Chapter 42: Chap. 35 : Priorities

Zoemie stared at Yuulvan for a short bit. "I gotta admit it, old man. You did us a major solid here, so, yeah. Thanks." Wouldn't do to be ungrateful. Having the ability to completely deny her enemies what would otherwise be unambiguously one of their favorite tools was incredibly useful, and for that alone she was satisfied to have let the old man stay.

It was unexpected, but for once that worked in her favor. Zoemie closed her eyes. So, what now ? She had gained a massive defensive layer, but as far as she could tell there were preciously little else she could deny her enemies that way. Ah, well, whatever. Maybe I'll come up with somethin' later.

"Glad to have helped.", the old man said, breaking Zoemie out of her reverie. She looked at him, unsure of what to say. "Is there anything else that comes to your mind ?", he asked, but Zoemie shook her head.

"...Nothing right now.", she admitted. "Maybe later. But, like, yeah, thanks again. I can at least deny the bastards that much." She closed her eyes. "So, yeah, see ya later, and thanks again for the help." The old man smiled as Zoemie teleported to her training room, picking up her sword.

She had missed yesterday's sessions, so she would do a bit more today. It would help her unwind a bit. Then, gaming. Sounds like a plan.

---

Yuulvan was admittedly a little surprised as he found himself sitting in the kitchen, looking at the Uujutzerja. "You were very helpful.", she admitted to him as she conjured something that smelled pretty good.

He had planned on eating something conjured in his study while reading, but he did not mind either way. "This is an interesting dish. My thanks for the lunch.", he admitted, looking at the meal. Various veggies had been baked and put in a large pot. The portion was not too large, either. He closed his eyes. Smells delicious.

"It is no problem. Zucchini, tomato, onion bake", the Uujutzerja said. "The Warden does not like a lot of foodstuffs. It is an interesting experiment in foods I otherwise wouldn't really conjure." Yuulvan took note of that information. It was an odd quirk, but ultimately not very important. "You may call me Xajymzia", she said, and Yuulvan nodded in turn as he started to eat lunch.

A show of trust. One he equal parts appreciated and acknowledged. He was still, if not an intruder, at the very least an outsider to their dyad, and he was alright with that. He focused on the food, instead. This is very good.

It was pleasantly crispy and tasty, without being too dry. A simple, if not outright mundane, but still enjoyable meal. Coupled with a simple dessert, it went well together without being over-the-top. After eating, Yuulvan decided to return to his quarters for now.

Yuulvan smiled as he sat down in his study for the second time of the day, satisfied with his lunch. While he had obtained quite a bit of the Warden's trust and therefore was likely to be able to stay for a longer period of time, he had at most a single month.

And considering how much information there was to absorb, he would have to make tough choices and prioritize ruthlessly to get the most out of that stay. He could not afford not to, as there was too much at stake.

Where to even start ? Yuulvan knew what he did not care about. He did not care about worldly power, so political information wouldn't be that useful to him. History was not something that struck him as particularly important, either. He would not be able to leverage such knowledge into useful action.

Useful action... He decided to linger on that idea for a minute. It struck him as likely to bring him useful insight. Yuulvan had never been much of a friend to the powerful, but he had helped many people during his life. I think I'll start there. Highlight knowledge that can make the lives of people, particularly commoners, easier, starting by the fastest, lowest-investment options first.

That last part was important, as it would enable him to make the most out of that knowledge. Being a wanderer by nature, he rarely lingered that long in a singular town and therefore had not that much ability to enable long-term plans, unless he decided that it was truly necessary.

He smiled, his heart settled and priorities decided, magically ordering books in the best order to accomplish his goals, and started to read. Material Science for Beginners, hmm ? This looks interesting.

---

Xajymzia looked at the scanner data for Yuulvan as she backed it up into the memory unit. It had been more or less exactly what she had expected. Medium skill in fire and dark magic due to low affinity. Other categories are at a high level.

Still, his assistance had been most welcome. With no more risk of Zoemie's enemies enslaving her, and the possibility of freeing potentially enslaved underlings as well, Xajymzia and Zoemie were in a much better defensive position than they were before.

He had no other notable abilities unlike Zoemie's fusion, but he was still quite a powerful and knowledgeable mage, and she was considering asking for his opinion about subjects such as the portal or anchors. Maybe he had an idea.

But she wouldn't do that right now. Some of that information was very sensitive, after all. She did not know how he would react to the idea that Zoemie was from another world, by example. Xajymzia resealed the memory unit, and left the room for another one in her lab.

She had a Potion Generator to upgrade, and that was more important right now. It had taken her a bit of time to sort and sift through the materials, but she was confident she had what she needed. A quick and simple upgrade to make it faster and more efficient with her mana input.

After the Generator ? Xajymzia wasn't quite sure what she was going to work on, but she'd probably return to working on the portal. It was her farthest-reaching goal, after all, and the sooner she could get it, the better.

---

Yuulvan left his quarters, wandering aimlessly. He was assimilating the knowledge he had learned. So, to believe humble copper and peerless gold... For now, this wasn't very useful to know, but he did not mind. He trusted his magic was having him start learning this first for a reason.

It gave him ideas for some experiments, but he would note the idea down and run those while on the road. His time here was better spent on accumulating the rare, exclusive knowledge of this dungeon. He wandered around more, looking for nothing in particular.

This dungeon is certainly an unique place, he reflected. He didn't know what was the strangest thing about it. The jetuzran, the mysterious white box, the fact that despite being a Teranjor the Warden was a human of all things, that Warden themself, which if Yuulvan was frank, was something of an enigma to him. Xajymzia being simply a maid, and one that could probably win a full-blown war on her own.

Frankly, Yuulvan didn't fancy his chance against either of them in direct combat. Despite his skill and experience, they were both horrifyingly strong. How did that Warden even get to that level of power ? Sure, their equipment was peerless, and as a Warden their combat abilities were amplified, but he wasn't sure that alone enough to explain their power... yet he couldn't dismiss the possibility of him overcomplexifying things offhand either.

Maybe he should take the time to ask the Warden about the white box he conjured when he entered the dungeon. This could be a good idea, at some point. Maybe about their equipment, as well... but that was one thing they were much more likely to keep completely secret, and Yuulvan couldn't blame them.

Considering the enormous force multiplier those equipments were, there were a lot of extremely powerful people ready to do a lot for that knowledge. Kings would offer much land and wealth for a single one of those equipment pieces. Empresses would spread their thighs to acquire the loyalty of someone capable of making those artifacts. Even if I can't really understand why these expect it to work, Yuulvan thought. But then again, I have always been more of a scholar.

He stopped for a second. Hmm. Is Xajymzia so powerful because she has body parts constructed in the same way as the Warden's equipment ? It would certainly make sense. He didn't know what she was precisely, but he could tell she was an Umdoranz hybrid only in appearance.

Yuulvan smiled as he returned to his study, feeling ready to ingest more knowledge.

---

Zoemie got out of her room, sighing. She wasn't wearing her mask right now. The old man is in his quarters, and Xaj is in her lab. She considered. She had done her training and a bit of gaming, and she had no idea what she wanted to do right now.

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The boss she was fighting was starting to piss her off, so she had stopped playing to avoid getting too frustrated. She didn't want to go out, she was a bit too tired and it was too hot out at this time of day.

Instead, Zoemie moved around her dungeon and thought for a moment. Let's rearrange this place a bit. In particular, Zoemie wanted an actual living room, with sofa and TV. Even if she couldn't watch anything in here and never watched it anyway, a living room needed a sofa, a small table, and a TV.

She put it next to the kitchen, and moved the whole thing a little, so that the entry corridor in the mountain led to a small room that had one door to the left, which led to the various bedrooms, as well as Xajymzia's lab further down, and another door on the back that led to the living room, which itself had another door leading to the kitchen and dining room.

She also added close to the left door's exit another room that was best described as a meeting room, with a table and a few chairs around it. It would be handy in case she needed to talk with the old man further. The lab isn't gonna cut it if we need to talk more.

Speak of the devil, she thought as she noticed the old man wandering around the corridors again. Who knows, she thought as she started walking towards him, conjuring her mask as she did so. It had worked out well enough earlier today, and to boot she didn't really know what to do.

Wait, is that a good idea ? Zoemie grumbled. So far, things had been alright. What's the worst that could happen ? Having to force him out ? Zoemie shook her head. She didn't want to have to. Zoemie sighed, and shook her head as she teleported into the new meeting room and sat on the chair.

Nice. That's comfortable. Much better than the school chairs. She braced herself slightly, and relaxed herself as she spread her limbs out on the plushy chair.

---

Yuulvan entered the new room, slightly curious. He had noticed the layout of the dungeon moving around him, but it had not bothered him much. He looked around a little. There was a table, plenty of chairs, and it was pretty obvious what the room was. A meeting room. The Warden was sitting on a chair, their four limbs stretched wide and generally seemingly relaxed. "Oh, hi there, old man. Like the new room ?", they asked.

"A meeting room, I take it ? Quite well-furnished.", he answered. It was spacious and well-lit. A great place for talking and meeting, either in onoe-on-one discussion or for a larger meeting.

"Yeah. I realized that this could be handy after earlier today. The lab isn't gonna cut it in case we need to talk a lot about other things", the Warden explained. "So, can I ask you something ?". Sure. It cannot hurt. At Yuulvan's nod, the Warden continued. "First thing, I was wondering, how old are you ? Are you, like old as in eighty, or old as in old old ?", the Warden asked.

"I stopped counting after five hundred.", Yuulvan answered with a slight smile, as he always did when he was asked this quite common question. An answer that was in no way a falsehood, at that. When people heard of his title of the Ancient Wizard, they didn't necessarily realize it truly meant ancient.

"Five... five fucking hundred ? That's... goddamn Christopher Columbus level of old ! At least ! Damn !", the Warden swore out, Yuulvan trying to contain his amusement. He might be old-looking, but he probably wasn't the oldest person alive.

He knew an hexer who was probably older than him and still looked like a prurient young woman, despite having over... a hundred ? At least over seventy children during her life. In fact, he had wondered idly if the Warden was related to her in some way. Not only was their equipment covered in strong curses, the Warden was a little strange in much the same way, fiddling with their fingers and acting kind of... off.

That said, it was most likely not the case, since the base of knowledge of the Teranjor unambiguously came from the Warden, and no one he knew had knowledge of this kind. Still, it was an amusing coincidence. "Who is this... Columbus ?", he asked instead, refocusing on the conversation, the Warden looking at him and sighing.

"It's... complicated. Which I could explain, but I'm not an historian. Sorry.", she answered. He had been uncertain about it before, but he was more confident that the Warden was a young woman, maybe even a girl. History, huh ? Not that relevant, then. "So, that reminds me. What were you doing looking over that microwave in the forest, anyway ?"

"Ah, you must be referring to this.", he said, pulling out the white box he was looking in the Greatwoods, the Warden nodding. So this is referred to as a microwave ? Yuulvan noted it within his mind. He was curious what the name meant. He hadn't really had the time to look it over between yesterday and today. "Could you tell me how these work ?", he asked, and the Warden's mouth changed into a rueful expression.

"Nope, sorry... I'm kinda shit at this. The only thing I can tell you "how they work" is computers. If, like, Neth was here she could explain it to you, but I'm... not good at this shit." Yuulvan suppressed a smile at that. Truly interesting.

It appeared the Warden shared with the hexer and her children not just mannerisms, but also obsessive fixations. How strange. "This "Neth" is a friend of yours ?", he asked instead.

"Yeah, so, well, when I got my ass dragged over there with all the other assholes, she didn't get brought along, and I don't know if I can even get back.", she spat out, rage within her voice. Dragged over ? Curious, Yuulvan thought. "What a fucking shame... she could talk your ears off about... anything you want, really. She's smart unlike me."

"Dragged over ?", he inquired, deciding to focus on information that was going to get him useful information for now.

"Yeah. One thing I knew I was in class, next thing I was getting lectured by some creepy old bastard – not you, I mean, obviously, but like, this old pig of a priest, I missed his name, and after I fucked off the place and out of town I found the dungeon in the forest. My legs were out of comission for like three days, that had been fun.", the Warden rambled.

Old... head priest ? Yuulvan took note of this. He did know of one country that had an old man as an high priest, but it wasn't the one they were currently in. I'll keep quiet about it for now. He wasn't sure if the man was still alive, and it could be another one that had aged while remaining in his position. Best to not give out unsubstantiated information.

Considering their position as pretty far away from any town, the Warden likely teleported the dungeon after taking it over. Unsure on how to continue the conversation without upsetting the Warden, he decided to change the subject. "So what where you doing earlier ? Remodeling ?", to which she nodded.

"Yeah. I did my training earlier and a bit of gaming, but the boss was pissing me off so I stopped.", she said. Training ? He was wondering what kind of training the Warden would do. Most Wardens wouldn't bother with such a thing. Maybe he could drop by while she was doing so, if only out of curiosity. Maybe he could help, somehow.

"Gaming ?", he asked instead. He knew gambling, but gaming was a word unknown to him. Did it involves playing games ? Most likely, but...

"Oh, yeah, you wouldn't know what that is.", the Warden said. "Gimme a sec.", she continued, conjuring in her hands a strange item. It appeared to be composed of a large, black mirrorlike surface surrounded by button-like, black circular protrusions. "Lemme show you.", she said as she sat down closer to him and pressed down on something, the mirror changing color to grey all of a sudden.

"Isaac's Sacrifice ?", the Warden grumbled. "No, I am not showing that. Is there a Mokepon game or somethin... Alright, that'll do.", she said as music started coming out of the device. "Been a while I played some Mayro Kart. I think I still have the ROM of the Miitendo version."

The old man raised an eyebrow as the Warden started playing. "This one is a racing game. Never played it that one much, but for someone who don't know what a video game is, it'll make a fine intro.", she said as she sat closer to him, the old man looking at the mirror-like surface now showing a bunch of characters, before a series of... pressing actions by the Warden brought the image of what appeared to be a rainbow in space.

This is interesting, he thought as the Warden showed him how the game worked. He played, gamed, a little bit, trying his best to not have his massive bone turtle character fall off the edge. "This is definitely an interesting way to spend time." Not exactly productive, but then again life wasn't all about being productive.

"May I keep it ?", he asked. He wouldn't be able to game much right now, his time here was too precious, but otherwise... It could keep him busy during carriage rides, if nothing else.

"Sure, why not.", the Warden answered. "You might need to figure out a way to recharge it, tho. Maybe magic can do something like that ? With like a very weak thunder spell or something ?"

"I'll investigate it.", he answered. Not right now, of course, but at some point.

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