Chapter 242 - Expenditures

Nate stood outside of Ra’Paki’s home. The Elder had called it an estate, and Nate supposed with real estate at a premium on the stilt-raised wooden city, this space likely would qualify as an estate. Off to the side were rows of planters made of wood and filled with dirt. The planters housed various herbs and what looked like some root vegetables, with a few larger planters housing trees that were only as tall as Nate was. From their branches hung colourful fruit, and they gave the wooden space a comfortable feeling. 

The house itself stood three storeys talls, and Nate quickly estimated around thirty rooms within the expansive building, though over half seemed set aside for the Elder’s attendants. A few were clearly guest rooms, and Nate noted that those rooms were seeing a lot of activity. Stairs at the back led down to a small berth beneath the city that could comfortably accommodate a few fishing boats, though for now it stood empty. Finally, there was a raised building that Nate could only describe as a rookery, within which waited one of the Great Igrits, happily feasting on a fish larger than Nate’s torso.

“Perhaps a short time to relax and recover?” offered Elder Ra’Paki. “Attendants will guide you to your rooms and you may ask them for anything you need. Food, a bath, whatever you desire. They will even escort you into the City if you wish to go see the beauty of Pinoreth for yourself. Rooms will be set aside for your Disciples, Elder Jin’Kahn, though I suspect like myself you must go make your report to the other Elders of your Temple?”

Jin’Kahn nodded, her dark hair flicking out like an annoyed tentacle, “Yes. I shall return in time for dinner, Elder Ra’Paki. Thank you for accommodating me. The Depths Walker Temple will make sure you are repaid for your generosity. Ascendant Nate and Ascendant Kiri, I hope to enjoy your company over dinner to discuss further cooperation between our peoples.”

Jin’Kahn turned to the two Disciples of the Depths Walkers and then they made their way behind the building. Nate followed them with his sphere of awareness, watching as they descended the stairs to the berths below before the three simply walked into the water, sinking like stones before they began to control the water around them, launching themselves like arrows out beyond the range of his sphere.

At the same time, Ra’Paki had continued to speak with them.

“Dinner will be at sunset, and I will make sure to find some of our true delicacies to honour your presence here. But, as with Elder Jin’Kahn, I must first speak to the other Elders of the Sky Wardens to determine what they are willing to offer in trade for your wisdom and for training with our Disciples. I hope you find the accommodations to your satisfaction. There is one other thing, though. Ascendant Nate, would you like me to send for one of our healers?”

The question was punctuated with a pointed glance at Nate’s missing arm.

“We have some skilled Alchemists who might be able to provide assistance.” 

Nate shook his head, “I appreciate the offer, but it is fine for now. I wish to fix it myself, an important step on my Path.”

“Ah. Yes, prevailing over adversity is as important for an Ascendant as it is for us. Then, was there anything else I could offer before I take my leave?”

“Should we not be going to see Death’s Shadow?” asked Kiri, completely changing the subject. “I thought it was an expectation?”

“Oh, it is, but what is time to an ancient Ascendant like Death’s Shadow? A day? A week? He might not even notice such time pass. When he desires your presence, he will let us know. Until then, you will have a place within my estate to use freely.”

Kiri nodded and Nate flashed a smile to show his acknowledgement. With their conversation concluded, Nate and Kiri were guided into the house up to the third story. They arrived in time to watch over their joined balconies as Elder Ra’Paki took flight upon his Igrit mount, heading North towards the cliffs and a white, shining stone building that made its way up the rock face, capping just above the cliffs themselves.

“What do you think?” asked Kiri.

“About the rooms?” countered Nate with a smile.

“Sure, let’s start there.”

Nate didn’t need to glance behind him to take in the room.

“They are well appointed compared to the rest of the city. The feathers in the mattress are mythic with a weak affinity for floating. The bath tub is one of the few metal ones I sensed as we passed through the city. Most were wooden. Polished of course, but still, it is a display of wealth and I believe a good faith gesture to show they value us and our presence.”

Frick finally decided to exit the spatial zone, having been bored by the politics.

“Can I go exploring, Boss?” asked the Familiar excitedly.

“Sure, just don’t cause any damage.”

Instead of heading for the gate, Frick zipped over the balcony and towards the water, making a beeline for the fishing boats further out in the harbour and Nate had a sudden premonition of what Frick meant by exploring. He just hoped the little blighter didn’t cause an incident and just stuck to being a nuisance.

Kiri shook her head as well before looking back to Nate as she leant on the balcony, her brown hair blowing in the comfortable breeze.

“So, that covers the rooms. What about your arm?”

Nate glanced down at his arm where it ended at the elbow. It had stopped hurting now that he had sealed off the Concepts of Death and Fire within it, though even now, if he looked closely he could occasionally see a purple flame licking the tip of the amputation.

“I can regenerate it once I cleanse the Concepts lingering in the wound. But it’s a chance to give myself more exposure to the Concept of Death. I’ll likely focus on cleansing the remnants of Fire from the wound. Besides, I can function fine for now with one arm,” answered Nate.

Kiri frowned and Nate held up his remaining hand, “Just a few days. Promise.”

“Fine,” grumped Kiri. “What about the rest of it? What about the dragon? You’re smarter than I am and even I can read the blatant subtext from The System. Death’s Shadow predates The System. Is that why it sent us here? The Calikex are…interesting. But I doubt they have much to offer beyond materials. That’s good. I get that. Saving you time making materials would give you more time to craft, but that can’t be it, can it?”

Nate smiled at his sister, “No, I think you’re right. The System wanted us to come to the attention of Death’s Shadow. It could’ve had us come out anywhere on this planet, yet it made us appear here, within sight of the mountain that is apparently Death’s Shadow’s home. It had a reason for doing so, and our crossing of paths with the dragon was likely it. I just hope Death’s Shadow doesn’t take The System’s blatant manipulations out on us. An Ascendant that predates The System? Surely it’s a True Divine. Reciprocity should protect us, but who knows? The more I learn about The System and this Reality, the more questions I have.”

“You sure do,” Kiri agreed with a smirk. “Now, you put that curious head of yours to work. In the meantime, mind opening up a doorway? I would like to have a bath, and while I appreciate the gesture from Elder Ra’Paki, the bathtub provided pales in comparison to your creations.”

Nate smiled and created an anchor in Kiri’s room with his Spatial Doors Skill, leaving it open for Kiri. As his sister vanished into their true home, he instead focused on his own crafting. With an Intellect Stat of over nine-hundred, he could now split his focus seven different ways. Four of those mental focuses he left as they were, attempting to brute force discovering a Sigil for Art. One focus was directed towards the remains of his arm, specifically cleansing the Fire Concept from the wound so that he could see how Death felt when it was purified. Of course, his own body might influence the Concept, but it was better than nothing. One focus was maintaining the Life rune that was preventing the Death and Fire Concepts from progressing further into his body like a poison. That left one focus to go over his plans and make a start on crafting.

Kiri had armour now, a Dungeon reward, which meant he didn’t need to worry about that. She also had plenty of mythic daggers, which meant she was as well armed as she could be, short of Nate making a Divine dagger for her. Which, to be honest, was a consideration. But it could wait till he had made his own Divine item. He wasn’t sure why, but he just felt that it was important for his Path that the first Divine item he created not only be for himself, but aligned to the Path he wanted to walk. Since that goal was stymied due to needing a new Sigil, one that he was already working on, he had to consider other options for his crafting.

If the Calikex provided them with materials, he could make clothes for the Heartlands. The reason he was prioritising that over more tools for his own usage, was simply because his opponents in the Heartlands were unlikely to be Mythics. No, they would be Lesser Divines. Now, he didn’t know how common Divine-tier items were, but surely a Lesser Divine from the Heartlands would possess at least one? Which brought him back to Divine-tier crafting, which he was blocked from doing because he needed Divine sigils. He supposed he could make some Mythic-tier equipment and upgrade it later, but that felt like double-handling and an inefficient use of his time. The exception would, of course, be making more materials for Conceptual Automated Existence. Those were far simpler and upgrading them would work well. Plus, he had burned through most of his supplies while in the Dungeon.

But before he got back to the boring rote work, he had one thing to do. His Divine Energy, after all his discoveries in the Dungeon and the couple outside of it, had brought him to almost full capacity within his Class Core. One-hundred-and-forty-two units of Divine Energy waited for him. With a maximum cap of one-hundred-and-sixty, it meant that simply learning about or recognising two new Concepts would see him wasting some of the precious energy. Besides, he needed to raise a particular Skill anyway.

With a decision made, he poured sixteen units into Conceptual Insight, watching as the Skill improved. Notifications flashed and then he added the seventeenth unit and the Skill Evolution flashed before him.

Conceptual Insight 64 > 81

Divine Skill Improvements Available! Please Select 1* Skills.
Skill Improvement Options: 

Conceptual Insight (D)
Divine Bonus II: Multiply excess mana ingestion by nine. Cost: 2 Divine Energy. Duration: 2 hours.

Conceptual Insight (D)
Divine Bonus II: Multiply excess mana ingestion by four. Cost: 2 Divine Energy. Duration: 5 hours. 

Conceptual Insight (D)
Divine Bonus I: Improve a Grandmaster-tier Sigil to Divine. Cost: 30 Divine Energy. Duration: N/A. 

Nate smiled as his desired Divine Bonus effect appeared but then his eyes widened at the cost. Well, it looked like he wouldn’t be drowning in Divine Sigils any time soon. Not with the need to balance crafting Divine items, creating Divine materials, unlocking Divine Sigils, while also levelling his Primary Class and Divine Skills. With a sigh, he selected it anyway. The cost was necessary for what he wanted, so he would pay it happily. After all, every piece of Divine equipment he possessed should mean less Divine Energy he would need to spend in battle, not to mention advancing his Path. He could live with that. It did make him wonder how much other Lesser Divines needed to spend their Divine Energy on things other than their Classes and Skills. Thoughts for another time. With that problem handled, he started creating new Mythic materials for Conceptual Automated Existences consumption. He hoped to get at least twenty done before dinner.

*************

Kiri relaxed in the bath, lamenting the lack of Butler Frick. The little bastard could be annoying, but she appreciated that he treated her like a secondary master and played along with her little games. Though, most of her lamentations were due to needing to fetch her own wine. Even if it was a short teleport away, and even if she was fairly durable, that didn’t change the fact that appearing in Nate’s runecrafted fridge while wet had practically frozen her nipples off. Still, that was the price of sipping on some chilled wine while enjoying a bath and going over her Status. 

It would be over a week before she had fully recovered all her Soul Twins, but their loss had gained her Divine Energy and that energy was burning a hole in her pocket. Besides, she had some catching up to do in regards to Skill Levels when compared with her brother. And she couldn’t keep him safe if she was weak. Fifty units of Divine Energy were what she settled on. It would leave her with just over a hundred left in case they were attacked but was more than enough to raise some key Skills and force an evolution of her Mythic Skill, Masterful Soul Engraving.

She looked over the notifications as they appeared before her.

Soul Sanctuary of the Everborn 61 > 81
Masterful Soul Engraving 63 > 81
Soul Rebirth 61 > 81
Soul Slayers Aspect 61 > 68

Masterful Soul Engraving (M) is ready to evolve.
Evolutions Available! Please Select 1.
Skill Evolution Options:

Masterful Soul Engraving (D)
Divine Bonus I: Temporarily raise one Soul Engraving to Divine. Cost: 1 Divine Energy per tier raised. Duration: 2 hours.

She casually accepted the only Divine option for her Skill evolution, noting that she had room for two more Soul Engravings now. She’d need to get some runes off of Nate, though something simple so she wasn’t distracting him. She knew he didn’t mind, but still, he should be focusing on his arm, among other things. Maybe one for Endurance and one for Constitution, she decided, sticking with her theme of Stat empowerment.

The next notifications were for the two Divine evolutions.

Divine Skill Improvements Available! Please Select 1* Skills.
Skill Improvement Options: 

Soul Sanctuary of the Everborn (D)
Divine Bonus IV: Quadruple Imbuement Bonus. Cost: 4 Divine Energy. Duration: 40 seconds.

Soul Sanctuary of the Everborn (D)
Divine Bonus I: Instantly produce a single Soul Twin. Cost: 5 Divine Energy. Duration: N/A. 

Soul Sanctuary of the Everborn (D)
Divine Bonus I: Summon a Soul Twin without experiencing a Rebirth. Cost: 5 Divine Energy. Duration: 1 minute. 

The Imbuement bonus was tempting, as was the idea of instantly creating a Soul Twin. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t let her farm Divine Energy since it cost more to summon one than she gained per Rebirth. The last option caught her eye though. Being able to summon a Soul Twin would mean she could potentially fight alongside herself. And with future evolutions who knew where that could lead. Decision made, she picked the Summon bonus and moved onto the last notification.

Divine Skill Improvements Available! Please Select 1* Skills.
Skill Improvement Options: 

Soul Slayers Aspect (D)
Divine Bonus II: Double all Soul Slayer Aspect Bonuses. Cost: 1 Divine Energy. Duration: 8 seconds.

Soul Slayers Aspect (D)
Divine Bonus II: Triple all Soul Slayer Aspect Bonuses. Cost: 2 Divine Energy. Duration: 5 seconds. 

Soul Slayers Aspect (D)
Divine Bonus I: Triple a single Soul Slayer Aspect Bonus. Cost: 1 Divine Energy. Duration: 5 seconds. 

Kiri snorted. Very in line with her high natural Stats Path. Conserving Divine Energy seemed like a better idea and so she selected the tripling of a single Stat option. With her developments done for now, she settled in to plan how to get the most out of the Calikex. Sipping her wine and relaxing in the warm water, she mused on the comforts and wonders Nate could make with piles of materials gifted to them simply because she fought with their Disciples. She just hoped they wanted the training as much as she wanted to fight, because otherwise she and Nate wouldn’t be getting away with much at all. That was the cost and benefit of Reciprocity, she mused, as she slipped deeper into the bath to enjoy a rare moment of relaxation. Her thoughts drifted towards bittersweet memories as she hoped her parents were doing well back on Galle. With her thoughts drifting, she debated being incredibly wasteful and summoning a Soul Twin to go fetch her some more wine, after all, she did need to test the new Divine ability.