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, pouring 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 people 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 pined 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 change 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 440 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 as 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 to the open archway that led to the 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, shadelins 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.

- - - -

The morning sun rose in the same window where it had set, which was the same window where the literal-sliver of a moon had been all night long. Erick hadn’t slept, and he had noticed that the sun and the moon rose and fell in the same part of the sky until now.

Maybe he was a bit too stressed, but whatever! He couldn’t fix that right now, either. Add it to the pile.

Anyway. For his 12 hours of accretion done during the night, Erick had managed to stuff himself with maybe 4000 mana, which should have translated into 16 Stat points. He hadn’t tested himself against the counting crystal until now because he wanted to see if his numbers and estimations held. If they did, then he should be at roughly even accretion for all of his Stats.

Erick held the counting crystal in his hands, and flooded it with an estimated hundred mana.

The thing glittered, and then the numbers started flashing. When the flashing was over, Erick smiled. He wrote down his Stats on a paper to track his progress.

- -

Strength: 13

Vitality: 13

Dexterity: 13

Constitution: 12

Perception: 12

Willpower: 23

Focus: 23

Intelligence: 13

- -

Mana: 230

Mana Regen (Vit+Foc): 360

- -

His math had predicted all of that, which was great.

And yet… His math had predicted all of this, and it had taken Erick till now to realize that it would really take ten days of this, at least, before the snowballing truly started, and that meant that Erick would need to make some decisions about Redflame and [Renew] before he was ready...

Actually.

Erick went back to the numbers, to see if the calculations would come out better if he tried calculating the whole thing a different way.

Considering that he could accrete 200 mana in 5 minutes, this meant he would need a Regen rate to at least match that rate of regeneration. This meant 2400 Regen. 2400 Regen meant 120 in both Vitality and Focus, though, and Erick wasn’t 100% positive, but he was pretty sure that numbers like that were beyond Second Foundation. He should hit Second Foundation at around 65 in all of his Stats. Or something like that.

This just meant that he needed to get those triple Mana Regen and Health Regen Skills. But at the same time, he was pretty sure he needed 1000 Base Mana to Remake those skills, and he couldn’t get 1000 Base Mana without getting way past Second Foundation.

Okay.

How to cheat?

… Did he even have Health anymore? Well. No. But that was beside the point. The only reason he wanted Health in this scenario was so that he could use Blood Mana, but his Class Ability to turn Health into Mana-equivalent was likely not available, anyway.

He needed to break the lock on his Blood Mana, too, so that his Base Mana could include his Health values… But then again, how did Blood Mana work in Ar’Cosmos? Literal blood? Hmm.

Okay. So. Erick needed to get to Second Foundation, which was still days away, and then he would probably be able to do… something to fix all of his resource issues. This was a rather systemic issue, too, now that he could spare some time to actually think about it. Without the Triple Resource Skills, and without the Scion Skills, of which Erick was going for Scion of Balance this time, he would be stuck at a Max Mana of just his Willpower times ten. 100 Willpower only meant 1000 Mana, right now—

Okay. Okay.

He was going around in circles. Perhaps he was overly worried.

It was time for breakfast. Time to switch gears a bit. Erick took his letters with him as he went downstairs. He made it half way down and almost bumped into Maid Maria on her way up.

The pink dragon lady blushed as she looked up at him, then curtsied, and said, “Breakfast is served, Archmage Flatt.”

“Appreciated, Maid Maria.” Erick said, “Also— There’s no best way to say this, so I’ll just tell you: I’m sorry for almost killing you the other day.”

He had wanted to say a lot more than that. Perhaps about how unintentional murder was not something he would have done if he had been in his right mind, with all the unsaid implications fully implied. But that would have been a threat, and even though Maid Maria was one of his captors, he did not wish to cause himself anymore mental grief due to causing Maria mental grief, which would likely come back to bite him in the ass in the future, in some unforeseen way. Likely through Fairy Moon. Fairy Moon seemed rather protective of Maria, after all.

Maria went stock still as Erick’s apology caught her completely off guard. Then she breathed a bit, and curtsied again, saying, “The apology is appreciated, and so I feel I must reciprocate; I apologize for the disruption this event has caused you, Archmage Flatt. If there is some way for me to make you more comfortable, please inform me at your leisure.”

“Then I will do that.”

Maria calmed, then asked, “Will you be joining Fairy Moon for breakfast?”

“I shall. Lead the way.”

And so she did.

Breakfast was pancakes and sausage and strong black tea.

It was all rather great. It was also eaten in silence, though, with Maid Maria eating her own breakfast in the other room. It appeared there was still friction there, but then again, how could there be anything but friction, right now?

Toward the end of the meal Erick couldn’t stand the silence anymore, so he spoke up. “Fairy Moon.” Erick asked, “How much mana do you think it would take to Remake Concentration or Discipline?”

“The power it takes to get a Point through the Script is the same power one needs to enact a smaller change in the character of oneself.”

To clarify, because he was surprised if he had understood her correctly, Erick asked, “However much mana it takes to gain a Point in one’s Status is the same amount of mana it takes to make Concentration, for 3 times Mana Regen?”

“Aye. A blessing is bought by the same measure as the manifestation of a Point. Still, though, wait till Second Foundation for such a blessing.” Fairy Moon said, “Cores are better to bless than smaller soul shards, for breaks and accidental curses are more easily cured or removed in a proper core.”

Erick blinked a bit, surprised. “Oh. Okay.”

So Erick could make these ‘minor blessings’ as soon as he gained 250 Mana; not 1000. That was surprising. He still didn’t have 250 maximum Mana, but he wasn’t days and days away from that goal, anyway. Maybe he could even have that much Mana today.

Fairy Moon seemed to see the thoughts behind his head, though, for she said, “Heed this warning, young one: The consecration of a core is more wisely done at the correct core capability. Wait till Second Foundation.”

Fair enough. “Heard and understood.”

Fairy Moon nodded, then asked, “Do you desire Illustrious return, to guide you in your Remaking of your requisite Skills, when the time ticks nigh?”

“If the nature of magic is mostly the same, then I can change my maximum Mana and Mana Regeneration on my own.”

“That minor magic is the same in every space, ever since the Script selected what was, and what was not.” Fairy Moon shrugged, making for a very human-looking sight, as she said, “A minor magnification of capability that peaks with time and trials, and a restructuring toward faster flow that does the same.”

Erick paused, and then he nodded, too. “That’s what I thought it was.” He added, “I am surprised that all it takes to make something like that is the equivalent of one Point, but that makes a lot of sense. It’s only a single Point to buy the Skill in the Open Script, anyway.”

“Concentration is but a minor magnification that grows. The ‘growing’ is important.” Fairy Moon said, “If you were to make that magic fruit in full at the initial instantiation, that would be considerably more costly. The Scions do not follow this formula, for they are greater gains than the smaller skills. I warn you to wait till you get back to Veird to align your soul with a Scion, even if you should reach Second Foundation much faster than that exodus.”

Erick decided that her advice was good, and that he would follow it. And then he put forth his letters, which were folded and set to the side until now. “Could these be mailed for me?”

Fairy Moon nodded, saying, “I will honor Illustrious Moon’s promise, if you will trust me to enact this promise.”

A sudden spike of worry lodged in the center of Erick’s brain, sending chills down his spine and across his arms.

“… I will trust you, then.” Erick refrained from frowning, and said, “I don’t want any of these people harmed, though.” Erick was suddenly, very acutely aware that he was asking for Fairy Moon to interact with his loved ones, and other people, too. He kept that panic at bay, but it was a close thing.

“I will not harm nor hamper anyone who does not deserve it, Erick.”

“You warn me all the time of various lines I should not cross. Here is one for you to ware: Do not harm my people.”

Fairy Moon raised an eyebrow. She smirked, then said, “I shall honor this request in the manner in which it was intended.”

Erick felt a rush of relief at those words. “Acceptable.”

Fairy Moon nodded.

After breakfast, Erick went back up to his room and accreted some more. He had been awake for 24 hours at this point, but he could do this for at least two more days before he needed to crash. Rozeta’s Recovery and Dexterity and Perfected Body each contributed a lot toward that capability.

During the times between accretion, Erick read up more on the whole process, looking for words regarding the remaking of Concentration, and all the rest. He found no specifics. All he found were instructions to spend Points over in Veird in order to gain those Skills; not even a hint that one could Remake those Skills themselves. Even the advanced books were like that, which was rather disappointing, but understandable. They were made for mass production, after all.

Erick was still disappointed to see the same lack of information freedom here in Ar’Cosmos that existed in Oceanside, and Stratagold, and every arcanaeum the world over.

Erick accreted more, he read more about accretion, and when he finally felt he had read all he could, he went over to the books on enchanting from Inferno Maw. It was a very nice change of pace.

Enchanting was vastly different from what was taught at Oceanside, and yet not at all.

This enchanting was meant to work with those who had cores. If Erick read this right, which he was pretty sure he was, it seemed as though he could make himself some Stat rings, or whatnot, and speed up his accretion timeframe by days, at least. Erick almost laughed at that. He should have checked out these books sooner.

- - - -

Over the course of another twelve hours, with another 18 cycles completed and accounting for breaks for lunch and dinner, Erick had probably learned all he could learn about enchanting without actually enchanting. Theory was next to useless without practice. Now, at least, he could probably hold a conversation with Inferno Maw about how to enchant for Strength, or how to make a Wand of [Force Bolt]s.

And it was almost the same as how they did it at Oceanside.

There were some major differences, though. The enchanting practices of Ar’Cosmos relied on using the language one was most comfortable using; not Ancient Script. This language was then carved into any solid thing at all; not just wrought-quality metal. And then one took one’s own mana, strung it through one’s own blood, causing ambient mana to crystallize into that blood, and then one used that blood to inscribe those solid items. Bloodline enchanting was what it was called.

Other people called it other things.

Erick had already seen bloodwork enchanting once before, back in Songli, with Blood Mage Xue and Soul Mage Elder Arilitilo. If not for the Chelation War Erick probably would have learned this stuff already, but as it was, everything that he had seen around Xue’s workshop looked like the same sort of formations inside these enchanting books. In particular, these books explained the process of making blood hold power, which was what Erick was specifically going to learn from Xue.

Mostly, the process involved a bit of body alteration to align a mana vein with a blood artery inside one’s arm, and then to cycle magic —not mana— through that mana vein while pumping out blood through that blood artery. Not the blood vein, though. You wanted your magic-rich blood to be pumping out of your body. You did not want any accidental pumping of rads into the body.

Arteries went out; veins went in.

Other than that foible, this process was basically what Erick did with channeling mana through a magic, through a hand to listen to the spell, except through his blood.

It was just…

So simple.

It made so much sense, too. Erick had already been doing something near to this when he channeled mana through his Willpower, for instance, to produce a prominence of light that was tainted with near-ultramarine colors. At that point, it was the work of a lightmask and diamond jewelry and a thin layer of [Exalted Rain] silver to trap that magic into a ring, to thus empower the wearer with a higher Willpower, through a resonance boost to their soul’s base Willpower.

Erick’s own Stat enchants did not work in Ar’Cosmos, though, because the Script made Stats work the way they worked. Without the nearness of the Script, manalight wasn’t good for anything at all. But the basic idea of ‘boosting a Stat’ held true, even here in Ar’Cosmos.

You just had to do it differently, and more ritualistically. The ritual of item creation (which included personal skill, personal knowledge, and personal willpower) was only worth about 40% of an item’s end result, though.

60% of the end result was due to the materials put into the project.

According to the book, for the creation of a proper ‘Amulet of Focus’, or something similar, Erick primarily needed a knot of old, Focus-aligned wood, or densely magical metals, or other items that resonated with him. Then he could soak those items in his own Focus-charged blood until the ritual completed. Erick’s target ‘ritual’ would only take about an hour from start to finish, but only due to the fact that he was mana limited, right now.

Such an amulet would even work back on Veird, because meaning and intent went a lot further inside Ar’Cosmos than it did on Veird. Such an amulet would last quite a while before it degraded due to natural fluctuations in the mana, which constantly wore at every magic out there. It was considered extremely hard to protect against such fluctuations, but…

Erick had already perfected Permanency magic long before now. He knew how to protect enchantments so that they continued to function under normal wear and tear. How well that information translated to this Ar’Cosmos, though? He had no idea.

He kept reading, though, and kept being surprised at how enchanting worked in Ar’Cosmos.

And then Erick laughed out of minor joy when he read the various sections on ‘how to protect enchantments from natural degradation’, for he already knew everything they spoke of, and more besides. He laughed again as he realized that none of what was written here was even hinted at in the normal textbooks at Oceanside. In enchanting, perhaps more than any other way, Oceanside proved itself as inferior to Ar’Comos, by a lot.

Once again, Erick wondered how much of Kirginatharp’s teachings were malicious, versus how much were intended to protect the world from mages who knew too much. Kirginatharp’s Elites surely knew how to work magic properly, but the basic students? Not really.

None of the classes Erick had attended there had helped him with his own enchanting efforts at all. It was only when he encountered the runic systems of Enduring Forge that he had begun to make any real progress with enchanting. Now, he could even make runic webs that held onto magic indefinitely long. Staves that fired off a hundred [Fireball]s at once.

All of that stuff ran off of Script-support, though.

But with this stuff here…

Erick was pretty sure that if he tried for it, he could make amulets of All Stats that would function in any world, using the little bit of knowledge contained in these normal, Ar’Cosmos enchanting manuals and textbooks. He was also pretty sure that if Jane, or Kiri, or anyone of his people had this sort of knowledge—

Kiri especially!

Like, holy crap. She would be so good at this stuff.

Maybe even Jane could learn proper enchanting, since apparently math was only supposed to be used to plot out how to best link up inscriptions and formations, to make sure that the kerning in inscriptions was properly done so that letters and such were all spaced properly. The entire school of enchanting is supposed to flow a lot more organically than it did in the classrooms of Oceanside. It was supposed to be more like dungeon ecology, and permanency magic. Enchanting was about controlling the flows of mana inside self-reinforcing spellwork. Math was just used to make that process work out properly.

… Maybe that’s what Oceanside’s math did? Erick still wasn’t sure what was going on there.

He would have liked to talk to Kiri about all this. She knew her stuff, and Erick trusted her.

The next twelve hours passed with another 20 cycles geared toward generalized accretion. He had likely missed a few points of progress here and there due to needing to spend mana on such annoyances like checking his Stats, but he was pretty close to accretion perfection. His Stats were pretty much exactly the gains he had expected.

- -

Strength: 17

Vitality: 18

Dexterity: 17

Constitution: 16

Perception: 16

Willpower: 28

Focus: 28

Intelligence: 17

- -

Mana: 280

Mana Regen (Vit+Foc): 460

- -

Erick had gained 35 Points since yesterday, all of which were evenly distributed.

Over the next 24 hours, Erick would regenerate a little over 11,000 mana, according to current numbers, but he would be at more like 12,000 by the end. He would need to cycle about 45 times to make use of all of that, which was eminently doable. Nearly every half hour...

“I need a clock,” Erick decided. “A clock would be better than timing this by feel.”

Though every mental hurdle was getting easier to cross as his Intelligence inched back up to where it had been, he was still far away from his ‘normal’. Even discounting the rings he always wore, Erick had been at 25 base Intelligence before this monstrous reset.

He glanced around the room, and at the golden sun beyond his window—

A sudden wave of sleepiness crashed into him, but he blinked and held it back. He frowned at his own weakness. What the shit was that? Bah. He had only been awake for like… Three days? Or something. He could last longer than this, right?

Redflame’s [Renew] attempt was only 6 days away, and Erick needed to be ready for that before it happened.

Erick took a quick bath, felt a lot better about everything, and then headed downstairs to get breakfast. On his way down the stairs, he met Maid Maria who was on her way up. She curtsied again, explaining that breakfast was ready. Erick followed behind.

Breakfast was great.

Maid Maria had made cinnamon rolls. She still ate in the other room, though, which was fine.

After breakfast, Erick asked Fairy Moon for a clock, to which she told him that it would be done. And then she handed over the reply letters from all of his people.

Erick stared at the envelopes, not sure if they were real or not, and not knowing what to do if they were real; If the words therein were truly from the people that he wanted them to be from.

Fairy Moon said, “If you desire continued correspondence then I shall have Maid Maria set up a box beside your door, to which you may place letters and in which Maid Maria can place responses.”

“I do desire continued correspondence.” Erick took the letters. “This is appreciated.”

“Let me know if you desire more than that.” Fairy Moon stared at Erick, briefly, but with a depth that betrayed so much worry. “Your letters ended a burning that your people tried to enact on the Forest of Glaquin, which would have done nothing but make the Twisted Visions mad. This saved us all that particular fate. I had not expected that, but your Path seems to have expected this much in my place.” She said, “It is good that I am walking with you and not the other way around.”

“… Ah. Then… That’s good.”

“It is objectively good, yes.” And then Fairy Moon said perhaps the first thing that made her seem like a real person, “None of these people involved in this world deserve any of these fates, but circumstances have been unkind for a long while. I tried my best, but this reality is a lot tougher than how it used to be. Sometimes my judgment creates jeopardy instead of justice, and this appears to be one of those times.”

Erick just sat there for a long moment.

And then he said, “According to the enchanting books I read, and everything else I have heard, I imagine life was much more fluid in the Old Cosmology.”

“Oh yes.” Fairy Moon began, “Back when everything was mana instead of half of the whole…” Her voice trailed off, as she got a far off look in her pink and green eyes. She glanced to Erick, then looked away, saying, “It was a different time. An easier time in some ways and yet a weariness in others.” Then she looked to him. “You should rest some, Erick. You are getting rather talkative in your sleepy state.”

Erick didn’t feel he was anymore talkative than he normally was, it was just that...

Maybe she would understand if he told her.

“Maybe some of my walls have come down due to sleep deprivation, but I’m normally talkative. The only reason I haven’t been talkative is because I don’t trust you, Fairy Moon. Kidnapping then mind control— The mind control I can sort of understand, because I almost killed someone, and I bet you’re used to using your Fae Magic to stop a lot of fights around here. Everyone was giving Illustrious Moon the same looks that I know I was giving you after that… episode.” Erick said, “So I guess House Fae is able to apply your fae rules against other people to keep them in line, too.

“I don’t really know about that, but it makes sense based on what I have seen.

“Anyway. I still don’t like the kidnapping and the control, and I only barely blame myself for the accidental murder that almost happened.” Erick tried, “You do understand that if you hadn’t knocked me out, and if I was able to be on my own, that I never would have attempted to murder Maria. Or anyone else nearby.”

Fairy Moon said, “The Fate you represent is bigger than your own needs, Erick. While I earlier stated that my judgment was not always just, in this instance I know what I am doing. You play at powers you cannot control, so I hope you come to accept the mantle of master you are trying to wear sooner rather than later.”

“I am not a master of anyone.” Erick wanted to sigh, but he did not. “I suppose my personal desire to simply help people doesn’t really matter, since enacting even the most basic help means changing how the world functions.”

“Exactly.” Fairy Moon said, “Personal desires are best discarded when building a perfect-Fate Future, and you, Erick Flatt, are enacting far-reaching change.”

“… It didn’t start out like that, nor did I mean for that to happen.”

Fairy Moon nodded, saying, “I believe that most heartily. Doesn’t change any facts, though.”

Erick frowned, but it was at himself.

Fairy Moon said, “Go sleep, Erick. You need it.”

“Heh.” Erick snarked, “Are you going to order me to?”

“No. We are past that, and you did not take well to instantiated instruction.” Fairy Moon said, “I might have made some miscalculations about that, somewhere between there and here.”

Erick laughed once, for that was a pretty big apology from here.

Probably.

Anyway. Breakfast was done, and so was the conversation. Fairy Moon had Maid Maria retrieve a ‘mechanical’ stone clock from some storage room and had her help Erick put it in his room. Maid Maria even set it up, and then she did a little curtsy before leaving him to his own devices.

It was a nice clock. Simple, and yet…

Maid Maria had said that it was a one-off production from a very old mage who had gifted it to Fairy Moon long ago, and that it was still working due to the fact that it could be recharged with replacing the rad that powered it. It was like the portable stove, or any number of other ‘modern’ conveniences that used rads back in Spur. But because it used rads, which were worth 5 gold, it was ruinously expensive to operate for most of the people of Veird. It never caught on due to that cost.

Erick instantly fell in love with it.

The clock was a simple disk of green stone, possibly jade, with green lightward numerals floating above. Touching some raised bumps in the back seemed to complete some magical circuitry, or something, which caused the numbers to progress forward. Taking one’s hand off of that junction caused time to proceed as normal. Most people didn’t really use clocks on Veird, though, and Ar’Cosmos was no exception, so this was the very first illuminated clock that Erick had ever seen. Back in Spur, if anyone wanted to keep time, they looked out and up at the clock tower in the center of town. Back in Songli, there were small water clocks everywhere.

But this stupid, small, solid stone clock reminded Erick of his stupid alarm clock back on Earth. He loved it. He even cried a bit as he played with the alarm settings. Luckily, he was alone, so he was the only one who saw his silly tears. Probably (not, but whatever).

Reading the letters was yet another emotional rollercoaster.

Silverite had replied on Spur’s behalf, of course. Apparently she had gotten the Crystal Star along with his letter. The Crystal Star was now waiting for him at Spur, for whenever he got back, for she was not comfortable with having it and Koyabez had already told her to hold it for Erick until he returned. She had a page of suggestions for how to deal with Ar’Cosmos and Fairy Moon, but as she had never dealt with any of them on her own, all she had were minor suggestions, and heavy caveats to not trust her advice on that matter. She did add, though, that she would have liked to never have dealt with Ar’Cosmos or Fairy Moon, but the deed had already been done. ‘So thanks for that, Erick. Hope you fare well and come back soon, and I can tell you off in person.’

Queen Strelkova responded on behalf of Stratagold, telling him of how they were glad to know that he was safe. Her letter was rather dry, though it was full of instructions on how to escape Ar’Cosmos, cobbled from the intel of various people, from Kromolok, to the wrought city of Titanite, to Riivo at Archmage’s Rest, along with everyone else who felt like responding. That letter took up ten sheets of paper, each numbered, and each wholly intact, as far as Erick could tell. Erick didn’t know what to really make of that, except for that it was either a ruse from Fairy Moon, or the truth, and he didn’t know which one was more unbelievable.

Kirginatharp from Oceanside had a single paragraph, full of sarcasm.

‘Dearest Erick. I don’t believe this will actually get to you, but if it does, then you should transmute antirhine through some Particle Magic and directly cut your way out of Ar’Cosmos. It might work. See if you can stab Fairy Moon on your way out, too. Might actually kill the horrible witch if you manage the feat on her homeland! Never know unless you try.’

Erick smiled at that.

… Lead probably wouldn’t work, would it? Likely no.

Kiri’s letter was full of concern, half of which was asking if this correspondence was even real, while the other half was about the history of the fae that she had learned back at her time in arcanaeum. The fae were all dangerous; too dangerous to even talk to. Too dangerous to be a real threat, even. But Teressa seemed to think that everything in the letters were real, and Kiri had no idea what to make of that.

Teressa’s letter was also full of concern for the future, for what she was seeing was dark, and terrible. She saw Treehome on fire, and danger all around, but then, suddenly, on the morning before the arrival of this letter, the future seemed brighter. Now she knew why. Erick’s letters had caused many people to rethink what Erick-in-Ar’Cosmos meant.

So that was good news.

Poi’s letter was a flat refusal to believe that these letters were real because Fairy Moon had never let anyone communicate with the outside like him before. But in the off chance it was real, and maybe it was according to Jane’s small visit with Yggdrasil (but then again all that could just be fae fakery) then he wished Erick well. He would also be teaching Erick some proper mental blocking spells after this was all over.

Erick felt warm inside to read those words. Also… He probably wouldn’t need their help protecting himself against mental magics if this accretion thing worked out how it needed to work out.

Jane’s letter was simple.

‘A lot of people are divided on if this letter is real. I hope it is. I was talking with Treehome about going into the place that the old guy showed us, guns blazing, but now we’re waiting. It is what it is. Also, apparently you have Yggdrasil’s eye there with you, and so I went to Yggdrasil to see about that. He wasn’t allowing anyone near him, but he let me. He wasn’t able to show me you, or to do much except say that you’re there against your will, and that you’re alive. People are divided on what that means, though, because apparently all of Ar’Cosmos is an illusionary lie. Anyway… I hope that this letter is true, and that you’re safe. I love you. Come back home as soon as you can.’

Erick sighed and smiled as he read Jane’s letter three times. Afterward he just sat there, absorbing the moment. And then he glanced toward his new clock.

He got up and set the alarm for 3 hours; he was exhausted and he needed some sleep. Not a lot, but some.

He slept through the alarm.

- - - -

Erick managed to pull himself out of bed for a cycle just before Maid Maria knocked on his door to announce dinner. At dinner, Erick asked about enchanting.

And then Fairy Moon’s eyes glittered. She opened her mouth, and Erick was suddenly worried that he had stepped into some shit.

Fairy Moon’s was ethereal. “Books and bindings and words and runes all work for alternative reasons. Even the language I speak is suffused with the laws of enchantment, but putting that power down into detailed creation is cause for celebration. Not everything tried by everyone works because not everyone works hard enough, and yet what is work but a trifling weave of trial and yearning for more? I say work is nothing but power made pure, but now we question ‘what is purity?’. A machine of a million parts like a shopping mall mart, where people buy things for all time, is basically purity in the sense of a surety of how economies turn on bell chimes.

“But most enchants are simple, like the stripping of pimples from the face of a child yet grown. Or perhaps you are partial to colors and contrast and you strive to make green out of grey, so maybe you add in some things that make no sense like you place the enchant near a plant. The power will thus present only in environments of trees or grasses or mossy graves.

“For my self-sense a rhyming repeat-ance makes magic have power and poise. But some magics are so dense that surfacing from them is a dangerous prospect indeed, and so here’s a warning that is not much a warning for you already know it already:” Fairy Moon drew herself up in her large chair, and in that moment she was absolutely ancient. “Beware the depths on all sides and walk the way toward the sights you desire to behold, for while the person carves their path and creates their power, the power also causes the person.”

Silence stretched in the dining room, and for a brief moment, Erick felt the weight of the world upon his shoulders. The wooden carvings of people and fae on the walls, and all the paintings and sculptures scattered throughout, all seemed to look at him, and Fairy Moon, to bear witness to this moment and give it weight in their viewing.

The moment passed.

Erick collected his thoughts, felt that whatever magic Fairy Moon had made was not against him, and so he brushed over all of the power in her words, to say, “I have no trouble believing that. Say. Could I get some ancient mana-soaked wood for some Stat rings? I want to speed up this accretion process.”

Fairy Moon looked at Erick a bit longer, her vibrant green and pink eyes staring a bit too hard, and then the stress of the moment faded. Fairy Moon relaxed. She stuck a fork in her buttered vegetables, saying, “Of course. You will have your materials by the morrow or sooner, though if wood be what ye seek, then perhaps a clipping from Yggdrasil would be better for your magic.”

Yggdrasil’s [Scry] eye turned on Erick’s shoulder, as he perked up.

“He’s not real yet, though.”

“… He’s not?” Fairy Moon frowned. “Yes he is?”

Erick considered his stance, what he knew and what he thought Fairy Moon might know, and then he said, “A divine seal prevents a full manifestation because all the gods are worried that Melemizargo will blow up this world as soon as he has another. I don’t know what is happening with Yggdrasil’s twin, under the care of Sininindi, but this Yggdrasil is still a part of me, and he is not fully real.”

“Ah. That. I suppose that view is also correct.” Fairy Moon waved a hand, saying, “He’s as real as the magic enhancements you wish to make, so perhaps a clipping, properly clipped, would be best for you and yours.”

“… Or some wrought-class metal, would be good, too.” Erick said, “I’m not willing to do experiments on Yggdrasil, now, or ever. Perhaps when all a clipping requires is a simple dropped branch, then I will take your advice.”

Fairy Moon rolled her eyes, saying, “Working in metal is working in poison to the non-metallic, and you are non-metallic. If you don’t want to get a clipping from Yggdrasil then I will get you a clipping from another source of similar power. Still, though, you should pluck twigs from your Yggdrasil and create wonders like no other.” She shrugged, and with a bit of sarcasm, said, “Or maybe you can just make a silly little belt of Stats, like a common caster.”

Erick nodded, and adroitly declared, “I am but a humble mage, looking for some small bonuses here and there; no need to go making mountains when molehills will suffice. And besides that! I’ve been working on Stat enchants ever since I heard they were possible and—” A thought struck. “Oh my gods.” Erick chuckled a bit, saying, “I’ve been making things slightly better for a while, eh!”

Fairy Moon looked to him, suddenly judging.

… She slowly nodded. “Perhaps you have. This bodes well.” She paused. She said, “You will need to make mountains eventually, and at least one shall be called Elemental Benevolence, for it will need to withstand all storms to ever arise. When you reach another revelation or four about how you desire to proceed with that mountainous construction we shall discuss the necessities you deem necessary. I doubt this will happen before Second Foundation though… Perhaps seven days away?”

“Hopefully sooner than that!” Erick asked, “Can I get those wood clippings or wrought metal, and also my adamantium knife, too? Maybe in a few hours?”

“… You will have a collection of materials made available to you, soon. I do not have your knife, but I will figure something out.”

Erick thought for a moment, and said, “Maybe some normal carving tools… and I’m going to try for bloodwork. What do you think of bloodwork in magic?”

“Bloodwork is but a path to crystalwork; crystalwork is better.”

Erick considered those words, then asked, “You mean crystals as in mana crystals, yes?”

“You mark the meaning correctly.” Fairy Moon said, “I doubt you have ever seen an actual mana crystal, though, aside from the piece of one used to make your counting crystal.”

“I imagine that they’re just purified mana that is allowed to settle and then self-organize in a vat, or something like that? Not monster cores?”

Fairy Moon tilted her head. “That is an oversimplification, but that works. And no. Monster cores are not mana crystals.”

“But mana crystals are all about putting down layers of similar mana, yes?”

“Similar and yet different.” Fairy Moon ended that vein of conversation with, “I do not desire to taint your learning of mana crystals at this time. I will approach Illustrious to speak of crystals with you more, if you desire.”

“Sure. That works.”

The conversation moved on to lighter topics. It was almost a normal dinner, between normal people, with Erick mostly staying away from the larger topics, and Fairy Moon giving warnings about things that were self-evident. It was, perhaps, the first nice talk that Erick had had with Fairy Moon. She still spoke alliteratively, though. Which was a bit freaky.

- - - -

Erick cut his accretion short and opened his eyes. The green moon hovered beyond his window. The air was cool, and he was clean from a recent bath but with a light sweat from his accretion efforts.

There had been a knock on the door.

He got up and answered it.

Maid Maria stood on the other side, holding a large wooden box by a handle on its top. “Greetings, Archmage Flatt.” She lifted the box like it weighed nothing, but it looked like it must have weighed a hundred kilos. “Your requested materials are here for you. Would you like me to place them in your room?”

“Ah. Yes.” Erick stepped back. “Appreciated, Maid Maria.”

Maria stepped into his room and set the box down near his desk. She turned to him and slightly bowed. “Will that be all? Or would you perhaps desire a work table, too? I can retrieve one of those from storage, as well.”

“… Oh? Uh. Yeah. I could use a work desk.” Erick said, “I didn’t know that was an option.”

“Fairy Moon desires to be accommodating where she can. I will return with a desk as soon as I leave here.” Maid Maria said, “Also, the kitchens are open at all hours. You need not restrict yourself to normal meal times. If the mealtimes Fairy Moon has chosen to not agree with you, then adjustments can be made to account for your wants.”

Erick smiled softly. “Appreciated. Maybe I will get myself a midnight snack later, after I make some Stat jewelry. Otherwise, everything has been about as good as it can be.”

Maria gave a curt nod, then picked up the massive box and handed it across the threshold of the door, setting it down in front of Erick. “I will return with a desk shortly.”

Erick grabbed the handle and tried to lift it—

Failure. It didn’t even budge under his physical power.

Maid Maria instantly offered, “I can move the box around for you before I go.”

“Nope nope.” Erick struggled to lift the heavy thing, so he decided to drag it across the floor instead. “It’s fine. I’ll take that work desk as soon as you can.”

Maria nodded again, then stepped away, back down the stairs.

Once she was out of sight Erick frowned at the heavy box. He could already tell what was in there, and the only thing that weighed so much were the metal disks at the bottom of the box. So he had Ophiel grab it with his lightform and move the thing to the side of the room, where Erick wanted it to be.

Erick dug right into the gifted box, pulling out sparkling silver wood and gems of every color and gold bars and platinum ingots, and dark carving tools made of some strange metal that was likely not adamantium. Or maybe it was? The tools were simply labeled ‘enchanter’s carving kit’. A lot of things had rather simple descriptions that told Erick nothing of their true value. He kept everything separated and organized on his writing desk, but he was glad for Maria’s offer of an additional tabletop; he was going to need it. This was an enchanter’s cornucopia, worth thousands upon thousands of gold. Some of the materials were so obviously magical, like the ‘manawood’, and so very much out of Erick’s expertise that he had no idea of their costs, or their functions.

Luckily, Inferno Maw’s enchanting books should be able to help with identification of—

Maid Maria returned with a sturdy desk, carrying it up the stairs and into the room like it was a particularly large and unwieldy sheet of paper, and not at all like the thick wooden creation it appeared to be. She set the desk to the side of the room, and then stepped back to the door, and curtsied.

“If that is all then I wish you good night, Archmage Flatt.”

“That’s all. Good night, Maid Maria.”

Maria left.

And Erick got down to the business of learning how to make an amulet of… At least Willpower and Focus, yeah? Yeah. That seemed safe. Easy. With that in mind, Erick began organizing the contents of his gift box on his writing desk to that end, while simultaneously pouring over the textbooks from Inferno Maw, checking and double checking what he had against what he needed.

When his mana topped off, he accreted.

- - - -

The sun dawned in the window and Erick finally felt ready to make himself an amulet.

Every little detail about enchanting was different here in Ar’Cosmos, from how it was out there on Veird. But the broad strokes were the same. ‘Imbue an item with the thing you wish to empower/create’. Simple stuff. The details were still vastly important, though.

Using Ophiel’s power, while the little guy sat on a perch on the edge of the table, Erick grabbed a lump of platinum off of the ingot with [Metalshape]. A simply crushing light turned that metal into a perfect disk. Mostly, Erick tried to use Ophiel to do the big stuff, for Erick had none of his usual throughput, but Ophiel was not limitless, either. But at the same time, Ophiel’s mana limitations weren’t much of a concern since this particular Ophiel had been conjured with Erick’s Normal Form’s power, and had over 13,000 Mana and 57,000 Mana Regen, and he was located inside the dense, Restful air of his [Prismatic Ward]. Ophiel wasn’t losing cohesion any time soon.

Erick couldn’t use Ophiel’s mana to enchant, though. He had tried before and it never worked. So Ophiel was just a glorified assistant, for now. He didn’t seem to mind. With bright white eyes and flickering wings, Ophiel watched as Erick worked.

Erick slipped the platinum disk into a holder he had already made, that would allow him to both hold the amulet and turn it as he worked. He turned the amulet in its cradle now, while he marked out where the words would go with chalk, for everything needed to be set correctly for it to work properly. In that way, this was pretty much ‘formation work’ from Songli.

Once everything was marked out and the cradle was calibrated, next came the engraving half of the ritual.

Erick took the black scalpel from the carving tools and held it himself. For a moment, he worried over his own mana reserves, but he should be able to complete one inscription if he went fast. His hands were steady. He was rested enough.

He discarded his worries and went for it.

Glowing aura flowed into the scalpel, then latched on to the mana-conductive metal as soon as Erick tried to latch on. Slowly, mana flowed through, and Erick shifted that channel to resonate with his Focus, turning the white glow to bright cyan. With a quick, Dexterous right hand, Erick began carving, while with his left, he turned the cradle slowly, but surely. With quick flicks and focused touches, words began to appear in the circle of platinum. ‘Focus on the flow, and let it fill you full.’

His Mana reserves lasted it all the way to the end and a little bit beyond.

Erick had to laugh at that thought, though.

“Lasted to the end. Ha!” Erick said, “240 mana gone, just like that. You know, Ophiel, I think I grew complacent as to just how much 250 mana means to most people. That’s a full day’s allotment.”

Ophiel twittered in response, happy to be included.

Erick looked down at his circle of platinum. “Not done yet, but I’m spent. Break time.”

He left his stuff there and went to the bathing pool for a small swim and a cleanup. He had extended Ophiel’s [Prismatic Ward] across part of the water, though, so he was still able to Rest while he was resting. Half an hour later, Erick was out of the bath and ready to go for enchanting round #2.

Now this part was tricky. Not too tricky, since Erick knew all how it was supposed to work. But tricky in the way that he had never done it before. There was no time like the present for some hands-on learning, though, so Erick sat down at his enchanting table and held his hand a decimeter above the platinum disk.

White glows manifested across his palm.

A quick flick with the black scalpel opened up the meat of his hand; one of the easiest places where a person could cut and not worry about channeling mana through the artery/vein confusion. Blood flowed, but it did not drip. Erick held the flow back with his aura, and his mana, making tangible the intangible, soaking the bright red power in his white mana. As Erick focused, his blood began to glitter cyan as infinitesimal core dust began to manifest inside the red drops that had not yet dropped.

And then some line of power had been crossed. A shimmering iridescent droplet of blood fell from his wound to land upon the center of the amulet like a tiny firework that started off red and white, but shifted to cyan as it flowed into the lettering. The blood vanished into the metal, but the power remained. The words he had carved began to glow. Another drop of magic blood fell onto the amulet.

Drip drop. Drip drop.

With every bit of power that fell from Erick, the lines of his inscription began to fill with cyan blue crystal, like rock candy crowding out of a sugar solution. Twenty one drops and practically all of his Mana later, a drop of iridescent blood landed on the amulet and did not soak inside. The magic splashed away from the crystal. Nothing grew larger.

The enchantment was full; saturation had been reached.

Erick smiled and pulled back his aura. Ophiel rapidly hit him with a [Greater Treat Wounds], instantly healing the small cut on his hand. Erick had been holding him back from doing exactly that for the last ten minutes, while he also held open his own body to keep the blood flowing.

He smiled, saying, “Thank you, Ophiel.”

Ophiel twittered in joyous violins.

And Erick inspected his work.

The platinum amulet was practically festooned with cyan-colored crystalline growths, almost completely obscuring the original words. But the words were there, if you looked hard enough. Erick picked it up and pressed it against his chest—

Cold, yet refreshing flows scattered throughout Erick’s entire body, like he had jumped in a wintry pool. He shivered a bit. It wasn’t a bad feeling, though. Erick took the amulet away from his chest, and while the cold abated, it did not fully go away. The thing was now linked to his aura, it seemed, or something like that, and even holding the thing in his hand was almost as good as properly wearing it.

Erick smiled. “Now that’s a successful enchantment.”

He still strung a chain through the loops in the back of the amulet and wore it below his necklace from Fairy Moon. The cold chill seemed to return in full, but Erick got used to the feeling quickly enough. And now, then, was the moment of truth.

Erick turned toward the counting crystal. He took the cube in hand—

Ah. Shit. Right. He was out of mana.

… Erick went over his enchanting books for a little while, making sure that what he had was truly an example of a good enchanted object (it was) and was surprised when his normal 30 minute wait to full mana only took 20 minutes. This boded well!

Erick checked himself with the cube.

- -

Strength: 17

Vitality: 20

Dexterity: 18

Constitution: 17

Perception: 17

Willpower: 39

Focus: 52

Intelligence: 17

- -

Mana: 390

Mana Regen (Vit+Foc): 720

- -

“Ah ha!” Erick laughed out loud, then told Ophiel, “This is great! Complete success; I even got some base mana, too! And Vitality, too? Unexpected— Ohh. I should account for all of that next time. This is good, Ophiel. This is literally days saved…” He looked at all the rest of his enchanting ingredients. “And I should be able to make a better amulet with some adjustments of materials and process— Oh this is good. Very good, indeed.”

Ophiel twittered in happy violins.

Erick got back to accretion as soon as he could.

Time flew fast as Erick’s core filled out, and his body strengthened. He had saved a lot of time, and the next item he made would help him save even more.

- - - -

Yggdrasil watched his father make a magical item out of metal.

And then he thought back to what Fairy Moon had said about taking a clipping from him, to help his father make items for himself. A part of him felt odd at seeing his father happy over bits of metal, when there was apparently a better way; a way for Yggdrasil to be involved, directly.

Yggdrasil wanted to be involved.

But he wasn’t stupid. He had seen what Fairy Moon had done to his father, and he didn’t like her at all. Nope! Not one bit.

And yet…

Yggdrasil focused a very large and trying-to-be intimidating eye at Fairy Moon, who was sitting in the air in his boughs. She was not intimidated. Yggdrasil’s eye usually scared lots of people, but not her. She didn’t even eye him back. She was simply not scared of him, at all, and that was weird. It was very easy to kill small things like her, after all. Yggdrasil had accidentally killed small fishes before, and he had accidentally hurt people…

He had purposefully hurt people when they tried to hurt him, but mostly he did not. Father had said that words were important, and that Yggdrasil needed to be defensive; not offensive.

But against Fairy Moon? Yggdrasil had purposefully killed her many times already. Walls of Force. Trapping Domains. Slicing light. All of it had worked, too. He had killed Fairy Moon ten times so far.

Usually, dead things stayed dead, but Fairy Moon appeared to be an exception. Each time she came back the same as before, looking no worse for wear.

Yggdrasil spoke, “If I give you a twig will you go away and leave my father alone?”

“I will go away for now if you give me a twig tamed to reality, so that I may relinquish it to your father,” Fairy Moon answered. “It is for his enchanting efforts.”

Well… that was fine… right?

And yet…

He didn’t like Fairy Moon.

Yggdrasil broke a twig off of himself and floated it toward Fairy Moon, and then he stabbed her through the head with it. She died, again.

Probably wouldn’t last long this time, either—

Fairy Moon instantly reappeared, yelled, “Appreciated!” and vanished along with her previous corpse, along with the stick embedded in its head.

Yggdrasil didn’t know how to feel about that.