General POV

Word spread through the Merchants' Guild faster than fire through dry timber.

Young master Jake Ashford heard about it during breakfast. His father's messenger whispered the details while he was eating his eggs, and suddenly the eggs tasted like opportunity.

"So William got his ass kicked?" Jake grinned after he got informed. "By a debt-ridden exile?"

"Apparently Lord Theodore broke his arm and threw him out like garbage."

Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. William had always been an arrogant prick, strutting around like his father's money made him invincible. And now he'd been brought low by a prince everyone thought was finished.

"I'm going to Holden, it seems." Jake muttered.

Similar scenes played out across the merchant district. Lord Brennan's twin sons saw it as a chance to prove which of them was the better heir. The young master of the Valdrics, desperate to make a name for himself, practically vibrated with excitement.

They all had the same thought: Theodore owed money. Lots of money. And he'd just proven he was willing to use violence against debt collectors. But surely that was just because William was an idiot who'd overstepped. Surely a smart, diplomatic approach would work better. Surely they could succeed where that fool had failed. By noon, half a dozen young merchant lords were making preparations to travel to Holden. They compared notes, made bets, tried to one-up each other with tales of their negotiating prowess.

"I'll have him eating out of my hand within an hour," one of the twins said.

"An hour? Please," his twin scoffed. "I'll have the debt settled before lunch."

"You're both thinking too small," Jake interjected. "I'm not just going to collect the debt. I'm going to get interest. Maybe even convince him to sell me a share of that bathhouse everyone's talking about."

Idiots. They were treating this like some grand adventure, like Theodore was just going to roll over and hand them money because they asked nicely. They hadn't really thought about what it meant that he'd beaten William so thoroughly.

But Jake had. He'd done his research. Theodore might be exiled, might be in debt, but he was still a prince. Still dangerous. Which was exactly why Jake was bringing backup. Not official guards—that would be too obvious. But a few mercenaries who just happened to be traveling in the same direction? That was just good sense.

***

Theodore POV

Quest Complete!

Reward: First seal on [Sever] has been lifted. You may freely use this ability now, but its uses are limited to once per 12 hours.

Theodore stared at the notification floating in his vision. His first real reward from that mysterious quest system. The [Sever] ability—he could feel it now, sitting in the back of his mind like a loaded weapon. Once every twelve hours. Better than nothing, he supposed.

New Chain Quest Activated: The Path of Severance

Objective: Sever anything Rank 5 or above.

What the hell. That was crazy. Theodore dismissed the notification with a mental flick and looked down at the two halves of the boulder. Each piece was roughly the size of a person, and the cut surface gleamed like a mirror. He crouched down and ran his fingers along the edge. Perfectly smooth. Not even a hint of roughness where his thermal blade had sliced through.

A weapon. This stuff could probably be molded into something incredible. A sword that could cut through anything, maybe. Or armor that could repair itself. The possibilities made his head spin.

How the hell was he going to transport chunks of rock this size, though?

***

"Look who finally made it to Rank 4. About time." Theodore said when Roland came looking for him later that day.

"Thanks." Roland said.

"Congratulations and all that." Theodore said. "Good timing, too. Tournament's coming up."

"That's actually why I came looking for you. Father says we're leaving tomorrow morning. No more delays."

"Finally. You ready to get your ass kicked?"

"By you?" Roland snorted. "Please."

"We'll see about that."

They started walking back toward the estate, leaving the split boulder behind. Theodore made a mental note to figure out the transportation thing later. Maybe he could ask Aldric to help him out. The man would probably get excited over this metal, rock, or whatever it was.

"So who else is confirmed?" Theodore asked.

"Pretty much everyone worth fighting," Roland said. "Lady Juliana's going, obviously. Lady Freya too. But the important thing is they're allowing participants up to Rank 4 this time. It capped at Rank 3 last time around so it'll be far more interesting this time."

Theodore raised an eyebrow. "Rank 4?"

"Higher stakes, better rewards."

They walked in comfortable silence for a bit. "It's going to be incredible," he said, half to himself.

Roland glanced at him. "What is?"

"The tournament. All those fights. All those people thinking they're hot shit until they run into someone who can actually back it up. I'd love to put them in their place." Theodore's grin was probably a little too eager. "I can't wait."

***

The workshop smelled like metal shavings and burnt mana stones. Theodore stepped back to admire his work. The rune replicator sat on his workbench. Not much to look at, really. About the size of a small chest, runic inscriptions lining every inch of it. It'd taken him three days to get this prototype right. Having made this now, he wanted to innovate further and reduce the size. But one step at a time.

He picked up a piece of blank metal and slotted it into the machine's input tray. Then he pressed his hand against the activation rune and channeled mana into the device.

The machine hummed to life. Tiny etching tools emerged from hidden compartments and began carving precise lines into the testing metal. These lines weren't physical, but rather they interacted with the metal's weave. It was mesmerizing to watch and absolutely mind boggling to even consider he'd done this.

A moment later, the machine chimed softly and presented him with a perfectly inscribed cooling rune. Identical to the ones he'd been making by hand for the refrigerator project, except this one had taken a fraction of the time and effort.

For now it could only make refrigerator runes. The pattern was hardcoded into the device's runic matrix. But he could already see how to expand it. Different pattern plates that could be swapped in and out. Maybe even a way to program new patterns on the fly. The possibilities made him smile.

He was getting ahead of himself, though. One thing at a time.

***

Theodore's clone was getting disturbingly good at looking sleepy. It lay in his bed with eyes closed and slow, steady breathing, looking for all the world like Theodore had been up too late again. The illusion was perfect. Though, then again, it wasn't an illusion but an actual clone.

The real Theodore slipped out of his room and made his way downstairs. Dawn was just breaking, painting everything in soft gold and pink. The servants were already bustling around as he got out, loading the last of the luggage onto the carriage that would take them to the capital. It was a nice carriage. Expensive. Black lacquered wood with silver fittings and enough space inside for six people to sit comfortably. The family crest was emblazoned on the doors as well.

Theodore opened the carriage door and climbed inside.

Freya was already there, lounging on the cushioned bench like she owned the place.

"Oh!" she gasped dramatically, pressing the back of her hand to her forehead. "A mysterious stranger has entered my carriage! Surely this must be one of the assassins my wicked brother has sent to dispose of me!"

Theodore's eye twitched. "It's early in the morning, Freya."

"The perfect time for an assassination! When one's guard is down!" She peered at him through her fingers. "Tell me, dastardly knave, do you come bearing poisoned daggers? Or perhaps something even more sinister?"

"I come bearing the desire for five minutes of peace and quiet."

"Ah, psychological warfare! How devious!"

"I'm going to throw you out of this carriage."

"You wouldn't dare! I'm a delicate flower!"

"You're a pain in the ass."

"That's Princess Pain-in-the-Ass to you."

Before Theodore could formulate a suitably cutting response, the carriage door opened again and Juliana climbed in. His sister took one look at them and sighed.

"Children," she said in that tone she'd perfected over years of dealing with Theodore's bullshit back when he was a kid. "We haven't even left yet and you're already bickering."

"He started it," Freya said, pointing at Theodore.

"I literally just sat down."

"Your presence is provocative."

"My presence is—"

"Enough." Juliana settled onto the bench across from them and fixed them both with a flinty look. "We're going to be traveling together. If you two can't behave like adults, I'll have the driver turn around and we can all stay home."

Theodore and Freya exchanged glances. Neither of them wanted to miss the tournament.

"Fine," Theodore said.

"I suppose I can tolerate his existence," Freya added graciously.

"How generous of you."

The carriage lurched into motion. Theodore watched through the window as the familiar buildings fell away behind them. Next time he saw this place, he'd be coming back as a tournament champion.

Or at least that was the plan.

***

Hiatus Announcement: I will be taking some time off to plan book 3, edit and change some stuff in book 2, create a bigger backlog, and also just take some time off in general. I will return to posting on August 11th. That's less than two weeks. I will post a chapter tomorrow to start book 1, and then I'll be on hiatus, I will however still post on Patreon as I likely won't stop writing completely. I might return sooner, as it entirely depends on how quickly I can do everything I need to do.

----------------------------------------

Well, I think this is the end of book 2, and the start of a new adventure.

I have a lot of thoughts on this book, but I don't plan on boring you with that. I enjoyed writing book 2 far more than I did book 1, and I think it was, one, because of the hiatus, and two, me figuring out what I like to write (which I'm still doing).

I don't know if book 2 was better or worse than book 1 - they're structurally very different, I'd say, and while I failed to do things to my satisfaction with book 1, I think I did good enough for my satisfaction for book 2. But which is "better" entirely depends on what you guys enjoyed.

I appreciate you all sticking with me even after such a long hiatus after book 1. I definitely won't be taking that long this time.

I would love to hear what you liked in book 2, and what you would love to see in book 3, and what would you like to read more of in general. I'm open to any criticism you have for the story. Regardless, thanks for reading.

Cya

- Nectar

The law required Patreon plug:

Patreon - /itsnectar