Chapter 65: What Awaits Beyond Riches
“And that’s…that,” Nara said, exhaustedly plunged her sword though one incapacitated but still-not-dead monster.
The circular area was littered with monsters. The rays of dawn peeked over the mountains that formed the jungle bowl, lighting up the ground dyed multicolored with monster blood, like a splatter paint artist burned thousands to paint an entire plaza, except the paint had been made with reeking blood and body fluids. Nara’s Cosmic Path kept her feet clean, but bloody body jutting up at odd angles parts painted her pants in robe in reverse and perverse art where she was the canvas.
Eufemia wanted to collapse onto the floor, but there was nowhere clean to sit. She stared daggers at the ground, as if the mess was a personal insult.
“Just imagining the rainbow smoke of this all makes me want to throw up,” Eufemia said.
“There is no distance great enough to escape it,” Encio agreed dryly. No matter how skilled he was, he was drained from the battle as well. They had taken breaks throughout the night, but now was time for a long rest. The previous day was occupied by travel, and their sleep was fraught and light.
Eufemia sighed with such weight it was like her soul had escaped, “I so wish I had my bed back the hotel.”
“Conjured bed not doing it for you?” John asked.
“It’s not quite the same. Can’t beat the handcrafted quality the rich can afford.”
“Well you know,” Nara said, “I might be able to help with that.”
“You have something better than a mattress conjured from John’s droll imagination? I’m all ears.”
“A stiff mattress is good for the spine,” John unhelpfully defended.
“Not mine.”
The group washed off, dumping a bottle of crystal wash Encio provided for them.
“I don’t have much left,” Encio wistfully said. Crystal wash was expensive for a consumable potion, but he was limited by availability and not by price.
They hiked up to the top floors of the tower, finding a bit of privacy which Nara insisted on. With the balconies covered by metal, earth, and wood barriers, the top of the tower was completely dark. A floating glow stone lit their way as they slowly ascended.
“Why, why in the world do we have to climb a tower after we’re already so exhausted? This better be worth it.”
“Should be worth it, hopefully. You tell me, okay?”
The ascended some more, climbing higher and higher, Eufemia grumbling the entire way. These towers were some of the tallest those from Erras had even seen. It had its novelty, but novelty worn off when they had to climb it.
“Here’s good enough, probably,” Nara said, stopping at one of the higher floors.
“Does this have to be such a big dramatic secret?” Eufemia asked.
“It’s not something I’m all too comfortable with sharing yet.”
With a thought, a doorway appeared.
The five leaned in to look.
“Is this…a portal?” Aliyah asked, “It seems like it is one, yet I feel it is not.”
Through the domain door they saw a relaxing lakeside pavilion. A small pier extended off into the water, beautiful and clean. On the far side of the lake, a forest of plum blossom trees cast their pink on the water’s surface, creating a fantastical reflection of springtime. The lakeside pavilion was abundant in its own natural greenery: willows, spruces, elms, bamboo, pines, cypress, wisterias, and maples. A combination impossible on Earth, but possible due to Nara’s poor understanding of arboreal ecology.
“Come on in,” Nara offered.
“What is this place?” Eufemia said, stepping through with a look of excited wonder.
“My Astral Domain, kind of,” Nara said.
“Your soul thingy?”
“Yeah, my soul thingy. This place doesn’t have as much power as the original place, but I can at least make a nice imaginary house.”
“Not as much power as the original? Then what power do you hold in your own domain?”
“It’s my soul, Sen. Pretty much anything, except for the one cardinal rule.”
“Which rule?”
“Can’t modify a soul without permission—sanctity of the soul, and all that. Chrome’s entered back in the astral, and I couldn’t do anything to him. Can’t really kill an astral being to begin with. I could expel him though, or put him in a perpetual maze he couldn’t escape from,” Nara swirled her hand like a magician, where an astral construct dove flew from her open palm.
“Ta-da!”
“So what is the difference?”
“Can’t do most of that stuff here. Can’t use power beyond my rank. I don’t even know if I can prevent others from entering—monsters or people. I can use my inventory everywhere, and I can sense anything with the semblance of a soul that enters.”
“Advantages enough,” Sen said appraisingly.
“I agree,” Eufemia said, surprising Nara. “Don’t look at me like that. I know how useful a hideaway space is.”
The dove that had flown away exploded into sparkling confetti, which rained down on their heads.
“It’ll go up in rainbow smoke or something.”
“I’m not sure about how far it all goes. If a silver ranker comes in, can I kick them out? Or maybe their power destabilizes the door domain? It’s not something I care to test in the heat of the moment.”
“I understand your secrecy,” Aliyah said.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
“You do?” Nara said with surprise. She wasn’t sure what things she should keep secret, but Chelsea had cautioned her about her Racial Gifts.
“As an outworlder, you may not know, but inventory powers that can store people are exceedingly rare. There is a confluence known for it, but it has conditions.”
“Which confluence?”
“Prison.”
“Figures.”
The group walked towards the lake pavilion, taking in the clean breeze. Lake water gently lapped at the shore, and within the glassy water, varieties of fish peacefully swam.
“It’s like some sort of hyper-realistic game. Like Star Trek,” John said.
“You’ve watched Star Trek?”
“I enjoy a variety, not just detective shows.”
“Well, here we are,” Nara said, standing in the living room, “Rooms are upstairs, just pick one. If there’s anything you don’t like, just speak about what you want to change, and the domain will adapt itself, sort of like AI. It’s all fake anyway. Fake stuff you can lay on. Does that make it real? Hmm.”
“AI?”
“Artificial intelligence.”
Aliyah’s eyes looked at her expectantly, glittering with yearning for new knowledge.
“I’m not going to explain that. John?” She passed the baton of education to the former information officer.
“I’ll pass the baton to our world. My apologies, Aliyah, that’s one for later.” He denied the baton, passing it into the void.
She softly sighed, “My anticipation for you world only grows.”
*****
Eufemia awoke, feeling extremely refreshed. She checked the clock on her bedside table, 7 hours had passed. She laid in bed, not wanting to leave. It had matched her preferences perfectly, even surpassing them with characteristics she didn’t know possible. She swore to purchase a magical bed at the earliest opportunity, but could magic mimic this comfort? A cloud bed, maybe. That was the sort of luxury that required silver or gold rank riches, not Eufemia’s paltry iron rank wealth. A goal for later—she wanted one, no matter the cost.
Soft light streamed through the curtains, which had automatically parted upon her waking. Since she was close enough to John, she removed a pair of fresh clothes she had stored in his inventory and slipped them on.
Upon opening her door, the fresh smell of breakfast wafted up from downstairs, stimulating her appetite which she thought had been destroyed permanently by the gore of monsters before her eyes.
I’m adaptable, Eufemia thought, That’s no surprise. If she could survive in Nekroz, she could survive anywhere. She would much prefer thriving to survival, however, but Eufemia was beginning to feel like she was thriving. That her years scrambling for money and political leverage was finally over, and she could stop to smell the roses.
She softly stepped downstairs, where she saw that everyone else had awoken before her, although they waited for her to arrive before eating.
“Hurry,” John said, “I can hardly wait. This food is twisting my stomach in anticipation.”
“You don’t have a stomach, John,” Aliyah gently chided.
“Oh. A bummer, that.”
“This is about the only real thing here,” Nara explained before anyone could ask, “It’s basically a flavored spirit coin. Just condensed magic. Should be both energizing and tasty, unlike the real thing. I’ve modeled it after the food of a certain chef you all know. Just a forgery of a masterpiece, but if the forgery is edible, isn’t it basically the same thing?”
This wasn’t a power of the door space, but rather a power of her Astral Domain.
“Laius?” Encio asked.
“That’s right.”
“Now this will be a feast,” Encio said, who had been treated to Laius’ snacks before. He rubbed his hands together in anticipation.
“Food that makes diamond blood here excited? You’ve raised my expectations.”
They dug in, munching on food that very much did live up to Encio’s lineage. They ladled a nice refreshing soup from a pot, dipping toasted and spiced bread in it. Drinks of their choice was provided—for Nara, it was fresh tea, and a glass of freshly squeezes fruit juice—why settle for one when she could have both? Sliced meats and spreads could be added to their toasted bread, delicious spreads of nutty and herbal flavors and meats smoked and aged.
“Just one thing, dear Nara,” Aliyah said, “I was almost distracted by the food—almost. Did you say that this was the only real thing because its modeled after a spirit coin.”
“Yeah,” Nara said between her own bites.
“That means, you can make spirit coins?”
“Uh, guess so.”
Silence washed over the table.
“Could I see that racial ability description of yours once more?” Aliyah asked softly.
“Don’t you have it memorized?”
“Yes, but I’d like to see it.”
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Racial Ability: [Astral Domain]
You can shape the Astral into an [Astral Domain]. This domain additionally serves as a dimensional storage space. You can remove items from the storage space without entering the [Astral Domain]. This domain can be used to traverse the Astral.
You can call up a gate to allow for others to enter your [Astral Domain]. Only those you allow for may enter; others cannot forcibly intrude. You do not need a portal to enter your Astral Domain due to the effects of [Astral Traveler]. You need a portal to invite others into your Astral Domain.
You can shape the astral into physical reality and astral constructs. Constructs only provide effective defense against attacks lower than your rank; attacks of your rank and above are minimally impeded.
You can manifest a portion of your [Astral Domain] into physical reality. Maximum size occupying physical reality corresponds to your rank. This manifestation does not share the full properties of you [Astral Domain].
You can utilize soul-engineering within your [Astral Domain].
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“That last line wasn’t there before,” Aliyah said, “But that’s not the nature of this power.”
“Nope, it’s the uh, ‘shape the astral’ part.”
“You can make physical reality?” Sen asked.
“Kind of. Most physical reality is really difficult, because I really have to understand it. I understand stuff like water and oxygen enough to do it, but its pretty slow and concentration intensive, so its not really worth it. Although, the gods don’t seem to care, so that’s nice.”
John licked his fingers of sauce, earning a disgusted stare from Eufemia, “Can’t escape universal entropy with just a teeny bit of creation.”
“But spirit coins are just condensed magic,” Aliyah said, “There is no complexity. We have spirit coin farms. Their only requirement is the ambient magic is undisturbed.”
“That’s right, but I can only make real spirit coins up to my own rank,” Nara said, “Can’t handle permanent magic above that. If I try to make a spirit coin above my rank—” she demonstrated, making a bronze rank coin. Suddenly a door to the outside appeared to the side of her. She chucked the coin out, and it started to dissolve into rainbow smoke the moment it crossed the threshold, “—it just vanishes.”
“You’re a money printer,” Eufemia said, her voice rising with incredulity, “I knew that outworlders were unfair!”
“I mean, we’re already printing money with our loot powers, it’s not all that different,” Nara said.
“It’s different,” Eufemia insisted flatly, eyes boring holes into Nara’s skull like a hand drill.
“Is it though? Look, how many monsters have we all killed in a night?”
“As a whole, numbers far surpassing a few hundred per day. The final day will increase in severity, no doubt,” Sen said.
“And, we get 22 iron coins per if we add up the lower rank coins, with me and John, plus 22 bronze coins for any of the bronze ones. Then, we get monster cores and quintessence, awakening stones and essences, random materials, consumables, and sometimes equipment. We sell the majority of that stuff. How much money do you think we’ll make when we get back to Sanshi, Eufemia?”
Eufemia was quiet.
“Now, is printing coins really that big of a deal?”
She did some quick mental calculations, experience wrought from her frugality and business ventures in Nekroz.
“…No,” she admitted with heavy reluctance, “It’s not. We won’t need money for a good long while. And John and I have paid off our loans, many times over.”
“John doesn’t have a loan,” Encio said, “What I earned from his looting power counts for him. He’s paid his off already.”
“So just me?” Eufemia said with exasperation.
“It’s sophistry,” Encio said, “A splash in the ocean compared to what you literally just earned.”
“And, if you want to get premium prices instead of deflated Sanshi prices, I can go and astral jump anywhere in the world to sell your stuff for you.”
“I see,” Eufemia said, her posture relaxing as she sat back down in her seat, “I’m…wealthy now?” she said, her tone indicating she didn’t quite believe her own words.
“Yup. Feels nice?”
“It does,” she said, expression a bit blank. “It does.”
“Rich for an iron ranker,” Encio said, “Think of what gold rankers must have. Diamond rankers.”
“Way to burst her bubble, Encio.”
“I’m saying there’s more waiting for you, Eufemia. What you’ve seen is a fraction of what high rankers have seen. Power, money, reputation it all awaits,” Encio leaned back, “But I’m all about the adventure.”
“Says the rich boy.”
“What he says is true,” Sen said, “If you are only after riches, bronze rank is enough, as long as Nara and John are with us. We all need to think about motivations beyond that. For Encio, it is adventure. For Aliyah, it is the depths of magic. For John and Nara, a way to return to their world. For me, it is responsibility to protect others. What is it that you will pursue, Eufemia?”