Zayzi surprises me by snagging me by the hand to lead me towards the cauldron, where there’s surprisingly no one else around. I’m more than a bit confused as they stand, holding my hand, heatedly blushing. It leaves me blushing more than a bit as I realize that I don’t even know where Zayzi left their shirt, or Ixey left hers. I think it might have been the dugout, maybe.

Waiting on them to let me know why they’ve taken me aside, I stand patiently, attempting to cast my gaze anywhere other than Zayzi, so as not to be an ogling creep. Zayzi finally starts, “Thanks. Friends. Safe. Strong. Always? Even if sister takes your friend? Thanks for making sis happy.”

My breath catches momentarily, as I realize what Zayzi is worried about. Smiling towards Zayzi, I squeeze their hand and respond, “Always friends, always. Ixey isn’t stealing Lil from me. Ixey and Lil are making each other happy. They won’t spend every moment of every day together. We’re all still friends, and your sister’s always going to be your sister. Also, yeah, we are safe, and we will be safe. We’ll come home, whenever our offensive engagements end. I’ll bring Lil back for your sis. I want him safe as much as she does. I love him too.”

Zayzi flashes me one of their furtive smiles that fights to remain on their face for more than a split second. Zayzi suddenly reminds me, “No kissing,” before leaning into my personal bubble from quite a ways outside of it, and hugging me with their lanky limbs. I awkwardly return half a hug, trying not to chuckle at just how odd their movements are. Nodding at Zayzi’s request, I simply enjoy the hug for the few moments it lasts. Zayzi then simply wanders off, and I’m not even sure they’re going to bother finding their shirt.

Passing a sigh through puffed cheeks and pursed lips, I shake my head slightly. Here’s hoping that Zayzi continues to mend. Of course I’m hoping that when we win this war, they’re able to experience the world in a way that doesn’t hurt, or doesn’t leave them hurting, or wanting to be numb to it all. Zayzi’s sister Ixey is really their tether to the world, and their path to happiness. I hope Ixey realizes that, and doesn’t get too wrapped up in spending time with Lil. Also, I kind of needed Lil’s powers for some of what I wanted to do today, but I’ve got the feeling that even if I could drag Lil away any time soon, he’s likely to be quite disoriented, and perhaps drained. I fight off a chuckle and try to reorient my brain so as not to picture what the two are up to in Lil’s vault.

Hm, Shiz was right about it being a pity to just sell off these bolts of silk. I’m glad that they haven’t yet. Everyone seems to be getting into, and understanding the shop system. Vyela has traded places with Vylon, and she’s now napping in her dragon form curled around the dugout. Somehow, I bet that even though I had Lucky build this cavern to be massive, that that’s only a fraction of the size that Vylon or Vyela can reach, similar to Kinzul. I’m dealing with beings whose scale I can barely comprehend, and they want *me* to lead, and fight, and, and just, just even do anything on their level? It’s insane. Yet, here I am, Reggie Shellcracker, the insane. Hah. That wasn’t where I meant to go with that. Cough. Erm, yes.

Teuila catches up to me, wraps an arm around my neck and pulls me in for a playful noogie before smooching my forehead. I pretend to grump at her for the noogie, but can’t hide my joy for long, and we both end up giggling like goons. Trying to find Luni and Lucky, I spot them lazing about in a corner of our Mount Verdimenn space, both looking tuckered out. I know neither of them got much sleep last night. A lot of that is my fault, for dealing with Induul. Though Luni’s partially to blame for her own tiredness, crawling into bed with Lil and the twins. I smirk and try to stifle my chuckle.

Raising an eyebrow to Teuila, she nods, understanding implicitly, so we rush Luni and Lucky together, and leap as if to bodyslam the pair. There’s a startled snort as Luni half-rouses when she notices us crashing through the air towards her, but of course Teuila drops our weight to nil before impact, so that we land softer than feathers or farts. The two of us smooch Lu’s cheeks from either side, and Lucky yawns while his tail wags despite himself. Rubbing Lucky’s skull playfully, I smooch his forehead repeatedly as well. I don’t have the luxury to catch up on sleep today, so I’ll leave Luni and Lucky to rest, and Teuila to pester them occasionally as she rests as well, preparing for tomorrow.

Te pouts and grumps my way, “I’m, *yawn* coming with you for the whole—, *yawn.* Dangit Lucky stop that. For the whole day too. *Yawn* not you too Lu, you butt.”

I shrug, happy to have my beloved at my side for the rest of the day, but it’s pretty obvious that the emotional toll of both the events of the last few days, as well as the toll of us working out her emotions in private thinkspace has been wearing her out. It’s her call of course.

Jokingly, Teuila pulls out a rope and states, “I’ll just lash myself to you, to your back, straight as a stick. I can be a backpack while you run, yawn, around and do errands and stuff. Just don’t let any naughty birds like seagulls nip the cord. I don’t wanna fall on my butt. Also, don’t get hit by any boulders, that’d hurt, y’know, meteors.”

I begin to snort with laughter but my brain has a massive BSOD, leaving me blinking in confusion. Shrugging, I allow Teuila to tie herself to me in a forced piggyback ride. I roll my eyes and shake my head at the silliness of it, but I’m happy to be close to Te all the same. I suppose it is a more efficient way to remain literally together for the day. Hah. Hm, what’s this?

Browsing one of the many printout sheets now scattered around the dugout, there’s something that might allow me to—. Yes. Yes indeed. Whose shop is this? This one’s Veril’s, and this one’s Farzhis’s? That’s fortuitous, and a heck of a coincidence. Display cases with audio jacks, the perfect size for the mirrors, with soundproof cushioning on all sides save the front. The plexiglass fronts should prevent sound leaking out.

I can stack these in an array and affix them to walls and such fairly easily. Plus I could make like a mithril or orichalcum or adamantite shelf, or even just an iron or steel shelf. This means I can leave the auditory side of the scrying enchantments all open. That way if someone wants a direct link to someone else auditorily, we can actually operate it like a telephone switching board. Huh. Nice. Let’s see, who has, what are they, three point five millimeter jacks? No, wait, these sound like they’ll be RCA jacks. Can we get RCA cables, and headsets with them?

Okay, that’s not too hard. I’m worried about constantly using them in switching board style though. They’re not meant to be withdrawn and plugged in repeatedly. They get kind of sloppy over time, forming worse and worse connection if they’re plugged and unplugged repeatedly. I have no idea how or why I know that, or think that I know that. Anyway, let’s stock up on all this stuff. Grabbing some more cash while Teuila naps fitfully on my back is easy enough. I try to hide my smile and the shiver that crawls up my spine occasionally when Te’s teasing me by nibbling on my ears.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Alright, let’s shove two million in cash in the lockbox beneath the third shelf in the stacks. It’s up to Leezahna to use it responsibly, because I don’t know when I’ll have spare cash to disburse another stipend. Nala I’m less worried about using it irresponsibly, since she’s likely to only use her share for crafting enchantments and artificery, and I’d reimburse her if any of it bore fruit.

Let’s get Nala’s code and her shop catalogue so that she can look it over later. I—. Huh. Of course Nala is another person who’s already met their achievements. Also, of course most of what’s in hers sounds like book titles, or at least written or reading material of some fashion or another. Ugh, these obscure names are as bad as the weird-ass tomes that granted sorcerific powers. If any of them could grant new powers to—. Hm. I’d want to make sure Lil and Lu are in on it this time. Shaylon and Boetah and the Vivant as well if able, basically the entire Order. It’s so hard to plan a time when the entire Order is available though in the middle of a war.

Hm, could I speed up mastery of the runes of spells if I asked everyone to be available in the hivemind, and I tapped into *their* muscles to form the runes until perfect? They need S P pools, in order to craft the runes at all, and to be capable of subtle-casting, bypassing the need for a mnemonic. I think the only two that qualify are the Spellknight twins, Ahliyui and Ahliyuri. Drat. Still, if I could borrow them for a few hours every few days, I could have the three of us practicing runes simultaneously, and I think we’d all learn exponentially more quickly. It’d grant the twins a greater array of tools in their toolbelt on how to produce their spells, as well as which spells they learn. I still don’t exactly want to just hand out the meteor spell to everyone, much less someone that was originally part of Terrorzin’s force, but I’m coming to love them, and rely on them. They helped me save Prinny. That buys a lot of faith from me. Plus, at my request, they’re scouting, sneaking, and spying, looking after their “new brother,” which buys more faith yet still.

Alright, alright, alright already. There’s only so much time we can spend attempting to make the upcoming time we spend more efficient, before it becomes procrastinating and wasting time. Let’s engage the warmup for the myconid transformation, let’s purchase all of these objects, while starting to lay out supplies to perform these crafts, these builds, and these enchantments. Pay at least some attention to the continued discussion of strategy, and war effort that’s going on around you Reggie. I know, I know. My brain is a bit overtaxed at the moment though. I know Reggie, I know.

Huff, phooph, whew. Panting with exhaustion, I try to square and center my brain, but everything is off-kilter, lopsided. I guess I’ve been at things for a few hours now huh? Yeah, that’s what happens when you shut your brain off Reggie. I know, I know. Is—, is my Honoris Causa leaking out? What’s—. Urgh, it’s tough to reign it in. There’s an audible wave of relief as many gasps and sighs escape some of my friends nearby. Or rather, not even nearby. I’m on the far end of our main cavern in Verdimenn, and those sounds came from the dugout. Just how the hell large can my Honoris Causa get at this point?

Returning to the dugout, it seems like everyone’s still gathered, and barely anything has changed since I last checked in on them. Raising an eyebrow, I ask, “Were you all taking a lunch break or something? Or planning to? Sorry if my Honoris Causa stopped you from taking one. How many hours was I out before it went active? How long was I out? I feel wiped out.”

After coughing to clear his throat, Gil offers up, “What do you mean hours? You left with your supplies a few minutes ago, and then let loose with that bedamned power of yours, choking the life out of us.”

I blink rapidly before glancing around the room for confirmation. The nods, even from my wife, Kinzul, leave me a bit stunned, and stumped. Teuila is snoring and drooling on my shoulder from her position lashed to my back, seemingly undisturbed. My face contorts as I’m unsure how to process this information. Checking on my dragonforces, I am down a few percent, which is slightly annoying, but at least it’s not life-threatening.

Did I engage dragonfright? But—, but there’s a ton of carpentry and craftwork and enchanting prep laid out, as if I’d been working for at least a quarter of an hour at an incredibly efficient pace at the very bare minimum, more likely half an hour hour if not a couple of hours. Plus, Gilmeshtu is ancient, incredibly powerful, there’s no way a young dragonforce like mine, even with a few dragonforces contained within it, could nail him with dragonfright, right? I mean, especially not Kinzul. Each of them has likely bested and devoured many other ancient dragons in their years, and cultivated their own dragonforces to be the absolutely most powerful they could be.

Glancing at my wife for verification, she attempts to rationalize what happened, “It would appear—, hm. Conjecturing, it felt as if we’d been sat on. It was as if your very draconic body were growing to fill the entirety of your second home here in Mount Verdimenn. While in contact with it, there was a draw, some force tugging. I was able to resist with ease, but the others may have been less lucky. Almost as if it were—. Hm. Sorry, simply speculation my love. Regardless, ‘The Gold’ was exaggerating slightly. Our lives weren’t in danger, it was simply oppressive, and a tad tiresome.”

Is there any chance that I just stole time from everyone else, in order to get more done? Crap! That’s the very thing I trained to be able to avoid in the Temple of Time on Can’Z’aas. It’s definitely not something I can consciously do. Okay, okay, calm down Reggie, that’s a hell of a leap in logic to assume. It’s more likely that it was my void essence draining something like heat or calories or something. Still, that’d be a hell of a weapon, manifest my Honoris Causa grown to massive size, steal the time, future, energy from my foes, while plowing through them, with them either unable to resist, or literally brought closer to their death by the moment.

Anyway, Kinzul did say she was just speculating. It might have been memories, or trauma, instead of time, or any number of things. It could have just been drawing out dopamine, adrenaline, epinephrine, norepinephrine, or some other neurochemical or something for all I know. Hell, it might have literally been nothing at all, and just been an annoyance that felt like they were getting sat on.

I’m going to need to, and I think I understand how to, create a lock for my Honoris Causa, so that it can’t do this again. It should also prevent accidental angstsplosions too. The problem is, it’ll require someone else to enable and disable the lock. Someone as powerful as, or more powerful than me. Gnawing on my lip, do I dare ask anyone other than Kinzul? What if it comes to light that I’m more powerful than everyone other than her? Will their prides and egos get the better of them? Or, less full of myself, what if they do appear stronger than me? Will Gilmeshtu challenge my authority and position within the order even more? Would it be more efficient to skip any possible drama and go straight to Kinzul?

I’m a tad bit morbidly curious to see if he’s strong enough to pull it off though. Gil’s an ancient, quite possibly one of our top five most powerful combatants amongst the dragons, maybe amongst all of us. What sort of schism might it cause between us if I—. I hang my head and sigh at myself. I’d giggle if it weren’t my own brain doing this to me.