World Sphere - 221 - Magitech (minor edit 7-12-25)

Chapter 221: Magitech

Every time I started to think I had enough gold, something always came up that required more. Loriel wanted me to create a shield for Skyhold, the capital city of the islands, encompassing the city and citadel. Even though the city was smaller than Myththorne, I did not have the time, and Loriel lacked the resources for anything more than a token array.

I set up a meeting with Pakkam, Selin, Remy, Talia, Isla, and Mia. My plans involved all of them. I arrived with Isla, and the others arrived shortly after at the Shiny Platinum, and I set privacy screens, and the cats stood guard. They all seemed curious about the meeting. “I am leaving for a time,” I said in opening.

“Where are you going now?” Selin asked, a little exasperated.

“The Sapphire transit again, and I am taking Remy,” I said.

Remy’s jaw didn’t work as it was the first time he had heard this, so Talia spoke for him, “Who is going to manage everything while you are gone? And how long are you going?”

With everyone’s eyes on me, I revealed, “A month. Talia, you get to manage delving operations, and Pakkam will manage trade through the skyships, and Selin, I was hoping you would have someone in mind to manage the trade.”

Selin’s jaw was clenched. “If the rumors are true, it is a terrible time to leave.”

“It is exactly why I am leaving. I am going to look into purchasing magitech, and I need Remy along to help me navigate it,” I answered with open hands.

Remy’s eyes brightened, but he answered truthfully. “I don’t know anything about magitech.”

“Neither do I, so we will learn together,” I winked at him.

Selin wasn’t convinced of the necessity and tried to persuade me otherwise. “There is a reason magitech is rare so far from the transits. It is made in great factories on the Outer Sphere, and you need an army of engineers and mages to maintain it. If you are not traveling into the Void, it is a waste of an investment.”

I calmed everyone before continuing. “I am not leaving immediately. I wanted you all here to discuss what defenses I plan to leave in place. The war in the lowlands is just starting, and it will be some time before it heats up, but I am concerned that the Sadians are planning to evacuate a portion of their population to two of the islands.”

“Peaceful invasion,” Selin muttered. I nodded as that was my impression as well. I didn’t think Prince Antioch was a bad person, not to any extent, but he was slowly wearing away at Loriel with concessions like these. I was also concerned with all the wealthy citizens settling into the capital and their influence on island politics. I was sure Loriel had her hands full trying to manage it and didn’t envy her for it, but I would not become involved.

“I want to start with the Black Spire.” I brought out a large, freshly copied map. “The Black Spire is composed of aether stone, making it nearly indestructible on its own. What I want to do is construct a simple array over the skyship docks here. Nothing impressive, but strong enough to allow the Night Wraith and any other ships protection until they could lift off in the event of an attack. I will need five hardened stone monoliths at these locations with a round, ten-foot chamber inside.”

“It should only take the mages a day for something that simple,” Isla replied, leaning over the table and taking notes.

“While the stones and runic work are easily completed, finding tier six aether stones to power it will be costly,” I said, wincing in mock pain to let the others know I was serious.

“Do you have the unit size of the aether stones you want?” Remy added. I slid him my calculations, and he winced too.

I moved on to my next plan. “The Shiny Platinum is a more complex issue. It is not a massive building, but I do not own much of the land surrounding it to establish a suitable array. I have decided to place the points of an array at the corners of the roof of the Shiny Platinum. They would only be able to direct an aether shield in one direction. Protecting from attacks from above, but not the streets.”

I looked at Mia. “With the mithril and platinum invested inside these pillars, you will need to keep trustworthy guards on the roof to guard them and understand how to activate the array.”

Mia nodded in respect, “Any defensive weapons?”

I arched my eyebrow. “You have the delvers and the instructors from the academy, but yes, I can give you four of the new swivel aether cannons, but it might be a few months before you can have them. I had only planned on having the swivel cannons at the Dungeon Academy, but it makes sense you have them since you are so close to the skyship dock and would be a target in an attack. The other side of the coin is having them might make you a target, so use them in defense only.”

“And the academy?” Selin asked, knowing it was next. I almost went into my plans for the Merchant Marine Academy before revealing what I hoped to do for the Dungeon Academy. I wasn’t that petty, though.

“The Dungeon Academy spans four blocks.” Isla unfurled a prepared map of Aegis City with the buildings we owned highlighted in green. “I want to build a seven-point array to shield the buildings, but we only own buildings at two of the seven points.” I indicated the buildings we had recently purchased. I had oriented the array to include them as two of the points, but this meant the other five points were fixed. “We need to acquire these other five buildings,” I indicated on the map, and the others examined them.

Remy was the first to speak as he examined the map. “You are not making it easy. Prices in Aegis City are already high, and two of these are legacy businesses that have been in the family for generations. This one might be a possibility—I believe it’s just a small apartment building with a cobbler at street level. These two—I don’t recall.” Remy’s memory was remarkable, and he could cross-reference the map in his mind from walking the streets.

I nodded to Isla. She smirked as she revealed the owners of the two other buildings. “This one is an old Bricio building. It was used to hold indentures for auction before the Bricios fled. The taxes are paid for another two years, but after that, it will go into default.”

“I think I can have the magistrate accelerate the default since the Bricios who owned it are likely dead,” I said. “But we need to make sure they do not know why I want it, otherwise Loriel will charge me triple.” The others chuckled at the truth of it. “The real issue is the last building.”

Isla took over, having been the one who did all this research. “This building is a Triumvirate administrative building. It has not been used since the Triumvirate dissolved, but it harbored the Inquisitors.”

“Do the Inquisitors even exist anymore?” Talia asked. The Inquisitors were the secret police force of the Triumvirate. Unfortunately for Skyholme, they had become a political arm of the Bricios. They arrested spies and issued sentences of indenture to the courts.

“They still exist, but are much reduced in number according to my sources,” Selin said. “They mostly operate on the capital island now and answer to Loriel directly. You should be aware of that,” Selin said pointedly at me. I shrugged at her insinuation that I was not immersed enough in Skyhold politics.

I shifted the conversation back to the issue. “The law states that any Triumvirate property to be sold requires a majority for approval. Even though the Triumvirate is dissolved, with only figureheads opposing Loriel, I have the feeling they will not give it up—especially if Loriel finds out what I intend.”

“Why is that?” Remy asked, perplexed.

“Because I have already turned down a request from Loriel to create an aether dome for the capital. If she sees me doing the same for this district of Aegis City, I doubt she will be happy.” The others slowly nodded as they knew how much effort was involved in the array I constructed over Myththorne.

“I suggest we purchase as many of the buildings that will fall under the array’s protection, then,” Selin said, studying the map and marking them with magic from her finger. Turning each one yellow.

“It might disguise what we are doing, but there is not enough gold for it. The Dungeon Academy shield needs even larger crystals than the one at the Black Spire. And we have not talked about the Merchant Marine Academy yet either,” I said seriously.

“Why isn’t Callem here?” an observant Pakkam asked. The Wolfsguard rarely questioned me and arched his furry eyebrow in question if he had done something wrong.

“I trust Callem with my life, but he is still enlisted in the Skyholme Navy. Once he resigns his commission in four months, he will be made aware of these plans,” I said levelly.

“This seems like a lot of subterfuge for the High Mage of Skyholme to be doing behind the back of its ruler,” Selin pointed out with an amused expression. My relationship with Loriel was no secret here.

“You all know my reasons,” I said, tiredly. “I care more about the people than the elite. Loriel may have had good intentions when she started her reign, but she is a slave to the coin.”

I looked at the map again. “Build reinforced shelters in some basements that fall under the array, and make plans for the Shiny Platinum to serve as a shelter in an attack well. Secretly add a sublevel that can hold two thousand people,” I directed at Mia. We discussed this for some time to include stockpiling provisions and basic comforts before I unveiled the plans for the Merchant Marine Academy, which was beginning to be built.

I indicated a perfect circle drawn with a compass on the plans. “This is slightly trickier with the sprawling campus. The most valuable assets are the people and the skyships, so the array here will just cover the southern half of the campus.” I nodded to Isla, who had been trying to work the new buildings into her aesthetic layout of the Academy.

“This is slightly trickier and will require more of an engineering feat as the monoliths and runic chambers will be underground and underwater. It is a twenty-three-point array.” Isla was interrupted by Mia.

“Why is it more powerful than the Dungeon Academy?” Mia asked unabashedly.

“It isn’t,” I explained. “Although there are 23 towers, the runes and aether crystals are not as large. The shield will be much less powerful, but renew quicker. It is a trade-off and will allow us to use smaller tier five crystals, which are much cheaper.”

“Can they be upgraded at a later time?” Talia asked.

“If I do the runes properly, yes.” A series of questions followed, and a four-month timeline was set. Although I was leaving in a month, I had many things to handle beforehand. Mainly, I needed to build up a large stockpile of artificed goods, including the swivel cannons for the Sadian Empire and Skyhold contract. It was strange, but from the others, I got the impression they were more concerned about Remy being gone for a month than about me.

Two days after the meeting, Aelyn had finally learned about my plans. By her heavy steps and countenance entering my enchanting room at the Black Spire, I could tell it was not going to be a fun argument. “You cannot come,” I preempted.

“You think I give a dragon’s asshole about that? Why am I learning about it from Fera?” Aelyn said heatedly.

“I was planning to tell you the next time I saw you, but you have been busy in Loriel’s Court.” Adrial had slinked out of the room, and Kiara used her massive paws to cover her ears. Aelyn and I tended to have spirited—debates.

“Father, do you want me to zap Mother?” Kiara asked. I mentally told her no, as her powerful confusion attack would be successful, but the aftermath would be ten times worse.

“Serving as your ambassador and covering for your absence,” Aelyn fumed.

“That is why we make such a great pair. I work behind the scenes doing all the work, and you handle all the diplomacy,” I smiled cheekily. She threw something at me, and I used lightning reflexes to catch it. I put down the roll of sealing tape.

“Why did Fera know before me?” she seethed.

Ah, this was a jealousy thing. “Fera and Mera are doing part of Remy’s books while we are gone.”

“Remy is going?” Aelyn asked a little calmer.

“We are going to research magitech,” I explained calmly. Her expression seemed to twist from irate to understanding. “I need you here to hold the place together and keep an eye on our interests from Skyhold, Aelyn.” I approached cautiously before I put both hands on her shoulders and rubbed them. She rolled her eyes at me before kissing me.

Make-up sex for something I had never thought was a problem was always nice. Aelyn was thinking of herself more and more like a member of the Skyholme nobility, and I was seeing her less. Still, most of her political clout was being my partner.

It only took three weeks before I was ready to leave. The Goblin Vault Dungeon did receive a visit from Guildmaster Huckle’s expedition, and when they failed to turn a profit, his investors turned on him. Of course, the Guildmaster blamed me publicly for the failure. He was becoming a real irritation in Loriel’s court as well, and I was actually glad Aelyn had a presence there. I was not going to pander to the wealthy new citizens.

The Maelstrom was loaded, but I had one more appointment before leaving. We landed at the Shiny Platinum, and I visited Ennet and Wynna. It had been some time since my last reading, and I was curious about my growth. I also wanted to know how much space I had on my spell matrix because it felt large enough to imprint at least a tier four spell.

“Thank you for coming, Wynna,” I said as they sat. The paper and the cloth were already set up.

“Anytime, Storme,” she replied. When Wynna and her daughter Ennet worked together, the reading was more complete and accurate. “Is there anything besides aether limits and your matrix that you are interested in?”

“That and the potentials,” I confirmed. Wynna nodded, and Ennet smiled. The reading hadn’t changed, as the prickly feeling of blood being pulled from my hands and filling the sheet persisted. The cloth covered the results as they worked to keep it private. I didn’t look at them as I folded it and sent it to my storage. I thanked them and left them some cookies from the Shiny Platinum bakery—a few new varieties they were testing.

Bleiz was waiting at the ramp of the Maelstrom with Freya. “If you are coming, Bleiz doesn’t leave your side.” Freya had begged to come and even managed to wrangle permission from our mother. She was still a year away from being recognized as an adult in Skyholme. Mother was watching Monty, but I knew the massive fur ball was going to be anxious the entire time his Freya was gone. I left some sedation pills for Mother, just in case.

I followed an exuberant Freya aboard the Maelstrom with Bleiz falling in beside me and the cats coming behind. The hold of the Maelstrom was packed with crates, as was my dimensional closet. We would need a substantial amount of funds to purchase the magitech, and Remy was ready to broker what he could. Remy was too distracted to talk, double-checking that we had everything. Freya immediately started asking him questions about what was in the crates.

I climbed to the bridge to find Tibault and Neoma here. The Wolfsguard had been practicing at the helm to serve as backup pilots in case of an emergency. I took the helm and guided the skyship out of the hangar at the Shiny Platinum. I didn’t set the course right away, instead heading south to fly over Hen’s Hollow.

It was a quick flight, and there were several buildings under construction in the small hamlet. I circled low once, getting some waves from the people before heading to Twin Rocks Lake. The ground was dug up everywhere as they prepared for the foundations. I was happy to see the two rock pillars, for which the lake was named, had not been touched. Two earth mages were working, and Isla and seven Skyguard stood nearby. The protection was probably not needed, but was easily supplied. I took in the scene, planning to revisit when we returned in a month.

I set the course and locked the helm in. “I will take the first watch,” I told my guards. Tibault and Neoma nodded and left the bridge. After they left, the slip of paper appeared in my hand, and I read it. The thing with the reading was that the writing appeared in a manner the target willed.

Aether Core 16,961 of 25,400
Aether Matrix 56 of 110

I had 12 matrix slots available—it was time to learn a new spell or two.

(note to readers. Last reading was chapter 164, aether was 11,208/25,390, matrix was 44/110)

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