Alistair and Riseth were the first to arrive at Nessyra's office. As they entered, Alistair immediately noticed a set of orbs on her desk. Alistair presumed they were the affinity-measuring orbs, some of them already primed with a particular affinity.
"It looks like Sis has already visited you; what did you think of her plan for racial changes?" Alistair asked curiously as he sat down on one of the free chairs. Instead of taking her own chair, Riseth chose to sit on his armrest, wrap her arms around his shoulders, and lean against him.
"Yes, it was quite adorable how shy she was about it. Her idea is good, and I think we overlooked the value of the [Nurturing Ward]. It is a well-kept secret where these orbs come from, and now we know, so I don't have to get into another bidding war over them, saving us quite a bit of money. Also, most of the materials should be easy enough to acquire, and I'm sure you will be able to acquire a grade 9 core with the ice concept," Nessyra explained.
"I guess this means she has already confirmed her affinity for Ice," Alistair said as he leaned forward and picked up an orb from her desk that looked to be made of ice; it felt uncomfortable and cold in his hands, and it radiated a weak aura as he inspected it.
"Based on that aura, your affinity for it is quite low. In comparison, she had a strong affinity for it; how does it feel to hold it?" Nessyra asked as Riseth took the orb into her own hands and frowned; the aura emanated stronger, yet not by much.
"It feels uncomfortable to hold. I guess neither of us is using ice magic," Riseth said as she placed the orb back on the table.
Nessyra picked the Orb herself, and a much stronger aura emerged. "I have a slightly above-average affinity for it, and these orbs are great for figuring out what works and what does not, but due to how many concepts there are, we should be careful about which affinities we pick; I had one of the orbs attuned to space magic, another to storm," She said as she picked up the space orb that looked like black sphere containing a sea of stars with a slight purple hue, the aura radiating was moderate. When Alistair picked the gem, the aura changed and became much stronger; the orb felt pleasant and familiar in his hand. Alistair smiled; he had hoped he would have a strong affinity for it as he handed the orb to Riseth, who had a slightly stronger aura. He proceeded to pick up the storm orb, which looked like a contained tornado in a sphere, felt neutral, and radiated a moderate aura when he held it, though occasionally, it felt like it would slip from his hand.
They began discussing which affinities they should prime the orbs with and the revelation that certain racial evolutions boosted concept affinities when they heard a ring, shortly followed by Alistair's mother entering the office in a huff.
"Alistair, did you give your brother these cybernetic hands?" his mother asked, her tone a mixture of frustration and concern. Alistair turned to face her, confused, and felt a pang of nostalgia as he was reminded of the times when they were kids. Alistair had often got into trouble because of his brother's antics when he was supposed to watch over him. Alistair still remembered that one time, his brother had gotten his hands on some gunpowder and had filled it into a glass bottle, building an improvised grenade, and had to have a big shard of glass surgically removed from his shoulder blade. Or that other time when he put razor blades on the front of his RC car and drove into his own foot.
"Yeah, I did. He is an engineer and said he is working on mechanical stuff. I also gave him some mechanical sentries," Alistair said, confused until he saw his brother and his girlfriend walk in the door, his brother awkwardly waving his new cybernetic hands at Alistair.
Alistair looked at his brother in disbelief. "What the fuck, James? I gave you those to research them, not so you could hack off your hands and replace them."
"Why not both," James retorted with a shrug, eliciting an exasperated huff from his mother. "I did get a racial evolution doing it, too," James said defensively.
Alistair chuckled, finding his brother's enthusiasm for cybernetics somewhat endearing. After all, James had always been fascinated by technology.
"There is a bit of a risk with cybernetics, similar to cultivation. Cybernetics can lead to cyberpsychosis. You can get addicted to implants and go crazy, so keep that in mind," Alistair warned him, which caught his brother by surprise, and he looked at his hands with a bit more conflicted look on his face.
And you are okay with this?" Alistair asked Jessica, who had been silent up until now and looked quite unbothered.
As he looked at her, Alistair noticed that Jessica hadn't changed much since before the initiation. The only immediate difference he spotted was in her shoulder-length hair, which now bore its natural brown coloration. Typically, she had dyed her hair in whatever shade she fancied at the moment. Despite the change in hair color, she still maintained a healthy tan, and her eyes were the same green. However, some of her tattoos had vanished. She was slightly taller than James, who was only marginally taller than their mother.
James, on the other hand, appeared to have undergone more noticeable changes. His dark brown hair, bordering on black, and fair skin remained unchanged, but he looked significantly more muscular. This made the transition from his arms to the cybernetic hands appear more natural. Alistair couldn't help but notice that the hands seemed smaller than he remembered. James avoided making eye contact with their mother, who stared daggers at him in disapproval.
"It does not bother me. They are warm to the touch, and his fingers are just as nimble as before. I will make sure he does not overdo it, so I don't see an issue," Jessica said with a sly smile.
"Phrasing! Also, did you learn something from the stuff I gave you?" Alistair asked, eliciting a chuckle from Riseth and Jessica, who exchanged glances.
"Yes, I have been working with Aknis, but I lack the tools he has and have been busy recreating them with the ones provided by the [Crafting Quarters], particularly the more specialized tools for cybernetics," James lamented.
"James has requested that I find a trial world with mechanical opponents and the opportunity to scavenge materials and technology. Unfortunately, most gate addresses are too valuable to be put on the market or shared. No one has offered to sell a tech-based one yet, as there's greater profit in exploiting the discoveries themselves," Nessyra interjected before Alistair could ask.
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"Also, I must ask that you withhold more information from Aknis. He is not part of our clan and has so far denied any invitations or signed any contracts. Don't let him take advantage of you," Nessyra warned James sternly.
Alistair thought about a solution, while James argued in favor of Aknis; Alistair trusted Nessyra to handle it. She had already brought up adding contracts for members to ensure they could not accidentally leak information. Her contract magic had made leaps and bounds due to the rapid growth of the clan. As they talked, Simon and Melissa arrived and were greeted with much fanfare. Melissa was just as shocked as their mother over James' new hands, calling them creepy. Eventually, they got back on topic, and Alistair voiced some of his ideas.
"Adamar had mentioned his trial had a lot of abandoned cities and tech. Once we find him, we might be able to work something out. Also, I still have three addresses I have not checked; perhaps one of them has what we are looking for," Alistair suggested.
"Sadly, we still have not heard from Adamar; he has still not appeared in any of the instances," Nessyra said hesitantly.
Nessyra then pulled out a stack of paper and handed everyone temporary non-disclosure contracts.
"We don't know enough about this gathering and the god's power, but with this, I can put some protection against magical suggestions and persuasion spells and skills. They should not work within most spaces within the [Nurturing Ward] but are still useful in preventing us from accidentally spilling secrets or agreeing to bad deals. I made a particularly strong one for you, Alistair. You will have the freedom to talk as you see fit. Still, as soon as you spill secrets, make agreements, or are impacted by magic trying to force you, it will clamp down or, in the worst case, at least warn you it is happening. If you feel the pain in your ear, you have to leave; don't risk staying any longer," Nessyra warned him as she handed him a contract that radiated with magic.
"Thank you, Nessy. This makes me feel a lot better," Alistair said genuinely, feeling nervous as the gathering drew closer.
Alistair and everyone else made sure to read the contracts in detail before signing them. They found that the contracts were as advertised and short-lived. They would prevent them from accidentally spilling sensitive secrets by censoring you if the signatory's intent was unclear. They then handed around the orbs which had been imprinted. Noticeably, almost everyone had atleast above-average space affinity; his mother had the strongest affinity, and Nessyra was already in the process of convincing her to consider becoming a space mage. Melissa's mention of a celestial witch's racial evolution and benefits convinced his mother to consider it. Celestial witches drew their power from stars, moons, and space magic, placing them at a tier slightly higher than even an Ice witch. However, acquiring the necessary materials and meeting the prerequisites was considerably more challenging.
"Where would we even get a moonstone?" Alistair asked after Melissa had checked the required ingredients.
"We do have moons in some of our trial worlds and the Artemis; from my topic, I know they are quite common, so flying up there and fetching some should not be that hard. Our [Comfort Array] enchantments should allow us to breathe there." Riseth proposed, eliciting an excited reaction from James and Alistair, who exchanged gleeful glances at the prospect of journeying to a celestial body with a spaceship.
"I hate to cut these talks short, but we should head out. The gathering should have already started, and I would not wish to upset the host by delaying our arrival too much," Nessyra suggested, urging them to depart.
Their journey to the [Nurturing Ward] proceeded without incident. However, many among them couldn't help but emit appreciative whistles and gasps at the sight of the massive temple structure in the distance. As they drew closer to the gate, they could already discern the hustle and bustle of activity within. There was a smell of grilled meats and people. Most of the individuals present were humans or human subtypes, contributing to a vibrant and colorful gathering. Alistair couldn't shake the comparison to a cosplay convention as he spotted characters like [Thor - lvl 45], complete with his iconic hammer and winged helmet; when Simon spotted him, he gave Alistair a nudge with a smirk. Another standout individual was named [Bruce - lvl 39], donning full Batman armor that almost cracked Alistair and Simon. The glamour of the [Comfort Array] seemingly allowed for such whimsical attire, though Alistair couldn't help but cringe when he overheard the man affecting a deep voice as they passed by, causing Simon to break out in full-out laughter, drawing a lot of attention before Alistair elbowed him to shut him up with a smirk.
Scattered among the crowd were a lot of individuals wearing either white and gold armors and black and red, but all of them had Sol's sigil somewhere visible, he did see quite a lot of individuals wearing the sigil without the usual color scheme.
"I did spot some other clans and groups among the crowd, though we seem to be on the upper end as far as straight-up levels and power go. Keep that in mind when talking to Sol," Nessyra whispered next to him while isolating them with magic from outside listeners as they headed for the gardens, which were slightly less busy.
Within the temple garden, some individuals were engaged in animated, obnoxious conversations with themselves, some with devices, and others seemingly filming with a skill invisible to Alistair. A large pond adorned the landscape, its surface adorned with floating water channels through which Koi fish of exotic hues gracefully traversed, creating a mesmerizing spectacle. Riseth had taken off to fetch some booze, and his mother and Melissa had started talking to some kids Alistair presumed were her students. Nessyra looked over the group like a hawk and gave Alistair some last-minute advice and encouragement. His brother and his girlfriend had approached a man in a power-armor suit, excitedly discussing it, and Alistair was tempted to join them.
Alistair continued to survey the scene from the garden, his peaceful oasis contrasting sharply with the chaos outside its borders. There were oddly dressed individuals everywhere, some of them arguing and would have been at each other's throats if not restricted by the nurturing ward's magic. Others were seemingly making deals and connections, shaking hands, greedy smiles and pleasantries, rubbing Alistair the wrong way. One of the loudest and most noticeable was a group of what could best be described as redneck vampires, with long wild-looking beards and hair and the occasional mullets and mutton chops, headbands, and brandishing guns they could not even use in this place. They were already far too drunk, heckling everyone who got close to them. Alistair stared in disbelief as he looked at one of their leaders, a vampire with unusually sharp, protruding front teeth that had transformed into fangs, and he wasn't the only one, as the teeth a vampire would grow out was seemingly random, one of the vampire's skin even glittered.
"What the fuck..." Alistair thought he presumed there were a lot of vampire subtypes, and they had either lost the lottery or used poor methods to spread their vampiric gifts. Nonetheless, some of them felt actually dangerous. Alistair was pulled out of his observation by Caleb, who had approached him and Nessyra.
"I see you noticed the Dixon family. One of their family members obtained an evolution stone and became a high-tier vampire. The family insisted she spread the gift, but sadly, they only obtained a lower-tier variant without proper rituals and preparations, which is a real shame. Still, I am sure they will eventually upgrade their racial tier and become an even more formidable force," Caleb said, following Alistair's gaze.
Riseth appeared next to him with [Blink] handing him a fancy glass with colorful blue and pink liquid; he looked at it before sipping the sweet and fruity drink. He then turned his attention to Caleb with a smile, bracing himself for the hated politicking.