The Third Step: Chapter Fifty

“Tell me more about this earring,” I said. “You’ve placed it on par with two favors or an entire selection of personalized rewards right from the Storm King. Why?” 

“It’s a powerful artifact, constructed out of a bloodruby set on a chain that is a tripart alloy of mana-enriched gold, rune-brass, and intent-cobalt. Each of the metals, as well as the ruby, is a ninth gate material that’s also undergone massive amounts of spellwork and enchantments. I don’t intend to reveal all of the effects worked into the piece, but suffice it to say that it contains sufficient shielding to go unnoticed for years, a massive reservoir of mana, and even a small store of deep mana.” 

The way he said ‘deep mana’ came across especially oddly, as if the monolinguistic spell was struggling to translate the exact concept. I supposed that was fair, though. If any concept was going to be hard to translate, deep mana was going to be pretty high up on the list. 

More importantly, his description did a lot to ease my concerns about the artifact. He hadn’t outright said the reserve of mana contained within was up to ninth gate, but the fact that the materials all were suggested to me that if the reservoir wasn’t there yet, it would be able to overclock to ninth gate density. It, alongside a few drops of deep mana, would explain why it was valued so highly. Perhaps it had been built by a Magi of the Sekhem in their glory days, or something of the sort… 

But it would give them a lot of power. I suspected that the Sekhem, already in decline, would be pushed aside if Keerthana managed to reach even true seventh gate. Even without a Title, the gap between a true and false Occultist was vast, and should be enough to account for the power of the Sekhem legacies.

I bit my lip as I started to frame them in methods of how I could ensure the Sekhem’s demise, or failing that, which options would do the least amount of good for them. Framed in that light, the obvious choice was to simply get up and leave. But… While I did have bluster, Kene’s life was on a timer. Once the tournament ended, I’d need to rush to the Shadebinder Sect, Wraithmist Gorge, or one of the other sites. That wasn’t too bad, but I’d still need to actually find the Craftsman. He was staying around the Sect hosting the Elysian Mastery Tournament, but only promised to stick around until it ended. After that, he’d be off, traveling the world again. Tracking him down would be the next best thing to impossible.

I’d put that on the back burner. It gave the Court the least amount of power and did the least amount of damage, but it also put Kene’s life in danger if we couldn’t find the Craftsman after obtaining a structural material.

Alright. Blood. That was easy to eliminate. Fifteen years of my blood wasn’t a small amount. If it was only third gate blood I was handing over to them, then I’d consider it. Even at fourth gate, it wouldn’t be too bad. I didn’t want to sound overconfident, but I was certain that I’d have reached Arcanist within fifteen years. Handing over Arcanist level blood that was enhanced by streams of soul mana, the dominion of a worldspirit, and the dominion of a starsoul dragon… Well, I’d been warned about people seeing my body as a useful component before. I was rather worried that Arcanist level blood from me would help Prince Dhruv’s legacy grow to heights that would close the gap between him and Keerthana. 

Was there anything I could do to sabotage my blood? 

Not really. I could try and strain out the excess energy, soul mana, and dominions, somehow, but Prince Dhruv wasn’t a mythical creature bound to the letter of the agreement. If I did that, I was confident they’d consider it reneging on the deal, and I’d be handing a bunch of powerful blood mages a sample of my blood. No, I couldn’t give them blood. 

The tournament rewards were out too. I didn’t know of any elixirs that could undo a false Occultist ascension – After all Edgar had needed an imprint from Fortune itself, earned after joining in the fight to save the life of other endangered creatures. But that wasn’t the only source of power. If they got their hands on the resources to field a few more of their Princes, that would worsen things for everyone. Not only that, but there was nothing at all that I could do to sabotage that reward, since they’d be asking for it in my stead. 

That only left favors and the earring. I’d retain the right to not do favors that went strongly against my moral compass, but that was far from perfect. For one, they’d be able to just order me to go get the earring using one of the favors, or at least to try my best. I knew I wasn’t above stealing, especially if I was stealing from the rich and powerful. If I was, then I’d have never let Travis Enigma go. 

The other issue was that I simply trusted the Sekhem Court less than I trusted Orykson. I wasn’t sure that I fully trusted Orykson, not really, but I trusted him to hold to his word. For all that Meadow disliked him, he was strangely honorable in his own way. I knew that if he said that he wasn’t going to force me to do something, then he wasn’t. The Sekhem, though, were much less of a guarantee. Even if they ordered me to fight Keerthana and I denied them, could I deny letting them escape? Flee to another country? I had that power, after all. 

No, the favors held too much risk, and I didn’t have a good enough ability to screw over the Sekhem Court with them. I couldn’t take that deal.

So once again, I looped back to the earring. A ninth gate artifact would probably do the most out of anything to help them against Keerthana, but it was also an item. That made it relatively easy to sabotage, all things considered. Spatial magic was great for thievery, and while it was possible they’d stash it in a vault I couldn’t get through, it was also possible they’d leave gaps in the wards for the use of extraplanar storage again. 

I didn’t think it was a great idea to rely on them to have lax security, but it still wasn’t my only option when it came to sabotaging the magic. Even if I broke the enchantments and drained the deep mana before handing it over, I’d have what I needed. They’d still gain a handful of ninth gate materials, but there was a large gap between a material at a gate and a useful tool. 

That was also a worst case scenario, though. Elio didn’t owe me any favors, so I couldn’t guarantee that he’d be willing to do anything, but he was a gemstone dragon and an enchanter. Who better to lace an earring set with a ninth gate gemstone with traps than someone like him? Or if I found it before speaking to the Craftsman, it was possible I might be able to commission the Craftsman to make a small modification. 

Much like with any attempts to mess with my blood, there was a chance that they’d pick up on the trickery around the earring and would come after me, but there were a few noteworthy differences: 

First, if I handed over a broken earring, stole it from their vaults after delivery, or managed to get an enchanter to sabotage it, there were ways to conceal it. Hiding the fact I was weakening the potency of my blood would be nigh impossible. 

Second, it was a one time transaction, meaning I could pull some of the same cards that I had here about using the Ascending Death Crystal to stop Dhruv from outright killing me. Blood would require me to at least have enough of a portal here to send blood through every month for fifteen years, meaning countless transactions and interactions. 

Third, while they could still send someone to try and kneecap me, I’d dealt with hitpeople before. They’d be at a severe disadvantage, since I’d be able to vanish to Crysite, Mossford, or Delitone fairly quickly after leaving the Court. That didn’t instantly protect me, but it made sending hitpeople after me a lot harder, especially if I then delved into the wilderness to go after a Sepulcher. By the time any hit people could get around the planet and track me to the Sepulcher, I’d be able to consolidate my gains from the Tournament, as well as the Sepulcher itself, making me much stronger than I was now – hopefully strong enough to deal with anything of that sort.

Did that make it better than just leaving? Maybe, maybe not. It would depend on the type of sabotage I managed, and if I’d actually be able to track down the Craftsman after finding something to give form to the formless-spark. I was weighing unknown against unknown, and I was no oracle. 

But at the end of the day, I could all but guarantee that I got what I needed to save Kene’s life, and have a good chance of screwing over the Court, or I could risk it all. A person’s life wasn’t the kind of bet I wanted to risk everything on. 

“Alright, I’ll get you your thrice-cursed earring,” I said, letting out a sigh. “Two conditions, though.” 

“I will listen, but I make no promises,” Dhruv said, eyeing me carefully. 

“Keerthana. She’s a healer, and the only one who is both fully trained and willing to treat humans for cheap. Stop calling on her.” 

“She is the best healer we can call on,” Dhruv objected. “Why should we settle for anyone less than the best?” 

I was tempted to tell him off about the morality of letting people suffer, but it was clear that the vampire had lost his sense of empathy for humans long ago. Instead, I took a more tactical approach. 

“Then send someone else to do her job while you call upon her,” I said. “If you want the humans under your command to keep up a steady flow of blood, they need healing. I personally witnessed a child almost die because of a lack of healing. That’s, what, fifty years of blood that’s been missed out on?” 

Dhruv’s lips thinned as he thought it over, and he drummed his sharp fingernails on the table. 

“What if, instead, we allowed Keerthana to take an apprentice, and agree to not call on both her and her apprentice at the same time?” 

“As long as it’s an apprentice of her choice, that’s fine,” I agreed. “The second condition is that I want you to throw in a top-shelf soul strengthening elixir. It doesn’t need to be as active as a golden soul potion: I care more about stability than changes made to mana.” 

The ritual that I’d put together with the looted components from Crystie had brought Kene to the edge of needed stability, but a bit more would help them move into a more comfortable area of soul stability. Given the court had clearly done a lot of research into soul magic, I figured they’d have an ample supply. I must have been right, because Dhruv relaxed and nodded. 

“Not a problem – we require those undergoing the ritual to go through several courses of soul strengthening. Very well. I agree to lift the limit on the number of humans allowed to undergo healer training in the city for Keerthana, to provide a soul strengthening elixir, and to give you access to the materials for our ritual. In exchange, you agree to bring me the earring within three months of the end of the tournament.” 

I winced at the timeline. It would make tampering with it and getting back to the Sekhem Court a tall order, given how far the Court was from any of my portal stations. But I thought it should be possible – barely.

“Deal,” I agreed, reaching my hand out to shake Prince Dhruv’s.