234, 2/2

Three days later, Erick had flooded the market for [Rejuvenation]s so much that the cost of that metamond dropped to 50,000 gold per creation. He had also fulfilled all of Iron Bandit’s initial orders, and broken in his workshop rather well.

It had been 14 hour days in the dungeon, and 8 hours outside, and it had been wonderful. It was perhaps the easiest political and managerial time Erick had ever had on Veird in recent years. Only his time in Spur had been this nice. This simple. This full of magical experimentation!

Erick hadn’t solved any of his problems at all. But it was fun!

Erick wanted to continue the trend. He also wanted to help people with the ridiculous amount of money he had made, though, so to that end, he called up Kinder and requested a meeting.

Kinder stood in his living room, saying, “To what do I owe the pleasure of your request for a meeting?”

“… Well that’s a weird way to speak, when all I wanted to do was ask if you’ve got time to talk.” Erick moved on, “I’ve got nearly 30 million gold here, and I want to use it to fund practically any good thing that anyone wants to do inside Utopia. Classrooms, buildings, art, whatever. I haven’t been to the arcanaeum because… Well I don’t want to.” Erick added, “But if they could use this money, then I’d give them some of it, too.”

Kinder looked at Erick for a moment—

And Erick realized. “Oh. You thought this was… For something important? Oh. Like very important.” Erick frowned. “What happened?”

“Nothing that someone who isn’t interested in demonic murders should care to involve themselves with.”

… Ah. That shit with the inquisitors the other day. That shit that Erick was specifically not getting involved in. Kinder hadn’t wanted Erick to be a vigilante, either. And now here he was talking about that stuff again.

Erick sighed. “There was another noble murder, and the inquisitors are blaming the Glittering Depths?”

“Incorrect. There was an attempted murder, and the inquisitors are blaming the Glittering Depths.”

“I told Greensoil I wasn’t going to get involved with that, but you want me involved? I thought you didn’t want me involved either.”

“It’s what I thought you were originally here for, and I did not imagine me asking you not to involve yourself would have actually worked at all, so I was prepared to let it happen and pick up the pieces afterward.” Kinder looked at Erick. “If I correctly understand the rumors about Benevolence dragons… I thought you were here outside of your own accord. Are you actually, truly here to play around with mana crystals? And for no other reason?”

“… Well I thought I was here to play with crystals. That was the goal.” Erick frowned. “Tell me where to get involved.”

“No. I need plausible deniability that will hold up under a truthstone, for my position in this world is rather tenuous. The previous Kinder was ousted from power because he failed to recognize all of the threats a dungeon master would face, and I will not end up like him… So now that I have done enough, for now, let us turn our attentions to your desire to donate.” Kinder said, “We’ll take all of the money you want to give us and see that it is spent wisely on the city.”

… Did Erick want to leave all of Kinder’s unsaid warnings uncommented?

Yes he did.

“I’d like to be able to give you half of it, and then have a full accounting for where the money went afterward. All the rest will likely be donated to Utopia when I leave, provided I know it will be used for the good of all and every individual.”

“Done.” Kinder bowed a little, then stepped back, saying, “Thank you for what you have done. The delvers are diving deeper than ever with all those healing bracelets. The Iron Bandits are going to celebrate passing floor 200, soon as they can beat the boss. You should see about joining them, shouldn’t you? … Or not. Not my place to pry.”

And then Kinder vanished into a swirl of darkness.

Erick stood in his living room for a moment longer, thinking.

Okay.

Well… Maybe he didn’t need to be ‘involved’, but he could certainly check out the town? See what was happening? Find out some stuff?

Sure.

As Erick raced outside of his house, he passed the [Illusionary Wall] that sat just inside his property. As he glanced back all he could see was the property wall, and a field of golden grains where his house lay. The illusions worked rather well!

Erick had not been able to make a self-casting magic out of mana crystals like he had hoped, so he had simply created an array of metirons and magics that he cast every time he went out, or came back home. It was honestly something of a hassle to do that every time, and to waste time attuning and unattuning metirons, and charging them with his mana, but it was nice to be able to hide his property from all out outside observers; to not worry about anyone accidentally seeing that he was a dragon except for the dungeon masters and otherwise.

He’d figure out auto-magical mana crystals eventually! It just hadn’t happened yet.

As he hurried down the road, invisibility-inducing wind swirling around his body as he stepped fast, Erick considered that he hadn’t actually been in town in the past three days. He hadn’t seen Rebecca, or anyone else, really, except for when they stuffed paperwork into his mailbox, outside his house, or when a trio of Iron Bandits came around to pick up all the new [Rejuvenation]s and other small spellworks Erick had made. He had been into town once, to drop off even more bracelets, but… Not much more than that.

Ah.

Oh. Shit. He had almost turned into a hermit, hadn’t he?

Well magic was awesome, and forging metal was fun. So it was no wonder he had lost himself to spellwork for a while. Quilatalap was rather busy these days, too, buried under his own pile of exciting new magics.

– – – –

Erick stepped into delver square, where the tower led to the dungeon entrance floor, and where hundreds of adventurers milled around between all the various shops at any one time. About fifty were outside at the moment, with more of them at the guildhall and many sitting out under the everpresent sun of the sixth floor. Nighttime didn’t exist here, which was doing all sorts of weird things to Erick’s rhythms, but he had been doing weird things to his rhythms for a while, and so the always-sun wasn’t that disturbing or different.

What was different was the fact that people didn’t crowd Erick, or run up to him, or treat him as anything more than just another guy… Admittedly, that was because Erick had already set up a system at the Iron Bandits magic shop for people to get into contact with him, and Erick wasn’t taking any weapon orders—

Two people saw him and smiled wide, as they held up their forearms and waved, showing off cerulean-jeweled bracelets. Erick smiled and gave them a nod. It was good to know people were using his spellwork down here.

Erick headed for the Iron Bandits’ magic shop, first.

The door jangled as Erick stepped through, into a land of display cases filled with silver metal and colored crystals. The two clerks working right now were Dowry and Chesti, which Erick was rather sure were not their real names, but a lot of people didn’t go by their real names down here, so these two women didn’t stand out too much with their odd names. Both were with customers right now—

Dowry noticed Erick right away, and profusely apologized to her customers and then she stood tall, and waved to Erick. “Ashes! Welcome! Is there something you need quick help with?”

The two people with Dowry looked like young delvers, without much silver on them. Could be they didn’t walk around with the real stuff, like Erick. Or they could be people from Utopia. They definitely recognized the name ‘Ashes’, though, and they stepped away, almost saying that they were going to move on—

But Erick said, “I’m just here to pick up the specialty orders, to see if there’s anything I want to do. It shouldn’t take long.”

Dowry happily stepped a few steps down the display case line, bent down, and retrieved a folder from behind the partition. “Right here!”

Erick took the folder and glanced at the insides. Some of what he read interested him, but he’d get to that later. “What sorts of stuff do you want more of in here? Anything in particular?”

Dowry said, “In the second half of that folder are some possible requests. Bracelets of [Hidden Wind] that allow each user to see each other are high on the list, and would be wonderful to let us push past 200. We’re experiencing some small problems with people not being able to see each other when they move, so it has caused some wipes, so if it is possible to fix that issue, we’d love to get that sort of stuff from you.” She delightfully added, “Otherwise, your Benedictions are proving themselves a hundred times over! Thank you, Ashes.”

Erick considered…

[Hidden Wind] was not an Illusion-based spell; not exactly. It was more subtle than that. It twisted shadows and light, and allowed a person to windstep. Certain spells could see through it like it was an illusion spell, though. Like [True Sight].

On Veird, the [True Sight] in the Script had a medium range, and only revealed stuff inside that medium range. If someone was a hundred meters away from a tunnel in a wall that was covered by an illusion, and they [True Sight]ed that area with the tunnel, they would not see that tunnel until they got closer. Of course, that was not the whole story with [True Sight], as the spell actually functioned inside one’s entire mana sensing range. If one’s mana sensing range was very long, or if one used special-made [True Sight] spells, like alongside a super long range [Witness], or from a Familiar like Ophiel, then [True Sight]’s range was pretty damned far.

But when there was no manasphere, then there was no [True Sight]. [True Sight] was not actually Scanning Magic, but it was darned close, and Scanning magic was incredibly intense in mana costs.

[True Sight] was theoretically possible here in the dungeon, but every dungeon floor of the Endless Depths had a 0% mana density, so [True Sight], which relied on having direct, manasphere-filled line-of-sight with a target, did not actually work, here in the Glittering Depths.

… How to fix this?

Erick’s eyebrows furrowed.

Could he ‘solve’ the range issues on [True Sight]? In a manaless environment?

At first glance, Erick would have to say ‘absolutely not’. [True Sight] didn’t work that way.

But if he solved that issue, then he could possibly extend the range of [True Sight] to infinity.

… But honestly, for this [Hidden Wind] team-combat issue, he could probably just add in a Benediction-class buff to improve the perception of everyone using [Hidden Wind], and let them each notice each other that way. Erick could already notice anyone inside a [Hidden Wind] or otherwise, and that was mostly due to his own buffed perception and the lingering effects of his Script-granted Perception. No need to go the complicated route of extending [True Sight] out to infinity.

… But what if he did make an infinite range [True Sight]? What could he see out there?

The only immediate thing that came to mind were the moons. One could already see worlds on those moons if they looked at the moons while Meditating. Maybe there were actual illusions to see up there, though; on Hell, and the Silver Star, and Celes.

Hmm.

And since one could see the ‘true nature’ of the afterlives on the moons while meditating… Was that a way to make [True Sight] work well at infinite range? Or were the meditation-induced sights on the moons already based on some sort of basic [True Sight]-esque action?

Or were those moon sights only visible due to the alteration of the self that occurred when meditating, which allowed one to see things that weren’t there, and the absence of a manasphere connecting the moons to Veird did not matter at all?

… Could he do a [Cascade Imaging] [True Sight]? Go the radio wave route?

“You know, it never even occurred to me to make a [Hidden Wind] that allowed easier visual communication between people who were also using [Hidden Wind].” Erick said, “The very idea of it… Has brought up a lot of questions for me, like how to make [True Sight] work without a manasphere, and the nature of how meditation allows us to gaze upon the moons to see the afterlives of demons and angels and the gentle peace between.”

Dowry was completely lost. “Uh! Good luck with that!”

The other woman working the counter, Chesti, was not as lost as Dowry, but she needed some guidance and all the customers in the store were now looking at Erick and Dowry. Chesti asked softly, “Not to pry, but how are [True Sight] and meditation related?”

Dowry admitted, “I have no idea how seeing our ancestors and [True Sight] are related, either.”

Erick grinned, and found himself perfectly fine with explaining, “Meditation leads to mana sensing which leads to [True Sight], but [True Sight] requires you to put yourself out there, which is why [True Sight] has a range of your mana sense range, while Meditation just changes yourself so that you can let the mana flow through you, to renew your well of power. [True Sight] is almost Scanning Magic; Meditation is ‘receptive magic’, though that isn’t a real thing and I just made it up, but the sentiment is true enough.” Erick said, “And so, making [True Sight] work inside the Glittering Depths, where there is no manasphere to put oneself into, is impossible.

“Maybe.

“I’ll have a solution to your viewing problem soon, but it likely won’t be what you’re expecting and there will be some rearrangement of [Hidden Wind] spellwork itself.” He looked at Dowry, “Or maybe a proper team will need to include some better body strengthening spellwork? So that they don’t need probably-impossible magics? How about a [Benediction of Sight]? You can just see people doing [Hidden Wind] if you do that.”

Dowry didn’t know a whole lot about how magic itself worked, but she had a great deal of personal experience dealing with the 10 metamond basic restrictions of the Glittering Depths. While other people were considering Erick’s words, Dowry easily said, “Including [Hidden Wind] in the top teams was already a stretch. There’s not a whole lot of space for people to make even more room in their power sets… So if you can make [Hidden Wind] better itself, that is the solution we would appreciate the most.”

Erick nodded. “Yeah. I figured. Okay. Well. I’ll think about all that.” He held up the folder of project ideas, adding, “Thanks!”

– – – –

Now that Erick thought about it for a little bit more…

Erick turned back around, and went back into the Iron Bandits’ magic shop.

Chesti spoke up first, “Uh! Welcome back, sir.”

“It occurs to me that someone probably already invented a way to [True Sight] through the manasphere, and if not here, then back on Veird, due to the Quiet War and people wanting to spy on Hell.” He asked, “Know anyone I should talk to about any of that?”

Chesti blinked a little, unsure what to—

Dowry spoke up, “There are rumors that Clarice has [True Sight] spellwork that works down here, but she’s a recluse who refuses to work with anyone. Maybe she’ll work with you, though?”

Chesti looked to Dowry, and said, “I don’t think those rumors are true.”

“Well they might be?” Dowry said. “I don’t know.”

Erick asked, “How does one fight illusions in the deeper parts of the Endless Delve, anyway? It just now occurs to me that illusions are probably exceedingly powerful down here.”

Chesti raised an eyebrow, while Dowry hummed a little.

And then Chesti said, “Rumors have it that Clarice got as strong as she did by having some sort of way to combat illusions. I don’t think it’s [True Sight], though. Most people mostly bumble around and try not to die to things lurking in the dark, and then fight back when things appear.”

Dowry spoke up, “Invisible wights are an undead enemy that appears on almost every undead floor past 60, and they’re just about the most deadly thing until you get to floor 130 and the invisible enemies start to appear on almost every floor. It’s actually a status that some enemies just have. Like. That’s what they are. [Invisible], all the time.”

“The best way to combat that is to be invisible yourself,” Chesti said, “And then never get caught.”

“That breaks down past 150, though,” Dowry countered. “Past that point the enemies start to be able to see through all forms of obfuscation magic. Bosses, for sure. Smaller enemies usually not, though, so [Hidden Wind] is still a very fantastic magic.”

Erick had a minor revelation at that small interaction.

Erick laughed. “It occurs to me that I’ve been making Bracelets of [Self Rejuvenation], but I have no idea what you guys actually go through down in the deeper floors. I should rectify that!”

Dowry spoke up, “You should come to the company house! You haven’t been yet, have you?”

“Just for a delivery… I think I will do that next, though. Thank you, Dowry. Chesti.”

Both women bowed.

Erick left and headed toward the Iron Bandits’ company house.

– – – –

The Iron Bandits were the largest delver company in the Glittering Depths, with 1 out of every 4 delvers being an Iron Bandit. Most of the former-NPCs of Utopia who wanted to delve were even a part of the Bandits. They had the largest apartment building just outside of town, while their company house inside town also reflected their power as a group, for it was almost a guildhouse all on its own, with a five story main structure and a good fifteen side structures all located in a very large city block.

The Iron Bandits compound sat three streets away from delver square, smack dab in the middle of one of the largest communities of Utopia, so there were people everywhere. Only a third of them looked to be Veirdians, while the rest looked like Utopians; Erick could tell based on the level of gear they had on. People who had made it through the five first floors of the dungeon all had really nice gear on, with special functions, from full suits of platemail to large chainlink cloaks and otherwise. The Utopians only had one or two pieces of gear.

The people at the doors recognized Erick right away, even though he had only been here once, and only to drop off an order of [Self Rejuvenation] bracelets. It had been an order of 50 bracelets though, and Erick saw that both front door guards now wore one of those bracelets.

Erick smiled as he asked them, “Those bracelets working well for you?”

“Yes sir!” said one of the guards. “Are you here to see anyone in particular? Let us find them for you, sir.”

Erick kept smiling. He called these people ‘guards’ in his mind, for that’s what they were, but perhaps ‘bouncer’ was more appropriate; they were here to ensure that only fellow Bandits got into the clubhouse. “I’m actually looking for whoever wants to tell me about what sorts of threats are faced down in the dungeon, to give me a better idea of what sorts of magics I could be focusing my creation efforts on.”

One guard looked to the other—

The first guy said, “I think Miss Fellhorn would want to be involved.”

The other guard said, “Can you come with me, sir? I’ll tell Miss Fellhorn you’re here, and we can… I’m not sure. Want to see the building? Have you been here much before?” He stepped inside the company house.

And Erick followed. The first guard bowed a little as Erick passed.

The second guard led Erick through a marble guildhouse, where people milled around on business of sorts, and tellers took requests from delvers or people looking to delve. The first room was the largest, and was practically a guildhouse on its own, with great big leaderboards and portraits of important people on those leaderboards.

The top delver team was, of course, plastered on the wall in big letters, because the top delver team of the entire dungeon was in the Iron Bandits. Their leader was a mountain of a man named Tom Dugout, while their team name was the ‘Iron Swords’, and though Erick didn’t recognize the names of most of the people on that deepest delving board, their caster was named Bob Woodvale, and Erick had seen that name elsewhere. Erick only had to look to the left to see that name in the expected second location.

Stolen novel; please report.

Bob was on the Most Decorated board, along with Erick. Erick’s portrait was at the top of the Decoration board at 4200 Decoration, though. Bob was further down, at 3250. Clarice’s name wasn’t even on that board; just the words ‘Not Affiliated’, and her number of 3450.

“Would you like a tour?” repeated the second guard.

“I don’t really need that,” Erick said, “I’ll take a meeting office, though, and some paper and such for some note taking and ideas. I didn’t come into town today prepared to do this sort of meeting with Rebecca or any of this planning, but when I went to pick up your commission requests from the magic shop, I decided I needed to actually speak to delvers.” Erick chuckled. “So now I’m here.”

“Oh! Well then you might want to talk to the top team, too. Want me to inform— Oh! Mister Tom Dugout of the Iron Swords is in the building, at the gym. Miss Fellhorn would want to speak to you too, if you don’t mind that?” The man gestured to the hallway that led to the meeting rooms. “Four is open! I’ll find out where people are and have someone your way as soon as possible.”

Erick nodded. “That’ll do.”

Erick went to room four.

Not two minutes later, a very worried young woman came in, carrying papers and pens, saying she was there to deliver all of that and to take any refreshment requests. Erick thanked her, and said he’d take some of whatever she felt appropriate; he was probably going to be in the room a while. And then Erick started reading about commission requests.

The secretary returned quickly with tarts, small sandwiches, and various drinks both hot and cold, and set them to the side, before excusing herself again.

Erick munched on finger foods as he thought. And then he started writing down some preliminary ‘solutions’ to the problems posed by the commission requests. Most of them were simple complications of easily made items, where someone wanted a specific thing, but they didn’t know how to get there with the resources they had. In every case, those complications made the item creation a whole lot harder.

There was one simple request for a breastplate with as much Health as Erick can possibly stuff into it. The requester had managed to make armor with 15,000 Health, but they could go no higher.

For that one, Erick imagined they’d be happier to have a [Regenerating Health] breastplate, or similar, but maybe they’d want Health that was stronger. Perhaps some absolute damage reduction would do good there, and also work well for Erick, actually. He needed to recreate the absolute damage reduction he had on Veird, as a dragon, but which he had lost inside the Glittering Depths…

Lots of interesting little problems here!

– – – –