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“As I said yesterday, we will begin with a few preliminary tests to see where I need to start with my instruction, but almost all of that can be skipped.” Singer Kaffi said, “Let us move right along to the creation of the Rift that you have planned. Explain the tier work you have done and the goal of your final outcome.”

The privacy functions were off, but the stone amphitheater room was still exceedingly quiet. Ezekiel could hear his heartbeat. He could hear the heartbeats of Kaffi, sitting three meters away from him, on the same stone ledge as himself. He could even hear the heartbeats of his people, Julia, Paul, and Tiffany, sitting on the other side of the room. They were nervous in their own unique ways.

Kaffi was not nervous at all, which was normal, he supposed, for an Enforcer for a High Clan. If Ezekiel were to be even more exact about what he was seeing there, he would say that Kaffi was relaxed. As though it was finally testing day after preparing for so long. Which made sense. His own presence here was sort of like a test, and at least it was an event that Kaffi had said that the entirety of the Highlands had prepared for.

Ezekiel wondered, briefly, how nervous or excited the High Clans had been when they had found out that he was creating magic on the other side of the world by singing at the manasphere? A question for the future, for sure.

Ezekiel answered, “[Force Wave] and [Force Bomb] combined into [Prime Area] for tier 2, which I already have, then shifted to Firelight for tier 3 which I also already have, in [Firelight Shift]. The next step is to take [Firelight Shift] and a Rift-understanding of [Force Wall] to make a tier 4 spell. Alternatively, I could ignore my [Firelight Shift] spell and remake the Rift at tier 3, putting [Force Wall], Mana Altering to Firelight, [Prime Area], and the working for a Rift into one step.”

Kaffi asked, “Do you have a successful Rift version of a [Force Wall]?”

“No.”

“Explain your understanding of a Rift.”

“… Okay. Well.” Ezekiel considered, then he said, “Rifts are sort of like Shifts, but not... Shifts can only affect what happens inside of their own designated area, with minimal affect outside of the area, but a Rift’s effects linger as a buff or debuff well after someone has stepped out of its area of effect, only vanishing after the ‘cloying’-Shift has been used up. But a Rift is not a true buff or debuff, though, since it isn’t actually shifting a person’s aura into something else; it’s just stacking power onto the top of the aura.” He said, “A different way to work a shift is into a direction of personal control, instead of random empowerment. This other direction is known as a Domain.”

Kaffi paused, then said, “Though Rift, Shift, and Domain exist on the same axis, this is not how I would explain that axis at all. You have listed the breakdowns between each field of magic related to Rift work like some warband general fresh from the academy, listing out all the enemy’s forces before you attack, and before you have any experience in the field.

“There is an easier way to think of Rifts, and it is this: A Rift is the imposition of a resonance in the manasphere which causes the magics of everyone nearby to heighten due to harmonic sympathy. A side-effect of this magic is that spells which are harmonically opposed to the Rift are lessened. This resonance lingers on the people it touches, as opposed to Shifts, which have that resonance contained into a specific area.”

“Huh.” Ezekiel said, “That’s a more elegant philosophy, for sure.”

“Do you still want to make your Rift today? I can show you a few examples of Rifts if you wish.”

“Yes, and yes.” Ezekiel gestured to the large space in the middle of the room. “I’d like to see some Rift examples. The adjustments I need to make to my own Rift experiment will be minimal, I think.”

Kaffi gestured to the center of the room. A pulse of light appeared, like a crack in Reality, rapidly becoming a ball of ethereal water that cascaded blue glows into the rest of the room and kicked up a shimmering ripple on the edges of everyone exposed; outlining them in white-blue glows. The epicenter of the spell reminded Ezekiel of his own [Cascade Imaging] spell, but as seen from underwater.

Ezekiel felt like he was at the bottom of a pool, in a good way.

With a second gesture, Kaffi handed him a blue box.

--

Waterglow Rift, instant, medium range, 150 mana

Conjure a large rift of waterglow which empowers light and water magics, while hampering fire and shadow magics. Causes all affected to enter Rest. Lasts 10 minutes + exposure.

--

Kaffi said, “This [Waterglow Rift] is the spell I would teach healers or those looking to become healers. But this one—” She canceled the previous spell and cast another into the air.

The glowing water turned darker, but not shadowed. The various lingering glows of the previous spell vanished completely as the new spell settled in, giving the impression of the deep ocean. Ezekiel was still at the bottom of a pool, but he imagined turning around to make sure that the bottom was still there, and instead, he just found endless ocean depths. It was unsettling, for sure.

Kaffi handed out a different blue box.

--

Water Rift, instant, medium range, 150 mana

Conjure a large rift of water which empowers water essence creatures. Lasts 24 hours.

--

Kaffi said, “This is what I would teach someone looking to start and farm a Water Essence dungeon. But for us Singers, this is not enough. I know that we did not agree to go down this route, but I feel I should show you what we Singers can actually do with our chanting, and aura control.

“One of our main advantages as Singers is that we can mold the magics we already have into something slightly different, without creating new magics. This is a benefit because with our techniques, we won’t trigger the ten, hundred, or thousand day penalties for making a magic wrong.

“It is like using Mana Altering to make a new spell, but until you actually commit, you won’t make the spell. We have taken this phenomenon a step further, to apply this trick to all magic, which enables us to experiment a lot more than a normal mage.” She said, “Observe. Tell me what you feel after this slight shift in this magic.”

She pointed to the watery orb in the center of the room, dismissing it in preparation for the next to come. The air around her body flexed as she cast. Ezekiel wasn’t quite sure what she had done with her aura, but it was something.

The resulting cascading blue orb was different than the [Water Rift] from before. That feeling of being in the open ocean vanished. Instead, it was now felt as though he sat on a boat in the open ocean, listening to the waves lap gently, Restfully.

He was at Rest.

He hummed, thinking.

She was either lying, or telling the truth, and since Kaffi was obviously trying to pull him deeper into the Highlands, to get him to consider staying, she was likely telling the truth.

The next concern was this: They were supposed to do aura work, and maybe talk a bit about his Rift concern, but here she was, showing him how to chant to change his already available spellwork into something adjacent to what it already was.

He was interested, for sure. No problems there.

… So he let it happen.

He said, “You made your [Water Rift] Restful.”

“Yes.” Kaffi said, “It is the same spell as before, but I have aura controlled the casting of the spell in order to shift it slightly away from the deep, watery depth it was, into something more calm and applicable to everyone. This is both a nuanced version of what is possible, and an application of the skills I have been working on my entire life. A much easier way to see this application of chanting control is to witness a spell like this in action.” She handed him a blue box.

--

Favorable Wind, instant, medium range, 50 mana

A burst of wind hinders enemies and speeds allies in a large area. Lasts 1 minute.

--

She dismissed the watery Rift in the middle of the room and cast her new spell. White flows burst from a point, expanding into the entire amphitheater space. White wisps, like something less than fog, touched upon every person, clinging to them.

Kaffi said, “This is the base spell. I have designated that Odin there as an ally, but the other as an enemy.”

She spoke of the two extra Odins in the room, still fluttering about, as opposed to the one on his shoulder which just watched. One of the Odin flew faster than normal, with the wind always at his back, but the ‘enemy’ Odin was hindered, with the wind always pushing away from the direction he tried to fly. Odin played with Odin, like a quick bird tumbling around another bird that had an invisible weight attached to his wings. Odin seemed to be enjoying the novel experience. But...

Ezekiel said, “I’m not sure I appreciate one of my Odins being labeled as an enemy for your display.”

Kaffi smirked. “I don’t have many non-damaging spells with which to demonstrate the power of aura control and Singer techniques.” She lifted her hand again, and said, “And this is the same spell but altered wholly toward the speed of allies.” She cast again, flickering her control. Wind filled the room.

The ‘ally’ Odin began joyfully whipping around the amphitheater, buoyed by a fierce wind at his back, while the other Odin struggled to catch up. The invisible weight was gone, though; that much was easy to see.

Ezekiel said, “You’ve adjusted the strength of the buff, moving almost all of it toward the support of allies.”

“Correct.” Kaffi said, “With our Singer techniques and a proper aura control, you can adjust where the division of power lies within all of your spellwork that contains divisions of power.”

“Ah.” Ezekiel said, “I see how this would be useful for Rift work.”

Practically all Rift work had a division between buffing and debuffing.

“Exactly.” Kaffi said, “Rifts are intrinsically buff and debuff spells, which means that to know all of our Singer techniques is to be able to work your Rift magic much better. You can have double powered Water magics instead of empowered Water and depowered Fire, or you can shift that same Rift toward drastically hindering all Fire magic.

“You can also use this technique to get around some of the limitations of combining magic.

“Say you wish to have your [Fireball] do even more of its magic damage over time, instead of upfront. Or you want the large damage-over-time [Fireball] you’ve made to release all that power at once. Normally, you would either need to make multiple spells to do this, and in some cases, like [Fireball], you cannot use the same combination you already have so you would need to break the [Fireball] you have and start again, or use some esoteric, less-useful combination. But using our aura control techniques, you can use the same spell you already have and shift it as necessary in the moment, as battle dictates. No need to use a less-optimal spell in combat because the spell you want to use won’t fit the situation. No need to attempt to make a new spell in the middle of combat and put yourself at risk for a worthless spell—” She cut herself off.

Ezekiel watched as Kaffi realized that she was pushing too hard.

Kaffi breathed. She said, “I feel I am trying to sell you on the Highlands more and more, and have gone off on a slight tangent. Apologies. It vexes me that you are not willing to consider staying, permanently. But…” She blinked away her concern, then said, “Anyway. All that we teach is connected. All magic is connected. To know some unimportant facet of magic today is to understand next year’s issue. Thus, this exploration of Rift magic has taken me down a path you did not ask to go…

“Anyway. Would you like to try making your Rift now?”

Ezekiel said, “Yes. Do you have any pointers you wish to share?”

“If you have not made a Rift out of the base [Force Wall] then I suggest you do that today. The spell you’re looking for is something like this one.” Kaffi handed him a box.

--

Force Rift, instant, medium range, 100 mana

Conjure a rift to empower most magic in a large area. Lasts 10 minutes.

--

Ezekiel read the description, then he checked the Script for [Force Rift], just to be sure. He found nothing. This wasn’t one of those you could just spend a point and get.

“How would you make this one?” Kaffi asked.

He said, “Altering.”

“Most would guess Shaping.”

“I would have too, before I learned some tricks from a certain Archmage a while ago. Shaping changes the shape. The point of a Rift is, like you have said, to create a resonant reaction in the manasphere and touch the auras of all nearby. Altering is how you buff and debuff. Shaping does nothing for that.”

And that was a tip from Archmage Syllea, who knew all about buffs and Mana Altering; a field in which Ezekiel had barely touched, besides to understand some of the ideas behind it all. It seemed that he would be using much of that knowledge today, and it was about darn time!

Kaffi nodded. She watched and waited.

Ezekiel held out a hand and channeled mana through his [Force Wall]. An immaterial, magenta demarcation of solidity took hold in the protrusion of mana pouring from his palm. Instantly, he was annoyed. He could hear the perfect pitch of [Force Wall] and what it wanted to do, but his current Mana Altering for simple magenta coloring was tainting the vision of his magic. It added a… purple note to his spellwork; he wasn’t quite sure how to describe it other than by color.

He shook his hand out, dispersing sounds and feelings into so much broken, glittering mana.

Kaffi picked up on his thoughts, through his actions, saying, “That’s going to be a problem for delicate spell creation. Your rings, [Personal Ward], and every active spell on your person is also going to be a problem when learning aura control. Especially your [Greater Lightwalk], as that is using your aura, and you can’t be using your aura when learning aura control.

“We could always turn the privacy functions back on for this spell creation part, but for the aura control part, you would have to be a lot more trusting than you are, and I’m not going to ask you to do that. The most I am going to do is inform you now of what will hold you back.” She considered, then added, “I might inform you a few more times, in the future, if it looks like we’re not gaining any ground.”

Ezekiel considered for a moment. Then he had an Odin flit to the door and turn the privacy on.

The world beyond the amphitheater disappeared to Erick’s mana sense. He breathed, as his nearby Ophiel fluttered into their many-eyed forms. Then he stood up, shook his arms out, and held a hand up. He channeled mana through [Force Wall], producing a white flare; a solid spot in Reality. It was prevention and fortification; a demarcation between here and there and the power to keep separate.

Altering that idea was rather simple.

In his other hand, he Altered mana for openness. Instead of a demarcation, there was a door. Instead of here and there, he had flow from one to the other. An exchange. A breakdown of barriers, but not just that. A cascade of breakdowns that started in one location, but spread throughout, touching upon all the lives therein, empowering the possibility of Force to higher, purer magnitude.

He broke a Wall, and let loose a Rift.

He cast.

A white glow took hold of the center of the amphitheater, sending out flowing glows of magic, singing a soundless song of Force into the world.

A blue box appeared.

--

Major Force Rift, instant, long range, 100 mana

Conjure a large rift to empower most magic in a large area. Greatly empowers Force magic. Lasts 10 minutes + exposure.

--

Kaffi’s eyes were wide as she took in the spell hovering before her. Erick handed her the blue box, and she began to smile as she read. She laughed, twice, then quieted to a small grin. Upon dismissing the box, she said, “If you weren’t such a well-documented Planar then even I would suspect you a secret, long-lost member of the High Clans. Especially after that display.”

Erick smiled at the compliment, then said, “What I don’t understand, though, is the wording between Shifts and Rifts. They read so similar, and yet they’re different.” He dismissed the [Major Force Rift] and handed her another box. “I got the ‘plus exposure’ on [Major Force Rift], so that’s different, but. Well. You see?”

--

Firelight Shift, instant, long range, 190 MP

Drastically empower your fire and light aspect magic in a large area. Shadow aspect magic turns solid. Dark and water aspect magic is greatly weakened. Lasts 1 minute.

--

Kaffi read the second spell then she dismissed it, turning professional as she said, “The answer as to why many magics read similar or improperly indicative of what they are, is a difficult question to answer. The shallow answer is this: Shift, Rifts, and Domains exist on an axis that is muddled. The deeper answer necessitates a bit of philosophy.

“Here is a truth: Magic, the binding of mana into myriad forms, is more multitudinous than what we living beings are ever capable of truly, fully grasping. So we divide the indivisible into Elements, with simple names like ‘Fire’ or ‘Air’.

“But magic does happen, and we can divide it however we please.

“And yet, here is another truth: Magic should not come easy. Not anymore. Wizards ruined an entire universe when they had easy access to unlimited spellwork and the whispers of Darkness in their ears.

“And if the story ended there, if we lived in a world without mana, then that would be a different world than the one we have.

“But in this world full of mana, the Darkness is an endless threat. Rozeta knows that we still need mages and archmages in the world, and so we have the Script. That is why she hands out tiny Truths in exchange for levels we gain from victory over the Darkness. This is why she hides the True nature of magic in the basic wording of smaller spells, but the larger, better, Truer magics are either so minutely worded that you would never understand anything from them, or they’re just not in the Script at all. Mana sense. Aura control. Manual spell casting. Enchanting! Gods above, enchanting. Darker and brighter magics of which there are no names, only Truth and Possibility. These are not covered by the Script, at all.

“No one gets free answers anymore.

“So when you see that Rifts and Shifts have similar wordings, what you are seeing is a base representation; the first page of two novels that are the same on their surface, but different in their depths. It is in the using and the understanding of these spells that one comes to understand more of mana itself, and what we have wrought out of it. It is through personal trial and tribulation we learn personal Truths, so that we can reach the heights of magic and power that are necessary to keep this world safe from those who would see it harmed.

“Because ‘those who would see it harmed’ are all too often the people who live here, twisted by the Darkness, just as he has twisted other life into monsters.

“So, to put it less charitably, and simply, most people shouldn’t have access to most magic. And those who can’t understand it? Even less. Thus the obfuscation.”

Ezekiel hummed once, as he considered Kaffi’s words. Then he said, “I can see that perspective.”

Kaffi acknowledged, “Not everyone thinks the same, this is true. Very few people can combine a Force Rift like you just did, either, so whatever your perspective is, it works. Will you be making the next Rift, now?”

“I believe I will.”

Ezekiel channeled [Firelight Shift] through one hand, producing a flickering handful of bright white flames. It sounded like a bright summer’s day. A time spent by a bonfire, celebrating something transient and important, while also sounding like pure radiant power.

Huh.

There seemed to be an option, here. He could shift the spell toward a bright, bonfire day. Or, he could go for radiant power.

… There was a third option, which he should have already considered. He could just Mana Alter for Firelight, instead of using the [Firelight Shift] spell he already had.

There were a lot of ways to go about this. The only real reason to include a [Prime Area] derivative spell would be to heighten his own spellwork, and not the spellwork of others; to give only him a benefit and everyone else the disadvantage.

--

Prime Area, instant, long range, 70 MP

Designate a large area as under your influence. For 1 minute, your spells are heightened and others are lessened.

--

Did it work that way?

He asked Kaffi, “Normal Rifts are universally empowering or depowering depending on what spellwork you choose to use. Am I to understand that to include [Prime Area] derivatives would restrict the buffing to myself, and debuffing to others?”

“Ah?” Kaff said, “Yes. Apologies. I thought you knew. Rifts which include a Shift in the working do exactly as you say. Otherwise, you can buff and debuff everyone the same, for cheaper. Rifts are universally affecting spells. Shifts are about control. Domains are about utmost control.” She added, “But a larger Truth is that the spectrum between Rift and Shift and Domain is not just a single line.”

Ezekiel nodded, then turned his attention back to his spellwork. He checked another spell he had.

--

Light Shift, instant, long range, 120 MP

Drastically empower your light aspect magic in a large area. Shadow aspect magic turns solid. Dark aspect magic is greatly weakened. Lasts 1 minute.

--

He decided to make two Rifts. The first was with [Firelight Shift]’s bonfire day, stretched out into an overflowing warmth that touched all, and yet empowered only him.

A thought clicked.

The joy of the day vanished from Ezekiel’s mind, for it wasn’t just hot outside, it was oppressive. It was forest fires starting without warning. Lakes drying. Mud cracking. Frogs baking in the light of day. The sun brought down to Veird. Ezekiel smiled, as another thought occurred.

A [Gate] that reached the sun would do the same.

But wasn’t the ‘Sun’ element part Air? Yes, it was.

He cast.

The manasphere ripped open the center of the room. Pure sunlight poured into the space; a heat and brightness that burned away as much as it blinded. Ezekiel stared at the brilliance before him for a mome—

The sun vanished as a Void Song tore it apart like waves crashing against a sunlit shore, drowning out that small part of the world. In seconds, tides of nothing surged over the sun, drowning it out.

… Huh.

Ezekiel turned to Kaffi like a man coming out of a daze.

And then he saw the ground. Stone smoked. Kaffi’s dress was singed on the edges. Odin fluttered on his shoulder, shedding burned feathers that turned into motes of magenta mana, drifting away on the Void Song in the air.

Here and there, smoke filled the room, hovering on steaming air. It was pretty darn hot in here.

Across the room, Paul, Julia, and Tiffany, were each standing, looking like they were defending themselves from a nonexistent enemy. Kaffi flicked a hand and thick air tore through the space. Paul, Julia, and Tiffany, each did the same, coughing briefly while [Cleanse]s turned smoke back into breathable air. The air conditioning [Ward]s in the room came back, plunging the space into cooler temperatures.

A stone bench on the other side of the room fractured under the rapid temperature change. A bit of rubble fell off of the ledge, crashing down into the silence of the amphitheater.

… Ezekiel had an Odin flutter over there and [Mend] it back together.

Ezekiel said, “Whoops! Sorry about that. Sometimes it gets away from me, Kaffi.”

Kaffi sighed at him while a blue box appeared.

--

Major Sunlight Rift, instant, super long range, 500 mana.

Drastically empower your fire and light and air magics. Oppress all magics of all others, dealing WIL damage per second for each opposed active magic.

Lasts 10 minutes + Exposure.

--

“… Were you trying to make a damaging Rift?” Kaffi asked.

“Uh…” Ezekiel considered. “Not at first. But the ideas and sounds came together rather well and then I went for it. The only unexpected thing there was exactly how much damage it does.” And the size and the duration and the multiplier from ‘each opposed active magic’. He gestured out to the empty air of the amphitheater, and said, “This next one won’t be damaging, I think.”

He cast again, this time using [Light Shift].

The air tore.

Pure Light came through, to fill the world with glory.

--

Major Pure Light Rift, instant, super long range, 500 mana.

Imbue all who witness your glory with the power of Light, drastically empowering your own light magic while shifting to Light and possibly hindering the spellwork of all others.

Lasts 10 minutes + Exposure.

--

He dismissed his new [Major Pure Light Rift] and threw out a good dozen [Healing Word]s to each person as fast as he could think to heal. It wasn’t true healing magic like [Greater Treat Wounds] was true healing magic, but it would restore Health quick enough.

“That one was better, right!” Ezekiel asked, smiling.

Kaffi blinked to clear her eyes.

Ezekiel said, “Thank you for your assistance.”

Kaffi breathed deep, and with professional mien, asked, “Could I see both of these new spells?”

“Sure.” Ezekiel didn’t hesitate because he had already decided that if she asked to see them, he would show her. Later, he’d get the opinions of his own people. He handed her the spells, asking, “What do you think?”

Kaffi frowned, but as she read the spells, her frown vanished, replaced by respect. She said, “It is as I suspected; Super Long Range, and no listed spell size on either. These Rifts will have diminishing effects depending on how far you’re from them, but you could put them high in the sky and no one would be able to reach them to [Dispel] them, and you’d still gain their benefits.” She bowed in her seat, saying, “It is humbling to be in the presence of a true archmage. Thank you for this demonstration.” She rose, adding, “Shall we turn the privacy off, and begin to work on your aura control, Ezekiel?”

Ezekiel said, “Yes. Also… Sorry about the burning. That was… unintentional.”

Kaffi smirked, slightly, saying, “This happens a lot when dealing with competent casters like yourself. Hence, the Void Song, to disrupt any damaging spellwork before it has a chance to actually harm.”

Ezekiel nodded.

With a bit of telekinetic control, Kaffi reached over and opened the room, dispelling the privacy. Ezekiel glanced outward with his mana sense, and saw nothing untoward. There had been no trap; there had been no subterfuge. Yggdrasil’s [Scry] eye reappeared, and Ezekiel felt better about his time with Kaffi, even if they hadn’t even had a full session yet.

Kaffi began, “Aura control is the skill by which mages are able to manually cast spellwork, but everyone’s aura starts off small, in the same way that low levels of Light Essence gives you a low level Elemental Body skill.

“We can skip the small stuff for now, like [Light] or [Light Step], for while they are useful, there is no equivalent aura control skill. The only time you actually get any aura control is when you’re at the [Lightwalk] or [Greater Lightwalk] stage.

“Knowing this, you can likely guess why not many people have skill at controlling their aura.

“Anyway, with [Lightwalk], you are unable to manually cast most spells, for you need a large enough aura to actually manifest the movement of mana in the space in which your spell will then take place. One can cast [Force Bolt] with a [Lightwalk], or any of the other spells which originate from your person.

“But manually casting a [Force Wall] is different. You need range to be able to cast that spell ten meters away from yourself, and [Lightwalk] simply doesn’t have the range. [Greater Lightwalk] has the range.

“To gain control of the aura, first you must unlock or understand your aura, and then you must grow it to a suitable size for magic work.”

Ezekiel knew most of what Kaffi was saying, but every time he had tried to learn to control his aura he had never had the theory behind the skill presented in quite this way. He knew that the Headmaster didn’t teach proper magic in Arcanaeum, or about the Remake Quests and stuff like that, but he would have liked to have heard at least some of what Kaffi was saying in a traditional classroom setting.

Maybe other people got that teaching? Ezekiel never saw a single hint of it, though. But, he was only there for two months.

Eh. If he had been there for ten years, would he have learned all of what he had learned in this past year, alone? Maybe he would have. Maybe not.

Likely not. You don’t meet other archmages in classrooms at college, after all.

Kaffi’s lesson was definitely higher-level than the aura control lessons he had already known, for sure.

Kaffi continued, “To say it another way: Learning proper aura control is first about finding your aura and then expanding your aura. You must discover a limb you didn’t know you had, and then you must lift heavy weights to grow those ethereal muscles. Have you discovered your aura, yet?”

Ezekiel wasn’t exactly sure what she was asking, so he said, “I have used Aurify. I have used [Greater Lightwalk]. I have experience with controlling what I think is my aura, but, when I don’t use a spell I already have, I do not have any ability to move the mana around me, which is what I think I should be able to do if I had aura control.

“I have a fantastic mana sense, and all of the Sight spells, so I feel I would know if I was screwing up somewhere. I’m not sure what the problem is.” He added, “There’s not even an [Aura Sight] spell to help out, either. I have no idea why not.”

“There is no [Aura Sight] for there are no easy answers in magic.” Kaffi continued right along, saying, “Your problems with aura control are normal problems that every mage experiences, the world over; you are just in a better position than most to see your problem than most.” She made a small joke, “Even if you can’t see it.”

Ezekiel allowed himself a smile; it was a good pun.

Kaffi nodded. “Aurify is fantastic. But it is a crutch. Also, your [Personal Ward] directly interferes with your ability to see and feel your aura, and almost all mages end up in the practice of casting a [Personal Ward] at the start of every day, thus locking in their weakness and hampering their ability to ever overcome that weakness. Your magical items have a lesser, but just as injurious effect against learning to control your aura.”

“… Why is that, though?”

Kaffi said, “A [Personal Ward] is exactly the same as sealing yourself in a barrier. This barrier is an impediment to aura control for the aura is a naturally wispy thing that sits atop your soul, usually doing nothing. Maybe I should explain:

“The soul is the base of a person. The bedrock. But it is not a person.

“And then we have a trio of expressions of the soul, which come together to form a person. The first expression of the soul is the body, which allows the soul to control the physical. The second is the mind, which allows a person to understand themselves. The third is the aura, which exists in the mana and allows a person to control the mana around them.”

Not the usual mind-body-soul triumvirate that Ezekiel knew of, but it was interesting to hear of a different philosophy.

Kaffi continued, “By already controlling the magic around you, you are shackling your aura down to its barest self.

“You overcome this limitation every time you use Aurify, for the Script is a great boon and allows you to skip a large step toward learning proper aura control.” Kaffi said, “Now, I know you cannot do this around me or around anyone but your most trusted people, but the best way to learn aura control is to divest yourself of absolutely every magical protection you have and then sit out somewhere, preferably with as few clothes as possible, trying to feel the mana. Bugs, wind, sensory experiences of any kind can disrupt your ability to control your aura.”

Ezekiel frowned.

Kaffi said, “So unless you manage an unusual breakthrough while I am helping you to feel out your aura, I suspect you will have to do that naked search on your own. I will teach you all the best techniques for feeling the mana, though. One of those techniques is to use Aurify to make a decimeter-or-less radius aura spell, and then you switch the spell on and off, seeing if you can understand the aura by watching it in the spaces between the transformation from active spell to inactive rest. This is the primary technique that I will be assisting you with today. I have more than a few methods to help with this.

“The next method is to take a piece of Essence armor and wear it, absorbing it, to see where the essence becomes part of your aura. This is wildly expensive, and a great waste of resources, but it does work. You can even make tiny rings of Water Essence, for example, and even though you cannot gain [Water Body] through constant absorption of the same piece of ‘armor’, you might be able to get a feel for your aura in this manner.” Kaffi said, “A different application of this same method is to gain a water slime Familiar Form and eat the Essence that way. You would need to have a good mana sense to make up for the lack of senses of a slime, but you have that, and in this method, you could even eat enough Water Essence to gain [Water Body]. Either way, this method runs out of usability once you gain all six main Elemental Bodies.”

Across the amphitheater, Julia near-silently cursed. Tiffany grinned.

Kaffi continued, “A third method is to ask the gods for help. Most people can’t make use of this option, but it is a possibility. Aloethag, the orcol goddess of Beauty and Brutality, helps many learn how to control their aura, and all she asks for is millions of health in monsters reaped for her honor.”

Tiffany near-silently cursed. Julia had the good sense to remain completely silent.

Kaffi said, “A fourth method is to naturally awaken in the heat of the battle, when all your defenses are down and you’re about to die and you need more Script Seconds than you have. This is a terrible method. I only mention it for completeness.”

Ezekiel asked, “Any spell recommendations for the first option?”

“Something invisible, and small.” Kaffi said, “[Invisibility] is not a good choice, though, since it tends to make everything invisible; even your aura.”

“How about an aura that is large but I can make it smaller, and keep it that way even through flipping it on or off?”

“This is also an option.”

“Good.”

Ezekiel turned on [Physical Domain], keeping it small, barely larger than a layer that extended out from his skin to beyond his clothes.

Kaffi leaned backward, breathing in air, suddenly worried— She paused.

She narrowed her eyes. “What… Is that?”

“Would a Domain not work?”

“… What does it do? It seems— I’m not sure. Excessively violent? I wasn’t sure if you were—” Kaffi cut herself off, then said, “I would not recommend this spellwork. It is too… strange and powerful. You want something that is invisible and benign.”

Ezekiel turned off his [Physical Domain] and turned on [Normalize Aura]. “How about this one?”

Kaffi frowned at him. She narrowed her eyes in thought, then whispered, “And you’re sure you’re not actually some long lost member of a High Clan? Some branch family from somewhere?”

He was teasing her and she knew it.

Ezekiel grinned, politely, then said, “Pretty sure I am not.”

Kaffi looked at him while she thought, in silence.

Ezekiel began to practice ‘feeling his aura out’, flicking his [Normalize Aura] on and off a few times to see where the boundary lay between his real aura, and the aura granted to him by Aurify. Nothing. He moved on to inspecting with his mana sense active. Still nothing. And then he did it again with his hand held up to his eyes, staring at the back of his fingers.

He saw his active magic. He saw the edge of his [Personal Ward]. It was less like a layered defense, and more like a magenta sheen to his skin, but this was a deceptive look. The [Ward] fully extended inward, covering all of his interior in its magenta protection. It was like he was walking around in a personal-sized and constantly adjusting [Ward].

Which. Well.

That was why it was called a [Personal Ward].

… He did not see his aura. He flickered his aura active and inactive, and watched the ‘process’ of activation. The transition between active and inactive was—

Ah. He saw… something. It was like a wisp in the mana that curled active or inactive as he cast his aura, and turned it off. Or.

No.

That’s just mana becoming his aura. Not his actual aura. When he dropped his aura, the mana that had been under control and a part of his aura while his aura was active, went out of his control, completely. He tried again a few times, but got the same results.

Kaffi interrupted, saying, “Attend to me, and watch as I flex my natural aura. It might help. You cannot see it normally, so I will make it visible to you.”

Ezekiel dropped his hand and looked to Kaffi.

Kaffi was sitting with her hands crossed, atop her lap, and her back straight. And then she started to chime, invisibly, here and there. Tiny ripples from her shoulder, or from her left pinky finger, or from her toes, and then her nose. She said, “This is the flexing of my aura. In order to cast larger spells, I must stretch it out from my body, gathering the aura of the whole, in order to get the range to cast at a distance. Like so.”

Without moving her physical self, her aura stretched and molded, but the only reason Ezekiel could see it at all was because she was controlling her mana inside her aura, somehow, allowing him to see the movement.

Ah. She was showing him her intent. But it was thinner than the intent in other magics. Thinner than the intent-filled tendrils that Paul usually had around his head, for instance.

The intent-filled fog on her body shuffled around her body, to form a three-meter long tendril to the right, where she then flexed her aura, and cast a red [Force Bolt] into the ground of the amphitheater. The spell kicked up a tiny spack of dust.

She relaxed and her aura snapped back to her body.

She said, “The size of my aura is small, but it is more than enough to do everything I need to do. It has taken me decades to get this far, but it took me a year to awaken my aura in the first place. Awakening your own aura will likely take a lot less time considering your current success with mana, but I would not get your hopes up, yet. Continue with your attempts. I will observe.”

Ezekiel continued.

Kaffi let this continue for another ten minutes, then she asked, “Do you know the rules of aura interaction?”

Ezekiel said, “Yes. Two auras from opposing casters, brought into proximity with one another, will press against each other, deforming each other in a manner based upon the proximity of the casters to where the auras intersect, and on the power of the two auras. Assuming the same power of auras, if one person has a large aura and the other has a small aura, then the smaller aura will not be pressed in as much as the larger aura is pressed, until the same percentage of aura deformation would occur for both casters.” He added, “But auras imbued with magic cut through all natural resistance, and in most cases, auras just mingle.”

“Correct, but also, in the mingling of auras one person might naturally feel out another.” Kaffi said, “I will attempt to touch you with my aura. See if you can feel your own aura in the mingling.”

“… Sure.”

Kaffi touched Ezekiel’s skin with her aura. He felt nothing, except a bit weirded out. It wasn’t the most comfortable position to be in; having someone able to cast touch-based magic without ever knowing they were touching you.

But, by that same measure, with her aura touching him he was ‘touching’ her, too. This ‘touch based’ vulnerability wasn’t a one-way street. Ezekiel supposed that made this a bit less worrying.

“Can you feel that?” Kaffi asked.

“… Nooo. Hold on.” Ezekiel flipped through his various Sight spells and his mana sense. He almost expected his [Soul Sight] to show him something, but Kaffi’s red soul was perfectly contained just under her skin, her Shroud appearing to be perfectly normal, and unmoving. “Nope. Don’t see anything.”

She retracted her aura, saying, “Continue using your aurified spell. Ask questions if you have them.”

Time passed.

He had questions. He asked them.

Kaffi had some answers, but all of her important answers had already been given. She mostly reworded what she had already said. Some of the rewordings were helpful, but…

Kaffi said, “It will be difficult to feel your aura as you are, but it can be done. By feeling out your aura right now, you might be building strength that you can’t feel, that will one day allow for the sudden manifestation of your aura outside of your [Personal Ward]… Or you might not be making any progress at all. Hard to tell.”

Ezekiel grunted and kept trying.

Half an hour later, the session was over.

This was gonna take a while.

Ezekiel bid Sister Kaffi farewell and left the Void Temple with his people in tow. As soon as they were at the Teleport Square, they left in a flash of magenta light.

- - - -

“So hey!” Ezekiel said, after they appeared in their rooms in the hotel. “At least Sister Kaffi seems... alright?”

He changed his statement into a question halfway through because of the looks he was getting from his people. Julia, in particular, did not look happy. But then she relaxed.

Julia said, “This is the Path we’re walking.”

Tiffany said, “True enough.”

“She seemed honest…” Paul said, “Aside from her blatant history of lying.”

Ezekiel smiled. “Aura control is difficult, and though she told me a lot of new ways to control my aura, most of the smaller aspects of her lessons line up with all the others I have ever received. But I won’t be dropping my defenses around her.” Even if he did drop his defenses around her, could she get through his Constitution? Likely not, or at least not fast enough where he couldn’t enact a [Defend] for even more time. Eh. He wasn’t going to take that chance, anyway; he wasn’t going to put himself in a vulnerable position around her. He switched topics, saying, “I’m putting up a privacy.” He cast a [Sealed Privacy Ward] in the room, and said, “I’m going to try and get Tadashi Intelligence today, and let him figure out chelation and chemistry and all of that, but if that doesn’t work, then something else is going to happen. But that brings me to this: Anyone else want one of the New Stats while I’m doing this?”

Julia, Tiffany, and Paul each turned concerned in their own ways. Julia, like she was facing an exam she had prepared for, and wasn’t quite ready. Tiffany, as though she was facing a big red button and debating whether she wanted to push it.

Paul got through his dilemma fast, saying, “Constitution.”

Everyone turned to him.

Tiffany said, “That’s completely unexpected.”

Julia asked, “Not Intelligence? Or Perception?”

“No.” Paul said, “I considered Perception for a long time but ultimately, Perception is a helping hand to do what I am already capable of doing. Constitution is something I am not capable of doing; it is a blanket reduction on all the damage you take, outside of Wards and temporary damage. But that’s the superficial effect. The true effect is that it makes every part of you tougher. You become truly resistant to damage, and when your [Personal Ward] goes down, that toughness truly shines. It’s the most life-saving of the Stats.” He added, “As for not getting Intelligence: My magic is not traditional magic. It has little bearing on the bonuses of Intelligence.”

Julia said, “Really? Okay. Supernatural spells; sure.”

Tiffany said, “I’m gonna do it, too. I want Constitution, too.”

Julia whipped around to Tiffany, saying, “Really? Not Intelligence? You’re already rather tough.”

Tiffany frowned. She grimaced, thinking. “Yeah. … Yeah. No. … I don’t know.” She flummoxed, “I don’t know, Boss. Yes. I want one of them. Not sure which, though. Ask me some other day.”

Ezekiel said, “Of course. Take your time.” He looked to Julia. “Do you want one of these New Stats?”

Paul interrupted, “I changed my mind. I don’t want any.”

Everyone looked to him again.

Paul shrugged, “I changed my mind.”

Suddenly exasperated, Julia rapidly said, “None for me either!” She added, “But I do want some more points anyway. Got any Quests? I need at least one more point for another Class Ability.”

Ezekiel paused. Then said, “I have some extra points.” He had 23 extra points and he didn’t need to use a single one at the moment. But. There were those Health-cost debuff Spells, [Blind], [Deaf], [Dumb], [Infection], [Cause Wounds], and [Weak]… They could be interesting to have, right? Maybe. But that was more of a ‘far off idea’ than a current idea. He was also looking at the 10 point cost to complete the Worldly Path, if needed, to get [Gate] right away. And there were other Restricted spells out there, like [Duplicate], that would cost him 5 points to get... Though he didn’t know of a single one. With all that in mind, he didn’t need all of his 23 extra points, and if Julia did, then the solution was easy. He said, “I can make a Quest for—”

“No,” Julia said.

There was another option.

“I still haven’t assigned those other two points from Tadashi’s Quest, either.” Ezekiel said, “I was waiting for you guys to play a game for them, or something.”

Julia frowned. Paul smirked.

Tiffany laughed. “I thought you gave them to yourself right after I joked about it.”

“I have no pressing need for them, so you three can figure out who gets them. Two points is basically a whole level!”

Paul looked to Julia and Tiffany, and said, “I would not use them at the moment.”

Tiffany said, “Eh. Me either.”

They all looked to Julia.

Julia frowned. “No. I’m not going to take them because I’d use them—”

Ezekiel assigned her one point, joking, “You will take your point and be happy about it!”

Julia sighed. Contentment, embarrassment, a little bit of anger, and some deep joy, all battled for a place on her face. A smile came upon her, unwanted, but she said nothing.

Tiffany teased her, “The young master gets all the bonuses.”

Julia scoffed.

Paul joined in, “Nepotism at its finest.”

Julia began, “Now that’s just unfa—”

Ezekiel assigned her another point, saying, “And you can have the third one, too. Wouldn’t want you to be sitting at 0 points, after all!”

Julia went rock-solid silent.

Tiffany laughed, as Paul chuckled.

Julia turned away, softly saying, “Thank you.” And then went over and hugged her father.

Ezekiel hugged her back, saying, “What level are you anyway? Want to hunt some big monsters?”

Julia laughed into his shoulder.

Tiffany proclaimed, “I want to hunt big monsters.”

Paul groaned; a small noise, compared to Julia’s second outburst of laughter.

She broke away from her father, saying, “I want to hunt a Thunder Bird or a Lightning Shrieker. I’m not sure which would be better.” She added, “And after today, I think I want to explore some archives and look for a Familiar Form that could help with aura control. There has to be one of them right?”

“Oh!” Ezekiel said, “That’s a good point. There probably is. Also, there are Shriekers on the Quest Board. I saw one yesterday, but I don’t think we should do this.” In a scatter of moments, Ezekiel had found the Quest in question, and handed it out.

--

Special Quest!

Kill the monstrous Lightning Shrieker located in the South East Tribulation Mountains.

This is a dangerous Quest.

Begin at the Desolate Harmony Plateau in the center of the Dry Highlands, then head east till you reach the South East Tribulation Mountains, then go south 3350 kilometers. When you spot a mountain that is desolation instead of green, you will have found the lair of the Lightning Shrieker. Kill it, and allow for Thunder Birds to once again nest in the area.

This Quest has been active for <7 months>.

Reward: 2 points; optional meeting with High Clan Void Song.

Poster: Rozeta, Dragon Goddess of the Script

Lesser Poster: Grand Elder Lingxing Void Song.

--

While they read, Ezekiel said, “The Quest was uploaded with precise directions, meaning that finding the target is not the problem with this Quest. What are Shriekers?”

Julia’s smile came back in full force as she read. “They’re the monstrous form of the Thunder Bird. I don’t know much beyond that.”

Tiffany turned uncertain. She hummed, thinking.

Paul said, “No. Please, no.”

“I would go with Paul’s recommendation here. If it’s worth two points and has been active for 7 months, something is wrong with this Quest, or it truly is that dangerous.” Ezekiel said, “We can scout it out and ask around, though. No harm in that.”

“Hm. I’m gonna need to read up on those more than I have.” Julia said, “I need to get to a Registrar and get an Ability Slot Increase Quest, anyway. Anyone happen to know where they are in this part of the world? I’ve kept an eye out, but I haven’t actually seen any.”

“They’re at the Void Temple, down one of the side hallways.” Tiffany said, “Looked like long lines, too.”

“Ah.” Julia said, “Then… I kinda want to do that. As soon as possible.”

An Odin blipped into the space room, holding a ring. He dropped it into Ezekiel’s hand, as Ezekiel said, “I made Tadashi’s ring while we were talking so that’s where I wanted to go next, but we can stop over at the Void Temple, too.” He held the plain-looking silver ring up, saying, “Sure no one wants Intelligence before we head out?”

Julia briefly stared at the ring. Tiffany and Paul both glanced at it, and looked away.

Moments passed in silence.

“Alright then.” Ezekiel put the ring into a pocket in the sash around his waist. “Let’s head out to Star Song, then. Or the Void Temple, first?”

Julia said, “I can go to the Temple on my own. Let’s go see Star Song. We can ask them about Shriekers and such— Wait a second. What are you actually going to tell Star Song about chemistry?”

“Well…” Ezekiel asked, “What do you think I should tell them? I want to solve chelation for them, and for me, in case anyone should ever want to pull that sort of shit on me… Or against anyone, really. I have to say: I have a strong urge to solve this problem for the whole of the world, but… I’m not willing to walk over the Highlands to do that. Yet. They seem like decent people to me.” He asked, “Do they seem decent to you all?”

Julia went silent in thought.

Paul said, “They’re better than most.”

“This place is fine, I guess.” Tiffany said, “But I don’t like how the people around here are so willing to be limited. To voluntarily live under the Void Song and under laws that allow their higher-ups to kill them at a whim.” She added, “I haven’t seen any murders either, but I’ve seen some shit go down in the alleyways that would not be allowed back home. And the nobles are nobles, so that’s shitty, too. ...But they’re not as bad as the ones back home in the Wasteland, or the Republic.” She shrugged.

Ezekiel said, “I’ve kept a few hundred eyes out with Odin, but I haven’t seen any murders either. But, the nobility is nobility. Back where we come from, the nobility had mostly been abolished, but our histories paint a similar picture of the nobility we’ve found here in the Highlands, and even back home with the Viscount of Frontier and the Baroness of Kal’Duresh. I think this is just the nature of power, when you’re forced to be violently powerful to keep your power in a world of violence.”

Tiffany frowned. “They’re not this bad back in Treehome.”

Paul said, “Treehome is uncommonly good.”

“Ha!” Tiffany said, “True enough.”

Julia said, “I think the people here are progressive and good when compared to what this world does to people.” She added, “That’s my objective opinion. But subjectively, we can’t trust them yet, and you should limit what you give them.”

Tiffany said, “Okay. Yeah. I agree with that.”

“They’re better than most,” Paul repeated. “But they’re not anywhere close to perfect.”

Ezekiel said, “Fair point.” He added, “So I am thinking about giving them the bare bones of the Periodic Table along with a basic chemistry lesson about electron shells and chemical bonds. Do you remember the types of bonds, Julia?” Julia eyed her father, looking wary and questioning, then she shook her head ever so slightly. He continued, “There’s ionic, covalent, hydrogen, and Van Der Waals.” He said, “And the Periodic Table is not just a listing of elements, but of electron shells and free electrons and a whole lot more. If someone well versed in particles saw the Table they’d see a lot more than what other people see, so it would probably take years or maybe decades for anyone here to understand it, but it could be a great map to the future of Particle Magic! I figure if I give some deserving alchemists this sort of information, then this world will advance to a decent level of chemistry fast enough.” He added, “I could also talk about the chemistries I’ve heard of, but we never covered them in your homework or in any of the video or wikipedia jaunts I drowned in, and so I don’t really know much of them. There’s Organic, Inorganic, Physical, Analytical, and Biochemistry. I’d imagine that Veird chemistry would be different though; different categories. Or maybe they’d just add in ‘Magichemistry’, or something like that. Keeping ‘Alchemy’ as the name of the field seems rather primitive to me, but, then again, Alchemy is a science on Veird, so your guess is as good as mine.”

Julia frowned. She seemed unwilling to voice her objection; likely because she had so many that she didn’t know where to start. In a similar manner, Tiffany scrunched her eyebrows, thinking.

Paul said, “Maybe you should not do that.”

“That’s also an option. Likely the one I’m gonna take, too.” Ezekiel said, “Honestly, I should spend some time learning chemistry on my own. But who has the time! I certainly don’t— Oh!” He had an idea, and said, “I have an idea. I could hand out Intelligence rings and the Periodic table to the top ten alchemists in the world. Make a Quest of it. Put some parameters out there to weed out the worst ones. Now there’s some scientific advancement for you.”

Julia stopped wrestling with her emotions and solidly said, “Don’t do that. For sure, do not do that.”

“Yeah…” Ezekiel considered; he’d likely want to give the Periodic Table to some people in Spur, or Candlepoint, or…

Maybe he should talk to Rozeta about that, first? Maybe… Maybe not.

He could at least seek Phagar’s opinion.

“Anyway! Want to see the spells I made?” Ezekiel handed out his new spells, saying, “They’re pretty great. You should make a Rift, too, Julia.”

Julia, Tiffany, and to a much lesser extent, Paul, each read, and each disbelieved.

Julia exclaimed, “Willpower damage per second ‘For each opposed active magic’?!” She looked at her father. “For each? Is that what I was seeing? Back in that room?”

Tiffany joked, “If you weren’t already on a watch-list, you would be now!”

Paul just smirked.

Julia said, “I only got a few ticks for 150, but then I put up a [Defend] and was still taking 150! This is why!” She deadpanned, “This seems like cheating, dad.”

“You haven’t turned those notifications off?” Ezekiel said, “I did that a long time ago.”

Julia barreled past his question, saying, “This means that Kaffi likely knows your Willpower.”

“Eh.” Ezekiel asked, “So what? There’s no way they didn’t know my Stats already.”

- - - -

Sister Kaffi walked up the spiraling staircase, crossing the paths of the occasional acolyte who shuffled to the side and bowed. Kaffi continued upward.

Eventually, she reached the office of the Grand Elder. The stately white-stone door stood at the end of a short reception area. Kaffi nodded to the senior acolyte on desk today while walking to the door; she did not need an invitation and thus she did not need to speak to the boy. The acolyte noticed, then returned to his paperwork; today was a normal day, after all.

Nothing special happening here.

Kaffi knocked on the door, then went in. She closed the door behind her.

Grand Elder Lingxing Void Song sat on a large purple pillow in the bright sun, her eyes glittering with the power of the black Void. Her stare reached across the Highlands to somewhere important, no doubt. Her skin was as white as Kaffi’s own, but a lot more wrinkled. No horns, either. Both white skin and lack of horns was a true sign of High Clan breeding, kept intact ever since the Compact of Songli all those centuries ago. Lingxing was lucky enough to be born with zero need for blood editing, which was one of the many reasons why she had risen so far in Void Song.

Kaffi was also one of those reasons that Lingxing had risen so far. A small, but important one. All the rest was Lingxing, herself. The woman was exactly who you’d want as a Grand Elder. Strict, but compassionate, exceedingly brilliant in matters of state, and not afraid to get her hands dirty to make her world a better place. She wasn’t a slouch on the power scale, either, but power wasn’t strictly necessary when it came to being a leader. Kaffi had power, but she was definitely no leader. Not at all.

Lingxing remained in her pillow, and did not react to Kaffi’s presence as quickly as she could have. Oh, sure, she was aware Kaffi was here, but this was her place of power, and Kaffi would do well to act like it. After ten seconds, Lixgxing raised a hand, a single finger, while she continued to stare out into the Void.

Kaffi waited.

Everything to keep up appearances.

Lingxing blinked, her purple eyes returning to her as the Void pulled back. She turned to Kaffi, then she cast the Void into the space around the room. The sky in the windows vanished, replaced with endless black. The world went away, and it was just the two of them.

Lingxing relaxed out of her pillow to stand, composing herself by quick increments, considering her age. She looked to Kaffi with a slight disappointment in her purple eyes. Kaffi waited.

Lingxing sighed, and said, “Give me the bad news.”

“There is none.” Kaffi said, “Ezekiel is Erick Flatt.”

For a moment the Void flickered; surprise and distress interrupting Lingxing’s control, but only barely.

Lingxing narrowed her now-violent eyes. “You’re fucking with me.” She started to huff, saying, “Don’t do this to me, grandma! I mean it! Is he a dragon? Some ploy by the Clans? Some body snatcher? Is Erick Flatt dead and we have an impostor in our—”

Kaffi burst out laughing. Great lungfuls of joyful guffaws. Sudden tears ran down her face for she could not contain her happiness at her trick, and at the truth of her news.

Lingxing’s frown deepened.

And then Kaffi said, “You should have seen the look on your face!”

Lingxing seemed to lose twenty years from her face as she realized that, No; Kaffi wasn’t fucking with her at all. Her purple eyes relaxed and her angry mouth turned into something much brighter. Then she went back the other way, back to calculating anger. “You’re truly serious.”

Kaffi was still laughing but she had controlled it down to small chuckles. “Serious as Soul Magic! Ezekiel is Erick Flatt.” She handed out the Rift magics the world’s maybe-strongest (non-wrought, non-dragon, non-immortal) archmage had just made, saying, “Look at this shit! He’s as good as Tixi or Erizod. You remember Erizod, don’t you?”

“Bah! I know who Erizod was, grandmother.” Lingxing read the blue boxes quickly, then looked up and said, “This Sun Rift. This does multiplying damage based on all active opposing spellwork?”

“Yes.” Kaffi said, “It’s a rare manifestation of that particular Element and it’s exactly as dangerous as it reads.”

“This makes me even more mad.” Lingxing was suddenly deeply disappointed. “Blast it all. I was hoping he was just another Scion.”

“Oh don’t be like that.” Kaffi said, “I know you’re disappointed that we didn’t get a new resource, but no one else is going to get him, either. He’s tied to Spur. We don’t even have to calculate around that mess anymore.” She said, “Though Star Song is getting some deep claws into him. Might want to step in there.”

“Our Tixi can probably do this Sun Rift if he wanted to. Have you met Nirzir yet? She could do this, too.”

“Oh? Who’s Nirzir?”

“Still young. Matriculated this year. Daughter to Erizod’s daughter.”

Kaffi’s eyes widened in genuine surprise. “Living in Holorulo?”

“Yes, of course.”

“I must go see them, then.” Kaffi rapidly added, “Some other time.”

“Yes. Some other time.” Lingxing paused in thought, then said, “He is doing well with Star Song, isn’t he? Hmmm.” She decided, “I want a meeting with Ezekiel. Make it happen.”

“As you wish. I will inform him tomorrow at our next session.”

“What else happened in the training?” Lingxing said, “You’ll have to tell me all about it. I shall make us tea, grandmother.”

Kaffi took a seat on a pillow in the sun, opposite Lingxing’s, and started talking. Soon, the scents of plum tea filled the air, as words painted ever more interesting pictures.

- - - -

Xue sat on one side of the table, prepared to make his case.

Riri sat on the other. She was not ready for this impromptu meeting, so she was not happy, but Xue was no fool; Riri was prepared for most anything. Any discomfort on her part was merely an affectation.

It was the best Xue could hope for, so it would have to do.

Elder Arilitilo sat at the head of the table. She said, “Loremaster Xue has informed me that Scion Phoenix is on his way here. We have little time to make this bargain, and yet we must make it. This is about your Nacreous Weaver, Loremaster Riri.”

Loremaster Riri’s amber eyes regarded the two of them. “Pearlchan does not deserve to be turned into a silk dispensary. She has been with me for fifteen years, and her children are a vital part of our silk house. I categorically deny you, Elder Arilitilo. And you too, Xue. I deny you, as I have done before, and will continue to do. Pearlchan is not for sale, trade, or otherwise.”

Xue said, “We could ask for anything, Riri. You understand this, right? He is bringing us a Flatt Ring of Intelligence. We could get that New Stat for ourselves. For several of our people.”

Riri remained firm. She said nothing. She didn’t have to. All of her complaints had been laid out in the dozens of conversations they had had on this subject, long before now. But Xue had hoped that she would see reason, when the prize sitting before them was so large.

Elder Arilitilo tried, “If Scion Phoenix has gotten his hands on a Flatt Ring, he can possibly get his hands on a piece of the Light Dungeon the Headmaster has. Would you consider this to be a fair trade? A minor Light Dungeon in which to raise Pearlchan’s children into actual Nacreous Weavers, instead of simple Light Weavers?”

Riri ignored Arilitilo’s argument and retread old ground, as she replied, “I raised Pearlchan from an egg and guided her through her mutation into a Nacreous Weaver. Dozens of her sisters perished, for nacreous Weavers are impossible to raise in captivity, but I managed the impossible, and have managed to keep her alive through continued impossibility. She is a unique specimen of uncommon mentality and love. Pearlchan will never become someone’s Familiar Form; not even mine. When she dies, I will burn her body upon the pyre, and make of her core and her final threads a meal that might transform one of her lesser children into a Nacreous Weaver, like their mother.”

Elder Arilitilo said, “Please see reason, Riri.”

“I see reason. I am very reasonable. It is you who are not. There is value in Pearlchan aside from her usefulness as a Familiar Form. I do not wish to be rude, and I am sure you do not either, but if I should happen to inform Ezekiel that I am giving up my beloved pet to him to turn into a Familiar Form, then he would not accept the gift anyway. And I would not want to present myself that way, either!” Riri said, “He seems like that sort of man.” With a gleam in her eye, she continued, “However, if you wish to make a few international trades regarding a Light Dungeon, then I will be more than happy to oversee the growth of new Light Weavers and Nacreous Weavers.”

That was a nonstarter of an idea. The Headmaster wasn’t trading any of his Light Sources, for any amount of money. Xue bet that Riri had already personally inquired, but had been rebuffed.

Elder Arilitilo frowned, then said, “Please rethink your stance.”

“I do good work for Star Song and the Spidery has never been more profitable, but I have one single line I will not cross. Do not ask me to cross it every six months. I do not appreciate this.”

Xue said, “We want Blood Weavers and you can never keep them alive. We ask for thread from your Pearlchan, and you will not sell, and especially not in the quantity we need. And we know you know what kind of thread Julia used to make her robes, but you will not share that information either. You are the most recalcitrant Loremaster of Star Song, and it is tiring.”

Elder Arilitilo said nothing; she let Xue speak for her, too.

Riri defended herself with a laid-back air, saying, “Blood Weavers need 50 liters of sapient blood per day, per spider. I cannot keep Blood Weavers alive because we would require donations from 100 people per day to do this. We could drop that down to 25 people per day if we use [Blood Regeneration] on everyone, but any normal person cannot keep that routine up for more than a week without feeling the deep effects of such harvest. As soon as I am allowed to set up such obvious Blood Magic harvesting then I will do so, but by the laws of Songli, I cannot. Take your complaints up with the High Clans, for I can do nothing about this problem.

“Regarding Pearlchan’s threads; she makes Star Song ten thousand gold every week. As soon as you are able to afford the fees she pulls in, then we can talk.” Riri stated, “The problems with almost every Loremaster in Star Song or in any other Clan is that you are not willing to give proper recompense for the materials I am able to produce. It is through no small part of my own, personal monetary efforts that Star Song enjoys such prosperity as it does. And because of this, Patriarch Zalindi upholds my monetary decisions, so unless that changes, then my stance will not change.

“As for Julia’s threads.” Riri frowned. “It has taken me a while to confirm what I suspected, but I suppose I might as well share right now: They’re Shadow Spider threads. Julia has a Shadow Spider form. She doesn’t have Healthy Form either, otherwise the threads would be much tougher. Possibly even magically constricting... or reflective. It could be either. I’m not sure. Most people who get a Shadow Spider form either get dead, or disappear, and it’s anyone’s guess as to if the people who disappeared actually got away.”

Xue frowned. All of Riri’s points were salient and her reasoning was sound. But he had heard them all before.

Except the part about Shadow Spiders.

There were many side effects to revealing ‘Julia’ had a Shadow Spider form, but when that bit of information was taken in concert with all the other ones they had…

Xue was experiencing many different emotions. Primarily, there was joyful surprise.

He was also angry that Riri hadn’t shared this until now, until this crucial upcoming meeting, but in the end, she had shared.

If there had been any doubt about Ezekiel’s true nature, it was gone, now. Talk of Shadow Spiders would have had Xue warding up his rooms with the most annoying and powerful spells in his Status if he had heard this news a year ago. Yesterday, before the gathering, this news would have made him go into temporary hiding, for a Clan gathering would have been the best place for the Shadow Spiders to attack.

But today, after the gathering of last night, upon hearing of Erick Flatt’s true nature, he was pleasantly thrilled to be in this place, at this time, taking part in these opportunities all around him. Erick Flatt was here, and opportunity abounded.

Oh, sure, the Clan Deliberation was still in session on whether Flatt was an agent of Melemizargo or not, and that smoldering bonfire of a conference would likely rage into an inferno soon enough, but Xue was firmly in the camp that Flatt was a benefit to the world. And either way, living in a time when all the Shades were either dead or Cursed into compliance was a novel experience, with each day seeming brighter than the one before. Flatt’s naysayers had used the proof of the Shades’ deaths as proof that Melemizargo was doing something different, and more insidious than his usual methods, but Xue thought differently. If the Dark God’s insidious plan was to kill his entire clergy, then Xue wasn’t going to voice objection.

More enemies of the world should shoot themselves in their hands.

Today was a much better day than yesterday, even if Riri was doing her damnedest to come out more on top than everyone else. Good thing Elder Arilitilo and he had conferred earlier, and decided upon the strategy of confronting Riri with their usual demands. By doing so, they forced her to deny the two of them, or else she would appear to be allying with them when she offered up her ‘Pearlchan’ to Erick, as though it was their idea. In the version of events Riri would have preferred, she would no doubt offer up her pet for some tiny concessions that only she would benefit from.

Ha! Not on his watch.

This way, they would all benefit.

Hopefully.

Xue said, “Then let us work together to get what we want. I want that Flatt Intelligence Ring. I am offering him Blood Magic lessons as a starting point. Maybe Blood Enchanting, too, if he wishes to learn.”

Riri’s facade briefly broke, revealing surprise. Then her facade came right back. She remained silent, and glanced to Arilitilo.

Elder Arilitilo added, “I want access to that ring, too. I’m offering him access to some of our archives, and to talk of magic, as well as some of our more hidden treasures.” She stared at Riri, saying, “Understand this, Riri, Star Song will take a great loss if it gains us the ability to become a High Clan. That is the opportunity on the table. That is the power we’re going after. To paraphrase what Ored Small Scare said at your table last night: Money doesn’t matter in the face of military might. So use your money to gain us some military might for once.

“I want you to seriously consider your future path in this Clan, for this is an opportunity that might never come our way again. Ever. Decide what you are willing to part with before the opportunity presents itself, so we may all cooperate however much we can, to get as much as we can, for I doubt the combined efforts of every single member of our Clan will get us everything we could get out of that man.” She added, “The entirety of Glaquin’s Forest has been made near-habitable due to the removal of two monster species. Half a continent opened up to Orcol expansion. This Elixir solution is one way we open up all of Nelboor for us, but we need more than that. Keep this in mind going forward.”

Xue waited for Riri to speak. Arilitilo waited, too.

Riri glanced to Xue, then to Arilitilo, then frowned as she tried not to appear nervous. They had unsettled the woman; this much was obvious. But this was likely exactly what she wanted them to believe. Riri was still Riri, and if she confirmed that Julia’s threads were Shadow Spider threads, then she knew what Xue had only just puzzled out himself. Even Arilitilo hadn’t known, for sure, until this moment. Probably.

It would be cliché to say that the Arachnid Polymage sitting before them spun webs and waited for opportunity to fall into her lap, but that is exactly what Riri did all the time. Only this time, Xue and Arilitilo were plucking the web as hard as they could to get her to come out and coordinate with them.

“I want that ring too.” Riri casually said, “I have always been loyal to Star Song, even if it does not appear as such to those who wish to use resources in less than the best possible way. But… for this… I am not a lone warrior, and I never have been. I will, of course, cooperate with the resources and strengths of Star Song in order to gain this valuable resource.” She added, “However, I will not give up Pearlchan. Not happening.”

Xue and Arilitilo both lightly stared at Riri.

Xue could understand, in an abstract sort of way, that Riri cared for her Nacreous Weaver, but the pure opportunity on the table was surely worth the life of a pet. Surely! Xue turned his stare into a pointed glare.

Riri huffed, then said, “I’ve already looked into acquiring a Light Source for a small Light Dungeon, but Oceanside will not sell one of their Light Sources. I even got a strongly worded letter from the Headmaster telling me to never ask again, though I got the impression that the letter was a single letter that he had [Duplicate]d and sent off to every single person that ever asked him the same question; there were many parts that did not pertain to my specific inquiry.

“To that end: If we could get a Light Source directly from Ezekiel then we might hatch some extra Nacreous Weavers. In a year. But Ezekiel is going to say no. He’s under contract with the Headmaster to not make any more Light Dungeons.” She rapidly added, “Ezekiel should say no. He could say yes. If he said yes, then the [Rebound] of that attack would fall upon us.” She asked, “Does Star Song want to go that route?”

Xue shrunk away from the opportunity before him. He was back to being a small frog in a well. He didn’t want to try and get out of the well, either, for up there lay dragons. He looked to Arilitilo. She wasn’t happy with Riri’s answer either.

Arilitilo frowned. “While true that we cannot put ourselves at odds with the Headma—” She briefly glanced away, then came back, saying, “We have little time. Ezekiel has passed the bridge and has stepped into the Alluvial District. He is coming here. We three here all want the same things. Let us decide on a plan of attack. We all want that ring. What are we offering?” She pointed at Xue.

Xue rapidly said, “Blood Magic and highly effective, secret matters of enchanting.”

She put a hand on her chest, rapidly saying. “Multiple treasures, multiple secrets.” She gestured to Riri.

Riri breathed out and blinked long. She said, “I have a secret. I will give it to him, only.” She stared at them, and her demeanor turned solid hard, “Let me make this deal for us. I don’t wish to disparage you two, but you’re both the furthest thing our Loremaster House has from merchants, and this needs a merchant’s touch.”

Xue warned, “Don’t fuck us out of our fair shares, Riri.”

“Have some more faith in your compatriot, Xue.” Arilitilo smiled, politely, saying, “I’m sure whatever tactics Riri uses will benefit us all.”

“I am thankful to have this opportunity entrusted to me.” Riri bowed in her chair, briefly, then raised her head. “This merchant’s daughter will ensure that the gains of Star Song are legendary.”

- - - -

Ezekiel and his people met Xue and Sikali at the edge of Star Song’s mountainous mansion. After a few pleasantries, they followed the Loremaster and the Enforcer into the complex, going left when the previous night they went right. They journeyed past magics and physical barriers that had been thrown open for Ezekiel’s arrival.

While they walked, Ezekiel asked who they were meeting, exactly, and Xue gave a concise rundown. By his tone, Ezekiel could tell that the man had lost almost all of his previous fear. This was good.

It also meant that Erick had been found out, completely.

This was to be expected, but Ezekiel would keep up appearances until circumstance demanded otherwise.

In minutes, they had arrived at a wide stone courtyard, open to the east. The area had understated elegance, with simple, yet sturdy grey flagstones. A curving grey stone railing separated the space from a wonderful view of other mountainous mansions, and the city of Eralis in the distance, which dominated the horizon. Further up the mountainside were smaller cabin-like spaces, sharing the view. Cultivated trees laden with pink flowers, like leaves upon willowy branches, occupied almost all of the edges of this comfortable space. Five stone tables were here and there, each with simple stone stools.

A barely-there magic held between the rest of the world and the courtyard, and from what Ezekiel was seeing of it, the purpose was to obfuscate the courtyard from sight and sound without marring the view.

Of the people in attendance, Ezekiel recognized most of them, and of those he did not know, Xue’s descriptions earlier had been enough.

Patriarch Zalindi was there with his dark blue skin and bald head. He stood central to the gathering on the other side of the courtyard, to the side of a central stone table.

Elder Arilitilo, with her purple skin, stood next to Loremaster Riri, with her large tan horns. Both of them looked ready for something, but Ezekiel wasn’t quite sure what.

Tadashi stood off to the side away from almost everyone else. He looked okay, or at least his pink skin seemed healthy enough, even if his obvious joy at the moment was heavily tempered with fear. His obvious brother stood with him; Wabi Diligent Scribe, if Ezekiel remembered correctly, and he probably did. Wabi was less fearful than his brother by far. Ezekiel didn’t know much about the man, but he was still of Diligent Scribe, which seemed like a problem, or a complication, seeing as how no one else from that branch family was here, as far as Ezekiel knew.

There were four alchemists from Star Song also in attendance, but they mostly stood behind and away from Tadashi. Xue had mentioned them, but not by name.

There was also Elder Mirizo, of Enforcement. He had been in attendance last night, but Ezekiel had not actually had a chance to speak to the man. He would likely get that chance today. Elder Mirizo was supposedly all about politics and getting things done, but Ezekiel had noticed that when Xue mentioned the man, Sikali briefly let her anger show. But they were here now, and Sikali’s face was once again a mask.

Xue and Sikali stepped out of Ezekiel’s way, moving to the side. Sikali went to stand with Mirizo. Xue went to Arilitilo.

Ezekiel stepped down into the courtyard.

Patriarch Zalindi spoke, “Welcome back to Clan Star Song, Ezekiel Phoenix.”

Ezekiel gave a tiny bow, as was appropriate for a Scion, even though every single person in the courtyard knew he was not. “Thank you for having me.” He straightened, saying, “Last night I offered an idea; today I am here to put words into action.” He pulled out a ring from his belt sash and held it out in the open. “To that end, we have this.”

Zalindi nodded, then gestured to a nearby table that held a bound book and several small folders of loose papers. “A comprehensive study of Antirhine as well as our current notes on the solution which Tadashi has created and our Potion House has attempted to understand.” He gestured to Tadashi, and to the alchemists behind the man, saying, “And though you suggested we use the ring on Tadashi, for he was the one who has most understood what he has made, we have more skilled alchemists than just him.” Zalindi gestured to where Xue had taken a stance with Riri and Arilitilo, saying, “And we have more areas of study than alchemy which could use the blessing of your ring. For a suitable recompense, of course.”

Ezekiel paused. He gripped the ring.

He considered.

Yes; he wanted them to recreate chelation therapy as fast as possible so that it could not be taken away from the world by an act of concerted killing. This was a point in favor of unlocking Intelligence in everyone here, or at least more than just Tadashi.

No one was able to unlock the New Stats through simple rings like Ezekiel was able to do, and had done. He knew this because the New Stats had gone far and wide when Candlepoint was still trading out the Stat fruits, and yet, only his artifact-level rings, made with a true understanding of light, were able to actually unlock the New Stats in a person. Other people could make rings of the New Stats, for sure, but they were made in the old-school way of enchanting, and they broke down rather fast, with half-lives measured in minutes.

This meant that unlocking Intelligence for the people here would be limited in scope, for a while. They could probably make rings of Intelligence, but they could not unlock the Stat for others. … Which was sort of a problem, but not a large one.

Maybe; Clan Star Song was a good Clan, from what he had seen and heard, but he had only been here for a few days. How they treated him was not indicative of how he judged if a person was good, or not. How a society treated people who couldn’t give them anything was a much better metric, and by that metric, the Highlands were failing.

Yes; he could get a lot of resources and power out of them for doing this.

Yes; it was better than giving them the Periodic Table, and that could come later, anyway, if his ‘Maybe’ from before cleared up into a full-blown ‘Yes’.

No; … he couldn’t think of a good reason not to do this, besides obstinance. He forced himself to consider why not to do this, but couldn’t come up with—

Oh. Wait.

No; these New Stats weren’t real. They were Wizardry, and they were from Melemizargo. Ah. Yeah. That was a great big ‘No’. Hmm.

Yes; other people might come to him with more trade and he could get even more stuff.

But what did he want from these people besides what he was already going to get from them?

Three seconds had passed while Ezekiel thought; while he eyed the others in the Courtyard. He made up his mind swiftly enough, and said, “Okay. I’m going to interview your chosen Alchemists and vet them one at a time. There need not be any subsequent exchange for this particular increase in the unlocking of Intelligence. But depending on how your people answer, they might not gain this boon.”

Every single alchemist except Tadashi, and to a lesser extent, his brother, looked like it was holiday time and they had gotten double presents. Tadashi was stoically reserved, like he knew he wouldn’t get Intelligence, and he likely wouldn’t. Wabi was a mix between his brother and the others, with a lot of empathy apparent for his brother.

Unless Wabi turned into a secret asshole, then Ezekiel would offer Intelligence to him too, simply because of that empathy right there. The jury was still out on the other four.

Zalindi nodded. “Our Alchemists will accept your judgment.” He half-turned to the Loremasters and Elders at his other side, asking, “What say you, regarding the other half of my inquiry?”

Ezekiel asked the indicated people, “I would have to know the offering on the table.”

Zalindi looked to Loremaster Riri.

Riri stepped forward, and said, “Our offers are myriad, but your offers are limited. We would ask that you increase your offer to the permanent granting of a Ring of Intelligence, as well as all the others.”

Zalindi was stoic.

Other people seemed scandalized, though they tried their best to hide it.

Ezekiel smirked. Riri knew she was not getting her demand. She was merely shifting the Overton Window in her favor, and by doing so, when she came down from her heights, she would appear reasonable compared to her starting zone. Other people might have called this simple bargaining, but if anyone around here were to call this ‘bargaining’ then they were deluding themselves. Riri’s request put this conversation firmly into the category of shifting how the world functioned around here, and that was firmly political.

Ezekiel said, “Not for all the magic in the world.”

Two could shift the window.

No one had sat down yet. No one had given out tea. This was not the true way to hash out a deal. And Riri knew this. It was all part of the plan, for sure.

Which is likely why Riri lightly smiled, then asked, “Would you care for some tea and cookies? We can also set up an interview space for your questions for the Alchemists.”

“Of course,” Ezekiel said, having already seen what was going to happen next. His mana sense reached into much of this part of Star Song’s mansion, after all.

Riri gently clapped her hands, and people started moving. Servants came out from behind a boulder and into the courtyard, carrying trays of tea and snacks. Paper dividers were positioned around a stone table to the side, making a semi-private area. Ezekiel would be putting up a [Sealed Privacy Ward] anyway, though. Did they think he would allow his interviews to be spied on that easily? Ah. Whatever. A few servants grabbed Ezekiel’s papers and book and bundled them in a paper wrapping, sealed with twine, then handed them over to Julia. At the same time, Julia, Paul, and Tiffany, were given their own set of tea and cookies at a table to the side of the courtyard, where they had come into the courtyard. The Alchemists were made to stand near the interview area on the other side.

Patriarch Zalindi, Elder Arilitilo, Loremaster Riri, and Elder Mirizo sat on one side of the central table.

Ezekiel sat on the other.

Riri poured them all a sweet-smelling plum tea, handing out the cups in the proper, deferential order to the Patriarch, then Ezekiel, then the Elders, then herself. They all sipped, and it was good, but Ezekiel was mostly focused on the cookies.

They were chocolate chocolate-chip cookies. They smelled wonderful.

Riri handed out the cookies next, in the same order. Everyone took one bite.

It was so good, Ezekiel took a second bite, then held his up, and smiled, saying, “Chocolate is taking off faster than I thought it would. It hadn’t even been two months since its creation.”

Riri said, “It is a luxury food as of this moment, but it is easy to grow, and the taste is divine. The style of the treat was taken from a little shop in Spur known as ‘And Dessert!’. I believe it is your flagship store?”

Ezekiel smiled. Riri had certainly done her homework. He said, “Ratchet and Arial both do good work. Arial’s children’s store, ‘Meat! Bread! Cheese!’ does rather well too, with the potatoes for the fries. Spur is a great place.”

“One made all the better for your arrival and continued support.” Riri said, “You bring prosperity wherever you go, and so we are thankful for your arrival here in Eralis, in this time of change. Have you gotten a good look at our fair city and culture?”

Ezekiel wanted to continue to smile, for Riri was a personable woman and the atmosphere of this place was rather friendly. But he forced his smile away, and said, “I’m not leaving Spur.”

Fully expecting this, Riri instantly said, “And we would not ask you to. But perhaps, when you get your [Gate] network up and running. Would you consider a [Gate] in our fair city?”

Well wasn’t that an interesting turn of events.

“Aye.” Ezekiel said, “That’s a fair possibility. I’m still on that Quest, though, so if you should happen to know any [Gate] secrets, let me know, and you’ll move Eralis to the top of the list.” He asked, “Does this mean you would be open to trade with Candlepoint? That’s likely where the Gates to the Stars will be located in a hundred years, but we might end up having [Gate]s before that.”

The calm atmosphere of the courtyard was the only thing that kept the excited, fearful, calculating, or otherwise surprised looks on peoples’ faces from turning into actual gasps or, worse yet, interrupting words. Even Zalindi and the other two Elders were unsettled.

Riri, however, was perfectly calm. “I would be delighted to speak of trade on a global scale, but for now, we have some smaller trades that we wish to conduct for smaller items.”

Ezekiel said, “I cannot permanently part with a ring. That is not an option.”

“Understood.” Riri countered, “Then in exchange for the unlocking of Intelligence for several people, I am willing to offer you the locations of a Nacreous Weaver and a Primal Blood Weaver for whatever usage you deem fit, as well as the knowledge of how to weave magic out of those threads. Weaving knowledge will come from me, while other enchanting and Blood Magic knowledge will come from Elder Arilitilo and Loremaster Xue, both of whom are particularly good with blood.”

It was a good offer, but what Ezekiel noticed most was the fact that Xue flinched, Arilitilo had a hiccup of movement, and everyone else had larger reactions, varying from surprise to disbelief. Zalindi was surprised, too, but his surprise turned to a small smile. Xue, standing behind Riri a good three meters away, couldn’t help himself but to glare at Riri’s back before turning his gaze back to Ezekiel.

Anyone else likely wouldn’t have seen any reaction, though. Star Song had a well-maintained united front.

“It is a good offer.” Ezekiel noted, “But according to what I see on the faces of the people in this courtyard, there were some surprises in your announcement. Why?”

“There are no Elders of Gold in the Highlands for various reasons.” Riri said, not missing a beat, “But in every Clan, there is usually at least one Loremaster who stands above the rest in the arena of commerce. Whatever reaction you have seen is the common reaction when big money starts to move out in the open.”

That was interesting, but that meant that last night—

Ezekiel asked, “Was Ored antagonizing you when he said that merchants did not belong in the nobility, last night?”

“He was.” Riri added, “But our small feud is more friendly than antagonistic.”

She was lying about that. But that was okay.

Ezekiel realized his question was, perhaps, rude. He moved on in the next direction he thought of, saying, “My daughter is looking into gaining a Thunder Bird or a Lightning Shrieker as well. Are those good forms?”

Riri held back.

Elder Arilitilo said, “Thunder Birds consume the minds of lesser Polymages in the same way that the ooze transformation and certain other monsters are capable of taking over a person. Many who considered themselves powerful Polymages have gone after Thunder Bird forms in the past, only to be consumed by the bird in turn, leaving their own Familiar Form behind.” She added, “It is strictly inadvisable to undertake this Familiar Form. Lightning Shriekers, though, are madness incarnate. They’re more Lightning and Thunder elemental than physical beast. I don’t believe it is possible to gain one of those as a Familiar Form.”

Well there went that idea. Ezekiel didn’t have to look behind him to see that Julia was disappointed by that news, but she got over it fast enough.

He asked, “Regarding these Blood Magic lessons. What would they entail?”

Elder Arilitilo said, “Most of what I teach is in regard to healing through Blood Magic. If you have not already gained [Greater Treat Wounds] through the Quest given by Registrars, then I can help you gain that spell and, more importantly, I can give you the capability to heal ailments that [Greater Treat Wounds], [Regeneration], and the smaller spells are not able to heal. I also teach a special method of enchanting where you can condense core dust into your blood that is outside of your body, and then you can use that for enchanting, directly, without the need to purchase or utilize cores.” She added, “Loremaster Xue was my apprentice for several years, learning all that I had to teach him, but he has gone further with this method of enchanting than even I.”

This was a fantastic offer.

Ezekiel wanted to learn those spells, and that method of enchanting.

Of course, he could have found some massive disaster somewhere and likely popped off the Quests for [Greater Treat Wounds] and [Regeneration] in one afternoon, which is something he certainly could have done if he had a mind to do so back when the Ballooning Spiders were still happening. But this seemed much better. He preferred learning those spells as they were meant to be learned.

Hiding his interest, Ezekiel asked, “How long would that take?”

“How familiar are you with the body and how it works?”

“Extensively familiar with the body, though not in any true medical sense.” Ezekiel said, “I have not explored much Blood Magic except to learn how to deny it.”

“That is the first lesson already taught, then. With your mana sense, I believe I could teach you most of what I know in under a month.” Ari added, “It might take longer than that if we only meet for half days. I can work around your schedule.”

Ezekiel considered, then said, “It seems like a high possibility.”

Arilitilo nodded, bowing out of the conversation.

Riri asked, “Are we up for a trade, then, Scion Ezekiel?”

Ezekiel tried not to show his enthusiasm, as he said, “Yes.”

A collective relief seemed to pass through the group.

Elder Mirizo hadn’t spoken at all, and it was just now that Ezekiel realized that the Elder was only there in case something went disastrously wrong. If things went how Ezekiel wanted them to go, Mirizo might not get a chance to speak at all.

Zalindi inquired, “Would you question our Alchemists?”

Moving right along, Ezekiel said, “Yes,” as he stood from his seat. “It shouldn’t take long, but I will be putting them behind privacy magics.”

Zalindi and the others stood as one, as the Patriarch said, “As you wish.”

Ezekiel relocated to the table surrounded by paper dividers. He moved the majority of them out of the way with a twist of lightform, then he erected a [Sealed Privacy Ward] over a table. The air briefly shimmered over the space, but settled down fast enough. None of the people behind him seemed to care, outwardly, that he had committed a social blunder; likely because he had done it on purpose. But Ezekiel wanted to be able to see out of the space.

Without a spell such as [True Sight], the stone table and chairs appeared the same as before, but under the piercing power of appropriate magics, the space was a solid magenta sphere. Paul walked into the sphere exactly as Ezekiel had wordlessly asked him to, vanishing from sight. Inside the space, he could still see out, though.

Julia and Tiffany remained at their own table.

Ezekiel stepped into the sphere, half of his body vanishing as he motioned to the first of four alchemists; a young woman of brown skin and black hair. “Come inside.” He stepped inside, and waited.

Ezekiel’s [Sealed Privacy Ward] was different from other privacy seals he had seen. His allowed him to watch the world outside without disruption. The Void privacy of Kaffi, and the [Stone Dust Privacy Ward], or whatever it was Tenebrae had, were solid disruptions, both ways.

Odin whined as his sight briefly winked out, his eyes turning solid white, but then he just blinked, resetting the [Scry] part of his eyesight, and pupils and irises returned. You could see out of the sealed space, but not into it. Yggdrasil’s [Scry] orb was destroyed as it tried to follow Ezekiel inside, but the tree [Familiar] brought his eye back quick enough, except the orb was on Julia this time.

Ezekiel sat down while Paul stood behind him. Both watched as the young woman, the first Alchemist of the day, steeled herself and strode into the hidden space, eyes open the whole way. She crossed the barrier and her eyes moved down, to see Ezekiel already sitting in his chair. She took her chair, briefly looked out at the perfectly uninterrupted sight of everyone else in the courtyard, currently looking their way, then turned back toward Ezekiel.

Ezekiel began, “Name, age, level. How did you get to be here, in this seat you are sitting in right now?”

The woman blanked for a good second, and then she rattled off, “Eroi, age 32, level 61. I worked at my father’s alchemy shop in Eralis making potions of increasing quality with less ingredient usage, where by fate or chance I caught the eye of Loremaster Riri a decade ago. From there she raised me up to Star Song where I have been making better and better healing potions ever since. Most of my potions deal with long term care, with minimal alchemy involved. I have even had success with refining antibiologic mixtures and poultices which remain effective even on those afflicted by the Elixir. The advent of Particle Magic has even enabled me to begin to isolate some of the non-magical makeup of the old and new recipes we have in our Lorehouses.”

Truthful, quick, and her area was solidly in line with what was needed to solve the problems of Antirhine. Ezekiel approved. Of course, he could be paranoid, and suspect that everyone he would meet today was as good of a liar as Kaffi, but he suspected people like the Singer were exceedingly rare.

Ezekiel asked, “How do you think the solution Tadashi created works?”

Without hesitation, and with more than a small amount of excitement in her voice, Eroi said, “I’m not sure! There have long been certain treatments that help the body to purge antirhine —we notice the antirhine in the urine sometimes— but none of them are effective in the long term. The problem remains in the bones. So this new potion has to have some natural bone-scouring effect. I imagine that if we had people drink cow milk a lot then we would offset the natural problems that I am sure this treatment will cause, but then we have to watch out for interactions with medicines and milk, and—” She paused, then rapidly added, “I was getting off topic. I apologize, Scion Fla— Ezekiel.” Her eyes went wide, briefly, as her mouth shut tight.

Ezekiel smiled, and said, “You can step out, now. Send the next one in.”

Eroi rapidly took the offered out, got up, bowed, then backed out of the space. Once she was out, Ezekiel watched as she nodded at one of the other Alchemists. The man hopped to, and went into the room, while the other two Alchemists watched on with hidden anger in their eyes, for some reason.

Interview number two went as smooth as the first one. The man was named Choi, and he, like Eroi, was a Classed Alchemist scouted by Riri over a decade ago. He figured that if the body had more blood production then that extra production could scour antirhine out of the bones as easily as Tadashi’s new invention. There was already evidence for this, as some Elixir’d Blood Mages could, through innate Class Abilities, lessen the antimagic effect inside of them so that other people could [Cleanse], cleaning off the skin, though the Blood Mage themselves could never truly rid their body of the Elixir.

Number three, Hangzi, was a trueborn son of Star Song. That was not surprising, as Ezekiel guessed based on clothing and demeanor that he had been given two common-born Alchemists and two noble-born Alchemists to interview. The rest of his answer was surprising.

Hangzi said, “I believe that we’re going about this wrong. I believe that the true secret to overcoming the Elixir is pure mana flow. There is already evidence that this works in that when you place an Elixir’d person at the end-nozzle of an entire dungeon’s flow of mana, you can deform their antimagic aura. If we scaled up this idea then there might be something there. No one has ever attempted to actually scale up the problem to the proper size, though.”

“I’ve certainly never heard that before, but it would be interesting if you could ‘push’ the Elixir out of its rest state inside the bones.” Ezekiel asked, “Does that actually happen, though? Can you disrupt the antirhine in the body with excessive mana flow? And do not forget: There is the problem of this action forcing core formation in a person.” He asked, “Unless antirhine prevents core formation?”

“Antirhine does not prevent core formation.” Reluctantly, Hangzi said, “There is merit to Tadashi’s invention, but it merely the first step of a long journey.”

“You are correct about that. Send in the last person.”

Number four was named Ving, and she was a trueborn daughter of Star Song, as well.

There was a rivalry between the commoners and the nobles, even if all were all technically nobles these days. He briefly wondered if this was a bad or a good thing, and then decided that rivalry was good in many ways.

And then Ving’s answer for ‘why was she here’ made Ezekiel very glad that she had been included in this event, today.

Ving rapidly said, “I believe that antirhine is a single particle of atomic number 82. This is because antirhine has purity. Most of the time, the silver-white metal has to be refined through physical means. When it is refined, the purer it is, the larger the antimagic effect. But similarly, the more intent-filled mana that touches the antirhine, the larger the antimagic effect is, as well. This is why when a person imbibes the Elixir the resulting aura is many times larger than the aura in the bottle.” She shook her head, saying, “Anyway! Their aura eventually settles down some, which means that the antirhine is getting diluted, or locked away into the body, but not enough to matter. Probably. I think this is the secret to Tadashi’s treatment. Like how you described that water is two hydrogen and one oxygen, antirhine merely has to be in a long enough chain of particles, a big enough molecule, to where it doesn’t count as antirhine anymore! If I could figure out how all the bonding works and why it is the way it is, then I could truly understand what Tadashi has created. And then—” She paused, then politely said, “Then I could solve my cousin’s Elixir problem.” She rapidly added, “And everyone else’s, of course.”

Ezekiel could not stop himself from smiling. He said, “Thank you for your answer. Please send in Wabi.”

Ving stood up, briefly appeared as though she wanted to say something else, then bowed and walked out of the privacy. Ving gave words to Wabi, and after a brief exchange of surprise among the other people in the courtyard, Wabi broke away from his brother. The two pink men looked so alike. Wabi could probably pass for Tadashi if no one knew of them beforehand.

Wabi stepped into the sealed space, flinched as he saw Ezekiel already seated, then took a seat.

Ezekiel said, “You didn’t expect to be let into this conversation, did you?”

“… No, I did not. I am also not interested in the Intelligence Ring. I’m only here to show that Clan Star Song is supporting Tadashi.”

“Are they?”

Wabi flinched.

Ezekiel said, “If it helps, I’ve already made up my mind. I’m for-sure helping the four Alchemsts to gain Intelligence, and then I’m helping them to create proper anti-antirhine therapy, but I’m going to have to read the material they have given me, first. But I would like to know of any possible problems that are coming over the horizon and you seem positioned well enough to tell me true. Is there anything you think I should know?”

Wabi froze, completely. He said, “I am sure I do not know anything about anything, Scion Phoenix.”

Ezekiel tried a different tactic. “Are you still part of Diligent Scribe?”

Wabi frowned. “No. I was disowned yesterday. I am only here because Tadashi is looking out for me when I was incapable of being there for him. I am an initiate of Star Song at the moment.”

“How did the bandits manage to capture him and not you?”

Wabi instantly said, “They targeted him first, knocking him out with Blood Magic. You can’t [Teleport] the unresponsive. I’m not happy about what I did, running away from twenty soldiers, but I ran and I got help. It was all I could do. By the time we got back to the glade the soldiers were gone.”

“Soldiers?”

“From Terror Peak, on the other side of the Tribulations. No one believes me because I have no proof, but I firmly believe they were soldiers. Or at least some of them were.”

Ezekiel nodded, then he asked, “Who is the traitor in Diligent Scribe?”

Wabi froze. He unfroze in increments, slowly at first, but then rapidly. He said, “I don’t know, but they’ll come around again once Tadashi figures out exactly what he made. And he’ll do it, too. He’s a genius. If your ring actually works on him, then he’ll have the solution by tonight.”

“Is Tadashi doing okay? Are you doing okay?”

“… He’s driven. In most cases, that is better than being simply ‘okay’. I am only an initiate of Star Song, but I’m able to see to my brother’s needs. I am thankful for the opportunity to be there for him now, since I wasn’t able to be there for him before.”

Ezekiel nodded, then he said, “With any luck, Tadashi might not have to depend on you in this way in a year. They’re close to the solution. All they need is a nudge, and I’m going to give it to them. You may go.”

Wabi brightened. He stood, bowed, then walked out of the bubble.

Ezekiel turned to Paul. “So how much of what we heard was a lie?”

Paul chuckled. “I can’t answer that.”

Ezekiel got out of his seat, saying, “Oh well. Let the cards fall how they will.” He dismissed the [Sealed Privacy Ward]. Most people were already facing his way, but now they were facing him, directly. He pulled the Intelligence Ring out of his sash and held it in one hand, as he channeled the mana glow of Intelligence in the other. The pale-violet mana plume was barely visible against the blue sky. He said, “I know the Shades made multiple Stat Trees, but I am not sure if they made multiple Intelligence-colored Stats. If anyone has this color of Stat already in their Status, then the addition of Intelligence will soul-warp you into an unrecognizable mess of flesh and bone and blood.”

He dropped his mana channeling hand, cutting off the color, as the faces around him went hard. Only Wabi went wide-eyed; they probably had not informed him of this nuanced New Stat information, but the others had all heard of this already. Erick’s viewpoint of last Shadow’s Feast was likely leaked to many, many people by now, and then there were all the other stories coming out of Ar’Kendrithyst from everyone else involved in that whole mess. Star Song was prepared to accept this New Stat into their ranks.

Ezekiel said, “My second warning is that there are diminishing returns. The third warning is that if a Registrar wipes Intelligence from your Status, then you will have lost whatever points you put into Intelligence. No recovery. The fourth warning is that there are no Skills linked to Intelligence; what you see is what you get. The fifth warning is to not put too many points into it right away.” He paused. He said, “I can see all of you already know this, but I’m still saying this for my own conscience. Who wants to go first?”

The alchemists went first. Everyone else watched.

Ezekiel watched, too, with mana sense, [Soul Sight], [True Sight], and from multiple angles. The information he got from [Soul Sight] was the most important, here.

Every person had a natural color to their soul which helped to inform the color of their magic. Ezekiel's soul was white. Julia’s was dark blue. Tiffany’s was grey and Paul’s was blue. Anyone looking at Ezekiel with [Soul Sight] active would see the magenta of his magic and the white of his soul and realize that something didn’t add up, but [Soul Sight] was barely more common than [Witness].

He knew he was never going to pull off hiding for very long!

Anyway.

Eroi, Choi, Hangzi, and Ving, with their pink, red, blue, and green souls, respectively, each experienced the same thing. Each had a blossom erupt in the center of their soul as the ring slipped onto their finger; some ineffable density taking hold that was similar to when someone raised their Stats, or learned a spell, or gained an Ability. But it was also different. It was colored ultraviolet, for one. That ultraviolet flavor soaked into the whole, and soon enough, the soul returned to its original color, but shifted, slightly.

Ezekiel guessed that his own soul had shifted much the same back in Shadow’s Feast, but his was white and he had all the New Stats, so the overall effect was minimal.

Here, the overall soul effect was also almost nothing.

But each person reacted to the addition of Intelligence in their own ways. Ezekiel remembered his own mania of creation after gaining Intelligence, causing him to gain all of the New Stats at once and then gain a visit from Rozeta, but in his case, he had left the massively enchanted ring upon his finger. All these four people got was the unlocking of Intelligence, and then the ring taken right back off.

Eroi started mumbling about how she needed to grow some certain plants. Choi spoke of a sudden realization that blood had types, which is how they could remove the antirhine blood from a person and then donate other, clean blood to the person and toss away the antirhine blood, possibly speeding up the cleansing process. Hangzi suddenly lamented that core formation would be the inevitable result of enough ambient mana funneled into a person, and he actually collapsed to the floor, saying that his life was a lie.

He was just being dramatic. Right?

Ving went very silent as she looked at Ezekiel, and said, “Oh. It’s rather simple, isn’t it?”

Ezekiel smiled as he removed the ring from her finger, and said, “Maybe. You tell me.”

And then Ving declared that she needed paper and pens. Where are the paper and pens! She must have some paper and pens!

Ezekiel let Elder Mirizo and Enforcer Sikali deal with that, as he went back to Zalindi, Riri, Xue, and Arilitilo, who were still sitting at the central table.

He held the ring in his hand, and asked, “Want to wait and see how they handle it? Or want to go right now? Who wants this?”

“Elder Arilitilo, Loremaster Xue, and myself.” Riri said, “Today would be wonderful, Scion Phoenix.”

“Not you, Patriarch Zalindi?”

Zalindi said, “The High Clans are not happy with the New Stats, but they are willing to overlook smaller infractions. My personal gain of Intelligence would be a large infraction.”

Ezekiel nodded, and with his lightform, he held the ring and moved it to hover in front of Riri.

Riri stared at the ring for all of a moment, then slipped her finger in.

Riri, Xue, and Arilitilo weathered the change much better than the Alchemists. Ezekiel suspected that the Alchemists each had points waiting to shove directly into Intelligence, but while these three likely had extra points, too, they did not shove them into their New Stat right away. Or maybe they were just more controlled than a bunch of scientists who had their eyes enlightened to the world.

When it was done, Ezekiel took the ring back.

Riri smiled wide, and happily turned to Xue, declaring, “Starting score of 19! What’s yours?”

So maybe there were some side effects. They would be temporary, though.

Xue didn’t respond. He mostly just blinked a few times. Sikali glared at Riri from where she was wrangling Alchemists and getting paper for Ving, but she said nothing.

Arilitilo said, “Ah. That is an experience.”

Ezekiel said, “I suggest you take a day to acclimate.” He said to Riri, “I will be taking those locations of those spiders, though, and any starter books on your thread enchanting, or whatever the discipline is called.”

Riri seemed to come back to the moment, having mentally gone somewhere while Ezekiel was speaking. When he stopped, Riri looked at him, blinked a few times, and said, “Yes. Okay. Let me send you a telepath—”

“RIRI!” Xue came back to himself. “You said you couldn’t raise any blood weavers!”

Arilitilo started in on Riri, saying, “She was lying to us— No. She didn’t raise them at all. And she’s still not giving up her Pearlchan, are you?”

Riri laughed. “Nope! In an absence of immense amounts of sapient blood, Blood Weavers need full lives in order to thrive properly, and I will not do that! But naturally occurring Blood Weavers can live off of other monsters. The Primal Blood Weaver is in an enclave of the lesser same, reigning as Queen, while the Nacreous Weaver I’m giving Ezekiel is NOT PEARLCHAN! Gods above! I am not giving him my beloved Pearlchan! This other Nacreous Weaver is in a grove tended to by—” She stopped. “My mouth almost ran away with me. Even a hint would have been too much.” She said to Ezekiel, “Xue and Arilitilo always wanted my threads. Don’t go selling your daughter’s threads in Eralis or else I might have to enact a hostile takeover! Ha ha!”

Zalindi frowned, harshly whispering, “Riri!”

Ezekiel would have smiled at Riri’s laughter, but the woman was not actually joking.

Xue and Arilitilo both had been about to say something, but they stopped at Zalindi’s outburst.

Riri frowned. Then she looked around, and realized something. She stared at Ezekiel, then softened, and said, “I will have some books for you by tomorrow.”

“I can have some reading material for you in an hour,” Arilitilo said.

Riri inhaled, then said, “Apologies. I meant I will have your books in twenty minutes.” She sent him an image of a grotto bathed in light, along with a map and the words, ‘Here is the Nacreous Weaver. Be careful. It’s more fragile than it looks. And!’ She sent him another image and a location, saying, ‘And the Primal Blood Weaver is somewhere around here. WHOOO she’s a bitch. Good luck with that. Don’t get cocky.’ She stood up, saying, “And that concludes—” She sat right back down. “Ah. I need to sit here for a little while longer.”

Ezekiel stood up, followed by Zalindi and no one else, and said, “Thank you for the hospitality. I will be taking these books and—”

“We have rooms for you!” Arilitilo said, “I set them up earlier, if you want to stay here! We’ve got [Ward]s more than that hotel you’re in!”

Xue held his head, mumbling, “I need a nap.”

Ezekiel said, “Perhaps I will spend a longer time here some other day. But there is still one more person to give the ring to.” He turned to Tadashi, who had yet to speak, who stood beside his brother.

Tadashi and Wabi were both gathered near the other Alchemists, listening to them speak the secrets of the universe, or at least of a small part of the universe. As Ezekiel walked toward Tadashi, Wabi noticed Ezekiel first. Wabi tapped Tadashi on the shoulder. The two turned to him.

Ezekiel did not get too close, as he asked, “Care to try, Tadashi? You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

Tadashi eyed the ring. He said, “I’d like to try.”

“Catch and be quick about it.” Ezekiel tossed him the ring.

Tadashi caught the small thing and jammed it on his finger. A moment passed. He frowned. “I felt… Some— No.” He shook his head. “Nothing.” He took the ring off and tossed it back. “Thanks anyway.”

Ezekiel caught the magically-dead ring, saying, “I’m sure your colleagues will have lots to talk about when they come down from this experience. Maybe you can wear one of these rings next year. But as for this one—” Ezekiel held the inert ring with his light, and with a great flex, snapped it in half. Diamond turned to diamond dust and shards. A [Mend] brought the ring back together, then he put it in the pocket of his sash. It might have been magic-dead, but Ezekiel ensured it was. “Good luck on figuring out chelation.”

Tadashi blinked in confusion. “Chelation?”

“Unless I’m mistaken, that’s the word for the process you have invented. It’s where a molecule of certain particles will flex in the presence of metals, like antirhine, because it is a more stable configuration with the metal contained in the molecule, than in any other configuration. Or something like that. I’m sure you’ll figure it out. Chelation is the name of the therapy I’m thinking of, anyway.” Ezekiel walked away to suddenly dumbfounded alchemists and Tadashi, picking up his books on the way out, saying, “Thanks for the hospitality! We’re off to get some spiders!”

His people were ready to go, and with the final hint he had dropped on the courtyard, everyone was trying to talk over everyone else. Zalindi was one of two people with the wherewithal to bid him goodbye, with the other being Elder Mirizo, but even that farewell was cut short as the Elder needed to step between Xue and Riri before they started throwing more than just verbal barbs. Arilitilo seemed to be in the middle of a revelation, with her eyes to the sky.

Ezekiel left them to it.

With a quick wrap of magenta light and holding onto his books, the four of them were back in the hotel.

Ezekiel said, “That went well!” He asked, “Spider time?”