It was annoying. It was completely annoying that just as the back of my mind was starting to think of ways I could help the Sun Cult, and by extension, all of Ring Four, the Earth Cult had apparently made a breakthrough.

“Don’t keep us in suspense,” the old leader of the Wind Cult said. “My aged bones can’t take it.”

The older woman laughed. “Please, we all know your aged bones can take much more, Durica. But I won’t tarry any longer. It’s just a matter of funding.” She cleared her throat and raised her voice. “The Cult of the Earth God, Nyf, has secured a source of funding that will help usher in a new age for not just us, but for all of Ring Four.”

That probably would have been a nice statement in front of other people. As in, the regular people of Ring Four. I and the rest of the cultists just looked more sceptical than surprised, and certainly not pleasantly surprised.

“Funding source, you say?” Escinca asked.

“Yes. One of the Great Houses has seen the error of their ways and has decided to embrace the vaunted words of Nyf. This House now repents their decades of inactivity and faithlessness and is eager to make reparations.”

Great House just made my frown grow deeper. I wasn’t the only one either.

“Is that literally true, Madam Kanis?” the young Sea Cult leader asked.

“Quite. The new Lord of House Drihawk has seen the light offered by Nyf, and we will humbly accept his—”

“Did you say Drihawk?” I asked.

They all turned to me. The Earth Cult leader frowned back, her wrinkles overwhelming her brow, like I wasn’t supposed to speak out of turn or something.

“Yes?” she said. “What of it?”

“They’re a vampire House. Uh, I mean, a Scarseeker House.”

Kanis’s eyes sharpened. “Are you trying to insinuate that our new patron is related to the business of the Scarthralls?”

It was more than that, but I wanted to point out the obvious first. “Well… Scarthralls come from Scarseekers, right?”

“We can assure you—” She turned to every other cult member there. “And the rest of you—that House Drihawk can’t have anything to do with the Scarthrall business. We were faced with the same concerns when we made contact, but our investigations have revealed nothing that connects them to the Thralls. Might I remind you that such baseless accusations are prejudiced.”

She had a point, but that didn’t mean I had to like it. It was somewhat racist of me to assume that just because someone was a Scarseeker, I would need to be constantly suspicious of them.

At the same time, it would be stupid not to consider the possibility. After all, there were scant few Scarseekers in all of Zairgon.

“Maybe,” I said. “But might I remind you that House Drihawk are related to House Brasvay. As in, one of their daughters is marrying one of the sons of Brasvay. And Brasvay is the one trying to oust our cult out of Ring Four entirely.”

“Well, this does not invalidate the benefit that we are attaining.”

I was thankful that I wasn’t the only one staring at her. Here was the leader of a fellow cult, outright saying that she didn’t care what happened to another cult so long as she got paid.

Before any of us could actually call her out, problem girl spoke up, her eyes turning angry. I couldn’t even begin to get what she

had to be angry about.

“Let’s clear up some things,” she said. “Are you saying your discomfort at us working with a noble House that is related to a different House being antagonistic towards you—not even the same Great House, mind you—is the reason you’re standing against this immense opportunity to finally make something of Ring Four?”

I wasn’t about to be taken in by the way she had phrased things. “Seeing it only that way is kind of naïve. You really think this Great House doesn’t have some strings attached to all the money they’re about to give you?”

“There are no conditions. No contract, no stipulations, nothing binding. Why must you base your fears off baseless paranoia?”

“I really don’t think being suspicious of Scarseekers in our current climate is paranoia.”

That wasn’t me. Instead, I turned to the hooded speaker, and by the time I did so, they were stepping away. All of them, all three of the members of the Fire Cult that had come here.

“If that will be your stance,” the Fire Cult leader said, leading away their posse. “Then it is your priority to maintain it. We will maintain our priorities going forward.”

With that, the Fire Cult left.

“Yeah, run off just like you did when the Thralls attacked, you Pits-cursed cowards!” problem girl yelled.

Her older superior gave her a sharp look and she subsided for the time being.

“Perhaps we can return to discussing more pertinent matters?” Escinca suggested.

“Ever the peacekeeper,” Durica said with a fond shake of his bald, liver-spotted head.

Pertinent matters mostly turned out to be just updates on what was going on. With the Thralls disappearing, the Earth Cult’s pogrom really had turned into a series of stringent patrols. It was interesting to hear just how martial they were. While I wouldn’t call anyone in the Sun Cult defenceless—although, I didn’t know the Elder’s capabilities—the Cult of Nyf clearly prioritized combat as a required part of their livelihood.

The Sun Cult had finished Blessing their neighbourhood and was now open to doing so in all the other neighbourhoods. There was brief resistance at that. I remembered what the Elder had said about the cults not enjoying it when other cults encroached on their territories.

However, this was a special circumstance. The Sun Cult’s particular Light Aspect was one of the few things specifically deadly to the Scarthralls, so they couldn’t let their personal grievances turn it down.

I made sure to ask them to at least provide a security detail if the Elder was going to work in their neighbourhood. That was the least they could do.

There wasn’t much to talk about beyond that. The only other thing was the fact that the Sun Cult was obviously the main one being thanked for pushing away the Thralls. The power of the Light Aspect and Escinca’s Blessings was making a lot of people interested in joining up, which did explain those three newcomers.

I had to restrain my laughter when I saw how jealous that made the Earth Cult people, especially problem girl. She glared at me, and I was forced to hold back the childish urge to stick my tongue out at her.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

For all that she and her fellow gangsters were acting all brawny and mighty, they still couldn’t match the actual meaningful things that the Sun Cult could offer.

Well, they also couldn’t match anti-vampire powers, but that was harder to gloat about.

Despite that, the cults promised to work together. The Thralls were a far bigger threat than any of their inter-political conflicts.

The meeting was adjourned after that. Escinca and I returned to our temple, and I was a lot gladder when we reached the familiar sights of our neighbourhood.

“I don’t like it,” I said, explaining to Escinca exactly how the representatives from Houses Drihawk and Brasvay had acted at the interrogation of the Thrall captured by the guards. “They’re not good people, Elder.”

“I know, Ross.”

“And the Earth Cult doesn’t care they’re terrible people.”

“It would seem so.”

“The frustrating part is that they don’t see that as soon as they’re done being useful to those nobles, the House is going to turn on them next. Stupid assholes.”

That had happened so often back on Earth. Bunch of malignant idiots aligning together to attack whatever their common enemy was supposed to be, before they inevitably turned on each other. It was utterly idiotic.

Elder Escinca didn’t have a reply to that. He looked concerned, but he had no solutions to offer.

At least my frustrations took a more productive path as we got to the temple. I was starting to realize that the biggest thing holding the cult back was money. If we could secure a proper line of funds, if we weren’t dependent on what little the Council offered to us, then we’d be set. We could start taking real, effective measures in Ring Four.

“Funding will unfortunately not create avenues for people to start gaining more Paths, though,” Aurier said when I decided to talk to everyone at the cult about the problem I saw.

“That’s true…” I cursed. We were walking through the temple after checking up on Sreketh and the other new members. They were doing fine. “Why is it so hard for people to get Paths normally?”

I asked it just as Aurier and I ended up walking in on the Elder talking with Hamsik in his office. They were both looking at us like they were expecting us. Hamsik didn’t look happy about our appearance. Then again, I had never seen him happy at anything in particular.

“A great majority are manifested through genetics,” Escinca said. “That is how the Great Houses came to be. They were very good at maintaining their bloodlines and consolidating their power through the judicious cultivation of their Unique Paths through their generations. The ones that can be acquired more normally are usually nothing extraordinary, I’m afraid.”

I closed the office door behind me. He was right. Neither Path of the Acolyte nor Path of the Smith were exactly exceptional on their own. The only reason Acolyte had worked out so well for me was because it offered Sacrifice, which only did well because I had the core that devoured mana, said core having arrived through my other Path, Newborn Star.

Definitely not a Path that people could acquire normally.

“There are people who manifest non-traditional Paths such as yours, Ross,” Escinca said. His eyes were faraway, like he was remembering an old memory. “But they are few and far between, and the conditions for such manifestation isn’t something I have expertise in. I have only seen one person do so, and I have been alive for quite a while.”

“One person… you mean me?”

Escinca laughed, then looked a little guilty. “Well, yes. But I meant another.”

“Then who?”

“Gutran, right?” Hamsik asked.

Edler Escinca nodded. “Blacksmith Gutran manifested his Path long ago, a peculiar one whose details I’m not privy too, but I do know that it was good enough for him to be a leading figure in the Krayle Dungeon wars.”

“Huh.” I had figured Gutran had a past and that he was experienced. But him possessing a Unique Path sounded strange, considering he often said he didn’t know much about mage-like Paths. “Was he from Ring Four originally?”

“Yes. Gutran, like our young Sreketh, is a half-Scalekin. He was raised in Ring Four just like her, in the very same orphanage as well.”

It was always interesting to hear when people had a history. I had to wonder what Escinca’s, and even Hamsik’s, histories were.

Eventually though, we decided talking about manifesting Paths wasn’t productive. I would probably find more information at the academy anyway. I was obviously interrupting a conversation between Hamsik and the Elder, but since Escinca hadn’t complained yet and I didn’t really care what Hamsik felt, I went on.

“I was thinking that one of the biggest things holding us back is funding,” I said. “Because relying on what we get from the Council isn’t enough. And we don’t want the same kind of source that the Earth Cult is using because of the strings attached. So instead, I’ve been thinking of two ways we can improve our financial situation.”

“Oh?” Escinca seemed both pleased and curious. That was encouraging. I felt less like I was throwing out crackpot ideas and more like we were discussing a plan. Which I already should have felt like, considering my work experience on Earth. “Go on.”

“Well, the first idea was to use taking care of the Scarthrall situation as a bargaining chip. I dislike the idea of proving our worth to the city or whatever, but showing them that we can take care of their problems will give us a bargaining chip for greater assistance and funding.”

“That insinuates you’ll be letting the Thralls become their problem,” Hamsik said in a low, dangerous voice.

“Considering we haven’t seen them in Ring Four at all since the night of the attack… it might already be their problem.”

I honestly hadn’t even considered before then that the Thralls might be hiding somewhere in Ring Three instead of Four. It wasn’t impossible. Of course, it would be a lot harder since there weren’t as many abandoned buildings in Ring Three as there was in Ring Four. In fact, Ring Three was the most populated of all Rings.

But the main advantage was that no one was searching for the Thralls in Ring Three.

“And the other option?” Elder Escinca asked.

“We provide some service or product that we can charge for,” I said.

Hamsik scoffed. “We’re a cult

. Not charging for services, at least in Ring Four, is part of our whole deal.”

“That’s just regular religious services and all that. I’m talking about something else, something that will be useful in a different fashion. I’ll have to think about what sort of product we—well, I—could make. But it would be something with my Aspects, like a moving company with Gravity or simply a service to eradicate unwanted goods and trash with Sacrifice.”

Everybody looked at me weird. I got the sense that neither movers nor rubbish destroyers were really a thing in Zairgon.

“Uh, yeah, let me think about that second idea for a bit,” I said.

Hamsik shook his head, turning back to Escinca. “Elder, if we need more funds—”

“No, Hamsik,” Escinca said.

“I’m sure I can spare some of my—”

“No, Hamsik.”

I hadn’t heard Escinca be that firm before. Hamsik shut up at his tone too.

The Elder slowly sighed. “Please, my fellow young cultists. Let me worry about the funding and other cult matters. You are all doing tremendously well on all your journeys. Yes, even you too, Aurier.”

Aurier flushed like he always did. “I didn’t even say anything!”

Escinca chuckled. “You’re all doing well, and I would hate to see you lose the wonderful progress you’ve been making. Please, worry less.”

I grumbled but subsided. He wasn’t wrong. I shouldn’t sideline the progress I had been making on my Paths and Aspects in favour of worrying about everything else. So, over the next day or so, I did just that.

I had Gravity running through my whole body. I practiced with both Infusion and Siphon, trying to figure out patterns of motion that would be advantageous during combat while using both Affixes. For instance, Siphon could lighten me to make me move faster than my Agility would normally allow.

With Gutran’s help, I also got better and better with the mace. In fact, he had me fighting with a full suit of armour on more and more often. One of the biggest limiters of armour was its restriction to mobility, in part due to its weight.

By using Gravity, I could take care of that weight while still maintaining the hardness of the metal that would protect me against fatal blows. This allowed me to move much faster than most people at my level with armour on would have been capable of. A clear, distinct advantage that made Gutran grunt very appreciatively.

“So many militaries researched making armour as light as possible,” Gutran mused, probably reminiscing about his war days. “But few of them ever landed on incorporating Gravity into the mix.”

I was happy with my progress, especially because I had gotten good enough at using the mace that I could spar with Gutran now too. Beating him was impossible, and he never really fought back, only used his shield to block, but even that showed the difference in our strengths pretty easily.

Plus, even though my Attributes didn’t rise, I did get another rank in Gravity itself.

[ Rank Up!

Your Gravity Aspect has risen by one Rank.

Gravity: Iron VIII ]

At dinner back at the temple that evening, Escinca mentioned something that got me thinking.

“Kostis was wondering about your progress, Ross,” he said. “We’ve been corresponding with letters more often nowadays. Haven’t you met him at the Guild recently?”

“I’ve only been to the Guild a few times, Elder,” I said. “But I’ll be sure to report to him when I do see him again.” I paused, suddenly recalling something. “Actually, do you think you could write back to him with a request from me?”

“And what would that request be?”

“Well, when we first met, he told me to get some jobs under my belt and build a reputation for myself before I could get the real jobs. The adventuring jobs. I think it’s finally time.”