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The mana-reading artifact came inside a wooden crate, delivered by none other than Rylan's apprentice, the mithrilkinetic and mithril blooded Andria. She looked a lot better than she did last time Mark had seen her, but of course the last time he had seen her she had a post-forging sheen to her; heat damage on the brown hair, sweat in the overalls, tired eyes.

She was wearing something of a sundress this time, and her hair was done in a curl of mithril, while mithril rested in frozen, solid forms on her wrists and ankles. She smiled and she looked pretty. She was hitting on Mark. It was uncomfortable." Hiya!" Andria said, as she floated the crate in the air next to her, inside a few grips of mithril.

"Special delivery, for your hands only!" Mark had been told to be home to receive the package, so he supposed that was exactly what was happening right now.

"Uh… hello, Andria. Didn't expect to see you." Andria shrugged, as though she wasn't very much in the middle of a big life plan right now. Or at least that's the impression Mark got from her vector. Her face was mostly impassive, though she was grinning.

"Here you go! Need a signature, please!" She held out a tablet. Mark took the tablet, saw the price tag of 590, 000gl or 126, 000 settlement points, and thought that was fine. He tapped the goldleaf price and wrote his name with his finger in the space provided. The half-million goldleaf would be deducted from his actual account; not his settlement points. He handed the tablet back and said, "Thank you, Andria." Andria beamed that Mark knew her name.

She took the tablet back and set down the crate, saying, "So I was told by Rylan that I shouldn't try subtilty. Uh. I'm interested in you— Professionally! I got lots of money! I don't need money. So I'm not after money. But… uh. Adamantium is kinda, you know. It's sort of what… Adamantium forms the baseline of all real magical power. That solidity is needed for all the big weapons. Mithril flows and fills in the gaps. You can't have a good weapon that's solid power— Well. Normal people can't. You can.

Because it's not really solid in your hands! Anyway. Uh. I loved that dagger! Shame about the destruction. Mithril could have made it work, I am sure! Hit me up if you ever want to collaborate… See you!" She got out of there. Mark called after her, "Thank you! I'll keep you in mind but don't… I don't know! Bye." Andria had paused to hear him, and then she smiled wide, was crushed and elated at the same time, and she rushed to get away, waving as she ran. … Mark unboxed the thing he had ordered.

It was a specialty scanner and it came in four pieces, each of which looked like a series of tubes and focusing beams. There was a box of various parts, from wires to computer bits, and… Whoa boy. Complicated. Mark breathed deep…

"Shit. This looks complicated as fuck."" This is exceedingly complicated, sir," Quark said, "I'm pulling up diagrams of installation procedures and it will take about an hour to install. Maybe 3. Maybe 30, because of all of the other stuff that is already installed in the scanning room." Ugh… Shit. Okay. We can do this, Quark." An hour later:" We can't do this, Quark."" I fully agree, sir."

The pieces were everywhere and the walls needed adjustment and the whole thing needed to be integrated into all the rest, and it was just not happening. Mark sent off a message to Eliot:' If it's not too much trouble…' And then he clicked off a picture of the various parts he had strewn all around the workshop. 40 seconds later, a message pinged back.' What the fuck, Mark! Don't install suspect parts into our house!'' Help plz.'' 2 hours.'' I'll keep trying, then.'' Fuck! Fine. 20 minutes.'' Thanks, Eliot!

You're the best!' 24 minutes later Eliot and Sally showed up with Sally chuckling and Eliot complaining about unknown and unregistered magical equipment. Mark defended himself, citing that Quark was helping, but Eliot rolled his eyes and went up to the workshop and 'started fixing everything Mark was about to fuck up'." But seriously, though.

I know I'm freaking out unduly," Eliot said, as pieces of tubular scanners went into the walls and various things slid left and right to make room, "But this stuff is exactly the kinda stuff that needs to be cleared before it gets installed. Non-integrated shit is fine to bring around, but if it installs into the house system then it needs to be cleared.

There was that infestation of shadow lice that swept through the neighborhood last week because someone brought in some suspect electronics into their house and some eggs germinated in the corners and then suddenly you got people waking up with lice in their shadows and eating their faces while they sleep." Mark grinned.

"Thank you for everything, Eliot." Eliot 'bah'd at him, but in a friendly sort of way. Sally asked, "Where's Isoko? I thought she was with you."" She went out with Derek and Barba Sacredcut for a harvest mission down in the mushroom forest," Mark said, "They have me on quickdial, but Derek is trying to show off for Barba and Isoko and there are tens of him, so there shouldn't be any issues at all." Sally frowned a little bit. She didn't trust Derek. Eliot said, "Sally doesn't trust Derek at all." Sally winced.

"That's not… exactly true." Mark paused.

"You don't?" And then he realized Sally was here.

"Wait! Why are you here? Walter bail on you again?"" Walter bails at the drop of a hat," Sally said, "No idea what's going on there, but I'm pretty sure he's getting missions from Drakarok to kill people."" Oh," Mark said, feeling a little unwell at that news…

"But not really unexpected, huh. Sentinel of Okuana and Executioner of Drakarok, so… yeah. He regularly kills people." Sally nodded.

"Walter isn't a bad guy, though. Like, fuck him for what he tried to pull with you, but Drakarok is Retribution. Every time Walter comes back he seems more centered, too, so he's obviously clearing out divine missions." Mark kinda agreed with all of that. Eliot said, "Probably." Sally continued, "As for Derek… Okay. Well. Walter doesn't trust him because part of him could be literally anywhere. Multimen are the perfect spy, you know.

And that's not just them hiding in the walls with an auto-killing device on them that erases the body when they trigger it, but until then they listen to everything. I'm talking about being here and also 5, 000 kilometers away and checking in on the main body all the time, every time it splits into more clones. He's literally never in real danger at all, he's learning and coordinating almost like a Seer, and he's never actually here." Eliot rolled his eyes.

"Too paranoid."" It's how I feel," Sally said." And sometimes 'how people feel' is a terrible excuse for anything," Eliot added.

"Most of the time, really." Sally scoffed.

"I have good instincts." Eliot finished installing the parts in the walls as he said, "And you're already complaining about how Mark and Isoko can out-empathic you, so maybe your emotion there is faulty."" I'm learning!" Sally said, without any real defense.

"But also, Derek is learning Unionsense too, so he's learning to hide himself as well."" Ah," Mark said, "But he's got divine oversight in his very soul right now."

"… Okay, well, I admit that part I haven't thought around, but give me a few days and I'll logic Derek into being terrible for everyone," Sally said, but now she was just being ridiculous and she knew it. Mark chuckled. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Eliot was about to defend Derek again, but then he saw Mark laugh, and he let it go. He patted the cleaned up wall, saying, "Test run!"

The holograms over the central scanner space flickered on, showing diagrams of the weapons Mark had made so far. Eliot said, "Have Quark poke around. See what you can see." Mark said, "Initiate, Quark." Quark spoke with the speakers in Mark's ears, "Initiating," and then he spoke with he speakers in the room, "Connecting. Connection reestablished. Initiating new systems… Initiation complete."

His voice turned more conversational, as he said, "I have successfully established contact and integration over the new scanner systems… Oh my. This is… They can sense the buildup of different types of mana and have a recorded 2. 3 million different manas…" A pause.

"Surely there aren't actually that many?"" More than that," Eliot said.

"A lot more." Mark was a little surprised.

"Really?"" Oh yeah," Eliot said, "There are 650-ish types of mana that are considered prime mana types, but the combination is infinite in variation, and every variation makes a different type. Adamantium mana is only one mana type." Mark did not know that at all. Sally didn't know that at all, either. Eliot suddenly realized something.

"Uh… You guys didn't know that?"" Nope!" Sally said." I guess that's how it works?" Mark said.

"Like elements and molecules? I learned about that in high school a little, but not too much." Eliot paled a little.

"This is Mage Secrecy contract stuff… Shit?" He looked at the walls where the scanners were.

"How the fuck did you get this without a contract? Oh my god. Someone just gave it to you." Mark laughed.

"I paid for it!"" Holy shit, Mark," Eliot said. Sally asked, "How do you get to 650 mana types? Adamantium, mithril, and orichalcum are the only true mana types I know about at all— Ah. Death might be a mana type; those slimes from the other day. Might be like that poison-mana that was in that dagger you made, though? So not really 'poison' at all. Just a catch-all term for a whole category of stuff. Is 'death mana' a category, or a single thing?"

Mark said, "I have no idea how that number happens, but I'm pretty sure that when Malaqua re-vamped the System to separate Powers into the 6 categories, he did something with some basic system, and the only other basic system I can think of is the table of elements."" Oh!" Sally asked, "How many elements are on the table?"" No idea. Quark?" Mark asked. Quark said, "I have an entire list of elements here and how they relate to mana. I can give you a breakdown based on the metals listed by Sally.

Adamantium is mostly osmium-based, but also a combination of platinum and gold, while mithril is mostly platinum and a little bit of the other two, and orichalcum is mostly gold and a smattering of the other two. Death mana is almost a pure element but it can be aspected in various ways, while poison mana is as varied as buttons on a hovercraft." Mark said, "Oh shit!" Eliot's face got a little red, though it was hard to tell except by all of his entire vector.

"So, uh. Mark. Did you enter a Mage Secrecy thing without telling us?"" Nope!" Mark said. Sally laughed, and said, "Mark can pay the fine."" I'll pay the fine," Mark agreed. Sally snorted. She teased Eliot, "Laws are just there for us poor people, Eliot."" I'm not poor!" Eliot proclaimed." You're poor as shit compared to Mark. You give everything away for free!"" I'm building connections, Sally."" And those connections can't help you get Derek past all those regulations, can they?

So fuck the law and do what you want." Eliot said, "Now that way lies chaos. Society only functions because people in power adhere to the laws." Sally paused.

"Okay, well, maybe that's true, too." And then she told Mark, "You gonna go for some Mage Secrecy contracts so that you can avoid whatever nonsense happened the other day, that set you into bed for 12 hours? Maybe learn something beyond what Elaria is willing to teach you?" Mark turned the question around on her, "How about you, Sally? You were gonna do that shrinking magic, right? A Mage Secrecy Contract with the Executioners of Drakarok? Whatever happened to that?" Sally waved a hand.

"Got away from me, obviously. I'll get to it when I can. How about you? Everyone and their mother want you in a Mage Secrecy contract with them. You could just pick one, and then, of course, be beholden to them for all your mage learning… which is why you aren't doing it, yes, I see what I was saying even as I said it." Mark grinned. Mark said, "I think I'm going to ignore making magic in my Binding for a while and experiment with mana shapes in adamantium, like with that dagger I made.

I fucked up the spell in my soul, but I'm wondering what happens when I repeat the whole diagram in adamantium. Maybe stick it on a shield."" Now that," Eliot said, "What you said right there, is absolutely a violation of Mage Secrecy laws."" Not if I have no idea what I'm doing!" Sally asked, "… You can put a spell into adamantium? Like… To do what?"" I have no idea! Isoko had the idea and I think I'll go in that direction. I'll devote a kilogram of adamantium to the idea and see what happens.

It's gotta be safer than spellwork. It might even work out just like it does with the spellbreaker and other basic stuff." Sally was a little confused. Mark explained, "So, like, spellbreakers are some of the oldest trinkets around, by like thousands upon thousands of years. In all that time, the methodology has only differentiated from 'full protection' to 'better directional protection'. They're based on the Protect spell, so I can see sort of how that whole thing works… a little.

And spellbreakers only work after they've been taken into your astral body; after they connect with you. Spells are kinda the same, but different… I think." Anyway. You can see sort of how artifacts and spells are related, yeah?"" In the vaguest sort of ways, like how a bedroom and a living room are both rooms," Sally said, disbelieving whatever Mark was saying. Eliot was skeptical, too. Mark was undaunted.

"It's a working theory! Anyway. I think I might be able to use some stuff made in adamantium to function kinda like a spellbreaker. It's going to be my first attempt. Much safer to make that in adamantium than to make it inside my soul… and considering adamantium is the same as my soul, then… Well. I think my Binding is very strong, but spells are supposed to break down; to be temporary. Adamantium is not temporary, though. I think that is why I had such a bad reaction to a failed spell creation.

My soul is solid and spells are fundamentally not solid things." Sally frowned with generalized concern as she looked down at Mark. Eliot frowned with generalized concern as he looked up at Mark. Mark snapped his sight between both of them, saying, "It might work exactly how I think it works! The logic is all right there."" Magic isn't about logic, Mark," Eliot said, "The demons defined things and that's how magic works.""

And Malaqua redefined the System when he Ascended, and Malaqua is/was a computer that followed logic," Mark countered. Sally said, "Okay, well, you're making me think you might need some Mage Secrecy thingys."" At least spend the money on Blackthorn first before you start doing crazy shit like 'use unknown artifacts you just made'," Eliot said.

"Come on. You were in bed for a day." Mark winced.

"… There is some truth to that concern. I could always start small and show Blackthorn what I made and ask—"" ALERT," Quark said, over the house speakers. Mark centered himself, ignoring everything about mana shapes, to focus on the alert. It was a big one. The house lights flickered red, and then stayed red at the edges. Mark rapidly shocked a Union of Good and Bad into the nearest 600 meters, which included a few noble houses.

Not many people noticed him, but Mark was able to notice no fewer than a hundred people out there were suddenly receiving the same notification Mark had gotten through Quark. Quark flickered on a nearby screen, showing a roil in clouds, taken from one of the high tower cameras. The eastern high tower, according to the rolling text on the bottom of the screen. Something was in the clouds. To the far north, right above the Shine.

Quark spoke, and the scanners in the cameras shifted, removing cloud cover, to show what he was saying, "A distant threat has been upgraded to an imminent threat as of 14: 03 Central Aluatha time. The category 5 kaiju is an ethereal turtle —further details to follow— and it was minding its own territory 270 kilometers north of the settlement.

It has come closer to the settlement and then backed away every gate opening, and though it moves fast when in ethereal form, that form is easily disrupted, and we have chased the turtle away several times." Mark was instantly less worried. The person who chased the turtle away all those times it came by, was Mark. Mark got moving fast, before the message was fully done. They'd want him to respond to this incursion, for sure, and he had to be ready."

The turtle vanished from scanners at 11: 37 Central Aluatha and reappeared 122 kilometers away, running down the Shine in this direction. Based on trajectory, as the turtle is ignoring the curve of the Shine and going straight forward, it might bypass us completely. It is headed for the recently discovered death cave." We expect it to be, at most, 16 kilometers close to the city, in 23 minutes." All hands are on alert for potential incursion anyway. Kaiju Squad report for duty."

Primary force: Blackvein, Nightbolt, Lee Windhopper." All others on standby." Mark was mostly dressed but then he heard his name and he didn't believe it at first. He was listed first in the kaiju response squad! First! And then Mark was in his webweave and his basic gear was on. It was a regenerating webweave with adamantium overlaying all of it like black scales, his illusionary belt to hide him in the sky if he needed to hide, his spellbreaker fully charged and active on his neck, and that was it.

Mark rushed to Sally and Eliot, already on the roof, waiting in the hoverspider. Quark had targets overlaid in his vision, along with instructions and the location of Mark's partners for the mission. Mark spun out a tri-toroid and called out to Sally, behind the wheel of the hoverspider, "You guys picking up Isoko and Barba?!" Isoko and Barba were south, so they weren't in the direction of the kaiju's maybe-path at all. But if it bypassed the settlement entirely then it would get close to the mushroom forest.

Sure, it was headed for that death cave, but that could be a misplot of the kaiju's trajectory. No way to know until it was closer. Sally gave a thumbs up, yelling back, "We're picking them up and anyone else out there! Eliot already plotted a path. There's chatter about the kaiju seriously going after the death cave, so be aware!" Mark hovered into the air slowly. Lola was probably out there at the death cave right now, or maybe she was still healing the death-affected team.

"Shit." But all of that was beyond his concerns. He had the kaiju to probably slap and make it turn around. He yelled out, "Okay! I'm off!" And then Mark sailed into the sky, trusting his team and the settlement to do what they needed to do to be safe, while they were trusting him in the same way. Mark, Sam Ranger, and Lee Windhopper were on kaiju-kill duty.