The trip to Makhanda was mostly uneventful. Hugo sat next to indifferent passengers and monster attacks were infrequent. Hugo was worried the first morning when his hair reverted to its long black standard. No one seemed to notice though. He was surprised that they didn’t give him a second look, but he really shouldn’t have underestimated the indifference of strangers.

One bright spot from the trip was that there were a small group of tier four monsters along the way. Hugo killed enough muck drakes to rank up to forty-nine. He didn’t assign any of his free points just yet, but he told himself that he needed to come up with a plan for them sooner or later. His unique situation had led to a wide spread of points, but if he wanted to be truly good at anything, he would have to focus on one or two stats. He told himself he would assign them after he got his life domain back at rank sixty-four.

Reluctantly, he headed towards the life clinic on High street. It was where Birgit worked, and he wanted to ask her if she knew anyone by the name Esihle. If the grandmaster ritualist was still in Makhanda, a local like Birgit was likely to know him. She had asked Hugo to come visit sometime after getting to know him on the train ride north.

Hugo would be happy to see her again. Less so for her daughter. Karina was smitten with him for some reason, and Hugo just didn’t want to deal with that. She was cute and nice, but her attention felt unearned. She knew nothing about him, and was still throwing herself at him.

He shook his head. He really shouldn’t be worried about a minor social interaction. He had risked his life dozens of times over the last few years, this was nothing in comparison to that. He walked down the street until he found a building with a blue cross on the sign.

It looked like a simple neighborhood health clinic. Hugo’s estimation of Birgit rose. Most life mages focused on catering to the rich. Birgit was here providing for the common man. It was admirable.

Hugo walked into the clinic. It was larger than he expected. There were several people waiting to be seen, and a trio of attendants in life mage black. Hugo guessed that they were mages in training, learning the profession before they gained a domain. His guess was confirmed when he recognized one of the attendants.

“Hugo! I am so happy to see you,” Karina said. She had abandoned the patient she had been talking to and rushed over to talk to him.

“Hello Karina, good to see you too. I came by to chat with you and your mother. I didn’t mean to interrupt you, though,” Hugo said.

She guiltily looked back at the patient she had just abandoned. “Yeah, I guess we are kind of busy right now. Can you come back after the thirteenth bell? The clinic closes then. I would love to catch up with you, and my mom might be there too.”

Hugo smiled and said, “Sure thing. If your mom is available, I can take the both of you to dinner then.”

Karina beamed and promised to wait for him after their shift was over. Hugo spent the next few hours touring the city. It was a big city, about the size of Tallinn. Hugo was starting to get used to the idea that everything was bigger and more grand out here. He realized that there was a reason the wheel rarely got visitors from outside. It was better out here. He was almost glad that he needed to live in mana rich environments like this. It meant that he got to explore new and amazing places.

He met Karina and Birgit outside their clinic just after closing time. He suggested a restaurant he had seen on his walks and Birgit said it was excellent. It was an impundulu style restaurant, full of vibrant colors and low tables. The three of them were escorted to their table and given a bowl of nuts and seeds to snack on while they waited.

They chatted and caught up with each other. It didn’t take long because it hadn’t been long since they saw each other last. Hugo also skirted the fact that he was an artificial person and he had talked with the king.

After Hugo had ordered the grilled lamb and pavlova, he finally brought up why he came here, “I was hoping you could help me out with a few things. I still need some void steel, and I wanted to track down Grandmaster Esihle. He is an older ritualist I was referred to.”

Birgit nodded and said, “The void steel is easy. Lots of places in town sell it. I just bought some for a patient bed last year. Heatweavers on Auckland Street is your best bet. Their price is reasonable and they will form it for you. That’s the hardest part because it can’t be reformed after it is cool.”

“Thank you, I will head over there tomorrow. And the ritualist? Have you heard of Grandmaster Esihle?” Hugo said hopefully.

“No, I haven’t. Not much need for ritualists in my line of work. I don’t think I have even talked to a ritualist after we had the clinic blessed,” Birgit said.

“Esihile sounds like a nox name, right?” Karina said, “The nox grandmasters have their own part of town. You should start there. It's in the Rotorua district, southwest of here.”

Hugo smiled widely and said, “Thanks for the suggestion, I will start there.”

The rest of the dinner went by slowly. Hugo wanted to race out and look for Esihle right away. That would be rude though, so he was a good conversationalist through the next three courses. The lamb was good, the pavlova sweet, but the star of the meal was the hāngī the table shared. The pork and pumpkin dish was sublime and made the insane price of the meal easier to pay at the end of the night.

First thing the next morning, Hugo was heading towards the Rotorua district. It reminded him of his time in Paarl, with the symmetrical streets and colorful houses. Hugo was quickly able to find a compound dedicated to the ritual domain. It was already open for business and he eagerly walked through the gates.

There were open rooms to the side of the courtyard with ritualists talking to customers. At the head of the complex was a nox in ornate robes. He was obviously in charge here. He looked young, maybe too young to be the Esihle he was looking for. Even with the life-extending power of higher ranks, he shouldn’t look this young. The man he was looking for was ancient. Maybe this guy was his grandson or something?

Hugo bowed in the nox way and said, “Hello, I am Hugo Ersatz. I am looking for Grandmaster Esihle.”

“You found him, youngster,” Esihle said, “Are you looking for some ritual work? I have to warn you, I don’t come cheap.”

With a nod, Hugo said, “I am happy to pay you for your time. I am not looking for a ritual today, I am a ritualist myself. I wanted to talk to the Grandmaster Esihle that participated in the eight grand rituals. Is that you?”

The nox tilted his head and stared at Hugo for a moment. He eventually said, “It’s... it’s been over a thousand years since the first Esihle. How could you possibly think he was still alive?”

“I don’t know. High ranks extend your life, right? I talked to a Fey that said she talked to the first Esihle just eighty years ago,” Hugo said defensively.

Esihle chuckled and looked embarrassed, “Ok, that is kind of our fault. We have a running joke in the family where we all visit Carabosse and pretend to be the first. I have been reading the histories to prepare for when I am older. If she asks us about something we don’t know about, we just pretend our memory is bad.”

“Why would you do that?” Hugo said.

The latest Esihle shrugged, “Carabosse is generous with her friends. It started because our family needed the money, but now we try and keep up the tradition with equally nice gifts to her.”

“That’s ... something,” Hugo said and rubbed his face, “You mentioned you have histories? Do any of them talk about the eight grand rituals?”

“No, the government purged that information centuries ago. We didn’t keep anything related to the grand works. Our family has had a hard enough time staying disciples of Acomar, we can’t afford to break the law,” Esihle said.

Hugo stood there for a moment and said, “Well, shit.”

The nox chuckled again and said, “I am sorry, kid. I didn’t think that our family mischief would get your hopes up like that. Why do you care so much about ancient history?”

Hugo sighed and decided to be honest. It was his ancestor’s life work after all. He said, “They found the eighth grand ritual. It’s inside Shimmer Mountain. They are going to destroy it. It will ruin our way of life. Thousands will die within the wheel, and maybe more without it. No one will have a supply of cheap produce anymore. I just wanted to talk to the first Esihle about it. I just wanted to know what was so bad about the ritual that everyone has to suffer when it gets destroyed.”

“Oh,” Esihle said. He looked awkwardly off into the distance. “That is going to affect a lot of people, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. I want to fight against it. It’s my home, I want to protect it. But I am not so arrogant as to assume that I know best. Maybe the ritual really would be bad for everyone. I just don’t know. I wanted some certainty in my life. Now I can’t even have that,” Hugo said and sighed.

Hugo turned to walk away but Esihle held out his hand. “If it’s really that important to you, you could use your one question on it.”

“What?” Hugo said.

“You are a ritualist, right? Most gods will answer one question from a high ranked ritualist,” Esihle said.

“Really? How have I never heard of this?” Hugo said.

The nox shrugged and said, “Maybe you didn’t have a good master? All of my apprentices know about it. Some of them already have a question lined up for when they hit rank sixty-four.”

“Wow. Is there a specific ritual for it, or do you just get a free question?”

“No, no. You have to perform the correct ritual. I don’t know what your god requires, but the Acomarians require a sacrifice of a mana core, so it isn’t a question you can ask on a whim. But if you are serious about wanting to know what you should do, you can just ask,” Esihle said.

Hugo stood there in shock before saying, “Well, I am a disciple of Acomar, can I buy the question ritual from you?”

“Of course you can, fellow disciple,” Esihle said, “And while we are at it, I have a few other rituals you might be interested in.

Hugo left the complex a platinum poorer and two rituals richer. In addition to the invocation ritual, he bought a duplicate ritual. It would replicate anything he placed in the center of the ritual at the cost of one mana stone.

He was in a fantastic mood. There was a path now. He could literally ask the gods and know that he would be making the right choice. It would take some time to rank up to sixty-four, but he could probably do it in time. Hunting high tiered monsters would be a risk, but he could hire a team to help him out. The process of ranking up would also give him a good chance to net a mana core.

The only question was if he would be able to afford the team to take him out hunting. Anyone able to take down a tier four monster would be expensive. Leaving the wheel, he had thought his bag of platinums made him rich and powerful. Now he was realizing that wasn’t the case. It didn’t matter though. He would find a solution and get that mana core. He knew it.

First step was getting that void steel. Having a Raven scout ahead for him would be invaluable. It could be the difference between getting the drop on a hydra and waking up inside the hydra’s stomach. With a spring in his step he headed towards Auckland Street.