Chương 48: Chapter 47 - A Swift Swing in Fortunes

When Mira returned, Elias and Tia had been in the middle of their fifth round of tic-tac-toe. After teaching the wyvern the game he quickly discovered that not only did she have a competitive streak but that she was once again far more intelligent than he expected. Astra had deduced that she must have hatched no more than a couple of months ago at best, but was already debating, albeit in her youthful way, the merits of the various starting plays.

Mira apparated into the dome in the middle of their current game board, and Tia chittered up at her in disapproval, Hey! Auntie-Mira I was winning this time! Stomping her little feet in a huff, I thought you were mad at brother-eli not me! Mira looked down in confusion, before the realization dawned on her, " I am sorry little Tia, but no, I am not mad with either of you.""

I was concerned about something else entirely, a worry that I would spare your mind from if I could, but after my response earlier it would be irresponsible to not explain my actions or the concerns from which they derive. The patrol will be moving out, but we need to have a serious conversation, and we'll be left behind if we don't move."" Please follow me."

The solid white dome vanished in a curl of mist to reveal the patrol in the final stages of preparation for movement, and Mira gestured for Eli and Tia to follow as she jumped astride the large battle wagon being driven by Sasha and Cooper. Elias assumed the weight of Mira's presence must have been felt outside of the dome as the other soldiers in the patrol were studiously avoiding eye contact with the trio, while Astra was doing the exact opposite.

Astra's gaze roved across Eli and Tia, giving the pair a thorough once over with a worried expression from a top her mount at the front of the convoy, a look that Eli returned with a reassuring smile and a placating gesture. Once she was satisfied with their condition she paused on Mira for a moment, a furious glare dancing across her features until she schooled her face into an expression of cool indifference returned to her work with the men.

Mira took this all in stride as she dropped three chairs onto the middle of the wagon roof, including a small pillow for Tiamat on one, before indicating for them to sit. Eli dropped his pack to the floor and Tia circled a couple times before finding a comfortable position on the pillow as Mira dropped her dome across them, opting for the opaque version again. Mira crossed her legs, tapping a knee with her fingers for a moment while observing Eli as he waited for her to speak.

After a moment she spoke, " You surprise me Mr Mercer."" I expected anger, recrimination, or terror, but while I sense a wariness in your aura, there is a surprising complacency and lack of animus. I am glad to see the both of you in good spirits, as the last thing I want is to ruin any good will between us, but it is not what I expected." Eli shrugged, " Sure, the lack of trust hurts a bit, but I don't know anything about this world and I'm sure you have your reasons.""

So far you've been nothing but helpful and reasonable, and while you have been a little stiff I attributed it to the actual behavior of a noble and that Astra was the oddball." Mira snorted with a smile, " Perceptiveness and grace are quite becoming in a man, Mr Mercer, thank you for your patience and understanding."

She grimaced before heaving a heavy a sigh, " For what it"s worth I will address my actions forthwith, but this is a topic that is typically only spoken about a few tiers above yours as we prefer not to burden our youths with uncomfortable truths that they can not effect if it is in our ability to do so. Lady Emberholdt knows a little as the precaution is required for one of her station, and I imagine given what I witnessed it will be a concern for you as well."

She gazed at Eli with a thoughtful look, " When I say the word, Abyss, to you, can you describe the result that is produced from your translation effect?" Eli arched his brow at the odd question, " What I hear is a word that describes a very deep hole or body of water, in my world it is commonly associated with the bottom of the ocean. The word may be considered a little poetic in nature instead of simply saying, 'the seafloor', but otherwise fairly normal.""

Wait," he leaned back in his chair and narrowed his eyes, " a long time ago it was used to describe a sort of fictional afterlife, in some religious connotations it is used to describe a place where sinners are punished after death for their crimes in life. Most would not consider a factual place, even the followers of the religions that speak of it." Mira nodded with a grimace, " Very well. The magic is triggering on your final version of the term, with a major exception.""

In our realm the Abyss is very real, it is a place you can go visit and see with your own eyes, and is home to countless violent monsters and many other things which are not relevant."" There are fictional sinners as well though, supposedly the Ancient's great enemies were imprisoned at the bottom of the place, but no one has ever been able to visit and confirm this." Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

She took a deep breath and continued, " It is a terrible place, or places rather as there are a few different locations, and purportedly it is a remnant left over from the sundering of the primordial realm. It is nowhere you will be traveling anywhere soon, and while it is one of the great dangers of the world, it is above your tier and not your concern for now.""

What is relevant as it is the source of many of the unnatural dangers in our world, it is a place where the essence of reality, mana, twists and stagnates, producing monsters and abominations."" The goblin horde from yesterday?"" The progenitors of the horde are products of the Abyss, and may have slipped from at some point before reproducing. I'm sure you may have noticed their aberrant nature?" Eli nodded, " Yeah they were single minded and violent, even as they were being butchered."

Tia chimed in, And they smelled terrible, like they were made of poison, like if I ate one I would get really sick. Mira continued, " As you would if you had eaten one. They are wholly different from the natural inhabitants of this world, even the more bestial creatures may start with a lesser wit, given enough time as well as the concentration and purification of sufficient mana, they will grow in intelligence and reason, often gaining sapience in the higher tiers.""

While they may have base drives in their youth they are usually far more reasonable with higher levels of power and can often be persuaded or deterred from attacking their neighbors. Granted few reach true sapience, mostly they grow in cunning, although old tales of the outer realms speculate it may be more common at the highest tiers." Eli arched a brow in surprise pointing at Tia, " Wait, they are all as smart as her?" Mira laughed heartily, " Ancient's blessings, no.

I suspect our world would be far more interesting if that was the case, but no."" A few have the potential, sapience as a hatchling?" She shook her head, " Nearly unheard of." She smiled fondly down at the wyvern, " No, little Tia here is quite the exception, I was very surprised to hear her speak coherently. I suspect she is probably the product of a very old bloodline, usually language of beasts is just a flash of emotions, instinctual urges, and the occasional blurry image."

Her smile turned to Eli, " While your bond is still just a higher ordered version of the same manner of thought transmission, she is learning humanoid speech patterns very quickly, you are teaching her well." Her face grew serious, " The difference in that with the monstrous creatures of the Abyss is that they are anti-thetical to this world, and have deeply instilled instincts to destroy all the creatures within, an especial hatred being reserved for the sapient peoples of the world."

She sighed, " Fortunately most are quite dull, if strong and dangerous at higher levels, but not all are. The Abyss occasionally produces a rare few which possess a fell intellect, and they often also possess the ability to kill and impersonate others to infiltrate our societies. These changelings come in many forms, but they tend to share two traits among others."" First, due to their monstrous nature their essence is skewed towards their race, with it being outsized in power compared to their class.

Second, they are often ignorant of a great many things in our society, this is often a boon as it makes a poor imitator easier to detect."" The last concerning factor is that they often target children of nobles or others in positions of power. If they can replace them, their naivete can be passed off as the ignorance of youth, and allow the creatures to ascend to dangerous positions in our society if care is not taken." She looked at Eli with a sympathetic look as he grimaced, " Ah I see.

Yeah I look suspicious as hell don't I." He scrubbed his face, " We don't have monsters in my world, but we do have cuckoo birds. Their parents lay an egg in another bird's nest and push out all the other eggs, so the other birds raise them as their own. We call them brood parasites." Eli could feel disgust, revulsion, and an odd sense of gratification from Tia in his mind, That's horrifying! She flapped her wings in distress and trilled at Eli.

See, all birds are horrible, even in your nest-world, if you see any of these monster birds you tell me and I'll kill them. I'll save all the poor little eggs! Eli nodded sagely at Tia, while Mira nodded, " An apt analogy. Apart from the disturbing knowledge of the occurrence of eldritch horrors in your homeworld as well, this a commonly known threat among the nobility, and safeguards are taken to regularly test the identity of individuals in positions of power.""

Here is where we have a problem, Eli, every single human in the Empire is born with the same race."" Human with two free points, and that's it."" With great effort and expense at higher tiers a person may unlock a subrace with higher potential, even the Emberholdt family has a few such members, but it is rare in the fourth tier and is unknown to exist in the lower tiers.

If your race follows the commonly known dictates of the system, the point allocation will double in every tier as it is, and will only get stronger if you enhance it. I'm sure you can see the problem with this." Eli shook his head in confusion, " No? I mean if I don't show anybody, they shouldn't think I'm a monster right?" Mira laughed, " Aye, true.""

After scouring away any possible illusions with an enhanced [Full appraisal] I no longer think you are a changeling, and if you ever show your full status plate to another while knowing what we have discussed I would suspect you of possession or an injury of the mind."

"No, the real problem is the exact opposite. I would expect that the variant would most likely breed true, if you have children. A racial variant that would grant your heirs a 20% boost to their personal power all on its own, and well we've already discussed the way nobility desire power and the lengths they may go for it.""

I do not doubt many would chain my Lady to a bed as a brood mare if they could, but instead they follow the dictates of society and just try to harass her and manipulate her into exploitative marriage contracts instead." She rolled her eyes to show her opinion of the distinction before looking at him with a wry grin." How does it feel to suddenly become the most eligible bachelor in the Empire Mr. Mercer?" Eli blanched and swallowed with an uncomfortable smile.