Chương 134: Chapter 210: An Invitation

A few months went by, and the cactus syrup and pulque gradually began flowing again, and they were finally able to relax. The mood in the Stronghold turned completely around once they weren't starving, and since most of the less invested Climbers had left for the lower Floors, they didn't have to share as much as they might've.

Will had to finance a couple emergency trips down to buy flour and sugar in bulk, which cost a decent chunk of Influence, but nobody actually found out how close his supplies got to being completely empty. Once food was no longer at a premium and the Stronghold was no longer backed into a corner, Will was able to drip-sell Sammohan's magical ores for a better price, with a warning to Sammohan that the price might fluctuate drastically now that Ghoul was able to escort caravans through the 8 th Floor more easily.

On one hand, the ease of transport might lower their price. On the other, the increased access to flash glass and anchorite in the lower Floors might drive increased demand, so there was really no way to tell. At least, not for amateurs in the ways of macroeconomics like Will and Sammohan. Sammohan also brought in a lot of iron sand, but most of that stayed in the 10 th and 9 th Floor, where people needed knives, hinges, tools, etc.

Other Floors had their own sources of iron that didn't need to cross the 8 th floor and 4 th Floor barriers, so the relative value of transporting it was poor, which was why Sammohan traded most of the iron in the Stronghold itself for food, pulque and tools. He also had found some rock salt deposits, which meant they had an excellent export to sell to Bakton Keep specifically. The fae lands didn't have anything as uncultured as massive salt deposits just jutting out of the ground.

Despite The Burned Stronghold being just as safe as Bakton Keep, people still preferred to do high-value trading on the ninth Floor because of the Debt that forced people to honor their agreements, so Will wasn't able to sweep that 'trade center' business out from under Bakton. As it was now, The Burned Stronghold was a small frontier town with a history of food problems that produced some rather valuable ores and supplied a few key materials that the floors above and below were missing.

That made them valuable enough to keep around, but not necessarily enough to thrive. What does Akul have that we don't? Will thought, reviewing his map. He'd expanded his map out to a hundred miles in every direction in an afternoon by flying in a spiral outward from the Stronghold. Akul has huge tracts of fertile farmland. Controlled, predictable monster spawns. Water.

The monsters on the 10 th Floor were generally ambush predators who didn't run around on the surface too much because they were always trying to preserve water. The ones that did run around were dangerous and unpredictable. Fast and sharp little bastards that would reduce a farmer out standing in his field to bones in a matter of seconds. The land was garbage. The soil was sandy and dry.

Up in the higher hills it was just a thick layer of clay rather than anything that could be called 'soil' Note to self: See if we can't make something with the clay up in the hills. It wasn't like every hill had good clay though, and Will wasn't able to see what lay under the surface of the terrain. Will frowned. Or can I? Will's map was flat. Despite raising and lowering to show the detail of the terrain, it still only showed him the surface of the terrain.

Even if it could show under the surface, how would Will even see the three dimensionality of it? Will cocked his head. What does Map have to say for itself? Map** Passive: You have a map. This map is a mental construct that contains an accurate, self-updating record of terrain in a radius around the user. Current location, heading, Abilities, and manifestations therof are displayed on this map. You may summon this map and dismiss it at will, and it will only be perceivable to you. Radius scales with Acuity.

Beyond this radius, the map does not update, but will retain anything that was already filled in. The map has an alternate mode that displays an in-depth map of the user's body. Toggle: 7 Focus Manifest a physical copy of the map. Well, it says in a 'radius'. Radii are used for both circles and spheres. There's nothing in the language that tells me this wouldn't work. Just for all practical terms, it feels difficult.

Most Cantrips are made from either half-activations of an Ability, or a deliberate abuse of vague wording of an Ability. Mason's ability to fling tiny firebolts was an excellent example of the former, while Will's earth spikes were an example of the latter. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Let's deliberately abuse the wording. Will cocked his head again, looking at the map. This time with the intention of tilting the map with the same angle as his head.

The left half of the map turned a solid grey, while the other half became empty, as the left half dipped into the ground while the right half stretched into the empty sky. Neat. What if… Instead of tilting, Will tried to lower the map by a couple feet, shaving off several layers of the surrounding terrain. The buildings seemed to disappear, turning into a solid block of grey stone with a handful of holes for sewage. A few more feet and suddenly a cross-section of the city's sewer system popped out.

Add another cantrip to the list I suppose, Will thought, turning his attention to the hills outside the Stonghold. Select: pure, high quality clay. A handful of spots glowed on the map where good clay was exposed to the air, but there was no way of knowing how deep the vein actually went… until now. Will manually pushed the depth of the map down, stripping the several inches to several feet of dirt and roots away.

Most of the patches of clay disappeared, but two of them revealed themselves to be enormous deposits of the stuff that nearly covered an area the size of the Stronghold itself. Will placed marks on his map with notes to himself to pester Sammohan about them. Select: flash Glass Select: Anchorite Deposits. Will gave the two highlights different colors and began sifting through the surrounding lands. I'm impressed, Sammohan, Will thought as he surveyed the map.

Sammohan had found one of the bigger deposits of Anchorite and was currently digging his way through it. Flash glass was harder to come by, as the slightly iridescent material tended to be found in sand form. It was brittle without being processed and needed to be strained out of the sand it was embedded in by separating it through physical processes. Anchorite was tough to transport because it was heavier than it looked, and it resisted change in its inertia beyond what its mass would dictate.

Oh, there's an enormous concentration of flash glass right there, about twelve feet down. Will flagged it on his map, and moved on. Will was busily uncovering wealth beyond measure with pinpoint accuracy when a burst of fear on his local map caught his attention. Will turned his attention to the location: The front gate, where a guard was afraid that William Oh would find out he'd fucked up. Mixed with… fear of Loth. Oh? Will couldn't suppress a bit of a grin. Loth was always fun to have visit.

Will recreated the guard's fear, created a bridge, then stepped through the outer edge of the man's fear where it coalesced in the dark corner of his office, rising out of the pool of fear behind him unnoticed. From over the man's shoulder, Will could see Loth in the lead of a Party of veteran Climbers, giving Will a raised brow while the rest of her Party gave him cautious looks. Will put his finger to his lips, resolving to watch how the guard handled this situation. And maybe mess with him a little bit.

"I-I didn't realize you were Loth the Luminary." The guard said, bowing repeatedly.

"I'm truly sorry for any inconvenience. Is there anything else you require? A drink, my lunch?"

"Are you saying you wouldn't have been sorry if it were any other kobold?" Will asked from directly behind him. The guard let out a shriek that was stifled only a bare second later as he whipped around to face Will, who had somehow snuck into a room with only one entrance, which the man had been facing.

"Milord," The guard mumbled, seeming to have trouble deciding whether to bow or put his back up against the wall of his office.

"No, it's okay," Loth said, raising her onyx claws.

"I'm sure the young man feels properly chastised, and, to be fair, kobolds are generally uncivilized." The ' young man' was at least two decades older than both of them, which made it funnier. Will thought of the kobolds currently living in his Stronghold that Loth had patroned. They made good money and contributed to the Stronghold by trapping vermin and monsters for the city and farms, but they were a rowdy bunch.

"…True. I'll let you off with a warning this time," Will said, clapping the guard on the shoulder before moving past him and kneeling down to look Loth in the eye.

"It's good to see you, Loth."

"How did you know I was here?" Loth asked, eyes narrowed in suspicion. Will winked.

"Sorry, that's a Lord secret," Will said, standing.

"It's got something to do with that Map, doesn't it?" She asked.

"Who knows?" Loth chuckled as Will rose back to his feet and began walking beside her, her Party trailing behind them.

"So what'll be?" Will asked.

"We've got a decent amount of food, syrup, steel, and a ton of flashglass for you." Flash glass was incredibly strong, light and sharp as Abyss, but that wasn't why it was so valuable. It was capable of being forged in such a way that it could snap between two different shapes with an application of Charge. It made for excellent tools, weapons, and especially traps that transformed or were highly complex. Just the sort of thing that a kobold like Loth enjoyed.

"All of that, of course, but I've got some other business here, too." Loth reached into her cloak and retrieved a letter with the seal of the Zodiac family on it, offering it up to Will. She peered up at him.

"You've gotten taller."

"A bit," Will admitted, accepting the letter and opening it while they walked. Perhaps it was the sort of thing he should have received in the solemnity of his office, but Will wasn't that kind of Lord yet. Maybe after a few decades. Greetings William Oh, Lord of the Burned Stronghold. It is our pleasure to invite you to the wedding of Alicia Zodiac and Reginald Thatcher. Reception on the 11 th Floor, Zodiac stronghold on the 18 th of November. You may bring up to five guests.

Wedding gifts encouraged but not required. Festivities will last 11 days. Other Lords have been invited. Violence between Lords will be met with a swift death. So those two are finally tying the knot. Cool. I've never had an invitation to a wedding that promised a swift death before, Will thought as he re-read the letter. Then again, I've never had a wedding invitation before at all, so who knows, maybe they do all threaten death.

I've heard a lot of stories about fathers trying to kill the groom so I always assumed getting married was dangerous, but I never thought about how dangerous it was to be a bystander. Wait a minute. Other lords will be invited? Can I afford to miss this? I don't have any official trades with Zodiac. Maybe I could work something out… But I can't step away from the Stronghold for that long, can I? It always felt like his Stronghold was a herd of wild horses trying their damnedest to run off the edge of a cliff.

If he wasn't around to keep an eye on them… Hmm….

"You seem troubled." Loth said.

"Wedding invitation," Will said, handing Loth the letter.

"Seems like a good opportunity to meet other Lords and practice politics," Loth said, reading it.

"Maybe so, but there's not really anyone terrifying enough to keep the Stronghold in line while I'm gone." Will said. On such a short notice, anyway. Even if I got a decent sheriff, that isn't quite what I need-"Ahem," Loth cleared her throat and gestured to herself.

"Really? You don't mind watching my Stronghold for a couple weeks?" Loth liked him a lot, but she never made any of her decisions solely on attraction, so there had to be-"I am stuck here for some of that time because of Acclimation anyway, so it's not too much of an inconvenience. And I'm not doing it for free, of course," Loth said with a mischievous smile.

"Before I agree, what is it?" Will asked.

"I found a dragon ancestor of mine. And I want your help killing it."