CH6 - A Slow Cooker

The City of Raenine was Magnificent. Arranged in concentric circles on a series of plateaus, it was moderately split up into lakes and streams. One primary river ran through the center of the city, tracing its halfway point and most heavily traveled trade road.

This place was arranged and built more like a human town or settlement. The houses were more traditional, though the Elves tended to favor barreled roofs for some reason.

The roads were intelligently designed, and double the width of most wagons easily. The central portions of Raenine were stone or brick, and given the lack of hard-ware, Prime was given the idea they were likely enchanted.

The portions of the city closest to the River were the most industrial, with the central portions being the busiest of all. Smaller shops and blacksmiths could be found around the city, however, as the Elves could take advantage of the natural lake plateau’s to create their own hydro based power.

It was no traditional generator by Prime’s standards, but he could see the wheels turning outside of the shops and put it together easily enough. There wasn’t a lot of open magical practice inside of the city, though you could see evidence of its utility nearly everywhere you looked.

With a discerning eye.

The city was absolutely huge, and he naturally only had his feet. So it was actually Aria who went out of her way for his benefit, pointing out interesting areas and feeding him little tidbits of information.

She was probably still trying to test him out, but he didn’t mind. The company was nice, taking his mind off the immediate problem might actually be helpful. The subconscious tended to work more smoothly when you were engaged in something simple and mundane.

“The Northern Quarter contains most of the food processing and trade, through the food is distributed throughout the city. There are places to eat everywhere.” She said, pointing out a pair they were passing.

“We’re pretty minimalist about most meats, but we love fish. You’ll find some of the most strange and fun freshwater dishes you can find anywhere.” She said proudly, “The city is surrounded by Forest to the naked eye, but too Elves it's our natural farmlands. We harvest most of our bounty from, and tend to the forest around us.”

Prime nodded, calmly walking around people like it wasn’t a big deal. He’d just passed two lizardmen and brushed past an Orc, so he was starting to feel pretty out of his element. Elves were human basically, as far as he was concerned. They weren’t hard to read. They weren’t hard to deal with, or understand, and you could relate to their motivations.

Lizardmen and Orcs? He didn’t even know those races were a real thing until very recently, so he wasn’t sure how to deal with or interact with them. How do you read the expression on a Lizardmans face? How do you relate too, chat with, and befriend an Orc?

“The Eastern Quarter is basically military housing, though the primary arms and armory aren’t inside of the city. Still, we hardly expect our soldiers to tent in the grasslands, or sleep in the trees.” She continued.

“The Western Quarter is where most people go to relax and enjoy themselves, it has the highest amount of parklands in the city. It’s also where the cities nightlife tends to congregate, celebrating is very popular here.” She smiled, “We’re like humans in that way, that we like to socialize and celebrate as much as we can, even to excess if we can manage.”

So pointed, as they could see the Southern Quarter from their current position in Central.

“The Southern Quarter is where most people live, and the central street in the Southern Quarter is the busiest market in Raenine. Sometimes people call it the Market Corner instead. Especially foreigners.”

“And we’re standing in the Central Quarter right now I take it?” Prime asked though Aria shook her head negatively.

“No, we’re in the Central Hub or the Royal Embankment. This is where all major trade deals, discussions, and matters of high security are generally discussed and finalized.“ She said, “We have the most extensive and well-equipped docking and dry dock facilities here in Raenine, we could refit a fleet of ships, or build new prototypes. They’re always busy over there.”

Her finger pointed North now, towards the center of the Hub. “The Sisters have a fleet of trade ships there, three each from what I’ve heard. Though trade and ships aren’t my areas of interest.”

She gestured at a nearby diner, an open-air affair that was essentially just tables on grass with a kitchen area mounted on foundations. It had two languages written on its board, stationed on a pole ten feet above the center point of the kitchen.

In the language of man, it said “The Supple Turtle,” and depicted a turtle with no shell and a sinuous body. Despite the lack of traditional shell, it still had an armored back. It wasn’t hard to call it a turtle.

“Feel like having something to eat, beyond Didi Fruit?” Aria asked casually.

“No,” Prime responded, “But I am thirsty so I suppose we can stop. Not that I’m the one in control of the situation here, Miss Moneybags.”

They walked into the diner area, and Prime found himself a seat as Aria settled across from him. “You’ve told me a lot about the general area so far, but you’ve been a little more sparse on specifics. Where would I go to make myself a living?”

He waved vaguely at the docks, “I know there’s probably plenty of work on the river-front, but being a mage anywhere is expensive I don’t doubt. And where-ever you go, you tend to need special resources.”

Aria nodded and nodded again. “You have a good question and a good point. You haven’t even formed a personal mana catalyst or space yet, so you don’t have a specific affinity or type to declare and leverage.”

A young female human waiter came by, took Aria’s orders, and left. Prime had no idea what existed here, so he just let her choose for him since he wouldn’t be able to make an informed decision anyway.

She thought for a few long moments after the young woman left, and then slowly asked. “Well, how desperate are you? You said you weren’t afraid of hunting outside the city if you were hungry, so how do you feel about beasts or monsters?”

She pointed at the Southeast Horizon, at sort of spire or tower right outside of the city.

“That is the Tower of Yuem. Its the secret and real driving force behind our prosperity in the area, the advanced and high-level exotic materials you need to create spirit-based items are found in there. Being a patron of the city is a good way to get rich quickly.” She flipped her hand,

“Depending on how daring you are naturally.”

Prime rolled his eyes, “ I’m not a stranger to combat, but it wouldn’t be my primary choice given more lucrative options. I’m not exactly combat-equipped at the moment, and while I’m pretty robust that doesn’t make me a fist fighter.”

Aria tapped her chin, brightening as their orders arrived. She’s ordered a dazzling, shimmering silver tea. The Tea of the Ninth North Prime thought it was called, and for him, she’d ordered a drink called A Sip of Setting Sun.

He turned his cup about, observing the liquid from different angles as Aria savored her drink with obvious and sustained relish. No matter which way he turned his cup, it still reflected a deeply red and dim setting sun on its surface.

When he sipped it, his senses lit up. It wasn’t just a drink of tea, it was a drink of mood and emotion. He felt quite literally as though he’d been transported through time to dusk, and was calmly sitting and sipping while watching the tranquil sun sink beneath the waves of a dazzling jewel filled ocean.

“Good isn’t it?” Aria asked, scrunching her nose at him with a smile.

He nodded, wondering what her drink was like. And also at the cost. This was magical too after all. More and more evidently it became obvious that magic was ingrained in every level of their society and technology.

“But what I was going to say was, I’ll just lend you the funds. If you live, I’ll certainly get them back. If you die then I guess you weren’t as interesting as I thought you were.” She said smugly,

“I’m employed by the Royal House Penheart after all, it's not like you’d be able to get away with welching on me.” She said with mock menace, brandishing her teaspoon at him.

He believed her though, perks to knowing powerful people were real and plentiful. Otherwise, how would they accumulate so many useful little sycophants?

“I wouldn’t even know what to ask you for, or understand exactly what I owe you for your generosity and efforts.” Prime said, “I know how to make bows, but that doesn’t sound very useful for dungeon work honestly.”

Aria nodded, “Yes, especially going it alone like you’d be. You don’t know anyone here to party up with, and you don’t have a strong reputation or house or anything to back up your own actions.”

She was just leveling a smug look at him now, he almost felt like he was dealing with a smug teenager who was lording her knowledge over him.

“Alright, alright.” Prime said finally, “I’m starting to read between the lines here. What do you need me to go into the scary dungeon and do, exactly?”

Aria blinked at him, startled. The blank look on her face slowly transformed into surprise, then mild embarrassment. He’d managed to stumble his way back into a barter position.

Or maybe he hadn’t.

“Alright, Mr. Sharp.” Aria said, “I need a Convex Variable Stembloom. It's an alchemy ingredient that’s capable of its own locomotion but isn’t a dangerous opponent or anything. It’s just time-consuming to track one down and then finally catch it, you almost always need to just exhaust them to catch them.”

She opened her hand, and a little holographic image appeared in her hand. The flower in question had what looked like fire for pedals with a convex shape, if fire was made out of water. The flowers were only somehow related to the stamen through magic association, so they could move freely about and acted as its mobility wheel.

It was kind of like a little unicycle alchemy plant. You just couldn’t touch the wheel if you liked your hand, foot, or limbs. It left an inch deep cut in the ground as it moved. It looked as though it were cutting its way through the world, on a stream of pressurized water.

“I can’t get one, I can’t leave the Estate for long enough right now.” She said regretfully, “It’s a rough time to be a servant in a Royal House.”

Prime remembered how she’d acted viewing the guards, and nodded thoughtfully. Having a succession ongoing probably would clamp down on local freedoms a great deal. “So what do you want me to do, and what do I need to do it?”

Aria frowned, staring at him for a long considered moment before she took a package out of her pouch and handed it to him.

“There’s enough mana essence there for you to complete the initial stage of foundational development.” She said, “I need you to do that because I need it alive and undamaged. I need you to manually pin it down, and hold it down until it’s exhausted.”

She shrugged, “Or capture it somehow, I’m not that picky honestly. But this should be the most likely method to work, you just need a lot of Mana to physically hold it down with.”

She clapped, “Oh, and you need to learn how to make your incarnation non-lethal of course. Otherwise, it’ll just ruin the whole thing anyway. I do hope you aren’t some crazy pyro or something.”

Prime waved his hand, “I doubt it, don’t worry. I should be able to figure this out just fine.” He said, accepting the package without further complaint. He needed it, after all, the only other way to gain access too enough World Mana for this process was to leave all life behind. Either go deep below the ground or high above into the sky.

Or, head into a Dungeon of some kind. Like the Tower of Yuem mentioned prior, you’d be able to find Mana literally bursting out of Dungeons like a flood or a spring. This was also the reason why Monsters originated from Dungeons, being semi random manifestations of Mana into a living environment.

Beasts were also attracted to dungeons, though that was naturally in the wild. They couldn’t exactly make their way through a full city of people and local military forces, just to assault the dungeon for limited rewards they might not escape with.

For beasts, mounting that level of effort had to have an insane payoff. Otherwise they just had no interest. They all grew more powerful steadily, simply from consuming each-other. Many of them had incredible life spans as well, stretching into hundreds of thousands of years or more. They had all the time in the world to deal with ascension.

If they were even interested in such things, there were more than enough who lived quite simply and enjoyably on the killing alone. Prime could understand that line of thought, as he wasn’t a huge city goer even back on Earth.

He was reminded of home as he wandered about, collecting services and items from a list Aria had given him. Watching his armor being assembled was an interesting experience, as plates and straps flew off shelves and out of back rooms to assemble themselves from a hoard of pre-manufactured parts.

Nearly everything else was simple and straightforward, save for one thing Aria had recommended. This was unquestionably the address of the best potions alchemist for dungeon delvers, those who tended to go it alone and attempt to explore or scout for information to sell to larger groups to tackle.

The only problem was he couldn’t convince himself to knock, this run down little hut was beyond unimpressive. It was insulting. He’d be endlessly incensed if this was his neighbor, he might lose his mind.

It looked like a partially fallen shed, leaned on an extreme angle as it was. Its roof was laden with alchemical materials, growing out of the wood of the barrel style roof. Or it should’ve been a barrel, but was much flatter than it should’ve been.

The grounds around the little Cottage looked wild and untended, with great shocks of planets growing wildly in several concentrated locations. The rest of the yard had been taken over by a strange brown leafed plant, which by itself covered the whole of the properties grounds.

Prime was a little shocked and put off by this crazy mess, and the smell was something else too. He’d thought standing in a Chinese medicinal herb store was an intense scent? Phah! Fha I tell you now! He could nearly choke on the scent coming from this place.

Dark and Earthy, full of shit and deep rot. He could smell the slime of mushrooms and the musk of mosses, along with the smell of freshly chipped and burned wood. Though this tree was of a variety that seemed to object to being chipped and burned, as there was an acrid edge to its odor as well.

Prime sighed then coughed. That had been a mistake. He held his breath, braved the tears in his eyes and advanced on the door. This wasn’t going to be enjoyable.

He found it to be standing open, his knocks sending the door a few inches adjarr. His brow tightened, and he pushed the door open widely. “Hell-” He froze, the place was a horrific mess. Things were scattered on the ground, half of them looked broken or bizarre in unfamiliar ways.

This wasn’t looking like a place where someone lived to Prime, it looked like where someone had once lived. The upended table at the end of the hall gave him a bad feeling, and he’d just realized that the entryway was longer than the house should’ve been.

Well, it was in the middle of the city, it was well known and this was a very obviously magical place. So maybe he should just be taking that in stride.

Well, at least he was armed this time. Of the two swords on his waist, he drew his short saber and proceeded into the entryway. He kept a careful ear out, taking deep slow and even breaths through his nose.

Completely on edge, he advanced slowly through the entryway to the table, and peeked around the privacy panel that blocked view farther into the place.

Beyond the entryway, which he assumed had once been full of alchemical plants, there was a large oval shaped room. It was fairly modest in initial appearance, only slightly larger than the shed-like structure containing it.

An oval table in the center of the room surrounded a tiered series of bottles and tubes, connecting various mixtures to flames, converting them into vapors and leading to various taps around the table.

On the shelves to either side of the oval, manifold colors bottled and stored. They didn’t look like the type of potions he’d be familiar with, but were instead more like jaws with complex locking lids.

All of them were in glass jars, though the jars themselves frequently varied in color. And a few of the shelves had windows mounted behind them, bathing the potions in continuous exposure to light. He wondered how that mechanism worked.

He wondered how the dimension thing worked too.

He doubted he would get an answer to either here, not anymore at least. The little goblin girl who used to be the owner here, Rae El, was lying dead in the corner. Her neck had been slit, her purple blood still trickling into a cauldron she'd been draped over. Prime's stomach churned as he realized her tongue had been pulled through her neck, and both her eyes were seared open.

She would stare in death forever, never to close her eyes again. Her pupils were actually holes now, drilled right through her skull and into the back of her mind. He wasn't all-knowing enough to identify who, what, or why. But he did suspect that someone was after this woman's knowledge.

Her brain being the target specifically, it was hard to discount or deny.

Such a style of magic existing made him deeply uncomfortable, but a secret the Black Will had made him privy to meant he couldn't deny it either. Even if he was wrong about what had happened here, it was still possible.

He couldn't see or hear anyone else in the room, so he turned around and marched straight for the door. A hurried step landed behind him, Prime whipped around like a coiled snake. His sword strike barely missed the face of a low figure, who attempted to dart to his left and stab him.

He used his offhand to partially draw his saber, and parried with the bare portion of the blade. His other hand came down, blade aligned for heart and collarbone. The figure darted back, then attempted to attack his right. Prime backstepped into the doorway, staying out of range of the shorter daggers this person was swinging at him.

The figure rushed him, slashing wildly. He parried methodically, and the figure doffed her coat. She flung it at him, and the bloody thing tried to cling to him! It grabbed his arm, and Prime quickly backed away. He went straight out the door and into the street, using momentum and inertial to keep the main body of the cloak away from him.

He tangled the opposite end through a wagon axle, and cut his hand free of the cloak. He attempted to re-acquire his opponent, but she was already long gone. Apparently she'd had less interest in killing him than she had in leaving the area.

Prime wondered about the situation, not certain what to do. Eventually, he went back inside and started poking around. The shelves were helpfully labeled with their various contents, which did help to explain why some of the potions were exposed to light constantly.

He didn’t dawdle too much though, this was probably the active scene of a crime as far as the Knights or Paladins or whatever they were, were concerned. He took a few of the healing potions, the smallest type by necessity, as well as a few potions of Low Light Sight for his delve.

The acute senses potion he’d been told to acquire, wasn’t possible. It wasn’t shelved and its creator was dead, so there wasn’t anything Prime could do to salvage that part of the situation.

“FUCK!” Prime cursed, once, loudly, and with feeling. This woman was not a resource he would’ve wanted dead, in fact, he would probably have a lot of need for her in the future. He ground his teeth and left, his subconscious contemplating things his conscious mind had no patience or tolerance for.

Prime stalked his way through half the city before his anger carried him to the Tower of Yuem. He smiled, a fitting place for him to end up while he was worked up. Originally, he’d planned on sitting down and taking things slowly. But now? Now he was angry, he’d been cut off from an excellent resource before he’d even gotten to use it.

Might as well get to know the dungeon while he was there, and maybe use the opportunity to vent while he was at it. Nothing he wanted to do, would bring the little goblin Rae El back. Something he very much didn’t want to do, potentially could do exactly that. Why not just let fate decide?

He stalked towards the dungeons with heavy steps, the arched stone entrance ominous and black against the insistent light of day. Its depths seemed to actively resist penetration, as did the Guards stationed to either side of it.

It was far too large an entrance for two men to effectively bar, but they still hastened to stand before him when he looked to be headed straight into the Tower.

“Halt!” Said the first guard,

“Stop!” Demanded the second guard, with his hand raised for emphasis.

“Why?” Prime asked blandly.

“There is currently a Major Raid underway! Our orders are to turn aside all those uninvolved, and anyone not already inside is uninvolved!” The first guard shouted.

Prime flinched inside but remained expressionless. “That part of your orders, or just your personal opinion then?” He asked.

The second guard pushed him back bodily, “It doesn’t matter, no discussion, get lost.”

Prime drew his blade, both guards drew theirs. All three men stood at arms, tense and expectant.

He moved, slowly advancing upon the guards.

“We warned ya!” The second guard shouted, raising his sword and striking at Prime.

Who parried, easily and efficiently. The guard lost balance as his sword found nothing, and lost his consciousness as Prime’s saber rang his helm like a bell. A considerably nasty deny lay in the steel across the back of the mans head.

Prime examined his new weapon will apparent joy, he almost hadn’t believed the blacksmith when he’d first outlined the weapons durability. He wondered what reason the Knights had to use inferior steel and processes in creating their weapons.

The first guard was looking at Prime with considerably more respect now but hadn’t shifted out of his path. Though at least he wasn’t attacking him anymore.

“Look,” Prime said, “I’ve got some shit to work through right now. I don’t like bullies, and he made the wrong move. You haven’t attacked me yet, you’ve just been doing your job.”

He paused, “Rudely.”

The guard frowned. “You want inside?”

Prime nodded, “Yes, I want inside.”

The guard sheathed his blade, “Fine by me, he was my superior anyways. If anyone asks later, you kicked my ass too.” He said, dragging his cohort back to his post and propping him up on the wall.

He’d actually done a reasonable approximation of the guard just, resting there.

Prime coughed, “You, uh. You done that before?”

“Don’t ask.” Was his only, curt reply to that question.

Prime shrugged, sheathed his weapon, and continued into the dark tunnels within the Tower of Yuem.