The frustrating thing about the job board was that it was divided by rank. Essentially, an Iron-ranked mage could only take Iron-ranked jobs. That felt a little short sighted. What if someone with a lower rank had the right Aspect and other properties for a job, but the job itself was Silver?
Of course, the other problem was that the Iron-ranked jobs obviously didn’t pay anywhere near as much as the higher ranked ones. Bummer.
I even asked the receptionist if there was any scope for exceptions. “Can’t I get a Silver-ranked job if I’m the only one qualified to do it? Like, what if the person who posted the order is under a time constraint and a Silver-ranked mage with those very specific qualifications just isn’t present?”
“Then we would request the client to lower the rank requirements,” the receptionist said, sounding like she had explained this a hundred times already. She probably had. “It isn’t an uncommon occurrence.”
Muttering, I left the matter alone for now. I took one look at the job board, locating the job order that I really wanted. It was a task involving lifting and carrying things around, seeking someone with any Aspect that could help the client shift things like furniture and large boxes for moving purposes. Apparently, even in fantasy worlds, people needed movers.
“Can’t get the job you want, human? And here I thought you were Gold-ranked…”
I turned around. It was the Rakshasa in the leather armour. The one who didn’t look anything like a mage, compared to nearly everybody else in the Guildhall.
“I’m pretty sure I’m very qualified for it,” I said, ignoring his second statement. “My Aspect would be perfect.”
His sharp eyes scrutinized me like I was a piece of fresh meat on the market. Not exactly a pleasant regard. “From what I’ve seen, I tend to agree. But I think the client was looking for someone with Locomotion as an Aspect, not Gravity, even if you could essentially produce the same effect.”
I frowned. “Isn’t Locomotion just… moving? How does that even work as an Aspect?”
The Rakshasa grinned. “You need to start thinking like a real mage, my friend.” He inspected the job board. “I might be able to get you that job… provided you share some of the profits with me, of course.”
My frown grew deeper. “What do you mean? Don’t tell me you’re going to apply for the job on my behalf, then make me do the work and take a cut from the earnings?”
“You catch on quick.”
“Do you even have Locomotion as an Aspect?”
“Nope. I think I’ll still be able to get it, though. Mages can deputise tasks. The Guild doesn’t really care how the job gets done so long as the client is left satisfied.”
Much as his smug attitude made me want to snap out an immediate
no
, the smart thing was to stop and consider. Wouldn’t his proposal really depend on how much of the cut he’d be taking? The Silver-ranked job paid a lot, but if he stipulated that he deserved something crazy like a ninety-percent cut, then I might as well just take an Iron ranked job instead.
Before I could ask about it, though, the Ogre tester had come over. His expression wasn’t very friendly.
“I will warn you just once, human,” he said, sparing a tight smile for the Rakshasa before facing me. “Do not mire yourself in situations where someone stands to benefit from
your
work.”
“Oh, come on now, Kliezeg,” the Rakshasa said. “I was just giving the newbie a first-hand display of how things work when situations aren’t ideal.”
The Ogre ignored the statement, only looking at me squarely for a moment, before leaving. I felt like he had meant well, in his own weird way. Still. My original intent hadn’t changed. I would decide how much profit I could—
“Ah, such a Pits-cursed busybody,” the Rakshasa muttered. “May fortune shine on you finding a good job by yourself, human.”
With a dismissive wave, the Rakshasa walked off before I could even tell him I didn’t mind at least considering whatever offer he had. But the Ogre had pissed him off and he was gone.
Sighing, I left the Mage Guild for now. I couldn’t take a proper job at the moment anyway. First, I needed to acquire citizenship. The Mage Guild would still allow me to perform the job, but the sum was rather large, and they preferred to pay me through the banking system. I was warned that I would
not
be enjoying carrying large bags of heavy coins through Zairgon.
And to get payments through a bank, I needed a bank account, for which I needed citizenship. Well, time to get help from Elder Escinca.
“You don’t have paper notes here?” I asked.
“Paper what?” the receptionist asked back.
“…never mind.”
On my way from the Mage Guild, I made sure to pass by the guardhouse. I got lost again and ended up at what was a large, open-air market, but that just made me a little depressed as I had zero cash to spend on anything. I hadn’t received my cult stipend yet. Thankfully, I located the guardhouse by the time the afternoon rolled around.
Most of the guards there were dismissive of me, even after I mentioned the Scarthrall incident. At least a good two-thirds didn’t even know what I was talking about. Insane.
It was hard not to react. The incident had felt like such a major thing to me. There were literal mini-vampires kidnapping children and terrorizing a chunk of Ring Four and—and yeah, that was it, wasn’t it? It was Ring Four. Why would anyone ensconced within the walls of Zairgon care about anything going on in Ring Four?
One guard did recognize what I was talking about, though. A Rakshasa heard me out and then took me to the guard captain, a human woman whose face was buried behind a book. She didn’t notice us at first, too engrossed in her story.
The guard cleared his throat. “Captain Revayne. One of the cultists is here.”
She peeked over the top of the book, peering at me with very strange eyes. The colours of her eyes were inverted. The whites were black as obsidian, while her iris was ivory. Her hair looked less dark and more
burned
. Yet, I was still pretty sure she was a legit human being.
“We’re investigating the matter,” she said a little shortly. “We’ve already received evidence that there was indeed fighting there, and quite a lot of it. Your friend from the cult retrieved his hammer too. We have guards periodically performing searches to see if any further information can be discovered.”
Revayne said it like that was the end of the conversation, like she couldn’t understand what else I could be seeking with the little meeting.
I just stared at the book cover. “Is… is that a murder-mystery you’re reading?”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; any sightings.
She blinked at me. “What about it?”
“Doesn’t that feel a little, I don’t know,
on the nose?
”
“Did you come here to question my hobbies?”
I sighed. “I was making a joke. But the real thing is that while you’re
investigating
, we have actual Thralls running around, hunting people and ready to ambush them.”
“That is incorrect.” The guard captain actually went back to reading her book, her face hidden by the cover. She was still speaking, however. “Scarthralls do not have the ability to enter anyone’s home without their express permission, and everyone has been warned to not invite any strangers. As for ambushes, we have patrols in place and warnings to never travel alone under any circumstance.”
It still felt like a canned response to me, like I was talking to customer service back on Earth. “What if there are more Scarthralls? What if the people that everyone trusts gets turned into Scarthralls? That’s how it works, right? Real vampires biting and turning people into minions.”
“Fanciful fears have no place in determining optimal responses,” she said. “We unfortunately can’t prepare for every instance or safeguard against every potential threat.”
“So you’re useless,” I muttered.
She didn’t react, but the Rakshasa guard flushed, his demonic face reddening in anger. “Watch it, human.”
Revayne cleared her throat.
Her Rakshasa subordinate looked chastised, quickly clearing his throat. “Sorry, Captain.”
He was right, though. Getting frustrated wasn’t going to solve anything. What I needed was a proper incentive. Hounds needed a trail to go hunting after their prey, didn’t they? “What if I told you there’s a Scarseeker involved in the area?”
Slowly, the captain lowered the book just enough for her eyes to reappear and stare straight into mine. “That is an incredibly bold accusation you’re making.”
I shrugged. “I’m just offering you a lead to investigate, captain. A Scarseeker has been coming to the same neighbourhood near where the Scarthralls attacked my friend and me.” I wracked my brain to remember the name that Aurier had told me. “He goes by the title of Lord Kalnislaw. It’s no secret at all. Ask around, and you’ll find a lot of witnesses corroborating me.”
The Rakshasa spluttered. I figured this lord was obviously an important figure, and I was probably playing with fire by bringing him up. But I didn’t have to be the only one who got burned.
Captain Revayne finally closed her book. It was a bit of a relief to note that her face was perfectly normal. After seeing the weirdness of her eyes, a part of me was expecting her lips to be made of enamel and her teeth to just be an extension of her gums. “Thank you for the information, Cultist…”
“Ross.”
“Cultist Ross. That will indeed be helpful to our investigation.” She lowered her voice. “Gives us something more solid to go after, what with the terrible trail we’ve found so far.”
“Captain,” the Rakshasa said with growing concerned. “You don’t truly believe this cultist…”
I scowled at him. “What’s there to not believe? All I’m saying is that a Scarseeker came to visit. That’s quite literally it. Do you refuse to believe the sun rises in the east just because someone you don’t like tells you about it?”
“The sun
doesn’t
rise in the east!”
I was really, really tempted to curse at the guy, but my common sense prevailed, thankfully. He might actually be right. I hadn’t checked, but for all I knew, the excuse for a sun they had on Ephemeroth might not rise from the eastern horizon. “That’s not my point.”
“Enough, please.” Captain Revayne reopened her book. “I once again thank you, Cultist Ross, for the information. It will provide us another avenue of investigation. I will need to clear the matter with my superior before I can truly proceed, but rest assured, we shall continue investigating.”
The Rakshasa didn’t add anything to that, wisely remaining silent at a look from his captain.
More importantly, for all that Revayne had sounded perfunctory at best earlier, she was sincere this time. My lie detector hadn’t gone off. Come to think of it, the Rakshasa or anyone else at the Mage Guild hadn’t lied to me either. Considering the number of people I had interacted with so far, that was honestly a bit insane.
I decided to leave with grace and thanked the captain in turn before making my way out.
Back at the cult, I was happy to rest. I offered to help Escinca with some of the cleaning, but he said I had done enough for the day and to take a break. Naturally, I appreciated it and expressed my gratitude.
Not that I went off to actually rest. While the day had been productive to an extent, I still hadn’t actually secured a job that would pay me well.
With that in mind, I experimented with Sacrifice some more. One of the things I irrevocably owned was the things on my person. That meant the physical things about myself like my nails, my hair, even things like my spit and what not. I decided to test the less disgusting ones and see what I got using Sacrifice.
Clipping off some of my nails and snipping off some hair gave me a decent amount to experiment with. I hadn’t forgotten what Escinca had done on my first day at the temple, when I still hadn’t been able to fully understand him.
He had taken some of his short strands, and when he had Sacrificed them, he had gained… more of them. It had explained why this hair was so dense.
I didn’t want that, obviously. My hair was fine. Alright, maybe it
could
be a little better. Just a little more hair here and there, a tad more waviness and curl, and then it would be—
I shook my head.
Focus
. I wasn’t here to become Mr Universe. There was absolutely no reason for me to seek the same benefits that Escinca got. And I wasn’t judging the geezer either. If he was happy with what he got out of the Sacrifice, that was good enough for me.
Instead, I had Windfall as an Affix. It made me think I’d just get
more
hair and nails, because that was what Escinca had received, but was that really case? Couldn’t I influence what I received somehow? Surely there had to be an Affix or something like that.
When I asked Escinca, he revealed there wasn’t one, unfortunately.
It was a little frustrating, but at least it got me thinking about what other Affixes I wanted for Sacrifice. Escinca mentioned he had several already, as his was Gold-ranked now.
For the time being, I focused on testing what happened when I Sacrificed my hair and nails.
[ Sacrifice
You have Sacrificed 2 [Minor] Iron-ranked Parts of Yourself. Windfall bonus activated.
Reward
: Mana replica of Sacrificed parts is available for 1 hour
]
I blinked at the notification as threads of magical energy swam through me. My body had a rank too? Why the hell wasn’t it on my status then? I supposed it could just be something that was implied, like the average of all my physical Attribute ranks, which were in Iron of course.
But mana replica…
The threads of magic were indeed gathering at the exact spots where I had taken the tributes of Sacrifice from. My scalp buzzed with mana, as did every single one of my nails—the nails on my fingers, to be specific, not my toenails sadly. I concentrated on them, on what I was capable of
via
them, and I had to blink a couple times at seeing what happened.
Mana replica was rather literal. Curling, clawed protrusions extended out of my nails like I was turning into a magical werewolf. I quickly found a mirror and stared at my head. My normally short dark hair was now interspersed with vivid gold strands, like someone had attached neon yellow noodles to my head.
I wasn’t sure what the benefit of the hair was, but the claws felt like weapons. They were hard enough to not even be scratched when I swiped against the solid rock of the temple walls. Sparks flew off at the contact. Huh. These new nails were
strong
.
Also, I apparently had them for an hour. I could toggle them on and off though, which was neat. A little focus, and I could turn my hair and nails back to normal, but the mana buzzing under my skull and at the tip of my fingers confirmed that I could recall them at any time. Now I was starting to wonder if I could create replicas like that for any part of my body…
So obviously, the next thing I tested was my blood. A shallow cut with a small knife got me enough to Sacrifice away. The blood vanished with a brilliant white flash, just as my nails and hair had done, and I received the exact same reward and notification as the others.
This time, the magical energy vibrated through my blood vessels. It pulsed in time to my heartbeat, and my heart thrummed in my chest like it was turning into an electric version of itself.
The problem was that I once again had no idea what the effect was supposed to be. I let the mana go, allowed it to
become
my blood—or an extension of it, like it had with my nails and hair. Magical energy sizzled through my whole body, like all my blood vessels were turning into livewires, electrifying me from within.
I found that it was boosting the amount of mana I had available. I played around with Gravity, weighing myself down so much that I had serious trouble just lifting my own leg. In fact, I got scared I’d crush myself under my own weight with how much I used Infusion and ended up reeling it back in.
And I hardly felt any mana exhaustion. That sort of use would normally strain the capacity my body could handle, especially after my Spirit hadn’t risen again yet. For some reason, it was a difficult Attribute to rank up.
But back to the point at hand. Was Sacrificing my own blood just offering a boost to my mana reserves?
Or were there other benefits… benefits potentially tied to my mana core, which Kostis had mentioned tying to my physical body?
Blood. My blood. Something that would spill naturally during a fight. I slowly smiled as a new idea popped in my head. Time for a bigger test.
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