Victor felt a sudden urge to direct Alec toward Sea Keep, where Rellia was currently managing her operations. He’d been speaking to the guy for less than a minute, and he was already talking about favors. Victor knew relationships between towns, countries, and political factions were built on mutual benefits, but he’d hoped to just talk to the guy and show him around, not start wheeling and dealing immediately. His scowl must have been more evident than he’d intended because Alec held up his hands and, after a quick, shaky laugh, said, “Let me stress, it’s not a big favor. I mean, it’s not for you, but for us, it might mean the difference between continued existence and destruction—Olivia’s words, not mine.”

Valla squeezed Victor’s arm, her cool fingers pressing into his biceps. “Don’t worry about him, Alec. He’s always frowning like that. Why don’t we show you to Victor’s home, and you can tell us about this favor over a cup of tea and a crumble cake one of Victor’s admirers gave us?”

Victor chuckled at Valla’s description of the cake one of Dunstan’s former thralls had baked for him. “Actually, that’s a good idea. I bet you’ll be interested to hear about the woman who baked it. She’s a human from a world other than Earth.”

“Oh?” Alec’s eyebrows rose, his surprise evident.

Victor nodded, gesturing toward the path that would lead to his travel home. “Yeah. I’m not sure if it’s a coincidence or . . .” Victor laughed at himself, shaking his head. “No, never mind that. It’s definitely not a coincidence. The System chose vampires and their undead minions to invade these lands. The world they came from was settled by Death Casters who’d fled Earth when the Energy stopped flowing there.”

“Ah, seriously? So, your ‘conquest’ was against invaders from another world?” Alec turned when Victor gestured to his left. Straight ahead, down a long, flower-lined gravel lane, sat Victor’s jade travel home. “Oh, what an interesting dwelling!”

“It’s Victor’s travel home. He’ll build something more substantial eventually.” Valla led the way up the steps, and Victor stood back, holding the door as she and Alec stepped inside.

“Ah! Dimensional magic. We have a few structures employing it back in First Landing, but not so heavily as this one! Well, other than Morgan’s tower, I suppose.”

“Morgan . . .” Victor frowned, scratching his chin. “That’s the one who went to Tharcray, yeah? Olivia told me about him.”

“Right.”

“How’d that go?” Valla asked, taking the lead down the hallway toward the dining area.

“Um, he hasn’t brokered any sort of lasting deal, but he did manage to get some assurances that the Ridonne don’t care too much about us at the moment. They’re dealing with some inner strife and political issues concerning their presence in other worlds. In fact, Morgan’s gone off-world, which threw our little community for a bit of a loop . . .” Alec trailed off as he stepped into the dining hall and the adjacent kitchen area, his eyes taking in the big table, the bright daylight streaming through the kitchen windows, and the vaulted ceiling with the skylight. “What a space! I’d never have guessed looking at the exterior.”

“Take a seat there with Victor, and I’ll put together a snack.” Valla didn’t wait for any objections, walking past the table and into the kitchen.

Victor rapped his knuckles on the table’s smooth surface. “Anywhere you like, Alec.”

“Thanks.” Alec sat down in the chair closest to the head of the table on the near side, so Victor moved around to sit across from him. As soon as he’d taken his seat, Alec hit him with some questions, “You’re saying you had to fight invaders from another world to win these lands? I thought the ‘conquest’ would just involve fighting monsters or, well, natives, is the right word, I guess.”

“I’d have a hard time justifying something like that, but yes, the System made that part easy by filling these lands with undead monstrosities.” Victor shook his head, grinning wryly. “Don’t you think it’s interesting to learn that there used to be Energy users on Earth powerful enough to flee through portals they created?”

“It’s more than interesting. It conflicts with what we thought we knew of the System. Morgan was the first human to wake here on Fanwath, and, according to him, the System didn’t recognize humanity right away. It makes you wonder how broad the System is and how often each part of it communicates with the others. Does it send out updates once a month, once a century? Does it need to do that, or does it just know everything that’s happening everywhere all the time? Sounds more like God than a ‘system,’ if so.”

“Yeah. I’m pretty damn sure the System isn’t God.” Victor chuckled and looked over his shoulder to check on Valla. He hated being responsible for entertaining strangers.

“What makes you say that?”

“Uh, the fact that there are plenty of species that existed and worked with Energy long before the System came around. My ancestors, for instance.”

“Ah! That’s one of the things you might be able to help us with. How about I go over my little proposal? Is it too soon? I hope I’m not overstepping . . .”

“Nah, it’s fine.” Victor was annoyed, but he also was happy to let Alec talk for a while. It would give Valla time to rejoin the conversation.

“Well, Olivia indicated in our communications that when she’s brought up the idea of you coming to First Landing, you’ve been less than enthusiastic. She’s a bit of an outlier among our citizenry, what with her unusually high affinity with multiple attunements and her unnatural proclivity for mastering new magic.” Alec held up a hand and laughed. “Don’t get me wrong—from what we’ve gathered, dealing with some unpleasant nobility and the locals in our neck of the woods, it seems humans generally have high Energy affinity, but Olivia’s a standout. I’m bringing this up because she’s often banging the drum about how important advancing in levels and gaining power is when she comes to town, and her words are often less than enthusiastically received.”

“Yeah?” Victor was having a hard time figuring out why he should care.

“Yeah. I mean, there are some who are pretty gung-ho about leveling and exploring, but oftentimes, their abilities and enthusiasm don’t exactly match up. Take me, for instance. I was pretty happy just running a business in town; I opened the first tavern and made a killing. I expanded the business, and now I’ve got a full-blown hotel; well, ‘inn’ is probably more accurate. I’m a level eighteen Tavernkeeper.” Alec smiled, shaking his head at a pleasant memory. “When I first told Olivia that was my Class, she laughed and laughed. She’d already been at Fainhallow, you see, and was studying about Classes with a great deal more . . . gravitas, shall we say?”

“Uh-huh.” Victor nodded, glancing again for Valla and sighing with relief when he saw her approaching with a tray. “Here we go. You’re going to love this cake, Alec.”

“Oh, I’m certain you’re right.” He paused his discourse to watch Valla set down the tray with three steaming mugs, a crock of whipped butter, and the sweet, nut-and-fruit-loaded crumble cake.

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“Help yourself.” Valla smiled and sat at the head of the table between the two men.

“Don’t mind if I do.” Alec grinned, took one of the mugs, and then slathered a slice of the cake with some of the soft, creamy butter. Once his little plate was before him, he sipped the tea, smiled and sighed, then took a bite of the cake. “Mm!” His eyes glazed over as he chewed. Valla helped herself, and Victor, of course, carved off a generous slice. The conversation was put on hold for a few minutes once they were all working on their snack, and Alec continued to exclaim about how good it was.

“So,” Valla said, pushing her plate away. “You were telling Victor that there are some ambitious folks among you, but they’re a minority? Is that the right way to explain things?”

“Ah, no, not exactly. I was about to use myself as an example of how most of us are ambitious but not in the way that makes us personally powerful. I’m very interested in seeing my business grow, gaining wealth, and buying properties. Back on Earth, such success would eventually have made me a powerful person. Here, according to Olivia and our few run-ins with less-than-savory folks, I’ve learned that that kind of success can be very fleeting. Everything I have can be taken away in a snap.” To illustrate, Alec snapped his fingers. “I believe it, Olivia believes it, but many of the people in our settlement think that our government will protect them and that they can continue to focus on finding success as they’d always done.”

“Well, they’re not exactly wrong.” Victor shrugged, not seeing the problem. “It’s the same in native cities; not everyone is out challenging dungeons or going to war. Plenty of people build businesses or lead small service-oriented lives.”

“Right, but according to what I’ve learned from Morgan’s correspondence and Olivia’s studies, this world has been rather sheltered. Haven’t the Ridonne limited travel beyond this world? Haven’t they, themselves, grown powerful beyond even the ‘heroes’ who make their living facing ‘dungeons’ and whatnot? Isn’t it only a matter of time before a more dangerous world connects to this one? What if a true powerhouse comes through and makes some real trouble for us? If I can read between the lines well enough, that’s what’s happening in Tharcray. I think the Ridonne have stunted the growth of this world to their own detriment. I believe they’ve encountered something they’re struggling with and, due to their imposed limitations, the rest of the populace isn’t in a position to help them.”

“I mean, I don’t know what you’ve heard, but the ‘trouble’ the Ridonne have been having might just be me . . .”

“Oh, I heard about your encounter with their Legion. Talk of it was all over Persi Gables when I passed through. That’s not it, however. Morgan contacted us about the Ridonne’s ‘troubles’ a good four months prior.”

“Why so cryptic? Can’t he just tell you what’s up?”

“I would think so, but he’s . . . incommunicado.”

Valla set her steaming cup down and cleared her throat. “Okay, Alec, we’re losing sight of what you actually want.”

“Right! I was hoping that Victor and you, of course,” he nodded at Valla, “would speak to our populace. I was hoping you’d sit down and have a sort of town hall where you speak about what you’ve seen on other worlds, or from other worlds, and why it’s important to . . . What’s the word they use, um, cultivate power? That’s it, cultivate. Why it’s important to build up a Core, to gain levels, and advance your bloodline.”

Victor grunted, shaking his head. “It seems pretty damn obvious to me, Alec. You really need me to tell people why power is important?”

“Our people are stubborn, Victor. We’ve got a hundred engineers working on reinventing automobiles and airplanes using Energy-driven engines. We’ve got people making repeating cannons, landmines, and machine guns. I mean, it’s great, but Olivia says one ‘elder’ being could wipe them all out, that someone who’d achieved tier ten or, hell, even tier five could probably ignore most of the war machines we can come up with. What’s worse is that our Artisan Class citizens are far outstripping the cultivators—we’ve learned to build portal stones, for instance. What’s going to happen when we open a connection to a high-tier world, and someone truly powerful sees our potential as, well, as slaves?”

“So you want me to come there and scare them?”

Alec laughed, shaking his head. “I mean, that might work, but Olivia had the idea that you could just talk about your time in, um, I have it in my notes, but what was the name of the world where . . .”

“Zaafor?” Valla supplied.

“That’s it! She says you met many powerful beings and that you had to flee because of a villainous warlord or some such. Is that right?”

Victor sighed and nodded. “Sure, Alec. You’re right that opening yourselves up to advanced worlds and powerful people before you’re ready is a real risk. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Ridonne’s tight control over world travel has a lot to do with that, but that won’t stop travel in the other direction. The System can be a real bitch, but it won’t send a “challenge” here that’s much beyond you. That doesn’t mean a powerful individual or, yeah, warlord couldn’t find their way here. If they did, if they opened their own gateway without the System’s help, then they could easily dominate this planet.”

“So, just a town hall?” Valla pressed, trying to pin down the commitment Alec was looking for.

“And perhaps a demonstration. Our Artificers have been building war machines—Energy-driven automatons. Think of a tank crossed with a robot. There’s a faction in our government who think we’re already strong enough to take on the Ridonne, that they’re just backward, medieval tyrants whom we can steamroll like Patton taking on a Roman legion.”

“Patton?” Valla frowned, slowly turning her cup between her palms.

“He’s talking about people from Earth.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Lady ap’Yensha! I was trying to draw a comparison between a modern military with guns and heavy artillery versus an army using spears and swords.” When Valla continued to frown, her eyes betraying her confusion, he added, “I mean, I’m sure Victor has described our world to you a little, yes? We didn’t have Energy or magic, but we had technology far beyond what you see on Fanwath. We had weapons that could strike a person down instantly from great distances. We had bombs and missiles that could destroy entire cities. Olivia worries we’ll go down that road again, become too sure of our capabilities, and then run into someone with deific powers. Victor, here, might be able to give our populace a taste of that. That’s all I’m saying.”

Valla nodded and, to Victor’s delight, continued leading the conversation. “If you want Victor to do battle with your automatons, you’ll need to tell us what you’ll put on the table.”

Alec nodded. “I understand you want to advance your colony stone.”

“That’s right. We need to advance at least two more ranks before we can open world travel.”

“That’s what we can help you with. We’ve stockpiled a lot of Energy beads through our own development and from trade with neighboring towns and villages. I have it on good authority from our development committee that a million beads will go a long way in the early colony stone ranks.”

“Is that what you’re offering? A million beads?” Valla didn’t betray much, but Victor knew her well enough to hear the excitement in her voice. A million beads would probably get them where they needed to be.

“That’s right. What do you say?” To Alec’s credit, he didn’t break eye contact with Valla to gauge Victor’s response. It was probably a good thing because Victor was sold and didn’t have a good poker face.

“Victor and I will visit your town, answer your questions, and Victor will destroy your automatons for one and a half million beads.”

Victor almost laughed, surprised to hear Valla being so cutthroat. However, Alec didn’t laugh and didn’t even look surprised. He smiled, nodded, and said, “It’s a deal, but you’ve reached the limit of my negotiation authority, so please don’t push it any harder.”

“Okay, Victor?” Valla looked at him for the final word.

“Hmm, I guess. I don’t mind beating the shit out of some robots, but I’m not really excited to be on the spot answering questions on a stage. I’ll do it for Edeya, though.”

“Edeya?” Alec was smiling ear-to-ear like he’d just made the deal of the century.

Valla began gathering the empty plates, stacking them on the tray. “Our friend. She’s the reason we need to open world travel as soon as possible. That said, Ambassador, when shall we depart for your town?”

“I left the portal stone with the steward of your, um, travel pavilion. I’m ready to go whenever you’d like, though I’d hoped to meet the other leaders here and perhaps establish a residence—I intend to participate in the community you’re building.”

Victor pushed his chair back and stood up. “It’s early still. Let’s take him around. Rellia and Borrius will want to meet him. We’ll get him a room in the inn, and then,” Victor paused for breath and to lock eyes with Alec, “if you’re feeling up to it, we can go to First Landing in the morning. I’m sorry to rush things, but I feel like I’ve put my friend’s welfare on hold long enough. She needs help, and if you’re offering the Energy to advance the stone, I’d like to do my part as soon as possible.”

Alec, too, stood, slowly nodding his head. “The inn, hmm? Well, it’ll do for now. Will I be permitted to build an official embassy eventually?”

“Definitely. If Rellia won’t allow you one here, then you can build it on my lands.”

“Your lands? They’re separate from these?” Alec looked confused, and Valla chuckled. She stood and moved beside him, taking his elbow and steering him toward the front of the house.

“There’s much you need to understand, Ambassador. I don’t know how much Victor told Olivia, but these lands, the Free Marches, are more vast than the entirety of the Ridonne ‘frontier.’ Even after gifting deeds to his allies, Victor’s share of the conquered lands numbers nearly thirty million acres. That’s assuming we don’t continue to expand, pushing into the untamed lands further south.” Victor listened to her as she and Alec walked ahead, his mind struggling to stay focused as he thought about everything Alec had told him.

The idea that humans had come to this world and were immediately trying to recapture the way of life they’d left behind didn’t surprise him, but it certainly bothered him. Of course, they’d try to make planes and tanks and machine guns. Of course, they’d see Energy as just another fuel source, a way to power their tech. He hoped they weren’t all focused on such things. They couldn’t be, could they? Some among them had to have awoken spirit Cores. Surely, some of them had learned to see their inner selves and auras. There was so much more to Energy than, well, energy. It was the essential, vital force of everything and the connection every cultivator had to the universe. If a person didn’t see that, didn’t internalize and process the gifts Energy could grant, they’d never understand. Victor would have to show them. He’d have to give them a glimpse of the power of a sleeping god.