Chapter 460

Mark was researching laws and Powers on his computer in his room when Walaria’s caller ID showed up on Quark’s suddenly-front-and-center body. Mark stepped away from the screen and answered.“Hello!”

“Dawncoast is a fine name. I have entered it into the Imperial Record. How have you been since the near disaster?”

“I’ve been okay,” Mark answered, kinda lying but also telling the truth at the same time. He wasn’t actually sure how he felt, really, and it felt awkward for Walaria to ask, for some reason. But… “I’m doing fine for the situation. Is everything okay there? With you? Or with… anyone?”

“We’re doing okay. Thank you for asking,” Walaria said, voice kinda mechanical. She wasn’t okay, and she knew Mark wasn’t okay, but they both had callings that mattered more than their mental states. Walaria continued, “I have read the revised list you sent out after your talk with Addavein, and after you spent a Strength Unending, a Telekinesis, and a Battlemind on Shawn Bench, and a Geokinesis on Lenny Adawah. I approve of the socially-demanded changes to the organization of your list. Why did you empower Shawn and Lenny?”

“Thank you, and also…” There were lots of good reasons to empower Shawn and Lenny, from them being friends, to the need for more empowered people here in Dawncoast, to Tartu needing some real powerhouses near him, to some bad reasons, like how neither Shawn or Lenny had ever had any real responsibility and now they were going to face life as true Talents, with Shawn even being a Tri-Talent… but the reasons Mark had helped them? Aside from his own, personal knowledge of the two guys, Mark said, “I trust them and their loyalty to Tartu, and I trust Tartu.”

“Then I am fine with that answer, and that reasoning. I’ll be sending you 8 soldiers for combinations of Speedy and various Shaper Skills, 2 officers for True Brawny, Battlemind, and Transcendent Soul combinations, 1 officer for True Brawny, Battlemind, and Leader, and 15 people for Animate Undead and Healthy Body. I also have 5 women who want Breeder, but they’ll be coming in at a later date.

“I will be bringing 17 people with Skills who no longer wish to have those Skills. They will need Healthy Bodys in turn.

“The numbers might change between now and then, but not overmuch.

“I’ll send you a full list with names, faces, and identification, and I will be there to see them done along with my sister, Kalimara.

“She’ll be sending you interesting monsters at later dates to rip the Bindings out of to see what they have.

“Concerns?”

Mark answered, “I don’t have enough room in my soulhouse to get more Healthy Bodys right now, so we’ll have to take a break halfway through for me to get more— No wait. I can dump some Hive Minds right now? If you don’t want them? I am not sure what is important right now, or not.”

“Hive Mind is not necessary for any reason at all. Hive Minds can be too easy to corrupt with dominating influences, so Aluatha will not be exploring that option in war, at all.”

“Then I’ll dump these Hive Minds and go get more Healthy Bodys. Eliot is making the building right now. He might be done? Quark?”

Quark spoke up, “The building for Dawncoast Skilling, a division of Blackleaf Industries, is done and complete and located northeast of the Gate District, northwest of Castle North.”

Mark grinned a little. “Oh! Close.”

“The warriors will arrive within the hour,” Walaria said, “And so will I.”

“See you soon!”

Click.

Mark took a moment.

And then he went into his soul, ripped up a bunch of Hive Minds before sending off a message to Reeni about needing more Healthy Bodys. By the time Mark arrived at the farm, Reeni stood at the entryway to the slaughterhouse.

The small woman easily said, “Have at it.”

And so Mark did.

- -

Mark landed outside of Dawncoast Skilling, and he was impressed.

Eliot’s actual warehouse and production facility was about 250 meters that way, while this place was right beside the main tram station. It was prime real estate and it had been an oft-used warehouse, as far as Mark could remember, but Eliot or Blackleaf had obviously purchased it, and then Eliot had redone all of the space around the place, making it into this well-designed building.

Overall, it was a set of white, box-shaped buildings stacked next to each other and rising up kinda high, with a low white stone wall, a fountain out front, some nice walking spaces with trees and grasses, and a straight shot to the large tram station that sat between the Gate District and the War District. To the south lay the castles that were the center of Dawncoast, and to the north was more of the War District and the wall.

Mark could already sense Eliot, Andria, Derek, and someone else inside of the building. The last person felt vaguely familiar, tickling at Mark’s senses, but he couldn’t quite place them. Whatever was happening inside seemed to be personable, as there were slight flickers of satiation among all of their vectors, which meant it was some sort of amicable meeting.

Derek stood at the front door, waving at Mark.

Mark smiled and walked forward, asking, “Hey! So before we get anywhere more… Do you want another Power?”

“Heck no!” Derek said, smiling, his vector filling with the joy that Mark was even asking. A bunch of other Dereks in the building had the same feeling, like a rippling blush upon the world. Derek said, “Freyala’s already upped my clearance with Union and told me that if you gave me another Power that it was possible that your Skilling would carve off a piece of me, making a different person.” Derek added, “It’s my usual response toward high-level manipulation of my soul, and it’s kinda instinctual, now. I’m not going to weaken myself or allow a soul shifting to happen at all, by anyone.”

Mark paused. “… I didn’t know that was your ‘usual response’ to… to soul fuckery?”

Derek grinned and he felt and looked happy all over again. “But seriously! Thanks for the offer, dude.” Another Derek opened the door up ahead, and the Derek next to Mark spoke softer, “Try not to tell anyone that I’m safe from soul magics. That makes them try harder and weirder.”

“Got it,” Mark said solidly, walking through the open door. “Totally understandable. So what are your new Unions?”

Derek walked with Mark, saying, “Purity/Impurity, Integrity/Falsity, and Anarchy/Civilization.”

“Oh! That’s a… a really nice spread,” Mark said, mind tumbling with thoughts. The shape of Derek’s new responsibilities seemed familiar. Mark asked, “She’s asking you to be a full Inquisitor?”

The Derek by the walkway vanished, and the Derek by the door let the door close as he walked with Mark, saying, “I asked for it, and yes. It’s mainly for anti-goblin/anti-soldier measures.”

Mark had a sudden question that Derek would know. Mark asked, “Even with Okuana first striking at the Winter Ball and his attack on Drakarok’s people before that; The Purge… Hearthswellians and Verdagons are still in Okuana, and I doubt those people would shift alliances away from their governors or their gods. There will be Chosen System people on both sides of this war.” Mark stopped walking, asking, “How the is going to work?”

Derek’s vector and face vacillated like he wasn’t too sure of his answer, so he theorized, “Except for Drakarok, the gods don’t get involved in mortal disputes like this, BUT, I’m pretty sure that any paladin of any god will be asked to step aside from Okuana… except for maybe the Hearthswellians? Or the Freyalans in hospitals, healing the sick. Or the Verdagons making food for the nation. Pluta has stepped away for sure, as far as I know. She’s pulled out every single one of her people. Drakarok’s people went underground— of Drakarok’s people went underground, in order to provide assistance to those who come in to liberate the Empire from the dryad tyrant. Most died.”

Mark summed it up, “We don’t really know yet, because it hasn’t really become an issue?”

“Correct! Usually the Pantheon lets people fight each other using the Chosen System if they have issues with each other. The Pantheon doesn’t step in. But this time is different.” Derek shrugged. “We’ll know more when it happens.”

Mark nodded a little… He asked, “Who is upstairs?”

“Lord Cedric Umbral. He’s the new oversight for the new Tri-Talents coming out of here.” Derek shook his head. “I don’t know what that means, either.”

Mark grinned a little, and then he got walking through the reception area, saying, “Time to go find out. Thanks, Derek.”

“Anytime, boss!”

Mark marveled at the reception area as he walked through.

The overall aesthetic was marble doctor’s office and plastic surgery center, so it was professional, and high class. Marble floors; overall white with black veins in them. Silver accents. Big glass windows. A ceiling about 4 meters tall and with nice silver-accented white lights that provided sunlight-strength illumination but with the softness of multiple sources. No shadows here, except under the nice plush furniture. The reception desk was a silver curve that separated the waiting room from the rooms beyond, and which had an empty computer zone for someone to sit at in the future. No one was there right now.

The whole place was pretty much empty.

Mark could have gone up the big staircase leading upward, toward everyone up there, but instead he went looking down a wide, open hallway, where floor-to-ceiling windows separated the hallway from a courtyard. The courtyard looked like a nice, Japanese-inspired place, with curving trees over white sands and green grasses and wooden benches. Some big stones made it all look rather nice to look at. Mark went through the automatic door, into the courtyard, and then across the way to an open, concrete training area.

He explored a few sleeping rooms that looked like hospital rooms, and then he circled around back to a larger waiting room in the back of the place, with a separate entrance and a bunch of screens on the walls. Those screens were showing an empty list of appointments and numbers, and the room itself was set up for a bunch of people to wait in chairs or on couches, to watch movies or to converse on benches and under umbrellas outside.

Mark eventually made his way up some wide stairs to a second floor where a main room sat beyond an archway and some sliding doors.

This, then, was Mark’s main Skilling room. It was in the very center of the place, and it had a nice pair of chairs in it. One chair was for Mark, the other for the other person. Some screens displayed the same set of empty appointment lists that the big room downstairs had displayed, meaning that these numbers here were linked down there, and Mark probably only had to tap at a keyboard… somewhere… to move the numbers along and to call up the next guy— Ah! The wall had cabinets. Mark opened a cabinet and a keyboard lay right there. Mark closed the cabinet and the tolerances were thin enough that the cabinet vanished, save for a tiny dimple where his fingers could open it up again.

Mark loved it.

There were two entrances to the main Skilling room, but instead of exploring past that door back there, he went back to the main stairwell room. An archway at the landing peeled off toward a few recovery rooms while the wide stairs continued upward to the next floor, where Eliot, Andria, Derek, and Lord Cedric Umbral were having tea. The discussion seemed to be rather shallow because everyone was just killing time. Eliot’s vector still flickered out into the building, adjusting pieces here and there, though Mark knew not what.

And then Mark entered the main office space, with everyone gathered.

Umbral looked the same as always. He was pale, older, with white hair and a beard, and the shadows swirled around his feet, trailing off in other directions, his vector a slippery shadow that visibly stressed under his couch and to the walls, and then into a socket on the wall. Other pieces stressed in other directions.

Andria’s vector was barely there because it was disconnected from herself, though Mark still felt when Andria’s disconnected vector landed on him right alongside her sight. She smiled. “Hey, Mark! How’s it look?”

Mark said, “The place looks great.”

Eliot instantly asked, “What’s wrong with it?”

Mark explained, “The soldier area needs to be expanded because I just got a missive from Walaria and I’m expecting about 30 soldiers, or maybe a few more. Would be more but that’s as much as I have Powers for right now. We also need a secondary holding area for people with dangerous Powers who are dosed with shavallian. I expect repeats of both groups whenever Walaria decides to send them, so those areas need to be permanent additions to the place.”

Eliot focused, vector flexing elsewhere, as he said, “Okay. On it.”

Mark had not tested the walls, but they felt firm. Even so, he asked, “How strong are the walls?”

“Strong as can be without making this the center of Castellan for the city,” Eliot said, eyes looking elsewhere, “And I’m not doing that. Not yet. Maybe if we get a ‘Castleblack’ up and running I’ll make that my personal Castle.”

“Understandable,” Mark said.

Andria spoke up, “Tartu is going to do some warding for the place in 2 hours to make it more secure against strange Powers. Is that going to be good enough?”

“Maybe… Probably? I can’t imagine Walaria would send me the most dangerous people first, and especially not with a major contingent of soldiers.” Mark turned toward Lord Cedric Umbral, saying, “And hello, sir. I don’t think we’ve ever actually spoken.”

Cedric stood, saying, “We have not, but I assume we will be talking more as time wears on. I’m to be your oversight for all of this activity, and I have already spoken with Shawn Bench to assist him, as well.”

Mark got the impression that Cedric had done something serious for Shawn, but which Cedric didn’t want to talk about. Almost like it was embarrassing. Mark decided to ask Shawn about it later. As for Cedric, Mark asked him, “What sort of oversight was Aurora thinking?”

“Just for me to help you out if you need anything regarding Skilling, or organization, or outside help. I’ll be keeping track of your clients and operations and sending reports to Aurora, but mostly I’ll just be here to help out whoever you Skill in the settlement… though I suppose we’re calling it ‘Dawncoast’ now.” Cedric finished with, “I expect to just sign off on whatever do, but as for the people you Skill to higher heights, I will be helping them figure out their new places in the world as Tri-Talents or what-have-you, so that they’re not unduly preyed upon.”

“Ohh… Shawn was targeted already, was he,” Mark breathed out, realizing he should have seen that coming. “But Tartu is right there with him, I thought?”

“Tartu did provide assistance, but not as much as Shawn needs. Quite simply, the adamantine blade was too much,” Cedric said. “Though that was just part of the issue, and not the one that actually came up, directly, at all.”

“Fuck,” Mark sighed. He asked, “He’s okay?”

“A little emotionally shook up, but nothing too difficult. Aurora took care of the main issue and I handled the rest.”

“Okay well…” Mark made some rapid decisions, saying, “Thank you for helping him.”

“No trouble. I’ve been wrangling youths for all of my life, which is why I’m the teacher for most specialized people who came in here, if they needed teaching. You qualified past all of that, and for good reason.” Cedric sold himself to Mark, saying, “I also lead special missions and rote missions against hard targets, of which you have never joined us, but I invite you to do so whenever you wish. I have sent you that invitation because many of the monsters we fight are dangerous ones that can impart crucial lessons to the people who fight them. We kill them about 70% of the time, but sometimes we let them live. They all have amazing Bindings, and perhaps it is time for those Bindings to be used by people.”

Mark strongly said, “I welcome that invite, Lord Umbral, and I will be sure to check out those monster lists.”

Cedric grinned, and said, “You can call me Cedric, if you please, though I assume you’re already doing so in your head.”

Mark blinked. And then he grinned. The guy had a Mind Power, which would explain the heavy vector in his mind that bled into the shadows at his feet. Mark had mistakenly figured that collection of vectors as a well-used Shadow Shaper. The Mind Power wasn’t focused outward at collecting information, though, like Aurora’s Telepathy. If it was then the guy wouldn’t have gotten anything from Mark at all because of his Clean House ritual; even Aurora couldn’t read his mind anymore. So he must have had some sort of internally-focused Mind Power.

Mark asked, “Battlemind? Or something else?”

“Shadow Manipulation and Smart. Rather basic Mind Power, but I make up for it in other ways.”

Mark was impressed. “Oh shit…” He looked down at the shadows on the ground. “That’s Shadow Shaper at all.”

“Completely different.” Cedric added, “But if you should come across Shadow Shaper I would be interested in that one.”

Mark agreed to that, saying, “Of course. We’re going to need a lot more strength in Dawncoast, so I’m more than happy to Power up anyone working under Aurora. Speaking of such… Do you know when the attack is coming? Any ideas at all?”

“Nothing solid,” Cedric said, tone and demeanor shifting to something more solid as they got down to real business. “But if you happen to come across any prognosticator-type Powers, we could use them. We have 3 prognosticators in the settlement, and we could use more, but I highly doubt you will ever actually encounter such monsters or people.”

“I’ll put it on the list of necessities.”

“Thank you, Mark,” Cedric said, and then he looked up, his vector shifting to the roof of the building, eyes clouding over with shadows, as he said, “And with that, I believe the transport for the army is here, being led by one Captain Javis Longcrag.”

Eliot came back to himself, and said, “Yup. They’re here. Sensors indicate two transports and 58 people.”

“58? But I only have 28 on the list?”

Eliot shrugged.

Andria asked Derek, “Can you man the front, please? I need to set up some things up here.”

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Derek was already saying, “Sure thing!” before Andria was done asking.

Mark walked out past a doorway, onto a balcony, to watch a troop transport vessel land about 100 meters away, on the other side of the tramline, located in the northern landing zone for the gate. On non-gate days, that area was a prep space for temporary landings, which is what it was being used for right now.

They were already inside of Mark’s Unionsense, and so Mark got to feel out the incoming troops even as he stood at a nice, glass railing, watching the soldiers pile out of their transports. They had a motley of standardized armors and gear, with most of them wearing cloaks of some sort and almost all of them already looking ahead, either at Mark, standing in view at the balcony of his building, or looking ahead to their captains, or whatever ranks of people they had.

Mark assumed the extra people on the transports were captains, or whatever; people Mark would not be Skilling, but who were going to be the oversight for the new Tri-Talents.

A shortish, blond woman with a white cloak walked fast, getting ahead of the soldiers, but only so she could get ahead of a larger man who walked briskly behind her. The guy also had a white coat, as well as some golden ropes on his shoulder and neck. The woman had a tablet in her hand. The man stared ahead, toward Mark, locking eyes with him.

Quark identified him as Captain Javis Longcrag.

Mark waved once.

Javis looked skeptical, his vector kept close. But then he waved, though it was a mechanical thing tainted with apprehension. The younger blond woman eagerly walked over the tram tracks to meet Derek on this side of the rails.

Mark turned around—

Cedric was there at the doorway. He asked, “I believe some of them are expecting adamantine weaponry? Will you be providing such?”

“I’ll have to check Walaria’s notes, but if they go into war those weapons will be taken from them, and yet, Dominant already stole way too much from me so… yeah. If they want raw material or finished swords, then they’ll get them.”

Mark walked down the wide, spiraling main stairs, to find the wall of the big room had been turned into a rolling shutter and then rolled upward. A pile of tablets continuously materialized on a table to the side, and a new Derek grabbed each one before that Derek went out and talked to soldiers. He was amicable and in many places at the same time, freaking out the soldiers a little, and then making them comfortable with small, normal questions… normal for this situation, anyway. That made Mark feel a bit easier, and then Javis walked toward Mark, being led by that blond, short woman.

Quark began populating Mark’s vision with people’s names and ranks and some official paperwork about each of them, marking each person who was to be Skilled with a gold star, which was about as good of an organization as Mark could have considered.

“Thank you, Quark,” Mark said, as he locked eyes with Javis and walked toward him. “I like the little stars.”

“I haven’t done that, sir,” Quark said, “Derek has done that, and Zuu has organized the list sent by Walaria.”

“Well okay then.”

Javis stepped toward Mark, and the soldiers behind him stood at attention.

Mark stepped toward Javis.

Javis stood before Mark, saying, “I understand you can Skill better than anyone else in our entire Empire.”

“That’s what I’ve been told,” Mark said. “What kinda timeframe does this need to happen in? Because it takes about 5 minutes per person.”

Javis regarded Mark with a small, confusing delight, that he didn’t want to acknowledge even to himself. A few of the soldiers snickered, though most were very professional… and Mark saw a whole bunch of division lines, everywhere, that he hadn’t noticed before. Javis didn’t command everyone here, but he did directly command some of his men, and those guys thought it was funny for someone to stand up to Javis at all. Others, however, were fully focused on Mark and absolutely thrilled to be here.

There was hero-worship in the air.

Javis said, “Before we proceed, I need to make sure you have the right orders, and I believe we’re waiting for someone.”

Mark suddenly remembered, “Right! Where is Walaria, anyway?”

At the mention of the Second Princess, the air flexed about two rooms over, out of sight, and a softness opened. Walaria’s vector appeared like a shadow upon the entire world that rapidly condensed down into a single person, but vaguely. Another vector stepped out of the softness to walk beside Walaria. That second person had to be Kalimara.

Sure enough, as Mark watched the hallway behind him, and Javis eyed the hallway with him, unsure, the Second and Third Princess of Aluatha walked around the corner, Walaria wearing riding leathers with her bright red hair in an organized set of thick braids and Kalimara wearing green mage robes, her darker red hair tied in loose ponytails and tiny braids.

The soldiers all instantly went to their knees, bowing their heads.

Mark did not do any of that.

Walaria said, “Sergeants Radoo, Linecky, and Lofts. Three Battleminds. You’re up first.”

Kalimara merely nodded in the vaguest sort of way, and then she and her sister walked up the big staircase.

Javis shouted some names at some guys and soon the named sergeants all got pats on the backs from their friends and true hope shoved at them from the men they oversaw.

Mark walked up the staircase.

Javis walked with Mark up the staircase.

Mark soon sat in one of the plush chairs in the main Skilling room, while the princesses stood to the side with Javis standing with Linecky and Loft, while Radoo sat in the chair across from Mark. Derek stood to the side.

Cedric, Andria, and Eliot were all upstairs, out of sight, but probably looking through cameras down here. There were a lot of cameras here, and a lot of scanners in the walls.

Walaria gave a small nod toward Mark.

… And Mark looked toward Radoo. The guy looked to be in his late 20s, though telling age was difficult because of healing magics and such. Mostly, Mark saw that Radoo looked hungry for advancement. According to his file, highlighted in the air by Quark, he was a rather decorated kinda guy, but small-time. He had an Arcane Power and a lot of expertise, and that was it.

Competency could only get someone so far in a world of superheroes.

Mark asked, “Sergeant Radoo, in the service for 9 years, and with the Arcane Power Life From Death, correct?”

“Yes sir!”

“And you’re getting True Brawny, Battlemind, and Transcendent Soul?”

“Correct, sir.”

“You have an identification code for me?”

“I do. 1X3D.”

Mark wasn’t sure how he felt about the system that Walaria had set up on the fly, but it got the job done, and most of the confirmation was handed by the scanning equipment in the walls, so yes, this was the right guy. Mark said, “Then you ready to begin? We’ll start with Battlemind.”

Radoo took a deep breath, focused, and said, “I’m ready to begin, sir.”

“Attack me in some way. Whatever you feel like.”

Radoo looked unsure… and then he looked at Mark, and something dangerous flickered directly at him, Radoo’s vector twisting into Mark’s astral body—

Mark latched on with Union, grabbing the guy’s astral body, his entire soul, and then sinking just slightly into the dream. He Unioned rapidly, heart beating quickly, pulling out ‘Mind Binding’ and giving the Power Battlemind in turn.

In the real world Radoo jolted, panicked, tried to pull away, but Mark’s grip was adamantine. Radoo was trapped inside of Mark’s soulhouse a lot more effectively than physical measures could allow.

The transfer of Battleming went smoothly, and then Mark pulled at Body Binding and slotted in True Brawny.

Radoo’s body flexed, clothes breaking under his expanding musculature and flesh, fingers clenching on the armrests. Ah. That was a mistake on Mark and Eliot’s part. The wood broke. Mark would need to put adamantium onto the armrests so that didn’t happen next time. Oh well.

Mark Unioned with Life From Death, pulling out something glittery and dark from the floating dust that was Radoo’s dream-soul, slipping the much brighter Transcendent Soul into its place. It was like pulling out costume jewelry and replacing it with immaculate diamonds.

The whole procedure took less than 3 minutes, and then Mark pulled out, relaxed his adamantine Union. He flowed with a Union of Good and Bad instead, easily healing the small damages done to Radoo’s body and fully empowering his new, much larger Binding. The guy’s shoulders and thighs split his leathers as he expanded, the rest of his clothes popping here and there.

Mark realized another thing he should have done before he even started; they needed to strip. Oh well!

Radoo seemed unbothered as he grew with a strength he had never known before, as Mark topped off his mana and discarded whatever small health issues he had had before then, black sparks flickering away from his relaxing muscles. Radoo sighed.

Mark looked to the other two people, waiting for their turn, saying, “You should probably get undressed. I should have had Radoo undress as well, but you live and you learn.”

The guys barely looked at him. They mostly looked at Radoo, alongside the princesses and Javis.

Radoo looked at his arms, at his hands, flexing his fingers, whispering, praying, “By all the gods of Light and Dark.”

Mark softly said to Derek, “Can I get some gowns for people? From Eliot?”

Derek said, “He saw the issue. They’re coming down now.”

Mark looked to the ceiling, to where hidden cameras lurked, saying, “Thanks.”

Soon, Derek walked in the side door carrying a load of white hospital gowns, and then Radoo was wearing a gown and standing a full half meter taller than before, grinning wide, and then rapidly realizing that the princesses were watching him. Radoo stood at attention, rapidly taking his place to the side.

Mark cleared away Radoo’s broken clothes, setting them in a pile to the side. Eliot repaired the chair and the pile of clothes, while sending a message to Mark, through Quark, that the enchantments were broken on Radoo’s belt. Radoo didn’t seem to mind as Mark conveyed that to him, as he shimmied into his remade clothes.

“Will my Life From Death go to someone else?” Radoo asked, deeply interested in the answer.

“I mean… Yes? Probably. I doubt I’ll get rid of it.” Mark looked at Walaria.

Walaria said, “Plans will be made later.”

Radoo was briefly uncomfortable, as if he had lost his wallet, but he maintained decorum. Eventually, he would be okay with his loss, but that would not happen right away.

Mark put some adamantium braces onto the chair to prevent damage from Linecky, and then Linecky sat down. Mark asked him, “Sergeant Linecky, in the army for 11 years, and with the Knack for Mayhem?”

“Yes sir!”

“I can’t preserve Knacks. They fall apart when they’re taken. Radoo’s Life From Death might be able to go to someone else, but Knacks and Knowings just disintegrate. I’m just telling you how it is; there’s no real response I’m expecting to that.” Mark asked, “You’re here for True Brawny, Battlemind, and Leader.”

“Sir yes sir!”

“Your code?”

“18DD!”

“We’ll start with Battlemind. Please attack me.”

Linecky’s vector slammed out into Mark’s vector, and Mark’s Union flickered in odd directions for the barest of moments, Linecky’s Knack for Mayhem introducing a slight variation in normal action. But Mark was adamantium, and he broke through the Mayhem.

3 minutes later, Linecky was standing to the side, beside Radoo, eyes full of unshed tears. He was beyond happy and plans were already unfolding in his mind about the war to come, and about how he would lead his men into battle and bring them all back home.

Leader was a Natural Power, especially in the hands of the right person.

Linecky was the right person, but for whatever reason he had been relegated to mediocrity due to his Knack. Perhaps he had been like that one kid, back when Mark was a child, who just had to go see Glorious Man at the hero's side of town, and he had gotten a random Knack because he couldn’t wait for 18, for the Tutorial. But Linecky was on the right path now.

And Mark had put him there.

Loft’s transformation went similarly well, the 30 year old sergeant getting the last of Mark’s True Brawnys, the second-to-last of his Transcendent Souls, and the last of his Battleminds. In exchange, Mark got the Arcane Power, Death Bolt.

And then Mark offered all three of them, “Do you want an adamantium blade, or a kilo of the stuff to make your own items from other crafters?”

“We could not possibly accept such a gift!” and, “This is already more than I could have ever hoped for,” and, “Thank you, but I couldn’t.”

Walaria said to them, “Take the kilos.”

Soon, the three new True Brawnies walked out of the Skilling Room, each at least half a meter taller and in some remade clothes, thanks to Eliot, and each with a kilogram of adamantium.

Walaria indicated that she wanted to talk when the guys were gone, and so Mark closed the doors behind them, leaving Walaria, Mark, Kalimara, and Javis in the room, while Javis’s blond-haired second-in-command led the happy True Brawnys back to the group with all the other guys and girls.

Kalimara said, “The amount of research we have into the body, mind, and soul transformations that accompany Bindings is shockingly little. The problem is manifold. Everyone who enters Tutorial rarely comes out with what they expect to get, and coming back to reality is, for many, something that they do not want researched, for it is a sacred thing. So I want more cameras in here, and more scanners in the whole building. Not just for increased security, but for more solid understandings about Bindings that we simply do not have.”

“I’ll have it done,” Walaria said.

Mark simply nodded. Eliot and Andria were upstairs with Derek and Cedric, and probably watching through the cameras and taking notes, according to their vectors.

Walaria asked, “Any other suggestions, Sister?”

Kalimara looked at Mark, answering, “You should not ask people to attack you.”

“I have a feeling it will prevent a lot more assassins than doing it any other way,” Mark said.

Kalimara simply raised her head a little, hmm’d, and said to Walaria, “I’ve seen enough. I will read the readouts later. Take me home.”

Walaria told Mark, “Proceed, Mark. I’ll be back later when the group of people for Skill-stripping comes in.”

Mark stood a bit taller. “They’re not out there already?”

“In a few hours.”

And then Walaria opened a door to the Empire’s heart, and that heart flooded outward with a vengeful gaze, its vector slapping across Mark and then finding him… adequate. Javis almost crumbled and Derek fared no better, and then the Second and Third Princess of Aluatha passed through the mid-air door, and the door shut behind them.

The world seemed less colorful for a moment, after they were gone. Gradually, warmth came back.

Mark asked anyone who wanted to answer, “Why is that force on the other side always so angry with everyone on this side?”

Javis shuddered, and then he righted himself completely and said, “I do not know, and I do not wish to know.”

Mark hmm’d. “Fair.”

Derek answered, “Because it’s the soulbound dragons of Aluatha that have been stripped of personhood and trapped in Domal’Takela in order to power and work the systems that keep the heart of the Empire running. They hate everyone, and people think they hate the Royal Family, too, but the Royal Family controls them.”

Javis pretended he didn’t hear that as he asked, “I believe the denial contingent is next. They’re all getting Healthy Body and Animate Dead.”

“Moving right along, then,” Mark said, as he wondered why ‘the denial contingent’ was called the ‘denial contingent’. He looked to the air, as Quark populated his sight with information. Instantly, Mark noticed a whole bunch of Knacks and no Powers at all, asking, “A bunch of Knacks? No Powers?”

“As far as I know, yes.”

It looked like Mark’s overall stash of Powers was gonna drop.

Derek said, “I’ll get ‘em lined up.”

Mark heard and felt a bunch of guys down in the warehouse area all excited for Derek’s summons, while others were fascinated with the sergeants, and Linecky was pouring his heart out to someone that Mark couldn’t feel, so it was probably a phone call to someone who wasn’t there at all. He was crying with joy and his guys were making fun of him for that.

“Thanks, Derek,” Mark said, grinning a little. He asked Javis, “Why are they called ‘the Denial Contingent’?”

“To deny the enemy necromancers resources.”

“… Ah, yeah. I think I heard about that before. How serious is that necessity?”

Javis stood tall, facing an unknown threat in his mind. “In the histories, we’ve never been able to assault Okuana without dragons, and we’ve barely held our own against their incursions into our own lands. So, historically, we know how it goes, but they’re all immortals over there in Okuana, while the average age of our main fighting force over here is 25 to 35.” He looked to Mark, slightly, saying, “We have vanishingly few ancients. As a start, we expect to lose 30% to 50% of the Empire within a year. Everywhere we fight Okuana they will turn our dead their dead against us, so our only hope is having necromancers to rival their own, which is yet another way in which Aluatha lacks. Our greatest strategy, as of now, is to deny them resources and try to build defensive lines when we can.”

Mark’s mood plummeted, twisted on the way down, and then rebounded as he set his sights on the immensity that was fighting Okuana.

It seemed impossible. That first strike against the Winter Ball had been horrific.

But they had survived that, and they could fight back; Mark was sure of it.

Mark put on a more pleasant face because the first of the Denial Contingent was walking up the stairs while Derek organized the rest of them on the steps, one per step. Soon, Mark had a proper assembly line going. A few people messed up their confirmation numbers, but that only required a secondary set of scanners that Eliot had built in another hallway, and which Derek operated with aplomb. That guy really could do everything.

Later, after all of the Denial Contingent soldiers were done, and Javis was downstairs, Mark stepped aside with Derek and told him, “I’m going to work on that replicating adamantium weapon you wanted. I haven’t forgotten.”

Derek smiled brightly, but he also pulled back, saying, “Thank you for remembering, but don’t worry about that. The shavalliain’d people will be here in 35 minutes, beginning in that secondary space you wanted.”

Mark nodded, focused, and said, “I probably couldn’t do it without a replication-type Binding, so I’ll keep my eyes out for one of those.”

Mark’s supply of Powers had taken a massive hit, and Mark had cleared up some trash, as per Walaria’s suggestions, and he had also moved some stuff around, like those Tamer Powers. Those were a lot more ‘specialized’ than they were ‘great’, though personally Mark disagreed. Tamer and an undead-creation Power seemed like they’d go together very, very well, but that was ‘experimental’, and likely not a good idea according to some of the actual necromancers who were going to lead the Denial Contingent into battle here and there. Mark didn’t catch the names of any of those other people, but he wished them well.