Chapter 176: Proof-of-Concept
Nara waited for Encio to step out of the portal transport organized by the Transportation and Communication Society (Trans-Com Society). She couldn’t cross the ocean between the continents with Encio in tow, and had to wait for him to catch up with alternative means. Thankfully, the growing popularity and operations of the Trans-Com Society had made portal travel more convenient for ordinary and essence users alike. She had first transported him to Fern Ufer, the largest city in Ainm, so that he’d reach the location for the trans-oceanic portal user that would take him to Stanton. The portal user in question was Silver rank, with a Gold 0 portal (incredibly valuable) and charged based on consumed capacity. Encio’s fare was in the realm of silver rank coins. Nara wondered if a gold ranker would have to pay a diamond rank coin (or the equivalent in gold), but considering that it’d consume the portal user’s entire capacity, that was probably a fair price.
When Encio finally stepped through a portal that was a burning pillar of white flame along with another gaggle of assorted essence users and civilians, they started their exploration of the city.
Nara was just as country-bumpkin-amazed as the first time she had stepped into Stanton, the largest city of Rowen. The buildings were moderately tall, 7 to 10 stories and built in planned city blocks. Some tallest buildings stretched beyond that, the blossoming growths of a potential metropolis. The buildings were not dissimilar in style to an old city like Boston, but with a distinctly almost-steampunk edifice. There were no steam engines yet, but Rowen was a city of Magitech, and the effect was similar: thin bronze pipes like arteries with sparkling mana like blood—the innards of a city spilled outwards. Stanton marveled the display of engineering and technical mastery, and instead of tucking the workings inside politely, sanitizing it for polite society, tubes and runes curled around buildings like artful vines.
The buildings were decorative rather than utilitarian—surprising Nara from Redell’s story of the royal family’s views on the arts. She supposed it was just a job beneath royalty, and not inherently hated by society as a whole. The decoration was art deco combined with a gothic architectural style. Buildings were topped with spires, windows arched, with high first floors and arching walkways allowing for an odd sense of space despite the hustle and bustle of the city. The city was multilevel, with floating platform escalators ferrying people to higher walkways if they couldn’t just jump up there (or had the public decency not to). The city was primarily stone, with subtle hints of metal like bronze—specifically magic bronze, as any non-magic version of a metal was relatively worthless in Erras, as they were unable to hold much enchantment and magic. Windows had arc deco glass panes, designs with more muted colors, and large windows with just lattices to reveal the large, open lobbies of the first floors with ribbed vaulting ceilings and the yellow-gold glow of glow stone lighting.
It was a city of wealth and purpose.
She had a purpose too—Eufemia’s letter, tucked safely into her inventory. Encio, her scheming-politician deterrent, and Thanatos, her annoying person deterrents, were at her sides.
Nara had portalled to their portal plaza, similarly decorative and grand—a plaza of polished marble and the clean geometric shapes of arc deco. Wrought iron streetlamps stood tall and proud, like guards at welcome, cages of ornate iron concealing glow stones. Artistic fountains were the centerpieces of manicured parks, pleasant but lacking the natural harmony and ‘fengshui’ of Sanshi’s park design.
The offices of Rasmus Teresina were in the building of the guild Hands of Progress. Guilds functioned far more like companies in Rowen, larger and more expansive, recruiting those they felt furthered their powers and goals. Usually, essence users would join a Society or Church if they wanted to pursue a specific discipline: combat, magic, artifice, healing, smithing, etc.
Societies usually required a certification test before allowing members their privileges, which they’d negotiated with local governments and thus needed to maintain a high standard of quality, although the Magic Society did have its own apprenticeship opportunities: a scholar was not so easily made.
Churches did not require any baseline knowledge; indeed, in Erras, they were perhaps the greatest educators, providing the highest quality of training in return for service. They were typically a peasant’s only opportunity to gain essences or a higher social standing.
Guilds were a third alternative, instead accepting anyone on any basis, set by the guild itself. It could be skills—every guild needed an accountant or a manager, and these were not typically the best adventurers. An applicant could negotiate essences and education in their contract, as long as what they brought to the guild was valuable enough that the guild was willing to sponsor.
Typically, guilds in Erras had solely been adventuring guilds. A way for Adventurers to organize beyond just the typical up to 10-person team. Particularly difficult contracts may require more than 10 people, and in silver rank, not all team members were available at the same time. Having a group of essence users you trusted outside of your team was useful to advance while taking care of other business. It was like the curse of D&D—so hard to organize with everyone’s working schedules. One person worked night shift, and one person worked weekends. With a guild, if a few members needed to be substituted, it was preferable for the guild to arrange it than a complete, society-provided stranger.
Guilds were less of a combat construct in Rowen. The original Invention Guilds were still usually half combat guilds, such as: the famous and oldest invention guild, Radiant Quill; the Arcane Pursuit, which had smartly followed their example; and Insight and Advantage, which recruited adventurers and inventors separately in a relatively even ratio. Combat power was political power, after all, and it was folly to do without.
If Sanshi was at the precipice of a democratic revolution and at the forefront of larger scale, government sponsored adventurer education, Rowen was the revolutionary center of non-combat disciplines. The culture of Rowen had created a kingdom where far more people pursued essences for the sake of work, and not combat.
Guilds followed, with new-age non-combat builds appearing. Inventions and wealth were their currencies of power, nurtured in Rowen’s culture which honored innovators. Most were core users. Most had ideas to sell.
Adventurers were still important, but the balance of power had shifted, non-combat and combat professions weighing equally on both sides of the scale. In most other nations, high rank officials were only respected if they had fought as adventurers or royal guards, otherwise scorned in public and private. After all, what risk were they if they could be shut up with just the threat of a duel? Those who knew better did shut up, and those who didn’t inevitably ate the consequences of challenging someone who could physically do so.
Here, Rowen benefitted from a larger variety of skillsets in the highest reaches of their government. The royal family embodied the same standard, pursuing paths of adventuring, researching, inventing, or all at once. Whether the royal family had shaped the culture of Rowen, or whether Rowen had shaped the royal family was an impossible chicken-egg conundrum.
Of course, those that could accomplish both—Adventurer-inventors like Amara—were held in the highest of regards in Rowen.
The streets were bustling, walking streets were interspersed with transportation streets for vehicles. Stanton also had an underground metro system, as well as an above ground tram system. Personal skimmers were more common, and there were even skimmer-taxis for those who’d rather sit through traffic than bum it with the peons on public transportation.
Encio explained that the gods of commerce and knowledge were popular in Stanton. The gods of commerce included gods like Economy, Commerce, Currency, Traveler and gods of knowledge included Knowledge herself, Creation, and Education. The churches of Dominion and Liberty, often regarded as contrasting divine beings, were oddly both popular, reflecting Rowen’s duality as a whole: Controlling the economy, shaping the future, freedom of thought, creativity in progress.
The fashion of Stanton, Nara observed, was the closest to what John wore himself, Rowen daily wear. Long coats and tailored pants, vests, understated accessories of metal, and an abundance of caps—truly, of every nation, the most she’s seen. (Nara’s hair felt naked. She was almost indecent.) It was a Downton Abby/Peaky Blinders sort of fashion, but with color accents in dress shirts, trims, cravats, coat linings, hats, and gloves. A smidge more color brightened the city, reflecting the clear skies and the energetic pace the city strode forward on towards the future, leaving behind the dreariness of a plain grey: Progress, not stagnation.
Women were just a dapperly dressed, wearing the same, easy-motion daily wear, rather than the dresses of the era that would have been period-typical for Earth. Although, this was street wear, office wear—who knew what the high fashion of Stanton would flaunt?
Progress sang in every breath of the citizens, the clack of hurried yet sure steps, the perpetual motion of magic escalators and whirring trams, eyes trained forwards to their next destination.
Nara admired it, but she wasn’t sure she liked it.
*****
The plan, because Sen insisted on having a plan, was simple. Nara, bearing Amara’s last name and a bit of repute of her own, would accessorize herself with Encio and request a meeting with Rasmus Teresina. Nara’s was proud that she had thought of a suitable proposal—Rasmus' miniaturized magical battery could be implemented in the magi-cycle. Furthermore, it could be used to create a mana-battery motorcycle that Nara had dreamed of.
Who needed combustion engines when your civilization had skipped straight past that tech into battery technology?
It made sense, of course. Mana couldn’t be generated—even the low-efficiency energy-transformation technology was wisdom of Edelster-jos—it was instead collected from the surroundings. The only sort of ‘generation’ of mana in the form of spirit coins was from spirit coin farms, looting powers, and looting rituals, and even those were various forms of crystallization of mana that had already passed the dimensional boundary.
So, Nara would ask to meet with Rasmus to propose a partnership. It was even genuine, really, and not just an excuse to meet him. Nara would very much like a magic motorcycle to round out her increasingly comprehensive array of transportation options.
It was once they had met with Rasmus, that the plan was a little tricky. Nestled within Nara’s inventory was a handwritten letter and a beloved necklace, Eufemia’s keepsake of her father, that might just do the trick.
The headquarters of the Hands of Progress was predictably downtown. While Rasmus’ rise was relatively recent—especially in a world where the rich lived decade by decade instead of year by year—the Hands of Progress was a renowned, well-established guild. It was tall—8 full stories of gilded edifice; polished high-quality stone; and a proud emblem—two hands cupping a watch; Erras’ version of the watch came in many forms, and one was a legacy of this guild, one of its founding members. The textured stained-glass windows were more muted in color than those of Esmera-mar, the light shining through into the office would be more mature, less celebratory, than the bright, worshipful hues of the seaside city.
Nara was only faintly surprised there was a receptionist—a leonid. Her white-blond fur was almost styled at the top, curled and coiffed. Nara didn’t think she could look any primmer if she tried, for a leonid. The amount of clothing she was wearing was practically blasphemous for her race, entirely deserving of excommunication. It was all straight and crisp and iron—all long sleek lines and sharp corners, sharp posture and an even sharper stare.
If there was gum to smack derisively, she would’ve.
She saw them approach, evidently unimpressed with what she saw.
“Welcome to the Hands of Progress. What is your business here?” she said, proper but route.
“We’d like to meet with Rasmus Teresina. We have a mutually beneficial proposal.”
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
She looked them up and down, almost scoffing, yet refraining for propriety.
Nara conducted her own evaluation—iron rank. Core user, untrained. Nara knew what she saw, but also what the receptionist didn’t understand. Their clothes, although not in the local fashion, were expensive and high quality—Adventurer quality. The rich core users commissioned clothing from those who tailored clothing for adventurers, seeking the highest quality, to drape themselves with excellence to hide inadequacies. A consequence of the invention focus of the new-age guilds; the guild’s people lacked the ability to recognize traditional markers of power, and in Stanton, they hadn’t needed to.
Her eyes flickered to Encio. His nod was barely there.
She had been told repeatedly by Laius that she needed to use her aura with a bit more force. Bronze rankers may not be much in Staton, but an iron ranker doesn’t get to act like she’s above them. Equality, even if false, was acceptable. Arrogance was not. Many let it slide, and she could. She didn’t care to be the bully, but it was at this moment, what was expected of them and what was required of them.
She flexed her aura a bit, stretching it out like a panther in a languorous stretch. A predator at rest—that could change. She flexed those claws, extending them, and let them gently scratch past the aura of the receptionist. Sharp, but just a warning.
Nara could feel and see her immediate change. Her eyes snapped up to hers, wide and careful. Her body faced her fully, at attention. The haughtiness fell away from her posture, her aura, and her attitude. It was still there—she had an enviable position in a famous guild. She was proud of what she had.
“Do you have an appointment with Mr. Teresina?” she said with more care.
“I don’t. Is that a problem.”
The receptionist sought to evaluate if it was. “Can I have your names? I’ll let Mr. Teresina know at his earliest convenience.”
There wasn’t much she could do if he was genuinely busy. Establishing a time to meet was good enough. It’d be a success, as far as she and Encio were concerned. Their names may perhaps accelerate the timetable.
“I am Nara Edea.”
“Enciodes Aciano.” He flashed a smile. Nara saw sharpness within charm. A reminder.
“...Did you say Edea? Please wait a moment.”
Nara shared a look with Encio, mutually amused that it was Edea that had garnered more of a response than Aciano.
“You really are just an accessory,” she said, nudging him obnoxiously.
He rolled his eyes, a smile tugging at his mouth. “I already know that I am a jewel.”
“You’re more like…a hat.”
“You’re not wearing a hat,” he said, pointing out the obvious. He, of course, was. Even if not wearing the local fashion, he still somehow got in on the local trend.
“That’s because you’re my hat.”
She reached up for his. He subtly stepped away, cocking a grin, before it could devolve into a playful spar. Nara didn’t pursue; He’d won this on account of time and place.
She took the opportunity to observe the reception area as they waited. Behind the receptionist was a system of 8 glass tubes. They extended up through the tall ceiling, disappearing out of sight. The receptionist grabbed a tube capsule from a shelf, opened it to place a note inside, then slotted a colorful segmented disk at end of the cylinder. From her senses, Nara could tell the disk contained an aura. A false aura, it seemed, to mark a destination. It was made of several different aura signatures, a stained-glass disk of aura signatures. With a swuuup the cylinder shot through the system, up to a destination unknown.
“I’ve sent a message to Mr. Teresina. Please wait a moment for his reply.” The receptionist pulled another disk—this one smaller, the size of a poker chip, and slid it across the desk for Nara to receive. “The auramark will glow when we have more information. It shouldn’t be too long.”
“Right. Thank you...Kensey.” Nara read from the plaque on the desk.
“Of course. Have a nice day.”
“...Well, that was interesting.” Nara said, flipping the auramark through her hands; She dropped it. She didn’t actually know how to twist it through her fingers. “What’s this do?”
“I may give off the impression of omnipresent knowledge, Nara, but I don’t actually know everything. Just almost everything.”
“Right. Humble.”
“Isn’t this your field?”
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Item: [Auramark] (iron, common)
Classification: artifact
Description: A simple artifact that contains a manufactured aura signature. A pulse of magic will cause the paired marks to glow, within a limited distance.
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“It seems like it’s a more restrictive version of those Adventure Society paired papers, except it uses aura.”
“It could be used for tracking then.”
“Hm. Noted.”
With nothing better to place it in, she slipped it into a free pocket.
It was nearing lunch time, so she and Encio set off across the city, enjoying the scattered, multi-tiered parks and following their noses for something to eat.
Now that Nara knew about auramarks, she saw them all around the city. Some carried small cylindrical containers holstered around their arms, hips, or legs; Nara could sense the stacked auras of several different auramarks within the containers. It was an annoyance, if she focused—hundreds of static auras buzzing around her periphery like a TV left running in the living room. But they were unobtrusive enough that her awareness brushed them aside if she didn’t look for them. She hadn’t noticed them until she knew they existed, after all, and she doubted the essence user population of the city would accept a communication method that annoyed all of them.
She supposed it was like the contact list of a phone—each auramark was a phone number that corresponded to a different ‘phone’. It was the beginning of innovations in communication, an aspect that Erras struggled with more than Earth. Still, it lacked complexity, speed, and range. Nara wondered if the receptionist had just assumed they knew how far not to stray.
But then she noticed the auramark boosters. A sphere of smaller spheres set on posts of every corner boosted the range of the auramarks, pulsing the signal sphere to sphere until they reached their intended target. So, short range, but carried across a larger distance, thanks to something like a telephone pole. Nara could already see a fault with the system; Each small sphere pulsed one auramark signal at a time. If an auramark signal reached a sphere where all happened to be simultaneously occupied, the signal would drop. It was a rare chance, however, and likely, the reason why the original aura mark would flare again if the response signal was not pulsed back within a certain average time. Likely, the busiest intersections had a greater number of signal spheres.
It was blessedly after they finished their lunch that Nara felt the auramark flare; she flared it back to acknowledge the hail, and it stopped its heightened pulse. She had had a nice lunch of herb-encrusted pheasant, with a side of a crisp-vegetable salad with a deliciously tangy and nutty salad sauce. She tossed a few coins onto the table (overpaying), with Encio not a step behind. Maybe she shouldn’t—she didn’t want to start a culture of tipping. Eugh.
“The absentee father awaits.”
Encio grimaced at the painful truthfulness of the statement. “Try not to say that to him.”
*****
Rasmus Teresina was indeed awaiting and was not absentee (this time around), along with a secretary.
“Damn.” Nara told Encio through voice chat. “He’s not alone.”
Encio’s expression was drawn into a displeased line, “We’ll have to improvise.” His face immediately flipped into a pleasant, insouciant grin once Rasmus and his secretary was in sight.
Rasmus Teresina was a slender man, although no doubt deceptively strong thanks to his core silver rank. His hair and eyes were light bronze; evidently, not the parent that Eufemia had inherited her coloring from. His wispy hair had at some point been smoothed into something manageable, but throughout the day had started to fly up again. He had sharp cheekbones and a defined jawline, a genetic baton passed to Eufemia in a more feminine form. Even his silver-rank beauty couldn't hide the weariness he wore around his shoulders like cloak of lead. He did try—his posture was upright, if not unnaturally so, his clothing pressed and clean, and his lips fixed into a stoic business smile, one recognizable as forced, lacking the natural savviness of those like Encio.
Nara had a feeling the secretary beside him was the one responsible for this ‘act’ of togetherness. She was an elf, core iron rank, nearing bronze, with dark beige skin peppered with freckles and a head of thick, healthy, chocolatey dark curls. Her bouncy curls were pulled back, a practical hairstyle that kept their too-liveliness out of her face. She was energetic and put-together, and carried herself with confidence that Rasmus just couldn’t make natural.
He extended his arm. “Rasmus Teresina, member of the Hands of Progress. I’ve heard you were looking for me.”
Nara clasped it, and they shook. “Nara Edea. And this is Enciodes Aciano, my teammate.”
“A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Teresina.” Encio flashed his award-winning smile. Nara wouldn’t be surprised if it was literally award-winning.
“I’m thankful we could meet on such short notice,” Nara began as Rasmus’ secretary, Iris, guided them down a hallway to one of the floating platforms that transported traffic up and down the building. “I am a little surprised.”
“Ah...well.” Rasmus scratched his head. Iris gave him a chiding look. He lowered his arm. “I was curious...about um, Edea. Any relation to Amara Edea?”
“She’s my mentor.”
“It’s, um, unusual to have your mentor’s last name.”
Iris gave him a look again. Another social faux pas? Nara wouldn’t know. Was it usual? Nara supposed it was close to adopting someone who was your student. Most inventors probably wanted to strike it out under their own name, and Aliyah hadn’t adopted her mentor’s surname either, although, in Sanshi it was possible for great families to actually adopt particularly talented outsiders.
“I have some unusual circumstances that necessitated it.”
He hummed in thought. “You are following in her footsteps,” he concluded incorrectly. That wasn’t the reason she had her last name, after all. At the time, she had remembered none.
“I can’t say I am as accomplished an inventor as her. Nor am I as focused on invention.”
“Are you seeking me out on her behalf?” Another incorrect, albeit reasonable, question.
“Not exactly. If anything, it’s for Chelsea Hayeth. Do you know her?”
“I do.” He fidgeted a bit, evidently intrigued but hiding it.
“Please wait with any details until we reach the private room,” Iris interrupted. “Espionage is, unfortunately, not uncommon. Rest assured that the guild headquarters are secure.”
“Right. But be careful anyway?” Nara said doubtfully.
Iris beamed. “Exactly.”
The floating platform arrived on the 8th floor. Iris led the way, pressing an indent in the wall to open the door to Rasmus’ office. The floating platforms needed an access card to operate, which added an extra layer of security. It seemed any visitors would need to be escorted.
The office of an inventor was unlike the office of a business executive. It was larger, for one, with a locked side door that led to what Nara suspected was a fully equipped workroom. A low coffee table was lined with couches on either side, and a crystal board to illustrate concepts. Strangely, there was a small snacks and drinks bar, flush with healthy options and barren of any vices (Iris’ management?). A large and heavy wooden desk sat at the far end, the light of the stained-glass windows illuminating the large parchments, books, and papers neatly organized on the desk. On either side were shelves holding books, trinkets, and rows of crystals. Half of the message tube extruded from the wall, where a little lip deposited incoming cylinders. Unread cylinders were sorted into one pile, and Rasmus’ secretary had sorted read cylinders into another.
Iris stepped to a panel by the wall and activated a field. Nara felt the buzz of magic—standard privacy magic and other effects, she suspected, but she didn’t have the ability to read magic with accuracy; That was Aliyah’s area of expertise.
They settled around the coffee table, Iris setting out an assortment of snacks and drinks on the table. Nara snagged a cookie. It was surprisingly good.
“What did you want to discuss with me?”
“Do you mind if we use a private communication ability? As an extra precaution.”
Rasmus looked at Iris. She nodded.
“The room should be secure but...”
Nara wondered if information about The Advent had spread to the guilds of Rowen. They were the largest threat to their high population of researchers and inventors.
-------
-You have invited [Rasmus Teresina] to join the party.
-[Rasmus Teresina] has joined the party.
-------
“What about Iris?”
Nara internally groaned. She couldn’t tell if the man had a dependency on his secretary, or if he just trusted her that much. But Encio and Nara couldn’t trust her that much.
“Before that,” Nara said out loud to the benefit of all present. “Could you read this proposal?”
Nara handed Rasmus Eufemia’s letter. Needless to say, it wasn’t a business proposal. He opened it—confused at first from the small size of what should have been a packet, before his eyes widened. His hands shook, and he closed his eyes, struggling against emotion.
“...It’s an interesting proposal.”
She was relieved he was intelligent enough to play along. He was an inventor but, she had started to have some doubts about his level of EQ.
“We have more material, if you’d like a proof-of-concept.”
“If…if you would.”
She removed Eufemia’s necklace from her inventory.
-------
Item: [Parting Love] (iron [growth], legendary)
Classification: necklace
Description: The masterpiece of a craftsman who hadn’t reached his full potential. It is the crystallization of his wishes for protection.
This item is bound to [Eufemia Teresina] and cannot be used by anyone else.
Effect: Suffer greatly reduced damage to locations of vulnerability, either intrinsic or manifested through magic.
Effect (iron): After suffering damage above an extreme damage threshold, immediately heal all damage. This effect has a 24-hour cooldown.
-------
It was clear he recognized the necklace on sight. Iris was confused, but she said nothing, standing behind his seat with a curious but neutral expression.
“I’m afraid we can’t discuss more about the proof-of-concept here. We’d like to move to a more secure location.”
“...It certainly is sensitive,” he agreed, his voice rough with suppressed emotion.
“We’d can set up a meeting time, for when you’re available.”
“Iris, cancel my schedule for today.” His gaze met Nara’s, wet with unsplit tears, and his voice was rough with suppressed emotion, holding on with a vice grip not to reveal too much, a skill he was unversed in. “I’m available now. This project...is important to me.”
Nara felt bad for him when she extended her hand to receive the necklace. His shaky fingers evidenced his reluctance. Still, the weight settled back in her palms, in her possession once again to return to Eufemia.
Iris looked as if she considered protesting. She studied her boss’ face with a look of genuine concern. Whatever she saw caused her to agree without protest. She walked over to the tube message system, wrote a notice, and slipped a cylinder through. Once she finished preparations, she waited, ready to follow.
“Do you trust her?” Nara asked through voice chat.
“With my life.”
“With the life of this... project?”
He chewed on his bottom lip. “...I do. Will you refuse me if she comes with me?”
“No, I won’t.” It wasn’t quite a lie.
Nara could separate them once they entered the portal to her Astral Domain, where Eufemia was waiting. Iris never needed to see Eufemia, and never needed to witness their conversation. Nara couldn’t transport Eufemia to Rowen without endangering her, but she could have family meet in her in-between space.
Rasmus may trust Iris, but Nara had learnt from Sen to take precautions, especially when she had the ability to do so. Iris couldn’t betray Rasmus, couldn't betray Eufemia if she had nothing to betray to begin with.