Cedric slept restlessly for only a few hours, eating the pasta and sauce right before bed gave him heartburn that kept him from sleeping. He decided to wake up and took some antacid tablets. When his stomach calmed down he went for a run around the neighborhood. When he returned to his apartment he took a long shower changed into a comfortable pair of sweats and connected to Kingdoms Online.

He woke up in the pitch black basement room under the store and activated night sight. Sitting on the edge of the bed he brought up his Preset Outfit Template. He added the Black Silk Under Armor Top and bottoms along with Faith's Blessing Ring to the list and closed it.

Spoiler: Preset Outfit: Battle Gear Preset Outfit: Battle Gear Equipment List Body Slot Orichalcum Ornate Open Face Helmet Head Slot Gold Necklace with Gold Dragon ruby eyes Pendant Neck Slot Black Silk Under Armor Top Inner Torso Slot Orichalcum Ornate Cuirass Plate Armor Torso Slot EMPTY Outer Torso Slot Chainmail Leggings Legs Slot Black Silk Under Armor Bottom Inner Legs Slots Black Military Leather Boots Feet Slot Adjustable Black Leather Gloves Hands Slot Gold Ring with Rubies and Emeralds Left Index Ring Slot Gold Ring with Rubies and Emeralds Left Ring Finger Slot Gold Ring with Rubies and Emeralds Right Index Ring Slot Faith's Blessing Ring Right Ring Finger Slot EMPTY Forearm Slot Dual Sword Harness Upper Back Slot EMPTY Lower Back Slot EMPTY Thigh Slot Iron Greaves Shin Slot Black Leather Belt Waist Slot Flight of Fury Long-Sword Belt slot [one] Dart Kit Belt Slot [Two] Dart Kit Belt Slot [Three] EMPTY Belt Slot [Four]

Unequip Battle Gear!

Equip Battle Gear!

Unequipping and equipping his outfit put the new silk under armor and his ring "Faith's Blessing" on him. Before he went upstairs he decided to check his Skills and Spells while he had his menus open.

Show Skill List!

Spoiler: Skill List Menu. Skill List Menu Skill Name Skill Level Expertise Level Skill Name Skill Level Expertise Level Archery Level 2 Intermediate 18% Knives Level 4 Intermediate 98% Artist Level 5 Intermediate 42% Lumberjack Level 5 Beginner 81% Aura Level 3 Advanced 78% Marble Scan Level 3 Beginner 22% Aura: Calm Animal Level 6 Beginner 11% Masonary Level 8 Expert 92% Aura: Charming Presence Level 6 Beginner 69% Metal Sculptor Level 9 Beginner 59% Blacksmith Level 9 Intermediate 89% Mining Level 7 Intermediate 58% Blocking Level 7 Beginner 9% Mithril Scan Level 5 Beginner 87% Carpentry Level 2 Expert 21% Night Sight Level 4 Intermediate 39% Cartography Level 4 Intermediate 3% Orichalcum Scan Level 5 Beginner 9% Cooking Level 1 Expert 43% Photoreading Level 4 Intermediate 91% Demigod Dialect Level 9 Expert 58% Raise Earth Level 2 Beginner 2% Digging Level 8 Intermediate 94% Repair Level 1 Beginner 82% Emerald Scan Level 6 Beginner 11% Ruby Scan Level 5 Beginner 81% Enchanting Level 2 Intermediate 79% Shield Bash Level 6 Beginner 47% Farsight Level 3 Beginner 51% Shipwright Level 3 Intermediate 74% Field Dress Level 9 Beginner 19% Sixth Sence Level 4 Beginner 19% Forging Level 6 Intermediate 2% Smelting Level 7 Expert 23% Gem Cutting Level 8 Intermediate 66% Sneak Level 3 Intermediate 69% Goldsmith Level 6 Beginner 82% Swords Level 7 Intermediate 79% Hammering Level 4 Master 21% Tailoring Level 1 Intermediate 42% Hold Breath Level 2 Beginner 72% Taming Level 3 Intermediate 67% Identify Level 7 Beginner 29% Wood Carving Level 6 Intermediate 67% Iron Scan Level 1 Intermediate 18% EMPTY - -

I am starting to get quite the collection of skills now. Rick reflected on the skills he had earned then closed the menu.

Show Magic List!

Spoiler: Magic List Menu Magic List Menu Elemental Affinities Spell Level Expertise Level Earth Affinity Level 8 Intermediate 34% Fire Affinity Level 6 Intermediate 4% Nature Affinity Level 7 Intermediate 21% Spell List Spell Level Expertise Level Astral Door - - Flight Level 6 Beginner 39% Magic Reflection Level 1 Beginner 7% Portal Gate - - Project Image Level 1 Beginner 32% Read Magic Level 1 Beginner 94% Reverse Gravity Level 3 Beginner 81%

My spell list is lacking when compared to my skill list, but these new spells I learned are incredible. Rick thought while reviewing the Magic List.

Rick closed all the menus and used repair on all of his gear bringing everything back up to full durability. As he stood up and looked around the room he remembered the enchanting skill he just learned and thought to try it out. He placed his hand on his torso armor and Enchanted it with [Magic Reflection]. The armor then began to faintly glow silver and seemed that it would stay that way.

Identify!

Spoiler: Cedric's Enchanted Armor Enchanted Ornate Orichalcum Cuirass Body Armor: 47 of 100 Durability: 1000/1000 Quality: rare Bonues: +10 to elemental Affinities Magical Properties Spell-Skill-Attribute Name Uses Enchanted Magic Refelction 11/11

Body armor seems to be related to the defense of the armor. It reads 47 of 100 that must mean 100 is the highest defense rating a torso armor can have? The durability is full from me just using repair on it and it has a rare quality which is probably from it being made of Orichalcum. The bonus is from the Orichalcum which provides a boost to all elemental affinities. Then the enchantment of magic reflection has 1 of 1 uses. It must block one spell then needs to be recharged, if I were to raise my Magic Reflection spell then the uses would also increase after re-enchanting it. Rick pondered over the armor's stats. From what I am reading at the bottom it seems I can enchant spells, skills, and attributes. I will need to test out enchanting skills and attributes later on, I am curious what changes I can make to weapons and armor with them.

Deactivating his night sight to examine his enchanted armor allowed him to faintly see that it still had a silver glow.

I need to be careful now if I try to sneak around at night in this armor, it could draw unwanted attention to me. He thought as he activated sneak and made his way up into the warehouse.

The carpenters were all still sleeping in the beds he placed down after working late into the night so he snuck past them and went upstairs. He questioned the troops on watch asking if they had seen anything or anyone suspicious around the store. It seemed to have been a quiet night around the store from what they reported. Rick sent the two men off to bed now that he was back and would be around the store.

On the first floor of the store, Rick brought out half a tree trunk from his inventory onto the store floor and tried another skill he had not played with yet. He used his [Wood Shape] skill that allows you to shape wood into any shape, but will not allow you to make detailed alterations. With the skill, he pulled away a section of the tree trunk and shaped it into a 4' x 8' foot sheet of plywood one inch thick and acquired a new recipe.

He stored the log and used the new recipe to make more sheets of plywood and then unlocked the front door and stepped out front. He looked up at the building for a good place to place a sign and measured out the size that would fit over the door. With the help of his wood carving, Rick notched out a border around the sign and then notched out the letters and painted it in gray and white.

Spoiler: Store Sign.

Rick stored the sign and climbed up on his ladder and secured the sign to the stone block wall. Once it was secure he climbed down and stepped back to take a look at the new sign.

This sign looks great there is just one problem now the nobles will see or hear about it and make their move. I guess it really doesn't matter I am ready for them unless they send an army, but that will never happen they will try to do this low-key at first. Then when they make a move that will be our time to strike back at them and give them a clear message just like the eastern human tribe. Rick thought about how he would deal with the nobles as he walked back inside and locked the door.

Back inside he mixed up a batch of cement and began spreading it across the floor and gently placing Marble tiles in it. He did the floor in section and let it dry before moving on to the next part. Soon he had caught up to the middle of the store where the carpenters left off at and stopped there. Rick walked over to the table and started drawing up display advertisements of some of the products they would sell once the store had opened. He wanted to glue them in the front windows so that all the people walking by would know a new store was opening and be able to see what they had for sale.

Spoiler: Store Display Advertisements.

Rick took all the drawing outside and glued the corners of the paper to the windows and people had already stopped to examine the advertisements before he had he hung them all. When Rick had neatly arranged the advertisements on each window he then took the time to hang a wall light on each side of the front door to illuminate the entrance at night. He thought that this would also be a great way to get people interested in his lights. In the game world, people could cast light spells, but the average person depended on candles and torches for nighttime lighting.

Rick centered the two lights and measured their heights so that they would be level to one another. He hung them by drilling out the stone block and using wood peg inserts to screw them to the entrance and then made his way back inside the store. The Carpenters were now waking up so Rick opened a portal to the restaurant to make sure the cooks had transferred the food and cookware over from the tower. Rick found them in the kitchen preparing for breakfast for the workers who would be strolling in anytime. Rick stepped back through the portal and brought the carpenters over to get something to eat before they started working.

Rick told them he had a few things to take care of and would return soon. Casting the flight spell he flew over to the aqueduct water wheel and pushed it out into the river. The wheel began to rotate around and drop buckets full of water into the aqueduct channel. Rick flew along watching the water travel along the aqueduct until it reached the holding tank and began to fill it. It would take some time to fill the huge tank and fill the city water lines, bringing water to every building.

Rick flew off toward the workshop to collect furniture, glass panes, and door locks. He then sat down and wrote a list of tools for the blacksmiths to make and used a recipe to make a pedal lathe. He sent someone off to find the poleturner and instructed him to work with the blacksmiths making tool handles on the pedal lathe. He went around to each station and gathered up anything they had completed. When he came over to the spectacle maker he found that some changes were going to be needed. He had never given any designs to him and all the spectacles he had made were fashioned in the old world style.

Spoiler: Completed Spectacles.

The spectacles he had made looked like two monocles that were attached by a small rivet. They could be opened or closed to sit on the bridge of the nose. There was nothing wrong with their function it was just that it was the same thing that everyone else was crafting and selling. He wanted to introduce the modern glasses design with hinged arms, metal frames, and nose pads. His other idea was not to only sell glasses but to also design and sell sunglasses.

Rick walked over to the System Gate and purchased some random ingots and brought them back to the workshop and stacked them next to the Spectacle Maker's Workbench. Rick sat down and drew up a couple glasses frames and instructed the Spectacle Maker to use the different metals to make different colored frames. Rick picked up one of the completed spectacles and used a red dye stick on the glass and looked through them and found it to be difficult to see through the dye color.

Too bad that didn't work it would have made things easier. I guess I need to buy or make some pigments to add to the molten glass to tint it before drying. Rick thought while examining the dyed glass.

Rick walked outside after gathering everyone completed crafts and flew off to the apartment buildings and arranged more furniture around the newly completed apartments from his inventory. When he returned to the restaurant he saw Handil having breakfast with the Dwarf Weaponsmith and Armorsmith who worked in the cellar of the tower. They must have gotten to know each other during meals served at the tower. Rick walked over and heard that they were speaking Dwarven to each other as he approached.

Rick stopped next to the table and also spoke in the Dwarven language he had learned, but never had the chance to use.

"Good Morning everyone, I just wanted to let you know that the city water line is filling up right now and every building will have running water from now on." Rick explained.

The Dwarves were quite surprised to hear him speaking Dwarven. His speech was a little broken but was still understandable. Rick then asked them from now on to only speak in Dwarven with him and if he spoke in human to them to remind him not to. He explained that he wished to become more fluent in Dwarven so that when he one day visited the Dwarves lands he wouldn't have any difficulties communicating with everyone. Rick told the three Dwarves that he wasn't sure when he would ever travel there, but when he did they were welcome to come along with him. The three said that they would like that so he promised to bring them along when he had time to make the trip.

Rick then left them to finish their breakfast and went into the kitchen and made a plate for himself and sat down to eat with the carpenters. When they were ready to leave Rick spotted Daisia walking in with the farmers who came to grab a meal before heading out to the fields. Rick asked her if she had any luck finding a sapling with latex and she hadn't. Rick took out the other trays he bought yesterday and told the farmers to carry them over to her apartment after they ate so that she could examine them later.

He said goodbye to everyone and opened a portal on the restaurant wall and led all the carpenters through to the store. As the carpenters strapped their tool belts on and prepared to continue the wood paneling, Rick went upstairs and told the units guarding the store to they could head out to breakfast whenever they wanted and to always lock the door behind them.

With everyone in the store now taken care of Rick went into the teleporter room. With a wood chisel and saw he cut a hole in the roof about 3' foot by 3' foot and affixed a ladder to the wall to climb up to the roof. He constructed a square hatch door over the hole, and then built a small shed around the hatch door. Rick made a door for the shed and placed a key lock on it and tiled the shed roof with clay tile shingles.

On the inside of the hatch, he attached another lock as well so if anyone tried to break in through the roof they would need to get through two locked doors. With the help of a recipe, he made up a few thick posts that he wedged between the floor and ceiling to and supports to the roof. When he thought the roof was braced enough to hold a good amount of weight he went back out through the hatch and built a large stone block water tank next to the shed.

He waited for the cemented joints between the blocks to dry then flew into the holding tank and carved a water rune into the bottom of the tank. Next, he took out a stone chisel and hammer and cut a hole in the bottom side of the tank and cemented a clay pipe into the hole. Rick cut another hole in the roof just big enough for a clay pipe to fit. In this roof hole, he cemented an (L) shape pipe and cemented it to the pipe coming from the holding tank. Using the cement he spread it around the pipe in the roof to seal the roof from rain water leaking down the pipe into the teleporter room.

Back inside the teleporter room he used a metal pipe adaptor to funnel the clay pipe down into metal pipes. Fron the metal pipe adaptor he ran metal pipes down through the floor into the bathroom below. It wasn't really a bathroom though it was more akin to an outhouse. The toilets in there were basically wood boxes with a hole in the top that people sat on. At the end of the day, someone would lift the seat and clean out the box of urine and waste. Even though it was cleaned out daily it still left a horrible smell that most people just grew accustomed to over the years of living without flushing toilets.

Rick went into the men's and women's bathrooms and completely gutted them tearing out all the box toilets and placed them behind the store for trash removal. With the bathroom, empty Rick used his Move and Shape Earth skill to make a hole in the floors where the toilets would sit. He dug the hole large enough for the clay pipes down to a depth of twenty feet. Rick left the bathrooms to walk over to the small room hiding the basement staircase and installed a lock on the door to keep others from going down into the basement.

Rick locked the door and went down into the basement and activated his night sight. Just like the workshop at the end of the hallway, he made another room that went under the offices and bathroom. When the room was finished he found the holes he dug into the bathroom floor and dug a hole large enough for him to fly down into. When he had dug down about twenty feet into the earth he hollowed out a small area and built another stone block tank. This tank instead of having a water rune had a large fire rune carved in the bottom of it.

Rick cemented clay pipes together from the surface toilet holes down into one main line that emptied into the underground fire rune tank. Again he ran linking runes from the bottom of the tank up to the new room and connected mana drawing runes and a switch to the fire rune circuit on the wall next to the door. He touched the switch and walked over and looked down into the pit to see a large pillar of fire dancing in the center of the underground tank. Rick turned the fire rune off and went back upstairs to the bathrooms.

Using his recipes he made steel toilets and sinks and connected them to the pipes leading down from the roof holding tank and the clay pipes connected to the basement tank. He also used plywood to make stalls around all the toilets so people could have some privacy.

Back on the store roof, Rick began carving linking runes from the water rune out of the holding tank across the roof and down into the teleporter room. alongside the ladder, he made a mana drawing rune and chiseled a socket into it that held a quartz storage gem. Right under the mana drawing rune he caved a switch rune and linked them all together.

Rick touched the switch rune and went up to the roof to see that the water rune was slowly filling the holding tank. The store's water supply wasn't as convenient as the aqueduct that would continuously fill the city tank to the top and when full would run off into the cities drainage pipes that poured back into the river. He would need to fill the roof water holding tank every a few days and also recharge the quartz storage gem.

It isn't as easy going as system the city's water supply, but it sure as hell beats having to haul buckets of water up here from a well to fill the holding tank. Rick thought to himself.

When the tank had filled he turned the water rune off and went downstairs to test out the water lines. Turning on all the faucets behind the toilets he filled each bowl and flush every toilet in both bathrooms. When the toilet bowls refilled he turned off the faucets and went back into the new basement room and turned the fire rune on. Walking over to the deep hole he looked down to see the fire rune boiling off all the water that he had just flushed down there.

When the water all boiled off he turned off the fire rune and flew down into the underground tank and sealed it the top of it with stone blocks and cut another pipe hole in the top of the tank. He ran a clay pipes up from the tank and connected them into the wind exhaust pipes that blew outside the store.

I don't know if in this game human waste has methane gas like the real world but at least I can vent the tank now before turning the fire rune on and blowing up half a city block. Rick thought as he walked back to the new tank room.

Standing next to the hole he opened his inventory and dumped dirt into the hole until it was full. He took out a few more stone blocks from his open inventory and covered the hole so that you could no longer tell that a tank was under it. Only the two pipes for drainage and venting could now be seen rising up from the floor into the walls.

If this city had a sewer system I could have ran my drainage lines into it. This isn't perfect, but it will have to do. I can bet some of the waste will somehow still remain down there in residue and build up over time. Oh well, I think with it buried the fumes should all vent out the exhaust pipes keeping the air down here clean. He speculated while climbing the steps.

He unlocked the door and locked it behind him and went out to check on the carpenters. They had the main showroom just about finished so he instructed them to continue in the offices and bathrooms when they finished out here. Rick went back to cementing marble tiles down from where he left off in the center of the room making his way toward the back of the store.

He had been making decent time when one of his spies unlocked the door and came over to him. The spy informed him that the two houses of Karn and Lupton had received word of the sign on the store and had been talking with connections they had at the City Hall. Through their contacts, they learned someone had bought the store and were preparing to send their people over to scare Cedric off.

"That didn't take long for them to figure it out. This is could be a good thing, I can take care of this problem before I open the store now." Rick said.

He sent the spy upstairs to fill in the troops and have them prepare for a hostile visit.

"Once you update them on the situation have them come down here" Rick instructed the spy.

He walked over to the carpenters who had begun working in the offices and told them about what was going on. Rick opened a portal to the restaurant and told them all to step through and grab an early lunch and hang out there until he came and brought them back. Rick was confident that they would handle the muscle coming to scare them but didn't want to take any chances with the carpenters getting injured or even worse killed.

When he was closing the portal the troops were coming down the steps. He walked over and told them to follow him to the front door.

"I don't want to confront these guys out on the street in the middle of all those citizens out there. It would be bad for the business if people were afraid to come around here for fear of it being attacked. Since I have painted the front windows black they can't see inside here, so I want you all to split up into two teams and hide behind these two half walls next to the front door. When they come around I will act like I am afraid of them and lure them into the store. When they are all in here I am going to cast a reverse gravity spell on them. This spell will take them off their feet and suspend them in the air about four feet off the ground. When that happens I want one of you to quickly run out and shut the door and the rest of you will go on the attack. They will be surprised by the sudden turn of events thinking they have the upper hand. This will allow us to quickly take them out before they even realize what happened. If at all possible I would like to knock them out, but do not put yourself in danger attempting this. You can try smashing them over the head with the side of your blade and if it doesn't knock them out then take them out for good." Rick instructed them and paused looking from man to man.

No one spoke up or asked any questions so he continued. "Alright then figure out how you will split up and who will be the doorman. Then get into your hidden positions and prepare to ambush them as soon as you see them begin to float off the ground." Rick said as he opened his inventory and unequipped all his gear.

Rick put on some of the commoner clothes and footwear he had in his inventory that his Tailors originally made. He wanted to look like a regular non-threatening commoner. About fifteen minutes later loud bangs were heard on the door. Rick took a deep breath and unlocked the door. When he opened it a large angry looking man stood in the doorway flanked by ten disreputable looking men.

Rick spoke up as soon as he opened the door. "Good day my Lord, how may I be of service?" Rick asked in a quiet voice.

The man before him held up a fist full of the advertisements he glued to the window. "What the hell is this!" He bellowed out.

Rick shrank back acting afraid that the man might strike him. "Those are displayed advertisements the new owner put up." Rick responded timidly.

The big man scowled "I know what they are! I am asking who the hell had the balls to buy this place when they knew the Lupton House and set their sights on it! He screamed in Rick's face.

"That would be the older gentlemen who hired me. He is in the back office why don't you all come in and talk with him about this. I didn't know the great House of Lupton wanted to buy this building or I would have never taken this job." Rick told the goon and turned toward the offices and began slowly walking toward the back.

When he glanced over his shoulder the big guy in the doorway waved the others in behind him and they all started to follow Cedric toward to the back.

"This old man has this place looking real nice in here water fountains and marble floors. My boss will be happy that he made all these improvements for him at least." The Big goon said following behind.

"That is good news, we don't want any trouble so I hope that this little bit helps out. What is your boss's name I would like to apologize to him myself?" Rick asked.

"You don't worry about it just shut the hell up and show me this old man who bought the store!" The goon screamed out.

"That is a shame I guess I will need to get his name the hard way then." Rick said as he whirled around.

Equip Battlegear!

Rick's armor and weapons appeared on him in almost an instant as he cast a gravity field on the following men. They all yelled out startled to be suddenly floating around. Rick reached back and slid the two gladii from the harness on his back and smashed the sides of the blades against each side of the lead goon's head. With a grunt, he collapsed into a floating ragdoll as the front door slammed shut and his men sprung out of cover on to the startled men. It wasn't even a fight they all just stood on the outside of the gravity field bashing the sides of their blades into the heads of the floating thugs.

The group of hired muscle had been dealt with quickly and when it was over three of them were dead and the rest laid on the ground hogtied and unconscious. Rick instructed his men to carry them into the back warehouse and guard them at sword point. He left his men to watch them and went down into the store basement.

In the room, he made earlier with the buried tank He used stone blocks and cement to make eight small cells with double block layerd walls. Using the recipe for the steel door to the tower he made ten thick steel doors and hung one in front of the eight cells. Just how he had done with the tower door he installed door barricade bars across each door. When he was sure the doors were secure enough to hold his captives, he activated his Produce Flame skill and cut one inch by four inch slots at eye level in each door.

The cut door slots allowed him to look inside each cell to check on the captives. If someone had small hands they might be able to squeeze their hand through the slots but their wrist wouldn't allow them to reach out any further.

As last minute idea, he carved a tiny lightning rune into the floor of each cell and link them to draw and switch runes outside the door. When he touched the switch rune small arcs of electricity began arcing out of the floor rune around the room it reminded him of a high-voltage stun gun. Rick shut off the rune chuckling to himself as he went upstairs to the guarded captives. He had his men haul them into the basement cells and they cut off all their clothes, armor, weapons and the ropes binding them to search for hidden weapons and give them a feeling of vulnerability.

They locked them in the cells completely naked and went upstairs leaving the room pitch black. Rick went outside and replaced display ads on the windows that were torn off by the hired muscle. He nonchalantly scanned the streets on his way back inside and it seemed that the one sided scuffle was unnoticed on the streets.

Back inside Rick opened a portal and brought the carpenters back to the store and had them continue paneling the offices and bathrooms. He also went and finished laying marble tiles and then sat down to draw up a design for the carpenters to build counters and displays for the store. He went for a modern earth style in the designs and told them to paint the wood black. With the white marble tile floor and multi gray toned walls the black counters would match well with the color scheme.

Spoiler: Counters and Display Cabinets.

He passed the designs off to the carpenters and opened a portal to the workshop. He asked the two glass craftsmen to help the carpenters build the counters and displays for the first and second-floor showrooms. After he gave the glass workers and carpenters instructions on how they should look and be built, he unlocked the door to the basement and descended the stairs to have a little chat with his new guests.

Spoiler: Store Basement Layout.

Half way down the stairs he could hear raised voices from the darkness beyond. Rick activated night sight and stealth and quietly entered the room with the cells. He could hear the thugs calling to one another trying to figure out where they were, while other yelled to be let out. Rick stalked up to each slot in the doors and looked into the cell to investigate what each man was up to before making his presence known.

The group of captives seemed to be in a panic and were feeling around the walls of the cell in the dark or banging on the door to their cell.

These idiots have zero organization, each one of them is randomly doing their own thing without trying to talk with one another to come up with an escape plan. If these guys were military they would have come up with a plan to prepare to pounce on anyone who opened the door to their cell and quickly free the others before reinforcements showed up. Rick thought to himself.

Standing in the middle of the room he took a long deep breath filling his lungs and yelled out at the top of lungs for them all to shut the hell up. He didn't really expect them to quiet down right away this was just his way of setting the tone and to let them know he was in the dark room now. The captured thugs began cursing to be let out or asking who was out there all together filling the room with a jumble of chaotic screams.

Rick walked over to the first cell and touched the switch rune activating the lightning rune in the cell. The man in the cell began to scream out in pain and his comrades called out asking what was happening to him. After around ten seconds he shut the rune down and went to the next cell and repeated the process without saying a word. When had finished shocking the hell out of the each captive he walked back to the center of the quiet room.

" Alright, let's try this one more time! If anyone speaks without being spoken to they get to take a ride on the lightning bolt again! Do I make myself clear!" Rick screamed out at them in the murky dark room.

A couple of the braver or stupider ones cursed at him or continued their screams to be let out so he casually walked over and doubled the time he left the rune activated. He could see through the slot in the door that arcs of electricity were popping and cracking around the entire cell and there was no hiding from their reach. He gave each of the men who talked out of line another shocking wake up call even though they had quieted down after hearing the first guy's horrifying screams.

Once again he stood in the center of the room. "Any more of you idiots want to try my patience I can do this all day! Every time I turn the lightning back on I will increase the length of time that it fries your pathic asses! So shut your damn mouth's or you won't ever leave that cell alive! These are the rules here if you speak out without being questioned you fry! You make any unnecessary noise you fry! If you try to escape or attack me in any way guess what happens?" The room was finally silent except for one man who could be heard whimpering in his cell.

Rick then went from cell to cell asking each thug questions through the door. Those that stayed silent had their mouths pried open with electric bolts. He questioned them about who had hired them and what house they worked for. Rick questioned them for names of those involved in criminal activities from each house and how high up in each house the corruption went.

When he had juiced them all enough to know they were willing to tell him everything without trying to deceive him, Rick was left with hardly any information at all. The group was hired by his old buddy Captain Gage of House Karn and Captain Ogden of House Lupton. They had worked for both houses for close to a year and were sent out to shake down merchants and shop owners for protection money. If they didn't pay then the owner would find his shop vandalized and looted the next morning.

They couldn't provide any other names of the higher ranking House members since they were hired flunkies who did not need to know any more than what they were told to do. What they had said was that they were sure that each House Lord was aware or involved in the extortions and withholding of imported merchandise for pay offs.

Rick stood in the darkness for awhile thinking of how to proceed. He then opened his inventory and hung one of the steel doors in the doorway to the room and installed a barricade bar across the outside of it. Even if someone got out of their cell they would still be trapped inside the room now.

When he slid the steel bar into the brackets across the door he turned around and cast [Astral Door] on the wall and stepped through into the Astral Plane.