Chapter 121: Day 167 – Shayma

Shayma stretched luxuriously as sunlight filtered in the window. The soft sounds of surf lapped at the edges of her hearing and the scent of clean salt and warm sand wrapped around her. It was so soothing she didn’t really want to open her eyes or get up. She still adored the lake cottage, of course, but Blue was right that it wasn’t exactly something she could share, not even with Annit and Keri.

The alternative that Blue had made her was amazing.

They both agreed that she didn’t need anything to impress foreign visitors, not in any official sense, so it didn’t need to be a sprawling monstrosity like the Palace or Ansae’s tower, the latter of which she’d only seen from a distance. It was huge.

What she got was a comfortable, sun-washed two-story bungalow with an enormous veranda on every side and plenty of guest rooms, on the shore of a beach somewhere in the Caldera. It wasn’t opulent, not in the sense that the Palace was, but it was impossibly comfortable. She wasn’t sure exactly what magic Blue had worked, but it was warm enough that a swim was refreshing, and cool enough that lying in the sun was relaxing.

It had only needed one additional touch to reach perfect, and it had been her idea. At her request he’d put one of his cores in her room, which was something he hadn’t considered at all. Sometimes he forgot that, while he was technically everywhere, the cores were his real presence. Since he had two cores and the Caldera was both enormous and fully inside his territory, having him put one in her room wasn’t that worrisome, and she really did feel that she slept better when one of them was around. For some reason that both surprised and touched Blue when she asked, to the point where he fussed over getting the placement just right.

Finally, she opened her eyes, glancing over at the blue pillar next to her bed. Sometimes Blue woke her up himself, or at least greeted her when she opened her eyes, but sometimes he was wrapped up in something and didn’t even notice she was awake. Considering that he had to get ready for the invasion by the mage-kings, she wasn’t much surprised that he seemed busy. The soft, liquid wash of his attention in her head was faint, indicating he wasn’t focused on her or near her.

She didn’t want to interrupt him, so she just rolled out of bed, starting for the shower before pausing. Adventurers learned to pay close attention to both their bodies and their Skills, to know when something had changed, or something was wrong, and just then something was nagging at her. Multiple somethings, actually.

She dropped down into a meditative stance, the wood of the floor so smooth it was almost soft, and concentrated on herself. Though she could make the Status runes easily enough, that wouldn’t necessarily reflect more subtle changes. Quite a few people who stalled out in the second tier did so because they took their Skill descriptions so literally that they never pushed the boundaries and found all the tricks to what they could do.

That particular problem was even worse for her because she’d had most of her Skills advanced by Blue. While they were definitely more powerful, the limits further out, there was a hollowness to them, like an empty room. Instead of being shaped by her hand, by her experiences as she used them, they were just made bigger. Given how many Skills Blue had advanced, she didn’t trust the numbers to reflect what was really there.

There was definitely something new in the conceptual area of her Skills that were tied to Blue, which meant it probably wouldn’t show up on her Status. His mana connection didn’t, nor did any of the ties to Fields or dungeon weaponry. Apparently, it was even vague in Blue’s Status, leaving both of them to muddle through with the direct sense and use of the Skills. Which wasn’t terrible, but it was nice to have the sense of certainty a Status provided.

It took her a while to locate the other change, mostly because it was an absence, and the absence of something that she’d barely noticed to begin with. The faint stir of magic and slight tautness in her belly was gone, which made her blink when she realized it. She counted days, then shook her head. Somehow, three months had passed without her realizing it.

“Blue?” She said. “Is the Dungeon Seed ready?”

“Oh, you’re awake!” The liquid hiss of Blue’s attention sharpened into words as his attention turned fully on her. “Yup, I got the notification last night. This morning? Anyway, you were asleep and didn’t think I needed to wake you up, especially since it just popped into inventory. You want to see it?”

“Of course!” She felt the push of Blue’s inventory in her right hand and turned it palm-upward. With a black flash the Dungeon Seed appeared in her palm, and it was quite obvious why it had never really bothered her much. It was a swirling blue marble the size of her thumb, exactly the same colors and subtle motion as one of Blue’s cores but, obviously, far smaller. She had a sense of mana but like all of Blue’s magic it wasn’t actually visible. “Huh. It doesn’t actually look like much.”

“Yeah I noticed that. It’s kind of just a connector to me, though, rather than a special thing itself. I think. Anyway, I figure you ought to hang onto it, since you’re the only one who can really go outside my boundaries.”

“Yeah,” she agreed absently, rolling the Dungeon Seed around in her palm. It seemed like it should have been warm, but it felt just like any other rock. She was actually a little disappointed it wasn’t more dramatic, or at the very least that she didn’t have some special connection to it considering she’d been carrying it for three months.

“Also, you’re Companion rank ten finally!” Blue sounded more excited by that than he did about the Dungeon Seed, despite having been waiting on the seed for months. “It says you get additional access to dungeon functions, which I’m not sure what that does, but more importantly that gave me trait points! It also says you can generate me trait points, though it’s not clear how.”

“Oooh.” Now she understood why he was more interested in rank ten than the Seed. Considering how dear trait points were, it was nice to see that they had another way to get them. She didn’t feel too worried about her ability to generate them, because she was advancing pretty quickly. Even if it needed her to do astounding things, Blue gave her tools and power enough that she felt confident she could manage it. After all, it wasn’t long ago that she was involved in making an Artifact, and she very much doubted Blue was going to get any less ridiculous as time went on. “How many?”

“Five more. That gives me six, so I think I need to get the council together to decide what to spend them on. Though I’m pretty sure I already know what I want.”

“I’ll go get everyone then. Do I have time to shower first?”

“Yeah, both Iniri and Taelah are in the middle of things already so you’ve got plenty of time.” That made her feel a little guilty for sleeping in, but gnawing anxiety had kept her up later than she would have liked. The mage-kings were coming closer, and while she had faith in Blue, there was just something ominous about the massive fortress-islands.

It didn’t help that Blue confessed to her that he was worried, too. She and Ansae were the only ones who he could talk to, and it wasn’t like he could admit he was fallible to anyone outside the council. While most people drew comfort from a massive Power protecting them, sometimes she had to comfort Blue instead. He had just as many doubts as a normal person.

“So, do you have any idea what it might mean by dungeon function access?” Blue asked as she stepped into the shower. They’d had proper plumbing in the shop where she grew up, but it had been less easy to come by in the years since, so it still felt like a luxury to wake up with a proper hot shower.

“Not offhand,” she said. Taelah had provided Shayma with proper fur-friendly shampoo and scented soaps, which made the shower even more indulgent. There didn’t seem to be any limit to what Taelah could make with Alchemy, and considering the abundance of materials Blue provided her, hardly any limit to how much of it she could make. It actually made Shayma feel a little bad that she couldn’t return the favor by bringing Taelah along to Wildwood, since Blue’s wife had no interest in combat at all.

“Mmm, maybe you need to go to a core, like when you level up?”

“I can try, at least.”

“It’s too bad we can’t take our time this morning,” Blue said wistfully, and she grinned. Between adventuring and gearing up for the invasion they hadn’t had as much time alone as they might have liked, but they still managed to sneak in a quick fling here and there. Still, Blue liked to take his time, which was something she hardly objected to. “Oh! I can give you Affinities now! You’ll have to think about what you want.”

“I hadn’t thought of that,” she admitted. “I’m not sure what Affinity I have to begin with.” Going from Seeker to Trickster left her completely blank on what Affinity she might have. Really, she didn’t know what Affinity the Seeker class tended toward to begin with. Some Classes and Skills were obvious, but hers weren’t, especially since she had both illusion and shapeshifting.

“Definitely Kinetic, if I don’t have it already,” she said after a moment. “Stellar, of course. I couldn’t turn down that one, once you have the Sources for it.”

“Oh absolutely,” he assured her. “I have to admit I can’t tell exactly what Affinity you have either. I have a guess though, based on what I’ve seen so far.”

“Yes?” One thing she’d gotten used to was Blue knowing things he had absolutely no right to know. Sometimes she wondered how he knew them, but mostly just accepted that Blue was simply Blue.

“I think it might be fate.”

“That’s…wow.” She remembered vaguely that Tor Kot had said something to that effect, but [The Light of Eschaton] had made the incident a touch hazy, and she didn’t really believe anything he said anyway. “But how could I do illusions and shapeshifting and so on then?”

“Well, I have seen it’s possible to convert mana Affinities, and Iniri even has a Skill that lets her use different ones than Light, so it’s clear Affinities aren’t the only way to get an effect. It’s probably harder without, but fate Affinity seems really potent so maybe that makes up for it?”

“Maybe.” Shayma was still doubtful. It didn’t seem like her illusions were all that difficult and they were certainly powerful, and the same went for her shapeshifting. The only Skills that seemed like they should be Fate affinity were [Seeker] and [Luck], but considering that her illusions were verging on actual reality, maybe there was a Fate influence there. She was rather hazy on what precisely Fate mana was capable of. She’d have to ask Ansae after the council meeting.

“Yeah it’s super weird. When I gave you the [Trickster] Class I kind of broke the way Classes normally do things, so that’s probably what’s involved. Then there’s your race…” She nodded as she followed his thoughts.

“Since I’m technically a dungeon spirit I probably inherit some aspects of your mana, and you have plenty of illusion and kinetic mana to go around.”

“I guess? I mean, clearly it’s different from linking you to my mana pool directly. Maybe at some point we should have a scholar of some kind look into it. I’m sure there’s Class scholars.”

“There are some in Wildwood, even,” Shayma agreed. “Though if you gave me the Class, it might not fit anything they know. You keep doing impossible things.”

“It’s a burden,” Blue said, and she laughed. Both Ansae and Blue, for all their ridiculous power, had senses of humor. Sometimes really bad senses of humor, but that just made it more relatable. It made it a lot easier to deal with them as people instead of as immortal, unknowable Powers. She stepped out of the shower, toweled herself off, and combed the water out of her fur before heading back toward the core.

“Before I head off to get everyone, maybe I can figure out what the new options I’m supposed to have are,” she suggested. The itch of the not-quite-known Skill was going to be at the back of her head all day otherwise.

“Sure, I’m curious about that too.”

She took a few more steps to the core and placed her hands on it. It was something she did fairly often, since she needed the contact to gain experience properly, but without having any level in waiting there usually wasn’t much else. This time there was a sensation of some sort of floating link, like with more advanced magical items such as her telepathy circlet.

[Promise] didn’t count. It was practically a part of her.

She reached out for it and connected, then blinked when Status appeared in front of her eyes. But not her Status.

Blue Core Dungeon

Level 9 (63%)

Cores: 2

Primary Affinity: None [Set Affinity]

Secondary Affinity: None [Locked]

Created Affinities: Stellar

Governed Affinities: Stellar

Floors: None [Define Floor]

107,352,887% Overextension Penalty:

Level requirements increased

Base Mana regeneration reduced

Core Mana Upkeep increased

There was more beyond that, what looked like the Status Blue had shared before, with Resources and Categories and Fields, but she was stuck on the first part, the bit with the enormous number.

“Um, Blue, dear? I can see your Status now and it says you’re…” She took a moment to count the zeroes. “Ten, hundred, thousand…one hundred million percent overextended.”

“What.” Blue didn’t have eyes, but she could practically feel the blink. “I don’t have anything like that on my Status.”

“Yes, there’s a lot that’s not on the Status you showed us.” She waved her hand and conjured what she was seeing for Blue, since even though he could see through her eyes they’d already found he didn’t see certain things like her mana sight or Status prompts.

“Well, uh. I guess that might explain why getting a new level is so difficult. Is this because I don’t have any floors!?” Blue sounded halfway between baffled and outraged, and Shayma didn’t blame him. “Okay all of this is weird. I thought stellar mana would be a Power thing, but it’s a dungeon one instead? And why do you get to see this when I don’t, anyway?”

“I don’t know!” She understood why he was grumpy, but he’d complained about his terrible Status before, so she wasn’t surprised. Even he didn’t sound surprised. “Do you want me to change anything?”

“Not right now. Truthfully, I’ve been doing fine without having a primary or secondary Affinity, whatever that means, and it’s not like I care about base mana regeneration even slightly. Or Core Mana Upkeep, considering how much mana I’m generating. Don’t want to change too much right before we have to deal with the mage-kings in case it throws me for a loop in some way.” She nodded agreement. Given how much Blue had grown she doubted things would affect him as much as they had early on, but it wasn’t worth the risk.

“The only thing is that level requirement which, okay, a hundred million percent higher level requirement is a problem. Actually, maybe you can designate a level and see what happens?” She rolled her eyes at Blue’s basically instantaneous change of mind but had to agree it wasn’t likely to cause any serious problem. Shayma poked the appropriate part of the Status with her mind and then snorted as it told her that she couldn’t do it.

“It says that too much of your area is in flux to make changes.”

“Oh. Uh, yeah, I guess the total area of the Caldera is more than Tarnil at the moment and it’s still going so that makes sense. Boo.”

“We can maybe discuss this at the meeting too,” Shayma suggested.

“Probably. There’s a lot that I can infer from that Status, including the fact that you can see it, but I can’t. This system seems to have been designed for a Companion and a Dungeon to work together from day one.”

“It seems like it,” she agreed. It was always odd to think of Blue as separate from a dungeon, because he was a dungeon, but his mind and mentality were clearly something else. “I feel kind of bad that I didn’t hit ten earlier, now.”

“It’s not like either of us knew what we were doing. I bet a normal dungeon would be easier for a Companion to be in tune with anyway. They’d be less eccentric at least.”

“Far be it from me to disagree you might be difficult sometimes,” Shayma grinned, taking her hands off the core. The Status and the connection vanished but she committed it to memory anyway. She’d be bringing it up again soon enough.

“Only sometimes? I clearly need to be more whimsical. It’s the only way anyone will take me seriously.”

Still chatting with Blue, Shayma walked to the teleport pad Blue had put in near the beach house, an open gazebo, and transferred herself to The Village. She nearly collided with a cart as she stepped off the stone circle that marked the teleporter, blurring to one side as the man tending it called apologies. For all that The Village was rather small, it was a large effort to completely rebuild it in the Caldera and move everyone over.

“Before Taelah moves I need to find out if she wants to keep her current house or what,” Blue observed. “Or if she wants her secret garden there or, well, there’s all kinds of options.”

“I’ll ask her,” Shayma replied, skipping straight to Taelah’s house with [Phantasmal Path]. She raised her hand to knock at the door, which opened before she could touch it to reveal a smiling Taelah in her casual dress. Usually she had on a heavier alchemist’s apron.

“I was right!” Taelah said. “I’m getting better at understanding Blue. I thought you were coming.”

“Soon you won’t need me to relay things at all,” Shayma agreed, glad that maybe Taelah could talk to Blue directly. They shared him in some ways, but Blue wasn’t going to ask her to pass along sweet nothings to Taelah’s ears for him. That would just be weird.

“I’m glad she can kinda-sorta hear me, but tell her hi for me anyway!” Shayma laughed.

“Your husband says hello,” she told Taelah, grinning at the appellation. It always amused her for no reason she could really figure out.

“Hello, husband,” Taelah smiled back, clearly just as amused by the situation as she was. She stepped away from the door and gestured Shayma inside, turning to choose one of her various straw hats from a stand. “What brings you by this time?”

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“Blue needs the council again,” Shayma said, walking into Taelah’s kitchen and glancing around. It was nice enough, but definitely showed signs of Blue’s early work, everything square and symmetrical. Taelah had been slowly accumulating things to make it look more like a home, but the secret garden cabin was much nicer. “I hit Companion Rank ten, which got Blue some Trait points and some other things. I assume you’ll reach ten soon, too.”

“I hope so! Though I’m not sure what the ranks mean.”

“Blue and I think it has to do how close our rapport is? I’m sure you’ll get another rank pretty soon.”

“That would be pretty nice, but I don’t think I really need it.” Taelah put on one of her hats, then paused and opened a wicker basket on the counter, passing Shayma a muffin. “Miss Burnhade makes these,” she told Shayma in the tone of someone confessing a great secret. “They’re amazing.” Shayma took a bite and had to agree. They were made with fruits that Shayma didn’t recognize but had to be from one of Blue’s new Climates, and Taelah was absolutely right about how delicious they were.

“If you have extras, maybe bring them?” She suggested. “I know Iniri will want one, and Ansae probably will too.” Taelah blinked, then her smile grew wider and mischief lit her eyes.

“I can’t wait to tell Miss Burnhade I served her muffins to a dragon.” Shayma giggled, and Blue laughed in her head.

“Just wait until Ansae shows up at The Village looking for more if she likes them too,” Blue added. Shayma shared that with Taelah, who was already grinning, and they both spent a moment visualizing that before both dissolving into laughter.

“I have half a dozen more, I’ll bring them along,” Taelah promised.

“Great! I’ll go get Iniri and meet you in the conference room.” Since Taelah had control over teleports, she didn’t need to escort the other woman around. Shayma headed back to the teleport pad, polishing off the muffin.

“It’s really that good?” Blue asked.

“You have no idea,” she told him.

“Then I guess the Bargain is working!” Shayma blinked. She hadn’t really thought of it that way, but when Blue mentioned it, that perspective did make a strange sort of sense. It only took her a few moments more to get to Iniri’s tower, and this time Iniri was waiting for her. Just like Taelah, it seemed that she was getting better at hearing Blue and wasn’t surprised when Shayma showed up at her door.

“Blue needs more advice?” Iniri asked.

“Yes, and the earlier the better I think.”

“I mean, if there’s something absolutely urgent I can wait for Iniri to be done but otherwise yeah, sooner is better.”

“Certainly, how long will it take do you think?”

“Um. Hopefully not long. I just want everyone involved.”

“I’ll tell everyone it shouldn’t be more than an hour,” Iniri decided after Shayma relayed Blue’s answer. “If it takes longer, they can cope. At the conference room?”

“That’s right.”

“I’ll be there,” Iniri told her, and Shayma returned to the teleport pad. By the time she made it to the conference room, Taelah and Ansae were there already, and the dragon was chewing on a muffin. The Contained Star still spun slowly at the center, since apparently Blue didn’t need to actually move it elsewhere to link it into his closest dynamos. Ansae waved cheerfully at Shayma as she arrived; though Shayma hadn’t seen much of the dragon recently, she did seem in a better mood now that she had a lair outside in the sunlight. Iniri showed up only a minute later, exchanging greetings as she took her place. Taelah silently offered her a muffin and Iniri took it with a raised eyebrow.

“Might as well start.”

“There’s two reasons for this meeting. The first is that Blue now has six trait points. He got five since I reached Companion Rank ten this morning.”

“Oh, three reasons, I guess. Ideas on what to do with the dungeon seed.” She nodded to acknowledge Blue and continued on.

“Three reasons, actually. The second reason is the dungeon seed is ready, so he needs ideas how to use it. Third is this.” She gestured and brought up Blue’s Status, or at least the part she uniquely had access to. “I can now see this, and Blue wants input on all the implications.”

“One hundred million?” Ansae snickered, eyes glinting with amusement. “You don’t do anything by halves, do you?”

“I kinda wish I could do that one by halves. At least it explains why I’m only level nine.”

“Is there anything we can do about that now?” Iniri asked.

“We’re afraid to poke at it too much this close to a battle, and anyway I can’t change anything with the Caldera still under construction.” Shayma replied. Iniri nodded thoughtfully.

“I think the use for the dungeon seed is obvious, husband,” Taelah said suddenly. “Once you win this next battle, you will have four floating islands to take over. Surely one of those would be useful.”

“Ooh. Okay, why didn’t I think of that?”

“I can hardly think of a better use for it,” Ansae agreed. “Nothing that would benefit us prior to the battle, at any rate.”

“That was easy!” Shayma said. “For once.”

“Onto the trait points, then,” Iniri said.

“What traits can Blue buy?” Taelah asked, and Shayma conjured a second Status, the one with the listing that she still remembered from the last time Blue discussed Traits.

Mana Efficiency: Improves flow of mana within the Dungeon. Higher flow provides larger benefits. (1 point)

Burrowing: Upgrades [Boring Tendril] into [Burrower]. (1)

Core Specialization: Ecology: Allows creation of additional resource types with [Dungeon Ecology]. Unlocks the ability to generate abstract Affinities with [Dungeon Ecology]. (4 points)

Core Specialization: Defense: Increases experience generated by defensive structures. Unlocks additional defensive materials. (4 points)

Core Specialization: Dungeon Combat: Increases potency of combat versions of Skills and structures. Unlocks additional combat Skills. (4 points)

Core Specialization: Habitation: Grants Dungeon Skills based on species of Dungeon inhabitants. Improves the species traits of Dungeon inhabitants. (4 points)

Core Specialization: Companions Traits:

Tracking: Your Companions can sense the location of your current ANATHEMA. (1 Point)

Empower: Immensely amplify Companion abilities for a short time, for a great cost. (1 point)

Companion Concord: Allow Companions to communicate with each other regardless of distance. (2 points)

Companion Directives: Grants Companions limited access to dungeon senses and build options. Companions may designate goals. (5 points).

Designate ANATHEMA: Companions may adjust the dungeon’s ANATHEMA target. (5 points)

Class Management: Companions may adjust Class and Skill details. (10 points)

Spawn Core: Allows the Dungeon to generate additional Cores. (20 points)

Manifest: Allows the Dungeon to condense its mana into physical form. (30 points)

Antithesis: Your existence becomes inimical to your ANATHEMA. Contact results in annihilation. (35)

“I’m more interested in the Affinity listings there,” Ansae said, eyes fixed on Shayma’s Companion portion of the Status. “Created and Governed Affinities? Does that mean that the Great Dungeons, maybe even the Red Dungeons, are the ultimate arbiters of Affinities? I always thought the gods governed things as important as Affinities, even if someone else created them, but it says you govern Stellar Affinity.”

“I don’t even know how to govern it! I’m not sure what that even means.” His voice was a little blurred, obviously directed at Ansae.

“It’s interesting, but I don’t think it has much bearing on any immediate issues,” Taelah said, undercutting Ansae’s excitement. Ansae’s eyes glinted, but she chuckled.

“I suppose world-shaking revelations can wait until after we figure out the best way to survive the next few days.” Ansae conceded, but her eyes stayed focused on the Status display.

“I think there’s only two real choices for traits,” Iniri said, ignoring the byplay. “Combat and Ecology. We know there are four combat-specialized cores coming, which means combat specialization by Blue might help. But Blue doesn’t know how to engage in dungeon combat, so there’s no telling if it’s useful in practice. We want to drive them off without it coming to that, anyway. Ecology is likely to give Blue more Affinity options, but we don’t know which ones or what their applications might be.”

“He has six points,” Shayma pointed out. “He could buy Designate ANATHEMA and we could make sure that Anathema rage doesn’t take him over.”

“I’d really like that, actually,” Blue grumped. “But then we wouldn’t have anything left over.”

“If he buys that, he doesn’t get any extra options before the mage-kings come,” Iniri sighed, making the same point that Blue was, even before Shayma could say anything. “If we’re down to dungeon-to-dungeon fighting we’re even worse off than I would like.”

“You don’t think Defense would help?” Shayma asked. “Since that’s what we’re doing.”

“I’m less worried about defense, considering my size, than I am about force projection,” Blue said. “Considering the resources they seem to have, simply trying to stand off the mage-kings is a losing proposition. Not because I can’t do it, but because Tarnil won’t survive it.”

“I did warn you about making Bargains,” Ansae said after Shayma conveyed that, not gloating or admonishing, simply stating a fact.

“I think Ecology and Companion Concord,” Shayma said slowly, considering the fact that Blue was limited by his Bargain with Tarnil. “Ecology might give Blue access to void Affinity.” She didn’t have to elaborate on how terrifying it would be for someone with Blue’s resources and mana reserves to be able to make void Affinity weaponry. “And the Concord because Blue needs a way to talk directly with you that doesn’t involve me physically being somewhere.”

“That tether is unacceptable, from a logistics standpoint.” Iniri grimaced. “I definitely agree about Concord.”

“It means I’d be able to pass messages, too,” Taelah volunteered. “I’m not a fighter but I can at least do that.”

“Yeah that makes a lot of sense, I’ll buy that now.” Shayma started to tell the others that, then something in her head seemed to shift.

「This is very strange.」 Taelah’s voice sounded, though she didn’t speak or even move her lips. Between Blue, her Skills, One-Eye-Green’s telepathy, and now the Concord, her brain was starting to feel a little bit overstretched. It would pass eventually, and leveling up would help, but for now she felt rather overfull.

「It is.」 Iniri agreed.

“Can you two hear me or does Shayma still have to repeat things?” Blue asked. The fact that he didn’t get a response spoke for itself. “Bah.”

「Blue, can you hear us? 」 As she’d expected, he couldn’t. “It seems to only work between Companions. I’ll still have to relay Blue’s words for now, but at least we can all talk at a distance.”

“Because nothing is ever easy.”

“If it were easy, I think we would have heard of Blue Cores before this,” Ansae said. “Down to four points, it’s just a question of which specialization you should pick.”

“I’d say Ecology,” Taelah said. “It’s the cornerstone of everything else he’s done. He might be able to figure out something new before the mage-kings arrive.”

“This is uncomfortably like last time,” Iniri sighed. “How can we help Blue make decisions when we have no idea what is really even being decided?”

“That’s how I feel all the time, I swear.” Shayma snorted, but really it wasn’t that funny. It was a serious handicap that might kill them all.

“I think Ecology is a good idea too,” Ansae said after a moment. “There are other options for offense and defense, but that is uniquely Blue’s. It might also get him access to stellar Affinity materials, and I don’t need to elaborate on how powerful that is.” She waved a claw at the [Contained Star] floating above the table.

“I’ve been leaning that way myself,” Blue said. “Any arguments against it?”

“I think it’s a foregone conclusion,” Iniri said, not even waiting for Shayma to translate. “Unless we want to gamble that the Combat core will produce something more valuable in the next three days.”

“Okay, I’m going to go ahead and buy it.” Shayma repeated Blue’s pronouncement and waited for something to happen. For a moment nothing did, then there came the faint sensation of mana sweeping through them.

“Huh.” Blue said. “Well. I can give Iniri her stellar Affinity now.” A strange expression passed over Iniri’s face when Shayma told her that, some combination of embarrassment and eagerness and relief.

“I suppose this will take longer than an hour, then,” Iniri said.

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