“Sam’s already input our numbers into the phone. We’ve been running all over picking up stuff,” he confided in me as we left the room, politely leaving a tip for the cleaning staff. “There’s a small Hunter’s Guild in town, who had some equipment sitting around,” he indicated as we boarded the elevator. “Also a Mage’s Association branch, where we picked up the other spells you needed by trading the eyes at about fifty percent over what we’d sell them for. They gave us a nice break after learning we were the heroes of the hour, too.”

“Good. You deserve it.”

“We do!” he agreed without batting an eye. “We’ve put up with a lot of shit as Hunters. It’s nice to get a decent payback for once.” He made a contented grunt. “You hungry?”

“No. I assume you’ve eaten?” He nodded shortly. “Then let’s get right to it. What needs to be done?”

“We need to drop several of the eye-sets and mandibles off at the Mage Association and Hunter’s Guild, on top of what we deposited earlier. The boys would like to head on down to Dallas in the morning, then Houston, to dispose of the rest. We got a better price for personal delivery.”

“That’s fine, I have nothing holding me here, we just need to start on your further training.”

“Also, we’ve got about thirty grand in equipment sitting in or about the ruins of our ride. The boys were wondering if we might be able to go back there and scrounge some of it up quick.”

I considered that. “How far from where I met you is it?”

He thought that over. “About five miles?” he guessed.

“We’ll do that after Meditations and the Tempering.”

“Got it.”

-----------

The Mick was greeted by some applause when we got out of the elevator, which he took with a big beardy fake smile that nevertheless enjoyed it all. I turned in my key to sign out, and we headed out front to where Driver Sam was waiting at the wheel of a pseudo-military style Jeep in front, mirrored shades on and playing to the cameras aloofly.

He took off as soon as we got in, watching as Noble shrank down to only a foot long and easily fit inside, pulling away smoothly and merging deftly into traffic.

“If you look over the back of your seat, we have something for you there.” I obligingly did so, and my eyebrows went up when I saw the cedar chest there, lovingly-made and well-polished, complete with brass fittings and oozing good craftsmanship, QL 23 at least.

“Ha ha! Well done, gentlemen, well done!” I congratulated them. I promptly flipped open the lid, deposited the box with my silks inside the chest, and then popped the entire chest into my Pocket, where I started moving the collections of my own Soul Crystals into it.

“The folio there has the Adept spells arranged inside it. They weren’t actually that much, it was more about registering who was buying them and for what. Given we were all Senior Adepts, they didn’t ask too many questions.”

“Excellent, this saves me some time. You can add them to your group’s personal libraries when I am finished, of course!”

“Thank you,” the Mick nodded. It wasn’t really that needed, but having access to them wasn’t a bad thing to have. “We picked up some basic gear for you, which, given your Pocket there, we weren’t too worried about the weight of.”

“Weight actually does put some stress on the Pocket, but it has to be pretty hefty,” I agreed. “I have a lot of leeway at the moment, however.”

“How much space, Miss Fae?” Driver Sam asked attentively.

“Hmm.” I looked ahead and behind us. “I could probably fit three of these cars in there?” I guessed.

Both men choked, and pretended to cough and grunt to cover it.

“People?” Driver Sam asked quickly.

“Yes, but there’s not much air.”

“Huh. But if they brought an air supply?”

“Dark and boring, but sure.”

“Easy to get in or out?” the Mick asked quickly.

“Well, living creatures that resist can’t go in at all, it’s not a trap or prison. Make any effort against the magic and you’ll pop right out, too.”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Probably no coms, then?”

“Unless you have one that works across dimensional boundaries...”

The two men still exchanged glances. “A useful infiltration tool, regardless,” the Mick observed.

“I won’t deny that,” I agreed from the back seat. “How about all of you?”

“Cultivation aids are the biggest expense for most of us,” the Mick admitted. “Meditation is just damn slow and a big-time suck when you’re trying to make a living. And the Nebula Veins to pop to the next Rank are so damn much money...”

“Well, tonight should take care of a bunch of things for you, then. I’ll show you a Meditation formation to use that should benefit all of you. It’s really good because your group has all seven basic Elements covered.”

------

It was getting dark when we turned into the rather basic hotel the Hunters were staying at. The parking lot was still full, so I guessed there were people who still hadn’t gone home. However, the banquet hall for rent wasn’t being used, so there was no problem with the heroes of the hour borrowing it for the night for a group Meditation session, as long as we didn’t damage anything.

I accepted the backpack full of stuff from Glenn, who then took it back, opened it up, and spread out the contents on one of the tables nearby. It was indeed Pretty Damn Heavy, a full rucksack that only a devoted soldier preparing for an extended excursion would use... but since I didn’t need to carry anything, the fact it weighed over half of what I did was irrelevant. It was more about knowing what was in it and how to access it.

“We’ll talk about the spares to carry later. Actually, I expect you all to go over what you feel I can carry and what you should have on you pre-mission and all that,” I waved it off, popping the restuffed pack into my Pocket as they watched enviously. “Alright, here’s my contribution to the evening.”

I snapped my fingers, humming a Note, and thirty different Force Disks popped up, taking up a good chunk of the room. I snapped my fingers again, and stuff fell out of my Pocket onto them.

They all took deep breaths, staring at their hauls. Stacked-up mandibles and leg tips, sets of eyeballs carefully stacked in clusters, and, of course, the promise of the glittering heaps of Soul Crystals, divided in eight rows.

“I managed to get enough Soul Cores done for one Element for each of you. I’m working on the second set, but we should have enough.

“There will not be enough for anyone who advances to Mage at this time. We killed a lot of Spiders, but that is a LOT of basic Stars to cover.

“Who is getting the Eggs?” I pointed to a mound of larger glittering Crystals. “All of you, or two of you?”

“Red gets the Eggs,” the Mick stated. “We’d like to know if there’s also enough to treat my Starter Seven in Lightning.”

“There is,” I nodded.

“Then since the Novice stuff is all single-target, I’ll take seven Eggs for my Lightning Novice Set, and the Gems for it, as well,” the Mick stated firmly.

It was probably the best use of them, really. Lightning was the best of the single-target magicks they could use, and since Fire was single-target at Novice, too, Lightning was the best choice to buff up. Cheap kills on small fry and stuff.

“Very good.” Mounds of glittering Crystals moved around. “I could be combining Cores into Eggs, but that’s a severe waste when you’re going to be breaking through to Mage soon enough.” My confidence buoyed all of them, despite themselves. “Getting ALL your Stars to Four is better than getting one set to Five, generally speaking, especially when we’re talking a conversion ratio of thirty to one, or something.”

“That is a lot of these things,” the Mick agreed for all of them. “So, what is the plan?”

“You’re going to be entering a Seven-Star Meditation Formation. For those of you who have trouble gathering energy, this will be a godsend. Together you can raise the incoming Mana sevenfold, which should let you make very quick progress on your Stars.”

“What if... what if we haven’t broken through to Adept in our second Element?” Big John winced, the short and stocky fellow grimacing.

“Then I imagine you’re going to be breaking through very shortly,” I replied without batting an eye. “Did you fail once?” I asked him kindly, as he looked away.

“Yeah,” he nodded, clearly ashamed of the fact.

“Very good, then. Everyone, exactly thirteen Cores from your Stashes, please.” They quickly moved to do so, before taking up seats on the Disks that nudged their knees.

“We are going to first raise the Tier of your Starter Starclouds of both Elements. Who else needs to break through?” Bjorn raised his hand a little sheepishly. “Your Tiers in Water are at Three, correct?”

“Yes,” he confirmed quickly, as they all tucked their legs up and got ready to do the dry, boring part of their job.

“Excellent. Now, the Principle of this Formation is all-inclusive Elements. By pulling in ALL the Elements and making them usable by ALL of you, we are going to accelerate your group and later personal energy draw significantly.

“Now, all of you applied a Crystal Core before. I told you NOT to fill that Star. Did anyone disobey?” I asked firmly.

They shook their heads quickly.

“Excellent. Here is the Pattern you are going to use.” The Disks drifted around swiftly, leaving seven of them in a heptagon, with Tox sitting in the middle. “Here is how the Formation works. It starts with Light, ALWAYS with Light.” I laid a hand on Red’s shoulder, and proceeded around the circle. “It goes to Lightning, then Fire.” Big John blinked as I tapped him. “Then to Wind, Water, Earth, and Ice. Ice glows, releases the energy, and it returns to Light.” Glenn, Bjorn, Sam and Burt nodded in turn as I tapped them in series.

“Those are the Elements you will be using in this Formation. However, we are also going to be applying those Cores in your hands.

“Tox will remain in the center, drawing on Plant. His universal draw with a double Light will help the incoming Mana.

“I will be hovering over the middle monitoring everything, and broadcasting to each of you psychically to help the timing and modulation of everything. In the future, you will be able to do this without me, but for now, I am necessary.

“Red will be passing his Mana on to the Mick, who will pass it on in turn to Little John, who will do the same, until it makes a complete circuit of the seven of you.

“This will set up an all-Element Mana Draw Vortex, which will increase rapidly in speed as you keep rotating the Mana.

“As it increases, you will fill up those seven spaces in your Tier-4 Star with Light Mana.

“When it is full, you will take a Core and apply it to your next Star. You will Temper it, and then you will fill it with Lightning Mana!”