Ar'Kendrithyst

Chapter 186, 1/2

Erick woke the next morning feeling refreshed and wonderful, and not sore at all. His body seemed to be fully healed from his first foray into accretion, which was normal. All the books said that while there might be an initial weakness after a good accretion cycle, all of that weakness should go away faster than it felt like it should. ‘Such was the power of accretion’, was the refrain in many of the manuals.

One book, though, posited that even here in Ar’Cosmos, where Health did not exist, Vitality still helped to boost healing speed. Erick believed that one more than the others.

Ophiel chirped on the headboard while Yggdrasil’s [Scry] eye lazed by the window, watching the sun come up. As Erick got out of bed, both of his [Familiar]s joined him in the bathroom, and though that was a bit awkward at first, Erick got over it, because when he hopped into the bathing pool to clean himself Ophiel dove right in and splashed around with him. Erick almost would have preferred to [Cleanse] himself than take all these baths, but that spell was not as precise in Ar’Cosmos as it was on Veird, and so he made do with what options he had available. [Cleanse] still worked, but it was more something one did to the water that one used to wash dishes, than to the dishes themselves; you still had to scrub the dishes.

Or in this case, Erick had to scrub his skin.

And the warm water was great, anyway. It constantly cycled and cleaned itself all the time.

Erick got out of the bathing pool after a little while, put on some soft clothes, and felt like it was time to get breakfast. Ophiel alighted on one shoulder while Yggdrasil took the other, as Erick unlocked his door and started walking down the stairs. Fairy Moon and Maid Maria had likely eaten long before now, but he felt he could probably find something to eat, or at least he could find one of those two people and then go from there.

The dining room was empty save for a note left on Erick’s usual spot.

‘Dearest Guest, Erick Flatt. Fairy Moon is indisposed today, so I, Maid Maria, will be attending to your needs. If you have found this note, then I have likely been called to do other duties for a little while, otherwise I would have been doing paperwork here, in this room, while I waited for you with a gift from Fairy Moon, and to attend to your other needs. I should be back soon, but I apologize for my negligence. If you are in need of the kitchen, please look to the end of the dining room and follow the smell of baking bread. Feel free to take anything you wish to take, or make anything you wish to make. There are many items already made and under ward in the pantry, just waiting for someone to eat them. Feel free to eat whatever.’

Erick glanced around, then put the note back down.

A gift from Fairy Moon? Hmm. Erick didn’t know how he felt about that.

But he did know he was hungry, and he actually did want to make his own breakfast now that he knew that was an option. It was fine having breakfast made for him, but… All of this was still uncomfortable for him. He could make his own breakfast.

This was actually great, now that Erick thought of it.

There was a problem, though. Which part of the dining room was the ‘end of the dining room’? It was a rectangular room and everything was ornate, and this place was very much non-euclidean, so… Realistically, Erick had a 50% chance of being right. The correct direction had to be one of the short ends.

He went left, first, and stood at that end of the dining room. He sniffed the air. No bread? No bread.

He went to the other side and sniffed the air—

Erick smiled. “Bread.”

Erick stepped past the archway…

Left or right?

He sniffed the air… And frowned. After a bit of back and forth, Erick eventually decided to go to the right. It was probably the correct decision because the air still smelled of bread. Soon, he hit another branching hallway. He went to the right, again—

The scent of bread held heavy in the air, and beyond a doorway lay a kitchen. Erick triumphantly walked through the archway and marveled a bit at everything in the rather massive room. A grand [Prestidigitation] stove with twenty burners sat against one side of the wall, while large wooden tables for kitchen work filled the center of the room. One of those tables had an organization of bread upon it, with most of the bread seeming to be of the flaky-croissant variety, or the bun kind, and filled with stuff. Nuts and fruits, or gooey red stuff, or… Citrus? Citrus; yes. Erick left the bread alone, for now.

The kitchen’s cold storage lay beyond another archway to the far left. Through the archway Erick saw large racks of frozen beef that hung from organized rafters on one side, while sausage and other cured or frozen meats hung on the other side, or lay in large bins. Eggs and flour and other assorted goods were in a less-cold section of that walk-in freezer. If he wanted to make his own breakfast, then he would have to venture into that space, but…

The pantry on the other side of the room had to be the ‘pantry’, and yet to call such a place a simple ‘pantry’ felt disingenuous. Erick walked over that way, and marveled at the organization.

Shelves upon shelves stretched from floor to way beyond where the ceiling should have ended. Upon those shelves rested fully-cooked meals under shimmering pink bubbles. Erick wanted to explore. But.

There was another note pinned in a prominent location beside the door, on the inside of the room.

‘Dearest Guest: Erick Flatt. If you are reading this, then I have been most lax in my duties as a good maid. Please forgive me, and accept any offering from shelves 1 through 10. Anything on the higher shelves was not made by me, and cannot be remade if you should choose to dine upon it. I will be back as soon as I can, but if you are reading this, then I am likely inevitably delayed.’

Erick left that note alone as he glanced at the shelves. The shelves were labeled from the bottom to the top, starting at 1 and going all the way to 75, and that wasn’t even mentioning how deep the shelves went. A glance at the end of the room proved to be like looking at a horizon; it just kept going, and going, and going.

Back to his local environs, though…

The shelves seemed to be organized by breakfast at shelf 1 and 2, lunch from 4 to 6, dinner at 7 to 9, and 10 was reserved for desserts. All of it was rather easy to see with Ophiel, who flitted up and up and up to give Erick a better view. All the shelves past #10 were disorganized, and labeled with names instead of types of meals. At a guess, Erick thought them all meals made by the previous maids of Fairy Moon.

… This was too much. Erick wanted to make his own breakfast, anyway. There was probably a note pinned inside that door, too; he just had to look for it.

He went to the cold storage and found another note, but this one was on a plaque and set into the wall just inside the cold room. It was not a note from Maid Maria.

‘Truest Traveler: If thou are to dine, then take what thou will, but deliverest no unneeded destruction to this supply space, or to the common cookery.’

Erick scrunched his face a little. Now that was a message from Fairy Moon, herself.

… Erick…

He wasn’t sure he wanted to make his own breakfast anymore. Well. He did. But then again. He did not. And yet…

Cooking could come later.

Erick went back to the prepared food room and glanced around at his options. It all looked really, really good, so it was a bit hard to decide what, exactly, he wanted. There was the Veird equivalent of a full turkey dinner for ten people. Or a hamburger and wine for one. Mashed vegetables for a baby and desserts of all kinds. High-class meals made to serve a king and queen, but also a platter of common cheeses that anyone could nibble from. After ten minutes of walking and searching Erick picked out lunch, instead of breakfast. He got that hamburger-equivalent he had noticed before, but he also picked out a slice of white cake from the dessert menu. If coffee had been an option then he would have settled for just the slice of cake, but back in the main kitchen the only options for drink were teas, sweet tea, wine, or beer, or stronger spirits. Erick grabbed a pitcher of sweet tea, since it complemented his food choices, and that was that.

He ate his meal at a side kitchen table, which looked perfect for just that purpose. It was delicious, and all the proper temperatures; the burger-equivalent started steaming the second he took it out of its bubble, while the cake was actually a bit frosty. All of it was good. Next time, though, he would ask Maid Maria for a proper introduction to the kitchen and he could cook for himself.

When he finished, he took his used dishes to the washing sink, where constantly-cleaning water constantly flowed through the tap. It was like the water in the bathing pool in his room. All he had to do was take the provided sponge and vigorously scrub while under the water, and everything came off perfectly clean. So he did exactly that. It wasn’t [Cleanse], but it worked. The cleaned dishes went back into the cupboards, except for the pitcher of tea and a glass which would go with Erick back up to his room. With another thought toward eating a snack later, Erick grabbed a small plate of cookies that had looked good, too, and brought them all back with him.

Once firmly behind the locked door of his room, Erick picked out the large blue accretion pillow, sat down, and organized some thoughts.

Erick centered himself.

White glows flowed away from his body like a clinging mist. With a strained thought those mists formed a bubble around him. He breathed. He opened his spirit.

Power seeped into his skin, stirring his entire body to soft, white glows on the inside. His heart pumped hard. His mana flowed through his flesh, following paths of his veins, both the bloody ones and the ones made for mana. Briefly, everything was white, like a sudden rush of rain turning a land wet, all at once, and then the white rain abated, slowing, flowing in rivers and streams back to the source that created it, back to the gem in Erick’s chest. The gem flexed. New facets appeared as its surface shifted under Erick’s rain of power.

He breathed, and focused on the flow.

Thick, translucent-white air filled his aura, to then fall inward, to follow paths, to hit the headwaters, and then start again, raining inward. Pitter patter, pitter patter. A water and air cycle unto himself, Erick went slow, and it still was over faster than he expected; he bottomed out on mana after less than a minute; Empty.

The first few times would continue to be like that, but as soon as he acclimated, it would take longer. How much longer till the time when it would take longer? Erick had no idea.

Erick lay back on his pillow, and simply breathed for a while. His body felt like he had had a hard workout, but that would pass soon enough. A lot faster than it would take to regenerate his Mana, actually, since he didn’t have Meditation in this form and couldn’t force himself into Rest.

… He needed to figure out Meditation.

That way he could put himself into Rest whenever he needed to, otherwise it would take three hours to naturally fall into a Restful state to turn his Mana Regen from ‘per day’ to ‘per hour’. He was still tied to the Script in many ways, after all. Everyone was tied to the Script until they proved themselves too much of a Wizard to be allowed access. That much was true even all the way here in Ar’Cosmos.

And Erick was not about to break himself from the Script and take control of all his mana. Not happening. Not yet.

“So.” Erick asked Ophiel, “Do you know how to gain Meditation?”

Ophiel chirped at him.

Erick smiled. “Yeah. I know the basics, but haven’t managed it yet.” He breathed deeply, then said, “No time to try like the present.” He closed his eyes.

Even breaths. Even heartbeats. Slowing down…

Resting—

“… Wait.” Erick looked to Ophiel. Ophiel cocked his head, twisting his feathers and his eyes around as he looked right back at Erick. “Right.” Erick said, “That. Duh.”

Erick had Ophiel cast a rather weak [Prismatic Ward] across his accretion space and a bit more besides. Not his bed, though. Not too large, either, because he didn’t want to weaken Ophiel too much, nor did Erick want to create some sort of problem with Fairy Moon.

But he did want space enough to cycle inside, and for Ophiel to sit and regain his mana, too. The transparent solidness that appeared around him and a bit more of the room was more than enough for his purposes. Erick instantly felt his body, soul, and mind enter a Restful state, which was surprising. The Status effect was very noticeable now that Erick had gone without it for so long.

… He really should have thought of this sooner.

He also wasn’t casting his daily [Personal Ward].

He wasn’t doing a lot of normal things that he usually always did, like talk to Yggdrasil, or talk to other people, or—

Erick frowned, and then he banished those saddening thoughts; he had a lot of shit going on right now. A lot. And besides, it wasn’t like he could —or needed to— protect himself here, in Fairy Moon Manor.

He forgave himself for his inability, relaxed, fell into the moment, and grabbed one of the books of accretion sitting next to him to read for a bit while he waited for his core to refill. He could already tell that his mana was returning to him slowly, but surely, by the small increase in the mana density of his core. Erick was sure that if he could actually see the thing inside his chest, with his eyes instead of with his mana sense, that the process of regenerating mana would make his core look like it was turning from a dull piece of quartz, to polished crystal, to something iridescent white and glowing.

Should take him about 40 minutes to reach full mana, too—

Erick set down his book as a thought crashed into his mind and would not let go.

“How the fuck am I going to cast my usual 13,000 mana [Personal Ward] if my through-put is capped at 500 per second?” Erick frowned. “Fu— No wait!… Shit.” He sighed. “Ritual casting every day, huh?”

He thought for a moment longer, then decided that he did not like the idea of a true ‘morning ritual’ every day, so in that worst case scenario, he could ritually cast [Unbreakable Form] for 7500 mana, and then do that twice. If that spell needed shoring up then some [Renew] could fix it, but that spell was already permanent. With that active, he would have 500 points of absolute defense…

Or he could work on a similar spell that he could start off small, and then add a million mana to it through [Renew], or something, to eventually make a thousand point absolute defense spell… or something. Actually… That sounded good.

But magic was different here than it was in Veird. So how would he make such a spell? And would it translate to Veird? Likely not, unless he made it on Veird and the Script finalized it for him.

Erick glanced over to the textbooks from Inferno Maw about the nuances of magic in Ar’Cosmos.

He kinda wanted to read them—

But nope! Nope. One thing at a time. Accretion first; he hadn’t even finished all of those books, yet.

A bit over half an hour later, or something near that since there were no clocks nearby, Erick’s core seemed full. His soreness from his first cycle had even vanished over ten minutes ago. He was good to go for round two. Which is exactly what he did.

This time, it took him thirteen minutes to accrete all of his mana (he had reached acclimation that fast? Strange.) and then another forty-ish to get it all back.

The third round of accretion also took him fifteen minutes, though it could have been sixteen. Erick wasn’t sure. Accreting inside a Restful space seemed to help a lot with some of his mana issues, if just by virtue of Regenerating more mana while he was also using his current mana. But was this okay? Was this method good? Or bad? Erick searched through the books to find an answer, but didn’t manage to locate anything adequate before his mana returned to full, which was still 30ish minutes after finishing his previous session.

Again, there was no clock, so he was guessing.

He needed a clock.

The fourth time Erick took ten minutes to bottom out; a drastic shift from the direction he thought his accretion time was headed toward. (Was he speeding up again? Strange.) So while he was waiting to regenerate his pool, in addition to looking for answers regarding Restful spaces, he also looked for words to explain his newfound speed at bottoming out.

Twenty minutes later he finally managed to find a few passages that might have explained what was happening to him. Regarding the Restful spaces, he found nothing. But with regard to his speed, either he was was getting so much better at accreting that his time to bottom out was cut by a third, at least, or else he was accidentally taking in ambient mana and fucking everything up. While the first was possible, it was not probable.

Erick did not go for a fifth cycle.

Instead, Erick went looking for answers from a professional, or at least to find Maid Maria. Also he wanted more food; it was lunch time and he was hungry again. He took his empty dishes back with him as he left his room once more, with Ophiel on one shoulder and Yggdrasil on the other.

- - - -

Fairy Moon and Maid Maria were sitting at the dining room table, poring over paperwork scattered over half of the large surface. Sandwiches and smaller finger foods sat on the other side of the table, all within easy reach for either person to pick from as they worked.

Maid Maria had been talking about budgets for some place called the docks, but she went silent as Erick walked into the room.

Fairy Moon looked up at Erick, then narrowed her eyes at him, before promptly relaxing, nodding, and turning back to her paperwork as she said, “Your accretion is advancing admirably.” She said to Maid Maria, “Go get the gift.”

Maid Maria bowed a bit and scampered off to a side room, her pink tail swaying behind her as she went.

Erick walked up to the table and set his used dishes to the side, out of the way of all the paperwork, or the other food. “Is it?” he asked. “Because I have no way to measure any of this. My timing for a full cycle is turning weird, too, going from one minute to fifteen to ten, or something close to that. Can I get a clock, or something, to track my measurements?”

Fairy Moon jolted at the mention of weird timing, stared at him, and then relaxed. “Your timing is weird because you are at the beginning. You are not accreting improperly. As for measurements, though. I have a gift!” Fairy Moon stood as tall as her short stature would allow. “It is a tool to tell of accretion and advancement.”

Maid Maria returned to the room carrying a small blue cube, about the size of a hand. She handed it over to Fairy Moon who took it readily.

Fairy Moon held the cube, and announced, “Behold! A crystal counter, tuned for tracking your specific advancement based upon the Script’s lines of power. This here is a demanding bit of demarcation that does not manage much for most, but it is useful for young dragons who produce more mana than they can reliably use in a day.” She handed it off to Erick.

Erick took the tiny thing and scrunched his eyes at it. To his mana senses it seemed like a blue crystal cube; completely solid and without any moving parts… or anything magical about it at all. It did have some small numbers on the upper surface, though, in eight rows, and with ten columns of 0 through 9, which indicated it was… Erick wasn’t sure.

“What… is it?”

“It is a mana crystal grown in a certain way; something that does not happen back on Veird, but which can happen here if the circumstances are correct. This counting crystal is one made for testing people with New Stats, but it is also a plain counting crystal with all the common capability.” Fairy Moon smiled. “Though the circumstances are different, with this: witness some semblance of how we calculated power back in the Old Cosmology.”

Erick eyed the thing in his hands again. Eight rows of numbers corresponded to eight Stats, so that made sense. But… He looked at Fairy Moon; he needed more than what she had given him. “How do I use it?”

“Flood it with at least a hundred mana.” Fairy Moon said, “That’s all it takes. Let me know if you break that one, for though they can measure quite well, they are prone to breaking and rather more esoteric than essential. They are also not precise, with error rates as high as 15%. A much better method is getting back to the Script for a simple survey of your Status.”

Erick raised an eyebrow. “Okay. Good gift. I will use it well. I had another question about accretion, though.”

Fairy Moon nodded. “Do you desire Illustrious to return? Or will my own answer suffice?”

Erick went ahead and just asked his question, “It’s about the thing you brushed over earlier. My accretion time to bottoming out on mana was a single minute, then it was 15, and now it is ten. It is speeding up, I think. Does that mean anything? Am I taking in ambient mana? I also didn’t find anything out about people using Restful spaces to speed up recovery time; does a Restful space cause harm in any way?”

“Your core is correctly curated; I have checked. You will speed up as skill progresses and your body begins to acclimate to accretion,” Fairy Moon said, without worry. “The Restful space thing you’re doing is a nuance to the usual methodology, but there should not be problems with that peculiarity. Most people just Meditate, but your way is by-chance better.” She gestured to the food at the table. “Care to stay for sustenance? Or would you like help handling the kitchen? You are free to make whatever you want, except for any exceptional messes; that would be rude to Maid Maria and I will make you clean up any such catastrophes.”

Erick ignored the casual threat, and said, “I will grab something from the kitchen and leave you to your own work. I appreciate your answers.” He said to Maid Maria, “And your food is excellent. Much appreciated.”

The pink dragonkin lady turned a bit more pink around the cheeks as she smiled politely and did a small curtsy. “Your words of kindness are too kind; I am but a humble Cook. If you desire something in particular, please let me know.”

“I will be sure to do that, then.”

Maid Maria curtsied again.

Fairy Moon nodded, then returned to her work.

Erick went to the kitchen and grabbed something good from the premade options, and then he took it back to his room. If it weren’t for the various circumstances that landed him here, he would have thought it a bit funny to ‘go and eat in his room’, like he was some sort of child staying out of the sight of a disapproving parent.

But his situation was a situation that was not funny at all.

… The food was pretty great, though.

- - - -

The cube worked oddly.

All it had was a 10x8 matrix of numbers 0 through 9 on one side. It could not display a Status at all. It couldn’t even flick through a roll of numbers, or a proper mechanical device, in order to show his actual numbers. What it did, instead, was flicker. None of the lines of numbers were listed as a Stat, either. If this thing worked as Fairy Moon said it would, then it should show that all of his Stats were at least at 10, except for Willpower and Focus, which were both at 20, though those were his numbers from before he started accreting.

And anyway, Erick had no idea what this thing would actually do.

So he put a hundred mana into the thing and hoped for the best. Almost instantly a white glow took hold in the center of the crystal. And then the numbers started flickering, rushing through the entire gamut of numerals before something else flickered inside the crystal and all of the white glow vanished—

The numbers settled. In the first 5 lines, and line 8, the number 1 flickered. In lines 6 and 7, the number 2 flickered instead. One second later the number 0 flickered here and there, but in the other spaces, a 1 flickered instead.

And then the glow died; the counting crystal went inert again.

Erick smiled.

Okay. That was rather simple to understand. Erick wasn’t sure how the creator of the crystal had organized his numbering system, but in Erick’s own Status, it went from top to bottom: Strength, Vitality, Dexterity, Constitution, Perception, Willpower, Focus, Intelligence. It was probably the same for most people, though most people only had one of the New Stats. Therefore, the display here was likely organized to show the whole possible suite of Stats, and Erick suspected that a null-result would just make the 0s flash. Or something like that.

Even though he couldn’t figure out how it worked, exactly, Erick knew enough to understand what it meant, and it meant that he had gained about 4 Points in his ‘Status’.

Calculating out his mana spent to points gained…

“Oh.” Erick said, surprised. “1 point per 250 mana? Is that right? I think it is. That’s… Okay? Wizards cheat, apparently.”

The books had suggested it would take between 1000 mana, to 10,000 mana, to gain a point in a Stat.

… Maybe the first points were easy, though?

Erick accreted some. When he stopped, he rested, Rested, and read, looking for answers about ‘easy first Stat increases’, or something similar. All he managed to find was that it usually got harder and harder to gain more power, but that a starting point of between 500 mana to 10,000 mana per point was normal.

… The books seemed to have discrepancies with their numbers.

That was frustrating. Was nothing peer-reviewed here? At least Oceanside’s books were peer-reviewed and set in stone by the Headmaster. All of those Oceanside books were meant for the complete layman, though, which was a different sort of problem, Erick supposed.

Erick went for cycle number 7. When he recovered enough from that cycle to put another hundred mana into the counting crystal, he found he had gained another point in what was probably Dexterity. Because of that, Erick was almost 100% sure that for every 250-ish mana he accreted, he would gain 1 point in a stat. So that was good!

Almost the entire day was gone by now, though, and the math did not bode well for the super fast growth that Erick had been expecting. His core was far away from being spherical, while his body was absorbing most of his gains, which meant that it would take quite a while to get anywhere quickly with this methodology.

… And yet.

That sort of thinking was incorrect. Erick would start snowballing hard once he gained enough of a foundation to actually start snowballing; once his Script-delineated regeneration allowed him to tap into anything close to that of his actual mana creation. But that would likely take a while to happen. According to some napkin math…

He required 250 mana to gain a Point in his Status.

His regeneration was currently at 320 mana per hour. This was the combination of his Vitality and his Focus, thanks to Rozeta’s Recovery, which combined those Stats for the purposes of calculating Regeneration.

Every time he gained a point, there was a 25% chance he gained a point in either Focus or Vitality, and since both were beneficial for Regeneration, and they both counted the same, they were effectively identical gains. The other Stats didn’t matter right now. Only Regeneration mattered. If he Remade the Skill, Concentration, for 3 times Mana Regen, or Enduring for 3 times Health Regen, then this would go a lot faster, but Erick felt he did not have enough base mana to do that yet, so those bits of Soul Magic would have to wait. Which was fine; Erick was pretty sure he could Remake those Skills the very second he regained enough of a mana pool to actually make the necessary change to his soul.

But anyway: Erick had a 25% chance, roughly every 47 minutes, to gain a point in a relevant Stat. Therefore, it would take an average of four cycles to gain something relevant.

After four cycles, to get to full mana (which was currently 210 but he pretended it was 200 for the ease of math) it would take him, at first, 45 minutes to reach the next stage, and then 44 minutes, and then 43 minutes, and then 42 minutes. Erick ignored the decimals.

Erick didn’t go much further into the math than that, because once he reached a turnaround time in line with his minimum accretion time, then that would be as fast as he could go. All signs pointed to the snowballing beginning in…

An accretion time of 8 minutes per hour, which translated to a regeneration of 1900, which was combined from both Mana and Health Regeneration, which meant 190 combined Vitality and Focus, which meant 95 in both Stats…

Erick winced.

Ouch.

Okay.

The initial time frame of ‘five days to snowballing’ had some holes.

If he did undirected growth, which would put all his ‘Points’ wherever they felt like going, that would require 650 overall Stat gains. Which meant 162,500 mana accreted, which would mean…

Split the difference and just assume 400 mana per hour for the first third of his total necessary mana to snowballing… Which seemed correct. Erick wasn’t sure. He certainly wasn’t going to be doing any calculus to properly calculate this mess. No thank you. Estimates were good enough.

This meant 135 cycles, each at (once again assuming) 30 minutes per cycle… 67 hours. Divided by 12 hours per day, since he doubted he could cycle continuously—

No. Fuck that. He could go hard if he needed to, and it was necessary to go hard right now. Erick could stay awake and fully cognizant for five days, easily. And so, it would only take him a little under three days to reach the first third of his necessary growth. A little bit less for the next third, and then the last third would be even faster. 10 days? Maybe? 12? Longer than Erick would have liked.

Was it linear growth? Or quadratic? Ahhh. He had never been that good with math.

And that was with undirected growth, anyway.

If he tried to accrete for Willpower and Focus specifically, as he had seen those kids do in that classroom with that instructor, then he could probably do that. The books had good outlines for that sort of growth, too. The problem was they all warned against too much directed growth before he got closer to Second Foundation.

But ignoring that!

Once he reached 1000 base Mana, he was pretty sure he could Remake the Skills Discipline and Concentration for a 3x multiplier to his Mana and his Mana Regen.

… 1000 base Mana was 100 Willpower. Ouch.

“Five days to reach… something. Maybe.” Erick looked at his core with his mana sense. The gem beside his heart was still all facets, and not anywhere close to being a sphere. “No idea how long till Second Foundation, though.”

… Erick was suddenly struck with a thought.

How fucking weird was this. Reduced to scrabbling for mana gains that he had already outpaced so long ago. It was strange. It felt almost like he had fallen into a whole new world that was so very close to his old one, but vastly different. And wasn’t that a bit too funny. Erick smiled at that thought, but it was a sad sort of smile. He had already been through this ‘falling to a new world’ scenario once—

Knock knock.

There was a knock at his door. Erick got up and went to see who it was. Upon opening the door, he instantly realized what was going on. He had made plans for this afternoon already, hadn’t he?

Maid Maria confirmed his thoughts, saying, “Master Redflame is here to see you about your [Renew] spellwork, Archmage Flatt.”

Erick nodded, breathed deep, then said, “I appreciate the news. Let’s go see him.”

Ophiel hopped onto Erick’s shoulder while Yggdrasil’s [Scry] eye followed close behind.

- - - -

Fairy Moon’s paperwork had been removed. Instead, there was different paperwork, and a lot of people. Mostly orcol-sized dragonkin. Among the tall people Redflame did not quite measure up, while Fairy Moon barely made it to waist-high.

Redflame was too occupied to notice Erick’s arrival. He was fussing over the organization of metal plates and books upon the large table, while all the other people either helped move the presentation from large carts, onto the table, or they worked on large chalkboards, or woodboards, while other people read from hand-held notes as they copied words and runes and diagrams onto those chalkboards, or pinned work on the woodboards. Half the room had boards of various sorts lining the walls.

It looked like a massive graduate thesis presentation or perhaps an end-of-year review, and it looked to be only 75% ready for inspection.

Fairy Moon stood next to Redflame, looking over everything he had brought with him, while he picked up another runic plate from a cart and placed it near the runic plates already on the table. He fussed over the arrangement—

Fairy Moon softly said to Redflame, “Erick is here.”

Redflame’s entire body went rigid for a brief moment as he whipped around, trying to find—

Redflame’s bright red eyes locked with Erick’s, and then he grinned, seeming to melt into an exuberant joy. “Hello, Erick! I’m almost set up.”

Erick could not help but to smile back, as he said, “Hello, Redflame. This is a lot.”

Redflame chuckled. “It is! It’ll be about ten more minutes till everything is set for proper viewing, but have a look around. I’ve actually been working on the lack of Wizardry problem for a long time, now, with a focus on birthing the next generation properly, but your [Renew] idea has flung me to new heights of inspiration and— Ah! Ah. There’s a lot out here. Please! Look around.”

Erick nodded. “I will look around, then.”

And that is what he did.

As he glanced around, part of Erick felt bad for lying to Redflame through omission, by not telling the dragon that he had already made [Renew] down in the Core of Veird. But another part of him felt good that he had already solved the problem currently being displayed all across the room. Erick had known that inventing [Renew], allowing anyone to contribute to any other magic, would have long lasting and unforeseen effects. Possibly even more effects than his creation of Particle Magic. At least with that Particle Magic one had to understand those physics to cast or to make those spells, which was pretty much in line with how all other magic worked the world over. But [Renew] was dead simple to use and utilize.

[Renew] would enable everyone to leverage magical power into usefulness, even those without the knowledge or ability to create or properly use magic themselves. As Erick looked at the problems that Redflame wanted [Renew] to fix, he felt that perhaps he had gone a step too far with that spell. Or perhaps, more accurately, Redflame and others like him would take this spell a step too far.

… If [Renew] enabled Wizardry, then...

Erick started looking around, and hoped that [Renew] could not be used to break the world. He had more faith in Rozeta than that. He wasn’t sure if he held that same amount of faith in these dragons that he had just met, though.

Erick walked slowly, studying chalk drawings on slateboards and papers pinned to soft woodboards. He gave tiny nods to the dragonkin putting up the information, and they bowed in turn, and went right back to fixing the information into place. It was then that Erick realized that these people were not mere servants to Redflame, or anything like that. They were mages themselves, and many of the notes in their hands were simply ways for them to remember what needed to go on the boards; it was not a direct 1-for-1 copying effort. None of them actually chose to talk to Erick, though, and Erick made no effort to talk to them. None of them looked too nervous at seeing Erick, either—

Oh.

Erick realized what was going on when one of the mages almost spoke to him but then he glanced at Fairy Moon and his heart beat hard. The man shut his mouth. They were terrified of speaking around Fairy Moon. Which… Fair enough.

Erick was focused on the presentation, anyway.

Most of the stuff on the boards was theory about what it actually meant for every individual person to make a different ‘flavor’ of mana. Most of the stuff on the boards were theories on how to fix that fact, too. The runic tablets on the table were tests of those fixes, with many of the problems of those fixes listed right beside those displays. Efficiency problems. Not-actually-the-same-mana problems. Completely didn’t work as it should have problems. Etcetera.

Redflame’s main goals were on full display, too.

He wanted to end the reliance on Wizard-hunts. He wanted to enable generations of dragons to live free of the Dragon Curse. He wanted to transform those currently afflicted by an improper Curse removal, into true dragons.

Erick’s eyes went a bit wide when he saw the statistics on Curse removal failure rates, and how the Curse removal actually worked.

In a large room made of concentric circles and smaller frameworks, they would gather a thousand young dragons every time they found a Wizard. In addition to the thousand people, they would add one hundred eggs, which they already had in waiting. The Wizard would be brought out and placed in the center of the formation of the people and the eggs, whereupon they would be simultaneously stripped of their Wizardly power while giving that power to every single dragon in that room.

It was not a guaranteed success.

One percent of the adults would retain their dragon form while also ridding themselves of the Curse; mostly those closest to the center of the formation. Everyone else would become a dragonkin to a varying degree. Roughly 10% of those transformed would be able to transform back into a Familiar Form that they were comfortable with, but that would be the extent of their dragon power.

Everyone who failed any part of the process would lose access to their draconic form, forever; it was as though they had been afflicted with the Class Ability Draconic Essence Inoculation.

Ten of the hundred eggs would mature into full dragons, with their Dragon Essence transformed to the appropriate element but still able to assume a full dragon form. The other 90 eggs would break and die. It was a 10% transformation rate, instead of the 1% rate of the adults.

Low numbers, all around.

As Erick went over those boards again and again, he found it amazing that anyone would risk their lives and their bodies like this. A thousand dragons were willing to risk eternity in obscurity for a chance at living free and open… Which wasn’t that surprising, when Erick took a moment to think about it.

But just how often did a Wizard happen, anyway? Did Ar’Cosmos find a Wizard every, what, 20 years? Every 10? According to what Erick knew, House Fae had three Wizards, with two used and one awaiting use. There were three more at the arcanaeum that were used up. Erick was pretty sure that they were all normal people, too, meaning between ages 20 to 80; non-immortals. And that meant certain things with regard to timing.

Were Wizards a lot more common than Erick had assumed?

He had assumed that Wizards were a one in a billion thing (though he had no clue where he had gotten that number from) and since Veird only had 540 million people, Erick had thought it was pretty damned weird to have the last well-known Wizard, Hullbreaker, active only 20 years ago. But if there were six Wizards here in Ar’Cosmos… There were likely more than that. Maybe as many as 10? 20?

Between Ar’Cosmos and the wrought and Oceanside, Erick was pretty sure that Ar’Cosmos captured the lion’s share of Wizards.

Redflame caught up to Erick at the Curse-breaking display. “Anything I can answer?”

Erick instantly asked, “Are Wizards truly this common? The arcanaeum has 3. House Fae has three. You have to have more besides that. Oceanside got Hullbreaker, from what I heard. That means at least one Wizard every… What? 5 years? I thought Wizards were a truly rare occurrence. One in a billion.”

Redflame looked to the boards, and said, “We estimate about one Wizard every hundred million people, but they usually only make enough of a stir to be found by the greater powers of Ar’Cosmos, the wrought, or Oceanside, every 7 to 10 years. Individual dragons find them all the time, though, and never seek outside help. Every case of that happening has always led to failure and death to most of the people involved, including the Wizard. We try to tell them to bring the Wizards in, but… Free Dragons will be Free Dragons.” Redflame gestured to the rest of the presentation. “If we could make Wizards obsolete, though, that would be for the best. Then we could simply rescue them from the various forces of the world, and not rescue them in order to break them for our own needs.”

Erick was a bit surprised at that last part, and it showed upon his face. “You would have Wizards here, yet not under your control?”

“I know it must seem foolish to you— Or. Actually. Maybe not?” Redflame asked, “What sort of stories of Wizards were you raised on? Most people find the very idea of Wizards even more detestable than Shades.”

Erick avoided that large tangent by saying, “That’s a large topic.”

Redflame grinned, then nodded, saying, “Very well! But yes. To answer your question: Yes; I would be fine with having uncontrolled Wizards nearby, because aside from the Sundering, and aside from their own ideas of what it means to be a Wizard, most Wizards are usually among the best people to have around. The good ones go around solving problems that no one else can solve. The bad ones… Well… The usual response to criminals is the usual response, but for confirmed Wizards that response gets a bit… Overheated.”

“Fair enough.”

Erick glanced around, at the presentation lined up on the sides of the room, and on the various bits and bobs of runic tools set up on the table in the center. Redflame’s people stood to the side of the room, out of the way, likely there to supply expertise should it be needed. Fairy Moon stood by the table, giving Erick a raised, questioning eyebrow. Ah. She was… She was expecting him to break down and tell Redflame that he had already solved [Renew].

And he might. But… Maybe not. Probably not. There was maybe a 10% chance of telling Redflame the truth, or maybe more like 5%, and only if everything went really well. But that chance dropped to 0% after Erick saw Fairy Moon preparing for a hammer to fall.

… 1% chance.

Erick said to Redflame, “My own ideas with [Renew] involve bouncy-mimicry mana. That’s about the large and the small of it. Care to run me through your ideas, and then I can get back to you later on my own?”

Redflame smiled wide, briefly showing his teeth, before he realized that he was showing his teeth and then he slammed his lips shut. “Gladly!” He gestured to a gold-and-silver spiral of metals, sitting on the table. “Let us begin here, at the molding machine; my first somewhat-successful mana-shifting runic device I created nearly a thousand years ago. It is like that iron slime creating machine you spoke of yesterday, but this one…”

The presentation lasted two hours. Redflame spoke, and Erick asked questions. Sometimes, it was the other way around. Erick hedged his words often, but though Redflame noticed the hedging, he did not comment. He seemed to be well aware that Erick was not fully willing to commit to this project with him, though Redflame was attributing Erick’s reluctance to his current status as a prisoner, and he did not seem to suspect the truth, at all. Erick let him think what he wanted to think.

But Erick had almost broken down ten times and told the man that he had already made [Renew]. Redflame truly did want to save the unborn and heal the half-dragons. That’s what the partially-Cursed were, technically; ‘half dragons’. Not ‘dragonkin’. Those were two different things.

“They and their children are stuck here in Ar’Cosmos, because to return to Veird would turn them into monsters.” Redflame got a far-off look in his eyes. “That’s where Wyrm Season comes from.”

Erick startled. “… Oh.” And then as the implications dawned on him due to that small sentence, Erick added, “If they leave, they become wyrms? That’s… Not good.”

“Well… It’s more complicated than that. A lot more— I won’t go over all of it. But.” Redflame said, “While the adults who were cursed to mortality and half-dragon bodies can never ascend to a full dragon, born half dragons are sometimes able to find success with certain accretion techniques, to refine their bloodlines and transform their half-cured state into a full cure… Centuries upon centuries ago, Wyrm Season used to be all year long, but these days, when the Free Dragons return for proper accretion and body strengthening, we’ve been able to limit those who wish to try for full refinement to only attempt the last step during this part of the year.

“The Free Dragons then help to contain and destroy those who fail to ascend, and in return those Free Dragons gain a slot for an actual cure whenever we happen to find a Wizard… Or, more realistically, they gain a slot to become a half-dragon and gain citizenship in Ar’Cosmos.” Redflame paused, then said, “That’s probably as succinct as I can make that, for that whole system is two and a half messes, or more.” He breathed a bit, then forced his worries away as he forced himself to brighten. “And that’s yet another reason to look to [Renew] for a permanent cure. A proper [Renew] might be able to turn all the half-dragons into true dragons; either Paradoxed into a House, or back to pure Dragon Essence to try for another transformation like their parents before them. But that’s all for the future; the goals.” Redflame gestured to everything. “What do you think of the progress toward those goals? Have any insights?”

Erick had been working on what to say for a while now, and so he said those words, “A lot of this is quite deeper than what I was going for, so you have uncovered some insights that I will have to think upon. I still don’t think that [Renew] will work the way you want it to work, for such a thing will have to be Script supported in the first place, and Rozeta will not allow for easy Wizardry. If it looks like this spell can do that, then she might just Ban it outright, and none of these problems will ever be allowed to be solved in this way. Or she might take this [Renew] away from you when you try to make it; that’s what happened to one of my spells. [Zone of Peace]. Koyabez got that one, though, so that’s fine with me.”

Redflame retained his outwardly-hopeful expression, but he seemed to harden inside, solidifying his thoughts and direction. “Aye. All valid worries, but a Ban is on the outside of possibilities. A restriction is more likely, like with [Duplicate]. A restriction would mean that only certain people would ever be able to get this spell. This would be less than ideal, but it would still solve our problems here in Ar’Cosmos.” He said, “I am glad to see that my own insights at least match your own, though, for it has been delightfully informative to speak with a full outsider about the same type of magic I have been fiddling with for a long while. I’m going to try to make this magic in a week. I would like you to be there for the ritual.”

Erick felt a cold sweat.

“… Uh? One week? You’re going to try to make it that soon? Really?”

“Yes.” Redflame said, “One week, and I will attempt this spell. I have been saving up mana for just such an occasion, and I think a million mana should be enough. It will be a small spell, after all. Something Basic Tier.”

There was a slight problem.

Erick had already made [Renew]. Rozeta had told Erick that in his making of that spell, that she had closed off the option for anyone else to ever create [Renew]. Therefore, Redflame’s attempt would hit an Error message… or something like that.

The Error message wouldn’t do much damage to him… Probably.

But Redflame would realize that this meant that someone else had already made this magic.

Okay. Erick was in a time crunch.

… Whatever? Yes. Whatever. Erick had enough problems and Redflame seemed like a good guy. If that time came around and Erick was still here in Ar’Cosmos, then he would just tell Redflame the good news. Maybe by that time Erick will have gained Second Foundation, and already made Elemental Benevolence with Fairy Moon, and therefore he could leave Ar’Cosmos and interact with Redflame on less uneven-ground.

… Yes. Good plan.

Erick said, “Then… I wish you luck and skill, Redflame. I’ll probably still be here by then, but if not, then… We’ll see?”

Redflame’s solidified emotions turned to quiet relief, as he gave a soft smile, saying, “We shall see.” And then he shivered a bit, saying, “Oh! This will be something! I haven’t made a new Basic Spell since I made [Force Platform] way back in the beginning of the Script.”

Erick felt a tickle of his own joy, and he laughed. “You made [Force Platform]?”

“I didn’t even mean to, either!” Redflame happily said, “Back at the beginning everyone was making all the magic they could, so it’s a minor miracle I got to make that one before someone else did. Ahhh. That was a long time ago.” With a small grin, Redflame said, “I’d love to talk more some other time, but I believe I need to be getting back, and I have taken up enough of your time.”

“It was nice talking to you, Redflame. Good luck with [Renew].”

“Good luck with [Gate]! And all the rest.” Redflame turned around, looking everywhere. He paused, and said, “I think Fairy Moon and Maria are entertaining my mages in that other room, with food. Is it already dinner time? I suppose it might be.”

Erick looked toward the open archway that led into a side room. Fairy Moon and Maid Maria had set up finger foods for the various other mages who had accompanied Redflame. Those mages seemed willing to participate in the minor repast, but the ones Erick saw looked even more nervous in there than they did when they were out here, watching Erick and Redflame move about the presentation.

Redflame walked over to that room, and Erick followed.

Soon, Redflame and his people got to removing the presentation. In less than ten minutes, the whole thing was taken down and packed away, and Redflame gave his appreciation to Fairy Moon for the use of her dining room. Fairy Moon told him that anytime he wished for anything, he just had but to ask. And then, Redflame and his people and his stuff left Fairy Moon Manor through a bright red door, ringed in flames.

The door shut and vanished, once again becoming a wall of sculptural reliefs.

Fairy Moon turned to Erick. “You did not tell him the small truth of your spell.”

Erick did not expect their privacy to be so complete, so fast, but if Fairy Moon was speaking like this, then it must be.

Erick said, “I might tell him, after I accrete enough to get out from under your thumb and his claws.”

Fairy Moon inclined her head, then nodded, saying, “He is a good man. One of the best.”

Erick waited a bit for the threat…

And then he waited longer than that.

No threat came?

Erick said, “He seems like a good person, but good people do bad things all the time in the name of good, like holding other good people hostage.”

“Aye.” Fairy Moon said, “This is true. Care for dinner? I am famished, and these small foods are not for me.”

“I could eat.”

Fairy Moon turned to Maid Maria. “Set for supper.”

Maid Maria curtsied and did as she was instructed.

Fairy Moon got a small roast bird stuffed with cabbage, or something like that. Erick decided on a steak. It was a pretty darn good slice of beef. Maid Maria sat in the other room, eating her own meal in private. About halfway through the silence of their meal, Erick realized something. Maid Maria ate with Fairy Moon at her table, but not when Erick was around.

Erick felt a bit of shame at realizing that he was pushing Maria out of her usual spot, so he broke the silence of the meal, saying, “If Maria wishes to eat with you, then I can eat elsewhere.”

“Preposterous,” Fairy Moon said, without a single hint of rancor. “You are our honored guest, and therefore you will eat at the same table as myself. Maria lives here too, so she is fully allowed to eat with us if she wishes.”

… ‘If she wishes’? Did she not? Well. Obviously she did not. Why, though—

Because of him?

… Well yeah; duh. Erick did try to kill her when he woke up that one time. And yup, Fairy Moon was glancing at him, trying to see if he understood what she had implied. Seeing his recognition, she just nodded, then went back to eating.

Erick had almost killed Maria hadn’t he. Realizing that was like a slap to the face, alongside a dozen other lesser-understood feelings. Indignant rage, that Maria was scared at him for his reaction to Fairy Moon’s harmful actions. But also sorrow, that he had almost killed her… And then he was back to anger, for she had been the pink dragon that had pulled him into the tunnel to Ar’Cosmos. She was directly Fairy Moon’s underling. She was directly responsible for his kidnapping. But looking back on the day’s events…

Maria had avoided him. She had left out notes for him to find regarding food, and aside from when she was sent to fetch him she had completely stayed away. She was scared of him. Erick didn’t like that anyone was scared of him, even if they deserved that fear.

But did Maid Maria truly deserve that fear? Yes. But also no. It was entirely possible that she was under some sort of Fairy Mind Control… Though maybe not? Erick decided to let that particular anger go. He focused on how he could make this situation better for all involved.

Erick asked, “Do you feel I should apologize for almost killing her?”

“Perhaps, if you wish.” Fairy Moon said, “Words sometimes help, but they often make things worse when there is no willingness to hear.”

Not the response Erick had expected, but then again, he had had no idea what sort of answer he was expecting. So he took Fairy Moon’s line of reasoning, and asked, “Is there no willingness to hear such an apology?”

“These things take time.” Fairy Moon said, “And that is as much as I am willing to speak on her behalf since her business is her business, until it includes me.”

“… Ah. Fair.”

“I try to be.”

Erick had some words to share about that, but he kept silent. He kept the peace, for now.

Dinner was pretty good, all things considered.

After dinner, Maid Maria rushed out of sight before Erick could apologize. She had probably overheard them talking, because of course she had.

So Erick simply went back to his room and accreted for a while. Between sessions, he finished his letters to his people, and to Stratagold, to Oceanside, and to Spur. He asked if they had any pointers they wanted to give him for dealing with the people of Ar’Cosmos. In the letter to Oceanside, Erick apologized for not being able to attend the meetings between the Angels and the Demons, and he hoped that the Converter Angel was keeping out of trouble.

Nothing he wrote down was anything that he would not mind anyone else reading, so the letters were not as personal as they could have been.

- - - -

Erick cycled four more times over the next three hours; as much as his Regeneration would allow. He did not concentrate his accretion into his core because the books all said to keep his body and his core relatively even until he had a good feel for what he was actually doing. So far, Erick barely knew what he was doing, but he was learning quite fast.

And he had learned of a problem. A problem that had been there all along, and yet he had not noticed until now.

His Status, back when he could see it, said that he was a Particle Mage even in this Other Form, and that he had 10 out of 10 Class Abilities unlocked and selected. Two of his Original Self’s chosen Class Abilities were Double Mana and Double Mana Regen. These, theoretically, carried over into his Other Form.

So where the fuck were those Abilities? Why was his Mana Regen at 200 instead of 400? Why was his Base Mana at 200 instead of 400?

Erick had no idea.

Maybe they were locked away from his monster self, sort of like how his Stat rings didn’t work anymore? Did monsters even have Classes? Shadelings had Classes, but Melemizargo made those monster/people just how he wanted them to be. Or perhaps he had ‘unlocked’ Classes for them, while they were actually just on the Monster Script, like how they had said they were…

Actually. That made a whole lot of sense. The shadelings were on the Monster Script, and that meant certain things, for Erick did not believe that monsters got Classes, but since Melemizargo had tinkered with the shadelings, specifically, he had enabled Classes for them. He had certainly enabled the ability to select certain spells and abilities from the Open Script.

But, like all monsters, shadelings were still very much on the Monster Script.

… So Erick’s own Abilities were just locked away from him, somehow? And yet he had them.

It would probably take some Wizardry to solve this problem, too. Erick added this issue to the Wizarding pile, which included ‘getting his rings to work on his Monster Self’ and ‘enabling his Core to self-repair’, all of which were explicitly stated to be possible, by Rozeta, but which were disabled by default. He was on his own little sandbox-Script while in this Other Form explicitly to allow him to figure out how to make Scripts, too, because Rozeta expected him to help with the dissemination of Scripts in the rest of the universe…

Eventually.

Erick sighed.

One effect of being in this Monster Self for so long was that it afforded him the ability to think about how it all worked, and to really drive home how different the Monster Script was from the Open Script. Erick had had this Other Form for a while now, so he should have noticed this Class Ability discrepancy way before now, but he just hadn’t.

And in addition to that:

Erick was still able to send off 100 mana to Phagar, to ask about potential Particle Magic. He had already tried that, and he thought it had ‘worked’, and yet it had ‘failed’. But maybe he had only thought he had tried that? Maybe none of his Class Abilities were active?

How would he even know? If the manasphere wasn’t so clean then Erick could probably force his way into the part of it that allowed one to visit Phagar, in Phagar’s own house deep inside Time Itself. But nope! Not possible.

Whatever.

Erick accreted again, taking 5 minutes to flood his body with his own mana and to use it all up, fortifying every part of him.