Rory found himself coming to a pause in their Command Centre that they hadn’t much use for yet. He decided to see what he could do about the Mana Sigil. He pulled out the little pack of tiny blue crystals from his pocket.

Then he froze. No. Simply Weaving a Sigil of Mana into existence wasn’t going to work. The giants already used too much Mana after all. There was no point in combining multiple Sigils of Mana, either. What the giants needed some kind of Sigil that improved their efficiencies.

The problem was that efficiency was an abstract concept. Too abstract. Rory didn’t have the slightest clue what he could go about Weaving to get it. From his understanding, efficiency often involved a long-term process of improving something over time.

Frustrated at the way he was stumped, Rory headed downstairs. His head was clearer in the open air.

“What are you looking for, sir?” Samson asked, catching sight of him and hailing him down. “Uh, I mean, Rory.”

“I’m looking for a Sigil of Efficiency,” he said

“Looking as in, you lost it? Where’d you drop it? Maybe I can use Gathering to find it.”

Rory snorted. “No, that’s not it.”

He quickly explained how he was stumped. Samson got on a thoughtful expression before a light blinked on behind his eyes. Rory was sure he’d hear the younger man exclaim “eureka!”

“I think I know just what you need,” he said, slightly disappointing Rory by not vocalizing his excitement some more. “Come on, follow me.”

Intrigued, Rory allowed himself to be led away. Samson hurried through the main hall and through the corridor that led to the rear of the palace. A part of Rory hesitated considering they didn’t normally occupy these spaces, but Malcolm had done well to scout out the whole place and see if there was anything dangerous.

Besides, the Safe Zone’s existence meant they didn’t have to worry about monsters inside the palace. If there had been any spawn points besides that of the Thundershells, then they had been eradicated by the Safe Zone’s power.

“There,” Samson said when they had exited through the back door.

He was pointing to the jeep. Ned, Dez, and Harlow were tinkering around with some tools, the bonnet of the vehicle thrown open and several burnt and smoking parts strewn around the wheels.

Rory frowned. “What are we doing here?”

“You need a Sigil of Efficiency, right? So you’re going to need something that provides some kind of efficiency boost, which you can Weave into a Sigil. Well, all cars have a lot of parts that perform that function.”

Samson pointed at all the broken parts lying around the jeep like organs of a dismembered body. Rory shook the gruesome comparison out of his head. Yesterday’s incident needed to stop interfering with his psyche like that.

“Hmm, let’s see if this works,” Rory said. “You’re going to have to point me to a part that can help. I’m not the best when it comes to cars.”

“Uh, me neither.”

Rory chuckled. Good thing they had come and met three people who were so into cars, they hadn’t noticed their visitors yet. Rory stepped closer to and greeted them, startling poor Harlow enough to make him drop his wrench.

“Hey man, how can we help you?” Dez asked.

Rory told them about his predicament regarding a potential Sigil of Efficiency. He went on to explain Samson’s idea of using one of the existing car parts to get himself a Sigil that could work. The three makeshift mechanics exchanged glances. Their faces had lit up.

“We’ve actually got a lot that qualifies,” Dez said.

Rory’s eyebrows rose on their own. “Oh yeah?”

Dez started pointing out some of the parts on the ground. “Those spark plugs and air filters might be your best bet. Of course, their main function isn’t to raise efficiency in and of itself. But they’re better than what’s normally available, so they raise the efficiency in general terms, if that makes sense.”

“They’re better than normal, is what I’m getting.”

“Right.”

“But hmm, you’re right in that I’d ideally need a component that exists just to raise the car’s efficiency.”

“Hmm, there is the exhaust, but it’s perfectly fine,” Harlow said. “The manifolds, the catalytic converter, all of its perfectly fine. Don’t think ripping it out would be good.”

“No, of course not.” Rory tutted. “What were your plans for replacing the broken parts in the jeep?”

“Well, we’re going to have to go out to get new parts at some point,” Dez said. “Well, they’re going to have to.”

His voice had sink into a displeased mutter, though he recovered quickly. No doubt, Dez hated being cooped up because his main Sigil was too dangerous to use. Rory was going to have to find a way to help him soon. Once he was done with the other Sigils, he silently promised himself.

“I think Weaving two of those parts together would give me what I needed,” Rory said.

Harlow looked down at the broken parts, then back up at Rory. “Oh yeah?”

“Yep. Think about it. One is more efficient than the other, correct. That’s their main difference. I could have my Weaving focus on that difference, which is something that would tangibly exist for my Weaving to act on.”

Ned got to his feet. “You’re saying we need to head out and get those new parts as soon as possible.”

Rory’s eyes landed on Dez. He was trying to keep a carefully neutral expression on his face, but Rory could tell he was internally roiling like a storm.

“It’s not urgent,” Rory said. “So, no. Don’t go out yet. Let me figure out some things more about the Sigils, let things outside cool down a bit more. We shouldn’t make any moves until we know what the other factions will be doing.”

All reasons that he pulled off the top of his head, but even as Rory said them, he realized they were true. It would be too dangerous to go out before they got a better sense of the lay of the land. He needed to confirm how the Homeworlders would react after the recent debacle.

The others nodded and went back to trying to clean up the jeep and prepare it for new parts. Rory left them to it. As long as they had something to occupy their time, things would be fine. And if that was done, he was sure Dez would yell at them before they started practicing with their Sigils again. They had seen just how much more powerful the Homeworlders were.

“Is there anything else you need, sir?” Samson asked. “I mean, Rory.”

He had forgotten that Samson was following along. Rory shook his head and told him to move along. Though before he left, he asked where they had kept the bodies they had recovered from the sewers. Samson mentioned Dez or someone else having buried the bodies somewhere.

Thanking Samson, Rory headed back to the broken jeep. Dez hadn’t buried the bodies as Samson had thought. He had left them with Evelyn and the former hospital staff.

Frowning at the constant chasing, Rory headed back inside the palace. The infirmary was the least busy Rory had ever seen it since the Thunderclaw Knight had attacked. There wasn’t anyone there save Sue and May, the former sleeping peacefully while being watched over by her sister. Rory’s heart twisted at the sight, but he forged on. One thing at a time.

“What’s up?” Vern asked.

Rory stared at the little pot over a small stove in the corner of the room. “What’s that?”

“Just the potion I’m making for Dez. It’s apparently called a Potion of Purification.”

Rory’s mind immediately went on overdrive. Potions opened up yet another layer of possibilities, both for their personal use and for him to sell via his business. “You’ll have to tell me when the Potion of Purification is done. We’re going to have to talk about other potions.”

“Oh, I’ve got quite a few. Anyway, what were you looking for?”

“I need—wait.” Rory had a sudden idea. He pulled one of his new Sigils. “Take this.”

“What’s this?”

“A gift.”

“Huh.”

“You have a weird way of saying thanks.”

“I don’t even know what you just gave me, old man.”

“It’s called the Sigil of Light Shackles. Ring any bells?”

Vern’s eyes widened. “Shackles. Like my Sigil of Wraith Shackles!”

Rory smiled. “Exactly. Now, I’m not sure you want another Sigil that performs essentially the same function as one you already have, just with different add-on bonuses. Considering how everyone’s slots are numbered, you’d do better off with other Sigils to complement what you’ve already got.”

“So why give me this, then?”

“I still want you to use it, for now. Try it out, see what it’s like, what are its differences compared to the one you already have. Once you’ve figured it, I want you to use the Sigil of Transfer to get it out and train someone else to use it. Make sense?”

“Huh. I wasn’t expecting to be a teacher in the apocalypse.”

“I wasn’t expecting to be a merchant making deals with aliens either.”

Vern snorted. “Fair point. But I’m starting to think we got lost from whatever you actually came here for.”

“Oh, right.” Rory looked around the area, but as before, he didn’t see any sign of the corpses. “Where are the dead Homeworlders? I need them.”

“You… need a bunch of corpses?”

“I’m curious to see what Sigils they had. The Homeworlders were a little bit upset that we had them. I want to see what the fuss is all about.”

Evelyn accosted them before Vern could answer. Rory greeted her, and under her questioning look, he answered with what he had already said.

“Well, we weren’t sure what to do, so I wrapped them up in my bandages,” she said. “They have a preserving effect now. Here, I left them where no one would trip up against them.”

She took them to one corner of the infirmary, where a small door opened up to a large closet-like room. The little area was suffused in a soft golden light, all of it was emanating from the corpses that had stuffed in there. They were all fully mummified in Evelyn’s golden bandages.

“Are you going to use your Weaving on them directly?” she asked.

“Hmm, I think so.”

“Alright. I’ll remove the wraps.”

Rory involuntarily looked around to see if anyone else was watching them. Vern and the other healers had wandered off, and the infirmary was otherwise empty. He wondered if his intentions with the corpses had made the others leave. Ah well.

“There you go,” Evelyn said, stepping away.

She had removed all the wrapping from the corpses. The light in the little room had disappeared, leaving the corpses unlit and gloomy in death. They didn’t stink or look very decomposed, though. Evelyn was right. Her golden bandages had done a good job of preserving them.

Rory stepped past her and activated his Sigil of Weaving, aiming its white lines at the dead bodies. He tried to focus on the Sigils they had within them, and not on any aspect of their humanity. As he and Viv had laughed it off, the idea of Sigil of the Human sounded ridiculous.

[Warning! Weaving cannot be used to remove absorbed Sigils from corpses until the next Tier.]

Rory stared at the warning. The next Tier, it said…

“What is it?” Evelyn asked, looking at his face carefully.

He explained what he had read. “That shouldn’t be too bad. I just need to raise the Sigil of Weaving to its next Tier. Not far now.”

Just to confirm, Rory checked his [Status]. It had been a while since he had last done so.

[Status]

Rory McIlroy

Race: Human

Class: Grand Weaver

Profession: Veteran Merchant

Tier: Cerulean III [80%]

Perks: Rescuer, Stalwart, Looter, Venerable, Lifedrain

Stats

Spirit: 75 [Cerulean III]

Fortitude: 70 [Cerulean I]

Vitality: 50 [Argent IX]

Leadership: 85 [Cerulean III]

Mana: 55 [Cerulean III]

Sigils

Sigil of Weaving: Legendary, [Cerulean VIII]

Sigil of Warding: Mythic, [Cerulean III]

Sigil of Stats: Ordinary, [Cerulean IV]

Sigil of Knowledge: Exceptional, [Cerulean X]

Sigil of Mercantilism: Exceptional, [Cerulean VII]

Sigil of Wielding: Exceptional, [Cerulean II]

Items

Staff of Deadly Winter

Shirt of Rejuvenation

-

Rory was proud of how his Sigils were advancing. Only a few of them were close to reaching Teal, but that was fine. He would have no hope of raising something like the Sigil of Wielding or the Sigil of Mercantilism to Teal since there was only so much he could do before it became a serious pain trying to exercise those Sigils. Weaving was a different matter. All he had to do was turn other things to Sigils.

But he didn’t need to use any of it either. After all, the quests he had completed thanks to Leo’s Sigil of Quests had allowed him to accumulate quite a few extra Tiers. He couldn’t recall how many he had since there was no way to check, but there was a brute force way of finding out.

Back within his [Status], Rory focused on the Sigil of Weaving. An option to raise its Tier popped up, and Rory accepted it. The Tier level changed from VIII to IX.

[You have raised one Sigil by 1 Tier. You have 7 extra Tiers available.]

There he was. Seven extra Tiers was more than Rory had expected, which meant he’d have a few left over after he had raised Weaving to Teal. All the better for him.

For now, Rory applied two more extra Tiers to his Sigil of Weaving to take it to Teal I.

New Achievement!

Teal Troubadour! You’ve achieved another personal milestone of breaking through to the Teal Tier. Perfect.

Rewards

You can raise any 1 Sigil to Teal.

Rory wasted no time picking his Sigil of Stats as the Sigil to be raised to Teal I. His consideration was twofold.

One—he needed improved stats if he was going to end up in more situations like yesterday where he would have struggle for his life.

Two—it was a matter of time regarding which Sigil he could get to Teal I and how fast he could do so. All the other Sigils would reach Teal I naturally soon enough at their current rate of progress. Even his Sigil of Mercantilism was likely to get big boosts once he successfully established deals with the Homeworlders and the Otherworlders. The rest he could affect personally by using them.

That wasn’t the case for the Sigil of Stats. That one raised itself passively over time, and Rory didn’t trust how long that would take. Why bother leaving it to chance?

“What’s going on?” Evelyn asked.

Rory explained how he had broken through to Teal I on two Sigils, unable to contain the smile on his face.

Evelyn congratulated him. “Going to try it on the corpses now?”

Rory nodded. “Let’s find out just what the Homeworlders were upset about.”