Andrew Rowe - On the Shoulders of Titans

Maybe Researcher was different because of the apparatus that maintained her, or maybe she’d just been in this state so long that the function of the summoning spell that inhibited her desire for self-preservation had failed.

Either way, I’d have to respect her view. If she considered vanishing to equate to death, I needed to prevent that. “Okay, let’s not let that happen. Hrm.” I considered options. “Can you use a return bell?”

She shrugged a shoulder. “I am not certain. It is most likely possible, however.”

I wasn’t going to accept uncertainty when someone’s life was involved. “Can you pull mana directly out of another object if it’s not designed to transfer mana?”

She shook her head.

I considered other options for a bit, but it was Researcher that suggested the solution that should have been obvious. “Did you enchant that bracer yourself, purifying it with the Arbiter attunement?”

I nodded. “Yep.”

“Can you make a second bracer?”

I put a hand on my forehead in exasperation. “Of course. Or I could just add copies of all the runes to the same bracer and double the capacity and regeneration. It shouldn’t be anywhere near the mana capacity of the metal yet.”

“That would provide one hundred and twenty mana per hour, which is sufficient to support me indefinitely — provided I do not expend mana on spells.”

I hadn’t considered that last part. “How much mana would it cost for you to detect someone’s location within the tower?”

“I have a number of spells with location functions, but they vary in cost and requirements. Most have a cost within ten to six hundred mana.”

Six…hundred?

I couldn’t possibly supply enough for that. “Okay, but there’s something basic you could do with ten?”

“Ten mana would be sufficient to determine if someone is present within the tower.”

That wasn’t quite good enough. “What about sixty? With that, could you get a floor number, or a direction?”

“A direction would be possible. Determining the exact floor number would be a more powerful spell, costing three hundred and sixty mana.”

Out of my current range, then. But a direction was probably good enough. We could use it more than once and just keep climbing. “What would you need in order to cast a direction spell?”

“A unique identifier, such as a material component linked to the target, or sufficient knowledge to search using a mental connection.”

I nodded. “I think we can provide that.”

Researcher floated down to her pedestal for a moment, looking wistful. “I do not know if I should help you. You may be exceeding the authority of an Arbiter by asking for this.”

I had to choose my words carefully here. I didn’t want to be dishonest. “This is related to a matter of both personal significance to me and directly related to a task that Visage Katashi asked me to investigate previously. If I am able to complete this task, I may be able to provide further information to Katashi that would assist him with a matter of significant importance.”

That was tailoring my answer, to be sure, but it wasn’t a lie.

And I did want to help Katashi find Tenjin… I just didn’t want to get my brother killed in the process.

Even if Tristan was involved in something I didn’t approve of, he was still my brother.

And, more than anything, I needed to ask him what had happened and why he’d made the choices that he had.

There was still so much I didn’t understand.

She seemed to search my face…and for a moment, her eyes changed again. “You are speaking the truth. For the most part, at least.”

Oh, resh. I didn’t know she could do that.

I grinned sheepishly. “I didn’t mean to be misleading.”

“Yes, you did.” She shook her head. “But it is sufficient justification, even if you are hiding something. You sincerely believe you could acquire information that would be relevant to a visage. That implies you are operating within your role as an Arbiter, and therefore I can assist you, even in a matter that would normally be forbidden.”

Researcher turned her head away. “In the future, I would prefer if you do not deceive me, however.”

I clenched my hands for a moment, then nodded. “Sorry. It’s a delicate matter. I will try to be more direct in the future.”

She looked back. “I believe you.”

Another question occurred to me. “Would leaving here violate your Summoner’s instructions?”

Researcher smiled. “They have not given me explicit instructions to remain, since it would normally be impossible for me to leave without them.”

“Okay. And how powerful would you say you are in combat?”

Her eyes widened for a moment. “I…would be useless in a fight. I do not even have a shroud. Do you anticipate violence occurring?”

That…was bad.

“We’re going to be climbing the spire. There will be all sorts of rooms, some of which will involve traps or battle.”

She took a step back. “Oh. I’ve never gone up the spire before. I’ve seen much of it, of course, and I knew…”

“If you know a way for us to move up without fighting, I’d be glad to use it.”

She shook her head. “Shortcuts do exist, but I do not have access to them, and neither would you.”

That was disappointing. “Okay, we’ll just need to protect you, then.”

“We?”

I nodded. “For now, I’ll go upgrade this bracer to make it strong enough to maintain you. We’ll test it in this environment for a few hours, just to make sure it works. Then we’ll leave in a couple days, and you can meet the team.”

I spent most of the rest of the evening upgrading the bracer, as promised.

The rest of the night was dedicated to modifying the Ring of Derek Controlling.

The anti-tampering runes were a tricky problem to solve.

I couldn’t move the mana out of the runes. I couldn’t add new runes. Destroying the runes might have worked, but it also might have destroyed the ring.

I was just about to use my etching rod to try to scratch out the runes when I came up with a slightly safer plan.

I asked Keras to use his metal magic to reshape the ring to remove the tiny sections of metal containing the anti-tampering runes. Fortunately, it didn’t explode.

With that, the ring was safe to modify.

I made some minor adjustments, and then I put it on and ran some tests.

It worked exactly as expected.

The next day, I gave the bracer to Researcher. We tested it. It worked as expected.

After that, we had two days remaining before it was time to head into the spire.

We all spent more of that time preparing.

Keras had purchased five return bells from Lars at my request. They were expensive, but everyone having a separate means to evacuate would make things much safer.

I didn’t need a bell; I still had my circlet, with the same function, but voice activation. If for some reason it didn’t work, though, having the bells as backup would be great.

We debated where to place the anchors for the return bells. Elora’s house was too far away, as was the school — it had to be within about a mile of the spire.

That left a random place, like I’d used last time, or something more familiar. We’d initially talked about using Derek’s old manor, but I didn’t like the risk of Saffron showing up there, even if it was very unlikely he would arrive right when we did. There was always the chance he had it under observation.

Ultimately, we just left the anchor rods with Lars. Apparently, it wasn’t the first time someone had done that. His shop was near the spire for a reason.

After that talk, I remembered what he’d said about healing potions earlier.