Once again I wake up a few hours before sunrise and join Daniel for breakfast, making some small talk before I portal us to the Necromancers Guild for another day of crafting magic items. Our only goal for today is to finish the Soul Harness to Duncan’s specifications, which should be another full day of work like yesterday.
Stella, Duncan, and Mordak are all in the workshop when we arrive. I think Stella must be sleeping here as well with Duncan and Mordak. I hope she’s not ignoring any other responsibilities to be here, but I’m also glad she’s putting her all into this project. She’s done good work with getting Clark’s body back into working shape.
Daniel and I sit down at the workbench we’re slowly getting used to and pick up where we left off yesterday. The crystals that needed to be enchanted by other guilds are all finished, so we have everything we need to be able to finish it today, getting one step closer to bringing Clark back.
Daniel and I put our noses to the grindstone and manage to finish the Soul Harness after about ten hours of working on it and hand it to Duncan to get it checked out. I don’t know how, but he finds several small mistakes and points them out to us, which we promptly fix. I think his ‘Patron,’ Zu’El, has a much more direct way of communication than Peros and I do, maybe because of his class, and is the one giving him these schematics and instructions.
A few hours later, the Soul Harness is completed, which Daniel says gave him a level upon completion. I’m still not entirely sure how leveling up by crafting items works—another thing to add to the list of things to figure out. Maybe I should try to find a library or something today and finally get some of my questions answered. With a plan for the rest of the day hammered out, I [Inspect] the Soul Harness before saying my goodbyes and leaving with Daniel.
[Soul Harness]—A device created to sustain a tether between a physical body and a soul.
“What’s the plan for today? More wandering?” Daniel asks as we start walking down the street.
I shake my head. “I’m going to try to find a library or something. It’s about time I learned more about the [System] and stats and everything else we’ve not been told about.”
“Probably a good idea. Let me know what you find. I think I’m going to check out whatever guild covers the earth and metal affinities. I want to learn some kind of earth or stone manipulation skill before we head back into the wilderness.”
I nod my head. “That’s a good idea. I should look into getting a second affinity too, something a little more offensively related if it’s not too much trouble. Meet back at the inn at sunset?”
“See you then.” Daniel says as we both start walking in opposite directions, neither of us knowing where our destinations are.
After asking a few people on the street, I come to find out that public libraries do not exist here on Helot. All libraries are owned either by Great Houses or by the guilds and are not open to the public. My options are either to go back to the Necromancers Guild and ask Mordak to use their library, try to figure out something with the Spacers Guild, or go to House Baradia. The last option seems like the best, so I set out on a new quest to find Morah and ask her to use her library.
Contrary to my expectations, House Baradia’s compound is not at the center of the city but right near the eastern gate for some reason. It doesn’t take me long to find it since it’s flying a few dozen flags with their sigil on it, the same one that's on every guard in the city. I walk up to the two guards on duty at the front gate.
“What is your business here?” The one on the right says with a steady and practiced tone.
“My name is Ray. I’m here to speak with Morah Baradia. Or Merrick if he’s here, but I’d prefer Morah.” I say, getting a small chuckle from the other guard before he catches himself.
The guard on the right brings an amulet out from under his armor and speaks into it, telling the person on the other side my class, level, name, and reason for visit. After a minute of waiting, he gets a message back.
“Follow me. Citylord Morah is willing to see you.” He says as he turns around and beckons me to follow him past the walls and through the gate.
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The inside of the compound is pretty nice, but not overly lavish. There are some trees and flowers planted, but nothing that looks regularly trimmed or maintained except for the grass length. There are about a dozen guards from what I can see, and probably more that I can’t, but I keep my spatial perception to a minimum so as not to be rude.
The guard leads me along a stone pathway to the building in the center of the compound, a three-story mansion made from dark gray stone bricks. It’s big, but not huge. Several of the manors in the Undead City were a fair bit larger. The guard walks up to the door and knocks a few times. Just a few moments later the door swings open, revealing Morah herself.
She’s no longer wearing the armor she wore back in the forest but more casual, civilian-like clothes, with her jet black hair tied behind her head in a ponytail. She gives the guard a nod, and he returns a small salute before turning and heading back to the gate he was guarding.
Morah turns to look at me and smiles as her pitch-black eyes scan me up and down, stopping briefly at my left hand. “I see my brother has kept you busy since we last spoke. Come in, let’s talk inside.” She says as she gestures me inside and leads me to an office on the first floor. I [Inspect] her as I follow behind.
[Level 55 Void-Spear Commander]
Sitting down on opposite sides of a desk, she asks, “So, what brings you here today?”
“I was hoping I could get access to a library or something. Since arriving here I haven’t really been able to sit down and get answers for my questions, so I was hoping to do some of that today.”
“I see. I don’t suppose Merrick would tell you the why about anything. It’s not really his style.” She says it as though she’s had to explain Merrick’s behavior many times. “Feel free to use the library here. I’ve put a lot of effort into building it up. It’ll be nice to see someone else get some use out of it. Is there anything else I can help you with? If not, I'll show you to the library. Some idiot tried to break into the Spacers Guild a few nights ago, and now they’re blaming the city guard, and me by extension.”
I freeze slightly at hearing this but quickly regain my composure. It was just a little trespassing. I’m pretty sure we didn’t steal or break anything.
“About the Spacers Guild, do you know Loranor Hargreeve? I got a letter from him asking me to speak to him, but I’m not sure if joining them is really my thing.” I ask.
Morah almost looks excited at this response for just a moment before her face returns to her usual serious expression. “Loranor is a crafty man and very ambitious. He’s managed to start his own house and move up fast in the guild, making a lot of friends and money along the way. He likely wants you to join the guild, or maybe even his house if he’s heard about some of your accomplishments. I would bet he’s even got orders from his higher-ups in the guild to enlist all space affinity initiates.” She says with a contemplative expression.
“Join his house as a retainer, or like by marriage?” I ask, slightly shocked at how medieval this world is.
“Probably as a retainer, but he does have a sister, so he might offer marriage if he thinks you're worth it.”
“Is it common for initiates to be given offers like that?”
“Yes, with how powerful you guys become on average, everyone will be trying to get you in their grasp. Some more than others, based on affinity and whatnot, but generally initiates are pretty valuable.”
“Why haven’t you made me or Daniel an offer yet? Not good enough for House Baradia?” I joke, but I am slightly curious as to why she hasn’t made an offer.
“I actually did offer to hire Daniel when we first met, and I realized he was an initiate, but he just laughed at me and told me only an idiot takes the first deal. And you seemed too skeptical to join. I didn't want to scare you off.”
“Probably a good call, not really my thing anyways. I’d rather just figure out my own way with the other initiates. But I won’t forget all that you and your house have done for me. If you need a space mage, you know who to ask. Now, that library?”
Morah leads me to the library, just down the hallway from her office, and leaves me there to read as much as I want, with permission to come back whenever. I start with what I hope are the easiest answers, those about the [System]. After a bit of searching, I find a book about stats, one on traits, another for affinities, and one more about skill theory.
Skimming through the book about stats, it’s pretty much exactly what I expected. Strength is how much force your muscles can exert, and upgrading it doesn’t necessarily give you more muscle but increases the efficiency of the muscle you already have. Dexterity is how flexible and nimble you are, and constitution is how tough and durable you are as well as how fast you heal. The magical stats are just as straightforward, with regeneration governing how fast your heart pumps out mana. Capacity is your body’s ability to hold mana, and resistance is for defense against hostile mana. All of these stats can be increased with the stat points given from a level up, but they can also be trained naturally through hard work and effort.
The book of traits is a glossary of common traits, not a theory book like I hoped. I still use it to look up [Adaptive Affinity], finally figuring out what it does. It’s a trait given to each and every initiate that helps us gain new affinities. Apparently it’s one of the huge advantages we get over everyone else, as gaining an affinity can be quite a process. The next book, the one on affinities, confirms this, saying that the affinities are easier to learn if you already have an adjacent one. It has a huge and complicated chart of affinities in the back showing which ones are related. Looking at space, it has two adjacent affinities, gravity and time.
Maybe a gravity affinity is the way to go. I still have the [Gravitic Generation Array], and I might be able to use that to gain a gravity affinity. The book says the best way to break through is to immerse yourself in that affinity. I think some sort of high gravity field might do that. It’s worth testing at least. We might even gain some stats from it.
I stop my studying there for the night, as it’s starting to get late and I’m starting to get hungry. I stop by Morah's office and say goodbye before leaving the compound through the same gate I entered.
I start chaining a few teleports to get across the city and to the inn faster than walking and arrive a few minutes later. Man, being able to teleport is so convenient. I don’t think I can go back to walking, or even cars for that matter.
At the inn I find Daniel and Corvax at a table and join them after getting some food from the innkeeper, who hands me another letter from the Spacers Guild. I eat with my friends and catch them up on the info I learned, promising to learn more the next time I visit. After a bit we all decide to go to bed since Daniel and I have yet another day of work ahead of us tomorrow, hopefully one of the last before Clark is back among the living.