* * *
Gunlan Mounsenker Galgandar, Second in Line for Patriarch, rested in discomfort at a country estate far from Coushar. Little news had come and it appeared that Hoular of the Mind had not been so foolish at all. The Eccentric had not come calling for him, and he grew bored and concerned for his plans lacking leadership in the city of Coushar. There was little he could do but had no desire to find his end at the hands of an Eccentric, so continued to wait. Returning would require something that would threaten his future. And a message came for him in that moment that would do exactly that.
“Master Gunlan, the Matriarch and your sister have called for the great clan. The great clan will be arriving in Coushar,” the messenger intoned softly with head and eyes down.
Gunlan turned to the messenger, staring for a short time before cursing and standing.
“Call the carriage! We must return! Prepare everything quickly. We leave immediately. Have my belongings prepared and returned to the clan home by this evening. Do not be late! And inform my spy master to prepare the tide. It will be needed soon.”
Gunlan turned away then stopped before turning to shout out, “Actually, have the spy master meet me at my carriage!”
Gunlan then turned away and left for the stables quickly, decorum pushed to breaking so he could arrive at the stables a bit faster. The boy sent ahead to run to the stables barely made it before him and the stable hands had only stumbled out of their laziness to begin removing the beasts from their stalls. Gunlan stifled his anger, knowing that any time taken to punish these fools would only delay his return. They worked rapidly enough once in his presence, and the beasts were quickly harnessed to the carriage. When the carriage was pulled out of the stable and into the front driveway, his spy master finally deigned to show up, rushing around the corner of the stable. Gunlan grimaced as the man came forward and dropped to his knees in a bow.
“You have wasted time. Get in the carriage. We may talk as we drive.”
His spy master opened his mouth to disagree, but he had little time and quickly cut him off, “If you were so concerned with your identity, you should have arrived sooner before the beasts were harnessed. Get in.”
The spy master quickly bowed and stepped aside to allow Gunlan in first, as was expected. The spy master, however, did speak quickly to one of the guards before stepping inside, whispering quickly and bluntly. Gunlan ignored it, and proceeded up the stairs and into the carriage, settling in the luxurious forward facing seat. His spy master wisely did not keep him waiting, and settling in the servant’s seat across from him. His concubines followed after, crushing themselves into the corners on either side of the spy master, making sure to not touch the man accidentally as it would be their death. His spy master began immediately even as the carriage lurched into motion.
“How may I be of service, master?”
“What news do you have of the eccentric?”
His spy master seemed taken aback but spoke quickly, “I… apologize, master. There is no news. My spies have returned with little of relevance and nothing of pertinence.”
Gunlan feared this was so, but still remained angered at the failure of his lackeys. If he knew who they were, he would surely kill them for their impertinence. As it was, his spy master wisely told him of the need to keep his identity secret for his own protection if the lackeys ever were captured and tortured. Thus, he kept himself far removed. Still, he could not let this failure be easily dismissed, “Punish them immediately. Speak to me of what you know.”
The spy master immediately bowed again, “Of course, master. They will know their failure intimately. Only those who have followed his daily activities have much to report. He wakes, trains each morning, pursues the beginner dungeon or high dungeon, trains his apprentices, then rests each afternoon. Sometimes he eats at one of the guild halls or bathes, but mainly sleeps, wakes, trains himself and the apprentices, then sleeps again.”
Gunlan frowned at that, “And news of who he is?”
The spy master immediately shook his head, “There is nothing. He is too well hidden. His arrival is unknown, origin hidden in mystery, and all divination and scries show nothing of who he is. His protection is… powerful.”
Gunlan wrestled even more, uncertainty leaving him bound in inaction until he finally made the only decision available, “The man is too dangerous. Remove him. I care not how, simply remove him.”
The spy master hid his frustration at the demand to kill or remove an eccentric who had power greater than almost all in the city, but he had little option to refuse.
“I… know of one way that may be possible. It will require time, however. If it does work, he will die.”
Gunlan looked at his spy master carefully before he nodded, “Good. Go as you need. And kill the stable hands, they have cost me too much this day.”
The spy master bowed, “Yes, master.”
The man leapt from the moving carriage, the door slamming shut behind him. Gunlan, Second in Line for Patriarch, lay his head back and cursed the world. Why is all against me!
* * *
Joe woke in the morning once again alone, the darkness of the night still more of a dusk due to the massive gas giant in the sky. He lay in bed, trying to sleep in a bit as it was still the weekend but he had slept more than enough, so simply lay in bed relaxing for another few moments. He considered his next job, almost deciding to take the next saga priest job but then reconsidered, flipping open his available jobs listing to look at another job to pass the time.
Status
Current Job
Available Jobs
Current Skills
Available Skills
Log
Citizen
Crafting
Education
Nobility
Faith
Commoner
21
Crafter
Educated
20
Groom
10
Believer
30
Villager
10
Scholar
20
Priest Growth Order
Farmer
10
Philosopher
30
God Faithful
Waiter
10
Theologian
31
God Acolyte
Bartender
10
Believer
30
Chief
10
Theorist
29
Day Laborer
10
Citizen Theorist
26
Inn Keeper
10
Criminal Theorist
30
Reeve
10
Party Theorist
30
Forester
10
Education Theorist
31
Trapper
10
Crafter Theorist
31
Fisherman
10
Virtus Theorist
31
Hunter
15
Magus Theorist
30
Miner
10
Combat Theorist
30
Baker
10
Faith Theorist
32
Cook
10
Epistemologist
Othen Faithful
Metropolitan
20
Burgher
10
Sigyn Faithful
Cartographer
Waiter
10
Bartender
10
Freya Faithful
Day Laborer
10
Teacher
Cook
10
Plutus Faithful
Mana-ologist
29
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Mana Manipulator
30
Frer Faithful
Humanities
Gifted
Eros Faithful
Fenrir Faithful
Frigg Faithful
Baker
10
Tyr Faithful
Groom
10
Butcher
10
Engineer
Sors Faithful
Inn Keeper
10
Medic
30
Merchant
10
Doctor
Baldur Faithful
Linguist
26
Idunn Faithful
Spell Caster
30
Polyglot
20
Chemist
Angrboda Faith.
Mathmetician
Mimir Faithful
30
Mimir Acolyte
Citizen
20
Bragi Faithful
Gypsy
Beggar
Gambler
Saga Faithful
30
Saga Acolyte
Enki Faithful
Falconer
Thur Faithful
His eyes wandered over the listing of available jobs, satisfied to see all the clergy line of jobs now available before he went back to the educational jobs. They were the only really useful line of jobs to take as everything else were time wasters and added little to meaningful stat growth. He hadn’t opened crafting yet, and was pretty sure that would add many useful skills, but didn’t see how they would be useful for stats. And skills were meaningless without actually having the job equipped. Besides, crafting required time, and he only had half a year left to get his base stats up so he wasn’t locked into a single job. Despite being pressured for time, his stats were looking very good in comparison to what he’d originally had back on Earth. In fact, he had all the basic stats well above his Earth level, and the only thing that was really an issue was his endurance and whatever esoteric meaning the attack and defense stat had. Other than that, the only other stats he was concerned about was his physical resistances. And those should be good when I get my combat lines going… just a bit more learning… Maybe another five or six jobs in learning… wonder how much learning the priest line will give… probably not to useful if I was seeing the stats from believer… but a couple more then combat will be very viable. And… I’ll need to intersperse a bunch of them between each of my jobs, so… hmm… more learning until I can do a priest, right?
Then… how about… Joe glanced over his skills, searching for a free ‘char’ skill he might be able to add to the hypothetical teacher’s skill, but found himself without an option there. He would have to drop his own double learning, delaying his move to the combat line by a good four or five months, or drop his language skill. So… not going to be able to do it… but… we’ll see if it’s useful and at least I continue inflating my learning… maybe another four or five and then…
With that decision made, calm returned and stress released as he fell back into his mana exercises, finding an excitement in learning something new. Kilniara joined him as she normally did, but this time slithered into his embrace in the bed under the covers and began practicing her own mana emitting without disrupting him. Today proved a bit unusual because their intimacy was more that of calm presence than excited physical entanglement. Their morning mana exercise passed with Joe finally not willing to wait anymore and deciding to wake the boys. When Kilniara realized what Joe was going to do, she interrupted him and took him for herself for a few minutes, pressing into him and kissing him deeply before quickly slipping from the bed and making way to the common room.
They ended up staying in bed for quite some time, the boys having been exhausted the night before so slept the morning away. But Joe didn’t allow the boys any latitude and dragged them out into the tiny courtyard to practice their forms anyway. According to their new practice regime, Kilniara and Zilnek spent time in both their rest and base forms. This gave Joe a bit more time to guide everyone but ended up being a frustration for the Acokzau and Joe as he had to subtly alter the forms to appropriately account for the differences between their rest and base forms.
The two Acokzau did not complain, but Joe could easily see their frustration and found himself struggling on how he could help them. He’d noticed both of them hiding their frustrations before and while Zilnek was better at hiding his annoyance, Kilniara hadn’t been quite as subtle. What… maybe I can explain why or how there are changes? That will help them accept it a bit better?
Joe took a step back at that, deciding to call an end a bit early to their training as well as let them know. Maybe … we can do it during breakfast.
“Right. Kilniara. Zilnek. Both of you are too frustrated to keep going, so let’s talk over breakfast. You guys are too tense and uptight. And adding in the secondary forms are messing things up. I’m not sure why, but both of you are really… you can’t relax into this, so let’s talk over breakfast. I’m going to try to explain things so maybe you’ll understand and then not be so tense or frustrated. Let’s head to breakfast.”
Joe turned and headed in, the other three following after with the two siblings a bit subdued. Joe didn’t noticed until they all sat down for their breakfast and immediately confronted the issue.
“What’s wrong? Why are you so down?”