Chương 131: Resource Acquisition

Hoping I could be fast enough wasn't a good strategy. My first order of business was to get more infused food. Some infused food was helpful. So that meant more infused food would be more helpful, especially given how hard I planned to push myself in the coming days. I'd be able to retain more attributes and build up my points faster. The next morning, after my jousting training session with Lord Ceonwin, I rushed to the mess hall.

I approached the counter, where the non-Dupe staff worked to prepare the infused food. I leaned over, then said, "Excuse me. I—""No service until morning bell," one of the cooks said.

"Yes, but—""It's non-negotiable. You may be a sapper trainee, but we answer to the Drillmaster," the cook said, walking to the counter. He wore a thick white apron.

"If you need something, take it to the Drillmaster."

"Maybe," I said.

"Do you take bribes?" I whispered.

"No."

"I do," a voice piped up from the back of the kitchen.

"Really?"

"No," the first cook snapped.

"That's Fulbert. Don't listen to him. He always says things like that."

"Oh." I sighed, then stepped away from the counter and walked back to the seating area. If I couldn't get any extra infused food through legitimate means, could I just steal it? I could just tell myself that it was for the greater good, but the more I thought about it that way, the less appealing it was. I'd forced this upon myself. There was a limited amount of infused food, and if I stole it for myself, I'd be taking it from my brothers. I knew I'd have to make sacrifices. Well, the first would be my wage.

I wasn't using it for anything else, and I'd banked it up. Instead of trying to deal with the cooks, I rushed to the Drillmaster's office. Before I arrived, though, I found him in the hallways of the keep. He was on his way to the mess hall as well, moving to get breakfast. I said, "Drillmaster, any chance I could put some of my funds toward infused food?"

"Talk to the castle purser," the drillmaster said. He pointed down the hallway, then said, "Two rooms over, and to your left. You'll find Abacus. He's in charge of procurement and our overall funds. And your wages." I nodded, then ran down the hall and pushed open the door slowly, revealing a small room. A Dupe with glasses sat at a table, writing on sheets of parchment with a quill. There was no window, and the only light was of a candle.

"Are you Abacus?" I asked.

"Indeed, I am," the Dupe said. He looked up for a second, then got back to work.

"If you would like to discuss finances, please go collect a form from the folder on the wall, fill it out, and bring it back to me. I will set up a meeting for you, and we may talk further. You may have to wait a week or two; I have a great many procurement letters to finish."

"The Drillmaster sent me," I said.

"It's relatively urgent. Not relative, actually. The sooner, the better."

"If it's from Rib, I suppose I can make time…" Abacus said.

"What do you need?"

"I need more infused food, and I'm looking to put my salary toward it. How would I go about doing that?"

"It would be easy. I could simply transfer your holding payments to my general weekly procurement request." Abacus pushed his glasses up on his nose, but he didn't stop writing.

"Your weekly salary is not enough to make a meaningful difference. I could use it to give you an extra half of a meal a week."

"Infused food is that expensive?" Abacus sighed.

"Right, then," I said.

"I have savings, yeah?"

"Correct."

"Can I use them?" I asked quickly. In the distance, the morning bells tolled, indicating that breakfast service had begun. I didn't want to be late.

"Drain whatever I've stored up, and put it toward more infused food." Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"It would be possible. That would make a meaningful difference. But the question is: do you want to? Those are sceats that could go toward purchasing land in the future, for when you do retire. Or you could invest them into a guild, and sell the shares at the Eraen-Kalora exchange, multiplying their value. There is a common fund we tend to place some of our more financially savvy Dupes' salaries in, for when they retire." I looked at the floor. He made good points.

Points I'd heard before, plenty of times, especially back on Earth. But then again, who else was going to even try what I was doing right now? This kinda had to be me. And savings wouldn't matter if the orcs controlled everything. Shaking my head, I said, "This is more important. I'll take you up on the financial planning later, but right now, I need that food."

"That's what they all say…" Abacus lamented.

"No thought for the future." There wouldn't be a future if I did nothing. I could always invest my salary later. For now, I had more important business to attend to. I said, "Thanks for the advice, but please, I need you to follow my instructions."

"Very well. Next week's delivery will include an extra batch of infused food for you. Which of your attributes would you prefer to enhance?"

"Can I choose a wide variety— Actually, wait. Do you have any infused food that can help enhance Perception?"

"Yes. But remember: the infused food alone simply provides your body the materials to help grow. It helps the Path take root in your body and strengthen you. It will help you repair the damage that extreme physical conditioning does to your body, but it will not help you grow on its own. Perception is finicky that way, but the best way to improve your perception is through certain toxins that attack your nervous system."

"Nervous system?" I asked, surprised they knew about it. But I gave my head a shake. Of course they knew about it. They seemed to have better anatomical knowledge than what I expected from a medieval world, and my mind was automatically translating the term that they used for it.

"Yes. I can put a vial of archerbane on your procurement request, but make sure to use it sparingly. Enough to make you numb, and slightly buzzed, but not enough to paralyze yourself. The alchemist's note will contain proper dosage information."

"Wonderful," I said.

"Can you do that as well?"

"Yes, I can. It will take away from the rest of your food, though."

"That's fine. I'd like to keep my attributes balanced." Yes, I knew I needed Strength and Vitality the most right now for the joust, but I didn't want to let the others lag behind if I could help it. Besides, being able to hear and feel more would absolutely make my life easier in pretty much every respect.

"Very well," Abacus said.

"It will be done. When it arrives, we will have it brought to your quarters."

"Thank you," I said, then rushed back to the mess hall to eat breakfast. Missing a single meal nowadays would be disastrous. ~ ~ ~ The night before the next Labyrinth run, I spent an evening in the library with Sage. I asked, "Can only Path-walkers reforge their bodies the way you did?"

"You want to do that?" she asked, incredulous.

"Well, would it work?"

"Considering you're already a Titanium? I find it unlikely." She shook her head.

"You would need to manipulate maegen. And more than just what you have been able to pull off so far."

"What, so being able to hold a bit of maegen on my fingers isn't natural?" I asked.

"No. Not for a regular mortal civilian, and certainly not for a Dupe. I don't know what you've done."" You don't know something?"

"If you gloat, I will have Morph break your forearm…" She paused.

"And then I'd heal it." Another pause.

"That aside, you just don't have the control you need. You must flood all your internal leys with the proper aspect, and a whole slew of other maneuvers that I'm not sure if you could pull off." I nodded, then said anyway, "What do you do with the maegen?"

"Pull it from the outside in toward your core, help it stimulate regrowth of your muscles and bones in a way that helps your body readjust."

"And there's no way to do it with just Presence?" She tilted her head side to side.

"I doubt it. But I don't think it has ever been tried by anyone. That would be a question for the Fleshknitters. Perhaps you could find the answer in their original journals, when they were devising a plan to make the Dupes, but we don't carry their journals in the library. I checked. Only the Warlord and his closest council would have access to those." I nodded, then drew on the first book I'd memorized—the one about gravity-wielding Path-walkers.

I hadn't really understood what the book meant, but it had mentioned reforging their bodies with a gravity aspect maegen.

"I'll have to do some more reading, then," I said.

"Maybe I can devise a way to make it work."

"You're too late. You're not supposed to be reforging your body after Titanium, anyway," Sage said.

"Well, as Dupes, our bodily enhancements come constantly, using the resonance nodes to channel attributes."

"You knew what I meant. I was speaking about regular Path-walkers. Yes, I know some pull off subtle body enhancements later, and we continue to grow physically stronger as our maegen purifies, but it is never as intense as the original reforging process." She shook her head.

"Dupes have their own way of doing things."

"Yeah, but here's the thing," I said.

"What if I could use both?"

"Perhaps…" she said.

"You would certainly be powerful. But there is usually a reason that no one has attempted it yet."

"I can always abandon a bad plan," I said.

"But I won't abandon it until I'm sure it won't work."