The Way Ahead

“You got it working?” Rillah perked up from her slouched position by the fire.

“I mean, you don’t have to sound so surprised, but yes. Now, I want to keep an eye on it for a couple weeks just to make sure no problems pop up, mind you, but it should be fine.”

“That’s amazing! I had no clue you were that good with crafting.”

“Have you obtained any new fascinating Skills then?” Lefi asked.

“Ummm…” Edwin flicked through his notifications, “Not that… I can see. Oh huh, I got potion-making and coppersmithing. No, I don’t see anything too noteworthy. Oh yeah, that does remind me.”

He waved his hand through the popup, dismissing it, “I got the Artisan path from that.”

“Marvelous! I recall that was one of your current endeavors?”

“Yeah. I got it for completing a ‘lengthy, complex, personal project utilizing my own Skills.’ I hadn’t thought about it, but it does make sense.”

“Did you get any other fun Paths?”

“Well…” Edwin read off his other Path notifications- they’d been dismissed, of course, but recording it all in Almanac was basically second-nature at this point.

“Interesting. You continue to find Paths which I have never encountered or even heard of,” Lefi mused.

“They definitely sound fun.”

“Indeed. I suspect your Mana Harvester path may in fact be a Trophy path,” the adventurer noted, “It certainly sounds akin to one, though it is strange that you would obtain one for such an impersonal project. Usually such are gained upon forging one’s self a spectacular suit of armor, or a generational sword, perhaps even a ship.”

Edwin shrugged, “Don’t look at me, you’re the System expert. Anyway, the accumulator. It should work fine, especially if all those Paths mean anything, but I just want to make sure and it’s not quite good enough weather for leaving anyway.”

“How long will it last?” Rillah asked.

“I’m not sure. I’ll be shocked if it lasts more than a few years without maintenance- the wheels will probably get jammed up, and it’s not impossible that the potion might be broken. But if that doesn’t happen… I mean, most of the thing’s properties are inherent to the materials, and I don’t think the traits I modified and added will ever fade. I’ll probably see if Pierash is interested in learning how to take care of it, because it would not be hard. She wouldn’t even have to grease the thing, with how much sand I stuffed in there.”

“What I’m hearing is I get a vacation?”

“I mean, you’ll still need to stick around for a bit in case I need you for something, but yeah, your daily chores should now be automated.”

“Sweet! Hmmm… whatever shall I do.”

“Play your flute,” Lefi and Edwin answered in unison.

“And probably dance,” Edwin added.

“Alternatively she might decide to fly around,” Lefi countered.

“Well that’s a given. How’s your Powerful Flight going, by the way?”

“Fifty-seven. If I got some help from Lefi, I might get it before leaving Sheraith,” she pointedly said.

“Sorry, little Snowbird, you know there’s not much I can aid you with for that Skill.”

“Yeah, I know but that doesn’t change that I want you to,” she pouted.

“So anyway, what’s the plan? Leave early spring? That’s what, three weeks away?”

“Indeed!”

“And the plan?”

“I have a new quest to embark upon! While the young ones have learned much, they still have far to go, but they must return home to truly appreciate all they’ve learned and face the evils therein.”

“Are there actually evils hiding back at their home?”

“I have learned it is best to not bet against such a thing.”

“Fair enough. Rillah?”

“Don’t know yet. We’ll see where the wind goes.”

“What of you, Edwin? Do you plan to venture with us still, or where does thy adventure take you?

“Eh… towards the coast, maybe? I need to look into it more. But first…” he breathed a sigh of relief, “I’m going to take a few days off- no goal or research, just playing around with my Skills. Then… I don’t know, maybe I’ll put some more work in on my greenhouse.”

“Ooh, do you want to play catch with Unbound Tether?”

“You know what? Sure, that does sound fun. Lead the way.”

“So where has Yathal been, anyway? It feels like I haven’t seen him for a month.”

“You’ve barely seen me for a month, why would you see the kid?” Inion asked.

“Well… I don’t know. It just seems like I would have heard him or something during all of that. Also I’m sorry, I just got so wrapped up in everything that I just couldn’t...”

“You’re free to spend your time however you like. You doing your alchemy is so fun to watch.”

“You weren’t even there most of the time.”

“Pah, like I’d need that.”

“Kind of creepy, but okay. Anyway, I take it ‘however I like’ doesn’t include being with Rillah?”

“She’s not good for you.”

“You don’t get to choose how I spend my time, you know. That is my decision and my decision alone.”

“I’m just trying to save you, and you’re too blind to see it. It’s for your own good.”

“No.” Edwin put his foot down, “We’re not getting into this right now. Beyond the fact that nothing good has ever come from the phrase ‘doing this for your own good,’ I wanted this to be a nice, relaxing chat with you about what’s been going on during my time in the lab.”

“Well fine, if you insist…”

“I do. So what has Yathal been up to?”

“Well you know, since he got Polyglot a couple weeks ago he’s been all over the place. Kyni’s been keeping him safe but I’ve run along with him a few times as well, and he’s been running with the local kids. Really energetic, you know?”

“I’m sure. Well, at least he’s been quiet most of the time.”

Inion laughed.

“What?”

She shook her head, not answering.

“What? Oh come on, don’t give me that. He isn’t that loud these days is he?”

“Just you wait and see.”

“You’re still planning to wait until the day we leave for you to let the city know about the accumulator?” Edwin snagged the boulder they were playing catch with out of the air, pushing Packing to its limits as he returned it to the flying girl.

Rillah nodded, “That way, they can’t come up with reasons why it wouldn’t count or try to break it.”

“They wouldn’t do that, would they? ...Ah, who am I kidding. They totally would. That wouldn’t mean you’d have to come back, would it?”

She shook her head, “I was to help ‘until another has assumed your duty,’ which the accumulator definitely works for. If they then break it, well that’s just their problem. It’s not something I need to worry about. You aren’t worried about it, are you?”

Edwin waved his hand, “Ah, not especially. It was a fun project, but I’m still just… giving it away. What happens to it beyond that I don’t care about that much. Like don’t get me wrong, it would be very cool if something I made stayed in active use for years and years to come, but it’s also not why I made it. I made it to free you of your responsibility and because I wanted to. It was fantastic practice for sure, but I also can think of a dozen ways I could improve it.

“So sure, if they smash it to bits I’ll be somewhat sad but I’ll cope, and it’s not my problem. I try not to be sentimental about stuff for all that I fail.”

Unbound Tether wasn’t even close to strong enough to toss around the boulder they were using, but it was a really effective way for both of them to train while having fun. Multitasking!

“You had fun making it and that’s what matters?”

“Sure. I learned a lot and found the experience valuable. The stuff associated with it, who cares?”

Rillah raised an eyebrow and prompted him to continue with a giant rock, as she caught, spun, and returned the stone from her position above him.

“...Also I made peace with the idea that stuff I make might become immediately invalidated back when I made a cannon then promptly got a Skill that turns me into a railgun.”

“You sure you made peace with the idea? Because I’ve seen your wagon these days.”

“Okay, so I know I still have the whole thing strapped to the roof, but it’s a lot of apparatite. I don’t know when it might become useful again.”

“Can’t you just make it all up again?”

“I mean yeah, but there’s hundreds of kilos of the stuff in that construct, it would take me hours to conjure that much.”

“Oh, because it’s so much easier to repurpose parts from a cannon for whatever little piece you may want?”

“Look, can we talk about something else?” he grunted slightly as he caught the stone, Packing pushed in a new way. Huh. Was that a twinge of Stamina usage? Something to look into later, “Like… how are you going to keep them from immediately pulling you back like they did initially?”

“Oh, that? Have you ever paid your service tax?”

“My what? No, I can’t say that I have.”

“Well, it’s this thing the Empire does where instead of like… paying the tax collector, adventurers can be recruited into a situation where they’re needed.”

“You know, I think I have heard of that, actually, but the enforcer who talked to me said that because I’m an Ally I actually have to do it or something, because most of the time adventurers ran?”

“Oh yeah, it’s always possible to run. It’s almost expected sometimes, but they’re marked as tax evaders in that province which nobody really cares about because of how minor it is to Wanted List. But the Enforcer here is no fun and would hunt me down anyways.”

“Doesn’t surprise me. I’ll just need to remember to hide from future Enforcers, if I stand a chance of being waylaid for half a year suddenly if I don’t.”

“But you, hiding from the Enforcers? Now that’s something to imagine.”

“Hey, I’ll have you know I’m excellent at hiding from people. I spent months in Panastalis and never once met the rival alchemist to my sponsor, and I only met the alchemy Guildmaster when she sought me out. I assure you, that was not an accident.”

“Oh please, there’s no way you’re better at that than I am, and I can never go more than a few days before I’m noticed by what feels like everyone in the province.”

“Well maybe if someone didn’t have a half-dozen ‘hey look at me’ Skills, they wouldn’t have to deal with so much attention.”

“It’s not half a dozen,” she protested, though her complaint was offset slightly by the massive rock she was holding above her head while flying.

“Oh, you’re right, it’s eight? But I was dodging attention even before I had the option of hiding away and not interacting with people. You, on the other hand, go around acting as a bard wearing flashy clothing and an eye-catching Class.”

She shook her head, flicking her hand in dismissal.

“You know I’m right,” Edwin teased, returning the rock.

“I don’t know anything about what you’re talking about. So have you decided what you’re going to do yet?” she asked, quickly changing the topic.

“I… no, not really,” Edwin admitted. “Well, okay, that’s not actually true. I have a whole list of what I want to do, I just don’t know what to do next, and I don’t want to be a drag if I go with you guys...”

“You won’t be a boulder! Come with us!” she offered again, “It’ll be way more fun.”

“What did you end up deciding on? Or are you still planning to follow where the winds blow?”

“Well, I think I’m wanting to head to Rhothos and actually visit my mum this time. I was getting close, but didn’t quite make it there before I was called to Sheraith, so I’ll be heading along with Lefi, Yathal and Kynigos. Now that the kid’s a little less shy and the pup has more experience on his paws, they might make a decent guard pair a few years from now. ”

“What’s so special about Rhothos, anyway? Like it’s clearly the center of a lot of activity, but why?”

“Lots and lots of food, and more recently an agreeable Enforcer. It’s a great place for us. There’s other places that are also good, but I’m partial because it’s home.”

“Fair enough. I… might join you. I don’t know.”

“Why’s that?”

“I just have other things I need to do and that I want to do. I have alchemical ingredients to get, experiments to run, people and places to visit. And they’re all towards the coast.”

“You don’t have anything you need inland?”

“I mean, I guess I could try and get my payment from Panastalis for services rendered and I really should check in with my Registrar.

“Great! You can get that done, then! Come on, you know you’ll enjoy it.”

“It’s just so little. That’s two tasks among so very many I’m trying to deal with. I’m just not sure if it’s a good use of my time.”

Other than for the people, his brain whispered.

“Come on! You’ll enjoy it.”

“I… I still need to think about it more.”

The air inside Edwin’s greenhouse was hot and humid as he cut a few molai flowers for harvest, as well as trimming back the more bush-like plants to properly encourage their growth. To his left, Inion summoned a bit of water, chatting as they tended to his garden.

It was really only thanks to her that Edwin’s garden was turning out as well as it was. The crystal pots, filled with soil taken from the Verdant, were exceptionally thirsty for mana. While Edwin could take care of them on his own, other than if he tried to grow talsanenris, they wouldn’t flourish nearly so much. Instead, the fey’s combination of water-like mana, natural gifts as a nature spirit, and relevant Skills all combined to make Edwin’s greenhouse as good if not a better environment for magical plant growth as the Verdant itself.

“Edwin, stop being ridiculous. You don’t need them.”

He raised an eyebrow, “I thought you approved of me being with other people, and that you liked Lefi.”

“Oh, they’re fine, but you don’t need them.”

“Of course not! I don’t need anybody, not really. But I like them, I like working with them just like I enjoy working with you. You don’t need to be here, but here you are anyway.”

“You came up with a way to grow plants easily year-round! What, was I supposed to stay far away?”

“You know, I’m still surprised you’d never encountered a greenhouse before I made this one. Like sure, you-”

“I was asleep for several millennia, of course I’m not completely aware of what’s new in architecture.”

“Like sure, you were asleep for ages,” Edwin finished, “and they didn’t have widespread glass back then, but you didn’t have this kind of thing back in Arcadia or whatever?”

“No.”

“Why, though? But that doesn’t mean you have to help me take care of it to have the ability to enjoy it. No, I don’t really care about whatever you’re planning to say to countermand me, you didn’t need to, but you clearly wanted to.”

“You do lots of things you don’t like.”

“Yeah,” he flatly replied, “Like going for years without any friends. I definitely didn’t like that. I don’t really care what your latest excuse for why you don’t like Rillah is, I know that you dislike her, but I’m not going to pass up a chance for an actual human friend just because you dislike her smile.”

“You don’t know what she’s doing to you!”

“Well, what is she doing to me then?”

“….”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. If you don’t have any actual things you can say about Rillah, just don’t even bother. Pass me the watering can, would you?”

Inion handed the teapot-like creation over, and Edwin accepted it with a nod, pouring about half of it out around the base of his molai.

“I’m going to go with them,” Edwin decided.

“What? You can’t do that! You have plans, things to do!”

“Yeah, and you being so insistent that I not go is making me suspicious. Besides, all the stuff I want to see isn’t time-dependent, and sticking with Lefi helps my Skills level anyway.”

“It’s not why I’m here.”

“Well then why are you here? I’m being interesting. Isn’t that what you wanted?” he snapped, “I’m not your little lapdog for you to order around, to come, sit, lay down, and roll over at your command. You wanted something interesting? This is me being interesting, deal with it or leave.”

“Maybe I will.”

“I won’t stop you. I have other people I can be with!”

“They won’t stick around like I will. They’ll leave you when you need them most.”

“Oh, like potentially haring off because I’m traveling with a person they didn’t like?”

Inion stayed tellingly quiet as she snatched a handful of mulched talsanenris branches, spreading it around the firevine shoot she was tending to.

Silence fell in the greenhouse for several minutes before Edwin broke it, “I don’t want to leave you, you know. But I will if you make me. I know that you’re just looking out for me, which I do appreciate, and I know I wouldn’t even be alive right now without your help. But I think you’re looking for something that just isn’t there, and I can’t help but wonder if you’re not that different from me, just without realizing it.”

“Like you? I just don’t see what ya mean.”

“I’m awful with people, and because I know I’m bad with people I overcompensate for that and make myself annoying in other ways. I second-guess myself constantly, say stupid things, and otherwise drive people away in so many different ways because I can’t figure out what people do like. Yes, I know that about myself. I’ve spent years trapped in my own head, I’m aware of my prison even if I can’t figure out how to escape.

“I think you might just be doing something similar, just without realizing it. You don’t want to lose me as,” Edwin cut himself off before he finished his thought, lose me as your plaything.

“Lose me to Rillah, so you’re jumping at every shadow and trying to find some reason why I can’t go with her.”

“I told you before, I’m not jealous.”

Edwin raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything right away.

He pulled out a particularly tenacious weed from his talsanenris pot, “I don’t want to choose between the two of you, you know. I’m not limited to only a single friend and if I could I’d have both of you. It’s only your insistence that keeps me from spending time with both of you at the same time.”

“As soon as that woman stops manipulating you I’ll tolerate her.”

“All communication is manipulation,” Edwin shrugged, “Especially here, where it seems like any random person I meet might have some sort of social Skill. And don’t you go pretending that you aren’t constantly trying to manipulate me yourself. At least Rillah’s manipulation seems to be for my benefit. And again, if she is manipulating me…” he sighed, “I’m not sure I really care? It’s like… like I’ve been falling for a really long time, and now I’m not. It doesn’t make a difference for me if it’s because I hit something solid, or because something caught me and is just holding me in place. All I care, is that I’m not falling.”

“You’re not used to Skills. If you had more exposure to people, more time spent getting yourself used to dealing with Charisma and even normal social Skills, then you wouldn’t be nearly so obsessed with her.”

“I’m not… I’m not obsessed with her.”

“She’s the first person you haven’t tried to dismiss as irrelevant.”

“That’s not… entirely true. I know she’s just being nice to me as a favor to Lefi, I just hope… I just hope that’s not the only reason.”

“Ya.”

“Oh come on, I don’t try… I don’t… She’s not a true friend. She’s a potential one sure, but…”

“Then stop obsessing over her.”

“No,” Edwin shook his head, “No. That’s not what… I don’t want to give up…”

He set his pruning dagger off to the side, trying to gather his thoughts, “

“You’ll find other people who aren’t trying to manipulate you!”

“No. I won’t. Look at me. I’m an alchemist from another world, a mage and with the eyes of everyone up to Emperor Xares himself on me. Simply saying my name was enough to get an aggressive Enforcer to back down. I’m a literal and figurative gold mine, I’ll never find someone that wants to befriend me just because of who I am as a person, there will always be some aspect of what I can do for them that will play a part of their calculation.”

“Seems cynical.”

“Well, then I guess I’m a cynic, but I don’t believe it wouldn’t enter into someone’s considerations at the very least. Rillah’s not using me just for what I can make, after all.”

Inion raised an eyebrow, “You just spent two months making something just to make sure she didn’t have to do her job.”

“That’s… different. Somehow. I don’t know how. It just feels different to me.”

“Ya, because she has Skills.”

“What will make you happy, Inion? Me never having friends other than you? Is that it? Because that’s not happening,” he’d finished with his work in the greenhouse, but leaned against an invisible wall as he watched the fey float cross-legged in front of him, “Everyone in this world has Skills, am I supposed to just dismiss them all?”

Inion’s face was unusually readable, Edwin getting the distinct impression she was trying to come up with some suitable compromise. So, the only logical conclusion was she was putting on a deliberate show and he needed to come up with a solution before she could ‘find’ one.

“Look, I’m slow to make friends. I’ll... I have a kind of test or something that lets me know if she’s actually interested in me, like I want to be the case, or is just trying to manipulate me for…” he paused, “Actually, what do you think she’s trying to manipulate me for?”

“As though you didn’t spend the last two months working on something for her? Like I just said.”

“Well, okay… but you thought she was manipulating me even before I had any idea about that, or before she even knew I could do that.”

“Bah, you’re a mage. They don’t need a reason to see why digging your creek into their river would be good. You being an alchemist and an outsider just makes that clearer.”

“Oh, like you, then?”

“That’s uncalled for!”

“Oh, is it then? I used to have a test for how I’d be able to tell who was actually interested in being my friend, I’ll have you know, and...”

Edwin’s mind finally caught up with his mouth, and he trailed off. Wow. He hadn’t been expecting to think of that today… or ever, really. It had been what, five years? Six? Not since he had started college, not since…

“And what? Edwin, what happened?”

“Nothing, nothing. I’m fine. Don’t worry about me,” he brushed her off, “It doesn’t matter.”

“Well okay, so long as you’re able to hold yourself together.”

...And you never passed it, he mentally finished.

At least their conversation passed on to more pleasant content after that.

“So I’m also leaving additional storage crystals there,” Edwin pointed out the chest in the corner of the room, “That way if the one in the accumulator breaks, you have replacements. Now, Alchemy is telling me they should last a really long time if they aren’t broken, probably on the order of decades, so it shouldn’t be often you need to do anything with those. Now, you’ll know that it’s the crystal that’s acting up if this indicator here stops pulsing. Now granted, it’ll stop pulsing if any of the other steps are broken instead, so make sure you check the other spots as well.”

Edwin was really proud of himself for getting the indicators working- they were redundant for him, yes, but he’d managed to make a glowleaf solution that only glowed when exposed to magic, and from there he was able to tune the sensitivity up and down until it suited his purposes. He wasn’t entirely sure how they worked, but… well, in all honesty it wasn’t as important that he fully understood everything he was doing. It was a nice goal… but it was just so infeasible for some of the cooler things.

He’d hit level 100 in Alchemy after all, and while it seemed like comprehension was important for leveling the Skill, actually benefiting from it was more along the lines of utilizing the instinctive knowledge it gave him. So… he’d had to loosen his normal guidelines a bit. Make the crazy device first, figure out how it works later.

Honestly it would probably be advice he could stand to integrate into more parts of his life, but that wasn’t relevant yet.

“So long as it stays lit, it shines bright?”

“Uhh… sure,” the halfling was fond of odd turns of phrase that never seemed to quite translate properly, but he could generally get a decent idea of what she meant, “The lights themselves I’m pretty sure will last ages, but if you can somehow pick up a mana sensing Skill then you’d just be able to sense the different parts yourself.”

“Oh, I’m not some two-bit outlaw like you seem to think I am, nor am I a fool. Even if I could get that kinna Skill why would I be such an outlaw?”

“...Right. You know, I spend so much time with adventurers I kind of forget that’s a thing every once in a while. Anyway, is everything making sense so far?”

“Polish the turbine but the other stuff’s fine, make sure to leave the sand in when cleaning it-”

“But not when it’s in the wrong places like-”

“Yeah, not when it’s in the wrong places like between parts that aren’t joints,” she cut him back off,

“I’m well aware.”

“Heh. Well, sorry, I’m just not used to people actually listening to me, I guess.”

“So it would seem.”

“Anyway, yeah. Do you think it’ll hold?”

“Ah, well that’s a tricky question now. It’ll certainly cover all of what the tower’s for if it can even do half what you think it goes and does. It’ll just be those once-a-decade storms when they already go and need some extra help, but from my experience, it should be quite sufficient otherwise.”

“Um, thanks?” Edwin awkwardly said, “Any questions? Or does it all make sense?”

“I think I can figure it out. It’s part of the tower now, and thus is a part of my domain.”

“You have Skills for that?”

“Oh but of course.”

“Huh. I mean I guess… anyway. If you think of any before we head out, let me know.”

“That will be on the morn, yes?”

“Yeah. That’s when Rillah’s letting them know about this thing, and we want to get out of here before the political fallout comes crashing down around us. It’s a good thing she’s on board, because I would not have thought of that in time.”

“Yes, well it will be a relief to see that furry menace leave at last.”

“What?

“Fur gets everywhere! And what’s worse, that mongrel has Skills that fight against my own. No, I will be quite happy once he no longer is here to sully up the furniture.”

“Hm, fair enough, I guess I didn’t really think of it that way.”

“Of course you didn’t! You wanderers never settle down long enough to understand the pain of maintaining a place like this.”

“Sorry?”

“You should be! Bah, kids these days.”

“...So anyway, if you don’t have any more questions for me I’m going to go keep packing up.” Edwin awkwardly fled, throwing himself down the massive staircase.

Tomorrow would be a big day, after all, and there was lots to prepare.

Level Up!

Skill Points 1156→1162

(Alchemy: 100; Stamina Manipulation: 23; 13/25 60-point Paths)

Improbable Arsenal Level 44→45

Polyglot Level 71→72

Sapper's Apparatus Level 68→69

Stamina Manipulation Level 21→23

Watchful Rest Level 44→45