《Magic is Programming》


 Chapter 1: Confusion

    chapter 1: confusion

    carlos wasn''t particularly surprised or confused to be opening his eyes, alive again. the surprise factor in that had already come and gone, with the being who''d sent him here explicitly telling him he would get a new life in a new world. he wished he could have asked a few more questions first, though. the god, or angel, or whatever it was, had spouted some jargon about his soul, and some kind of core and shell, or something?

    no, the confusing part was the nonsensical babbling he was hearing, as he blinked to clear his eyes and waved off the person who was shaking him awake.

    "bar! te dok le abdurish tar deng? ti deter ye osheng ar te..."

    carlos blinked a few more times, and carefully sat up from the rather uncomfortable stone floor he''d apparently been lying on. he stared at the young man who''d just babbled at him, and the three other people looking on.

    the whole group looked rather young, late teens at the oldest, though they were wearing leather that looked like it was probably armor, and carried several weapons that any youth back home might be arrested for having. even as he glanced around, noticing all the weapons among their gear, the boy in front slowly pulled out a sword, a good three feet long and still in its scabbard, and extended the hilt towards carlos.

    "bel, te dux orlen tar. ti drin tarnil."

    cautiously, carlos stood up and reached out to accept the offered sword, drawing it and attaching the scabbard to his waist. all he knew about sword fighting was to stick the pointy end in the enemy, but at least that was better than going unarmed in an area where the natives evidently expected to face enemies. he swung it well away from anyone a couple times to get a feel for the weight, then shrugged uncertainly. he didn''t see anything threatening around, but if these people were handing out weapons so quickly it probably wasn''t a good time to focus on the language issue.

    "deter trel len, det te? hulangus. vara shu."

    carefully, carlos ran the tip of his sword along the floor in front of him as he walked, or rather stomped forward, wary of pit traps as well. sure enough, after only another ten feet or so, his sword hit another tripwire, and another volley of bladed darts shot out from hidden holes in the walls. this time, though, the darts hit nothing but the opposite wall.

    right after the third dart trap, the hallway turned again, and carlos cautiously peered around the corner before slowly stomping his way forward again. his continued caution soon revealed yet another pit trap, and he paused to stare suspiciously at the ground on the far side of the pit. this place hadn''t shown a great variety of dangers, but the ones it did have were lethal and used repeatedly, and if he were in charge of making a maximally dangerous hallway with just these kinds of traps he would put a tripwire for a dart trap right where someone jumping a pit would land.

    he thought for a moment, and reluctantly turned around to go back to the last boy''s corpse. he really didn''t want to have anything to do with a dead body, but it was the only thing he could think of that was big enough and heavy enough to be sure of triggering any dart trap waiting for him without jumping the pit himself. trying not to think too much about what he was holding, carlos clumsily heaved the boy''s body across the pit. he winced as the boy''s head hit the ground with a nasty sounding crack, but sighed in relief when darts flew across the hall just as he''d half expected.

    with the tripwire disarmed, carlos jumped the pit and resumed his cautious advance. he was so focused on testing for tripwires and pits that he almost walked out of the hallway entirely before he even noticed that another room was in sight.

    he flinched, afraid for a moment of encountering another deadly surprise, but nothing happened. the room was circular, about ten feet across, with a small pedestal in the center, above which floated a small glowing crystal, about an inch tall and half an inch wide.

    carlos tilted his head while staring at the crystal. given what he''d just been through, that setup positively screamed "trap!" at him. ...or, wait. people don''t generally put deadly traps in random places just to kill people for giggles. or maybe they do in this world, but carlos would just have to make do with knowledge of how his own world works. he shook his head. the point was that traps like that suggested that there was something in the area valuable enough to be worth guarding. maybe this floating glowing crystal was it?

    even if that was right, there could still be a final last resort trap of some kind. maybe even a new variety, different from the pit traps and dart traps he''d already seen. he paused, and sighed, then went back to get his improvised trap springer, reluctantly pushing the corpse along the ground ahead of him. he hoped the boy''s family would forgive him for abusing his dead body like this.

    carlos pushed the boy''s corpse into the room, then slowly followed when nothing happened. he held up his sword, warily looking in all directions, hoping to spot any danger in time to dodge. a small flare of light caught his attention from the corner of his eye, and he turned, and saw that the glowing crystal had suddenly gotten a lot brighter. it flashed, brilliant purple, almost blinding him. wait, had it actually blinded him? he couldn''t even make out the vague outline of the room anymore.

    well, shit.

 Chapter 2: Understanding

    chapter 2: understanding

    carlos blinked, then reflexively tried to blink again when he noticed he didn''t feel his eyelids moving. then he realized he couldn''t feel his arm holding his sword either, or any of the rest of his body. he seemed to be a disembodied presence in an empty purple void now, somehow. turning his attention to the empty purpleness around him, he got a feeling of... questioning?

    he felt a sense of a demand to know pressing on him, and also a sense of... desire? no, there was more to that, the desire was linked to him, like it belonged to him. the desire was also linked to the feeling of a question, but in a different way. it felt like the desire was the target of the question.

    it''s asking what do i want? but without words? is that it?

    carlos felt a sense of confusion, and lack of understanding, join the other sensations surrounding him. apparently this thing, whatever it was, couldn''t understand thoughts formed in words. or maybe it was just words in english that it didn''t understand. anyway, what did he want? he thought he was also getting a faint sense that this thing intended to give him what he asked for. or as much of it as it could, at least.

    had he stumbled on something that grants wishes?? the obvious ideas of asking for money or power sprang to mind, but carlos had only ever wanted those as tools to help get other things, not for their own sake. besides, if even clueless idiots like the group that had found him could get as close as the room he''d woken up in, this couldn''t be all that powerful. it would be better to get as close to his actual goals as it could manage. so, what did he really want?

    well, in his current situation, he wanted to understand where he was. he wanted to understand why that boy had given up and accepted death so easily. he wanted to understand what was going on, and why. he wanted to understand how to survive this place and get to somewhere safe. though really, if he thought about how that desire resonated with him, he just wanted to understand. specifying any single thing, or even a list of things, to understand was needlessly restrictive. he wanted to understand everything!

    carlos focused his attention back on the feelings and emotions surrounding him, still swirling in confusion, and tried to send back a feeling of the desire to understand. an unfocused desire to understand, or perhaps it would be better described as an unlimited and boundless desire to understand.

    moments later, he felt a sense of acceptance sent back to him, and then an incredible stretching as whatever power was doing this strained to its limits. suddenly a pounding headache overwhelmed him, and he blacked out.

    carlos groaned as he slowly woke up, flat on his back on the hard stone floor.

    [you awake?]

    huh? he jolted to full alertness, and hastily sat up and looked around. "what? who?"

    [i dungeon core.]

    wait, what? dungeon core? and how is it suddenly speaking in english now? stilted english, but still english.

    just as that last question occurred to him, he realized in the back of his mind he had felt that statement as a series of wordless pieces of transmitted emotion or meaning, but now there was something in his mind automatically translating it into words for him.

    [i see. i come from another world where that is very definitely not how things work. do you know any details of how dead people come back?]

    [other world? know dungeon. know what see. little else.]

    [i guess i''ll have to ask a person rather than a dungeon about that. um, so how is this going to work going forward? will i have you in the back of my mind to ask questions about whenever? is there a distance limit or cost to maintain this link? do you get anything out of it besides having me not smash your crystal? ...do you want anything else?]

    [...not sure. no talk before. it... interesting?] the dungeon core paused briefly. [never thought what want. maybe stop wishes? several per week. drains mana. exhausted. barely reset traps. then next wish.]

    [hmm. there must be a village nearby. i doubt i could stop people from coming here, but could you move? and do you have a name? you''re clearly intelligent, and i''d like to have something other than "you" to call you.]

    [i not move me. you move me... must leave all mana. no name. never needed.]

    [it sounds like you don''t have much mana anyway. would you like to come with me? i''ll see if i can find a more secluded place that won''t have so many delvers. as for a name, how about purple? for the color of your light.]

    carlos sensed a moment of hesitation from the dungeon before it responded. [true, wish drained most. hard make worse. ok. you take me. purple ok.]

    carlos stood up and approached the floating purple crystal. [ok, purple. um, do i just put you in my pocket, or is there something special i need to do?]

    purple''s glow pulsed stronger for a moment. [never done. just must try.]

    carlos took hold of the floating crystal, with his forefinger on its top point and thumb on bottom. it resisted moving for a moment, but then the force holding it in place vanished, and it moved freely with ease. the purple glow dimmed to almost nothing.

    "are you ok?" carlos spoke aloud instinctively in his concern.

    [released mana. am unharmed.]

    "ok, good. so, how do i get out of here, and are there any more traps i need to avoid?"

 Chapter 3: Civilization

    chapter 3: civilization

    carlos stared at what lay outside the cave opening that was apparently purple''s former main entrance.

    "well, no wonder you were having people come by every day of the week! that''s a major road out there. on the bright side, this will make it really easy to find civilization."

    [outside dungeon. not see. not change.]

    "fair." carlos picked a direction at random and turned right to start walking along the road. his stomach chose that moment to rumble a bit, reminding him that he still hadn''t eaten since arriving in this world. "i hope someone around here is willing to help a stranger with food. i had no skill at foraging back in my own world, and this one might not even have the same plants."

    [could spawn food. but no mana.]

    "that... would have been good to think of before leaving all your mana behind. i don''t suppose we could go back for it?"

    [too late. mana gone.]

    "oh well. back to hoping for a stranger''s generosity."

    the road was hard packed dirt, and carlos''s feet soon felt sore. his legs ached with fatigue as well, and while the meadows and occasional groups of trees he passed by looked pretty, he really wanted some modern conveniences and amenities back. a full refrigerator and a microwave would be nice, for example. a computer would be better. he knew how to be useful with one of those.

    he snorted. this world probably didn''t even have computers at all. it had magic, though. that would be interesting to learn. "so, about the whole ''mana'' thing. people can use it too, not just dungeons, right?"

    [yes. many delvers did.]

    "could i learn to use it? could you teach me?"

    [learn mana? not inherent for human?]0v3l.bin.

    if carlos focused on it, he could tell that this man was not actually speaking english, but whatever magical translation mechanism he had was working so smoothly he might not notice without specifically checking. he mentally shrugged, and decided to just let it work without inspecting too closely. it would be fascinating to analyze, but he didn''t have the skills needed yet, and he had much more urgent priorities right now.

    "stew is fine, but um, i had a bit of misfortune recently and don''t have any money. do you have any work i could do instead, or know anyone who might?"

    the cook looked meaningfully at carlos''s waist. "with a sword like that, i''d guess you''re an adventurer. not much call for adventurers around here, but there is a minor dungeon along the road a couple hours'' walk from here, if you feel like trying your luck."

    carlos laughed nervously. "i''m, uh, not in good shape to tackle a dungeon right now."

    "i can see that, no party and not even the cheapest armor, but most adventurers i''ve met wouldn''t let that stop them."

    "yeah, any chance you could point me to where to find a party and get some armor?"

    the cook rubbed his chin for a moment. "hmm. now there''s an idea." he pointed at one of the tables. "see that girl over there? she might be willing to help you out if you agree to join her party."

    the girl looked young, about the same age as the four novices carlos had encountered in the dungeon, and she was sitting alone, engrossed in a book as she absently ate an occasional spoonful of stew.

    "where''s the rest of her party?"

    "she doesn''t have one. you''ll find out why soon enough."

    carlos squinted at him suspiciously. "she''s not going to get me in trouble, is she?"

    "she won''t. well, probably. it depends. i''ve said enough already, go find out yourself."

    carlos sighed, and turned to walk over to her, shaking his head. surely this at least couldn''t be worse than starving, right?

 Chapter 4: Magic

    chapter 4: magic

    carlos tried to assess the girl he''d been directed to as he approached her. she had short hair of a light brown or perhaps very dark blond color, and a thin build with almost spindly arms. she was wearing mid-thigh length shorts and a slightly baggy shirt, and she was slouching forward over her book, paying as little attention as possible to her meal while still periodically taking bites of stew, careful to avoid spilling any on the book. she did not react at all even when he arrived standing right beside her.

    "uh, excuse me, miss?"

    the girl ate another spoonful of stew and quickly returned to reading.

    "ahem." still no reaction. carlos gently tapped her on the shoulder. instantly, she jerked, accidentally tossed her next spoonful of stew down the table, sat bolt upright, and twisted around, looking in every direction before finally focusing on carlos.

    "ack! wha- oh! sorry, sorry, i was distracted. um. why are you here? i''m not bothering you, am i? i can go." she picked up her bowl of stew and book and started standing up before carlos could even respond.

    "you''re not bothering me. calm down, please stay." carlos held up his hands and gestured back at her seat, then pointed at the cook. "he said you might help me if i join your party?"

    "oh!" she stared at him with wide eyes and a poleaxed expression on her face for a moment. "omigosh-a-party-member! um, yes please! um, what do you need? i''m amber, by the way."

    "carlos. at the moment, i just need three copper for some stew, but if we''ll be adventuring i should get some armor and equipment too."

    "oh, is that all?" amber quickly pulled out three small coins from her belt pouch, but paused before handing them over. "you really mean it about joining my party, right? promise you won''t leave before doing even a single adventure with me?"

    "i take it you''ve had a lot of people do that before."

    she nodded glumly. "all the people i''ve tried to party up with around here say i''m too annoying and want nothing to do with me."

    "ah." carlos had a hunch about why amber''s other would-be party members found her annoying, and if he was right this could turn out being perfect for him. "i promise to at least stay in your party for one adventure. after that... we''ll see. i don''t want to get your hopes up too much."

    carlos soon returned with his own bowl of stew, and once he''d taken the edge off his hunger he decided it was time to strike up a proper conversation. "so, what''s the book you''re reading?"

    "hmm? oh, um, n-nothing special. just something to pass the time."

    carlos raised an eyebrow at her. "whatever it is, i''m not going to make fun of you for it. i''m just curious."

    amber blushed slightly. "is it that obvious?"

    amber shook her head. "oh, no, that makes it a lot harder. you''d have to understand each word on its own, plus the structure of how they fit together, in addition to what the spell does and how, and there are words in most incantations that i''m not sure anyone really knows what they mean when singled out without the rest of the spell. maybe not even sandaras for a few of them."

    "huh. does that book have an example incantation i could read?" carlos was curious to see what his wish-born translation ability would make of it.

    "sure. it''s a simple light spell, to make a dimly glowing ball of light." amber turned back several pages in the book, skimming rapidly, then held it out to carlos. he looked, and stared in shock at the crisply formatted monospaced text block he saw overlaid on what was actually written in the book.

    spell begin;

    use mana = 0.1;

    loop begin;

    parameter color = white;

    parameter shape = sphere;

    parameter direction = all;

    parameter intensity = 0.01;

    parameter location = target;

    effect glow;

    loop while = (any mana unspent);

    spell end;

    spell cast;

    "wait, what? magic is programming?"

 Chapter 5: Secrets

    chapter 5: secrets

    "wait, what? magic is programming?"

    amber stared at carlos, and raised an eyebrow. "there''s more to magic than just crafting spells, but of course crafting spells is part of it. how is that surprising?"

    carlos stared back and blinked a few times. "huh? ''crafting spells'' is..." wait. he thought a moment, and experimentally prodded at the translation magic in his head. ''programming'' translated to ''abraril miks'', and ''crafting spells'' translated to... exactly the same thing. huh. he blinked again. "oh."

    amber tilted her head. "you realized something?"

    "yeah. um. in hindsight, that was a silly question. so anyway, if i speak this incantation from the book out loud, and i properly understand it, it will spend a little bit of mana to make some light?"

    amber nodded. "yes, but if you''ve truly never studied magic before and get it to work on the first try, you''ll be the most incredible prodigy i''ve ever heard of."

    carlos grinned. the meaning seemed plenty clear enough to him. "let''s find out." he read the incantation aloud, quietly to not draw too much attention. fortunately all the words and symbols were spoken with only a single syllable each, or at most two, in the local language, so it went considerably faster than it would have in english.

    he gazed at his palm expectantly. nothing happened. [uh, purple, any idea what i did wrong?]

    the dungeon core in his pocket had been quiet since they neared the town. [not know method. dungeon magic instinct.]

    carlos frowned at his non glowing palm. "hmm. the meaning of it all seems obvious enough to me. i don''t know what i''m missing."

    amber raised both her eyebrows at him. "really? how could it possibly be obvious without ever having studied magic before? you''ve probably never even seen most of those words before."

    "um." carlos grinned nervously. "a bad joke? sorry. i shouldn''t joke about learning magic." telling people about his dungeon-granted translation ability seemed like it would probably be bad. or maybe it would be no big deal, maybe everybody had some kind of magic ability on that level. he''d have to learn more.

    amber sighed. "well, at least you weren''t making fun of me for wanting to learn. i think. still-"

    "i''d recognize those clothes anywhere!" carlos turned to see who was interrupting them, and was a bit shocked to see the familiar face of someone he''d last seen at the bottom of a deadly pit trap. purple had told him that dead people came back somehow, but the idea still hadn''t seemed real. the leader of the group he''d met in the dungeon was wearing different clothes from before, but showed no sign of injury. "i see you still have the sword i loaned you. i''ll have that back now."

    "oh, um. one moment, sorry." carlos stood up and awkwardly unbuckled the scabbard from his waist to hand it back.0v3l.bin.

    the young man grabbed the scabbard and jerked it forcefully from carlos''s grip, not waiting for him to let go. "how did you survive that dungeon, anyway? it killed my whole party, and they tell me they did not get that close to the core."

    carlos crossed his arms over his chest and glared a little. "carefully."

    "are you saying i''m not careful?" the boy rested one hand on the hilt of his sword, having already finished buckling the scabbard to his waist.

    "no. the pit trap that killed you said that."

    "you take that back!" he drew about a handspan of the sword''s length out of the scabbard and scowled threateningly.

    "hush." she held up her other hand towards carlos.

    amber approached the side table, and stopped just short of touching purple. the dungeon core had asked to be put somewhere stationary and out in the open where it could try to gather mana for something overnight. she tilted her head, staring at the purple crystal, which was floating just slightly above the wooden surface. "what?" she paused and shook her head. "...is that a dungeon core?? carlos, you have some explaining to do."

    possible lies flew through carlos''s mind, but he had no idea what might be plausible or how amber would react to them. "um. what makes you think it''s a dungeon core?"

    amber glared at him. "don''t try to bullshit me, carlos. i felt it drawing in the mana in the room. i don''t feel the ambient background mana of a dungeon here, but the only magic items that draw in mana like that are incredibly rare and expensive, and that glowing floating crystal is unmistakable. what confuses me is how it''s here. i''ve always heard that dungeon cores are impossible to move."

    trying to keep his muscles relaxed and his attitude calm, carlos walked over and casually put purple in his pocket. "doesn''t that prove it''s not a dungeon core after all?"

    "either it''s a dungeon core that is somehow moveable, or it''s a legendarily high tier magic item that someone completely broke like you has no business having. either way, it''s an important secret that i will have to know before i help you any further." amber crossed her arms and started tapping her foot. "and i''d better not find out later that you still have other important secrets you''re keeping from me."

    carlos took a deep breath. should he just confess everything? having a friend who knew it all would be a big help, especially with amber''s knowledge of magical theory. he sighed. "i''m not sure how believable the truth is for you, or how dangerous telling it might be. i want to trust you, but i''m not sure i can. i''ve only known you for one evening."

    "is anyone pursuing you because of these secrets?"

    "not that i know of."

    "then what are you concerned about? someone stealing from you? attacking you?"

    "i mean... maybe? i don''t know how valuable that crystal might be, or if someone might be able to take advantage somehow."

    "fine. i promise i won''t try to steal it from you, or attack you because of it. and if there is advantage to be taken, i''ll find a way to make it mutually beneficial."

    carlos hesitated. "how do i know you''ll keep that promise?"

    amber rolled her eyes. "ugh. ok, you want something serious?" she took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. "how''s this? i promise on my hopes of becoming a great mage, i will not betray your secrets. now spill it already."

    carlos narrowed his eyes as he stared at her for a moment, then shrugged. "good enough, i suppose. and having this out in the open will mean i won''t have to think up excuses for not knowing things anymore."

    he sat down and told her the whole story. how he had lived in another world that didn''t have magic or dungeon cores or respawning. how he had died and been reincarnated here. the wish he had made on the dungeon core, and the agreement he''d made with purple afterwards. and how the incantation in the book had been translated for him by that wish.

    when he finished, amber was nodding contemplatively. "it does sound far-fetched, i can see why you''d think i might not believe it. but at the same time, it''s the kind of craziness that people don''t just make up. and i saw the dungeon core - purple, was it? - myself."

    she paused a moment, then her eyes widened. "oh crap. we need to move!"

    carlos sat up. "what''s wrong?"

    "purple was the dungeon along the road, the one kindar died in, right? he''ll find out that it''s gone today. we need to be out of erlen before he gets back!"

 Chapter 6: Learning

    chapter 6: learning

    "so that armor fits? great, we''ll take it!"

    "that will be 8 silver."

    "done."

    "uh, is bargaining not a thing here?"

    "no time, we need to go!"

    "the edge feels sharp enough. it''ll do."

    "5 silver for the sword, then."

    "here."

    "i''m grateful, really, but why are you helping me so much?"

    "talk later. hmm, ten days of food and water for us should be enough."

    "um, a small notebook and pen would be nice too?"

    "sure, that''s fine. total price?"

    "1 silver for the lot."

    "done."

    "ok, now we can talk."

    carlos raised an eyebrow at amber and smiled, bemused by how rushed their exit from town had been. "ok. so, to start with, i get that kindar will be pissed at me, but i don''t see how that would make it so important to rush out. oh, and to bother laying a false trail by circling around to go the opposite direction from where we left erlen."

    amber raised an eyebrow right back at him as they continued walking. "he''ll think you destroyed the dungeon, and he won''t be shy about telling that to everyone in erlen. they''ll all think that you destroyed our very own local dungeon. a very weak one, admittedly, but still. the whole town will want to punish you, not just kindar, and the only way to convince them not to would be to hand over the intact dungeon core."

    carlos paled a bit. "ah. oops. makes sense that dungeons are considered important resources." he sighed. "thanks for rescuing me from that, then. and that brings me back to my earlier question: why are you helping me so much?"

    amber chuckled. "that''s actually a few different questions combined, isn''t it? the first of them being why i''m willing to just skip town so suddenly at all."

    carlos nodded. "yeah. i was under the impression that erlen was your home."

    "it was. and it sucked. i had no real friends, no one liked me, and everyone got annoyed by all the things i find interesting. people would joke about me reading all the time, ignore or dismiss anything i tried to tell them about it, and make fun of me for aspiring to match archmage sandaras. even my mother just didn''t understand why i cared about any of it.

    "the truth is, i''ve been planning and preparing to leave for years. i have no idea how many times i''ve daydreamed about learning magic at the royal academy, and i''ve been saving up to pay their entry fee. the book you found me reading yesterday was review, studying to make sure i''d be able to pass the exam to qualify. i was already planning to leave in the next few weeks."

    "ah, i see. so that part was fortunate timing for me."

    "yep. the other parts are, let''s see, why i''m willing to come with you, and why i spent so much money on helping you. that money came from what i saved for the academy''s fee, by the way."

    "wait, you gave up your chance at the academy for me?"

    "how do you know?"

    "if you didn''t have mana, i would sense the absence of it. you would be a strange void in the ambient background."

    "ok, good. i was a bit worried, if that was the problem it might not be fixable. anyway, second foundation: incantation. have i been saying the words of the spell correctly?"

    "yes. your pronunciation is actually quite good."

    "then i think the issue must be with the third foundation: meaning. my problem is that i don''t see how that could be possible. i know exactly what all those words mean. the translation i get is perfectly clear. i might even be able to write a more complete and correct explanation of the meaning and syntax than that sandaras guy!"

    amber raised an eyebrow at him. "wait, you thought knowing the meaning was enough? that''s silly. you need to know the meaning."

    carlos blinked. "uh. ok, either you''re pranking me, or something got lost in translation." he paused, and mentally focused on the impressions he could sense from the translation magic, and also on the actual sounds he was hearing. "say that again, please."

    "ok. you thought knowing the meaning was enough? you need to know the meaning."

    carlos nodded. "definitely lost in translation. you used two different words that both got translated to the same word in my language. i guess the one that''s involved in magic got translated to the closest fit because my world doesn''t have a word for it at all. so, please explain what it means to know something." he was careful to use the second of the two words for "know" that amber had said.

    amber tapped her chin, thinking. "hmm. knowing something means knowing it in your soul. it''s... hard to explain. partly because i''ve never heard of it really being needed to explain. everybody knows about it. knowing something in your soul is an absolutely unmistakable feeling that i don''t remember ever not having. the knowledge is just... there."

    "huh. ok, so how do i get that knowledge into my soul?"

    "um. mostly instinct, i think? contemplate it, and just try to focus on that intent."

    carlos sighed. "i guess that will have to do. alright, here goes. contemplating the meaning of the word that starts the spell."

    half an hour later, carlos was trying to meditate on the result of focusing his translation magic on the single word that started the spell when it happened. he suddenly felt something happening in a part of himself he had never known existed.

    it felt like something had just been etched into the surface of one of his bones, except whatever it was etched on definitely was not part of his body, even though it was just as definitely inside of him. he reflexively stiffened and stopped walking for a moment. "whoa! i see what you mean about it being unmistakable."

    amber jerked slightly, startled. "oh! you already got your soul to learn the spell? that''s impressively fast."

    carlos smiled sheepishly. "ah, actually, just the first word of it. i know you said doing it word by word is harder, but i still want to try. if it works, i should be able to recombine words to form different spells more easily, and i think i might have a unique advantage for it. i''m guessing the third word in this spell is one of the hard ones?"

    amber nodded. "yeah. as far as i can tell, it hardly seems to have any meaning, but it''s ubiquitous and spells don''t work without it. i''ve heard rumors of people learning it, and some people say mastering it is part of what it takes to become an archmage, but no one''s been able to properly explain it that i know of."

    "well, let''s see how long it takes me to get that one into my soul." carlos grinned, mentally examining the new sensation of having something''s meaning embedded in his soul. it was strange. whenever he mentally poked at that spot, it was like the word and its exact meaning were forcibly brought to mind. one specific meaning of it, too; it might translate into english as "spell", but this word could never mean to list the correct sequence of letters for writing a specific word. it was an incantation keyword, used to define, identify, or refer to a spell incantation or its boundaries. carlos wasn''t sure he would ever be able to forget that, even if he tried to.

    he held a hand up to his chin, thinking. holding the precise definition of the word in mind had been part of how he''d gotten that first word into his soul, but it wasn''t all of it. the magic of understanding that he''d gotten from purple might have helped, but even with that it hadn''t happened until he''d formed a wordless mental impression of pure meaning in his mind. he''d had to define the word correctly, and then form it into a mental conceptualization.

    as for the new word he wanted to learn next, it translated as a semicolon. a punctuation mark. perhaps more importantly, given the context, as a mark with a specific common syntactical role in programming languages, and it appeared that the language of spell incantations was either literally a programming language or very similar to them. so, the meaning of that word was simply an unambiguous mark of the separation point between consecutive parts of an incantation. and judging by programming languages from back on earth, it might be used in multiple different levels of how large or small a clause it might mark the end of, and might be used inside certain clauses as a structural element.

    carlos kept walking, brows furrowed as he meditated on that definition, trying to focus without words on the concepts behind it. about ten minutes later, he felt that strange internal etching sensation again, and exclaimed in triumph. "woohoooooooo! i got it!"

    amber shook his shoulder. "um. bad time to make noise."

    carlos looked up and noticed his surroundings. a few birds were flying away, and was that some kind of bear, uh, growling at them from the side of the road?

    "oops."

 Chapter 7: Bear

    chapter 7: bear

    the bear prowled forward menacingly, approaching from the side of the road, and carlos frantically scrabbled for his sword, heart pounding in his chest. he tried to remember if he''d read any advice about what to do when encountering a bear, even as he wondered whether that advice would still make sense in this other world. he thought he vaguely remembered something about not running away, because that would encourage it to chase. oh, and never threaten a mother bear''s cubs. crap, were there any cubs nearby? he didn''t see any, but maybe they were just hidden.

    carlos held up his sword, his hands shaking a bit, and gulped. this was worse than in the dungeon. at least in the dungeon the dangers had waited for him to come to them, never chasing him. that bear was huge! he supposed he would respawn by the rules of how this world operates, if it came to that, but he had no desire to test that, or to experience the pain of being killed. he was about ready to turn and run, despite knowing it was probably a bad idea, when amber spoke.

    spell activate = distant cut;

    the bear interrupted its growling to yelp and flinch, looking at its nose where a small spot of blood had appeared. then it growled louder and crouched a bit lower as it resumed advancing towards them.

    spell activate = distant cut;

    the bear yelped again, but only paused for a brief moment.

    "at least take a swing or something! i only have a few more of those left." amber glared at carlos, who was still just standing there, gripping his sword so tightly his knuckles were turning white.

    spell activate = distant cut;

    carlos gulped, gathered his courage, and charged as amber started casting her third spell. he swung wildly, with frantic energy, with just enough presence of mind to keep each swing small enough that the sword remained between him and the bear the entire time.

    the bear looked at the wildly swinging stick of sharpened metal, shook a few drops of blood from its now freely bleeding nose, and decided it had had enough. it turned and ran, quickly disappearing into the nearby forest.

    carlos staggered to a stop, sweating and breathing heavily. he wasn''t sure how much of that was from fear, and how much was from being in terrible shape. plenty from both, probably.

    "wow. i''ve never seen anyone that shaky just from facing a common beast! and you want to go adventuring?"

    carlos collapsed onto the ground. "just." he took a few shaky breaths. "give me a minute." he focused with exaggerated care on getting his sword back into its scabbard without cutting anything, which took a good 30 seconds or so. by the time he was done, his heart was at least starting to slow back down.

    amber stared at him. "how the hell do you know something like that, and not the basic fundamentals of combat magic? that didn''t all come from your wish for understanding, did it?"

    carlos shrugged. "my world doesn''t have magic, but it has languages very similar to the language of incantations. we use them for controlling certain machines we built."

    amber sighed and shook her head. "whatever. i don''t think i can even imagine how you might build such a machine without already having magic. thank you for the explanation, and i''ll see if i can learn it now."

    about a quarter of an hour later, amber suddenly gasped, and froze in place for several seconds. carlos stopped, and raised an eyebrow at her. she almost whispered an exclamation under her breath. "holy shit. that actually did it!"

    they exchanged grins, and resumed their journey with a bit more energy in their steps.

    well into the afternoon, they were still walking along the road when a man rode up on a horse behind them. "aha! i knew it!"

    carlos and amber stopped and looked back at him in confusion.

    "kindar missed spotting you on his way back because you knew he''d be raising hell and went the other way."

    amber sighed, and waved at him. "yes, mikil, you figured it out. great job. why did you bother actually coming all the way out here to check? you''re too lazy to do it just for curiosity, and you hate kindar too much to be doing him a favor."

    mikil chuckled, and his horse pranced in place a little. "oh, kindar can break his neck at the bottom of a pit trap a dozen times for all i care. his old man, though. darmelkon is offering a hundred gold to whoever finds you for him. i''ve never seen so many people rushing everywhere at once before! one hundred gold!"

    "what!?" amber stared, slack-jawed. "he-" she stood in stunned silence for a few seconds. "that- that''s insane! one hundred gold could buy half of erlen, just about! just- just- what? why? even for darmelkon, it''s too much to make sense."

    mikil shrugged. "who cares why? he showed the money and announced the terms in the town square, with the magistrate as witness. now, i hope you escape whatever he''s planning for you because sticking it to kindar is always fun, but if you''ll excuse me, i have a hundred gold to go claim." mikil turned and sped back the way he came without another word.

    amber took several deep breaths as she watched him go, her heart thumping hard in her chest. "well, shit."

 Chapter 8: Hunted

    chapter 8: hunted

    amber turned and began marching briskly along the road, much faster than the casual walking pace they had been using, and carlos rushed to keep pace.

    "ok, i know one hundred gold is a lot, but help me understand just how much. what are the conversion factors?"

    "one hundred copper is one silver. one hundred silver is one gold."

    "so darmelkon? do i have his name right? he''s offering one million copper for information about where we are. and three copper was enough for a full meal."

    amber glanced at carlos briefly. "you know some decent math. yes, in copper it would be one million. it''s an utterly outrageous sum, and it means we need to get serious about escaping pursuit. i don''t know why he wants us so badly, but it can''t be good. i could speculate, but really all that matters is we have to escape."

    "agreed. why are we still following the road? surely the road will be the first place he looks once mikil reports which direction we went."

    "because if we just disappear from the road, he''ll search the wilderness around it second, and if he''s putting that kind of money into hunting for us we won''t be able to outpace his hunters or hide from them for long. we need to give him a false trail to follow. actually, make that two false trails. one to be the obvious fake that he''ll see through, and the second to actually trick him while he''s congratulating himself on outwitting us. and the real trail needs to leave as few clues as possible. if we make good time, we can reach trillen in an hour. we''ll have maybe two or three hours at most after that before darmelkon gets there. we need to be gone, with false trails laid, by then."

    "got it. any ideas on how to do that?"

    "hmm. actually, yes. let me think about the details..."

    darmelkon sat straight and proud on his steed as he rode into trillen. he cut an imposing figure, with magically enhanced muscles and the glittering metals and gems of the enchanted rings and necklace responsible for that enhancement, and he knew it. the enormous sword and finely crafted crossbow at his sides completed the picture to ensure that all who saw would know he was not to be trifled with.

    the small army of servants following him would have seen to that anyway, but that was not what he had brought them here for. he held up his right hand and gestured, beckoning them forward, and the servants streamed into the small city. if amber and this "carlos" person had kept to the road this far, the servants would find someone who had seen them soon enough.

    "so, um, you are going to pay me, right? the magistrate witnessed it, and everything."

    ah, right. that annoying pest, mikil. too incompetent, or perhaps it was laziness, to actually bring them in, or at least bring back proof.

    "when i have proof of their presence here, then you will get your money. not before. until then, unless you have something actually useful to say, be silent."

    the storefront of the enchanters guild was a monumental edifice, adorned with riches enough to impress even darmelkon, but he was well used to such things and ignored the display as he brushed past the guard at the door and walked directly up to the shopkeeper, getting straight to business. "you sold a teleportation scroll today. within the past few hours. what was its destination?"

    the shopkeeper grimaced momentarily, then covered it with a fake smile. "you should know that each customer''s business here is private."

    darmelkon didn''t even say a word as he simply placed a gold coin on the counter.

    the shopkeeper glanced at the coin and raised an eyebrow. "you think a pittance like that matters to me? if you''re going to offer a bribe, don''t be insulting about it."

    nine more coins joined the first.

    the shopkeeper crossed his arms and started tapping his foot.

    darmelkon put ten more coins on the counter.

    "hmm. you just want to know the destination?"

    "yes."

    "oh, very well." the shopkeeper pocketed the twenty gold coins with one swift motion. "the capital. i sold exactly one teleportation scroll today, and its destination was the capital."

    "i see." darmelkon frowned. this was going to take a lot longer than he''d hoped. he might have to call in some favors. he was still on their trail, however, and it was only a matter of time to sort through all the recent arrivals in the capital and trace them. they likely thought they''d lost him, and their guard would be down. he could be patient when he had to be. his prize would be his, in due time.

    enchanter tornay smirked inwardly as the rude man angrily strutted out of the shop. twenty gold was a good haul for a piece of information that would prove completely useless. tornay knew what the man was after. the enchanters guild''s security systems could hardly fail to detect an active, unanchored, and unbound dungeon core when it was carried through their front door, after all.

    those two fools who''d bought the scroll had surely used it by now, only to be greeted on arrival by a team of the guild''s best experts in... persuading... people to sell such valuable goods to the guild for an advantageous price. advantageous for the guild, of course. he was looking forward to the bonus he''d get for his involvement in it.

    he''d considered going directly for the acquisition, but that really wasn''t his specialty, and it could have caused a disreputable scene in the shop. yes, much better to send them practically gift-wrapped to the specialists, and their offer of the secret of mastering the ; was a good enough excuse to accept the otherwise inadequate price they could offer for the scroll. if their explanation turned out to be genuine, then even better!

 Chapter 9: Soul Development

    chapter 9: soul development

    in a remote wilderness area, most definitely not a capital city, carlos anxiously held a dimly glowing purple crystal in his hands, frowning as the glow fitfully fluttered a few times. "are you ok, purple?"

    [yes.] the dungeon core''s mental voice gave an impression of profound weakness and fatigue. [scroll destination wish small, but little mana. need rest. but will recover.]

    carlos sighed. "i hope you''re right. and thank you again, we really needed that wildcard." there had been something vaguely off about enchanter tornay''s attitude when they''d bought that scroll, and carlos had suspicions that using the scroll unaltered would have gone poorly. for one thing, he''d agreed to a discount without actually verifying the information they''d given in exchange, as far as carlos could tell.

    "so, purple''s ok then?" amber was busily assembling a pile of twigs and clearing an area around it.

    "yeah. we need to find a good place for him to rest and gather mana for a while, but he says he''ll recover."

    amber sighed. "would be nice if i could hear him directly." she shook her head. "i know, i know, he''ll need more mana to do that. i can wait. in the meantime, get started on those tents while i get the fire going."

    carlos grunted, and started digging through the various bundles in his uncomfortably large and heavy backpack. one of the bigger ones was a mess of poles and canvas that brought back old memories of camping trips back on earth, though these didn''t bother with even an attempt at instructions. fortunately there was no magic involved to worry about, and the physical arrangement seemed simple enough. they had bought some magical camping gear, but that was for concealing the whole campsite from wildlife and repelling any that got too close, and they''d set that up absolute first thing when they got here.

    "ok, so, now that we have some breathing room, let''s talk. why do you think darmelkon wants us so badly?"

    amber carefully arranged a few larger logs over the pile of twigs, and sighed. "i''ve been thinking about that, and there''s only one possibility that makes any sense. somehow, he must have figured out that you took the dungeon core rather than destroyed it. and, for whatever reason, he thinks purple is worth platinum. or more." she shrugged. "maybe he''s even right. maybe he knows something about dungeon cores that i don''t."

    "platinum? is that the next step up, one platinum is worth one hundred gold?"

    "yes. and then there''s mythril, then adamantium, and finally orichalcum."

    "ah. i suppose i shouldn''t be surprised that certain metals that are mythical on my world are real but incredibly rare and valuable here."

    amber raised an eyebrow at carlos. "oh? those translated to familiar but mythical metal names to you? i wonder how well your myths match the actual metals here."

    "well, uh, let''s see... in earth myths and stories, mythril looks similar to silver but is stronger than steel and incredibly light. adamantium is basically the strongest, hardest, most durable metal in existence. and orichalcum is some kind of alloy, i think, partly gold, and it varies but stories often describe it as being extremely magical. like, best material in existence for making enchanted items, and stuff like that."

    "huh. remarkably accurate."

    "yes. soul development is divided into two categories. the simple and general type of soul development is just wrapping your soul in layers of condensed mana. each layer resonates with your soul and amplifies the strength of your influence on other mana. however, if you just did that, well, you''d be more capable in general at pretty much everything, but you wouldn''t be able to do anything really special or powerful.

    "to really get strong and effective abilities, you have to build specialized structures of mana within your soul, focused on achieving specific effects. for example, i''ve built something for sensing mana. each spell, or fragment of a spell, that you learn also takes the form of a small structure in your soul. i''ve used up about a third of my shell so far, building the essentials i''ll need to be a mage, and learning a few simple spells. i''ve been saving the rest, hoping the academy would teach me better things to build than i''ve found instructions for in books."

    she sighed, and slumped a bit. "shit. and now i''m probably never going to go there."

    carlos gently put a hand on her shoulder. "hey. you gave that up for a reason, remember?"

    amber looked up at him and sighed again. "yeah, but how are you going to help me build a good foundational soul structure? two minutes ago you didn''t even know that they exist!"

    "so teach me. how are these structures designed? how do people come up with new ones? i have otherworldly knowledge you couldn''t even imagine, i promise you. how can i translate my knowledge into the form we both need?"

    amber straightened up, squared her shoulders, and took a deep breath. "might as well try, i suppose. it''s mostly just conceptualizing what you want a soul structure to do, and how. similar to learning a spell. in fact, learning spells is really just a specialized category of building very minor soul structures. the big problem is, you need a really clear understanding of the effect you want, the effects of each of your soul structures need to work together, synergizing with each other to create something greater than the sum of its parts, and it''s really easy to get a small but crucial detail wrong. for example, if you build a structure to hold ''a prepared spell'', as your soul gets stronger with more layers that structure will grow and become able to hold a spell of greater and greater power, but it will always stay limited to just one spell. that''s a major classic mistake my books warned me about."

    carlos tapped his chin, thinking. "so, the only reason people aren''t creating super powerful soul structures all the time is that they need a concept and plan that can produce all that power from individually much weaker parts?"

    amber snorted. "typical improvised soul structures end up at copper or silver rank. sometimes gold. an occasional genius invents something platinum rank, but above that?" she shook her head. "people theorize, and tweak plans, and pass their hard won knowledge down through generations. and most keep it in the family. i bought a book explaining a silver rank set of mage oriented soul structures, and i hoped the academy might teach something at mid to high gold, or even platinum. but mythril and above? that''s the inheritances of noble houses."

    carlos blinked. "uh, ''rank''?"

    amber slapped her forehead. "of course you don''t know those either. it''s the overall quality and power of all of your soul structures as a cohesive whole. soul structures that synergize and work well together can be positioned closer to each other, which allows fitting more soul structures into your soul, and also lets the mana in each one augment and strengthen the other. and that''s on top of whatever benefit is inherent to the combination of their abilities."

    "hmm. what about making two of the same soul structure? i doubt any secret to extreme power is that simple, but i have to ask."

    amber shook her head. "plenty of people have tried that, and it never goes well. there are three possible results: the second copy merges with the first, and its mana is expelled and wasted because it''s fully redundant; or the second copy is kept separate but never used, taking up space in your soul to no benefit; or each one is used only a portion of the time, and the resulting development and improvement is split between them, crippling your rate of advancement. in all cases, it''s actively detrimental. useful and beneficial combination requires different structures with different purposes, that combine with synergy."

    carlos nodded. "i see. makes sense. so to make a really powerful high rank set, you need to find many things that are all different, yet all still work together closely."

    "not just that. left over empty space in your soul absorbs mana to no benefit and slightly distorts the efforts of your actual soul structures. at the highest ranks, the entire soul is filled with a diverse array of structures, all of them in a massively interconnected web of overlapping reinforcement. no improvised design could ever hope to match that."

    carlos grinned. "who said anything about improvising? let me tell you all about these wonderful devices on earth called computers."

 Chapter 10: Soul Computer

    chapter 10: soul computer

    building a computer made of mana in his soul was not an easy or simple thing to do, of course, but at least he could start from concepts higher level than transistors and binary logic, carlos reflected as he looked over the notes he''d written during their discussion. he was glad he''d thought to buy a notebook and pen before leaving erlen; there were way too many details to rely on just memory.

    "so you think it''s viable?"

    amber nodded slowly. "some of the pieces you suggested are strange, ideas that i''ve never even heard of before, but i think soul structures to do them may be possible. and if this all works together like you think it should... it''s hard to believe your world really built devices that incredible from such basic building blocks, though, and i''m worried that with it being so new and experimental something might go wrong."

    "putting the concepts into this form is new, but the concepts themselves? those have been worked over and refined and improved by more people than the most legendary soul structure plans your world has ever seen. i get it, though. it''s all completely new to you, and you''re nervous. i''ll go first, so you can see proof of it working."

    amber shook her head. "no, you need to finish learning that spell first. there''s a reason i told you to do that instead of bringing up soul structures myself, earlier. knowing how consciously using mana feels will make building soul structures, especially soul structures intended to interact with mana, much easier and faster. you will learn that feeling by casting your first spell."

    "oh, ok. i''m still excited to organize and flesh out more details about the soul structures plan right away, though. maybe do that, then learn and cast the spell, then come back and revise the plan with any new insights. and then i can go first to prove it works before you spend your soul shell on it. uh, provided i actually have enough of a soul shell to do it with. can you check that with your mana sense?"

    "yes, i can check that. hold still, and try not to resist." amber leaned close and focused intently.

    carlos breathed slowly and tried not to fidget as amber continued inspecting him for over a minute. he thought he felt a few strange pushes of intangible pressure, but the sensation faded so quickly he wasn''t sure whether he was just imagining it.

    finally, amber sat back and took a deep breath. "yes, you have a full protective mana shell around your soul, just like normal for any other person. you''ve barely even touched it so far, so there''s plenty for making soul structures."

    carlos let out a long breath. "phew. that''s a relief. might even have room to experiment, i guess." he paused to consider for a moment, then added another item to the top of his summarized list of soul structure ideas: 0 - translation understanding magic.

    he''d been thinking of it as translation magic because that''s the main thing he used it for, and purple had even called it a ''translation spell'', but it was more than that. it was an aid to understanding in general, and he wanted it to grow more effective. plus, he was worried a powerful mage might be able to dispel it, and making it a soul structure would protect against that. suddenly losing the ability to talk with everyone would be terrible. all of that, and he was pretty sure he could make it synergize with a lot of the rest of his list, making the whole thing stronger.

    an hour later, carlos was yawning as he pored over his notes by the dim light of the fire, but he felt deep satisfaction about the work he''d done on his plan. it was all neatly organized, too, maybe a good start for writing a book about it to sell someday.

    comprehension aid: my first wish from purple, but embedded into my soul. this will help me understand whatever i might need to understand, whether that''s the speech of an unfamiliar language, the proper ways to do mundane everyday chores, the mysteries of the universe and magic, or anything else.introspector: analogous to monitoring, diagnostic, and debugging tools of a computer. this will examine the state of my soul and its structures and give me information about them and potential improvements.mana redistributor: analogous to computer configuration tools. i want to be able to control how my overall soul development is distributed among my soul structures, to focus development on the things that are the most useful and/or the most needed. i also want to be able to tweak my soul structures after creating them, to fix any issues i find, or implement new improvements i think of.spells database: analogous to a computer''s hard drive. stores all learned spells and spell fragments. can also erase spells or fragments that i decide are no longer useful, recovering the mana and storage space to use with other spells or fragments instead.spells linker: analogous to a compiler, mostly. builds whole spells from referenced spell fragments. checks validity of candidate spells before committing them to the database. saves database space by storing spells with references to reused fragments. makes temporary duplicates of spell fragments as needed for casting or preparing.mana sensor: roughly analogous to a camera and microphone. senses mana, and its structure and types, both external and internal.mana manipulator: roughly analogous to robotic arms and other such action output devices. manipulates mana, organizing its structure and converting its type as needed, both externally and internally.spells preparer: analogous to computer memory. holds spells, and potentially spell fragments or other similar things, that i''m actively working on or want to have ready to use.spells activator: analogous to keyboard and mouse, or computer input control devices in general, and cpu. helps facilitate casting spells, and using soul structures in general, connecting and interpreting my intent and control signals into action.reflex improver: analogous to optimization components in both computer software and hardware, such as a cpu''s branch predictor. helps improve both determining the correct/ideal action to take and the speed and efficiency of performing it. while the computer analogy would focus solely on how my soul structures respond to my intent, i''m hoping this will also improve how my mind and body respond to my situation.

    carlos sighed and shook his head. ok, so maybe the biggest noteworthy concepts that went into creating computers were all about the low level details of how to make sand and metal and glass and stuff actually do calculations, and not the higher levels of abstraction that went into making soul structures. still, there were important high level abstraction concepts too, and he''d added five computer-analogous soul structures to the four amber had, plus the comprehension aid wish.

    amber only had a mana sensor, mana manipulator, spells database, and spells preparer. carlos had asked about something to increase personal mana pool, but apparently that couldn''t be done internal to the soul and was an inherent part of the general enhancement layers around the soul instead. he hoped there was enough synergy for everything to fit. amber had said that ten was the theoretical maximum number of soul structures, and it would suck to find out he had to pick something to remove.

    speaking of synergy, thinking through the specific details of what synergies existed, and holding those synergies in mind while making the soul structures, would help pack the structures tightly and ensure that those synergies would actually happen. so, carlos had gone through and listed every synergy he could think of, even the tenuous arguable ones.

    1-2: comprehension aid helps introspector understand the state of my soul and the implications thereof, and reports that understanding to my mind. introspector also examines the comprehension aid.

    1-3: comprehension aid helps mana redistributor understand what the results of investing mana in each place will be, and how to implement chosen changes. mana redistributor allocates how much mana goes to improving comprehension aid, and how.

    1-4: comprehension aid helps understand new spells and/or spell fragments to learn them and add them to the spells database.

    1-5: comprehension aid helps spells linker translate references to partial spells into their full content and properly understand the combination, and helps analyze spells for validity and potential compression improvements.

    1-6: comprehension aid helps mana sensor understand the structure and purpose of all sensed mana.

    1-7: comprehension aid helps mana manipulator understand the best ways to achieve the desired result of manipulating mana.

    1-8: comprehension aid helps spells preparer translate intent into action (maybe eventually prepare without speaking?).

    1-9: comprehension aid helps spells activator translate intent into action (maybe eventually activate without speaking, or even cast unprepared spells quickly and without speaking?).

    5-8: spells linker expands compressed spell fragment linkage structures into the full form of a spell for the spells preparer to prepare.

    5-9: spells linker expands compressed spell fragment linkage structures into the full form of a spell for the spells activator to activate or cast.

    5-10: reflex improver helps spells linker select the appropriate fragments to link together.

    6-7: mana sensor detects mana for the mana manipulator to manipulate.

    6-8: mana sensor detects mana to be used in preparing spells.

    6-9: mana sensor detects mana to be used in activating or casting spells.

    6-10: mana sensor detects mana for reflexes to respond to.

    7-8: spells preparer uses mana manipulator to prepare spells.

    7-9: spells activator uses mana manipulator to activate or cast spells.

    7-10: mana manipulator provides options for reflexive actions to take.

    8-9: spells preparer holds prepared spells for the spells activator to activate.

    8-10: reflex improver helps prepare spells correctly.

    9-10: reflex improver helps activate or cast spells correctly, and spells activator provides options for reflexive actions to take.

    carlos yawned, and shook his head again, trying to stave off sleep just a little longer. finding synergies for the structures where "synergy with everything" was intrinsic to the concept was easy, but for some of the others he was really reaching. still, reaching or not, he''d managed to fill out the list for every single pairing of soul structures. if what amber already had was silver rank, then surely this pile of interlinking synergy with more than twice as many structures would be at least platinum, and maybe higher. he''d have to ask if there were any special benefits for higher ranks. and what defined the ranks, come to think of it.

    ...tomorrow. he''d ask tomorrow. he yawned again, and set the list aside, before settling into his sleeping bag and drifting off to sleep.

    enchanter tornay eagerly opened the message that had just arrived from guild headquarters, quickly skimming it for just how much he would be rewarded for his part in the dungeon core acquisition. then he blinked, frowned, and started reading it properly. his hands started shaking. this... how? it made no sense, how was this possible?

    enchanter tornay,

    we commend you for your prompt action on the detection of such a valuable prize. your execution has proven lacking, however. the package did not arrive as expected.

    you are hereby ordered to find and secure the package. you are relieved of other duties until this task is complete. if you succeed, all reasonable expenses will be reimbursed and you will be rewarded ten percent of the package''s formal assessed value. if you fail, you will be fined ten percent of the estimated value.

    we expect regular updates on your progress.

    supreme enchanter nyralis

    he slowly, shakily, sat down. this was... bad. ruinous, even. he couldn''t possibly pay a fine that big, and what the guild did to enchanters who fell that far behind in their dues didn''t bear thinking about.

    he took a deep breath, then another. and another. it was all ok. it was still salvageable. he just had to find that dungeon core. somehow.

    ...that rude man earlier this evening knew something. something had led him to come to the enchanters guild, and to specifically ask about a teleportation scroll. perhaps it might be a clue that tornay could use. he had to find him. damn, he should have asked the man''s name! he sighed, then shook his head and squared his shoulders. he''d just have to track the man down without it.

 Chapter 11: First Spell

    chapter 11: first spell

    carlos yelped as something pointy dug into his side and he jerked awake. he blinked repeatedly as he sat up and rubbed sand from his eyes, his heart slowing back to a resting pace.

    "wow, no wonder it took so many tries to wake you up back at the inn. you sleep like a log."

    carlos yawned, but determinedly shook his head and tried to clear the fog from his mind as his situation came back to him in a rush. "i''m awake, you can stop poking now. give me some privacy to get dressed."

    as he put his clothes on, he spotted their friendly dungeon core hovering near the tent flap. [purple? how''s your recovery going?]

    [concentrating. don''t disturb.]

    carlos blinked, then shrugged. purple''s glow seemed steadier than last night, at least, and asking about whatever he was focusing on so much could wait. he hurried through cleaning himself up as best he could, then grabbed the final summary of his notes before he came out of the tent.

    "oh wow, is that bacon and eggs? that smells heavenly."

    amber smiled at him as she handed him a plate of food. "yes, but don''t get used to it. most of our food is travel rations, made to last more than to taste good."

    carlos nodded. "better save the rest of the good stuff for special occasions if we can, then. at least, that''s my opinion."

    "if we can, sure. it''ll go bad if we wait too long, though. i couldn''t afford the kind of enchanted travel gear that would keep food fresh long term."

    "right. anyway, here." carlos held out his summarized notes with one hand while he kept eating with the other. "i picked out the soul structure ideas i think are most important, and thought through all the synergies. what do you think?"

    amber glanced at the first page and immediately blinked and raised an eyebrow. "is this your world''s language? i can''t read it."

    "huh?" carlos looked at the writing and focused on his translation magic. "oops. i guess the translation spell didn''t kick in because i was focused on writing them for myself."

    amber nodded. "ah. i can count the number of entries in the list, at least. going for the full ten soul structures? that seems excessively ambitious. i''ll admit i''m at least curious to see how many you manage to pull off."

    carlos shrugged. "might as well try and see how close i can get. it would be a real shame if the only reason i don''t manage it is that i didn''t even try. oh, that reminds me. you mentioned more soul structures and synergy makes for higher rank, but how exactly are the ranks defined, and are there benefits to the ranks themselves?"

    "i suppose it''s worth a try if you really think all the synergy links are there, but don''t blame me for any soul shell mana you waste on a failed soul structure. as for the ranks, it''s based on the number of soul structures and how many synergy links they have. a set with no synergy at all is copper rank, and cannot exceed four soul structures. four or fewer structures, but with some synergy, is silver rank. the more soul structures you have, the more synergy is required for it to be possible. five to seven soul structures is gold rank. eight is platinum, and reaches some kind of structural limit and threshold that significantly amplifies power. nine is mythril. ten is adamantium or orichalcum. nobles don''t talk much with non nobles about the details of the highest ranks, but i believe the difference between those top two involves the amount of synergy.

    "as for benefits of the ranks, well, higher ranks develop faster. i don''t know all the details, but supposedly orichalcum rank absorbs mana and converts it into soul development at ten times the rate of copper rank. platinum rank is a significant boost in power over gold. and, well, you''d have to ask a noble about mythril and higher and somehow get them to actually answer. there''s something about the top ranks, especially orichalcum, that makes them utterly outclass low ranks, but i only know rumors for what it might be."

    darmelkon snorted. "the enchanters guild are not the only ones capable of tracing a teleport."

    "are you saying you have a mage capable of it on call? by the time you could bring in such a mage without prior arrangement, the mana traces will have faded beyond detection. i, on the other hand, have a teleport tracer item in my shop''s secure vault. said item is, of course, not for sale at present."

    darmelkon simply gazed steadily at tornay for several seconds, then grimaced and sighed. "regrettably, i do not. a lack that i will remedy in the future. very well. it seems that to claim this prize we must work together in a joint venture. i grant that my interest in this is solely monetary, so i propose to sell my share in the indivisible reward of this venture to the guild, to be paid when the venture is complete. make your offer."

    tornay sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "the most i can offer on my own authority is ten percent of the dungeon core''s value. any more than that will have to be contingent on approval from my superiors."

    darmelkon nodded. "of course. for a deal this large and time sensitive, i will travel with you to trillen and wait for you to get that approval, and then show you the teleport origin point immediately afterwards. name a price you think will be approved."

    "half. an even split of the value gained."

    "surely you jest. we will have to have a royal assessor evaluate the core''s value to ensure an unbiased assessment, and you said yourself that the research opportunity from it is priceless to your guild. your unique interest in it makes it far more valuable to you than a royal assessor would account for."

    "a fair point. very well, sixty percent of a royal assessor''s valuation of it."

    "ninety percent, and be thankful i''m not counting your research opportunity as doubling its value, or more."

    "seventy."

    "seventy five. three quarters of the monetary valuation. if your research pans out, you will still gain multiple times that back from it in the long run."

    tornay grimaced and rubbed his forehead. "fine. seventy five percent of a royal assessor''s valuation. but you may need to help convince my superiors that it''s reasonable."

    "not a problem." darmelkon stood up and quickly grabbed a few items from drawers in his desk. "i''ll draw up the formal contract and a cover letter on the way to trillen."

    carlos took a deep breath. this was the moment of truth. or, well, a moment of truth, at least. he''d learned in his soul every word in the light spell''s incantation. time to try it out.

    carefully, reading from the book as he went, he pronounced every word of the spell in the correct order, and focused on the idea of making the light appear on his right palm. and nothing happened. he sighed. this wasn''t entirely unexpected. he''d wondered if there might be something essential in getting the structure of the whole spell into his soul too, and apparently that speculation was right.

    so, he scanned over the incantation, and brought each already-learned word to mind, carefully building a wordless concept of "that one, then that other one, etc.", envisioning it as taking all those parts and compiling them, as if in an ersatz mental computer, into a complete spell "program" to make light. holding all the parts in mind at once was difficult, though conceptually grouping them made it easier. he only had to strain with mental effort for a few minutes before he felt the whole incantation inscribed into his soul, though. the etching of it was many times larger than any single word, but he got the feeling that it was still a great deal smaller than the total size of all the words in it. poking at it mentally gave him the impression of a collection of links to the etchings of all the individual words.

    carlos took another deep breath, and recited the incantation again. this time, he didn''t even glance at the book. he didn''t need to. the knowledge of the correct sequence of words to say sprang to mind effortlessly, read from his soul. as he spoke the last syllable, he stared in wonder as he felt the tiniest trickle of a strange energy coming from his soul, through his body, and emerging from his palm as a dim white glow of light.

 Chapter 12: Cave

    chapter 12: cave

    carlos cast the light spell many times, paying careful attention to the sensations he could feel from using mana, as he waited for amber to return. he was pretty sure he''d learned all he could from that when, just over an hour after his first successful casting, she emerged from the surrounding trees and undergrowth. he was also starting to feel tired, drained of energy in a way he hadn''t felt before. he didn''t bother to speak, just holding up his glowing hand towards amber as she approached.

    "finished that already? good job, that''s fairly impressive."

    carlos sat back and sighed tiredly. "i''ve been practicing it for an hour or so, and i''m feeling weirdly tired. does that mean i''m low on mana?"

    amber nodded. "yes, depleting your personal mana causes mental fatigue. if you really forced yourself right now, you could keep going for a great many more castings, but that would be using up your soul shell mana. don''t do that. it would be a terrible waste."

    "right, i need that for making soul structures. is there anything more i need to know for how to make a soul structure?"

    "first, start packing up. your body should still be fully rested, and i''ve found a better place to move our camp." amber was already taking the fireplace apart.

    carlos stood up and walked over to the tent to start disassembling it. "better how?"

    "if we stay out here for long, sooner or later something or someone will get through the concealment ward, and we might have to fight. i figure our best chance of winning a fight is to help purple set up a good tough dungeon, and the best place for that is caves. i found an empty cave, so let''s move there."

    "fair enough. purple, did you hear that? time to pack up and move!"

    purple''s glow flickered briefly, though it was harder to notice with daylight all around. [heard. ready.] carlos thought he caught a hint of frustration in purple''s mental voice, but not enough to be clear.

    "hey. we''ll settle down and stay at this next spot for a while, so you''ll get to really rest properly this time. we just have to move, one more time, first."

    [move not problem. other problem. tried something. not work.]

    "huh. ok, well, maybe i can help figure it out once we''ve moved. i''d better focus on getting the move done first, though." carlos picked up purple and pocketed him, then reached in to pull out the rest of the tent''s contents before collapsing it.

    the cave amber had found turned out to be half an hour''s trek away, and that was with amber guiding carlos straight to it. no surprise it had taken her all morning and part of the afternoon to find it. carlos had spent the trip over just reading out and explaining the soul structures list that he''d accidentally written in english.

    now amber was critiquing it. "i get the impression that you listed these in roughly the order of how important you think they are, or maybe the best order to make them in. is that right?"

    "ok. purple, where should we put you?" carlos took the dungeon core out of his pocket and held it out. it glowed, but considerably dimmer than amber''s light spell.

    [back. by water.]

    "by the water, ok." carlos repeated purple''s request for amber''s benefit as he walked over to that spot and tenderly placed the tiny crystal on the floor, where it began floating and slightly intensified its glow.

    [need help. with problem.]

    "the problem you tried something for this morning?"

    [yes. tried make soul structure. got mana. impressed concept. mana not take concept.]

    carlos blinked. "you tried to make a soul structure?!"

    "what?" amber''s head snapped around to look at them from where she was unpacking the concealment ward. "a dungeon making soul structures?" she paused and tilted her head. "i don''t know whether to be amazed or terrified by that idea."

    enchanter tornay tried to hide his anxiety as he waited for a response from the supreme enchanter. far too much depended on whether his superiors accepted the agreement he''d reached with darmelkon. it was difficult not to jerk, and instead calmly stand and retrieve the letter, when the enchanted long distance writing copier finally flared into action. carlos would have called it a magical fax machine, not that tornay knew any such thing.

    enchanter tornay,

    your proposed contract with lord merchant darmelkon is approved. however, your reward for successful completion will be reduced proportionately, to only two point five percent of the assessed value. we are displeased that such a costly step became necessary.

    the penalty fine for failure remains unchanged.

    supreme enchanter nyralis

    tornay let out a long slow breath, releasing most of the tension he''d built up while waiting. things were back on track, finally. he turned to darmelkon, who was sitting perfectly still, completely calm and utterly in control of himself as he waited. "sir, the contract is approved. signed by supreme enchanter nyralis himself."

    darmelkon nodded. "very good. come, then. we have a teleport to trace."

 Chapter 13: Making Soul Structures

    chapter 13: making soul structures

    carlos frowned and put a hand on his chin, thinking. "hmm. a dungeon core making a soul structure. amber, do you know any reason why it might not work?"

    "um. well, dungeon cores don''t have mothers to give them soul shells. on the other hand, dungeons have a much stronger natural influence on mana, so i''d think they shouldn''t need a soul shell."

    carlos nodded. "makes sense. that just leaves us back at no ideas, unfortunately." he paused briefly. "purple, i think you need to talk with someone who has experience making soul structures, and see if you can give them an impression of what your attempt was like so they can tell what''s different. since you can only talk with me so far, that means i need to make a soul structure first."

    [ok. can wait.]

    "while i do that, how about you get started on setting up defenses? if you have enough mana for that?"

    [cave had mana. enough. two pits. two darts.]

    carlos glanced towards the narrow passage they''d entered through. "can you disarm the traps temporarily when we need to get past them?"

    [yes.]

    "good. then let''s start with a smaller version of what you had near erlen. a pit trap, a dart trap, and then a combination, all in that tunnel."

    [ok.]

    "alright. now i''ll just help amber finish setting up camp here, and get to work on a soul structure." carlos stood up and turned toward the center of the cave, where he''d put his pack, and started getting out the tent.

    carlos meditated with his eyes closed, sitting next to purple''s crystal. he remembered the sensation of mana flowing. he remembered the feeling of something being etched into his soul. he held both of those feelings in his mind, and focused on the idea of understanding, just as he had when he made his wish with purple. he felt like he was close to a breakthrough, but wasn''t sure whether he might just be imagining that.

    at first, various itches and cramps and noises had distracted him, but he''d dealt with those and pushed what remained to the background, allowing him to focus properly. he pushed mentally at the concepts he was focusing on, but more minutes passed with no change. the feeling of a near breakthrough remained, but came no closer.

    he took a deep breath, and paused to consider. was there something missing? what all had amber said about soul structures, and making them? carlos breathed in, and out, his mind calm. amber had talked about conceptualization. mana. soul shells. synergy connections. connections... oh, of course! if he weren''t so calmly meditating, carlos might have slapped his forehead. he needed to focus on how those feelings and concepts should combine.

    he took another deep breath. no use scolding himself, just use the new insight. once more, he brought to mind the feeling of mana flowing. the feeling of something being etched into his soul. he imagined the mana flowing into a newly made etching in his soul. he focused on the idea of understanding. the feeling of that understanding being etched into his soul with mana. he felt mana begin to move.

    he paused, and felt the mana hesitate as he did. he breathed in, and out. something felt off, in the back of his mind. he had successfully started etching understanding into his soul, but was that really exactly what he wanted? amber had warned him about the risk of getting small details wrong. he wanted to understand everything, that was definitely right. but this soul structure... the purpose of this soul structure was to give him the ability to understand.

    carlos let out a sigh of relief at the close call. he had almost made a soul structure just to preserve and store his current understanding and knowledge, not to help him gain new understanding. thinking of that, he remembered that he also wanted to base it on the wish purple had granted him. maybe even incorporate that wish''s magic, and transform the existing wish-spell into a soul structure, instead of building one entirely from soul shell mana.

    he kept the feelings of mana flow and soul etching in mind, but carefully changed the concept to etching something to enhance his ability to understand. he imagined taking the magic of his wish and literally etching that into his soul. he felt his mana reach out and connect to something. something that, while not truly his in the same way, was still firmly intended for his benefit.

    [not understand.]

    carlos frowned. he might be talking in words, but if he focused on it he could tell that purple was getting non verbal concepts through their link instead. he focused on an impression of a stream of mana filled with wild currents and eddies, then imagined those currents and eddies dying down, ending with a stream of mana all flowing smoothly and calmly, following purple''s directions attentively.

    [oh! can do. but takes time.]

    carlos nodded. "good. the other problem is with your concept for the soul structure. what do you want that bond for?"

    [talk. understand. like with you.]

    "ah. she''ll appreciate that, but you need to hold that purpose in mind. the mana doesn''t know what you want if you don''t tell it."

    [oh. ok.]

    "now, for improving it. instead of making one bond, make a soul structure that gives you the ability to make bonds with anyone. then you can make a bond with her, and if you want to make a bond with someone else in the future you can just use the same soul structure again instead of having to make another soul structure for it."

    [huh.] purple paused, and carlos felt a sense of uncertainty over the link. [don''t want other.]

    "last week, you didn''t want this bond either. you don''t know who you might meet in the future that you might want to bond with. and for right now, you''ll get the bond you want regardless."

    [ok.]

    "and one more thing. instead of talking, have the soul structure make these bonds to communicate."

    [oh. yes. good.]

    "ok, that''s all i''ve got. see what you can do with that. i have my own project to get back to."

    [ok.]

    carlos closed his eyes to begin working on his second soul structure.

    enchanter tornay nodded with satisfaction at the glowing white dot on the thin sheet of platinum-inlaid steel he was holding. "i have the destination. it will take me the rest of the evening to make a scroll to teleport there, and i don''t know what might be waiting for us. if you want to see this through personally, come prepared for anything tomorrow morning."

    darmelkon nodded. "of course. see to your own preparations as well, enchanter. i doubt those two have any real backing, but they''ve pulled some surprising tricks. it would not do to underestimate them." he turned to the door, and walked out, calling out over his shoulder as he left. "i will see you at your shop, at dawn. good doing business with you."

 Chapter 14: A System, of Sorts

    chapter 14: a system, of sorts

    carlos meditated again, focusing once more on the feelings of mana moving into his soul and etching itself into a structure. this time, the concept he focused on for what the structure should do was the second on his list, the introspector: a structure that would examine the state of his soul and keep him informed about it, with the comprehension aid he''d already made helping him interpret the information.

    the mana began to flow easily enough, but this time there was no existing mana construct to connect to and use as a base. it had only his intent to guide it, and had to create the foundation as well as build upon it.

    minutes passed. a quarter hour. half. a full hour, and a while more. the flow of mana slowed, but carlos felt no impression of nearing completion. instead the mana that was still moving felt... aimless. like it didn''t know where to go, or what shape to take. understanding dawned; the mana needed more details.

    he focused on examining his first soul structure, the comprehension aid, and a connection grew between the new and still forming structure and the established one.

    he focused on examining the soul structures he would make in the future, and eight dormant nodes formed, scattered around the structure''s surface and ready to extend new connections when the time comes.

    he focused on examining the inner workings of each soul structure to determine precisely what they could do, and the structure grew intangible tendrils, filled with sensory and analysis mini-constructs.

    carlos''s mana was flowing smoothly and quickly into the new soul structure again, but he still had more to do.

    he focused on examining the growth and development of each soul structure, and more tendrils formed with new and different sensory constructs.n??v�lrapture marked the initial hosting of this chapter on n?o?v�l??n.

    he focused on tracking changes over time, and a section of the structure''s interior changed to record information and store it.

    he focused on examining the locations and arrangement of each soul structure, and a small new line wrapped around the connection to the comprehension aid.

    he focused on examining his soul shell and how much of it was left, and a connection grew alongside the flowing stream of mana, following it back to its source.

    he focused on tracking how much mana he had available to use for spellcasting, and a connection reached out to what he realized was the surface of his soul, where a thin and patchy layer of condensed mana had begun to accumulate.

    he remembered what amber had said about general soul development via covering the soul in layers of mana, and focused on examining those layers, and the connection to his soul''s surface split and changed.

    he focused on analyzing for potential improvements, and every analysis construct grew denser, packed with more refinements.

    he focused on allowing for improvement and expansion to incorporate ideas he might think of later, and several protrusions emerged from various points on the structure''s surface, full of unshaped potential.

    he almost stopped there, but then mentally slapped his forehead and focused on examining the introspector itself, and a connection grew out, looped around several times in a spiral, and merged back into it to direct all the introspector''s inspection tools at itself.

    the flow of carlos''s mana began to slow.

    amber meditated, focusing on the familiar sensations of mana moving into her soul to build a structure. she had felt this four times in the past several months, when she had built the four soul structures she already had. each of those times had taken a few hours to finish, and this time was no different.

    she had been surprised, and a bit envious, when carlos had finished building his first soul structure in only one and a half hours, but she reminded herself that he had only really built a fraction of that one. the real test of how long he took to make a soul structure from scratch would be that ''introspector'' of his, which he did not have a dungeon-made wish to incorporate for it.

    she shook her head and dismissed the idle thought. she needed to properly focus to ensure her fifth soul structure would serve its purpose correctly. she wanted it to help her understand everything, just like carlos''s, but she especially wanted to be certain it would help her understand his language and the strange concepts he told her about. maybe then she''d understand why he considered an introspector so important.

    she snorted quietly and dismissed that thought too. it was closer to on topic, at least, but still a distraction from what she was doing. her new soul structure was maybe about two thirds finished, and she needed to stay focused for about another hour.

    personal mana: 22

    soul shell: 9518

    soul structures (2/10):

    comprehension aidintrospector

    general soul development:

    layers: 0progress to next layer: 220.5

    carlos frowned and tilted his head as he looked over the information. it seemed rather minimal, with basic information missing. how much progress did he need to finish the first layer of general development? what was his maximum personal mana, and how quickly did he regain spent mana? how much soul shell mana had he started with? just as he thought those questions, the missing numbers appeared.

    personal mana: 22 / 22

    regen: 11% / hour

    soul shell: 9518 / 11097

    soul structures (2/10):

    comprehension aidintrospector

    general soul development:

    layers: 0progress to next layer: 220.5 / 1024

    huh. what about how much progress the second layer would take? and where the 220.5 progress he already had came from? the status window flashed at him, and a red error message appeared for a few seconds.

    insufficient soul development to analyze that information.

    what, did he need to finish the first layer to get that? and why would that be needed for reporting on the sources of his progress? the error message reappeared with a clarification.

    insufficient introspector soul development to analyze that information.

    ah, that made more sense. but didn''t that mean there should be development progress numbers on the individual soul structures too? said numbers immediately appeared, both of them single digit amounts out of 1024. carlos smiled and dismissed the status window. he was hungry and exhausted, and for now it was enough to know that it worked. he could investigate all sorts of other details later.

    he stood and shook himself out a bit, then turned toward the center of the cave where amber had lit a fire and was cooking... was that bacon and eggs, plus some reheated stew? much tastier than the hard and dry trail rations they''d eaten for lunch, but they didn''t have much of it left.

    "what''s the occasion?"

    amber beamed at him with a smile that seemed almost permanently fixed on her face. "i got my comprehension aid made, and read your notes. i think it should work. all of it. and that means i''ll get to be orichalcum rank! screw the royal academy, who fucking cares about their maybe-platinum crap, i''m going to be orichalcum with you!"

    carlos chuckled heartily, and sat down to eat.

    the following morning, four men appeared in a flash of light in the nearby wilderness. darmelkon quickly spotted a small blackened area of ground, and walked over to inspect it more closely. "it looks like they built a fire here. they didn''t stay, but it appears likely they weren''t expecting successful pursuit."

    enchanter tornay nodded, and gestured toward the younger man beside him. "apprentice, see what signs you can find."

    darmelkon beckoned for his servant to search the area as well, and brought out a tightly coiled strand of hair from his belt pouch, and held it out to tornay. "i have no shortage of hairs from amber, but unfortunately my aura tracer was only good for one use."

    "ah. cheap apprentice craftsmanship. i have better." a ring on tornay''s right hand emitted a pulse of light, and suddenly a small circular pane of glass lined with runes was in his hand. "let''s get started, shall we?"

 Chapter 15: Found

    chapter 15: found

    carlos woke much earlier than usual that morning, full of excitement to continue building soul structures. he quickly choked down a portion of trail rations, then turned toward purple, but paused and frowned at the spot where amber had built a fire to cook dinner the day before. he looked up towards the cave ceiling, but there was too little light to see much.

    he quietly spoke the lengthy incantation of the light spell, and reached up as he finished, trying to direct it to place the light in the air near the ceiling, but it just made the tips of his fingers glow instead. apparently he needed a different version of the spell to make it affect something distant from him.

    he considered for a moment, and found a pebble to try again. maybe it would work on something he was touching. he cast the spell again, and shook his head at how long it took. surely there was a way to get that tedious step dealt with permanently, not just doing it in advance but still the same number of times like amber did, right? something to figure out later. right now, he had a glowing rock in his hand, and a potential problem to check.

    carlos tossed the pebble toward the ceiling, trying to get close without actually hitting the top, and paid close attention to the air around it as it flew. the light stayed with the pebble as he''d hoped it would, and he thought he saw some haze and distortion in the air near the ceiling. that was concerning. they''d need to solve the cave''s ventilation before they depleted too much of the oxygen in the air.

    well, they had something well known for its ability to structurally overhaul the landscape on a large scale. [purple, can you make a narrow tunnel in the ceiling, to let air flow to the outside?]

    [yes. easy.]

    [please do, then.]

    [ok.] about half a minute later, purple replied again. [done.]

    [thank you.] carlos nodded and let out a small sigh of satisfaction. they weren''t going to suffocate themselves by accident in bad smoky air. he walked over to purple, sat down, and began meditating to build his third soul structure, the mana redistributor.

    he wasn''t sure if that was the best name for it, but he could think about that later. what mattered right now was just the concept of what it was supposed to do.

    he wanted it to give him control of how much mana was allocated to each soul structure''s use and development. maybe even take mana that had already been incorporated into a soul structure, and transfer it to another. he knew from what amber had told him that soul structures absorb mana from being used, and that mana strengthens them, increasing the power of their capabilities. he wanted more control over that process. this was the capability he had named the structure for.

    perhaps more importantly, however, carlos wanted this soul structure to let him tinker with the details of his soul structures even after he made them. he''d have to ask amber for explicit confirmation, but he was pretty sure that soul structures were normally permanent and unmodifiable once initially created, or at least extremely difficult to modify. he was practically guaranteed to eventually think of something to improve about one or another of his soul structures, and he wanted to be able to use those ideas no matter how late they came to him. and if his soul structures ever somehow got damaged, he wanted to be able to repair them.

    with those concepts firmly in mind, carlos set to work, and his soul shell mana began to flow once more.

    amber was surprised to find carlos already awake and working on a soul structure when she woke up. both of the last two days, he had slept late, and even resisted attempts to wake him up. apparently not this time. she could guess why - excitement - but it affected her differently. she had stayed awake far into the night, increasingly tired and yet unable to stop thinking about how dramatically her future prospects had improved, until she finally passed out.

    she idly chewed on some tasteless trail rations while she cautiously walked to the cave''s entrance and looked out. it was mid morning, at least an hour later than she usually woke, but everything appeared the same as when they had entered. they might have to go hunting soon, but she had bought enough food back in erlen that they could afford a few days focused on building the foundations of their souls.

    she went back inside, and considered setting to work on exactly that, but decided to wait for carlos to finish his mana redistributor first. they had purple''s traps for protection, as well as the concealment ward she''d paid a painfully large portion of her savings for, but that was far from a guarantee of safety. it would be prudent to have at least one of them available to respond and help purple if something went wrong.

    amber nodded. "that makes sense. that happens for humans too." she hesitated. "um. this might be rude, but no one''s ever talked with a dungeon core before that i know of and i have so many questions! do you mind?"

    [ask.]

    "great!" amber settled in to start interrogating purple about life as a dungeon core. waiting for carlos to finish his mana redistributor had suddenly gotten a lot more interesting.

    tornay and darmelkon marched slowly through the forest, tornay''s apprentice and darmelkon''s servant clearing the worst of the underbrush ahead of them. they had found nothing of note at the camp site, save confirmation that amber had indeed been there, and that she was not alone. darmelkon would have preferred to track carlos''s aura, but unfortunately the innkeeper had already laundered the sheets from carlos''s bed by the time darmelkon had started chasing him. besides, that bed had been slept on by many travelers before carlos, and any hairs he got from it could just as easily have come from them instead.

    oh well, tracking amber was good enough. if she were going to split from carlos, she would not have bothered leaving erlen with him in the first place. darmelkon wished she hadn''t been so good at eluding pursuit, though. this chase across untamed wilderness was a nuisance.

    "any idea how they modified the scroll to come here?"

    enchanter tornay shook his head. "that feat should have required the skills, and soul structures, of an advanced enchanter. i could do it myself. my apprentice could not, yet. two younglings their age, not even associated with the guild, certainly should not be capable of it."

    "hmm". darmelkon nodded. "they must have somehow gotten the dungeon core to do it, then."

    "plausible. dungeon cores have improved or altered enchanted items on numerous occasions, though i''m not aware of anyone using a dungeon wish on a scroll, of all things. if so, then that''s even more reason the guild must acquire this core and learn how it was done. an unanchored dungeon core should not be capable of granting such a wish."

    "careful. say too many things like that, and i might demand to renegotiate my price."

    tornay chuckled. "your leverage to do that is spent. the guild will hold to our signed contract, but we already have what we need from you."

    "fair enough. hmm. are we almost there now?" a rocky cliff loomed ahead of them, and they emerged from the trees.

    tornay looked around with his aura tracer. three glowing trails, two fainter than the other, all entered a small opening in the cliff face. the brighter trail was the one they had been following on the way here. one of the fainter ones approached from the side, and the other led off in a diagonal direction.

    he nodded. "yes, this seems to be it. it appears that amber scouted this place, then left and came back, presumably leading carlos."

    tornay''s apprentice and darmelkon''s servant exchanged a look, shrugged, and moved to enter the narrow tunnel.

    enchanter tornay raised a hand and called out. "hold! i''m sensing an active dungeon area. how interesting."

 Chapter 16: Delved

    chapter 16: delved

    enchanter tornay and lord merchant darmelkon stared at the dimly lit dungeon entrance in the cliff face in front of them. darmelkon broke the silence first. "any chance it''s another dungeon they just found here?"

    tornay shook his head. "this is much too far from the nearest settlement for a dungeon to spawn naturally."

    "hmm. if it''s the same one in a new location, we should be cautious of traps."

    tornay snorted. "a dungeon this weak is no threat to me. i will handle whatever it might have." he stepped forward, and entered the dungeon.

    purple was... enjoying? yes, enjoying himself today. talking with amber was so interesting and fun! she was endlessly curious about even the most mundane details of his life, and he was finding that talking was a much more pleasant way to interact with people than trying to kill them. he was learning so much from her, too! there were an incredible amount of things humans did when they weren''t delving dungeons that he would never have guessed at.

    nothing she had told him today was even remotely as useful as the knowledge of soul structures, but he found that even useless trivia was interesting to learn. as she mentioned more and more things offhand, he found his own curiosity growing, and the conversation swiftly became more bidirectional, with him asking as many questions of her as she asked of him.

    as the conversation continued, he got more and more of a sense that there was some kind of structure, a set of rules, in how she talked itself. that, of course, prompted yet another question.

    [talk structure. rules. word order. explain?]

    "oh, you mean grammar?"

    purple noted the word, and the concept that came with it over the bond. it described the structure and rules he had sensed far more completely and precisely than he had managed to convey. [yes. exactly.]

    "it''s how language works, how we can use words to describe very complex things. do you want to learn it?"

    purple considered only briefly. if he learned this, he would understand what carlos and amber said much more clearly and completely, and he would be able to communicate back to them more clearly as well. [yes.]

    "ok! let''s see, i''ll start with the main types of words: nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs." after explaining the basics, amber started using her own explanatory sentences as examples to analyze and explain in detail. it was fascinatingly complex, and he got thoroughly absorbed in it. but not so absorbed that he wouldn''t notice another person stepping into his dungeon area.

    a man had just set foot inside the tunnel entrance at the cliff face, and purple immediately turned all his attention to the intruder. this man was filled with and surrounded by mana, far more mana than carlos and amber combined. more mana than purple, even. a lot of it was focused on various items he wore. rings, an amulet, shirt, shoes, belt, and more. after a moment of consideration, purple realized he had seen this man before. he had been in that large building with all the mana-filled objects, and carlos and amber had talked with him for a few minutes.

    maybe purple could talk with him too? then again, maybe not. carlos had been unusual even before his wish enabled the dungeon core to talk with him. purple had sensed while asking for the wish that carlos hadn''t actually been seeking a wish in the first place, and definitely had no malice or hostile intentions. it was why purple had refrained from transporting him away as part of the wish, instead using the mana to grant his wish more thoroughly.

    "shit! it has to be darmelkon! dammit, i thought we''d ditched him!"

    carlos stirred from where he had been meditating. "hmm? oh! ...crap. we should have made an escape route."

    amber shook her head. "it wouldn''t help. if he''s caught up this far, running when he''s this close would just mean we''d be tired when he catches us."

    "indeed, i imagine so." the first man, who''d beaten all the traps so handily, strode confidently into the cave, and the second followed a moment later.

    carlos groaned. "enchanter tornay. i knew you were plotting something." he looked at amber. "the other one''s darmelkon?"

    "that''s lord merchant darmelkon to you," the second man interrupted.

    "and you are carlos and amber, of course." tornay looked over at purple''s crystal, and purple pulsed in fear. "now that introductions are done with, let me get straight to business. the enchanters guild wants that dungeon core."

    carlos raised an eyebrow. "are you setting up shop here, or are you saying you have a way to move it? everyone knows dungeon cores are immobile."

    huh? carlos knew perfectly well that purple could be moved, what was he saying? purple was confused.

    "we know that this one can be moved, because we know you moved it."

    carlos gestured towards purple. "feel free to try. good luck with that." he silently added, [please hold on to your mana and resist him.]

    [is... is safe?] purple sent back uncertainly.

    [should be. he doesn''t want to destroy you.]

    [ok.] purple kept his usual grip on all his mana and territory, and tentatively reached out with his standard initiation of a wish as tornay approached, but tornay slapped aside the wish offer with his mana and took hold of purple with his right hand. tornay pulled, but purple didn''t move at all.

    darmelkon spoke up from near the cave entrance. "well, now that the enchanters guild has acquired this dungeon core, i believe it''s time to fulfill your side of the contract and pay me."

 Chapter 17: Dispute

    chapter 17: dispute

    "well, now that the enchanters guild has acquired this dungeon core, i believe it''s time to fulfill your side of the contract and pay me."

    tornay turned to look at darmelkon. "what?"

    "you heard me. you have acquired the dungeon core, so the guild now owes me the agreed payment."

    tornay snorted. "are you seriously calling this ''acquired''? what nonsense is this?"

    "the previous owner denied opposition, and you securely laid hands on it. that is more than enough to qualify as acquisition by normal standards."

    "the guild seeks to acquire a moveable, unanchored dungeon core! one we can take to our labs and study! this one, by all appearances, is anchored and immobile."

    darmelkon smiled. "i don''t recall that being specified in the contract. and i would assuredly remember. i wrote the contract."

    tornay drew himself up and took a deep breath. "if we''re arguing technicalities of the contract, the guild employs several expert lawyers who will stall any judgement on that contract for years if we are not satisfied. and besides, the contract clearly states a royal assessor''s valuation as a prerequisite to any payment due."

    "ah, i took the liberty of registering a request for a royal assessor already. i''ll have one here in no more than a day or two, i expect."

    carlos looked back and forth between the arguing men, and held back a quiet laugh. "ahem. as the so-called ''previous owner'', i think i should clarify that i did not ''deny opposition'' to taking the dungeon core. i invited the enchanter to attempt an action that i knew would fail." carlos wasn''t a lawyer, but if this was going to hinge on loopholes and technicalities, well, those kinds of nitpicking details were something he was good at.

    tornay and darmelkon turned and stared like they''d forgotten he was there, then tornay nodded sharply. "yes! see, the acquisition is contested. the contract terms cannot be considered met until ownership is unambiguously established."

    darmelkon laughed. "fine, call your acquisition experts. i''m sure you were planning to anyway, and they''ll get this little matter cleared up in no time."

    tornay huffed, and walked out.

    carlos leaned over to amber and whispered. "not that i''m complaining, but why aren''t they just killing us, or at least threatening us?"

    she whispered back, "they... might. if they both agree on it. as long as either one wants us alive, though, they can threaten to report murder to the crown."

    enchanter tornay returned with two younger men in tow, and glared at carlos and amber. "you two! you''re not going anywhere until this is resolved. apprentice, guard them." he turned to darmelkon. "lord merchant, you are free to watch if you wish, but i expect it will be rather boring for you."

    [done. bond is made.]

    [that''s great! please tell amber that i''m partially resisting these handcuffs. they work by inserting a bad temporary soul structure, and my mana redistributor is interfering with it.]

    a few seconds later, amber turned toward carlos and blinked, a stunned look on her face. she quickly schooled her expression back into neutral passivity, and returned to just sitting and staring forward awkwardly, but she wasn''t chewing her lip anymore.

    [amber says "that''s great. can you break it, or at least sabotage or weaken it?"]

    [i''ll try.]

    carlos focused on his soul structures - four of them now, and one decidedly unwanted - and a few more details of the mana absorber appeared in his mental status window. it had a few... levels? layers? ranks? whatever the right term was, it was 3 stages more developed than his own soul structures were and had a couple thousand points of mana absorbed towards the next development threshold. and as for its effect, he was only getting to use about 11% of the mana he was spending, with all the rest being diverted and absorbed.

    well, time to see if he could do something about that. whatever its source, this thing was a soul structure inside his soul at the moment, and his mana redistributor was made for the express purpose of transferring mana from one soul structure to another, among other things. he focused on the idea of transferring mana from the mana absorber''s development to instead develop the mana redistributor.

    it took some mental effort to do, and it felt like the mana absorber was resisting it, but after a few seconds he felt a tiny piece of mana flake off of the mana absorber and move to where he wanted it. except, no, the mana absorber wasn''t actually resisting, it was just a natural manifestation of its general absorption effect. it was trying to pull all moving mana to itself, and that included the mana that was being taken from it.

    at the same time, he felt mana flowing into the soul structure he was using, fueling the natural course of how soul structures develop, and most of that mana was getting diverted to the mana absorber, replacing some of what he had just taken from it. he checked the numbers, and... ok, this was going to take a while. he was only just barely taking more away from the mana absorber than it gained from the effort. hopefully it would speed up as the absorber slowly weakened and his redistributor developed, but he''d have to get to a point where it mattered.

    [purple, you ok over there?]

    [yes. just examining.]

    [tornay is just examining you?]

    [yes.]

    [ok. tell me if anything significant changes. i''m going to have to focus on breaking this mana absorber thing.]

    [i will.]

    carlos closed his eyes and started meditating, almost like he would for making another soul structure, but focused this time on the soul structures he already had. slowly, bit by bit, mana moved from one soul structure to another as he willed it.

 Chapter 18: Discussion

    chapter 18: discussion

    carlos lost track of time meditating as he gradually eroded the mana absorber, but he was pretty sure at least a couple hours had passed. his mana redistributor was feeling more and more overfilled, loaded with mana it was struggling to make use of. finally, the next speck of mana he moved into it sparked a change. a wave of compression passed through the soul structure, and it shrank, becoming more dense. it felt more solid, and stronger.

    he paused to reassess, checking the status window his introspector provided, and sure enough, the mana redistributor had leveled up. or layered up? he still hadn''t asked amber what the standard terms were for this. in any case, it was more effective now, and was giving him control of 20% of the mana he used, up from 11% before. that still left 80% getting taken by the mana absorber and wasted, but nearly doubling his control was a fantastic boost. accounting for how the absorber pulling in mana had counterbalanced a large part of even that 11% for removing mana from it meant the effective increase was more like five or six times.

    carlos smiled and got back to work. he''d moved about the same amount of mana again when a voice interrupted him.

    "carlos, what is this bizarre writing? some kind of code? i don''t even recognize the symbols." carlos had to focus for a moment to make sense of it.

    he opened his eyes and looked. it was darmelkon, sitting on a chair he''d procured from somewhere and leafing through the pages of carlos''s notes. carlos was glad he''d accidentally written those in english. "why should i tell you?"

    darmelkon set aside the sheets of paper and leaned forward, clasping his hands together. "i could list a variety of threats, but i prefer more cooperative dealings. more repeat customers that way. if the information is valuable, i can easily afford to pay for it."

    "ah." carlos closed his eyes for a moment, trying to keep most of his focus on continuing to break down the mana absorber, and inclined his head towards his notes. "that information is not for sale. also, i don''t appreciate you looking through my property."

    darmelkon leaned back in his chair, and raised his left foot and rested it on his right knee. "you seem to think you have a meaningfully strong bargaining position. while under guard and wearing suppression cuffs, with no allies. curious."

    carlos just looked at him for a moment, then closed his eyes again.

    "i wonder, does the information encoded in that notebook have to do with how you moved a dungeon core?"

    carlos continued meditating without reaction.

    "the most powerful magic items are crafted from dungeon cores. they do not duplicate the ability, but rather incorporate an object that already has it. but turning an immobile dungeon core into a moveable magic item requires an extraordinarily expensive and difficult ritual, to take control of the core''s mana flows and separate it from the anchor of its connection to its dungeon. now, if the need for that ritual could be bypassed..."

    "i see." carlos frowned. that sounded rather unpleasant for the dungeon cores in question, and he did not want to abandon purple to that fate. he needed to stall for time, and a chance to figure out a solution, though. "i will need time to consider."

    feelings of worry, nearly panic, forced their way into his mind with a message from purple. [consider?!]

    carlos sent back reassurance. [i won''t leave you to them. but i need time to figure out how to stop them.]

    [oh. relieved.]

    darmelkon stood and turned to go, holding onto his chair to take it with him. "very well. but don''t take too long to consider. a price in platinum for that information would be low, but only as long as you retain your monopoly on it."

    carlos returned to meditating, focusing on stripping that mana absorber dry.

    about half an hour later, carlos''s mana redistributor compressed itself again, and the strength of its control over his mana flows grew more than half again greater. meanwhile, the absorber seemed more and more fragile. he felt like the mana of its structure was under pressure, and the containment of that pressure was gradually eroding. not long after his redistributor''s second compression, the absorber''s containment released a lot of its pressure and expanded, letting the remaining mana in it fill all the space it had originally taken up.

    encouraged, carlos kept chipping away at it with renewed fervor, only taking a break to eat something when his stomach growled at him. his redistributor compressed a third time, growing even stronger, and the remaining strength of the absorber crumbled with increasing rapidity. by mid afternoon, it was a husk of its former power, reduced to the level of a newly formed soul structure, and he had to decide what to do with its remains.

    he didn''t want to give away exactly what he had done, if he could avoid it. he was sure he could break the mana absorber entirely, rendering the suppression cuffs non functional, but tornay would probably notice that sooner or later. instead, he probed at it with his introspector, and found that with it so severely weakened he could easily throw a metaphorical wrench into its workings. something that was part of his own soul and would stay behind when the cuffs were removed, but that would disable the absorber entirely as long as it stayed in his soul.

    at last, carlos had full control of his own mana again. now he just had to figure out a way to make that useful.

 Chapter 19: Deliberation

    chapter 19: deliberation

    amber sighed, and stretched, carefully keeping her movements slow and steady to avoid startling anyone. if not for the tension and uncertainty about what would eventually happen to them, this would actually be quite boring. she didn''t even have anything to meditate on like carlos, because those damn suppression cuffs would prevent her from making a soul structure. if she tried, she''d just be feeding her irreplacable soul shell mana into the cuffs.

    she wished she''d gone ahead and made her own mana redistributor. it was certainly proving its value for carlos right now, and now that she bothered to consider it seriously she could see other uses for it even aside from dealing with the cuffs. for one thing, it would let her change her spells database so that she could remove spells she didn''t want anymore and reuse the mana to learn other spells. or she could learn an improved version of a spell by modifying the version she already knew. or...

    she shook her head. that was something to think about later, when they were out of their current predicament. right now, what they needed was a way to escape.

    they couldn''t fight their way out. darmelkon looked like he could chop both of them in half with the same single swing of his enormous sword, and if the rumors she''d heard about his soul development were anywhere near accurate then her spells would barely affect him at all. as for tornay, he was an enchanter. she shuddered. he was probably loaded with enough magic items to turn even a newborn baby into an overwhelming threat, and that was ignoring whatever his own capabilities might be.

    they couldn''t run. they had no back exit to use, and even if they did somehow get away tornay and darmelkon would just track them down again. those two had tracked them even through a teleport to a location no one else had known, and she still didn''t know how.

    they had to talk their way out. somehow, they had to convince their pursuers to allow them to go. her thoughts kept circling around to that inescapable conclusion. she just could not think of any other possibility. and though she hated the idea, selling purple and the secret of moving him seemed the only potential way to satisfy them.

    they did have one potential wild card, but she was fairly sure it wouldn''t be enough. still, she should double check to make certain. [purple, is there anything you could do? teleport us out of here, maybe?]

    [no. not enough mana. also, tornay restricting. me. sorry.]

    amber paused at that. [restricting? what, something like these suppression cuffs?]

    [no. not in soul. around me. devices disrupt control. try reach out, mana deflected.]

    [but you can still talk with me? is that different?]

    [soul structure make bond strong.]

    [so?]

    [i can only talk telepathically with you, not with her.]

    [oh.] carlos got an impression of some kind of effort from purple. [try now.]

    carlos blinked. did purple just make a bond between him and amber? ...he''d ask questions about that later. for now, just go with it. he focused on the idea of sending a mental message to amber instead of purple. [uh, amber? hi.]

    amber visibly jerked with surprise. [what the- carlos??]

    [yeah. apparently purple can make bonds between other people now, or something. anyway, i have a couple questions.]

    [um. wow, ok. ask away.]

    [could darmelkon or tornay detect what our soul ranks are?]

    [not easily. it''s very difficult to detect anything about the interior of another person''s soul. soul rank assessments are rarely done, even for official government actions.]

    [good, i was hoping for something like that. now, just to make sure, are all adamantium rank people nobles?]

    [yes. high nobles, at that. proving adamantium rank to earn a promotion to high nobility is one of the few things people bother doing formal rank assessments for.]

    [excellent! thank you.]

    carlos raised his cuffed arms in darmelkon''s direction and called out to him quietly. "hey, lord merchant! i have something to show you."

 Chapter 20: Deceit

    chapter 20: deceit

    darmelkon casually carried his chair back over and sat down in front of carlos. "something to show me? not to discuss terms or negotiate?"

    carlos nodded. "to establish some background information. you called my behavior ''curious'', and i think it''s time to explain a bit of why i''m so blas about the situation." carlos carefully kept his breathing calm and even. his heart was beating a bit fast, but he reminded himself that he was pretty sure darmelkon truly didn''t want to kill him, and did his best to project a facade of confidence.

    darmelkon just nodded and moved his hand in a small circle, gesturing towards carlos. "proceed."

    "first, do you know what makes a person immune to the suppression of these cuffs? i''m sure it rarely comes up, so it won''t surprise me if you don''t know."

    darmelkon raised an eyebrow. "immune to suppression cuffs? hmm. that sounds vaguely familiar, but i can''t call it to mind. i take it you''re about to inform me, and demonstrate your possession of this immunity."

    "oh, of course! why else would i bring it up? it''s simple, but rare: a person who has 10 soul structures cannot be suppressed by such an item. and for the demonstration, a simple light spell." carlos chanted the spell''s incantation, and held out his now glowing hand for darmelkon''s inspection.

    darmelkon frowned at the sight. "10 soul structures. that means at least adamantium rank. a high lord''s family. hmm. that would explain some things, but raises questions of its own. supposing this is true, what is a scion of a high noble house doing here alone, without servants or escorts? why recruit a commoner like amber? and what house are you from?"

    "i''m sure either the enchanter or at least his guild can confirm it for you. as for traveling alone, it is tradition in my house for young members coming of age to go on a journey to experience life as the common people do, and prove ourselves capable without needing to rely on the support of our house. that i got myself into a position where i have to reveal my status is something of an unfortunate failure in that regard. and for amber, she is talented and shows great promise, and part of the reason for this tradition is that friends made without benefit of rank are often the truest and most loyal. i like her, and with just a little help i''m sure she will go far." carlos technically wasn''t even lying. he was just omitting that the main reason for experiencing life "as the common people do" was that he actually was a "common person".

    darmelkon sat back and stared at carlos for several seconds, holding one hand on his chin. "i can understand the logic behind such a tradition," he began slowly, "but i have not heard of any high noble house doing such a thing before. and you haven''t mentioned what house you are from, still."

    "the tradition is secret, of course. best to minimize the chance of anyone catching on and figuring out who i am before i tell them. and i am forbidden to reveal which house i am from unless absolutely necessary." forbidden by himself, because he was his own head of house, but of course he didn''t say that.

    "i see. very well. i will be cautious about provoking your unidentified house''s wrath. i assume that was your purpose in telling me of this."

    carlos nodded. "it was."

    darmelkon returned to his former position several yards away, and closed his eyes, with a slight frown on his face.

    carlos rested his head on his hands, and thought. implying to darmelkon that he was a noble seemed to have gone well, but so far that was just a hedge against the worst. he needed something else, something to actually get them out of this cave and free.

    the obvious and simple way was to give tornay and darmelkon what they came for, but what they came for was purple. ...or was it? there were other dungeon cores, and even purple himself had been there in his dungeon near erlen more than long enough for someone to collect him if they wanted to. no, they were really after knowledge, the knowledge darmelkon had offered to buy, of how to move a dungeon core without that expensive ritual he''d mentioned.

    so much for that option, then. that left semi-honest negotiation as a possibility to explore. darmelkon was a businessman and had already expressed a desire to negotiate, and maybe carlos could lean on his supposed nobility to convince him to give up on this venture. carlos looked over at darmelkon and raised his hands.

    darmelkon carried his chair over again, sat down in it, shifted around a bit to find a more comfortable position, leaned back, and clasped his hands over his waist. "will this be the last time you call me over? shuffling my chair around repeatedly, while less boring than just sitting for hours, is still tedious."

    carlos nodded respectfully. "i think so, lord merchant. i have considered your offer. unfortunately, i believe that even if i told you how i moved this dungeon core, neither you nor enchanter tornay would be able to make use of the knowledge. it required certain unique circumstances and personal characteristics that you would be unable to duplicate."

    darmelkon raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "i see. and you expect me to just believe that?"

    "not really. it''s true, but you have plenty of reason to believe i would lie about it. perhaps more to the point, and certainly more believable, is that you will not get the information you want from me without using methods that would provoke my house''s wrath." no need to mention that his house''s wrath would consist entirely of carlos''s own wrath, of course.

    darmelkon frowned. "i see. you realize that this leaves me in an unfortunate position, if i take your threats seriously."

    "yes. you spent at least 100 gold chasing us, and now you will not gain the return you hoped for from your investment."

    "hmm. you at least speak more like a noble than a commoner."

    carlos eagerly seized on that point to support his bluff. "that would be rather difficult to fake, would it not? if being immune to suppression cuffs wasn''t already enough proof. in any case, to at least somewhat compensate you for the loss, i can offer a favor from my house, to be called in at a later time."

    "you still have not identified your house. how can i call in a favor without knowing who to call?"

    carlos frowned, thinking. "i will contact you once i have received permission to identify my house. in the meantime... what would you need to enable you to track me down wherever i go?" darmelkon surely had some kind of extraordinary tracking capability to have tracked them to this cave.

    "a drop of your blood would be best."

    ah. carlos supposed he shouldn''t be surprised. lots of stories and games back on earth had magic that could use a part of someone''s body, such as a drop of blood, to scry on them or locate them. "ok. so, i offer a drop of my blood and the promise of a favor from my house, in exchange for releasing myself, amber, and our dungeon core, returning our belongings, giving up your pursuit of my knowledge, and helping convince enchanter tornay to do the same."

    "that last part might be difficult, you know."

    "yes, but the rest is meaningless without it."

    "fair enough." darmelkon pressed a spot on the arm of his chair, and the quiet sounds of the cave that carlos hadn''t noticed were missing returned. "enchanter tornay! we have some important things to discuss!"

 Chapter 21: Assessment

    chapter 21: assessment

    enchanter tornay cursed under his breath for perhaps the thousandth time, as yet another test told him that the small purple crystal he was looking at was a perfectly ordinary and unremarkable dungeon core. the weakest dungeon core he had ever seen, little better than freshly spawned, but completely normal for a dungeon core of that weakness.

    it was drawing in mana from its surroundings. it was connected to the field of ambient mana in the area. if not for his array of control disruption items surrounding it, the dungeon core would be in control of the ambient mana field. it was most definitely anchored by that field, as all dungeon cores naturally are. most baffling of all, however, was that he could not detect even the slightest trace of any external magic on it at all.

    there should have been something from whatever carlos did to break its anchor originally, or at least from when he made it establish a new anchor more recently, but tornay had found no sign of it. those things, at least, he could think of plausible explanations for. time and distance from the event would both have diminished any lingering signs of breaking the original anchor, perhaps beyond what he could detect with field equipment, and establishing a new anchor might simply have been a matter of allowing the dungeon core to do what it naturally would on its own.

    the truly strange thing, however, was that the dungeon was now bonded when it had not been before, and tornay found no trace of the magic that established the bond. the creation of that bond was recent enough and near enough that traces of it should have still been detectable, even with the limitations of equipment he could deploy quickly away from home. the bond itself certainly should hold readily detectable mana from its maker. and yet, every single inspection, every single device and test, every last one found only the dungeon''s own mana.

    it was as though the dungeon had formed the bond on its own, but that was preposterous. dungeon cores weren''t especially smart, but they would still refuse to grant any wish that would harm or bind themselves.

    tornay muttered another curse as he pulled out his enchanted magnifying glass again. it was one of his least sophisticated tools, but that also meant it didn''t try to filter what it detected for significance. maybe if he just looked closer and more carefully, he might spot some tiny wisp of out of place mana that his other tools were ignoring.

    darmelkon had to call out to tornay twice before the enchanter responded irritably.

    "what?"

    "enough of wasting your time over there! carlos has revealed something we need to discuss!"

    tornay put his tools down and stomped over. "this had better be important."

    darmelkon held out a hand towards carlos. in response, carlos raised his hands together, displaying the cuffs that were still locked on his wrists, and incanted the light spell.

    tornay raised an eyebrow and smirked when carlos began the incantation, but his jaw dropped and he stared in shock when the spell actually worked, a gentle white glow emanating from carlos''s clasped hands. he snapped his fingers and looked through the magnifying glass he was suddenly holding again, and muttered something under his breath, then turned to the side, spotted a figure sitting and leaning back against the cave wall, and called out to him. "hey! apprentice!"

    the apprentice did not respond, and tornay stalked over to him. carlos heard a yelp, and then tornay stalked back with the apprentice accompanying him. tornay pulled out a key from somewhere, swiftly unlocked the cuffs and almost tore them off of carlos''s wrists, then handed them to the apprentice. "put these on and then try to cast something. now."

    carlos let out a quiet sigh of relief as the apprentice hastily complied. he''d been a little worried that the enchanter might somehow detect how he had beaten the suppression cuffs, or at least that it wasn''t by preventing the mana absorber from even entering his soul.

    the apprentice spoke a quick spell activation command, rather than going through a full incantation, and nothing happened. tornay got out his magnifying glass to watch through it, and spoke a terse command. "again." the apprentice repeated himself, and again nothing happened.

    tornay turned back to carlos and stared for several seconds. slowly, stiffly, tornay gave a shallow bow. "young lord. if i may ask, why are you traveling with so few servants and so little money?"

    carlos adopted his best haughty tone. "first, i would appreciate it if you remove my servant''s cuffs as well." he nodded towards amber.

    [hey! i''m not your servant.]

    [just play along for now, please. we need to make this convincing.]

    darmelkon nodded. "of course. i will have the appropriate documents drawn up and ready to sign well before the royal assessor gets here tomorrow. we will have to wait for him to tie up all loose ends properly, in particular the valuation of the dungeon core."

    "very good. see that you do." carlos nodded firmly and turned toward amber, hoping that would come across as an appropriately noble dismissal of his supposed lessers. fortunately, tornay and darmelkon both seemed to take it as such; darmelkon carried his chair away again, and tornay returned to purple, where he started disassembling and removing the various contraptions of tubes, levers, lenses, and metallic script filigree that he''d surrounded the dungeon core with.

    amber''s voice sounded in carlos''s mind. [wow. that was a great bluff. i thought for sure we''d have to give up purple. but, um, now what?]

    [now, we wait. and avoid doing anything that would reveal the bluff. would they notice if i make another soul structure?]

    [yes. even i can sense the amount of mana flow involved in making a soul structure. i''m not sure if darmelkon would notice - he''s a merchant and probably not into much external mana interaction - but tornay definitely would. in fact, don''t even let him inspect you too closely. if he takes a close enough look, he might notice you have too much soul shell left to have made 10 soul structures already.]

    [right. well, i guess this will be a very boring wait, then. might as well go ahead and pack some things up.] carlos stood up, gathered his notes from where darmelkon had left them, and put them back in his pack where they belonged. soon, there was nothing left to pack that wouldn''t have to wait for morning, and he settled back down to just wait.

    the wait was every bit as boring as carlos feared it would be. he couldn''t even solve sudoku puzzles to pass the time, because he''d have to create them first, and he didn''t know how to make one that would be guaranteed solvable. maybe he could make a spell to do that eventually, once he got his development environment properly set up in his soul, and once he learned enough of the keywords and syntax.

    he should focus on more practical things first, though. like a spell to kill a bear. he never wanted to be panicking behind a swinging piece of metal ever again.

    he chatted telepathically with amber for a while, but eventually they both ran out of topics to talk about.

    at least the largest portion of the wait passed in the blissful embrace of sleep that night, and darmelkon got the formality of signing contracts and carlos''s drop of blood out of the way that evening.

    the royal assessor''s arrival was heralded by the sudden appearance of a blazing orb of light in the darkness of the cave, as the man simply popped into existence in an instant. by the time carlos stopped blinking and could see clearly again, the man was already facing darmelkon, who bowed deeply to him.

    the assessor was tall and stood straight. his dark brown hair was trimmed and well combed, not a hair out of place, elegantly framing his face. his immaculately crisp and clean clothes were all the same shade of almost black, from his leather shoes, up his trousers, to his long sleeved shirt and the sharp crease lines of its collar and cuffs. thin lines of a dark rich orange color decorated the starkly dark cloth, outlining the collar and cuffs, running up the outer crease of each leg, and lining the edges of his belt.

    he stood calmly, holding his hands clasped behind his back, and impassively nodded slightly to acknowledge darmelkon''s bow. "i am assessor varlinden, upper servant of the crown. lord merchant darmelkon, you requested my service here to assess a dungeon core?"

    "yes, assessor. the dungeon core to assess is right over there." darmelkon gestured toward purple, and bowed again.

    tornay, his apprentice, and darmelkon''s servant all stood quietly, well out of the way with their backs straight and arms by their sides, like they were in a parade or military formation or something. carlos looked at amber uncertainly, only to see her looking back at him, just as uncertain. after a moment of hesitation, they both stood and emulated the examples of the other people present.

    assessor varlinden marched over to purple and leaned forward to inspect the small crystal. "hmm. seems a normal and rather weak dungeon core. i don''t see why you called me out here."

    darmelkon gave a smaller bow, again. "my apologies, assessor. when i made the request, i believed this core would be a great deal more valuable than it turned out to be. in the process of discovering the truth of it, contractual complications arose that require going through with the assessment regardless."

    varlinden frowned. "very well. for the sake of your contractual duties, then." he snapped his fingers, and a small magnifying glass appeared in his hands, rimmed with brilliant lines of white light. he circled around purple, studying the small crystal through the lense of his magnifying glass for perhaps half a minute.

    the assessor released his magnifying glass, which promptly vanished into thin air, and procured a small piece of paper and a pen from nowhere. he wrote as he spoke. "i formally assess this dungeon core''s value as worth 10 gold." he handed the paper to darmelkon. "are we done here?"

    "my apology again, assessor, but there is one more matter. i was wondering if you could identify the noble house of this young man for me." he held out a hand towards carlos.

 Chapter 22: Completion

    chapter 22: completion

    assessor varlinden looked at carlos and narrowed his eyes. "identify? not confirm?"

    "yes, assessor. he said he is forbidden to reveal his house unless absolutely necessary."

    "i see." varlinden slowly swept his gaze from carlos''s face down to his feet, visually inspecting every inch of him. "leave us. all of you." varlinden didn''t even glance aside.

    darmelkon, tornay, and their minions quickly bowed and rushed to the exit, but carlos grabbed amber''s hand before she could follow, and held on. she hesitated, looked back and forth between him and the imposing figure of the assessor, then shrugged and stayed.

    varlinden glanced briefly at amber, but returned his gaze to carlos and began slowly walking a circle around him. "i have personally met every member of every noble house in this kingdom. yet i have never seen you before." he took another two slow steps. "what is your name?"

    carlos''s heart was beating fast, and he thought he might be starting to sweat. "carlos, assessor."

    the assessor nodded calmly. "no house name? wise of you, to refrain from impersonating any specific house."

    carlos''s thoughts were desperately racing, trying to think of something useful to say, but came up with nothing.

    varlinden''s shoes clicked against the hard stone floor of the cave. "you might conceivably be from a neighboring nation. however, i know the names and have seen images of the faces of their nobles as well, even if i have not met them in person. there is no noble named carlos, nor with your face."

    carlos focused on trying to keep his breathing calm and even, though his racing heart demanded deeper breaths as it thudded in his chest.

    "what truly gives you away, however, is your soul shell; far too much of it is still unspent." varlinden finished his circle, and stood in front of carlos, facing him dispassionately, hands still clasped behind his back. "you might possibly have 5 or 6 soul structures, if your mother put great effort into increasing your shell. more likely it is fewer, perhaps 3. you do not have 9 or 10."

    carlos gulped. "i, um, never actually said that i''m noble."

    "an irrelevant technicality. if true, that might earn you some small leniency, but no more." assessor varlinden leaned in a bit closer, casting a shadow from the bright orb of light that was following him around, seeming to loom over carlos. "you convinced two men who should have known better, one of the foremost businessmen of the realm and an enchanter, to at least seriously consider that you might be a noble. how?"

    "i..." carlos instinctively leaned back and pulled his shoulders in, trying to shrink away from varlinden''s overbearing appraisal. "i cast a spell while wearing suppression cuffs."

    varlinden blinked, and stared. then blinked again. he straightened, and spoke in a completely level, even, voice. "so your impersonation of a noble was pre planned, and you even dedicated a soul structure to it."

    "what? no!" carlos almost yelled his denial, and didn''t even realize he was gripping amber''s hand so tightly his knuckles were turning white. "the soul structure i used has a completely unrelated purpose that coincidentally happened to be useful against the cuffs! i had no idea it would help against the cuffs until they were on me!"

    "that seems unlikely."

    "please! just give me a chance to prove it!"

    "hmph. and how do you propose to do that?"

    carlos closed his eyes, and took several deep breaths, trying to calm down. he noticed amber wincing in pain from how tightly he was holding her hand, and hastily released it. "assessor varlinden, i will explain the actual purpose of that soul structure. and if you allow me the time, i will construct the remaining 7 soul structures in my plan, showing that any specifically anti-suppression soul structure would be superfluous for me."

    varlinden stared at carlos some more, and narrowed his eyes. "so. you, a complete unknown, claim to have created an original adamantium rank soul plan; you claim this plan happens to include a soul structure that, though intended for another purpose, coincidentally also counters suppression cuffs; and you claim that you coincidentally happened to be caught and restrained with suppression cuffs in the brief time period where your plan is only partially built. do you realize how incredibly improbable this is?"

    varlinden calmly nodded. "that is not a problem." he held out a tightly rolled scroll. "this teleportation scroll will take you to the crown court''s receiving room. any other issues that would prevent your arrival in 5 days?"

    "oh. no, i don''t think so. thank you. um, assessor." carlos took the scroll and bowed.

    "then i will ensure the lord merchant and enchanter do not interfere, and leave you to your work." varlinden turned and walked out of the cave, his orb of light following him.

    carlos shared a look with amber, let out a deep sigh of profound relief, and all but collapsed into his seat. amber shakily sat down a moment later.

    carlos took a deep breath. and another. and several more. his racing heart was gradually slowing down. "well, i guess we''d better get to it."

    over the next few days, carlos and amber took turns building soul structures. whichever of them was not busy with a soul structure would talk with purple, trying to think of ways to improve their little cave entrance''s defenses, and getting some sunlight while standing watch to ensure they''d have at least a little more warning than they''d had with tornay and darmelkon.

    a few small creatures, possibly some kind of squirrel or rabbit, explored up to the first turn in the tunnel, but turned around after just taking a look at the darkness further in. they had a tense few minutes when a bear wandered in on the third day, sniffing curiously. undeterred by the darkness, it prowled on, and fell into the first pit trap. it growled in surprise and pain, but determinedly climbed back out, limping on its front right paw and punctured and bleeding in several places. the dart trap that came next gave it several more wounds and hamstrung its left hind leg. it turned to retreat, but found the open pit barring its way. it tried to leap the pit, but couldn''t jump far enough with its lamed limbs. its chest crashed into the pit''s edge, and it fell backwards into the pit to its death. purple happily reported that he gained some mana from it, a little more than enough to repay the cost of resetting both traps.

    carlos went down his list of planned soul structures, checking each one off in order, and took some time to familiarize himself with them while amber took her turn.

    the spells database made barely any noticeable difference, but that was to be expected when he only knew one spell and the keywords it comprised. his soul felt a bit cleaner, like some clutter that had been randomly scattered was now gathered and organized, but the real benefit of it would only come up in the long term, with a greatly increased maximum limit on how many different spells he could learn.

    the spells linker was a little more interesting in the short term, and he had to think a bit about what to do to properly use it so it would be finalized. in the end, he found an alternate version of the light spell in amber''s book, and rather than learning it as its own separate spell, he adjusted the spell he already knew, making it have two options for the one word that was different between the spells. now, he could make either a spherical glow or a narrow directed beam like a flashlight.

    when he finished the mana sensor, he just sat and stared for half an hour at the new vista unveiled around him. it was similar to the sensations purple had shown him through their mental link a few days ago. there were currents of an intangible and invisible substance flowing all around him, in the air and even through the ground, but now they were visible to him. dimly visible, with nowhere near the clarity he knew purple could perceive, but they were there.

    carlos closed his eyes, because he didn''t need anything but his soul to see mana, and studied what he could sense. by far the most obvious thing was the convergence of mana flowing into purple from all directions, which the dungeon core was drinking in rapidly. he looked where he knew their concealment ward was, and thought he could vaguely make something out, but it was tricky; every time he started getting confident about it, something would change, or he''d find he was examining a different spot than he thought. maybe that was part of the ward''s effect, to throw off things that could perceive mana. he shrugged and turned his attention to where amber was, and easily spotted the dim glow of her mana. she was a source of mana, however weak, and that fact now stood out clearly from the background to his new sense.

    carlos cast the light spell just to see what he could sense as it took effect. he felt a tiny packet of mana form from what he supplied to the spell, and then the connection to his mana pool broke. the packet seemed to be swirling, and gradually shrank, its power turning into light. he tried to get a closer look at the conversion into light, but it was too indistinct and blurry to make out any details.

    when he finished the mana manipulator, he cast the light spell a few times, trying to see if anything was different. he felt the soul structure settle into permanence, so it definitely did get involved in spellcasting as he expected, but the light seemed the same intensity as before, and lasted for the same duration. then he tried the flashlight beam variant, and thought it seemed a bit more focused, but he wasn''t sure.

    to use the spells preparer, carlos first had to ask amber how to prepare a spell instead of casting it immediately. fortunately, this turned out to be simple. he just had to replace spell cast; at the end of the incantation with spell prepare = light;, and then he could use it quickly - but only once per incantation - with spell activate = light;.

    the final two soul structures didn''t do much of anything on their own, instead providing qualitative improvements to other actions. carlos realized as he began making them that he might never know how much or how little they actually helped, and decided on the spur of the moment that this was a problem to be fixed. they would normally be always active and giving their benefits, but he would be able to intentionally deactivate them temporarily whenever he chose, so that he would be able to compare his performance with and without them.

    carlos and amber both breathed sighs of intense relief when he successfully completed his 10th and final soul structure, finally dispelling the last seeds of doubt in their minds about whether his plan would work. despite their caution about intruders, and a number of breaks, they finished with one day to spare before varlinden''s deadline. they waited out the final day uneventfully.

    carlos finished cramming the tent into his pack, put it on his back, and walked over to where amber was standing by purple. "ready to face the crown court?"

    amber nodded. "i''m ready."

    [ready.]

    carlos picked up purple and put him in his pocket, then got out the teleport scroll. "well then, it''s time."

 Chapter 23: Inspection

    chapter 23: inspection

    carlos was the one varlinden gave the teleport scroll to, and he''d kept it in his pack, but when the time came to use it he gave it to amber. he could experiment with using scrolls himself later, with unimportant scrolls where any mistakes wouldn''t matter. this was far too important to risk screwing it up through inexperience.

    since he wasn''t occupied with using the scroll, carlos took the opportunity to exercise his new mana sense. he could tell that amber did something with her mana, right as she started incanting. her mana connected to the scroll, but she wasn''t providing the spell''s power. no, the tidal wave of mana awakening from dormancy was definitely coming from the scroll itself.

    amber spoke the final word, and tiny structures inseparably embedded in the scroll''s writing flared to life, impressing their purpose onto the mana that was pouring out, instructing it to form a complex lattice. those structures burned out, spent, the paper of the scroll beginning to turn to ash and disintegrate, but they were no longer needed; the mana had already incorporated their instructions into its form.

    the lattice of mana pulsed, and something from it reached out to amber. carlos sensed her respond, sending something down the tether that connected it to her, and the lattice moved. it wrapped itself around amber, carlos, and all of their belongings, like an invisible mesh net of thin threads. the lattice flared brightly, momentarily filling in the gaps between threads with solid panes of energy, then with a final pulse it vanished, and the dark cave around them was abruptly replaced with a well lit room.

    throughout the entire experience, the lattice that accomplished the teleportation had been perceptible only to carlos''s mana sensor. his eyes had seen only the crumbling of the scroll and the sudden change in their surroundings. he winced, blinked rapidly, and brought up his right hand to shelter his eyes a bit while they adjusted to the much brighter light they''d arrived in.

    carlos looked around, and saw they were in the center of a square room, about ten feet wide. the floor and walls were made of marble tiles, and a perfect circle of gold was inlaid in the floor, the edge perhaps a quarter inch thick and outlining an area that stopped just one foot short of each wall. bright white light came from a spot in the center of the ceiling, and two doorways were on opposite sides of the room. there was no furniture.

    the sound of hurried footsteps came from beyond one of the doors, and soon a young man wearing unadorned brown trousers and a red shirt entered the room, carrying a clipboard in front of him. "ah! pardon for any delay, sirs. may i have your names, please?"

    "i''m carlos."

    "amber."

    the man checked something off on his clipboard. "ah, yes. you''re expected. and half an hour early. right this way, please." he turned and walked back out the door he''d come through, gesturing for them to follow him. he led carlos and amber to a smaller room, this one with chairs lining two of its walls. "wait here, please. i will inform the assessor of your arrival."

    carlos nodded and settled into a chair to wait as the man left. amber sat next to him a moment later. they waited for several minutes, and carlos couldn''t stop fidgeting and shifting position.

    finally, amber broke the silence. "worried about something?"

    carlos sighed. "having second thoughts about bringing purple here. i know, i know, we don''t have an easy and quick way back to that cave, but you know what happened the last time we brought him to a city."

    "i understand you''re nervous, but we''re about to become nobles. nobles with no power base, sure, but even the enchanters guild won''t dare tempt the crown''s wrath by committing serious crimes against us."

    carlos chuckled dryly. "if politics here are anything like where i come from, that just means they''ll be careful to not get caught."

    amber frowned in contemplation. "maybe." she sighed. "i almost wish i''d spent some time studying nobility and politics instead of magic. i''m sure there''s something we could do to scare them off more thoroughly."

    "the main thing i know about politics is that i want nothing to do with it. i want to leave this city and any nobles here as soon as possible." carlos leaned back, resting his head against the wall, and took a deep breath. "maybe we should ask assessor varlinden for advice. assuming we can trust him, at least."

    "any crown servant of his rank should be trustworthy."

    carlos stared for a moment, then shook his head. "where i grew up, that would be a naive statement. maybe it''s different here. i hope so."

    "mana manipulator. standard mage structure. initial density."

    the third focal point came, continuing the encircling of his soul.

    "spells preparer. standard mage structure. initial density."

    lady telrar paused several seconds after scanning the fourth section. "...unknown structure. density compressed once." carlos mentally poked at his introspector, and it told him that was the comprehension aid.

    "unknown? really?" varlinden raised an eyebrow.

    "yes. its shape does not match any structure i have records of, and that includes inspection records of every noble house of the nation of kalor."

    "intriguing."

    telrar turned back to carlos after a moment, scanning a fifth section, this one containing the introspector. "hmm. structure highly similar, but not identical, to the fourth recorded structure of high house revlok. may be an independent re-invention. density compressed once."

    "revlok?" varlinden frowned in concentration for a moment. "they are not mages, but carlos clearly is. curious."

    telrar''s sixth focal point scanned carlos''s mana redistributor, and she blinked. "that''s odd. density compressed thrice. structure bears noticeable similarity to structures designed to defeat suppression cuffs, but is also substantially different. precise purpose is unclear."

    varlinden nodded, a contemplative look on his face.

    "ah, there''s the other one. spells database. standard mage structure. initial density."

    telrar moved on to the eighth section, completing the circle. she paused, but only briefly, before announcing her assessment of the spells linker. "unknown structure. initial density."

    the ninth focal point came to inspect the bottom side of carlos''s soul. "spells activator, with small variation. advanced mage structure. uncommon, but not a house secret."

    the tenth and final focal point came to rest on top, where the reflex improver was, and telrar paused fully ten seconds before speaking. "...structure highly similar, but not identical, to the ninth recorded structure of royal house kalor. possibly independent re-invention. initial density."

    "what?!" varlinden actually lost his composure for a moment, but quickly suppressed his reaction and returned to a formal impassive expression. carlos''s heart was suddenly racing. he really hoped the king wouldn''t taken offense at his accidental duplication of one of the royal soul structures.

    lady telrar continued her inspection, unperturbed. all ten focal points of her mana resting on the surface of carlos''s soul began sending mana waves bouncing around his soul in concert. it was starting to give him a whole new kind of headache that he''d never experienced before, but it stopped after about fifteen seconds.

    telrar made her final pronouncement about carlos''s soul plan. "thirty-nine synergy links. first stage. adamantium rank, tier 8."

    wait, only 39 and adamantium? why wasn''t it 45 and orichalcum? and what the hell was that about ''first stage''? ...and would they be in trouble for accidentally recreating one of the crown''s soul structures?

 Chapter 24: Nobles

    chapter 24: nobles

    while carlos pondered over the mysteries he''d suddenly been presented, lady telrar shooed him out of the ritual area, called amber forward, and began repeating her inspection. carlos shook his head and mentally put those mysteries aside for later. he could think about them anytime, but he likely wouldn''t get another chance for a long time to observe this inspection process from the outside.

    there was remarkably little to see with mundane senses. the only noises carlos heard were telrar''s statements announcing the same structures as his own, and quieter speech in between that he couldn''t make out but was presumably some kind of incantation. his eyes only saw amber and telrar standing in place, seemingly doing nothing. no, wait, there was also a faint glow from the metal diagram in the floor, and the light flared just a little brighter each time telrar began scanning the next soul structure.

    to his new mana sensor, however, lady telrar seemed an endless wellspring of mana. in his own inspection, being in the center focus of what she was doing had obscured all but the innermost layer of it. now, from outside, he could sense her mana flooding into the diagram, and being projected into the scanning focal points from the eight points of the octagonal star. smaller threads of mana came from each point of the star and coalesced into the final two focal points in the center, one above and one below.

    those ten focal points emitted powerful waves of mana many times denser than anything carlos could produce, but when those waves bounced back and emerged from amber''s soul, they went right past the emitters without interacting with them. instead, curved panes of mana shaped like miniature satellite dishes captured the returning waves behind the emitters, and did something far too complex for him to decipher. he guessed that was probably the analysis that told her what each soul structure''s shape was.

    it came as no surprise to anyone that all ten of amber''s soul structures matched carlos''s, though they were arranged in a different order. the four she''d had before meeting carlos had once-compressed density, and the new ones were all still at initial density. lady telrar''s announcement at the end of the inspection was almost just a formality. "forty synergy links. first stage. adamantium rank, tier 8."

    carlos nodded for a moment, but then did a small double take. "wait, forty? i had only thirty nine."

    telrar glanced at him with a slight smirk. "it seems your genius is a little sloppy. you''ve apparently missed activating one of your potential links."

    "activating potential links?"

    "it''s not my job to educate you on the finer points of soul plan setup. though if you''re willing to share the secrets of those unknown structures of yours, i might be open to a trade..." she smiled.

    before carlos could do more than begin to shake his head, assessor varlinden stepped in. "attempting to swindle a new noble before he is even formally acknowledged reflects poorly on your house, lady telrar. your task here is done. you may meet them again to negotiate a deal on your own time if you wish."

    "of course, assessor." telrar nodded politely to varlinden, then turned and walked briskly away, her armed escorts falling into formation around her.

    varlinden waited for her to exit the room before speaking again. "carlos and amber, it is my understanding that your soul plan was primarily created by carlos. is this correct?"

    carlos exchanged a look with amber, and they nodded together. "yes, assessor."

    "then i pronounce you carlos founder, and amber carlos, of high house carlos. i will formally register your new house with the crown. ordinarily, there would soon be a public ceremony announcing your new house and showing you to the nation''s established nobility. however, ordinarily new nobles come from influential families and have powerful backing to get them started. without that, you would likely find yourselves quickly forced into submission to a more powerful house."

    carlos nodded grimly. "so what''s happening instead?"

    "come with me." varlinden began leading them through the large building''s maze of hallways again. "while a poor and powerless individual becoming a noble is rare, it has happened before, and we have protocols for it. you will be given a period of time to establish your domain and build your power under crown protection. do not allow that protection to make you complacent, however. the crown''s patience is limited, and you will eventually be required to stand on your own power whether you are ready or not."

    "reasonable. what''s that about a domain, and what are we supposed to build our power with, though?"

    "those questions conveniently have related answers." they arrived at a door with a small plaque on it showing varlinden''s name, and mana in the door did something when varlinden turned the handle to open it. varlinden closed the door behind them, marched over to the desk in the small room, and got out a map from one of the desk''s drawers.

    "each noble house holds a region where they are responsible for governance, development, and protection of the area from normal dangers." varlinden spread out the map over his desk. carlos wasn''t sure how its scale compared to various countries back on earth, but it had lots of markers for cities, roads, rivers, mountains, forests, and more. he found the map''s legend and noted one of the icons was for dungeons.

    "that would be permissible, but any student who adds a ninth structure of their own to the eight learned from your house secrets would found a branch house under yours that you would also be responsible for."

    "hmm." carlos shrugged. realistically, he''d need to establish a reputation and learn more about magic himself before he could make a school actually work anyway. "well, for now let''s just pick a town with a good road so people can get to it easily. amber, any ideas?"

    "well, yes, but it''s..." she blushed slightly. "kind of silly."

    "hey, all i''ve got is rolling dice to choose at random. even a silly reason for choosing somewhere is better than no reason."

    amber took a deep breath. "ok. so, supposedly archmage sandaras did some of his early adventuring in the wilds near dramos."

    "and you''d like to follow his example."

    amber nodded sheepishly. "yeah."

    "works for me." carlos turned back to varlinden. "we''ll start with dramos."

    "very well. return here tomorrow at noon, and i will have your noble sigils and the crown grant for dramos ready for you. in the mean time, here''s a small stipend to cover room and board for the night." varlinden presented ten silver coins to carlos, who quickly pocketed them.

    "ten silver seems a lot for one night."

    "prices in kalor city are much higher than in erlen. now, let me take that mana sample from purple, and then if you''ll excuse me i have other matters to attend to."

    soon, carlos and amber were settling into a small room at a nearby hotel. the building was made of stone, there was a window with shutters in the outer wall, and the mattresses of the two beds were very comfortable, but it was smaller than the room he''d stayed a night in erlen, despite being meant for two people.

    "hard to believe this cost eight silver for one night." carlos grumbled.

    "hey, if we live up to what we''re supposed to do, eight silver will be pocket change for us soon enough."

    "right. taming the wilds." carlos shook his head. "i don''t know if i''m ready for that, really. i need to learn a lot more spells, and how to make new spells of my own. how much can you teach me?"

    amber sighed. "not enough. i know a lot about what''s possible, but finding good information about how was a lot harder. i only know four spells, all of them minor. i tried to find more, but no one would sell for prices i could afford. the academy would presumably teach me a lot more, but..." she shrugged helplessly.

    "any chance the crown would sponsor us to the academy?"

    "i doubt it. we''re supposed to be out taming the wilds, not spending years in a cushy school."

    "hmm." carlos frowned. "we need to figure out what we missed with our soul plan, too." he settled onto his bed and turned his attention inward to his introspector. whatever the issue was, he really wished the introspector would have proactively brought it to his attention. maybe he could change it so it would.

 Chapter 25: Troubleshooting

    chapter 25: troubleshooting

    carlos sat on his rented bed and adopted a meditative pose as he focused inward on what his introspector could sense about the state of his soul. he thought back to the inspection lady telrar had done. she had followed a consistent procedure for both himself and amber, and presumably that procedure had reasons for how it was designed. she had specifically looked for soul structures from eight points around the horizontal circumference of his soul, plus one on top and one on the bottom. what might that imply? more concretely, what could his introspector detect that might be related?

    well, for one thing it suggested that soul structures were arranged in a consistent set of locations within the soul, and that the soul had a shape that supported that arrangement. what was the shape of his soul, anyway? he hadn''t really given it any thought before, but his introspector found that answer with trivial ease. his soul, though intangible and immaterial, was shaped as a somewhat flattened oval disc, radially symmetric but wider across than it was tall.

    the next question was what internal details that shape might have, inherent to the soul itself rather than to the structures he''d made. now that he was looking for it, carlos easily sensed a demarcation dividing his soul in half... and more demarcations dividing the halves into quarters, and the quarters into eighths, all arranged like slices of a pie. each section contained a soul structure. the eight sections also tapered their vertical thickness towards the center, leaving sizable extra regions above and below, which of course were where the other two structures were located.

    carlos opened his eyes and looked over to amber, who was also quietly sitting still on her own rented bed, contemplating something. "you said platinum rank with its eight structures gets a special boost in power, right? think that''s because of filling the circle of the soul''s outer sections?"

    "outer sections? what? wait..." amber paused for a few second. "huh. i never knew about that, but i can sense it too. yes, it makes sense. shouldn''t we be focusing on why we don''t have 45 synergy links, though?"

    carlos shrugged. "that''s important, certainly, but there''s no need to rush, and having more knowledge in general is always good. extra pieces of knowledge can sometimes lead to surprising insights."

    "i suppose." amber shook her head slightly. "i''d rather fix the problem at hand first and indulge my curiosity later, though."

    "fair." carlos closed his eyes again and returned to examining his soul. on the topic of synergy links, he wondered how this newly discovered layout of the soul related to synergy limitations. newly discovered for him, anyway. whoever designed that inspection process must have already known of it. what made it so hard to go beyond eight? presumably there was something special about those top and bottom slots, but how did it relate to synergy constraints?

    he mentally prodded his introspector, considering the question, and thought back to what amber had explained about why synergy was necessary. she''d said synergy let soul structures be packed closer together. he had assumed that meant just a generically decreased separation distance, but that didn''t mesh with the soul having discrete sections.

    carlos considered the first soul structure lady telrar had examined, his mana sensor, and the mana manipulator right next to it. he could sense a bond stretched between the two structures, and it truly was stretched. there was a pressure pushing the structures apart, and the link of synergy between them was resisting that pressure, holding them together in adjacent sections.

    he moved part of his focus to the next structure around the circle, his spells preparer, and examined the link between it and his mana sensor. this bond was longer to cover the distance between the non adjacent structures, but it was loosely relaxed. any pressure between those structures was negligible, diminished to nothing by distance.

    carlos turned his attention to the bottom section, and the spells activator located there. he checked that structure''s various synergy links, and found that all nine of them were stretched tight. the bottom section, and the top section too, bordered all eight of the pie slice sections, and there was a small gap in the very center where the top and bottom sections touched each other like they were reaching through the hole of a donut.

    "i guess that answers why going beyond eight is so rare," carlos muttered.

    "hmm?"

    "dramos. but yes, mages willing to teach are scarce in frontier towns. here in kalor city, though, i know where to find plenty of potential teachers."

    "so this is the royal mage academy? the school you had planned to attend?" carlos looked up, and up, at the vista of grand towers, well, towering over him. the tower in front had a glittering facade covered with innumerable lines of inlaid metals, some angular, some smoothly rounded, and all of them packed with mana. it reached towards the sky, almost rivalling some of the skyscraper buildings carlos remembered from earth in both height and width, and a dozen lesser but still impressive towers were arrayed behind it. several elevated walkways stretched between towers at the lower and middle heights, but at the very top carlos instead spotted a few people simply floating through the air from one tower to another.

    amber grinned at him. "yep! we''re actually not far off from when i was planning to be here to take the entrance exam. ooo, will they give us a tour? i''m so excited to see the place, i just wish i could stay!" she skipped up to the front door, a massive edifice of stone and metal inlay, raised the knocker fastened to the door''s center, and slammed it enthusiastically.

    a complex wave of structured mana swept over her, part of it lightly tapping the surface of her soul, and a low male voice spoke in the flat droning of profound boredom and annoyance. "we''re not accepting student applications right now. come back in two months."

    "we''re not here to apply as students!" amber knocked again, harder, and another wave of mana swept over her, identical to the first.

    nothing more happened for a few seconds, and then a transparent image of a disembodied head, lined with wrinkles and topped with sparse and graying hair, appeared just in front of the door. it glared at amber, and spoke gruffly. "what do you want?"

    still almost bouncing on her feet, unfazed, amber grinned even wider. "i am amber carlos, and my companion here is carlos founder. we are looking for a mage instructor to work with our fledging house."

    the image narrowed its eyes at her. "oh really? new nobility? what is your soul rank?"

    carlos spoke up, feeling he shouldn''t be left out of such a conversation about the house he founded. "adamantium. tier 8. with potential to activate more synergy links."

    the image turned to look at carlos and a third wave of mana came from the door, this time sweeping through carlos and lightly tapping his soul. "hmph. you can''t have had that for long, with how undeveloped your souls are. surface layer compressed only once? you could get that just from making your soul structures alone with that many of them!"

    carlos raised an eyebrow. "was that somehow not already implied by the newness of our nobility?"

    the image scowled and glared at him for a few seconds before the scowl broke and released a small chuckle. "heh. kid, you have no idea how new nobles normally develop, do you?"

    carlos looked at amber, and she blushed slightly and stammered. "it, um, i never really thought about it much."

    the image laughed. "and yet you somehow devised an adamantium soul plan anyway. alright you two novice geniuses, come on in!" the image faded, and a section of stone the size of a normal double door disappeared with it, revealing an old man in a blue robe standing behind it. his face looked exactly like the image had. he clapped his hands together and nodded cheerfully. "i have to say, you two aren''t the craziest thing i''ve heard of, but you''re pretty high up the list. i''m curious what other gaps you have in your education."

 Chapter 26: Academy

    chapter 26: academy

    "well? what are you two waiting for? i opened the door for you, so come in already!" the old robed man waved a hand, beckoning carlos and amber forward. carlos blinked, shook himself, and hastily stepped into the tiny room on the other side of the great tower''s doorway. amber followed him a moment later, her eyes wide open and trying to look in every direction at once.

    with amber dumbstruck by her surroundings, carlos gave the old man a respectful nod and greeted him. "as she said, i am carlos founder. might i have your name?"

    the old man theatrically put his hand on his chest and gaped. "oh my! a high noble wants to know the name of little old mallern? royal academy receptionist and janitor at your service." he bowed, but sprang right back up to standing in an instant.

    "you, ah, don''t seem as respectful as i''d expect for a janitor talking to a high noble."

    "i didn''t get the impression you cared. if you want to go all formal and pretentious, you can, but i wouldn''t recommend it."

    carlos tilted his head slightly. "just for curiosity, why not?"

    mallern held up his right hand and started counting off points on his fingers. "one, you would annoy me, so i''d help you less. two, i''d have to call in one of the higher ups, and they''d be annoyed with the interruption of their very busy schedules. three, the whole academy would take official notice, and you''re not ready for the attention that would bring. four, you would annoy me, so i''d help you less." he smirked. "yes, i said that twice, but hey, it''s my recommendation."

    carlos chuckled. "heh. fair enough."

    before he could get any further, amber broke her silence. "why..." she shook her head and turned to face mallern, befuddled. "why is this room so small and plain? all my books talk about the academy having a grand entrance hall, but..." she gestured at the small wooden desk mallern hadn''t bothered to go to, and the unadorned walls enclosing the area, perhaps eight feet on its longest side.

    mallern smiled knowingly. "come back in two months, and you''ll see the grand entrance hall you read about. the academy shows off a bit when we''re inviting hordes of prospective students. right now, that space is being used for other things."

    amber gaped and stared. "you- you rearrange the architecture for a yearly publicity stunt!?"

    "sure do! it''s good practice for some of the more advanced students."

    amber stared some more, then slowly slumped her shoulders, looked down, and sniffled. she blinked, her eyes watering a little, and her voice cracked. "i... i''m going to miss that, off being a noble." she sniffled again.

    carlos quietly put his arm around her shoulders and hugged her gently. she leaned into him for a while, but then slowly shook her head, wiped off a few tears, squared her shoulders, and stood straight. "no. this was my choice, and i need to accept the consequences. we need to push forward and find what our house needs, not cry over things i''ll miss that aren''t even important."

    mallern gave a slight but solemn bow. "with respect, lady amber, just because its importance is emotional in nature to you does not mean it is not important. i have seen far too many promising students deny their own desires in the obsessive pursuit of advancement in magic. they always regret it in the end, and i can''t imagine a few extra soul structures changing that."

    "but- but i''m a noble!" amber stammered.

    "and that does come with certain obligations and responsibilities that you should not ignore. however, a noble''s duties do not need to consume your life. build and secure your house''s foundation, find some measure of stability, and when the time is right, you may request to observe or even participate in the re-creation of the academy grand hall as a special guest."

    amber sniffled again, then gulped and took a deep breath. "i would like that, very much."

    mallern smiled and nodded to her. "glad i could help. youthful passion for learning is a wonderful thing to behold." he straightened and adopted a more serious expression. "that said, you did come here for business, and we shouldn''t just ignore that. a mage instructor, you said?"

    trinlen jumped to his feet and spun to face the door, heart pounding from surprise. two more people peered curiously at him. one was a man in his early twenties, tall and thin, with brown hair and eyes, a light skin color, and a confident bearing. the other was a girl in her upper teens, thin and lanky, with a lighter shade of brown on her hair, and her eyes were wide and constantly looking around in open wonder at everything. whoever they were, they weren''t wearing robes, and that meant they weren''t students here. well, unless they followed trinlen''s own example in rejecting the standard school robes as the impractical absurdities that they really are, but he had yet to find even a single other student who agreed with him about that.

    "mallern? what the hell do you want me for? and who are these people?"

    mallern gave his trademarked kindly smile, and waved a hand first at trinlen, then at the pair accompanying him. "carlos and amber, this is trinlen. he''s in his final year here, due to graduate next month, and he has a truly impressive disciplinary record. some of the things he''s gotten into trouble for, even i have no idea how he did them. trinlen, this is carlos founder, and amber carlos. a pair of brand new noble mages, who are sadly lacking in resources and proper magical education, having somehow devised a soul plan far beyond their background. they came to the academy looking for a teacher before they head out to the wilds, and i thought you could do a fair bit of solving each others'' problems."

    trinlen blinked, and stared. "wait, what?" he blinked again, and stared some more. "...you two are nobles, and you want me... to teach you magic while adventuring in the wilds with you?"

    the man, trinlen remembered his name was carlos after a moment of thought, nodded. "we only know four spells, and the parts of magical theory we could learn from the books we managed to get. we don''t have much to offer right away, but our house will grow in time, and whoever comes with us for that growth will share in its rewards."

    "four spells? wow, that''s like almost nothing. and not enough practical knowledge to make your own, i take it. which ones are they?"

    the girl, amber, stopped looking around his room and faced him directly as she spoke up. "light, light beam, distant cut, and spark."

    "ah, the examples from sandaras''s intro book. that book is good for foundational theory, but for practical spellcasting it''s more like a sales pitch for the academy. just enough to get you hooked on the tantalizing possibilities."

    amber''s mouth hung open for a moment. "he- archmage sandaras intentionally withheld information to get more people to come to the academy?"

    "yep."

    carlos nodded. "makes sense. he probably wants more control over who learns advanced spellcasting, and how much. or maybe it''s his friends in the government who want that. anyway, will you help us?"

    "ingratiate myself to a new noble house while fighting thrilling battles in the mana-rich wilds? count me in! i''d kinda like to finish out my graduation first, though. it would be a shame to drop out this close. i can give you a few more spell incantations while you''re here, though. we''re not supposed to teach those without academy approval, but hey, you''re nobles. if i get in trouble for it you can assert noble privilege to bail me out, am i right?"

    mallern chuckled. "i have yet to see the prospect of getting in trouble dissuade you, of all people, from anything."

    "too true, indeed. so, just how new are those fancy soul structures of yours, and how much mana do you have to play with?"

    a few hours later, after the two curiously young nobles left, mallern was skimming the day''s log entries from the entrance wards. three entries within the span of a couple minutes, each for scanning a visitor with once-compressed soul layer, no surprise there. he paused and raised both eyebrows at the next entry, for a notable item carried in by a guest.

    "a dungeon core? how the hell did they manage that?"

    he shook his head, chuckling. "i bet that''ll be one hell of a house secret for them. those two are going to shake things up pretty fiercely once they''re established, aren''t they?"

    mallern pursed his lips and tilted his head a little, thinking and muttering to himself. "hmm. that shakeup will be more fun to watch if it''s a proper surprise to everyone. and they were rather polite and friendly. hmm..."

    he tapped his fingers a few times, considering. then, he quietly erased the dungeon core log entry.

 Chapter 27: Debugging

    chapter 27: debugging

    early the next morning, carlos woke to vigorous shaking, and grunted irritably as he opened his eyes to see amber leaning over him with her hands gripping both of his shoulders. he waved her off and sat up, blinking a few times to clear his eyes. "alright, i''m awake. did something come up, or are you just eager?"

    amber''s cheeks colored a bit, and she sheepishly shook her head. "well... just eager. but new spells! how could i not be eager to learn them? how are you not eager?"

    carlos yawned briefly and shook himself. "i am eager, just not used to waking up this early. let me get... oh." he trailed off as amber tossed a set of clothes at him, pointed at a covered tray of food on the nightstand, and pointedly turned her back.

    a few minutes later, after hurriedly getting dressed and a rushed breakfast of eggs and bacon he''d barely tasted, carlos sat on his bed facing amber with several sheets of paper spread out between them, each one bearing the incantation of a different spell. last evening''s conversation with trinlen had been eye opening about how critically important developing their souls to get more mana capacity would be. most spells simply weren''t possible with the amount of mana they had, or would have to be tuned down so far they''d be uselessly weak, but trinlen had still managed to find some that they could use. he''d given them a couple to hold onto for later, too, but the main plan for future learning was for him to come to dramos and teach them directly.

    "so, which one do you want to learn first?" carlos scanned over the spread pages, glancing at the spell titles written at the top but paying more attention to the blocks of formatted code he saw through the translation of his comprehension aid. most of the structural elements were already familiar, with mainly just new effect functions and their parameters.

    amber leaned down and picked up one of the sheets near her. "this one: throw." trinlen had said that spell would launch a chosen item in a chosen direction. with enough mana powering the spell, it could theoretically hurl a multi-ton boulder to crush a target miles away, but the mana they had available would only suffice to toss a half-pound rock twenty feet, and gently enough that it probably wouldn''t even bruise anyone it hit. the only current advantage over throwing physically by hand was that they didn''t need to touch the item, and could even throw something that was several feet away.

    carlos nodded and leaned down to make his own choice. "ok. and i will learn... this one: levitation." like throw, levitation could theoretically move multi-ton boulders with enough mana, but for the time being would be limited by their available mana to only move light objects on the order of a handful of gravel. it didn''t impart any velocity, however, and maintained its effect for some time rather than expending its power all at once. levitation would render the target effectively weightless, as though supported by an invisible force pushing up from below, exactly countering gravity. it could be adjusted to slowly raise or lower the object, but by default the spell would just hold it in place vertically - and would not affect horizontal movement at all.

    carlos skimmed through the spell''s incantation - or should he just think of it as code? - looking for words or symbols he hadn''t learned yet. there was the effect keyword, of course: `lift`. he decided to focus on that one first, leaving the parameters and their values for later. he didn''t just start meditating on the meaning of an instruction to lift something, though. some of the incomplete synergy links were about the process of learning a spell (or fragment thereof), and this was therefore an opportunity to fix those links.

    his first target link to fix was between his spells database and reflex improver. the reflex improver was supposed to help form the correct conceptualization of a spell or fragment to add it to the spells database, so carlos held back from consciously trying to form that concept himself, and instead mentally prodded his reflex improver with the word. the concept of pushing upward on something came to mind, but he hesitated about focusing on it. he wasn''t sure whether the reflex improver had actually been involved, or if he''d just naturally thought of the definition he already knew for the word.

    carlos poked at his reflex improver again, a bit harder this time, and tried to assess what was going on in his thoughts. he shook his head, frustrated. it was really hard to examine the origins of his own thoughts, from his perspective inside those very thoughts. he paused, then chuckled under his breath. he was trying to introspect his thoughts, and that realization reminded him that his soul had an introspector. his soul''s introspector couldn''t examine his thoughts - at least, he didn''t think it could - but it could examine the reflex improver and report what it was doing.

    his introspector soon reported that his reflex improver was indeed pushing to bring the concept of lifting to mind, but something felt vaguely off, and the feeling was nagging at him. as he turned his attention to that, his introspector reported that his reflex improver was pushing that very feeling into his mind, and the feeling of offness grew stronger, displacing the concept of lifting that was still in the back of his mind. there was something wrong about how he was going about this. but what?

    several seconds later, a warning alert popped up in his mind''s eye. five inactive synergy links were gradually degrading. four of them would still last a few weeks, but the one between his spells linker and reflex improver only had just under two days before it would break.

    before he could even wonder about why this mattered, since he was pretty sure his debugger could outright recreate those links if necessary, or about why one inactive link was degrading so much faster than the others, another warning alert popped up. a synergy link that was necessary for the current placement of his soul structures was inactive. his reflex improver was in the top slot, which required synergy links with everything, and its link with his spells linker was inactive. if that link broke, one or possibly both of the structures might be forcibly expelled by the repulsion between them as adjacent unlinked structures.

    "shit!" carlos swore out loud at the discovery, his heart suddenly pounding in fear that he might lose a precious soul structure, or even two of them!

    "what?" amber sat calmly on her bed in front of him, looking at carlos.

    he took a deep breath, shook his head, and tried to relax. he still had most of two days to fix this, he reminded himself. he needed to calmly focus on finding a solution, not uselessly panic. and he had that time, with advance warning, precisely because he''d had the foresight to create a warning system for himself. "i''ll explain later. finish learning your spell for now." carlos nodded to amber, and closed his eyes to think and meditate again. she should have about the same time left for this problem as he did, so he could afford to take a little time thinking about potential solutions to explain along with the problem.

    the obvious solution was, of course, to activate the specific synergy link in question. unfortunately, it was inactive in the first place because the nature of its synergy was dubious, and he couldn''t really be certain of successfully fixing it in time. the other possible solution was to move it to one of the eight slots arranged in a horizontal ring, which only required synergy links with their immediate neighbors, but he didn''t have any empty slots available to move it into. was it even possible to directly swap the positions of two soul structures, without any spare room to use as a temporary holding area?

    carlos firmed his resolve. he had to try. he focused on his debugger, instructing it to swap its own position with the position of his reflex improver, and it began reaching out to firmly grasp the other structure. he paused a moment to consider, but a quick check confirmed that this swap would resolve the issue if he could complete it. his debugger was between his introspector and his spells database, and his reflex improver had fully active links to both of those.

    his debugger flexed, and began drawing on his mana pool, draining his mana reserves alarmingly quickly. in fact, his introspector alerted him that at this rate he would run out in less than a minute. grimly, he focused on finishing the swap as quickly as possible, keeping an eye on his rapidly dwindling mana in case he needed to abort. tension built between the structures he was trying to exchange, climbing higher and higher. after about thirty seconds of buildup, abruptly the tension released as the structures flew past each other in an instant and slammed into their new locations, and his entire soul vibrated for a few seconds before everything settled down into this new status quo.

    his introspector popped up an alert. the formerly problematic synergy link would still break sooner than the other inactive ones because it had more already-accumulated degradation, but it would last a week and a half now, and its dissolution would pose no danger to any soul structure. the crisis was resolved.

    curiously, another alert also appeared in carlos''s mind, informing him that his debugger''s new position improved its efficiency, due to the structure''s focus on interacting with his other soul structures and the position having direct adjacency with all of them.

    huh. maybe he should move his introspector to the bottom slot to improve its efficiency too.

 Chapter 28: Exploit?

    chapter 28: exploit?

    with his soul''s urgent problem dealt with, carlos emerged from his meditations, opening his eyes and turning his attention outward again, to find amber playfully experimenting with her new spell. she spoke the incantation, and a fork from their breakfast tray zipped across the room to clatter against the far wall, before falling down to the floor.

    "aww. it didn''t hit point first like i wanted it to. not good for throwing weapons." despite the disappointment in what she said, amber was smiling and almost bouncing on her seat in excitement.

    carlos smiled and nodded to her. "i''m glad you''re having fun. did you activate any synergy links?"

    "yes! well, kind of. not having the right synergy between spells database and mana manipulator was bothering me, so i fixed that. instead of meditating on a spell concept until i have it so perfectly right that it condenses on its own, i gather a piece of mana and push the concept into it. learning a spell goes a lot faster that way."

    "hmm." carlos hesitated briefly. "i''m concerned that a spell you learn that way might be flawed, inefficient or less effective, from not having the concept exactly correct."

    amber nodded, unperturbed. "i considered that too, but the mana pushes back on concepts that aren''t quite right. it actually helps me figure out the precisely correct concept faster, because it gives me more feedback on what is still wrong. when i finish, i don''t actually need to push for the concept to merge into the mana i gathered for it."

    "ah. that''s good, then. i''ll do that one next. first, though, i should tell you about the problem i found and how to fix it."

    soon, amber and carlos had each duplicated each other''s work on fixing up their souls, and carlos had learned the rest of levitation with record speed. the new applications of his reflex improver and mana manipulator to the process of learning spell words cut the time required down to about half of what it used to be. the levitation spell had a pair of new wrinkles in how a parameter''s value was determined, but those were barely speed bumps to him. firstly, the baseline amount of force to lift with was set to match the target''s weight instead of being a fixed value. secondly, the amount of force could be adjusted by his intent for as long as the spell lasted.

    a spoon floated in the air in front of carlos, rising and falling as he directed it, and he idly tapped it with a finger to set it spinning. with nothing but open air to slow it down, it would keep spinning for a long time if he let it. it was also slowly drifting to the side in the direction that he''d tapped it, and though he could raise and lower it just by mentally focusing on his intent to do so, a full minute of attempting to stop either its spin or its drift in the same manner had no effect at all. the purely vertical direction of the spell''s exertion of force was apparently an inherent and immutable aspect of the effect. not too surprising, considering its keyword translated as "lift".

    "hmm." carlos glanced toward the floor as another thought occurred to him. could the lift force be adjusted to a negative value, making it push down instead? he focused on the idea of lowering it, and the spoon obligingly descended, but still not even as fast as a simple gravity-fueled drop would go. he reached out his hand and took hold of the spoon, holding it in place and feeling for its apparent weight, while experimenting with his conceptualization of intent. all adjustments he''d tried so far were relatively minor, changing the lifting force by only a fraction of the spoon''s actual weight, but now he wanted to decrease it by an amount actually larger than the spoon''s weight.

    he tried focusing on pushing the spoon down, but the spell simply did not respond to that at all. he focused on reducing the lifting force by greater and greater amounts, and the spoon felt less weightless in his hand, but that was all. he frowned, thinking. reducing force felt like the wrong approach; it was a concept with an inherent limit at zero. in the incantation, the force was defined as the mathematical addition of a measured weight and a modifier controlled by his intent. when he reduced the lifting force, technically what he was doing was making that modifier negative. what he wanted was to make it more negative. much more.

    carlos focused on that concept of a large negative modifier in the math, and pushed that into his active connection to the spell, and he felt something new in response. the spell''s mana had outright ignored his attempts to control spin or horizontal motion, but for this he felt... resistance? his new intent matched the framework of the spell''s structure, but at the same time would have a result directly opposite of what the spell was normally intended to do.

    at that realization, carlos paused to consider. intent based constraints on spell behavior might guard against potential bugs, assuming that the analogy of spell incantations to computer programming was as fully applicable as it seemed, and the consequences of a buggy spell were unpredictable and might be severe. discarding such a safeguard could cause problems later. on the other hand, breaking such constraints could give him capabilities he wouldn''t otherwise have, that might be useful and important tools.

    then again, there have been some astounding whoppers of oversights that went unnoticed for a long time in highly sophisticated software made by expert professionals. the infamous heartbleed bug came to mind. so, there was precedent for such a mistake despite otherwise high quality professional work. even if that were the case, though, relying on it would be risky. the hypothetical maintainers of this hypothetical world simulation might notice and patch the bug, and he''d suddenly lose his greatest tool without warning.

    and if he was right and was not in a computer simulation? then that mana had to come from somewhere. mana was a limited resource, and if "create more mana without limit" were something mana could do then surely someone would have exploited that to conquer the world already, right?

    come to think of it, could he detect where this bit of extra mana had come from? carlos focused his mana sensor on the levitation spell''s mana, and on the area around it, but aside from sensing how much was there, all he got was a vague sense of unease so mild he wondered if he might be imagining it. he momentarily switched the spell to pushing down again, just long enough to get a glimpse of its mana supply increasing again, but still shook his head in frustration. he''d sensed something happening, but couldn''t make out any details. he needed a more developed mana sensor. he needed more soul development in general, really. they both did.

    carlos sighed, and mentally put the problem aside. he would study it later, when he was properly prepared with tools advanced enough to actually detect the details he needed. and he would do it carefully. very carefully. ...maybe he could explore more about ways to trigger it, though? that feeling of objection and wrongness from the spell''s mana was impossible to not notice, and very different from its reaction to ideas that just won''t work. as long as he refrained from overriding the objection, he''d never actually trigger the exploit.

    the "throw" spell amber had picked was an obvious candidate for another way to trigger this negative mana use exploit. it was another spell that applied a specified force to an object, so the same principle of specifying a negative force should work. or so carlos thought, until he read the spell incantation. it didn''t actually have a "force" parameter to the effect at all, just direction. after some thought, he realized this was because it just spent all the spell''s power, all the mana supplied for it to use, all at once in a single momentary shove.

    he went back to the levitation spell, and considered. first, to gauge whether there even were any firm safeguards at all against this exploit, he should try the most direct and blatant way to do it: hard coding a negative force value into the spell. he called the levitation spell he''d already learned to mind, mentally substituted the entire force parameter value with the number negative 10, and... nothing. the mana he gathered for learning this alteration of the spell simply did not react to it. there was no feeling of resistance, or objection. the bond between concept and mana just didn''t even begin to form. carlos sighed in relief. he had apparently found some obscure corner case, not a wide open gaping hole in the system.

    next up, could he take out the math and baseline amount of lift from the force value? that would make a spell that would wait for him to will it to action before it would do anything at all. carlos learned that variation of the spell easily, and cast it on the table knife that was still resting on their breakfast tray. he mentally pushed at the spell to lift the knife up, and it took him a few seconds to ramp up enough to actually raise it off the tray. he let it gently fall back down, and then focused on the idea of a negative force just like he had before... and the spell outright ignored that instruction, just as completely as if he''d tried to make it push horizontally.

    so, reasoning through his results, carlos could pull mana from nowhere, or rather from somewhere or something worryingly unknown, with certain requirements:

    the spell had to have a numerical magnitude parameter of some kind.a negative magnitude had to be meaningful for it.he had to set the magnitude value as an adjustable mathematical formula that normally had a positive value but could legitimately be decreased.he had to specifically conceptualize the decrease in mathematical formulaic terms.and he had to ignore and override an unnerving feeling of profound wrongness.

    carlos thought back and reviewed some of the other spells trinlen had talked about before settling on the set he''d written down for them. telekinesis, flight, the classic fireball, and many more. trinlen had dismissed most of them for requiring too much mana, but he had also set aside some for being too complex for novices. telekinesis, for example, was actually a combination of effects with several adjustable parameters that the caster had to coordinate in tandem to produce the desired result, and trinlen wanted to be there to supervise when they started practicing it. carlos wasn''t sure whether the acknowledged troublemaker actually thought they needed supervision for it, or if he just wanted to witness their initial mistakes for his own amusement, but either way he didn''t want to quibble about it with possibly their best potential teacher.

    in any case, carlos had noticed that more advanced spells tended to have greater flexibility. if you wanted to reverse the direction of your flight spell that could move you in any direction, you would naturally change the direction parameter, not try to set it to a negative speed. for all the spells he could think of where the concept was even applicable, the effect of a negative magnitude could be achieved more naturally by changing another parameter instead, plus most of them wouldn''t have the math formula trick needed to bypass the normal block against negative values. it might have other limitations too, maybe even only working with levitation''s lift effect.

    he felt tension releasing from his shoulders and arms as he relaxed, suddenly feeling a lot less nervous. he was still very concerned about what he''d discovered, but the requirements for making it even possible were obtuse enough that probably few other people knew about it, or even no one at all. amber''s confusion about the idea of a negative force was especially promising in that regard, if her knowledge of such things was meaningfully representative about this world''s knowledge of physics.

    carlos stretched, and looked around the room. he noticed the sunny spot from the sun shining through the window had moved considerably, and was getting close to the window. he looked back and forth between the window and the bright area on the floor, contemplating the angle that implied for where the sun was, and what time that meant it was now.

    "uh, amber? i think we''d better get going. it''s approaching noon if i''m not mistaken, and we need to get back to varlinden."

 Chapter 29: Departure

    chapter 29: departure

    carlos ate quietly as he walked, barely noticing the taste of his sandwich. it was an excellent sandwich, lightly grilled, filled with three unfamiliar but delectable meats and a medley of sliced tomato, strangely long olives, and green leaves that tasted like lettuce but were much too small, with a slightly tangy layer of melted cheese just under the bread. in other circumstances he might have lost himself for a while luxuriating in the delightful mix of juices and flavors filling his mouth. but today, on this walk, all of that paled, pushed aside by his preoccupation with the discovery he''d made that morning and what it might mean.

    there was a bug in how magic worked. he had found a way to make a spell do something that rightfully should cost mana, and have the spell gain mana instead.

    that was just... wrong, on a level so profound he found it difficult to articulate. it was like discovering that reality itself had a bug. reality wasn''t supposed to have bugs. reality was... reality. it just existed. all the laws of physics and mathematics came together perfectly, such that no matter what path you took through those laws and their calculations to solve a problem, as long as you did it correctly you would arrive at the same end result.

    he shook his head. no, a bug in reality was not the right way to think about it. the fundamentals of reality could not have an inconsistency on the level of laws of physics, because that would literally break reality. that meant that the spellcasting system he''d found this bug in must be something less fundamental than that. something possibly artificial, overlaid on top of the actual basis of magic. and that possibility suggested that someone must have created it at some point.

    could he learn to use the underlying foundation of how magic really worked? if he did, would it actually be better? or was the system designed to enhance the capabilities of experts as well as nov-

    "hey! carlos, are you even paying attention?" amber shook his right shoulder and waved a hand in front of his eyes. "you haven''t responded to a word i said since we left the inn, and you''ve barely eaten even half your sandwich. we''ll be there in a few minutes, and you need to be ready."

    carlos blinked, looked down at the sandwich he was holding, and took a large bite. he chewed quickly and swallowed, nodding to amber. "sorry. i''ve been thinking about something i figured out that might have major implications." he bolted down another bite. "how much do you know about the history of magic? like, how long has this system of highly structured incantations been around?"

    amber stared at him for a moment with an eyebrow raised. "as far as i''ve ever read, magic has always worked that way. are you saying you think someone made it? that''s- that''s crazy, if something like that is even possible it would take an utterly absurd amount of mana!"

    carlos nodded calmly. "even so." he took a deep breath, and consciously refocused on the appointment with varlinden they were walking to. "there''s no urgency to that discussion, though. just don''t try that thing i asked you about with the levitation spell."

    "huh?" amber let out a quiet chuckle. "i have no idea how those two topics are connected, but sure. as long as you promise to satisfy my curiosity later. i will not be able to leave a mystery like that alone for long."

    carlos smiled. "of course."

    an attendant at the crown court led them directly to the same room as their soul inspection had been done in, with its high vaulted ceiling and stained glass windows reminiscent of a cathedral. really, the main difference from cathedrals as far as carlos could tell was the lack of pews, pipe organs, and a platform to preach from.

    his eyes were drawn to the same window he''d noted the first time, with its depiction of a lone man slaughtering his way through an army, arrows and magical projectiles striking at him from all directions to no avail. shockwaves of wind blew away the ranks of the man''s enemies in the wake of his passage, and a giant figure three times his height was collapsing behind him, all but torn in two by an enormous gaping hole in its midsection. arrows near the man were broken and scattered, and explosions chased him and cratered the ground but never touched him. the man was striking at the foe in front of him with a brilliant glowing blade that appeared to be a literal extension of his arm.

    something blunt dug into carlos''s side, then nudged again harder. he blinked, shook his head, and looked at amber who was holding her elbow ready to nudge him a third time. she looked at him, looked straight ahead toward the center of the large cathedral-like room, looked back at carlos, and pointedly nodded her head in that direction. he turned his head to look, and immediately spotted their host.

    assessor varlinden stood tall and straight, immaculate in his perfectly clean and pressed black and dark orange uniform as always, his hands clasped behind his back. he watched carlos with a knowing smirk, his eyes dancing in amusement. beside him, another man stood impassively, dressed in a robe but with the same color scheme, black with dark orange decorations. the second man''s arms were crossed in front of him, the loose sleeves of his robe tucked into each other, and a neatly trimmed beard extended the point of his chin by about an inch, the beard''s dark brown color matching the man''s short trimmed hair. both men''s souls glowed brightly like beacons to carlos''s mana sense, but the new stranger seemed more connected to the ambient mana, as mana in the air gently swirled around him.

    carlos walked forward, side by side with amber, firmly setting aside the distraction of that window''s dramatic artwork, until they stood at a comfortable conversational distance.

    varlinden continued the moment the guards finished their bow. "they will also periodically report on your situation to the crown. so long as these guards remain with you, and they continue to report satisfactory growth in your domain, your earned respect, your soul development, and your independence, the crown will postpone public announcement of your house''s founding until you are ready to stand on your own as proper peers to the rest of kalor''s nobility. if you fail to progress at an acceptable rate, the crown will withdraw its special support and immediately announce your house to all. in that event, you will likely be forced to subordinate yourself to a rival house in exchange for their protection from the rest."

    the assessor allowed a few seconds of silence for the import of that statement to sink in. "do you accept this support, or do you want to discuss alternatives?"

    carlos looked at amber, but she just shrugged and took hold of his hand. he frowned, and spoke quietly. "are you sure?"

    amber nodded. "i studied magic theory, not the crown and nobles and politics and social maneuvering. i''d gladly discuss spell design principles all day long, but i''m not prepared for this kind of decision. but you?" she shook her head. "you talked our way out of that cave with a gambit that i would never have even thought of. you haggled better than i ever could. you''ve made comments about the workings of politics that i had never considered, but you thought were blatantly obvious. you might be better prepared for this kind of decision than i will ever be. i will trust your decision."

    [purple?]

    [hmm? oh. you want opinion? my opinion?] purple''s mental voice paused a moment. [i''m dungeon core. not know politics.]

    carlos suppressed a chuckle. in hindsight, asking purple had been silly. of course a dungeon core would know nothing of politics, nobles, and the reasons that this offer might be good or bad. he took a deep breath. there was one important point the offer didn''t cover. "assessor, i want to discuss a small addition to that support, if that is allowed."

    varlinden nodded gravely, and waited.

    "we reached an agreement with a student at the royal mage academy, named trinlen, that he would come to give certain services to our house after he graduates next month. these services will be important for our development, and we would prefer to avoid delays in receiving them."

    "ah. yes, it would likely take him a few weeks to travel to dramos by the roads, and a competent teacher is invaluable for mages. very well, the crown will provide one time teleportation to send this trinlen to join you. i will make the arrangements. anything else, or are you satisfied?"

    carlos nodded, and bowed slightly. "with that addition, i accept the crown''s offered support."

    felton, the crown mage standing next to varlinden, stepped forward, spoke a few words, and mana grabbed the two new nobles and their borrowed guards faster than carlos could follow. they abruptly found themselves in a different room somewhere else.

    amber recovered from the surprise first. "i guess when he said ''immediately'', he meant it."

    their guards wasted no time in browbeating the local guard into escorting them all from the teleportation receiving room to a private meeting with the mayor of dramos. the mayor''s receptionist took one look at the heavily armored pair and promptly opened the door and stepped aside. carlos just watched, bemused, having not given even a single order, as the pair of guards marched in, stepped to each side, turned to face each other in unison, dramatically crossed their spears in front of the doorway then pulled them back to open passage, and spoke in chorus as though rehearsed. "presenting, high lord carlos founder and high lady amber carlos, new rulers of the city of dramos in the name of the crown!"

    the mayor looked up at them from his desk, gaping over several piles of papers covering most of the desk''s surface. his hair was graying and thin, his brown eyes alert as they flicked from the guards to carlos to amber, his hands stained with ink and holding a pen over some document. he squared his shoulders from the hunched over position he''d been in, straightened up, and closed his mouth.

    amber had been excitedly looking around at everything as they walked from the arrival building to the town hall, and she was almost vibrating as they walked into the mayor''s office. seeing the mayor straighten up and prepare to treat with them seriously, she couldn''t contain herself anymore. she blurted out, "is- is it true that sandaras started his adventuring career here?!"

    the mayor dropped his face into his hands, producing a resounding smacking sound, in a double facepalm fit to match captain picard after one of q''s escapades.

 Chapter 30: Dramos

    chapter 30: dramos

    carlos firmly suppressed his urge to laugh at the sight of the mayor''s facepalm, and dismissed his thoughts of star trek memes. however amusing the comparison might be, explaining it even to amber would be difficult, and he wanted to show this man respect. as the old and presumably experienced mayor of the town, or city or whatever it was, that carlos was being put in charge of, he could be either a priceless ally or a tremendously bothersome obstacle, and carlos would much prefer having him as an ally.

    a moment passed in awkward silence, the mayor still resting his face in his hands, and amber blushed and stammered. "i- um. w-what''s wrong?"

    without a word, and without even looking, the mayor shifted to let just his left hand support his face, and reached down with his right hand to open a drawer in his desk. he pulled out a small sheet of paper with something printed on it, and held it out in the air in front of him, still not looking, until carlos took it. carlos held it a bit to the side towards amber, so that the two of them could read it together.

    yes, sandaras passed through dramos on his way into the wilds when he was not yet famous.

    no, sandaras did not grow up in dramos. no, sandaras did not learn anything significant in dramos. no, sandaras did not meet anyone famous in dramos. no, sandaras did not achieve anything of note in dramos. no, sandaras did not return to dramos, not even on his way back from the same trip to the wilds. no, sandaras does not consider dramos important or care about it.

    sandaras arrived in dramos late in the evening, got a meal and a room at one of our cheapest inns, and stayed the night. a pair of young would-be thieves tried to break into his room to rob him in the middle of the night. sandaras dispatched both of them and left their bodies outside his door, where one of the inn''s maids found them shortly before they dissipated. he was briefly questioned about the incident, but when the innkeeper confirmed his legitimate renting of the room sandaras was declared an innocent victim who merely defended himself. sandaras departed into the wilds early that morning. the identities of the thieves are not known.

    the only reason anyone knows sandaras was even here is the city guard''s log of the robbery attempt. someone noticed that record after sandaras became famous as an archmage, and spread rumors about it. whatever you heard that brought you here is absurd and ridiculous exaggeration.

    carlos paused at a word that didn''t seem to make sense in context, and reached mentally for the bond with amber that purple had made. [''dissipated''?]

    [hmm? oh, right, your world doesn''t have respawning. when someone respawns, their dead body disappears. some theorists think that it''s actually transported and healed somehow to form the respawned body, but whatever happens doesn''t work the same way as a teleport spell.]

    carlos nodded, finished reading, and waited for amber to let go of the paper.

    amber continued staring at the paper for a few seconds, then gulped and awkwardly cleared her throat. "um. well. that''s... disappointing. and embarrassing."n??v�lrapture marked the initial hosting of this chapter on n?o?v�l??n.

    the mayor groaned, and put his right hand back into supporting his forehead again, still not looking up. "please tell me that wasn''t your only reason for choosing dramos."

    carlos stepped forward half a step. "dramos is near a broad swath of wilds with plenty of potential territory to tame and claim, and also has significant size and a major road connecting to it."

    the mayor shifted, raising his head to look forward at carlos, and rested his chin instead of his forehead on his hands. "is that all?"

    carlos almost flinched at the mayor''s dry tone. carlos might nominally be in charge, but he really didn''t feel like he''d earned it, and he was used to deferring to his bosses instead. "well, to be honest, we weren''t really prepared to become nobles, and weren''t given much information to base the decision on." he nervously raised his right hand to scratch the back of his head. "though, ah, it occurs to me that we could have asked. and should have. sorry. um. what would you suggest that we do?"

    [yes. is ok. that is ok. can stay in one place longer and build.]

    [don''t disrupt any wards he has, but yeah. this will probably be for at least a few days.] carlos turned his gaze back to the mayor. "stelras, could you keep it for now?"

    stelras grimaced again. "yes. the city treasury has a secure safe for exceptionally valuable items; i can put it in there. that crystal is probably worth more than the entire treasury, but it''s the most secure place we have."

    "it will have to do. we should put our house plate and rings there too, while we''re at it." carlos suited his actions to his words as he spoke, taking off his ring and getting the plate out from his pack. by the time he placed both items next to purple on the mayor''s desk, amber had already put her ring there as well.

    "we''ll need you to point us to an appropriate inn for our guise, and provide money to pay for it. sorry about that, but we''re broke. maybe we''ll find something valuable in the wilds eventually to repay it. um. and i think that''s all before we go. amber, can you think of anything else?" carlos looked at amber, but she just shook her head, and movement in the corner of his eye drew his attention back to stelras.

    stelras''s head and upper body were quivering, and the corners of his mouth turned up, and finally he broke out laughing. he weakly sat back down, chuckling and shaking his head the whole way down, until he took a deep breath, unlocked and opened a drawer low on the left side of his desk, grabbed a small bag that clinked as he raised it, and casually tossed the bag to carlos. "nobles. saying you''re broke. offering to repay your own mayor the cost of an inn in your own city. hehe. ha! you really are completely new to all this, aren''t you?" he shook his head in amusement. "you know about taxes, right? you''re nobles. you receive taxes now. that money''s yours. a fraction of the unallocated cash reserves of dramos, which is your city."

    carlos peered into the bag and saw a mix of copper, silver, and gold coins. not too many of the gold, but even a single gold coin was roughly equivalent in value here to ten thousand dollars back on earth. very roughly, and some things cost a lot more, or a lot less, than on earth, but it was still a useful number for getting a sense of the magnitude of an amount of money in this unfamiliar currency. stelras had just tossed him the equivalent of about half a year''s salary, gross not net, at his old software engineering job. the house name plate and rings the crown had given them were many times more valuable, but those were special items they had to keep. this was cash for spending.

    carlos started laughing himself, and hefted the bag, feeling its weight, before tucking it into a pocket. "right, i''ll have to get used to that idea. thanks for not exploiting our ignorance about that. now just point us to an appropriate inn, and we''ll let you get back to managing the city until we''re ready to be actually useful."

    ressara, investigative scholar, idly chewed a bit of steak as she watched the common room of the adventurer''s haven from her vantage point at a corner table. oddly, despite her efforts to avoid attention by cloaking her buxom figure with a slouch and a cloak, hiding her long dark hair under a hood, and trying to fade into the shadows of the darkest corner the room had, it seemed she could barely go a few minutes without yet another adventurer trying to strike up a conversation. they kept asking if she had any need for an adventurer''s services, and some had even come back to ask again, as if they thought she was lying when she said no.

    every so often, someone new would walk in the inn''s door, and she''d perk up and try to assess them. were they here chasing sandaras''s legend? inspired to match it, perhaps? did they have any chance of succeeding? ressara had known before she even set out for dramos that the rumors were probably vastly overblown, but that didn''t matter to her. sandaras''s story was old, and the trail of anything not already known was so cold it might as well be dead. she was not here to investigate sandaras. she was here to find and investigate the next legend in the making, ideally even as a firsthand witness, and to her the rumors about sandaras were just a lure to draw in her quarry.

    ressara took a sip of cold water, the ice in it one of the luxuries offered by this premier inn of the city, and glanced over at the door yet again. her eyes instantly locked onto a pair of very professional looking soldiers as they entered. their stance and bearing, and the way they systematically but rapidly looked over every spot in the room, told of experienced professional wariness, and their armor was expertly made. what really drew her attention, however, was how their soul development was disguised.

    a layer of mana, that superficially appeared to be the outermost layer of development on the surface of the soul, obscured the true surface of each soldier''s soul. the fake was well crafted and she could not see beyond it, but ressara had dedicated a specialized soul structure to examining other souls, and that layer was too uniform and orderly to be natural. the ultimate proof of it, however, was that an auxiliary enchantment kept gently but insistently nudging her to pay no attention to it. it would have worked, too, if she hadn''t prepared for such things by making a soul structure to detect and invert any attempts to influence her mind by magic.

    ...maybe the inversion part of that structure hadn''t been such a good idea, though. it was actually difficult to take her attention away from those two souls to focus on anything else. with an effort, she tore her eyes away from the soldiers, and examined the pair they were escorting. they were a pair of youths, one man and one woman. the man walked with a confident stride, standing straight and tall with shoulders held high, but the young woman seemed to be suppressing the urge to shrink away from everyone around her, and not quite succeeding.

    and for the soul development of those two... oh my! small portions of mother''s soul shell were still there, and yet their own surface layers were already compressed once, and they were greedily drinking in the ambient mana much faster than she''d ever seen before from anyone who wasn''t actively focusing on it. the persistent urge to pay attention to the guards'' souls instead faded into the background, overwhelmed by her newfound fascination. the mana of the air was responding to their presence with a quickness and strength that suggested they might be mages, too.

    this bore investigating.

 Chapter 31: Advancing

    chapter 31: advancing

    ressara watched closely as the pair of young maybe-mages walked up to the bar, talked briefly, haggled only a little before handing over some coins, and walked up the stairs and out of sight, their two guards marching close behind. she relaxed for a moment when the guards left her line of sight, relieved by the cessation of the relentless pull on her attention. she really was starting to regret the inversion of effect aspect of her mental protection soul structure.

    she had made that structure because she knew many of the most sophisticated concealment ward designs included subtle attention-diverting elements, and she figured that making those actively draw her attention instead would help her find valuable things that anyone else would overlook. people with the means to make such sophisticated wards generally didn''t bother putting them on cheap trash, after all. changing one detail of what the attention-altering enchantment would do to her was more efficient than stopping it in its tracks, too, allowing her to defeat such wards set by people much more powerful than her. she hadn''t accounted for how aggravating having her attention constantly pulled toward something she already knew about would be, however.

    ressara stopped her woolgathering and stood up from her dark spot in a corner to walk over to the bar herself. "interesting young couple, there. with the guards."

    the barkeeper finished filling a drink and handed it to a big man with an even bigger sword on his back, then turned to her. "ressara, was it? first time i''ve heard you call anyone ''interesting''."

    ressara shrugged, and put a few coppers on the bar, the standard price for an ale. "i call it as i see it. what of it?"

    "you''ve watched young newbies with chaperones come through before and said nothing. what''s so interesting about these two in particular?" the barkeep placed a mug of ale in front of her and scooped up her coppers.

    she took a sip, taking her time with the drink before replying again. "i have a feeling you''ll find out, in due time." she smiled. "does it matter, when my coin spends the same regardless?" she placed one silver on the bar, but held her hand over it to block anyone but the barkeeper from seeing it.

    the barkeeper looked askance at ressara over his shoulder as he filled three more ale mugs, and plopped them on the counter for other customers. "you know i can''t tell you their room. this is the haven."

    ressara nodded. "a down payment. for whatever you can find out for me."

    "fine. the boy''s named carlos, the girl''s amber. anyone with decent mana sense can tell they have barely any development. we''ll see what else comes to my ears. no promises." he smoothly disappeared her silver and nodded, then pointedly turned away and moved to another section of the bar.

    ressara returned to her corner table and ate a bit more, but barely tasted anything as she kept glancing towards the stairs. it wouldn''t do to be too obvious in her pursuit, but if she waited too long their aura trail would fade, and she was anxious to find out more. just a few minutes later, she cursed to herself, and hurriedly gulped down her ale as she stood, stacking her knife and fork on the plate to indicate she was done. she would have to apologize to the chef later for leaving so much of his masterfully prepared food uneaten, but she couldn''t wait any longer.

    it was at times like this that she wished she could develop her soul as easily as nobles could. her improvised hodgepodge of soul structures gave her some useful tricks, such as seeing the aura trails of people whose souls she''d examined well enough, but even with several years of development she had only reached her fifth density compression overall, and her tricks were correspondingly weak. aura trails faded for her faster than even for the products of an apprentice enchanter. though, she did have some advantages over aura tracing devices. she only needed to have seen her quarry closely enough, not go hunting for hairs, or blood, or samples of mana, and her tracking did not advertise what she was doing to anyone who saw her.

    she walked over to the stairs, ignoring a couple attempts to waylay her for some question or other, and climbed. she had her own room in the adventurer''s haven, so simply going up the stairs shouldn''t be at all suspicious to anyone. she looked around furtively at the third floor, however, checking if anyone might see her turning off from the stairs on the wrong floor. her room was on the fourth floor, but the lingering wisps of aura she was following led down one of the third floor hallways.

    ressara followed the etherial trail around a corner and down another hall, until it turned through the closed door of room 317. she gingerly tiptoed the last few steps, and quietly pressed her ear against the door. she could dimly sense the presence of carlos and amber somewhere inside the room. actually, if she remembered the inn''s floor plan correctly, this was a small suite. the two guards were there too, with their attention-diverting soul disguises that her mental influence inverter made annoyingly difficult to ignore. she wanted to be focusing on the two youths and whatever conversation might be audible through the door, not on the irrelevant guard that was... approaching the door rapidly. whoops.

    she had barely taken two brisk steps back the way she''d come when the door was flung open and a guard stepped out and called out to her. "halt!"

    ressara froze, and slowly turned around to face the guard. she put on her best innocently deferential smile and tried to sound nonchalant. "yes? what can i do for you?"

    the guard glared at her, unimpressed. "you can tell me your name and why you were attempting to spy on us."

    "ressara, investigative scholar at your service, sir." she bowed. "i was merely curious about your charges. they seem to have greater potential than most i see pass through here."

    "if you want to join their party for when they venture into the wilds, you may register your interest with the inn just like anyone else, along with the origin and significance of your unfamiliar title and any other credentials you might have. we are not entertaining hangers-on, and if we catch you spying again i will not let you off so lightly a second time. you may go."

    the guard stepped back inside the suite and firmly shut the door. ressara paused a moment, then shook herself and walked away. they would notice if she stayed. she would need to prepare and be much more thoroughly stealthy before trying again. if she tried again. maybe she should be more circumspect about investigating them. or more direct. or both. in any case, in hindsight pitting her pitiful stealth skills against such professional guards had been foolish.

    carlos looked at colonel lorvan as he closed and locked the door again. when they reached the privacy of their new suite, carlos had taken the opportunity to finally insist on introductions. lorvan - the more senior of the two guards - had protested that it was not proper for such loaned guards to go by anything other than their ranks (which carlos was pretty sure he was getting translated by closest equivalence, not actual meaning), but had yielded to carlos''s insistence when he pointed out that calling out their ranks could spoil their efforts to remain incognito. lorvan and major ordens had given their names and ranks, and lorvan had just started saying something about nobles and methods of something, when he abruptly cut himself off and rushed to the door.

    he adopted a severely stern expression. "the danger i speak of is extreme, and you must approach it with caution. for most commoners, and even yourselves as you are now, if you traveled to where dragons live, you would not survive long enough for the dragons to even notice you, much less kill you. you would not even respawn. your souls would dissolve into nothing, overwhelmed by the extremely dense ambient mana of those areas. you will not be ready for such areas until well after the point when our service to you ends."

    "thank you for the warning." carlos chose not to mention that he was sure they would notice the danger well in advance thanks to their introspectors. "i assume there is a reason you''re explaining this to us now?"

    "of course. you need to learn how to actively and quickly absorb denser mana, and you have a very limited opportunity to learn and practice that here, in the safety of dramos itself, while the mana in your souls is still less dense than the ambient mana here."

    carlos nodded. "alright, let''s get to it, then. how do we start?"

    "your soul plan as mages will make this easier than for most. meditate, and focus your mana sense around yourself, and even inward if you can. try to sense the flow of ambient mana, and how it is flowing into you, and merging into your souls."

    carlos blinked, exchanged a knowing look with amber, and smirked. his introspector trivially sensed that flow for him. "ok. done."

    lorvan frowned. "even mages of sandaras''s caliber take at least a minute or two to fully identify and comprehend this flow at your level of development. it is subtle, weak, and pervasive."

    amber crossed her arms and scowled at him. "we did it already. house secret. next step, now."

    lorvan looked back and forth between them for a few seconds, then sighed. "very well. focus on the flow, and use your mana manipulators to reach out to it, and speed it along. take hold of the ambient mana around you, pull it in towards the intake of that flow, and guide it along the same path, to merge into your soul structures and your surface layer. urge the mana to hasten what it is already do- what the?!"

    carlos smirked, and crossed his arms. "we told you." at the urging of his debugger, in conjunction with his mana manipulator but still primarily his debugger, ambient mana was pouring into him in a torrent, and he sensed the same torrent in amber. the dense mana in the air crossed the boundary of his soul''s surface from all directions, ballooned into a diffuse gas spread over four times the volume, and soaked into everything. his soul structures were drinking it up like desert sands hit with a sudden flood. his debugger, the one structure he had that was actually more dense than the ambient mana of dramos, was throwing its extra-heavy weight into the effort, and nothing was opposing it.

    warning: rate of ambient mana absorption is almost maximum tolerable. increasing speed further will risk soul erosion damage.

    carlos blinked, and hastily directed his debugger to keep it at a safe speed, below the danger threshold.

    lorvan gaped at them for a few more seconds, then shook his head and laughed. "did you two really make special purpose soul structures for this? but, wait, you only learned about it just now, so...?"

    carlos grinned. "eh, kind of. we didn''t make anything just for this, specifically. details are secret."

    "i see." lorvan took a deep breath, and settled back into his mask of professionalism. "my apology for doubting your claim, sir. it appears you need little instruction for this, but take care to not absorb so much so quickly that it damages you."

    "already got that covered. thanks, though."

    "...as you say, sir."

    on the ground floor of the adventurer''s haven, the barkeeper sidled up to a lanky man with several daggers worn openly and several more secreted in his boots and sleeves, under his shirt, inside his cap, and various other places. the barkeeper spoke quietly. "you wanted info about what that scholar woman''s up to."

    the lanky man with all the daggers nodded almost imperceptibly.

    "the pair of youths with escorts that came in this evening. she''s interested in them. wouldn''t say why. paid silver up front for whatever info i find. might have tracked ''em to their room, not sure."

    "hmm. sounds fishy." the lanky man spoke just as quietly in response. "one more ale for tonight, and... good work. put it on my tab."

 Chapter 32: Relaxation

    chapter 32: relaxation

    carlos yawned, stretched his arms wide, and slowly blinked the grit out of his eyes as he sat up. he shook his head a bit to nudge along the unhurried process of waking himself up, and looked around at the room that was definitely not his own bedroom at home. the bed was very comfortable, though. he yawned again. if this was a hotel, it seemed a bit rustic, but high quality. they apparently even served hot breakfast in bed, judging by the heavenly scent of bacon and eggs coming from the covered platter on the nightstand. strange that he didn''t remember planning to stay at a hote-

    he froze. the events of the past two weeks came back to him in a rush, and he tensed up, ready to lash out or maybe run. then he noticed how comfortable the bed he was lying on was again, and relaxed, releasing an extended sigh of relief. yes, he''d been through some crazy, dangerous, and high stakes stuff, but he was safe now. he''d have to go out and face more otherworldly dangers again before long, but right now he was resting in a highly secure and expensive inn in the middle of a city that he nominally ruled. he could afford to drop his guard and just relax for a while.

    carlos took a deep breath, stretched and yawned one more time, then leisurely reached out and removed the cover from the breakfast platter, sat up still in bed, and picked up the platter and plopped it on his lap. he breathed in the aroma, and sighed happily. there was crisp bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, a warm and fluffy biscuit that seemed like it must have come directly from the oven, three kinds of berries he didn''t recognize that all tasted pleasantly sweet and juicy, and some kind of fruit juice to drink with it. it wasn''t the right color for orange juice, but it had a nice tang to it that washed down the sausage and bacon''s grease very well.

    something tipped him off to look up a moment before a knock sounded on his door, and amber''s voice came through it. "still sleeping in there?"

    "i''m eating breakfast now, actually." carlos paused eating and cocked his head, thinking back and wondering how he''d reacted before she knocked. he hadn''t heard any footsteps. there was just her knock, her voice, and the mana of her soul. ...oh, right. he''d sensed a soul''s surface layer of mana approaching, and he''d recognized that it was her soul.

    carlos realized she''d said something while he was thinking, and mentally slapped his forehead as he returned his attention to the present moment. "uh, could you repeat that? i was distracted for a moment, sorry."

    "i said the morning''s already half done, and we should be doing things. i would have woken you up over an hour ago, but lorvan stopped me."

    carlos blinked. "lorvan? our lead guard? why would he do that?"

    lorvan''s strong baritone voice projected through the door. "it would not be proper to disturb your rest without pressing need or your prior instruction, m- uh, sir."

    "oh." carlos let his hands settle onto the platter, loosely gripping the knife and fork, and stared vacantly at the remaining portions of food on it while he thought about the recent events he''d been through and how he felt. "hmm. guard lorvan, i appreciate your defense of my rest, but for the future if amber believes i should be getting up then i am inclined to trust her judgement on the matter. really, i''ve had a bad habit of sleeping later than i should for a long time, and it''s high time to correct that."

    "ha! see?"

    silence reigned for a moment before lorvan replied, his voice still directed through the door at carlos. "yes, sir."

    "with that said: amber, we''ve been through a lot recently, and i think we could both use a break. as far as i know there''s nothing we need to do that can''t wait a day. let''s just... take the day off and relax. wander around dramos, explore what''s here, see what interesting and fun things we can find, and just enjoy ourselves for a little while. how does that sound to you?"

    "but- but i want to learn more magic!" amber''s voice rose in pitch near the end, though not enough for carlos to consider it a whine.

    "we''ll be stuck waiting for trinlen for that plenty soon enough regardless. moving one day of that wait to now instead of a month from now won''t change anything. and hey, we could see about finding where sandaras fought off those thieves. what do you think of that?" carlos grinned to himself.

    "oh! um, er. that... um, well. i really like that idea, but i''m also worried it will just be another disappointment." carlos thought he could almost hear amber blushing through the door.

    "if it is, that just means we can have fun thinking of ways to make it stop being a disappointment. brainstorm the best ways to dress up the place and show it off. huh, come to think of it, if mayor stelras is handling that the way i think he is it could be a real missed opportunity that we could fix. so many people come here because of those rumors that he bothered to make a standard answer pamphlet for them. a lot of them would probably be willing to pay a bit to see the place where it happened. could be good money in it."

    "...huh. you really think people would pay for that?"

    "wouldn''t you pay to see it, if you had never met me and eventually came here?"

    "maybe two pairs of newbies with rich parents showed up yesterday and one of them walked?" the guard shrugged again. "none of my business. i''m just here to greet new arrivals and raise an alarm if somebody tries a teleport invasion for some reason."

    "sure. well, thanks for the chat. it was nice talking with you." the woman handed him a few coins, and walked away.

    carlos strolled along the market street, looking around at all the open stalls and shops, enjoying the relief of actually not having to hurry to handle some urgent and critically important issue for once. danger and high stakes projects would come, but that was a worry for the future. right now, he and amber were safe, under the protection of the highest power in the country, and had no looming deadlines approaching. he could relax with confidence, and investigate whatever he cared to. and right now, what he cared about... was lunch.

    amber was almost bouncing on her feet, looking around excitedly at everything. she''d dash off for a minute every time she spotted a store that looked like it might possibly sell spellbooks, or unusual adventuring gear. there were a lot of places that advertised supplies for adventurers. she had already collected several minor gadgets, and found a few places that had archmage sandaras''s beginner textbook and similar books, but this area didn''t seem to carry any of the really serious enchanted gear like they''d seen tornay use, or anything for mages trying to expand their repertoire.

    for his part, carlos was glad that amber was enjoying herself, but right now he was paying more attention to the scents of food in the air. he sniffed, and cocked his head, trying to sort out what he was smelling. there were plenty of stalls offering a variety of meats, vegetables, and breads, prepared in a variety of ways, but he thought he''d just caught a whiff of something else. he sniffed again. yes, there was a hint of a blend of seasonings that reminded him of curry. his mouth started watering. curry would be a great change of taste from everything he''d eaten recently.

    "hey, amber. do you smell that?"

    "hmm?" amber turned to carlos and looked at him, reluctantly taking her gaze away from the name of another shop she''d been considering checking out.

    "i just smelled what i want to eat for lunch. help me track it down?"

    "oh. sure. now that you mention it, i am feeling hungry. what is it?"

    "hmm. does ''curry'' translate?"

    amber paused, blinked a couple times, and stared a moment longer. "ok, that felt weird. i did not know a word for that, but the meaning came through. anyway, seems like it should be tasty? let''s try it!" she started sniffing and moving around, tracing the scent to its source.

    ressara furtively peeked around the corner of a stall, watching carlos and amber as they... sniffed for something? what could they be looking for? she was at a loss for what the purpose of their slow journey through this market area was. their two guards shadowed their every move, of course, but so far she''d managed to avoid drawing their attention. she hung well back, stayed out of sight much of the time, and relied heavily on her ability to sense and recognize specific souls to keep track of them.

    she''d seen amber rush into store, after store, after store, but she had no idea why. she knew these stores, and everything available here was just minor things that should be trivialities to any noble, cheaper and less useful or interesting than their childhood toys. carlos, meanwhile, didn''t seem to be doing anything in particular, just bemusedly observing amber as he slowly wandered. their guards were just being unobtrusively watchful.

    ressara huffed, and sighed in exasperation. this didn''t make any sense! they were obviously on an expedition to develop their souls after building their house''s soul plan, so why weren''t they preparing to go into the wilds?

    liafra turned the page in her book, and chuckled. after that young newly noble couple (or was she assuming too much?) had shown up out of nowhere yesterday, and even they expressed interest in sandaras, she''d impulsively decided to indulge in one of the novels those rumors had inspired. apparently, there were quite a number of people who responded to learning the truth by imagining their own alternate reality of what they had wanted the truth to be, and writing about it at great length. some of them were truly absurd. sandaras somehow impressing dragons so much, with just his determination and intelligence before he''d even built his soul structures, that they taught him their supposed secret knowledge of an orichalcum rank soul plan that not only made him the ultimate mage but also let him freely transform into a dragon himself? what utter nonsense, yet it was strangely fascinating to read.

    she shook her head and looked up as someone knocked on her door. ah. time to do her job as the mayor''s receptionist. she put the book aside and called out, "come in."

    the woman who opened the door and walked in had long dark hair hanging half way down her back, and wore an elegant dark blue dress that swirled around her legs as she walked. she stood tall, and confidently strode to just in front of liafra''s desk, where she remained standing and looked down at liafra.

    liafra put on a cheerful smile and looked back up at her visitor. "how can i help you?"

    "i have some potential business with a certain pair of youths who met mayor stelras yesterday. carlos and amber. tell me about them."

 Chapter 33: Watchers

    chapter 33: watchers

    liafra kept her smile and cheerful facade in place easily with decades of experience, hiding her internal concern. carlos and amber should not have drawn this kind of attention this quickly. what had gone wrong? "what kind of information are you looking for?"

    the woman in the dark blue dress smiled sweetly back at her. "all of it, of course. i need to know as much as possible to properly evaluate them for my business."

    liafra kept her gaze steady. "i''m sorry, i don''t have time to help with such an open ended query. you''ll have to be more specific."

    "fine. what is their background, and what is the purpose of their visit to dramos?"

    "i am not privy to the full details. if you have a specific concern, i might be able to help."

    the woman ground her teeth for a moment, and glared. "...they arrived by teleport, and could just as easily have teleported to any other frontier town instead. why did they choose dramos as their entry point into the wilds, and will their visit here disrupt normal adventuring activity?"

    "oh?" liafra permitted one of her eyebrows to rise. "why would you even think that such a disruption is a possibility?"

    "because of how professional and well equipped their guards are. they clearly have rich and powerful support, and that sort would not send a pair of favored scions on such a trip for anything minor!" the woman loomed over liafra and crossed her arms. "is that specific enough for you?"

    "i see." liafra relaxed back into her usual unperturbable smile of helpfulness. "in that case, you would have to speak with mayor stelras personally, as i am not privy to that information. unfortunately, his schedule is quite full at the moment, but i could make an appointment for you sometime next week if that would help?" that was a blatant falsehood - she knew the answer to the woman''s question herself very well - but mayor stelras trusted her with such secrets precisely because she was so reliable at keeping them.

    the woman glared at the mayor''s door in the far wall behind liafra for a few seconds, before turning back to the receptionist. "i have half a mind to barge in there and see for myself how busy stelras really is."

    liafra just kept smiling professionally. "if you truly wish to spend some time in jail, and whatever other punishments might be judged appropriate, i will be happy to call the city guard to see to it."

    tense silence reigned, as each woman stared unblinking at the other, liafra smoothly ignoring the other woman''s efforts at looming intimidatingly. finally, the woman huffed, let her arms drop to her sides, and backed off slightly. "oh very well. make that appointment, but i will not stand idle in the meantime."

    liafra nodded. "duly noted. one week from today, at noon. mayor stelras will see you then."

    the woman turned and stormed out, slamming the door behind her. liafra waited a few minutes to be sure she was well away, then activated the privacy wards built into the office suite, and unceremoniously opened the door to mayor stelras''s office. "sir, we may have a problem."

    carlos took a bite of his curry, and closed his eyes as he sighed in bliss. "mmmm, tasty!" he didn''t recognize any individual ingredient in the dish, from the diced mystery meats, to the squarish flakes of an unknown grain, to the assorted diced vegetables, to the herbs and spices blended together that gave it all a mouth watering flavor, but it was delicious. he really should start learning about the local ingredients in this world. there were a lot of similarities, such as the grain tasting very similar to rice, but very little, if even anything, was exactly the same as on earth. the scrambled eggs and bacon he''d eaten this morning probably hadn''t come from chickens and a pig, too.

    he opened his eyes, and saw amber lost in her own experimental first taste of curry. giving her a moment to experience the taste, he turned to lorvan, who was standing beside and behind his chair, facing outward and constantly scanning the open air eating area. "are you sure about not eating with us?"

    "we must remain on guard. meals are prime ambush opportunities, and we would be remiss in our duties if we allowed our vigilance to lapse."

    carlos walked with a bit more purpose to his steps than in the lazy morning, looking at the people and buildings around him with a more searching gaze. they seemed to be transitioning into another district, though without the sharp demarcation of a formal boundary. there were still occasional stalls selling food, and stores advertising adventuring gear, but they were getting scarcer. the homes and workshops that were increasingly prevalent weren''t what he was looking for either, and amber was losing some of her excitement. even when she did spot another potentially interesting store, she would walk to it instead of running, briefly walk a tour of the store''s shelves and displays, and leave again, sighing and shaking her head in disappointment that they didn''t have anything meaningfully different or better than everything she''d already found in other stores.

    finally, carlos spotted what he was looking for. he pointed at someone who was wearing armor and clothes he was pretty sure were identical to what the guard at the teleport arrival building had worn yesterday, and spoke quietly to colonel lorvan. "that''s one of the city guard, right?"

    lorvan nodded. "yes, sir."

    "so he..." carlos squinted and looked closer. "she would be a good person to ask about where the city guard''s headquarters is, where they can tell us about the details of sandaras''s visit."

    amber laughed. "really? that''s what you''ve been looking for? why not just ask anyone who lives here? i''m sure we''ve already passed dozens, if not hundreds, of people who could answer that for us!"

    carlos flushed and stammered. "i, well... asking some random person could be embarrassing, especially if they don''t know the answer."

    major ordens interjected, "she''s still right, sir. also, being from out of town is nothing to be embarrassed about, and is practically already revealed by our presence as your guards, sir."

    carlos threw up his hands and sighed. "fine, whatever, i''ll keep it mind for next time. but seeing as i''ve already found a city guard, i''ll go ahead and ask her this time."

    lorvan responded in perfect deadpan. "as you say, sir."

    in one of the small suites at the adventurer''s haven, four people gathered. sitting at a desk, with the desk against a wall but his chair turned to face more of the room, sat a tall and lanky man with a sharp nose, with several daggers readily visible and several more hidden. he casually rested his left arm on the desk beside him. a short woman wearing trousers and a woolen shirt leaned against a wall, holding her well muscled arms crossed over her chest, and tapping her foot lightly. a much taller woman with long hair and a dark blue dress sat on another chair, her hands resting motionless in her lap as she waited.

    they were calm, but not happy. they looked at each other in solemn silence until the last of their number arrived. a large man walked in the door with utterly silent footsteps belying his size, and closed it behind himself. the group heard not even a whisper of moving metal, no click of the bolt settling into place, but they knew the door was now locked.

    the large man clasped his hands together in front of his chest and bowed slightly. "my apology for my lateness. they kept speaking of inconsequentials, when they spoke at all, and i followed longer than planned in hopes of hearing something important."

    the lanky man with all the daggers waved calmly at him. "apology accepted, and i agree with your decision. now, what have we learned?" he nodded towards the short woman leaning against the wall.

    "our guess about their transportation was correct. they arrived by teleport yesterday. moreover, when they arrived their escorts were wearing superlatively good armor. top of the line, expensive stuff, sounds like. presumably heavily enchanted. i''d guess the enchantments include something for disguise. and they went straight to the mayor." she fell silent and nodded towards the taller woman in the dress.

    "my turn next?" the woman idly brushed off her lap a little. "liafra was evasive. she kept deflecting and asking me to be more specific. she finished with directing me to stelras, but refused to let me see him sooner than a week from now. when i pushed, she threatened to call the guards." she shook her head. "whoever these people are, and whatever they''re doing, stelras is in on it."

    after a momentary pause the big man, who had now soundlessly seated himself crosslegged on the floor, picked up the thread of the reports. "whatever they are here for, they seem in no hurry to do it. they spent most of the day wandering aimlessly. however, i sensed that they are very likely nobles, and they are definitely mages. the only thing of note i heard them actually speak of was that they want to know details of sandaras''s visit. if we''re lucky, maybe they''re just curious about the legends, but i doubt it. nobles have servants to find out such things for them, they don''t come themselves."

    the lanky man at the desk nodded sharply. "i agree. they''re most likely noble scions on a secret expedition to harvest the mana of our local wilds, too ambitious and impatient to accept the rate of development achievable in their own domain. no wonder that scholar woman found them interesting. they plan to return home greatly empowered, leaving the areas near dramos stripped of mana and valuables. at best, we''d have to relocate for years until these wilds recover, if they ever do. at worst..." he shook his head. "so. give your suggestions. what are we going to do about it?"

 Chapter 34: Synergies

    chapter 34: synergies

    "what a dump!" carlos stared at the... thing that was supposedly an inn in front of them. haphazardly arranged clusters of boards covered two areas that presumably had once been windows, with dim light leaking between the boards. scratches and overlapping graffiti covered most of the wall. most of the drawings meant nothing in particular to him, but he spotted a crude sketch of someone in a robe throwing spiky balls at a pair of stick figures wielding daggers, presumably representing sandaras and the two thieves he''d fought off here. a broken piece of wood leaned against the wall, and another lay flat on the ground, below gaps in the eaves with rough splintered edges. the sign bearing the building''s name hung at a slant by one of its corners above the door, with a metal ring on another corner unattached to anything.

    he might have thought the building abandoned, but dirt and mud with plenty of footprints encrusted the path in front of the door, and he''d seen someone enter it. looking up at the second floor, the builders had apparently seen no need to make windows at all, though at least it was out of reach of most graffiti artists.

    amber just sighed and shook her head. "i don''t even want to know what the inside looks like." she looked askance at major ordens beside her, whose face was twitching towards a smile despite her efforts to suppress it. "what? go ahead, say it."

    ordens grinned brightly. "of course, by your command, sir. we were told this was the cheapest inn in dramos. it actually looks better than i was expecting."

    "ugggh." amber groaned and raised a hand to her forehead. "there are inns even worse than this? how?"

    carlos chuckled. "i''d bet the food is even worse, and the outside looks so, uh, not completely atrocious because that''s what they spend the money on that they save from buying such cheap swill."

    amber shook her head. "no bet. let''s just go. i want that... place out of my sight." she turned around and started walking without waiting for agreement.

    carlos took another look at the sign, hanging from its one attached corner, but couldn''t figure out what it was supposed to show under all the graffiti and damage defacing it. he shrugged, and jogged briefly to catch up with amber. they walked in companiable silence for a few minutes, carlos following amber''s lead for where to go.

    carlos thought about that travesty of an inn as he walked, and eventually an idea came to him. "hmm. maybe we can put a good spin on this. you know, advertise it to people as seeing the depth of squalor that the legend began from."

    amber turned her head and blinked at him. "''spin''? what?"

    colonel lorvan answered her confusion. "an explained interpretation that aids the speaker''s goals."

    carlos nodded. "exactly. a way of describing that horrible place that might get people to feel eager and satisfied about seeing it, instead of disgusted and disappointed."

    "hmm." amber tilted her head contemplatively as she continued walking. "i..." she shook her head. "i don''t know. maybe it might be different if you''d said that before, but i just can''t get over the disappointment i felt when we got there. you can try it later if you want to, but i don''t think i''ll want anything to do with it."

    "fair enough. we''re not in a good position for that kind of project yet anyway."

    they walked a few more minutes in silence, amber taking long purposeful strides and barely even glancing at the stores and other buildings they passed. eventually, carlos broke the silence. "so, where are we going?"

    "back to our inn. today''s been disappointing, and i want to finish it with something positive. let''s fix those inactive synergy links."

    "ah, ok." carlos frowned briefly, and mentally reached for their telepathic bond. [might be wise to not let our guards know details about those.]

    amber blinked, and stared vacantly for a moment, before replying in english herself. "that your... that was your language, right? it ha- it. is. harder. than i expected. to speak this way. i... think i''m getting used to it, though? anyway, good idea to use this when talking about secret details like that. so, which spells should we learn while doing this? you pick first."

    carlos turned back to the desk, picked up the pile of papers there, and started leafing through it. "hmm. no, no, maybe later, already learned - wait, we should separate those out - not that one... ah! this one." he took one sheet of paper from the stack and handed the rest to amber, after quickly flipping through to find and set aside the two sheets with the incantations for levitation and throw.

    while amber made her own selection, carlos read the spell he''d chosen, and trinlen''s notes on what it would do. the "warmth" spell was intended to improve comfort in cold weather, supplying heat to a person''s body as fast as the cold of the environment drained it. somewhat confusingly, it used two different keywords that both translated to "heat" in english. one was for the effect, and specifically meant the verb definition of "heat", the act of making something hotter. the other was a parameter of that effect, and meant the quantity of thermal energy to add. carlos considered that, and just as he decided that it would be better to change the translation of one of them, the parameter''s name suddenly blurred and became "joules", the scientific unit of energy he was familiar with. maybe he should try to actually learn the language natively sometime, so translation issues like that would stop happening. he shook his head. that was a project for later; he didn''t have nearly enough free time right now.

    the spell as written checked the body''s temperature and calculated from that how much heat energy to add. according to the notes from talking with trinlen, it could not be used to cool someone down, and while in theory an altered version of it could overheat someone, or even cook them alive if powered with enough mana, the victim''s own mana would instinctively resist any such directly harmful effect. any enemy powerful enough to be worth trying to cook like that would probably be easier to kill with other methods.

    carlos wondered if he might be able to bypass the restriction against using it for cooling the same way he''d made levitation push down instead of up, but he wasn''t ready to investigate that bug properly yet. for now, the main focus needed to be developing their souls as much and as efficiently as possible, and that meant fixing those synergy links. he learned the new keywords for this spell easily. it was almost perfunctory, even, with them being just single words and the improvements in learning spells from the synergies they had already fixed the day before.

    with that done, all that remained was to put all the pieces together, and to do it in the manner he''d just described. really, "learning" a spell wasn''t an accurate description of what the process actually involved. he was building a mana construct, an extremely miniaturized soul structure of sorts, that encoded the spell''s instructions. if a spell was a program, he was writing that program as an executable file into the metaphorical hard drive of his soul. carlos pushed and pulled at various parts of an amorphous blob of mana, forming the first few links to the tiny structures that encoded each individual word as he was used to doing, but then remembered there was another change to the process that he needed to make.

    carlos took a mental step back, and experimentally tried to focus on a whole line at once, loosening his conscious direct control of each single word''s encoding. the encoding of that line formed easily on his first attempt. too easily, he realized. the number of words in it was still well within his natural capacity for holding multiple things in mind at once, and he''d linked all of them with enough conscious focus still that there had been no room for his reflex improver to help. he''d read a piece of psychology trivia that the maximum number of separate pieces of information a person can actively hold in mind at the same time ranges from five to nine for most people, and he thought he probably needed to exceed that limit, focusing on a grouping that contained ten or more words, to give his reflex improver something to do.

    he considered for a moment, shrugged, and decided he might as well jump to trying to do the entire incantation all at once. he knew, in the conventional intellectual sense, what the spell was supposed to do, and how the instruction sequence for it had to be arranged. he tried to hold that knowledge in mind without focusing on any specific part, and somewhat clumsily fumbled around with his efforts to shape the remaining blobby portions of the mana construct into the proper form. he shook his head; this wasn''t quite right either. the details of each part did need to be there. he was just trying to offload and delegate the mental effort of specifying them.

    he paused to consider. what other approaches could he try? perhaps more to the point, what other approach would better match how his reflex improver worked? he rechecked his notes about their soul structures. it wasn''t actually supposed to do things for him, but rather improve the speed, efficiency, and correctness of his actions. he tried focusing on one line for just the briefest instant he could, too little time to actually form the needed links, and took a moment to consider his impression of the result. something definitely had happened. the mana had moved and changed shape, just not far enough, the change halted incomplete.

    carlos tried again, focusing his attention for just a little longer on encoding one line of the incantation into the partially formed mana construct, but still too short a time to actually finish it, and then quickly shifting his focus to the next line, and then the next. it was an exercise in rapidity, both in trying to finish something before his arbitrary time limit per line, and in correctly changing for each new line which links he was trying to form with the mana. twice, he caught himself after a moment beginning to create a link to a word from the previous line.

    he got to the end of the incantation and went back to the beginning, encouraged by a report from his introspector that his reflex improver actually was getting involved in this. with the second pass through, he allowed a little more time on each line, and the progress he''d already made in the first pass also left less work still to do, though a portion of that progress had decayed. several links to appropriate encoded words formed fully at various places in the increasingly structured arrangement of mana, and he didn''t notice any more mistakes. the third pass completed the entire spell, and he double checked with a fourth pass, comparing manually to the written incantation, before allowing it to enter his spells database.

    the new spell settled into him, and he knew he could cast it. more importantly, his introspector gave him a series of alerts.

    synergy links activated:

    spells linker and mana manipulatorspells linker and reflex improver

    active synergy links: 43 / 45

    overall mana absorption and development efficiency increased from 92% to 96%.

    carlos smiled, and looked up to find amber. she was sitting in another chair, leaning forward on her elbows, staring at carlos and waiting.

    seeing him meet her eyes, amber sat up straight and grinned broadly. "ah, you finished. you only took a few minutes longer than i did. now we can try the last two!"

 Chapter 35: Plans

    chapter 35: plans

    carlos stood up and stretched before replying to amber. "you''re done already? which spell did you pick?"

    amber raised an eyebrow as she smiled at him. "i think you should try to figure that out from sensing its mana. don''t you?"

    carlos nodded. "good point, learning via mana sense is the goal for this exercise. you already cast it?" he turned his attention to the mana all around him. he was still getting used to having a whole extra sense, and most details of it went unnoticed when he wasn''t focusing on it. it was an especially complex sense, too, like sight and sound combined of an alternate layer of reality, maybe with a bit of scent thrown in on top. he had to mostly tune out his actual vision and hearing to understand much about the mana around him.

    he sensed amber''s soul glowing with mana as always right in front of him, though it felt more dense and solid than it used to. more significantly for his current goal, he sensed a compact bundle of mana floating right next to her in the flows of ambient mana drifting through the air. "ah! spotted it." he narrowed his eyes in concentration, even though he was mostly ignoring his actual vision right now, but hesitated as another thought occurred to him. "i should cast mine before i try to figure out what yours does, though, so we can both work on it. um, maybe cover your ears so you don''t hear the words?"

    "right." amber put her hands on her ears, and even closed her eyes.

    carlos cast his new warmth spell, and as soon as he finished amber let her hands drop back down from her ears and started chewing her lip in concentration. carlos looked at her for a moment, wondering how she''d known when to stop blocking her hearing, before realizing she''d probably sensed the spell''s mana settle into the tiny bundle of its completed form. it wasn''t really doing much at the moment. he hadn''t been feeling even slightly chilly, so the spell was just monitoring his body temperature, waiting for him to need some extra heat. even just monitoring was still costing mana steadily, but at a slow enough rate that it could keep going for a long time. he estimated it would probably last several hours if the active heating effect never needed to kick in.

    he shook his head slightly, dismissing the thoughts about his warmth spell, and closed his own eyes to follow amber''s example and focus better on the spell he needed to puzzle out. he found the bundle of mana floating next to her right where it had been before, and this time he kept looking for more details. there was a narrow strand connecting it to her, and he could dimly sense movement of mana within that strand. it was more than just a tether keeping the spell connected to her; the amounts of mana moving along the tiny strand were minute, but the movement seemed purposeful, carrying some kind of meaning. he wasn''t the recipient of that information, though, and he couldn''t sense what it was.

    carlos shifted his attention to the spell itself, the little bundle of mana floating beside amber. it was very small, but cohesive and with a sharply defined boundary, and a clearly structured form. there was a slowly shrinking ball that he sensed no particular meaning from. a slow trickle flowed from that ball into an arrangement of pipes, and he realized that the ball was the mana supplied to power the spell. the pipes, then, were the operational part of the spell that used that mana to achieve whatever the spell''s effect was.

    with a flash of insight, carlos realized that some of those tiny pipes formed of mana were familiar, and he thought he knew from where. they were not the same as any of the structures he formed in his soul to learn various incantation keywords, but... he cast the light spell, and examined it for comparison. exactly as he had thought, major sections of the spell''s form once it was cast were identical to sections of amber''s spell that he was studying. there was the intake pipe, that took from the power supply at a steady rate and fed it into the rest of the spell construct. there was a junction pipe, that split off a portion of the flow into the main operative section. there was a looped section that connected back to the intake and kept unexpended mana flowing in a cycle. hmm, it looked like adding more junction pipes would let a single spell of this form have multiple effects. he''d have to look into that later.

    basic structural similarities were not surprising, and not the main point he needed to focus on, however. he focused more closely on the operative section attached to the single junction pipe in the spell construct. that section was completely different from the light spell, and presumably corresponded to this spell''s effect keyword. the thin strand connecting the whole spell to amber was hooked into that section specifically, and he could just barely sense regular pulses of almost microscopic amounts of mana being emitted from the operative section and sent along the connecting strand to amber. those pulses were carrying some kind of information, he was sure of it, but what?

    carlos concentrated, straining to focus more, trying to make out more detail of the spell''s operative section or sense anything about its purpose. he thought it was some kind of divination effect, and his comprehension aid agreed with that assessment, but what was it divining? he felt like he was trying to look with his naked eyes at something that would be best examined with a microscope, or at least a magnifying glass. he could tell there were more details there to be seen, but they were fuzzy and indistinct.

    after several more minutes of failing to identify anything more specific, his introspector finally popped up an alert for him.

    mana sensor development is insufficient to identify the precise effect of an unfamiliar spell.

    carlos sighed, lowered his head, and just sat there for a while. it was disappointing that he wouldn''t be able to finish the last two synergy links for now. on the other hand, that alert seemed like almost positive confirmation that it will be possible in the future, and that he just needed to develop his soul more first. he straightened back up and squared his shoulders. well, they could still absorb ambient mana in dramos for rapid development up to one more density compression, and there was no time like the present. might as well get to it.

    carlos had barely begun actively pulling in mana from the environment when two loud knocks sounded from the door. he stopped; the timing of those knocks was too precise to be coincidence. amber opened her eyes and looked questioningly between carlos and the door. he walked to the door and opened it. "is there a problem?"

    colonel lorvan stepped in, tight lipped, and closed the door. "yes, sir. i am uncertain how major a problem it is. a messenger delivered this letter while you were working. my apology for the interruption, but in light of the contents, i judged that you should know of it before doing what you were about to begin." he held out a crisply folded sheet of paper, and carlos carefully opened and read it, then passed it to amber.

    carlos and amber,

    carlos nodded. "yeah. i could tell that your spell is some kind of divination, giving you information about something, and that it uses the same structural framework as ''light'', but the details are too small."

    "it''s ''compass''. it tells me the direction to a chosen location that i''ve been to. only the direction, though, not the distance. this time i picked my bed." amber shrugged. "for my part, i figured out that your spell is monitoring something, and has a related effect that''s inactive right now, but that''s all. i might be able to sense something about that other effect if you make it active, but probably not much. i tried seeing if i could get some resonance going to feel it out more, like when i''m learning an incantation word and getting the mana construct and conceptual meaning to match, but nothing i tried gave even a hint of positive feedback."

    "hmm." carlos grabbed his synergies list and scribbled a note at the bottom. "that''s a worthwhile idea to keep in mind, but i think we just need more development. anyway, ''warmth''. monitors my body temperature, and warms me up if i get cold."

    "aaah, so that''s what it was." amber nodded. "let''s try again after we develop to the third compression." with no further ceremony, ambient mana started pouring into her soul. carlos followed her example a moment later.

    esmorana cautiously kept her distance as she followed in the tracks of an especially dangerous beast of the wilds, moderately distant from dramos. this deep into the wilds, the ambient mana was many steps denser than in dramos, and the creatures that roamed here were correspondingly more powerful. this particular monster was an apex predator, a giant thing several times taller than a human despite prowling on all four of its main limbs, with jaws big enough to swallow grown men whole three at a time. it could sprint faster than most people could see, had skin tough enough to make ballista bolts bounce, and would greedily devour an entire herd before taking a long nap to digest them all.

    most importantly for her purposes, it had a strong and very recognizable stench that emanated from it constantly, warning other predators to steer clear. its prey had also learned to flee from that scent, of course, but by the time it was close enough to smell it was often too late, and some of its victims would panic so badly that they would trip over their own legs, or run into trees or boulders or even cliffs, or in other ways disable themselves by accident. there was a bit of mana embedded in the scent as well, that would induce fear, confusion, and clumsiness even in those unfamiliar with its source.

    as she walked, a swirling shell of air flowed around her, filtering out the foul and dangerous stench before it could reach her nose. the swirling air also gently but firmly pushed aside small branches from her path, and shuffled leaves out from in front of her where she was about to step and around back to cover her tracks behind her. her dress, though perhaps shorter than what she wore in town, and colored to blend in well with the trees and bushes, still flowed elegantly, and the wind casually conspired to prevent it from snagging on anything, and to deflect any splashes of dirt or mud before they could reach it.

    above esmorana''s head, a vast invisible sphere of very, very stinky air gradually grew ever larger and ever more concentrated, as it vacuumed up the cloud of stench left in the wake of the beast she was following. a large man walked soundlessly beside her, his head constantly swiveling as he continuously scanned their surroundings, though he paid special attention to the beast distantly in front of them. periodically, he glanced up at the ball of air and stench that normal eyes could not see.

    "think you have enough of that stink yet?"

    esmorana glanced upwards. "hmm. perhaps. better to have more and not need it, no?"

    ressara slammed her mug down on the bar at the adventurer''s haven. "another."

    the barkeep smoothly swapped it with a fresh mug, full of ale. "rough day?"

    ressara took a big gulp from the new mug, set it down briefly, then took another swig. "hard choice."

    "what''s hard about it?"

    ressara remembered the twin vortices of ambient mana being absorbed that she''d sensed in her abortive trip up to her room before she''d turned around to start drinking, and shuddered. "risky."

    the barkeeper shrugged. "high risk comes with high rewards, or so the saying goes."

    ressara chugged the rest of the mug, and swayed, then leaned forward onto the bar and sighed. she shook her head, and sighed again. "just- i- ..." her voice cracked slightly, and she cleared her throat. she stared into her empty mug for a long moment, then closed her eyes, opened them, pushed off to stand straight again, took a deep breath, and faced the barkeeper squarely, focusing on trying to speak clearly. "tell... tell carlos and amber that i would like to join their party, and that i think i could be useful to them."

 Chapter 36: Preparations

    chapter 36: preparations

    [the spell gained extra mana just because you had it pushing down instead of up? that is bizarre.] amber shook her head idly and laughed. she was sitting at the main desk of their suite this time, leaving carlos to one of the three other chairs scattered around the suite''s common room. [you keep discovering new things, yet you''re not even trying to. it''s fascinating. someday you''ll actually try to discover some new world shaking secret, and i don''t know whether you''ll ironically fail abysmally, or succeed beyond my wildest imagination. i''m excited to find out.]

    carlos chuckled too. [i expect there will be some of each. in any case, please be cautious about using that. i''ve already thought of some ways to use it to do things that are far more powerful than we should be capable of, and i''m sure there are many more, but i don''t understand how and why it works, and that worries me. i''m pretty sure the extra mana doesn''t come from our souls - my introspector would have reported losing mana like that - but i don''t believe for a moment that it''s truly coming from nothing. what if it''s coming from some monstrously powerful dragon who will hunt us down for stealing from it? or what if it''s coming from the source of all magic and permanently weakens magic in general? or who knows what else?]

    [right.] amber nodded gravely. [i may be endlessly curious about this, but even i know better than to risk poking a sleeping dragon when i don''t have to.]

    silence stretched between them for a while, in voice and telepathy, as they both waited for their souls to absorb enough ambient mana to develop. they had found that doubling their own mana density at the second compression had doubled the rate they could absorb mana - or maybe it was the same rate, just absorbing mana that was twice as dense - but they had farther to go this time because they didn''t have a head start for the third compression. they had continued perhaps an hour or two past sunset last night before admitting that they clearly weren''t going to finish in one day. now it was approaching lunch time the next morning, and both carlos and amber were rapidly approaching the third compression of their soul development as well.

    carlos yawned, and stretched his arms. the process of actively absorbing ambient mana had been fascinating at first, but his mana manipulator and debugger made it easy enough that he didn''t need to really focus on it, and as the hours stretched on it had turned into the boring tedium of watching a progress bar slowly fill. he''d explained the strange behavior he''d discovered of the levitation spell just for something to pass a bit of time.

    now, tension was starting to ramp up, as that progress bar - a literal progress bar at least for him - was some fraction past 99.8% and climbing. just about another minute - uh, make that 47 seconds - to go. he watched the seconds count down one by one, and started paying more attention again to how his soul was feeling. everything in his soul was feeling... kind of bloated, actually. all his soul structures were oversized and putting more pressure on each other, and the layer of mana on his soul''s outer surface had a not quite complete duplicate layered on top of it, with just a few tiny holes that were shrinking as he watched.

    the timer ticked down to zero, and carlos felt the pressure in his soul reach a threshold, and overcome some resistance that had been pushing back against it. two adjacent infinitesimal specks of mana collapsed into each other, moving to overlap and merge into one. that collapse and merge pulled the mana around it into a smaller space, giving all of it an extra shove to collapse and merge as well, and in bare moments one soul structure after another suddenly shrank to half its former size, while the surface layer''s duplicate was pulled in to merge as well. after growing steadily for hours, everything was suddenly back to the size it had all started at yesterday evening, but all of the mana was denser now, more concentrated and powerful.

    the sudden reduction in pressure was a relief, and after a moment carlos realized that the relief went further than he''d expected. he hadn''t really noticed before because he was so unaccustomed to feeling anything in his soul, but there had been a constant pressure surrounding him ever since they''d arrived in dramos, and now even that pressure was gone. the ambient mana wasn''t trying to push itself into him anymore, because his soul''s mana density finally matched it.

    he experimentally tried to pull in more ambient mana anyway, but it resisted his pull. he focused his will and pulled harder, trying to force more to come in and be absorbed, but the small amount he managed to move just sprang right back out, and that spot in his soul felt sore. no, wait a moment, not quite all of that mana had come back out. a tiny portion had stuck to his mana manipulator and his debugger - the structures that he had used to do the pulling.

    right, one of the ways to absorb mana for soul development was to use your soul structures. apparently, when you didn''t have a favorable density gradient, making use of your mana was an actual requirement, not just something that incidentally aids development as a byproduct. hmm... he''d used his debugger before to move mana he''d already absorbed from one structure to another. maybe he could use that to re-establish a favorable density gradient, making one structure low density enough to continue absorbing even though all the others were too dense? something to try later. for right now, he could sense amber had finished her third compression too, and they had plans for what to do next.

    carlos looked at amber from his chair, smiled, and nodded. she nodded back, and they spoke together, each activating the spell they''d learned yesterday and prepared this morning. he turned his attention back to his mana sense, focusing on the tiny bundled structure of her compass spell. they had intentionally avoided letting each other hear the essential keywords of these spells, because that would negate the point of this exercise by just turning it into learning a keyword the normal way. he did, however, know what the spell did, and had a more powerful and capable mana sensor than before. would that be enough?

    as he examined the tiny pipe-like structure of mana created by the keyword he was trying to learn, the improvement from developing his mana sensor was immediately obvious. the fuzziness in his impression of it was greatly reduced, and he could feel that it was indeed divining a direction, just as amber had told him. ...in hindsight, maybe telling each other the effects of these spells had been a mistake. it was hard to be sure whether he would have sensed that detail without foreknowledge of what to expect.

    carlos narrowed his eyes and concentrated, trying to put his knowledge of what amber had told him about the spell out of his mind, and focusing only on what he could actually sense from the spell''s form. he made a tiny blob of mana, just as he would for beginning to learn a keyword from a written incantation, and started trying to shape it into, well, whatever it was that would make the mana construct he sensed. he sat there for a minute, looking for inspiration that never came. finally, he let out a huff, and started poking and prodding at the blob. maybe if he tried enough variations he''d notice something he could use as a starting point.

    in the common room of the adventurer''s haven, a large man sat quietly at a random table near one of the walls, outwardly minding his own business as he ate a slightly early lunch. inwardly, he was closely following the movements of mana around a certain pair of souls on the third floor. mana had been positively racing into them for hours, at a rate that made him all but certain that they were not only nobles, but high nobles. adamantium rank, and likely high even on that scale. exactly what he''d been worried about. those two would be able to drink mana wellsprings dry once they got their souls dense enough.

    he shook his head. he wouldn''t let it come to that if he could help it. esmorana was preparing, fine tuning their plan''s details, as he waited for the two unwelcome noble scions to emerge and finally proceed into the wilds. he just needed to keep an eye on them, and keep the team updated.

    "i suppose." lorvan shrugged. "but i don''t see the point, sir. you would not gain any understanding from seeing it without an expert enchanter explaining it to you."

    "show me anyway."

    "very well". lorvan held out his right hand, and the outer layer of the metal gauntlet he wore retracted, revealing an intermediate layer of jointed metal plates on top of the softer leather and cloth that enclosed his skin. each plate was covered with a dense array of runes written with inlaid platinum. he pointed with his left index finger at a specific plate. "this one paralyzes a target temporarily, and can be switched to a new target without reactivating it."

    carlos cautiously took hold of lorvan''s partly uncovered hand, narrowed his eyes, and looked closely at the identified plate. sure enough, spell incantation words appeared in his vision, overlaid on top of the runes in extremely tiny script. so small it was difficult to read, but after a few minutes he had picked out the words he needed. he released lorvan''s hand, who promptly returned the gauntlet to its normal state, and nodded. "thank you."

    lorvan looked at him for a few seconds, face blankly expressionless, then shook his head slightly. "there''s another secret involved in this, isn''t there? sir."

    "maybe. or maybe i''m tricking you into thinking we have more secrets than we actually do." carlos grinned cheekily.

    "as you say, sir. do you have any further business before we set out?"

    "no. amber?"

    amber shook her head. "i''m ready."

    "then there is only the formality of a request to join your party that the haven''s staff passed on to me. shall i inform them that you decline so we can get on with it, sir?"

    esmorana sat on a small portable chair a few miles outside of dramos, idly swinging her feet under her dress, the flowing folds of its long skirt appearing incongruous with the trees around her. a small stone she held in her left hand buzzed once, and she stiffened for a moment before raising it in front of her face and smiling broadly. "ah! finally, they''re moving!"

    the shorter woman standing several feet to her left looked over her shoulder at her and scowled. "you''re one to talk. you''ve been sitting here since last night."

    "just because you can''t sense my air manipulations doesn''t mean i''m not doing things. keeping that stench from dispersing isn''t easy, especially while sleeping."

    a gruff voice interrupted their argument as the lanky man sitting on a log to esmorana''s right spoke up. "enough. we all know the plan, and there''s no point arguing nonsense like this." he tossed a dagger from one hand to the other. "are we ready?"

    "oh yes." esmorana grinned hungrily. "they''ll never see it coming."l1tlagoon witnessed the first publication of this chapter on n??v�l--b1n.

 Chapter 37: Contact

    chapter 37: contact

    "why, exactly, should we decline this request? just to keep our identities secret more easily, or is there a more specific reason?" carlos stood up and started putting on his armor while he asked.

    "we have no need of assistance, and ressara in particular would be more hindrance than help." colonel lorvan pronounced his judgement with finality, standing perfectly straight.

    "ressara? hmm." carlos buckled another clasp closed. "is that the, how did you put it, nosy scholar you warned off when we just got here?"

    "...yes, that is the name she gave then as well."

    amber cocked her head slightly. "wasn''t that before we even started actively absorbing mana the first time?"

    carlos nodded. "yeah, i think so. and lorvan, what do you actually know about her that makes you so sure she''d be a hindrance?"

    lorvan frowned for a bare moment before he answered. "her soul''s mana density is only compressed five times, she provided no meaningful references or credentials, and her bearing and posture are those of a novice with no combat experience or training."

    "and yet she noticed something unusual about us immediately." carlos put his sword''s scabbard onto his belt. "i want to hear her explain that, at the very least."

    "very well, sir." lorvan bowed briefly, then turned to ordens, their other guard. "major, see if the... scholar is available for an interview."

    just a few minutes later, a nervously fidgeting woman hesitantly stepped into the room and bowed deeply as ordens closed the door behind her. "um, y-young lord, and um, lady. thank you. for- for seeing me."

    carlos restrained himself from sighing at her behavior. it would probably make her even more nervous, if anything. "you''re ressara, right. please, relax. you''re not in trouble with us. we just want to ask you a few questions."

    ressara visibly gulped as she stood back up from her bow, clasping her hands tightly in front of her. "y-yes, my lord. ressara, investigative scholar, a-at your service."

    carlos again refrained from raising a hand to his forehead in exasperation, and considered the phrasing of his question carefully. "amber and i clearly made a mistake in how we went about trying to hide our nobility, and we want to know what our mistake was so that we can learn from it. how did you realize that we are nobles?"

    ressara''s knuckles were starting to turn white, but suddenly all the twitching in her hands froze, and she looked up sharply at carlos. "you- you really just want to learn and improve yourselves?"

    carlos nodded slowly, and made his voice as gentle as he could manage. "yes. whatever mistake we made, we''re not upset with you for just noticing it. it was our mistake, after all. in fact, having someone notice our mistakes and point them out to us can be helpful."

    ressara took a deep breath, and smoothed out her dress a bit. "ok. um. so, i realized you were nobles the morning after you arrived, when i sensed you were already at the second compression even though you''d been only half or a third of the way to it the evening before."

    lorvan interrupted, his eyes narrowed. "you can sense soul development progress that precisely, even at only five times compressed yourself?"

    "um, yes. sir?" ressara bowed uncertainly. "i have some rather... specialized soul structures."

    carlos just nodded, maintaining a calm and relaxed demeanor. "fair enough, and we already knew that anyone who could sense our active absorption rate would notice. you tried to look into us even before that, though. what drew your attention first?"

    "well, um. i-if you really want to know the first thing that drew my attention, it was your guards'' soul disguises."

    carlos glanced over at lorvan and ordens. "what do you mean, exactly?"

    "uh. d-do you not know already? or are you just asking how i noticed?" ressara''s face was a bit pale, and her hands were fidgeting together again.

    carlos looked back and forth between ressara and lorvan a few times. "...colonel lorvan, i think you''d better start the explanation about this."

    lorvan bowed slightly. "yes, my lord. the soul development of myself and major ordens is advanced enough that in many places we would draw attention ourselves for that alone. to prevent this, and to lead potential enemies to underestimate us, our standard equipment conceals our actual soul development, giving the appearance of a still formidable, but substantially lower, density. i am... surprised to hear that someone at ressara''s level saw through it. it is supposed to be difficult to even notice for people a great deal more powerful than her."

    as they walked through the streets of dramos towards the outer walls and the wilds beyond, carlos was preoccupied. he had put aside thoughts about ressara for a later time, but had something else to focus his mind on while he walked. the runic metal inlays that seemed standard for how enchanted items were made were, apparently, little more than a durable written form of the same language as spell incantations, and he had read a new keyword from lorvan''s enchanted gauntlet that might prove very useful. it was similar to the word the levitation spell used for adjusting the amount of lifting force while the spell was active, but this one was for an adjustable choice of target.

    learning the keyword itself, creating the tiny mana structure that encoded its meaning in his spells database, took just a few minutes. modifying the levitation spell to use it was trickier. he had to make some guesses about how it fit into the overall structure of the spell, and his first couple guesses turned out to be wrong. fortunately, the wrong guesses wasted only a little time, as his linker was quick to inform him in no uncertain terms that they simply were not valid spells at all.

    by the time they were approaching the northeastern gate towards the wilds, carlos was testing the spell. he quietly levitated a copper coin above his hand, then let it fall and lifted a different coin in its place using the same spell. as he swapped to another coin repeatedly, it reminded him of juggling, though it was a lot slower than any juggler could ever get away with. he smiled. he really hoped it wouldn''t be needed, but this could be a trump card no one would see coming. and if it were needed... it would be better if amber had it too, just in case.

    [amber? i finished the spell i''ve been tinkering with. here.] he tried to push the wordless concept of the relevant keyword, and of the completed spell, through their telepathic link. he received back a sense of questioning and curiosity, then acknowledgement and excitement, followed by an impression of focused concentration.

    a little while later, amber sent back some actual words. [ok, i''ve learned that word and spell. it was really easy this way. so, what''s the point of it?]

    [huh, that''s a new record for fastest time. anyway, the idea is that, if we really need it, we use it on an enemy or threatening monster or whatever, to push them down, hard. harder than we should be capable of. and then switch to lifting something else, maybe putting ourselves out of reach, to make use of the extra mana. save it for an emergency, we still don''t know where the extra mana comes from, but if we really need it, don''t hesitate.]

    amber nodded sharply. [right. got it.]

    carlos chose that moment to speak aloud to their guards. "so, exactly how far are we going? past this open meadow and into the trees, i assume?"

    lorvan nodded without breaking stride. "yes, and about a mile farther as well. at some point, you will notice that the ambient mana is thicker in the air, more concentrated. we need to reach a place where it condenses into the next tier of density, and well beyond the borderline. if you begin absorbing right at the boundary, you will quickly reduce the amount near you enough that it will spread back into merely thrice compressed density."

    "ah." carlos continued walking, and quietly muttered an incantation under his breath.

    miles to the east, in a small clearing, a deer with two heads grazed. both heads were low to the ground, nibbling on grass, when a slight gust of wind blew across the clearing. the left head ignored it, but the right head flared its nostrils and sprang up, looking around and sniffing the air alertly. it smelled... something. something dangerous. the right head''s eyes dilated, and it bleated in fear. this smell was... wrong, and terrifying.

    the left head paused in its grazing, and looked up. it sniffed. it came up quickly and sniffed at the same breeze as the right head. both heads swung wildly, their antlers clashing, and the two headed deer started to trot away.

    carlos stepped around yet another bush as he weaved between the trees, following lorvan ahead of him and with amber and then ordens coming behind. he thought of the one member of their group they were leaving behind, and a question came to mind. "hey lorvan, are there any dungeons near dramos? and what are they like?"

    lorvan called back without turning to face him. "two are known. the nearest is in an area with five times compressed ambient mana density. it''s a lot more dangerous than most for the amount of power it has. specializes in swarms mostly, but with a few individual powerhouse monsters to counter dedicated anti-swarm delvers. few people bother with it, and those that do either die and respawn or come back with a reward that they progressed beyond any need for long before."

    "do you know where it is?"

    "not right now. if you want to go there, we can protect you from it, but i doubt you will gain anything worthwhile."

    amber chimed in. "we''ll see about that. look it up for next time!"

    "yes, sir."

    in another place, a few miles north, a great cat stalked its prey. it was on the trail of some rabbits that would make a delectable afternoon meal, and the scent of them was getting stronger. the burrow might be near. just as it took another sniff, a breeze blew across the trail, and a new scent came to the great cat''s nose. the cat turned its head to glare in the direction the breeze came from. how dare another predator trespass on its territory!

    then more details of the smell registered in its simple mind, and the cat flinched back. this... was not a predator it could stand up to. the great cat could hope that this creature was merely passing through, but if not... the cat might have to move and find new territory. it could hope for enough time to at least eat this one meal first, though. it shook its head as the wind died back down, and the cat resumed stalking rabbits.

    lorvan stopped in a small clearing, marched to the far side of it, took a watchful stance, and nodded to carlos. carlos started absorbing mana actively, and amber followed suit, while ordens turned to face behind them and took up watch where they had entered the clearing.

    all four of them turned to the left as a woman crashed through the underbrush, viciously slicing an entire bush out of her path with the two incredibly sharp longswords in her hands. carlos quickly assessed her soul''s mana; she was several compressions ahead of him, but he couldn''t pin down the exact number. the two armored guards who followed her were even more advanced, however, somewhere around ten compressions more density of mana than he had.

    the woman''s shoulder length fiery red hair was protected by a fine mesh covering, and she wore chain link armor that looked almost like it had been knitted from fine steel wire. he could sense powerful enchantments on her armor, and on both of her swords, even more powerful than the enchantments on her guards'' equipment.

    she glared with her striking blue eyes at carlos and amber, looking back and forth between them. "what house dares break the rotation agreement? it is my turn in the dramos wilds!"

 Chapter 38: Confrontation

    chapter 38: confrontation

    carlos leveled a glare of his own back at the sword-wielding woman who had just stormed out of the surrounding forest. "who the hell are you?" he didn''t know what protocols there were for unfriendly high nobles talking to each other, but he figured returning her lack of politeness right back at her was fair.

    her face reddened and she extended her right arm to point a sword at him. "you dare pretend ignorance of the fourth scion of high house tostral? i will not forgive such an insult lightly!" slowly, her scowl changed into a smirk, and she pulled back her sword. "or... is your house so pathetic as to have failed to properly educate you before sending you out? perhaps such failure is to be expected from a house to pathetic they couldn''t even get you to the third compression with their own resources at home."

    carlos shared a glance with amber, and frowned as he looked back at the self-proclaimed tostral scion. "are you going to tell me your name or not? and how do you know we didn''t reach the third compression at home?"

    "i am jamar tostral, fourth child of high lord tostral. and to further rectify your inadequate education, the patheticness of your house extends to your efforts at hiding your nobility. i sensed both of you absorbing mana in the adventurer''s haven yesterday evening. do i need to explain how that revealed your mana density and noble soul rank too?"

    "i may be ignorant of certain people and events, but i know how soul ranks and absorption of ambient mana work. so, you sensed that a pair of other young nobles was here, and you decided to follow us out and confront us where there are no bystanders. did i get that right?" carlos raised an eyebrow and gave her a small smirk.

    "congratulations, you can match the deductive skills of a five-year-old." jamar casually crossed her swords in front of her. "now answer my question! what is your house, and why do you dare break the rotation agreement? do you think you are somehow immune to reprisals?"

    "hmm." carlos raised a hand to his chin and cocked his head a little. "colonel lorvan, what do you think? should we tell her?"

    lorvan stayed in his guarding posture, spear and shield held ready to strike or block as needed, not turning his head at all as he replied. "your decision, my lord. she will most certainly inform her house, and you may have to answer for the consequences of that."

    in other words, the crown would not protect them from house tostral if they provoked a response. or at least the crown wouldn''t give any additional protection. lorvan and ordens would help as much as they could, but two guards could only do so much, however elite they might be.

    carlos shifted his feet slightly as he considered. they seemed to be tingling a little. he smiled at jamar as an idea came to mind for turning her taunts back at her. "if you are so superior, shouldn''t you already know exactly who we are? after all, you said yourself that knowing about each of your peers is part of a high noble''s proper education."

    "ha!" jamar sneered at him. "you think yourself my peer just because you are noble? i am a high noble, you fool. adamantium rank. not mythril. paying attention to all the riff-raff of minor houses would be a waste of my time."

    carlos blinked. she had sensed them absorbing mana, and her soul including the structure that let her sense that was at about the seventh to tenth compression, but she hadn''t sensed the rate clearly enough to know it was too high for mythril? how did that work? did she just not know the upper limit for mythril? or... what if her mana sense was just part of something broader, instead of having a structure specifically focused on it?

    he shook his head, and refocused on jamar. "we are not ''riff-raff''." he shook his right foot for a moment, trying to relieve a little soreness. "and as for your ''rotation agreement'', we have more right to be here than you do. does mayor stelras know that jamar tostral is using his local wilds to advance her development?"

    ordens, not distracted by fending off a wild beast, was better prepared and counterstruck before her opponent even reached her. her spear lashed out at the arms behind the hammer that was approaching her, and jamar''s guard was forced to divert their hammer to parry the strike. ordens stepped forward, her spear almost blurring as she attacked again and again, executing a coordinated series of blows with the perfection of long practice. her enemy''s parries quickly grew more and more desperate.

    carlos didn''t react quite as quickly as his experienced guards did, and lorvan was too busy at the moment to intercept jamar, but fortunately he had a response prepared that he could use very quickly indeed. with only an act of will, carlos changed the target of his levitation spell to jamar, and adjusted it to pull down with enough force to double her weight. the mana of the spell screamed feelings of wrongness at him, but he pressed on anyway. his life was at stake, and he did not want to risk the possibility that he might not respawn.

    jamar stumbled under the extra weight, grunting in surprise, but quickly stood up with a strong push of her legs, and firmly raised her swords again. carlos waited for the precise moment she started taking another step forward, and amplified the pull. she staggered, and fell, pressed down by ten times the combined weight of her body and gear. carlos could sense her soul pressing against the spell, trying to shrug off the effect, but the extra mana the spell was gaining was too much. her soul''s resistance depleted the spell''s mana too slowly.

    safe for the moment, carlos looked around. ordens was methodically picking apart her opponent''s defenses, forcing parries that drew them out of position and opened opportunities for her to strike through, though she had not yet pierced their armor. lorvan was trading blows, blocking attacks with unshakeable strength while battering his opposite number repeatedly. amber was anxiously standing behind ordens, watching closely and stepping quickly to keep herself precisely on the opposite side of her guard from the nearest enemy. she cast a distant cut, and frowned when the spell broke against her target''s protections.

    carlos looked back at his own opponent in this sudden surprise battle. she was struggling just to raise her head to look up at him, her eyes bugging out as she stared. ...and now he could actually see that the ground was shaking. the shaking was even getting stronger. "stampede!?" he yelled uncertainly. if there were enough other animals running around to shake the ground that much, why didn''t he hear them?

    he only had a few more seconds to wonder about that, before he did hear them. thunderous noise erupted into existence, overwhelming all other sounds, and with a tremendous crash of breaking shrubbery, an endless tide of beasts of all kinds flooded into the clearing. more buffalo, some two headed deer, a carpet of rabbits underfoot, and more. they all ran heedless of anything in their path, pulverizing everything beneath their innumerable feet.

    jamar and her guards evidently weren''t expecting this, as the one fighting ordens paused in astonished surprise for just a moment. ordens smoothly plunged her spear squarely into his neck with an extra powerful thrust, then turned and tackled amber, pulling her to the ground and covering her protectively. lorvan wasn''t so fortunate, as his opponent didn''t falter even for an instant.

    in the brief moment he had before the stampede reached him, carlos realized lorvan wouldn''t be able to break off and cover him, and desperately switched his levitation spell back to targeting himself, using the extra mana it had gained to lift himself above the deadly tide of stampeding animals. jamar was suddenly freed from being pinned to the ground, but before she could adjust and reorient the stampede reached her. she was pummeled back into the ground by the hooves of beasts that had to weigh at least a ton.

    carlos watched the chaos unfold beneath him as he hovered. a bubble of force had sprung up around ordens and amber, and the stampede went right over it without touching them. lorvan was standing in place like an unbreakable rock, smashing aside any beast that ran into him. jamar''s guard that he had been fighting was on the ground, knocked down by a combination of the stampede and lorvan''s efforts, and his armor was taking a savage beating. jamar herself had let go of her swords and was curled up, covering her head with her arms and trying to make herself as small as possible. lorvan looked up at carlos for a moment, saw him hovering safely out of reach, nodded, and went back to bashing a tiny clear space.

    carlos waited, and watched, but the stampede only seemed to grow thicker. more types of creatures joined it, too. things with mouths full of sharp teeth, indicating a predatory diet of meat, yet they were just as panicked as the rest, running full tilt and ignoring all the prey around them. he checked the remaining mana in his levitation spell, and gulped. it was depleting fast. theoretically, he could recharge it by pushing jamar down again, but the moment he started doing that he''d drop.

    jamar''s armor was proving a lot more resistant against blunt impacts than its cloth-like woven appearance suggested, but even so it already showed several dents and depressions. as carlos watched, he saw a hoof strike her head, and a barrier of mana flared and broke. the beast ran on, but left behind a bloody hoofprint. jamar loosened her tightly curled posture, likely dazed and disoriented, and more wounds quickly followed.

    gripped by morbid fascination at the sight, carlos realized too late that he should have used the time his levitation spell had bought him to cast it again. he had only prepared it once, but he''d had the time to cast it the slow way, if only he''d started doing it soon enough. he gulped as the last dregs of the spell''s mana ran out, and he dropped.

    he desperately tried to roll, to get to his feet and somehow dodge his way to safety, but he was immediately bowled over. then the trampling began. unbearably heavy hooves stomped on him, again and again. he tried to cry out to lorvan, but something smashed into his chest and blew his breath away. he thought he felt some ribs break, too. it hurt more than anything he could remember, and it kept getting worse. when something struck his head and his vision started fading, he almost welcomed it just for the relief from pain.

    one last thought crossed his mind. at least he was about to learn whether he could respawn.

 Chapter 39: Aftermath

    chapter 39: aftermath

    esmorana stood with her eyes closed, her eyebrows furrowed and tense with focused concentration. her dress and long hair blew in a wind that did not touch her surroundings, and she slowly moved her hands in a circle around each other in front of her, barely aware of the physicality of the gestures she was using to aid her visualization. a continuous rumble came faintly from far away, but she paid it no mind. her attention was on the winds she was directing, miles distant, blowing the frightening scent of a terror tyrant to precisely where it was needed, indirectly guiding the great stampede she had set in motion.

    it was easier now that all the stampeding creatures were gathered in a single horde, and she had dropped the dome of muffling around her targets when the stampede reached it, but manipulating air in so many places across such a large area to gather that horde in the first place had been tiring. much of her reserves were spent, but the mission was not complete, and she was determined to see it through.

    a small stone attached to her waist buzzed twice. a few seconds passed without reaction, then the shorter woman beside her gave her a hard slap on the shoulder. "hey, es! the signal! double buzz."

    "huh?" esmorana blinked. "oh, right." she concentrated, and slowly widened the circling of her hands, raising her hands higher bit by bit at the same time, until with a final flourish she stretched her arms wide and high above her head. as her hands moved, great currents of wind across a miles-wide section of wilds blew quietly upwards, laden with a terrible stench that was infused with mana of its own, and carried that scent high into the sky, to heights that only birds and other flying creatures would ever reach. once there, the winds split and blew outwards, dispersing the stench and allowing it to begin dissipating.

    she breathed in deeply, then let out a long, slow sigh, as she relaxed and lowered her arms to her sides. "phew. it is done."

    the man in front of her idly flipped a dagger in his hands, and spoke gruffly. "and you''re certain they won''t trace it to us?"

    esmorana glowered at him. "i don''t tell you how to throw your daggers, haftel. don''t micromanage my wind weaving."

    "i''m allowed to be worried about what their noble house will do if they figure out it was us, aren''t i?" haftel returned her glare resolutely.

    esmorana let her glare drop after another tense second. "oh, fine. the scent and the traces of my mana in the air will be gone before they even respawn, and they''d have to search high in the sky and well away from where the stampede hit them to even be looking in the right place. all they''ll ever actually know is that a stampede happened and made the wilds here more dangerous than they expected. sure, they''ll suspect someone arranged for it to happen, but they''ll never have proof of who."

    the shorter woman crossed her well muscled arms, scowling, and muttered loudly. "as if nobles need proof."

    haftel glanced sharply at her. "we discussed that part already, noralt. do i need to remind you again?" he shook his head. "in their own territory, you would be right. here in crown lands, however, they cannot act openly without admitting their trespass to the crown."

    noralt huffed, then shrugged and sighed. "yeah, yeah, and they''ll suspect the other groups that could pull it off too, and we can fight off any covert agents they''re likely to have anyway, and yada yada. i still don''t like it. especially if we have to do it again before they get the hint to go somewhere else."

    just then, the stone on esmorana''s waist buzzed again, three times. all eyes turned to it, all three people frowning. esmorana picked it up in her right hand. "complications?" she cocked her head. "he''s on his way. moving fast."

    haftel nodded grimly. "only three buzzes, not four." he sighed. "good to know it''s not disaster, but i hate waiting for details. damn enchanters guild, hoarding their best stuff for exorbitant prices. well, settle in."

    the stampede finally passed almost as suddenly as it had arrived, the frequency of impacts on the bubble of force around amber rapidly trailing off to nothing. the shaking of the ground grew less intense, and the thunder-like rumble of so many hooves and feet repeatedly hitting the ground hard began to fade. about half a minute after the last stampeding beast ran over her, the protective bubble of force vanished, and major ordens pushed off of her, allowing amber to sit up unsteadily and look around.

    the directions the stampede had come from and gone to were blindingly obvious. on two opposite sides of the clearing, all bushes, flowers, and other underbrush had been completely stripped and pounded flat, trampled by innumerable beasts. even a few trees had been uprooted and knocked over, or simply broken and splintered where they stood. on the edges of the stampede''s path, there were some hoofprints distinct enough to be seen individually, but most of it was a mingled mass of overlapping prints, the dirt packed down so hard that the last impacts had mainly just obscured the rest and left barely any marks of their own.

    lorvan stood in a small zone of less hard-packed dirt, shield hanging by his side as he stared motionless at a mangled body nearby. the body was clad in leather armor that now had many holes in it, just like the body itself did. blood oozed from more wounds than amber cared to count, and bones stuck out from arms that bent in too many places. amber gasped at the sight, reflexively raising her right hand in front of her mouth. "carlos!"

    lorvan jerked slightly as he turned his head to look at amber, then took a deep breath, faced her squarely, and bowed deeply. "my deepest apology, my lady. i made assumptions that i should not have, and failed in my duties as a result. i will take full responsibility when i report this to the crown, and lord carlos will be given compensation for my failure. in the meantime, do you know where he will respawn?"

    amber hesitated. "i... am not certain. he might respawn in his room at the inn. if not, then i don''t know."

    lorvan nodded. "very well. if he does not respawn at the adventurer''s haven, the crown will divine his location and teleport him back to dramos free of charge. no one at the third compression would be expected to withstand a stampede like that alone, and i should have protected him from it."

    "i... thought you were busy?" amber thought back and mentally reviewed what she''d seen before ordens tackled her. "you were first in line to get hit, and fighting jamar''s guard too?"

    amber took a deep breath and turned back to looking at jamar. "carlos will want to hear it too, anyway. ok. so, other points to address: how will high house tostral react to this? why was she even here in the first place? she mentioned a ''rotation agreement'' and that it was ''her turn'' to be here. is any of that even something that carlos and i need to do anything about?"

    "hmm." lorvan frowned, and paused to consider. "it sounded like a secret agreement between noble houses to coordinate covertly harvesting high density mana from crown lands. if so, that is a premeditated conspiracy of theft from the crown, and the crown will investigate on its own and punish for it accordingly, but that is the crown''s own concern, not yours. tostral might blame you for it being revealed to the crown. i will report the possibility, and recommend additional protection against it, but it changes nothing for what you and carlos need to do for yourselves."

    "alright." amber squared her shoulders and walked over to start taking jamar''s armor off. "let''s bring her belongings back with us to dramos, at least, and maybe we can negotiate later to return them in exchange for peace."

    ordens gently but firmly pushed her hands aside, and started quickly and efficiently stripping the corpse of valuables and packing them away into her own backpack.

    amber paused, and frowned, staring at nothing with unfocused eyes as a strange feeling came over her. something felt vaguely wrong, in a way she had never experienced, and she shuddered. it took her a moment to realize the feeling was coming through her mana sense, and as she focused on that, she remembered that this was the exact spot where carlos had used his levitation spell in the strange way that he said felt wrong. she had felt nothing from his first experiment where he discovered it, but this time he had used it many times more strongly. was this some sort of echo of the wrongness he described? or maybe from a lingering side effect?

    the feeling of wrongness was already fading. any investigation of it this time would have to be almost immediate. she needed a better mana sensor, really, but maybe she could see if it affected other spells. she quickly cast a light spell, and paid close attention to its effect and its mana. something... seemed ever so slightly off about it, but so little that she might have been imagining it. she sighed. it all came back to just needing more advancement, more compressions to denser mana, to make her mana sense and other soul structures more effective. she put it out of her mind for the moment, and refocused on her physical surroundings.

    "ok. that leaves just one more point: that stampede. that wasn''t normal, was it? someone made it happen."

    lorvan nodded to her, maintaining a wary stance facing outward. "correct. some of those creatures came from higher density areas miles away, and it was aimed at us far too precisely and with too little warning. i do not know whether it was intended to kill carlos, you, both of you, jamar, or all three, but someone wanted to strike at least one of you, and without revealing themselves."

    "esmorana. the party mayor stelras warned us about."

    "likely. they may well be capable of it, and they have reason to try."

    amber glared and clenched her jaw. "they want us to leave. when we do not, they will escalate. we need to stop this before they go too far." she looked at ordens, then back at lorvan. "take everything worthwhile from the bodies here. then bring me to stelras as fast as you can. this ends now."

    a large man ran swiftly and silently through the woods, leaving no marks of his passage, until he emerged in a small clearing and suddenly stopped in front of the three people waiting for him.

    haftel put away the dagger he''d been idly tossing, and straightened. "took you long enough, sconter. you signaled complications?"

    sconter nodded. "yes. we got carlos, but not amber. one of their guards covered her in a force bubble and kept it up through the entire thing."

    "a force bubble big enough for a whole person, maintained that long?" haftel scowled. "...personal effect, or from an item?"

    "item."

    haftel swore. "that''s damned expensive. more than i thought even a high noble would outfit a guard with. still, we got one. that might be enough to get them to move on."

    "there''s something else." sconter''s face was grimly serious. "you remember the rich kid who showed up a few weeks back? she confronted them right before the stampede got there. i was too far away to hear anything, but she was pissed for some reason, and attacked. carlos pinned her somehow, i couldn''t make sense of how, and she died too. and she had damn fine armor, way better than i thought she could buy."

    "huh." haftel''s hands fidgeted with the hilts of a pair of his daggers. "i don''t know what''s up with that, but it does seem odd."

    esmorana sighed. "it''s unfortunate i can''t see or hear through my winds. just feeling what the wind touches misses so much information."

    haftel shook his head. "no point wishing about what we don''t have. we need to focus on our actual reality. which is that we need to know how amber reacts and whether carlos returns, and we need to avoid too much suspicion. sconter, we''ll need your disguise skills to investigate, while the rest of us stay out. us returning too close to when this happened would look suspicious."

    sconter nodded. "right. i''ll be careful, and observe what i can." he turned, and ran off as swiftly and silently as he had arrived.

 Chapter 40: Return

    chapter 40: return

    the trip back to dramos was a blur of trees flickering past and wind rushing in her ears as amber held her arms wrapped tightly around lorvan''s shoulders. he was holding her legs up and leaning forwards to give her better support on his back, but he had to duck and weave around trees and branches often, and despite those constant minor detours he ran faster than amber''s best straight line sprint. much faster.

    amber briefly looked back over her shoulder to see ordens following them, spear and shield packed away somewhere in the interest of speed, but quickly turned back to facing forward with her head down again. even in such a short moment, the wind of their passage had started pushing her raised head back uncomfortably, strongly enough to make her concerned about keeping her grip on lorvan. she resolved to keep her head down for the rest of the trip, and closed her eyes to focus better on holding on.

    after a few minutes of uncomfortable jostling and feeling her short hair getting ruffled by the wind, she felt a sense of confusion and concern that took her a moment to realize was coming from someone else. purple''s mental voice spoke in her mind. [why can''t i sense carlos? my bond with him isn''t working.]

    amber took a few seconds to compose herself before replying. [he died. he should respawn in about an hour.] she tried not to think about the possibility that carlos''s otherworldly origin might somehow prevent him from respawning.

    [oh.] the confusion that infused purple''s mental voice faded, replaced with uncertainty and curiosity. [how? shouldn''t your guards have protected him?]

    amber explained about the confrontation with jamar tostral, the stampede, and how carlos had gotten trampled, and then a question of her own occurred to her. [your grammar is much better than before. have you been practicing?]

    [i made my own comprehension aid. it''s helped you and carlos so much, and i thought it should be useful for me too.]

    amber would have blinked if her eyes weren''t already closed. [oh! yes, i''m sure it will be very useful for you.] she contemplated this news, mulling it over. it was a nice distraction from thinking about what had happened, and how uncomfortable being carried on an armored person''s back was. [that''s your second soul structure, right? have you made a third? and what is it?]

    [yes, it is my second. i have not yet made a third. gathering the mana for it is going slowly. the treasury''s wards don''t let much mana flow through.] purple paused for a moment. [...also, i am uncertain what it should be. many of your soul structures would not make sense for me as a dungeon core, and would not have synergy with my bond making structure.]

    [well, you could at least make an introspector and mana redistributor. those have been surprisingly useful for us, and they naturally have synergy with everything.] amber smiled and shook her head slightly on lorvan''s back, remembering how doubtful she had been about those two structures when carlos first explained them to her. looking back on it now, she could scarcely imagine coming as far as they had without them. instead of knowing exactly which synergies were still inactive, they would be fumbling blindly, trying solutions that they weren''t even sure were aimed at the correct problems. and that was barely even the start of the list of ways those two soul structures had proven their value!

    purple sent a pulse of agreement. [i have been considering that already, and it seems sound. that would still leave six more that i don''t know what to make, though.]

    amber shifted a little, trying to find a less uncomfortable position while keeping her grip secure. [well, most people choose soul structures to make them better at the things they do the most. so, maybe something to improve your traps?] she hesitated, and frowned as a potential issue came to mind. [uh, actually, i don''t know if the limits are the same for dungeon cores or not. better make that introspector and use it to find out.]

    [good point. introspector will be next.] a new surge of uncertainty came over the telepathic bond. [i... don''t know if i will still need traps. simply staying here in this treasury... i still feel fatigued and weak, but i am recovering steadily, and i feel more safe and secure than i have ever been. it is... relaxing.]

    [good. i''m glad you''re safe. if you don''t need traps, then... i don''t know. i''ll have to think about it. maybe carlos will have some ideas.] amber firmly suppressed and set aside the doubts and fears that thinking about carlos brought back to mind again. if he respawned at the adventurer''s haven, as she hoped for and thought was most likely, then it would all be fine. if not, then that was a problem to figure out later.

    ignorant of her doubts, purple replied with confidence. [yes, that makes sense. he designed your soul plan very well, and likely will have similarly good advice for mine. i will ask him. thank you.]

    purple''s attention lapsed, and amber was left alone with her thoughts and the discomfort of lying on hard armor and being frequently jostled. she noticed the jostling had actually settled down a fair bit, though, and opened her eyes to take a look. they were out of the forest, finally, and charging across the open plains at great speed. the walls of dramos were in sight and rapidly approaching, lit from the side by the sun as it neared the horizon.

    as he walked towards the adventurer''s haven, he listened to all the chatter of numerous conversations around him, sorting through it for anything that might be about amber and her two extremely capable guards. after a few blocks, he caught a street vendor muttering angrily about "inconsiderate adventurers running too damn fast" while adjusting the layout of his goods. the vendor was holding a pile of several items against his chest with one hand, and carefully placing them one by one onto the stall.

    sconter approached the vendor and tipped his hat politely. "excuse me sir, i think you said something about inconsiderate adventurers? what was that about?"

    the vendor looked up at him briefly, but looked back down to focus on continuing to place his items even while he replied. "it wasn''t about you, sir. i''m sorry if it sounded like that to you."

    "no, no, don''t worry." sconter waved a hand at the vendor placatingly. "i''m just curious about whoever prompted your complaint, and how."

    "hmm?" the vendor didn''t look up again. "oh, sure. two people in fancy armor ran through here almost like a dragon was chasing them a little bit ago. fastest i''ve ever seen. the one in front was carrying someone on their back, too. they blew all my goods off my counter with how fast they were going."

    sconter looked at the array of small lightweight items laid out on the stall. it was a variety of mostly decorative rings, necklaces, and hair ornaments. some of them had a little mana in them, but nothing major. he sensed substantially more mana in a cluster of things below the counter, probably in a more secure box that would only be shown to customers who asked for more valuable merchandise, but even those weren''t much by his standards. he shrugged, picked out a tiny glass sculpture of a bird with a little clip that he could attach to his hat. "ah. thanks. how much for this thing?"

    "oh, the little bird? a perfect touch of nature''s beauty to add to any garment. seven copper."

    "sure." sconter counted out seven coins and handed them over, then resumed walking while he clipped the little ornament onto his hat. he was not surprised that amber had returned to dramos sooner than him, but apparently she had been in a great hurry even once back in the city. maybe she wanted to greet carlos when he respawned and needed to move fast to get all the way back home in time?

    he checked the teleportation building first. it was little more than a hut, really, and no one who actually lived in dramos could cast the spell to teleport out through it, but it was the place to go if you wanted to request a teleporter to come pick you up (for a suitably high price, of course). and if some visitor happened to have mastered teleportation, well, that hut had a minor ritual circle that would make it easier and more efficient. if amber needed to return to dramos in order to teleport home, it was probably because she needed that hut to do it. he didn''t sense any traces of a recent teleport there, though, and that was a major enough spell that it would not have faded in the mere fraction of an hour that might have passed since amber''s return.

    the other likely possibility was that she needed an item that she had stored at the adventurer''s haven, so he went there next. he didn''t bother asking the barkeeper about her, and instead settled at a table in the common room and focused his attention on sensing mana three floors up, in the location he remembered her room was. he expected to sense traces of a recent teleport. amber had had more than enough time to get here ahead of him, retrieve whatever item, and use it. instead, he was surprised to sense amber actually still there.

    both of her guards were there too, and all of them seemed to be simply... waiting. that was strange. what were they waiting for? well, whatever it was, sconter could wait too. it was about dinner time anyway. he absently ordered a meal, and slowly ate while continuing to sense amber and her guards apparently doing nothing.

    when something finally happened, it wasn''t amber or either of her guards. several currents of mana from the environment outside spontaneously came together and combined, circling around the inn as the flow grew thicker. that thick current spiraled inwards rapidly, settling into a spot inside amber''s suite in just a few seconds, where it condensed into a stationary ball of mana and more currents from outside joined into it.

    the ball elongated horizontally, quickly stabilizing in a very familiar shape: the flattened oval disc of a soul. a few final bits of mana flowed into it, and the newly reformed soul solidified. sconter recognized that soul immediately. it was carlos. but... that was impossible! carlos should have respawned at his home, and his home was not in dramos, and most certainly not in a room he was temporarily renting from an inn. his home was whatever manor or palace his noble house ruled from. ...wasn''t it?

    carlos... became aware. it felt similar to waking up, but with no internal sense of time having passed. memories of agonizing pain echoed through his mind, but those sensations were mere phantoms. he remembered being trampled; remembered suffering as the blows of countless hooves and paws rained down on him, breaking bones and crushing him to death. the phantom pains faded, and he noticed he was completely numb. or, actually, he couldn''t feel his body at all. not even proprioception was working. it was rather strange. he didn''t remember ever not being able to tell where his own hands and feet were.

    just as that thought went through his mind, his senses returned. he felt the firm softness of a bed and blankets underneath him, and he knew his hands were by his sides and his legs were stretched out straight as he lay on the bed. he felt a breeze flow across him, caressing all over his skin, and shivered. he opened his eyes, and looked down at himself. yep. exactly as amber had told him, he had respawned naked.

    he shivered again, groaned, sat up, and walked over to the pack where he kept his spare clothes. he could sense amber''s soul nearby in the suite, and he very much wanted to find out what had happened, but that would just have to wait a minute. he should get dressed and comfortable first, and then catch up with amber.

 Chapter 41: Revelations

    chapter 41: revelations

    carlos had barely put on his underwear when a familiar telepathic voice spoke in his mind. [carlos! you finally respawned!]

    carlos froze in surprise for a moment, then chuckled and resumed reaching for a shirt to put on. [hello, purple. you''ve been anxious about me?]

    [a little. amber told me you would respawn, and i''ve seen people i killed come back again, but having my bond with you lapse was strange and unfamiliar. also, i want to talk with you about what soul structures i should make.]

    carlos paused and blinked. twice. [you''re a lot more articulate than before.]

    [yes. i made my own comprehension aid. it helps a lot. i''m making an introspector, and then mana redistributor.] purple sent a pulse of pride over the bond, then shifted to hesitant uncertainty. [after that, i''m not sure.]

    [congratulations! i hope those help you as much as they''re helping us. oh, i renamed the mana redistributor, by the way. i''m calling it a debugger now.] carlos adjusted his shirt a little, and grabbed a pair of pants.

    [''debugger''? ah. yes, that describes more of its functions better. what do you suggest for other soul structures?]

    [hmm. most of the rest of ours are related to casting spells, which you don''t do.] carlos fastened the waist of his pants closed, and grabbed a pair of socks. [i''ll have to think about it. i''ll need to have an in depth conversation with you about what exactly you want first, too, and i might be busy for a while dealing with the people who killed me.] he let out a brief laugh. that was an odd thing to think seriously, and certainly a situation he had never imagined might happen.

    [ok. i''ll finish my debugger in a few days. then i''ll need advice.]n??v�lrapture marked the initial hosting of this chapter on n?o?v�l??n.

    [then i''ll make sure to have that discussion before then. now, i need to focus on other things.] carlos felt purple''s attention withdraw, and put on his shoes. he was glad amber had insisted that he get a spare pair of shoes, just in case. on earth he had just owned a single pair of tennis shoes and worn them every day, but here that habit would have left him almost barefoot in only socks, with his shoes somewhere in the wilds and probably torn apart by trampling. or, actually, his earth shoe habits would have left him looking strangely partly overdressed, having to fall back on the formal black shoes that he only ever wore on the rare occasions that called for him to dress up in a suit.

    he shook his head, dismissing thoughts of shoes and old habits, and stood up. he looked around but didn''t see a sword or armor anywhere. he shrugged. he hadn''t bought spares of those, and either they''d been left in the wilds, or amber and the guards hadn''t intruded into his room to put them here. either way, it was time to rejoin them. carlos squared his shoulders, walked to his room''s door, opened it, and stepped out to greet amber.

    sconter rushed through the streets of dramos, deftly weaving his large body around all the people who didn''t react quickly enough to get out of his way. he was careful to make noise as he ran, for the sake of his disguise, but still slipped through the air with little disturbance. he didn''t want to annoy the street vendor who''d told him about amber''s mad dash by blowing the man''s merchandise to the ground as she had.

    except for avoiding collisions, he barely even noticed the people and buildings he passed by. his mind was far too preoccupied with the revelation that carlos''s home was a rented room at an inn. that could only mean that carlos did not truly have a home. an exile from his house, cast out in disgrace and disowned, perhaps? sconter shook his head. an exile would not be given such elite guards. maybe he was a rebellious youth, rejecting a home he regarded as overbearingly stifling? that... could fit, with his family hoping that some time apart would lead to reconciliation, but the rift between carlos and his family would have to be great indeed for it to affect where his soul returned to respawn.

    he spotted the street vendor he''d talked with earlier, and absently waved as he ran past. sconter didn''t bother to look for whether the man responded. his thoughts were back on carlos again. could the boy even be a new noble, possibly? that was rare, but it would explain his lack of a home. wherever he had lived before, he would not be allowed to take over lordship of the place from an already established house. sconter sighed quietly. regardless of carlos''s background, sconter didn''t know whether carlos intended to make dramos his home, or if this was merely a temporary stop before he moved on. all he really knew was that their assumptions had been mistaken, and he didn''t know yet how bad the mistake was.

    sconter reached the gate, ran out of easy sight range from the walls, and finally dropped his disguise. he took off his breastplate and stowed it and his large axe in his enchanted storage bag, lit the special beacon in his soul that would let his allies sense where he was, closed his eyes for a moment to focus, and ran. he had already sent the signal that he had discovered a complication and was coming to explain. haftel was probably pacing a nervous rut into the dirt, wondering what might have gone wrong, and sconter would be happy to hand over the problem of figuring out what to do about it. political subterfuge was far too often an annoyingly complicated headache; he much preferred scouting and ambushing simpler and more straightforward enemies.

    "carlos!" amber slammed into him almost the moment he opened the door and hugged him tightly. carlos staggered for a moment, then awkwardly hugged her back. they stayed there until lorvan coughed quietly, and amber stepped back, blushing slightly.

    carlos grinned nervously as he glanced at lorvan, then looked back at amber. "i, uh, respawned here after all? sorry to worry you?" he shrugged. "what did i miss?"

    "yes."

    "hmm." haftel drummed his fingers on the handles of two of his sheathed daggers, fidgeting as he stared straight ahead and thought. "high nobles are touchy about commoners standing up to them. it''s possible that they might be offended enough to risk crown punishment even for the sake of an estranged exile. but..." he looked sharply at sconter. "they were at only the first compression when they arrived, correct?"

    noralt spoke up from her seat on the far left. "yes. i remember that seemed odd. high nobles shouldn''t have any trouble doing the first few compressions at home, why would they come here before even doing that?"

    esmorana rolled her eyes. "because the first few are so easy and cheap that it doesn''t matter, duh."

    "hmm." haftel brooded in silence as the walls of dramos rapidly approached.

    mayor stelras looked up from his desk as liafra knocked on his door. he glanced at carlos, who was sitting to his right on one of the chairs that usually stayed in front of stelras''s desk. amber was sitting beside carlos on the other chair, holding carlos''s hand, and the two royal guards were standing in formal parade ground posture on either side of them, resplendent in their gleaming full plate armor without disguises. carlos nodded, and stelras called out to liafra. "show them in."

    haftel led the procession, tall and lanky, his hands at his sides but periodically twitching towards some of his daggers. esmorana came second, striding with practiced poise in her long dress, her hair fluttering slightly in an unseen breeze on her back. noralt followed, her bulging muscles and shorter height combining into a thick and swarthy appearance. sconter brought up the rear, his large frame dwarfing the other three, yet walking in utter silence. they all took in the sight of carlos, amber, and the guards in heavy plate, as they lined up in front of the mayor''s desk.

    stelras broke the silence first. "i expect you four already know the incident that prompted this. don''t you." it was not a question.

    haftel stilled his hands by curling them into fists. "sir. first, may i inquire about the details of..." he glanced at carlos again, his gaze lingering for a moment on lorvan''s armor. "lord carlos and lady amber''s business in dramos?"

    stelras locked eyes with him for several seconds, then nodded minutely and raised his right hand towards carlos. "high lord carlos founder, and high lady amber carlos, are the new rulers of dramos by order of the crown. due to their unusual lack of a pre-established power base, they intended to remain incognito for some time, to build up their power and resources before openly announcing the founding of their house. colonel lorvan and major ordens are on loan to them from the crown''s royal guard for the time being."

    gasps rang out at the announcement of their full names, and of their authority over the city. the four veteran adventurers stared in varying degrees of shock, shifting their gazes among all of stelras, carlos, amber, lorvan, and ordens. eventually, haftel took a deep breath with his eyes closed, and turned back to squarely face mayor stelras once more. his three party members all looked at him, and let him take the lead. "mayor, i do not doubt your honesty, but this is an extraordinary development. i would like to see specific proof, if i may."

    before stelras could begin to answer, carlos leaned forward and raised his right hand, showing a polished silvery white ring on his ring finger. he touched it with his mana, and a floating image of a steel plate appeared, inlaid with light-drinking black adamantium lines that spelled out his name. amber mirrored his gesture, showing an identical image projected by the ring on her hand as well. "the actual plate is in the city''s secure treasury. if you insist on inspecting it, you may arrange that with mayor stelras later."

    haftel slowly walked closer, and bent forward to examine the image in detail. after inspecting it from several angles at less than a foot''s distance, he straightened and stepped back. he turned and walked to his party, and they gathered in a tight circle for a whispered discussion. not even the slightest sound of their voices could be heard outside the group, until they all nodded and returned to standing in a line, but facing carlos this time.

    haftel took one step forward, and slowly dropped to one knee on the floor, bowing over his raised knee. "high lord carlos founder, we all give our sincere apology for attempting to drive you and lady amber away, and forcing you to respawn. we plead ignorance, and beg your forgiveness. we believed you were from an existing noble house, and that you sought to drain our wilds'' resources for the benefit of your own house elsewhere. we will not try again. we hope that you will rule responsibly and use the power and resources you gain to benefit dramos and your eventual heirs, the future of your house."

    carlos nodded gravely. "i accept your apology. i understand your mistake and your motivations, and i forgive you for it. i also promise that i do intend to invest in dramos''s growth for the future. as for the possibility of a visiting noble draining resources to take back home, funny you should mention that..."

    jamar tostral angrily glared at her father, tapping her foot impatiently. "it''s about time you got here to see me!"

    high lord recindril tostral crossed his arms and glared right back. "i was busy. ruling our lands involves tasks that i cannot arbitrarily interrupt for non emergencies, and you know that."

    "well, i have news for you. some up-jumped ignorant brat from a minor house is breaking the rotation agreement! i died while confronting him about it, not from taking whatever stupid risk you thought i did. is that important enough to justify interrupting you for it?" jamar smiled as her father''s expression changed.

 Chapter 42: Re-advancing

    chapter 42: re-advancing

    .rac4c299e5e734ac2905b3d822d843656{ display: none; }

    "so, we not only attacked you for something you are not doing, but we also completely missed someone else who actually was doing the exact thing we attacked you for? souls, what a mess." haftel grimaced, and sighed. "we knew of the young lady who confronted you, but we had no idea she was a high noble. she must have been holding back to conceal herself, but we were still lax."

    sconter broke his habitual silence. "her armor and twin swords that she bore in that confrontation were extremely high quality." he glanced at lorvan''s polished plate armor. "perhaps not up to the standards of the royal guard''s elite officers, but nonetheless very expensive. she never showed those inside the city. i should have followed her into the wilds."

    carlos shook his head. "why, because she had strong escorts? how many others come to dramos showing the same signs of nobility in hiding that she did? how many do you believe are actually nobles? would you have the time to investigate all of them to that extent? even if you had followed her before, would you have actually discovered her ruse? what if she only brought out her best gear from storage to confront another noble, and used more innocuous equipment on every other expedition?"

    haftel nodded grimly. "point taken. though from the sound of that ''rotation agreement'' she mentioned, more of them may be nobles than we ever suspected."

    "there is no need to concern yourselves with that." lorvan maintained his statue-like guard position even as he spoke. "until two days ago this area was crown lands, and a noble taking resources from crown lands without permission is theft from the crown. the crown will handle investigating and punishing it accordingly. their restraint in taking little enough to not be noticed may earn some leniency, but the crown will not allow such brazen defiance to go unpunished."

    carlos raised his right hand, waving briefly for silence. "i believe that topic has been discussed enough. now, moving forward: while i understand your reasons, and i do personally forgive you for it, you must still make amends for the pain you caused and the soul development you have cost me."

    haftel exchanged glances with each of his party members, then nodded to carlos. "fair. what do you have in mind, my lord? we... could pay a considerable fine."

    "money? i already control the city treasury. a fine would be more punishment for you than amends for me." carlos shook his head and waved dismissively. "no, it should something that will meaningfully benefit me, and i have thought of only two things you could give that might do that: your personal unique knowledge and expertise, or your service. you could teach me something useful that no one else can, or you could owe me a favor to do a task for me. or, if you prefer, you could join our staff. house carlos is rather short on notable employees at the moment, as you might have noticed."

    haftel stared, and slowly blinked, then laughed and slapped his knee, still kneeling. "haha! i like your style, kid- er, my lord. my apology for the slip of the tongue. may we have a day to consider and discuss it?"

    "you may have a week, if you want. we have no urgent need for this." carlos smiled, and amber nodded in agreement. "you may go, but do not spread news of us."

    haftel stood and bowed deeply from the waist. esmorana, noralt, and sconter all bowed with him, and the four of them walked out with quiet dignity.

    carlos and amber sat in silence for a minute, until carlos''s stomach growled. they both broke out chuckling, and carlos stood up with a slight groan and stretched. "is it weird that, right now, i almost care more about missing dinner than being killed today?"

    mayor stelras smiled at him. "hunger in the present moment has a way of grabbing your attention that any past misfortune almost never does, no matter how severe. go and eat. our business here is done for today."

    after a very filling late meal and a good night''s sleep, carlos woke up the next morning ready to advance his soul development back to the third compression again in the safety of his and amber''s rented suite in the adventurer''s haven. after the first hour or so of sitting quiet and still, steadily absorbing ambient mana, he found himself bored. it was rather tedious and repetitive work, really. he wanted to be learning, experimenting, and creatively solving interesting problems, not doing the same mind numbing drudgery hour after hour.

    [huh. i wonder if that''s inherent to sapient souls in general for some reason.] carlos shook his head. [but that''s irrelevant for this. so, second main question: what do you want? not for soul structures specifically, but in general? you came with me originally to escape being forced to spend everything on wishes all the time, i know that much already. anything else?]

    purple paused to consider, but carlos got the sense that he was considering only how to express his answer, not the answer itself. [...i want to be well protected. i want to feel safe. free to relax, with no dangers. i have felt that the last few days in this warded vault, and it is good. but it is also limiting. my domain is severely constrained, and i can''t hold much mana. i still feel tired. i want to feel comfortable, in both my size and my reserves of mana. and... i want to be active. doing the same thing for a long time does not bother me, but doing nothing feels unsettling and wrong.]

    [hmm. you''re ok with your protection being dependent on others, and on things provided to you? you don''t want to protect yourself with powerful traps and monsters?]

    purple mentally shrugged at him. [protecting myself is good. others protecting me is good. both is safer, and safer is better.]

    carlos''s contemplations about purple were briefly interrupted by a pair of trees right in front of him, inconveniently barely too close together for his force bubble to pass between them. he took a few steps to go around, and turned his main focus back to purple. [ok. and, you want to be doing something, but you don''t really care what it is? no particular desire to make better traps, or anything?]

    another shrug came over the mental link. [correct. if i have a passion for anything in particular, i have not yet discovered it.]

    [ok. so, we need to find a bigger area for you to claim, we need to plan and create protections for that area and especially your core, and we need to come up with something for you to do.] carlos hesitated. [you, uh, you realize that if you leave the choice of what you''ll be doing entirely up to me, without expressing any preference, i''ll naturally be inclined to pick something that benefits me?]

    [yes. as long as it helps make me safer, and doesn''t cost too much mana, i''ll be happy with it.]

    carlos chewed his lip absently, and almost walked into a tree. [well, if you really don''t mind... i imagine you could be a great "smart home" for us, and being the home of a high noble house would mean you''d have the whole house protecting you. me, amber, trinlen, stelras, the city guards, maybe those adventurers, and whoever else ends up working for us.] carlos made sure to focus on the concept behind the two word "smart home" label, and not the individual words in it.

    purple laughed. actually laughed, the sound of amused friendly chuckles echoing in carlos''s head. [sure, why not? that will probably end up being the best protection i could get. are you thinking of soul structures to make me a better smart home for you, then?]

    [possibly. i''ll have to think about it more. i want to make your soul plan orichalcum rank if i can, and for that everything has to have synergy with your bonds somehow.]

    [ok. if you think of any more questions, ask anytime.] purple''s attention turned away, and carlos pondered ideas and possible synergies as he walked, still surrounded by a bubble of force that pushed all the underbrush out of his way.

    a couple uneventful hours later, lorvan finally stopped, right outside a large hole in the side of a hill. carlos wasn''t sure whether the lack of any encounters with monsters was because this area just didn''t have many, or if lorvan and ordens had scared them all off before any even got into sight range. regardless, this hole was the first thing on this little hike that carlos had felt any sense of threat from. the ambient mana had crossed another density compression threshold on their way here, and it was moving strangely near the hole.

    that hole was deep, possibly even an entrance to some kind of cave, and with the mana around it feeling more organized than usual carlos suspected it led to the dungeon they were seeking. lorvan confirmed that a moment later. "this is the dungeon entrance. even without the incident two days ago, i would insist on giving both of you force barriers before continuing any further. inside, we will face swarms of monsters so numerous that even we could not possibly kill all of them before they reach you. are you ready?"

    carlos looked at amber, and she shrugged and nodded. he faced lorvan again, considered how his legs and feet felt, and lowered himself to a seat on the ground. "give me a few minutes to rest. then i''ll be ready."

    a few minutes later, with the soreness and fatigue in his feet and legs much reduced, carlos stood back up, did a few stretches, and finally nodded to lorvan at the dungeon entrance. "ok. time to see what this dungeon is like."

 Chapter 43: Swarms

    chapter 43: swarms

    lorvan held his right hand palm out towards carlos, urging him to wait. "my lord, while this particular dungeon is no threat to us, i would advise that we treat it as deadly dangerous to help you learn good habits for when you eventually delve greater dungeons with lesser escorts. will you and amber place yourselves under my command for the duration of this delve?"

    "that sounds sensible to me. amber?" carlos looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

    "of course!" amber nodded emphatically.

    carlos turned back to lorvan. "i''ll probably have questions while we do it, though."

    "ask as many questions as you want. just don''t let it interfere with following my directions, and keep in mind that in a dungeon powerful enough to give worthwhile rewards you will often not be able to spare the attention for idle conversation." lorvan''s spear reappeared in his hand as he turned to face the hillside hole that was the dungeon''s entrance. it sloped downward for the limited distance carlos could see. "now then. as the strongest defender in our party, i will take point. carlos, follow me and stay close. amber, stay with carlos. ordens guard the rear, and deal with swarms." a soft glow around him became apparent as he stepped into the shaded darkness of the tunnel.

    "yes, sir!" ordens stepped forward behind amber, her shield ready but her right hand open and empty.

    carlos glanced at ordens''s empty hand as he started following lorvan into the opening. "why is your spear put away?"

    the corner of her mouth quirked up slightly. "spears don''t do shit against a hundred rats swarming around you, sir. you''ll see soon enough."

    carlos nodded and turned his attention to the front, watching his step and trying to spot any threats. he had to crouch to fit under the low ceiling, and his protective force bubble shrank as he did to match his reduced height. he tried to pay attention to his mana sense at the same time as he used his mundane senses to walk along the rough dirt tunnel. it was still strange and somewhat disorienting, but he thought it was slightly easier than before. his thrice-compressed mana sensor was no better than before his death and respawn yet, but maybe he was getting more used to it. in any case, he sensed a very obvious difference in the ambient mana just a few feet into the dark tunnel.

    he suppressed his desire to pause for a more detailed assessment, making sure to stay close behind lorvan. "the mana around us is a lot less chaotic here. that''s because of the dungeon?"

    "yes. dungeons are entities of pure mana, spawned from localized high concentrations of mana in the environment, and they have strong inherent influence over the mana in their territory. they streamline and organize its flow to improve efficiency for their actions." peering carefully around a leftward bend in the tunnel, lorvan suddenly lunged with his spear, drawing it back with a rapidly disintegrating rat impaled on the tip. carlos sensed mana streaming from the tiny corpse as it faded. it wasn''t much, and most of that mana joined the broad stream flowing inward down the tunnel, but a small fraction attached to lorvan instead. "well, the dungeon knows we''re here now."

    amber spoke from right behind carlos. "it didn''t know already?"

    lorvan shrugged. "depends whether it was paying attention to this entrance area. one of its monsters dying alerts the dungeon regardless."

    "ah." carlos considered the unusually orderly ambient mana as he awkwardly crouch-walked around the bend after lorvan. it wasn''t as tame as his own mana, but it was much closer to it than what he''d absorbed in dramos, and it was more than dense enough for him to absorb now. something was stopping passive absorption from happening, though, and he should act properly cautious. "could i absorb mana while we''re here?"

    lorvan continued creeping forward. "technically yes, and it would even be faster than normal once you overcome the dungeon''s control of the mana, but the dungeon''s monsters would respond by attacking more aggressively."

    "the dungeon regards it as theft of its resources and gets angry?"

    "something like that. dungeons have primitive instincts driving their behavior, not true minds with intellect, but i suppose possession and theft are simple enough concepts for even animals to understand."

    carlos restrained a chuckle as he shook his head. he was tempted to reveal purple''s intelligence just to see lorvan''s reaction, but exposing that secret to the crown seemed unwise. in any case, if he wanted any chance of a friendly conversation with this dungeon''s core he would have to refrain.

    "yes. and that means it''s the path to the core." lorvan paused as faint chittering became audible and rapidly grew louder from both ahead and behind. "though there can still be plenty of monsters in the other section."

    carlos gulped as the source of the chittering came into sight. rats blanketed the floor so completely he couldn''t even glimpse the stone past the oncoming edge of the swarm, and a writhing carpet of large spiders covered the walls and ceiling just as completely, their bodies an inch or two long and their eight legs four or five inches each. he looked back, and saw the same horrible sight approaching ordens from behind.

    "and this, lord carlos, is how most who try to delve this dungeon die. few ever try a second time." lorvan calmly faced the hundreds and hundreds of tiny monsters, spear in hand and ready.

    as if covering every last surface of the tunnel weren''t enough, an angry high pitched buzz joined the chorus of claws clacking on stone, and a thick cloud of flying insects filled the air too, ranging from barely visible mosquitoes to three inch long hornets. lorvan swung the head of his spear at incredible speeds, instantly killing everything it touched, but the swathes of death it cut in the swarm were filled back in so fast carlos could barely tell he was even achieving any effect at all. and then the swarm''s front raced past him, and suddenly all carlos could see was rats, spiders, and flying insects bouncing off of his force barrier.

    carlos cringed, and hoped he wasn''t going to have nightmares about this experience. suddenly an almost blinding light and deafening roar erupted from behind him, and he turned to look. at first just the sound and some light filtered past the thick cloud of insects, but after a few seconds the light and sound grew rapidly brighter and louder. suddenly, roaring flames washed over the outside of his force bubble, and the entire tunnel disappeared in orange fire. the air started to feel uncomfortably warm, though he was shielded from actually getting burned.

    something big whooshed past carlos, disturbing the flames as they danced and flickered around his force bubble, and a loud clang sounded. the fire faded, revealing darkened stone everywhere and a thick disintegrating layer of charred bugs on the floor. another clang of metal on metal rang out, and carlos looked up. ordens stood facing towards him and amber, her gauntleted empty hand outstretched and wreathed in fading wisps of fire. lorvan was standing on the other side of ordens, his shield ringing from the impact of something heavy.

    a single large monster faced lorvan. its body looked like a large snake, six inches thick and with too many coils for carlos to estimate its length. its neck ended in a heavy and sharp pointed spike, which lashed out again as carlos watched, aiming low for lorvan''s legs below where his shield covered. its whole body had a metallic sheen, gleaming faintly with reflected light, and it struck so fast carlos almost couldn''t track it. lorvan moved faster, intercepting the strike with his shield again.

    the snake-like monster''s spike withdrew from the ringing impact, and it hissed angrily. suddenly, its single spike split, breaking into eight narrower sections that spread out in a halo around its now visible head, each spike at the end of a thick tentacle. the eight spikes began raining blows at lorvan, striking rapidly from several separate directions so he couldn''t possibly block all of them at once with his shield.

    lorvan was incredibly fast, but even his speed could not allow his shield to be in two places at once. it didn''t matter. his spear flickered, and three spikes fell, their tentacles severed. three other spikes were blocked by his shield, and he dodged another. the eighth spike hit his armor and bounced. the monster hesitated a fraction of an instant, glancing at its three suddenly severed tentacles, and in that instant lorvan''s spear flickered again. a gaping hole appeared in its mouth, in line with a new rent outlined with bent shards of metal scales on the back of its head, and it collapsed.

    lorvan relaxed slightly, but remained alert as the metallic snake''s corpse began slowly disintegrating. or perhaps evaporating into mana might be a more accurate description. he turned back to carlos and walked at a normal speed to retake his designated position at the front. "most delvers who survive the swarms then die to something like that. abilities suited to attacking areas are usually poor against individual strong targets, and enchanted items capable of filling either role for you well enough are expensive."

    carlos stared, his jaw hanging open for a few seconds, then shook his head ruefully. "i see. and the few successful delves happen when someone with a big area attack parties up with someone specializing in one on one fights?"

    "that, or when someone excessively powerful decides to do it for some reason. usually it''s just so they can brag about it, but for people powerful enough to simply overwhelm this dungeon there should be better things to brag about." lorvan beckoned forward with his spear. "now, watch your head for stalactites, and see how many traps you can spot on the way. i won''t point them out like i did the first one. you won''t have that kind of helpful guidance in a dungeon delve that really matters, so you need to practice finding them on your own."

    the dungeon was a bit of a maze, with several branching paths, but they never took a wrong turn. lorvan warned carlos and amber to not depend on following mana streams in a dungeon too much, because some dungeons arrange their streams with dangerous and unnecessary detours, but this one apparently hadn''t learned that trick. carlos spotted three of the five traps they passed as they navigated the maze.

    ordens roasted two more swarms on their way to the dungeon''s core, and both times a powerful monster tried to ambush her. the final swarm had another metallic spiked snake actually inside the swarm, hidden by all the rats running over it, and it attacked while she was still blasting fire in its direction. it didn''t seem bothered by the heat in the slightest, its metallic skin just glowing faintly orange as it fought. lorvan intercepted it, equally unbothered by the tail end of the fire blast ordens was aborting, and then a second large monster emerged from the stone ground like it was swimming in water and tried to grab ordens''s feet.

    she reacted quickly to dodge the stone arms that had suddenly appeared, and after that it was obvious it had no chance. the monster looked like a moving statue, made entirely of stone, and its movements were slow and loud, sounding like stone grinding against itself. ordens just dodged it for a bit while lorvan dispatched the metallic snake, and then they utterly demolished the stone golem together in moments. completing her interrupted roasting of what little remained of the swarm was almost an afterthought.

    finally, lorvan stopped before a corner, and turned to face carlos. "the core is just past this corner. the two of you should enter first, to take the lead on choosing a wish."

    carlos straightened, as much as the low ceiling allowed. "what about any last ditch defenses at the core? and is that general advice, or just for this time in this dungeon?"

    "dungeons never put traps or monsters in close proximity to their core. there''s too much risk that any violence that near might strike and damage the core by accident. and it is general advice. the core will assume that the person who approaches it first is the leader of the group, and will focus primarily on that individual."

    "alright." carlos looked back at amber and nodded. "amber. let''s do this."

 Chapter 44: Core

    chapter 44: core

    carlos stepped around the corner, amber by his side, and stopped as the core came into sight. it looked almost nothing like the only other dungeon core he''d seen. it glowed, it hovered in place, it looked solid and hard, and that was about all the commonalities with purple that it had. amber gasped as she saw it, pausing alongside carlos to take it in.

    where purple was a crisp clean crystal prism, this core was an irregular lumpy shape covered with spikes. purple was one solid consistent color throughout; the purple that he was named for. this core was mottled with a mix of shades of brown and gray. purple shone with a dim but steady light, or sometimes pulsing like a heartbeat. this core''s light varied unsteadily, brightening and dimming at random, rapidly or slowly, and sometimes even flickering. the one difference that matched carlos''s expectations was its size. where purple was barely more than an inch tall, and half that wide, this core was much larger: three inches tall and five inches across.

    "uh." carlos shook himself out of his surprised stupor at the extreme difference. "hey, lorvan? does the appearance of a dungeon core indicate anything in particular about it?"

    "possibly, but i don''t have that knowledge, except that more powerful dungeons have larger cores. the enchanters guild''s scholars and leaders are the most likely to know such a thing."

    carlos shrugged, and shared a look with amber. "ok then, let''s... go?"

    they stepped forward together, entering the room. the space around them opened up a little, and carlos sensed two other thick streams of mana coming from other entrances, joining with the one they had followed. all three flows consolidated into a tight spiral around the core, resembling an accretion disk. the innermost area steadily fed mana into the core itself, but little packets of mana kept breaking off from the disk and flying out with purpose to other places.

    as they walked further into the room, a tendril of mana reached out from the core itself, splitting into two as it approached carlos and amber. two thinner tendrils split off and headed towards the guards. carlos got the feeling that he could deny this, blocking the tendril from connecting to him, but why would he? this was what he had come he for; the moment that the entire delve had been building up to. it was time to make a wish, and not incidentally to communicate directly with the dungeon core itself in the process.

    the tendrils made contact, and carlos found himself in a mental illusion of an endless expanse of varied and shifting shades brown light, some bright and some dim. he experimentally focused, and found that he actually could still see and hear his physical surroundings if he wanted to. it felt similar to switching between his physical senses and his mana sense. with his curiosity and a little bit of paranoia satisfied, he refocused his attention on the mental space. he felt a familiar presence beside him that he instantly recognized as amber, and two behind that seemed obscured and distant. far more distant than he knew lorvan and ordens physically were, but maybe that distance reflected the dungeon''s mental focus rather than physical reality.

    ahead and all around them, seeming to echo from everywhere at once, feelings and emotions pressed down on carlos and amber. anger. hostility. hatred. fear. grudging submission. questioning about their desires. impatience. carlos sent back his honest desire for mutual understanding, cooperation, willing partnership, and maybe even friendship with the dungeon core, and felt amber joining him in that. the response was... not what he had hoped for.

    suspicion. distrust. refusal. aggression. murderous intent. hunger to devour their mana. frustration with its inability to defeat them. impatience to get this over with and see them gone. an insistent demand to know their wish.

    carlos and amber repeated their request. their offer, really, and carlos emphasized that he could help the dungeon, that he wanted a partnership of mutual benefit.

    disbelief. rejection. anger and hate. contempt. more impatience. a more emphatic demand to know their wish.

    carlos sighed. [uh, purple, any ideas for how to convince this dungeon to listen?]

    purple just sent the impression of a shrug.

    the brown light of the mental space flashed brightly, the mix of shades and brightnesses shifted turbulently, and a new emotion flared at them: shock. the surprise lasted only a moment before it quickly transformed into utter rage. indignation. unyielding hostility and hate. very, very grudging admission of defeat. once more, a demand to know their wish. and this time, a hint of threat.

    carlos paused to think, taken aback by the extreme antagonism this dungeon core exhibited. it was almost nothing like when he''d made his wish from purple. back then, purple had seemed more resigned to the inevitable than angry or hostile. [amber, any ideas? this is not how i expected this to go.]

    [i''m surprised too. purple is so reasonable and friendly. i know his situation was unusual, and he already got used to talking with you before i met him, but i expected a more ambivalent or mildly antagonistic attitude, not this... fanatic hostility.]

    "ugh." carlos squinted, saw that the bubble of force around him was still there, then closed his eyes and relaxed. "distraction, huh?" he really didn''t want to think much right now. the drum symphony of pounding aches in his head made thinking hard, and trying to think made it feel worse. well, a little pain now to reduce it more later would be worth it if it worked, so what could he use to distract himself? ...that didn''t involve thinking. there was all the wild forest around him, but having his eyes open would hurt too. there was amber beside him, and... oh. of course. mana was flowing into both of them passively already just from being here in a higher density area. he chuckled, then winced. it could even be a productive distraction!

    carlos started actively absorbing mana as fast as he safely could, and soon sensed amber doing the same. the pain was still there, but it didn''t bother him as much when his attention was focused on keeping that rapid absorption and development going. and whenever his attention started drifting to other things, the headache quickly pounded its way into reminding him to get back on task. so hey, free bonus stay-on-task motivator with his wish! he winced again, and refocused once more.

    hours later, the pounding headache was a little less intense, and a few sticks and stones digging into carlos''s back had grown uncomfortable enough for him to care. then his stomach added its own complaint with a growl, and he suggested going back early to eat a hearty dinner and sleep off the headache in comfortable beds. amber agreed, and even mustered some enthusiasm through the pain. they returned to the adventurer''s haven with their souls only about half way to the next compression, and soon collapsed into bed with full stomachs.

    the next day, carlos''s head still hurt enough that he had to force himself out of bed, but he was determined to at least get their current advancement step out of the way while it was still the only productive option that didn''t hurt more to focus on. he and amber finished that an hour after noon, and the pain faded noticeably the moment the compression happened. carlos cocked his head curiously at that development. "huh. is pain resistance, or toughness, or something like that an inherent benefit of having denser mana?"

    amber hesitantly shrugged, but lorvan stepped up with an answer. "it is not. many people have a soul structure dedicated to that, or even multiple structures, but without such a structure your body remains as vulnerable to physical injury as a child''s. improved resistance to direct effects of hostile mana, however, is inherent in soul development."

    "hmm. it feels like a normal headache now, but i don''t think resistance to hostile mana is the reason." carlos frowned in thought. "it''s more like... we''re better able to handle what that wish did for us now?" he looked at amber and raised an eyebrow.

    amber nodded back slowly. "yes. i feel like... yeah, that''s it." she switched to telepathy. [i feel like i just finished obsessively studying a new book and the back of my mind is sorting through all the new information. it feels a bit weird. i haven''t been this aware of that before.]

    [yeah, i know what you mean.] carlos could feel his comprehension aid hard at work, organizing all the information the dungeon had dumped into his head, indexing it and building appropriate links to other knowledge. his mind would do that naturally over time anyway, but it would take longer.

    carlos considered how he felt, the rate the headache was improving, and all the things they had to do, and made a decision. "let''s head back for now. we have some things to figure out, and plans to make. but after that... lorvan, prepare for a more extended expedition, setting out preferably tomorrow morning. we''ll need to go farther soon, and all this travel back and forth is already taking considerable time."

    lorvan nodded. "of course, my lord. i was going to advise that very thing shortly."

    carlos avoided the new knowledge in the back of his mind until they got back to their private suite, letting it settle more and the headache fade further, not wanting to risk that stirring it up might aggravate and prolong the pain. finally, with the door closed, the guards outside, the headache much reduced, and seated at a small table with amber across from him, he consciously started calling it to mind.

    "alright, let''s see what we learned." he grinned widely, leaning forward with his elbows on the table, with amber matching his grin eagerly. with this new knowledge, he could... produce an astoundingly vast variety of effects. he just had to reach out with a web of threads of his own mana, weave it around and through the ambient mana around him, sieze command of it all, and impose his will upon it to make it obey him. uh...

    carlos slapped his forehead, and groaned. then a chuckle escaped his mouth. then another one. he gave up holding it back, and started laughing hysterically. it took a couple minutes for his laughter to die down, and when he finally looked up amber was rolling her eyes and shaking her head with a wry smile on her face. there was a lot more depth and detail to the knowledge the dungeon had given them than his brief and crude summary in words could express, but that summary covered its scope in full. it included no new incantation keywords, no new patterns or syntax, no design principles. nothing related to incantation based spells at all. just pure, raw mana manipulation.

    carlos took a deep breath and sighed, then shook his head ruefully. "that damn dungeon didn''t even understand what we were actually asking for."

    amber chuckled and let out a sigh of her own. "it taught us how dungeons use mana instead."

    "and if we try to do it the same way..." carlos hesitated, then experimentally pushed out some of his mana in thin threads, wove them into a web covering a volume of mana in front of him, and willed it to make a small flame in the center of the volume. weaving the web was a laborious and slow process, taking most of a minute, and even when that finished, his first efforts at making fire produced no visible effect at all. he pictured a flame, burning brightly in front of him, and focused as hard as he could on pushing that image, that desired result, into the mana enveloped in his web. he ramped up the amount of his own mana invested in the effort, up to a quarter of his entire available pool for spellcasting... and a spark began dimly flickering in the air, weaker than the spell they already knew for making a spark, which cost a tiny fraction as much mana and was faster to cast too.

    carlos released his grasp on the experiment, and slumped back in his chair. "as i thought. we can''t make a worthwhile effect that way. our influence over external mana is too weak."

 Chapter 45: Thoughts

    Chapter 45: Thoughts

    Carlos lay in bed awake that night, too absorbed in his thoughts to sleep. Why had that dungeon with the swarms been so incredibly hostile, so dramatically different in attitude from Purple? It was considerably more powerful, and not at all starved for mana with how rarely anyone extorted a wish from it - and it definitely regarded wishes as extorted under threat - but that alone would just make it more confident and satisfied with its general situation. It got delved much less often, and defeated even more rarely, so he supposed it could have been upset and angry about losing for once. That didn''t feel adequate to explain the intensity of its rage and hate, though.

    Come to think of it, hadn''t it reacted and gotten worse when he asked Purple for advice? He pondered his memory of the confrontation and nodded. Yes, he''d asked if Purple had any ideas, and the other dungeon had gone from, well, already murderous to berserk. Could it have been angry because of them talking with Purple earlier in the delve? Wait, no, it had been surprised, like it had never observed such a thing before. Its core was extremely different from Purple''s, maybe that indicated something about its mind or personality? But what caused the differences?N??v�l--?1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

    He sighed, and rolled onto his side underneath his blanket. He just didn''t have enough information to draw any conclusions firmer than speculation. He''d have to delve more dungeons and take notes, or ask the Enchanters Guild. They''d probably demand payment for whatever information they have, though. And try to force him to hand over Purple unless he revealed his noble status to them, too. It wouldn''t do to forget that issue.

    Carlos firmly dismissed the question of the swarm dungeon''s hostility from his mind for now. He had more productive things to think about. What soul structures to suggest to Purple, for one thing. Six slots left, and for best results they would all need to have synergy with the bonds Purple''s first structure made. Purple had already agreed to the smart home idea, and one obvious synergy came to mind for that - having the "smart" features of the home only work for approved people who have a bond. Focusing on that would kind of pigeonhole everything into all being about smart home stuff, but that actually might not be a bad thing considering that Purple is normally immobile.

    Can''t forget about size, too. Purple''s a dungeon, and dungeons are big. Technically he could try to rein in the size, but Purple had already complained about feeling cramped, and that would probably get worse as Purple got stronger. Purple would not be just a smart home, but more like a smart mansion, or even a smart palace. Or maybe a smart castle? That seemed more practical and useful. Hmm, practical buildings. That reminded Carlos that he wanted to make a magic school and teach his programming expertise as applied to magic. A smart school sounded awesome. He''d have his own version of Hogwarts. Can''t get much more awesome than that!

    Now for a school, he''d have lots of students, and if it follows software engineering paradigms all the biggest and most important projects and achievements would be collaborative works. Something to coordinate all the collaboration and maybe also a repository of the results, like a standard source control system for programming, would be wonderful. It would have really obvious and easy synergy with the bonds, too. Purple would have to be an absolutely incredible multitasker to handle all of that, though. It only worked so well for software engineering on Earth because they could have computers automate it. ...Oh, duh, make a soul structure for automating things. That seemed kind of similar to Carlos''s reflex improver, but more specialized with setting up specific defined reflexes.

    Hmm, could his reflex improver help with automating all that tedious mana absorption? Or was it already helping with that, and just wasn''t powerful enough yet? He should see if turning it off temporarily makes a difference tomorrow. It was unfortunate that he couldn''t just test it right now while he was thinking of it, but he''d already advanced past Dramos''s thrice-compressed mana to, uh... ''Once'', ''twice'', ''thrice'', but what came next? Was there even a word for it in English? He couldn''t think of one, but he didn''t have a dictionary or Internet access to check. ''Four times compressed'' was a bit of a mouthful to keep saying. Well, thinking at least. The local language used the same grammatical structure for every degree of mana compression he''d ever spoken or heard, just with a different number.

    The phrase was shorter too, with fewer syllables. More like ''level four'', rather than ''four times compressed''. Makes sense for something that''s so common and integral to people''s lives. Hmm, he''d changed how his comprehension aid translated something before, and he could do it again. Thinking of it as levels like in a game would be easier and less cumbersome, and it seemed a pretty good conceptual match too. In fact, with how well it seemed to match, why hadn''t it translated that way in the first place? Oh, right, it would have lost significant meaningful information. The word ''level'' would not have conveyed anything about the nature of the difference between levels, and how lower level mana could become higher level by being compressed. Well, that was background information that he already knew now, so from this point onward let it be ''level''!

    Carlos felt a flicker of acknowledgement from his comprehension aid, nodded in satisfaction, and started reviewing things with the new terminology. He was level four. Amber was also level four. Dramos was a level three area. That noble girl, Jamar Tostral, was somewhere in the level eight to level twelve range, he was pretty sure. One level lower after she died and respawned, but as a high noble she could easily have regained that by now if she had access to a high enough level area. Jamar''s guards had been level twelve to fourteen, he thought. His own guards were, uh... Huh, that was weird. How did he have no idea what level Colonel Lorvan and Major Ordens were? He''d been near them long enough that he should have pinned it down to the exact number without even trying by now. Wait, that scholar, what was her name, something starting with ''R''? Resser, no, Ressara, hadn''t she said something about soul disguises that pushed attention away? He should make a note to make certain to follow up with her about her specialized soul structures, because seeing through that kind of thing was a valuable capability, and she''d implied she might have some others too.

    Anyway, he and Amber needed to level up a lot, still needed to fix those last two synergies, and they desperately needed to learn a lot more spells. No use being a wizard with enough power to destroy a planet if you don''t know how to use that power. Trinlen would teach them a lot, but he was weeks away. Wishing for it from the swarm dungeon had turned out as a dud, but maybe Purple could do it? Purple at least would understand their request. On the other hand, he''d already said he didn''t know anything about incantations, so he''d have to magically pull the information from somewhere, and who knew if that was even possible, or how much power it would take? Maybe they could learn what they needed from their royal guards'' equipment? That stuff was absolutely loaded with enchantments, and he''d already revealed to Lorvan that he could at least gain something from studying the runes. All of those enchantments were really powerful, though, so they might need more levels first to get the mana to fuel any spells they learn that way.

    "Oh." Carlos nodded slowly. "Small enough that even absorbing all of it won''t give us another level."

    "Yes, though in part that is because of the greater amounts required for advancing in the second stage."

    Amber spoke up from behind Carlos. "You''ve mentioned the ''second stage'' before. What is it?"

    "A development that you are still many levels away from. You will know when you reach it." Lorvan shrugged, while still looking ahead and choosing their path. "These places that produce high level mana in quantity are called mana wellsprings. For most people, mana wellsprings are things only heard of in stories. For nobles, they are the greatest treasure, and the greatest danger, to be found anywhere. Even the weakest mana wellspring has mana so high level that, at your current level four, your souls would dissolve from visiting it. Unclaimed wild ones also host similarly high level monsters that are fiercely territorial. To tame the Dramos Wilds and secure your claim to them as your domain, you will have to defeat those monsters and take the wellspring for yourselves."

    Carlos raised an eyebrow as he walked. "You won''t help us with that?"

    Lorvan shook his head and chopped off a particularly low and sturdy tree branch in their way. "It is part of how you must prove yourselves capable. Besides, even we are not high enough level to fight a mana wellspring''s guardians. Few non nobles ever reach such heights."

    "I see." So they''d need a whole lot more levels, and spells powerful enough to match. Well, they were already working on that. They just had to keep going.

    Jamar Tostral was in a foul mood. Her father forbidding her from returning to Dramos until "the Carlos problem" was resolved was bad enough, but then her swords instructor had the temerity to correct her in today''s training session! So what if she was too distracted with anger about what Carlos had done to perfectly maintain flawless form? Her anger was perfectly justified, and that instructor should have known better than to piss her off even more! A few lashes to teach him better of it, doubled for daring to contradict her account to her mother, was just what he deserved. She smiled briefly at the memory of watching the idiot''s punishment, but it couldn''t displace her scowl for long.

    That damnable Carlos! He was only level three, and she''d been level ten when they fought. He should not have been capable of shoving her into the dirt like a bug, but somehow he had done it anyway. Him, with his own spell, not his escorts or equipment. Her expanded senses weren''t specialized for mana, but she could still sense mana well enough to be certain of who that spell had come from.

    She sniffed angrily. Maybe she should demand training for resisting spells. The next time she fought Carlos, she would be prepared to shove him into the dirt like the bug that he was! Though, if her father''s plan worked, there would never be a ''next time'', because Carlos wouldn''t be around anymore. Ah, removing annoying pestilent bugs so they can never bother her again, what a great idea. That would wonderfully improve her mood if it worked.

 Chapter 46: Calm

    Chapter 46: Calm

    Amber absently followed Carlos, barely noticing the gentle winding of their path or the obstacles they weaved around. She trusted Lorvan and Ordens to keep them safe, and Carlos to choose a path their force bubbles would fit through, while she focused on puzzling out what was bothering her about Lorvan''s explanation of mana wellsprings. Draining such a small but incredibly potent source of mana made sense for how a single noble could drop a large area''s ambient mana to a level safe for civilians, and doing so would naturally give the noble great power. But then what?

    "How do noble heirs gain power?" She belatedly realized she''d spoken the question aloud when Lorvan made a questioning noise in her direction, and she raised her voice to clarify herself. "If a noble founder drains a mana wellspring to build his power, then how does the founder''s heir develop anywhere near as much power with the wellspring gone? It seems like every descendant would be a faint shadow of the founder''s strength, but I''ve never heard of such a difference."

    Lorvan continued walking without reaction for a few seconds before he responded. "As high nobles and the leaders of your house, you will often have to make decisions with incomplete information. Deducing things you do not already know will be an important skill for you to have. I suggest that you use this question to practice. Can you reason your way to the answer from what you already know?"

    "Uh. Hmm." Amber cocked her head and chewed her lip. "Ok. Will you at least confirm that founders and their successors actually do have similar power? I''m pretty sure if founders outclassed established nobility I would have heard of it before, but maybe it''s not talked about much because of how rare a new founder is?"

    Lorvan chuckled. "Yes, the heads of old noble houses usually have power similar to their founders."

    Amber nodded. "Ok. So, a new founder gets most of their power from a mana wellspring, and no other source is even close to matching that level of power. Their successor is similarly powerful, so they must also have absorbed mana from a wellspring."

    Carlos spoke up. "Or they literally inherited it, with the founder transferring their power when they pass on. Er, if that''s possible?"

    "I... suppose that could be. I''ve never heard of such a thing, though, and it seems a horribly vulnerable way to maintain a noble house''s power."

    Lorvan shook his head, up ahead of them. "That has been tried. Elderly nobles gifting their own soul development to a favored heir. Most of the known attempts severely damaged the recipient''s soul. Some of them never recovered. Even ignoring that risk, the greatest success still gave the recipient only a small fraction of the elder''s mana, too little to be worthwhile. A house that relied on such methods would weaken with each generation, until they could no longer stand as true peers of other nobles."

    Carlos shrugged. "Good to know, thanks."

    Amber resumed reasoning out loud. "Right. So, as I was saying, nobles of descendant generations must also gain power from mana wellsprings. Noble houses are not all constantly expanding into yet more Wilds to find and drain yet another wellspring, and new wellsprings aren''t just spontaneously appearing in already tamed areas all the time, so it can''t be new mana wellsprings. They must be reusing the same wellspring, generation after generation."

    Carlos cocked his head and put his right hand on his chin, barely paying any attention to his feet as he weaved between a pair of trees that just barely had space for his force bubble. "But if that''s true, then why would Jamar come out here instead of using House Tostral''s mana wellspring?"

    Amber laughed. "That''s an easy one! They have their wellspring all bottled up somewhere, not spreading its mana all over the entire region, so it doesn''t have room to decompress down to her level. She has to develop enough to keep her soul from dissolving from the wellspring''s extremely high level before she can use it."

    "Ah, right." Carlos frowned in thought for a moment. "But what''s stopping them from taking just a little bit of it out and decompressing it for her to use?"

    Lorvan glanced back at Carlos. "Blocking mana from spreading is simple. Difficult and expensive for high level mana, perhaps, but simple in principle. Releasing it unconstrained is also simple. Regulating the release of a limited portion is complicated. Some theoretical methods have been devised, but all are too impractical to be feasible."

    "You can''t just make a small mana container in the wellspring''s area and carry it out?"

    "Hahaha!" Lorvan actually stopped walking and bent over laughing for a few seconds. "Hehe. ''Carry it out.'' Kid-" He cut himself off and took a moment to restore his normal composure. "Sir, if you open a hole of any size in a barrier that''s blocking a mana level difference as extreme as between a mana wellspring and a civilian living area, you will not get that hole closed again until nearly the entire reservoir of the barrier''s interior has vented through it and the flow has almost stopped. You would have to be many levels higher than even the wellspring itself to be capable of halting an already-moving mana stream that strong, fast, and concentrated."

    This one would be the automator that Carlos had explained to him this morning. Purple had briefly thought that it was merely filler for easy synergy with everything, but after considering the concept Carlos called a "smart home" in more detail, he had realized its value. He could easily watch one person all day and night for prearranged signals to brighten or dim the lights, open and close doors, and all sorts of other things, but he would eventually host dozens or maybe even hundreds of people, and watching and responding individually to signals from each of so many people would normally be impossible. Building a soul structure to do that for him solved the problem neatly. Besides, he got the feeling that Carlos had some more esoteric uses for it in mind, too.

    He would need to come up with something to use it for right away to finalize it, though, and the secure safe he was in was not at all suitable for making a smart home. He could set up and then remove a useless automatic response of some kind just to finalize the soul structure, maybe emitting a flash of light whenever Carlos opened the safe, but Purple''s instincts cried out against the idea of doing something intentionally useless. It should be something to finalize the synergy with his bond maker, too. Carlos had explained the need for that as well.

    Purple could automate the process of collecting and taming mana for soul structures, he supposed. It was certainly clearly defined and simple enough. That wouldn''t involve a bond, though, and it would leave him with nothing to do himself. It was also temporary; once he finished all ten structures, developing them would not require the same painstaking laborious process. For an idea related to his bonds with Carlos and Amber... Carlos had died, and it had taken Purple many minutes to even notice that anything noteworthy had happened. He wanted to prevent that from happening again. His friends helped and protected him, and he should be quick to respond if they ever needed his help in return.

    Whenever anything important happened to his bonded friends, he wanted to automatically notice it immediately. He couldn''t sense much through his bonds, but for whatever he could sense, if it might be important he wanted it brought to his attention the moment it happened. Yes, that idea would be perfect. It would finalize the automator, finalize the synergy, do something useful, and remain useful indefinitely. It did everything he wanted from it.

    Ressara pushed away the remains of her lunch, sat back in her little corner of the Adventurer''s Haven''s common room, and sighed. Her first meeting and conversation with Carlos and Amber had gone far better than she''d feared, but now she felt stuck in limbo, waiting for discussions and decisions that would likely determine the course of her entire life, with nothing to do but bide her time and wait. The young noble pair had departed into the Wilds two days ago in the morning, and she didn''t even know how many days they intended to be away. She had ended up spending most of her time just lurking in the common room, idly watching people come and go while she waited for those two and their guards to walk in the door.

    At least the number of people bothering her to ask if she needed an adventurer had decreased. Maybe word had gotten around about her, or maybe she''d just gone through the entire local supply of people who might ask. Regardless of the reason, she felt more comfortable with taking her hood down and letting her cloak fall open. She just wished that more interesting things would happen. She''d spotted several aspiring novice mages over the last few days, of course, but none showed any sign that stood out from the rest.

    Ressara was staring into her mug, debating with herself whether to return to her room for a nap, when a shadow fell over her from someone approaching her corner table. She looked up, and momentarily flinched in surprise. She barely even noticed the man''s height, his long thin arms, and the daggers fastened in seemingly every available spot on his outfit; one of the strongest souls she''d ever clearly felt stood towering over her, and she just nodded timidly as he pulled out the other chair and sat down.

    The man rested his arms on the small table and casually leaned forward. "I''m Haftel. And you''re Ressara. I hear you''ve been looking into Carlos and Amber. You even asked to join their party, and had a talk with them personally. What have you learned?"

    Ressara blinked, and her face paled. "I- Um, I-I don''t think I should be talking about that."

    Haftel flicked a hand, and suddenly a gold coin was on the table just inches from Ressara''s hands. "No trouble will come to you for telling me, I promise you that."

    Ressara hesitated, glancing between Haftel and the gold coin. A memory of Carlos speaking gently came to mind, and she narrowed her eyes. "What do you want to know? And why? What will you use the information for?"

    Haftel took a deep breath and sighed slowly. "I and my friends had... an encounter with them of our own, and now we have a decision to make. We need to know what kind of people they really are. Proud? Humble? Selfish? Generous? Honest, or manipulative?"

    Ressara nodded slowly, and mulled it over for several seconds. "...Kind."

    Haftel waited attentively, holding his face expressionless. Ressara looked over his shoulder, her attention drawn involuntarily by some wards borne by a group of half a dozen people entering the inn. Haftel noticed the direction of her stare and looked briefly, then shrugged and turned back.

    Ressara shook her head and wrenched her attention back onto Haftel. The second set of attention-diverting wards she''d personally encountered was a mystery she could investigate later. She swallowed, and slowly put her right hand on top of the gold coin. "Their guards may be scary, but they themselves... They are... perceptive. Gentle. Reasonable. Stern when it''s called for. Insightful. Determined. And... yes, they are kind."

    Haftel continued gazing at her for a moment, his face unreadable, then slowly nodded. "That matches our own impressions as well. Thank you." He stood up, and walked directly to the stairs.

    Ressara''s eyes snapped back to that group with attention-diverting wards the moment Haftel was out of sight.

 Chapter 47: Upgrade

    Chapter 47: Upgrade

    Ressara''s gaze roamed over the six people who were checking in at the bar. If not for their attention-diverting wards, she might have thought they were a somewhat larger than average but otherwise normal adventuring party. They all had armor and various sheathed weapons that looked well used, and four of them bore large and well packed backpacks with buckles designed for easy and quick release on their straps, so they could remove the encumbrance almost instantly if ambushed. Exactly the sort of thing experienced adventurers preferred for bringing their belongings with them while traveling.

    The wards weren''t trying to push her attention away from the people themselves, of course. That would have interfered with booking their rooms; it''s difficult to book a room with an innkeeper who doesn''t notice you''re there, after all. It would also have risked getting them in a great deal of trouble. Such wards aren''t infallible or undefeatable - case in point: Ressara herself - and if the city guard caught someone trying to go that thoroughly unnoticed they would naturally suspect criminal intent.

    No, those wards were pushing attention away from the group''s level of soul development and, curiously, from certain pieces of their equipment. She could tell their level was impressively high, unlike with Carlos and Amber''s guards who had an additional layer of soul disguise that covered up and concealed their real souls, though not quite as high as Haftel''s. It was hard to pin down numbers for it with that large a gulf separating their levels from hers, but that gulf was definitely a little wider with Haftel.

    Aside from their levels, Ressara''s attention was also pulled - contrary to the wards'' intent because of her soul structure inverting the effect on her - to a few of their weapons, but what really intrigued her was that she was catching hints of a few more things hidden away in their packs. Had they found a hidden and warded treasure of some kind, and taken it with the ward intact? Oh, she would love to examine and document such a find!

    She was on her feet and had taken several steps before she even realized she was approaching them. She hesitated for a moment, wondering why she was acting so bold, but then she remembered Carlos giving her such gentle encouragement when she''d finally gathered her nerves to actually talk with him. Yes, the cautious and circumspect approach had only gotten her caught spying, scolded, and rebuffed. The direct approach had proven better, and she could learn from that experience. Then again, these people weren''t Carlos.

    Ressara reached the group and stopped a few feet behind the nearest one''s back, and gulped quietly. This close, she could smell how badly they needed baths. They were speckled with dirt and dust, and a few spots on their clothes were damp with sweat. One of them was giving her sidelong glances from a few paces to her right, but they hadn''t otherwise reacted to her approach. "Uh, sir? Excuse me."

    The heavy backpack in front of Ressara swung away as its wearer turned to face her, revealing him as a tall and muscular heavyset man with thick eyebrows and darkly tanned skin. He was covered from neck to feet in heavy chainmail, held his helm in his left hand, and scowled down at Ressara. He stared at her for a moment, and openly swept his gaze down to her feet and back up, pausing momentarily on her sizeable chest. She flushed and shrunk back a little when she noticed that, but stood her ground.

    The man glared at Ressara, and spoke gruffly. "What?" Two more people in the group turned their heads to watch.

    Ressara nodded back politely and gathered her courage. "You seem like capable adventurers, with well loaded packs. Did you, by any chance, find and recover some treasure recently? I''m a scholar, and I might be able to help identify and assess such things for you."

    The man stared blankly for a moment, then let out a sharp breath and shook his head. "Ha. No. Stop bothering us." He turned his back to her before she could respond, his full backpack swinging back to in front of her face.

    A few seconds later, the innkeeper handed one of them a key, and the whole group trudged off to the stairs. Ressara watched them go, and sighed when they were finally out of sight. At least nothing bad had happened. She shook her head and walked back to her corner table to resume waiting for Carlos and Amber.

    Carlos idly stretched as he paced back and forth, impatiently waiting for the mana that kept pouring in to build up to his next level. A few days ago, stretching and pacing like that would have strained his ability to multitask and focus on keeping the absorption going, but now it was easy. He couldn''t do it automatically yet, but he was getting close.

    Lorvan smiled. "It will be largely self explanatory when the time comes, and there is no danger involved. I see no need to explain before you reach it."

    Carlos joined Amber in glaring at him for a moment, but then laughed quietly and shook his head. He suspected Lorvan was hiding a smirk, and if it really was harmless and inevitable that they''d find out on their own in due time, he supposed he should let the guardsman get some amusement out of it.

    Carlos settled down and exchanged a look with Amber. He nodded to her and nudged his spell with a bit of mana, knowing that she would sense it. She nodded back and mumbled quietly, casting her spell for Carlos to examine, and he focused most of his attention on it. He identified most of its structure easily, leaving just the one piece that determined the overall spell''s effect. It had a connection to Amber, like the Compass spell he''d tried to learn this way from her before, but this one wasn''t sending signals to her. There was a sense of information flowing through that connection, but in the other direction, from Amber to the spell. Information... about Amber? That connection wasn''t carrying her intent or choices, he was sure of that. It could be input for calculating a parameter, possibly.

    He turned his attention to the effect output part of the spell, trying to figure out what it was doing. It was using very little mana at the moment, but he had a feeling that it had to do with heat or temperature in some way. Actually, there was a distinct hint of cold about it, not heat. Or opposing heat, maybe? Then it all clicked in his mind, and he laughed. It was the opposite of his warmth spell, cooling her down if she got hot, rather than warming her up if she got cold.

    Well, that made the concept laughably easy to get correct for that keyword, but he had no idea what the spoken word to trigger it was supposed to be. For every keyword he''d learned before, he''d started with knowing the exact spoken word, and had to fiddle with the concept to get the resonance just right before the mana would settle into shape properly. This time it was the opposite.

    He felt the resonance of a nearly-but-not-quite correct new keyword immediately, with a strange gap for the completely absent verbalization. He considered experimenting with various syllables and using any changes in the resonance to guide his search, but that seemed unsuitable for his real goal of finalizing synergy links by learning it via his mana sensor. He imagined a connection between the spell incantation fragment he was making and the end product the fragment would produce every time he used it, and tried to link the sensed form of the end product to the resonance of the incomplete fragment to guide the formation of the missing part. He thought he felt some faint hints of sound.

    After straining to decipher those faint whispers for a minute, Carlos settled down to wait. He was closer than in any of his previous attempts at this, and the advancement to level nine in... nine minutes and thirty seven seconds just might be enough. The timer ticked down to zero at last, and things changed. His mana sense became sharper. His intuition about how to interpret and use what he could sense became clearer. He stopped holding part of his attention on absorbing mana, focusing completely on the problem at hand.

    For a few moments, nothing happened. Then something clicked in his mind, and the spell fragment''s resonance peaked. Suddenly, he knew exactly what the correct word to speak for this was, and things changed inside his soul.

    Spells or fragments learned:

    "cool" keywordmildness spell

    Synergy links activated:

    mana sensor and spells databasemana sensor and spells linker

    Active synergy links: 45 / 45

    Overall mana absorption and development efficiency increased from 96% to 100%.

    Alert: Synergy unification has passed 50% and will complete in 6 more levels.

 Chapter 48: Ruminations

    Chapter 48: Ruminations

    Carlos blinked in surprise at the last notification from his introspector. What the hell was "synergy unification"? And if it''s based on levels and happens at level fifteen, why didn''t he get alerted about it passing 50% at level eight? Just as he thought that question, the listing of his number of synergy links flashed in his mental awareness, and he nodded to himself. He''d only just now finished the last of his synergies, and of course that would affect it. He looked over at Amber, considering whether to ask for her thoughts on it, but she was still working on learning his air filtering spell. She''d reached level nine at about the same time he did, but he''d had the clue of having already learned a very similar spell to make completing his synergies easier, so it made sense she was taking longer.

    He glanced at Lorvan, but this was probably related to the second stage the guard had been so persistently enigmatic about, in which case he doubted he''d get a straight answer from him yet. Plus, asking a Crown Guard about it would mean the Crown would learn that he had a reason to ask. Other nobles apparently took their secrets seriously, leaving aside the idiocy of a certain teenage brat, and he probably should too.

    Well, his own introspector had reported it. What could direct self-examination through the introspector discover about it? ...Not much that he couldn''t have guessed from the name and progress report, apparently. He got an impression of his synergy connections getting stronger, making his soul structures work together more seamlessly, more like parts of the same cohesive whole, and he knew this seamlessness would reach its maximum potential at level fifteen. What would happen then, or whether anything special would even happen at all, was still unclear.

    Carlos waited quietly as Amber meditated, her eyes closed and her body still. If he hadn''t already known what she was doing, the only signs would have been how the mana in the air around his spell danced and flowed, moving more lively than ambient mana normally did, even after accounting for the spell''s presence. The liquid mana that fueled the spell flowed in a circuit through the spell''s solid structure, and the vapor-like mana nearby tended to move in similar paths like weak echoes of the circuit. Those echoes would have happened regardless, but Amber''s close scrutiny had a subtle influence that sometimes distorted or disrupted them, and occasionally Carlos caught a faint hint of mana purposefully brushing against the surface of the spell itself.

    After another fifteen minutes, faint ripples of something changing emanated from Amber''s soul, and she opened her eyes and smiled brightly. Then she froze for a few seconds, blinked a few times, and looked sharply at Carlos. [Orichalcum, and something about synergies being more than half combined now?]

    Carlos nodded. [Yeah, I got that too. Maybe related to Lorvan''s mysterious ''second stage''. I guess we''ll find out at level fifteen. I''m not sure we should rush to get there, though. I feel like we''re on our way towards ridiculously lopsided capabilities; too much power and not enough practice at using it.] He started turning to face Lorvan, but hesitated, looked back at Amber and spoke aloud to her. "You finished?"

    Amber blinked, then twitched with a suppressed chuckle. "Yeah. All my synergies are fully established now."

    "Then our main goal for this trip is done." Carlos stood up and stretched, reaching his arms far above his head and standing on his toes for a moment, the force bubble around him elongating and rising a bit as he did, then shook himself to loosen up and turned decisively towards Lorvan on his right. "I think we should return to Dramos and see if Haftel and Esmorana and the other two have decided how they want to make amends yet. They responded to the mayor''s signal in a remarkably short time; maybe they have a way to travel quickly." He scowled a bit at Lorvan. "One that''s dignified enough for normal use."

    "And talk with Ressara," Amber added.This chapter is updated by

    Carlos nodded. "Yes, that too."

    "Very well. This way." Lorvan marched off into the thick forest around them, ignoring Carlos''s comment about dignity.

    Carlos trudged wearily along, determinedly putting one foot in front of the other yet again. His feet and legs pounded dully with every step and every beat of his pulse, his breath was ragged, and it took effort just to not collapse onto the ground despite the levitation spell he''d poured his whole mana pool into to lighten himself, but Lorvan said they were getting close to Dramos and he wanted to sleep in a bed tonight. Large portions of the three and a half days they''d journeyed deeper into the Wilds had been spent staying in one place while they absorbed mana, but it had still taken another day and a half to walk back.

    A few nearby patrons of the inn were awake and moving about, and Lorvan kept an eye on their locations just in case they started approaching. High House Tostral did not yet know just who and what they were really dealing with, and might have sent a covert force to exact revenge for Jamar''s humiliation. If they had, then striking here where their targets slept would be an obvious approach, and renting a room would be the easiest way past the inn''s outermost wards. Anyone unknown could potentially be a secret assassin.

    It was unfortunate that no Crown Investigator had yet been dispatched in response to Lorvan''s signal, but he wasn''t in a position to do anything about whatever higher priorities were keeping the investigators busy. His first regular check-in where he could give a detailed report was weeks away. He couldn''t justify sending the one signal he was certain would prompt an immediate response; signaling that an invasion or insurrection in force was beginning would be false reporting. Lorvan shook his head and sighed. For the time being, he would just have to be alert and guard his charges vigilantly. It would help if they moved into their own building. Maybe he should suggest that in the morning.

    Lorvan''s thoughts drifted through various aspects of Carlos''s and Amber''s achievements as the hours passed, until finally it was time to wake Ordens and take his own sleep shift.

    Ordens alertly tracked the movements of the few people awake at this hour. There were a few minor shifts of people turning over in their sleep, but she ignored those. Thieves and assassins didn''t work in their sleep. She watched as someone two floors down and a few halls over woke up, briefly wandered within their room, and went back to sleep. Not much happened three hours before dawn, and she hoped it stayed that way, but she was ready to do her duty if that changed.

    She made sure to keep the bulk of her attention on watching for intruders, but a small part of her idly thought about Amber. Carlos was primarily Lorvan''s assignment. Both guards were supposed to protect both young nobles as needed, but Ordens''s primary focus was Amber. The young woman was a bit of a contradiction sometimes. She seemed almost a nervous wallflower most of the time, constantly deferring to Carlos and following his lead, and she''d broken down crying and helpless when Carlos died. But every time he asked for her input she responded intelligently, and with a little prompting to spur her out of her breakdown she had taken the lead magnificently. When Amber grew enough to find her fledgling confidence and stand with it, Ordens was sure she would someday soar. Carlos seemed well competent as head of their house, but having a second similarly capable leader would be immensely beneficial to them.

    Beginning a conflict with another house so terribly early was unfortunate, but it just might become a motivator, pushing them to excel and triumph. Ordens almost wished she would get to stay and watch more than just the beginning of House Carlos''s rise, but her duty was to the Crown, and all nobles had to eventually stand on their own. Besides, once they really got their feet under them properly, they would make waves in the kingdom''s politics that could be watched from throughout all of Kalor.

    A strange flicker suddenly drew her attention, and Ordens instantly put aside all thoughts about the future. Hmm. The flicker had been so brief she wasn''t even sure where it had come from, and she couldn''t find any sign of it now. Actually, on review she could tell she had sensed it herself, not through her equipment. She had interpreted the royal guards'' standard sensory enhancer soul structure in a way that gave her just a little bit of inherent mana sense, and that''s what she had felt the flicker through. Her mana sense was a lot weaker than the detection capabilities of her equipment, though, and her equipment hadn''t registered anything. She frowned. It was strange that she sensed something her equipment had not. She had long since learned to trust her equipment''s purpose-built mana detection over her own almost accidental adjunct capability of a structure that primarily improved her sight and hearing. She hesitated, but ultimately dismissed it. She wasn''t even sure exactly what direction that flicker had come from, and if her equipment reported that nothing significant had happened, then nothing had happened. Not even high nobles could afford what it would take to fool top tier Crown equipment.

    Purple paused his efforts at building up enough thoroughly-tamed mana to make his next structure. An unfamiliar tug on his attention had suddenly appeared, and it took a moment for him to realize it was the automatic response he had created to finalize his automator structure. Something strange and potentially important was happening with Carlos right that moment. ...And Amber, too. They were both asleep, but moving anyway. Or being moved. And this wasn''t a continuation of previous movement, like when they''d been carried to their sleeping place hours ago. He focused all his attention on Carlos. There was movement; an impression of mana touching Carlos, under the control of someone else. Someone Purple did not recognize, and he knew the mana of everyone he had ever met.

    Then all input from the bond abruptly ceased. From both of them, at the same instant. The bonds still existed, but Purple couldn''t sense anything or send anything through them. It was oddly difficult to even focus on them. He was fairly sure they weren''t dead, but they were in some way cut off from him. This was bad. He needed to help, so they could build him into a wonderfully well protected smart home/mansion/school as they''d planned. And... even without that, he wanted to help his friends!

    ...But how? He was locked in a secure vault, and the only people outside he could contact were the very same ones who were cut off from him and needed help!

    Ressara read the note that came with her breakfast, and was nearly overcome with giddy excitement. She was finally going to get to discuss things with her (hopefully) new patrons properly in depth! She could hardly wait for that evening after dinner. In fact, she was seriously tempted to go to their room right away and ask if they would mind doing it now. Those guards might get annoyed, but Carlos and Amber could overrule them, and she thought they just might do it. Well, no harm in just checking if they''re awake and not meeting anyone else at the moment, right?

    In barely two minutes, Ressara was fully dressed and walking quickly down the hall to get in range of her soul senses. Just a few more steps, and she should start sensing them, if they''re in their suite. She took those few steps, and suddenly froze in shock. That was not Carlos''s soul in his bed, though it strongly resembled it! Who the hell would even make a high quality soul decoy of him, and why would they put it in his bed!?

    Ressara closed her mouth and frowned. Then she started running.

 Chapter 49: Investigation

    Chapter 49: Investigation

    Carlos felt groggy. It was hard to think. Maybe he should just go back to sleep. Yeah, that would be nice. He''d feel better when he was properly rested. Something seemed vaguely off, though. It was hard to pin down the specifics, but the niggling sense of wrongness in the back of his mind was being very persistent, and wouldn''t let him relax back into sleep. After several frustrating minutes, Carlos sluggishly started trying to marshal his thoughts properly to figure out whatever was bothering him and not letting him sleep.

    Ugh. He sighed. He''d fallen asleep in the first place just fine! If whatever idle thought this was had waited this long to come to mind, why couldn''t it wait until he''d finished sleeping? He idly turned over on the hard surface he was sleeping on, while trying to dig up whatever the back of his mind was fixating on. He paused. Wait. A hard surface? He should be in a soft comfortable bed! He felt around with one of his hands. It felt like he was on a flat sheet of metal. ...And it was moving. The jostling was light, but he was definitely being jostled, like he was in a moving vehicle with imperfect damping.

    Carlos''s eyes shot open, and he sat bolt upright with a surge of adrenaline. It was so completely dark that he couldn''t see anything at all. His mind cleared a bit, but he still felt the urge to sleep calling him seductively. Something seemed wrong about that too, though. He felt sleepy, but not actually tired. He closed his eyes and focused on that strange combination of feelings, refreshed energy together with sleepiness, and something prompted him to pay attention to his mana sense.

    Right, he really should get used to incorporating that extra sense into his normal awareness all the time. ...And his introspector, he mentally corrected himself, as he realized his introspector had been trying to get his attention for a while now. There was a spell, or maybe an enchantment, pressing on his soul and trying to soothe him into sleep, and it was damnably difficult to focus on it. His reflex improver had joined in on the effort to make him aware of it, and prompted his debugger to push back against its influence on his soul, and that''s what had prodded him awake.

    Huh, if focusing on that spell was hard, why hadn''t his reflex improver focused more on the discomfort of the hard surface to wake him up sooner? That was the factor that had worked best, really, and there was the missing blanket too. Physical discomfort was always easy to focus on. So easy that ignoring it to focus properly on getting something done was the actual difficult thing. Yeah, if he needed to wake up, drawing his attention to uncomfortable physical sensations was probably the most effective way to do it. So why hadn''t his reflex improver done that instead of primarily boosting the signal about the hard-to-focus-on spell... that he really should get back to focusing on now.

    Damn, he''d been just about to forget it and let the whole thing go, and give in to sleep again. Attention diversion was insidiously effective. No wonder Ressara had said it was a major hallmark feature of high end wards. No, no, focus on the spell. Or enchantment, he wasn''t entirely sure. Nope, that''s another tangent. Focus on the spell, don''t let the attention diversion win. He was sleepy because that spell was trying to force him to sleep. It wasn''t natural, and he needed to resist. He was being abducted, his captors were trying to make him stay asleep, and he needed to fight back somehow. That had to start with staying awake and staying cognizant of that spell.

    Carlos yawned and shook his head. Doing anything about that spell... yes, the spell that was trying to make him sleep and trying to make him ignore it. He took a moment just to conciously focus his entire attention on the existence of that spell. Then he suppressed another yawn. That magically induced sleepiness was going to be a nuisance, he could tell. For counteracting the spell, he reminded himself again.

    It would help if he could get someone to help him with it. Such as Amber, whose soul he could sense just a few feet to his right, with another copy of the same spell or enchantment attached to her. The surface of her soul around where the spell touched her was calm, but shifting ripples kept appearing everywhere else. Some ripples seemed random, but many charged straight at the spell''s contact point as though intentionally trying to disrupt its enforced calmness. He thought he heard a faint sound of movement from her direction, too. She was clearly getting close to waking up on her own like Carlos had.

    Well, speeding up Amber''s awakening would be good, but they needed to be cautious and avoid alerting their captors. No response to Carlos''s movements had come yet, but surely there was some level of monitoring in place. Best to stay quiet. He carefully reached out towards her soul to his right until he felt skin with his fingers, then groped around to find her shoulder and shook her gently. Her breath caught sharply, and she started to sit up but stopped when she felt Carlos''s hand pressing her shoulder down. "Carlos?" Her voice was quiet, but in the dead silence surrounding them it almost seemed to echo.

    "Shh!" Carlos hastily shushed her, and reached for their mental bond to explain telepathically. He floundered around in his mind for several seconds, confused. Their bond was gone, somehow? Presumably that was their captors'' doing, but how would they have even known to do it?

    "Uh." Amber slowly sat up and leaned closer to whisper in English. "I can''t speak mentally. Can you?"

    "No." Carlos whispered back, also in English. "Investigate that later. First, we need to deal with the sleep spell. Without alerting our captors."

    "Sleep spell?" Amber paused, then shook herself. "Oh. This is bad."

    "Focus. It tries to make you ignore it, too. Don''t let it." Suiting actions to words, Carlos focused his attention on his own sleep spell again. It was hard to keep his focus from slipping off of it, but its overwhelming central importance to him right now helped a lot, along with his introspector detecting its pressure on his soul, his reflex improver guiding his attention to what was important, and his debugger partially counteracting it. Experimentally, he tried focusing on Amber''s sleep spell instead. His introspector and debugger couldn''t help with that, but his reflex improver still did, and he quickly found that it was actually much easier. The spell''s attention diversion effect was focused on its victim.

    "Ah. Try focusing on mine instead."

    Amber yawned audibly, and shivered a little. "Brr. Right. Have to stay awake." She took a deep breath. "Ok. We''ve got this. Stay focused. We have our tools, just have to figure out a solution." Her whisper was so quiet Carlos almost couldn''t hear it. She put her own hand firmly on Carlos''s shoulder, and whispered a little louder. "If I fall asleep, wake me back up. I''ll do the same for you. Now, let''s do this."

    Carlos nodded decisively. "Yes. Together."

    Ressara frantically rushed down the stairs, stepping two at a time, and stormed down the hallways to Carlos''s and Amber''s suite. She arrived a little out of breath and had to take a moment to recover.

    "Y-yes sir." Ressara jerked into motion and climbed onto Lorvan''s back. "T-towards the inn''s entrance."

    Lorvan nodded, leaned forward, and ran.

    Ordens sprinted through the hallways and down the stairs. She didn''t need to ask the innkeeper to pass on a message, or for where her quarry was. Sconter was out somewhere, beyond her equipment''s detection range, but she could sense the locations of the others. Noralt was on the ground floor, enjoying herself in the inn''s common room, but Haftel and Esmorana were in the first floor''s main long term suite at the very end of the building. She reached the door and slammed it open in less than a minute.

    The instant she opened the door, she froze, her eyes crossing as she looked at the dagger right in front of her nose. She hopped back one foot at the same time as Haftel returned the dagger to its sheath. He gave her a small nod of recognition. "Ordens. I take it something urgent came up?"

    She pressed her lips together for a moment. "First, have you made a decision about how to repay what you owe?"

    Haftel drew himself up, and Esmorana stood up from the chair she''d been sitting in. "We have. We will work for our new lords in any capacity we are suited for."

    "Good. You can start by helping rescue them. They''ve been abducted during the night. Lorvan is following their aura trail. We need to alert the mayor, and interrogate the innkeeper about the perpetrators."

    Haftel blinked, then whirled into action. "Esmorana, inform the mayor. Emergency haste. I''ll go with Ordens and collect the rest."

    Esmorana shook herself, then lifted into the air as fierce winds began inside the room. "Right. On it!" Several loud clacks sounded from the large window on the other side of the room, and it opened, the right hand pane of glass and its frame sliding left. She flew out through it and rapidly receded into the distance, her dress and long hair fluttering behind her in the wind. As though an afterthought, the open window slammed closed behind her.

    Ordens watched the speed of Esmorana''s flight for a moment, then sharply turned and ran back to the stairs. Haftel kept pace with her, and they soon reached the bar on the ground floor. Haftel flung a dagger ahead of them before they even got off the stairs, and it slammed point first into the bullseye of a tiny target on the wall behind the bar. The barkeeper jerked in startlement, glanced at the target with its new centerpiece decoration, then closed the tap on the keg of ale, slammed the half-filled mug onto the counter beside it, and rushed over. "What''s wrong?"

    Haftel waved a dagger hilt-outward towards Ordens and the barkeeper looked at her expectantly. "A group of six checked in a few days ago, took suite 219. Tell me everything you know about them."

    The barkeeper shifted uncomfortably and looked at Haftel. The lanky dagger wielder idly tossed a dagger up, grabbed it by the tip, and suddenly flicked it forward. It hit the same target as the first dagger, also in the bullseye, so close the two daggers were touching. The barkeeper glanced at the target, heard the faint ringing of the second dagger vibrating from the impact while in contact with the first dagger, and blanched.

    He leaned forward and whispered. "I don''t know much. They checked in three days ago, didn''t give any names. They paid extra to be quiet about ''em. I''m trusting you that it''s not worth keeping that money, Haftel. As far as I know, they stayed in their suite from check-in all the way until they checked out last night. They left a few hours before dawn. They were carrying some kind of large container, I think. Big enough they had two people carrying it down the stairs and out the door. Must have assembled it in their rooms, I guess."

    Haftel tossed a third dagger into the same target''s bullseye, somehow hitting between the first two and pushing them to either side while still sticking in the wood. "Where did they go?"

    The barkeeper shook his head frantically. "I don''t know. I swear! They turned right after going out the door, but that''s as far as I watched them. I-I had no idea what they were up to! Still don''t, even. A-and if they ever come back, I''ll slam the door on them!"

    Haftel gazed steadily at the terrified barkeeper for a few more seconds, then nodded. "Remember that. Those six are bad news." He yanked on nothing, and the three daggers flew out of the tiny wooden target and back to his hands. He tucked all three back into their sheathes in an instant, then turned and walked toward the door, beckoning Noralt as he went. The muscular woman had been watching the whole exchange, and quickly put down her drink and joined him. He paused at the door and looked over his shoulder at Ordens, who caught up a little belatedly.

    Ordens frowned at Haftel as they left the inn. "How certain are you that he told all he knows?"

    "Very. I''ve known him for decades, and he knows I don''t throw daggers like that without a reason." Haftel turned to face Ordens and frowned back at her. "And if you want my help, I''d appreciate if you trust my expertise. I may not have your funding, or whatever fancy soul plan you were taught, but I earned my reputation in Dramos with hard work and skill." He paused a second to make sure his point was received, then turned away again and gestured around them. "Now, I assume you can lead us to Lorvan?"

 Chapter 50: Searching

    Chapter 50: Searching

    Esmorana soared through the sky above Dramos, exulting in the exhilarating feelings of speed and freedom. Up here, she was in her element, supreme over nearly all who might try to challenge her. She could go nearly anywhere she wished, at speeds even the fastest runners would envy, and she could sense and counter the approach of nearly any attack or foe long before they might actually reach her.

    She impulsively strengthened the wind blowing in her face for a moment. The flapping of her hair behind her grew more frenetic, and she laughed joyously at the feeling. She had loved that sensation since childhood, when her father used to carry her on his shoulders as a treat while he ran. He''d always said he would outrun the wind someday, and she had set her heart on commanding winds too fast to ever be outrun, and on flying with those winds so she''d never need to outrun them. Then she''d finally made her first soul structures, produced nothing more than a light breeze with her greatest efforts, got annoyed at having her hair blown into her eyes, and decided she needed a better way to fly than being blown about by wind.

    Sadly, she had a mission too important to delay for personal indulgence. Esmorana scanned the familiar layout of Dramos''s many buildings and streets below her, tracking landmarks as she flew past them. A few city guards were looking in her direction, and most likely scowling at her. The guards didn''t like having anyone fly above the city; she''d even been reprimanded for it a few times, until she''d started flying so high they couldn''t spot her. Too bad for them, this time their boss would surely endorse it as justified. Their new super-bosses, even! Maybe she could convince Carlos Founder to set a policy that she could fly over Dramos anytime.

    She just had to help rescue him, first. And for that, she had to reach Stelras to explain to him, in his office right over there! She reached out with a grip of briefly solidified air to turn the doorknob and open the door before she even arrived, and actually flew through the entrance and even right past the guards in the lobby. Now that was a fun new stunt! She let her weight return to normal and released the bits of solidified air that had been supporting her as she gently alighted on the floor just outside the mayor''s reception room.

    Esmorana didn''t waste time knocking, or waiting for a question. She opened the door and took long strides in, and pre-empted Liafra before the ever-dutiful receptionist could even voice her surprise. "Emergency. It''s about Carlos."

    Liafra blinked and stared for a moment, then nodded. "Go on in, then. He''s doing paperwork."

    Esmorana had already opened the inner door, and saw the paperwork immediately. Stelras was bent over his desk, shuffling papers around and taking notes on another sheet. He looked up as she walked in, and straightened as he took in her expression. Esmorana again spoke first. "Carlos and Amber were abducted from their beds. Lorvan is following their aura trail. Ordens recruited us to help."

    "Shit." Stelras slammed down the pen he was writing with, shoved his chair back, and stood up. "Did they send you with any specific request for me?"

    Esmorana shook her head. "Ordens just said to inform you. Haftel is with her, and probably Noralt too by now. Sconter may take a little longer to join them."

    "I see. Then I can only think of one way for me to help. Come with me." Mayor Stelras rushed out of his office, Esmorana following half a step behind.

    Purple''s thoughts kept going in circles. His friends needed his help, but the only way he could help anyone outside his domain was through his friends. There might possibly have been something he could do through his bonds with them, but those bonds were blocked. Maybe Carlos could have helped him think of something, but he couldn''t talk with Carlos right now. Surely there was something he could do, but what?

    It was fortunate that calming mana enough to make a soul structure was so easy for him. Otherwise he would have released most of it by accident by now. His anxious and helpless cycle of thoughts had stirred up some of it back into a more chaotic mess, and he''d had to spend some time fixing that. He actually had more on hand now than he needed for the next structure, but he wasn''t sure he''d be able to properly focus on its concept, or if he even should follow through with Carlos''s plan for it. A repository of knowledge that people he bonded could access and contribute to didn''t seem at all useful for helping Carlos right now, and maybe he could use that mana to make something more immediately important instead.

    He probably wouldn''t be able to fill out every single synergy like Carlos wanted if he did that, but how important was total synergy and orichalcum rank anyway? Not as important as Carlos being ok, certainly! But Carlos was clever, and had other people to help him too, so maybe he''d be fine even without Purple''s help. And if Purple spoiled Carlos''s plans for their future, all for the sake of something that hadn''t actually been needed after all, that would be bad. Maybe he''d be able to fix it afterwards? He wasn''t sure about that, though.

    Suddenly something changed in Purple''s domain without him doing it. The door of the small safe he was in had abruptly opened, and someone reached in, grabbed something, and closed it again before Purple could think to react. He realized a moment later that it was Stelras, and the object the mayor had grabbed was the Carlos house plate. The safe hadn''t been opened since Carlos and Amber returned their platinum rings several days ago, and now Stelras had come for something specifically related to Carlos less than half a day after whatever had happened. Stelras must be already trying to help, then.

    And Purple had missed his chance to make a bond and talk to find out details. He was not going to let such a chance pass by unused again. He might not be able to react normally in time if the next opportunity passed that quickly, at least not without spending all his time watching and waiting for it, but he didn''t need to. He could use his automator.

    Lorvan stood in front of the Adventurer''s Haven with Ressara on his back and looked around. "Which way?"

    This was at least starting to approach the threshold for signaling an insurrection. The scale was still very small, and it was still possible that their enemy might not have realized that they were opposing the Crown itself, but the abduction of two high nobles from right under the noses of royal guards assigned for their personal protection demanded a response. If he sent that signal, well, the problem would be solved. One way or another. A scion of the Crown would come at once to personally resolve the matter, with whatever level of force and resources it might take, and the entire affair would be out of Lorvan''s hands. Whoever these mysterious kidnappers were, they would be outmatched by a Prince of Kalor. However, Lorvan''s job was to handle things without that whenever possible so that the Crown could focus such direct actions on matters that actually required it. He would keep it in mind as a last resort for now.

    In the meantime, Ordens was rapidly approaching. She was still a couple minutes away at her current speed, but royal guards could sense each other over vast distances, and she was heading straight towards him. Shortcutting across buildings, even, bypassing the constraints of the layout of the streets! She was running and jumping over rooftops, judging by her height above ground. Lorvan could at least wait to see what information she might bring before making a decision.

    There was no need to just wait, though. Lorvan unceremoniously picked up Ressara, who yelped and then hung on fiercely, and leaped up onto a warehouse roof to run to meet Ordens halfway. He saw Ordens had company shortly before they came together on a rooftop. Haftel and Noralt ran beside her, and Esmorana flew right above them. Sconter was nowhere in sight. All of them stopped abruptly when they were two paces apart, and Lorvan put Ressara back on her feet. "Ordens, report."

    Ordens saluted quickly. "Innkeeper knows nothing useful. Haftel and party are fully on board, though Sconter hasn''t met up yet. Esmorana informed Mayor Stelras, and he retrieved the Carlos house plate for her to deliver to us. He suggests that its sample of Carlos''s mana signature might be useful for locating him."

    Lorvan nodded. "Good thinking, and we have the means for that, but we will likely have to overcome anti divination wards. Powerful ones."

    He looked at Esmorana, who had landed beside Haftel while they talked, and held out his right hand. "I''ll take the plate now." She opened her right hand to reveal the adamantine-inlaid steel plate, and it slapped into Lorvan''s palm, carried over at speed by a bit of air.

    He nodded and placed it in an enchanted pocket on his breastplate. "Good. Now, do any of you know of a more powerful ritual circle in Dramos than the one in the teleportation building?"

    A chorus of denials and shaking heads answered him, and he nodded in acceptance. "Then we will use that one. Let''s go."

    Ressara swayed unsteadily as she recovered her bearings before following everyone into the tiny building in front of her. She took a deep breath as she walked in and stepped to the side, standing against the wall beside the door. Being carried everywhere like this was humiliating and disorienting. She almost wished she had made a soul structure or two for physical speed and endurance, but that was too different from the structures she already had for it to fit. At least the guard stationed at this building had been too overawed by the adventurers and royal guards to pay any attention to her. Oh well, she''d just have to content herself with having perceptive abilities that even royal guards couldn''t match. She smirked in smug satisfaction at that thought.

    Shaking her head, she focused her attention back on what they were doing here. Lorvan had placed the House Carlos plate in the center of the runed ritual circle, and he and Ordens had taken positions on opposite sides of the circle. This ritual circle was relatively weak, made mostly of gold with just a few spots of platinum, nothing compared to the pure mythril she''d heard that the Crown used in Kalor City. It was also primarily designed to be a beacon for teleportation, easy to fasten onto as a precise destination target to arrive at. Nonetheless, it could still enhance nearly any ritual spell cast with it, including the soulfinder divination the pair of royal guards were setting up.

    Watching them go about it was a strange experience for Ressara. She had seen a fair number of ritual spells cast by mages, and they had all spoken various incantations and fed their own mana either directly into the spell itself or directly into the circle. Lorvan and Ordens instead fed their mana into certain enchantments in their armor, and the enchantments passed it into the ritual circle. Instead of speaking, those enchantments drew temporary runes around the circle''s perimeter.

    The two of them walked clockwise around the circle on opposite sides, feeding mana into eight equally spaced points on the circle. After filling the last pair of points, they extended their hands above the circle in unison, and activated the spell. The temporary runes, originally perceivable only by mana sense, flared with visible light for a moment, and the spell took form. It connected to the provided mana signature, anchored itself to the ritual circle, and reached out in some manner Ressara couldn''t understand. She had general purpose mana sense, but at her level it couldn''t sense anything complicated clearly. She had it mainly to improve her more specialized soul structures.

    For a moment, the divination seemed to be questing towards something with purpose, but then it started wandering. Ressara couldn''t tell much about how it was trying to find the soul that matched its guiding mana signature, but she could tell that it was having trouble. Lorvan poured more and more mana into the ritual, and Ordens matched him. With each step up of providing even more mana, the spell briefly regained its sense of purpose, before being stymied again. The streams of mana fueling the search grew so dense that just sensing them nearby hurt, until finally even Lorvan was panting with effort. At last, he made a curt cutting motion with his right hand held flat, and the two royal guards stopped the spell simultaneously.

    Lorvan and Ordens both dropped to one knee, breathing hard. Lorvan''s mana touched another enchantment in his armor, and for a moment a small new attention-diverting ward drew Ressara''s gaze, but then it disappeared again. She wondered what that could possibly be about, but Lorvan didn''t leave her much time to think.

    Lorvan took a deep breath and stood up. "Whoever is behind this has resources at least on par with a noble house. Some of the weaker houses are even unable to muster the amount of power it would take to defeat a divination as strong as we just attempted." He swept his gaze around the room slowly, meeting each person''s eyes with a grimly serious expression.

    "I have called for immediate personal intervention by the Crown."

 Chapter 51: Royal Disappointment

    Chapter 51: Royal Disappointment

    Silence filled the room in the wake of Lorvan''s announcement. Ressara looked around, trying to gauge each person''s reaction. Oh, this new development was so exciting! Friendly and kind high nobles helping her, and now even someone from the royal family was going to show up? And she had been helpful, doing things for the royal guards that even they couldn''t do for themselves!

    "Well, I guess that''s that, then." Haftel idly fidgeted with one of his daggers, then glanced at it as though just realizing what he was doing, and hastily put it away.

    Esmorana squared her shoulders and gulped nervously. "How how quickly will they respond?"

    "Minutes." Lorvan gazed at her steadily. "Perhaps up to ten. No more than fifteen minutes. Even that delay would only be because of the need to coordinate, and for a Crown Mage to prepare the teleportation."

    Noralt just leaned back against the wall, waiting quietly. Ordens moved next to Lorvan, and the two of them stood side by side in identical postures, staring forwards with backs perfectly straight and hands at their sides, motionless like statues. They were apparently determined to be in that exact formal posture of respect and duty when their prince arrived, no matter what precise moment that happened. The adventurers took their cue from the royal guards and came together in a tight group, standing quietly and respectfully as well, though they periodically fidgeted or shifted posture.

    Ressara stood quietly as well, waiting. The silence stretched awkwardly. She watched Haftel take a dagger halfway out of its sheath and put it back, then do it again a bit later half a dozen times. She started counting steadily, trying to better estimate the time passing. Sconter arrived at about six hundred in her count, and after a brief whispered discussion with his party the large but soundless man settled down to wait with them.

    She reached one thousand, and still no royal prince had appeared. No one had teleported in at all. Tentatively, she broke the silence. "Um, I think it''s been longer than fifteen minutes now. Could something have gone wrong?"

    "It has been twenty one minutes. I do not know what might cause such a delay, but the Crown will respond." Lorvan did not even look at Ressara while answering her.

    Ressara counted slowly to one hundred before asking another question. "Are you certain you sent the signal? A-and that it wasn''t blocked somehow like divining Carlos''s location was?"

    For a few seconds nothing happened, and Ressara held her breath. Then Lorvan activated something in his armor''s enchantments again, and it briefly pulled Ressara''s attention towards it again. "I sent it again, just in case. Receipt was confirmed."

    Ressara frowned and narrowed her eyes. "Is that signal supposed to involve an attention diverting ward?"

    "What?" Lorvan sounded confused, but still did not move from his formal posture.

    "Right before you said you''d called for Crown intervention the first time, and again just now, a very small ward in your armor tried to push my attention away just for a moment."

    "Ordens, scan me. Comprehensive enchantments analysis."

    "Yes, sir!" Ordens crouched and held her hands on either side of Lorvan''s feet, then slowly raised her hands along his body until she reached his head.

    The whole process took over a minute, and Ressara watched in fascination as various enchantments interacted in complexities beyond her ability to make sense of. Several times during that minute, a momentary flash of something drew her attention. The first few times, she thought it might just be the natural draw of noticing movement, but by the end of it she was certain. "There were several small momentary pushes on my attention from that. From Lorvan''s gear, and from Ordens''s. Both of you."

    Lorvan turned to face her, and removed his helmet to better stare her in the eyes. "That is an extraordinary claim. Either the Enchanters Guild sabotaged royal guard equipment, or someone unknown has capabilities I have never heard of, or you are lying." Ressara gulped, but did not back down. Lorvan sighed and put his helmet back on, shaking his head. "If not for the inexplicable lack of a Crown scion responding to my signal, I would be certain you lie. But the fact remains that the Crown has not responded as they should, and I cannot imagine a crisis that would prevent that response without being known of throughout the kingdom."

    He turned towards the adventurers, who were fidgeting considerably more than before. "Haftel, and the rest of you. What is the fastest other means you know of for us to send a message to the capital?"

    Amber just breathed quietly for several seconds, then started muttering. "Still attached, still correct mana signature, no ripples, no mental energy That''s all the monitors, right? Yeah. Yeah, it should work. Let''s do it."

    Carlos turned his mental focus inward, to his soul and the layer of mana wrapped around it. The mana there was split into portions with fundamentally different characteristics. Most of it flowed like liquid, and little bits and pieces of it were siphoned off whenever he did something magical. Even his ability just to passively sense mana was a constant minor drain on it. But it also replenished on its own over time. That liquid mana seemed to steadily condense in tiny droplets on every hard surface of rigidly solid mana in his soul, which included all of his soul structures, and each drop flowed outward until reaching the surface. The other portion of the surface layer was hard and thin, forming a container that held the liquid. To fool the sleep spell''s monitors, he would need to fake both parts.

    He started with experimentally trying to make a partial extra container, but his first instinct of using the regenerating liquid supply didn''t work. The mana would not solidify. He could form it into the right shape, but it wouldn''t stay that way. With a grimace, he scraped some already solid mana off of his soul structures, and molded it into a disconnected patch that superficially resembled the surface of his soul, far from where the spell touched him. He opened a small hole in its bottom temporarily, and poured liquid mana into it until it was full. Then he closed the hole, and considered. He studied the part of the spell on Amber that monitored what it was connected to, and nodded. His fake patch was larger than the area the spell checked. He carefully slid the patch into place, and fastened it. The spell did not react, and he let out the breath he was holding.

    Carlos didn''t notice any immediate change in how he felt, but as he continued analyzing his own sensations he soon realized he was jumping from one thing to another more easily, and there was greater clarity in all of his senses. He realized his bottom was sore from lying on bare metal for so long. He let out a long sigh. "That''s better."

    "Much better," Amber echoed from beside him.

    They lay there in relieved silence for a few seconds before they got jostled by a sudden movement of the box. Carlos groaned quietly and sat up. "Ok, now that we''re not at risk of succumbing to enforced helplessness, what else do we need to worry about?"

    Amber sighed again. "Too much. How did these people get us away from our guards, and how have they not been caught yet? And what are they planning to do with us?"

    Carlos shook his head, then realized that was pointless because Amber couldn''t see him. "I don''t know. I imagine anyone capable of it should have enough resources for teleporting, so why aren''t we already at wherever they''re taking us?"

    Amber chuckled dryly. "Heh. Even commoners know you can''t teleport someone who isn''t willing. Not long distances, at least."

    "Ah." Carlos idly nodded to himself. "Hmm. Whatever they''re planning is presumably worse than dying and respawning, so why not kill ourselves to respawn back in our rooms?"

    "Can we do that? Surely they must have thought of it."

    "Hmm." Carlos pressed his lips together. He was not at all eager to test trying to kill himself. He looked around with his mana sense at all the other spells and enchantments around them, besides the sleep spell. He quickly found one that would cushion their bodies against a variety of methods of inflicting injury. This one didn''t bother with attention diversion at all. Neither did an enchantment that muted all sound within a couple millimeters of the metal surfaces. No wonder they hadn''t heard anything from the outside this whole time. Then another thought occurred to him, and he laughed, not bothering to keep it at all quiet. "Hah! They muffled the box completely, regardless of direction. We can''t hear them, but they can''t hear us either!"

    Amber was silent for a moment, then let out a chuckle of her own. "So we''ve been whispering this whole time for no reason. They might notice if our weight shifts around too much, though."

    "Yeah." Carlos lay back down, but put his hands behind his head for comfort. "What else does this box do?" He tuned out his normal senses to focus on mana. There were still other magical effects around them that he hadn''t analyzed yet. Only the sleep and cushioning spells were actually targeted on them; the rest were on the box. He could sense the boundaries of the box by feeling out where the enchantments were. They had just over a foot of clearance past their heads and feet when lying down, they could reach out and touch the sides from where they were, and if he sat up straight his head would almost brush the top. The bottom had some gentle curves in it to make any sliding tend to end up in the semi central spots they''d woken up in.

    Two of the enchantments on the box, though they weren''t connected to him, seemed to resonate with him in some way. He reached out with his mana sense to investigate, and suddenly his senses hit a wall that blocked him completely. He pushed his senses against that wall for a moment before he realized that he actually was pushing his senses against it. Mana sense was partly passive, receiving signals that existed naturally like with eyes receiving light and ears receiving sound, but part of it was ethereal wisps of his mana reaching out and lightly touching things he wanted to know more about. Those wisps of his mana were reaching for anything past this wall and hitting a dead stop.

    Carlos sensed some currents of ambient mana moving through that barrier without interference, however. Before doing anything else, he cautiously searched for any hint of divinations aimed towards them, but it seemed the sleep spell''s report on its functioning was the only one. The fact that they hadn''t already been subjected to more forceful attempts to make them sleep again suggested that there weren''t any, but it was best to be as certain as possible. A bit more reassured that his activity still wouldn''t be noticed, he experimented more with the wall blocking his active mana sense. Remembering the lesson from the hostile level five dungeon, he took hold of a tiny bit of ambient mana and pushed it at the barrier. The ambient mana went through, but his own mana pushing it was stopped cold.

    After trying a few more variations, he was sure of it: that barrier blocked his mana, specifically. That was why it resonated with him. The other enchantment he felt that resonance from seemed to also be a barrier, from what he could sense while blocked from probing it, but aimed outward and in some kind of metaphysical direction too. It was tuned to him, but oriented to block things coming in from outside. When he noticed part of it resembled an attention diversion effect, he finally realized how that could make sense. It was to prevent other people from sensing him, or divining his location, or any number of other potential ways to track him down. So that was why they hadn''t been rescued yet. Maybe a team effort of someone with Ressara might overcome that? He could only hope.

    While he was speculating about that, Amber gasped. "Do you feel it? The ambient mana coming in now It''s level ten!"

 Chapter 52: Leveling

    Chapter 52: Leveling

    Carlos frowned as he turned his attention to the ambient mana. Now that he thought about it, its level had been rising steadily the whole time. They had just now entered a level ten area, and he had started absorbing it. In fact, he had started actively absorbing it by reflex. That might be bad. If their captors noticed ambient mana entering the box at extreme rates, they might get suspicious.

    On the other hand, it might already be too late to prevent that, and this could be a clue to what fate awaited them. These people had taken them from their beds, carried them out of Dramos while eluding pursuit (at least, he assumed Lorvan and Ordens had attempted pursuit), and quickly traveled deep into the Wilds. They had already reached a level ten area. If they kept going at this rate

    Carlos blanched. If they didn''t stop, they''d reach a level eleven area before he could finish advancing to level ten. They might even get to a level twelve area before that advancement. If they kept going like that, the level gap between him and his surroundings would grow, and somewhere in the Wilds the level peak they might be heading towards was a mana wellspring. A place that Lorvan had warned them would dissolve their souls at their current level.

    His heart started pounding in his chest, and he stopped considering the odds of detection. Carlos grabbed with desperate fervor to absorb all the level ten mana he could reach, and he sensed Amber doing the same. The center of the box actually dropped back to level nine briefly, but more level ten mana kept flowing in and the level nine zone they were generating gradually shrank until it vanished. His soul started resisting his efforts at pushing even more in, and he hesitated. Lorvan had warned of damaging their souls if they tried to absorb too much too quickly.

    Amber shuddered, and her voice shook. "They''re they''re taking us toward a wellspring, aren''t they?"

    "It''s the only reason I can think of to carry us this deep into the Wilds. Someone wants us gone." Carlos tried to slow down his rapid breathing. Pumping his muscles full of oxygen and adrenaline wasn''t going to help in this situation. He consciously took a deep breath and held it for three seconds before letting it out. "Ok. If they''re going to react to our high absorption rate, they''ve surely already noticed it by now. We might as well assume that they won''t, because it''s too late to avoid that risk. If Lorvan rescues us, great. If not I think our best chance is to develop so fast they''ll have to go closer to the wellspring than planned to finish us off, and hope something powered up by it stops them. After that, maybe we can find a way to break parts of this box so someone can find us."

    Amber''s ragged breathing oddly didn''t echo in their metal cage, its sound blocked from reaching any surface it could have bounced off of. "What if if we don''t advance fast enough? I- I don''t want to die!" She almost sobbed, and Carlos noticed she''d used a different word from what normally got translated to English as "die". A word that meant to die permanently, without respawning.

    Carlos reached over and drew her into a hug. She shook in his arms, and cried on his shoulder. He awkwardly patted her on the back, in a gesture he hoped was comforting, and let her cry. He could feel how fast her heart was beating. The close contact made him painfully aware that she was wearing only light bed clothes, and he blushed but tried not to react otherwise, glad that the total darkness hid his blush as completely as it had concealed how she was dressed from his sight. Gradually, Amber''s tears slowed, and her shaking stopped.

    When he heard and felt her sniffle and take a somewhat deeper breath, he finally spoke, keeping his tone mild and gentle. "I''m sure you know that panic won''t help. Do you think you''re ready to think and figure out a way out of this?"

    Amber took a deep breath, and slowly returned to sitting upright on her own. "Yeah. Yeah, I think so. And thank you."

    "For what?"

    "For whatever that just was." Amber took another deep breath. "If I''d broken down like that in Erlen, I''d never hear the end of the mocking."

    "Where I grew up, that was just what you''re supposed to do to support a close friend who needs reassurance and comfort." Carlos shrugged. "One of the social attitudes I''m going to miss from Earth, I suppose."

    Amber muttered briefly, and suddenly light bloomed from her finger. "Their own wards against anyone finding us are blinding them to anything we might do with our mana, and I''m tired of not being able to see. Now, what can we do that might be useful?"Visit  for the best novel reading experience

    Carlos had realized what she was doing just in time to look away so he wasn''t temporarily blinded, and he looked around as his eyes adjusted to the light. The box looked like plain steel, completely bare and unadorned, in exactly the shape he''d sensed earlier. Even after his eyes got used to the light, he studiously avoided looking at Amber, self conscious about how scanty her clothes were.

    "Yeah. It''s a practiced reflex at this point. Well, uh, goodnight I guess?" Carlos relaxed and let sleep come.

    Esmorana hovered in the sky several miles north of Dramos, her eyes closed and arms outstretched in front of her. She slowly rotated, and a whisper-light line of wind stretching from her to almost ten miles distant steadily swept across an enormous wedge of land. The wind briefly touched each creature it passed over, feeling its shape, then moved on. She sighed. Once again, no people were in the area she''d checked. She turned and flew east a while, and began scanning another ten-mile wedge.

    She tried not to think about how unlikely it was that she would find her quarry. If they had gone into the Wilds, they could be anywhere in a truly vast region. She was stretching her limits of how far she could sense as much as she could, but searching an area that large in a single day was beyond her. Even so, she could search that area faster than even Colonel Lorvan, the royal guardsman, so she was giving it her best effort. Any chance at locating their missing lords must not be passed up.

    Ressara had found no new trail of the kidnappers, even though Ordens had carried her all the way around the city walls remarkably swiftly. It was possible they were still in Dramos, and Stelras had the city guard all but turning the city upside down looking for them just in case, but they all agreed it was most likely the kidnappers had left already under cover of some disguise or concealment. All the gate guards reported no suspicious departures, and she didn''t think any of them were brave and stupid enough to hold to a bribe for silence in the face of the magnitude of fuss the mayor was making, but that meant little. Messengers were on their way to each nearby city or town just in case the kidnappers were traveling by roads, but Esmorana thought that was unlikely. Hence her search in the Wilds, alone because no one could match her mobility.

    Honestly, she thought it was probably going to take a divination powered by the Crown to find Carlos and Amber, and by the time that would happen it could easily be too late. She''d bet her best dresses this was revenge from High House Tostral for that brat Jamar''s humiliation when she''d confronted them, and when noble houses invested the kind of resources in revenge that this must have taken, they could do some exceedingly nasty things. Though, some of the things involved in this misadventure seemed like they should be beyond the means of even an ancient high house. Who could possibly mess with royal guard equipment to prevent calling for aid like that?

    Esmorana finished another wedge scan, and looked at the fading light of the evening as she flew to the next one. She would have to stop soon. Even aside from getting tired and sleepy after the full day, she was running low on mana. Maybe there''d be some news in the morning. She could hope, at least.

    Hilber jogged along with the rest of the Black Blades as they kept going north. He couldn''t help periodically glancing at the metal box containing their captives several yards to his left. "How the hell are they absorbing that fast?" He only realized he''d spoken aloud when his companion Broti chuckled at him.

    Broti shrugged. "Nobles, right?"

    "Well, yeah. But that has got to be active absorption. How are they doing that while asleep?"

    Broti shrugged again. "Wouldn''t be the first time I''ve encountered someone with a soul structure just for making active absorption easier. It''s normally a stupid idea, doesn''t even make anything faster, just easier, and eventually it stops being useful, but some people are just lazy like that." He shook his head. "It''ll be annoying for us, but just going a few more levels deep into the Wilds isn''t that big a deal."

    Hilber frowned as he considered that, but kept up the pace. "I''m not so sure. I know nobles are supposed to have high absorption speed, but these two are insane! Who the hell are they?!"

    Broti slapped the back of Hilber''s head lightly. "Even as a dope with mana sense, you should know better than to ask that. We''re the Black Blades, we do what we''re hired for and we don''t get nosy about the customer''s business! Now keep your eyes forward and your mind on the job."

    "Yes, sir."

    The next morning, Stelras felt bone deep weariness as he walked away from the teleportation building. Colonel Lorvan had still been there, waiting for a royal who wasn''t coming. He''d conceded there was no point keeping the House Carlos plate there, at least. Not that it seemed likely to matter anymore. Maybe it was time to accept that House Carlos had been strangled in its infancy. His duties would not allow him to do that yet, though. He had to at least go through the motions until Lorvan or a higher ranked Crown official declared Carlos a lost cause.

    So he conscientiously carried the official steel plate with its precious adamantine inlay into the city treasury, going through all the locks and wards and heavy doors, and finally presented his mana signature to the small safe that held their most valuable treasures, and simultaneously entered the code for its combination lock. He opened the safe''s door, tossed the plate in, closed it, and started walking away, back to the drudgery of his responsibilities.

    [Hello, Mayor Stelras. My name is Purple.]

 Chapter 53: Coming Together

    Chapter 53: Coming Together

    Stelras jumped in startlement. "What the- Who said that?"

    [I am Purple. The dungeon core in your secure safe.] It sounded entirely too matter-of-fact for such an insane statement.

    "You- What? You''re the dungeon core? A dungeon core that can talk?!" Stelras whirled back toward the safe and started entering its combination code again.

    [Yes. I can feel your disbelief. How could I convince you?] The strange voice seemed happy and excited, though Stelras wasn''t sure how he could tell.

    He threw open the safe''s door and peered into the safe, staring at the floating purple crystal in the center of it. "Um. Give me a moment." He tried to recall everything he''d heard about dungeon cores. They granted wishes to those who reached them, everyone knew that. He remembered a story of someone coming home from a dungeon with a pile of gold coins. "Could you make a gold coin?"

    [Gold costs a lot of mana to make. Would silver do? It still seems wasteful of my mana, but if that''s the proof you need] Stelras nodded dumbly, and a speck of silver appeared in a bare spot on the bottom of the safe. The speck spread into a thin disc, then gradually thickened over the course of a few seconds, and finally an etched image formed on its top surface, roughly approximating the front face of normal silver coins.

    Hardly believing his eyes, Stelras reached out and picked up the newly materialized coin. He turned it over and inspected it closely from all sides. The designs on its faces were obviously counterfeit at a glance, but the color, weight, and feel of it were all exactly right for silver. "Did you just try to duplicate a coin you''ve seen before from memory?"

    [Yes.]

    Stelras flipped the coin a couple times, watching it spin and hearing the quiet ringing sound from his fingernail launching it into the air. He caught the coin, shook his head, chuckled, and put it in his pocket. Leaning down to look at the dungeon core more closely, he smiled. "Ok, so you''re a talking dungeon core. I assume that''s a house secret? Why did you just now start talking with me?"

    [I know something has happened to Carlos, but I don''t know exactly what. Please explain what you know about it. I want to help.]

    Carlos woke up, and groaned as memory of his situation came back to him, along with his hunger. He was thirsty, too. On the plus side, mana absorption had continued as expected while he slept, and he was up to level thirteen now. Four levels gained in less than one full day. On the down side, the ambient mana coming in was level seventeen. They were only in four levels over their heads instead of eight, but he didn''t know if that would be enough. They''d been gone probably about a day, very roughly, and their captors hadn''t bothered to give them water. That, combined with the precautions against them dying in ways that would lead to respawn, suggested they expected to be done within three days total, since that was about how long dehydration took to kill. One day had already passed, so they had at most a day or two before reaching the point where their captors expected them to die from soul dissolution.

    He mumbled a light spell and looked over at Amber. She was sprawled out still asleep, and her hair was a bit of a mess. His hair probably was too, he realized, and he self-consciously ran his hand through his hair a few times like a makeshift comb. He considered waking her up, but it just felt wrong. She seemed so peacefully content in her sleep, and he didn''t want to return her to the fear and stress of a struggle for her life. Then his better judgement overruled his feelings on the matter. She would hardly appreciate it if letting her sleep in cost them an opportunity that could have saved them.

    He shook her shoulder. "Amber?"

    She stirred in her sleep a little. "Hmm?" Then she froze for a moment, and her eyes snapped open as she bolted up to a sitting position. "Ah." She looked around, then consciously relaxed and stretched. "Ok, so we''re four levels down now. I think our absorption is as good as we can get it. What else can we do?"

    Carlos considered the problem anew, sweeping his mana sense around the constrained area. "We''ve already covered trying to survive what they''re doing as long as possible. Aside from that, only two things can possibly be relevant: helping a rescue force find us, or breaking out ourselves. For helping someone find us, I don''t know. Let''s come back to that. For breaking out This box is reinforced by a very strong enchantment. To break that, we''d need to do something far beyond the normal power of our level, and we only have one way to do that."

    Amber nodded. "Right. That weird anti-levitation thing."

    "Yeah. So, let''s prepare that a bunch of times. As for helping someone find us" Carlos mentally reviewed the types of effects he could sense around them. He finished the list and shook his head. "We could try learning some of the things they''re trapping us with, but I don''t see how any of that could be used to counteract or bypass it. Maybe learning them could theoretically help me understand the best way to sabotage them, but I don''t have a way to sabotage them at all in the first place."

    "Maybe using dungeon-style magic?" Amber paused, then shook her head. "No, our mana is too low level to affect these that way. And I don''t think that will change soon enough to matter."

    "Agreed. It would be like trying to wear away steel beams with a bunch of wet noodles." Carlos sat up and drummed his fingers against the steel of the box. It felt weird, with the silence effect on the metal preventing it from vibrating or making noise. "Ok. So, with the power we have, our current knowledge isn''t enough to work around these barriers. Our current available sources of knowledge also aren''t enough. We need new knowledge. Amber, were all the spell effect keywords passed down from forgotten history, or do people sometimes discover new ones? Do you know how mages can discover new effects?"

    Amber hesitated, but slowly nodded. "People do discover new effects sometimes. But it''s rare. Very rare. Sandaras''s book describes it briefly. You essentially have to guess a concept that you think might have a keyword for it, and hope that you got the concept right by blind luck."

    Relief and eagerness washed over her from outside. [Yes. Stelras has told me of what happened. I have bonds with each of Carlos and Amber as well. Normally I can sense their locations, and some details of what they do and what they sense. And of course, speak with them. I sensed their abduction at the moment that it happened. They were lowered while asleep, then brought together. And then the bonds were blocked, before I had fully realized what was happening.]

    Ressara cocked her head. "Ok, so you had those bonds. How do you think you can help, and what do you need me for?"

    [Those bonds may be blocked, but they still exist. And I have mana ready to make a new soul structure. I am hoping that you see some possibility for a soul structure that would help.]

    Ressara blinked, and blinked again. "A dungeon core making soul structures?" She smiled and leaned forward, examining Purple''s soul with utter fascination. "Intriguing!" Beside the crystal, she could sense what seemed almost a carpet of mana, literally woven in a perfect repeating pattern from a very long thread of mana, in midair and floating there. "Oh, right. Sorry. Yes, I have some ideas about that."

    An impression of profound relief came to her over the bond. [Excellent! Please tell me at once!]

    "Of course!" Ressara shifted on her feet, and glanced at the mayor. "Oh, Stelras, do you have a chair I could use?"

    "Not inside the treasury, no. You may sit on the floor if you wish, or simply continue your discussion mentally over the bond while you go somewhere more comfortable."

    "I don''t know, talking that way feels weird." She looked around and carefully sat down on the floor, leaning her back against the wall below the open safe. "Ok, Purple. You''re level three, and you''re trying to beat something that''s much, much higher level than that. To make that work, you''ll have to get really specific about exactly what your soul structure does, with a very narrow scope. Like, a soul structure to sense the location of a person you have a bond with. Except maybe even more specific. And to really have a good chance, it should work in a way that specifically counters what you''re up against. Am I making sense so far to you?"

    [I believe I understand, but I don''t know what I should be trying to counter, or how.]

    "That''s ok." Ressara grinned again. "I have recent personal experience with some things related to this. First off, I can almost guarantee that part of their anti divination ward includes an attention diverter. That''s something that pushes people to ignore what it''s protecting, to look away and focus on other things."

    [That would explain why it has been difficult to focus on those bonds since the abduction.]

    "Perfect! If it''s already affecting you, then we can definitely count on it. I have a soul structure that inverts the effect of attention diverters like that. They draw my attention instead. Make your new soul structure do that for you, except maybe specific to things affecting your bonds."

    [Ok. Anything else?]

    "Oh, yes, I have more." Ressara nodded vigorously, not caring that Purple didn''t have line of sight to her. "I''ve researched how various kinds of divination blockers work. Attention diversion is one part, but the main obstacle is almost certainly a barrier of some kind. You could try to punch through it, but I wouldn''t bet on that working. If you can, it''s better to bypass the barrier, similar to how teleporting can bypass a physical wall. Normally that advice is only useful when you already know the location, and instead want to see what''s there, but you have the basis of a bypass already in place for this. That bond of yours may be temporarily blocked, but it''s still connected, right?"

    [Yes. I cannot send or sense anything through it, but it is not cut or broken.]

    "Right. So it''s pinched, or something like that. Hmm." Ressara took a minute to think over the details. "Ok, I think I have it. Make a soul structure for inverting any magical influence that pushes your attention away from your bonds. Make sure to think of it as reversing the direction of the influence, while letting its power through unopposed. You''re up against something so much more powerful than you that, if you let power even be relevant, it will overwhelm you. Any such influence will be inverted to pull your attention towards itself; make your soul structure also build on that, using the pull as a guiding beacon to find the location of the farthest reachable point of the affected bond. Make every detail as specific and narrowly scoped as possible. The structure will reverse and augment attention-diverting effects on your bonds, without contesting their power, transforming them into attention-grabbing beacons for the bond''s location. Do you understand?"

    Purple mulled over the idea for a while before replying. [Yes, and thank you. This feels like it should work.] A tinge of anxiety and regret came over the bond. [I hope my manager-of-my-soul can change this completely enough later. It would be a shame to have to sacrifice part of Carlos''s plans.]

    "Uh." Ressara cocked her head. "Your what? I got an impression that''s supposed to be one word somehow? And what do you mean about changing it? Soul structures can''t be changed after they''re finalized, except for adding synergies."

    [My manager-of-my-soul. It is one of my soul structures. Its purpose and function is to manage and control the internals of my soul, which includes changing existing soul structures to fix mistakes or make improvements.]

    Ressara gaped, utterly stupefied for a good twenty seconds. Then she snapped her mouth closed. "Thank you, Purple, but isn''t that a house secret?"

    Embarassed chagrin mixed with thoughtful consideration in Purple''s emotions. [Yes, it is. But between this, and what Stelras told me you did before, I think you have earned it.] Purple''s voice shifted, bringing Stelras into the conversation. [This will take me an hour or two. Be ready when it is done, and I will guide you to them if I can.]

 Chapter 54: Discoveries

    Chapter 54: Discoveries

    "Ok, I admit it, a keyword to siphon mana off of someone else''s spell and use it for your own is a bust. No resonance at all." Carlos sighed and slumped over his knees.

    Amber laughed. "It was kind of ridiculous to hope for something like that anyway. If it existed and people knew about it, wouldn''t literally everyone be using it constantly?"

    "Not against people who don''t cast spells!" Carlos grinned cheekily.

    "You oaf! You tried for a version that would work on non spells too, remember?"

    "Yeah, yeah, laugh while you can. I''ll find something that will work, and then you''ll see." They both chuckled at that one.

    Amber let her laughter die off, and sighed. "Will we, really? We''ve gone from level thirteen in a level seventeen area, to level fourteen in a level twenty area. They''re speeding up, and we''re running out of time."

    Carlos let his head fall forward and rest in his hands for a bit. The bare metal of their cramped prison seemed more and more oppressive as time went on, and it had taken him a while to realize that the feeling was actually coming from the increasing pressure of ambient mana weighing on his soul. "I don''t know. But I''m not going to give up until it''s over."

    Amber leaned over and put her left hand on Carlos''s shoulder. "Neither am I, but what do we try next?"

    Carlos looked up and chewed his lip. "Let me think. We''ve tried a few random guesses at things that would be useful, and that''s gotten us nowhere but wasted time. Maybe things that can be deduced have already all been discovered, but that''s by other people. We haven''t learned them, and maybe we can re-discover something."

    Huh. Re-discover. That reminded him, he was pretty sure this whole system of keywords and program-like incantations to cast spells was artificial, designed and created by someone long ago. Or by some group, more likely. So, if a group of powerful people intentionally designed a spellcasting programming-like language, what would they logically put in it? If they''d used the more intuitive variety of soul structures to do it, or mixed that with the way dungeons did magic, they could have put in almost any effect they could conceive of, but what would make sense that they should and would have put in?

    He really wasn''t sure. Judging by the keywords he already knew, there must be many simple effects, so primitive that they cannot be conceptually broken into even smaller and simpler pieces. That didn''t really help, though; everything he could think of that might be primitive enough had the same problem of being useless against the power disadvantage they faced. He needed a different approach. What did he know, or what could he deduce, about those long-ago system creators? Could he imagine himself in their place, and figure out how they might have thought?

    The makers of the incantation system must have been powerful. Incredibly powerful, to have created something that became effectively part of the world''s magical physics. And those people, they had been dreamers. Altruists and idealists, they''d made their system to work for everyone. Anyone who studied and learned how could use it. People like that, with the power and ability to create such a system, if they had wanted it to be restricted then it would be restricted. There''d be a list of approved people, or maybe some token only they could make that granted access, and for anyone unapproved it just wouldn''t work no matter how you tried.

    So, consider a group of people who are designing a system for any random educated person to use. These people would have wanted to empower the world, enabling the masses to learn and use magic like they did. There didn''t seem to be any hint of ideological leanings in the types of spells they had made possible; so far as he could tell, the only ideal that had made it into the system''s design was that anyone could theoretically use it. In accordance with that ideal, they would have wanted everyone to have access to proper knowledge about it. And if they were smart, and surely they must have been to pull off such a project, they should have known that greedy powermongers would try to restrict and control access to that knowledge. To counter that, they had one tool. One ultimate, perfect, tool that only someone who could match their own incredible achievement would have any hope of restricting. And that thought gave Carlos an idea.

    In Earth''s history of computer development, a similar need to broadly disseminate knowledge had arisen, though with far lesser stakes and opposition. To satisfy that need, early software engineers had created and used several mechanisms of providing access to critical knowledge, and one of those mechanisms would have been perfect for this world''s system of incantation spellcasting. If Carlos was right, then the keyword he was about to try to learn would be the holy grail of magecraft. It logically should be famously common knowledge if it existed, and it would have taken a strange confluence of events to bury knowledge of this particular keyword in the dust of forgotten history without losing knowledge of the entire system along with it. This keyword idea was certainly a long shot. But hey, he was desperate, and he doubted anyone who didn''t suspect the system''s artificial origins would have thought to try it. So why not go for broke?

    Somewhat hesitantly, Carlos began forming a blob of solid but flexible mana that could take shape into a learned keyword. He thought of how Earth''s version of this worked, the ways it could be used that would be applicable here. He worked at detailing the concept in his mind, and in a moment of thought about what else to add, he considered the other major factor in learning keywords: the actual word.

    If the incantations system was artificially designed, then the words it used were most likely not arbitrary or random, but simply words from the system''s creators'' native language, and his comprehension aid had proven remarkably capable for translating between languages. If his deductions were right, it had even already demonstrated translation of that specific language every time he''d read a written incantation. It didn''t work nearly as well for translating English into that language, but he had a feeling that was because the incantation language, as a programming-like language, lacked the flexibility and ambiguity needed for any translation to be "close enough". A translation into the incantation language was either exact, or did not exist.

    paraminfousagecommandscommandsyntaxeffectseffect

    Synergy unification update:

    Largest group of structures with total synergy: 10Number of synergies in group: 45Synergies to structures ratio: 4.5Resulting synergies level required for unification: 15

    Synergy unification completed!

    10 soul structures unified into 1.9 empty soul structure slots now available.

    WARNING: Overall mana absorption and development efficiency decreased from 100% to 1% due to empty soul structure slots.

    Carlos took a moment to take in the information, and when he read the last line he blanched, his face turning deathly pale. "No-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no, no, no, oh god, this can''t be happening, not now! Fuuuuck!" He started hyperventilating.

    Amber stared at him and blinked a few times. She started leaning forward, then her mana compressed to level fifteen too, and she froze for several seconds. "Oh. Shit!"

    Carlos swayed for a moment, but caught himself and started taking more intentional and regular deep breaths, trying to calm his racing heart. Maybe he should make a soul structure sometime to stop himself from panicking, now that he had nine free slots. It seemed an absurd abundance of potential, on top of what he''d already had. No wonder nobles were so powerful. This must be why Lorvan had been so cagey about what he called the second stage.

    Suddenly faced with the prospect of designing he didn''t even know yet how many more soul structures - would the new ones unify too, and at what point, and just with each other or also with the first unified super-structure? - he rebelled against the very idea of it. He managed to calm his breathing close to normal, then closed his eyes for a moment and wrestled a determined frown onto his face. Thus settled, Carlos opened his eyes and declared his intent. "No. I have spent enough time fiddling with hardware and leaving my true expertise of software to languish. I finally have the full reference documentation of the entire language, and I am going to use it. I will come back to this whole unification development thing, when I have a proper repertoire of spells to use it with."

    Amber just breathed quietly for a while, before slowly nodding. "I don''t think I fully understand everything you just said, but I agree that we should learn spells and spellcraft before deciding what to do about soul structures. And you''d better get on with it already!"

    Carlos nodded, and cast his new spell again. Interestingly, it did not require that its parameters be learned and encoded keywords. He just had to speak them, and the spell operated some kind of language recognition feature to determine its response.

    help paraminfo effects

    Information about how to use "help effects" poured into his mind. As he expected, it could be used to simply list literally every single effect the system had. That was probably an overwhelmingly long list, however, and he was gratified to find there were further options to search through various categories. He set to work, browsing through categories that seemed relevant for either bypassing or breaking - but bypassing was probably more viable - barriers.

    The most promising possibility initially seemed to be teleporting, but he remembered the times they''d been teleported by a scroll or another mage, and he didn''t think they had enough levels and mana to give a spell that much power. The level of the ambient mana pouring in ticked up again, and their rate of absorbing it had all but stopped. He cursed at the increased feeling of oppressive pressure, and tried to work faster. Were there specialty types of teleportation that used less power? He had analyzed all the magic keeping them contained by now, and he was confident none of it would prevent a teleport. If he could find a variant that was cheap enough and still did something useful, that could help.

    Ah, yes, there was an effect that would teleport his magic. Not him, not even anything physical at all, but another spell or effect. It would, for the purposes of his mana and spells, make a connection between him and somewhere else that did not cross the distance between. It had some major limitations, including on the amount of power he could send through it, but it would let him sense mana outside their boxy prison despite the tuned barrier on it. In fact, thinking of mana sense, surely there were spells for seeing and hearing nearby areas, and he could combine it with those to get an eye on their captors.

    Carlos dug through the effect categories again, and soon found something for perceiving light and vibrations with his mana. The system didn''t actually give him the effect concept itself, just a written text description, but he was fairly sure it was designed to be combined with other things to interpret or display what it sensed. He suspected he might not have time to figure out how to make that work, but he hoped his comprehension aid could handle understanding the information directly instead. The ambient mana level ticked up yet again, to level twenty three, and he shuddered under the increased pressure on his soul with eight levels of difference in its density and power. It wasn''t dangerous quite yet, but it was becoming extremely uncomfortable.

    Putting those two effects together into a single spell proved tricky, until he realized he was being stupid and should just make separate spells for each. They crossed another zone, into level twenty four, before he finally finished that. He cast the first spell, to form a teleport-like connection for his magic to bridge a path around the box''s wards, and didn''t get to cast the second spell before something happened.

    [CARLOS! I can sense you again!]

 Chapter 55: Storm

    Chapter 55: Storm

    Carlos straightened in shock. [Purple? How? Oh! I guess my bond with you counts as my magic in some way? Anyway, I''m in big trouble here and need to get back to working my way out of it. Can''t talk much.]

    After a few seconds reassurance and helpfulness came from Purple. [I know. Just hold on a little longer. They''ll all be there soon.]

    Carlos paused and closed his mouth, aborting the next spell he''d been about to start casting. [Wait, who is "they"?]

    Purple took a few more seconds to respond again. [Haftel, Esmorana, Noralt, Sconter, Lorvan, and Ordens.] Carlos felt Purple''s attention shift for a moment, before he forced it back. [I made a bond with Esmorana, and I''ve been guiding them toward you all afternoon.]

    Amber cocked her head while looking at Carlos. "Why did you stop?"

    "Hmm?" Carlos looked at her. "Oh, sorry. Turns out that first spell let Purple talk with me again, and the rescue party is almost here."

    "Oh" Amber''s eyes rolled up, and she fell over unconscious.

    Carlos blinked, then shook his head. She''d be fine, their captors had generously cushioned them against impacts, among other things, to prevent escape by suicide respawning. [In that case, please ask Esmorana if she, or any of them, know of any spell a level 15 mage can cast to escape a warded metal box that is heavily reinforced by higher-level enchantments and surrounded by higher-level enemies. Preferably also bringing another person with them, but I can probably make do without that. I just need a description of what it does, and anything they might know about how. The spell''s name might help, or might not. Oh, and ideally the spell''s incantation should be short and simple.]

    Purple didn''t respond for a few seconds, and Carlos belatedly cast the spell for perceiving things via his mana. At first Carlos just got a confusing impression of brightness and a quiet static buzz, but gradually the brightness split into fuzzy blobs of different colors and the static started smoothing out. His head throbbed painfully, and he instinctively closed his eyes.

    [Uh.] Purple finally acknowledged Carlos''s request. Carlos got an impression of Purple doing something, and then his attention focused on Carlos much more clearly. [Can you repeat that?]

    [Is something distracting you?]

    [Yes, but I dealt with it. What did you ask, again?]

    Carlos wondered what the distraction was, but it probably wasn''t relevant, so he repeated his request for a description of a spell. Purple listened attentively, holding back any questions about the reasons. [Ok, one moment I passed it on, and she wants to talk.]

    Esmorana''s feminine voice seemed to echo in Carlos''s head for a moment as she started thinking at him. [Carlos? You want a spell''s name and description? Are you seriously implying you can learn a spell just from that?!]

    Carlos chuckled and grinned. [Possibly. If its incantation is simple enough. Now is not the time to explain. Do any of you have that kind of information?] He realized that the fuzzy blobs of color in his mana vision were resolving into shapes with increasingly clear outlines, and he could see more detail with every passing second from the vantage point he''d chosen fifty feet above his position. [Oh, and I can see out from the box if that matters.]

    He studied his gradually clearing view of the outside while he waited for her response. He was looking down on a blocky metal box that was being carried by four people, one at each corner. They were surrounded by a couple dozen other people, all of them armed and armored and walking tirelessly. As the pace of movement grew clearer, he realized they were actually jogging, and each pace covered so much ground that they were at least close to the speed of a professional athlete running at full sprint on Earth. He could only conclude that they must all have magic boosting their speed. There was another metal box several yards to the side, but that one was open, and he could see that about a fifth of the group were lying asleep on it. Presumably they had a sleep rotation to maintain their traveling pace without pause.

    Carlos briefly considered trying to attack. He had only one spell that might actually work against these enemies, but that spell seemed to have no upper limit. He was fairly sure that the extra power it drew from the system exploit wouldn''t be restricted by the spatial mana bridge he was using to bypass the box, too. The problem was the number of targets. He would have to actively maintain attention on each individual copy of the spell, one per person, to keep it pressing down on them instead of reverting to its default of neutralizing gravity. He couldn''t split his focus among more than a quarter of them at most, and probably fewer than that, so even if he taught Amber the spell for bypassing the box''s wards, both of them together wouldn''t be enough to hit the entire group.

    Carlos cautiously peeked out from behind the tree he''d chosen. For about fifty feet in front of him, everything was normal. Beyond that point, all he could see was the edge of a tornado. The early afternoon sun was shining brightly, but beyond that wall of wind everything was dark. Several thick tree trunks broke with loud snaps, and a few trees were even uprooted as he watched. To his sight, the entire company of their captors had suddenly vanished under a curtain of blown dust, dirt, leaves, sticks, and other airborne detritus.

    His mana sense was not so blinded, though. Esmorana''s mana filled the stationary storm and whipped around every bit as violently as the winds she commanded, but he could sense bright spots of different mana inside the storm. Most of them were the souls of their enemies, but there was also the enchanted box that had held him and Amber for most of the last two days. Fully two thirds of the enemy force had been swept off their feet and thrown into the sky by the tornado, and several of those winked out almost as soon as he took note of them, killed by something. The box and the four people holding it held steady on the ground, however, along with several others, though none of them were moving.

    A gauntleted hand touched Carlos''s back, and a familiar bubble of force appeared. He glanced to the side, though he didn''t really need his eyes to confirm the second force bubble he''d already sensed appearing around Amber, nor the presence of the two guards who''d placed them. "Good to see you, Lorvan. Are we just leaving everything to Esmorana?"

    "If she is capable of it, yes. These people, or someone involved with them, sabotaged our equipment very subtly, and we do not yet know how far that sabotage went." Lorvan sighed and shook his head. "I will enter battle with equipment I''m not sure I can trust only if I must."

    Carlos frowned and faced forward again to focus on the fight. "Fair enough. I assume these force bubbles block incoming magic. Can we cast spells out from them?"

    "Yes, but I don''t know of any spells to tell you about that would let you meaningfully affect a fight like this one." Lorvan paused. "You realize, of course, that learning a spell from nothing more than a general description of its effect will draw a great deal of interest from anyone who hears of it."

    Carlos nodded absently. "Will the Crown demand to know that secret? The royals are not mages themselves, as I understand it."

    Lorvan shook his head. "Demand, probably not. But you may want to consider what price you would ask in exchange."

    "Hmm." Carlos narrowed his eyes. He couldn''t really see anything useful right now, but relating the mana he sensed to what he saw helped him sort out the details of what he was sensing. One more person had been swept into the air, losing their grip on the ground, but the rest of those who resisted the initial onslaught were still hanging on. None of them were moving, but eight people were stubbornly resisting the tornado. The twenty or so who had been picked up like ragdolls were down to three, and two of those remaining were hurt and panicking.

    One soul, flying high up in the tornado, felt calm, however. And it wasn''t Esmorana. Whoever that was, Carlos got the distinct impression that they were allowing Esmorana to blow them around while they did something. Mana was streaming out of them into the air, beginning to permeate the entire area even beyond the tornado''s bounds, doing something specific but subtle to the environment. It wasn''t dungeon magic like Carlos and Amber had learned; it was far more special purpose than that. It wasn''t a structured spell using the incantation system, either. The hairs on the back of Carlos''s neck started standing up, and on his arms too. He still wasn''t sure exactly what that mana was doing, but he had a bad feeling about it. It felt dangerous.

    Carlos shifted in place without thinking, and froze with sudden realization when he heard and felt a slight crackle between him and a drifting leaf. That little tingle, and the crackling sound that accompanied it, was a discharge of static electricity. That calm person was ionizing the air! Just as Carlos realized that, he sensed more mana coming out with a more narrowly focused purpose. This new batch of mana branched and leaped through the upper reaches of the tornado as though seeking something, and covered dozens of feet in the blink of an eye. He sensed a branch of that questing forked tree of mana fasten onto something, and as the other branches faded he knew what was coming next.

    He reached out mentally to Esmorana with frantic haste. [Look out! Dodge!]

    Carlos felt an impression of confusion from his link to Esmorana, but to his relief the confusion was swiftly pushed aside in favor of action. He sensed Esmorana''s soul, high above and hundreds of feet back, suddenly move sideways with speed that rivaled even Lorvan''s fastest, and in the same moment a great bolt of lightning split the sky. Blinding light erupted from above, and thunder crashed deafeningly all around them. The tornado began to slow, but Carlos could sense that Esmorana still stood strong. She was just changing her focus.

    [Thanks. That was uncomfortably close.] Esmorana suddenly dropped down several feet, then forward, then diagonally up and to the left. She was constantly moving, constantly changing direction, flying so erratically no one would ever be able to predict her movements to hit her with a ranged attack.

    Her opponent kept trying, of course. The flashes of lightning came so frequently Carlos had to close his eyes to stop just the light by itself from being painful, and rolling thunder roared continuously, each new thunderclap sounding out before the echoes of the last had faded. Esmorana withdrew her tornado, perhaps hoping to drop the lightning wielder into a bone-breaking fall from more than a hundred feet up, only for Carlos to realize that the man had indeed been allowing her winds to blow him around. His initial impression of the man flying high in the tornado had been accurate, and rather than falling, the man simply flew under his own power.

    Numerous armored corpses fell to the ground, and shattered trees pelted everything with broken pieces of wood mixed with torn leaves. A great hole yawned a hundred feet wide in the forest''s canopy, and a man in gleaming armor hovered above it, surrounded by a crackling web of electricity. He ignored the devastation below him, glaring levelly at his distant opponent in the sky.

    This unknown master of lightning cracked his knuckles, did a few stretches as though standing on solid ground and warming up for exercise, then stood on the air with his right foot forward. He raised his right arm in front of him, towards Esmorana, and held his right hand open, palm upwards. He turned all four fingers upwards in a straight vertical sheet, and he twitched those fingers towards himself twice in an unmistakable challenge and invitation to duel.

 Chapter 56: Power Failures

    Chapter 56: Power Failures

    The greatest threat seemed dealt with for now, busy with his aerial duel with Esmorana, but by the same token she was busy dealing with him. Her tornado had dissipated, leaving eight other enemies on the ground now free to move. Two more had fallen from the sky when the winds ceased supporting them, but their bone-breaking collision with the ground shook loose their already-tenuous hold on life. In the center of the newly created clearing, four armored figures quickly lowered the closed metal box they held to the ground and released it. Four others, scattered amid splintered tree stumps and other debris, cautiously raised their heads to look around.

    Two of the enemies rising to their feet suddenly jerked and collapsed, sporting daggers in the eye slits of their helmets. The daggers flew back to their wielder, and Carlos belatedly noticed the presence of Haftel just outside the clearing, and Noralt beside him. He''d been perhaps a bit excessively focused on watching out for enemies and dangers, not allies. He couldn''t spot Sconter even with mana sense, though. Then again, Sconter seemed to have stealth abilities, and stealth would have to hide from mana sense to really be good in this world.

    While Carlos was considering that, a piercing whistle sounded, and the two remaining enemies who''d been lying flat quickly stood up and raced to join the group of four in front of the metal box. At the same time, Noralt stepped forward into the debris-littered clearing. Her stout frame was completely encased in hard steel, she held a shield on her left arm taller than she was, and she wielded an even larger hammer in her right hand. She left deep footprints as she charged forward, shield in front and her enormous hammer extended to the side.

    Thunder crashed from overhead again as the two enemies on the fringe of their formation moved forward to meet Noralt''s charge, and Carlos glanced upward. Three spinning discs of Esmorana''s mana flew in erratic loops, their edges razor thin and pulling tightly compressed air in a fast circle to form a deadly cutting edge. The discs came from widely separate angles and shot towards the crackling web of electricity that surrounded her opponent, while two more discs of air were forming on either side of Esmorana herself.

    Carlos looked down again just in time to see Noralt''s hammer swinging forward. Her target gave an impression of immovable solidity and strength to Carlos''s mana sense, and the man clearly had great confidence in the shield he braced in the path of the swinging hammerhead. Noralt''s mana was projected just slightly ahead of the hammer, and an instant before hammer and shield collided, her mana snapped forward and connected with the shield, fastening onto it. The hammer passed cleanly through the shield, leaving a hammer-shaped hole in it as though traced and cut out of the shield''s steel, and slammed into the man''s chest.

    The man stumbled, and stared in shock at the gaping hole Noralt''s hammer left in his chest piece as she pulled it back. To his credit, he hadn''t been moved by the mighty blow, but several broken ribs jutted out from torn skin, and blood flowed freely. He was clearly dead, his chest caved in, his body just hadn''t quite realized it yet.

    Noralt withdrew her hammer from her first target, two new layers of metal taken from shield and armor coming with it as though shrink-wrapped onto it, and deftly swung it again as quickly and easily as if it were a child''s toy instead of a 6-foot long monstrosity of a weapon. Her second target barely had time to begin reacting, trying too late and too clumsily to dodge instead of block, before her hammer acquired two more new layers and caved in his chest just like his comrade''s.

    She kept charging forward, passing between them, hammer raised and swinging once more. The foe at the head of the formation of four in front of her braced for impact, and this time Noralt''s hammer bounced. Her third target had infused their own mana into their armor and shield, and her mana couldn''t get a grip on it. Carlos wasn''t sure whether this surprised her or not, but either way she swiftly adjusted to the new development, smoothly interposing her shield to block a counterstrike from the large sword in her opponent''s other hand.

    Amber mumbled right next to Carlos, and some of her mana flicked out into the sky, but failed to take hold on the man who was throwing yet another lightning bolt at Esmorana. Right, that was probably their most dangerous enemy here, and pulling him out of the sky would be a lot more useful than just watching. Carlos activated one of his own prepared levitation spells, making sure to focus on adjusting the force to pull downwards strongly, but the spell just fizzled out completely before it could even try to apply any force at all. His target was somewhere around 20 levels higher than him, and that difference in power was too great for his spell to even connect without the target intentionally allowing it.

    Carlos checked the ground battle''s progress again, wondering if there might be an easier target. Maybe if he could help speed up beating the rest of these people, freeing up the other three adventurers to help Esmorana might be his best option. Noralt was exchanging blows with resounding clashes of metal on metal. Her opponent was strong, but she was stronger. Both of their weapons were moving so fast it seemed like it shouldn''t be humanly possible, but in occasional moments of stillness Carlos could see that the enemy''s sword had begun to bend slightly, and their shield looked increasingly battered and covered with dents.

    As for the other three enemies, one was fending off an onslaught of daggers, one was running towards Haftel, and one was helping with the daggers but mainly focusing on watching out for attacks from behind them. The one running towards Haftel suddenly fell, his feet yanked out from under him by Sconter, who appeared out of nowhere without warning. Sconter produced an axe from somewhere, yanked on his target''s helm to expose a slight gap on the neck, and chopped off the head with a precision strike, all in the blink of an eye. An instant later a dagger flew just over the newest corpse to join four others in seeking and stabbing at weak points in the armor of the remaining three ground-bound enemies, replacing a dagger that had just been snatched out of the air and stuffed into a container.

    Lorvan sighed and stepped forward. "It seems I am needed. Ordens, be ready to flee and report if my armor is disabled."

    Carlos held out his right hand, gesturing Lorvan to stay back. "Not yet. I''m not finished yet." He almost snarled as he focused on amplifying the negative levitation even further. It wasn''t as simple and easy as just choosing a more negative number, unfortunately. He had to conceptualize that number''s connection to an amount of force, visualizing the strength of gravitic pull that should result from that number, and it was already strong enough that he was having some difficulty maintaining that visualization.

    He''d been in a centrifuge before, at up to 3 or 4 gravities, and his visualization was already several times beyond that. The man should have been blacking out unconscious by now, if not for his mana resisting the spell. He needed to go farther than that. Maybe even to "human pancake" levels of force, either counting on the man''s resistance to reduce it to something survivable, or just accepting that this might end in death.

    Carlos tried to imagine a downward pull so strong that it would not only hold someone to the ground, unable to even crawl, but start crushing them to death like a hydraulic press. The image that came to mind was uncomfortably grisly, filled with blood, bones, and gore, but he embraced it and tried to imagine even the gore being smashed flat by its own weight. It felt so very wrong, in more ways than just the incantation system complaining at him, but he determinedly pushed through.

    He sensed the man beginning to actually struggle to stay airborne, and amped up his visualization even more. For a moment something seemed to flicker around him, but Carlos dismissed the distraction and focused his concentration.

    "Uh, what?" Ordens shook her head uncertainly. "Gear''s not reporting anything, but even I''m feeling something wrong here."

    Carlos had closed his eyes to better focus on imagining even higher gravities. Suddenly the feeling of wrongness seemed to recede into the distance; still just as strong, or even stronger, but not so close at hand. He shook his head. He''d figure that out later. He sensed the man''s soul drop to ground level, finally, and Noralt leaped on top of him. Carlos opened his eyes to see Noralt wrapping her arms and legs around the grounded man, electricity glancing uselessly off of her metal armor, and released the spell with a gasp. The man jerked upward with the sudden release of force, but quickly stopped and settled back to the ground with Noralt inescapably grappling him.

    Ordens stared at Carlos. "That was not the sabotage. What did you do?"

    Carlos turned to look at her, and belatedly realized the force bubble protecting him was gone. The spell maintaining it had just sort of fallen apart. He frowned. "Just a moment." He experimentally tried activating another levitation spell. He felt the pieces of it trying to come together, but something was missing, and it failed to form. He considered how the feeling of wrongness seemed to be coming from a distance now, and shivered. He was pretty sure he knew the source of that "free" mana now, and it was in truth not free at all.

    He shook his head as he realized the extent to which his guards'' equipment wasn''t functioning right now. All of the enchantments on it relied on the same incantations system that his own spells did, and that system itself wasn''t working in the nearby area. "Something dangerous." He sighed. "I did something that I should never repeat if I have any other option, and should never teach, lest someone else uses it unwisely. I didn''t know how bad the side effects would be. Your equipment should work again once we leave this place, I think, but I honestly don''t know whether the effects here will fade." The incantation system still existed, or the feeling of wrongness would have disappeared entirely instead of becoming distant, but he had drained its power from the local area, and he didn''t know if the system could repair itself from that.

    Carlos took a deep breath and stood up. "For now, I think it''s time to take some prisoners."

 Chapter 57: Loose Ends

    Chapter 57: Loose Ends

    Lorvan hesitated, looking back and forth between the subdued but still dangerous enemy in the distance and his right gauntlet. He flexed his fingers, and Carlos sensed his mana touch something in the gauntlet. One of the enchantments in it trembled briefly, but nothing more happened. "My lord, I cannot guarantee your safety in present conditions if you approach that man while he is conscious."

    Carlos chuckled nervously. "I''ll still respawn if he kills me with lightning, won''t I? It''s the ambient mana level that''s truly dangerous, and we stopped that soon enough." He grimaced. "Barely, but still soon enough."

    Lorvan nodded. "Very well. I advise that you let me speak for you with the prisoners, however."

    "That''s probably for the best. Can one of you get Esmorana and see to her health?" Carlos nodded in the direction of where Esmorana had fallen.

    "Ordens."

    "Yes, sir!" The junior guard rushed off in the indicated direction.

    "Amber? Are you ready for this?" Carlos held out his right hand to her.

    Amber looked at his hand contemplatively for a few seconds, looked towards where Noralt was still wrapping herself around the man who''d thrown so much lightning, then looked back and smiled. "At this point? Yes. I think I actually am. The hard part is over now." She took his hand, stood up, and stretched. "Lorvan, shouldn''t you go in front to guard us?"

    Carlos and Amber both looked at Lorvan expectantly, and Lorvan bowed slightly and started marching. Leaves and sticks crackled underfoot, and Carlos shivered a little as they walked. He almost tried casting his warmth spell before remembering that it wouldn''t work right now. The air was temperate and the afternoon sun felt warm on his skin, the new gap in the forest canopy letting it shine unobstructed from the clear sky, but he was wearing only light nightclothes and a breeze was blowing away his body heat. The utter wreckage surrounding them was a constant reminder of how far they still had to go, and he shivered again as he imagined being targeted by a tornado like that. He was glad these powerhouse adventurers were on his side this time. Hopefully they''d be able to protect him until he could grow enough to match their power.

    Haftel and Sconter stood on either side of the small pile of Noralt and her captive. They each held a weapon ready, prepared to strike the captive in an instant if needed, while they waited for the trio of Lorvan, Carlos, and Amber. Noralt had her armored legs locked around her captive''s legs, her left arm behind his back and holding him against her chest, and her right arm pressing lightly on his throat. He was not struggling against her, seemingly content to wait and see.

    Lorvan stopped a few feet away and scowled at the insignia mounted on the man''s shoulder. "Mercenaries. I see." He shook his head in disgust. "Are you the leader of this company?"

    "I am. Captain Granlan of the Black Blades, not at your service. I am occupied with a well-paid mission at present. Paid in advance." The man''s voice was calm and deep.

    "You should not have taken this job, and if you truly knew just what you attempted to do then you would have known that. What lies did your client tell you?"

    Granlan laughed. "You must think us amateurs if you expect me to divulge information about a client."

    "Perhaps you will change your mind once I inform you of the gravity of your error." Lorvan raised his right hand and opened it to reveal a token. It was a circle about two inches wide with an engraved image on it. The image was painted with a dark rich orange on a black background. The dark orange and the engraved lines depicted an armed and armored warrior with wings spreading wide from his back.

    Granlan said nothing, but Carlos sensed a sudden ripple in the man''s mana the moment the token was revealed. He didn''t feel any danger from that ripple, though; maybe it just indicated surprise?

    "You have been caught in the act of attempting the soul dissolution of two high nobles, including the head and founder of their house, who are under the protection of the Crown. As a mercenary leader, your penalty for this high crime is the disbanding of your company and the seizure of all company property, the crippling of all company members who participated, and the dissolution of your own soul. If you cooperate and willingly aid in bringing your employer to justice, however, the Crown may be merciful to you."

    Granlan''s helmeted head rotated slowly to face Lorvan, and a tense silence descended as the two men stared at each other. Carlos shifted uncomfortably and looked at Lorvan, wondering how long the royal guardsman would wait for a response. The mana layer on the surface of Lorvan''s soul had its ripples and ridges moving in a superbly disciplined pattern that focused forward and moved with slow but implacable patience. Carlos''s eyes widened in realization. He could sense Lorvan''s soul!

    A flash of memory came to mind. Ressara had said that Lorvan and Ordens had disguises on their souls that diverted attention away. Only now, when that disguise was disabled by the system outage, did Carlos finally comprehend how effective it had been. He should have been curious about that disguise and about what it concealed. He should have thought about how he''d never really noticed or reacted to Lorvan''s soul. He should have remembered and wanted to ask questions about it, persistently bringing it up until Lorvan either answered or definitively refused to ever answer. Instead, he''d put it out of his mind without even realizing and never thought about it again until now.

    This realization even distracted Carlos from the mercenaries and the whole surrounding situation, and he focused his mana sense on making the most of this opportunity to unobtrusively examine the royal guardsman''s soul unveiled. Lorvan''s mana was dense and powerful, more so than anything or anyone he''d ever sensed except the high lady who''d inspected his soul in Kalor City. Lorvan was definitely the highest-level person here, substantially above even the mercenary leader and the elite adventurers. He was at least level 40. Maybe even 50, or higher, it was hard to be sure. On top of that, Carlos felt a sense of solidity, an impression that the underlying foundation within the soul was stronger by far, even relative to his level, than any other soul present. Maybe that was because of synergy unification? Lorvan wasn''t a noble himself, but his level was easily high enough for a good platinum-rank soul plan to plausibly have reached that.

    Granlan''s voice interrupted Carlos''s contemplations and brought his attention back to their current situation. "A Crown Guard. Hmm. I don''t know which is more implausible: that you are genuine and the two whelps behind you who were renting space at an inn are indeed high nobles, founding a new house at their age and with no backing of their own; or that someone not in the Crown''s service who reached your level would risk being caught and punished for the treasonous forgery or theft of the Crown''s insignia. Wait" His head turned to glance at where the portable prison lay on the ground for a moment. "How did they get out? It''s still closed, and they don''t have nearly enough power to cast teleport. And they should have been asleep anyway."

    Over the next few hours they went over everything, from the adventurers'' initial suspicions and the confrontation with Jamar Tostral through the abduction and eventual rescue. Carlos was very nervous the first time he declared that the means of achieving a particular thing was a house secret, but Lornera simply accepted that without pressing for details. He held back that Purple was sapient and how he helped find them, the method of how they managed to gain 6 levels in a day and a half, how he was able to learn the Sight Gate spell from nothing but a brief description of it, and a few other things. When they told about Ressara noticing something amiss in the guards'' enchanted gear, Lornera ordered an immediate repeat of the analysis scan. Everyone watched closely, but only Ressara noticed anything wrong. Ressara reported numerous tiny and momentary attention-diverting wards activating when Ordens scanned Lorvan''s armor. Then again when Lorvan scanned Ordens, when one of Lornera''s guards scanned Lorvan, and yet again when Lornera''s two guards scanned each other.

    Lornera''s frown sharpened when Ressara reported that last result, with the issue appearing even with neither Lorvan nor Ordens involved. "Ressara, either you are lying - and I do not believe that you are - or this is larger, much larger, than any mere squabble between rival noble houses. I will have to investigate and confirm this, but if we find proof of what you claim then you will have our thanks. The Crown will reward you appropriately for discovering and reporting such a plot against us once the true magnitude of it is ascertained."

    Ressara stared with her eyes as wide as they could go, stuttered something a few times, then gave up on speaking and just bowed so deeply that she fell over. Lorvan caught her before her face could hit the floor and set her back on her chair, where she blushed mutely for the rest of the meeting.

    When they finally finished telling of their return to Dramos, Lornera stood in front of Carlos and Amber, held the palms of her hands together in front of her, and inclined her head to each of them. "The Crown promised you protection and failed to fulfill that promise. You have my apology for that, and you may request a reasonable favor from the Crown in recompense. In light of Ressara''s discovery in their equipment, I do not believe the specific guards are at fault for this, but I will give you this choice: Do you want new guards assigned to replace them?"

    Carlos shook his head and noticed Amber shaking hers as well. "No. Colonel Lorvan and Major Ordens are satisfactory, and I would prefer to keep them."

    "Very well. I will see to it that their equipment is prioritized for fixing whatever the issue is and that you are informed of the results of our investigation. I will be keeping an eye on news of your development from this point; you have already shown intriguing potential. Lorvan or the mayor can relay a message to me when you decide what favor to ask for. Now, I have other business to deal with, and I will be taking the captured mercenaries with me for questioning. Good day." Lornera nodded to Carlos and left with her escorts with no further ceremony.

    Silence reigned for a moment in the wake of her departure. Then Carlos cocked his head while looking at Haftel and Esmorana. "So, you four decided to work for me long term?"

    Two days later Carlos was sitting in the guest room of Mayor Stelras''s home and busily going through the long, long list of spell effect keywords, trying to assess each one and organize his own classifications of them, when a servant knocked on the door. "Message addressed to you from today''s teleport exchange, Lord Carlos."

    "Hmm?" He looked up from his notes. "Oh. Who''s it from?"

    "Lord Merchant Darmelkon, my lord."

    Carlos blinked. "What? How does he even know where to send it? Nevermind, just give me the letter."

    The servant handed him an envelope, and Carlos quickly tore it open and pulled out the paper inside.

    High Lord Carlos Founder,

    Congratulations on your new station in life! Investigating your background has proven quite the unexpected adventure. I sent someone to check the Crown''s records in Kalor City for what house you might be part of. Imagine my surprise when they returned to report that you are the head of a brand new house, not yet announced, that had not even been founded yet at the time of our encounter! If I hadn''t been searching so very specifically for you they would not have even let me know your house exists.

    Your bluff was impressive, threatening me with "the wrath of your house" and offering "a favor from your house" when your house wasn''t even registered yet and consisted entirely of yourself, held captive and helpless in front of me. It has been a long time since anyone outwitted me that badly. That said, it just so happens that despite the near-penniless state of your fledgling house you may actually have something I want.

    You have devised a new soul plan of sufficient rank to qualify for nobility. Can you do it again? My son Kindar has long played at pretending to nobility, and after our misadventures involving you he has set his heart on making it truth. He envisions himself as a supreme warrior and a master swordsman, and you would have to somehow accommodate the soul structures he has already made. However, your status might also make you privy to some secrets of nobles regarding precisely what the requirements are and ways to more easily satisfy them.

    If you do this for me I will count your favor fulfilled, and I will also pay you well. Send a letter to me in Erlen with your decision. If you accept, I will send Kindar and an escort to you with strict instructions to cooperate and to follow your orders within reason for the duration.

    Lord Merchant Darmelkon

    Carlos gaped at the letter for several seconds. "That idiotic jackass Kindar wants me to help him become a noble?! What?"

    The servant just stood and waited with polite deference.

    Then the door slammed wide open as a flamboyant young man marched in and flung his arms wide for a grand proclamation. "Carlos, there you are! Your weeks of tedious waiting in boredom are over at last, for your teacher Trinlen has arrived!"

 B2 Chapter 1: Catching Up

    B2 Chapter 1: Catching Up

    Carlos lounged comfortably on one of the mayor''s fancy sofas. At 23 years old with a healthy body he really didn''t need cushioned upholstery, but he liked how it felt. Honestly, he was probably more comfortable with high quality furniture than someone of his relatively low-income background should be in this world. Spoiled by the mass production factories of modern Earth, I suppose. All of this stuff here is probably handmade. Er, make that definitely handmade. Unless they have magic factories I haven''t heard about, or something. He mentally shrugged. There was no point trying to change his attitudes toward furniture now. While this world might have higher prices for a lot of things than he was used to, he was also a lot richer than he was used to thanks to having become a noble lord. People would expect him to treat fine furniture as cheap because of his statio

    I might have the physical habits of a couch potato, but at least I don''t look like one. Too skinny. Not as skinny as Amber, though. He smiled as he watched the young woman next to him on the sofa continue animatedly expounding on their recent adventures together. She was lanky, with few curves to speak of and spindly limbs, far from any conventional picture of feminine beauty. Her hair, a slightly lighter shade of brown than his own, was cropped short. He thought she was 18 or 19 years old, but wasn''t sure. Have I really never asked her age before? ... Would that be a rude question here? Regardless of her age, she had grown her confidence a lot since their first meeting a few weeks ago. She''d found her footing in a new life that she''d seized with utter determination, and he saw no sign of the shyness that she''d first greeted him with. The way her potential was finally blooming was beautiful to watch.

    Carlos turned his gaze to the sofa across from them and carefully held back from laughing at the expressions Trinlen was making as Amber wrapped up explaining the events and developments they''d gone through since their introduction to him at the Royal Mage Academy. Carlos had contributed a fair amount to the explanation at first, but Amber had taken to it with enthusiasm when she arrived, and he could tell she was enjoying it. The young man in front of them, newly graduated from said academy, was on the edge of his seat and leaning forward, hanging attentively on every word. His casual attire, plain and made of cheap materials, looked thoroughly out of place on the finely embroidered velvet of the sofa, but he''d shown no sign of even noticing the finery around him. Excitement warred for control of his face with surprise, disbelief, envy, and dismay.

    Amber finished her impromptu monologue, and Trinlen slowly schooled his face into a neutral expression. His voice was tense and tightly controlled. "So... In short, you''re telling me that in the mere two weeks since you met me, you discovered a mana-poaching conspiracy of nobles, were abducted right under the noses of two royal guards without them even noticing, absorbed mana so fast that you gained 6 levels in a day and a half - so unfair, by the way - somehow learned an obscure portal spell from just its name and description, found evidence of a conspiracy against the Crown, and personally met a princess." He paused, then threw his hands up as he wailed in frustration and disappointment. "And I missed it!?"

    Carlos threw back his head and burst out laughing. He couldn''t help it. Trinlen just sounded so much like a little kid who''d barely missed out on a candy store giving away its entire stock for free. It was such an incredible light-hearted contrast with how everyone else viewed these same events that the sheer ridiculousness of it was overwhelming. Amber joined the laughter a moment later, shaking her head in amused disbelief, and after a few more seconds Trinlen started chuckling too.

    Carlos''s laughter eventually trailed off, and he took a deep breath to settle down. "Thanks, Trinlen. It''s been a very stressful two weeks, and laughing like that helped release a lot of it. Feels good. Anyway, what have you been up to? I thought you would take a whole month to graduate?"

    "Technically I only said ''next month'', not that it would be at the same point in the month. But yes, this is earlier than I expected. The normal graduation ceremony is still a week and a half away." Trinlen shrugged. "They didn''t explain the reasons, but after what you said I''m guessing your meeting with the princess prompted her to do something. The vice headmaster called me to his office yesterday morning, a few teachers grilled me on my classwork, and they declared I''d passed my exams. Then they told me to pack because I''d be teleported to my new employers the next day, and here I am." He sighed. "Hmph. Now I won''t get to humiliate Norla in front of the whole academy when she gives her speech." Then he perked up and grinned widely. "But it sounds like you two are going to be so much fun that I''ll get over it in no time!"

    "I''m not sure if I agree with your idea of fun, Trinlen, but if it motivates you to help us more then that''s good enough for me." Carlos chuckled again. "Anyway, do you need some time to get settled in? You might need to think about lesson plans for us too. We don''t need just catalogues of incantations to learn anymore, at least not for simple ones, but I believe you learned other things in the academy too. You mentioned creating your own spells, as I recall."

    Trinlen nodded. "I did mention that, yes. I''m guessing your lack of need for a catalogue is because of your newfound ability to somehow pull entire incantations from thin air? You''ll have to at least tell me about the limitations of that so I''ll know what I still need to teach you, but yeah, there are other things. For one thing, there''s your sloppy terminology! Why does no one outside of the academy care about properly distinguishing between the states of mana? Is it really that hard to understand that calling aether, mana, and essence all by the same term obscures your meaning and often causes confusion? Or are people so stupid that they can''t even understand the difference?"

    Stolen story; please report.

    "Be careful talking about that out loud, remember?" Carlos relaxed and draped his arms across the sofa''s back as he focused his mind on their mental bond through Purple, their friendly dungeon core. [On Earth, we made many languages similar to the language of incantations, and we had the reference documentation for all of them. We even published that documentation free for everyone to have. Teachers for those languages were still useful, and even critically important for many people. Having access to knowledge doesn''t mean you automatically understand how to properly apply it. There may be related knowledge we have no idea even exists. There could be techniques and patterns for how to use the language that are simply outside the scope of the documentation. Perhaps most importantly, a teacher can use their experience to notice a student''s mistakes and correct them before they become problems.]

    [Hmm.] Amber bit her lip, thinking. [Like how I knew about making soul structures and synergies between them, but had no idea about the importance of being able to examine and fix them, I suppose.]

    Carlos nodded. [Yeah. And that''s a really simple example. I know some that are a lot more complex, though I''m not sure how many of them are even applicable for incantations. Inversion of control, dependency injection, factory patterns...] He shook his head. [Just the context knowledge needed to be able to fully understand those could take days or weeks to teach well enough for you to use them. I could maybe explain the basic ideas faster with some simplified analogies, but that would lose so many details that I doubt it would still be useful.]

    Amber paused. [... Even my comprehension aid is baffled by the terms you just said. It translated the individual words that you said, but all I got for the phrases is a confusing jumble.] She chuckled. [Anyway, I concede the point. Trinlen will still be able to teach us important and useful things. We still need to decide what secrets to share with him.]

    [A lot depends on how good he is at keeping secrets. We don''t actually know him all that well yet. He''s certainly fun, and he seems clever, but for assessing his integrity we''re leaning pretty hard on just a janitor vouching for him.] Carlos frowned in thought. [In order for him to do his job, he needs to know that we can only "pull an entire incantation from thin air" if it''s a simple one. He does not need to know the full details of `help`, however, and most certainly does not need to learn to use it himself. That secret is a very sensitive one, where even just letting too much knowledge of it spread would lose us a major advantage.]

    [Definitely. No casting `help` where he can hear it, and don''t say anything about it that''s not directly relevant for his teaching, either. Not until he''s earned our full trust.] Amber lapsed into silent consideration. [We should introduce him to Purple. We''ll kind of have to at some point anyway, and the really valuable thing there is Purple himself, not just the knowledge of his existence.]

    Carlos nodded. [True. I think that probably is the least sensitive of our house secrets, and being able to call him through a bond with Purple would be useful.] He chuckled. [And maybe his cleverness will end up producing some good ideas for Purple to use. See if he can find a more productive outlet than pranks for his creativity. And then... If he keeps that secret well enough for long enough, we can consider trusting him with more secrets.]

    Amber sent back wordless agreement.

    Carlos started sitting up, lifting himself out of the comfortable cushions. "Well, we should get some food ourselves, too. And maybe introduce Trinlen to everyone else along with Purple." He stood up and spotted a letter he''d set aside when Trinlen arrived. "Oh yeah, and what do you think we should do about Kindar?"

    "Wait, what''s this about Kindar?"

 B2 Chapter 2: Feelings

    B2 Chapter 2: Feelings

    "So, in short, the most stuck-up bully of my life is now begging for our help to fulfill his greatest dream, because we''ve happened to become his only remotely realistic hope of achieving it. Do I have that right?"

    Carlos looked up from his plate of succulent roasted meats and vegetables, all covered generously with a rich gravy, and raised an eyebrow at Amber. They were in Mayor Stelras''s personal dining room, enjoying the service of his personal chef. "You know you do. You''ve read the letter yourself, what, a dozen times now?"

    Amber set the letter aside yet again and took another bite of her own lunch. "Yeah, I know. It''s just" She shook her head and chuckled. "Out of all the things that happened the last few weeks, this one is somehow the hardest for me to believe is real. It''s ridiculous. I know it''s ridiculous. I''ve personally met and spoken with royalty! Kindar should be nothing compared to that! But, somehow This is hitting me harder than anything."

    Carlos nodded calmly. "Makes sense to me. The presence of royalty is completely new to you. It''s huge and important, and far beyond anything you ever expected might happen, but the only thing you''ve experienced before that''s different is its absence. You don''t have any memories in the back of your mind telling you ''that''s not how this is supposed to work.'' For Kindar, you have a lifetime of memories telling you that he''s more powerful and better supported than you are, and that you''re mostly helpless against his bullying. Now that you''re the one in power, and he''s the one helpless against you, that''s not just new, but contradicts a lot of your past experiences. Some part of you in the back of your mind is having difficulty reconciling the contradiction; it''s like you have a subconscious voice shouting ''that''s wrong; it''s not how this is supposed to work!'' For meeting Princess Lornera, that voice is only confused and surprised, not feeling like something''s wrong."

    "Hmm." Amber cocked her head and paused. She looked down and idly speared another forkful of tender steak. She made a few more contemplative sounds as she chewed and swallowed. "That makes some weird kind of sense. I think." She shook her head. "How did you know that? I never would have figured it out."

    Carlos chuckled. "Don''t feel bad about it. Not many people would ever figure out that kind of thing about how human minds work without being taught. I certainly didn''t. My dad''s a therapist, and he taught me a lot."

    Amber blinked, then blinked again. "I have never heard of that profession before. In fact, I think it doesn''t exist here."

    Carlos realized on reflection that "therapist" hadn''t translated. There was no word for it in Ganler, the native language here. "Huh. I hadn''t thought about it, but I''m not surprised. It took a long time for people where I grew up to realize that kind of thing can be important. Or maybe the hard part was realizing that it takes education and training to do it well."

    "Ah."

    They ate mostly in silence for a while, occasionally humming in thoughtful consideration while they chewed. Eventually Amber was leaning on her elbow, just watching as Carlos scraped up a few last bits of gravy from his plate. She stared distantly at nothing. "Hmm You know, I''m tempted to actually accept, just so I can rub his face in how I succeeded better at his own greatest ambition than he ever will."

    "Hmm? Oh right, Kindar." Carlos chuckled. "I imagine a few sessions of smugly condescending to him would be rather cathartic revenge for you. Would it be worth the downside of helping him actually achieve his ambition, at least to a minor degree, though? I''m sure that if Darmelkon had any other viable options for helping his son with this, he would have taken care of it years ago. If we refuse, we''ll be denying Kindar from achieving his ambition at all. Wouldn''t that be better revenge?"

    "Logically, yeah, that makes sense. But it just doesn''t feel satisfying to me." Amber took a sip of water and pushed her empty plate away. "I want to show him how badly we outclass him now. I want to see his face when he realizes that he will never measure up to the ''annoying stupid girl'' he used to tease."

    Carlos leaned forward and reached out to gently put his right hand on top of her hands. "It''s okay. What''s important is that you recognize your mistakes, learn from them, and make yourself a better person. My parents taught me that very, very thoroughly."

    "Yeah." Amber sighed and shook herself. "Thanks. I''ll try to remember that. And Should we just call off the whole idea?"

    "Only if you truly want to." Carlos squeezed her hands gently. "If you can get some satisfaction without taking it too far, then that''s completely okay, and you were right that there are serious benefits to it. Even having him as a vassal house, as long as we treat him reasonably. Though Hmm." He frowned. "There has to be a reason why strong noble houses aren''t raising up new vassal nobles all the time, right? It''s not all that hard to make a noble soul plan if you know the requirements details."

    "I suppose. Lorvan probably knows the reason."

    Carlos nodded. "Yeah. I feel like he might just ask if we can figure it out ourselves, like he did about nobles keeping mana wellsprings, though" He shrugged. "I''m sure Darmelkon knows too, and he wouldn''t have asked if the Crown forbids it, or anything like that. He''s ambitious and ruthless, not stupid. We should ask, certainly, but I expect any consequences we might have overlooked will be manageable. As I see it, the core question is just" Carlos reached his other hand forward, firmly clasped and lifted both of Amber''s hands, and looked her in the eyes. "Amber, what do you want to do with this?"

    Amber stared back for a moment, then averted her gaze. "Don''t you have an opinion about this too? Why are you only asking me?"

    "Of course I have an opinion, but all he did to me was loan me a sword in a dungeon and then act rude and arrogant when he demanded it back afterward. You are the one who grew up being bullied by him. How to treat him matters far more to you than it possibly could to me." Carlos squeezed Amber''s hands reassuringly. "Amber, please, look at me." He waited, and after a few seconds Amber hesitantly turned her head to face him directly again. "My opinion on this is that I want our response to be something that you will be content and happy with. All other relevant considerations that I can think of are less important than that."

    Amber stared and slowly nodded. "I Thank you." She squeezed Carlos''s hands back and awkwardly extracted her hands from his grip so she could lean forward and rest her head on them, propped up by her elbows on the table. "I think I do want to accept, but maybe with some conditions. I still want to show him up in person and see his reaction. Part of me still feels afraid of him, and I want to prove to myself that he doesn''t have the power to threaten me anymore. That seems like something your ''therapists'' would say something about. Would they say it''s a good idea? Do you know?"

    Carlos nodded. "Yes, absolutely. Standing up to something you used to fear is a great way to resolve residual fear of it that lingers in your mind."

    "Then, yeah. I want to do that, and I do still want to get some payback." Amber hesitated. "But if I start bullying people like he did, I''d start hating myself as soon as I realize it. So, no bullying. And that goes for Kindar too. If he can''t learn to stop being a bully, then he doesn''t deserve what he wants. Let''s give him a chance. Make our conditions clear, and demand partial payment up front, but give him an opportunity to earn our help."

    "That sounds fair." Carlos cocked his head and frowned in thought. "Having him with us may require adjusting some of our plans. Actually, we''re overdue for making certain plans in the first place. I got a bit too carried away with my excitement over all the spell keywords we can learn now. Sorry."

    Amber grinned. "Have you forgotten that I told you I''m well known for always having a plan? What do you think I''ve been doing the past two days?"

    Carlos raised an eyebrow, then grinned back at her. "Oh really? Let''s see what you''ve got!"

 B2 Chapter 3: Planning

    B2 Chapter 3: Planning

    Amber jumped up from the dining table and waved for Carlos to follow her. "I left my notes in my room. Come on, let''s get them!"

    "Do you actually need your notes?" Carlos kept his tone light as he walked behind her. "I think your memory is pretty good, and you thought through all of this very recently."

    Amber shrugged without looking back. "Maybe not, but I''d get worried that I might forget a detail without them." She started climbing the private stairs toward the guest suites they were staying in. "I couldn''t possibly forget the top priority thing, of course: making sure we don''t get abducted and almost soul-killed again."

    "Of course."

    "In the immediate short term, we''ve already done everything I could think of about that." Amber rounded the landing of the stairs. "Might be worth revisiting the topic in case we think of anything new. ... And bring Purple into the discussion; his unique perspective might see possibilities that we can''t."

    Carlos nodded, even though she wasn''t looking toward him, and smoothly switched to telepathy to include the dungeon core. Purple''s attention had focused on them the moment Amber said his name. [Right. So, short-term safety measures for us. To start with, we''ve already moved into the mayor''s mansion, so anyone who considers targeting us now will at least know we have his support.]

    [Yeah. And attackers won''t be able to bypass the outer wards just by renting a room here, like they did at the inn.]

    Carlos shrugged as he reached the top of the stairs. [I''m honestly not sure how much that mattered. They got through the suite-specific wards without a trace, and that''s not even the most unbelievable thing they pulled off.]

    [True.] Amber opened the door to her suite and went straight to the large hardwood desk against the left wall. [Fortunately for us, we have our own unbelievable thing to counter them. Even if all wards and guards fail, Purple will alert everyone to it immediately.] She sighed and shook her head. [If only we''d introduced him to Mayor Stelras earlier. Those mercenaries would have had every adventurer and city guard in Dramos swarming them before they even reached the walls.]

    [Would have been a lot less stressful that way, certainly.] Carlos chuckled, shaking his head ruefully. [On the other hand, the pressure of it pushed us to figure out some incredible things.]

    [The pressure may have prompted it, but we could have figured them out anyway without it; it just would have been later.] Amber pulled a notebook out of the desk''s top drawer and opened it. [I''d rather avoid the unpleasantness of the experience. Anyway, the rest of the short-term safety measures: We have Esmorana and her party on call, with Purple able to contact them at any time. We have Ressara on call and sometimes standing watch, to check for attention-diversion magic. The Crown gave use two special emergency beacons, separate from the ones built into our guards'' armor that got disabled by sabotage, which we have tested and stored in separate locations; one in the city''s top security vault, and the other hidden. And finally, we have city guards patrolling and standing watch around the mansion, in addition to Colonel Lorvan and Major Ordens inside the mansion.]

    Carlos chewed his lip for a moment. [What about reinforcing the wards here? Or adding more layers of them?]

    Amber shook her head. [I considered that, but I don''t think we can really trust the Enchanters Guild, and they''re the only ones who could do that for us.]Read latest novels at novelhall.com.] Carlos leaned against the doorframe and tapped his chin, thinking. [Yeah, that''s reasonable. They want our dungeon core, and they''re the top suspect for who could have sabotaged royal guard armor. Are they really the only source of enchanting work, though?]

    Amber slowly walked over to one of the sofas and sat down, all without more than glancing away from her notebook. [Unless you count items made by dungeon cores, yes. I''ve heard of people figuring out what runes to write for an enchantment''s effect, but the guild is... famously vicious about protecting their monopoly on the secret of how to imbue an item with mana and make the enchantment actually work. And before you suggest visiting a dungeon core, we don''t have access to one powerful enough for this.]

    Carlos smirked. [Not yet. But helping Purple get that powerful is a long-term thing, so fair point.]

    Amber looked over at him, then rolled her eyes and waved at the sofa opposite her. "Come in and take a seat, already! I thought I was the shy one out of the two of us, not you."

    Carlos smiled as he complied. "It''s your room, and I was taught that entering someone''s private area uninvited is rude." He settled into the sofa''s soft upholstery and leaned forward, clasping his hands together and resting his elbows on his knees. [I''m not happy about how much our short-term defense plans rely on rescue after-the-fact, just trying to ensure it comes quickly, rather than preventing abduction from happening in the first place. But...] He sighed. [The only short-term options I can think of for that involve abandoning Dramos, which I expect the Crown would frown on.]

    [I have disassembled the soul structure I made for finding you and replaced it with the originally planned structure. I have additionally made the next 3 planned structures, and I am currently collecting the essence for the final 10th structure.] Purple sent a small burst of surprised confusion. ["Essence?" Ah, I see. A word you learned recently?]

    Carlos raised an eyebrow and saw Amber doing the same. [Trinlen taught us about it. Any issues with establishing all the synergies?]

    [I will need assistance for the synergies with the bond maker. Those synergies involve and require interaction with someone I have a bond with.]

    Carlos nodded. [Of course. After that''s done, are you ready to go traveling to absorb higher-level aether? I know that you have to release most of your... mana? Is that the right one, out of aether, mana, and essence?]

    [Partially. What anchors me in place, which I must leave behind in order to be moved, is a mix of all three. Regardless, I have far more essence and mana inside me than before, and that will come with me. The loss of what I leave behind will affect me much less and will be more quickly regained. Travel will be necessary to gain the power to protect us. Do not be concerned about my minor discomfort with the process.]

    Amber responded first. [I''m glad to hear that. We also need to make plans for what soul structures you should make after your first set merge, but that will have to wait for the same information as our own plans. Is there anything else we can do to help you grow?]

    Purple paused, filled with uncertainty. [I don''t know.] He hesitated again. [You humans learn how to grow powerful by learning from other humans how they grew powerful. Dungeons do not. Or rather, cannot, because we do not move, meet, and communicate. Find knowledge of how other dungeons became powerful, and that may help me. That is the only idea I have.]

    Carlos laughed. [Yet another research project, hmm? Sure, we can add it to the list.]

    Amber duly wrote it down, along with a trip into the Wilds for Purple. [Okay. That leaves staff/resources. For improving the staff that we already have, well... I only have one idea for that. We could try helping them improve their soul plans, but doing that without teaching them house secrets could be tricky, and we''d have to convince them to tell us what they already have. The degree of specific details we might need to know in order to help is... enough that even asking would be rude.]

    [I see.] Carlos shrugged. [There are ways around that. If we explain the basic idea of the kind of help we might be able to give them, then they can decide whether to share that information without us ever actually asking for it.]

    Amber narrowed her eyes at him, then took a note. [Sure. I''ll leave that conversation to you.] She glanced back at her notebook and sighed. [And that leaves acquiring new staff/resources. I suppose we could ask Darmelkon to help, but I''m not sure how much we can trust him. Aside from that...] She shook her head helplessly. [I know how to do small jobs and carefully save up, but that''s hardly appropriate for us now as nobles.]

    Carlos chuckled lightly. [Don''t worry about it. I''ve seen enough of how people in positions of high authority do such things. There''s a related saying I learned: "We have people for that." We can delegate it. Eventually, we will have to delegate it, because there will be too many things for us to even conceivably have enough time for all of them. We''ve kind of already delegated some things anyway: investigating the mercenaries and the illegal "rotation agreement."]

    [Yeah. I wonder how those investigations are going.]

    Far away, in a dimly lit prison cell, a heavily muscled man, sitting cross-legged on the floor, sighed and bowed his head. He wore only plain and loose clothes made of cheap cloth, save for the rune-inlaid steel manacles that bound his wrists together. He looked up again at the regal woman, dressed entirely in the dark orange of orichalcum, who was watching him from just outside the cell bars. "Your Highness, I can only tell you the same thing I told your interrogators: threats cannot change the simple fact that I do not have the knowledge that you seek. I intentionally set up ways for clients to hire my company without ever revealing any hint of their identities. That anonymity was part of what the Black Blades became known for; part of why people would choose to hire us."

    The regal woman gazed at him impassively. "I am aware of your reputation, Captain Granlan. I also have a report of your company exacting retribution on a client who hired you under false pretenses and set you up to fail."

    Granlan raised an eyebrow. "Does that report mention how long it took us to unwind the layers of cutouts and concealments to identify that particular client?"

    The woman nodded. "Two and a half years, during which you were also pursuing other jobs, and you began with no specific suspicions. Imagine that you focus on the task exclusively; that you coordinate with the Crown on it; and that you start with a precise primary suspect in mind. How much faster do you think that could make it?"

    Slowly, Granlan''s weary frown changed into a grin. "Now we''re talking!"

 B2 Chapter 4: Concerns

    B2 Chapter 4: Concerns

    High Lord Recindril Tostral stared across the practice yard at his opponent with intense focus, never blinking both eyes at once, for losing sight completely even for a literal eyeblink could be fatal in combat at his level. He was vaguely aware of the rest of the courtyard around them, the racks of practice weapons and a few trophies hanging high on the walls, and a part of him was alertly watching for any hint of danger from any direction. The bulk of his attention, however, was squarely on the younger man facing him with drawn swords at the ready.

    It was remarkably similar to looking in a mirror. The young man in front of him had the same strikingly red short-cropped hair, the same alert brown eyes, the same angular chin, the same well-muscled but wiry frame, strong without being overly bulky. Even the youth''s stance was identical to his own; right foot forward, knees bent, feet ready to dance like the wind across the ground, right-hand longsword extended forward to threaten an attack, and left-hand longsword held closer to parry. The family resemblance with his firstborn child and heir, Recindren Tostral, was unmistakable.

    The younger Tostral finally made the first move, a short step forward and a lunge, but the high lord could tell it was only a feint. The movements of muscles and mana gave away his opponent''s intentions to his finely tuned senses, and he responded with only a minute shift of his left sword, prepared to slap the strike away if Recindren tried to convert it into a genuine attack mid-lunge. Recindren withdrew his feint and shuffled to his right, trying to find or create holes in the elder''s guard.

    Lord Recindril rotated in place to stay facing his son and continued watching closely, analyzing for even the slightest flaw in the young man''s movements. He fended off a rapid series of thrusts and slashes, practice swords ringing almost musically as their dulled edges clashed repeatedly. Soon, it would be time to counterattack and test the boy''s defenses as well, but for now he merely played at being a hard target. That was an exceedingly scarce commodity for his son by this point, as only another noble would ever be able to stand up to the hurricane of steel the young man was unleashing on him. Most commoners, even high level adventurers, wouldn''t even be able to see the attacks, much less block them.

    His son needed a sparring partner he couldn''t instantly overwhelm, and Recindril was happy to fill the role. It gave him some much-needed practice as well, though he still had to hold back. His heir may have been empowered by their mana wellspring, but Recindril himself had received that power as well, and had developed further beyond that point in the years since then. He had an advantage of 8 more levels of compression in his mana, and the additional speed, skill, and strength from that could have ended this fight decisively in fairly short order. Neither of them would learn much if he pushed that advantage as hard as he could, though.

    The lord watched his son commit to a double lunge, one sword stabbing at his eyes and the other at his right shin, which was his most exposed body part. The move was superbly timed, with the eye strike coming just enough before the other to potentially distract from defending the leg. Against an opponent less able to keep calm, it likely would have scored a wound, maybe even a crippling one. Recindril just leaned his head a few inches to the side to barely dodge the eye stab and swung his right sword low to deflect the other. In the same movement, he smoothly pivoted forward, moving inside his opponent''s guard to bring his left sword forward in his first attack of the bout.

    He moved a bare measured hair less quickly than he could have, turning what could have been an instant defeat for his son into an opportunity for learning and recovery; a kindness he would never show to an actual enemy, such as those upstarts, Carlos and Amber. Not that either of them would be an issue much longer. Their souls should be dissolved already by now, and he was expecting a report of mission completion from the Black Blades very soon. That report is actually overdue at this point. Could something have gone wrong?

    Recindril''s mind was suddenly forced back to the sparring match by a stinging vibration in his left hand, accompanied by twin clangs of his son''s swords hitting his left sword on opposite sides, trapping it between them and twisting it out of his hand. An instant too late, he realized that his son''s attack, while genuine, had also been intended to bait exactly the response he''d made. He immediately stepped back and held out his empty left palm. "I yield."

    Recindren backed off, lowering both of his swords, and frowned. "What''s wrong, father? That move should not have worked that well against you. You seem unusually distracted."

    Lord Recindril sighed, then walked over to the side and placed his remaining practice sword back on its storage rack. "Your sister''s incident in Dramos should have been tied up neatly by now, but the report is late. The Black Blades are usually very punctual and professional. An unexplained delay from them is concerning."

    The younger man pressed his lips together in silence as he put his practice swords on the rack too. "Concerning, yes, but it''s unlike you to let any incident with a mere minor house weigh on your mind like this."NewW novels updates at novelhall.com

    "Yes, but... which house is it?" The lord retrieved his disarmed sword from where it had fallen and added it to the rack. "At first I attributed Jamar''s ignorance of that detail to merely her not having memorized every minor house''s children, but I do not recognize them either, by name or description, nor have I found them in our records. I find myself wondering exactly what house we have come into conflict with. Their ignorance of the rotation agreement also seems strange." He sighed again and shook his head. "There are too many oddities in the situation for comfort, and Jamar''s report is light on detail."

    "They included a sample item as proof that they truly could make things that I had believed were impossible. Their message directed me to leave my response, with a sample of my mana signature, in a specific location where their own arrangements would get it to them. They wanted to be kept informed of what jobs I took and for what payment. In exchange, they offered to sell special items to me, for very reasonable prices, as needed to enable me to successfully complete jobs that suited their purposes and that would otherwise be impossible." Granlan raised a hand to ward off the mage''s response. "And before you ask, no, I have no idea what their purposes are. They refused to say, and I see no apparent pattern in which jobs they have offered to help with."

    "Hmm." The royal mage tilted his head in thought. "I take it you can''t just request to buy an item, then. You have to tell them about a job you''ve been offered and wait to see if they''re interested."

    "Correct."

    "What did you tell them about the job that brought you here? You were not aware that the guards you faced were the Crown''s, I believe."

    Granlan cracked his knuckles. "I wonder if perhaps my client was unaware of that fact as well." He shrugged. "In any case, I gave them all of the information that my client gave me. I told them the objective, that the targets were young nobles named Carlos and Amber of an unknown house, that they had two competent, professional, and well-equipped guards, and that they were staying at a high-quality inn in Dramos. My mysterious supplier responded with an offer of two soul decoys that would adjust to match their designated targets, plus an item that would subtly disrupt the sensing and communication capabilities of the guards'' equipment. No idea how, that''s just what they told me it would do."

    The mage raised an eyebrow. "Soul decoys that can adjust to match a target after being made? And that do so without an enchanter working on it?" He shook his head. "Are such things typical of this... supplier of yours?"

    "Honestly? Yes. After all the things I''ve seen from them by now, I didn''t even blink at this one."

    "Hmm." The mage chewed his lip. "We will have to be cautious. How would you suggest attempting to find or identify them? Have you given the matter thought over the years?"

    "Send them a message about a new job, try to track it, and pray that my stealthy tracking capabilities can somehow beat whatever their countermeasures are. I considered my odds of success, or even of my attempt going unnoticed, to be rather dismal." Granlan crossed his arms and smirked challengingly. "I''m sure the Crown will have better odds, of course."

    The mage laughed. "We do have rather considerable expertise available for the problem, even if it''s not the Crown''s specialty. Very well, we will prepare for that."

    Granlan rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes, the Crown''s specialty of utterly overwhelming force is undisputed and unchallenged. Now if you want to try the same sort of thing for proving that my client was House Tostral, we do have an opportunity for that too in a report I''m supposed to send, but time is running low for that. We''ll have to get me back to my company before they declare me lost and my second-in-command sends his own report in my stead."

    It was the mage''s turn to smirk this time. "That will not be a problem. Just tell me where I need to teleport you to."

 B2 Chapter 5: Introductions

    B2 Chapter 5: Introductions

    Trinlen bent over to inspect the door to his rented suite with a critical eye. The varnish on the wood showed no marks, and there were no unusual breaks in the patterns of the wood grains. He saw no signs of repaired damage from a forcible entry. I should have expected that, really. Amber said their guards didn''t notice the abduction happening, and breaking in through the door surely would have alerted them. He swept his mana sense over the door just in case, but found nothing unusual. It had a detection ward connected to an alarm trigger, just like every guest room in the Adventurer''s Haven, along with a keyed secure bypass attached to the lock. He inserted and turned the key, observing with mild interest as the key''s enchantment paired up with the bypass and validated itself, then put it out of his mind as he opened the door and moved on to the room on the other side.

    The suite''s lobby or common room showed no signs of anything interesting to Trinlen''s searching eye, nor to his mana sense. It was furnished with a small table, a desk positioned against a wall, and a few simple chairs. The only enchantments he sensed were the wards around the suite and on the doors to the bedrooms. Everything seemed in excellent condition, with only minor signs of normal wear. He shrugged and walked to the right-hand bedroom door, not bothering to spend the time for a truly thorough examination of the room. Carlos and Amber were sleeping when they were taken. The bedrooms are by far the most likely places to find traces of what happened.

    He opened the door and advanced slowly into the bedroom, scanning carefully with his eyes and mana sense before each step. They were taken from their beds, so that''s the one place I can be absolutely certain something happened. Buuuuut... Nothing. Damn. I guess four and a half days was too long for any mana traces to stick around, at least with me at only Level 8. He absently moved his luggage out of the way as he inspected the rest of the flooring, then went to search the other bedroom. Heh. A whole suite, all to myself. Living in luxury already! Now what should I use the extra room for?

    Trinlen''s musings cut out instantly when he noticed a spot in the flooring that stood out from its surroundings. The 2-foot square section''s varnish was noticeably shinier, and the patterns in the wooden boards didn''t quite match the rest of the floor. The attackers broke through the floor? Or did the guards break it to pursue them? ... I should have asked Amber for more details. He inspected the security enchantments in that area. The suite-specific wards covered the floor and ceiling in addition to the walls and doors, and they should have alerted people when broken through. The wards were certainly there, and they seemed fully intact, but the essence lines of its structure were a little cleaner in that spot. They must have repaired or replaced that section of ward along with the floor. How disappointing. I would have liked to examine the damage.

    He sighed and went back to the bedroom his luggage had been left in. He didn''t actually have all that much, but he might as well go ahead and make himself at home. Mostly that just meant putting his four spare sets of clothes into the dresser, putting his books and piles of notes on the desk, and collapsing onto the bed for a luxuriously comfortable nap.

    Trinlen didn''t even last a minute in the bed before he sprang back up and started flipping through his notes. Dammit, I really should have spent some time planning lessons. Those two seem nice and friendly, and they''re being generous to me, and I need to pay them back for it all with some properly useful knowledge. But which things do they need to learn, and which ones first? He took a deep breath and sighed, then looked at the disorganized pile of papers in his hands and put it aside. He picked out one book and placed it on the desk in front of him.

    Introduction to Magical Theory for Beginning Mages, by Archmage Sandaras. Right, this is the one book about spellcasting that they''ve already read. He flipped the cover open and started skimming to refresh his memory of exactly what the book covered. And in addition to this, they have some kind of way to pull whole incantations from thin air, learning a spell from nothing but its description. He snorted. That is ridiculously unfair. I think Carlos said something about the spell having to be simple for that to work, but still.

    Hmm. Only works for simple incantations, but as long as the incantation is simple, it can work even for spells that he had no idea even existed. Trinlen rested his chin on his right palm and tapped a finger while he thought. So it doesn''t help put together fancy interconnected loops and stuff, but if all he needs is the effect keyword then that''s fine? Ah! Yes, that would fit. They found a way to easily discover new keywords. He paused for a moment. Aaand either it gets the whole incantation for them, or they''ve already noticed the parts that are the same in several incantations and learned the basic patterns. He looked at another book that was lined up against the wall. Incantation Patterns and Principles, by Professor Lilain. He smirked. Man, Headmaster Plaskin was not happy about letting me bring that out of the academy. Or any of the other textbooks, either. But even he couldn''t gainsay an order from the Crown. His face looked like he''d eaten an entire sourbomb! Hilarious!

    He chuckled a bit at the memory, then refocused on the line of books. Okay, so the first few chapters of Patterns will probably be mostly review for them. I should go over it anyway to fill in any missing details, but it shouldn''t take long. Aside from that... Same order of topics as the academy teaches, I suppose, just hopefully faster and skipping things they already know. Let''s see, which ones did the academy start with, again? He scanned all of the titles and frowned, then slapped his forehead. Oh yeah, I got rid of my first-year textbooks after I advanced to the next classes! Damn, why did I do that!? He sighed and dug out a pencil and some blank paper from the odds and ends still in his packs. Guess I''ll have to try teaching those from memory. Okay, first year in the academy, my classes were...

    The next morning, Trinlen received a letter with his breakfast, instructing him to report to the mayor''s office at 9 a.m., sharp. He reflected briefly on the unfamiliarity of feeling that he actually cared about being punctual for something, then hurried to make sure he arrived on time.

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    When he entered, he found a bit of a crowd waiting for him. Stelras was at his desk, of course, and Carlos and Amber were seated beside the mayor at his right hand. Two figures in the heavy gleaming armor and uniforms of royal guards stood behind the young nobles. A buxom woman with long dark hair stood beside Amber, but a few feet farther over. She was fidgeting a little and seemed to be trying, but not quite succeeding, to suppress her fidgets and hold still. On the mayor''s left, a group of four very different individuals stood together, calm and disciplined. Not surprising, considering how powerful I can sense their souls are. Meetings with Important People are probably old hat to them, unlike that Level 5 woman on the other side.

    The receptionist quietly closed the door behind Trinlen, and Mayor Stelras started things off. "I see that you are at least able to take things seriously, Trinlen. Good. I was concerned after hearing about your background, especially with your casual attitude in our conversation yesterday."

    "Um, okay." The curvy woman next to Amber shook her hands, then bowed. "I am Ressara, a scholar. I have some expertise in certain types of esoteric soul structures, which has proven useful recently."

    The faceplate of the steel-armored statue behind Amber retracted itself, revealing a stern feminine face behind it. "Major Ordens. Royal guard, temporarily assigned by the Crown to protect House Carlos."

    The next one, a few inches taller and now clearly a man, followed suit. "Colonel Lorvan. Royal guard, and senior officer on this assignment."

    Stelras waved a hand and didn''t bother saying his name. "You met me yesterday. Next."

    The individual nearest Stelras on the other side of him met Trinlen''s expectant gaze and nodded. He was a man, tall and lanky, and festooned with more daggers than Trinlen cared to count. His spoke with a gruff voice. "Haftel. Adventurer. Level 39. Strategist, planner, and organizer. Informal leader of our party when the situation calls for it. In a fight, I make daggers dance."

    Next in line was a tall and elegantly dressed woman with long and flowing hair, which was fluttering despite being indoors with no breeze. Her voice sounded clear and bright. "Esmorana. Adventurer. Level 40. Master of wind and flight. Sometimes a diplomat."

    The third was a shorter woman, with a much more thick and stocky build. She looked strong, with large rippling muscles, and as Trinlen watched, she proved that assessment accurate by procuring an absurdly huge solid metal hammer from enchanted storage and swinging it through the air with casual ease. "Noralt. Adventurer. Level 38. Metal juggernaut. Show me a danger, and I''ll shield you from it. Show me a target I can reach, and I''ll show you a brand new hole in it."

    Last in line was a man with an enormous frame. He was as wide or wider than any two other people in the room put together, but he was not fat. He was just big. He waved a hand politely and smiled. "Sconter. Adventurer. Level 39. Scout. You''d never expect stealth from a guy who looks like me, right? But I''d bet you''ll never see me coming if I don''t want you to, and I could spot you from miles away."

    Trinlen blinked and stared at the huge man who claimed to be a stealthy scout. Then he smiled and laughed. "I like your style, Sconter. Breaking expectations is fun. I''d love to watch you hide sometime, it''ll be fascinating!"

    Sconter laughed back. "Sure. Pick a time when we''re not busy, and I''ll show you a game of hide and seek like you''ve never seen."

    "I''ll let you know." Trinlen considered for a moment, then turned toward Carlos and swept his gaze past everyone in the room while he gave a quick bow. "Well, it''s been nice meeting you all, but I have more individual business with my new students, here." He held himself to only a small smirk for referring to a pair of high nobles as just students and getting away with it.

    Carlos and Amber both laughed and stood up. Carlos sighed and shook his head. "I hope that attitude doesn''t get you in trouble too deep to get out of someday. Most nobles are not as easygoing as we are." He waved to the rest of the room. "Thank you all for coming to meet Trinlen. Those who aren''t on guard duty are dismissed. Trinlen and on-duty guards, we have one more introduction for Trinlen before we can settle down for spellcasting lessons. Come along to the Dramos city treasury."

 B2 Chapter 6: Sharing Secrets

    B2 Chapter 6: Sharing Secrets

    Trinlen whistled a jaunty tune as he casually sauntered along the street, walking at Carlos''s left. Other pedestrians cleared out of their path without complaint as soon as they got a good look at the royal guard leading the way. Not that anyone around them knew that Lorvan was a royal guard. No, Lorvan and Ordens had their armor disguised as merely high-quality chainmail, not the majestic gleaming full-plate personal fortresses that they truly were; people still gave them a wide berth anyway. I don''t blame them. That dude''s got a scary scowl. Amber walked on Carlos''s other side, and Ordens brought up the rear alongside Noralt, the stout musclebound adventurer. What did she call herself again, a metal juggernaut? Does she have full plate too that she''s hiding somewhere?

    "So, I''ve been wondering." Trinlen smiled cheerfully as Carlos looked at him. "Why''d you pick Dramos? Is it because..." He puffed out his chest and deepened his voice dramatically for a moment. "-the legendary Archmage Sandaras* famously visited?"

    Carlos laughed, and Amber blushed and hung her head. "Yeah, it was. We didn''t know much else to base the decision on." Carlos chuckled again and smirked. "Have you asked Stelras about him yet? You should."

    Trinlen raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

    "I shouldn''t spoil it for you. Also, we''ve arrived." Carlos gestured toward the door ahead of them, which Lorvan was just then pushing open. A squad of city guards greeted them just inside, their leader briefly scanning with a specialized divination wand before he bowed and stood aside.

    Trinlen eyed the divination wand curiously. Hmm. I only got a brief glimpse of its spell in action, but I think it reacted to Carlos differently from the rest of us. Checking for specific mana signatures of the people who are authorized to enter? He looked forward again, where Carlos was patiently holding his hand against a recessed square in the wall while several waves of mana swept over him in a much more thorough scan. Seems redundant. Then again, they don''t want someone like me embarrassing them for being insufficiently paranoid. Or actual thieves breaking in, of course.

    He watched with amusement as they went through a series of heavy doors, layer after layer of powerful wards peeling away, opening holes, or merely not reacting as they passed through. Then at the innermost door, Carlos instructed the royal guards to remain outside while the rest of them went in. Trinlen raised a quizzical eyebrow at Carlos, then shifted to Amber, as the door slammed shut behind them and all the locks re-engaged.

    Carlos just stepped over to the right-hand wall to open a disguised panel, but Amber looked back at Trinlen and smiled. "Some house secrets are important for you to know, but not necessary for guarding us, and the Crown intends to respect our secrets."

    "Ah." Trinlen nodded, then glanced at the fourth person in the room. "Is she secretly a mage teacher too, then?"

    Amber shook her head. "No, Noralt is exactly what she seems. She is sworn to our house, however, and the secrets we''re going to reveal here aren''t that sensitive."

    Carlos finished opening the small hidden safe in the wall, put the House Carlos plaque inside, and stood aside to clear the view of it. "Trinlen, take a look."

    Trinlen focused his mana sense on the area first, unsurprised to feel some potent and dangerous wards revealed by the removal of the panel''s concealment. He frowned. Behind those wards, he felt something strange but familiar. The aether inside that safe was much more orderly than usual, and there seemed to be hints of mana and even essence threaded through it. Where have I felt that before? Then he crouched to peer inside, and his first glimpse of a floating purple crystal snapped the memory into full clarity. "You have a dungeon core?! ... Wait, and it''s inside a vault? How did you move it here? Why isn''t its domain pushing to expand? How did you prevent it from making that the most heavily-trapped cubic foot of space in existence?" He paused. "Did you somehow copy the Enchanters Guild''s ritual for subduing a core, but without an item to attach it to?"

    "We have not stolen or copied anything from the Enchanters Guild. As for the rest of your questions, I just asked politely." Carlos smiled and tipped his head towards the safe. "I mentioned we had another introduction for you, and here it is. Trinlen, meet Purple. Reach a hand into his domain, and he''ll make a bond so you two can talk directly."

    Trinlen cocked his head and narrowed his eyes. "You''re not just trying to prank the prankster, are you? I know my reputation, but I haven''t done any pranks to you yet to have earned payback. And using something this serious for a prank is bad form."

    Carlos shook his head. "Not a prank, and incidentally, I''m glad to hear that you understand that some things are not appropriate for mischief."

    Soon, they were settled into a cozy side room in the mansion, and Trinlen rubbed his hands together and launched into his semi-prepared introductory speech. "So, I''ve never really taught before, and you''re looking to learn basically everything the Royal Mage Academy teaches, so I figure copying the order of topics the academy uses is a good way to organize this. First up, there''s learning and casting a spell, followed by creating the four basic mage soul structures, but you''ve already done those. ... Uh, you do have all four, right? The ones Sandaras wrote about in his book."

    Amber smiled and nodded. "Of course we do."

    "Right. After that, there''s a lot of learning various specific spells and practicing with them. That was..." Trinlen winced in recollection. "Painfully tedious and slow to get through. Especially having to wait for the whole class to catch up on wrapping everyone''s heads around the full and precise meaning of each spell when I was already toying around with it. Ugh. Anyway, you two don''t need that part, right? It was all the kind of simple stuff your house secret can cover." He gave Carlos and Amber a brightly hopeful smile.

    Carlos shared a look with Amber, then shrugged and turned back to Trinlen. "Yeah, we can probably skip that. Though I guarantee we''d get through it a lot faster than any academy class."

    "Good. Next up, take a look at these partial spells." Trinlen handed them two sheets of paper with several lines of precisely written incantation script at the top and bottom of each sheet, leaving blank sections in the middle. "I believe you have already recognized that these sections are identically present in many different spells, yes?"

    Carlos skimmed the papers briefly. One paper had everything but the effect keyword and its parameters for a simple one-shot spell, and the other had the same for a simple sustained spell. He sighed. "Okay, Trinlen, I understand why you chose this approach, and maybe I should have seen this coming, but I think our unique situation calls for a different approach. Rather than you running through the academy''s course plan in sequence, let''s start with us telling you about what we already have and what kinds of things we think we need, and then you figure out what parts of the academy''s teachings will fill in the gaps."

    Trinlen hesitated, nonplussed. "Uh. Sure, I suppose. So, what spellcasting knowledge do you have, then?"

    Carlos waved the papers at him. "These partial spells that you have? We have learned each individual word that is in them. Even the semicolon." He spoke the punctuation mark''s name as the syllable that incantations used for it. "We know the technical rules of what ways of arranging those words together are valid. We have soul structures for learning spells as sequences of those words, and for casting spells without the need for fully precise speech. We can discover incantation words easily, of any kind, and if we fail, we can be certain that it''s because the word outright does not exist.

    "We need to learn principles of how to assemble the incantation elements we know, and any new ones we may learn, into larger and more complex spells. We need to learn how to design our own complex spells, what mistakes to watch out for in doing so, and how to fix them. We need to learn what affects the power and efficiency of a spell, and how. We need to learn about other soul structures that are useful for spellcasting. We need to learn about strategies and tactics for how to best use spells. We need to learn what types of things spells are good at, and what they are not."

    "Okay, I can help with all of that, I think." Trinlen got out a pencil and a small notebook. "Could you repeat that for me? I need to take some notes."

    Amber cleared her throat and shook her head. "I''ll list them for you later. For right now, the first thing we need to learn is everything that is relevant to choosing what soul structures to make."

    Trinlen cocked his head. "Don''t you already have 10 soul structures? You don''t have room to make any more of them."

    Amber shook her head. "There is a way for high-rank soul plans to gain more. It''s one of the great secrets of the entire noble class; count it as part of our house secrets that you swore an oath to safeguard. We have learned it and achieved it, and now we need to know what new soul structures would best improve our spellcasting, what capabilities spells cannot provide but a soul structure could, and what soul structures would be pointlessly redundant with spells. After that, I think an overview of what the topics you can teach us about are would be best, and then we can discuss which topics to cover first. Do you need time to prepare for that?"

    Trinlen frowned. "That is... a rather important secret. Hmm. Alright, this should be interesting. No need to prepare; I can just skip to the classes on advanced mage soul structures and go from there."

 B2 Chapter 7: Advanced Mage Principles

    B2 Chapter 7: Advanced Mage Principles

    Carlos smiled in amusement as he watched Trinlen hurriedly skim through his notes. The young academy-trained mage was muttering under his breath. "Advanced mage soul structures, where did I list those... I did put them in the list, right? Come on... Ah!" He slammed a finger onto the right spot on the page and looked up triumphantly. "Sorry, I put them in a side note because I thought you wouldn''t be able to make any."

    He sat forward on the edge of his chair and put his notebook on the small table between them, his hand holding it open. "Okay, what did you say you already have soul structures for, again? I think you mentioned casting without precise speech?"

    Carlos nodded. "Yes, and we expect it will eventually allow casting silently, without speaking at all. The other one is for learning spells as sequences of the individual incantation words. There''s more to it than that, really, but it''s a bit complex to explain in full, and also a house secret."

    "That first one sounds like the spell activator the academy teaches. Not too surprising, since Sandaras at least mentioned in his book that its effects are possible, even if he didn''t go into details about it like for the four basic mage structures. Sounds like you got it right, too; good job avoiding the mistake of having it stop at just letting your speech be unclear." Trinlen cocked his head. "Learning spells as sequences of the words... That sounds kind of like the spell conceptualizer, but different?"

    Carlos shrugged, then got out a notebook and pencil of his own. "Different enough that the noble mage who inspected us to verify our soul rank declared it as simply an unknown structure. Now, what exactly does a spell conceptualizer do?"

    "Well, you know how you have to hold the full and complete concept in your mind of every detail of what a spell does in order to learn it?" Trinlen paused momentarily for Carlos and Amber to nod. "Just doing that normally is fine for simple spells like the example ones, but if you want to learn anything more complex, it quickly gets to the point of overwhelming your mental capacity. Imagine holding the concept of the Light spell''s sustained loop in your mind, but four copies of it at once, each with a different effect, and they''re all linked together in specific ways."

    Carlos frowned, absorbed in thought, but Amber hesitated only briefly before speaking. "I think I might be able to manage that normally, but yes, it would be difficult, and I take it that many spells go much farther than that."

    Carlos chuckled before Trinlen could answer. "If incantations get anywhere near as big and convoluted as some of the similar things I know, you have no idea how much of an understatement that is." Windows has how many millions of lines of code, again?

    Trinlen raised an eyebrow at Carlos. "I''m curious what you''re referring to, but I don''t know if it''s relevant. In any case, a spell conceptualizer soul structure helps with learning complex spells, expanding your capacity to hold the full details of large and complex incantation concepts in your mind. It''s almost essential for any truly advanced spellcraft, but it doesn''t have synergy with much, aside from the spell database, and I know that''s important for nobles. I''m not sure how those considerations compare for you; you might have to forgo it in favor of something with more synergies."

    Carlos finished scribbling a few notes and looked back up. "Our spell linker - I''ll be astonished if you figure out enough details from the name to duplicate it - helps with the same problem, but in a different way that also has other benefits and more synergies. Its benefit for this particular issue is limited, though, so we might still have to make something extra to fully solve it. Ideally, we''ll find a different approach that solves the problem at least as well while also having more synergy. We''ll have to think about that."

    He wrote a quick extra note and focused back on Trinlen. "I think we probably will not use a spell conceptualizer, at least not with the specific concept of it that you described, but the issue it''s designed to address is an important one. So, thank you for bringing the issue to our attention. In fact, that''s probably a good general principle - even if the solution that you know is not a good one for us, any problem important enough for the academy to teach a solution for it is a problem that we probably need to know about and address. So teach us about the problem, explain the solution you know, and we''ll figure out how we want to solve it."

    "Got it, makes sense." Trinlen nodded. "Going with that principle, the next major problem is in controlling complex spells after learning and casting them. As I recall, at least a few of the beginner spells I gave you have a parameter you can mentally adjust afterward. Easy enough to manage so far, but what if you cast a spell that has a dozen such parameters?"

    "Right, and also what if the parameter value you want is difficult to adequately visualize? I''ve had some difficulty with that issue already." Carlos huffed a little and shook his head. Visualizing Captain Granlan being flattened into a human pancake just to get him to within reach of the ground was more extreme than I expected to need.

    Trinlen blinked and cocked his head. "Really? How did you have powerful enough mana for an effect of that kind of magnitude? I''ve heard of mages having issues with that, and I was going to mention it, but I thought it only ever comes up above level 20 or 30!"

    Carlos looked at Amber. She looked back for a moment, then shrugged and shook her head, smiling and slightly shaking with suppressed laughter. Carlos faced Trinlen again. "Would you believe I''m just that bad at visualizing things?"

    "Why am I not surprised that the academy does not teach the precise details of how much synergy is necessary?" Carlos dryly remarked. "Alright, if that''s all for advanced mage soul structures, what about the capabilities and limitations of spellcasting incantations in general?"

    "Capabilities, well, um... That''s a rather long list."

    "I am well aware of that." Carlos refrained from mentioning that he actually had the complete list of all effect keywords. I''ve been at it for days, and still haven''t finished reviewing that list.

    "So, limitations, then." Trinlen squared his shoulders and took a deep breath. "The most major limitation is that a lot of things that may seem like they should be simple - and even are simple to do with a full soul structure - are instead incredibly complex to do with an incantation. For example, finding a path to go somewhere. Making a soul structure to find paths for you is easy. Just think about exploring and searching for a path, and informing you about what it finds, and that''s it.

    "Making a spell to find a path for you, though? You have to lay out in extreme detail how to explore, how to track the path it''s explored, how to recognize obstacles and barriers, when to give up on one route and how to choose a different one to explore, and... Ugh. The first time I read that spell, it was a headache, even with all the explanatory annotations." Trinlen shuddered. "It''s the spell that convinced me about the necessity of a spell conceptualizer."

    Carlos smirked. "Believe it or not, I already know all about that kind of issue." Heh. Pathfinding is almost as old hat as standard programming algorithms get! I bet that spell is poorly optimized, too, and making a new one with an A-star search algorithm will blow their minds.

    "I''ll... take your word for it." Trinlen''s face was twitching, like he wanted to raise an eyebrow in curiosity but his frown of revulsion kept pulling it back down. He finally shook his head and continued. "Anyway. Secondary limitations. Spells can be dispelled, dispersed, or broken, where soul structures cannot. Or at least, breaking a soul structure is a whole lot harder. The effect of a soul structure can potentially be broken in similar fashion to a spell, but that generally only applies when the effect is external to yourself, and even then the soul structure typically can renew or replace the effect."

    "Right. Seems obvious, even if I''m not sure whether I''ve thought about it so explicitly before."

    Trinlen nodded. "This next one might seem similarly obvious, but to make it explicit: while there are spells to increase strength, toughness, etc., any spell to improve yourself will never be as effective as a soul structure made for the same purpose. The difference isn''t about power, but rather the inherence and permanence of a soul structure''s connection to you from it being literally part of you. That improves efficiency in ways no spell could ever match." He took a deep breath. "And that''s all the really noteworthy limitations I can think of. In terms of theoretical capability, at least; the practicalities of learning the right spells for everything you want to do are an entirely different matter."

    Carlos put his pencil down and shook out his hand. "Alright. I think that''s a good point to wrap up the first lesson. Next time, we can dig into the details of incantation design." He briefly shifted mental focus to his bond with Purple, directing a message to be relayed to Trinlen. [You can contact us telepathically through Purple for any brief questions about what lesson material to prepare.]

    Trinlen jerked in startlement at the telepathic message, then smiled and sent one back. [Got it!]

    Carlos looked over to the young woman beside him. "Amber?"

    "Hmm?" Amber looked up from her notes, which she was reading through and adding sidenotes to. "Oh. Yes, we have what we need from Trinlen on this topic. Now we just need an in-depth explanation from Lorvan of the second stage to combine with it. Time to call him in for that?"

    Carlos nodded. "If anything, that conversation is overdue."

 B2 Chapter 8: Second Stage

    B2 Chapter 8: Second Stage

    Lorvan bowed, but remained standing, as he took up position opposite Carlos and Amber, just where Trinlen had been a few minutes before in the small room. "You called, Lord Carlos?"

    Carlos leaned back, his left arm resting on the back of the sofa behind Amber''s head, and forced himself to relax as the two of them gazed levelly at their assigned temporary head guard and mentor. "We think it is well past time for you to explain the details of the second stage to us. Now."

    Lorvan nodded calmly. "Of course, my lord. What specifics do you need clarified for you? I stand by my original statement that it is largely self-explanatory."

    Carlos narrowed his eyes and glared. "What specifics do we not need clarified! Our entire soul plan is suddenly thrown out, and where we used to have 10 soul structures we now have only 1. How does future advancement from this point work? And while we''re at it, why didn''t you warn us that the second stage drastically decreases aether absorption efficiency? We almost died permanently because of that!"

    "''Aether?'' Oh, is that what the academics call ambient mana?" Lorvan sighed. "That efficiency reduction is ordinarily not a danger, and it should have been no danger to you as well. We were all blindsided by the very existence of a means of preventing a royal guard''s gear from detecting even the slightest hint of powerful magic being used at such close range."

    Carlos snapped. "''Should have been'' is not good enough! Your job is to keep us safe until we are able to protect ourselves, and you failed at it." He shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. "In fairness, I''ll admit that even if we had known, we probably would have made the same choices. We were moving too fast and had to buy time before anything else. However, it seems to me that the Crown has allowed its long dominance to lull it into complacency, and that must be fixed." He lowered his hand and looked sternly at Lorvan. "You withheld information that could have been vital. Do not do that again."

    "Yes, my lord." Lorvan nodded sharply.

    "Now explain about the second stage."

    "As you said, where you used to have 10 soul structures, you now have only 1. Advancement from this point works the same as it did before." Lorvan shrugged. "I don''t see what there is to be confused about."

    Carlos blinked and stared, momentarily dumbfounded. Amber nudged him, then took over when he didn''t respond. "I understand that we will be making new soul structures again, but will the new structures be large and complex like the one we have now, or simple like what we originally made?"

    Lorvan paused, then repeated himself in a tone of controlled patience. "I already said that advancement will work the same as before."

    "So... Making new structures will work as if our merged super-structure were just a normal structure. We''ll be making new simple structures, just like if we''d somehow reached Level 15 as copper-rank peasants with only a single structure." Amber leaned forward over her notebook, poised to write.

    "Yes, exactly."

    Carlos cocked his head and frowned. "Hmm. I''ve only ever made new soul structures from my soul shell, and only when I was just starting out. We''ve both used up all of our soul shell essence by now, so we''ll be using aether this time, which around here is Level 3, and we ourselves are Level 15. How do those differences affect things? Will the new structures be Level 3 to match the aether, Level 15 to match us, or what?"

    "Ah, yes. I suppose forming new soul structures at higher levels is unusual for your background." Lorvan smiled. "The best way to learn that answer is to try it and feel what happens. As long as you do not actually use the new structure, it will be unstable and will soon evaporate back into ambient mana."

    "Alright..." Carlos took a deep breath and focused his attention inward to his soul. On the surface of the flattened ovoid, there was a thin coating of comparatively dense Level 15 solid essence, and below that a layer of Level 15 liquid mana. The essence coating that held in the mana was flexible despite its solidity, like a layer of skin, and currents in the mana caused some flowing ripples in the essence.

    Inside his soul, there were the same familiar 10 regions as always; 8 sections arranged in a horizontal circular ring, and 2 more covering the central hole on top and bottom. A large, dense, and complex interconnected lattice of Level 15 essence filled the bottom section, so large that it ran up against the edges of the section and had to bend some of its connections to fit. He idly considered that he could trivially move it to any other section, but shook his head and moved on. The other 9 sections were empty of essence, but not truly empty of everything. There was a constant stream of gaseous aether drifting through.

    The aether entered from the environment around them, where it was compressed to the density of Level 3, but as it passed through the surface of his soul it decompressed three times, ballooning to 8 times the volume and 1/8th the density. Level 0 aether. With that detail noticed, Carlos was pretty sure he knew what the result would be, but he did the experiment anyway to make sure. He focused his intent to begin forming a new soul structure, condensing the aether into a solid essence foundation. He had no particular purpose in mind beyond testing the process, so the new essence simply grew as a formless unstable blob. He continued observing for a few more seconds, then let it stop.

    "Hmm." Amber chewed her lip for a moment. [They''d have to have full synergies and somehow be made part of the merge, but if we can manage that... Then maybe.]

    Lorvan looked back and forth between them, then shook his head. "Perhaps it is a lack of room, as you say, perhaps not. I just know that it has not been done, despite the best efforts of a few ambitious nobles. As for if you had the misfortune of merging too soon, to remedy that, you would have had to die and respawn to undo the merge. If you had already moved on and built new structures before realizing the need for it, the result would be... messy, to put it mildly. Soul structures would be ejected and destroyed at random until what remained was few enough to work. Recovering from that event would likely require extreme measures."

    "Ah. So it''s a very good thing that we finished our last synergies before the whole abduction mess happened." Carlos paused as something else came to mind. "Wait. I remember you mentioning that killing Jamar Tostral would have been a bigger nuisance for her if she''d been in the second stage, but you didn''t sound like it would be that catastrophic."

    "Respawning will only undo the merge if you drop below the level necessary for the merge to happen. Once you have compressed your mana again to reach Level 16, you will be safe from that eventuality." Lorvan bowed gravely. "If you had begun making new soul structures, I would have interrupted at once to warn you of this danger. Perhaps I should have warned you as soon as the crisis was past. In any case, take heed: if you choose to create new soul structures before your next density compression, you will be terribly vulnerable until you complete that compression."

    Carlos leaned forward and rested his chin on his clasped hands. "But if we do not, our speed of advancement to reach that compression will be crippled. It will take 100 times as long."

    Lorvan nodded. "Yes. It is perhaps the greatest weakness of high-tier soul plans, especially for the very highest at orichalcum rank. Even a tier 9 adamantium-rank noble would only have to deal with a 45-times slowdown to avoid the risk. But the power achievable by it is beyond compare."

    Carlos sat still in silent contemplation, while Amber scribbled notes. Amber finished writing a note and looked up at Lorvan. "We''re going to have to deal with that one too, aren''t we? When our 9 new soul structure merge with each other. What level will that merge happen at?"

    "Nine soul structures, with every possible synergy, will merge at Level 16. Eight structures will merge at Level 19. Seven will merge at Level 22. Then Level 26, then 32. The gaps grow increasingly large. The last threshold that I know is that 4 structures can merge at Level 43." Lorvan shrugged. "Most people never even get close to that point."

    "Hmm." Carlos still didn''t move, staring at Lorvan impassively. "So many non-nobles can, at least in theory, reach the second stage. Why is it a secret of nobility, then?"

    "Some can, yes." Lorvan shook his head. "But few do, and fewer realize the true reason why their advancement has slowed. The difference is far less dramatic when it only involves a portion of a person''s soul structures, and especially when the person had fewer soul structures to begin with. The few who do realize it keep it to themselves."

    Carlos raised an eyebrow. "And if someone starts spreading the knowledge around?"

    "I already warned you against teaching it yourself to any but close staff of proven loyalty. The aristocracy, including the Crown itself, would react even more poorly to a non-noble doing that."

    "So... If some non-noble starts telling all their friends and acquaintances, it might end up turning into a rebellion and purge, or something."

    "Yes." Lorvan stared levelly at Carlos.

    "Hmm." Carlos thought quietly for a few seconds. "Are you unusual for a royal guard, then, or does the Crown teach all of its guards about this?"

    "The loyalty of any royal guard is beyond question. And I advise that you be cautious about probing into any secrets of the Crown."

    Carlos maintained his posture, leaning forward with his chin on his hands, supported by his elbows on the small table, for a few more seconds. Then he sighed and sat back, shaking his head. "Very well. Then on a similar topic, but unrelated to the Crown''s secrets, how would the Crown and aristocracy regard helping a single individual become noble as a special favor owed to his father?"

 B2 Chapter 9: Reaching for Strings

    B2 Chapter 9: Reaching for Strings

    Lieutenant Colonel Lendet, second-in-command and currently acting captain of the Black Blades, groaned as he pored over his lists of equipment replacement costs yet again. The assassination job they''d taken last week had turned into a disastrous fiasco. More than half the company killed in action and respawned, with all their best gear left behind on the battlefield. And as if that weren''t bad enough, failing the mission means we don''t get the remaining 3/4ths of the job''s pay. And on top of that, the captain''s taking so long to return that we can''t afford to wait for him any longer.

    He shifted to the right a bit to take another look at the lists of company assets and obligations on another section of his desk. They had a fair amount of money in the bank. They could, technically, pay to buy replacements of all the lost equipment. But the next payday for the troops is coming up too. There wouldn''t be enough left to pay everyone, and missing payday for a company of mercenaries is practically a capital crime. He went over his calculations again and shook his head at the number at the bottom for how much they could actually afford to spend on replacing the lost gear. There''s nothing for it. To pay the troops on time, we must skimp on the gear. That, or get a surprise short-notice job with a very fast and sizable up-front payment.

    Lendet sighed and ran his hand through his short hair. Okay. We have to skimp on something; which items should we skimp on? Could we get a discount on the armor for leaving out the convenience and comfort parts of the enchantments? He grimaced. Going without the cooling during a hot and sweaty fight will be unpleasant, but it won''t prevent us from completing a job. He hesitated. Um. I think. Captain Granlan thought that feature was important, but I don''t remember all the reasons he explained for it. Something about morale was one, I think? But not the only reason. Dammit, this is supposed to be his problem to figure out! Why isn''t he back yet? Was he captured and prevented from self-killing? Who the hell were those people, and why didn''t our client warn us about them?

    He spent a whole hour scouring the list of lost equipment and writing notes about things they could do without and potential cost-saving downgrades, calling in the quartermaster after the first few minutes to help assess how much money each possibility might save. By the end of it, he felt exhausted and still hadn''t actually made any decisions, but he at least had a list of options. He yawned and stretched, then looked toward the door to the small bedroom attached to the company command post. I''d feel so much better after a nap, and I''m the one in charge here now. He took a deep breath and sighed. No. I''m responsible for the company, I need to set a good example for the troops, and we need this problem handled.

    Lendet was muttering to himself, absorbed in picking out the least repugnant options that would add up to enough savings when he felt a quiet presence looming over him. He spun around, grabbing for his sword as he leaped out of the chair, only to falter and stumble in shock when he saw who the unannounced intruder was. "Captain! You- You''re back!"

    Captain Granlan straightened from where he''d been peering over Lendet''s shoulder. "My apology for my delay and lack of notice. Some surprising developments required my attention." He took back his chair and sat down, barely making any sound despite being fully decked out in his resplendent armor, the enchantments on it muffling most noises. "Figuring out which corners to cut on the budget, I see. I''m happy to inform you that trimming our budget will not be necessary. I have a new job for us, with initial payment already deposited. Get full replacement equipment, the entire lot. In fact, let''s add anchoring and flight enchantments for the entire company while we''re at it."

    Lendet gaped in shock for a moment, then belatedly snapped to a respectful salute. "Yes, sir! Glad to hear it, sir!"

    Granlan frowned. "Before anything else, though, have you already sent the post-mission report to the client?"

    "Yes, sir!"

    Granlan narrowed his eyes. "When? Can we still abort it?"

    "A few hours ago, sir." Lendet lowered his arm. "If you want to have even a slight chance of canceling its delivery, we''ll have to hurry." He held back his curiosity about the reasons. If he needed to know, the captain would inform him.

    "Damn." Granlan sprang back to his feet. "Which route? I''ll handle it myself, this is of paramount importance."

    "Dead drop Talmer, sir."

    "Got it. I''ll be back when I''m done with this. In the meantime, confirm our new funds with the bank and get started on replacing our lost gear."

    He informed the quartermaster of the new funds and purchase decisions and left him to handle the details, then returned to the command post to wait for the captain''s return. After a couple hours of increasingly nervous waiting, he was very relieved when Captain Granlan finally walked in. He didn''t let his nerves or relief show on his face as he stood up to salute, though. "Captain."

    Captain Granlan gave a crisp nod in return as he walked to his desk. "At ease, Second. Objective achieved, I got the message back." He placed a small envelope on the desk. "There was a bit of a tussle, but I handled it. They were not happy about me finding the local node of their teleport relay circuit, much less digging through their pile of outbound pending messages to pick out ours."

    Lendet relaxed a fraction, then cocked his head at what Granlan had just said. "I''m surprised you were able to beat their concealment and obscuration measures."

    "I had help. Very, very capable help. More capable than they were prepared for. The identity and nature of the help is at this time secret, and you do not need to know."

    Lendet nodded. "Very well." He paused. "Permission to speak frankly, sir?"

    "Go ahead."

    "What the hell kind of job pays that much, up front? What have you gotten us all into? Or is it somehow a personal job that won''t involve the rest of the company?"

    Granlan smiled. "A reasonable question. In short, the reason that our last job blew up in our faces so spectacularly is that our client, possibly unknowingly, was picking a fight with someone that they really, really shouldn''t have. Said someone, whose identity is secret, wants to punish them for it, and has the resources to pay whatever it will take." He gestured at the envelope he''d retrieved. "Hence the importance of stopping that so that we can prepare and try to trace the report when we send it."

    "I see. What roles will the rest of the company play in this?"

    "Mostly planning and investigation. Any combat will be limited to whatever arises in the course of the investigation." Granlan shook his head. "We have one major suspect for the ex-client''s identity, and it''s someone the Black Blades cannot defeat. Our job this time is only to find proof of who ordered that job. Once we deliver that proof to our new client, they will handle the rest themselves."

    Lendet gave another salute. "Understood, Captain. Shall I call the other officers for briefing?"

    Granlan nodded. "Yes, at once."

    As Lendet hurried out, Granlan sighed and muttered to himself under his breath. "I wonder if Carlos and Amber are having this much trouble dealing with their part of the aftermath of this mess."

 B2 Chapter 10: Searching for Secrets

    B2 Chapter 10: Searching for Secrets

    Carlos stared in silent thought for a while after Lorvan left. Amber was equally quiet sitting next to him. Finally, he sighed and shook his head. "Well, that was... more of a lecture than I expected."

    "Yeah." Amber spoke quietly, and had her arms clasped across her chest like she was trying to hold herself. "It felt like when Mom scolded me as a child for doing something stupid. She''d pick apart and count every single different way that I''d been stupid and scold me for all of them, making me feel like I was the worst idiot ever."

    "Was it useful for you?"

    Amber looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"

    "Your mother''s analysis and critique of exactly how and why what you did was stupid. Did it help you?" Carlos returned her gaze with a small smile.

    "Uh." Amber blinked and stared for a moment. "Actually... Yes, I think it did. I hated when she yelled at me, and I learned to think about every possible thing she might call stupid and then deny her the chance."

    "That may not be the ideal motivation for you to have, but if it got you to avoid doing stupid things..." Carlos shrugged. "Anyway, while the experience of learning it was unpleasant, the insight Lorvan just explained to us about how most nobles think and what they care about will be useful for more than just this one decision. So, I''m thankful for it."

    Amber took a deep breath and sighed. "I suppose. Maybe it''ll be easier to see it that way later. For now, I just want to get it over with and set it aside for a while." She paused. "So... Do we still help Kindar?"

    "The main takeaways I got about helping Kindar are ''Be wary about loyalty and betrayal,'' ''Absolutely do NOT make a habit of this,'' and ''If we''re going to do it with someone, choosing Kindar will at least minimize the grumbling from other nobles.'' That''s basically just a more emphatic version of what I already thought. My opinion is that we should go through with it, but be really cautious about the details."

    Amber chewed her lip as she considered that, then nodded decisively. "Yeah, sounds good." She picked up her notes from the small table and flipped to a new page. "Now, let''s make plans for second-stage advancement!"

    Carlos chuckled. "Sure, but let''s be smart about how we go about doing that."ber cocked her head. "What do you mean?"

    Carlos mentally reached for the telepathic bonds Purple had made for them. [For one thing, make certain Lorvan can''t eavesdrop on the discussion.]

    [Oh, right. And?]

    [Keep in mind that the limits Lorvan told us about are just the limits that every noble house knows about, not necessarily the true limits of what is possible.] Carlos glanced at his own notes. [We merged 10 soul structures into 1. Going only by what he told us, we should next make a new set of 9, merge those, then 8, and so on. But I''d bet nearly anything that there are ways to get more than that - every merge comprised of the full 10 structures, or maybe even more - and that the Crown knows and uses one of those ways. The whole thing just kind of reeks of being a limitation of the process, not of the end result. Do you remember how Lorvan''s soul felt, the sense of how solid it was, when his soul disguise stopped working after the battle?]

    Amber got a distant look in her eyes as she thought back. [Now that you mention it, yeah, that did seem strange, but I assumed it was just from how high-level he is, or a special soul structure. And then the princess visited, and she made Lorvan''s soul seem flimsy by comparison.]

    Carlos nodded. [I think that solidity is from having merged structures, and the bigger the merges, the more solid it feels. I''d guess Lorvan''s soul plan is the best possible within the limits of what he''s trusted to know and without making him noble; merges of 8 structures, 7, 6, and on down as far as his level is enough to still merge. And then House Kalor''s own soul plan packs in as much as the Crown itself knows how to. If we can figure out a way to match that...]

    [I... Even if we can do that, should we?] Amber hunched over and seemed to shrink into herself. [If you''re right, then you''re suggesting that we try to rival the Crown''s power. The Crown doesn''t have rivals! They''re the Crown! Supreme, above all other nobles! If the Crown sees us as starting to become a rival, I... I don''t know what they''d do. I don''t want to find out. Just thinking about it scares me.]

    Carlos remembered the depiction they''d seen of Kalor Founder utterly slaughtering an entire army, and the overwhelming presence of Princess Lornera Kalor when she''d visited, and he shuddered. [Okay, yeah, we don''t want to risk provoking them. But this isn''t all-or-nothing. We could just put in a few extra, enough to get a leg up over other nobles, but hold back from pushing all the way. Or... I don''t know. There are too many details we don''t know yet. We should at least try to figure things out, and then we can decide how to use what we discover.]

    Bruman gave short answers to the guard''s questions, seeking to get through the tedium as quickly as possible. Name, profession, notable affiliations, business in Fimmas. He was an adventurer, independent, looking for a party to venture into the Wilds with. All lies, of course, along with the fake level his soul was disguised as, which she checked with a small enchanted wand to write down along with the rest. In truth, he was a royal investigator, in direct service to the Crown, and he was here to sniff out if any young nobles were here illicitly harvesting from the Wilds without the Crown''s approval.

    Soon enough, he left the guard and gate behind him and navigated his way through the evening bustle to the cluster of inns that served the more successful or better-funded adventurers. He took note of their names as he inspected each one from outside for visible signs of quality and price, then intentionally entered the second-best and walked up to the bar. "Room and meals for, let''s say 2 days."

    The barkeeper looked him up and down and raised an eyebrow. "That''ll be 7 silver, and if you can actually afford staying here then you need to upgrade your gear. What you''ve got on you won''t get you far in the Wilds, much less a dungeon."

    Bruman paid and took his room key with a smile. "Yeah, I know. I recently came into some money and haven''t gotten to shopping for better gear yet. I came straight here, first thing."

    The barkeep nodded knowingly. "Ah, an excited newbie. If you''re suddenly rich, though, why aren''t you staying next door at the Wild Feast?"

    Bruman chuckled. "I''m not that rich, yet. If I were, I''d be hiring someone to escort me for some power-leveling. Though..." He cocked his head. "Maybe I could pay to join someone who''s already doing that? Is there anyone around here for me to ask?"

    "Heh." The barkeeper snorted. "Good luck with that, kid. You can ask the rich brat who''s renting the Wild Feast''s best suite in between his excursions, but I doubt he''ll even listen to you. Or wait a while and ask the next one; seems like every time the last rich kid leaves, a new one shows up soon after."

    "Oh? Every time?" Bruman raised an eyebrow. "And just one at a time? Sounds curious."

    "Oh, hmm..." The barkeep thought for a while. "Not quite every time, and I do remember a few occasions of having two in town at the same time, but most times, yes."

    That sounds suspiciously organized. It would fit perfectly with the "rotation agreement" I''m investigating. Definitely something to look into further. Bruman kept his expression carefully controlled to show merely idle curiosity. "Huh. In any case, could you point me to him? And a good shop for my upgrades, too?"

    "Last I heard, the kid went into the Wilds again the day before yesterday. Might be a few days, or a week, before he''s back, but if you stay that long I can let you know when he shows up again. As for a shop, try the Proven Sundries if you''re on a budget. They resell stuff that more powerful adventurers have outgrown. Their stock can be a bit random, and they never have the absolute best top-tier items, but they''ll always beat the Enchanters Guild''s prices on whatever they do have. And tell them I sent you." The barman winked at him.

    "Sure, and thanks for the tip!" Bruman smiled and waved as he headed for his newly rented room. He wouldn''t actually stay there long, but keeping up the pretense of his disguise''s role would help avoid suspicion. He should actually take a look at Proven Sundries, too, for the same reason. And then I will see about tracking down a rich young man in the Wilds, who I suspect is a noble scion, and keep tabs on him until the signal to act is sent. It wouldn''t do to tip off our quarry before we are ready to catch all of them at once.

    Crown Mage Felton looked at the three sets of enchanted armor laid out before him and considered his new task. On the left was the suit that had originally been issued to Crown Guard Lorvan, which had dropped the emergency signal he''d tried to send through it and falsely reported success to him. In the center was a suit that, according to a third party who Her Highness believed was trustworthy, had shown signs of the same issue. On the right was a suit just now fetched from storage in the main armory of the royal guards. He had compared each of them to each other in a thoroughly in-depth inspection, and they were all identical to the best of his ability to tell. That suggested some profoundly disturbing things about how the failure had been caused.

    He dismissed out of hand the possibility of alternative explanations. Royal guards are too loyal to ever betray their duties, I trust Her Highness''s judgement, and even if she were mistaken about Ressara after all, that would be a matter for others to handle. He shook his head. That leaves only two remaining explanations: either something is preventing me from noticing the differences, or the sabotage involved something that was built into every suit of royal guard armor.

    The former possibility was tricky to truly rule out. There were many ways to divert, deflect, or distract attention, some of them were very subtle, and even the best ward spells could never be truly infallible. Spells to conceal subtle effects and to counter such concealment were endlessly competing against each other in the craft of spell creation, with each new innovation on either side designed to defeat what came before. Felton had done his best to protect his mind from attention manipulation, but it would only take one novel invention in these enchantments to potentially circumvent that.

    Even so, Felton thought the other possibility was more likely. I already suspect that the culprit might be the Enchanters Guild; they are the only entity that I know even has the knowledge to be capable of meddling with royal guard armor in such a sophisticated way. Such a feat is beyond even my own expertise as an elite royal mage. And if it is the Enchanters Guild, then building it into every suit would be almost trivial for them. He snorted. They make the damn things in the first place! Would they even need every enchanter involved to be knowingly in on it, or could it be that some enchanters just work from a design schematic they don''t even understand?

    He sighed and started disassembling the suit from the armory, peeling apart the layers of metals and cloth until he could pluck out one specific small sheet of steel inlaid with tiny platinum runes. He knew the spell that this set of runes was supposed to cast, and he knew the runic script. The incantation as I learned it is definitely correct. Comparing the runes to my incantation will be tedious, but if I find a discrepancy, that would identify at least a part of the problem. He began methodically scanning the script, rune by rune. And if I don''t... Then my next guess is that it''s hidden in the parts that are specific to enchantments, and that only the Enchanters Guild understands. If that''s the case, then we will have to get creative.

    Felton dismissed that thought for now. Ensuring full accuracy of checking every single rune required complete focus.

 B2 Chapter 11: Brainstorming

    B2 Chapter 11: Brainstorming

    Amber absent-mindedly scanned over her notes again as she navigated the halls and stairs of the mayor''s mansion to the guest suite that, for the time being, was her home and personal haven from the world outside. For the kind of in-depth brainstorming she was about to do, having all of her notes close at hand would be best. There was also the topic she would focus on first to consider. Am I really about to try to puzzle out one of the Crown''s great secrets? She looked around furtively, feeling uncomfortably exposed, and shuddered. She knew that being in her personal room realistically wasn''t actually more secure from any potential spying, but she still felt more comfortably private once she passed through the door and closed it behind her. A memory sprang to mind of Carlos politely waiting for her invitation before entering, the day before, and she smiled. That was nice of him.

    She dismissed the thought and industriously grabbed all her other notes from her desk, setting them beside her on the bed as she settled in to think. Okay, how to get more soul structures into a merged superstructure than would normally be possible. To start with, reviewing what I already know: There are 10 regions in the soul that can each hold 1 soul structure. The structures repel each other strongly enough to normally prevent them from being in adjacent regions, but synergies form bonds that can hold them closer together. When the combination of all synergies among a group becomes powerful enough, they make the whole group become effectively a single unified structure, and the resulting composite structure merges together to occupy only 1 region. The greater the ratio of synergy links to soul structures, the sooner this happens.

    The largest possible merge is 10 structures because that is the largest number of structures it is possible to have. After each merge, the largest possible for the next merge decreases by 1 because the newly merged superstructure occupies one of the slots, making that slot unavailable. The existing superstructure cannot combine with a set of new structures because the result would be physically too large to fit in the limited volume of a single region of the soul.

    Carlos said that these limits seem to be limits of the process, not of the end result, and that does seem correct to me. So, what factors of the process cause these limits, and how could we change the process to circumvent the limits? Amber twiddled her pencil between her thumb and forefinger while she considered the question. Hmm. There''s two aspects to these limits - the decrease for subsequent merges, and the limit on the initial largest merge. Let''s focus on the largest merge''s limit first. A solution to that will probably at least help with the other, if not solve both at once.Re?a?d new chapters at novelhall.comber shifted to get a little more comfortable, and poised her hand with pencil over her notebook, ready to write. We have a merged combination of 10 structures, and we want to add more to make it bigger. Really, the biggest reason it''s limited at all is that the merge is a one-time event, not letting anything join later even if it has all of the requisite synergies, so we can''t "just add more." She paused. Or can we? The inherent natural merge process won''t bring in anything new, but we have our debugger soul structure to change our soul structures after they''re made. Normally, soul structures are immutable once created, but the debugger bypasses that.

    Amber blinked in realization. Huh. I''ve always known of soul structure immutability as an absolute rule, but it turns out a soul structure can override it. Can other rules be broken in the same way? She chewed her lip for a moment, then wrote a note and shook her head. I should definitely revisit that thought later, but it''s not relevant to the current question. Anyway, adding another structure to an existing merged superstructure would be a modification of the superstructure, and I''m pretty sure the debugger can do it. So, that''s one solution for adding to an existing superstructure. It''s not as helpful as I''d hoped for the other problem, though. We can go a long way with gaining more levels to trigger smaller and smaller initial merges that we then add to, but that will hit another limit sooner or later. Ultimately, when we have 9 merged superstructures, how will we be able to make a 10th?

    She made sure to note both the partial solution and the remaining issue with it, then went back to twiddling and thinking. Okay, what other factors are there to potentially work around? The obvious one is the lack of room to put all the structures we''d want to merge. So, when you don''t have enough room for something, what are all the ways you can solve that? You can get more room, of course. You can clear out some room. You can try to make everything to fit in the room that you do have. Or... you can try to skip what you need the room for. She noted a list of all four options.

    Getting more room. Hmm. Sure, just conjure another soul structure region into existence, why not? Amber chuckled and rolled her eyes. Then she hesitated and cocked her head as she glanced at the first note she''d written on this page. Only 10 soul structures at most, ever. That''s a rule, like soul structures being immutable. Can that rule be broken by making a soul structure to do it? She focused her attention inward as she considered. I''m... really not sure. Well, there''s only one way to find out.

    Amber carefully set down her notebook and pencil, then sat up and settled into a meditative pose. Alright, making a soul structure to add more regions to my soul. Extra regions, adding new volume to my soul, not just subdividing the existing volume into smaller partitions. Let''s see what happens. She started drawing in aether, condensing it into solidified essence imbued with her intent. The process was painfully slow, drawing in just a trickle of aether instead of the steady stream she was used to. At this rate, it would take... a long time, multiple days, to get enough to form a whole soul structure.

    Her focus moved to the existing Level 15 superstructure. What I really need is essence, not aether; could I use some from this? It doesn''t have much to spare - absorption rate dropped off a cliff after the merge - but it does have some. She scraped off just a tiny bit of essence and moved it over, then flinched in shock and hastily moved most of even that tiny amount back. Wow, decompressing that from Level 15 to Level 0 has a huge multiplier! That turned into, what? ... Tens of thousands of times as much, I think? Well okay then, essence acquired for the new structure! Now I just need to imbue my intent to form it properly.

    Even with essence already on hand, building a new soul structure was a process that took several hours, but Amber was familiar with that, and she had time. She meditated calmly on the concept she wanted, patiently letting the afternoon pass by. The debugger sped it up significantly, but it was still almost three hours later when she finally felt it finish.

    She almost bounced in excitement as she wrote a few lines of notes about her discovery. She was almost excited enough to even forget about her fear of the Crown''s potential reaction! She did remember her concerns after writing just a word or two, though, and kept these notes intentionally cryptic. I''ll remember what I meant when I reread this, but anyone else will have no clue. About the Crown, though... Amber cocked her head. I''m pretty sure this is not the way the Crown does it. The mage who scanned our souls to verify our soul rank knew what the Crown''s first-stage soul structures look like - she declared that our reflex improver is similar to one of them - but she didn''t recognize our debugger. I wonder what their solution is.

    Amber considered that for a moment, then shrugged. We have our own solution, no need to figure out theirs. She yawned and stretched, blinking as she noticed how dim the daylight outside had become. Yeah, that''s enough brainstorming for today. I''ll think up some ideas for improving spellcasting, enhancing its strengths and shoring up its weaknesses, in the morning.

    Carlos lounged on a cushioned chair in the mayor''s personal library, idly tapping his pencil against his leg and staring into space, lost in thought. The library seemed rather modest for someone wealthy enough to own a mansion like this, but maybe that was just a difference in culture between here and America. He wasn''t there for the books just now, though, and it was still a quiet and peaceful corner where he could think undisturbed, which was exactly what he''d been looking for. He had some very serious and important thoughts to consider, after all.

    Make a dictatorial monarchy that has nuke-level superpowers think I might become a genuine rival at their own power level, thereby provoking them into casually erasing me from existence? Hard pass, absolutely not, no way in hell! Handicap my own potential power just to avoid pissing someone off? Also hard pass, appeasement and keeping yourself weak is a terrible way to handle a bully. He paused, then corrected himself. Or a potential bully, I suppose. The Crown has actually behaved with pretty good fairness and impartiality so far, at least for the things I''ve seen.

    He shook his head. Anyway, if I''m not going to handicap myself, and also don''t want to risk pissing off the Crown, I need a third option. I need to conceal my actual power from them. Which could be a problem with Lorvan and Ordens shadowing us with all their fancy detection and analysis gear. If my soul starts feeling as solid as Princess Lornera''s, that will be blatantly obvious to them.

    Carlos chuckled. Well, what if I make a soul structure for disguising my soul? Or, hell, specifically for making it seem softer, since more special-purpose structures are more potent? Hmm. Nah, that level of specificity makes synergies excessively difficult. Soul disguiser, though? Yeah, sounds good! We should be cautious about it, see if we can verify that it''s fooling them before we build up to a dangerously provocative point, but that''s probably our best bet.

    He sighed and shook his head as he wrote a cryptically brief note about the idea. Honestly, soul structures feel like cheating sometimes. Pick an ability you want, and congratulations, you get it! There are limits, and rules, and secret interactions, that give it an intellectual puzzle aspect, but the core of it just seems so... unearned. Take your desires and intent, and magically turn that into whatever sort-of-reasonable ability you choose. Though, to be fair, the actual power of those abilities would still be pretty weak if not for all the extreme power-leveling. He sighed again. Regardless, I still want to get this soul structures business out of the way and get back to using my programming expertise on incantations. That feels like a power I''ve actually put in effort to earn.

    Though... Carlos grinned. Why not use the "cheaty" power to help with getting back to the "non-cheaty" power? And while I''m at it, improve things? If a magic incantation language is designed to work like a programming language, then it should work like a well-designed programming language, dammit! With a proper suite of tools, too! None of this "you must adequately visualize things for the number you specified to actually work as the number you specified" nonsense. And organized ways to share and reuse code, like libraries and frameworks. And a code editor. Spell editor? With syntax highlighting! Reusable templates for common patterns. Easy code navigation. Autocomplete. Readable indentation. And oh god, that horrible syntax! He shuddered. Seriously, a separate line with a spelled-out "parameter" declaration along with name and value, all of it repeated for each effect parameter? Ever heard of argument lists, positional parameters, and declared parameter types? And don''t get me started on using infinite loops for sustained effects! Neanderthal novices!

    He snorted and shook his head, then laughed again. Of course they were novices. They were pioneers of a new field. They had no forebears to learn from. But excusable or not, I want something better. He paused to think. I don''t think I can technically, actually, change the syntax. It''s too closely tied to details of the mechanics of how it all works. But maybe I could make a transpiler as one of my soul structures, to transform a language that I design into the system language.

    Carlos considered that idea for a minute, mulling it over. Yeah... Yeah, that should work. All of that together is way too complex for a normal simple soul structure. I''ll have to figure out how to break it down into a set of simpler ones with enough synergy to all merge. But yes, details aside, I want to work with incantations using an Integrated. Development. Environment!

 ?s

No??i dung mo??i cu?a ba?n o?? ?a?y

 B2 Chapter 12: Dungeon Thoughts

    B2 Chapter 12: Dungeon Thoughts

    Purple floated in the quiet darkness of the city''s top security vault, thinking. I agreed to brainstorm ideas for soul structures, but I really just don''t understand how to do that. Carlos wants me to be creative? The most creative thing I''ve ever done was just doing something that was obvious the moment that enchanter guy said something about it! How am I supposed to think about creative ideas when I don''t even know how to come up with them in the first place?

    He aimlessly moved aether around while he stewed in his thoughts. After a long while, he realized he''d accidentally formed a vortex that might damage something. He carefully slowed the raging current gradually until it was back to a more normal speed. I''m getting agitated, and that may cause problems. When Carlos or Amber feel like this, they take a deep breath, but I don''t breathe. There''s a mental component that goes with the deep breath, though, isn''t there? Hmm... Purple focused his attention on smoothing out and calming the flows of aether around him as much as possible, concentrating on only that for several seconds. That helped. With my agitation, at least.

    Purple considered the now-placid aether that permeated the vault. Huh. That''s new. I''ve never done that before, at least not for that purpose. How did I come up with that idea? He mentally retraced his thoughts. Ah, right, I was imitating something I observed from my friends. Observing Carlos and Amber as they brainstorm might help me learn how to imitate the process. He hesitated. Carlos specifically said we should brainstorm separately, though. I shouldn''t just ignore that. Could I observe closely enough to learn, but distantly enough to not know the details of their ideas?

    He cautiously turned his attention to Carlos, pulling back from any sensations of sight, sound, or articulated thoughts, limiting himself to vaguer impressions of Carlos''s mental state. His first friend was excited about something and seemed to be pouring out a nigh-endless series of small details that were loosely connected by being grouped in a large bundle of a concept. Then Carlos''s focus leaped to a distantly connected other large concept, and a few more besides, and he seemed to struggle with choosing which one to tackle first. Ultimately, he ended up jumping between them several times, sporadically revisiting earlier topics and occasionally adding a whole new bundle to the semi-random rotation. Carlos seems to just know things and spontaneously manifests ideas. He has a gigantic web of knowledge, any random thought can connect to something in it, and he follows connections in that web to find everything that seems relevant. I cannot usefully imitate that method without learning a similarly large web of knowledge first. Perhaps observing Amber might help more?

    Purple kept his focus similarly distant as he switched to observing Amber. She was considering the precise details of solving a problem, but that problem itself was a solution to a larger and less detailed problem. In fact, there was a whole hierarchy of larger and larger problems above it, each with a set of branches extending from it into finer details. As he maintained his distant watch, she finished with one detail, went up to the next higher tier of problems, and took the next branch down to another set of details again.

    Intrigued, Purple kept watching as Amber broke down problems into solutions whose lack of detail was a smaller problem. I might be able to use this method. But how does she come up with the right problem at the root of the tree? Another half-hour passed, and Amber completed an entire branch up to just below the root of the problem tree. There was still another branch left, which Amber would systematically analyze all the way down to the most detailed level, but Purple was willing to wait through that to see how she''d choose another root problem to break down. Then suddenly the whole tree dropped out of Amber''s focus, and Purple''s thoughts stuttered in confusion as he watched her attention refocus on... himself?

    [Purple? Are you... watching me? Kind of?] Amber''s mental voice carried a complex mix of feelings, but discomfort and anger were the most prominent.

    Purple mentally recoiled, and he replied with sheepish embarrassment. [Um. Yes? I was trying to learn about how to brainstorm well by observing how you do it. Was that wrong?]

    [That''s... Okay, that''s actually a good idea, but you should have asked for my permission first. You''re my friend, and I trust you, but spying on someone in private is creepy, and spying on my thoughts feels just...] Amber shuddered. [Though...] She paused briefly, suddenly confused and uncertain. [We''re already planning on having you literally be our home, and I just realized what that could mean for our privacy. Are you even able to not see everything in a room inside your dungeon?]

    [I don''t know. I suppose I could exclude a room from my domain outright. That would reduce my ability to protect that room, however. What exactly is the issue? I am not familiar with the concept of "creepy."]

    Amber sighed. [Of course you aren''t. You''re a dungeon core; how would creepiness ever even be relevant to a normal dungeon core? Okay, um... I don''t actually know how to explain the reasons for it in a way that you might understand. How about you just take it as an arbitrary rule to follow: Observing a person without their knowledge and consent, when they are not in a public area, is rude, creepy, and offensive. For anyone you''re friendly with, you should ask them for permission first and abide by their answer.]

    [Okay. I can do that. May I watch you brainstorming some more?]

    [Then goodnight.] Amber rolled over and firmly pushed Purple''s mental voice away.

    Purple pulled back, his awareness focusing just on the vault around him again, and considered the advice Amber had just given him. Problems to solve, goals to achieve, things I can use... He noticed he''d idly started stirring up the aether around him again and forced himself to stop. I suppose that''s another problem to solve. It just feels wrong to not be doing anything. Well, I am doing something, just not with my mana. Anyway, ideas for soul structures, hmm... Which approach is best suited for this? Soul structures are not problems. They''re not goals, either. They are tools. Tools that improve or expand your capabilities to solve problems or achieve goals. So, I think the real question is what problems or goals we should use them for.

    Alright, then the way to break things down for the next layer is to list out our problems and goals. I was just thinking about a problem a moment ago, might as well put that in the list. Is idleness feeling wrong really a problem to solve, though? He paused to consider, then mentally shrugged and added it anyway. I can analyze whether it''s important when I get to that point. What else? Defenses to protect me and my friends, of course. Um. Hmm... What exactly did Carlos say about why I should do this, again? I think he emphasized focusing on ways I''m different from them, but I don''t remember the precise details. Wait, not remembering clearly is another problem. That might become a problem for my brainstorming too, having to remember the whole problem tree and my conclusions.

    Purple focused on that thought as a realization struck him. A problem that affects my brainstorming is a problem that I need to solve immediately, before continuing. I could make some paper and take notes on it like Amber does, but I can''t move a pencil like she does. I''d have to create the graphite on the paper arranged in the form of writing. Moving it and even reading it would be awkward, too. Seeing materials is not my primary sense, unlike for humans. Writing with mana would be either unstable or wasteful. Using mana in a soul structure to solve it would work, but I haven''t merged the ones I already have yet, so I don''t have anywhere to put it. He paused, then did the purely mental equivalent of a facepalm. One of the structures I already have can handle it, duh! The knowledge repository. I just need to tweak it a little so that I can put knowledge into it too, not just the people I have bonds with. Okay, done and the list is in there.

    Moving on, let''s see, ways that my nature, capabilities, experiences, and knowledge differ from Carlos and Amber, and problems, goals, and useful things that those differences are relevant to. Store that as the heading of a list, and...

    Purple continued brainstorming through the rest of the night and the following morning.

    The discussion of ideas the next afternoon was fascinating. Purple''s friends had not only gone about their brainstorming in completely different ways, but had produced drastically different results as well. Amber identified problems and solved them, and identified important strengths and ways to improve them. Carlos solved one problem, but then unveiled a grand vision of how to organize it all, and followed up with a strange concept that I still don''t really comprehend, but that he''s certain will be extremely useful. Even Amber still feels uncertain about some of the details of that.

    And then they asked about my ideas. Purple couldn''t decide whether he should feel embarrassed, confused, or proud about what had followed after that question. Most of his ideas were only good for his own use, aimed at the unique problems and advantages of a stationary being who controlled a large area, but one idea had surprised both of them and immediately struck them as extremely important. I had no idea that my dislike of idleness with my mana would lead to such a big deal, but Carlos instantly jumped on it and said, "Idle mana is wasted potential for advancement." Amber was confused at first, but then realized something and commented, "For after we advance past the wellspring''s peak." I''ll have to get used to the idea of planning that far ahead.

    Purple had transcribed the whole conversation into his knowledge repository, so he could review every last bit of it in complete detail as much as he wanted to. He spent hours just going over Carlos''s explanation of an "integrated development environment" over and over again, trying to understand why Carlos was so extremely excited about it. Eventually, he decided that he''d just have to wait to observe it in action, and turned his thoughts to what he was excited about.

    We''re going into the Wilds tomorrow to absorb aether and develop our souls. We''re all going into the Wilds. Including me! And we''re not coming back until we''ve taken this area''s mana wellspring, where I will make my permanent home. Purple tried to imagine it, but he just blanked on the whole idea. He had no idea what kind of structure he should be imagining or what he would ultimately be capable of with that much power. However it turns out, I''m looking forward to it.

    There''s just one thing I''m confused about. Who is Kindar, and why might whether he accompanies us depend on me?

 B2 Chapter 13: Another Dungeon

    B2 Chapter 13: Another Dungeon

    "I trust you can continue managing Dramos without us while we secure the area''s mana wellspring." Carlos was sitting comfortably in one of Mayor Stelras''s visitor chairs, with Amber in the other. This was still the mayor''s office, after all, and Carlos had no intention of taking it over as his own office. People would expect something far grander for a high lord''s office, and Carlos planned to set it up in a completely different location, besides. He also wanted it to have a suitable place for Amber as co-leader of their house alongside him, unlike the mayor''s single desk.

    Stelras nodded confidently from his desk. "Of course, Lord Carlos. The recent kidnapping incident aside, you haven''t shaken things up much around here yet. I''ve managed this city for decades; a little longer should make no difference. How long do you expect it to take?"

    "I don''t actually know. Lorvan?"

    The royal guard at Carlos''s side inclined his head. "For you to absorb enough ambient mana-"

    "''Aether'', please. The distinct academic terms were made for good reason." Carlos accompanied his interruption with a stern glance at Lorvan.

    "Yes, my lord." Lorvan cleared his throat lightly and began again. "For you to absorb enough aether to gain the raw power necessary to defeat the wellspring''s guardian, and subsequently to gain sufficient proficiency in wielding that power, will take at least a full month, and possibly multiple months. That is accounting for your ability to absorb actively while sleeping, and also having a cooperative dungeon to multiply your absorption rate. For most nobles, it would definitely be multiple months."

    Carlos cocked his head and did some quick mental calculations. Our efforts to mimic dungeon pre-processing of aether just about tripled our safe absorption rate, and Purple as an actual dungeon can probably do it better. That merged superstructure takes 10 times as much to level it up, though, and it doesn''t absorb any faster, and if we pack even more structures into it, it will need even more aether to advance. At a rough estimate, those factors combined work out to a net result of one-third the level advancement rate we had before. It took about 10 hours of active absorption before for each density compression, or levelup as I''ve started calling it, so 30 hours per level. Wellsprings are above even Lorvan''s level, so we have at least 30 or so levels to go... He nodded. "Yeah, that makes sense."

    He focused back on Stelras again. "Let''s say two months for planning purposes, and we''ll see how it goes. We''ve already made arrangements with our adventurer employees and the rest to depart tomorrow morning. Keep us updated on any news about the Crown''s investigations into our kidnapping. And that leaves just one other matter we want you to handle. Amber?"

    Amber shifted uncomfortably in her chair and cleared her throat. "Right. So, we''ve already told you about Lord Merchant Darmelkon''s request. We want you to negotiate with him for us. We believe you have a better understanding of the value of all the things we could ask him for than we do." She hesitated, then finally slumped a little and shyly looked down at her fidgeting hands.

    Carlos gave her a sympathetic look, then leaned forward and continued for her. "We owe him a favor, and he''s calling it in. The favor is that we''re even willing to consider his request at all. Be firm about that. If he tries to insist on getting more for his favor, wish him luck with trying to find any other noble willing to cut a deal like this with him."

    Stelras smirked. "I doubt he''ll take issue with that. He knows damn well how touchy nobles are about sharing their secrets."

    Carlos nodded. "Right. Secondly, before you even get started on negotiating payment for helping his son, we want restitution for the years of bullying Amber suffered from Kindar. Restitution appropriate for our new station as high nobles. If Darmelkon balks at that, or if he tries to excuse Kindar''s behavior as reasonable or acceptable in any way, the deal is off. Don''t warn him. If he doesn''t respect us, or at least our rank, enough to accept immediately and without argument the need to make up for Kindar''s past bullying, then we will not engage with him. And again: no warning. Don''t tell him in advance how important this is. Just cut him off and tell him he wasted his favor by refusing to rectify his son''s reprehensible behavior." Carlos paused and looked at Amber, then reached over and gently laid a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

    Amber sniffled and nodded. Her voice trembled weakly when she spoke. "Yeah." She took a deep breath and sniffled again. "I''m okay. I just... never thought I''d get vindication like this." She got out a handkerchief, wiped off a couple tears, and blew her nose, then folded and tucked it away. She sat up and squared her shoulders. "Right. So, the favor got us to the negotiation table. To keep us there, Darmelkon must concede instantly about restitution, and that he will give it unconditionally. If he does, then negotiate an appropriate price for helping Kindar become a noble. You can tell him that we''re confident enough about our ability to successfully do it that we''re willing to stake the restitution on it, in addition to any advance payment you negotiate. From there, get the best terms you can for us. Whether he pays in money, items, other things, or a combination, we''ll want to gain something important from the deal that we can''t easily get for ourselves without him. You probably have better context for assessing that than we do."

    Stelras nodded gravely. "Understood. If he so much as utters a single comment about how... let''s say ''ordinary'' Kindar''s behavior toward you was, he''s out. Any other terms or guidelines for this?"

    Trinlen gave a jaunty salute. "You got it, sub-boss!"

    Carlos gave him a quelling glare. "I have potentially important plans for this that depend on the dungeon not being too pissed off, Trinlen."

    Trinlen sighed. "I''ll behave, don''t worry." He rolled his eyes. "Is my reputation really that bad?"

    "You were literally introduced to me as ''a troublemaker.'' So yeah, kind of yes."

    Trinlen paused a moment, then shrugged. "Eh, fair point."

    Lorvan gazed sternly at him for another second, then glanced at Ressara and turned to walk into the underground dirt tunnel. Carlos and Amber followed right behind, surrounded by transparent bubbles of force, with Trinlen and Ressara next. Haftel and Esmorana brought up the rear.

    Carlos looked around constantly as they walked, wanting to not miss anything. The air felt damp, and the walls of the passageway were filled with innumerable roots, ranging from knotty wooden bundles thicker than Carlos''s arm down to hair-fine tendrils thoroughly enmeshed in the hard-packed dirt. Wait, how am I seeing all of this? Lorvan hasn''t made his armor glow, no one else has a light source either, and the entrance is too far back. He narrowed his eyes and searched for where the dim light was coming from. Finding it took only a few seconds. Oh, there''s glowing moss everywhere. Why is there glowing moss?

    He considered that question and decided that some details were beyond what he could reasonably deduce. "This glowing moss is harmless, right? It seems like an intentional light source. Does this dungeon want delvers, or something?"

    "It does." Lorvan continued facing forward as he spoke over his shoulder. "If managed well, delvers can benefit a dungeon."

    Carlos raised an eyebrow. "Huh. How does that work? Of the other dungeons I''ve seen, one was constantly drained to its last dregs by more delvers demanding things than it could handle, and the other was a terrifying killing machine known for slaughtering everyone who dared challenge it at an appropriate level."

    "Killing everyone who dares enter is one way for a dungeon to gain more than it loses, but few dungeons can pull that off. I do not know the mechanics of how it works, but for a dungeon the key is to be sufficiently challenging." Lorvan glanced back at Carlos. "Dungeons that are too easy to defeat will, as you saw, be perpetually drained. They get weaker and even easier to beat, and that continues in a vicious cycle until the dungeon fails. Dungeons where delvers still win, but must put forth great effort to earn their rewards, however, tend to grow."

    Lorvan stepped up to a thick curtain of moss-covered roots hanging down directly across the tunnel, blocking vision of what lay ahead beyond it. "Now, be alert. We have passed through the entrance. Beyond this veil is the dungeon proper, where its challenges and dangers begin."

    He lifted the curtain, and Carlos stared in amazement at the vista beyond it.

 B2 Chapter 14: Nature

    B2 Chapter 14: Nature

    After several seconds of staring forward, Carlos closed his mouth and glanced to either side. "I suppose all the roots and moss in the tunnel walls should have been my first clue. This dungeon''s theme is nature, or maybe forest, isn''t it?"

    "Sure looks like it to me, boss!" Trinlen piped up from a few feet behind.

    Lorvan just let the sight of what lay before them speak for itself. The tunnel of dirt and roots suddenly transitioned into a vast open area. Trees and undergrowth blanketed the ground everywhere Carlos could see. There''s a whole damn forest down here, underground? How far down did we go? Carlos cautiously walked out of the tunnel and looked up. The wall behind them extended up as far as he could see, but that wasn''t very far with layers of leaves and branches blocking his view. He couldn''t spot any sign of a ceiling, either.

    The luminescent moss was ubiquitous, growing in small patches on nearly every tree trunk and some of the bushes as well, but it was no longer the only light source. Streaks of bright greenish light shone down from high above, their paths highlighted by drifting dust. And is that actual sunlight filtering down through the canopy? It certainly looks like it. Carlos hesitated for a moment, then found a tiny spot where a beam of light reached the ground, walked over to it, and tried to look toward its source. He immediately winced and looked away, blinking spots out of his vision. "Is this place open to the sky?"

    Lorvan shook his head, keeping a commendably straight face. "It is not. If you fly above the dungeon from outside, you will not find the canopy of this forest there. The dungeon''s magic merely imitates the appearance of the sky, including the brightness of the daytime sun."

    Carlos looked around, scanning with mana sense as well. There were no visually obvious trails, and the stream of aether coming in from the tunnel just kind of... dissipated into the forest. The forest''s aether was calm and orderly, as usual for in a dungeon, but its movements seemed to lack purpose. Currents of aether went in every direction. They interleaved with no clashes or disruptions, almost like the currents were threads in a woven tapestry, but they didn''t seem to have any particular destination. The currents heading away from the tunnel exit were thicker and more numerous than the currents heading towards it, but that just balanced out the influx from the tunnel itself. "So... Where do we go from here?"

    Lorvan shrugged. "That depends on what you want from this delve. If you want to go directly to the core, that''s still below us. The fastest way would be if I clear a tunnel into the ground straight to it. If you''d rather not break the dungeon''s structure, the natural path down is hidden near the far side of this forest; I brought a map that''s recent enough that it''s probably still accurate and can lead you to it. If you want to gain as much as possible and help maintain the dungeon''s strength, you should explore and try to test yourselves against the dangers and challenges this dungeon can offer. Your protective force bubbles will interfere with at least some of that, but there may still be some suitable challenges."

    Carlos exchanged a look with Amber and declared his decision. "Let''s explore. How about... that direction." He pointed ahead and to the right, at a spot where the undergrowth looked slightly thinner, and started walking. The dungeon''s probably already scared by how powerful our escorts are, and tunneling directly would terrify it. We need to calm it down and reassure it.

    As Carlos got close to the small bushes that covered most of the ground between tree trunks, he started feeling some resistance to his forward movement. A lot of rustling, plus a few louder cracks and snaps, sounded from in front of him as the force bubble around him pushed back the leaves and branches that were in his way.

    Amber laughed from behind him. "If we aim to play fair and challenge our own abilities, using an overpowered spell from Lorvan to beat the first barrier hardly seems appropriate, don''t you think?"

    Carlos hesitated. "Wait, does this thick undergrowth really count as a barrier and dungeon challenge?"

    Haftel spoke up from the back. "Your inexperience is really showing, kid." He idly tossed a dagger, then flicked it forward into the dirt a few feet ahead and to the left of Carlos. A few leaves moved, disturbed by the impact, revealing a large scorpion hidden underneath. The dagger was so precisely in the center of one of the scorpion''s open pincers, a hair''s breadth short of touching the joint, that it was clearly deliberate. The scorpion jerked backwards, then turned and fled, disappearing from sight in moments. "Take a closer look at those plants."

    Carlos looked intently at the branches splayed out against his force bubble. "They''re certainly prickly. It''d be painful to walk through without protection. That doesn''t seem serious enough for how you''re acting, though?"

    "Hmph. That force bubble is preventing you from getting a properly close look." Haftel shook his head. "There are thorns mixed in. Tiny ones. Hard to spot, but really sharp. And they have poison. Nothing truly dangerous, not by itself and this close to the entrance, but if you got pricked and ignored it, you''d find yourself getting weaker and more tired a lot faster than normal. Nature can be nasty like that."

    "Oh." Carlos took a step back and regarded the tangle of greenery more warily. "Hmm. I think I could levitate myself over it. There''s plenty of clearance between the bushes and the lowest tree branches, and I can see open areas to land in."

    "Way ahead of you on that, Carlos." Amber took a few steps back, then jogged forward and jumped. She soared much higher than the apparent effort of her jump could explain, then kept drifting forward at the same height, several feet in the air. "Whee!" Just after she crossed the line of bushes, she abruptly dropped back down and landed in a crouch. She turned back to face Carlos, grinning ear to ear. "That was fun! Now your turn."

    A whole pack of wolves surrounded and attacked them after about an hour and a half, and most of the wolves ended up focusing on Trinlen as the only person they had a chance of actually hurting. It turned into several minutes of Trinlen frantically dodging and running while he, Carlos, and Amber struggled to throw back or drive off every wolf that got too close to him. Any one of their guards could have slaughtered the whole pack in moments, but they followed the stated plan of holding back to let the newer combatants gain some experience, just watching to intervene if needed.

    The Distant Cut spell, which used to barely make a bear''s snout bleed, now cut great bloody gashes in the wolves'' hides, but it was clearly still nowhere near an outright kill, and it took a few hits with it on the same wolf to even get a wolf to withdraw from the fight. Carlos and Amber were both nearly out of mana when the last of the pack quit the fight and ran off, and Trinlen was breathing hard and had a few nasty wounds on his arms and legs.

    They spent several minutes resting and recovering after that. Carlos winced in sympathy just looking at the dried blood on Trinlen''s skin and clothes, even knowing that Lorvan had already healed the injuries that the blood came from. "Are you sure you still don''t want a force bubble?"

    Trinlen looked at Carlos like he''d grown an extra head. "What, just because I got a few painful scrapes? This is exactly the kind of excitement I came here for! Why would I ever want to make it boring?"

    "If that''s really how you feel, I suppose..." Carlos shook his head and laughed quietly. He took a deep breath and turned to Lorvan, who still wasn''t showing the slightest sign of exertion or discomfort. "Think that''s enough to satisfy the dungeon? Help it grow more than a typical wish costs it?"

    Lorvan hesitated, then nodded slowly. "I cannot be certain, but I believe so, yes. Should I get out the map?"

    "Hmm. Not just yet, I think." Carlos looked at Trinlen. "You mentioned a pathfinding spell. Could you cast it to find a path to the dungeon''s core?"

    "Maybe. I''d need to know the location of the destination. I might be able to divine that separately, but I don''t think I have enough mana right now to cast both that and Find Path. Not with the dungeon resisting the spells and having 4 more levels than me."

    Lorvan raised his right arm across his chest. "I can handle that part. Should I?" At Carlos''s nod, Lorvan triggered one of the myriad enchantments in his armor, and a potent spell formed and launched into the distance faster than Carlos could examine it. "The dungeon core is located 2134.2 feet east, 788.6 feet south, and 46.9 feet down from the current location of the center of my right palm."

    Trinlen stared at him and blinked a few times. "That is... a considerably more helpful way of stating it than I expected. Thank you."

    Lorvan tweaked something, and the distance measurements he''d just stated appeared in writing above his arm. "It''s part of standard royal guard protocol for working with mages. If a mage needs a location specification for casting a spell, give it as a coordinate triplet."

    "Ah. Right. Well then." Trinlen looked at Carlos and chuckled. "Part of why you asked is that you want to hear the whole incantation yourself, right, boss?"

    Carlos nodded, smiling. "Absolutely."

    "Then settle in and listen. Here we go..."

    spell begin; use mana = ...

 B2 Chapter 15: Spellcraft Analysis

    B2 Chapter 15: Spellcraft Analysis

    Carlos listened intently as Trinlen spoke the incantation for Find Path, alert for whatever intriguing things he might learn.

    spell begin; use mana = from pool; limit mana = 50% capacity;

    Carlos nodded in appreciation at the unfamiliar variant in how the spell began. With that, I won''t have to predict in advance how much mana a spell needs. Nice!

    Trinlen had paused briefly with a knowing smile, but resumed incanting after only a moment.

    parameter location = target; parameter east = 2134.2; parameter south = 788.6; parameter down = 46.9; effect displaceLocation; variable destination = result;

    Aha! Incantations do support variables and storing calculated values. I was starting to wonder, with how much of the effects catalogue I''ve gone through and still hadn''t found anything for that.

    parameter firstLocation = target; parameter secondLocation = destination; effect distance; variable distance = result; variable detourLimit = 1000; label restart;

    Label? Carlos frowned. Please tell me that''s not for what I think it''s for...

    variable current = target; effect makeList; variable path = result; parameter list = path; parameter value = current; effect append; variable length = 1; effect makeList; variable reached = result; parameter list = reached; parameter value = current; effect append;

    Cumbersome list manipulation, but I expected that, really. Effects in general are all cumbersome to use in this travesty of a language.

    loop begin; parameter location = current; parameter distance = 0.5; parameter directions = cardinals; parameter orderCriterion = proximity; parameter proximalLocation = destination; effect listNeighbors;

    Carlos snorted in amusement. Special parameter options for ordering the list by proximity to somewhere are not an immediately obvious and natural design choice for that. I bet one of the system designers got frustrated with having to include code for sorting the list in their incantations, and abused their system access to make an invokable utility function for the sorting the only way they knew how to.

    parameter loopList = result; parameter loopVarName = neighbor; loop begin;

    Oh, iteration over a list. Great, that''s major for all kinds of data processing logic.

    parameter firstLocation = neighbor; parameter secondLocation = target; effect distance; variable firstDistance = result; parameter firstLocation = neighbor; parameter secondLocation = destination; effect distance; variable secondDistance = result; parameter firstValue = firstDistance; parameter secondValue = secondDistance; effect add; parameter firstValue = result; parameter secondValue = distance; effect subtract;

    Geeze, did they have to make basic math that cumbersome too?

    parameter value = result; parameter upperBound = detourLimit; parameter failureGotoLabel = nextNeighbor; effect compareLessThan;

    Carlos slapped his forehead loudly. Oh god, that label thing is what I thought. They have conditional branching, and they implemented it with goddamn fucking goto! Ugh. He realized Trinlen had stopped talking. Carlos lowered his hand. "Sorry, continue."

    parameter loopList = reached; parameter loopVarName = reachedLocation; loop begin; parameter value = neighbor; parameter avoidedValue = reachedLocation; parameter failureGotoLabel = nextNeighbor; effect compareNotEqual; loop end;

    Linear search of a list. Well, that''ll be an obvious optimization, at least in concept.

    Trinlen shrugged. "We''re just waiting for the spell to finish at the moment. Do you have anything better to do until it''s done? Come on, man, I''m dying to know what your reactions were about! Please?" He raised his hands together in front of him as if to beg.

    Carlos sighed and shook his head sadly. "A proper explanation will take longer than any reasonable amount of time your spell might take." He paused. "How long will your spell take, anyway?"

    "Depends on how much sidetracking it has to do. Could be up to about 20 minutes."

    Carlos considered briefly, but then shook his head. "Tonight, after we''ve set up camp. Bring a written copy of the spell for me to reference. Until then, have patience."

    After a few more minutes, Carlos sensed the spell''s incessant scanning blip into and out of his sensing range. It was far to the east, and gone again almost as soon as he sensed it. Then it appeared again, and again, each time just slightly closer and in range slightly longer. It kept making a series of sweeps, from south to north, then north to south, alternating with each subsequent pass. It still zoomed along rapidly, but it was noticeably slower than when it originally went east, and it seemed to be flickering as it moved.

    Carlos turned to look toward what he was sensing and focused on analyzing it. As I thought, it''s taking longer and longer at each step to check whether a candidate next step goes to somewhere it''s already explored or not. And depending on how far out of its way the opening to go down is, it might have to start over and rescan everything. He cocked his head. Wait, I think it does the restart by just going back to before the progress trackers are initialized. It repeats the initialization of them without clearing the old lists. Is that a memory leak? Actually, no, does the concept of memory leaks even mean anything for spells?

    The rapid incremental scans gradually crossed over the area Carlos could sense and out the other side. A couple more minutes after that, the scans suddenly reappeared right next to Lorvan and flickered toward the southwest. Variations of that happened a few more times, and then Trinlen exclaimed in triumph. "Got it! Path to the core is that way." He pointed southwest.

    Trinlen led them a few hundred feet southwest, then pointed at an innocuous carpet of leaves that looked no different from the ground around it. "Step on that, and you''ll fall right through. It''s the entrance to the lower floor."

    Carlos examined it cautiously. "It''s supported very weakly by a little dungeon magic, set to let anything heavy fall through while still holding up the rest of the leaves. If I didn''t know better, I''d think it''s just a hidden pit trap and avoid it."

    Haftel laughed from the rear of the group. "You have no idea how many young adventurers have been fooled by exactly that mistake and wandered this forest until they gave up, never finding the dungeon''s core. There are plenty of actual pit traps scattered around this dungeon that look identical to that from above."

    Carlos nodded. "A clever ploy. This has only a short drop at first, though, right Trinlen? Your spell wouldn''t explore a drop of more than 5 feet, I think."

    Trinlen nodded, grinning widely. "Impressive understanding. Yes, there''s a ledge just 3 feet down at first. It goes down a steep series of ledges for a bit, then levels out, and from there the rest of the path is pretty direct."

    "Let''s get going, then." Without further ado, Carlos poked a foot through the leaves, took a quick look, and hopped down.

    There were a few more traps and monsters along the way through the dirt-and-root-walled caves that followed, but nothing truly threatening until near the end. With just 100 feet left to go, Carlos took one look around the corner at the 15-foot-long prowling tiger, with its massive muscles rippling visibly even through its thick black and orange striped fur, and shook his head. "I am not ready to fight that. Lorvan... Actually, let it sense how powerful you are and give it an opportunity to withdraw without a fight first. If it attacks you or refuses to retreat, then kill it."

    Lorvan paused, then nodded. "As you command, my lord." He strode forward, and Carlos almost staggered as a tremendous weight seemed to suddenly descend on the entire area. The great tiger''s head snapped up to stare at Lorvan, and it froze in that position. The royal guard locked gazes with the tiger and advanced slowly, spear in hand and his soul blazing with bared power. He gestured firmly to the side, paused, then waved his spear threateningly and settled in place to wait.

    The tiger''s ears were flat against its head, and it flinched at something. It growled, the sound filling the cave with a deep rumbling, but the growl somehow seemed more unhappy than aggressive to Carlos. It faded into a whine after a few seconds, and the tiger reluctantly lowered its head and looked away. It slowly backed up to the relatively narrow passage to the core room, then through it and out of sight, though Carlos could sense the mana in it settling down just behind the dungeon core itself.

    The feeling of weight bearing down on everyone vanished, and Carlos advanced and beckoned everyone to follow. He continued until he could see the core, then paused to take in the sight.

    This dungeon core was again unlike any other he''d seen. Its shape was regular and smooth, but not a prism. It was a vertical ovoid, almost shaped like an egg but with both ends narrow, about 7 inches tall and 4 inches wide. It glowed a vivid emerald green. Shifting shadows periodically fluttered across its surface, but the light illuminating its surroundings remained perfectly steady. It floated above a cradle of bright green leafy branches. The 15-foot tiger sat on the ground behind the core and glared, its fur tinted green by the core''s light.

    Carlos took a deep breath and looked at Amber by his side. "Amber, you said you wanted to try taking the lead on this one. You''re up."

 B2 Chapter 16: Dungeon Ecology

    B2 Chapter 16: Dungeon Ecology

    Amber stared ahead and gulped. She''d been eagerly anticipating having her own chance at leading the discussion with a new dungeon core, but now that the moment was here, she was suddenly acutely aware that rather significant potential stakes were depending on her ability to be persuasive in a conversation. Well, for a rather loose interpretation of the word "conversation," anyway.

    She firmed her resolve and stepped forward. Carlos believes in me, and I should too. Besides, if I fail, we can still make do. The egg-shaped large emerald crystal that was the dungeon core reacted to her approach, reaching out with a delicate thin tendril of essence, mana, and aether all mixed together. Little stubby protrusions branched off from the tendril like leaf stems, and one larger branch reached over to Carlos behind Amber. She reached out her hand and a little mana to actively accept contact, and an image of an idyllic peaceful forest bathed in green light overlaid her physical surroundings.

    The dungeon''s emotions gently brushed against Amber''s mind. Wariness. Caution. More than a hint of fear. Alongside those feelings, however, she also felt strokes of more positive emotions. Gratitude for not having their powerful escorts simply obliterate everything in their path. Curiosity about why they had shown such restraint. Hope that their request would be reasonable.

    Amber sent back a tentatively hopeful offer of friendship. Cooperation. Mutual assistance.

    The dungeon responded with a confused wordless query. Why can''t their requests just be done as normal wishes, and what could they possibly offer? It already gets plenty of delvers, and most of them never reach the core to cost it the expense of a wish.

    Amber built a visual image, piece by piece, to try to explain. She started with the dungeon core itself, but in another place far away, a place where the aether in the air was dense and powerful. She envisioned the emerald core growing larger, more powerful, able to wield such dense high-level aether with ease. To answer the question that began forming in response, she imagined herself and Carlos carrying the core as they traveled. She added an impression of a series of lessons, the two of them teaching the dungeon core, giving it knowledge that would enable it to grow even more powerful. Amber finished with a vision of a vast forest surrounding the core, its territory filled with defenders and protections so strong as to be almost unassailable.

    The forest of the mental space she was immersed in fell silent, bird calls and even the wind quieting as a sense of contemplation filled the air. After a long breath, the forest''s mood turned to questions, tinged with hints of suspicion and distrust. After the dungeon gained so much, what next? Why would they do so much for it? Why should it trust them enough to make itself so vulnerable, and to leave everything that it already had?

    Amber projected her desire for friendship and cooperation, but the dungeon core rebuffed her. It reflected her feelings back at her, but with focus drawn to a kernel of desire for personal gain. It was relatively small and almost buried under the rest, but it was there nonetheless. A bird with brilliant green feathers and a sharp beak flew to a branch a few feet in front of her and cawed at her accusingly. Impressions of distrust flew at her in a flurry. Distrust that she might be hiding more greed than she''d shown. Distrust that they''d follow through on their offer rather than exploiting it when it''s most vulnerable. Distrust that the knowledge they would teach would be as useful as she''d envisioned. Deep skepticism at the very idea of abandoning its current place.

    Amber sighed and dismissed the imagined vision she''d built. Dungeon cores are loners by nature, it doesn''t know me enough for meaningful trust, and it''s comfortable with what it already has. We knew that recruiting it was a long shot, but it''s still disappointing. She shook her head. Moving on to the fallback idea.

    With a firm mental switch, she started building context for her wish. She started with the dungeon core once more, but this time in the past, a time when it was smaller and weaker than it is now. Back when it was young, its domain had been small, simple, and plain, holding little else of interest. She envisioned the core filling its domain with obstacles, challenges, and dangers to protect itself. In her imagination, the dungeon''s domain expanded and developed, and the core grew with it.

    Amber imagined adventurers discovering the dungeon and delving it. More came after them, a rising tide of delvers. Some reached the core and demanded wishes, but many failed, whether at the claws of its great tiger guardian, or by not even finding the path to get that far. Even those who triumphed had to fight hard to gain their prizes, and all the while, the dungeon grew, up to its present power.

    With that context set, she focused her attention on the various parts that she had left vague and largely unformed. The obstacles, challenges, and dangers were all little more than impressions of being effective and difficult to beat. The means by which the dungeon''s domain developed, becoming more sophisticated and capable in ways other than simple power, was nebulous and unknown. The connection between the amount of delvers and the dungeon''s growth rate was just the bare concept of them being somehow related. Amber highlighted all of those unknowns and focused on her desire to know them.

    A confused and questioning chorus of chirps sounded from all around her as the dungeon core''s confusion touched her mind. Not about what she wanted, but about why she wanted it. If she had knowledge to teach it to grow even beyond what it already was, why did she want knowledge of how to grow merely to reach its current point? How could she not already have that knowledge?

    [I only tried making one once. The amount of essence I had to put into it seemed prohibitive, and the only idea I had for making it move on its own felt like giving up a part of myself. I deconstructed it and reclaimed everything almost immediately. How does this dungeon make it affordable?]

    Amber prodded at the still-settling package of pain and knowledge in her head and pulled out an answer. "Apparently, the main answer is that most of it is inherently a one-time up-front cost. When an adventurer kills the monster, they take a small portion of its essence, but the rest returns to the dungeon core and only needs that small portion replaced to respawn it."

    Chagrin cascaded down the bond from Purple. [I never had a monster actually fight anyone to discover that. Damn. That makes a huge difference. What about the independent action part?]

    Carlos rubbed his chin in thought. "Independent action... The forest dungeon imbues its monsters with... just a set of instincts and behaviors, mostly, if I''m understanding this correctly. Only a very few of them have any actual ability to think."

    Purple took a moment to process this information. [Oh.] Resigned embarrassment and regret surged. [The idea that anything less than the ability to think could even be possible as a way to make it move on its own never occurred to me.] He paused to let his thoughts settle. [I feel like a failure of a dungeon core for missing something so basic.]

    Amber shook her head and replied mentally. [You are not a failure. If I''ve learned anything from what Carlos has taught me, it''s that even the simplest and most painfully obvious of ideas, at least by how they seem in hindsight, can be startlingly elusive to think of in the first place.]

    [I suppose.] Purple sent a mental shrug.

    As they finally hobbled into close range of Purple, Noralt gave a jaunty salute while standing with her giant hammer held on her shoulder like it was nothing. "It''s been real boring out here. Nothing''s even dared show its face to me. Do I get to do anything more interesting soon?"

    Carlos chuckled. "Maybe a little more interesting, at least. It''s time to move on to our campsite for the night, in a Level 12 zone where Purple, there, can absorb as much as possible without getting hurt." He picked up the floating crystal and put it in his pocket without further ado, then nodded toward Esmorana.

    Noralt shook her head wryly. "Don''t know if I''ll ever get used to seeing you do that. Those things are supposed to be impossible to move, and I still have no idea how you do it." She shrugged. "Whatever. I''ll get the flying rig ready in a few moments."

    The teleport ritual circle in Dramos flared, and a man wearing a black robe with dark orange lines and markings on it appeared in the center. The guard standing watch hastily scrambled to salute and bow, but Crown Mage Felton ignored him. He had much better ways to seek what he was here for than by speaking to a guard. He focused his will and cast a silent spell to connect the selective locator beacon he carried to any of its brethren that were nearby and inform him of their locations.

    After a few seconds of silence, Felton frowned. Every royal guard has one of those beacons in their armor, but I detect none in all of Dramos. More sabotage? He shook his head. More likely they''re just out in the Wilds somewhere. I could boost the spell''s range, but they''re not actually who I''m here for. He eyed the deeply-bowing guard just outside the circle and considered his options.

    "Guard. I am Crown Mage Felton. I must speak with the mayor of Dramos. Guide me to him."

 No Chapter Today

    No Chapter Today

    Part of this past week has been taken up by preparations for moving soon. On reflection, however, the bigger problem that''s really slowing me down right now is that I''m running into gaps in my outline. I''ve been focusing too much on the short term, just getting the next chapter done to try to catch up on my planned schedule, and I''ve done that long enough that the long-term consequences of that approach are coming due. switching focus to figuring out that path and fleshing out my outline. No chapter this week while I work on resolving that problem.

 B2 Chapter 17: Linking Up

    B2 Chapter 17: Linking Up

    [Alright, Purple, let''s run down the list: what synergies are left that you need help to activate?] Carlos stretched in the early-morning light that only barely outshone the purple dungeon core''s namesake glow. Amber sat behind him, watching curiously as he rotated his shoulders and contorted his body in a few different ways. Trinlen was slowly walking in circles around Purple, trying to watch everything at once. A few tents were arranged next to each other in a circle around them, and the rest of their traveling companions were either in their tents or scattered outside the circle,

    Purple''s mental voice was calm and focused. [Out of 45 possible synergies, I have already activated 39. Of the 6 remaining, 5 involve the bond maker. The last is between the automator and the difference finder.]

    Carlos nodded absently. [Good job knocking out that many of the non-bond synergies on your own! Let''s start with the bond maker''s synergies. Helping you with the other one will be easier with those already set. What''s the first one?]

    [Bond maker and knowledge repository.]

    [Right. Let me put some knowledge into that...] Carlos focused on the design of a specific small and simple object. It''s hardly revolutionary, but I haven''t seen one of these yet in this world. Admittedly, I haven''t actually looked for it, but still. The knowledge flitted over the mental link and went into a storage space that he could faintly sense if he focused on it. [Okay, it''s in. Trinlen, see if you can view that design.]

    Trinlen looked at him for a moment, then at Purple. "I could sense that you did something, but picking out any kind of detail is hellish in the ridiculous torrent of aether the dunge- Purple, sorry, is pulling in. As for accessing the information..." He narrowed his eyes and focused. His eyes had barely begun to light up in excitement when he flinched back as if struck. "What the-?!" He averted and closed his eyes while frantically waving his hands toward Purple. "Nope, nope, none of my business. But you seriously need to put some kind of lock on that!"

    Carlos stared at him in confusion. "What are you talking about? The design of a screw isn''t that big a deal." Oh, there''s a word for it in Ganler. They must have the idea already.

    Trinlen took a deep breath and pointedly switched to telepathy. [Yeah, your screw design is no big deal, and I got that just fine. But there''s something else in there, too. I stopped looking as soon as I realized what it was, but it''s detailed notes about soul structure design ideas. That''s like, the biggest of house secrets, ever!]

    Carlos''s jaw dropped, and he blinked several times before finally recovering. He looked at Purple and stared for a moment, then groaned and slapped his forehead. [You used it to store your brainstorming notes, didn''t you? Yeah, you need to put some security restrictions on that repository. Selectively allow different people to access different pieces of knowledge. Oh, and allow some people to view but not change certain things, and...] He sighed. [Okay, let''s pause the synergies activation effort for a bit; information security controls are important to set up properly from the beginning, and that means I need to take some time to explain the principles of that to you. Oh, and Trinlen? That reaction earned you some serious trust. For serious matters, at least.]

    Ressara sat inside her tent with her legs folded under her, her hands resting in her lap, and her eyes closed. She was breathing slowly with some difficulty, as her excitement was urging her to leap up and dance joyfully. That would rather spoil the point of what I''m excited about. I''ve never absorbed aether anywhere near this fast before, even when I had a chance to try, and I have to focus on it to keep doing it.

    She shook her head and tried to put the distracting excitement out of her mind. I''ve made the soul self-manager that Purple told me about, and the soul self-examiner Carlos taught me to go with it, and both of those make this faster and easier. The major boost, though, is having a dungeon calming the chaos of the aether before it even gets to me. A dungeon that doesn''t mind me taking it, even! It''s so much less abrasive that I can take it in at 4 times the speed I could last night. Of course, that''s still nothing compared to what Purple''s absorbing himself. She snorted. An entire level, from beginning to end, in less than 3 hours! I''ve never heard of such absurd speed!

    Ressara slumped forward, then sighed and straightened herself. Ugh, I lost focus on the absorption again. Back to work. She lost track of time for a while as her thoughts slowly stilled, meditatively immersing herself in the sensation of so much aether pouring into her. After an indeterminate period, she was suddenly startled out of her trance-like focus by someone throwing the entry flap of her tent open.

    "Aha, there you are! Ressara, I presume?" The man holding her tent flap open wore a black robe, decorated with thin lines colored the orange of orichalcum. "You''re the only one here low-level enough to match the information I have."

    "What? Who?" Ressara scrambled to her feet and struggled to get her wits about her for a moment. Adamantium-black cloth, with orichalcum-orange tracery. That''s the color scheme of the Crown''s service. We met with Princess Lornera not too long ago. Is this some kind of followup on that? She bowed low. "My apology, sir. I was not expecting any visitors."

    The black-robed man - probably a mage, judging by how the aether swirled around him - laughed. "This far out in the Wilds, of course you weren''t. In any case-"

    Purple needs to have a bond-holder, like me, trigger his automator rules to make or update a monster, make or update an item, make or update an enchantment, and have the difference finder determine what the changes for the update are. That should hit every remaining synergy link all at once. I''m starting with an overly simple-minded mouse, unadorned and unenchanted. What should I turn that into? He contemplated ideas for a while, but all the obvious options were just so boring.

    Trinlen shook his head and looked around, seeking inspiration. His gaze landed on someone and his eyes widened. Oh, now there''s an idea. This should be fun. But what exactly should I have this thing do...

    He lost himself in thought, tinkering more and more with the design as he kept imagining more fun details. Many minutes later, he put the finishing touches on it and looked up to find Carlos sitting quietly, watching him. "Oh! Uh, I just finished."

    "Well, go ahead and trigger it, then! I''m curious to see what you came up with."

    "Me too." Amber rushed over from where she''d been sitting in another part of the camp.

    Trinlen cocked his head. "You haven''t checked the repository to see it?"

    Carlos chuckled. "Why spoil the surprise?"

    Trinlen looked at Amber, and she just nodded with an eager smile. "Alright, here goes." He mentally reached out to a specific trigger with a very specific intent in mind, and the circling mouse was suddenly engulfed in a storm of Purple''s mana. Some extra essence poured into the mouse and reshaped it, some more encased it, aether pressed in on it, and mana fueled and empowered the whole event.

    The storm subsided, and Carlos and Amber stared dumbly for a moment, then started laughing. Where a mouse had been before, now a miniature armored figure stood on two feet. It was completely encased in gleaming steel armor, complete with gauntlets and helmet. It bore a tiny shield on one hand and held an equally tiny spear in the other.

    The tiny figure looked around for a moment, then locked onto a target and charged, yelling out battle cries, of a sort, as it ran. Its voice was instantly recognizable, though it lacked the volume of the original. "For the Crown and seriosity! Your jokes cannot affect me! For dignity! All humor shall be destroyed!"

    Carlos and Amber''s laughter escalated, and Trinlen joined them in chuckling at it.

    The miniature Lorvan threw its tiny spear across the 4 feet remaining between it and the real Lorvan''s foot. The spear bounced off with a light tink, but instead of falling to the ground, it flew back to the miniature''s hand. Just as the figure''s arm was rearing back for another throw, it was suddenly impaled by the full-size spearpoint of Lorvan''s weapon. The tiny figure and all of its equipment broke apart into streams of essence, most of which went back to Purple.

    Trinlen stopped laughing and gulped hesitantly. "Uh. Sorry, sir."

    Lorvan stood still and silent for several seconds, then returned his spear to its upright resting position. He spoke in a completely calm and level tone. "Why do you seem to expect me to be offended? Your jokes cannot affect me."

 B2 Chapter 18: An Offer

    B2 Chapter 18: An Offer

    Carlos chuckled at Trinlen''s dumbfounded stare. Impulsively, he mentally triggered Purple''s automation to make another miniature Lorvan caricature. Lorvan calmly speared it the instant it fully formed, before it could even get its bearings, much less yell another mockery of his habitual seriousness.

    [Hey! I may get most of the cost back when they die, but that doesn''t mean they''re free.] Purple''s admonishment came with a feeling of disgruntled annoyance.

    Carlos winced, chagrined. [Sorry. I''ll try to avoid spending your resources that frivolously again.]

    Trinlen, oblivious to the telepathic exchange, recovered his wits and laughed. "Lorvan, did you just make a joke?"

    Lorvan kept his face neutral and replied matter-of-factly. "I believe you already know the answer to that."

    Trinlen hesitated. "I... think that''s a confirmation?

    Amber stepped in, smiling brightly but holding back any laughter. "Joke or not, I think we achieved our goals for that, er, ''monster'', and we have a lot of other important work to do."

    "Right. Developing our second stage as nobles." Carlos nodded and took a deep breath. "Good work, Trinlen, but I''m afraid it will be a while before we''ll have any attention available for you again."

    Trinlen shrugged. "I can find things to occupy myself with, don''t worry. Just let me know." He gave a jaunty salute and sauntered off.

    Carlos stared after him for a moment, refraining from verbalizing his thought. You finding things to occupy yourself is exactly what I worry about the most regarding you. He refocused on the royal guard standing next to them, who was still keeping a perfectly straight face. "Lorvan, you know how making second-stage soul structures goes. No need to attend us so... Wait. You know so much about how noble-rank soul plans work; why haven''t you used that knowledge to boost your own soul rank?"

    Lorvan''s expression finally changed, as he raised an eyebrow at Carlos. "That question could apply just as well to any royal guard officer, and if one royal guard were to do such a thing, many others would also do it. I''ve already told you about how unhappy all the existing noble houses will be about the founding of one new house. Can you even imagine how they would react if dozens or even hundreds of royal guards started becoming nobles? It would provoke a rebellion powerful enough to devastate the kingdom, even in defeat." He shook his head. "My loyalty to the Crown forbids it."

    "I see." Carlos slowly nodded, thinking. So the Crown isn''t confident of beating all of the other nobles united against them. They can browbeat any single house, maybe even any group of several houses, but they still have to keep the nobles divided against each other to maintain their undisputed supremacy over the entire aristocracy. Also, it''s interesting that Lorvan''s loyalty is stronger than any aspiration for nobility he might have, and that this is consistent for all royal guards. I wonder how the Crown achieves that. Mind-reading magic on potential recruits to accept only the most loyal, maybe? That''s a mystery to consider later, though. He refocused on the issue at hand. "That was my only question. No need to attend us so closely now." He waved in dismissal, then sat down and closed his eyes to better focus his attention inward.

    Alright, making a new soul structure. The most important one in our plan is the soul disguiser, to prevent Lorvan and Ordens, and I suppose Felton, or anyone else, from detecting when we start trying tricks that might bypass the normal limits and rival the Crown''s power. But it''s not the most useful one to make first. It will only be needed when we actually start doing those shenanigans. The first one I make should be in the same group, because we have to make the whole group in one batch, but can be anything in that group, the group themed around doing things with my own soul.

    Heh, using a focused theme for each group makes it so much easier to achieve the required total synergy. Carlos shook his head and dismissed the thought. Anyway, the best soul-oriented one to start with is the soul editor. It''s redundant with the debugger I already have, but it''s more specialized, and that makes it more potent. And I''ll eventually be dismantling the debugger anyway, along with the entire rest of that initial superstructure, to make room for a tenth tightly-themed superstructure. That''s still a long way off, though, so for now just pull in aether and focus on the concept of a soul editor.

    [I don''t see how that is an issue.] Purple sent an impression of confused questioning along with his statement.

    [It''s not an issue. I was just remarking on an observation.] Carlos shrugged and pocketed the crystal, then walked over to Esmorana''s passenger carrier for the flight to their next camp. They flew a very short time, touching down in an area with aether only 3 levels higher than before, at Level 15. Just barely low enough to be safe for Ressara, and just barely high enough for Purple to reach the second stage. It''s nice how that worked out.

    Carlos quickly settled down to get back to making more new soul structures, ignoring the activity around him. The soul editor made it a little faster and easier, but not by much more than the debugger was already doing. Judging by yesterday, filling out the remaining 4 slots will take a solid 10 hours. Better get to it.

    Let''s see, I already did the soul editor and the adaptive soul optimizer, for automatically tweaking the details of everything to suit what we end up actually using things for as well as possible. Already did the more narrowly specialized replacements of the old introspector, one for inspecting current status and one for monitoring activity and changes. Also did the soul disguiser, just to get it out of the way. Next up is the pair of the synergy finder and the synergy applier. Let''s siphon off another not-quite-so-tiny speck of Level 15 essence from the superstructure... and the boring tedious part begins.

    Hours later, approaching lunch time, Carlos''s progress on the second of the synergy-focused soul structures was interrupted by an unexpected telepathic hail. Mayor Stelras''s voice suddenly called out in his head, breaking his meditative focus. [Lord Carlos and Lady Amber, my apology if I am interrupting something, but I have important news.]

    Carlos took a moment to recover from the surprise and to make sure his incomplete soul structure was being held stable. What could have happened that Stelras would need to urgently contact us about? Oh yeah. He focused on talking back through the mental connection. [Ah, yes? Is this about the deal with Darmelkon?]

    [Precisely. Darmelkon arrived by teleport with Kindar and a few escorts this morning to negotiate directly and in person. He was disappointed that you were not here, but quickly got down to business when I informed him that you authorized me to negotiate.]

    Carlos nodded, not considering that Stelras couldn''t see him. [You have terms for us to approve or deny?]

    [Yes. He is eager to seal the deal quickly, in hopes of having Kindar join your current expedition. To begin with, his offer of course includes a great deal of money. 10 mythril, paid up front. On completion of the deal, he also promises an enchanted item officially valued by a crown assessor at 100 mythril, or 1 adamantium. He does not know the full details of its capabilities, but it is crafted from a dungeon core.]

    Carlos frowned. [Hmm. We already have Purple. We don''t know how the Enchanters Guild makes things with dungeon cores, though. That''s... tempting, certainly, but I''m not sure if it''s enough. Amber?]

    Stelras interrupted before Amber could express her opinion. [I''m not done yet. He offered two other things, to be given up front with the 10 mythril, that are difficult to assign monetary value to. One is simply that he offers to conduct business with the Enchanters Guild on your behalf, secretly, to bypass any personal issues they may have with you. The other... He says he regards it himself as merely a curiosity, a collector''s item he happened across some time ago, but he firmly believes it is genuine, and that it holds far greater interest for the two of you.]

    Carlos continued listening, but Stelras stayed silent for several seconds. [Well, spit it out already. What is it?]

    Stelras hesitated a moment longer before finally answering.

    [A copy of the personal spellbook of Archmage Sandaras.]

 B2 Chapter 19: Spellbook

    B2 Chapter 19: Spellbook

    Carlos looked across the small clear area in the center of their new camp and was unsurprised to see Amber staring blankly with her jaw dropped open. He was a bit stunned, himself, and that was without having looked up to Sandaras as his ultimate idol for most of his life like Amber had.

    Amber''s mouth snapped shut, and she started exclaiming excitedly over their telepathic bond. [Archmage Sandaras''s personal spellbook?! Carlos, we have to take that! Putting up with helping Kindar is nothing compared to that!]

    Carlos knew better than to argue with that kind of enthusiasm. [I agree in principle. Let''s get all the information first to make sure it really is what it sounds like, though, okay?]

    Amber hesitated. [I suppose.]

    Carlos broadened his focus to include Stelras again. [I have questions. To start with, what exactly is Sandaras''s "personal spellbook" and why does he have one? Every spell a mage learns is written into their soul, so why would he need them written in a book?]

    Stelras''s amused agreement came over the link like a feeling of a smiling chuckle. [I had many questions for Darmelkon, myself, when he offered that book. Though my question for that particular point was about why Archmage Sandaras had made an additional copy, rather than why even the original would exist. Our dear lord merchant''s answer was that, just as Sandaras wrote an introductory textbook to draw the interest of future aspiring mages, he made a few copies of his personal spellbook to be rewards for the most promising graduates of the royal mage academy.]

    Carlos cocked his head for a moment, then shrugged. [Okay, that fits. What''s in it, though, and how did Darmelkon end up with one?]

    [Interestingly, the answers to those two questions are related. Allegedly, the book contains Sandaras''s research notes for all of his most advanced spells, with a number of unfinished draft versions in addition to the completed spells. Neither Darmelkon nor the mage who sold it to him could verify that, however, as most of the contents are somehow locked by a very complex spell.]

    Amber narrowed her eyes quizically. [Sandaras cast some kind of locking spell on these copies of his spellbook, and then didn''t give the recipients the key to go with it?]

    [Precisely.] Stelras''s amusement came through loud and clear. [As the story goes, it seems that the would-be thieves who accosted Sandaras here in Dramos were merely one example of a problem that has plagued him for most of his life. The most common target of those who tried to steal from him was the book where he wrote out new spells, ideas, and other such notes, and he created a new spell just to ensure that even a successful theft of that book would not meaningfully benefit the thief. He made a few backup copies of the book, too, so that he wouldn''t lose anything from its theft.]

    Carlos nodded. [Okay, that explains the lock spell. But why no key for the people he intentionally gave the book?]

    [According to the story Darmelkon passed on to me, Sandaras declared that any worthy successor to his most advanced knowledge should be capable of unlocking the book without aid. He apparently considered it a challenge and final test for the recipients to prove their worth.]

    [Huh.] Carlos chewed his lip for a second. [Does Darmelkon have any information about the lock spell and any attempts at breaking it?]

    Stelras mentally shrugged at him. [Not much. I anticipated you would want to know that. The mage who sold the book to Darmelkon told about a rumor that the recipient of the first awarded copy had successfully dispelled the lock, only to find nothing but blank pages, despite having taken great care to prevent any contingent destructive measures that might have been concealed in it. The recipient of the second copy had shown no sign of having learned anything special, despite having had the book for years. Darmelkon''s copy was the third one awarded, and the mage who sold it to him disgustedly declared that the whole thing was a farce, with an unreasonably complex lock spell that had nothing to protect.]

    Stelras sent an impression of Darmelkon frowning and acting hesitant. The image had some strange non-visual overtones to it, imbued with some kind of unusual perceptive ability that Carlos didn''t have. [Not without offering something major in exchange. At a minimum, committing to making Kindar a high noble, not just minor noble at mythril rank, and giving up the clause of it being dependent on Kindar''s good behavior. I believe I''ve already pushed Darmelkon to the point of the cost being a burden to his business.]

    What is that strange overtone in his mental image? A special sense that Stelras has? I''ll ask some other time. Carlos dismissed the thought. [Very well. We accept these terms. We will have to get back to you about the possibility of having Kindar join this trip because of how far we''ve already gone, but we''ll send Esmorana to pick up the book. Or maybe Felton, if he''s willing.]

    [You know that Kindar will hate that, right?]

    Carlos shrugged. [It can be the first test of how well he''s actually willing to behave: Can he handle being a low priority for us? We''ll help him when doing so won''t slow down our own development.]

    Ushler, agent of House Golarn, sat in the common room of the Adventurer''s Haven, the premier inn of Dramos, and brooded. Or pretended to brood, anyway, slouching over a drink he hadn''t touched in the last half-hour. He just didn''t want to have to talk. It would distract him from listening, which was what he was really here to do. Now if only the people here would talk about something interesting. He sighed forlornly and shook his head, perfectly in-character for a brooding loner. A long while later, he perked up inwardly when a new customer entered the inn. The newcomer bounced up to a table on the other side of the common room with a smirking grin. Despite the distance and the noise of all the other conversations in the room, Ushler picked out the youngster''s words clearly.

    "Hey guys, guess what? Another servant of the Crown teleported in today!"

    A heavyset bearded man at the table stopped sipping his ale and slammed the mug onto the table, ignoring the small splash that spilled out from the impact. "Another one? That makes, what, 3 or 4 in just the last week or two?"

    Murmers erupted around the table. A slender woman nudged the bearded man with her elbow. "Hey, do you think it has anything to do with whatever old Mayor Stelras had the guards turning the whole city upside down looking for last week?"

    The man elbowed her right back, mug in hand again to take another mouthful. "Maybe. Not my business if it is. If the Crown is looking into a lead on buried treasure, or whatever, I''m staying the hell out of their way." He quickly chugged the last of his ale and slammed the empty mug onto the table again. "What is my business is that it''s time to start taking bets on when the next one comes!" He dug some silver coins out from his pouch and placed the stack of them on the table. "My money says tomorrow afternoon. Any takers?"

    Ushler couldn''t hold back a frown at what he''d just heard. The Crown is already involved here? Likely in response to the incident that prompted House Golarn to send me? It appears that someone broke the only unanimously acclaimed rule of the rotation agreement: Do not attract the Crown''s attention! I''ll have to report this. But first, can I find any more details to add? He grabbed his drink and shuffled over to the gathering of people he''d eavesdropped on, which was growing rapidly as more nearby tables joined the betting pool. He sidled up to someone who was just watching the spectacle with amusement, took a swig of his drink, and nodded in greeting. "I''m new in town. What''s all this about?"

    As night fell in the Wilds, Amber stared at the book in her hands, hardly daring to breathe. The title embossed in gold on the front was clear to read: Secrets of Sandaras - Awarded for exceptional merit. Smaller writing in silver lower on the cover declared, "To any thief who steals this book, if you somehow manage to actually extract its secrets, you will have earned them well. Fat chance of that! Seriously, go bother someone else, this is not worth stealing."

    Carlos stood at her side, examining the book closely, though which much less reverence. He sighed. "I hate to say it, but asking Felton to fetch it just because his teleporting is faster than Esmorana''s flight was pointless. We are not prepared to crack that monstrous tangle of a spell."

    Amber reluctantly nodded and slowly set the book down on the portable table in front of them. "Not yet, no." She took a deep breath. "But we will be."

 B2 Chapter 20: Concurrency

    B2 Chapter 20: Concurrency

    The next morning, they moved camp again. The new site had aether only 1 level higher, to be safe for Ressara who had only just compressed her essence to Level 7, but that still meant about 25 miles distance at this point, so they had Esmorana fly them out again to save time. They touched down without incident, and Carlos was about to place Purple in his new spot when he noticed something surprising.

    "Whoa, what killed that thing? The neck stump is still bleeding fast!" Carlos took a few steps closer toward the moose-like headless corpse, then started looking around nervously. "Is it still around? Must have been something strong; that looks like a very clean cut."

    "Thank you for the compliment." Carlos turned around to see Esmorana smiling at him. "I noticed that this clearing came with free meat for dinner and hit it with a wind blade while we descended."

    "Oh." Carlos stood still and blinked dumbly for a moment. "Um, good job? I''ll just... set up on the other side of the clearing, away from... that." He chuckled awkwardly. "I''m sure it will, uh, taste good?"

    Carlos tried to ignore the assorted stares and raised eyebrows that followed him as he walked away from the scene. Amber caught up after a few steps and held his hand as she walked beside him. [So, what was that about? Have you never seen a dead animal before?]

    Carlos shook his head. [It''s not that, not exactly. I''ve never seen an animal being butchered, cut up into pieces of meat to be eaten.] He sighed and shrugged, then spoke aloud. "I''ll get used to it if I need to, eventually. But for now, let''s just focus on our next step: leveling up the new structures."

    Amber gave him a long look, then nodded and set her pack on the grass-covered ground, preparing to sit down beside it. Carlos placed Purple a few feet in front of them, then followed suit.

    Settled on the ground, Carlos closed his eyes and focused inward. Alright, I''ve finished filling out a new set with the soul hardener and training scaler, and I''m finally in an area where the merged superstructure can absorb aether. Time to stop holding all that aether out and satisfy my curiosity: what happens when soul structures of drastically different levels absorb aether at the same time?

    Carlos inspected the flowing aether that was bouncing around inside his soul. It seems... tamed, I guess? Leashed or contained? Attuned to me by its passage through the structure that initially pulled it in? It''s definitely safe despite the amount, anyway.

    Late that evening, after declaring that Sconter''s cooking with the freshly-butchered meat was indeed delicious, the new soul structures finally reached Level 16 and unified as expected. To Carlos''s surprise, their first merged superstructure was still at Level 15. It''s been absorbing the whole time and had a head start. How did it fall behind? It''s absorbed more at Level 15 than the new structures have, not less! He paused, then slapped his forehead. Oh, right. Duh. It''s absorbed more than one of the new structures, but there are 9 of them, and the combined absorption of all 9 went into the new merge.

    Carlos looked over at Amber. His mana sense could tell there was now a second hard spot in her soul, but he wasn''t sure which spot was harder.

    Amber was looking back at him, Secrets of Sandaras actually closed and by her side instead of open for now. She brightened a little when he met her gaze. "So, next step as planned?"

    Carlos glanced longingly at the spellbook for a moment, but then sighed and nodded. "Yes. I''m positively itching to get started on analyzing and designing spells, but making the metaphorical hardware to support that will be done sooner if we focus first on speeding up the process as we planned."

    She nodded, and they both closed their eyes to focus on the concept for their next soul structure. Carlos mentally reviewed his reasoning to help get himself into the right frame of mind. Our current bottleneck is making new soul structures, because we have to make so many of them and each one takes a couple hours of focusing on its intent. The degree of focus required is too much to allow doing anything else significant at the same time, such as designing or analyzing spells. In particular, it''s too much to allow making another soul structure at the same time.

    To solve that and allow making multiple soul structures at once, we need to either reduce how much focus it takes or increase how much focus - or should I say, how many focuses - we have available to allocate. The latter option seems much more useful in general to me, so that''s what we''re going with. I''d analogize it to multithreading in computers, but I think a multi-core CPU is a better fit. Threading would be splitting my mind up among however many focuses of attention, and that has potential problems I could have nightmares just from thinking about. Carlos shuddered. For one thing, each "thread" would experience only a fraction of actual time passing, and I hate the very idea of living my life in fast-forward.

    No, definitely not multithreading. I am not splitting my mind. This soul structure will make additional minds for me, additional consciousnesses, that can each focus on their own separate thing at the same time in parallel. Then I can make as many soul structures at a time as I have parallel minds.

    Carlos let out a chuckle. I could ask Lorvan about the idea, but I''m pretty confident about my guess for what he''d say: that people have tried it before, and they all went insane. Thank you, fantasy authors of Earth, for your endless creativity in depicting every pitfall any of you could imagine for having multiple minds in one body, or people creating duplicates of themselves, or any number of variations on those concepts, as well as some depictions of it actually working well. I''ll treat my parallel minds as myself, not as subordinates to take care of distasteful work, and I''ll dedicate the second mind-themed structure entirely to maintaining a singular cohesive shared personal self-identity!

    He let the train of thought run to its conclusion before putting it away for later. Tonight, concurrent parallel minds, then various assorted improvements to how they work, some of them inspired by computer multithreading concepts. It may be a late night, but I want to get aether absorption rate back up to full before I sleep. Tomorrow, finally the development environment for analyzing and designing spells like programs. And then we can start on the projects I''m really excited for!

 B2 Chapter 21: Detection Risk

    B2 Chapter 21: Detection Risk

    Carlos groaned as the brightness of sunlight seeping through his tent''s fabric finally woke him. Ugh. It''s definitely way past dawn, but I still feel tired. Even with parallel minds, finishing all 8 new soul structures took until... past midnight, I''m pretty sure? He rubbed at his eyes, then yawned and stretched. Absorption''s been going full bore all night, aaand... wow, still not quite done. The big superstructure is still at Level 15, working its way up. Needing 10 times as much essence is a huge slowdown for that thing''s advancement. That''s probably our new big bottleneck, really, now that we can make new normal structures 3 or 4 at a time.

    He thought back to the previous night''s concurrent activities and laughed quietly to himself. What an odd mix of strangeness and normality. I remember meditating exclusively on the concept of a storage space for mental contexts for hours, and I also remember spending the exact same period of time meditating exclusively on the concept of quickly and smoothly switching mental contexts as needed, whether swapping the current context with a stored one, or saving the current context and starting a new one. And at the same time, also meditating, once again with exclusive focus, on the concept of managing and controlling my mental focus.

    And if I think about it, hmm... Carlos started a second mind running and paid attention to his memories of the immediate past. I wonder how it feels when I focus on that multi-memory thing while it''s happening. Aha! I remember thinking "How will this thought come across?" just now, when it definitely was not part of my - or rather, this mind''s - active mental context. It''s a memory, my memory, that I''m aware of and know about, but it doesn''t inherently involve this mind''s current focus of attention. He dropped back down to one mind, because he had no particular need for an extra mind at the moment. His two minds didn''t exactly merge, because there was no need for any kind of merging; the memories were all already merged, and both minds were Carlos. Carlos simply chose, as himself, to stop thinking of two things at once.

    Carlos sat up and called out quietly toward the privacy divider that split the tent in two. "Amber? Are you awake?"

    "Hmm? Oh, you''re finally up!" Some rustling sounded from her side of the tent, then the dividing curtain retracted into the tent''s ceiling, pulled up by a minor enchantment.

    Carlos yelped and instinctively pulled his sheet up to cover himself. "Hey! I''m not dressed yet!"

    Amber blushed and hastily triggered the divider to unfurl back into place. "Sorry. I thought you were ready to talk."

    "Since when does talking require getting dressed first? Never mind, just remember for next time."

    Amber mumbled something that might have included "next time," but was too quiet to make out clearly, then raised her voice again. "Okay. What do you want to talk about?"

    Carlos triggered a cleaning enchantment and luxuriated in the feeling of cleanliness washing over his body for a moment before responding. Man, Mayor Stelras really paid for high quality comfort in his personal tent. I''ll have to thank him again for loaning it to us. He turned his main attention back to Amber and spoke while putting on a shirt. "The first merged structure, the tier 10 one. It''s still not at Level 16 yet. That''s going to be our new big bottleneck, isn''t it? The lower-tier structures, and especially the basic ones, take less essence to compress, and then the big one has to catch up."

    "Yes, it seems so. We could skim off from the rest to speed it up. Should we?"

    "Hmm." Carlos cocked his head to consider. "No, I don''t think that''s a good idea." He switched to speaking telepathically through their bond with Purple. [We can''t sustain that in the long run. We''ll have fewer and fewer basic structures to skim from and more and more high-tier structures to speed up with it. Lorvan will notice our rate of advancement slowing down, and we need to avoid giving him any clues about us working around the normal limits and potentially rivaling the Crown.]

    [Good point.] Amber paused to think. [We''ll need to skim off essence like that to make the sheer quantity of structures involved in doing that, though. Plus, if we''re going to do that at all, now is the time to start. We have our soul disguisers, and if we don''t beat the normal limits somehow, we''re stuck waiting for... Level 19, I think Lorvan said for when 8 structures merge?]

    [Yes, 19 sounds right. And yeah, I don''t want to wait for that.] Carlos finished dressing himself. [We''d better test that the soul disguiser can actually fool Lorvan''s gear first, though. Come on, let''s go ask him for a demonstration of what his fancy enchanted armor can do.]

    Carlos and Amber stepped out together into the brightness of the late morning sun with no clouds overhead. They looked around and quickly spotted Lorvan, standing guard nearby as usual, looking out from the edge of the camp into the surrounding trees. A little nearer, next to where Sconter''s portable kitchen was set up, Carlos spotted Felton idly sitting and waiting in his black and orange robe uniform. Carlos narrowed his eyes at the sight. [Wait a moment. I have a better idea than asking Lorvan.]

    Carlos walked up to the royal mage, Amber keeping pace beside him. "Felton, looks like you''re available to talk?"

    Felton looked up at him, stood, and gave a shallow bow. "Lord Carlos. Lady Amber. Indeed, I have no pressing business at the moment." He gazed searchingly at them for a moment. "Are you ready to begin the project I came here for?"

    Mana-activated.

    Creates predetermined small visual illusion.

    Laughter interrupted Carlos''s experiments, and he looked up to find Amber looking at their tent and chuckling. She looked over at him and cocked her head. "Why would a tent have an optional sound-blocking enchantment, and why would Stelras have paid for it? Was he worried about being spied on while camping in the Wilds? Does that seem silly to you too, or am I just too new to being a noble, or something?"

    Carlos almost doubled over laughing in response, only to be drawn back out of it by the surprise clang of his gauntlet hitting his helmet as he instinctively did a facepalm, momentarily forgetting the pieces of steel armor he was wearing. He recovered after a moment and settled into a more subdued chuckle. "You could ask him, Amber, but I''m nearly certain that concerns about spying have absolutely nothing to do with it."

    Amber paused, then shook her head and shrugged. "What other reason is there for blocking sound on a tent? I suppose if there''s a lot of noise outside making it hard to sleep?"

    Carlos stared for a moment, then took a deep breath. "Um. How should I put this... Imagine that Stelras goes somewhere with that tent, and his wife comes with him. Then at night, he and his wife, ah, ''sleep together'' inside that tent. And outside the tent, they have guards on duty and whoever else is coming along for the trip. Got the picture yet, or do I need to get more explicit?"

    "Uh..." Amber froze like a deer in headlights, then spun away. Her voice was a bit higher pitched than normal, and she spoke hastily. "No, no, that''s enough. I understand now." She took several deep breaths, then shook herself, glanced toward Felton, and switched to telepathy. [I think that''s enough playing around. Let''s get down to business with these things.] Feelings of muted embarrassment and a flicker of something else came with the message.

    [Agreed. Let''s do it.] Carlos nodded, pointed the gauntlet at Amber, and sought the enchantment for specifically analyzing a soul. I expect it will show considerably less details than the ritual inspection we went through to become nobles revealed, but I don''t know how much less. Learning that will tell us a lot about how careful we need to be about hiding our upcoming shenanigans from Lorvan and Ordens. Here goes. He activated the soul analyzer enchantment.

    Adult high noble soul, in development.

    Level: 16.

    Second stage, advanced.

    Unified structures: Tier 10, tier 9.

    Basic structures: 8

    Archetype probabilities: Mage 92%, Mystic 8%.

    Carlos frowned. Hmm. It pegged the tiers of each structure. That''s more detail than I''d hoped for. I can''t directly sense that the two hard spots in Amber''s soul have different hardness, but apparently this thing can. Not sure if that''s because of it being more specialized, having more power, or both. And this equipment actually isn''t the only thing we need to worry about noticing what we''re doing anymore. He was acutely aware of the presence of a royal mage, who had strong personal mana sense without relying on equipment, just a short distance away.

    He turned toward Felton, squared his shoulders, and tried to hide his nervousness. Time for the first potentially tricky and sensitive part of this: trying to keep Crown Mage Felton from catching on when we experiment with methods of hiding things from him.

 B2 Chapter 22: Breaking Limits

    B2 Chapter 22: Breaking Limits

    "So... This feels awkward, but we would... rather not have you watching us while we continue examining these." Carlos managed not to chuckle nervously, but his hesitations and strained smile still showed his apprehension clearly.

    Crown Mage Felton gazed calmly at the recently-ennobled high lord in front of him as he considered the request. "You engaged in considerable antics in my presence already without a care, so I doubt you ask merely to hide embarrassment. You mentioned before that an unspecified house secret would help you analyze these. Are you requesting privacy in order to use that house secret unobserved by the Crown''s servants?"

    Carlos raised an eyebrow, then nodded and released most of the tension in his muscles. "Astute deduction. Yes, that''s exactly it."

    Felton nodded in acknowledgement. "Very well. How long should I remain absent, and should I take your royal guards with me?"

    "Until evening, around dinner time would be good, though we''ll probably want to move again before then. And yes."

    "We can find your new campsite easily enough, and the adventurers with you are more than capable of protecting you from any native dangers of this area on their own. I will return for the evening meal. Good day, Lord Carlos, and I hope you learn something of good use." Felton bowed shallowly, then turned and walked over to Lorvan.

    Huh. That was surprisingly easy. Then again, Lorvan has made a point of respecting house secrets in the past. Carlos shrugged and watched Felton briefly converse with Lorvan, who soon called Ordens to join them. While waiting for them to leave, he idly checked for other detection and analysis enchantments in the borrowed royal guard armor. One for analyzing aether drew his attention, and he activated it, focusing on Amber and the area around her. A translucent visual depiction of the nearby aether flows appeared, overlaying his normal vision through the helmet, along with written notes of some specific details.

    Level 16 ambient mana background.

    Dungeon zone.

    Level of dungeon: 16

    Absorption vortex.

    Absorption efficiency: 100%

    Absorbing structures: 9

    Rate amplified by dungeon: 400%

    Resistance from dungeon: 0%

    Carlos laughed. "I''m sure that 0% resistance from a dungeon for absorbing its aether would provoke all kinds of consternation from a lot of people, but keeping that one secret is a lost cause by now."

    Amber chuckled and nodded. "Yes. Besides, that information doesn''t give any clues about how to do it." She glanced over to where Felton and the guards had been. "That flare of mana felt like a teleport, so I think they''re gone. Time to start." She sat down and shifted around a bit for comfort, and the two hard points in her soul almost imperceptibly softened. She pointedly switched to telepathy. [Okay, I''m trying to disguise myself as one tier lower. What does the scan say?]

    Carlos dutifully activated the soul analyzer again. [That worked. It''s reporting tier 9 and tier 8 "unified structures." Greater changes could be more difficult to hide, though. Let''s try disguising as just all basic structures.] He followed his own suggestion and watched the analyzer''s output change as Amber followed suit. His own mana sense felt her soul dramatically soften, feeling just like he remembered from before their first merge. The analyzer''s report was not so reassuring, however.

    Adult high noble soul, in development.

    Level: 16.

    First stage.

    Basic structures: 10

    Archetype probabilities: Mage 92%, Mystic 8%.

    Anomaly detected. Disguise likely.

    Unified structures: Tier 10, tier 9.

    Basic structures: 8

    Archetype probabilities: Mage 92%, Mystic 8%.

    Carlos raised an eyebrow at the result, while Amber stared in confusion. [Well now, that''s interesting.]

    Amber looked at him. [But- but how? It got the tiers exactly right the first time, so how is it missing that they''re both tier 10 now? Can it detect the precise tier or not?]

    Carlos grinned. [It seems that whoever designed this thing put some of their own knowledge about what''s possible into the logic of what it displays. I''d bet that if we studied the runes thoroughly enough, we''d find something that checks for a second tier 10 and "corrects" it to the closest the designer thought was actually possible.] He paused. [Or if they''re more open-minded than that, maybe there''s some uncertainty involved, and something too different from what they expected would get through to be displayed anyway.]

    [I... see? I think?] Amber stared at the unexpected misdetection a moment longer, then shook her head. [Regardless, shouldn''t we try the disguise again now?]

    [Yeah. We can revisit that mistake later, if we have time.] Carlos reinstated the disguise on his soul, making sure to include the new scan falsifier as well, and Amber followed suit.

    Adult high noble soul, in development.

    Level: 16.

    First stage.

    Basic structures: 10

    Archetype probabilities: Mage 92%, Mystic 8%.

    "Yes! It works!" Carlos fist-pumped in excitement.

    Amber just let out a sigh of relief and finally let herself relax. When Carlos settled down and started adopting a meditative pose again, she interrupted him. "Shouldn''t we move to the next area before continuing? We''re almost done leveling our soul structures to the level of this spot, and I think Ressara is ready to move on, too."

    Carlos blinked, then nodded sheepishly. "Yeah. Let''s call for the move."

    Carlos focused on examining the contents of his soul and their arrangement, completely ignoring what was going on around him. His other mind was handling the details of packing up camp and getting ready to fly, leaving this mind free to tune it all out and focus on the issue at hand: how exactly to make an 11th structure fit in the soul-themed superstructure, and how many beyond that might be possible.

    I stuck the 10th structure in a spot that just happened to be open, but I don''t see any other single open spot that I''m certain is big enough on its own. I''ll have to organize this to consolidate the empty space. Currently, there''s 10 structures just kind of jammed together, all jumbled haphazardly. I think it started as just the arrangement of the regions they were in before they merged, and then the region boundaries forced things to move until they all fit.

    So, what are the constraints I''m working with? Do I need to consider the synergy links? Carlos experimentally tugged on a thread of essence that formed a synergy link. It resisted his pull at first, but then he focused his intent on lengthening the thread, adding essence to it as needed, to allow moving it. The thread began to move easily, and he looped it all the way around another structure twice without issue, then put it back to how it had been. Apparently, synergy links are not a meaningful constraint, so I can just ignore them for now.

    That leaves the question of how closely I can jam the structures themselves together for tighter packing. Hmm. Carlos cautiously pushed two adjacent components of the superstructure toward each other, while giving their synergy links enough slack to allow it. They moved easily at first, but only a very small distance before resistance dramatically ramped up. Okay, so tightening the packing won''t help much. He paused and did a mental facepalm. Wait a minute, packing! This is a sphere packing problem! Duh! Okay then, I could try to do the math first, but why bother when there''s no downside to making reality do it for me?

    He took hold of the pair he''d tried pushing together, then grabbed a nearby structure that was at an awkward angle. He gently nudged the third structure and rotated the first two until they formed a perfect equilateral triangle. There was another structure that was offset just a little from making the group a proper tetrahedron, or triangular pyramid, and he shifted that one into place too. He continued, packing each structure into the compact arranged triangular grid of a standard sphere packing solution, like a pyramid of baseballs piled up.

    When all 10 were arranged, he had two layers. 3 structures in the top layer formed a triangle. The 7 in the bottom layer formed a hexagon, with one in the center. Carlos considered the dimensions of the pile and of the region it had to fit inside. Obviously no room to expand the hexagon layer. It''s so close to the edges on all sides that there''s not even room to expand the triangle layer on top. The region gets narrower toward the top, too. If I move the whole thing down... Nope, the hexagon''s outer edge hits the boundary before I''d get enough clearance to make the top a second hexagon.

    That bottom area below the hexagon, though... That''s where all the consolidated free space is, and there''s room for a whole other triangle there! We can pack thirteen structures into these things!

 B2 Chapter 23: Pulling At Strings

    B2 Chapter 23: Pulling At Strings

    Carlos paid very little attention to his surroundings, or even his actions, during the move. He mechanically packed up his tent, which was a rather abbreviated job with the auto-packing enchantment on it, took his seat on Esmorana''s flying transport, and set up in the new Level 17 campsite, and almost didn''t even remember any of it. He was too absorbed in thinking about his new discovery and what to do with it.

    We brainstormed, discussed, and agreed on a list of 12 soul structures for each theme, with the last one being a bit tentative. We didn''t consider that 13 might be possible. So, what do we add? For the soul theme, since that''s what we''re finishing up right now... He chewed his lip. We got the analyzer enchantment to stop detecting our current soul disguise, but I don''t know if that''s actually the top end of what we might have to fool. Who knows how good Crown Mage Felton''s personal senses are? The one potential giveaway that we know of is how hard and inflexible the really big superstructures are, so maybe something to make our souls and their contents more flexible? Can I make the synergies on that work?

    Carlos reviewed the list. A lot of these automatically have synergy with everything. For the rest... Soul disguiser and soul scan falsifier are trivially obvious; the reason I came up with the idea for a soul flexibilizer in the first place is to improve the disguises and falsifications. Soul hardener synergy... Hmm. That one''s meant to make our souls more resilient, and in particular resistant to erosion, such as from too-powerful aether. A saying about bending rather than breaking comes to mind, though. Hardness and flexibility are both improvements to resilience, and I think I can make that work for synergy.

    That leaves the soul decoy defense; essentially the same kind of thing we made to neutralize the Black Blades'' sleep spell, but more capable and properly prepared instead of jury-rigged on the spot. It will protect against hostile attempts to attack or influence our souls by presenting a fake for the attack to hit without affecting anything that actually matters. Carlos considered briefly, then nodded. Yes, the ability to make things more flexible should be applicable for improving the decoy. And that''s the last synergy in the group, so it''ll work for the 13th structure.

    Now for the final step before actually making it: Discussing this with Amber.

    Amber enthusiastically embraced the idea of making their soul disguises even more impenetrable, of course, almost to the point of ignoring the discovery of being able to add a 13th structure. Carlos insisted on rechecking the analyzer''s report after each addition beyond 10. With the soul flexibilizer finished, the magnitude of the difference turned out to finally be enough to convince the analyzer that the superstructure wasn''t tier 9 anymore, but its report seemed confused by the readings. "One ''unified structure'' at tier 10, and the other at tier 10 with a question mark?" Carlos laughed. "I can just imagine the designer of this thing, trying to think of how best to handle results he thought were impossible."

    At 12 component structures, making a tier 12 superstructure, the analysis changed to something more interesting, warning about an anomaly and that the reading of a "tier 11+?" structure could be spurious or artificial. When they finished the final one to max out the soul-themed superstructure at tier 13, they got a surprise.

    Adult royal soul, in development.

    Level: 17.

    Second stage, advanced.

    Unified structures: Royal tier, tier 10.

    Basic structures: 8

    Archetype probabilities: Mage 92%, Mystic 8%.

    Carlos saw the listing of "Royal tier," exchanged a wide-eyed look with Amber, and without a word, both of them disguised their souls as the mere tier 10 and tier 9 that would be expected of them.

    Amber double-checked and triple-checked that their disguise was holding fully, then took a deep breath and considered the next item on their todo list. [Carlos, are we really ready to try building a whole pre-merged superstructure, especially one at, apparently, "Royal tier"? We can''t make that many parallel minds at once yet, and I don''t think making the component structures 3 at a time would work; not without having essence so potent that 3 would be enough to merge. I agree that going ahead with it makes sense, since the highest-tier structure is the bottleneck on leveling up anyway, but I don''t know if we can.]

    Granlan nodded. "Got it. Everything all tied up on the other other matter? My bad client?"

    The voice, always firm, turned downright cold. "High House Tostral will be taught their lesson in due time. Your part in that is done."

    "Understood. If that''s all, Granlan out."

    The next day, Loralia Briston was briskly journeying through the Wilds, impatient to finally get to an area with dense enough ambient mana for her to absorb. Every step moved her a dozen yards, thanks to her enchanted boots, and every bush or vine in her path conveniently leaned aside to clear her way as she approached. It''s unfortunate that enchantment can''t handle things the size of actual trees. Or people. Though yes, I''d have to not use that in town while I''m disguised anyway. She rolled her eyes, remembering the lengthy lesson on blending in that she''d had to learn before she left home. Out here, on the other hand, there''s no one to see me but my guards. Now, how much longer until we get there? She squinted up at the sun. Isn''t it about noon? Should be any minute now, then.

    Suddenly, an unfamiliar man in gleaming full plate armor was directly in front of her, and she jerked to a stop. "What the hell? Who-?"

    Loralia''s angry question was cut off by a flare of gold-orange light that bracketed the man on either side. Her eyes adjusted in a few moments, and the flare resolved into a pair of beautifully detailed translucent wings, stretched wide as though for flight. She glanced from one orichalcum-colored wing illusion to the other, and felt her eyes widen and the blood drain from her face. Her instinctive utterance was quiet, but heartfelt. "Oh. Shit."

    The armored man''s expression was hidden by his helmet, but his firm declaration fell upon Loralia with pitiless finality. "Loralia Briston, heir of High House Briston. By order of the Crown, you are under arrest for trespassing on Wilds outside of your jurisdiction and for suspected conspiracy to commit treason. If you surrender and cooperate, you will not be harmed until your degree of guilt is determined and the Crown has decided your sentence."

    Stunned and almost numb with shock, Loralia slowly dropped to her knees.

    Over a hundred miles away, in another part of the Wilds, another flare of light announced the presence of another royal guard, in her role as deliverer of a Crown decree.

    "Pol Kettet, 4th scion of High House Kettet. By order of the Crown, you are under arrest for trespassing on Wilds outside of your jurisdiction and for suspected conspiracy to commit treason. If you cooperate, you will not be harmed until the Crown decides your sentence."

    In the frontier city of Torin, in one of the city''s most expensive inns, the front door slammed open, and an image of orichalcum-colored wings flared into existence. The crowd of people eating lunch stared in surprised confusion.

    "Barla Vonmil, 2nd scion of House Vonmil. By order of the Crown, you are under arrest for trespassing on Wilds outside of your jurisdiction and for suspected conspiracy to commit treason. If you cooperate, the Crown may show you mercy."

    The crowd''s confusion about who the royal guard was addressing gradually faded as a fearfully shaking young woman stood from her table, knelt, and bowed her head.

    Across the kingdom of Kalor, the same scene repeated dozens upon dozens of times. Meanwhile in the private chambers of the royal family, Princess Lornera paced back and forth restlessly. "Have I... done the right thing, father?"

    King Elston Kalor, watching calmly from a chair made entirely of mythril with incredibly detailed engravings covering every surface, raised an eyebrow and smiled. "You have done a thing that you have the right to do, my child. What the consequences will be remains to be seen, but you are a true scion of Kalor. I have no doubt you will be up to the task."

 B2 Chapter 24: Integrated Development Environment

    B2 Chapter 24: Integrated Development Environment

    Amber woke early despite how late she''d stayed up the night before, eager to learn the different way of designing spells that Carlos was so excited about. She quickly dressed for the day, woke up Carlos with a stern shake, and left their tent to enjoy the dawning light as the forest woke up all around them with the rising of the sun. The adventurers were quickly packing up their own gear, though they couldn''t match the quickness the mayor''s tent''s self-packing enchantment would have once Carlos came out of it.

    It''s time to move on to a zone with higher-level aether again, but we''re still limited by Ressara, who is... Level 10 already? Huh. Amber double checked, and Ressara had indeed gained 2 levels in a single day. Just how much time did she spend actively pulling in aether yesterday? She doesn''t have a soul structure that makes it reflexive like we do. She thought back for a moment. Wait, I think I sensed her absorbing while I went to sleep last night, and that was well past midnight!

    Amber quickly walked over to confront Ressara, who was wearily staggering through the process of packing up. "Ressara, I know you want to help, but you don''t have to push yourself this hard."

    Ressara cringed. "I''m so sorry! I know I''m holding you back. If- If you want to send me back to Dramos and continue without me, I''ll understand."

    Amber blinked in confusion. "Er. Did you even hear what I said? You don''t have to push yourself so hard."

    "Of course I do! You would be past Level 20 by now if you weren''t coddling me!" Ressara hung her head.

    Amber paused, then her eyes widened. "Ooooh, right. You don''t know... Okay, the details are a secret of nobility, but I assure you, we would not be Level 20 by now without you. We may absorb aether a lot faster than you do, but we also need several times as much of it for each level. You''re actually gaining levels faster than we are. Before too much longer, we will be holding you back. It turns out that the real advantage of noble soul rank is greater power per level."

    Ressara stared dumbly at Amber, swaying on her feet, then yawned. "Oh. Um." She yawned again, then looked back at the tent stake she was holding and stared at it blankly.

    Amber yawned in sympathy, then shook herself. "You should go back to packing up, and then sleep. I''m serious; if I have to make that an official command to get you to sleep until you''re properly rested, I will. Got it?"

    She waited until Ressara weakly nodded, then turned away to look for who was the most readily available to help the sleep-deprived scholar. Oh wait, that''s me isn''t it? This could be some good practice in using spells, too. Hmm, can my parallel minds cast spells without using my body to speak yet? Amber turned back and concentrated 2 minds on trying to mentally incant a pair of Levitate spells to lift the stakes on the far corners of the tent, while her other mind handled physically removing a small pole with her hands. Damn. I can feel the spell activator responding, trying to make the spell come together and take effect, but it''s not strong enough. Just doing the final trigger for a spell I prepared beforehand is doable, though. The stakes she''d targeted rose out of the ground, and she quickly grabbed them to pack up.

    Just as Amber finished packing up Ressara''s tent, Carlos joined her, their shared tent already packed by its luxury self-packing feature. He took one look at Ressara''s vacant sleep-deprived face and nodded. "Ah, that''s why you helped her pack. Ressara, go and rest. Or sleep, actually. We''ll have someone carry you."@@@@

    They went through the remainder of the whole list of 13 structures, with Amber taking notes of both her questions and Carlos''s answers.

    Spell language database: Why more than one new language? Different languages can be better at different things, plus it allows for easier experimenting.Spell language definer: Why not combined with database? Tracking and resolving the rules of a language is a complex task, and transforming intentions and ideas into such rules is another very different complex task.Spell transpiler: How are converting into the actual incantation language and learning the resulting spell part of the same concept? The tiny structures of essence that go into the spell database are just a sort-of-written representation or encoding of the incantation language.Spell detranspiler: If we''ll be making new spells, how is this useful? We''ll also be learning and improving existing spells, and they''ll be much easier to work with in our new spellcrafting language.Spell editor: You''ve described many different actions this should be usable for; what''s the unifying concept? This is the central interface through which all the other parts will be used, coordinating them into a cohesive whole.Spell validator: How is this useful, since the incantation system already prevents learning invalid spells? It will give feedback about exactly what parts are invalid and why, can potentially do so without transpiling first, and can enforce additional validity constraints to prevent known types of common mistakes.Spell templater: This seems excessively extravagant; can''t we just identify and recreate patterns in our spell designs manually? The templates we use and the ways we use them will grow far beyond anything we can currently imagine. "Trust me. I speak from experience on this one."Autosuggester: How useful could something that just guesses at what you''re already trying to do possibly be? "Years from now, you''ll look back on this question and laugh at the very idea of not having an autosuggester as being anything but an almost intolerable nuisance. Again, I speak from personal experience on that."Spell linter: Seriously, just for style of the incantation, not validity? "Yeah, experience again. You''d be amazed how many simple mistakes that actually affect functionality get found and fixed by checking style issues."Spell optimizer: Experience? Experience.Version history tracker: What''s the benefit? Much can be learned from past successes and mistakes, and the ability to undo a present mistake by returning to a past version is incredibly valuable.

    They were thoroughly settled in at their new camp by the time Amber was finally satisfied that she properly understood it all. She skimmed through her notes a final time. Some of the synergies seem rather sketchy, but we''ve already proven that how obvious a synergy is matters much less than I used to think, and now we even have two soul structures dedicated entirely to making even the sketchiest imaginable synergies work. Alright, here I go.

    After dinner that evening, Carlos was a little surprised when Felton approached him and interrupted his work on the IDE superstructure. Technically, it wasn''t actually an interruption, since it really just slowed him down to 2/3 speed with his extra minds, but still.

    "Yes, Felton? What do you need to speak with me about?"

    The royal mage gave his customary shallow bow to show respect. "My apology for the interruption, Lord Carlos. You might be pleased to hear that the Crown has arrested many participants in the illegal rotation agreement, and has confirmed the identity of who ordered your soul-death. They will receive their punishment for that act before long."

    Carlos stared for a moment, unsure of how he should react. "Thank you for the news. Is that all?"

    Felton shook his head. "You stated when I first joined you that you would be ready to help in a few days. That was 4 days ago. I need an update on your progress and when I should expect you to be ready. If it will take much longer, the Crown might need my service elsewhere. The noble lords whose children were arrested may cause some amount of turmoil in response."

    "Oh, right. Sorry about that. Let me think..." Carlos frowned as he considered the question. Exactly what portion of our plan do we need for inspecting and analyzing enchantments in depth? The IDE, of course, but I''ll finish that in another hour or two. The selective mind effects inverter is essential, but we made that yesterday. Of the remaining 7 themes... 5 of them aren''t relevant. The perception theme and understanding/analysis theme would certainly help, but might not be strictly necessary. We should move those 2 up the list and do them next.

    Carlos nodded decisively. "We will be minimally ready tomorrow morning. In two more days, we will be completely ready, at least with regard to preparing with house secrets. How about you start teaching us what you know about those enchantments tomorrow? We''ll even be staying in the same camp tomorrow, so that works out nicely."

    Felton bowed slightly again. "Thank you, Lord Carlos. That will work well. I will see you in the morning for your first lesson."

    Carlos watched him walk away before returning his full attention to finishing up his IDE. Having only 2 minds building a new superstructure will make it take a bit over 16 hours instead of just under 11 hours, but that''s still fast enough to reasonably do 1 per day. Having my 3rd mind learning from Felton is a more than worthwhile trade.

 Character Summaries

    Character Summaries

    Carlos: Full formal name High Lord Carlos Founder. The main character. Transmigrated from modern Earth. Formerly a software engineer. 23 years old man. Tall and thin, with brown hair and eyes, and light skin color.

    Amber: Full formal name High Lady Amber Carlos. Secondary protagonist. Obsessed with magic and spellcasting. Likes to have things planned out in advance. Looks up to Archmage Sandaras as her personal idol. Grew up in the minor town of Erlen, where she was bullied a lot for her nerdy behavior and interests, especially by Kindar. 19 years old woman. Thin and lanky, with short-cropped light brown hair. Met and befriended Carlos shortly after his arrival. Taught him about soul structures and the basics of magic.

    Purple: Tertiary protagonist. Dungeon core. Originally located a 2-hour walk from Erlen, with a road passing by. Was found before he could develop enough to meaningfully defend himself, and exploited so often that he never had an opportunity to build up before Carlos appeared. Unknown age. A purple floating crystal prism, originally 1 inch tall and half an inch wide and thick, but has grown larger since then. Hovers in place, impossible to move against his will, when anchored in an area claimed as his dungeon. Carlos arrived in this world inside Purple''s original dungeon, asked for the ability to understand everything, and offered to help Purple by moving him elsewhere and protecting him.

    Stelras: Mayor of Dramos. Administrator with a desk job. Loyal, good at his job, and little tolerance for nonsense or bullshit. A bit overworked, but would never admit it. 48 years old man. Level 12. In decent health, not fat, but not strong or very fit. His hair is thin and graying, and he has brown eyes and perpetually ink-stained hands.

    Trinlen: Mage, recently graduated from royal academy. Joined House Carlos as their mage teacher. Smart. Wants adventure. Reckless prankster with no respect for social hierarchy conventions or expectations of formality, though he tries to avoid provoking dire consequences. Always dresses casually. 21 years old man. Level 8 when he joined, but is keeping pace with Carlos''s and Amber''s advancement. Platinum-rank soul plan (8 soul structures). Average build. Reasonably fit, but not athletic.

    Ressara: Self-styled "investigative scholar." Came to Dramos hoping to find a talented mage and document their rise to fame and got more than she expected in Carlos and Amber. Has some very specialized soul structures, including to invert the effects of attention diversion, to sense details about people''s souls, and to sense aura trails. Level 5 on introduction, but now rapidly catching up with Carlos''s and Amber''s advancement. Long dark hair, a little short, buxom.

    Haftel: Nominal leader of Dramos''s premier adventuring party. Joined House Carlos to redress for attacking them earlier. Lanky rogue with daggers. Level 39. Can wield his daggers telekinetically.

    Esmorana: Member of Haftel''s party. Tall woman with long dark hair hanging half-way down her back. Likes to wear elegant dresses, even in the wilderness, using her magical abilities to protect her clothes from being damaged. Level 40. Can control air and wind, sense what the air touches, and fly.

    Noralt: Member of Haftel''s party. Short muscular woman. Wears trousers and plain clothing, or heavy steel armor when prepared for combat. Level 38. Wields a huge steel hammer. Can manipulate metal.

    Sconter: Member of Haftel''s party. Big man with deft agility and keen eyes. Expert scout. Level 39. Extremely stealthy and perceptive.

    Colonel Lorvan: Royal guard officer. Assigned to House Carlos temporarily to provide protection and mentoring until they develop enough to no longer need it. Heavily armed and armored man. Level 45. Peak platinum-rank melee fighter.

    Major Ordens: Junior royal guard officer. Assigned with Lorvan temporarily to House Carlos. Heavily armed and armored woman. Level 45. Peak platinum-rank melee fighter. Has weak inherent mana sense from a slightly non-standard interpretation of the royal guard perception enhancement soul structure(s).

    Crown Mage Felton: Royal mage. Working with House Carlos to investigate sabotage to royal guard equipment. Wears a uniform consisting of a black robe with dark orange (orichalcum) colored decorations. Has a dark brown beard, neatly trimmed, and short hair. Level 45. Peak platinum-rank mage.

    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    Lord Merchant Darmelkon: Filthy stinkin'' rich business tycoon. Lives a surprisingly cheap/quaint lifestyle in a remote and otherwise unimportant town when not actively managing his businesses. Negotiated a deal with House Carlos to help his son become a noble.

    Kindar: Son of Darmelkon. Entitled brat. Used to bully Amber. Encountered Carlos in Purple''s first dungeon, loaned him a sword, then died to the first pit trap and respawned at home. His original soul plan focused on melee combat offense. With help from House Carlos, he is upgrading his soul plan to mythril rank and fixing its deficiencies.

    King Elston Kalor: Middle age man, ruler of the kingdom. Rarely gets personally involved in administration. Head of Royal House Kalor.

    Prince Patrimmon Kalor: Young man, 2nd child of Elston Kalor. Views other nobles as being beneath him, and considers dealing with their affairs to be a nuisance.

    Princess Lornera Kalor: Young woman, 3rd child of Elston Kalor. Takes her duties and responsibilities seriously, and strives to uphold the dignity and honor of the Crown, but can be ruthless when she believes it is called for.

    Assessor Varlinden: Very formal. Dark brown hair, tall. Managed the initial inspection and founding of House Carlos.

    High Lord Recindril Tostral: Man, mid 40s in age. Strikingly red short-cropped hair, brown eyes, angular chin, well-muscled but wiry frame, strong without being overly bulky. Wields dual longswords. Melee fighter build, emphasizing speed, skill, and strength, in that order. Boosted senses.

    Recindren Tostral: Man, mid 20s in age. First child and heir of Recindril Tostral. Spitting image of his father. Leveled enough to use wellspring(s), and is 8 levels below his dad. Favored child, named after his father, gets the main bulk of his parents'' attention.

    Jamar Tostral: Young woman, 4th child of Recindril Tostral. Shoulder-length fiery red hair with a fine mesh covering, chain link armor that almost looks knitted, and dual longswords. Raised almost entirely by hired staff, and learned very early that her parents believe her over any non-family. Entitled asshole, highly experienced at manipulating her too-trusting parents. Her initial advancement using the aether of the Wilds near Dramos was interrupted and halted by her confrontation with Carlos and Amber.

    High Lady Telrar Elince: Adult female noble mage. Performed the examination of Carlos''s and Amber''s souls to verify adamantium rank.

    Mallern: Receptionist / gate guard at the royal mage academy. Old man with lots of wrinkles and thin graying hair.

    Captain Granlan: Leader of the Black Blades. Level 40. Uses lightning, and has learned to sense the planet''s magnetic field and to use it to fly.

    Lieutenant Colonel Lendet: Second-in-command of Black Blades.

    Bruman: Man. Royal investigator.

    Ushler: Agent of House Golarn.

    Royal House Kalor: Orichalcum rank, and achieves tier 13 by a secret method. Primarily focused on physical combat power. One of the basic structures is noted as similar to Carlos''s reflex improver. Has flight, toughness, strength, and speed, all to extreme degrees, plus enhanced perception and some degree of self-transformation, such as turning their arms into swords temporarily.

    High House Tostral: The main antagonist noble house. Melee fighter build, emphasizing speed, skill, and strength, in that order. Boosted senses.

    House Golarn: Next after Tostral in the Wilds rotation for Dramos.

    High House Revlok: Has soul structure similar to Carlos''s introspector. Not mages.

    High House Elince: Mages.

    High House Ginmal: Tried and failed to vent limited amounts of aether from their mana wellspring, soul-killing their HQ city as a result.

    High House Larna: Tried and failed to vent limited amounts of aether from their mana wellspring. Evacuated the area first.

    High House Briston (Lady Balon, scion Loralia)

    High House Kettet (Lord Uncher, scion Pol)

    High House Stomren (Lady Efam)

    High House Chold (Lord Honwa)

    House Vonmil (Lord Torlar, scion Barla)

    House Facton (Lord Plara)

    Lady Lindoron (house name not mentioned)

    Archmage Sandaras: Old man, and extremely skilled and powerful mage. Wrote and published an introductory magic textbook. Adventured in the Wilds near Dramos when he was younger, and is rumored to be feared even by dragons.

    Headmaster Plaskin: Man. Headmaster of the royal mage academy.

    Professor Lilain: Woman. Author of Incantation Patterns and Principles.

    Norla: Young adult woman. Valedictorian of the current royal mage academy graduating class. Perceived by Trinlen as snooty/elitist. Highly values academic achievements. Excellent mana sense.

 B2 Chapter 25: A New Language

    Amber yawned, but shook her head and determinedly held on to wakefulness. She straightened her back and rubbed a little sand out of her eyes, then turned to face Carlos, who was sitting crosslegged next to her in their tent. She reached out to him mentally, through their shared bond with Purple. [Alright, we''ve both finished building your "integrated development environment" idea. Now show me what''s so amazing about it.]

    Carlos shook off a yawn of his own and looked back at her. [Are you sure you want to do this tonight? We''re both very tired.]

    [I''ve waited long enough already. I admit we don''t have the energy to really get into it in depth right now, but I want to at least get my first glimpse of it.]

    [Okay. Give me a minute.] Carlos concentrated on something for a long moment. Just when Amber was starting to worry that he might have fallen asleep, he finally stirred again. [There. It''s borrowing rather heavily from the languages I''m most familiar with, not adjusted much for the use cases of incantations, and I''m sure it''s incomplete and will need a lot of refinement, but it''s done. I made a preliminary version of my new spell design language and copied it to Purple''s knowledge store. See if you can get your spell language database to accept it.]

    Amber reached for Purple''s knowledge repository and examined the new... thing in it. [Uh. Just looking at that, I really can''t make much sense of it. It feels like... I guess a tangled knot of... memories? Experiences? Wordless concepts? It''s all pretty tightly woven, and I can''t pick out any single thing in it clearly.]

    Carlos sent a feeling of sheepish embarrassment over the link. [Yeah, sorry. I kind of just... shoved my intuitive understanding of what I want into a language definition and massaged it until it worked. It''s the only way to do it quickly enough for tonight. I''d prefer to put everything in explicit words, examining and considering every detail, but that would take a lot more time. Nowhere near as long as it would take to make an incantation version of the IDE, but still too long.]

    Amber cocked her head and blinked. [Wait, you think you could make an incantation to duplicate what we devoted 13 soul structures to?]

    [Not easily, not quickly, and only 12 of them at most. As far as I know, the spell database must be a soul structure. But the editor, transpiler, optimizer, and all the rest? Given unlimited time to work on it? Yes. It would take me multiple decades, or even a century, but I could eventually do it. Earth''s software engineers did it for computers without soul structures, and incantations have the necessary capabilities for it to be possible.]

    Amber sat in stunned silence, contemplating the idea of a spell that would help design and create whatever other spells you wanted. After perhaps a minute, she tentatively ventured a question. [And whoever did it didn''t keep it to themselves?]

    Carlos laughed loudly, a single time, then cut himself off. [Sorry, sorry, it''s an entirely reasonable question in light of your background. It''s just that Earth''s situation is so very different that the idea of not selling it on Earth seems ridiculous. The personal benefits of such a thing are much smaller than here. In this world, we might be able to use it to develop our personal power to unprecedented heights, and anyone selfish would never even consider sharing such a powerful advantage for any ordinary price. On Earth, the only way for the creators of an IDE to gain significant personal benefit from it is to sell it - and not just to one person, or a few, but to as many buyers as they can possibly find. Millions of people, for the most popular ones. Oh, and there are several different ones, all made by teams of people working together.]

    He shook his head and let out a long, slow breath. [But enough of that side track. That bundle isn''t meant to be understood directly; it''s meant to be put into your spell language database, and from there to be used by all the other structures. So, see if you can get your database to accept a copy of it as a spell language definition.]

    [Alright.] Amber mentally touched the weird tangled knot of knowledge and willed the copying to happen. Her own language database rejected it at first, as it didn''t exactly fit what she''d originally had in mind as how a spell language should be defined, but she altered the database to make it accept this form of a definition. The alteration took some time to find the right solution and settle, but then information began to flow. Concepts, rules, and connections flew past her mind faster than she could even glimpse most of them. Just seconds later, it was done. [Okay, now what?]

    Carlos grinned at her. [I say always start out learning a new language with the basics. So, let''s go back to the very first spell we ever learned: Light. Use your detranspiler to convert the... 12 lines of that incantation into this language, and see what it''s like.]

    Amber could feel anticipation practically radiating from Carlos as he watched. She smiled uncertainly, then brought the Light spell to mind. [Alright, let''s see what I get.] She focused on her spell editor and commanded it to invoke the detranspiler and show her the result. A section of text appeared in her mind''s eye, and she almost did a double take at it. [Did something go wrong? It''s so small!]

    spell { do { glow(color: white, shape: sphere, direction: all, intensity: 0.01, location: target); } while (true); }();

    [Wait...] Amber read through the contents of it, identifying the parts that corresponded to each part of the original incantation. [Never mind, it''s all there. Just a lot shorter.]

    Carlos''s delight bubbled over as he nodded with a beaming smile. [Actually, let me make a small tweak to the language... There, get that update and try again.]

    [Alright.] Amber touched Purple''s knowledge store again, and found it only took a moment to take in just the difference for the new version.

    spell { continuous { glow(color: white, shape: sphere, direction: all, intensity: 0.01, location: target); } }();

    [Huh. Okay, that does make it a little easier to understand. But why are the effects indented, and why did you make this language require indenting like that? And how the hell are people supposed to speak indentation? Timed pauses of just the right length before each line?]

    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    Carlos answered with the firmest conviction Amber had ever seen him show. [Because the first and most important trait of good code is that it must be readable - easy for others to understand - and proper indentation like that makes the structural context of sections of code instantly obvious at a glance, when it would otherwise require considerable extra reading and analysis to figure out. As for speaking, this language is not meant to be spoken. It doesn''t need to be spoken, because it won''t be used in actually casting anything.]

    Amber blinked and gave Carlos a long look. [Why do you feel so strongly about that?]

    Carlos let out a dry, humorless laugh. [Try teaching two dozen novices who don''t understand why readability matters, let them use a language that doesn''t enforce proper indentation, and give them work to do something non-trivial. When you see the unreadable abominations some of them come up with, you''ll understand.] He shuddered. [But for something more immediate, how about we take a look at how the Find Path spell Trinlen showed us looks in this language.]

    Amber nodded. [That will double as a test that the detranspiler can work with just the words of an incantation, too, since we haven''t actually learned that spell yet.]

    spell { Location destination = displaceLocation(location: target, east: 2134.2, south:: 788.6, down: 46.9); Distance distance = distance(firstLocation: target, secondLocation: destination); Integer detourLimit = 1000; label restart: Location current = target; List path = makeList(); path.append(current); Integer length = 1; List reached = makeList(); reached.append(current); do { foreach (Location neighbor in listNeighbors(location: current, distance: 0.5, directions: cardinals, orderCriterion: proximity, proximalLocation: destination)) { Distance firstDistance = distance(firstLocation: neighbor, secondLocation: target); Distance secondDistance = distance(firstLocation: neighbor, secondLocation: destination); if (firstDistance + secondDistance - distance > detourLimit) goto nextNeighbor; foreach (Location reachedLocation in reached) { if (neighbor == reachedLocation) goto nextNeighbor; } Line connection = lineSegment(firstLocation: current, secondLocation: neighbor, width: 0.5); if (scanDensity(region: connection) > 120) goto nextNeighbor; if (scanCohesionStrength(region: connection) > 80) goto nextNeighbor; if (distanceOfSupportSurface(location: neighbor, direction: down, weight: 300) > 5) goto nextNeighbor; path.append(neighbor); reached.append(neighbor); current = neighbor; length += 1; goto continue; label nextNeighbor: } path.removeLastElement(); current = path.getLastElement(); length -= 1; if (length != 0) goto continue; detourLimit *= 2; goto restart; label continue: } while (current notNear destination); ... }

    Amber didn''t bother even skimming the parts of the spell that took the found path, which was often something atrocious, and found ways to improve it to be more reasonable. [What was it that you called the later parts of this spell, again? A "rotten pile of" something about kludges and monkeys?]

    Carlos chuckled. [I believe I called it "a rotting pile of every kludge but the kitchen sink, taped together at random by monkeys until they found a combination that, for reasons no one could possibly comprehend, somehow works." Anyway, what do you think of the initial part? It''s still far from what I would consider actually good, but compared to the original incantation language?]

    [Oh, is that why the linter and optimizer are almost yelling at me?] Amber yawned again, then shook her head. [It''s definitely shorter.] She tried to read through it in more detail, but even with the text all being presented directly to her mind by a soul structure, it all seemed blurry. She tried to focus one more time, but soon gave up and let her fatigue pull her head down onto Carlos''s shoulder beside her. [Too tired. I''ll think about it tomorrow.]

    [That''s fair. What we told Ressara about not pushing herself too hard really should go for us too.]

    Amber was only dimly aware of Carlos gently lowering her head onto pillow, and fell asleep soon after.

    The next morning, both of them woke up late and felt much better rested. Crown Mage Felton was openly waiting for them when they came out of their tent. He had a complete suit of the sabotaged armor set up on an armor stand in a nearby clear spot outside the collection of tents, and he was standing beside it, tapping his foot impatiently. He even scowled a little when Carlos and Amber went to eat a quick breakfast first, but did not protest.

    Carlos called Trinlen to join them and took the lead, walking confidently up to the suit of armor and focusing on it even as he spoke to the royal mage. "Alright, Felton, how do you want to start this collaboration?"

    Felton gave a nod of acknowledgement. "Lord Carlos. Lady Amber. I take it you want your employee to share in any lessons I give."

    Carlos nodded. "That would be appreciated, but my main reason to include him is that his unusual creativity might help solve the sabotage mystery."

    Felton gave Trinlen a hard look, but soon shrugged and addressed Carlos again. "Very well. You have made your version of Ressara''s defense against attention diversion, correct? We can begin with seeing what you can determine with that and your mana sense, as things stand now. I expect little or no immediate results, but it will serve as a starting point to assess your capabilities and what shortcomings I might need to teach you to rectify."

    "That sounds reasonable. Let me see..." Carlos inspected the armor''s enchantments carefully while slowly walking a circle around it. Amber stood in place and just leaned a bit closer while doing her examination. Examined from outside without using its self-reporting features, the whole thing was still inscrutably complex and too dense for him to make out any truly meaningful details, but the texture it formed in his senses was finer-grained than it used to be. Something else new stuck out much more strongly to him, however.

    "Okay, I can tell you that the attention diversion wards in this thing apparently react to any attempt to examine the enchantments, regardless of how much or how little details the senses they''re reacting to can detect. And they are really, really tiny. I felt a lot of tugs on my attention, trying to push me away from noticing one thing and instead notice something else that was so nearby that I couldn''t otherwise even sense that the two things were separate."

    Felton nodded gravely. "That makes sense for the subtlety and sophistication of the known effect of it. It also strengthens my suspicion that it was built in by the armor''s original creator. Lady Amber?"

    Amber looked up briefly from her continued probing of the enchantments. "I felt the same effect. We''ll need to refine our mana sense to get any useful details."

    Felton waved a hand dismissively. "That will certainly help, but it is a matter of soul structures and long practice, not something I can teach. I gather that it is part of your plans for tomorrow, when you reach Level 19 and your Tier 8 merge." He paused for a moment, and Carlos and Amber both nodded. "Good, but that will be of limited benefit without knowledge of runic enchantments to go with it."

    His mana poked something specific in the armor''s gauntlets, and each gauntlet''s armored plates started peeling back. Felton paused for a moment. "Oh, but before I begin the lessons, I should ask: in what ways do your house secrets change the best way to teach you?"

 B2 Chapter 26: Educational Experience

    B2 Chapter 26: Educational Experience

    Felton watched, fascinated, as his three students pored over the expanded runes that spelled out the details of a few of the enchantments in a suit of royal guard armor. Carlos keeps muttering under his breath, and both he and Amber are clearly examining various sections of it with purpose guided by understanding. Either they''ve been secretly learning magecraft for a long time, or they''ve devoted a number of soul structures to speed of learning magery that any commoner would consider absurd, or they''ve discovered something truly fundamental in how to make such structures extraordinarily effective. Essence and mana moved in response to some of Carlos''s mutters, and Felton''s gaze snapped to the small sphere of force that appeared above the youth''s open palm. Possibly a fundamental discovery and an abundance of soul structures focused on it, combined. That sphere is not simply a duplication of the armor''s Force Bubble enchantment.

    Carlos''s one-inch transparent sphere was joined by several more, and they all began moving in a circle. Flickers of commanding intent raced from Carlos to his creation, and the rotating circle of force bubbles expanded to a foot across, then shrank until the bubbles touched each other. The bubbles vibrated, pushing against each other as the circle tried to shrink even further, then they all popped at once as the spell ran out of mana. Felton watched in silence as Carlos stared vacantly for several minutes at where the circle of bubbles had been. Then the display repeated, a rotating circle of tiny force bubbles spiraling out and then inward, but this time the bubbles smoothly intersected and overlapped when they came into contact with each other. They became a lumpy ring, then transitioned into a lumpy disk as the ring shrank, until they merged into a single consolidated sphere of force at the center.

    Felton blinked and raised an eyebrow. Impressive. That degree of sophistication in creating his own variant shows great depth of learning, not just speed. The spell seems more of a sophisticated toy than a useful tool, however. Felton switched to watching the young lord''s partner instead. Amber seemed deep in thought, not actively doing anything at the moment. She had glanced at Carlos''s display of merging bubbles of force, but had responded with only an amused smirk with no sign of surprise or of being especially impressed. I see. Such achievements are most likely expected and ordinary for their soul plan, then. It could instead be that she has grown accustomed to Carlos having extraordinary talent, but I think her reaction seems more like recognition of a feat that she knows she could duplicate. And on top of all that, they have something to make new soul structures after the Tier 8 merge at extreme speed, I believe as an application of something that will remain useful after all soul structures are made. No wonder the Colonel is so impressed with them.

    Amber''s gaze met Felton''s, and she cleared her throat. "Learning details of advanced combat spells is useful, but why don''t you show us the runes of the diagnostic and analysis enchantment? That seems more directly relevant to your goal, here."

    Felton considered for a moment, then shrugged. "Very well, but why do you think you might glean anything useful for the investigation from it? You have already confirmed that the sabotage is absent from the runic expansions."

    Amber grinned. "Exactly. The runic expansion will show the enchantment in its non-sabotaged form. And Ressara reported attention-diversion in both the enchantment being analyzed and the enchantment doing the analysis. That suggests that this analyzer is capable of detecting the sabotage, because why else would it be sabotaged too?"

    "Well-reasoned so far, but I have explored that line of thought already. Then again, perhaps your house secrets might prevail against the obstacles that stopped me." Felton gestured, and another steel plate unfolded from the gauntlet into a long rune-covered ribbon, hanging in the air. Unlike the other enchantments being shown for inspection, this one split at a few points, forming multiple layers of ribbons stacked atop each other. It also extended several times longer, having to weave back and forth to fit into a reasonable area.

    Felton nodded toward the runic ribbon, and white light outlined a small section of it, right at one of the splits. "The effect right there is an Enchanters Guild secret. I know approximately what it does - it makes the incantation split its workings into multiple parts operating simultaneously, almost as though cast as separate spells - but I do not know its spoken pronunciation, and my knowledge of what it does is not precise enough to learn a spell that uses it without knowing how to speak it." He smiled. "I have heard you and Carlos muttering parts of incantations aloud as you read them; parts that I believe you had never seen the words of before, and yet your pronunciation was consistently flawless. Do you know how to pronounce this one?"

    Carlos looked up sharply at the mention of the Enchanters Guild, and Amber exchanged a look with him when Felton finished his question. She hesitated for a moment, then shrugged. "I suppose the Enchanters Guild is hostile enough to us already that it won''t matter too much if this gets out to them somehow. The effect keyword you highlighted is startThread. Are there other words you don''t know how to pronounce in that enchantment?"

    "There are indeed." Glowing outlines appeared on 5 other parts of the enchantment''s runic inscription. "If you could provide the pronunciation of each of these, I will see if my spell conceptualizer is up to the task of learning an incantation this large."

    That afternoon, Carlos and Amber found themselves left to their own guidance. Felton had retired to his tent to meditate on the long and complex analyzer incantation in hopes of learning to cast it directly, having drilled himself relentlessly for an hour on the pronunciations of the 6 new words they had read aloud for him.

    Carlos took the lead in calling Trinlen in to consult. "We''ve learned a lot of combat spells from the royal guard armor''s enchantments; do you think what we''ve learned will be enough for us to fight well with? I''m sure they put a lot of thought into optimizing the set of which spells to put in that. We''ll have to practice first, of course, but after that?"

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    Trinlen tilted his head, pressed his lips together, and raised his right hand to his chin, rubbing his index finger along the left side of his chin as he adopted a sage mien. "Hmm, let me think. Are you ready to spar and practice? Sure. Are you ready to fight monsters afterward?" He hummed noncommittally and tilted his head left, then back to right. "Maybe. It depends on which type of monster you encounter. Is that set of spells enough to be ready for fighting people?" He snorted contemptually and shook his head. "No, absolutely not."

    Amber leaned forward intently. "Why not? It''s enough for royal guards, and it covers a lot of versatility. What is it still missing?"

    Trinlen dropped his wise facade and grinned. "Why would I tell you, when showing you will be so much more fun? Oh man, I have been preparing for this!" His grin grew wider, and he beckoned eagerly for them to follow him. "Come on, it''s time for Professor Trinlen to give a hands-on lesson."

    Carlos laughed and went with him readily, while Amber followed more hesitantly. The three of them walked up to Lorvan, who was standing watch in the open area opposite everyone''s tents, with Trinlen still leading. "Colonel Lorvan, sir, my students wish to spar with me for some practice, and we need a referee. Will you do the honors?"

    Lorvan nodded smoothly. "Sparring type and rules?"

    Trinlen quickly recited a list. "Mage duel. One on one. Simple arena, starting at 10 paces. War rules. Referee to prevent death."

    "Understood. Who will go first?"

    Carlos held up his hand. "I volunteer, but first, what does ''war rules'' mean?"

    Trinlen smiled at him again. "It''s very simple: the only rule in war is to win, by any method. It is the only way to practice for true battle, for any real foe will rarely be so considerate as to constrain their tactics. You may use any tactic you wish, beginning on the referee''s signal. You lose when you leave the arena, give up, or are unable to continue using spells - that last condition is because it''s a mage duel, by the way."

    "Okay." Carlos shook himself and stretched, thinking about what spell to start with. Better to defend first, I think. In a real fight, I can''t count on having only one enemy. I''ll activate a prepared Force Bubble first, which should block his first attack, and then respond to whatever he does. He took 10 steps away from Trinlen and adopted a loose stance. "I''m ready."

    Lorvan touched one palm to the ground, and a transparent dome of force enclosed an area 20 paces across. He stood straight and raised his right hand high. He lowered his hand in a sudden chopping motion, and in the same instant declared, "Begin!"

    Carlos immediately began executing his plan. spell activate-

    Trinlen beat him to the punch. spell-act-Silence!

    Carlos tried to speak the equals sign that would precede the spell name, but no sound emerged. What the hell? He focused his mana sense on the spell Trinlen had cast. It was weak, far too weak to affect him for long, but it wasn''t affecting him

    . It was affecting the air around his mouth, preventing any sound from emerging.

    Lorvan raised his right hand, which was on the side toward Trinlen, high and diagonally to the side. "Trinlen wins, by suppression of spellcasting!"

    Trinlen dismissed the spell, and Carlos nodded in acknowledgement. "I get it, war rules means there''s no such thing as a cheap shot. But still, how am I supposed to deal with that?" r??A?NO?B��?

    "When you no longer need to speak to cast, it will be irrelevant. Until then, you can try to dodge it or shake it off, and you can try to disrupt it with raw mana manipulation and hope it''s cast weakly enough to be vulnerable to that, but the only reliable way is to pre-emptively counter it in advance." Trinlen clapped his hands together. "I''ll show you the spell for that later and won''t use the same trick again until then. Now, did you catch the other reason I beat you?"

    Carlos frowned as he reviewed the incredibly brief match, then comprehension dawned on him. "You finished your spell faster than me by shortening the activation command. I knew our spell activators let us incant things more quietly and with less precise pronunciation, but I hadn''t realized the looser pronunciation allowed shortening things. Good to know."

    "Correct. Now, how about a turn for Amber?" Trinlen called over to where Amber was watching from outside Lorvan''s dome. "Amber, got a plan ready for fighting me?"

    Amber grimaced. "Yes, but I get the feeling it won''t matter."

    Trinlen chuckled. "Amber, I''m an experienced veteran of the academy''s sparring program, and it was easier to list the people who weren''t eager to put me down than to list the people who were. Yes, you are going to lose, because any novice without overwhelming power would lose to me. The question is how hard you can make me work for it and how quickly you can learn. Now, are you ready?"

    Amber hesitantly squared her shoulders and walked over to take Carlos''s place in the impromptu arena. "Okay. Let''s see how this goes wrong."

    Carlos watched Trinlen closely as Lorvan signaled to begin, and quickly found himself restricted to observing by mana sense as darkness covered the area. Whoa. I didn''t catch the name of that spell, but it''s surprisingly complex. Darkness combined with something else, and the parts of it keep shifting around confusingly. And... I can''t tell where Trinlen is. There are 5 different spots where I sense mana that might be his soul, all of them moving, and I don''t know which one''s real.

    He shifted his attention to Amber. She got a Force Bubble up, as I expected her to go for. It doesn''t have the power that Lorvan would put into it, but it''s still a good defense. As for offence... He winced. Blind-firing Force Spikes wildly. Yeah, that''s unlikely to work. Moments after Carlos thought that, Amber''s mana poured forth in a relative flood, blanketing a quarter of the arena. It took a second for Carlos to realize what spell she''d used. Flame Blast to hit as many places at once as possible, so it doesn''t matter which spot Trinlen is in? A good thought, but we don''t have enough mana to do it properly.

    Carlos tried to sort through what he was sensing of Trinlen''s mana. He''s trying something, but what? There''s a new layer of his mana, and it''s focused in the area around Amber. It''s a spell for... making something, I think? Something very small or insubstantial.

    He got his answer half a minute later when Amber stumbled out through the dome that enclosed their arena, doubled over, coughing, wheezing, and waving her hands frantically through the air in front of her face. She took a deep breath in the clear air outside the arena and did not react when Lorvan declared Trinlen''s victory. She wrinkled her nose and glared at Trinlen in disgust once he dismissed his spells. "What the hell is that stench? I never want to smell that again!"

    "You don''t want to know. Trust me, you really don''t." Trinlen nodded toward Amber. "You fought well for your first time." He looked at Carlos. "Ready for your second round?"

    Carlos cracked his knuckles. "Sure. I''m curious how many different ways you have to beat the set of spells we know." He smiled as he took position in the arena again. "Let''s find out."

 B2 Chapter 27: Contemplation of Lessons

    Carlos panted and leaned on his knees for a moment after conceding yet another defeat to Trinlen. He looked up at the sound of clapping, coming from the side of the arena opposite Lorvan.

    Sconter met his gaze and called out to him. "Good show, you almost had him that time!"

    Carlos took a deep breath, then settled to the ground and shook his head. He took a few more breaths to rest before answering the adventurer. "Maybe, but only because I have more mana than he does. That''s not good enough. If I need a mana advantage, then that means my skills and tactics are lagging behind and need to be improved. We need to build up every advantage we can get."

    Trinlen clapped his hands a couple times to add to Sconter''s applause. "Good attitude, boss. You may need that edge someday, when you get into fights with other nobles."

    "Yeah." Carlos straightened his back and looked at Trinlen. "There''s one thing I don''t understand about this, though. Surely the Crown must have had some of the best tacticians in the kingdom design this set of spells for the royal guards to use. Leaving aside Silence, since obviously that one is irrelevant for fighting against an actual royal guard, if the spells you used can beat theirs, then..."

    "Why aren''t they using my spells instead?" Trinlen grinned cheekily. "I''m flattered, really, but there are more differences between a mage and a royal guard than just whether they rely on speaking to fight."

    Carlos shrugged and shook his head. "Well, yes, but many of the spells you used can''t be substituted or compensated for with strength, speed, armor, and weapons."

    "Correct, but those aren''t the only factors." Trinlen called out to the side. "Colonel Lorvan, care to critique the idea of redesigning royal guard enchantments to use the spells I just demonstrated?"

    Lorvan gave a respectful nod. "Of course, Mage Trinlen. To start with, many of the spells you used are specialized for narrow purposes, which means that achieving broad versatility with them would require a large number of different spells. Enchantments for casting spells are expensive, and packing many of them into one item magnifies the cost greatly. Equipping royal guards with your entire suite of spells would be exhorbitantly costly."

    Carlos raised an eyebrow. "Too expensive even for the Crown?"

    "Hardly." Lorvan snorted dismissively. "The Crown could bear the cost, of course. That is the least of the major issues with the idea. More importantly, cramming that many of such enchantments into our gear would require compromises in other aspects of its design. You''ve been studying royal guard gauntlets with Felton; imagine tripling the number of runic plates in them."

    Carlos cocked his head and tried to visualize the idea. "They would have to be more bulky, I suppose. Couldn''t some of them be put in the arms or other parts of the suit, though?"

    Trinlen laughed before Lorvan could answer, drawing a curious look from Carlos. "He''s still on the minor issues, boss, just less minor. Spreading them out more is possible. It would be less efficient and harder to protect from disruption, and doing it without weakening the defensive enchantments on the rest of the armor would be tricky, but it could be done." He shook his head. "Colonel, I think it''s time to stop kidding around with the small stuff and give him the major reason it would never work."

    Lorvan inclined his head a minute fraction. "Very well. The largest and most intractable issue is that many of Trinlen''s spells require a degree of sophisticated control by the caster that can only be achieved with a soul structure dedicated to the purpose."

    Carlos''s eyes opened wide, and he nodded slowly in understanding. "Aaaah, I see. And that soul structure does not fit the royal guard soul plan. Refining the spells to handle those control details for you should be theoretically possible, I think, but it would be... complicated."

    Trinlen chuckled. "Keep that up, and you might start competing with me for greatest understatements. I doubt even Sandaras could do it without sacrificing the flexibility that makes those spells worth using."

    Amber called out to him as she walked over. "You''ve seen the lock spell Sandaras put on the copies of his spellbook, and that thing is so complex that just thinking about it makes me dizzy."

    Trinlen fired right back. "I''ll grant that he can handle extreme complexity, but that spell doesn''t need to be flexible. Versatile flexibility has its own brand of complexity that is the biggest source of headaches for spell designers ever."

    Carlos laughed and shuddered. "Now that, I already knew!" He shook his head and sighed. "So, essentially, we''ll have to make that soul structure before we can really start sparring with you properly. Three more days, then."

    Late that night, Amber looked at Carlos before getting ready to sleep, and paused. "I know that look. What''s bothering you?"

    Carlos hesitated, then sat up with a long sigh. "It''s..." He shook his head and switched to the telepathy that Purple provided for them. [It''s some of the incantation words we learned from the royal guard gear today. I can''t find all of them in the help command''s knowledge reference. I understand all of them and what they do, but for some of them that knowledge comes only from my comprehension aid. That shouldn''t be possible. help''s information should be complete.]

    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    Amber leaned back and thought. [It was all made by people. Maybe they just neglected to write about some of the words?]

    Carlos shook his head. [No, they designed it to ensure that everything must be documented. help produces its information from the same part of the system as what makes it all work. If an incantation keyword has any effect, then that inherently

    makes information about its effect available to the help command. And yet, for some of them I can''t find that information. I''m missing something, and I don''t know what. It''s bugging me.]

    [I''ll let you know if I think of any ideas.] Amber yawned and shook her head. [For now, just get some sleep. We learned a lot today, but we''ll be set to learn even more tomorrow with the perception-themed superstructure done and the analysis-themed one in progress, and we need to be properly rested for that.] She deployed the tent''s divider curtain and followed her own advice.

    The next morning, before beginning their studies for the day, Crown Mage Felton had news for them. "I have been advised that the Crown believes it would be prudent for House Carlos to remain in the Wilds for a while, and to conceal yourselves from potential searches. The Crown arrested a number of noble scions with regard to the ''rotation agreement,'' and there may be a chance that an affected house might realize you are connected to how the Crown discovered it."

    Carlos just raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "So, we should keep doing exactly what we already planned to. Okay."

    "Not quite," Lorvan interrupted. "We have not been concealing ourselves much. Though I''m afraid concealing your aether absorption to an adequate degree might not be possible, at least not without slowing down your advancement by an extreme amount. The Crown would accept the delay, in light of the circumstances, but that decision is yours." He shrugged. "Perhaps you could design one of today''s new soul structures after the Tier 8 unification to do something about that. It would not be the most absurd thing I''ve seen you do."

    Carlos blinked and paused. "We''ll see if we can think of something for that." He exchanged a look with Amber and spoke telepathically to her. [Concealing aether absorption seems like something Purple would be better suited for; dungeon cores are the premier masters of aether manipulation, after all.]

    Purple''s attention suddenly focused on them, and he responded before Amber could. [I cannot conceal that aether is being absorbed. Aether continuously pours into the area around us and does not re-emerge. This simple fact cannot be hidden, nor can it be changed without stopping our absorption. What I could do is that, if I expand my domain to cover a much larger area, I might be able to conceal from outside observation precisely where in my domain the absorption is happening.]

    Carlos mentally reviewed his knowledge of subterfuge tactics. Most of what I know on the topic comes from games or fiction novels, but all the good ones at least try to make it realistically plausible, right? One of the recurring principles I''ve seen a lot is that it''s better to trick your opponent into believing a falsehood, rather than letting them know that they don''t know the truth. So... He started sharing his thoughts with Purple and Amber. [Could you make it appear that the aether is being absorbed in one spot, when it''s actually being sent to us instead?]

    Purple mulled over the question, and the aether around them all made some strange and erratic movements as he experimented briefly. [With the refinements in my aether control from the dungeon domain superstructure I made yesterday, I believe I can do that. For it to actually fool anyone, I would need something to be a decoy, something that could appear to be doing the absorption.]

    [Hmm.] Carlos frowned. [Amber, any ideas?]

    [Not directly, but we have other people we could ask.] Amber focused on Felton, who was watching the silent interplay with patient curiosity. "As far as I know, the only thing that can absorb aether is a person. Felton, is there anything else that could serve as a decoy fake aether absorber?"

    Felton raised an eyebrow. "You''ve thought of a way to disguise the location of the absorption, then?" He tilted his head and held his chin contemplatively. "There are some enchanted items that can use aether to fuel themselves, but unless you count the ones made out of dungeon cores, they''re immobile and expensive. The main one is the teleporters that nobles use to enter and leave their contained wellsprings. Anyone who saw such a thing randomly out in the Wilds would immediately get suspicious." He paused a few more seconds for thought, but finally sighed and shook his head. "It would have to be a person. And to be at all believable for your rate of absorption, the person would have to be a noble. Preferably multiple people, but a noble in the second stage, inside a dungeon''s domain, would go a long way toward convincing people to dismiss the remaining discrepancy."

    Carlos hesitated, then slapped his forehead and sighed exasperatedly. "I hate to say it, but... Kindar?"

    Amber stared in stupefaction for a moment, then laughed. "You know, using him as decoy bait to protect ourselves actually sounds appealing. But we''d have to go back and catch him up in levels. Unless Purple can...?"

    Purple responded by demonstration. A small zone of the Level 19 aether nearby suddenly thinned out, most of the aether pulled back by nearly-imperceptible gossamer threads of Purple''s essence, allowing what little remained to decompress to lower levels.

    Carlos approached, fascinated, to inspect the phenomenon closely. "Only Level 10 in the center? Yes, and surrounded with thin shells of each level between that and the natural background. Kindar could survive in there. How long can you maintain it, and how easily?"

    Purple let the de-leveled area collapse. [Indefinitely, and with only minor effort. Maintaining a greater difference in aether level would take more effort, but lowering the area by only 9 levels is easy.]

    "Alright, this is starting to sound like a plan. We should contact Stelras."

    Felton spoke up dryly. "You might as well go ahead with that. It''s obvious by now that you have a means of purely mental communication, and that it has considerable range. If you want to keep that secret from other houses, you''ll have to be a lot more careful about concealing when you use it."

    Amber blushed sheepishly, and Carlos sighed and shook his head. Carlos took the lead in responding. "Might as well admit it at this point, I suppose. Alright, here goes." He focused on a mental image of the mayor. [Stelras, I hope I''m not interrupting anything important. We''re ready for Kindar to join us soon.]

    Mayor Stelras replied cheerfully right away. [Funny you should mention him. I was getting around to telling you that he got impatient and did something about it yesterday evening. No, nothing bad. He was surprisingly polite about the whole thing, actually. He just wrote down his entire soul plan, synergies and all, sealed it in an envelope, and handed it to me to relay to you. He said he hoped you could at least spare a few moments from your busy schedule - he even managed to avoid sounding sarcastic about that - to consider what extensions of it might be possible.]

 B2 Chapter 28: Matters of Nobility

    Kindar paced back and forth impatiently, as if his number of steps would end his wait sooner. He scowled at the older man who was simply watching him calmly. "You''re certain this is where Mayor Stelras said to wait?"

    Gevin, his flawlessly-formal advisor and escort - Kindar refused to think of him as a babysitter - just nodded and answered. "This is the Dramos teleport beacon house, as the mayor specified. Perhaps you should ask about incorporating a memory aid of some kind into your noble soul plan, if you need 6 confirmations of the same thing in as many minutes."

    Kindar rolled his eyes and continued pacing. An eternal two minutes later, the ritual circle inlaid in the floor finally - finally! - flared with light, and someone appeared in the center of it. "Finally! Took you long enou-" He froze as he belatedly noticed the uniform the newcomer was wearing. A black robe with orichalcum-orange embroidery; the color scheme of the Crown''s service. He hastily snapped his mouth shut and bowed deeply. "My apology, sir. I had not been informed that I would be meeting a mage of the Crown."

    The black-robed mage smirked and raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And who were you expecting, that you thought such a reaction would be acceptable?"

    Kindar stared blankly, and the mage chuckled at him. "If you had reacted like that to a mage serving House Carlos, I would not be surprised if Lord Carlos responded by sending you home and telling your father that the deal is off. I''ll do you the favor of pretending it didn''t happen this time, but I advise you to hold your tongue in the future. House Carlos has very little tolerance for disrespect from you. Now, if you''re ready to go, step into the circle beside me."

    Kindar opened his mouth, then reconsidered and closed it again without speaking. He nodded sharply and stepped into the ritual circle, flanked by Gevin. The mage cast a spell, white light momentarily obscured everything, and then they were somewhere else.

    The first thing he noticed was the oppressive pressure of high-level ambient mana bearing down on him. It was uncomfortable, but not quite enough to hurt. Is that what took them so long? Getting to an area I''m ready for? Gevin gave him a sharp look, and he kept his mouth shut.

    "Stay inside the marked circle if you want to live. Outside the circle, the aether will start eroding your soul."

    Kindar belatedly started paying attention to his physical surroundings. It took him a moment to recognize the person who''d just warned him as the strange man he''d loaned a sword to in that dungeon just over a month ago. Amber sitting several feet behind him - Lady Amber, now - was of course a much more familiar figure. He quickly dropped to one knee and bowed. "High Lord Carlos, I thank you for entertaining my request."

    Footsteps slowly approached, and a hand grasped his chin to raise his head up to face forward. Lord Carlos examined his face for a moment, while Kindar averted his gaze and looked at the ground. Lord Carlos sighed and stood up. "As gratifying as this display of humility is to see, it''s not what you''re here for. Stand up and face me."

    Kindar obeyed, hesitantly meeting the high lord''s gaze for a moment before lowering his eyes a little to look at Lord Carlos''s chest instead.

    "Just to make sure, do you understand the warning? That you must stay inside this circle to avoid soul erosion?"

    Kindar looked to the side and noticed a line dug in the ground about 10 feet away, forming a circle 20 feet across with him at the center. Several tents, a campfire, and some tables and chairs were set up farther outside the circle. He nodded. "I understand, Lord Carlos. Though, if I may ask, what is ''aether''?"

    "It is the proper term for what is more commonly called ambient mana." Lord Carlos clapped his hands together. "Now then, to business. Before we get into what new soul structures you should make, I have some questions about your current ones."

    "I..." Kindar looked around. Besides the two nobles of House Carlos and the crown mage, there were about half a dozen assorted other people nearby. "I''m sorry, my lord, but I must ask: Do you insist on sharing those secrets with everyone present?"

    "Everyone here is a sworn loyal servant of either the Crown or of House Carlos, and we consulted with them already about what areas of improvement are the most important for you. When we get to the point of using secrets of nobility, then we will discuss more privately."

    Kindar hesitated again, but ultimately nodded. "Very well. I will answer freely."

    Carlos nodded and let his hands fall to his sides. "Your first 3 soul structures, for strength, speed, and precision, are each specific to your arms and hands. Why?"

    "Because the arms and hands are what wield the sword, of course, and focusing on them makes the effects more potent."

    "Mhm." Carlos pressed his lips together and tilted his head. "Is that... standard advice that you got from somewhere?"

    Kindar shrugged. "Those who described that partial soul plan to me didn''t mention it specifically, I suppose, but it''s obvious."

    A tremendous thud sounded from the right, and Kindar turned to see a stout and heavily muscled woman leaning on the enormous hammer that she''d just slammed into the ground. "Then you''re stupid, and you''re lucky Carlos is here to save you from crippling yourself." She waved her hand at him. "Noralt, veteran adventurer. And I''ve fought things where if you try blocking a hit with only your arms strong, your legs would snap like twigs. Arm strength means nothing without the rest of your body to support it."

    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

    Kindar looked at her, then glanced at Gevin and at Carlos. He frowned, but didn''t object. "Lord Carlos, your other questions?"

    "Let''s see, going down the list... Swordsmanship skill seems a good choice, no question about that. Spotting your foes'' vulnerabilities: why only vulnerabilities, and not dangers to you?"

    Kindar blinked. "I, er..."

    Carlos chuckled. "Hadn''t even considered defense? I suppose that and your grandiose self-esteem explain the last 2, draining strength from your foes and intimidating them. You envisioned yourself as an awe-inspiring figure who strikes down all in your path, untouchable by your cowering opponents as their strength fails them against you. Did I get that right?"

    Kindar flushed, but held himself in check. He''s a high lord, far above me. He has the right to mock me if he chooses. He took a deep breath and nodded curtly.

    Carlos shook his head, smirking. "You focused on the wrong things. Opponents who are strong enough to truly matter will resist artificial intimidation and draining their strength, and while being able to kill anything is fearsome, it is not the most fearsome capability."

    Kindar eyed him skeptically. "What could possibly be more fearsome than that?"

    "Invincibility, of course. Supreme defense." Carlos laughed at Kindar''s raised eyebrow. "Against someone who can kill anything in one attack, their opponents can swarm them, attack from longer range, or just keep trying until they get lucky. Against someone who can tank any attack without fail, such tactics are futile and hopeless. Nothing is more demoralizing than seeing your strongest attack hit... and do nothing."

    Carlos continued, blithely ignoring Kindar''s nonplussed expression. "I don''t expect just words to convince you, of course. We prepared a more practical demonstration. It will serve as good practice with using monsters for our friendly dungeon, too. When you''re done with that, then we can talk about the soul structure you''re going to make with what little is left of your inherited soul shell. Now get ready to fight, and remember: stay inside the circle!"

    High Lord Recindril Tostral grimaced at the signal that yet another noble lord wanted to talk with him. I barely finished talking with Lord Plara a minute ago. How many times am I going to have to repeat this conversation? It almost feels like I should call for a conclave to announce it all.

    He sighed, composed himself, and activated the mirror''s paired scrying enchantment. His reflection was replaced with a view of a mature woman with short brown hair, a long nose, and a fierce scowl. Recindril reacted first. "Ah, Lady Lindoron. Before you ask, yes, I am aware of the recent arrests of various scions in connection with the rotation agreement. I believe every noble in the entire kingdom knows of those by now."

    "I''m sure they do," Lady Lindoron replied acerbically. "And what do you have to say about House Golarn''s report? You must admit, the timing of the incident in Dramos relative to the arrests is suspicious."

    Recindril snorted. "There will always be events with suspicious timing. If Jamar is how the Crown discovered the rotation agreement, then she would have been the first to be arrested. Yet she is here at home, free."

    "I''m not so sure of that." Lindoron glared at him accusingly. "There is too much still unknown about that incident, and especially about the involvement of as-yet-unidentified parties. Your scion could have bargained for amnesty in exchange for information, or the Crown could be waiting for other matters to play out before dealing with you."

    Recindril shook his head. "You know I cannot conclusively answer such suspicions. Regardless, we must decide how to respond to the matter at hand. The Crown cracking down on the rotation agreement threatens to deprive us of the means to rapidly advance our scions to the level necessary to use our wellsprings. That is an unacceptable prospect, for all nobles, and if we can no longer conceal it from the Crown, then we must convince the Crown to permit it."

    Lindoron''s expression darkened further. "And if King Elston refuses to listen, as his ancestors did?"

    Recindril locked eyes with Lindoron and smiled grimly. "Then we will have to make him listen. Let us hope that it does not come to that."

    Lady Lindoron met his gaze firmly for several seconds, then slowly nodded. "Let us hope." She cut the connection, and her image was replaced with Recindril''s reflection once more.

    Recindril slumped and sighed. He muttered under his breath, "Jamar, what am I going to have to do with you? And what happened after you respawned?"

    He picked up the report from the Black Blades, which had finally arrived days late, and read it again. Not that he needed to actually read it again. It was uncharacteristically short and uninformative, and he could quote the whole thing from memory.

    Mission failed. Keep your final payment, we will not try again. Do not inquire.

    Kindar sat in his tent and grumbled. "You could have skipped the pit trap. I remember the first one more than well enough."

    Lord Carlos coughed, then cleared his throat. "You still fell for it, and that means you haven''t learned to handle it well enough yet. At least this one didn''t kill you. Now, imagine how much more intimidating you would be if you didn''t fall when a pit suddenly opens under your feet."

    "Yes, you''ve made your point." Kindar sighed and shook his head. "My apology, Lord Carlos. I am frustrated by my own inadequacies, but that is not good cause to disrespect you."

    Lord Carlos stayed silent for a few moments, then finally nodded. "Apology accepted, and it''s time to start working on fixing them. First up, the reason your soul plan is even salvageable at all without drastic measures is that nobles with high-tier soul plans get to make a lot more soul structures, so you''ll be able to fix the various oversights in your soul plan by adding more structures to address each of them. However, you''ll run out of soul shell essence to use for that after just 1 or 2 more structures, and making the rest the normal way by absorbing aether would take ages. Especially since you don''t have a mana manipulator."

    Kindar looked up and narrowed his eyes. "You''re not going to tell me to make a mana manipulator, are you? I''m no mage."

    Lord Carlos smiled. "No, not at all. You''ll make a, hmm, let''s call it an ''essence siphoner.'' It will siphon essence - the solidified mana that soul structures are made of - from your existing soul structures, in order to make new ones in hours rather than days. Sure, it will stop being useful when you finish all your soul structures, but if you manage to finish all your synergies properly, you''ll end up with around 40 or 50 soul structures total. How much does 1 no-longer-useful structure really matter in the end, out of that many?"

    Kindar stared for several seconds, then closed his mouth with a snap.

 B2 Chapter 29: Research Progress

    The next morning, Crown Mage Felton showed his growing impatience by packing up the whole camp with a wave of his hand and an outpouring of mana the moment everyone was out of their tents. He nodded to Esmorana as he telekinetically deposited her wind-driven passenger-carrier in front of her, with assorted baggage arranged beside it, ready for everyone to just pick up their stuff, take a seat, and fly.

    With that done, he marched up to Carlos and gave the bare minimum bow to acknowledge a high lord''s rank. "Lord Carlos, I will give you the service of handling Kindar''s transportation to your next campsite, but I expect a greater focus on the project that I came here for today. You have now completed your Tier 8 unification and subsequent creation of new structures, and you assured me that this would finish the last of the capabilities you need. I hope to see more concrete results today."

    Carlos nodded back while picking up his pack. "We''ll give it our best effort, and yes, we have completed our preparations for that."

    "Very good. Oh, and Lord Carlos? You should learn a flight spell soon, so you can dispense with using this wind-powered contraption."

    Carlos laughed. "We''ll take that under advisement. Now, I''ll need you to get Kindar out of the danger zone before I pick up Purple, and then we can get going."

    "On it. I''ll see you again shortly."

    Carlos chuckled quietly to himself as they set up camp in their latest spot. At first I thought that faster leveling was the main advantage of noble soul ranks, but now we''re leveling slower than Ressara. Is that ironic? I think so, but I remember irony being something that people commonly get wrong. Anyway, she''s catching up fast, despite us spending more time absorbing aether than she does - she can''t do it in her sleep. We''re still limiting ourselves to areas she can handle, but she''s already caught up enough that we can leap from a Level 19 zone up to a Level 23 zone despite that. At the rate we''re going, it will take us 5 days to reach the limit of this area''s aether.

    He looked around at their new surroundings. They were camping under the trees this time, not in a clearing, to make it harder for any hostile searchers to find them. It made for a lot more obstacles and underbrush, some of which was dangerous - or rather, had been dangerous before Purple established his dungeon domain over the area and took control of all the potentially harmful vegetation. Carlos took an especially close look at a scrubby bush that was covered in thorns 2 feet beside his tent; the thorns were all still there, but blunted.

    "Hey, you ready for a day of in-depth analysis?"

    Carlos looked up and saw Amber standing in the clearest break between trees nearby. She was fidgeting, half-turned away, looking over her shoulder at him, and a bit antsy on her feet. He smiled and straightened, quickly moving to join her. "Of course! We''ve finished making all our fancy tools for this, now let''s go play with them!"

    They quickly found Felton, who had set up shop in a 10-foot wide break in the underbrush, bounded by several trees and still thoroughly shaded by the forest canopy above. A pair of royal guard gauntlets almost shoved themselves into Carlos and Amber''s hands the moment they arrived, and Felton clasped his hands and nodded to them. "A timely beginning, good. Lord Carlos and Lady Amber, let''s get down to business. As we have already established that the sabotage separates itself out when the runes are expanded for easy inspection, I kept these in their normal mode for operation. You confirmed the presence of micro-scale attention diversion before; what more can you determine now?"

    While Carlos immediately raised his gauntlet for close inspection, Amber hesitated and then asked a question first. "Did you succeed in learning to cast the analysis spell yourself, and what did it tell you?"

    Felton pressed his lips together and shook his head. "I learned it, but it gained me nothing. It found exactly the same information as the sabotaged gauntlets themselves report."

    Carlos raised an eyebrow at that. "Huh. Either the concealment is so good it simply outclasses the analyzer completely, which seems unlikely since we''ve still managed to sense it, or whoever designed this got clever."

    Amber nodded. "Of the options I can think of, the only one that makes sense is that the concealment includes something customized to counter this specific analysis spell."

    Felton added his agreement. "If so, that would be yet more evidence that the Enchanters Guild is responsible."

    The improvised wilderness magic workshop lapsed into silence as Carlos and Amber focused intently on the intricate enchantments in the items they held, with Felton waiting for them to find something worth speaking about. Carlos closed his eyes to better focus on his mana sense. He could feel much smaller details in the enchantment than before, thanks in part to being higher level, but primarily to having more specialized sensory soul structures. Before, he''d had a single comprehensive mana sensor for sensing all forms of mana in any quantity. Now, he had split that capability 3 ways, specializing separately to sense liquid mana, gaseous aether, and solid essence. On top of that, he had split the capability further into separate soul structures for sensing bulk amounts on large scales versus sensing fine details on small scales, for a total of 6 soul structures devoted to sensing the various forms of mana.

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    The specialization for sensing fine details was particularly relevant for studying such a compact and complex enchantment, but separating the senses for essence and aether also made it a great deal easier to pick out the enchantment''s structure from the background torrents of aether that he and Amber were constantly absorbing. Let''s see, there''s the analysis enchantment, and as expected, there''s the attention diversion reacting to my inspection of it. It''s trying to push my attention away from... Geeze, these filaments of essence are really fucking tiny! I actually can pick out two distinct threads of it there now, though.

    Carlos chuckled to himself. Heh. The closer I look at that thread, the harder it tries to push my attention away from it, which my copy of Ressara''s inverter turns into focusing on it even more. It''s still like looking at a spiderweb, but the spiderweb is glowing neon green on a black background. Now, can I tease out any meaning from this...

    He spent several minutes examining threads of essence and even identified a few keywords among the structure, but still had nothing useful when the effort started giving him a headache. He sat down and groaned, rubbing his forehead. "Ugh, this feels like trying to make up for the lack of a magnifying glass by looking so closely I go cross-eyed. No, wait, it''s more like I have a magnifying glass, but I need a better one."

    No one responded to Carlos''s comment, so he just took a deep breath and shook himself. "I need a different approach. Hmm..." He lapsed into silence, thinking to himself. This would be a lot easier if I could get it to expand for display like the main enchantment does. Actually, could I do that? He carefully grasped the hidden enchantment and tried to press it against the main one, hoping to hold them together as he triggered the display feature. For a brief instant, it seemed like it might work, but then the filaments of essence started slipping. He gripped harder, but the threads he was hoping to examine slipped out of his grasp. He sighed and gave up. I need the improved essence manipulation soul structure I''m working on today, higher level, or both for that to work.

    He looked over at Amber. She was doing something with Felton. The royal mage had cast a spell on the gauntlet, and Amber was examining how they interacted. With a closer look, Carlos quickly identified the spell as the same analysis spell that the enchantment duplicated.

    After another minute, Amber smiled and made a quiet exclamation of triumph. "Gotcha! It''s reacting to the Analyze spell by probing its structure, and when it touches certain key parts, it hooks into them and attaches some extra pieces that change how the spell works."

    "Intriguing." Felton smiled. "That implies an extreme mastery of understanding of the spell by the saboteur."

    Amber nodded, but then grimaced. "Yes, but I don''t have a lead yet on how to remove the sabotage. That''s your main goal for this, right?" Felton nodded, and Amber turned back to her gauntlet. "Then let''s keep trying."

    After a few more hours, Carlos called for a break. "We''ve managed to identify a few small parts of the sabotage, and I''m sure we can expand that with inferences from its structure and analyzing what would make sense for the finer details to be, but that will take time, and it will be easier with more power as we continue to advance. For now, I have a headache, and there''s something else we should check on. You''ll want to see it too."

    "Oh?" Felton raised an eyebrow. "Very well. For now, I am satisfied with your progress. What do you speak that we should check?"

    "You''ll see." Carlos led them on a brief search for first Trinlen and then Esmorana and asked her, "Are we near the place where you rescued us?"

    Esmorana smiled. "Near enough that a flight there would be swift. Why, do you want to revisit it?"

    "Yes, with our mage companions, here."

    Soon, they were looking out over an artificial clearing strewn with shards of shattered trees. Felton frowned as he inspected it up close, adding to his observations from their 2 flyovers before landing. "A battle occurred here not too long ago, certainly, but I don''t see anything important to reexamine."

    Carlos thinned his lips and shook his head. "Try casting a spell."

    Felton raised an eyebrow, then shrugged and exerted his mana. "What the-?" A large broken log rose into the air, lifted by his mana, but slowly and with noticeable shakiness. "What... What is this?"

    Carlos sighed. "The legacy of something I did during the battle. I''m glad to see it''s recovering. I was afraid the damage I''d done might be permanent. Two weeks ago, your spell would have failed outright. All spells would have, and runic enchanted items as well." He levitated a coin unsteadily in front of himself, looked at it for a few seconds, then grabbed it out of the air and pocketed it again. "Not mystic abilities like Esmorana''s wind control, though."

    "Troubling." Felton tried a few more spells, then took to the air with the Flying spell he''d already cast beforehand and paid close attention to how steady and easily-controlled his flight was. There were a few barely noticeable wobbles, and his frown deepened at each one. "I have heard of such a thing before, but only after battles far greater than this one. You say you caused it?"

    "Yes, and I intend to never do it again and to take the secret of how I did it to my grave. It is dangerous knowledge."

    Carlos and Felton stared intensely at each other for several seconds before Felton finally nodded. "Good. See to it that you do." He cocked his head, and a thoughtful look came over him. "If you devise a countermeasure, however, sharing that would be welcome."

 B2 Chapter 30: Royal Action

    As the day faded into twilight, Carlos and Amber settled in their shared tent and got out Sandaras''s spellbook for another look, now that their structures for perception and analysis were complete. Carlos cocked his head as he examined the lock spell again. "You know, I really have to stand by my initial assessment: that is a monstrous tangle of a spell. So many parts all interacting with each other in a hugely complex pattern."

    Amber laughed and shook her head helplessly. "I have to agree, but at least we can sense and distinguish the parts now." She sighed. "At this point, it all comes down to power, doesn''t it? That lock is made of extremely dense and powerful essence and mana, upwards of Level 40, I think. So are the royal guard enchantments. We''ll have to close some of the distance between that and our own power before we can really make good progress on picking out their details."

    Carlos shrugged. "Maybe so, but I''m not content to just wait for that. Relying on having a lot of power makes it a crutch, and there''s always someone with more power. We should keep working on deciphering these things, even with our current disadvantage. No matter how slow our progress, it can serve as practice at tackling problems that are above our level."

    Amber leaned back on her hands and looked at Carlos. "You are relentlessly optimistic and positive about this stuff. How do you do it?"

    Carlos blinked and stared back for a moment. "Me? You''re the one who recognized and seized the opportunity of a lifetime, even at the cost of throwing away your whole previous plan for your life, without even hesitating!"

    Amber blushed and mumbled something under her breath. She smiled weakly. "Thanks. Goodnight, and I''ll practice hard tomorrow." She deployed the tent''s divider and settled into her blankets.

    Carlos smiled tenderly, sighed, and followed suit.

    Two days later and far away in Kalor City, Prince Patrimmon Kalor, second child of King Elston, struggled to hide his boredom. He sat on a resplendent throne, his muscular body decked out in full formal attire: all orichalcum dark orange, of course: and surveyed the lesser nobles who filled most of the audience chamber. Ugh. Why do I have to bother with these petty affairs? Just let the nobles fight things out among themselves. He restrained a sigh once again and nodded to the herald at the doors to let in the next petitioner.

    "Announcing, High Lady Balon Briston, to petition the Crown for redress of grievances."

    "The rest of them are here with me." Lady Balon''s voice was coldly flat, biting off her words with barely restrained anger.

    The herald hesitated only momentarily. "Lady Balon, there are dozens of nobles here waiting. You will have to name them specifically."

    Lady Balon''s smile didn''t reach her eyes. "Very well, if you insist. Accompanying me in common cause for the same grievance are High Lord Uncher Kettet, High Lady Efam Stomren, High Lord Honwa Chold, Lord Torlar Vonmil, Lord Plara Facton..."

    Prince Patrimmon stopped listening as the list just kept going, and going, with more and more nobles filing in with their token guards to form a grim-faced crowd. I don''t care which nobles they are, but how many of them joined together is unusual. This might actually be interesting.

    When she finally stopped listing names, the herald looked out the door and blinked. "My apology, Lady Balon, I did not realize you meant your words literally that all of the other nobles waiting were with you. This is extraordinary."

    Another noble, Patrimmon didn''t catch who, chided the herald from the crowd. "Get on with it. We''re here on business."

    The herald gave a quick bow and hurried on to the next formality. "You may approach and speak your grievance. Prince Patrimmon will hear your petition on behalf of the Crown."

    Lady Balon strode forward, the other gathered nobles all marching in a tightly-packed crowd behind her. "This grievance is a matter for the Crown itself. I would speak with King Elston."

    Prince Patrimmon leveled a displeased glare at her, but she remained uncowed. "That is for me to decide, not you. Who has offended so many of you, and how? Speak."

    Lady Balon raised her eyes to meet his, returning his glare with defiance. "The Crown has denied us the ability to swiftly raise our scions to the levels needed to make use of our wellsprings. We demand that the restrictions against sending noble scions into the Wilds be lifted."

    The prince stared at her unblinking, remaining silent as he took in what she''d just said. Is she serious? A demand delivered to the Crown? Wait, she mentioned the Wilds. Is this... He shook his head. "Is this about the matter of the illegal and treasonous ''rotation agreement'' I''ve been hearing about recently?" He raised a hand to forestall her response. "No, don''t bother. This court is for grievances against other nobles, not against the Crown. The Crown''s rule is absolute and cannot be challenged. Unless you wish for your house to be destroyed, accept your place and abandon this foolishness at once."

    Lady Balon''s lips thinned for a moment before she spoke again, still defiant. "If that is the Crown''s answer, then so be it, but you are not the Crown. A decision of such import properly belongs only to your father, King Elston Kalor himself."

    Prince Patrimmon lifted off from his throne, moving by the power of his will alone, then straightened to loom threateningly over the crowd. "Are you questioning the Crown''s decision in delegating the authority for this court to me? Consider carefully. You are one wrong word from being arrested."

    Lady Balon glared back at him for several tense seconds, then without another word turned and walked away. The other nobles accompanying her stepped aside to clear her path, then turned and followed her out, their marching footsteps the only sound in the entire audience chamber until the door closed behind the last of them.

    Outside the chamber, Lady Balon took a deep breath and shook her head. "Well, that could have gone better."

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    Two more days after Lady Balon''s ill-fated attempt at working out a compromise with the uncompromising Crown, Carlos and Amber woke up with a new task ahead of them. Carlos took stock mentally before even moving from his position of slumber. All 10 slots are filled with superstructures now. There''s the soul-themed one: my own soul, to be specific: then mind, IDE, perception, understanding/analysis, casting spells, controlling spells, empowering spells, and connecting self-buffing spells to myself to be as effective as soul structures. Each and every one of them formed of 13 basic structures, but disguised so external scans see just 4 supers from Tier 10 down to Tier 7 at our current level of 22 and a batch of 6 basics filling the other space.

    And then there''s the original, which is formed of only 10 structures and is now wholly redundant, all of its components duplicated in one or another of the other superstructures. I''m not sure whether it''s better to edit that in place or scrap and rebuild it from scratch, but either way, today it''s getting replaced with a royal-tier superstructure themed for countering interference for our spells.

    He yawned and stretched. And when that''s done, our entire soul plan will at last be complete, just in time for moving day. He chuckled quietly. We''ll be all out of excuses to not go practice and get experience with how to fight with our magic. Hmm. We should pick the next campsite with an eye toward having some good hunting grounds nearby, close enough for Purple to extend his domain into them. If we have to leave his domain to practice properly, it will significantly reduce our leveling speed.

    Carlos sighed and sat up, casting off his warm blanket. "Alright, time to get up. Let''s see how many more keywords of the sabotage enchantment we can decipher this time."

    Meanwhile, in a far distant city, a young woman dressed in dark orange walked up to the imposing front gate of a sprawling castle. Stone and steel towered above her, looming menacingly and adorned with powerful enchantments, but she ignored the implied threat. After all, she could dismantle the entire castle, enchantments and all, with her bare hands if she wanted to.

    She pounded her fist on the gate 3 times, carefully holding back to merely make a loud noise rather than tear the gate from its heavy hinges. The sound of her knocks was still echoing when a viewing slit opened 10 feet up and a voice called out from inside. "State your name and business here."

    Suddenly, the young woman was hovering in the air, looking back through the slit at the same level. "Princess Lornera Kalor, here to see High Lord Recindril Tostral on a matter of import to the Crown. Bring him to me at once, or me to him, I don''t care which."

    The guard hesitated, but an immense pressure suddenly emanated from the princess, and he leaped to obey. The heavy gate slowly swung open, and Lornera deigned to descend to land and actually walk as he beckoned her to follow.

    They had only walked a short distance when another voice called out from around a corner. "What''s all that racket about? You should know better than to make so much noise, it''s annoying!" The speaker of this complaint came into view, and the guard paused and bowed.

    "My apology, Lady Jamar, but�C"

    Lornera interrupted. "''Lady''

    Jamar? Has something happened to Lord Recindril, his heir Recindren, and both of his other 2 children? My latest information is that Jamar Tostral is not yet fully adult, much less the head of her house."

    Jamar''s face flushed red, and she put her right hand on the hilt of one of her sheathed swords. "Who are you to dare disrespect me? My father will hear of this!"

    Lornera just raised an eyebrow and smirked at her. "I''d think the color of my regalia would be enough of a clue. Don''t you?"

    Jamar did a double take and gaped. "What? You�C The Crown!? But�C"

    A sudden overwhelming intangible pressure forced Jamar to her knees, and Lornera picked her up by the back of her shirt. "Your father will indeed hear of this, but I think not in the manner you want. And after this insult, I am done with showing your house respect." She glanced aside at the guard who''d been leading her. "You may return to your post. I will find Lord Recindril myself."

    Lornera lifted off from the ground, still dangling Jamar from her right hand, and extended her senses outward. There was some minor resistance from wards meant to block spying magic, but she pushed through them with ease and located the castle''s lord in moments. Barely a heartbeat later, she had flown through the halls to the chamber in question: a large room well-equipped for exercise and fencing: and opened the door.

    High Lord Recindril Tostral, with commendable reflexes, was already facing the door when Lornera opened it. He took in her appearance and cargo with a quick glance and frowned. "Princess, what is the meaning of this? Why are you here, and why have you captured Jamar?"

    Princess Lornera casually tossed Jamar on the ground between them. "It appears that you have been neglectful in raising your 4th child, Recindril. Did you know that she has your guards trained to call her by a noble title she does not yet have, for fear of punishment for ''disrespecting'' her? And she didn''t even bother to observe my plainly obvious regalia before admonishing me for disrespecting her as well."

    Recindril gave his daughter a hard look, then shook his head and returned his attention to Lornera. "Be that as it may, you came here for a different reason."

    "You hired the Black Blades."

    Recindril scoffed. "You''re guessing. Even they do not know who hires them, by their own design. And even if true, that is hardly a crime."

    "To soul-kill a high noble who is under the direct protection of the Crown."

    Recindril froze. "What? Carlos..."

    Lornera smiled grimly. "High Lord Carlos Founder, of common background, was given temporary Crown protection in light of his lack of existing resources, as per long-established, if rarely-invoked, Crown policy. Captain Granlan was exceedingly cooperative about helping track you down once he learned he''d been hired to commit treason. And speaking of treason, you can thank neglected Jamar, there, for speaking of the rotation agreement in the direct personal presence of two royal guards."

    "But�C" Jamar, eyes wide and face blanched almost white, tried to object from the floor, but Recindril interrupted her with a barked command.

    "Silence! You have done too much damage already, Jamar." He returned his attention to Lornera. "What do you intend to do? I was not aware of their Crown protection when I gave the order."

    "Hmm." Lornera glanced down at Jamar again. "I was considering being lenient, but it seems your negligence is habitual, not an exception. Taking Jamar might be doing you a favor. I''ll take Recindren instead."

    Jamar sprang to her feet and yelled. "What? We''re a high house! You can''t just bully�C"

    Lornera slapped Jamar''s head so violently that Jamar flew into the wall behind her and collapsed, blood beginning to pool around her. "Perhaps when she respawns, she will have learned some small part of the lessons you have failed to give her. Now, for Recindren."

    Recindril raised the sword he''d been holding the whole time. "Taking my heir is too much. Be reasonable."

    Lornera looked at his raised sword for a moment, then shook her head with a wry smile. "You just volunteered to be our example for everyone about the rotation agreement." She moved faster than he could react, and suddenly Recindril''s head was flying through the air, separated from his neck by her hand that had become a blade.

    Seconds later, Princess Lornera was looking down on the castle from the height of a cloud. As she curled up into a ball and took aim, she reflected to herself. It''s always amused me that no one has guessed how the Crown makes craters. It''s so simple, but no one even considers the idea of slamming yourself into the ground at high speed as an attack. To be fair, for people less durable than us, it would likely be suicide.

    She began to descend, picking up speed rapidly as she became a human cannonball. The tricky part will be calibrating this to leave the wellspring''s containment intact. That, and leaving Recindren alive to take hostage from the scattered remains of his former home.

 B2 Chapter 31: Noble Reaction

    High Lord Recindril Tostral took a moment to get his bearings after respawning, but once the memory of how he died came back, he was unsurprised to find himself not in his normal bedroom at Castle Tostral. Lornera said she would make an example of us; she would not have stopped at just making me respawn. Losing a level is a significant penalty, since I am beyond the level where wellsprings could restore it quickly, but hardly enough to give other noble houses pause. He shook his head and sighed. No, I expect Castle Tostral is gone, reduced to a scattered pile of shattered stones.

    Well, eventualities such as this are why we have this backup home. He got out of the bed he''d respawned on and quickly threw on some clothes, followed by armor. He was buckling his sword belt on when the door to his room was unceremoniously flung open, and an angry teenage girl stormed in. "That bitch! How dare she! Father�C"

    Recindril leapt forward, flung his daughter to the floor, and landed with his armored boot on her chest and a drawn sword at her throat. "Silence!"

    The girl''s face paled and her eyes widened in utter shock.

    Recindril slowly withdrew his sword and sheathed it, but kept his boot on her for now. "Jamar, it is clear to me now that I have been far too uninvolved with your upbringing and far too trusting in your word. You knew that Carlos was ignorant of the rotation agreement, but you led me to believe that he was knowingly violating it instead. You told me that he was from a minor house, when in fact you knew nothing of his background. You rashly confronted him with shockingly little information, and as a result carelessly revealed to the Crown a secret that the nobility have been scrupulously keeping for generations.

    "And when the consequences of that finally came back to visit themselves upon you, your first reaction was indignant anger?" He glared at her. "You are self-absorbed beyond reason, almost beyond sanity. My apology for the rough treatment, but you must understand that you have brought this upon yourself by your own actions."

    Jamar sniffled and tried to blink away some tears as she stammered. "But, but�C You''re supposed to take my side."

    Recindril sighed and stepped back, allowing her to sit up. "Then you have learned nothing. This is not a matter of sides. This is a matter of you reaping the consequences of your own mistakes." He contemplated in silence for a few seconds. "I will take up arms against the Crown, as you want, but I do not do it for your sake. I do it because I have no other choice. Heed my words well, Jamar: Your recklessness may have doomed our entire house to ruination. I will have to consider what to do with you. Until I have decided, you will be confined to your room. And since you have proven I cannot trust you..."

    He raised his voice and called for a guard, who arrived promptly and bowed. "Escort Jamar to her quarters. Ensure she does not stray, and station a guard to keep her there until further notice. Instruct all personnel that, by my own direct order, Jamar is stripped of all authority."

    "Yes, my lord!" The guard saluted, took hold of Jamar''s left arm, and sternly marched her off.

    Recindril stared after her, long after her sullen figure had gone out of sight, then at long last shook his head again. "I need to figure out how to spin this for all the other houses." He chuckled humorlessly. "Maybe I should ask Jamar for advice on that. She is evidently quite skilled at spinning things, if nothing else."

    He started walking, considering his next steps as he walked. First, check on Recindren''s room just in case. Lornera probably captured him alive, but there''s a chance she might have killed him by accident. Whether she has a hostage against me will affect the politics of this.

    Hours later, Recindril had a slight spring in his step despite his grim countenance as he came to check on Jamar. Lady Balon of House Briston was gratifyingly receptive to my call for action, and a surprisingly large number of others aligned with her. It seems the reports of her audience with Prince Patrimmon were understated, if anything, not the exaggerations I initially thought. We must move carefully and prepare, but it seems the Crown has grown complacent and utterly out of touch with the concerns of the noble class. We fear the Crown''s power, yes, but we fear being reduced to nigh-helplessness even more. Patrimmon is too arrogant by far or a fool if he can''t see that.

    He stopped and nodded to the guard at Jamar''s door. "Report. How is she taking this?"

    The guard bowed deeply. "Poorly, my lord. Scion Jamar has thrown and smashed several of her room''s furnishings, and she yelled a series of vindictive rants for more than an hour. She tried several times to order me to release her, and one time even attempted to physically force her way past me. She seemed rather shocked when I stopped her."

    Recindril nodded. "That fits with her earlier behavior. What did she rant about?"

    "Well, my lord, at first she cast aspersions on your character, parentage, and competence as a parent."

    "Drop the sugarcoating. I need to know exactly what I''m dealing with, here."

    "Yes, my lord. Jamar called you a cruel heartless bastard, said you had failed your parental duties, accused you of stabbing her in the back with a foul betrayal, and called you a lying traitor for ''siding with'' the Crown after all the times you''ve said hostile things about the Crown."

    Recindril sighed. "It seems that I have failed my parental duties by not teaching her better than this before now." He gave the guard a sharp look. "There''s more, isn''t there?"

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    "Yes, my lord. After she got on the topic of the Crown, Jamar went on quite a tirade about Princess Lornera''s arrogance, rudeness, and disrespect. She called her a bitch, and several other things I''d rather not repeat." The guard shook his head. "Jamar seemed to give up on that topic eventually, I think because she knows that the Crown is beyond her ability to punish. Instead, she''s settled on blaming Carlos for everything. The last time I checked on her, she was going on at length about all the various things she wants to do to Carlos to punish him for ruining her life."

    "Blaming Carlos, hmm?" Recindril cocked his head for a moment, thinking. What I really need right now is just to keep her from causing any more trouble, until I can spare the time and attention to properly correct her education. He nodded. "I can work with that. Stand aside."

    Recindril opened the door and stepped in, unsurprised by the torrent of invective that greeted him. Jamar''s swearing trailed off quickly as she realized who had come to visit, and he seized the moment of silence before she could decide which new reaction to settle on. "Jamar, I hear you want to punish Carlos. How would you like to command the force I''m about to send to hunt him down?"

    He met her beaming smile with a milder grin of his own, keeping any hint of his thoughts out of his expression. A figurehead command position, of course, and she''ll never catch up enough to actually reach him if the speculative report about Carlos heading for a wellspring is correct. He has too much of a head start by now; by the time Jamar is even able to survive the ambient mana where Carlos is, he''ll have already claimed the wellspring. This should serve perfectly to keep her out of trouble without having to forcibly constrain her.

    Carlos woke up uncharacteristically early, eager for the day''s planned activities. Finally, we''ll get some practical field experience! And I''ll get to try out using my multiple minds for something other than making yet another set of soul structures! Hell yes!

    He sprang up, threw some clothes on, and set about industriously packing for their move. He barely even noticed Amber watching him with an amused smile on her lips as he left her nothing to do.

    He waited for Felton to teleport Kindar to safety, then scooped up Purple for their flight. He idly inspected the dungeon core while Esmorana called up a fierce wind to fill the sail of her... What do we even call this thing, anyway? Neither airship nor airplane fit. It''s kind of like a multi-person reverse parachute, I guess? With seats? Whatever we call it, maybe we''ll be able to use Fly spells instead next time. He shook his head and refocused on the purple crystal in his hands. Closing in on 3 inches tall, I think, though not quite there yet, and half that wide and thick. Getting to be inconveniently large for carrying in a pocket, anyway.

    Amber''s mental voice interrupted his ruminations. [You''re almost bouncing in your seat with eagerness, but have you made any actual plans for this? If so, you haven''t shared them with me.]

    Carlos blushed and hung his head. [Plans. Right. Plans would be good. Um. Well, to start with, we should test the limits of our current capabilities. The ones that are readily testable, at least. Like how many parallel minds we can support. Our limit for that was 3 minds when we initially created that structure at Level 16.]

    [4 minds.] Amber responded almost immediately. [I can have 4 minds at once now that we''re Level 22, though the fourth one takes some extra effort.] Overlapping with that statement, another thought came over their mental link at the same time. [The real question is how useful the extra minds can be now. I managed to activate a pre-prepared spell with purely mental effort before, but casting without verbalization was too much.]

    It took Carlos a moment to sort out and separate the concurrent mental conversations, but ultimately it was just a variant of focusing on one conversation while in the presence of other active conversations. He focused on the 2 conversations with 2 of his minds, and the obvious next step immediately sprang to mind for his second mind. [spell begin; use mana =...]

    Amber''s mental voice spoke in concert with his, each of them casting the same spell in unison with only their minds and mana. Carlos''s third mind watched in fascination as the process played out. Each mentalized word prompted a tiny piece of essence to be formed into the corresponding part of a spell structure, the pieces were assembled, some parts were duplicated or even mass produced as if by a factory assembly line, and finally the whole of it was put together and his spell activator pressed the triggers to set its operation in motion. White light bloomed above his right hand, and simultaneously above Amber''s hand, as they each completed the spell.

    [That''s still more difficult than speaking it, but it''s possible now.]

    Carlos nodded in agreement. [Yeah, and I think I could race through it mentally faster than I could form the right sounds verbally. It''s not at the point of just invoking the spell like a compiled program on a computer, but we''re getting closer to that, at least.]

    They experimented a bit more during the flight, but aside from verifying that they could cast multiple spells simultaneously, most things would need a more practical field exercise for a truly meaningful test.

    Soon, they were circling over a potential landing site, with Haftel pointing out relevant features. [Level 29 aether, suitable for Ressara without special measures. That small clearing over there would be good for positioning Kindar as a decoy. Esmorana detects plentiful game and a fair number of predators in the jungle nearby to the east, good for practicing your hunting and combat skills. And it''s a bit obscured by all the trees, but there''s a steep hill right below us. Putting your dungeon core in the side of that hill would be a more defensible position than most.]

    Carlos looked at each of the spots Haftel pointed at. The clearing was obvious, of course, but aside from that all he could see from above was a thick canopy of leaves and tree branches. [Sounds good. Let''s do it.]

    In short order, Carlos was looking at a 60-degree slope and whistling. "You weren''t kidding about it being steep!" He placed the purple crystal he was holding into the side of the hill. "Alright, Purple, do your thing. As we planned."

    The crystal pulsed with purple light, and a web of mana and hair-thin strands of essence flowed out into the surrounding area. The web focused its expansion in a few specific directions, and the currents of aether changed. The change was subtle at first, a slight increase in orderliness and reduction of chaotic randomness, but grew stronger quickly in the nearby area.

    Unlike the previous times they had done this, however, the web kept expanding, growing to cover a vastly larger expanse. For the first time, Carlos''s soul structures specialized for sensing large scale bulk movements of mana, essence, and aether got a proper workout. Before this, he had sensed only the natural background and actions on the scale of a single localized fight. The web he sensed Purple emplacing now was miles across, and all of the more distant parts of it got more subtle, rather than less, as it all settled into place. The outer regions hid themselves, but most importantly concealed the stream of blatantly hyper-ordered aether that was coming from the clearing to fuel their continued advancement.

    Carlos''s jaw dropped open as he stared in wonder with his various mana senses. "Wow, Purple. I had no idea. That''s amazing!"