor spell, but Storme decided to engage. Storme threw something, and Baladon responded with another fire arrow and erected a thermal shield spell to deflect the attack while casting another fire arrow. He watched as he identified the objects as dice? Land well short of him. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. A bright flash burned his eyes when the dice struck the ground, and a loud sound wrecked his hearing. Baladon cast a powerful fire halo spell to keep the nuisance away while he oriented himself. If the boy had rushed in, he might even be finished off by the wave of fire from the spell. Baladon quickly summoned a healing potion and drank it. He then moved away quickly and utilized the invisibility necklace. Baladon felt the blade bite his shin. Storme had managed to close in even after the fire wave should have blown him back. He swore as he skipped away in pain and summoned another healing potion from his dimensional storage. He limped while consuming a second potion and getting his sight completely restored. His temper flared, but he paused to consider. Too many surprises so far. It was best to end this now. Storme¡¯s clothes were singed, but he looked mostly unharmed himself. He must be using a lot of aether to heal himself. How much reserves could he possibly have left? Baladon moved around to Storme¡¯s flank and cast his most powerful spell. Fiery Cone. It was a tier 3 spell that burned a path of fire and would probably kill Storme but would assure an end to this farce of a duel. He would have used this spell as his accidental coup de grace if he had been forced to fight Keelan. That was Otieno¡¯s backup plan¡ªend Keelan if they had decided to fight instead of promoting him to a succession seat. Now, this Storme would face his end. He channeled a lot of aether into the spell, enahcning its power, to ensure it finished him. The bloom of fire erupted forward and engulfed the young man. Baladon felt no remorse. It wouldn¡¯t be the first person he killed. As the flames died, Baladan stutter-stepped. The boy had somehow moved out of the cone. His clothes were on fire, and his hair was mostly gone, but his burnt skin was already flaking off from a healing spell. This boy was starting to get on his nerves. As he healed, Storme started walking confidently toward him. Damn it, Baladon swore to himself. He was almost out of aether. He drew his sword. He still practiced with the blade, but not as much as he used to. He cleared his thoughts and moved to meet the persistent cockroach. Baladon threw some mini-fireballs at Storme and was surprised when they splashed on a shield. An air shield? No, it had to be an aether shield, as the air shield would have made a hissing sound on impact. Where did this boy get the aether shield spell? Well, it was time to test the boy¡¯s swordsmanship. After the first few exchanges, he was ready to kill Abaddon and Storme! This boy was trained in more than just the staff! The stupid aether shields made it difficult to get an advantage. He was losing¡ªnot only was he losing to an inferior but also to a crowd of his peers. He didn¡¯t have enough aether for another fire halo or flaming cone spell. He started to exchange blows with the boy. Unlike Storme, he had to retreat and drink a healing potion to heal. Storme just healed immediately, almost like he had a regeneration ability. Baladon used a variant of his fireball spell and cast a wave of sparks in the air to highlight the aether shields. Damn it. The boy was able to maintain three aether shields at once! His only weakness was to destroy the shields before he could recast them. Baladon pressed the attack in this way, seeking a victory that seemed to be slipping further and further away. He had enough aether for one, maybe two fire arrows. He used a feint and cast the fire arrow aimed at Storme¡¯s head, but the boy picked up on the movement and dodged. Baladon should have targeted the body after taking down the aether shield. Damn it. Then Storme spoke, ¡°I believe I have injured you. That means you can concede if you wish, correct?¡± The common boy was mocking him. Baladon committed again to the attack, took many wounds, and used the healing potions as needed as they moved across the floor. The crowd loved the spectacle¡ªBaladon did not. Storme seemed to focus and showed no signs of aether exhaustion or physical exhaustion. Was he even human? Before he realized it, he was down to just two healing potions. If this ended with his loss, he would have to give Storme his arms and armor. That was not going to happen. His father would kill him if he lost the mithril shirt to this boy. The shirt was not just one of his prized possessions but was a significant portion of his family¡¯s wealth. He tried a flanking maneuver after shattering an aether shield, getting close. The boy reached out with his free hand and grabbed the mithril shirt for leverage. Baladon braced, expecting to be yanked forward. Instead, the mithril shirt tore like paper. He stumbled back, shocked. The shirt had protected him from a dozen attacks and now barely covered his upper torso. It would be more of a hindrance in its current state. He might have one more fire arrow¡ªno, he did not. He ground his teeth and spoke loudly, ¡°I concede.¡± His eyes burned into the boy as the shocked crowd had mixed reactions. Baladon was not spiteful, but he needed to rectify this slight. His information of this boy was incomplete. He had come into this match overconfident. He turned to leave, but Pomare Torrent yelled to him, ¡°Baladon! You must leave your arms and armor.¡± Baladon felt the stares of the crowd on him and returned before the Triumvirate huddled around the champion. Otieno had outrage on his face at Baladon¡¯s failure. Baladon removed the mithril shirt and tossed his sheathed sword on the ground. That sword was a dungeon prize that he received from his father on his 14th birthday. Another sting to his pride. Baladon was about to turn when someone whispered something in Pomare¡¯s ear. Pomare immediately said, ¡°Baladon, I have been told you also used the enchantment on the necklace gracing your neck. As per the accords, any item used in an Honor Duel is the prize of the winner.¡± Baladon thought about telling the crowd he had imprinted the invisibility spell, but he couldn¡¯t prove it. He unclasped the necklace and tossed it at Pomare. Another dungeon treasure. Maybe Otieno could get it back for his father. Baladon stormed off, unhindered now. His brother was going to get a piece of his mind for his poor information of the common boy¡ªafter his aether recovered. Chapter 87 To the Victor Goes the Spoils Chapter 87 To the Victor Goes the Spoils I waited while Pomare Torrent led the other Triumvirate members toward me, a grin plastering his face as he approached. He raised his hands to get the attention of the crowd. The crowd had remained, waiting for the pronouncement. He stopped Baladon from leaving, ¡°Baladon, you must leave your arms and armor!¡± The young Bricio mage soured and stared me down as he removed the damaged mithril chain shirt. He tossed it at my feet with his sheathed longsword. I held off picking it up. That mithril chain probably had 100 large mithril coins of weight to it. A single mithril coin was worth ten platinum. That would be about 10,000 platinum or 1,000,000 gold. There was no way they were going to let me walk out of here with it. I wasn¡¯t about to offer it back to the Bricios, though. An older woman with a Miaden signet ring whispered something into Pomare¡¯s ear as the crowd stared at the spectacle. Pomare snidely said, ¡°Baladon, I have been told you also used the enchantment on the necklace gracing your neck during the duel. As per the accords, any item used in an Honor Duel is the winner¡¯s prize.¡± Baldon¡¯s face went neutral, but I sensed a simmering rage. He unclasped the necklace and tossed it gently at Pomare, who caught it easily. Baladon gave me one last stare before spinning on his heel and leaving. Tessa was at my side as Pomare announced the obvious result of the Honor Duel between the Torrent and Bricio house. ¡°The Bricios have been determined by the fate of combat to be in the wrong. There has been slight against my granddaughter, Tessa Torrent, and a formal apology will be addressed to the Triumvirate.¡± Life seemed to flow into Pomare as he finished his announcement. All of this, and the only result, was that the Bricios had to issue a formal apology? Tessa whispered to me, ¡°My grandfather wants to meet you, and we can get some hair growth elixir from the Citadel alchemist.¡± I reached up and felt my head. I was missing almost all of my hair, including my eyebrows. A few patches had survived. I closed my eyes, focused on my hair follicles, and used my lesser restoration spell to grow my hair. I soon had a shaggy mess. Tessa couldn¡¯t resist running her fingers through my new hair, which I admit was welcome. I looked for Gareth but didn¡¯t see him in the crowd. Seeing me scanning the dispersing nobles, Tessa offered, ¡°Gareth and Loriel returned to her apartments in the Citadel. We should talk to my grandfather before joining them.¡± I didn¡¯t like the lingering nobles around me. They reminded me of Loriel, eager to use me to their advantage, waiting for their chance to talk with me. A Wolfsguard came and collected the items that Baladon had discarded and followed the direction that Pomare had left in. He must be trying to make assurances that I would talk with him by taking my prizes. I figured I had no choice at this point. I started walking with Tessa, following two Wolfsguard in Torrent uniforms. Tessa spoke quietly in my ear after we reached the corridors, ¡°Why did you do it? You didn¡¯t have to.¡± I wanted to say that I regretted stepping in and acting like a lovestruck puppy trying to garner favor with her. I was certain her allure aura ability wasn¡¯t affecting me, but I was just enamored with Tessa, her beauty, and her mannerisms. I finally spoke confidently, ¡°What¡¯s done is done.¡± At least I had made the choice myself and not been placed in the line of fire by someone like Loriel. ¡°My grandfather will explain things better than I could. I think you have greatly upset the ship. The ripple you created in the air currents is possibly a wind that could have a lasting impact,¡± She said seriously. I just knew I had put a target on my back and possibly my family¡¯s. I would need to use this meeting with Pomare to protect my family. We moved into the fortress, and the Wolfsguard dressed in black changed to Wolfsguard dressed in Torrent colors of white and silver. This was the wing of the Citadel where the Torrent apartments resided. We approached a large double door that two Wolfguard attendants opened. The room reminded me of Loriel¡¯s entry room, just grander. We were led to a side room and found Pomare there in the study. The shelves had hundreds of books, and the old man looked up with a wide smile. The mithril shirt and sword were on the desk in the center of the room. ¡°Storme Hardlight! I should have guessed my granddaughter¡¯s escort was more than he seemed!¡± His smile seemed to get wider and wider as he poured some wine for us. ¡°Do you realize what you have done?¡± He handed me a glass, and I took it but didn¡¯t drink, ¡°No. Tessa told me you would explain.¡± He pointed at the mithril shirt, ¡°That belonged to Halifax Bricio. He likes to display his wealth openly and wears that everywhere, not just for his protection but as a symbol. After the Sadian attack, he used it as collateral for loans to rebuild his estates with loans from the Miadens. He will be under financial pressure now that he lost it so publicly. That entire branch of the Bricios may collapse under the financial strain.¡± He took a deep drink and savored the wine. ¡°Oh, I am sure his family will bail him out, but not for free. If one thing can be said of a Bricio, they hate public weakness, even among their own! You have single-handedly weakened the most powerful arm of the Bricio family!¡± Pomare said excitedly. I decided it was a good time to voice my concerns, ¡°What should I be doing to protect myself?¡± Pomare put down his wine and thought, ¡°Yes. I understand your concern. He went to the desk and fingered the mithril shirt. ¡°If you left here with this, then half the Citadel would be willing to kill you for it.¡± He looked into my eyes, his gray eyes appraising me. ¡°I think it is best that we spread the word that this was all a counterplot by myself to obtain this mithril shirt. I can spread the rumors that I hired you as my granddaughter¡¯s escort to counter Baladon and surprise him.¡± ¡°So you get the mithril shirt, and I get your protection?¡± I asked with uncertainty. Did Pomare think I didn¡¯t realize this one chain shirt was worth more than three armored Harbinger skyships? He seemed to sense some distrust from me. ¡°Storme, I will take it from you but compensate you.¡± He walked to a shelf and pushed hard on a stone rosette. I didn¡¯t see it move but heard a click. Pomare turned and smiled, ¡°Mechanical devices are still the best to hide from magical detection.¡± The entire panel between the shelves swung inward to reveal a narrow hallway. ¡°Come, Storme. Tessa, you as well.¡± We followed him down the corridor into a small room that was maybe ten feet by ten feet and lined with a handful of small aether lights. On one wall were a handful of books and what I recognized as dungeon essences. Getting closer, the books were spellbooks from dungeons. Tessa¡¯s mouth was agape as well at the treasure in here. Pomare spoke, ¡°While this room was secret a thousand years ago, it is almost common knowledge. I have four Wolfsguard constantly guarding it now, but it is still the safest place in the Citadel for generations of treasures waiting to be used.¡± He looked at Tessa, ¡°When you are raised to your ascension seat, you will be gifted a treasure from here.¡± Pomare let us look for a minute longer, ¡°Storme, I have two treasures in here that may be a fair exchange.¡± He took two dungeon essences off the shelf. He motioned for us to follow him out to the study and placed the items on the table next to the mithril shirt while resealing the secret chamber. I realized he showed me the dozens of treasures as a power play. To show that the Torrent family was not weak and had resources. The dungeon essences were small potion vials with swirling illuminated liquids inside. The container was covered in a runic script by the dungeon that created it. The aetheric script told you what the essence would do. You consumed them, and they dissolved rapidly in your mouth. Gareth told me about when he consumed his essence prize from the Annuals. He described it as euphoric. I couldn¡¯t read the aetheric dungeon script, so I waited for Pomare. He was waiting for me to ask what the essences were. When I didn¡¯t, he sulked slightly and told me. ¡°The essences are tier two and tier three. One is aether reclamation. It will increase your aether recovery by 20% and double your aether tolerance,¡± my eyes opened wide, and Pomare smiled. ¡°I was saving that for the next archmage in my family.¡± Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! I knew aether tolerance determined how much a mage could use daily. It was usually based on a mage¡¯s total aether core and could double with aetheric exercises I already did over time. This dungeon essence increased the speed at which the aether core was refilled and allowed me to use more aether in a day. I was already aware that the aether I used to create metal with my ability did not affect my aether tolerance. Only the aether that I pushed through my imprinted spells on my aether matrix counted toward my aether tolerance. But more importantly, this essence could increase the amount of metal I could make by 20%. Seeing my surprise, Pomare beamed, ¡°You might not have a large arsenal of spells yet, but you demonstrated the depth of your aether core when you fought Baladon. I know you want this.¡± He tapped the other vial with a swirling green liquid with a slight glow, ¡°This is a tier 3 essence.¡± He waited for my reaction, and I couldn¡¯t hide the surprise on my face. ¡°Don¡¯t get too excited. It is tier three, but a dozen of my predecessors couldn¡¯t find a use for it. It requires a lot of aether to use. And it will not work on the islands as long as the Heart Stone is active. But,¡± He smiled, ¡°It should work in the dungeons.¡± I picked up the vial and turned it in my hands. I waited, and he finally said, ¡°It is called Exchange. It is a teleport ability, but you exchange your place with another target. I know it sounds extremely useful, but it requires a lot of aether to use. Our research on this essence said it would cost almost 100 aether to use at 100 feet, and aether expense increases the further distance. So it is useless in combat for a Torrent mage who doesn¡¯t have a large aether core¡ªbut you, both a mage and fighter¡­.¡± I could see a lot of possibilities. Porting to an enemy skyship, getting behind an enemy formation, escaping from an undesirable situation¡­it was a very strong ability for both flight and fight. I already thought the aether reclamation essence was extremely fair since I didn¡¯t value the mithril shirt as much as Pomare. It would probably take me more than a year to make that much mithril, but I could do it. It looked like Pomare Torrent wasn¡¯t done with his offer, though. After I looked ready to accept, he continued talking, ¡°I am willing to shade you under the Torrent family, Storme. After today, the Bricios will be after some revenge, and anyone who has any sense after seeing that fight will be making plans to get you in their house.¡± I had doubts about the latter, but I was certain the Bricios would be after me. I was fine with that as long as they didn¡¯t target my family. I asked, ¡°What does your protection entail?¡± The same man who had given Pomare a brief bio about me stepped out of the shadows. He walked over to Pomare and handed him a book. Pomare opened the book to a bookmarked page. ¡°This book, Storme, is the registry of the two hundred and four Wolfsguard of House Torrent. I know you have probably heard each house is only allowed two hundred Wolfsguard, but it actually fluctuates. Right now, the Miadens have two hundred and seven, and the Bricios have two hundred and seven. It means I have the first choice of selection in the newest class. I can add three to my household, that would bring me to two hundred and seven as well. If I did that, then the Miadens and Bricios could add two more Wolfsguard as well. You can never have more than two Wolfsguard of the lowest house. It turns into a slippery slope, and one thing I have been able to do in my time in the seat is to keep the Trivumverate Wolfsguard numbers in check.¡± I understood what he was saying. It was a mutual increase of the Wolfguard by single digits among the Triumvirate. I asked, ¡°Why do you not already have two hundred and five Wolfsguard?¡± He looked up from the book. ¡°An astute question, Storme. The Torrent family lost seventeen Wolfsguard in the Sadian attacks. We have replaced five recently. The other families lost a similar number, and I have greatly irritated the other two Triumvirate members by holding my family at the current number. But I am able to add one and still thwart them. That is what I am offering you, Storme,¡± He said with a massive smile. I understood his plan. He was going to give me a guard that wore the Torrent colors and bind me to his house. I could see the look of disbelief on Tessa¡¯s face. Pomare pulled out a loose piece of paper and handed it to me. On it were twenty-three names with notes on each. The spy who handed Pomare the book spoke, ¡°The Wolfsguard are trained in groups of twenty-three. This list has the details of the upcoming group. They are not due to the Blackguard for seven months, but we can add them to the family roles immediately if requested.¡± There were three Wolfsguard on the list circled. The spy that had handed the list over spoke, ¡°The three interesting ones in the class are Rollo, a male with superior speed and danger sense. Adolpha, a female with a minor awakened core and a prodigy with a two-handed axe. And Bleiz, a male Wolfguard with a modest awakened core and a penchant for stealth.¡± ¡°Forgive my ignorance, but how does it work when you assign a Wolfguard to someone outside the family? I know Admiral Sebastian Woodcraft has a Wolfguard named Nisil,¡± I asked while looking over the notes on each of the Wolfguard. ¡°Nisil? She has been working in the naval hospital since the Sadian attack at Sebastian¡¯s direction. My father entrusted her to Sebastian. Once a Wolfguard is bonded, it is for life. If their charge dies, they either follow them or become a member of the Blackguard in the Citadel. They can not bond easily to another,¡± Pomare educated me. ¡°How about Loriel¡¯s Wolfguard Gammon? He is definitely much older than her,¡± I asked, trying to put holes in his assertion. ¡°He is bonded to her grandfather still. He charged him with protecting her and will do that until he gives Gammon a different order. If you wish, I can assign you one of the Wolfsguard bonded to me? But I assume you want one that you know is independent and free of the influence of all the families,¡± Pomare stated seriously. Tessa spoke with passion, ¡°Storme, I don¡¯t think you understand what an honor is being given to you.¡± I didn¡¯t want to turn down this offer; I was just trying to determine the strings attached. Pomare added, ¡°The three Wolfsguard Alistair pointed out would typically be selected to guard a member of the family in the succession order. Any of those three would make a valuable guardian for your person.¡± I walked around the room with the sheet of paper. Reading and rereading the notes. ¡°I am willing to tie myself to the Torrents, but I will need one thing in return.¡± ¡°If it is within my power, consider it done,¡± Pomare said with too much enthusiasm. Tessa was also smiling, and I felt bad for her because what I was about to ask was not what she was thinking. ¡°I wear the ring of an indentured,¡± I held up Aelyn¡¯s ring. ¡°I want her mark removed and her to be freed,¡± I said firmly. Tessa deflated, and Pomare looked confused. I explained, ¡°She was captured when her mother was taken from the traveling carnival. She was deemed innocent of her mother¡¯s treachery but still marked for life as an indentured.¡± Pomare gave his spy Alistair a look. The spy left for what I assumed was a mission to find out more. Pomare, ¡°While we wait, have you decided on a Wolfsguard?¡± I had read the list numerous times and knew a Wolfsguard with an awakened core was extremely rare. Adopha and Bleiz were the only two on this list of twenty-three. It didn¡¯t say what a modest core was, but I assumed it would help him be a decent mage. ¡°How much aether training do the Wolfsguard get? I don¡¯t see any notes for spells on the sheet?¡± Pomare took the paper, ¡°I believe they are only trained in the aether core exercises. Whoever they bonded would choose which spells they would imprint.¡± ¡°How old are these Wolfsguard?¡± I asked before making a decision. Tessa answered, desperate to be part of the conversation, ¡°Seventeen¡ªor sixteen since they are months away from being assigned. Usually, the graduating group is all seventeen.¡± Pomare nodded and gave Tessa a smile at her knowledge. My question was just to figure out how mature the core might be. Age twenty was the terminal age when a mage knew his core size was locked in. ¡°The third one, Bleiz. If you can release Aelyn, I would choose Bleiz as my companion.¡± ¡°A good choice, even if raising a mage is expensive.¡± He looked at the mithril shirt, ¡°If you want, I would be willing to purchase that necklace from you for a dozen platinum.¡± The invisibility necklace was a powerful item. I also already had plans for it after I studied it with my metal sense and artificing ability. ¡°I am afraid I plan to keep the necklace, but I appreciate the offer.¡± ¡°Callem Dregella and Wynna Puresight already sponsor Storme. I doubt he needs much coin,¡± Alistair said, coming out of the shadows. He had only been gone about ten minutes and handed Pomare a piece of paper. The Torrent took it and read it and furrowed his brow. He looked up at Alistair, who nodded, confirming what he had read. ¡°We can release Aelyn Imudius, but we can not free her mother. Her parole will be on you. That means you will be accountable if she commits any crimes after her release. If you are satisfied with this, we can proceed,¡± Pomare seemed distracted. I nodded. I wanted to see what was on the paper he had been given, but he gave it to Alistair and said, ¡°Alistair, begin the paperwork for Bleiz,¡± and the paper vanished with the man. Pomare looked thoughtful and then said, ¡°Well, now that everything is settled, let us go and make some announcements and see how red-faced we can make the Bricios.¡± I picked up the dungeon essence vials, the sword, and the necklace on my way out of the room. I made a show of putting the necklace on and tucking it under my shirt but sent it to my dimensional space when it was hidden. The sword was clipped to my belt, a visible prize from my victory. I fingered it while walking, exploring it with my metal sense. It was a very simple dungeon-made sword. It had a hardness rune and looked like it was designed to slay earth elementals. I would have to confirm it with Aldon Aethon when I got back to the academy in Hen¡¯s Hollow. We entered the large room where we had dinner a few hours ago. Now the space was filled with sofas and chairs, and maybe a third of the people who were at dinner remained. They all looked toward Pomare, who climbed a small dais eager to make his pronouncements. Chapter 88 Bonding Ceremony Chapter 88 Bonding Ceremony As Pomare Torrent announced that I had gifted the mithril shirt to him, he held it up to show the small crowd. He continued to talk, and when I thought he no longer needed me to stand next to him, I moved to join Gareth and Loriel, who had obviously been waiting for my return. Pomare stuttered as I left his side but soon continued with his pronouncements from the small dais. I collapsed on the sofa beside Gareth, who said, ¡°Storme, how are you doing? They paralyzed me with frigging magic to stop me from saying or doing anything to help you.¡± He turned and gave a withering look at Loriel. Loriel said with grating words, ¡°You would have ended up in the dungeons if you had interfered, Gareth.¡± I supported her, ¡°She is right, Gareth. Loriel did you a favor. It didn¡¯t turn out too poorly in the end.¡± Then I thought to needle Gareth, ¡°I just have the entire Bricio family wanting my head. I had to gift a fortune to the Torrent family for their protection. And lastly, all the nobles in Skyholme know who I am.¡± Gareth shrank slightly, figuring I was laying the blame on him for attending, but I doubted it would phase him long. Pomare had finished talking, and Tessa came and sat with us. A number of nobles walked by, giving me their congratulations, not that I would remember a single one of them. When the parade stopped, Gareth spoke, ¡°I don¡¯t think I could have bested him, Storme.¡± I laughed, ¡°I wasn¡¯t supposed to best him either, Gareth. They set me up to lose against a ranged attacker without any ranged weapons. Thankfully, my aether shield spell was evolved enough to handle his onslaught.¡± A few lingering nobles were still around, so I revealed as little information as possible. My healing spell and thermostatic aura spell also played a huge role in winning the fight. Without my thermostatic aura spell, I probably would have suffered incapacitating lung damage. During the fight, the spell leveled and evolved each time to increase the temperature range. Now at level eight, the spell had a range of 24¡± and could handle shifting temperatures in a range of 400 degrees. Examining my spell matrix on the comfortable couch, I had also made other gains in the forty-minute fight. Lesser restoration had reached level nine, and my alarm spell had made it to level eighteen. I was still distracted when Loriel spoke cautiously, ¡°Do you wish for a ride back to Titan¡¯s Shield on my skyship?¡± I considered for a moment. With these events, I had been tied to the Torrent family, so being seen with Loriel no longer seemed as big of a deal. ¡°I would appreciate that, Loriel. The quicker I can leave the capital, the better.¡± I stood, and my clothes cracked from being charred. We all moved out of the large room, eyes following us. Tessa walked beside me as we followed two Blackguards to the private skyship docks in the Citadel. Tessa, who had been mostly quiet, said, ¡°My mother will replace your clothes, Storme.¡± I looked down. It had been a nice outfit but was now completely ruined. My cleanliness spell had removed much of the ash and soot, but it was damaged beyond repair. ¡°It is fine. I prefer not to owe anyone favors.¡± Tessa choked, ¡°Favors? I don¡¯t think I will ever be able to repay what you did for me today. The scales are so skewed in your favor right now. I had thought you were going to ask for my hand.¡± I saw her blush bright red at her admission. I ignored the suggestion, ¡°How long before Aeyln is freed?¡± I asked. Tessa quickly regained herself, sensing I was not going to inquire about joining with her. ¡°I don¡¯t know. My guess is Pomare will order the mage who cast it to break the mark, and it should disappear then,¡± she quickly replied. She added, ¡°The Wolfsguard should happen fairly quickly as well. There is usually a ceremony where the Wolfsguard accepts your scent and is bonded to you. I have read about it. The Wolfsguard are raised from birth in seclusion by the Blackguard. They are only exposed to their bonded when it is time to bond.¡± Our escorts brought us to an array of platforms with small skyships. Loriel took the lead, and we approached a small boxy ship. We walked up the ramp, and I recognized a young woman who flew into me and gave me a hug. ¡°Leda, it is good to see you too. But isn¡¯t a hug a little too informal?¡± She punched me in the shoulder hard, ¡°We heard out here the Bricios had tricked a large young man into an honor duel. Cilia thought it was Gareth for sure.¡± ¡°So did you!¡± Cilia said from inside a cabin, and she emerged to join us on the deck. ¡°Yeah, so we both thought it was Gareth. We tried to sneak down and watch, but the Blackguard wouldn¡¯t let us leave the docks. We learned from the departing nobles¡¯ gossip that Bricios had lost but cooked the offender in magical fire.¡± Leda patted my roasted wardrobe. ¡°Well, you should know that I am an excellent chef and rarely overcook things,¡± I said with a tired grin. Tessa pulled my arm to bring my attention to her, ¡°I am heading back to my academy.¡± I faced her, and she pulled my head down into a surprise kiss. I regretted not getting more practice kissing as I fumbled about and wasn¡¯t sure if I should use my tongue or not. I came off as extremely inexperienced. Thankfully, Tessa didn¡¯t seem to mind my awkwardness and smiled. ¡°Maybe next time we go on a date, it could be just the two of us?¡± Before I could answer, she was retreating down the ramp. I think she didn¡¯t want to give me a chance to reject her offer to meet again. I looked up to find a grinning Gareth and Leda. Cilia rolled her eyes and moved up to the top deck for departure. Loriel was just studying me. Gareth finally said, ¡°It was that good of a kiss, huh? Is that grin permanent?¡± I suddenly realized I was still smiling and had my face go neutral. For some reason, I was embarrassed. ¡°I am going to learn how to fly a skyship from Cilia,¡± I said, leaving them. Loriel¡¯s skyship was extremely basic. Cilia showed me how the controls worked and how to use the navigational pedestal next to the controls. The navigation was tied to the massive aether ley lines that ran through the crust of the Sphere. These ley lines also housed the myriad of dungeons within the Sphere. This skyship was not meant for speed. It was a medium transport that was converted into a luxury liner. The lower decks had fancy cabins. Cilia told me that Loriel was pragmatic in selecting the ship. If she had purchased a ship that might have been useful to the Navy, it could have been confiscated during a prolonged conflict. So she got a sturdy ship and renovated it for comfort. I wanted to say comfort should have been a secondary concern, but I held my tongue. When I built my own skyship, I planned to make sure it was fast and had some offensive capability. In the Sphere you didn¡¯t just need to worry about other skyships. There were drakes, griffins, rocs, giant eagles, air elementals, storm elementals, and numerous other enemies in the skies. We landed on the Hen¡¯s Hollow platform, a guard rushed up to meet us. Since Loriel was in the succession line for the Miaden family, she didn¡¯t have to pay the fee, and the guard left dejected. Gareth and I got hugs from Leda and Cilia before heading to our room in the barracks. I was too mentally exhausted to head to the Shiny Platinum and do a dungeon run. Gareth still went, and I spent most of the day sleeping. I tossed and turned in my slumber with anxiety and even woke to recast my alarm spells and arcane locks. I wasn¡¯t sure if my paranoia was healthy or not. I was now steeped in Skyholme politics. I hoped Pomare Torrent kept his word and diverted attention to himself and away from me. When Gareth returned late that night, I was still exhausted even though I had slept most of the day. Gareth did give me fantastic news. Lana had imprinted the dimensional closet spell. Gareth handed me the spellbook back, and I put it in my dimensional space. Remy told Gareth she had been studying the spell every waking hour to imprint it. Not because she wanted to help more in the delves, but so she could start studying the illusion spells. I was okay with that, and now I wouldn¡¯t feel pressure to go on every dungeon delve to carry the loot. I planned to give Lana even more illusion spells in the future so she could maximize her illusion skill affinity. After four days of academy training, I hadn¡¯t heard anything about my assigned Wolfsguard, Bleiz, or Aelyn¡¯s release. I wasn¡¯t surprised by the possible betrayal; I just focused on my classes and remained alert. The Bricios would eventually seek revenge, and I sent a warning to the crew at the Shiny Platinum but hoped the Bricios would see Callem¡¯s and Wynna¡¯s name on the title and leave it alone. Pomare might have played me, as I hadn¡¯t even received a message after five days. Hopefully, the dungeon essences in my dimensional space were real. I planned to bring them to Wynna and Ennet to evaluate before using them. Comically, I did receive dozens of outfits from noble admirers in the capital. I just kept throwing them into my dimensional space and would eventually donate them to an orphanage. Well, most of them. There were a few pieces that I liked. I was settling into my bed after helping the twins with their magic on the night of the 5th day. Earlier in the day, I had imprinted the absolute time spell and was working on setting up the spell in my aether core. The spell was essentially a perfect mental watch. The first evolution had a day tracker, the second evolution had a date tracker, and the third was a stopwatch. The spell was sitting at level three, and I was recasting it, trying to level it further to evolve more, when the door burst open, and Aelyn rushed in. I jumped up on alert and activated my lightning reflexes spell, ready for trouble. I dodged Aelyn rushing me, going into the overdrive mode of the spell. Aelyn crashed into my bed where I had been as I moved to the door to look for the threat. Gareth would be practicing at Twin Rocks, so there is no point in calling for his aid. Aelyn untangled herself from the sheets in disbelief that I had evaded her. I faced her and finally noticed her neck tattoo was gone. I asked, ¡°Are you?¡± She nodded emphatically; this time, I didn¡¯t dodge her as she rushed me. We hugged, and Aelyn started to cry. She was racked with sobs, which brought the twins from across the hallway. The emotional release took a good half an hour, and then I took the twins and Aelyn into the kitchen to make a celebratory cake. I hadn¡¯t told Aelyn I had negotiated her release for fear it wasn¡¯t going to happen. However, Gareth had spilled the beans the day after we returned, and the last few days had been torture for Aelyn. I was somewhat angry at Gareth because I had thought he had gotten Aelyn¡¯s hopes up for nothing. Now everything was resolved. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. After I got the chocolate cake batter into the oven, I turned to Aelyn, ¡°It is with great happiness that I return this ring of our union to you.¡± I pulled off the master¡¯s ring and handed it to Aelyn. Her face contorted in uncertainty. I had only used my control of Aelyn a half dozen times on Aelyn in the last year. All those times were incidental from poorly articulated phrases. Since I wore the ring, they had considered commands. The most humorous of these incidents was when I told her she needed to bathe after a long weapon practice session. I was joking with her as I used my cleanliness spell, but she jumped in the stream with her clothes on. ¡°I don¡¯t¡­do you want to keep¡­¡± I took the ring and melted it into a blob. The tiny aether crystals poked out of the mass, but I had destroyed the enchantments. Aelyn looked at the puddle and nodded. I wanted her to close this chapter of her life, not keep mementos. Aelyn had been living a normal life, just contained to Skyholme. The twins tried to lighten the mood by asking what Aelyn planned to do now. I let them talk as I whipped up some buttercream frosting¡ªvanilla, butter, powdered sugar, and a few splashes of heavy cream. I whipped the mixture and tuned in to the conversation. Aelyn asked me, ¡°Can I remain in Skyholme?¡± I started laughing, and then she joined in after realizing what she had done. ¡°Aelyn, you don¡¯t need to ask for permission to do anything. You can stay or return to the lowlands,¡± I said energetically. Aelyn gathered herself and said, ¡°Then I plan to stay on the dungeon delve team,¡± she smiled, ¡°But I want to negotiate a raise.¡± Gareth chose at this time to enter the kitchen, returning from his additional training with the masters. ¡°Are you all having a party without me?¡± He said jokingly but immediately pointed at Aelyn, noticing she was no longer marked. ¡°Told you Storme would do it!¡± I had been upset with Gareth for revealing my terms with Pomare because I knew there had always been a chance he would back out of the agreement. Gareth joined the celebration by giving Aelyn a hug, which she returned. I think that was the first time Aelyn had let Gareth get that close to her. I used my thermostatic aura to cool the cake rapidly when it came out of the oven and covered it in the buttercream. Gareth ate half the cake himself to the protests of everyone present. I could tell Aelyn wanted to say more in private, so when everyone moved to their rooms, I stayed behind with her. ¡°Storme,¡± she started, got her courage, and continued, ¡°I still feel like I owe you. If there is anything you require of me, just ask.¡± I just nodded but was thinking of the similarities of Tessa and Aelyn¡¯s debt to me. ¡°Aelyn, you need time to realize you are free. When we travel to Aegis City, you can consult Gimble. You will probably need to register as a non-Skyholme resident as he did,¡± I advised, and she nodded. Aelyn came in for another hug, which I returned and whispered, ¡°I still won¡¯t read your thoughts without your permission.¡± Aelyn left, and I also set my defenses before going to sleep. We were on the obstacle course in the morning with a happy Aelyn running all the courses with us in series. I think Gareth even let her win on purpose. The mood was high when our entire class finished, even though everyone was filthy and sweaty. I, of course, walked away, cleaning myself with my spell. Someone pointed to the sky, and we followed the finger to see a black Harbinger warship coming to land at the sky dock next to the barracks academy. The large warship was going to take up the entire platform. Mia was nearby and said, ¡°That is the Blackguard ship, Absolution. It is the only ship in the fleet that is completely painted black and controlled by the Citadel¡¯s Wolfsguard.¡± I was a little surprised she knew that, but I now had an inkling of why the ship was here. My thoughts were confirmed when two Wolfsguard came down to the yard and talked to Callem. Callem called me over. ¡°Storme, this is Balken and Logan. They are captains in the Blackguard. They are here for your bonding ceremony to the Torrent Wolfsguard Bleiz,¡± Callem said neutrally. He knew this was going to happen, but I couldn¡¯t tell if he approved. I walked with the two Wolfsguard to the skyship platform and boarded the ship. There were a number of Blackguard on the ship, and I felt like I was under a microscope as they examined me as I was led below deck. I wish I had been told a little more about my role in this ceremony. I asked Balken, ¡°What do I need to do?¡± The black-haired but graying Wolfsguard looked at me with hard blue eyes, ¡°You will go into the sauna and add your urine, blood, and sweat to this vial in equal portions.¡± He handed me a vial and a small knife. ¡°When you are done, you will come and sit across from Bleiz on the pillow. The Blackguard Saint will handle everything from there.¡± I was walked into a dark cargo hold in the lower decks and shown a door. Beyond the door were stones that were glowing red, the only light. A bucket and ladle were nearby. I added water to the stones while I was shut into the dark room. It didn¡¯t take long to get a good sweat going. I scraped my skin until the vial was a third full, then carefully added urine to make it two-thirds full, and finally, I pricked and dripped blood to fill the vial. I emerged with my success in my hand, and Balken took the vial and knife and led me to another room. Inside was a dozen Blackguard in uniforms lining the wall. Three large pads were on the floor. Two were occupied with Wolfsguard. One had a young male with corded muscle, and brilliant green eyes that studied me as I came and sat opposite him. On the remaining mat, on my right was an old and nearly completely white-furred elder. The elder took the vial and began to turn it in her hand, mixing my fluids. The elder brought out a bowl with a white powder. She slowly poured my fluids into the bronze bowl. The white powder absorbed my fluids and turned black. The elder, or Saint as Balken had called her, spoke, ¡°The markers of those you are sworn to protect, serve, and die for if required,¡± she held out the bowl, offering it to Bleiz, ¡°Do you, Bleiz, sworn of the Torrent, accept these markers and your charge, Strome Hardlight?¡± The green eyes of the male wolfkin studied me but didn¡¯t move to take the bowl. His dark gray, almost black fur rippled, showing his muscles underneath. The Saint repeated, ¡°Do you, Bleiz, sworn of the Torrent, accept these markers and your charge, Strome Hardlight?¡± I studied Bleiz¡¯s green eyes and could see a struggle in them. I asked a question, ¡°Why do you hesitate?¡± The Saint looked at me and then back at Bleiz. The elder nodded at Bleiz, ¡°You may answer your future master¡¯s question.¡± While maintaining eye contact, Bleiz told me, ¡°We were told ever since we were a pup and could understand speech that the harder we worked, the higher the status the person we would be bonded to would be. And now I am being bonded to a boy, not even of the Three.¡± He turned coldly to the Saint, ¡°I am the strongest of my pack. I earned the right to be paired with someone equally worthy.¡± The Saint raised her eyebrows in what I guessed was humor, ¡°You have no rights.¡± ¡°Then I wish to be Blackguard, the unaffiliated. Instead of being bonded to this boy,¡± he said with some anger. I turned to the Saint and asked, ¡°I am sorry, but I do not understand the bonding process. Can you explain?¡± The Saint looked at me and nodded while Bleiz continued to stare, ¡°The powder in this bowl is given to the Wolfsguard from an early age. It is a loyalty power but has no markers. Over time it saturates the body, waiting for the markers. This ceremony adds the bonded markers or blood, sweat, and urine to the powder so when the Wolfsguard inhales the powder, it permeates their body and forms the bond.¡± I was feeling a bit uncomfortable now. This was slavery in its highest form. ¡°Can we forgo the bonding ritual and just leave?¡± The twelve Blackguard along the walls tensed. The Saint shook her head, no, ¡°They are here to make sure the ritual proceeds. Any failure in the process will result in Bleiz¡¯s execution.¡± She added, ¡°Two years ago, someone tried to slip their sweat into the powder of a wolfpack being trained. At the first bonding ceremony, the Wolfsguard rejected the bonded and was killed.¡± The Saint asked me, ¡°Do you know why it took many days for this ceremony to happen?¡± ¡°No, as Bleiz said, I am not of the Three,¡± I said. ¡°After your victory over Baladan, the Bricios lost four Wolfsguard to an accident and tried to claim Bleiz. He was already marked for you by Pomare. Then, someone invaded the training yards and attempted to bond the entire class to themselves. We discovered the plot and killed the man. Otieno Bricio claimed the entire class was possibly tainted and was to be put down as had been done in the past.¡± My blood chilled. Was this a form of revenge for the Bricios? Kill 23 Wolfsguard just so no one could bond Bleiz? The Saint nodded as she saw I grasped the meaning behind her words. I turned to Bleiz, ¡°What would make me worthy of bonding with you?¡± His green eyes narrowed, considering, ¡°If you can strike me in combat once, I will take on your markers.¡± Well, he was cocky, for sure, based on his smile when I nodded and stood. I asked the Saint, ¡°Since you are neutral, will you reveal anything you see me do today?¡± ¡°What happens at bonding is never spoken of outside of the bonding,¡± she nodded, but I could see her smile slightly as well. Bleiz spoke, ¡°If you fail to strike me before I strike you five times, I want to be raised to the Blackguard instead.¡± I said without hesitation, ¡°Agreed.¡± Bleiz waited till the Saint nodded as well at the terms of the duel. How was I getting into so many duels lately? Balken came and gave each of us a knife. The blade was well-made and had a six-inch edge. I turned it over in my hands, exploring it with my metal senses. I then turned on Bleiz and used my assess person ability on him. Bleiz Male Human-Wolfkin Half Breed Age 17 Disposition: Hatred He stood maybe an inch shorter than myself, so 6¡¯1¡±. His dark-furred frame rippled with lean muscle. I took no chances and immediately put my lightning relfexes into overdrive mode. When the Saint said, ¡°Begin,¡± Bleiz flashed toward me. He was extremely fast, but I was moving at 2.6 times my natural speed. I dodged the quick thrust, parried his slash, and stepped back. Bleiz was not the only one stunned in the cargo hold. The surrounding Blackguard shifted uneasily. Bleiz had been planning to get two strikes in and probably gloat. Now, he had no strikes and was shown to be the slower of the two of us. ¡°Are you human?¡± He asked with some disbelief in his tone. ¡°Yes,¡± was all I said as I lunged at him. He was on the defensive immediately and even managed to evade my first two attempts to cut him. My third and fourth caught him on the thigh and bicep. I pulled away, and the Saint held up her hand for Bleiz to stop. Two cuts in his fur were bleeding fine lines. I used my assess person skill again. Bleiz Male Human-Wolfkin Half Breed Age 17 Disposition: Respect I walked casually up to Bleiz and healed the wounds. ¡°Bleiz, just know that you will always be free to voice your mind in my employ. I see the bond going both ways. You protect my back, and I will protect yours. Hopefully, our bond will be built on mutual trust and friendship in time.¡± He still seemed uncertain, but soon the cushions were returned, and the ritual proceeded. The bowl was handed to Bleiz and tapped with a brass scepter. The powder formed a cloud in the bowl. Looking at me one last time, Bleiz inhaled the cloud in the bowl to his face. As he started to inhale, the cloud seemed to rush into his nostrils. I waited a few moments before using my ability again. Bleiz Male Human-Wolfkin Half Breed Age 17 Disposition: Devoted I still felt slightly dirty about doing this, but the alternative was that the families would use Bleiz as a pawn. The Saint stood and hovered over Bleiz for a moment and then turned to the room, ¡°The bonding was a success.¡± I felt the tension leave the Blackguard along the wall. I guessed there had been more than a few failed bondings in the past. She turned to me, ¡°You may leave with Bleiz.¡± I held up my hand to pause, and asked Bleiz, ¡°You have aether and can use artificed items?¡± He nodded, ¡°I have been trained in their use but have none of my own.¡± ¡°Then you will be able to use these items.¡± I produced the invisibility necklace and the long sword from Baladon. ¡°The necklace requires a tiny flow of aether to work. You are to remain invisible and meet me outside the barracks in the evening. I do not want anyone to see you leave the Absolution.¡± He nodded, put on the necklace, and disappeared. I bowed to the Saint in respect and left myself to return to my academy classes after using my cleanliness spell to freshen myself. When I returned to spellcraft, I started imprinting my next spell aether fortress with Selina¡¯s help. My mind drifted, and I actually had to admire Pomare. He had held up his end of the bargain, Aelyn was free, and I now had another ally in the shadows. If I was correct from the notes, then Bleiz had been being trained as an assassin. I guess the Bricios killed off enough of their own personnel Wolfsguard in order to add Bleiz to their rosters. I was just another plan of the Bricios I had mucked up. Chapter 89 Storm Gathering Chapter 89 I tried to focus during classes all day, but my thoughts kept turning to Bleiz. Was I freeing him from a life of servitude, or was I using him? I wasn¡¯t sure if I was just trying to justify accepting the bond. I did have plans for Bleiz. Based on his skill set and the invisibility necklace I gave him, I wanted to leave him to watch over my family when I wasn¡¯t around. I was making him a guard dog. But he was sapient, so I was just as terrible as the ruling families of Skyholme. My moral compass was on the fritz. After the post-dinner lecture, I left the barracks alone and walked into the woods. I was listening for the sounds of Bleiz, and he surprised me by appearing right in front of me. ¡°I really like this toy you loaned me,¡± he fingered the necklace. ¡°No, it is a gift, but make sure it stays hidden under your clothes,¡± I said. He was wearing plain wool clothes with the Torrent colors of white and gray. ¡°We are going to visit a reader, Bleiz. I need to assess your skills, and then we can figure out a series of spells you can imprint.¡± As we walked, I asked, ¡°So tell me about your training, Bleiz.¡± He fell in step beside me, ¡°I finished first, second, or third in my Wolfpack in every evaluation. Only Miriam could beat me in combat.¡± I sensed something in the way he said, Miriam. ¡°I know how to imprint spells but have never been given a spellbook. I was told I would be selected to be the personnel guard of Otieno Bricio, serving as his spell-sword and instrument.¡± ¡°Who told you that?¡± I asked. ¡°Otieno himself. He visited a year ago to watch us train under the Blackguard captains. Miriam and I were told we would join him,¡± Bleiz spoke freely. I sensed that perhaps he had been friends with Miriam. I didn¡¯t inquire further at this time. ¡°Let¡¯s make sure you are seen as little as possible. Can the bond be broken? Can you be freed of your forced devotion to me?¡± I asked seriously. Bleiz stopped walking and said, ¡°Storme, there are questions you can not ask. That is one of them. If another Wolfsguard not bonded to you heard you ask that they would report to you to the Inquisitor¡¯s office.¡± I nodded at his hard stare, and we continued. We approached Ennet¡¯s house from the woods and knocked on the back door. Callem answered it shortly. The square old man looked at Bleiz, ¡°This is him?¡± I introduced him, ¡°This is Bleiz. A Wolfsguard companion of mine.¡± Callem moved aside and let us in. Wynna and Ennet were in the living room talking with Aelyn. They all watched as we approached, ¡°Everyone, this is Bleiz. I was hoping to get a reading for him. And also a new aether core reading for myself.¡± Wynna rose with a tight smile, ¡°Of course, Storme. Do you wish to go first?¡± ¡°No, get Bleiz completed first, and I will wait. He has an awakened core, so if you could also read his aether matrix and core sizes,¡± I said. I patiently waited while sitting across from Aelyn. Callem went with them, probably not completely trusting Bleiz. I didn¡¯t have time to talk much with Aelyn before Bleiz returned with his sheet of paper. He handed it to me, which Wynna soured at. I could tell she didn¡¯t like the idea of the enslaved Wolfsguard. I took the sheet and scanned it. Abilities Sense Vibration, Tier 1 Peripheral Awareness, Tier 1 Traits Scent Recognition, Tier 3 Longevity, Tier 1 Keen Sight, Tier 1 Filter Sound, Tier 2 Enhanced Reflexes, Tier 2 Skill Affinities Stealth, Tier 3 Tracking, Tier 2 Aether Magic, Tier 2 Aether Core Awakening 6 Current Aether Core 32 Maximum Aether Core 78 Aether Core Matrix Current 11 Aether Core Matrix Max 19 He only had two abilities at tier 1. These were his innate magical powers, and both focused on awareness. His traits were his genetics and indicated his superior sense of smell, excellent eyesight, quick reflexes, animal hearing, and longer than normal life span. His skill affinities had tier 3 for stealth, allowing him to learn stealth-related skills twice as fast as normal. His tracking at tier 2 gave him a 50% bonus to learning speed, and the same with aether magic. The tier two aether magic also gave him an advantage in learning aether spells for less cost on his aether matirx. His affinity for aether magic was a surprise, and I mumbled it aloud. Wynna said harshly, her patience waning, ¡°It is common for anyone conceived in a dungeon to have aether affinity, Storme.¡± I could tell Wynna had also decided to educate me at this moment, ¡°Wolfsguard are conceived when wolfkin women, stolen from their families in the lowlands, are brought into Skyholme dungeons and forced to have sex with men.¡± She gave me a hard stare like it was my fault. Bleiz didn¡¯t help my case as he added, ¡°There are about forty pups in a cycle. By the time we are fourteen, only twenty-three of us are left in the training pack.¡± I didn¡¯t have to ask what happened to the rest. I suddenly felt a lot of sympathy for Bylura, who was rescued from this fate by becoming Loriel¡¯s handmaid. Wynna asked with some bite, ¡°Are you ready for your reading, Storme?¡± I went with her and Wynna to the back room, and she laid into me, ¡°Storme, I can not believe you did this to the boy out there.¡± I kicked back, ¡°Boy? Please, Wynna, he is stronger, faster, and more deadly than most men. Also, he was being trained as Otieno Bricio¡¯s personal assassin. If I didn¡¯t bond him, he would be taking orders from that member of the Triumvirate. And you know how I treated Aelyn with respect. I will do the same with Bleiz, and if there is a way to free him of the bond, I will.¡± My retort softened Wynna slightly. ¡°Free him? It is more than just magic, Storme. They are raised and educated to be loyal servants. Once they imprint on someone, ending it is like tearing their heart out. You have never seen a Wolfsguard who lost their master. I have! They are listless and usually allowed to take their own life. You tied his fate to you!¡± Ennet watched as her mother continued to berate me, nodding and agreeing with her comments. When Wynna was done yelling, they calmed down and did my reading. I took the paper, shoved it in my pocket, and retreated to the living room. Bleiz was talking to Aelyn, who had a lot of questions. I sat down as Wynna and Ennet joined us. Feeling the tension ebb, I spoke, ¡°Thank you for the readings. I wanted to ask another favor. I wanted Bleiz to stay at Callem¡¯s farm during the day and watch my family in the evening and night. I have given him an invisibility necklace to help him, but I was hoping you could provide him armor, clothes, food, and whatever else he needs.¡± Callem answered as Wynna was still agitated, ¡°There is plenty of food out there in the main house cellar. I will bring him out there tomorrow. I am sure Wynna and Ennet would love to spend your coin on the Bleiz,¡± he said smirking good-naturedly. This had Wynna stand and start measuring a reluctant Bleiz. I placed four platinum coins on the counter. I felt Wynna had calmed enough to ask about the dungeon essences, ¡°Wynna, can you confirm what these are?¡± I produced the two vials of swirling colors and placed them on the table. Wynna¡¯s eyes bulged as she picked one up. ¡°Amazing,¡± Wynna said, turning it in her hand and looking at the script. ¡°I never thought I would see a true dungeon essence,¡± Her disappointment in my decision to bond with Bleiz dispersed. ¡°This one, Storme, is a teleport ability, a strong one. It requires a living object to anchor to, and you exchange places with them.¡± She turned it for a few moments, mesmerized by the colors. She picked up the second vial, and her eyes bulged again, ¡°This one increases your aether tolerance and creates a small gravity well in your aether core to increase the rate your aether recovers.¡± She put it down, ¡°Any mage worth his aether would kill you for that essence, Storme.¡± Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. It was good that Wynna had been able to confirm both essences. I placed them both back into my dimensional space and thanked Wynna. Wynna was a scholar and had studied the aetheric script that dungeons used. Wynna advised me, ¡°Dungeon essences are precious, Storme. You can use one without worry. Two safely, but once you get to a third essence, it needs to harmonize with the ones you already consumed or an ability you already have. Keep the vials and consult a master essence scholar before consuming a third.¡± ¡°By synergy, do you mean the same type of effects?¡± I asked. Wynna waivered, ¡°Yes, but I can not tell you how it works. You need to consult a master. Anything I tell you might be inaccurate.¡± I nodded and decided I would only use one of the essences until I knew more. Bleiz asked, ¡°What about weapons? I am unarmed, Storme.¡± ¡°Write down what you want, and I will get whatever you want. I will also give you this to learn as your first spell.¡± I handed him the cleanliness spellbook from my dimensional storage, some paper, and a stylus. He read the title and looked confused, so I explained, ¡°It is an aetheric spell, so it should be easier for you to imprint it as your first spell. It has a lot of usefulness. There are a number of evolutions in there for hunters. Eliminating scent, cleansing bowels and bladders, eliminating your tracks. I think you will find it extremely useful.¡± Aelyn asked jokingly, ¡°I wonder if Monty will submit dominance to him. He still growls at Bylura when he sees her in town.¡± Bleiz asked, ¡°Who is Monty?¡± ¡°My sister¡¯s guardian Shepard. He has excellent senses, so I challenge you not to be found out by him when you guard her from the shadows,¡± I said. ¡°Just a dog? He will never know I am there. Is that going to be my first task? Watch and protect your sister?¡± Bleiz questioned. ¡°Yes, and my parents as well, but primarily my sister. They will all move to my residence in Aegis City soon. After they move, we can reevaluate. I will give you a tour of the town now while you are invisible,¡± I said, rising. Bleiz disappeared and left with me. I pulled the paper out of my pocket and reviewed it quickly. Aether Core Awakening 1,143 Current Aether Core 3,992 Maximum Aether Core 25,378 Aether Core Matrix Current 32 Aether Core Matrix Max 109 My aether core had increased about 50% since the last time I checked. Even my potential maximum had increased by about 10%. I assumed that had to do with my new aether cycling. ¡°Bleiz, if you can get your aether core up to 50, I will teach you a cycling technique for your aether core,¡± I said while walking and pointing out landmarks and buildings in town. I might have looked a little crazy talking to myself, but there were only a few people walking in town. I pointed out people and gave names that I remembered. My house was important, and we walked the perimeter and then moved on to Freya¡¯s favorite hangout spots. We stopped when we reached the bend in the river where the locals swam. I took the list of Bleiz¡¯s weapons. Wire Garrote x 8 Karambit (curved knife) x 2 Throwing knife x 12 Hunter¡¯s Knife x 1 Skinning Knife x 1 Short Sword x 2 I started asking him questions to get specific sizes, weights, and dimensions. I had Bleiz appear and made some quick iron replicas for every weapon he wanted. Bleiz¡¯s shock at my shaping skill was apparent on his face, but he didn¡¯t let it show in his voice as he directed me. I told Bleiz he could return to Ennet¡¯s house, and I was going back to the barracks. He took a long look at me with newfound respect before activating his necklace. When I got back to my room, I fell onto my bed. Gareth wasn¡¯t here, and I remembered it was 5th day, and I was supposed to be with him at Twin Rocks tonight. I just didn¡¯t have the energy. I quickly did my evening exercises, aether core, focus, and making platinum coins. I then set my alarms, arcane locks, and privacy shield. The first thing I made was the garrotes for Bleiz. I used a finely braided mithril. One coin was enough to make all eight garrotes with steel rings at the ends. I then proceeded to make his short swords while lying in bed. My alarms told me Gareth was back, and I watched him crash onto his bed. I broke my privacy screen and healed him. A few bruises and two broken bones. Elijah and Elora had gone all out, ¡°Do they need healing as well?¡± I asked. ¡°No,¡± Gareth muttered, face down on his pillow. ¡°They had healing potions¡ªnot that they needed them.¡± I nodded and grinned and was happy I had missed the weapons session. ¡°Sorry, I missed the fun, Gareth. I will introduce you to Bleiz next week. He is going to keep an eye on Freya,¡± I said, sitting on my bed and getting ready to reset my privacy shield. Gareth rolled to his side, ¡°Are you going to let me spar with him, Storme?¡± ¡°Sure thing, Gareth, if he wants to. I am working on his weapons now. Maybe we can take Freya to the Shiny Platinum next 7th day, and you two can go use the third-floor training room,¡± I offered. I set my privacy screen and completed all of Bleiz¡¯s weapons. I would only enchant the short swords for durability and sharpness when I got more supplies from Instructor Aldon. The last day of classes for the week had my crew excited to go to the Shiny Platinum. I left the weapons I created for Callem to hand off to Bleiz. I had enchanted the short swords during the artificing class. All the weapons were of the highest quality that I could produce with my metal shaping skill. Gareth convinced everyone to skip dinner and headed to Solaris City to take a skyship to Aegis City. As we boarded the transport, I noticed a few people who appeared to be watching us. Gareth confirmed he had seen them too. I was glad Bleiz was staying behind to watch my family. On the trip to the city, Aelyn was extremely animated with the twins. I could tell she was happier, her brand gone. When she got to the Shiny Platinum, she was going to see Gimble immediately and make sure she was registered. I planned to get dinner and get some rest before the dive tomorrow. That didn¡¯t happen. As soon as we entered the Shiny Platinum, Remy dragged me away to Rippon¡¯s room. Rippon¡¯s room was covered in large schematics, materials lists, notes, and references. Remy excitedly said, ¡°We are ready to start! With Rippon¡¯s help, we have identified some improvements for the skyship to make it lighter and stronger. The materials will cost more, but they are easier to obtain since they are too expensive to use in Navy ships.¡± Seeing where this conversation was going, I asked, ¡°How much coin do you need?¡± Rippon pulled a materials list off the wall and handed it to me. The lumber and laminates were 29,500 gold at current prices. I asked, ¡°Isla Bricio is our foreman for the project. Give her the list and see if she can get better prices.¡± The two left in a hurry to knock on Isla¡¯s door down the hall. I was surprised to see the old man run like a little kid. I pulled out ten large platinum coins from my storge. That was 10,000 gold. I scanned my space again, and I only had about 2,500 gold in a mix of platinum, gold, and silver left. If I used all my remaining aether, I could make a single large platinum coin. I was gaining more aether, and my conversion of aether to metal was getting more efficient. I could make just over a single mithril coin with all my aether. I didn¡¯t have any more time to ponder as Rippon and Remy were dragging Isla in tow. ¡°I put all the coin that could be spared on the table. Come see me again in six weeks.¡± I left them to deal with Isla as I tried to escape to my room. I groaned when I climbed the stairs from the second to the third floor. Loriel, Bylura, and Gammon were standing outside my apartment door. They had clearly been waiting for me. I smiled, opened the door to my apartment, and invited them in. Loriel sat on the sofa while Bylura sat next to her, and Gammon remained by the door, on guard. Loriel asked, ¡°I thought you would have your Wolfsguard with you?¡± I was shocked that she knew I had bonded a Wolfsguard. ¡°He is occupied,¡± I replied, not willing to give away what Bleiz was up to. Loriel smiled, ¡°Did you hear about the uproar your selection caused in the Citadel?¡± I nodded, and Loriel chuckled merrily. ¡°You seem to be the largest thorn in the Bricio¡¯s side in a hundred years. What you have not heard is the Bricios have lost their dungeon. The Miaden family called in loans, and Halifax Bricio, that is Baladon¡¯s and Abaddon¡¯s father, couldn¡¯t pay. At first, he got a massive loan from Otieno Bricio to cover debts. But it turned into a chain reaction, and more nobles called in too many loans for Halifax to cover. The private dungeon was the only asset he had that could cover the debts. He foolishly over-leveraged himself in the massive rebuild after the Sadian attack.¡± Loriel was grinning madly now in pure joy. I asked, ¡°And I am assuming this is a good thing?¡± ¡°Oh, Storme! That dungeon was the source of most of the Bricio¡¯s wealth. Without it, they are in freefall. All their other businesses can not generate enough revenue to sustain their interests as the luxury economy has been stagnating since the Sadian attack. The dungeon provided the Bricios liquid funds. Otieno was heard cursing Halifax Bricio in the Citadel after he transferred the deed to control the dungeon to Tamber Miaden! Pomare has taken to publicly display the mithril shirt as a symbol of the weakness of the Bricios, rubbing it in their face. Otieno has been selling dozens of indentured contracts at a discount to try and make up the difference, but most likely, the Bricios are going to lose over half of their assets to stabilize when all is said and done,¡± she giggled joyously. Then her face got serious, ¡°You need to keep your Wolfsguard close, Storme. The Bricios may be distracted now, but once things settle, they will be lashing out against everyone who caused this, they may even try to recapture what they have lost by force. Pomare has claimed credit for the brilliant trap of having Baladon wear the mithril shirt in the honor duel with you. Abaddon has been given the command of one of the new Harbinger skyships and has assembled a loyal crew around himself. My sources say he will use them to avenge his family. If he uses his Skyholme Navy battleship to that end, all hell will break loose.¡± ¡°How many Wolfsguard does Abaddon have?¡± I asked to prepare myself in the event I encountered him. ¡°Three,¡± Loriel answered immediately. ¡°Two are always with him, and the third protects his estate. ¡°Baladon¡¯s only Wolfsguard was killed in an accident with three others and has not been replaced. Halifax lost his three Wolfsguard in the same accident.¡± Loriel couldn¡¯t help but smile. I now understood that Otieno had killed the four Wolfsguard to not only try to nab Bleiz but also punish Baladon for losing the duel and Halifax for losing the dungeon. I needed to get my family to Aegis City sooner than later. I would have Mia double the guards at the Shiny Platinum. The chain reaction from such a simple act of defending a pretty girl. What was that saying from my past world¡­I searched my memory and finally got it, ¡®the face that launched a thousand ships.¡¯ My distracted thoughts were interrupted, and Loriel got my attention, ¡°There may be a civil war between the Torrents, Miadens and Bricios. It is not certain, but others have asked me in the succession which side I would take.¡± ¡°How long before something sparks?¡± I asked extremely concerned. ¡°Months until the Bricios are in a position to move. The power struggle will likely happen on the capital island if it does occur. So when you see a stream of private sky ships arriving all at once, fleeing the capital, that will be your signal,¡± Loriel added. Something about her face told me she was happy all this was occurring. It was indirectly by her hand. She tricked Gareth into escorting her, which caused me to go. Then, I created this coming storm that might rock Skyholme to its core. Chapter 90 Indigestion Chapter 90 Loriel finally left, and I went down to the kitchens to get a meal. I cooked it myself, which helped me think, and cooking was therapeutic. I brought the food to my room: a massive basket of fries with sweet ketchup. The two burgers were covered in candied bacon and caramelized onions. I ate slowly while doing my aether and focus exercises. I could hear Gareth¡¯s room adjacent to mine, and he was having a get-together¡ªa loud get-together. I pulled my enchanting books from my space and some aether crystals on impulse. An hour later, the wall was now a sound sink, and my room was completely quiet. I didn¡¯t like the fact that I was in the dark about what the Bricios were doing. I didn¡¯t care about the politics, but I still felt they would seek some kind of retribution for the role I had played. My alarm spell went off, and the flash image showed Aelyn was at my door. I let her in, and we sat in the living room. She started, ¡°Gimble is returning to the lowlands after the delve tomorrow. He said his services were no longer required now that I was freed.¡± I nodded, and Aelyn seemed uncertain about continuing. ¡°You can go with him,¡± I spoke softly, ¡°If I were you, I would want to get away from these islands as soon as possible.¡± Aelyn seemed to consider for a long time and finally asked, ¡°Do you think there is anything between us.¡± She inhaled deeply, ¡°A reason for me to stay.¡± My mind turned to possibilities. Aelyn was exceptional, at least what she had shown me of herself. I thought she had been genuine, but maybe I should be more skeptical. She was patiently waiting for an answer. I decided she would be safer, far away from me. ¡°Aelyn, you should go with him,¡± I said and watched her face fall. ¡°I want you to stay, but I want you to be safe. Skyholme is not a safe place, and being around me is not safe. I will be leaving Skyholme eventually. If you want to travel with me when I do leave, find me.¡± That all sounded good coming out of my mouth. It sounded romantic, friendly, and protective all in one. She would appreciate my concern, and if she had feelings for me, she would wait in the lowlands for me. Aelyn¡¯s crystal blue eyes clouded, ¡°That is dragon shit, Storme!¡± She stood and kicked me hard in the shin, and I winced. I hated that people knew I could heal myself. She looked just as surprised as me at her action but then yelled, ¡°I will stay in Skyholme and leave with you, you dumb ogre!¡± The veins in her neck were raised as she raged. She flung a few more choice words at me, highlighting my stupidity. My shin was bleeding and hurt like hell, and all I could think was: Note to self, getting a woman angry that knows you can heal yourself is not a good idea. She finished her tirade with, ¡°I am free to make my own decisions, and I have decided to stay!¡± To emphasize her point, she flung a scroll at me and stormed out. I looked at the scroll, and it permitted her to reside in Aegis City as a dungeon delver. It was the same document that Gimble had needed when he arrived. I heard her descend the stairs to her room on the second floor as she was making a show of it. I wasn¡¯t sure if I should follow her or let her cool off. I was just as good at screwing up relationships as Gareth, apparently. I went to Gimble¡¯s room and told him I was returning to Hen¡¯s Hollow, and he was to only to run the first floor tomorrow. I thanked him for his service and told him Ullmark would be in charge going forward. Thankfully, Ullmark was in his room, and after a quick conversation, he agreed to take over a lead on the delves. I told Ullmark I would be returning to Hen¡¯s Hollow tonight and would not return to Aegis City until my family relocated. I was being a chicken. Aelyn couldn¡¯t leave Aegis City, so I would not have to see her for a few days while she calmed down. I liked Aelyn but felt she was still clouded by her time indentured to me. Maybe some separation would clear up our relationship. She knew some of my deepest secrets; now, she was free to espouse them without the mark. I trusted her not to do so. I left the Shiny Platinum and went to the trade district but found few shops were open. Aegis City didn¡¯t match the upper trade district of the capital, with its stores always open. I found an enchanter¡¯s shop that was open and entered. The smell of burnt wood assaulted my senses. The proprietor was an older woman was graying blonde hair. She asked, ¡°How may I assist?¡± I already knew this was not the vendor I wanted. Maybe I could ask instructor Aldon to get what I wanted. I tried anyway, ¡°I am sorry, but I was looking for a paired communication stone set. Tier three,¡± I told the woman. She nodded. ¡°For tier three, your only option in Aegis would be Cullhorn¡¯s. He is closed currently, though, but he would open if I woke him,¡± she said without hesitation. I immediately placed a gold coin on her counter, ¡°I would appreciate that. Is there a good place for aether and health restorative potions?¡± ¡°Cullhorn¡¯s has some lesser potions. Otherwise, you would have to wait till Pyior Elixirs and Droughts opens,¡± she added. ¡°Sounds good. Where are we going?¡± I confirmed. The woman closed her shop, walked me two streets over, and banged on a door till a haggard old man answered. ¡°Damn it, Fystra! If you have a customer, just knock like regular folk. You know I alarm my front door!¡± The man bellowed, and the woman just smiled. ¡°If I didn¡¯t knock loudly, you would ignore me, Greyson,¡± she replied, and they both laughed at a private joke. ¡°Got a good one here for you. Tier three communication stones and maybe some potions,¡± she said. The old man looked me up and down and nodded. ¡°Ok, follow me,¡± he said, coming out in his sleepwear and walking a short distance to a store. There was no sign on the door. ¡°I have never heard of Cullhorn¡¯s before,¡± I asked, following him inside. The woman, Fystra, had left to return to her shop. ¡°I am more of an acquisition specialist for delve teams these days. Mostly retired. I was an enchanter in the capital a few years back, working for the Miadens. Now I just do custom orders and acquire some specialty items,¡± he answered. As we entered, the shop had shelves filled with nickknacks. ¡°Don¡¯t touch anything. Follow me.¡± He went down an aisle, pulled a pair of golfball-sized black stones off a shelf in a white oak box, and handed them to me. He described the merchandise, ¡°Demon bone horn, enchanted with tier three aether crystals and gold wire runes. Two hundred and four gold. Should last two or three lifetimes.¡± I touched the black bone spheres and felt the rune work embedded in them. I nodded and pulled two platinum from my dimensional space with four gold coins. The man inspected them briefly and nodded before pocketing the shiny coins. ¡°Not many people are looking for tier three stones anymore. Delving a large dungeon?¡± He asked as he moved to a different area of the shop. Tier one stones had a range of about a mile. Tier two had a range of ten miles, and tier three reached a hundred miles. ¡°Just want to make sure I can remain in contact with a friend as he travels the island,¡± I said as I pushed the stones to my storage. These stones were for myself and Bleiz. I thought about getting another pair for Gareth and me but instead planned to enchant a matching stone and try to expand the network of these communication stones. The man looked me over again for a moment before accepting my explanation with a short nod. ¡°I have just lesser aether restoration potions, and most are close to expiration,¡± he started searching through a rack of test tube-shaped vials. Found a bundle of six, ¡°These six have about a month of shelf life left. Maybe ten relative aether each, but I wouldn¡¯t suggest using more than two in a day unless you want the runs,¡± he chuckled. ¡°Two gold for the lot. I have a rack that was not picked up by a delve team of healing potions. They are over a month overdue to pay, so I will sell them to you.¡± He went to a rack of six potions. ¡°Six gold for these. They have about six months of life left in them and were brewed by Yarvin.¡± My face was blank, so he added, ¡°Yarvin is one of the better alchemists in the capital. A friend of mine. Well, do you need anything else? You have been a good customer.¡± This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. ¡°Do you sell spell books? You said you were an enchanter. Do you have any books on enchanting? I dabble and would have made the communication stone myself, but I don¡¯t have the runic patterns,¡± I asked hopefully. ¡°The runes are up here,¡± he tapped his head. ¡°I mostly worked on golems for the Miadens before they were outlawed. The Inquisition destroyed my entire book collection. I do have a few spell books. Mostly from barter with the adventuring teams. This way.¡± I followed him around to the back of the store. He had a shelf with about one hundred spellbooks. This was more than a few. It was an impressive collection of mostly tier 1 and tier 2 spells. I guessed many awakened delvers sold their spellbooks after imprinting their spells. Cullhorn confirmed my suspicions. I eagerly went through the spellbooks and started pulling a few out. Arcane Missle, Tier 2, Aether Sphere Dimensional Box, Tier 2, Space Sphere Privacy, Tier 1, Illusion Sphere Mend Flesh, Tier 1, Healing Sphere Arcane Lock, Tier 1, Aether Sphere Wind Shield, Tier 2, Air Sphere The only rare spell in the bunch was the arcane missle. The remainder were common spells. Greyson looked through the books, ¡°Ten gold for each of the tier one spells. Fifty gold for the wind shield and the dimensional spell. Two hundred for arcane missle. Three hundred and thirty if you want the lot.¡± These were all for Bleiz. The privacy was a cheap move silently spell for him, and it would allow me not to loan out my own copy. Same with the arcane lock spell. The dimensional box would give him about a cubic yard of storage before any spell evolutions. Bleiz only had 11 slots for imprinting spells. If he utilized all these books and the cleanliness book that would amount to 9 slots filled. After the cleanliness spell, I would require him to learn the dimensional box spell next. After that, I would leave it up to him what spells he wished to imprint. I paid Greyson for all the spell books, and then asked for a tour of his shop. It was not really a shop, as he explained, he just made communication stones and worked with vendors in the capital as a middleman for three independent delve teams. I hadn¡¯t studied the intricacies of delving like Gareth. But Greyson did convince me to purchase a camping kit. It was a heavy canvas four-person tent with a ground tarp, four bedrolls, and a full kitchen kit. Normally in the lowlands, you had to trek into some dungeon locations and camp. I didn¡¯t know if I would ever need it, but I picked it up at 80 silver and moved it to my dimensional space. Most of his other items had to do with monster harvesting and non-magical first aid. I had my array of spells, so I was not interested. Grayson was old but fun to talk with, and he referred me to the other delve team he supplied. According to Grayson, they worked both dungeons in Aegis City and had decent character. I left the shop and had to contract a skyship to take me to Hen¡¯s Hollow. When I arrived, I went straight to the barracks to get some rest. I did not sleep well. I felt guilty about my strained relationship with Aelyn and worrying about the Bricios. My nightmare was Abaddon Bricio landing his Harbinger skyship in Hen¡¯s Hollow and abducting Freya. I woke in a cold sweat. It was early morning, and I planned to meet Bleiz out at Callem¡¯s farm today. Gareth and the delve team would be heading to the dungeon right about now for the delve. I lay in my bed and pulled out the two dungeon essences. One in each hand. I stared at both, weighing my options, and finally broke the seal on one and drained it. A warm feeling spread throughout my body, quickly becoming powerful abdominal pains. This was most definitely not the euphoric sensation that Gareth had described. My healing spells had no effect as I curled into a ball and moaned as my insides felt like they were being put through a grinder. I couldn¡¯t even move as my muscles contracted, forcing me into a ball. I began to think Pomare had tricked me, and whatever had been in the vial was not what the runic labeling had indicated. I retreated into my focus exercises to gain some control. At least now I could focus and watch as time passed. My time spell said I was incapacitated for almost an hour. Trapped in my own body before my clenched muscles relaxed. I immediately cast my healing spells, and eventually, I was able to sit up and lean against the bed on my floor. I understood enough about aether and cores to understand something hadn¡¯t gone right. It felt like I was trying to squeeze something into myself, and there just was not enough room. Could that be it? When I cheated on selecting my abilities, I maxed out my points. Had I reached my limit? It took time to feel out myself, but I identified the exchange ability in my core. I had successfully incorporated it, but it felt like I had eaten three Thanksgiving dinners in a row. I looked at the other essence and pushed it into my dimensional space. I needed to consult an essence master, as Wynna had advised. I cast my cleanliness spell and still didn¡¯t feel clean. A few more castings, and I still felt wrong¡­no it was more like I was digesting the new ability. Getting acclimated to being stretched. I thought it best to hold off on trying the ability or casting spells until it settled. I walked unevenly to Callem¡¯s farm. It was close to midday now, and it took twice as long as normal to reach the farm. I walked into the main house and called, ¡°Bleiz! Are you here?¡± Bleiz appeared leaning against the kitchen counter, holding a large drumstick. ¡°Thought you were delving today?¡± He took a large bite. ¡°No, they had enough members. I picked up a few things for you. And it looks like Wynna came through already,¡± I said. Bleiz was wearing some soft leather armor and black clothes underneath. He smiled with his sharp teeth, ¡°Yes. She dropped them off last night and asked what else I wanted. I had decided to forgo boots for now.¡± ¡°How did watching my family go?¡± I asked as I sat at the kitchen table because my energy was waning. He frowned deeply, ¡°You were right. That guardian beast is a hellion. He spotted me twice yesterday, even under the cover of the necklace. He even peed on my new clothes!¡± I started laughing and couldn¡¯t stop for a good minute. Bleiz didn¡¯t laugh but grinned at his own misfortune, which made me consider that he wasn¡¯t an uptight assassin. I pulled the spellbooks out of my dimensional space and it was with some effort. Like getting punched in my gut every time I materialized a book, ¡°These are all for you. After you imprint the cleanliness spell you can learn the dimensional box spell. After that¡ªyou can decide what spells you want to learn.¡± ¡°Are you ok? You look pale,¡± Bleiz said, coming closer. I was sweating again. ¡°I will be fine. Just had a little too much of a good thing.¡± At least, I hoped I would be fine. I wouldn¡¯t be able to function if I had to deal with this every time I pulled aether from my core. Bleiz sat at the table and paged through the spell books. He started doing the math I in his head. ¡°This would be nine places on my core,¡± he announced. ¡°Like I said, just the cleanliness spell and dimensional box spell. That is three units. After that, you can choose your own spells. If you don¡¯t like this selection, just let me know what you want, and I will get it for you,¡± I said, feeling the color return to my face. I had planned to spend some time training with Bleiz today, but that would not happen with my current state. Bleiz seemed to consider and then said, ¡°The weapons you provided me are exceptional. Who enchanted the short swords?¡± I grinned and bragged, ¡°They were my own work. Do you like them?¡± He nodded as he leaned back in his chair and suddenly looked out the window. I looked too, but didn¡¯t see anything. Bleiz replied, ¡°A fox is in the fields. It caught a rabbit.¡± He turned his gaze to me, ¡°Yes, they are just as good, if not better, than the ones the Blackguard captains carry. Do you want the longsword back?¡± I had forgotten about the Baladon¡¯s longsword. ¡°Sure, I can store it for now.¡± He retrieved it, and I painfully put it into my space. ¡°I think I am going fishing. Do you want to come along?¡± Thirty minutes later, we were at Twin Rocks. Bleiz immediately noticed the heavy traffic and footprint patterns over here from Gareth, the instructors, and myself. He was eager to test them all, but I needed him to watch my family during the evenings. I pulled out the communication stone and my potions belt. ¡°Here is a belt and some potions for aether and healing. This communication stone is linked to the one I will carry with me. If you need help or see something, call me.¡± Pulling things out of my space was getting easier, so maybe this indigestion was fading. He rolled the black ball in his hands, studying it, and I felt the other ball twinge in my dimensional space. That was unexpected. I focused on the ball in my space and tried to use it. No joy on that. At least I could leave it in my dimensional space and be aware when someone was trying to reach me. I pulled a chair out of my space¡ªtoo soon for something this large. I almost vomited. I retrieved my fishing pole and sat, and began to fish. I only had one pole, so I showed Bleiz how to fish. We spent hours at Twin Rocks, and Bleiz even noticed a giant black eagle in the skies. I almost wished it had come down and attempted to attack us. Revenge would have been nice. But the eagle sensed we were the supier predators this afternoon. We parted as evening approached. Bleiz was going to change at the farmhouse before going on watch, and I headed back to the barracks. Gareth and the twins were not present, but Mia had returned. She informed me they were returning in the morning. She told me what I already knew, Aelyn couldn¡¯t leave the city. I made both of us dinner. Braised pork with a honey-ginger glaze. Mia was enjoying her duties, and when I told her we would be expanding the guards by fourfold, she got excited. I retired to my room, hoping a good night¡¯s rest would alleviate my discomfort. Chapter 91 Ripples of Trouble Chapter 91 Ripples of Trouble The remainder of the second term was not pleasant. I struggled with using my aether. The discomfort was slowly fading from consuming the exchange ability, but it made all my efforts to imprint a new spell impossible for weeks. Using my abilities to create and shape metal was possible, but spellcasting remained difficult. Selina speculated it had to do with spells feeding aether through my spell matrix while abilities drew aether directly out of the aether core. Selina was worried the changes might have made changes to my spell matrix, so she suggested I see Ennet. I had Ennet read my spell matrix, which had improved from 32/109 to 35/110 just two days after consuming the dungeon essence. I had improved my available slots for spells to 35, and my potential maximum had increased to 110. Even though this was a fantastic surprise, it didn¡¯t help my mood as my body continued to resist the imprinting process for new spells. I could feel my aether core and matrix normalizing over time. I was hoping that with rest, the adverse effects would disappear completely. How long this was going to take was a mystery to Selina. I was very hesitant to even consider using another dungeon essence after this experience. I remained in the barracks on every seventh day during the remainder of the term while Gareth continued training and delving into the Frost Vault dungeon. Gimble had left Aegis City as promised, and Ullmark was doing a good job leading the team. Gareth¡¯s relationship with Fera had mended, and they were now a couple, doing everything together. Mera was still trying to pursue me. Her recent attempts had to do with bringing me samples of her mead. We had provided enough of the queen bee sacs and Broderick¡¯s dungeon yeast that our Shiny Platinum brew was well into production and extremely popular. We charged a premium for the frost mead, and Broderick¡¯s mead was considered our generic ale. I spent my time on the seventh day with Bleiz. We sparred, and I assisted him with imprinting spells. After he imprinted the cleanliness spell and started to evolve it, he became excited at the prospect of learning more spells. Most of his cleanliness spell evolutions added to his stealth. He could remove his scent, cleanse his bladder and bowels, and clear his tracks, and he selected three evolutions that had to do with grooming his fur. The grooming gave his fur a soft, velvety feel, which he was overly proud of, and more importantly, for stealth, removed all loose fur. He was thoroughly frustrated learning the dimensional box spell, though. The tier two spell seemed to stymie him, and I even had Selina come and help for a few days. Selina told him sometimes, certain spheres of magic were anathema to people. The mage¡¯s spell matrix resisted efforts to allow a spell to be imprinted from certain spheres. It appeared that for the space sphere of magic, this was the case for Bleiz. Selina and Talia did some research in the capital library and found the Wolfsguard had difficulty imprinting space, chronomancy, and divination magic on their aether matrix. It was possible, but it took five to ten times as long as normal. I didn¡¯t relent, though, in having Bleiz continue to learn the storage spell. It was very useful, and he could double the cubic yard the space started with initial spell evolutions. I also introduced Freya and Bleiz in case he appeared to assist her. Freya decided to come with us to Twin Rocks every seventh day after their introduction since Bleiz was available to protect her. She loved the feel of Bleiz¡¯s fur, which made Monty jealous. So Monty chose to bark at Bleiz whenever they joined us and was constantly trying to find him when he used his invisibility necklace. I thought it was humorous, and after a few weeks, Monty had calmed enough to stop barking and just placed himself between Freya and Bleiz so she couldn¡¯t reach him. Bleiz didn¡¯t mind the attention as he had grown fond of my sister in his time watching her from the shadows. I got Bleiz a fishing pole, and when we were not fishing, Bleiz was instructing me in combat. I spent time training with my two-handed falchion but also received practice with my staff and the curved knives Bleiz preferred. Since my metal shaping and creation skills were unaffected by my condition, I turned to craft weapons. All Beliz¡¯s weapons now had the basic hardness and sharpness enchantment on them. I also took to wearing a belt with one of the curved knives, replacing the first dagger I made. Was I subconsciously replacing Gareth with Bleiz by switching the blades? Bleiz didn¡¯t understand how he had lost to me so easily during the bonding ceremony. Since I couldn¡¯t use my lightning reflexes spell without staggering from the agony, I had been training without its assistance. From this, I was certain Bleiz would be a match for Gareth, but they didn¡¯t have the opportunity to spar. Gareth left every sixth night for Aegis City to delve and returned early on the first day for the academy. The difference between the two was that Gareth was still improving phenomenally, while Bleiz¡¯s progress was stagnant without a superior trainer. Callem and Elijah did come to Twin Rocks after I asked them to help Bleiz improve. Bleiz said that both of them were equals of the Blackguard Captains who trained him from a pup. Callem took it as a compliment, as most Blackguard captains had over two centuries of experience and spent most of their day training. Our academy class made two trips to fight other academies in duels. The first event was a partner duel against a small city academy. I paired with Mia, and we easily took our opponents. Only three of the remaining twenty-eight different pairings from our academy that fought in the tournament lost. The other duel was one-on-one, and we won every bout against another small-town academy similar to ours. Hen¡¯s Hollow was on the lips of many people, and recruiters from numerous advanced academies and noble families visited every day, seeking to sponsor my classmates for an academy in exchange for service after they graduated. Mia, Mera, Fera, and Gareth were all under contract with me. Mia had contracted another four of our classmates through me to be future guards at the Shiny Platinum. I had the contract written and filed for everyone with an escrow deposit for all seven academy years. Other members of our class got started signing their own contracts. I was also solicited regularly, and I managed to reject no less than twenty offers. My academy payments and escrow account were set up with Wynna¡¯s name as the payee. As the term progressed, my knowledge of artificing skyships made leaps and bounds. Remy and Rippon were slowly accumulating and preparing materials with Isla. We would be starting the construction on the Lightning Maelstrom. Rippon wanted the ship to have a name as they worked on her, so I gave them one. The name had a lot of vanity to it, as a maelstrom was a type of storm, and lightning reflected my affinity for that sphere of magic. Well, I was footing the bill, so naming rights were mine. Maybe I would go with just Maelstrom. We started the end-of-term testing. Enchanting was an easy pass for me. I was probably a better artificer than Instructor Aldon regarding skyships. I was familiar with all the propulsion, stabilization, anti-gravity, and inertia shielding runes. I could do the load calculations for how thick to make the runes based on the size of the power core and expected power draw. Of course, putting this into practice on the practice target that was only as big as a bathtub and weighed less than 100 lbs was different than a 340,000-pound skyship. I figured out the amount of mithril I would need to complete my runes for the Maelstrom. It was about as much as I had gifted Pomare Torrent in the mithril shirt¡ªone million gold. I had 18 mithril coins in my dimensional space, equaling 18,000 gold. I had moved away from mithril and had been focusing on making platinum to purchase the materials for the skyship. Mithril was too rare to spend in the city and would draw attention. All the material needed to be harvested from dungeons. For the frame of the ship, we planned to use bone oak. It was harvested from a dungeon in the lowlands that Skyholme still controlled. It was the most costly of all the materials. The wood was pale white with tight white grain. It was extremely hard but not too dense. The only way to work the wood was with spell shaping. Our other primary wood was abyssal walnut. This wood was a glossy black and was going to be used for the siding and decking. It took enchanting runes exceptionally well and had high strength at a thin thickness. Red iron oak was the third type of wood we accumulated in the warehouse. This was to be used for the interior walls and doors. It was strong, light and gave a beautiful finish when treated with an alchemist¡¯s teak oil. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. I also recently sent Rippon dimensions for a deck to install in my dimensional space. This would give me two floors in the space and make organizing and using the space much easier. Rippon was going to build the deck with red iron oak and assemble it in the warehouse. Due to its mass, I would have to wait until my condition was alleviated before transitioning it into my dimensional space. <<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>> I was in my room chatting with Gareth while we both studied textbooks. We had three days of exams left before the term ended, and then we would have a week¡¯s break before we started our third and last term of the first-year academy. I had already secured admission to the Dungeon Academy in Aegis City for Gareth, the twins, and myself. Mia had decided to attend the City Guard Academy instead. Gareth asked, ¡°When are you coming back to the Shiny Platinum? It has been weeks.¡± I put down my book on gravimetric control runes. ¡°My father and mother are moving to the Shiny Platinum in two weeks, at the start of the third term. Freya is going with them under protest.¡± Gareth chuckled. I added, ¡°I plan to help them get settled in.¡± Gareth rolled to his side to look at me, ¡°Are you going to talk to Aelyn? She has been hanging with Mia and Talia after the delves. I think she is no longer angry with you. But she may challenge you to one on one combat,¡± he joked. ¡°She still wants to beat some sense into you.¡± I grunted softly, ¡°I will talk with her if she approaches me. But I have been more focused on what is going on in the capital. Isla has been relaying the stories to me when she visits Hen¡¯s Hollow. I told you last week that the Miaden delve team in the Bricios old dungeon died?¡± Gareth nodded. ¡°Well, today Isla said it looks like there has been evidence found that the Bricio¡¯s Wolfsguard were responsible.¡± Gareth sat up in a flash, ¡°No way! Isn¡¯t that a violation of the Triumvirate? House Wolfsguard can only be used to defend, never attack.¡± Gareth¡¯s eyes were fierce. He understood this was likely the start of something much bigger. ¡°Yeah, Isla said the Bricios denied it, and the divination magic used to implicate them was flawed. But she thinks¡­¡± my communication stone buzzed in my dimensional storage. I pulled it out and opened the communication. Bleiz had only contacted me twice in the last few weeks. Once, because Freya was sneaking out to go swimming in the middle of the night with her friends, and another time, he asked if I could bring him some more strawberry cheesecake at the farm. I had made it for him when I learned he had a birthday and then explained only to use the communication stones in an emergency. I assumed this was important. Bleiz¡¯s voice came over the stone after I activated it, ¡°Storme, two individuals are watching your house. They definitely have some skill and are using a poor version of the invisibility spell. Maybe it is just a potion.¡± Gareth was already dressing rapidly. I swung out of bed and slipped on my boots. I pulled my staff from my dimensional space. I now had almost no feedback from the action of using my aether for spell magic. Selina and I determined it wouldn¡¯t be long before it was completely gone. I was even thinking of trying the exchange ability soon in the dungeon. Gareth was ready before and waited so we could leave together. I asked the stone, ¡°We are coming. Are you sure it is just the two?¡± There was no response, and I increased our pace to a jog. Then the stone gave a reply. Bleiz said, ¡°I have knocked them both out. We are on the far side of the maple tree by your house. The big tree I told you I like to perch in while I watch your house overnight.¡± We arrived at the maple and found two gagged and bound men unconscious. Bleiz suddenly appeared. He kneeled, checking the bodies, ¡°Still don¡¯t sense anyone else.¡± Bleiz scanned the area on high alert, though. I decided, ¡°Bleiz, just bring one to Ennet¡¯s house. Gareth, you take the other.¡± I could have carried one, but I had two strong companions. Gareth had only met Bleiz a few times in passing. One was the infamous swimming incident with Freya, and the other was when Bleiz came to pick up new enchanted weapons from me. Gareth got me to make the same weapons for him after complaining I favored Bleiz. I later learned that Gareth wanted the weapons to train with Bleiz¡¯s preferred weapons. Gareth was obviously preparing for when he would be able to test his skills against an actual Wolfsguard, against Bleiz. Gareth was doing his best not to show his jealousy, but it was easily apparent. We got the men to Ennet¡¯s house. Ennet was in Aegis City setting up her new office for readings. Callem and Wynna were awoken when we knocked. Callem was informed about the men spying on my family¡¯s house. He nodded, and we got them in chairs. Bleiz disappeared and went to the left to resume watch on my house. I used my assess person on both men. Lancer Riffolk Human Male Age 37 Disposition: Neutral Gryth Riffolk Human Male Age 42 Disposition: Neutral I said, ¡°This one is Lancer Riffolk, and the other is Gryth Riffolk.¡± Callem grunted, ¡°Riffolk? One thing for sure is they were up to no good. The Riffolk are a minor noble family and the closest thing Skyholme has to organized crime. Before Sebastian became a mage, he was a Riffolk. They tried to bring him back into the family by kidnapping his apprentices. Two of his apprentices were killed by the Riffolk.¡± Callem sighed. ¡°Wynna, I think it is best if you are not here for this. It is not going going to be pleasant.¡± Wynna grimaced and nodded. We got to see another side of Callem. It was not a side I wanted to see. The men in the chairs were bleeding and blubbering in twenty minutes. Callem asked, ¡°Storme, can you clean up the floor? I feel guilty about soiling Ennet¡¯s floor.¡± I was slightly ill as I used my cleanliness spell to clean the blood, urine, vomit, and teeth. Callem stood in front of the two men. ¡°Now, I am guessing you are ready to talk. Why are you in Hen¡¯s Hollow?¡± The men said some incoherent words, but Callem voiced his displeasure at their stalling. Finally, one said, ¡°We are to watch the girl in the house. We were to use her to bring him to the capital in five days.¡± They indicated to me with a jerk of their head. I understood Freya was leverage to get me to cooperate. Gareth voiced loudly, pushing forward, ready to punish the men, ¡°Who were you bringing Storme to? Do you have the means to contact them?¡± He stamped his heel into the closest man¡¯s foot, who screamed in response. I was surprised by Gareth¡¯s brutal act, but I felt no remorse. To me, this was not torturing someone. When you went after my family, you lost the right to be treated with dignity. The man, not screaming spoke before he got the same treatment, ¡°We were hired,¡± he rasped. ¡°We were to deliver you to a Harbinger skyship, the Phobos. They didn¡¯t give us anything. We are to meet them when they arrive and help them get you on board.¡± Callem was pulling out his communication stone for Sebastian. Sebastian was quickly informed of the situation. These two men were actually his nephews. He had no sympathy for them, though. ¡°The Phobos is one of the new harbingers. It was assigned to Abaddon Bricio, who is its captain.¡± Were the Bricios finally moving against me? My blood heated in rage. They had chosen to go after my sister to get to me. I felt the urge to kill both men. I didn¡¯t catch the last few words Sebastian had told Callem. I looked up, the blood pounding in my ears lessening. I asked, ¡°Are more coming, or are you alone?¡± Gryth looked at me pleadingly, ¡°There is a skyship coming. They are coming to create a distraction for the abduction. We were tasked to bring the girl when they arrived to them. That is all! Just deliver her to the skyship.¡± Callem stepped forward and, with a blow to the head, knocked out the sobbing man. The other looked ready to continue to cooperate. ¡°The Riffolk are petty thugs and thieves. They do the dirty work of the Inquisition, and the Bricios run the Inquisition,¡± Callem offered his perspective. ¡°So, most likely, this is part of some plan by the Bricios. The capital has been simmering under the surface for weeks. It is ready to explode.¡± I thought out a plan, ¡°Callem, can you sneak my family to the Shiny Platinum? They should be safer there.¡± ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be an issue. These two have some invisibility potions on their belts. I can use them if needed to make the job easier,¡± Callem offered. I looked, and there were six potions in each belt bandolier, each marked with the runic symbol for invisibility. I pulled two potions, handed them to Gareth, and then took two for myself. That left eight potions for Callem. Gareth added the two potions to his belt that I got him for the New Year gift exchange to his belt. Gareth asked, ¡°What is the plan?¡± Callem glared at the two men, ¡°I can take these two to the farm and stash them in the basement and then get your family to safety, Storme. I still have six burgers on your menu that I have left to try before deciding on my favorite,¡± he added, trying to make some light of the situation. I could tell Callem was torn, though. He wanted to stay with us. ¡°Thank you, Callem. Gareth, Bleiz, and I will wait. When they arrive, we will subdue them and get more information,¡± I said, finally calming down. Callem seemed to consider, ¡°If you decide to go after Abaddon, wait for me to return from the Shiny Platinum. The four of us will have a higher chance of success. Do you want me to ask your delve team if they want to join us?¡± ¡°Okay, Callem. Here is my communication stone with Bleiz,¡± I said, handing it to him, but I actually had no intention of dragging him into this mess. ¡°Let the team and guards know that I want them to help watch my family. Father is probably going to ignore warnings and start his new guard duties at the docks,¡± I said, sounding more lucid than my churring thoughts were. ¡°Unfortunately for the Bricios, they don¡¯t know half of my secrets and have bit off more than they can swallow by coming after my family,¡± I said coldly. Chapter 92 The Stuffed Goose Chapter 92 The Stuffed Goose Gareth and I went back to our room. Gareth seemed uncomfortable, ¡°Storme, are we really going to do this? Isn¡¯t it time that we go to the lowlands?¡± I collapsed on my bed. I was at a crossroads. Why was I willing to become involved? Put my safety, my family¡¯s, and my friend¡¯s safety at risk. ¡°It doesn¡¯t feel right, Gareth. I am a nobody. Why go after me with so many resources?¡± Gareth looked at me for a long moment. ¡°You need to talk to Loriel,¡± he said, producing the communication stone. I wasn¡¯t even aware he still had that stone. After the Sowing Festival, I had thought he had cut contact with Loriel. Gareth had told me as much. She was responsible for initiating this mess. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you still have that. Are you still talking to her?¡± I asked bitterly. Gareth flushed, ¡°I see her every seventh day, Storme. She stays at the Shiny Platinum with Isla. I just think she forgot she gave me this.¡± I took the stone, rotated it in my hand, and then activated it. A husky male voice came through the stone, ¡°What do you need?¡± We looked at each confused. ¡°This is Loriel¡¯s bodyguard. What do you need?¡± He repeated. I figured out it was Gammon the Wolfguard. I asked with some irritation, ¡°This is Storme. Can I talk with Loriel?¡± After a lengthy pause, Loriel¡¯s voice came through the stone, ¡°Storme! What can I help you with?¡± Her voice was much too cheery for my liking. I paused and asked, ¡°Is this conversation private?¡± I didn¡¯t know if she was in a public venue. Without hesitation, Loriel said, ¡°You can talk openly.¡± I inhaled and began, ¡°Some members of the Riffolk family are in Hen¡¯s Hollow.¡± I decided to tell her everything, ¡°They were planning to abduct my sister to leverage me,¡± my anger bled through in my tone. After a long pause, an extremely serious Loriel said, ¡°Bring her to my estate on the capital island. I can protect her there for you, Storme.¡± I boiled over and angrily replied, ¡°I can protect my sister on my own. I want to know what is going on! I know you are aware of everything. Tell me the extent of it.¡± Loriel took a moment to respond, ¡°The Bricios are reeling financially. My allies have been taking the Bricios assets like falling dominos, declining to extend loans. They are being forced into a corner. After the Sadian attack, I think they might be seeking the Shiny Platinum. It is a valuable asset; they could sell it to cover some losses. It is valued at over 50,000 gold from your upgrades.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t make any sense! The deed is in Wynna¡¯s and Callem¡¯s names! They own the building! I couldn¡¯t give it to them even if I wanted!¡± I spat out. I had protected myself from a scenario like this. I may run the establishment, but the delve team was the only thing that was completely in my name. Loriel didn¡¯t speak for long, ¡°I may have misled some people on this point. I was trying¡­.¡± Before she could finish, I shattered the stone into the wall, my anger getting the better of me. It was a lesser tier 4 communication worth quite the sum of gold. It made me feel better, and I didn¡¯t want to hear her out. Whatever she was scheming, I wanted no part of it. Gareth looked a little shocked at what I had done. He finally asked, ¡°So what do you want to do?¡± I looked at my friend, ¡°I want to erase whoever they send here on the skyship and then Trojan Horse to get to whoever thought they could go after my sister.¡± Gareth looked confused but said, ¡°I am on board, but what is a Trojan Horse, and how are horses going to help anyway? They have skyships.¡± I spent the next ten minutes in a long-winded explanation of what a Trojan Horse was. My explanation was a bit muddied as I had trouble recalling details. More past memories were hazy memories. <<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>> The last three days of testing had a cloud over them. Callem remained in Aegis City to watch my family. Elijah announced that he was not staying for the third term. He was returning to the lowlands. Selina was leaving to teach at the Mage Academy in Skyhold. Bleiz was on the all-day watch of the skyship platform for the Riffolk ship being sent to abduct my sister and secure me. It turns out he did need to be. Word started trickling into our small town of Hen¡¯s Hollow. The Miaden 17th in line for succession had met with an unfortunate accident. He was delving into a dungeon, got separated from his party, and was killed. He was already known for being reckless, so it was plausible. Then, the 11th in line for Miaden¡¯s seat skyship crashed a day later, starting the exodus waves of Trivumerverate families from the capital. Many sought refuge in the Citadel, behind the Blackguard, but those who were not made their way to other islands. Regular skyships were now seen arriving in Solaris City nearby. The rumors were thick in the capital with whispers of potential open conflict, and anyone smart enough was planning on getting out of the way. Since Titan¡¯s Shield, our island, was the second most populous island, it was seen as a decent haven. I almost wished I hadn¡¯t smashed the communication stone with Loriel. She would have been able to tell us exactly what was happening. We communicated with Callem, and Loriel was not at the Shiny Platinum. No doubt, she was one of the targets of the Bricios, being raised to the 20th seat now that some of her family members were killed. She might even be their top target if she had been truthful to me on the communication stone and was the architect of the Bricio¡¯s financial downfall. I was sitting next to an invisible Beiz, watching the skyships in the distance, landing in Soloris City. Bleiz seemed excited and somewhat amused by everything happening around him. ¡°You know,¡± Bleiz started with his wolfish tone, ¡°I am glad I am working for you instead of Otieno.¡± ¡°Yeah, you may wish to change your mind. My resources are extremely limited, and I am vastly outnumbered,¡± I said, trying to infuse some humor into my voice but failing. Bleiz considered for a moment, cracked his neck, and asked, ¡°What is your plan, Storme? Get to Halifax and his sons so I can help you kill him.¡± Bleiz appeared and leaned against the wall in the shadows, ¡°I could probably get past his guards, but he must have half a dozen defense items on him. It probably wouldn¡¯t go well.¡± That was exactly what I had planned, but it sounded foolish coming when he said it. ¡°What do you suggest?¡± I asked Bleiz. ¡°Do nothing,¡± he started, and I had a shocked look. Bleiz laughed at my amazement, ¡°Prepare, Storme. Be ready to react. You are the small cog here. An insignificant cog, defelct and react.¡± I threw up my hands, ¡°What? Do they teach political intrigue at the Wolfguard training academy?¡± Bleiz shrugged, ¡°In a manner of speaking. We need to understand the dynamics of the political landscape.¡± ¡°What can you tell me about the political landscape?¡± I asked, now somewhat intrigued. A clear smile, even in the shadows, came to his face. Bleiz started to lecture me on Wolfguard, ¡°The Blackguard are required to remain in the Citadel. They can not leave unless there is a unanimous vote by the Triumvirate. They will protect everyone, no matter the family who is in the Citadel.¡± If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. ¡°What about the personal retinue Wolfguard, like you?¡± I asked. Bleiz fingered the pommel of his short sword and had a far-off look, ¡°We are tools. We obey our bonded, no matter the request. We are not supposed to engage unless in self-defense, but that is just what they tell the public.¡± Bleiz looked away, ¡°When Otieno came to me and told me I would be serving him, he said I would help bring order to Skyholme.¡± A long pause before he faced me again, ¡°I didn¡¯t understand what that meant until I spent the last few weeks with you.¡± ¡°What did you learn from your time with me?¡± I asked but was on guard as I sensed Bleiz getting agitated. A low growl emanated from Bleiz, ¡°That Skyholme is a lie. The Wolfguard doesn¡¯t protect Skyholme from its enemies. We protect Skyholme from itself. We are the only thing holding it together. We are mutually assured destruction. If one family used their Wolfguard to attack another, then all Wolfguard would be involved, and we are much better warriors than you humans. Not many would survive.¡± ¡°What do you plan to do about it?¡± I asked the tense Wolfguard. He looked at me like I was an idiot, ¡°Pomare didn¡¯t make a mistake in bonding me to you. It is beyond rare for a Wolfguard not to be bonded to the Triumvirate seat or one in line for the seat. You are a free agent, which makes me a free agent.¡± I shrugged, ¡°So you think Pomare wants me to become involved and do what? Kill Abaddon? Baladon? Otieno?¡± Bleiz chuckled, ¡°Probably. I advise you to stay out of the line of fire. Let the families destroy themselves and protect your own.¡± Bleiz was right. I started thinking of some way to evict Loriel from her apartment at the Shiny Platinum. I needed to cut ties with her completely. Otherwise, I would continue to be drawn into her schemes. I hadn¡¯t heard from Tessa at all since the Sowing Festival. Which, I admit, hurt. If I hadn¡¯t been dealing with the trouble of casting my spells, I might have visited her in the capital. Not having access to my lightning reflexes spell made me hesitate to appear in the capital. Gareth was watching the town gates a few hundred yards away and came jogging over to our position. All three of us were immediately on alert. On a normal day, the number of visitors to Hen¡¯s Hollow could be counted on a single hand. Gareth had ill tidings, ¡°A lower magistrate just arrived in Hen¡¯s Hollow with his family. I heard him talking to the guard. Pomare Torrent has just been assassinated within the walls of the Citadel.¡± The civil war had started. I was shocked. I had liked the old man. He might have taken some time to get me what he had promised me, but eventually, he had. I thought maybe the dungeon essence had been laced with something at first due to the pain, but Wynna assured me that once a seal was broken on a dungeon essence, it needed to be consumed immediately. You couldn¡¯t tamper with it. I discussed the implications with Gareth and Bleiz when a small trader descended onto the Hen¡¯s Hollow platform and landed in the cradle. We all looked at each other. After drinking the invisibility potions, we went to check on the ship. Bleiz used his necklace and followed. A half dozen armed men were on the deck, and two men descended from the stone platform. When they reached the bottom, they started looking around, expecting someone. I got close enough to use my assess person ability on them. They were both Riffolk. These were the men who were sent to take away my sister and use her to get to me. They might have the answers that I needed. When the men walked out of the sight line of the armed men up on the platform, I acted. I gave one of the men a blow to the back of the head, knocking him out. Bleiz took down the other man. Gareth materialized a second later, just a heartbeat behind Bleiz. Gareth looked slightly upset that Bleiz had been faster than him, but they both picked up the two men and hauled them away. When we had secured the men in the barracks, I wished that Callem was here. Everyone else had left to go home for the break between terms, and Callem was at the Shiny Platinum. I couldn¡¯t do what Callem did. Torture and interrogation were not something I was comfortable with. Seeing my hesitation, Bleiz offered, ¡°Do you want me to question them?¡± I looked to Gareth, and he looked as reluctant as I was to recreate Callem¡¯s methods. I nodded to Bleiz, who got both men in chairs and got one of them awake. When the man got his senses, he recoiled from Bleiz, clearly afraid. ¡°What is going on?¡± He stammered. Bleiz looked at me, and I asked, ¡°You are here for the girl?¡± He nodded slowly, confused. I continued, ¡°Where were you to bring her and why?¡± The man seemed to have lost his tongue, and Bleiz motivated him. It was not long before he was talking. ¡°We were to land at the Bricio estate near The Black Spire and transfer her to the Harbinger ship docked there,¡± he revealed while bleeding from a deep cut on his face. ¡°What were they going to do with the girl?¡± I asked impatiently. He looked fearfully at Bleiz. The general population had a healthy fear of the prowess of the Wolfguard. He started talking, ¡°She was our insurance for you to come peaceably.¡± He eyed Bleiz, ¡°And to make sure the Wolfguard didn¡¯t interfere.¡± Gareth interrupted, ¡°What is happening? Did they kill Loriel Miaden?¡± There was some concern in his voice. Did he have feelings for Loriel? He had been working hard to get back in Fera¡¯s good graces. The man laughed, suddenly emboldened, ¡°The Bricios are taking back their assets. A new order is coming. After the next two days, there will only be one family.¡± Gareth asked, exasperated, ¡°What about the Blackguard? Are they not supposed to stand in the way of one family from attacking the other families?¡± The man suddenly looked too smug for me, and I wanted to strike him, but he kept speaking, ¡°The Blackguard only keeps order in the Citadel. The Citadel is locked down, but that makes the rest of Skyholme fair game. My family has dozens of teams across the islands helping the Bricios secure assets and streamline the transition. That doesn¡¯t even account for¡­.¡± He suddenly shut his mouth, realizing he had said too much. He tried, ¡°Release us, and you may get out of this alive.¡± Gareth looked at me, ¡°What are we going to do?¡± It took me a few minutes to come up with a plan. I finally spoke, ¡°We will take the skyship up on the platform and fly to Aegis City. Then we will get everyone on board and go to the lowlands.¡± Gareth¡¯s eyes popped in disbelief. ¡°We are just going to leave? My parents won¡¯t come.¡± A few days ago, fleeing to the lowlands had been his suggestion. Now, he had changed his mind. I waved him off, ¡°Let¡¯s take the skyship first. They already crossed the line. If the Bricios win, then we will not be safe in Skyholme. I doubt Otieno is making a move without a high probability of succeeding.¡± One of the men started to say, ¡°You are right. You¡­¡± Gareth clubbed over the head, knocking him out. Gareth finally said, ¡°Ok, Let¡¯s do this then.¡± Twenty minutes later, we were ascending the platform, all invisible. It was a competition between Gareth and Bleiz to take down more men. There were six men on deck and three below deck. They split 3-3 on the deck, but Bleiz got all three below deck. His extrasensory perception made it easy for him to locate the enemies. I healed the injured ones, not wanting anyone to die¡ªyet. We brought up the two men and held everyone in the cargo hold. The flight controls were universal and very similar to Loriel¡¯s ship. I was the designated pilot, and our first stop was to pick up the other two men at Callem¡¯s farm. It gave me time to get some familiarity with flying the ship. My landing at the farm was unpleasant, and I clipped the edge of the drying shed that Gareth and I had built for Callem, destroying it. That was better than crushing the tobacco plants in the fields. Somehow, Callem managed to keep his tobacco crop in rotation while being an instructor at the academy. We added to our collection of Riffolk and dumped them in the hold with the others. Gareth took to gagging every one of them, as when they came to, they just screamed and threatened us. The next leg of the journey was to Aegis City, due north. I had traveled it enough to know the way without using the navigation, but when I was passing over Solaris City, I almost ran into another skyship that was departing. I admit I knew very little about actually flying a skyship. The controls were easy, but I think I was supposed to have either a spotter or a scanner array. I hadn¡¯t gotten far enough into my enchanting work to know how to make one, and I didn¡¯t think this cheap small trader had one anyway. I chose to land the ship on top of the Shiny Platinum rather than at the dockyards. This landing was slightly better after getting a feel for the gravimetric rune controls, but I still took out a row of planters on the roof. Fera would be upset, but hopefully, she would join us on our flight to the lowlands. Callem was on the roof before we even departed our ship, and his weapons were drawn. Sammie and Ullmark were standing behind him. Callem swore, ¡°Damn it, Storme, you gave everyone a heart attack. The entire building shook when you landed.¡± I was about to respond, but then I noticed Aelyn by the stairs, and my tongue was caught. It had been some time since I had seen her. Gareth jumped to the roof and said, ¡°What do you think of our new acquisition, Callem? We are calling her the Stuffed Goose.¡± Gareth¡¯s attempt at humor fell flat. I was soon standing next to Gareth in front of Callem, ¡°I got us transportation to leave Skyholme.¡± Callem looked at the ship and slowly nodded. He offered, ¡°I will send someone to explain the landing. Things have been crazy here. Tell me what is going on. Sedbastian¡¯s stone has been silent.¡± We retreated to Callem¡¯s apartment, which was filled with everyone except my father who was working at the docks. We explained what we learned from the Riffolk tied in our hold. Wynna explained what they knew. Basically, everyone not involved in this struggle for power was fleeing to the other islands. I kept avoiding eye contact with Aelyn, but after the explanation was all completed, she voiced, ¡°I can read their minds. I think it is best to know the Bricio¡¯s plan even if we are going to the lowlands.¡± Everyone was surprised, but tiny Lana shrieked, ¡°You can read minds! Did you? Please tell me you didn¡¯t?¡± Aelyn just wore a smug, knowing grin, which caused me to grin at Lana¡¯s face turning bright red. Given that Aelyn was willing to reveal her secret made me consider the offer to read the minds of our prisoners. The men on the skyship were just pawns on the Bricios. Callem didn¡¯t wait for everyone¡¯s disbelief to settle. ¡°Good idea. Aelyn and Storme, let¡¯s go ask some questions.¡± Chapter 93 The Coup Chapter 93 As we descended the hold, Callem said, ¡°I haven¡¯t heard from Sebastian.¡± Concern laced his voice. I hesitated to ask, ¡°And you want to go to the capital to find him?¡± ¡°It had crossed my mind. When you get to my age, you don¡¯t have many friends. You try to keep the few you do,¡± he said gravely. The hold was lit with poor aether lights, and Bleiz played with a knife while guarding the wide-eyed prisoners. Aelyn looked around. The ten men tasked with taking my sister and I were bound and gagged. Most looked afraid, but Callem pointed to the two that didn¡¯t without hesitation, ¡°Those two.¡± It wasn¡¯t long before the two were in chairs, with Callem standing in front of them. I really didn¡¯t want to see Callem in action again. Callem picked one of the men and asked, ¡°What did the Bricios want with Storme Hardlight and his sister?¡± The man looked reluctant to answer. Callem took out a stiletto. He placed the tip on the man¡¯s kneecap and repeated his question. Aelyn stepped forward, ¡°They were taking him to Halifax Bricio to be killed.¡± Aelyn¡¯s announcement had the man¡¯s eyes go wide with fear realizing the woman had just read his mind. It seemed too simple. He just wanted to kill me? I had started the chain reaction by winning his mithril shirt from his son in the duel, but to just kill me out of spite? Aelyn wasn¡¯t done, though. ¡°They were planning to kill Freya in front of you first.¡± I spun and looked at Aelyn, who looked sick, and her face confirmed to me that she was speaking the truth. My anger was clouding my vision again, and my pumping blood muted my hearing. I wanted to go immediately to the capital and end Halifax and his sons. Callem was continuing his questioning, ¡°What are the Bricio plans?¡± During the questioning, something triggered, and Aelyn immediately moved in front of the man Callem was questioning. Aelyn asked, ¡°Tell us about the Wolfguard!¡± Callem moved and let Aelyn take his place. Bleiz moved forward, interested as well. The man said nothing, but Aelyn¡¯s face twisted in disgust and horror. It was a few minutes of questions he didn¡¯t answer. But soon Aelyn stood and addressed us, ¡°The Bricios have been making their own Wolfguard. I don¡¯t know for how long, but this,¡± Aelyn¡¯s voice laced with disgust as she pointed at the leader, ¡°animal. Participated.¡± The man laughed, ¡°Close, but not that it matters. The Bricios are not breeding our own Wolfguard. They are just taking the cast-offs. The Riffolk were to toss the culled stock that didn¡¯t make the cut off the island.¡± Bleiz flashed forward and had his blade under the man¡¯s chin. He spoke carefully, ¡°Instead, we took the promising ones to the Bricio caves on Metallica Island. When the Bricios lost control of their dungeon, they no longer had the resources to feed them. It forced Otieno¡¯s hand. He had to use them or lose them.¡± He took a deep breath, ¡°He chose to use them. Teams of Wolfguard are stalking all those in succession for the Torrent and Miaden families. There will be only one family in a few days.¡± Callem tensed. He looked conflicted. I knew he had planned to go and search for Sebastian. He finally looked at me and then at Gareth. ¡°I will have Wynna charter a skyship to the lowlands for everyone.¡± He inhaled, ¡°I don¡¯t know why I can¡¯t let this go. My loyalty to Skyholme feels like a lost dream. But I can¡¯t sit by. I can¡¯t ask you to come as this is beyond dangerous.¡± I didn¡¯t hesitate, ¡°Callem, I am going. But I only want vengeance against Halifax and his sons. After that¡­.Skyholme can be left to its fate.¡± I think knowing Callem was going had emboldened me. I tried convincing Gareth to go to the lowlands with Freya and everyone else. His response was a rant, ¡°Dragon shit, Storme! If you are going to do something ridiculously foolish, don¡¯t think you are leaving me behind,¡± he crossed his arms in defiance. Aelyn had the same look on her face. Bleiz looked amused at my friends. The preparations were quick. I emptied my storage of dozens of crafted weapons and all my coins for my family to sell in the lowlands. I still hoped to join them eventually, but they should be well off if I couldn¡¯t. I didn¡¯t say goodbye to my parents or Freya. I couldn¡¯t in case they managed to convince me otherwise. The plan was to go to the Bricio estate, also known as the Black Spire. It was the indestructible tower of the high wizard Kurota, the man who had split the island and destroyed his race. This was where the Riffolk had been planning to bring me to kneel and be punished before Halifax Bricio. We questioned the prisoners again and knew that Halifax and his sons only had three Wolfguard between them after Otieno had purged their servants. The hiccup was that Abaddon supposedly had his Navy Harbinger warship docked there with his loyal crew. As the ship made its way to the capital island, I was standing next to Callem, steering the ship. Callem was my navigator. He knew enough about navigating the islands to give me feedback. The angle of approach, elevation, and landmarks in the capital in order to get us to the Bricio estate, where the Black Spire was located. As the skyship left the edge of Titan¡¯s Shield and moved in open air toward Skyholme, Callem offered, ¡°We should dispose of the Riffolk in the hold.¡± I replied, ¡°They are tied up mostly naked in the hold and can¡¯t do anything.¡± We were also wearing their clothes and armor as a disguise. ¡°If you don¡¯t have the stomach, I can handle it. I will knock them out and toss them overboard. The fall to the lowlands will kill them,¡± Callem said. ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be the fall that killed them but the ground stopping them,¡± I said as a bad joke. I didn¡¯t want to murder people. My joke got a small grin on the serious Callem. Bleiz came and stood near us. ¡°Storme, let me do it.¡± He had the coldest and most menacing visage I had ever seen on him. ¡°You know I grew up in an education pack. There were forty-three of us to start. The ones that failed were taken away one at a time.¡± He pointed and was suddenly growling out his words, ¡°They took my kin and tossed them off the island. It is only fitting they should meet the same fate. Allow me this, and I will never again ask another thing of you.¡± Callem had stepped back to let me make my decision. I looked into Bleiz¡¯s eyes, and they showed that he wanted vengeance. That was why I was going to confront Halifax, my own vengeance. I spoke with clarity, ¡°Bleiz, don¡¯t ever be afraid to ask me anything. As for this request.¡± I took a deep breath, ¡°Do it.¡± And with those words, I had committed the murder of ten men. Beliz took much pleasure in the act¡ªlining them up on deck. Pronouncing summary judgment on each and then throwing them over the railing one by one. When I didn¡¯t see fear in the eyes of one of the men, I paused the executions, ¡°Wait!¡± It was one of the leaders Callem had questioned. He was in boxers and had a ring and one oversized earring. I walked forward and removed both pieces of jewelry, which transferred his face to utter fear. I turned over the ring¡ªnonmagical, just a mix of gold and platinum. The earring was a runic device, and I examined the metallic runes¡ªsome type of light fall or feather fall device. The man started struggling, but he was gagged. ¡°You can proceed, Bleiz,¡± I said coldly. I handed the ring to Aelyn, who took it confused. I told her, ¡°Wear it. It is a feather fall ring.¡± She nodded and put it on. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Bleiz nodded at me and then unceremoniously threw the struggling man overboard. Both Gareth and Callem had watched the event. The trip on the Stuffed Goose took over two hours to approach the capital island. Gareth approached me on seeing it and said, ¡°You should have asked the delve team to join us. Now that we are here, I don¡¯t feel as confident.¡± I just shook my head. I had tried to convince both Gareth and Aelyn not to come. I let them make up their own minds in the end, and I think by letting Aelyn join us, I had repaired some of the damage to our relationship. Of course, we both were likely to die. Callem had given her half of his invisibility potions, so she had three. Gareth and I each had one remaining. I focused forward as the island appeared underneath us. It was eerily quiet. The normal sky traffic was gone. Only one large black ship orbited the Citadel in the distance. Bleiz said, ¡°The Absolution will defend the Citadel from all skyships. Keep us a good distance away from it.¡± Callem was on my right and pointed, ¡°There to the left of the city. That black line in the distance. That is the spire. It is about four miles outside the city.¡± I veered the ship and aimed for the spire. My heart was racing. Within the city, I could see small puffs of smoke rising and very infrequent flashes of light. They were fighting, and I wondered if it was the illicit Wolfguard hunting the unfortunate members of the families who couldn¡¯t find sanctuary in the Citadel. The Black Spire got more and more impressive as we approached. It must have reached 400 hundred feet into the air and seemed impossibly thin. They even had their own sky docks. Two large traders and a Harbinger warship occupied them. On the deck of the Harbinger, a number of men milled about. A bell toned for our arrival. It was not a call to arms. I came up with a stupid plan. ¡°Hey, everyone. Find something to grab onto. When I pass over the Phobos, I am going to cut the aether powering the anti-gravity runes.¡± Callum¡¯s eyes went wide before he grinned, liking the plan. Gareth and Aelyn¡¯s eyes were wide in fear as they looked for someplace to secure themselves. Bleiz had long since gone invisible, so I did not know his reaction to my bold pronouncement. I added, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I will create some aether shields for us to stand on; we are not going down with the ship.¡± I could see the Navy crew below me waving me off and heard them swearing as I was going to pass 100 feet over them. I was probably breaking some aviation laws or something. I created the aether discs, and we all gathered on them. I then cut the safeguards off and then the aether to the Stuffed Goose. It hung for just a second before falling away from beneath us. It was just a third the size of the Phobos, but it was still heavy enough to crash through the upper decks and into the decks below. I tried to make light of the situation, ¡°Damn, I still need to work on my landings.¡± I said while descending the aether discs to the ground and the chaos below. I was sharing a disc with the invisible Bleiz and felt him leave when we got 15 feet from the ground. The Black Spire was two hundred yards away, and soldiers were slowly coming out to answer the attack. I had hoped Abaddon had been below decks and had been killed, but enough of the Naval soldiers were gaining their senses that I needed to focus. Callum was already ending dazed men with grim efficiency. Gareth had seemed reluctant to join him, killing wounded and dazed men, but eventually swung his blade to remove the head of a partially trapped man. That broke his damn of reluctance. We couldn¡¯t leave the soldiers alive behind us. And these soldiers were traitors to Skyholme, supporting the coup. I used my lightning spear to distract one of the two men Gareth was engaged with. He didn¡¯t need my help, but I couldn¡¯t yet cross the line to kill someone. A few minutes later, Callem came up from the lower shattered decks. He had a grim expression and flicked the blade to get the blood off. He saw me, ¡°Take the potions, and we will approach the tower from the right.¡± Aleyn appeared next to me and held up her arm for me to heal. She had a deep slash, the only one of us injured. I healed her, and she drank her invisibility potion without saying a word. I turned, and maybe twenty men were grouped together and moving as a unit toward us. Gareth was already drinking. I told myself I needed to get my shit together. I pulled my falchion and then drank the potion. The Bricio estate soldiers were moving cautiously toward the wrecks. I scrambled down the side and listened for the others. Bleiz whispered to me from my right, ¡°I will be moving on right and have your back.¡± I noticed some grass pressed to my right. I wondered where Aelyn, Gareth, and Callem were. As the houseguards passed us, I breathed a sigh of relief. If they spent time on the wrecks, we would have less to deal with inside. We had been lucky so far¡ªno ranged weapons or magic. When we got within fifty yards of the tall spire, I suddenly saw Callem¡¯s outline. They had some defense to disrupt or dispel magic. Callem suddenly rolled forward, and a heavy crossbow thudded into the ground. Callem grunted loudly, ¡°Get inside the door as fast as you can.¡± I added an angled an aether shield toward the tower. Gareth appeared next and dodged a bolt himself. I was slightly shocked when Aelyan appeared to my left, and I added an aether shield to protect her. My shield thudded twice, deflecting bolts, as I reached the smooth wall. Callem and Gareth were already there. I didn¡¯t see Bleiz. ¡°Bleiz?¡± I asked the air. ¡°Here,¡± came a whisper. I didn¡¯t see him. I realized his invisibility necklace hadn¡¯t been canceled. It must have been a much stronger enchantment than the potions. The rest of us were completely visible now. I leaned against the wall with a slight balcony over us and looked back toward the skyship docks. The soldiers had already noticed us, and maybe a dozen were rushing back. Callem ordered, ¡°Gareth, take these and hold the door. The rest of us are going inside.¡± Callem handed Gareth two potions and disappeared inside the door. I followed a second later, trusting Callem¡¯s decision. The entire first floor was an open chamber with a 100¡¯ ceiling. Two wrap-around staircases were heading up along the walls to the second floor. A single stairway went down. The chamber was about 90¡¯ to the other side. Callem was moving to the stairs on the right and talking, ¡°The second level is the offices. The third and higher are residences. If they are here, they will be turtling up there.¡± I followed Callem, and there was a sudden clash of steel. Bleiz and another Wolfguard appeared, and they were engaged in violent combat. Callem hadn¡¯t noticed the invisible enemy and took a breath to assist. I also moved to assist, but Callem had already dispatched the surprised Wolfguard. Bleiz was bleeding from two deep wounds, so I moved to heal him. I senesed Bleiz also had a minor poison effect I quickly removed from him. Callem swore, looking at the dead Wolfguard, ¡°That is one of Otieno¡¯s personal guards. He must be here as well.¡± My eyes went wide. If Otieno was here, we could expect more than three Wolfsguard. Usually, a Triumvirate seat had a dozen or more Wolfsguard with them when they left the Citadel for public appearances. ¡°What do we do?¡± I asked Callem. Callem looked at the stairs, ¡°We kill Otieno and break the Bricios.¡± He paused, ¡°Storme, I can handle this by myself. You should leave.¡± It took me a moment to decide. ¡°No, let¡¯s go,¡± I said, moving past Callem. Bleiz, now healed, paused momentarily on the corpse to remove a heavy belt. He handed it to me when he caught up to me. It had similar enchantments to the necklace I had given Bleiz but required aether to be channeled from the wearer instead of relying on aether stones. I put on the belt and rushed to catch up with Callem. I heard Gareth yell from the doorway at me as he got ready to handle the returning soldiers, ¡°Stormy, don¡¯t lose!¡± I sent my senses into the belt as I climbed the stairs. It was a complete stealth belt, silence, scent, and sound. The problem was it only worked when you were stationary. If you moved at all, the effect was broken. It was more useful for spying than attacking. Combat up ahead had me rushing. At the top of the stairs, I found a second dead Wolfsguard and two regular guards. Then another beheaded Wolfsguard. Callem was possessed in his determination. He was seeking vengeance for all of Skyholme, for everything that had been done to Callem. He was unleashing years of anger. I followed the path of destruction through the second level. A few soldiers with crossbows were mixed in the carnage on the floor. This was too easy. Callem was doing all the work. We finally caught up to Callem, and he didn¡¯t look so great. He had one bolt embedded in his shoulder and multiple bleeding cuts. He was at the stairs going up to the next level which was the residential level. Two guards were engaged with him completely on the defensive. Callem crossed the two blades I had made for him in front of him, and I was curious for only a second. A massive blue-flamed fireball hit the crossed blades, throwing Callem back and down the stairs and into the wall. The two human guards took a lot of the blast and were burning corpses. I had an aether shield in front of me, but still, the concussive blast knocked me twenty feet down the corridor. Aelyn did not have one of my aether shields and was blown into a doorway and struggled to stand before collapsing into unconsciousness. I tried to move but needed some healing. Two Wolfsguard started rushing down the stairs toward Callem, who wasn¡¯t moving. I healed myself quickly and was stumbling forward to defend Callem. I wasn¡¯t going to get there in time. I had failed Callem. I did look away, and relief flooded me as Bleiz appeared between the Wolfguard and Callem and engaged them. I could get Aelyn up quickly or spend time healing Callem. Bleiz was struggling with the two Wolfsguard as well. I needed to decide whether to heal Aelyn or Callem first¡­. Chapter 94 The Purge Chapter 94 The Purge Callem¡¯s arm twisted awkwardly, and his leather armor smoked before me. I activated my lightning reflexes and went right into overdrive. I took a quick look at Aelyn, who was unconscious. I could wake her with a quick touch but instead raced toward Callem. I hoped Aelyn might stay unconscious and not be involved in the battle further. I used my flash heal from my lesser restoration spell on Callem and did a quick diagnostic. Callem¡¯s body was a wreck under the diagnostic spell; damaged organs, broken bones, cuts, and internal bleeding. The flash heal was the only version of the restoration I could use while under the influence of overdrive. Although I was moving faster, channeling aether outside of my body to others took the same time. The flash heal should have stabilized Callem. It had been less than a second, and I moved to join Bleiz on the stairs. He was being pressured back and was bleeding freely from some deep cuts. I yelled, ¡°Disengage to the right, and I will take over.¡± Bleiz did as he was told, flinging two daggers at the two uninjured Wolfsguard to cause a pause in their attack as he jumped off the stairs to the right. ¡°Give Callem some healing potions,¡± I screamed as I cast a dual-layer aether shield to block one of the Wolfsguard and went hard at the other. One of the aether shields shattered quickly from an attack as my heavy falchion met a buckler on the other Wolfsguard. Sparks flew as the buckler had some type of magical enchantment on it. My powerful weapon enchantments did not penetrate the buckler. The Wolfsguard stabbed his long sword at me in a practiced motion, and I smiled grimly. My speed allowed me to parry and then sweep my falchion low. Normally, the high ground would be an advantage, but not to someone moving as fast as me. The sharpness enchantment on my falchion took both legs below the knee off the Wolfsguard, who crumbled to the ground, spurts of blood pumped from the femoral artery. He tried to get dying revenge on me but had no leverage without legs, and I just parried the weak swing and backed down the stairs as my second aether shield was destroyed by the other Wolfsguard. I exchanged twice with the other remaining Wolfgaurd before surprising him with a lightning-fast two-handed thrust at his chin after a strong parry. The tip of the blade went into his surprised throat. I twisted the blade hard and retreated back to Callem¡¯s side. My fight had taken seconds, and Bleiz was just now pouring the potions in his throat. The famed Wolfsguard couldn¡¯t handle my speed or instincts honed over many nights at Twin Rocks. The legless Wolfsguard was trying to consume a potion, and I flashed to him and shattered the vial. I watched the life leave his eyes. I had killed without hesitation. And I felt¡ªnothing. I thought I might have felt sick or guilty for taking the life of a sapient, but no. Maybe my time in the dungeon had cured me. I didn¡¯t have time to reflect on it. I spun around, ¡°Did you see the mage?¡± I asked Bleiz. Knowing he was the real threat. Bleiz looked up in shock at the two Wolfsguard bleeding out in quiet death throes. He caught his tongue, ¡°No, didn¡¯t see anyone besides the two Wolfsguard, but neither of them is a spell wielder. It is going to take time for the old man to recover from the potions. We should retreat.¡± I slowly nodded, but a noise from the other end of the hallway had us look up to find Gareth running at us. He had a few cuts but didn¡¯t look the worse for wear. He reached us, ¡°Another skyship is landing. I think the Bricios called for help. I cut down a dozen men trying to get in, but that new skyship had dozens of Wolfsguard in Bricio¡¯s colors on its deck. We have just minutes before they reach us.¡± He paused in shock at seeing Callem. I snapped Gareth out of his disbelief, ¡°Callem will recover in a few minutes. He took a powerful fireball to the chest.¡± My mind raced. We were trapped in the tower. Below us would be Wolfsguard reinforcements, and above us would be Halifax, Abaddon, and possibly Otieno. So coming here was a bad idea. I decided on a course of action, ¡°Gareth, give Aelyn a potion, stash her in a room, then stay with Callem until he is on his feet. We will clear the next floor. I can use an arcane lock on the heavy door at the top of these stairs to slow them down. We need to get to Otieno and Halifax. Bleiz, follow me.¡± If we stayed where we were, it would be over quickly. I needed to get all the enemies in front of us and not sandwiching us from both sides. Bleiz vanished as I turned and raced up the stairs. Surprise was our best weapon right now. A large chamber opened up at the top of the stairs. Reaching the open floor plan, I moved to the right immediately to avoid any surprise attack. Nothing came. This looked like some ballroom with doors on the perimeter. The ceiling had large arches with aether lights embedded at their zenith. I didn¡¯t see anyone, and my heart was pounding in my ears. There had to be enemies here somewhere. Callem had said the second level was offices, and this floor was residences. Then where did the stairs on the far end of this large room go? The spire was much taller, so there had to be more floors. Bleiz whispered, ¡°I can sense people in the rooms to the right. I don¡¯t sense anyone to the left.¡± I nodded in the direction of the invisible Bleiz and moved to the first door on the left. ¡°No one inside this one,¡± he rasped quietly at me. I opened the door anyway to search. Inside was a large sitting room with doors to bedrooms. The furnishings were opulent. So there were apartment suites on this floor. As I left the room, Callem reached the floor staggering, with a look of annoyance on his face. I turned off my lightning reflexes to conserve aether and immediately healed my minor strains from using the spell. Callem located me and spoke a warning, ¡°It was Baladon. He was at the top of the stairs.¡± Aelyn appeared from behind Callem, and I pursed my lips. I wanted her tucked in one of the rooms. She didn¡¯t need to be involved any further. Gareth was the last to enter and shut the door. I walked to the door near Gareth and cast my arcane lock spell as everyone huddled around me. Callem spoke, ¡°I have only been here once, long ago. I was escorting Lillian Torrent to meet Otieno Bricio. I didn¡¯t know there were more floors,¡± he pointed his sword at the stairs on the far side. ¡°I am guessing the upper floors will hold the people we are seeking.¡± I was layering a number of alarm spell effects on the door to slow down the reinforcements. ¡°Callem, the rooms on the right have some people in them. I think they are the Bricio servants,¡± I explained. ¡°Let me heal you first,¡± I placed my hand on him and completed the work that the potions had started. He was also poisoned with a tier 2 neural blocker. I had no idea how he was still moving, but I purged the poison, and relief flooded his face. It took almost a minute, but getting our best warrior back to health was important. Callem was already much thinner from all the healing work. I checked Gareth and Aelyn as well before we went to the doors. We quickly worked through the rooms on the right, and they were all indentured servants, thirty-four of them, their binding tattoos clearly displayed on their necks as they huddled together. Callem pulled out one older woman who had no tattoo on her neck. ¡°You are Sylph Bricio,¡± Callem stated sternly. Her eyes went wide in surprise at being recognized. ¡°This is Halifax¡¯s sister,¡± he explained. ¡°She always was a bit of a coward. Probably thought she could hide with the servants and remain overlooked.¡± The old woman¡¯s sour face told us Callem had guessed correctly. He addressed the old woman, ¡°I am hurt you don¡¯t remember me, Sylph. We don¡¯t have time to catch up,¡± Callem said with some mock malice. ¡°How many Wolfsguard are on the floors above? And is Otieno upstairs?¡± The old woman was quiet, and I thought she might stall. She finally gave in under Callem¡¯s stare. ¡°Five. There are five Wolfsguard upstairs. Most of Otieno¡¯s command is escorting the lesser Wolfsguard or getting ready to assault the Citadel.¡± She grinned and turned to gloating, ¡°You are too late. The city has been purged of Torrent and Miaden blood, and the Citadel will be swarmed in hours. We thought a small army was attacking when we saw the skyship crash into the Harbinger. Instead, it is just four of you! If you surrender now, we can promise a painless death.¡± Callem tightened his grip on his blades. Aelyn came forward and said, ¡°She has some mental guards, but I think she is telling the truth.¡± Callem nodded to Aelyn, who stepped back and focused on the woman again. ¡°Is Otieno in the Spire?¡± Callem angrily forced out. I felt a wave of killing intent wash off of Callem. It was thick, and it felt like a true predator was crushing me. It was enough to scare the old woman. Urine pooled under her. She forced out resignedly, ¡°Yes, Otieno is upstairs.¡± After the confirmation, Callem¡¯s blade flashed to her and back, and the woman¡¯s hands went to her throat. Blood pooled out from her fingers, and she slowly fell to the floor as the servants cowered. I followed Callem out of the room in shock, and he explained, ¡°Sylph married a friend of mine, Dresden Torrent. Dresden was poisoned after she was with her first child. She resumed her Bricio last name, and sold his assets to Otieno for protection. Since the Bricios controlled the courts, no investigation or charges were brought. She has been judged now.¡± I fell in step with Callem understanding his judgement. ¡°Callem, can we win?¡± I asked hesitantly. ¡°We probably should have found out if they also had more than one mage upstairs.¡± Callem¡¯s eyes were locked forward as he walked, ¡°You are right. I let anger cloud my judgment,¡± he centered himself. ¡°It depends on which Wolfsguard is with Otieno. He has two powerful mages in his retinue but may have added more in the last twenty years.¡± He sighed, ¡°You should use your discs to escape out a window down the backside of the tower.¡± Gareth, who had been listening, spoke, ¡°We are not going to leave you, Callem. If we can cut off the head of this Bricio snake, maybe those coming from below will stop their attack.¡± It was a false hope but still a reason to press on. As we got to the steps going up, my first alarm spell went off, causing a loud boom to echo from below. The image that flashed in my mind was two young Wolfsguard trying to open the door. I spoke, ¡°It looks like it is the lesser Wolfsguard. An element of their attack on the Citadel was probably diverted here since they arrived so quickly. That door is thick and will take time to break down.¡± Another boom went off as my next alarm spell was triggered. ¡°If they have a mage, though, it will take less than a minute to get through.¡± It was a circular staircase, and Callem was in the lead, with me behind him. I turned my head, ¡°Aelyn, stay at the bottom of these stairs and rush up to alert us when they break through.¡± I checked my aether next. I was down to about 80% of my max. She gave me a pained look but then nodded. We slowed as we got to the next floor. Another heavy door barred our way. Bleiz came forward and listened, ¡°I can sense something feint. They are not close to the door.¡± Callem opened the door, and a small fire explosion washed up his arm. It was a weak version of an evolution for the alarm spell. It hadn¡¯t fazed him, and I healed him before he opened the door. The expansive circular floor was open with large windows along the perimeter. I assumed it offered a spectacular view, but all our attention was focused on the far side of the room. Five Wolfsguard stood in front of Otieno Bricio. To his right was Abaddon with four men in Navy uniforms. To his left were Baladon and Halifax. A number of others in Bricio marked clothes stood behind them. I immediately noticed Baladon was charging another fireball. Shit. I needed to decide as it was getting bigger and bigger the longer I hesitated and the more aether he invested. I rushed forward in lightning reflexes overdrive again. Callem had said something to try and stop me, but I had a plan¡ªnot a good plan, but a plan. I was 90 feet across the room and raised my falchion to appear as much of a threat as possible. I needed Baladon to target me and not our group. One of the Wolfgarud rushed to attack me at Otieno¡¯s direction, but Baladon had already decided his target was my group. I was only 40¡¯ from him when he released the roiling ball of yellow and orange flame. He was aiming at my companions, but I juked into the fireball path and had all three of my aether shields stacked in front of me at a 45-degree angle. I planned to direct the blast straight up. Then Callem, Gareth, and Bleiz could engage while I healed. The fireball glanced off my shield¡­damn, it was huge¡­it bounced straight up, but it exploded before it hit the ceiling. My world went white as I was thrown away like a rag doll. All the windows shattered, and almost everyone was thrown to the ground. The Bricios took as much damage as I did, as the blast was closer to them than my companions. Spell defenses flared, and a few of the men and women did not move after the wave threw them into the wall. I rolled to my feet when I came to my senses, activated flash heal, and then focused on healing my ears as both had ruptured. My eyes were next as the heat of the blast had burned them to blindness. I couldn¡¯t have cast my thermostatic aura in the short time I had in my rush toward Baladon. That spell would have saved me from a lot of this heat damage. The groans echoing around me meant no one had escaped unscathed. I stumbled to my feet, and started hearing blades clashing. When my eyes focused, Callem was engaged with two smoking Wolfsguard missing much of their fur and Abaddon. Gareth was occupied by the four naval soldiers and one person I did not recognize. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it The lone Wolfsguard that had charged me was standing but clearly blinded near one of the windows. Bleiz appeared and unceremoniously kicked him out the shattered window before charging to help into the melee to help Callem. It was utter chaos as not many people had defenses against concussive blasts. Setting off a fireball that size in this room had been a mistake. I guess they didn¡¯t teach thermal expansion in mage school. Well, Baladon had planned for the fireball to explode on the far side of the chamber in the midst of my team. If that had worked, my group would have borne the brunt of the blast and heat. Instead, I managed to catch the entire Bricio group in the blast, using up a lot of their defensive magics and enchantments and causing injuries they were wasting time healing. I slowly finished my healing while cranking up my overdrive again, which had been cut off when I had been briefly knocked out. My target was Halifax Bricio. Aelyn had said the man wanted to kill my sister in front of me, and for that, he was going to die. I rushed forward, and he had recovered enough to see me. Four men from the back row joined Halifax as I engaged him. They probably thought five on one were good odds, and overpowering me would be easy. I started swearing immediately as the exchange of weapons started. I was ridiculously faster than the five of them, but they had magic galore. Every death blow was met with a flash preventing my blade from reaching flesh. Baladon had recovered, too, and was sucking down a healing or aether potion. I couldn¡¯t tell as I was thoroughly occupied. Callem was being pressed, but Bleiz was almost to him to flank the Wolfsguard. Abaddon had switched off to join his Navy men in attacking Gareth. Gareth had taken down one of the Navy officers but was barely holding his own now that he was surrounded. I tried a surprise move. I moved to attack the group of men and women in the back who hadn¡¯t joined the fray and were still licking their wounds from the explosion. My move surprised them and cut down two men instantly with a stab to the heart and a slash to the back of the neck. Being here, I assumed they were essential members of the Bricio family and didn¡¯t have solid combat abilities. If there was a good chance we would not live today, I wanted to kill as many Bricios as possible. I made the mistake of leaving a woman alive, and I found a dagger in my back when I turned to my next target. The bitch got through my leather armor and into my scapula. I couldn¡¯t heal it until the blade was removed. I retreated and was pursued. The group sensed blood. I pulled the dagger and healed enough to engage the first brave soul to catch me, who suddenly looked frightened as I turned on him in a fury. His magic armor didn¡¯t hold from my three successive strikes. The last strike penetrated his skull through his eye socket. With him down, my first domino had fallen, and I figured I was in a good position to take the rest. A lance of fire burned suddenly into the side of my chest. It was launched by Baladon, who had recovered. Now that I was aware he was back in action, my enhanced reflexes would prevent him from striking me again. I sneaked a peak at Bleiz and Callem. They were both seriously wounded but only had two Wolfsguard remaining and would prevail soon. The other two had been injured and were now neutralized. We had a chance to win this fight¡ªbefore being overrun with dozens of Wolfsguard reinforcements. The room suddenly went into shadow. A skyship blocked a series of blown-out windows. A flash of hope quickly ended as I heard Otieno scream for everyone to get on board. The ship was not here to save us. Baladon was the first to run to the skyship, abandoning his kin, but I suspected he was almost out of aether after the two large fireballs. I decided Halifax was not getting away from me and blocked him from escaping. The other three Bricios I was fighting fled as they abandoned Halifax to the speed mage with the big sword¡ªme. Halifax was a good swordsman, and only my increased speed had kept me alive to this point. Now that Halifax no longer had support, I was quickly able to drain all his defense artifacts. The panic on his face grew as I would not let him pass to reach the hovering skyship. He threw a metallic ball at me, and I reflexively caught it. My metal sense went into the ball instantly and evaporated the spell array. The ball contained a large earth explosion spellwork, and if the ball had touched the floor, I would have been pierced by earth spikes. I sent the ball to my dimensional space to a stunned Halifax. He roared and charged, engaging in a flurry of attacks. I guessed he planned to feint and get past me to the skyship. He abandoned his defense, not wanting to risk being left behind. I used an aether shield to prevent him from swinging his sword, and my enchanted blade slid into his unprotected heart and out his back¡ªall his defense runes had been consumed. I twisted the blade and extracted it before he could get any revenge on me. Abaddon screamed in frustration, seeing me kill his father. Gareth had not let Abaddon, the skyship captain, disengage to help. I don¡¯t think Baladon was even aware his father was dead, as he was already below decks on the skyship outside the shattered window. My goal was completed, and I took stock of the room. The surviving Bricios were jumping out the window to the skyship. Abaddon launched a furious and angry assault on Gareth. Gareth was down on one knee, four dead men around him, and Abbadon standing over him. I couldn¡¯t reach him in time. Bleiz and Callem still had two stubborn, injured Wolfsguard remaining but couldn¡¯t break away. I focused on Gareth and tried to use my exchange ability for the first time¡­there was a block. Shit, I forgot about the Heart Stone. I started sprinting toward my friend, hoping to reach him before Abaddon delivered the final blow. I suddenly got disoriented and sick when I got within twenty feet of him. I had drained most of my aether pool and activated my exchange ability. My aether pool had been half full, so it took 2000 aether to use at 20 feet. I quickly realized the Heart Stone didn¡¯t prevent teleportation but massively increased the cost. I skidded to a stop, turned to face Abaddon, and ended my lightning reflexes before I bottomed out my aether and got dizzy and disoriented from it. Abaddon¡¯s face was shocked. Gareth was standing up, holding his bleeding side. Callem had taken a Wolfsguard sword to his side in an attempt to reach Gareth as well. Most of the living Bricios were on the ship. Callem looked at me and the remaining people, ¡°Storme, don¡¯t let Otieno get away!¡± Well fuck. I had less than 1% of my aether remaining. That was just 20 aether! I couldn¡¯t use lightning reflexes. To make matters worse, Gareth rasped, ¡°Storme, I was just luring him in closer. I had everything under control.¡± Abaddon took stock, turned, and ran out the window, figuring I was not a good match for him. I couldn¡¯t chase him with almost no aether. Otieno was also retreating like a master villain, his two remaining Wolfsguard backing away with him. The two remaining Wolfsguard were excellent fighters as they had minimal damage and were protecting Otieno¡¯s escape. I moved behind Callem and started to heal him as we followed the back-peddling Wolfsguard. As Callem healed, he whispered, ¡°Otieno has no remaining shields. I can take him down if you distract the Wolfsguard.¡± I whispered, ¡°I am out of aether. I used it to save Gareth.¡± I felt Callem¡¯s body tense in frustration under my hand, healing him. Callem¡¯s injuries were extensive, and I had no idea how he had still been fighting. He had three types of poisons in his blood to make him weaker, slower, and feel pain more intensely. They were tier 1 and tier 2 poisons, so I cleared them from his system and felt Callem go on alert. The smugness of Otieno walking away made me go all in. I whispered, ¡°Okay, Callem, we will give you an opening.¡± I commanded, ¡°Bleiz, Distract the Wolfsguard for a second with me,¡± and he complied, rushing forward. When Bleiz moved forward, I moved to flank the other Wolfsguard. Both were forced to engage us to let their master retreat. I used all my tricks. My blade flashed with my alarm spell, blinding the Wolfsguard. A blade pierced my stomach. I cast a privacy bubble around us, removing all sound. The Wolfsguard swung an arc, clipped my shoulder, and parried my blade. Don¡¯t be predictable, I scolded myself. Callem was moving between the two Wolfsguard. Bleiz wrapped his up in a hug, preventing him from blocking Callem but getting a blade through the ribs instead. Callem tackled Otieno as he reached the window, forcing him down. They rolled to the edge and went over into the space between the Spire and the skyship. Bleiz¡¯s Wolfsguard broke free and rushed to the gap to save its master. My Wolfsguard had his head removed by a limping Gareth. He never heard Gareth¡¯s approach. It was all shock as Callem and Otieno were gone. Abaddon ordered the lone Wolfsguard to the ship. He hesitated and then jumped onto the skyship. The skyship swung away from the building. I breathed relief¡ªand some blood. I moved to Bleiz to remove the weapons stuck in him and stabilize him. Gareth was in shock, and I stabilized him next. ¡°He cannot be gone, Storme. He is going to climb up any second and tell us everything we did wrong in the fight, right?¡± Gareth continued staring as I used what little aether I had to prepare us for the next fight. We had almost no time before Aelyn came charging up the stairs, ¡°They are coming!¡± Gareth was downing a healing potion. His shirt and left leg were completely soaked in blood, and he looked pale. I knew his boast of saying he was playing possum was false. Aelyn merged with our group and spoke anxiously, ¡°Over fifty Wolfsguard are coming!¡± Our group was heavily injured, and fifty Wolfsguard swarming the room would easily overrun us. Bleiz looked at the stairs going up and pointed. It would help us from getting surrounded. We all moved to the stairs. The room suddenly exploded around us, throwing us around like rag dolls. I rolled to my knees, trying to orient myself. The skyship was firing its aether cannons into the room. I was dazed but aware enough to realize Gareth was dragging Aelyn toward the safety of the stairs. Bleiz was at my side, coughing blood but helping me stand. I healed his damaged lungs and got his ribs back in place. He would have to suffer with his other dozen broken bones for now. My aether was just too low, and if you were not dying, I was not healing. Bleiz grunted in pain, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, their weapons will not be strong enough to destroy the black stone. It is reinforced with aetheric runes. All the old buildings are.¡± Soon, we were all sheltered in the stairwell. Five more blasts happened as I healed my concussion and organ damage. I pulled healing potions from my dimensional space and handed them out. I soon ran out of aether on the others. My aether regenerated at around 4 per minute, and I had consumed a healing potion earlier, so I couldn¡¯t mix an aether restorative potion. Aelyn slumped next to me, ¡°The door at the top of these stairs is warded.¡± I stumbled up the stairs and tried to break the enchantment with my arcane lock spell, but it created a backlash as the spell was much stronger than a tier 1 arcane lock spell. The backlash gave me a major headache, and I couldn¡¯t focus. Soon, we were all huddled around the unpassable door. Bleiz said, ¡°When they stop firing the arcane cannons, the Wolfsguard will rush us,¡± he said gravely. Gareth smiled and, with gusto, said, ¡°Then we will kill them all!¡± Bleiz shook his head, ¡°We are all injured. I suggest you all flee, and I will draw their attention and hold them,¡± He pointed at a small window in the stairwell. We were over a hundred feet in the air. And if we left, the skyship would spot us. I pulled out the invisibility necklace from my storage and handed it to Aelyn. I had already given her the feather fall ring. ¡°Use these and go out the window. Link them with your aether. The necklace will make you invisible, and use the feather fall artifact to bring youself softly to the ground.¡± Aelyn looked out the window, taking the item. She spun around, ¡°Other skyships are coming! The Bricio¡¯s skyship is fleeing!¡± We all rushed to the window to confirm. Three Harbinger warships were incoming, and the Bricios were fleeing. The broken Phobos, the warship I had crushed with the Stuffed Goose, was also lifting off the ground. The Stuffed Goose slid off as the Phobos went into the air. The two Bricio-controlled Harbinger warships fled. And the three Harbinger landed, Bleiz yelled, ¡°If you are staying, then I need some help down here!¡± Sounds of combat erupted from the stairs as Bleiz engaged the Wolfsguard. Gareth left my side to help him. If we could hold out long enough, we might survive this. I was exhausted, and without my aether, I knew I would not be much help but would join them. ¡°Aelyn, go out the window and tell the men we need their help up here quickly.¡± She looked at me momentarily before putting the items on and squeezing out the window. I waited a few breaths before descending the stairs to help fend off the Wolfsguard wave. I stood behind Gareth and Bleiz and healed them when they rotated, as only two could fight abreast in the stairs. I had a staff that I used as a spear to help. My healing was what kept them going. But I could not replace blood loss, and then we were slowing down from fatigue. Suddenly, the press of Wolfsguard on the stairs ended. A voice rang up the stairs, ¡°Storme and Gareth? I am Admiral Fystro Torrent. We must get to the Citadel immediately if you come with me immediately. It is under attack.¡± We descended to the room to find Aelyn standing next to a man in a Naval uniform. The admiral didn¡¯t wait for conversation as he started to retreat back down the tower. Dozens of dead Wolfsguard littered the stairs and the room. They were all youthful in appearance, and Bleiz stopped at one to kneel. I paused to stand next to him. He looked up at me, ¡°My sister.¡± His voice had pain in it. I placed my hand on his shoulder and waited for him. When he finally stood, we raced to catch up with the group. I saw Gareth kneeling over a man outside the tower and rushed to him. It was Callem. He was on top of Otieno, gripping both his blades. One of his heavy, short swords piercing the man¡¯s heart, and the other one piercing his neck. I put my hand on Gareth¡¯s shoulder. I do not think Gareth had cried in years, but his tears flowed now. Callem was face down, and I thought I would move him off Otieno. When I touched the old warrior, he was alive. How? I did not know. I used all eight of my remaining aether and screamed for a medic from the skyship. Gareth joined me in calling for a medic. It still took too long. He arrived and loaded Callem onto a stretcher with two soldiers to bring him to the skyship. The Harbinger warship was named Stella¡¯s Rose, on the bow. Everything was happening so fast. The two other warships had already headed to the Citadel. As Stella¡¯s Rose lifted off, I stayed with Callem and healed him as my aether became available. It was going to be a quick trip to the Citadel. Aelyn came and explained what was happening, ¡°Admiral Fystro¡¯s fleet was sent to the lowlands three days ago to protect an outpost. He raced back when he discovered it was a ruse to take his Harbingers away from Skyholme. His fleet first attacked the Bricio estate on the island of Metallica, as all indications were that the Bricios would be hiding there, waiting for the fighting to finish. On his way to the Citadel, he noticed the Harbinger ship firing on the Black Spire and diverted three of his ships here. If he had known the Bricios were on the two escaping Harbingers, he would have pursued them, but it was too late.¡± I nodded and asked, ¡°Gareth, will you help liberate the Citadel?¡± Gareth nodded, looking at Callem¡¯s unconscious body, ¡°Yes, it is what Callem would have done.¡± ¡°It is not your fight, Gareth,¡± I tried to convince him. ¡°Maybe not, but it feels like the right thing to fight for,¡± he said in a severe voice. ¡°Bleiz, can you do me a favor?¡± He didn¡¯t move. ¡°Protect Gareth when he goes in to fight.¡± A very slight nod from him confirmed he would. The ship was descending and on the rear of the Citadel, near the Navy docks. I didn¡¯t see the black Wolfsguard skyship, Absolution, in the sky. ¡°I will follow. But I will hang back and heal as my aether recovers,¡± I said after considering. Gareth looked to be in his element on the far side of the deck, mingling with the soldiers. I ensured Callem was being watched as the men flowed off the ship. I followed at the back of the rushing soldiers, with Aelyn walking at my side. Chapter 95 The Rescue Chapter 95 The Rescue We had been given yellow armbands to denote what side we were on. It was like we were playing some sick war game. Aelyn walked next to me well back on the stream of men entering the Citadel. From my understanding, the Bricios had managed to send away most of the battleships on long patrols out of the range of communication stones for their three-day coup. They then attacked all the succession seats of the Torrents and Miadens in the city. The remaining seats turtled up in the Citadel. The Blackguard were sworn to protect everyone in the Citadel, so the remaining members of the families sought their protection. As we walked, Aelyn said she heard some of the Citadel Blackguard had betrayed their own and let the Bricios faux Wolfsguard into the Citadel. The battle had been raging for hours within the Citadel walls. Skyholme was never going to be the same with the loss of the Blackguard. Even if they survived, they could never be trusted again. As we entered the southern gates, two Naval soldiers briefly questioned us before letting us in. The Citadel was a sprawling complex with towers, wings, multiple skyship docks, gardens, courtyards, and a massive underground complex. Aelyn paused at the stairs descending into the lower complex. ¡°What?¡± I asked as we could hear faint sounds of fighting in the distance. She looked at the dark, unguarded stairs, ¡°My mother. Maybe they keep the prisoners here in a dungeon.¡± Her face looked hopeful. ¡°I may never get another chance to free her.¡± I paused and said unconvincingly, ¡°If we win, I am sure they will free her.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t know that for sure,¡± she pleaded. I looked around, and we were the only ones in the corridor. I checked my internal clock; enough time had passed that I wouldn¡¯t suffer adverse effects. I pulled out a minor aether potion from storage and drank it, ¡°Ok, Aelyn, I¡¯m in.¡± It was only going to replenish a drop of my vast aether pool, but anything was welcome. We descended into the depths of the Citadel. The walls were the same clean white stone found in abundance in the upper city buildings. At the bottom of the first landing, we found our first bodies. Three young men in Miaden colors were killed with bladed weapons. The blood had congealed, so they had been dead for some time. Aelyn walked past them into the hallway lit with aether lights. After twenty minutes of wandering, passing dead bodies, and checking doors, a frustrated Aelyn said, ¡°We need to find someone alive. The complex down here is too big. We need to get directions.¡± ¡°What if they don¡¯t want to tell us?¡± I said skeptically. Both the defenders and attackers were unlikely to help us. Aelyn rolled her eyes at me, ¡°I will read their mind. This place is a maze; all we have found are storage rooms.¡± A sound in the distance had us both pause and then rush toward it. The dim aether lights flashed by as we went deeper into the Citadel¡¯s underside. Maybe this was not the best course of action. The Blackguard supposedly resided under the Citadel. We finally caught up to the sound, and it was three children wandering aimlessly and arguing with each other. On questioning them, we learned they were Torrents and hiding down here from the rogue Wolfsguard. They were unaware of the prison¡¯s location but knew from their parents¡¯ stories that criminals were secured somewhere down here. Aelyn¡¯s hope grew at hearing there was a prison. The children did point out the markings on the wall for us. The symbols were left over from the avian race that once ruled Skyholme. The symbols were used as navigation tools, indicating which direction to travel. According to the children, Aelyn decided to follow the symbol that meant crypt. A few hallways and stairs later, we ran into a Blackguard who was bleeding out. He looked up at us with defeated eyes. I asked, ¡°Who attacked you?¡± He considered me for a moment and shrugged, ¡°The sullied. The reborn cast-offs came to seek their vengeance.¡± He laughed, and blood sputtered out his mouth. Aelyn stood before the Wolfsguard cautiously, ¡°Where is the prison for the traitors? Is it in the Citadel?¡± She studied him, and I summoned a healing potion. Aelyn¡¯s eyes flashed to me. ¡°We need to follow this symbol,¡± he hand-slapped the wall, indicating a different symbol than the one we had been following. She rushed off. I carefully handed the Wolfsguard the potion, and he took it wide-eyed, realizing he was not going to die today. I figured he was not one of the corrupted Blackguard if he had been fighting the faux Wolfsguard. Aelyn was moving furiously through the Citadel tunnels. Two Wolfsguard jumped her around a corner, and she was barely able to block them. I activated overdrive and dispatched both of them. They were wearing the Bricio colors and were extremely young, so these were the faux Wolfsguard raised by the Bricios. I healed the slash on Aelyn¡¯s shoulder before we continued more cautiously. Aelyn was determined to find her mother, and we finally entered a wide corridor with heavy doors at the end. Two Blackguard and four faux Wolfsguard were dead in front of the doors. We approached cautiously and confirmed they were all dead. Aelyn tried the door. ¡°It is locked, but I think this is the prison. She must be on the other side.¡± She started searching the Wolfsguard for a key while I put my hand on the door. ¡°It is magically sealed, Aelyn. I think I can open it with my arcane lock spell,¡± I told her while unraveling the aetheric weaves of another mage¡¯s arcane lock, sealing the door shut. When I finished, I pulled in the latch, and it released, and the heavy door swung silently outward. We had to move the bodies to get into the hallway beyond. Aelyn moved inside when we got it open enough for her to enter. I had a bad premonition about what we might find. I remembered Pomare Torrent had refused to release Niserie Imiduis, and he had a dark look on his face when he read the parchment. I hurried to follow Aelyn. The corridor was well-lit with aether-powered lights, and Aelyn was walking slowly and cautiously. Further down the corridor were rows of heavy doors with small barred windows in each. Aelyn cautiously approached the first and looked in. Satisfied, she moved to the next and the next. I moved to catch up with her and looked into the first room. Black glossy stone lined the walls, and an old man in dirty rags leaned against the wall. He looked up. His face was shrunken and cracked with aged lines. His blue eyes looked hollow. I thought maybe I could clean a little of his filthy cell and tried to use my cleanliness spell. There was an aether barrier at the door. I tried to open the door, but it was not arcane locked. A conventional key was required. Aelyn was five doors down, and I moved to catch up, leaving the man behind. ¡°Aelyn, did you find any keys on the Wolfsguard you searched?¡± I asked. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Distractedly, she answered, ¡°No, neither of the Blackguard had anything but weapons.¡± There was nothing I could do for the man. I could not convince Aelyn to abandon her quest now, either. I searched the tiny alcoves between the doors, looking for keys as Aelyn advanced. All I found were pitchers of water and dirty bowls from the last meal. The corridor seemed to turn in a slow curve, going on for quite a distance. I was worried about what Aelyn¡¯s reaction was going to be when none of the cells contained her mother. After about 20 doors, she suddenly stopped and stared into one of the cells. Did she find her mother or a corpse? I walked next to Aelyn, who was shaking. I looked inside. Seated on a stone bench was Niserie Imiduis, Aelyn¡¯s mother. She was thin and had a blank look on her face while staring at the door. Aelyn tried the door, but it required a key like the first one. It didn¡¯t take me long to figure out that the black stone in this cell also prevented magic from being used, and the lock resisted my metal shaping. Aelyn started getting violent against the door and screaming to get her mother to acknowledge her. ¡°Back up, Aelyn. Let me try my lightning spear spell,¡± I said while pulling her back. I aimed my lightning spear at the wooden door, which flashed and burned an inch into the wood. Aelyn looked disappointed, but I cast it again and again, slowly burning around the lock. After twenty casts, the door actually started burning. This was fine as it sped up the process. My lightning spear was closer to a laser, but as my aether got low, I drank another minor aether restorative potion and continued. With the door burning merrily, I put on a leather glove, grabbed the handle, and pulled it off, and it clattered to the floor. Aelyn kicked the door open, and I held her back as I worked on the flames first. Once I gave her the all-clear, she ran to her mother. Niserie was filthy and catatonic. A shadow of the beautiful woman I remembered. She didn¡¯t respond to Aelyn¡¯s hug. ¡°Aelyn, I¡¯m sorry,¡± I said. They had been reunited, but Aelyn¡¯s mother was clearly broken. I walked forward and put my hand on the elf woman, who no longer radiated beauty. I found I couldn¡¯t utilize my aether inside the cell, ¡°Aelyn, let¡¯s get her out of the cell. I can not check her while she is in here.¡± In the hallway, I tried again to use my healing diagnostic on Niserie. My magic was still blocked, and I traced it to the metal bracers that she was wearing. The bracers were seamless. I used my metal sense skill on them, and the runes inside them were extremely complex. I found familiar locking runes and then used my metal shaping skill to cut the runes from the aether crystals powering them. The bracer fell to the floor, and then I repeated the process on the other bracer. I picked up the bracers and deposited them in my dimensional closet. I wanted to take the door lock on the floor as well. It was the first metal I had found that actually resisted my metal shaping skill. It was too hot to touch, and we probably didn¡¯t have time to wait for it to cool. I think it was because the black stone in the walls was mixed with the metal. I looked, and Niserie¡¯s eyes were slowly clearing. Aelyn was crying into her mother¡¯s chest because she didn¡¯t see the change. Niserie¡¯s arms came up, and she hugged her daughter. I looked up and down the hallway. Now that we had found and freed her mother, we needed to get them to safety¡ªboth of them. Maybe I was also a criminal for freeing a traitor¡ªnot that Skyholme now had a shortage of traitors with the Bricios. Aelyn supported her mother as we made our exit from the cells. We were not moving very fast. I paused at a dead woman in Torrent colors, ¡°Aelyn, put those robes on your mother and cover her ears. We might be able to get out of the Citadel. Maybe Broderick will shelter her at the Gentle Tauren.¡± We started following a circular symbol at intersections, thinking it went to an exit. As we advanced upward in the complex, we passed more dead bodies and more Wolfsguard from both factions. Aelyn¡¯s mother was getting more and more coherent. Those bracers must have blocked both magic and subdued a person¡¯s mind. I didn¡¯t hear the whispers the two shared between them as I stayed a dozen paces ahead, constantly alert for danger. We only rarely encountered a live person. If they were injured, I handed them a healing potion; if they were mobile, they usually fled in fear when they saw us. We finally exited into a familiar arena. The large violet gem hanging from the ceiling told me where we were. We were in the chamber where I had fought and defeated Baladon. The event that catalyzed this entire civil war. It had probably only accelerated the inevitable as the Bricios had to have been accumulating and training the faux Wolfsguard for years. Niserie dropped to her knees, studying the floor, ¡°These are ancient portal runes. We can escape to another portal. I know the pattern sequence for the city of Llorth.¡± She was tracing the lines on the floor and then spoke in frustration, ¡°The patterns won¡¯t link, are somehow blocked, and won¡¯t activate.¡± ¡°The stone in the ceiling prevents all teleportation,¡± I advised. Aelyn and Niserie looked up at the violet crystal suspended from the ceiling with silvery chains hanging down to the four corners of the chamber. Aelyn studied it for a moment, ¡°Storme, can you cut it free? Use your ability to cut the chains that power the blocking runes?¡± Her face was pleading. ¡°Just cut the chains, and then my mother can portal away.¡± I paused and realized Aelyn said just her mother would portal away, and she planned to stay. I nodded and climbed up the stands to reach one of the chains anchored at the outer wall. My metal sense told me these chain links were coated in a layer of mithril and were worth a massive fortune. The links had intricate runes on each one. I wanted to marvel at this masterpiece of artificing but didn¡¯t have the time. I decided it would be better to preserve as much of the chain as possible so the stone could be reactivated after disconnecting it from the runic network. I didn¡¯t want to remove one of Skyholme¡¯s defenses. The best way to deactivate it would be to climb the chain to the stone and then cut the stone free. That would keep the formation intact. After Niserie teleported, I could re-establish the device¡¯s function. Climbing the chain was easy, and I reached the stone in no time. The mithril chain I climbed was as thick as my wrist. I reached the violet stone, studied how it connected, and powered the chains and runes through the chamber. I realized everything was connected. The teleport and anti-teleport runes were interconnected. There must be a way for the anti-teleport runes to be turned off so that they can use the teleport runes. I didn¡¯t have time to figure out the complex runes, though, as an impatient Aelyn shouted, ¡°Can you do it, Storme? They could arrive at any time!¡± I sighed, used my metal sense, and found simple mithril prongs holding the stone in place. I started to free the large tier 7 stone. My metal shaping skill made quick work of mithril anchors. All I needed to do was lift the stone. It wouldn¡¯t budge. Maybe I could store it in my dimensional storage? I tried, and, no, not while it was still powering the runic formation. Fifty feet above the arena floor, Aelyn and Niserie watched me anxiously, encouraging me to hurry. I used my aether discs to get leverage and finally got the stone to move. I popped out like a magnet being repelled and then plummeted to the ground. I watched in horror as I thought it was going to shatter into a thousand pieces, but it just thudded into the floor. I breathed a sigh of relief. I just had to get down, get the stone, and put it back. Niserie picked up the large stone with effort. I guessed it was extremely heavy by her effort. ¡°I will be down in a minute,¡± I yelled. Aelyn looked up at me. Then Niserie looked up as well, and I read Niserie¡¯s face and suddenly felt a cold wave pass through me. Niserie put her hand on Aelyn¡¯s shoulder, and they both vanished. A brief bit of shock flashed on Aelyn¡¯s face before they disappeared. She had said the city of Llorth¡ªif she was telling the truth, that was where they went in the Sphere. I was shocked for a good minute, hanging fifty feet in the air. Well, shit. They literally left me hanging. My thoughts turned to how I could get out of this. With the stone gone, Skyholme was vulnerable to teleportation. I could leave the chains as they were or cut them and take them myself. That way, maybe they would blame it on the Bricios, thinking they looted the chamber when they figured out they had lost. My eyes met the figure of the ceiling mural of the avian mage breaking the island. Yep, that was me. I had broken Skyholme. Making a decision, I cut the four mithril chains, and they swung down to the floor from the chandelier. I used my aether shield discs to descend, cut the other end of the chains in the outer walls, and stored them in my dimensional space. If I was going to have to flee to the lowlands with my family, a little extra mithril would be welcome. I walked out of the chamber and went to find Gareth and Callem. Chapter 96 (Arc 2 Chapter 50) Aftermath Chapter 96 (Arc 2 Chapter 50) Aftermath I numbly changed into clean clothes before I left the arena. I searched, but I was not able to connect with Gareth or find Callem as I moved into the upper Citadel. Men and women in Navy uniforms directed me to wait in a side ballroom. There were a number of servants here, and I guessed since I had used my cleanliness spell and stored all my weapons and armor, they considered me a non-combatant. I was exhausted and spent magically. I went to an open space on the far wall and slid down to a seated position. I set some alarm spells to wake me before I went into a meditative state to recover my aether slightly faster. I could go and help with the rest of the fighting once I had more aether. My meditation drifted, and I fell asleep. My dreams were of Aelyn leaving me over and over again. Her face had different features each time her mother put her hand on her shoulder to activate the teleportation runes. Sometimes, it was, as I remembered, shock and apologetic. Other times, it contained mirth and disgust. I was awoken by my alarm as an older man dressed in Miaden servant garb came to wake me. ¡°Young sir. Young sir, the Navy is moving us. I think the fighting has been contained or is over,¡± he said softly. I stood and exited the room with him and checked my internal clock. I had been asleep for just over two hours and recovered a little over 10% of my aether. I didn¡¯t feel refreshed as I walked with the group into the hallway. I stepped next to a young naval officer to talk. ¡°Is the fighting over?¡± I asked quietly. The officer nodded slowly, ¡°Yes. The remaining Miaden and Torrents are organizing the remnants of their families.¡± I walked a little further and asked with hope, ¡°Did Tessa Torrent survive?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. The only person I know who is alive is Loriel Miaden. She organized the defense of the Citadel and commanded the loyal Blackguard,¡± the guard said plainly. Of course, Loriel came out of this mess unscathed and in charge. I tried to find out about Callem from the guard, ¡°Do you know where Callem Dregella is?¡± ¡°Commander Callem Dregella was securing the skyship docks the last I heard,¡± the officer said with admiration in his voice. I guessed that he would not wait to join the fighting once he was back on his feet. ¡°Can you bring me to him? I am one of his students,¡± I requested of the officer. He looked me over and then told the others he was going to bring me the docks. The walk through the halls showed many dead, Wolfsguard and humans in the hallway. The metallic scent of blood hung in the air while dry and congealing blood coated the walls and floors. There were a few signs of magic used; bloated corpses, burns on the walls, charred wall hangings, and the smell of ozone. I was mildly sick seeing all the dead children. This was what the Bricios had planned¡ªand Freya might have been a casualty if I had not interceeded. The officer wasn¡¯t talkative, but I saw Callem directing men to search the skyships moored at the docks. A number of men and women were already in chains. Almost all of them were wearing the Bricio colors. Callem was standing tall and in his element¡ªfully recovered from his injuries. Instead of being contemplative and thoughtful, he gave orders and listened to brief reports. He noticed me and walked quickly toward me, ¡°Storme, did Gareth find you? Gareth and Bleiz went to search for you an hour ago.¡± A bit embarrassed since I had taken a nap, I flushed, ¡°No, Aelyn went to find her mother, and I followed.¡± I didn¡¯t want to lie to Callem, but I did with my next words, ¡°We found her, and they fled into the city. They plan to sneak to the lowlands.¡± Callem pursed his lips, ¡°That will be difficult. They are searching for the Bricios and their servants at all departing ships.¡± He heaved a deep breath, ¡°If the possibility arises, I will ensure they gain their freedom. Things are hectic, Storme. The defenses for the islands have been compromised,¡± I flinched slightly. ¡°There are very few Miaden and Torrent succession seats remaining.¡± His face twisted, ¡°I am sorry, Storme, Tessa did not make it.¡± My heart lurched, and a knot blocked my throat. I could not swallow or talk. Callem put his hand reassuringly on my shoulder, ¡°Lots of things are changing, Storme.¡± He paused, ¡°Skyholme needs you. Take time to grieve, but gather yourself.¡± I knew Gareth talked to Callem and probably told him about my infatuation with Tessa. Callem said, ¡°I need to find Sebastian. I need to sort out the Naval Academies. We need ships and crews to fortify the defenses of the islands.¡± Callem had stressed the word ships in his statement when looking at me. He knew about my abilities and my aptitude for artificing. I guessed he wanted me to help Sebastian get more ships completed. Things were happening too fast. I was given a Naval Cadet jacket so I could walk freely in the Citadel. I went to find my friend. It took an hour to find Gareth. He was in one of the many kitchens eating with Bleiz, ¡°Couldn¡¯t find me, so gave up and decided to fill your stomach?¡± I said jokingly, even though I did not feel cheerful. They were both covered in blood and gore. Gareth smiled brightly, ¡°Stormy, we were waiting here, hoping you would find us! We need a good cook to fill our bellies!¡± He came and hugged me, ruining my clothes. It looked like Bleiz and Gareth had bonded in combat by their demeanor. I looked at the ingredients available reflexively. A large roast could be thinly sliced¡­a quick au jus sauce¡­some dough that had already risen and just needed baking. ¡°Ok, I will make us some sandwiches, and you can tell me what happened,¡± I said to Gareth¡¯s delight. Gareth was a great storyteller. When they entered the main battle deep within the Citadel, they flanked the faux Wolfsguard. They fought to join the defenders and slowly thinned the attackers. According to Gareth¡¯s retelling, Bleiz had done his job and saved Gareth¡¯s life no less than three times. After they mopped up the last of the Bricio Wolfsguard, things were tense as the Blackguard were all held in suspicion. Nearly twenty of the Blackguard were the ones who had turned on their comrades to let the usurpers in. The traitors even eliminated the few combat mages among the Blackguard. It forced the Absolution, the Blackguard skyship, to land and join the fight. The Bricios had attacked the Torrent wing of the Citadel first. They first used their large contingent of mages and Wolfsguard to overwhelm the Torrents. The battle was fierce, but the Bricios succeeded in breaching the defenses and slaughtering the Torrents, who had decided to seek refuge in the Citadel. Tessa was among their number. Gareth and Bleiz had searched for me there, thinking I would look for Tessa. I felt a knot of pain return but pushed it down. The Torrents had fought hard and used up a lot of the Bricio mage¡¯s aether. The fatigued Bricio mages did not have enough to prevent the Navy rolling up the rear of the formation that was trying to breach the Miaden residences in the Citadel. The ending was a forgone conclusion once the Bricio mages had been dealt with. It was bloody but became a conventional battle in which Gareth and Bleiz thrived. Callem even arrived and was masterful in directing soldiers and dealing with troublesome opponents. The Bricios had almost succeeded because they had invested most of their families¡¯ Wolfsguard with the support of the faux Wolfguard to attack the Citadel. That explained why we had not encountered more resistance in the Black Spire, where we found Otieno. The bread was done baking, and I sliced it, not waiting for it to cool, spread a thin layer of butter, and piled the thinly sliced roast beef in the sauce. The excess au jus sauced was for dipping, and they dug in. I didn¡¯t have an appetite. I used my cleanliness spell on myself and then on both of them. ¡°Stormy! You evolved the spell to clean others?¡± Gareth said, looking himself over. The spell could clean another person¡¯s clothes but still needed one evolution to clean another person¡¯s skin. I was a little shocked by Gareth¡¯s not being affected by all the death and killing. I guess I was also a little numb to it¡ªbut Gareth seemed to be almost acting normal. I retorted without enthusiasm, ¡°Almost, but I still can not get rid of your foul-smelling feet.¡± Gareth mocked being wounded by my comment. Bleiz chuckled but nodded at my assertion. We ate for a while in silence. A few soldiers came and checked on us but, realizing we were on their side, left us alone. I finally asked, ¡°So, Gareth, are you going to join the Navy now?¡± I figured since they had roped Callem back in, Gareth would follow his mentor. ¡°Demons, no!¡± Gareth burst out, ¡°Being told what to do, where to go, when to go. Not for me. Besides, who is going to watch your back?¡± He beamed at me. I looked at Bleiz, who was on his fifth sandwich, trying to replenish his energy. Bleiz talked with his mouthful, ¡°You know I am with you.¡± Bleiz¡¯s statement was not said with any malice. He asked, ¡°Where is the elf girl?¡± That was another dagger. ¡°She left. We found her mother, and they left,¡± I stated flatly. Gareth¡¯s eyes went wide, ¡°Aelyn left? I don¡¯t believe it. She¡­¡± He started to say but stopped, reading my expression. A few hours later, Callem sent the three of us back to Hen¡¯s Hollow. He was staying in the capital, and I didn¡¯t expect him to return. Hen¡¯s Hollow felt displaced¡ªout of synch with what had just happened. The townsfolk went about their business, blissfully unaware of the massive battle fought in the capital. When the new term started a few days later, Callem returned to talk privately with Gareth and me. ¡°The Triumvirate is broken,¡± he started by stating the obvious. ¡°Loriel Miaden had been elected to lead the new Triumvirate. It will have one Miaden, one Torrent, and one elected representative from the people.¡± I briefly wondered if Loriel had orchestrated this entire thing to take over Skyholme. ¡°Who will take the other two seats?¡± I asked after processing. Callem spoke, ¡°Arundel Torrent, Pomare¡¯s son. Only six of the ascension seats for the Torrents survived the attack. Those seats voted him in. The third seat, the seat of the citizens, will be voted on at the New Year.¡± Callem got serious, ¡°Storme, I talked with Sebastian, and I was hoping you would help with new Harbingers. Sebastian has resumed his Admiral role and is now in charge of the fleet. Not just the dockyards, but the entire fleet. Whenever I talk to him, he complains like a toddler, but he loves it. After completing the six remaining Harbingers, he plans to build thirty Wasps.¡± If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. My look of uncertainty had Callem continue, ¡°Aldon told me you could do in a day what the Skyholme master artificers take a week to do. You can help those ships get to the skies the quickest. What I am about to tell you can not be repeated. The Bricios destroyed the anti-scrying and teleportation protections.¡± I contained my inner panic. ¡°We lost five Harbingers in the failed coup attempt. Two were destroyed, and the Bricios took three with them. After the Sadains and this,¡± he paused, ¡°We are wide open to an attack.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, Callem,¡± I started to say. Callem stopped me, ¡°I had given up on Skyholme, Storme. I was powerless to do anything and discarded by power-hungry rulers. Now,¡± he made intense eye contact with me, ¡°I can make a difference. We can make a difference. Good people are in charge.¡± I still had major reservations about Loriel Miaden but did not voice them. Callem let me consider his request. I didn¡¯t want knowledge of my abilities to be widely spread. If I asked Sebastian, I was sure he would do his best to conceal my abilities. My family was all in Aegis City, currently safe. They had never had a chance to flee to the lowlands. I had explained all the coins and weapons I had given them as being Callem¡¯s. Wynna was currently in possession of my property. I delayed giving him an answer, ¡°What of the Wolfsguard and the Blackguard?¡± I asked. Callem nodded and explained, ¡°The unbonded will continue to be trained. They will be given the freedom to choose their bond. The wolfkin woman will be freed and allowed to return to the lowlands. Loriel does not want to show weakness, but she also hopes the wolfkin of the lowlands will break their pact with the Sadians after their kin are returned to them.¡± Callem shifted in his seat, ¡°The Blackguard is decimated. Only six hundred of over two thousand remain¡ªmany are injured. The traitors were found to be spelled by the Bricios, but still, there is a trust issue. It has been decided the remaining Blackguard will crew the Wasp skyships as they are built. Loriel has plans to set up a Blackguard community on Stonefell Island with a new Naval port for twenty of the new Wasp skyships. Once established, they will patrol the perimeter of the islands.¡± ¡°And the Wolfsguard assigned to the Triumvirate families,¡± I prompted, thinking about Bleiz. Callem nodded slowly, ¡°They will remain as such. Only thirty-six Torrent Wolfguards and sixty-eight Miaden Wolfsguard survived. The Bricios Wolfsguard were all put to death or sent to the retirement community of maimed and old Wolfsguard.¡± It really was going to be a new era for Skyholme. Seventy percent of the Wolfguard had been killed, and no more would be added. I made my decision, ¡°I will help Sebastian every seventh day, Callem,¡± he failed to contain a grin on his aged face. <<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>> The third term was fairly subdued as the new political system took hold of Skyholme. Loriel was a good leader. She was trying to reignite a sense of nationalistic pride in the people. Callem directed the recruiting efforts and got many retired officers to return to duty. The times I traveled to the dockyards in the capital, Callem usually met me and told me of his progress. I refused invitations from Loriel every time I visited the capital. Usually, she sent Bylura as the messenger since we had a good relationship. I did not want to be involved in any politics that involved Loriel, though. Thankfully, Gareth followed my lead and cut communication with Loriel as well. Since Callem was allowed to sit in on many of the discussions of the Triumvirate, I learned the big decisions being debated. The largest was whether to open Skyholme to free trade. Loriel was a merchant by nature, and she had the idea of making Skyholme an open and safe trade port. Unsurprisingly, there was resistance and fear of enemies infiltrating the islands. Her argument was the cities and kingdoms of the lowlands dealt with this effectively, and Skyholme could do the same. She argued what was holding Skyholme back from becoming more powerful was the resources from the older, resource-rich dungeons in the lowlands. Another part of her master plan was to enter peace talks with the Sadians. This was an even more contentious topic. Centuries of war had soured the relationship. It would take more than a few diplomatic missions to heal. Callem, however, agreed that ending the threat of the Sadians through diplomacy was the best course of action. The Skyholme Islands spent half of their orbit over the Sadian Empire. It needed to be done for the future safety of the islands. Working with Sebastian was probably the best decision I had made. When I did my runecraft, he made sure we were alone. I got the runes inscribed for all the Harbinger ships and learned a lot from Sebastian. He was quick to point out mistakes and have me correct them. My created metals were in high demand for the artificing, and Sebastian quickly cooked the books to hide where the metals were coming from. In exchange for pure platinum, I was ¡®sold¡¯ materials to build my skyship. My skyship was slowly being constructed by Rippon and Remy and two old shipwrights they had hired. Although a Bricio, Isla was spared from the cleansing due to her relations with Loriel. She had taken over Loriel¡¯s apartment at the Shiny Platinum and was practicing her architecture craft while assisting with obtaining materials for the skyship. Rippon was trying to make the ship, the Maelstrom, his masterpiece. My spellcraft had also advanced from the fight and over the third term. Most of my spare aether went to creating platinum for Sebastian¡¯s skyships. Only Callem knew I could create mithril, and I asked him to keep it a secret. The chains I took from the portal room had more than enough mithril to enchant my skyship. I did copy all the runes on the chains before destroying them. Many of the runes were unfamiliar to me. I self-rationalized that I had done Skyholme a favor in taking the chains and forcing the people out of isolationism. It was an ethical leap, and many times, I considered returning the chains, but eventually, I destroyed them for the mithril. My cleanliness spell had reached level 24, and at level 23, I extended the range with the evolution to ten feet, allowing me to clean another person as I cleaned myself. At level 23, a spell also took a quantitative leap forward in its strength. This was an awareness of the spell I had not experienced before. I could now more precisely choose what I wanted to be cleaned. I was effectively editing the effects applied in the area. For instance, I could now choose to clean specific areas, which I used to effect by writing ¡®Clean Me¡¯ in dirty locations in the barracks. The joke quickly went flat with the other students. Mend flesh reached level seventeen, and I evolved the spell to speed cast it so I could utilize it while I was using the lightning reflexes spell. Obfuscate abilities reached level 13, and the two evolutions were both editing abilities on what people could read about me. My dimensional closet made it to level 19. At level 17, the evolution increased the height by two feet. My core was still growing, but I did install the wooden platform with stairs built by Rippon. It allowed me to set up the bedroom furniture Wynna bought me on the second level, greatly opening up the space. At level 19, I evolved the spell to anchor it to an object in the world. Now, I could enter the closet and close it behind me. When I exited, I was no longer in danger of appearing in the open air as the islands moved away while I spent time in the closet. My lightning reflexes had passed level 23 during the fighting. This was probably why I fought so effectively in the Black Spire. Both evolutions enhanced my speed, so even without overdrive, I was now 97% faster than normal, twice as fast as a normal fighter. The level 23 added enhancement greatly stabilized the spell for me. I barely needed to heal my ligaments and tendons when I used the overdrive of the spell. With overdrive, I was three times faster than normal, and my reflexes and speed had already been at a peak for a normal human. Gareth was actually not upset and thrived on training against me when I used the spell. He could actually still beat me when I was just at 97% enhanced speed. That irked me. When I used overdrive, I beat him about 90% of the time. His ability to challenge me at that speed made it clear he was special. My alarm spell advanced to level 20, and I used the evolution to protect my hearing from the spell. That way, I could use the flash-bang effect in close quarters and not be affected by the sound or flash. The privacy spell reached level 16 and did not have any evolutions. The arcane lock spell reached level 10, and at level 7, I increased the complexity of my lock, making it harder for other mages to unravel. Aether shield also had no evolutions but had reached level 16 and was on the cusp of an evolution. Lesser restoration made it to level 12; at level 11, I evolved the spell to regrow flesh. This extended to organs that were not completely destroyed as well. I could not regrow bones or limbs, but given a few more evolutions, I would be able to achieve this feat if I invested enough aether in the healing. My lightning spear reached level eight, and both evolutions I achieved focused on improving the bolt¡¯s accuracy. I figured the spell was no good to me if I couldn¡¯t hit what I was aiming at. With the evolutions, I was accurate out to forty feet now. I also added three new spells to my aether spell matrix. Aether fortress was added first so I could return the spellbook to Selina before she departed to teach in the mage academy in the capital. This spell was a permanent construct on my aether core and helped me defend against my aether being drained or contained. The bracers that had contained Aelyn¡¯s mother now barely worked on me. I used the bracers to help level the spell up to level 5, with each evolution focused on strengthening my defenses. My second new spell was the ice ball spell we looted from the dungeon. It started as a baseball-sized orb. My first evolution was to compress the ball down to a golf ball-sized orb. This made a great, long-lasting ice cube for a drink but also a deadly projectile. It had almost the same density as gold. In the second and third evolutions, I increased the speed of the ball to 300 mph. This was fast enough to break bones. For the fourth evolution, I increased my accuracy with the sphere. I added speed casting to the seventh evolution so I could use it while using my lightning reflexes spell. It was a good mid-range attack if I didn¡¯t want to use the flashy effect of lightning spear. Truthfully, I just liked it for the overpowered ice cube. It kept a drink cold for hours and fizzed as it slowly melted. The last new spell I learned before the New Year was the tier 2 lightning spell lightning sphere. My first evolution was just increasing the shock value. The spell was a ball of lightning spread out in a five-foot radius on impact. The damage was minimal, but it did disrupt the nerves, making it hard for the affected people to move. I wanted to get to the dungeon to level up this spell but never had the opportunity. My spell matrix was also filling up as I had 25 of 33 slots now filled. I wanted to purchase a new tier-four spell next. Something with great utility. A tier four spell outside my affinities would cost eight slots to imprint. It would not be the last spell I would be imprinting as I would be able to increase my spell matrix to as high as 110 in the future. <<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>> The week before the end of the term, I was working with Sebastian as he was detailing the differences in the runes between the Harbinger and Wasps. Bylura entered, and I was ready to tell her I did not want to meet Loriel again for the tenth time. Instead, Loriel entered with two Wolfsguard behind her. ¡°Storme, maybe you will talk with me now?¡± She located a chair in the cluttered office and sat down uninvited. ¡°Now that I am here, maybe we can have a discussion about the Heart Stone?¡± I hid my surprise and panic in my response, ¡°Heart Stone? What about it?¡± She smiled knowingly. Loriel looked much older than her years after ruling Skyholme for just 12 weeks. ¡°I know Aelyn took the stone, and you took the runic chains. We cast a flashback divination spell to see what had occurred. I am surprised as I was certain it was the sabotage of the Bricios, and that is what everyone still thinks.¡± Sebastian was tense next to me as Loriel had just called me a traitor. She smiled ruefully, ¡°Do not worry, Storme. I am not going to reveal your secret. What you have done here,¡± she waved her hands, indicating the dockyards, ¡°Has made up for what you have taken. The removal of the Heart Stone actually helped force some policies to fruition, and Skyholme is better for it.¡± I relaxed slightly, ¡°What do you want then?¡± Her smile chilled me slightly, ¡°I know your skyship will be completed in a few weeks. I hoped you could take an envoy to the Sadian kingdom to negotiate peace. Unfortunately, Arundel Torrent is highly resistant to opening peace talks. He feels we are still too vulnerable to take this step at this time. Therefore, I am going behind his back.¡± I knew it was not a request. Loriel was devious enough to switch to threats if I did not accommodate her. ¡°Why me? There have to be a dozen other skyships that can accomplish this?¡± I argued. ¡°No one as unaffiliated as you are,¡± she smiled thinly. ¡°Consider this penance, repayment, or just an adventure. I do not care. I need this done, and you are the best candidate. Cilia and Leda have volunteered to crew your skyship. They are a good pilot and navigator team.¡± I considered my options. I was to start the Dungeon Academy in Aegis City in four weeks. The skyship would be done in three. Going to the Sadian capital city of Goldreach was risky, but Loriel pointed out that I was unaffiliated and my skyship was unique. ¡°Fine, I will go.¡± I did not plan to be her pawn, though. I had my own plans. END OF BOOK TWO Book 3 Starts Next Week on RR and Scribble. It is almost complete on Patreon Chapter 97 (Arc 3, Chapter 1) The Maelstrom Chapter 97 (Arc 3, Chapter 1) The Maelstrom The completed skyship sat in the hanger. I stood next to Rippon and Remy, who were beaming at the ship. It was a work of art based on the original Wind Splitter schematics. I had used most of the mithril for the artificing, and the ship was capable of a self-contained environment for up to twelve people. If the aether didn¡¯t run out, it could function as a submarine, skyship, or spaceship. The inertia sink was strong enough to accelerate around 20 mph/sec. The top speed within the Sphere should be around 2,000 mph. It could travel at higher speeds, but then the wind resistance, hull stress, and inertia sink would start to draw aether exponentially. The Maelstrom itself looked like a flattened copper teardrop with six retractable landing gear legs, two short V-wings, and a fin top aft. Aerodynamics would not play a role in its aether-fueled flight, but the wings and fin added an aesthetic and stabilization if the ship lost power. The wings also added buoyancy when the ship was in the water. The extendable landing legs were self-contained, so the ship could float on water if needed. A cargo ramp similar to the Wind Splitter descended rear aft. The cargo bay was oval, sixty feet deep, and twenty-eight feet wide and took up the entire lower deck. The second level had a large central room encompassed by a hallway. The central room had all the runic enchantments and housing for the ship¡¯s primary aether crystal power core. The bridge and navigation were forward with runic-hardened one-way viewing glass. One large cabin and seven small cabins surrounded the central room. There was also a top hatch to give access to the top of the skyship if the ship was floating in the water. The ship¡¯s exterior was coated in runic copper like the Wind Splitter, but I added some camouflage and invisibility runes into the copper plating. The problem with the invisibility runes was the amount of aether they drew from the power core. The faster the ship was flying, the more power it would draw to remain invisible. The ship had a four-layered aether shield, lighting and fire sinks, and additional aether wind shields forward, port, and starboard for additional defenses. For weapons, I was still learning how to do the rune script for aether cannons. I had recently obtained a number of texts from Sebastian, so I was still working on perfecting them. There were many variations of the aether cannon, so I would have to decide what to use when the time was right, with aether core power being the primary factor. My crew consisted of Cilia and Leda, who were my pilot and navigator. Loriel had ended their commission with her so they could join my crew as promised. I was surprised that Remy wanted to join the crew as the engineer as he didn¡¯t seem adventurous. Bleiz, Gareth, and Sammie were my soldiers, although everyone in the crew was a capable fighter. Ullmark had decided to remain in Skyholme and develop a new delve team with Talia. The restaurant and bakery still needed to be supplied with lots of honey from the Frost Vault. Mera and Fera would run the Shiny Platinum for me with my sister Freya. The restaurant revenues had stabilized down slightly but yielded a decent weekly profit. Rippon spoke, ¡°Shame about the small core.¡± I nodded. I had only been able to obtain two blue aether shards salvaged from a crashed Harbinger warship. Sebastian had sold them to me slightly below market value, but they were shards of a larger crystal and barely enough to power all the runes on the Maelstrom. It was the best I could do since all the decent large aether crystal cores were being held for the fleet of Wasp-class ships Sebastian was rushing to build. ¡°Yeah, maybe I can purchase something in the lowlands. The worst part about those tandem crystals is their slow, natural recharge rate. I tested them last week, and it takes twice as long to recharge naturally as a completely undamaged natural crystal. I also think Sebastian pulled a fast one on me, not telling me about the imperfections in the crystals,¡± I grumbled. That was not true. Any crystal that was shattered was bound to have numerous imperfections. I just had not checked before purchasing them. They were still the best option available to me to power the Maelstrom. Remy chuckled, ¡°Maybe, but at least you made up some ground on the other materials. He only charged you half what they were worth! Hell, we have almost enough here to frame out another ship.¡± Rippon held up his hands, ¡°I¡¯m done! This ship was a project of love for me. Now that this beauty is finished, I can die happy.¡± Remy sighed, ¡°So you do not plan to build the frame for the one-person skiff?¡± I flashed a glance at Rippon as well. The one-person skiff concept was a mini-skyship¡ªa hoverbike. I convinced Rippon that I could miniaturize most of the runes to make the concept work. I had enough leftover mithril to make two such contraptions, and Remy had designed them, and Isla had ordered some extra materials. I helped refine Remy¡¯s vision to make them cosmetically sleek. They could be used as mini-lifeboats for three people each if needed. Rippon laughed, ¡°Yes, Remy. I promised you I would shape the frame for you. I still have a few walls left on the Maelstrom, but I will work on the one-person cart for you afterward. Not sure what utility it would have other than replacing a perfectly good horse, though.¡± ¡°Depends on how fast I can make them and how powerful the anti-gravity runes are,¡± I responded. ¡°Waste of good mithril. And all the runes would have to be mithril for the amount of aether that would need to be pumped through them and how small they would have to be,¡± Rippon grumbled at the waste. Isla and Loriel walked into the hangar, and I offered a pretend smile. Loriel had four Wolfsguard and four human guards trailing behind her. I was surprised not to see Bylura. I had been expecting them. The leader of Skyholme was visiting all the islands to get ready for the election of the third seat of the Triumvirate, who would be taking over the Brico family duties. It would be a seven-year appointment, so each election was extremely important. I could not vote as you had to be at least 14 years old, and my 14th birthday was still two months away. I asked, ¡°How is your publicity tour going?¡± Loriel¡¯s face soured at the remark. I had accused her of promoting her desired candidate for the position and not making it an unbiased and fair election. Loriel was viewed as the savior from the Bricio threat in all the propaganda being spread in the islands. ¡°It is important that people vote for who they think can best represent their interests. This elected official is going to be in charge of assigning magistrates and overseeing all the academies,¡± she defended herself. It seemed whenever we met, it had turned into a verbal match. I looked behind her, ¡°I do not have time to debate. Do you have your envoy here? We are scheduled to leave tomorrow evening.¡± She looked away from me and up at the Maelstrom. It was an amazing ship with how many runes I had crammed throughout it. ¡°Bylura and Lucian Torrent will be here soon,¡± she smirked at my surprise. ¡°Yes, Bylura is an envoy as well. Lucian was selected by Arundel personally. I approve of the selection as he is wise and has Skyholme¡¯s best interest in mind. It was also the only way for Arundel to approve the expedition after they found out.¡± The last was a jab at me. I had refused to do a covert operation, so Loriel had to get the other member of the Triumvirate, Arundel Torrent, to approve of the mission. It had not been easy, but Loriel eventually got him to approve with the caveat he selected the envoy. I was sure Bylura¡¯s inclusion was a compromise between them. ¡°Well, we don¡¯t have ambassador quarters on my little ship, so we plan to set up an office in the cargo hold for them. The trip is only three hours, so they should be fine,¡± I said with some humor. Loriel pursed her lips, ¡°Three hours? It really is as fast as you professed. Do I get a tour of your skyship?¡± Thankfully, Cilia came down the ramp at that moment, and I handed Loriel off to her for a tour. Rippon joined them, eager to show off his masterpiece. I walked over to the restaurant with Remy. We found six more Wolfsguard and seven naval personnel in the room. Loriel was traveling with a large entourage. We ended up eating in the kitchen. Bleiz walked out of a hallway, probably just ending his invisibility. He explained, ¡°Freya had four hours of lessons with her tutors. I have nothing to do until then, and Monty was harassing me anyway.¡± I cooked the four of us a feast, taking over one of the stations for myself. Gareth was off on a dungeon delve with the team. He had spent every day in one dungeon or another under Ullmark¡¯s guidance. Sammie and Talia were becoming skilled delvers, and Lana was a suitable porter. The team had lost Gimble, Aelyn, and myself but was still producing enough harvested loot to cover their salaries and more. Ullmark was also in the process of vetting and trying out seven new delvers. Each delve, they brought a new candidate with them. Any new members would get paid just two gold per delve, but Ullmark planned to do two weekly delves, so the four gold a week was a massive payment for most new delvers. None of the new delvers would get a room at the Shiny Platinum, but all meals were covered if they chose to eat here, and they did. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. I told Ullmark that he could keep expanding the team as long as it was profitable. After the meal, I went up to my room to study. I was no longer studying spells but focused on the maps of the lowlands and learning as much as I could about the city of Llorth. Llorth was 16,200 miles from the capital city of the Sadian Empire, Goldreach. That would be about a nine-hour trip for the Maelstrom. I planned to drop off the envoys and then visit Llorth¡ªhopefully, find and talk with Aelyn and then return to pick up the envoys. My dual-blue aether crystal core could only run the Maelstrom for six hours before taking nearly an entire day to recharge. Gareth and Bleiz were the only two who were aware of my actual plans. I trusted Cilia and Leda, but they might accidentally tell Loriel my plans. I wanted answers from Aelyn. The Heart Stone was probably long gone, but so were the mithril chains. I had copied all the runes from the chains into a large tome before co-opting the mithril for the Maelstrom. I opened my dimensional closet, and it was now almost a seventeen-foot cube and still growing with my aether core. I briefly admired the layout. The first floor was now extremely orderly. The three bookshelves line the three walls. The shelf on the right contained an assortment of spellbooks, dungeon books, and references for the lowland kingdoms and cities. The Sphere was so vast that my reference material was grossly inadequate, and much of it was probably highly outdated. In the center of the room were my weapon racks. I had two dozen staffs, and an assortment of blades, knives, and daggers. The shelf on the left was a pantry with an array of ingredients and an aether refrigerator unit. I had enough food to last maybe five months. The third shelf on the back wall had many items¡ªthings from my youth, figurines, trays of coins, dozens of bottles of mead, and ale made by Mera. Two fifty-gallon large casks of water with spigots bookended the shelf. I walked into the space and closed the opening behind me. I walked up the steps to the second level. The second floor had a kitchen, bedroom, desk, and comfy chair to study in. The floor was covered in a plush carpet. I had three blanket chests full of bed linens and pillows. Two armoires and one wardrobe contained a huge variety of clothes. One massive trunk contained all my adventuring gear. The large bed had the best mattress money could buy with soft linen sheets. The desk was covered in more maps of the lowlands. The borders were suspect as the empires, kingdoms, and nations were in flux. Nothing was safe in the Sphere. For instance, a tier 7 monster could wipe out entire cities. I picked up the spellbook on the end table, personal invisibility. I had purchased two copies of this spell. One was a dungeon copy, which should make it easier to learn¡ªthe second had a number of evolutions detailed in it. Spellbooks rewarded as prizes in dungeons were precious as they made learning the spell easier. The downside was they crumbled to dust after they were successfully used. They also didn¡¯t detail the evolutions for a spell, forcing the mage to get creative. My spell matrix was currently sitting at thirty-four, giving me nine available spell slots. The number of spell slots required to imprint a spell doubled for every tier. The chart looked like this:
Spell Tier Spell Slots
1 1
2 2
3 4
4 8
5 16
6 32
7 64
One way to reduce this cost was through a strong affinity for the magic skill. If you had an affinity at tier 2, it reduced a spell¡¯s cost by an entire tier. With a tier 2 affinity in lightning magic, I could reduce the tier 4 and lower spells in that sphere by one tier. My tier 4 affinity with the healing sphere allowed me to reduce spells up to tier 5 by two tiers. So if I could find a tier 5 healing spell, I could imprint it for the cost of just four spell slots on my aether matrix. What I wanted to learn was a high-tier spell, even if it was outside my affinity. The problem was I couldn¡¯t find something worth learning in Skyholme. It was another reason I planned to travel to the elven city of Llorth. The reference texts I found said they had one of the best magical libraries in 30,000 miles. I took the dungeon copy of the personal invisibility spell and collapsed into my chair. I set my internal alarm for six hours and began to study. After making some progress, I left my dimensional space, set my alarms and privacy screen, and slept in my apartment. I found the best way to study my spells was in seclusion in my dimensional closet. It also helped me level the dimensional closet spell faster. It was currently level 19. At level 23, spells received not just an evolution but an upgrade as well. For the dimensional closet spell, Sebastian said the additional benefit was either going to be a 20% increase in all my dimensions or a 50% increase in a single dimension. Sebastion¡¯s dimensional closet spell was only level 16, but he had a much smaller aether pool than myself to invest aether to level it up. The morning brought a lot of excitement. Gareth had hosted his typical post-dungeon dive party in his apartment. His amazing constitution allowed him to recover quickly. However, Talia had bloodshot eyes and a disheveled look at breakfast. Sammie and Lana were huddled together. They lived in the same apartment and had become extremely close. Lana was not coming with us to the lowlands, so they were sad to be parting. Fera and Gareth were also tightly together as the cooks brought an abundance of food. I was surprised Mera was not here, but Fera said she wanted to get an early start on Frost Mead production. More likely, she was just avoiding me. I had turned down her advances numerous times in the last few weeks, and she was getting frustrated. She even did the unthinkable and got devious. She became friends with Freya. To make matters worse, Freya loved her like an older sister now. So Freya was encouraging me to reciprocate Mera¡¯s interest. Cilia and Leda came down as well for breakfast. They had been busy prepping the Maelstrom for the last week. Leda and Cilia were also kind of a loose couple. At least, I assumed that as I knew Leda was in love with Cilia, and they seemed extremely happy in each other¡¯s proximity. But maybe I was wrong¡ªreading relationships and a person¡¯s interests was not my strong suit. Cilia joked, ¡°Storme, are you sure you want the maiden voyage to be all the way to the lowlands? What if one of the runes fails, and we all plummet to our deaths?¡± The entire table laughed. They knew how meticulously I had been inscribing the runes for the ship and running aether through them to test them. I retorted, ¡°Well, if you are not confident, I can always find a new captain and pilot.¡± Cilia immediately went quiet even though my tone was joking and the threat was hollow. The Maelstrom was the fastest ship in Skyholme and the most advanced. She was looking forward to flying even more than I was. Gareth chimed in, ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t want to explore a dungeon or two while we are down there.¡± This was Gareth¡¯s hundredth time requesting this. My look had him hold up his hands in submission. Freya came screaming into the restaurant with a massive Monty behind her. She ran into me and gave me a massive hug. Monty hopped up and licked my face. ¡°I almost overslept!¡± She said, hugging me. ¡°You better come back!¡± She said in a warning tone. This was the fault of the Skyholme educational system. They made the lowlands sound extremely dangerous. Which they were, but not that dangerous. I told Freya reassuringly, ¡°Our Dungeon Academy classes start in eight days. Gareth would kill me if we missed the first day.¡± With a mouth full of food, Gareth said, ¡°That¡¯s true, Freya.¡± My mother entered shortly after Freya to wish us well. Father was already at work. He actually loved his new job overseeing inspections of cargo and passengers. He had seven men under his command and was a fairly important person in Aegis City now¡ªas far as guards went. Bylura entered the restaurant with an older man behind her. This must be Lucian Torrent. I stood and greeted them and offered for them to join us. The Shiny Platinum was closed in the morning as we only served lunch and dinner, so we had the place to ourselves. Lucian refused gracefully, and Leda stood to escort him to the ship. Bylura took Leda¡¯s seat and started grabbing every sweet item she could on the table. I thought everyone was accounted for, but Callem and Sebastian walked through the front door next, dressed in their naval uniforms. I was more than a little surprised to see them. Sebastian waved us to sit, ¡°Relax. We just transported the two envoys here from the capital. We are not planning to stay.¡± Callem stepped forward, ¡°You are all doing a great service for all of Skyholme. I wanted to wish you well. Storme, if you have a moment?¡± I stood and went to Callem for my private pep talk. Callem was too serious, though, ¡°Storme, Loriel thinks Abaddon and Baladon are in the Sadian Empire. Maybe even in the capital. Take these and be careful.¡± He handed me a communication stone. I looked confused, ¡°It is a tier-four stone, and I have the paired stone.¡± These were precious artifacts. A tier 4 stone had a range of 10,000 miles. Callem said, ¡°Lucian has a communication device to keep him in touch with Arundel. Bylura has one to keep her in touch with Loriel. This is for you to keep in contact with me.¡± Communication stones could also be used as trackers with a simple tier-one spell. ¡°Ok, Callem. We are going to be careful. But this should help,¡± we shook hands, his callused maw enveloping my smaller hand. He was thinner than before as he no longer cared for tobacco fields with Sebastian. An hour later, the small bridge of the Maelstrom was crowded. The bay doors were opened in the hangar, and the ship left the floor. Only a slight variation in the forward viewing glass told us we had moved. ¡°Retracting landing gear,¡± Leda announced. The hull had a very slight, almost imperceptible hum as it vibrated from the aetheric runes powering numerous enchantments. ¡°Clear.¡± Cilia, sitting in the captain¡¯s chair, piloted the ship slowly out of the hangar. Once clear, she cracked a smile and worked the controls confidently, spinning the ship in a corkscrew and testing the gravity plating. The spinning visuals made some people sick on the bridge, and I spammed my cleanliness spell. My runes functioned perfectly, though, and we did not feel any movement. The Maelstrom continued to accelerate to the edge of the island and then dove over the edge¡ªheading to the lowlands. Chapter 98 Goldreach Chapter 98 (Arc 3, Chapter 2) Goldreach The Maelstrom glided through the air as we raced toward the lowlands. Leda was orienting the ship toward the city of Goldreach, the Sadian capital, situated on a large lake. The navigation array was one of the few things I had not artificed myself. It locked onto the massive aether ley lines in the crust of the Sphere to orient the ship via a sort of magical positioning system. The ley line patterns repeated in the Sphere, but each segment was about 2.5 million square miles. So, you needed the unique grid map for the section you were currently flying over. The map we needed was easily available in Skyholme. The map was a relief terrain map showing elevation and environments. The environments portrayed would make no sense to a naturalist with a desert adjacent to ice fields and swamps. Adjacent might be too strong a word. The transition between different terrain types was usually hundreds of miles. But it did sometimes result in perplexing events like snow in a desert. The different environments were linked to the ley lines. These were the same ley lines that hosted the hundreds of thousands of dungeons within the Sphere. The other device that Leda was monitoring was our scanners. It detected density out to about 20 miles, showing skyships and flying creatures. This magic radar was ineffective as invisibility spells could easily hide from it. It also took skill to manipulate it in order to get an estimate of what was showing on the radar. Figuring out the mass and shape of the object was more of an art form than a science. Skyships usually had spotters on the top deck to increase the ship¡¯s detection range. Skyholme was too far from one of the major tunnels that led to the Outer Sphere, where technology and magic were merged into powerful magitech devices. Leda announced a direction change, and the viewport swung a few degrees as Cila corrected our course. We would maintain an altitude of about one mile as we traveled. Our speed would be 500 miles per hour, and we would slow when contacting a patrol or approaching a city. Due to their bulk, most skyships were designed to land in water or cradles. This meant the favored design of a skyship was closer to a sailing ship, usually without masts, unless it also used the wind for propulsion. This style was the first Sadian ship we encountered. It looked like a flying galleon trader. Cila kept her distance as we zipped past. Even at a quarter of our top speed, we were one of the fastest skyships in this region of the Sphere. This was due to our low mass compared to the larger warships and traders. The more mass then, the larger the inertia sink you would need. As we sped over a magnificent forest with trees reaching hundreds of feet into the air, Leda started to call out various contacts on the radar. They were mostly flying beasts that had no chance to intercept us. The time passed quickly, and we reached the massive lake Goldreach was on. Cilia suddenly stated, ¡°We need to land on the water in the southern bay. From there, our ambassadors will have to walk to the city¡¯s center and petition an audience.¡± We all already knew this, and Cila reiterated it somewhat nervously. Bylura and the Torrent envoys went to change into their formal clothes. At least, that is what Bylura muttered as she left. The rest of us stayed transfixed to the scenery below as roads and towns started to appear. It made you feel powerful being able to look down from this height. ¡°Interceptor¡­¡± Leda stated. ¡°Probably can not catch us. Storme, what flag do you want to fly?¡± ¡°Generic merchant,¡± I stated. Sammie rushed out to extend the flag. Flags were the common way to communicate since communication stones were expensive. After ten minutes, Leda announced the interceptor skyship was breaking off. It was either because of the flag, or they realized they could not catch us. We made our approach over the water toward the sprawling city of Goldreach. Although it encompassed fourteen square miles, it was not impressive. A few buildings in the center were maybe sixty or seventy feet in height and made of stone, but the rest seemed to be two and three-story and mostly wooden buildings. Gareth asked, ¡°Why so few skyships?¡± There were only four skyships visible over the city. Leda answered him, ¡°Their military investment focuses on land forces as they border many kingdoms and even have passages to the Underearth. They also have twenty times the population of Skyholme and many more cities. Although Goldreach is the capital, they have many cities this size within their borders.¡± Cilia added, ¡°Skyholme uses almost all its resources to maintain a fleet of skyships. The Sadians have millions of citizens, and enchanted items are more common. They chose to focus on free trade, meaning the cost of the precious metals is quite high.¡± Gareth gave me a look with a grin when Cilia mentioned precious metals. Cilia landed among dozens of moored skyships in the bay without issue. She followed the flaggers in the bay to a specific slip. I would have preferred to be on land, but that would have to be negotiated. With the Maelstrom tied off, we took the top access hatch to disembark. The Maelstrom was drawing a lot of attention, and the dock was getting crowded as the port master came to us with a clipboard. I let Leda handle the formalities as she was trained in this type of etiquette. The smell of the briny air with a hint of fish was invigorating. Skyholme always smelled sterile, like its constant morning mist. Everyone was looking around excited. Dozens of non-humans walked the docks, and a huge variety of vessels bobbed in the calm water, only disturbed by waves from ships under power. We looked like a group of young tourists. Leda came back to our group, ¡°Got us a landing platform in the trade district, five gold a day.¡± She looked pointedly at me. I fished out four large gold coins and handed them to her. Loriel had given me fifty large pieces of gold for this job. The coins were all generic dungeon coins. There was no point in spending Skyholme stamped coins here. She returned to close the registration. Renting the pad for eight days was probably overkill, especially since I planned to leave when the core crystals were recharged. We all boarded the Maelstrom and did a short hop to our new berth. It was a stone landing pad about 100 feet across, just outside the inner gates for the trade district, Pad T-7 was clearly marked in large common lettering as we landed. We lowered the ramp this time and exited from the mostly empty cargo hold. It looked like there were ten pads here, and two others were occupied. One skyship looked like the typical large wooden trader, while the other looked more sleek in design, like the Maelstrom. That ship flew an unfamiliar flag and was coated in a dull gray metallic hull plating. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Sadian soldiers in cloth uniforms stood around the landing yard with vigilant expressions. There was one gate into the trade district and it was guarded by four soldiers in armor. We convened at the bottom of the ramp. Lord Torrent proclaimed, ¡°If you are going to escort us, you will need to wear more formal clothes.¡± My blank, uncompromising expression had him step back. I finally replied, ¡°Our job is done. We are going to explore the city.¡± Bylura rolled her eyes, ¡°Storme, I think the expectation was for you to escort us to the palace. You don¡¯t need to enter with us, but at least give us the impression of a procession.¡± ¡°Fine, Cila, Leda, Remy, and Sammie stay with the ship. Gareth and I will be your honor guard,¡± I said imperiously. Bleiz was also around, but invisible. I gave him a hand sign to stay with the ship. I was fairly certain his invisibility artifact would not work in the palace anyway. The tier three invisibility effect was strong, but the Emperor of a large Kingdom would have defenses against it. I guess I should take this somewhat seriously. A short time later, Gareth and I were leading the two envoys through the streets. I guessed about 80% of the population was human. We did see elves, dwarves, ogres, orcs, dark elves, kobolds, and a few beastkin. Almost everyone was well-dressed in this district. And no one appeared to be an indentured or an enslaved person. We had to pass two more stone walls with checkpoints to make it to the central district that housed the palace. A dozen armored guards were here, and Lucian Torrent stepped forward and handed him his diplomatic papers and requests. The soldier took the papers and made us wait inside a room in the guard tower. Nearly two hours later, a very formally dressed man finally visited us. He sat down and talked with Lucian and Bylura for a time before leaving. I was planning to leave, but the guards would not let us. Gareth and I were getting antsy at the long wait. When our party was summoned, we were forced to join the two envoys deeper within the palace grounds and into an audience hall. The hall was white marble and well-lit with large skylights. An elevated dias was at the end, with a number of attendees standing at the base. On the dias were six seated individuals. I guessed one was the Emperor and the others his advisors, as they had much smaller seats. Our envoys got announced by the herald, but I was scanning the attendees. One quickly stood out, and he was making eye contact with me. It was Baladon, the Bricio mage I had defeated in single combat and fled the Black Spire with his family. His eyes had nothing but hatred for me, and his face wore a malevolent smirk. They were actually here to convince the Sadians to attack Skyholme. Loriel was right. Depending on how this interaction went would determine if we would travel to Llorth or back to Skyholme. I did not see Abaddon anywhere in the group, but I was sure Baladon¡¯s brother was not far away. The etiquette introductions were concluded, and the Emperor motioned for us to present our business. Lucian tried to step forward, but it was Bylura who spoke first. I guess there was some diplomatic protocol because he relinquished the floor to her by stepping back. The tension in his body told me he was not happy, though. ¡°Esteemed Emperor Hadrian, we come to you bearing gifts,¡± she opened with a bow. I thought if she offered up the Maelstrom, I would storm back to Skyholme and toss Loriel off the edge of her island. Bylura continued, ¡°We wish to open formal trade and exchange stone portal keys. The new Triumvirate of Skyholme seeks to enter a mutually beneficial trade and period of cooperation.¡± She then produced a blade from her hip and knelt, holding it up. Someone came, inspected it, and they brought it to the Emperor. He unsheathed it, and my eyes popped. It was a thin short blade, but that was a deep black. It was adamantine. A blade either made from or coated in the most precious metal in all the Sphere. Adamantine was a prime aether insulator; if the blade held any enchantments, it would be extremely powerful. The Emperor was impressed, and Baladon was stewing with fury at being upstaged. I thought maybe Loriel did have a good plan. The Emperor intoned, ¡°What of the protections? When will the portal stones be usable.¡± He placed the blade in his lap and stroked it like a precious kitten. ¡°Our portal currently stands open,¡± Bylura said, and Lucien reached out to grab her but restrained himself at the last moment. Murmurs went up in the crowd, and I saw Baladon make for an exit, but the two guards there would not let him pass until court was completed. There was more going on here than I understood. The portal stones were very advanced magics built by an ancient race in the Sphere and located throughout much of the Sphere. They allowed instant travel between points as long as you had the key sequence. Loriel was essentially giving the Sadians a way to launch an invasion into Skyholme. Bylura did not admit the anti-teleportation device was destroyed, though. The little wolf-girl was more clever than I gave her credit for. The threat of being able to activate the anti-teleportation runes may keep the Emperor in check. She could only do this because she knew Aelyn and I had dismantled the Heart Stone array. It was another brilliant play on Loriel¡¯s part. She was keeping the anger in Skyholme focused on the Bricios. Not only had the Bricios tried to eliminate the Miaden and Torrent lines, but the inner council thought they had taken away the strongest aspect of Skyholme¡¯s defenses. I had to admire Loriel. She turned every disadvantage into strength to secure support and focus the people. The conversation went back and forth as they discussed the implications and establishing a military truce while trade would be opened up. The Emperor eventually said he was famished and invited our party to dine with him. Lucien accepted immediately, trying to gain some control in the discussions that Bylura had been leading. Baladon was practically running away now that he could leave, probably to tell his brother about our arrival and the negotiations. I was tempted to try the dishes of the Sadian culture, but I needed to get back to the Maelstrom and use the communication stone. I was certain that Bylura had her own communication stone with Loriel, but Callem also wanted to be kept informed. Maybe the old man did not trust Loriel as much as he outwardly displayed. I felt slightly guilty about leaving Bylura on her own. I had nothing against the wolf girl; she was definitely more than she seemed. Bylura was petulant on the surface but thoughtful and cunning underneath. Her small stature and childlike build made people underestimate her. I held Gareth back, and he looked indecisive as well. ¡°Are we leaving Storme?¡± Sadian guards flanked Lucien and Bylura and followed the Emperor¡¯s party. ¡°Not our fight. We did our piece, and I am worried if we stayed, we might get further drawn into some web Loriel is weaving,¡± I told my friend. ¡°We should have brought Bleiz with us. He could have stayed here and kept an eye on them,¡± Gareth suggested. ¡°No, I wouldn¡¯t put him in harm¡¯s way like that. Politics can cut faster and sharper than a blade. At least with a blade, you can defend yourself,¡± I walked as two ceremonial soldiers escorted us off the grounds. A man in robes handed each of us a token in case we wanted to regain entrance into the palace. It was a very informal gesture, and our descriptions were also noted in the guard¡¯s logbooks. I knew it was not the only security as I could feel numerous aether weaves in the air. When we were back in the streets, we headed back to the Maelstrom. Everyone was still there, and I called Bleiz, who appeared next to Gareth. Gareth turned to Bleiz and smugly whispered, ¡°Knew you were there the whole time.¡± ¡°They are working on some type of open trade. We are going to wait on board the Maelstrom. No one goes into the city in groups of less than four. The Bricios are here, and I am sure they have their own plans.¡± I charged and tossed the communication stone to Gareth, ¡°Explain things to Callem, and then you can keep that.¡± I went to my quarters to think. We had half a day to charge the ship¡¯s power crystals fully. I had three options after that. Wait for Bylura and Lucian. Go and search Llorth for Aelyn. Or return to Skyholme. I wanted to search for Aelyn and visit the library in Lloth, but my conscience wanted me to wait here. I could not do anything until the two crystals recharged. I set my privacy screens and alarms and took a nap. Chapter 99 Getting Trolled Chapter 99 Getting Trolled My dreams were heavy with Baladon and Abaddon. They were plotting revenge against me for killing their father. Everywhere I went in my dream, they were there, in the shadows, ready to put a knife in my back. When I woke, I had a clear direction. I planned to fly to the elven city as soon as the crystals were charged. I would enter the library and find a spell to give me an even greater advantage against the two brothers. I found everyone in the cargo bay playing a game of cards. They were drinking and looked up. Gareth spoke, ¡°Sammie, Remy, Leda, and I went into the city, Storme. There is a lot of conflicting information out there.¡± Leda stepped in, ¡°I talked to two young guards at a tavern. Well, they were actually soldiers. The Sadians are fighting on two fronts right now. The duergar dwarf clans are from the crust, and the Esenem Protectorate elves are to the north. Both conflicts appeared centered around the control of a powerful dungeon.¡± Gareth rolled his eyes, ¡°Yeah, Leda has a way of making the young boys talk.¡± Sammie interjected, ¡°You just wanted to go and try the food, Gareth. It was Leda¡¯s idea to gather information from the locals.¡± ¡°Oh, he was trying to get some information from that young server,¡± Leda interjected playfully. Gareth blushed, and I shook my head. He had put a lot of effort into repairing his relationship with Fera, and now this. ¡°Anything about Skyholme, Leda?¡± I asked, getting the conversation back on topic. Leda liked being the center of attention and nodded, ¡°The last attack on Skyholme was conducted in concert with the beastkin tribes. One wealthy city governor was charged with sending the Emperor seven ships and four hundred men. Instead, he hired mercenaries rather than raising the force from his own lands. That caused some discord in the court.¡± Cilia asked a question, ¡°How do the people view Skyholme?¡± Leda shrugged, ¡°It is like this far-off fantastical place they see pass through the sky a few times every year overhead. I don¡¯t think the common people care whether the islands are conquered. They have enough issues to deal with. The conflict still exists because the Triumvirate does not generate enough resources from its own dungeons, so we raid the lowlands, and the Sadians are the best target. The Sadians are spread thin in their large territory and have few skyships capable of reaching the islands. Every time they attack us in force, it takes a decade to rebuild their fleet.¡± I was shocked. ¡°Wow, Leda you got all that from talking to two soldiers?¡± Leda blushed, ¡°No. Some of it I already knew and just confirmed when I talked with them. There are some things that are not in our history books but are passed down by word of mouth in families. My family has been around for a long time. We knew more than most since our craft relies heavily on dungeon resources.¡± It was my guess that the conflict between Skyholme and the Sadians could be solved. The question was who was going to gain the most coin from it. Remy seemed a little twitchy, like he wanted to speak, so I asked, ¡°Did you learn anything, Remy?¡± All eyes turned to him, and he nodded, ¡°The large power crystals for their skyships are being imported from the Callisto Federation. I was asking as we needed to secure a better core for the Maelstrom.¡± I motioned for him to go on. ¡°The Callisto Federation is about 30,000 miles from here, but they sell tier 6 and tier 7 crystals large enough to power our ship.¡± One of our goals on the trip was to try and secure a larger intact crystal. ¡°I don¡¯t think we will be able to travel that far.¡± I made a decision, ¡°We leave for the elven city of Lorlth when our crystals are charged. No one leaves the ship again,¡± I said, committing to that plan of action. Remy hesitantly asked, ¡°When we reach Llorth, can we explore that city?¡± Expectant eyes studied me at the prospect of walking in an elven city. ¡°Yes.¡± Their eyes were happy, but they were essentially a bunch of teenagers exploring a vast world for the first time. ¡°But stay in groups of two. First thing when we get there, we will get a set of communication stones so we can all stay in touch.¡± The next day, we received a message from Bylura. It was very general and indicated negotiations were going well. Baladon had been trying to get the Sadians to launch an attack in Skyholme. Abaddon, being a captain in the Navy, had intimate knowledge of the defenses and the naval strength; that is what they were offering in return for being given the governorship of Skyholme. Gareth was incensed after the communication, ¡°The Bricios would rather see Skyholme destroyed than let it thrive without them.¡± He stormed to his own cabin, and I asked Bleiz to keep an eye on him. I was worried Gareth might get an idea to try and kill Abaddon and Baladon on his own. Thankfully, he cooled off in a few hours. I used the communication stone to Skyholme, and Callem had already been informed in a meeting about the Bricio¡¯s second betrayal. The Navy was already working to shift defense patrol routes and altering response protocols. There should be enough variance from the original defense plans that the Sadians would not gain much of an advantage if they did attack. There was a lot of nervousness in the Citadel. A lot of pressure was being placed on Bylura and Lucian Torrent to strike a peace accord. The talks were progressing slowly as the Bricios were working against them. I informed Callem of my plan to visit Llorth before returning to Skyholme. He was quiet for a long minute before he advised, ¡°Be careful, Storme. I know why you want to go. I do not think me telling you it is a bad idea will stop you.¡± He paused again and then said, ¡°I ask one favor. Do not let Gareth enter any dungeons. He needs more seasoning before tackling unknown dungeons.¡± ¡°I will do my best. I think we will be fine in Llorth. We will land in the eastern city. It is the educational and trade district. The nearest dungeon is a day¡¯s walk, and I will not give Gareth the time to reach it,¡± I said with a relieved sigh on the other end. Callem¡¯s only son had been lost when delving into a dungeon. Our delegation reached no resolution by the time our crystals were charged. Cilia and Leda made the only objections to leaving. They had spent a lot of time with Bylura and considered her a friend. Leaving her behind felt like they were abandoning a companion. In addition to Abaddon and Baladon, it appeared most of the Bricios that had survived were in Goldreach. Bylura should be fine if she remains in good standing with the emperor and remains in the palace walls. If she could reach an agreement, she could instantly use the portal stone network to return to Skyholme. I sent her a letter saying we were leaving. The Maelstrom would return to Skyholme in four days, and we would return to pick her up if called upon. The Maelstrom lifted off without fanfare. Leda got us oriented and headed toward Llorth. The forward viewing panel allowed us to see in almost a complete 180-degree arc. Leda had us swing north along the city¡¯s perimeter as we made for our actual course. It gave us a chance to see more of the city. Two mounted griffons flew below us as we circled away. Gareth shouted excitedly, ¡°That looks like fun, Stormy. We should get some. I have an affinity for riding, so I can probably learn fast.¡± From the captain¡¯s chair, Cilia addressed Gareth, ¡°You could always try to join the Dragon Wing, Gareth.¡± ¡°Bah, only nobles in Skyholme join the Dragon Wing, and they do not even fight. They just come out on holidays to do aerial maneuvers for the kids,¡± Gareth scoffed. ¡°They are not even real dragons. Just wind drakes barely and smaller than a horse.¡± Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡°You know many kingdoms in the Sphere maintain flying calvary. It is a lot cheaper than maintaining a fleet of skyships. I am sure you could learn if you really wanted to,¡± Remy advised Gareth. ¡°I remember in my youth seeing warriors ride actual dragons. The Northern Star Domain rode genuine black dragons. It was how they maintained their hold so close to one of the tunnels to the Outer Sphere. One black dragon is as large as a Harbinger warship. I was told they could tear apart a skyship in less than a minute.¡± The conversation turned into Remy telling stories he remembered when he traveled the Sphere with his merchant father. Remy had been abandoned on Skyholme when he was young. His father had checked him into an inn in Aegis City and was off to do a trade run to the other islands but never returned. When our aether crystals reached 40% remaining charge, I instructed Leda and Cila to look for a place to land. Our crystals were not large enough to make the trip one segment. We would have to land and spend half a day recharging. I wanted to leave enough charge in the crystals so we could flee, just in case. If our crystals were fully charged, then we could make the trip from Skyholme to Lloth in one charge, about 16,000 miles, but we had diverted to Goldreach for our passengers. Leda reviewed the map on the navigation table, ¡°We can try to find a flat landing spot in the mountains over here. This region on the other side of the mountains is mostly plains. My research said they were mostly filled with nomadic peoples, humans, and halflings. The entire region is devoid of dungeons.¡± Our original plan had been to land next to one of the tribes in the plains. I was now rethinking my plan. I was not sure how friendly they were or how strong their warriors were. They could have a dozen mages in their population and be hostile. ¡°See if you can find somewhere in the mountains. It should give us a good view of possible and be level enough that the Maelstrom remains level,¡± I went to the viewport to help Cilia look. Sammie and Leda joined me, and we slowly moved through the mountains. Leda spotted a granite shelf that was mostly level. Cilia swung the ship to a very soft landing. Gareth was about to comment on my own landing skills, but I held up my hand as a mock warning. When we left the ship via the ramp, it was cold outside. No snow, just freezing temperatures. I activated my thermostatic aura and was instantly comfortable. Everyone else, even bundled up, was in discomfort. I ordered everyone back on the ship, and they could activate the environment controls. It would add an hour or more to recharging the power crystals, but that was fine. We still had six days before the academy classes started. Gareth said they would remain focused on the radar. From his monster classes, he thought the only threat this high up would come from the air. Bleiz stood next to me and seemed unaffected by the frigid temperatures. ¡°Do you want me to scout the perimeter? Out to maybe 200 yards, including the cliff?¡± Bleiz asked. ¡°I will join you. The radar didn¡¯t pick up any aerial monsters nearby. We will just look for any signs of monster activity. We are fairly high up, and with the cold temperatures, there are probably not many monsters,¡± I said, and Bleiz shrugged. Bleiz¡¯s knowledge outside of Skyholme was limited. So was mine. As we walked, the edge of the cliff had a strong updraft and the smell of pine needles. Through the clouds and about two miles below, there was a small green expanse, which I presumed was an evergreen forest. We didn¡¯t see anything as we did a full loop. Bleiz said, ¡°It seems safe, but I will take the first watch from the ship.¡± I went to the ship¡¯s runic control room to check on the power crystals and inspect the runes. The benefit of using mithril for all the ship runes was there was no maintenance. The ship could fly for centuries before needing to be serviced. The mithril was coated with a fine layer of gold that would need to be replenished every decade or so of heavy use, but the Maelstrom would stay in perfect working order unless damaged. I went to my cabin to steady the invisibility spell. A few hours into my steady, I heard Bleiz¡¯s voice. I opened my door to hear more clearly, ¡°Incoming monsters. They are climbing the cliff. Two so far!¡± The roof hatch slammed shut before I could give an order. Gareth was already rushing out of the cargo hold. I would have preferred to just take off if the monsters were climbing the cliff. We could have flown away and not had to deal with the creatures at all. I flew down the stairs, Sammie right behind me, to catch up with Gareth. We faced the cliff to see three hulking creatures plodding toward us. They were over fifteen feet tall and looked ugly with bulbous skin, gangly limbs, and black mossy hair. The ground trembled as they closed on us. Gareth looked a little pale, ¡°Stormy, I think they are mountain trolls.¡± ¡°Great, how do we kill them? We have about twenty seconds to come up with a plan, Gareth,¡± I said confidently. Gareth spoke quickly, ¡°If there was just one, then maybe we would have a chance. They regenerate too fast to kill.¡± ¡°Get the ship in the air!¡± I yelled to Cilia, watching from the bridge. ¡°Bleiz, take the one on the right! Harass it till the ship is away.¡± I looked at Gareth, who was gaining courage. ¡°We just need to distract them long enough to get the ship away. Remy will lower the rope ladder,¡± I encouraged my friend, who nodded. I rushed forward to the troll on the left, tossing a lightning sphere and then enhancing my reflexes. The ball of energy struck the ground between the two on the left, and it didn¡¯t phase them at all. My target was unable to keep up with me as I was behind him in an instant. My large falchion swung, targeting the hamstring. My sharpness runes cut through bone and tendon with ease. I was surprised when the blade stopped dead in the troll¡¯s femur. It howled in pain¡ªa feminine scream. Her scream caused the other two trolls to turn. Bleiz attacked with fervor on the side, removing chunks of flesh like he was chopping a tree. Gareth and Sammie beset the distracted middle troll. I did not have time to follow their battles as my troll lashed out with her foot. I had to abandon my sword and summon another enchanted saber. I cast a lightning spear and burned a hole in her stomach, but it closed in two heartbeats as she regenerated. She grabbed my falchion and ripped it free with a grunt and spurt of blood as two of her fingers went flying. She tested the weapon in her good hand and grinned horribly as her face twisted. I was turning through my spells in my mind. Nothing was strong enough to work on this creature. At least everyone in my team had my enchanted weapons. They were harassing the trolls endlessly and, so far, avoiding getting hit. The Maelstrom lifted off the ground, and Bleiz¡¯s troll raced and leaped. The Maelstrom was fifty feet in the air, and the fifteen-foot troll was high enough to grab one of the landing gear legs. I yelled, ¡°Go higher! And shake it off over the cliff! We can handle two!¡± Cilia responded and zipped toward the cliff. The troll had no other grip, so it tried to tear the panels around the landing gear back. I dodged the female as the Maelstrom started jerking in the air. The troll was in the inertia sink range, so it could probably hold on. A few panels flew away as the troll made progress to get in the ship from below. Then the troll fell. He stupidly looked at the landing leg in his hand. He must have ripped out enough of the supports for the leg to free it. If the two-mile fall did not kill it, at least it would take too long to climb back up to play a role in the rest of the battle. The female swung my falchion around inexpertly, and it was easy to anticipate. Bleiz, Gareth, and Sammie were keeping the other troll frustrated. Gareth yelled while rolling away from another swing of the troll¡¯s meaty paws, ¡°Just remembered¡ªthese trolls can not regenerate from death. We just need to do enough damage quickly enough to kill one.¡± Bleiz asked, breathing heavily, ¡°Will cutting off the head work?¡± Gareth nodded in the affirmative. I began to cast my lightning spear at their troll as the group focused on doing enough damage to bring the troll down so someone could behead it. My troll, which I decided to dub the mama troll since she kept trying to break away now and help the mewing other troll getting repeatedly hit by three of us. Mama Troll caught me off guard as she threw my falchion at me. It gave her time to get to Sammie. Sammie did not see it coming as the troll kicked her in the back. Sammie was airborne and crashing heavily forty feet away. ¡°Fuck!¡± I screamed, running at the Mama Troll. I summoned two long curved daggers and embedded both of them in her lower back. I was hoping for a spinal cord strike, but she whipped around, and I released the daggers while ducking her swing. She was already starting a kick I planned to dodge when the Maelstrom came out of nowhere and clipped her head. A loud thud toned as the ship raced away, but Mama Troll did fall to the ground. The earth rumbled as I rolled away, and she sprawled out. Bleiz was quick to act and left his troll to remove Mama¡¯s head. He struggled to cut through, and I yelled, ¡°Gareth, he needs a bigger sword!¡± I rushed to attack the other troll. He was bleeding but rapidly healing. With my lightning spear spell, I got close enough to gain enough accuracy to target the face. Out of the corner of my eye, Gareth took two swings to behead Mama Troll, and the Maelstrom was turning around and coming back. ¡°I will get to Sammie. Make sure the troll is dead and distract this one!¡± I barked at Gareth and Bleiz. It wasn¡¯t necessary, as my troll turned and fled after the female¡¯s head had rolled free of its body. I raced to Sammie, who was not moving. I did the diagnostic, and she was struggling to breathe. Both lungs were filling with blood, and her bones were shattered everywhere in her torso from the kick. How frigging strong were those trolls. I poured spell after spell into Sammie to stabilize her. The Maelstrom returned and landed near us. It had a prominent dent in the hull from the troll head¡¯s impact. The remaining five landing struts supported her. ¡°Get Sammie on board before any more trolls show up.¡± Gareth lifted her easily, and I ran around the battlefield, picking up weapons and sending them to my storage space. I was the last one to board, and we lifted off. Bleiz met me as I climbed the ramp, ¡°You know what? I do not think I like trolls.¡± ¡°Me either,¡± I responded as I finished healing Sammie. Chapter 100 Aelyn鈥檚 POV (Partial Flashback) Chapter 100 Aelyn¡¯s POV (Partial Flashback) Aelyn¡¯s breath caught in her throat as she looked upon her mother in the cell. Her mother¡¯s vacant stare made Aelyn¡¯s heartache. She knew it was a possibility¡ªdead, brutalized, or soulless. She tried to open the door, and when it didn¡¯t budge, she screamed in frustration. She had found her, and now just a door separated them. She lost a few moments of thought as she fought violently with the door. Aelyn calmed because Storme would figure this out. Storme was muttering something about the door being resistant to his metal shaping. He stepped back and began to fire beams of lightning at the wooden door, burning around the locking plate. She waited anxiously. To her, Storme was not normal. Although he was young, he saw the world as an adult, except when it came to women. When it came to women, he was a child, oblivious to the obvious. That was also part of his charm¡ªhis ignorance or reluctance to engage intimately with a woman. There were so many layers to him. She had only read his thoughts once when they first met. His mind was complex and focused on learning magic, and that was it, unlike his friend Gareth who was constantly thinking about women and glory. Besides his lecherous mind, she admitted Gareth was a good person. Storme pulled the handle away with a gloved hand, and Aelyn flung the burning door open, but Storme held her back. Storme doused the flames his repeated use of the lightning spear spell had created. Storme had so many secrets, and she thought she knew them all now. His endless aether was not even his largest secret. It was his ability to create and shape metal. Actually, create metal and not just iron like some mages could do in the lowlands. He could create silver, gold, and platinum as well! That seemed ridiculous; he was a coin factory. She had heard of mages being able to make false gold that turned to dust after a few days, but Storme¡¯s coins were real. Aelyn rushed forward as soon as the flames were controlled and reached her mother. She was catatonic, and no spark of life was in her eyes. Aelyn started crying into her mother¡¯s frail body. ¡°Aelyn, let¡¯s get her out of the cell. I can not check her while she is in here,¡± Storme disclosed. Once outside the cell, Storme examined Niserie¡¯s bracers and focused. One fell to the floor, and then the other. Those could not have been aether restraints? How could Storme remove them so easily without the corresponding key? Her mother squeezed her in a soft hug, bringing her attention to her. Her eyes were clearing, and Aelyn could feel her mother¡¯s ability to enthrall people coming alive again. It was just a minor ability that made people naturally like her. Storme used his healing on her, but it appeared much of the damage was mental and not physical. Storme led them as they sought an exit. When they reached the dead Wolfguard who defended the prison, Storme said, ¡°Aelyn, put those robes on your mother and cover her ears. We might be able to get out of the Citadel. Maybe Broderick will shelter her at the Gentle Tauren.¡± Storme had a goal in mind. Niserie whispered to her, ¡°Can we trust the boy? He does look familiar.¡± Tears flowed freely now that her mother had spoken words, ¡°Yes. He freed me from a lifelong indentured contract.¡± Aelyn¡¯s voice was filled with admiration and affection for Storme. Niserie¡¯s sunken face nodded slowly, but Aelyn knew that look. Her mother¡¯s eyes were calculating something¡ªweighing the truth of words and deciding on an action. She finally spoke, ¡°So he will do everything he can to help us escape these accursed islands?¡± Aelyn realized what her mother was doing. She was finding leverage for the situation. Niserie played people to her tune all the time. But never Aelyn. She had always been honest with her daughter and even taught her some of her skills. Skills she had used, at first, to seduce Storme. It had not worked and instead backfired, and he seduced her. Is that what her mother noticed in her few words? ¡°Yes, Storme will help us. He already freed you,¡± Aelyn whispered. She did not see her mother¡¯s face, just a curt nod. They entered a large chamber with seating surrounding it. The chamber they entered had a high ceiling with a bright violet light in the center. Storm seemed to know where they were. Neserie eyes locked to the purple light, ¡°That is an aether stone. What is it powering?¡± She whispered. She looked around, her eyes coming alive. ¡°A portal stone! Aelyn, we can escape now!¡± Neserie fell to her knees and traced the runes. ¡°These are portal runes. We can escape to another portal in the network. I know the pattern sequence for the city of,¡± she paused, ¡°Llorth,¡± She was tracing the lines in the floor and then spoke in frustration, ¡°The patterns won¡¯t aether-link and are blocked and won¡¯t activate.¡± Storme spoke, ¡°The stone in the ceiling prevents all teleportation.¡± All eyes looked up, and Aelyn studied the crystal. A tier 7 crystal that size must be worth¡­more coins than she could imagine. Aelyn turned to Storme, ¡°Storme, can you cut it free? Use your ability to cut the chains that power the blocking runes?¡± Aelyn¡¯s voice was pleading, and Niserie studied the interaction. Aelyn continued, ¡°Just cut the chains, and then my mother can portal away.¡± Storme seemed to be focused and deciding on a course of action. He finally gave a curt nod and went to climb one of the silvery chains to reach the crystal. Niserie spoke softly to Aelyn, ¡°Make him hurry. If we are found, they will not let us leave.¡± Aelyn nodded to her mother. She did not want to tell her that she planned to stay¡ªto stay with Storme. Aelyn shouted, ¡°Can you do it, Storme? They could arrive at any time!¡± Storme was struggling to remove the stone, but her prompting got him working faster. His foot swung into the open air, but she guessed he was using his magic to stand as the stone finally moved. The stone just popped out and fell to the floor. Aelyn covered her eyes, thinking it was going to shatter. The stone just thudded and did not even bounce. Her mother¡¯s eyes focused on the stone, and walked over to it. Niserie struggled to lift the stone, either because it was heavy or because she had been greatly weakened during her imprisonment. Storme yelled down, ¡°I will be down in a minute.¡± Aelyn¡¯s eyes saw the greed in her mother¡¯s as she held the stone slightly larger than a person¡¯s head. She hissed, ¡°Compensation for my incarceration and treatment.¡± Niserie moved close to Aelyn and looked up as Storme was starting to make his way down. Aelyn saw Niserie lock eyes with Storme, judging him. She looked at Storme as well and felt her mother¡¯s hand on her shoulder. She felt the aether thickening in the room. Her eyes pleaded with her mother, but she knew it was too late. She met eyes with Storme again, trying to impart sorrow before they disappeared. When they appeared in an open square with some people walking around, she spun to her mother, who had already secured the stone under her dress, holding it there like she was pregnant. Aelyn fumed, ¡°I did not want to go!¡± A few passersby stopped to see Aelyn scream at her mother. They were all elves with golden hair. She spun to her mother, ¡°This is not Llorth!¡± Her mother had clearly said she knew the runes for Llorth. That is what Storme had heard. Neserie nodded and smiled weakly from relief, ¡°No, this is Cullinbar. I have allies here. When they question the boy, Llorth was just to throw them off the trail. The cities are in completely different directions. Now, let¡¯s go. Your brothers have never met you.¡± The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Aelyn numbly walked the street. She had never visited the elven city of Cullibar. The sun elves that lived here were elitists and did not look favorably on half-elves, humans, or any other race for that matter. Surprisingly, she only received quick glances. The sun elves were denoted by their light hair color, blonde, silver, and reddish pink. Almost everyone they passed conformed to this ideal. Niserie, seeing her daughter¡¯s unrest, tried to soothe her, ¡°Not every race is as they are depicted. There is a lot of misinformation out there. The sun elves are cultural purists but do not spurn other races.¡± She shifted the stone under her garments. ¡°As long as you do not disrupt the status quo, they will accept you.¡± ¡°What about half-breeds like me?¡± Aelyn pressed her mother. Niserie was quiet for a long moment, ¡°Yes. Unfortunately, that is one line the sun elves dislike crossing. Keep your ears hidden, or you may be asked to leave the city.¡± Niserie knew where she was going, and Aelyn was finally able to pick out a few elves with darker hair and even a halfling and human or two. Aelyn asked, ¡°Where are the skyship ports in the city?¡± Maybe Aelyn could get passage back to Skyholme and find Storme. Niserie chuckled, ¡°The sun elves mostly use the portal network. The closest thing they had to an armada are the Star Lancers. They would tear through the entire Skyholme fleet in minutes.¡± Aelyn assumed they were some type of dragon. She asked, ¡°What do my brothers do? You never talked about them much.¡± Her mother missed a step, ¡°Yes, it has been a few decades. They were not happy with me when I brought you here as a baby. It was a difficult conversation.¡± Niserie seemed to almost reconsider but then increased her pace. ¡°Travaran is a fletcher. He makes some of the strongest enchanted arrows in the city. Eroan teaches water magic at the university,¡± she said proudly. The intricately fit paved stones changed to a new pattern under Aelyn¡¯s feet. She recognized it as the elven symbol for crafters. The pattern kept repeating as they walked, and Aelyn briefly became transfixed with it. Neserie suddenly stopped in front of a shop with a sign showing two crossed arrows. There were no windows, and her mother inhaled deeply, let out a breath, and entered. Aelyn followed. Natural light flooded the shop from the back, where large windows were situated. The store was relatively small, maybe 15 by 30 feet. Wall racks held individual arrows with small tags hanging off of them. Large barrels held hundreds of arrows. On closer inspection, each barrel held a different length of arrows. An elf with silvery blonde hair came from a side room and paused on seeing them. Niserie smiled brightly, and the elf walked quickly forward to embrace. The aether crystal thudded to the floor. After a long hug, the man backed away, ¡°Mother, you look like you have been bathing in a black ooze. And smell like it, too.¡± He looked over at Aelyn, ¡°I assume this is her? I am your half-brother, Travaran. Mother, the washroom is over there. There should be some of Esiyae¡¯s clothes. Take what you need. I will explain it to her when she returns.¡± Niserie left Aelyn and Travaran alone. He bent over, picked up the crystal, and placed it on the counter. He caressed it, and his eyes briefly went wide in understanding what it was. He turned to Aelyn, ¡°Aelyn? I think if my memory holds. So what trouble has our mother gotten herself in with the Riders? Did she steal this for them?¡± he tapped the aether crystal. ¡°No. Well, yes, she did steal it,¡± Aelyn admitted. ¡°But she didn¡¯t steal it for the Riders.¡± He nodded and sighed, ¡°I am ok with you. Our brother is not. His colleagues are not tolerant of half breeds,¡± he winced as he said it. ¡°If some of my customers knew I had a half-sister, they might end their patronage. That is why I argued for our mother to abandon you. I have had time to think, and I do not care. You are always welcome here, and my wife agrees.¡± An awkward pause followed. Her mother had not told her much of anything about her brothers other than where they lived. Aeylen finally said, ¡°So you are a Fletcher?¡± Tavaran grasped the conversation thread, ¡°Yes. Fifty years now. Just received a contract from the Star Lancer Riders five years ago. More than doubled my sales.¡± He walked to one of the wall racks, ¡°These are my specialty¡ªarmor-piercing arrows. The enchantment can easily pierce armor and shields¡ªeven if it is artificed. A Lancer Rider said a single arrow could take a large drake.¡± He took the arrow and handed it to Aelyn. Aelyn examined the arrow. It was a black wood lined with silvery script¡ªmithril. She looked at her brother, ¡°Mithril?¡± He nodded. Tavaran explained the arrow construction in depth. Each arrow took wood manipulation spells to align the grain and then fine work with a stylus to write the runes. The arrowhead was carefully manufactured to crush its aether crystals to charge the runes on the shaft on impact. ¡°Storme would have loved to see this and talk to you about your methods.¡± ¡°A friend of yours? Maybe a boyfriend?¡± Tarvaran asked, interpreting her reaction. Aeyn winced, ¡°No. Definitely not now. He made me this,¡± she drew and placed the rapier Storme had made her. Tarvaran picked up the blade and ran his fingers along it, using spells to examine it. He sat down at a table and continued an in-depth examination. After a few minutes, he looked up at Aelyn, ¡°He must have some pretty strong metal manipulation spells. The runes are embedded in the blade and do not compromise its strength. The rune linkage is near perfect. It is almost a shame he didn¡¯t use higher-grade aether stones and dust on such a magnificent creation.¡± Niserie came in at this moment clean and wearing some loose-fitting clothes. She still looked thin and pale but now had some life in her. ¡°Tarvaran, I wish to borrow some coin. The Crimson Riders will return it with interest.¡± ¡°No need to repay me. How much do you need?¡± He asked. ¡°Twelve hundred gold. That should be enough to get us to the moon,¡± Niserue replied calmly. Tarvaran winced at the amount. ¡°Do not worry, they will repay you.¡± Aelyn decided not to tell her mother that she had six platinum and nine large gold coins in various denominations in her dimensional storage. Storme had always handed her coin freely. He paid her the five platinum for joining the dungeon team one night and never asked for change. Aelyn asked, ¡°What moon?¡± Niserie looked at her daughter seriously, ¡°Aelyn, I am bringing you with me to the Hand of the Crimson Moonriders. They control much of Esmeray, the blood moon. It is best to spend a few decades training with them and join.¡± Tarvaran started to move, and Niserie stopped him with a gesture. Aelyn was angry and unleashed it on her mother, ¡°The Riders? You want me to join the Riders? After they abandoned you!? Are you kidding? I didn¡¯t tell you Gimble came and tried to rescue me. He failed. Storme rescued me, and then he rescued you!¡± Aelyn¡¯s was beyond angry. Her mother had always let her make her own decisions and never chose a path for her. ¡°Aelyn, calm down. We can discuss it. With this,¡± she indicated the violet crystal, ¡°You can get some of the best training in the Sphere. You will not even have to serve the Crimson Riders if you do not want to.¡± Aelyn fumed as she sat. She was trying to think of a way of returning to Skyholme. After betraying Storme, would he even want her to return? Niserie let her calm down before talking, ¡°I was not on a task for the Riders. Otherwise, they would have rescued me. Gimble is a very old friend, and I am glad to hear he came for you.¡± A long pause as all three of them shifted in chairs. ¡°Sleep on it, Aelyn,¡± Niserie finally said. ¡°We can discuss it tomorrow.¡± Tarvarav stood, ¡°I will get your coin, Mother. I will be back in the morning. My wife will be back tomorrow evening. Aelyn, if the crafter of your blade is ever in Cullinbar, I would love to talk with him and introduce him to our master crafters.¡± Aelyn almost said, as long he was not a half-breed but held her tongue. Soon, Aelyn was in a guest room. Niserie left to go out in the city. The guest room was also a library of sorts. She paged through the books on the shelves and pulled a map book of the three hundred years old region. Some regions had constantly changing borders, so these maps were mostly terrain maps noting cities. It took her a few minutes to find Skyholme, its rough orbit over the lowlands traced. She was far from the islands. She pulled a portal stone book and started cross-referencing the runic activations with specific portal stones. Many races only allowed certain portal stones in their network. If you had a key sequence, you could override the protections, but Aelyn did not have any keys. Her mother had Cullinbar because she had grown up here. Aelyn traced a few possibilities and finally decided on a two-city hop. Each trip would cost her about 100 gold, but it was worth saving her time. It would take two years or more if she tried to reach Skyholme on foot. Traveling a skyship would save time, but the maps did not say the cities had skyships. Her best bet was the stone portals. She packed some food from her brother¡¯s kitchen and left him two large gold coins as compensation. As she made her way out, she paused at the faintly glowing aether crystal. It would take most of her dimensional storage to hold it. Maybe if she returned it to Storme, he would forgive her? She emptied her space and stuffed everything into the backpack with the food from the larder. Then she pushed the aether crystal into her space and filled the space around it with coins, food, and whatever else she could squeeze in. Her mother was free to make her own decisions. Aelyn was going to make her own as well. Chapter 101 The Cat鈥檚 Meow Chapter 101 The Cat¡¯s Meow Sammie was hungry when I finally finished healing her. ¡°Thanks, Storme. I am sorry I almost got killed.¡± ¡°You better be. No, dying while you work for me,¡± I smiled as I hit both of us with the cleanliness spell. Everyone was still in some shock from the short, intense battle. Leda came down to the hold and said, ¡°We didn¡¯t get a large enough charge on the crystal. We are going to have to land somewhere to charge again.¡± Everyone in the hold looked at me. I thought about just going back to Skyholme. ¡°That is fine. You can land where you think is best,¡± I said, committing to continue the trip to Llorth. Gareth sat next to me, ¡°Mountain trolls are tough bastards. We probably should have harvested the blood and hearts....¡± I gave him a withering stare. He held up his hands, ¡°Just saying they are worth good coin.¡± ¡°I do not think I need the funds, Gareth,¡± I said with a little snark. ¡°Well, as team leader, I just wanted to point out we could have earned a sizable bonus from harvesting the troll,¡± he said but moved away, giving me space and not letting me comment on his assertion that he was the team leader. I went to the bridge and watched the land race below us. Four hours later, Leda started giving Cilia directions to descend. The Maelstrom soon moved toward a small village on a lake. We did a flyby. Leda spoke, ¡°Inhabitants looked human. Cilia, circle around, and land on the beach near the fishing boats.¡± she addressed me, ¡°Storme, we should be inside the borders of the Theoreon Kingdom. That is, if it has not been conquered since the time the map was made. The Theoreans are fairly welcoming of outsiders.¡± I nodded and watched as we landed. I was soon down the ramp with Gareth and Sammie. Bleiz was nearby but invisible. An older woman with a straight back and flanked by two younger men walked to meet me. ¡°Welcome to the village of Serran. I am Othella,¡± she spoke the common tongue with a heavy accent. ¡°Are you here to trade?¡± she asked hopefully. I felt calm in her presence. The two men behind her had swords on their hips but were not wearing armor. On the edge of the village were a number of people, primarily curious children. The village was mostly wooden structures with a single large squat stone tower in the center. I addressed the woman, ¡°My name is Storme. We are just here to rest for a few hours on our way to the city of Llorth.¡± She nodded in understanding, ¡°You are the most excitement our little village has had in a month. You are welcome to rest here. The central structure,¡± she indicated, the short stone tower, ¡°is our town municipal defense building. It has a small general store. The local tavern is the building directly across from the tower.¡± Leda descended the ramp. She asked, ¡°Is this village still part of the Theoreon Kingdom.¡± the woman smiled and nodded. ¡°Yes. The Kingdom has been stable. It mostly has to do with the land not having much to offer. No dungeons of note or natural resources. We are bordered by mountains on two sides and an ocean on another,¡± the older woman explained. Leda pressed, ¡°Do you have any recent maps of your Kingdom? Mine are all 300 years old,¡± The old woman nodded, ¡°In the general store. Four large silver for the most recent. Our Kingdom is small, just 200 miles by 100 miles. Not much, but we are generally safe from some of the more dangerous denizens in the Sphere. But if you are adventurers, we might have a task for you.¡± Gareth became alert, ¡°What do you need to be done?¡± I could tell he wanted to play the hero. The woman smiled like she had caught a fish. ¡°We sent word to the capital where an adventurer¡¯s guild hall is located. There are phantom cats in the forest across our lake. They only hunt at night, and we bar our doors. But if you could expedite their removal, we would be grateful.¡± she said. Gareth turned to me, ¡°Phantom cats are creatures that can manifest spectoral force whips from their shoulders.¡± His face focused in thought, ¡°They are stealthy hunters with the ability to camouflage themselves. I think their hides and eyes are extremely valuable,¡± he lectured me. I heard Bleiz whisper to me, ¡°Sounds like fun.¡± I considered. The night was only about an hour long in the Sphere, bookended by a few hours of twilight. I finally replied, ¡°I do not think we will be staying till night.¡± The woman, Othella, was ready for my hesitation, ¡°You can always track the pair to their lair. You seem like very capable warriors.¡± Even after our troll encounter, I could tell Gareth was itching to go monster hunting. I had not purchased any bestiaries outside of dungeons. I would have to rectify that in the future. I was relying on Gareth¡¯s knowledge. ¡°Let me talk it over with my companions,¡± I finally said, and we went inside the cargo bay on the ship. I looked at Gareth and waited. Gareth tried to convince me, ¡°They are big creatures but smaller than a horse. I can¡¯t remember if they have six legs or just four, but either way, they are fast. They usually hunt in packs of four to six, but will mate as a pair and remain stationary while they raise their offspring. If this is a mated pair, they might have kittens. If the kittens are young enough, they can be sold to a beast tamer.¡± He was getting excited. He thought some more, trying to remember more information from what he had read, ¡°Their hides are very valuable¡­thousands of gold valuable. Their eyes glow, and the only thing they can not camouflage and are used in advanced alchemy.¡± I waited while Gareth continued to remember the details of the beasts. The only other thing he could recall was that the beasts preferred dense jungles or forests as habitats. Bleiz appeared, ¡°I think we should help. I didn¡¯t see a single competent fighter in the entire village.¡± I discounted his input because I had learned his tone of voice. He was just bored and wanted a challenge. He had the invisibility necklace, so he would not be in much danger while we hunted. I wished I had imprinted my own invisibility spell, but I was still working on it. I walked back to Othella. ¡°Have the beasts killed anyone in your village?¡± She pursed her lips, ¡°No. They appeared about nine days ago and took two sheep from an outlying farm every night. The flock was moved, and another farmer lost a horse two nights ago. Nothing happened last night.¡± I liked the fact that she was honest with us. She could have tried to guilt us by saying a child had been killed. ¡°Fine. We will make a loop of the lake to look around. If we don¡¯t find anything, we will be taking off when we return.¡± I looked at my crew huddled around, except Cilia who was on the Maelstrom. ¡°Sammie, stay with Cilia, Remy, and Leda. Gareth, Bleiz, and I will make a circle of the lake.¡± Othella was smiling brightly now that we were going to hunt the creatures. I asked her, ¡°Are there any local laws we need to be made aware of, Othella?¡± ¡°We just expect courteous behavior while you are in town. If you want a meal, we will feed you before your trek around the lake,¡± she offered happily. It almost felt like she was offering us a last meal. ¡°No, I am guessing the circumference is about five miles. I want to get to it,¡± I answered her. I walked to Leda, ¡°Keep on alert while we are gone. Always keep two people on the ship, and don¡¯t let the locals aboard.¡± I would need to artifice a way to lock out the controls in the future. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. She nodded but rolled her eyes, ¡°Common sense, Storme. Do not worry; the ship will be here when you return. Be careful yourself.¡± I left with Gareth as we started into the forest, following the edge of the lake. Bleiz would be somewhere in the trees scouting ahead. Gareth kept going over what he remembered. The phantom cats were named for their ability to camouflage and produce air whips to restrain and disable their prey. It was best to avoid getting snared. If this was a mated pair, only one would be sent out to hunt while the other watched the kittens. When we got near the far side of the lake, Bleiz whistled, and we honed in on his alert. We found him in a shallow ravine with a horse carcass. It was mostly stripped and smelled foul. Bleiz whispered, ¡°The phantom cats will be hunting tonight. This corpse is stripped, so they will be hungry.¡± I walked around the site, and when I found a paw print, I thought about turning around. It was massive, larger than my head. Gareth was standing next to me and took a deep breath, thinking the same thing, ¡°I think we should head back, Storme.¡± I nodded and climbed up the small ravine with Gareth. We started to backtrack when Bleiz sent a signal whistle. It was the signal for danger. Gareth tensed, and we both started scanning the trees nervously and got our backs to a massive trunk. Gareth said, ¡°If it is just one, I will go right and attempt to distract it. It will give you time for a killing blow.¡± It was just on twilight¡¯s edge, and we spotted the cat together. It was coming from where we found the carcass. It was huge, easily taller than Gareth at its shoulder. Its long body rippled as its fur attempted to blend into the background. It was studying us with glowing green eyes. ¡°Maybe it is afraid of us,¡± Gareth whispered. As if in response to Gareth¡¯s words, it started closing on us at a leisurely pace like we were not a threat, just a tasty snack. I felt the need to correct Gareth at this time. ¡°It has six legs and is definitely bigger than a horse,¡± I said, stating the obvious and pointing out Gareth¡¯s errors in the beast¡¯s description. I only had three signal whistles with Bleiz: Danger, I am here, and Run. Each was a different type of intonation of the whistle. He was quiet, so I guessed he assumed we were going to engage the imposing cat. Two blue translucent whips emerged from the cat¡¯s shoulders and began to ungulate as it approached confidently. ¡°Guess it has three extra limbs,¡± I noted. ¡°What? No, I can only see two. Oh, the tail? That doesn¡¯t count, Stormy,¡± he sounded exasperated, but the situation had lost some of his tension. The massive cat dropped its attempt to camouflage, and its shiny black coat was now evident. It got within forty feet, and I fired a lightning spear, and it passed through an afterimage of the cat. Gareth had obviously not remembered everything about the creature. It paused, surprised at the attack, and then lept at us. I was already in overdrive mode. Gareth rolled right and yelped in surprise as the spectral limb lashed out at him. I was swinging my falchion to try and sever the phantom whip coming at me on the left. My cut passed through it, and the limb dissipated, and the cat hissed in annoyance. I could see that the other limb had grappled Gareth, but his sword flashed, disrupting it, and now the cat was angry at both of us and couldn¡¯t decide who to pursue. I circled toward its flank, and its massive head followed me. It lunged impossibly fast, all six legs working in concert. Even with my insane speed, I did not get out of the way. The massive jaw missed me, but the shoulder and mass of the beast plowed into me, sending me tumbling away. At this time, Bleiz made his presence known. He appeared and cut the hamstring on one of the rearmost legs. Gareth¡¯s broadsword was chopping at one of the middle legs. I regained my feet and used a flash heal. The black cat roared into the air, sensing its demise was suddenly imminent as we neutralized its movement. I ran forward, planning to keep its attention while the others finished it off. It worked, and soon, the beast was down to just three functional legs. Gareth intoned, ¡°Let it bleed out, Storme. Keep your distance.¡± The malicious green glowing eyes followed me as I kept out of its range. It pulled itself forward, but soon its strength left it. Gareth ordered Bleiz, ¡°If that roar was to call its mate, you should go and scout.¡± Bleiz said as he vanished. He looked at me, ¡°Stormy, will you do the honors?¡± He pointed at the corpse. With the eyes still glowing green, I fired a lightning spear at the beast to make sure it was dead before approaching and using my tissue extraction spell. The eyes and the pelt were removed in seconds and sent to my dimensional space. I asked, ¡°Anything else of value?¡± Gareth thought and shook his head, ¡°I think the blood, but it soaked into the ground. Pretty much all magical beasts have blood usable in alchemy. But I do not remember what this blood was good for. The hide was by far the most valuable part. I think the eyes glow for years, but they do rot.¡± ¡°What about the flesh?¡± I asked. My spell was exceptional at cutting perfect cuts of meat. Gareth shrugged. I took cuts of sirloin and tenderloin into my dimensional space. The tissue was not as fatty as a cow, so I was not certain of the taste. I was considering what else to cut off when Bleiz used the whistle for danger. Gareth was already on guard, and I backed away from the dead phantom cat. A smaller version of the cat we had killed appeared. It did not approach the corpse but did lock eyes with Gareth before turning and running. Gareth started to sprint after it. I followed him, activating my overdrive lightning reflexes again. A whistle told us Bleiz was also in pursuit. With a heavy breath, I asked, ¡°Gareth, are you sure there were just two of them?¡± ¡°Probably. They are nomadic and free range unless they are giving birth.¡± He was barely winded as he continued, ¡°There could be two mated pairs in the same region, but that would not make sense as Elijah said they would not want to compete for resources.¡± He added, ¡°But I may be wrong, Stormy. I mean, I could even remember how many phantom appendages the beast had.¡± The cat had outpaced us, and I pulled up. Gareth stopped as well. I ended my enhanced reflexes and walked slowly. Bleiz appeared and started tracking the fresh prints. We spread out to either side of him as we made our way cautiously through the thick woods in the twilight. We turned away from the lake, and about a quarter mile into the woods, Bleiz suddenly stopped and kneeled down low. Bleiz sniffed the air, ¡°We are close. I do not see the lair but can smell the rotting meat.¡± He passed his hand in a small arc, ¡°Somewhere in that direction.¡± I made some aether discs to make steps to reach a branch in a tree for a better view. The roots of the largest tree in the direction Bleiz had indicated had a black hole in them. I returned to the ground, ¡°I think the lair is underneath that large tree. There looks to be a tunnel. I am going to throw a flash-bang inside to see if I can spook it out.¡± I cast my alarm spell on a rock and tossed it in at about thirty feet. It went off, and loud cat hissing issued forth from inside, and the phantom beast lept out of the tunnel, its blue spectral limbs lashing wildly in search of us. I started firing my lightning spear, missing more often than hitting, and Gareth and Bleiz unloaded their throwing daggers. I started using my iceball spell but still missed it often. The beast was projecting an illusion of itself instead of using camouflage, so it was more like guessing where the beast actually was. After a minute of being subjected to our attacks, the beast raced forward blindly, wanting a target. It was not difficult to avoid the charge. It was pitiful as we slowly destroyed the beast¡¯s powerful legs as we did with the larger cat earlier. It was clear my flash had blinded the beast completely and probably damaged its hearing as well. It must have been looking right at the stone when it went off. It had to be one of the most useful spells I had learned and evolved. The cat started mewing when it was immobilized, and Gareth pierced its throat with his blade, ending it. I moved in and harvested the same parts I had from the prior beast. I was ignoring the soft mewing coming from the lair. It had to be the kittens. Gareth produced the light stone Wynna had gotten him a year ago and made to enter the tunnel. ¡°Gareth, is that wise? Couldn¡¯t those things be dangerous?¡± I asked. Gareth seemed indecisive and looked at Bleiz, who rolled his eyes and went invisible to do the task. Ten minutes later, a bleeding Bleiz had two pitifully mewing cats. He was holding both by the scruff of their necks with each hand. The squirming cats were trying to free themselves from his grasp. One of the cats was pure white with deep red eyes. The other was back with glowing green eyes like its parents. Even though the small creatures looked helpless, they had bitten and torn Bleiz¡¯s arms with their six legs and sharp teeth. He tried to hand the black and white cats to Gareth, who wanted nothing to do with the little monsters. I produced some rope to bundle them up. The needlelike teeth were an issue, but I bundled the body tightly, restraining their six legs. I healed Bleiz and turned to Gareth, ¡°Are you sure these will be worth something in Llorth?¡± I asked for the fifth time. Gareth shrugged, ¡°Yes. They can always be raised for their pelts if they can not be trained as pets. Although I didn¡¯t know they came in different colors. I thought they were always black if not camouflaged.¡± I ended up carrying them back as Bleiz was our invisible scout, and Gareth wanted to keep his weapons at the ready. I had one tucked in each arm, their soft glowing eyes staring at me as I walked. The albino cat with red pink eyes seemed more curious. The black one seemed more feral and continued to struggle. They finally fell asleep, and for the first time, they appeared cute. I walked onto the ship and spent time making a medium-sized metal cage in my cabin for the little fiends. Gareth took the two pelts to show the town we had killed the phantom cats. When he returned, he stormed into my cabin and angrily tossed the pelts down on the floor. ¡°Stormy, we never negotiated a reward for getting rid of their cat problem!¡± Gareth said irritably. So this chapter and future chapters have been rewritten as initially, I had used Displacer Beasts for the monster, but they are copyrighted by WoC. So it may have read a little clunky with the changes. Chapter 102 Searching Llorth Chapter 102 Searching Llorth Gareth was upset with receiving no accolades in the form of coin. Maybe that was why he wanted to present the pelts, to collect the reward. I shrugged, as any reward from a small village would probably not be worth much. ¡°Stormy, we can¡¯t let them walk all over us like this,¡± Gareth whined cynically. ¡°I will talk to Othella after I check on Remy¡¯s repair work on the landing strut. The troll did a lot of damage, and I want to be able to land in water if we need to without flooding the cargo bay,¡± I told my friend. Gareth¡¯s mood brightened, ¡°The town is having a huge party for us. I also noticed some nice-looking young women,¡± Gareth¡¯s focus changed instantly. ¡°Well, there is your reward. The party, not the woman. I will tell Fera this time if you decide to sleep around,¡± I teased my friend. His grin faded, and he looked betrayed. He finally said, ¡°It¡¯s not the same. In all the stories, the adventurers get the loot and a reward,¡± Gareth voiced his frustration. His whole act was all in jest at the mock injustice of it all. He thought he was being funny, but I really didn¡¯t have the time to indulge him. I just patted him on the shoulder, and he left. I diced up some raw chicken from my dimensional space and fed the eager cats in the cage. They attacked the bowls and mewed for more. I tried petting the white one. It let me, but the black scratched me, cutting the back of my hand. I spent time making a separate cage and split the two up. I gave the white one more chicken, and as it ate, it let me pet it. The black one mewed pitifully as its sibling ate. I tried to give the black one more chicken and pet it as well. It bit my hand this time. Maybe the black one was too feral, I thought while healing myself again. I left and went to see Remy. He was under the ship. Remy was grumbling, ¡°I patched the hole. We won¡¯t be able to get a new landing strut until we return to The Shiny Platinum.¡± I could make one but decided not to reveal the extent of my ability to Remy. ¡°It is fine. We still have five struts and can now land in the water. Anything else?¡± I asked my engineer. ¡°Leda said we are good to make it to Llorth with the aether crystal charge. We can leave anytime. I will stay with the ship if you want to go to the party,¡± Remy said while packing his tools. ¡°No. It is fine. I am just going to talk with the town elder. When I come back, you can go,¡± I said, inspecting his work closely. He did a good job, and I left to find Othella. I was directed to her home by the townsfolk and knocked. She answered, and I entered when she gestured me inside. The house was well kept, with shelves of books and nice furniture. She was preparing a meal and invited me to sit. ¡°Here to ask for a reward? I told your friend we didn¡¯t have much to offer but that I would think of something. I talked with the townsfolk, and we can pool eight gold for you. It will be ready in the morning,¡± she said heavily. I used my assess person ability on her. Othella Ridgehome Human Female Age 79 Disposition Grateful My skill indicated a person¡¯s intentions well, and I guessed this woman was not deceiving me. I took the bowl she offered me. It was a rice and meat gumbo. It was very mild and under-spiced, but I ate it anyway. I finished the bowl and said, ¡°No need for a reward. The pelts will fetch more than enough to cover our efforts. Gareth is a good sort, and I am sure his being upset was an act. He just likes to be the center of attention.¡± ¡°Oh, he wasn¡¯t rude or mean. Just shocked,¡± she said. We both laughed, and I could imagine my friend being shocked at not being recognized for risking his life to save the village. I stood, planning to leave, but paused to read the titles of her books. ¡°Those were my husbands,¡± she said. I nodded as I read the titles. Most were basics of spell magic. Different from the books I learned from but probably containing much of the same knowledge. Eighteen books on aether cores and spell imprinting and evolution. A few books on local monsters. I paged through the books after getting permission. I found the entry for Phantom Cats, also known as stalker cats. Gareth was mostly correct in what he remembered about them. Nocturnal hunters with a habit of being sadistic in their hunting practices, torturing their prey and playing with them. It mentioned a few ways to trap the beasts and how to skin them to keep the hide intact. The hide was an integral component of something called a cloak of displacement. The eyes were also used as glow stones but rotted over time. The eyes had two uses in alchemy: night vision and true sight potions. I fingered down to the reproductive cycle. Mated pairs separated from the pack once a year to lair for six months to give birth to 2 to 5 kittens. The kittens were born with needle-like teeth and couldn¡¯t use their abilities until after a year. They were considered dangerous from birth. The females only lactated for a week after giving birth, and then the kittens ate prechewed meat from the parents. At six months, the cats would be four feet in length and taught to hunt by the parents and rejoin the pack. The book did not focus on training them as pets, but it said they could be trained to be loyal guards but advised never to leave them alone with small children. It referenced the book Understanding the Motivations and Body Language of Your Phantom cats by Dar the Beastmaster. I slid the book back on the shelf and went to the end of the shelf where there were five spell books. Four were tier one spells and one tier two. The tier one spells included arcane dart, arcane armor, comprehension of languages, and scribe. The tier two spell was wall of sand. The comprehend languages could be very useful as I paged through it. It started with just an imperfect auditory translation, but as it leveled, you could get a better translation and eventually read a foreign script. I turned to Othella, ¡°Can I buy these from you?¡± She looked uncertain, ¡°Which one?¡± ¡°All the books. There are...53 books here. How much do you want for all of them?¡± I had a friendly smile while making the request. The collection was excellent. ¡°It took my husband a lifetime to accumulate his library. He just dabbled in magic. It is all I have left of him,¡± she said, entering the negotiation phase. The spells were worth maybe 200 gold in Skyholme, but I was guessing spells were more expensive in Skyholme. The wall of sand and arcane armor were the only two rare spells. I could not place a value on the non-spell books. But maybe five gold each, as many had color illustrations. So the entire collection would go for maybe 450 gold in Skyholme. I asked, ¡°Name your price, Othella.¡± She considered for a long moment, ¡°Two hundred and fifty gold.¡± She seemed uncertain if it was too high or too low. I nodded slowly and pulled a platinum and twenty-five large gold from dimensional space. I pretended to get the coins from a pouch and placed them on the table. Her eyes went wide at the glittering coin stacks in front of her. ¡°I have never seen coins so shiny before. There are more coins than I asked for. Are the books worth more than I thought?¡± I shrugged, ¡°To the right person, yes. I am giving you close to fair value.¡± She picked a coin in her hand and examined it. ¡°If you do not mind, I would like to get the blacksmith to confirm they are real.¡± I didn¡¯t understand why everyone thought shiny coins were fake. I agreed, and she took the platinum and one gold with her. I began to organize the books on the table so I could quickly add them to my dimensional storage in some semblance of order. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Five spells books, eighteen on the basics of magic, ten bestiaries part of a collection, and twenty random books on everything from cooking to masonry. The cookbook was a guide to cooking with local flora and fauna, so it was partially a herbalism book. Othella returned happily, and she took all the coins into her bedroom. I quickly sent the stacks of books to my dimensional space and left the house. When I got back on the Maelstrom, an eager Remy rushed off to the party. I went to the bridge and reclined in the captain¡¯s chair while reading about phantom catss. Sammie was back from the party first and was extremely intoxicated. I heard her climb the stairs to the crew cabins, singing the ballad of the lumberjack who had saved the woods from an undead horde. I went to her and helped her to her room, and as she collapsed on her bed, I touched her and removed the effect of the alcohol poisoning from her. She was sound asleep, and hopefully, the hangover would be lessened. If not, a quick healing when she woke. I went to my room, and the black beast hissed and growled while trying to reach me through the bars. The white one seemed to be studying me. It was almost eerie, with off-red glowing eyes studying me. I tried my assess person ability on the small cat, and it did not surprise me that it failed to activate. It was called assess person, not assess beast. I prepared some raw chicken from my dimensional space, chopping it finely. The black cat started pacing frantically in expectation. The white cat waited, and when I put the bowl inside the cage, it ate slowly, and I was able to pet it again. I made some more diced chicken, and once again, the black cat took some blood as payment for petting it. I opened the white one¡¯s cage, and it exited. I could see its indecisiveness, and it even flickered in my vision as it tried to use its camouflage to no avail. I walked toward it, and it shrunk away but did not flee. I picked up the cat, and it relaxed in my hands, trying to be as unthreatening as it could make itself. ¡°You should be careful,¡± A voice in the corner of the room said. The white cat growled out in the direction of the voice. Bleiz appeared and was seated in a chair. ¡°That one is intelligent. It was her who tricked me and cut up my arms when I collected them. The black female motivations are easier to understand.¡± I put the white one back in the cage and fed both water. They both drained the bowls dry, and I added more. Bleiz said, ¡°I am not cleaning the cages. You might want to make collars and leashes for them.¡± ¡°I was thinking of selling them in Llorth. Maybe I will keep one. I just have not decided,¡± I said, ensuring both cages were secure. ¡°Talk to a beastmaster in the city,¡± he shook his head sadly. ¡°And here I thought you were a dog person.¡± He stood up and walked out. It then occurred to me that my cabin had no windows, and the door had been closed when I entered. Had Bleiz been in here the whole time? Was his presence what had subdued the white cat? I moved to the crate and tried petting it without the price of food. After a few minutes of my attention, the feline let me pet her again and appeared to fall asleep with a light purr. I whispered, ¡°I think I am going to call you Kiara.¡± The crew stumbled back over the next few hours, well past midnight. I caught most of them, removing their intoxication. Gareth was last and had a noticeable hickey on his neck. I decided he could manage his own hangover. I locked down the ship and moved to the bridge. Leda and Cilia were there but didn¡¯t look in great shape after hours of celebration. ¡°I think I will get some practice flying the ship. Leda, help me get oriented¡­¡± I took the chair and got the ship moving in the right direction at speed and altitude. I then moved to the sensor station and let the two of them get some rest. It would be about seven hours till we reached Llorth. They both returned about six hours later, and it was my turn for a quick nap. The cats needed to be fed, and I cleaned their cages with my cleanliness spell. They both were spooked when their urine and fecal matter disappeared into nothingness. The black cat didn¡¯t scratch me when I fed her this time. The white one gave me that same appraising stare. I managed only forty minutes of sleep when the ship alert bell rang. I went to the bridge, and Leda was ready, ¡°We can see the city. It is huge. It looks like they have a few defense skyships and numerous drake riders.¡± She handed me her telescope, and I looked at the city. We had slowed to under forty miles an hour. I could see the drake riders and counted seven over the city. All the drakes were a metallic blue in the sun. Two massive skyships also circled the city. I had read the limited material we had access to on the city. Lloth was a major trading city over one of the Ley Line nexus points. They had a high-tier dungeon in the center of the city that allowed an infinite number of delvers in. This gave the city a heavy stream of resources to exploit. The races controlling the city were the Dark Elves, with sizable populations of humans and gnomes. As we approached, Leda was busy figuring out the signals flashing from the towers around the city. They were navigational tools for incoming flyers and skyships. She had a reference book out and started giving Cilia vectors to set up an approach that would allow us not to get attacked. She was actually sweating and finally asked me, ¡°Water or Land?¡± A breath later, I went with the land option. It was a very slow approach as we were soon directed by flaggers in towers to an open stone area. The landing area looked like a giant chessboard with seven by seven hexagons. ¡°I think we can land on any open hexagon,¡± Leda said with a little uncertainty. ¡°Closest to the gates then,¡± I gave my input, but I was studying the other ships. Two looked completely metallic in nature and had modules on the hull. We were still far from a transition tunnel to the Outer Sphere, but those ships definitely looked like they might be space-worthy. Cilia swung the Maelstrom around and landed. Our ramp would face the city gate. Everyone was on the bridge except Remy. He was one of the crew that I had not cured of their alcohol poisoning. Sammie checked on him, and he was just still passed out. I gathered the crew. ¡°Ok, we are going to leave two crew with the ship, Remy and Gareth. Cilia, Leda, and Sammie, you can explore but stay together. Bleiz, you are with me, so stay visible. When Cilia, Leda, and Sammie return, Remy and Gareth can go out together. Stay out of trouble, everyone.¡± I looked at Gareth, who looked surprised I was singling him out. ¡°We will lift off in eight hours.¡± Everyone nodded and made their own preparations. As I descended the ramp, I was met by a dark elf with four guards in heavy armor. I was nervous for just a moment, but he was only here to register my ship and collect a docking fee. Ten gold a day or fifty gold for a week. I would have scoffed at the cost if I hadn¡¯t had unlimited wealth. I handed him a large shiny gold with a hydra on one side and a Medusa head on the other side. It was a design from my book of dungeon and kingdom coins. I was being cautious and did not plan to use Skyholme coins. Bleiz walked next to us as we headed through the gates. Wide streets and tall buildings lined the sides. Everyone was walking, and no horses or other mounts were in sight. Bleiz was just as awed as I was as we walked. Mostly, humans with an array of gnomes walked the street. The dark elves were sporadic but were the most richly dressed in this trade quarter. The languages spoken were dark elf, gnome, and the common human tongue spoken in Skyholme. I suddenly was grateful that I had picked up the comprehend language spell. If I was planning to visit different cities, I would need to learn the spell soon. We turned into a common goods shop run by a young gnome proprietor. We wondered about the racks to get a feel for pricing. I would say everything was slightly higher quality than Skyholme and about 50% more expensive. We talked to the gnome owner, purchased a beautiful city map for two gold, and he marked the sites I was interested in in red ink. The central library. All the three portal stones in the city. The best beast tamer in the city. And the spell emporium run by the Adventurers Guild. The Adventurers Guild was an organization that was found in every city in the Sphere. It was a network of guild halls that was supposedly unaffiliated with local governments and did not have any political bias. Although Skyholme had an Adventurer¡¯s Guild, it was definitely handicapped by the Triumvirate. Maybe that would change with the new regime. Skyholme could see a large influx of delvers if they gave the Adventurer¡¯s Guild power. I walked with Bleiz to the closet portal stone. I went through the square and spread around some large silver coins for information on two female platinum-blonde elves that would have arrived three months ago. As luck would have it, a man completed a registry for the city of arrivals. He had a skill similar to my assess person ability. It cost me a large gold bribe to look at the book. Nothing. Aeyln and Niserie had not arrived at this portal stone. The man was very helpful, though. The lower city stone had a similar registry. The third portal stone near the dungeon had spell locks on it. The city controlled that portal stone, so not just anyone could use it. We spent an hour reaching the lower city portal stone, and two gold coins later, I was disappointed. Once again, we had come up empty. This was the only city named Llorth. I was positive Niserie had said Llorth. They must have arrived near the dungeon portal. Niserie must have had the key for that portal stone controlled by the city. We pressed to the center of the city and found the portal stone. It was in a large cage with guards surrounding it. Bleiz and I asked around, and the stone had not been activated in over ten years when the Nagas had attacked the city. It only connected to one of the moons in the Sphere. I spent almost fifty gold asking various people and got the same answer every time. Bleiz finally said, ¡°Storme, I do not think they arrived in this city unless there is another portal stone somewhere.¡± I had spent almost six hours tracking down and questioning people. I sighed, extremely disappointed. Aelyn was not here, and I had no idea where she had gone. I looked at the map to orient us, ¡°Bleiz, we are close to the Adventurer¡¯s Guild Spell Eporium. Let¡¯s go check it out before heading back to the ship.¡± Chapter 103 Lorae Fadrae Chapter 103 Lorae Fadrae My mind was trying to recall Aelyn and Niserie¡¯s disappearance when they used the portal stone. I had been hanging over them and had a great view. Did any of the runes glow? No. Were there any clues on where they went? I couldn¡¯t think of anything. Where did they go? Maybe Niserie lied to me. I could only think of asking Loriel if she had uncovered anything when she used the flashback spell. It would take a lot for me to grovel for the information to her. And I knew it would come with a hefty price. We had arrived at the spell emporium. It was sixty feet tall with only three floors and built of large black stone. We entered the impressive black granite building, and it was not what I had thought it would be. The first floor reminded me of a bazaar with dozens of individual shops. Dozens of hawkers announced their wares, and dozens of people were in constant motion, going from shop to shop. I looked for help and noticed a young-looking dark elf in a deep blue dress leaning against the wall. She appeared to be crowd-watching. ¡°We are new here. My name is Storme, and this is Bleiz. Are you available to be a guide and help us navigate this?¡± I asked her in the common tongue. She looked to be a teenager, but I didn¡¯t know what relative age that meant for dark elves. She looked me up and down but seemed more interested in Bleiz. Bleiz had been getting looks all day, as I guessed half-breed beastkin were rare. I used my assess person ability on her, thinking she was too inexperienced to notice me use the skill. Lorae Fadrae Dark Elf Female Age 29 Disposition: Mild Curiosity She finally pushed off the wall with elven grace, ¡°Sure, I am not busy. My name is Lorae Fadrae. This level is all the independent merchants. Mostly merchant groups or powerful delving teams pay to rent one of the alcoves to sell what they have harvested or crafted.¡± She started walking and telling me what each shop specialized in. Two guards flanked a large stairway at the end, and she started walking up. ¡°The Adventurer¡¯s Guild runs the second-floor bookstore and is mostly non-spell books,¡± she continued talking. When we got to the second floor, it reminded me of a library. Dozens of people walked the shelves. ¡°Most books on this floor are copies. The copies are perfect replicas. You can still ask for the original printing, but they cost three to ten times as much and might not be available.¡± ¡°What language are the books in?¡± I asked as I did not recognize the script on many bindings. She answered without hesitation, ¡°Mostly the common tongue. You can order a book translated into another language at the cost of 2 silver per page in addition to the normal cost of the book.¡± We walked a few rows, but I could not figure out their catalog system. The elf kept looking at Bleiz; maybe that was why she agreed to be our guide¡ªshe was curious about him in particular. She finally asked, ¡°Were you born in a dungeon?¡± The question took Bleiz aback. He did answer, ¡°I was conceived in a dungeon but birthed outside of it.¡± Lorae nodded like that made complete sense. I asked, ¡°Lorae, what do you do?¡± She grinned, ¡°This and that. I mostly work in one of the shops below. My father is a delver, Relik Fadrae.¡± She said it like we should know the name. She looked disappointed when we didn¡¯t acknowledge knowing who her father was. I explained, ¡°This is our first time in this city, and we don¡¯t know many famous delvers.¡± That seemed to mollify her. I could tell she was about to detail her father¡¯s exploits but continued our tour instead. She continued to explain, ¡°The men and women in the light blue uniforms are the Guild¡¯s librarians. Ask them if you are looking for a book, and they can help. They will bring it to that desk, and a Seeker will give him a list of where to find the books. The librarian will collect the books and bring them to you. Just remember, this is not a library. You can read a page or two, but you either need to buy it or return it to the shelves.¡± I stopped a blue uniform librarian. ¡°Can you get me everything you have on phantom cats that is in the common language? I am also looking for a specific book of training them by Dar the Beastmaster.¡± The middle-aged man wrote some notes on a notepad and walked away. Lorae asked, extremely interested, ¡°Planning to hunt some phantom cats in the wild? I know there are none in any nearby dungeons.¡± I decided to be honest, ¡°No. We killed some, and I want to see what we can get for the kittens.¡± Her eyes went wide on her face, ¡°You captured a newborn? That is amazing! Can I see them?¡± Her exuberance reminded me of Freya. The blue-robed man returned with five books. Understanding the Motivation and Body Language of your Phantom Cat Variants of the Phantom Cat and Their Preferred Habitats The Complete Guide to Skinning and Harvesting a Phantom Cat The Complete Ecology of the Dungeon Phantom Cats for the Deep Abyss Dungeon The Step-by-Step Guide to Tracking, Capturing, and Training Your Own Phantom Cat Lorae took the last book and said, ¡°This one is trash. You cannot train an adult beast.¡± ¡°You know a lot about phantom cats?¡± I asked the dark elf. The young elf shied, looking away, ¡°No. Just what everyone else does from the bestiary in the upper city, they have three of them in one of the exhibits. It¡¯s definitely one of the more interesting exhibits and one of my favorites. There are large panels in the viewing area with text describing the beasts. I remember everything I read.¡± I was not sure why she was seemingly ashamed of knowing things. I turned and asked the librarian, ¡°Are these all the books you have on phantom cats?¡± The librarian shook his head no, ¡°These are marked as the most useful references by the Seeker. More obscure texts are in the basement archives.¡± I took the book Lorae said was useless and read through the index, ¡°It appears to be a guide to capturing and breeding your phantom cats and then training the offspring.¡± If Lorae¡¯s dark skin could be darker, I was sure it was as she flushed in embarrassment. ¡°It does not mention breeding in the title, so I agree that it would seem useless if you can not train an adult.¡± Lorae nodded but did not seem at ease with her failure to advise me. She finally asked, ¡°Can I see your kittens? I always wanted one as a pet.¡± ¡°Maybe after we are finished.¡± I turned to the librarian. ¡°How much for these titles?¡± He opened the front cover for each, and they all had slips of paper in the pouch. He pulled the first one out, compared the title on the cover to the slip, and handed it to me.
Understanding the Motivation and Body Language of your Phantom Cat
Author(s): Dar the Beastmaster, Translated by Monicae Journeybender
Status: Copy Produced from Original on 201,101 DC
Price: 11 gold 3 silver
Original Text Printed: 186,003 DC
All five books were just 41 gold and 8 silver. I gave the librarian a platinum, and he left, brought me the change, stamped the inside cover with the City of Llorth Adventurer¡¯s Guild Seal, handwrote ¡®Paid¡¯, and initialed it with the date. He then placed the slip back inside the cover for me. ¡°We are going to continue our tour, but I would like to look at the other books you have on phantom cats that are readily available in the common tongue. How long will it take you to get them?¡± I asked him. He had a pained look on his face, and I handed him two gold, and he brightened instantly, ¡°About an hour. I believe there are nine books that only deal with phantom cats, not all will be in the common language. Do you want any other books related to the monster? I believe one title from the Seeker was about their natural enemies, blink dogs.¡± If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°No, just the phantom cat books are fine for now,¡± I said, and he rushed off to fulfill my request. Bleiz leaned into me, ¡°I believe you can safely store the books in your dimensional space. Most people here seem to have some dimensional device or personal dimensional storage.¡± I started scanning the others around us. Lorae seemed to overhear, ¡°That is true. Most everyone here is a member of the Adventurer¡¯s Guild.¡± I nodded and sent all the books except the step-by-step guidebook. I read it as we walked. Lorae, catching the hint, continued the tour, ¡°The third floor is the top floor. It has magical texts. The dungeon essence repository is up there as well.¡± I looked up at the ceiling in awe, ¡°You sell dungeon essences here?¡± There was a fair amount of shock in my voice. She wavered, ¡°No. There is a monthly auction for members of the Guild to sell essences where they are auctioned off. The next auction is¡­¡± she thought, ¡°Fourteen days away. There is a registry on the third floor if you are interested.¡± ¡°How much does a tier 1 essence usually cost?¡± I asked, holding my place in the book. ¡°It varies. I have seen them go as low as 100 gold and some as high as 15,000 gold. In larger cities I hear the bidding can get out of hand even for tier 1 essences. Tier 2 essences¡­well, that is always a wild show with many angry people at the end who did not win the bid. Usually, one or two tier 3 essences are auctioned every month as well, but you need a thousand gold buy-in for a seat at that special auction. The special auction also has some interesting magic items there,¡± She explained while smiling brightly. I think it was partly from the fact that I was having trouble hiding my amazement. It really was a different world in the lowlands. Essences in Skyholme all belonged to the Triumvirate. I nodded, ¡°You have been extremely helpful and not asked for anything in return. How do you value your time?¡± I asked the dark elf. She fidgeted a little, ¡°Well, I was just kind of bored. I work in a shop below, run by the delving guild, Dusk Hunters. My father is a member.¡± She seemed to think, ¡°How about two gold, what you gave the librarian?¡± I thought about it for a moment. I was running out of time before we were expected back at the ship, ¡°Do you know where to get sets of communication stones? I am looking for an interconnected tier three, preferably tier four stones.¡± ¡°How many in the set?¡± she asked, immediately interested. ¡°At least six, but as many as ten,¡± I said, adding up in my head everyone who needed one. Lorae thought for a moment. ¡°Six tier-three stones would cost about four hundred gold.¡± That was cheap compared to Skyholme. ¡°Tier four would be a special order. I know two enchanters who could do it, but each stone would be expensive. A set of ten tier-three stones¡­Master Articficer Gorsch should have a set in stock. I can probably get him to sell them to you for seven hundred gold,¡± She smiled craftily. Maybe she would get a commission from the enchanter. I reached into my pocket and produced seven platinum and five large gold from my pocket¡ª750 gold. I handed her the coins. She was not as wide-eyed at the sum as I expected, but she worked in a shop below and probably saw large amounts of coin daily. ¡°We are going to wait here for the librarian to return. Get me the set of ten tier-three stones if you can, and keep the change.¡± Lorae seemed uncertain. I was just giving her a large sum and trusting her. We had only met an hour ago. She backed away and started running, saying she would return as fast as possible. Bleiz looked amused, ¡°Lot of trust you placed in a stranger.¡± I shrugged, ¡°We know where she works, and if I do end up losing the coin, I will just consider it a lesson in life.¡± I sat at a table and opened the book to the marked page. Thankfully, inflation was not an issue in the Sphere. According to texts I read in Skyholme, values remained stable over time. There was an issue with supply and demand, but this old tome should be accurate. The book listed phantom cats as being valued at 5,000 gold if less than a week old. Two weeks old, the price dropped to 3,000 gold. Three weeks old, 2,500 gold. After three weeks, they wouldn¡¯t take to training well as their awareness too far. I looked at the relative size by age and guessed my pair was right around the week mark. I think the mother was still lactating when we killed her, and they stopped nursing after one week. I had fed them the raw chicken because they already had sharp teeth. I was definitely no master tamer and probably got lucky they could digest the chicken and their age. So my pair would sell for around 10,000 gold. I opened the book on variants. I was looking to see if the albino phantom cats were listed anywhere. I only found five species variants. The arctic phantom cat was white, but that was not a match as they were much smaller and only lived in freezing climates. The dungeon phantom cats were emaciated and generally black or dark gray. The phantom cats of the Underdark were larger and stronger but also always black. The variant we captured was the generic type found in jungles and forests. The final type listed in the text was called progenitors. They were supposedly the first phantom cats created by powerful magic. The short story was they had killed their creator, escaped, and were unleashed onto the Sphere. The progenitors did not age and were beyond deadly in their power. Lorae returned with a wooden box at the same time, the librarian had seven books for me. Lorne had a huge smile on her face as she handed me the box. I opened it to find nine communication stones inside a neat 3x3 formation. She explained, ¡°That was all he had. You did mention between six and ten, and these stones are keyed. Each stone has a symbol indicating its number.¡± She turned over a stone, and there was a three-by-three grid with numbers in each. ¡°The off-color number identifies which stone it is in the set. You just tap what other stones you want to communicate with before tapping the center box.¡± I was awestruck as that seemed like really advanced artificing. Seeing my awe, Lorae said, ¡°It is magitech. A blend of technology and artificing. They still need to be charged with aether to work as they have crystal batteries.¡± ¡°Wow. These are amazing! How much did they cost? Do you know the range?¡± I asked while I handed Bleiz stone #2 and took stone #9 for myself. ¡°The range is on the box. I believe one thousand two hundred miles, and they cost me everything you gave me,¡± she smiled brightly. ¡°They are normally closer to 900 gold, but I am friends with Gorsch. Tier three communication stones needed to work over at least 1,000 miles, so these were slightly better. ¡°Well, here, take this,¡± I said, handing her two large gold coins. ¡°And if you still want to see the kitten phantom cats, you can come to my ship.¡± She bit her lip uncertainly but nodded eagerly. It looked like that was what she wanted more than the coins. I sat at a desk and quickly reviewed the six Archives books. I was looking for a reference to albino phantom cats. Bleiz was quiet as I paged through the index of each book, searching. I put aside the fourth book and the sixth as well. I then paid a few golds for both books. After the purchase was done, I put both books into my dimensional closet. ¡°Lorae, I could spend all day here, but we do have to get back to the ship. I am looking for one particular spell. If you could show us up and where I can inquire about it,¡± I motioned, and she led the way eagerly. The third floor had guards at every landing of the stairs and even more upstairs. The third floor was a much smaller library. These were the spellbooks that the Adventurer¡¯s Guild was selling. I could feel the aether in the air, and not many patrons were wandering the shelves. There were more guards, all dark elves, than patrons. Lorae explained, ¡°It is not the busy time of day. Most everyone is in the dungeon during the day and shop in the evening.¡± She led us to a massive desk with three stations. The dark elf behind the desk looked up impatiently. I stepped forward, ¡°I am looking for a tier five lightning spell, Summon Lightning Elemental.¡± The old elf¡¯s eyes showed surprise, and he opened the registry. It did not take him long to shake his head no, ¡°Unfortunately, the only copy in the city is at the Mage¡¯s School. It is a dungeon copy, and the asking price is 24,000 gold.¡± Bleiz coughed for me in our shared disbelief. ¡°Thank you for your time,¡± I said, turning away. I had about half that amount in coin in dimensional space. Maybe next time I am in Llorth, I will try again. It would have been a powerful spell to add to my collection and only cost me eight slots on the aether matrix to imprint it. Since I was running low on spell matrix space, I decided to avoid shopping for other spell books. I turned to Lorae and asked, ¡°We are returning to our ship. Still interested in seeing the cats?¡± ¡°Definitely!¡± She was practically jumping. She admitted as we descended the stairs, ¡°I always wanted to be a beast tamer. My father will not let me until I reach my 60th birthday.¡± ¡°Sounds a bit overprotective,¡± Beliz said. ¡°What? No way. Most of my friends cannot pick a profession until they reach their 75th birthday. My dad is quite lenient. But yes, he is overprotective. He would insist on coming with me if he saw me leave with you. Good thing he is on a delve,¡± Lorae smiled merrily. The conversation turned to artificers in the city. Lorae was in her youth rotation. She spent six months out of the year in an apprenticeship and the other six months traveling. She did the artificers apprenticeship two years ago with Master Gorsch. She was currently in her merchant rotation and hated it. So that was how she knew the Master Artificer and got the stones at a discount. We reached the Maelstrom and climbed the ramp. Everyone had returned from their adventures in the city unscathed. Before going further, I handed out the communication stones. Gareth got #1, Sammie received #3, Remy got #4, Cilia got #5, and Leda was handed #6. That left me with just two stones. I was hoping to give one to Aelyn¡ªbut maybe I should not hold much hope. Although the process went quickly, Lorae was impatient. She did not even want to meet the crew; she just wanted to see the young phantom cats. I brought her into my cabin, and she squealed in joy. Sammie was in the doorway and said she fed them and gave them water. I used my cleanliness spell to clean the cages. ¡°Lorae, they are dangerous. Be careful. I have healing magic, but do not get too close.¡± ¡°Wow, I didn¡¯t know they came in white!¡± She sat cross-legged and stared at the two cats, just watching them fascinated. I took the time to sit in my chair and read the two books I had purchased. The first book detailed a number of unique phantom cats encountered in various dungeons. It was only a single chapter and detailed two dungeons that were far, far away. It had been a long shot, and I found no references to an albino beast. The other book was the jackpot. An entire chapter on white displacement cloaks made from white phantom cats with red eyes. The chapter detailed the genetic anomaly causing albinoism. It was called an impurity, but the white phantom cat market was quite high because the albinos had access to stronger beast cores and were typically smarter than normal black phantom cats. The white color made the cloak of displacement not only more fashionable but much stronger. The text did not have a specific value. It just said twenty times as valuable and twenty thousand times as rare. I looked at the white beast I had named Kiara, and she met my gaze. The black cat I had not named was studying Lorae, who had edged closer. The black¡¯s tail was twitching. I was planning to lift off as soon as Lorae was done staring at the cats. Unfortunately, she was still at it thirty minutes later, but the black cat had stopped its tail twitching and seemed calmer. Bleiz came up and entered, ¡°Storme, there are six tough-looking dark elves at the ramp. One of them said he was looking for his daughter, Lorae.¡± Lorae looked up at Bleiz, ¡°He should still be in the dungeon. Well, maybe I can convince my father to buy me your beasts. They are amazing! Thank you, Storme.¡± She gave me a surprise hug and headed down. I followed, and when I walked down the ramp, I found a very irate group of dark elves. Chapter 104 I am Keeping the Cats Chapter 104 I am Keeping the Cats The tall, muscular dark elf stood in front of four other male dark elves. A sixth dark elf, who was a small woman, was circling the Maelstrom. My eyes focused on the lead elf. He was thick with muscles and had a sword that looked too big on his back. His face was hard, and his eyes told me he was extremely unhappy. Unfortunately, Gareth, who had come down the ramp with me, was the one who spoke first. ¡°How the demon¡¯s dick do you draw that monstrosity on your back?¡± Gareth¡¯s tone was such that I knew he was trying to break the tension, but his intervention was not welcome. This group of dark elves was probably a top delve team at one of the grandest dungeons in fifty thousand miles. The elf focused his eyes off of Lorae and onto Gareth. ¡°Human, you should never ask how a man handles his sword. Especially when yours is so much smaller.¡± ¡°Well, if you want to compare swords,¡± Gareth drew the broadsword I had made him and held it out unthreateningly with two hands. Relik reached back and took the handle of his blade. It appeared the sheath had disappeared when he gripped the hilt, allowing him to pull the massive blade free in a smooth motion. Gareth looked over at me as Relik slowly lowered the tip of his six-foot-long blade to the ground. ¡°Storme, I want one of those. The disappearing sheath as well.¡± I rolled my eyes at my friend. Relik smirked and lightened his tone, ¡°You may be a big boy, but it takes more than a big frame to wield something this immense.¡± Apparently, Gareth¡¯s banter had succeeded as the tension of the encounter was completely dissipated. ¡°Father, stop playing around. Your macho innuendo is not needed. I was just here to look at some kittens. I am fine, and you told me you were no longer tracking me!¡± Lorae had a scolding tone, and her father winced slightly. One of the dark elves stepped forward and whispered something into Relik Lordae¡¯s ear. He nodded slightly and said, ¡°You should know better than to board strange skyships, Lorae. We can discuss this privately, Lorae.¡± He stressed his daughter¡¯s name. ¡°Since you tracked me again and broke your promise, I want a gift,¡± Lorae said quickly. ¡°I want you to buy me the two kittens on the ship.¡± Relik frowned, ¡°We talked about this. No pets until you finish all of your apprenticeships. You may wish to be a tamer, but you can not decide for yourself until your 60th birthday.¡± He put his sword on his back, ¡°I do not think we should do this in front of strangers.¡± His team behind him relaxed, no longer seeing a threat. The small dark elf woman who had been circling suddenly drew her blade, raising the tension again. Bleiz appeared, showing his hands non-threateningly toward the woman who had stepped toward the Maelstrom behind us. That was telling. The elf was sharp enough to pierce the tier 3 invisibility necklace. These were scary and strong elves. I interjected, ¡°It is not nice to be sneaking around our ship.¡± The elf woman looked to Relik, who nodded, and she sheathed her blade and returned to his group. Lorae seemed agitated and resigned to not getting her way, ¡°Fine! But I want an owlbear cub for my 60th birthday.¡± She looked back up the ramp into the Maelstrom. She sighed at the two kittens. ¡°And I want the animal empathy dungeon essence.¡± Relik nodded, agreeing, but I sensed he was humoring her. Lorae¡¯s demeanor had changed from being a responsible young adult to a spoiled teenager in a few moments. My impression of her had fallen greatly. That was until I saw her face when she turned around momentarily. She winked at me and had amusement written all over her face, telling me she was not being completely serious. It appeared the father-daughter had a unique relationship. Relik walked to me as Lorae mingled with his party. ¡°I am sorry about my daughter. She is still young and needs guidance.¡± He whispered, ¡°I am glad she was safe when we got here. The last time I accidentally killed seven orcs, she was dicing with in the lower city.¡± That was definitely a threat to leave his daughter alone as he spun fluidly and joined his party. Gareth had overheard the message and slapped me on my shoulder. ¡°Damn, Stormy, you always go after the ones that are hard to get. You do know there are tons of brothels in the city.¡± Relik was only twenty feet away and paused his step. Damn Gareth¡¯s humor. ¡°I never have and never will visit a brothel, Gareth. That is unless it is to drag your idiot self out of one.¡± I walked up the ramp before my one-track-mind friend could make things worse. ¡°Raise the ramp and get ready to lift off,¡± I announced throughout the second deck. I went to my cabin and checked on the beasts. The white one, Kiara, watched me enter, interested. The black one was sleeping. I needed to name the black one. Maybe, Adriel. I tested the name on my tongue. Kiara seemed interested in the name. ¡°You are Kiara. Your sister is Adrial,¡± I announced. Kiara seemed to lose interest, probably because I was not preparing food. I took out the book on raising phantom cats and went to the bridge. That was a good thing about magic skyships. The only thing you really needed to check was how much charge your aether crystal had, and then you could take off. I sat in one of the three chairs on the bridge, paging through the book as Cilia and Leda got the Maelstrom airborne and away from the dangers of the Llorth defenses. There was a lot more involved than I thought in getting safely away from the city. I noticed that Leda had purchased a book, Navigating the Skies Within the Sphere. Since Skyholme was so insulated, the generally accepted navigation practices might differ slightly in the wider Sphere. The city of Llorth had been an experience beyond imagining, and we had only scratched the surface in the day we were here. It showed me how small Skyholme actually was in the Sphere. I was still marking pages when Cilia had gotten the ship on course to Skyholme, and the controls were locked. I planned to stay here to pilot in case of an emergency to let Cilia rest. ¡°I will watch while you two get some rest,¡± I announced. Cilia gratefully left, but Leda took her new book and began to read. After a while, she put down the book, ¡°Storme, that was incredible. We walked into the trade district, and there were so many things I never dreamed of there. I am glad you let us into your crew.¡± I was silent for a few minutes, ¡°Are you going to report everything we did to Loriel?¡± I watched Leda¡¯s face as it slowly turned red. ¡°It is not what you think, Storme. We are loyal to you. What we tell her is for the benefit of Skyholme. Your family still lives there. You have to understand that,¡± Leda said, trying to reason with me. It was no secret that I still harbored a grudge against Loriel. I pretended to think before saying, ¡°I need you to approach Loriel and see if she knows where Aelyn and her mother went.¡± ¡°So you didn¡¯t find any clues in the city? You were gone for hours¡ªI thought you found something, especially after you brought the dark elf girl on board,¡± Leda relaxed as I was apparently not angry with her. I looked out the bridge window at the lands racing by below us, ¡°No. I found nothing other than confirming they did not arrive here when they used the portal stone in Skyholme. I was told golden-haired elves were rare and easily noticeable in Llorth. No one arrived at the time they used the portal stones. So will you do it? Ask Loriel for me?¡± Leda didn¡¯t hesitate, ¡°Cilia and I will both ask her together after we give her our report. She will tell us what she knows. I promise.¡± ¡°What are you going to tell Loriel specifically?¡± I asked, focusing on her again. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Leda stumbled over her words, ¡°Loriel is still very much interested in you as an ally. She just wants to know where you are going, what you are doing, and if she can step in and help.¡± ¡°So I can be indebted to her?¡± I harumphed. ¡°No, that is not going to happen.¡± Leda nodded, ¡°We will ask her as a favor to us and not from you.¡± It was a clear attempt to get back on my good side for being an informant. I was okay with it as long as I controlled the flow of information. I felt a little guilty manipulating Leda like this. I was using her as a pawn to get the information I wanted. I was a hypocrite, as this was why I disliked Loriel so much. I didn¡¯t particularly appreciate using people. At least with my request, I was not putting Leda in any danger. Leda soon left to rest in her cabin, and I returned to the book while watching the navigation radar for dangers. I was learning a lot about phantom cats. Maybe it was my own hubris, but I thought I could train them. Dar the Beastmaster, laid out a very clear set of instructions for gaining the trust of the newborns. I found a lot of useful information on what to feed them and what not to feed them. The biggest no-no was the flesh of their parents. I still had those cuts of meat from harvesting the bodies, so I planned to get rid of them as soon as possible. It was a delicacy, and I noticed a handful of recipes in the other books when I paged through them. The most important part of the early bonding process was feeding the kittens plenty of food. Their disposition could quickly become wild if they were constantly hungry or competing for food. As the hours turned, I began to get sleepy, and Remy came to relieve me of the watch. I really needed to add a more experienced crew for the little Maelstrom, especially if Leda and Cilia might not remain with me long-term. The Maelstrom reached the Skyholme islands, and Remy called everyone to the bridge. We had only been gone a few days, but it felt like months as Cilia swung the ship into the hangar. As we descended the ramp, Rippon stood there, ¡°What in the twenty-three furies did you do to her on your first trip? Where is the strut?¡± He pointed at the patch job Remy had completed. Rippon sounded like he was a concerned father confronting someone who had just brought his daughter home after midnight. I answered him, ¡°A mountain troll tried to use the Maelstrom like a club. We did not appreciate it and decided to drop him off a cliff.¡± I patted him on the shoulder and went into the kitchen. Remy and Gareth could detail our adventures better than I could do to the old wood shaper. I filled up my dimensional space with enough food from the walk-in fridge to feed Adrial and Kiara for a month. I then returned to take their two crates to our room. I took Kiara¡¯s first and placed it in the bedroom in front of the window. She did not attack me through the cage and just sat facing forward as I carried her¡ªlike a princess. When I returned for Adrial, she was extremely agitated that her sister was gone and lashed out from the bars at me. I created more bars so she could no longer reach through them and carried her up to the room as well. I healed some minor scratches from Adrial and fed them until their bellies were bloated. That was what the book had said. Feed them until they pass out in a food coma. I looked around the room and decided to redecorate it in the future to make it more beast-friendly. I think Kiara¡¯s demeanor convinced me to keep them. I would try to raise them, but Bleiz was right¡ªI was more of a dog person. I started to think about how big the cats were going to get. If their parents were any indication, then I would have to remodel parts of the third floor. The stairs were already wide enough, but the doorways needed to be wider. They could use the guest room to lair in or remain in the Maelstrom¡¯s cargo hold. I planned to take them with me so they could remain on board and guard the Maelstrom when we were off the ship. While they were in the Shiny Platinum, they could guard my family if they were trained enough. That meant that Freya and my parents would have to become comfortable around the beasts, and Kiara and Adrial would have to listen to them. That meant Freya would have to be part of the training process. I pulled out some artificing books on making pet collars. Most of the enchantments were for locating lost pets and obedience training. Dar suggested only using positive reinforcement. He suggested that any training using pain or discipline was less effective at generating loyalty from the phantom cats. My bedroom door opened, and I spun to see Freya rushing at me for a hug. ¡°Storme! I saw your skyship landing from Madame Culthrie¡¯s. I rushed home right away,¡± Freya started bouncing excitedly. Madame Culthrie was her tutor every morning. I think Freya was expecting a gift. I scanned my dimensional closet and pulled out a book on the basics aether manipulation. She hadn¡¯t awakened her core and most likely wouldn¡¯t, but now that I knew I could purchase dungeon essence in the lowlands, I planned to get her a tier 1 essence to awaken her core forcibly if she didn¡¯t get it on her awakening. Freya took the book and read the title. She was slightly confused and asked, ¡°What if I do not awaken an aether core?¡± I smiled, messing her hair, ¡°I will figure something out.¡± Adrial and Kiara started mewing, already hungry again. Freya¡¯s head spun to the bedroom. She was already rushing in before I could stop her. ¡°What are these? Did you get some cats? Six-legged cats?¡± she was already reaching through the bars to pet the white one, Kiara. Kiara looked at me, her red eyes glowing as Freya¡¯s hand started rubbing her head. Kiara let Freya pet her but didn¡¯t take her eyes off me. Freya moved to the other cage, but I stepped forward, ¡°Adrial is not as friendly as Kiara.¡± I didn¡¯t think Freya could get her hand between the bars, but I wanted to warn her. Freya looked back at me, ¡°I like the names Kiara and Adrial. What kind of cats are they?¡± ¡°Phantom cats. They have six legs and some force magic to create whips. They can also camouflage themselves by changing the color of their fur. They are apex predators,¡± I explained. Her eyes were wide. ¡°Wow! Are you going to sell them? They are so cute. Not sure if Monty will like them. He prefers chasing cats,¡± Freya said thoughtfully. ¡°Yeah, well, these two will grow to be the size of a horse. I don¡¯t think Monty would match up well against them,¡± I advised. ¡°Can I help? Help train them,¡± Freya had her begging voice and puppy dog eyes. I had planned to ask her anyway. I started talking, ¡°We can work something out. I need someone to feed them during the day while I am at the academy. Someone who is responsible and will not let them out, no matter what. I am going to build some bigger cages for them. When they are fully grown, they will probably stay in the hangar on the Maelstrom.¡± ¡°I will do it!¡± Freya said, moving back to pet Kiara. Now, I had to convince my mother and father it was safe. It had been a few days, and classes were starting tomorrow at the Dungeon Academy. I had been following Dar¡¯s training prescription to the letter. Kiara was developing well, gaining about a pound every day. If I hadn¡¯t had the cleanliness spell to clean up after the beasts, I probably would have never attempted to raise them and train them. The white cat could be left out of her cage, and I didn¡¯t need to worry about her. She usually curled up on the bed and looked out the window at the plaza and skyships. Her glowing red eyes were still eery as I sensed intelligence behind them. I think she even helped to train her sister. Adrial was still a bit of a troublemaker. She was always sprinting around the room and liked to claw me playfully to get my attention to feed her. She had learned the fine line I would accept when it came to intensity. Kiara was already using her phantom whips, experimenting by knocking things down. Both were learning, and I thought they were going to work out as pets. Freya helped feed them at lunch but had to do it with other people present, usually our mother, whose shop was nearby the Shiny Platinum. Kiara was always well-behaved. Adrial was not. She hissed at other people unless she was eating. She had learned not to use her appendages against others. I ate breakfast with Fera, Mera, and Gareth the morning of the first day at the Dungeon Academy. Mia was already bunking at the Guard Academy for the first term as it was required as part of training. Gareth was easily the most excited at the table. There were four different tracks in the Dungeon Academy. The fighter, the scout, the mage, and support. Each track had two focuses. The fighter had tanks and swordsmen. The scout focuses were ranged combat and finding and removing traps. Mages could choose damage or utility. Support focuses were porters and harvesters. I was entering the mage focus for being a utility mage. I chose the utility class when I registered because the classes would focus on learning and using spells. After the dungeon, I was considering switching to the damage and combat focus. Changing would not be hard to do on the first day of classes. Fera and Mera were both going to be enrolled as mage support. So we would have been taking classes together. They both had learned just two tier 1 spells. They were only attending the dungeon to master a few spells. Gareth was focused on the fighter and planned to take classes as both a tank and swordsman. His goal was to dominate all the other fighters in the Dungeon Academy. I mentioned the academy focused on teamwork and fighting monsters, not others. He just brushed me off. Mera and Fera were less excited about the Dungeon Academy. Mera just wanted to run the brewery, and Fera just wanted to tend her gardens on the roof of the Shiny Platinum. I could see why they felt that way since I compensated them so well. At breakfast, I compromised with them. They had to complete three years at the academy. After that, they could just work for me if that was their wish. I knew Fera was hoping to tie Gareth down and marry him. I did not see that happening, and I imagined Gareth was going to be traveling a lot in the Sphere with me. Mera had given up on seducing me. She was always extremely friendly, but she was happy being employed by me. I think all of her time with the alchemist, Lachlan Cade, had actually started a relationship. At least, that is what I was guessing. Maybe I would regret not giving in to her advances one day. I wondered what Aelyn was currently up to. The four of us walked happily together, joking as we made our way across the city to the Dungeon Academy for the next stage of our education. Chapter 105 The Aegis City Dungeon Academy Chapter 105 The Aegis Dungeon Academy It was actually my first time at the Dungeon Academy in Aegis City. There were only two dungeon academies in all of Skyholme, one in Skyhold and one in Aegis City. The one in the capital was rated slightly better than the one we were attending. I broadly selected our focus when I registered everyone under Callem and Wynna¡¯s names as our benefactors. Today, we would confirm the registration, choose classes, and meet our classmates. It was more informal than the Guard Academy, which was closer to a military school. The building was a massive old blue-gray stone and had two stories. There were two large training yards to the right and a large warehouse to the left. We entered the lobby, and maybe sixty young men and women were milling about, with more entering every minute. We were early, and registration had not opened yet. Even with Fera standing right next to him, Gareth was scouting the others in the hall and spending more time on the half dozen women. Mera and Fera were getting a lot of looks, and the ratio looked to be about six men to each woman. Finally, four doors opened, and instructors came and yelled out what each door was intended for the Academy¡¯s branches. I moved to the mage door with Fera and Mera. Only about a dozen of us entered the mage door from the crowd. Mera asked, ¡°Is this all of us? Not many mages.¡± ¡°Registration check-in is four hours long, so more people will trickle in. Not many people awaken cores, and even fewer want to pay gold to learn how to risk their lives in a dungeon. I am guessing most of the mage enrollees here are sponsored by various delving guilds,¡± I thoughtfully informed Mera. Mera asked somewhat accusatorially, ¡°Are you sponsoring anyone besides us?¡± I huffed jokingly and smiled, ¡°Sammie is taking some martial classes, and Lena is taking some porter classes, but neither is actually fully enrolled. But if you see anyone who is good enough for Ullmark¡¯s team, let him know.¡± Ullmark had seven new delvers now. All of them were pretty raw in terms of experience but were quickly gaining experience. He estimated it would be another four or five months before the delves started to break even, and they would be doing two delves weekly to accomplish this. I waited for my turn to register. The person behind the desk was an old man with a shiny bald head and blue eyes. His eyebrows were graying, and he spoke, ¡°Welcome to our Dungeon Academy. I am archmage Gregor. Your name mage aspirant?¡± ¡°Storme Hardlight,¡± I responded, and he quickly found my name. ¡°I would like to switch from support to damage.¡± Gregor looked up at me. ¡°You listed cleanliness, alarm, and mend flesh spells on your admit form. Have you learned any offensive spells that you will be disclosing today?¡± Gregor asked. I considered my response and hedged, ¡°Lightning spear and lightning sphere.¡± Gregor nodded appreciatively at my response. ¡°Excellent, two tier 2 spells!¡± he said, impressed. ¡°The transfer is completed,¡± he checked some boxes on the sheet and handed me a course selection sheet. Gregor then asked, ¡°Are you staying in the bunk rooms, renting a private room, or have you found other accommodations? Bunk rooms are four silver a week and include breakfast and lunch. Private rooms are twelve silver a week and include three delivered meals ordered through the kitchens. The private room also has a side servants room, or you can hire one of the Academy¡¯s attendants for two silver a week.¡± Judging my clothes, he looked up and offered helpfully, ¡°The academy servants, just clean your private room and gear and fetch your meals.¡± ¡°I have other accommodations,¡± I said, and he checked a box, slightly disappointed. ¡°Very good. We will have a quick meeting for the mages in about four hours, and then the Academy Headmaster will address everyone. Turn in your course selection sheet before then,¡± Gregor nodded for the next mage to come forward. I went and sat with Mera and Fera. The mages had three class periods on the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th days of the week. Each was three hours long. On 3rd day of the week, we had combat training and conditioning, each three hours long for a six hour day. That left the 6th and 7th days off. The number of hours was down from sixty hours a week at the Hen¡¯s Hollow Academy to about forty hours a week. Of course, it was expected that mages needed more free time to study spells. I looked at my suggested class choices. For the first period, I could choose from Dungeon Creatures Tier 1, Dungeon Creature Tier 2, or Mage Tactics for Combating Floor Bosses. In the second period, my choices were Firebolt Spell, Arcane Dart Spell, and Acid Splash Spell. The spell classes were to help the mage imprint the desired spell, level it up to evolve, and then use it in combat. All were tier 1 spells. I sighed as none of the spells struck my fancy. I moved on to my options for the third period. The classes offered were Defensive Magic, Dungeon Ley Line Theory, and Introduction to Alchemy. All the classes appeared to be basic but important foundations for the mage delver. There were books on a table nearby with course descriptions. I took a copy of the catalog and sat with it. I looked up each course and selected Dungeon Creatures Tier 1 as my first course. The course reviewed over two hundred of the basic tier 1 monsters found in dungeons within 5000 miles of Skyholme. Although tier 1 monsters were simple, they were still dangerous. This was not a game; a simple acid slime could crawl into your mouth and burn out your lungs in under a minute. My second-period spell class did not offer any appealing spells. I paged through and found other spell classes were offered during the second period. I asked Gregor when he had free time if I could select a different second-period class. ¡°Certainly. You are paying us to teach and prepare you to earn a living in a dungeon.¡± He took the course catalog, ¡°These notes here on the courses indicate what year they are offered and during what period in that year. You can select any spell class for the second period. You already have a pair of offensive spells, so you could take an academic course if you wish. But most spell classes are offered in the second period as the mages are expected to focus on one spell each term.¡± I sat down and looked for another offensive spell to learn. All the spells were tier 1 and tier 2 spells. I finally found something I was interested in, arcane web. A tier 2 spell that created a sticky set of temporary thick threads to slow and restrain a target. The area of effect was small to start and could be enlarged with evolutions. I did not have a good non-lethal spell yet, but I could see a lot of utility in this spell. I wrote it into my second-period selection. The spell book was 50 gold, or I could borrow a spell book to learn the spell during class. I was still working on imprinting my invisibility spell. I had gotten slightly sidetracked in learning that spell with training Kiara and Adrial. Happy with my first two course selections, I moved on to the third period. Dungeon Ley Line Theory was interesting, focusing on how dungeons embedded themselves into the ley lines and created their portals. It was an in-depth study of how the environments were formed and recognizing dungeon borders within a dungeon. It seemed useful if I planned to go into unknown dungeons. I was already paying an alchemist named Lachlan Cade, but knowing more about harvesting ingredients in dungeons might be useful. Defensive magic would be useful, but I decided to choose Dungeon Ley Line Theory. All these courses ran for the full year. A few more advanced and focused classes were only half a year. I also overheard two others saying that only one mage taught all the basic attack spells in the first period. It made sense as the book I was holding only listed twelve instructors for the mages at the dungeon academy. Using the course description book, I quickly found my second period would include students working on two other spells, tissue extraction and levitate. I already knew the tissue spell, but perhaps I could get some additional insight into its uses. The levitate spell was useful, but the flight spell was more useful. Levitate would cost me two spell slots on my matrix, while the flight spell was four spots as a tier three spell. I was too low on available slots to invest in either right now. My next three spells would be invisibility, comprehend languages, and arcane web. The twins sat next to me. Mera and Fera were going to be in all their classes together. They selected Harvesting Skills for Dungeon Environments, the Cleanliness spell, and Strength and Conditioning for the Dungeon Porter Specialist. Mera asked, ¡°What do we have to do to pass these classes?¡± ¡°Nothing. It is not like other academies. You learn at your pace, and how much information and benefit you get from classes is up to you. They can withdraw your enrollment if they think you are not vested enough, but that is unusual from what I understand, as classes are rarely full,¡± I said, leaning back on my bench and scanning the room. Everyone looked young and awestruck by where they were. No, that was not true; a group of four was talking at a table. Their cloaks bore the same guild symbol. I didn¡¯t know the guild symbols, so maybe I should commission a guild symbol for my delving operations. The artist Tatem was still finishing the hydra on the side of the Shiny Platinum and had dozens of commissions lined up after, but he wouldn¡¯t mind letting me jump the queue as his fame was due to his work for me. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. I watched the four guild members, three young men, and one woman, for a while. They all knew each other by the familiarity they showed. Other mage aspirants joined the waiting room as they arrived and registered. The room was slowly filling up much faster than I had thought. A few young men came and talked with Mera and Fera. The twins had chosen to dress the same today, so some questioned if they were twins. Some were even bold enough to ask them on dates. Fera was still involved with Gareth even though he lacked fidelity. She chose to ignore it as Gareth was a good husband prospect, but I could see her patience running out. I looked at Mera. She had an athletic build and was average looking but had a great smile. She smiled at me as I focused on her. I smiled back and looked away. Mera had mostly given up on me. She worked in my brewery, which also housed my alchemy lab. Lachlan ran the alchemy lab. Lachlan had been trying to win her over for months now, and they had become friends. A young man came in and asked for completed course registration sheets. They were getting a head start on compiling classes as we still had a two-hour wait. A few of the instructors came in and looked over us as we waited. I was looking at Archmage Gregor, who was talking with another instructor, when a young man with dark eyes and black hair asked me a question, ¡°Storme Hardlight? I watched you fight in last year¡¯s pre-Annuals. You were amazing.¡± ¡°Thank you. But I am not interested,¡± I was loud to be heard by everyone close by, ¡°I have a sponsor and do not plan to take a new sponsor or join any guild team.¡± The young boy frowned and walked away. I figured I would have to do the same thing a half dozen more times before people stopped trying to recruit me. Only a few more people showed up before we were shuffled to a lecture hall, about forty-seven mages in total, more than I would have guessed. The twins sat on either side of me as an ancient-looking woman went to stand before us. Her voice was modified by magic, and she went into the welcome speech, ¡°I am Archmage Hilda Shatterstone. And yes, my last name is from my signature spell. You are all here to learn how to survive and profit from a dungeon in the role of either a spell damage specialist or spell support specialist.¡± She looked over the mage aspirants. ¡°You are all considered adults. We will not grade you or say you pass or fail a class,¡± murmurs started to ripple through our number, but I already knew this. ¡°But to get the Adventurer¡¯s Guild badge, you must complete all seven years here and complete any dungeon with a team.¡± That statement was misleading. An Adventurer¡¯s Guild badge could be purchased for gold or by completing a specific Adventurer¡¯s Guild quest for a badge. This was kind of a back doorway to get entry. Both the dungeon academies in Skyholme had ties to the Adventurer¡¯s Guild throughout the Sphere. But the Adventurer¡¯s Guild presence in Skyholme was muted by the Triumvirate. It might have been better to seek out a better academy in the lowlands, but I decided to follow through with Skyholme since our families were located here. ¡°Our instructors will prepare you to succeed, but you NEED TO DO THE WORK!¡± She made eye contact. For the next few minutes, she introduced the instructors and their specialties. ¡°Now that you know the instructors. You will have to select an advisor in the first week of classes.¡± Shit. I had only been paying half attention during the introductions. I will have to check the instructors¡¯ registry later. ¡°Now, the second and third years are behind those doors. Go and find one, and they will give you a tour of the facilities at the Academy. After the tour, there is a welcome party, and the headmaster will speak. When you come back tomorrow, your classes will begin.¡± She gave us a long look and then spun and left. Two massive doors opened, and on the other side, a number of young men and women were milling about, drinking from cups. My fellows rushed forward to find the perfect tour guide. Whether that was by competency, attractiveness, or just gut feeling was known only to the person asking. I waited till the group started to shrink. Mera and Fera were approached by male students and followed them away. It also appeared there was a lot of meaning to wearing a guild cloak. Those that did found tour guides finding them instead of having to ask. I was looking for someone who would make this process quick and only show me where my three classes were. My target was a young male student reading a spell book in the corner of the room. I walked to him and looked at the spell forms he was studying. ¡°Huh, looks like an arcane shield spell from these pages. Are you available for a tour?¡± I asked, showing my knowledge. It was a tier 1 version of my own tier 2 arcane shield spell. He still looked up, annoyed, ¡°There are a number of others available. I need to learn this spell this year and cannot buy a copy, so I have to study one of the copies from the library.¡± ¡°I just need to know where the classrooms are for Tier 1 Creatures, Arcane Web Spell, and Ley Line Theory,¡± I offered. ¡°Arcane web? That is a tier-two spell. How did you manage to get into that class?¡± He stood, now clearly interested in me. ¡°I already have imprinted two tier two offensive spells, so I was free to select an advanced spell. So, do we have a deal?¡± I held out a large gold coin, which should be enough to convince the young mage. ¡°A token of my appreciation for your help and any future help I might need.¡± I was subtle as I handed him the coin, ¡°My name is Gypsum.¡± We shook hands, and he began the tour. There were two large lecture halls. The large classrooms numbered thirteen. The smaller classrooms numbered eleven. Everything was in one wing of the complex. Gypsum pointed out where the dining hall was. He held up a necklace, ¡°These are the meal tokens. White is breakfast, green is lunch, and black is dinner. The tokens are twenty silver for each forty-week term. Or you can pay a large copper for a meal. The food is plentiful, and it is a good time to talk with other students.¡± He showed me the direction of the three other wings of the complex. We didn¡¯t do much walking, and the tour was over in fifteen minutes. Gypsum did not talk about himself but was eager to spend the coin. The spell emporium in the city had copies of the forty-eight common spells taught at the dungeon academy, so maybe the large gold was enough to get him a copy of the simple tier 1 spell. Since my tour was so quick, I followed him to the emporium, Kali¡¯s Spells and Cantrips. I had shopped for spells here before. On the walk, we talked for a while, and Gypsum finally told me some personal information. Gypsum was the son of a baker outside of the city. He worked at night for his father and went to the Academy during the day. He was paying his way and hoped to strike it big on the dungeon team. Like many at the Academy, he had a small magic pool and a small spell matrix. So far, he had learned three tier-one spells: pocket space, arcane missile, and light. I admired him for his effort, but he didn¡¯t have much to offer my dungeon team. I purchased the arcane web spellbook and returned immediately to the Academy. I left Gypsum was trying to negotiate the price of his spell book down by exchanging an ancient-looking copy of the light spell. Back at the Academy, groups from the four specialties were still wandering the grounds. I saw Gareth being led by a tall, lean woman with red hair. I hoped Fera didn¡¯t see them, as I didn¡¯t want to deal with any drama. But then, of course, I knew it was inevitable. I found the dining room again, which led into one of the training yards where tables with an array of food and drink were set up. Two large dungeon boars were roasting in their constituent parts. Only a few other students and guides had reached the food. That made sense, as many students would need to be brought to the bunk rooms or private rooms. I wandered among the food tables and filled out a plate while asking what things were. Many of the offerings were from the two local dungeons in the city. I sat and ate while some of the instructors wandered in for food. The final class period was over, and a mass of students followed the professors for the free meal. This was a large social event to kick off the new year. The dungeon students looked rugged and attacked the food like hungry piranhas. I didn¡¯t see Gareth yet, but the twins arrived and sat with me with plates of food. Their guides still followed them like puppy dogs, hoping for a treat. I met the two young mages and encouraged the twins to mingle and meet other people. If they were going to live at the Shiny Platinum, then this was a good chance to make friends. I finished my plate and did the same thing, walking and talking with a number of people whose names I would forget immediately. I was constantly mistaken for a fighter rather than a mage, as my thick 6¡¯2¡± frame was still lean and muscled. Most of the time, I did not bother correcting them. Archmage Gregor came by, and we talked about finding me a mentor. With his help, we narrowed it down to Mage Instructor Neelan or Mage Instructor Rainer. Neelan was a healing specialist, and Rainer was a ranged single-target specialist. I did ask what qualified as an Archmage title in Skyholme. He pursed his lips but answered, ¡°A mage is considered an Archmage if they have an aether pool over one hundred units and have leveled three spells to level 23. The sum of the tier of those spells must be over seven.¡± I nodded. I had two spells over level 23, cleanliness and lightning reflexes. A tier 4 and tier 1 spell. So that sum was 5. I would just need a tier 2 or higher spell to reach level 23 to be considered an archmage in Skyholme. And my 13th birthday was still a month away. I thanked Archmage Gregor and decided to talk with Neelan first to improve my healing. I had let Gregor know I also knew the lesser restoration healing spell, a tier 3 spell, and he agreed that healer Neelan would be very interested in mentoring me. He also said I would be invited on testing delves with the lesser restoration spell and could even be paid to serve in the Academy¡¯s infirmary. At first, I was going to say no, but then I remembered a lot of the spell leveling for my healing spells came from healing my fellow students at the First Year Academy in Hen¡¯s Hollow. Instructor Neelan had already left the free food buffet, so I would have to find him during open office hours after classes. Gareth finally arrived and smartly ditched the redhead who had given him the tour. ¡°How was your first day?¡± I asked my friend. ¡°Amazing! I am going to like it here. Twenty people must have asked me to join their guild or help them with training.¡± Gareth said, beaming. He was a monster of a man at 6¡¯7¡± and still filling out. I only noticed two others close to his size in the entire Academy. Even though I did not really want to know the answer, I asked anyway, ¡°What took you so long to get here?¡± ¡°Oh, that. I got a private room here. They were cheap at just twelve silver a week, and I did not know if I would need to take a nap or something between classes. I also have a lot more time in classes than you. I might get tired or need somewhere private to study,¡± he said unconvincingly. The Shiny Platinum was a fifteen-minute walk to the other side of the city. He did not need a room here. I shook my head and didn¡¯t comment on Gareth¡¯s secret room when Fera and Mera joined us. Finally, the headmaster gave his speech, ¡°I am Headmaster Illium Louan. Welcome to our little dungeon academy! We have three hundred and seventy-five new first years!¡± A lot of people clapped at the news. ¡°Now that you are settled in, let it be known the library is reserved for quiet study. The combat yards close before dinner. Classes run for forty weeks. Every evening on the fifth day, we will have a social meal like this,¡± he indicated the spread on the tables. ¡°You still need to present your meal chip, or you can pay for the large copper when you arrive. We will have guest speakers at these meals. Thank you for choosing our Academy to prepare you for your life as a dungeon delver!¡± People started to leave after the short speech. My group all walked back to the Shiny Platinum, talking enthusiastically about our future classes. Chapter 106: Doldrum School Days Chapter 106: Duldrum School Days When we returned to the Shiny Platinum, I was met by two very anxious beasts in the room. I had been gone for nearly ten hours. I cleaned their cages with my cleanliness spell and let them both out. Adrial was even happy to see me. She mewed and rubbed against my legs, begging for dinner. I fed both of them raw cubed chicken mixed with ground steak. I continued their training from the book using the reward system when they followed commands. For being only a few weeks old, they picked things up quickly. The white one, Kiara, learned quickly, and her sister, the black one, soon followed to get the food reward. After the cats were fed and played out, I tossed my three spell books on the table: invisibility, comprehend languages, and arcane web. I was getting closer to imprinting the invisibility spell; it would be a good trump card. The other two were high priority, but I needed to finish the current spell. Still, I procrastinated and paged through the other two books. I then took a piece of paper and outlined my typical week. 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th days, I would wake up early and do my stretching and sword forms in the training room in the Shiny Platinum. It was a massive fifty-by-one-hundred-foot room filled with weapons racks, training dummies, and targets. After, I would spend an hour with Kiara and Adrail, training and feeding them. I would then go to my classes. I had tier 1 creatures first and then spell class for arcane web. After spell class, I had a one-hour lunch. I planned to study for tier 1 creatures during lunch hour while eating. My lunch would be prepared and boxed by staff at the Shiny Platinum. I figured I might as well use my staff and expensive restaurant for some extra benefits. Gypsum had told me there were only a few tables in the library where you could eat, so I would need to get there quickly. After lunch, my final class was Ley Line Theory. After this class, I was done with Dungeon Academy for the day. I would come back to the Shiny Platinum with Fera and Mera. I would spend an hour with the cats again, completing their two hours of training for the day. Then I would study my spells and work on my aether core exercises. After that, I would empty my aether core to create coins. After coins, I would dabble with enchanting. The end of my day would be forty minutes of combat training with Bleiz. This would include practicing my new exchange ability now that the teleportation protections had been disabled in Skyholme. Then, I would get a hot shower, a cold bath, and off to bed for seven hours of sleep. I envied Gareth¡¯s ability to only require a few hours of sleep daily. On 3rd day, my morning would be the same, but my first class at the academy would be conditioning. The conditioning would mix all four groups at the academy for team building. Right after conditioning, I had combat training. This was group combat, coordinating with a team. Teams could be random or planned. The thing with dungeon academies is they were preparing the students to fight monsters, not other humans, but coordinating attacks was important. Lunch would follow combat training. Then, I was free to leave campus. I planned to study my Ley Line Theory for the coming week instead of returning to the Shiny Platinum. This would hopefully keep me on a set schedule and not confuse the two cats. The sixth and seventh days were off for me. Gareth had morning classes on the sixth day, though. I planned to take the Maelstrom out on the two-day break with Cilia and Leda. I wanted to start visiting cities in the lowlands and continue my search for Aelyn. Even though they had my communication stones, I had not heard any news from them talking with Loriel. I knew they had traveled on a transport to the capital and had yet to return. Someone knocked, and I answered the door. It was Beliz, and he came in, sat down, and looked at my schedule. ¡°Can I have a copy of this?¡± ¡°You can have that copy. I have committed it to memory and just wanted to write it out. How was Freya today?¡± I asked. ¡°She gave her tutors a little lip but apologized at the end. She went to visit your father at work, and a dock hand gave her a hassle, so I took care of it.¡± Bleix paged through the book but didn¡¯t elaborate. ¡°She took a trip to Hen¡¯s Hollow after lunch to see her friends, and we just returned before you did,¡± Bleiz stated. ¡°Did she know you were there?¡± I asked with a smile. Freya had made it a game to friend Bleiz with Monty. Bleiz shook his head, ¡°I was visible for the transport ride to Hen¡¯s Hollow, and we talked about me teaching her to swing a blade. I told her it was up to you.¡± I nodded and thought, ¡°She is going to start feeding Kiara and Adrail at lunch, now that I am at the Academy. It will help her build trust with them. You can spend time in the training room with her after.¡± Bleiz paused and then said, ¡°I heard a few rumors you might be interested in. Someone is trying to replicate the Shiny Platinum in Skyhold. They have recruited two of your cooks.¡± I shrugged, ¡°Not a concern. This building costs a lot of platinum and only makes a few golds a week. It will take me decades to recuperate my investment. Maybe they could charge three to four times as much in the capital, but it wouldn¡¯t be profitable. As long as they do not try to co-opt the name.¡± I paused, ¡°Actually, go talk to the artist, Tatem, tomorrow. Make sure he doesn¡¯t take any commissions for this new restaurant. I want all the panels to be unique to the Shiny Platinum. Anything else?¡± Bleiz nodded, ¡°Two of the warehouses in the area have been purchased. One is being converted into an inn, and the other is some type of curiosity shop. Neither will open for months.¡± Shit. I had greatly increased the traffic in the area, and new buildings would be profitable. I should have bought a few buildings. I looked at Bleiz, ¡°Go to the capital and talk to Bylura. See if she can get Loriel to buy me the one warehouse next to the Shiny Platinum. We will knock it down and build a park there if she does. It is a safety concern since the buildings are only ten feet apart.¡± ¡°Any other rumors?¡± I asked my bodyguard. ¡°Nothing confirmed or interesting enough to bother you with. I could use some coin, though. Maybe two gold in silver for bribes,¡± Bleiz requested. I pulled out twenty large silver and passed it to him. ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t want me to¡­.¡± Bleiz said, standing. ¡°No, not my style,¡± I said as he left. Bleiz was asking to hire informants throughout the larger cities. He had a few in Hen¡¯s Hollow and Aegis City to keep an eye on my family, and that was more than enough. With Bleiz gone, I opened three pieces of mail. The first was from Callem asking me to visit with Wynna when I got a chance. He was running the Naval Academy in the capital and was as happy as he had been in the time I knew him. He visited the Shiny Platinum once a week to stay with Wynna and make sure Gareth was not getting rusty. The second letter was from Selina. Her real name was Sana Velin, and she had taught me spellcraft as a favor to Callem. She was now teaching at the Mage Academy in the capital. She was requesting once again for me to enroll at the Mage Academy. She knew how powerful I was and kept my secret. She would probably spend two or three years teaching before returning to her adventures in the lowlands. The third letter was a formal request from Admiral Sebastian. He wanted me to travel to Stonefell Island and do the artificing work on some Wasp-class ships. These ships were built in secret by the Triumvirate and the start of hiding the strength of Skyholme Navy. The plan was to open free trade with the lowlands on the Capital Island and Titan¡¯s Shield, my island. They were worried about spies knowing the Naval strength, so construction efforts were being spread to other islands. The naval yard on Stonefell island was the Bricio secret base, where they built skyships and trained and housed their secret Wolfsguard. Now, it was slated to hold twenty-three Wasp-class scouts, the remaining Wolfsguard, and five hundred Navy support personnel. I was told in confidence and had the secret landing procedures to enter the mountain ravine where the base was located. I could only take Cilia, Leda, Bleiz, and myself. The problem I had with this request was there was no payment listed. I had already done the work on the Harbingers and dozens of new Wasps for free. Well, it was supposedly penance for letting Aelyn and her mother escape with the Heart Stone that powered Skyholme''s anti-teleportation defenses. The request was still months out, so I put the letter off to the side. I also had the ledger from Remy for the delve team, the Shiny Platinum, and my artificing. The delve team was losing 22 gold per week. The Shiny Platinum was making 23 gold per week. A separate line showed the giftshop profit as 54 gold. The gift shop sold sculptures of the beasts in the murals, Callem¡¯s cigars, bottled frost mead, and Tatem¡¯s artwork. All of these were sold on behalf of the artists, and I only received a 20% commission. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. I also received a payment from the Aethon family of 82 gold this week from light globes and ice cream makers. It was not completely accurate accounting. The delve team supplied the restaurant with a lot of materials for the mead and ale, allowing a larger profit margin. Also, the 82 gold did not include the 20 gold in material cost for the enchanting work. Still, as long as we ran a surplus, I was happy. As Ullmark trained the dungeon team¡¯s efficiency, the delve team would start to earn more. A note in salaries¡ªshit, Gareth had taken out advanced pay again. Where the hell did all the gold coins go, my friend? Maybe he just wanted to pay for his private room at the Dungeon Academy. That would be about five gold¡­almost six if he hired an attendant. I knew I was walking a line with my friend. I paid him well at five gold a week, not including room and meals. But he could earn that or more at another dungeon guild. Of course, all the weapons I had made him were worth dozens, if not hundreds, of platinum coins. That was going to be my next venture, establishing myself as an enchanted weapons broker in the lowlands. There were a few problems with my plan. First, I was not a skilled merchant. Second, I did not want to paint a target on myself for being known to carry tens of thousands of gold worth of enchanted weapons. Third was the fact I did not need the coin. I relaxed on my leather sofa. Now, all scratched to hell from the cats. Actually, Kiara was learning not to damage the furniture. I think the reasoning was slightly beyond Adrial. I did my aether exercises and fell asleep after making my platinum coins. My dreams focused on trying to find Aelyn. Was she safe or in trouble? Did she even want to see me again? I dreamt all manner of reunion scenarios. I woke on the couch, and both cats curled into me. I checked my internal clock, and I had about a three-hour nap. I moved to the bedroom after a quick shower and cold soaking. After setting my alarms, the cats joined me as I slept through the night. I started my new routine. The early morning was tough, but I knew my body would get accustomed after a few days. I finished slightly early and left before the others. I was in the correct lecture hall as the seats began to fill. It was not just mages that were taking the class. A stout young man who smelled like garlic sat to my right. A young woman in leathers sat to my left. She smelled like oiled leather and sweat. I didn¡¯t make an effort to introduce myself. The instructor entered and put three large tomes on the table in front. The middle-aged man waited for the top of the hour before starting. ¡°Welcome to tier one creatures. I am instructor Mathis. These are the three texts. We will go over some of the lowest-tier and easiest-killed monsters in a dungeon. Just know that anything can kill you if you are not aware. We have one hundred classes. In each class, we will review two creatures. We will spend forty minutes reviewing each and then forty minutes discussing each. We will take a ten-minute break between creatures,¡± He took a deep breath. ¡°I suggest you pre-read each monster before class. These books,¡± he tapped the stack. ¡°Are one gold each for the un-illustrated copy. And twelve gold each for the illustrated copy.¡± Some groans could be heard. ¡°Do not worry; there are twenty copies of each in the library.¡± I checked and already had all three volumes of the shelves in my dimensional space. ¡°Now let us begin with the animated horror and giant badger for today¡­¡± I removed the book from my dimensional space. It was not unusual as others were doing it as well. Instructor Mathis was an excellent teacher. I took notes in the margins of my book in a fine script when he said something not mentioned in the text. He was very descriptive and an illusionist as well. He could project illusions of each creature, how it moved, and its relative size. At the end of class, we were given a list of which creatures we would review each day. He was not going alphabetically. Things were off to a good start, and I already knew I was going to get a lot from the class. Even if I had just read the monster compendium, I would have missed about half of what Mathis taught today. The illusions were extremely helpful as well, I was a visual learner, after all. My second class of the morning was my arcane web class. The Mage teaching this class teaching tissue extraction and levitate in parallel. The ancient-looking woman was Mage Helena. She demonstrated each spell to start the class. And then passed out spell books to any who didn¡¯t have one. Then, she spent forty minutes with each spell group. Then, those who had learned the spell practiced. I was slightly disappointed, but then, just before class let out, she demonstrated the spells again with her evolutions. The arcane web spell she threw at the wall covered a twenty-by-twenty area, and the web was as thick as my arm. The web also pulsed with a greenish light¡ªyes, it was a poison arcane web. The poison was a weak paralytic. It was opening a lot of possibilities for the spell. I was in the library reading my monster text. My lunch was thick potato wedges with sour cream and chive dipping sauce. I had grilled chicken as well. I was expecting a grilled chicken salad. I would need to talk with the cook who prepared my meal. I read the two monsters for tomorrow. Two people ate meals at my table, a skinny male with thin black hair and an older woman who wore a guild badge. I didn¡¯t talk with either of them and focused on my reading. The final class today was Ley Line Theory. There were only fifteen of us in the class. It was not a popular class, but the instructor talked it up as being prepared for the worst-case scenario. Understanding the dungeon could save your life! There were two textbooks for the course, and the instructor wrote one. You could also buy the instructor¡¯s textbook from him for seventy-five silver. It would not be a bad side hustle if it took him twenty-five silver to make a copy, and then he would get half a gold with every book he sold. When the class took a break, a few of us went to purchase the book. I paid a gold and got twenty-five silver coins in change and a copy of the book. The cover was soft leather, not hardened leather, probably to save money. I sat in my seat and opened the book. Recognizing the Signs of Dungeon Instability Prior to Evolution. I paused. This was how Callem¡¯s son had died. He had been inside a dungeon when it had evolved. Looking through the book, I did not have buyer¡¯s regret. This book was not an original work. The instructor had pulled chapters from other books as references. That was probably why he could not sell it openly. This was an excellent reference and would save me time in comparing and contrasting authors¡¯ different viewpoints of authors over thousands of years. As the class continued a short time later, I realized why it was so undersubscribed. Most of what was being taught was theory. For monster variances, there were seven theories on how the dungeon sapience chose and evolved monsters and animals. As to which methodology was correct was anyone¡¯s guess. Unlike my other two classes, this instructor was a strictly by-the-book teacher. He just spoon-fed the readings and offered little insights. I figured I could just read the books and not attend the class if it got too boring. I was not going to switch classes. After class, I wandered the administration building to find Mage Instructor Neelan. His third-floor office was a mess of papers, books, and scrolls. He was sipping a hot beverage and looking out a window at the training year. The fighters were warming up for another class. It was easy to spot the giant Gareth. I interrupted, ¡°Mage Instructor Neelan? Do you have a moment?¡± He spun in his swivel chair and faced me. His crystal blue eyes studied me up and down. ¡°Mage Aspirant Storme Hardlight?¡± He moved a sheet of paper before him. ¡°Although you have learned more than three spells so should be considered a mage. Gregor told me you might seek me out. Is it true you have learned the lesser restoration spell? It appeared he was prepared for my visit. I nodded, ¡°Yes. I am looking for an advisor. I wanted to see what you could offer in terms of insight.¡± Neelan started laughing and went on for some time, ¡°Oh, that is just rich. Instead of me interviewing you, you plan to interview me?¡± His face was jovial and red from laughing so hard. ¡°Please, sit.¡± In the mess, there was one wooden chair across from his desk. ¡°Now, from what I have here¡­three tier one spells: cleanliness, mend flesh and alarm, two tier two spells lightning spear and lightning sphere, and now a tier three spell, lesser restoration. And that is only the spells you have disclosed. I am assuming you have the pocket space spell as well, as you are not carrying any books.¡± I flushed, a little embarrassed, ¡°That is all correct.¡± ¡°What are you doing here, Storme? You should be at the Mage Academy in the capital. Not even fourteen, and you have seven imprinted spells? You are a prodigy. A waste to go delving into dungeons,¡± he said conversationally. I went with the truth, ¡°I did not want to be in the crosshairs of the Triumvirate.¡± He nodded strongly, ¡°I see. Then I understand your caution.¡± He stood and watched the clang of steel in the yard below, thinking of a question, ¡°Do you plan to actually delve into the dungeons?¡± He finally asked. ¡°Yes, I already have been into the Frost Vault,¡± I answered quickly. He nodded and turned, ¡°I can not offer you much. You can borrow one book from my personal library at a time¡ªtheory or spell. In exchange, you will work three hours a week in the infirmary with me. I will teach you shortcuts to recognize and minimize aether usage to heal injuries.¡± He waited for me. ¡°Could the three hours be at the peak time? When most of the serious injuries occur?¡± I asked. He laughed softly, ¡°Of course, the only time I am in the infirmary. You may also be called out of class for emergencies once your lesser restoration spell is confirmed.¡± He considered a moment. ¡°Do you want me to add your sphere affinities to your sheet? Lightning and healing, correct?¡± I stumbled for the words, ¡°What? I do not think I mentioned any skill affinities. Are you a reader?¡± He smiled conspiratorially, ¡°No, I was just guessing. A tier three healing spell at your age would require some healing affinity to imprint. The lightning was a wild guess as a number of children with your birth date have recorded some affinity with lightning. The lightning drake attack during the thunderstorm was a memorable event in the islands.¡± I was a bit stunned at being read so easily by Neelan. I was too shocked to say, ¡°Another role as an advisor is to help you choose spells. Are you currently in the arcane web class? I would advise some more defensive spells, but I¡¯m not sure how much aether spell matrix you have left. Next year we can talk about it. The arcane web spell can be cast on the ground, creating an impassible barrier for monsters, so it can be considered somewhat defensive.¡± He smiled brightly, ¡°So, did I pass your interview?¡± I liked the insightful man. ¡°Yes, I formally request you as my advisor.¡± ¡°Excellent! My residence and private library are in the east tower.¡± He slid me a key. ¡°On the fifth day, you can join me in watching the brutes hack each other to bits after your Dungeon Ley Line Theory class.¡± I took the key and shook Neelan¡¯s hand. He held it for a moment, ¡°If you are hiding here from the families, I will maintain your secrets.¡± For some strange reason, I trusted Neelan. I was hesitant to use my assess person ability on him as he might have a way of detecting it. I left his office and walked back to the Shiny Platinum. As soon as I entered the entrance from the street for the apartments, I found Cilia waiting for me. She said, ¡°Loriel is in the banquet room in the restaurant.¡± Her pained look told me she knew I would not be happy. Best to get this over with. I walked to face the de facto ruler of Skyhome. Chapter 107: Bargaining Chapter 107 Loriel¡¯s Wolfguard, Gammon, guarded the private function room in the Shiny Platinum. Seeing me approach, he opened the door and let me enter like I needed permission to. It was my damn restaurant. I entered the room, and Loriel was at the large wooden table with seating for twenty-three. Six communication stones were in front of her with dozens of sheets of parchment. She had a bowl of fries and two dipping sauces to her right as she went through the documents, adding oil marks to them as she went. She ignored me as I moved to the table and picked up some documents. She didn¡¯t stop me as I read through them. I was quickly engrossed. It was a population study of the Skyholme islands. It forecasted each island¡¯s maximum population based on land, dungeons, and trade resources. The next sheet was construction costs for building materials sourced from the lowlands and dungeons. She was planning a population boom for Skyholme. I put down the sheets, and she looked at me with sunken eyes. It looked like she had not slept in days. Loriel, sounding scolding in her tone, ¡°Storme, I don¡¯t know what to do with you. You abandoned Bylura in Goldreach. And now you come to me with multiple requests. You want to know where Aelyn and Niserie fled. You want me to help you purchase the warehouse adjacent to this building.¡± She had a serious look plastered on her face. We were in the room alone, and I felt my anger rising. I went on the offensive, ¡°Do not test my patience, Loriel. I am not your toy soldier to play with. I delivered Bylura and the Torrent Ambassodor. The warehouse purchase was just a question to make the process easier.¡± I sat at the table across from her. ¡°You will not hold the Heart Stone over me any longer. I have more than made up for it by helping Admiral Sebastian with the fleet.¡± Her lips pursed, and she pulled a document from a pile near her and reconsidered her words, ¡°You have not responded to the Admiral¡¯s recent request.¡± She took another document. ¡°If you take care of the Admiral¡¯s request, I will give you either this,¡± she held up the document, ¡°or I will tell you what I know about Aelyn¡¯s whereabouts.¡± My eyes narrowed. Had Sebastian betrayed me and revealed the extent of my ability to shape metal to Loriel? I leaned back in my chair and studied Loriel. Did she actually know where Aelyn and her mother traveled to, or was this a bait and switch? ¡°What did Sebastian tell you?¡± Loriel cracked a small smile, ¡°That you were the only one who could get it done in the narrow time frame that we needed it done.¡± I was confused as Sebestain¡¯s letter said that he didn¡¯t need me for two more months. ¡°Are we talking about the three Wasp-class ships on Stonefell Island?¡± I tried to ferret it out. ¡°No, we are talking about the refurbishment of the Heaven¡¯s Descent. The Harbinger moored in the lake on Stonefell Island,¡± she said while continuing to smile. ¡°It was decommissioned about one hundred years ago and used as a retreat for the Miaden¡¯s. The platinum and gold enchanting materials were stripped. The hull has been maintained, but the wood used in the construction is not as well acclimated to aerial combat. I need a trade ship for my private enterprises.¡± I sat there observing Loriel, trying to figure her out. She obviously knew I had a metal shaping spell from Isla and my work with Sebastion. She probably did not realize it was an ability and not a spell. She also could probably guess I had a massive aether pool. I finally spoke, ¡°The value you offer is short of my services. I assume you need me to keep this quiet from the other members of the Triumvirate?¡± I added, ¡°And you will need to provide the material.¡± Loriel relaxed in her seat and drank the frost mead. Then, she refilled her glass from the pitcher on the table. I felt like I was doing exactly what she wanted, even though she seemed indecisive. ¡°No,¡± she tapped the scroll that I assumed was a deed to the adjacent warehouse. ¡°This building is worth twenty-five thousand gold. You need to supply the materials for the enchanting.¡± I scoffed, ¡°I paid seven thousand for the Shiny Platinum. And enchanting a ship the size of the Harbinger would cost you ten thousand gold to pay an artificer.¡± Her lips twitched, realizing how informed I was. ¡°The land value has massively increased near the skyship platforms and is going to shoot up even further once the peace and trade treaty with the Sadians is finalized,¡± she countered. ¡°I paid twenty thousand gold a month ago for the warehouse.¡± Her eyes sparkled as I realized she had been planning this. ¡°The land is only valuable because of the Shiny Platinum. We have a thousand customers through the door every day.¡± Her smile betrayed her. I remained impassive as I stated, ¡°Maybe I will shut down the restaurant and move it to the upper city. I just need the apartments anyway. I could do better business closer to the Adventurer¡¯s Hall and Academies.¡± Her eye twitched, telling me I had struck a blow. Without the traffic from the Shiny Platinum, her warehouse would lose a lot of its value. She pulled the loose sheets together in front of her. She was measuring her response to my threat. I knew she was rich but would probably lose ten thousand gold if I followed through. She had the files in their proper folder and said, ¡°You will supply forty pounds of gold. I will supply twenty pounds of gold, fifteen pounds of platinum, and one pound of mithril.¡± I did the math conversion in my head. Twenty pounds of gold was 6,400 gold from my pockets. Her gold, platinum, and mithril investment was valued at 43,200 gold. I added, ¡°I want no build clauses for the plaza between the Shiny Platinum and the skyship platforms. Also, you will return the lease paperwork for the room you have at the Shiny Platinum.¡± The plaza was city land, but I could see them building something there just to leverage me in the future. I had kept Isla in my employ, and she had been using Loriel¡¯s room in the Shiny Platinum. Loriel frowned at the two additional conditions, even though they would cost her nothing. She reached out and tapped the document that supposedly had the information on where Aelyn went. It was a ploy and her last card to play by drawing my attention to it. I ignored her as she tapped her fingers on it, pretending to think. When I did not budge or change my request, she nodded slowly, ¡°Agreed. When the artificing work is complete, you will have the deed to the warehouse building. Here is the contract for the apartment.¡± She pulled out an easily accessible document from a folder like she had been prepared to hand it over. ¡°When can you complete the work?¡± ¡°When will you have the precious metals at the ship?¡± I retorted. ¡°Everything is there now,¡± she said with a Chesire grin. ¡°I will have to remove forty pounds of gold, but you can start when you are ready.¡± Had I been played, or had she been prepared for multiple scenarios? I think she has improved her manipulation skills. I started doing the math, and I thought I won the encounter. Damn it, I had won it financially but not politically or intelligence-wise. Was she hoping to find out something from me? Forty pounds of gold¡ªthat was a lot of gold coins. Did she suspect I could create metal or had a secret source? ¡°I will need to sell some things in the lowlands to come up with that much gold. I can leave on this sixth day and return on the seventh day. I can work on your Harbinger on the following sixth and seventh day.¡± I caught her eye twitching almost imperceptively. So, was that her game? Trying to find the source of my coin. She probably no longer considered Wynna and Callem my benefactors then. Had Callem slipped up, then? Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. ¡°That is acceptable,¡± she replied after a pause. She looked at the apartment contract she had handed me and seemed to be reconsidering the trade. She had obviously not gotten the full value she wanted from this transaction. She called for two attendants waiting to pack everything up so she could return to the capital. I had to admit that Loriel was good for Skyholme. If she did open trade with the Sadians, then a world of possibilities could open. After she left, I returned to my room and pulled Sebastian¡¯s communication stone out of my storage. I called Sebastian, and he answered immediately. The conversation centered around the three Wasp-class ships the Navy was building on Stonefell. They would be crewed by a mixed crew of Wolfsguard and the Navy and would be responsible for patrolling and quick response to threats. I slowly turned the conversation to Loriel, and he knew nothing about the Heaven¡¯s Descent. He knew the ship existed, but not that Loriel was trying to make it skyworthy again. It was over five hundred years old and used inferior bulwark planking. Building a new ship rather than refurbishing the old one was easier. He had no idea how the Miadens had gotten their hands on it. I did not sense any deceit from Sebastian and told him I was willing to artifice the new Wasp ships when they were ready. Kiara and Ardial were anxious for dinner, and I fed them as I cleaned the room. After they ate and I trained them, I got my short report from Bleiz while eating dinner, which was delivered from downstairs to my room. Marcellus, the manager, had hired two replacement cooks. I was not going to eat hamburgers every meal, so one of the new cooks was being trained as my personal cook. He would prepare my lunch for school and my dinner for the evening. I would give him feedback if I liked it or not. Tonight was a shepherd¡¯s pie that was fairly good. I wrote a note saying it was good but to try seasoned ground lamb next time. Bleiz¡¯s report was not pretty. Freya was fine, but Gareth had been out drinking in the city last night and came home extremely early. He had a minor scuffle with men at the tavern¡ªpredicably over a woman he was defending. Beliz heard the story from Freya, who had actually heard it from our father, who was in charge of the security on the skyship platforms after his recent promotion. His small yearly salary in Hen¡¯s Hollow was around ten gold, which included his equipment. Now, he was making almost a gold a week plus equipment and was in charge of twenty-seven men. My mother had her own leather engraving business as well. It was a small shop that I was renting for her. She mostly did large-volume commissions for the Navy and mercenary guards. She didn¡¯t like doing the same thing over and over, but the coin was good, and she handled a few small requests on the side. I needed to talk with Gareth this week. He was starting to get out of control. The only other news was that Bleiz had started teaching Freya how to fight. They were starting with short blades. Monty also did not like the lessons, as he tried to attack Bleiz when they mock-fought. I thought it was funny, but Bleiz did not. After dinner, I studied and had to lock the beasts in the bedroom as they kept seeking attention. I knew I was close to the invisibility spell. Any day now, and I would have it imprinted. I brought the cats with us to the training room, and Bleiz and I practiced for an hour. I used an array of spells to easily overcome Bliez. Bleiz had three spells now, cleanliness, wind shield and privacy. Wind shield was useful in deflecting attacks and creating a cushion when landing from a high jump. He was using the privacy spell to further mask his sound when invisible. He was doing well with his magic and was now working on the arcane lock spell. He had given up trying to learn the dimensional box spell for now. I was in bed with the cats after the practice and quick use of the cleanliness spell. Although they were on their way to being trained, I still set alarms to trigger if they moved on me. Right now, with their heads only being slightly larger than my hand, I was not concerned. After my morning routine, I was off to the academy for conditioning and team combat. I grabbed two egg and bacon sandwiches on my way out and found my lunch in the kitchen. I was a little stunned to find that the personal cook was a middle-aged woman. I just had not met her yet and assumed Marcellus had hired another male cook. I ended up talking with her for a few minutes to get my preferences down. Her name was Krysta, and she had three children. She took the job for the pay and free food. I was late for the conditioning, but it was just simple calisthenics. We were lined up in rows and did them together. Since I was already working out twice a day alone, I decided this would be my last conditioning class. Sleeping one day a week would be welcome as I already felt fatigued after two days. I knew once I got into the routine, I would be fine. The combat training was at least useful. We went over common command words and hand signals for the first hour, some of which I was familiar with. In the second hour, we practiced our roles, which humorously meant I was protected in the center of the formation while I hurled spells. Then we moved to some mock combat. Over the weeks, the combat would become real, but they were training in understanding roles for now. Mia and Fera were focused on learning even though they would probably never delve into it. Fera had tried once but had not had a great experience. After team combat, I went to Neelan¡¯s library. He had trusted me with a key right after becoming my advisor and mentor. I quickly found out why; as I entered the small library, I found Neelan having tea with Selina. ¡°Storme!¡± Selina smiled brightly, ¡°You have not visited me in the capital, so I thought I would come to see you and catch up with old friends.¡± I closed the door, ¡°I am sure. How old of a friend?¡± ¡°Neelan knows who I am,¡± she smiled brightly while pouring me some tea. I put everything together, ¡°So you arranged for Neelan to be my advisor so you could keep an eye on me?¡± I took the tea and sat with them. Neelan chucked, ¡°She called you a generational talent. I admit I was curious.¡± I talked with the mages¡ªwell, mostly listened to two friends catch up and talk mage politics. There was unease with the policies Loriel was instituting. They were worried there might be a flood of powerful mages to Skyholme looking to spend their retirement teaching in a relatively safe realm. While that would be good for Skyholme, it was not good for the mages they might displace. My input to the conversation indicated that there might also be an influx of students. So, as long as the ratio remains equal, the old Skyholme mages will still be needed. They then started talking about recruitment and increasing testing for candidates. I stood and walked the shelves, looking for a book to borrow. Neelan had said I could borrow one book at a time, and that was why I was here. He had about thirty spell books, but nothing struck my fancy besides greater restoration, a tier-four spell. I had learned the lesser restoration, the tier three spell. This spell was essentially a regeneration spell. My lesser restoration could regenerate as well with several evolutions, but this spell did it more efficiently. I passed on the spell enough for now, though it would only take two spell slots on my matrix to learn. I found a section of books on monster anatomy and a whole chapter on phantom cats. The books I had detailed how to butcher the beasts but not how to understand their anatomy for effective healing. It was only a twenty-page chapter, but I indicated to Neelan I was borrowing it. ¡°Can I commission a copy of the books I borrow?¡± I asked. Selina laughed, ¡°I enchant my spell books so they can not be copied. This is how you check,¡± she took the book and tore the first page slightly. She then watched it closely, and nothing happened. She then took one of her spell books from her bag of holding out and tore the page. It slowly repaired itself. She explained, ¡°An excellent enchantment to prevent people from stealing your works and making your texts last for centuries.¡± Seeing my interested expression, she grinned and said, ¡°I will get you the runic patterns for the back and front covers.¡± I nodded, sat with them for an hour, and half listened to the conversation, trying to be sociable. Selina talked me up and tried a few times to get me to transfer to the Mage Academy. It was not tempting as I would be spending forty hours a week studying and taking exams and practicals. I wanted the freedom to choose what to focus on. I left the two still talking and returned to the Shiny Platinum. After I fed and trained the cats, I took out some maps. I needed to decide where I was going this sixth and seventh day in order to generate forty pounds of gold in trade. I tapped on a city I had highlighted in my notes. It was some thirty thousand miles from Skyholme. The city was Hakeam, the capital of the Callistro Federation. I was interested in this city because they sold tier-six and tier-seven aether crystals. It would be an expensive trip, but I could possibly upgrade the Maelstrom primary power source. To prepare, I needed to think like a merchant. I was going to need a lot of coin to get what I wanted. Chapter 108 Chapter 108 The Callistro Federation was a massive distance from Skyholme. If the series of maps I was looking at were accurate, 33,440 miles¡ªgive or take 50 miles. On a full aether crystal charge, we could make maybe 18,000 miles if we did not activate any of the extra systems on board. The problem with the crystals is you could not simply put more aether crystals in series on a skyship. The aether crystals needed to resonate with each other to be on the same runic grid. That meant using parts of the same crystal or getting all the same tiered crystals from the same dungeon that created them. The Maelstrom already had dual crystals, but they were one crystal that had shattered. The sum of the parts did not equal the whole either. My saving grace was that the Maelstrom was such a small ship compared to a Harbinger or a Wasp so the two crystals worked relatively well. The problem was they took up to thirty-six hours to recharge instead of twenty-three hours like most crystals embedded in an environmental aether siphoning array. With my metal shaping skills, I could probably swap out the crystals, but when an average skyship aether crystal ran 100,000 gold, I was reluctant for the investment. From my calculations, I needed a tier-six crystal with about 500 units to power the Maelstrom. A crystal that size would cost 320,000 gold if the market held true in the Callisto Federation. It would be the size of a child¡¯s fist. A crystal this size could effectively power the Maelstrom indefinitely as it would recharge from the environment faster than we could drain it under basic flight operations. While it was easy to charge a tier 1 or 2 crystal with your own aether, it got progressively harder with the higher tier of crystal. I could currently manage to charge a tier-five aether crystal, but it took massive concentrated effort, and it was just a trickle of aether. Eventually, when I became stronger, I would be able to charge even a tier six or seven crystal with my own aether. Even then, a five-hundred-unit tier-six crystal would have a capacity of 121,500 units of aether. My current aether core held just under 6,500 aether units and would mature upward of 23,000. I would not be powering a skyship with my own aether. My mind drifted to the Heart Stone. I estimated it was a tier 7 crystal with at least 100,000 units. That was the equivalent of seventy million aether units. A crystal that size would cost more than three hundred million gold. But most likely, no one would sell such a valuable artifact. I briefly wondered why one of the powers of Sphere had not just come in and taken the stone from Skyholme. If I were going to the city of Hakeam, I should have been prepared to purchase the crystal. I examined my assets in my dimensional closet with my mind. 410 platinum coins = 41,000 gold 23 mithril coins = 23,000 gold 32 artificed short blades = between 4,800 and 16,000 gold 9 artificed long blades = between 4,500 and 18,000 gold 54 light globes = 2,500 gold in Skyholme but probably much less elsewhere I also had no idea how well my blades would sell outside of Skyholme. My enchanting work and the blade construction were close to perfect from what I had researched and practiced. I had only sold two long swords through a shop in Aegis City, identical with just a durability enchantment. Both were priced at 300 gold, much lower than the shop owner said they were worth. Even at a lower price, selling the first one took two weeks. The second blade was obtained by a delver on a payment plan. The shop owner kept a 10% commission for the sales, and I never revisited selling more of my work in the city. With all the death in the capital from the Bricio uprising, I assumed the market was saturated with weapons. I had prioritized creating platinum over mithril. The thing with mithril is it was not generally used as a currency. It was just too valuable in enchanting. The same could be said for adamantine. I had tried twice to create adamantine, but with no reference, I could not. I needed to study a sample for a time with my metal shaping and sense ability. Only ancient dungeons could produce the unique metal. I had not found anywhere that sold a sample, and I was not going to beg Loriel for a sample. That is why I focused on creating platinum coins. I could make ten platinum coins for every one mithril coin. Since mithril was ten times as valuable as platinum, the aether expense was equivalent in terms of gold for me. Currently, I only needed the mithril for enchanting. With all the mirthil I had taken from the Heart Stone anti-teleportation array chains, I had not needed to create it. I was also trying to use at least a quarter of my daily aether to level up spells. I concluded my best aether expenditure was making enchanted daggers using my mental shaping skill. A single runic enchantment on one of my daggers would sell for easily 100 gold in Skyholme on the capital island. Two enchantments would value the blade closer to 500 gold and only take an amount of aether I required to make a single platinum coin. Large blades were worth about three times that. My market in Syholme was limited, though. Not many citizens could afford my enchanted blades, and I could quickly saturate the market. The profit math was about equal for creating blades. A two-enchantment dagger took me an hour, while a long blade with two enchantments took about three hours. I decided to focus on making short blades. We could test out the market in Llith since the city was within the extreme range of the Maelstrom. Then I could better prepare for the four-day trip to Hakeam. I also wanted the lightning elemental spell and knew a copy had been available in Llith Mage Academy. Hopefully, it was still there. I had enough funds to purchase it now. My plan was to make some blades over the next few days and then test the market in Lloth. I had some familiarity with the city. I walked down to the hanger, and the two cats followed closely on my heels, not letting me out of their sight. I found Remy and Rippon working in the hangar. They were building a new version of the small one-person skyship. The first version was scrapped for reasons I was not entirely privy to. Both Remy and Rippon were perfectionists. They were carefully layering various types of wood together for the beams on a vehicle. I had not been following this version of their plans too closely, but they were trying to reduce the mass enough to make the design feasible. They had dropped the inertia sink from the design, meaning the pilot would feel the acceleration and deceleration. I had promised to do the enchanting work for them once they had completed the final build. I watched them work, and we talked about the anti-gravity enchanting I would be doing. The steering was an issue since they removed the inertia sink. Taking sharp turns would put lateral stress on the pilot. It had a lot of limitations, but it looked like it would be fun to use. ¡°Remy, I need to fill the cargo with trade goods for the city of Llorth,¡± I said, getting to the reason for coming down here. The cats were chasing a rat among the crates on the far side of the hangar. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Remy looked confused, ¡°Do you want the Frost Mead loaded? We only have seven casks, and that will only last the restaurant three days.¡± Magical alcohol would sell well, but I did not think it was also not going to pull in more than a few hundred gold. Even Callem¡¯s tobacco would not bring in nearly enough. Fera was actually working Callem¡¯s fields now that he was in the capital. I had suggested it with her ability harvest. With Edel in Hen¡¯s Hollow drying the leaves and Lana bringing aether-infused soil to the farm with her dimensional closet, they had managed to maintain the harvest. I sold the tobacco in the Shiny Platinum store, and they were a hit. The cigars had a small magical effect of increasing the smoker¡¯s reaction speed. My father had gotten hooked on the cigars when he got his raise. I finally answered Remy, ¡°No, something simple.¡± I was not going to tell Remy I was doing this as a decoy to throw off Loriel. ¡°Just find something that will fill the hold and weighs less than six thousand pounds. You can spend up to five hundred gold,¡± I said, doing the mass calculations in my head. ¡°Six thousand pounds? That will not even come close to filling the hold,¡± Remy was still confused. ¡°Those are my limitations, so work within those guidelines,¡± I said before collecting the kittens and telling a guard to get rid of the two rats they had killed and presented to me proudly. The kitchen and restaurant had anti-vermin runes. Maybe I should do the hangar as well. But the two cats had had a lot of fun chasing them down, so I would hold off for now. The next two days, I fell into my routine. I would give the Ley Line Theory class a few more classes before I stopped attending it. The instructor was not too insightful and was spoon-feeding the knowledge. I could get the same benefit by reading the material on my own. I left the class and went to my required session, helping my advisor heal during the combat class. I met Neelan at the training yard after my theory class. He had a tent set up with cold water and simple snacks. It was obviously more to fuel the fighters practicing than for me, but I sampled some honey nut clusters as I sat with him. I asked, ¡°So what class are we healing for?¡± He pointed, ¡°The dueling class over there and the two-on-one class over there. All should be in their third year or later,¡± he pointed to the two groups as he pulled out a book to read. ¡°Dueling? That does not make any sense in a dungeon,¡± I said, munching on the nuts. There was some spice I couldn¡¯t place in the nuts. ¡°In dungeons, there are humanoids, even humans, not just monsters.¡± A chill ran up my spine, thinking that there were humans in dungeons you had to fight and kill. Seeing my apprehension, headed, ¡°It is rare to see human creations, but they do exist. A lot of the floor bosses also fight with weapons,¡± he finished his explanation and returned to his book. I remember the first level of the Frost Vault had the hobgoblin chief. Copying Neelan, I pulled out one of my bestiary texts to get a head start on future classes. It was twenty minutes before a call for a healer rang out in the yard. Neelan stood, and we fast-walked to where a red-haired woman was breathing heavily with blood trickling out her mouth. Neelan motioned for me to do the honors. I assessed her injuries with my spell. She had a puncture to her left lung, a torn ligament in her right knee, and eighteen contusions. I relayed to Neelan what I found, and the young woman frothed some blood as I was guided on healing practices to minimize aether expenditure. When I was done she said, ¡°Thank you, but could you work a little faster next time? I don¡¯t like the feeling of drowning in my own blood.¡± I think she was trying to be funny, and I recognized her as the woman who had given Gareth¡¯s tour on the first day. She had a rough prettiness to her. Maybe if she was cleaned up? I used my cleanliness spell on her and cleaned her skin, clothes, and hair. She was pretty under all the grim. I decided to introduce myself, ¡°My name is Storme. I am out here helping and learning from Instructor Neelan,¡± I held out my hand to shake. She grasped my wrist and smiled as I helped her to her feet after shaking my hand. Her teeth were a little crooked and off-white. She still sported a genuine smile. ¡°Namira Cloudhunter,¡± she shook my hand. ¡°I actually know who you are. Your partner, Gareth, pointed you out on the first day of classes. I am a third year.¡± Shocked, I quickly responded emphatically, ¡°Gareth is not my partner. I prefer women.¡± I was too shocked but planned to get back at Gareth for spreading this rumor. She had a soft laugh, ¡°Not partner as in lover. Partner in terms of your delving team.¡± Again, I was stunned again. Was Gareth spreading the rumor that he helped run his own dungeon-delving team? We definitely needed to have a talk. I corrected Namira firmly, ¡°Gareth is just a member of the delve team I sponsor.¡± I should not have voiced that statement so loudly in this environment. A number of the Dungeon Academy students nearby gave me a look, some in disbelief and some in interest. A perplexed look appeared on Namira¡¯s face, but she was called back to the practice. The rest of the class proceeded, and I healed a half dozen students under Neelan¡¯s direction. I learned a number of shortcuts and quick assessment skills. When the class was over, Neelan smiled, ¡°Quite the aether pool you have there. I thought I needed to help you, but you handled everything independently.¡± I figured I had used only about 100 aether healing this afternoon. It was not a large amount for me, but it was enough aether to match the capacity of an archmage in Skyholme. ¡°Yes, I was pushing myself today to impress you,¡± I deflected. Neelan just smiled, patted me on the back, and walked away. I liked Neelan, but he was too observant and too wise. It was like he was figuring me out without trying too much. I started my walk back to the Shiny Platinum, and Namira caught up with me. ¡°Hey,¡± she started. ¡°Thanks for cleaning me up. Can you hit me up again?¡± She was smiling as we walked. I cast the spell and used the vanilla scent this time. She inspected her clothes and smelled her pits in a very unladylike manner. ¡°Damn,¡± she muttered. She continued to walk with me, ¡°So, Gareth said he would get me a delve. But if you actually run the team¡­.¡± She was waiting for me to answer and call out Gareth. ¡°I do not decide who goes on delves. That would be my team leader Ullmark. He is always looking for talent and lives at the Shiny Platinum,¡± I told the young woman. ¡°Shiny Platinum? The over-priced restaurant in the docks?¡± she retorted. Should I have been offended? A meal was costly at a silver coin, but we could have charged more with the traffic we were still getting. The add-ons like ale and ice cream could push the meal to over two silver coins. That would have been a huge sum for the common person. ¡°The food is good. If you want, I will treat you,¡± I said to her. She locked her arm inside mine. Her long sword swung between us and almost tripped us, so she quickly switched sides to my other arm. When we got to the Shiny Platinum, I found the hostess doing the seating of patrons and told her Namira was to be allowed to order whatever she wanted on me. I turned to leave, and Namira shouted, ¡°You are not going to eat with me?¡± It was the reaction I had hoped for, ¡°Maybe next time. Enjoy your meal, and let me know if you still think it is overpriced.¡± I walked up to my room as the cats had been left alone for three hours more than normal. Opening the door, I found the living room full of feathers. The leather sofa had been shredded, and the stuffing, a mix of feathers and some type of sponge, was everywhere. Adrial¡¯s head popped up from inside the damaged cushion. It would have been cute, except that sofa was fairly expensive. At least she had only destroyed a single one of the couches. She jumped out, bringing a storm of stuffing, happy to see me and mewing her happiness and hunger together. I was shocked and expected Kiara to pop up as well, but I found her sleeping on the bed. The bedroom had no evidence of the destruction in the living room. So it was all Adrial. I ignored the cat¡¯s attention and followed the guide to behavior conditioning while cleaning the mess by hand. It would have less effect if I just used my spell to clean up. I was definitely a dog person. As I was finishing up, Bleiz knocked and entered. ¡°Are we leaving soon? The Maelstrom is ready, and Gareth thinks he is going.¡± He paused, looking at the damage and Adrial unhappily circling from inside her crate while Kiara got a treat of goat¡¯s milk. I think Kiara was lapping it slowly to make her sister jealous. ¡°Yeah, we are leaving soon. It was time to talk with Gareth anyway,¡± I said heavily. I collected the two mewing displacer kittens when the milk was finished. ¡°I will feed you two once we get in the air. Stop whining.¡± I walked with Bleiz to the hangar. Chapter 109: Spell Shopping Chapter 109: Spell Shopping I was not looking forward to confronting Gareth. We had been on opposing schedules, and I think Gareth had been sleeping at the academy most nights. I posted the crew for the mission to Llorth two days ago in the training room. I was only taking Cilia, Bleiz, Leda, Remy, and Sammie. It was just a trade mission, and I did not foresee combat. I asked Talia once she got one of the communication stones, number eight of the set of nine, and she declined. She was too busy with the new Academy year, and Selina was teaching her privately as well. Gareth was standing, geared, and confused at the ramp to the cargo hold. ¡°Storme, what is up? Why am I not going?¡± ¡°I posted the crew for the mission in the training room,¡± I replied, putting down the cats to hunt rats. ¡°It is fine. I want to go, so I will just¡­.¡± Gareth started to turn. ¡°No, Gareth. Ullmark scheduled you for the delve on this seventh day. You have withdrawn advanced pay amounting to ten gold but have not delved in a month. You need to work with Ullmark to help train the delve teams,¡± I said, trying to talk without any anger in my voice. Thankfully Bleiz walked up the ramp, and everyone else was on board. If things got messy, I did not want them to see it. Gareth looked conflicted. I added, ¡°I talked with Namira this afternoon. She told me you are telling people at the academy that we are partners for the delve team and that you are going to get her in on a delve.¡± Gareth looked uncomfortable, his adult body showing childlike guilt, ¡°I was going to tell you about that. We barely see each other anymore and did not have a chance.¡± Gareth was searching for what to say, so I added, ¡°I heard about you fighting in the taverns. Am I assuming you are spending nights at the academy to be with a new fling? Have you told Fera anything? Is Namira the only person you told that you have your own delve team at the academy?¡± Each statement and question was a shot to Gareth. Silence rained for a while between us. I eventually walked past him, saying, ¡°Do better, Gareth. I know you can.¡± I let out a low to high pitch whistle, and the two phantom beasts came running up the ramp. Kiara proudly held a rat in her jaws while Adrial tried to steal it from her. I activated the winch to raise the cargo ramp, leaving Gareth to think about his decisions. I signaled Cilia and Leda to lift off while reviewing the cargo with Remy. ¡°You should really hire a merchant if you plan to trade. I did some research, and it has more than just looking at the margins. Anyway, I loaded one cask of the frost mead and purchased seven hundred linen towels made from the giant plants in the dungeon on Greatwood Island.¡± He walked among the crates. The cargo hold was barely full. ¡°These crates over here have a few blocks of blood marble from a dungeon on the capital island. I think it is unique to the dungeon, and maybe a sculptor might want to use it. Or some rich person wants an interesting floor.¡± I opened the crate to find an off-white block of marble with rich red veins running through it. It actually looked pretty morbid with the aether lights giving it the appearance of mini-rivers of blood. Remy added, ¡°The blocks have a slight aether signature of life and stone affinity. It feels like the stones are actually bleeding if you look at them long enough. Not something I would want to look at every day.¡± He shuddered, and I agreed. The two heavy stones took up most of the weight I had consigned him to fill the cargo hold with. ¡°Good job, Remy. You never know what people want. Maybe they will be a hit. How much did everything cost?¡± I asked as we walked up the stairs toward the bridge. ¡°There was a warehouse of the marble in the capital. They were selling the two-foot cube stones for two gold with transportation included. The towels were one silver each as they had a surplus on hand. Normally, they would be about one and a half silver in bulk. Mera made the cask of frost mead from our honey harvests,¡± Remy reported. ¡°Excellent work, Remy. You can see if you can find a merchant to hire or dabble yourself. How many of the stones did they have in storage?¡± I asked, pausing at my cabin door. Remy paused and thought, ¡°Six hundred and fourteen. I think they were being held for a Bircio project that never materialized. Took them two months to haul all those stones out from a lower level of the dungeon¡ªor so I was told.¡± ¡°Buy it all when we get back. We have plenty of space to store them in the warehouse portion of the Shiny Platinum. As you said, if they are unique, then someone will want them.¡± I produced two large platinum and handed them to Remy. ¡°This is 2,000 gold. Do you want anything else?¡± Remy asked, surprised. ¡°No, use the leftover funds on your one-person skyship project,¡± I said, smiling. He smiled back and pocketed the coin. I entered my cabin and fed the two cats as promised before falling down on my bed. It was a long trip to Llorth, but I had a lot to do. I pulled out my invisibility spellbook and got to work. Four hours later, the spell was finally imprinted. It had taken much longer than it should have, but I could finally turn myself invisible. The first evolution was to include my clothes in the invisibility. The spell was called personal invisibility, and I had used a dungeon copy of the spellbook, which meant it disintegrated as I learned it. I purchased another copy of the same spell that detailed the evolutions that were common to the spell. After ten minutes of sustaining the spell, the second evolution was available, and I formed it to include my weapons. Although the invisibility reached my clothes, it did not work more than six inches from my person. With this evolution, I could now draw a weapon that extended up to three feet from my person and would be concealed. Adrial had noticed I was gone and hissed and scratched at the door to get out of the room. Kiara looked panicked for a moment but then jumped on the bed and found my invisible body. She clawed my chest, confirming it was me. Then she circled once and curled into a ball. She watched her sister at the door in what I assumed was amusement. I dropped the illusion and went to the bridge. It was about time to give Leda and Cilia a rest. I knocked on Remy¡¯s door as I passed, as he was supposed to be watching over me. Cilia and Leda left the bridge. I sat in the captain¡¯s chair, and the two cats went to the forward viewing window. It was similar to the glass windows in my apartment. It was magically hardened glass, ten feet wide and six feet high, giving us a panoramic view of the direction we were traveling in. It was also enchanted to be viewable in one direction only. The cats were fascinated as the land raced between us. We were a few thousand feet in the air, well away from most organic threats. Remy took his seat in the navigator¡¯s chair to watch the magical radar for threats. Remy noted, ¡°You trained them quickly. They are growing fairly quickly as well.¡± ¡°According to the book, they are actually smaller than they should be, but that may be because they are both females. I am working on collars for them that should prevent them from attacking me in my sleep. I just have alarm spells to wake me if they attack me,¡± I said casually. Remy paled slightly. ¡°You mean you sleep while they are out of their cages?¡± He sounded perplexed by my statement. They had sharp teeth, and six legs, each with dangerous little claws. ¡°Yes, they have already imprinted on me according to the book, so I am past the stage to worry about it. But I still take precautions by setting my alarm spells,¡± I said confidently. ¡°Gareth said their parents got to be the size of a horse,¡± Remy seemed a little fearful. ¡°True, they do, but the training manual said they were also extremely loyal pets if raised and trained properly,¡± I said casually. Remy did not seem convinced. ¡°Maybe he is a dog person,¡± Bleiz commented, appearing in the back of the bridge. I laughed, and the conversation turned to Remy¡¯s one-person skyship. Bleiz was more interested than me as Rempy eagerly described the controls and top speed of 440 miles per hour with the right aether crystal power source. He was definitely saying it was for me to overhear, but the more coin I had, it seemed the less I had to spend. I interrupted, ¡°Remy, I am going to task you with going to price out tier six crystals with 500 units in Hakeam. I assume they have a strong enough communication stone to reach the city. I will take a set of harmonized crystals but need them tier six for the improved recharge rate.¡± Remy took out a notebook and did some math, ¡°Three hundred to four hundred thousand, depending on the market. Do you really have the funds on hand, or am I just checking?¡± ¡°We will see how this trade mission goes, so just get an estimate for when we can make the trip to purchase it,¡± I informed Remy, excited at the prospect. The conversation returned to Remy¡¯s project, and Cila and Leda returned to the bridge an hour before landing. I remained and had Leda tutor me in the procedures for landing. Recognizing the landmarks and the acceptable approach to the city. Stolen story; please report. When we landed, I paid the port fee. Sammie was going to remain on board with the cats. Leda and Cilia were off shopping. Remy was on his own, and Bleiz was with me. ¡°Where are we off to?¡± Bleiz said in a cheerful tone¡ªwell, cheerful for his usually serious nature. We went to the adventurer¡¯s guild bazaar, found Lorlae, and asked her to be our guide again. She jumped at the chance to bring us through the city and get out of the shop. ¡°I am going to visit a tamer first to get collars for the cats. I have not found the enchantments I wanted in Skyholme, so I can buy the collars and study the enchantments to make my own collars,¡± I informed her. Finding our way to a tamer in the lower city took an hour of winding our way through the streets. Lorlae was looking for a specific tamer who specialized in large cats. When we found him, I noted he was a dwarf and had his two wives working with him. ¡°Name is Bart,¡± he introduced himself. You looking to buy a large cat or horse?¡± he asked. Those were his specialties and why Lorlae had brought us to his establishment. ¡°No, I have begun training myself a pair of phantom cats. Just kittens currently, but I wanted to get them collars,¡± I informed the tamer-merchant whose bushy eyebrows went, and then he smiled. ¡°If they are less than five weeks, I will take ¡®em off your hands for four thousand. Or I will train ¡®em for you for a thousand each,¡± He offered immediately. ¡°Not for sale,¡± I said immediately. He chuckled, ¡°Already attached, are we? Well, is it the standard breed? And sex?¡± ¡°Yes, regular breed and both females,¡± I responded. ¡°Good, should be easy enough if you got them young. If you decide to breed ¡®em, just know I am here to help. I have a few things you may be interested in. A standard binding collar is used to prevent them from attacking you. A return collar will call them to you. An anti-heat collar prevents them from going into heat by stalling their breeding cycle, but you won¡¯t need that until they are two years old. If you want something else, I can get you a discount at a master artificer I work with,¡± he said. ¡°Can I see one of each?¡± I asked, and he retrieved four large buckles that looked like they went on a leather belt. For the small cats, they were going to be large. The binding buckle was 250 gold, and the return collar was 100 gold, but it did not always work as intended. The animal needed to know where you were for the summon to work, so it might wander aimlessly trying to find you. The anti-heat collar was the most expensive at 500 gold. It could work on humans as well as animals to prevent normal reproductive cycles. ¡°I will have one of each and three pairs of leather collars that go with them for their growth sizes,¡± I announced, paying 923 gold for the lot. The leather collars were laced with the aether-infused wire attached to the buckle, so they were not just regular collars. After paying, Lorae commented hopefully, ¡°Can I see the cats again?¡± ¡°Maybe after we visit the Mage Academy in the city. Is your father going to pay us another visit if you come to my ship?¡± I asked with a grin. ¡°No, we worked things out. Besides, I think two of my father¡¯s guildmates are tailing me right now,¡± he giggled. Bleiz went on alert and scanned the streets but came up empty. Lorae smirked as Bleiz searched. She pointed out one, ¡°That woman shopping in the street¡ªselecting produce. That is an illusionist.¡± As soon as she pointed at the woman, the woman waved back and went back to shopping. ¡°The other one¡ªshe looked around in the street. I do not see him, but he definitely left the bazaar following us. Probably on a roof, invisible.¡± It made me and Bleiz uncomfortable knowing we had tailed without realizing it. I had been on the lookout, and Bleiz was even better than me at spotting inconsistencies. We started following Lorlae to the library, and I said, ¡°Maybe I should leave you here to get some training, Bleiz.¡± Beliz had an annoyed look, but Lorlae said, ¡°Jasper is one of the best dungeon scouts in the city, and Marigold is a powerful illusionist. You shouldn¡¯t have noticed them. Jasper may be interested in training you.¡± ¡°Maybe,¡± a dark elf suddenly walked next to Lorae. He had not even been invisible. It was a misdirection type of magic that affected the minds of people passively. I had done some research on the magic and was astonished at how well it actually worked. Bleiz was tense as Lorlae introduced the dark elf, ¡°This is Jasper, my bodyguard for most days of the week¡ªat least when he is not delving.¡± Bleiz asked, ¡°Is guarding your charge difficult?¡± Jasper chuckled, ¡°Lorae definitely keeps things interesting. Two days ago¡­¡± Lorae cut him off abruptly, ¡°The library is that domed building over there. I will take Bleiz and Jasper to lunch so they can talk.¡± I had a weird thought that maybe Lorae was attracted to Bleiz¡ªor maybe just curious about him. ¡°Sounds fine. You can bring her to the Maelstrom to see the kittens,¡± I spun around, looking at the buildings. ¡°The Maelstrom is that way?¡± I asked, pointing. Lorlae nodded, and I walked toward the library, ignoring Bleiz¡¯s objections. When I got to the library entrance, I was annoyed that I had to purchase a membership for a large gold. And that membership only allowed me to wander the first floor. The spell archives were on a much higher floor. I went to the archive desk, ¡°Good evening. I wish to purchase a spell. The tier five lighting elemental spell.¡± The dark elf woman behind the desk looked me over and called in her supervisor. A much older-looking male elf. A was brought to a private room and sat down in a comfortable chair, ¡°Welcome!¡± He said, ¡°Can I get you anything to eat or drink?¡± ¡°No, I am just here for the spell. Is it still available?¡± I asked. It was available a week ago, but maybe someone purchased it since then. ¡°He clasped his hands. We have had a mage place a deposit on the spell. In order for you to purchase the spell, you need to pay him twice the amount of the deposit,¡± he said with some angst. ¡°It is policy,¡± he added. I could tell he was uncomfortable. ¡°How much was the deposit?¡± I asked, starting to suspect I was being conned. He got fidgety, ¡°I can not reveal the mage who made the deposit, but I suggest you consider how badly you the spell. She is¡ªwell¡ªshe is a person of importance. It was four thousand to hold the spell for her.¡± I knew it was a dungeon copy of the spell, so only one person could learn it before the book crumbled. ¡°How often do you get a copy of this spell?¡± ¡°Not often. It is the first one in quite some time,¡± he said conciliatory. ¡°Can you contact the person? Can I meet her? I really would like to purchase this rare spell, and I have the,¡± I did the math, ¡°thirty-two thousand gold.¡± That was 24,000 for the spell and 8,000 for the mystery shopper. ¡°I will call the Archmage in charge of the library. He is the only one who would be willing to talk with her,¡± his tone sounded a bit ominous, and I considered dropping my request. Instead, I was made to wait three hours before he returned with an ancient-looking elf with lighter skin. He bowed and introduced the man, ¡°Archmage Armellian Tether. I will leave you two to discuss arrangements.¡± He left quickly, not wishing to be involved further. The Archmage sat and produced a bottle and two glasses from thin air. He poured one and handed it to me, and I sipped the wine, a strong taste of cherries coated my taste buds. He poured himself a glass and sipped. ¡°You have placed me in a predicament, stranger. I have set the laws of the library and followed them to the letter for twelve hundred years. Normally someone of renown who wishes to purchase a spell pays for it completely and does not resort to having the spell held in reserve.¡± ¡°I can drop my request,¡± I replied, not wanting to anger whoever the unknown woman was. ¡°No, no. I have talked with her. The spell is yours if you wish it,¡± He pursed his lips, ¡°But she wants an additional eight thousand gold to release her rights to purchase.¡± This definitely felt like a shakedown. I nodded, unconcerned, as I weighed the value of the spell in my mind. Forty thousand gold was about 35 days¡¯ worth of platinum coins¡ªif all I did was make platinum coins. It was going to take me months to learn a tier-five spell, so I would not get a benefit for quite some time. My research on the spell indicated it was extremely powerful. The lightning elemental was immune to normal weapons and attacked with impressive speed. I had not found too many evolutions in the research, but there was a lightning armor evolution in a tale where the elemental could wrap the mage in a protective shield. So, the spell was both offensive and defensive. I nodded to the Archmage and produced forty large platinum coins from my dimensional space. Armellian nodded, ¡°I apologize for breaking my own rules. The next time you wish to purchase one of our spells, I will give you a sizable discount. Or, if you wish, I would give you any tier three spell in the library.¡± I laughed to myself. A tier three spell would cost, at most, 1000 gold. I felt I had just been fleeced for eight thousand gold. I stood and shook his hand, ¡°Thank you. I will look at your registry of tier-three spells, but most likely, I am just taking the lightning elemental spell and leaving.¡± The Archmage took me to the same middle-aged elf and told him to bring me the lightning elemental spell and add any tier-three spell on top of it. I waited a half hour for the spell book while I paged through a tier-three spell registry. The lightning elemental spellbook had crackling blue energy constantly passing through the blue-steel binding. It did not shock me when I picked it up. It was a neat aesthetic, and I sent the book to my storage. I paged through the spells, finding a number that interested me. I asked a passing librarian if this was the only tier-three spell registry and was told no. There was the auction house registry as well. I asked for that book as he did say any tier three spell in the library. The leather-bound auction book had the date of the upcoming auction. It listed everything that was available for the auction, including the special auction for dungeon essences. Even as I was reading the leather-bound book, more entries were added. The librarian said there was a single master auction registry and a dozen copies that were updated from the master in real-time. Each item noted a time when the auction would start and a minimum bid. I paged to the aether crystals. A tier five, 300-unit aether crystal was the largest crystal listed. The opening bid was 30,000 gold. That would have been a good price, but it would likely go much higher. I moved to the spells. There were seventeen tier 1 spells, all extremely rare dungeon spells. Almost forty tier-two spells, including two copies of the aether shield spell. The minimum bid was 1000 gold for each spell. I turned the page to tier-three spells, and just eleven were listed. No healing or lightning spells were listed. A perfect invisibility spell was listed, but I had just added personal invisibility. Perfect invisibility was the enchantment on Bleiz¡¯s necklace. Three fire spells, a water spell, an earth spell, and an aetheric spell called spirit sentinel. I stopped there as I was unfamiliar with the spell. I went to the shelves and found a reference for aetheric spells. Spirit sentinel was an intangible manifestation of a facet of the mage. When borne, it lasted a day. It was an intelligent guardian with minimal force magic to carry things. As a read, it appeared to be more of a phantasmal servant than anything else. It took a large number of evolutions to make it substantial enough to cause damage in combat. The book noted it was the perfect assistant for an alchemist or researcher since it was mentally linked to the mage that cast it. It would cost me four points on my spell matrix to imprint, but it sounded like a fascinating spell. I found the librarian the Archmage had talked to and requested the spell, which had an opening bid of 2,500 gold. He was caught off guard and left to talk with the Archmage again. Obviously, the Archmage had not intended to include the spells in the auction. I waited an hour, and he surprisingly returned with the spell book. ¡°The Archmage thanks you for your patronage and will handle the auction house regarding the spell.¡± I had expected more resistance to acquiring the spell or just being told outright that it was unavailable. I moved the book to my dimensional space and went to return to the Maelstrom. I would rest up before trying my hand at being a merchant. Chapter 110 The Mercantile Skill Chapter 110 The Mercantile Skill When I reached the Maelstrom, I found an old woman selling scented flower pouches at the gate to the docks. I asked, ¡°Marigold was it?¡± She looked at me and frowned, ¡°What gave it away?¡± I smiled, ¡°You are selling scented flowers. But I couldn¡¯t smell anything.¡± ¡°Ah, if you got within the range of the illusion, you would have!¡± she laughed as well. ¡°Jasper joined them on the ship. Lorae seems to like you. So that you know, I will report to her father where she has been today.¡± ¡°Lorae is one of the few people I know in the city, and I trust her evening if she is young,¡± I responded conversationally. ¡°There are guilds of guides, you know,¡± she cocked her eyebrows at my ignorance. ¡°Nope, I didn¡¯t know. How do I find them?¡± I asked, interested. She started laughing, ¡°If I told you, then Lorae would be upset with me for a month. No. It is best we continue as is.¡± ¡°Join me on board?¡± I asked, and she shook her head no. She moved inside the shadow if the city gate, and I assumed she was changing her illusion. I walked up the ramp to find Remy in the cargo hold, chipping off a corner of the marble block. He looked up, ¡°Storme might have found someone to buy the marble. Not just these two, but ALL the blocks. I think we can make a huge margin on them.¡± ¡°Great. And the investigation to aether crystal pricing?¡± I asked, helping him knock a corner off. ¡°Four hundred thousand gold on the low end, but probably about ten thousand higher. It will depend on the market at the time. A lot of the crystals get purchased by traders coming from the Outer Sphere periodically,¡± Remy informed me scholastically. ¡°Okay, they don¡¯t have anything for our needs here, so we will have to save the coin and travel to Hakeam in the Callisto Federation. I am going to get some rest, and then play merchant. If you have the blood marble covered, I will take the towels and frost mead when I wake up,¡± I said while walking up the stairs. Bleiz, Jasper, and Lorae were on the bridge. The cats were sprinting around chasing a feather on a stick and string Lorae was controlling. Kiara stopped running when she saw me and walked over to say hello and welcome me back. She did not rush; just pranced and rubbed into me. Jasper looked at me and said, ¡°Never seen a white one before. Has to be rare.¡± ¡°She is. Smart, too,¡± I said as Adrial crashed into the chairs in a desperate attempt to capture the elusive feather. Adrial was so focused on her hunt, and I do not think she even realized I was back. Lorae let her catch the prize, which she promptly shredded in victory. ¡°Lorae, I wanted to ask you to bring me around to merchants tomorrow. I am looking to sell some towels, frost mead, and artificed blades,¡± I informed the young dark elf. It was Jasper who responded, ¡°What is frost mead?¡± ¡°A mixture between a spirit and potion.¡± I produced a bottle from my space into my hand and handed it to him. I explained, ¡°It works like a magical temperature regulator for the body. You can drink that one; consider it a gift. You need to drink at least half that bottle for an effective dose that lasts about two hours.¡± Jasper uncorked it, sniffed it, and then took a long pull, emptying the contents. ¡°Wow, it is cold. It¡¯s very sweet and has a decent alcohol kick as well. I can feel the effect of the potion, and it does not feel as humid or hot! Not bad.¡± he looked at me seriously, ¡°How much do you have?¡± ¡°Just twenty gallons, about eighty bottles of what you just drank. The effect of the full bottle should last for four hours,¡± I said with a humorous smile. Jasper licked his lips, ¡°One hundred gold. I will give you one hundred gold for the cask,¡± he said as I could see the alcohol kick in by the dark elf¡¯s eyes. Lorae intervened, ¡°Do not do it. If Jasper is willing to spend one hundred gold, then it has to be worth three times as much.¡± Jasper scoffed, swatting Lorae playfully, ¡°You brat. I have been watching you since you were a babe, and you betrayed me at the drop of a hat!¡± He did not sound overly serious, though. Lorae sounded wounded, ¡°No, just for a chance to play with the cats again! If he found out he had been duped, then he might never let me on board again!¡± I didn¡¯t plan to tell her I was not planning to visit Lloth very often. ¡°How about two hundred and fifty gold? My guess is that is close to wholesale for you,¡± Jasper pleaded. The truth was the frost mead cask was worth about four gold in Skyholme. At least that is what we sold it for when you added up the drinks sold from a cask. ¡°Okay, two hundred and fifty gold it is, but I need payment in gold coins for some enchanting work I have to do,¡± and we shook on it. He dragged Lorae home to get his coin. Lorae would meet me in the morning at the Adventurer¡¯s Guild bazaar to bring me to various merchants for linen towels and small blades. Forty minutes later, Jasper returned with the coins and took his cask with him. I don¡¯t think he was a drunkard, but he liked novel spirits. Rich delvers needed something to spend their coin on. Well, two hundred and fifty gold was a start toward four hundred thousand. I fed the cats and talked with Bleiz for a while. Sammie, Cilia, and Leda returned to the ship while we talked and went right to sleep. Bleiz was actually considering an offer to train with Jasper. Jasper was definitely an apex stealth specialist. He was the lead scout on Relik¡¯s delve team, which apparently made him quite remarkable. Relik, Lorae¡¯s father, led one of the top delve teams in the city. The dungeon was an hour¡¯s walk outside the city, but it was massive and went deep. It was one of the reasons the city thrived. That one dungeon provided more resources than all of Skyholme¡¯s dungeons combined. After dinner in my cabin, the cats went into a food coma, and I lay on my bunk. I pulled out two spell books, comprehend languages, and arcane web. I was excited to learn these spells and the two new spells I purchased today. I was still slightly concerned about the mage who had wanted the lightning elemental spell book. Would she be spiteful even though I paid her so much for it? I set more alarms than normal around the ship before we all went to rest in our cabins. I decided to work on the arcane web spell next and put the comprehend language spell book back. I studied the evolutions instead of working on imprinting the spell. There were a lot of options for this spell. Increasing the web¡¯s size, strength, and structure and you could also prevent the web from affecting the caster. You could even add effects like poison to the webbing. It was really a versatile spell and very useful in dungeons with narrow passages. I fell asleep in a weird dream. I was dressed in a blue and red suit, casting arcane webs on walls and using the webbing to crawl up the walls. The cats set off my alarms by jumping on me to request breakfast. I cleaned the cabin with my cleanliness spell and then served them from the food stores in my dimensional space. After they ate, I left them in the care of Sammie as Bleiz, and I left to play merchant. Remy had already left, and Leda said we had seven hours before the crystals were fully charged and could return to Skyholme. Cilia and Leda would stay with the Maelstrom as they were all shopped out after one day. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. I moved all the crates of linen towels into my dimensional space as Bleiz, and I returned to the city. We found Lorae waiting for us at the entrance to the bazaar. I scanned the crowds with Bleiz but did not see signs of Jasper or Marigold. ¡°Here is a sample,¡± I gave Lorae one of the linen towels to inspect. Lorae turned the fabric in her hands and considered it. ¡°Is it dungeon fabric?¡± she asked. ¡°I believe so. It is sourced from a dungeon in Skyholme. It is just more durable and a little softer than most towels. It has no lingering aetheric properties. We have 700 pieces,¡± I explained what little I knew. Lorae considered and looked lost in thought before saying, ¡°We should pass it off as a luxury item. Maybe ten sliver each?¡± She was asking me a question, so I just nodded. Remy had paid a silver coin each, so that would be a fifty-six gold profit. Lorlae led us to merchant after merchant in the upper city. She did all the talking and ended up storming out after not getting the price she wanted. Bleiz asked, ¡°Are you a merchant, Lorae? You certainly seem like it and are having fun.¡± She huffed, ¡°No, just using some of the lessons from my apprenticeships. My father has had me work in a lot of businesses in Lloth, so I have a good handle on what things are worth and have been on both sides of transactions. I could leverage my connection to my father¡¯s delve team, but I want to make this happen on my own.¡± It took her five hours and twelve shops before she finally sold the seven hundred towels for 10 silver and 50 copper each. I learned a lot watching her and was impressed with her skill and holding to her desired price. Most of the offers had been around four silver per towel, and she had finally found an older human woman who was a tailor to purchase them. She was going to take the towels and turn them into bathrobes. I emptied the crates of towels from my storage space, and the woman meticulously counted every towel before paying us the coin. I gave Lorae seven gold commission for negotiating and finding the buyer. She happily took the coin, excited to continue, ¡°So what is next?¡± ¡°Small blades. I have two dozen daggers and throwing knives to sell. All enchanted and of high quality,¡± I stated. She nodded and was already moving out of the shop. Bleiz and I walked together, and he said, ¡°Are you thinking what I am thinking?¡± ¡°That I should contract Lorae to sell for us in Llorth?¡± I said without pause. ¡°That and we just passed Marigold disguised as a young beggar boy,¡± I whipped my head around to locate the boy who waved at me when I focused on him. ¡°How did you spot her?¡± I asked, amazed. ¡°When we walked by her, I smelled her perfume. The boy was the only one close enough that was out of place,¡± Bleiz said as we walked. ¡°I think I want to take Jasper up on his offer to train here. Is that acceptable?¡± ¡°Bleiz, you are free to do as you will,¡± I said after a slight pause. I would need to find someone else to watch Freya during the day and another sparring partner at night. Losing my invisible bodyguard might also help me stay alert as I was getting lax. ¡°How long do you want to stay here?¡± Bleiz was a little stunned at my willingness to let him stay but answered eventually after mulling it over, ¡°Four weeks.¡± That was a long time. I almost tried to ask him to reduce it but instead pulled out a stack of forty wrapped small gold coins, ¡°Take this for expenses. When I return, I will contact you with a communication stone.¡± I patted him on the back and chuckled, ¡°Freya will be upset that her lessons will be on hold. Maybe Mia will take over while you are gone.¡± Bleiz seemed to reconsider his decision because of Freya but took the coins, ¡°Hopefully, she will not pick up too many bad habits while I am away.¡± Mia was a good teacher, so I think Bleiz was probably hinting at missing my sister more than talking down on Mia¡¯s skills. Lorae took us to a bladed weapon specialist in the upper city. In this part of the upper city, the buildings were opulent stone and wood, and dark elves in guard uniforms were meticulously manicured with slick back hair and perfect-looking uniforms. This was where the elite and wealthy lived. Just before entering, Lorae said, ¡°This is Tallot¡¯s shop. I worked briefly for him as a courier. He has the finest blades in all of Llorth.¡± The shop interior smelled of fresh-cut wood and oil, and the weapons racks were carefully placed to shine as much natural and artificial light as possible on the blades. The oldest elf I had ever seen was walking the racks with two customers, talking about the blades he offered. When he finished his tour of the racks, they purchased a short sword and dagger from him for some platinum and gold. I did not stare and count how much had just been spent, but it was substantial. The couple left, and the old elf smiled, ¡°Lorae! What brings you back? You seemed quite happy to finish your service with me.¡± ¡°I brought you, merchants, you old goat.¡± Her tone was playful, and he just laughed. ¡°Fine, show me what you have. My inventory is pretty saturated, but I am always interested in seeing what foreign merchants can offer,¡± he said, leading us to a polished wood table in the private back room. I started placing twenty-seven daggers on the table and seven throwing knives. Tallot clucked his tongue, pulled out an eyepiece, and put it on. I could tell the eyepiece was artificed. He examined the first few and spoke, ¡°I am not familiar with the maker¡¯s mark, the Hydra?¡± he questioned. I replied emotionlessly, ¡°It is from a new artificer in Skyholme.¡± ¡°The floating islands? Huh, well, these are not forged. They are all damn fine spellwork, but the sweat of a smith did not craft these. The enchantments are the true value. Well done, tight runes and crisp lines. Some type of high-ranked metal mage made them?¡± he questioned. ¡°I believe so,¡± I responded with a note of uncertainty. ¡°I will take the entire lot for eight thousand. Mostly to establish relations with the metal mage who made them. If my inventory was not bursting at the seams, I would offer more, but the truth is I do not have the space,¡± he looked at me for an answer. ¡°Agreed,¡± I said after pretending to give it some thought. ¡°Can you pay in just gold? It will save me a trip to the exchange as my next stop requires just gold and no platinum.¡± I hesitated and asked, ¡°Do you have any adamantine? Just a small sample. The mage in question has requested a sliver of the material to study.¡± Tallot grinned, ¡°Making a special blade, is he? I may have some commission work for him in the future, especially if he can work with the adamantine.¡± He went to the back of the shop and returned with a tray of large gold coins and a tiny wire of black metal. There were seventy large gold coins, so I guessed the toothpick adamantine was costing me a thousand gold. A small coin of adamantine was valued at one hundred thousand gold. I moved the coins and adamantine to my dimensional storage. We talked for an hour about what type of blades sold well in the city. Tallot dealt mostly with small blades and one-handed swords. The favored weapon was a long sword in the city, but the market was tight since there had not been a war in ages. I purchased a non-magical long sword from him for 140 gold, returning fourteen large coins. This was the dark elves¡¯ standard size, weight, and length. Next time I come, I will also have a few of these blades prepared for sale. We left when my comm stone buzzed. Leda said the aether stones were charged. On the way back, we stopped at a bookstore that advertised as a copier. We waited while he made me a copy of Neelan¡¯s anatomy book on monsters. I borrowed the book because it had excellent pictures of phantom beast cats. The rushed copy cost me an entire gold. Now I could return this book for another in his library. While the copy was being made, I went to exchange my remaining platinum for gold. I had slightly miscalculated and spent too much on the spells. I would be short on the gold I needed to do Loriel¡¯s enchanting work. It should not take me more than a day to make the gold, or I could obtain it from the money changers in Skyholme. We dropped Lorae off at the bazaar, and I gave her my last two platinum coins for her services. She was shocked, but I explained she had made me ten times that amount today and probably saved me a lot of time wandering the city. She also gave me a fair amount of insight into the mercantile skill. On an impulse, I handed her my last comm stone from the set. Stone number seven. This action was for a few reasons. It would allow her and Beliz to communicate, and it would hopefully be a step in convincing her to be my merchant in the city when we visited. Back on the ship, Remy was bouncing around in excitement. He had sold the marble for 30 gold each, a 28 gold profit. The buyer was also willing to take another six hundred stones at 25 gold each. The blood marble stones were unique and were going to be used in a temple. Bleiz remained behind, and it stunned everyone until I explained he was studying with a master scout. Cilia and Leda had us in the sky, and I went to feed the cats, who were excited to see me. Adrial was in her cage for scratching Sammie. She would remain there for the trip home, no matter how pitiful her mews were. With the cabin cleaned and the cats satiated, I sat on the bed and took out my expensive black toothpick. I sent my metal senses into the adamantine. It was far different from any other metal. Manipulating the wire was extremely slow as it resisted my efforts. I could work the metal, but it took a lot longer than mithril. Mithril had gotten easier to work with time, so I expected the same with the adamantine. Adamantine was an aetheric insulator, meaning it did not allow aether to pass through it. The fact that I could even manipulate it all with my tier 4 ability was saying something. I tried to create the metal with my metal creation ability. I initially got some negative feedback, resisting the effort to replicate the metal in my hand. Eventually, a small black pea formed in my hand after draining the majority of my aether. My first adamantine. Chapter 111 Chapter 111 I studied the black pea in my hand. The apex metal of the Sphere. Unbreakable and nearly impossible to work without magic. I judged from my current aether it had taken about 4,000 aether to create this small pea. It was about ten times as aether intensive as mithril. So the value remained the same as adamantine was valued at ten times as much. From what I knew of adamantine, it was extremely rare since it was heavily exported to the Outer Sphere. The only place adamantine was made was in the dungeons, just like aether crystals. The adamantine material could coat mithril and allow extremely high volumes of aether to flow with no bleed effect. Aether bleed meant some of the aether sent through the mithril went into the environment instead of through the runes. With adamantine, it would essentially give devices 100% efficiency. Creating the adamantine to sell would not generate more value for the aether expended unless I found a high-demand market. Making my own adamantine for enchanting was worth it. If I used adamantine in Remy¡¯s bike, for instance, all his power problems would be solved if the core crystal was large enough. If I added adamantine around the mithril runic wires on the Maelstrom, I could eliminate aether bleed and increase the efficiency by as much as 25%. I would have to run some tests as the textbooks did not have the numbers on adamantine insulated mithril. I could increase the acceleration and top speed on the Maelstrom. The mithril only needed a thin coating, so the pea and toothpick would go a long way. After I coated the mithril in adamantine, I would coat that in gold, another insulator, to hide the black adamantine. I started to do the calculations and estimated I would need 250 peas¡ªor roughly 25 small coins worth of adamantine to coat the basic flying runes for the Maelstrom. That was 250,000 gold and only covered the runes for allowing the Maelstrom fly! I moved the project to the back of my mind and put the black metal into my dimensional space. I needed the upgraded aether core power core first for the Maelstrom. I took over the bridge watch with Remy again. He told me of his travels in Llorth and talking with a gnome acquisition specialist concerning the large aether crystal. The gnome had connections in a dozen large cities across the Sphere and could get anything for a price. That price was generally a 20% commission. That was too steep an added cost, so we were going to go to Hakeam ourselves. Sammie joined us on the bridge as well to play with the kittens. I asked the lumberjack how working for me was going. She gushed about the food, thanked me for the opportunity, and told me she had saved over fifty gold so far. She had plans to return a wealthy woman to her island one day. On my payroll, Sammie made 5 or 6 gold a week and received room and board. She and Lana lived in the same apartment and were definitely a couple. The two were vastly contrasting body types, Sammie large and muscular and Lana small and thin. They seemed extremely happy in each other¡¯s company. Sammie had even started to use her tier 1 wood shaping skill to contribute to the miniatures for sale in the Shiny Platinum gift shop. They were only selling for a few silver now, but she would get more once she improved her skill. I asked Sammie, ¡°You seem to like Adrial and Kiara. Would you be willing to help feed them with Freya? Bleiz usually watched her when she fed them, but with him gone, I don¡¯t think our mother will let Freya do it alone.¡± Sammie put on a massive grin, the answer being yes. ¡°Can we train them as well? I have been reading up on training pets.¡± I pulled Dar the Beastmaster¡¯s guide to training a phantom beast from my dimensional space, ¡°I would appreciate that, Sammie. Here is the book specifically for phantom beasts.¡± She eagerly took the book and started reading. The trip had no issues on our return to Skyholme. At our speed, are only enemies would be another skyship, and our speed was much faster than a normal skyship. We docked in the hangar, and I went up to my apartment, the cats chasing after me. The first thing I needed to do was square away the gold for Loriel¡¯s skyship. I overspent on the spells and did not have enough gold after converting my remaining platinum. I would have to invest aether in making gold during the week. I planned out the amount of aether I would need to hold in reserve every night to make the gold. I could create the gold in a single day, but I did not want to interrupt my routine. It was late on the seventh day, and I had classes in the morning, so I only spent a few hours studying the arcane web spell, doing my aether exercises, and creating gold. I stayed up too late and only managed a few hours of sleep. My morning routine had me in a zombie-like state, which the cats matched, showing fatigue from the adventure. When I headed to the academy, I found the cheerful twins walking with me. They had not seen Gareth at all while I had been gone, but Lana brought back a record harvest of honey from the delve that Gareth was on. I talked with Mera about how much frost mead she could make weekly. She thought for a moment and said maybe 100 gallons a day if she had the honey available. But if she only made the magic mead, the other ales would fall behind in production for the Shiny Platinum. I asked her to start making five extra casks a week of the frost mead for outside sales to the lowlands. I also told her to put the maker¡¯s mark on the casks, the hydra of the Shiny Platinum. She could commission a brand. It was all about branding, after all. Classes passed, and I did not run into Gareth during the day. After today¡¯s class, I also decided I was done with Ley Line Theory. The instructor still offered no insights beyond rehashing the text. I suppose if the students were not motivated to read the text, the class might have been useful to attend, but I had finished the entire text. I thought about seeking Gareth out but decided he should come to me to apologize. I went to Neelan¡¯s library to return the book and select a new one. Neelan was not present, and I placed the text on his desk and searched his library. I found a text on a guide to imprinting higher-tier spells. I paged through it, and it just gave tweaks to the normal approaches for imprinting a spell. I decided to have a copy made. That way, I could read it when I started on my lightning elemental spell. I left a note on top of the book I returned with details of the book I was borrowing now. I left the academy and dropped off the book to be copied for two gold. I could pick up the copy on the way to the academy one morning. On reaching the Shiny Platinum, a woman called out, a red-haired woman. It was Namira. She rushed to meet me before I entered, ¡°Storme, I have been waiting here every day for hours!¡± Her smile was intense as she stood before me, ¡°And?¡± I waited. She blushed, ¡°I wanted to tell you about the meal you paid for in the restaurant. It would have definitely been worth the seven silver it would have cost me, but I can only go and treat myself once a year at those prices,¡± she admitted. I guessed at what was happening here. She was trying to get on the dungeon team for free restaurant food. I decided to get the conversation to the point, ¡°Have you talked to Ullmark?¡± ¡°He gave me the date of the next auditions at the adventurer¡¯s guild. It is in five weeks,¡± she said, losing her smile. ¡°And you want me to talk to him on your behalf? Gareth would not do it?¡± I replied smoothly, thinking I reached her objective. Namira frowned, ¡°Gareth has moved on from me. Gwenyth was in his room the last two nights. But I just wanted to see if you would want me to take you to my favorite restaurant,¡± she appeared hopeful. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Gareth was a fool. Fera would find out and cut ties with him again. Namira was the most attractive student I had observed at the academy. Maybe her unique red hair made her stand out, though. Her slightly crooked teeth and yellow teeth were her only negatives. There was an evolution of the lesser restoration spell that could correct that. It would straighten, heal and whiten the teeth. I sighed, ending my brief lapse, ¡°I do not have time for a date. But perhaps Ullmark is here, and I can talk to him with you present. Come with me.¡± We walked past the guard on the stairs and up into the apartments. I knocked on Ullmark¡¯s door, and no answer. We went to the training room, and he was there working with Lana and Sammie. ¡°Ullmark!¡± I yelled as I approached, and we shook wrists in greeting. ¡°Come to tell me you want to go on a delve? We could use your skills,¡± he said, looking past me at Namira. ¡°I talked to her a few days ago. We have our five core members, six if you ever delve again, and seven trainees. I don¡¯t think I want to manage more than twelve, but as I told the young woman, we cycle out underperforming members every two months and hold tryouts.¡± I had not followed Ullmark¡¯s management of the delve operation too closely. If Remy thought something needed to be addressed, he would have told me. I addressed Ullmark, ¡°So what do we need? You are setting up a second team, it seems with the numbers?¡± ¡°A second porter and second mage. The new recruits are two scouts, two healers, two fighters, and one harvester,¡± he replied. We had Talia, a good mage. Gareth and Sammie as tanks. Lana is a porter, and Ullmark is a fighter for making the core five. I nodded, thinking. It was obvious Namira¡¯s skills were not needed. I asked, ¡°You found two healers?¡± ¡°Just the tier 1 mend flesh spell. Nothing special but good insurance. Both have piss-poor aether reserves, but I am hoping one develops into something. Lana is getting exhausted going on both delves every week, so I really need another porter, preferably one with the same massive storage. I am hoping one of the healing mages can learn a storage spell,¡± Ullmark said seriously. ¡°Well, profits are good on the frost mead, so you can go to fifteen members, but I like your structure of cutting the underperforming members after two-month reviews. I don¡¯t want to interfere with your team management, but I thought I would introduce you to Namira here,¡± I said, bringing the redhead forward. ¡°Well, we can see what she has. Sammie! Grab your axe. Namira, you can take one of the training weapons off the racks,¡± Ullmark barked and gave me a wink when no one was looking. I think he assumed I was interested in Namira. Maybe I was. I was not stupid. I realized I was still carrying a torch for Aelyn. I was still planning to get the information from Loriel on Aelyn¡¯s possible whereabouts. Maybe I was still hoping Aelyn would return to Skyholme on her own. What happened next was not pretty. I could not believe how far Sammie had come in her combat ability. She repeatedly beat down Namira, who I had to heal between bouts. After each sequence, Ullmark would advise both fighters on what they did well and needed to work on. At first, Namira was trying to use her anger to overcome Sammie, but Sammie was too fast and used her axe like a polearm, the handle acting like an extra blocker and attacker. It also helped that I had enchanted that axe with a durability and lightness rune set. I left to feed the cats as I was an hour overdue. After feeding them, I left them in my room and returned to the training room to find them still going at it. I talked to Ullmark, ¡°She is not very good.¡± ¡°She would do better in a dungeon against monsters, she is not so good against an experienced fighter for sure,¡± Ullmark commented. I asked, ¡°How are Lachlan¡¯s potions working?¡± I had hired the alchemist to supply potions to the delve team in order to save coins. ¡°Not bad, actually. You would have to talk with Remy. I know they had an argument, Remy and Lachlan, that is. Lachlan wanted to get a permit to sell his potions in the gift shop. Remy told him no, and an argument broke out,¡± Ullmark motioned me forward to heal the fighters. I was surprised Namira was still going after nearly two hours. She certainly had the stamina for a dungeon run. After the healing, Ullmark said, ¡°Enough for tonight, Sammie. Clean up and get some rest. Thanks for joining us for a training session, Namira. You have decent basics,¡± her face fell, expecting Ullmark¡¯s rejection. Ullmark continued, ¡°You can join us on the delves on the third-day in the Frost Vault. We have an overnight slot if you are interested. Just until we have our next tryouts,¡± he added, not committing to adding her to the official roster. Namira looked overjoyed. I hit Sammie with a cleanliness spell as she walked by, cleaning her body and clothes of dirt, sweat, and blood. Lana had long since left. Namira was talking energetically with Ullmark, working out the details. When they were done talking, she raced off to go home, I guessed, not even thanking me. Ullmark walked to me. ¡°She works hard. She might make it. Did you want to discuss something else?¡± he asked since I had not left. I nodded, ¡°Gareth.¡± He nodded in understanding. I added, ¡°How is he doing?¡± ¡°He was very reckless on the delve yesterday. Talia told me they had an argument about the pace he was pushing them. The team brought back the largest honey harvest to date, and no one died. I thought he could lead a team on his own, but he is not quite ready,¡± he sighed. ¡°Talia has a more level head and would be a better leader. Is there something I should know?¡± ¡°I am trying to reign Gareth in. His cavalier attitude is starting to get out of control. You should know that Gareth most likely bedded Namira. I don¡¯t think it will be a problem, though,¡± I stated my concerns. ¡°You always think of yourself as invincible at that age. I will do what I can to guide him. Maybe you should have Callem talk to him? That would set him straight,¡± Ullmark advised me. ¡°That is actually a good idea. Thank you. Do not be afraid to cut Namira if she cannot hold to your standards,¡± I said as I left. I worked on training the cats before doing my nightly routine. The next day I did not see Gareth or Namira at the academy. I left at lunch as I was done with attending Ley Line Theory. I visited my mother¡¯s leather engraving shop, bringing her lunch. She was shocked to see me and hugged me. I had purchased her shop front, and my parents and Freya lived in one of the apartments in the Shiny Platinum, but I rarely saw them. ¡°Are you here to talk about your fourteenth!¡± she asked anxiously. A person¡¯s fourteenth was their day of becoming an adult. In Skyholme, that meant I was sixteen in Earth years, but since aging was faster, my body was closer to an eighteen-year-old. I had actually completely forgotten my birthday was coming. ¡°No, but I am looking forward to it. We should have more family meals together. I barely see you and Freya,¡± I gave her a hug. ¡°Good, Freya has been working on the party for weeks,¡± my mother said with a sly smile. ¡°I am guessing there are going to be a lot of sweets and treats,¡± I chuckled, and my mother joined me. ¡°I am actually here to commission some pet collars,¡± I pulled out the collars I had purchased. They all lacked aesthetic value and focused on utility at the various sizes. ¡°Are these for your six-legged cats?¡± she asked. ¡°Yes, can you make a series of paired collars for them as they grow? The largest size would be twenty-eight inches. I will do all the enchanting work,¡± I asked. My mother thought for a moment, ¡°What is a make one white and one black for the paired collars? That way, Kiara can wear the black one, and Adrial can wear the white to contrast with their coats. The collars will be more visible, letting people know they are pets,¡± she suggested. ¡°Perfect,¡± I kissed her, and she refused payment. She would make five sizes for each collar. We talked until I had to feed to cats. I finished my daily routine and found the cars more responsive to their training. Sammie¡¯s efforts with the cats were showing. In the morning, after my routine, I picked up a copy of the book and got to the academy early to return the text and get something new. In his office, Neelam asked me about missing my Ley Line Theory class. I explained why I was not attending, and he nodded sagely. He said I could study the texts in his library during the period if I wanted to. He had class, so it would be quiet. I thanked him and grabbed a random book on illusion magic. That afternoon I traveled to the guard academy to see Mia. It was so different here. Everyone was in uniform, groomed, and polite. I talked with Mia about her classes and how things were going for her. She was happy and also willing to work with Freya three days a week while Bleiz was gone. We had lunch together, and then I decided to tackle my other problem today. I found Cilia and Leda and got them to take me to the capital island. I was going to make a surprise visit to the naval academy and talk with Callem about Gareth. I took the cats, but they were going to remain on board the Maelstrom. Chapter 112 Chapter 112 There was something about having your own skyship. The freedom to be able to go anywhere at any time. This journey was not going to be as pleasant as I hoped. Cilia and Leda were on the bridge waiting for me. ¡°Take us to the port nearest to the Naval Academy,¡± I said as I took a seat to the side. Cilia had a guilty look. She explained, ¡°Loriel gave the Maelstrom permissions to land anywhere in the capital.¡± ¡°Huh, then land at the Naval Academy docks. It should save time, but I probably will not do any shopping in the city then,¡± I said. It was not like I had any coin. I spent my coin on the spells, and all the gold I had would need to be used for Loriel¡¯s old Harbinger. That enchanting work would take me a full day, but I planned to drag it out to two and half days, from 5th day to 7th day. The ship lifted off, and the cats were at the window, focused on land disappearing as we crossed the edge of the island. They were fascinated watching as much as humans. I still felt my stomach drop slightly when the island disappeared. Cilia mumbled, ¡°So much faster than a trader,¡± as she went to max safe acceleration. The trip would only take minutes at maximum speed. The capital island, Skyhold, soon appeared. A Harbinger ship swung to intercept us but stopped its efforts once their spotter identified us. It was not like they could have caught us anyway. We approached from the Citadel side of the island as the Naval Academy was not far from it. Cilia slowed and waited for the signals to approach the port. Once the light flashed, a pair, a single, and a pair again, we moved to the dock. The Naval Academy was busy with dozens of men and women. Cilia noted, ¡°Callem has recruited three hundred women into the service. An untapped resource he called them,¡± she smirked. Cilia did not have fond memories of her time at the Academy. The Naval Academy had a large pond with five Harbinger ships docked there. The mass of the ships did better in water rather than in a cradle. There were also a pair of Wasp ships on land. We landed next to one of the Wasps. An officer met us at the bottom of the ramp, ¡°You are expected in General Callem¡¯s residence.¡± He had strong discipline and led the way. We were led right in when we reached the small estate on the Navy campus. A smiling Nisil met me. I had not seen her in a year. She had been the Wolfsguard assigned to Admiral Sebastian Woodcraft as his personal healer. She had even saved my life when I was attacked by a giant eagle out at Twin Rocks. ¡°Storme! Oh, how you have grown into such a large and beautiful man!¡± She hugged me. I was a little stunned and asked, ¡°What are you doing here? I thought you would be with the Wolfsguard on Stonefell Island?¡± She smiled and looked happy, ¡°I am one of three healers at the Academy. I work for the General. I live in this residence with the other healers.¡± ¡°What about Sebastian?¡± I inquired. She nodded in understanding, ¡°He has a residence here. But he spends most of his time in the yards building ships,¡± she smiled, ¡°but you already know that.¡± The man who escorted me inside, seeing the conversation slow, ¡°This way Storme Hardlight.¡± Callem¡¯s office was adjacent to the entry, and he was in deep discussion with two older men. As soon as I entered, he smiled and hugged me. He was losing weight, or maybe muscle. ¡°Storme, it is about time you visited! The Lightning Drake sent a comm message your ship was approaching the capital, and I hoped you would see me. You always came to the capital and spent all that time in Sebastian¡¯s yards but never visited me here.¡± ¡°I was too afraid you would have me run the recruit obstacle course,¡± I joked as we moved to sit, and the two men joined us. ¡°This is Captain Zephyr and Captain Esalin. Brought them out of retirement to captain the new Harbingers. We were working through the details of the security for the Ambassadors from the Sadians.¡± He smirked at my surprise. ¡°Yes, Loriel is moving fast. Free trade could be established soon, with Titan¡¯s Shield as the waypoint by the end of the year. We have been trying to minimize traffic to Skyhold until we can establish greater security. For the visit, we plan to keep a dozen warships in the air for the dignitaries to see on their visit.¡± ¡°That is good news!¡± Great news for me if the traffic to Aegis city was going to increase. The warehouse I was getting in compensation was going to be immensely valuable¡­too bad I planned to demolish it. ¡°So, Storme, what brings you to my office?¡± He asked in a jovial mood. I just laid it out for him, ¡°Gareth. He is heading down a terrible path, and I do not see the light at the end of the tunnel. I was hoping you could visit and talk with him.¡± Callem was figuring out my analogies, so I continued, ¡°He is starting to drink regularly, womanizing, and being careless in the dungeon.¡± Callem motioned the two captains to leave as this was a personal matter. After they exited, Callem sighed, ¡°It would have been better for him if he came to the Naval Academy. But he wanted his adventure and dungeons,¡± he sighed again, ¡°just like my son. I do not know how you managed to maintain such a high degree of motivation growing up, Storme. Gareth always followed your lead. Now that he is flying on his own, he needs to make mistakes to learn from them.¡± I made a decision to trust Callem. ¡°I already lived one life, Callem. One of my traits is past life knowledge. I have made my mistakes. But Gareth is not going to listen to me. He may listen to you.¡± Callem let out a long breath, ¡°I suspected as much. Or at least Wynna was sure of it. Whatever you were in the past is not what you are today, Storme. That is the best advice I can give you. Whether you were a dragon, elf, dwarf, orc, or some other creature, know I think you are a good man today.¡± I was about to laugh but then realized that humans were probably in the minority in the Sphere, and I was likely not human in my prior life. I was not sure how much to tell him. I decided, ¡°I was human, but I did not grow up in the Sphere.¡± Callem was speechless. Then he asked slowly, ¡°Are you sure?¡± I was curious to know if I was treading on dangerous grounds or not. I answered reluctantly, ¡°Yes. It was a planet orbiting a sun out in the greater galaxy. We had no space travel and were not even aware of the Sphere.¡± Callem was silent for a very long time, ¡°The cycle of rebirth happens only in the Sphere. But I am no philosopher or wised mage,¡± he brushed off his thoughts. ¡°If you tell anyone you had a past life best to tell them it was somewhere inside the Sphere.¡± Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. I nodded and felt like I should get more of an explanation, but a knock came, and an officer said, ¡°The liaison from the Sadians is here to discuss security.¡± Callem rose, ¡°Storme, I will talk with Gareth soon. I am not sure how it will go.¡± He went contemplative, ¡°Enduring friendships require compromise, especially when two men of gifted skill are involved.¡± I shook hands with Callem, and then we hugged. Callem walked out first and went into another room. The officer was waiting on me and escorted me back to the Maelstrom. The activity was intense around the Naval Academy, and it was a race to create qualified crew for all the ships they were churning out. I was not certain there was going to be a resolution. Maybe Gareth would think we were all teaming up on him. I had also considered asking his mother and father to talk to him, but she was busy raising her adopted orphan son, I will say the trainees did look sharp in their uniforms. I briefly considered having my delve team get something like uniforms for when they were not delving. The look of envy in the eyes of the soldiers was returned to me, not because of what I was wearing but because the Maelstrom was parked in their sightline. It was guarded by two men and two women when I approached. ¡°Sorry, sir. It was causing a distraction, so we were told to keep the cadets at a distance.¡± I smiled, remembering the first time I had seen the Wind Splitter land at Callem¡¯s farm. ¡°Thank you,¡± I said as I walked the ramp and closed it behind me. On the bridge, Adrial had cut Leda playing too aggressively, so she was in time out in her cage again. I ordered Cilia back to Aegis City. This whole excursion had taken less than forty minutes. There was no point in even going to my cabin as the trip was going to be so short. Kiara had found a favorite spot¡ªdead center of the forward bridge glass. When we landed, Adrial was freed, and I followed the cats up to my room. My door was unlocked, and I found Freya on the sofa. ¡°Storme!¡± She hugged me but was playing with the cats almost immediately. They really appeared to like which was good because I thought they would make good guardians for her when they were older. ¡°Freya, why were you in my room?¡± I asked, taking some cold tea out of the magic cooler. ¡°Mother finished your collars for Adrial and Kiara! They are on your bed.¡± She screamed in joy as the two cats each wrapped one of her legs with their tentacles. ¡°I have been teaching them to do this, and when they get bigger, they each can wrap arms to immobilize someone.¡± She gave a command, and they released her instantly, and she gave each a chunk of meat as a reward. I went into my room and found the collars my mother had made. Five sets, each increasing in size. One white and one black. I went to the desk and laid out the buckles and my enchanting books. The buckles were too large, so I would be using my skill and mithril wire to downsize the enchantments. I brought out the raw materials from my space and considered the enchantment I would put on the buckles for the cats. I decided on a minor shield enchantment that would activate when they were about to be punctured. Their sister or themselves might set off this with the barbs on their tentacles, but it was some protection, and I could just recharge the crystal. The aether crystal I was using was only going to last three of four activations. The other enchantment I decided on was the feather fall enchantment. When the cat reached a certain falling speed, it would kick in. If my math was right, the aether crystal should slow them long enough to save them from heights or up to a mile. The design was actually fairly intricate because both runes had to be linked on the buckle. The first attempt even failed when I tested it. I heard the door close, and Freya had left. The two cats were on the bed sleeping in a food coma. I looked at the runic patterns, and I think they were too close and interfering. Enough with gold insulation, the mithril, there was too much aether bleed. I either need to make the mithril wire thicker or just go with one enchantment. I tried the adamantine in place of gold first to see if it was that much more effective. It took a lot of effort to coat the mithril, and the cats wanted breakfast as I was finishing the first collar. It must have taken me five hours to coat the mithril runes finely. Testing the new collar, it worked remarkably well. I could even use a higher-tier aether crystal if I wanted. This opened up a lot of possibilities. Not just for the cat collars but all my other enchanting work. The problem was the small buckle had taken nearly six hours to complete. I put the new buckle on the white collar and fastened it around Adrial. She initially disliked it, trying to use her tentacles to get it off. I attached a plain black collar on Kiara, who didn¡¯t try to remove it but gave me sad eyes. They would get used to them eventually. We did our morning routine, and then I was off to the Dungeon Academy. The rest of the week proceeded rapidly as I prepared to work on Loriel¡¯s ship and experimented with adamantine. I did not see Gareth or hear that Callem had visited. I assumed he was busy with the Sadians arrival. In the evening on the fourth day, on getting back from the Academy, Ullmark found me. ¡°Storme. Just wanted to let you know that Namira did well enough. I don¡¯t think she should be on the same team as Gareth, though. Seems there is some bad blood, and something is brewing. Did you hear about an incident a the Academy between Namira and another woman?¡± Ullmark said seriously. ¡°No. I can ask around tomorrow. Should we pull Namira?¡± I questioned Ullmark. ¡°I think she will be fine on our mid-week delves. Talia, Sammie, and Lana all seemed to like her, and she was competent,¡± Ullmark said. I really did not want to play referee in a drama situation, so maybe it is best to let Namira go. But then again, Gareth had caused friction with Talia. ¡°Who is on the seventh day delve?¡± I asked, having not looked at the posting in the training room. ¡°Gareth, Talia, Sammie, Lana, Kindroth, and Lorcan.¡± My confusion had him elaborate, ¡°Kindroth is one of the new healers, and Lorcan is a scout. I dropped the harvester Sable after the last delve. She was not going to work out,¡± he mussed. ¡°Ullmark, it is your decision. Just keep the frost mead flowing,¡± I encouraged the man. He may have looked in his forties, but he was much older. ¡°Thank you. I think if Naira joins permanently, she may have some friends at the Dungeon Academy who can fill the roles out the way I want them,¡± Ullmark said slowly. ¡°She has mentioned a few, and I would ask you or Gareth to check them out first by talking to their instructors.¡± ¡°Get me the names. I will do it through my advisor,¡± I said without hesitation. He left after. The next day at the Academy, I was healing with Neelan in the duel-fighting class. Neelan was not aware of an incident involving Namira. I had a chance to talk with Namira when she took a slash to her temple. After I healed her, I asked, ¡°Heard things went well for you on the delves. Is there anything I should know about that happened at the Academy?¡± She almost didn¡¯t say anything. ¡°I was talking with one of the fifth-year porters. Ullmark said we needed someone competent who could be a porter and harvester after the issue on the delve.¡± ¡°What issue?¡± I asked, concerned that Ullmark hadn¡¯t said anything other than saying he fired Sable. ¡°The harvester, Sable, he kept rupturing the queen sacs when harvesting them. He told Ullmark he was skilled enough to do it and definitely was not. I talked to someone I knew who could do it, and Gareth¡¯s new friend, Gwenyth, took exception since he was on her delve team. Gareth stepped in to defend Gwenyth. It was a mess,¡± she informed me. ¡°We both got reprimands for fighting.¡± ¡°You and Gareth?¡± I said, surprised. ¡°No, Gareth tried to separate me and Gwenyth. I think everyone thought that I was jealous that Gareth was with Gwenyth,¡± she finished. The instructor called her to her next match. I hoped Callem hurried up and came to talk with Gareth. After the healing class, I returned to the Shiny Platinum and loaded the cats onto the Maelstrom. Cilia, Leda, Remy, and Rippon were flying to work on Loriel¡¯s Harbinger ship so I could get the deed to the adjacent warehouse. The flight was quick, as Leda knew where to go. The ship was moored on a dock near a small estate. The ship was a luxury retreat for the head of the Miaden family, which was now Loriel. The ship had been stripped of its runic enchantments, and I would have to do everything from scratch. As we landed on a patch of grass, a dozen Miaden wolfkin were guarding the ship as two dozen men worked on refurbishing the old ship. I approached the ship expecting to tell everyone to get off and found Loriel on the deck. I bit my tongue. I just wanted to do the job and leave, and Loriel obviously wanted something else. I was not having a good week. Chapter 113 Chapter 113 The floating Harbinger was being stripped of its luxury rudiments. Rippon looked at her and muttered, ¡°They do not build them like that anymore. She must weigh twice what the new Harbinger weighs. See that black wood side planking there. Treated dungeon walnut. Hard as steel and twice as heavy. But cheap.¡± The wolfsguard in Miaden colors approached and escorted me up to the deck to meet Loriel. She smiled, and I realized she had been keeping tabs on me to meet me here when I came for work. Whether it was general spies on Cilia or Leda, I did not know. She started, ¡°Storme, just when you said you would be here. Even a day early!¡± ¡°Well, doing an entire Harbinger ship is a large project, so the reason for the extra day. I even brought help. Your people will have to vacate the ship for three days while we work,¡± I answered in a neutral tone. ¡°I don¡¯t want the renovations to fall behind, I am sure...¡± she started. I stopped her, ¡°I work with my team alone. No distractions. If you do not like it, then the deal is off and you can keep the warehouse,¡± I said cooly, knowing she would concede. ¡°What about when your team is resting? Can my workers get on board then?¡± she asked diplomatically. ¡°No, they can return when we are finished. The decision is yours. Let me do the work unmolested or find someone else,¡± I countered with a slight irritation to show I was serious. ¡°Ok, it will be as you wish, Storme. I am actually also here to invite you and your entourage to the reception for the Sadians. It is the next seventh day, and as one of our most valued citizens, I want you to be there,¡± she asked politely. ¡°How many can I bring?¡± I asked off-handily. ¡°Because if I can not bring my entire entourage, there is no point in going,¡± I smiled a little too evilly. Her face broke a little in embitterment, ¡°Are five invitations sufficient for your needs?¡± I pretended to do the math, ¡°Eighteen.¡± Loriel scoffed, breaking her pleasant demeanor. Her teeth gritted slightly, ¡°Seven and two unarmed guards,¡± She offered. I had been joking, but she was serious. I considered my next words because she may just say yes. Did I even have eighteen people to take? ¡°I can do sixteen and two unarmed guards,¡± I held to my number with a coy smile. ¡°Will one be Gareth Highguard?¡± she asked after a pause. ¡°Yes,¡± I replied, thinking it would be a deal breaker after how he behaved during the Triumvirate banquet before the coup attempt by the Bricios. She smiled like she won, ¡°It is agreed then. Bylura will bring the details to you in Aegis City mid-week. I am assuming you will not wear house colors but dress appropriately and no weapons,¡± she left in a little huff at the concession. Her workers started flowing off the ship so we could start work. Remy asked, ¡°You have an eighteen-person entourage? How come I have never seen them?¡± ¡°You should buy something nice to wear, Remy. You are one of them.¡± I walked up the ramp, leaving the stunned young man. I waited on deck till everyone left and then walked the ship. I was familiar with the vessels from doing the artificing for Sebastian. This ship was wider and much heavier than the newer versions of the Harbinger. This ship was a whale and could only stay aloft for a few hours with a normal aether core power core. I paused in my exploration. Did Loriel find Aelyn? Did she have the Heart Stone? I worried for Aelyn¡¯s safety if Loriel was pursuing her. If she had captured Aelyn, then I assumed Loriel would play her like a chip in a game of cards to get me to do her a favor. She had not even mentioned the teleport information when we just talked... Damn it. Maybe she was going to offer it in exchange for getting me to come to the reception! A missed opportunity, I think. The question was why did she need me there. I did not care much for politics, even if they were forced on me. I made it to the hold to find one Wolfsguard guarding crates of precious crafting material. I dismissed the guard and checked everything over. It was all here. I pulled it all into my dimensional space. I found Remy and Rippon talking in the main control room. Rippin looked excited, ¡°Storme, I think this is Allister¡¯s Spear. It was the flagship of Admiral Allister some three hundred years back.¡± ¡°Other than being a floating museum, is that of significance?¡± I asked. Rippon considered the question, ¡°No, guess not. Just a fine piece of history.¡± ¡°Let us get to work then,¡± I said. Rippin started repairing the wood in the control room with his wood shaping, and Remy set up the schematics on the wall in their proper place for me to reference as I worked. When I started, I laid out the bars of platinum, mithril and gold for ease of access. It took half a day to stage up the control room, bridge, and outlying anti-gravity hubs. Finished with that, we went into the stateroom to eat. It was a very fancy dining room, and we unabashedly used their plates and utensils. I pulled out a meal for everyone from storage, and we talked about the ship as we ate. It looked like Loriel kept about a third of the luxury sleeping cabins. The rest were being converted to military usage. Remy guessed this was going to be her personal ship when she traveled to the Sadians or other lowland kingdoms. That did not quite make sense to me as she was the ruler of the Triumvirate and, therefore, ruled Skyholme. She could use any of the Navy ships. Rippon barked, ¡°You know nothing about status. This black behemoth is imposing and gorgeous, rolled into one. You see someone arrive in this skyship, you pay attention!¡± ¡°Does the Maelstrom do that as well?¡± I asked with a smirk. ¡°Aye, she does. It is a shame you keep her hidden away in that warehouse. She should be admired,¡± he said reverently of his masterwork. ¡°Not going to happen,¡± I said as we all returned to the Maelstrom to check on the cats, Leda and Cilia. We slept a few hours and then returned to work early in the morning. I did the metal shaping work at this stage under my privacy screen. Remy was cleaning up as I went, and Rippon, the old man, was using his wood shaping until he needed a rest. The work was progressing rapidly by late evening on sixth day we were done. Finished, Remy asked, ¡°Are we headed back?¡± I replied sourly, ¡°No. We will pretend to work all day tomorrow.¡± Remy nodded in understanding as he understood the magnitude of my metal-shaping spell. He at least thought it was a spell and was not aware it was an ability. We slept long hours on the Maelstrom, and I brought the cats with me for the last day on Loriel¡¯s ship. Instead of doing any artificing, I studied my arcane web spell, and Remy and Rippon played cards. We left late in the evening, telling no one and just taking off in the Maelstrom. When I returned to the Shiny Platinum, Isla met me in the hangar as we walked down the ramp. She excitedly held up the paperwork for the warehouse. The flight from Stonefell Island to here had only been twenty minutes. It told me Loriel had used a comm stone to tell Isla we were coming back. I was starting to see tigers in the shadows. I cleared my head at the excited Isla, ¡°Storme, everything was signed over, and Bylura brought by the paperwork. She is staying with me to relay the details of the Skyholme Reception to you.¡± I just grunted. ¡°What are the plans for the warehouse?¡± She asked excitedly, changing topics. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. Isla was an architect who had supervised the Shiny Platinum building and done a fantastic job. She also worked on acquiring the materials for the Maelstrom. She was currently being paid to do nothing. I smiled, ¡°We are going to tear it down.¡± Her eyes popped, ¡°What are you going to build?¡± ¡°A park and some outside dining for the restaurant,¡± I said with a grin. Her confused expression had me laughing inside. Loriel probably had plans to buy into whatever I turned the building into. A park was not on the possible list. ¡°And Isla, Loriel doesn¡¯t hear about it until it is done. We can add balconies to the apartments facing the new park as well. You can handle all the design work and contracting.¡± She flinched a little about not telling Loriel but nodded. She was already off to start on the project. I headed to my room and planned to do my nightly routine, but things never stopped. Mia came and told me about two attempted break-ins to the Shiny Platinum. One was successful, but the infiltrator did not take anything and was only on the first floor. The second was some local kids up to mischief, but they just hoped to get food on a dare. The guards caught them and turned them over to the constables. Mia explained, ¡°So I want to add a mage for security overnight. The cost is substantial at ten gold a week.¡± I waved my hand, consenting, ¡°It is fine. Hire someone with a strong alarm spell and whatever else you think he needs. Do not go with the expected person, though. This all might be a setup to hire a specific person to get on the inside.¡± I thought to myself that I was getting paranoid. I was finally in my room alone with the cats. We did their training, and I went into my nightly routine. I was focused on learning the arcane web spell. I had time to study during the spell class, and the instructor was good, not as good as Selina, but good. I looked at my spell list. I had made more progress than most, but my attention had been largely divided recently.
Imprinted Spell List Tier Slots Affinity Level
Cleanliness 1 1 Aether 25
Mend Flesh 1 1 Healing 18
Obfuscate Abilities 1 1 Darkness 15
Dimensional Closet 3 4 Space 21
Alarm 1 1 Divination 21
Privacy 1 1 Illusion 18
Neutralize Poison 2 1 Healing 11
Lightning Reflexes 4 2 Lightning/Healing 25
Arcane Lock 1 1 Aetheric 12
Aether Shield 2 2 Aetheric 16
Lesser Restoration 3 1 Healing 13
Thermostatic Aura 3 1 Healing 10
Tissue Extraction 3 1 Healing 6
Lightning Spear 2 1 Lightning 8
Absolute Time 1 1 Chronomancy 9
Aether Fortress 3 4 Aetheric 7
Ice Ball 1 1 Water 7
Lightning Sphere 2 1 Lightning 1
Personal Invisibility 2 2 Illusion 2
Once I imprinted the arcane web spell, my spell matrix would be at 30 of 33. I needed another reading from Wynna on my core size to see if it had grown. I was sure it had, and I knew my max could be as high as 110, but it tended to grow with my aether core, and speeding up the process did not allways work. I required eight slots to imprint the tier 5 lightning elemental spell on my aether matrix. That was my goal. But I still planned to imprint the comprehend languages spell next. It was a tier 1 spell and too useful if I planned to explore the Sphere. When my lesser restoration spell had reached level 13, I evolved it to straighten, restore and whiten teeth. I told myself this was for Freya, who was addicted to sweets of all kinds, but in the back of my mind, I knew I would offer the service to Nashima. I had used it on myself, and it had worked remarkably well in the whitening aspect. I probably could have gotten the same effect from an evolution of my cleanliness spell. But this evolution could take a lifelong drunk with rotted teeth and give him a new set. I didn¡¯t sleep much because my paranoia of what Loriel might be planning was invading my dreams. This just seemed too focused for her not to have something. The unrestful sleep caused me to get up early and do my morning routine early. On the way to the Dungeon Academy, I stopped in an herbalist¡¯s shop for a sleeping draught. He said it would give me a dreamless sleep for five to seven hours. I then ordered five hundred ingots of steel delivered to the Shiny Platinum warehouse. I planned to try my hand at making some of the long swords favored by the dark elves in Llorth. After my two classes, I returned before lunch to get Wynna and Ennet to give me a new reading. ¡°Storme! This is the first time you have visited us in our business!¡± Ennet said with a smile. They both had an apartment at the Shiny Platinum. This was also Ennets reading business as Wynna was retired¡ªmostly retired. ¡°It is, and I love the place! Do you have time to do a reading for me?¡± I asked, knowing the answer would be yes. ¡°Certainly! Anything specific?¡± Ennet asked for both of them. ¡°Just wanted to know the growth of my spell matrix. I am getting close, and my meditation can not pinpoint the available space,¡± I revealed. Not long before, they got me into their reading room and prepared the paper. The results we good. I looked at the paper and then destroyed it. My available spell matrix was 36. The possible maximum had not changed and was 110. That gave me eight slots for spells. I was not going to drop the arcane web and comprehend languages plan. But I figured by the end of the year, and I would be able to start learning the lightning elemental spell. Tier five spells were on a completely different level, and having it as a trump card, like my lightning reflexes spell, would make me extremely dangerous. I thanked them both and asked them if they could do readings on Ullmark¡¯s candidates for them. They said they would do it for free, but I insisted on paying. Ennet by herself was one large gold coin. A dual reading was three large gold coins. Ten and thirty gold! Maybe I should have accepted their offer of free readings. I would let Ullmark know the men and women in the training team could get their readings done at the best readers in the Skyholme. My weekly routine was interrupted on the third day when Bylura knocked with the gold-embossed invitations. Nineteen total. I then had to listen to her for two hours about protocol. My head aching, I had to give out the invitations to an event just a few days away that required a certain dress. I started with my parents, Pascal and Freya. Freya was excited, and my parents nervously accepted. I had a runner send the invitation to Pascal. The twins, Mera and Fera, were thrilled because I do not think they understood the magnitude of the event. They rushed off for dresses. Mia did not want to attend, but I forced her to in her capacity of working for me. If I got nineteen invitations, I was bringing eighteen people with me. Isla was already attending but gladly would go under my invitation instead of Loriel¡¯s. Cilia and Leda had planned to remain with the Maelstrom but were willing to attend. Ullmark, Rippon, Remy, and Lana thought I was joking, but I told them they had to attend as well. Wynna and Ennet were going on Callem¡¯s invitation. I sent an invitation to Selina and Talia at the Mage Academy. That left me with three invitations. One was for Gareth, and I just slid it under his door, but I was not even sure he had been to the Shiny Platinum in weeks. The other two invitations went to Namira and Neelan, my advisor. I had just run out of people to ask. They both accepted and would be in the Maelstrom for the flight to the capital. All this social connection ate up a lot of my free time. At least the sleeping draught was keeping the restless nightmares at bay. When the seventh day arrived, and everyone was assembled on the skyship, including Gareth in a rather stylish suit. Callem still had not talked to him so I hoped he would do it tonight. I sighed as we flew to the capital to meet the Sadians. Chapter 114 Every Wizard Needs a Wizard Tower Chapter 114 Every Wizard Needs a Wizard Tower The Maelstrom was crowded as we headed to the capital island. I left the cats with food and water in my room at the Shiny Platinum. I was on the bridge with Cilia, Leda, and Freya. Everyone else was in the cargo hold for the trip. ¡°When are you taking me to the lowlands?¡± Freya whined, somewhat teasingly. She was wearing a new formal blue dress and staring out the viewing window as we passed over the edge of the island. Leda smirked at my sister. It wasn¡¯t his first time on the Maelstrom, but was her first time going to another island on the ship. Now, she already wanted to go all the way to the lowlands. ¡°After your fourteenth,¡± I said without preamble. ¡°You fourteenth is not for another week, and you have been to the lowlands many times,¡± she argued. ¡°Fine, you can go to the lowlands with you own your own skyship,¡± I countered her argument. Freya came back with, ¡°Since I work for you, it is kind of like I have part ownership in the Maelstrom.¡± Cilia was already laughing, and Leda turned away at my sister¡¯s logic. ¡°No Freya. Not even close,¡± I muttered. I needed to put the reigns on her before she became like Gareth. ¡°Freya, how is your weapons training going with Mia?¡± ¡°Ok. It is tough. Bleiz was harder on me, but I think I learned faster,¡± she gripped. ¡°He is coming back in two weeks?¡± ¡°Yes. I am making another trade mission to Llorth and will pick him up,¡± I confirmed. The island was already approaching. Cilia took a practiced loop to bring the Maelstrom into the Skyhold Citadel docks. Five Harbinger ships were in the skies around the docks as a show of force and in case something happened. Another ship came into view, and I chuckled as Loriel¡¯s ship was floating above the Citadel. She must have made her grand entrance on it as it was docked on the ballroom platform. The Maelstrom glided toward a very crowded docking area. These were the private docks for the Trivumverate, but there were dozens of unfamiliar ships here. Some must be Skyholme nobles, but the rest were from the lowlands, and not just from the Sadian Empire by the variety. Dozens of Skyholme Navy men and women stood in pairs around the docks. Most were extremely young and just here as decoration from the Academy. Freya blurted, ¡°We have a surprise for you in the hold! I was to keep you up here until it was ready. It should be ready!¡± She started dragging me to the stairs. I descended to see everyone standing around a mannequin. The mannequin was dressed in a luxurious outfit. Black pants with some dark silver stripes. An off-white silk shirt with platinum buttons. The belt was black as well and skillfully engraved with a platinum buckle. There was a loop for a scabbard on the right hip. The long jacket was black as well, with an angular cut and large lapels. I walked around to find a dark purple cape on the back with the emblem of the Shiny Platinum in silver. I touched the fabric and could feel the weave of multiple enchantments in the outfit. It must have cost hundreds of gold. A glowing Gareth spoke, ¡°I knew your tastes the best, so I designed it. But everyone contributed to purchasing it.¡± Mother interrupted Gareth, ¡°We planned to present it to you on your Fourteenth but had the rest of the work rushed for this event.¡± I had been wearing a stylish dark blue and black suit. It was expensive, costing me twenty gold, but nothing like this masterpiece. Gareth did know my tastes as we had discussed them. This suit was a cross between a tuxedo and formal Navy dress. ¡°It is marvelous,¡± I said to the people gathered around me. I thanked each person individually, even if they probably had not played a role in obtaining the suit. The skyship landed, and I was left on board to change into the new suit. When I exited the ramp I found Bylura next to Gareth. She was dressed in formal wear with Miadeon colors. She addressed me, ¡°Storme, the others have made their way inside. You and Gareth will have to wait until the next round of arrival announcement for honored guests. You can follow me.¡± I walked beside Gareth and said, ¡°I have not seen you awhile. Have you been staying at your room in the Academy?¡± ¡°Yes. Since I do not need to sleep too much, I joined some extracurricular clubs that practice after school,¡± he said without much emotion. ¡°Oh, which ones? How is that working with Fera?¡± I asked, trying to draw him out. ¡°Fera and I are no longer a couple of Storme. Have you not been paying attention? Are you still living in your little world?¡± his tone was neutral but sounded slightly accusatory. ¡°Oh, I am sorry to hear that.¡± We were being led down a long hallway, and a Naval captain passed us. I asked Gareth, ¡°Has Callem talked to you recently?¡± Gareth nodded, eyes straight ahead. ¡°He did. He asked me to come out and help teach the Naval recruits some swordsmanship, but I have not had the time.¡± ¡°And how are we Gareth? You broke with Fera. You do not sleep at the Shiny Platinum. And we barely talk any longer,¡± I said sincerely. Gareth clenched as we were led into a room with a half dozen other dignitaries waiting to be announced. I paused momentarly as one was an elf and another was a bearkin. I was stunned and probably should have researched this dinner a little more thoroughly. I ignored Gareth and asked Bylura, ¡°Who else besides the Sadians are here tonight?¡± Bylura was about to leave but paused for me, ¡°Just the Sadians. There is a party from the Emperorer¡¯s court and a pair of representatives from the twenty largest cities. This event is to open free trade.¡± A server came to us and asked us what we wanted to drink. Gareth ordered an ale, and I just asked for water. When my water came, I summoned my ice sphere and dropped it into the drink. I walked toward Gareth, who was conversing with the bearkin envoy. He was the only one here that matched Gareth in size. I listened, and they were talking about favored weapons, so I guessed I was not going to have a chance to talk further. I sipped my cold water and put it down when we were called for introductions. Bylura announced the groups one at a time. And soon, it was just me and Gareth left in the room. Gareth whispered, ¡°They save the most important for last during introductions.¡± Bylura said, ¡°Gareth, you are next.¡± Gareth frowned slightly but moved forward. When did Gareth study court etiquette? I waited for a minute, and Bylura waved me forward. ¡°Just down the hall through the arc. Wait at the top of the steps, you will be announced, and then you can join the party. I saw Gareth descending and waving as he did so to mild clapping from the people I could not see. I reached the balcony, and there were a lot of people there, maybe five hundred, and not all human. A man to my right made my announcement, ¡°Storme Hardlight, High Archmage of Aegis City and the Black Spire.¡± My jaw clenched slightly. I had been set up. I did expect something, but not this. I thought maybe she was planning to introduce me to the Sadians as a powerful Skyholme mage. Calling me a high mage in front of everyone? A high mage was one step above an archmage. Whereas an archmage was a relatively easy title to obtain, requiring a minimum aether of 100 points and demonstrating mastery in a few spells by achieving ten evolutions. In Skyholme¡¯s definition, a high mage was a mage with mastery of five spells and aether capacity over 1000. I think there were three high mages in all of Skyholme. Maybe four is Selina had revealed herself. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. I scanned the crowd for Loriel. There was still silence in the air, and slowly the clapping started and reached a crescendo. I think they did not want to anger the supposed high mage. How was I even named a high mage? I thought there was a council of mages that needed to decide¡ªshit. Did Loriel use my work on her skyship to demonstrate my ability to some deciding mage court of council. I was walking down the steps with clapping still persisting and all eyes still on me. I would have liked to think it was for my new suit, but I knew they were burning my face into their minds as a person to be feared, respected, and befriended. I had locked on to Loriel, who was in a corner. I moved through the crowd, ignoring people trying to talk with me. As I reached Loriel, she had on her sweetest smile, ¡°High Mage Hardlight! Glad you found your way to us. Let me introduce the Emperor¡¯s first advisor, Gabriel, and the Emperor¡¯s third son, Antioch.¡± I bowed slightly to both men. The Emperor¡¯s son, Antioch, appeared to be in in his thirties. I did not recognize him from my one visit to the court in Goldreach. He asked, ¡°You are young for the title of High Mage. May I query as to your specialization?¡± I soothed my anger and started to play along. ¡°Healing magic, Prince Antioch?¡± ¡°No, not prince. Just Lord Antioch is fine. And in private company, Antioch is preferable.¡± He sipped his drink, studying me. ¡°Loriel says you are quite the enchanter and have even constructed your own skyship? I tried your ice cream, and it is similar to something I tried from one of the great portal cities.¡± I glanced quickly at Loriel, showing my unhappiness at what she had done. Then I responded to Antioch, ¡°I am glad you enjoyed the ice cream. I am just learning the art of enchanting. It has been just over a year.¡± I admitted, and Antioch and Gabriel both wore surprised expressions. ¡°You have been to a portal city? That must have been quite the voyage.¡± Antioch replied, ¡°We used the portal stones, actually. Took three transitions and a few hours.¡± The Sphere portal network was extensive. Aelyn and Niserie had escaped using it. I nodded and considered using them myself. The first advisor spoke to me next, ¡°High Mage, how do you feel about the recent changes to Skyholme?¡± A flicker of panic in Loriel¡¯s eyes hit me. If I said the wrong thing here, I could cause all her plans to come crashing down. I smirked to make her worried before replying, ¡°I am opposed to any type of slavery or indentured service. Ending that abuse in Skyholme was one of the best things the Triumvirate has done in memory.¡± ¡°And what about opening trade? Only three cities on Titan¡¯s Shield Island will allow foreign ships, but I am sure they might quickly become overwhelmed by outsiders,¡± he said inquisitively. I considered the question, ¡°Those in Skyholme positioned to profit from open trade will welcome it. Those that will lose will oppose it. What the regular people want will not matter¡ªbut if it ends the threat of conflict, they will also welcome it.¡± I positioned myself between them and Loriel and added, ¡°If you excuse us I need to borrow Loriel for the briefest of moments.¡± And maybe through her off the island without a feather fall spell. Loriel said, ¡°I will just be a moment with the High Mage.¡± She turned, and I followed her into a private side room. She started before I could, ¡°You are angry.¡± I did not respond to the statement and just cocked an eyebrow. She added, ¡°If I told you the plan, you would not have attended.¡± I asked, ¡°Why do you need me here? I am not a High Mage. Why call me such?¡± Loriel offered a weak smile, ¡°We needed a show of power. The Harbingers, the swordmaster, and all the High Mages and Archmages in Skyholme. She handed me a rolled-up parchment from inside her robes. ¡°Your writ as a High Mage. And the deed to the Black Spire and the surrounding estate.¡± I took it and opened the rolled parchment. Reading through quickly, I noticed the signatures of twenty-three archmages, including Selina, on the writ, making me a High Mage. I would also have to talk to her about not letting me know about this. The next set of documents was for the Black Spire. This was where we had fought the Bricios and killed Otieno. I paged through the documents while Loriel waited patiently. Three farms; one was an apple orchard, one was a barley farm, and one was primary dungeon aether produce. The Bricios did control one dungeon, and I thought maybe it was near the Black Spire. I asked, ¡°What about the dungeon?¡± Loriel looked angry for the first time, ¡°Do you know the value of these lands?¡± ¡°I can read Loriel. It says only as long as I remain a High Mage of Skyholme will I have entitlement to the Spire and the surrounding lands. The Bricios had a dungeon. Was it not part of these lands?¡± I responded with a slight smile. Loriel¡¯s lips pursed so hard they turned white. ¡°The dungeon is outside the lands and has not been part of the Black Spire estate for nearly 300 years,¡± she replied coldly. She still thought she was doing me a favor by painting a target on my back. I nodded like I was still confused and asked, ¡°And what are the taxes on these lands and the Black Spire?¡± Loriel narrowed her eyes, did she think she underestimated me. A cold pause hung in the air. ¡°In order to convince the other two members of the Trivumverate I needed to put certain stipulations on the deed transfer. The first was you only had right as long as Skyholme was your residence and you were alive. The second was the taxes would be commensurate with the value of the property.¡± I waited while she held my gaze, ¡°And that is?¡± I asked. She relented, ¡°One hundred gold annually for each farm, not including a 20% tax on the harvests. The Black Spire is a deeded fortification. You need to have a minimum number of guards and one skyship for the defense of the island.¡± I coughed. ¡°I would have to what?¡± She tried to appease me, ¡°Fifty men and one skyship. It is why I had you bring the Heavan¡¯s Reach back to functionality. I could leave it moored there, and it would cover your obligations.¡± So, it was another plan to entangle me in her web. She continued, ¡°The Black Spire was home to the Haikuram High Wizard Kurota. His personal residence and on the top floor has never been breached.¡± I processed this with wide eyes. The Haikuram were the avian race that once ruled Skyholme when it was one island. The mage that broke the island was Kurota. He was even immortalized as a villain by his people on the ceiling mural in the audience chamber of the Heart Stone had been located in. With my mind racing, a small smile played on her lips. I asked, ¡°And are there taxes associated with the Spire as well?¡± Loriel nodded reluctantly, ¡°Five hundred gold a year. But it has dozens of rooms, and all the furnishings from the Bricios remain. It is made from magic-hardened stone, and an unknown aether source fuels the protective runes.¡± ¡°Why has it not been broken into before?¡± I finally asked. The Haikarum race had been eradicated two thousand years ago. ¡°I can get you the records from the study of the runes. I think there was a fear that breaking the runes incorrectly would destroy the tower,¡± Loriel supplied. That was not a good selling point. What could I offer that 2000 years of Skyholme mages couldn¡¯t? My dreams of having access to the private chambers and library of the most powerful mage in Skyholme in the last two thousand years had been crushed. Loriel was using the tower to hold me to Skyholme. I reviewed the papers again. ¡°The aetheric vegetable field for growing potion ingredients in useless without replenishing the soil with dungeon soil,¡± I stated. ¡°Who is working the farms now?¡± Loriel squirmed, ¡°You are well-informed. I did not even know that until I talked with the caretakers.¡± I knew that from working in Callem¡¯s tobacco fields. His dungeon tobacco only grew in aether soil enriched in a dungeon. ¡°The farmers are mostly maimed Wolfsguard from their time serving. Many are old and were allowed to retire to the farm. There was a large number of indentured on the farm, but they have been released. You will need to find about twenty farmers to go with the forty-one Wolfsguard.¡± That shocked me a little. ¡°The Wolfsguard¡ªwere they bonded to anyone? ¡°They were Blackguard, and some whose bonded were killed,¡± she stated. When a Wolfsguard bonded died, they usually went into a depressive state and killed themselves eventually. Those that could still fight usually became Blackguard¡ªthose who could not apparently became farmers for the Bricios. I looked closely again at the papers, ¡°The orchards are mostly a green apple. Used primarily in cooking desserts for its high sugar content and tartness. Not a great choice for trading,¡± I noted. At least the barely fields appeared to be a good strain for making ale, but I would have to make sure with Mera. I finally said, ¡°Send me all the documents and leave nothing out. If you do, it will be the end of any relationship I have with you and Skyholme. You will supply my access to the dungeon once a week for my team to harvest the soil I need for the dungeon crops. It will be at your personal expense, not mine. I will pay the taxes and review what kind of force I need to maintain on the property to satisfy the joint defense clause.¡± I was about to leave and paused, ¡°We are not friends, Loriel. The more you manipulate me, the closer we become to becoming enemies. Send me what you found out about Aelyn¡¯s and her mother¡¯s use of the portal stone.¡± I turned and left, acting angry but seeing possibilities. I was curious if I needed to supply a warship or if the Maelstrom would suffice. After I purchased their weapons and armor, maintaining fifty armed soldiers would not be a huge expense. I think Loriel thought I was making large profits on my trips to the lowlands. Which was true. If I had to get another skyship, I could move Leda and Cilia off the Maelstrom to crew it. They had been friends with Loriel too long. I did trust them but would feel more comfortable with them not looking over my shoulder. Not that many of my secrets seemed to be hidden, High Freaking Mage Storme Hardlight! So much for being anonymous in the Skyholme after this little stunt. Chapter 115 Chapter 115 I left Loriel and moved into the crowd. People descended on me like locusts. I sidestepped conversations and moved across the hall. I noticed Callem and Gareth having an animated conversation in an archway. No need to bother them, and I trusted Callem would talk some sense into my friend. I found Mera and Fera talking to some Sadians. I joined the shelter of their conversation, ¡°Mera! Who are we talking with?¡± I sounded interested but was really just trying to avoid the mob that wanted to talk with the High Mage. One of the men introduced himself, ¡°I am Governor Bishop¡¯s aide, Huey, and this is the aide for Governor Richt, Tilliam. Do you know these fine young women, High Mage?¡± ¡°I do! They both work for me, and I wanted to ask Mera about barley. I may have a source for white-seeded barley. Is it usable in your production?¡± I asked with a fake smile. Mera nodded, ¡°It is generally what I use for the ales. It is a little more expensive than the brown but yields a less bitter and sweeter ale.¡± Huey¡¯s eyes popped in shock, ¡°You know about brewing!¡± He looked at her in fascination. I patted Mera reassuringly on the shoulder and moved away. They looked like they were having fun, and I did not want to spoil it with my presence. My parents and Freya were hovering around Wynna and Ennet, so they appeared safe. I was about to move to where I noticed Leda talking with a woman in Torrent colors when a hand grabbed myshoulder. In reaction, I went immediately into overdrive mode on lightning reflexes. I sidestepped and flanked the assailant. A surprised Lord Antioch stepped back, ¡°Sorry to intrude High Mage.¡± He looked a little frightened that he may have offended me. ¡°I can see your power extends beyond healing.¡± I smoothly replied, ¡°Not at all. The spell just enhances the body¡¯s reaction time. It is still within the healing sphere of magic.¡± I noticed no one approached us as we talked, ¡°You appear to be the most important man in the room after Loriel.¡± He chuckled, ¡°No, just the wealthiest. While my older brothers craved power, I built an Empire of coin. Much like Loriel Miaden is doing in this city in the clouds.¡± I hesitated and then asked, ¡°Why the change in disposition?¡± I indicated the Sadians and Skyholme royalty talking. ¡°What perpetrated the end to the war between our kingdoms? How can years of fighting can now be cast aside so easily?¡± He smiled a little slyly, ¡°Not privy to the negotiations, are we? No matter. There are no secrets. The Sadian Empire was once part of Skyholme. I bet they did not teach you that in school,¡± he chuckled at my surprise. ¡°Before the Triumvirate, there was a Quintenial Council.Five men. One was murdered, and one fled the floating islands. Some said he fled because he was guilty of the murder and others because he feared to be murdered himself.¡± I focused on Antioch because I was slightly intrigued. There was never one side to an argument. He continued, ¡°I am a descendent of the man who fled,¡± he smiled and stopped his story frustratingly there. ¡°That can not be the end of your story. Will not offer your opinion on who was in the right?¡± I asked. He smiled slyly, ¡°If you insist. My ancestor united the outposts on the lowlands that used to be under Skyholme rule. The new Triumvirate waged war to retake the lands and resources and failed. We retaliated and failed. The battle waged back and forth every few years. It actually kept both militaries sharp and would be a boon if not for the loss of life.¡± Lord Antioch proclaimed, and I got angry as Iremembered that the mercenaries almost killed Freya in the last attack. ¡°I can see you do not wish to dwell on it or discuss this subject further,¡± Antioch noted my dark visage. He pivoted the conversation, ¡°I wanted to talk with you about the Bricios.¡± He said seriously, ¡°They came to us claiming to be just like our ancestors. That they had been forced out of the islands by betrayal. They wanted to join forces with us and retake them. They insinuated you, in particular,were the perpetrator of their exile and asked for your head as well as Loriel Miaden¡¯s,¡± he smiled and sipped some wine. ¡°And what of the Briocos now? I know Baladon and Abaddon were meeting with your father when I dropped off Skyholme¡¯s envoys,¡± I retorted, thinking there was a point to this conversation after all. ¡°Yes, and they left shortly after your arrival to seek different allies when my father told them he would listen to both sides.¡± He smiled as he sipped his wine. ¡°We know the Bricios were responsible for most of the raiding in our lands over the centuries. We are not stupid. The repeated abductions of the young wolfkin women united the beastkintribes recently and brought them to our kingdom.¡± He stepped back, ¡°I just wanted to meet one of Skyholme¡¯s three High Mages. The fact you are so young tells me you are going to do remarkable things. Consider this an offering for open dialogue between yourself and the Sadian Empire.¡± He bowed in deference and turned away. I was a little stunned and tried my best not to show it. I knew he was sizing me up and trying to gauge my ability, but it felt good to be recognized. A lot of people around me noticed as well, and we whispered at the Emperor¡¯s son bow to me. I decided it was time to leave before I got any more entangled in politics. Damn you, Loriel. I had enough trouble dealing with you to add another elitist after me. I found Cilia, and we pulled Leda away from a conversation. ¡°You two can bring me back to the Shiny Platinum and then return to the party,¡± I ordered. They did not argue, and we walked to the Maelstrom. Bylura came running to me with a large satchel as we climbed the ramp, ¡°Storme. Loriel said to get this to you when you left. I did not think you would be leaving so soon. I paused to look inside, and there were many folders with parchment. ¡°Very good,¡± I said, taking it and climbing the ramp. Lifting off, we had two Harbingers move lazily toward us. We had not asked for clearance, but Leda quickly flashed a signal that we were exiting the docks. We accelerated away quickly. Leda asked, ¡°The party just started, High Mage. Why are you leaving?¡± her attempt at humor was not welcome. ¡°You should never tease a high mage, Leda. He might turn you into a frog,¡± I retorted without seriousness. ¡°I would still love you as a frog,¡± Cilia quipped. I could tell she was quite drunk and not so sure she should be flying. I took over the controls and flew the ship myself. I landed outside the hangar and had Leda fly the ship back to the capital to bring everyone back when the gala was over. No point in spoiling their fun. Kiara and Adrial tried to surprise me in my room, but I entered invisible and surprised them instead. I could tell Kiara thought I had not played the game fairly and went to pout in the corner. I cleaned the apartment with my cleanliness spell and fed the cats, and the food erased Kiara¡¯s resentment. I had only been gone about two hours. Adrial has marked up the new leather sofa. She hadn¡¯t burrowed into the cushions like last time, but I could tell she wanted to. Even before I scolded her, she went into her cage while I was inspecting the damage. At least she was learning. I noted to get something the cats could scratch to their heart¡¯s content. At the desk in the other room, I started pulling out the folders. This was going to be a headache. There was a folder for each farm, one for the Black Spire and one for the requirement for mutual defense. I opened the last one first as that seemed the most important. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. It gave the owner of the Black Spire the right to maintain a force of no less than fifty guardsmen and no more than one hundred. In the event of an attack on the Skyhold, the High Mage was required to send a skyship to Citadel, Gate Two, to evacuate up to one hundred and twenty civilians to the Black Spire and defend them in the Black Spire with the guardsmen as mentioned above. That meant the skyship did not need to be a warship but needed to be able to hold one hundred and twenty plus its crew. The interesting fact was the way the document was worded; I could, in fact, own a warship in Skyholme. That was normally reserved for only the succession seats in the Triunverate. The Maelstrom could squeeze that many people on board if needed. The mass would drain the crystals quickly, but it was only a few miles to Skyhold from the Spire. I reread the documents a few times, looking for loopholes. The biggest one was my standing garrison could be called upon if there was a threat to the sovereignty of Skyholme. I interpreted that as if Skyholme ever declared war, it could conscript my entire guard even though I was one hundred percent responsible for recruiting, training, equipping, and paying them. I did not like that one bit. Another difficult point was the ¡®rescue skyship¡¯ I was calling it, could never leave the islands. It could travel between the islands but could never venture to the lowlands. That would not work for the Maelstrom as I planned to explore the Sphere. So I would need another skyship to fulfill the obligations. Something cheap that maybe I could refurbish with my artificing skill and use as a trader in the islands. It had some possibilities. I had been going over the papers for quite some hours and had not set privacy wards so I could hear people returning from the party. Mera and Fera had a room across from me, so I got up and went to the door to see if they could help with the farm folders. I knocked, and Mera answered, her eyes going wide in surprise. ¡°I am sorry if you are occupied,¡± I started, but I could really use your help in my room.¡± ¡°Yes!¡± she burst with some alcohol clearly on her breath. ¡°And Fera, too, if she came back with you,¡± I added. Mera looked confused for a moment. ¡°Fera is showering, but she is here and would not mind,¡± she said slowly. She paused, ¡°I need a shower too! We can be over shortly!¡± she slammed the door in my face. She didn¡¯t think I was asking them over to have sex? No, that would be silly. When they came over with wet hair and tight-fitting night clothes, I immediately apologized, ¡°Ladies, I actually do need help. I am sorry for the misunderstanding. There is a possibility of acquiring an estate that has three farms, and I need your expertise. It is the source of the barely I noted to you at the party, Mera.¡± At first, they were disappointed, but I pressed. ¡°I really need your input. This is a monumental decision, and I want to go in knowing exactly what I am getting involved in.¡± Fera asked, ¡°Will we be working on these farms?¡± I nodded, ¡°Yes, that is most likely. But it will be my new residence as well. It is one of the most renowned and recognized properties in all of Skyholme.¡± That perked them up and erased their disappointment. I cleared the documents I was working on, and we opened the folders for the three farms. The first thing they both noticed was the aether soil. Fera had been caring for Callem¡¯s tobacco, so she knew how difficult it was to grow dungeon crops outside of a dungeon. The Bricios had a monopoly on dungeon soil as the dungeon they controlled had easy access to earth on the first floor. Callem sourced his dungeon soil through Sebastian, which probably meant it also came from there. Fera did the numbers, and the acarage was ten times Callem¡¯s farm. Mera found the contracts for the alchemists guild in the papers. The crops generated were pre-sold to the Mage Academy and Alchemist Guild in Skyholme at fixed prices. I frowned at that. Ferawas willing to do the research and see if the prices were too low or too high. Mera suggested including Lachlan, my alchemist, but Feradidn¡¯t like him and insisted on doing the work on her own. She wouldn¡¯t elaborate why when I asked. Fera pointed out the deed had heavy restrictions on how much land could farmed and how much could be used for livestock. The farms only took up about a quarter of the estate, about 150 acres. The Spire, skyship docks, and surrounding support structures took another quarter. The remaining half was a woodland that could be used for grazing any domesticated livestock. Each of the three farms was as large as their parent¡¯s farmlands outside of Hen¡¯s Hollow. The property was just over one square mile, but oddly shaped. The dungeon was only a two-mile walk from the Spire. It looked like the estate had been redrawn to make it much smaller. It had once been about ten square miles and included the dungeon in the map. I was studying the maps, and the twins were reviewing other documents. Mera found the labor documents. The apple orchards had all the retired Wolfsguard working there. Forty-one of them. They only worked the orchard, and the records showed three of the Wolfsguardhad the same or similar ability as Fera. It was the ability to accelerate the growth of plants using aether. At tier 1, it was a fairly commonability to manifest. She slid me the paper with the disabled Wolfsguard. There were a lot of missing limbs, and twelve were listed as elderly. Basically, they had been forcibly retired from the ranks of the families so a younger and stronger replacement could be recruited from the trainees. Since Wolfsguard lived between two and three hundred years, they must have seen quite a bit in their time. Depending on their attitude, they could be a huge asset if I accepted this estate. Only five of the forty-one were not maimed or elderly. Their bonded partner had been killed, and they were fighting depression. I wanted to talk with this entire group. There was a loophole in the number of guardsmen I could maintain; the max was one hundred, but instructors did not count toward the number. If this forty-one wolfguard could train my guardsmen, half the headache of that obligation could be handled. We worked well into the morning on the farmlands, and Mera and Fera showed the depth of their knowledge and usefulness. I asked if their parents and family would relocate and run the farms. They were both adamant that their parents would not move. Maybe their older brother and his wife would, but definitely not their parents, who had worked the land for generations. They eventually got too tired to continue working, and the cats wanted breakfast and attention. The twins left my room. I went through my morning routine with the cats and my own training. It was the seventh day, so I did not have to be at the Academy until tomorrow. How would my instructors treat me when they learned Iwas one of three High Mages recognized by the Mage Academy in thecapital? I was still learning quite a bit at the Academy and did not want to give it up just yet. I had one more folder to read in depth before accepting Loriel¡¯s offer.The Spire. It had no requirements other than a sizable yearly tax of five hundred gold. The Spire had been the personal tower of a powerful mage. One so strong he could break the original floating island. I think the possibility of gaining access to his library is what made everything so intriguing¡ªLoriel knew me too well. This carrot was too irresistible. What spells and secrets were on that top-floor residence? I came up with a list of concessions I would need from Loriel if I wereto take residence in the Black Spire and officially take the title of High Mage of Skyholme. I looked at my list and tried to think of anything else I should request. I could not think of anything else. I walked down for breakfast to the bakery and found Whnna and Callem there. Callem looked apologetic. ¡°I am sorry Storme. My talkwith Gareth did not go as intended. He is going to start a rival dungeon team and earn his own coin. He wants to prove to you that he doesn¡¯t need your coin. He thinks he needs to prove he is your equal to continue being your friend.¡± I was slightly shocked and did not know what to say. Maybe I would let him try to make it on his own. It might help him in the long run. Chapter 116 Negotiations Chapter 116 Negotiations On the evening of the seventh day, Gareth came and took his things from his room. I was still going through all the paperwork but heard him talking to someone in the hallway. I walked in while he was packing with a woman I recognized from the Dungeon Academy, probably his newest girlfriend. We met eyes, and the woman left to let us talk, ¡°Gareth, you do not have to vacate the room. Even if you want to go off on your own, you will always have a place here.¡± Gareth turned slowly, looking at the room, ¡°Last week, when I asked Remy for an advance on my pay, he said you told him I could no longer draw wages I had not earned, Storme.¡± His steely gaze softened slightly, ¡°I was angry at first, but then I thought about it. I worked hard on the last delve to earn my wage. We had the biggest harvest ever. Then Talia is arguing with me that I was reckless, and Ullmark defended her words.¡± ¡°So, you realized they were right and you were wrong?¡± I said pleadingly. ¡°No, I wasn¡¯t wrong. We could have gone even harder. You baby your delve teams too much, Storme. And it is not just that,¡± He inhaled deeply before continuing, ¡°At the party, Callem said you need me at your side to protect you. He made it sound like I was just a tool for you, Storme. You have grown so far past me. I just always thought we would grow together and be equals.¡± He packed some more things quietly and paused, ¡°We are not. I will lead the most successful dungeon-delving team Skyholme has ever seen. When that day comes, we can talk again about being equals.¡± I could tell Gareth was torn and hurting on the inside. For being almost 6¡¯8¡± and thick with muscles, he was awfully sensitive. I said, ¡°Gareth, we will always be blood brothers. If you ever need anything from me, just ask, and it is yours.¡± I moved in for a hug, and he returned it. He stepped back, bent down, and reached into a hidden pocket on his boot, and pulled a platinum coin out of each boot. ¡°There is one thing I wish to purchase for you. Once I assemble my delve team, I will want weapons for each of them, four in total. I know two platinum is not enough to cover your work, but I will take what you think is fair.¡± Gareth was really paying me with my own coin? I was actually surprised he still had these coins. Especially if he was drawing early wages from Remy. Maybe this was symbolic for him. Giving up the coin. But then again, I had made over a dozen weapons with my skill for Gareth over the last year, and each was already quite valuable. He could sell them and live a pampered life. I took the coins, ¡°I will do it, Gareth. Make your requests in two weeks time.¡± He hesitated, realizing I would not drop everything to fulfill his request, ¡°Two weeks. Storme,¡± he held out his hand, and we shook and echoed, ¡°Blood Brothers.¡± I was torn as the woman returned and helped Gareth pack. I returned to my room and distracted myself, training the cats. I had the privacy spell going, so I could not hear him leave. After I was sure he had left, I focused on making long swords for my trip back to Llorth. The following day, I felt hollow, like a part of me was missing. I went through my routine and went to the Academy in the morning. With my intense focus, I imprinted the arcane web spell in class today. I did not make a big fuss about it as I was already getting a few looks from my classmates. The rumors of what had happened at the party were filtering to Titan¡¯s Shield Island. Soon, everyone would know I was a named High Mage of Skyholme. I still planned to attend my classes. At least the ones I valued. Access to Mage Instructor Neelan¡¯s library was too much of a boon. After the spell class, I went to his library to return a book and borrow another. He was sitting at his desk waiting for me. Mage Neelan smiled brightly, ¡°High Mage! I must say thank you for the invitation. It was a most delightful evening! I talked with so many fascinating people from the Sadian Kingdoms!¡± I winced at being called High Mage but realized I needed to get used to it. ¡°I am glad you enjoyed it. I am just here to return a book and borrow another.¡± I held up a book titled, Understanding the Differential Aether Costs of Spells by Their Tier. Neelan stood, ¡°You had it copied like the others? There is no way you could be reading and processing these books so fast. We don¡¯t you just tell me what books you want to be copied, and I will have them sent out. It will save you a lot of time, High Mage.¡± He added High Mage with a chuckle. ¡°You do realize that Selina thought after being named High Mage, you would have run to the Mage Academy in the Skyhold and asked for tutelage again!¡± ¡°She is going to be waiting a long time by the door then,¡± I laughed, and he joined me. We went through his shelves, and he marked every title I wanted with his magical fingerprint so he wouldn¡¯t forget. I gave him the two platinum coins Gareth had given me to get started. It was a little over a thousand books on a myriad of knowledge. Almost his entire library took him a lifetime to accumulate. A few of the books were spelled and could not be copied with magical means, so they would need to be transcribed by hand. ¡°My office is always open, High Mage Storme. If you ever get another invitation, please do not hesitate to include me. Amazing food and conversations! I would gladly pay you for the right! Your skyship was also the most remarkable thing I have seen in the skies over Skyholme. Truly, you are a jewel of the Islands,¡± we shook, and I left. Although Neelan sounded genuine, and I believed he was, I would have to be weary of people trying to placate me with words because of the title. It was fairly late when I returned to the Shiny Platinum. Going through over a thousand book titles took time. I found Bylura waiting for me. ¡°Storme, Loriel is nearby and wants your decision. You have made one, I hope,¡± she asked. ¡°She came come up to my room, and we can discuss my conditions,¡± I said to the small white wolfkin. I had just finished feeding the cats when a knock came at the door. I opened it to find Bylura, Loriel, and Gammon. The cats seemed hesitant at the new people but flanked me at my feet, and their tentacles waved defensively and threateningly. Loriel¡¯s eyes went up in surprise, ¡°I heard you had some displacer beasts but I didn¡¯t think they would be so cute!¡± She moved to pet them, and I tensed my hand in silent command, and Kiara and Adrial hissed at Loriel. ¡°I guess they don¡¯t like you,¡± I said, scooping them up and bringing them into the room to lock away. Loriel sighed, ¡°I saw your hand command, Storme. You told them to do that.¡± ¡°Yes, but as you can see their training is coming along well,¡± I said after returning from the room. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. ¡°I have never sheard of a white one before,¡± Loriel stated. ¡°That has to be rare unless it is a variant species?¡± ¡°No, Kiara is an albino cat. You can tell because her eyes are red. She is extremely rare and quite intelligent.¡± I motioned to the table where I had the folders. ¡°Let us see if we can agree on some things.¡± Gammon waited outside while Bylura sat off the sofa and had a pad to take notes. I slid my list of demands across to Loriel, who narrowed her eyes as she saw how long the list was. She inhaled deeply and went to the first point, ¡°Why do you need the nine square miles of woodland around the property?¡± ¡°It was part of the original estate that also included the dungeon,¡± I pulled the indicated paperwork and handed it to her. ¡°But you are not requesting the dungeon itself? Just the lands adjacent to it. I do not see why. Do you plan to develop them?¡± She asked with curiosity. ¡°No. I just don¡¯t want anyone else to develop them. I like my privacy, for one. Second, I do not want any surprises in the future,¡± I gave my reasons. Loriel thought for a moment, ¡°Any land on the capital island is valuable. I can convince the Triumvirate to cede the land to the estate with a tax of 300 gold a year, but if it is developed in any way, then the tax rate will be reevaluated.¡± ¡°Agreed,¡± I said without hesitation. It was wooded and only had a wide path to the dungeon on it. Nine square miles was a large amount of large on any island. Loriel was shocked for just a moment at my quick agreement. Maybe I could have negotiated the tax down, but what was three platinum to me? She moved on to my second point. ¡°You want access to the dungeon for an entire day, every week, without any fees? That is 12 months¡­seven weeks in a month¡­.eighty-four delving days¡­.even at a discounted rate that is nearly one thousand gold Storme. You can not seriously consider this a sane request.¡± Loriel argued. ¡°I agree. That is why I have established a fee structure for enchanting Harbingers and Wasps.¡± I slid a paper to her, and her eyes popped at my numbers. ¡°It was assumed you would continue to offer your services in this regard to benefit the people of Skyholme,¡± she said, looking up, her eyes tightening. ¡°My rates are half the cost of an expert artificer. I know my work is better than any in the yards, and I do the work in one day that takes five people a week,¡± I stated with a grin and confidence, knowing I had her. If she would charge me to use the dungeon, I would reciprocate. I was asking a modest twelve hundred gold for every wasp and two thousand gold for every Harbinger. ¡°Maybe we could look at the dungeon again,¡± Loriel picked up the paper. ¡°No, these are my terms. The opportunity has passed. I will consider all my past work compensated. Any new work going forward will be at these rates, and I will require at least ten days notice before the work is to be done,¡± Loriel bit her lip, and I knew my artificing work was probably the largest reason why they had rushed me to the rank of High Mage. ¡°How about to make matters simpler, we will call the work on a Wasp one thousand gold and the work on Harbinger two thousand gold. We will credit your taxes up to a ten-year period before paying any returns on your work,¡± Loriel offered. I considered before replying, ¡°Any refurbishments will be at the full listing no matter the extent of the work completed.¡± Loriel eyed me uncomfortably again. Because the aether burned away the gold and platinum of skyships when they were run, the largest task was to repair the damage. It was a quick job for me with my skill but very laborious for other artificers. By her countenance, I think she might have an inkling that I was not using a skill but an ability. Not that it mattered anymore. By naming me High Mage, she was essentially shouting from the rooftops that I was one of the four most powerful users of aether in Skyholme. It took her a long time, and she also kept looking at the rest of my list. She was weighing something in her mind. Even Bylura, on the sofa taking notes, was getting uncomfortable at the length of the pause. ¡°We need two Harbinger¡¯s refurbished,¡± she admitted. ¡°Do those two skyships, and then your agreement will hold as stated.¡± She was asking for me to do four thousand gold worth of work for free. I pretended to be upset with the condition before nodding, ¡°Fine.¡± Loriel looked a little relieved, and I was starting to wonder if maybe the purse strings were a little tight at the moment. The Trivumverate had pushed through the construction of a number of skyships, so I would be surprised. It also made sense then that they did not want to pay me but credit me on future taxes instead. Loriel was onto my third point. I did not want the fifty to one hundred guardsmen to be conscripted to fight for the Trivumverate where they needed them. If I paid for their training, equipment, and salaries, I did not want them taken from me. Loriel said, ¡°Your next two points can be looked at together. We can not do a grace period of one hundred days. The first trade ship arrives in forty-two days. If you do not have a ship and guards in place, I will have to land the Heaven¡¯s Reach to cover the clause. We need to be certain the children of the families have someplace to flee to if we are betrayed,¡± she explained. She tried to sound conciliatory, but I realized she had orchestrated everything to get her ship moored at the Black Spire with her little army. I did have a dangerous plan, but it was a plan that should work. Did I want to risk people to accomplish it though. I weighed my decision back and forth and finally nodded, ¡°Ok, if I do not have fifty men and a skyship in forty-two days then your ship can land there and assume the duties until I can find one.¡± Loriel shook her head, ¡°No, the investment in the men and ship would be too significant for me to relocate and would exceed my allowable count of personal armsmen. They would have to remain.¡± Wow, she was being blatantly honest with her false smile. ¡°Fine. The point is agreed upon,¡± I said with coldness. I was sure she had plans to prevent me from fulfilling the obligation on Skyholme, so I would have to do so in the lowlands. It said nothing about foreign armsmen in the contract. I had read it multiple times to confirm. She smiled, ¡°That makes your next point moot. Either you have the ship and men, or I will dock the Heavan¡¯s Reach.¡± The point had read that under no circumstances was Loriel to ever dock one of her ships at the Black Spire. She thought she had won. She immediately capitulated my next point for all the information on where Aelyn and her mother might have gone, ¡°I will have the information delivered to the Shiny Platinum when I return to the capital.¡± She read my last point and sighed like a mother, ¡°Storme, you know I can not consent to this last point. As High Mage, we need you at formal events. It is a duty of the title.¡± I smiled a little evilly, ¡°I know! I read up on it today when I found a book in Instructor Neelan¡¯s library. Did you know I can be excused if I am not present on the island and away for personal reasons? I only need to return the invitation when I receive it with condolences.¡± I momentarily got Loriel speechless, ¡°I was not aware of the condition.¡± She was aware that I had a skyship and could leave anytime for personal reasons. ¡°I assure you it is real. It was in a book titled Duties and Responsibilities of the High Mage of Skyholme. Back when it was written, there was only one High Mage, but Neelan assured me the rules contained within have not changed.¡± I said smugly. Neelan had pointed out the book to me almost immediately when we started going through his collection. ¡°Storme, you need to give me something. Seven events a year?¡± She asked. ¡°One,¡± I replied. ¡°Six,¡± was her counter. ¡°One,¡± I repeated. ¡°Five,¡± she said a little harshly. ¡°One and the event two nights ago counts,¡± I said, standing and stretching. ¡°No, I need more. Four, and not including the recent reception. You were not officially named High Mage until after it started!¡± She was getting a little angry. I think that meant I was winning. ¡°Two annual events. I must be notified four weeks in advance, and we will not count the reception. For others, I am allowed to send my apprentice in my stead,¡± I offered. Loriel still seemed to be steaming as she paced. Bylura, on the leather sofa, looked slightly worried. If Loriel just told me why she wanted me at events, we wouldn¡¯t have to go through all this subterfuge. ¡°Agreed. I will draw up the papers for you to sing them!¡± She stormed out. Bylura followed with an apologetic look. I think I finally got the best of her, and that was not going to be the end of it. After I picked up Blaize in Llorth, I planned to get a new skyship on the cheap. So cheap it would be free. We were going to become pirates. Well, pirates of pirates. We were going to board and take over a pirate ship! Chapter 117 Chapter 117 The next morning, as I was heading out with my breakfast in hand, Bylura was waiting in the street. ¡°Storme, I have the completed agreement for the Black Spire. I am to wait until it is signed.¡± She handed me a folder with several papers in it. ¡°I also have the information from the investigation into the missing Heart Stone here.¡± She handed me a small pamphlet. ¡°Is this everything of the incident?¡± I asked suspiciously. ¡°It is. Minus your involvement and your acquisition of the runic mithril chains,¡± she said quietly. I was unfazed, though. Skyholme needed me more than I needed them right now. I started walking toward the Dungeon Academy, and Bylura fell in step. ¡°You are not going to sing them immediately?¡± ¡°No. I need to read them in detail before signing,¡± I replied with a note of cynicism. ¡°Everything is as stated last night. Loriel would not try to trick you,¡± she said with exasperation. ¡°Only because she needs me, Bylura. I am more concerned about what the documents do not detail,¡± I said as I walked. Bylura defended Loriel, ¡°She is doing the best she can to accommodate everyone. She is under tremendous pressure to succeed as any failure in her plans would take her and Skyholme with it.¡± ¡°I have my doubts. I believe the Heaven¡¯s Reach is her get-out of Skyholme card. How much debt does the Triumvirate have?¡± I asked conversationally. ¡°I thought she was being a little obvious last night. About three million gold currently. Half from the Bricios revolt and half from the rapid construction of the fleet. Her biggest concern is the annual deficit the kingdom is going to run, as current projections are terrible. Half a million a year if she can not start generating a trade surplus.¡± Bylura said softly, so only I could hear. ¡°And you offer this information so freely?¡± I asked, surprised. ¡°Most in the Citadel already now. I also know you will do the right thing even if Loriel is uncertain of your intentions,¡± she said. ¡°When I sign this,¡± I held up the paperwork, ¡°The Spire and lands are mine? How much political capital is Loriel gaining by ensuring I remain in the Islands?¡± ¡°Yes, I am an agent of the Triumvirate. I have your seal and deed in my pocket,¡± she blurted, irritated at my reluctance. ¡°Loriel needs you as a backer of her policies and the leverage you give with your skyship artificing work.¡± I nodded as I walked. I turned into a tavern and sat at a table. I carefully reviewed the documents, and the only thing I did not like was my 42-day timer would start yesterday and not today. The wording on my guardsmen was also altered as it said they needed to have a minimum competency with melee combat. That was listed as the ¡®equivalency of five years of academy training.¡¯ I suspected this would happen as Loriel wanted to limit my options for recruiting in Skyholme. I signed the document, and Bylura exhaled in relief. I noted, ¡°The two Harbingers requiring re-artificing can be docked at the Spire. I will get to them both on the sixth and seventh day.¡± Bylura took a quick note. She pulled out my seal, a bronze stamp with the tower engraved on it. She also handed me the official deed. ¡°Thank you, Storme. Here are your two required event invitations.¡± I narrowed my eyes. ¡°Oh, calm down. One is for the first trade ship coming from the lowlands and to open the portal in Aegis City. The other one is for the New Year Festival at Skyhold. You can only bring one guest,¡± she stated emphatically. ¡°They are building a portal stone in Aegis City?¡± I asked, surprised. ¡°No, they are moving the one from Skyhold there,¡± Bylura smirked. ¡°It will expedite trade and give Skyholme a chance to profit from larger cities in the Sphere.¡± That was huge news. The portal that Aelyn and Niserie had used to escape was being moved to Aegis City. I laughed as I realized how mad Loriel was going to be when I demolished the warehouse. With the portal in the city, the land value would triple. Bylura was already leaving with the signed documents. I took out my comm stone and told Leda and Cilia I would be traveling to the Black Spire after lunch. I would do an in-person assessment of my new property. I was late for spelling class and apologized to the instructor, who I held in very high respect. She was just as good a teacher as Selina, and I did not want to upset her. I spent the class spamming my arcane web spell. Since I was now a recognized High Mage, there was no point in hiding the depth of my aether reserves. For the first level of the spell evolution, I had chosen to allow the castor not to get entangled in the web. The web was small, just five by five feet, and the strands were the thickness of a finger. Easily broken by someone with sufficient strength. But this evolution allowed me to cast the web on the ground in combat. I could then walk over it while my opponents would get snared and hampered by the sticky strands. In class, I managed to reach level three with constant casting. At the second level, the evolution was increasing the size to seven feet by seven feet. At the third evolution, I increased the strength of the strands. I got a lot of envious looks from my classmates at my rapid progress. Tier one creatures were also fun today, and we went over lightning wisps and kobolds. As class ended, Neelan¡¯s secretary handed me three books. They were the first of the ones to be copied. I noticed the top title was the High Mage¡¯s defined duties. Neelan was looking out for me, and it felt good to have someone backing me. The loss of Gareth was still stinging. I walked back to the Shiny Platinum with some excitement for the inspection. Leda and Cilia were ready to leave. I collected the two cats, and we were off. On the bridge, Leda played with the cats as we flew. Cilia did not need her help navigating as she was extremely familiar with the route. Cilia asked, ¡°So, will you move to the tower?¡± ¡°The Black Spire? Maybe. I still plan to attend the Dungeon Academy. The spell instructors and bestiary instructors are excellent, and I am learning a lot,¡± I confirmed. ¡°Why don¡¯t you just transfer to the Dungeon Academy in the Capital or, better yet, the Mage Academy?¡± Cilia asked from the pilot¡¯s seat. ¡°Did Selina ask you to convince me,¡± I asked jokingly. When they didn¡¯t respond, I studied their faces, ¡°Really? Did she ask you to? At the reception for the Sadians?¡± They both looked guilty. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. I didn¡¯t know the education quality at the Academies in the capital, but I was fine with where I was. Also, if the portal stone was being relocated to Aegis City and most trade was passing through there, it would be just as important as the Skyhold City in the near future. Our approach to the Spire was made away from the city so we would not disturb the defensive ships over the city. We still had one Wasp try to intercept us, but Leda signaled them, and they broke off. We circled the Spire once, and it looked like no one had been here in the months since the battle with the Bricios. The windows on the fourth floor were still blown out. It appeared the fifth floor, the sealed chambers of Kurota the mage, had no visible windows. We flew over the cradles for skyships. One was smashed, courtesy of my own actions. The other one was overgrown with vegetation. The Maelstrom didn¡¯t need the cradles to land, and I had Cilia land us near the Spire entrance. The grounds were in terrible shape after months of neglect. I started to get a headache trying to figure out how many people I was going to have to hire to maintain the grounds and tower. The farms I was expecting, but this... The first floor of the tower was one massive chamber. The bodies had been cleared, but the blood stains were still visible. I cleaned them with my cleanliness spell as we walked. The cats were curious about everything as well, darting here and there. Cilia asked of the first floor, ¡°What are you going to do with all this space?¡± It was a huge chamber. ¡°I don¡¯t know. There are two overgrown barracks outside. Maybe I will tear them down and move the guardsmen in here.¡± ¡°That is such a waste,¡± Leda said, looking around. ¡°This would make a grand ballroom!¡± ¡°There is a ballroom on the fourth floor. The windows were destroyed, but it has amazing views from a hundred feet up,¡± I said, walking toward some descending stairs. I was wondering how much of the basement stores had been looted. As we got close to the stairs, the smell was terrible. Leda and Cilia remained on the first floor, and I went in alone with the cats. I pulled out a light stone as I went down. It was clear the runes to keep rodents away and preserve the food had not been recharged. Kiara and Adrial sprinted after some rats. As I moved through, I started charging the wall-mounted light stones in the basement. Hanging meat was rotting, and other food had layers of colorful mold on it. I used my cleanliness spell to clean as I got deeper into the cellar. I found the crystals for the maintenance runes and charged them. There were two different anti-vermin, one rune against insects, an environmental room to keep the air fresh, and a temperature rune to keep it chilled. There was a small empty, and dusty armory except for a few shields. A corridor led to a prison with fourteen cells. One had a skeleton in it. Since it was a skeleton, I hoped whoever it was died before we attacked the Spire, and he was not forgotten about after the fact. Dying in here abandoned was a terrible fate. There was a separate room with casks of ale and wine. About two hundred glass bottles also remained, but footprints in the dust told me someone had been there taking liberties. I closed the door and cast my arcane lock spell on it. I thought there might have been a subbasement, but I didn¡¯t find any stairs down on my walkthrough. Getting ready to return up the stairs I found the cats proudly displaying their kills for me. Four for Adrial and three for Kiara. Of course, they got help when I activated the anti-vermin runes as that would have repelled the rats and forced them to leave their nests. I still patted their heads, then used my cleanliness spell to destroy the rat bodies. The smell still hung in the air as I only cleaned about a quarter of the larder¡¯s spoiled goods. The more mass I purged, the more aether it cost me. Even with my deep aether reserves, I wanted to hold most in reserve in case we found squatters. The residences were on the second floor. Luxurious rooms that smelled stale from a period of non-use. Surprisingly, I did not see signs of anyone using the rooms recently. We checked each room, and Cilia and Leda were impressed. Leda voiced her mind, ¡°At least the Bricios had good taste. These rooms are perfect, and the views from the windows are amazing.¡± I was surprised the Triumvirate didn¡¯t come in and take everything and sell it. There had to be thousands of gold worth of furnishings. Maybe there was no market for the luxury goods in Skyholme. The ruling families were in disarray after the Bricios, so maybe there was not much free coin around. The third floor of the tower was the Bricio offices. This is where Callem almost died. A lot of the offices were looted. I guessed they had the paperwork for all the assets the Bricios owed. There was even a small vault that was completely empty on this floor. The fourth floor had the ballroom with it¡¯s charred floor and blown-out windows. The stone was undamaged from the blast as it was some type of aether-reinforced material. Some birds had nested in the ceiling already. Cilia asked, ¡°This is a lot of space. What do you plan to do with it all?¡± She was inferring the entire tower. ¡°It is a lot of space. The true prize is on the top floor but I can not access it yet. Lets go look at the other buildings and the farms,¡± I led them down the stairs. The other buildings on the estate were hidden in the nearby woods. Two small wooden barracks for forty men each and a third structure to house the serving staff. All the buildings were abandoned but in good shape besides the creeping flora. The only other building was an armory that appeared empty. The cats explored the buildings but did not find any victims to use their hunting skills on while we walked. They had been locked and secured. The first farm we visited was the aether fields, which looked terrible. The indentured men and women who had worked the fields had left when they were released from their contracts. The fields had not been rejuvenated in that time with fresh aether soil, and nothing useful was growing as the crops had been picked clean. The farmhouse did have some evelopes of seeds, but nothing was labeled. The white barley had a crop but numerous weeds growing among the grains. It was a mess and needed to be sorted out sooner rather than later, or the entire crop would be lost. The associated farmhouse was barren. Whoever had lived here had taken everything. The last stop was the green apple orchards. I pulled one of the apples from a tree and bite into it. It was extremely tart and sweet. It had a very high sugar content. It was good for desserts and spreads. I munched on the apple as I walked in the lead toward the last farmhouse. I could already see the Wolfsguard in the assembling. I assumed no one had told them that there was a new owner of the tower. I counted twenty-seven as we approached, and one graying Wolfsguard stood in front of everyone. I scanned the others behind him. Most had visible scars, a missing hand or arm, an eye, and poor posture that indicated a poorly healed back. They wore old Bricio uniforms that were somewhat threadbare. The old Wolfsguard spoke when we were within talking distance, ¡°You do not wear any house colors. Who are you, and why are you visiting us?¡± I put on my best friendly smile as I spoke, ¡°I am High Mage Storme Hardlight. The new resident mage of the Black Spire.¡± I thought I sounded assertive and friendly, but the reaction was not as expected. A few Wolfsguard started chuckling and laughing. The old Wolfsguard silenced them, ¡°Forgive them. My name is Asger. They do not think someone so young could be named High Mage. I recognize your two cats as young displacer beasts. I am guessing you are more than you appear to be. Let¡¯s talk inside further as I am certain your tale will be an interesting one.¡± Asger had a strong presence to him that reminded me of Callem. As he walked, I noticed he had all his limbs but a slight limp. He was also the oldest Wolfsguard I had ever seen. His residence was utilitarian, and his furnishes were rough wood and polished. I sat at his table, and he took a bottle of wine and poured it. ¡°If you are the true lord of the Spire, then this is your wine. One of the younger and foolish Wolfsguard went inside and took some. He has been punished, rest assured.¡± He sat across from me with his own goblet of wine. Leda and Cilia remained outside, but the cats were exploring the small room. The icy blue eyes of Asger locked onto me, ¡°So, High Mage Storme Hardlight, what do you plan to do with the lost Wolfsguard of the Green Apple?¡± I smiled, because I had some ideas. Chapter 118 Chapter 118 I sipped the wine. I studied the old Wolfsguard, who was almost completely white. Where he was not white, it was a silvery gray. I looked into his icy blue eyes and asked, ¡°Before we discuss the orchards. What is the tale that brought you to these apple orchards?¡± He had a full-tooth smile, and his teeth were in rough condition, and one top canine was missing. ¡°Me? I am a nobody. I guarded Lady Mirabel for a hundred and ten years before she passed. Then the Bricio lord thought I was too old to guard another of his family. I was sent here some hundred years ago.¡± I nodded and asked for more, ¡°I thought the bonded Wolfsguard had trouble after their charge passed?¡± ¡°Ah, true. It wrecks the heart. The bond can sometimes be passed to a descendant with the blood, but it is a difficult process as well. Some Wolfsguard manage to live through the urge to join their charge in the afterlife,¡± he sighed. I considered it for about three years after Lady Mirabel. After the three years, it became easier, and I had a new purpose,¡± he sipped his wine, ¡°Helping others through the same process.¡± ¡°So you are a good samaritan?¡± I nodded. I do not think he understood the word, but he nodded as well. ¡°How many Wolfsguard do you have here?¡± ¡°Fifty-nine.¡± My eyebrows went up as the number was higher than Loriel gave me. He waved his hand, ¡°No one ever cares to count too closely. At first, this was just a refuge for the Bricio and Citadel Wolfsguard. But we accept the Miaden and Torrent as well. We had a small influx recently,¡± he added with pursed lips. ¡°Fifty-nine,¡± I echoed. ¡°How many can still fight?¡± He gave a horse laugh, ¡°None. When we come here, we swear never to swing a weapon in battle again.¡± ¡°The Wolfsguard have been freed. I would have to check to confirm, but you have been given a choice to guide your own future. Any oaths of service are voided. Most live on Stonefell Island now and will be crewing the skyship scouts. If you want, I can see about your number joining them,¡± I offered but hoped they would decline my offer. ¡°We have heard our kin have been freed.¡± He momentarily contemplated, ¡°But I do not think that is our place. Unless you plan to remove us from the orchards, I believe all will stay here.¡± He looked expectantly at me for an answer. Relief flooded through me. I felt my next question could go either way. ¡°Would you be willing to work for me? I will pay you all a fair wage. Say five silver a week, with another silver for every five years of service already earned?¡± His eyes widened, then narrowed suspiciously, ¡°You would pay me thirty silver a week to work the orchards?¡± ¡°No,¡± I said, watching his suspicion turn slightly unfriendly. I grinned, ¡°The foreman would make one gold a week. I hope you will take that role.¡± Some shock, and he reclined in the chair creaked, ¡°You know some Wolfsguard have been here more than fifty years. I have been here the longest, but to tend and pick apples sounds outrageous. I appreciate the gesture, but we can reach a more reasonable wage agreement. Mostly we need clothes and food. Provide that and a silver a week per person, and it would be acceptable,¡± Asger said with some thought. ¡°Maybe I am choosing the wrong foreman? Negotiating down? My offer stands, but I require more than just picking apples. I need skilled guards and want you to train them!¡± I said with a flourish of my hands. ¡°Train soldiers?¡± He leaned back in his chair and thought long on it. He finally spoke with a low tone, ¡°It would help some here direct their energy and distract their grief-stricken thoughts. Some Wolfsguard are not made to be gardeners,¡± he admitted. ¡°There are maybe a dozen among us suited for the task. Some others would but are crippled.¡± ¡°What if I could restore their lost limbs?¡± I held up my hands to stop his excitement, ¡°I am a healer, and my lesser restoration spell is evolving. I can do it in a few months, but for now, all I can do is teeth. May I?¡± Asger ran his tongue over his missing tooth. He seemed hopeful as he gave me his hand. I focused on my aether and, using the diagnostic tool of mend flesh, I found he had a lot more problems than visible. I fixed them all: cracked teeth, cavities, a missing tooth, an infection in the gums. I restored his teeth to perfect state and white condition. He started running his tongue over them, smiled, and went to a mirror. ¡°I had been learning to ignore the pain. The missing tooth had to be pulled because it got unbearable. Now,¡± he looked and felt the teeth, ¡°just amazing.¡± He turned to me, and I think I had won him over. ¡°I think I believe you are a High Mage now,¡± he smiled and sat back at the table with renewed energy on his face. ¡°I am glad you approve. You have a few in your number with the harvest skill?¡± I asked, returning to business. ¡°Yes, Juno, Oriana and Calix. Oriana is a stronger version of the ability, and she has a larger aether core,¡± Asger noted. ¡°Good, they will all receive an additional five silver a week for their ability. If others have abilities, we can discuss them at another time. Let us move on to talking about the grounds. They are in terrible shape. Gardens are overgrown, and weeds are everywhere. I will hire gardeners eventually, but for the next few months, I need your people to care for the grounds.¡± I licked my lips. ¡°Also, I am going to be tearing down your residences. You will be moving to the aether fields closer to the Black Spire after we renovate them. Your talents are wasted on apples.¡± I said, expecting a positive reaction. Asger did not look too thrilled. It was a prideful habit if you spent one hundred years doing something. I backtracked seeing my error, ¡°Asger, you are the foreman and can decide who works in which field and at the orchard. I will need you to move to the farmers¡¯ house, though. These buildings,¡± I indicated the hovels, ¡°are not good enough for your people.¡± He nodded, slowly accepting but still showing some reluctance to leave. I conceded again, ¡°If you want, after we tear them down, we can rebuild them to something suitable?¡± That finally got the twinkle in his eye. He apologized, ¡°I just would miss the night air and smell of the blossoms when I slept at night.¡± I wondered if I was making too many concessions to win him over. ¡°Let us review years of service for everyone so I can start paying you immediately.¡± We spent the next hour updating my roster of Wolfsguard, and he noted their injuries and if they had any abilities he was aware of. His group had two dozen tier-one abilities, some useful in combat and some useful in other ways. Nothing remarkable, though. For now, I would just pay them an extra silver a week. The fifty-nine Wolsguard was going to cost me just over six gold a week¡ªwhat I paid a single delver. After agreeing to payment for every Wolfsguard I discussed my next plan. ¡°I plan to set up an apple press and juice the apples to make some interesting ales. Your people can get a handful of animals to eat the waste if you want.¡± We then got into a discussion of how many animals and what type. We settled on fifty chickens, sixteen goats for milk, and two milk cows. I had plenty of land but did not want the livestock to get out of hand. I pictured the rebuilt housing to be kind of a retirement village for Wolfsguard. With negotiations done, we walked out to meet the Wolfsguard, who had been milling about, waiting to hear of their fate. Most of the Wolfsguard were malnourished. The Bricios had sustained them with shipments, but they had been forgotten while the new Trivumverate was trying to figure out what to do with the property. They desperately needed income, and Asger figured none of the nobles saw the lands as a profitable investment based on taxes. The real value was the dungeon and the tower residence. I only got the dungeon one day a week and planned to use it well. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. After my walk-through, I agreed the land would be a money pit to start before getting it back to productivity. This was still secluded lands on the capital island. Asger introduced me, ¡°This is High Mage Storme Hardlight. He is going to allow us to continue to work the land. He has agreed to pay us for our services.¡± There were a lot of skeptical faces in the crowd. I counted forty males and fourteen females. With Asger, that made fifty-five. Four were currently not here. I stepped forward, ¡°I am a healing mage. I will repair your teeth today, and in the future, I can repair your missing limbs.¡± Just like Asger, there was a lot of hope in their eyes. ¡°Everyone here will be paid at least five silver a week; the more experience you have, the higher the wage. I will let Asger inform you of that, but for now, let me correct your teeth.¡± I then spent time and a lot of aether giving all fifty-nine Wolfsguard fresh teeth. Their malnourishment was starting to show, so I would have to task Leda and Cilia to get them some variety out here immediately. I also healed poorly healed bones, malaligned vertebrae, and poorly healed muscle tissue¡ªthe current extent of my lesser restoration spell. I went through most of my substantial aether pool to finish all fifty-nine of them. Restorative healing magic was very aether intensive, and not many archmages in Skyholme had the aether reserves for it. It also gave me a chance to meet them all. I could tell some of them had broken spirits, but the healing helped. On completion, the old Wolfguard were now fairly excited about having a High Mage as a landlord. The younger Wolfsguard also seemed to be in better spirits. I would need to reach level twenty-three in the lesser restoration spell to regrow limbs. I had just reached level fifteen in the spell from healing the Wolfguard. I had a long way to go. The Wolfsguard were polite and thankful. I made my way back to the Maelstrom, and the two cats were having a lot of fun in the overgrowth, scaring out birds and other small creatures. As I reached the bridge, Cilia asked, ¡°How did the meeting with the Wolfguard go?¡± ¡°Exceptionally well,¡± I was pulling the contract out of my dimensional space to read it. ¡°They are going to remain, and there are fifty-nine of them. I am confident they will train with my guards as well. I need to find out if they can serve as guards themselves. The laws prior prevented it.¡± Leda answered, ¡°As far as I remember, the new law released all Wolfsguard from service, and the ones remaining need to be paid a fair wage.¡± Cilia nodded, ¡°That sounds about right. Indentured were freed of all debt as well. I know this caused some issues in the capital. There were maybe three thousand? The Triumvirate paid all their debts so the debt owners did not become angry. Of course, they still are from losing their servants.¡± ¡°Well, you two can confirm this in the capital tomorrow when you bring Remy and Isla out to the Spire,¡± I said as the fast flight quickly came to an end. After we landed in the warehouse, one of the port guards came rushing down from the upper docks nearby. He was upset with the speed at which we had come in through the port and also tried to give us a fine for parking the Maelstrom inside the warehouse. At first, I thought Loriel had rezoned the special permit for allowing skyships in my warehouse. It turned out that he was new and just an idiot. My father ran inspections for all incoming skyships, and he laid into them guardsmen verbally. When I got to my room at the Shiny Platinum, I called for Remy and Isla. Isla arrived first, ¡°I have four layouts of the park to choose from, and the building will come down tomorrow.¡± She had a self-satisfied look on her face. I praised her, ¡°Amazing work. Now I have a new property. I want to build a village.¡± Isla paused and looked confused. I was happy as it appeared she had not been communicating with Loriel, otherwise, she would have known about the Black Spire. ¡°A village?¡± She asked skeptically. ¡°Yes. On the capital island, I am taking over the Black Spire and the land surrounding it. First, I need to the glass replaced on the fourth floor. It was shattered. I need the property thoroughly cleaned as well.¡± Her jaw was open and still processing, but I continued. ¡°You should take notes. Cilia and Leda will fly you out there tomorrow.¡± She opened her satchel and found some blank pages and started to write. ¡°I want the two barracks demolished behind the Spire. I think I want a small fort built back the two skyship cradles. Functional for one hundred men.¡± She interrupted, ¡°Only the families can have more than ten guards.¡± She was quoting the law. ¡°I have special dispensation,¡± I pulled out the paperwork and showed it to her. She scanned it, and her disbelief widened. I continued, ¡°The farmhouse by the dungeon aether crop fields needs to be rebuilt. Nothing elaborate. Just updated. The real project will be by the orchards. There are some very old buildings there. I want them all demolished and a town built in its place. I was thinking small, just four square acres. A town commons in the center and buildings surrounding it. Most of the buildings will be small two-story duplex residences, enough for one hundred people. I also want a general store, a small factory for pressing apples into juice, and a small armory with a training yard.¡± Isla paused as Remy knocked. ¡°Come in, Remy. I have more people on my payroll.¡± Remy entered and smiled at Isla. She had a shy smile returned to him. I guessed things were happening I was not aware of. ¡°Her is the list, Remy,¡± I handed him the roster of Wolfsguard. ¡°Wolsguard?¡± Isla said and scooted very close to Remy to look at the list. They were definitely closer than I remember. Isla looked at me in shock, ¡°You have over fifty Wolfsguard?!¡± Remy had disbelief as well. ¡°It is not what it seems. It is more of a retirement community for the Wolfsguard. All of these Wolfsguard have been abandoned; considered too old, or maimed to do their duties,¡± I stated. Isla still could not hold her disbelief, ¡°And Loriel is letting you have them? Even an old Wolfsguard is a formable fighter.¡± I laughed, ¡°She gave them to me to hand off a problem. From my understanding, the Triumvirate is bleeding coin. Loriel is betting heavily on the open trade and taxes from it to bring Skyholme to prosperity again.¡± Isla nodded as it was becoming common knowledge apparently how over-extended the Triumvirate was. I turned to Remy, ¡°So when you fly out with Isla tomorrow, fill the hold of the Maelstrom with clothing and food for the Wolfsguard. Everything will be free to them, but once the town is built and a general store is established, we can sell them goods, and they can use their coin. They are in a somewhat miserable state, having been ignored since the Bricio revolt. So how long to plan and build,¡± I asked Isla while reviewing her plans for a park and outside dining where the adjacent warehouse was. ¡°There is not much building happening. I think people are holding their purse strings to see what is going to happen with the trade. I guess it is a question of how fast you want it down and what material? I suggest using builders from Titan¡¯s Shield and ferrying them out daily with the Maelstrom. It would save you considerable cost as the builders in the capital get paid twice as much. Also, since you are not building in the city, you should be able to get around angering the Builder¡¯s Guilds.¡± ¡°Faster is better. Stone would be preferable. Lock up as many build teams as possible.¡± I took out five platinum coins and put them on the table. ¡°Here is a start. Try and secure as much building material as possible.¡± Isla had a glint of excitement in her eyes at the project, ¡°Stone is cheaper than wood right now. We have some unique lumber from the islands and our dungeons, and they are hoping it will sell well in the lowlands. So they are holding it in their warehouse. I can get the stone mage who worked on the Shiny Platinum. I already contracted him to add the balconies on the apartments facing the park.¡± ¡°We also have a day¡¯s exclusive access to the nearby dungeon. It was a private Bricio dungeon, and I do not know what is inside of it. Maybe we can source materials for construction from there.¡± I checked the paperwork, ¡°Every sixth day, we have unlimited access.¡± They were shocked. ¡°Remy, do you need funds for the silver to pay the Wolfsguard and purchase food and clothing?¡± ¡°No, we have about twelve hundred gold in the safe. I will communicate with Leda to get everything loaded as I purchase it,¡± he confirmed. ¡°Isla, I like these plans for the gardens.¡± I passed her the plans with trees and marble dining tables. She nodded and looked at the plans I selected. It was not her first choice because she did not seem too happy, but it was the one I preferred. Isla nodded and focused on the next project, ¡°I will want to survey the land before drafting plans for the fort and Wolsguard town.¡± I forgot something and added, ¡°Plan for there to be two small farms for the Wolsguard on the far side of the town. Maybe two acres worth. I promised them some chickens, goats, and cows.¡± Isla noted it, and they both left. I went and located Ullmark in the training room with the red-haired Namira and Mera. I was a little shocked to find Mera training with her staff. They all paused as I approached. ¡°Ullmark hope things are going well. I have a new dungeon for the team to explore.¡± His eyebrows went up in surprise, ¡°Really? What dungeon is it.¡± ¡°The dungeon by the Black Spire on the capital island. It was the Bricio¡¯s private dungeon, and I do not have much information on it,¡± I said. He frowned, ¡°I know it. When I worked for the Bricios, I often delved into the dungeon. Not many good memories. Can we go somewhere to talk privately about this?¡± He looked at the Namira and Mera. I motioned for Ullmark to join me down in my room. I had known Ullmark worked for the Bricios in the past, so I was curious about this conversation. Chapter 119 Chapter 119 Ullmark sat uneasily in my apartment. He had a dour look on his face. I got him a drink and asked, ¡°So, what can you tell me about this dungeon? I know it is a good source of aether-enriched soil.¡± Ullmark drank, ¡°It is called the Progenitor Dungeon. Or at least that is what the Bricios called it. Do you know how Wolfsguard are created?¡± A pit in my stomach formed, ¡°Yes. They captured wolfkin females from the lowlands and bred them with a human in dungeons to form a half-breed, the Wolfsguard. The only way two different races can have offspring is by having the dungeon aether-enriched environment assist them.¡± Ullmark nodded solemnly. ¡°They usually capture the younger ones. None are willing.¡± Ullmark looked terrible. ¡°It is one of the reasons I left the service of the Bricios. I worked for one of their subordinate families responsible for the dungeon and Wolfsguard program. I could not stomach it any longer.¡± ¡°I thought you were a good man,¡± I said reassuringly. He shook his head and looked me in the eyes, ¡°No, I am not. I participated three times. I told myself I was ordered to, and that was why I had done it. It started me drinking, which is why I lost my family. They were better off without a monster like me around.¡± I was at a loss for words. I definitely had a different opinion of Ullmark now, much lower than before. ¡°Why are you telling me this?¡± Ullmark fidgeted, ¡°Guilt. Regret. Maybe I want you to condemn me for my acts and kick me out. I am the happiest I have been in a long time. I look forward to each day, but my past hangs over me like a dark cloud.¡± We sat in silence, and I did not know what to do or say. I had planned to talk about the dungeon and not this. I did not know what happened to the wolfkin females after the Bricio departure. I thought they were released and sent back to the lowlands. I finally said, ¡°I can not give you what you seek. If you want out of my service, that is fine. I suggest you seek your absolution from the Wolfsguard or wolfkin affected.¡± Ullmark remained silent, thinking over his decisions while I waited. ¡°I would like to remain in your service and seek them out if possible.¡± He inhaled, ¡°If they want to punish me, I will welcome it.¡± I nodded, knowing what that meant. He would let them kill him. ¡°You can go with Remy and Isla and talk with the Wolfsguard on my estate tomorrow morning.¡± I stood and retrieved some paper, and sat. ¡°What can you tell me about the Progenitor Dungeon?¡± If I was going to lose Ullmark, I needed to pick his brain about the dungeon. Ullmark nodded, ¡°The Progenitor dungeon is seven levels. The first level is the meadows. It is where they harvest aether soil. Unihorned goats and blink rabbits are the monsters. The blink rabbits are not too deadly as they usually jump and appear in front of you but just use a shield to protect your throat, and you won¡¯t have trouble with them. The goats build up speed quickly and try to impale you on their horn. Quite painful when they land a strike.¡± ¡°Harvestables on the floor? And the dungeon challenge monster to proceed to the second level?¡± I asked while taking notes. ¡°Yes. A lot of alchemy herbs and flowers. I was a harvester, but you have to wonder a bit to find them. Not sure about the potions they went into either. Lachlan should probably come with to identify them.¡± He motioned for a refill, and I filled his glass. ¡°The final floor challenge is a hippogriff. It is half horse, half eagle. It flies and is as large as a horse. It feeds on the blink rabbits on the floor, but for some reason, when you fight the flying hippogriff, the blink rabbits harass you from every direction.¡± I did not remember reading about hippogriffs in my teir one monster texts. ¡°Are they considered tier-two beasts?¡± Ullmark nodded, ¡°Tier-two. It is not a difficult challenge as long as you have a lot of ranged attacks in your group. Once it is grounded, it is easy to handle too.¡± ¡°Ok, let us talk about the second floor then¡­.¡± We talked well into the night as I took notes on the first four levels of the Progenitor Dungeon. The dungeon¡¯s fifth level was where the blood marble came from, but Ullmark never ventured that deep with his team. After Ullmark left, I cursed my back luck. Ullmark was a good dungeon leader, and I sensed that I would be losing him one way or another. With Gareth gone, my best delve team leader was probably Talia¡ªor I would have to take a more active role in delving myself. The cats were mewing for their dinner and playtime before bed. I was up early, with little sleep. I grabbed my prepared breakfast and lunch. As I exited, eating an egg, cheese, and bacon sandwich, I found an irate Loriel waiting for me. Gammon and four guards were at her side. ¡°You are up early, Loriel,¡± I said and started walking toward the Dungeon Academy. ¡°May we talk?¡± she rasped angrily. ¡°You can join me on my walk to school,¡± I said, trying to figure out for which reason Loriel was mad at me. Based on what she revealed, she would tell me what Isla was feeding her. Irritably, she sped up to walk with me. Two guards went in front, and Gammon and the other two behind. The civilian traffic parted in front of us as we walked. Loirel started, ¡°You are tearing down the warehouse to build a park?¡± She tried to mask her anger. ¡°Yes, the trade port of the city needs some beautification,¡± I stated while finishing my breakfast. ¡°You have a warehouse directly adjacent to the skyship docks, and you are building a park!¡± Not so much restraint this time, she said, ¡°We are about to open trade to a hundred cities from the lowlands. Opportunities abound for profit, and you are planting trees!¡± ¡°I like trees,¡± I said in mock defense. ¡°And there will be flower gardens too. How did you know?¡± ¡°Because, you idiot, I was petitioning for a second portal stone to be installed inside the warehouse!¡± She fumed. That made me stumble slightly. That would have been immensely valuable, but then I thought through the implications, ¡°I doubt you were going to let me keep the warehouse then.¡± ¡°It would have been yours, and the Triumvirate would have rented it from our esteemed High Mage!¡± She gritted out. I guessed, ¡°That sounds awfully generous. Where is the catch?¡± Loriel was still fuming. But as we got closer to the Academy, she stated, ¡°I would have asked you for half the profits for making it happen. So, will you consider not having the building demolished this morning?¡± I stopped walking and faced her, ¡°If you had told me earlier, maybe. Now, I have too much going on to start changing plans. You only gave me the building because you always thought you would get a portion of it back.¡± Loriel¡¯s eyes betrayed her. She tried, ¡°This new portal is only going to connect to the Sadian Capital of Goldreach. Putting it away from the heart of Aegis City is part of the discussion as to whether to have it in the same city as the master key portal.¡± I understood the master key portal was the ancient portal network connected to the thousands of portals throughout the Sphere if you knew the correct sequence. There were twenty-three runes, all of which had to be activated in the proper sequence to connect. That meant there were hundreds of millions of combinations. You could activate the portal with aether and select the runes in order or use a portal key already attuned to do it instantly. This was the one they had moved from where the Heart Stone was kept. I was told the runic stones were being moved to the upper city somewhere. ¡°They can just find another place to put it,¡± I finally said. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°This could have made us thousands of gold, Storme. Don¡¯t be stupid. Change your plans,¡± she almost begged. ¡°What are you not telling me?¡± I asked, looking down at her. Loriel looked constipated. ¡°It is a plan that will help Skyholme thrive for long into the future. Our partnership with the Sadian Emperor must be preserved for it to succeed. He is paying for and constructing this two-way portal.¡± ¡°If he wants this, then is it an attempt to take over Skyholme? Gain a foothold with this portal,¡± My voice had skepticism in it. ¡°No, reconsider, please,¡± she pleaded again. I spent long moments considering, ¡°We can build a building at the back of the park for your portal. Is fifty feet square big enough?¡± Loriel twinged slightly, ¡°No warehouse to store goods would make things problematic.¡± ¡°Fifty by one hundred feet at the back of the lot. A small warehouse on one side and a portal on the other. And you do not get a share of any profits,¡± I added. Her eyes stormed at the last. ¡°Thirty percent of the fees Skyholme will pay you.¡± ¡°I am paying for the construction of the new building, so, no,¡± I stated to her disbelief. ¡°Then I could just have it built somewhere else and find another civilian to own the building. You were an attractive option because of your status as High Mage. Twenty-five percent,¡± she made her last bid. I considered, ¡°Will you help with the construction costs of the new building?¡± ¡°I do not have any coin. All of my assets are leveraged,¡± she laughed darkly, ¡°This was exactly how I brought down the Bricios. The irony if I fall for the plot.¡± I laughed internally as well. Loriel had used her influence to bankrupt the Bricios, forcing them to take action to maintain their power. ¡°Agreed. But after I settled my estate in the Black Spire. Send the specifications to Isla. She can design the building and will be happy about the work.¡± We shook on it, and before Loriel left, I asked. ¡°Since you are here, I have some questions about the Wolfsguard.¡± ¡°They are your problem, Storme. They can work your farms for you and are quite good at it from what the reports have indicated,¡± Loriel looked like she had better places to be after our negotiation. ¡°Can they fight? I mean, they said they took an oath to never wield a weapon in battle. Has that been lifted with the new laws?¡± I inquired. I caught the panic in her eyes. She had probably thought about me using the Wolfsguard to get my guard count up, but most were crippled and would not meet the standard set in the defense contract. ¡°Yes. Wolfsguard are now free citizens of Skyholme and are not bound by that oath. They can leave the islands if they wish as well.¡± I did not let her leave yet, ¡°What happened to the wolfkin females? The ones they were using?¡± Loriel had a distasteful look and hard eyes. She obviously did not like the fate of the wolfkin women. I had to like her just a little bit for that view. ¡°Some went to the lowlands. Some are on Stonefell Island with the Black Guard.¡± A flash of insight and disgust in her eyes, ¡°You will not be allowed to resume the program.¡± I angrily said, ¡°That is not why I am asking. Do I have permission to talk with the ones still on the island?¡± ¡°Why?¡± Her tone had switched to curiosity and interest. ¡°You do not tell me everything, so I do not need to tell you everything,¡± we had a staring contest. ¡°They can speak to you if they want. The ones that remained are either too ashamed to return or wished to raise their offspring in Skyholme with the other halfbreeds.¡± Loriel finally answered. ¡°Can Wolfsguard reproduce in a dungeon? Like how they were created?¡± The question just came to me. I knew Wolfsguard were born sterile but had a thought that maybe a dungeon¡¯s aether could overcome this. Loriel bit her lip. ¡°What have you been reading from Neelan¡¯s library?¡± I had mild surprise on my face. ¡°It is not a big secret. I keep an eye on you, and I know a number of books have been sent out by the healing mage to be copied and are then delivered to the Shiny Platinum.¡± It made sense, even though it made me even more uncomfortable around Loriel. I admitted, ¡°I talked with the Worlfsguard at the Black Spire yesterday, and many of them are struggling. They lack purpose. I thought the possibility of children might help them.¡± Loriel looked at me funny, ¡°The Wolfsguard at the Black Spire are old.¡± She paused, considering everything I had said. She obviously had not looked into the Wolfsguard there too much because about half were graying or gray, but the rest were younger, maimed but younger. She finally said, ¡°Yes, it is possible. It is not common knowledge, and Wolfsguard are prevented from being dungeon delvers, so they do not discover this fact.¡± She studied me. ¡°The reason is the second generation has less loyalty and is not as easily controlled. I personally do not care, and it would be better coming from you than me.¡± She studied me, ¡°It appears I am not the only one who plans to shake up Skyholme. Is there anything else, High Mage?¡± ¡°No. I am good for now, Loriel. Always a pleasure talking with you.¡± I tried to genuinely smile, but I do not think she believed it. We parted ways, and I continued on to the Academy. I was excited to tell Bleiz that if he wanted to have children he could. The conversation with Asger would be interesting as well. I think everyone expected the Wolfsguard to eventually die out, but maybe I could prevent that. And if, over time, they became more independent, they could possibly have their own society. It was not like they needed to remain in Skyholme either; the Sphere was a massive place. I got a lot of looks in the tier one creatures class and spell class. They were too afraid to ask me questions, so I just focused on learning and asking questions. After classes, I went and talked with Neelan about limb regeneration. Neelan sat thoughtfully, ¡°I can not do it. There are a handful of people in the capital. The greater restoration is a tier four spell that can do it as well as the tier five regeneration spell. Your lesser regeneration spell can do it as well, but it takes a much greater amount of aether, and you need to evolve it a number of times to do so.¡± ¡°How does it work though? What is the most efficient way?¡± I asked, seeking his understanding similar to how he helped me maximize my aether investment for other healing spells. Neelan grinned, ¡°Limb replacement is easy if one side is intact. Then, as the healer, you can picture the negative image of the other limb while you are regrowing the current one. It guides the regrowth. Otherwise, you can let the body¡¯s memory do the work. It will take three times as much aether, though. Most healing mages have to do regrows in stages as the aether investment is so large.¡± He looked me over, ¡°Are you close?¡± ¡°I need three more evolutions. I wasted a few evolutions in earlier spell¡¯s development when I should have focused on the regeneration track. It is level fifteen, and I need to reach level twenty-three.¡± I laid it out. Neelan whistled, ¡°Level twenty-three? That could take months, even for you.¡± He thought for a moment. ¡°There are free clinics where healing mages practice on those who can not afford magical healing. If you wish, I can give you a letter of introduction, and you can travel to them in the cities across the islands in your fancy ship,¡± he smiled broadly. ¡°Yes. That would be welcome.¡± The Wolfsguard healing had been a huge uptick in the spell, and if I could do that across every major city, maybe I could speed up the process. Neelan spent half an hour putting together maps of the cities and writing the letter of introduction for me. He even said I could skip helping him in combat classes on the fifth day if I wished to visit the clinics. The warehouse had been demolished in one day, and they were hauling away the debris. I thought Loriel might have tried to stop it, but I guess we reached a compromise. Since she insisted on having a warehouse attached, I assumed that she was either planning to sneak things to the Sadians or from the Sadians. Remy and Isla were waiting for me when I returned to the Shiny Platinum. Both were eager, but Remy beat Isla, saying, ¡°They were really happy to get everything, and I did not bring enough, and they need so many other things. Can I make another trip?¡± ¡°Did they already move to the farmhouse?¡± I asked. He shook his head, and Isla answered for him, ¡°No, they were still at the shanty town. The farmhouse was cleaned out, though. I did a walkthrough and have some plans for it. Who is going to be living there?¡± ¡°I hope Mera and Fera¡¯s brother. They were going to ask him, but I have not heard yet.¡± Isla was bouncing to speak again, and I motioned her. ¡°I found a great spot on the far side of orchard for the village and two small farms. It is the only place with a large stream. I think it would make the most wonderful setting with the orchards on one side and the forest on the other. I already have sketches that I worked on this afternoon.¡± ¡°This looks great, Isla. Loriel is going to be sending you another project as well. At the back of the demolished warehouse, we are going to build a small building. Loriel will send you what she requires of the designs. You can design and get her approval for the final designs. We will build it after we are done at Black Spire,¡± her face lit up. Isla informed me, ¡°Much of the stone from the warehouse is going to be diverted to the Black Spire for the stone mage to work with. Still, I need more funds to start ordering materials.¡± That was always the case. I think Loriel was hoping my funds would dry up, and I could not afford a skyship. I wanted to focus on my spellcraft over making coins. I also planned to have one hundred long swords ready for sale in Llorth when I returned for Bleiz. Hopefully, they would be salable, and that could cover some of my Skyholme expenses. I passed Isla five more platinum. I shrugged and hoped that was good enough for now. All I had left in my space was about a thousand gold and three thousand silver. Tomorrow, I was making long swords and not coins. Remy interrupted, ¡°There were two Harbingers parked on your cradles at the Black Spire. I talked to the captains, and they said you were doing their refurbishment this sixth and seventh day?¡± I got a headache from that news. Of course, I asked for them immediately. With that great news, Remy snuck out. Probably go on a spending spree. I spent my evening with Isla, discussing her plans for the Wolfsguard town. It was going to be a busy weekend. I also needed to get the dungeon teams ready for the Progenitor Dungeon on sixth day. ¡°Did Ullmark come back with you, Isla?¡± She looked at me, ¡°No, he said he was staying at the Black Spire to talk with the Wolfsguard.¡± Well, hopefully, he was still alive when we got there on the sixth day. Chapter 120 Chapter 120 After classes on the fifth day, I went to the free clinic to practice my lesser restoration spell. The free clinic for Aegis City was outside the walls in one of the smaller towns. The town was a two-mile walk from the city gates, and I decided to go alone but traveled invisibly. I needed to work on increasing my spells to continue to evolve them. The town reminded me of Hen¡¯s Hollow but larger. There were also fewer surrounding farms, and it smelled horrendous. This town was responsible for tanning the hides procured from dungeons. I knew where the clinic was from the map Neelan had given me. I entered with a knock. A young young woman turned from a patient. She looked me over with a bright smile, ¡°How can we help? We only have one mage who visits every third and fourth day, but we have several locally brewed minor potions.¡± I studied the young woman, maybe four years my senior, with a symmetrical oval face and a large smile. Her dark hair was wound into a tight bun. Large hazel eyes studied me, waiting for an answer. I offered her my letter of introduction, ¡°Mage Neelan sent me here to help.¡± Her eyes went wide as she read the letter. She looked at me, ¡°And you are going to heal for free? My name is Ophelia.¡± She held out her hand, and I shook it. ¡°I take care of the patients that are too sick to go home. We have four patients here and seven more around town.¡± I then went around healing bones, infections, and some minor poisoning. With each patient, Ophelia¡¯s smile got larger and larger. After the tenth patient, she asked, ¡°How much aether do you left? Old Man Striker is the last person who needs serious healing. His shack is out on the Arm¡ªa small finger of land on the edge of the island.¡± I had actually been fairly disappointed with the number of people available to heal. The extent of healing had been relatively minor as well. ¡°I can fix teeth, remove scars, and correct poorly healed bones and joints. I am a High Mage. Bring anyone who wants my services today. I will not return in the future.¡± ¡°High Mage?¡± She looked at me with some doubt but nodded. Soon, I had a line of townsfolk. Repairing the teeth was the most common ask. Once one person¡¯s teeth were repaired, they ran off to tell everyone they knew. I worked well into the evening to the gratitude of the people. Ophelia told everyone whom I healed my name, ¡®High Mage Storme.¡¯ I did not mind, and maybe it would give me some acclaim. When my aether pool was down to roughly ten percent, I halted the healing. There were only a few left in line. I announced, ¡°I have enough aether to heal three more. Of the remaining,¡± I counted, ¡°eight people, please choose the the three most needing healing amongst you. Any argument and I will heal no one.¡± Ophelia, who seemed to be respected, stepped in and moderated. After a moment, a child was first. His arm had healed crooked. It was an easy fix. Next was an old woman who had no teeth. I gave her a full set of new teeth. The last was a middle-aged man. He had been having abdominal pain for months. I checked, and he had parasites in his intestinal tract. I had to merge my cleanliness spell with my lesser restoration spell to cleanse his bowels. Ophelia shuffled the five unfortunate who did not get healing away, ¡°Thank you, High Mage!¡± She bowed. ¡°Will you come back again in the future?¡± ¡°No. I will visit the other clinics over the next few weeks, but I will head out to the Arm and visit Old Man Striker,¡± I answered the young woman. ¡°Really?¡± Her ever-present smile was there. ¡°I will walk you there, it is about two miles.¡± As we walked, Ophelia seemed unsure of herself but asked a question, ¡°Why are healing people?¡± ¡°I thought I could do some good, and it helps me work on advancing my spell,¡± I answered cheerfully. We reached the edge of the island and a rock outcropping was there with a small stone shack. Ophelia explained, ¡°One of the old spotter stations. They are not used any longer, but Striker moved in and just lives there.¡± The Arm extended about sixty feet out and was fifteen feet wide. Walking up the textured rock in the stiff breeze made me want to get some type of flight in case I ever fell. It was an amazing view of the colorful lowlands. I knocked on the door and heard some shuffling inside. ¡°What?¡± Came a gruff voice. ¡°I am High Mage Storme. I am here to offer free healing,¡± I responded. I waited, and the man inside the small ten-by-ten shack moved around and opened the door. The odor of an unwashed body assaulted my senses. In response, I activated my cleanliness spell, clearing the air. ¡°May I come in?¡± Ophelia had not walked out on the Arm, and I couldn¡¯t blame her. The man before me was thin of bone and hair. His eyes were slightly milky with cataracts. He moved aside, and I quickly cleaned everything in the small room. A bed, toilet, and shelf with an assortment of items on it. ¡°May I heal you?¡± I asked after I was finished cleaning. ¡°You can proceed,¡± he said with mild hope. I produced a jug of syrup from my dimensional space. His body was going to need the energy, and I he greedily drank the fluid, understanding its purpose. The old man was a mess. I started with his eyes, cleaning up his vision, and he blinked rapidly as I healed them. I worked on his liver next, as that was in serious need of attention. His body had a lot of scars from burns, so I removed them all. I moved from problem to problem. He had a lot of improperly healed bones. Old age and battle had ravaged the man, and I was surprised he was still alive. When I finished, I asked, ¡°Why are you living all the way out here, Striker?¡± He chuckled, still feeling out his body and licking his new teeth. ¡°Wow. I have not felt this good in decades. High Mage?¡± His clear eyes focused on me. ¡°I thank you for your efforts. I came out here to die decades ago but just seem not to have found the time to get around to it. The girls from the village bring me food, and I just seem to wake up every morning.¡± He laughed at his own joke. ¡°Your injuries were extensive. What did you do before you came out here?¡± I asked the man who was still testing out his body. He focused back on me, ¡°What? Oh, I was a skyship captain¡ªthe Endeavor. A merchant that traveled between the lowlands and Aegis City before being crashed by a pesky black dragon. Left me my body broken and with a coin to my name. Got some healing in the lowlands and made my way back to Skyholme. My property had been seized because I was four years behind on taxes. I found this shack and curled up to pass away my final time.¡± ¡°Striker, I am glad I could help.¡± I produced some prepared food from my dimensional space for him. ¡°I hope you find a new purpose to continue. Your body may be old, but your mind is still sharp. The Triumvirate is opening trade with the Sadians, so there is the opportunity for a skyship captain.¡± I reached out, and he shook my hand. ¡°The healing will have been taxing. Eat a lot more in the next few days, Striker.¡± A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. He looked younger but still old. I was not going to offer him a job as he had given up on living, and I did not want to employ someone who gave up so easily. However, I could understand why after I had to use almost all my aether to heal his extensive injuries. I left his stone shack and walked off the Arm. Striker followed me out and watched me go. Ophelia stared wide-eyed at the old man she had been bringing food to for years, ¡°If you continue to do this, you are going to be the most popular person in Skyholme,¡± she said with her beaming smile. I smiled back because I thought my popularity among the common people make Loriel slightly angry. I walked back to the city, smiling the entire way. At the Shiny Platinum, I called Cilia and Leda on the comm stones to get ready to leave. We would go and stay at the Black Spire tonight. Cilia answered, ¡°The ship is ready. Remy is having the last of the crates loaded now. Mera is looking for you as well.¡± ¡°I will be down with the cats in an hour,¡± I told her and went across the hall and knocked. Fera answered and opened the door wide to let me in with a massive smile. Mera was cooking dinner. ¡°Storme! We talked to my brother, and he is willing to work your farm on the capital island!¡± Fera added, ¡°He is excited about it. They just had a baby and wanted to get their own place.¡± Mera and Fera looked at each other and asked, ¡°How much does it pay?¡± ¡°He will be working the barley field. So, twenty gold a year and housing plus bonuses based on the harvest. I know living in the capital island is much more expensive. So I can also give him the opportunity to purchase goods in Hen¡¯s Hollow, and I will have Cilia transport them once a month,¡± I laid out my terms. Mera and Fera looked at each other, Fera spoke, ¡°That is most favorable. We will tell him tomorrow!¡± ¡°Excellent. He will have to get along with the Wolfsguard working the aether fields and orchards,¡± I added, and the twins affirmed that would not be a problem. ¡°He can live in the Black Spire until the farmhouse is renovated then.¡± I left the excited twins and did my evening routine with the cats. When I boarded the Maelstrom, I was shocked to find the cargo hold half full. Remy was checking a crate of blankets. He looked up, ¡°I think I got everything they will need. Getting enough for fifty-nine people is taxing!¡± ¡°Good job, Remy.¡± I went to the bridge, the cats bounding beside me. Cilia, Leda and Isla were on the bridge, and we were in the air shortly. I told them, ¡°I need the delve team to be brought to the Black Spire. Everyone. We have the Progenitor Dungeon to ourselves tomorrow, and I will be going in with the team.¡± I wanted to test the new dungeon and see its difficulty level. Hopefully Ullmark was still alive after confessing his sins to the Wolfsguard. Isla had some sketches of the new smaller warehouse on the plot of land adjacent to the Shiny Platinum. I looked at them but only cared about the exterior aesthetic value of the building. The cost estimates to construct the building gave me a headache. The two Harbingers were in the cradles as we flew over the Spire. The Navy was working on repairs to one of the cradles that one of the ships was in. The grounds had been cleaned by the Wolfsgurd. Bushes were cut back, the grass trimmed, and debris removed. We continued onto the farmhouse and set down. Remy ran off to get the Wolfsguard to help unload his crates. Isla went off to do some survey work and set up a delivery site for the stone she was having delivered. Everyone was busy. When a dozen Wolfsguard arrived, they made quick work of the crates, and Remy was excitedly handing out things from the crates. Cila and Leda went to collect the dungeon team, and I asked Asger, ¡°Asger, where is Ullmark?¡± ¡°The human is in the Black Spire, I think. I do not think he found what he was looking for when he spoke to our elders,¡± Asger admitted. ¡°I am going to find him then. I hope the efforts of Remy are being well received.¡± I paused, ¡°Asger, I am going to talk with the Wolfsguard on Stonefell Island. There are some wolfkin women there caring for the half-breed children. Can you come with me on the seventh day?¡± I asked. Having Asger with me would make it easier when I approached them and asked if any would like to join Asger¡¯s community. I was planning to offer the Wolfsguard the opportunity to have children under the protection of the Black Spire. ¡°I can come, but I am fairly disconnected from Wolfsguard. I do not think they would listen to me,¡± he admitted while loading some items into a backpack. ¡°It is more for you to make them of your living conditions. I am hoping to recruit some more Wolfsguard who may want to retire,¡± I said to a nodding Asger. As I was about to leave, Asger grabbed my arm, ¡°Thank you, Storme. I wanted to know we appreciate your efforts. I also wanted you to know four Wolfsguard among us served Otieno Bricio. They have disappeared, and I know they have no love for you no matter how much you do for us.¡± ¡°Understood, I will remain on guard, and if you can, please see if you can capture those four,¡± I said confidently. Four Wolfsguard hiding out there that may want to do me harm was not good. I needed to get Bleiz back to watch my back. I was on guard as I went to the Black Spire to talk with Ullmark. Ullmark was on the fourth floor with the blown-out windows. He saw me approach, ¡°You know, in all my time serving the Bricios, I never came up to this floor?¡± He was looking out at the Skyhold city in the distance. ¡°It is really a marvelous site.¡± I sat next to him in some chairs he must have brought up, ¡°Did you find the answers you were looking for?¡± Ullmark grunted, ¡°No. The Wolfsguard farmers did not care what role I played. They seemed to think someone else would have if I had not done it. No absolution yet.¡± ¡°I am going to be visiting the female wolfkin that are still in Skyholme. You can seek your penance there. But tomorrow, we are going into the Progenitor Dungeon. I need you to lead them. They should arrive sometime this evening.¡± He nodded at my request but did not speak. I left the brooding Ullmark and walked down the skyship cradles with the two Harbingers. A man in a captain¡¯s uniform greeted me, ¡°High Mage.¡± He bowed, ¡°I was at the reception for the Sadians. Thank you for your service to Skyholme. We have everyone off of the ship to the right, and the ingots are in the control room for your work. We will not disturb you. After you finish, we will move to the other vessel so you can work in peace.¡± My aether was still recovering from the healing, so I tempered his expectations, ¡°I will begin in the morning. Just give me a tour of your vessel.¡± The captain nodded, and the ship was old but well cared for. I used my metal sense and was a little shocked at how thin these runes were. They might have started to fail or become unreliable in another two or three hundred hours of heavy use. ¡°This ship does not see a lot of times in the skies, I assume?¡± The captain nodded, ¡°She was in the reserve docks. She took flight in the Sadian attack and when the Briocis revolted. Other than that, she has not been in the skies other than to make her way to your Black Spire.¡± ¡°Why has she been grounded?¡± I asked, feeling out more runes. ¡°It is her aether cannons. They were poorly designed and drew too much aether. Since they are embedded into the hull, building new hulls is cheaper than replacing the cannons on this one. Same with the other ship,¡± the captain noted. I walked to the cannons and studied the runic patterns. ¡°Do you have the original runic books for these cannons? I will need them by tomorrow if I am going to make sure they are in good working order.¡± I said, seeing some things I really liked. With mithril and adamantine, I could downsize these cannons for the Maelstrom. ¡°I will send a runner to the city for them, High Mage. We were told to do whatever we could to assist.¡± I nodded and continued my inspection. They had enough gold and platinum to do the work. Everything was in order. I noticed the Maelstrom was returning and landing near the Spire, so I went to great my delvers. Ullmark was outside as well and had a mask of cheer on. We had fourteen delvers and Ullmark. Talia was the first down the ramp, followed by Sammie and Lana. A lot of unfamiliar faces were mixed in as they approached Ullmark. Ullmark sounded joyous, ¡°Okay, you lot, we have a new challenge tomorrow! The famous Progenitor Dungeon. And we have it for the entire day. That means you need to find a room and get some rest as we start our delves at mid-night!¡± Some awe, excitement, and apprehension at the Spire and the magnitude of everything being thrown at them. Talia took over and guided the group into the tower to get them settled. It was going to be a very busy day tomorrow. The cats followed me onto the Maelstrom. I would get my short rest in my cabin. ? Copyrighted 2024 by AlwaysRollsAOne No Permission is given to translate, copy, or repost this original work of fiction. If you are reading this on a site that is not my Patreon, RoyalRoad.com, or Scribblehub.com it has been stolen without my permission and violates DMCA. Remember, this work results from my creative effort and is protected by copyright law. Removal or altering of this notification is an acknowledgment you are aware you are in violation of DMCA. Chapter 121 Chapter 121 I used my absolute time spell to set the alarm for an hour before midnight. When it went off, I fed the cats and cleaned the cabin. I told them I would be back after seeing the delve team off. I made my way to the Spire¡¯s first floor. Ullmark was here with his fake smile, getting the group ready. Talia walked over to me, ¡°High Mage Storme!¡± She was wearing her delving outfit and looked lean and fit. When I had recruited her she was a little soft, having focused on her studies at the Mage Academy. ¡°Are you going to be joining us?¡± I smiled at Selina¡¯s great-granddaughter, ¡°No, I have to work on the Harbinger skyships this morning. If I have any aether remaining, I may try to get on the team.¡± Ullmark was addressing the group, ¡°The Progenitor Dungeon has a very easy first level. Consider today your final test on whether you will become a Shiny Platinum Delve team member.¡± The group of mostly young men and women got serious at those words. ¡°This dungeon allows six members in at once,¡± Ullmark continued. ¡°Our goal is to harvest aetheric soil and monsters. The man behind you is High Mage Storme Hardlight. He pays your wages and is responsible for your good fortune in being here today.¡± Eyes turned and studied me, I smiled back. ¡°We are making four runs today on just the first level for harvesting, five hours each. Lana will be entering at the beginning of each run to fill her storage with aetheric soil. And then leaving the five other team members. We will be focusing on the rabbits and goats¡­.¡± Ullmark spent ten minutes detailing the attacks of the creatures. ¡°Now I will read off the teams: Team one: Ullmark, Lana, Namira, Kindroth, Lachlan, Delphia Team Two: Talia, Lana, Sammie, Luca, Zinnia, Lorcan Team Three: Ullmark, Lana, Sammie, Luca, Zinnia, Rex Team Four: Talia, Lana, Kindroth, Namira, Hadrian, Sabina¡± Talia was still next to me, and I congratulated her, ¡°Looks like you are leading the delve teams. Nice job!¡± ¡°Ullmark spent hours last night going over the monster¡¯s strength and weaknesses. I never thought I would be the adventurer type, but it does kind of grab you after a while. I recruited Zinnia and Luca from the Mage Academy, and I think they are hooked,¡± Talia said as the group processed Ullmark¡¯s group announcements and found their group members. Ullmark walked up to me, to me and Talia. As we discussed, he told Talia, ¡°We will camp out in front of the entrance and make switches every five hours. Lana knows where to bring the soil?¡± Talia nodded. ¡°Good, let us move out then.¡± I asked, ¡°So, are you only using twenty hours of the twenty-three we have?¡± ¡°Yes, it gives us some leeway in our switches and to review between delves,¡± Ullmark responded. ¡°Are you going to join any delves?¡± ¡°No. But try to leave me two hours at the tail end. If I have any aether left after working on the Harbingers, I may want to explore the dungeon a little bit,¡± I added. I watched them all leave. Lachlan, my alchemist, did not look too excited. He was the only herbalist we had, though. I went to the first Harbinger and got to work repairing the runes. It was not difficult work, just very tedious. It was early morning when the captain I talked with yesterday announced himself on deck. ¡°High Mage Storme!¡± I went up to the deck to find him holding three large old tomes. ¡°These are the references for the aether cannons, according to Admiral Sebastian Woodcraft. He said you could keep them as they are out of date and the design has too many flaws.¡± I eagerly took the tomes and paged through the primary reference. The flaws were easy to notice as they were designed to draw too much aether. The weapons had incredible range, almost twenty kilometers, and affected a large area¡ªthe reason why the aether drain was so extreme. I walked the runic cannons for a fourth time, repairing some minor damage and getting a clear picture of what I read. The cannons had some mods to them but generally followed the text. I put the books away and returned to working on refurbishing the first Harbinger. As I worked, I was reworking the runic cannons in my mind to add a smaller one to the Maelstrom. The cats bounded around the ship, and after I finished, I made sure to clean up after them. After spending hours below deck, I exited into the bright light of the day. The Maelstrom was not near the Spire, and I asked the captain waiting nearby, ¡°Your ship is finished. Where did my ship take off to?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve finished already?¡± the captain asked with disbelief. I gave him an impatient look. He understood, ¡°The Maelstrom went to land by the dungeon. I think they were loading their harvest.¡± ¡°You can move this ship, and I will finish the other Harbinger tomorrow,¡± I waved at the completed skyship. ¡°I will move my ship and send someone to contact Captain Gershwin. He is at the Naval Academy, and the other ship is his,¡± the captain answered, and I could tell he was trying to be as accommodating as possible. He was already calling for his crew to board the ship and prepare for departure. At least the Navy understood my value. I had used just under half of my aether and could have completed the other Harbinger but would wait till tomorrow. Instead, I headed toward the dungeon. The walk was due north through a woodland that was now part of the property. The trees were young and not overly tall. The leaves varied from a dark green to deep purple. I guessed they were planted in the last fifty years. The path was slightly overgrown with shrubbery but still easy to follow. When I reached the dungeon arc, I found the Maelstrom parked with the ramp down and the delvers not in the dungeon, lounging inside the cargo hold. Piles of rabbits lay on the floor of the hold, and Lachlan was sorting some flowers further in. Talia sat up, ¡°Storme, the third group, just went in. Lana should be out in a little while with her load of aether soil.¡± I looked over the harvest, and the red-haired Namira came to stand with me and Talia, ¡°Fifty-nine rabbits, gutted and ready for skinning.¡± Talia added, ¡°We decided to just take the rabbits today as the goats were a little heavy without a porter. Lachlan was showing us the two easiest flora to harvest: the black lilies and red ginger. The petals of the lilies are valuable, and the ginger root is easy to dig up.¡± Lana emerged from the dungeon and moved toward us. Talia announced, ¡°Sabina and Lorcan! You are on escort!¡± A young man with long black hair, leather armor, and a long sword on his belt stood. A dirty blonde middle-aged woman joined him. She had a pixie cut and a scar across her face. Talia explained, ¡°We send two people with her when she goes to drop off the aether dirt at the farm.¡± The two delvers left with Lana. ¡°It is a very easy dungeon. It is the easiest I have ever seen¡ªat least the meadows on the first level. The only thing is the rabbits are good at hiding and leaping from their burrows.¡± ¡°How were the unihorn goats?¡± I asked. Namira answered, eager for my attention, ¡°Easy. They are loud and rush you from a distance. A little larger than expected but not overly dangerous if you avoid the horn.¡± ¡°How is she doing?¡± I asked Talia, indicating Namira. Talia smiled devilishly, ¡°Namira is a decent fighter and improving. Works well in groups but talks too much.¡± Namira¡¯s mouth hung agape, ¡°I do not talk too much!¡± Talia rolled her eyes in jest, and I could tell the two actually got along well. I asked about the others, ¡°How are the new recruits doing?¡± This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Talia pursed her lips, ¡°A lot of them are learning on the job. Most never delved before signing on with us. Ullmark is still having trouble finding porters, but Zinnia is doing a great job as our second healer. She even has a decent aether pool.¡± Namira entered the conversation with, ¡°Luca is a good earth mage. A little shy but smart. Sabina has a stick up her ass, and it is easy to see why she has had trouble staying on other delve teams.¡± Talia added, ¡°Sabina is not that bad. She just does not like stupid people. She is a good front-line fighter, and as long as the fighter next to her is competent, she does not complain too much.¡± Talia pointed out the remaining people, ¡°That is Kindroth, our other healer. He has a simple mend flesh spell.¡± The young man was tall and lanky and resting against a nearby tree. ¡°His biggest problem is his small aether pool.¡± ¡°Hadrian and Cesar are brothers,¡± she pointed at two large young men with shaggy brown hair. ¡°They are a pair of jokesters. Both are powerful fighters and prefer a maul. They are not too bright but can give and take a hit. The only other one you do not know is the scout over there, Delphia.¡± The woman young and was sleeping on the grass under a tree. ¡°Is she any good?¡± ¡°Very good. But she likes to sleep. If she is not scouting, she is napping.¡± The lean woman rolled over and looked at us. She was forty feet away and had heard us talking about her? ¡°She has incredible hearing. Probably an ability.¡± ¡°Has everyone been tested by Ennet and Wynna?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, they all went to get readings. A few talked to Ullmark after but most did not.¡± I nodded as that was what Wynna would have advised them to do. ¡°I am planning to capture a pirate ship with the Maelstrom in two weeks. Do you think anyone here is good enough to join me?¡± I directed my question at Talia. ¡°I am in,¡± Namira blurted out. I ignored her and waited for Talia¡¯s reply. She gave it a hard thought, ¡°Sammie. The brothers Cesar and Hadrian would be good muscle. Delphia would be good as well.¡± There was a long pause after those three. ¡°Zinnia and myself. That is all.¡± Namira punched Talia softly, ¡°And this one if you want her. I do not think the rest would go, or their skills are more suited for dungeons than fighting on skyships.¡± ¡°The pay will be one hundred gold each. I will let you talk with them and see if they want to participate. It is obviously a dangerous venture, and I can not guarantee the safety of the participants,¡± I explained to Talia. ¡°Some would come just for the gold. I will talk to them. If you pay them so much, then they just might retire and live off the coin.¡± Talia muttered. ¡°I would not retire, Storme. You can count on me continuing to be on your team,¡± the fiery redhead exclaimed. ¡°Send Ullmark to my cabin when his team comes out,¡± I said, ignoring Namira¡¯s comment. Adrial and Kiara were stalking through the brush toward the scout Delphia. Delphia looked to be sleeping, but when the two miniature displacer beasts got ten feet away, Delphia sat up and looked directly at them. Kiara used her phasing ability before running onto the Maelstrom. Adrial was confused and ran after her white sister. I joined them in the cabin after talking with Leda concerning my plans. I worked on making long swords while waiting for Ullmark. I fed the cats when they reminded me, and eventually, Ullmark knocked. As he entered, his smiling facade faded. ¡°How did it go?¡± Ullmark winced, ¡°Lot of bad memories in there. The dungeon has changed very little in the years. Your delvers are coming along. You have one good team and another in training.¡± ¡°Glad to hear it, Ullmark. It sounds like you are not going to be continuing on with us?¡± I surmised by his attitude. Ullmark was silent, so I continued, ¡°We are heading to Stonefell Island to talk with the remaining Wolfsguard there and the wolfkin women who decided to remain in Skyholme. You did not find penance here, but maybe you can find what you are looking for there.¡± Ullmark nodded but did not speak. I went and told Cilia she could take off and pick up Asger before heading to Stonefell Island. We landed moments later, and Asger boarded the ship. I realized I would have to artifice the Wasp-class skyships being built on the island, so this was my chance to see their progress. Asger went to the bridge while I returned to Ullmark. Ullmark was still thinking when I returned. ¡°Ullmark, about my plan to take a pirate ship.¡± ¡°Huge risk for a huge reward. I think you know how to gauge your risk better than me in such matters.¡± Ullmark replied. ¡°But you are not going to participate?¡± I asked, but I already knew his answer. ¡°No, I will not be going. But I appreciate you helping me look for redemption with the wolfkin and Wolfsguard.¡± The Maelstrom was already on its approach to landing, and we went to the bridge. Cila was swinging the skyship into a massive quarry on the island below. The walls of the canyon had a number of paths and doors. Leda was behind me, ¡°This was used to quarry but was turned into a station for storing decommissioned skyships. They usually strip the power crystals and store them at the far end,¡± she indicated with a hand. The canyon opened wide at the end, and only one damaged Harbinger ship and one old trader were there. Cilia asked, confused, ¡°There used to be over a dozen skyships here. Most were damaged, but this site contained the retired fleet.¡± I had a decent knowledge of what was going on. The new Triumvirate was building skyships at a rapid pace and bringing all the old skyships they could to the skies, ¡°They have been scrambling to get all available assets to functionality before trade opens. They want to look as strong as possible.¡± Cilia landed us near the Wolfsguard living in the canyon¡¯s wall. I thought some of the Wasp-class ships would be here but did not see any. As the ramp descended, three older Wolfsguard greeted Ullmark, Asger, and myself. Everyone else was going to remain on board the ship. ¡°Welcome High Mage Storme. We were told you would be arriving to meet with the mother wolfkin.¡± ¡°Are you representing the Wolfsguard on Stonefell?¡± I asked the small group. ¡°I am Pakkaem. I am one of the captains. The other Captains are out on patrol.¡± The lead Wolfsguard stated. I recognized him. He was one of the Wolfsguard that had been at my ceremony with Bleiz. ¡°Where are the Wasp-class ships being constructed? I was asked to artifice them.¡± ¡°I know. They are being built in the adjacent canyon. If you will follow me, I will bring you to the wolfkin mothers.¡± Pakkem turned and walked toward the residences in the cliff. The lighting was mostly oil lamps. The passage went deep into the rocky cliffside. The stone was a dark granite, and the passages must have been carved with magic because they were smooth. As we got deeper, there were a number of young Wolfsguard in classrooms being taught. The room we finally entered had a classroom of the youngest Wolfsguard and four wolfkin women teaching them. The wolfkin had more pronounced wolf features, resembling more of an actual wolf with an elongated snout. The Wolfsguard were half-breed and much more human in appearance. One of the wolfkin stood and walked toward us, ¡°We can talk in another room, High Mage.¡± We moved to a smaller room with Pakkem and the wolfkin. I introduced my party, ¡°I am Storme, this is Asger, and this is Ullmark. We all have business here today, and I would Pakkem will remain. How should I address you?¡± The wolfkin facial features were difficult to read, ¡°My name? They never gave us names. I was abducted when I was seven. Before then, I was called Jaesmin.¡± I asked, ¡°Why did you stay? I thought you were allowed to return to the lowlands?¡± Jaesmin growled and lost her composure for a short while, ¡°Some of us could not leave our children. We are¡ªcontent to remain on the floating islands. What business do you have with me?¡± This was much more simple in my mind. ¡°I have taken over the Black Spire and the surrounding lands. There are Wolfsguard on my lands, and I have granted them permission to remain. I am paying them to work the aether field, and I wanted to invite anyone here to join Asger and his community.¡± Pakkam looked at Jaesmin and then spoke, ¡°We are content to remain here. We have freedom and have been treated well.¡± Asger stepped in, ¡°Our community is mostly older Wolfsguard with maimed younger Wolfsguard. It is in the middle of a woodland, and the High Mage has been extremely generous in making us comfortable.¡± The wolfkin Jaesmin added, ¡°There may be some of the young ones that I would prefer not to go through the weapons training. Perhaps they will choose to come to your community when they come of age to make their own decision.¡± This was not going as well as I had hoped. I did not want to drop my biggest chip yet, but I did not have a choice. Ullmark was also itching to make his own confession as well. ¡°There is something I can offer. You have been told,¡± I addressed Pakkam, ¡°That you can not have children. It is not true. The way you were conceived,¡± Jaesmin growled again, causing me to pause. Asger was interested to hear as well. ¡°It would be voluntary,¡± I added. ¡°Two Wolfsguard who wanted to have children. I have control of the dungeon by the Black Spire for one day a week. I would allow anyone wanting to use it for this purpose access.¡± Pakkam¡¯s body language had changed, ¡°What is your price for this access?¡± ¡°Getting right to it?¡± I responded. ¡°There is a price.¡± They all waited on me, ¡°I need independents on my land with no connection to the Triumvirate. I need to maintain fifty guardsmen for my skyship stationed at the Spire. I want the Wolfsguard to help train the guardsmen. If they want to become a member of the skyship crew, I would be open to that as well.¡± There was silence, and Ullmark fidgeted. Pakkam and Jaesmin were looking at each other. Finally, Jaesmin spoke, ¡°High Mage, we need some time to discuss this with everyone.¡± ¡°I will return tomorrow then. This is Ullmark,¡± I indicated the man. ¡°He wants to discuss something with you. I am going to leave him here.¡± Ullmark nodded. ¡°Asger are you coming back with me?¡± The old Wolfsguard gave me a glance. ¡°I will remain here to answer any questions they have about the Spire.¡± I left them to resolve the issue and return to the Spire. It felt like I had so many things happening all at once. I needed to use some energy, and going into the dungeon for a few hours was exactly what I needed. I returned to the Maelstrom, and we returned to the Progenitor Dungeon. Chapter 122 The Progenitor Dungeon Chapter 122 The Progenitor Dungeon The Maelstrom circled the Spire once. The cats were on the bridge and staring out the viewport with me. The two nearby skyship cradles were now only half full. The refurbished Harbinger I had finished had left. Only a half dozen uniformed Navy men were on the deck of the other Harbinger. We continued north to the dungeon. When we landed near the dungeon team, it was late evening. According to my absolute time spell, the fourth and final run should be finishing soon. Lana approached me as I departed the Maelstrom. She had a large, bright smile and said, ¡°That was the most beautiful dungeon I have ever been in!¡± ¡°Did you finish all four loads of aetheric soil to the fields?¡± I asked as the cats circled me and looked for a target. They locked onto the sleeping Delphia again. She appeared to be sleeping, but as soon as the cats started to crouch and move toward her, she turned her head and opened her eyes. This caused the two brave cats to scatter into the brushes, seeking less alert prey. Lana watched the comical cats before answering. ¡°Yes. I spread the soil out, and it needs to be tilled into the earth. I think the Wolfsguard will be working to turn the soil by hand the next two days before planting. At least that is what I was told on my last trip a few hours ago.¡± Sammie joined us, and she was coated in blood splatter, so I hit her with a cleanliness casting. She looked down, ¡°Thanks Storme! Cutting the rabbits out of the air with my axe caused a huge mess. At least the goats were not as bad.¡± ¡°Did you see the hippogriff?¡± I questioned, as I was interested in the floor challenge monster. ¡°Just from a distance. Ullmark and Talia had us keep our distance. It is an easy first level. Probably could run it with three or four experienced delvers,¡± Sammie remarked. I just nodded, knowing she had only swung her axe at trees a few months ago. She was now a confident warrior, bloodied a thousand times over on dungeon monsters. I asked Sammie, ¡°Are you willing to join the raid on the pirate ship?¡± ¡°Talia only mentioned it briefly before she entered the dungeon. I think so. I just had a few questions,¡± Sammie said contemplatively. ¡°Why isn¡¯t Lana going, and what is the danger level like?¡± ¡°Good questions. I did not see the need for her skill set, but she is welcome to come. As for the danger, I hope to target a large, slow-moving skyship. If we get into trouble, then we can flee on our faster ship. I am guessing the pirates will have between thirty to forty men.¡± I answered her. I was actually planning to do a lot of research in Llorth when I returned to collect Bleiz. Sammie nodded, ¡°Ok, I am in, but Lana wants to come.¡± I turned to the small young woman, who shrugged and nodded as well. ¡°Okay, Lana. You are in at the same coin.¡± Sammie hugged her small friend at my confirmation. I moved away from them and asked everyone to load up on the Maelstrom. It would bring them back to the Shiny Platinum so they could get a good meal before returning home. I used my cleanliness spell on each of them as they climbed on board. I had Leda come and take the cats on board as well. They were flying to Aegis City and back while I was in the dungeon. Twenty minutes later, Talia¡¯s team emerged loaded with thirty rabbits, two goats and smiles. I moved to talk with Talia, ¡°How did it go?¡± ¡°Excellent! We were tired, but it was fun. Kindroth found an entire valley of the rare lilies Lochlan told us to be on the lookout for. There were about a dozen blink rabbits, and Hadrian got bit in the ass, but we handled it.¡± Talia said cheerfully, knowing her long day was over. ¡°The Triumvirate guards will be returning in a few hours, and I am going in by myself,¡± Talia frowned as I continued, ¡°I want to lock out the dungeon, so I need five people to enter with me and leave.¡± The dungeon could hold six delvers, and if five left I would be the only one inside. I would have to either exit the dungeon or go to a lower floor to allow more people in. ¡°I am not letting you go in alone, Storme. It only takes one mistake, and you could be killed. I will go with you,¡± Talia said sternly like there was no point in objecting. I gave it some thought, ¡°Fine. Ask if anyone else wants to join for an extra five gold. I want someone to guard your back, so one scout or a fighter.¡± Talia walked onto the Maelstrom while I geared up from my dimensional space with my light leather armor and weapons. I planned to focus on spell development and not swing my falchion around. My aether core was well over half full, and as long as I did not use lightning reflexes I would not run out of aether. I was surprised when the female scout, Delphia, walked down the ramp with Talia. Delphia was the woman who was sleeping every free moment she had. She also seemed to attract the two displacer beast kittens. I nodded to her and the three others who would enter with us and leave. I entered the dungeon first and found myself in a meadow with gently rolling hills all around me. It was mid-day, but the cool, dry breeze had no heat to it. The air smelled fresh and clean. The grass was a rich green and knee-length and waved in the breeze. Talia was behind me, ¡°It is idealistic, but the rabbits hide in the grass and their burrows. Also, be careful not to accidentally step in one of the burrows. Someone in Ullmark¡¯s group twisted an ankle.¡± ¡°Where did you harvest the soil from,¡± I asked as Delphia joined us. The other three entered and left just as quickly, locking the dungeon from having others enter behind us. Talia pointed, ¡°We found that mound to the right was the quickest and easiest to load out Lana¡¯s space.¡± I walked in that direction and climbed the small incline to stand on top. It gave me a view around me, and I found that everything looked the same in every direction...endless soft rolling meadows, grassy meadows with some bright flowers mottling the green. Talia and Delphia joined me. ¡°Which direction is the hippogriff?¡± Talia put her hands on my shoulders and turned me. In the distance, I could see a larger hill. It was not obvious unless you studied the horizon. ¡°Okay, we will head in that direction.¡± As we walked through the grass down the hill, Dephia announced, ¡°Two rabbits to the right.¡± I paused, and it took me a moment to spot them. Their mottled brown coats blended well with the ground. ¡±How did you see them?¡± I asked the scout. ¡°I heard their heartbeats,¡± she said. From my surprise, she added, ¡°It is a tier three enhanced hearing ability.¡± ¡°Tier three. Impressive. Well, I am going to be working on my spell craft in this delve. You two will be mostly observers and spotters.¡± I turned to the rabbits and cast my lightning sphere. I created a small ball of blue sparking energy and flung it between the two rabbits. It struck the ground and spread out, stunning both rabbits. I walked up to them and ended both of them. I picked one up, it weighed about ten pounds and was large for a rabbit. After confirming they had tiny aether crystals, I moved them to my dimensional space. I would send them to a butcher when I got back to Aegis City. Leveling my tissue extraction spell was not a priority this trip. I mostly wanted to focus on my offensive spells. Delphia asked, ¡°You have a dimensional space as well?¡± The young woman sounded impressed. I continued to walk, scanning the grass, and answered her, ¡°Yes, same as Lana.¡± It was not a secret, but the size of my space was unknown, so I decided to downplay it. As we walked, I used my lightning sphere repeatedly at around twenty feet. According to Talia, the rush attack for the rabbits happened at around fifteen feet. The rabbits would charge, leap, and then blink right in front of you, attacking exposed flesh with sharp teeth. With Delphia¡¯s spotting, we never were attacked. The stun lasted about seven seconds on the rabbit, and even then, they were slow to start moving for a few more seconds. They were simple tier-one monsters with sharp teeth and a leaping blink attack. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. After the twenty-eighth rabbit, Delphia announced, ¡°A goat is charging from over that hill.¡± I immediately cast my arcane web on the ground in front of us. The goat charged through the grass and was immediately snared in the web. It bayed pitifully as it was thoroughly caught in the sticky matrix of webbing. I walked onto the web, unaffected by the surface, and ended the goat. Studying the goat, the horn was about nine inches long and in the center of the forehead. It was just dense bone, maybe good for carving, but that was about it. I guessed the goat to be about a hundred pounds, and if it managed to charge and connect with the horn, it would be a painful experience. I cut the goat¡¯s throat and, moved it to my dimensional space and stood. The goat also had a small aether crystal, but nothing special. It was just another simple tier one creature. Delphia muttered, ¡°If it is going to be this easy, I might as well take a nap.¡± I asked the woman, ¡°Why do you sleep so much anyway?¡± She blushed red, and stuttered, ¡°I do not a-actually s-sleep. I am meditating.¡± She regained composure and started, ¡°I can not turn off my enhanced hearing ability. The meditation helps me reduce ambient noise and focus on specific sounds. I am still trying to master it. Before the mediation, the cacophony of sounds made it too hard to fight effectively. That was why I chose the scout role.¡± ¡°Huh. I think you are doing an excellent job,¡± I remarked. ¡°It is easier to filter out your two heartbeats than an entire group of delvers to identify the monsters. Especially since you are doing all the fighting. All I need to do is focus and listen,¡± Delphia smiled brightly. I think she was impressed with my spellcraft. As I continued my goat and rabbit slaughter, I asked Delphia between encunters, ¡°Why did you volunteer?¡± ¡°Five gold is a nice incentive,¡± she admitted, ¡°but mostly, I want to earn a permanent spot. I want an apartment at the Shiny Platinum and constant employment at one of the best-delving operations in Skyholme.¡± Talia smirked and coughed, ¡°Best delving operations? We would rank fifteenth or so in loot among all the delving guilds. We do slightly better since most of our harvest is processed into high-end goods.¡± Delphia laughed lightly at being revealed, ¡°Fine, I was sucking up to the owner and High Mage.¡± I paused my massacre. I was likely to lose Ullmark, and we needed good scouts. ¡°Do you have any other abilities besides hearing, Delphia? You did get a reading from Ennet and Wynna?¡± Seeing an opportunity to impress me, she answered, ¡°Tier one nimble. It enhances my manual dexterity. I have two tier-one skill affinities as well. Stealth and awareness.¡± I looked over at Talia, who looked impressed. It was a good skill set for a scout. She needed a bow, though, as she only had an array of throwing daggers. I announced, ¡°Good enough. Consider yourself a full-fledged member of the Shiny Platinum Delvers. You can see Remy for a room when you get back. Do you know how to use a bow?¡± Talia answered for her, ¡°She has a short bow but did not bring it as she prefers close combat.¡± ¡°It is my vision,¡± she admitted. ¡°Objects far away are slightly blurry. I am saving up for an ocular rejuvenation to correct my sight.¡± ¡°May I?¡± I asked the scout. She let me touch her, and I studied her body and her eyes in particular with my healing spells. It was easy to see the cause of her sight problems. My lesser restoration spell did quick work on optimizing her sight. I would not have noticed if I had not been specifically looking for it. This was how she was born, so the quick diagnostic would have shown her healthy with normal sight. Delphia blinked rapidly and stumbled slightly. ¡°What? Everything is so much clearer! I am fine. Just my brain is being overloaded with new details.¡± She studied her hands and then looked around, surprised. ¡°Damn, you do not really see until you really see.¡± She looked at me with admiration and appreciation. ¡°Master Mage Storme, how can I ever thank you! The healer in the capital wanted one hundred and fifty gold to alter my eyes!¡± ¡°Just keep my secrets, Delphia. Everything you see me do in here,¡± I indicated the dungeon, ¡°Is not to be revealed to anyone.¡± She nodded and studied me again, looking me up and down. Talia stepped between us and announced, ¡°We should keep moving Storme.¡± She put her hand on my shoulder and gently pushed me toward the hippogriff. I understood immediately that Talia was being protective and maybe a little jealous of Delphia. I considered Delphia for a moment, she was attractive with emerald eyes and an athletic feminine figure. She was a head shorter than me, about 5¡¯9¡±. I continued my hunting and asked, ¡°Did you attend the Dungeon Academy?¡± Delphia responded quickly, ¡°I did. I graduated last year near the bottom of my class, but that was due to my poor eyesight,¡± she explained. ¡°I did a number of delves with other Guilds but never really fit in as I do with yours.¡± The math told me she was about 22 years old. That would be about 25 in Earth years due to the longer years in the Sphere. I do not know why I was interested in the woman but I was. I asked, ¡°Were your parents delvers too?¡± Delphia answered as I stunned three rabbits grouped together, ¡°My father is a mason in Aegis City, and my mother is a weaver. I did not want to apprentice in either profession, so I entered the Dungeon Academy under a sponsor. My sponsor was killed in the Sadian attack, and I was able to get my contract annulled.¡± Talia seemed reconciled to my interest in the scout. We had reached the largest hill in the meadows, and I did not see the hippogriff. Talia stepped in, ¡°I think we need to climb the hill. Ullmark said the hippogriff would appear, and then rabbits would rush up the hill to distract us.¡± ¡°It seems too simple. I will just cast some webbing on the ground around us to stop the rabbits and then ground the hippogriff with a web,¡± I stated my plan. ¡°So we are going to attempt the floor challenge then?¡± Talia asked excitedly. ¡°I do not see why not. This floor was fairly easy, and I want to practice my spells more,¡± I said while leading them up the hill and laying out arcane webs as I went. There were no rabbits in sight yet and we easily made it to the top of the hill. There was a large black circular stone here, maybe ten feet across. ¡°I think we have to stand on the stone?¡± I guessed. I took time adding arcane webs on the ground around the stone, and then we all stepped on the circular stone together. A piercing cry of an eagle reverberated in the skies. Talia pointed in the direction where the avian creature was coming. It was small but approaching fast. Rabbits started to appear around the base of the hill and raced up through the grass toward us, maybe twenty in total. ¡°You two make sure the rabbits are handled. I will focus my efforts on the hippogriff.¡± Talia muttered, ¡°About time,¡± and began firing bolts of blue energy at the rabbits. That was her aether bolt spell. I focused on the winged creature approaching. I had not practiced casting the arcane web spell into the air and tested it once. The square arcane web did not have a lot of momentum and only made it twenty feet before descending. My attack was going to be about timing then. I warned my companions, ¡°My range is limited to twenty feet, so be ready for the creature to crash near us.¡± I started to fire my lightning spear, which had a range of one hundred feet before disappearing, but I only had good accuracy out to about forty feet. I fired a steady cadence of the blue-white shafts of lightning, and the hippogriff made aerial maneuvers to dodge, slowly its approach. It suddenly was less interested in attacking and more interested in not being hit. I fired over forty lightning spears and only hit twice, but each strike was met with a shriek of pain from the beast. As the beast circled, Talia announced, ¡°All the rabbits are finished, twenty-four in total.¡± ¡°I thought dungeon monsters just attacked mindlessly? Why is the hippogriff not swooping in on us?¡± I asked as I continued to fire lightning spears. ¡°The challenge monsters are smarter. It probably thinks it is exhausting you of aether by flying around out of range,¡± Delphia answered. I stopped firing my lightning spear, and she was right. The flying beast swung toward us on a diving run. I readied my arcane web spell and caught it dead on at twenty feet. I had to activate lightning reflexes and pull Delphia out of the way of the crashing monster. We rolled on the ground together, and I was up quickly and firing lightning spears at the entangled hippogriff. Its tier two strength was breaking the webbing. Talia joined in with her arcane bolt, and soon the giant struggling half-horse, half-eagle, was silenced. ¡°That was not so bad,¡± I announced, looking for the reward chest. It was in the center of the circular stone. I opened the small chest and was confused. There were a dozen large silver coins with a hippogriff on one side and a cute bunny on the other. The only other object was a fan made from feathers. Talia informed me, ¡°Most of the items this dungeon gives are comfort items, according to Ullmark.¡± She picked up the fan and used it on herself. ¡°Yes, this fan is enchanted to create a dry, cool breeze. I took the fan from her and confirmed her assessment. I handed it back to her, ¡°You can keep it, Talia.¡± I sent the silver coins to my dimensional space. The stone around us sank into the earth, forming stairs descending to the next level of the dungeon. Delphia looked down at the steps and the runes around the entrance, indicating what we could expect on the next level. ¡°Are we going to continue, High Mage Storme?¡± I nodded, ¡°I still need some practice, and we have two hours left before the dungeon is returned to the care of the Triumvirate. Let us go,¡± I said, leading the way. ? Copyrighted 2024 by AlwaysRollsAOne No Permission is given to translate, copy, repost or alter to an audio format of this original work of fiction. If you are reading this on a site that is not my Patreon, RoyalRoad.com, or Scribblehub.com, it has been stolen without my permission and violates DMCA. Remember, this work is the result of my creative effort and is protected by copyright law. Removal or altering of this notification is an acknowledgment you are aware you are in violation of DMCA. Chapter 123 Chapter 123 The second floor had large flowing trees with red fruit hanging from the branches. I turned to my two companions, ¡°Ullmark called this the orchard. The fruit is edible but extremely bitter. Ullmark said they sometimes harvested the fruit for livestock.¡± Talia walked to the nearest tree and pulled one of the fruits like a small red apple. She bit into it and immediately spit it out. ¡°Bitter? It takes almost like vinegar!¡± Of course, I had to try one and chewed on it for a few moments. I spit it out and said, ¡°That is exactly what it tastes like. If it is vinegar, then it is not completely useless.¡± I motioned to the field, ¡°The trees are haphazard, and the leaves and flowers won¡¯t give you a line of sight more than forty feet. The two monsters wandering the woods are blink dogs and kobolds.¡± Delphia asked, ¡°Blink dogs are pretty easy to handle. Just normal dogs that can teleport up to forty feet. The reset for their ability is usually over a minute, so just kill them before then.¡± ¡°That is what I learned at the Academy as well. They are smarter as well. The only danger comes when there is a large pack, but Ullmark told me at most, there will be two attacking in an area. The kobolds are a bit more of a problem. They always appear in threes and use slings. I read about them in my tier one creature manual, but we have not gone over them in the class.¡± I paused to add two dozen of the apples to storage. I had an apple press at the farm. Maybe these apples had fermented to vinegar. It was not very profitable, but still useful. I turned to the two women, ¡°The challenge monster that guards this floor is at the center of the orchard. It is something called an owlbear. It is a large bear with the head of an owl. It is a difficult opponent, according to Ullmark. It is a tier two creature, but it is as difficult as they come. We will travel around the edge of the orchard and circle back to the portal. The orchard is about three miles across, so we have about a twelve-mile walk ahead of us.¡± The edge of the dungeon floor to our left was a rocky downward slope. I looked down at it as we walked, and Delphia commented, ¡°That is typical for floors that have open skies. You can climb down the rocks and find the outer wall. Sometimes, it is stone, sometimes painted, and rarely a swirling wall of colors. That means it is at the very edge of the ley line.¡± I was almost curious enough to check, but we kept walking. The air smelled sweet from the blossoms, and was a pleasant walk. The first pair of blink dogs charged out of the flowing trees. Dark brown coats and long jaws barking at us. They had a much longer range than the blink rabbits, so my arcane web spell was not useful. My lightning spear dropped one in its tracks at fifty feet. The other dog blinked behind me and attacked Talia. Talia had her aether armor active. The dog knocked her to the ground and bit into her forearm. She had her aether armor spell active so it could not break the skin. Delphia planted two daggers in its neck and dragged it off of her. Talia got up cursing, ¡°Stupid ass mutts. It should have gone for you as the front-line threat.¡± I helped her up with a hand, ¡°They are smarter than normal dogs. They are known to blink behind people so they can attack the back.¡± Talia griped, ¡°I never took a class on dungeon creatures!¡± I used my tissue extraction spell to take the small tier-one aether crystals from the corpses. Each one was about two units and worth about 40 silver coins each. Finished with the blink dogs, I stood, ¡°If you want, I will pay for you to change to the Dungeon Academy in the capital.¡± I offered as Delphia pointed out movement in the orchard. Talia considered, ¡°Maybe I could take a few classes. Am I going to be given charge of my own team?¡± ¡°If Ullmark does not return, then you will be in charge of all the delvers,¡± I replied as the first stones pinged off my aether shield. The three kobolds directed a steady stream of sling fire at us. Delphia was standing behind me, and I had two aether shields up. ¡°Okay, I am going to use my exchange ability. I am going to exchange places with one of the kobolds,¡± I announced. ¡°You are going to do whaaa¡­¡± I disappeared before Delphia finished her question and appeared next to the kobolds. With a two-handed grip, I cut one diagonally. Its eyes were wide in shock as its life left it. The other kobold did not fare better as my falchion removed its head form a horizontal slash. Delphia and Talia handled the one that took my place. I knelt and pulled a tiny aether crystal, half the size and value of the one I harvested from the blink dog. Even though these crystals were small, every creature had yielded one. I walked back to the group and got the crystal from the one I had sent here in my place. Delphia asked, ¡°What was that?¡± ¡°It allows me to exchange places with another being. The only limitation is that it must be between fifty and five hundred pounds and have its own aether core. You agreed to keep my secrets, Delphia. This is one of them.¡± I looked her in the eye, and she licked her lips, studying me. Talia pushed me to start walking, ¡°We do not have much time left. We are already going to exit past our allotted time, Storme. We should move quickly.¡± In fact, we only made it about a mile before my clock said we only had fifteen minutes remaining. We turned around and walked back to the portal to exit the dungeon. Talia walked closely to me on my left, while Delphia was close to me on my right. Delphia mentioned, ¡°If you ever want to run a dungeon by yourself again, I would be happy to serve as your spotter.¡± Talia answered for me, ¡°If I am in charge of the delvers, then that will be my decision who to send with Storme.¡± Delphia snorted, and I could sense some tension. I took the air out of both of them. ¡°I am picking up Bleiz next sixth day. He will watch my back if I delve again to level my spells.¡± My response had Delphia huff, but Talia grunted satisfiedly. When we exited the arch, there were four guards in the Blackguard uniform. These were not wolfkin, just the humans who had replaced them. One walked forward, ¡°High Mage, the delvers entered twenty minutes ago. The first level was reset, so we did not think it was an issue.¡± ¡°You did the correct thing. I am sorry I was a bit late in my departure,¡± I said. ¡°As long as the first floor is open, I do not see it as a problem. The first team we send in on seventh day only works the first floor of the dungeon.¡± He said respectfully. ¡°Thank you. That is good to know,¡± I said, leaving to board the Maelstrom. In the cargo hold, I emptied my dimensional space of the loot I had gathered and walked to the bridge. The two cats assaulted my legs playfully as I told Leda and Cilia to return to Aegis City and then land the Maelstrom outside the Spire when they returned. I would leave sometime later today. I walked through the woods alone in the very early part of the day. The short, dark night had passed and was somewhat dark as I walked. Kiara and Adrial explored the woods to my side but could not scare up any prey as my pace was fast. When I arrived at the Spire, no one was there. The massive structure was empty. I walked up the steps and the delvers had all used the bedroom suites. I could not find a single bed untouched. These accommodations were also a little too fancy for my delvers. I did not want to spoil them this much. On the second floor of the Spire were the Bricio offices and meeting rooms. I would have them converted in the future. I opened up my dimensional space and spooked the two displacer beasts. I usually just pulled items in and out of the space without actually opening it. The space had two levels. On the second level was a bedroom I had not used. I anchored the space to stone in the wall and entered carrying the cats. I closed the doorway behind me. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The two cats panicked until I fed them and went through the training routine with them. They then went about exploring the space. I cleaned myself with my spell and lay on my bed. I started to review my gains from the day. My absolute time spell reached level ten. It was a handy spell, and with evolutions, I could set timers, alarms, and I always knew the day and time. Aether shield had reached level 17, and with the compounding evolutions, I could now mimic arcane armor spell. The aetheric armor around my body was also much stronger than that spell. This would save me from establishing a directional shield with the spell. The only down was it consumed all three aetheric shield discs I could cast. Arcane web had reached level 6. For the level five evolution I just increased the strength of the strands again. That was so next time, it should be able to hold the hippogriff. Lightning spear, one of the two spells I used the most, reached level 11. I increased the range from forty feet to seventy feet. The spell quickly lost power at forty feet, and that made hitting the flying hippogriff difficult. The other spell I cast quite a bit on the rabbits was lightning sphere. This spell went from level one to six during the delve. I increased the speed of the ball when thrown at level three, and the level five evolution turned the ball invisible. This was more to confuse future opponents. The paralyzing effect was not strong but had a good radius effect. The only other spell to gain a level was tissue extraction. Reaching level seven, the evolution focused on being able to do multiple actions with a single cast of the spell. This would save time and aether in the future. If I was going to delve for loot, then conserving aether would be a priority so I could go deeper with each delve. The cats curled up on the bed, having finished exploring and ensuring the space was safe. I rubbed Adrial¡¯s head absent-mindedly as I did my own aether exercises. Her purr was more like a low growl as she pressed her crown into my hand. Kiara, seeing her sister getting attention, forced her white fluffy head into my other hand. Her purr was much lower and more of a soft rumble. I feel asleep and woke to my internal alarm after seven hours. It was mid-morning when I stepped out of the space. I had a lot of prepared food in my dimensional closet. Time passed one hundred times slower when the space was not open, or I was not residing within it. It was time to clean out the old food anyway. The spell was at level twenty and I was going to have a hard choice at level twenty-three for the evolution. Make the space large or slow time even further. As I walked out of the Spire with the cats in the rear screen, the Maelstrom was outside with the ramp down, and Cilia immediately asked, ¡°Where were you? We searched the Spire and could not find you.¡± ¡°High Mage secrets,¡± I said, smiling. ¡°Is Isla with you?¡± Leda came out of the Spire behind me, ¡°She is with the stone mage at the Wolfsguard town. They are laying out the new construction and setting up dump sites for the stone they are ordering. Storme, where were you?¡± She repeated Cilia¡¯s question. Cilia answered for me, ¡°High Mage secrets.¡± Leda dodged Adrial¡¯s attempt to play with her. ¡°Storme, where are we needed today?¡± I pointed at the Harbinger on the rebuilt cradle. ¡°I am going to finish that, and then we are going back to Stonefell Island. I hope to be back at the Shiny Platinum before dinner, but I am not certain when we will depart.¡± I started walking and paused, ¡°Go bring Isla to me while I work.¡± I continued on my task for the Triumvirate. This Harbinger was in much worse condition. It also had the same ridiculous aether cannon. The Navy did not have the aether crystals to power them. I started my work, and an hour later, the cats alerted me to Isla descending the stairs. ¡°Storme? You asked for me?¡± She asked, bending down to give the cats some attention. ¡°How is the staffing coming for the Spire? I also need a rush on the conversion of the second floor to rooms for my delvers,¡± I stated. ¡°I have a free people I am interviewing to manage the grounds. As for inside the Spire itself, you told me to prioritize the new tow for the Wolfsguard,¡± she said with some annoyance. ¡°Just hire more people. The second floor needs to be converted to for, say, twenty-four delvers and some recreation areas as well. I do not want them to utilize the luxury suites on the third floor when they come the next sixth day. Hire some maids to keep the Spire clean and the luxury suites for the guests,¡± I gave her the orders. ¡°I thought the second floor was going to be converted for the fifty guardsmen?¡± Isla asked, taking notes, ¡°No, build a barracks by the skyship cradles instead,¡± I decided. ¡°Out of stone?¡± Isla asked reflexively. I definitely preferred the more permanent structures. ¡°I think wood would be built faster, and I am struggling with finances for now. After we deliver the blood marble and I do the trade run to Llorth, I may change my mind. For now, wood.¡± I finished and turned my back to Isla. ¡°How many servants did you want inside the Spire?¡± She asked as I continued my work. ¡°Ten? That should be enough. But they need to live on-site. I think most of the luxury suites had small servant rooms. They can stay there.¡± I announced, trying to focus on replenishing the runes. ¡°When you have guests, they will bring their own servants, Storme.¡± Her response was met with a dead gaze from me. ¡°Okay, I will figure it all out,¡± she muttered. ¡°I will need more coin.¡± ¡°When I return from the trade mission next sixth and seventh day,¡± I said calmly. ¡°You can raid my funds at the Exchange in the meantime. Remy has access. There should be maybe a thousand gold left in those accounts. If Remy can sell the harvest from yesterday, it will be another hundred gold.¡± I was referring to the accounts that Wynna set up for me before I entered my first year at the Academy. That was my personal account, and I had not touched it. The Shiny Platinum and Shiny Platinum Delving account was separate. I was not going to touch that account as it was used to pay for supplies and salaries. Last I checked, it had about twelve hundred gold in it. ¡°I will stretch it for the week,¡± she announced. I pulled four platinum from my space and handed them to her. ¡°This should help a lot. You want me to keep your delver rooms simple?¡± ¡°Definitely. I do not want them to get too comfortable.¡± She nodded at my statement and finally left me to work. It was late in the day when I was finished. After all the work, I only had about twenty percent of my aether remaining. When I started the project, my core had been over half full. It had taken me longer than the first Harbinger, but I still used the same amount of aether. I walked up on deck, had been working for over ten hours, and was nervous about my next stop. Was Ullmark going to leave the delving operations? Would I add more Wolfsguard to the estate? The Maelstrom was waiting for me. The two cats chased after me as I had accidentally left them on the ship in my focused state. They were getting bigger, gaining about half a pound a day. I boarded the ship and found Cila on the bridge, Leda came out of the cabin, having obviously been sleeping. We were soon in the air and headed for Stonefell Island. When we landed Asger, Pakkam and Jaesmin came to meet me. No, Ullmark. I smiled diplomatically and asked, ¡°Has there been any resolution since I was last here?¡± Jaesmin smiled coyly, ¡°There has been a number of productive discussions. We three are going to travel back with you to see if what Asger has advertised is true.¡± ¡°Understood. Where is Ullmark?¡± I asked cautiously. Jaesmin lost her politeness with a low growl but got it under control, ¡°He plans to atone by helping here. How long he remains is up to him. If you wish, you can speak with him before we leave.¡± ¡°No, we can leave immediately,¡± I said, moving back to the Maelstrom. I was happy that Ullmark was not dead. My other fear of losing him from running my delve team was prophetic. We all entered the bridge, and the two displacer beasts did not know what to make of Jaesmin. Her scent was too foreign to them, but their training held, and I used the hand sign for them not to attack. Pakkam was extremely curious about the two displacer beasts and asked me numerous questions about them. It helped the flight proceed quickly. We landed at the shanty town by the orchards, and thankfully, Isla was still here with the stone mage, setting ground markers for the buildings. I let everyone do the selling and worked on creating long swords in my cabin on the Maelstrom. Three hours later, they came for me to continue negotiations. Jaesmin opened, ¡°The consensus is many Wolfsguard would like to have children. In exchange for this privilege, the pair will serve as your guard for five years before utilizing the dungeon to consummate the bargain.¡± I could tell by her body language and stress on the word dungeon that she did not like this. ¡°I can agree to those terms. I am even open to letting them use the dungeon during their service,¡± I replied. Jaesmin looked and Pakkam, who nodded. ¡°Acceptable,¡± Jaemsin said. ¡°As to your Wolfsguard community and training your guards¡ªwe have twenty-seven who would move here immediately to begin a life of farming.¡± ¡°That is agreeable as long as they realize it will take time for the town to be constructed. How many pairs want to have a child?¡± I inquired. Pakkam answered, ¡°It is in flux. There are more males than females, and finding those willing is a¡ªprocess. In the first year, I expect around thirty couples. The problem is it will cause our staffing on the new skyships to fall short. We will need to talk to the Triumvirate.¡± I nodded and was smiling inwardly at the headache this might cause Loriel. I might not have to hire any guards next year if I had enough Wolfsguard. I still needed the skyship, but things were working themselves out. The three of them decided to remain with Asger for a few days. I took the Maelstrom back to the Shiny Platinum as I had class tomorrow. It had been a very productive last few days. ? Copyrighted 2024 by AlwaysRollsAOne No Permission is given to translate, copy, repost or alter to an audio format of this original work of fiction. If you are reading this on a site that is not my Patreon, RoyalRoad.com, or Scribblehub.com, it has been stolen without my permission and violates DMCA. Remember, this work is the result of my creative effort and is protected by copyright law. Removal or altering of this notification is an acknowledgment you are aware you are in violation of DMCA. Chapter 124 Chapter 124 As I made dinner in my apartment, a knock at my door made me pause. I opened the door to find a smiling Delphia, ¡°Hey, boss. Just wanted to say high to my new neighbor.¡± ¡°What? You moved in already?¡± I asked, noticing she was wearing some suggestive clothing to highlight her curves. ¡°Yes. Remy said the room next to yours was vacant. I moved my things in today. It smells funny and does not have any furniture,¡± she said, still smiling. She was probably waiting to be invited in but ¡°You took Gareth¡¯s room? And all the furniture is gone?¡± I was too confused, so I went inside and walked around. It was barren desires a few crates. I ignored Delphia and went to find Remy in his room. I knocked loudly on his door, and when he opened it, I went in. ¡°Remy, why is Gareth¡¯s room empty?¡± Remy was confused, ¡°He left Storme. I thought you knew?¡± ¡°No, why is everything gone? The sofas, beds, tables, desks, chairs¡­¡± I asked. Remy¡¯s eyes were wide, ¡°Oh, that. He said it was his room, so everything in it was his. He told me you would understand.¡± I fumed a little. I looked at Remy, rubbing my forehead, ¡°Remy, do you have an idea of the cost of the furnishings he took with him?¡± ¡°Maybe two hundred gold, but I think he planned to sell everything for about half that. He said something about funding his delve team,¡± Remy answered honestly and tried to focus me on Gareth and not on himself for letting Gareth leave with everything. ¡°Ok, it is fine. See about furnishing Delphia¡¯s new room. Actually, just move the furniture from one of the empty apartments,¡± I mussed. Gareth was continuing to fund his delve team through me. I looked at Remy, ¡°Make sure he does not take anything else.¡± Remy was hesitant to ask, ¡°And the restaurant? Gareth had dinner last night with two others and put it on his tab.¡± I was not angry as I knew what Gareth was doing. He was testing me. Seeing what the limits were of our friendship. Maybe he was trying to get me to break me and force me to sever it. I considered my answer, ¡°Gareth is always welcome to a meal at the Shiny Platinum on me. Let the servers know I am paying. His guests will be his responsibility.¡± Remy nodded, ¡°It will be done, Storme. I will let the servers know.¡± I left the room and returned to mine to find Delphia still waiting outside, ¡°Since my room does not have a bed, where am I going to sleep tonight?¡± Her bright smile was charming, and I gave it serious thought. I was attracted to her but was still bitter about losing Aelyn and Tessa dying at the hands of Bricios. ¡°Go and see Remy. He will get you into an empty apartment.¡± Disappointment appeared on her face. ¡°Tomorrow, you can move the furnishings from that apartment to the one you selected.¡± I walked past Delphia and went inside. I was going to keep the door open, and Delphia gave me a smirk, realizing it. I did my nightly routine with the cats and then started working on making long swords for sale in Llorth. I started making some minor variances. I altered the length of the blade slightly, changing the width and weight and altering the runic enchantments. I always used the durability runes, but I varied from sharpness, stamina draining, swiftness, and light for the second rune. Most of the blades would get the runes for durability and sharpness, as that was the most useful for fighters. I was building up a steady inventory of blades for Tallot, the weapons dealer in Llorth. We would also be returning with the last of the blood marble. I would need to have Lana come with us on the fifth day to transport the blood marble as I could not take all of it in my storage, and the Maelstrom could only take so much added mass. It would be a profitable trade run if the long swords were sold. I even had a dagger with an adamantine edge. I had only used it on the cutting edge to demonstrate I could work the material to Tallot. I placed another long blade into my storage and went to sleep after setting up my alarms. On waking, I had my week planned out. My morning routine would remain the same; cats and sword training. Dungeon Academy would follow with tier-one creatures and my spell class. After that, I would visit healing clinics throughout the islands. I wanted to push my lesser restoration spell to level twenty-three so I could regenerate the limbs of the Wolfsguard at the Black Spire. My evenings would be focusing on my crafting and working with the cats. The first day went as planned. I visited three clinics after the Academy, all on Titan¡¯s Shield. Spreading the goodwill of the newest High Mage of Skyhomle. I healed over a hundred people at each of the three clinics, and I lost count. Most of the healing requests were minor but after my diagnostic spell, I could usually find two or three other issues to heal. My lesser restoration spell advanced to level seventeen. For the evolution, I expanded the regeneration of the spell, bringing it closer to being able to regrow limbs. When the Maelstrom landed at the Shiny Platinum, I had a guest waiting for me. It was expected after my visit to the Black Spire. An angry Loriel was waiting without any guards. She was dressed in common clothes like she had skulked here unnoticed. Mia was among the guards I had on duty, and I figured she must have let the ruler in. She nodded to me in an apology. Loriel rage subsided as I approached. It was still burning under her mask. ¡°Storme, I would like to talk if you have time.¡± Her voice was pleasant and practiced. ¡°You can come up to my room,¡± I said as pleasantly as well. Adrial and Kiara zoomed ahead of us up the stairs. When I got to my door, Delphia¡¯s door opened for a moment but closed when she saw Loriel behind me. I set my privacy screens inside my room and started making dinner. ¡°I hope you like fried chicken.¡± Loriel remained calm, ¡°That is fine, Storme. I am not here for dinner. I want you to rescind your offer to the Wolfsguard on Stonefell Island.¡± ¡°Really? Did I break the law? I thought they were free to make their own decision?¡± I replied as I prepared the batter. Loriel was angry but still holding it in. She sat on the sofa and remained quiet. I fed the cats and continued with my dinner preparation. As I was frying the chicken thighs, she asked, ¡°Do you not care for the fate of Skyholme? Your parents, your brother, your sister? Weakening the screening fleet that is already poorly crewed would put them in jeopardy.¡± If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°Explain it to me then. What is your plan?¡± I asked the young woman. ¡°We are bringing the Sphere to Skyholme, Storme. If we can not demonstrate strength with our skyships, another power in the Sphere will see us as too tempting of a target. We must always have twice the number of skyships in the air! We need more of everything! Skyships, aether crystal cores, and crew. Every person you take from that hurts us. The Wolfsguard on Stonefell island are important to crew the Wasp-class skyships,¡± she spoke deliberately. It was still not all her plan, but part of it. She added, ¡°It is not just Sadians. We are opening trade to the entire Sphere.¡± She moved from the couch to stand next to me at the stove while I tended to browning the fried chicken. ¡°Storme, the next year is going to go one of two ways. It is a gamble. Either Skyholme will become a safe haven for trade in this entire region of the Sphere. Or we will be swallowed up in a conflict.¡± ¡°Why has this not happened before?¡± I asked, looking into her eyes. ¡°The Heart Stone protected us from scrying and teleportation,¡± she admitted. I still had the folder about Aelyn unopened in my dimensional closet. ¡°So why are you not looking for it? Where is the hunt for Aelyn and her mother? You know they have the Heart Stone,¡± I asked, moving the chicken to a plate to cool. Loriel sighed, ¡°Resources to track her down, partly. And partly because it would not save us in the long term.¡± She sat at the table. ¡°The population of Skyholme has been on a decline the last three hundred years. The anti-immigration policy of five hundred years ago has eroded us as a people. Even without the Bricios revolt, Skyholme had maybe another fifty years before an economic collapse. We can not support our skyship fleet. I am betting everything on doubling the fleet and stretching our resources. Once trade starts, we should recoup the investment and be able to sustain ourselves. But we can not look weak.¡± ¡°And the Harbinger ship I refurbished for you?¡± I asked. ¡°It will be part of the patrols. And yes, it is my safety net to escape Skyholme with my people if this fails.¡± She slapped the table lightly, ¡°Are you happy now? Knowing everything?¡± ¡°Everything? I doubt that.¡± I sat and slid her half the chicken and a cup of red wine. ¡°You have a role too, obviously. You are a symbol of our magical strength. We lost a lot of our great mages in the last Sadian attack.¡± She bit into the chicken, and her eyes went wide in delight. ¡°Then I am doing you a favor. I have given the Wolfsguard the opportunity to have children,¡± I stated. ¡°And you think this will solve the population issue? It will not do anything in the short term. Please suspend your offer for¡­¡± She considered, ¡°Five years. If we can get through five years and not go bankrupt, we will be fine.¡± I understood, ¡°You can not generate enough platinum and gold from the dungeons to sustain the skyships.¡± She nodded. ¡°We are trying to lure back the Adventurer¡¯s Guild back to Skyholme. Right now, there is just token membership there, and all the delve teams are from Skyholme. We also lack truly impressive dungeons, though. Our delve teams barely clear the lowest boss any longer.¡± Something dawned on me, ¡°The Triumvirate was seeding dungeons?¡± ¡°How did you know? I only found out a few weeks ago! They were trying to help evolve dungeons. Special teams were dropping dungeon objects obtained from the lowlands. The problem is that as the dungeon evolves, it can surprise a delve team and get them killed. But the more delvers a dungeon kills, the faster it evolves.¡± She admitted and finished all three chicken thighs and was sipping the wine. ¡°It would take thousands of deaths to evolve a dungeon,¡± I scoffed at the idea the Triumvirate was purposely trying to kill off the delve teams. ¡°They were getting desperate,¡± she admitted. ¡°The idea is still on the table. One of the targeted trade goods is dungeon artifacts.¡± She held up her hands, ¡°We were going to target just one dungeon, The Stary Night dungeon on the capital island, and tell the delvers. It is one of only two dungeons in all of Slyholme that produces platinum coins.¡± I asked a question that had been bothering me, ¡°Where is the Triumvirate getting the aether crystals to power their expanded fleet?¡± Loriel considered how to answer, ¡°It is mostly a rouse. A lot of the ships are just for show. We do not have crystals large enough to keep them in a true fight.¡± ¡°Thank you for being honest with me,¡± I said, finishing my own chicken. I sipped my wine, ¡°I will not withdraw my offer to the Wolfsguard. It would be a breach of trust.¡± Loriel¡¯s knuckles went white on her glass as she clenched her fist, ¡°You are unreasonable, Storme. We are going to lose two cres for the Wasps. Just delay it.¡± She pleaded. ¡°No. I think you should consider expeditions to the lowlands to find people who want to immigrate to Skyholme. Not just humans, either,¡± I offered. ¡°It would make us look desperate and show weakness. We already considered this. It has to be done slowly over time. We also do not have spare ships to send on such an endeavor,¡± Loriel said. I was not going to offer the Maelstrom or my services. ¡°I am already doing more than any citizen of Skyholme. You will need to find another solution unless you plan to enslave the Wolfsguard again.¡± Loriel was angry but did not break, ¡°Storme, I came and asked. I will not see the Wolfsguard beholden to the Triumvirate again. It is one of the reasons we find ourselves where we are today.¡± She stood, ¡°If you can finish the artificing on the Wasps soon, it will be greatly appreciated.¡± Loriel started to leave, seeing I was not going to concede. ¡°Loriel, I appreciate you telling me the state of things. Although I can not change what I have offered the Wolfsguard, I will not interfere with your plans by error again. If you had trusted me earlier, this may have been prevented.¡± Loriel huffed and did not say anything as she left. I got work on artificing more longswords. When I flew out to the clinics outside the cities for the next four days, I had long lines of people rushing to see me for healing. The word had spread that the High Mage would disembark and heal for free when the Maelstrom landed. It made it more efficient to expend my aether, and the local town guards had to organize the crowds. By the fifth day, the spell had reached level nineteen. I could regrow soft tissue and bone. The last upgrade I needed was to use less of a person¡¯s body stores for the regeneration. If I regrow a person¡¯s leg, they would not have enough body mass for it. A hand or ear, I could do. At level twenty-three, the evolution of the spell would allow me to convert aether, very inefficiently, to biomass. It might take my entire aether pool to regrow just one person¡¯s leg. Of course, the targets could help out by overeating beforehand and drinking and eating during the casting. When I returned to the Shiny Platinum, Lana was there and ready with Remy. The delvers had been dropped off at the Spire while I was in classes in the morning. I was headed to the city of Llorth to trade and also retrieve Bleiz. I moved as many blocks of blood marble as I could into my space, and we had another thirty loaded into the cargo hold. Thar was the safe limit that Leda had calculated we could carry and still reach the city on a single charge. Even though the cats were used to flying now, they still liked to be on the bridge and watch the land race below them. The black displacer beast, Adrial, was about thirty-five pounds now. She was larger than her white sister, Kiara, by about five pounds. They were well-trained and large enough to start hunting small game themselves. I was thinking of bringing them into the Progenitor Dungeon the next sixth day to hunt the blink bunnies. Remy was excited, ¡°Mera made thirty casks of the frost mead as well for the trip. If everything goes smoothly, we should cover a good part of the cost for the Wolfsguard village.¡± Remy was not aware I also had one hundred and seven long swords in my dimensional space. I was hoping this trip was going to be more than a little profitable, ¡°You did good, Remy. Since the blood marble is found in the fourth floor Progenitor Dungeon, do not be afraid to sell more.¡± Remy asked, ¡°Are the teams going to go that deep? Are they experienced enough for that?¡± ¡°I have confidence we can harvest the blood marble,¡± I said, but I was referring to myself. I planned to try and fight the owlbear on the next sixth day. The ship started its long descent toward the lowlands and toward the city of Llorth. Chapter 125 POV Lorae Fadre, The Great Heist Chapter 125 POV Lorae Fadre, The Great Heist Lorae kicked the metal container filled with runic arrows, causing a loud gong to sound. The dark elf in charge of the shop gave her a hard stare. She rolled her eyes. She was so bored. She had been working in her father¡¯s delve team, Dusk Hunters, shop for months. The only excitement was when some adventures brought something interesting to sell. Of course, she was just there to listen to negotiations and run errands. At least after she finished her shift, she could continue to show Bleiz around the city. His naivety was comical to her. At first, she had made fun of him for how little he knew, but she stopped once she learned how he grew up. She had thought her life was rigged and structured. Bleiz grew up from birth fighting for his very life. He could be culled if he ever fell below some imaginary line in the learning pack. It drove him to excel, and for being so young, he was a formidable fighter even by her father¡¯s standards. The problem was that Bleiz spent his entire day training with members of the Dusk Hunters, and she only got to play with him during the evening. She was sure her father, Relik, was trying to recruit Bleiz to his team. But Bleiz had confided in her that he was bound to Storme. Bleiz was bound by blood and magic, and he accepted it. Lorae did not like that and planned to find a way to break that bond. Bleiz was fun, fluffy, and smelled good. She wanted to be his friend¡ªand maybe something more. She could not reveal her infatuation to her father, though. It was best just to show that she wanted a friend. The day was a slow burn of boredom and people-watching. Her only excitement was running enchanting materials to Master Gorsch. Master Gorsch was a gnome enchanter that she had worked for as part of her training. Her father wanted Lorae to experience a hundred different professions before deciding her Life¡¯s Path. Some apprentices were better than others, and the gnome enchanter was fun to be around. They had an endless verbal spar from the first day she worked in his shop. It was one of her more interesting friendships. She entered the shop with a pack of supplies, ¡°Gorsch! Got your order from the Dusk Hunters!¡± She had yelled even though she knew the old gnome was just in the back room. ¡°Girl, no need to yell. My hearing is just fine, and you know where I am,¡± the gnome came out of the back in his leather apron. Lorae ran her finger along a shelf and picked up some dust on her fingertip. ¡°Looks like without me around, the shop is getting dirty.¡± Gorsch grunted, ¡°The mage I hired to do the cleaning has not returned from his vacation. I may have to find another. Or if you want, you can grab a rag and do some good.¡± Lorae smiled at the old gnome, telling him without speaking that it was never going to happen. She had spent six months helping him and learning about artificing. Half her day was spent cleaning the shop and writing out info cards for the items he produced. Lorae asked, ¡°Did you find out anything else about my request?¡± The gnome cracked a small grin that the banter was over for the moment, ¡°Your problem sounds correctable with a magical spellcraft than an artificed device.¡± Lorae groaned, ¡°I already asked Archmage Helena. She thinks it would require a tier-five cleanse spell at the minimum.¡± The gnome sat in the chair behind his desk, ¡°I think I could make a device to mute the effect, but it will not eliminate it completely. Maybe as a bracelet or necklace.¡± Lorae¡¯s eyes went wide, and she rushed to the counter, ¡°Really? How much? And definitely a bracelet.¡± The gnome held up his hands in subjugation, ¡°Do not get too excited. It would be a theory crafting from my research. No guarantees and it requires mithril, so the cost is steep.¡± He put on his merchant¡¯s smile. ¡°For a friend like you, twelve hundred gold.¡± Lorae¡¯s face fell. She had maybe three hundred gold squirreled away. She could sell some things¡­ ¡°How much to get started?¡± Gorsch raised his eyebrows, not thinking the young dark elf would want to spend so much on something that might not even work. He grunted softly, ¡°Two hundred gold. That would be the cost of the materials I would not be able to salvage if the device was a failure.¡± Lorae nodded and raced home. She returned with the coin and asked, ¡°When will it be ready?¡± Gorsh pondered, ¡°Maybe five weeks. I have a number of orders to fill.¡± Lorae groaned. Storme would be back in eight days to take Bleiz away. She made her best pouty face, ¡°Can you do any better?¡± Gorsch shook his head no. ¡°Sorry, Lorae,¡± he said seriously. ¡°I am already behind on my enchanting orders.¡± She nodded and placed the coin pouch on the counter. She walked back to the shop hoping that Bleiz would visit Llorth again in the future. It was well after mid-day when Relik Fadrae entered the shop with his delve team. Relik was Lorae¡¯s father and one of the strongest fighters in all of Llorth. He led the top delve team. Every run they did cleared the lowest level and brought out a powerful reward. Sometimes, this was a dungeon essence that imparted powerful tier-two or tier-three ability. Other times, this was a dungeon artificed weapon or armor. Sometimes, it was a potion recipe or spell. No matter what it was, it was always worth dozens of platinum. Relik spotted Lorae and wore a white smile on his dark elf visage. He moved to her, his black armor creaking as he walked, ¡°Lorae, guess what we recovered from the depths today?¡± Lorae played his game, ¡°Another giantsbane weapon?¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s a dungeon essence for a tier three ability,¡± he said, grinning. The grin looked out of place on one of the most feared men in Llorth. But that was how she knew her father in private, always smiling and grinning. She thought, ¡°Tier three¡­¡± The Abyss Dungeon offered hundreds of rewards from its floor challenge monsters. It was not unusual for something new to appear. Most dungeon arches revealed the final prize for defeating the bottom floor¡¯s boss, but since the Abyss had dozens of dungeon teams inside at a time, the dungeon had the symbol for random on the entry arch. Meaning you would not know until you defeated the trio of bone nagas guarding the final chest. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Relik was excited, and her father rarely got excited, so it was something he had wanted¡­ ¡°I guess the Immunity to Heat?¡± Relik had wanted that ability for a while and had been keeping enough space on his core for it. ¡±Wrong,¡± he couldn¡¯t wait any longer and burst out, ¡°Call of the Wild!¡± Lorae froze. Call of the Wild was what she wanted. It was a lesser-known tier-three ability that greatly helped communicate and subjugate beast minds. It was the best tier-three ability for a beast tamer. Lorae couldn¡¯t talk. Relik continued, ¡°It will be your gift on your 60th birthday if you still want to be a beast tamer then.¡± Lorae blurted, ¡°What! That is not fair! My thirtieth birthday is next week! You want me to wait thirty years!¡± His smile faded, ¡°Lorae, we have discussed this a hundred times. You will complete all your apprenticeships before deciding on a life path.¡± Even at thirty years old, she could not make her own decisions! Humans would have their own children by her age! She stormed off, angry. She hoped her anger might help persuade her father to give her the Call of the Wild essence sooner. At issue was that you could only assimilate so many dungeon essences, so you needed to choose carefully. Relik had hoped Lorae would choose a nice crafting profession, not an adventurer¡¯s life like himself. Her mother had died on a monster hunt. She had taken a commission for yeti pelts. Yetis were solitary creatures, and somehow, her team ran into five in cave. Relik always felt guilty about not going with her on that quest. He always took any quest from the Adventurer¡¯s Guild for Yeti extermination, but the guilt weighed on him even after twenty-two years. Her father was good to her, and what she had planned made it slightly harder. As soon as Bleiz arrived from his daily training, she left her post in the Dusk Hunters shop. He greeted her, looking a little roughed up from his day, ¡°Lorae, how was your day?¡± ¡°I had a great day!¡± She mussed with a smirk. ¡°Let me buy you dinner in the city.¡± Bleiz paused, Lorae always tried to get him to pay for meals in the city at her favorite restaurant. He asked, ¡°What do you want, elf girl?¡± Lorae rolled her eyes at him. When he called her elf girl, that was his way of telling her he was skeptical of her motivations. She took his hand and dragged him into the city, ¡°I need a favor. Well, really more assistance than anything else.¡± They were on the streets, and Bleiz asked cautiously, ¡°How can I assist one of the most gifted dark elves in the city?¡± He was teasing her, but she let it slide. She constantly was flaunting her knowledge and skills, but that was to impress him and not display her mastery. ¡°I need help retrieving something from my father¡¯s vault,¡± she stated clearly. ¡°I will pass,¡± he said immediately. ¡°Your father and the Dusk Hunters have been good to me. I will not betray their goodwill.¡± ¡°You have not heard me out, Bleiz. I just want you to serve as the lookout. I am just retrieving something that my father promised me,¡± Lorae started her attempt to convince him. ¡°No,¡± he stated plainly. It took all the evening meal for Lorae to convince Bleiz to help in her heist. His response had been no at every suggestion. He even began saying it before she asked a question or made a request. He was infuriating, and her effort and coin would have been better spent trying to convince her father just to give it to her. She finally gave up on making Bleiz an accomplice and would just do it herself. She knew all the safeguards the vault had and had permission to bypass everyone except the arcane lock. Relik reset the arcane lock every time he entered the vault, and it lasted almost thirty days. If he did not return from a delve, the arcane lock would eventually expire, and she could gain access. It was his safeguard, but she knew Relik would never fall in the Abyss dungeon, at least not before her 60th birthday. Her preparations took days. She needed a strong enough dispel to break Relik¡¯s arcane lock. That cost her forty gold for the annulling dust. She was also certain Relik had some type of alert if the vault was opened, so she ¡®borrowed¡¯ a dampening stone from a mage in Relik guild. She was mostly certain no message would be sent. Then, she had to plan for the household attendants. She had wanted Bleiz to help distract them, but he refused to assist. There were four of them, and their apartment was on the thirtieth floor of one of the residential towers in the city. Her best bet was to send the cook and porter out to restock the larder. That would be easy as she just needed to make sure all the food was spoiled. Draining the preservation rune and tossing in some dungeon fungal spores would take care of that. The other two would not leave the foyer unless there was an emergency. She had finally prepared, and when her father left for a scheduled delve, she excused herself from the shop, telling the Dusk Hunter merchant she was going to the apothecary for something to soothe her upset stomach. She raced home, and the two guards questioned return her before she went to the kitchen. She tossed the spores in the larder after draining the rune. It was a lot of food spoilage and did not take long. She called in the human cook, Quinten, whose mouth hung open in shock. He might be blamed for this, but Lorae took the blame, ¡°I think this is my fault. I was playing with the preservation rune last night. Here, take Samuel and restock the larder.¡± She handed the cook a large gold coin. It would not be enough to replace everything, but it would be close. After they left, she checked on the foyer, and the two guards were still there. She moved into her father¡¯s room and toward the vault. It was a hardened marble vault with mithril hinges. The runic locks were everywhere. It would take a dragon to open it. She dripped some of her blood on the first seal and activated the dampening stone. No audible alarms sounded, and the guards did not rush in from the lobby. She tried the latch and felt the warmth go up her arm, identifying her. The handle clicked, but the vault door did not budge. She waited for again for an alarm and nothing. She sprinkled the expensive dust to break the arcane lock. Sparkles on blue flashed as the dust worked. She inhaled deeply and pulled. The door swung silently open. The inside of the vault was small. The left side had shelves for trays of gold and platinum coins and an array of aether crystals and gems. The right side had racks of weapons and dungeon artifacts. It was more wealth than most nobles in the city had. She entered the vault and listened for any sound that someone was coming. The silence made her brave, and she found the shelf with the dungeon essences on the left. There were six, each with a slip of paper identifying them. She could read the runes and was told never to rely on someone else¡¯s assessment, especially when it came to dungeon artifacts. She found the Call of the Wild vial and took the paper with it. It was annoyingly stuck to the bottom of the vial. She ripped the paper away, and a pop sound emitted in the space. She had set off another arcane lock and alerted her father. She groaned even though he was going to eventually find out he would scold her for getting caught by such a simple trick. Before she could change her mind she quickly confirmed the dungeon essence was genuine with her skill set. If it had been fake and she drank it, her father would be even angrier. She noticed the back of the slip that had been attached had some writing. Before drinking, she read it. My Precious Lorae, You are just like your mother. Hard to dissuade from your path. If this is your chosen path, I will support you. I hope you did not set off the paper arcane lock. If you did, you will spend another six months with Vantyne to improve your observation skills. Love Your Father Lorae cursed her bad luck. Even in her small victory, her father had gotten the best of her. She knew she had erred when she did not badgered him for the essence. It probably made him suspicious. There was no turning back now. She broke the seal and drank. ? Copyrighted 2024 by AlwaysRollsAOne No Permission is given to translate, copy, repost or alter to an audio format of this original work of fiction. If you are reading this on a site that is not my Patreon, RoyalRoad.com, or Scribblehub.com, it has been stolen without my permission and violates DMCA. Remember, this work is the result of my creative effort and is protected by copyright law. Removal or altering of this notification is an acknowledgment you are aware you are in violation of DMCA. Chapter 126 Chapter 126 The flight to Lloth was relaxed. Lana and Remy remained on the bridge with Leda and Cilia while we cruised about three miles above the surface of the Sphere. They pointed out interesting features below and tracked flying creates with the aetheric radar. I went back and forth to my cabin to train the cats and worked on the comprehend languages spell. It was the last I would imprint before saving up enough spell slots for the lightning elemental spell. All my free aether and time had been devoted to leveling spells and artificing. When we finally reached the city, Leda sent out docking signals, and we moved to land on pad eleven in the port as directed. I took out my communication stone and pressed the second indicator to connect to Bleiz¡¯s stone. It was only a few moments before a voice emitted from the stone, ¡°Storme, you are back a day early. I am outside the city hunting with some people. I will be back tonight.¡± ¡°Good to hear your voice too,¡± I said, sounding disappointed he was not more excited to hear from me. ¡°The Maelstrom is a few pads from where we landed last time. We will do some trading and probably leave in two days.¡± ¡°We are tracking a giant black elk. I do not have time to talk,¡± he said, disconnecting the call. ¡°Guess he is having fun,¡± I muttered to everyone. Looking up, I announced, ¡°Ok, I will go with Remy and Lana to drop off the blood marble in our dimensional space and start that transaction. Lana should be able to come back to the Maelstrom and get the rest with Remy. Then Lana and Remy can work on selling the frost mead. Leda asked, ¡°Are we staying with the ship and watching the cats?¡± ¡°Yes. After Bleiz returns, you can journey into the city with Cilia.¡± I made sure the cats were fed and comfortable before leaving with Remy and Lana. Remy led us through the city to the trade distrinct and into a merchant hall for a trading company. I stayed back and let him do all the talking as we were eventually greeted by a smiling middle-aged dark elf, ¡°Remy! You have returned. Do you have the unique marble?¡± Remy shook wrists with the man, ¡°Master Merchant Dylan, we have it as promised. This is the owner of Shiny Platinum Trading, Storme Hardlight. And this is my associate, Lana Forestfang. They have most of the promised marble with them. Shall we go to a warehouse?¡± I was a little surprised by Remy¡¯s professionalism. We followed the elf to a small warehouse, and he directed us to spread out the marble and stack it two high. That way, he could easily inspect each piece. After I emptied the marble from the storage, I addressed Remy, ¡°You have this well in hand. It looks like Dylan is trying to renegotiate by finding fault with some of the pieces.¡± Dylan was walking with a pad of paper and taking notes as he inspected each block. Remy responded, ¡°Do not worry. I will make sure he does not take advantage of us.¡± I left Remy and Lana I pulled out my communication stone and pressed the number seven on it for Lorae. An excited voice came back, ¡°Storme, are you back!? Did you bring the cats?¡± The excitable young was loud across the stone. I smiled at her enthusiasm. ¡°Yeah, I already talked to Bleiz; he is outside the city. We are doing some trading, and I hoped to hire you to help negotiate with Tallot.¡± Lorae seemed to think with a pause, ¡°Ten percent of sales.¡± I laughed into the stone. ¡°No, I think you will be happy with five percent or one hundred gold, whichever amount is higher.¡± It only took her a heartbeat to reply, ¡°Agreed! Where can I meet you?¡± ¡°I remember how to reach Tallot¡¯s Fine Weapon Shop. I will meet you there,¡± I said and started walking. If I was correct, then Lorae would negotiate a price much higher than I could. I was relaxed as I made my way through the city and noted a number of different races in the streets. Most were the dark elves, but humans, gnomes, lizardfolk, and a wide array of beastkin were present. I wondered if Skyholme would ever show this same variety. We were not raised to be racist, but I assumed the culture with only humans on the island and enslaving the beastkin would have left some residual resentment toward other races. That was probably the intention of the Triumvirate policies. I reached the shop to find a heavy-breathing Lorae already there. She must have run. She smiled, and we entered the shop together. Tallot was taking care of three humans who appeared to be selecting a suitable blade for the youngest of them. Lorae and I walked around examining the weapons in the racks. The selection had changed some since I was here last. Lorae asked, ¡°How many long swords did you bring?¡± ¡°Over one hundred,¡± I replied. Her eyes were wide. Tallot was finished with his customers and joined us. ¡°You have returned!¡± He gestured to the shop, ¡°Business has picked up recently. We have two wars brewing nearby, and a new dungeon appeared about five hundred miles from here that allows an unlimited number of delvers in! Every young warrior with dreams of treasure is trying to clear the bottom floor, but it is massive.¡± Lorae added, ¡°My father is even considering pulling together all his Guild to take a crack at it.¡± Tallot laughed, ¡°That would not be fair to the others! But I heard the first level was over a thousand miles across! And the challenge beast at the other end is a white dragon. No one has defeated it yet, and a huge number of delvers have died.¡± ¡°Could everyone not just attack it at once to kill it?¡± I asked. Lorae answered, ¡°The more people in proximity to a challenge monster, the faster it heals.¡± Tallot was nodding, ¡°Same with the other creatures on the first level. Frost bears and ice mephits. There is even a werebear village, but it is not hostile unless you attack. Some delvers have found the shops in the village trade goods for body parts from the bears and mephits.¡± Lorae looked at him, ¡°I did not know you were so into dungeons?¡± ¡°You need to know your customers. Also, I have had to listen to delvers talk about their fights non-stop for the last four days. I am going to close the shop so they do not disturb us.¡± Talot went and put up an Out to Lunch sign. ¡°Now, what have you brought me?¡± He asked anxiously. I started by pulling the adamantine-edged dagger out and then an assortment of ten long swords. He held up the dagger and turned it in his hand before getting his magic eyepiece to inspect it. I only had the durability rune for hardness on the small weapon. He looked up, ¡°Excellent work on this. Not much adamantine. The metal mage used what a quarter of what you purchased last time you were here?¡± ¡°I do not know. But you said you might have commissions if you knew he could work adamantine, so this was a test piece for him. He said it was not easy,¡± I answered. That was true. Even with a tier four shape metal ability, the adamantine was difficult to work. ¡°Is this for sale?¡± Tallot asked, and I nodded yes. ¡°Fifteen hundred for it. Some monsters can only be injured with adamantine, so the small weapon has value.¡± Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. I was about to agree when Lorae interrupted, ¡°Tallot, you are going to sell that dagger in a day for two thousand. Anything less than eighteen hundred is stealing!¡± He narrowed his eyes good-naturedly at Lorae. ¡°If your father was not Relik, I would have the nerve to be upset with you.¡± He looked amused but agreed at the price. I stood back and let Lorae agree to prices for the ten long swords. Tallot inspected each one before offering a price between 900 and 1500, and Lorae would get him to come up at least one hundred gold each time. The sword with the durability and quickness enchantments sold for the most at 1800 gold. I brought out another twenty swords, and Tallot held up his hands in surrender, ¡°I can not afford to purchase more blades. The best I can offer is a consignment contract, Storme.¡± ¡°What is that?¡± I asked, stopping the addition of more long swords. ¡°I will sell the blades and keep fifteen percent of the sale,¡± he explained. ¡°Ten percent is normal,¡± Lorae countered. ¡°Yes, it is. Fifteen percent for the first five and then ten percent for each one after. Selling your blades will cut into my own sales. And the city tax of five percent on sales is coming from my portion.¡± Tallot explained. I looked at Lorae, who nodded, ¡°Agreed.¡± I kept pulling out blade after blade, stacking them on the table. Lorae was giggling at Tallot¡¯s eyes got wide at the collection of over one hundred long swords on the table. He shook his head like he had just been taken advantage of. ¡°Fine. I will get your coin for the dagger and the first ten. It is going to take me two or three hours to inspect all these blades and create an invoice for you.¡± Fifteen minutes later, he handed me five thousand in platinum coins and a voucher for nine thousand six hundred gold. He then began to catalog the remaining swords. ¡°Here you are,¡± I counted out seven hundred and thirty gold for her. She was a bit shocked. Lorae added slyly, ¡°What about those?¡± Indicating the long blades Tallot was inventorying. ¡°They are going to sell for between twelve and fifteen hundred, but it is going to take me months to move this much inventory. Even with the new dungeon and the wars brewing,¡± Tallot muttered. ¡°Lorae, is fifty gold each good enough? I will pay you when I collect from Tallot,¡± I asked. ¡°That is over five thousand gold!¡± Lorae said, amazed. Tallot grumbled, ¡°I am the one doing all the work selling them.¡± ¡°Can I collect them as they are sold from Tallot?¡± She asked both of us. We both shrugged. Lorae got a look in her eye that she already had plans for the coin. I just hoped whatever she planned, I would not have an angry Relik Fadrae coming after me. Lorae treated me to lunch at her favorite restaurant in the city. The balcony was a hundred feet in the air and looked out over the city. The food was terrible as it did not meet my taste buds. Overseasoned white fish and some charred vegetables with a blue sauce. The ale was good at least. Lorae asked, ¡°Is there anything else I can help you with?¡± ¡°I do have one more task in Llorth. I am looking for pirate ships. More specifically, I am looking to hunt them,¡± I said, pushing my plate away and Lorae taking the sign to steal my vegetables. ¡°You plan to do some privateering?¡± She asked. ¡°Yes, if that is what it is called,¡± I responded, trying to use the ale to clean my tongue by swishing it around. ¡°That would be the Adventurer¡¯s Guild. You should probably talk with my father. I am sure he knows which branch of the Adventurer¡¯s Guild to contact. Can we visit the cats now?¡± Lorae ate only the red and green vegetables and sat back contentedly. ¡°Maybe after. Is your father free? I might have another proposition for him,¡± I said. ¡°Storme, you are amazing and all, but I am too young to marry. Maybe in thirty years, he might listen to your proposal. And then I will be old enough to make my own decisions anyway,¡± Lorae retorted. ¡°What? No!¡± And she started laughing as I had fallen for her joke. I narrowed my eyes but broke into a smile. ¡°You are much too young for me anyway. I prefer my woman more mature.¡± She kicked my shin hard enough that I had to heal it, ¡°I am twice your age human!¡± Calling her immature was too far, obviously. I should have realized that, as my sister Freya would have been upset with the comment anyway. ¡°We can see the cats before seeing your father, then,¡± I surrendered. That got her a smile and to forget the comment. When we arrived at the skyship, Bleiz still had not returned, and Remy and Lana were working on selling the frost mead. ¡°Cilia and Leda, you can go into the city. I will watch the ship.¡± ¡°You two are going to leave me alone with this barbarous man!¡± Lorae mockingly said. ¡°I called her immature,¡± I explained. She is angry with me. Leda commented, ¡°Well, you can rest assured your virtue is safe with this one.¡± She patted my shoulder and left the bridge. Cilia nodded and followed. I got the two cats from room, and we all went to the cargo hold. Lorae then stared at Kiara and Adrial, and they immediately sat. A huge grin broke on her face. Their tails started to switch excitedly, and their appendages as well. Lorae looked at me with a huge smile, ¡°Kiara only likes raw red meat. And she likes small cubes. Adrial does not care what meat you feed her just wants more of it.¡± ¡°Are you talking to them?¡± I asked, perplexed. ¡°They are a little young for talking. It is more like a series of images pieced together into sentences. I have been practicing with other creatures as I have a new ability to communicate with beasts,¡± Lorae said smugly. ¡°What else are they telling you?¡± I asked, fascinated. ¡°They like you. Well,¡± she pointed at the black one, Adrial, ¡°She adores you and plans to protect you and be your mate.¡± She pointed at the white one, Kiara, ¡°Her thoughts are much more complex. She knows you killed her parents but forgives you and will be your friend. She is smart enough to know you are two different species.¡± ¡°Mate?¡± I asked. ¡°It is normal for beasts to think that way. She probably means companion and not mate. They think in terms of food, mating, and hunting mostly.¡± She looked at the cats again, ¡°Kiara is different. My ability is new, but her intelligence is closer to a person than a beast.¡± I looked into the two cat¡¯s glowing eyes. The red eyes of Kiara did seem to have some depth to them, while the green eyes of Adrial seemed more feral. But maybe it was my imagination. I just knew I was going to treat them differently from here on out. ¡°Is there an artificed device I can get to do the same thing that you are doing?¡± ¡°The closest thing I know is the tier three nature spell, commune with beasts,¡± Lorae said. I frowned as that would take four spell slots on my aether core. ¡°I can ask Master Enchanter Gorsch. If it can be done, he will know how to do it.¡± ¡°Yes, please do. Let us go see your father,¡± I moved away. Lorae tried the puppy-dog eyes, ¡°I didn¡¯t even have time to play with them! And you would leave the ship unattended.¡± Bleiz started walking up the ramp of the ship at that moment. He looked more confident and happy. He moved to me, ignoring Lorae, and gave me an unexpected hug, ¡°Storme, it is good to see you after so long. The time and distance apart have strained my bond with you. I feel relieved to see you again.¡± Lorae looked upset, and I think she craved Bleiz¡¯s attention. ¡°Bleiz, you can watch the ship and the cats while I talk with Relik about the Adventurer¡¯s Guild. You can tell me about your training and the hunt for the giant elk.¡± He put on a toothy smile, ¡°Good. I have some loin steaks in my storage. I was hoping you could cook then for me¡­I mean us back in Skyholme.¡± ¡°Agreed. I have a few more errands in the city, and we will return. There have been a number of changes,¡± I smirked as the Black Spire should be a surprise as well as the Wolfsguard and the dungeon. I left with Lorae, and she seemed agitated with me. I guessed she had a crush on Bleiz and was angry I was taking him away. Her father, Relik, was in the Dusk Hunters Guild Building. We found him in the yard training new members. Seeing us approach, he stepped away from the two human men and two dark elf women. ¡°Lorae visiting me in the Guild Hall? What has she done to get into trouble this time?¡± He was all smiles, and Lorae just rolled her eyes. ¡°Nothing, Relik,¡± we clasped wrists. His students were trying to figure out who I was by their stares. ¡°Lorae said you could help me. I am looking to hunt skyship pirates.¡± His eyes opened a little wide at that, ¡°Also, I wanted to hire some delvers for my own delve team and thought you could point me in the right direction.¡± He appraised me. He then spoke to his trainees, ¡°Continue with the second and ninth sword forms. Iona is in charge. Turning to me, ¡°I will take you to the Adventurer¡¯s Hall. You will need to register with Adventurer¡¯s Guild as a captain and apply for a privater¡¯s license. That will give you access to the bounty board.¡± ¡°Lorae, you can return to the Guild Shop and apologize to the staff for leaving and not telling them where you were going,¡± Relik said, scolding his daughter. ¡°Storme, you are with me. We can talk on the way to the Adventurer¡¯s Hall.¡± Relik did not wait for me and started walking, so I fell in beside him. ? Copyrighted 2024 by AlwaysRollsAOne No Permission is given to translate, copy, repost or alter to an audio format of this original work of fiction. If you are reading this on a site that is not my Patreon, RoyalRoad.com, or Scribblehub.com, it has been stolen without my permission and violates DMCA. Remember, this work is the result of my creative effort and is protected by copyright law. Removal or altering of this notification is an acknowledgment you are aware you are in violation of DMCA. Chapter 127 The Adventurer鈥檚 Guild Chapter 127 The Adventurer¡¯s Guild I walked side by side with Relik, and the congestion of people parted in front of us. He wore his black delving armor with his guild symbol on the chestpiece. As we moved down the roads with a slight incline, Relik asked, ¡°How did you and Bleiz become friends?¡± I was just as tall as the dark elf at six feet, three inches. He had a stronger presence, though, not just from people recognizing him. I was almost intimidated by him, ¡°He was assigned to me by one of the leaders of Skyholme as a bodyguard. I am not sure if he told you, but the Wolfsguard used to be bred by Skyholme¡¯s elite to guard the islands.¡± ¡°So you do not consider him a friend then? He speaks highly of you. He even said I might have some difficulty facing you in a duel,¡± he left the last word out there as if it were a challenge. ¡°It is a developing friendship. I do see him more as a friend than a bodyguard,¡± I added. We walked in silence as I took in the varied races and buildings in the city. The Adventurer¡¯s Hall was much more impressive than the small one I had been inside Aegis City. The common room had a thirty-foot high ceiling and a second level with a wrap-around balcony. It smelled of sweat, ale, and leather. ¡°You will need to present your Adventurer¡¯s Guild card. I can get you a meeting with Abraham. He will be responsible for upgrading it to skyship captain card so you can access requests that involve a skyship.¡± I pulled my metal card out of my dimensional space that I was given when I registered my delve team. Relik noticed it, ¡°That is just a team token. Do you have your personal token?¡± I was a little embarrassed as I was unfamiliar with the process, ¡°This is all we need in Skyholme to delve into the dungeons up there.¡± I flipped the card in my fingers anxiously. Relik nodded, ¡°We have those as well, but they are only for dungeon access to Guild-controlled dungeons. The Adventurer¡¯s Guild does a lot more than just delve dungeons. We escort people, transport goods, find items, hunt monsters, harvest materials, and explore. We can stop by the front desk. It will only take a moment.¡± There was a long line at the front desk, but as Relik approached, they all moved aside to let us get to the front. Even the young dark elf woman currently being helped stepped aside. The old grizzled human male with a balding head behind the desk looked up, ¡°Relik, what can I help you with?¡± ¡°This man needs his Adventurer¡¯s Card,¡± he tapped my shoulder. The old man behind the desk looked me up and down, ¡°Did he lose his card, or is this his first?¡± ¡°My first. I only had this before to delve dungeons,¡± I held up my card from Skyholme. ¡°Not like you to bring the newbies in here, Relik. Is this one special?¡± The old man said as he pulled out a copper plate with unfamiliar runic markings and a small aether gem embedded in it. Relik grunted, ¡°We are actually here to see Abraham. Didn¡¯t know the young man didn¡¯t have his card yet. They don¡¯t use them in the floating islands where he is from.¡± ¡°Skyship captain, then. Well, my name is Clyde,¡± he held out his hand, and I shook it. ¡°This is your Adventurer¡¯s Card. We link it to you with a drop of your blood.¡± He handed me the card to look at. It was as large as my palm, and I sent my metal sense into it to look at the runes. They were tired of the aether crystal to glow if the linked person was holding the card. They were also a block of dots, ten by fifty. ¡°What are the five hundred dots for? They are not linked to the runes,¡± I asked, looking up. ¡°This is just a bronze card. You can only take bronze postings with it. Each bronze posting can earn you punches on the card. When you fill in all five hundred, you can upgrade to silver,¡± he patiently explained, even though several people were behind me. ¡°Is there another card after silver?¡± I asked. ¡°Well, it is actually silver-plated. Then, it is a gold-plated card. You fill the gold-plated card, and you get the platinum medallion. That only requires you to complete twenty-three missions of the platinum difficulty to get your mithril medallion. Your escort here has a mithril medallion,¡± he pointed at Relik. Relik grunted, ¡°And I had had it for almost fifty years. Not many mithril-ranked postings come about in Llorth.¡± Relik looked at me, ¡°After mithril is the adamantine medallion. That is the highest ranking in the Adventure¡¯s Guild.¡± Clyde placed the card into slot on a machine. ¡°I need you to sign your name here. It will be inscribed on your card. I suggest using the common script. Then you need to prick your finger here,¡± he indicated. ¡°Drop of blood here, and your card will be complete. You can use it any Guild Hall after that.¡± I started the process and asked, ¡°What if I lose the card?¡± ¡°The first card is ten gold, and it is also ten gold to be replaced. If you have progress toward your next rank, you need to go to the Guild Halls where you received your punches to get your progress verified.¡± I put a large gold coin on the counter as the card was inscribed with my signature and took my blood. ¡°Excellent,¡± Clyde said, inspecting the card. ¡°Looks good. Now, when you turn in a posting, they will confirm this is your card and that the job was completed and then punch your card.¡± The card was shiny copper and felt heavy in my hand as I turned it over. Relik put his hand on my shoulder and guided me away from the desk as the line had doubled since we had cut to the front, ¡°Let us head upstairs to see Abraham. He can get your captain¡¯s stamp on your card.¡± Many eyes were on us as we crossed the floor and headed up the double-wide stairs to the second floor. The balcony that circled the lower floor had tables of people eating and talking. They paused to watch us as we entered a long hallway. Relik stopped at an open door and entered. A lavish office with shelves of books was inside. A young elven male with short red hair was behind a desk. ¡°Relik? Finally decided to spread your wings a bit?¡± The elf smiled in greeting. ¡°No, I am fine with doing the same dungeon every day. This is Storme. He is here for his captain¡¯s stamp,¡± the elf behind the des studied me for a moment. ¡°Please sit. The captain¡¯s stamp is one hundred gold.¡± Relik stood behind me as I took a seat and put a platinum coin and my recently acquired card on the desk. ¡°Excellent,¡± he picked it up and studied the card for a moment. He placed the card in a press powered by a aether crystal. He activated it, and the press came down and marked the card with a pair of wings in the corner. He handed me the card, and I asked, ¡°Now that I have this, can I see postings? I want to hunt pirates.¡± ¡°A privateer¡¯s license as well?¡± He reached into a drawer and pulled out a paper. ¡°That will be an additional one hundred gold.¡± My eyes narrowed as I paid another platinum. ¡°What do I get for all this coin?¡± I asked skeptically. Abraham smiled behind the desk, ¡°Quite a bit as your captain¡¯s license allows you to get cargo insurance through the Adventurer¡¯s Guild and take job postings for passenger and cargo transportation. The letter of marque allows you to capture and sell other vessels that have broken local laws.¡± ¡°Where do I find these postings? And do you have information on pirate ships?¡± I asked, feeling slightly better. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Abraham smiled with his pearl-like teeth. ¡°That is the biggest benefit of your captain¡¯s license,¡± he stood, ¡°Come with me.¡± I followed him to another room with six desks. At each desk was a massive book. There was no one in the room. Abraham walked to a desk and opened the book, ¡°This book is magically updated with job postings.¡± I looked over his shoulder, and looked; it was indexed by cargo, passengers, threats, and privateer. ¡°Threats are typically monster extermination requests.¡± He started pointing at the spots on the page, ¡°This is the city that the posting is from. This is the suggested captain¡¯s rank, reward, and number of pips earned on completion.¡± The job listed was a transport from Llorth to a city called Requiem. It was for eighty tons of lumber. The difficulty was copper, and the reward was two-hundred fifty gold and one pip. It also noted insurance through the Adventurer¡¯s Guild was twenty gold. I asked a question, ¡°Can I accept silver-ranked postings?¡± Abraham answered, ¡°Yes. Let me show you how the process works.¡± He pulled his own Adventurer¡¯s Card and placed it on a space at the bottom of the page clearly marked for the Adventurer¡¯s Card. The aether gem lit up on his card. He took a piece of paper from a stack and placed it over the page. ¡°Now all I need to do is channel a little aether¡­¡± The page from the book was transcribed. When he took the paper, the page below was blank. He handed me the paper, ¡°You bring this paper to the address to pick up the cargo. I will add this job back to the registry after you leave.¡± I could now see why the captain¡¯s license cost so much gold. The magic network to maintain all these books was impressive and complex. ¡°And this job would no longer appear in any other books? That is amazing magic!?¡± I asked, kind of amazed at the magic involved. ¡°Precisely, but it is a mix of magic and technology. These terminal books draw from a central hub. Do you have any other questions?¡± Abraham said, smiling. ¡°Since I am only a copper-rated captain, can I request a silver or gold-ranked posting?¡± I questioned. Abraham nodded, ¡°Yes.¡± He turned to a silver-rated delivery posting. ¡°No one is preventing you from doing so. But you can see here the insurance for a copper captain on this silver mission is ten times that of the silver captain. Only if you rank higher than the mission, can you forgo purchasing the insurance.¡± He answered a question I had not thought of next, ¡°Even if you are a copper and complete a silver posting, you still get the same number of pips on your Adventurer¡¯s card.¡± ¡°So what if I do not pick up the cargo or just fail to deliver it?¡± I asked, studying the page. ¡°You have twenty-four hours to pick up a cargo. Other missions are also time-sensitive. Your contract will dissolve, and it will be reposted. Lost cargo means the Guild will pay the consigner if you paid the for the insurance. Otherwise, you are responsible. But I caution you that you can lose your captain¡¯s license if you fail to complete the posting too many times and utilize the insurance claim,¡± Abraham explained patiently. Relik also waited nearby, waiting on me, and started paging through one of the books on the table. ¡°And what about bounties for pirates?¡± I asked. Abraham laughed at my interest, ¡°They are here as well.¡± He flipped to the back of the book that seemed to have an infinite number of pages, ¡°Unlike cargo and passenger contracts, they will not disappear when copied. Once they are confirmed completed, a Guild Master will remove them from the central hub.¡± He looked at me seriously, ¡°You need to understand that you can only sell a captured skyship in the city in which the bounty was posted for the pirate.¡± Relik turned and said, ¡°Or in any pirate city.¡± Abraham pursed his lips in distaste, ¡°Yes, there are pirate cities in the Sphere, but none would have an Adventurer¡¯s Hall. And eventually, they are dismantled by the Guild.¡± He looked at me and waited for more questions that I did not have at this time. He bowed and left, leaving me and Relik in the room. I started paging through the bounties. Relik came and sat across from me, ¡°Pirate and Raider hunting is a very dangerous game. You never know what to expect.¡± ¡°Are you offering to help?¡± I asked while finding all the bounties were for gold and higher captains. Relik laughed deeply, ¡°No. I spent time tracking beasts, both man and monster, in the Sphere. I am done with that. I was just trying to offer some friendly advice.¡± ¡°I think I am okay without you if you have things to do. I appreciate your time,¡± I said seriously. Relik was respected and feared from what I had seen today in traveling with him. I was sure that had rubbed off on me today, as many people had seen us walking together. ¡°Besides training and delving, my days are pretty open.¡± He paused and considered, ¡°I plan to offer Bleiz a spot on a delve team for the Dusk Hunters,¡± Relik said, getting to his reasoning for helping me today. ¡°That would be his decision and not mine,¡± I stopped looking in the book. This would be a blow if I lost Gareth and then Bleiz. ¡°I just did not want to ask him before telling you. He has an impressive skill set, and Jasper thinks he can become an excellent dungeon scout for us.¡± He looked at the book, ¡°And our way of life is much safer than that. You always know what to expect in a dungeon.¡± I know that was not entirely the case. ¡°You are free to ask him,¡± I finally said. ¡°Good,¡± Relik said, standing. ¡°I will leave you to this. Just know whatever you find in these pages is usually not the complete picture.¡± Relik left me alone in the room, and I felt a pit in my stomach. I almost reached for my communicator to talk with Bleiz first, but this was a decision he would have to make on his own. I started copying a number of the bounties to paper. They had a description of the raider ship and the region of the Sphere they operated in. There was very little about the crew other than a few names, including the captain. I would need to update our maps¡ªmore coin the Adventurer¡¯s Guild would be getting from me. An older dark elf entered the room as I was copying the bounties. He did not pause to take a free table and open another book. I assumed all the books did the exact same thing. He had no interest in me, but I asked, ¡°Do they sell recent maps of the region?¡± He did not look up as he answered, ¡°The quest books only show jobs within ten thousand miles or so. If you want anything further afield, you will have to talk with the Guild Master.¡± From my position, I could see him paging through postings for cargo. He stopped on a posting for a silver-ranked captain and read it a few times before pulling out his silver card and copying the contract to parchment. He continued to page through the book. I introduced myself, ¡°I am Storme. I just joined the Guild as a captain and plan to do some pirate hunting. Any advice?¡± He finally looked up, interested. After studying me for a moment, he returned to the book, ¡°Captain Hiram, My advice is to focus on cargo and passengers. The maps can be purchased from the guild shop downstairs and will show the dangerous regions where pirates are currently operating.¡± I thanked him and took the twenty or so bounties I had copied. It only took a quick search downstairs to find the guild shop. It was a large room off the main common room. One wall was full of hundreds of postings for copper and silver requests. I spent time perusing them with other adventurers. The most common request was for monster parts from the local dungeon. A few adventurers tried to start a conversation with me, but I was not for making new contacts. I went to an open woman, and a young male human smiled, ¡°How can I help adventurer?¡± ¡°I am looking to purchase skyship maps for the entire region,¡± I replied. ¡°Very good. Your badge, please.¡± He pulled out a large map, ¡°The maps are divided by the ley lines.¡± He pointed out Llorth, ¡°This is where you currently are.¡± I handed him my copper card, which he returned after confirming it was mine. ¡°Each region is fifty gold for the most recent survey.¡± The Sphere was immense, and I began to note regions all around Llorth and all the way back to Skyholme. We already had a number of these maps, but most of the ones Leda used were outdated. The Adventurer¡¯s Guild maps were also all in the same format, making it easier to go between regions. I ended up purchasing forty-nine regions. I waited almost half an hour for them to be retrieved and sent them to my dimensional closet. I walked slowly back the Maelstrom. Not because I was taking in the sights but because I was dreading what Bleiz¡¯s decision might be. Remy was in the cargo hold, and dozens of various wood planks were stored here: ¡°I sold the frost mead and bought material to finish the skybike with my own funds!¡± ¡°That is good, Remy. Is Bleiz back?¡± I briefly looked at the multicolored planks. ¡°He is up with the Adrial and Kiara. They missed him. Or at least harassing him,¡± he chuckled. I made my way up and found a happy Bleiz in the cabin wrestling a puppet away from Adrian. He looked up, ¡°Storme, sorry about earlier. We had been tracking that elk for hours. I have a few steaks as a gift for you.¡± Bleiz never looked this happy in the time I knew him. I got right to it, ¡°You look happy. Did Relik ask you to join the Dusk Hunters?¡± Bleiz looked at me, ¡°He did. I told him no.¡± I visibly relaxed, ¡°That is good news. I hope is was not because of our bond.¡± ¡°Partly, yes. But not entirely. Relik asked if we were friends, and I did not hesitate to respond, yes.¡± He smiled, ¡°Besides, being around you is interesting.¡± ¡°Glad to hear it. Now let me tell you what has been happening in Skyholme since you have been gone¡­¡± I looked forward to telling him about the Black Spire and the Wolfsguard residents. ? Copyrighted 2024 by AlwaysRollsAOne No Permission is given to translate, copy, repost or alter to an audio format of this original work of fiction. If you are reading this on a site that is not my Patreon, RoyalRoad.com, or Scribblehub.com, it has been stolen without my permission and violates DMCA. Remember, this work is the result of my creative effort and is protected by copyright law. Removal or altering of this notification is an acknowledgment you are aware you are in violation of DMCA. Chapter 128 Chapter 128 As I told Bleiz what had happened in his absence, he was shocked, ¡°They just gave you the entire Black Spire?¡± I shrugged, ¡°I am more the caretaker for the Spire. If I leave Skyholme, they will take ownership back, and it will not pass to my descendants. The Triumvirate is mostly using it as a bargaining chip for my assistance in building and maintaining their skyship fleet. They are bankrupt and need my metal shaping skill.¡± ¡°And you have a refuge for Wolfsguard on your land? They allowed that?¡± Bleiz was sitting in disbelief at the news. ¡°The Wolfsguard who were working the orchards were maimed or considered too old to continue in their duties. I have started the process of healing them. After the Bricios fractured from Skyholme, indentured contracts were abolished and extended to the Wolfsguard. I think the Triumvirate thought their loyalty bond would keep them in the service of the islands. After talking with the Wolfsguard I have found their loyalty is flexible,¡± I explained my thoughts. I dropped the bombshell on him, ¡°I have an entire day¡¯s unfettered access to the Progenitor Dungeon as well. I have offered the Wolfsguard the opportunity to have children.¡± I could not read his face as it went through an array of emotions. He obviously knew what the dungeon represented. He seemed uncomfortable, ¡°Have any of the Wolfsguard committed to accepting this offer?¡± ¡°It is all voluntary and, yes, they have. About thirty couples, according to Jaesmin. She is one of the wolfkin mothers who choose to remain in Skyholme to raise the Wolfsguard children.¡± Seeing Bleiz struggling, I asked, ¡°How do you feel about all of this? The offer is also open to you¡ªyou need to find a partner, though, maybe Lorae,¡± I joked. Bleiz did not like my joke, ¡°The elf girl is twice my age and a half as mature.¡± He gathered himself, ¡°I am not sure how I feel, Storme.¡± He stood and left the cats. ¡°I need some time to think,¡± he said, leaving me. I was in shock as I thought Bleiz would be happy at the prospect of the Wolfsguard growing their population. They would die out without my offer. I went to the bridge, the cats following. Leda was in the pilot¡¯s chair, bouncing a rubber ball off the forward one-way viewing screen. ¡°Storme!¡± She stood. ¡°Cilia is sleeping. What is the plan?¡± I checked the gauge, ¡°Looks like about fourteen hours left for the aether crystals to recharge enough to fly back. The trip was a partial success. We did not get the coin to buy a new aether crystal to power the Maelstrom. But I did get new maps for forty-nine regions.¡± I pulled out all the maps, which were tightly rolled inside individual tubes. Leda was immediately excited and began to figure out the markings on the tubes for which region was where. I worked with her on her navigation desk to understand the system myself. The maps were just under three feet to each side. The edge of the map overlapped with the adjacent map. She was having a blast as the maps were more detailed than most of our maps. Comparing it to one of our current maps, it had variations in the settlements, and my new maps had icons for ruins and dungeons. The dungeons even had their names and two numbers, which identified how many levels they had and the relative difficulty. Celia came into the bridge as we had four maps spread on the desk. ¡°What are you working on?¡± she asked interested. Leda excitedly said, ¡°Storme got new maps, and they are fantastic. They have so much more information, and are much more recent.¡± Cilia joined us as we figured out the maps. It was disheartening to see Skyholme was nothing more than a small black dot with a faint green dotted line indicating its orbit over the lowlands. Each map section was packed with details. The backside of the map had even more information as it was a topographical and terrain map and noted only access points for entrance into the Underearth. After we spent an hour, I pulled out all the pirate bounties I had copied, ¡°These are the pirate bounties near Llorth. At least the easiest ones, which are just gold-ranked difficulty. I am going to let you two sort through them and identify their hunting grounds on the new maps. We must identify one target we can handle from this stack.¡± Cilia took the stack enthusiastically. ¡°When are we going after them?¡± Cilia asked, paging through quickly. ¡±I think next seventh day. One week to prepare, and we will go to their stomping grounds to do some reconnaissance. We probably will not engage unless I think it is a definite victory. But we will return the next week prepared,¡± I gave them my simplified plan. I needed a functional skyship to keep Loriel away from the Black Spire. I let them work together to continue reviewing the maps and pirate bounties. I decided to move into the city for some shopping. As I walked down the ramp, Bleiz appeared next to me, dropping his invisibility. ¡°I agree, Storme. Giving my people something to latch onto is good. I am worried that the bonding to another in our nature will just eventually force us to serve others again.¡± ¡°Not if that bond is with your mate as it was intended,¡± I said quickly as we walked. This got him thinking for a long while. Bleiz was lost in his thoughts when a rushing Lorae found us in the open market. Bleiz rolled his eyes and asked, ¡°How did you find us?¡± Lorae smiled and held up the comm stone from the set I had loaned her, ¡°It has a directional beacon on it. You just hold down the number, and it gets brighter as it points to the desired stone.¡± ¡°Since Bleiz is coming back with, I will take that communication stone back,¡± I had out my hand, and she seemed reluctant to part with it, but the dark elf placed it in my hand, and I sent it to my storage. Lorae asked, ¡°So what are we shopping for, and why did you not call me for my services?¡± ¡°I am just looking for cooking ingredients,¡± as we were in the open-air market. Lorae seemed disappointed but still trailed behind us as I wandered the stalls and asked endless questions about produce. I asked where it was harvested, the cost, and to try a sample. Many of the fruits were familiar or had a familiar taste. I bought various bags to experiment with later. About half of the meat and produce was sourced from dungeons. Lorae helped me find a source of chocolate in the market. It was, of course, sourced from a dungeon and processed in the city. It was much cheaper than Skyholme, and I had five hundred pounds sent to the Maelstrom. I also found a variety of coffee beans. All of the varieties were dry-roasted after being harvested from a dungeon. I got samples of each to try later. We eventually returned to the Maelstrom, and I was fairly certain Lorae was infatuated with Bleiz. She must have touched and petted his arm two dozen times during the shipping. She returned with us to the ship because she wanted to play with Adrial and Kiara. I think she was just trying to spend more time with Bleiz, and I thought maybe Relik was trying to keep Bleiz in Llorth for Lorae. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Lorae did not stay long as her father commed her and asked her to come home. I was going to get some rest, but Cilia and Leda wanted to talk further about the pirate bounties. I went to the bridge and found the left wall had six of the new maps tacked to it, a two-by-three grid. Leda flushed slightly, ¡°Storme, I hope you don¡¯t mind, but I went and had all the maps coated with resin to make them into panels.¡± I looked, and leaning against the wall were the other forty-three panels also in clear resin. Cilia volunteered, ¡°It makes it easier to view and switch them out. We are going to ask Rippon to shape some wood to hold the map panels in place. We can get six panels, two by three, on both walls.¡± I walked over and checked the resined maps. They were stiff and semi-glossy. Both sides had received a coat, ¡°No, this is good. Nice work. You wanted to discuss the pirates?¡± Cilia said, ¡°We went through the bounties and started by eliminating those we thought would be too difficult. That left nine. Of those nine, two seemed to be inactive, with no activity in the last three months. The remaining seven were sorted by distance from Skyholme. She indicated the map panels they had put up.¡± I walked to the wall and noticed yellow dots. I touched one, and it came off. Leda rushed over and again applied the mark, ¡°The resin protects the map, and these markers are temporary. I got yellow, pink, and light blue to contrast with the maps.¡± Cilia offered, ¡°This is how they trained us in the Naval Academy to chart courses in the Sphere. The markers make tracking our progress easier.¡± Leda added, holding up the three markers, ¡°These make everything so much easier. So far, I have been referencing landmarks and terrain on our maps. It works as long as we get on the correct heading, but we could get seriously lost if I make an error. I wanted to ask if you could buy another set of maps, though.¡± I coughed loudly, choking during my swallow. ¡°Another set? This set was twenty-five hundred gold!¡± Leda winced when I mentioned the cost, ¡°It is just that I would like one wall to be the topographical terrain maps and the other wall to be the landmarks and civilizations. In other words, the backside of the maps. Having both out at the same time saves time¡­¡± ¡°Not at this time. You will have to make do with turning the panels over,¡± I advised. ¡°What have you learned about the seven remaining pirates?¡± Leda looked a little deflated, and Cilia continued at the panels, ¡°These yellow dots are them. These two are the farthest away, and I think they operate small, fast ships by the description in the bounties.¡± ¡°I do not want to pursue any pirate that might be faster than the Maelstrom,¡± I replied. ¡°I doubt they are faster than us, but are just faster than the merchant ships they pursued,¡± Cilia said, handing me the two bounty sheets. Cilia continued, ¡°The remaining five targets are active along this mountain range. It runs about fifty thousand miles,¡± Celia started pointing out the dots. ¡°You can see these five cities on this side of the range and these three on the other side. I assume there is a fair amount of travel between them due to their size, so many merchant skyships pass over the range.¡± She handed me the five bounty sheets, ¡°Are any of these pirates working together?¡± Celia pulled two from my hand, ¡°I think these two are the same pirate. I am guessing he has two ships. The description of the captain is the same. Tall black-furred minotaur with ice magic.¡± ¡°So, which of these five would you choose?¡± I asked. Cilia pulled one immediately, ¡°This one. Just because she always targets small, slow targets. She has two small skyships that she launches from her much larger ship.¡± I focused and read the sheet. The pirate captain was a female human called Maggie the Siren. Her ship was a large trader called The Night Jewel. The real threat was the two fast skiffs she used to attack her selected targets. The reward for the capture of the captain and ship was one hundred thousand gold and two pips on my Adventurer¡¯s Card. There was an additional reward if some of the cargo was returned. Seven ships had been taken in the last year by this pirate. That meant she was good, and the estimate had her with about one hundred crew. Maggie sold captured crew and passengers as well as their ships at the same port city, Cinderfort. Cinderfort was a goblin city with access to the Underearth. It was not on any of the maps I had purchased. ¡°I think this target is the best bet of the bunch. She only attacks small ships, so the Maelstrom should be able to draw her in. The threat is really just the two skiffs.¡± Cilia pointed at the map, ¡°She is operating along this one thousand-mile stretch of the mountains. It looks like she attacks every month or so. My guess is that is how long it takes her to sell the captured ship and prisoners in the goblin city.¡± ¡°Let us focus on this one. We have a few hours before the aether crystal recharges. Why don¡¯t the two of you go get your Adventurer¡¯s Card and find out as much as you can about this pirate,¡± I produced two large gold coins to pay for their copper cards. ¡°I am going to be in my cabin and getting some rest.¡± In my cabin, I spent some time studying the comprehend languages spell, and then I used most of my aether to make platinum coins. Twelve platinum coins were added to my dimensional space. Now that I was not focused on crafting swords, I could store up some platinum coins again. It was still going to be more time-effective and profitable to make enchanted weapons rather than coins. With the amount of aether I had just spent on creating the platinum, I could have made enough mithril to inscribe runes on four long swords. I set my privacy and alarms and fell asleep with the cats curled up around my legs. My alarms went off as Bleiz knocked on my door a few hours later. ¡°Storme, Cilia, and Leda have returned from the Adventurer¡¯s Hall.¡± I met them on the bridge, and Bleiz came with me. Both Leda and Cilia were clearly intoxicated so I used my neutralize poison on both of them. ¡°What did you find out about the pirate Maggie the Siren?¡± Leda answered, ¡°You should ask if we want to be cured of our intoxication next time, Storme. We spent good coin on those drinks!¡± It was mock anger and Leda being Leda. Cilia shook her head, ¡°We didn¡¯t pay for any drinks. A friendly adventuring team bought them for us. As to our pirate, she actually has a terrible voice but loves to sing. We found a few names of people in her crew that have separate bounties. All are silver-ranked bounties.¡± Cilia handed me four bounty sheets that I looked over. Elsdon¡¯ The Bull¡¯ Jaymes, Bramwell ¡®Deceiver¡¯ Padley, Burr ¡®The Mad¡¯ Payne, and Alyson. Bounties of 500 gold, 500 gold, 300 gold, and 250 gold, respectively. They needed to be turned into an Adventurer¡¯s Guild, or proof of death was their head. ¡°A bit grizzly hunting people for gold,¡± I said, looking at the sheets. Cilia had no reservations, ¡°Look at their crimes. Rape, murder, theft, slavers. Removing these people is a service.¡± I had not seen her this passionate before. ¡°The plan is to just scout it out. Looking at this, these people have impressive abilities and some serious spellcraft. Lightning. Concussive strikes. Firewalls. Aether shields. I do not know if we are actually going to try to take them. I am going to work on aether cannons for the Maelstrom this week. We will see.¡± We spent an hour discussing the pirate ship and the crew we managed to be linked to. I was already having second thoughts. I used the small kitchen on board to make a sweet and savory vegetable stew. Shortly after eating, the Maelstrom was headed back to Skyholme. The entire trip back, I was schooled in skyship tactics by Cilia and Leda. Cilia had a much better grasp of the three-dimensional tactics. My biggest concerns were enemy aether cannons. Personal spell magic rarely had an effective range past three hundred feet. Aether cannons, while difficult to aim, could reach a mile or more. If I decided to forgo the pirate hunting, then I needed to find another way to procure a ship. It had seemed like a good plan at the time. We landed at the Shiny Platinum late on the seventh day. Deadlines were quickly coming together. Skyholme opening for trade and my requirement to staff the Black Spire with a skyship and guards. One thing that kept drawing me back the pirate bounty for Maggie the Siren¡­one hundred thousand gold¡­ ? Copyrighted 2024 by AlwaysRollsAOne No Permission is given to translate, copy, repost or alter to an audio format of this original work of fiction. If you are reading this on a site that is not my Patreon, RoyalRoad.com, or Scribblehub.com, it has been stolen without my permission and violates DMCA. Remember, this work is the result of my creative effort and is protected by copyright law. Removal or altering of this notification is an acknowledgment you are aware you are in violation of DMCA. Chapter 129 Chapter 129 I relaxed in my room at the Shiny Platinum and ignored the knocks on my door. My alarm spell told me the first knock was Delphia by the image flash. Although I was curious how the delve went in the Progenitor Dungeon, I was not in the mood to deal with her. I reset the alarm. The second knock was Mera and Fera, and I assumed it was for moving their brother¡¯s family to the Black Spire. They must have assumed I had my privacy screens up because they left after I did not answer. I could talk with them tomorrow at the dungeon academy. After the cats, I was focused on studying the bounty sheets. I was reviewing the individual crew bounties and the bounty for the ship, The Night Jewel. The ship itself was 100,000 gold delivered to the Principality of Marstom with Maggie the Siren dead or alive. The ship was probably worth three times that much, so the bounty was not too attractive. Maggie the Siren was 1,000 gold in addition, and then there were the other crew bounties. I studied the information I had on The Night Jewel. It was a very large ship, 210 feet in length and 50 feet at the widest beam. It was a trader, and from the additional information Leda and Cilia had uncovered, it used to belong to the Principality of Marstom¡ªwhich is why the bounty could be collected there. The Night Jewel looked more like an ocean voyager sent to the skies with three masts for sails and even a rudder. I guess it was very slow-moving but might also have a large aether crystal powering it. The two small, fast skiffs were the real danger. I kept going over the sheets and thinking about how I would handle turning the pirates attacking us against them. My biggest weapon was my exchange ability. I could switch places with the pilot of the skiff and then freeze the controls with my metal shaping ability. Then, I could do the same to the other skiff. While the two skiffs were adrift, the Maelstrom could move in on The Night Jewel. I thought their best fighters would be on the skiffs, so the large trader would be easier to handle. I took notes late into the morning and did not realize it was morning until the cats reminded me it was time for the early day routine. I fed and did their training and then went to do my own training. Instead of using my cleanliness spell, I just felt like using the shower this morning. I grabbed my breakfast from my personal cook in the kitchen, and as I was walking, Mera and Fera flanked me. They had been waiting for me. ¡°Storme,¡± Mera started excitedly, ¡°We brewed two new ales. A honey-apple and a dark stout. Do you want to try them?¡± Fera added, ¡°We got the apples from the Wolfsguard on your compound. My brother went with the delve team and surveyed the white barley fields. He was excited about the farmland and wanted to talk about expanding the fields. Can we have the Maelstrom bring their belongings to the farmhouse?¡± ¡°Talk to Isla. She knows the order things have to happen. The farmhouse was due to be renovated, but the number of building projects she has to manage is growing,¡± I told the twins as we walked. ¡°The farmhouse has not been renovated as of two days ago. Just cleaned out by the Wolfsguard,¡± Mera said, ¡°But my brother and his wife are ready to move anyway. He wants to start turning the field for the next growing cycle.¡± ¡°That is fine. Talk to Cilia and Leda then about finding time for a transport trip on the Maelstrom,¡± I said, finishing my breakfast quiche. We walked in silence until Mera blurted, ¡°Storme, will you be my escort to my 14th?¡± I was caught off guard and realized the twins had reached their fourteenth birthday and were, therefore, adults. ¡°When is it?¡± ¡°Sixth day, but we plan to celebrate on the fifth day since I know you have to manage the delve team,¡± Fera added. ¡°Will Gareth be your escort then?¡± I asked, looking at Fera. ¡°No, my escort is one of my classmates in mage support,¡± Fera retorted harshly. So that meant she was still angry with Gareth. We approached the Dungeon Academy, and there was a large crowd outside. They did not appear threatening, but Headmaster Ilium Louan was addressing the crowd. Mage Neelan appeared at my shoulder from nearby. His smirk told me he thought this situation was humorous. ¡°They are here for you, Storme. They came to seek the free healing of the High Mage.¡± He indicated to the crowd. ¡°They practically stormed the gates when we opened,¡± he chuckled. ¡°Many of them have come from all over the islands.¡± This was actually an excellent development as I would not have to travel all over the islands to find people to heal. I could tell that the Headmaster did not think this was a good situation with the disruption the crowd was causing. I turned to Neelan, ¡°Tell them I will start healing at lunch and work for just a few hours. Do you know how they found me here?¡± ¡°News spreads, Storme. My name was attached to your letter of introduction.¡± He patted my shoulder, and Neelan went to talk with the Headmaster while I went to my first class, Tier One Creatures. Everyone in the class was staring at me. The crowd outside was disruptive but calming down. I was the focal point of the disruption for the Academy. I walked up to Instructor Mathis before the class started, ¡°Instructor Mathis, I truly enjoy your class and am learning a lot of useful knowledge. I just wanted to ask if I could hire you as a private educator. Sometime in the evening. I would pay whatever the Academy pays you to teach this class.¡± Mathis was a skilled illusionist who studied dungeon monsters as a hobby. He considered and looked over the classroom, ¡°High Mage Storme, I would feel privileged to tutor you. No coin is necessary.¡± ¡°No. I insist. Four days a week at four, at the Shiny Platinum? The evening meal is on me, and bring your family as well,¡± I said quietly. His bushy eyebrows rolled in thought. He again looked at the class. ¡°Thank you, High Mage. I accept your generous offer, and my wife will thank you for not having to cook!¡± We clasped wrists and shook. I took my seat in the class for the last time. I just needed to make sure the line of sick and injured did not interfere with Shiny Platinum in the future. I might have to shift my residence to the Black Spire on a more permanent basis. Class finished early as there were fewer questions about the illusionary monsters Mathis created today while we covered the readings. My classmates spent most of the time staring at me instead. I had turned into a curiosity and distraction. I approached Mage Instructor Rainer before class started. I asked her for the same private lessons, ¡°High Mage Storme, I appreciate your situation, but I teach three spell classes at the Academy. I just do not have the energy.¡± She had a sympathetic look. I did the quick math. If she taught three classes, that meant she was in class forty-eight hours a week. She was also one of the most active and energetic teachers, constantly moving from student to student. ¡°Mage Instructor, it is fine. I will attempt to continue coming to your class because it is so informative. I do not want to disrupt the Academy, though,¡± I said, taking my seat. As we practiced spells during the three-hour class, she had a change of heart. ¡°High Mage Storme, I can find time on the third day to work with you¡ªfour, maybe five hours. It is my off day,¡± she offered. The student next to me, who had just learned to cast his arcane web spell, was shocked. I realized Mage Instructor Rainer probably just wanted to stay associated with the High Mage. If my title gave me this preferential treatment, I would take advantage of it. ¡°That would be amazing. Is right after lunch and until dinner acceptable? You can meet me at the Shiny Platinum and get lunch prior and dinner after on me,¡± I said, sounding relieved. It was less than half the instruction time I would have in class, but Mage Instructor Rainer was very good, and this would be one-on-one instruction. After class, I started healing the crowd that had grown. Mage Neelan and two other healers from the Academy came to help heal and organize the crowd. We had over five hundred people waiting and more arriving. Neelan and the other two quickly ran out of aether, and I kept going. Neelan remained and guided me on healing. I asked him, ¡°What do instructors get paid to teach each class?¡± Neelan laughed, ¡°Does High Mage Storme want to teach?¡± I laughed in return, ¡°No, Mage Instructor Rainer and Instructor Mathis are tutoring me at home so I do not interfere with the Academy.¡± Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Neelan looked at the line of people, ¡°The Headmaster will appreciate it. Rainer earns twenty-five gold per class. He teaches two a term. Rainer receives forty gold. So one hundred twenty per term.¡± I thanked him and continued healing. After my healing serviced the last of the crowd, I went to find Headmaster Ilium. We talked briefly, and I was able to get credit for the classes I was being tutored in. It was a nice gesture, but I was not concerned with graduating from the Dungeon Academy. I also left forty gold for each teacher with him to pay for the tutoring through the Academy. There was still a large benefit I could get from the Dungeon Academy, and getting my classes done on my schedule would help a lot. I walked back to the Shiny Platinum later than planned and found Bleiz and Freya working with the cats. Freya hugged me as it had been a few days since I had seen her. ¡°I can feel it, Storme. I know I am getting close. My awakening is soon!¡± ¡°Oh, really,¡± I rubbed her head and messed up her hair. ¡°How much chocolate have you been eating?¡± She looked indignant, ¡°I pay for it myself! I can have as much as I want!¡± ¡°Well, you still have some on your face,¡± I laughed and asked Bleiz, ¡°How did Freya¡¯s weapons training go?¡± Freya was cleaning the chocolate smear off her face. ¡°She improved while I was gone,¡± he praised. ¡°Not as much as she should have, but her progress is steady.¡± Freya relaxed as she had been tense waiting for his assessment. Mia had worked with Freya for the weeks that Bleiz had been gone. I spent dinner with Bleiz and Freya. When Isla knocked, Freya left so I could discuss the Black Spire. After Freya left, Bleiz noted, ¡°She wants to impress you, Storme. I suggest you do not beat her too soundly when she challenges you to a fight.¡± ¡°As long as she does not want to do something stupid like join a delve team, I will be easy on her,¡± I stated seriously. Bleiz thought for a moment, ¡°I think she just wants to travel the Sphere with you, Storme.¡± There was silence, and Isla, sensing the conversation was ended, started with progress updates, ¡°The plans for the building holding the portal stone next to the Shiny Platinum are finished, but I am reluctant to hire teams to start work on it. I have everyone focused on the Wolfsguard village.¡± I produced an assortment of gold and platinum, totaling more than ten thousand gold, from our trading in Llorth. ¡°Will this be enough to hire additional teams?¡± I asked. Loriel shook her head, ¡°No, but this might be enough to source all the stone for the Wolfsguard village.¡± ¡°How much do I need to cover the farmhouse renovations, the Wolfsguard village, the Black Spire renovations, the barracks by the skyship cradles, and the Shiny Platinum park and portal building?¡± As I went through the list, I realized I had a lot of coin to generate for Isla. Isla was prepared and pulled out a sheet for me. She noted, ¡°Material costs are down a bit, and labor costs are slightly down, but I suggest you get this all done before trade opens. Loriel is expecting there to be a flurry of outside investors from the lowlands. If Skyholme becomes a safe port city in the sky, then dozens of merchant companies will want to purchase buildings.¡± I started reviewing her numbers, and the cost was staggering, most of it focused on the Wolfsguard Village. Bleiz looked over my shoulder and whistled. The Wolfsguard Village, with everything Isla had panned for it, was over one hundred thousand on its own. If all the swords I had left with Tallot sold, that would cover the village. Of course, looking at it, I had chosen to focus on stone structures. Isla got my attention, ¡°The prices in Aegis City are starting to rise. If we wait, we could end up paying twice these estimates.¡± I added two thousand more gold in in the form of two large platinum coins to the table, ¡°Okay, Isla. I will make some more trade runs. Put everything in motion. The coin will be ready as you need it. How long to finish everything?¡± ¡°We are talking months, Storme. Four months for the village, everything else can be done in a month¡¯s time as long as I can hire building crews,¡± Isla stated. ¡°Okay, you have done a good job. See if you can purchase another warehouse in Solaris City,¡± I said. ¡°What? Why?¡± Isla asked, clearly confused on multiple levels. ¡°If ships are going to be coming here for trading, traveling thousands of miles, then having a warehouse just 125 miles away is not that much further to travel. Actually, plan to buy as many as you can,¡± I said. Isla was looking at the paper in front of me with over two hundred thousand in gold itemized expenses. I nodded, ¡°Just get me the prices, and I will find the coin.¡± I mentally groaned internally as Loriel had convinced me in all her ramblings that Skyholme was worth investing in. After Isla left, I was left with Bleiz. ¡°We can travel to the Black Spire tomorrow. My class schedule has changed. There are a few Wolfsguard from the Bricios that are unaccounted for on the estate, so be careful.¡± ¡°Do you want me to hunt them?¡± He asked, suddenly interested. ¡°Not yet. Talk to the other Wolfsguard. Please give me an honest assessment of them. I am getting close to being able to regenerate their missing limbs. My lesser restoration increased in level again today to twenty. I will be able to make the last evolution at level twenty-three,¡± I stated. Bleiz was impressed, ¡°Word of your healing prowess is on the street. Everyone is singing the praise of the great High Mage.¡± His tone indicated he was more amused than praising my skill. ¡°Go get some rest, and we will leave in the morning. And, Bleiz. Thank you for staying with me. I value you as a friend,¡± I said seriously. He nodded, smirked, and left. I took the cats with me to the middle of the Shiny Platinum where the brewery was located. I wanted to sample Mera¡¯s two new ales tonight. If they were good, we could add them to the production run. I had not expected Mera to be here, but she was, ¡°Storme?¡± ¡°I came to sample your new ales,¡± I said, and she rushed to four casks. ¡°Which do you want first? The honey-apple or stout?¡± She asked excitedly. ¡°The stout,¡± I replied. Mera¡¯s ability to ferment alcohol with aether was amazing. The stout she poured me was dark, almost black. It was definitely a strong and hearty brew. She said excitedly, ¡°It is a double malt. It has twice the alcohol of the pale.¡± I drank the glass and could not taste the alcohol. The beer was thick and left my tongue saturated with flavor. ¡°This is really good,¡± I said. ¡°We can definitely add it to the menu. What is different about its ingredients?¡± ¡°The barely is dry roasted, and I used different hops,¡± she said, pushing the honey-apple brew into my hand. Even before I sipped it, I could smell the apple. The taste was tart and sweet with the alcohol extremely noticeable. Mera was waiting for my opinion. ¡°Wow, this is amazing.¡± I thought it was almost sweet enough to be a dessert beverage. I drank some more as Mera pushed another sample into my hand. ¡°You can start producing both. Are we bottling?¡± I asked, as I know there was an issue with the supply of reliable glass jugs to preserve the fizz. ¡°No supplier yet,¡± Mera noted while pushing a third drink into my hand. She was watching me as I sipped. She bit her lip, ¡°Storme, someone offered me twenty gold a week to go and work in the capital for him.¡± I stopped drinking, ¡°What? Who? I will match any offer you get!¡± I said and realized I was slightly drunk. Mera had her bright smile, ¡°I already turned him down. I just wanted you to know.¡± She moved in close, and I realized she had been trying to get me drunk. I used my neutralize poison spell to eliminate my intoxication. I sidestepped her advance into me. ¡°Mera, I value you as a friend. If you ever need anything from me, just ask,¡± I put down the glass and retreated. I left a disappointed Mera. Maybe she thought I was more open to a relationship after I agreed to be her escort on the fourteenth. It would be wrong to take advantage of her, I told myself. Delphia was in the room adjacent to me, and I had planned to¡­ Now, I couldn¡¯t even do that, or Mera would get jealous. I don¡¯t know what I was waiting for¡ªor who I was waiting for. I found Talia and Delphia talking in the hallway outside the rooms, and both walked purposedly to me. I asked, ¡°Talia, why are you here? Are you not supposed to be at the Mage Academy?¡± ¡°I am splitting classes now between the Dungeon and Mage Academies,¡± she admitted. ¡°I have the delve report from the week for the Progenitor Dungeon and Frost Vault,¡± she said, smiling. I took both sheets, ¡°Remy normally gives these to me.¡± ¡°He helped compile them. We lost a little bit of profit because the Maelstrom was unavailable, and we rented a skyship,¡± she said, waiting. I looked over the sheet and looked up, ¡°You went to the second level of both dungeons? Any problems, and what are these slippers from the Progenitor Dungeon reward chest?¡± Talia was beaming, ¡°The dungeon rewards comfort items, and those are enchanted for comfort. Worth twenty-five gold in the capital.¡± ¡°Excellent work. You are doing a fantastic job. The delvers are in good hands,¡± I opened my room door, and cats scurried inside, eager for playtime. Talia and Delphia stood as I followed the cats and closed the door behind me. Talia was too obvious. And Delphia¡­ugh, maybe I did need to pick someone. My mail was on the table. Bleiz must have put it here. The first one was from Admiral Sebastian. I opened the letter, which basically informed me the Wasps were ready for the artificing work. Nothing too important. I read the delve reports in more depth, and Remy noted the bottom line at two-hundred and seventy-seven gold profit. That included all expenses¡ªfood, apartments, and Academy fees. The delve teams were quickly becoming profitable. The second letter I opened was from Gareth. It was a list of weapons and their specifications for his delve team. I had forgotten that I had promised to make weapons for him once he assembled a team. Four swords, three daggers, a mace, and five hand axes. I shook my head. I could do a half-hearted effort on the weapons, but then that might put Gareth in danger. I decided to give his team excellent enchanted weapons. I needed to work on an aether cannon for the Maelstrom as well. I was silently hoping Gareth would rejoin me. I told myself that this was the last thing I would do for him, but I knew in the back of my mind if he asked for something in the future, I would help him. ? Copyrighted 2024 by AlwaysRollsAOne No Permission is given to translate, copy, repost or alter to an audio format of this original work of fiction. If you are reading this on a site that is not my Patreon, RoyalRoad.com, or Scribblehub.com, it has been stolen without my permission and violates DMCA. Remember, this work is the result of my creative effort and is protected by copyright law. Removal or altering of this notification is an acknowledgment you are aware you are in violation of DMCA. Chapter 130 Chapter 130 I decided I wanted to finish all the weapons for Gareth this evening. I did not want this final favor hanging over me unfinished. I was partly concerned Gareth would also take his team in with inferior weapons. He was still my friend even if we were slightly estranged right now. I looked at the list: Four swords, three daggers, a mace, and five hand axes. The hand axes and daggers were all secondary weapons, and no specifications were given for them. They would be quick, and I would just add a durability enchantment to all of them. Smaller weapons were easy to add one enchantment. Adding two enchantments was much more difficult, enough for me. The four swords and mace were primary weapons, so I assumed Gareth had assembled a team of six, including himself. The mace was lighter than typical, so I assumed it was for a mage or healer. Each of the swords was different, with detailed specifications and sketches. I went into the second bedroom in my apartment, and the cats were upset we were not playing tonight. I had spent many nights in here making the long swords for sale in Llorth. I had purchased four posts wrapped in heavy rope that they could scratch and climb. Each was topped with a platform at a different height, and when they figured out I was working, they took to playing with each other. They were getting larger every day and barely fit on the platforms, so they took to playing king of the hill with Kiara dominating. The axes and daggers were done in under three hours. The mace was simple to make, and all the work was the two enchantments, heavy blow and shocking strike. When that was complete, I moved on to the swords. They would all get the sharpness and durability runes. It was early morning when I finished the last of the blades. All the practice on the long swords had made the process go smoothly. I just hoped the delvers he gave these weapons to did not flash them around. They would be considered quite valuable in Skyholme. Someone may think they could make better use of them. I spent some time wrapping the blades and then made a note for Remy to bring them to Gareth at the Dungeon Academy. As I walked to his room to slide the note under the door, the smell of the morning bread baking below was wafting up. I slid the note and went to the kitchens. It was still a few hours before the cafe opened, but half a dozen bakers and cooks were preparing for the coming day. My personal chef was working on my breakfast as well. I joined them and showed them how to make French toast with stale bread. There are a few things to consider when making French toast. Bread thickness as you want the outside browned but still have a gooey center. Make sure to add milk to the egg to absorb the liquid effectively, and finally, top it with a dusting of powdered sugar and then the butter and syrup just before eating. We did not have cinnamon, but maybe next time I was in Llorth, I could find someone to source it from. When I returned to my room, the cats were angry I had left them for so long. I fed them, and we went through our normal morning routine. I met Bleiz in the training room, and we practiced against each other. ¡°You have improved,¡± I said in sweaty clothes. ¡°My time in the lowlands was well spent. I learned in a few weeks what should have taken a year. You are still my better with your lightning magic,¡± Bleiz said while wiping down his weapons. ¡°Are we leaving for the Black Spire?¡± ¡°Yes, I will need to be back later for lessons. If you want, you can join me.¡± I said, hitting myself with a cleanliness spell. Bleiz did the same thing to himself. As we walked to the hanger, the cats trailing, Bleiz asked, ¡°When are we going after the pirates?¡± ¡°On the seventh day. We have a party on the fifth day for the twins. The Progenitor Dungeon on the sixth day and then the seventh day, will head to the mountains where they are known to operate. We will scout and then return. I am not sure about engaging,¡± I explained my thoughts. We reached the hangar, and Leda was loading some crates of food. ¡°Storme, are we heading to the Black Spire? Remy wanted this food sent for the Wolfsguard, and we need to stop at the Gaskil¡¯s farm to load furniture.¡± ¡°I forgot we were moving them. They are already prepared?¡± I said while checking on the cargo. ¡°Fera said they were ready last night at our dinner. We were going there now, actually,¡± Leda replied. ¡°Drop Bleiz and myself off at the Spire first. We will help you unload, and you can return to the farm afterward. I plan to return to the Shiny Platinum after lunch for a tutoring session.¡± I moved up to the bridge to find Cilia. Leda rushed to get the last few crates of produce on board, and we were soon zipping toward the Spire. We landed in the orchards, and the place was bustling. The stone mage and his crew were working on a structure, and there were dozens of piles of stone around the site for the future village. From the marker flags, the village looked a little bigger than I remembered the plans, but maybe that was because I was standing in the middle of it and not looking at a piece of paper. Isla was not here, but after we helped unload the food, I talked with the stone mage. He was directed to complete the general store first and town hall second before working on residences. The town hall was just a gathering place for the Wolfsguard to hold community events. Bleiz and I wandered through the orchards next. A number of Wolfsguard were picking apples. They looked at Bleiz with some suspicion, having never seen him before. My destination was the aether fields. That was the focus of the Asger and his people. It would generate the most profit for me as well. Aether-infused plants were used in alchemy and to create remarkable effects in dishes. Asger was directing planting, and the few Wolfsguard with plant growth ability were in the fields encouraging plants. On seeing us, Asger walked to us quickly, ¡°High Mage Storme! Glad you had time to visit!¡± ¡°How is the progress?¡± I asked, inspecting fields that looked mostly planted. ¡°It goes very well. There are forty Wolfsguard at the Spire. I think they are waiting on you if you have not stopped there yet,¡± Asger relayed. Since I was walking from the orchards, it was reasonable to assume I had not met them yet. ¡°It is my next stop. Remy sent the crates of food you requested. The human farmers are moving into the farmhouse later today. They are just to be working the white barely field,¡± I informed him. ¡°We met them last sixth day. Nice people, and I am sure we can all work in harmony,¡± Asger stated with a wolfish smile. ¡°Glad to hear that. Are the Wolfsguard at the Spire from Stonefell Island? And this is Bleiz, my friend. I am going to leave him with you, and you can introduce him around,¡± I talked with Asger a little more about their progress with the fields. The orchards were shipping five bushels of apples a day back on the Maelstrom. I left Bleiz with Asger for a more complete tour and to be introduced to the Wolfsguard. The cats snuck through the brush alongside me as I walked to the Spire. The Wolfsguard had landscaped the grounds and were looking a lot better. The path to the dungeon also looked to have been widened and cleared. As I approached the Black Spire, many Wolfsguard were training outside. It was clear to see the number was half females by their curves. These were the first groups that had chosen to utilize my offer for use of the dungeon. A large black-furred Wolfsguard met me as I approached. ¡°Pakkam, I was not expecting you to be in the first group,¡± I greeted the familiar Wolfsguard. ¡°Nor I. Fate has it¡¯s own will. I thank you again. We have forty-one here and seven children with Jaesmin in the village,¡± he shook my wrist. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Are you wishing to go into the dungeon this cycle?¡± I looked at the array of Wolfsguard who studied me carefully. ¡°Five pairs are ready, yes. The most anxious of us to see if it will work,¡± Pakkam admitted and pointed out the pairs planning to go. The entire group had stopped training. ¡°How many will serve as guards, and how many will serve as trainers?¡± I also noted they looked like they had been camping on the grounds, ¡°Are you all sleeping outside?¡± ¡°We are. Do you wish us to take residence in the town? We thought we would be responsible for guarding the tower. All of us are prepared to serve in whatever capacity you need us. Do not worry about those who come with child. They can still fight better than most men,¡± he smiled with a toothy grin. A few Wolfsgaurd females who heard him nodded and grinned as well. ¡°That is impressive. Isla is going to build the barracks between the two skyship cradles there,¡± I pointed. ¡°Until then, you can all reside in the Black Spire itself,¡± I waved at the massive structure towering over us. Pakkam looked up at the monolith of a building, ¡°Are you certain? We talked with Isla, and she said the builders were coming to work on the building and to stay out of their way.¡± ¡°Sleep on the fourth floor then. It is the first and second floor being remodeled.¡± I said looked up to see that the glass had been replaced on the fourth floor that was destroyed months ago in our fight with the Bricios. ¡°It has a good view and will protect you from the elements.¡± A lot of nods of appreciation came from the Wolfsguard at my offer. ¡°Also, those with children will live in the village after the birth.¡± I explained further, ¡°I want them raised away from the dangers that might find me here and educated in the village as well.¡± ¡°It will be as you request. You still require fifty guards for your Spire?¡± Pankam noted. ¡°I do. I am also requiring a skyship. I have three weeks remaining to procure one, and I plan to take a pirate ship in the lowlands soon,¡± I revealed to him. Pakkam asserted loudly for all to hear, ¡°Then you need a crew familiar with skyship combat. How many of us do you request?¡± I had not considered taking any Wolfsguard with me. I looked them over before addressing them, ¡°It is not in the scope of our agreement. But if ten would volunteer, I would welcome you.¡± One of the silver-furred Wolfsguard women quipped, ¡°I am the only one you need to watch your back, High Mage.¡± Pakkam rolled his eyes, ¡°Neoma, you are not even a match for the High Mage in combat.¡± Pakkam winked at me. He had observed me defeat Bleiz during the bonding rite. Clearly, he was giving me a chance to prove my fighting prowess among the Wolfsguard to solicit volunteers. Neoma scoffed, ¡°Mages can not fight. He would not even accept my challenge for dominance.¡± ¡°I accept.¡± A challenge for dominance was not mating but establishing hierarchy in the pack. I materialized my falchion and walked forward. A circle of interested Wolfsguard formed around us. Neoma had a shield and a curved short sword. I was not aware of her fighting style, but I would find out soon. We face off in the circle, and she flashed forward. My lightning reflexes had been active, but I had not been in overdrive mode. An aether shield hindered her for a breath as she quickly found her way around it. Neoma definitely had some type of speed enhancement, probably a tier-two ability. I went into overdrive and exceeded her speed. She used her shield as a good distraction in the engagement. I did not want to embarrass her, and we exchanged four times in seconds before separating. Her eyes narrowed, ¡°High Mage, I think I do not need to hold back.¡± Her muscles swelled, and she flexed bulging veins. This was a strength enhancement spell, not an ability. She came at me again, this time with strength and ferocity. She was still no match for my speed and skill. I used my aether shield liberally. Not because I needed to but in order to train it. Maybe I could gain some valuable training with these warriors. After a minute, Neoma was panting and tired. The spell she used enhanced her strength but also drew on her reserves. She bowed at the waist, ¡°High Mage, I acknowledge your skill over mine in combat.¡± Pakkam laughed, ¡°Our High Mage subdued the loudest mouth among us in minutes! Nice show.¡± I was disappointed the fight was so short, but Neoma had gone all out, ¡°Is anyone else going to challenge me?¡± I encouraged the pack. Pakkam smiled and explained, ¡°Neoma was third among us, and I am not going to challenge you. Amarok is too wise after seeing your display. So, no. We accept you as a warrior among us.¡± ¡°I wish to get some exercise, Pakkam,¡± I announced loudly. ¡°If it is not too presumptuous, I would ask for two opponents at once.¡± The Wolfsguard stirred at my challenge. Pakkam quieted them, ¡°Two it is, High Mage.¡± The circle remained, and Pakkam selected two male Wolfsguard. They worked well together, trying to get one behind me, but I had my aether shield and incredible speed. They did not succeed. I let the contest go for a few minutes while I frustrated my opponents before ending it. The next pair that Pakkam called on landed a strike on my calf from an illusionary attack that fooled me. I healed it quickly and ended the fight after that. The others were learning my weaknesses by watching. Pakkam then called two forward and joined them as a third, ¡°We have to show the High Mage the Wolfsguard have some pride.¡± I nodded, accepting the increased challenge. These three circled, and I could tell they were familiar with each other. They launched a coordinated attack and pressured me. I figured Pakkam had a combat foresight ability, seeing my attacks before I made them. This allowed him to keep me occupied while the other two harassed me. I probably could have ended this quickly, but I let it play out. I noticed Bleiz approaching the tower with Asger. The clash of steel and the grunts echoed under the tower as I fought three skilled opponents at once. I moved into a mental zone and missed Bleiz joining the three in the attack on me. I barely cleared his swing. And then it was four-on-one. As if Bleiz¡¯s addition was a sign, I was soon fighting five Wolfsguard as Neoma joined. A strike hit my back, and I rolled forward in some pain. Pakkam yelled, ¡°Halt,¡± and everyone retreated. Bleiz and my four attackers were smiling at finally succeeding. Pakkam was happy as well, ¡°High Mage, we would welcome you back to train with us any time. Although your magic aids you, you are a skilled swordsman.¡± I bowed to them. It was a compliment but also insinuated that they would have won without my magic¡ªnot that they did not have their own magic as well. I used my cleanliness spell as I was sweaty, dirty, and quite ripe from two hours of training. I produced a keg of Mera¡¯s frost mead and drank with the Wolfsguard. I talked with Pakkam about getting potion belts and a typical array of potions for everyone in Llorth. The quality was much better in the lowlands, and the cost was much cheaper. Pakkam also selected himself and nine Wolfsguard to go with me when I went pirate hunting. This would give me more confidence to engage. The Maelstrom landed as we were drinking, and four women and two men came down the ramp I did not recognize. Leda rushed behind them, ¡°We dropped off the farmers and their things. These are the new servants for the Black Spire!¡± Isla came down the ramp shortly after. After introductions, Isla said, ¡°Storme, I will show them around. I have four landscaping specialists coming as well later in the week. The staff¡¯s families will be relocated in a few weeks. I just wanted to make sure of the quality of their work.¡± ¡°Excellent. I am headed back to the Shiny Platinum. The Wolfsguard here can stay on the fourth floor,¡± I cleaned all the Wolfsguard with my cleanliness spell before ascending the ramp onto the Maelstrom with Bleiz and the cats. On the bridge, Bleiz spoke with me, ¡°You really impressed them. Not just the warriors but all the Wolfsguard on your land. I think you have won them over. Just follow through on your promises. I did not find signs of the four missing Wolfsguard.¡± My eyes snapped to Bleiz, ¡°Nothing?¡± ¡°No one has seen them since your first visit. They were loyal to the Bricios and may be hiding in the surrounding woods. I suggest you have them searched with mage sight,¡± Bleiz couciled. When we returned to the Shiny Platinum, Remy said Gareth sent his thanks back after he delivered the weapons. The fact that he did not thank me in person hurt a little. Then again, I did not deliver them in person. My instructor for tier-one creatures was here, and he brought his family for the free meal. His family ate in the restaurant, and he taught me in my apartment while we ate. Bleiz joined us and had more questions than me as he had not read the text beforehand. I gave him coin to buy his own copies in the future. We got through three creatures in the time he had. He thanked me for the food and the bonus coin. The rest of the week, I went to enchant the wasp skyships for Sebastian and then did my personal tutoring afterward. I did not have time to cross blades with the Wolfsguard. My evenings were spent trying to design an aether cannon for the Maelstrom. It was one of the more frustrating projects I had worked on. The amount of aether required a lot of math and trying to balance aether, range, power, and shot frequency was not easy. The Maelstrom was a small ship, and if the cannon drew too much aether, it would interfere with other runes on the ship. Before I knew it, it was the fifth day, and I had to escort Mera to her fourteenth coming-of-age party. A large group of us boarded the Maelstrom, and we returned to Hen¡¯s Hollow. ? Copyrighted 2024 by AlwaysRollsAOne No Permission is given to translate, copy, repost or alter to an audio format of this original work of fiction. If you are reading this on a site that is not my Patreon, RoyalRoad.com, or Scribblehub.com, it has been stolen without my permission and violates DMCA. Remember, this work is the result of my creative effort and is protected by copyright law. Removal or altering of this notification is an acknowledgment you are aware you are in violation of DMCA. Chapter 131 Mera POV Chapter 131 Mera POV Mera walked through the shelves in the brewery storage room. It was her brewery, Storme had said as much many times. She checked the preservation runes, making sure they were charged. She had spent most of the coin Strome had paid her on books detailing different brewing methods. And this locker had dozens of grains she experimented with. She was searching for something that Storme would find amazing. Her latest experiments had yielded a sweet and sour honey-apple ale and a very dark stout that was finally not bitter. Storme had liked both and even requested production runs for them. She was ashamed to admit she had tried to get him drunk to steal a kiss or two. She did not tell Storme, but it had taken her over fifty experiments to get those two brews to the final product. She did not want to tell him that she worked late into the night, every night, trying to find the perfect ale to please him. Lachlan walked into the storage room behind her, ¡°What are you trying now?¡± She looked over her shoulder at the alchemist. He was not unattractive, at least until you got to know him. He was so self-absorbed it was hard to listen to him talk. Unfortunately, Storme had saddled Lachlan with her as his alchemy lab was on the other end of the brewery. ¡°I am considering trying to make some wines. My fermentation ability works just as well on fruits as it does in grains,¡± Mera said and turned away from him. He didn¡¯t leave, ¡°I know that. I was the one who encouraged you to branch out more. Are you sure you do not want to learn alchemy from me? I am told I am an amazing teacher.¡± He always wore a smirk for a smile. Mera turned and hid her frown. Lachlan was always wandering over from his lab to talk to her. At first, it was not unwelcome, but then he was telling her what to do with sterilization, filtering, and just about every step in her brewing process. ¡°No thanks, Lachlan. I have two dozen reference books and talked with a dozen master brewers across the islands.¡± Mera could feel him frowning behind her. She continued to work, ignoring him, and then he asked, ¡°Do you still need an escort for your fourteenth?¡± ¡°Storme is taking me,¡± she said a little too hotly. ¡°I do not know why you keep pursuing him,¡± he barked. ¡°You and your sister should just move on. He probably likes men,¡± he said a little angrily. ¡°Can you just leave me alone? I am trying to work here,¡± she barked at him. He should have never attacked Storme. If Storme found out, he would kick Lachlan out in a heartbeat. Thinking further, that may not be such a bad thing. He finally left, and Mera pulled out the ingredients for a blueberry ale. This would be her third attempt. As she worked, Remy came into the brewery. ¡°Mera, I have the requests from the Shiny Platinum for next week,¡± he placed the list on the counter. His arrival had Lachlan coming back to her side of the floor. ¡°Lachlan, I have your list from Talia as well.¡± Lachlan took the list, read it, and complained like usual, ¡°Twenty-nine stamina and twelve minor healing potions? That is a lot of work, as the healing potions need to be decanted twice!¡± Remy just told him, ¡°Get it done. If you don¡¯t want to work for Shiny Platinum Delving I will talk with Storme about finding a replacement.¡± Remy sounded almost hopeful. Lachlan got defensive, ¡°I just want you to know how much work this order is. It also takes away from my personal research.¡± Mera knew that Storme was paying for all of Lachlan¡¯s materials to research potions and elixirs from a tome that Lachlan had compiled on Storme¡¯s behalf. It had dungeon potion recipes from every dungeon in the Skyholme islands and beyond. She was also sure Lachlan was selling his successful creations for a substantial profit to outside parties. Remy just waved at Lachlan, ¡°Get to work if it is going to take a long time. Talia has planned two delves in the Frost Vault tomorrow, and they are almost out of stamina potions.¡± Lachlan reluctantly retreated to his side of the floor. Remy turned to Mera, ¡°I told Talia to try and double the honey harvest. The Frost Mead is very popular in Llorth, so if you can add a few casks again beyond normal production.¡± ¡°Sure thing, Remy,¡± she gave him her brilliant smile. Fera came into the brewery and walked toward her sister. Lachlan was already coming back across the room. Remy deftly intercepted him and shepherded him back to his side. Remy understood Fera hated the alchemist and was trying to avoid a blowup. Fera¡¯s hands were dirty from working on the roof¡¯s gardens, ¡°Mera, have you decided which dress to wear?¡± Mera had tried just about everything on Storme. Throwing herself at him, getting him drunk, working endlessly in the brewery. Nothing she did seemed to bring her closer to him. Fera still encouraged her sister to keep trying. Until he actually married another woman, he was considered fair game. Mera sighed, ¡°I don¡¯t know. I think Storme would like me better in the blue dress.¡± Fera dropped her bundles of herbs from the roof and hugged her sister reassuringly. Fera had her own problems. She had chosen Gareth instead of Storme. Gareth was fun and large, very large in all ways. Fera had complained about his size endlessly to Mera but never left him, even when he wandered over the last year. And he wandered a lot. Finally, Fera gave up on Gareth when he started sleeping at the Dungeon Academy instead of the Shiny Platinum. He was giving private tutoring to a number of women in his combat classes in the evening. Mera finally convinced Fera that Gareth was more concerned with being admired than giving love to another. He loved himself and loved being adored. That was why Gareth and Storme had grown apart. Gareth felt Storme was taking away too much attention from him. When Storme was named High Mage, the most prominent position outside of being on the Triumverate, Gareth knew he would always be in Storm¡¯e shadow. Fera and Gareth had argued about it a few times. Fera ended the hug with her sister. ¡°I heard from Leda that Kyle, Adriana, and the baby moved to the Black Spire today. After I graduate from the Dungeon Academy, I am going to ask Storme to work the aether crops with the Wolfsguard. It should pay more.¡± ¡°Just ask Storme for a raise, Fera. When I told Storme about Cloud Brewing in the capital trying to recruit me, he had Remy match their offer. You supply the restaurant with all the hard-to-get produce every day. You have saved those cooks too many times to count when they have run out of something,¡± Mera encouraged her sister. The mutual support system had kept them going. And in two days, they would be considered adults in Skyholme. Fera hung out in the brewery while Mera worked. She sampled the latest blueberry ale and gave an honest assessment¡ªanother failure. Fera helped Mera clean up, and they went to their room. Their apartment was directly across from Storme¡¯s. They still rarely saw the High Mage as he was always busy. Working in his room, training his two displacer beasts, at the Dungeon Academy, traveling to the lowlands and recently to the Black Spire. They both showered and went down to Mia¡¯s room. Mia hosted dinner every night for their small group. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Remy and Mia were already there. They made a good couple. If Cilia and Leda were around, they would have joined them. Lana and Sammie knocked and entered. Everyone filled a plate, helped themselves, and lounged about the common room in Mia¡¯s apartment. ¡°Is Isla coming?¡± asked Lana. ¡°No, she is training the new staff at the Black Spire. She hired an experienced grounds crew and is trying to prepare the Spire for hosting events,¡± Mera said. ¡°I worked with her a little on the landscape planning.¡± ¡°Talia might come,¡± Sammie said between bites. ¡°We have two delves tomorrow in the Vault, and she planned to sleep in her apartment.¡± Lana added while picking at the fries, ¡°Yeah, I have been a stone block pack mule with my dimensional space for her trying to save a few coins.¡± Remy asked, ¡°Are we going to invite the new girl, Delphia, to our dinner parties?¡± ¡°No!¡± Mera blurted and flushed. Everyone laughed softly. Lachlan had come to a few of the dinners before Mia yelled at him for rubbing her thigh on the sofa. It was one of the reasons why they had dinners in Mia¡¯s apartment¡ªso Lachlan was, by extension, not invited. They moved to the large table to play cards and talk about their days. Mia was responsible for the guards at the Shiny Platinum and attended the Guard Academy. She always had a good story or two from either the Academy or the overnight watch. Remy was always eager to share the success of the enterprises Strome was involved in. Sammie, who wandered around the city most of the day, was eager to tell everyone about how everyone held the High Mage Storme, the healer, in such high regard. <<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>> Bleiz listened, invisible outside the room for a good hour before leaving. He wondered why they never invited Storme or himself to these gatherings. He just wanted to make sure these men and women close to Storme were not plotting against him. He went to the roof and walked the ledge around, studying the ground below. He would do this every two hours tonight, as was his habit. <<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>> Mera and Fera returned to their room and slept. They were up early the next morning and tried to catch Storme on his way to the Dungeon Academy. They learned from the cooks that Storme was now having the teachers come to him at the Shiny Platinum in the evenings. Mera and Fera were mostly attending the Dungeon Academy because Storme and Gareth were here. Now that Gareth and Fera were separated and Storme was not attending it almost made no sense to continue. On the walk home, Fera convinced Mera to continue, ¡°Even if we never delve a dungeon, Mera, the spell classes are invaluable. We would never be able to afford this education before.¡± She then invoked Strome, ¡°Besides, Storme expects both of us to graduate.¡± They did not see Strome again till the fifth day. Leda had told them that the Maelstrom was going to take them all to Hen¡¯s Hollow. The twin¡¯s parents were hosting, and Kyle and Adriana would also be back from the Spire. Everyone was in the cargo hold waiting on Storme, nearly twenty friends. Even Lachlan was coming, as it would have been too rude not to let him. As Storme climbed the ramp, he seemed surprised to see so many people. There were a few people he would not recognize. These were other student¡¯s in the support mage classes at the Dungeon Academy. Storme focused on Mera in her blue dress. She had spent hours getting ready. He walked up to her, ¡°You look amazing, Mera.¡± He leaned in and kissed her cheek. He then produced a sparkling blue necklace. Little sparkles of light were in the stones, and it was clearly enchanted. ¡°Congratulations on your fourteenth,¡± he placed the necklace around her neck. Mera was flushing even as Storme gave Fera a similar necklace but with green sparkling stones instead. ¡°I will be on the bridge,¡± he addressed the group. Everyone came to admire the gift. Fera pushed Mera to go after Storme. The skyship flight would only take about ten minutes. Mera found Storme on the bridge, studying the new wall maps. Rippon had molded wood to secure the map panels to the wall. Mera asked, ¡°What are you thinking about Storme?¡± He turned and smiled, ¡°We are going here,¡± he pointed to a spot on the map, ¡°in two days to look for pirates.¡± Mera was surprised, ¡°Pirates? Why?¡± Mera knew from her friends they were going on a secret mission to the lowlands, but they had not revealed the details. Storme put on his grin, ¡°Because I was forced to by Loriel. She constantly forces me to do things I don¡¯t want to do, and I try to make the best of it. I think we have a rough understanding of each other now.¡± Cilia, who was on the bridge, was holding her tongue. If Leda was here, she would be defending Loriel as she was more vocal, but instead, Leda was in the cargo hold with everyone else. Mera actually liked Loriel, and she even joined them for dinner every once in a while. ¡°But why pirates?¡± Mera asked again. ¡°Because I need another skyship, and I am not in the position to purchase one. This way, I can legally take one and help others in the lowlands by removing a threat,¡± Storme explained patiently. Mera knew there was a big secret her friends were keeping from her, and this must be it. ¡°I do not understand the risk you are taking. What if you never came back, Storme? What about everything you have built? What about Freya? What about¡­¡± Mera had about to include herself, but that would have been too much. ¡°I will just have to make sure we all come back,¡± Storme said with his stupid grin. ¡°Anyway, we are just scouting the mountain range. We may not engage at all.¡± Storme walked to Mera, ¡°Your hair and makeup look amazing,¡± he reached out, and her heart pounded as he reached for her chest but just brushed the blue necklace instead. ¡°This necklace has two enchantments on it. One is the simple sparkle enchantment. You can adjust it to make it glow instead for a nightlight. The other enchantment is a weak environmental aura. You will never sweat or be cold while wearing it!¡± Cilia announced we were landing. Storme smiled, offering his arm, ¡°Shall we go, and I present you?¡± Mera smiled weakly and allowed him to take her arm. They waited while everyone else departed for the tavern in town. Fera and her date waited as well. Storme escorted Mera as she was introduced to all her friends and family as an adult. The High Mage soon disappeared as the festivities began. Mera was upset. He had not even remained long enough for a dance or two. Gareth arrived at the part alone and was dancing with Fera, who was too drunk to be angry. Maybe Storme left because he knew Gareth was coming? Remy took pity on her and asked her to dance. She started drinking and soon forgot about her Storme problems. Mera did her best to enjoy the party. Leda, Cilia, Talia, and Sammie had to delve tomorrow, and they were all going on the pirate hunt the day after. Mera found herself resting in a corner late in the night. She was surprised when the darkness said, ¡°You should stop pursuing him.¡± Bleiz emerged from the darkness and sat next to her. ¡°Storme? Where is he? And why should I stop?¡± Mera asked the mysterious Wolfsguard, meeting his eyes. ¡°He went to his cabin on the ship to make enchanted weapons for the Wolfsguard, who are joining us on the pirate hunt. He grunted comically, ¡°I am younger than you, golden hair. I do not understand any more than you, but I am good at reading people. Whether he wants to admit it or not to himself, Storme feels betrayed by Aelyn. He could not even bear to look at the information Loriel gave him on where she went. And then Gareth left him as well, which hurts him more than he will admit. He works himself to exhaustion to avoid his emotions.¡± Mera was going to ask Bleiz another question, but he was already gone. She would keep trying. Even a stone would erode with enough time. The next week, she went to classes on the first day, and at dinner that night, it was just Mia, Remy, and her sister. Sammie, Leda, Cilia, and Talia had not returned from their pirate hunt. That was expected as it was a good fifteen-hour flight on the Maelstrom to the mountains. When they were not back for dinner the second day, and then the third day, she started to get concerned. After two weeks, they started to fear the worst, and maybe the Maelstrom would not return. ? Copyrighted 2024 by AlwaysRollsAOne No Permission is given to translate, copy, repost or alter to an audio format of this original work of fiction. If you are reading this on a site that is not my Patreon, RoyalRoad.com, or Scribblehub.com, it has been stolen without my permission and violates DMCA. Remember, this work is the result of my creative effort and is protected by copyright law. Removal or altering of this notification is an acknowledgment you are aware you are in violation of DMCA. Chapter 132 Chapter 132 The twin¡¯s fourteenth celebration had been fun. They both marveled at the necklaces I had made them. They probably did not fathom how small I had to make the runes on those pendants¡ªalmost as good as dungeon work. It was some of my best enchanting work. I snuck away shortly after escorting Mera. I had too much to do before we left for the lowlands to scout for the pirates. I was working on making enchanted weapons for the Wolfsguard, who Pakkam selected to accompany me. Every Wolfsguard was getting the same curved dagger that Bleiz preferred. I gave the daggers a sharpness enchantment, and they were all identical, with a green tier four aether at the base of the grip. It was a much larger stone than needed, but I had used mithril in the runes so that they could be overcharged with the more powerful stone. All the Wolfsguard who were guarding my Black Spire were from the Blackguard. The Blackguard were the unaffiliated Wolfsguard who had been tasked with guarding Skyhold. The primary weapon of Blackguard had been a simple longsword. It was a little heavier than normal long swords as the strength and speed of the Wolfsguard meant it needed added durability. The two enchantments I gave the ten long blades were durability and counter. Counter was a simple enchantment that caused a rebound when the blade was struck. With their style of fighting, it made the most sense. It would halt the momentum of an attack and give an immediate opening to exploit for the fast reactions of the Wolfsguard. I used tier-four green crystals to power these enchantments as well. Most likely, they would have to be recharged between engagements as the counter enchantment drew a lot of aether from the aether stone. Bleiz entered my small cabin while I worked. Adrian and Kiara were angry as they had not sensed him approaching the door and failed in their sentry duty. Bleiz sat on the small bed while I worked on the blades at my desk, ¡°You need to tell that one to find another.¡± ¡°She already knows,¡± I replied offhandedly, focusing on the detailed runic work. ¡°She does not know. She would be happy being your secret mistress if you are so inclined.¡± Bleiz stated while wrestling Adrial with his hand on the bed. ¡°I will deal with it when we return,¡± I stated, focusing on the blades. ¡°Go tell Cilia to take me to the Spire. She can come back to the party after she drops us off.¡± Bleiz rose, and Kiara leaped onto his back in a surprise assault, digging her claws in to hold on. I snapped my finger, and she dropped to the floor, realizing her playing had crossed a line. Bleiz left smiling at the cat¡¯s antics, probably plotting revenge. Cilia arrived, and it was not long after we were flying to the Black Spire. I locked the cats in my cabin and let Cilia know they were in there. We landed at the gates, and I found four Wolfsguards standing at attention outside the entrance as I descended the ramp of the Maelstrom. They nodded as I passed inside and made my way up to the fourth floor. The Wolfsfuard had cots up here lined along the glass windows. The room smelled like wet dog but was extremely ordered. Pakkam arrived and came to talk with me. ¡°High Mage, do you require an escort to the dungeon?¡± Pankkam asked and Bleiz snorted. ¡°No, just the pairs going in can come with me. The delvers will be arriving after six hours, so that is as much time as you will have to¡­¡± I cleared my throat. ¡°Bleiz and I will be going in with the first group to delve into the dungeon for some practice.¡± ¡°We are?¡± Bleiz asked skeptically. ¡°I mentioned it?¡± I smirked. I addressed Pakkam, ¡°Pakkam, I have some blades for those who you selected to come on the pirate raid.¡± As I pulled the blades and curved daggers from my dimensional closet, the thirty or so Wolfsguard took notice. I had them all surround me, picking up the long swords and testing them with a swing. One of the smaller females gripped, ¡°Dragon shit, if I had known we would get fancy weapons, I would have volunteered.¡± A large Wolfguard wrapped his arm around her, ¡°After the delve, you will have something else more important to protect.¡± It was a little awkward seeing affection from a Wolfsguard couple. I was not the only one, either. The other Wolfsguard looked away from the public display. I thought it was good that this couple was comfortable enough to break the engrained training. After the awkward moment, Pakkam addressed me, ¡°This is very generous for you to loan us these weapons, High Mage. We will use them with great care.¡± ¡°You misunderstand. These are for you to keep. Remy should also have a crate with potion belts filled with lesser-healing potions. They were made in the capital, and I will get higher-quality brews the next time we are in Lloth, as promised. The trip to Llorth is too far out of our way when we go and scout the mountains for pirate activity.¡± The blades were sorted to the ten who were coming with us. The curved daggers I had made fit well in their sheaths, but the long swords rattled as they were slightly smaller than their normal long swords. Pakkam and two others already had artificed blades from their time in the Blackguard. My enchanted blades were superior, so they handed down their old blades to others. Seeing the envy of the Wolfsguard not receiving the pair of weapons, I announced, ¡°When I have time, everyone will get the same blade.¡± This got a lot of appreciated nods and wolfish smiles. Iris chose this time to walk in. I thought she had been at the party with everyone else as she was friends with the twins. ¡°Storme! If you are giving away valuables, then I could use some coin,¡± she smiled devilishly. ¡°Isla, I assume you are here looking for me for a reason?¡± I asked the architect. ¡°Coin, Storme. I always need more coin,¡± she said with a smile. She bit her lip and added, ¡°Loriel wanted to host a party here,¡± she pointed at the large room we currently stood in, ¡°to celebrate open trade between the Sadians and Skyholme. She thought you might be more receptive if I asked instead of her.¡± Isla smiled hopefully, but she was expecting my reply to be a resounding no. ¡°Why? Is the Citadel in Skyhold not good enough?¡± I said calmly. ¡°This is for the skyship captains. Well, mostly skyship captions and a few heads of merchant houses from Skyholme and the Sadians. There shouldn¡¯t be more than one hundred guests,¡± Isla explained. ¡°Loriel wanted to bring them into a more intimate environment with the best view around,¡± she indicated, the large glass windows on this floor. Isla continued, ¡°She told me that she was going to make trade offers to this select group and wanted you to be privy to them in case you wanted to take advantage of the opportunities presented.¡± I had three weeks to make good on presenting a skyship and having fifty guards at the Black Spire. If I failed, then Loriel had her own skyship stationed her with her guards. Hosting an event would put pressure on me to make good on the contract as quickly as possible. I considered the request, and Loriel was open about it. Even offering me an opportunity to be part of her machinations for profit. ¡°How much is the party going to cost me?¡± I asked, doubting Loriel was going to pay for it. Isla smiled, ¡°Loriel will handle getting the selected participants to the Black Spire. You will be responsible for hosting.¡± I rolled my eyes at Isla, ¡°Food, staff, guards¡ªif you are using the Wolfsguard, then you should probably get house uniforms and have them dress alike.¡± ¡°How much?¡± I asked again. Isla conceded, ¡°If you want to impress three thousand. If you just want to do the minimum, a thousand gold will cover it.¡± Working with Loriel was a very expensive proposition. I checked my dimensional closet, and I had six large platinum and thirty-three small platinum, a total of nine thousand gold. But this was the platinum I had created to keep construction going while I was off pirate hunting. I figured I was going to be gone for at least four days. I was going into the dungeon with Bleiz, so I did not want to burn aether making more platinum right now. ¡°Fine. You can arrange things and work with the Wolfsguard to get them uniforms and for security. I will give you the three thousand gold for one party.¡± That was a ridiculous sum, ¡°Please get Remy an accounting of the expenses. I will give you another five thousand for construction. I know it is less than I promised for this week,¡± I held up my hand. ¡°I am giving you another one thousand gold to be used as needed.¡± For some reason, it felt like I was keeping the Skyholme economy afloat. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ¡°The portal warehouse is not going to be finished before they open Skyholme to trading in three weeks,¡± I waved off her concern. She was referring to the portal building adjacent to the Shiny Platinum and connected directly to the Goldreach, the Sadian Capital. Loriel just needed it built, but not before trade opened. Isla pulled out some documents, ¡°I also have locked in six warehouses in Solaris City like you wanted. I have rental deeds with the right to purchase, each is between ten thousand and twelve thousand gold. All but one is empty.¡± I took the documents, and they were all between 125 and 140 gold monthly rent. The one warehouse that was not empty had cornmeal. I held up that one, requesting an explanation, ¡°Six hundred bags of cornmeal,¡± Isla explained. ¡°No one wants to purchase it, and the last renter abandoned it. It was to ship to farms as animal feed.¡± ¡°Have it shipped to the Shiny Platinum; if it is in good shape, I can make tortilla chips with it. If it is moldy or vermin-infested, just dump it. Tell Remy about these warehouses, and we will try to buy one every month. They can not sell them, right?¡± I inquired as I did not want to read through the contract myself. ¡°As long as we pay the monthly fee, we have first right of purchase at that noted price for twenty-three days once they inform us they have a buyer,¡± she pointed at the document I was holding. I nodded and considered. My guess is once the trade opens in three weeks, more funds will flow into Skyholme. Then, every warehouse in the islands would be snatched up. So, I had to come up with another seventy thousand gold to secure the warehouses. It was hard to believe that two years of a single gold was so valuable to me. ¡°Isla, find someone to manage the warehouses. We will sublet the space, though I doubt there will be any takers until trade opens,¡± Isla had a sour face at the assignment. Maybe I was putting too much on her. ¡°Fine, tell Remy to handle it. Is that all?¡± Isla nodded slowly, ¡°Yes. I made some changes to the Wolfsguard village, but I do not need to bother you about it. It is only adding a few hundred gold to the construction.¡± ¡°Was it necessary?¡± I asked. ¡°A school and two more residential buildings at the request of the wolfkin, Jaesmin,¡± Isla commented. I nodded and figured the Wolfsguard could govern themselves. After they established their community, they would be responsible for funding further expansion using the funds I paid them to work the land and guard the Black Spire. ¡°That is fine then. Pakkam, I am leaving for the dungeon. Bleiz, are you ready?¡± We arrived at the dungeon entrance, and the guards were quite shocked to see a dozen Wolfsguard with me. No one had told them about my plan. One guard stepped forward, ¡°High Mage, Wolfsguard are not allowed inside dungeons.¡± ¡°You need to leave. My deal with the Triumvirate is I have unfettered access to the dungeon for one day. Talk with Loriel Miaden if there is an issue,¡± my tone was cordial. The guard did not know what to do before slowly nodding, ¡°We will return to our posts in a day then. And thank you for curing my niece, High Mage. My sister was overjoyed.¡± The guards left us at the dungeon entrance. ¡°Pakkam, Bleiz, and I are going to make our way to the second level. You can send four in with us and then can rotate till you are finished. The delve teams will arrive in about hours to start their harvesting. The monsters are simple blink bunnies and uni-horn goats. You can take whatever you kill with you.¡± I had no worries the Wolfguard would be safe with the simple tier one monsters. Pakkam nodded, ¡°Thank you. You are most generous, High Mage.¡± He fingered his new sword on his hip, and I guessed he planned to try it out. I checked the entrance, ensured no one was in the dungeon, and then entered with Bleiz. We quickly made our way to the hippogriff. We left a slaughter in our wake, and I think Bleiz was enjoying himself. The blink bunnies traveled in a straight line after their short-range teleport, so you could easily move out of their line and cut them as they reappeared. I did not have this practice on my first time as Delphia could pick them up before they attacked. The unihorn goats also charged straight ahead. We quickly arrived at the hill where the floor challenge monster waited. Beliz was responsible for covering me from the rushing rabbits while I fought the hippogriff. This time, I managed to lure it down and entangle it in the arcane web. The strands were much stronger, and the hippogriff struggled to break the strands. I let Bleiz finish it off. Bleiz commented, ¡°This was fairly easy.¡± I nodded, ¡°It is a good training dungeon, I suppose. The next level has blink dogs and stone-throwing kobolds. It is a great place for me to practice my exchange ability.¡± The reward chest had a few coins and a belt. Since this dungeon gave out comfort items, I let Bleiz keep it. I did not recognize the runic pattern, so he could get it identified in a city. We went down the stairs to the orchard level. We rushed to give the Wolfsguard as much time as possible on the first floor to conceive in the dungeon. ¡°Are you jealous?¡± I asked as we walked the perimeter of the orchard, luring out two to three blink dogs at a time. I was still using my arcane web spell to level it up. I had to cast it twice as the dogs were able to use their blink ability to free themselves. ¡°Jealous of what they are doing on the first floor?¡± I nodded. ¡°No. But you must be if you are asking,¡± he added with a grin. I just grunted and ended the conversation. The kobolds arrived in two to four at a time, and I practiced my exchange ability as planned as we moved deeper into the orchard to locate the monster at the center. The orchard had a large clearing at the center with a massive raised stone. On the stone was the owl bear. The body of a dark gray bear, muscles evident, and a massive owl head. The owl head followed us as we circled in the trees. I spoke as we walked cautiously, ¡°Owl bears are fearsome, much stronger than you would guess. They will wrap you in a hug and then use their beak to remove your head. I will try to ensnare it in the arcane web, and we will attack at range.¡± Bleiz said, ¡°The creature looks huge.¡± And to emphasize his point, the monster stood on its hind legs and towered over nine feet. Its muscled body rippled under its gray fur. ¡°It will not attack unless we move into the clearing,¡± I said. I will distract it. I had my lightning reflexes active and moved quickly to the right. The owlbear charged me, and the first arcane web barely slowed it. I switched to lightning spear, burning holes in its fur as I frustrated the beast. The ground rumbled under my feet as it pursued me. I just needed to be careful and not lead it near Bleiz. Bleiz only had his throwing blades and was already out, with them sticking in the monster¡¯s hide. I tried lightning sphere to try and stun it, but it had no effect. It also crashed through aether shields with barely a pause. I soon found my best way to deal with the owl bear was to cast arcane web on the ground in its path. The owlbear was able to break through, but enough of the webbing stuck that it slowly built up after multiple castings to effectively slow the creature. For a normal mage casting ten arcane webs would be a huge aether investment in this one fight. For me, it was nothing. I brought out my falchion and attacked, causing a large slash in the side. The owl bear had a piercing shriek in anger at its predicament. Bleiz attacked the other side, and when he retreated, I attacked. We repeated this in between additional arcane web spells until the owlbear bled out. Bleiz was breathing heavily as we stood over the corpse. ¡°Your web is like a rope. One strand is weak and easily broken. Wrap a few together, and they can hold a man¡¯s weight,¡± Bleiz said as the arcane web dissolved to reveal the mutilated creature. ¡°Are we going to harvest this one?¡± ¡°No. That fight was more difficult than I thought it would be. The next level is a long sandy beach with giant crabs and water elementals,¡± I said, looking at Bleiz. ¡°I would prefer not to get sand in my fur,¡± Bleiz said sardonically. ¡°You have the cleanliness spell, Bleiz. But I am guessing you are telling me you do not wish to proceed?¡± I replied to the Wolfsguard. ¡°I think you are formidable, Storme. But this creature could have easily killed you if it caught you. I think you need to rethink traveling dungeons with just the two of us,¡± Bleiz lectured me. ¡°Fine, we will not go to the third level,¡± I looked over at the steps that had formed going down and the small reward chest nearby. ¡°Let me keep practicing my exchange ability and leveling our spells against the dogs and kobolds.¡± I opened the chest and handed it to him. It was just some coins and a large wooden bowl. The wooden bowl was extremely light and had familiar runic markings. It could heat the contents inside. It is an excellent tool for the traveling adventurer who likes to cook. I took the bowl, and Bleiz took the coin. We spent three hours going through the orchards and training. Bleiz even tried one of the vinegar apples and quickly spit it out. We circled around to the gate and exited the dungeon. The delve team had already sent their first group in, and the Wolfsguard had returned to the Black Spire. The Maelstrom was nearby, and we boarded to find the rest of the delve team waiting their turn. I sent Bleiz to get the ten Wolfsguard making the pirate hunt and talked to Cesar and Hadrian, two large young men who wielded mauls. They were still up for coming with us on the pirate hunt. Talia, Delphia, and Namira were in the first dungeon team currently harvesting. Sammie and Lana were off delivering a load of aetheric soil to the farms and would be back shortly. I waited in my cabin for everyone to board so we could leave. The cats were upset I had left them, but they were still too small to join me in a dungeon. I rested while the ten Wolfguard arrived and the rest of the team finished their delve. Talia decided Sabina would lead the next delve with the remaining team members. The Maelstromp was full of twenty-one people and the two cats as we lifted off and headed for the lowlands to find pirates. ? Copyrighted 2024 by AlwaysRollsAOne No Permission is given to translate, copy, repost or alter to an audio format of this original work of fiction. If you are reading this on a site that is not my Patreon, RoyalRoad.com, or Scribblehub.com, it has been stolen without my permission and violates DMCA. Remember, this work is the result of my creative effort and is protected by copyright law. Removal or altering of this notification is an acknowledgment you are aware you are in violation of DMCA. Chapter 133 Privateering Chapter 133 Privateering I was on the bridge with Cilia and Leda as they moved off the island. Leda was working with the new maps. She had a ruler and her temporary markers. She had some lines already on the map in yellow and was now adding a blue line after confirming our heading. She confirmed speed and then turned to me, ¡°Elven hours, fifty-three minutes, and then we will circle here,¡± she indicated on the map an area marker as being known for recent pirate activity. ¡°What type of attack can we expect?¡± I asked. Leda looked at Cilia, who nodded. Leda explained, ¡°Most likely, they will not have any invisibility on their large ship, The Night Jewel. So we will see that large ship rising from the mountains. We plan to maintain an altitude of ten miles. They will have to close before launching their skiffs. They do not have invisibility enchantments on their skiffs from the bounty sheets either, but that is a common practice for pirates. Distract you with ships and then get an invisible ship close enough to board.¡± ¡°Even if they are invisible, though, our aether radar will pick them up, correct?¡± I tapped our radar, which had been fairly expensive, and warned us against large flying creatures. ¡°It should, but nothing is guaranteed, Storme,¡± Cilia said, turning her head from the captain¡¯s chair. ¡°These are pirates. I doubt they play by fair rules.¡± Cilia locked in the course and left the chair. ¡°If we do engage, the trouble is going to be getting our fighters to their ship. The best plan we had was landing the Maelstrom on their deck. That has risks, but we have twenty fighters on board. We are still hoping they would load their best fighters on the skiffs and leave the main ship undefended. Then we just need to neutralize the skiffs.¡± ¡°And I have not yet added an aether cannon to the Maelstrom. I have some ideas but am still working the math out,¡± I said. The truth was I had designed an aether cannon, but it required adamantine to build. I had too many financial obligations to spend my aether creating the rare metal. ¡°If we are going to talk tactics, let me get Pakkam.¡± I went and brought back Talia, Pakkam, Bleiz, and Neoma. Pakkam and Neoma were each going to have five Wolfsguard in combat units. They were my experienced skyship fighters. Talia was responsible for the seven delve team members on board. And finally, there was Bleiz. His job was to keep me alive. Pakkam and Neoma had been in skyship battles before. The standard practice was to focus on eliminating the biggest threat, usually a mage. Talia¡¯s delve team would be support and defending the Maelstrom. I realized we were talking like we would be fighting pirates today. I paused their excitement, ¡°We are just going to scout the mountains and gain some familiarity with the area.¡± Cilia questioned, ¡°But if the opportunity presents itself, we will attack?¡± Cilia was eager to experience skyship combat and had wanted to be a skyship captain since she was little. It was why she had joined the Skyholme Naval Academy. ¡°It would have to be very favorable for us,¡± I noted, deflecting the question. We discussed tactics for two hours, and then I retreated to my cabin. I was going to make as many feather fall rings as I could. The idea of fighting on a sky ship and falling overboard was frightening, especially miles above the ground. As I worked on the rings, I figured I probably could have done more than just equip my team with top-tier enchanted weapons. Artificing with my shape metal skill was my strongest trump card. That and being able to create the metal I needed to do the artificing. I finished three rings in four hours. The amount of focus for the fine runic work was very taxing mentally. I knew these rings were going to myself, Bleiz, and Talia. After a few hours of sleep, I would make a few more. I took care of the cats, cleaning and feeding them before settling down for a four-hour nap. I woke up with my absolute time spell alarm going off and checked on everyone. The Wolfguard and most of the delve team were in the cargo hold, napping or playing dice. Leda was in the captain¡¯s chair, and Cilia was sleeping in their shared cabin. Bleiz was in the aether crystal room. He woke when I opened the door. I gave him a ring, told him how to activate it, and then let him get some more rest. We were planning to circle for six hours before heading back to Skyholme. That would be three loops at a lower speed. We would need to land to recharge our aether crystal partway back to the islands. I made three more rings before I quit the taxing work. I needed to be focused. I handed out the four remaining rings to Talia, Leda, Cilia, and Pakkam. I decided on Pakkam because he was the most skilled fighter among the crew. The ring enchantment was powerful enough to grab onto another person and still activate the effect. My beast collars for the cats had the same effect artificed into them¡ªa slow fall enchantment. I went and sat on the bridge with Leda and took over the captain¡¯s chair. We were two hours from the start of our loop. Leda went to get some rest, and I was alone. I kept checking the radar for threats and watched the land racing below. I could see the massive mountains approaching in the distance as well, our destination. As the Maelstrom approached, I could see flashes in the sky. I took out my telescope, and there were skyships in combat thirty or so miles away! Had we found our pirate target this easily? I slowed our approach and activated the ¡®all hands¡¯ bell. Soon, Leda and Cilia were on the bridge with me, and Bleiz and Pakkam joined us. Cilia had a better telescope and was using it. Cilia asked, ¡°Is it The Night Jewel?¡± Leda was irritated, ¡°Still too far away. But possibly, the black dot to the left is our target. The flashes are definitely combat¡ªfire explosions by the looks of it.¡± ¡°Bring us wide left. Let us stay out of the way and identify the black dot first,¡± I ordered. This was the best possible scenario if these were our targets. The large black dot was really far from the combat, so if the two sides were fighting another ship, then it would be hard to disengage and return to their carrier ship, The Maelstrom swung wide like we planned not to get involved. A few minutes later, Leda confirmed, ¡°The silhouette matches The Night Jewel. It looks like the skiffs are still harassing the other skyship. They have not boarded yet.¡± She handed me her telescope, and it looked like two flies swarming a single ship. The large ship they were assaulting was the one that was casting fireballs. The skiffs had shields that brushed off the attacks. Cilia asked, ¡°What do you want to do, Storme?¡± I looked at the situation. And estimated distances. I finally said, ¡°Stay wide and pass The Night Jewel to the left. They are following the combat and are much slower. We will go invisible and then accelerate back and land on the deck of The Night Jewel. Hopefully, they will not consider our small ship a threat and ignore us.¡± As we swept wide right, Leda gave us updates on the fight. The ship they were attacking looked to be a medium merchant. It had that same look like a ship pulled out of the ocean and flung into the skies. These ships were popular in the sphere as you could use a much smaller aether crystal to power them and rely more on the natural wind currents. It allowed for a larger mass, but they were much slower and required a lot more skill to fly. The two skiffs were racing alongside and trying to drain the defenses of the merchant. The merchant was not completely defenseless as they were throwing fireballs from mid-deck and stern at the skiffs. These attacks were coming from either an aether cannon, mage, or smaller artificed device. They kept the skiffs at bay. Leda commented, ¡°They must have been at this for hours if the fight started in the mountains.¡± This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Pakkam asked, ¡°When we land on the large black ship, I assume you want no prisoners?¡± I nodded slowly and found another shortcoming of my plan. I could have artificed restraints to block a person¡¯s access to their aether core. Now, the only safe course was to kill everyone and not take any risks. ¡°No prisoners, even if they surrender,¡± I affirmed. Pirates were pirates. We had passed the pirate ship, and I turned on our invisibility camouflage. I spun the ship around and realized Cilia would have been the better pilot for this action. I moved from the seat, and she eagerly took the seat. Our approach from the rear did not go unnoticed by the pirates. Small aether cannons fired in our direction on our approach. Brilliant lines of blue energy passed around us. Cilia activated our aether shields. My own heart started racing. We had been flying for a long time to reach the mountains and now had activated two aether intense devices. The gauge to show how much aether our dual-crystals had was crude, like a thermometer. It was at maybe twenty percent and visibly dropping. Leda answered my question, ¡°Cilia, we have thirty minutes of power left! You either need to land on the ship or on the ground!¡± Cilia nodded, ¡°I will get us on the ship.¡± Pakkam left the bridge to get his teams ready to go in the cargo hold. I addressed Bleiz, ¡°When we get close enough, I am going to exchange places with someone on their deck. Kill them here before joining Pakkam.¡± Leda, who had been focusing on the approaching monstrous ship, attention was drawn to me, ¡°You are going to do what?¡± She was already drawing her blade, though. We had discussed this in our tactics meeting, but bringing an enemy to the bridge had not been part of the discussion. ¡°You can handle it. Keep the cats locked in my cabin. Cilia, try not to land the Maelstrom on my head,¡± I grinned at the others and focused through the one-way viewing glass. My exchange ability used aether based on how much distance the target was. Under a hundred yards, and the aether was minimal; further, it increased rapidly. The best part about the exchange ability was there was very little anyone could do to resist it. The deck of The Night Jewel came into focus, and I could see dozens of pirates on the long exposed deck. I just hoped their best fighters were on the skiffs. ¡°I am exchanging with that¡­orc¡­on the stern,¡± I announced. He looked to be a regular pirate, trying to work the small aether cannon firing blindly at us. I brought out my falchion, activated my aether shield, coating my body, activated my lightning reflexes to overdrive, and finally activated my exchange ability after giving a nod to Bleiz, who was ready to receive the orc. I was instantly on the deck of the ship and oriented myself. The nearest pirate was a middle-aged human who looked confused for just a moment before reaching for a sword. I did not give him time as my falchion separated the head from his body. I was on the stern of the black ship and was surprised at how large it was now that I was here. The wood of the decking was a flat black. There was a strong breeze as well, and my hair whipped in the wind. I should have realized sailing skyships like this made less use of environmental bubbles to utilize the wind. The stern deck was elevated, and below, amid the masts and rigging, over twenty pirates moved about directed by a tall, thin elf. Four pirates in mismatched clothes were rushing up to meet me. My aether shield suddenly flared as an aether bolt from a mage below struck it. I needed to keep moving and not gawk. I moved right and started casting arcane web. Although I was able to move fast, the time it took to form the spells was the same. So, after casting three arcane webs on the deck below, I had pirates on top of me. An orc, two human men, and either a runt or maybe a goblin. My falchion cut through the blade of the eager human and straight into his torso. His shocked look ended as I kicked him hard toward his companions. The ship shuddered as the Maelstrom landed mid-deck, crushing a few pirates and throwing the entire ship into a frenzy as the camouflage ended. The added weight when Cilia cut power to the runes suddenly had the massive Night Jewel dropping out of the sky. My stomach felt the reduced gravity. The Wolfsguard were now on the deck, and I focused on my opponents. They lacked real skill with the blade. The orc received a piercing strike through his mouth as I spun away and engaged the other human. He looked less enthusiastic after assessing his chances and turned to flee. I cast lightning spear at the back of his head, burning a hole through his spine, and his body collapsed to the deck. The small goblin had planned to attack me while I was engaged but was suddenly alone in his fight. He dropped his two long daggers to surrender, but I just bisected his torso. The stern being clear, I looked below to see the brothers, Hadrian and Cesar, and Sammie holding a line at the bottom of the ramp from the Maelstrom. Delphia was at Talia¡¯s side while she cast the ice lance spell. The red-haired Namira was engaged with a pirate toward the bow, and the Wolfsguard were fighting in two and threes, quickly overcoming opponents. Bleiz appeared at my side, ¡°Things seem to be going well.¡± ¡°I am going to send switch with Namira. She is fighting alone and recklessly,¡± I said, and before Bleiz could object, I exchanged with Namira and was in front of a dark-skinned woman. She had a buckler and a long sword, she and blinked at the new opponent. Her white teeth turned into a snarl as she attacked me. I parried her blade with my speed and then cut off both her arms in a slash from her flank. Her skin did flash, but whatever magic she had was not enough to stop my enchanted weapon. I did not let her shock settle in before beheading her. I spun to see what was happening. The Wolfsguard had torn through the pirates, and Zinnia was healing Cesar. I looked over the carnage, and no one was alive on deck. Pakkam was sending his Wolfsguard below decks to clear them, and Talia was guarding the entrances. I felt the ship still falling as no one had compensated for the added mass of the Maelstrom yet. Bleiz and Namira came to me, and Namira was angry, and so was Bleiz, ¡°Why do you do that! I had her!¡± I barked at the fiery redhead, ¡°You run off from the group like that and endanger everyone. Bleiz, use your necklace and help them clear the decks below.¡± Bleiz nodded but was not happy. Leda was off the ship and looking at the bodies with bounty posters in hand. She quickly inventoried the bloody mess, ¡°Maggie the Siren is not here.¡± I looked at the fight in the distance. Leda held up her spyglass, ¡°They do not know we took their ship yet. They are still trying to board the merchant.¡± ¡°Cilia!¡± I yelled up the ramp. ¡°We need to find the bridge and get this ship stabilized. I need you to fly it.¡± The bridge must be under the stern, and that is where I went.¡± There were some thuds under my feet as combat ranged below deck. The door in the stern was flung open, and a smirking male elf with blonde hair and bright green clothes came out, ¡°I destroyed the controls, and only I can fix them. You need me¡­¡± His head rolled off his body from a lightning-fast slash from my falchion. I moved into the bridge, and it smelled funky¡ªreminding me of Gareth¡¯s socks, but I quickly examined the controls. The controls were very simple, and I could see how he had wrecked them, he removed two runic control plates. I guessed he had hidden them somewhere, and that was why he had not fixed the altimeter. It took me ten minutes to make replacements and get the controls functioning again. Cilia hovered nearby as I worked, and I listened to reports. Pakkam¡¯s Wolfguard had found nine pirates below deck, and the hold had goods and twenty-nine prisoners of the pirates. So they had been busy. Cilia took over and soon had The Night Jewel level and flying. ¡°Storme, I think this is the gauge for their aether crystal over here. It is just under half full. If we do not use the sails, it might not make it back to Skyholme.¡± Shit, we did not have a trained crew for the rigging. Leda came rushing into the bridge, ¡°The skiffs have turned around and are racing back to The Night Jewel. Do you want the Maelstrom in the air? They are going to be here in less than ten minutes.¡± ¡°How much aether charge do we have left on both ships?¡± I asked Leda. She immediately responded, ¡°Under ten percent on the Maelstrom. Just under half on The Night Jewel, but I have no idea what that means for operation time under power.¡± ¡°Pakkam, is below deck clear?¡± I asked the Wolfsguard, who had one cut on his bicep. I moved and healed it while he responded. ¡°It is huge down there. I have two teams of three still searching. I would suggest seeing if the prisoners know how to fly this beast, but I do not know if they are trustworthy themselves. Do you want me to call up the search teams to help with the skiffs?¡± I quickly put the pieces together in my mind, ¡°Station one of the teams below decks in the aether core room. Get the other team on deck. We are going to fight. Cilia and Leda, take the Maelstrom with the delve team and lift off. See if you can distract one of the skiffs. We fight to keep our prize.¡± I marched to the bow to confront the crew of the Night Jewel. ? Copyrighted 2024 by AlwaysRollsAOne No Permission is given to translate, copy, repost or alter to an audio format of this original work of fiction. If you are reading this on a site that is not my Patreon, RoyalRoad.com, or Scribblehub.com, it has been stolen without my permission and violates DMCA. Remember, this work is the result of my creative effort and is protected by copyright law. Removal or altering of this notification is an acknowledgment you are aware you are in violation of DMCA. Chapter 134 Chapter 134 I was on the bow and studying the two skiffs rushing toward us. They were weaving even at this great distance. We did not have time to figure out how to operate the aether cannons on the Night Jewel. I could not discern the numbers they had at this distance. I figured if I was going to be doing a lot of skyship combat in the future, I would need to imprint a spell to give me enhanced sight. It was too late now. Cilia and Leda were on the Maelstrom, and I held my communication stone in hand, ¡°Cilia, take off if both skiffs reach the deck. If only one reaches then, we should be able to handle them.¡± I was guessing there were maybe twenty pirates on each skiff. Leda replied through the stone, ¡°If we have to take off, we will make our way to land in the mountains to recharge the aether crystals.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± I turned and ordered the delvers back on board the Maelstrom with the exception of Talia and Sammie. ¡°Talia, get on the stern deck, and offer ranged support to the Wolfsguard. Sammie, protect her. All other delve team members on board the Maelstrom. I need you to protect the skyship.¡± Bleiz, Pakkam, and his seven Wolfsguard were already forming behind me. A few Wolfsguard were below deck, protecting the aether power crystal room. Everyone had been healed and was ready. I turned to them, ¡°Ok, I will take the one on the right.¡± I looked back out over the expanse of sky between us. I got up on the forward railing, the wind rushing through me. I felt like the king of the world with the lowlands far below. When the skiff got close enough for me to identify the pilot, I jumped forward off the Night Jewel. I fell quickly below the railing and then used my exchange ability. I was instantly on the lead skiff almost a mile away, and the pilot was falling to the lowlands below the Night Jewel in my place. I focused on my task. I turned the skiff hard left, and my hands brushed the controls. I just merged all runes together with my metal shaping. The skiff should just make circles in the sky now. When it ran out of aether, it would plummet to the ground. The entire skiff was ten feet wide and twenty-five feet in length. The pirates were fast to realize I was an enemy. The skiff was just an open deck with low rails on the side, and the pilot statin was exposed in the front. An axe was already swinging at my head, and I rolled forward, throwing an iron ball with a flash-bang alarm spell on it. My falchion came in an upswing out on my roll on an old human male pirate. My sword briefly sparked on an aether shield before connecting. His surprised face went to his groin as his intestines spilled onto the deck. My flash-bang spell never went off, and I cursed whatever mage had canceled it. Behind me, the axe wielder had buried his axe in the deck and was trying to remove it. I stabbed my falchion between his shoulder blades, severing his spine. As he collapsed, a tall woman with night-black hair snarled in common tongue, ¡°You will regret this!¡± and she threw something at me. I recognized her as Maggie the Siren, the captain from the bounty posters. I used my exchange ability with a pirate at the back of the skiff. As I oriented myself, the skiff rocked in an explosion. That was surprising as she had probably damaged the controls further. The other skiff was approaching rapidly, and two pirates leaped from it and flew over to our skiff. They were unlikely mages, so they were probably using an ability or artificed device to facilitate flying. I needed to get a flying method as well if this was going to become my new normal. I also should have planned to have a pirate strapped to the Black Jewel mast to escape using my exchange ability. I was still in lightning reflexes overdrive mode and hacked and slashed with my sword, holding off the angry pirates cursing in unknown languages. My aether shield flashed in return, signaling it was getting close to expiring. It would take too long to cast an arcane web to slow them all, so I jumped off the skiff and exchanged with a pirate on the other skiff that was close by. A scream from the rapidly falling pirate cut the air, but I did not track him as fifteen fresh, irate pirates were on me. A blackness overcame my vision, probably from a blindness spell. I didn¡¯t have time to dwell on it as a massive blow suddenly struck me, and was flying through the air off the skiff. The impact had also canceled my active spells. It had been some type of impact and counterspell spell rolled into one. My aether shield had popped, and the air was forced from my lungs. Breathing was hard, so I assumed I had cracked or broken ribs. I healed myself with the flash heal, easing my strained breathing. My healing had no effect on the blindness, so it was temporary magic and not directly damaging my eyes. I was spinning wildly in the air and went through my abilities and inventory for a solution. The worst-case scenario was I fell to the ground about two miles below, and my new ring activated. I could already sense gravity was starting to take over. I was not scared or worried at all. I cast invisibility first, not wanting to get targeted by the pirates of the skiff. After losing my aether shield, I had a delay before I could recast it. The delay was over, so I cast it again, creating a disc to prevent myself from plummeting to the lands below. All these things had occurred in a few seconds. I was standing on an aether disc, invisible, blind, and high in the air. The wind in my ears made figuring out the directions of the action impossible, too. I could not find out where the Night Jewel or pirates were. This was definitely a live-and-learn moment. I took stock of my mistakes. Even with my enhanced speed, these pirates had magic devices to slow me down. They were also experienced in this type of abnormal combat, having canceled my flash-bang alarm spell. The darkness was really annoying, and I needed to solve this problem first. I quickly examined my options; maybe I could cast an alarm spell with no conditions, and it set it off. It would give me a brief image flash. There was a globe of blackness over my head. The caster must have anchored a small darkness spell over my head. I looked at the skiffs with a few alarm image flashes. Okay, I could work with this. I started chain-casting alarm spells and triggering them, giving me a flickering form of sight. About a mile away, the second skiff tried connecting with the first one that was circling since I had wrecked the controls. It looked like they were going to put everyone on board the second skiff and then pursue the Night Jewel. The Night Jewel was headed straight toward me. The sky was a big place, and maybe it was angled down some and off to my left. I wish I knew how long the blindness would last, as the image flashes gave me a headache. I was kind of on an island here. I brought my communicator to my lips, ¡°Leda?¡± ¡°Storme, where are you?¡± A worried Leda yelled into the communication stone. ¡°Who is piloting the Night Jewel?¡± I asked calmly. ¡°I am! Cilia is on the Maelstrom, and neither of us can find you!¡± She sounded worried and maybe a touch fearful. ¡°I am fine. Come left about fifteen degrees and slow down,¡± I ordered. The massive black ship slowly turned like a Goliath of the skies. I kept fine-tuning her course until the ship would come under me. I seized the mast as the ship passed under me. The wind was knocked from me on impact, and I had to do some more healing as I had damaged my ribs for the second time today. I released the invisibility spell and began to descend awkwardly. Pakkam yelled up, ¡°Master Mage, do you require assistance?¡± He had an amused grin that he was probably not aware I could see. I activated my lightning reflexes and left go, dropping to the deck. My spell absorbed the shock of the abrupt stop. I stood, and Pakkam still had an amused look. I guess I had not impressed him as I had hoped. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Talia rushed to me, took out a wand, and dispelled the blackness around my head. I was blinded by the strong light as my pupils slowly acclimated. ¡°Thank you, Talia. How are things looking for us?¡± I asked Pakkam. ¡°We are picking up speed after picking you up. The skiffs are behind us but can catch us quickly if they want to,¡± he briefed me. I went to the stern of Night Jewel, Bleiz joining us. From the stern of the skyship, I could see the two skiffs had merged. The pirates were all climbing onto the functional skiff. As Pakkam predicted, they abandoned the skiff I had sabotaged. ¡°My plan to sweep through their number after exchanging place with one of them sort of worked. I killed six¡ªunless they had some superior healing. They have a lot of experienced fighters on board, and most have aether shields,¡± I summarized. ¡°Did you think it would be easy?¡± Pakkam asked, amused. I considered before answering, ¡°No, but I thought we would have the element of surprise. What do you think we should do?¡± He looked at the approaching skiff, now packed with pirates eager to regain their ship. ¡°Their skiffs do not appear to have weapons. Or maybe they just do not want to fire on their own ship.¡± AWolfsguard behind us announced, ¡°Thirty-seven pirates are on the skiff.¡± Pakkam nodded. Pakkam explained, ¡°Tibalt has the eagle eyes ability. These small stern aether cannons might dissuade them some, but unlikely.¡± Pakkam offered, ¡°We could have the Maelstrom ram the skiff?¡± At first, I thought that was a stupid idea, but the Maelstrom was reinforced and should survive. I did not have much time as they were going to overtake us quickly. The added mass of more passengers had slowed the skiff, but it was still much faster than the Night Jewel. ¡°I will give it a shot,¡± I said, taking the idea and running with it. I raced up the ramp and yelled, ¡°Everyone off!¡± The delvers moved off the ship and on the bridge, I told Cilia the same thing, ¡°Off Cilia! I am going to crash the Maelstrom into their skiff.¡± Her jaw opened and then closed, ¡°I am five times the pilot you are, Storme.¡± She was moving her hands along the controls, and the Maelstrom was lifting off.¡± We tore some rigging lose as we left and circled off the Black Jewel. We turned on the skiff. ¡°Shall we go invisible?¡± I looked at the dangerously low aether gauge. ¡°No, we can not risk it. We will just power up our other defenses. I hope this works.¡± Cilia seemed confident, ¡°The skiff is highly maneuverable, but the Maelstrom even more so. I will not miss it.¡± The skiff was making a slow looping zig-zag to avoid aether cannon fire. Their evasions were slowing them down, which was good. Cilia was already aiming straight for them. I could see additional aether shields being erected, powerful enough to reflect sunlight off their surface. They had some good mages in the crew. At about a hundred yards, distant spells began to attack the Maelstrom. Lightning, fire, ice, rock, and arrows started connecting with our shielding and hull. I do not think they thought we were trying to ram them. The idea was probably too far out there. Cilia had go hard right and then pull up sharply as the belly of the Maelstrom collided with the skiff. A loud crunching sound could be heard from below, and wood splintered under the force. The Maelstrom also jumped in a hard rebound. I could hear the cats hissing and meowing in my cabin, afraid. Cilia was turning around to see what damage we had done to the pirate barge. I let the cats come to the bridge to calm them. When we got our sights on the barge, I was shocked by what I saw. Not a single pirate was smooshed like I had hoped. But they were all moving feverously around the small skiff. Cilia noticed it first, ¡°We overloaded their runes!¡± I studied the pirates, and we had. The mass of the Maelstrom on top of their own ship must have burned out some of their anti-gravity runes. The skiff was losing altitude rapidly. Cilia asked, ¡°Do you want me to hit them again?¡± ¡°No, they are falling faster and faster. I think most of the pirate crew will die in the crash,¡± I said with some hope. Magic was flexible, though. ¡°Land us back on the Black Jewel,¡± I finally said. We needed to conserve our own aether reserves. After landing, I went to the stern of the ship and watched with others as the skiff turned into a tiny black dot. Pakkam said, ¡°You do realize you have created some enemies today. Those who survived will remember the Maelstrom. It is a unique ship.¡± ¡°Should we go and make sure they are all dead?¡± I asked for advice. ¡°No point risking lives. You got what you came for, and no one has died,¡± Pakkam said seriously. ¡°Agreed. Keep everyone on high alert. The ship could have traps and hidden pirates.¡± I said to everyone around me. Bleiz smiled, ¡°I will find anyone that is hiding on the ship. Neoma, care to join me?¡± The athletic Wolfsguard woman nodded, and they left to go below decks to conduct a search. Pakkam said, ¡°I will remain vigilant with Tibault on deck.¡± Leda and Cilia had joined us. Cilia asked, ¡°Do I get to pilot this monstrosity now?¡± She sounded excited even though it was not an agile and fast ship like the Maelstrom. ¡°Yes, take us back toward Skyholme. Best speed,¡± I stated. I was actually worried as a lot of threats that we could outrun with the Maelstrom would be impossible with this beast of a ship. ¡°We will probably need to land to recharge the aether crystals. Without using the sails, it is going to be a major drain of the core,¡± Leda noted. I nodded and spent time giving everyone assignments. Leda would remain on the Maelstrom while Cilia piloted the Night Jewel. I finally had time to examine the aether crystal powering the captured ship. The runic chamber was below the bridge, and I found two Wolfsguard guarding it. The aether crystal core was a thing of beauty and probably worth more than the entire ship. It was a tier seven aether crystal and larger than my fist. By my estimation, it could hold twice as much aether as my two damaged sister cores on the Maelstrom. It would recharge fast enough that we would never need to land. If the invisibility and defenses were active, it would drain it faster than we could recharge. If I swapped the aether cores, I was guessing that my dual cores would only operate the Night Jewel for less than four hours. It would be enough to evacuate Skyhold Citadel for the Triumvirate and complete my obligations for ruling the Black Spire. The next two hours, Bleix and Neoma found four pirates hiding in the ship in secret compartments. They were killed, stripped, and thrown overboard, as none had a bounty attached to them. I went and talked with the prisoners. I had no plans to release them but would bring them back to Skyholme and free them there. The group was mostly merchants and sailors, and they spoke an assortment of languages. They came from two different merchant skyships that had been captured. We had been lucky as Maggie the Siren had moved a dozen of her men to each of these prize ships to sell. They were not on board. The cargo holds were also full of captured goods, and I had my delve team take inventory. Leda came and sat with me and explained our situation, ¡°Storme, we are landing on a lake with a small town. Storme, without using the sails, it will take two weeks to get back to Skyholem! We will have to spend half our day recharging the aether core.¡± ¡°That long?¡± That would take me awfully close to my deadline and the opening of Skyholme to trade. I started to reconsider using the sailors in the hold to help. Leda was thinking the same thing, ¡°Even if we took a dozen of the men who knew how to run the rigging for the sails, it could cut our time in half, maybe even more.¡± ¡°We already have four Wolfsguard watching them in the hold. We could not watch a dozen men running around on deck. They probably trust us as much as we trust them.¡± I said, getting a headache at my predicament. ¡°Let¡¯s go through the captain¡¯s papers first. Maybe we can get more of an idea about the prisoners.¡± Talia joined Leda and me in Maggie the Siren¡¯s quarters. She had an alarm lock on the door that I quickly took apart. She was actually extremely organized for a pirate and had logs of captured ships, their cargos, where she sold them, and for how much. ¡°I did not understand how she could be making this much gold and still be a pirate.¡± I had muttered that aloud. ¡°She doesn¡¯t work for herself,¡± Talia responded. ¡°Look, she takes orders from someone called the Sky King.¡± Leda and I moved to Talia and read with her. She was right. She sent her captured ships back to a pirate port city for sale and got a small percentage of the sale. We paged through the document and found her latest orders. The Night Jewel was to join a fleet of pirate ships to attack a single target together. They were answering a contract put out by one Abaddon Bricio. The Bricios had hired the Sky King or given him knowledge of the vulnerabilities of the Islands. The pirate fleet was due to assemble in one week at the goblin city of Ironsplinter. We searched the cabin for the location of the goblin city and looked at her maps. Although her maps were organized, they used a multitude of formats in different languages. We could not find a reference to where the pirate city was located. Talia asked, ¡°What are we going to do?¡± ¡°Land. Once I can be sure the Black Jewel can make it back on its own, I will send the Maelstrom back to warn them. I am guessing they are planning their attack when Skyholme opens up for free trade,¡± I said. Loriel was expecting dozens of foreign ships from the Sadian cities. It would be an opportunity for the pirates and spoil Loriel¡¯s plans. ? Copyrighted 2024 by AlwaysRollsAOne No Permission is given to translate, copy, repost or alter to an audio format of this original work of fiction. If you are reading this on a site that is not my Patreon, RoyalRoad.com, or Scribblehub.com, it has been stolen without my permission and violates DMCA. Remember, this work is the result of my creative effort and is protected by copyright law. Removal or altering of this notification is an acknowledgment you are aware you are in violation of DMCA. Chapter 135: Recruitment Chapter 135: Recruitment Cilia brought the Night Jewel softly onto the water on the large lake. I landed the Maelstrom on the shore on the outskirts of the town. The town was on Leda¡¯s map for being a friendly human kingdom. This small town had a small dungeon and an Adventurer¡¯s Guild Hall. Four men in shiny breastplates with long swords on their hips came out to greet us. The soldiers were on guard and looking a little nervously at the Wolfsguard on the deck of the Night Jewel. They used the common tongue, ¡°Welcome travelers. Are you here to trade?¡± ¡°We captured that pirate ship over there and are just settling down for a day to restore our aether crystals. Do you get many skyships here?¡± I asked conversationally. ¡°Infrequently. Maybe two or three a month. Our Adventurer¡¯s Hall is small, but I am sure they would want to hear about your success against a pirate,¡± the middle-aged guard said. ¡°I will stop in and report. I was curious about the local dungeon as well,¡± I responded. ¡°It is a young dungeon, and its most valuable resources are aether-infused potion ingredients, shrooms, flowers, and other plants,¡± the guard replied helpfully. ¡°The alchemist in town is actually pretty good and has a number of potions.¡± ¡°I will check it out. My crew will most likely patronize your local tavern. If they get out of hand, come and find me,¡± I smiled at the guards and moved into town with Bleiz on my heels. The Wolfsguard would remain on the Night Jewel, and Talia would keep at least three delvers on board the Maelstrom. The town was fairly large and had paved roads. For being in the middle of the wilderness, I thought this was a fairly impressive town. The buildings were a mixture of simple, well-built stone and wood. The citizens were mostly human, but I noted a few elves and the occasional beastman. The majority of people were speaking the common tongue. We got a few looks from the locals but not much staring. Bleiz noted, ¡°This kingdom appears friendly to all races.¡± ¡°Unlike Skyholme?¡± I countered. ¡°Most citizens fear the Wolfsguard. We were a symbol of the Triumverite¡¯s control. The fierce and loyal guards of the families. Loriel might have freed us, but that is how we are still viewed.¡± Bleiz said conversationally. ¡°In time, that might change. I can already see signs of the Wolfsguard at the Black Spire relaxing their stiff demeanor,¡± I said while pausing at the sign for the herbalist and potion maker. I entered the shop and was assaulted by numerous scents, from sweet and pleasant to foul and rotting. Drying herbs hung everywhere, and the alchemist had his apparatus on the back table, running the length of his shop. He had small flames every few feet, heating a spinning beaker and glass tubes weaving in a maze of iron hooks suspended from the ceiling. His process was similar to my alchemist, Lachlan, but this man had a dozen more things going simultaneously. Lachlan was always just working one process at a time. The balding middle-aged man looked up from pipetting some liquid into a potion vial, ¡°Just a moment! I do not want this product to remain exposed to the air too long.¡± We watched as he measured out six portions, sealed all the vials, and wrote the potion, date, and efficacy guarantee date on each. When he finished, I asked, ¡°What miracle cure did you just create?¡± The man laughed, ¡°A hair restorative for myself.¡± He rubbed his balding head. ¡°I just got the ingredients, and this is my first run. It should be ready once it cools down some. Your friend definitely does not need it.¡± He said with a smile. ¡°What can I help you adventurers with?¡± ¡°How did you know we were adventurers?¡± I asked, returning his good-natured vibe. ¡°Only merchants and adventurers visit this sleepy town. I have some low-tier healing and aether restoratives. Both crafted from the local dungeon recipes.¡± He offered. ¡°How much aether will the aether potions restore? I heard they were extremely complex to brew.¡± I asked, extremely interested. ¡°About 12 relative points.¡± He said proudly. ¡°And their half-life is forty-forty four days,¡± he spun to indicate the long apparatus behind him. ¡°That is them being brewed now. Takes about two days, and I can get nine or ten vials.¡± He rushed forward and concernedly tapped a suspended beaker, which began spinning again. Twelve aether points were nothing for me. I naturally regained about five aether a minute. It would be significant for Bleiz of the other mages in my employ. ¡°How much for you aether potions? I am Storme, and this is Bleiz,¡± I introduced ourselves. ¡°I am Otto Caess.¡± He bowed slightly on the introduction. ¡°Two gold or fifty silver if you bring me the ingredients from the dungeon. I have a number of contracts with adventurers, but a few more will not slow me down.¡± He smiled happily. ¡°How effective are the low-tier healing potions?¡± Bleiz asked. ¡°Quite good. Powerful enough to do minor organ healing, stop bleeding, and close wounds. The recipe is also fairly simple, but the ingredients are only found in this local dungeon.¡± He smiled, ¡°Seventy silver if you are interested.¡± ¡°What is the efficacy window?¡± Bleiz asked a follow-up question. Otto frowned slightly but admitted, ¡°Ten days. A fairly short term, and they lose all potency after twenty-four days. I have been playing with the recipe and have already extended the time from seven to ten days. In another few months, I might be able to double it to twenty days!¡± Bleiz said, ¡°I will take ten of each.¡± The alchemist happily went to get the potions. I was tempted to pay but knew Bleiz was drawing a salary of five gold a week. I also did not want Beliz to become like Gareth and always lean on me for coin. After completing Beliz¡¯s transaction, I asked, ¡°How many potions do you have of the aether and healing?¡± ¡°Sixty-two aether and one hundred and eight healing four days old or less,¡± Otto said happily. ¡°I also have hair growth, lightning resistance, cold resistance, cure poison, and a terrible invisibility potion. Still working the recipe out on that one.¡± ¡°I will take sixty aether and sixty healing. The most recent brews for the healing, if you will.¡± The happy alchemist sorted the vials for me, and I paid him with two platinum. He quickly got my change in gold coins, a symbol of a large serpent on one side and a satyr on the other side. He noticed my inspection of the coins, ¡°Dungeon coins from our local dungeon. It has only one level and is one massive forest. The challenge monster is a giant constrictor snake. The monsters roaming are satyrs, giant weasels, giant skunks, and giant owls.¡± I nodded and turned to Bleiz. ¡°Bleiz, can you distribute these potions to the delvers and Wolfsguard? I am just going to talk with the Adventurer¡¯s Guild Hall manager. You can find me there.¡± Bleiz looked reluctant to leave me but gathered up the potions and returned to the skyships. The Adventurer¡¯s Hall was a square stone building in the center of the town. It was two stories, and as I entered, it was one large common room with a dozen plus men and women drinking at tables. No one had food, so I assumed they did sell it here. Probably a non-compete with the local restaurants. The barkeep was a half-elf woman, and I was slightly pained remembering Aelyn. The menu had four beverage options: red wine, dark ale, and pale ale. No further description. The cost was fifty copper for the wine and ten copper for either ale. ¡°A dark ale,¡± I said, sitting at the bar by myself. ¡°And drinks for everyone till this runs out,¡± I placed a large silver on the table. The elf gave me a half smile, took the coin, and poured me the dark ale. I sipped the bitter and terrible brew. It was not even a close match for Mera¡¯s. Mera¡¯s brews were smooth. ¡°Free drinks at the bar till the new face¡¯s coin runs out!¡± The half-elf caused a stir as almost everyone came and got a refill in the tavern hall. I had to wait until the group got their refills before talking to the woman. Her black hair was in a tight ponytail, and she smiled, waiting on me. ¡°Is the person who runs this guild available to talk?¡± I asked amicably. ¡°You are looking at her, Milley,¡± she offered her hand to shake. ¡°A small Hall like this usually just has one person assigned to it. Job postings are upstairs, and the dungeon postings are on the wall over there,¡± she pointed. The wall had maybe a dozen pieces of paper. It looked like people trying to form groups to head into the dungeon. ¡°I wanted to ask about this bounty,¡± I placed the sheet for the Night Jewel on the table. Millie looked it over, ¡°We don¡¯t get many pirate hunters in here. That would be the monstrosity floating in our lake; good catch, adventurer. You will need to return the ship for the bounty, though. I also lack any means to verify individual bounties if you brought heads with you.¡± ¡°Name is Storme. Well, that is good to know. I have a day before I have to lift off. What can you tell me about your local dungeon?¡± I inquired. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. She nodded and started cleaning some mugs. I hit the area with my cleanliness spell. It took her a moment to realize it, ¡°Well, that just saved me an hour¡¯s work, Storme. Our dungeon is an open dungeon. One large forest. About six hundred square miles of dense woodland. It is always twilight, though, and under the trees, it can be dark, so you should have some night vision spell or goggles. They sell the goggles in a shop in town for fifty gold.¡± She paused to pour me another drink from a bottle under the bar and winked, pushing it to me. I sipped it, and it was a good lager, albeit warm. I created an ice ball and added it to my drink. Millie poured herself a glass and pushed it forward. I created an ice ball for her, and she toasted me as she sipped with a huge smile. ¡°Now, the dungeon does not have a lot of value in it besides fungi and flora. There are some good drops from the giant boa constrictor snake challenge monster. Alchemy potion recipes, usually five of six gold and an assortment of snakeskin armor pieces. Still not enough to draw the more powerful adventuring guilds,¡± she paused to drink her cold beer and savored it. I guessed a small town like this did not have a lot of enchanted amenities. ¡°How do I gain entry to the dungeon?¡± I sipped my own cold ale. ¡°Just follow the path south through the forest. It is easy to find, and it is about a mile walk. The town is here because of the lake, and the small fishing community before the dungeon was discovered about a decade ago,¡± Millie revealed. ¡°Can you suggest any delvers in this group that can help with ingredient harvesting?¡± I indicated the room. ¡°The brother and sister team at that table,¡± she pointed, ¡°Orla and Oskar. Good scouts and have been running the dungeon for the last year. They have a good relationship with the three alchemists in town.¡± ¡°Is Otto the best alchemist?¡± I queried. ¡°Definitely. The other two are attached to adventers guilds. They are mostly out here practicing since the ingredients are cheap. They ship most of their potions back to their parent guild,¡± she poured herself some more ale as my compressed ice ball had barely melted. ¡°Any dangers I should be on the lookout for?¡± I asked, getting ready to leave. ¡°Not really. There were some migrating goblin tribes last year, but that has been the only excitement. Of course, with an open dungeon level, you need to be wary of other teams. No problems have been brought to my attention. And only one entire dungeon team has failed to return in the last five years. About forty deaths or so every year in the dungeon.¡± ¡°Thank you for your time, Millie,¡± I slid her a gold coin, which quickly disappeared in her apron. I walked to the table with Orla and Oskar. ¡°I am looking to hire both of you. I have the two skyships nearby and want to make a dungeon run. Pay is five gold each.¡± The two young-looking pale elves looked at each other and nodded slowly. I was overpaying for their services, but I wanted to get as much out of our short run as possible. ¡°When are you heading in?¡± The elf woman asked. ¡°Now, if that is acceptable?¡± I replied. ¡°Five gold up front and five on exit. No more than twenty-four hours inside.¡± The male elf, Oskar, added. ¡°Agreed. Let us go pick up the rest of my group.¡± I left and headed back to the Maelstrom. Bleiz was out on the Night Jewel, anchored in the lake. I could see the Wolfsguard had some of the prisoners on deck. They were negotiating with them to sail the ship back to Skyholme. A few of my delve team were in the cargo hold as I boarded with the two elves, ¡°Is Talia around?¡± Lana pointed up, ¡°She is on the bridge. Leda went to explore the town with Namira.¡± I found Talia and Delphia on the bridge, serving as the guards. ¡°I have two local guides for the dungeon. I am taking Bleiz and would like two from the delve team. Who do you suggest?¡± Delphia was ready to volunteer, but Talia cut her off, ¡°Myself and Zinnia as a backup healer. Who should watch the bridge while we are gone?¡± I took out my communication stone and told Leda to be back in twenty minutes. That was how long it should take to get Bleiz back from the Night Jewel. An hour later, we were walking on a wide, well-trodden path through the woods toward the dungeon. Our two guides were discussing the creatures inside, and we were asking questions. The challenge monster spawned every four hours, coming out of a massive cave under the largest tree in the expansive woods. The boa was the only dangerous monster as it could swallow a person whole, and they would suffocate quickly. ¡°Our goal is to gather more potion ingredients than anyone has ever done on this delve. I want to try and recruit Otto, and we need to impress him.¡± Orla and Oskar looked ready to object, but I added, ¡°Shiny Platinum Delving is always looking for good scouts. We can talk if you two are good enough and interested after this delve. Talia is in charge of all delving operations for me. Direct all questions to her.¡± Talia was immediately interested in the two elves. They were more than guides and potential members of her delve teams. They started talking, and we soon arrived at the entrance to the dungeon. A massive rock cave. On the outer surface were the typical dungeon runes chiseled in around the entrance. I scanned the runes and noted there were twenty-two delvers already inside. Probably four different delve teams. We emerged in a clearing with a rock mirroring the one we had just entered behind us. The sky was twilight, and dark woods surrounded us. The eyes had natural low-light vision, so they were prepared. Talia created an intense light for us as we entered the dark woods. The giant animals were actually fun to combat with the exception of the giant skunks. My cleanliness spell made their skunk attacks moot. None of the giant animals had any aether crystals to harvest, though. It was a pretty poor dungeon. Our two guides started pointing out the common mushrooms for harvesting, and Bleiz was enjoying scouting in the dark trees and fighting the animals alone. The satyrs had two spells, ensnaring roots, and stone projectile. Since the satyrs only appeared in pairs, they were quickly overrun. We moved deeper and deeper into the woods. Orla and Oskar expanded from mushrooms to night flowers and berries. Everyone in the party was helping harvest, and I was piling everything in my dimensional closet. I think the two scouts were impressed with our skill and speed as we moved. Talia was serving as our light beacon, and Zinnia was largely inactive, walking next to her as we did not need healing. I practiced my lightning spear and arcane web spells. Our guides showed us growth markers on the trees, indicating the challenge monster¡¯s direction. I did not see a need to kill the giant snake. We circled around it. When we had been inside for six hours and had not seen any other delve teams, I asked, ¡°Is it not common to run into other teams in here?¡± Orla answered, ¡°There are actually four different entrances at the corners of the forest. The dungeon rotates which one you appear at. As you get closer to the center of the woods, you will run into other teams, especially if you are both planning to hunt the large snake. Usually, there are some arguments about who gets to go first.¡± We spent nine hours in the woods, according to my absolute time spell. I had a large amount of harvest in my dimensional closet. I asked Talia, ¡°So, how are the two elves? Good enough for our delve team?¡± Talia looked over at the two, leading us out to a portal to leave, ¡°I do not think either of them has a strong ability. If they even have one. From what I observed, the woman has some minor magic, just a direction sense spell. They really only fought the weasels, as you and Bleiz killed everything else too quickly. They are average fighters at best. Above average scouts based on Skyholme standards.¡± ¡°So, is that a yes or no?¡± I asked earnestly. ¡°We already have two decent scouts. We could add maybe one more, but two?¡± Talia hedged. I was a little disappointed because hiring people always made me feel good. Showing I valued them by offering pay beyond their expectations. ¡°Well, they might not even want to relocate to Skyhome. I doubt they will want to be separated.¡± Offer them both a position. If they accept, that would bring the delve team to fifteen?¡± ¡°Yes, fifteen. We really need more mages and another strong healer. Zinnia is getting better, but a second healer is needed for the Progenitor Dungeon rotations.¡± Talia explained. ¡°Maybe the alchemist, Otto, can improve our healing potions, and we won¡¯t need another healer,¡± I offered hopefully. We reached the dungeon exit and left the dungeon. Another team was getting ready to enter and tensed at our appearance, but we just nodded and started walking toward town. When we reached the town, I told Orla and Oskar that Talia had an offer for them. I was off to talk with Otto. Otto was engrossed in his apparatus when I entered his shop. It was early morning, and it looked like he had been up all night. ¡°Otto?¡± He turned at me, announcing my presence. ¡°Back for more potions already!¡± He sounded happy but distracted as well. ¡°I actually would like to offer you a job. We are headed back to Skyholme, the floating islands, and I wanted you to serve as my delve team¡¯s personal alchemist. Just name your price,¡± I offered the man, who now sported long dark brown hair. His potion had worked. ¡°Skyholme? I have heard of the place. How many dungeons do you have?¡± He asked, turning away from his apparatus. ¡°Nine across all the islands. My delve teams frequent two of them. I also have a compiled book of all the dungeon potion recipes and a neophyte alchemist in my employ already,¡± I tried selling the job. ¡°More recipes?¡± He chewed on his tongue, thinking. ¡°Larger variety of ingredients as well. Four gold a week pay and six gold for materials. In addition, your delve teams fulfill my requests for materials as well.¡± ¡°So, ten gold a week, and you can post jobs for the delve teams? Is that all?¡± I asked, thinking this was on the low end. ¡°Well, I currently make about seven gold a week in profit, so it is a raise for me. If I am only supplying potions for one delve team, then I have more time to experiment,¡± he explained his view. ¡°Agreed, and I will also supply your housing and meals. That can be explained when we arrive, but I think you are going to be pleasantly surprised,¡± I moved forward, and we shook hands. ¡°It should only take me three days to pack everything up and load it onto your skyship,¡± he said energetically. ¡°We do not have that kind of time. You have half a day, and I will send Cesar and Hadrian to help you. If they break anything, I will replace it,¡± I said, dismissing any arguments. The Maelstrom¡¯s aether core should be charged in just a few hours, and I hated delaying any more than necessary. Skyholme needed to know the pirates, and Bricios planned to attack. Twelve hours later, the Night Jewel was taking off with nine sailors working the sails and rigging. The ten Wolfsguard remained on board with Cilia and Leda as the pilot and captain. I would pilot the Maelstrom. It had enough charge to rush back to Skyholme, but I did not want to abandon the people on the Night Jewel. It was just a very slow ship, and any number of things could attack it. If the sailors were good, we could make it back in seven days. Things did not go well, as six hours later, a skyship was coming up on our stern. Leda came over to the communication stone. ¡°Storme, that is a pirate ship. That ship is the Sky Wraith, and it should not be this far east. It belongs to the pirate consortium. I think it is coming for the Night Jewel. They must have tracked it with magic.¡± Bleiz was next to me, ¡°We should have made sure Maggie the Siren was dead. She probably called friends.¡± I was torn about loading everyone onto the Maelstrom and leaving the Night Jewel behind. If I did, then this whole expedition would have been for nothing. I held up my communication stone, ¡°Cilia, get on deck. I am going to exchange places with you. We are going to fight.¡± ? Copyrighted 2024 by AlwaysRollsAOne No Permission is given to translate, copy, repost or alter to an audio format of this original work of fiction. If you are reading this on a site that is not my Patreon, RoyalRoad.com, or Scribblehub.com, it has been stolen without my permission and violates DMCA. Remember, this work is the result of my creative effort and is protected by copyright law. Removal or altering of this notification is an acknowledgment you are aware you are in violation of DMCA. Chapter 136 Chapter 136 We were being pursued by another pirate ship. This one was called the Sky Wraith. Cilia was on deck on the Night Jewel, and I had the Maelstrom swing close, and I traded places with her using my exchange ability. The released sailors were working furiously on deck to harness the natural wind in the Sphere. It would not matter as the ship coming up behind us was smaller and had no sails. It was a pure skyship, powered only by aether. I took out my communication stone and set it to transmit with everyone on, ¡°Tell me about this new pirate.¡± Leda¡¯s voice came back. ¡°It is one of the more dangerous pirates in the region. They have aether disruptor cannons from the posting. The cannons will disrupt the aether flow through the runes. These pirates prefer to crash their targets and pick over the wrecks. The only good news is the crew is relatively small, around twenty, according to the bounty sheet.¡± I reached the bridge of the Night Jewel to find Leda in the pilot¡¯s chair. She was nervous as she looked up at me, ¡°The Wolfsguard all watching the freed sailors. Do you think we have enough fighters to take the ship?¡± Instead of talking to just Leda, I hit my comm stone for everyone to hear, ¡°I am going to try and do the same thing I did to the skiff, damage their control runes.¡± I turned off the communication stone, ¡°Leda, I need to borrow your spyglass. I want to exchange with a pirate before they come within cannon range. Do you know the range of a disruptor cannon?¡± Leda pursed her lips, ¡°About six hundred feet. It is more like a directional wave that quickly dispenses. Two or three hits, and this ship will start to fall from the sky. If they keep firing, the ship could plummet like a rock.¡± I explained my plan over the communication stone. ¡°If Maggie the Siren is on that ship, then they are probably aware of my exchange ability. Keep the Maelstrom out of range of their cannons, Cilia. If they ground the Night Jewel, use the communication stones to collect the survivors. I am guessing they are planning to force the Night Jewel to land and not planning to crash it.¡± Pakkam¡¯s voice came over the stone, ¡°In battles, you can never assume you know what your opponent will do, High Mage. My fellow Wolfsguard are prepared to go down with the ship.¡± That was not entirely true. Leda and Pakkam both had the feather fall ring. They both could carry another person as well. I reminded Leda, ¡°Do not forget you have the ring. If the ship is lost, abandon it and go to the Maelstrom on the ground.¡± She nodded a little more confidently. I moved to the deck with the spyglass in hand. The sailors were still trying to capture as much wind in the sails as possible. Pakkam approached me as I looked out at our pursuer. ¡°There are three port and three starboard aether cannons. They are more designed for anti-boarding action. Two large aether cannon are built into the bow, but I do not suggest firing them. We would likely miss, and it would waste aether.¡± I nodded as I looked through the spyglass. The Sky Wraith was the same black hull as the Night Jewel. Maybe it was the theme for this pirate organization. No sails were visible, but it looked like a sloop. Twice the size of the Maelstrom, with two lower decks indicated by the portholes showing. There were two forward protrusions on the bow. I assumed that must be their aether cannons. There were less than twenty pirates on the open deck of the ship. They wore an array of outfits and armor, and I think Maggie the Siren was among them. They were still too far away to be sure, though. I caught reflections in the air around them. They had some powerful aether shields protecting them to reflect the light. It would take a tier four aether shield or a tier three anti-teleport array to prevent me from using my ability. If I could not use my ability, this would be a messy fight. I switched my focused view to the lower deck portholes. Two were open, and I could see movement inside the darkness. I was not sure how much of a person that I needed to make an exchange. I turned to Pakkam, ¡°I am going to try going below deck. The pirate that appears in my place¡ªtie him up and keep him visible. That way, I can return if needed.¡± Pakkam nodded and asked, ¡°What do you want us to do with the sailors? Keep them working?¡± ¡°Yes. They are doing a good job. Promise them a few gold if it keeps them working through the attack,¡± I advised. Economics varied from city to city, but gold was gold, and hopefully, it would be enough to keep them motivated. I did my prep work, four flash-bang alarm stones in one hand with my falchion in the other. I cast invisibility over myself and then held up the spyglass with the hand with the stones. I went into overdrive mode with lightning reflexes and cast my aether shield to cover my body. I identified movement and channeled my ability. I immediately knew I had made an error. The use of the ability took nearly half my aether pool. Not only was the distance a few miles, using more aether, but they also had a lesser anti-teleport array going that cost me more aether to overcome. I still succeeded. I was inside the hull of the Sky Wraith. A strong musk scent hit me first. There were a dozen pirates anxious for a fight, but they did not see me, or apparently every know their companion vanished. They were all human except for a single golden-haired male elf who had his hair tied into a ponytail. I stepped to the right and sent my metal sense into the aether cannon. It had unfamiliar runes, and my first impression was the cannon was made to disrupt and dissipate aether. I would want to study these runes in the future. I was on the starboard side and quickly fused the runes so the cannon would fire. ¡°Where is Gildo?¡± Someone asked. ¡°Gildo, what dragon are you fucking now! You are supposed to be at the pothole and relaying info to us!¡± It looked like the group was ready to rush up on deck at a signal from this Gildo. I moved to the port side unnoticed and disabled the other cannon. The entire group was now looking around the lower deck, confused. A feminine shout came from above, ¡°Gildo is on the Night Jewel! That bastard is below deck!¡± The air suddenly got extremely tense, and someone threw a bag of white power that quickly expanded into a cloud. I felt my invisibility melt away, dispelled, and eleven pairs of eyes locked onto me. I had hoped to make my way to the stern and damage the flight controls, but now I had eleven angry pirates in my way. And two more bounded down the stairs. One of them was an angry Maggie the Siren. ¡°He is fast! Be careful!¡± She bellowed hoarsely. I did not have a view of the Maelstrom to escape, so I was going to have to fight. I threw all four stones at the group. Three went off a heartbeat later, blinding the pirates. I rushed into the number, cutting into between the ribs of a pirate and pushing him into his companions. The gap allowed me to get behind the group. Only Maggie was tracking my movements, as she must have had a defense against the flash. I kept pirates blinded pirates between Maggie and me as I slashed and stabbed in their midst. My overdrive speed made it impossible for the blind pirates to keep up. Body after body hit the floor, and Maggie yelled up, ¡°Wraith! I need help down here!!! Now!!¡± The few deafened pirates that could hear Maggie only caused panic as they began to swing wildly amongst their comrades. I used the opportunity to exit the door and quickly cast arcane lock on it as I shut it behind me. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. A surprised young boy poked his head out of a room and quickly slammed it shut and I heard it lock. I walked quickly down the narrow hallway looking at the doors. I needed to find the aether core room. It might be down one more deck. I checked each of the four doors I could open and they were all storage or bunk rooms. Maggie the Siren had a pirate hacking at the door with an axe. The last door was where the boy had disappeared. I started using my lightning spear on the area around the lock. After a dozen casts, I was getting close. A large section of the door collapsed through the forward hold. A massive spear of ice slammed into me, throwing me down the corridor. My aether shield expired, and I was dazed for a moment. The head of a black-skinned lizard man was staring at me. I assumed this was Wraith. I fired off a series of arcane webs to block the door and passage. A frustrated howl reverberated as news was relayed to Wraith that the aether cannons were not working. I smirked as I kicked in the door. Bingo. This was their aether core room. Panels with aetheric runes lined both sides of a center wall. It was definitely good work, and there was even some aether technology mixed in. The boy came at me with a dagger from the left, thinking he could surprise me. I backhanded him, sending him sprawling. I shut the door behind me and cast an arcane lock on the door. Then I coated the boy in an arcane web spell. He started swearing and struggling but had no chance of freeing himself. I raced through the panels, figuring out the runes. The aether crystal was the same size as the Night Jewel¡ªthe exact same size. Maybe they came from the same dungeon? No time to dwell on this right now. I went up and down the narrow space and chose my action plan. I disconnected the four gravity runes in rapid succession. Like most skyships, there were multiple layers of backups, but all I had to do was cut power to each runic array. I immediately felt the centrifugal forces, was thrown into a wall, and grunted from the impact. I cast an arcane web and used it to climb to get my next target. It was the pitch control. I activated the pitch, and the sloop-sized skyship went into a roll. I had to hold on or risk being thrown around a little faster than I had planned. In my mind, I pictured everyone up on the deck being thrown off the ship, like a dog shaking itself free of water. The pirates in the forward hull could be heard screaming and cursing. There had been crates of goods in there, and the sounds of crashing and thudding throughout the ship must have upset the pirates¡ªthe ones still on board. I did not have any port holes to look out so I was trying to feel gravity to get an idea of how many rotations the ship was taking. After what I thought was six full turns, I crawled along my web and connected the runes to stop the roll. There must have been someone still in the pilot¡¯s chair as the ship stabilized quickly. I connected just one of the gravity runes before going and seeing what havoc I had wrought on the Sky Wraith¡¯s crew. I pulled my communication stone and asked, ¡°Pakkam, how does it look from your point of view out there?¡± A hoarse laughter came through the stone, ¡°High Mage, I have never seen the like. There appear to be four pirates on deck, two flying and trying to catch up to the ship, and the rest are taking the shortcut to the lowlands.¡± ¡°Great. I am going to need some help over here. My aether core is almost empty, and there are maybe ten pirates below deck. They should be shaken and injured. I am in the aether core room with a boy from the pirates.¡± I turned and renewed the arcane web holding the struggling boy before the strands dissolved. Pakkam replied, ¡°Looks like they are turning around to go pick up the two flyers behind you.¡± I watched over and found the runes for the steering and cut them and the backups. ¡°They should only be able to go in a straight line now. Have Leda come alongside and board us. Call in the Maelstrom to help as well. I will go see how the pirates below deck are doing.¡± I placed the stone away and exited the control room. Down the corridor, my arcane web strands were dissolving as the black-skinned lizard was trying to fee himself. Beyond him, men were groaning and whining. I rushed forward and attacked the lizard man, Wraith. I was stunned when my sword flashed on impact, and sparks flew. It was not an aether shield but some type of ability. Was he immune to attacks? That was like a tier three or tier four ability. He hissed at me as he cast his massive ice bolt, the size of a man. I easily sidestepped the disoriented pirate and tried to remove his extended hand. The flash occurred again, and I heard his wrist snap and break. So it was just his skin that was immune to attacks. He had innate healing too, as the wrist immediately snapped back into place. I switched to my staff and pummeled his face over and over again. Breaking his facial bones and pushing them into his brain. I was too fast with my enhanced speed for him to defend himself, and soon, a bloody and gory faceless lizardman remained. A few pirates were moving on the other side of the door, Maggie the Siren among them. I cast four arcane webs through the door to slow them down and found myself out of the aether. I was a bit shocked, but I had been in overdrive for quite some time, and the exchange ability had used a lot of my aether. The body of Wraith blocked my access to the room. The entire ship shuddered as the Night Jewel slammed abreast. I could hear the Wolfsguard enter combat above deck. Without my spells, I did not want to risk entering the fight. I doubted they needed much help anyway. I wished I had kept one or two minor aether restorative potions. The fighting was soon joined by the delve team from the Maelstrom. Ten minutes later, the pirates in the hold surrendered. We had Maggie the Siren, five pirates, and the boy still alive. Pakkam had them tied and aether restraints put on. The Night Jewel had a number of harnesses that restricted a person¡¯s aether access for taking prisoners to sell into slavery. The two flyers had wisely fled to the lowlands when they noticed they had no chance. A few of the pirates flung off the ship may have survived if they had a device like the feather fall rings. I was up on the deck of the Night Wraith. The remaining pirates were all lined up. Maggie¡¯s eyes were furious, but she was gagged and collared. All three ships were tied together and making their way through the skies. We were flying the neutral prize flags, so hopefully, no one would attack us. Leda held up the bounties, ¡°I only hold a bounty for Maggie the Siren. None of these others,¡± she pointed to the five pirates and the boy, ¡°are worth turning in.¡± I looked at the pirates and then at Pakkam and nodded. He removed their harnesses, blocking their aether one at a time, and tossed them overboard. We were a few miles up. They all struggled because they had been stripped of all artifacts. When he got to the last one, the boy, Pakkam, looked at me. I shook my head, no. ¡°He was inside the ship and was not prepared to fight. We will hand him over with Maggie.¡± ¡°We are going to turn in the Night Jewel to the Principality of Marstom for the 100,000 gold bounty.¡± Maggie struggled on her bonds, but I just turned to her, ¡°Your reward is 1,000 dead or alive, your choice.¡± Her glare chilled me a little, and I was going to leave her guarded by two Wolfsguard at all times. Cilia asked urgently, ¡°What about warning Skyholme about the Bricio plot?¡± ¡°I already considered this. We will still arrive a week before the planned attack. The Sky Wraith can serve as my required ship for the Triumvirate. Although the Night Jewel is massive, it is hard to sail and an aether hog. The pirates did us a favor, giving us an alternative.¡± I smiled at my companions like I had planned this all along. ¡°The bounty for the Sky Wraith is 250,000 gold, Storme,¡± Leda noted. I waved it off. I was stretched for coin, but with the aether cores we were obtaining from these pirate ships, one of my largest purchases would be taken care of. The coin from the Night Jewel bounty would complete the construction of the Wolfsguard village. I turned to Bleiz, ¡°Bleiz, can you question Maggie about what she knows about the planned attack on Skyholme? Also, find out how she tracked us and if anyone else will be coming after us.¡± He nodded knowingly. Bleiz hauled away Maggie, and Neoma followed to assist. With Bleiz gone, I started giving orders. ¡°The Wolfsguard are responsible for the prisoners, sailors, and the captives. Cilia will pilot the Maelstrom. I will pilot the Sky Wraith. Leda will pilot the Night Jewel and serve as point. Lana and Sammie get an inventory of all the cargo from the two captured ships. Namira, Zinnia, and Talia; you will inventory any coin and artificed devices on the ships.¡± Everyone hurried to their tasks. We would keep the ships tied together for a few hours so everyone could get their tasks started. Who said pirate hunting was dangerous? Now, I just had to hope no one else decided to stop us on our way to the Principality of Marstom. Hopefully, three ships flying together would keep everyone fearful of us. ? Copyrighted 2024 by AlwaysRollsAOne No Permission is given to translate, copy, repost or alter to an audio format of this original work of fiction. If you are reading this on a site that is not my Patreon, RoyalRoad.com, or Scribblehub.com, it has been stolen without my permission and violates DMCA. Remember, this work is the result of my creative effort and is protected by copyright law. Removal or altering of this notification is an acknowledgment you are aware you are in violation of DMCA. Chapter 137 Halfling Village Chapter 137 Halfling Village I went and checked on the cats before I returned to the Sky Wraith. They definitely did not like being locked in the cabin during the fighting, and I think they were smart enough to know what was happening. They were happy to see me and latched on with their appendages. I allowed the cats to follow me back to my temporary ship. I walked the ship, and the black hull color was some type of epoxy added over the hull, not a black wood like the Night Jewel. I first spent some time in the core control room trying to figure out the aether tech. It was my first time seeing the integration of magic and technology. After looking at it for a while, I believed it was some type of aether scanning system. An advanced detection system and maybe an imaging system. The one we had on the Maelstrom was extremely simple. This system appeared not to be working, and I did not have time to figure out the issues. Aether tech was more common the closer you got to the massive passageways through the shell of the Sphere that led to the outer surface. The next thing I went through on the new ship was all the runic work. The artificing work was excellent, just as good as I could do¡ªif not better. I repaired and checked all the runes and the two aether cannons. The cats followed me as I worked. The Sky Wraith was an excellent ship, even by Skyholme standards. Due to its extra mass, about four times that of the Maelstrom, it would need mithril and adamantine runes to power a massive aether crystal to match our speed. After confirming the runes were in good working order, I explored the ship. The bottom deck was mostly cargo with a single common area for cooking and feeding the crew. The second level had the aether core room, a captain¡¯s cabin, and three large crew cabins with six double bunks each. This would give the ship a potential crew of thirty-seven. There was a forward cargo hold and gunnery deck where I had arrived. The open deck of the ship had a bridge near the bow, and in the stern was a crane and access to the bottom cargo deck. While the three ships were grappled together, we were making extremely slow speeds. Leda asked to break the grapples and proceed in a wing formation. This was in a diagonal line and spaced about one hundred yards apart. It would allow the Night Jewel a longer run time on its crystal and utilize the natural wind more effectively. Keeping the Maelstrom and Sky Wraith together was easy, as you just had to tease controls to the correct speed. On the Night Jewel, Leda constantly adjusted her sails and assisted aetheric propulsion to stay as close in formation as she could. After we had traveled for fourteen hours, Leda¡¯s voice came over the communication stone, ¡°I need to land soon to charge my aether crystal. The charts on this ship have a marked halfling village down in the valley a hundred miles ahead. The charts on this ship do not give any other details, but I never heard of a threatening village of halflings.¡± ¡°Cilia, are you good with this?¡± I asked. I was looking forward to getting the ships safely on the ground. Bleiz had been questioning Maggie, the pirate on the Night Jewel, and I wanted to know his progress. Talia, Namira, and Zinnia had been tasked with identifying artificed items among the dead pirates and counting the coin. I already had the cargo manifests for both captured ships. At least what they claimed to be on board. Sammie and Lana had each been working on a ship to confirm the manifests we found in both captains cabin. The valley was filled with green and yellow leaf trees as we approached. The ships were in a straight line, the Maelstrom landing first a quarter mile outside the village. I was surprised to see the halflings scatter into the surrounding brush and trees. We had scared them, and if they were not friendly, there was not much we could do. We needed time to recharge. The Night Jewel and Sky Wraith settled into the water of the glass-like lake and dropped anchor. I lowered myself into thigh-deep water and started walking into town. I cast of the cleanliness spell, and I was dry. Bleiz had joined me, and we walked together into the abandoned village. As we made our way to the square, I asked, ¡°What did Maggie tell you?¡± ¡°A lot. Her pirate superiors can not track the Sky Wraith. Whatever the coating is on that ship prevents magical tracking. The Night Jewel can be tracked with normal magical means. Maggie had an artificial device that acted like a compass.¡± He handed me a mithril oval. I opened it to find a compass inside. Bleiz explained, ¡°You set a marker by touching it to an object and channeling a little aether into it. It does not work on people.¡± I clicked it shut and tossed it in my hands for a minute before handing it back to Bleiz, ¡°Make good use of it. You are the better tracker and scout than me.¡± Bleiz pocketed the device appreciatively. We were in the center of the village looking around. Bleiz said, ¡°The pirate attack is pulling together maybe twenty ships from across the region. They are part of a much larger organization that operates from one of the twenty-three moons. She did not know which moon.¡± ¡°Hand of the Crimson Moonriders?¡± I asked. That was the organization the Aeyln¡¯s mother belonged to. ¡°No, the Black Marauders. Pirates, mercenaries, thieves¡ªMaggie made it sound like they were a big deal and operated throughout the Sphere. Her ship was low in the hierarchy. The Sky Wraith and the Captain you killed were higher in the chain of command. That was why she contacted him.¡± Bleiz moved and checked inside a house with smoke from the chimney. ¡°Do you want me to track down some halflings?¡± This village looks abandoned. The structures were barely six feet tall, and only a few chickens pecked at the ground. ¡°There were maybe a hundred inhabitants based on the number of structures. Shouldn¡¯t be too hard to find one in the woods.¡± ¡°Do it. But try not to scare them,¡± I said, and Bleiz went invisible. It was weird that a village this small was on the pirate maps. I wandered around the village for twenty minutes before Bleiz returned with a halfling female carrying a child in her arms. She looked afraid but stoic. Halflings looked like humans, just half the size. This woman had dirty blonde hair and a round face. It was my understanding that halflings lived mostly in cities. I smiled and tried to appear non-threatening, ¡°Well met. I am Storme Hardlight from Skyholme. I was hoping to take advantage of your hospitality while our aether crystals recharge.¡± The woman looked skeptical, ¡°We know you are pirates. She pointed with her free hand at the Night Jewel, ¡°That ship has been here before and took our people!¡± She was trying to hold in her anger. At least this explained why the halfling village was on the map. ¡°That is a pirate ship, and we have taken it. We have their Captain in custody, and the rest of the crew has been killed or scattered,¡± I motioned for Bleiz. ¡°Go and bring Maggie the Siren out here. If they recognize her, then they can exact their justice.¡± It was a thousand gold I would be giving up. If they killed her, then I could always ask for the head for the bounty. The small woman stood defiantly as Bleiz went to the ship. I could see movement in the woods and activated my aether shield in case they attacked. I kept my sights on the surrounding area as I heard a splash and Beliz approaching. The woman¡¯s eyes went wide, and her face went angry. ¡°So, is this the person that took people from you?¡± I asked. She nodded but did not talk. Maggie was bound, collared, and gagged. As if by magic, a stream of halflings came out of the woods. Most were armed, but their weapons were at their side. I announced, ¡°We give you this woman for your vengeance. You can question her on where she brought your family or just kill her. It is up to you. I ask for your leave for us to stay here for a day and recharge our skyships in peace.¡± Two halfling males approached, and it did not take long for them to take a struggling Maggie away. An older halfling approached, ¡°Thank you. You are free to stay as long as you wish and welcome to what hospitality we have. I am Wintershod, and this is my daughter Basil.¡± I talked with the leader of the village for a few minutes. They were preparing to attack me if I took Basil and her baby aboard my ship. Maybe fifty years ago, they had settled this valley as it was free of roaming monsters and sheltered from much of the Sphere. They did not have anything to trade other than produce. I returned to the Sky Wraith with Bleiz and allowed everyone time to walk the village if they wished.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Sammie and Lana had their report for me regarding the cargo. We had chests of shiny coins from a dungeon, rolled into bundles of one hundred coins each. They had a bat on one side and a flower on the other. It was a massive amount of coin, too. Seventeen thousand four hundred silver coins and over fifty thousand copper coins. All were small in size. It was all only worth 179 gold in total, but it was still a good haul. Private stashes and other coins they found equaled 68 platinum and 90 gold. I ordered everyone to get a twenty-gold bonus and the remainder to be loaded onto the Maelstrom. The other plunder was crates and crates of material from dungeons. Bones, dried herbs, raw ore, steel weapons, pelts¡­ The Sky Wraith had crashed two ships, and the Night Jewel had captured one ship. The ships must have been transporting dungeon loot to a larger city. There were estimates of the value of it all, about twenty thousand gold. Talia also had her report. Namira and Zinnia had helped sort out the pirate¡¯s personal effects. The pirate captain Wraith had the most valuables on his person. A small dimensional holding bag with jewels and coins and three high-tier communication stones. There were three dungeon essences inside as well, two tier 1 and one tier 2. I sent it all to my dimensional closet. We would drop the communication stones overboard when we left so they could not be used to track us. The rest of the weapons and personal effects were also moved to the Maelstrom¡¯s cargo hold. Reading the list, I estimated it was worth just as much, if not more, than the cargo and coin we had already taken. I briefly thought of not turning in the bounty for the Night Jewel. But the logistics of getting the bulky ship back to Skyholme made me hesitate. I could send the Maelstrom back on its own, and it could reach Skyholme in a day. But after the pirate reprisal, I once again decided not to. We would still give the Triumvirate plenty of warning time to prepare. Being away so long was probably making my family and others worry. But we would return soon enough. I went and removed the aether crystal from the Sky Wraith and brought it aboard the Night Jewel. I had a suspicion that these two aether crystals were from the same dungeon and would resonate with each other. I carefully set up the runic patterns and chained the two crystals together. I was correct. They matched frequency perfectly. The only way to put aether crystals in sequence was if they were the same crystal and broken apart or if the same dungeon created them. The size and power of these two crystals were impressive, and I could not fathom what type of dungeon challenge monster would reward something this large. If these crystals were harvested by Black Mauraders, then they were an extremely strong organization. I moved the Maelstrom¡¯s dual aether crystals to the Night Jewel. Then the Maelstrom got the Night Jewel¡¯s crystal. This would significantly improve the Maelstrom¡¯s operation time. Eventually, I could synch the Sky Wraith crystal in the Maelstrom, and it should have almost unlimited operation time, with the crystals recharging faster than the stored aether could be used. It would also give me the ability to add some aether cannons to the Maelstrom in the future. I just needed a replacement aether core for the Sky Wraith. I was resting in the Captain¡¯s cabin on the Sky Wraith when Bleiz knocked. The cats stirred thinking it was play time. Bleiz informed me, ¡°Storme, I think there are six bounties among the Sky Wraith crew. I am not certain as we did not copy all the bounties. But before we disposed of the bodies I wanted to ask if we should keep their heads?¡± ¡°Yes. Do that.¡± I nodded, stretching after a few hours of sleep. ¡°Do you want to skin the Captain? The one called Wraith?¡± Beliz asked. I looked at him strangely, and he explained, ¡°He is from a race of dragonborn. Their skin makes excellent armor and is highly prized.¡± It felt a little grotesque to me since he had been a sapient being. I thought for a moment before nodding, ¡°You can take it for yourself to sell or make armor.¡± The Sphere was a very unforgiving place, and you needed to take advantage when you could. Bleiz noted before leaving, ¡°Make sure you register the Sky Wraith as a prize capture. Otherwise, someone else might hunt you for the bounty.¡± ¡°That was my plan,¡± I said while feeding the cats. ¡°Do you think I should send the Maelstrom back to Skyholme? It could go and return in less than two days.¡± My dreams had been a little nightmarish as I imagined the pirates raising Skyholme. ¡°When we are closer. There are still many dangers, and I think three ships are more intimidating than two,¡± Bleiz said after considering. ¡°They killed the pirate woman. Do you want me to retrieve her head?¡± ¡°Bleiz, you have a lot of gruesome questions today. If possible, then yes. Her bounty is one thousand gold.¡± I took the cats off the ship and learned that neither of them liked getting wet. I had to carry them to shore like a princess. The halfling children started to play with them before their frantic parents pulled them away. A few crew were in town visiting the locals, being amicable. I found Wintershod, the halfling leader, and offered to offload some of my less valuable cargo from the dungeons. My reasoning was not altruistic as I wanted to try and lighten the skyships. He accepted, and we dumped twenty crates of hides and steel weapons from dungeons. About two tons worth. I did not ask for any compensation. Wintershod was in disbelief, ¡°You are generous, Storme Hardlight. I feel ashamed to ask this of you.¡± He paused to look over the massive crates. Many were damaged from when I rolled the Sky Wraith, but the items were usable. ¡°We had nineteen of our people taken by the pirates. Before we stoned her, she told us they were sold in the goblin city of Iron Splinter. If you have it in your capacity to find them and rescue them¡­¡± He was reaching out and trying to get sympathy from me. I felt for his people but knew it was not feasible, ¡°The best I can do for you is give you the maps on the pirate ships where the city is located. The pirates are organizing an attack on my home islands, and I need to return there and help defend them.¡± ¡°Maybe after¡­¡± he started, but I shook my head sadly. He sighed and handed me a piece of paper, ¡°I understand. But if you have the opportunity, here is a list of their names and descriptions.¡± The halfling was doing a good job of trying to guilt me. I took the list and sent it to my dimensional closet. I hesitated before offering, ¡°I am an excellent healer. If you have anyone in your village in need of healing, I would be happy to heal them for free. I can even regenerate missing teeth.¡± My offer was not entirely altruistic, as I was still trying to increase the level of my lesser restoration spell. ¡°That is most generous. I will put the word in the town to see you if they wish to take advantage. We only have a lesser healing among our number,¡± Wintershod bowed but could not mask his disappointment in me not rescuing his village members. I helped move the crates into the village, and slowly, the halflings came forward to seek healing for minor injuries. I paused in the work to heal, and word spread as each halfling was healed and ran to find a friend or family member. Maybe I healed half the village of some ailment, restored teeth, or cured limps and aches. With the healing done, and crates unloaded, I pulled my crew back to the ships. Bleiz gave me a nod, indicating he had collected the head of Maggie. A few hours later, all three ships were back in the sky and making our way to the Principality of Marstrom. The next three days, we landed in small towns to recharge. We dumped the stones and everything not considered valuable off the ships to make them lighter and use less aether. The first stop had most of the pirate¡¯s prisoners leave us as we had reached a large enough settlement that they could find their way home. This freed up the Wolfsguard from guard duty, and they had learned a little about managing the Night Jewel rigging. Losing the experienced sailors added another day to our trip, but we finally reached the border of the Principality on our map. Two medium skyships with sails and flying the flag of the Principality, a green field with a white owl, intercepted our fleet of three ships. They approached cautiously as we were flying flags of captured ships. They sent over a small skiff with six soldiers on board. The lead soldier stepped onto the deck of the Sky Wraith. ¡°Captain Volantis of the Prince¡¯s Royal Navy,¡± the middle-aged human introduced himself. ¡°Captain Storme Hardlight of the Adventurer¡¯s Guild.¡± I shook his hand and produced the bounty. He took it and read it carefully. ¡°The ship was taken seven years ago. The bounty should still be valid, Captain. Thank you for returning her. Most privateers just sell the ships in the nearest port for more coin than the bounty. I suggest we escort you to the capital of the Principality to process the bounty through the Adventurer¡¯s Guild Hall there. Anywhere else, and it will take a few days to receive your coin.¡± The stern Captain said. ¡°How long does it take to process the claim in the capital?¡± I asked. ¡°No more than a day or two. They will inspect the ship and transfer the funds from the treasury to the Guild Hall. The Principality does impose a 10% on the Adventurer¡¯s Guild, but they may wave it in this circumstance as it was in service to the Prince. I can not guarantee it, though.¡± He said with a small, hard smile. ¡°Let us go to the capital then,¡± I acknowledged. It would be just another day to reach it rather than landing in the nearest city a few hours away. Once we had our prize coin, the Sky Wraith and Maelstrom could make a good time back to Skyholme no longer burdened with the slow Night Jewel. ? Copyrighted 2024 by AlwaysRollsAOne No Permission is given to translate, copy, repost or alter to an audio format of this original work of fiction. If you are reading this on a site that is not my Patreon, RoyalRoad.com, or Scribblehub.com, it has been stolen without my permission and violates DMCA. Remember, this work is the result of my creative effort and is protected by copyright law. Removal or altering of this notification is an acknowledgment you are aware you are in violation of DMCA. Chapter 138 Chapter 138 The Principality ships were extremely slow. We only had about 1200 miles to reach the capital city of Malaise but we were headed into a strong headwind in the Sphere. The Night Jewel was also struggling and needed to land after half a day to recharge the dual crystals I had transferred to her from the Maelstrom. Our escorts landed with us and Captain Volantis came to talk with me. ¡°Storme, if you wish I can station one of my wind mages on board the Night Jewel. I could see she was struggling with the wind,¡± he said with a friendly smile. Even though his ships relied on the wind, they had a much longer operation time than the Night Jewel since the just had to power their anti-gravity runes with their aether crystal. They could have made it all the way to their capital relying on their winds mages, albeit slowly. I was not certain about having a foreigner on board but slowly nodded, ¡°If it gets us there quicker, the I agree. If you do not mind I would like to talk with the wind mage you assign to the ship. I am not familiar air magic and would be curious what spells they imprinted for their task.¡± ¡°Certainly. The mage will be Jemma. She is my niece and quite skilled with her spellcraft. I will be sending two soldiers with her if that is okay?¡± the Captain noted. His disposition told me the soldiers would be required for his niece¡¯s assistance. ¡°Agreed,¡± I confirmed. And an hour later, a woman in a spotless uniform and slick back black hair tied into a neat ponytail found me below deck of the Sky Wraith. She was a head shorter than me and walked stiffly, like her clothes kept her erect. She formally addressed me at attention, ¡°Captain Storme Hardlight, I am Gemma Hellvein. I have been assigned to assist the Night Jewel, but was told to report to you for questioning.¡± I paused my examination and taking notes on the aether disruptor cannon. ¡°I was curious about how wind mages develop their spells to help airships fly the skies. There are rare where I am from.¡± The truth was all the islands of Skyholme were just a few hundred miles apart, so there was not a need to travel great distances and conserve aether. Gemma stood at attention while she talked, her dark green uniform with white piping fitting snuggly, ¡°The tier two spell, gust of wind, needs to be leveled with at least five specific evolutions. Or the tier three spell, gale, just needs the proper duration enhancement when imprinted. I have both spells imprinted.¡± I was confused about why she had wasted spell slots on the same spell. She answered, ¡°The lesser gust of wind spell gives me more fine control as lesser speed. Gale is for traveling long distances at best speed. Will that be all?¡± ¡°Ah, yes. Thank you. Wait, do you have the flight spell?¡± I asked. ¡°No, just the tier one spell glide,¡± she replied smartly. ¡°Glide?¡± I inquired about the unfamiliar spell. ¡°It is an easy spell to learn and found in one of our local dungeons in the Principality. It turns your body into a sail to control your¡­unintended departure from a skyship. It takes very little aether to maintain, so it is popular.¡± She smirked, breaking her facade. ¡°And fun.¡± She regained herself, ¡°The lowest tier flying spell is tier three, and using four slots on it is not appealing to most Navy mages.¡± I nodded, and seeing I was done with questions, she left. We were grounded for fourteen hours outside a small village in the Principality. The two medium Navy ships remained with us as our guards. I didn¡¯t sense any malicious intent but still told Pakkam and the others to be on the lookout. Their response was that they always were ready. The small town had nothing of value to trade, but I focused on stripping the Night Jewel of everything of value. The bounty reward was for just the ship. I was unsure if I could also take the two crystals I had replaced, but they were worth nearly twenty-five thousand gold. If I could take them, I would. I made good progress on designing my cannons for the Maelstrom. I would incorporate two cannons, one a standard aether cannon for range and damage, and the other would be an aether disruptor cannon for disabling ships. I was going to need adamantine to downsize both cannons and contain the large amounts of aether. I also had not figured out targeting yet. The Wolfsguard remained on the ships while we were grounded, but everyone else had fun in the strange village. They were as welcoming of our coin as the halflings had been. We were well rested when our fleet of five skyships took to the skies. Gemma was working¡­well, yelling at the riggers and Wolfsguard on the sails. Her calm demeanor was now gone as she cursed their slowness to obey her commands. She was a taskmaster and impressive as she worked her spells and commanded the men. I think she was trying to prove herself to the other windmages on the Navy ships as she pushed the Night Jewel¡¯s speed. This was good, as the faster we got there, the better. The capital city of Malaise was on an inlet of an ocean. The ocean was larger than anything I had seen so far, thousands of miles across. I could only see the other side as the interior of the Sphere curved upward. It was an impressive city spawl on the ocean and their were more sea-going ships than I had ever seen. Hundreds dotted the harbor and nearby sea. This was obviously a massive trading hub. Our two Navy escorts handed us off to four smaller skyships about the size of the Maelstrom. Each of these had just a single mast and guided us to a calm inlet to land. As soon as our three ships had landed, Gemma was off the Night Jewel and boarding one of the escort ships. She was probably returning to her own ship. Two dozen soldiers met me when I descended the ramp. A man in official-looking red robes greeted, ¡°Captain Storme Hardlight, I am Judge Lotus Damon. Captain Volantis messaged ahead about your arrival and said you were in a rush. I am here to inspect the Night Jewel and report to the Adventurer¡¯s Guild regarding the seven-year-old contract.¡± ¡°The ship is yours to inspect. Can I keep the aether core crystals on board?¡± I asked as he looked eager to start. He stumbled slightly, ¡°Um, let me check.¡± He pulled out a contract and quickly skimmed it. He looked up, ¡°The contract states the bounty of one hundred thousand gold as long as the ship is air worthy.¡± He looked up at the ship, ¡°It looks in excellent condition. Normally liberated ships are quite damaged when returned.¡± He paused, ¡°I will talk with the Prince. Maybe something can be worked out after my inspection.¡± One of the soldiers stepped forward, ¡°Captain Storme Highguard, the Prince has prepared a meal and is expecting you.¡± I motioned for Bleiz to come with me and talked briefly with Pakkam, Talia, and Leda before leaving. We would keep the comm stones handy in case something arose. The cats were not happy about being left behind again. I told them when they were bigger and perfectly behaved, they could accompany me. The white one, Kiara, sat immediately and wrapped her tentacles. I think she was telling me that she was already well-behaved. Adrial looked confused but eventually mimicked her sister. I laughed, ¡°Okay, you are both behaved but still not big enough.¡± I gave each a pet and had Sammie and Lana watch them. Bleiz was on my hip as the twelve guards escorted us to a waiting carriage. We climbed in to be met with an old man across from us. ¡°Welcome to the Principality. Your return of the Night Jewel in such fabulous condition is a joy to the Prince. It was a gift from the King, and he lost a lot of face, losing it shortly after.¡± ¡°King? Isn¡¯t the Prince in charge?¡± I asked. I could not access information on the hundreds of kingdoms in the Sphere. Something else I would have to remedy. ¡°The Kingdom of Nordin grew too large to be ruled by a single throne. There are five Principalities. Marstom, Arled, Orissia, Toldavia and Wintermoot. A son of the current King rules each at the heart of the Principalities.¡± He calmly explained the makeup of the kingdom. ¡°Each Principality operates independently and covers huge tracks of the Sphere, much of it wild.¡± He folded his hands, ¡°Now about the royal protocols¡­¡± The forty-minute ride in the carriage was a crash course in addressing the Prince and etiquette during the meal. The meal was going to be with a dozen of his advisors and was more of a formal thank you. I just hoped he was not going to ask for a discount. The Principality was wealthy. That much was obvious by the buildings, the volume of trade, and the people. I was already considering asking them for aid in the defense of Skyholme. If not, then at least open trade as that seemed to be at the heart of their prosperity. We reached an immaculate palace of blue and white polished stone. It was larger than Skyhold Citadel on Skyholme, and that structure could hold over ten thousand people. We were asked to wear only a single non-artificed weapon and complied. Beliz took a few moments removing all the blades he had secreted about his person. The procession into the building was led by soldiers in full metal armor. They must have had muted enchantments because they made muffled sounds as they walked.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. The dining hall where we ended was massive. Easily a hundred yards deep and twenty wide. There was also no ceiling, just a shimmering blue aether shield to protect us from light rain misting. Even with the massive size of the room, only a table big enough for ten was set up. Two seats were waiting for us. We followed the decorum, bowed, waited for us to be introduced, and then were seated. The formalities were done; a dozen servants swarmed the table, pouring wine and placing plate after plate of food. There were no courses, just help yourself to whatever you preferred from the massive variety. I smiled, knowing that Freya would go straight for the desserts if she was here. No one touched the food, waiting on the Prince. The Prince looked middle-aged, and his title, Prince of Marstom, was his name and title according to our brief education in the carriage. I was to address him as just Prince, though. He nodded to everyone present before speaking, ¡°Captain Storme, I did not expect you to be so young. I wanted to thank you in person for returning the Night Jewel. Captain Volantis told me you were in a hurry, so I even invited the local Guildmaster of the Adventuer¡¯s Hall. Once the inspection is completed, we can release the funds,¡± he smiled and nodded. ¡°Prince, you are most generous to give me your time and expedite my request.¡± I nodded and forged on with a plan, ¡°I am in a hurry as the pirate organization, the Black Marauders, threatens my homeland.¡± ¡°The Black Maurauders? I heard Maggie the Siren was a member. Was that why you were hunting her? Captain Volantis also said you captured a second pirate ship, the Sky Wraith? That captain was quite infamous, as well as his ship. He also has a sizable bounty.¡± The Prince was leading something, and I sensed it. He wanted the Sky Wraith! He smiled slightly, ¡°I would be happy to honor that bounty as well and save you the trip of turning the ship over to the Adventruer¡¯s Hall thirty thousand miles from here.¡± I was in the Prince¡¯s house, and he was going to bend the conversation to have me turn the Sky Wraith over. I replied patiently, ¡°Prince, unfortunately, as I already mentioned, my homeland will be attacked, and we need ships to defend it. The Sky Wraith is needed. I have the heads of the crew as well as Maggie the Siren to turn in for bounties,¡± I looked and guessed who was the Guild Master and nodded at him. ¡°Maggie the Siren is dead?¡± The Prince sounded surprised. Not angry, just surprised. ¡°I assumed she had fled on her skiffs. This is good news. Please everyone eat before it grows cold.¡± That caused a frenzy as men and women reached in and started taking what they wanted. I found something that looked like mini-sliders. I knew I had not invented the cheeseburger, I had just introduced it to Skyholme. The mini-burger had a relish on it, and I took four, and that was all I planned to eat with the wine I was served. The rolls were buttery and matched well with the ground lamb that composed the burger. The relish had a lemony citric flavor to make an overall excellent meal. I was almost tempted to try something else but held back. Beliz had gone for a whole chicken and was slowly consuming it piece by piece. I finished my food and studied the conversations. There was some back and forth with the Prince at the other end. They were discussing realm business and not my ship. I had really hoped the Prince would have wanted to send aid to Skyhlome to help against the pirates. His Principality seemed to rely on trade, so I thought pirates would be an enemy. As the meal slowed down, many of the men stuffed their bellies to bursting, the Prince got everyone¡¯s attention again, ¡°I just received word the Night Jewel is in excellent shape.¡± A chorus of happy voices erupted. ¡°My Judge said you wished to keep the aether crystals on board?¡± I nodded, holding back a grimace. ¡°It is acceptable, but how about we reduce the compensation to ninety thousand gold for the return of the Night Jewel?¡± I bit my tongue as the ship was easily worth three hundred thousand gold if I had sold it elsewhere. I had only come here to offload the slower ship off quickly. I regretted not taking it back to Skyholme, even if it took an extra week. I nodded and smiled, ¡°Prince, it sounds fair.¡± It was not, but I was in his house. The Prince smiled, ¡°Excellent. I have never met so agreeable a privateer.¡± I returned his smile, ¡°Prince, you never argue with the lord in his own house.¡± I was steaming on the inside, though. The Prince laughed, ¡°Oh, young but wise. I am prepared to offer you three hundred thousand gold for the Sky Wraith. With that sum, you can hire many men to defend your kingdom from pirates.¡± ¡°Prince, your offer is generous, but I am from the Skyholme Islands. Skyships are the only way to defend my people, and the Sky Wraith is badly needed,¡± I responded as the Prince frowned. An advisor leaned into and whispered into his ear. The Sky Wraith was maybe worth four hundred and fifty thousand in Skyholme, about a hundred thousand more than a Harbinger. I was unaware of markets outside Skyholme. It could be more or less. The Prince seemed to consider the stalemate. ¡°Skyholme are floating islands?¡± I nodded as the advisor had obviously just informed him, about twenty thousand miles from here?¡± ¡°Prince, about twenty-three thousand miles. We are just now opening trade with the Sphere after centuries of isolation. A member of the old governing body is organizing the attack. A malicious family that has tried to eliminate others and has been exiled. If they can not have, I believe they are using the Black Mauraders to try and destroy Skyholme instead.¡± I tried to instill as much passion into my plea but did not think this Prince would be swayed. An advisor whispered again in his ear, ¡°The portal network does not extend to Skyholme?¡± ¡°Prince, it is being reactivated. I am not sure when it will be usable, but free trade begins in fifteen days, and I expect the pirates to use it as a means to get their ships close to Skyholme.¡± I pleaded a little this time. He seemed interested in the islands, at least. He had a private conversation with two advisors to his left and right. After addressing me, ¡°Your situation is unfortunate. I will not press you further on the Sky Wraith. The ninety-five thousand will not be subject to the tax,¡± he nodded to the Guildmaster. ¡°Neither will any bounties paid in my city.¡± He waited till the Guildmaster nodded in acknowledgment. The Prince then stood and left. No chance to thank him. Over half the table followed him. Bleiz leaned into me, ¡°He is planning something. I guess he is either secretly allied with the pirates or might be thinking or aiding you. You should have formally requested aide.¡± ¡°I do not think he is allied with the pirates,¡± I surmised. ¡°He definitely is planning something, though. Either he plans to help, or maybe he plans to take the Sky Wraith by force¡ªbut that feels unlikely.¡± I watched the Prince and his Enterouge leave. The Guildmaster approached me and bowed, ¡°Guildmaster Morcas Merit, at your service, Captain Hardlight. If you will follow me back to the Guild Hall, we can take care of the paperwork and see you on your way. Though you may want to wait for permission from the Prince to leave,¡± he winked. We were escorted out of the palace by guards and were soon in the streets. There were dozens of unfamiliar and familiar smells. The city was definitely bustling with people and commerce. The Guild Hall was far down the street; he let us be sightseers as we moved through the crowds. When we entered the blackwood building, fifty men and women looked up and greeted Guildmaster Morcas. We went into his office and sat down. He sighed long, ¡°I have not eaten that much in ages.¡± He rubbed his belly. ¡°The Prince is known to set the best table within five thousand miles. That was the only reason why I could think you were returning the Night Jewel,¡± he laughed. I chuckled but did not feel it since I had gotten such a poor deal. I asked, ¡°As for the Sky Wraith, will the bounty be canceled?¡± The Guildmaster nodded, ¡°Yes, and anyone who made copies of it will find their sheets now blank. As long as there is not a dumb captain out there, you should be able to fly unmolested.¡± He paused and thought, ¡°Well, when the Black Mauraders find out the ship was taken, they will probably take exception to your ownership.¡± ¡°The Sky Wraith will probably find a home in the Islands and not be flying the Sphere. Can you confirm it can not be tracked?¡± I asked. His left eyebrow rose in thought, ¡°I think so. That was one of the reasons the bounty was high. All divination efforts had failed to locate it.¡± That was a relief. Not that it mattered, as the Black Mauraders were already planning to assault Skyholme under the direction of the Bricios. ¡°I will take care of it right after we handle your individual bounties.¡± He banged on the wall, and a thin elf with long, silvery gold hair came rushing in. The Guildmaster addressed him, ¡°Keoth, these men are picking up the chest coming from the Prince. They are also presenting bounties,¡± he looked expectantly at me. I did the gruesome task of removing the heads from my storage. Keoth was some type of divination mage, and it took a few minutes to confirm the identities of the dead and that the head was genuine. I did not understand the magic but waited patiently. The bounty sums were pretty generous. The Wraith was five thousand gold alone, and his crew doubled that. Then another thousand for Maggie¡¯s head. ¡°As the Prince said, you are quite young and impressive. I will stamp your Adventurer¡¯s card if you wish.¡± He said. I handed it to him. He recorded the number of stamps, nine total of gold, but they just counted on my copper card as nine. It was a magic pick that he tapped with an artificed hammer. Nothing spectacular. I now had nine of five hundred holes punched on my Adventurer¡¯s card. Three for Maggie¡¯s ship and six for the Wraith¡¯s ship and crew. ¡°How will you want your coin?¡± The Guildmaster asked when he was done with the process. ¡°Large gold coins,¡± I said. The Guildmaster had Keoth fetch the coin. ¡°Will you be seeking any new bounties here?¡± The Guildmaster asked expectantly. ¡°No, we will be leaving as soon as the gold is delivered. We hope to return in two days to Skyholme and warn them of the attack.¡± I said. ¡°They don¡¯t know? Do you have an Adventurer¡¯s Guild? I can send a message for you.¡± He leaned forward, expecting a yes. I should have known this was possible. The Adventurer¡¯s Guild had a vast network for exchanging information in the Sphere. ¡°Please do. Thank you,¡± I said with relief, ¡°Charge?¡± I inquired, prepared to pay. ¡°Not for the message, no. But I expect the Prince is not quite done with you. I suggest you wait a day or two. You may be surprised. I have seen that look on him before. He senses an opportunity. I know he had his heart set on the Sky Wraith, but he will not take it by force of deception,¡± the Guildmaster was hiding a smile. I returned to my ship to find the dual aether core stones already removed and packed in a crate for me from the Night Jewel. The chest of one hundred and six thousand large coins was delivered, and the Prince left six of his palace guards near our ships. They were not preventing us from leaving, just remaining as sentries due to the gold. The chest was secured inside my dimensional closet with all the other coins we had collected from the pirate horde. Now the question was, do we wait for the Prince to come to a decision as the Guildmaster advised? Book 1 editing in porgress (link below) This story is being edited at this page: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/99686/the-world-sphere The first 6 chapters are posted with 3 planned to be added every week. Last chance to give grammar feedback before it goes to an ebook format. a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Chapter 139 Freya Awakens (POV) Chapter 139 Freya Awakens (POV) Freya stirred in her soft satin sheets, and stretched. Monty was taking up half of her bed on his back and looking up at her upside down. ¡°Not today, boy. Still nothing.¡± The massive dog closed his eyes and went back to sleep. Freya still had not awoken her aether core. Every morning she woke, she expected today would be the day, but she was met with disappointment. Without an awakened core, she would not be able to do magic unless she had a unique ability. She yearned for an awakened core. She absently rubbed Monty with her feet and did the exercises for manipulating an aether core. Most exercises were pointless without an actual core, but she did her best anyway. After an hour of effort, she stopped as the morning flights had started. Freya went to her room¡¯s window to watch the skyships departing and landing across the plaza. Since her family had moved to Aegis City, this was the best thing about her new room. It was massive, half the size of their entire old house, and had this envious view. She couldn¡¯t understand why people had not taken advantage of these warehouses like Storme had and converted them into the most coveted apartments in the city. It was partially for the view and partially for the amazing food offered in the Shiny Platinum. People came from all over the islands to eat there and look at the massive murals in the restaurant. Storme had even started something called a gift shop. Small items you buy for others to bring back with you. He had miniatures of the monster paintings made from bone, wood, or metal. Cigars from the tobacco on Callem¡¯s farm. Plates copying the artwork of the monsters. Bottles of mead made by Mera. Mother inscribed belts with the monster images for sale and backpacks as well. Playing cards depicting the monsters was the most recent addition. Storme had mentioned edible figures made from chocolate molds. And at her own request, chocolate molds of some of the monsters were now sold as well. Since it was her idea, she was quality control in the bakery where they made them. You wouldn¡¯t think these items would sell particularly well in a restaurant, but keeping them stocked was impossible! Storme was making a fortune! Unfortunately, since moving to the Aegis City, Freya¡¯s own fortunes had tumbled. She was still overseeing the contracts in Hen¡¯s Hollow for foodstuffs for the Shiny Platinum, but Remy had diversified suppliers, and although the amount coming from Hen¡¯s Hollow remained steady, it only accounted for about one-third of all produce, milk, eggs, and meat that the Shiny Platinum used. Still, Freya¡¯s parents were almost ten gold a week, which she mostly saved. Mother was cooking in the kitchen, and Monty¡¯s nose sniffed the air, and his massive tail started thudding the bed. Freya groaned, ¡°Fine, Monty. Let¡¯s eat.¡± She slipped off the bed in her nightshirt and entered the kitchen and dining area. ¡°Mother, you could just grab stuff from the bakery below us. I can smell the bread and honey buns.¡± Her mother glared at her, ¡°You need something more substantial than sweet bread coated in honey.¡± Freya sought to change the topic, ¡°Is Storme back yet? He has been gone seven days already.¡± ¡°No,¡± a tone of worry entered her voice. ¡°I am sure Storme is fine.¡± Freya nodded and started helping with breakfast. Storme was amazing. He was named a High Mage of all of Skyholme! Plus, he promised to teach her magic. If her core did not awaken, he promised to get her a dungeon essence to forcibly awaken her aether core. No, Storme was fine and just probably found something interesting to do. One day, she would join him and explore the Sphere at his side. Mother asked, ¡°Do not eat too much. Mia has you for sword lessons in the morning.¡± Freya groaned. Bleiz was a much better teacher, even if he was harder on her than Mia. Mia was more concerned with becoming friends than truly testing her skills against Freya. Just another woman yearning for Storme to notice her. Mia just had seeded bread toasted with sweet preserves and a good chunk of honey ham. A second serving of ham found its way under the table to Monty even though Monty had finished his bowl of scraps. Freya made her way to the second floor to train with Mia. Mia was always smiling, which was kind of annoying. She was also attending the Guard Academy. Mia told her about her investigative work classes and interrogation techniques as they practiced through the simpler sword forms. Mia found her classes fascinating and liked to talk about them with Freya. Freya, not so much. Mia was patient and gave at least excellent demonstrations and explanations on the sword forms. It made listening to her stories at the Guard Academy bearable. Freya was planning to attend the Dungeon Academy like Strome. When the two-hour session ended, Mia rushed off to her Academy. The next part of Freya¡¯s day was spent with her tutors. Storme had paid for them and thought he was helping. Well, the math and accounting tutor was good. But history, law, and literature? Ugh, she suffered through three hours of lectures and short readings in her apartment. She then ate lunch at the Shiny Platinum with Mera and Fera. Mera got her favorite, a sourdough roll with a charred hamburger. The hamburger had a spicy relish that burned your tongue long after eating it. Mera ate slowly as the conversation inevitably moved toward Storme, ¡°Any word?¡± Mera asked of Freya. Freya shook her head, ¡°No, father checks with the capital every day to see if Storme returned to the Black Spire. I am sure he is fine. It is Storme, after all.¡± Freya¡¯s voice did not have the confidence, though. Seven days was a long time for Storme to be gone. The three women were joined by Isla. She landed heavily in the chair and quickly ordered a milkshake and fries. Isla liked dipping the salty fries in the milkshake, Freya did not find the salty-sweet taste appealing. Isla was not as fun company as Mera and Fera. The blonde twins liked to talk about clothes and boys. All Isla ever talked about were the projects she was working on for Storme. Storme had not ever taken Freya to the Black Spire yet! Thankfully, they all got to eat in the function room, away from the noisy and packed general seating room. As they were about to leave, Remy came and sat next to Isla. Freya looked at Isla and then at Remy. Yep, they were definitely sitting a little closer than normal. Fera noticed too, by the look in her eyes¡ªenvy. After lunch, Freya had her last tutoring session, to the relief of both her and Monty. They were now free to till dinner tonight. Freya stopped in her mother¡¯s shop. Mother was busy etching belts for the gift shop. She told her she was headed Hen¡¯s Hollow, and her mother reminded her to get guards. Since Bleiz was with Storme, she was not allowed to go to Hen¡¯s Hollow without an escort, so she had two of the Shiny Platinum guards accompany her. The Shiny Platinum had a contract for two of the local transport ships, so the cost was only one silver each. Normally, the ship would have just landed at Solaris City, but it dropped them off in Hen¡¯s Hollow before heading to the city. Everyone seemed to be willing to do whatever it took to keep High Mage Storme happy. That and Storme had probably healed half of Skyholme by now. A lot of people visited the Shiny Platinum to thank him by ordering his food. Her two guards were familiar with her and trailed her through her visits to all the farms that supplied the Shiny Platinum. Freya didn¡¯t need to do this but liked getting back to Hen¡¯s Hollow to see her friends and visit the farms. Especially today since Remy had approved a ten percent increase to the compensation. Freya would accompany the news with a stress on the quality needed to be delivered. Storme had brought a lot of prosperity to Hen¡¯s Hollow, which could be seen in new homes being built and paved roads with stone quarried from dungeons. She doubted Storme was aware of how much coin his enterprises were funneling into the small town. With her job done, she talked to the local shops, picking up bone miniatures from Antal to sell in the gift shop, leather bags from Master Aldrich for her mother to engrave, and two crates of dried tobacco leaves from Edel. Callum¡¯s tobacco farm was still running as Fera got out here twice a week to maintain the fields. Callem had not visited in months but was still collecting most of the revenue. Not that Fera complained. Callem had deeded the land to her, and she got a percentage of the sales. Fera was going to be as wealthy as her sister. They had a large pile of goods in the skyship platform and left one guard there while she and the other guard walked to Solaris City to charter a skyship. Cilia and Leda normally pick her up, but they were with Storme. The only skyship available was an old boat that would take nearly two hours to travel the one hundred and twenty miles. She did not have a choice but was even more upset that he was charging five gold for the trip. She would either have to wait for another ship to return from a run or the daily public skyship. She ended up paying, knowing that Remy would pick up the expense. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. The old skyship was poorly maintained and even had some rotted planks, which the captain said was due to the Saldian attack. His ship had been in the sky and gotten hit with spells that caused it. Freya doubted it. Even the tone mile trip from Solais to Hen¡¯s Hollow took minutes as the captain worked the aged controls. She was sure the deck had a slight tilt to it as well, meaning the runes on one side needed refreshing. It was expensive to maintain a skyship. They landed heavily on the platform and loaded the crates. One of the guards questioned the wisdom of trusting the skyship to get them to Aegis City. Freya waved him off. It was just one hundred and twenty miles, and skyship runes failed gradually, not instantly. As long as they remained over Titan¡¯s Shield Island, they had little to worry about. The captain kept the ship extremely low as they moved across the islands. That did make Freya nervous as she skimmed just a hundred feet over the trees. Even though the ship was moving slowly, the closeness of the trees made it feel like they were going much faster. They landed two hours later in Aegis City. The small skyship settled with an audible groan and snap. The captain swore and raced below deck to see the damage. As the two guards unloaded the crates from Hen¡¯s Hollow, her father walked up to the cradle where the skyship was. ¡°Freya? What are you doing on Captain Clive¡¯s old boat?¡± He asked with some concern in his voice. Freya shrugged, ¡°Only charter available this late in the day.¡± He frowned and yelled up, ¡°Captain Clive! Full inspection today!¡± Freya shook her head. Her father was responsible for all the skyships coming into Aegis City now. She looked down on the Shiny Platinum across the plaza. The massive depiction of a hydra fighting adventurers met her. She scanned it, and it was impressive. A symbol not just of the Shiny Platinum but a landmark for Aegis City. She noted the adventurer¡¯s likenesses. Talia, the red-robed mage casting an ice lance from a distance. Sammie, with her oversized axe, hacking at a head. Gimble, the elf, directing the combat. Aelyn, the half-elf, dodging a head. And lastly, there was Gareth, fighting up close to the beast with his sword. The original sketches had six people, but Storme removed his own likeness from the mural. Everyone joked that he was still there but on the other side of the beast. Her eyes went back to Gareth. Gareth was Storme¡¯s best friend¡ªand hers, too. She could not imagine them not being together. She was a little mad at Storme for replacing Gareth with Bleiz, but she liked Bleiz too. She was more mad at Gareth for not talking to her since he had left the Shiny Platinum! The big oath was too concerned with his new dungeon team and his trollups. She heard her father talking animatedly with Captain Clive. ¡°You will never take my daughter on this piece of junk again, Clive. I have no idea how you have not crashed this rotting hulk, but steer clear of my daughter.¡± The rave continued, and Freya rolled her eyes. She could make her own decisions; she was twelve. (Reminder to readers: this is about 15 years old on Earth time-wise and physically about 17 years old). She spent her evening with Remy going over the cargo from Hen¡¯s Hollow, and then she was upstairs in their apartment to have dinner with her parents. Mother preferred to still cook even though the restaurant would prepare just about anything they wanted. Tonight was fajitas, one of Storme¡¯s favorite things to prepare. Even her brother, Pascal, was coming. The meal proceeded in some silence before Pascal spoke. ¡°Not as good as Storme¡¯s, but still excellent mother,¡± he said softly. Another day, without word from Storme, people considered the worst had happened. Storme was fine. I do not know why they were worrying. Father noted, ¡°This is good, Alurha. Storme¡¯s was just a little spicer. Otherwise, I can not taste the difference.¡± He focused on Freya, ¡°And Freya, you are not fourteen yet. I never want to see or hear you traveled on Clive¡¯s skyship again. The thing will drop out of the sky any day now.¡± Freya was not in the mood to argue and just nodded. Freya not arguing was a sign to the whole table that things were not okay. Pascal spoke up, ¡°I will be joining you in the docks. Forty people from my class are serving assigned as part of our academy class. I will be on the second shift on the first, third, and fifth day.¡± Father nodded, ¡°I know. Congratulations. I reviewed your profile yesterday from the Academy. You are seventh in your class.¡± Pascal beamed at the praise from their usually restrained father. ¡°I need to account for over a hundred new Academy guardsmen trainees and Navy cadets. It is a huge headache for opening trade with the lowlands. And all the extra work and just a five silver a week raise.¡± Alurha berated him, ¡°Oh, don¡¯t complain. We have no wants or needs since moving to Aegis City. We have more coin than we know what to do with, and Storme does not charge us for this apartment.¡± Mentioning Storme got the mood sour again. Freya snuck Monty some chicken and then went to her room. Father and Pascal were in a deep conversation about the duties he would be doing on the skyship docks. She wished Storme was here so she could play with the cats. Kiara, the white one, was extremely smart. She took a shower with hot water and marveled at where she lived again. When she was in clean clothes, her mother knocked to check on her. ¡°Freya. How are you doing?¡± She looked at her mother, ¡°Fine.¡± Her tone betrayed her, and she ran to her mother and cried into her chest. Her mother rubbed her back as she cried. It was now more than seven days since Storme left. Monty was rubbing against both of them, trying to comfort them as well. Freya slept restlessly that night. She was starting to imagine all the things that could have gone wrong. Why did Strome think he could even fight pirates anyway. He had plenty of coin and dungeons to explore. There were dragons and monsters out in the Sphere. He should have waited until Freya could help him! She woke in a thick sweat and felt extremely nausaus. She rolled off her bed onto carpeted floor, crawling toward the bathroom. She did not make it before she vomited. It was like everything she had eaten in the last year was trying to come back out. Monty was nervous and barking. Soon, both her parents burst into her room worried, and one of the guardsmen was knocking on their door. Freya was just smiling with dribbles of vomit on her face and all over the floor. Caleb and Alhura were smiling, too. It was obvious that she had awakened her core. Father went to the door to send the guard away while mother helped Freya to the shower to get clean. The foul stench of the vomit and sweat permeated her room. She would have to pay a mage to come clean it as Storme was not around. She smiled; Storme would have to come back now. Her core had awakened. She was bouncing around in the shower. Tomorrow, she will meet with Ennet and Wynna to get her reading. She would be happy if she didn¡¯t get any abilities as long as she had a strong aether core. She couldn¡¯t sleep and eventually snuck out and went to Ennet¡¯s apartment. A very sleepy Ennet answered the door. It only took a look before the middle-aged woman smiled at her, ¡°You awakened?¡± Freya nodded energetically. ¡°Excellent. I take it that is why Monty was barking, and you can not wait three more hours for the morning?¡± She nodded rapidly again. ¡°My mother is in the capital with Callem. We will go first thing tomorrow so you can get a joint reading.¡± Ennet started to close the door, ¡°I will pay for a charter right now!¡± Freya burst out. Half an hour later, Freya had paid twelve gold for a charter skyship to Skyhold. Mother was coming with them, and they landed at the Naval Academy with permission. Edel was woken, and Callem was happy for Freya, ¡°Congratulations Freya. Any news on Storme?¡± Alurha answered, ¡°Nothing. I figured you would know more than us. You would know if the Maelstrom returned to the Black Spire.¡± Callem¡¯s face was hard, ¡°No, he has not landed there. They are keeping the High Mage¡¯s absence quiet. He did not tell anyone where he was going. Just that he was hunting pirates.¡± Wynna broke into the conversation, ¡°Enough talk about our adventurous young mage. You are here for a reading? Let us do that!¡± Soon, Freya was sitting across from Ennet and Wynna in a private room. A heavy white parchment was under her hands while the two women performed their magic. It was going to be her blood writing out the words as she wanted to see them. Every format was different based on the will of the one being read. Freya knew what she wanted, but she could not change the content of the words. The ceremony was completed, and Ennet and Wynna stood, rubbed her head reassuringly, then left the room to let her read the parchment. With trembling hands, she revealed the writing to her eyes. Freya Hardlight Abilities: Empathy, Tier 1 Ice Fortress, Tier 2 Traits: Adaptive, Tier 1 Combative Mind, Tier 1 Skill Affinity Persuasion, Tier 1 Water Magic, Tier 1 Aether Core Current 8 Maximum 78 Aether Matrix Current 4 Maximum 9 Her breath quickened. She could learn magic! She was not certain about the ice fortress ability. Empathy was common and just meant she could read the emotions of people and animals. But ice fortress? Could she make a castle of ice? She would have to look it up. Combative mind trait, she smirked. It meant she was resistant to people influencing her, and that was certainly the case even before she awakened. She even had an affinity for water magic! She didn¡¯t have a lot of magic. She was more than an average mage for certain, but her aether core was short of becoming an archmage. Also, she could only had only four spell slots and a maximum of nine. That was disappointing, but only about one in eight people could even cast spells. She should be happy with having an awakened core. She slowed her breathing. She could always improve her maximums with the right dungeon essence. Storme would¡­. Storme was not here to help her. She would have to do this on her own. Chapter 140 The Prince鈥檚 Favor Chapter 140 The Prince¡¯s Favor I didn¡¯t know how long I would have to wait for the Prince to move or decide. We had almost an entire day before the aether crystals would be charged to make the run to Skyholme. The Guildmaster seemed certain that the Prince was interested in the Skyholme Islands by his reactions. I asked Leda and Talia, ¡°Can you go into the city and see if our pirate cargo would sell better here or in Skyholme.¡± Leda laughed, ¡°You should get a commodity index for the city. Or one from the Adventurer¡¯s Guild if you are going to be a trader, Storme.¡± I didn¡¯t know something like that existed. ¡°Is there one for each city?¡± Leda stopped laughing, ¡°I don¡¯t know. The Adventurer¡¯s Guild commodity index only lists goods that are in high demand in each city. It is like a merchant¡¯s quest for profit but is costly and updated weekly. Loriel was excited about it anyway when she was looking at the needs of Sadian cities.¡± I was not surprised that Loriel was already a few steps ahead. She had probably been holding certain goods for months in preparation for open trade. ¡°Get the commodity index from the Adventurer¡¯s Guild.¡± I paused, ¡°You can also get three sets of maps and get them made into sheets. One set for the Maelstrom and two sets for the Sky Wraith.¡± Leda¡¯s eyes went wide in excitement. The Adventurer¡¯s maps had two sides to them. Each side showed the same regions, but one was a travel map with cities, roads, and notes. The other side was focused on terrain and dangers. Cilia wanted to have one set on one wall and the other on the other in the bridge to save time. The cost was prohibitive¡ªuntil now. ¡°Take Sammie and Bleiz with you for protection. I will give him the gold.¡± Half an hour later, they were headed to the Adventurer¡¯s Guild. I went to the trade district to see how my enchanted blades would sell here in Malaise. The city was clean and had a variety of smells, both pleasant and foul, as I walked. Although mostly humans graced the streets, over a dozen different races also walked freely. Maybe one day, Skyholme will have the same diversity. The trade district ran in a long arcing thoroughfare around the central part of the city near the expansive docks. It started with an open market with hundreds of individual stalls and turned into open shops fronts and then further into building housing the higher-end and luxury shops. I did stop and quickly purchased some sweets from a candy shop for Freya. I guess it would be okay if she rotted her teeth since I could grow her new ones. The first weapons dealer did not buy or sell enchanted weapons, but he directed me to a shop that did. All his non-artificed weapons were of excellent quality and made by master weaponsmiths. I purchased a dozen swords and six various daggers for a little over a thousand gold. I planned to study the master smiths works to maybe improve my own metal shaping skills. The artificed weapon shop seemed to be trying too hard to sell its weapons. Each weapon had its own locked display case and a lengthy description of who forged the item and the runic enchantments. The shop was large, with over a hundred display cases on multiple floors. It seemed popular as well since men and women were browsing. A few salesmen were shadowing the more finely dressed patrons, hoping for a sale. The first case I came to had a dozen arrows of impact. An elf enchanter made them from the city of Cullinbar. The description was mostly detailing how difficult the enchanting work was on such a small area. Only the metal heads could inscribed. The spell effect was not even that impressive. It just increased the mass of the arrow threefold on impact, allowing deeper penetration. They were also single-use, as the small aether gem would be destroyed on impact. They also wanted twelve hundred gold for the set, which was ridiculous. I was certain I could make one of these arrows in about an hour, and double the effectiveness of the runes. The material cost would also be less than gold, and that cost was mostly the sacrificial aether crystal. The wooden arrow shafts were the most impressive part of the item. A black wood with crisscrossing growth rings. A mage must have shaped the wood. I wandered, and the next object that caught my eye and gave me pause to read was a massive sword over seven feet in length. Its description said it was a dungeon reward from the Ethereal Depths Dungeon in Coulton. Coulton was a city in another Principality. The sword was beautiful and impressive, but the runic workings made me chuckle. The sword was enchanted to help you understand the motivations of the one struck by it. It sounded almost. If you were already fighting your opponent, then you knew enough of their motivations. One of the salesmen was standing next to me, ¡°I see you have discovered one of the more interesting pieces in our collection.¡± ¡°Not much use in battle due to its size and the nature of the enchantment. It is quite pretty, though. I am here to sell, not purchase, though.¡± I said with a smile. The salesmen looked me up and down and grimaced noticeably. I lacked the fancy clothes and age to be a serious seller in his opinion. I suppose I did not look the part since I stored everything in my dimensional space. ¡°Follow me,¡± he said reluctantly. I followed the middle-aged man to the back room, which had shelves and shelves of weapons not good enough to make it into a case. ¡°Master Baine!¡± He yelled. An older man came scurrying from behind the shelves covered in dust. He coughed a little, ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°This young man is here for an appraisal to sell. I will leave him with you,¡± he indicated me and left. Master Blaine studied me momentarily and then said with a smile, ¡°What do you have? I hope it is interesting.¡± The old man at least seemed friendly. I moved to an open table and produced one of my generic longswords from my dimensional space. Master Blaine put on a monocle I was sure was magical to inspect the sword. It just had the durability and sharpness runes, nothing fancy. He studied the sword for a very long time before putting it down. He seemed disappointed. ¡°It is just a simple long sword. One would think an infant dungeon forged it with simplistic runes and a lack of artistry. But it clearly a mage with a powerful metal-shaping spell. Fair work but boring.¡± His words stung me a little. ¡°Why do you say it is simplistic?¡± The old man shook his head, ¡°There is no personality to the artificed weapon. That is what makes a weapon truly unique. Dungeons pour their soul into creating a weapon. The runes might be the same but have their own flair!¡± He said excitedly. He went to the back, pulled two books, and returned. ¡°Here, look at this boy.¡± He opened each book to a page. ¡°The runic pattern on the left is from one of our city¡¯s most renowned artificers. On the right is the same runes from an artifact found in our local dungeon.¡± I studied what the runes did first. It was a small flaming rune. It could be used to create a cooktop, fire, or light a cigar. Then, I compared the runes. The master artificer was efficient, and the lines looked perfect. It was excellent work. The dungeon runes were more difficult to see the patterns and path of the runes. It wasn¡¯t more complex, just had¡ªpersonality. I traced and studied them while the old man beamed proudly. I had to agree; with my knowledge, the runes of the dungeon had their own beauty beyond function.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°I see that, you see it too!! So many don¡¯t!¡± He exclaimed. ¡°Did you know each dungeon draws runes uniquely!? I have studied the nearest twenty-two dungeons, and I can tell you where an artifact originated by studying the runes.¡± We spent hours going through his books as he pointed out examples. I started to get an idea of how I wanted my own runes to look in the future. I wanted to be more than a printing press of artifacts. I thanked Master Blaine for his time, and he purchased the long sword for twelve hundred gold. Probably less than I should get in this city, but I appreciated his lesson and turning my artificing into artwork? Yes. I returned to the Maelstrom and took care of the cats. I used the comm stones to check in with Bleiz, and they were just waiting for all the maps to be sealed in the hard, clear resin. I had decided we would wait till the aether crystals were completely recharged and then leave whether the Prince contacted me or not. I took a quick walk to the Adventurer¡¯s Hall and made sure the message had been sent to Skyholme. Guildmaster Merit confirmed the Guild Hall in Skyholme had received the message and passed it along to the appropriate authorities. At least they could prepare. When I returned to the Maelstrom, Leda was excitedly putting up her new maps. I took the two other stacks, the Sky Wraith with Cilia. ¡°Cilia, I think I am going to have you fly the Sky Wraith back to Skyholme. We are going to keep the ships together in case we run into problems.¡± ¡°Did you purchase another aether core crystal?¡± She inquired. ¡°No, the old dual cores will be installed on the Sky Wraith when we get to Skyholme. The two powerful cores resonate, and both will go into the Maelstrom. As long as we are not fighting or using invisibility, it should have unlimited run time. No more landing to recharge the crystals.¡± I explained. ¡°The Sky Wraith is going to be stationed at the Black Spire, then? Seems a waste for such an amazing ship. Everyone was talking about the Sky Wraith when I was in the Adventurer¡¯s Hall purchasing the maps with Leda. It is an extremely well-known pirate vessel. The Guildmaster did destroy the bounty postings for it, but still, it is the talk of the Guild Hall,¡± Cilia explained. ¡°All the more important to keep it hidden in Skyholme so the Black Mauraders do not try and retake it,¡± I noted. Cilia seemed to agree with me. I returned to my cabin on the Maelstrom to get some rest. The cats curled up with me. I did my mental exercises and then fell asleep. I was woken by Bleiz knocking, setting off my alarm spell, ¡°Storme, a representative of the Prince, is here to talk with you.¡± I dressed in more formal attire to meet the Prince again. Outside the Maelstrom were two dozen guards and a women in a formal dress. She bowed her head. I guessed the Prince had selected her for her beauty. She was not at the meal. ¡°I am Princess Amelia, daughter to the Prince of Marstom.¡± ¡°It is a pleasure. What can I do for you and the Prince?¡± I asked, returning a small bow. ¡°The Prince has requested that you delay your departure. He wishes to send a trade expedition to Skyholme to see if your Islands offer opportunities,¡± she said with a regal smile. ¡°Skyholme is going to come under attack soon. I do not think it would be wise to send trade ships at the moment,¡± I said diplomatically. ¡°The Price is preparing to send Captain Volantis and Captain Kurric with a trade ship. They command two of our fastest warships,¡± she said, as her blonde hair stirred up in the wind. ¡°And you want me to escort them back?¡± I winced, remembering how slow Volantis¡¯ ship was. ¡°We did not want our arrival to appear threatening. Having one of their famed Adventurers escort us to the docks should alleviate their fears.¡± The Princess delivered the reasoning. ¡°I could arrive first and tell them you are coming?¡± I offered. She frowned, and it made her face look pouty. ¡°The Adventurer¡¯s Guild Hall already warned your people. You should not need to rush back. Also, since I am traveling, my father wants to make sure I am safe. He is posting an escort request in the Guild Hall now. Guildmaster Merit has been advised to hold it and post it when you stop in to see him,¡± her white smile returned like the matter had been decided. ¡°Okay, I will visit the Guildmaster Merit, and we can leave immediately.¡± I was doing the math in my head¡­7 days¡­maybe eight if they did not need to land. This was a disaster. ¡°Also,¡± the Princess added, ¡°I wish to be quartered on your ship, the Sky Wraith.¡± I smirked, ¡°That is fine. I am flying this one,¡± I pointed at the Maelstrom behind. ¡°Cilia will be piloting the Sky Wraith.¡± She narrowed her eyes briefly, then smiled, ¡°We will have the request altered for this skyship then. I wish to be quartered on your ship.¡± Was I being set up by her father? At first, I thought maybe this was a ploy to take the Sky Wraith by force, but this seemed like the Prince was trying to set me up with his daughter. ¡°Will your two captains help fight the pirates when they attack?¡± ¡°That is the plan. My father is calling in four war mages to add to their crews. He hopes our cooperation with your island¡¯s defense could open more lucrative opportunities,¡± she said with a big smile. I guessed this was definitely a setup¡ªa seven-day date. ¡°I have three attendants and two guards,¡± she looked up at the small Maelstrom. ¡°You can take one attendant and your two guards,¡± I responded firmly. ¡°Agreed,¡± I was surprised when she did not argue. Maybe I could have moved her retinue to the Sky Wraith if she had. ¡°We should be able to depart tomorrow.¡± She left me kind of stunned, and I was surprised when Beliz spoke from my right, ¡°Seems like you are moving up in the Sphere High Mage, escorting Princesses.¡± ¡°Not funny, Bleiz. How come I have the feeling I was tricked into this? This is going to add six days, maybe more, to our return trip. It is not a good thing,¡± I said seriously. ¡°If their warships are truly going to help fight, then it is a good thing, Strome. Their crews are experienced even if their ships are a bit slow,¡± Bleiz advised me. ¡°Clear out your cabin,¡± I said with a smirk. Bleiz shrugged, not concerned. ¡°Tell Leda, Sammie, Lana, and Pakkam they are going to be on the Maelstrom. Yourself as well, Bleiz. Make up some beds in the cargo hold for her two guards.¡± ¡°What do you want to do with the boy?¡± Bleiz asked. ¡°What, boy?¡± I said, confused. ¡°The one you captured on the Sky Wraith. We killed everyone but him. Pakkam has been watching him, but after we landed in Malaise, all the freed prisoners of the pirates left, and now just the boy remains,¡± Bleiz said with a toothy grin, seeing I forgot something. ¡°I will talk to him. If we turned him over as a pirate, they would probably kill him. Maybe we just let him go,¡± Bleiz frowned at my words. The boy was not even seven. It did not feel right to let him be killed. Bleiz was less reluctant, ¡°If you let him free, he may run back to the pirates and give them information on you and your fighting style.¡± ¡°What do you suggest I do with him then?¡± I asked my Wolfsguard friend. Bleiz did not take long, ¡°Put him to work in the orchards at the Black Spire under the watch of the Wolfsguard. They will reform him.¡± I considered the compromise, ¡°Fine. I am off to see the Guldmaster for the job posting I am not allowed to refuse from the Prince.¡± Gulidmaster Merit had a shit-eating grin on his face when he presented me with the job offer. They had already changed the ship the Princess was to be ¡®escorted¡¯ on to the Maelstrom. The terms were quite generous, considering that was the direction we were going to be headed in anyway. I was to be paid 3,500 gold prior to departure once the accommodations were deemed suitable. I would receive another 3,500 gold after the Princess was introduced to the rulers of Skyholme for opening trade negotiations. I learned Princess Amelia was his 3rd daughter and the only one not married. She was twenty Sphere years old (twenty-three in Earth years). She was also an accomplished diplomat, according to Guildmaster Merit. Of this, I had no doubt. ? Copyrighted 2024 by AlwaysRollsAOne No Permission is given to translate, copy, repost or alter to an audio format of this original work of fiction. If you are reading this on a site that is not my Patreon, RoyalRoad.com, or Scribblehub.com, it has been stolen without my permission and violates DMCA. Remember, this work is the result of my creative effort and is protected by copyright law. Removal or altering of this notification is an acknowledgment you are aware you are in violation of DMCA. Chapter 141 Homeward Bound Chapter 141 Homeward Bound The Princess had her luggage delivered to the Maelstrom, and by the sheer volume, I thought she might be moving to Skyholme permanently. A messenger from the Prince arrived with thirty-five platinum as I had confirmed acceptance of the posting in the Adventurers Guild to escort the Princess. My metal sense told me the coins were only eighty-eight percent pure, a common tactic by kingdoms to stretch their coin. They were minted with the image of the Prince on one side and a dragon in flight on the other side. The dragon was the symbol of the kingdom that the Principality belonged to. In the hours that we waited on the pleasure of the Princess, I purchased one thousand pounds of steel ingots. They were cheap in the city as the local dungeon sourced both iron and coal. With the extended return trip, I planned to work on the aether cannons for the Maelstrom. I did not have enough adamantine to complete the cannons as I was designing them, but I would do as much work on them as I could now that I had a plan for what I wanted. A familiar skyship landed next to the Maelstrom, and Captain Volantis asked for permission to board. I granted it, and we ended up on the bridge. He was impressed, ¡°Storme, your ship is extremely impressive. I like the spelled glass in the front of the bridge with the view. Is it just viewable one way?¡± ¡°It is artificed that way and also hardened as well,¡± I replied as he walked the small bridge. He admired the two map walls and studied the marks that Leda had put on them. He finally turned to me. ¡°I wanted to discuss our speed, cruising height, and time to destination. We have added additional air mages and should be able to cycle them to maintain speed. I estimate our flight time will be about one hundred and seven hours to reach Skyholme. The Prince¡¯s trade ship can also keep up with us.¡± ¡°Faster than I estimated. Four and a half days.¡± I ran the numbers in my head, ¡°The Maelstrom can make the trip continuously as well, without landing to recharge. The Sky Wraith will need to land to recharge her aether crystals twice at the slower pace,¡± I told him. Both my skyships were going to travel considerably slower than our best speed to stay with the slower Principality ships. The Maelstrom, at full speed, could reach Skyholme in just over half a day. The Sky Wraith could do it in two days. ¡°I am sorry we are slowing you down,¡± the Captain focused on me. ¡°We can add an air mage to the Sky Wraith. She does have a single mast, which should help her operation time.¡± ¡°That would be agreeable. Then we might only need to land once. Flight altitude of two miles?¡± I asked. ¡°Agreeable. We are taking on twenty additional soldiers as well. I am told we expect to be fighting the Black Mauraders?¡± The Captain¡¯s tone turned serious, but he maintained a constant friendly half-smile. ¡°You can talk to my navigator, Leda. She has the documents that shows the Black Mauraders are massing for an assault on Skyholme. Both the Night Jewel and Sky Wraith were going to be part of the pirate¡¯s attack plan. However, I do not know how many ships they are sending against the Islands.¡± The Captain nodded at my comment. ¡°Storme the Black Mauraders are an organization that spans the Sphere. Their seat of power is the Midnight Moon,¡± he informed me. ¡°The Midnight Moon? The Dark Moon? Is it in season?¡± I asked. There were twenty-three moons in the Sphere. Moon was a misnomer as they were as large as planets and inhabited as such. The real powers of the Sphere resided on the moons, controlling the entire planet. You knew when a year passed by the orbits of the moons. I did not follow them, though, relying on the calendar instead. ¡°Fortunately, no. It is on the other side of the Sphere at this time. If it was in the sky, the Prince would not have sent us fearing elite forces from the Black Mauraduers coming from the moon,¡± he revealed. I thought about the possibility of the Maelstrom reaching one of the moons. With the new dual crystals, it was now possible. Five or six days travel, by my estimation, if the moon was visible. I asked, ¡°How involved will you be when the Black Mauraders attack?¡± I asked with some skepticism in my voice. Captain Voltanis lost his smile, ¡°Our primary goal is to protect the Princess. We are not to engage in the heart of a battle; just pick off the strays. But we will help.¡± I nodded. It was about what I would expect. Skyships were worth hundreds of thousands of gold. Risking their ships for a foreign power would not be wise. ¡°Any help is welcome,¡± I left him after introducing him to Leda. I supervised the arrival of my steel bars, and the Princess arrived as they were being loaded. She had an old, stern-looking woman with her. I assumed this was the attendant she had chosen. I noticed the old woman¡¯s steps were purposeful. She was a trained fighter and carried herself as such. Her loose dress probably hid wiry muscles. Two older soldiers in the Principality uniforms trailed a few feet behind her. She walked up the ramp, ¡°I trust my things have arrived?¡± The crates and luggage were behind me and visible. She nodded when I pointed. Amelia asked, ¡°I would be interested in taking meals with you during the voyage to pick your brain about your homeland.¡± She was beaming and looked at my cargo, ¡°Steel? There is not a large margin for the distance traveled. If you want, I can educate you in the intricacies of trade within the Sphere,¡± she was smiling, and her old attendant didn¡¯t hide her disappointment. She was definitely coming on the trip with ulterior motives. ¡°Thank you for your concern about my financial ventures, but I will be fine. I will bring you to your cabin so you can settle in and unpack. I talked with Captain Volantis a few hours ago about the planned course of travel. We are ready to depart.¡± I brought her inside and up to the upper deck and showed her the small room Bleiz had vacated. I thought she would protest the small quarters and request the captain¡¯s quarters. ¡°This will do,¡± she said, testing one of the two beds. ¡°The Sun Sprite, my father¡¯s merchant ship, is being loaded with trade goods. It will be ready in a few hours. It is one of his few pure skyships, no sails,¡± She said, inspecting her quarters. ¡°Where will we be eating together? Your cabin?¡± ¡°I do not know about meals together, maybe with all the crew in the cargo hold?¡± I offered, a little reluctant to be left alone with the woman. ¡°Besides, my cabin is packed with projects, and I have two pet cats.¡± I came up with an excuse. ¡°Cats! I love animals! Can I meet them?¡± She got excited. It might have been fabricated excitement, but I did not see why not. My cabin was just twenty feet, as the upper deck was not large. I opened the door, and Adrial and Kiara were immediately active, rushing me for the expected food and training. Amelia gaped, ¡°Those are displacer beasts!¡± She looked more surprised than afraid. ¡°They are well trained and young. If you do not want to meet them, that is fine.¡± It was a staring contest between the Princess and the cats as they studied each other, trying to determine the other¡¯s intentions. The Princess moved into the cabin confidently and petted the white cat. Soon, she was petting both and smiling as they playfully tugged on her arms with their tentacles. ¡°I never knew they could be white. I have only seen the black ones in books. They are adorable! How big will they get?¡± She asked, focused on the cats.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Somewhere between five and six hundred pounds. They are just over fifty pounds now,¡± I informed her. She scanned the cabin. It was three times the size of hers. ¡°We can have our meals together at your desk there. I am sure you will not mind cleaning it off to eat.¡± I was getting the impression this Princess was the same as Loriel, just in prettier packaging. Maybe it was too early to make that determination. ¡°Perhaps just dinner. I have a number of things to work on during the voyage,¡± I said, trying to limit our one-on-one time. ¡°I am working on imprinting a new spell, I am trying to figure out and devise a runic configuration for aether cannons for the Maelstrom, I have to train my cats, I have combat practice with Bleiz, I have my aether core exercises, and I have to split shifts on the bridge with Leda.¡± I listed off anything that came to mind. Princess Amelia absorbed everything and focused on one thing, ¡°You are an artificer as well?¡± ¡°I just dabble,¡± I moaned internally. ¡°My eldest sister married an artificer. I find the craft fascinating. I would be interested in discussing it with you at our dinners,¡± she smiled and excused herself. I closed the door and found Bleiz in the room when I did. He had a wolfish grin on. ¡°I asked around a bit in the city about the Princess.¡± I held up my hand and set the privacy wards before he continued. Bleiz, ¡°Nothing nefarious. She handles much of the Prince¡¯s trade outside the Principality, mostly with the other Principalities. The Prince has given his daughters free reign to marry who they wish. The first daughter married a delver and the second an artificer. Seems this one has her sights set on both.¡± ¡°I have only been in the city a day. How can she be interested in me? We have barely met,¡± I dismissed his assertion even though Amelia¡¯s actions indicated otherwise. ¡°You are the most famous person in Malaise, Storme. The return of the Night Jewel and the killing of the pirate Wraith. She was even watching you from during the dinner with the Prince,¡± Bleiz said smugly. ¡°No, she wasn¡¯t. I would have remembered,¡± I retorted. Bleiz tapped his nose, ¡°She was disguised at the table but not her smell. Just now, I recognized it.¡± ¡°It is my problem to deal with, but thank you for checking on her, Bleiz.¡± He left my cabin smirking. The escort fleet was on its way. The Maelstrom was in the center and flanked by the Sun Sprite and Sky Wraith. The two Principality warships were on the wings. It took an hour to match speed with the Sky Wraith, feeling out her speed with the air mage. I locked in our speed and retreated to my cabin. The Princess remained on the bridge, conversing with Leda at the forward viewing glass. Bleiz walked with me to my cabin. ¡°I will keep an eye on the two guards below. I have made a bed near the stairs,¡± Bleiz informed me. ¡°I do not think they are much of a threat to you, but the maid gives me pause.¡± ¡°Me as well. She is a seasoned warrior and not out of practice either,¡± I returned. On the first day of the voyage, I shaped the two aether cannons in my core room. The problem with powerful aether cannons on skyships was that they needed to be far enough away from your primary runes to not interfere with them due to aether bleed. They also drew a lot of aether at once, so the runes either needed to be very large or insulated extremely well. Adamantine was too expensive and rare, so gold was used as the primary insulator. The problem with gold was that it would need to be replenished after just a few firings. It was just another thing that made operating skyships very expensive. I would have done the work in my cabin, but the eight-foot-long cannons took up too much room, especially if I was having meals with the Princess. The steel cannon was just a scaffolding for the runic work for the cannons. The two different cannons I was working on were copying the disruptor cannon from the Sky Wraith and the heavy assault cannon from the old Skyholme Harbingers, albeit scaling down the second one. I would have to install them in the forward cargo hold and then create new runes, tying them to the aether core crystals. The entire aether feed would have to be mithril and coated in adamantine. Then, all the runes on the cannon would also need to be the same. At least with my metal shaping ability, I could use a very thin coating of the difficult-to-work adamantine. Still, it was going to take a lot of adamantine. My other choice would be to cage separate aether crystals in adamantine inside the cannons. Aether crystals powerful enough to power the cannons would be an additional cost, and then they would have to be removed in order to recharge. For now, I was making a much lesser version of the disruptor cannon in mithril runes and coating it in gold as an insulator. It would be able to fire five, maybe six times. This was to try and figure out the best way to aim the cannon from the bridge since I would not have a trained crew to aim and fire it. I had been planning to cook for Amelia, but her attendant prepared the meal from the supplies she brought on board. She talked the entire time, asking me about my enchanting work first before moving on to questions about Skyholme. From her questions about enchanting, it was obvious she knew very little about the practice. She was a polite conversationalist. Maybe she was not as scheming as Loriel. ¡°Do not feed Adrial and Kiara from the table, please,¡± I interrupted my answer on the common products of the dungeons of Skyholme. She smiled and dropped the piece of steak on the floor anyway, ¡°I will not do it again.¡± I had given the cats the gesture to sit and used my cleanliness spell to destroy the dropped meat. ¡°Training them is an extremely rigid affair. Your actions confuse their training,¡± I told her. She did not do it again but asked to feed the cats their regular meal, and I allowed her to do that. In the morning of the next day, she came to watch me and Bleiz train together. I was using aether shields and ice ball as my only two spells. It kept the combat mostly even but slightly in Bleiz¡¯s favor. Amelia was not the only spectator as Sammie, and the two guards watched as well. We both cleaned ourselves with cleanliness spells when we finished. Amelia asked, ¡°How did you defeat the Wraith?¡± I studied her, and she obviously knew what I had demonstrated was not enough skill to overcome a ship full of pirates. I took my two-handed falchion from my dimensional space, ¡°This weapon is enchanted. It won me his head.¡± She took the blade and admired it. I was not going to reveal all my abilities to her. ¡°Impressive artificed weapon. Did you make it yourself?¡± She asked expectantly. I took the blade back and returned it to my space. ¡°I designed it and supplied the materials,¡± I replied, not answering further. I left the cargo hold to take over the bridge. We were scheduled to land in the city of Messimbra. It was a trade city the Princess was familiar with but outside the Principality. Leda was always on the bridge and greeted me as I entered, ¡°I talked with Cilia. Her aether crystals are about half full, and she expects to need just over half a day to recharge when we land. The air mage, Gemma, is doing a remarkable job.¡± ¡°She was the mage they sent? Yes, she is good,¡± I replied. ¡°Is there anything useful in Messimbra?¡± I asked Leda. ¡°Amelia says there is a portal gate to one of the moons, but it only works when the moon is close. They export a lot of dungeon goods to the moon,¡± Leda answered while packing her things. I would take an eight-hour shift while she slept in the small cabin she and Cilia shared. ¡°Which moon?¡± I asked, settling into the pilot¡¯s chair with my sketchbook for the cannon runes. ¡°It is the Ocean Moon, Vand.¡± She replied. I nodded. As long as it was not the Dark Moon, I did not care. The cats joined me on the bridge as they were now allowed free range. I fed them their first meal, and we worked on their training. I was expecting the Princess to join us, as she seemed to find me everywhere on the small ship, but she did not. The city of Messimbra asked that we not land in their city. Three warships were not welcome within their walls. There was a lake in a mountain ten miles north that we were directed to. The Maelstrom set down on the shore of a tiny village while the other four ships settled in the water. All the captains came together to discuss if we could make it in one more leg to Skyholme. We had traveled about nine-thousand miles and had another fourteen-thousand miles remaining. Captain Volantis agreed to transfer a second air mage to the Sky Wraith. The stay was uneventful, and we were back on our way half a day later. The next two days found the Princess trying to insert herself into my daily routine. Watching me practice with Bleiz. Sitting with me on my shift on the bridge. Helping me train the cats. And asking me questions about Skyholme at dinner and my skills as an enchanter. I admit she was slowly breaking me down. However, I was glad to see the tiny dot in the distance that denoted one of the Skyholme Islands. I had been away for far too long. ? Copyrighted 2024 by AlwaysRollsAOne No Permission is given to translate, copy, repost or alter to an audio format of this original work of fiction. If you are reading this on a site that is not my Patreon, RoyalRoad.com, or Scribblehub.com, it has been stolen without my permission and violates DMCA. Remember, this work is the result of my creative effort and is protected by copyright law. Removal or altering of this notification is an acknowledgment you are aware you are in violation of DMCA. Chapter 142 Chapter 142 The islands approached, and a Harbinger and Wasp skyship veered up and out of the silhouette of the island. Leda had the right flag flying on our ships, so we would unlikely be attacked by mistake. The Wasp circled our five ships and came up behind our small fleet. I was sure they would recognize the Maelstrom as it was famous on the islands. I went up on the top deck, which was more of a viewing platform. My absolute time spell told me it was late at night. Even if I did contact Remy with my comm stone, he was probably sleeping. I pulled it to my hand from my storage and placed it in my pocket. I might need to contact Cilia, who is piloting the Sky Wraith. The Wasp swung in closer, flying cautiously against our mini armada. I felt a sending in the air around me. A clear voice appeared in my ears, ¡°High Mage, it is great you have returned. People were getting worried. I am Shipmage, Johan. Who are the three ships traveling with you?¡± It was a simple air spell to communicate over distance. I focused my eyes on the Wasp, identifying the mage on deck, and spoke normally, ¡°The black ship is my captured prize and will be docking at the Black Spire. The other three ships are from the Principality of Marstom. Two are an escort for an ambassador, and the third is a trader. They wish to open trade.¡± I had to wait while the mage talked with a superior on the deck. He obviously was young and had not evolved the spell much, or he could have brought others into our conversation. His voice soon came back, ¡°My captain said all the ships can land at the Black Spire¡­¡± he paused, and I assumed he was listening to someone, ¡°correction. Your two guest escort ships can land at the Spire. Your prize ship can dock at Skyhold Navy to be registered. The trade ship can hold position over the Spire while an inspection team arrives. I am sorry, but word came that an attack is imminent, and all foreign ships are to be searched.¡± That was good news because it sounded like they had received the warning I sent through the Adventurer¡¯s Guild. The orders made sense as well. I also only had two cradles for skyships that would normally land in the water at the Black Spire. ¡°Confirmed. I will let the captains know,¡± I replied. The Maelstrom came alongside Captain Volantis¡¯ ship, and I informed him where we were landing, and to follow us. I used the comm stone to send Cilia and the Sky Wraith to the Skyhold Citadel docks. If this was a ploy by Loriel to seize my new ship, I would never forgive her, and all trust we had built would be erased. The Harbinger and Wasp followed us at a distance. I approached from the far side of the capital island to avoid having the Marstom warships fly over the city. The opening of free trade was still days away, and as far as I knew, only the Sadian Empire was participating to start. I waited for the two Marstom ships to land before landing the Maelstrom at the Black Spire. A half dozen men and women spilled out of the Spire in silvery gray uniforms. Isla was leading the procession and she looked like she had been crying. Her eyes were red and puffy. Panic welled up in me, ¡°What is wrong? Is my family ok? Did someone die? Callem? Gareth?¡± ¡°What? No! I am happy to see you alive! Everyone thought you were dead!¡± She rubbed her eyes. ¡°No, I sent word back through the Adventurer¡¯s Guild Hall days ago. Was word never received?¡± I gave her a hug and also healed her swollen eyes. ¡°We did not receive any word. All the cities on all the islands have been put on alert for a possible attack. But no one mentioned anything about you being alive.¡± Isla said and looked past me as a group led by Captain Volantis was approaching. Princess Amelia was at the top of the ramp, uncertain if it was appropriate to descend. A Wasp ship flew in low, coming from the city. It landed hard next to the Maelstrom, and both Sebastian and Callem were on deck and quickly disembarked to meet with me. Two dozen navy fighters and two mages quickly formed a line against the two foreign ships. It was not threatening, just protective of the two old men. Isla stepped back with the array of servants in silvery gray uniforms from the Spire. Sebastian spoke first, ¡°Storme, glad you are alive. I told them you would be back. You know how to stir the winds! I sent eight Wasps into the skies when your five ships were spotted! It looks to be a false alarm. We received word six days ago that the Black Mauraders were going to attack. We have been doing everything we can to prepare, and I am glad you are back. Your skill set is sorely needed.¡± He clapped me on the back and smiled. I digested and then emphatically said, ¡°I sent the message! How did you not know I was alive!?¡± I was somewhat angry at not being given credit and guilty that people thought I was dead. Callem answered, ¡°We received an alert from the Adventurer¡¯s Guild, and they asked us if we wanted to post any quests to hire interested captains in the Sphere. It did not say anything about you.¡± I spoke to myself, ¡°Drangon¡¯s tits, Guildmaster Merit, screwed up the message. I should have told him specifically what I wanted to sendin the mesage,¡± my temper flared, and I wanted to fly back and yell at him. Although he did say, he was going to relay the danger to the Skyholme Adventurer¡¯s Guild. Not anything beyond that. I would have to take this one as my mistake. And Skyholme had started preparing. Callem stepped forward, ¡°We need to talk about your¡ªguests, Storme.¡± Captain Volantis had walked up and was waiting patiently twenty feet away. I motioned him to me, ¡°This is Captain Volantis of the Principality of Marstom, and this is Princess Amelia of the Principality of Marstom.¡± As if waiting for her introduction, she walked down the ramp in a stately fashion. Her old woman attendant was behind her, and her two guards were following. ¡°Pleasure to meet you, admirals. Your gentle and skilled skyship captain has brought me safely to your shores. He promised to introduce me to your ruling Triumvirate.¡± She turned and gestured gently, ¡°Captain Volantis and his fellow captain, are here to ensure my safety and the safety of the Prince¡¯s trade ship. We are open to incorporating them into your defensive planning as skirmishers or scouts.¡± Her voice was confident and authoritative. This was not the woman I had spent the last four days with. That woman had been inquisitive, questioning, playful with the cats, and pleasant at our meals. Now, she looked prepared to go into battle. Sebastian said, ¡°Loriel wants to see you, Storme. That is why we are here.¡± He gestured to the Wasp behind him. Amelia inserted herself, ¡°I would be amenable to meeting Triumvirate Loriel at this time.¡± Sebastian considered and nodded. I asked, ¡°Has my family been told that I have returned?¡± Callem nodded, ¡°After the skyship confirmed you were on board, I used a stone to tell Wynna. She informed them.¡± A rare smile crept onto his lips, ¡°Freya has a surprise for you as well.¡± ¡°She awakened?¡± I guessed. ¡°Still act surprised when she tells you,¡± Callem said, nodding and ending his smile. I would much rather talk with Freya and my parents than go to Skyhold and talk with Loriel. I was starting to enjoy my time with Amelia, but now I was guessing it was an act to drill me for information. I considered the events as they were and made a decision. ¡°You can transfer the Princess¡¯ possessions to the Wasp. While you do that, I will talk to my architect to catch up. I should not be any longer than half an hour. Isla, let¡¯s go inside the Spire to talk privately.¡± The first floor of the Black Spire had been transformed. It was now a training and storage area for the delve teams. I was curious how they did while I had been away with most of the leaders. Isla, ¡°The second-floor offices have been converted into small offices for the delve team. The third-floor residential suites have been cleaned and prepared for guests.¡± ¡°Excellent. How is the Wolfsguard village coming along?¡± I asked about the most important project. ¡°Production slowed when coin ran out. The stone mage has set all the foundations, and two buildings have been completed,¡± Isla said reluctantly. That was my priority project, so I was not expecting good news on the rest of the projects. I already knew the guard barracks between the two skyship cradles had not even begun. ¡°The Shiny Platinum? The adjacent park and the warehouse with the portal?¡± I asked. ¡°Completed.¡± She winced, knowing I would not be happy at her next words. ¡°Loriel requested it be done as soon as possible because the Sadian mages were arriving to construct the portal.¡± I just breathed deeply. ¡°The park looks really nice, but we did not add the balconies to the apartment at the Shiny Platinum yet.¡± The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°What is the debt situation like?¡± I had been gone two weeks, so it could not be too bad. ¡°Fourteen thousand owed to three companies,¡± she said guiltily. ¡°How much to complete the Wolfsguard village?¡± I asked, thinking it was not so bad. Isla once again looked a little sick, ¡°Prices have been increasing in the last week, but I locked up most of the contracts. Ninety thousand. But you would have to check with Remy to be sure.¡± ¡°The barracks by the cradles? The farmhouse renovation? And is the portal warehouse paid in full?¡± I asked about the remainder of the funds. ¡°The farmhouse is finished. The carpenters were idle so I assigned them there. The wood has been paid for the barracks. As has the balcony stone and labor for the Shiny Platinum. The Stone Mage has just been too busy here. Four thousand of the fourteen thousand debt is for the warehouse,¡± she explained. I nodded as things were not that bad. I pulled the chests from the Prince, Pirates, bounties, platinum for transporting the Princess, and some platinum I had also created. Isla¡¯s mouth gaped at all the treasure. I shrugged, ¡°Pirate hunting is profitable. I think this should cover your needs. We can not have the High Mage in debt.¡± ¡°What am I to do with all this?¡± She was still shocked by the chests full of ordered trays of coins. ¡°Have Lana help you move it with her dimensional space. Get the copper and silver exchanged at the Skyholme Mints for gold. Is there anything else I need to be aware of?¡± I asked, thinking the Black Spire was taken care of. Isla hedged and then admitted, ¡°Loriel docked the Heaven¡¯s Descent at the Spire¡¯s cradles. It lifted off when word came you were returning.¡± The was the Harbinger I had refurbished the runes for. Our agreement was she would not station her private ship at the Spire if I had the escape skyship for the children of Skyhold ready. She had broken the agreement. ¡°How long?¡± I asked, more curious than angry. ¡°Seven days after you left. About seven days now,¡± she admitted. Loriel had violated our contract. I still had almost a week to fulfill the skyship and Spire guards. She would probably make the excuse that news of the pirate attack was coming. The math didn¡¯t hold as she docked her Harbinger three days before I sent the message through the Adventurer¡¯s Guild. ¡°I will deal with it when I see Loriel. I have a skyship to station here and just need a few more guards. Thank you, Loriel. You did well with the exception of the portal warehouse. Take care of this,¡± I waved at the chests. I offered her a smile. I walked out of the Black Spire and found the Princess, Sebastian, and Callem talking animatedly. Leda was standing next to them with all the information we had on the attack in a folder. As I got closer, they were talking about me. Well, about my accomplishments in the Annuals. ¡°Take us to Skyhold Sebastian and dock near the Sky Wraith so I can give them orders.¡± ¡°Looked like an impressive ship when we passed her. I would love a tour,¡± Sebastian said excitedly. We both had a love of skyships, and the Sky Wraith was an excellent ship. I agreed, and we were soon in the air. I took out my communication stone and tried Remy. It was early morning, but they would be awake if news had reached them. Remy¡¯s voice came through the stone clear. They had a range of twelve hundred miles, and Aegis City, although on another island, was about 400 miles distant. ¡°Storme! We just heard you are back. Are you landing at the Shiny Platinum?¡± ¡°I am headed to Skyhold and meet with the Loriel. What news of the last two weeks? Is my family well and the delve teams?¡± I inquired. Remy came back and spoke rapidly and excitedly, ¡°Your family is good. I had lunch with Freya and Monty yesterday. She is going to be thrilled to see you.¡± I could hear him wanting to tell me that Freya had awakened, but he kept her secret. ¡°The delve team quota is half-expected, but we are managing. The Shiny Platinum sales are up with people supporting the High Mage healer in his absence. I will take some credit for that. Isla has some bad news about expenses, though. I was only able to siphon her a hundred gold a week.¡± ¡°I took care of the funds. Isla has them and will address our depts and ramp up construction again,¡± I informed him. ¡°Some bad news in Solaris City.¡± Remy started, ¡°The owners of the warehouses called in the right to purchase.¡± Remy was silent, as I thought. I had rented the warehouses with a right to purchase them. Now, seeing bigger profits on the horizon, the owners were forcing me to buy the warehouses or end my leases. ¡°Remind them I and the High Mage. I will gather the funds and pay them off.¡± I stated, but it seemed no matter what I did, I never had enough coin. ¡°Send the amounts to Isla.¡± ¡°Okay, Storme. When will you be at the Shiny Platinum?¡± Remy asked. ¡°Soon. We need to prepare. Skyholme is likely to be attacked soon, and I plan to move my family to the Black Spire.¡± I was sure Freya and mother would go, but father would stay. ¡°So it is true? There are all kinds of rumors floating around,¡± Remy said. ¡°A pirate organization called the Black Mauraders. Their leadership is based on the Dark Moon. The Bricios hired them to attack Skyholme,¡± I said truthfully. Remy was silent and finally whispered, ¡°Understood before ending the stone call.¡± The Wasp had landed, and the Wolfsguard crew were helping unload the Princess¡¯ luggage. The Sky Wraith and a Triumvirate honor guard escort were nearby. I overheard Sebastian tell Princess Amelia that her ship had passed inspection and was directed to land in Aegis City. I did not go with the escort, Princess, Callem Leda, and Sebastian. Instead, I boarded the Sky Wraith and gave orders. Pakkam was to not let anyone board the ship. Cilia and Lana were to get whatever paperwork completed done to register the ship and hopefully fly it back to the Black Spire. Talai and Delphia were to get all the cargo transferred to the warehouses in Solaris City. I went down to the control room and spent some time removing the aether core crystal. I stalled the dual crystals that had been in the Maelstrom. This would decrease the operation time of the Sky Wraith, but once I paired the two powerful crystals on the Maelstrom, she would have unlimited flight time, and I could start experimenting with the aether cannons. This had taken me an hour, so I was late for the meeting with Loriel. Two guards had waited for the High Mage to finish, so I only needed to follow them. I found the group in a dining room with more food than a hundred people could eat. Leda, Callam, and Sebastian sat together and worked on the documents from the skyship concerning the attack. Loriel and Princess Amelia were seated at the table¡¯s wide head and talking amicably. Loriel acknowledged mewith a smile, ¡°I think I am jealous, Storme, your Princess got to have meals with you every day, and you had the most fascinating conversations.¡± She sounded polite, and it was just a teasing statement. ¡°You are also the one who sent the warning about the Black Mauraders. And you captured an intriguing ship! You have been busy, High Mage Storme!¡± She smiled, toasted me, and drank. I took a seat and filled my plate. The food the Prince set was superior, but I was hungry. I ate, not getting drawn into the conversation yet. I was waiting for Sebastian and Callem to decide the relevancy of the information. Loriel and Amelia had shifted their conversation topic from me to trade, and they were enthusiastically talking about margins and the viability of certain goods. Sebastian finally said, ¡°The Maurader meeting place is not as stated. It is some type of code that maybe powerful magics can decipher. There are no notes on the number of ships they are assembling. My guess is they do not know and just called everyone together in the region.¡± Loriel asked, ¡°How strong a fleet do you think?¡± Sebastian frowned, ¡°If the Sky Wraith and the Night Jewel are any indication, then I think we should be worried. The Night Jewel, from what Leda told me, is a match for a Harbinger. The Sky Wraith, more so.¡± Amelia volunteered information, ¡°You should review the information the Adventurer¡¯s Guild has. There is a wide variety of skyships that the Mauraders operate.¡± Loriel frowned, ¡°The Adventurer¡¯s Guild operations have been limited in Skyholme. The Triumvirate strangled them and has just begun to offer more broad services. We are expecting a new Guildmaster in Skyhold and Aegis City, just not for a few months.¡± Amelia noted, ¡°Captain Volantis and his sister ship are prepared to help Admiral Sebastian. Both crews have fought pirates before.¡± She turned to Loriel, ¡°Should we discuss some type of compensation in the area of trade for our help?¡± Loriel and Amelia started to go back and forth. I stood, ¡°I am heading to Aegis City.¡± ¡°Storme, I would like to discuss the purchase of your prize ship,¡± Loriel started. ¡°No! It is the ship to be stationed at the Black Spire to fulfill my obligation as Custodian of the Spire,¡± I said, annoyed. I knew it was coming, but I thought Loriel would have used Admiral Sebastian. Loriel did not relent, ¡°It is a warship, and we need warships. I can find another skyship to handle the shepherding duties from Skyhold for you.¡± ¡°No, Loriel. I will not even discuss it. You can not commander the ship, either. I read the agreement thoroughly. As long as the ship is docked and crewed, it is free of the Triumvirate and Navy influence.¡± I let my anger bleed out, and everyone was silent. ¡°I am going to see my family, and then I am going to help with preparations for the attack. Amelia, you can give the coin to Leda for the Adventurer¡¯s contract, as it is now fulfilled. Leda, get the coin to Remy,¡± I stated, walking away. I could hear them murmuring behind me, but I did not have time for this. Politicking was not my strong suit. I had no love for guile or using others. Cilia had a Navy Inspector at the ship working on the registration. I was sure he was slowing the process down in hopes. I left the Navy Docks, went down into the city docks, hired a ship to take me to the Black Spire, and then took the Maelstrom to the Shiny Platinum. As soon as I walked down the ramp, Freya ran into me and hugged me, crying. I just patted her head, ¡°It is all right, Freya. Sorry, it took me so long to get back.¡± She quickly controlled her emotions as the cats, happy to be home, raced around the hanger, looking for prey. Freya rubbed her tears away. ¡°You will never guess what Storme! I awakened!¡± I put on my best-surprised face, ¡°Amazing! I knew you would!¡± ? Copyrighted 2024 by AlwaysRollsAOne No Permission is given to translate, copy, repost or alter to an audio format of this original work of fiction. If you are reading this on a site that is not my Patreon, RoyalRoad.com, or Scribblehub.com, it has been stolen without my permission and violates DMCA. Remember, this work is the result of my creative effort and is protected by copyright law. Removal or altering of this notification is an acknowledgment you are aware you are in violation of DMCA. Chapter 143 Not Enough Hours in the Day Chapter 143 Not Enough Hours in the Day ¡°Storme, I already bought my first spell! Talia said she would help me learn it once I awakened, but she was with you. Now that you are back, can you help me imprint my first spell?¡± Freya had gone from crying to being excited and talking rapidly. ¡°Freya, after things settle down. I am going to talk to Father about you and Mother moving to the Spire. But yes, I can help you learn your first spell. What did you choose?¡± I said, smiling at my younger sister, who appeared to have grown since I last saw her. ¡°I thought about it for a long time. I decided on the cleanliness spell like you. That way, I can save time by not having to shower.¡± She had on a massive grin. ¡°I even got a copy of Sana Valin¡¯s spellbook for the spell.¡± I smiled, ¡°Well, maybe I shouldn¡¯t teach you your first spell then. I actually know Sana Velin, and she can teach you herself.¡± Freya narrowed her eyes suspiciously, ¡°Sana Velin does not live in Skyholme.¡± ¡°She is just visiting under an alias. But it is a secret you can not share with anyone. Come and let¡¯s talk with mother.¡± I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and guided her out of the skyship hangar onto the stairs. It was still early morning, but Mother had already gone to her shop. Father was already on the skyship docks as well. I got the cats into my apartment and went to Mother¡¯s shop. She rose from her current project and gave me a massive hug. ¡°Storme, Wynna told us you were back. Have you seen your father yet? He was just as worried as everyone.¡± I had a number of things, so I got right to it, ¡°I can see him later. I want you and Freya to move to the Black Spire for the next few weeks. The news will soon spread, but there is an impending attack from pirates hired by the Bricios.¡± ¡°Your father was made aware.¡± Mother considered, ¡°Your father is not leaving his posting, and I will not leave him. You can take Freya to your wizard¡¯s tower. Freya, have you told him?¡± Mother had a sly smile, telling me she was aware of her awakening. I had kept my own awakening secret for months. ¡°I did, and he is going to hire the best mage in the Sphere to train me!¡± Freya said enthusiastically. I interrupted, ¡°Secret, remember Freya?¡± I shook my head in mock disappointment. ¡°You can pack her things and load them onto the Maelstrom. I will fly to the Spire tonight after talking with everyone.¡± ¡°It is almost mid-day. We can get a take-out meal from the Shiny Platinum and have lunch with your father,¡± Mother said hurriedly, seeing she was going to be losing two of her children. I nodded in understanding, ¡°Agreed. I will be talking with Remy. Find me up in the apartments when you are ready.¡± I left them and found Remy in his room, working diligently. ¡°Storme, glad you are back safe. I found the contracts for the warehouses Isla rented. All of them together are 70,000 gold to purchase.¡± He waited for me to look shocked or upset. He tried again, ¡°It looks like they colluded together as all the contracts started the twenty-three-day timer at the same time. There will also be some additional coin for the paperwork, but that is less than five gold.¡± The young man looked like he had aged years in the two weeks I was gone. I remembered if the owner wanted to end the lease, I had a twenty-three-day buy-out clause and they started the clock ticking eight days ago. ¡°I will make a trip to Llorth to get the coin. Some of the weapons should have sold by now, and I can get the gold for the warehouses,¡± I said confidently. ¡°How have the delving harvests gone?¡± ¡°You took the best members of the team, Storme! We barely get enough honey for Mera to keep busy. I wasn¡¯t sure if I should have gone to Gareth and asked for help.¡± He must have seen my face, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I didn¡¯t. He is facing his own struggles. He is constantly out of coin.¡± Remy waited for me to comment, but I didn¡¯t. Remy continued, ¡°The restaurant has been the heartbeat of the operation. It is packed open to close, and we hired two more cooks, a baker, and six servers to keep up with patrons. Many of them come to thank the High Mage for his healing of hope you are here to heal them or a loved one.¡± ¡°Great, I want all delvers. Even the temporary one moved to the Spire permanently. They will commute to delve into the Frost Vault in Aegis City. Mera and Fera will move as well. Lachlan can continue to work here,¡± I ordered. ¡°What about Rippon and me?¡± Remy asked. ¡°Rippon is still here?¡± I asked, confused. The old shipbuilder had built the Maelstrom and had a valuable wood-shaping spell. ¡°We have been working on the single occupancy skyship¡ªour third iteration. If you have time, I would like you to do the runes,¡± he replied. ¡°When I have the time, I will. Move the project to the Black Spire, you can commute to the Shiny Platinum.¡± I ran through my friends and loved ones. I was sure Callem would take care of Wynna and Ennet. ¡°Is Mia around?¡± Mia was a friend who had fought me in the pre-Annuals, and I defeated her. She then came to our First Year Academy in Hen¡¯s Hollow seeking Callem¡¯s instruction. I then placed her in charge of my guards at the Shiny Platinum to force out the Miaden guards. ¡°She is using the Shiny Platinum as her internship. I think she is out front with Kyle, standing guard.¡± Remy said without thinking. I took the paperwork that Remy had compiled to review later. Mia was out front in the same silver-gray uniform as the servants at the Black Spire. Of course, she had weapons and light armor on. She smiled at me, and I could see why she was here. There was a long line down the street. The crowd immediately got anxious as well, seeing me. I was a celebrity in some fashion. I announced, ¡°I will heal those who need healing after talking with my guards!¡± I wasn¡¯t sure I wanted to take the time, but I was not going to be here very often in the next week, and I wanted news of my return to spread. I set up a privacy screen and talked with Mia, ¡°There is a pirate raid or attack coming. I am moving everyone to the Spire. My parents are staying behind. Can you station your two best guards in the room across from theirs? And more temporary guards as well. If the attack comes, the Shiny Platinum is close to the skyship docks, so be prepared to defend it. The walls are reinforced stone.¡± Mia listened intently and nodded, ¡°It will be done. I should be able to get seven or eight short-term guards.¡± She didn¡¯t even blink at being left behind to guard my parents. ¡°Good. I will artifice some artifacts for you and the two guards you add across the hall from my parents. You are a good friend, Mia,¡± I clasped her shoulder, and she blushed. I would make my father and brother some defensive artifacts as well. I broke the privacy spell and opened to healing people for free. It was like a chain reaction. People had run to tell others the free healing from the High Mage was back, and soon, I had a long line. I learned some people had been waiting days for me to return. I did the healing in the park next to the Shiny Platinum. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. I had torn down the adjacent warehouse after Loriel helped me purchase it. I had just wanted to build a park and put up outdoor eating, but Loriel had plans to allow the Sadian Emerpor a place to build a portal to his capital city of Goldreach. The park was nice, with stone tables and benches among flowering trees. I worked rapidly through the line, spending as little time as possible on each healing. Some people had requests like new teeth; others just wanted to feel better. My parents and Freya had lunch with me while I worked. It was not how I wanted the lunch to go, but the High Mage of Skyholme was busy. I spent five hours healing before everyone was satisfied. Mia and her guard stood watch in the park the entire time. After the healing, I invested in the small warehouse I had built at the back. This was supposed to be a favor from Loriel, and I would get a small percentage of the fees with imports coming from the Sadian capital. It was only two stories, and the second floor was all warehouse rooms. The structure was not large, and I found half a dozen Sadian guards camped on the first floor. Two Sadian mages were in the process of constructing the connecting portal. After a brief discussion with them, I learned they were dropped off a week ago. When the portal was complete, they would go back directly to Goldreach. I left them and walked through the barren stone building. There were offices on the first floor and a barracks room. My communication stone beeped in my pocket. Cilia was contacting me. ¡°Storme, the ship is registered. Do you want it moved to the Spire?¡± ¡°We have the Marstom ships occupying the slips there. Never thought the little tower would be so busy. I either should build more cradles or a lake,¡± I said light-heartedly. ¡°Sebastian had them moved. They are in the Navy yard with their trade ship. Sebastian is also looking for you. I think he headed to Aegis City in a Harbinger,¡± Cilia replied. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you give your grandfather the communication stone?¡± I asked. ¡°I offered, but he said his requests needed to be done in person,¡± she said honestly. ¡°Thank you for letting me know. I will wait here and move the Sky Wraith to the tower. Have the boy brought to Asger. He is to work the orchards under Wolfsguard supervision. Talk to Isla to get everyone settled in the Spire.¡± I ended the communication. The Sky Wraith was officially mine, and Rippon was going to have a blast going over the Sky Wraith for damage. I collected the cats and found Freya on the Maelstrom. She was excited to go. Her spellbook was tucked under her arm. I noted it was a new copy, ¡°Freya, you want to buy used copies of spell books. They are cheaper and usually have the last mage¡¯s notes in them. Also, you could have asked me for my copy.¡± ¡°You were not here, Storme,¡± she said a little aggressively. ¡°Are we leaving now?¡± She was a little upset at my advice, and I was sure the spellbook cost her much of her savings. ¡°No, I have to wait and talk with Admiral Sebastian. I am sure he has a long list of things the High Mage needs to do for the benefit of Skyholme and its people,¡± I said impatiently. Sebastian took half an hour to arrive, and I assume he had made other stops. I met him on the Maelstrom, just outside the hangar. ¡°Storme, I was hoping to catch you here. I heard you were healing an hour ago and did not want to disturb you.¡± ¡°I am headed to the Spire. Do you want to come for the ride?¡± I asked. ¡°No, I have business in Aegis City. I came to ask you for a favor,¡± Sebastian said seriously. I motioned for him to continue. ¡°We have two Harbingers in need of rune refurbishing.¡± ¡°Not a problem. Bock them at the Spire one at a time, and I will get to them when I can.¡± I said quickly. ¡°Thank you, Storme. We also would like you at our defense strategy meetings and to give you an assignment for when the attack initiates,¡± the old Sebastion said cautiously. ¡°I do not have time to participate in your meetings, and I need to worry about the Black Spire when the attack comes,¡± my eyes studied him. As High Mage, I did have the obligation to defend the Black Spire and the Black Spire only with the children evacuated from Skyhold Citadel. ¡°We are thin, Storme. Very thin. Most of the skyships have green crews. There is a high level of anxiety. The Black Mauraders are a tougher foe than the Sadians. And we have no idea what to expect.¡± Sebastian admitted. ¡°It is thanks to you we have a warning, but still¡­¡± ¡°Why not ask the Sadians for help?¡± I asked and was thinking maybe it was better to abandon the floating islands altogether. ¡°We have. They are sending five skyships. New ships with experienced crews. It was tough for Loriel to ask, and she had to grant trade concessions for the help. She did the same thing with Marstom. Well, not much, as she just agreed to immediately open trade with the Principality. Your Princess is quite aggressive,¡± the white-haired mage said with a smile. ¡°She is not my Princess.¡± I raised my voice some but calmed, ¡°What about the Adventurer¡¯s Guild? But I already knew his answer.¡± ¡°There is not any gold for postings. We are stretched thin,¡± Sebastian admitted. ¡°I am leaving in the morning, Sebastian, to travel to Llorth. I will see about aide there.¡± His worried expression had me put him at ease. ¡°I will not be gone long. I have upgraded the aether crystals on the Maelstrom a day at most.¡± ¡°Is it necessary at this time, High Mage?¡± Sebastian asked cautiously. ¡°It is. I will collect a fair amount of gold and see if I can find some help against the Black Mauraders as well,¡± I offered. ¡°I was supposed to convince you to stay in Skyholme,¡± he laughed. ¡°Do what you must. I trust your judgment and know you will not abandon the islands.¡± Sebastian offered some details on the two Harbingers. They were newer ships, and he just wanted the runes topped off. Neither ship would take long to service and replenish the gold and platinum in the runes. Sebastian left, and I took the Maelstrom to the Black Spire. I was happy to see the Sky Wraith in the cradle and a number of workers constructing the barracks. Isla had gotten the construction going again. Freya was off the ship with the cats flanking her and Monty, trying to keep them from getting too close. The grounds had come a long way and were manicured and had flowering trees and bushes. Pakkam approached me in the silvery gray uniform that Isla apparently got everyone from the Shiny Platinum guards to the Spire staff and guards. I could see the theme, silver-gray, to go with the Shiny Platinum. ¡°Nice clothes,¡± I told him. The delve team was probably the next group she was going to play dress up for. ¡°Yes, I talked with Isla to get the adjustments to the next batch. They are not, though. And we need them for your dinner, High Mage.¡± Pakkam said, fingering his shirt. My mind clicked, and I remembered that I had given Isla funds to host a dinner on the fourth floor of the Spire for visiting dignitaries. ¡°Is that still happening with everything coming at us?¡± ¡°Apparently so. It is going to have some Sadian captains from their Navy ships. And some of ours as well. I wanted to remind you that there are only forty-one of us.¡± Pakkam said patiently. I nodded and realized my contract required that I have a minimum of fifty guards at the Spire. My lesser restoration was now at level 21, and in two more levels, I would be able to regrow the limbs of Wolfsguard living on my grounds. ¡°I know. I have six days to add nine more competent guards. Any other Wolfsguard?¡± he was already shaking his head. ¡°They are crewing the Wasps. There will be more in time, but we take the duty seriously. This was all we could spare.¡± He put on a massive wolfish smile, ¡°The females who went into the dungeon are with child. The dungeon delivered. The Wolfsguard will not die out, Storme. We owe you more than you know. We think we can even shift the bond to another. Well, share it, as erasing it is not possible.¡± ¡°Fantastic, Pakkam. I am truly happy.¡± I pointed at the Sky Wraith. ¡°That ship will be yours to command. Get familiar with it and train a good crew. It has one duty¡ªrescue the children of the Citadel if requested. Plan to move the Wolfsguard villagers into the Spire as well as the farmers.¡± He nodded, and I told him my plans, ¡°I am heading to Llorth after I get my sister settled in the Spire.¡± ¡°We will be ready¡­¡± I stopped him. ¡°It is a friendly city, and we are just going there and back. I will only be taking Cilia, Leda, Bleiz, and the cats.¡± I told him as we walked to the Spire. The grounds were more lively, with Freya running with the animals and Wolfsguard walking in their uniforms. It looked like everyone else was in the Spire. They were celebrating on the first floor. It was good for them to unwind now. There was still a lot of work ahead of us. I found Isla on the third floor getting one of the suites ready. When I asked her for whom, she said the Princess, of course. ? Copyrighted 2024 by AlwaysRollsAOne No Permission is given to translate, copy, repost or alter to an audio format of this original work of fiction. If you are reading this on a site that is not my Patreon, RoyalRoad.com, or Scribblehub.com, it has been stolen without my permission and violates DMCA. Remember, this work is the result of my creative effort and is protected by copyright law. Removal or altering of this notification is an acknowledgment you are aware you are in violation of DMCA. Chapter 144 Chapter 144 ¡°Why is the Princess here, Isla?¡± I sounded calm and probably should have predicted this. The color from Isla¡¯s face drained a little, ¡°She¡­Loriel¡­I¡­they said you said¡­I¡­¡± I held up my communication stone, ¡°You have one. Ask me next time to confirm.¡± Isla apologized and explained, ¡°With the attack coming, they thought it was the most secure place was the best place for the Princess. I thought¡­¡± She stopped talking, ¡°I will confirm with you next time.¡± ¡°No, I will tell her no when she arrives,¡± I said firmly. We had something growing during the four-day trip, but after seeing how similar she was to Loriel, I think I had developed an aversion to women in power. Isla nodded and resisted saying something. I ordered, ¡°Get my sister settled. Give her a room and set her up with tutors from the capital. I am going to recruit a magic teacher for her.¡± Isla nodded and went to the adjacent suite, motioning two servants in the silvery gray uniforms to follow. I walked up to the fourth floor to see it. All the glass windows had been replaced on the fourth floor, and a single short stone balcony was facing the city. This balcony was new, so I walked out on it. It extended about ten feet, and it was not a balcony but a temporary skyship ramp. Six large stores and mooring lines were present. I guessed it was to allow guests to depart without having to walk up the stairs. It did give a remarkable view, and I decided to keep it after the party. Over one hundred and fifty feet of the Black Spire was still over me. The sealed space was the private apartments of the Haikerum mage who had shattered the island. His magics must be tied to a powerful aether stone to remain strong and active for so long. When I had time, I would begin to explore the defenses. Maybe Sana Velin might have a lead on someone who could break them? I needed to talk with her anyway to convince her to train Freya in the basics of magic. I admitted the massive open room was an ideal place to hold a function. Only a few Wolfsguard bedrolls remained. And heavy wooden tables and chairs were stacked against one wall. They were probably delivered on a skyship. I descended the tower and left the tower. I was walking toward the farm to make sure Mera and Fera¡¯s brother and wife were settled. The cats noticed me and chased me. ¡°Freya!¡± I yelled, stopping her. ¡°Get settled in the tower with Isla. There will be time to explore the estate later.¡± A disappointed Freya went into the tower with Monty. I passed a few grounds crew in silvery uniforms working on the grounds. They were clearing old paths in an expansive garden they were reclaiming. I guess that is what people of wealth did. They had extravagant things that only they enjoyed. The farmhouse looked refinished on the outside, and I knocked, was shown around, and introduced the baby. I kept the cats outside as I toured the large building. The farmhouse had a dozen bedrooms, all with new floors and painted walls and ceilings. The twins¡¯ brother wanted to show his fields, but I passed as I was pressed for time. The Wolfsguard worked the aether fields near the farmhouse, and the white barely fields were further afield. As long as he was working hard, I was happy with him. The long walk to the Wolfsguard village was next. The apple orchard was being tended to by the crippled Wolfsguard. I was getting close to being able to help them. I walked into the Wolfsguard town. The meeting hall and the general store were the only two buildings currently complete. There were dozens of men working, though, and the stone mage was raising two buildings as I watched. Asher approached me, ¡°High Mage, all goes well, and I did not think this endeavor would be fulfilled. I am happy I have been proved wrong. It is good you did not die in the lowlands as we had feared.¡± ¡°You say the sweetest things, Asher. I came to ask if there are any in your care who would join my Spire Guard? I need nine more to fulfill my obligation to the Triumvirate. I know we only talked about training the guards, but I am short on time, and an attack is imminent.¡± ¡°We heard the news of Black Mauraders. The boy you left with us is one of them,¡± he looked around but didn¡¯t see him. ¡°He has tried running four times since yesterday. Does he not know there is nowhere to go?¡± He laughed. ¡°Two men are watching him and teaching him about picking apples.¡± ¡°So no one?¡± I asked, thinking he avoided the question on purpose. ¡°We can fill your roles. Twelve men and two women, some of the oldest among us but ready to serve with a weapon in their hand again. Do you want them to report to Pakkam?¡± Asher asked as we walked through the construction. Piles of dropped stones were everywhere. ¡°Yes, they can see Pakkam, and I thank them for coming to my call. There is a new ship docked at the Spire, the Sky Wraith. That is where they will serve. Barracks between the cradles are being built now,¡± I answered him. I spent another hour talking with Asger about the orchards and the aether fields. The first harvest was being accelerated and would soon be up for sale to the alchemists. I told him to find my new alchemist, Otto, and see about pricing and uses. I had not checked on Otto but knew he and Lachlan were not getting along. I walked back to the Black Spire, having put in an appearance. When I reached the Spire, I noticed Loriel Harbinger, the Heavan¡¯s Descent, occupied the other cradle. I could see Loriel, Bylura, Princess Amelia, and her old attendant talking to Isla at the Black Spire entrance. I walked casually up to them, the cats darting into the gardens after something. Loriel had her smile on, ¡°Storme!! Everything looks so great!! You restored the Spire to glory in such a short time. I came to drop off Amelia and her things.¡± ¡°It will not be necessary. I have plans for all the suites in the Spire, and none are currently available. You really should have checked first.¡± I said politely. Amelia had a hurt look on her face, ¡°Surely you can squeeze me and my attendant in somewhere? You can even utilize my two guards while I am here and Gemma Hellvein as well.¡± I looked and recognized the air mage standing on the deck of the Harbinger. Loriel stepped in, ¡°You do need a few more guards to fulfill your quota. It is important that you are prepared with conflict seemingly inevitable.¡± ¡°I have some Wolfsguard from the estate coming out of requirement. I will exceed the threshold, Loriel. I have enough to keep track of without having to worry about the safety of the Princess.¡± I was still calm but taking a firm stance. Loriel bit her lip, ¡°It would be a sizable favor to the Triumvirate. What if we gave you another day¡¯s of unfettered access to the Progenitor Dungeon?¡± My rejection was caught in my throat. Princess Amelia was looking back and forth between me and Loriel, amused. It was clear Loriel had been caught as she had seemingly promised the Princess residence in the Black Spire. ¡°Two more days. So three days in total, fifth, sixth, and seventh day,¡± I started, and Loriel¡¯s eyes hardened in consideration. She was weighing in her mind the benefit her trade alliance with the Principality of Marstom was bringing to Skyholme. I added, ¡°And it will be in writing, and I also only extend a suite to the Princess until after the attack has passed.¡± ¡°I think that is most agreeable, don¡¯t you, Loriel?¡± The Princess smiled broadly. She was clearly thinking she had won me something in the little power struggle with Loriel.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°I can agree to that, High Mage,¡± Loriel said but didn¡¯t look happy, which meant it was a win for me. Maybe she was faking her unhappiness; either way, I was counting it a win. Three days of dungeon access meant I could expand delve operations and possibly even export items. There was blood marble deeper in the dungeon that was highly valuable. ¡°Isla!¡± I called. ¡°It looks like the Princess is staying after all. Make the needed arrangements to feed her two guards, mage, and attendant.¡± ¡°You will be having meals with me, will you not?¡± The Princess said, sounding hurt. ¡°Unfortunately, I am leaving for Llorth in the morning,¡± I replied with a false look of disappointment. ¡°Really? I always wanted to visit the dark elf city,¡± the Princess said excitedly. Before I can object, ¡°I will even take care of my own safety,¡± she pointed at her two guards and Hemma. I sensed I was not getting out of this. ¡°What is the going rate for a round trip to Llorth on a skyship?¡± The Princess was doing the math in her head, mumbling the milage aloud as she went, ¡°So that would be 44 gold per passenger each way. We can just say fifty gold. So two hundred and fifty each way for five? Agreed?¡± she asked with a smile. I considered, ¡°I don¡¯t know. The ships of Marstom would take nearly eight days to get there. I will get there in half a day. That should be worth more consideration. Maybe five hundred each way?¡± The Princess smirked, ¡°Llorth has a portal gate, and the cost is only a few gold. We can travel down to Goldreach and use the portal to get there faster than the Maelstrom.¡± ¡°Excellent!! So you can do that. I hope to see you in Llorth.¡± I said with my own smirk. The Princess countered, ¡°Five hundred gold each way is acceptable.¡± She produced five of her kingdom platinum and handed them to me. ¡°I will get my crew ready and let Captain Volantis know I am traveling.¡± She left, and I was left with Loriel and Bylura. ¡°Are you going to move your ship? It was never supposed to land here, and I have been told it was stationed here during my extended absence.¡± I told the de facto ruler of Skyholme. ¡°It was necessary, and I moved it on notification of your return, Storme.¡± She was defensive but turned friendly, ¡°You did a service bringing the Principality to Skyholme. The added defense and trade possibilities will be lucrative. But we do need to survive this threat from the Black Mauraders.¡± A Harbinger ship appeared overhead, one of the newer ones. I looked up, ¡°That would be a ship from Sebastian for me to work on Loriel. I believe you are parked in his spot.¡± With that, I left and boarded the Sky Wraith. Pakkam was on deck and smiled at me, ¡°Your shipbuilder is below deck. I think he is in love.¡± ¡°Who?¡± I asked, confused. ¡°He introduced himself as Rippon. He has never seen a ship like this before and is more than a little impressed. We are familiarizing ourselves with it. Another day or two, and I would say we will be ready for combat.¡± Pakkam bowed, scratching his new silvery uniform. ¡°Good, but this ship is not to attack, just defend the Spire and ferry the innocents from Skyhold Citadel. Remember that. I wanted to let you know to expect twelve older Wolfsguard from the Village to complete your crew,¡± I said, and Pakkam nodded. I wanted to go to the Mage Academy to talk with Selina. I didn¡¯t have time, though. I whistled for the cats to come, and they followed me into the tower. I found Talia getting the delvers situated on the second floor. We had fifteen delevers now. I told her the news about getting three days¡¯ access to Progentier Dungeon, and she was not happy, ¡°Storme! There are only fifteen of us. You should have spaced out our access so we had time to recover. We can not utilize a continuous three days.¡± ¡°Sell time slots then. Hire more delvers. You are in charge, Talia. Figure it out.¡± I said patiently. ¡°Also, talk to your great-grandmother and see if she will train my sister in magic. Freya is not remarkable, but she works hard.¡± Many emotions played on her face, but she finally answered, ¡°I will talk with Sana and figure out glutinous dungeon time. You know we must still delve for honey in the Forst Vault to produce the mead.¡± ¡°Glad you have things in hand. If anyone is looking for me, I will be on the Navy Harbinger outside working on the rune refurbishment,¡± I said, patting her back. I was familiar with the Harbingare as I had down her original runic work. This was The Graceful Eagle. The Harbinger had been heavily used since I did the initial work. The captain ordered his men off the ship, as was my preference, although it did not matter who knew how fast I could work. The cats followed me around the ship but were bored as I worked. It was just four hours until I finished and returned to the Spire, exhausted. One of the attendants took me to my suite, which was nice to know where it was. It had three bedrooms, and Freya was set up in one of them. Bleiz was in the other. The Spire did not have plumbing but did have toilets with cleanliness runes on them. I fed and worked with the cats before finally laying down in the comfortable bed. I had forgotten to set my runes, so the knock surprised me. My absolute time spell told me I had fallen asleep for an hour. An excited Freya was at the door, ¡°Storme, this place is amazing! You have your own dungeon!¡± I thought humorously, I probably should have let Princess Amelia use that for her stay. ¡°Pakkam said he would work with me on my sword forms when Bleiz wasn¡¯t around, and Talia said she was going to find a spell instructor for me!¡± She leaned in close, ¡°I didn¡¯t tell her I knew it was Sana Velin.¡± I messed up her hair. ¡°Stop that! I came to get you for dinner.¡± We went upstairs to the fourth floor, where the tables and twelve seatings had been set up. Isla, Talia, Sammie, Lana, Remy, Rippon, and Namira were eating. Princess Amelia was at the head of the table, patiently waiting for me before starting. Her older maid was standing behind her chair, looking disturbed at the lack of decorum. Freya did not wait either and started eating, and Beliz also appeared and sat. I seated myself at the other end so I would have to stare at the Princess while I ate. The food was good but not inspired. I listened to everyone talk, and others came and sat, ate, and left as the meal progressed. Each time, the plates were cleared, and more food was brought out. I had to feed the delvers as part of their contract, so this must be how it was being worked out. The Princess observed the entire time and only talked when spoken to. It was a little unnerving like I was under some type of microscope. I saw the second Harbinger ship land as dinner progressed, so I planned to finish that before getting any extended rest. I wanted to leave as early as possible. I excused myself, and Adiral and Kiara followed. Both were full of scraps being fed from the table. This Harbinger ship was The Favored Wind. It was another new Harbinger but one I had not completed myself. It took almost six hours to do that work as I had to correct several mistakes. Well, not mistakes, just lazy runic work. I was starting to think of artificing as more of an art form than a manufacturing process. It was extremely early in the morning when I scooped up the sleeping cats. They were getting heavy. They scurried to the ground off the ship, and the Navy captain saluted me and boarded. His men were milled around the area, and if this was going to be a regular thing, then I should perhaps make someplace for them to rest. Maybe a tavern of the barracks that was being built for the Wolfsguard. It could serve the same fare as the Shiny Platinum, but maybe a smaller menu. The Maelstrom was by the entrance in the early morning, and I boarded. Bleiz appeared to my right. He must have been invisible the entire time I worked on the Harbinger. ¡°Are we leaving?¡± ¡°Yes, go and wake Cilia and Leda. I guess the Princess, as well. I want to be on our way in an hour. I plan to get some sleep on the trip there.¡± Bleiz disappeared, and I checked the runes on the Maelstrom. The mithril would not degrade; just the platinum insulated the mithril on the runes. I actually had to use all five coins and another twelve from my storage to do the runes. Seventeen hundred gold worth of platinum gone just like that. The Maelstrom was also seeing heavy use and could have flown for maybe six more months before needing to be replenished, but since I was working on the aether cannons soon, I needed the insulators in perfect order. I made a list of everything I needed to be artificed: It was a long list and a lot of work to get done before the Black Mauraders arrived. But it was all necessary. The cannons were last on my list because both required adamantine. I just did not have a source of aether to spare to create it. I heard Princess Amelia board with Gemma, his guards, and the attendant. Cilia and Leda were talking right behind them. Bleiz knocked on the door to my captain¡¯s cabin. ¡°Storme, should we go?¡± ¡°Tell Cilia and Leda best speed to Llorth. I will be resting,¡± I replied. I set my privacy screens and alarms and fell asleep. ? Copyrighted 2024 by AlwaysRollsAOne No Permission is given to translate, copy, repost or alter to an audio format of this original work of fiction. If you are reading this on a site that is not my Patreon, RoyalRoad.com, or Scribblehub.com, it has been stolen without my permission and violates DMCA. Remember, this work is the result of my creative effort and is protected by copyright law. Removal or altering of this notification is an acknowledgment you are aware you are in violation of DMCA. Chapter 145 Chapter 145 In the middle of the flight to Llorth, the cats woke me because they decided it was past time to eat. I fed them and did their reward training. Kiara, the white displacer beast, showed her ability for the first time. Her body blurred, and she projected a false image of herself a few inches away. It was quite impressive, especially since they usually did not display the ability until they were a year old. She was a real prodigy. Adrial, seeing the praise I lavished on her sister, tried to do the same but lacked the capacity. I still praised her for trying, rubbing behind her ears. With the attack coming, I needed to give my family everything they needed to protect themselves. I had a few ideas on what devices I wanted to create. Bracelets or bracers were the most common. Large enough to easily inscribe the runes and aether gems but also easily recognizable for what they were, but in Skyholme, they were rare. Rings were difficult to manufacture due to the small size of the runes but were also the most efficient in terms of ease of wearing and hiding their true nature. Dungeon rings were much rarer and highly valued. Wearing rings on toes was not unheard of, but most people would opt for an ankle bracelet instead. You could only wear one ring on each hand, as two rings on one hand would interfere with the other¡¯s operation. Generally, it was also difficult to have multiple defensive artifacts active at once as well. It was the same as on a skyship where the effects started to overlap and interfere with the function. I decided to create two rings for each of my family members that were known to be complimentary and would function normally. To the cat¡¯s dismay, I had four of my artificing books spread out as they realized we would not be playing anytime soon. I had two common simple runic patterns I had chosen. The first was a basic combat shield. The simple aether shield could block a single attack, expending aether. Then, it would take time to recharge, usually a few seconds on the reset. The strength of the shield, recharge time, and number of shields depended on the aether crystal used to power it. The suggestion in the text was a tier-four green crystal. The second common defense ring hardened the skin. It was extremely useful again against piercing and slashing damage and not as effective against blunt damage. If the aether shield was expended or in the act of recharging, then these runes would function. More complicated rings involving multiple enhancements and complex runes were available, but I figured I could do one of each of these for my family. Most of the cost was in the aether gem, about the size of a pea, 10 units big, to power them. A green crystal that size was about 250 gold, while a tier five blue aether crystal would cost about 1250 gold for each ring. Making the rings out of gold and mithril would cost about thirty gold in additional materials. The runes were more complicated than the earrings I gave the twins for their fourteenth or the simple feather fall rings. I took out the dungeon runic book next and began sketching the runes and adding my artistic personality to the runes. I started over three times trying to find an artistic style that fit me. I was getting frustrated and happy to stop when Bleiz told me we were landing in Llorth soon. I went to the bridge to find the Princess talking with Leda and Cilia, all of them sipping wine that the Princess must have brought on board. I could see Lloth approaching in the distance and took the pilot¡¯s seat from Cilia. I doubt she was drinking heavily, but she didn¡¯t mind me taking the helm. Princess Amelia moved to my sight line and asked, ¡°Leda said you are familiar with the city. I would appreciate a tour, High Mage.¡± ¡°I do not have time for you, Princess. I plan to be on the ground less than four hours. So be it if you are not on board when I lift off.¡± I said, trying to instill humor into my tone, but I think I was more rude. Amelia¡¯s eyes went up in hurt surprise, ¡°Then Leda, I will take you up on your offer to be my guide,¡± the Princess said, smiling toward Leda and ignoring my slight. I took the Maelstrom on the correct approach and was directed to an open pad by a flagger in a tower. As soon we landed, I was moving off the bridge, ¡°Cilia, stay on board with the cats, please. I am headed to the enchanter and then to the Adventurer¡¯s Hall. I plan to be back in less than four hours.¡± I was off the ship with Bleiz by my side. ¡°Do you want to know what they were talking about on the bridge?¡± Bleiz asked as we walked through the gates. ¡°No,¡± I said, not concerned. Bleiz grunted, and I could tell he wanted to let me know. The Princess was playing games, and I was not interested in humoring her. We made our way to see Tallot, the weapons dealer, first. Tallot was in a fine mood as we arrived. ¡°I have sold nearly half your stock skyship merchant, Storme!¡± He shuffled two customers off to his assistant and waived me to the back room. The place seemed a little neater, ¡°Have you been cleaning up? I came to collect my coin.¡± ¡°Some. I had to hire a few extra hands. After Lorae¡¯s share, taxes, and my commission,¡± he opened a ledger, ¡°fifty-two blades from your artificer earned him fifty-two thousand, three hundred and eighteen gold.¡± He looked up smiling, but I had been hoping to get all seventy thousand gold for the warehouses this trip. ¡°Very good, Tallot. Thank you for selling the blades for my employer. How long to sell the remainder, do you think?¡± I asked as he went to a safe to get my coin. ¡°Hmm, maybe a month. They have become popular in the last two weeks. One customer bought three! I was creeping up the price, but if your enchanter is need of coin, I can dip the price some, but I will not alter my commission,¡± he grinned as the door swung open. Tallot pulled out five bars of platinum, each marked the weight of one hundred coins. Each bar was valued at ten thousand gold. I checked one with my metal sense, and it was 97% pure. I nodded in acceptance. After the bars, the remaining payout was twenty platinum coins and gold coins counted from trays. I came to a decision, ¡°No, sell them at a fair price.¡± I moved the precious metals into my dimensional storage. ¡°I have a job for your artificing friend if you are interested.¡± Tallot was working on restocking, pulling two blades out to go on display. I motioned for him to continue. Tallot said, ¡°It is an adamantine blade with a pair of enchantments.¡± I paused and nodded at him to continue. He pulled out a scroll with sketches of the blade. ¡°With adamantine being an insulator, it takes a special artificer to work the metal. This blade is a gift for an Emperor¡¯s first son at his coronation in a nearby elven kingdom.¡± I studied the drawings. It was between a short sword and a long sword in length. The blade was to be entirely adamantine with mithril runic work for the two enchantments. One enchantment was for sharpness, and the other for¡­charisma? No, that was not right. I studied them again, not quite piecing it together. ¡°It is called inspiration,¡± Tallot solved my confusion. He had been watching me intently. ¡°Inspiration works on the people you are leading. They fight harder and fatigue more slowly.¡± The runes were very complex for the inspiration effect¡ªmore complex than anything I had done so far. ¡°This is a lot of adamantine,¡± I noted the total weight required for the blade. ¡°Yes, they have a dungeon that produces a coin or two when the fifteenth-layer floor boss is beaten. The Emperor has been saving a long time for this,¡± Tallot took the parchment and rolled it up. ¡°Payment is three adamantine coins if your enchanter is interested. For obvious reasons, the work needs to be done in the kingdom.¡± Three adamantine coins were three hundred thousand gold! More importantly, the adamantine could be used to do the runes on one of my cannons. ¡°Can I keep this and show it to him?¡± I indicated the scroll with the details of the job. ¡°As long as you give me credit for bringing it to his attention. The job is a month old, and no one has taken it so far. It is just too difficult working with adamantine and still making the runes functional.¡± Talbot handed me the scroll with a knowing smile. Maybe he realized I was the enchanter. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. I thanked him and left. Instead of heading to the Adventurer¡¯s Hall, I went to visit the gnome enchanter, Gorsch. I wanted to question him on the best place to purchase aether stones for enchanting. Skyholme was fairly cheap up to tier three, and prices went up quickly due to scarcity after that. Maybe once free trade opened, they would stabilize to a lower level. Only two dungeons in all of Skyholme produced tier four aether stones, and one of those produced tier five. No dungeons in the islands had tier six or seven stones. ¡°Storme, good to see you! Is Lorae with you?¡± the short gnome greeted me with a firm handshake. ¡°No. Master Enchanter Gorsch, I want to see where you sourced your aether stones from. Cost is quite high where I am from, and I have a list to pick up,¡± I handed him a list of aether stones, their tier, and size. He studied the list for a few moments before handing it back. ¡°I contract directly to Guilds. I use the Duskhunters mostly. That is Lorae¡¯s father¡¯s Guild. They make the most deep dives into the city¡¯s dungeon south of here. Relik usually gives me ten percent off the market price, but I still pay the full taxes on it.¡± He was watching me to see my reaction. ¡°I will ask him,¡± I said, and he smiled. ¡°You know Lorae can not stop talking about your two displacer beasts. She has been bothering her father non-stop. She has been saving every commission I give her on your blades to get her own,¡± Gorsch said evenly. I spent some time talking with Gorsch about dungeon runes and making my own work more distinctive. His work was more basic, but he curled one terminal end of one particular rune every time. His signature, so to speak. He sold me books with copies of various dungeon runes for five hundred gold to add to my collection and help me find my niche. Bleiz, during this time, just wandered the shop, looking at items on the shelves. Leda used the comm stone to contact me. Four hours had already passed, and she was wondering when we were leaving. I told her one more stop. The Guild Hall for the Duskhunters was a massive high-rise. The guild hall was on the first floor, and the upper floors were all apartments for the members. The higher your standing in the Guild, the higher floor you were on. Dark elves, a few humans, and some lizardfolk sat in the large common room on the first floor. An older dark elf asked, ¡°Are you here to apply, young human? Bleiz, you are always welcome to join us.¡± I identified the voice from a table and approached. Four dark elves were playing cards. I moved and sat at the table with them, ¡°No, not today. I am here actually to seek a contract for aether crystals. Tier four and tier five; around ten units each. Gorsch referred me to your Guild.¡± He put down his cards, ¡°Gorsch. Huh, we normally do not do direct sales. The city and Adventurer¡¯s Hall get suspicious we are avoiding their taxes. We always pay them in full, but they never believe us,¡± he smiled brightly and winked. ¡°Normally, I would negotiate with you, but Relik Fadrae said to call him concerning you and Bleiz here.¡± ¡°I am leaving soon. If he is in the dungeon, I would not have time to wait for his return,¡± I responded immediately. I did not want this to be complicated with Relik asking to buy my displacer beasts or recruiting Bleiz to his Guild. ¡°Do not worry, he is up in his apartment or in the city. Should be here in less than twenty minutes.¡± The dark elf said, ¡°My name is Galaeron Eldove. I am one of three leaders of our Guild.¡± We shook hands, and he dealt me in the next hand and explained the game. It looks like I did not have any way to decline playing, and the game was simple, but there was a subtle strategy. Bleiz stood over my seat, ¡°Storme, you should not play with this bunch. They cheat.¡± He had spent time with the Duskhunters, so I knew Bleiz was telling me the truth. Galaeron laughed, ¡°Cheat is such a strong word, Bleiz. I hope you are not still bitter about buying us a few rounds? Using every advantage open to us sounds better.¡± Bleiz went around the table, ¡°This one will use illusions to change the card¡¯s appearance. This one spies on your hand with a scrying spell. Galaeron uses an ability called foresight to see the hands before they are played, and this one¡­¡± he paused at the last elf at the table. She answered for him, ¡°Slight of hand.¡± She pulled a dozen cards from her sleeves to show my before putting them back. Galaeron smiled, ¡°It is not about playing but catching the others cheating. This is a game to teach you to be observant.¡± I played three hands before Relik came walking in, Lorae following on his heels. He sat at the table. Lorae smiled, ¡°So you are back in the city and were looking for me? Did you bring the cats?¡± I arched my eyebrows, amused, ¡°Bleiz, you can take her to the Maelstrom to play with the cats. I will be along shortly.¡± Lorae practically dragged the reluctant Bleiz along. Relik nodded at me, ¡°So, what business do you wish to do with the Duskhunters?¡± A pitcher and glass were put on the table in front of him even though he did not ask for them. ¡°I am looking for a supply of tier four and tier five aether crystals, about ten units in size,¡± I asked. Galaeron smiled a merchant¡¯s smile, ¡°Tier four crystals that size are 250 on the market, and tier five are 1300. Demand for the tier five is increasing.¡± Relik nodded to the guild leader and considered, ¡°Tier four are easy to get from the giant alligators in the deeper dungeon. The tier five, not so much. Greater elementals have them, but they are difficult to fight, even for my team. How many do you need?¡± ¡°Eight tier five and fifty of the tier four. I can get them in Skyholme, but I was comparing prices here,¡± I added with my own merchant smile letting them know I had other sources. Galaeron nodded to Relik, permitting him to negotiate. ¡°We can sell you the tier four at 225 and the tier five at 1200.¡± He opened his hands, ¡°I guess you are not willing, but I would give you all the stones for your two displacer beasts.¡± ¡°That is generous of you. They are not for sale. They grow on you after a while,¡± I said, smiling at the true statement. I added, ¡°I am sure Lorae will eventually get her own to train.¡± After draining his cup, Relik exhaled in a long breath, ¡°When they are so young, they are hard to keep happy. Her mother could have handled her better at this age.¡± There was some pain on his face at the memory, but it was not to make me feel guilty. I offered, ¡°I control one of the dungeons on Skyholme for three straight days during the week. Would you be interested in a day of unfettered access to reduce the cost of the crystals?¡± They immediately appeared interested. The woman who was using a sleight of hand, ¡°Where? Galaeron, a new dungeon would be a nice change.¡± I decided to be honest with them, ¡°It is a basic training dungeon. But my motives are not entirely pure. The Black Mauraders are planning to attack the floating Skyholme islands. I was hoping to have some skilled adventurers around if they attacked my home.¡± ¡°Never did like those thugs,¡± the illusionist dark elf said. ¡°Never been to the floating islands either. I¡¯m interested.¡± Galaeron looked at the illusionist, amused, ¡°Are you going then? So I have to work out some sort of deal with the young human here?¡± He turned to me, ¡°How many levels, and do you have a list of harvestables?¡± ¡°Five levels, but I have only a limited list of the harvestables. The dungeon was controlled privately, and the harvestables were not published. Older records were destroyed. There is blood marble on the fourth layer. Vinegar apples on the second. Crabs on the third,¡± I offered. ¡°We get to explore it too? I¡¯m in!¡± said the woman with sleight-of-hand skills. Relik tapped his finger loudly on the table, causing silence, ¡°I heard your islands do not like those who are not human?¡± Of course, Bleiz had talked to him while he trained under Jasper, so Bleiz had informed him what the islands were like. Jasper was Relik¡¯s scout for his team. ¡°True, but we are opening the borders¡ªpart of the reason why the attack is coming. I offer you rooms at my estate and meals as well. If you want to explore the other dungeons in Skyholme, I can help arrange it.¡± The table was quiet, and all eyes turned to Galaeron. ¡°Relik, what do you think?¡± Galaeron asked the leader of his top delve team. Relik filled and drank another mug, ¡°I could use a vacation, and Lorae needs to see more of the Sphere. I will take my team and a team of trainees. We will report what we find and whether the Duskstalkers should invest further.¡± I immediately knew he was doing this more for Lorae than himself or his Guild. ¡°What about the Black Maurader¡¯s attack? Will you help?¡± Relik looked me in the eyes, and answered, ¡°If they attack us, yes. Or if there is a posting in the Adventurer¡¯s Hall for aid. So I suggest you post something. Even if it is a token amount.¡± I couldn¡¯t hide a smirk, ¡°Understood. I can bring you all back to Skyholme on the Maelstrom if you want. It is about half a day.¡± They agreed to my terms but wanted half a day to get ready. I immediately consented and used the communication stone to tell Cilia we were staying an extra half day. I heard the Princess urging her to ask why in the background, but she didn¡¯t. Amelia would find out soon enough. I waited as they discussed details at the table. Relik¡¯s complete team of eight was coming along with a trainee team of six. In addition, Lorae and five other support members would travel as well. So, twenty members of the Duskhunters would be coming to Skyholme. Maybe I could convince Relik to train my own delve team as well. Either way, I had a group of experienced adventurers coming to the Spire to protect my sister and the others. ? Copyrighted 2024, 2025 by AlwaysRollsAOne No Permission is given to translate, copy, repost or alter to an audio format of this original work of fiction. If you are reading this on a site that is not my Patreon, RoyalRoad.com, or Scribblehub.com, it has been stolen without my permission and violates DMCA. Remember, this work is the result of my creative effort and is protected by copyright law. Removal or altering of this notification is an acknowledgment you are aware you are in violation of DMCA. Chapter 146 Chapter 146 I returned to the Maelstrom to find an elated Lorae. Her father had told her they were already going to Skyholme, and she had a thousand questions. What was the food like? How big were the islands? What made them float? Would she be allowed in the baby dungeon, as her father called it? I immediately thought Freya would have someone to talk to. Even though the young elf woman was 29 years old, she still reminded me of my young sister. She rushed off to help pack but paused, ¡°Kiara likes cow milk, and Adrial likes goat cheese.¡± She was grinning, and I assumed her ability to communicate with beasts was improving. Bleiz was grinning, too, ¡°She was more concerned with talking to your two beasts than to me.¡± ¡°Feeling jealous?¡± I told my friend with a smile. ¡°Not at all. Just noting her focus is on trying to convince your two pets she is a better master,¡± Kiara¡¯s tentacles whipped the back of Bleiz¡¯s leg, surprising him and causing him to dance away. I laughed, ¡°It appears Kiara does not like being called a pet.¡± I looked at the white displacer beast, ¡°I consider you a companion, not a pet.¡± Kiara¡¯s glowing red eyes stared at me, and then she moved to weave between my legs, purring. I gave her some scratches and pets, and the jealous Adrial joined in. I paused in the attention, ¡°Bleiz, get the cargo hold ready for twenty passengers. I am headed to the Adventurer¡¯s Hall.¡± ¡°I will have Leda prepare for your guests. You need me me to watch your back, High Mage,¡± he said, looking at the white Adrial, ¡°at least until this one can do it herself.¡± I waited twenty minutes for Bleiz, and then we were off to the Guild Hall. I waited in line at the guild hall, and when I got to the desk, I asked, ¡°I would like to post a job.¡± The clerk pointed to a different line, so I waited in line again and repeated my question, ¡°I would like to post a job.¡± ¡°Excellent!¡± the cheery woman said. ¡°Please detail the job.¡± I had never done this before, so I gave a description, ¡°I am from Skyholme, and I wish to hire guards for my tower.¡± ¡°On Skyholme? Not Lloth?¡± I nodded. ¡°I do not know where that is, but this is the wrong line. This is the line for posting local jobs.¡± she pointed at another counter and smiled weakly. At least there were only two people in this line. Bleiz looked on, amused from his seat as I moved to another desk to wait in line again. This time, I was in the correct line. It took me a while to explain the unfamiliar islands to the clerk, but then I explained the job, ¡°So, I have a tower in Skyholme. A few members of a guild are staying with me. If my tower came under attack, I wanted them to be able to defend it and collect a reward from a job posting.¡± The clerk wrote some things and asked, ¡°Ah, a residency defense pact, a termed defense agreement, or spontaneous assistance? The first is someone staying with you, and you pay them a fee upfront. The termed defense sets up a period of time they will aid you if you are attacked. The spontaneous assistance is any incident arising they can help and be paid.¡± ¡°The last one,¡± I said. ¡°Great, group of individual contract...¡± The questions went on for thirty minutes as he filled out the form. The contract was simple: if the tower was attacked, I would pay adventurers 100 gold per day per person to defend it. This was quite high as a team of six to eight normally would be paid around 100 gold a day. My generosity was to keep Relik and his team happy. ¡°Now we can file the paperwork, which is five gold. You can also set up an escrow account for payments on the contract. That will be two thousand gold,¡± the clerk said happily. ¡°What? I put a large gold coin on the desk to cover the five gold posting fee,¡± but I was confused. It seemed like every time I came to the Adventurer¡¯s Hall, they wanted more and more coins. ¡°Ah, escrow is an account to pay adventurers completing the job posting. It allows the guild to pay out immediately rather than find you for payment. You had this contract capped at twenty completions, so you should put two thousand in the escrow. When the contract is annulled in thirty days, any remaining coin can be collected by you.¡± He explained patiently. ¡°What if I die or never come back?¡± I asked suspiciously. ¡°After one year from the contract¡¯s termination date, the funds revert to the Guild,¡± he said happily. I guessed this happened a lot. I produced the two thousand gold. It was a small price to pay for Relik and his team¡¯s services. ¡°What about postings for a skyship to defend the islands?¡± I asked before leaving. ¡°That would be upstairs with the Guildmaster. The postings are fairly standard based on the rank of captain. I think they start at ten thousand gold for a bronze-ranked skyship captain. But there is no guarantee anyone will select your posting,¡± he looked at the date on my first sheet. ¡°It is an obscure location, too. Maybe if you posted it a month ago.¡± He handed me my five gold coins change. I might have done a posting, but I didn¡¯t know what ship captain would respond, if any. I got copies of the contract for Relik and all my receipts. The Adventurer¡¯s Guild seemed like one major bureaucracy trying to squeeze out gold. Bleiz was relieved that the five-hour task was done, ¡°I do not see the point of standing in lines all afternoon.¡± ¡°I am sorry you were bored watching me work. How about I buy you lunch?¡± We stopped at a cart that sold steamed fish in rolled cabbage leaves. We found a clinic after lunch, and I healed a dozen men and women, mostly dark elves. When we returned to the Maelstrom, Relik and his team were at the bottom of the ramp. They talked with the Princess, whose two guards were carrying large bags of recently purchased clothing. ¡°Storme! You know Relik Fadrae!? His name has even traveled as far as the Principality!¡± Her praise sounded genuine. I nodded to the Princess and asked Relik, ¡°Are you ready to leave?¡± ¡°No, it will be a few hours yet. The support team is still being put together, and the trainees are dueling for the right to join us.¡± He said with a smile, ¡°Lorae is already on board with her things.¡± Relik¡¯s group did not appear to have much, but dimensional spaces were the norm in the lowlands. I handed him the job postings so he could register to take the protection work, ¡°Let me know if these will work for you.¡± He scanned the document and nodded, pocketing it. I was hoping for a stronger reaction based on the high amounts, but his face was neutral. ¡°We will claim the job posting when we reach your islands.¡± I headed up the ramp to the Maelstrom. The cargo hold now had chairs and tables for our guests. Bleiz left me to help Leda arrange the space. The Princess had followed me up the ramp. She was wearing a powerful new perfume, ¡°Relik is quite a famous delver. How did you manage to get him to come to your aid?¡± ¡°A father will do anything to keep his daughter happy,¡± I responded, planning to leave her on the cargo deck, but she followed me up. Lorae was in my cabin with the cats, having a staring contest on the floor. She was actually communicating with Kiara using her ability. She looked up at me and then behind me at Amelia. ¡°While we are on your islands, I can help train them. Kiara is getting very talkative.¡± She had puppy eyes that reminded me of Freya asking for a trip to Sweet and Treats. I considered and looked at the cats. They were dense and growing fast. ¡°You can teach them how to hunt squirrels on the grounds. But for now, I need to work on my projects, and the cats need some rest. You wore them out.¡± ¡°No, I didn¡¯t! We were only communicating!¡± Lorae scoffed, but Kiara jumped up on my small bed in my cabin, curled into a ball, and closed her eyes. The black Adrial soon followed her sister¡¯s lead. Lorae looked bemused, ¡°Traiters!¡± she scolded the cats mockingly before leaving. Amelia was still in the doorway. ¡°Can I watch you while you work?¡± ¡°Maybe another time,¡± I said while slowly closing the door on her. I sat down at my workbench. I pulled out the contract with the Duskhunters. The terms were all dependent on the quality of the Progenitor Dungeon. If the dungeon was met with approval, I would receive tier four stones at half their cost, just 125 gold. I could also purchase eight tier five stones for 1,000 gold each. In addition, I would be paid one tier-four stone for every eight-hour block they spent in the dungeon. That was three tier-four stones a week for the one prescribed day. For now, I pushed aside the work on the rings and rough-formed sixty short curved daggers from steel in my dimensional space. Working on the weapons for the Wolfsguard was my second priority, but since the rings for my family were on hold, I started on the weapons. I used my stone to call Bleiz and asked him to get me more steel ingots. Each Wolfsguard would get their preferred curved dagger and medium-length blade. The feather fall rings were also planned but not as important. Bleiz knocked on my cabin door an hour later. ¡°Six hundred pounds of steel is being delivered. The payment was one hundred seven gold.¡± I handed him a platinum and a large gold. He gave me three gold in return. If this had been Gareth, we would have kept the change. Bleiz looked around the mess of rough-formed curved daggers. ¡°Been busy, I see.¡± He picked up the rough-shaped dagger. ¡°Are you enchanting them as well?¡± If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Just something quick. I was thinking sharpness for the daggers and the long blades a hardness enchantment. If the supply of mid-tier aether crystals works out with the Duskhunters, I may create more powerful weapons in the future for the Wolfsguard,¡± I told him. However, I was not going to be able to do that for a long time. ¡°I will keep an eye on your guests. We are almost ready to depart. Do you want me to get you when we leave?¡± Bleiz asked. ¡°No, just have Cilia and Leda get us back as fast as possible,¡± I said, and I locked the door with an arcane lock after he left. I picked up the first dagger... Repeating the same enchantment over and over again was like muscle memory as it started to become faster. Creating the final blade and runes took under an hour. Every runic pattern I did was more practice for refining my artistry in this craft. I had fourteen finished when Bleiz knocked again. ¡°We are approaching Skyholme. You missed an interesting voyage. Your Princess tried to recruit Relik to come try out some of the dungeons in the Principality. He was gracious, asking her what each had to offer before refusing. You would have enjoyed that exchange.¡± Bleiz chuckled to himself. ¡°You are right. I would have enjoyed that exchange,¡± I smiled at the Wolfsguard. I had my communication stone ready for when we were in range. I could give Isla about a forty-minute warning about our impending arrival. ¡°Isla?¡± Her voice came back, ¡°Storme, you are back later than expected. At least it is not two weeks late this time,¡± she said with mirth. Then she regained her composure, ¡°Did everything go as planned?¡± ¡°Mostly. I have fifty thousand for the warehouses in Solaris City. We also have twenty guests arriving at the Spire. They are from an Adventurer¡¯s Guild, the Duskhunters, in the lowlands and will be staying at the Spire. Can we house them all?¡± I asked Isla. ¡°I am in the Wolfsguard village. I can get back to the Spire in twenty minutes!¡± I could hear her running as she talked, her feet pounding the ground, and her breathing increasing. ¡°We have four free suites on the third four, and each has two bedrooms. If they don¡¯t mind smaller rooms, we have nine open on the second floor. Though I need linens for two of them.¡± ¡°Great. We will be landing in about thirty minutes,¡± I ended the communication. Isla had the tower staff outside and lined up. Two Wolfsguard flanked the entrance of the tower. The shiny uniforms looked good in the light of day. We walked off the ship, and Lorae looked up at the Black Spire, ¡°This is where you live?¡± ¡°Yeah, but the rent is a bitch,¡± I noted, trying to be funny. ¡°This is Isla. She is one of my two assistants. The other is Remy, but he handles most of the matters of coin.¡± I was impressed with the grounds, and Relik and the Duskhunters¡¯ members were also. Remy came out of the tower running, not wearing a silvery uniform. ¡°The rooms will be ready in about forty minutes. We doubled up some of the delvers, but we can hold everyone!¡± He paused, seeing we were already here. ¡°Remy, when is our next access to the Progenitor Dungeon?¡± I asked to break his embarrassment. ¡°Talia is rotating teams now at the dungeon now,¡± he answered promptly. ¡°Well, Relik and his team can be shown the dungeon location and then their rooms.¡± I addressed Relik, ¡°It is just a short walk north. Remy, can you guide them?¡± All twenty members, including Lorae, followed Remy, the Princess, and her two guards, mage, and attendant did as well. I went and collected my steel bars and took the cats to my room in the Spire. I unloaded the bars and then went to find Isla rushing with the servants to get things ready. ¡°Relax, they are delvers and have low expectations. I have five platinum bars for you to buy most of the warehouses in Solaris City.¡± I put them on a table. ¡°Start renting the space out once we own them, and ask Mia to get guards for them as well.¡± ¡°How do you keep coming up with so much coin, Storme? If I did not know better, I would say you are making it out of thin air,¡± she tested the weight of the bars in disbelief. I grinned and said jokingly, ¡°Practically, but my enchanting work sells well, and pirate hunting was profitable. Don¡¯t expect it all the time. One day, maybe soon, there will not be any more coin. I am still short twenty thousand gold for the warehouses. Anything else I need to be aware of?¡± I asked Isla. ¡°Otto, the alchemist, moved into the basement. He has started brewing, and the delvers say his concoctions taste better than Lachlan¡¯s. However, the efficacy is the same. The Wolfsguard village came under the scrutiny of the Triumvirate, but Loriel quashed it,¡± Isla reported. I nodded but thought Loriel may have stirred the complaint herself in order to ¡®quash¡¯ it. ¡°Very good, you can have Cilia bring you to Solaris City to handle the warehouses.¡± I was feeling pretty good when I entered my suite. I had forgotten that Freya was staying in the bedroom in my suite. She was in the common room with an old friend, ¡°Selin, it has been a while.¡± She smiled and cocked an eyebrow, ¡°The High Mage never found the time to visit an old woman at the Mage Academy. Too busy healing all of Skyholme?¡± ¡°Yes, I am trying to force a spell evolution. However, it may have been easier to learn a more powerful version of the spell. Are you here for Freya or me?¡± I asked, sitting on the sofa while the cats studied the new person cautiously from a distance. ¡°I am here for Freya but also will be leaving the islands soon. An old friend of mine in the lowlands needs my help, maybe in a month or so. Long enough to help this one with her first spell,¡± Sana Velin said. Freya was surprisingly quiet and obedient. Seeing my surprise, Selin laughed, ¡°I told her if she was not disciplined, then I would not teach her. Interesting displacer beasts you have there. I would have assumed the white one was a cold weather variant, but the fur and bone structure do not match. I once met a mage who created his own variant. A miniature version, just one hundred pounds, and lightning quick. But I digress.¡± There was another reason that I had wanted to see the old mage, ¡°Selin, do you know about the upper floors of the Black Spire. They have been sealed for two thousand years, to my knowledge.¡± ¡°I know the history of the Black Spire. The Haikuram high wizard Kurota resided here.¡± She faced Freya, ¡°Kurota is the avian who shattered Skyholme into separate islands.¡± She turned back to me, ¡°A few people have been killed trying to break in over the centuries. The protections are rumored to be powered by the power that keeps the islands afloat. I would love to see the access door.¡± ¡°Follow me!¡± I said, a little excited about possibly gaining access. We went to the fourth floor with all the glass windows. The stairs growing up were on the far side. We climbed the stairs and got to the door with all the runic markings. Sana Velin studied them, Freya and myself at her back. She finally spoke, ¡°Yes, I can see why no one has gotten past the protections. It is a brilliant use of an advanced version of the arcane lock spell, probably tier five.¡± ¡°So there is no way inside? No way to gain access?¡± I asked, extremely disappointed. My dreams of a powerful mage¡¯s library were dashed. ¡°Unlikely. It is set up to require a magical key to enter. Well, not a key, but an attunement to the caster¡¯s aether core. He is long dead. Forcing it open¡­¡± She thought for a long moment. ¡°I might know someone who is foolish enough to risk the backlash. It just so happens it is the person I am going to the lowlands to help. I will see if they will come and examine the runes. With your permission, High Mage.¡± ¡°It would be a long time before I could even try to break a tier five arcane lock. I agree. If your friend will come, he can try,¡± I replied. My thoughts were what the payment would be. ¡°Come, Freya,¡± Selin said, descending the steps. ¡°We can practice for another hour before I have to return to the Academy for class.¡± I looked at the door for a few moments, and I could feel it mocking me. One day, I would gain access. I had other problems to worry about now. I returned to my artificing. A few hours later, I learned that Relik and his team had entered the dungeon and completed all five layers in just six hours. Relik was looking for me and wanted to meet. Remy directed me to the fourth floor, and I found Relik on the balcony with his team of seven talking, staring off at the city. I approached, ¡°Relik, I guess the dungeon was a bit of a disappointment?¡± ¡°No, the opposite. It is a great training dungeon and has ample resources. After I talk with leadership, I think we may be interested in setting up a permanent training cadre here.¡± Relik said seriously. I hesitated before saying, ¡°The Black Spire is just a temporary benefit, Relik.¡± Relik gave me a hard stare, but he grinned when I did not back down. ¡°I know. You do quite well for yourself, Storme. I think we can discuss maybe leasing an acre of your estate near the dungeon? Maybe bundle it with a day¡¯s access? Does an annual lease of one hundred thousand sound fair?¡± Relik was smiling, but I was doing the math in my head. I wasn¡¯t even sure what the Triumvirate policy was for adventurer guilds. I know they wanted more adventurers with the open trade starting soon. I thought I needed to divide the land lease and dungeon access apart. I was sure I was breaking all kinds of Skyholme tax laws, but my access to the Progenitor Dungeon was unfettered and free of Triumverite tracking. I did not know how much the Duskhunters could harvest either. ¡°The land lease will be twenty-five thousand a year, renewable if in good standing. For the dungeon access, valued at twenty percent of the harvest and the aether stone discount and payment still stand,¡± I countered. Relik seemed to consider. ¡°What is the tax rate for dungeons in Skyholme?¡± ¡°As part of my deal with the Triumvirate, I do not pay taxes on my harvests from this particular dungeon. The others in Skyholme, we just pay an access fee and have to sell any dungeon elixirs to the Triumvirate¡ªalthough that may have changed.¡± I replied not aware if the law had changed. We never delved deep enough for elixirs anyway. Relik pulled out two dungeon elixirs from his pocket. ¡°So these have to be sold to your government?¡± His impassive stare bore into me. I was speechless. I couldn¡¯t see what the essences were, but one was tier 1, and the other looked like a tier 2. ¡°Uh, no. You can keep them.¡± He nodded and put them away, ¡°Your agreement sounds reasonable. I will contact my guild leaders to confirm. We will probably hire a local build team for the small Guild Hall.¡± This all happened so fast and informally that I was still in shock. ¡°Can you create a delvers guide for the Progentor Dungeon?¡± It was too early to ask him to help train my teams, but it might be beneficial. A woman who I recognized as Marigold, the illusionist, held up a notebook. ¡°Already started. Should have it complete after two more clears. And I will make you a copy when it is done.¡± ¡°So, how much is 20% of your harvest from this dungeon?¡± I asked. ¡°Depends on who is delving, but I can guess we can harvest between a million to a million and a half annually. So two to three hundred thousand,¡± he smiled at my disbelief. He explained, ¡°This dungeon has not been squeezed in a while. It is flush with creation aether. If a dungeon is harvested heavily, it reduces resources over time. This venture could become profitable if all your island dungeons are the same.¡± ¡°Profitable? Where does all the gold go that you make?¡± I asked. I could see if they needed to support a skyship or something. ¡°The Duskhunters have about a thousand members in five cities. Only about one hundred are delvers. The delvers support everyone else. Equipment upgrades and replacements are probably our biggest costs. But we are one of the top guilds in the region. If one of our delve teams doesn¡¯t return from a delve¡­that could be almost ten million in gear lost,¡± Relik said. ¡°Does that happen often?¡± I asked in disbelief at the sum. My ability to create precious metal suddenly seemed¡ªtrivial. Relik nodded gravely, ¡°We lose a team every few years. Usually, it is exploring a new dungeon. We are going to rest now. I will confirm details once I talk with our leaders in a few minutes.¡± ¡°You have a tier-five communication device?¡± I asked as they left. ¡°Doesn¡¯t everybody?¡± Relik said, smirking as he headed down the stairs with his team. A tier-five communication stone was hundreds of thousands of gold! ? Copyrighted 2024, 2025 by AlwaysRollsAOne No Permission is given to translate, copy, repost or alter to an audio format of this original work of fiction. If you are reading this on a site that is not my Patreon, RoyalRoad.com, or Scribblehub.com, it has been stolen without my permission and violates DMCA. Remember, this work is the result of my creative effort and is protected by copyright law. Removal or altering of this notification is an acknowledgment you are aware you are in violation of DMCA. Chapter 147 Chapter 147 Iris got all the Duskhunters settled into their rooms. Freya and Lorae had met and hit it off. Lorae communicated with Monty, Freya¡¯s two-hundred-pound shepherd. Lorae told Freya what Monty was thinking¡ªmostly what he wanted to eat. Freya told me about her afternoon in our suite, ¡°Lorae can talk with them through exchanging images in her mind, Storme! It was amazing! I was thinking about learning a spell to do the same thing.¡± ¡°Your spell slots are limited, Freya. Every spell you choose to imprint is permanent. Once you learn the cleanliness spell, practice it for a few months before choosing your next spell,¡± I counseled my impulsive sister. Freya fell onto the pillows on the sofa, ¡°Ugh, you and Sana are the same. She wants me to learn the privacy spell next. It is all about spell utility with her. She even gave me a copy of the spellbook.¡± Adrial and Kiara were attacking my legs playfully. They were hungry and wanted to do the training for more food rewards. ¡°I am going to take care of the cats and then work in my room.¡± ¡°Monty is jealous of those two. Lorae told me. Monty also thinks finding Bleiz hiding is fun,¡± Freya was hanging off the sofa. ¡°Are you going to install showers in the Spire too? I miss hot showers.¡± ¡°Probably not. The black stone of the tower is indestructible as far as I know. So I can not run pipes through the floors.¡± I grinned at my younger sister, ¡°Just learn your cleanliness spell, and you won¡¯t have to take showers,¡± I advised while feeding the cats. Monty trotted over, and the cats used their tentacles to prevent him from getting too close to their diner. I fed Monty, as it looked like Freya was occupied with her thoughts. I took the cats into my room in the suite and did their reward training. I think Kiara was starting to learn the language, not just commands. For instance, I would say, ¡°Kiara, retrieve the blue pillow with your tentacles.¡± She would jump on the bed and then bring two different pillows, one in each tentacle. One was light blue, while the other was sky blue. She then looked at me smugly, tilting her head, as if saying, ¡°You didn¡¯t say which blue pillow.¡± Adrial, on the other hand, could handle the basic commands, but stringing them in a sentence was a no-go for her. She just got confused. Not surprising since she was just a few months old. With the training done for the night, I let the cats out to play with Monty and Freya while I worked. I focused on the long curved knives for the Wolfsguard. I finished another twelve before doing all my aether and mind sharpening exercises and proceeded to studying my comprehend languages spell. The cats were on the sofa, and I called them in to sleep on the bed before setting up my privacy and alarm spells. Freya woke me up and dragged me to breakfast on the fourth floor. She was more excited about the new day than I was. Today was more of a buffet style, and a number of delvers looked exhausted. Talia had been right about three days in a row was too much. At least the Duskhunters could take the middle day if their leadership agreed to the proposal. I was eating apple pancakes with butter and syrup when Relik and Lorae came up the stairs and sat. The cats immediately gravitated toward Lorae, who ignored them in favor of piling her plate and getting her breakfast. I had sat at the head of the table, and Relik sat next to me. ¡°Did you discuss the offer with your leadership?¡± I inquired. ¡°They agreed to everything in principle. They also want me to take stock of the other dungeons on the islands. So much for a vacation,¡± he chuckled while trying the pancakes without butter or syrup. ¡°I will confirm about constructing your guild building near the dungeon today, but I do not foresee any problems,¡± I told him. Relik nodded and handed me a pouch, ¡°Eighty tier-four aether crystals. Half is your twenty percent from yesterday¡¯s harvest and the three crystals we owe you for access. The other half is a twenty percent deposit on the twenty-five thousand for the first year of the lease.¡± ¡°There are this many tier-four crystals in the Progenitor Dungeon?¡± I asked, a little shocked, looking into the bag of green crystals. Relik had a wide smile, ¡°No, I brought those with me. The fire giant on the fifth floor of your dungeon is the final monster. He yielded a tier-four crystal that was twenty units in size. That was the only tier-four stone we found in the entire dungeon. But there are a number of other harvestables that will sell well for us in Llorth and other cities. The artificed items in the reward chests are unique as well. As I said, it is a profitable dungeon.¡± ¡°They are all different comfort items from what I know,¡± I said, and Relik nodded. I would just have to trust his team to prepare the delving guide for me. ¡°Would you be open to training some of my delvers with yours?¡± The table suddenly got quiet as Duskhunters and Shiny Platinum members waited to hear Relik¡¯s reply, ¡°Outside the dungeon, we can mix the prep training. I do not want anyone on my team to be responsible for charges inside the dungeon that are not part of the Duskhunters.¡± ¡°Understandable,¡± I stood. ¡°I hope this partnership lasts for a long time.¡± He stood, and we shook wrists. Now, I had to get permission from Loriel to house a foreign guild on my estate. I left the Spire and went to the skyship cradles as the Wolfsguard were practicing in the air on the Sky Wraith. The work on the barracks was coming along rapidly, and Isla was here early this morning. She was probably not going to like what I was going to say. She smiled as I approached, ¡°Storme, I am rushing this as fast as I can. Since I kicked the Wolfsguard out of the Spire, I want them to be comfortable sooner, rather than later.¡± ¡°I want to make some changes,¡± I started to her immediate frown. ¡°Storme, the guests are coming for the party, and I don¡¯t know if I can¡­¡± I held up my hand to stop her. I had us walk over to the architectural drawings. They were simple. A large common floor, and the second floor was ten bunk rooms with ten beds each. ¡°I want to add a large pond here. A single dock bisecting it, so two skyships can land. For the barracks¡­¡± I studied it for a moment. ¡°I want to turn this large common room into a tavern. So just add a stone building at the back¡­here.¡± I spent some time sketching it out. ¡°The kitchen will function like the Shiny Platinum. This is so the Navy crews that arrive on the skyships I am refurbishing have somewhere to go and relax.¡± Isla frowned at my inexpert marks on her plans. She eventually nodded, ¡°Ok, I understand. So your guards and the Navy have a place to interact and drink together? I suppose you want me to hire staff for the restaurant, too?¡± She sounded a little frustrated¡ªor maybe overwhelmed. ¡°Remy can handle the staff. Maybe take a few from the Shiny Platinum to get it started. I will do all the artificing, and I plan to give them communal showers in this room,¡± I marked the bathrooms on the plans. I made a few more changes as Isla frowned. When I was done making a dozen small changes, I told her, ¡°Double your weekly salary. You deserve it.¡± I do not think that made her any happier. I left Isla to go and talk with Pakkam as the Sky Wraith was landing from its training. I boarded the ship to find the Wolfsguard, old and young, moving vibrantly on the deck. I gave Pakkam the twenty-eight completed long curved daggers and told him he could hand them out to whom he saw fit. I would have the rest eventually. Pakkam was optimistic about being ready for action but had one problem, ¡°We can fire the aether cannons, but we could really use some mages for defense and offense.¡± Skyship mages were a totally different class of mage. They were specialist like the wind mages of the Principality of Marstom. I couldn¡¯t just put my delve mages on board. They might do well in shipboard actions, but in skyship ranged combat, they would be useless. ¡°I will see what I can do. Hopefully, I will be available if any attack comes.¡± ¡°Sphere willing you are, High Mage,¡± Pakkam nodded and took the blades to an eager crowd of Wolfsguard. My next task for the day was to talk with Loriel. I boarded the Maelstrom to find the Princess talking with Cilia on the bridge. They stopped talking, but Princess Amelia had a smile plastered on her face. ¡°I need to go to the Citadel,¡± I told Cilia. ¡°I was planning to go there as well!¡± The Princess said happily. ¡°I can get my guards, and we can go together.¡± I assumed she had been waiting here and would have been going wherever I decided.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°I am leaving now. Cilia can come back and pick you up, Princess.¡± Her frown appeared at my words, but she walked off the ship after saying a brief farewell. It was just a minute¡¯s flight to the Citadel. Cilia asked, ¡°Why do you keep pushing women away? Is it because of Aelyn?¡± I was quiet and thinking, and Cilia landed the Maelstrom. She thought I was not going to answer, but I did. ¡°Partly. Aelyn did not betray me, but it feels like she did. She used me to get her mother to freedom. So whenever I think a woman is using me to further themselves, I put up my defenses.¡± Cilia nodded in understanding. ¡°Just don¡¯t push everyone away, Storme,¡± she said with a half smile. I paused and returned the smile, ¡°Thank you for the advice, Cilia.¡± The Citadel was bustling with preparations for opening trade and increasing defensive measures for the Black Mauraders attack. ¡°High Mage,¡± a man in the captain¡¯s uniform approached. ¡°Captain Dylan. I can escort you to your destination.¡± ¡°I am here to see Loriel Miaden of the Triumvirate ruling council,¡± I replied. ¡°They are in session, but I will escort you to a waiting room and inform her. What is the topic you wish to confer with her on?¡± The captain said while falling in step beside me. ¡°Personal matter,¡± I replied, not wanting to explain. As we walked, the middle-aged man in the captain¡¯s uniform said, ¡°Your efforts to heal the people have not gone unnoticed, High Mage. My grandfather has a new set of teeth, and my mother walks without a limp now. I have a cousin waiting in Aegis City for your next session. She lost a child in birth and has terrible pain.¡± That was expertly done. He had praised me and then tried to guilt me into going to help his cousin. It worked, ¡°I will be stopping at the Shiny Platinum after talking with Loriel. Hopefully, she can catch me while I am healing. I only plan to be around for a few hours.¡± He nodded curtly and left me in a small waiting room. A servant in Miaden colors came and left me cold drinks and an array of cheeses and breads. It was only thirty minutes before Loriel came into the room, ¡°When I was told the High Mage had requested my time, I did not think it was you, Storme!¡± She laughed, ¡°You coming to me for something is a first. Unless I have done something else to anger you?¡± ¡°Yes, well, I have mostly questions today,¡± I said, already wondering how she was going to leverage the meeting. ¡°The portal to Goldreach next to the Shiny Platinum¡ªis it functional?¡± ¡°Three more days. If you are concerned about that, I have twenty-six soldiers and two mages stationed nearby. There will be no surprise attack coming from the Sadians, and we have a disruption rune we can activate at any time.¡± Loriel noted while pouring herself a drink. ¡°When will I start receiving a return on my investment?¡± I asked, sipping my own drink. I had paid for the small building to house the special portal that was there to give the Sadian Emperor rapid exchange of goods and probably something else Loriel was not letting me know. ¡°Maybe a year to recover your cost. I hear you have no need of coin. The High Mage just purchased four warehouses in Solaris City. You have the two most valuable skyships in all of Skyholme and more Wolfsguard at your command than anyone in the Citadel,¡± she smiled at me while drinking. ¡°And more has been asked of me than any other in Skyholme. We never discussed compensation for the two Harbingers I worked on three days ago for Sebastian,¡± I replied. ¡°What do you want this time? Another day in the dungeon?¡± Loriel responded a little tersely. ¡°I have hired Adventurers to help defend the Black Spire in the coming attack. I had to permit them to build a residence on my estate. What paperwork do I need to fill out?¡± I asked Loriel. I was not going to detail my contract with the Duskhunters as she might want a piece of it for herself or Skyholme. ¡°The estate is deeded to you for as long as you are High Mage. As per our agreement, the Triumvirate will tax any new buildings at normal rates. You are given credit towards those taxes for your work on the Skyholme fleet.¡± She put down her drink, ¡°You have already paid decades of taxes in advance for your work. A few new buildings will not alter much.¡± A knock came at the door. ¡°Enter!¡± Loriel barked impatiently. The door swung open, and Princess Amelia walked in. Princess Amelia smiled, ¡°Looks like we were going to the same place after all! You could have waited for me.¡± Her tone was playful, like she didn¡¯t mind me ditching her. Having the Princess here was a minor annoyance. I turned to Loriel to finish this, ¡°So the Duskhunters can build a residence on my estate. What happens if I am no longer in charge of the estate? I am making an annual renewable contract with them. Would you ensure the contract would be honored for the current year?¡± ¡°You got the Duskhunters to set up a residence in Skyholme?¡± Amelia turned to Loriel, ¡°You should do whatever it takes to keep them happy. The Duskhunters are one of the top dungeon guilds in forty thousand miles.¡± Loriel seemed to think, ¡°The Progenitor Dungeon is not the best dungeon in Skyholme. Maybe they would be interested in a residence near the Fiery Descent or Ogre¡¯s Castle dungeons?¡± ¡°Are you trying to poach the Duskhunters?¡± I asked Loriel levely. ¡°They are mostly dark elves, and I have worked hard to establish a mutually beneficial relationship with them.¡± Loriel seemed to think of something, ¡°They are delving during your three days¡¯ access to the dungeon and not paying for access?¡± She dismissed it, ¡°Fine. You can have your dungeon guild. I will add the addendum to your ownership of the Black Spire Estate.¡± I waited, but she did not add any conditions as I expected. ¡°Thank you, Loriel.¡± ¡°Oh, one thing,¡± Loriel said, and I waited patiently for the request I knew was coming, just delayed. ¡°The guest list for the party you are hosting has expanded some. Besides Princess Amelia, there will be thirty-nine more attendees. I will send Isla the list and requirements.¡± ¡°I am sure she will be happy to receive them,¡± I smiled and excused myself. The Princess could find her own way back to the Spire. I took the Maelstrom to the Shiny Platinum; over two hundred people were waiting for the High Mage¡¯s free healing. The captain¡¯s cousin was among them. It was a useful stop as I used more aether than required, pushing lesser restoration to level twenty-two. Just one last level for the final evolution to regrow limbs. Remy was at the Shiny Platinum, and after I finished healing, he told me, ¡°You know, besides making yourself the most popular person in Skyholme, you have made your restaurant the busiest and most successful on the islands. We opened the function room to regular patrons and still have lines out the door.¡± ¡°That is all good. We are opening another restaurant at the Black Spire. Well, more of a tavern being built into the barracks. Remy, hire staff and start working out supply chain logistics. Ask the Wolfsguard what they want to eat. The guards will not be charged, but visitors from the Wolfsguard town and Navy will be,¡± Remy nodded, somewhat excited for a new challenge. ¡°What about the runes for the one-person skyship?¡± He asked. ¡°I will find time to work on them after the Black Mauraders are handled. With the Duskhunters guarding the tower, I am confident in the safety of those staying there. I am going to stay here tonight and work on protection artifacts for my parents and brother.¡± I locked myself in my apartment with the cats at the Shiny Platinum for more than a day to work on the rings in peace. I set up the privacy spell, and arcane locks so I would not be disturbed. Remy was only to use the communication stone if it was an emergency. Each ring took under two hours, even with my metal shaping, but I now had plenty of tier-four stones to complete. My parents, Pascal, Mia, and the two guards across the hall from my parents each got the shield and hardened skin rings. I had a pair for Freya and Pakkam as well. My father also got an artificed long sword with the hardness and sharpness runic patterns. I would have preferred he was not in one of the most dangerous places during an attack, but his job was on the docks, and he was stubborn and would not leave his post. The Sadians almost always attacked the skyship docks, and I assumed the Black Mauraders would do the same. The warehouse that I made into the Shiny Platinum had been damaged in the last Sadian attack. Before returning to the Black Spire, I healed another forty men, women, and children. Every person I healed got me closer to the last evolution. At the Spire, I met with Relik to finalize our contract. We both signed, and it would be filed with the Adventurer¡¯s Guild. My penalty for breaking the contract was a return of twenty-five thousand gold and the cost of building the Guild Residence. He would owe one hundred thousand gold if he broke the contract. The only way the Duskhunters could violate the contract was if they failed to give me twenty percent of the value of their harvest. Since I did not monitor them, it would be hard to prove either way. Isla had reworked the plans for the skyship cradle barracks and had already had the pond excavated. A water mage was filling it now. This would allow for more skyships with hulls designed for water to land at the Spire. Pakkam and Freya received their protective rings. Pakkam moved his feather fall ring to a chain around his neck. If he needed it, he could put it on. Over the next three days, I worked on the weapons for the Wolfsguard. I thought strongly about racing with the Maelstrom to complete the request for the Elven King¡¯s adamantine sword, but there were too many unknowns. The first of which was when the Mauraders were going to attack. Freya and Lorae became good friends and usually took care of the cats during the day. The cats preferred running outside and hunting to watching me shape metal and write runes anyway. I was working on the runes for the feather fall rings I planned to give the Wolfsguard on the Sky Wraith when Isla found me, ¡°Storme, you look a mess. You do realize your guests will be arriving in six hours.¡± ¡°Not my guests, Loriel¡¯s,¡± I waved her off. ¡°You are hosting, and they expect you there. Relik and his team are attending, as well as all of your delvers,¡± she tried to motivate me. ¡°I am going. I just want to finish this new design,¡± I said, studying the runes I had just written out for the feather fall ring on paper. I think I had finally found an identity on how I wanted my runic work to look unique.'''''' ? Copyrighted 2024, 2025 by AlwaysRollsAOne No Permission is given to translate, copy, repost or alter to an audio format of this original work of fiction. If you are reading this on a site that is not my Patreon, RoyalRoad.com, or Scribblehub.com, it has been stolen without my permission and violates DMCA. Remember, this work is the result of my creative effort and is protected by copyright law. Removal or altering of this notification is an acknowledgment you are aware you are in violation of DMCA. Chapter 148 Note from the author: All references to ¡®displacer beast¡¯ will be replaced with ¡®phantom cat¡¯ as displacer beast is copyrighted by WoC. Edits in earlier chapters will be done as posted to RR and scribblehub. The next description of the beast will be black panters with the ability to manifest phantom limbs to restrain prey. They can also camouflage their bodies. So, there will be a bit of a rewrite in capture, killing, and training. I am doing this now, so that if I publish this book in the future, I will not run into problems. Chapter 148 The runic identity I had was probably not unique, but it was something that I could do effortlessly with my exacting metal shaping ability. I had curved all the right angles so my runes had no corners. Next, I added false runes in the formula. I added the dungeon runic symbols for platinum, hydra, and phantom cat. Finally, I thickened the central cornerstone runic line, making it wider, and inscribed the dungeon word for ¡®storm¡¯ in relief. It was so faint that you would need magic to see it. I looked at the parchment with the redesign for the feather fall ring. The entire pattern flowed and looked almost dizzying, like a swirling whirlpool ready to suck you in. Was the complexity needed? Probably not. But it made sense to me. Bleiz was standing behind me, ¡°Storme, the guests are arriving, and you have not even started dressing.¡± Bleiz was in the same shiny, silvery uniform of my house servants and guards. He had on the updated combat version that Pakkam had helped design. The original uniform had some mobility limitations, especially for the more limber Wolfsguard. ¡°You look marvelous,¡± I told my guard captain. ¡°What was the final count on guests?¡± ¡°Four hundred and seventy-two. It will be crowded. And as you requested, there will be no announcements introducing important persons. Loriel was not happy about it,¡± Bleiz said. I waved off Loriel¡¯s disappointment. ¡°How is Isla doing?¡± I inquired. Isla had been under much more stress than I had realized. This event was for three powerful nations and twenty-six trading companies in the Sadian Empire. I had given her an additional six thousand gold to prepare for the party. Pakkam entered my room without knocking, ¡°High Mage, your presence is requested on the fourth floor. The first guest¡¯s skyship will be docking soon.¡± He looked me over, ¡°You have not even dressed yet, High Mage?¡± I ignored his question, ¡°How is security?¡± ¡°We have fifty-two Wolfsguard, your fifteen delvers, Relik¡¯s eight-person team, and ten guards on loan from the Shiny Platinum,¡± he said confidently. ¡°Four Harbingers and six Wasps patrol the skies with the two warships from Marstom and two warships from the Sadians. I think we will be ready to respond if something arises,¡± he smirked. ¡°What about the search for the Black Mauraders?¡± I undressed and started putting on my official High Mage robes. Pakkam told me, ¡°I was just in a meeting with Callem and Sebastian. Every ship¡¯s identity is confirmed and scanned with magic. The one hundred and seven ships that have arrived in the last two days had no signs of the Black Mauraders. But their leader in this region of the Sphere, the Sky King, is said to be on the move. Also, there have been no Black Maurader attacks in the lowlands for two weeks, according to the Adventurer¡¯s Guild. That is improbable, as there used to be one or two every day.¡± I had been in one of the meetings as well. It was held two days ago at the Black Spire to discuss security for this event. The Adventurer¡¯s Guild representative was present, and they believed the Black Mauraders could field a fleet of a hundred ships. I joked that it should be ninety-eight since I had captured two of them, but my humor was lost on those present. Still, no one knew where the Mauraders were staging, which put extremely high tension in the room. I was now fully dressed and hit myself with a cleanliness spell. ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± I let Pakkam and Bleiz escort me, both behind me, side by side. Before the Duskhunters arrived, I had been looking forward to this event. There were a large number of merchant traders who would be setting up contracts tonight. The Duskhunters had already leased all my warehouses in Solaris City. The contract should be formalized soon, and I would also have the twenty thousand gold to purchase the remaining warehouses. I climbed the stairs of the Spire from the third-floor suites to the fourth floor. I guess it was a ballroom now. A stage was set up on the far side with a dozen musicians and one singer. My staff, which had multiplied to twenty-six, were setting up buffet tables, operating the bar, and preparing to be stationed around the room to assist guests. Relik spotted me and was wearing a pristine white suit. He approached with a smile, ¡°You throw quite the party, High Mage.¡± ¡°Not me, Isla. I just paid for this with an abyss of coin,¡± I said, shaking wrists with the delver. ¡°Two of our guild leaders are arriving up from Goldreach with a delegation from the Emperor. They have your coin and will finalize the contract. Three construction mages are with them. They should be able to build our residence in two or three days,¡± Relik said happily. ¡°Fantastic. How many members are staying in your residence?¡± I inquired. ¡°Probably forty or so. Thirty being trainees for the Progenitor Dungeon, five trainers, and five administration,¡± he said, taking a glass of wine from a servant. ¡°How big is the residence they are building?¡± I asked, thinking that was twice as many people as I had assumed would be coming. ¡°We will use the entire acre in the contract, four towers at the corners, each sixty-foot round and three stories tall. The towers will be the housing. One large central building for training and feeding the members,¡± he explained. I laughed, ¡°If there was a wall between the towers, then you would be building a castle!¡± Relik didn¡¯t laugh. ¡°Well, actually, there will be. Nothing serious, just ten feet wide and twenty feet tall with a ten-foot footing. It will have a large number of runic defense enchantments on it.¡± The contract had noted they would be given one acre to lease annually for twenty-five thousand gold. The only stipulation the Triumverite put on it was no buildings taller than forty feet and no basements deeper than twenty. Other than that, they were free to construct whatever they wanted. They were building a mini fort. Seeing my distress, Relik put his hand on my shoulder, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Our guild construction mages are excellent. The structure will be majestic and aesthetically pleasing. It will blend in with your estate and look like it had stood a thousand years like the Spire. If attacked, we will also come to your aid in the Black Spire as promised. I accepted the contract at your Adventurer¡¯s Guild in the city.¡± I decided not to dwell on it. ¡°How did that go? I have never been to the Adventurer¡¯s Guild in Skyhold, just the one in Aegis City.¡± Relik shrugged, ¡°A lot of stares from the citizens. I don¡¯t think many have even seen a dark elf before. As for the Guildmaster. Not the usual level of competency I am accustomed to. There are some strange rules on your islands as well. But we got things done. I got tokens to try two other dungeons in your islands as well. Marigold is excited about the variety. The Ogre¡¯s Castle and the Frost Vault. We picked up your local guidebooks as well.¡± The first skyship was pulling along the platform outside¡ªone of our Navy Harbingers. Callem, Sebastian, and Loriel exited the craft first, and then twenty others in Miaden and Torrent colors. In a sleek, light green dress, Isla went to greet the arrivals. With no formal introductions, you either had to know who someone was or have someone tell you. Relik pointed to an older man with a beer gut getting off the Harbinger, ¡°That is the guild master for your Adventurer¡¯s Hall in the city.¡± Lorae came over with Freya. Both were wearing identical dresses, except Freya¡¯s was blue, and Lorae¡¯s was green. Freya had a chocolate stain on her dress from something she ate at the dessert table. I used my cleanliness spell to remove the stain she had not even noticed. It looked like she had two eclairs in her hand, ready to eat next. Lorae asked, ¡°Are Kiara and Adrial coming to the party?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think I have time to watch them¡­¡± I started. Freya jumped in, ¡°We will do it! They listen to Lorae really well, and she has been working on having them follow on her heels.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you think Monty would get jealous?¡± I countered. ¡°Monty could come too! He would just sit by the food table waiting for people to feed him scraps,¡± Freya said confidently. I wavered, but in the end, I consented. ¡°You two can get all three. If they cause problems, then you will be held responsible.¡± The pair rushed off. Relik smiled, ¡°I have not seen Lorae this happy in a decade. Your sister may be a third of her age, but they get along like twins.¡± ¡°I am glad that is the case. Freya has been a bit isolated since moving to Aegis City,¡± I noted as the next two skyships began disembarking passengers. Loriel and her group remained near the dock to greet them. If I stayed here, maybe I would only have to talk with a handful of people.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Lorae came up the stairs with Adrial and Kiara on either side of her. They were half a step behind her, and I would say they looked pretty awesome. A large group of eyes focused on the. Monty came up the stairs at Freya¡¯s side and wildly sniffed the air at the smell of food. The white cat, Kiara, was taking in the room with her red glowing eyes. When she spotted me, she trotted over and sat on my left side. Adrial followed her sister and sat on the other side. Lorae¡¯s mouth hung open in disbelief and upsetness. Relik patted my bicep, ¡°I better go talk with her, or she will be moody all night at your cat¡¯s betrayal. I think she wanted to be the center of attention tonight.¡± I crouched and gave the cats some scratches. Another series of skyships came, and more people departed. I assumed the order of arrival was predetermined. The music started playing, and some of my delvers started dancing. The brothers, Hadrian and Cesar, were dancing with Mera and Fera and Lachlan was dancing with Zinnia, a healer from the delve team. I was surprised Lachlan was here. He was tolerated but not really liked by everyone. That was one of the reasons I left him at the Shiny Platinum. My focus was soon divided as I was having person after person come and introduce themselves to me. Heads of Sadian Merchant Houses, city Governors, relations to the Emperor, and two ship captains from the Skyholme Navy. The ballroom was filling up quickly, with over three hundred people already present. The only issue was that a steady stream of guests had to be brought down one floor to use the toilets. Isla had done a remarkable job. Illusionists had started animations on the glass as the sky turned to twilight. The ceiling of the ballroom had a deep darkness spell cast on it, with only twenty light globes sticking out of the blackness. They were the light globes I had designed, but I had not made these particular ones. Galaeron approached me, ¡°High Mage is it?¡± One of the leaders of the Duskhunters shook wrists with me. We had met in Lloth at his guild hall when he was playing poker. ¡°Had to come and see the floating islands for myself. I am actually impressed. I believe this is for you,¡± he passed me a black velvet pouch. I took it, ¡°Two hundred large platinum. Relik said you probably would have taken payment in aether crystals, but with Relik¡¯s team up here, the guild quota is tight for Lloth.¡± He knelt to inspect the phantom cats. ¡°The white one is Kiara, and the black one is Adrial,¡± I informed the guild leader. ¡°Remarkable. I have only fought their like before. I can see Lorae¡¯s fascination with them. The glowing eyes have such depth to them.¡± He reached out to pet Kiara, and she manifested her phantom limb in a warning. ¡°Guess not. I have a small amount of foresight, and if I had petted her, she would have lashed out at me.¡± He sighed and stood. ¡°Relik has the signed contract, and I will be going on the next run of your Progenitor Dungeon, but other than that, have a great evening, High Mage.¡± He bowed in respect and was swallowed by the crowd. The evening wore on, and the cats stayed obediently on my heels, waking with me and sitting when I stopped to talk with someone. Some people were trying to make friends with me, and others were trying to work deals with me. With my twenty percent from the Duskhunters, I had no motivation to seek small gains from complex trades. The Duskhunters were even going to lease all my six warehouses in Solaris City and supply their own guards in four months. All foreigners were restricted to Aegis City for the first four months of open trade. Then it was four more months, just on Titan¡¯s Shield Island. After that initial eight months, trade would be all across all the islands. Loriel hoped the gradual opening would give the people and Navy time to acclimate. The lease was a thousand gold monthly for all six warehouses, not a huge sum after taxes, but it was still generating income. I probably could have gotten more as each warehouse had a few sections, but this way, my investment wouldn¡¯t create more work for Remy and Isla. Isla looked like she had finally relaxed and was dancing with Remy on the far side of the ballroom. Things had gone well; after four hours, it was about time for me to exit. I took one step toward the stairs and was stopped, ¡°Storme, you wouldn¡¯t be leaving without dancing with me?¡± The Princess blocked my escape route. ¡°The cats are tired, as am I,¡± I made an excuse. ¡°One five-minute dance will not cause you duress, High Mage. Please?¡± She sounded sincere, and I agreed five minutes was not a huge investment of time. I nodded and complimented her, ¡°You look beautiful tonight, Princess.¡± Her dark blue silk gown flowed like water from some enchantment, and her face had glitter and a glow to it, highlighting her lips. We moved to the dance area in front of the band, and I noticed Monty chewing on a large bone under the buffet table. The cats saw him, too, and I think they held up their noses at the lack of decorum shown by the massive shepherd. But I was probably imagining it. Adrial hopped up on the band stage and sat to watch. Adrial followed her after a moment. The dance styles were slightly different as the Princess taught me the four steps in her native dance. We were soon moving across the dance floor with her smiling and giggling in happiness. I couldn¡¯t help but release a small smile as well at her joy. Dancing had its own energy to it, and it was kinda fun. ¡°And the stoic High Mage cracks, and all can see he does know how to have fun,¡± the Princess verbally jabbed at me while smiling. I remained and danced a second song with her, and then Talia boldly cut in for the third song. Namira took my fourth song, and Freya my fifth and last. I took the time to clean a second stain on her dress. I excused myself and was surprised I had avoided Loriel the entire night. I had watched her as she had worked the crowd and was probably working out a dozen trade deals for Skyholme and another dozen for herself on the side. One thing I was certain of was that she had a profitable night. The cats followed me to my suite and curled up on the couch. I think they were tired from being on alert all evening. Bleiz appeared inside the room, ¡°Storme, you are not a bad dancer. I am better, of course, well, I would be better if I ever learned how.¡± ¡°You can return to the party Bleiz, and learn how to dance. I am fine and will be setting alarms,¡± I smiled, and I dismissed my friend and bodyguard. ¡°No, I am worn out for the evening. A few guests were casting some magic, but it all seemed mundane,¡± Bleiz seated himself on the sofa between the cats and scratched their ears. They erupted into purrs with their eyes closed. Pakkam knocked and entered, ¡°Guests have started to leave. No fights broke out, and only a few harsh exchanges of words. To be expected after centuries of war.¡± ¡°I am going to work on the feather fall rings for your crew, Pakkam. Should have some ready tomorrow,¡± I said, unrolling the sketch of my work on the tea table in front of the sofa. ¡°High Mage, it is not for me to question your generosity, but I think it would be wiser to artifice the aether shield ring you gave me. The feather fall rings will save someone if they go over the side. But this,¡± he held up the hand that wore the shield ring I gave him, ¡°this will save their life in a fight. Maybe more than once. Unless the cost is too great?¡± I looked at the runic drawing for the feather fall ring that took me a long time to complete. Eventually, I would have to do other runic patterns in my signature design. ¡°I agree. I was thinking of doing it after the feather fall ring. I guess I was more worried about the skyship crashing into the lowlands. I will do as you ask. I have the aether crystals from the Duskhunters, and each ring only takes more time.¡± I rolled up the scroll and sent it to my dimensional closet. I took the cats to my room and spent the entire night writing out the runes for the shielding ring, adding in my signature patterns. I even artificed two of the rings before realizing it was morning. Adrial was reminding me it was past breakfast. I had not slept a wink and checked on Freya, who was passed out in her room still in her dress. The fourth floor was a mess, and no one had finished cleaning yet or set out breakfast. I took some non-perishable food from the tables and then started to use my cleanliness spell to clean the space. I only spent a few minutes walking the room and cleaning. It was only for the opportunity to level the cleanliness spell. At the window, I noticed Calaeron and Relik sparing. My jaw hung a little bit as the ground erupted behind Relik as he dashed forward. A flash of sparks and he was passed Calaeron. Relik was fast, and that was not from a spell. That had to be an ability. Calaeron was on his back foot with every clash, and then during the sixth one, I observed Relik¡¯s blade snap and went flying. He looked down in disgust and tossed the useless weapon aside, and conceded the match to Calaeron. I descended the Spire to meet them in the yard. They had torn up a good portion of the grass in the area. I picked up the broken blade first to inspect as I walked toward the pair. The sword had been well made and had a hardness rune and stamina rune. The stamina rune was complex, keeping the wielder¡¯s energy up by draining their fat stores. Relik spoke as I approached, ¡°That blade cost five thousand gold Cal, you going to replace it?¡± The guild leader laughed at Relik, ¡°You have others, and you wanted to practice. Maybe our High Mage friend here can practice with you?¡± I located how the blade broke. The tier five aether crystal had shattered in the hilt. Seeing my inspection, Calaeron confirmed, ¡°A little trick I picked up from a dungeon essence. I can shatter aether crystals with enough time.¡± ¡°Tier four ability,¡± Relik noted. ¡°Takes him a while to break down tier five crystals, but tier four and lower he can do on a single pass.¡± Calaeron bowed, accepting the praise. I was surprised they were revealing their secrets so openly, but then again, they were famous, and maybe it was common knowledge. Calaeron hit himself with a cleanliness spell, and Relik grunted. Relik used a bracer to do the same effect. Calaeron spoke, ¡°Our construction mages are starting this morning. Do you want to watch them work? I, myself, never get sick of seeing them work.¡± ¡°I would if I had the time.¡± I hesitated and then asked, ¡°Would your guild mages be available to hire? Isla has a village, a barracks, and dozens of other projects she is behind upon.¡± Calaeron rubbed his chin, thinking, ¡°The mages are due in Llorth in six days. I am sure they can get whatever you need done in that time. Each mage is one thousand gold a day, which is a discount because I like you!¡± He said with a smile. ¡°Free year lease on the six warehouses in Solaris City?¡± I counter-offered. He swayed a bit, thinking, ¡°Agreed, but again, only because I like you.¡± We shook on it. The Duskhunter mages raised their small stone fort with magic for the next two days. They then proceeded to finish the Wolfsguard town and barracks in three more days. Talking to the construction mages, I learned all three dark elf mages had evolved a few spells past level twenty-three, making their building progress so rapid. The work was also exceptional. Smooth, seamless stone and on the buildings. The stone was a uniform light gray in color, and Calaeron had been correct in they had a good aesthetic taste. For my part, I finished the shield rings for the Wolfsguard and completed the artificing work for the kitchen in the tavern. The Shiny Platinum II was now open. The Duskhunters were using it, and it appeared the dark elves had a sweet tooth for Mera¡¯s Frost Mead. A Harbinger came and landed in the new pond. I thought perhaps Sebastian had sent me another runic replenishment job. The captain walked with purpose toward me. He had ominous news instead, ¡°High Mage, an Adventurer¡¯s Guild in the lowlands, has located the Black Maurader fleet.¡± ? Copyrighted 2024, 2025 by AlwaysRollsAOne No Permission is given to translate, copy, repost or alter to an audio format of this original work of fiction. If you are reading this on a site that is not my Patreon, RoyalRoad.com, or Scribblehub.com, it has been stolen without my permission and violates DMCA. Remember, this work is the result of my creative effort and is protected by copyright law. Removal or altering of this notification is an acknowledgment you are aware you are in violation of DMCA. Chapter 149 Aelyn POV Chapter 149 Aelyn POV Author¡¯s Note: The last Aelyn POV was Chapter 100 Aelyn had left Cullinbar and her mother behind. She was indecisive about returning to Skyholme, but since she had nowhere to go, she decided she would head in that direction and make a decision as she got closer. She had the Heart Stone of Skyholme worth a king¡¯s ransom in her small dimensional pocket. If she sold it, she could live in luxury for the rest of her life. First, she needed to get far away from her mother first. She went to the city portal and looked at the schedule. Cullinbar had a portal magus controller that activated the stones to specific destinations at certain times. She checked the schedule and compared the cities to the map on the wall. She had gotten lucky, and there was a portal opening to a city in the direction of Skyholme shortly. She first paid one hundred gold for passage through the portal stones to the city of Faltalos. She was a little surprised she was the only one on the stone when the mage activated it. Was this not a popular destination? Faltalos was listed as the capital city on the Isle of Mist. She had not done much research other than knowing it was considered a free-trade city by the Adventurer¡¯s Guild and considered safe. When she arrived, she found gnomes and halflings primarily inhabited the city. As she walked around, Aelyn felt odd that everyone was shorter than her. It made her feel like she was in a city of children. They were also grumpy if you walked into them by mistake¡ªso a city of grumpy children. She got a quick meal in a restaurant and found the portion so small that she had to order a second serving of the soup in a bread bowl. She had to weave through them to get back to the portal office to select her next destination. She could take more time now to figure out where she planned to go. Aelyn entered the portal office to set her next destination. A bald halfling with a coppery beard greeted her, ¡°What can I do for you?¡± He seemed utterly disinterested in his work and Aelyn, as well as in his body language and tone. Aeyln made her request. ¡°I am looking to port to a city that has skyships northwest of here. Maybe five thousand miles.¡± The halfling gruffed, ¡°Aint no porting out of Faltalos. We have not had the portal key for seven years. Whenever you came from, they should have told you that.¡± ¡°What? Seven years? Why didn¡¯t they just rework the runes for a new key or build a new portal?¡± Aelyn asked in disbelief. It suddenly made sense why she was the only one on the trip from Cullinber. The halfling smiled, ¡°The Council has been debating who should pay for it for the last seven years. I think they are close to a resolution.¡± He giggled to himself as he was aware of the apparent absurdity. ¡°How do I get to a city with a functioning portal stone? Are there any skyships I can get passage on from Faltalos?¡± She asked, starting to get annoyed with the halfling. ¡°The Mellow Mermaid should be here tomorrow. The Captain¡¯s name is Teresse, and he can take you to Haverford. They have a portal stone there,¡± the halfling advised. It looked like this was her only choice to leave the Isle of Mist. She agreed to return tomorrow. Aelyn had to try two different inns before finding one that was not only for smallfolk. The inn was at least cheap at just one silver, and the innkeeper was a friendly halfling. She slept well, and the innkeeper fed her large portions at breakfast. When the Mellow Mermaid arrived, it was a small cargo ship¡ªand by small, it was intended for people under five feet in height. Still, she bargained for passage, a slow-moving three-day trip on the tiny vessel. Ten gold was a lot to pay for the trip, but it got her the largest passenger cabin to herself. She sighed when she crouched in the cabin after boarding. She moved the three beds together in order to have just enough length to lie down. The ceiling of the cabin was just shorter than she was tall, forcing her to bend over. The ship was an airship, not a true skyship, relying on wind currents and air spells to get through the skies. Aelyn enjoyed being on the deck when the ship was in flight. The crew was entirely gnomes, and she was one of six passengers. She did not feel the need to talk with anyone during the trip. She was either reading in her cabin or taking in the lands passing below on the deck. The first day was uneventful except for passing under a heavy rain cloud. She remained in the cabin and just listened to the small ship get pounded with rain. Late on the second day of the voyage, an alarm sounded, a sharp twang that alerted everyone. She rushed to the deck to help with the danger. Captain Teresse had a spyglass to his eye as he was studying a dot in the distance. Aelyn moved close to him to listen to what he said. A number of crew and passengers awaited his word anxiously. Captain Teresse, an old gnome with silvery hair, spoke, ¡°Definitely pirates. They are moving to intercept us.¡± ¡°Why are they coming for us, captain?¡± One of his crew asked, incredulous. ¡°We have nothing of value and are traveling close to the floor of the Sphere.¡± ¡°It is what it is, Dustin. Help get the aether cannon from the cargo hold,¡± the Captain ordered grimly. The crew was a hive of activity. Aelyn could tell the actions were practiced, but the crew was not confident. She knew the skies of the Sphere were full of opportunists like pirates and privateers and dangers like dragons and elementals. She felt trapped on the small skyship and wished the Captain would land so she could go it alone on foot. As the pirate ship approached, a black flag flew, signaling that no one would be killed if they surrendered. With Aelyn¡¯s excellent eyesight, she could see the enemy ship was three times the size of her own ship. This might have meant they could have escaped by making better speed, but that was not the case with the Mellow Mermaid. She was slow and lacked any offensive weapons. Well, that was not entirely true. The gnome crew was hauling a rusty aether cannon up on deck while others assembled a tripod to hold it. One of the crew asked, ¡°Is it even going to fire?¡± The Captain replied, annoyed at the question, ¡°It is good for two or three more shots. Just get it into place.¡± The other passengers had retreated below deck and locked themselves in their cabins while Aelyn remained on deck. She looked over the railings. They were only a few hundred feet above the forest canopy. No signs of civilization were visible, though. If she jumped now, then she would be on foot for days. She had the ring Storme had given her. A feather fall ring. Aelyn looked again at the pirate ship. The deck was packed with pirates, mostly minotaurs and elves. They were not going to win. The ancient aether cannon had been set up, and the gnome captain fired it. A blue beam of light missed the approaching skyship. The Captain swore and waited for the device to recharge. The cannon was smoking, which meant the runes were almost burned out. Another shot left the cannon, this time on target to the ship. A green and blue shield shimmered around the pirate ship. The aether cannon was too weak and would never break that shield. The pirates were confident as they approached. They were the shark hunting the minnow. The Mellow Mermaid rocked suddenly, causing Aelyn to stumble. Aelyn had not seen or heard the attack that caused it. The pirate ship looked like it was going to ram them, but at the last moment, it spun rapidly and came alongside. Captain Teresse ran to his Captain¡¯s wheel and tried to steer away; something had them locked in place. Aelyn ran to the railing and jumped over, not waiting for the Mellow Mermaid to be boarded. She expected to fall to the trees far below but was suspended in the air instead. She had been caught in a powerful air spell. She could move her limbs but was held in place like a fly caught in a spider¡¯s web. The minotaurs jumped onto the ship first, and the gnome crew quickly dropped any idea of resisting the towering bullmen. The hooves of the seven-tall monstrous humanoids quickly herded the crew together. Hopefully, the pirates would honor their black flag and not kill anyone. The elves followed next, and a tall elf with long black hair looked around once he was on deck. He was clearly the Captain. Aelyn was floating helplessly in the air and was ignored as the Captain walked and knocked on the door to the deck below. ¡°If you all come up and cooperate, you will not be harmed. I only make this offer once.¡± He waited as the other passengers slowly came out onto the deck. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Two shorter elves went below deck and confirmed it was empty of people. They also reported on the cargo, ¡°Cap the cargo is mostly grain. A few crates of ceramic dishes.¡± The elf frowned and looked at the gnome captain. Captain Teresse snapped, ¡°What did you expect, pirate? We are a small trader with a small aether crystal.¡± One of the dark brown-haired minotaurs spoke up, ¡°The ship¡¯s crystal is the only valuable thing on this ship, Cap. It is old but maybe worth five thousand. We should just take it and leave the rest.¡± The elf captain rubbed his brow like he had a headache, ¡°No, we will take the grain. The aether crystal is needed so the Captain can continue to operate. Glint, if you take all the fish out of the pond, then there will be no fish in the future.¡± The minotaur named Glint grumbled, ¡°Then you just go to a new pond, Captain Hyperion. This region of the Sphere has nothing of value. We should just move on.¡± The Captain pretended to think and responded, ¡°No, we will hunt here. The Black Mauraders have too many ships working the heavily traveled lanes.¡± The minotaur grunted discontentedly but followed orders. Soon, the bullmen were carrying the grain to the pirate ship. A look of surprise crossed his face as he approached Aelyn. ¡°What have we here?¡± He asked with mock surprise as if seeing her for the first time. Before Aelyn could react, her rapier was ripped off her belt and into Captain Hyperion¡¯s hand. Aelyn struggled but just flailed in the air. Hyperion pulled the blade from the sheath and inspected it for a few moments before tossing it to the Minotaur Glint. ¡°There you go Glint, that is good for at least five hundred gold, if not more. Search the cabins, passengers, and crew. This stop could still be profitable.¡± The pirate crew got to work while the Captain returned his golden eyes to Aelyn. ¡°A half-elf? Trying to escape overboard...a slow fall ring then?¡± he pointed absently at her hand. Aelyn made a fist to protect the ring. Hyperion smiled, ¡°You can hold on to it. You have paid your tithe with your sword.¡± Her body floated toward him, and she landed softly on the deck. She couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°You are the one with the air magic that stopped the ship?¡± His lips led into a smile. It would have been charming if he was not a pirate raiding her ship. She had seen this type of bravado before in Gareth. The overconfidence that he was better than others, ¡°Just a tier four ability. Impressive, isn¡¯t it?¡± Aelyn decided to praise him as he was obviously bragging. She also didn¡¯t want to anger the pirates. She would go overboard if she got a chance, but she needed to keep the ring. ¡°Tier four? Is that how you were able to stop an entire ship?¡± The elf captain smiled confidently, his light brown eyes sparkling, ¡°Not quite stopped, just restrained it a bit. Targeting multiple objects is a bit taxing but possible,¡± he grinned at Aelyn. ¡°My ship, the Prancing Eagle, is always in need of new and competent crew.¡± His announcement was made as an offer. ¡°What are you going to do with the gnomes?¡± Aelyn studied the terrified crew held in a group by the minotaurs. ¡°We will take what we can from the ship but leave enough to not destitute the gnome captain. Glint and his minotaur brothers only care about gold, so I am sorry, but I cannot return the sword,¡± Captain Hyperion replied, making a fake frown of disappointment. ¡°So you will just let the gnomes go after you steal their possessions?¡± Aelyn inquired sarcastically, but relaxing herself. She was reading his surface thoughts and detected no deception. ¡°I am not a slaver and just trying to make a living as a pirate,¡± he held open his hands and grinned, and Aelyn felt the pressure holding her in place release. She could finally move freely. Aelyn considered his offer, ¡°Will you let me leave when I want?¡± ¡°We will be going to the goblin city of Hidden Mountain to sell our spoils. You can join my crew, or leave there. Your company would be most welcome,¡± his grin remained. Aeyln had been reading his mind. She had no desire to become a pirate. But she also did not want to return to Faltalos. Captain Teresse was making his voice heard by everyone present that he intended to return and report the act of piracy. It seemed foolish as the pirates could change their minds and kill them. The minotaurs chuckled as the gnome captain ranted and cursed at the steady stream of pirates carrying grain. The passengers did not escape the pirates either. Jewelry and luggage were gone through. A small chest from the Captain¡¯s cabin got appreciative nods as Captain Hyperion looked inside. With their work done, the Captain asked one last time, ¡°Last chance half-elf beauty. Are you coming?¡± Aelyn knew it was a mistake but gave a curt nod and crossed over to the pirate ship. Captain Teresse cursed her as she left the Mellow Mermaid. He even insinuated this was all her fault and she had been working with the pirates all along. Captain Hyperion seemed a little surprised as she stepped next to him. Aelyn asked, ¡°So, how long have you been a pirate?¡± The pirate captain looked to the Sphere¡¯s sun. He looked back at Aelyn, then held up a hand with two fingers. Aelyn asked, ¡°Two years?¡± The Captain grinned again, ¡°Two days. Well, if you consider this my first mark, it is more like two hours. You should feel honored to be my first.¡± Aelyn rolled her eyes. She followed Captain Hyperion on a tour of the Prancing Eagle. ¡°She was a passenger ship before I liberated her from her doldrum work.¡± Aelyn was confused, ¡°I thought you just said you had only been a pirate for two hours.¡± ¡°Well, this my father¡¯s ship. He died and left it to me. I came to pick it up, and there was a lean on it of 32,122 gold. I didn¡¯t have the coin, so I just took her. I couldn¡¯t reasonably make payments, so I traveled to Hidden Mountain and hired a pirate crew,¡± he pointed at Glint and his fellows. His explanation sounded reasonable to his own ears. Aelyn just shook her head in disbelief. ¡°Where am I sleeping, and how long to Hidden Mountain?¡± Aelyn asked as they walked the ship. Captain Hyperion looked thoughtful. ¡°Maybe one more attack, and then we will return to Hidden Mountain. You know it is called Hidden Mountain because it is hidden.¡± He tried his grin again on her. Aelyn could read his mind and knew he could not return unless his hold was full of goods to sell. Hyperion was saddled with a mountain of debt to both legitimate and criminal organizations. Hidden Mountain City was a haven for pirates, thieves, and mercenaries. They were the anti-Adventurer¡¯s Guild in the Sphere. The Captain found an empty passenger cabin and motioned Aelyn inside. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. The Minotaur brothers are all bravado and will not bother you. The other elves in my crew are,¡± he paused a moment, ¡°friends of mine.¡± That was a lie. Some of his less savory creditors placed the elves on his ship there. She learned from his surface thoughts that his creditors would have just seized his ship if he didn¡¯t have such a powerful tier-four ability. Aelyn locked the door and lay down, considering her life choices. The ship was loud as the minotaurs partied pretty hard after their minor victory. There were nine of them, and they were apparently all related and relatively young. Besides Captain Hyperion, there were five other elves. Aelyn was still able to eventually fall asleep. Aelyn was not sure what happened. The next ship the Prancing Eagle attacked was a lizardman ship carrying dungeon meat and giant eggs. She did not participate but just watched. It was another bloodless seizure. The Pracning Eagle had impressive shields and no aether cannons that she could see. It now made sense why Captain Hyperion was selecting his soft targets. The third target was a human trader that was carrying passengers and iron ore. The ore was not mined in a dungeon, which was rare. This time, the ship fought back, and Captain Hyperion forced the ship over water and dumped the crew overboard with his ability. Aelyn was beginning to suspect that Hyperion¡¯s ability was stronger than tier four. However, there was nothing there when she tried to pull the truth from his surface thoughts. The only reason that could be the case is that he didn¡¯t know himself and he assumed it was a tier-four ability. No one was killed again, and the Prancing Eagle finally made its way to Hidden Mountain City after stealing the cargo. Hidden Mountain was a six-day trip, and when they arrived, it was well-defended with flying beast riders and skyships patrolling. The city was not as hidden as she had assumed by the name and Hyperion indicated. The city wrapped around a massive mountain that jutted high out of the Sphere, visible from hundreds of miles away. Captain Hyperion stood next to Aelyn as they approached the mountain. ¡°Impressive, isn¡¯t it. Just wait; the best part is about to come.¡± Aelyn did not respond for a long time. She had been left alone by the crew and the Captain during her time on board. From his thoughts, she knew Captain Hyperion was hoping she would join his crew after she saw they were not such bad people. The minotaurs were muscle-bound brutes but were actually kind of funny once you listened to their banter. Captain Hyperion flew the Prancing Eagle into the mountain, and Aelyn was amazed for the first time in a long time. The entire mountain was hollowed out and had hundreds of tiers going all the way to the interior summit that was miles high. Skyships, barges, and creatures flew freely inside in a crazy dance. Massive light stones lit the interior of the mountain like mini-suns. ¡°You should close your mouth,¡± Hyperion said, smiling. ¡°This is the impressive part. The goblins hollowed this out over millennia and reinforced it to create one of the most impressive cities on the interior of the Sphere.¡± Their skyship docked high up on the interior of the mountain city. The cargo was quickly unloaded, and the crew was paid and went to celebrate. Captain Hyperion made a dent in his debt to his more unsavory creditors and was happy about it. Aelyn¡¯s sword was among the things that were sold¡ªa sword Storme had made for her. Aelyn was not detained and freely wandered the diverse city. Being a hive of pirates, thieves, and mercenaries, you would have thought it would be lawless. But on the surface, hobgoblin guards in runic armor patrolled the ring layers and kept order. She had left Captain Hyperion and explored her options for returning to Skyholme. As she walked the rings, she saw a myriad of races coexisting. The city had no portal stones, only skyships. After two days of searching, she returned to the Prancing Eagle as it was getting ready to depart. Aelyn was not sure why, but when the Prancing Eagle left Hidden Mountain, she was on board, this time as a crew member. Captain Hyperion just had his lopsided grin, welcoming her aboard. ? Copyrighted 2024, 2025 by AlwaysRollsAOne No Permission is given to translate, copy, repost or alter to an audio format of this original work of fiction. If you are reading this on a site that is not my Patreon, RoyalRoad.com, or Scribblehub.com, it has been stolen without my permission and violates DMCA. Remember, this work is the result of my creative effort and is protected by copyright law. Removal or altering of this notification is an acknowledgment you are aware you are in violation of DMCA. Chapter 150 Chapter 150 The captain of the Harbinger stood before me with the news that was a shock. ¡°Where is the pirate fleet?¡± I asked him while playing various scenarios in my mind. The captain bowed respectively, ¡°High Mage, I was told to bring you to Slyhold to join the meeting with the Admirals.¡± I nodded and joined him on board the Harbinger; Bleiz unsurprisingly appeared on my left, but the captain jumped to Bleiz¡¯s satisfaction. We took off and landed at the active Navy docks in Skyhold Citadel. Ships were being cycled into the sky to keep a screen over the island. A familiar captain met us at the dock and led us rapidly to the meeting room. Sebastian and two other Skyholme admirals were in the room in dress uniforms. Sebastian looked up from a massive table map of the lowlands. ¡°Storme, thank you for coming so quickly. We got a message from the Adventurer¡¯s Guild about the location of the Black Maurader fleet.¡± I moved to the table, and one of the admirals made way for me to stand next to Sebastian. He pointed to the map, ¡°There is a volcano caldera here. It is filled with water, making a lake. A ship flew over and was chased by a dozen pirate ships emerging from the volcano.¡± ¡°Just a dozen?¡± I asked, tracing the line from Skyholme to the caldera. There was a ruler lying across the map, and it was 1500 miles from the islands in their current orbit. Sebastian finished, ¡°The Guild dispatched a scout to confirm. There were sixty-one ships inside the old volcano.¡± I looked up sharply. Sebastian nodded, ¡°Almost all ships were flying flags of the Black Mauraders.¡± My heart raced as it was suddenly starting to feel more real. They were really going to attack Skyholme. ¡°How long?¡± I asked Sebastian with a heavy note. ¡°We estimate they can reach Skyholme as a group in fifteen hours. We have hired an Adventurer skyship to spy on the caldera and alert us when they launch. The problem,¡± Sebastian sighed heavily, ¡°Not all the ships were Black Mauraders. Two were Harbingers from Skyholme, and other mercenary ships were also present in the caldera. Also, we have almost fifty unaccounted-for Black Maurader ships, including the flagship for the Sky King, the leader of the Black Mauraders.¡± One of the other admirals stepped forward, ¡°High Mage, we believe they have split their fleet in two to create a two-pronged attack. If the other fleet matches the first, we could face one hundred and twenty ships.¡± Sebastian confirmed, ¡°We are going to be outnumbered two to one.¡± Loriel and the other two members of the Triumvirate arrived in a whirlwind of staff. Callem and captains from the Sadians arrived shortly after. A debriefing started, and I stepped back against the wall as they discussed the prospects of defending against the attack. The table map was switched to show the large islands and review the deployment of skyships. The Sadian captains being here gave them an insight into our capabilities. They had a strong interest in helping us defend the islands. Their interest was not only in the recent opening of trade but also in preventing the pirates from taking the islands and establishing a base. If the Black Mauraders took control of the Skyholme islands, they would mercilessly raid the lowlands. Some arguments broke out about the best deployment of various assets to defend against a two-pronged attack. I was not planning to be part of the skyship defense. The Sky Wraith had a job to protect the children of the Citadel, and the Maelstrom would remain invisible and only reveal itself when the Mauraders attacked the Spire. No one asked me what my role would be in the conflict. As far as the Triumvirate was concerned, my contribution was keeping the skyship¡¯s runes in perfect order. The whole point of the meeting seemed to reinforce the inevitable attack. It was only days away, and we would have half a day warning. When the debrief and strategy meeting was getting close to ending, Callem moved to stand next to me. As Sebastian moved miniature skyships on the map to show attack patterns, he whispered, ¡°Storme, I would appreciate it if Wynna and Ennet could take refuge in the Spire.¡± ¡°Certainly Callem. Can you ask them to try and convince my mother as well?¡± I replied in a whisper. Callem nodded and moved back to his position at the table. When the meeting ended, a young guard captain approached me and said, ¡°High Mage, I am Junior Captain Liam Cloudhunter, top of my class in my third year at the Navy Academy. I have been assigned to be your liaison with your rescue ship at the Spire. I have a counterpart in the Citadel who will use a communication stone to let me know when to bring your rescue ship to the Citadel.¡± The captain looked younger than me. ¡°We can board you with the Wolfsguard at the Spire. You can remain close to my skyship captain, Pakkam.¡± I left with the young captain in tow. I assumed he was tied to either Callum or Loriel, but I was happy for the help. A Harbinger dropped us back off at the Spire. I assembled everyone together, which included all the Wolfsguard, Shiny Platinum Delvers, Duskhunters, and all the staff Isla had assembled at the Spire. I addressed the large group, ¡°This is Captain Liam. He is going to serve as a liaison in getting our charges from the Citadel here in the event of an attack. When we receive that warning, and the Sky Wraith launches to retrieve them at the Citadel, I want everyone to get inside the Spire. No exceptions. The walls are indestructible, and our strongest defenders will be there.¡± I nodded toward the Duskhunters. I spent the next hour relaying the information I learned at the meeting and answering questions. Isla had the most questions, and after the assembly had broken up, I walked with her. ¡°Can you handle this?¡± I asked her. She didn¡¯t answer and instead asked, ¡°Where are you going to be during the attack? From the way you were talking, you are not staying in the Spire.¡± I considered for a long moment, ¡°No, probably not. I will probably plan to be in Aegis City to make sure my parents are okay during the attack,¡± I revealed my plans. ¡°Do you want me to get the stone mage to reinforce the Shiny Platinum further?¡± Isla said seriously. ¡°Can he? I thought he already reinforced it so a skyship could land on the roof,¡± I asked as we walked in the gardens. ¡°There is always more they can do. He actually was prepaid for work on the Wolfsguard Village, and with Duskhunter mages doing much of the work, he should be open to doing additional work on the Shiny Platinum,¡± Isla informed me. ¡°Will he want more gold?¡± I inquired. I had been focusing on enchanting and had not been making any coins. Iris bit her lip, ¡°I will talk with him. I think we should get him to do the work without having to pay him. If he protests, I will remind him you healed his grandson for free.¡± ¡°Any problem getting enough supplies for a protracted siege?¡± I asked, knowing she had been stockpiling the basement in the Spire. ¡°I am waiting on deliveries. A lot of supplies are going through the Shiny Platinum, so it is just a matter of transferring them from the warehouse there to here. The only thing I have not had time to do was purchase the last two warehouses in Solaris City. Remy was going to take care of it, but he has been trying to manage both Shiny Platinums and track all the dungeon harvest from the Duskhunters and our delvers,¡± she said. I had hoped both Isla and Remy would finally have a break. ¡°I will take care of the warehouses. It should only take a few hours, and I think Mera and Fera will want to see their family in Hen¡¯s Hollow.¡± Isla produced the bag of platinum I had given her. I deposited in my dimensional space. ¡°You are doing good work, and I hope you find it rewarding, Isla.¡± I could tell Isla wanted to say something else, but nodded and walked away. The next day Cilia and Leda were working with the Wolfsguard on the Sky Wraith. They were helping Pakkam train the crew. Isla was busy getting the Spire ready to host so many extra people. I took the Maelstrom with Mera, Fera, Bleiz and the cats to Solaris City. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. Mera was playing with Adrial when she said, ¡°You know, Storme, the cats are twin sisters, just like Fera and me. I hope one day to have twin daughters, too.¡± Mera was putting me on the spot. ¡°I hope you one day fulfill that dream, Mera. I will set down in Hen¡¯s Hollow, so you two do not have to walk too far to see your parents.¡± Mera pursed her lips but didn¡¯t say anything. We zipped to Hen¡¯s Hollow and landed on the raised platform overlooking the Academy barracks. It felt so long ago that this monument loomed so large to me. It now seemed so insubstantile as the Maelstrom settled. Yadam, one of the guards at Hen¡¯s Hollow, met us as we descended the ramp. He recognized me and did not ask for the fee for landing. Instead, he welcomed the High Mage back to Hen¡¯s Hollow. Mera and Fera took off to their family farm, lugging gifts for their parents and siblings. Bleiz was at my side watching them and noted, ¡°Sometimes I do not understand you, Storme.¡± ¡°Stay on the ship with the cats. I will not be long. I am just going to purchase the warehouses, stop at a clinic or two to do some healing, and will be back,¡± I told Bleiz, who frowned. ¡°You took me along to babysit?¡± He said, and Kiara hissed at being called a baby. At least, that is what it seemed like to me. ¡°I am sure you can manage the blow to your ego,¡± I patted him on the shoulder. Kiara¡¯s tail twitched irritatedly as I walked away. The short walk to the city brought back memories. I could not believe it had been less than a year since I had finished my First Year Academy. Walking through the gates, I turned toward the skyship docks. I realized I did not know which warehouses I was going to purchase. There were only a dozen warehouses near the docks. I walked the docks and talked to two city guards, and they directed me to the offices dealing with property transfer. I actually did not know the process and regretted not bringing Iris or Remy to expedite the process. I entered the office, and a middle-aged man was behind the desk. I produced the contracts that had the buyout clause for the two remaining warehouses. ¡°Can you help me? I am here to complete these two contracts.¡± I slid the contracts to the plain-looking man, who took them with a sigh. He examined them as I waited. He finally looked up, ¡°You will need a representative from the owner here to sign off in front of me. Then I can complete the title transfer.¡± ¡°Can you summon them here?¡± I asked, and I slid him a gold coin before he could object. The man yelled, ¡°Henkel!! Run to Cloud Storage and get them to send a rep. Don¡¯t take no for an answer. Tell them¡­tell them one of their warehouses has collapsed.¡± A young boy zipped out of the offices, and the man pocketed the gold coin, nodding to me. It was only twenty minutes before an irate man entered the office, ¡°What the wind devil are you going on about, Dannie? All my warehouses are still standing!¡± The man entered the office and walked straight past me. The clerk, whose name was Dannie, slid the contracts to the angry man. He paused and looked at them, then abruptly looked around the room and focused on me. ¡°You represent the High Mage?¡± ¡°In a manner of speaking,¡± I gestured. ¡°I am just here to pay the buyout and then get the title to the warehouses.¡± I had no love for this man who called in the contract when he learned how profitable it could be with open trade. The man narrowed his eyes. I could tell he did not want to honor the contract. I materialized the bag of platinum and dropped it on the desk. Greed appeared in his eyes at the bag torn between the warehouse¡¯s potential future earnings. He reluctantly opened the bag and slowly counted the coins. As he counted, Donnie mentioned, ¡°You should have Gerald here give a tour of the warehouses. He has been known to slip some things by in the past.¡± ¡°Donnie, we do not need your input. I can handle things just fine on my own,¡± the man from Cloud Storage muttered. I really did not want this to get complicated. I nodded to Donnie, ¡°Thanks, a quick tour sounds advisable. Let us finish the paperwork first.¡± The next hour was a painful reminder of bureaucracy at work. I had to pay another five gold to complete the paperwork and waited while documents were created, stamped, and signed. Gerald, who I learned owned the Cloud Storage company, was going to be down to just a single warehouse after I purchased these two from him. He would be very wealthy, but he was the type of person who constantly wanted more. With the paperwork signed and the titles added to my dimensional storage, I followed Gerald to the warehouses. At least I would be able to learn where they were. It was a short walk, and I could tell Gerald was sweating a bit as we reached the first warehouse. We walked through the building, and it was empty, as expected. There were a dozen stalls inside the building to segregate the space. The second warehouse had guards outside of it, which sounded alarms in my head. We walked to the guards, and Gerald told them, ¡°You all can take a break. The owner is here.¡± The guards looked at each other. They walked away slowly, and we entered the warehouse. The warehouse was not as empty as it should have been. There were a number of crates in two of the stalls. Two guards were inside the warehouse as well. It was dark, but I recognized one of them. A red-haired bastard that I would not mind if he decided to attack me. Leon Mogensen. The boy who had mugged me in the alley and almost killed me in my youth. I gestured to the crates, ¡°What are these? I was under the impression that the warehouses were empty?¡± Gerald played dumb, ¡°I think they belong to the High Mage. He must have moved them here and hired the guards.¡± I groaned internally. Did he think I was this stupid? I did not want to deal with whatever scam this man was running. The Duskhunters were going to take over the warehouses in a few months and send their own guards. ¡°The High Mage did not. Have them removed immediately.¡± I could have checked the crates or threatened Gerald, but I did not want to escalate the issue where I would be forced to defend myself and probably kill some people. I left Gerald and the guards dumbstruck and went to find the clinics in the city. I used the communication stone to talk with Bleiz, ¡°I am headed to the clinics in the city. One of the warehouses was being used, but I did not press the issue.¡± ¡°Do you want me to check it out?¡± Bleiz asked with some excitement. ¡°No, not at this time. I don¡¯t want complications. I am letting them move it out,¡± I replied. ¡°I am going to the clinics now and will be back in a few hours.¡± I knew there were two small clinics at either end of the city. Neither clinic was free, so my arrival was met with some resistance as the minor healer that ran the first one would lose income from my free healing. I gave him a large gold and healed his patients for the next few hours. I did not think I would need to go to the second clinic as a steady stream of patients arrived as word spread that the High Mage was in the city doing free healing. I wondered briefly if Gerald would figure out that he had been dealing with the High Mage directly. The line was getting down to just a few people, and I was getting ready to walk back to Hen¡¯s Hollow and take the Maelstrom back to the Spire. The city alarm started, a long whirling sound. This alarm was used when the Sadian Empire attacked the islands. It made no sense that the alarm was going up. Unless the pirates were already attacking? But if the fleet in the caldera was still there and the two hypothesized pirate fleets were going to do a coordinated attack¡ªwhat was the alarm for? Bleiz was calling me on the stone, and I opened, ¡°Storme! There are pirate ships over Hen¡¯s Hollow. A lot of bloody dragon ships!¡± I oriented my sight line and looked toward the skies in the direction of Hen¡¯s Hollow. Black dots high in the sky were appearing one after another. The pirate fleet had snuck into the islands under invisibility. How were they able to get so close? My communicator buzzed, and I checked it. It was the #4 icon, which meant it was Remy. I was fearful to answer, but I did. Remy was at the Shiny Platinum, ¡°Storme. Pirate ships are above the city!¡± Damn it! We were supposed to have a warning. ¡°Protect my mother. I will get there as soon as I can,¡± I said as I started to run, going into lightning reflexes overdrive. My communication stone started to buzz with other contacts. As I ran, I answered the next call from Leda. ¡°What is happening?¡± I asked her. ¡°We are on the Sky Wraith above the city and headed to Skyhold Citadel to pick up the woman and children,¡± Leda said with a worried tone. ¡°Any Pirates on the Capital Island?¡± I asked Leda. ¡°Not yet. They are appearing over Titan¡¯s Shield and Deepwell Island,¡± Leda said breathlessly. ¡°Storme, the reports¡­there are a lot more than the expected one hundred and twenty ships.¡± My heart was racing as I wished I could run faster. I could see the skyships leaving the docks of Solaris. They were most likely fleeing. Then, a massive explosion rocked the entire city. The concussive wave reached me as the origin was not far from me, and my spell was able to counteract the effect. Many others were not as lucky, being thrown to the ground. Something had exploded in the warehouse district adjacent to the docks where I had been hours ago. Leda asked, ¡°What was that Storme? Are you okay?¡± ¡°I am fine. Focus on what you need to do, Leda,¡± I yelled into the stone and ended the communication. Injured people were all around me, and I paused to save a few critically injured women, children, and men. Just healing them enough to stabilize them. Everything was quickly falling apart. I needed to get to the Maelstrom and not waste my time saving people. ¡°Bleiz, bring the Maelstrom to me. I am near the southern gates healing people. Land near me,¡± I said into the stone. Bleiz¡¯s voice came back uncertain, ¡°I am trying. I have never flown a skyship before.¡± Everything was falling apart too quickly. The sky¡¯s black dots were growing, and dozens of people around me were screaming for help. How did this happen? ? Copyrighted 2024, 2025 by AlwaysRollsAOne No Permission is given to translate, copy, repost or alter to an audio format of this original work of fiction. If you are reading this on a site that is not my Patreon, RoyalRoad.com, or Scribblehub.com, it has been stolen without my permission and violates DMCA. Remember, this work is the result of my creative effort and is protected by copyright law. Removal or altering of this notification is an acknowledgment you are aware you are in violation of DMCA. Chapter 40 and 41 Chapter 40: End of the Year Festival Before breakfast, we were all getting dressed in the clothes Cilia had gifted us, except for Gareth, who was trying to squeeze into the outfit he had gotten during his trip to the capital. He had already outgrown the expensive clothes. He was not happy, but all of us were laughing quietly at his vulgarities and how tight the clothes were on his frame. Eventually, he gave up and tossed the clothes down from the loft. ¡°Stormy, I¡¯ve outgrown these boys¡¯ clothes. You can have them.¡± He dressed in the clothes Cilia got him, which fit perfectly, much to his annoyance. At breakfast, Gareth¡¯s excitement returned. He planned to seek out Brianne to spend the festivities with her. He thought his new physique, a well-muscled six foot three frame, would impress her. I didn¡¯t have the heart to tell him that she might be taken already. Aelyn still didn¡¯t want to go into town, but I asked her twice at breakfast, and she said yes the second time, shocking me. I was asking to be nice, but mustered a genuine smile. I guessed she could sleep in my old room, and I would sleep on the old couch in the shed. Introducing her to my mother and father would be tricky, but hopefully Freya and Pascal had smoothed the road already. After the festival¡¯s first day, I would be alone with Aelyn. I figured I would spend the rest of my time fishing and relaxing at the swimming hole near town. Hopefully, Aelyn would be up for that. I planned to do no stretching or exercising whatsoever! I would practice my focus exercises because those required no movement. I was going to leave the alarm spellbook behind as well to give my mind a break. This was going to be a vacation for me, both physically and mentally. Callem and Wynna would be spending the holiday with Ennet in Hen¡¯s Hollow. Callem told us to find him there if we needed him. He reminded me that I was not allowed to go into the city and to just enjoy the festival in Hen¡¯s Hollow. The city would have grander celebrations, but the New Year was a family and friends affair. I knew I should just be happy to be away from Callem¡¯s endless exercises and intense supervision for a few days. I reminded myself not to go anywhere near Ennet¡¯s house. I dug out the six bottles of wine for Ennet from my pack and handed them to Callem to pass along. That way, I would save myself a trip. Breakfast was sausage, egg, and cheese sandwiches. We really had gotten too many chickens, and it seemed like every meal now included eggs. At least it was a versatile ingredient. I wanted to use my next evolution on my personal dimensional space to extend the stasis effect, and then I could store the excess eggs there. The second evolution would increase it to a hundred to one time differential, but when the entry was open, time would pass normally. We headed out for Hen¡¯s Hollow right after breakfast. It was still quite early; most likely, I would get to town before my family finished breakfast. We walked Celia and Leda to the skyship dock on the edge of town and said our goodbyes. I headed to my house with Aelyn, while Gareth went to his parent¡¯s house. I had a large backpack with my gifts. Monty was the first to greet me, running from the overgrown side yard and tackling me. He was one big puppy, easily over a hundred pounds now, and very fluffy. His fur had hundreds of seeds stuck in it. I would have to talk to Freya about grooming him more often. I wrestled with him while Aelyn watched, and I even caught her smiling. I was surprised at how strong the pup was, and he won, getting victory licks on my face. Freya came running out of the house and tackled me. ¡°Storme! Father said you might come! It¡¯s been forever since I¡¯ve seen you. I missed you! I have so much to tell you. Gwen and I are friends! Bet you can¡¯t believe that! Well, she sort of works for me. I have another five other kids in town running for me as well! My courier business has been doing really well!¡± She was already out of breath. ¡°Slow down, Freya. We¡¯ll have all day to catch up!¡± I said, glad she was doing well. ¡°Are we going to give gifts in the morning or after dinner?¡± I asked her after she broke her fierce hug. She noticed Aelyn for the first time. ¡°Aelyn!¡± She ran and hugged the stunned young woman. ¡°I told Mother and Father all about you! They¡¯ll want to meet you!¡± Freya started pulling the stunned half-elf towards the house. ¡°Gifts are tonight,¡± she yelled back at me. ¡°I hope you got me something awesome!¡± We all walked into the house while Monty circled us, his tail wagging enthusiastically. Once inside, Mother ambushed me with a hug of her own. They were cleaning up breakfast, so I moved to break the hug and snag some breakfast rolls. Father spoke first. ¡°Are you Aelyn? You¡¯re welcome at our table for the festivities! Freya told us all about Storme¡¯s little harem!¡± My mother whacked my father on the head with a dirty wooden spoon. ¡°I mean, all about his female friends,¡± he corrected himself. Slightly abashed, he asked me, ¡°When are we going to see your wizardry?¡± He was all smiles. ¡°Maybe we can spar later, and you can show me your sword skills, too?¡± Father was in a great mood, apparently. I didn¡¯t want to do any work on my short vacation, though. ¡°Father, next time I visit, I promise to engage you in some swordplay. I¡¯m under orders to get some rest.¡± His disappointment was written on his face. ¡°How about some magic? Mother, I can remove those scars on your arms.¡± This caught everyone off guard, and soon, I was removing scars from everyone. Father had the most, nearly thirty scars all over his body from a lifetime of combat practice. With the magic display finally done, we sat at the table. Mother said, ¡°Storme, I¡¯m sorry, but it will take time to prepare your room. We¡¯ve been storing things in there and never bought another mattress.¡± She gave my father a cross look. My guess was that she had suggested many times that he get another mattress, and he¡¯d declined. ¡°No matter. Aelyn and I can always stay at the pub. Don¡¯t worry, Mother. I¡¯ll spend the entire day with you here.¡± I waved off her concern as best I could. The pub wasn¡¯t an inn but had small rooms for rent upstairs. With the city so close, Hen¡¯s Hollow had no need for a real inn. ¡°Can I stay with Storme and Aelyn?¡± Freya blurted out, her pleading eyes already on our parents. ¡°No, Freya, they don¡¯t allow dogs,¡± I said before she could worm her way into staying with me. ¡°And the beds are tiny there.¡± Freya had a petulant look on her face and slunk down in her chair at the rejection. I wasn¡¯t going to give in, though. I wanted some peace and quiet when I slept. ¡°So, Storme, Pascal says you¡¯re going to the Adventurer¡¯s Academy together in the capital?¡± Mother asked. I froze, a bun halfway to my mouth. Aelyn gave me an amused look. I directed my gaze to Pascal with a cocked eyebrow. He wore a guilty expression. ¡°Sorry, Storme. Gareth told me he was going to convince you to attend the Adventurer¡¯s Academy.¡± Well, that was news to me. Gareth hadn¡¯t mentioned anything; he was probably coming up with some plot to convince me. At least Pascal¡¯s loose lips would give me time to counter him. I had no intention of risking my life for others or fame. ¡°I haven¡¯t decided where to attend just yet. The Adventurer¡¯s Academy is just a possibility,¡± I deflected. ¡°I still have two years before I enter the first-year Academy in Hen¡¯s Hollow, and then a year at that Academy before deciding which advanced Academy to attend. Callem and Wynna have already offered to sponsor Gareth and me wherever we choose to attend.¡± Well, I¡¯d planted that seed now and removed any financial burden from them. Also, with our affluent sponsors, my wealth wouldn¡¯t be as much of a shock to others. The conversation progressed to get me caught up on my family. Father had been promoted and was in charge of the other six men at the single skyship dock in town. It meant he traveled more often on the transport runs, doing four a week instead of one, but the pay raise made it worth it. Mother had failed to pass her master¡¯s test but griped that it was political, as the city leather cutters guild voted heavily for their cutters over the cutters from the surrounding towns. Freya was building a business empire. She was making over two silvers every week, and most of the kids in town worked for her. Pascal was now the best swordsman attending the first year Academy in town, which started next week. He was doing his best to teach others what he had learned at the farm. Monty was the favorite dog in town, and just as I had thought, he was getting scraps from numerous people, which was probably helping him grow at a prodigious rate. I told them about my spells. They were very impressed when I demonstrated the cleanliness spell, so I felt I didn¡¯t need to reveal my other two spells. I answered a few questions about my magic, and then my mother said, ¡°Tell me about these young women you are training with.¡± She eyed Aelyn, who had been sitting quietly. ¡°Pascal says they all look up to you even though you are much younger than them. Freya says the same.¡± What do you tell your mother when you encounter such a situation? Father had a smirk on his face, Pascal a grin, and Freya a smile. Aelyn had her eyebrow raised in curiosity at what I would say. ¡°They¡¯re fellow students. Nothing more.¡± Aelyn¡¯s face fell . ¡°They¡¯re also my friends,¡± I amended. ¡°I heal them and cook for them,¡± Mother was waiting for more information, glancing between Aelyn and me, hoping one of us would provide a more complete answer. When I didn¡¯t continue, she gave a slight nod like she knew something I didn¡¯t. ¡°Isn¡¯t it time for Remembrance?¡± I asked, trying to push the conversation off me. Remembrance was where we told stories of those who had passed in the previous year and others long before that. This meant Mother and Father told stories of relatives we¡¯d never met or didn¡¯t remember, as they passed when we were young. Father started with stories of our grandfather. He told tales of the man, Jorric, and all the things Jorric taught him. Grandfather was a city guard, and while off duty, he died trying to break up a tavern brawl in the city. Mother and Father alternated, talking about our past relatives. They told the stories as we prepared lunch and long into the afternoon. We heard the same stories every year, but they were still fascinating. Father talked mostly about achievements, while Mother talked about personalities and how they treated others. Before we knew it, dinnertime was upon us, and I was nominated to make the meal. I supervised, and everyone pitched in. A large salad, grilled chicken, and a cheesy potato casserole. Dessert would be chocolate chip cookies fresh out of the oven. The meal was fantastic, tasting much better in present company. After the cookies, Freya was the first to jump up and try to initiate the gift-giving. Since birthdays were usually only recognized up to age 17, Skyholme culture had adopted a New Year gift-giving celebration for everyone. I whispered to Aelyn not to worry about giving gifts. As my family had ignored her brands, she was slowly getting more comfortable. I gave my mother her leather carving tools, and she was ecstatic. Apparently, the smith who made them was famous. Thank you, Wynna! My mother and father also gave me goggles. They looked like aviator goggles. Apparently, they were designed for dragon riders, skyship pilots, and navigators. They were magical, sharpened your vision, and tinted in response to bright light. Pascal told me they were expensive, but Father got them in a city port for cheap. There was a lost and found that Skyholme port guards all contributed to. After a certain time, the items were available for sale to guardsmen. Father explained that he got them for me because Freya had said I planned to get my own skyship. Well, I had told her about the Wind Splitter with enthusiasm. She must have inferred too much from my words. I gave Father his potion belt next, and he was shocked. He knew the four potions were expensive, and he gave me a bear hug. Then I gave Pascal his belt, and he was ecstatic, trying it on immediately. Pascal had gotten me an elven cookbook. Just elven cuisine, as the book was thankfully not in the elvish language. I had seen this very book on the discount rack at Wigand¡¯s. It was the thought that counted. I gave Monty his treat bag next and got a lick. Then he took a bone to the corner of the room and started crunching loudly on it. Freya was beyond the limit of her patience. Being last was too much for her. I pulled out the six school textbooks for her. She looked shocked and unhappy and frosted a smile at me. I pretended that was all I had gotten her for a good minute, but before we moved on, I reached into my bag and produced two boxes of candy samplers from a famous candy shop in the Skyholme capital. Freya¡¯s smile returned, having forgotten about the expensive books in place of the cavity-inducing treats. Freya then gave me the gift she had gotten for me. It was a dark brown leather vest. It looked expensive, and she showed me the interior pockets with excitement. Apparently, it was the height of fashion, so I put it on. It was a little big, but Freya said that was so I could grow into it. The gift-giving proceeded until everyone had exchanged gifts. It was late, and I hugged everyone and headed to the pub with Aelyn. Hopefully there were rooms available. I hadn¡¯t thought about it till now, but a lot of the outlying farmers came to the town for the festivities that started tomorrow. At the pub, my worries were found to be valid. They had one room for tonight, and all rooms were reserved for tomorrow. I looked at Aelyn with a guilty expression. ¡°I can sleep on the floor.¡± Aelyn was unreadable as she considered. ¡°No, it¡¯s fine. We can share the bed. Just stay on your half.¡± We went upstairs with the key and found six doors. It was my first time up the stairs, and I didn¡¯t realize they had this many rooms. As I looked for my room in the hallway, a door opened, and I was shocked to see Meradith¡­or maybe Feradith? ¡°Storme?¡± she asked. She yelled excitedly into her room, ¡°Fera, it¡¯s Storme!¡± Almost immediately, a door across the hall opened, and their father was there, as well as their mother holding the youngest Gaskil. The stern look on the man¡¯s face at seeing me with Aelyn forced me to explain myself. ¡±Sir, I got a room here tonight¡­My family repurposed my room, and I surprised them by coming home¡­I didn¡¯t know you were staying here¡­I mean, I¡¯m not here to see your daughters¡­.¡± I was making assumptions about why he looked so cross. Ms. Gaskil whispered something in his ear, and he softened. ¡°Sorry, Storme. If you spend time talking with the twins, just keep the door open.¡± One of the girls squealed a little. Their mother eyed Aelyn with suspicion but didn¡¯t say anything before pushing her husband in and closing the door. A hand pulled me from behind into the twins¡¯ room. I oriented myself and found the twins and their younger sister sharing a room. ¡°Storme!¡± Meradith said. ¡°It¡¯s good to see you! After Captain Callem bought all those supplies and chickens from us, Father promised we would spend two nights in town for the festival! We just got in. Our brothers and grandparents are taking care of the farm! Have you seen Gareth? Can you and Gareth be our escorts for the festival? Who is your servant? She is so beautiful!¡± The younger sister was on the bed, watching us. I liked these girls; they were genuine and were always smiling. They had also cleaned up and were wearing their best clothes. They had the hard-working farmgirl vibe to them. ¡°This is my friend, Aelyn. She¡¯s training with us on Captain Callem¡¯s farm. You heard I surprised my parents, so my room had no usable bed. It¡¯s up to Aelyn, but I think it would be fantastic if you joined us for the festival!¡± Aelyn didn¡¯t look as excited at the prospect, but remained quiet and just gave a small nod of acceptance. I knew this would make Gareth happy. Either way, Mera and Fera would be fun to spend the day with. Maybe their energy and endless smiling would rub off on Aelyn. I talked with them briefly until their mother came and told them it was time for bed. We found the bed in my room small. Aelyn seemed unperturbed and lay down. ¡°Oh, just lay in front of me! There isn¡¯t much room, and neither of us is going to sleep on the floor!¡± I scooted in as the small spoon and spammed my cleanliness spell. The bed sheets and blankets definitely needed a good cleaning. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Aelyn wrapped an arm around me to get comfortable, her body heat pleasant against my back. I started making coins into my dimensional space to distract myself until her breathing evened out and I knew she was asleep. I made lots of copper coins for tomorrow. If Gareth and I were to entertain the twins, the small coins would be handy. I soon fell asleep myself. In the morning, I was awoken by soft knocks on my door. The twins were raring to go, and it was early. After a short discussion under the gaze of their parents, we decided I would buy them and Aelyn breakfast at the pub and take them to the baths. While they were cleaning up, I would go get Gareth. Using the baths was the twins¡¯ idea, and their father seemed overly suspicious. Aelyn was reluctant to join the twins as they were strangers, but I didn¡¯t give her a choice. Breakfast was a buffet, since many townsfolk were passing through the inn today. I paid for all four of us and filled my plate twice. Mera challenged me to see which of us could eat more. She put up a good fight, but I won, to the amusement of her sister and Aelyn. I escorted the three lovely girls to the baths and gave Edel enough coin for them to get private tubs and have their clothes washed. The girls felt awkward that I was spending so much on them, but I waved it off, saying that Captain Callem paid us well on the farm. Aelyn whispered something to them, which made me anxious, but they still wore smiles afterward. I went to Gareth¡¯s house with the good news. Unfortunately, his mother said he was spending the day with Brianne. I was shocked, as I was certain Brianne would be occupied today¡ªif not with Edward, then with someone else. It looked like the burden of escorting the three girls would be on me. As I was returning to the bathhouse, I saw Pascal with one of his female friends with whom he had sparred. At the bathhouse, I had to wait half an hour for the twins and Aelyn to finish. They seemed to have drawn Aelyn out of her shell, as I could hear her talking and giggling with them. I was concerned about what stories Aelyn was telling them about me. When they exited the bath, they all looked fresh and happy. They were a little upset about there being no Gareth, but Mera took my arm and Fera took Aelyn¡¯s, and we hauled off to the festival. We immediately ran into Gareth and Brianne when we got to the town commons. The twins flocked to Brianne and started talking with her. Aelyn moved to listen but didn¡¯t participate. Gareth and I moved to a sidebar. Gareth was excited about Brianne but kept eyeing the twins. They were tall and prettily dressed in their best clothes. I suspected Gareth was jealous of me. ¡°Storme, where did you find the Gaskil twins?¡± ¡°They asked me to escort them. They wanted you to help, but your mother said you were with Brianne today,¡± I informed him. He seemed to deflate a little. ¡°Brianne asked me to escort her last night,¡± he said and smirked, cheering up. I didn¡¯t want to know where his mind was going. He suddenly forgot about the young women. ¡°My parents got me an adventurer¡¯s pack as a gift! It has a tent, a down feather sleeping bag, a runic firestone, a cooking set with a small box of various seasonings, a shaving kit, twelve tightly wrapped ration bars, a water skin, a heavy rain cloak, two different skinning knives, a hand axe, twenty feet of cord, two bandages, six small watertight sacks, two steel flasks, and six small bells.¡± He stopped, out of breath. The girls had finished discussing whatever young women discuss, and Brianne pulled Gareth away with a smile on her face. As my group strolled through the festival, I pampered my three dates. I was showing off my wealth a little, too. I dropped lots of coins and even demonstrated my cleanliness spell a few times, turning old coins bright and shiny. My simple magic trick greatly impressed the twins. We found Wynna and Ennet had set up a tent for readings. They were charging just five silver for a reading, though it was for townsfolk only. Expensive for the locals, but much less than the few gold they would normally charge. With their skills, five gold was a bargain. It took some cajoling, but the twins eventually allowed me to pay for a reading for them. Even though I told them not to tell me what they found out, they did anyway. They were just too excited. Mera had a tier 2 ability called fermentation. I assumed it sped up and gave some control over the wine and beer-making process. It also had some alchemy uses. Mera hadn¡¯t been aware she had the ability, so she was quite excited. Fera had two tier 1 abilities, strength of the ox and harvest. Harvest was a common ability that local farmers had. It allowed her to accelerate the growth of a plant. She already knew she had the ability, so it wasn¡¯t a surprise. Strength of the ox was a revelation for her, though, and it would give her additional strength as she grew. The day was fun. We ate, danced, played games, ate, sang songs, watched people, ate more, and were looking forward to the illusionary fireworks tonight. Aelyn started to get along with the twins, which made me happy. After sampling our seventh food cart, the town bell sounded twice, paused, and then sounded twice again. It kept repeating, and time seemed to freeze. That was the alarm for an attack by Sadians. Chapter 41: Applying What You Learned The center of town started moving again as people realized what was happening. Being on the perimeter of the second-most populous island meant we had trained for this. All able-bodied men were to head to the city to help with the defense. Everyone else was to gather as many supplies as they could carry and follow them to the city. In the event the city was unreachable, the townsfolk were to band together and defend it. In all, it was a simple plan that seemed too difficult to follow. Each person first looked for their family and then either headed home or to a friend¡¯s house. ¡°Meradith and Feradith, I have to go,¡± I said worriedly, looking around for my parents and Freya. My thoughts were churning. I had put my hand axe and throwing daggers into my storage last night. Spending the entire day with the twins, I hadn¡¯t thought to bring them out. I brought the axe with its belt to my hand and strapped it around my waist, ignoring Mera¡¯s look of disbelief. Next, I got two throwing daggers secured on my person. Aelyn also brought forth various weapons in preparation. Mera elbowed her sister, who had been searching the quickly dispersing crowd for her family. Fera saw the daggers appear as I secured them and asked, ¡°You have other magic, Storme?¡± I had also been scanning the crowds, looking for family or friends. It was Gareth who found me first and came toward me with Brianne in tow. ¡°Storme! My dad and yours have gone to the city to help with defense. They told us to hold up at Callem¡¯s farm with our families. If it¡¯s a large-scale attack, they¡¯ll focus on the city, and we would be safer there. I think Callem went with them, but I haven¡¯t seen him.¡± I nodded, breathing heavily due to the stress of the situation. I offered some optimism, ¡°We have plenty of food, and it should be well out of the path if any Sadian skyships land on this part of the island.¡± Gareth, for his part, seemed extremely calm, but he was scanning the rushing crowd for familiar faces. ¡°Fera and Mera, you can join us at the farm with your family if you want,¡± I said. ¡°Our parents went to the city with our siblings to enjoy the larger celebration there today,¡± Fera said, uncertain. ¡°Our grandparents are at our farm. Maybe we should head there?¡± I calmed my mind with my exercises and decided to take charge. ¡°No. You¡¯re coming with us. Your farm is a good two miles away, and your grandparents are smart enough to know what to do. Gareth, go get your mother and as many supplies as you can and meet me at my house. We will leave from there.¡± I jogged alongside Aelyn, with Fera and Mera following. I found my mother packing large satchels with food when we entered the house. She jumped as I slammed the door open. ¡°Sorry to scare you, Mother. This is Fera and Mera. We¡¯re all going to Callem¡¯s farm to wait out the attack.¡± I started to help her. The twins paused briefly before helping as well. Aelyn remained at the door and scanned the streets. She was smarter than me. I should have designated someone to stand watch. ¡°Where¡¯s Freya?¡± I asked. My mother looked up, noticing for the first time that she was not with us. Her brow creased in worry, then realization. ¡°Oh, no, I think she went swimming with Gwen. They were in the pie-eating contest together and were a mess!¡± Of course, nothing would be simple. ¡°Pascal¡¯s coming!¡± Aelyn said from the doorway, and Pascal entered thirty seconds later. He looked a little shocked at all the activity in the house. I noticed a hickey on his neck, so he had been busy today. Pascal regained his composure. " I came to get my sword and head to the city for defense.¡± Our mother looked at him like he was an idiot. ¡°I can fight,¡± he said, gaining confidence in front of our matriarch. Mother nodded resignedly and resumed her packing, accepting that Pascal was now old enough to make his own decisions. ¡°I¡¯m going to get Freya and Gwen,¡± I announced, moving toward the door. ¡°I¡¯m coming,¡± Aelyn said, and I just nodded. ¡°Mera, stand watch at the door. We should be back in twenty minutes with the girls.¡± I bolted out the door and down the street to Gareth¡¯s house. Gareth and his mother were still packing. ¡°Head to my house,¡± I told Gareth¡¯s tiny mother. ¡°We¡¯re headed to the swimming hole; Freya and Gwen are up there,¡± I told Gareth. He glanced at what he had been working on before grabbing his hand axe and heading toward me to go out the door, leaving his new adventurer¡¯s pack behind. As a trio, we ran toward the swimming hole, and even with my heart thudding and the noise from running, I heard something that put dread in my heart. The warning bell in the center of Hen¡¯s Hollow had switched to a constant cadence. This meant that enemies were on the island and within sight of the town. How? This made no sense to my addled brain. With all the magical scrying the Skyholme Navy employed, we should have had more warning! My thoughts parted to clarity as I heard barking¡ªMonty. Gareth had already increased his pace, but the exercises I had been doing to keep my mind clear. ¡°Gareth, don¡¯t get ahead of us! If there¡¯s a threat, then we need to meet it together!¡± Gareth slowed, though he clearly didn¡¯t want. I increased my pace to the fastest speed and got my throwing axe ready. A pained yelp from a dog echoed, and my heart lurched. This could not be happening! We broke through the clearing, and though I was shocked at what I saw, I continued sprinting. Five massive gray-skinned humanoids stood on the banks. Monty was down on the shore, and Freya and Gwen were in the middle of the shallow, wide stream. They looked helpless and unsure of what to do. I quickly came up with a plan. ¡°Gareth, center. Aelyn, left,¡± I said as I moved to engage the ogre on the right. The name came to me from the collection of monster plates I had collected. Our bestiary training with Callem had taught us they were strong, hardy, and usually simple-minded. Gareth raced ahead of us at the only ogre currently facing us, a dagger in each hand. The ogre swung a massive maul parallel to the ground. The idiot ogre had so clearly telegraphed his attack that I could have dodged it. Gareth slid between the monstrosity¡¯s legs and cut both of the ogre¡¯s femoral arteries with his daggers. Coming up behind the ogre, he threw the daggers at the back of the necks of two different ogres. The penetration wasn¡¯t much, and they turned around. I had my own ogre to worry about. It was also turning at the commotion. My goal was to hack into my ogre¡¯s neck, hopefully hitting a carotid artery. Instead, my axe swing only got the shoulder, and its turning body yanked the embedded axe from my grip. My opponent was wielding a massive sword, and it did not look happy as its bloodshot eyes narrowed in on me. Freya and Gwen were yelling, but I needed to focus, and my heart was pounding in my ears. Even if they were issuing a warning of something coming from behind me, I should have time to circle and see. My ogre flicked its wrist, and its blade raced toward me. If I hadn¡¯t seen its forearm flexing in preparation for the attack, I would have probably died right there. Of course, of the five ogres, I got the trained swordsman. Cynically, I thought it was probably the only skilled warrior in the group. Its swing came up short, and I dodged just out of reach. My opponent was wearing well-made, form-fitting leather armor. It was definitely not a grunt, even if it smelled like rotting garbage. I managed to turn off my olfactory sense enough to continue. I circled to see how my friends were doing. Gareth¡¯s first victim looked to be bleeding out, moving feebly on his knees. His other two opponents didn¡¯t look good either. One had Gareth¡¯s throwing axe embedded in its chest, and the other was dripping blood from its dominant hand, which had a few missing fingers, as it struggled to hold its maul. Aelyn, for her part, had put daggers in the kneecap and both eyes of her opponent. The blinded ogre was swinging wildly, and Aelyn¡¯s eyes flitted between it and Gareth¡¯s ogre, who now just wielded its hand axe. If I could keep my opponent occupied, they should be able to come and¡ªwait! I had magic. My ogre turned to help its brethren, and I summoned throwing daggers and peppered it with them. When it turned in irritation, I aimed for its eyes, and it easily deflected the daggers with its blade. It was much quicker than it looked. I definitely needed more weapons in my storage. My ogre¡¯s footwork suddenly changed, and fuck¡­It really was a swordsman. The steps were from Dragon¡¯s Might. One of Gareth¡¯s favorite offensive sword forms. At least I knew that even though the attack was overpowering, it had some openings. The ogre¡¯s advance was faster than I anticipated. Fuck. It had reach, speed, power, and skill. How the hell was this fair? The ogre came in heavy from my right side and I moved heavily, focusing on its body and arm movements to counter the attack. I recognized it too late and interposed my axe to force a glancing blow. Nope¡­it was a lot stronger than Gareth, and the axe flew out of my hand. The ogre¡¯s blade cut deep into my chest and threw me back. Thinking it had finished me, it turned. I used my hand to hold the gash together and worked my healing magic through my pain. I didn¡¯t panic or pass out. The cut had sliced my pectoral muscles and completely ruined the outfit Cilia had gotten me. Aelyn and Gareth only had one ogre standing when my opponent joined the fray. Gareth diverted to engage it, and Aelyn took the remaining foe. I moved to get Freya and Gwen out of the water. At the shore, I waved them toward me; Freya¡¯s eyes were wide in shock. Of course, she had probably thought I was dead. Monty was prone on the shore, and I got to him first. He was barely alive, with a shallow rise and fall of his chest. I forced my healing magic into the dog. I was very inefficient with my aether, but that didn¡¯t matter. Monty¡¯s wounds closed, but he had lost a lot of blood, and the sand was soaked with crimson. I had used a lot of his body¡¯s stores to heal him, and he thinned noticeably. My chest healing was still incomplete, but I needed to help my friends. When Gwen and Freya reached me from the river, I ordered in a hoarse voice, ¡°Run to our house as fast as you can. When we finish here, we will carry Monty there.¡± It was Gwen who spoke through their shared shock. ¡°Monty¡¯s alive!¡± she yelled, drawing the attention of the ogre swordsman. The sword-wielding ogre spun its head, and anger burned in its bloodshot eyes at seeing me alive. I could only imagine what was going through its mind. ¡°Go!¡± I yelled at the girls. They stumbled and ran away toward town. Gareth wasn¡¯t letting the ogre disengage. Even with the shorter weapon, Gareth could dodge and move easily around its attacks. At least it looked like the ogre only knew one sword form, and now that I watched its movements, I would say they looked unpolished, unlike Gareth, who looked like flowing water in comparison. I continued to heal myself as I moved toward the fight. Seeing I had no weapons, the ogre ignored me to defend itself from the pesky Gareth. Gareth had cut the ogre multiple times, but with the shorter reach of the axe, he hadn¡¯t done much damage. When I was sure the ogre wasn¡¯t looking at me, I summoned my saber and rushed to help Aelyn. The ogre didn¡¯t notice me, but the sword wielder had barked a warning. Fortunately, my opponent didn¡¯t comprehend the danger as I slid my sword into its rib cage from behind. I pivoted the sword, letting it do as much internal damage as possible before retreating. The ogre turned, frothing blood from its mouth. Now outnumbered three to one, the ogre swordsman tried to flee. Gareth didn¡¯t want to let it and kept blocking his escape route. ¡°Gareth!¡± I yelled. ¡°We don¡¯t have time!¡± Gareth didn¡¯t look happy, as he know he could win this fight, but it would be a battle of attrition. He let the ogre¡¯s next feint work so it could run away. ¡°Gather what you can quickly, and then I need you to carry Monty.¡± Gareth glanced at the large shepherd, his fur coated in blood, and nodded. We all gathered our weapons and moved towards the town with Gareth carrying a heavy Monty between me and Aelyn. ¡°Those were Calthorn mercenaries,¡± Aelyn said as we moved at a much slower pace, feeling the danger lighten. Gareth asked, ¡°Why would mercenaries be up here in Skyholme?¡± Aelyn scanned our surroundings. ¡°The Calthorn mercenaries¡¯ emblem was a white boar with black thorn on their leather armor. They¡¯re a very expansive company that draws from dozens of races. I don¡¯t know why they¡¯re here. I have seen them in many cities in the lowlands. I think they usually participate in wars, raids or serve as guards in the lowlands.¡± I supposed that made sense. If you had the gold, mercs were disposable. The combat skills of those ogres were not impressive. The leader was competent, but if Gareth had the sword I had forged him, it would have been no match. We broke into the outskirts of town. The bell had stopped, and I didn¡¯t hear anything as we entered my house. Freya went and cried in our mother¡¯s arms, and the twins held Gwen close, comforting her. ¡°Brianne went to find her family,¡± Gareth¡¯s mother said when I couldn¡¯t find her. My mother came to me worriedly and started fingering the damage from the sword and my blood-soaked clothes. She was shedding quiet tears as well, but wiped them before Freya could see. She knew she needed to be strong for us. ¡°Grab the packs,¡± I ordered. ¡°We¡¯re moving out now.¡± It took a few minutes before we left the house, loaded down with what we could carry. We borrowed a small cart from our neighbors to load Monty and some of the provisions. The twins took turns pulling while Gareth, Aelyn, and I scanned the woods. We were about a hundred yards into the woods when we heard fighting and small explosions back in town. Gareth looked like he wanted to return to help, but I shook my head. Those explosions were probably magic. Gareth didn¡¯t have good defenses against magic, and we needed him. We moved quickly, and Monty started whining as he came to awareness. I whispered to Freya that she should feed him soft food once we made it to the farmhouse so he could recover. My own healing was finally done, and I could move without pain. Before we entered the farm clearing, Aelyn went and scouted all the buildings. When we were sure that it was clear, we moved into Callem¡¯s farmhouse. It had the escape tunnel in the basement, and I showed it to everyone as we settled in. The air had an ozone smell to it and the temperature was much hotter than normal, so we stripped to our underclothes as we sweated together, waiting for word. The mood was tense, and I couldn¡¯t believe Gareth kept checking out the twins when they weren¡¯t looking. The twins¡¯ shirts were soaked with sweat, sticking to their bodies. ¡°Not the time, Gareth!¡± I hissed at him as I passed. His mother even clapped him on the side of his head. I used my cleanliness spell on myself and started giving orders to settle everyone in. We would sleep in the basement, as it was cooler. But first we needed to get blankets and beds down there, because the cold runes were active. I went and packed up our bunkhouse, shoving furniture, food, and weapons into my storage space to make transport easier. It was hours before the basement was set up for the group. Everyone was somber. I didn¡¯t find any of Callem¡¯s or Wynna¡¯s communication stones in their room, so we were effectively cut off. There wasn¡¯t much we could do now but wait. ? 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