Rory didn’t end up doing much over the rest of the day. He found himself struck by a lethargy that was as much mental as it was physical. He couldn’t even smile when Jerky gave a cheerful yip and leapt into Miles’s arms. Try as Rory might to distract himself with the goings-on of his home, the events earlier in the day weighed heavily on his mind.

The way Thomas and Shen had died, the way some of the rebel Otherworlders had been chopped to pieces, they all left a nasty taste in his mouth. A part of Rory logically concluded that they’d got what they had deserved. It wasn’t Rory who had made them try to kidnap him and force him to relinquish the Sigil of Weaving. As he had often told Alex, foolish actions begot foolish rewards.

Still, the deaths themselves weighed on him. The circumstances were terrible, and he was allowed to feel awful about them. That was that.

At least it gave more than enough time to go through the notifications about the various things he had pushed off so far.

New Achievement!

Perilous Escapee! You have evaded capture that could have led to certain death. Professional escapists beware. Nothing can hold you for long.

Rewards

Trapped situations raise party stats by 25%, and capture raises stats by 50%.

New Achievement!

Confrontation Conqueror! With the help of your ally, you have faced multiple enemies of greater strengths and survived to tell the tale. Your power of cultivating the right friendships has never served you better.

Rewards

You now have a 20% receiving a part of the same rewards that your allies receive.

New Achievement!

Wolf Among Sheep! You have survived a perilous encounter with your own kind. The bonds of enmity transcend the idea that you are of the same species.

Rewards

Sigil of Inventory

New Sigil!

You’ve obtained a Sigil of Inventory. Running out of space is always a lurking danger. Forestall it from happening by creating some extra virtual space!

[Cerulean I] allows 3 virtual inventory slots.

Stats

Type: System

Rarity: Exceptional

Tier: Cerulean I [0%]

Efficiency: Medium [27%]

Rory could hardly believe his achievements. The first would now help them a lot if they ever got caught in the same situations again, while the second seemed almost like cheating. He wondered if Arelland had received any achievements, and if he was going to receive something from those too.

The Sigil of Inventory was the weirdest one of all. Now, he could potentially keep other things he might need in close reach. He wouldn’t have to carry his Staff of Deadly Winter all the time. There could be more interesting applications, but he checked out the other Sigils he had received yesterday, for now.

New Sigil!

You’ve obtained a Sigil of Sunfire. Summon the wrath of the sun itself to burn your foes to nothing. All obstacles will cease to exist in your starry might.

[Cerulean IX] allows creation, manipulation, and imbuing of element in a 58-meter radius.

Stats

Type: Element

Rarity: Remarkable

Tier: Cerulean IX [0%]

Efficiency: Medium [49%]

New Sigil!

You’ve obtained a Sigil of the Arsenal. Always losing your weapons? Well, fear not, From now on, your weapons will always be by your side.

[Cerulean IX] allows summoning 4 knives, 2 spears, 2 swords, and 2 bows for 380 seconds.

Stats

Type: Concept

Rarity: Remarkable

Tier: Cerulean IX [0%]

Efficiency: Medium [45%]

New Sigil!

You’ve obtained a Sigil of Light Shackles. Chains of light are hard to break via normal means, but here’s s secret: light is easily disrupted by shadows.

[Cerulean IX] allows creating 7 light energy shackles.

Stats

Type: Element

Rarity: Remarkable

Tier: Cerulean IX [0%]

Efficiency: Medium [48%]

New Sigil!

You’ve obtained a Sigil of Warding Pockets. Create more space to Ward in more Sigils with this handy little space-creator.

[Cerulean IX] creates 4 extra Sigil slots in Warded items.

Stats

Type: Concept

Rarity: Mythic

Tier: Cerulean IX [0%]

Efficiency: High [73%]

Rory had to blink at the new Sigils. If he had thought his achievements were interesting, some of the new Sigils he had received were stunning. That last one especially. He could see a lot of potential uses for it.

Though the question was how he had received it. Rory was sure he hadn’t used his Weaving on anything that might have granted that, so it must have come from that last achievement—Confrontation Conqueror. He smiled. For something that only had a 20% chance of activating, it was already granting him new Sigils.

Though that meant Arelland had received at least five times as many rewards. It made sense, considering how he had single-handedly changed the outcome of the debacle.

Despite his excitement at the Sigils and achievements, Rory wasn’t able to pay much attention to the updates from the others much. Evelyn and the former hospital workers had managed to heal up the survivors Trish’s group had recovered the day before, but most were resting. The newcomers were either asleep or pretending they were, so they didn’t have to interact with anyone yet. Rory was interested to hear their story, but that could wait till later.

Dez had sunken into a sullen silence when he had learned that the Djinn had been the biggest catalyst of the debacle. He seemed to take it as some kind of personal affront for some reason. Maybe it was because they shared the same power as he did—the Sigil of Abyssal Inferno.

Rory was just glad that everything else in the palace was smooth. Eventually, they prepared dinner. It was a subdued affair, even though several of the newcomers joined them. They all finished their meals quickly in relative silence before going to bed.

“Wake up, Rory.”

He groaned, Viv’s murmur cutting through Rory’s sleep-addled brain.

“It’s nearly dawn.” She nudged him. An overly hard elbow dug into his side, eliciting another grunt from him. “It’s our turn to keep watch.”

Rory sighed after Viv continued remonstrating for him to rise. Groaning, he pushed himself upright and blinked the sleep out of his eyes, rubbing them as the world turned blurry with bleariness.

Viv wasn’t wrong. Light was peeking over the far horizon, heralding the approach of dawn. It wasn’t going to be long before the sun rose properly.

“Let me get freshened up a bit,” Rory said. He stretched, muttering a sigh of satisfaction, then freezing as something popped on his back. It hurt. Some moments of careful breathing eased the pain until it faded to nothing. “I feel like I’m getting older.”

“You are, dear.”

Rory rolled his eyes, though he wasn’t sure how much of it Viv saw in the gloom. “Not what I meant.”

Viv tutted. “Go freshen up. The morning air will help make you feel younger.”

He did so. Rory made sure he was careful not to make too much noise and wake the others. They had agreed to keep any sound during regular sleeping hours to a minimum to ensure everyone got proper rest. After he had washed his face and judged that it looked more haggard than before, Rory met up with Viv and headed to their customary lookout post on the roof.

“Are you feeling down?” she asked after a while.

Rory smiled at her. She saw through him too easily. “That obvious?”

It was Viv’s turn to roll her eyes. “You should try to forget about them.”

“I should. Dwelling on them isn’t going to help anything. But it’s not easy.”

Viv drew closer, wrapping her good arm around him. “I know,” she whispered.

They stood in silence. Rory appreciated that. Not everything could be solved by talking about it. Rory was likely simply going to need some time to let his mind absorb the incident on its own. He just had to make sure he didn’t let it affect his productivity any more than it had already done.

“What are you going to do next?” Viv asked after a while. “Regarding the Homeworlders, I mean.”

“Are you worried about the trading deal and the recognition letter?” Rory asked.

She nodded. “I’ve been thinking what we might do if each side picks a different group to sponsor. What if the Homeworlders want the Imps, but the Otherworlders want us? What will the system do then? Eliminate both us and the Imps?”

“They wouldn’t eliminate the Imps, though. They’re Otherworlders. Monsters. The system only cares about humans existing outside the sanctioned Safe Zone in Mirrorend.”

Viv sighed. “I forgot about the distinction.”

Rory wrapped his left arm tighter around Viv and squeezed her to his side. “If it helps, I don’t think the Homeworlders are a lost cause yet. There were certain things I heard that made it sound like Aaron’s group had attacked without any official order from the powers that be at Mirrorend.”

Viv stiffened and pulled away, her eyes widening at Rory. “You tell me that now?”

Rory laughed. “I was going to tell you when I got the time.”

“You had all day yesterday!”

“I was… a little out of it, yesterday. Sorry.”

Viv’s face had softened, with regret, with guilt, with sympathy, and with all the love she’d ever had for him. She stepped closer and wrapped her arm around him again, so they embraced. Rory sighed and sank against her shoulder. It was nice to simply hold her and be held in return. For a moment, Rory could forget the rest of the world and revel in the feelings.

“We’re terrible at keeping a lookout,” Viv said, pulling away with a little laugh.

Rory joined her, both in laughing at them and surveying the area. “That we are.”

“Tell me what makes you think the Homeworlders are still a viable possibility.”

“Oh, right.” Rory explained what he recalled about Sylvia’s words. “She didn’t want them to pursue their plan, which had apparently been created without the permission of the people in charge at Mirrorend.”

Viv grinned. “I’m having a lot of devilish fun imagining what sort of explanation they’re going to offer the Homeworlders about why a couple of them are missing.”

Rory couldn’t join in her enjoyment. Something in him felt cold at the memory of the deaths. The way Thomas had been chopped through by Arelland’s blade, how Shen had died with spikes bursting out all over his body, replayed in Rory’s mind like a perfectly-recorded video reel. The blood, viscera, and screams were far too vivid.

He had a feeling it was his Sigil of Knowledge to blame. That thing must have risen a lot in Tiers, to the point it was recalling things he had seen a little too well. Now that he thought about it, he could remember a lot of things surprisingly well.

“You think we’ll need to contact the Homeworlders quickly, then?” Viv asked.

“Uh, yeah.” Rory pulled his thoughts to the present. “Not sure how, though. The very people we were depending on to deliver our message turned on us, not to mention the Otherworlders are about to become a lot more vicious. Would be weird if they all got themselves killed before we could get a deal.”

“…or would it?”

Viv’s eyes met Rory’s, where he found a rather frightening question waiting for him there. What would happen if the Homeworlders all died before they could strike a trading deal and receive their letter of recognition? Would the system then allow them to become an approved business while still holding the requirements from only one side?

It wasn’t an appealing prospect. Rory had a hard time imagining all other humans save the ones he had recovered in his palace would end up dead that easily. Being responsible for guiding the rebirth of human civilization wasn’t something he had seen attempting in his retirement.

“What if that was what was needed though?” Viv asked, as though she had read Rory’s mind so far. Knowing her, she probably had. “What if they all want your Sigil of Weaving, Rory? What if Aaron and the rest of them were working under the orders of the Homeworlders’ leaders?”

Rory looked away. That was the one thing he had been hoping not to consider. If the entirety of the Homeworlder faction was against him having the Sigil of Weaving, then his hopes for obtaining a trading deal and recognition letter from them was up in flames. His business depended on him having access to Weaving.

Besides, the Sigil was Rory’s. He had earned it, had nearly killed himself to obtain it, and had done far too much with it. There was no way he was relinquishing Weaving.

“Then they’ll perish,” Rory said, ignoring how his spine turned into a rid of ice at the words. “The Sigil of Weaving is not for sale.”

Viv took his hand and squeezed it. They stood in companionable silence for the rest of their watch until the sun had properly started its journey across the sky. They were soon relieved by Bo and April. Rory smiled. Another couple to keep watch.

He and Viv parted with a little kiss for the day. Rory had decided he was going to take care of getting the Mana Sigil he needed for the giants. Recent incidents made him feel more urgent than ever to secure his business. Meanwhile, Viv was going to see to the newcomers. Rory promised he’d join her as soon as he had figured out the Mana Sigil.

For now, he had some Sigil business to attend to.