Trella was waiting at the door—with Ashi beside her. “Good, I’m grateful the party received Faction tokens for whatever you did. It put me over the level barrier. I’m on my way to twenty five. I’ve got so many skills at level nine it hurts.”
As she spoke, Trella’s Deception rose up from the floor, then stalked away. Trella [Shadow Stepped] to a table that definitely hadn’t been in the room before, where Eve sat.
“I have checked,” Ashi said. “There is no magic to protect against [Slavers]. They are vulnerable to demons, beasts, and golems. I went as fast as I could.” She held up a [Match Lizard]. “I like it. It burns, which is its nature, but I like it. You will not eat it in a sandwich, as Eve suggests.”
Nine hours for a trip to Vichor was blindingly fast. “How did you manage to go that quickly?”
“I used FarPortal. I sent a message and waited for the response. I returned.” Ashi headed to the table to sit beside Eve.
And Kaden listened.
Mistress Scylla said killing a Centurion could be difficult. That the battle was often calamitous and against [Slavers], even worse. The first task was to understand the man’s routines. His profession. His business partners. His history.
“Ducat Vermison,” Trella said. “Centurion for six centuries, all of it here in Trunistan. He made Centurion in eighty five years. It’s not proof he’s a [Slaver]. I’m proof. Mistress Scylla is trying to spot him in the city to second check me.”
Sara tapped the scroll. “He’s a shipper, not a crafter, that puts him in contact with thousands upon thousands of people. I’ll take the City Records. S&K Holdings has a free Mercantile shipping vessel. Should anyone ask, I’m researching to ensure he’s profitable before approaching him about signing our ship on.”
“That’s all well and good,” Eve said. “But it won’t tell you who his friends are. Ashi and I are abusing my position as a Councilwoman to attend a meeting. The goal isn’t business, it’s gossip. I want to see the reaction to his name, that will tell me a great deal.”
Trella looked to Kaden. “You are the opposite of blending. You’re the only [Beast Master]. People don’t need to know your name or face, [Identify] marks you in the city. You can’t help.”
Kaden was about to protest when Eve spoke. “In a way, he can. We need to act like things are normal. We need to do what anyone else would do. Anyone in power is going to know Kaden received major vouchers.”
“Vouchers.” Sara spoke it like a word of wonder. “By the way, each of those is worth a great deal of gold. More than what you spent just now, Kaden.”
“What did you buy?” Trella asked.
“A house on a wagon that was taken over by [Giant Honeybees] and blocked a city gate,” Kaden answered.
Trella went back to studying. “Cool. The XP was nice, do that again. Several times.”
Eve opened her mouth, then stoppped as a ring on her finger glowed red. She visibly relaxed.
“That’s a beautiful ring,” Sara said. “Enchanted?”
“Sort of. Any time I get agitated, it lights up to remind me not to ask why Kaden did something.” Eve stroked Vip. “Who’s never done anything ridiculous like buy a house infested with bees? It’s you, best dog.”
*Love*. Vip’s answer was full agreement with all of Eve’s sentiments.
“I’m not interested in ‘shopping’ while everyone else helps,” Kaden said. “What does he craft? What does he sell?”
“Actually,” Sara said, “I think—”
“I don’t want Kaden near a [Slaver],” Trella said, her tone cold. “I know Kaden. I know the sorts of things that happen around him. I’m the only one who has to go into the slaver’s house. There will be slaves there and I will release them. You can help me plan. You can help me with information. Then, when it’s time, you can wait for me to return.”
“Not happening. I’ll—”
“You don’t understand their power. A slaver with an opening for a slave can enforce his will on you. You won’t get the chance to fight back. You won’t be able to stop him. And a slaver can always have an opening. All he has to do is command one of his to stop breathing.” Trella’s voice shook. “You have all taken on monsters and bosses and demons, but these are the worst entities in the System. And I’m not just immune, I’m the antitode. You have got to trust me,” Trella said. “You have got to have faith in me. In my skills. In my training.”
“Lover’s quarrel later, please,” Eve said. “Ashi, I need you to pretend you don’t speak common. It excuses rude or direct questions I wouldn’t be able to ask.”
“Am speak good,” Ashi said. “Very speak. Much good.”
“Perfect.” Eve rolled up a scroll. “Vip, you’re with me, love.”
Sara excused herself. “I actually do have something to do. I need to file for a permit for the wagon. Actual business mixing with false business is ideal.”
The moment she left, Kaden turned on Trella.
On three of her. One that was Trella, one that was her Deception, the other was a washed out copy of Trella. “What is that?”
“Dark Deception reached level ten. Now I have [Dual Deception]. It lets me spawn more than one at a time.
[Dual Deception]
Spawn afterimages of yourself that can move and act on their own. Spawn even more for reduced time and increased cost. This spell has a cooldown of (1) minutes. This cooldown can be reduced by paying additional mana.
Level: 10
HP: NA
Mana: NA
Skills: Shadow Walk (7), Shadow Strike (6), Backstab (7), Deception Echo (4)
Talents: Thoughtful
Kaden hadn’t seen another [Shadow Blade] do that. “What about [Backstab] and [Shadow Walk]?”
“Not yet. When I first got it, [Shadow Step] was easy to evolve into [Shadow Walk] and sometimes, it makes sense to use the weaker version.” Trella spoke softly. “You understand, right? Why I don’t want you near a monster? You can’t protect yourself. I can’t protect you.”
“[Planes Wielder] will let me hurt anyone who tries to command me,” Kaden said.
“And you think a [Slaver] would hesistate to murder you?”
“I think it might be harder to kill me than you think.” Was there anything Kaden could do against a slaver? Probably not. But he’d rather go down swinging at Trella’s side.
A Jackaroo opened the door, and Mistress Scylla stepped inside. “I got a glimpse. He’s a tier twelve slaver. You haven’t raised your level enough to see tiers. It’s how we rate their control. He has twelve people under his control. And he’s not in the city. I saw him use a FarPortal, a specific FarPortal. He’s gone to Omnor and I’ll be following shortly.”
Trella stood up. “I’ll go with you.”
“No. Your Quest is to break his bonds, which means knowing who he’s bound. Leave as soon as I do. Find and break into his house. It’s impossible to describe looking at a Bound person, but once you do, you’ll earn a skill that marks them. Level it and track them all, find every one. Know their schedules.” Mistress Scylla whisted and her Jackaroos stepped inside, then fell to the ground, melting away. “I’ll return. Be patient and prepared. If I tell you to act, do so without hesitation. Your window to save them will be small.”
She stepped out into the hallway, shut the door, and was gone.
“Wisp 71?” Kaden waited for the wisp to appear. “You are the most beautiful color of pink. Can you find me the house of Ducat Vermison?”
71 immediate surged toward the door. Trella was on her feet behind it.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Scully?” He called to his pet monster. “Fall in behind us. We’re not stealthing, we’re out to see the city.”
Trella barely came up to Kaden’s chin, which made it easy for her to blend in next to him. What struck Kaden was how little attention either of them gained. In Verona, nearing level thirty, Kaden was a powerful adventurer. Here? He was one among thousands.
Daylight made wisp 71 a washed out giant globe of mana, but Kaden felt the location as much as saw him, so he followed the wisp out of the palace and into a district that couldn’t be nobles, because the houses mixed narrow two story homes with towering villas surrounded by walls.
“There.” Trella spoke, pointing down the street to a house with white marble facades over a three story building, each story smaller than the one above it, with overhangs that covered more and more. The top story was likely a single bedroom surrounded by covered area. “I can feel his presence. It’s like heavy smoke hanging over the entire building.”
*Guards.* Kaden sent with quick taps. *Slaves?*
*No. Too many decisions they need to make.* Trella looked to the sides. *Distract. Move on. Meet up later.*
She didn’t wait for him to agree, falling back behind Skully.
Kaden had the Skeleton pick him up and set Kaden on Skully’s shoulders so Kaden towered over everyone. “Forward!” He said, at the same time, willing the command for Skully to halt.
“I said, forward. Forward, you bag of bones!” Kaden shouted the last as he leaped off the skeleton. Trella was already done. A single moment of inattention was all she needed to slip into [Stealth] and now, she could be anywhere.
“Away from the wall!” Kaden barked, even as he ordered the skeleton to take a step closer. “This way. This way. To me.”
Skully, stumbled toward Kaden before recovering his balance.
“Damned skeleton will get me killed,” Kaden fake-muttered as they passed the gate guards. He was certain their attention was on him as he stopped and read street signs, turning to face the outer wall first—then back toward the palace. “Found it. That way, Skully.”
Every plodding step increased his anxiety.
This wasn’t training in Shadowvale.
This wasn’t a dungeon where an entire party could rescue her.
You have to trust me.
Kaden kept moving, heading past schools of crafting the size of Verona’s entire noble district. “Wisp 71, best wisp, I’m looking for blacksmiths. Or armorers.”
The ‘or’ seemed to confuse the wisp, and it went two different ways, dividing, then merging. “Armor,” Kaden said.
Now the Wisp went quickly through entire city blocks of cobblers, weavers, seamstresses. Eventually the clothing gave way to metal and leather. Kaden gave a lot of thought to Yituri’s comment. “71? I need a Legendary armorer.”
Now the Wisp moved with purpose, heading through Trunistan to a low, single story armor shop that smelled of leather, burning oil and steel. As Kaden stepped through the door, the wave of heat made his [Match Lizard] squeak with delight. It was hard to move, racks of armor, belts and boots crowded the shop.
Kaden wormed his way through to a cracked wooden desk and rang the bell.
The hammer in the forge fell silent, and the whir of machinery stopped. A man and a woman emerged from the back. The woman was as tall as Kaden, with thick arms and a barrel chest, soot around her eyes and heavy goggles on her head. Her hair, where it wasn’t burned, was probably red.
Beside her stood a man six inches shorter, with long thing arms and fingers that seemed a tad too long. His arms and hands were scarred and calloused, and he carried three different kinds of scissors. “We’re not taking commission—oh. You.”
“Kaden Birch,” he said, offering each his hand.
The woman shook it, the man declined. She stared at him, looking over the array of mana stones embedded in his tan armor. “What are the stones for?”
Kaden produced Remembrance. “They help me control this.”
“Echo of War. I’d know that hammer anywhere. I thought it was destroyed a few centuries ago, to be honest. New name, same hammer.” She reached for it and then stopped. “Julie and Jules Anders, Champion Armorers in Team Crafting three years running. What is it you want?”
“What happened to your armor?” Jules grabbed at the arm that had been damaged. “You destroyed the enchantment. How did you destroy the enchantment? And where did you get peasant armor? That’s cow hide. Tanned, but still, you should get paid to wear it.”
Kaden pulled his arm back. “I was using a Dragon scale and [Mana Burned] my hand. On the plus side, I got this.” He showed the hide Yituru provided. “What do you sell? I don’t need armor, this is second tier.”
“If you mean, the stuff they stack on top of garbage cans, yes.” Jules reached for the hide. “May I? It has the normal properties one expects from Dragon hide. Fire Dragon, obviously. Difficult to integrate into your pig-armor.”
“Not a problem, since you’re not accepting commissions.” Kaden took the leather back. “Thank you—”
“Wait. Show me what you mean. Those stones ‘help’ you?” Julia scooted a rack of cloaks aside. “Oh, you have a [Needful Cloak]. Those are handy. There’s, what, twenty in the world?”
Kaden hadn’t known. His cloak was a gift from Mr. Dervish and it had been a life saver. “A gift from a friend.”
“This way. I want to see it myself,” Julia said, leading the way to the forge. Just beyond the doorway the room divided, one side a leatherworker and tailor’s shop, the other a smith’s.
Julia removed her hammer. “If you can break the anvil, I need a better anvil. It has an enchanment that will rebound hits against it. Helps me forge.”
[Moment of Speed] let Kaden unleash a blow he held back to keep control of, striking the anvil dead on. Not even against the beserkers had Kaden felt a response like this. Remembrance shuddered and the head sang out. The chunks of Chronosium began to ripple and the surface of the hammer turned to a mirror that reflected the forge fire. All the stones in his armor vibrated in time with the hammer.
Again, Kaden struck, this time, risking a full blow. Sparks few back from the anvil and smoke retreated to the fire.
Jules stared, eyes wide.
Kaden struck again, this time following through with the swing so the hammer couldn’t bounce back. His arms ached as the anvil pushed back. The mirror surface of Remembrance no longer showed any chunks of Chronosium.
Sparks flew up from the anvil—then drew back, vanishing.
One last time, Kaden used [Moment of Speed] to bring Remembrance overhead in a blow.
The world stopped.
The forge fire froze, no longer flickering. A black line appeared on the anvil, gradually, patiently growing outward. Kaden’s mana was a waterfall rushing downward. The hammer head was no longer a mirror, but absolute black, like the stones that had spread across his armor.
Your skill with Moment of Eternity has increased!
Your mana is critically low!
You have mana shock!
Kaden sagged as the world snapped back into existence. The anvil he’d struck broke in half as Kaden fell to one knee, dizzy. All around him the world spun, and his head pounded.
“Sorry.” His mouth felt like it was full of sand. “Water?”
Jules grabbed a jug from the wall. It must have been enchanted, because the water inside was ice cold and the jug didn’t get lighter as Kaden drank, and drank, and drank. “So thirsty.”
Julia stared at her anvil. “Look at the iron. It’s almost raw, like pig iron. This is incredible.”
Kaden shook his head. “Not from where I’m sitting. And don’t ask me to do that again, I’ve got mana shock and I can barely keep a grip on the hammer since I injured my hand.”
“Have a seat.” Julia lifted him easily onto a bench. “The hammer breaks things and causes mana shock?”
“Something like that.” Kaden didn’t have much to say about the experience. This time, he knew what was coming and this time, he understood. Remembrance had allowed him to activate a tier four skill. “How much was the anvil?”
“Twenty thousand gold.” Jules picked up the broken part. “Magnificent. I’ll have to get a better one, of course.”
Kaden hadn’t expected a number that high. “I’ll show myself out.”
“No!” Jules said. “First off, you have a voucher. All of Trunistan knows exactly what you received. Armor is usually by the piece but this is unusual. It’s a set. The set bonus from crafting it would be fantastic. You’re going to be a monster.”
“I think that ship has sailed,” Julia said. “He broke a Epic quality anvil. How’s the headache?”
Kaden’s mana was still at zero. “Mana Shock hasn’t cleared.”
“Keep drinking,” Jules said. “Here’s what we can offer. We could make new armor. Dragon hide is out of the question, but a Tyrantor isn’t. Your mana stones are stitched in, they each need sockets for better transferrence. Your right hand needs an enchanted guantlet. It’ll cost mana to operate but it’s worth the cost. We’ll strip the dragon hide down and stitch it into the armor, it’ll make you damn near fireproof. Not that you should test it.”
Julia spoke up. “I can forge mana stone sockets for those. Is the pattern decorative?”
“No. Ashi—a part member of mine—can instruct you, but in essence we’d want exactly this pattern.” Kaden wasn’t superstitious but he wanted to honor Ashi’s traditions.
“I’m not touching the hammer. I think trying to reforge it might be the last mistake any smith makes. Boots. Your boots look like you had them crafted on a street corner. Your knee guards look like something a zoo keeper would wear. Your belt has potion hooks. Alchemist?”
“My Lover.”
She nodded. “I’m thinking two more Inventory cubes. There’s no such thing as too much Inventory space. And we should give you an integrated sheath for that short knife.”
Kaden liked all of this. “How do I pay and how long does it take?”
Jules looked at his workbench. “Ten days to do most of the work. After six I’ll need your current armor for the stones. We’ll take measurements today. It’ll be unfomfortable but worth it.”
“I was measured for this set.”
“By a hobo,” Jules. “And for a hood, a bear head?”
Kaden considered the options. “I’ve heard there’s only two types of people. Those who don’t look good in a beast head cloak and those who don’t look good and know it. Just the needful cloak.” Kaden was confident in his decisions. “How do I offer you the voucher?”
You have offered Jules and Julia 1x legendary voucher.
Very handy.
With a speed and precision that would make an [Assassin] jealous, Jules began measuring, making notes in a scroll. Kaden knew of general sizes. Jules spoke exact distances and left nothing to chance. If the left arm was two point five pico-blue-whales, the right arm was equally measured to see if if was only two point four pico-blue-whales.
“Eat more meat, less wheat,” Jules said as he checked Kaden’s stomach and then his hips. “Stop laughing! Hands out!”
Fingers and thumbs, diameters and distances, all measured, and lastly, Kaden’s feet. The whole time, Julia made sketches of his armor and the stones. “Do you like the color?”
“Yes. Pure white is too bright. Brown is too boring.”
Jules huffed. “Give your Ashi my contact information. Men should not pick the color of their thumbs, let alone their clothes.”
When all was done, Kaden squeezed back out to the front of the shop. Skully stood, arms crossed, in front of the doors, glaring at every person who passed by. Kaden summoned Trinity and headed through the city. “Got something special for you, girl.”
He’d spotted this school on the way there, and walked under the arch to the open grills where students worked to learn new recipes.
“Can I help you?” An older woman asked. “Classes start on the hour. Are you here for [Grilling]?”
Kaden nodded. “Two. Can you give us grills close together? I can translate for her.”
“Her?”
Two stacks of silver exchanged hands. “My TriTerror has [Cooking] and unlocked [Recipes] by cooking for a dragon. I want to give her options.”
Trunistan was accepting. They strongly believed anyone could become a great crafter. As Kaden watched the teacher look from him to Trinity over and over, he felt confident this was going to truly change the city’s outlook.