“Well sodus, so I really shouldn’t absorb spells yet? Why don’t they tell people about this until they are high Tier 1?” I asked.

  Gabor looked at me pleadingly, like he was trying to convince a five year old to stop eating bugs. I’m not that bad! “Because there are ways to try – almost always extremely unsuccessfully, usually leading to crippling at best and death about 30% of the time – to absorb spells without blocking up your essence channels. And there are rumors about those who have ripped out lower-Tier spells. Basically, it’s not good to even think about and every kid thinks they are special.

  “If they get an outsized reward in a rift, they might be able to buy a spell early and cripple their growth potential. And we know teams have turned on each other for rewards like that. It just leads to bad with little good. So we say ‘save up’ and that’s it.” He shrugged.

  “So, every spell or skill takes up essentially one essence ‘slot’ of my fifty per Tier. But it blocks that essence slot off for future Tiers as well? Like if I absorbed one at 1.0, then my next essence would fall into the 1.1-1.2 slot and I would lose 10% of my essence-backed power in Tier 1?” I was shocked at how bad spells really could be.

  Gabor answered as Ratmir was examining something in the corner. “Yes, and your 2.0-2.1 spot, your 3.0-3.1 spot, etc. If you absorb a spell in your final sub-Tier like 1.9 or 2.9, it only blocks off about 2% of your essence channels. Still not great but it’s, you know, far less damaging. And it can vary by spell. They are artificial creations so they are imperfect.

  “Plus, then any essence you allocate into the spells and skills to strengthen them comes mostly from your own essence, damaging your essence channels further. Some can allocate collected ambient essence before they put it into their cores but then it’s only about 10% efficient – meaning that it’s almost the same amount of essence for a person to go from the bottom of 1.9 to the peak as it is to take a skill from 1.0 to 1.1 using that method. And most fail at it, so the essence is wasted and they damage their essence channels.” He looked like he was resigned to me doing something stupid.

  I bet I could allocate to a skill without it hurting my channels. I can feel the essence extremely well. Still, best not to tell Gabor that, probably ever, and taking out a huge chunk of my power potential seems… bad…

  “Then why does anyone even have skills in the first place? This seems like a really bad way to cripple your progress. What am I missing?”

  Ratmir looked up. “Easy. The higher you get in Tier, the harder it is to advance. There are ideas of other planets that are higher Tier but I’m not sure I believe that kind of fanciful talk.”

  Based on what Myriam let slip, that the null zone was possibly from something someone did rather than a natural phenomenon, I think there might be something bigger going on but best to keep that quiet for now until I can get in contact with her again. Becoming the ‘aliens are real and probing us’ conspiracy guy isn’t a great look.

  Gabor took over. “So, you aren’t advancing much, you can still delve a lower-Tier rift and, very carefully, improve your spells. Skills are multipliers to power. You’ve probably seen people using them and what they can do! Or, you have people in town that aren’t going to advance or delve – or only do so while being carried through the rifts – and why wouldn’t they take spells? It’s not like that 10% reduction in cultivation is actually going to hurt their day-to-day lives.”

  It still felt off to me. Thinking for a minute why, I realized my assumptions really were it was best to maximize my personal power and everyone else should optimize along that path too. Different strokes for different folks.

  “One thing has been bugging me about cultivation. I heard stories on my planet. I guess I thought they were all just made up but who knows… Anyway, by advancing, people were able to get healthier, live longer lives, etc. Why wouldn’t people want to do that?”

  Ratmir just waved his hand. “We estimate that people live about 10% longer per Tier advancement. I pored over the data available in Pitola on it. Had a lovely noble lady that was my, shall we say, benefactor in this research.” He gave what I thought was trying to be a saucy wink but he ended up closing one eye all the way and the other about 90%. “And yes, people are healthier and heartier when they advance. But once you are Tier 1, the difference is negligible. And we’ve seen those who advance to the peak of a Tier and not break through might actually live shorter lives. That conclusion almost got me killed.” He looked like that was a fond memory instead of a frightening one.

  After throwing a quizzical look at the strange researcher, Gabor forged ahead. “As you can see, spells can be a huge boon. But they are a double-edged sword. Delvers who invest in skills too early almost always end up dead. They just never learn to compete on actual physical capabilities and when you jump to Tier 2 rifts, it’s far more dangerous. Just in Tier 1, the monsters start to use pack tactics when you get to about 1.5 or higher. If you get a skill as a reward in a rift – or more typically, a dungeon – those you can absorb and it won’t take up space in your essence channels.”

  Ratmir went on a ten minute diatribe about how ‘we just can’t replicate the beauty that is crafted from the rifts’ and ‘we are but pale comparisons to the majesty of the tears into another plane’.

  With most of my questions answered, at least as to information gathering, we asked Ratmir to follow-up and figure out what he could about Dahlia; Gabor and I excused ourselves and headed to what I expected was Vana’s inn. We took a detour to Gabor’s house instead.

  At my questioning look, he simply said, “Far harder for anyone to spy on us here. They know where you are staying. And my wife overallocated to perception so she’d notice someone sneaking around!”

  At his kitchen table, we enjoyed some mugs of a hot liquid that wasn’t too far from tea – I missed coffee but found out it was actually pretty common, just expensive. I was surprised as it seemed to soothe me more than just a normal warm beverage could.

  “Oh yeah, there are some good hallucinogens and a drowsing agent in there,” his wife calmly stated, sitting down next to us with her own cup.

  I did an actual spit take. I always thought that was just a movie thing but the surprise hit me.

  Gabor stared. “What? Don’t like it? This is a lovely blend.” He looked genuinely offended.

  “No, you said it’s going to make me hallucinate!”

  “It’s very common, especially post midday, for relaxing. Really enjoyable with alcohol but unfortunately, my darling neighbor nearly drowned herself in the last barrel of mead I brought home so we are currently without any booze here until we come up with a better way to prevent the little skulldugger. You’ll start to see some little floating elements, like pink birds, soon,” Tiesa said with a placid look.

  I guess, when in Velez?

  It was tasty and I figured we were probably done with the drama for the day. Hopefully…

  “You can talk in front of my wife. I trust her with my life regularly. She is an ex member of the military and a recently retired delver. Plus, I’ll just tell her everything anyway!” He let out a booming laugh and she preened slightly.

  “Mostly correct. But not retired, only on a pause as we wait to get enough funds and connections to actually get access to Tier 6 rifts,” Tiesa said, patting Gabor’s hand.

  Giving her a second look, I realized dismissing her merely as ‘the wife’ was an incredibly dumb move.

  Isekonsultant survival tip #11: Assess everyone’s threat potential based on their power and skills, not their current occupation. Assume everyone is hiding power to some degree. Underestimating someone could as easily lead to missing a key strategic asset as death.

  Tiesa was wearing a simple dress with an apron over it and her hands were covered in flour when we entered. Said hands were also covered in scars and calluses, indicating she fought mostly with her bare hands. There was a fierce underlying look in her deep green eyes that promised violence on those who hurt hers and her biceps showed clearly even through thick sleeves that she could back said implied threat up. If she weren’t essentially my savior’s wife, I might have thought she was pretty. Instead, I considered her like a glowing coal: nice to look at but getting close was an exceptionally bad idea. Plus, they just made a damn good pair.

  “Okay, before we get to what I – or I guess we, thank you again for all your help – should do here, have you ever heard of the Scanner not being able to assess a Cap? Because I got some garbled nonsense.”

  Gabor looked confused but Tiesa nodded sagely. “Gabs here told me that you are null affinity? And I presume you were awakened in Zalano like the last fool we met with that body? Yeah, this Scanner is just not powerful enough to do much beyond green and brown-focused affinity users. And they use that fancy affinity-neutral essence in Zalano in their Ignitions. Pitola too. I don’t really understand why but we had someone from our unit that came from The MM – sorry, The Monetary Might kingdom – and they were white affinity and she couldn’t use the Scanner in the town we were stationed in. It usually means a powerful Cap but with a rare affinity for the area.”

  “Gabs?” I couldn’t help myself.

  “Yup. When you’ve got a badass woman who both cooks and looks this good, you let her call you whatever the jebbie she chooses.” He gave an adoring look at his wife who ruined it by snorting.

  “I beat him in a duel and started calling him that as a joke.”

  Smartly ignoring the jab, Gabor continued. “Back to your question and the implied question with it: the only Scanners I know that are powerful enough in the area are Pitola and Zalano and you really aren’t welcome in Zalano. Miklos said some additional sodus went down after you left.”

  “Well, sodus. Okay, that sucks but it’s not the worst thing in the world I guess. The one here gave me some information, saying that skills cost less to absorb but the information was completely garbled beyond that. I’m not sure what to do with that.”

  Tiesa whistled at my Cap but Gabor gave her a dirty look.

  After an unspoken word – maybe they are speaking through AAI? – Tiesa said, “Simple, don’t do anything with it yet. There are a lot of ways to hurt your cultivation but nothing greater than with skills. Unless you get rift or dungeon-dropped of course.” She got up and started back at whatever she was making on the cutting board.

  “I’ll put out some feelers and we can see if Pitola is an option. I, unlike my dear dingus of a husband, keep in good contact with our former squad and current loose association of high-Tier delvers. We’re still in the reserve should the military need us but we’re mostly retired. Haven’t had more than a border skirmish in years.”

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “I’d greatly appreciate that, thanks. So, back to the general question of today…?” I asked.

  We quickly caught Tiesa up and decided on our general go forward plan.

  ***

  “No, of course I don’t have change for a gold! Unless you want to buy 90 silver worth of items and even then, I’d have to close for the day since I couldn’t give anyone else change! Go to the bank and get it switched to silver. I told you to make this worth my while!” Tilda hit me with the broom I thought she’d been waving as an empty threat.

  Holding up my tablet, I said, “Okay, but I think this conversation is in your best interests too. Where is the bank?”

  “Well, the good one got taken over – even somewhat legally too – when the Purveyors of Platinum decided to focus on Velez after Pitola essentially imploded. Even my least favorite banker followed me here! And they convinced the Council to shut the other two local banks down for ‘improper business practices’. Mainly competing with them… So you have two branches, one that’s a few blocks from here and one across the city. Good luck!”

  Ten blocks and five minutes later, I was held up at the door by a man in a long waistcoat of bright purple trimmed with platinum-colored thread. “The Purveyors are currently dealing with an actually important client so you will need to wait.” His sniveling tone almost seemed too comical to believe.

  “All I need to do is trade some coin for silver. They really don’t have a meeting room for the important person so the bank can function normally?” I asked.

  “Congratulations, you collected 110 coppers, a celebration is in order. Your whole family must be extremely proud. Now, either wait quietly with the others or be on your way, we don’t care much which it is.”

  “110? I thought it was 100 coppers to a silver. And I am actually here to chop up a gold to silvers. Are you trying to tell me I get 110 silvers for a gold?” I asked, already sensing the answer.

  He snorted. “There are expenses to be covered so of course exchanges aren’t free. Anyone with an ounce of understanding would know that. I guess a bumpkin can get lucky and receive a gold from a rift after all. I will deign to allow you at the head of the line given the size of your transaction.”

  This is highway robbery. I know it can cost to ‘carry inventory’ of money for exchange but 10% is a bit much. Is this really my only game in town?

  “Uh, I’m actually here to deposit silver. I’ll buy your gold at 95 silver,” said a man from the line with a death grip on a small lock box who was nervously checking everyone out.

  “That’s less highway robbery but still pretty steep. 99 still gets you a tidy profit for a minute of counting coin. I’m Terry by the way, what’s your name?” This obviously was one of the people who accepted my AAI broadcast when I neared the bank, just like the doorman.

  “Nikolaj. And that’s not worth the risk of getting out the coin in the slightest. 96.”

  After a bit of back and forth, we settled on 97.5 and that I owed his shop a visit to collect the coppers. “Pleasure doing business with you Nikolaj!” I called as I gave a dirty look to the doorman and continued back to Tilda’s.

  Consultant survival tip #74: The first offer is always the beginning place. But it’s often better to not be too much of a stickler and give a bit more ground than is necessary if you think the relationship is more valuable than the small amount of money left on the table.

  Exchange fees were valid but at most, 1-2% were common on Earth. And that was transactions between different currencies! What was this, Coinstar?

  The best way to build out a sustainable business empire is through financial services…

  Now that I might have some sway, I just need to build up capital and backing. Ugh, politics. The capital might be fun given the delves though. Add it to the list!

  Back at Tilda’s we continued to ‘negotiate’ – I might have called it her haranguing me – and I ended up buying a nice new pair of boots. It was a nice upgrade: the ones the Zalano guard had provided didn’t really fit.

  She closed her shop and looked at me sharply. “This would be much easier if we spoke the same language. You must learn.”

  “I’ve been on the planet for less than three days. Give me a break. And this whole Cornelius business seems like it could get me killed sooner rather than later.”

  “Okay, I will help you learn the language. After shop hours. You will take me to dinner for the next seven days.” She gave a nod like that settled things.

  Putting a pin in that.

  “I guess, let’s start with how you know Cornelius and what you know about him. I was apparently brought here by the same person. That’s why we look similar. But that’s about all I know beyond trouble seemed to follow him like stink on a pig.”

  “Yes, I don’t know the whole story or possibly all that much honestly. He was found in the region outside Zalano. He was the second of Barry’s experiments found. He awakened an Innate Capability that makes him apparently quite the bedroom partner and started plying his trade in Zalano.”

  At my look, she paused. “What, that’s totally normal here. Are you really such a prude?”

  As I started to reply she waved a hand and continued. “Anyway, his business made him a lot of enemies as apparently a large number of the nobility were taking advantage of the services – and servicing – he offered. So much so that when he escaped town to lie low for a period, the authorities found no less than 15 secret tunnels to the brothel he worked from connecting to the residences of many powerful families. They even needed to hire earth-focused mages to repair the potential structural damage to the city.

  “In his bid to ‘lie low’, the moron made his way to the second largest city in the Kingdom. Many of his clients and would-be official suitors for his hand showered him with gifts that he brought along in a surprising array of spatial items. Really, who enchants a silver thong? So, in need of capital to feed his out-of-control lifestyle, he found his way to many of Pitola’s purveyors of pawn services. Well, I ended up being the best at matching him and buyers quickly and discreetly so he directed more and more of his goods to me.

  “We agreed on a service fee but he stiffed me. And he was supposed to also stiff… well, you get the gist. I thought we had a respectful business partnership at least if not a mutual friendship and he went and sank my reputation, created a huge swath of enemies, and left me high-and-dry without the fistful of gold I was promised. Prior to this, I was already having financial issues when the null zone started to impact people in Pitola. Bunch of whiny babies. It only makes you mildly uncomfortable. I’m always mildly uncomfortable!

  “Last I heard, he was back in Zalano but being essentially babysat to prevent too much fallout from his workings. The crown princess declaring her intention to abdicate to marry him was just one step too far so there are anti-charm wards and everything. I shouldn’t have attacked him like that and am truly sorry it was you instead of him. You don’t seem half bad and definitely aren’t half bad on the eyes either.” She finished with a truly epic sigh.

  Well, that was simultaneously not nearly as bad and way worse than I was expecting. Wait, is she expecting me to comfort her? Even a hand on a hand might spark something but she really seems like she needs a friend.

  Placing both of my hands on hers, I said, “I am sincerely sorry you had to go through that. It’s terrible to be betrayed in any sense but to have someone destroy everything you built, I get your anger and frustration. I understand why you behaved the way you did and even if I don’t exactly condone it, I am not condemning you.”

  Hit her with the ol’ Dr. Manhattan. Though not the naked all the time part.

  “What? You put down the tablet.”

  ***

  I expected Tilda to be upset at eating at the inn and for her to demand to be taken elsewhere. Instead, she jumped for joy and did a little happy dance. Vana, wearing an elaborate navy evening gown with a slit up the side that nearly reached her armpit, gave me a side-eye and I sent a quick AAI message to her. Apparently they are instantaneous when in short range?

  [Is everything okay? She is helping me out with a few things. I will of course pay for her meals.]

  [Incoming Message from Vana Soroka: Meals? As in more than one? Ugh. And nothing too bad but that girl brings trouble. But also customers, so it usually balances out. I will have to get more food prepped if word gets out she’ll be here again. How long?]

  [Next seven dinners I think.]

  [Incoming Message from Vana Soroka: Jebbie boy, don’t make me regret this. I’ll only charge you 4 silvers for it but again, don’t make me regret it. And she is to stay on this floor only! I once had reports of a wailing banshee haunting the second floor but it was just her and a traveling adventurer. She’s fun but trouble.]

  She turned and gave me five seconds of intense eye contact.

  “Hey, you weren’t paying attention to my wonderful story. That’s rude. I am entertaining and exciting. Don’t do it again.” Tilda’s hands were hovering just to the sides of her hips. Both were clutching a spare rib covered in sauce. Miraculously, despite not having an enchantment to prevent food staining her clothes like Liene, she hadn’t gotten a spot of anything of the three messy dishes on her.

  “Wait, wasn’t I supposed to get a language lesson from this?”

  “Sure, turn off your AAI and I will get started.”

  Upon doing so, she gestured like she wanted me to repeat after her. As I did so, I asked her what that meant and she gave me a funny look. Looking to the tablet, it had also stopped translating. Jebbie-ing settings.

  After a frustrating few minutes poking at my translation settings – it is pretty amazing that my menus are easy for me to read – we figured it out. I focused on Tilda’s pronunciation as I repeated after her and snuck surreptitious glances at the tablet. I had apparently claimed my love for kissing sheep, cows, and something that didn’t translate all that well as a bearhino, just as she intended. I also gave a pledge to be her loyal servant for all time. I said I was forever stinky and stupid. Her childish sense of humor and the looks from other tables made it somewhat fun.

  My AAI helped me when I made pronunciation errors and I slowly learned how to form the sounds better. At least I learned to trill my r’s from Spanish class in high school and learned a tiny bit of Mandarin for my travel so retroflexes weren’t entirely new to me either. The language itself was actually relatively beautiful if a bit heavy on the harsh consonants. I would use Darko Defeats his Drills for more basic vocab learning but Tilda was actually helpful in her weird way.

  Tiesa and Gabor swung by for drinks just as we were finishing up.

  [Incoming Message from Vana Soroka: Another silver to your tab.] I saw in the corner of my vision as Vana dropped off the overflowing mugs. It was fun just conversing, even if Tilda eventually got a little too drunk to read and just started guessing – poorly – what I said.

  I learned a few bawdy drinking songs and taught them one of my own about an old spry whore.

  ***

  After a long meal and probably two too many drinks, I headed to my room. I realized I didn’t know what I was doing tomorrow and messaged Gabor.

  [I’ll come collect you at one bell past first light. Be ready and fed. And dress nicely. If you haven’t yet, bathe. Twice.]

  Rude. Then I sniffed myself and admitted he was entirely right. Despite the lack of significant effort in the rift, my clothes were ripe.

  A few minutes later, I settled into the bath and continued my previous reflections on the life and a lot of specific things I had lost.

  Everyone I knew? I’ll probably never see them again.

  A general feeling of stability and safety? Will I always feel at risk here? Can you feel safe when death is so close?

  Video games? Is that the most important? Maybe? It was my mental release and safety blanket…

  Books? I’ve seen a few here but do they do mass printing? Will I just have a serial feed of written content in my head? That actually might be kind of cool…

  Climbing back into bed and considering, I tried to sleep but was overcome once again by the sadness of what I’d lost. It passed surprisingly quickly and I was able to focus on some of the potential new positives – I can actually build the life I want. I just have to figure out what the hell that means for me… I fell asleep shortly after.

  ***

  NOTES APP

  End of Day 3 Needs and Goals

  Current wealth:

  [~2 gold to spend, 2.7 gold reserved]

  Immediate Needs – INs:

  0) prevent shackles, whether golden or not

  1) deal with aftermath of Ignition ceremony

  2) investigate experimentation regarding null essence

  3) learn to fight better

  4) prevent retaliation from Dahlia

  Short-term Goals – STGs:

  0) start to cultivate contacts in the city to prevent further machinations

  1) train to not get beat by kids; be able to go five full minutes of training without a full strike from Risto or Gabor

  2) language learning to be close to conversational in under a month

  3) begin training to be able to reach at least Tier 2 in the next year

  4) decide on Tier 1 essence splits

  5) do NOT hurt long-term cultivation; play it safe rather than do irreversible damage

  6) healing potion?

  Long-term Goals – LTGs:

  0) get to a safe level of power to not be squishable at all times

  1) get contact info for Axe, Liene, Stannis, Miklos

  2) begin finding market inefficiencies, start Galactic Trade Federation Empire 2.0?

  3) decide on long-term fighting style or find ways to cultivate that exclude fighting

  4) find a girlfriend/partner. Whatever they call them here.

  5) start to design a new sigil or house insignia

  Previous needs and goals progress or accomplished:

  INs:

  No changes

  STGs:

  No changes

  LTGs:

  1) understand spells and why everyone seems to say they are dangerous – mostly accomplished