Sama’s blue eyes widened slightly. “A Mage could throw out several years-worth of burning in a day?”

“Easily. Take some solace in the knowledge that they generally don’t do that every day.”

“How is the inundation working?” Sama asked sharply. “This... seems like it could be a big problem.”

“Oh, it is. Too big, too slow for humans to really understand, but the Beast Emperors surely do,” I assured her. “It’s the normal ‘everyone but me should compensate for the horror that doing this is going to unleash, while I exploit it to my advantage because if it’s just me then everything is fine’ mindset.

“From what I can tell, Meditating to pull Mana into your Dark Elements is actually pulling in Mana from the Underworld, literally granted by the Dark Lords there. When you use the Dark Magic, you are sending it out into the world, joining the general Manafield.

“The Earth is a big place, but the Dark Mana is getting more and more prevalent over the millennia and centuries. There’s probably a flash point coming where it starts being pulled in faster and faster naturally as the Mortal Plane harmonizes to the Underworld. If action is going to be taken, it has to do so before that point.

“That big pit buys us some time. How much, I don’t know... but it’s not enough. Not even CLOSE to enough. So far from enough... just, ugh.”

Sama was quiet for a long moment. “Is that why you are here? To get a bunch of those things set up?”

“I’m an overly responsible idiot who is functionally independent of society and doesn’t have to rely on anyone else to do what I think is right, which means I don’t have to obey those who are opposed to doing something that is right.

“This is something that is very, very right to do, by the measures of Heaven and the world itself. Is it WHY I am here? Probably not. I strongly suspect that has to do with no active forces in Heaven, and I am meant to open that up.

“But the accruing Dark Mana is a problem for the planet, humans are the ones making the problem worse, and, well, the only other two endings I see are a lot of purging of humans to get rid of Dark Magic by the Emperor Beasts joining forces to wipe us out, or the Underworld comes into harmonic convergence with Earth, and the whole planet is screwed.”

Sama rolled her eyes. “You Powered, bolloxing everything up.”

“Yeah, well, the Primos can do the job just fine, too, and it’s not like some of you Nulls aren’t idiots, too.”

“Granted,” she agreed, thinking about something. “Why don’t we just sell them cheap?”

“Sell what?” I asked, half-zoned as I slowly drew Mana back in, trying not to accentuate my headache.

“Bowls or braziers of Vivic Eternal Lights. Just market them as Dark Mana cleansers, because that’s what they are and do. Any mage can tell the air will be fresher where they are glowing and burning.”

“Huh.” I turned her words over. “Save the world and make money at it. A good way to use up all those tailing remnants, too.” I caught her blink of surprise at the thought. “Yeah. Yeah, that’s a good idea. But it’ll suck a lot of Mana if I really want to make a lot of them.” I sighed. “I need better waking Mana Regeneration, something equal to an Archmage.”

“Isn’t that the dream?” Sama agreed. “Passive Mana Regen are like diamond-standard Toys for the wealthiest and most powerful families...” She trailed off as I turned my head on her.

“Mana Renewal items exist?” I asked, very slowly.

Sama blinked. “You need to spend more time looking at exotic Toys,” she told me with a half-smile.

“We can’t Artifice them?” I went on, slowly pushing myself upright.

“Do you have any idea on how to make them?” she asked me with an arched eyebrow.

I paused. The Power of Ten system allowed for a LOT of enchanting of items that nobody else on this world could make, especially in the way of Weaponry and true Armor, not the soul-bound force stuff they mostly used here. But the basic spellcasting structure was Valence magic, not a Mana Pool, so a constant inflow and outflow of Mana was not what it was designed to support.

The Mana Pool structure, however, didn’t allow for Caster Level modifiers like the Valence structure did, nor for functional Metamagic. The Star Structure did allow for functionally massive Mana Pools, but not for Mana Efficiency, Mana Conversion, or whatever they called it, reducing the cost of spells down below the rote number of Star Trails. You could use Seeds and Talents and Tiered Stars to multiply the power up, but mages could not reduce the cost down.

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“I suppose you could call me foolish, but no one has ever mentioned Mana Renewal items that were wearable. It was always special Formations, extremely expensive buildings, or rare natural sites, not something wearable. It literally didn’t occur to me with how people never mentioned it, much the same way they don’t think actual Regeneration items are possible.”

“You’ll never see them up for sale,” Sama informed me. “They are among the most precious items that Families can acquire, especially for their children. It should be pretty obvious how valuable those are to Novice Mages, and even Adepts, for practicing spells and drawing in Mana.”

“So, we’d have to steal one to break it down, see how it works, and replicate it.” I reached up to rub the bridge of my nose. “The odds that such items involve binding Soul Remnants are?”

Sama’s smile was mirthless. “Around one hundred percent?” she replied knowingly.

“Sunuvabitch. And people wonder why the damn Dark Magic arts are tolerated, when the only people who can make such Toys are Undead Element mages?” I swore.

“You wants I should, like, go around an’ see what fallz inta mah handz, baws?” Sama grinned widely.

I took a deep breath. “Yes, I do. I’m not an Egghead. I can probably puzzle out how to do it, but it would take me six months to a year, at least, and I’d probably have to drop most other activities for the amount of experimentation I’d have to undertake. I’m a Warcaster, not a researcher.

“You get me a working sample and I will replicate and improve the shit out of it, however. Those guys have a four-thousand-year head start on me, and I don’t feel like playing catch-up.”

“That would be a freaking HUGE product line,” Sama remarked knowingly. “Most of the ones I’ve seen are mono-Element types, too. If you don’t have the Lightning Element that Toy can help with, too bad, so sad.”

I rolled my eyes. “Goddammit. That means twenty different schematics? There isn’t a general resonance style one for whatever one’s own Elements are?”

“Probably?” Sama shrugged lightly. “Want to guess how rare those things are?”

I just groaned, my head throbbing again. “Right. Staff of the Magi-tier and stuff. I got it.” And that for being most useful for kids! “In the end, it really doesn’t matter. Do you know where they are made?”

“Most such things come out of the Middle East, near Death Zones. It takes a combination of the Undead Element, Soul Remnants from creatures with multiple Elements, and ability to make fine jewelry with rare stones that can hold the proper internal Formations.”

“Earth and Undead Elements, then.” I didn’t need to say anything to know that such things were going to be a hugely dangerous product line. The people with monopolies over those kinds of things would no doubt be willing to slaughter everyone here to maintain it. The price was high because of demand, not because of costs!

“Man, it has been sooo long since I pulled off a proper heist and got it blamed on people I didn’t like.” Sama rubbed her hands together in anticipatory glee. “Those bastards stopped doing anything but making money hand over fist from the people actually fighting on behalf of humanity a long time ago. I will be very happy to rip them off on your behalf.”

I inhaled deeply. “Rob them blind, then beggar them with a better product. Sure. How much pressure were you getting from them when the Spellhouse Awakening Stones started coming out?”

Sama’s heavens-blue eyes glittered like sapphires. “I am very, very eager to do this for more than one reason, Fae,” she smiled, all eight canines agleam, ready to rip something’s throat out for daring to try to lean on her.

“Just how badly are you going to mess with them?” I had to ask, shaking my head. Trying to strongarm Sama... wow, wasn’t that a bad idea...

“I figure I’ll mastermind the fuck out of them,” she chortled. “There’s three major families who compete for eighty percent of the global business, working out of Mexico City, Beirut, and Cairo. Small families and independents basically split the rest with custom jobs.”

“Not China?” I asked, somewhat surprised. The Egyptian and Mexican Death Zones were well-known, but so was the one near Xian, China.

“China doesn’t have a lot of heritage for the Undead Element, despite the Death Zone, and the Undead Element was very persecuted in their history. They simply don’t have the development needed to make anything so sophisticated, and really, they have problems making and maintaining enough proper Awakening Stones for their normal population. Their Death Zone is little more than a resource for the three main Families to buy Soul Remnants from the few Undead mages who capture them there.”

Goddamn, so many little things of this world’s history I knew so damn little about.

“Plan?” I asked calmly.

“I figure I’ll rob the number two Family, the al-Sharif, in Cairo. I’ll pin it on the Xiochatl in Mexico City, but if they really investigate, some of their very custom stuff will wind up in the hands of the number one Family, the Ahmedi in Beirut.”

“No doubt after they pay a hefty price for such information from uninvolved fourth or fifth parties who just happened to notice something...”

“Right.” She sat forward, eyes intent on me. “You’re a Void Mage with a Pocket.” I knew what she was going to say before she did. “I figure I want a Portable Hole.”

“Do they even have creatures with Void Magic who spin silk in this world?” I had to ask, running through the incredibly long lists of Spiritual Beasts in this world. That I had done a lot of reading on.

“Night Weaver Spiders.”

I flipped to that mental image and an artist rendering from the database. “Fuck me, the young ones are half-Commanders. Are you going to be able to take one on?”

“Wouldn’t be the first time.”

I blinked at her. “Man, your Null Interdiction must really mess up all their fancy webs and traps and stuff...”

“Actually, the most important things are Darkstalker, lightfoot that can walk a web of half-shadow and moonlight without disturbing it, and a +VI Weapon that can punch right through their carapace and kill them before they know what the fuck is happening. The Interdiction just means I don’t have to chase them, sure.”

“And you didn’t keep any of the silk?” I had to complain.

“Well, I kinda set the whole cavern on fire with Tremble to wipe her egg sacs and the baby spiders and clean up the mess.”

“She burned really good!” Tremble slid out from behind her, floating in Dagger form.

I felt another headache coming on. “Am I going to have to come on this trip with you?” I had to ask.

“No offense to the Mick, but I have the distinct impression you’re far more dangerous and flexible than he is.”