“Ah, you’re back,” Thi-Oric said cheerily when Ashinaro entered the job hall.

  “You sound surprised.”

  “Me? Not at all. You’re obviously a capable sort.” He looked at the door. “Alone today, are we?”

  “I’ve realized if I don’t want to be treated like a shielded noble, I shouldn’t act like one.”

  “Very reasonable.”

  Ashinaro handed over the map seed he’d filled the day before.

  Thi-Oric took it, then handed it to Ru-Taris, who placed it into a vase filled with thick black goo.

  Moments later it sprouted, branches rapidly expanding, twisting and curving until forming a recognizable topology. Leaves connected by translucent threads folded and bloomed into varied shapes: monsters.

  Ashinaro had never seen anything like it, and he was amazed. Was it natural, or something constructed?

  The process didn’t take long, and soon a complete map of the area Ashinaro had scouted had formed.

  Thi-Oric nodded to himself. “You sure are quick. Don’t suppose you’ll be wanting another job?”

  “That depends on what it pays.”

  Thi-Oric laughed. “I’d say you sound like a noble, but really you just sound reasonable. Now, let’s get you paid for the one you already completed.” He glanced at Ru-Taris.

  “Me?”

  “I have to man the office.”

  She grumbled something and went through the door behind the counter.

  Thi-Oric leaned forward and said in a low voice, “In the meanwhile, since you completed that job so quickly, I think that’s worth at least a hundred points. Which just so happens to bump you up to have access to tier-two jobs.” He winked. “They pay more.”

  Ru-Taris pushed through the door carrying a tray with five rows of ten copper coins.

  Thi-Oric leaned back, clearing his throat.

  Ru-Taris rolled her eyes as she placed the tray on the counter.

  Ashinaro frowned down at all the coins. “Can I give you the fifty you already paid me and get a silver?”

  “Sorry.” Thi-Oric slid the tray of coins across the counter to him. “Need to get rid of all this copper. If you notice, they’re not stamped with any of the empire’s marks. All come from Argalis, and their bank has been stingy as late with exchanging them.”

  Ashinaro sighed and put the copper in his pouch. Most things in the city only cost copper—or the things he’d pay for in any case—but it was annoying to carry around so much of it.

  Kakoris had been right about that.

  At least he had Zanas’s scepter to hold things now.

  “So, how much does this next job pay?”

  The girl frowned at Ashinaro’s question, then pointed behind him. “She’s right there.”

  Ashinaro wanted to find Orn-Kalot to see if he’d get a reward from doing the quest without the scroll. He’d expected it to take more effort, but the first person he’d asked—this girl selling sweet-smelling spiced roots—he’d gotten lucky with.

  He looked where she was pointing and saw a woman in humanform wearing armor that looked like it was battleform-adaptable. In his beyondsight, he saw it was empowered, though of course with it being linked to her, he couldn’t see its effect. Though he’d seen more people veiled in the city, she wasn’t one of them, perhaps because she was a guard and wanted people to know how strong she was. Which was very strong.

  [Troll, Greater Champion]

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  Ashinaro thanked the merchant and approached.

  Orn-Kalot wasn’t doing anything, simply standing, watching the crowd. Next to her was another guard, though he only had eyes for the large root he was eating.

  As Ashinaro got closer, her focus shifted to him.

  He saluted in the manner he’d seen others here use, which was very different from the drakken salute of slapping your tail against the ground in battleform, or your foot if you were in humanform.

  They also seemed to do it more frequently, and Ashinaro had to admit it was more convenient, if a bit strange: they lifted both arms in front of themselves, hands open, palms flat, as if to show they weren’t holding any weapons.

  She relaxed slightly at this but didn’t return the salute. “Is there something you need, citizen?” she asked warily.

  He wasn’t sure if her wariness was because she couldn’t see his renown due to being masked, or if she was wary of everyone.

  “Actually, I just wanted to let you know that Excite would like you to become his adherent. He has a temple in Argalis you should visit if you’re interested.”

  She frowned. “You a priest?”

  “Nope. It just came up in passing.”

  “Right. Well, you can tell… whoever… I have no interest in running around doing a god’s bidding. I have enough work as a guard.”

  “There are lots of benefits.” Ashinaro wasn’t going to put too much effort into this, but if he could get a second relic, it didn’t hurt to try.

  “I’m sure there are.” Her expression shifted, and Ashinaro thought she looked suspicious now.

  He decided that that was enough of an attempt. He hadn’t gotten a relic, and he’d already done the first part of the quest which was to direct her to Excite’s temple, so he probably wouldn’t be rewarded without having bound the quest scroll.

  “Well, don’t want to keep you. Have a nice day.”

  He hurried off before she could question him.

  “She’s staring at us,” Zanas said mentally.

  “Us? Please tell me you didn’t manifest.”

  “Of course not. But I’m in here too.”

  Ashinaro relaxed and tried to look casual as he turned into the nearest alley and crossed over to a different street.

  “Is she following us?”

  “No, but she said something to the guy next to her. Not sure he heard. Fully dedicated to eating, that one.”

  Back in his rented room above the impractical clothing shop, Ashinaro was deciding on what to instill before setting out on his next job.

  Based on his past recovery, he’d only be able to instill one relic today and would need a day or more to recover. If he did a third with Flesh’s Frenzy, recovery would take longer still, as the stronger a relic became, the more time it took to recover from instilling. The same was true for his battleform, but he was a ways off from advancing to Greater Defender.

  Flesh’s Frenzy already had both a red and blue core, which meant he wouldn’t be able to use another red or blue core on it again without losing the effect of the first. Not without a black core to affix them in place. The same went for the prismatic core he’d looted from the woodcrawler.

  Epitome Veil wouldn’t immediately help him, so he decided to go with Whirling Rush.

  [Whirling Rush (Flawless)]

  Amalgamated with [Flesh’s Frenzy].

  Fly forward while exhaling breath, causing any wielded empowered weapons to spin about you. While in flight, any damage you take is absorbed by your weapons.

  Alternately, while [Flesh’s Frenzy] is active, draw yourself toward your golem, creating a cloud of blood which blinds and weakens enemies. Any damage taken while in flight is transferred to your golem.

  He had enough blue and red cores left to fill both Whirling Rush and Epitome Veil if they both had at least two apertures.

  It was tricky to predict the effect even red and blue cores would have on amalgamated relics, but they were most likely to alter its primary effect. Using a blue core would almost certainly increase his speed in flight, while a red core was harder to predict. It couldn’t reduce the damage his weapons took, because the relic simply redirected rather than altered that damage. The same went for its secondary effect.

  As far as he could tell, there wasn’t anything to reduce. Which likely meant it would be some effect his beyondsight didn’t reveal.

  He visualized what happened when he used the primary effect. He flew toward his target, whatever weapons he was wielding spinning in the air around him and striking anything in his path.

  He couldn’t see what could possibly be reduced by empowerment. He was curious to find out, and he already moved plenty fast.

  But then again, more speed was always welcome.

  “Blue it is,” Zanas said.

  “Can you, not read my mind?”

  “Why would I want to do that? It’s boring enough just waiting for you. I’d just sit here in darkness and silence.”

  Ashinaro glanced over at the skeleton, who was juggling several of Ashinaro’s monster cores.

  When had he grabbed those?

  It was impressive, as he was keeping six of them in the air at once.

  Better those than something which might actually break if he dropped them—not that he looked in danger of doing that. He was staring at Ashinaro as he juggled.

  “You’re not in the dark.”

  “This form isn’t. But my true form is.”

  “The scepter.”

  Zanas tilted his head back and forth, his skull clacking softly against his raggedly clad shoulders. “Like I said, that’s my house.”

  “But you’re inside it. And out here. At the same time.”

  He stopped juggling, easily catching all the cores one after the other. He tossed a blue one to Ashinaro. “Instill that and let’s go. We have a job to do.”