Chapter 266 - The Second Domino

Nate sat in the middle of his art gallery, his eyes drifting from one artwork to another as he considered his actions from the night before. Those of his paintings that depicted war and strife received more of his attention. He couldn’t help but wonder if it was his thoughts of the Nameless and Gashana that kept dragging his eyes to those particular renditions, or that those particular artworks kept bringing his thoughts back to the likely outcome of what he had set into motion.

He didn’t regret his choice. People deserved to be free. They deserved the chance at freedom from oppression and servitude. But he wasn’t so naive that he couldn’t see the writing on the wall, or in his case, the paint on the canvas. His actions would likely see plenty of innocents killed as they fought to shrug off the yoke of those who viewed themselves as their masters. Nate was reminded of a poignant quote, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” 

Funny, he thought. They never mentioned the innocent lives lost as well.

Still, he didn’t regret his choice. He wasn’t so childish as to take personal responsibility for the actions of others. All he could do was what he thought was best, and he strongly believed that the Gashanans had a right to be free.

While he doubted that would be the last time he considered the future of Gashana that day, he had other work to get on with. Turning away from his paintings he pulled out his notebook and started reviewing his calculations.

He had been slowly working through the problem of combining mana and Divine Energy to create processed mana. In fact, he had already determined the method for creating the processed mana. Experimenting had been a little expensive and cost him some Divine Energy, but considering all he had been doing of late was creating art embedded with Concepts, he had enough Divine Energy to experiment with while storing the rest in preparation for the upcoming battle.

Through his experimentation, he had discovered a number of things about how Divine Energy and mana interacted, as well as how the Class Core within his chest worked. The first part was effectively an explanation that Class Cores were different from each other. Not in the sense of their development, but in the sense of their efficiency. 

He remembered when he had first arrived on Galle and gotten a Legendary Class, how Frick had told him that Legendary Classes were more efficient with mana. An easy mistake to make, given Frick’s level of knowledge at the time. Instead, Nate had figured out that the higher the Tier of your Primary Class, the more efficient the Class Core was with Divine Energy. Also, the more Divine Energy contained within, but the ratio wasn’t one to one. From that, if his calculations were correct, for each point of Divine Energy provided by The System, Nate was effectively getting twenty stat points, give or take a couple. The multiplicative enhancement from his Skills was not a factor in the calculation.

Using those same calculations he had been able to figure out that using his own Divine Energy was slightly more efficient. One point of Divine Energy would result in twenty-five effective stat points. The problem was that processed mana wasn’t just mana. It was mana and Divine Energy. The amount of Divine Energy was so small that it became almost undetectable in the sea of mana, blending in perfectly with the ocean of blue. But the golden flakes of Divine Energy lingered. And if you took away those golden flakes the entire soup reverted back to regular mana. So, like the Class Core, which seemed to maintain The System provided processed mana, Nate needed a way to anchor the Divine Energy permanently to get the effective increase to his stats.

That realisation had led him to the next problem. Anchoring Divine Energy in his body took up space within his Divine Vessel. A vessel that had a cap on his Divine Energy. Basically, he needed to balance the amount of Divine Energy he kept sequestered for enhancing himself with the amount of Divine Energy he intended to use for enhancing his Skills.

Then there was the need to slowly spend Divine Energy to improve his Divine Vessel so he could contain more Divine Energy. An endless cycle. Well, maybe not endless, if Ankh’Aris was to be believed about those beings from the Reality on the other side of the Source of Mana. But it might as well have been endless from Nate’s perspective. Ankh’Aris had refused to explain how Ascending changed beyond the Divine Vessel stage, assuring Nate and Kiri that they’d meet him again long before they reached that point. What Nate did know was that each increase in his Divine Vessel would improve him holistically while also increasing his capacity for Divine Energy. As he was now, even if he used his entire Divine Vessel for creating processed mana, he wouldn’t be able to match the amount of physical, mental and magical improvement he was getting from his Class Core.

His Skills were another consideration. He’d already proven he could not only recreate his System provided Skills on his own, but improve upon them. But it had taken him two months to effectively do that for one Skill. A breakneck speed, if Ankh’Aris was to be believed, but he still had another twelve Skills left he would need to recreate. Two years worth of work potentially. While that might be the blink of an eye given his new potential lifespan, he was also only two months away from getting dropped in The Heartlands.

He snorted at his thoughts. As always, there just wasn’t enough time to do everything he wanted to do. So, he did what he always did when there were competing priorities. He laid out his plans in order so he could accomplish them one by one. 

Step one, getting his Divine Vessel to the point where it exceeded his Class Core’s potential for processed mana provisioning. Step two, merging his Skills in his Class Core till he was down to roughly six to eight. Ankh’Aris had been clear that it was more important to have an Ability that could do one hundred things rather than having one hundred Abilities. Step three, recreate his merged Skills as Abilities using his runes. That one had the feel of something like a Soul Engraving, only far more complicated. After all, he could split his mental focus over thirteen different ways when using Concepts, and yet it had taken all of them to maintain the Life Imitates Art ability he had used to force Reality to recognise Luci. Step four, divest himself of his Class Core.

Four steps, none of them easy and none of them fast, all while helping the Guildmaster of the Adventurer’s Guild to remove a couple of old Lesser Divines who preyed on the newly ascended, increasing the debt owed to them by Kali’Terra which required venturing to the Heartlands under the direction of Arikanvil to somehow obtain a bunch of materials the old purple bastard needed to free himself from The System which would result in total system collapse and likely the death of trillions.

Nate facepalmed. How did he get himself into such a tangled mess in two short years? And where would he be in another two? He swallowed a sigh.

“You look like you’re worrying again,” commented Kiri as she strolled into the room, decked out in her black dragonscale Regalia. In the pale light of his gallery she had the look of a dark shadow, swallowing what little ambience slipped through the windows.

“One of us has to,” he replied with a small smile.

“You could do what I do and just Endure it,” she retorted as she flopped down next to him. “You figured it out then?”

Nate handed over his notebook with all the details surrounding creating processed mana. Kiri’s reading speed was decently fast now with all her latest improvements.

“Does that really work? You just Endure something you don’t like and the Divine Energy flows in?”

Nate felt something stir in Kiri’s chest and activated a Soul Rune inside of his own body, connecting the pair. It wouldn’t do for any rogue True Divines to listen in on their conversation. His sister's thoughts came to him in the form of words and images. A few thoughts even had their own scent. 

“Isn’t that what happens when you’re creating art? Mind you, it’s a dribble of energy. Maybe even a trickle. But it comes. It’s like… all that excess Divine Energy that went into creating the vessel just makes Divine Energy want to come in. I am Enduring, or at least, a fragment of it. So when I Endure, Reality seems willing to answer. Like calling to like. It’s not as much. Maybe one or two units a day, but I imagine that’s more than most Lesser Divines see in a month, at least on our backwater world.”

Nate nodded his agreement.

“It’s going to take somewhere in the range of twenty to thirty points of Divine Energy to improve our Divine Vessels,” Nate explained through the soul connection. “But the details are there for how to mix it with your mana to create processed mana. The spiral is important for efficiency. It won’t disperse as well and you’ll get less improvement per point of sequestered energy if you don’t use it.”

Kiri just nodded with a smile, “Thanks, and stop worrying. We may not be advancing as fast as you want now, but once we get to the Heartlands that will change. Right now the only way to get more Divine Energy is to do what we’re doing. But in the Heartlands, we should be able to get opportunities to get our hands on our own Divine Artifacts that are already attuned and full of energy ready to harvest. We can start making our own cultivation chambers, just like Ankh. And then there will be the Lesser Divines foolish enough to cross us. We’ll accelerate once we are there. Try to enjoy the downtime.” 

Kiri switched back to speaking out loud, “You need to get out of the house. Maybe go see some people.”

“Saw some people.”

“Assassins trying to kill you don’t count. You know what I mean.”

“I’ll go see her after we get back from The Heartlands. There’s no point now,” he grumbled, thoughts straying to Britt.

“Well, if you’re sure. I’ve done my part in trying to make sure you get outside and stop moping. How much longer do we have anyway?”

Nate could tell that Kiri was asking one question while she meant another.

“Go do the Dungeon. I’ll make sure we get to wherever we need to go on time, before we get whisked away.”

He intentionally kept from specifying where that ‘away’ was as a new guest was arriving, though, attempting to break in might’ve been a better description. They were failing horribly.

“You’re sure?”

“I am. I’ve got this. Go let off some steam.”

Kiri jumped up and headed for the door as Nate called after her, “And let Morgane in.”

Kiri just waved over her head.

A minute later Morgane was striding into his gallery as Nate stared at the ceiling considering which of his Skills he would forcibly merge. He was intentionally avoiding looking at the Minister for Etrua’s golden eyes, but he knew what he would see there if he looked. Irritation and exasperation. Her body language in his sphere of awareness screamed of both accusation and hesitation. She was annoyed with him, of that he was certain. Annoyed, but wary of offending him, after all, he owned the Artist’s Emporium. His initial plans for his own business had far outgrown and exceeded his expectations. That was becoming a consistent occurrence across his various endeavours.

“Say it already,” Nate grunted in annoyance. His time was precious after all and while he didn’t dislike Morgane, he was also aware that she was a politician by nature. To her, he was a tool to be used for the benefit of Etrua. And of course, for herself. That might make her better than some politicians, but only by a little bit.

“You can’t just go around killing people!” she hissed.

“I didn’t,” he countered, standing and preparing a new canvas. He couldn’t tell her what she wanted to know, but then, he hadn’t painted what had happened last night. A new piece then.

“Hildi told me about your encounter with the Ambassador from Gashana and the conflict over their desires for a contract.”

“Luc leaked that information to her I assume?”

“More like told her so he could use it as leverage to make sure we pay on time and to inflate the rates for any new contracts so we get priority.”

Nate couldn’t help but laugh. That did sound like something Luc would do.

“And?”

“And what? He was found dead this morning and everyone else from the villa they were occupying is gone. Just vanished. I can count on my hands the number of people in Etrua capable of accomplishing that and you and Kiri are the only ones with motive to do it.”

Paint was flowing now, appearing in a steady stream out of the chain around his neck as it slowly decorated the canvas in front of him in blacks, yellows, browns, and reds. Blacks for the shadows in the night, brown and yellow for the city of Etrua and reds for the blood spilled. Nate himself captured watching over it all, the only individual in the painting clearly depicted.

“Capable? Yes. Motive? Well, you’re not wrong, even if the reason you seem to think I would do so is wrong. But still, I didn’t kill him. I didn’t kill anyone, in fact.”

Nate stepped to the side so Morgane could see the painting. He ignored her muttering as she considered the imagery, instead focusing on the feeling of Divine Energy the size of grains of sand filtering into his body. Not enough to even be considered a full unit, as Reality couldn’t care less about how The System measured things. But it was more than nothing, which Nate was happy with.

“Are those Nameless?”

Nate felt Reciprocity rising and bit his tongue before he said anything. Morgane may suspect his status, but she didn’t know it and if he answered she might finally get the proof she needed when The System bound her curiosity with required repayment.

Frick must have sensed his annoyance as the little blue goblin appeared between them.

“That was their Class,” answered the goblin with a toothy smile.

Morgane surprisingly didn’t jump at the Familiar’s sudden appearance. Instead, her eyebrows slowly climbed up her forehead and stayed there as Nate watched the ex-Princess put together the various dots and arrive at a conclusion. Whether it was the correct one was yet to be seen.

“You freed them?” she asked the air, clearly not expecting an answer as she began pacing. “Well, I can work with that. You technically didn’t kill anyone, though they may ask for redress for interfering with their property. It’s still going to cause an issue but I can definitely manage that. What if they ask for you to prioritise their contract as repayment for freeing their slaves?”

Nate snorted but let Frick answer, after all, the little goblin had been spending more time at the Artist’s Emporium than Nate had. Abusing yet another loophole in Reciprocity. Frick could access Nate’s soul energy, meaning his thoughts and memories. But while Nate was a Lesser Divine by The Systems metrics and couldn’t hand out such knowledge for free, Frick had no such restrictions. The chaotic little blue goblin had turned teacher for some of the next generation of Runecrafters, along with imparting some new Sigils, runes and knowledge to Jacque. Finally, he’d been passing on orders to Luc.

“Their contracts are cancelled,” stated Frick confidently, puffing out his chest as he morphed his appearance to that of a butler. “The Artist’s Emporium doesn’t work with slavers!”

“Besides,” snickered Frick as he continued. “They’re not going to have time to worry about us, what with their slaves rising up against them. Viva la revolution!”

“By the Nine Hells, Nate, what have you done?” whispered Morgane.

Nate simply smiled, not answering as he returned to his painting. In his heart though, he hoped he was setting the stage for a better world. After all, what was the point of Reality Manipulating powers if you couldn’t make it better for the people who existed in it.