“How?” Penelope asked, mouth hanging open. She kneeled over the mutated phaser’s corpse, fingers running over the scales. “This thing should’ve been too strong for the likes of you.”

“Your magic circle did all the work,” Lukas said, openly holding the Essence of Phasing. He didn’t want to be accused of hiding it. “We just played around the circle until it screwed up.”

“And then I tripped it—”

“And its forelegs just did this to themselves, did they?” Bastian asked, interrupting the clone. His feline nose twitched furiously, sniffing around the foreleg stump.

“No.” Lukas smiled, struggling to veil his pride. “That was all me. We figured out it was most vulnerable during its transitions. Elvis then got awfully brave and stupid, created me a window, and I capitalized.”

“That thing with the light spell wasn’t a fluke, was it?” Penelope raised an eyebrow. “You got magic lessons.”

“I wouldn’t really call them genuine lessons. Esther, the veterinarian. She healed me when we got to Iskander, and Elvis overpaid her. She taught me a little bit of theory and a couple of fundamental techniques to make the most of the sword enchantments.”

“Either you’re incredibly talented or underselling the extent of this ‘little bit.’” Penelope stood, eyes glossing over the essence he held. She checked the magic circle’s edges. It was still intact, but the luminosity had significantly faded. “Honestly, you’d have been better off underselling your capabilities and just waiting for us to get back. We’re going to push you even harder now. I hope you realize that.”

“We figured as much.” El-Two grinned. “As long as we get more essences and are compensated, neither of us sees any issue with that. Do we, brother?”

“We do not.”

“What are your shard abilities again?” Bass asked.

“You don’t have to answer that,” Penelope quickly said.

“I’m going to get the squid.” Bass sounded annoyed as he descended the stairs and disappeared into the waterlogged tunnel. His grumbling echoed far.

“Do you need a sample from this, too?” The clone asked.

Penelope stared at him long and hard before nodding. The clone took Lukas’s sword and got to work. She supervised for a moment, giving him directions on location, size of the cut, and what she precisely needed before turning her attention to Lukas.

“I don’t mind you keeping secrets from me, but you shouldn’t sell yourself short. It feels like I’m underpaying you now.”

“So pay him more,” El-Two said without looking up from his work and went ignored.

“Elvis and I had planned on delving into the undercity as soon as we learned about it,” Lukas said, trying to figure out what would be most convincing. He worried the sorcerer was as insightful as Esther and would see right through him. It already seemed that she was far older and wiser than she appeared. He settled on sharing half-truths but keeping Arcane Clone under wraps. “You hiring us accelerated our plans. I joined the Shadow Seekers. He’s been working for a decent blacksmith and getting spear training from one of their clients. We didn’t just want to be people who carry your things and deliver your packages.” He nodded at the corpse. “I hope this proves that you can count on us.”

“Honestly? I’m as concerned as I’m impressed. You’re both first-tier sharded with only one awakened pillar.” Penelope waved at the corpse. “This is the work of someone experienced. I don’t need to know your abilities, but this is too much. I’d get it if you had more serious injuries. You’re unmarked besides that sleeve, and your personal magic is barely depleted.” She nodded at El-Two. “Bumps. Bruises. A couple of scrapes. A few shallow cuts. It doesn’t make sense.

“I get that my magic circle did most of the work. But the pair of you identified a rare, mutated magical beast’s capabilities when most veteran delvers would be stumped. Then, not only did you survive, but you overcame it and took off a limb.”

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

“When I say my Soul ability excels at intelligence gathering, I mean it,” Lukas said, pulling the knife out of his belt. “It lets me summon a book only I can see. It calls itself the Inspector’s Compendium. Thanks to it, we don’t need scryers, diviners, or appraisers. It helped me identify the enchantments on the blade, Drain Magic, and Rip and Tear. The inspection power recognized the beast and told me what it can do and how to counter it.”

“That. Explains. So. Much.” Penelope’s eyes widened as she emoted between each word. “You had Bass worrying about underworld ties or a powerful demonic patron. The runic sword, wealth of essences, rapid growth, it all makes sense now.” She held out her staff. “What does your compendium say about this?”

Was this a good idea?

Lukas summoned the journal and analyzed the weapon. “There isn’t a lot of information. The compendium notes two separate entities. First, there is the staff. It's well-made but mundane and inscribed with runes for channeling. It has a lot to say about the crystal.” He read directly from the journal. “Azure Dragon’s Focus. The crystal houses flames scooped directly from an Azure Dragon’s heart. They can burn hotter than any natural flame or manifest properties of coldfire, freezing everything they touch. Only one of an Azure Dragon’s bloodline can harness its full power.”

“Oh, wow!” El-Two exclaimed, looking up from his work. Working at the smithy and training with the Shadow Seekers had significantly improved their dexterity. The toughness and strength empowerment made his fingers thick and stubby in proportion to the rest of him. Yet they moved swiftly and carefully. The incisions weren’t perfect but precise and the angles appeared close to ninety degrees. “Your dad banged a dragon?”

“Grandmother,” Penelope stated. “Please don’t ask for details. I don’t want to relive her bedtime stories.”

“This looking good?” El-Two asked, moving out of the way so the pair got a good look at what he was doing. He had cut a neat palm-sized square around the indicated spot.

“Yes. Go just as deep. I want a nice cube.” Penelope returned her attention to Lukas. “It might not be suited for combat, but that’s blighted interesting. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything of the sort. But Soul abilities tend to be like that. Unique. Esoteric. Unpredictable. Bass and I can use that. It will help a bunch

with our investigation.”

“I hope you’ll keep this information between the three of us,” Lukas said.

“Three of us and Bass,” Penelope corrected. “We don’t know many personal connections in the city. It’s not like we have anyone to tell.” She paused for a moment, eyes drifting to the waterlogged tunnel below. Sloshing and splashing echoed from within. “Bass agrees. I’ll occasionally have you accompany me to the laboratory, and you’ll get extra pay and magic lessons in return. Is that acceptable?”

“If the compensation is suitable, lack of courier and guild training time won’t hurt.”

“I’m sure we can come up with something to suit your needs.”

“What about materials for fixing the cracked shard?” El-Two asked, beating Lukas to the subject. “Are we still getting that tonight?”

Penelope smiled. She reached within the light coat she wore over her dress and pulled out a hand-sized piece of crystal. It looked like a shard but was hollow. “Most mages would attempt to fix the old shard and make a cheap imitation of the original with significantly less potency.” Her smile grew into a grin. “Fortunately for you, I’m not just any other mage. We’re going to make a new shard.”

“That’s possible?” Lukas raised an eyebrow.

“Protected knowledge. High skill level. Challenging ritual. You need a hollow shard and three powerful reagents. We got the cracked shard and need two essences. Have you given much thought to what you’d like?”

“How difficult is it to find Essence of Lightning? I haven’t seen any in the market.”

“Guilds and artisans will scoop them up as soon as they appear on the market,” Penelope answered. “Big organizations and artisans tend to have deals with merchants, and they often don’t even make it shops or displays. From what I understand, they’re not the most popular when it comes to upgrading shard abilities. However, weapons enchanted with them are immensely popular.”

Makes sense why Stefan was so generous after his bribe.

If Lukas knew how Fracture’s magic system functioned, he would’ve offered the Essence of Change for the bribe instead. He didn’t feel too disappointed, though, almost all of his opportunities since had come because he gave up the Essence of Lightning.

“I want to use this,” Lukas said, holding up the Essence of Phasing. “I don’t know which essence to combine with it. Repulsion or change. Which would you recommend?”

“The ritual uses a primary shard that grants a part of its nature to the shard,” Penelope explained. “The other is mostly fuel and doesn’t tend to offer much. It really depends on which you want to save for an upgrade. Change would go brilliantly with meta magic or body transformations. Repulsion would probably add incredible power to attacks.”

“Essence of Change,” Lukas said. “Let’s use it.”

“Not Essence of Shadow?” Penelope raised an eyebrow. “It might grant you pseudo invisibility or a powerful stealth ability.”

Lukas shook his head. “I have other plans for it.”

“Fair enough. We’ll get on it as soon as we’re back at the inn and rested.”