“Did you sleep well?” Erick asked Teressa, over a late breakfast.

“Best I’ve slept in a long time,” Teressa said, cutting into her large omelet.

Erick had watched her some while she slept, and yes, she had slept well, as far as he had seen. It was still important to ask these questions and get confirmation, though. It had been 20 hours since her accident, and her soul seemed completely fine—

With a small grin, Teressa said, “If the worst should happen and you gotta [Reincarnation] me, I’d like to be myself again.”

Erick shuddered a little, unable to find any words to say. He was scared of that possibility. He hoped that wouldn’t need to happen.

Kiri spoke, “Me too—” She rapidly corrected, “I’d like to be myself, is what I mean. I don’t want to be Teressa.” Her emerald scale face flushed a bit darker.

Ah?

Erick almost stared at her, for Kiri had taken Teressa’s admittance of worry for something much more lighthearted than it had been.

“I would also like to be myself,” Poi nodded seriously, as he said, “But a bit taller.”

Now Poi? Poi was just fucking with Erick in order to make him worry less.

Poi smiled at that thought.

Teressa kept grinning as the conversation turned to hypotheticals. “Maybe shorter would be better, for me. Bigger boobs. Maybe less muscular.”

Kiri laughed. “I suppose an orcol wouldn’t get back problems with age! Might as well go with as big of boobs as you can!”

“Now you’re just being silly,” Erick said, trying not to sound like he was complaining.

Poi nodded, then spoke in a serious tone that was not serious at all, “I will have a list of my own adjustments I would like if the worst should happen, Sir.”

Kiri and Teressa both laughed, and Erick did too, if only a chuckle.

Worry seemed to vanish like so much morning mist.

Still, though, Erick decided he would spend the day at home and put off all his meetings that he could put off. For necessary meetings, Erick could go to them in person. Work didn’t stop just because people got hurt. Teressa might not be worried about anything anymore (which might make her a liability as a bodyguard, but Erick would save that discussion for later) but Erick was still worried about his own little part of the world falling apart if he didn’t do his best.

- - - -

He could still do some magic, though, since Teressa was staying home. While Kiri went off to work with Mox and Poi remained with Teressa, Erick moved over to his warehouse to get started on some spellwork which would become necessary for the future, if not tonight. First came an attempt at his [10 Restful Hours in 10 Minutes] spell.

But there were a lot of moving parts to this sort of magic. Erick mentally listed out the problems he would have to solve for, and then how he would solve them.

[Haste] was only a doubling of subjective time, so Erick would need to add in the Variable Cost Variable Effect spellwork to solve for that problem. Easy enough to do with some Blood Magic methodology.

The next problem was that the barrier which separated speedy time and normal time was too fragile; Ophiel had broken the previous version of this magic just by stepping through that barrier. So to solve this, Erick would use [Force Wall], since he couldn’t very well make another Solid Ward. This separation would ensure that nothing broke the spell’s effect.

[Ward], which was the basis for this magic, had a duration of 24 hours, so that was more than enough. [Force Wall] had a natural duration of 100 minutes. [Haste] was rather short at only lasting 10 subjective minutes, which was only 5 minutes in real time. Erick could probably solve this through some Permanency methodology, linked to the Variable Cost Variable Effect spellwork.

Having separated space locked off by a [Force Wall] would lead to air quality problems, though. Luckily, the fix for that was simple; a [Cleanse] on the interior edge of the barrier. Not fully inside, but restricted to a slice of space away from the center.

[Cleanse] had an instantaneous duration, though, which circled back to concerns over spell durations. Applying this spell constantly multiplied the cost of this magic by a lot. [Cleanse Aura] cost 10 mana per second, and this spell would be running for 10 hours, which meant a base cost of 36,000 mana. Hopefully, by restricting a [Cleanse Aura]-like spell to the interior edge of the [Force Wall] would be enough of an area reduction that the cost would be similarly reduced.

… Or?

Maybe adding in [Cleanse] wouldn’t be that bad? Erick had put [Cleanse] into a lot of his very, very large spells, like [Withering]. The aura for [Withering], [Domain of the Withering Slime], only cost 2 mana per second. That tsunami of thick air dried out every monster in its area of effect, and then [Cleanse]ed the remains.

Still only 2 mana per second.

Maybe he had done some Wizardry there—

No! Wait. Maybe he had just tapped into the call-[Cleanse] function of the Script? Erick had put a lot of [Cleanse] into a lot of magic, actually, and not many of those spells cost as much mana as they should. [Zone of Peace] was a 24 hour long spell that turned every spell that entered into a [Cleanse] of commensurate size. It had changed a bit since Erick had received the spell back from Koyabez, but it had retained that [Cleanse] function.

Zone of Peace, instant, 24 hours, super long range, 500 MP

All magic cast inside Zone of Peace with the intent to harm, or entering a Zone of Peace with the intent to harm, is transformed into a Cleanse of commensurate size. Zone of Peace has no effect on ongoing magic.

May the peace of Koyabez enable benevolence to flourish.

[Zone of Peace] no longer had any little ‘[][][][][][]’ brackets inside of it, though.

Which brought Erick back to worrying about what Benevolence had done to Teressa. His own Benevolent spells had a bunch of those brackets inside of them but he didn’t really pay much attention to those…

Erick was not worried about his own power, or what he had made. His Gate Space had done exactly as he had wished it to do, when he made it months ago; it worked on its own to show two people the threats and boons that the world would face in the future. That automagic action did make Erick wonder about the brackets in his Benevolence spellwork, though. Was some sort of Establishing going on there? Because that’s what it had to be, right? Some sort of Establishing Paradox Wizardry, showing itself in a way that wouldn’t be known until it was actually known?

… Too big of a conundrum to solve right now.

Erick ignored those extraneous thoughts and returned to the current project.

Maybe he could put a ‘Call-[Cleanse] function’ into today’s [Hasted Hut] attempt, restrict it to a small area… at the inner edge of the [Force Wall], yes. Maybe that would be enough to keep the costs low.

Other than that…?

“Large size, big enough to fully enclose a room…” Erick held out a hand and flowed Elemental Time through his palm. The sound of the river of time burbled just out of sight, as Erick began adding in more magic. “Add in some permanency spellwork, along with VCVE Blood Magic based workings. Elemental Force, for the surroundings, and [Cleanse] restricted to a small area... delineated by [Ward]...”

His voice trailed off as Ophiels fluttered around him, taking up his music and singing along, multiplying the river into a raging torrent.

Gently holding his hand out, feeling Time flow through his fingers, Erick focused.

He spoke a simple poem to communicate his intent,

“A place of Rest,

“A Varied Haste,

“By Cleanse, be blessed

“Protected space.”

A burst of white light twisted away from his fingertips to impact a dome all around him that was not there, until it was. Power flowed into the space—

And suddenly, the rest of the world stopped, while Erick, a few Ophiel, and the part of Yggdrasil that was a part of Erick’s soul, kept going. Beyond the windows, Yggdrasil’s ever-moving green fire canopy and rainbow crown, went still. Erick glanced through the Ophiel back at home, feeling something similar to a lag as he went looking. He saw Poi stuck halfway through turning a page in a book.

Poi would be turning that page for subjective minutes.

Erick would have gone looking in other places, through other Ophiel he had left out there, but every single Ophiel inside the sphere with Erick did a minor freakout. The little guy buzzed his wings. His eyes went wide. He fluttered this way and that, banging against the barrier.

Erick moved fast, gathering them up, saying, “Hey! Hey now. Ophiel. Ophiel. Calm down, okay? Nothing happened. Nothing is happening out there.” Erick gathered an Ophiel in his arms and petted him, calming the little guy down, speaking softly, “You’re okay. Nothing is wrong.”

Ophiel rapidly calmed, though he was not happy.

Erick patted the little guy, asking, “You okay?”

Ophiel was fine. He wasn’t comfortable, but he was fine. As moments passed, turning into a calm minute, Erick sensed that Ophiel was beginning to understand his body differently. Ophiel squeaked, and Erick nodded.

“The parts of your body are still out there, but they’re hard to feel, yeah?” Erick asked.

Ophiel chirped excitedly. That was exactly it!

“I feel it too.” Erick said, “That feeling will come back when the spell ends.”

Ophiel nodded, and then he hopped out of Erick’s arms and took his place back on his shoulder, chirping in quiet violin sounds, and still-unsure guitar sounds. He would not worry.

“How about you, Yggdrasil?” Erick asked, “You okay?”

Yggdrasil’s [Scry] eye moved inside the contained space, looking around here and there, but otherwise he said nothing. He didn’t look too distressed, though. Maybe he couldn’t actually talk when Erick was like this, though?

Ah. That was exactly it.

[Telepathy] should still work, though.

Erick sent, ‘Can you hear me now, Yggdrasil?’

‘…’

Erick waited.

He waited some more.

Yggdrasil sent, ‘… I …’

Erick sent back, ‘You don’t know how to send your thoughts—’

‘… am …’

‘—fast enough. Here. Like this:’ Erick sent a packet of thoughts instead of an open connection, ‘Send a packet of thoughts like this, so that you aren’t interrupted, and so you can get through the barrier of time.’

Erick waited.

Yggdrasil sent, ‘… fine….’

More waiting.

‘… father.’

Erick waited—

A blue box slowly manifested in front of Erick, taking three seconds to fully appear.

Hasted Shelter, instant, close range, 500 + Variable

Multiply the subjective time of a large area to a variable degree.

Base version is 1 hour of subjective time in 1 minute.

500 points of damage to the barrier will break the effect. Always Restful. Always Cleansing.

Erick smiled. “Ahh! This is great! This is exactly what I wanted.” He dismissed the box, then did some quick math. “This version gives me one Script Second every 6 subjective seconds…? Yup. That’s right. Erick moved around his [Hasted Shelter], going near the walls. A faint thickness held in the air near the swirling white barrier, like a [Cleanse Aura] held tight, though it was hard to tell if there actually was a thickness in the air, or if it was just a trick of the light against the swirling white barrier beyond. “I can test this, actually.”

Crystallize Diamond X.

Erick did not cast the spell on any particular diamond, but he did target the air near the wall—

Sure enough, wind swirled inward and some of it turned into thicker air near the wall, but the part of the spell away from the wall did not cause any sort of [Cleanse] effect. Erick canceled the Particle spell before it could do much at all, and the thick air generation stopped. That was enough testing for now, though.

He canceled the [Hasted Shelter]—

It was like rising from the depths; a rapid pressure change that Erick had never experienced before on Veird, because Veird had a bunch of funky ways to remove gravity from things that should have gravity. Pressure was more or less equalized all throughout the world. But here and now was one reality of physically changing one’s experience of the world that had not been smoothed over.

Erick felt his metaphysical ears pop as the air at the edge of the space rapidly turned to flames, sending a tiny shockwave inside and outside. The burst of flames headed out didn’t matter. The one headed in bounced off of Erick like so much high speed wind.

And then it was over.

Erick giggled a bit as the unexpected danger simply did not happen—

‘Like this? Father? Am I doing it right this time?’ Yggdrasil’s information packet came in like a sledgehammer to the mind, ‘I did not know you could do information packets! This makes this so much simpler! I can talk to you super fast and you can respond, too! No need to take up hours of talking. Because I want to talk to you, father. I did not know how to say it, but I want to talk more with you. You are too busy. I want you to be home more. I know it is selfish but I want you to be home. How much can I put into this message? I only put in a thousand mana, so it shouldn’t be too much, right? Anyway. It seems I have more message space, so I am going to tell you about all the fish I saw today. And about the spider people at Holorulo. They showed me lots of nice fishes. I caught a rivergrieve, all by myself! It was great fun. The spider people like the taste of fish, too. Everyone likes to eat fish and I do not mind this but I wonder about taste. I do not taste things. I want to know what taste is. Can you help me figure out how to taste things? Also, what is sex? Why does touching penises and vaginas make people feel good? Why do people touch butts? What are the purposes of boobs? Why does Teressa want a new body with bigger boobs? Is she okay? I saw her get hurt and Aisha get hurt yesterday inside the lightning room. I saw Aisha already. She went through the Gates and went back to the House ten minutes ago. Why is Zolan and Mox touching each other at night in their rooms, but not doing sex? Both of them have had sex with other people. Why is everyone in that New Folks Home doing sex all the time? Why aren’t you doing sex with them? They joke about that sometimes. I want to read some books, I think. Can you get me some books on magic? I want to learn more about magic, like you do…’

Erick ‘read’ another twenty thousand words from Yggdrasil, but there were a lot more words than that coming out of that information packet. He tried to compartmentalize, to listen for key words and pick out everything important from Yggdrasil’s stream of consciousness, like he was trawling for goldfish among all the minnows.

There were a lot of minnows.

And Erick was not a Mind Mage.

While he was still going through the message, Erick sent to Yggdrasil, ‘Try not to spend more than ten mana on a message, at the largest. [Telepathy] is a very cost-efficient spell, giving you a minute of open communication for every single mana spent, which means every single mana is capable of giving about 150 words. Also, you should narrow your thoughts before you send them, otherwise you will send everything you are thinking, which can be a lot.’

‘Okay!’ Yggdrasil continued to send, ‘I will send smaller messages now, written concisely and with the intention of being small— Ah! A fish— Wait! I did not mean to send that. How do I unsend these messages— I am not sure I like people sexing on my branches because the New Folks Home is a lot of sexing— Darn! I didn’t mean to send that, either. Narrowing one’s thoughts is hard and…’

As Yggdrasil’s first thousand-mana message was still playing in Erick’s mind, trying to understand Yggdrasil’s second thousand-mana message was like trying to catch rain with an already-full bucket.

All Erick could truly understand was that he had messed up a lot.

Erick began writing down the topics he could pluck out of the veritable rain onto a chalkboard to the side, just so that he could visibly show to Yggdrasil that he was listening, and then he could erase those topics from the board when he had answered them. When he got to the parts about sex, and just as Erick was starting to fully comprehend what Yggdrasil had sent him, Yggdrasil’s next thousand-mana message asked all about Erick’s sex life.

Erick had a flashback to several uncomfortable conversations over a decade ago, back when Jane was still a little girl and she wondered why she had to have a sitter; why couldn’t she also go out on a ‘date’ with her father and her father’s friend from work.

… Erick decided to give Yggdrasil the sex talk, now, even though he was only… 10 months old? No. Eleven months old tomorrow—

Oh.

Rapidly, Erick realized that there was only one more month left in the year. Then came the week-long Triumph of Light, followed by Shadow’s Feast… if Melemizargo decided to do Shadow’s Feast again this year. Hopefully he wouldn’t.

Anyway.

Yggdrasil was less than a year old, but he was very advanced for his age.

So Erick decided to have some talks with him.

After getting another 1000-mana message, the first thing Erick did was explain that he should stop doing that. Erick used calm, yet firm words, and after two more incidents, Yggdrasil finally began to send smaller messages. 10-mana messages were still around 1,400 words, badly formed, but it was a heck of a lot better than the 140,000 word monstrosities that Yggdrasil had been sending.

And then Erick began going through Yggdrasil’s concerns.

He also handled some meetings elsewhere, though Ophiel, while talking to Yggdrasil. He was getting pretty good at multitasking.

On the subject of everyone at the New Folks Home fucking all the time… Erick could just straight-up tell them, ‘no hanky panky here on Yggdrasil’, but that seemed rather puritan.

Erick was not comfortable with his kid seeing so much sex all the time, though.

… But maybe that was rather puritan of him, too.

- - - -

Erick knew what he needed to do.

He needed to send his kid off to school.

To Treehome, with the other Arbors. That had been part of the plan before the Worldly Path; before all of this Wizardry stuff got out there. If Erick had planted Yggdrasil up with the orcols, he might have already learned how to make his own small-person body, like Holy O’kabil and the other Arbors, so that he could answer his own questions about ‘what does food taste like?’.

… Or maybe Erick could learn that spell and give it to Yggdrasil?

If it was indeed a spell.

Either way, it was time to set Yggdrasil on a good life path trajectory, along with all the other stuff he had planned for the day, like to make a [Benevolent Kaleidoscopic Radiance], and ensure that Kiri and Mox were doing fine with their wide scale landscaping...

And all the other stuff that was on his schedule.

But first! This Yggdrasil issue.

- - - -

Ophiel fluttered into the offices of the castellan, in a tower attached to the atrium, where Zolan and many others were already hard at work. In five different floors, with room to expand down when needed —and it would be needed— Zolan had gotten right to work sorting out the finances of House Benevolence, Erick’s own finances, and the city work of the Gate District. Later today Zolan would directly working on Erick’s financials, for he would be speaking with some people whom Erick had invested with over in Songli, through Clan Star Song; the spidery, with Loremaster Riri rebuilding it all from scratch, Clan Red Ledger and the hospital, through Doctor Tsung (now Patriarch Tsung), and a bunch of other, smaller places.

But for now, Zolan was speaking with some people from the Wayfarer’s Guild, about something or other. As Ophiel floated through the office, Erick rapidly caught up to the conversation after a few words; they were talking about the feasibility of opening a Gate System for their own use, all across the Crystal Forest. A local area Gate Network had been a subject which kept coming up, and which Erick kept denying, because he was not ready to support that sort of infrastructure, and they wanted a flat rate instead of a tax rate.

They were actually only talking about flat rate agreements, though; not about a local area Gate Network. But Erick could read between the lines. Zolan could read between the lines, too, and was easily knocking down their requests for flat rate shipment to be implemented everywhere; it was one small step from flat rate costs to opening up a whole bunch of other Gates everywhere, and letting the Wayfarer’s Guild take over that part of the Network.

Erick fully expected this to happen, eventually…

Not not yet, and for multiple reasons.

The problem was manifold. One of the unexpected, major problems was that the Surface did a lot of flat rate shipping, but the Underworld did a bunch of tax rate shipping. Here, at Erick’s Gate Network, those two systems were coming into direct confrontation.

Shipments in the Underworld needed to physically move from point A to B, and they had to use caravans to get that done. Those caravans drove massive pillars of stone that floated down there, and which they defended from all oncoming monsters, and sometimes just drove straight through monster blockades instead of fighting them, bursting through half-blocked tunnels to get where they needed to go. Those caravan pillars were all the same size, but they carried vastly different riches. In a decision that was very old and had no reason to change, those caravans were taxed on the price of goods inside those shipments. And so, Erick had given Stratagold a tax-rate-based shipment agreement.

But here on the Surface, where [Teleporting Platform] and [Teleport] and other such Spatial Magics were widely used (and able to be used, unlike in the Underworld), the costs of those shipping methods were based on 250 mana per ton, or per person. Simply put, the costs of shipments on the Surface were weight-based, in almost all cases. Heavy stuff cost more to ship, but light stuff shipped rather easily.

That whole situation was, in actuality, a minor detail of how things were. These two tax rates of per-ton and per-value-of-items came into contact all the time, for everyone tried to ship over the Surface when they could, because things could move fast up here, and people shipped very, very heavy things underground when they could, because those things were weightless down there, even if it took a while to move that stuff. Shipping across the Surface oceans was a whole other nuance to the situation, where ships were weighed down with everything they could possibly carry, and then Ocean Mages worked overtime to get those massive loads across the ocean as fast as they could. These shipment complications had come into conflict a lot already, and all these problems and oddities of movement had long ago been turned into a morass of bureaucracy at every single transferal location that connected the Underworld to the Surface.

But now Erick was here.

A proper Gate Network, with absolutely no care of weight, or of the intricacies of transportation between the Surface and the Underworld or across oceans, was a game changer…

It all came down to this simple fact: the choices made by Erick, and the people here, would have ripple effects across the entire world. They would, eventually, be deciding how goods got moved from place to place, and the costs of those movements. It was a large burden of choice, and of opportunity.

… Maybe he should join the conversation with the Wayfarer’s Guild—

Ah.

But then he’d never get to all the other things he needed to do. Every single day was like this; Erick needed to be involved in these small, extremely widespread decisions. But! He had hired good people.

And so, he let Zolan work; it’s why he hired the man. It was why he hired everyone here, and why the people he hired had hired others.

Erick moved Ophiel onward.

He passed the office where Zolan was meeting with the Wayfarer’s Guild.

Ophiel fluttered through the office, up a staircase, and transformed into a facsimile of Erick before he came into sight of other people. He was still a [Familiar] made of white feathers and eyes and such, but with a proper use of Erick’s own [Pristine Benevolence] Ophiel did a decent impersonation. There were still some stray feathers all across ‘Erick’s’ whole entire ‘body’, though. It was fine.

He stopped and knocked on the open door of the financials room.

Iloya was in residence, along with a few new hires from Candlepoint. Iloya was practically Zolan’s second-in-command, which Erick was fine with. She was a tall, pale pink incani woman, with vibrantly white hair and horns that curved backward with multiple points. She wore a normal pantsuit, but of high quality. A lot of people had noticed ‘Erick’ walking through the office, but no one commented. Some people didn’t even see him, for they were too focused on their own work.

Iloya had managed to retain most of her previous life’s mana sense, though, so she saw Erick coming well before he got there. She was the only one in the financials room looking toward the door and bowing as Erick walked in, though the other two fresh hires were quick to follow her direction. Iloya and the other two had been standing over a table filled with paperwork.

Iloya rose from her bow, and asked, “What can I do for you, my king?”

Erick liked Iloya. She had been one of Erick’s medium picks for the various Overseer positions, and she would have gotten along well with Burhendurur in the Office of Enforcement, which was where Erick had initially placed her, but Zolan had used his very first pick to get Iloya here, under him, into the Castellan’s Office.

It was for the best, Erick supposed.

Because when Erick asked, “I need to see about getting Yggdrasil planted at Treehome, so he can grow up around other Arbors. Failing that, I want to put another Gate Set up there, or maybe a smaller, single Gate, so that they can all talk with each other. The point is to expose Yggdrasil to other Arbors, however it has to happen.”

Iloya had no problems at all, instantly, saying, “I will get a meeting with a real representative of Treehome within the hour, and this time they will not be [Force Walling] us. Will you be discussing shipping, or will this be a meeting purely for the introduction of Yggdrasil to Arbor society? They don’t seem to care about shipping, though that could be a front, but they will definitely respond to a request to teach Yggdrasil.”

“Keep it open ended. I have my goal of getting Yggdrasil introduced to the Arbors, and they can have their goals be whatever.”

“Your will be done, my king.”

“Also, I want a report on the intricacies of switching the Network to flat rate per tonnage shipment costs, both the Underworld Gates, and the Surface Gates. It’ll be a decision that shapes the whole world, Iloya, so take your time with it. Consult whoever you have to consult.”

“I have that report ready for you already.” Iloya said, “Zolan and I both considered that you might need it, and so, we made it. We also have some words in here about a full shift to value-rate shipment, too.” She walked over to a filing cabinet, pulled it out, and instantly grabbed the file she was looking for, amongst all the others. She handed it over to Ophiel, saying, “This debate is a long one, stemming back a literal millennia, though it has always been mostly theoretical. Now that we actually have a Gate Network, those theories are being refined. This was updated two days ago.”

Ophiel took the report and Erick smiled. “Thank you. Good work. Inform Poi if the time table changes; either way, I will be expecting a call in an hour.”

“Your will be done, my king.”

Erick had mostly ignored the other two people in the room with Iloya, for they were new and he didn’t want to scare them, but now he looked to them, saying, “Glad to see you two working on the numbers. Barlashi, Prudincia; welcome to the team.” He turned back to Iloya and nodded.

And then he left.

Barlashi and Prudincia both briefly looked star struck, but Iloya brought them back to attention, giving them a few commands about whatever it was they were doing before she could work on Erick’s new commands.

‘Whatever they were doing’ looked like in-depth explanations of the financials of the Gate District and how everything was tracked, and where the established bookkeeping methodology that Zolan and Iloya brought to the table had been incompatible with what Prudincia had done to the books.

Iloya was from Oceanside, and was 122 when she came to House Benevolence and got a [Reincarnation] to become 21 again, so she knew this sort of job inside and out, but Barlashi and Prudincia were both former shadelings from Candlepoint. They were also well over a hundred years old, but they had been shadelings most of that time. It wasn’t till they came to Candlepoint and regained sapience, though, that they became real people again. After that, both of them went for Melemizargo’s [Reincarnation]. Now they were a shifter owl man and a human woman, respectively. They had tried to leave Candlepoint and get back to their old lives they remembered outside of Candlepoint, those lives were gone, and they had been chased back here.

They had languished for a time at Candlepoint, living in the proverbial gutters (down in the slums in the sewers, actually) because both of them were good with numbers, and not much else, and Candlepoint didn’t need much of that right now.

And now they were here, clean, and well-dressed, both of them getting back into the wonderful mundanity of office work. They were happy, and Erick was glad for that. They also seemed to be rather good at their jobs, but what they knew and what the Office of the Castellan required of them were two different things.

Iloya had been instructing them before Erick had come in and dropped a new task on them. This was all a work in progress, though, and this was not the first time Erick had interrupted them, nor would it be the last.

... Erick briefly considered if it was time to introduce computers to the office.

Iloya and Zolan would probably love making spreadsheets on a laptop. Jane’s computers had to have Excel, or something similar, right? If not, then someone could probably learn to write code, or something… How hard could it be?

Probably rather hard, if Jane’s computer didn’t have any actual computer writing software— Ah! Could they go bad? Like, could the computers actually break? Even if they were just sitting around in protected spots, under preservation [Ward]s?

Hmm.

Erick had [Duplicate]d Jane’s laptop a dozen times and hid them in many different places.

They would keep for a long time.

No need to introduce computers, anyway.

Not right now.

Later, though? A year? Two years?

Whatever the case, if there was some sort of bottleneck with learning how to work a computer and learning how to build more computers, or make code, then Erick could simply give a few promising people Intelligence and let them keep trying. Later, though. Maybe next year? Halfway through next year.

Yes. That sounded fine.

- - - -

Erick came back to himself, sitting in his warehouse. It was time to make another spell while he waited for Treehome to get back to him. It was time to make a spell to grow Elemental Benevolence.

A Rift-type spell!

Erick had a few Rift spells already, but he did not have a Rift spell for Benevolence. A lot of his spells had changed when he solidified Elemental Benevolence, but [Kaleidoscopic Radiance] was not one of them.

Kaleidoscopic Radiance, instant, medium range, permanent, 500 mana

A medium-sized lightward of evershifting brilliance supports the growth of Light Essence creatures.

That spell had come about the last time Erick had made a dungeon; specifically the Light Dungeon over at Oceanside. It was one of his first real successes with permanency-type magic, combining a Particle understanding of light, and the natural permanency of [Ward]. He hadn’t been purposefully trying to make that spell, though. It had simply happened after casting the same sort of lightward over and over and over.

Essence growth spells for Fire, Water, Stone, and Air, were rather simple things. They were just Rifts that opened a minor tear into the element of choice, allowing that element to spill out into the world. Of course, back at Oceanside, that’s not how they taught Erick or the rest of the dungeoneering class. They had stuck to making plain dungeons, without the use of Rifts.

Putting Rifts inside dungeons was actually rather dangerous, which is why they didn’t teach that sort of thing to first year students. When [Kaleidoscopic Radiance] had happened, and Erick offered to cast that spell into the Light Dungeon, Kirginatharp had explicitly told him not to; it was hard to control slime growth when actual essence rifts were put into a dungeon. Those sorts of things were only to be used sparingly, if at all.

The best way to make a dungeon was the natural way. That’s how Mox and her people had made all of Erick’s current dungeons.

Wind whistled through carefully crafted pipes in the Air dungeon. Water trickled through many different rivers inside the Water dungeon. Everything was dry and stoney in the Stone dungeon, with piles of dirt everywhere. Fire burned brightly in long rows in the Fire dungeon. Shadows even crawled in the Shadow dungeon, aided by sparing bits of lightwork here and there. And not a single one of Erick’s dungeons had a Rift. That would lead to oozes, no doubt.

But there would be, perhaps, one Rift inside the Benevolence dungeon. Just one!

Just to see if it worked at all.

Erick had a think.

Benevolence was already inside several of his spells, Established to be that way at his creation of that Element.

Exalted Rain Aura, instant, super long range, 1 MP per second ~{Favored Spell}~

Anoint the land with blessed rain, rapidly growing all desired plants and restoring vibrancy to the soil. If used upon prepared fields for a full day, highly nutritious Erick Beans will sprout.

Particle Mage Only

Blessing of Empathy, instant, touch, 1500 mana

Let benevolence fill the soul, so that one might better understand others.

Blessing magnifies when committing harm.

[Exalted Rain Aura], which was usually shortened to [Exalted Rain] when people spoke of that spell, had a lot of Benevolence in it according to Rozeta. The [Blessing of Empathy] which Erick had gotten back from Koyabez looked a lot different than the one that Erick had created, himself, though; there was some Establishing there, for sure. Erick recalled what the original spell used to look like.

Blessing of Empathy, 30 seconds, Sound + Understanding + Acceptance, 1500 mana

Blessing magnifies when harm is committed.

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

All those little brackets had filled in, but more than that, all the normal parts of what it took to get someone to accept the Blessing, were gone. Now, Erick could just hit someone with this spell and force them to experience empathy. He had been able to do the same thing with the Crystal Star, too, back when he had that artifact, so Koyabez had gotten involved in that Establishing, too… Perhaps?

Eh. Who knew!

Anyway!

It was time to make a new spell, and suddenly, Erick realized exactly what it would look like, and how it would act. The dungeon Mox had made for Benevolence was both a tower, and a large pit, for no one was quite sure what a Benevolence dungeon needed to work.

But Erick knew; in a flash of inspiration, he knew.

Ophiels danced around Erick as he plotted out his magic. One of the Ophiels got the sound of Benevolence; the overarching sound of growth and plenty, and the distant sound of thunder. That Ophiel began to jolt a bit with [Pristine Benevolence], raising that song to new heights.

Another Ophiel got the sound of [Exalted Rain Aura], the sound of the rain cycle manifesting, and of Benevolence and growth. Oddly enough, [Grow] and Benevolence sounded a lot alike, but they were not exactly the same. They simply complemented each other.

Another Ophiel got [Kaleidoscopic Radiance]; it was the sound of light and growth, but slightly different than that. It was a Rift, but a rather primitive one. Something that could be built upon.

Like adding more voices to the choir, Erick sounded out a song of growth, and rain, and light. He worked Particle ideas into it all, ensuring that real, true things would come out of this working, and that those real things would fall down and gather, ensuring growth, spurred on by light from above. The spell itself would be contained, it would not violate the Propagation Ban, but the things in produced would spread far and wide—

“Ah,” Erick said, realizing what he was doing, while in the middle of casting, “It’s terraforming.”

Lightning crashed out of Erick like a branch of Yggdrasil touching the world.

That lightning transformed the air of the warehouse, striking deep into Benevolence. Briefly, Erick saw his own Gate Space beyond that strike, but then the world crashed inward and the spell became something more controlled. Something more subdued.

Gentle iridescent sparks held in the air like lightning moving inside an invisible, airy thing.

Air tried to gather, tried to flow through the space, trying to gather something of a minor storm.

But nope. The warehouse was sealed. This area was technically halfway to Fae Space, too. Erick doubted he would even see such an opening into Benevolence if he cast this spell out on Veird, closer to the real world.

Flickering, mostly-silent lightning tried to collect into a cloud, but all it could do was bounce around in a thirty-meter wide, roughly-spherical space. There was no wind to gather, therefore there was no magic to rain down. Erick would need to cast this in a much, much more open space, if he wanted to see it—

A blue box appeared.

Terraforming, instant, super long range, permanent, 10,000 mana

Anoint the land with endless bounty.

Supports the growth all life, but especially life attuned to Elemental Benevolence.

Wanes and waxes according to resources and demands.

Erick canceled the spell in front of him, for, as it said, there were no demands here and no resources to meet those demands. Besides! He didn’t want this sort of spell inside his warehouse, anyway.

Light and lightning fizzled out of the air.

[Terraforming] wouldn’t do well here, but this spell would be great elsewhere. Erick got a move on, for it was time to visit Mox and Kiri and see about getting that Benevolence Dungeon up and running. Maybe he’d have time to settle that whole thing before Iloya got back to him about Treehome.

- - - -

Erick had Ophiel walk over to the Office of the Exterior.

It was a tower just as large as all the other Overseer towers, but it was emptier than most. The Office of the Exterior didn’t have a whole lot to do these days, but eventually they would.

There was a single paper shaper working in the main financial room.

Farazi was a human man of rather good looks from Ar’Cosmos. He had not always looked this good, or this happy. Farazi was one of the few half dragons who had been so messed up by their mutative heritage that when he took a dunk in the Renewal Tank, he had come out as something completely unexpected. Apparently, Farazi had been genetically/spiritually/Erick-didn’t-want-to-get-into-his-personal-life a woman. Farazi had been expecting this, though, and put up with his new body for only as long as it took for him to meet with Erick. All of this came out in that first meeting, where Farazi asked for a proper [Reincarnation] in that very same meeting. After his oath of office, Erick settled Farazi into the body that he actually wanted. Erick would have done it without the oath, but since Farazi had been on a track to become part of Erick’s House, the oath had been required.

The guy practically beamed with joy as Ophiel-as-Erick walked into the financials room. Farazi rapidly rose from his seat and bowed, saying, “Sir!”

“What’s the schedule for Mox, Tasar, and Kiri today?”

Erick could just do an Imaging to find them, or he could ask Poi, but he wanted to check up on his people whenever he could, and Farazi was good people. Besides, all of his targets could be deep underground somewhere.

Farazi walked over to a different desk, glanced at the paperwork there, then said, “Overseer Mox is testing Miss Flamecrash’s talents with land transformation on the western side of the lake. Later, they will come back here and plan out the hundred-kilometer landscaping of the lands around the lake.”

“Thank you,” Erick said. “How goes the Office of the Overseer?”

With a brightness to his whole self, Farazi said, “We’ve settled on the structure of the organization and how it will handle future problems. Since yesterday’s events with Overseer Aisha and Miss Rednail, and due to people finding out about those, we have gotten some small inquiries for the establishing of cities under your aegis. Mox does not consider them realistic inquiries, but she is following up with them and I’m preparing some initial reports on the matter. Would you care to look over those proposals?”

New people? New cities!

Ha!

Erick hadn’t expected that to start happening for at least a year!

“That’s great news! I would like to go over them— I can’t right now.” Erick said, “I’m working on the Benevolence dungeon, and I think I have a spell that will fix our lack of Benevolence Essence. I have to do that. Good work, Farazi. I’ll read those reports later.”

Farazi bowed.

Ophiel departed.

- - - -

Ophiel descended on the western side of the lake. It did not take much time at all to find Kiri, Tasar, and Mox. About 25 kilometers from the lakeside, the three women stood on one of Tasar’s [Teleporting Platform]s, while Kiri’s [Familiar] danced across the land ahead. Nine Sunnys formed a line, each separated from the other by ten meters, as they flew across the land like rainbow soil tillers, roiling desert dunes into something more arable.

Their [Stoneshape]s ripped the granular sands of the desert into something finer, to make silt and even some clay. The process by which one transformed desert sands into soil was a thing that the people of Spur and other Crystal Forest cities had long since figured out, though they were usually only able to make the land fruitful for short stretches of time before the mimics came back and began fucking with the soil composition again.

Crystal mimics truly were an insidious problem.

Not only did they eat and destroy all green life, they fucked up the ground itself! Everywhere the mimics went, good soil turned to lifeless sand. It was more than just taking all the organics out of the soil, too. Mimics killed the land—

Well. They certainly changed the land so that only certain types of life could exist on that land. Perhaps ‘kill’ was too strong a word. They certainly did kill all green life, though! All it really took to fix the damage done by mimics, though, was keeping the mimics away, and using some mana to fix the smaller, hard-to-see problems.

Ophiel made a show of descending onto the platform, but all three women saw Erick long before Ophiel actually made himself apparent. The three women stopped what they were doing.

Erick spoke as Ophiel got close, “I made a Benevolence Essence growth spell. It should work for the Benevolence dungeon. Is it ready?”

Tasar blinked, dumbfounded. Kiri smiled.

Mox paused; the Benevolence dungeon was mostly ready. She asked, “What sort of spell?”

Erick handed over the blue box. All three women eyed it, with Tasar’s eyes briefly going wider, and then she stopped all that, seeming to ask herself why she was still amazed at Erick’s accomplishments. Kiri just smiled.

Erick explained, “[Terraforming] makes a large-sized lightning cloud. I’m gonna put it at the top of the tower and it’ll rain platinum rain as needed, cascading all the way down the tower. I imagine it’ll fill the pit beside the tower with water and then probably stop there.”

Mox put the blue box away, saying, “I’ll need a few hours. Rework the flows. Add some waterways. Prep for plant growth. Make sure it won't collapse under all that added weight and that the pit can fill in with water without undermining everything else. With Kiri’s help it’ll be done by noon.”

That was fine by Erick. He said, “Go ahead and pull some people from Aisha’s office, too, if you have to.”

“Your will be done, my king,” Mox said.

- - - -

Poi informed Erick that Treehome was ready to talk.

On the north side of House Benevolence, atop the large roof of the ‘sheet cake’ part of the building, Erick had built a small gazebo out of eternal stonewood, near the northeast lookout tower. It was there that Erick sat waiting for his appointment to show.

And show she did.

Syllea Wyrmrest, archmage of Treehome and expert in Mana Altering, appeared in a flash of clear light to the north, about a hundred meters away. She stood upon a [Force Platform] alongside Bayth, her childhood friend. Both women looked the same as the last time Erick had seen them; Syllea had green skin, with blonde hair and eyes like ice, while Bayth was brown with black hair and even more muscular than Teressa. A few weeks ago, Bayth had been the one to tell Erick not to contact Treehome for a while, opting to deliver that message in person.

That had been the last contact that he had had with that ancient home of Arbors and orcols in the Forest of Glaquin.

It probably would have been a good idea to have Teressa here with them for this meeting, but Teressa was still sitting at home, forced to rest. She had an Ophiel to keep her company, so it was just Erick and Poi here in the gazebo. They had only needed to wait about five minutes; just long enough for Syllea’s long range [Scry] to inform her that yes, Erick was waiting for her.

Erick stood up and stepped to the side of the shaded space, happily saying, “Hello again, Syllea! Bayth!”

In a professional tone, yet with underlying happiness, Syllea floated their platform forward, saying, “A pleasure to meet you again, Erick. We have had the most difficulty getting our Arbors and leaders to agree on our stance with you, but your recent request has finally tipped the scales in your direction.” She stepped down onto the ground. Bayth followed at her side. “I have been wanting to have any sort of conversation at all with you for the last two months! Thank you for the invitation.”

Erick smiled brightly at that, for she was telling the truth. Bayth looked happy to be here, too, but she was rather adept at playing the part of bodyguard, so she kept silent and stayed in the back. Erick offered, “Tea? Cookies? Or would you like to get down to business?”

“I’d love to have some tea,” Syllea said, returning Erick’s smile as she and Bayth stepped into the gazebo with him and Poi. “I’d also like a deep conversation about what you think a connection to Treehome looks like.”

Poi began making the tea, as Erick and Syllea took their seat in the gazebo.

Erick said, “A connection to Treehome could look like any number of things. It could be a full Gate Set, on Gate Road, along with a 500 meter by 500 meter plot of land that would be Treehome’s. I would ask for a Gate Tax for goods moved through the [Gate]s, or something like that. Perhaps a flat rate per tonnage moved? That particular question is still up in the air right now and getting rather complicated though, politically and numerically, so I’m not sure about that.

“Or, there could be a smaller connection of one single Gate that goes from Treehome to the financial district here in the Gate District, though that financial district hasn’t yet been built. That would be a Gate for personal, individual travel. I’m rather sure that I’ve figured out that cost at 1 gold per person, per trip through a Gate. Simple, easy to enforce, and not too large of a problem if people skip through without paying.

“Trade will not go through those Gates, aside from personal effects. You can already see how that could get into a grey sort of area, though, so that policy is still up for debate, too.

“Most places are going to be offered the single Gate option, but certain places that are large enough will qualify for the full 4 Gate Set and a plot of land on Gate Road. The plots of land are embassies and are required to do their own bookkeeping, but my castellan will be checking up on those sorts of numbers, and discrepancies will be frowned upon.

“But for Treehome, specifically:” Erick said, “I might want to plant Yggdrasil there, because he is asking questions and growing up fast, and I want him to be around trustworthy Arbors to grow up well. This sort of arrangement will be massively different from the other, normal options, and I might want to open up more Gate Networks using Treehome’s Yggdrasil; turning his new planting spot into another node of the Network, sort of thing. Local areas only, of course; individual Gates to— Well. The orcols don’t have any other cities aside from Treehome, so maybe just some Gates open between the Arbors? Or somewhere close? Allowing for easy travel between all your Arbor lands.

“Major Network traffic will still come through Candlepoint. I don’t expect that to ever change. When Songli finally stops being scared of me I plan to do a ‘local Network’ option for them, too, along with an embassy and 4 Gate Set here in Candlepoint.” Erick shrugged, adding, “Unless they decide they want something different. I suspect I will be doing a ‘Local Area Network’ for Stratagold in the next month or two.”

Yggdrasil’s [Scry] eye bounced on Erick’s shoulder as Erick spoke of a new planting by Treehome, and all the rest. The big guy wanted to be in Treehome, to be near other Arbors, even if he didn’t really know what that meant besides the fact that he was an Arbor, and maybe other Arbors would like fish as much as he did. Or maybe they would like different things! Yggdrasil was eager to find out. He wasn’t exactly cognizant of the world the first time Erick swung through Treehome, after all.

The tea was ready by the time Erick finished speaking, so he sipped his tea, and Syllea sipped hers.

After that calm moment, Syllea looked to Yggdrasil on Erick’s shoulder and brightened, asking, “So this is Yggdrasil, correct?”

“Oh! Yes.” Erick gestured to the eye, saying, “Yggdrasil, meet Syllea Wyrmrest, of the Wyrmrest Tribes of Treehome, the land of the orcols to the north of the Wyrmridge Mountains, in the Forest of Glaquin. Syllea, meet Yggdrasil, World Tree and my very good big boy.”

Syllea smiled brightly again as she bowed in her seat, saying, “A pleasure to meet you, Yggdrasil.”

Yggdrasil’s iridescent white [Scry] eye hopped off of Erick’s shoulder and then bounced up and down once, copying Syllea’s gesture. And then he returned to Erick’s shoulder.

Syllea turned her focus back to Erick, turning back to professionalism, as she said, “We are more interested in raising Yggdrasil correctly, through the planting of Yggdrasil close by Treehome, than at any possible expansion of the Gate Network. Perhaps, in the future, we will ask for a local area system, or some smaller application of your Network, but for now, Yggdrasil will be our priority. To determine how urgent this need is, I would like you to answer some personal questions, and we can go from there.”

“I can work with that.”

Syllea nodded. “What sort of questions is Yggdrasil asking you? Explain some of the situation, please.”

“Questions about sex and relationships and what it means to feel things as we ‘small people’ feel. What does food taste like. How can he taste food. I can’t really answer those questions, but I know Treehome can, for I have seen O’kabil’s and Nosier’s avatar forms. I know that at least O’kabil enjoyed a smoke with me that one time. If Treehome is willing to tell me what sort of spellwork allows your Arbors to achieve this sort of magic, then perhaps I could just pay for that spellwork and continue to raise Yggdrasil on my own and leave all of you out of this whole Gate Network thing.” Erick said, “That seems like an improper way to raise Yggdrasil, though, for I want him to talk to other people. He’s already making friends with people outside of my purview, which is fine, but I want to ensure that he is making the right kind of friends.”

Syllea relaxed as Erick spoke. She hadn’t been too tense, but there was some tension, and Syllea was not anywhere near as friendly as she had been when Erick had left Treehome behind. Erick suspected they were back to an even starting point, for the whole Wizardry thing still freaked her out.

It was fine.

They’d get back to that friendly sort of situation eventually.

Syllea said, “This is not nearly as bad as we feared. We have time to do this properly.”

That worried Erick a bit, so he asked, “What would a ‘bad situation’ look like?”

“If he was plucking things up from the world and ripping them apart to see how they functioned.”

Yggdrasil instantly cringed away from Erick’s shoulder, retreating behind him for a moment, before coming back out.

Erick said, “He has plucked fishes out of the water to show me, but he has not taken them apart. He is a good boy who knows that other things can feel pain, and he wants to lessen the pain in the world.”

Yggdrasil bounced up and down a fraction, though his enthusiasm for this conversation had been diminished.

Syllea nodded again, then looked to Yggdrasil as she asked Erick, “What actually prompted this contact?”

“I taught him how to send [Telepathy] message packets this morning and ended up experiencing about a half a million words worth of questions and concerns.”

Syllea’s eyebrows went up. “Ah.”

“We’ve talked all the time, but this was an order of magnitude more words than he has ever shared with me.” Erick said, “Mostly stream of consciousness stuff, but there were a lot of questions in there about small people and how to act around small people that I require answers I simply cannot give him, for I have no basis to draw upon besides my own.”

Syllea said, “Yggdrasil needs some experience with other Arbors.” She said to Yggdrasil’s [Scry] eye, “Arbor Holy O’kabil, Arbor Wyrmrest, Arbor Nosier, and Arbor Home, will be your primary guides on how to be an Arbor, but all of our Arbors also wish to share in your presence. All of Treehome wishes to get to know you, Yggdrasil, and to help you grow strong.”

Yggdrasil bounced a bit, ready to make new friends.

Syllea smiled a little, then said to Erick, “But as for our relationship with you… I have a few more questions to establish how our nations will interact, since you are a nation now. I also have a few demands of your person, to ensure that Yggdrasil is raised as well as any ‘small person’ can raise an Arbor.”

Erick nodded. “Okay.”

“I’ll go over the demands first.” Syllea said, “You will be granted the space directly above Yggdrasil roots and below his boughs as your own lands, but in reality, they will be Yggdrasil’s lands. You will not build anything upon that land that Yggdrasil does not approve of, and it has to be actual approval, written down for long term recall. You will not build in Yggdrasil’s boughs, though this is less of a long term concern for Yggdrasil than it is for the other Arbors, for Yggdrasil is World-Tree-large. Even so, Arbors sometimes like to change things about themselves, and having buildings on their boughs is not good for easy change. For the Yggdrasil at Treehome, we ask you to follow this rule.”

Yggdrasil sunk down on Erick’s shoulder.

Erick said, “I can work with that. I can put a house down on his roots.”

Syllea nodded. “That is the common way to do it.” She asked Yggdrasil, “Do you like living in water? Or would you prefer something different?”

Yggdrasil went still, in thought.

And then a tendril of thought came out of the air and connected to Syllea.

Syllea perked up, listened for several moments, then said, “The Restful River flows out of the Wyrmridge, beginning as a hundred smaller streams before it turns into the actual river, which then runs through the center of Treehome from east to west. There are some really nice fisheries located downstream, and some really dangerous fisheries located even further inside the Forest itself. We would like to grant you a space inside the Forest, near the river. The specific land we have in mind is a hundred kilometers north from Holy O’kabil, on the western edge of Treehome. It will be your job to transform that land from dangerous Forest into a solid expansion for Treehome, from which we people of Treehome will be able to expand into, with your approval. If you wish to make that river into a lake, then that is something we ask you to do yourself, with assistance and guidance from the Arbors, and from the people of Treehome. Working with people who are not your creator in order to provide bounty, probably in the form of fisheries and otherwise, will be the primary learning experience that we wish to impart to you, Yggdrasil.”

Yggdrasil was a bit excited, at first. But then Syllea kept talking. Yggdrasil had heard of the Forest from Erick, and that it was a dangerous place, and now Syllea was telling him that he couldn’t have his father there with him to help him along. Yggdrasil rapidly realized that maybe he didn’t like this whole idea of meeting other Arbors at all.

Erick spoke up, “You’ll be able to see other types of fish, and make a lake all to your liking. There’s this one fish called the Scarlet King that is really delicious, but also dangerous. We don’t have it here at Candlepoint, or over at Holorulo or down at Stratagold. Syllea and I shared a plate of that at a restaurant called Overloot one time. I’m sure it’s just one type of fish, too. There have to be hundreds of different fish in the lakes and rivers of the Forest.”

Yggdrasil was interested in seeing more fish, but he was not fully convinced that this was a good idea.

Syllea nodded at Erick’s words, adding, “The Restful River serves as the basin for about 30% of the Forest, which means there are thousands of types of fish which only live in our part of the world. Most of them are monsters. Many of them turn out to be unique species that we only ever see once or twice before they vanish back into the depths of the Forest. Some of them even through the Forest itself.”

Yggdrasil’s enthusiasm returned, but it was a brief candle that guttered rather fast.

Erick realized what the problem was; Yggdrasil was worried about leaving Erick behind. He told Syllea, “We would wish to be able to farm those waters, too. Maybe not through a permanent Gate between our lands, or at least not right away, but at least through shadelings and otherwise coming to Yggdrasil to fish. I will be coming there too, occasionally, both to be with Yggdrasil, and to help him when he wants.”

Yggdrasil perked up.

Syllea said, “We ask that you not actually assist him with clearing his land, securing it from threats, or doing much at all for him, physically or magically. He needs to be on his own at least a little. Having a house atop one of his roots is fine, though.”

Yggdrasil was back to not wanting to do this anymore.

Erick said, “It’ll be fun, Yggdrasil. You’ve been seeing me make a kingdom, and now you get to try making one all on your own, with a bunch of other Arbors there to guide you along the way! Holy O’kabil is good people, and Nosier knows a bunch of magic, and Wyrmrest ties everyone together in the same land; I’ve met those three the most, but I’ve had talks with all the rest, and they’re good people. And besides that, I’ll still be here with you here at Candlepoint.”

Yggdrasil bounced slowly, still unsure.

Syllea watched, holding back her thoughts for the moment.

Erick waited for a few moments, too, then he said, “I’m sure that the other Arbors can help you learn how to taste food, too.”

That cinched it. Yggdrasil went back to Erick’s shoulder, and hung out there, waiting for the rest of the conversation. He was prepared to be planted at Treehome.

Erick smiled a little bit.

Syllea changed topics, saying, “As for you, Erick, we would ask that when you do come to see how Yggdrasil is getting along, that you remain with him and not venture into the city. Do not open public [Gate]s on our lands. Do not interfere with our governing, and we will not interfere with yours. These are our basic requests of you.”

Erick said, “Sure. Sounds fine to me.”

Syllea gave a half nod filled with relief, then said, “We would ask after the possibility that you can tell the Twisted Visions to go far from our borders. Can you make that happen?”

Erick had no idea if he could make that happen. “I can ask around. I know that one of the Visions belongs to Ar’Cosmos, but beyond that, I am unaware if they have control over all of them, or not. I doubt they do. But now that you bring that up, that reminds me—” Erick asked, “How much of the Twisted Visions and [Gate] did Treehome actually know, all the way there at the beginning of my Path?”

Syllea frowned a little bit, but Erick knew it wasn’t directed at him. She was mad at not being told certain things, too. “The Arbors knew some of the truth of what Ar’Cosmos actually was, but according to them, the one of us who actually knew the most was Tenebrae. I didn’t even know that he knew as much as he did until recently, until Ar’Cosmos’s appearances here at Candlepoint made us reevaluate everything we thought we knew. If you ever happen to discover how such a subterfuge could have happened, then I would count it as a personal favor owed if you could inform me.”

She was telling the truth, as far as she knew.

And so, Erick moved on. He already had a suspicion on how the truth of the Twisted Vision could have been suppressed, so he said, “It was probably a Fae Seal; the removal of memories that coincided with the Twisted Vision, or anyone who happened to step inside. It would have been easy for that truth to be concealed like that. This is how the dragons have been operating for a long time, to ensure that their lands remained untainted and unchallenged by outsiders, so they could have a land where they weren’t automatically at war with each other because of the intrusion of the Dragon Curse.” He shrugged. “They did it to survive. It is what it is.”

Syllea just sat there for a moment, digesting that new information. And then she nodded, accepting Erick’s answer as ‘true enough, for now’. Syllea moved on, asking what she felt was the largest question of the meeting, “What are your ultimate goals? Why are you doing all of this? The dynasty creation. Declaring yourself a king. Getting into alliances with Ar’Cosmos. Even making the Gate Network. It’s all very big, Erick. It’s all rather worrisome, too, to know that you are actually a Wizard.”

For a moment Erick was speechless. Erick had felt that his actions spoke rather loudly, but then again, Syllea’s question was a large question; one that not many people had directly asked. But Treehome was asking, so Erick would answer. “I am attempting to make the world a better place because I want a safe place for me and mine, and ‘mine’ can include the entire world on most days, if you look at it from my perspective; we’re all in this together.

“The only way to get to a better tomorrow is through ensuring that today is better for everyone than compared to how yesterday had been. I do this through talk, and work, and otherwise, and will continue to do this for as long as I am able. But of course, talk and small actions only work when one has the power to back up their desires, so while I have power, I will also use that power for the betterment of all.” He added, “And as long as everyone else at least tries to do the same, then that is how it will go. If civility breaks down, then the darker sides of power will come out, and I will use my power to end those threats before they can harm me or mine.”

Though some of Erick’s actions had and will continue to be radical, his purpose for doing it all was not very radical at all.

Syllea asked, “You do it for safety?”

“Peace, more realistically. But it’s more than that.” Erick spoke the refrain he had learned from Songi, “Peace and prosperity for all.” He shrugged. “If I have to force that peace and prosperity, then that’s fine. For instance, I know of a few longstanding threats and possible boons coming in the next several decades, and so I will be erasing those threats and supporting those boons as necessary. I don’t plan on using too much force to get the peace and prosperity I desire, though, for a world built upon too much blood can only ever get more bloody.”

As a test, Syllea asked, “But some blood is necessary.”

“Yes.” Erick said, “The Shades needed to die. Terror Peaks needed to die. Monsters that cannot suffer others to live free also need to die. These should not be surprising or even controversial statements.”

“And you determine who needs to die? Across the whole world? And the next and the next?”

Oh.

Erick realized what Syllea’s specific problem was.

He recalled a conversation he had had with Syllea about the responsibilities of the individual archmage, back when Syllea had been teaching him about Elemental Mercy and Air Magic in order for Erick to be able to operate incognito; so he could walk around places without being swamped by fans or assassins, or business requests. During that conversation, Erick had asked about large scale magics and how archmages could end monster threats the world over.

Eventually, Erick had done just that, helping to rid the Forest of deathsoul shrooms and moon reachers. That had only been a temporary measure, though, lasting maybe a century or two, since there were still moon reachers deep in the mountains and they moved around all the time. Deathsoul shrooms spat spores out, too, and the extermination efforts could not have possibly gotten rid of all of those.

Whatever the final outcome, that action was still a reprieve from the dangers of those two monsters.

But monsters still filled the Forest. Death and danger still came for Treehome and the migratory orcols all the time. Erick had not ‘solved’ anything, only delayed the problem for a few generations.

And that, specifically, was Syllea’s problem with progressive archmages.

If the archmages helped too much, then the next generation might not be able to weather the coming storm of new-to-them threats. Of course, this analogy broke down in the orcol’s specific case, for they had the immortal Arbors there to inform people of all sorts of monsters. Those immortal Arbors allowed information and tactics to be planned decades and centuries in advance, long past the short memories of mortals.

Syllea was terrified of the fallibility of people, and as far as she knew, Erick was just a person; he would be dead in any number of decades hence, and all that he built would come crumbling down.

She was wrong, Erick thought, but he let her finish what she was saying.

With a barely-hidden sadness in her voice, Syllea continued, “If you do too much for others then they won’t be able to stand on their own feet when the Darkness comes, and you’re not here to defend them.”

“The world is changing, Syllea.” Erick said, “And just like your Arbors, just like Yggdrasil, like Kirginatharp and King Alfonin, I’m going to try and stick around for as long as I can, to see these changes turn out well. Unlike them, I have the power to take everyone who wants to stick around with me into the far future, too. But I’m not morally better, or worse, than anyone else who tries to do good for others. Just different. Hopefully, even with these differences, what I build here will still be stable enough for others to build upon.”

And now Syllea was speechless. Behind her, Bayth’s eyes went wide as she looked across the table at Erick, and then she frantically averted her gaze. Syllea breathed deep, then said, “Then you’ve already crossed that expected threshold.”

“Back in the Core, actually. With Rozeta’s help. I’ve been functionally immortal for several months already.”

Syllea breathed again.

Erick waited.

Syllea collected herself, and said, “A place will be made for Yggdrasil by tomorrow. I look forward to a long and bountiful relationship between you, Erick, and Treehome. I hope that whatever you’re building here can be a good part of that relationship, too, but…” Her voice trailed off, as she had too much she needed to say, and not enough words that were good enough to fulfill that need.

“That’s good by me.” Erick decided to move the conversation to an old topic, saying, “When we first met, you expressed an interest in pushing back the Crystal Forest. My apprentice is starting that project either at the end of today, or tomorrow. We’ll begin with a hundred kilometer ring around the lake here, and expand from there. I expect it will take her and my Overseer of the Exterior about a week or maybe two, to get that far. If you’re still interested in helping with that project, we could use your expertise.”

“… Maybe later.” Syllea was ready to leave, but remembered something which she did not want to remember. She cringed a little, then said, “Tenebrae has asked me to ask you how much a [Reincarnation] would cost him.”

Instead of being surprised at the sudden change in topic, Erick simply felt calm. He had been waiting for some sort of communication from Tenebrae, through some sort of official or unofficial channel, or whatever, if only for [Gate]; for Tenebrae to demand that spellwork for himself. This was a variation on that demand that Erick was not exactly prepared for, but he had prepared for this sort of request anyway, for a lot of people were asking this same sort of question; sometimes subtly, sometimes openly and with great promises of gold attached.

Erick said, “[Reincarnation] rids the target person of every single spell they have, every single blessing, every single curse. Everything. It sets them to level 0. In return, I am able to give the recipient any sort of body they wish for, with any sort of predispositions for anything that they can think of and request. I can change a person’s race, gender, or predispositions toward being happy or being serious or being gloomy, or being smart, or being brave, or anything. Or, I can set you on a track to a far-off goal that aligns with your desires, and predispositions toward emotions will align with that far off goal.

“If a parameter is not specifically selected, they are filled in randomly. Such things include the sizes of feet, or eye color, or the color of your magic. The color of one’s magic tends to shift lighter, usually.

“What you keep, and what I cannot change, are your memories. I can alter biology so that you might view those memories differently, but I cannot change your memories themselves.

“I suggest a ‘less is more’ approach with your requests, where the thinner your requests, the easier it is to get what you want, and the less control I have over the final outcome.” Erick added, “In Tenebrae’s specific case, though, as is the case with everyone who has [Familiar]s… This kills the [Familiar] spell inside the soul. Any undifferentiated Rockys will simply cease to exist.”

Syllea asked, “But what would it cost him?”

For a brief moment, Erick was rather sure that Syllea had not heard his explanations of [Reincarnation]’s costs.

But then Erick realized that Syllea and other people from Treehome had likely talked with Tenebrae about all of this, at length— Well. Like. Duh. Yes. The Wyrmrest Enclave, which oversaw much of the beating back of dangers of the Wyrmridge Mountains, and of which Tenebrae and Syllea were both a part of, likely had a lot of discussions about all of this. They had probably spoken at length with all of his various former-Oceanside people about their own [Reincarnation]s, too. Nothing Erick had told Syllea had been new.

She truly was simply asking about costs. Monetary, or otherwise.

“Free.” Erick said, “For Tenebrae? Free. For anyone who has proven to be an asset to the world? Free.” Erick rapidly added, “But… I would hope that Tenebrae would request a new Familiar Form that allows his true, wonderful self to come out. I’d hope to see more of that version of Tenebrae that helped Jane and Teressa and I learn of gridwork, and gave me all that assistance with [Gate]. Less of the version of him that threatened Poi, and which dumped us unceremoniously off at Songli. I’d also like for his children, the Rockys, to be separated from him before I do this magic, for I won’t kill them myself... Though with what I know of how he made that spell, any separation will end up with some of the Rockys dying before they can be born.”

Syllea leaned back a bit, then asked, “Would you impose such soul changes upon him?”

At that moment, Erick saw where this line of questioning was going.

Tenebrae was probably watching right now.

Erick said, “No. I would not. I would ask him to consider the ultimate trajectory of his next life, though, in the hopes that he would choose the right path himself. But I would not force my own views upon him. And I also won’t kill the Rockys. Tenebrae would need to find a way to save them or kill them himself, for I won’t do it.”

“… Well.” Syllea resolved herself to what came next, as she said, “Tenebrae would come here, now, and have you do this for him while I watch the process. He would also have you perform a [Reincarnation] on his Cook, Palodia. Do you agree?”

“… Sure.” Erick ignored the fact that Syllea had ignored part of his own demands, and added another request of her own. Erick gestured to the flat, open space beyond the gazebo, in full light of the sun. “Over there? Or in the office space down below that if privacy is needed?”

Syllea did not answer—

For ten meters away, atop the flat white roof of House Benevolence, the air shimmered purple and opened, becoming a [Gate]. A courtyard full of people lay on the other side. It was night in that other part of the world, and Erick recognized the pillars and the people from a while ago. It was the same place from which the original Rocky and a few others came from, when they visited his ailing, dying father, after Ophelia had differentiated from the spell inside Tenebrae’s soul, causing the older archmage some physical distress…

Tenebrae had almost died, actually. It wasn’t a simple ‘distress’.

Erick had imagined that Tenebrae had recovered, and that he would be walking through the [Gate] alongside Rocky and a few others, but he had been misinformed about Tenebrae’s health.

Rocky, the original differentiation of Tenebrae’s [Summon Rocky] spell, stood beside a bed that floated upon a purple Platform spell. The bed held a lot of pillows. So many pillows that it was hard to initially see the man upon those pillows.

Erick did not expect Tenebrae to be this bad, but maybe he should have.

The old man was thin. He was barely awake, struggling to keep his eyes open, but then Rocky walked through the [Gate] and brought his father with him. Tenebrae recognized that he was moving. He saw night turn into bright day, as he passed under the purple arch of Rocky’s [Gate], and his eyes opened fractionally wider. He looked around. It was easy to tell that Tenebrae was heavily drugged and in a lot of pain; he was barely himself.

But then Tenebrae saw Erick. Focus came to the aging Stone Archmage like the final flickering of a candle, turning into pyre. The old man stared with bright, grey eyes.

Two more people came through the [Gate].

Palodia, Tenebrae’s Cook, was an old incani woman with red skin and horns who scowled most of the time; now, she just prayed, silently, to whatever gods cared to hear. The only other person to come through the [Gate] was a dark black stone woman. She was Obsidia; one of the differentiated Rockys. The purple [Gate] closed behind them, shutting out the sights of over fifty other people, stone and otherwise, in a dark courtyard on the other side of the world.

Rocky walked forward silently, barely willing to meet Erick’s eyes. He held some paperwork in his stone hands. Erick walked forward and met the man halfway, silently taking the paperwork. Rocky kept his head bowed and stepped away.

Erick read over the paperwork in under four seconds, without even flipping through. His eyes briefly went wide. He had to confirm what he had read. “You got rid of the [Summon Rockys] spell?”

Tenebrae narrowed his eyes at Erick.

There was a lot to see in that small expression.

Tenebrae hated everything about this. He hated that Erick was a Wizard, and that he had gotten [Gate]. He hated his own mortality. He hated that Erick was young again, and Blessed by Rozeta. He was furious that Erick had gotten secrets out of Ar’Cosmos that he had been working at for decades. He was angry at the world, but mostly he was angry at needing to come here and beg like a dog. Mostly, though, he was furious that Erick would ever think that killing the [Summon Rockys] spell didn’t hurt him; that it wasn’t a massive emotional turmoil, and that he wasn’t devastated that it had to be done.

Palodia took a half-step forward, her voice was weak, but it was stronger than Tenebrae’s, for he could not speak at all. She said, “When we… When we divested Tenebrae of all his worldly assets and set to right his final papers… We did that two months ago, back when the doctors said that the next differentiation would kill him.”

“I apologize for my uncouth suggestion,” Erick said. “Please forgive my unkind words.”

Tenebrae relaxed a little, looking both vindicated and supremely tired.

The differentiation of a summon into a person was not an easy thing on the original creator. It was likened unto a birth, but the pain was less of the body, and more of the soul, as parts of the creator’s soul were ripped away as the new soul became their own person. Tasar had explained all of this to Erick, back when she spoke about what it meant to be an immortal and have [Familiar]s.

Ophiel’s eventual differentiation would hurt Erick a lot, in all the unintentional ways a person can hurt another. Yggdrasil’s differentiation would have probably been easier, since Arbors were generally in the original caster for such a short amount of time, but then again, Yggdrasil had that seal on him, and he would be with Erick for a hundred years. Maybe Yggdrasil’s cognizance would make that separation easier; Tasar didn’t know, for sure. Usually, as soon as [Familiar]s became cognizant, they separated, and that process was exactly as bad as souls splitting.

Tenebrae had taken a different route with his [Summon Rockys] spell, and the eventuality of differentiation. His soul would slowly bleed off new people every few years. Tasar didn’t quite approve of that, nor did she disapprove. It was simply an option, one that ensured that the people created by the [Familiar] spell would be able to be their own species, and that the creator got to keep their [Familiar] spell.

Of course, such a decision led to this outcome right here. The [Reincarnation] option was a twist, but even still, Tenebrae’s [Familiar] spell would die with his current form.

Erick had no idea what to think about everything that was happening in front of him. He was thankful, though, that Tenebrae had removed that thorny ethical problem before coming here.

There was one thing about all of this that Erick was sure about, though.

Erick said to Rocky, “Rocky. If your people ever desire to leave behind your stone bodies and become fleshy sorts, then I could probably [Strike] that mark. I plan to do the same for Ophiel when that inevitability happens, if Ophiel should choose that path.”

Rocky stood a bit straighter. Obsidia’s eyes went wide. Palodia gasped a little, feeling overjoyed in the moment.

Tenebrae’s eyes also went wide as a tiny, overjoyed, yet barely audible laugh escaped his dry mouth. His heart briefly beat hard—

And then flatlined.

Everyone instantly panicked—

Except for Erick. Erick ignored the frantic scream of Obsidia, the sudden crash-to-the-knees of Rocky, and Palodia’s rush to be closer to Tenebrae. The Wizard flickered forward, like lightning, and did the [Reincarnation] as fast as he could. He made it in time, of course. Tenebrae’s soul remained inside his rapidly transforming body the whole time he transitioned into someone else.

Erick hit every mark that Tenebrae had seen fit to write down.

Orcol. Male. Average height. Average build. Young, at 17. Would grow slightly bigger thanks to puberty, his lower fangs coming in properly in another year.

A trajectory toward magic and using that magic to make the world better everywhere he went.

A love of the forest, and the mountains, and of the sun and flying and delving into stone. A love of women.

A desire for children, and to help others.

Tenebrae’s soul lay bare before Erick, written in the fractal splash of possible futures, but even before that, his soul was laid bare inside the paperwork Rocky had handed over. Tenebrae wanted to help people. He had always wanted to help people. He had simply gotten cynical about it after too many tragedies. And yet, in his own way, he had still continued to help people to the best of his ability, as much as his psyche could handle.

Erick hoped Tenebrae’s next life would have fewer tragedies.

Palodia was next, for Rocky had handed Erick paperwork for two people.

She was ready.

Erick sent the old incani woman into dreamland. When she awoke, later, under the care of the differentiated Rockys, and alongside Tenebrae, Palodia would be a 17 year old orcol woman with a love of food, and men, and battle. She would be the best Cook in the world, learning all there was to know about all sorts of foods, and maybe, this time, she would have a knack for [Grow]ing things, too.

Maybe, this go-around, she could even find the time to have children.

There were a lot of similarities and complementing factors between both Tenebrae’s and Palodia’s paperwork. Because of those, Erick could only draw one conclusion.

Tenebrae and Palodia had loved each other for a very long time, but they had never been able to make it work for any number of reasons. Age difference. Incani versus human differences. Power differences. Emotional and circumstantial differences. Tenebrae had once had a flesh and blood family, but as far as Erick knew, those people were all dead. Only Palodia, his Cook, remained from that time.

Maybe they could make it work, this time.

Erick watched the two new orcols depart on a single floating purple platform, sleeping amongst the pillows as they floated through a purple [Gate], with Rocky and Obsidia guiding them forward. Back to Eidolon, back to the Rocky compound. He wished them the best in their new lives.

For a moment, nothing happened.

And then Erick returned to the gazebo to sit back down with Syllea and hash out a few more specifics of what it meant to have Yggdrasil in Treehome. This second conversation was nice and easy, with Syllea hinting that if Erick wanted to build a house on Yggdrasil’s roots and spend some time up there, then that was great. Soon enough, all of the previous wariness was gone. Syllea was happy to be here, talking to Erick, and Erick was glad to have Syllea here, too. Erick eventually asked after what sorts of fish of the Forest that might transplant well to Candlepoint’s lake, and Syllea had a bunch of ideas about that.

Yggdrasil’s enthusiasm for this whole thing returned. He really started bouncing at the side of the table when Syllea began making lightwards to illustrate the fish she had been naming.

They went through two pots of tea and a whole tray of cookies as Syllea spoke of various happenings in her neck of the woods while Erick had been on the Path, and Erick spoke about what had happened to him on the Path. Erick asked after Treehome’s relationship with the fae, and the dragons, and he got a few unexpected answers.

“Ha! I had no idea about all this Fae stuff until after your Path ended!” Syllea laughed a little bit more, then said, “Wyrmrest knew some of it, though, so I was furious with him for a good week and constantly worried about some sort of attack from them. But nothing ever happened. Whatever contacts that Ar’Cosmos has to have with Treehome are so minimal that they’ve simply never been in my Sights, at all.” Syllea scoffed, “Which is rather personally annoying! I can’t believe that we don’t have contact with them… Eh!” She shrugged.

Erick had a hard time believing that, too, but Syllea was telling the truth as she knew it. “And you’ve never been warned away from using Fae Magic?”

“Everyone always warns against using that Mana Alter but I’ve literally never had a problem with using Fae Magic.” Syllea said, “I certainly didn’t expect Fae Magic to be the way to make a [Gate], either! I’ve barely ever found any good use for it, though, so that’s why I never did much with it.”

“What!” Now that was simply unbelievable. Erick laughed a little, asking, “But [Fairy House]?”

“Easy to find when you know how to look, and even easier to break. Fae Magic is too fragile.” Syllea shrugged. “That’s why I don’t use that magic.”

“So what about using it with runic webs, then?”

“… Ah… Those things that the wrought use to emplace magic? I mean… Sure? They make magic more stable, but— Well. Runic webs hold up well against normal mages and when they’re respected, but that is only one problem. The real problem is that they cost too much! All that platinum and gold! Ha!…” Syllea looked at Erick. “But I guess you got a connection to Stratagold so that particular cost isn’t a problem?”

“I’m working on a way to make runic-capable iron that won’t rust. I’ll be some combination of [Condense Oxygen] and [Condense Iron], and then the rest of the runic web will be built upon that.”

Syllea’s eyes went wide. And then she threw back her head and laughed. “That’s wonderful! I hope you can make it work!”

Erick smiled.

They had a few more words, but Syllea was ready to depart soon enough. All of the coldness she had first shown was gone. She had seen the entirety of the [Reincarnation] process and she had been absolutely floored the whole way through, like she was witnessing a miracle made manifest. The conversation afterward had been wonderful, too.

Syllea was back to being someone that Erick could talk to, and she even said as much as she walked out of the gazebo, saying, “Call me up anytime, Erick!” She rapidly added, “Uh. Everyone else in Treehome is still scared of you, but if you get a restaurant up and running here at your House then I’d love to have dinner with you sometime, and—” She blushed a bit, almost saying something else, but then she did not.

Erick smiled, saying, “Maybe I’ll have to offer some [Reincarnation] services to the Cooking Guilds of Nelboor. Get me some world class Cooks on the cheap!”

Syllea’s eyebrows went up. “You should! Maybe you could— Ah! I could keep talking for hours, but I must be off.”

“See you tomorrow.”

“Yes! See you tomorrow, when you come by for Yggdrasil.”

Yggdrasil’s [Scry] eye bounced in the air next to Erick. He was eager to go visit the new fishes.

Syllea and Bayth stood together under the sun, ready to leave, but then Bayth did an uncharacteristic bow. She had no idea what to think of everything she had just seen, nor what to do with the thoughts she had managed to pin down, which didn’t seem like many to Erick; she had been silent and thinking the whole time. He could only guess at what Bayth truly thought of the whole experience. Syllea grinned as she glanced at Bayth, and then she took her hand.

The two vanished in a flash of clear magic.

Erick stood alone with Poi on the steps of the gazebo.

He breathed deep, thinking about what had just happened, and feeling happy that all it had taken was one conversation with Syllea for her to move past her fear of him. He had been a bit worried over Treehome and some of Syllea’s questions regarding Yggdrasil, but those worries were mostly gone now. Treehome would be good for Yggdrasil.

Tenebrae asking for a [Reincarnation] and then showing up not a minute later had been unexpected, but that was fine, too. He and Palodia could grow up together, both of them as orcols, and maybe that was exactly what they both wanted. Asking to be an orcol had been slightly unexpected, but maybe it shouldn’t have been; the Wyrmridge Enclave was multiracial but it was mostly orcols.

And that got Erick wondering.

Erick had never played around with his [Perfected Polymorph] from his Protean species at all, but maybe he could give it a whirl? Greeting Syllea at eye-level might be fun the next time he saw her…

But.

No.

That was probably weird. Showing up as an orcol?

Hmm.

No.

It was a fun thought, though.

Erick stood there for a while longer, enjoying the sights of his growing kingdom, and the northern breeze as it brushed through his hair—

A thought arrived. In all the drama of the day, Erick had forgotten to joke with Poi about how he was overworked and he needed more sleep, so he had taken the world’s potentially strongest magic, Time Magic, and made a nice little [Hasted Shelter] to sleep within. Kinda funny, that.

But before he could fully realize his joke, though, Poi was already laughing.

Erick just smiled.

That was good enough.

- - - -

The Crystal Forest stretched further than the eye could see. Orange and tan sands covered most of the land out there, but it was not all uniform. Deep below the sands, the stone land undulated up and down here and there, forming valleys and sometimes mountains. Or, there would have been mountains, if the natural processes of the crystal mimics didn’t degrade stone and otherwise into sand. Occasionally, though, that stone basin was too thick to be fully broken down, and too near the surface. Those lands formed plateaus of stone, or, in the case of dungeons and city work, formed a solid base which to dig into and/or build upon. None of those under-sand mountains or valleys were large at all, but here and there, civilization had built upon many of these stony areas of the Crystal Forest.

All of Candlepoint, the lake and the Gate District, and much of the surrounding lands, was a rather good building site, because it was rather solid. This was not due to any natural variation in the Crystal Forest, though. It was due to the [Metropolis Shape] that Melemizargo had done to make the lake; bringing an Underworld ocean closer to the surface.

The Benevolence dungeon was built upon one of the further-out undersand stone prominences, about 25 kilometers north, and just a bit east, of the Gate District’s outer wall.

This dungeon was a spiraling tower of thick stone, reaching a hundred meters into the air and half that wide. Large, arching windows followed that spiral all the way up and down, allowing ample light into the tower, where a great many series of pools had been created all up and down the spiral to catch water, and then allow that water to continue to flow all the way to the bottom. The dungeon had had floors this morning. It had not looked like the thick, spiraling base of a unicorn horn with a bunch of holes following that spiral, until now.

Mox, her people, and Kiri, had adjusted the whole place over the last few hours.

They had even changed the pit beside the spiraling tower into a deep reservoir where fish could live well enough, as soon as some greenery started to grow and support that life. At the bottom of that reservoir lay some pipes in which some [Gravity Ward]s could be placed, allowing the water to cycle back up to the top of the tower.

Mox, Kiri, Tasar, and Poi, stood with Erick upon Erick’s own [Teleporting Platform], in order to view the lands from the outside, and to inspect the surroundings. They currently floated atop the wall that surrounded the dungeon, about a kilometer away from the actual building. Other workers for the Office of the Exterior stood upon that wall, watching Erick inspect their work.

Mox said, “This wall is not far enough to stop mimics from viewing the tower and seeing the greenery which we expect to grow, but that’s why we put a second wall five kilometers out. We have not cleared that land because we have not had time, so we will get some mimic problems for a few days, but with a green beacon in the center those monsters should come forward on their own. We won’t have to do too much active hunting.”

Erick gently moved the platform forward, toward the tower, as he said, “It looks great.” He smiled. “Really good, actually. It should be able to hold up a lot of water weight and plant life, too?”

Mox nodded. “Every part of its construction is overengineered. The walls are at least three times as thick as they have to be. The floors are the same, and the ceilings are made with arch support. The land below has been solidified with a lot of the previous tunneling removed. This has cut the expected space of the dungeon down to half normal size, but if you’ve got a real Rift spell, then this is probably the most we should attempt to handle at this early stage of Benevolence dungeon design.”

They had reached the dungeon, and Erick began to ascend, watching the spiral floors fall away as they went up. He said, “I can make a big place out of eternal stonewood if it proves necessary, but this is great for now.”

Their Platform crested the upper edge of the dungeon.

The top of the tower was complex in execution, but simple in effect.

The spiraling dungeon capped off with a large, open space, about twenty meters across and with a bunch of pillars located all around the edge. A railing ran around the rim, connecting each pillar to each other. In the center of that space, about ten meters across, was a basin that emptied to the north. In the north lay the entrance to the spiral, where even more empty pools lay. Those pools were like steps ready to be filled before they, too, spilled downward, into more pools, down, down, down, all the way to the reservoir to the south of the tower.

Loamy soil lay in divots all around every pool, and also at the bottom of every pool. Erick expected that this place would eventually be filled with ferns and lilies and moss and mushrooms. Maybe some small trees? He did not know. Probably not, though.

Lotta flowers, though.

The building itself was built with the northern winds in mind, but unlike in the Air dungeon where the wind was gathered and channeled and would eventually bring about air slimes, the air here was buffeted away. They didn’t want air slimes; they wanted Benevolence slimes.

Or rather ‘benevolence slimes’, with a small ‘b’, because they were just a general manifestation of the element and not the element itself.

Mox said, “We might end up with benevolence plants, though. Still not sure if Benevolence is capable of making slimes, but it can surely make plants.”

Erick grinned as he moved the platform to the east, slowly circling the top of the tower, getting a look at the whole place. “I’m rather sure [Terraforming] won’t be able to make slimes directly, but I still expect slimes to eventually happen.”

Tasar offered, “They found a few blood slimes at the former Brightwater a week ago, even after they cleaned it up. Esoteric slimes spawn all the time where odder magics happen.”

Erick was happy to hear that. “Then this should make some benevolence slimes, eventually. You know, I haven’t seen any light slimes around Yggdrasil yet. I’m guessing it's the deep waters, and slimes don’t do well in deep water?” As he stabilized the Platform on the western edge of the tower, he asked, “But I could be wrong?”

Tasar shrugged; her guess was as good as Erick’s.

“Slimes do not do well in deep water.” Mox said, “But if you ever plant Yggdrasil on land, then there will likely be many slimes.”

“I’ll probably be planting him at Treehome tomorrow.” Erick smiled as he reached forward and cast, saying, “He’ll get to have fun learning from the other Arbors.”

A spark of white lightning crashed out of the empty air, coalescing into a glowing white cloud that sparked brightly, before transforming into a billowing white mass of iridescent wind and water and—

Rain fell like drops of white gold, splashing on the tan and orange stone below. Where it struck stone, that stone glowed white, and moss began to spread. Where it struck dirt, ferns and small plants began to grow—

Arm-thick lightning crashed out of the cloud, striking a pillar to the right, turning the entire orange and tan stone into something whiter, lingering like an infusement of light. Or rather, an infusement of Benevolence. It didn’t linger long. As the light faded, moss began to grow like a spreading green carpet—

Lightning flashed inside the [Terraforming] space, flickering here and there all across the top of the tower, turning dull stone into something that glowed white. Erick backed away the platform as the wind picked up and gathered into twisting, iridescent flows. Moisture turned thicker. Rain began to fall in heavy drops, and the cloud began to expand, covering all of the tower’s top. White rain fell down the sides of the tower, eliciting moss here and there—

The cloud condensed into a thick, white fluff directly above the tower, losing most of its white light, turning to grey clouds as the rain began to truly fall. It was only a large-size cloud, though. It might have been a heavy rain, with only the barest flickers of white inside of it all, but it was still a small cloud.

It would take little while to fill that first basin and to begin to truly wash water down the entire tower, but it would fill nonetheless. [Terraforming] wasn’t a one-and-done spell, meant to do everything all at once. It was meant to last forever.

Or at least as long as the spell wasn’t purposefully disrupted.

Kiri said, “I expected it to go faster than that.”

Erick chuckled, saying, “That’s as fast as it needs to go because it’s going to last forever, and even if it does degrade, someone can simply [Renew] it when that spell comes out in the Open Script.” Erick briefly calculated how long it would take before the water eventually filled the reservoir down below, and said, “I’m guessing about two weeks before it’s filled? Rough estimate.” He turned to Mox. “Plenty of time to get a feel for how it all works, and to clear out the mimics between the walls. Probably don’t go to the very upper level, though. It’s still sparking lightning.”

And it was. Here and there, small flashes of white light echoed inside the grey cloud.

Mox nodded. “Aye, my king.”

Erick asked, “Do you all want off here? Or shall I bring us back to the House?”

“We still have more work to do,” Mox said, looking to Tasar.

Tasar gestured to the right and conjured her own black-green [Teleport Platform], asking, “Are you going back to Yggdrasil, then?”

Kiri and Mox moved over to the other platform.

“Yes. Teressa says she’s fine, but she’s still recovering. Aisha is back in her office, but I haven’t gotten a chance to speak with her yet. How was she, last you saw?”

Tasar followed Mox and Kiri onto her platform, saying, “She’s doing good.”

“I’ll talk to her next.” Erick pulled his Platform away a bit, saying, “See you three later!”

And then Erick blipped back home with Poi.

- - - -

Back inside the house, Teressa met them in the front foyer, saying, “While you were gone, something strange happened. There was a counter-prognostication battle with Treehome, but I won.”

Erick froze.

Teressa continued, “To explain better: Upon your initial contact with Treehome a few hours ago, Treehome decided to revisit an old idea about breaking Yggdrasil from your control. Nothing will happen now, because you ensured as much with your talk with Syllea, and because of this conversation happening right now. I do apologize for keeping this information from you until after the fact, but it was for the best… I still… I’m sorry, Boss.”

Erick was briefly… Not mad. Not exactly.

Disappointed, perhaps.

Not disappointed in Teressa, either… Not exactly. She had let him know what had happened— after the fact, yes, but she had still talked to him about it. She did what she thought was best, and it worked out well, in the end.

Erick got over his brief turmoil of emotions and said, “Thank you, Teressa.”

Teressa had been expecting a reprimand, and she did not get it. Surprise was the least of her emotions, as she said, “I’m really sorry about not telling you while it happened, Boss. The chain of command means I have to tell you what is happening but what I saw told me not to tell you and you made Benevolence so…” She went quiet. “It was like you were already giving me the go-ahead to… Make my choice how I made it.”

“It’s okay, Teressa.” And Erick found himself not lying, as he said, “It’s really okay. I’m capable of sensing Benevolence, too… I mostly go with the flow until I know I shouldn’t, though, which is, I suppose, Benevolence at work? Eh. Don’t worry about it. I’m certainly not going to worry about it, either. And besides that, of course the Arbors would try to break Yggdrasil from my soul. It would be a monumentally stupid thing to do, but they’re just acting in their own natures as Arbors; They don’t want to be slaves, and they don’t want others to be slaves. I can see their perspective. Thankfully, they saw that their initial impetus was a bad idea, too, so I’m not going to begrudge people going over their options when they end up choosing the best one.”

Teressa breathed a little, relief showing on her face. “But now you know, and that changes things politically.”

“Yup,” Erick agreed.

Poi had been silent, but now he spoke up, saying, “This right here is why we Mind Mages don’t tell anyone about what we sense; it leads to destructive habits and people planning around things that others only think about, and don’t actually do.”

Teressa frowned at him, saying, “Prognostication battles are not Mind Magic. These things could have actually happened.”

Poi frowned, for he knew that Teressa was wrong, but he wasn’t willing to fight her on it. Mostly, he knew that she would realize what she had said if he gave her a disapproving look.

Which is exactly what happened.

Teressa recoiled a fraction, and went, “Uh. But I suppose… Thoughts could happen, too? I mean… Someone could act on those thoughts. They just chose not to in this case.”

Poi slowly nodded.

Teressa dug her heels in as she said, “This is more complicated than Mind Magic, Poi.”

“It’s really not,” Poi said.

“I’m not going to worry about it,” Erick decided, ending the argument. He said to Teressa, “And you, young lady, should be in bed.”

“Yes, Boss.” Teressa turned and walked back to her room, saying, “Back to bed, back to bed.”

She walked down the hall, entered her room, and crashed on her bed. She was out before her head had hit the pillow, which was not that surprising. Her soul was mostly healed, but ‘mostly’ was not ‘fully’. There were lingering effects of her transformation. Teressa had barely been hanging on to consciousness while standing in the hallway, and now that she had discharged her duty, she was sleeping it off.

Erick turned back to Poi, saying, “You seemed unduly hard on her.”

Poi frowned, saying, “I was not, actually.”

Erick pulled back a bit. “You were fighting on telling me everything that she told me, weren’t you? All while Syllea was here.”

Poi frowned again, saying, “I was not, actually.” His frown briefly deepened, as Erick realized the logical progression of what his answer had meant. But to dispel any possible misinterpretation, Poi said, “I was not fighting on telling you about Treehome’s possible plans for Yggdrasil, because Syllea might have heard something about that, but she didn’t know what all the rest of her people might have been planning—” While Erick had a bunch of ideas about that, too, Poi pointedly said, “That right there! Stop that. Prognostication battles veers directly into the exact same problem with acting on information gathered from minds, and not from actions. I’ve held my tongue on this subject for quite a while now, but the time for my silence must end.

“People had plans to do something to Yggdrasil. But then nothing came of it, because they were able to meet you and have a conversation and see that you were the same person that everyone is telling them that you are.

“If they had actually tried shit with you, Erick, I would have warned you long before Teressa could. I’m sure every single god and otherwise working with you would have tried to stop it, too. Goldie is literally always by us, and she would have been involved in a prognostication battle, too, for sure. AND, whatever Treehome needs to do in order to break Yggdrasil from you probably requires your direct presence; they can’t do it through Yggdrasil, himself, or else they already would have done so. Maybe they have already tried it, too, but failed. I do not know. Yggdrasil is not a point of worry, here; you are, and you’re a lot easier to protect than Yggdrasil.” While Erick’s eyes went wide and he had a dozen thoughts on that, too, Poi ignored him and glanced toward the hallway that Teressa had gone down, saying, “She’s going to end up seeing a lot, Erick. More than you or I ever will. I think she needs a promotion, or something. Something to make it less ethically dubious for her to not tell you what you don’t need to know, for she should not have felt the need to come to you to clear her conscience for not telling you about what did not happen and will not happen. She should have felt she was free to decide not to tell you certain things. The same goes for Aisha when she comes back.

“All that happened from this is that you are now poised to dislike Treehome.”

“… That’s a good point.”

And it was.

Erick would need to think on what that meant, though.

Poi added, “Of course Teressa should still tell you about the big stuff. But the small things she should leave alone. You don’t need to trudge through un-[Cleanse]d sewers if you don’t have to.”

Also true.

Erick said to Poi, “Maybe Teressa’s goal was actually to get this conversation to happen. You’ve been holding in that speech for a little while, haven’t you?”

“… Or maybe the Benevolence made her do it.” Poi said, “But yes, I have been holding onto those words for a while. I was hoping I wouldn’t need to actually say them, but… I think Benevolence can see a great deal more about the future than anyone has ever seen before.”

“Well... Yeah. Definitely.” Erick considered what came next. “Probably gonna have to institute some anti-abuse protocols, aren’t I.”

Poi relaxed. “I feel that would be for the best.”