Chapter 177, 1/2

Chapter 177, 1/2

Erick woke to the sounds of leaves rustling in the breeze. It was a good, normal sound, which preceded a good, normal morning routine. He decided to switch it up a bit by taking yet another swim before he left Yggdrasil, though, and he felt even better after that swim. And then he set out to the embassy to see about getting some breakfast. After a nice meal at the world diner’s market, Erick went to Tasar’s office, where he met Otaliya, and soon enough, Tasar.

Otaliya spoke of meetings with the Golds, who were apparently the merchant caste of wrought, who saw to it that everything got where it needed to go and that the economy of the Underworld was maintained. Erick wondered at the overlaps between the Golds’ market manipulations and how the economies of Earth worked, so he spoke of his own knowledge of all that, asking questions all the while. The answer was ‘broadly yes’, the Golds did oversee much of the economies of the world through various market forces, from trade tariffs to working with Mage Bank to keep gold coins at a relatively stable price, but there was no singular council that oversaw this economic action.

Each Geode had a different set of Golds —or ‘Merchants’, as they were usually called— who each oversaw their own surrounding cities to ensure that the economy worked smoothly. The various economies of each Geode would then interface through the rules laid down by the various Merchants of those Geodes. Outside of the Geodes, the price of bread was wildly different from coppers, to silver, to even gold in some of the far flung independent Underworld cities, but next to the Geodes the price of a loaf of bread was a standard silver coin.

“She means the cities around the Geodes when she talks of Geodes, Erick,” Tasar said, “Most people use one word to speak of both the Geode and the surroundings but this is simply untrue.”

“Quite right. Life inside of the Geodes is much different than outside.” Otaliya said, “Most people don’t know how much different. People think that the Golds oversee the economies inside the Geodes, too, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.” She added, “They’re probably the only people on the inquiry who will be on your side, fully, because the establishment of a true Gate Network is exactly the sort of thing they’d start glinting over.”

“And ‘glinting’ is a good thing?”

“Glinting is a very good thing.” Otaliya smiled. “I heard that the Inquisition might be glinting over you a bit, too.”

“Oh. No. Not yet, anyway.” Erick said, “Yesterday went well, but the depth of their problem with me is revealed and it’s... Large.”

Otaliya gave a flat look, a tiny hum of recognition, then said, “Probably best not to spread too much of that truth around. As long as the Inquisition isn’t coming after you, then the Sights are good. Let’s not spread any rumors that something bad is brewing.”

“Sounds good to me.” Erick looked over to Tasar. “I was thinking of going to Archmage’s Rest today to try and get on their good side.” He asked both of them. “Got any tips?”

Tasar scrunched her face a bit, unsure.

Otaliya readily said, “Tasar is too entrenched with the Rest, so she can’t give you a good answer. The people who can give you good answers are the EIPCs, though, so let’s go talk to them before you go.”

And so they did.

- - - -

Radigo, the human leader from his particular EIPC, said, “There is a lot of talk from a lot of common people about how you saved this person or that household from certain death. This talk originates mostly from the households of the barons you assisted, and has since spread to alehouses and warehouses alike. Baron Tulani of the Alchemists Coalition has been rather outspoken about how you prevented an outbreak of changeling vines in his land. This wave of goodwill has even reached the Merchants, and been magnified by their own words; they appreciate practically everything you’ve done, but especially for the caravan routes of the Main Roads level 5 and 7, where you killed that nest of Stone Leviathans.”

Erick nodded, while Otaliya smiled wide.

Loori, the dragonkin woman from a different EIPC, said, “In addition to the problems solved for the barons out there, this business with helping the Inquisition has waylaid more than a few fears of the deeply religious. In particular, the Church of the Forgotten Light actually has priests out in the open, talking up your accomplishments these days. They’re still on the Side Roads regarding your true status as the Savior of Light, but this is a very large first step. The Church of Sininindi is relieved to know that you are safe, and that ‘they never had any doubts’; I will leave the interpretation of this fact up to you. The Church of Atunir is with you, and they say they always have been.” She continued, “I will, of course, be updating you on this news, but from what I’m seeing, you might have gained another ‘yes’ out of the inquiry board’s Church seat.”

Erick nodded.

The incani, Walz, said, “We’ve been surreptitiously speaking to people about making the case for change, as you requested.” He gestured to his assistant, who began casting lightwards in the air; illustrations of graphs and maps of areas, with points of interest highlighted. He also handed over the very same illustrations to Erick on printed paper, saying, “Change is difficult, but if you want to continue on this route, you would do well to interface with the Heavies soon. They would undoubtedly have requests of you, to ingratiate you with them, and how they work. If you clear their requests then they should have no problem giving approval. We feel that those requests could happen along any of these possible lines, from fully clearing some of these larger caverns to...”

They spoke for hours.

Radigo, Loori, and Walz were each from a different EIPC, and they thus had doubled up on some of the footwork and information they presented to Erick. All of them had different areas of focus, though, which was why Erick had hired three of them, as Silverite suggested.

Radigo was focused on the ability for Erick to make the economy much larger and more robust, opening up new markets everywhere. Loori was focused on working with the various churches and religious leaders, gauging the will of the populace through its priests. Walz was focused on graphs and information and facts, ensuring that everything was as orderly as it could be, for the wrought preferred order above all else and an inquiry was perhaps where that demand was most crystallized. Otaliya simply knew everyone that was mentioned or could be mentioned; what they did, what they wanted. Erick was surprised by the depth of the information presented to him, but perhaps Otaliya surprised him most of all. Everyone else came into the room with papers and assistants and they would occasionally stop to look at some information, to clarify some point, but Otaliya never had to reference anything or anyone. She just knew it all. If she had some [Telepathy] help, Erick couldn’t tell.

At the end of four hours of discussions and planning Erick had gained the names of several important people to meet and a reaffirmation of his main goal with this inquiry; to gain runic web clearance.

And so, Vibrant Falls was his next stop. He needed to link up with Archmage’s Rest and see about appeasing Riivo; the one person who absolutely had to say ‘yes’. The only problem was that while Riivo seemed pleasant enough, he had already told Erick that he was not getting clearance from Archmage’s Rest, due to Erick’s violation of the Core.

Walz said, “Once Riivo has decided on something, he generally sticks by his word, rarely ever overturning any past decisions. This is going to be a problem.”

That didn’t sound like the man Erick had met, though. He said, “Riivo seemed willing enough to change his mind about [Steadfast Ward] once I told him how I was going to use it with Yggdrasil, and not directly.”

The three EIPC people were surprised.

Tasar spoke up, “Riivo changes his mind all the time, but he also has a bit of a reputation. That reputation is not unearned.”

Otaliya said, “A single spell compared to runic web clearance is a rather incomparable situation. One is a simple defensive spell for a World Tree, so that the World Tree can withstand stronger attacks, while runic webs are dangerous for a whole host of other reasons. It will be difficult to get Riivo to change his mind on this, with such a change likely demanding much of you, personally, Erick.” She said, “I suggest you put forth some ideas of how necessary a runic web will be for eventual Gate Network security. That should be enough to change his mind, or at least open him up to talking.”

Erick nodded.

They spoke for a little while longer, shifting back and forth on topics, but after two more hours they had reached the natural end of the discussion, with all the gathered information given out, dissected, and understood. It was time to move on.

Otaliya went back to Tasar’s offices.

And Tasar went with her mother, because, “I will undoubtedly take Riivo’s side in any argument, so you’re better off going there on your own. You know the way there now, so good luck.”

And so, Erick was on his own again.

- - - -

Erick stepped off of the t-station onto the land in front of Archmage’s Rest. The building was the same as it was last time; a facsimile of the Grand Wizard’s Tower in the Core. The last time Erick had been here the entire place had been layered behind several illusions, which were attached to the building in some sort of semi-permanent runic web, for sure, though the runic web was obscured from mana sense. Now, the place stood fully revealed, and the false facade was gone.

Last time he had been here in the middle of the night, but this time he arrived mid day. Normally, it would be hard to tell the difference here in the Underworld, but Vibrant Falls was lit like a beam of sunlight falling from the heavens, bathing the entire cavern in sunlight. Erick had already seen the shift from night to day in this land before, but it was nice to see again. This place looked much better in the daytime.

In this ‘daylight’, Archmage’s Rest was bustling. A few people came and went from the t-station, but only wrought. And Erick, he supposed. The guards by the t-station were out in the open this time, though Erick didn’t pay them much mind and they didn’t hassle him in return. The majority of people visiting the Rest, though, flew in and out from the rest of Vibrant Fall’s cavern, on spellwork of various kinds, from platforms to more esoteric flying spells, to land on the edge of the cliff and follow the stone paths to the front door. Dozens of people walked in or out of the massive open doors per minute, and it wasn’t long till the first one noticed Erick. Many of them paused in recognition, and either sped up or slowed down, to get out of his way or to let him go first.

Erick followed the crowd inside, nodding in thanks as groups of mages bowed as he passed.

The foyer beyond the wide open door was a busy communal area, almost like a food court, with people sitting at tables and working at stuff, or talking to each other, or eating food procured from one of the many restaurants here and there. More than a few people stopped what they were doing as Erick walked in, but almost all of them resumed whatever just as quickly. Except for one.

A silver male orcol wrought stepped away from his station beside the door, asking, “Archmage Flatt? Is there something the Rest can help you with today?”

“Looking to make an appointment with Riivo, or something along those lines. Whatever is needed to talk to him for a little while.”

“Of course.” The man looked up and a telepathic tendril came off of his head. After a moment, he looked back to Erick, saying, “Seventh floor. He is out of the office right now, but he’ll be back momentarily. If you do not mind, there is one other who would like to speak with you, if you’re willing to wait.”

“Uh. Sure? Who?”

- - - -

Erick stepped up from the stairs onto the seventh floor, into the semi-private space where the general public was not allowed. Riivo had his offices on this floor as well as his meeting rooms. Riivo’s secretary, a silver incani woman, was at the top of the stairs waiting for Erick.

“Right this way, Archmage Flatt,” said the woman.

She led him to a comfortable meeting room with sturdy chairs, a nice table, and a few chalkboards.

Aisha, an iridescent silver human wrought woman, stood by the window, but at Erick’s entrance, she turned, with a gentle smile upon her face. The celesteel woman was one of the librarians for the archives and also a world-class prognosticator with a focus on the past.

“Hello, Erick.” Aisha said, “I’m glad you have returned.”

“Hello again, Aisha.” Erick moved into the room, asking, “I heard you wanted to see me?”

“I’d like to talk a bit about Wizards while you have the chance.” Aisha said, “Riivo should be back in an hour or so but he’s dealing with some bureaucrats out of Titanite so there’s no telling how long it could take; I’m not too good with [Future Sight].”

At the mention of Wizards Erick suddenly went on edge, especially because Aisha was a prognosticator and she was directly coming to him with this sort of information...

But he forced himself to relax just as fast, and said, “I would like to hear more, yes. Thank you for the offer. I’m more interested in how Wizards are capable of breaking anything and what makes that dangerous, more than actual examples, but I suppose examples would be good, too.”

Aisha nodded, then she took her seat, saying, “I would like to have this conversation telepathically.”

Erick took a seat, sending, ‘Sure.’

With a delighted smile, Aisha sent, ‘First thing: you should hide your throat with one of your Privacys or some other way because a truly trained prognosticator can read subvocalizations, and even the speediest of thinkers still have them. I know I am not readable, for I have trained myself out of this, so I will not put a Privacy on my own throat.’

... Well that was a bit disturbing in its implications.

Erick cast a Privacy inside his neck and mouth.

Aisha nodded. ‘When encountering a Wizard you should know that they’re just people, but each one is sitting on a massive bomb that most don’t recognize as a bomb. The Wizard themselves might not recognize their power as a bomb, either, for the bomb is usually not ready to explode for a number of reasons. Primarily, it takes time for a Wizard to become a Wizard. Sometimes this ascension is directed and fast, taking only minutes or seconds to unlock due to an immediate physical or psychological stressor, and them already being primed to activate. In these cases you usually end up with a problem too large to contain at that point in time and evacuation or immediate execution of the Wizard is the best course of action, depending on what the Wizard was going for at the time.

‘Normally, though, the ascension of a Wizard is slow and methodical. Usually, a Wizard is someone who makes a little break here or there and they don’t realize that they’ve broken something they shouldn’t break.’ Aisha sent, ‘It is in these breaks that you will truly know a Wizard for a Wizard.

He had already seen as much through this whole conversation, but it wasn’t till then that he truly understood just how much Aisha wanted him to succeed. It was a heady realization. She would likely be a strong ally...

And yet, Erick tried to stop his heart from beating so hard, and from breaking out in a sweat, but he was only partially successful, for the next question on his mind was dangerous.

So he framed his question with a bit of deniability.

‘... Do you think I’m a Wizard?’

With all the calm excitement she had displayed this entire conversation, Aisha stated, ‘Considering what you have done and where you’re headed, if you were a Wizard I’d still be on your side, but since you’re not, and since you’re never going to tell anyone that you are, then we never have to cross that particular cavern... Until you’re irrefutably outed by the creation of [Renew], anyway. But by that time you should be deeply enshrined in your power. All you have to do to avoid the bad end is to continue working alongside the Inquisition. Everyone else should leave you mostly alone. Except for the dragons, of course.’

Erick lightly breathed, pretending that everything was okay. Physically, he gave almost nothing away, but he knew that for anyone truly looking, he could be in trouble. Maybe he should have had this conversation under a full [Sealed Privacy Ward].

Aisha added, ‘If you were a Wizard then that was what I would tell you, but since you’re not, then you can ignore my ramblings.’

‘... Fair enough.’

Silence stretched.

Erick sent, ‘Thank you for the talk. Every day I learn more about magic, and every day I realize I know even less than the day before.’

Aisha nodded, smiling, sending, ‘It takes about a hundred years to learn most of the basics, but after that you’re mostly just learning about new people... Or that’s what I normally would say to a statement like yours. Now, I suppose we have Particle Magic to learn, and that’s going to take a while.’

Erick found himself smiling back, and even chuckling a little. ‘How long do you think that learning will take?’

Aisha smiled. ‘A very, very long time. So you better stick around to help us out like you did with Alchemy in Songli.’

‘I’ll try.’ Erick glanced to the door, and said, “Looks like Riivo is back.”

“Ah! I do so love it when I time these things right.” Aisha said, “It was very hard to do with you, you should know. Let me know if I can help in the future.”

“I will,” Erick said, and he probably would.

The two of them stood and left the conference room.

Aisha walked through the hallway, and down the descending stairs, passing Riivo who was on his way up. The two wrought nodded to each other, without stopping. And then Riivo came toward Erick, smiling wide, saying, “I’m glad to see you taking advantage of the Rest’s knowledge base. I heard all about what you did for some barons and for the Inquisition, too. I hope you will indulge us the same opportunity to use your skills.”

“That’s exactly why I came here.” Erick said, “In exchange, I’m hoping to get approval for runic webs wherever I wish to use them, and approval in the upcoming inquiry.”

The old iron man lost a bit of his mirth, hummed a bit, then said, “Let’s sit down for a talk.”

They moved back into the office, with Erick sitting back in his chair and Riivo taking the one that Aisha had occupied.

Riivo said, “The lockdown we have on runic webs is because they are a central protection to many wrought lands, so they have to be well-obscured from spying. A loose web is ripe for plucking; either for enemies to get webs of their own, or, once the methodologies are understood, to corrupt such defensive structures into killing all the people inside the space.

“This ease of destruction is almost the sole major reason we don’t allow runic webs to be spread around without our approval. People and cities have died before when they didn’t hide and secure their webs well enough. Entire cities turned into bombs, and then into ash on the wind.

“But since you want this responsibility, we can work on approving you for clearance.” Riivo said, “Here’s my offer: You can take Illusion Magic lessons from one of my people, help them with something they desire, and if your runic webs you create from those lessons turn out to be well-obscured, then I’ll potentially sign off on you getting runic web clearance.” He paused. “Probably not, though. I like you, Erick, but you’re a vigilante with the power of nations in your pocket. I would much prefer you prove that you can settle down somewhere and build something that will outlast your own life, first, because that’s what it means for me to sign off on such clearance. Someone, after you are gone, will come along and take over your runic webs you leave behind, and they’ll fail their bequeathed responsibility in any hundred of ways, and someone will learn of runes and become a Rune Master, who will then go on to spread runes to others, leaving trails of [Force Trap]s wherever they go.”

A simple demand, for simple reasons.

But once someone looked under the surface they were not simple reasons, at all. They were a bit angering, actually.

Erick understood the need to keep some magic secret. He was already agreeing to keep a lot of magics secret because the Inquisition asked him to keep them secret. The knowledge of Light and DNA were chief among the magics Erick was keeping under his hat.

But runic webs could make life a lot easier for a lot of people. The magical technology was out there; it just wasn’t used as widely and as well as it could be used. The wrought had power, and they decided how it was used; no one else.

Forget the fact that people had been killing each other with [Force Trap]s and [Fireball]s all this time, and could already do everything that Riivo was concerned about without using runes. Forget about the idea that runes could do a lot more good out there than they could do evil, and that if both sides of various conflicts had runes, then civilization could begin to work on actual countermeasures to the various attacks Riivo envisioned.

With the power of runic webs only usable by a few, and only immortals at that, this meant that there was never any true innovation with runic web security.

Riivo’s concerns over how cities had been destroyed by the corruption of their runic webs was valid, and Erick had already had questions about that, himself. But Enduring Forge was able to work their runic web so that any corruption placed into the web was known as it was happening. If more people knew about runes, then maybe enough innovation would happen with runic knowledge to ensure that a runic web could not be compromised.

But without everyone having access to runes, then that meant that everyone who wasn’t an authorized runic web creator was automatically labeled a ‘hacker’ and they got their runic webs stolen by Stratagold, or another Geode, even if that ‘hacker’ was on the path to making a truly robust runic web that would solve all of Riivo’s security concerns.

And another thing!

Runes were already out there, in the small items that Erick had given his people, and that Enduring Forge fashioned for others. Someone could learn runes from those. They could learn of the ideas of runic webs from visiting Enduring Forge or anywhere near a Geode. Other people could certainly make runic webs and break runic webs without getting authorization from a Geode, first. But without that authorization, those webs got stolen from their creators.

The fact was that most people were good, and they wanted defense from monsters, so if the world was better defended then wasn’t that a good thing? Most people would use a runic web to protect themselves and their property from monsters. That’s what the lands around Stratagold did, with all their runic webs with anti-[Stoneshape] in them.

... Erick looked at Riivo, and in that moment, he knew that this wasn’t about defense from monsters. Not in the eyes of Stratagold, anyway. They didn’t want stray runic webs out there, outside of their control because they didn’t want to have to go through those minefields when they had to capture/contain/kill various targets. Okay. Erick understood now.

... Or maybe that was a bad interpretation of motivations, but it was probably closer to the truth than any other—

Or.

Wait.

Erick was overthinking this way too much.

There was nothing overly sinister going on here. The people on the Surface and in the Underworld already protected themselves from monsters. Runic webs made certain defensive actions easier, while opening up vast weaknesses in other ways. Runic webs were a trade off.

Erick had plans to make runic webs very, very good, possibly shifting the balance of strength/weakness far toward the strength side of the equation. That was his plan with [Renew], after all. But without [Renew], all Riivo saw when he saw people using runic webs were glaring weaknesses in defense. And Riivo wanted Erick to see those glaring holes, too.

But also, Stratagold wanted controls on people, and runic webs were one of the ways they had to enact those controls. If someone wanted runic webs, they had to come to the table with Stratagold, or another Geode, and learn how to make a proper runic web, while also accepting Stratagold’s oversight.

All very sensible.

But also, Riivo wanted Erick, specifically, under his power. Riivo had shown as much since the initiation party the other day, and at the grand tour of the facilities, and when he helped Erick to learn of [Steadfast Ward]s.

All this man desired was calm control, and safe magic practices. Soft power, not hard; not unless he had to be.

... Which was fine? Sure. Whatever. Erick had already accepted this much when he decided to try and ally with Stratagold.

With his thoughts back on track over three seconds of thinking, Erick said, “I’ll take some Illusion Magic lessons. They’re not my preferred style, but nothing wrong with gaining some new information.” He added, “So you know, I will be trying to settle back down as soon as this Worldly Path is over. I honestly did not think it would get this large or take me this far, but it has, so I’m going to see it through to the good end. When I finally get [Gate] then it’ll be time to talk about linking cities. I expect to use some runic webs to ensure security around those physical gates, but I doubt whatever I learn in the next few days will be good enough for that system, so I’ll probably need your help on that.”

Riivo was patiently reserved while Erick spoke, but at Erick’s request for help, the old iron man regained a bit of his natural mirth. With a small smile, Riivo said, “I look forward to that day, Erick.”

“And hey! Maybe we can one day revive a universe with populated worlds from here to the farthest reaches of the telescopes, and beyond.” Erick said, “Veird would make a good capital world.”

For a long, timeless moment, Riivo softly breathed in, then said, “One catastrophe at a time.”

But Erick needed to drive home the point. He stressed, “One catastrophe at a time, yes, but the goal should be highlighted even now, and the goal is to expand civilization beyond Veird. To reach enough worlds, to have enough people, that even major catastrophes are but blips in the grand scheme of things.” Erick added, “I had a discussion like this with Kromolok yesterday, and I think I failed to tell him that. You have reminded me that I need to do that.”

Riivo lost most of his outward expressions, except for the hopeful fire inside his eyes that was impossible to hide. He softly said, “I also have some lofty dreams for such a time and space, but only when the path forward proves stable will I step upon it.”

“I can’t make [Gate] yet, but I can at least prove my stability and reliability. I wouldn’t think I’d go about doing that by learning illusions, though,” Erick said with a smile, as he stood.

“Ah ha!” Riivo stood with Erick, saying, “All magic is connected to all other magic. You never know where you’ll end up when you go walking down unknown paths. Maybe you’ll even figure out how to make [Gate] today!”

Erick chuckled. “I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

Riivo shrugged. “Maybe by speaking the words, I have set in motion what needs to happen to make [Gate] happen, but in a more rounded way than how you sang out your Particle Magic.”

Erick teased, “Are you trying to work some Fate Magic on me?”

“Not overtly.” Riivo said, “But there’s nothing wrong with wishing someone success, is there?”

Erick smiled a little. “So who’s the Illusion master?”

“Ah!” Riivo started walking, and Erick followed. “They’re a bit of a hermit, but...”