//(Depleted, Entity) Cruel World’s Partition.

//Core mastery requirement: 0.

//Effects are greatly reduced based on the core mastery of the wielder.

//70 Resilience.

//45 Power.

//45 Recovery.

//Reduces all damage taken by the wearer and all of their gear by 10%.

//When struck by any attack with hostility, redirects half of that damage to the wielder’s armor. When the wielder’s armor is struck by any attack with hostility, half of that damage is redirected to this item. This trinket must be summoned, and within XX feet of the wielder, for this to activate.

//When XX damage has been redirected, gain the ability to trigger a kinetic nova from either the wielder’s armor or this item. Enemies struck by the nova are dealt heavy damage and burdened. Allies are immune.

//Upgrades at mastery [0]/65/80/95

I leaned against the ‘shield’ that I now knew was a very complex trinket, watching Jun snooze away the horrible day she’d just had. Ambus’ reaction had traumatized Jun even more than she realized, and if Jun was that burdened by it, then Ambus must’ve been in absolutely horrible shape. Gloriosa too.

I equipped the Cruel World’s Partition, watched as its bonuses were reduced by 80%, and decided it was still worth equipping. As long as I was careful with it, I’d pretty much have fifty percent damage reduction all the time. And if I wasn’t careful I’d have a huge, immobile target for my enemies to beat on. Even while I didn’t have it summoned it gave me 14 resilience, 9 power and recovery, and 2% flat damage reduction. I might end up giving it to Jun eventually, but for now, I had another tool in my arsenal.

{Sebastian. We’ve got the same problem we had a few hours ago. Come talk ta me when Juniper and ya are in a good enough headspace.} Okeria sent, taking a touching concern for our wellbeing. {Gloriosa is completely out of it for the foreseeable future, and Ambus needs at least a day or two ta recover. Mortician’s raring ta go, but I ain’t risking them until I’m sure they can hold their own. Ah, look at me. I’m rambling.} Okeria chuckled weakly. {Sorry, Sebastian. Come see me when ya get a second.}

That was the sound of a man with way too much on his plate. I leaned down and kissed Jun on the forehead, then summoned my armor and dismissed the Cruel World’s Partition. It appeared as a small rectangle on my left bicep, almost like one of those cellphone holders joggers wore, and it had turned the oily blue and white of my armor.

“Sorry, Seb.” Jun yawned, which was then accompanied by her turning over in bed. “I think I need to sleep a little longer.”

I found myself smiling at Jun’s sleepy voice. “Alright. See you later.”

Jun’s mumbling cut off the second I closed the door, revealing Mortician and Okeria playing a chess-like game on the map table. Okeria was smiling, but it was so hollow and empty that it hurt to look at. Mortician had their normal cheeriness on their face, which was strange, until I remembered everything they’d been through with their collective consciousness.

“Sebastian! How is Juniper doing?” Mortician asked as they saw me approach.

I pulled up a chair and sat at one of the free sides of the table. “About as good as she can be. How about you? Do you need some time alone?”

“Oh, no. We can never be alone.” Mortician tapped their head for emphasis. “It helps to have many different perspectives, thoughts, and feelings at once. They help us work through the traumas.”

But there were traumas. “Well, if you ever need someone to talk to that isn’t inside of your head, Jun and I are here for you.”

Okeria coughed to draw my attention.

“And Okeria, I guess.” I gave an overexaggerated shrug. “We’re here for you. And that goes for you, too, Okeria. We need you in good shape when all this is done with, not a shriveled husk that gave everything for his city.”

“Oh, ya don’t gotta tell me that. Unfortunately, it don’t look like we have any other options.” Okeria said grimly. He tapped a finger to the table, which flashed over the game pieces before switching back to the map. “I did a quick scan of the public database for those names ya gave me, and they don’t spell anything good for us. The four of ‘em are a hazard-clearing mercenary group for hire, and they spout guaranteed clears for any hazard up ta rating 25. So even if Scalovera and his normal goons ain’t a problem, we gotta prepare for these freaks.”

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“At least the threat of Staura erasure has been dealt with!” Mortician offered. “And we are making great leaps with our core and combat as a whole! Within the month, we should have learned enough to confidently fight alongside Sebastian and Juniper. Maybe not fully, but to the point that we will be able to offer true aid.”

I nodded. “I’ll look forward to that.”

Mortician’s smile lit up the room, and I couldn’t help but feel a little brighter. Okeria chuckled for real this time, his much smaller smile radiating a true warmth his previous ones had been missing.

“Alright, well, no point moping around.” Okeria sighed. “We gotta whittle down Scalovera’s forces one by one, and rescue Thorn as soon as we can. He let himself get captured because of the threat from Dylan, who so graciously died for us, so he’ll actually fight when we get him. As long as he isn’t too traumatized from seeing the horrors of that jail he’s in.”

Okeria traced his finger around a building he’d previously pointed out as Rainbow Basin’s main government building. “This is our next target. Nobody but the mercs Scalovera hired can do real damage ta us, so we gotta make ‘em give up some ground. Half of us’ll storm this place and cause havoc, while the other half’ll go free Thorn and as many of the other prisoners as we can. Seb; you can see Juniper’s interface, right? Did she give ya permission for that?”

I shook my head. “Honestly, I don’t really remember how we started seeing each other’s interfaces. It just kind of happened.”

“That’s what I was hoping for.” Okeria nodded. “Maybe something about ya lets ya hijack other people’s interfaces. I’ll let ya try anything ya want on mine, and if we can find something that works without ya getting permission from me, we can force armor back onto our wiped friends and family. Oh, but don’t tell anyone we’re trying this. I don’t want ta get anyone’s hopes up just ta dash ‘em right after.”

That was a plan, which was better than the nothing I’d come up with so far. “Works for me. How about the guards? Are they a part of this?” I gestured at the other rooms in the safehouse that were locked tight. “Did you send them home?”

Okeia shook his head. “Nah, I got ‘em all holed up here. I’ll talk to all of ‘em one at a time to see what they want ta do, and if they want ta stay, I’ll come up with something they can do. Even if it's just lookout duty.”

“What about us?” Mortican cut in, pointing a finger at themself. “We may not be able to fight just yet, but there has to be something we can do.”

“Of course there is.” Okeria said a little too quickly, looking over at me as if I was going to continue his sentence.

I frowned and crossed my arms, thinking back to everything I knew Mortician could do. It wasn’t much as of yet. “Focus on getting stronger for now. We need powerful people more than anything, and I know you’re close to getting there. Keep at that.”

Mortician frowned and nodded reluctantly. “Okay. But if you ever need us for anything else, we will be readily ready.”

“We’ll keep that in mind.” Okeria noted.

I nodded in agreement, but I couldn’t help but think I’d forgotten something. To ask something from someone. I looked between Mortician and Okeria, the thing I’d forgotten on the tip of my tongue. Then I saw the barracks still marked on the map, and The End’s recommendation came back to me.

“Right. Okeria. How long would it take for what happened to become permanent?” I asked, and received only a slightly inquisitive look from Okeria. “What happened to the other Staura. The wipe. Keratily helped you with your eye thing, so would that take more or less time to become permanent?”

Okeria pursed his lips and leaned back in his chair. “That’s a good question. I’d say… we have at least a few months before the weakest of ‘em becomes permanent. It’s only been a little while since it happened, and it takes a long while for changes like that ta become permanent. If we can find someone ta slow time around their bodies, then we could delay it for even longer. That is, if we don’t find a way ta reverse it before then.”

So we weren’t on a deadly time crunch. Endra’s unknown deadline was the only thing we had to abide by, and that could just as easily happen tomorrow as it could in two months. I opened my inventory and swiped through everything I had, and found myself staring at Dylan’s core. I solidified what I knew needed to be done.

“We need better gear. And to level up the stuff we already have.” I decided. “Where’s the closest mid-level hazard? One that only takes a few days to clear?”

“How high-level we talkin’?” Okeria asked, minimizing the map to show a larger area around Rainbow basin. “Fifteen? Twenty?”

“Anything you think we can clear in a handful of days.” I answered. I really didn’t care what level it was, just that we had constant deadly combat to level up our gear. “Oh, and make sure Scalovera knows where it is. If he sends someone in after us, then that’s all the better.”

“Ooh, good call. Take one of ‘em out when they think they’ve got the advantage.” Okeria nodded eagerly. “I’ll get ta work making another gun or two for Juniper and some trinkets for all of ya. Mortician, what core mastery are ya at right now?”

Mortician looked like they didn’t expect to be called on. “Oh. Um, core mastery fifteen.”

“Alright. I’ll make ya a full suit of armor and a weapon of your choice. You’re going with Sebastian and Juniper to the hazard, and I’ll get all the info I can outta the guards. When that’s all said and done, we meet back here and work out how we’re gonna cut Scalovera outta Rainbow Basin.”

Okeria pushed himself to his feet and flicked his wrist to summon a mass of liquid metal. It pulsed with electricity, and when Okeria slammed it down on the table, it perfectly coated everything in a layer of silver.

“Ya can stay and watch me work, or ya can go do whatever ya want.” Okeria told me as he summoned his smithing tools. “Gimme two days and I’ll have everyone outfitted for war.”