“A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don’t need it.”

~Bob Hope

Mercy Tait

Mercy was enjoying herself. Away from the trappings of her [Office]. And now that she was out gallivanting so irresponsibly she realised just how much of a trap power and responsibility were.

Indeed, it was a bother to have so many people relying on you. In fact, Mercy paused to consider the whole situation, why were they so dependent on her? It wasn’t as if she had set out to amass power and influence. That had been a sort of happy byproduct. And that was part of the problem. It had started out happy. Well, happy wasn’t quite the right word. But now? Now it was a chore. A drag.

And yet, Mercy had to acknowledge, there were significant benefits in being a [Leader]. And the flow of Essence was nothing to be sneezed at, not to mention the opportunities which came her way. Yes, being one of the two [Potentates] of the [Azure Sky Advancement Program] was indeed a lucrative and obscenely rewarding position.

Still, she was so very glad she had done a runner. In fact it felt downright naughty. But she was due a little naughtiness. All work and no play was not good for the [Soul]. They could all make do for a week or two. It wasn’t as if the whole [Organisation] would fall over in her absence. In fact they probably wouldn’t even notice she was gone. Yes, Danya was extremely competent. Always keeping one step ahead of what she needed. Lining up resources and objectives and well, after that it was just a matter of slotting the right sized piece in the right sized hole. Maybe with a little trimming on either side. Yes. He would be fine.

Perhaps even three weeks would be nice.

But he was a fine [Minion]. Right from the start he had been full of enthusiasm and energy. Mercy smiled. Just like a proper [Ringmaster]. Yes, he had always had gumption. And he cracked that whip of his with such flair and showmanship. He got things done. And done right too. She missed his competence already.

Still, she did feel slightly guilty for not informing him of her sudden plans. Well, not that it was a plan even. It was more an impulse. And impulses were notoriously hard to plan. Yes, and thus hard to communicate and coordinate as well. For if you did, well, then they weren’t really impulses any more. And that really smushed all the naughty pleasure out of being impulsive as well. He could cope. He would have to.

Impulses were to be acted on.

But, she sighed, it would have been nice to have brought him on this trip. Good [Minions] were worth their weight in gold. Mercy glanced over to where Sledgrick was trudging along behind her.

Someone had really made a meal out of this poor boy’s Stats and Skills. He was so unbalanced, the System was actually working against him.

His Skills in [Intimidation] and [Thuggery] were the most advanced she had ever seen. In fact he was a [Master] in [Thuggery] and a [Grandmaster] in [Intimidation]. And while they were both only [Grey] Skills, [Gold] and [Purple] proficiencies were incredible.

He had obviously reached the Stat caps in his Body at some stage, and highly likely very early in his development. And after unlocking those Stats she was sure he likely earned multiple Bonus Stats there as well. But it was equally obvious that he had not done the same with either his Mind or Soul Stats. In fact they were completely atrocious. And this was crippling. It was obvious that Sledgrick had not been mentored in any meaningful way. In fact, it looked like he had been ruthlessly and shamelessly used. Used up. And that made her blood boil.

And not just as a metaphor either.

For a [Bloodmage] is an intensely emotional and evocative specialisation. Most people did not realise just how connected everything was. And they insisted on putting things, concepts, magic, life even, in neat little boxes. Compartmentalising stuff. Like good little [Wizards], formulising and regulating and [Memorising] everything. Or dinky [Mages], trying to understand and predict and manipulate the unseen through just their [Intellect]. Even [Sorcerers] were guilty and really, they had the least excuse, given that their dominant trait was [Imagination].

But true [Magic] was everything.

And in everything.

What they needed to realise was [Magic] was life. And life is in the blood. And Essence. Life is in everything too. And life is indivisible. Having half a life is to have no life. You are either alive. Or you are not. And trying to isolate [Magic] from life is a task in futility. Dividing [Magic] up into neat little boxes was an exercise in defeat. A defeat in detail. [Magic], the wonder of affecting reality via the invisible and unseen was not a simple series of steps. It was everything. Without incorporating this truism in your understanding of [Magic] was to stunt and strangle your power.

And blood is something exceedingly personal and precious. Without blood one quickly died. And with blood one had power. Had resource and agency. And blood spoke to blood. And powerful blood, enriched and emotive blood was dominant. And dominion was crucial. If you did not take ownership of your blood, your life, well, someone else could. And they would. Yes, whether they spill it with a blade, or suppress it with a threat, or some consequence, a quelling of the Spirit. Or even through economic and social means, blood will tell.

[Blood Magic] was just more direct. More honest.

And honestly Mercy was intensely and utterly furious.

Her [Family] had treated this [Minion] abominably. He was not a tool. To be used and abused and discarded. Treating him as a tool was the easy route. And Mercy had not gotten to where she was by taking the easy route. No, the easy route led to easy street. And easy street was a street that did not excel. But it was comfortable and gentle and well trod.

But it had no place in [Ascension].

In [Advancement].

And [Azure Sky] was all about advancing. Even the sky was not the limit. No, the System extended well beyond the sky. Mercy had been there. She had been tried and tested and proved true. And she would again as well. But now, now she was on a mission. And that mission had brought her to Sledgrick.

And he had disposed of her son.

Like a piece of trash.

He had this mixed up idea that evidence and victims were one and the same and that both should be disposed of immediately and thoroughly. And Mercy concurred. In principle. One should always tidy up one's messes. Especially incriminating messes. But this carelessness with victims, this was not good enough. After all, a current victim could be a future client. And careless disposing of future clients was not good business and Azure was all about good business. Of course the best business is repeat business. Disposing of future clients simply because they were in the wrong place was bad business. It was inexcusable. In a way the victim was already a client in fact. Any further interaction would already be repeat business. And so clients and victims were to be cultivated not disposed of. This hamfisted practice was undercutting Azure’s future revenue streams. It was robbing the [Organisation]. It was robbing her.

She would need to issue a new Standard Operating Procedure.

And she would need to operate on Sledgrick too.

But first, having cleaned up her oopsie, and having scouted out what Sledgrick had done, she had one further errand. An errand at the Bank.

Because she knew her son. He had been to the Library. He had reached out to her and Aaron. That was sensible. It was such a pity she had not foreseen this attempt and had a SOP in place. As it was, such enquiries had triggered the [Organisation’s] counter-terrorism protocols. They were somewhat overzealous. But also it had at least proven that they did work. And effectively too, seeing Ivy and Sledge had intercepted Nigel still at the Library.

And she was supremely confident that he had been to the Bank as well. He knew just how important it was to be financially literate. Finance made the world turn round. It was the same in the System. Money and power and blood. And he was her blood. Yes, he would have gone to the Bank first.

And the System Bank was deserted. Sledgrick was standing guard outside, a slovenly caricature of the Level 50 [Dwarven Guards]. He was under instructions not to speak. That was a wise precaution that Ivy had recommended. Mercy fully concurred. Stupidity seen is one thing. Stupidity heard removes all doubt. And Sledgrick’s [Mime] Skill was already at [Journeyman]. He was quite engaging really, once you saw through the brute to the boy beneath.

Hmmm. Deserted. Most unusual. It would be hard to interrogate no one. That did put a slight spanner in her plans. Perhaps she would need to escalate this. But even as Mercy was considering how to provoke some attention, a Bank functionary hurried out to meet her.

She was a [Troll]. A high level one too. Well able to control her body form and mass.

“Good afternoon Miss.” The [Troll] greeted her with a pleasant smile. “How may we be of service today?”

Mercy smiled in return “Indeed it is.” She paused. “I would like to make some adjustments to my accounts, hmmm, and my [Organisation’s] accounts as well, and I will need your most expert assistance in accomplishing this.”

“It will be my pleasure.” The [Troll] smiled again. Mercy could feel a high CHA stat endeavouring to influence her and put her at ease. “My name is Cassette oShea and I am the manager of the Level One branches of the System Bank.”

“Oh, indeed?” Mercy was somewhat surprised. “Of all of them? That is most strange.”

“Yes. Sadly operations are scaling back on Level One as the population reduces with [Participants] ascending. Now, if you would like to come this way I have an office just through here.”

This was pleasing. In all likelihood, this Ms oShea had met Nigel. Mercy was encouraged. This hunch was playing out well.

As they took their seats on either side of Cassette’s desk, Cassette gracefully gestured. “Please explain what you would like to accomplish and I will make every endeavour to facilitate it promptly for you.”

“I would like to add my son as a signatory to all of my accounts, bar my own personal one, with full access and unrestricted limits. I would also like to add him to all of my [Organisation’s] accounts as a [Vice Potentate] with full access, discretionary spending up to ten million gold, with any amount exceeding this to be signed off by either of the [Potentates], with express notification protocols.”

“Oh my.” Cassette sat back in her chair.

“Well, that is indeed a most unusual request.” She gathered her thoughts. “I will need your son’s name and, ideally, his UEID as well. I do apologise, but I will also need to formally confirm your own [Identification], your [Organisation] and your position within the [Organisation].”

“That is acceptable. I will not resist your [Identification]. The [Organisation] is the [Azure Sky Advancement Program]. My name is Mercy Tait and my position is the [Azure Potentate]. Perhaps, if you please, you might confirm this to your satisfaction before we proceed as the situation with my son is somewhat convoluted.”

Cassette leaned in and focused her Skill while Mercy concentrated and lowered her passive defences.

Cassette blanched, her skin washing out to a very pale blue indeed. This was beyond all expectation. The somewhat diminutive [Human Woman] sitting opposite was C Tier. Level 281. In fact, this was most unexpected. She would have over 10,000 total Stats. Ten thousand! She was a monster. What in the System was she doing down here on Level 1? How had she gotten here? Cass had felt totally secure at Level 80, but she was completely eclipsed by this [Platinum Tier] participant. Eclipsed five times over with change.

And Mercy gave her a small smile. “Yes, somewhat surprising I suppose. But please relax. I will not bite you.”

Cassette was visibly shaken. She did not know that any [Human] had ascended past the [Gold Tier]. They had only been invested into the System a mere twelve hundred or so years back. To have already reached [Platinum] and over thirty levels into it was simply astounding.

“Please, excuse my discomposure,” she murmured as she struggled to pull herself together. “I was unprepared for such a surprising revelation. I mean no disrespect I assure you.”

Mercy was magnanimous. “I take no offence Ms oShea. You are simply doing your job. If you care to re[Inspect] me you will see that I am currently on an [Adventurer Tourist] visa and am absolutely no threat to someone of your Level.”

Cass was horrified. “No! Do you know how dangerous that is?” She confirmed it with another [Inspect]. “Level 5? That is crazy! You are incredibly exposed!”

Mercy laughed. And it was full of joy. “Yes, I know. It is wonderfully refreshing. And just 94 Stat points. I can’t even remember what it was lik…” And she paused as her laugh petered out. Actually she could remember. And some of those memories were not that pleasant. There had been dangers and troubles in excess back then.

Cass shook herself. She wanted to get this sorted and finished and move this disturbing Woman on. “Please excuse me a moment while I bring up the records of your [Organisation].”

Oh. Another shock. This was the 17th largest human [Organisation] in the System. Its members numbered in the tens of millions. No, in the hundreds of millions. It was a force to be reckoned with indeed. And yes, a CeCe Tee was listed as a [Potentate]. And Her UEID matched up. All was in order. Now to add Her son and be done with this.

“Can you provide me with your son’s name and UEID please Ms Tait?”

“Please call me CeCe.” And it was Mercy’s turn to gather her thoughts. “My son’s name is Nigel Aaron Tait. I do not know his UEID but it should be very similar to mine which is 7912.9,020,068,410. However we were separated on uplift and I have been searching for him ever since. I believe he is going by the [Appellation] [Tad Blank]. This leads me to infer that he may have lost his memory but I am unsure on this as it does not resonate but I cannot otherwise explain his choice.” Mercy shook herself. “Forgive me, I am rambling.” She paused ever so slightly, refocusing. “I suspect he may also have adopted the [Moniker] [Cypher] as part of his [Sovereign Title]. This is simply my [Intuition] and has no further basis.”

She looked hopefully at Cassette. “Are you able to locate him? I am sure he would have registered here as soon as he was able.”

Cassette blinked at Her.

And again.

That was a lot to process. And of course she remembered young Tad. He had been her last customer in fact. And she was somewhat surprised he had not returned and handed in some of the Starter Quests. In fact looking at her interface she could see that he had in fact completed the first Quest, registering with first the System Shop and then the System Library. That was the same day she had given him the quests too. That was most strange. And Cass realised that her silence had inadvertently confirmed that indeed she did know who She was referring to.

“You do understand…” Cass trailed off. She couldn’t couldn’t call Her… by Her Name. It was too disrespectful. In fact she was even capitalising Her Pronouns in her own thoughts. That was some scary influence happening there. She tried again. “I am unable to discuss other patrons' personal matters without their express prior approval. Unfortunately I cannot formally advise you anything.”

“Ahhh.” Mercy was well able to read between the lines. “Please add one [Tad Blank] to my accounts and ASAP’s accounts as previously described. I would also like to transfer [100 Platinum] into his personal account with the [Descriptor] [love Mum n Dad]. Furthermore, please arrange finance, secured against [ASAP Assets], of [One Hundred Thousand Platinum] in his name. I would expect you to arrange this at our standard discounted finance rate of 1.5% per annum on drawn down amounts.”

Cassette blinked again.

Mercy smiled. “Thank you for all your help. I do appreciate it. As my own standard practice, please accept a 0.05% gratuity for your prompt and professional service.”

As Mercy got to her feet, a still shaken Cassette finalised the instructions while Mercy authorised a transfer of 5,000 Gold.

“I do believe that Level 1 will soon enjoy a resurgence.” Mercy was enigmatic.

“After all, to ascend, one must first descend."

"Good Day."