“First, let’s briefly go through the nature of magic items in general.”
Osar raised a black-nailed hand, pointing with his other hand at the ring it sported. “Every adept can attune up to four magical rings or bracelets, as well as several more magical items for several areas of the body, although the specific number of slots may vary with species. You can check how many item slots there are and which of them are free later through your Status.”
When everyone nodded their understanding Osar continued, pointing at the pile of rings on the table standing before the group. “Because of that hard limit to the number of rings one can attune to, each of us will have to claim a ring, empty it of its contents in the designated stations set up around the room, and then relinquish claim in order to free a slot to claim a new ring.”
Osar picked up a small, plain golden ring that had rolled a little bit away from the main pile.
“We currently have two hundred and thirty-seven rings on this table, with varying storage capacities and contents unknown, and we will have to go through each and every one of them before the day is through.” Osar grinned at the shocked looks as the others realized the monumental scope of the work before them. Looking around, the three Terrans now understood why Osar had placed so many tables so very far apart, almost taking up three-quarters of the entire hangar’s space.
“Everyone knows how to claim a magical item by now,” Osar’s words drew their attention back to him, as the big Urgan made a small nick on his finger and placed a drop of his blood over the ring he had taken. He then walked over to a row of three devices he had each personally brought down from the Plunderer’s three vaults: These instruments looked like fat stubby pillar two-and-a-half meters high and twenty centimeters around. They were a uniform gray in color, though finely carved glyphs could be seen around several white crystal lenses and long straight seams at several areas along each device’s central axis. “Once you have claimed a ring, come over to one of these Identifiers and place it close to one of its sensors.”
The big Urgan then waited as each of the others took a ring from the pile and claimed it.
Eric instinctively moved to suck on his pierced finger after claiming his chosen ring, only to find that the wound had already closed by the time it reached his lips. Bemused, Eric briefly looked over the notification window that had popped up.
You have claimed the minor magic item Vitor Industries Spatial Storage Ring.
The Vitor Industries Spatial Storage Ring is a spatial storage device with ten cubic meters of space (97%).
Would you like to inspect its contents? Yes/No
Eric stared at the capacity for a moment, realizing again how vastly superior Vashanka’s Ring was to this one, before shaking his head and closing the notification.
Seeing that all of them had now each claimed a ring, Osar held his own newly-claimed ring with two fingers and placed it directly in front of one of the Identifiers sensors. A beam of white light shot out from the crystal, passing over the ring very much like a scanning laser. After a second of this the light died away, and one of the crystal seams at the side flickered to life, projecting an opaque white screen with an image of the ring and several lines of text to the right of it. All three of the Terrans moved to take a closer look, although Cid was the most eager of them all.
Deketo series Spatial Storage Ring (Standard)
Manufacturer: Girosian Solutions
Storage Capacity: Twenty cubic meters (90%)
Description: A standard mass-manufactured spatial storage device (ring variant) of the Deketo series (IC 7765-7768) bearing the Ch’ixan symbol crossed with the Idraec Rune that is the logo of Girosian Solutions, an affiliate of the Mindokao Group under the Sarrakan Clan.
Valuation: 9.70 Imperial Marks (Basis: SIMA-9675)
“Could you do the same, Pig?” Eric subvocalized as he watched Cid examine the device while asking a nearly constant stream of questions at Osar while Serra stood off to the side making snide remarks at the too-eager scientist’s expense.
“I probably could, sir… If you spent some time looking through the Identifiers’ entire database so I can build one of my own.”
“Fuck that!” The Identifiers database must be huge, considering the size of the Galaxy and the Scaled Empire and the sheer number of items past and present throughout its long history. It would take days, probably weeks, to go through it all, depending on the methods available to do so. Perhaps Luna could somehow download the data and then upload it into Pig? But wouldn’t that mess with his brain? And was downloading and uploading even a thing in this reality? Eric rubbed at the bridge of his nose: There had to be a way to do something similar at least.
“…are modified from those used by scholars and savants to study and identify magical artifacts, from the most ancient to the recently manufactured or crafted, friend Cid. I have no idea how they actually do their work.” Osar was saying firmly as he gently pushed the excited scientist away from the device.
“Cid,” Eric’s voice cracked out like a whip, getting everyone’s attention. Keeping his expression pleasant but firm, Eric softened his tone as he continued. “Let’s stay on track, for now. I’m sure there’ll be plenty of time for personal investigations later.”
“Thank you, Jad-Os,” Osar said with a smile as Cid grudgingly backed off, noting with amusement the glint of stubborn determination in the scientist’s eyes. “As I was saying; these Identifiers will jump-start our catalogue by identifying and showing us the capacity of our storage devices, which will be useful information for later.”
As Osar and the others walked towards the other tables the Identifier that Osar had used gave a low beeping sound, and Eric saw the image of the ring and its accompanying text contract into a single entry on the surface of the opaque white screen. Curious, he stepped forward and pressed the entry with a finger. A drop-down window immediately appeared, once again showing both the ring and its description.
“I think the device automatically generates a content database containing the items it scans sir.” Pig said, to which Eric could only agree. One of drones stationed at the table that held the unsorted rings flew up to hover above the Identifier, extruding a thin, appendage that entered a slot near the top. Less than a minute later the drone retracted its appendage and flew back to its place atop the table.
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“I guess that’s how Luna updates her own database then.” Eric commented.
“Roger that, sir.”
“Well, perhaps we’ll just ask her for a printout or datapad when we’re done, right?”
“We can certainly ask, sir.”
Following that brief exchange Eric then hurried to catch up to the others, who had already walked the few meters to the first table among the dozens set up in a wide half-circle along the room. The big Urgan waited awhile for Eric to jog up before he began pulling out and placing what Eric recognized as Beast Cores onto the tabletop.
“We each will go through our claimed rings and then place items from them onto the proper table so we can go through them at leisure later.”
The big Urgan then led the group through the entire half-circuit, all of them depositing items from their rings at each table. The big alien had not been joking when he had told them he had a method: Each table was designated to receive a particular type of item starting with Beast Cores, then Dungeon Cores, Books, Potions, Weapons, Equipment all the way down to Food Ingredients, which was a separate table from Crafting Ingredients of course. At one point, Osar paused at the far end of the hangar, where a separate cluster of tables was set up beside the large mound of chitterer bodies that Luna’s drones had gathered.
“This is our designated splash zone, where time willing we will be processing all the Beast bodies and parts that we find in our rings. For now, you can place any and all unprocessed Beast and humanoid carcasses you might find in your rings into this empty five-hundred cubic meter storage chest. If it gets full, holler out and we’ll cart one over.”
“You think we’ll be able to fill up five-hundred cubic meters of space with dead bodies?” Eric asked, eyebrows raised in surprise. Osar chuckled at his expression.
“That and more, Jad-Os,” The big man replied with confidence. “Beast carcass processing is a delicate matter. Standard practice is that if the Geludan, or any other average adventurer for that matter, killed a beast and had the capacity to store it in his or her ring they would do so, and wait until they could give it to a skilled Beast butcher. Sometimes its because there just isn’t time but it is often also because there’s no sense ruining valuable parts when they can be kept fresh for proper processing later.”
“So, we’ll have to wait as well before we can process what we have?”
“We would need to,” Osar said with a wide grin. “If we didn’t have a skilled and experienced butcher with us.”
“You can do this?” Eric asked, catching on to the big man’s meaning.
“Oh, yes, Jad-Os.” Osar said, rubbing his hands eagerly. “I certainly can.”
The entire group completed their circuit of the tables quickly after that, with the last station being where they dumped everything that was left in their rings, items that were designated as Miscellaneous and/or Unidentifiable. Luna was manifested there, directing a few of her more dexterous drones to further subdivide the piles into those the Vessel Interface could identify and what she could not. Those she successfully identified were placed by more drones into their proper tables while those she couldn’t were gathered together to be looked through by Urgan and Cid later after all the storage devices had been emptied.
As they returned to the first table containing all the unsorted rings Osar stood to the side and guided them all to renouncing their claims on the now empty rings.
“Place your hands over the ring, or any other item you wish to unclaim for that matter, and extend your senses towards it.” The big man guffawed at the confused looks his words gained from his companions. “Imagine gathering your aether in front of you, infusing it slowly from your core, then extend that out to the item in your hand. Don’t worry about the specifics, as your Gens will automatically do the rest. When you have made the connection, imagine wiping off an imaginary mark on the item.”
Eric held the empty Vitor Industries ring in front of him, wishing there was a manual he could follow. Osar walked over to Serra, guiding her as she stared intently at her own ring, while Cid was muttering to himself as he glared at his own.
“Imagine a ball of energy in front of you, right within this circle, sir,” Pig spoke suddenly, making a small red circle appear in Eric’s vision. Eric concentrated, his Dragon Sight helping as wisps of lavender, dark red, and pale grey gathered within it. When the ball of swirling colors gained a certain degree of opacity, Pig spoke again. “Now pinch off and extend a tendril from the ball, directly towards the ring.”
As soon as the tendril of his own aether touched the ring Eric felt a familiar mark, similar to that which his own Mark ability to confer, but this one deeply personal. With a thought, he imagined wiping away the mark, and immediately, a new notification appeared.
You have relinquished your claim on the minor magic item Vitor Industries Spatial Storage Ring.
With a deep indrawn breath, Eric relaxed, dismissing the notification as he watched his gathered aether dissipate into the air. Excited noises from his other companions alerted Eric to their own success. Osar took their now unclaimed rings and directed the two other Terrans to the remaining ring pile.
“Right, let’s start whittling down that mountain, shall we?”
As Cid and Serra both claimed new rings and walked towards the Identifiers, Osar opened a storage box placed on the floor by one side of the table and retrieved several felt-lined boards neatly labeled with a storage capacity range on their wooden sides. The Urgan then carefully placed the rings he had been handed, as well as the one he had just emptied, into their properly designated board.
“Apologies again for the incident earlier,” Eric said as he approached the Urgan, extending his now emptied ring for the alien to take. “It is an… unfortunate condition.”
“It is not an unusual urge Jad-Os,” Osar said with a shrug, taking the ring carefully from Eric’s hand. “Perhaps you should look at it a different way: All adepts want strength, all want power. My people call it Biting the Dragon, and warn of the dangers of biting off too much… or too little.”
Gratified by the Urgan’s understanding, Eric nodded.
In this place, this Scaled Empire, based on all he had learned so far, it seemed the focus of everyone was gaining personal Strength and Power. Yes, group survival and society were important, and so laws and rules were in place. But it was also an Empire where the Strong could rule on the basis of their prowess alone, and because of this there was a tacit understanding that after conflict, the spoils would go to the victor.
It was exactly the kind of society where his ‘problem’ was not actually a problem but the norm: Taking what you had earned from the bodies of those you had slain was the right and proper order of things, something which even the Imperial Laws seemingly upheld.
Osar replaced the boards that were now holding the empty rings back into the mundane storage box which in the future he could see being handed out to deserving people as rewards. He looked at Eric, who was still deep in thought, and across to the two other Terrans that were slowly moving through the tables even as they argued good-naturedly over some trivial thing. He looked at the piles of treasure that they would still need to go through before the end of the day.
The sampling of items that were on display at the various tables represented a veritable fortune in goods and materials, totaling millions, perhaps even billions, in Imperial Marks, but he also knew that vast though the treasure was, what they currently had would not be anywhere near enough. It was not a defeatist thought, far from it, but Ifni alone knew what struggles their small group would have to go through in the near future to carve a niche for their new Clan.
For Osar knew, even if the others didn’t, that theirs was a Clan in the making.
He had listened and observed, gauged his new companions and measured them to the yardstick of the Imperials he was used to dealing with. Eric, his sworn liege, and these new comrades, would never be able to fit comfortably within the Scaled Empire’s norms. They were too new, too abrasive, too full of strange concepts and ideas that would never make them accepted within the Imperial fold.
They would have to make a place for themselves.
And Osar knew from bitter and disastrous experience that doing so would require Strife and Blood.
The big Urgan was a realist and survivor: He knew what the Galaxy outside really was like, and he knew that at this moment he was looking over something that had the potential of becoming great, a force for change within an Empire that had started to decay under the weight of its own age and past successes. This wealth they were looking through, incredible as it might seem, was but a fraction of what they would need if they were ever to gain a place of safety. They would all need to grow stronger, gather like-minded people to their cause, and they would need to be ready to sacrifice much before they could earn their well-deserved rest.
Osar knew, deep down, that Eric, his Jad-Os, would never bend the knee to any Imperial Clan.
He would make his own way, even if he died in the attempt.
Osar clapped a hand on his Lord’s shoulder, startling the human from his musings, and guided him to the pile of rings.
Osar had sworn his Oath.
He would now uphold it with everything he had.
Or he would die trying by his new Lord’s side.