Huh? Whaddayamean I can’t farm ghost traps anymore!? I can’t even get in one!

(It’s in the name,) replies Nyx.

Wait... it’s race-specific?

(That’s exactly what I’m saying.)

Wonderful. Well, I guess I don’t have a reason to hang around this settlement anymore.

(None at all?)

Noooope. They’re all terrified of me anyway. Time to leave.

I ignore my Assistant’s sigh, head to the entrance, and follow on toward the Mains District again. At least the Guild quests have both free experience and a payout. I may as well just do that.

An unfortunate truth I learn along the way is that I apparently can’t drift when I have Verum Corpus active, so I choose expedience and let it drop. I can move surprisingly fast in my cloud form, faster than I could as a wraith.

(You still look like a wraith, though.)

Tell that to the ghost traps. Anyway, after around a day’s travel (my System offering me timestamps is really convenient!) I arrive at the gate to the Mains District, and definitely don't forget to manifest a body beforehand so I don’t terrify the gate guards. Absolutely.

(Idiot.)

Hey, they still let me in, right? No harm no foul.

Ah, I wonder if my System has a title or achievement or something for the number of times I’ve made her sigh.

I’m already at the Guild and rifling through uninteresting quests when Nyx breaks our most recent silence.

(You know...)

What?

(...I have a workshop,) she admits.

Really? Like, a real home base type setup?

(Yes.)

And where exactly is it?

(Well, I mean. We were both out for at least a year... after what happened...)

So you’re saying it’s probably ransacked, destroyed, so forth? What about wards and so forth? I thought you were a ‘Grand Master Runesinger’ or whatever.

(I am! I mean, was. I mean, shut up! We performed the ritual there!) she shouts.

Aha, I see what you’re getting at. You think if she was willing to betray you to begin with, she probably trashed or hells, sold your hideout.

She’s quiet for a moment, before whispering, (...Yes.)

We can still look though. Where is it?

(Not here. Interstitial on a different plane. You have Guild registration now though, so we should be able to use the portal system.)

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Well, then what are we waiting for! Let's go!

(You don’t have a pass,) she interjects before leaning on the quest console.

Let me guess. Enni.

(Yep.)

I audibly sigh. Although hmmmm, I wonder if Mimir is around...

***

Mimir is only too happy to offer me more than enough for a portal pass (last year’s rates, thanks Nyx) in exchange for aging “special potions” for him. My same-faced Assistant has repeatedly assured me that they’re in fact whiskey. I have repeatedly assured her that I don’t care.

Anyway, on to the portal gate, or gates, or station, or whatever?

(It’s a station. Multiple portals, different destinations, plenty of failover to account for traffic. You already saw that this plane is almost entirely residential,) Nyx informs me.

Fair enough. What’s this place even called?

(If I’m not mistaken, this is the honeycomb. It used to be called the Savage Territories, before it got conquered and colonized by old Lugh's cult a few centuries ago. Now it’s all built to a builder’s standard, that being uniform, which is why I think we’re there.)

Interesting. Well, the sign at the station seems to agree with you.

And it does, the large two-story building sporting a sign above the entryway reading “Savage Territories Portal Authority – Public Access.” It's not a particularly exciting site so far, consisting of plain gray concrete tiles and metal walls with a series of labeled teleporter platforms along the far wall. Nobody stops me on the way in so I head straight toward one of the portal gates just to see what will happen.

And, nothing happens.

(Idiot. They’re keyed to passes, if you don’t have one the gate doesn’t open.)

Right. I assume the kiosk to the side with the sign reading “Customer Service” is the place to go then, considering I don’t see anything labeled for passes specifically. I approach the counter and am immediately greeted by the chipper person behind it.

“Hello and welcome to the Savage Territories’ Portal Authority’s Public Access branch! How may I assist you?” they say smoothly.

“You can start by using less words,” I reply.

“A-ah!? Oh, hmm, my sincerest apologies!” The startled attendant straightens their pristine jacket and looks embarrassed for a moment.

“It’s nothing to apologize for. Too many people use too many words.”

“Ah, no, I must apologize for my reaction. You see, it’s not often we get Skillspeakers here, your kind are more common on the lower planes – n-not that I think them lesser, h-ha ha!” they nervously laugh.

“Skillspeakers?” I ask.

“Oh, are you new to your System?” They seem genuinely curious at this point. At least they're not cowering.

“Methods of speech provided by a Skill typically don’t manifest like normal speech, unlike most ascendants who are verbal speakers before they receive a System. Your own speech is... rather peculiar, I suppose?” they answer.

It’s not something I was unaware of, but I suppose this serves as a reminder. I partially release Verum Corpus, just enough to begin scattering into a cloud of fine ash before reactivating it. It’s really convenient that it doesn’t have a cooldown, but for some reason I felt like showing them.

“A-ah. I s-see.” And there’s that cowering again.

I’m getting impatient, so it’s time to move this along. “I want a portal pass-”

(He thinks you’re threatening him,) Nyx interjects.

"-and I will not harm you. I am an elemental, not a threat.”

They – he, apparently – looks a bit relieved again after that. I’m once again relieved I can turn my aura off, or I doubt I would have been able to turn this into anything but a security call.

“S-seven hundred and fifty enni for an annual, or one h-hundred for a week...?” he weakly responds.

I set a fistful of runed metal tabs on the countertop before replying, “one year.”

The attendant takes a moment to count them before nodding and activating a ring -

(Storage item,) Nyx informs me.

Anyway, he activates the storage item and retrieves a small runesteel plate. He places it in a rectangular indentation on the countertop for a moment and as soon as it makes contact, runes swim in a circle around it before settling on the plate and disappearing.

“Please channel your mana through this,” he says.

I do as he says, and it glows a bright yellow for a moment before turning red. Hm?

“A-ah! They show red when you already have a pass active. Do you want to pay for a replacement instead?”

What?

(That’s... what?)

That’s what I just said. Anyway.

“Are replacements cheaper?” I ask.

“A replacement for a prepaid pass is two hundred enni,” the attendant answers.

“A replacement then.”

He returns my change and rescans the pass on the countertop before returning it to me. It takes him a moment to muster his courage before he forces a smile and says, “th-thank you for your business!”

I give him half a wave before heading toward the portals. What in the hells was that all about?