Chương 45: [The Codex]

"The twin sabres are my weapons of choice," Shai was saying.

"Close range, fast. I train with them more than anything else." She paused.

"The throwing knives are for when I need distance without a bow. And the Sarren, that's Kai's weapon. Long, curved, two handed. I know how to use it but I'm a lot less proficient."

"I noticed that, it looks a lot like a Nodachi from our world's history. Like a longer Katana," Leo said.

"Weeb," Phil said.

"Don't act like it's not a cool as fuck sword. I saw you looking at it as well."

"I think I prefer the scimitar Ronan had. What was it called again?"

"The Talshir," Shai said.

"The Sarren would fit you I think Leo. Kai is pretty tall, he uses his reach and reads everything before he moves. One strike, it's done. I'm faster than that, smaller. The sabres work with how I fight, the Sarren works better in one powerful strike."

"Could you teach someone the Sarren?" Phil asked. Shai looked at him.

"Kai could. Better than me." Phil nodded slowly.

"What's the hardest thing to learn?" Luka asked.

"Not the technique," Shai said.

"The patience. Knowing when to put everything into the attack." The two groups came into view ahead of them across the open ground, both sides still gathered around the table, conversation ongoing. Someone on the council side spotted them first. Heads turned. The meeting paused. Mike stood as they approached, a smile already on his face.

"How was it?" he said.

"Yeah it was good," Parmo said.

"We showed them the town centre, went to the pub, walked round the marina. People stared a little but that was it, no one was scared or looked intimidated or anything, it was a good call having the meeting yesterday." He looked at Torren.

"Found something Terry needs to see." Terry looked up from where he'd been sitting with Gary.

"Oh yeah?" Phil reached into inventory and the greenhouse boxes appeared on the grass one by one. Luka set the seed packets down alongside them.

"Where did you find these?"

"The hardware store," Luka said.

"Top shelf, pushed right to the back. You'd need a ladder to see them." Terry looked at Torren.

"You spotted them?"

"I had the advantage of height," Torren said, a smile crossing his face. Terry picked up one of the seed packets, turned it over.

"I knew about the seeds but not the greenhouses, we'll have to do a proper check in the stores for stuff like this. These are things we can plant now. Today if we wanted." He set it down carefully.

"And the greenhouses—" he looked at the boxes "—this isn't a solution but it buys us time. Gets something in the ground before the bigger structures go up." He stood.

"Every bit helps, that's the truth of it." On the village side Merin had watched the exchange without comment. He looked at the boxes, then at Torren, then back at Mike. Janet was already beside Terry, looking at the greenhouses.

"How many boxes are there?"

"Six small ones, about four or five of the bigger ones," Leo said. She nodded slowly.

"Right. We'll need to get people to set these up and get stuff planted, I know we have plenty of soil, fertiliser, that sort of thing." The meeting had run its course by the time the group returned. Both sides were still at the table but the energy had changed, the business done, people waiting for the formal close. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Mike looked around the table.

"Anyone have anything to add before we close this out?" A few glances exchanged on both sides. Nobody spoke.

"Right then." He looked at Janet.

"You've got everything noted down?"

"Every point," Janet said.

"We'll get it written up properly. I'll have someone work with someone from your side to get it translated, a copy for each of us as agreed." He looked across the table at Merin.

"That everything from your end?" Merin looked at Yara, then Koss. Both gave small nods.

"That's everything," Merin said. Mike stood and extended his hand across the table. Merin stood and took it. They shook once, firm and clean, and stepped back. Mike looked at each of the elders in turn.

"I look forward to working with you. All three of you." Koss smiled. Yara gave a single nod. Merin held his gaze for a moment then nodded once. Then Mike stopped. His eyes went slightly unfocused, moving left to right like he was reading something only he could see. Beside him Janet had done the same. Then Gary. Then Frank. One by one down the line, every person from the town side going still at the same moment, eyes moving, expressions somewhere between surprise and concentration.

Merin looked along the line of frozen townspeople, then at his own delegation. Koss had her head tilted slightly, watching with open curiosity. Yara's hand had moved to her side out of habit before she'd caught herself. Kai had taken half a step forward before Shai gave him the smallest shake of her head. They waited. A few seconds passed. Then Mike blinked, the focus coming back into his eyes. He looked at Merin with a slow smile spreading across his face.

"Well now," he said.

"That changes some things." He paused.

"We just got something new unlock in the UI. It's called the Codex." He glanced back at it.

"Give me a second, I'll explain it." He went back to reading, eyes moving steadily, his expression shifting from concentration to something that was almost wonder. He came back.

"Right. So if I'm reading this correctly, the Codex is a kind of repository. A shared space in the UI that pools the knowledge of everyone in town. Collectively." He paused, working through it as he spoke.

"I just checked a few things. We have small stuff in here, how to stitch clothing, how to preserve food. And bigger things. How cement is made. Roman occupation of Britain. The Battle of the Somme." He stopped.

"I know none of that makes any sense to you and I'm sort of talking myself through this as I go.

"What it amounts to is this — we now have a huge shared space full of information, and if one person in town knows something, everyone has access to it. History, how things work, processes, methods." He paused.

"It doesn't show what I had for breakfast or anything personal, which is lucky." A few people around him laughed quietly.

"I can also see a section on magic. What the boys have learned so far. So it grows as we do. Everything we learn going forward goes in there as well." He looked at Merin.

"That's going to be significant. For the town and for our alliance." Merin was quiet for a moment.

"Every person in your town," he said.

"Their knowledge. All of it, accessible to everyone."

"That's what it looks like," Mike said. Merin looked at Koss then at Yara.

"Yes," Merin said.

"I imagine it will be." Sam spoke up, drawing everyone's attention.

"This is going to make learning magic much easier for the people in town. If I'm right, when we start learning how to use this world's weapons, anything we pick up will go in the Codex as well. So if one of us has a moment of clarity that will carry over to others learning as well, it's going to speed up anything we learn."

"I agree," Merin said.

"We can tailor how we teach things to your people with this in mind. It should speed things up significantly." Merin looked at Shai.

"You three will coordinate protection for the town's north, west and south until things are more settled. Come back to Stonehall for today, you can select who you want to bring along to help with protection. You and the people selected will begin weapons training when you return. Kai and Ronan will stay at the camp until then." Kai gave a single nod. Ronan's grin hadn't moved.

"We'll head back with you now," Shai said to the elders.

"Get what we need, speak to who we need to speak to. We'll be back before dark or first thing tomorrow."

"We'll be here," Mike said. The two groups began to separate, the formal shape of the meeting dissolving into smaller conversations. Hands were shaken, words exchanged, the table, chairs and wooden boards stored in the boys' inventories. Janet was already talking about logistics.

"Today was fun, I get the feeling training is going to be less so..." Leo grinned.

"You're not wrong, it'll be painful. Worth it though. Thank you for showing us around today," Shai said.

"No problem, looks like we'll have plenty of time for me to show you other stuff from my world, if you're interested?"

"Yeah, that sounds nice." Leo gave Shai a final nod and walked over to the others. Shai watched him go for a moment then turned and walked over to where Rika and Torren were standing with the elders. Rika had a raised eyebrow. Shai's tail drooped. This was going to be a pain. Rika waved at Parmo over her shoulder. Torren raised a hand to the group without turning around. Leo watched them until the trees took them.

"Right," Phil said from somewhere behind him.

"Pub?"

"Sounds good to me," Mike said.

"What, am I not invited?" He smirked.

"I want to speak to you five about your day in more detail, I have a few things to go over as well."

"Yeah, no worries. The more the merrier," Phil said.

"Oh great, I'll be coming too then," Diane said.

"Perfect, you can tell us more about how you kicked Sam's arse while we're there," Parmo laughed. Sam shook his head as the group began walking back toward town.