Deacon sat up and moved his legs over the soft cushion of a mattress he lay on. Even the thread count was high on the pillowcases. Tantus was on the other side of the room speaking to Alfred. Suddenly a door appeared in the wall and Tantus swung it wide open. There was another bedroom now adjoining this one. Tantus grabbed his bag and jogged in. Deacon stood up and started to casually walk over.

“Master Tantus requested a guest room for him to put away his things.” Alfred said anticipating Deacons question.

“That’s fine. I was about to tell you we need some more adjoining rooms and maybe a sitting area between them. We’ll have to explore this castle at another time, and I probably want to move the exit into the hallway. Not necessarily my bedroom door. How are you for security?” Deacon asked.

“That, Sir, is where the soul collector comes in. Until I have a steady supply of energy, I’m limited to making changes to the castle itself. I can not create security measures or independent agents without it.” Alfred explained.

“Independent agents?” Deacon asked.

“Yes, Sir. I believe you refer to them as monsters or mobs.” Replied Alfred.

“That’s earth terminology. How much of my mind did you read?” Deacon asked.

“Enough to build a familiarity of terms to create a substantive glossary.” Alfred said.

“Interesting. Can you make a flat screen tv?” Deacon asked with a glint in his eye.

“Certainly.” Alfred replied waving his hand to the wall across from the bed. A thick beveled television about two inches thick emerged from the wall. The screen was a deep black with no obvious buttons or way to control it.

“Very cool. Can you make it show what’s outside the door? Also let’s experiment with combining the tech from my world with arcane from this one. Can you get rid of the bezel all together and just have a floating screen just fixed in position there?” Deacon queried but no sooner had he thought it than it was already happening.

“Showing just the hallway in the guild hall? That should not be a problem. I would need to integrate more permanently with this structure to do more. You do realize this world uses an arcane method of Crystalmancy to achieve the same results, right?” Alfred asked.

“I know very little about it.” Deacon responded.

“I know a great deal about it.” Came the voice of Tantus stepping out of his room.

“Did the room have to be right next to mine?” Deacon asked.

“Well, Alfred said options were limited since this is not his permanent space.” Tantus replied.

“We better get going. Alfred, can you maintain this configuration if shrink down into the cube again? We really need to get downstairs.” Deacon asked as he headed to the door.

“Yes, I will save this configuration as current standard. Would you like me to add Tantus to the security wards on the door should he need to enter without you?” Alfred asked as the room started to fade back to the original guild apartment.

“Hold onto that thought, I have several names that will need to be added to that list.” Deacon said as he opened the door into the hallway with Tantus pressed closely to his back as the room returned to normal. The cube dropped into Deacon’s hand, and he put it in his bag.

“I would very much like to study the design of the dungeon cube.” Tantus said as they started down the stairs past all people coming and going.

“If you’re good.” Deacon said.

The two made it to the first floor but as they turned the corner toward the cantina they ran into Jacob and Sophie. Jacob was wearing a combination of padded leather leg armor and a what looked like a sport coat over a bare chest. The large Canidae man was giving a series of instructions to Sophie.

“…then when you are done with that, I want an update on your ink master trainees. If you are going to be the Vice Guild Master, I need you freed up from the ink master duties as soon as possible. Deacon? Glad I ran into you. Now that you are up and about, the founder thought it prudent to travel to the capital himself to delay the request for your presence. He was happy to do it since it gives him the opportunity to look into your race and do some research. I know you also have to go to the Shattered Sky with Typhus. Lucky for you the Crystal Cascade is on the way. I’ve also been informed about your Corpungie problem by Amanda. I’ve asked her and Ralph to put together groups of guild members who want to assist in the clean out. You’ll leave tomorrow morning. Sound good?” Jacob asked.

“Um…yes.” Deacon said as he absorbed all the information.

“Is this our guest from The Tower?” Sophie asked.

“Yes, yes. I’m Tantus. Pleased to meet you.” Tantus said with curt bow.

“You understand you are here at the request of your uncle. I have great respect for him so let us all remain under guest rites. I do not have spare accommodations for you right now, but we will work on something acceptable for the duration of your stay.” Jacob said. Deacon felt like there was the hint of a warning message in those words.

“I’ve got him squared away in my room. No worries. Thanks again Jacob.” Deacon said grabbing Tantus by the arm and pulling him around the two leaders of the guild.

“That was strange.” Tantus said.

“Jacob’s been a little busy lately. Let’s get some food.” Deacon said.

As soon as Deacon entered the cantina a cheer rose up from the crowd. People parted to let Deacon through, and he could see Typhus, Armand, and Elle seated at a long table. Once they got their food, they moved over to the table that held the Cardinal Unit.

“Deacon! Great to see you looking well and who’s this?” Armand asked.

“I’m Tantus. You are Lord Armand Desentes. It’s a real pleasure to meet you.” Tantus said giddy as a schoolboy.

“Deacon, we all wanted to thank you for what you did and opening up new possibilities for our specializations. So we got you this gift. Also don’t stare it’s rude.” Elle said placing a heavy package on the table.

“But you didn’t have antlers before. How did you get them? Never mind that what specializations did you get?” Deacon asked.

“Well if you must know, I’m a Deep Forest Druid now. The class specialization merged me with the forest spirit we found. My powers are twice as strong in the forest now and I can separate from the spirit. That makes it easier to split my attention. It is a lesser version of what you and the dragon have I suppose.” Elle answered.

“I chose the specialization Shadow Son. It makes my shadow an independent person while giving me increased stealth and shadow casting abilities. You’ve met my other half already. I tell you lad; this is a game changer for me.” Typhus said grinning from ear to ear.

“What about your Armand? Anything fancy?” Deacon asked excitedly.

“How about you open your present, then we can go to the training yard, and I’ll show you.” Armand said with a devilish grin.

“Weird, but ok.” Deacon said as he pulled unwound the twine and pulled the wrapping off of gift. Inside he found a set of padded leather armor. It was a padded leather vest, pants, and hardened leather boots. As well as an envelope.

“We know you are always getting your clothes torn up. Even with your newly magically enhanced outfits you are getting from the tailor, you are always coming out of fights with blood stains, tattered fabric, and generally looking like a vagabond. For someone who can’t be hurt without enchanted weapons, you get beat up a lot. Wear this over your clothes. We had them enchanted to automatically size to you. Good thing too, since it looks like you’ve grown. Where are your eyebrows?” Armand asked.

“Product of my race change. I don’t know what to say guys. Thank you so much.” Deacon said genuinely felling touched.

“Enchanted weapons?” Tantus asked.

“I’ll tell you about it later.” Deacon said just as Amanda and Ralph sat down to eat.

“So is this your party?” Asked Armand.

“Looks like it.” Deacon said as he put the new gear into his bag. Suddenly the envelope flew up into his face. He grabbed it out of the air with everyone at the table staring at him.

“One of my abilities wants me to look at this letter. It’s very insistent.” Deacon said.

“One of your abilities?” Tantus asked.

“Later.” Deacon said before opening the envelope. The note was in a language Deacon still couldn’t read. He triggered Sayance and consumed a soul that knew this language. He received a notification that Sayance had hit level two and quickly swiped it away. He read the letter and gasped.

“If I’m reading this correctly, it says I own the deed to the old Taurant property at the base of the plateau.” Deacon said.

“That’s right. While you don’t have official land rites here, I do. When the topic came up and the Taurant family showed no interest in what they’re scion had done with the property, I petitioned to have it returned to our family. It is a few acres of land with a large manor that I am more than happy to turn over to you. I do recommend a reconsecration though. The two of you may have some bad memories of the place.” Armand proclaimed.

Deacon thought back to the time he was abducted and forced to fight in the Hidden Circle’s underground arena that was built into the side of the plateau. That is where he rescued Ralph and the cobbler Eugene. More importantly, Deacon remembered leaving a scar in the world under the hidden part of that property. Maybe Alfred could use it to create the soul collector? But that would be a more permanent place and he couldn’t cart the dungeon cube wherever he went. Deacon had dreams of standard tent that, when the flaps were moved, opened the doorway into his own personal paradise. He would still need to make further adjustments like converting the castle into Starks mansion from Iron Man 3. That would all have to wait. He just had a brilliant idea for the Taurant Manor House.

“Could we convert it to refugee housing? Not for free of course. I mean we could charge a reasonable weekly price for those ex-slaves that have found trade jobs or need a place to stay while they get their lives in order. Even better we could turn it into a Church of Chimera!” Deacon said letting the ideas roll out of his head.

“You are getting way ahead of yourself. If you’re done eating, I’d like you put that new gear on and meet me in the training grounds.” Armand said.

“Wait you were serious about that?” Deacon asked.

“If you want to know what my specialization is, you’ll have to.” Armand responded getting up and heading out.

Deacon showed up fifteen minutes later decked out in his new armor. Across the training yard from him was Armand and Old Pai Mei. That made Deacon feel uncomfortable. He knew he had missed several training opportunities with Old Pai. He hoped this wouldn’t be a big deal.

“Ok Deacon, this will be one round of combat. Don’t hold back.” Armand said.

“You’re kidding, right? All you ever taught me was to meter my strength and you want me to go all…” Deacon started before Armand’s entire body turned shiny metallic and he ran full speed at Deacon clanging with every step. Deacon jumped vertically to try and clear him, but Armand snagged his foot in his right hand. The next thing he knew, Deacon was bouncing off the sand. Skuttling to his feet Deacon looked at Armand who was grinning.

“It’s called Iron Clad. It allows me to take massive damage without being hurt for a limited time. I can increase the time it lasts by increasing in level. I was only eligible for this class because you gave all the defenders magic with your presence during the invasion. I can’t thank you enough. I even got to keep a version of the original spell.” Armand said clearly proud of his choice as his body returned back to its normal coloring. A cheer came from the gathered crowd and people began pouring onto the field. Deacon now realized the point wasn’t to show off his new class specialization to him, but to all the gathered adventurers. Armand just created a sea of people that wanted to learn his rare new class.

“Is that it?” Old Pai asked.

“What do you mean?” Deacon asked.

“You just jumped? You didn’t block and you didn’t use your dash you worked so hard to learn.” Old Pai said.

“I was shocked is all.” Replied Deacon.

“So much more to learn. I understand you are going on an extermination tomorrow morning?” Old Pai asked.

“Yes, we have a mission to clear out a Corpungie nest.” Deacon said.

“Corpungie, wretched creatures. I shall accompany you. They are far too close to my granddaughter.” Old Pai said.

“Oh that isn’t necessary. This should be very routine pest control.” Deacon protested.

“I want to see how you fight in the field. Sounds like there will be multiple enemies. Should be a good primer for where I take your training next.” Said Old Pai as he stroked his thin white beard.

“As you wish.” Deacon said reluctantly. The last thing he was going to want tomorrow was constant critiques about how he could have stomped a monster better. Suddenly he felt a new presence to his right. Even Old Pai jumped at the man standing in grey robes holding a tome clutched to his chest.

“Frankilo! How did you, I mean is it time for that chat I promised?” Deacon said clearly flustered.

“Yes Champion. I apologize for my sour mood. They threw me out of the church today. Excommunicated they said. That is the only expedited rite in the book of Ryan. The church is the only life I have ever known.” Frankilo said with a somber look on his face.

“Let’s head inside, it’s a bit noisy out here.” Deacon said escorting Frankilo forward. From the crowd Amanda, Ralph, and Tantus frowned simultaneously. They were nowhere near each other.