“What’s this?” Ranvir asked, accepting the letter from Amalia. It was one of the rare occasions when someone had actually come to his house. People rarely came all the way out to him, not because it was too far away, but because it was kind of shitty compared to the rest of the houses in Eriene.

Despite having more free time and making more money as a Sentinel, Ranvir still had only just begun fixing up the house. And he’d had more than a few distracting events over the last two months of his ‘apprenticeship’ with the organization. He hadn’t ever really been an apprentice, as that would’ve required an extensive period of supervision and slowly ramping up to full responsibilities. He’d mostly just been thrown in the deep end.

Behind him, a soft meow sounded out, causing the more advanced braced to look past him at Frija and Peeve, the kitten’s real name was Menace but Peeve fit better, crawling across the floor. Frija narrowly missed a slightly risen plank with her chin as she tried her best to get down as low as their new pet, while Peeve was sniffing at something on the floor.

Amalia shook her head and returned her attention to him as Frija also took her turn sniffing the spot. “It’s an invitation, or rather a challenge, I guess.”

Ranvir frowned, turning the envelope over in his hand.

“I offered to deliver for Kyriake as I was heading back this way,” Amalia said. “At least open it.”

Ranvir looked at her once before popping the seal in a brief burst of light. The envelope unraveled, revealing the letter written within. Ranvir spent a minute going over the wording carefully before clearing his throat. “How much does a watcher make?”

“Well,” Amalia said, walking around him and over to the table. “That’s not a simple answer.”

Ranvir followed her, pulling Frija away from the spot, a stain, her and the kitten had been sniffing before she licked it. “Try,” he sat opposite her.

“Mostly there’s a bunch of different factors,” Amalia said. “Personally, I get paid a bit on the low end for my power, but relative to my strength, the job is safe and I’m not paid so poorly that I cannot treat myself.”

Ranvir noted she wasn’t answering, so he didn’t reply.

Amalia rolled her eyes. “Look, there’s a bunch of different factors. Watcher usually get their pay subsidized by their faction and some factions pay more. Generally, there are two factors: seniority and hazard. The longer you’ve worked for the Sentinels, the more they pay you.”

Ranvir cocked his head. “What about those braced who are long-lived?”

Amalia scrunched her nose. “Right, I believe there’s actually a seniority limit where your pay no longer rises. Of course, that’s sort of dependent on your hazard as well. If you can handle high-Urityon folds on your own, your hazard and seniority will both be huge.”

Ranvir nodded. That much, at least, made sense to him. “Compared to a Sentry, how much does a Watcher make?”

“Up to twice as much if you join Afosío.”

“Afosío,” Ranvir said slowly. “That’s the combat faction. I assume that’s due to hazard pay, then?”

Amalia nodded.

Ranvir furrowed his brow as he thought over the letter and the challenge he’d been issued. Twice as much. I could do so much more with that amount of money. Fix the house up, get a proper crew out here. Maybe set up something more than just a cabin lost in the woods… he tapped a finger on the paper. Kyriake is paying too much attention, though. She’s strong too, stronger than a master back home, but…

He shook his head. “Why is Kyriake offering this to me?”

Amalia sighed. “It’s hard not to pay attention to you. Do you realize that?”

Ranvir got up from his chair as he shook his head. Frija and Peeve were trying to stick their heads in the firepit, which would be bad enough if there weren’t still some embers smoldering at the center. Picking both up by the scruff of the neck, via excess skin and clothing respectively, he settled back in his seat. Frija playfully batted a hand at Peeve, who returned the action with a quiet high-pitched sound in his throat.

“Among all the people who’ve started in the same time period as you, about ten of them had an unorthodox setup for Amanaris,” Amalia said as Ranvir started scratching both the children along their backs. Frija imitated a purr as she relaxed onto his stomach, Peeve soon following behind.

Amalia cleared her throat to get his attention back. “Among the trainees, only you have been allowed unsupervised access to folds and jobs. Among the ten unorthodox builds, all of them ended up changing them massively. Eight of them are following one of our guideline compositions of element, stat, and Ability. The two who haven’t completely let go of their original idea have changed it to one of the more challenging compositions, as they’ve been advised.”

“I don’t advertise my stat setup, though,” Ranvir said, already aware that it was a weak defense.

Amalia cocked an eyebrow. “Really, that’s your defense? You haven’t been back from that strange place you went for even a week, and what was one of the first things you did?”

Ranvir’s face curled in on itself in a wince. He’d gotten a little lost in his thoughts when he’d been training with Stone Spear. His throw had missed, which would’ve been bad enough, except another Sentinel, a Urityon, had been working on the wall near the dummies. Of course, the older woman had sensed it coming, and she’d knocked it out of the air.

That was all to be expected. The worrying part was the blood on the back of her hand after she’d done so. He was a Tier 5 Kistios, and she was a middling Urityon. Not only that, but she’d been using the stone element as well. She shouldn’t have been bothered by his attack at all.

“I didn’t realize word had spread about that already,” Ranvir groused as Frija and the kitten migrated from feigned slumber to sincere sleep.

“I wouldn’t say that it’s common knowledge that you’re anything more than a powerful and trusted Kistios, but some people, especially those who spend all day at the headquarters, are realizing how far your build leans. The common consensus is that you’re a seventh or eighth tier, not a fifth.”

“And surely Kyriake, specifically challenging me to reach Urityon by the end of the month, is going to help,” Ranvir deadpanned.

“Yes,” Amalia replied equally monotone, before giving slightly. “Well, a little. It’s going to come out, eventually. If it looks like she noticed early, added a little more oil to your food and wine in your cup, it’s going to look more deliberate.”

“Which is what I want?” Ranvir asked doubtfully.

“Well, the alternative is to make it look like you did it all on your own.”

“I did it all on my own.”

“You had help from Kasos.”

“Three years ago.”

“My point still stands. It’s only a question of time until a tracker or a gazer figures out just how outrageous your build is. If it looks like you gained even the semblance of the control you have now, even with help, that’s noteworthy. If you did it on your own…”

Ranvir ran his tongue over his teeth as he realized the complications such a revelation would add to his life. “That would be bad.”

“Ranvir,” Amalia said. “I hope you understand that someone managing a four to one ratio is worthy of closer inspection within the Sentinels. The list of braced that have a ratio higher than five starts and ends with apprentices of the Arkrotasia.”

Ranvir leaned back in his chair. “I knew it was rare, but I didn’t realize it was that rare.”

“Are fucking dumb?”

Ranvir blinked.

“Have you even looked at what your peers can do? Have you done the math on your Mana: Draw stat?”

Ranvir had done the math. He realized that even at Level 1 Tier 5 (40) he had more points in his source stat than an average low-Urityon braced. Looking at the math, however, was a very abstract way to understand what the level of power meant.

“I haven’t actually seen what my peers can do,” Ranvir admitted.

“You don’t have any peers,” Amalia said matter-of-factly. “But that’s not the point. You need to get ahead of the reveal. It’s not going to be easy and maybe that will finally convince you to slow down a little with your distribution, honestly it’s mind boggling you’ve gotten as far as you have.”

“I guess,” Ranvir muttered. “So you think I should take the challenge? Reach Tier 10 by the end of this month? And what is the Orykto fold?”

“That,” Amalia said, with a mischievous smile. “is my little addition. The Orykto fold is a mine in the middle of Urityon power, but it’s largely under water with very few creatures on the surface. It’s produces enough fyla throughout the year that there’s a lottery between the merchants who get to take a caravan there. Your promotional task would be to cooperate with the merchant caravan and their hired guards, while also slaying at least one creature with a Urityon-set katapetra.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad,” Ranvir muttered, confused.

Amalia snorted. “It’s about two days out and a week within the fold, all the while you have to take on a leadership role. You will represent the Sentinels to the guards and merchants.”

The color drained from Ranvir’s cheeks. “No…”

“That’s right,” Amalia chuckled. “You’re going to have to talk to people.”