Chapter 97, 1/2

Chapter 97, 1/2

A young orcol girl, taller than Erick, bounded out of Irogh’s office and into the arms of her sister, saying, “I qualified for Seeker! Let’s go find some ruins!”

Her sister, named Ferai, who was older and taller by at least a foot, caught the girl and twirled once, as she set her down, saying, “Mother would be proud, and I am too.” She nodded over to Erick, and said, “Thank you, sir. I apologize for my sister for taking so long.”

“It’s no worries, really,” Erick said, smiling to see the happy sisters. “Good luck in your searches.”

The younger sister did a quick look to Erick, and frowned, not understanding what Ferai meant. Who was this stranger in their midst? She hadn’t taken that long, had she? There were a lot of options up there! Who would begrudge someone their time in communing with Rozeta? Was this little human truly that rude?

Erick grinned as all those questions and minor angers crossed the young girl’s face.

Ferai, for her part, just said, “Archmage Flatt has graciously shown—”

The younger girl’s eyes went wide, in sudden recognition. She glanced down to Erick’s shoes, then away, her face going from a darker shade of green, to something much lighter, as she lost all minor angers and fleeting joys, and stood beside her sister like a soldier falling in line.

“—us many promising spots around Spur.” Ferai said, “We’ve got lots to search.”

Erick’s appointment with Registrar Irogh had been for twenty minutes ago, but Irogh had been occupied. So he waited outside the blue door, with Ferai, who was waiting for her sister. Ferai instantly recognized Erick.

An apology on behalf of another quickly turned into a friendly chat. Ferai was a Seeker. She spoke of the monsters they were searching for around Spur, listing off ten that Erick had seen, several of which he had killed himself, and five that he had never heard of before that moment, most of them being very small monsters, with minor rads inside of them. [Withering] skipped right over those. Erick offered a [Cascade Imaging] to search for ‘holes’ in the dirt, if Ferai wanted a few places to start; a lot of her target monsters made burrows.

Also, Erick had seen Mog going over reports of unexpected holes in the ground, yesterday. Now was as good a time as any to investigate that strangeness, or at least help out someone with a request that was right in line with what he wanted to do, anyway. He didn’t tell Ferai that part, though.

Ferai readily agreed. So Erick popped up an Imaging to the north of the city, and left it searching for ‘holes in the sand a foot across and five foot deep’. That seemed to be a good enough search, because in a minute, blue dots began popping up all over the map. Ferai had seen the map, through [Scry], and gave a heartfelt thanks.

“I’ll leave the map out there for a while.” Erick added, “Good luck.”

The younger sister, Taroga, gave a slight ‘eep’, and nodded, as Ferai gave a heartfelt ‘Thank you’, and vacated the space in front of Irogh’s office, along with her suddenly quiet sister. Erick smirked, to watch them go, then turned his attention to the blue door in front of him.

Erick entered Registrar Irogh’s office. He said, “Hello, Irogh.”

The man behind the counter smiled, as Erick sat down, and the door closed behind him. “Good afternoon, Erick.” The door clicked, and the walls shimmered, as godly privacy magics took hold of the space. “How can I help you?”

“Can I see those Class Ability options, again? The ones I considered last time? And any new ones that might have appeared.”

Irogh tapped the air. A shortened list appeared to the left, hovering on the wall.

After Erick had made [Greater Lightwalk] using Jane’s suggestion, he gave her a call. A short, happy talk later, and she instantly teased him about how he did not need to humor her; she was perfectly aware that he would have done it that harmonizing way, eventually. Erick did not argue that point. Jane then congratulated him, and told him all about her own recent experience with Prismatic Polymage.

It was a good conversation. Jane did not promise to call more, for, in her own words, how could she? Erick was the one with the chain of [Familiar]’s, and able to send telepathic messages across a large part of the world. Erick almost gave her a hard time about that, but she was right.

That conversation and the transformation of [Lightwalk] to [Greater Lightwalk] had led to Erick hoping for something in his own new Class Options that Jane had mentioned that had popped up in hers. And yes, there they were; Dedication and Efficiency. The only reason he hadn’t gotten a Quest for one of these the last time he had been here was because he was conflicted on what to pick, and now, that problem had been compounded.

Honestly? They all looked good. And there were even more additions than the last time he was here.

Hero of Veird. Deal 3x damage to monsters.

More Spell Damage Done, Particle. x2

Less Spell Damage Taken, General x 0.75

More Area of Effect, Particle. x2

General Spell Duration x 1.25

Particle Spell Duration x 2

Sapping Particles. Your offensive Particle Spells gain you False Health dependent on damage done. False Health lasts 1 hour, and is renewed with damage done.

Blood Mana. Spend Health in addition to Mana to fuel spells.

Particle Healing. Your non-offensive Particle Spells restore Health to all people in the area commensurate to the Mana you spend.

Accomplished Dispeller. Your Dispelling magic does twice as much for the same cost.

Force Savant. Your Force spells do more and cost less.

Spatial Cohesion. Increase the range on your Spatial spells by 25%.

Light Dedication. Take much less damage from Light Sources. Do much more damage with Light Sources.

Light Efficiency. Greatly reduce the costs of all Light attacks and spells.

Force Savant was new. So was Spatial Cohesion. Accomplished Dispeller was old; he had gotten that one when he made [Spell Breaker]. He didn’t really want that one, but it was here because it was new.

“I thought I knew what I wanted. Um.” Erick asked, “What’s ‘Force Savant’ from?”

Irogh explained, “Particle Mage is very close to Force Mage, in that both Classes deal with the fundamental building blocks of life. Particle Mage was also based off of Force Mage, and then you went and remade more than ten basic Force spells. Bolt, Beam, Bomb, Crash, Wave, Trap, Shrapnel, Platform, Wall, [Conjure Armor], [Conjure Weapon], [Telekinesis], and [Detect Magic]. Through these various factors, came Force Savant.”

“What does that affect?”

“Almost every single spell is a creation of Force magic, somewhere in its construction, but Force Savant is not an all powerful ability. You might get anywhere between 1% to 5% more effectiveness with all of your magic. Those spells closer to pure Force, like [Pure Force Beam Bolt] or [Conjure Armor] would get as much as 20% more effectiveness.” He added, “Range, damage, duration, resistance to dispelling, damage absorbed or mitigated. Even lowered costs. Force Savant is one of the starter Abilities of the Force Mage, but many other Classes are capable of accessing this Ability, if they pursue and understand Force Magic.”

Erick looked up at the list, and considered. Force Savant sounded good; great, even. He looked to another Ability, and asked, “Only 25 percent for Spatial Cohesion?”

“You’re not a Spatial Mage.”

Erick asked, “So. Blood Mana. Is it frowned upon? Is it actually blood magic? Does it increase my mana pool how I think it does? How did I qualify for that one? That Ability was there well before I made [Cascade Imaging].”

Irogh smirked at the barrage of questions. He said, “Blood mana is used by many, but usually kept out of open speech and discussion. It is also one of the most basic Blood Mage abilities, and will not drain your physical self, but when in use, it will drain you Health for more Mana, effectively giving you—” He looked to the air, then said, “2460 more mana. Increasing your total effective mana to 10,680. Like all of your Abilities, you can choose to forgo using the Ability, at will. You qualified for Blood Mana because of your knowledge of anatomy, blood, and the basic building blocks of life, supported by your general knowledge of particles.”

“If I was a Blood Mage... What would my Class Ability list look like?”

Irogh stressed, “Heavily expanded from the norm, but I cannot give you a list for Blood Mage, since you are not a Blood Mage.” He added, “Since you have already unlocked Force Savant, and Spatial Cohesion, I can tell you that you would face a similar phenomenon were you to become a Force Mage, or a Spatial Mage.” He added, “The same holds true for Dispeller, and Light Mage.”

He wasn’t about to become any of those Classes, but knowing there were options was nice. Erick looked up at the blue board, and thought.

He had already spoken to Irogh about a few potential exploits regarding some of these Abilities, the last time he was here with Irogh. Regarding False Health for Blood Mana; that combination did not work how Erick thought it would work. One could not spend False Health like they could Health; he would not be able to cast any spell he ever made, just by virtue of throwing a [Withering Slime] into the Crystal Forest and then having all that subsequent False Health.

Erick moved on to considering the defensive nature of False Health. Having a few thousand more practically automatically healing Health, would be great for a fight.

But would it, really?

Health and [Personal Ward]s were a lot more flimsy than they appeared. When Teressa Raged, she had managed to tear through all 25,000 points of Erick’s [Personal Ward] and most of his meager Health, twisting his arm out of his socket. If he didn’t have the 70 Strength he had at the time, to physically resist her backhanded, shield bashing attack, he might have lost an arm. If he hadn’t have reacted as fast as he did, to take away Teressa’s [Prismatic Ward] permissions, she would have gone through Poi and all of his defenses, and on to much more killing.

Erick’s shielding was great against lesser beings like monsters and most any random rookie adventurer on the street. Against those types, Erick was practically untouchable.

If Erick ever remembered to use his [Defend] skill, then maybe Teressa’s casual attack would have been mitigated.

... But even with [Defend], if a Shade got a hold of Erick, and he wasn’t slippery in some way, like Jane was with her omni-elemental form, he was dead. Standing and taking a hit would end in his death. Therefore, Erick did not need Sapping Particle. What were defenses in the face of overwhelming power?

Particle Healing would be ‘good’ for large scale healing with some spells like Erick’s [Control Weather], but Irogh had explained the problems with that, as well, the last time Erick was here. Particle Healing was effectively reduced to nothing if the area and the targets were too many. But besides that, all that healing used up the spell’s duration and power. Erick might spend 1000 mana on a [Control Weather] that should last a full day, but if there were a hundred injured people in there, then they’d get maybe a 100 Health apiece over the course of 10 seconds, and the [Control Weather] would vanish.

Theoretically, he could spend his Health on a spell that was just around him, and then heal himself with the spell’s power, effectively getting magic for free, but it would also use up the spell’s power to heal him. That whole process seemed like playing around in edge cases. What was the point? Besides: his Mana Regen was great.

But, using an Ability was an optional thing; Erick could heal a lot of people in a Super Large Area, at his discretion, if needed.

And on the smaller side: spending a thousand mana on a spell that only reached ten people, would probably grant those ten people each a thousand Health.

But... Against Shades, each of them also acting as archmage-level threats... Particle Healing would not do a lot.

But then again, Particle Healing would do quite a lot, if Erick invented a spell that targeted non-monsters only, and gave those so affected by that spell some sort of empowerment against monsters... Such a theoretical ‘anti-[Withering]’ spell would then also restore Health, if needed. If he invented a stationary, [Ward] like Particle spell, he could make healing stations for a theoretical war with the Shades.

But then again... In a war, Erick would be forced into an offensive role. He doubted, of all the actions he could possibly take to thwart a Shade attack, that healing a few dozen people would ever be the best option.

So he thought on Particle Healing, but that Ability was not a real possibility, either.

Thinking back to spell damage, though: a generalized reduction of spell damage taken to 75%, seemed like a good idea. More damage done seemed superfluous, but maybe not? More area, though, that seemed really good. A bunch of area modifiers was likely how that Poisoner Archmage from the Wastelands got her orange cloud to be 30-plus kilometers in diameter. Spells like that would be important for the eventual assault on Ar’Kendrithyst, and for clearing out monsters.

Duration also seemed great? Sure?

Erick looked upon the list, and knew he was unprepared for a real fight against real threats. He needed more experience with all of that, but he wouldn’t get that experience sitting around at home, in Spur, fiddling with enchantments.

He asked, “What does Light Dedication affect? And Efficiency? Why are they separate? And without exact effects? Is it the same vein of Ability as Force Savant?”

Irogh said, “Dedication and Efficiency affect everything with the Light descriptor, or that is related to Light in almost every way. They’re separate because they are the ultimate Abilities for any and all Light users, with effects that are not quite quantifiable with a simple ‘times two’ description.” He said, “If you must put their benefits into numbers, they offer somewhat similar bonuses as Force Savant, but on a larger scale, split rather definitively between the choice for power, or the choice for efficiency.”

That was all well and good, and made those two Abilities stand out a lot more than they had a moment ago, but as Erick thought about his choices, he thought toward the future. He was currently at 7 out of 8 Abilities. With 2 more Ability Slot Increase Quests possible, for 20 more points, he was close to capping out at 10 Class Abilities. He kinda knew what he was going to get now, but what about in the future? Maybe Irogh would have an opinion?

He asked, “Which should I pick for killing Shades?”

Irogh said, “We’ve already gone over all the options; all of them are good. This is a choice you must make for yourself.”

Erick smiled. Registrars often seemed like social workers or lawyers; they often spoke in clarifying speech, giving long, expansive answers to the mechanics of most any ability, skill, or spell you already had, but they would never answer ‘what was best’.

Erick confidently said, “Blood Mana, please.” He added, “And another Ability Slot Increase Quest.”

Irogh nodded, as he tapped the air. “Done.”

Blue boxes appeared.

Ability Slot Increase Quest!

10 Points

OR

10,000,000,000 Mana and/or Health

Class Ability Quest!

Create a well-made tier 3 skill or spell born of a Health-cost skill and a Mana-cost spell.

Reward: Blood Mana

Erick asked, “Weird Quest. Is there a comparative warrior Ability?”

Irogh answered with a non-answer, saying, “Highly likely.”

Mog smiled at him. “I bet you do.”

Erick asked, “So what was all that about? Gwynewyn? Nobles? That guy at that table?”

“The nobles are calling for space in our prosperity. It’s a hassle, but it’s good for Spur. I wasn’t there when it happened, but I’ve heard that after the Great Purge, Silverite made some dumb decisions that ended up causing Frontier and Kal’Duresh.” She shrugged. “Or maybe something else happened. Whatever the case, the nobles are finally coming back, and the Clayfields do have a long history with Spur. So they had my vote. It was good to hear her talk like she talked, though.” Mog said, “As for that guy I dismissed, he was a troublemaker. Can’t keep that shit out of public, then there’s no telling what they get up to in private.” She pointed to a table three away from the one the incani had been at. A different pair of incani were sitting there, these ones with tiny horns, and pale violet skin. “They had no reaction to Gwynewyn, but they’re early. Maybe early enough to see her and hear what she had to say? Or maybe because they want a lot of my time? I don’t know. I can only deal with what I see. But they can alllll wait.” Mog smiled at him, saying, “Because you’re here. So what brings you here?” She laughed, as she slapped him on the shoulder, saying, “And you take this long to show up! What’s a girl to think! I can’t have been that bad, could I?”

Erick chuckled, saying, “Ah. Uh. No. It was... It was good.”

“Damn right it was good.” She smirked at him. “So what’s up, Erick?”

“Oh. I...” Erick tried to collect his thoughts. He landed on, “I heard about all these holes out in the Crystal Forest. I actually put up an Imaging north of the city, searching for every hole, for a pair of young adventurers I met earlier. What’s up with the holes?”

Mog said, “That’s just what Ballooning Spiders do. Most of their lifetime is spent underground, and they gotta get back down there, somehow.”

“But... I thought that the Crystal Mimics ate them?”

“Well yeah. But not all of them. There’s half a billion spiders up there!” She laughed, then said. “Enough pregnant mothers survive the fall and the mimics in order to [Stoneshape] holes down to the Underworld.” Mog shrugged. “There are monsters that live in burrows out there too...” She paused. She said, “Actually... Where is the Imaging you put up?”

“North of the city. Hard to miss.”

Mog nodded. Tendrils of intent flicked away from her head. “Thanks, Erick. That helps.”

“Is there a danger of dungeons forming from the deeper holes? Or do they collapse?”

Mog gave Erick a small grin, then said, “Those holes usually collapse on their own, but even when the holes are deep enough to spawn slimes, mimics will feel those vibrations in the ground and then go excavating for a meal. Even unattended blood dog burrows, or dune viper burrows, end up getting excavated if the original residents aren’t there anymore; sand slimes spawn in those, all the time. Now, sometimes, very rarely, the burrowing monsters hit some Underworld tunnels near the surface. When that happens, you get dungeons in the Crystal Forest.

“But rarity turns commonplace every ten-ish years, with the Ballooning Spiders’ passing. Unexpected dungeons, everywhere.

“It’s nothing to panic about right now, for there’s a lot of land out there, and the monsters in those natural dungeons don’t usually make it far outside of those underground spaces before the mimics come and eat them, then go down the holes in search of more, collapsing the entrance and the dungeon in their search for food. Or, the fragile spider tunnels collapse from the inside as monsters try to get out, thus burying everyone under sand, and that’s that. But if none of that happens, and the tunnel is big enough to not collapse, and a real dungeon forms...

“First come slimes, then come shadowolves hunting those slimes. Then it’s all a pain in the ass and at least five rookies always die, because there aren’t any Shades overseeing those unknown dungeons out there, and the people who find them are always rookies. There’s always some oddity out there lurking in those untamed holes in the ground, too, like cursed babblers, or sand oozes, or stonebone skeletons.

“It’s a problem,” Mog stressed. “Not a large one, but every ballooning, there’s a good twenty or fifty dungeon spaces that become real dungeons within a [Teleport] of Spur, made by Balloon Spiders just looking to get home. We’re still, technically, in the flying horde phase of the problem, and then there’s Candlepoint... People’s focuses are not where they usually are. But we should be fine.

“In the coming months, people will be searching for those holes and sealing them up.” She said, “Your Imaging will speed up that process, considerably.” She smiled. “Good work, Erick.”

Erick had killed high leveled monsters headed for Spur before, on Mog’s request, but she had been adamant about refusing his help to ‘clear out the land around Spur’, because the younger crowd needed the experience and the danger of the Crystal Forest in order to grow stronger, to face the real threats out there. But even knowing that, after hearing about ‘unexpected dungeons’, Erick asked, “Want me to send some Witherings out there, into those spaces?”

“Nope.” Mog said, “Mapping them out is good, though. Makes it a lot easier for the youngsters to find the problem areas.” She asked, “Have you looked at the map you put out there, lately?”

Erick had not, but at Mog’s question, he summoned a [Scry] orb at the map.

About two dozen people surrounded Erick’s floating, white map of the nearest thousand radial kilometers. There were also maybe four guards who had stepped in to stop a breakout of violence between two smaller groups of angry people. Most of the people standing around, studying the map, were just talking to each other as they planned their course. Most of them looked like rookies, with basic, mismatched equipment, but some of them had custom, highly magical items, like one incani guy in black, flickering armor, and an orcol woman in a sundress made of feathers.

He came back to himself. “That got popular rather fast.”

Mog asked, “Would you be interested in putting up more of those, for other targets? Finding some of the monsters on the boards takes a lot of time.”

“Oh? Sure. Absolutely. Once a day? Or?”

“Nothing like that.” Mog said, “But as a bonus for some of our higher leveled people, sometimes. I can just send a message to Poi over there, like I did before?”

Erick smiled. “I’d love to help. Ah. I also came here to get one of those black rocks you use to level [Strike].”

Mog scrunched her face in a cross between disbelief, and amusement. “Sure. We got those.” She lifted her head toward the bar area of the third floor as a tendril of thought left her head. She said to Erick, “Coming right up.”

Erick did not see who she motioned toward, but in seconds, one of the barbacks, a young incani guy, came walking out from behind the counter. He came to Mog’s table and set down a black stone.

Mog said, “Thanks.” The kid bowed, and stepped away. Mog picked the stone up. She held the rock in her fingers and tapped it with her thumb. A small crack of sound crashed from the tiny rock. She said, “They’re just some alchemical iron rocks, made to deform rather than break. Here.” She handed the rock to Erick.

He took the rock, and almost dropped it. He had 82 Strength, so the rock wasn’t heavy, but it was surprising to have something that looked like it weighed a few ounces, at most, end up weighing a full kilogram. He said, “That’s heavier than I thought it would be.”

“That’s a larger rock than most.” Mog asked, “What’s the plan with [Strike]?”

“Going for [Melee Reflection], but first, I’m trying to see how Mana and Health can play nicely together in combination skills and spells.” Erick used [Strike] against the stone, tapping it with his finger.

He did not blink, but he missed the moment of attack, anyway. Erick’s thumb was on the stone. He giggled as the phantom of some passing sensation lingered in his finger, and in his arm.

Mog joyfully asked, “Was that your very first [Strike]?”

“Ha ha! Yes.” Erick said, “That was very weird, too. I didn’t get the full feeling of it all.”

“Ha!” Mog said, “[Strike] is one of those special skills that returns your investment, ten-fold. If you use it right, [Strike] does a shit-ton more than even the strongest [Force Bolt].”

“I bet it would!”

Mog laughed, happy, and then the moment was over. She sighed. She glanced away, giving an annoyed look to the people waiting for her, for their appointment. She looked to Erick, saying, “It was good seeing you.”

Erick said, “It was good seeing you, too.”

Mog grinned, saying, “Don’t be a stranger.”

Erick got up from his chair, and turned to her. Mog was quite beautiful, in multiple ways. Not just the physical, but most of all, she was open and honest.

Erick said, “See you later, Mog.”

Mog nodded, saying, “See you later, Erick.”

- - - -

Erick’s next stop was the Guardhouse, to speak to the orangescale Guardmaster, Merit.

Teressa met Erick and Poi at the front entrance of the huge, cube block of a building. From there, they went upstairs. Erick briefly [Scry]ed on the [Cascade Imaging] he left north of the city, mostly just to dismiss the effect, but also to see how many people his spell had attracted; he almost felt bad canceling the magic in front of thirty-odd people.

He returned his attention back to his body, and took another step up the staircase, leading into the center of the building. The bustle and anger of guards and their quarry were left behind, as Erick turned a corner, and then another. Soon, he was in the central courtyard of the Guardhouse.

Either he or Ophiel should have been here, in the central courtyard, hours before now. But time got away from him, as it usually did. Erick summoned another Ophiel. The little winged [Familiar] fluttered through the air, chirping and humming violins as his eyes wandered in all directions, catching on the other people in the courtyard. And then Erick blipped him away, to join the rest flying out across the Crystal Forest, waiting for Merit’s searching orders.

The woman in question stood to the side of the courtyard space, her silver armor glinting in the sunlight, her orange scales as vibrant as her casual glare. Merit looked to Erick like he had fucked up, and maybe he had fucked up by being a few hours later than he thought he would be...

He looked to the plates of body parts. Somehow, he had forgotten that part.

Oh yeah. He had fucked up.

Erick said, “Oh. Uh.”

What other words could he really say?

Merit asked, “Do you have a problem with me?”

“What? No.” Erick said, “It’s—”

“Because the missing people that these body parts represent could either be found dead or alive.” Merit said, “My people are still looking for them, but you can look faster, and cleaner, than anyone else I know.”

“You’re right.” Erick asked, “Where are we searching, first? What happened?”

“Just Spur.” Merit added, “There was a capture, and a ransom. If they’re not in Spur anymore, then they were tricked into accepting a [Teleport] but that seems unlikely based on the note.”

Erick cast into the center of the courtyard. A sphere of cascading light high above scanned the land with radiowaves, while a white fog floated out of the air in front of Erick, coalescing into a hovering, chunky space, five meters across. It would take minutes for the spell to properly form its map, but Erick could change the spell’s targets with secondary casts, as many times as needed.

He walked over to the silver trays. Three right handed thumbs, each a slightly different shade of purple than the last; incani, probably. Each thumb was under an individual [Preservation Ward]. Erick asked, “Does it matter where we start?”

“No. Any would be fine.”

Erick had the Ophiel on his shoulder flutter down to the leftmost thumb and touch a wing to the body part. Erick pushed mana through his [Familiar], onto the thumb, enveloping it in his power as he cast through his [Familiar], targeting the DNA within. The cascading orb in the sky flickered once, as the map below began to populate with blue markings.

[Scry] eyes appeared above the map; Merit’s Scryers, the guards whose job it was to search the city for the perpetrators. The normal silver-clad guards seen around the city, every day, would come later, after the Scryers had their prey.

Erick’s spell worked fast. The Scryers and the Guard worked just as fast. Erick managed to catch the end of the altercation through a well positioned Ophiel.

In a house on the northern side of Spur, the Guard came down like a vengeful hammer, cracking open the building with [Stoneshape] spells, distracting the occupants in the basement below while others blipped in, and slammed manacles onto the kidnappers. One minute later, three humans Erick had never seen before were thrown in a carriage, and on their way to the Guardhouse for interrogation and otherwise.

The three incani victims were released from their own manacles and blipped away by guards. Erick caught words in the air about ‘the church’ and ‘healers’, so he assumed they were off to High Priestess Darenka or, more likely, one of the doctors over at the Interfaith Church, to restore their thumbs and the other wounds, all across their bodies.

Erick came back to himself, and felt his skin go cold, despite the sun overhead.

Merit smiled at nothing in particular, and this time it seemed real.

Erick forced himself to emotional stability, then said, “Please let me know if you need help with something like this, ever again. I’ll be sure to respond a lot faster than I did today.”

Merit looked to him, and said, “Of course, Erick.”

Erick looked to her fingers, and saw a silver band. “You got the ring shipments I sent out, right? I made some better ones.” He held up his own hand, and its silver ring. “Plus 31 to All Stats—” He tried a joke, to lighten the mood. “Though I can’t quite say that, these days, can I?”

Merit was in a mood that was neither bad, nor good, but it certainly wasn’t a joking mood. She simply said, “We’ll take another ring shipment, but the smaller versions would be fine.”

“... Really?” Erick asked. “You sure you don’t want the larger ones?”

“Yes.” She said, “Most of my people wear their rings on their toes, or on a necklace under their shirt. They might not get the same benefit, but it does well enough to prevent thefts and unexpected assaults.”

“That happens?”

“Of course it does.” Merit said, “The smaller artifacts are good enough; no need to go making my people look too much like targets, rather than enforcers.”

“... Okay.” Erick turned to Teressa. “Are you going to stick around?”

Teressa looked to Merit.

Merit said, “We can still use you. [Witness] on the containment location would be a good start.”

“Ma’am,” Teressa said, as she nodded. She turned to Erick, “It’s like that, then.”

Erick placed a Handy Aura hand on Poi’s shoulder, and said, “Until next time.”

Merit nodded.

Erick blipped away, back to the house with Poi in tow.