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It's not trash, Mark," Shawn said, holding the sword. Tartu smirked as he said, "It's worth negative 30 million goldleaf, so it's kinda trash." Mark groaned and let his head loll back on the lawn chair. Tartu laughed." You're enjoying this too much, Tartu," Mark muttered. In the background, Lenny told Shawn, "Hand it over already. I want to try it."" You don't even have TT, mageboy," Shawn said, "How the heck are you gonna use it?"" I'll figure it out! Now give me the trash! I want to try it out!"

Mark scoffed, Tartu snorted, and Shawn handed the sword over to Lenny. Not really caring, but needing to see anyway, Mark looked over as Lenny raised a column of stone out of the ground, and then he planted his feet shoulder-width apart. He raised the sword up using both hands, and then he brought it down onto the stone column, promptly fucking up the strike, the blade's side tinking off of the stone and then clattering out of his hands, into the ground. The blade didn't even sink into the soil. Not sharp enough!

Mark winced, Shawn laughed and told Lenny 'I told you so!' and Lenny shook his hands out." Rough to hold!" Lenny said. It was a full-adamantine grip, so yeah.

'Rough to hold' was an understatement. Tartu conspiratorily told Mark, "I am enjoying this the exact right amount." Mark leveled a glare at the guy. Tartu grinned. Shawn told Lenny, "You're holding it all wrong!"" I'm holding it just fine!" Lenny told him back. Mark glanced back at the guys. Lenny was holding it wrong. Mark ignored that and the resulting thud/tink of the blade skipping off of the stone, as he asked Tartu, "So how's the vine situation?"

He glanced toward the house where Eliot was in a conference with some people, talking to businesses. According to his vector, Eliot was calming people down who were being threatened with legal action by Okuana. Mark added, "They're going after your investors?"" We don't have investors. You're our only investor at all. We have potential clients and they are pulling out on buying contracts."

Mark saw the opportunity to be a dick, so he leaned back in his chair and put his arms behind his head, smiling as he flexed his bigger muscles, saying, "It's okay if you can't make money, Tartu. I'll fund you forever."" Phhbt! Fuck you. And stop flexing. I know you're inflating yourself."" This is all me, 'mageboy'!" Mark smiled wide… And then he said, "But seriously, though." Tartu frowned… and then he grumbled, "The clients are being threatened.

Some of them covertly, too, and in ways I can't prove but which I can tell… Like, it's almost paranoia to say this, but…" Tartu took a breath, then said, "We have this one client in the Californias. Their business is called Haleotopic, they're actually one of the companies that make livium cores for United Sapients. Their CEO, Geraldo Burns, has some kids who really like the Spherix and Blackvein fighting videos, and they absolutely love the documentary from Endless Daihoon.

Eliot had been in contact with them since before the trip to Endless Daihoon. Eliot asked me for some signed merch to give them before that trip, too, and I did more than that. I did a whole little 'glad you like us' package. When we came back they were… WOW were they on board to start some mana crystal farming. They were planning on buying from us. A lot. They absolutely loved that Spherix and Blackvein were on the same team now, in light of the Reset Quest." And I mean they loved us a lot, Mark.

A lot of money and businesses and whole economies were going to move. People were going to have to relocate. A lot of people." But it kinda fell apart, and it all felt natural at the time. The thing with Nobody Important really sealed the deal." But —I only realized this after today— but I went through the public social media of the company, and I stumbled onto their kid's page. The one who I sent the merch to? That kid. He's 12 or 13, I think.

He was posting social media from the Californias for the last 4 years, ever since they got him his first phone after he Knacked himself. Ineligible for Tutorial, so he might as well join the real world." The kid was posting videos every single day for years. Mostly with a few hundred views." And that's the background." A month ago, the kid's social media went inactive. The mother's social media, too." And then 2 weeks ago they started posting videos of them in Okuana!

Underneath a dryad in one of the northern cities of Okuana. A few different places, actually. They're on a 'family trip' now." Mark's eyes went wide.

"Is it… It's not just a coincidence?"" I don't know! Geraldo had been really excited to purchase from us, but he had been purchasing from Okuana. He didn't like a lot of things about Okuana and the trip through Japan's gate, and all of that. He was excited to purchase from the settlement." And now his son and wife are in Okuana, and posting updates, and Geraldo pulled out completely, citing an unwillingness to participate in the Reset Quest since Nobody Important appeared."

Tartu frowned, looking outward, as he said, "I'd say I was being crazy, and that the stuff wasn't connected, but only because the social media is all sorts of 'normal', and yet… and yet, Mark, Geraldo and Haleotopic are not the first people to pull out, and since I denied those lawyers from Okuana absolutely everything they wanted, it's gotten worse.

The fallout is falling, and very little of it is people making their own choices in life—" Tartu scoffed, then darkly added, "They'll tell you they decided to pull out on their own, and that it had nothing to do with Okuana. But they're all fucking liars." Mark sighed a little, hate boiling in his heart, as he thought of Dominant and that escape from Okuana. Dominant had fired on Mark and his people with kaiju-class death beams, and Mark had deflected a lot of that energy with a solid adamantine shell.

Mark had died, but his house had saved him. But the fires had still burned in his soul. Thankfully, Aluatha's anti-fuckery witchery had put out the fires on his dead body, allowing him to resurrect himself, and Addavein had come in and grabbed the team and Mark's own sphere, getting them out of there. A lot of people near Verdant Citadel had died when that death magic had scattered everywhere, when Addavein had deflected it away from them.

When they were still at the elven lands and Dominant dominated the sky beyond the portal to Okuana, Dominant had even done some mind fuckery to them, almost taking them unawares, but Mark had seen the degradation on Eliot's Castellan shield. Mark had been immune and able to wake up the rest of the team from whatever mesmerize had been going on… And then Kardi and Grax had appeared, and everything got very dangerous, very fast." Gods," Mark muttered, "It's all so fucked.""

The world shouldn't be like this, Mark," Tartu said. Mark nodded slightly, slowly, saying, "War in 18 days, if the prognostication is correct."" It's not correct at all," Tartu said, "As soon as someone foretells war at the level of Empire then both sides start reacting to that information, throwing off the prognostication. We've had world war scares before now. It's always like this. Prognostications for war, and then posturing, and then backing off or… or stuff. You know. History."

Mark wasn't well versed in Daihoon history, but neither of them wanted to fix that deficit. Tartu asked, "So I heard Addavein is gonna steal that house book out from under you. I'll help you steal it for Eliot." From cold to warm, Mark felt better, and he smiled a little as he said, "Thanks." Tartu said, "I want you to make me a Dynamo dagger." Mark laughed, then said, "Okay!" And then he retorted, "Can you make a Dynamo tree, first, so I can steal its Binding?"" I have tried! I don't know the methodology.

Not knowing anything doesn't seem to stop you, though."" Hey now! I have done many different Understanding Parties!"" Did you learn anything at the last one? Or did you forget it all, like you forgot Manawork?"" I remember the important parts of Manawork, like how osmium makes me rich as fuck." This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it." Ah, so you forgot it all. Please tell me if we're at least going to war with the goblins."

Mark pulled back the sarcasm and started talking normally, since that's where they were in the conversation now, saying, "We probably are. Or at least I am. Don't know about you guys, but I don't think you should even consider going with me, anyway."" The People asked for you and Jessie, and the goblins are involved, and so Kardi and Grax are involved, which means I am involved, Mark."" You don't… know that," Mark bargained, voice edged with ephemeral hope, though in his heart he knew Tartu was probably correct.

Tartu simply side-eyed Mark.

"… Yeah fine! They probably are," Mark allowed. Tartu nodded magnanimously, then he said, "I've been developing some luckfruit plants to try and counter her, specifically." Mark focused.

"Really? Like… like how? Kardi listened to the demons in the mana talk to her, right? Are you listening to demons now?" Tartu waved a hand, scoffing as he said, "Credenza from Memphi doesn't do it that way. Most Lucky people don't. It's just that…" He hummed, then asked, "Do you know what the Binding for Lucky looks like?"" No, actually."" Well neither do I, and neither does anyone else, because the second you look at it the Binding changes, making you unable to see what it actually does."

"… That's fucked? So how did you… manage anything at all?"" I've actually been working on it for a long time, but I didn't want to say anything until I got actual results, and it was the Witches' Welcome that really helped me to understand what I needed to do. Lucky is less about whatever the Lucky Binding says, and more about making connections between things and bending outcomes to be Good versus Bad.

I had already set up a fruit tree and I did a few things and before it wasn't doing shit, but now it makes small fruits and you have no idea if they're going to be sweet or sour before you eat one, but whichever one you get colors your luck for the rest of the day," Tartu said, "I had a slice of one yesterday and it was a sweet one, and think that meeting with Haleotopic worked out as well as it could have worked out." Mark's eyes were a little wide.

"I'm… impressed? I guess?" Tartu snorted.

"Don't be impressed yet, but do know that I'm working on stuff to take Kardi down permanently, or to allow an easier takedown. No idea what to do about her Gore Body or whatever shit Thrashtalon gave her…" Tartu's eyes seemed to darken as he looked away, to the side, saying, "And who knows what else she can do, and especially since she can revive in whatever house Grax has set up…" Tartu eyed Mark, asking, "Can you do that, yet?""

No, and I have no idea how Grax does it, though he probably has more of a house size than 'several bricks'."" Yet another reason for us to come with you to kill the goblins and talk to The People. They know all sorts of secrets. You know there are no records of The People before they appeared after the Reveal, after humans from Earth brought out their radar and planes and nuclear bombs?"" Yeah I heard that before. They were some hidden society… But you think differently?" Tartu shrugged.

"They claim a long history of living where they're living now, talking about how Water People saved them from discovery by monsters and kaiju and everyone else, and maybe that's true from their perspective as well, but from an over-reality perspective… The Reveal could have popped them out of Endless Daihoon onto Daihoon, fully intact as a people and culture." Mark had heard that before, but only in rumors and fiction.

Mark said, "The only problem with that is that New Guinea is an island that also exists on Earth, and the People have big wrecked monuments all over the place. So they've been there for a while." Tartu shrugged.

"Maybe." … Mark suddenly had a weird question.

"Do they have a real name for themselves? They can't just be 'the People', right? And 'Water People' is a weird name for a language, too." Tartu started, "Well…" He paused, thinking, then he decided to start at, "We're speaking Xerk right now, and we speak Xerk most everywhere we go. They speak Xerk, too. It's one of the most prevalent languages on Daihoon and in the Two Worlds because of the Settlement of Xerkona, who reached out to everyone and brought a lot of people together.

They reached out to The People, as well, and The People named themselves as 'The People'. I think The People are really about a thousand-or-so tribes, each with their own name, and so collectively they decided to translate their name for themselves from their own language into Xerk, and to speak Xerk most of the time." Tartu added, "Quark probably knows the original names for them?" Mark asked, "Quark? Do you?"

Quark said, "The people known as The People have no singular name for themselves, for when they appeared on Daihoon a great many defensive monuments and even their entire culture was fractured in the Reveal. Their language itself, the magical language known as Water People, was also broken in the Reveal. These days, most People speak Xerk, though there are some phonetic records of the original language and the name for themselves, and the name of their island.

In those original records they call themselves 'Picory' and their island home as 'Vaka'. Vaka occupies the same land mass on Daihoon as New Guinea does on Earth." These days, they call themselves The People, and their home as Unknown. Mostly, The People live in either the main city of Crash, or among the rain forest in tribal tree houses that protect them and all of their family from being sensed by most monsters. Before the Reveal, some of the People are said to have called their lands the Sideways Land."

Mark nodded a little, saying, "Thanks, Quark." Tartu said, "The city is called 'Crash'! That's a major point in the 'crash-landed-Endless-Daihoon-humans' column. Not to mention that 'Sideways Land' thing." Mark almost rose to the taunt because it was fun to fuck around with Tartu. Or at least it was, now. At the beginning, Tartu had been a complete asshole. Mark was very glad that was over and done with. Tartu was actually a really good guy, once you got past the prickly imperialist bits.

And yet, the imperialist bits were pretty necessary to what needed to come later. The Reset Quest still needed more Inheritors. Sure, Mark wasn't doing the Reset Quest as it was. Not right now. He had spoken about that a lot yesterday at the Swords of Empire after party. A lot of the people who had been on-board with the Reset Quest were suddenly not at all on-board once Nobody Important had pulled that Molten Titan shit. But… Hmm. Mark looked at Tartu, gauging the guy.

Tartu had been a little bit mirthful, but now he knew he was being gauged. In the background, Shawn and Lenny were still playing with the sword, and the Paladin of Drakarok was now showing the Mud Mage how to hold the sword properly. Mark asked Tartu, "You wanna be an Inheritor, too?" Tartu's eyes dilated, just a fraction— He looked away.

"N…" His denial faded away before he finished saying the word. Instead, he asked, "Why?"" Walaria wants to put a geas on me to never hurt the royal family of Aluatha. To turn me and whatever I make into a vassal state of Aluatha. She promised a lot of funding and probably a whole lot of other stuff, too. I didn't get into it. I didn't know what a 'geas' was, so I asked about that, and she told me, and I said 'no'. She said 'okay', then she moved on.

I was almost angry at being asked to do that to myself, but then we went on to the rest of what we did. I didn't have time to get angry." Mark added, "But it occurs to me that you might want that opportunity and shackle. So I'm asking if you want it, instead." Tartu was very quiet, and deeply interested, his eyes staring at Mark while his mind was a thousand kilometers away. But he was still looking at Mark. Thinking. Mark waited. Tartu said, "No." Mark arched an eyebrow.

"… You sure?"" Yes. Can't tell you why because I don't know why. But… no. Doesn't feel… right."" Okay! Then sure… Say, so…" Mark moved on, saying, "So could I put a B inding into a sphere of adamantium and let someone use it as a secondary Talent? Rylan and Tulo spoke about that some, but you, with your skill with external Bindings, would know how that works best?" Tartu took a moment, switching gears, and then he started, "That's how most magical items are made.

Language set down in power and allowed to be accessed by the user. Doing it with adamantium is the easy way because adamantium sticks around and doesn't degrade when used like everything else. Adamantium accumulates charge, as opposed to being degraded like all other mana types. You'll still need to put mithril into it to give it bridging functions, though." Mark nodded.

"They talked about mithril growth plates, too—"" That's advanced shit," Tartu easily said, "I mean mithril coatings to allow for an interface toward the adamantium binding…" Mark and Tartu talked about Bindings and magic item creation for a while. And eventually, Shawn and Lenny were done with the sword. Mark handed it right over to Tartu, saying, "Here you go! Break it if you want.""... You're serious?" Tartu said, holding the sword." Yes." Tartu smirked.

"I accept!" Shawn reached out, saying, "I wanna use it more before then." Shawn got the sword.