Chapter 136

How Kingdoms are Built

(Hawkin)

Brewer’s Reputation: 365

Dinghies brought the robed men and women ashore. They wore robes hemmed in ethereal material. The colors were soothing and shed light upon their white robes. As they wet their robes and stepped ashore, they pulled back great hoods.

A man with long hair and a long beard at his chin held his hand out.

“We seek the Planes Cutter.”

“That would be me.”

“Ollie. We are all Dream Cutters. Our mutual goddess bade that we travel north by sea. We would meet with you, and you would accept our apprenticeship.”

“That’s…one of my quests. Dellia had asked me to reconsider.

Ollie turned to the Dream Cutters behind him and patted the air at his waist. They all bowed, and Ollie bowed with them.

“There are Brewers who’ve assigned Dellia to their quest paths,” he said, “but they are not yet capable of producing ethereal planes. You must possess a dream cutter stone. Minion Master is but a small avenue with which to use the stone for. Its utility is realized to build kingdoms. We will teach you. If there is no housing in your woods, we are prepared to sustain ourselves on an ethereal plane.”

“How about you help me pick some razor clams for now.”

Though they helped pry razor clams from the rocks, they didn’t collect as much as the effort they put in warranted. My purpose in recruiting their help was to give me some time to think while I collected dinner.

Should I work with them? Dellia hadn’t often asked me to reconsider quests, and this one did seem important to her. What was it….I navigated through system prompts until I found the quest.

[Makers For Hire. Hire 20 Dream Cutters to build and shape the architecture of a kingdom on one of your ethereal planes.]

[Reward: 10 gold rank Planes Cutter chests.]

[Accept quest objective: Y/N?]

Could I use them to help base-build? Could they help build out my ethereal planes? Could they manage them? Might I be more hands free? Now that was enticing!

The water was cool, and wading for clams had me acclimated in less than half an hour. I kept going farther out until I had collected enough clams. I didn’t want to leave the water, and no one followed me out for a swim. I treaded water, and I swam in circles to shed the tensions of the past days.

By midday cook fires were tempered, and I had in my hands a bowl of hot clam soup. The Dream Cutters were welcomed to the fire Abigail and I shared. They knelt behind their mentor like a choir on stepped platforms. Their hoods made them seem like holy mages.

“Ollie, was it?” I said. “Do you know other Brewers to whom Dellia is assigned?”

“We do. We certainly do.”

“I’m talking personally.”

“Quite a few. All on their way to silver rank.”

“They’ll be able to brew ethereal planes too, eventually?” I said.

“That is said to be their path.”

“Then I’ll agree. I’ll work with you, but I have some conditions.”

As if they were indeed a choir, they whispered all at once. Their voices crescendoed in excitement. Ollie turned to pat the air at them. He must have given them a strong look because I saw the muscles in his neck tense, and the Dream Cutters blanched. He was smiling when he turned back.

“We are honored, Mr. Ballow.”

“Please, Hawkin’s fine. So these Brewers may be able to eventually brew what I’ve been calling Mausoleum beers?”

Ollie nodded. “We are familiar with your work. What a blessing.”

“Help me manage my ethereal planes. I’d like to be as hands off with them as I can.”

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“Naturally.”

“When these Brewers are able to brew Mausoleum beers, I’d like to turn over that ethereal plane to you. I’ll give you the master beer so long as you can employ other Brewers to maintain it. I don’t know how much more I can handle on my own.”

“Heavy is grief.”

“There are several other planes I could hand over to you too, if all goes well,” I said.

“We can make that happen, I assure you.”

“How do you know? These Brewers you know may decline my request.”

Ollie dropped to his knees before his Dream Cutters and spread his arms wide as though to gather them all under his arms. They lurched to him as one. They whispered, and they nodded, and they whispered, and they nodded. Ollie rose, brushed sand from his robe, and plopped back onto his stump.

“With your reputation, the friends I have in mind will jump at the opportunity,” he said. “What I can do is send word for proof. We have carrier hawks aboard.”

“There’s a Brewer in Lavenfauvish. His name is Ethan Hiccough. Half of my mausoleum beers go to him to disperse. I’ll want you to continue working with him. If you don’t honor our arrangement in regards to my mausoleum project, I’ll hear from him.”

“I see the wisdom. And I understand your caution. Clearly, you do not know us, therefore we will not begrudge your skepticism. In fact, we will take it in stride and wholly adhere to your conditions. We can meet your conditions, Hawkin.”

Ollie chewed his tongue when he stretched forward and offered his hand to shake.

“Your timing could not be better,” I said. “Are you ready to help?”

With the weird colors of my ethereal ingredients, I brewed yet another master beer for an ethereal plane. I forged an ethereal label into the shape of a crescent squash for the container.

Abigail arrived and said, “Couple trees left. Oh, is that a new master beer?”

I handed her the bottle.

“Dellia Lucerne’s Hermit Tavern,” she read, and then she smiled. “How fitting. When do we start building?”

∞

The ethereal plane was vast, and its gravity was lighter. The light of the plane was speckled with ultra prisms. Ollie and his apprentices gawked at the plane as they floated there with their toes pointed down. Abigail and I waited patiently for them to acclimate.

Ollie had some things to show me. Barely able to tear himself away from the impossible colors of the place, he clapped his own Dream Cutter stone between two hands and furrowed his brows. His robe rippled. Then a mirage of stone began to manifest in midair between us.

“You can manifest anything you’ve ever seen in your dreams with the dream cutter stone,” he said. “This block of granite hails from the cathedral of the city in which I was born. Touch it.”

I touched the mirage, and my finger dipped into it. Flashes of memories blinked like a rapid cascade of thoughts in my mind. I saw a cathedral made of white-gray stone. Children were throwing themselves after each other and laughing and stomping on the steps of the cathedral entrance.

When I removed my finger, the memories abruptly fizzled.

“It was born of my dreams,” said Ollie. “Of nothingness, yet it is firm enough to hold. You’re sure to have seen stone in your own dreams. Give it a try. Produce a stone. Think of it like tying string around a memory, then pull it from your mind.”

“A memory?”

“Though we may forget what we witness during our waking life, our dreams remember. It’s mainly our memories that give life to our dreams. If nothing returns to you, try a different memory. Once you’ve found what you’re after, cut a block from it.”

I withdrew my Dream Cutter stone and clasped it. Using my mana for it was like pouring honey into the whole of a button. I hadn’t had this much trouble using mana since I began my quest path!

I focused on memories of Lunstad. I tried to rekindle any old dreams of the city that I had ever had. I kept at it until I manifested a rough mirage of basalt. I gasped with exertion when I could manifest no more. And while I felt the plane restore my mana, I couldn’t help but laugh at my mirage. It wasn’t exactly a block like Ollie’s was. It was misshapen, and looked more like a black cloak crumpled into a ball.

“With more skill, the block would have manifested with your desired dimensions,” said Ollie.

With that, Ollie manifested another mirage of stone. He produced another perfect block which he stacked upon the previous.

“This is how kingdoms are built within ethereal planes,” he said.

The kingdom seekers had spoken of this. They had mentioned they had Dream Cutters already under employment. This was why.

Ollie cleared his throat. “With mana and focus, one may firm these mirages of material until they are corporeal and all memory is dashed away.” He spun, gesturing to the plane. “Here, your creations will remain endlessly, no matter the weather or the passing of time. However, anything built using a dream cutter stone will shatter like smashed glass if transported off the ethereal plane.”

He faced his stack of stone mirage and once again clasped his Dream Cutter stone before him. He strained with effort, and he grunted. The mirages suddenly strengthened in color and form until they were no longer mirages. They seemed like real stacked stones. I felt the cold stone when I knocked on them. I saw no memories in my mind.

“I suggest we build your tavern this way, to your design,’ said Ollie. “With our aid, it won’t take very long.”

One of his apprentices floated over to him and said in a low voice, “Inventory, Ollie. Our side quest.”

Ollie straightened his robes and nodded. “There is another matter I’d like to work with you on. We’d like to craft ethereal planes for those adventurers seeking more inventory space. You would make the master copies, and we would build shelves and storage. They’ll fetch an incredibly high price. We’d love to construct at least one hundred.”

“Ethereal planes to be used as inventory spaces?” I said.

“Indeed. What say you?”

“I’ll help.”

“And shall we begin construction on your tavern?”

“I’m afraid your skills with the dream cutter stone are much better than mine.”

“As you level up your Planes Cutter skills, you will be able to grasp control of dream cutting. You’ll be able to manifest blocks, then whole walls, then castles in nearly the blink of an eye. Once you reach even higher ranks, you will be able to render your surroundings as you tread and leave entire kingdoms in your wake.”

“You ready?” said Abigail.

“I guess so,” I said. “Let’s start building.”