Chapter 33: Changes at the Abbey I
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[THE SILVER SEAT - Lamplight Dormitories]
“From today on,” said Baal. “Mister Vandamme and Nameen will join our order as support staff. That is to say, they do not hold the rank of knight or squire but will simply be assisting in... more auxiliary duties.”
They were in the entrance lobby to the dormitories. Gathered together were all of those involved in the Manslayer incident only days ago, as well as Baal. The Grandmaster had apparently been away on some knightly business, but made it back shortly after the killer had been apprehended.
Beelzebub Cell, Cain and Muse, had not been privy to the discussions that Erioch Baal conducted with Vincent Vandamme and his new Player apprentice in the medical room, but when he had come out of there the man had been visibly relaxed. All would be well, apparently.
They were now standing in the lobby with their luggage. To be honest, it wasn’t much. Most of his shop had been destroyed and irreparably ruined, and Nameen had nothing to consider his own to begin with.
Cain smiled.
A new start, for the both of them.
For the old man, from what he had heard, a life given purpose again. For Nameen, a life of freedom. He’d be free to go where he wanted, live the way he wanted. At the very least, Cain knew that Baal had promised that if he ever wanted out, he would have it.
Cain and Muse, with a big smile on her face, clapped to welcome their new coworkers. Ronove simply smiled, and Alonzo crossed his arms. Cain looked over at the wolf beastman; when Cain had attempted to return the sword to him, he had rejected it. It wasn’t his sword, but rather a new one, and Cain could use it far better than he.
“Ah, right,” said Vandamme. “Lad, where was the box I marked out?”
“This one?” asked Nameen.
The boy was dressed in new clothes that finally fit him. A cotton tunic, large work gloves which hid a Corpse Candle underneath, and black shorts. No more was there a trace of a slave. He was a free man.
His eyes too, were glamoured just like Cain’s had been. The Corpse Candle that had been given to him had all the same features. As long as he didn’t use his Synthesis out in the open, nobody would ever suspect him of being a Player.
Said free man handed the artisan a long and thin box. He passed it over to Alonzo, shoving the object into the wolf beastman’s surprised hands.
“Boss?”
“I promised you, you filthy mutt,” said Vandamme gruffly. “You’re a grown man now. It’s yours.”
Alonzo gingerly opened the box. It was a sword. Thin and long with a silver sheen. Emblazoned at the bottom of the blade near the hiltguard was the symbol of an open white hand.
“I’ve been meaning to give it to you for a while now. Forgive me, it might not be up to the same quality as your previous sword, but I did my best to do it like I did in the past.”
Alonzo turned away.
“Heh. Guess I won’t need to head down to another weapon shop, at least.”
Cain and Muse assisted the pair in getting them settled in. Nameen helped as well, carrying the boxes. Some of them went to their rooms in the dormitories, which were down the hallway from Cain and Muse. An arrangement that they had both been happy with, considering their previous situations.
The rest went to a little building that was still in the middle of construction near the courtyard. Cain had seen it grow from where he had been training. A little place that was currently being built to Vandamme’s specifications.
A new workshop.
“This’ll be where we’ll be spending most of our time, lad,” said the old dwarf to his apprentice. “I’ll teach you everything I know, from the roots. But first, we’re going to have to fix this place up. Make it a real workshop. Come up with a name, too.”
Cain watched as Nameen nodded.
He really looked his age the most when he was smiling.
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[THE SILVER SEAT - Lamplight Dormitories]
“Magic?”
“Yes, can you teach me?”
Muse tilted her head to the side. They were back in their regular clothing - the robed figures who did their laundry here at the dormitories truly worked magic.
She had missed the feeling of the earth under her feet. It had been a change, going from shoes as normal people wore to sandals. She didn't realize just how used to it she'd gotten after receiving Aerachnid's blessing.
When Cain had asked her to come to the courtyard after their little welcoming, she hadn’t been entirely sure what to expect. Did it have something to do with his thoughts from that night?
Or maybe... Something about Abel Thompson? Cain hadn’t said much after Nameen had brought up the name. A man who was his doppelganger and the same last name. Cain had seemed surprised, but he had confided in her afterward that, for some reason, he felt he wasn’t as surprised as he should’ve been.
Memories were strange things, she figured, especially when they were damaged. Things that you know, tied to things that you should know yet didn’t. She wondered what it was like to have lived an entire previous life that you didn’t remember.
Magic hadn’t been on her mind at all.
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“Well, sure!” Muse grinned. “First, lemme take a look.”
She leaned forward, resting her forehead on Cain’s, and opened her senses, completely missing his blush. She sent her essence into his body, spreading into his veins and--
That... didn’t make sense.
She tried again. The same result.
Muse opened her eyes and moved back.
“This is... This is really weird,” said Muse, uncertainly. “I can’t sense any magic circuits in you at all. It’s not like they’re missing... It’s more like they were never there. Maybe it’s a Player thing?”
“Magic circuits?” asked Cain.
“Yes, magic circuits,” said Muse. “Do you... know what they are?”
Guess not, judging by that quizzical expression. Muse sighed. Right, right. He had mentioned electricity and steam and other things like that, but not a lick of magic in his old world.
Looks like that was another one of those things that she had taken for granted. Earth was really such an interesting and mysterious place - how did they live daily life without magic at all?
“We’re gonna need to go sit down for this. To the bench!”
The bench in the courtyard, where they had looked at the stars together. Where he had confided to her about his world, and she learned of a wondrous place out there that was nothing like Esperanto. It still boggled her mind.
They grabbed a seat, and she gently brought her hands together. Cain stared as she conjured a small vortex between her palms. Nothing major, not like what she had thrown at the Maneater, but enough to feel despite the invisibility of her element.
He raised a finger gingerly, and Muse nodded, encouragingly she hoped. Cain moved his finger inside the vortex, feeling the currents swirl around his digit.
She took some amusement in his expression. There was childlike wonder there that didn’t belong on the face of a young twenty-something man.
“This is a spell,” said Muse. “Essence is magical energy, and we channel that energy through our magic circuits in order to produce magical phenomena. That’s what a spell is, by definition.”
“Incredible...” breathed Cain.
Muse realized that this had been the first time that he had seen magic at close range and at peace. McDougal’s mud warcasting, the Maneater’s blood godcasting, and her own wind godcasting. All of these things he had experienced before, but only while in combat and fighting for his life.
“That’s also basically what magic is,” explained Muse. “Of course, that’s really just the overview. Like telling you math is about numbers. The specifics are a lot more complicated, and there are a hundred different ways of casting magic. Some are more suitable than others for combat, and some are harder than others.”
Cain nodded as he listened to her explanation.
“But,” sighed Muse. “All magic with the exception of certain magical tools require magic circuits, or meridians, to use. I’ve never heard of a living thing without them before.”
Cain did not look as surprised as she had expected him to. She had been prepared to encourage him if it got him down, but then again he must’ve suspected it. If his world really had nothing like magic then...
“That’s not entirely true.”
They turned their head.
Ronove and Baal came up from behind them.
“Forgive me for intruding on your lecture,” said the Grandmaster. “But I could not help but overhear on my walk. Players are indeed unable to use the magic that you and I are familiar with, but...”
“But?” asked Cain.
“...Of course, Players have their own skills.”
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[THE SILVER SEAT - The Lamplight Abbey Archives]
A turn in a corridor that neither of them had entered before and down a flight of stairs. They had found themselves in front of two robed figures. Upon seeing the Grandmaster at the forefront of the pack they had moved aside, unlocking the door with simultaneous turns of two keys.
Now they were in a massive chamber. Shelves upon shelves of written materials, as well as various displays. Rather than a library, it almost looked more like a museum. The same robed figures that showed themselves in the abbey above worked here, delivering files to and fro.
“These are the archives. As knights of the order, you two both have permission to peruse these shelves,” said the Grandmaster. “Although perhaps that isn’t strictly necessary. I’ve memorized much of the information in these halls, the older parts anyway.”
“Information in these halls?” asked Cain, taking it all in.
“Old legends and data on Players, collected and archived,” said Baal. “As well as new information collected from our outriders. Many of them work overseas or in other nations - some of them in the further provinces. They operate in cells of their own. I’m sure sooner or later you’ll have a chance to meet.”
They kept walking. A figure brushed by Cain’s shoulder and bowed apologetically to him, and he bowed back. He was still unsure of how to deal with them, or what their deal was in particular. Was it too late to ask?
Ronove saw his look and smiled.
“Candlemonks,” he explained. “Worshipers of a certain Divinity, of which the Lamplight Abbey is their primary temple. You don’t think the abbey was called that for no reason?”
“Oh?” asked Muse. That had certainly piqued her curiosity. “Which one?”
“That’s not for us to say,” said Baal. “This way, please.”
They exited the massive chamber and entered a smaller one. This one had no notes or books or documents, instead being filled with various objects and other paraphernalia. Cain looked around at them, not finding anything about them in common with each other.
The Grandmaster walked forth, and picked up a small black orb. He turned it about in his hand, before facing Cain.
“This,” said the Grandmaster. “Is something called a Skill Gem.”
Skill Gem?
“It’s been used already,” said Baal, directing his gaze back at the object. “But apparently, once upon a time, it held something inside. Something that was used by a Player to acquire a new ability; something that was different from their System Mechanic.”
Baal handed the object over to Cain, who took it into his hands. He stared at the object.
It was dark yet reflective, and he could see his own reflection on it, still with eyes of white. Turning it around in his hands, he felt the weight and materiality. It was heavy, around the weight of a bowling ball. The size was such that he could keep a good grasp of it with one hand.
It had been a while since he last leveled up, but now thinking back... The window had told him that he had gained a skill point every level. That meant right now he had three.
Muse watched the thing with great interest from over his shoulder.
“There are also records of something similar yet greater,” said Baal. “Something that granted not just a single ability, but a massive variety of different benefits to Players that found one and consumed it. Something called a Class Gem.”
Cain started at this.
Class Gems?
Right! His status...
[JOB CLASS: NONE]
Visions of classes from games flashed into his mind. Knights in the classical sense, mages, priests, ninjas, and a hundred other different archetypes. So many possibilities. What did that mean for him, who existed in this world like a game character?
As he was distracted, Muse sneakily snatched the orb from his hands and stared into it.
“So... how do people get their hands on something like this?” asked Muse.
Baal’s eyes gleamed. For some reason, Cain felt like Beelzebub Cell had just fallen into a trap. Thank goodness the Grandmaster was on their side; his savviness sometimes made Cain just a little bit wary.
“Dungeons. Which brings me to why I haven’t been here in the last few days. You see, I was called to the Sterling Palace to hear some very important news in person.”