Deathseed: Chapters 35-36 (Patreon)

More payoff this week. The big one is Theo's solution, which is the culmination of the "soulcrafting mystery" I set up this book. I know I'm going to get blasted in reviews for spending so much time on technical details, so I hope that everyone has enjoyed it - no point playing to the middle when it's more fun to be unusual. More importantly, I hope that you hardcore soulcrafters find the solution interesting/satisfying.

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Chapter 35

Every moment Theo spent getting elaborately dressed for his audience with Queen Yeshir felt like a moment utterly wasted. There was a battle impending and soulcrafting to be doing, after all. But the unfortunate truth was that bashing his head against the design problem had yet to come up with any brilliant solutions, so the best use of his time might actually be going out to play politics.

He consoled himself by imagining that he might receive a sublime material that allowed him to finally break through.

Whatever their other limitations, the beetles were apparently capable of constructing Slescan clothes for humanoids. So, when Theo finally flew out toward the royal hive, he did so in blue regalia. Nauda had discussed whether he should wear some gray, blue, and gold combination to match the hive and apparently decided that was the wrong approach.

Since no prince would drive himself, Theo sat in the back seat of the sleigh while Krikree drove. He was fine with that in theory, since it gave him more time to soulcraft, but worried about the potential effect on Krikree. She had agreed to the plan and not returned to being a shivering wreck, but that didn't mean she could travel through a royal hive unharmed.

[Arrival!] Krikree emitted the pheromone sharply and Theo stopped his soulcrafting and navel-gazing.

The royal hive that led the entire Gray-Blue-Gold region wasn't so impressive at a glance. Much larger mounds than the average beetle hive, but it was no termite city. However, he quickly noticed that several of the exterior towers were heavily armed and there were reinforcing sublime materials around many of the entrances. Their target was one near the top, a circular hole ringed by silver and gold.

Their arrival attracted immediate attention, of course, but even Slescans wouldn't wildly attack an Authority. When they landed beside the entrance, Theo floated out on his own cantae and waited. Krikree hopped out and stood sharply at attention a step ahead and to the left.

"Human-prince." A large Slescan, like a muscular beetle on hind legs, walked toward him. He grated out the words as if they hurt his throat. "Queen not need meetings."

[I've come to negotiate,] Theo emitted in his most imperious pheromones. The royal guard blinked in surprise.

[My apologies, human-prince. We must still consult with her majesty Queen Yeshir.]

[Then do so.]

The royal guard moved back into the tunnel at a run, since his day had probably been turned upside-down. Another guard, this one skinny and covered in chitin trophies of war, crawled up the side while emitting pheromones like [Anger] and [Betrayal]. Theo did his best to pretend this was beneath his notice instead of splattering him.

"Go back!" The new royal guard hefted a spear. "We want no trade with your kind. Not after the last one abandoned us."

"And who would that be?" Theo asked. "Prince Tythes?"

"Don't say that name!"

With a cry the guard thrust directly at his face. Krikree snapped into action, grabbing the spear shaft before it could strike. She required two arms, but managed to stop it and bind them in place. Both Slescans were Rulers, but she clearly had the edge in strength and it unnerved the royal guard.

"There's no need for any of this." The voice that emerged from the royal entrance sounded slightly feminine to his ear, though it was overwhelmed by a buzz. All the royal guards pulled back to attention as Queen Yeshir arrived.

At some point, Theo needed to find a book on Slescan species so that he could better understand their distinctions. Their societies seemed to categorize everyone based on function, but they must have some scholarly cultures, or at least foreigners who had studied them. Across the world there had to be a Slescan/Arbaian gate that had been productive.

Whatever her species, Queen Yeshir was an entomophobe's nightmare. She stood as tall as he was, chitinous plates partially covered in red robes. Her face was almost purely insectoid, with mandibles and bulging compound eyes. Where Krikree's species struck him as mammals evolving toward insects, the queen looked like an ant that had taken a few steps toward humanoid form.

"You're not what I expected." Queen Yeshir stared at him, her spiky red antennae motionless. "Were you one of the humans present during that little incident some years ago? I'm afraid you mostly look alike to me... and I mean no offense."

"None taken." Theo clasped his hands behind his back. "I've visited this region before, but I've returned because I intend to trade. I want the acid one of your hives produces, so I thought that I'd come to the source and ask permission."

"How polite." Queen Yeshir snapped her mandibles together in what might have been pleasure. "Come inside, then. We'll fete you while you're here and perhaps we can discuss business."

So he floated into the royal entrance with Krikree marching after him. Theo was honestly a little surprised. He had expected to need to display a gravitational field in order to cow the guards and get an audience, but apparently all the posturing had been good enough.

The royal guard gave him a richly appointed bedroom that was actually perfectly habitable by humans, down to a large canopy bed built into the walls. Maybe for Tythes, or maybe the hive really was adapted for the occasional foreign guest.

Krikree got only a small hollow outside the door and crouched in it. Theo wanted to check in with her, but he couldn't break the facade. He had to resist the urge to send out pheromones while the guards weren't listening. What would have been secret communication elsewhere would be practically shouting here and Krikree had advised that some specialists could reconstruct pheromones long passed.

Theo focused on his gravitational senses the first entire night, anticipating treachery, and instead was left in peace. The next day he was already up and refreshed when servants came to call him for a feast.

The meal was suited for a human palate as well, with no live insects or plates of grubs. However long Queen Yeshir had been in a relationship with Tythes, she had clearly absorbed some elements of human instincts. More importantly, the meal was filled with sublime materials befitting Authorities. Theo ate everything that looked useful to him and transferred the rest to his soulhome for the others.

No one else joined him and he was left alone until the evening meal when he was invited to the royal quarters deeper into the hive. Those tunnels were grander, arching high over his head with fragrant herbs hanging from the ceilings. He spotted a mix of Slescan finery and foreign materials, from silk drapes to an archway made of Fithan stone.

This time he and Queen Yeshir dined alone on opposite sides of a table piled high with more sublime food. No servants at all after the food was brought out, unlike the last meal. Krikree remained outside the door and one of the royal guards stood opposite her.

"Please, eat your fill." Queen Yeshir extended a claw over the table. "Your world may not view food the way ours does, but all soulcrafters need sublime foods."

"Thank you, you're most generous." Theo began eating politely while looking at the queen's face and ignoring how her mandibles tore into the meat.

"I'm impressed that you could use pheromones with the guards. The previous human prince I knew was never interested in the skill."

It seemed very likely that Tythes understood more than he let on, but Theo shrugged it off. "I have an interest in languages, and I've found pheromones have more of an impact on the lesser castes."

"Quite right. Tell me, have you ever tried mistliver? It's a culinary delicacy where half the pleasure is the scent of it, quite a complex aroma..."

Making conversation with a Slescan queen turned out to be about as easy as making small talk with anyone. Theo carefully probed for information and learned that Tythes had apparently visited less and less over the past year. His involvement had annihilated one of Yeshir's enemies, so she couldn't express too much discontent, but she clearly felt as though she had been used and discarded.

Thankfully, she wasn't attempting to seduce him. Even if Theo had been willing to do that, he wasn't into mandibles and bulging eyes.

She did offer a subtler proposal as a subtext. Based on the bounty of food and her statements about the hive's need for higher soulcrafters, it was clear that he could have a place here. If he stayed and helped Gray-Blue-Gold colony fight their wars, he would have everything provided to him, from food to sublime materials.

They didn't even discuss his business during the first meal, which he found frustrating. Theo returned to his room swallowing all his irritation. At least he could soulcraft, but what he really wanted to do was consult with Krikree. She was still playing the perfect royal guard, hopefully not being overwhelmed by the environmental pheromones.

Ultimately, the luxury bored him. It reminded Theo too much of the easy adventures that Vistgil had offered him on his guided tour of the Nine Worlds. If he had traveled Slest back then, no doubt he would have met a queen attractive by humanoid standards who would have handed him the materials he needed without entangling him in any overly complex politics. What Vistgil provided wasn't unnatural so much as a reflection of the cushioned reality that the powerful in any world built for themselves.

To stave off boredom while eating, Theo returned to his design problem. After some experiments he was confident that he could create a sphere with a singularity radiating gravity out into enhancement chambers. The problem was that he needed do do more than that, and building Transcendent Monuments into his sphere threatened to throw off the balance.

He'd been designing blueprints on the assumption that he could include both his Corporeal Floor and his Immortality Conduit in his second set of three tiers. Perhaps he shouldn't cram in so many? Since he intended to reach tiers beyond Dominion, he could push the Conduit up along with the Ethereal Floor. Maybe that would balance, though he still needed to find a way to add in singularity-boosting floors so that he could strike at higher-tiered soulcrafters.

During the second dinner, Theo resolved to bring up the trade issue so that he wouldn't spend too long at the royal hive. Fortunately, Queen Yeshir seemed in a much more business-like mood.

"You said that you needed acid from one of my hives." Her compound eyes made it impossible to be sure where she was looking. "I've taken an inventory and I haven't found much that I think would be useful, to an Authority of your strength. What did you mean?"

So she'd been doing research of her own. Theo patted his mouth with a napkin to buy a little time while he reconsidered his approach.

"I was referring to the city some of the soldiers call Acidmount," he said as casually as he could. "I believe they produce a potent acid that-"

"Acidmount?" Queen Yeshir shifted in obvious displeasure. "I know of no such hive."

"It may be an informal name, perhaps due to their production. I was under the impression that you had already used some of that acid?"

"Some was taken from a termite city." The queen settled back in her chair and gripped the table with three of her four arms. Though she held a knife in the last, she didn't return to eating. "I had not realized that the beetles were capable of producing more. That information had escaped me."

"Beetles will tend to follow their instincts." Theo smiled as if only mildly interested. "Forgive me for the unsolicited advice, but perhaps it would be wise to create more defenses for this asset? No doubt the beetles are wasting the acid, and once word gets out, rivals might attempt to steal it."

"Perhaps. And you want some of this acid for yourself?"

"I was hoping to take some percentage of their production, yes. I'll be returning from time to time to pick up the results, and if you're willing, I could supervise parts of the development. Our standards may not be quite yours, but I do need to ensure the beetles maintain certain minimums."

Queen Yeshir shifted lower in her seat and regarded him. "I believe we can make a deal, but what you're asking for is not trivial. What can you trade in return for the bounty of my colony?"

Theo waved the issue aside. "Does a queen of your prominence have any need for craftgems or other petty resources? I did trade for some anti-weirkey stone, which might prevent rivals from attempting to steal your secrets..."

They hammered out a deal in which Theo reluctantly gave up the anti-weirkey stone he didn't want in exchange for the acid. The larger concern was making sure that Yeshir didn't tear apart the city to take whatever she wanted. He insisted on a degree of involvement that he hoped would allow the city some degree of independence. Yeshir considered herself above petty concerns of production and only wanted to make sure her colony had control of this new resource.

It took him one more day to leave, during which he had to fend off more aggressive offers for an alliance. In the end, he thought that he got what Bluepetal and Nauda wanted, with relatively few sacrifices on his end. The acid alone would be useful for House Blacksilver, plus his storage chamber was loaded with sublime foods.

Theo let Krikree fly the sleigh until they were out of sight, then he relaxed. "Alright, I think that's far enough."

"Theo-sister pretend prince!" Krikree turned around to look at him, antennae twitching strangely. "Good at pretend."

"And you did a good job pretending to be a guard, but you remember who you are, right?"

[Confusion.] Krikree didn't exactly look cowed, just a little subdued. Theo stood up and swung himself into the front seat.

"I'm driving back, I insist. Sitting around while others do everything for you gets really old." He nudged Krikree into the back seat and scratched her head while doing so. "And hey, do you want some of the dishes the queen served? Your soulhome could use a lot more sublime food."

Though Krikree didn't say anything, not even [Food!], she did accept what he offered. Considering how terrified she had been about stealing from queens, it was progress that she was willing to eat food taken directly from a queen's table. Theo decided that he would leave her alone to process and worry about his own problems.

With all the time spent in the royal hive, he had less than a month until the deathseed blossomed and destroyed Nlukoko. The small amount of strength he gained from new sublime food wasn't going to make a difference. He tried to fend off despair by focusing on soulcrafting theory, looking for some new way around his central dilemma.

[Krikree steal. Krikree bad soldier.]

Theo whirled around, ready for another emotional struggle with Krikree. To his surprise, she was still munching away and her antennae were waggling. He didn't think that Slescan pheromones could really be used for irony, yet she definitely wasn't accusing herself.

[Krikree-sister very bad.] she emitted with her antenna waving toward him.

He scratched her head and then flew on, hoping that wasn't the start of something he couldn't control. After so long telling himself that he would resolve what he started and not leave unknown consequences behind him, he might be blundering straight into something new.

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Chapter 36

Life in the beetle city was peaceful enough, and even more comfortable after it was officially named Acidmount. The beetles celebrated with a new statue and returned to work, just without the threat of a swarm attack hanging over them. Technically Nauda should have been relaxed, as she no longer had to worry about an attack from the central army.

Only the battle in Nlukoko.

Nauda should have been focusing on nothing but soulcrafting, but she found herself constantly thinking about Fiyu. When she left, she was partially searching for a sublime flame to match the Ichili woman. When Fiyu herself flew away, Nauda stared after her and wondered if she was too busy for them to spend any time together.

Technically they listened to the beetles sing their songs every evening, but they didn't listen together. Would it be stupid to invite Fiyu to something so obvious? Nauda had asked Bluepetal and others about potential options for spending time together and the unfortunate fact was that Acidmount didn't offer many romantic opportunities. Presuming that Fiyu had time for any.

They sat on opposite sides of their chamber, technically together and yet not speaking. The distance between them was more frustrating than the ambiguity had been. 

Sometime Nauda just felt guilty for even thinking about her own happiness while the people of Nlukoko were enslaved. She should have been able to completely suppress all her emotions and become a soulcrafting machine like Theo that did nothing but pursue objectives. Maybe that was even for the best. She could worry about emotions after she'd finally accomplished something.

"I'm going under the city again," Nauda said abruptly.

Fiyu looked over with a smile and nodded. "Okay, Nauda. Do you need a tunnel guide?"

"I could ask the beetles. Will you be soulcrafting?"

"I am always soulcrafting, because of the deadline. But would you like me to come?"

Nauda winced. Always pressuring Fiyu even when she didn't intend to. "No, it's fine. We aren't really exploring a new area today."

"Okay, Nauda."

They subsided into silence again, as they had several times before. Just when Nauda began to condemn herself for ruining the mood unnecessarily, Theo marched into the room and threw up his hands.

"Just talk to each other!" He thrust a finger in her direction. "Nauda, she's not rejecting you, she wanted you to confirm that you wanted her along. Fiyu, she's afraid she's imposing on your progress and so she's looking for an excuse to back off. Both of you obviously want to spend more time together and you keep undermining yourselves. Don't assume things, just talk!"

They sat in surprised silence. Nauda looked over at Fiyu, wordlessly inquiring if any of that was actually accurate. The other woman gave a slight nod. Had they really been talking past one another?

"I saw that Nauda's body was very tense," Fiyu said. "She became more tense while we spoke, so I was afraid I was saying the wrong thing."

Theo opened his mouth, then closed it and stared pointedly at Nauda. She cleared her throat and decided to blunder straight into the awkwardness.

"I was just nervous about asking you," Nauda said. "That was all, really."

"Oh, I see." Fiyu blinked at her. "We may be lifemates one day, Nauda. You can ask me anything you want."

Obviously, but Nauda was afraid she'd ask too much. At least it was some relief to know that Fiyu was just as nervous and getting tripping up in her own thoughts. Clearly, all the concern and reticence had been in Nauda's head.

"It's easy to make assumptions and think you know better," Theo said. "For example, Fiyu can perceive an extraordinary amount of body language, but - to be blunt - can't always interpret it correctly. And Nauda, you can't assume you understand the social context even when it seems obvious."

Even though she was relieved, Nauda reverted to sarcasm. "Whereas you see everything accurately, as a master of human interaction?"

"No, I'm just telling you not to make the mistakes I already have." Theo sighed and tapped his head. "My problem is much worse than yours: assuming I can completely analyze the situation. Maybe I was right this time, but when I'm wrong, I run head first into walls. Yes, sometimes people don't say exactly what they mean. But if you start assuming they don't mean what they say, or that their words aren't a good picture of what they really think, that leads you down a dark path."

Nauda swallowed and stood up. She walked closer to the middle of the chamber and was relieved when Fiyu mirrored her movement. When Nauda smiled, Fiyu smiled back.

It all seemed so stupid now. They'd confessed their feelings, embraced, and said they wanted to spend their lives together. How could they get tangled up in doubts and uncertainty? A sliver of concern started to worm its way into Nauda's mind and so she just opened her mouth before she could overthink it.

"I did want you to come to the tunnels, Fiyu. I might need you to help navigate them, but more importantly, I wanted to spend time with you."

"I would be happy to." Fiyu beamed at her. "Sometimes it is difficult for me to know when you don't want to offend me and when you're pulling away."

"I never want to do that, either way. I love you, Fiyu."

"I love you too, Nauda."

From the other side of the room Theo rolled his eyes and started to walk out. Before he could depart, Fiyu turned in his direction.

"You are a good companion, Theo." Her smile toward him was less affectionate, but quite warm. "Whatever happens, I want the three of us to keep traveling together."

"She's right." Nauda tried to wipe any sarcasm off her face as she smiled. "I'm glad to have you on our side."

He turned away and waved casually over his shoulder, but she thought she caught a glimpse of a smile. "Good luck." Then he was gone and it was just the two of them.

"So..." Fiyu drew out the word before lowering her head. "We will be exploring the tunnels? What are we looking for?"

"The beetles accidentally broke into some sort of pocket of materials," Nauda explained. "Sublime gases, I think. Bluepetal is worried they might catch on fire. I was hoping... well, that I could find a sublime flame for you."

"Me?" Fiyu's eyes widened so much they were visible within her mask. "Is that why you have been going out so much?"

"More or less. If we want to save Nlukoko, making you stronger is the best way to do that. And... I thought it would be a nice gift."

"Oh, it would be! But... I have also been looking for sublime materials for you. You are very loyal sacrificing yourself for others, Nauda, but sometimes I worry."

Nauda grinned, more at herself than anything. All her worries seemed so stupid now. Before she could think better of it, she blurted out her next thought. "Do you want to listen to the beetles tonight? I mean... after we're done soulcrafting, we could just... sit together... and..."

"I would like that very much, Nauda." Fiyu smiled at her and for a time it seemed like everything would be alright.

~ ~ ~

Helping Nauda and Fiyu was all well and good, and as he left Theo even felt something warm in his blackened heart. He never would have imagined that a Tatian and an Ichili could have a relationship, but they would probably be alright. They just had a few more boundaries to figure out than the average relationship.

Those positive thoughts evaporated in the face of his central problem.

Because thinking about his design and the impending deadline had been completely unproductive so far, Theo decided that he could at least help others. He'd gotten his friends on the right track, he'd helped Bluepetal begin installing anti-weirkey defenses, he'd checked with Nanjuma... if he couldn't make progress himself, the best use of his time might be to work with Krikree.

He found her in the middle of an ornamental area of the city, sitting atop a beetle statue. Now that she had broken through her mental blockage, she was soulcrafting with a single-minded focus that he admired. When he walked close, she finished a task before emerging from her green haze.

"Krikree soulcraft. Theo-sister watch?"

"I don't have the telescope, but we can talk about it." Theo reached into his own soulhome and handed her one of his Arbaian crystals. "I was thinking you could try to integrate this into your Nine Worlds Feast. It might not work, but it's worth a try."

"Thinkrock food." Krikree's teeth clinked against the crystal several times before she shook her head. "Not Krikree food. Maybe Theo-sister food."

"You think I can?"

"Theo-sister not normal. Do many things."

Coming from Krikree, he thought that was a vote of confidence. "Maybe I will, but I'm here to talk about you. How are you coming along with that demonic core?"

"Krikree soulcraft!"

With her shielding wall lowered, he could see her soulhome well enough, even without a specific technique. It looked as though Krikree had heavily integrated the core in the center of her top floor, reinforced by the four vertices around it. She still had some work to do, but hopefully he wouldn't see her injured so easily in the future.

Since they'd last spoken she'd rearranged many of her chambers, trying for new synergies. Some had been on his advice, some according to her own logic, and some he had no idea. She hadn't filled her center-most room, which was no surprise since that was the trickiest. It looked as though she'd placed her Nine Worlds Feast in the lowest central chamber. He might not have done that, but she did care a lot about food, and the mixture of materials made it easy to synergize with the nearest vertices.

Instead of tackling that large of a problem, Theo considered a simpler path to improvement. "You're using four different chambers for weapon enhancements. That's inefficient, particularly because you keep changing weapons and then have to soulcraft new replicas."

"What do?"

"One unified chamber would be better. Not for the weapons you're carrying now, for any weapon." Theo began sketching out a diagram in the dirt and she hopped down to look. "A design like Nauda's binds her strongly to one powerful weapon, but that's not what you've done. Instead you want materials that let you put more cantae into anything you're wielding. There are universal armament chambers, like this, but yours will be a more specialized multi-weapon chamber."

"Too big." Krikree's antennae twitched as she looked at the design. "Too much cantae."

"No, your soulhome is stronger than you think. Your old blueprint might have collapsed, but your spherical chambers are good at containing a lot of power."

"No balance." Krikree tapped the nearby chambers around his proposal. "Cantae like strong pheromone. Wash out others. Too big. Not work."

"You're not over-ambitious, you need to be more ambitious. If you fill these chambers with stronger sublime materials, they won't be overwhelmed. The conflict will... balance out..." He trailed off as he realized what he was saying.

Krikree gave him a strange look. "What?"

[Theo soulcraft,] he emitted as he sat down. Could it really work?

He hadn't even been thinking about his own soulcrafting, just focused on solutions for Krikree. Yet now he found himself facing a potential solution. When his second blueprints looked unbalanced, he'd tried to remove components, finding ways to modulate the flow so it wouldn't overwhelm everything. What if he intentionally tried to balance one Transcendent Monument with another? Not cram them both into a tight space, intentionally set them in opposition and blend them using his singularity.

It might work, but just deciding that wasn't enough. Theo jumped back up and emitted a vague explanation to Krikree as he flew away. If he was going to do this without creating a future dead end for himself, he needed a soulcrafter with more experience.

Senka was skipping around the top of their mound, but she snapped to attention when she saw his expression. "What the sporp's gotten into you?"

"I have an idea." Theo physically grabbed her and pulled her to the nearest table, then began sketching out three new floors. "It would be possible to balance two Monuments, right?"

"With your singularity idea? Sure, it could work. But they'd be really crammed into a floor."

"I don't mean balance them in one floor, I mean balance them across all three." He gestured wildly at his incomplete drawings. "So my Corporeal chambers are centered around the northwest corner of my fourth floor and they extend in three directions. Its opposite will start in the southeast corner of my sixth floor. Can you imagine it three-dimensionally? They'll be like opposite sides of a sphere."

The design was hard to explain since it didn't follow normal rules, but Senka was sharp. Even before he finished marking his rooms across the three floors, she was nodding along.

"Because your design is cubical, they won't truly be sides of a sphere." As she spoke, she stroked her chin thoughtfully. "More like the framework that contains it. Yes, it could work. If you tried to put a different Monument in all eight corners, it would become unsustainable and blow itself apart, but if you focus on two well-built ones, that gives you some chambers in between to balance them."

"Exactly." Theo scribbled annotations for his Corporeal chambers and extended them up to his sixth floor. "So the fleshnexus will grow in three directions, two chambers each. It won't be fused with me until the end, but it would work, right?"

"It may be a crazy design, but you're still trying to make a Corporeal Floor, so it should be more unified than that. I suggest putting five Corporeal chambers on your fourth, three on your fifth, and one on your sixth. They support one another instead of being three random lines, you see?"

As soon as she said it, Theo realized she was right. What he would have was a sort of Corporeal Pyramid, or rather a section of a pyramid. Nine rooms total, exactly the same volume as a normal Floor but spread out over three to better adjust his cantae. Then he'd have an inverted pyramid on the opposite side balancing it out.

"What other Monument do I soulcraft here?" Theo made question mark annotations for the inverted pyramid extending down from the sixth floor. "What about a giant Immortality Conduit? It would be pretty easy to make the two flow together."

"You're completely sporping insane, I love it." Senka pulled herself up onto the table and stared down at his drawings with glee. "I like this idea, but your Immortality Conduit is wrong for balancing the sphere. Too easy, and way too much space for a Conduit. No, I think your idea of a ring was better. It could even cover the space between the two other Monuments, keep them fused together."

"What other options do I have? A giant Field of Abrogation?"

"Even if I was an expert there, I don't think Fields play well with the other Monuments. No, that's unworkable."

Theo's raw enthusiasm began to dwindle. Could this really be another dead end after coming so far? "I don't suppose there are... special basements that can go on higher floors?"

"That would make it not a basement by definition, idiot." Senka sat back and shook her head. "The only real option left is your Ethereal Floor, and that would be a gurfoop to manage. Oh, it's the perfect opposite, but design-wise it would ruin your sphere."

For a while he just stared down at his blueprint, tapping his pencil against it rapidly as he thought. The fundamental concept of Ethereal Floors was that they restricted cantae from the rest of a soulhome in order to super-charge it for a temporary boost. If he made an open sphere that was half-Ethereal, they definitely couldn't do their job. However...

"What happens to the saturated cantae within an Ethereal Floor?" he asked. "Assuming the person hasn't needed to use their Ethereal form and it's completely full."

"It just sits there." Senka shrugged. "No different from other cantae, right? But it takes long enough to become saturated that it's usually not much of a problem. You have more soulcrafters wanting to use their Ethereal forms all the time than holding them back."

"What if it didn't? The Ethereal chambers need some kind of... intake, right? We send cantae in from one side, but when the chambers are full, we send it out the other side. It wouldn't hurt to have extra powerful cantae in my soulhome, will it?"

Senka rolled her eyes. "Don't think you're the first person to invent the wheel here. The cantae won't remain saturated outside an Ethereal container for very long, but it does give you a boost, sure. That's one of the main synergies for an Ethereal Floor."

Then it could work, it only required another shift in his mental framework. His second sphere wouldn't be like his first, a storm of cantae moving rapidly to project via techniques. Instead, it would be a slow and powerful current. Strength would emerge from his Corporeal chambers and be integrated into the Ethereal side. Once those chambers were full, the saturated cantae would flow back out in a virtuous cycle.

"The big problem is what happens when you use up that cantae," Senka pointed out. "Your Ethereal side will be empty and your spherical flow will falter."

"That's fine, if I'm not relying on that cantae to use techniques." Theo grinned as he thought back to his first three floors. "I already have plenty of cantae generation. What I need is a boost that alters me fundamentally. The Corporeal chambers won't collapse just because they're unbalanced, so I should have some of the best of both words."

"Once you ascend past all this, anyway. You're taking a risk here... but maybe a risk worth taking."

Senka extended a hand for a pencil. The two of them focused on the design, only to quickly realize that most of their decisions had already been made for them due to the ambition of the concept.

Twenty-seven chambers in his second block, twenty-four after his heart column was taken into account. Each pyramid would cover nine of those, which left only only six chambers unclaimed. That wouldn't give him a lot of room to soulcraft flexible new skills. There were two on each floor, though, and he liked the symmetry of that.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but it could work." Senka floated back and began chewing on one finger. "You're going to need to choose those remaining chambers very carefully, because they bridge the two opposite concepts and need to keep things stable. And what are you doing on the fifth floor?"

"I was thinking I'd dedicate those to my next singularity."

"Could work. And the Immortality Conduit is sliding through the middle of all that?"

"Hopefully. Any reason that wouldn't work?"

"No, just figuring out the details. Here's how it will go." She grabbed each sheet of paper one at a time. "While you build your fourth floor, you'll be a bit of a thug, with too much physical reinforcement. Things will start to balance as a Stronghold, especially with that singularity, but you're going to have a blooky time getting your Immortality Conduit to survive all this. Then, while building your sixth floor, most of your new sublime materials will be Ethereal, without the actual floor being complete or the benefits of synergy."

He'd expected some trade-offs, but that was a little worse than he expected. "So the design won't be as strong until I ascend past Dominion?"

"You can do a little to finalize them on your sixth floor, but until then it will be incomplete. This would be completely impossible without a solid first three floors."

"But with them?"

"You'd become a beast of a Bupplesniffer." Senka grimaced a little at the name, but that couldn't stop her from smiling. "This is a fantastic blueprint, Theo. It could take you to Archfumpet."

Theo sighed. "Really? That's how your curse censors the next tier?"

"Just messing with you this time!" She stuck out her tongue at him. "I'm not going to embarrass myself trying to name either of the others until the curse is lifted. But if you're doing all this, you'd better get to work, shouldn't you?"

As he considered his soulhome, Theo's fresh enthusiasm died. The blueprint was perfect, yes, and he'd locked himself into pursuing it. But he'd only completed one lonely room. Despite how long he'd been at Authority, he was little further than the lazy Authorities in Noven resting on their laurels. This time, sacrificing the short term for the long term meant he was unprepared for the battle in Nlukoko.

"It's too late." Theo breathed out the words and saw Senka's grin vanish. "It doesn't matter how good the blueprint is if none of it's finished. I took too long to find the solution. This design will be even more particular about materials, so I delayed when I should ha-"

A small hand slapped him across the face. It didn't hurt even slightly, but Theo still stared at Senka in shock.

"Are you actually stuck, or are you just being a bitter old man?" Senka folded her arms and matched his glower with her own. "You're talking like you've been sitting around with two thumbs up your nose. Don't act like everything you've done to reach this point has been worthless. You've polished all your empty rooms, built in your modulation doorways, and pulled off your supernova trick. And now you really think you can't build on that?"

Instead of arguing with her, Theo entered his soulhome and truly took her words to heart. It was true that he was prepared to expand beyond his first room. He already had powerful materials he'd been integrating with the fleshnexus for a strong starting formation. As he looked over everything he'd gained over the past year, Theo realized that he wasn't actually at a loss. Working for others had somehow brought him to what he needed himself.

He still had the rigidcelerity from Uvvah Ulim's sublime legacy.

The lostflesh from the House of the Lost throbbed insistently.

The gem from a Slescan predator would supply the mental aspect of his Corporeal Chambers.

A fragment of a mountainheart, carried from the furthest reaches of Noven.

Senka's caches had plenty of elemental gemstones that could bridge the gap.

The other side of that gap was the only remaining problem. Theo slowed, but didn't let himself sink back into despair. He didn't fully understand Ethereal Floors and he hadn't decided on the design that would fill those chambers. But since that was his inverted pyramid, he only needed to fill one chamber that would be compatible with his future plans.

Opening one of his chests, Theo pulled out the ghostly prism from the Archive of Misery. It exuded weariness and this time he absorbed it instead of recoiling. The main reason he'd disregarded it was because it couldn't possibly fit in with his Corporeal rooms, but now that was exactly what he needed. Miserable as it was, maybe it was the right material for an old man like him.

"I can do this." Theo looked down at the paper and realized that he'd scribbled in something for every room. "It will take an absurd amount of work to actually finish this design, but I can have the chambers filled by the end of the day."

"Then what are you waiting for?" Senka floated back a little, then grinned. "If you actually pull this off, I'm going to call you an Archfumpet, curse or no curse."

"Somehow I don't think that will hurt very much." Theo grinned back and then set to work then and there.