48 - Chapter 47 - Day 2123

It took some time for Rory to finish the formation he was working on. Adya sat there watching him work as Sai worked on optimising all the formations in his book in the local language.

Dexter, Maya and Evelin had left them to it after leaving the bag of coins and the agreement on the table.

Once Rory was finished he looked around to see the items on the table, and Adya waiting for him. Adya had already spent a few minutes reviewing the terms in the agreement to ensure that it reflected the terms agreed.

“So are you ready to finalise this deal?” asked Adya.

“I have been for a while,” said Rory. He picked up and reviewed the agreement, taking a lot longer than Adya had. “This looks fine to me,”

They signed the agreement with Adya taking one copy, then Adya pointed to the bag of coins. “That is the agreed amount,” said she. “Feel free to check it.”

Rory could not help himself, spending a few minutes counting out the total. Once he had checked to his heart’s content, he looked up sheepishly and gave Adya a nod.

“Now that all of the formalities are out of the way,” said Adya. “I can let you in on what I need you to work on.” She handed him her redacted designs for the mana coin artefact.

“What is this?” asked Rory.

“Not something that you want to know about,” replied Adya. “Once we are in a stronger position, I will be able to tell you more. For now I need you to create the parts as drawn. I need them as close to exact as you can make it.”

Rory studied the designs and looked at the measurements. To him it looked like a box with a cylindrical core. One end was open to allow something to enter, the other end deposited the finished items in a bag or box. The design was not complicated, he was struggling to understand why this required him to work on it.

“This seems simple enough,” he asked tentatively. “Why would you need my skills for it? Any smith would be able to make it.”

“This is just a prototype to prove the design works,” replied Adya. “The final version will have parts I will need you to do. Also I need you to use materials that can shield and resist mana. The higher the grade of the material the better. Also the core needs to be easily replaceable.” She was hoping that the same materials that would shield mana from detection would have the same effect of stamina and more importantly willpower. If not, she would also need to add a shielding formation that would increase the mana cost.

Rory could not understand why the artefact was designed in such a weird way, but it was not for him to worry about that for the time being. He looked through the designs again, trying to to understand what work he would have to do. The designs were thorough, but were in a strange format that he was not used to. So it took him a little while to work out what was what. Once he started to understand the designs, he was surprised by how thorough it was.

“If I am understanding this right,” he said. “I should be able to get something for you in a few days. I have enough of the materials on hand, so that won’t be an issue.”

“That’s good,” replied Adya. “I will be leaving someone to keep an eye on you and the place. They are a tier 5 cultivator. You can ask Evelin for the details. Let me know as soon as you are done.”

“I will send word,” said Rory.

With that they were done. Adya with her retainers left the shop to return to the estate. The process had started but Adya had a lot of work to do.

She wanted to reward Rory with an optimised formation codex. Sai should be done with that by today. She would only need to transcribe the book in one of the blanks. The more important task was the realisation that even with this artifact working one of her biggest issues would not be addressed. There was no way to move billions of mana stones or coins without raising massive red flags all over the continent. It would also make her caravans a massive target.

That left her using her spatial storage to move the stones. That was also a no go, as she did not want to have to reveal that ability. No one else had access to such an ability. She had asked and none of the cultivators she had captured had any storage items or skills. She would be hunted even more if that skill became public knowledge.

She had Sia looking at options to compress the mana. That could be another artifact she could target. Again it was something that had not been done to date. Adya understood why. If the mana coin machine required willpower, then no artifact would be able to work in the automated manner without it. Though stamina was available, only someone who had the energy to waste like she did, and had Sai to help, would be able to work out what was happening. It made her abilities unique. That actually made her situation worse. Anyone who realised that she was able to crystallise a unique form of energy would want to cage her just for that. Her abilities were more of a threat to her than anything else.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Adya: We will need to democratise the use of willpower. It is too dangerous for us to be the only ones to create it.

Sai: Yes we need to research a way to get others to provide willpower. Even if they do not have a pool that is listed on the system, they still have to have the energy. Others can create mana coins, just not a machine for it.

Mai: The system obfuscated the new formation language for us. Is it possible that for some reason the system is hiding the existence of the willpower pool? That the only reason we have access is because of this scion protocol?

Adya: Perhaps the system uses willpower in some fashion? We don’t have enough knowledge to even start to guess. We keep pushing back our research, but once we have the mana coin machine working, we can really start to take a look at that. We also need to look at tiering up. Ideally I want to be able to create and offer passive skills to our retainers.

Mai: Why don’t we split the definition of the retainers to make it easier to categorise them. The ones that join on a voluntary basis are the retainers. The ones we have co opted are more accurately a form of deathsworn.

Adya: Do you think we can free them?

Sai: It is not that straight forward. The ones that have no formation running through their bodies, it should be possible to either release or convert their soul mark. We can test that on the ex bandits, if we trust them enough. The cultivator agents are a different issue. The augmentation formation that they have running through their system, it will not be so easy to release. In theory we could give them control of it rather than someone else, but it will require extensive research.

Mai: There is also the risk factor. If we release them, then they could go on their way. If they are caught, and interrogated, one of them eventually will be. They would not only reveal our ability to free them, but also to subvert the control in the first place. The elders who control that system for the council of sects would stop at nothing to make sure we are dead. They will not be able to accept such a risk to their control.

Adya: And that is the problem. Until I get strong enough I can’t release them. I can only give them a modicum of freedom.

Mai: Even the illusion of freedom will work. That will actually go a long way to increasing their loyalty to us.

As Adya had been lost in her conversation with Sai and Mai she had not even realised that they had made it back to the estate. She decided to go see her mother before starting her research again.

Adya made her way to her mother’s office, knocked and entered. Gauri was behind her desk lost in a stack of reports.

“Greetings mother,” said Adya. “What has you so distracted?”

“Ah, Adya, how are you doing?” asked Gauri. “Not going to lock yourself away in your room I hope?”

“I have too much to do, mother,” replied Adya. “So that is inevitable. I should let you know my plans are progressing. I will update you on the status and next steps soon.”

“That is good to hear,” replied Gauri. “The bandit camp that was looted by the cultivators for us, netted us a substantial amount of wealth. However, the risk has stopped us from sending out caravans. We are currently spending but not earning, that is not sustainable.”

“Ah, I should have told you,” said Adya a little meekly. “There are no bandits, or rogue cultivators left in the three kingdoms. Also we have a massive army of what I am now calling deathsworn. They are being trained and outfitted, funded by the wealth we have captured independently. So it should be much safer to let caravans go out again.”

“When did this all happen?” asked Gauri. She was left flabbergasted by the news. She had heard news that things were quiet and had attributed that to the cultivator attack. She had not realised that her daughter had caused the whole of the three kingdoms to be so thoroughly pacified.

“I was lost in my research,” said Adya. “After what happened to our family, I made a deal with the cultivators to deal with the issue permanently. It also helped them to ensure there were no demonic cultivators behind the scenes. So it was a mutually beneficial arrangement.”

While there was still a risk to her family from the council agents hunting her, she could mitigate that risk by sending some of her own to shadow any caravan in order to protect it.

“That will make a lot of difference,” repleud Gauri. “It will also allow us to actually sell a lot of items we have collected.”

“Before you sell any items,” said Adya. “Can I get a list of everything that we have in inventory? I may have uses for some of those materials.”

“Sure I will get a list sent to you,” said Gauri.

“If there is nothing else,” replied Adya. “Then I will take my leave. I still have a lot to get done to make sure my plan works out. I will be in my suite.”

With that Adya left to return to her rooms. Sally asked her if she had eaten, and only then did Adya realise that she had spent the whole day without eating or drinking. She was becoming very bad at taking care of herself.

So as Adya went to wash and change, Sally went to arrange a meal for her. Adya took her time in the bath, letting herself relax for a little while. After her bath, she took the time to relish the meal Sally had procured for her.

Only after she was refreshed and sated did she start to think about her tasks again. It was time to get back to progressing her plans.