The matriarch’s corpse stopped sparkling as Vyrania looted it, my own fragment counter increasing noticeably.
Koren was off looting all the other random giants’ corpses he’d missed during the fight—there had been a lot more than the fifteen I’d originally estimated, not to mention the golems—which also increased my counter, but not by nearly as much.
Vyrania sighed. “Don’t take this the wrong way, I’m grateful for you saving us, but it would be much appreciated if you changed the earnings split for us so we receive all of it. We’re going to need all the money we can get now we’re not Rilen’s indentures any longer.”
“I can do that?” I asked. “Change it for just you two?”
I could, it turned out.
It wasn’t even difficult. All I had to do was take out the deed to the tower then focus on the two of them. Addendum pages appeared with each of their names where I could change the earnings split for only them.
“Much appreciated,” Koren said, looting a nearby corpse. My counter didn’t tick up.
“Yes, thank you,” Vyrania agreed. “I normally wouldn’t ask—eighty percent is already a lot—but we really will need the money after being indentured for so long. Without enough frags, we might just end up indentured again.”
I waved this off. “It’s no problem,” I said lightly, “barely an inconvenience. Plus, I got a bunch of fragments from what you looted already.”
The two exchanged a look.
“Yeah,” Koren said slowly. “About that. Maybe uh, you’d consider… donating those to us.”
I shook my head and chuckled. “You know what, you’re helping me back to town and keeping me alive while my card recharges. And I’m grateful. And it sounds like you need them more than I do.” I opened my card storage and pulled out the stack of fragments, holding it out to them. “So here you go.”
Vyrania took them quickly, depositing them in her own storage. “Thank you again.” She motioned at the other bodies in the encampment. “None of that stuff is worth carrying to sell. If you want any of it, it’s yours.”
I looked at the bloody, dismembered giant corpses. “Do they have anything useful?” None wore more than a skin around their waists, and it didn’t appear they were carrying anything. I’d seen a couple of them fighting with spears, but that was all.
Vyrania pointed at the matriarch’s corpse. “She has a shard.”
I noticed something metallic on the giant’s forehead.
“What is it?” I asked.
“He doesn’t know what a shard is,” Koren told Vyrania. “Because he’s new.”
“Yeah, thanks, I got that.” To me she said, “You can build items with them, the way you can build cards with fragments. They’re only good in the tower, but…” She shrugged.
I grimaced, then reluctantly headed over and pried the shard from the corpse. It came out easily, and a message appeared.
You have activated complimentary ability, [Shard Storage].
“Huh, convenient. That’s the third one of these storage abilities. A general inventory would be nice.”
“Don’t get your hopes up,” Koren said. “Even someone as rich as Rilen doesn’t have anything like that.”
“He has a conjuration ability,” Vyrania said. “But, yes, it’s far from a general inventory.”
I examined the shard.
You do not possess the
You are able to purchase it for 18 low-potential fragments.
You currently have no fragments or convertible currency.
Due to your [Merchant] profession, you have a line of credit.
Would you like to use your line of credit to purchase
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“I can’t inspect it without a powerpack?”
“You should be able to buy one,” Vyrania said. “Is it not letting you?
“No, it is. I just wasn’t expecting it. So I have to pay any time I want to get information on something?”
“Only the first time for a given category.”
“At least it’s not a subscription.”
“They have a subscription,” Koren said.
“Seriously?”
You are currently eligible to purchase a
Would you like to subscribe to the
(Warning: this discount is only available for a limited time while your civilization is in its grace period.)
I shook my head. “It doesn’t even tell me the price up front, just the discount.”
I gave my assent to the shard identification powerpack and then inspected the shard again.
Shard (Whitehall Tower)
Power Class: Goliath
Can be used to buy Tower items, boost Tower rewards, or combined to create Tower weapons.
(Profession note: May be sold or traded via your store.)
“It has the tower’s name in it. Is the shard only useable in this tower?”
Koren nodded. “That’s generally how shards work. But you’ll occasionally come across universal ones.”
“What happens if I bring an item I create with shards outside of the tower? Will it not work?”
“You can’t bring them outside of a tower. All your tower items will either be left on your corpse if you die, or put into your tower storage if you leave.”
“Tower storage? I don’t have an ability like that.”
“It’s in town. Haven’t seen this one so not sure of the layout, but it’s in every town. Storage only you can access.”
“Weird. When I inspect it, it says I can sell it.”
“Really?” Vyrania asked. “Perhaps because you own the tower?” She looked to Koren.
He gave a half shrug. “Perhaps. It would still be rather odd.”
“It’s a profession note,” I clarified.
“What’s your profession?”
“Merchant.”
“Ah.” He nodded. “Yes, that’s different then. You should be able to take shards and items you make from them outside of the tower, but only to sell.”
“Hm. Can I use it now?”
“Not sure what you could make from a single shard. And anyway you need a forge.”
“Where’s that?”
“Town. Did you not explore it?”
“I didn’t get the chance to look around much.” I put the shard away in my storage and closed it. “Is that what you guys are wearing? Tower armor?”
“No,” Vyrania said.
I pointed at her boots. “Those seem… out of place compared to the rest of your armor. Do they give you magical bonuses or something?”
She looked down at them. “No. They’re just comfortable.”
“Huh. So none of your items have stats or effects? Koren’s wraps looked like they had a mind of their own.”
“A few,” she agreed. “Koren’s fist wraps, the pendant, my blades.”
“My pants have a basic durability circuit,” Koren added.
“My armor as well,” Vyrania said.
“Circuit? Like from cards?”
“Exactly so,” Koren confirmed.
“Do they require mana like cards do, or are they self-powered?”
“Depends on the item. Some are manaforged and fully self-powered. We can’t afford those though.”
“Not before,” Vyrania said. “Now though…” She looked out over the battlefield, smiling.
Koren nodded slowly. “I can’t wait to get to town and see what they have on offer.”
I too joined them in looking out over the carnage, shaking my head. “So the key’s somewhere here? It wasn’t on the matriarch?”
“No,” Vyrania answered.
“It’s got to be here,” Koren said. “I have a good feeling.”
“The last good feeling you had almost got us hanged.”
Koren held up a finger. “Almost. That’s the most important part of that sentence.”
I brought up my map, but couldn’t see anything special about the area.
I closed it and sighed. “I wish I could do more. I mean, I own the place, why don’t I have more control over it? Why can’t I just make a key appear? Or prevent the monsters from attacking us.”
Koren chuckled. “Just because you own land, doesn’t mean the wild animals on it won’t attack you.”
Vyrania nodded in agreement. “It’s like saying if you owned your own home you would have built one that spans the continent. It’s completely unreasonable. Nothing is free, mana isn’t what you think: a magical solution to all your problems. It is a method by which to enact your will onto reality, nothing more. The energy to manifest that will comes from you. And you are not that powerful.”
“So I’ve discovered,” I said. “Speaking of power, I’d like to reach Copper. I wish pushing mana through my body wasn’t so difficult. Or I was rich enough to buy my way there. Apparently that’s a thing.”
“Oh yes,” Vyrania agreed with a smile. “And not just for Copper. But buying your way to even Copper is very expensive. You’d have to be obscenely rich to waste the money when it’s so easy to reach.”
“Doesn’t feel easy,” I grumbled. “It feels like my body’s melting when I really push it.”
She tilted her head in Koren’s direction. “Kor here knows a useful technique that can help speed things up, make it less painful.”
“Happy to teach it to you,” he agreed with a nod. “It’s what I do.”
“It’ll help me reach Copper faster?”
Koren studied me, and I felt that tingle again, though different this time, pleasant even.
“What was that? It felt different.”
“You felt it? Odd. I was looking at your mana.”
“That’s possible?”
“Not for most of us,” Vyrania said jealously. “His Copper awakening was for mana.”
“Copper awakening,” I said, “that’s the new sense you gain at Copper?”
She nodded. “It’s also why he’s the only one to be rewarded for almost getting us hanged.”
Koren was still staring at me, looking thoughtful.
“What is it?” I asked. “Something wrong with my mana?”
“Hm? Oh, no, I don’t think so. Your card is leaking into it. In any case, you’re not far off from Copper. You could easily reach it today.”
“Really? That fast?”
He chuckled. “Don’t get too excited. Copper’s the only rank that goes so easy. Iron will take much longer.”
“Unless you’re rich,” Vyrania added.
“Which our new companion here is not.”
But I would be. Oh how I would be. And the old saying, ‘more money, more problems’, is even truer in this new world than it was in the old one.