Eric followed her through, letting all of his Skills drop while keeping Cinderscale Shroud active. He walked for a few moments through the white void of space, then appeared back in the Twilight Depths Consortium lounge. A few dungeon divers were at couches on the periphery, relaxing. The spies who were assigned to the four Summoned were lounging in the corner, pretending to be drinking and sharing old stories of dungeon diving glories long past, but their eyes locked onto the duo.
Eric went right for Bortis’ office and knocked.
“Come in,” the man replied from behind the door.
Eric opened it and walked inside. The Chancellor was sitting behind his desk, looking at paperwork, and when he looked up, he jumped a bit. “Chancellor,” Eric said as he pulled his hood back and willed the draconic visage to recede from that part of his body.
“Ah, knight-errant,” Bortis replied. The man looked like he had aged a year in the past few days. “You’re here to drop off our split?”
“Naomi has all of that,” Eric replied as he walked over to a wall and leaned against it. “How goes things here in the lower city?”
Bortis’ face slipped into a grimace. “Shitty. The different criminal organizations all losing their leaders and second-in-commands has led to a lot of infighting and smaller factions popping up.” He scratched his head. “I’ve had one depths of a time trying to keep them from devolving into all out war in the lower-city.”
Eric grimaced at that, and as Naomi walked into the room, he said, “Well, perhaps I can help.”
Bortis looked at Naomi and his eyes lit up with curiosity. “That armor is quite interesting.”
“It’s a Skill,” Naomi replied as she opened her pack and began pulling out ashes. “Not many monsters on the fifth floor.”
Bortis’ eyes went wide. “Already?” He looked at Eric for confirmation, and Eric nodded. “You have been progressing rapidly then.”
“We have been,” Eric replied. “Wild dungeons have helped, as well as helping Persim save the kingdom from its corruption.”
Bortis nodded and sat back in his chair, twisting his pen in his fingers. “Well, I might ask True Stalk—sorry, that’s not her Class, is it?”
Good question, Eric thought. I haven’t asked them about what their upgraded versions are called.
[Naomi is a Makerspark Inventor now, Peter is a Truesteel Templar, and Naomi is a Netherdark Hunter.]
Ah, thank you, Eric thought back.
Then he cleared his throat and replied. “She can tell you her highest Class name if she wants.” Eric peered out into the lounge, and saw Shannon and Peter quietly conversing with their assigned spies. “Hey, you two, come over here.”
Shannon came over first, and Bortis gestured for her to come further inside. “Please, come in. And shut the door behind you.” The man pulled a Silence Node out of his desk drawer and set it down. Once Peter had entered and the door was shut, he activated the deafening device. “You all are assholes,” he said as he clasped his hands. “Do you know how terrified I was during that warehouse fight?”
Peter chuckled. “Dude, come on, we didn’t hurt you.”
Bortis shook his head. “The lower-city is going through it. I can’t force you to do anything, but you helped start this mess, and the Spymaster has bigger things going on—dealing with taking out the rest of Alp and Trisha’s malcontents across the kingdom.” He tapped the table with his pen. “Tenebria is struggling, and aside from calling in the army to occupy the lower-city . . . I’m running out of options.” He stood up. “I could pay dungeon divers to help clean things up, however they lead to collateral damage most of the time. I . . . throw myself on your good auspices. Clean up the fucking mess you made.”
Shannon crossed her arms. “What’s in it for us?”
Bortis shot her a glare. “You owe me.”
“We don’t owe you anything,” Naomi replied as she put her pack away. “We saved the kingdom from its corruption. We’re working on fixing the big-picture issues.”
Bortis sighed and rubbed one hand on his face, then let it fall to his side. “You all are young, and have a lot to learn about Elyndor.”
Eric interrupted, “I’ll help out. It’s my duty as knight-errant to protect the kingdom.” He looked at his allies. “You all can do what you want.”
The Chancellor smiled at that. “Ah, well, thank you, Eric, for offering.” His eyes shot over to Shannon. “I was hoping for your help, though, since I know you are stealthy. I . . . ahem, there will always be criminals. The best we can do is eliminate the ones that are really problematic.”
Shannon dropped her defensive Skill and Eric saw the frown on her face. “Not happening. Sorry.” She pointed at Eric. “He’s the crown’s executioner. I’m not an assassin. I can take them captive if you promise they’ll get an actual trial.”
Eric added, “She’s right. Mark them as targets of the crown, and then give me information on how to find them. I’ll bring them to justice. Or, have her go about snagging them.”
Peter leaned into Eric’s shoulder and whispered, “I should be doing it instead. I can do nonlethal and bring them in.”
“True,” Eric whispered back. Then, louder, he said, “Peter can bring them in for proper justice to be meted out as well. But, it’s your call.”
Bortis sat down. “As Chancellor, my duty is directly to the Queen, and then my secondary function is the managing of the lower- and middle-city. I will speak to her directly, and once she gives me guidance, I will send a message.” He grabbed his Silence Node and deactivated it. “Oh, what are your Classes now?”
Eric said, “Blackflame Evoker,” but, knowing he had to keep up appearances, he chose to add in a question. “Will people refer to me as that or knight-errant? Normally, I thought it was custom to have people use the highest or most prestigious Class name when talking to someone.”
Bortis chuckled. “Normally that is true. Chancellor is my highest Class, but then you have people like you or our new Steward, who don’t have a Class suited for the role, yet carry a title that denotes a higher position of that Class. Most people will refer to you as a knight-errant, without your name being involved, as you are the only one.”
Peter said, “Well, I’m a Templar.”
Bortis raised an eyebrow at that. “Going religious on us? I wasn’t expecting that.”
Naomi turned and opened the door. “I’ve got shit to do. See you all later. I’ll get the Ashes refined.” She departed.
Eric looked back after her, then looked at Bortis. “Consult the Queen, and notify me of the decision as to the lower-city problem.” He followed Naomi and caught up to her. Their two assigned spies peeled off from the lounge and tailed the two as they headed to Mama K’s. “That was brisk,” Eric commented. “You in a hurry to go somewhere?”
Naomi looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “I just want to process it all and move on.”
“Fair enough,” Eric replied. “We get the refining and your crafting knocked out, and then have our free time.” He held the door to Mama K’s open for her, and followed her in, leaving their spy escort outside. “I guess you want to work more on your rail system setup?”
Naomi cracked a smile. “Exactly that.”
The door at the far end opened and Mama K came out. She looked tired, but perked up once she saw Eric and Naomi. “Ah, you two. Heroes of the kingdom. Where’s the other two?”
The door behind Eric and Naomi opened, and their remaining allies came in. “Hi, Mama K,” Peter said as he waved.
The Refiner dipped her head. “Good to see you all hale and healthy. Here to get some Monster Parts sorted?”
Naomi walked over to a table and began dumping out the Ashes. “Not a lot, thanks to some stupid glass creatures.”
Mama K clicked her tongue and came over to inspect the Ashes. “Shame, that. Well, these will compress down to Rare Components, minus the big one on your right—that’ll be Remarkable. Two of the former, one of the latter, after my cut.”
Naomi sighed and nodded. “Yeah, I figured.”
Eric looked over at Peter and Shannon, who were both whispering to one another. “What are you up to?” he asked.
The duo looked back at Eric, and Peter, with a shit-eating grin, said, “It’s a surprise.”
I really dislike those, Eric thought.
Shannon added, “It’s something to do with being at home with our spouses.”
Eric just nodded and looked back to the interaction between Naomi and Mama K. To Eric’s surprise, their Makerspark Inventor was pulling out a ton of the Rare Components. Eric went over and asked, “What are you doing?”
“We’re trading up,” Naomi replied. “Rare Components are only Tier three in equivalent Gear creation. We want Tier five and higher for durability—that means we need Exceptional.”
Mama K winked at Eric and added, “It’s a good deal. All of this for forty Exceptional Components.”
Naomi then said, “That means we can each have a piece of Gear that is Tier five once I use my Skills on them.”
“Sounds like a good deal,” Peter said as he walked over. “Shannon and I are going to head out and get some stuff for tonight’s surprise. You two okay together?”
“I am,” Eric replied. Naomi echoed the sentiment, and their two allies departed. “It’s nice not having to constantly be near each other,” Eric added as they left.
Mama K headed to the back and waved for the duo to follow her. “No more hiding, eh? I won’t have to let you lot use my lounge?”
“Not anymore,” Naomi relied as the duo followed Mama K into that space, then through that into her living quarters.
Eric was not familiar with this bit of space, but knew the general setup was what many in the Twilight Depths Concourse had in the back of their shop space—more rooms carved out of the stone and set to purposes. Mama K led the duo to a massive, metal, locked door, and she produced three keys from various pockets to unlock the object, then slid it open. “Wait here a moment,” the woman ordered as she slipped inside the room.
Eric waited patiently, but Naomi was tapping her foot, and muttered, “Come on.”
Eric nudged her ribs with his elbow. “Hey. You’ll have plenty of time.”
Naomi shot a glare his direction, which then softened. “Fuck, this power does things to me when I know my workshop is nearby.”
Mama K came out with a bulging burlap sack and handed it to Naomi. “Strong Classes do have that effect on people,” she softly said. She then patted Naomi’s shoulder and gestured to the door for the duo to depart. “But even holding one means you are going to be a force of nature in whatever may come.”
Eric knew that the woman was speaking extremely true words. The most powerful of Classes, deepest in the library of The Paths, could absolutely distort a person’s personality—not completely or in a corrupting way, but shifts and alterations nonetheless. As he followed Naomi to the front door, he looked back at Mama K. “If you don’t mind me asking . . . what are your Classes?”
Mama K smiled at that. “Well, my first one was Refiner, and I’ve kept that ever since. Granted, it’s called something else now that I’m up in my mid-four-hundreds. My other two are a secret.”
She is very powerful, Eric thought. Four-hundreds in her primary Class? That is incredible, given her age. But, I suppose if she is one of the main Refiners that the Consortium uses, she hits milestones very regularly. Maybe not too surprising, then.
Eric held the door for Naomi and as his ally waved her goodbye, Eric said, “Thanks for indulging my curiosity.”
“Always a pleasure to help the knight-errant of Trok,” Mama K said.
Eric and Naomi departed, and their two spies shadowed them from twenty feet back. The duo headed up the Concourse ramp, out of the crevasse, and into the middle-city. Naomi was busy looking through the bag of Components, and Eric had to nudge her to the left or right to avoid others walking in the street.
“Hey! Get ov—”
Eric turned to the shout and saw Dawn, the Spy assigned to him, had pounced on a woman and pinned her to the ground: one hand on the back of her neck, the other pinning her wrist which held a dagger. Eric immediately went over to Dawn and asked, “What happened?”
“Someone who is pissed,” she growled back as she struggled with the now-cursing potential attacker.
“Were they coming for us?” Eric asked.
“Not sure,” Dawn replied. “But daggers out in the streets? Not risking it.”
The woman shouted, “Get off me!”
Eric knelt and got the knife out of the woman’s hand, then looked up. Naomi had paused in her travel to watch, but the spy accompanying her had gotten up behind the Summoned and seemed to be keeping a flanking guard position. Eric turned his attention back to the woman on the ground. “Why are you baring steel in the street?”
“I’ll cut off your cock, you ass!”
Dawn tutted. “Tsk. Manners, girlie, or my hand might slip and you could get a nasty face injury.”
Eric put the woman’s knife into a loop of his belt and then met Dawn’s eyes. “What do you want to do with her?”
“We’ll wait for guards,” Dawn replied. “Then she goes into custody.”
Eric looked back at the still-struggling but growing-exhausted woman. “What do you have against me?”
She managed to get an eye into a spot to look at him, and Eric saw the hatred there. She growled out, “You killed my husband!”
Eric’s lips tightened and he stood up. “I only killed three innocent people, which was verified by a Skill. Your husband wasn’t among them.” He looked at Dawn. “Attempted assassination on the knight-errant—what’s the punishment for that?”
Dawn looked up at him, and voice flat, said, “Execution I’d imagine. It’s the same as attempting to take the life of a small council member.”
Eric felt a tension in his chest, and looked at Naomi. She had a neutral expression on her face, and Eric just waved her off. “Head back home. I’ll catch up with you later.” Naomi dipped her head and moved down the boulevard and past the now-gawking crowd, her assigned spy shadowing her.
Guards began to arrive—four of them, dressed in steel half-plate and wielding one-handed spears. Dawn said, “One to take into custody. Attempted assassination of the knight-errant.”
Two of the guards handed their spears to their fellows, and one of those two grabbed a set of irons from his belt and affixed them around the woman’s wrists. Then, they hauled her up, and Eric got a good look at her. She was at least in her mid-thirties, with a scar along her neck that looked like it might have come from a severe rope burn.
The woman glared at him with defiance, and spit at him, but thanks to his new nervous system, he easily dodged. “Burn in the depths, you shit-stain of a person!” she shouted as she fought against the guards who kept her subdued.
Dawn pulled her hood back up and walked over to Eric. She lowered her voice and whispered, “We should move on.”
“No,” Eric replied. He looked at the guards. “I want to accompany her to your jail and speak to the person in charge.”
The two obeyed his orders and Eric followed them, with Dawn at his side, and the other two of the four guards following behind. The crowd that had formed to see what the commotion was about had dissipated, and as Eric walked through several intersections and went into a guard station, he contemplated his options.
There’s going to be a lot of people who are like this woman, he thought, who are pissed off that I dealt with a friend or family member of theirs who was involved in the Admiral or Steward’s operations.
[Such is the nature of your actions. Consequences.]
Eric swallowed down the small knot that had formed in his throat and as the woman was put into a temporary holding cell and her shackles chained to a rivet in the ceiling, forcing her to stand—not uncomfortably, but restricting movement—he said, “Where did your husband work?”
The woman had tears of anger flowing down her face and she all but screamed, “Deepwater Hold! He was a midshipman on the Admiral’s flagship! You fucker stole everything from me!”
“What was his name?” Eric asked, softening his tone.
That tone shift seemed to catch her off guard, and she replied in a quieter voice, saying, “Barthlomew.”
Eric knew the man from his prior timeline. He was on the Fist of the North for years while Eric sailed around with Trisha. The man had no kids, just a wife. Digging through his Paths Within and all of the conversations with the man, Eric dredged up her name. Then, he looked at her, stared past her, faking a vision, and said, “Patricia. That’s your name, isn’t it?”
The woman’s eyes went wide and her voice trembled as she said, “How do you know that?”
Eric stared into her eyes. “You have no children, no dependents—your husband was everything to you. I am sorry that he got himself involved in the corrupt former-Admiral’s operations, but his punishment was deserved and warranted. Did you know he was trading people? Literally helping with the slave trade?”
Patricia’s anger seemed to vanish, and she whispered, “You’re lying.”
“You can doubt me if you want,” Eric replied. “I will ask whoever is responsible for meting out punishment to not sentence you to death. That is the only mercy I will give you.” He turned and walked past Dawn, out of the small cell area, and found a guard with a gold stripe on his pauldron. “What’s the justice process here?”
The guard looked at Eric, then glanced at Dawn, then back to Eric. “Normally, knight-errant, we have everyone in the cell taken to the middle-city courts for trial on the morrow. If you can write a statement about what happened, we’ll pass it along.” He looked at Dawn. “You too, miss.”
“Paper, then, please,” Eric said. He accepted the item and a gravity-fed pen and jotted down the events, the woman’s name, the fact that her husband had died in Eric’s assault on the Admiral’s flagship, and noted down a plea for clemency. “No death,” he said as he handed the guard the finished written report. “Imprisonment for reformation, if you can pass that along.”
Dawn put her slip of paper down, and then tapped Eric’s elbow. She whispered, “We should talk and head back.”
Eric stood up and after hearing the guard’s affirmation, headed out of the station and made course for the main boulevard. “What did you want to speak about?” Eric asked.
Dawn kept a foot behind him and to his left. She said, “I think that it is unwise to show mercy to those who will be seeking your throat. You’ve made a lot of enemies with your actions.”
“She didn’t do anything to me,” Eric replied. “Especially with your quick intervention.”
“That was one attacker,” Dawn said as she walked up to Eric’s left side to be directly next to him. “If there are multiple, then keeping you alive is riskier.”
“I have a contingent Skill,” Eric replied. “Any lethal strike will cause it to activate.”
“That makes my job easier,” Dawn muttered. “Wish you had told me about it.”
Eric cracked a smile at that. “I need to keep foes off guard, yes?” He then sighed and looked at the woman, meeting her eyes. “Can you assign yourself to protect my wife? I might have contingent Skills, and be able to fend for myself, but Misty cannot as readily.”
“If those are your orders.”
Eric raised a quizzical brow at that. “I thought you reported to the Spymaster.”
Dawn shrugged. “Why waste my time protecting someone who doesn’t need protecting? I’m already doing something I don’t normally do—shadowing to protect instead of scout, infiltrate, or assassinate. Honestly, I don’t know who has higher rank—you or the Spymaster.”
Eric pushed mana into the rod-earring connecting him to the Queen. “Pardon me, Queen Tremaunt.”
After a few seconds of continued walking and patience, Amber’s voice came back to his ear, and it sounded as if she was right over his shoulder softly talking to him. “Yes, Eric?”
“Who has higher authority over kingdom operatives? Me, or the Spymaster?”
Amber replied, “You are my right hand, but she controls her spy corps. Why?”
Eric looked at Dawn. “I’d like to reassign my bodyguard to my wife. I don’t need the extra protection in Tenebria—I have contingent Skills.”
“Very well. I’ll advise Persim of your wishes to support your decision. Also, I have a question for you.”
“Ask away,” Eric replied.
“There is an event tomorrow evening that I would like your presence at. A small meeting with a delegation from the Allied Cities of Chisholm.”
“Just send a servant along to fetch me,” Eric replied. “I should be at home.”
“Excellent. Take care, then. Until tomorrow.”
Eric let the mana flow cease and looked at Dawn once more. “Your boss will be given the orders. Go ahead and find my wife.”
Dawn dipped her head and then slipped off into a side street.
***
Eric reached the Summoned estate a short time later and immediately made for Naomi’s workshop. He did not see her upon entering, and was about to speak aloud, when the trap-door leading down deeper popped open. Naomi climbed up the ladder and when she was standing upright, said, “Ready to get crafting?”
“Yeah,” he replied as he went over to the workbench. “We’ve got ten Exceptional Components each, and our Tier five Dungeon Cores.” Eric pulled the latter item out and set it on the table.
Naomi came over and tapped something under the table, then sat down. “Well, what did you want to do?” She then reached to her left, into her Storage Dimension, and withdrew the bag of Components.
“Honestly,” Eric said as he reached under the shelf and pulled the seat out. “I think we should use the Dungeon Core on my Tarrasque Nervous System. Only problem there is that I don’t know how we do that. With the Mana Skin, I just had to be nude, and you did something to fuse it into the Body Enhancement.”
Naomi looked down at her bracer, tapped a few times, then nodded. “Same process here. I just have to get to your nerves. The easiest way is going to be a little incision near your spinal cord—not down to the bone, but just to the muscle under the first few layers of skin. That’ll do it.”
Eric winced. “Uhm . . . can we wait until Misty gets here to do that?”
Naomi shrugged. “It’s not like I’m going to cut you deep. You know how shallow the skin is.”
“True,” Eric mumbled. “Okay then. Any way to numb me up?”
Naomi shook her head and reached to her left again, and pulled out a thin scalpel. “It’s sharp enough you won’t feel much. And then you can heal up right after.”
Eric loosened his armor and undid a few buttons of his undershirt, exposing the back of his neck. “Want me to just lean over then?”
“And hold on so you don’t move,” Naomi replied as she grabbed his Dungeon Core. Eric leaned over the table and grabbed onto it. He heard Naomi get up, her soft footsteps, and then she said, “Here we go.” Eric hissed in pain as she made the incision—and he had to consciously keep his [Reactive] Mana Skin from flaring out to harm his ally. Then, he felt a jolt through his body that felt like he had been zapped by a small needle discharging an electric current.
But, he was able to keep mostly still. “All done!” Naomi said.
Eric channeled a Blacksteel Mending and sealed up his injury, then glanced down at his bracer.
-----
Tarrasque Nervous System (T8) {Igniting} - Replaces the wielder’s nervous system. This results in the user’s reaction time improving massively. Additionally, the user’s nervous system extends its awareness a few inches away from the body, just like a Tarrasque in its natural environment, able to react autonomously to threats that come close. {Up to five times per minute, when the user dodges an attack, they gain a stack of Embersoul Blackflame Blaze}.
-----
“That’s useful,” Eric said as he walked around the table to show Naomi the readout.
She glanced at it then said, “Impressive. Good for your build. Each new Dungeon Core Tier used will increase the uses per minute.”
“Fight go fast,” Eric replied. “It’s just a boost.” He set his forearm on the table. “Now, my ten Exceptional Components, thoughts?”
Naomi stared at him, and she had seemingly lost all personality from before—the power of her primal force and its influence on her demeanor incredibly apparent. “The best would be adding an upgrade to the Manatech Bracer.”
Eric grimaced then pulled his arm away. “Actually . . . can I have you use my Components to make one for Misty?”
“I don’t need to make it that good,” Naomi replied. She then reached into her Storage Dimension once more and pulled out a bracer. “I have them made from the Uncommon Components I set aside. Limited functions, like I had discussed previously. Text-based communication, HUD, Index Interface, Tracking.”
Eric tapped the table. “But you need to put it on her.”
“I was going to do everyone’s tonight.”
“Thanks.” Eric kept tapping his fingers. “Last timeline, I didn’t have a lot of Gear, so I’ll be honest: I’m open to suggestions.”
Naomi pursed her lips then began tapping her bracer. “Well, for Reapers, there’s lots of options that are mostly weapons or focus implement oriented.” Her eyes shot up to Eric, then to his grimoire. “I have an idea. Can you give me your recolor ring, grimoire, and sword?”
Eric raised a quizzical eyebrow but handed the three items over. Naomi pulled out ten of the Components, and grinned. “What’re you thinking?” Eric asked.
“Just trust the process,” she replied. She touched the ring to the base of the sword where the counterweight was, and then opened the grimoire, spread the pages apart, and put that along the cross guard. “I could add something to the blade.”
Eric checked over his items. “Nothing I can think of.”
“We can add later.” Naomi’s Sigil on the back of her left hand sparked into existence, then snuffed out. Eric had to shut his eyes as an enormous flare of light-blue electricity nearly blinded him, and as he blinked away the black dots in his vision, he saw the item that Naomi had wrought. The sword was gone, and instead he saw his grimoire, which had grown in size to be a small novel’s width and height, rather than that of a pocket-sized journal. It was a shimmering hue the same as raw Leysteel, and the pages had decorated swirls of green and purple along them. “It’s done.”
“What did you do to it?” Eric asked as he reverently reached for it and grabbed it.
“Simple: Leysteel transmuted to cover the whole thing—so it is very durable: more than it was before. The retexture effect can be changed to any dual-color combination, as long as they stand out from one another. The Focus Grimoire part itself is the same.”
“You burned ten Components to merge items?” Eric asked.
Naomi cracked a tiny smile at that. “No, I did more. It should allow you to channel your breath weapon Rote through it, instead of out of your mouth.”
That was a huge upgrade to damage output, and Eric felt giddy as he flipped the pages and saw the swirling colors on each blank piece of paper. “That’s incredible,” he whispered.
“I am pretty amazing. Oh, and I’ve earmarked the Components for each person, so they won’t appear on our group-wide Secondary Screen readout.”
Eric clipped the grimoire to its chain and then put it back onto its hook on his belt. “Good. You’re amazing. Thanks for this.”
“Any plans for your plethora of Embers?” Naomi asked as she looked back to the Component pile.
“Actually, yes. But, I want to talk to Misty first about getting Scrolls from her family’s archives.”
“Smart.”
Eric stood up and headed to the door. “Thanks. See you later.”
“Bye bye.”
***
Evening fell and Eric was already switched into his relaxing, around-the-house attire. It was almost winter, and so the temperature outside had dropped significantly as snow fell on the land and began to coat the world in its white powder. He was sitting outside, wrapped in a thick blanket, and next to a heatstone brazier for extra warmth. Thankfully, their covered seating area let him see the snowfall without getting soaked.
Misty got home, and he waved at her, but then surged a little bit of Blackflame to get her attention, as she was heading to the front entrance. She shifted course and came right over to him. “Hey there.”
Eric flipped the blanket out wide and Misty joined him on the wide, two-person padded seat. He wrapped the blanket around both of them and gave her a kiss. “How was the day?”
Misty let out a sigh of relief and let her head rest against the crook of his neck. “Busy. But, good. I think I’m going to take tomorrow off though. Four surgeries today.”
Eric gently held her hands under the blanket. “You deserve it. There is one thing we need to do.”
“Hmm?”
“Go to your family’s estate and look into any Scrolls your father is willing to part with. Anything Warden-based.”
Misty snuggled up closer and let out another light sigh. “Of course. I’m sure I can find some things. But, in the afternoon. I want a lazy morning.” She sneezed, and groaned. “Gah, I am sure I caught something.”
“Why not get some Neversick Slime for yourself?” Eric asked.
Misty pursed her lips. “Father said that we weren’t to have any Body Enhancements over Tier three, since we wanted to be able to sympathize with the commoners and their plights. But, I should get some for myself. He won’t begrudge me if it is at my husband’s insistence.”
“Want me to go with you tomorrow then?”
“Yes, please.”
Eric nodded and saw the gates open again. He watched as Cecil—Shannon’s husband, and James—Naomi’s husband, both walked in, side-by-side, and deep in conversation.
“What do you think they’re talking about?” Misty asked.
Eric shrugged. “Probably funding some invention of Naomi’s. Oh, Peter and Shannon had a surprise for tonight.”
“That’ll be nice I’m sure,” Misty replied. “How was the Twilight Depths?”
Eric chuckled and squeezed her tightly. “Painful in places, but we got out just fine. Oh, that reminds me.” He gripped her hand. “I want to Evolve one of your Rotes, Skills, or Traits.”
Misty pulled her head back and locked her eyes on him. “What? You can do that?”
“With my Embers,” Eric replied. “Do you have one in particular you use all the time to heal people?”
“Yes,” Misty replied. “My baseline Skill, Accelerate Healing. I’ve put a ton of Ranks into it.”
Eric nodded and thought to Indedroma, Can you go ahead and start up the process?
[Initiating now. Messages will default to your vision.]
[Confirmed.]
Eric felt that intense cool feeling of an Ember being consumed surge up from the top of his left hand, then felt it dash through his body, over to his right which was clasping Misty’s hand. She let out a little gasp and shivered despite the covering over the two of them.
[Accelerate Healing has evolved!]
-----
Trait:
[Purifying] Accelerate Healing G5 - Accelerate the target’s natural rate of healing, recovery, and all other mending effects by 550%. [Additionally, all viruses, infections, or other maladies, whether from Elyndor or another reality, are cleansed.]
-----
Misty blinked a few times then squeezed Eric’s hand tightly as her shivering chills stopped. “That’s incredible. It’s a Warden-like Skill, now, but doesn’t cost mana for the recipient?”
Eric kissed her cheek. “Anything for you. And, that bit about another ‘place’ is going to be important.”
Misty’s appreciative gaze became a little more somber. “I had forgotten about that.”
“We’ve got it under control,” Eric replied. “Want to head inside and get yourself a bit cleaned up for tonight’s . . . whatever Peter and Shannon have planned?”
She traced a finger along the underside of his jaw. “Oh, I’d love to get you into that nice, big tub with me.”
***
After dinner with the other Summoned and their spouses, Peter and Shannon left the room, and came back with a giant, flat box. “We found it,” Peter said.
“Found what?” Naomi asked, voice a little more like herself but still very subdued.
“It’s a tabletop RPG!” Shannon replied as she wiggled the edge of the box she was holding onto the edge of the table. “I knew we’d find some type of role-playing game with enough looking. I figured, why not have us do a nice, fun, group-focused activity with cooperative role playing.”
James chuckled. “Good. If we were to compete, I have a feeling Naomi would absolutely crush us.”
“What is an RPG?” Cecil asked.
Shannon went over to him and rapidly explained—and the native Elyndians leaned in to listen.
Eric stood up and walked over to Peter, as the man was busy pulling the wooden lid off of the box and setting up what appeared to be square tiles that could be procedurally placed with one another, and a hefty, thick rule book. “Where in the depths did you find this?”
Peter grinned at that. “Well, Shannon figured that a library would have some type of record of games, so we went to one. She talked to the head Archivist, and they had this very old kingdom-control strategy game. So, Shannon and I got to talking with him more, and we learned that Toymaker is a Profession-type Class. We found one, and with a few Skill uses and some money, she made this. It’s like Dungeons and Dragons, but based off of Elyndian society and The Paths.”
Naomi had also stood up and walked over. “Interesting, but who is the game master?”
Peter tapped the thick rule book. “The Toymaker we commissioned came up with a random encounter system. The game plays itself by flipping cards. We can all be on the same team.”
Naomi nodded sagely. “Great idea for a team-building game.”
“Agreed,” Eric added. “And, it can be fun to role play as a Class that you don’t have.”
After a few hours of discussion, character creation, and introductory role play, the Summoned headed off to their various rooms with their spouses.
Eric slipped into bed next to Misty, and was caught off guard when she immediately moved the blankets off and got on top of him, straddling him. He could hear her heavy breathing in the darkness of their room, and let his vision swap to Reaper’s Flamesight. A smile flicked across his lips as he saw his gorgeous wife atop him.
“My brave knight-errant,” she said, her voice soft and filled with longing. “I’ve been craving this.”
Eric grabbed her hips and felt bliss as he engaged in the intimate act with his beloved, her little gasps and whimpers a delight to his ears as he knew he was seeing to her needs. The two made love to one another deep into the night, and when they collapsed in each other’s arms, Eric felt a sense of peace and serenity he was growing quite comfortable with.
If this was what he would experience regularly once the world was saved? He could die a happy man.