Excerpt from Month Six of the Power of Ten, The First Year...

Sama has been awarded the Bloodguard Battalion to lead, comprised of Primos who have managed to Level to Seven, but never played the Power of Ten. She’s been organizing and leading them in fights, and getting them equipped for a week or two when she gets a request to come meet someone...

                “Amazons, Briggs? Really?”

                The most dangerous Ancient Source in the world blushed despite himself as we strode through the training area. I was aware of a whole lot of gazes being sent my way; curious, startled, and generally rather hostile.

                “I was visiting my sister at school. It was a lady’s college. You work with what you have available.” Without any effort, I could see heads turning at the sound of his voice. That deep, smooth modulated bass shook the floor and sent little thrills right through the system. Christ in a bucket, these Amazons were helpless against him.

                I found myself snickering. “You recruited an entire college worth of supermodel Amazons. And every day they’d find more women, and suddenly more supermodels with too-tight clothing popped up to add themselves to your forces. They keep mushrooming, and soon you’ve got 90% of the non-gamer Amazons running around obeying your every command instead of being properly under Clerics of the goddesses.” I fluttered my eyes at him. “And you know they are all just dying to sleep with you, right?”

                He grimaced, which on a Neanderthal looks very impressive, all those big teeth. “Ah, yes, I know it. There’s a list floating around somewhere, and they all get turns at me as long as I don’t pick someone. I’m basically not allowed to have a night alone.” His sigh rumbled through the ground. “It’s actually a little tiring. They are all very strong, and very enthusiastic.”

I laughed despite myself, which was probably a little on the harsh and piercing side, and noted his ears turning bright red. “Such a horrible problem to have. Any pregnancies?”

He sighed again. “No. They need dispensation from a Priestess to become pregnant, and there’s just too much work to do. With the Crusade going to be kicking up again, this is not the time to be having a child.”

“Truth to that.” I cracked my neck. “So, exactly why did you want me here? I refuse to believe you’ve been giving them bad advice. They are Amazons, and should blow past the ceilings on the way to Ten, favored of the goddesses and all that. They don’t need any advice from me.”

“I want to take full advantage of your ability to dispense Marks that Ael told me about. These girls are all gods-damned geniuses,” his voice rose fractionally, and smiles broke out on the faces all around, including the ones not looking at him, “but they are hampered by the lack of advanced communications... and no magic. They can’t even talk in /fellowship, any more than you or I could.” He turned to look at me. “I’ve been told you can change all that.”

I nodded. “The Bloodguard has been working through the kinks of it, and we’re starting to develop a stratum of default commands for setting up Echo Chambers in my head. Groups request Echoes in chorus and I just set them up, dissolve them on dispersal, so I don’t have to think about it or maintain them.”

He considered that as we walked along, watching superhumanly strong women at work all around us. There was a lot of smithing going on around here, as the women made customized wargear for themselves. It helped immensely that Amazon gear all had exactly the same specs, so molds and the like were perfectly reusable.            

“That... sounds a lot like prayers,” he mused under his breath.

“Shhhh. What do you think I based it on?” I whispered back.

“Eh. No need to reinvent the wheel. Still, that potentially is a lot of head noise…”

“Thought tracks five and six.” He gave me another look. “Int 38. Eight thought tracks. I’m running coordination in Ireland as we speak…”

He slowly smiled. “That’s impressive…”

“Giving Warlord bonuses, too.”

His cheek twitched. “Mithar. Whatever inspired you to carve Succubi Blessings onto your soul?”

“Pacts. Tats. It’s just a modified Tat that requires an anchor point. If you treat it like a magic item and a Tat instead of a buff spell…”

His breath hissed out. “Nice. Can it be ramped up?”

                “I fed eighty-one succubi, nine lilithi, and a lilitu to each one of them.” He blinked and looked at me. “Yeah, the Succubi Queens may not have a high opinion of me at this point. But mine are at Lilitu-grade, +4 to Stat.”

                “I was more referring to the recipient being able to upgrade them. Like the Masteries we have to use for Soul Tats,” he explained gravely.

                “Oh! Well, I assume so, it’s basically exactly what I did, investing enough Karma into them to make them replicable. With enough direct Karma investment, sure, I imagine you might be able to turn into a secondary dispenser. However, I still hold the Master Rune. Unless you get your own set, they’ll still all come back to me.”

                “I am both incredibly curious about how you managed to encounter at least eight hundred succubi, and terrified at the implications thereof. I find myself completely lacking in desire to repeat such a performance.” I had to smile at that bit of male wisdom. “Is this ability to manage the telepathy and Echo Rooms considered a Mastery Upgrade?”

                “I didn’t Assay for it, but the amount of Karma invested just in these Runes would run to at least twenty Levels post-Ten.” He glanced down at the Marks ringing my waist.

                “So, each one of those Marks is near the cost of a minor Artifact, or a +Zehn Weapon?”

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                “Yes.”

He whistled very softly, it still carried very well. “And you did all that in five months?”

                “To be precise, I did it all in about ten days. It turns out sacrificing succubi to their own Marks is much, much more efficient than Investing or Infusing.”

                “No shit?” He lifted a hairy eyebrow. “How many Marks can an Amazon take?”

                “Warlock Pact variant. They are limited to one, barely better than a Powered. Basically, their souls are fired up with alien and foreign energies. Same reason they can’t develop a Vajra.”

                His knuckles popped like stones getting crushed. “That’s a shame, every little bit helps. The number of people who can make Soul Tats I can count on two hands, and they all have massive demands upon their time.”

                “Demands other than making Tats. Yes, I’m aware.” I smiled winningly. “And so now you know the two skills I’ve been giving all my Vajra Sevens with their Int Marks.”

                His eyes lit up. “Tattoo Artist and Concentration?” he asked shortly.

                “Got it in one. And they have very, very firm directives to acquire the supporting Feats and Masteries so they can start making the basic Tats for their fellow Primos.”

                “Oh, that’s nice. That’s very nice.” He started walking again. “Most basic soldiers can only support one or two of them, anyways. But if they’ve got Soulshaper levels... the demand can increase very quickly.”

                “You had your girls take Soulshaper Levels?” I inquired quickly.

                “Yes. Just the savings on the Weapon Slots was worth it, and of course they needed the extra Health, Soak, and emergency healing. We had to crank out a lot of Focus Medallions for Healing Soul, but damn, it saved a lot of lives.”

                “Have they got the rep counts in to try for Healing Reserve?” I asked calmly.

                He stutter-stepped again, and then swore. “Would that work?” he asked, flat nostrils flaring excitedly.

                “I don’t know. That’s why I asked if they had the rep counts. I’m guessing no, because the uses/day are so small, but unlike you and I, Amazons have a divine connection right through their souls…”

                “Dammitall, that’s an incredibly good idea. Ladies!” He halted and his voice rolled out. “Gather around, I’ve got something important we need to test out!” The eagerness in his voice trembled the ground, and every single Amazon in range dropped whatever they were doing and hurried up with great speed to him. They were all poetry in motion, matching up strides into Cadence with unerring precision and efficiency. The ease with which they gathered up in formation would have made a drillmaster cry with envy.

                The eyes fixed on him had more than a little worship in them. I smirked to myself. Yeah, Source charisma was no small thing.

                “Ladies, let me first introduce to you Sama Rantha. SAGE OF THE SWORD Sama Rantha. Forsaken Null and Hagchild.” Their eyes all shifted to me, instinctive rivalry and hostility rising in them. “Yes. Feel that?” They all blinked. “Hagchild. She’s from the opposite end of the warrior woman spectrum from you. As in, if she wasn’t a PoT gamer, her mother would be an evil, cannibalistic witch, and Amazons and Hags get along like fire and water. So, you don’t like her, just because of what she is.

                “You need to remember that every time you look at her. Because she is fully capable of butchering all of you, breaking all of you, and walking away without much of a scratch on her.” Their expressions all changed in instinctive disbelief. It took major chops as Powered to rival the combat ability of an Amazon. Sure, there were Powered women who could knock them around, but those were Dragon-users. A Null Forsaken?

                I stepped up onto the air, bare feet misting, and leaned on Briggs’ shoulder. He didn’t appear to notice it. “Hello there.” I modulated my voice, and they all blinked again at steel and silk in my suddenly very smooth, very clear voice, ringing with my Vajra. Their souls were shivering at the sound of my voice, and pretty much all their mouths pursed at the same moment. It was the same effect Briggs had on them, but very different in flavor.

                “I’ll keep this short, because you are Amazons, and you’re smart enough to get this.” The bracer on my arm glowed, a holo rose overhead, their eyes with it.

                “The concept is very simple. Amazons may or may not qualify for Healing Reserve.” They all blinked, geniuses thought fast, and their eyes got very intense. Unlimited healing, even if it couldn’t restore your Soak, was an incredibly precious resource. “Unlike me, a Null, or Briggs here, a Source, you have a variant Divine Pact, connecting you right to one of the five goddesses, right through your soul. In other words, you have a divine connection, the same one that provides you your strength, good looks,” I tapped my branded cheek, and they all smiled despite themselves, “and perfect cleavage.” Their eyes dipped as I tapped my chest, and they smiled even more widely at the flatness there. “Buuuuuut, you still need to qualify for the Feat. That means being able to use the equivalent of a Cure II, and having five hundreds reps of it in.”

                They got it almost instantly.

                “I never thought we’d have to do this, but we’re going to get Detect Counts on your uses of Healing Soul,” Briggs interjected calmly. “And from now on, every day you’re going to use up your Healing Soul uses. Everyone by now should be able to use Healing Soul at least three times a day...”

                “And if you have Karma floating, there’s a Mastery for getting additional uses per day, requiring the Feat Soul of Healing to get started with an additional two uses,” I interrupted blandly.

                “-and so every single day, I want you all using up those Healing Soul uses. If that means sparring and drawing blood with full contact, then that’s what you do. Your goal is five hundred reps,” Briggs stated, looking over all the beautiful faces looking back at him. “We don’t know if this will work. But the cost is NOTHING, and if it does work... we want all of you ready for using it.

                “So send this out to all of your sisters. We want all of you knowing about this.” He paused, and his voice softened abruptly. “There’s another Feat out there, too, called Touch of Soul. It allows you to use the power of your Healing Soul on someone else, through your Medallions. The Reserve, because of your Soul power, will initially be restricted just to use on yourselves. I think, I think it would be just awesome if Amazons weren’t known only for their ability to bring the pain, but to bring the healing, too, don’t you?”

                Wow, he was good. Half the women started tearing up instantly. They were warrior women, bound for life to be fighters and slayers now. The chance to be healers, as well? There was no chance at all that they wouldn’t take this opportunity. Touch of Soul would probably be the first thing all of them Invested in, if they had Karma floating. I was pretty sure the Amanans and Florans would be nigh compelled to do so.

                And Karma wasn’t something that was in short supply with Dead Marches around...