Chapter 86

    Matt and his team were left at their wits end once the meeting was over. They didn''t know what they should be doing with their free time. They couldn''t even spar, in case they injured themselves. So that was out of the question for at least another week, and without the ability to go on missions, Matt felt adrift.

    With little left to do, Matt offered, Im going to pester an enchanter I know. Does anyone want to come?

    Annie sighed. It''s too early to work. How about we go get pedicures? Maybe a full message? Treat ourselves a bit.

    No one else wanted to do work after that suggestion, and Matt wasn''t going to be the odd man out when he wouldn''t mind the distraction.

    They found a nice place and were pampered into an absolute mess of luxury. The place was so fancy, they were treated to hair cuts as well. His hair was buzzed back to nearly nothing, as he didn''t want to deal with it during a fight. Conor had taken the same approach as well.

    Liz and Emily both had their long hair merely trimmed, but Annie had taken her shoulder-length hair to a style only a finger-length long. She said that it would only get in her way, with all the sneaking she planned on doing.

    Aster had her coat brushed and shined. The finishing touch was the array of ribbons that she had woven through her fluffy tail, along with a matching pair of bows by her ears. She pranced around, showing off her cuteness to everyone they passed as they walked around the city. Eventually, they stopped in for a light lunch before they went their separate ways just after noon.

    Annie and Emily were going to visit a friend, and Conor was doing the same. Liz just pushed Matt to go visit Kelley, the Tier 10 enchanter that he had made friends with. She was going to start preparing for the upcoming changes, and try to get ahead of what she expected was coming.

    He offered to help, but was very kindly told that he wouldnt be of much use to her.

    It was actually a relief, he really didn''t want to play nice with people that he didn''t know. All he wanted was to do some enchanting.

    Kelley was waiting at the front desk next to his nephew when Matt walked in. Matt hoped he would be. He had messaged the man earlier, and then once again when he was on his way.

    Oh, youre here, good. Let''s head back. No girlfriend or Aster today?

    Matt shook the Tier 10s hand and laughed. Nah. We died yesterday, and after a spa day, we have nothing to do for the next two weeks, until we can safely spar again, which is at least a week out.

    The man looked positively gleeful at the news, and he half dragged Matt into his workshop.

    That''s perfect. I''ve been playing with the light rune you gave me. I think I figured out how they can be linked together to create an array, but the efficiency loss is still a little higher than whats practical. To make it commercially viable, we need it to be as bright or brighter than the standard rune, at the same mana per minute level. Not the high end of mana cost, where it already wins. But I think I''m close.

    Matt snagged a pair of dark-tinted goggles and peered through the blinding light, looking at and recording the string of runes that Kelley had set up.

    At 80 MPS, Matt''s AI started parsing through what Kelley had done, and began testing modifications from both the base rune and the one the older man had adjusted.

    I think we can work on this. First thing I see is...

    ***

    The sun was peeking over the horizon and illuminating the giant walled-off city. The tips of the skyscrapers glowing like candles as Matt walked down the street to their rooms in the headquarters building.

    On the way, he ordered breakfast for everyone and returned to their room with warm bags in hand. He had just finished setting the plates when Liz came out of their room with a sleepy Aster. She still had the ribbons in her tail, but not the ones by her ears. Considering how much she moved in her sleep, he wasn''t surprised in the least.

    Liz just yawned at him and asked, Howd it go? I was surprised you didn''t come back last night, so I figured it either went really well or really badly.

    Matt grinned at her around his face full of egg.

    It went really well, actually. Well, kinda. Kelley and I mostly worked on the light rune I gave him, and we managed to solve the problem of the rune being too inefficient. But it only works for single runes, and not for strip lighting. Well work on that later, after we both have time to think on it. After that, we mostly worked on enchanting various bits and bobs he had lying around.

    Liz looked vaguely concerned at that. He isn''t taking advantage of your mana, is he?

    Matt waved his fork, He isn''t. Or if he is, he''s either really bad at it, or working an extremely long con. He didn''t ask, and when I half offered, he waved me off.

    They ate in silence for a while, until they both finished their plates. Eventually, Matt asked, How did the prep stuff go?

    Liz grinned at him. Gooood. But I need you to stand the first watch for me.

    Watch? What watch? And where? And when? He cocked an eyebrow and said, I''m willing, but confused.

    If Liz needed someone to do something fast, it was much easier for him to step in and take over for a while, than to scramble to find someone else. The only question was what exactly it was that she needed him to do.

    We need someone to staff the situation room and basically see if theyre trying to send Pathers on suicide missions because of terrain or anything. Seeing the expression on Matt''s face, she hurried to add, It''s not meant to be hard. Were still working out the exact details, but we don''t expect it to be more than that. Or at least not much more. Were thinking about rerouting all Pather communications through the offices we are setting up, but that seems like a little too much for a single person to handle.

    Wait, back up a bit. Who is we?

    Liz looked confused, but finally understood. Sorry. Yesterday I was talking to Juni, and afterwards, Talous. Hes the one of the top Pather team leads on the Queendom side, and were making sure we get everything we can from the two royal heirs. Anyway, he and a few others on both sides who are interested planned out a lot of things yesterday. Some of us are dead, and some aren''t.

    The idea is, well always have a top fifty Pather in charge, and on the council that the Prince is making. If no one in the top fifty is dead, the top ten need to send a representative. It''s not ideal, as it will screw up some missions, but it''s the best we can work out for now. None of us want to do it permanently.

    Matt wiped his plate with his toast and asked, And that means someone needs to be in the situation room??v€l?1n.

    Yup! That''s where most of the big decisions are carried out. I think you''ll at least not mind it, even if it isnt your cup of tea. The map shows everything thats going on, and the various upgrades that can be bought from the points that the Kingdom is earning. Well get someone else to do it soon, but we all need to start today.

    He looked at their room with longing, but blasted [Endurance] at 80 MPS for a few seconds to banish any fatigue he was feeling. They left the food out for the others, and they quickly moved downstairs, where they separated.

    Matt found himself in a brightly lit room with row after row of massive screens, and people tapping at them while interfacing with their AIs. He was surprised by how quiet the room was with that many people talking, and by their gestures, some discussions were getting rather heated.

    A quick inspection of the room with his spiritual sense showed him a series of enchantments surrounding each workstation. It was overlaid with an obscuring rune, making it murky and twisty to his senses, but the application was obvious.

    A petite young woman with bright pink hair came over to him and introduced herself. Jessica, watch commander for the first shift. I assume youre the Pather assigned here.

    That''s me. Though I admit, I''m not exactly sure what I''m supposed to be doing, or how any of this works. Any help would be greatly appreciated. He grinned at her, trying to show that he wasn''t going to step on her toes or try to take over somehow.

    Matt paused as the realization sank in. That was worth 691,200 kingdom level points per day. If he sold his secret right here and now, he could buy everything he could ever want out of the reward shop. All it would take was a few days of sitting back and relaxing. He was sure that the conversion wasn''t one for one, but that hardly mattered when he never ran out of mana.

    I could change the course of the war with a few days worth of giving mana That''s enough to redirect points into upgrading a fort or two.

    Matt was almost tempted to try and work out a deal.

    No. Fuck that. I''ll earn more points than that by fighting. Ill carve out a deeper impact through my actions, not my mana. I will not, and will never be reduced to just a mana battery. I''ll kick down a city''s walls solo if I have to, but I won''t devolve into nothing more than my Talent.

    Still, the scale of points was mind boggling.

    He received a call from Liz as he was idly scrolling through the numbers. Since it was the first contact he had had in five boring hours, he quickly picked up. Check to see if 5421''56.0"S 3634''45.6"W is a bad spot to send a team.

    Matt found the spot and saw that it was a cold and mountainous region near the pole of the planet. There was a single medium fort defending a palladium mine. The fort was distinctly far away from cities, and acted more as a beachhead for the Queendom, located on the southernmost continent. It was half-covered in ice caps, with a large fort built at the center, with a small ring of forts around it. The continent and fort were both otherwise isolated from the main forces of both vassals.

    After thinking it over himself and having his AI simulate the situation, he responded, Seems clear enough.

    After a long moment, Liz finally asked, Ok, good. How are things down there?

    Matt shrugged, even though she couldn''t see it. Fine, I guess. Mostly boring, since there isn''t much for me to do other than observe. From the lack of communication so far, I guess you can handle everything from your end?

    Liz seemed apologetic when she said, We got set up with a full office, and it has most of the capabilities I thought we would need someone down there for. Sorry. I didnt think it was worth your time.

    Don''t worry about it. Matt tried to reassure Liz, who he could tell was genuinely remorseful about leaving him out.

    I thought wed need a lot of oversight, but the Kingdom has been super helpful, and hasn''t tried to double-cross us or anything.

    So, do you need me here? He tried to keep the eagerness out of his voice. While he had not minded this little break, and had learned quite a few things, hed much rather be doing something else.

    For now, yes. Ive got a replacement on their way. If nothing else, we at least have a face down there, so that should keep anyone from getting ideas about changing orders or something. Sorry I have to go. Someone''s at my door.

    Matt almost reluctantly disconnected, and spent the last hour of his shift planning out his next steps. He started on his idea for posting a reward for unique mana aspects. He would offer 10 points per person who had an aspect he lacked.

    He wasn''t sure if it was enough to attract people, but he felt it was more than fair for someone spending a few points of mana to charge his ring a bit.

    That was an hour''s worth of standing guard, but for a few minutes of effort.

    To his surprise, by the time his shift ended, and a young woman came to replace him, he had half a dozen pings responding to his posting.

    He eagerly sent them each a message to meet up with him at a public park, and hurried his way over to find six people milling around.

    If you can line up, I just need to input mana into my refilling mana stones.

    That was Matt''s answer to hiding his growth ring. He bought two dozen small and inefficient mana stones that could be recharged, and intended to simply have the people add their mana into one, then move on.

    Steam, cloud, iron, tree, plant, and finally ice were the aspects of mana that he added to his collection. He was about to refuse the ice person, but decided to take it anyway. The young man was Tier 5, and had a scraggly look about him that Matt recognized from his days in the orphanage. It reminded him of the kids who were falling into depression. That haunted look along with the young man trying, and failing, to hide his eagerness caused Matt to ignore the fact he had Asters ice mana.

    Thank you all. If you know anyone who has unique mana, please let them know that I''ll take a copy.

    The cloud mana woman was the only one to stick around and asked, I assume that youre a crafter?

    Matt just nodded to her question. He did craft things, after all.

    If you have anything that reduces weight, Id love to buy it. No one else has it at a reasonable price.

    Head over to Kelleys enchanting shop. He has a Tier 7 earring that does that. Price is seven Tier 7 mana stones. At a thirty percent reduction, it''s well worth the price. Matt only knew of it because he had helped Kelley create an earring last night, once they moved on from the light rune. The earring they had made wasn''t the same one he was telling her to buy, but Kelley had shown him the weight reduction one as a reference. The one they made was a custom job to reduce wind resistance, but crafted in the same shape and style.

    The woman winced but nodded. Better than most others I saw. It''s even better if it''s Tier 7. It''s just expensive. Do you know what the price is in points?

    Matt paused. Kelley didn''t actually have points listed in his store, so he wasn''t sure if the man even accepted points. But considering that the only reason he was on the planet was for the contribution points, he would surely take them.

    I think so, but I don''t know the cost in points, sorry. I don''t think it would be more than a few hundred. But I really don''t know.

    With that, they went their separate ways, and Matt pulled out the nearly empty mana stones.

    The first five were quickly absorbed into his ring, and he cleaned off the old mana signatures by ensuring that the stones were fully drained.

    Matt was about to just empty the ice one, but he decided to try absorbing that one as well.

    It was worth the points to see how repeated mana aspects would be handled by his ring.

    To his surprise, his ring absorbed it without a problem, and didnt overwrite Asters ice aspected mana. They sat next to each other as near twins, but with a subtle difference between the mana types.

    Aster''s ice mana was a more cold ice, whereas the young man''s mana was more of a slow ice. Or at least, that was the fuzzy interpretation he came up with from comparing the two.

    He immediately edited his posting about asking for anyone with aspected mana to come and visit him, no matter the type.

    Spending ten points was nothing to get extra unique mana types. He wasn''t sure if that type of difference in mana aspects could make unique rifts, but he was itching to find a secluded place and test his theories.

    For now, he intended to try and make a new item with a slowing ice effect, instead of increasing the cold damage. Kelley was Tier 10, and probably could go for another all-nighter.

    Probably...