Домагой Курмаич - Mother of Learning

Influenced by such things, Zach and Zorian decided to approach Quatach-Ichl for lessons again. Originally they wondered if they should skip their interaction with him in this particular restart, due to all the new time loopers suddenly walking around, but in the end they decided they would risk it. This time, the topic they chose was tracking magic and search spells. This was a relatively safe topic to ask about, and it might help them find the staff faster. A foolish hope, probably, considering the staff was immune to normal divination, just like all the other imperial artifacts. However, Quatach-Ichl was familiar with divine energies in a way that others couldn’t match, so perhaps he knew of a way it could be done.

The topic was also potentially useful in tracking down Red Robe once they were outside the time loop, and it might give them an answer about how Quatach-Ichl had managed to detect their presence at the end of the previous restart. Zorian really wanted an answer to that last question, since he had thought his privacy wards were pretty much flawless at this point.

It was really unfortunate that he had been unable to find out anything of worth when he broke through Quatach-Ichl’s mental defenses, Zorian thought gloomily. While he was extremely proficient at performing memory probes by now, that type of magic took a long time to really get going and the ancient lich had given him very little time to work with before abandoning his body. He probably shouldn’t have tried to find out where Quatach-Ichl’s phylactery was located. That kind of information was incredibly important and was thus bound to be guarded with the greatest possible zeal. He should have gone for something fairly mundane. Maybe Quatach-Ichl would have been willing to risk things and spend more time struggling against his mental probe.

At the moment, though, Zach and Zorian were in the time magic research facility beneath Cyoria. The two of them were disguised as adult agents of the crown, and were having a private talk with Krantin Keklos, the head researcher and overseer of the facility.

Krantin was slowly turning the imperial orb in his hands, utterly fascinated with it.

"You understand that we require your complete silence about this matter, don’t you, Mister Keklos?" Zorian asked him.

The man suddenly looked up, a slightly confused look on his face. He had evidently been so absorbed in his study of the orb that he had lost track of time.

"Hm? Oh. Oh yes, I absolutely understand the need for secrecy," Krantin quickly said, nodding furiously. "I assure you, me and my team are quite used to working on top secret projects and dealing with potential leaks."

He took another long look at the orb in his hands.

"This thing… it’s absolutely amazing," he said, obvious admiration in his voice. "I cannot put into words how glad I am to be given this honor."

"I hope you remember you are not being given this orb just to satisfy your personal curiosity," Zach said gruffly. He was playing the bad guy in their fake royal agent scheme. "We have given you this honor because you are our nation’s foremost expert on Black Rooms, and we hope you can turn this pocket dimension into the largest one yet. Can you do it or not?"

"Yes, absolutely," Krantin said. "While the volume of space inside is larger than anything we have ever done, the isolation from the outside world is also unprecedented. We can definitely turn this into a temporal dilation zone. Just…"

"Just?" Zorian prompted.

"W-Well, this is a very ambitious undertaking you are proposing here," Krantin said, stumbling over the words slightly. Zorian could feel that, although Krantin was a little nervous, he was also determined to make the absolute most out of this opportunity he was presented with. "To create this thing you are proposing, we would have to considerably expand the research facility and design whole new methods of Black Room construction. While I am sure we can do it eventually , the amount of time involved is not small. We are a very small team and–"

"You want more money," Zach said bluntly, cutting him off.

"And people," Krantin nodded.

He seemed to sense this was important to them. In that case, he felt it was entirely appropriate to ask for increased commitment in terms of resources and available staff.

Zorian did not answer verbally. He just reached into his jacket and handed Krantin a promissory note from one of the local banks. He could have brought actual cash too, of course, but he knew by now that government facilities like this rarely dealt with such things and that dumping large stacks of paper money on them would be a huge mistake. It would raise all sorts of red flags in their heads.

Krantin wordlessly accepted the promissory note and glanced at it. He raised his eyebrow at the number printed on it. Zorian could tell he was appreciative, but not really impressed.

"This is just the initial sum to get you started, of course," Zorian said. "You will get further funding once things actually start moving forward, as well as additional bonuses if the project is going particularly well."

"Of course," Krantin said, slightly more impressed.

"In regards to additional staff, that is a bit more complex," Zorian said. "Due to the somewhat abrupt nature of this initiative, it will take at least a month before we can send some new people here on a permanent basis."

"That’s fine," Krantin said easily. "I can wait a month or several. Just be aware that the longer it takes for additional manpower to arrive, the more the project will stall."

"I wasn’t finished," Zorian said, shaking his head. "Although we cannot send people here officially, you will get several mages skilled in dimensionalism to help you move faster with the project."

Specifically, the man would be getting Xvim, Silverlake, Zach and Zorian. With their expertise in dimensionalism and with the research facility staff’s experience in constructing Black Rooms, the project would hopefully result in something useful after a few restarts.

Krantin didn’t seem to like the idea, however.

"I don’t like experts outside my authority coming here, telling me how to run things," he told them bluntly. "Even if they’re highly capable, they don’t know the wider context of why we do things the way we do. They would just slow things down and create confusion."

"Are you the facility overseer or not?" Zach challenged. "Are you telling me that you cannot keep a couple of new arrivals in line or bring them up to speed in a timely manner?"

Krantin frowned at him, giving him a slightly angry look.

"These people are being sent here as help," Zorian said in a conciliatory tone. "If, after talking to them, you feel they contribute nothing of worth to the project, you are free to send them away."

"Just remember that their help has already been factored into our projections on how long the project will take," Zach warned.

"Very well," Krantin said, a little unhappily. "I shall give these people a chance, at least. We will see if they are as good as you say they are."

It took them another hour to arrange everything. Zach and Zorian handed Krantin a whole stack of official documentation, which the man merely glanced at before handing it over to the rest of his staff. He evidently didn’t even consider the idea that this was all just an elaborate ruse. Zorian hoped the people actually in charge of processing the documentation would be every bit as careless as their overseer, because many of the documents wouldn’t stand up to detailed scrutiny.

"Well," Krantin eventually breathed out. "This has certainly been a productive evening. Was there anything else you wanted to talk about?"

"Actually, yes," Zorian nodded, handing the man another folder full of documents. "There’s been a change in regards to the group that is planned to take advantage of the next Black Room period."