A month has passed since Leiah came to visit and Van showed his parents the true size and scope of his soul realm and everything that it entailed. Since then, they have come by to visit a lot more often. Alv and Thea since it was an interesting place to train, and Lore studying everything he could get his hands on, mostly pestering Ren, who had had enough and decided to take a break by going into his own memory realm until things blow over.
Van was with his parents inside his soul realm, discussing some last-minute things before his departure.
“I still can’t get past how amazing your soul realm is, Van,” Alv said for what must have been the hundredth time. “I don’t think there’s any other soul realm like this in the entire world…” looking at everything around him.
“But enough about that…” turning his gaze back towards his son. “What are your plans for departure? You know we will be paying for your trip until you reach Bright city, right? We are also paying for the rangers that will be escorting you, plus giving you some allowance to buy things before you leave. But once you are in the city and beyond, you will be on your own…” Alv said, looking a little concerned.
“To that end… me and your mothers have decided to get you a bank gem with the bank of Thram. We’ll put up some seed money inside for you, but once you're gone, you're going to have to figure out what you're going to do for money yourself… though… with everything you have in your soul realm… that might not be a problem…” he admitted.
He then pulled out a small crystal, the size of a pinky nail, and handed it over to Van. “Just get this close to your Vespera bangle, and it should do the rest.”
Van took the tiny gem carefully and brought it towards his wrist where it was pulled in like a magnet and became a part of the Vespera bangle itself. With a thought, he activated his bangle and found a brand new app that displayed the current amount of money he had in his wallet and what was in his bank at that moment.
Alv began to explain once more. “We haven’t put anything in yet because we wanted to show you a bit more of how it worked,” he said, lifting his own Vespera bangle close by. “First of all, you can exchange money by bringing two Vespeara bangles, or their equivalent, together and opening up your bank app, and agreeing to a certain amount to be exchanged. But! There is a limit to how much money each Vespera bangle can store… so be careful…”
“If you are getting too close to your limit, you can always deposit it at a nearby Bank of Thram or wire it if you have the reception… if you need to make a large purchase though, you will need to ask permission from the bank or have a higher gem rank within the bank system to allow you to hold more money or buy higher-priced goods. This was to insure people couldn’t abuse the system, and use it for criminal activities… if the bank suspects you are trying to do anything illegal, they will shut your account down, and it could take you a while before they activate it again.”
“You also have to keep in mind that the bank of Thram is also religious in nature. With the god Thram as its patron deity. One of the few most trusted banks in the world, mostly because of their honesty and fairness, and their priests ability to discern lies and illegal activities. So keep that in mind when working with them.” Alv finally seemed to finish.
“Now, let’s put some money into your wallet.” Alv then brought up his wrist and Van was given a prompt about whether to accept a hundred thousand Crava’s into his bank account.
Van accepted the transfer a little wide-eyed at the amount.
“Don’t get too excited by the amount.” Alv cautioned. “This will be all you're getting for the next five years… you’ll have to get your own money once this runs out. Though if you're frugal, it should last you a few more years… but if for some reason you need more money, don’t be afraid to send a letter, we’ll transfer some more money to your bank account, and you’ll just have to go to a nearby bank to get the rest.”
“A hundred thousand is the max your gem rank can hold at the moment. I suggest when you get to the city, you apply for a gem rank of four, which will allow you to hold five hundred thousand. A gem rank of five will allow you to hold a million. Though I don’t think you will ever need that much… of course your actual bank account can hold much more…”
“Any questions?” Alv asked.
“Ya…” Van said, still amazed at the sheer amount of money he had now. “What do I do to get more money?” genuinely curious.
“Well… while it is true we don’t have adventurer’s guilds that far into Alcray just yet… that doesn’t mean that there aren’t other guilds that won’t accept goods and services or post quests as needed. The mercenary guild, for example, you can go there to do some escort missions, or hunt down bandits, sometimes monsters if needed. The apothecary guilds will always be willing to accept rare herbs in good condition, and the hunters guild the same but with beasts hunted in the wilds.”
“In fact, I was going to suggest you go to the mercenary guild and work there for a bit to get some experience and maybe scout out a few potential recruits that could be useful during your time near the wastes. Many other students do the same, so you might even meet a few classmates if you visit there.”
“There’s a lot of guilds you should check out, take the opportunity to explore once you get to Bright city.” Alv said. “Also… considering your…” he glanced around, own religion…” he whispered. Though there was no reason to…
“You should go visit the temple of blood and justice. You might learn a few interesting things about religion. Just like you, the goddess Tellia was once a young vampiress that had some divine blood inside her. She experienced great hardship but was able to overcome it and became a very important aspect of Vampire society with her binding oaths and contracts. She can be a bit dangerous… but if you are ever in danger, I suggest you run to one of her temples just in case…” he explained.
“Though, that’s as much as I know about her, other than the fact that she went on a rampage a long time ago and killed many people. She’s still considered one of the more… good types of gods… Any other questions?” Alv asked.
“...no, I think I’m good for now…” Van replied, though, in truth, he actually did have a lot of questions. His mind was just spinning around with them all and he didn’t know which to ask, figuring once he let his mind settle, he would know what to ask.
“Okay,” Alv said. “But just to reiterate everything. You will be going through Gleam forest with the rangers, where they will drop you off at Bright city. From there you will take a letter we will give you that will allow you access into Rosalyn’s castle, where you will meet her and stay for a while. Once you have settled in, you will explore, earn money if you want, and take that time to learn or study before you take the train to the academy. Rosalyn will also be footing the bill for the train tickets, so make sure to thank her for that. And do try to make a good impression on her, even if you don’t agree to get married to her, she’s the closest thing to an ally we have. Other than that… have fun and enjoy exploring a little more of the world!” Alv said happily.
“I’ll try.” Van said with a smile, though inside he was both a little nervous and excited inwardly for the adventure that lay before him.
After that, they went their separate ways for today. Van went to check up on his troops and girls to make sure they were all ready for the trip ahead. As well as to tell his wives everything he discussed with his father and what ideas they may have about going forward from here on out before their departure.
“So we will be leaving soon?” Lyn asked, once Van arrived and told her and Amie and Xenith about what was going to happen.
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“Yes, so I was just wondering if there was anything you girls need or if you need to tell me anything before we depart?” Van asked.
Lyn, Amie, and Xenith looked at each other then shrugged. “Nothing comes to mind,” Amie said, “we have finished most of the paperwork, established communications with our far-flung territories, and solidified our control. And now with all the refugees gone, we have more than enough resources to steadily grow.”
“Speaking of which… I know it might sound rude…” Van began to say. “But… well… I know for fairy folk and insect-kin their oaths are everything… so…” having a hard time getting to his point.
“Don’t worry,” Xenith spoke up for him. “It’s practically innate! We won’t tell anyone about your soul realm, or any other information that could prove detrimental to you. You would in fact be hard-pressed to find a fairy or insect-kin that would rat someone out, especially if they felt like they owed that person or swore an oath. You have nothing to worry about.” sounding confident in her assurance.
“Thanks… sorry about that,” Van replied, feeling a little silly about it because he didn’t want to hurt anyone's feelings.
“It’s fine,” Lyn said. “Was there anything else you wanted?”
“Actually yes, could you girls go over your plans with me? I want to make sure we can coordinate with each other and not accidentally get in each other's way.” Van said, pulling out some papers. “Kassandra and Leiah have already given me some documents they want to share about the future growth of the soul realm and how we will be handling any new residents that might come in the future.”
He started handing out copies to the girls to which they accepted. “If you have the time for this of course,” he asked.
“Sure, we can spare a few hours if you need it,” Amie said, looking over the papers given to her.
“Wonderful! Now let's start from the top.” Van said, now looking down at his own paper.
And for the next few hours, they went over issues such as immigration, resources distribution, ownership of certain items and buildings as well as a revised tax system and what percentage of Lyn’s, Amie’s, and Xenith’s armies he could call upon. As well as a bunch of other legal mumbo jumbo that they had to go through for the sake of an efficient and prosperous little kingdom. The resource one being particularly important since to get anything extra that they couldn’t produce themselves they would have to have access to the outside and be allowed to trade with others. So trade regulations and such were also heavily discussed.
“Alright, thanks girls, I’ve heard all of your opinions and suggestions and will deliver them to Leiah. She’ll create an opening for all of you to get down together later and discuss all the points you brought up. Say… tomorrow? Is that fine with you?” Van asked.
“Sure, we’ll see her then.” Amie nodded.
“Thanks again girls, sorry to take so much time out of your day,” Van said, packing his notes up.
“Not at all. Thank you in fact, there were a lot of things we didn’t realize we should have concerned ourselves with till now. We’ll make sure to go over everything with Leiah and work out any dents that might arise.” Lyn said, folding her copy.
“Alright then. See you later.” Van said, saying his goodbyes and being waved goodbye back.
“Alright then…” Van mumbled to himself. Next is Kella and then Anna…” moving towards the training field inside his soul realm. Kella and Isa had moved the troops inside since there was no more reason to hide the scope of Van’s soul realm anymore. And it was largely easier to manage everyone here, especially considering with a few pushes of a button, Kassandra can change the field and the training equipment to better challenge the troops when asked.
“Hey girls, how are things on this end?” Van asked as he approached Kella and Isa as they were watching the troops go through their daily drills.
“Hm?” Kella turned around, “Hey Van,” she then turned back. “As you can see, nothing much new is happening. Although the ability to change the training field and equipment on the fly is useful, we are not really doing much else than basic drills…” sounding a bit put off by the fact that despite all these new options, she couldn’t push her troops further than she wanted to.
“If I have to be honest… There's not much else we can do to improve these girls other than giving them better equipment and upgrading them like you did when you drew those tattoos on them… because from here on out, they need experience and time… real experience from battles, and time to hone their skills with their chosen weapon. Which could take months and years…”
She sighed. “While this new environment helped a little… we need to think of new methods and ways to increase the veterancy of our soldiers if we want them to get any stronger without risking them in battle…” She turned to look at Van. “Do you have any ideas?” asking because this was Van’s soul realm and he should know most about it.
“Hmm…” Van thought about it hard, but no matter how long or hard he thought, not much came to mind other than upgrading their race. Which would cost much to do. “How do we increase the challenge for the soldiers without putting them into too much risk? How can we improve them further…” and then it was like a lightbulb went off in his head.
“Kella, you have been training them through drills… but have you trained them with skills?” Van asked.
Kella looked confused. “What do you mean?”
“Well… I was thinking… Luna became quite strong quickly by learning blood and shadow weaving… I’m just wondering, other than the basics if you taught them intermediate or advanced martial arts and the such, as well as the skills that go with it. I know this would mean that we will be training them for much longer since it could take years to learn a proper martial art and the skills that go with it, but it’s not like we don’t have the time. Do you think that’s possible?” Van asked.
Kella looked like she had to think about it for a bit but slowly nodded after a while. “Yes… I see what you mean. They have completed their basic soldier training… it only makes sense that we push them into proper martial arts…” she then looked apologetically at Van and Isa. “sorry… I was just much more used to training with those more on my level… so I was expecting the hobgoblins to reach a certain amount of strength before going to their next stage of training… I hadn’t realized in a way that might be demeaning to the hard work they’ve been putting in…”
“It’s fine,” Isa said. “If I had to be honest, I’m actually amazed at how far they’ve come, just through basic training. I should have told you that they’ve reached their limit for hobgoblins a while ago, but trusted you to know better so I’ve kept quiet. Sorry…”
After apologizing to each other, the group went on to discuss the needs of the soldiers, such as food, clothes, equipment, and other things. Van made sure to write a mental note on everything to reference later.
“Alright, so I think I have everything, and I'll also make sure to see if I can’t procure some training and skill manuals for the girls. Maybe ask Ren and my dad if they have anything they can spare.” Van said. “Also, anything else I should know about before I leave. Like how Sena and her archers are, and if there are any problems with integration? Maybe Gwen and her flyers as well? I know she doesn’t come by as often as she used to. And how is Sela and her troglodytes by the way?”
Kella shook her head. “There is no problem with Sena and her archers other than a few cultural issues. As for Gwen… we were actually thinking of promoting someone to take over for her, and leave her to be the core of a new mage core for our army. Sela is doing fine, she’s leading her girls quite well and there are no problems so far.”
Van nodded. “That’s good to hear. Alright, I’ll see you, girls, next time. Hopefully with those manuals you need.” After that, Van said his goodbyes and parted ways with Kella and Isa, letting them continue on doing their own things.
Finally, Van was back at the temple, a little surprised to see his mother there, who was talking to Anna. Awkwardly, he moved up and waited for them to stop talking, but the second he got close to them, they turned to him after seeing him from the corner of their eyes.
“Hey Van! We were just talking about you. Mistress Lillia here was asking a few questions about your religion. Maybe you can answer them for her.”
“Anna, you don’t have to call me mistress anymore…” Lillia lightly admonished. “Mother would do just fine… after all, you two are soul bonded and gotten so close to each other! I’m really happy for you two…”
The two then began to talk good-naturedly to each other for a while, making Van feel a little out of place.
“Oh, right!” Anna said, realizing they had forgotten about Van after a few minutes. “Sorry Van, just having too much fun talking to Mistress Lillia.”
“Anna…” Lillia whined after being called mistress again.
Anna laughed a little. “Anyway, Lillia was wondering if you were able to give out any blessings,” she asked.
“Blessings?” Van asked in return.
Anna nodded. “Blessings are exactly what they sound like. They can be given individually or as a reward to clergy as they rise through the ranks of your religion. For example, a god of beauty would give a blessing of attractiveness or beauty to his clergy, the higher the rank, the more beautiful. Sometimes these blessings can affect non-believers.” she explained.
She then motioned to Lillia. “Your mother was wondering if you had the power to insure a healthy birth for Thea.”
Lillia looked embarrassed. “If you don’t mind that is…” She said, looking at Van.
Van was a little put on the spot and blinked a few times until he kicked his brain into gear, wondering why he hadn’t thought of that himself. “Of course, I don’t mind! I’ll learn how to do it right away and make sure to give Thea a good blessing before I leave. Promise!” he said sincerely.
Lillia smiled. “Thank you Van. That means a lot to me.”
After that, the group happily discussed the exciting future of having a new family member that was coming soon. Van learned a lot of new things about how to take care of a baby, and how blessings worked. Something he was definitely going to make sure to make use of in the future if he could…