Chapter 323

  Silently Arguing With Yourself And Still Losing

  “How is it always you?” Mallory begins. She’s talking to herself, but I know she is talking to herself about me. “Then there are times, when they are about other people, but they are still really about you.”

  “I assume she means the world announcement?” Gabriellaz asks, a bit nervously next to me.

  It’s good that I get to share this moment with someone else.

  “Yeah, probably,” I agree.

  Of course, the announcement that drew Mallory here and forced me to let Jhonny take over the morning Qi Manifestation workout regimen was this message.

  Yeah, completely outed the two of us right there.

  Not certain if I kind of broke something with that last world announcement, the one where I grabbed it and stopped it before it could kill my Perfectly Resurrected skill books. Skill books that were able to evolve from where they were originally, to where they should have been able to end up eventually.

  Just seeing that announcement, I realized the world likely hated me, for some odd reason. Calling me out by full name, title and even throwing the recipient of my action out for all to see as well.

  While I’m here, and forced to wait for Mallory to process what is happening and our next steps forward, I am already preparing for the next part of my days.

  I’m thinking today, and likely this whole week will be an easy week, at least magic wise.

  Then again magic is always easy, but I’m thinking I go give a quick speech about magic, its importance. From there I introduce Raygunnr the Teleiotís ambassador to the Midnight Hunters. From there I have him teach Mana Language to the students, to fully get that part of my Daily Quest completed.

  That’s when I end my lesson with magical Glyph-Work, this semester’s version of the Outsourcer 5000. Honestly, I’m surprised that it took me so long to go to the Glyphs.

  A shame really, as I know that my RuneUlacrum spent many of her hours working tirelessly on creating those for my classroom. Only to have them now be obsolete.

  Poof.

  Just as I am having this thought, that very Simulacrum, RuneUlacrum appeared right before me, scowled and just shook her head in frustration.

  “We can still sell them,” I state trying to clearly calm down my angered RuneUlacrum.

  I can fully understand where she is coming from, I mean these are basically my thoughts. What happened was she went spent dozens of hours working on a project that was then scrapped almost immediately. Kind of like the abandoned East Base in Antarctica, just not as cold.

  Well, almost not as cold, for the stare coming from RuneUlacrum right now is quite frigid.

  Then after taking a moment to process the situation, she holds up a hand revealing all five of her fingers pointing straight up.

  I look at her hand, and then almost realize exactly what she means.

  “You want half? You know it is my design, right?” I protest.

  With that RuneUlacrum takes a calming breath and then holds up her thumb from her other hand.

  Realizing that she is going to go for sixty percent here, I quickly cut this off. I don’t want to argue, or worse haggle, with myself.

  “Okay, fine, you get half,” I reply, stopping the money grubbing fiend from taking everything.

  After that, RuneUlacrum just smiles brightly and then extends a hand.

  Seeing the hand, I roll my head back, before taking my own breath and then reaching forward my own hand, I shake my own Simulacrum’s hand.

  Whoosh.

  There is a surge and a release of magical energy, as a wave of binding golden Karmic threads now tie me to my own Simulacrum, over this business deal.

  With that contract out of the way, RuneUlacrum just turns to Mallory.

  For her part Mallory and Gabriellaz are just stunned into silence.

  Their reactions make sense, I mean it is not every day that you see someone argue silently with themselves, lose, and then still come to a mutually beneficial arrangement for everyone.

  For her part RuneUlacrum just holds out one of the noted Outsourcer 5000s to Mallory, then gesture to first herself and then to me. Before she then places the noted Outsourcer into Mallory’s hand that grabs it out of reflex.

  Mallory just stares in slack jawed amazement. An image of the normally stoic leader that would otherwise be comical under any other set of circumstances.

  Right now, it is not comical as I just got fleeced. I’m only getting 50% of royalties from the sale of these Outsourcer 5000s, despite development, prepping, and creating the first few prototypes that RuneUlacrum copied. Still, she is a good worker, and I do want to keep her on my side going forward. There will after all be more future endeavors that I will need her tireless precision and attention to details to help with.

  For her part, Mallory recovers quickly, as expected of a genius in her position.

  “You want me to begin the selling off of our stock of Outsourcer 5000s?” Mallory asks first RuneUlacrum who just nods. Then seeing the nod, Mallory gets frustrated before turning to me and all but asking the same question with her intense stare.

  “Yes, please sell them as we will be going to the Glyph based training system this semester. Thus, the Outsourcer 5000s will be mostly obsolete, but still great training for those wishing to improve their skills,” I reply.

  Mallory pauses for a moment, but then I can all but see her analytical mind coming to work.

  “There will be overhead, sales, and delivery fees,” Mallory notes. “I’m thinking about 35%?”

  Hearing that, RuneUlacrum just points her finger at me.

  “WHAT?” I demand, realizing that part of my karmic bond with RuneUlacrum will be undone if any of that 35% comes from her share. Meaning, right now I am at 15%.

  Mallory looks confused, turning from RuneUlacrum then to me.

  “About 35%.”

  “20.”

  “30.”

  “25%, that way you and I get equal shares,” I state as I glare at the money grubbing RuneUlacrum, I think what makes it so bad is that she is literally stealing from me, with my own tactics. Then I continue, “if you want more, sell them for a higher price.”

  Mallory just pauses as she seems to do some form of number crunching in her head, then finally agrees.

  “Fine,” Mallory declares.

  RuneUlacrum extends her hand out towards Mallory.

  Seeing the hand, Mallory only pauses for a second before cautiously raising her own hand in return. The two shake.

  Whoosh.

  There is a binding agreement now between RuneUlacrum and Mallory. Better still, since RuneUlacrum is my Simulacrum, I can feel those same binding bands of karma now linking Mallory to me.

  This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

  Poof.

  With the agreement now in place, Mallory just stares at her hand and at the open spot of land right in front of her.

  There is a momentary pause as she seemed to come to a realization.

  “Did I just get conned by your Simulacrum?” Mallory finally asked, as she eventually turned her gaze towards me.

  “Look, I’m just as much of a victim here as you are,” I reply.

  For her part Mallory just shifts her gaze left and then right, as she seems to come to come conclusion. Finally, she just waves her hand dismissively as she begins to speak once more.

  “Honestly, I not even mad at the con. In fact, well done,” Mallory states while giving a gentle golf clap.

  “But I didn’t…” I protest.

  Chuckle.

  At that Mallory just laughs while shaking her head at the situation.

  “What is so funny?” I demand.

  Taking a moment to regain her own composure, Mallory asks the question that I should have been asking myself this entire time.

  “Where is your Simulacrum going to spend her portion of the money?”

  Terror.

  Hearing that question, I feel part of my brain cut off as I imagine all the things I would do with money. Money that was thought to be linked to or used by an entity like me.

  Just being me, my Simulacrum could likely get and barter amazing deals.

  Worse, I know that RuneUlacrum, the big gossip will likely share her exploits on spending her share of the money with the other Simulacrums. Meaning eventually, those greedy buggers will all try to extort money from me.

  Meaning, I will be conned by myself.

  What if FaeUlacrum starts demanding money for each book she reads. No wait, I’d just demand she switch with me and she would not want that.

  So FaeUlacrum is fine.

  That just leaves ShipUlacrum and HealUlacrum to come up with likely money grabbing scenarios.

  ShipUlacrum could extort for tower levels climbed, but honestly that is fine as I rather enjoy exploring the Arcanarus Tower, personally. So again, nothing lost by them standing still. What is she up to, anyways? I definitely need to check on her.

  That just leaves HealUlacrum who is both Healer, Book Reader, and Mage Guild Master. A Mage Guild master who has just put in for a collection of books to be delivered, so she is fine for a moment.

  Yeah, just RuneUlacrum.

  Though depending on how this goes, I know the others are just watching and waiting to see what will happen next.

  Seeing the look of shock on my face, Mallory’s disposition suddenly tenses.

  “Wait, you really don’t know what your Simulacrum will do with that money, do you?” Mallory asks.

  I think, trying to imagine what a highly rune and technically focused aspect of my personality would do with a sudden windfall of cash and all I can do is shake my head no.

  Awkward silence.

  There was a long silent pause that filled the area as Mallory and I both got lost in our thoughts.

  Finally, a fidgeting Gabriellaz asked, “so what exactly just happened?”

  “Asset stripping,” I reply, stating the economic term that came to mind. My mind instantly pulled up the few terms I managed to maintain from my entrepreneurial days. Asset stripping refers to the act of selling off older products and resources, while trying to get a return investment, so you can get enough capital to move forward with new business ventures.

  Of course, I am surrounded by a bunch of children who just stare at me in confusion.

  “Not that kind of stripping,” I begin before continuing, “and not those kinds of assets!”

  Gabriellaz just blushes at the comment, her mind clearly going to the gutter at my comment.

  Mallory on the other hand just shook her head, “no I was just surprised that you knew the economic terminology. I always thought you hated finances.”

  “What? I love money,” I state honestly.

  “Says the person who has never accessed their bank account.”

  “Do we even have a bank?” I ask.

  At this Mallory and Gabriellaz just rocked their heads back like they had been sucker punched.

  Seeing their reaction is a bit dramatic, but I do agree, seeing my bank account will definitely be a task for later. Maybe tomorrow, my schedule for today is fairly packed.

  “Yes, you have…” Mallory begins and for whatever reason I hear an odd warbling sound within my ears as tinnitus apparently kicks in. Being a Healer, I immediately try to Heal the problem, but it isn’t any defect, it is just my mind.

  For a moment I try to remember what I was thinking about. Again, that whole Harrison Bergeron effect, random noise then you get distracted.

  Trying to remember where I was, I feel excited as I realize that the bank. Almost at that exact time, Mallory speaks the same thing that I just recalled.

  “The bank is…”

  Realizing my thought for the bank, I understand that it should be a task for tomorrow as my day today is sort of filled with tasks.

  Of course, I think this, and then pull up my tracker for today. I have a lot to do, but a quick glance shows that I am not doing as poorly as I thought I would be.

  Apparently my giving a morning speech, giving every Qi user their training Glyph and telling them to follow Jhonny’s lead was enough to count as my “Teaching” the morning Qi Class. A fact that I am honestly thankful for.

  Also, seeing the stopped time about my training my Apprentice is a bit concerning. That said, she has seen me in action for the last hour and a half or so. The only change now was that Mallory wanted to talk to Gabriellaz and me alone.

  Still for only a few hours of work for the day, I was doing quite well. I somehow even managed to fix a problem related to the war with the Legrand Empire?

  “Wait, how did I just fix a problem related to the war with the Legrand Empire?” I ask.

  Mallory who had apparently been talking about banks paused and just stared at me. Then turning to lock gazes with Gabriellaz she stared. They shared a look for a moment, before Mallory just shook her head and answered my question.

  “As I was saying, with your confirmation to sell all Outsourcer 5000s, we will be able to increase outside trade with other countries and use that as both revenue and means to conduct other business deals.”

  Oh, that was cool. That meant I just needed two more similar events to happen. Hopefully, the ones where my Simulacrums were not trying to get one over on me, but if it led to a quest completion, I couldn’t be too angry. Then it was just a matter of teaching my two magic classes, where if my Apprentice attended both classes then it would just be a few more minutes after class to get the four hours of time spent together. And of course, visiting the Supply Depot.

  I was so close to finishing this quest that I could all but taste it.

  “I think you lost her again,” Gabriellaz said, her words pulling me back to the present.

  At that I paused and turned to face them both.

  Mallory just stared at me for a moment, one eyebrow raised in that questioning glance that asked without saying, did you get all of that?

  Seeing her gaze I pause and ask.

  “Sorry, were you still talking?”

  Only after I stated what I was honestly thinking, did I realize how harsh it might sound.

  Exasperated sigh.

  Mallory just shook her head at the comment, before centering herself and apparently trying to cut this odd impromptu meeting down on time, and trying to get it back on course.

  “You know what, forget it,” a slightly frustrated Mallory declares.

  Hearing her, I feel bad, as I can tell that she truly cared and was actually trying to help me. But my mind for whatever reason could not focus when she spoke about money.

  There is likely something there, but she continues talking before I can delve too deeply into that subject.

  “What I really need from you right now, is a description of what you did to Gabriellaz, and what exactly it all means?” Mallory begins.

  “Well…” I begin trying to get my thoughts in order, but Mallory apparently sees something in my delivery that gives her pause.

  “We will start with you, what did you feel, and what happened?” Mallory began by directing her attention towards Gabriellaz.

  This is good, as I am still kind of curious about what I did. I mean, I know the process that was taken and performed on Gabriellaz, but what it felt like from her point of view, I don’t really know.

  “Well, the Doctor began by searching me with her third eye, then I felt this tingling sensation.”

  “A tingling sensation?” Mallory questioned.

  “Yeah, like a deep itch on your soul. One that you know you can’t reach and likely shouldn’t feel anything there, but you suddenly know it is there and has been for a while, but no one was around to disturb it, so you didn’t even know it was accessible?” Gabriellaz trails off as she realizes she is rambling.

  “Okay, I get it, Dr. Spiritlight went somewhere she wasn’t supposed to and touched you in a place you didn’t know could be touched. Go on,” Mallory stated succinctly.

  “Hey,” I try to protest, but Gabriellaz begins to speak. Stopping for a moment, before continuing.

  “Well, she then went around, touching things, moving things. Then she used magic to somehow awaken parts of me. From there I was given a three point Merit, with a quest that threatened to take away this new Merit if I don’t complete the assigned quest.” Gabriellaz answered, before pausing for a moment.

  “Do you need me to share the quest details with you?” Gabriellaz asked, realizing that the associated quest to keep the noted Merit might help.

  “That is unnecessary at this time,” Mallory replied, not stating that she already had the quest and its current status listed in her Guild Leader HUD.

  Mallory seemed to be taking a few mental notes, before composing herself and then turning towards me.

  “Okay, so in your words, what exactly did you do?” Mallory began, but then held up a hand to stop me from answering.

  “Actually, before that, tell me if you can repeat the process? I assume that the system message all but noted that you could now do such things, and listed Gabriellaz as your initial sample, as proof to the world.”

  Hearing Mallory’s second question, I paused. Then realized she was likely stating this so that people who were watching from home could follow along and get clear answers to what she had already managed to put together.

  “Yes, I think I can do this again,” I reply trying to remember the exact question that was actually asked.

  With that out of the way, Mallory nodded her head.

  “Okay, then in your own words, will you please tell us the process that you used for this, in case anyone else thinks they can duplicate this process?”

  Again, I think there was another jab at viewing witnesses from the real world. As this was no doubt being broadcast live to everyone.

  Hearing the question, I could all but feel a slight increase in tension on my back, as if thousands of more people suddenly zoomed in to watch my reply.

  That is when I realized that using my Confidentiality right now might not be the best option. Besides, I liked having that for meaningful moments. Right now, it seemed that a time to use Confidentiality would have been before the world message was generated.

  “It is fairly simple,” I begin.

  “Simple?” Mallory questions.

  “Well, kind of,” I begin, then continue. “What you do is you peer deeply into a person’s soul with your third eye. Then you look past the mortal framework to the misty cloud like structure that is the soul.”

  “Cloud like?” Mallory asks.

  “Yeah, cloud like but it is really just a bunch of constellations that are made up of tiny particles that originally look like clouds.”

  “Constellations?”

  “Will you let me finish?”

  “Yeah, sure, go on,” Mallory states, still taking notes. This time with a parchment and fountain pen in her hands.

  “Okay, so if you don’t immediately come into the world with those constellations lit, they don’t light up and you can’t use them.”

  Mallory nods, so I continue.

  “But the residual potential, those stars or dust, or whatever that would be used to light up the constellations is there. You just take that dust from all the different unlit constellations and smoosh them together.” I state, while doing a smooshing gesture with my hands.

  “Smoosh them, is this a scientific term?” Mallory presses, only the faint smile on her lips lets me know I am doing exactly what she wants.

  “Yes, in this case, smoosh is the most accurate. For it is like moistened sand from the beach. You take it, and clump it together. Then use mana to find the different holes, which you try to fix by applying more force. Then when that doesn’t work, you fill the remaining holes with a bit of Qi, spirit Qi works the best. Then once all the holes are filled, you then cover it with a nice glaze of ephemeral energy,” I state, as I mime working on the glob of constellation dust in my hands.

  “Just a glazing?” Mallory asks, her pen not moving at all by this point.

  “Yeah, just a glazing. Then you apply a bit more pressure, wait for the glazing to soak in, and repeat as needed. Oh, you do need to keep the glazing to be in the same shape as the constellation you are mirroring. Also, one thing I learned is that glazing will cause the object you are working on to shrink,” I reply.

  “Shrinkage? That’s a thing?” Mallory asks.

  I just stare at her, as I know she is trying to say something but my mind apparently does not catch it.

  Though it might be an inside joke as Gabriellaz just smiles brightly at that comment.

  “Yes, it is a huge thing. Well, take a huge thing and then reduces it by half.” I admit, somewhat sad that I was unable to give Gabriellaz the full effect of the merit.

  Cackle.

  “I can’t,” Gabriellaz exclaims before laughing violently for a moment.

  Then as if that started a chain reaction, Mallory too began cracking up laughing.

  Looking back, it was clear that Mallory was trying to keep a straight face, but was failing.

  “What?”

  “Oh, those childhood sensors, completely making this even more hilarious,” Mallory states.

  I try to again comprehend what they are talking about. With that clue I realize it is likely the system still messing with my mind and keeping parental controls on high enforcement, but I still can’t understand what they are talking about.

  “What?” I finally exclaim.

  “Shrinkage,” Mallory answers. It is clear that she wants to say more, but can’t.

  Then Gabriellaz cuts in, laughter filling every word, but somehow she still manages to repeat clearly. While mirroring the hand gestures I made.

  “Shrinkage, you know where it takes something huge,” Gabriellaz began by holding her thumb and pointer finger apart by a few inches, clearly mirroring the size of the constellation I had worked to compact and demonstrate.

  “Then it shrinks to half,” Gabriellaz cackles out as her fingers end up an inch and a half away from each other.

  With that the two just burst into a giggling fit.

  “I don’t think we are talking about creating Merits anymore,” I reply.

  Mallory and Gabriellaz paused, both trying to maintain themselves for a moment, but then lost their composure and began laughing again.

  “No, sadly we are not,” Mallory eventually got out.

  Fortunately, Jhonny was leading my Qi Manifestation students back, allowing me the time to leave the two cackling hyenas to their own.

  I still didn’t get it, but it was something that could be figured out later on. For now, I had two classes to teach, an Apprentice to spend quality time with, and a supply depot waiting for me.