The meal was delicious.
“Where did you get all the ingredients?” Gesai had finished her bowl of soup and was on her second.
I had to admit, compared to the mostly hot water with a little flavoring that we’d been being fed, this was the exact opposite.
“Mom is an Extractor!” The preteen answered before her mother could.
It made sense that a Summoner would be an Extractor as well. The process, from what little I understood of it, was very similar. With summoning, you used mana to give the monster crystal a body that was still tied to the crystal but was functionally about the same. Once either the Summoner ran out of mana, or the duplicate crystal was destroyed, the monster would vanish, just like in the dungeon, but it wouldn’t leave behind a crystal since the Summoner was holding it.
With crystal extracting, the Extractor tried to pull monster material out of the crystal. In Zeb, all the monsters had been cow-like, so while an extractor might try to pull out leather, horns, or sometimes bones for crafting, more often than not, they would try to pull out meat. Since the success hinged on the skill and Magic of the Extractor, it was a very technical job that our society had become built around.
“What Tier do you work with?” Gesai looked at Glima.
“I am level thirty-eight if that is what you’re asking.” The older woman began collecting our empty dishes.
Oz shook her head and began motioning for me to get Gesai to be quiet.
The seating arrangement had gone, Gesai, myself, Rix, then Jord a seat away from Rix. On the other side was Glima’s daughter, Justia, Oz, and then Ren. Glima had sat at the head of the table. I looked over at the woman on my right and knew there was little I could do to change the line of questioning.
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“If you want to know if I am a threat.” Glima didn’t bother looking at Gesai while she cleaned the table. "I will not stop you if you try to leave.”
“Aren’t you his wife?” Gesai was playing with her spoon even though she no longer had a bowl.
“More like a captive mistress…” The preteen muttered.
“Sylph!” Glima pointed at the door. "Bed, NOW!”
The white-haired girl got up and smiled at us. "It was nice to meet all of you.”
Once Sylph was gone, Glima shut up the container. Even though the lighting was the same as outside, It looked darker with everything closed.
“We may talk freely now.” She took her place back at the head of the table.
“Wait, so you’re not on his side?” Gesai sat up in her chair.
“That man is a monster and he can not be allowed to reach Tier Six.” The bald woman looked at our current teacher. "You have no idea what he will do if he reaches it.”
“Are you going to help us?” Oz looked confused. "What about…”
“She is not his.” Glima rested her elbows on the table and put her head in her hands.
“I think we need some context.” I cut in before anyone else could derail the conversation. “What is going on around here and with you?”
Glima looked up. "There is a lot to tell…” She looked at her crystal band. "And not a lot of time. I will tell you what I can, but once we leave this room, you must not talk about it. He has ears everywhere.”
“Can you help us get out of here?” Oz repeated her earlier question.
The bald woman shook her head. Her finger traced the tattoos that crisscrossed her body. “He had a Tier Four Caster put these on me. I can not work against him. Since helping you escape would hinder his current goal of going up a Tier, I can not do that. But I am not compelled to stand in your way or alert him if you are trying to escape.”
“Why should we believe you’re on our side?” Justia leaned forward and beat the rest of us with her question.
“I am not.”