Not one to wallow in defeat, Gio met with his mentor with a written list of his options.

“Firstly, what about the remains from the dragon… the hoard or the horns?” Gio asked.

“Hmmm… I had almost forgotten about those. Alexander and I talked a while back about what we would do with all that death mana… It’s a lot of energy, but it’s not readily available for sigil-empowering in the same way as a nexus would be if that was what you were asking. Theoretically, you could tap into the mana. It’s exceedingly dangerous… However, I’d probably caution against making a death-magic-based domain for your first try.” Baphelus responded.

Gio gawked at Baphelus for a moment.

“You know, I hadn’t even considered using the death mana on it. That’s not what I was asking. Firstly, I was wondering what my share would come to in bits… for the purposes of buying a domain. Secondly, I was wondering if there would be any relevant empowered sigils on the dragon horns.” Gio clarified.

“Ah, unfortunately, both of those ideas are non-starters. For starters, the entire pile is under quarantine in one of my vaults. You would need to have some way to protect yourself from the death mana to study the horn at all… probably a spell like [Deathward].”

“What do you mean? We walked through the hoard without issues.” Gio replied.

“Incorrect. You likely don’t remember, but after you were re-assembled, Professor March had to decontaminate you. Your friends can tell you about their experiences with it, but the death magic decontamination process feels a bit like getting a sunburn on the inside of your body, as the only cure is a high amount of light mana.”

“Light? Not life?”

“Well, life mana would work. It would also make all of the lovely organisms that live inside you that are usually crucial to your internal microbiome go absolutely mad.”

“Alright, point taken.”

“The coins, various artifacts, and the rest of the pile is a similar story… I also think you’re over-valuing the hoard.” Baphelus continued

“I thought it was a dragon’s hoard. What do you mean over-valuing?” Gio asked.

“The Crystal Ring is surrounded by an entire city made of gold. I would have thought that to be kind of obvious. The most valuable things in the pile are the gemstones… and there aren’t many that survived being exposed to corrosive mana for so long. In fact, those that did survive were changed… the corrupted stones have some fringe uses in enchanting, though. All in all, Alexander already told you that we would ensure that you managed to obtain some benefit from it… but I’m afraid that you shouldn’t be expecting much in the realm of Bits. hate to be a broken record, but there’s also the small detail that all the gold is currently soaked with death mana.”

“Noted. Going back to the horns- They are a potential option?” Gio asked.

“Yes. In theory. But you would need to have some measure of protection against high concentrations of death mana as I previously stated which is no small feat in itself. That, coupled with the fact that you would need to learn high draconian, and adapt to the differences in draconic spell-scribing. All things considered, I’d say that you could probably end up with some interesting light-based spells. Maybe even a domain.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“Why only maybe?”

“Well, I haven’t done a whole lot of digging about the horns, as I don’t care about them. Maybe there’s a major sigil on it, maybe there isn’t. You would be spending all that time for essentially a gamble. I’m not saying that It’s not worth doing eventually. Just maybe not while you only have a few months to meet a specific goal. “ Baphelus explained.

Gio crossed a few lines off his list.

“Okay… what about if I use my remaining Commendation?” Gio asked.

“For what? You already know how to empower a sigil in theory. A Commendation entitles you to knowledge. Think of a sigil as an asset. You’ve stumbled upon some low-value sigils in your research that are freely available… but you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who would be willing… or even allowed to hand you an empowered sigil. You may have heard this in passing, but sigils technically lose power as more mages use them. Think of it like a reservoir of magical intent being split through different users.”

Gio crossed off another item.

“Okay. What if I do another divination in th-”

“I forbid you from doing that in the Crystal Ring. I would have bailed you out if you had unknowingly stumbled into the scriptorium, but looking for a sigil would lead you straight to their vault. Or, conversely, if you were looking for a nexus in the academy, you’d either be lucky enough to stumble into a restricted area or an unexplored one. Listen to me clearly here: Nexuses are never unguarded. The draw of so much mana will attract, or even invent a capable guardian.”

Gio crossed off another item.

“Okay… the last thing I have written here is sigil fusion. I read about it in one of the primers.”

“Hmm… not worthwhile without skills or a specialized occupation. You’d need a lot of minor sigils with uniform intent. That’s the sort of thing you should be doing way later.” Baphelus finished.

Gio crossed out the last item on his list.

“Okay. I am officially out of ideas.” Gio said, deflated.

“My advice to you… continue doing what you’re doing. Give it some time, and whatever you plan to do… plan thoroughly.” Baphelus said.

Gio looked at the lich confused.

Whatever I plan to do… what?

“Did I miss something?” Gio asked.

“No. I am simply cautioning you that If you’re going to do something… no matter what that may be… plan.”

_____

Gio sat and gazed longingly into his cup.

“So then… you don’t have an answer?” Jean asked.

“No.” Gio replied.

“Well… for what it’s worth, Gio- I would be more than happy to put in a good word for you if you do decide to take a commission with the Ring Guard.” Jean said, cringing at his own words.

Chandrika glared at him.

“Jean! That’s not an option for Gio!” she chided.

“Look… I know it’s not ideal, but if the alternative is failing and getting sent home… I think that you would be able to pass the Ring Guard criteria. There’s not much we can even do for you otherwise…” Jean stated, putting his hands up in surrender.

“I appreciate it. I think… I think for now I might do what Baphelus said, and just focus on training and studying. Maybe I’ll think of something later… we’ve got three months, right?” Gio said.

“Not to be a downer… but you should probably leave in some time to actually learn how to cast the spell. It’s supposed to be really, really hard to cast a domain. I haven’t really tried casting mine.” Chandrika said.

“Oh… that’s a good point. I guess for now I’ll say that If I don’t think of something in the next month or so, I’ll seriously consider a commission. Failing isn’t an option for me.”