When Rhen got back to the inn, several people were gathered and chatting with a grinning Arannet. They gave her a few pats on the back and retreated back to their posts when they saw Rhen.

He joined her at the paperwork table. “So, how are we going to show this bastard we mean business?”

“By getting some signatures done!” Arannet declared, holding a pen out for him.

Rhen groaned, but smiled and surrendered to the pen. Arannet had organized everything so that it flowed. Each paper he signed meant something to the last, and to the next, and the concepts and information he was signing for came together in a neat presentation.

Arannet slid another sheet onto the signing pile. The top read, “War requisitions for Jovan,” and Rhen stopped. “Wait, what’s this?”

Arannet sighed. “Yeah, this one is new actually. I had to pick it up from Matilda yesterday.”

“No, what war?”

“Oh, you haven’t heard? There was an uprising of delvers at Desedra III in Jovan. It started about four months ago, and turned into an outright rebellion against the Imperial Kingdoms. Lots of people have died,” Arannet whispered, looking down.

“What started it?” Jakira asked, pulling up a seat.

Arannet shrugged. “I don’t really know, but this sheet just says that if there are any resources of immediate value to suppress the war found in your realm, that the Imperial Kingdoms through proxy of Desedra have the right to seize those materials and backpay for their value at a later time.”

Rhen scowled. This was all starting to feel connected…

“Arannet, I have to ask a question that might feel offensive, but please understand I mean this in the kindest possible way.”

The dungeon assistant took a seat and steeled herself.

“You were surprised when they assigned you to my dungeon. Why?”

“Well, like I said, I’d only been assigned one nexus case before, and it was smaller, just connecting two dungeons here in Resplendare. It was a little three-day assignment. To be totally honest, they haven’t trusted me with much more than making the morning coffee besides that one case—not because I didn’t do a good job though!” She flustered. “I got everything right, no problems.”

Rhen raised his hands to placate her. “Trust me, I believe you. You know these documents backwards and forwards.”

She sighed with relief. “I guess I’d just been so used to not getting out there. When they gave me yours, the first realm breaching node in almost two decades… yeah, I was surprised.”

“Why do you think they haven’t assigned you anything else?”

“Well, they say I’m too slow. Too…” She blushed. “Anal.”

Rhen bobbed his head. There it was. They wanted to make it look like an effort was made to help Rhen with the paperwork, that they actively tried to help him keep his dungeon, but they were trying to sabotage him.

This reeked of Desedra influence.

Knowing dawned on Arannet’s face. “That’s why Betty said the cards were stacked against me! Do you think that they thought I’d be too slow, and you’d lose your dungeon?”

Rhen nodded. “I think that’s exactly what they thought. They being Desedra.”

“Which would explain why Sen was meeting with Welsh,” Jakira added. “He wants to partner with him to take over the dungeon.”

“I’m not so sure about that. I think Sen intends to take Welsh down, he’s just letting us do the heavy lifting for him.”

“Huh?” Arannet asked, head cocked to the side in confusion.

Jakira snapped. “The burned inn… Sen wants you to pursue legal action against Welsh so that the next closest dungeon own to take over will be the Desedras.”

Rhen nodded and pulled the recording device from his jerkin. “I got Welsh to say some pretty over-the-line things and have it documented in here, hopefully. But, if we remove Welsh, it’ll be like unleashing the Desedra floodgates against us. He’ll focus all his effort on getting this dungeon away from me, which’ll be a lot easier than getting it away from Welsh.”

“Why’s that?” Arannet asked.

Rhen and Jakira exchanged a nervous glance.

“Because, Rhen has less money, legal connections, and influence,” Jakira provided.

Arannet hummed. “That makes sense.”

“But an upside would be that if Welsh is out of the picture, all the delvers he employs would flock here for work.” He looked to Jakira. “I think it’s worth the risk.”

She grimaced, but consented. “Okay.”

Rhen breathed in deep, exuding determination. “We’re going to sign these papers, get all the metal and corraphine we need, build this damn nexus tunnel, and prove them all wrong, right?”

Jakira and Arannet beamed, chiming together, “Right!”

He pulled the stack of papers close and took off the pen cap. “Let’s do this thing.”

Rhen signed off on the war requisitions document, though he hoped it would never come to that. Whatever uprising against Desedra was going on in Jovan, he was sure it was well justified. He wished that rebellion the best.

They blazed through the sheets in what felt like minutes—in reality it was about three hours. Rhen stretched out his neck and straightened his back, feeling aches in his spine from being so sedentary. He needed to go exercise.

Rhen jumped to his feet. “Jakira, want to do some exploration in the Alpine chamber? We need to start looking for Magnite so Wyland can test his alloy.”

“Definitely. Hmm, who should we bring with us?”

“We’re ready!” Ulecks jumped into the dining room.

Rhen raised an eyebrow. “Have you just been waiting there?”

“Sort of. We’re taking shifts.”

“Of watching us do paperwork?” Arannet asked.

“Waiting for Deo to get up for some adventuring,” Alex said, appearing next to him.

Rhen hadn’t done much delving with the Nilson family recently, but he hadn’t done any with the two newcomers, either. Egads, he hadn’t done much at all recently. Paperwork be damned for a few hours, he needed to do some serious delving.

“Let’s gather everyone up. We’ll take two separate parties, make a competition out of it. First one to find the Magnite wins… exclusive access to the private baths for a week.”

Ulecks fist pumped. “Score!”

“I’ll find everyone!” Alex zipped off into the rainforest chamber.

“Not if I find everyone!” Ulecks took off after him.

Rhen shook his head. They seemed in better spirits already; less bored, more engaged… happier. With the little time that he had, Rhen ran up to Wyland’s workshop to collect a few tools he’d made up for them. One was a small device like a compass, except it pointed toward Magnite. The other was a specialty anima drill that would extract the metal and rock, sort it through a big glass cylinder, then spit the rock out the back while collecting the metal in an enon enhanced satchel at the bottom. Very useful. He'd made two of each which was perfect for this little competition.

He peeked over to the other shop where Gwhan usually sat. She was still there, hard at work on Rhen’s bow. He knocked gently. “How’s it coming?”

“Sssss.”

He assumed that was a shush…

“Almost there,” she whispered.

Rhen tiptoed around the room to get a look at what she was doing. She craned her neck over the bench, face just inches from the bow as she carved a delicate rune under the facet for the second gem. She pulled her precision knife away, and the spot glowed white with power.

Light lightning, she grabbed the razor whisker core and seated it in place on the bow, just above the grip. The core glowed brightly for a moment, then faded to a slow thrum.

“Take it,” she whispered, holding it out to him.

Rhen grabbed the sleek weapon, thumbing the gems on either side of it just above the grip. “Wonderful work.”

“Let your anima flow into it and it’ll attune to you.”

He focused his anima into his right hand, and the cores glowed brighter, their pulsing light changing to match Rhen’s heartbeat. Light leaked out from the gem and projected in front of him, creating a box with a crosshair. Beside it, brief text scrawled out.

[Advanced Bow Weapon]

Activate Abilities:

Piercing Shot: Infuse your arrow with {15} anima to increase its piercing capabilities. These arrows will penetrate deeper, and deal additional bleed damage. Aim Assist: Activate for {2} anima per minute to project a crosshair that will read distance to the target, wind situations, and recommend aim adjustments based on that information.

-----

“Incredible. You are a legendary crafter, Gwhan! How is it you’ve been hiding out in Yu all this time? Go to Desedra and make stacks of marks!”

Gwhan hissed a laugh. “We all have our reasons to be exactly where we are.”

Rhen smirked. “Let me guess, you divined me coming and opening the nexus node?”

“Perhapsss.” She didn’t give anything away. “Now, I must return to my shop. I’m tired.”

“Of course. Thank you so much, Gwhan. Oh… did you happen to make any arrows?”

She scowled. “Pull your bow, and think arrow.”

Rhen did as she ordered. Teal light zipped up and down the string from his fingers, then culminated at the twin monster cores. The light connected his hands, and formed into a radiantly bright arrow.

“There is your ammunition. Each one costs around five, maybe six anima. It will get lower as your attunement grows with the weapon. You ssshould name it.”

Rhen slowly released the string and the light poured back into his body. He stroked his chin. “Razor whisker cores… How about Razorshot.”

The weapon burst with teal light that swirled around them both. The light formed into lines of information once more.

[Razorshot – Advanced Bow Weapon]

Activate Abilities:

Piercing Shot: Infuse your arrow with {15} anima to increase its piercing capabilities. These arrows will penetrate deeper, and deal additional bleed damage. Aim Assist: Activate for {2} anima per minute to project a crosshair that will read distance to the target, wind situations, and recommend aim adjustments based on that information.

Passive Abilities:

Master Marksman: Increased attunement with this weapon means you are of one goal. It is easier to pull and hold this bow. It responds to your thoughts and will.

-----

“Wow,” he whispered, stroking the smooth wood. It was good to have a bow in his hand once more.

“We’re ready!” one of the twins called from down the hall.

Rhen was ready too. He grinned, strapping the bow over one shoulder. “Thanks again Gwhan!”

He bounded down to the inn where the thirteen delvers waited for him. Rhen pointed to Joseph and Jakira, handing over the tools for the competition. “Pick your teams, one at a time.”

Joseph gave a single, “Ha!” and then put his hand out to shake Jakira’s. “May the best bruiser win.”

“I will.” Jakira shook his hand with a grin, her bicep flexing.

The delvers lined up, single file, facing the two team captains.

“Ladies first,” Joseph conceded with a gentlemanly bow.

“If you insist,” she curtsied back. “Rhen.”

Everyone groaned.

“She’s gonna win,” Eli whined.

“I have bad days, too. Maybe you’ll get lucky, Joseph.” Rhen shot him a wink and joined Jakira’s side.

“Valine,” Joseph called his first.

“Olliat,” Jakira replied.

Olliat skipped over to them, sticking her tongue out at her little brother.

“Barrek.”

“Ulecks.”

“Leslie.”

“Alex.”

“Caleb.”

“Eli.”

“Yes,” he declared with a fist pump, then high-fived Alex and Ulecks as he joined Jakira’s team.

“Patti.”

It was down to just Gil and Bort. Rhen knew who he’d pick…

“Bort.”

Yes! Jakira had crafted the best possible team. Rhen would’ve liked to have traded for Valine of course, or if Aki would come home already that would’ve been great, too. But Olliat and Eli both had been picking up more crowd control abilities, like shadow snare with an upgraded mana ancilla called snowpack that would turn any pile of snow into an icy trap.

They had the DPS, the CC, the range, the bag space, and the most beautiful tank. They weren’t just going to win this competition.; they were going to bring back all the Magnite they needed for the alloy test, and hopefully some good crafting cores, too.

“What’s all this about then?” Wyland asked, looking at the divided teams.

“Just a little friendly competition.” Jakira puffed up her chest and hefted her bone club.

“No competition here, we’re gonna steam roll em!” Eli declared.

“Riiight, you keep thinkin’ that, son.” Joseph winked.

Jakira turned to the party. She opened a pouch at her hip and pulled out seven dried up pieces of terrocken meat. “Seasoned well with potent father’s hakir.” She passed them out.

“Hey! That’s cheating!” Joseph called.

“Use everything you’ve got!” Rhen replied smugly, shoving the terrocken meat in his mouth.

Joseph scowled and looked between his team members.

“You’re totally free to build some boats or make some pillows to pummel the yeti with,” Olliat taunted.

“I don’t like your tone young lady,” Valine warned.

“Won’t help you beat us.” Olliat grinned sweetly.

Rhen laughed and turned to Arannet. “You’ll be alright here alone for a while?”

“She’s not alone,” Wyland said, slapping Rhen on the shoulder. “Now, go get me my ore.”