The meeting that followed was mostly ordinary, by Vonn's recent standards. He sat in on a magic lesson with Sunflare and the bored Human guard. Ralator coached Vonn and Selen on some basic notions of how to teach. In truth Vonn didn't think the mighty wizard was a great instructor, since he kept assuming his pupils knew nearly as much as he did, but Vonn now had enough practice and varied training to appreciate some of the theory better.

[Skill gain: Elemental Magic 2 (Learning).]

"Ah, good, got the skill point."

"Don't rely on the numbers to save you," said Ralator.

#

Selen decided to take a side trip to Shieldpoint rather than return straight to Grandbridge. "Birb needs a visit from her cool big sis," she explained. She chirped. "I never got to have a sister before."

Selen dug through her backpack and gave Vonn a scarf. "I happened to find a nice color combination in my experiments, and thought of you. And hey, we're doing a magic college now. Brought you some colored chalk, too."

The scarf was black and gold, not matching Vonn's colors, but it looked nice. Vonn snorted, saying, "You tell the most obscure jokes in the world, you know?"

"And you like it."

They sang amateur duets while they walked, putting together clearer versions of their favorite songs than either could do alone.

Brightstep was quiet on the trek back. He'd been talkative enough in the spellcasting discussion but his visit to Ralator had been far more important than he'd expected. "I should be glad for the excitement," he finally said. "And a few of my questions are answered. But now I have more."

"That's how learning tends to go," Selen said.

Sunflare the red messenger looked uncomfortable too. He asked Selen, "Are you sure you're not coming straight back? We need you at the shop."

"I won't be long. I want to do some shopping while I'm around."

So they made it back to Silvermire to drop off the Baron's son, then to Shieldpoint. They rested and conferred, worked and played together, and for a little while all was calm.

#

It was winter now and all was tolerably well. Iron flowed from the western mine thanks to Tazo's enchanted rails. Vonn had demonstrated the basic idea of a low-friction cart rolling along them, but so far the mining crews mainly cared about using the metal rods to stave off monsters and gradually re-align the dungeon. Out there, Baron Urika was reluctantly leading the way and had earned a third level of Engineer at last. Vonn was impressed that the Duke had let the man waltz in and take over, especially without noble blood or the formal Lord class with its large-scale benefits. Urika had picked an Engineer ability that did something similar to Lord, aiding machine operation throughout his domain, so he had at least some qualification.

On the first day of winter, Vonn had become a fifth-level Engineer. His achievement this season was the first-ever array of identical engines. Not a big difference in kind from his first model, but the fact that he could mass-produce them was important, much like what Urika had done in the war. He lugged one of these machines to the temple as his meditation focus.

Vonn had traded in Clockwork, Literacy and that new Elemental Magic point to earn yet another point of Learning and supposedly become smarter. With that had come a choice:

[

Congratulations on your fifth level of Engineer! Select a feat as your reward.

-Chief Engineer: When supervising a team of Engineers, your feats can apply to their work.

-Swift Builder: Your construction work is 1/4 faster.

-Precision: Your fine control helps you shape parts to dimensions you envision.

]

This time Vonn felt it was an easy choice: Chief Engineer. Speed and precision were nice, but he aimed to build at a larger scale, and that meant more employees. Besides, the System hadn't offered him any new physics-breaking tricks. He'd felt something like what Selen had at one point: a sense that his offering for the new level wasn't quite outstanding, and that he'd need to do better next time. Top that!, the System was always saying, and for most people it became tough. Vonn figured that at the very least he could gain two more levels of Mage.

So now, the System judged him like so:

Vonn Vulin Male Class Engineer 5, Mage 3 Physical Agility 2, Toughness 2 Mental Learning 4, Wits 2, Sanity 1 Social Charm 1, Will 1 Feats Balance, Harmonious Join, Freezing Strike, Crystal Integration, Well of Energy, Enchanter, Chief Engineer Skills Woodcutting (Strength), Candle-Making (Agility), Dodge (Agility), Flight (Agility), Staff (Agility), Smithing (Agility), Woodworking (Agility), Endure Heat (Toughness), Endure Wounds 2 (Toughness), Hiking (Toughness), Swimming (Toughness), Clockwork (Learning), Elemental Magic (Learning), Enchanting (Learning), Healing Magic (Learning), Caster Support (Wits), Dungeoneering (Wits), Traps (Wits), Consolation (Sanity), Storytelling (Charm), Geomancy (Senses), Meditation (Will) Health (Toughness + Will) 55/55 Mana (Sanity + Will) 45/45 Stamina (Toughness + Sanity) 55/55

Most of his team had gone Engineer this season too, and had little trouble earning it. Tazo was now a Mage 4, Engineer 3, after doing lots of work with the machine tools and engine testing. She had a new feat Vonn hadn't been offered: Stalwart Gears. It was helpful for everything the Company built: a sort of blessing that made machines a bit sturdier, reducing normal wear and tear. Good for a typical project, great for something like an airplane engine that could cause disaster if it failed suddenly. The gods' goal here wasn't clear but they or the System understood Tazo's goals and research efforts, and had tempted her with appropriate options.

Birb had gotten the artificial flight fever, too. Her contribution this season had been a study of several new control schemes for a plane or airship, which put her up at Engineer 3, Mage 1. Her reward was Mechanical Insight, a more intuitive sense for forces and stresses. This one interested Vonn partly because it required knowledge to understand at all but enhanced things she already understood somewhat. He saw the apprentice staring at a little toy plane in their improvised wind tunnel, and comparing the air flow to the shape of her own wings.

Ashfall had stuck with Smith, earning her way to Smith 4 with some desperate management of the shop's ordinary metalwork business. She'd been thrown into the deep end lately with Urika gone and with Vonn busy. The iron shortage had just made things tougher, though that was easing off lately and she had a power to cut her material costs by 10%. "I'm keeping my options open," she said, when Vonn asked about going Engineer or Mage or something. Her latest power was something about temperature control, giving hot iron more time to be pounded before it needed reheating.

And Polestar? He had a little house to himself now, with a garden, and had become a better Farmer starting to set up beehives for next year. But with the cold setting in, he had time to help out at the shop and learn a little of everything. "I don't need some ghostly rule system telling me I know something, to know it." So he could cast a few spells, splint a broken bone, and forge a farm tool, the last of which gave him excuses to hang around Ashfall. And for him, life seemed to be pretty good.