Det blinked at the general. Once. Twice. Then the sound of his palm slapping his forehead echoed through the street.

  “That’s where I recognized the feel of the material from!” he said. “On the mistship, then when I picked up one of those ants. I knew I’d touched something like it before. That’s what that thing that attacked me was made out of.”

  “I knew you would figure it out eventually,” General Vans said. “And, before you worry about the people on the pillar, we’ve already sent a Mistguard team to investigate. I’ll reiterate the importance of a thorough search after seeing what happened here. We need to completely reassess our current surveillance benchmarks to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

  “Should we go back?” Det said, an unexpected pull in his chest to make sure Jezz and Huck were okay.

  “No,” General Vans said. “The team will stay under the radar, so as not to worry the people of Radiant. If we showed up again, there would be no getting past the unusualness of it. ReSouled don’t return from the academy until they’ve completed it, traditionally.”

  “Is anything about our academy experience going to be traditional?” Det said.

  “I hope not!” Calisco said. “I want to be on the snitich team. Catch those golden balls.”

  “That’s… not what it’s called,” Det said, then wondered to himself why he bothered. “Are you going to tell us about the accelerated program?” he asked General Vans instead.

  “No,” the general said. “At least, not until you answer my question about your new Wordless equipment. What does it do? Let’s start with the eyepatch, since it looks like you’ve been able to activate it.”

  “Uh, it’s basically a scouter,” Det said.

  “Whoa,” Calisco said. “Is Gen-gen over nine-thousand?”

  “I should hope I am,” General Vans said. “And don’t ever call me Gen-gen again.”

  “You sure? It’s pretty catchy. The girls will love it.”

  “I’m sure. General, or Sir will do just fine.”

  “Fiiiiiiine,” Calisco said.

  “It doesn’t actually give me a number,” Det said, since the banter between the pair seemed over. “It just brings up names of people and things, then gives it a color-code. Oh, and a number of skulls based on how likely it is to kill me, I think.”

  “Oh? What does it say about me?” General Vans said.

  “ReSouled Bulwark, S-Rank,” Det said. “Text is in green, meaning it thinks you’re not going to kill me. At least, not right now. You have three skulls beside your name.”

  “Do me next!” Calisco said, hopping up and down beside Det.

  “ReSouled Artillery, E-Rank,” Det said. “Green text as well.”

  “How many skulls?” Calisco prodded. “Three? Four?”

  “None,” Det said flatly.

  “What kind of shit is that?” she complained. “I could totally kill you. Give me that and let me try.” She pointed at his eyepatch and then held her hand out like she was waiting for him to pass it over.

  “Uh, no?” Det said.

  “C’mon,” she said, flicking her fingers.

  “It wouldn’t matter if he gave it to you,” the general said. “Wordless items are strange. They don’t work for just anybody.”

  “They don’t?” Det said.

  “No. The only person—or people—who could use your new gear are those who were born in subsequent cycles on the same pillar.”

  “How does that even make sense?” Calisco said, but her arm dropped back down to her side. “It’s dumb.”

  “Dumb or not, it’s how Wordless gear works,” Vans said. “It’s also another quality that supports some kind of link between ReSouled and Wordless. We don’t often have hand-me-downs of this gear, but it happens enough that it’s what you two will tell anybody who asks Det about his Wordless eyepiece or glove. They were left for you by a ReSouled who came before you in your family.”

  “Does it have to be family?” Det said. “Not for the story—that part is fine—but in reality?”

  “It doesn’t,” General Vans said.

  “Some families have more than one ReSouled in them?” Calisco interrupted.

  “There are some pillars—and the families on them—who have dedicated a tremendous amount of resources to producing ReSouled. There is one particular family, the Jilkins, who consistently give birth to a ReSouled every cycle. They have another one this year, who will also be joining your accelerated class.”

  “How do they do that?” Det said. “Have a ReSouled every cycle. I thought having one made the woman infertile.”

  “It does,” General Vans said. “They have a big family, with lots of couples competing to be the ones producing a ReSouled. They even have it down to a science, with one week each year—approximately nine months before a cycle begins—dedicated to copulation. People with means will travel from all over, other pillars, to take part in the… festivities, free of normal inhibitions.”

  “Ooh, sounds like quite the place,” Calisco. “Does it happen to be on our way to Avalon?”

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  “I’m afraid you’ve already missed this year’s parties by over nine months.”

  “Tsk,” Calisco said.

  “Back to your eyepatch, cadet,” the general said. “We call that ability, View. Depending on what Rank you get it at, it can also display more information. For now, identifying threats, and their approximate power, should prove very useful. To confirm something, it stated Calisco was Artillery?”

  “Yeah,” Det said.

  “Interesting,” General Vans said, his hand coming up to run down the length of his beard. “She hasn’t been formally inducted into the Mistguard yet, and already the eyepatch has given her the designation we probably would. Artillery. More evidence of a connection between ReSouled and Wordless? I’m sure there will be those on Avalon eager to speak with you about this.”

  “Should I talk to them…?” Det said.

  “Your accelerated program group will have an instructor who can help you answer those questions,” Vans said. “Now, let’s move on. What does your glove do?”

  “Does it let you do the moonwalk?” Calisco said. “Or just grab your crotch and squeak?”

  “Of course it doesn’t do that,” Det said flatly.

  “Then what does it do?” Vans said.

  “I… uh… have no idea…?” Det answered. It wasn’t like he’d had a chance to figure it out!

  “So it could let you moonwalk!” Calisco said, a hint of triumph in her voice.

  “Do we have to be in the same accelerated group?” Det asked General Vans.

  “Yes,” the general said without mercy. “As for your glove, while the functionality of Wordless gear isn’t always obvious—it’s not like we get a pop-up item description or anything—it’s usually easy enough to figure out. Why don’t you take a moment to do that?”

  “Try moonwalking,” Calisco said.

  “A moment in silence,” Vans stressed, and Calisco rolled her eyes before she walked over toward the compressed sphere the Wordless queen had become.

  Thankful for the moment of peace, Det lifted the gauntlet to take a better look at it. Really, it reminded him of a biker’s half-glove, though made out of the ceramic material that was more comfortable than worn-in leather. Opening and closing his hand while he inspected the back of the glove, the joints were smooth and flexible, while the knuckles and parts that covered the back of his fingers were almost plated. Reinforced, at least. The piece of the whole thing that stood out the most was that small cannister or whatever it was near his wrist. It kind of reminded him of a small, compressed air cannister, except there was a clear top he could unscrew on the left side.

  Is there something in there already?

  Undoing the top, he couldn’t see anything in the darkness, so he carefully tilted his hand to the left to see if anything would drip out. Nothing. He tilted his hand so the cannister was completely upside down. Still nothing. The container was totally empty.

  Not helpful, but I don’t know what I should’ve expected? It was just printed.

  “How, uh, personalized is this Wordless gear?” Det asked the general.

  “It can be very personalized,” the general said. “As far as we can tell, the dungeon has a way to observe us as we proceed through it. After we’ve killed the Boss, the equipment that produces the rewards—did you see something that looked like a three-d printer?—will take those observations and construct an item suited to us.

  “I, for example, could get a shield, for how often it is part of my fighting style. Captain Simmons, on the other hand, would likely get a sword.”

  “Got it,” Det said. “That means this is probably for ink.”

  But, what would the ink be for? It’s not like the glove is a brush or anything…

  Det got his answer as he flipped the glove over to look at the palm of it for the first time. There, in the center where he’d expected to see more of the usual blank, white material, there was instead a… stencil in a very familiar pattern. It was the same image of fire he’d drawn on the palm of each of his hands before he’d gone into the final room.

  “I think I know what this does,” Det said. “But, let me confirm it.”

  With the cannister open—the top going between his teeth so he could have his hand free—Det grabbed his last ink bottle. A shake loosened up the liquid before he carefully poured it toward the small opening of the cannister. Really, he needed a funnel or something to…

  Det’s thoughts paused as the ink didn’t spill a single drop, with exactly the perfect amount flowing into the opening against all logic. As he watched the ink flow, a straight black line emerged on the side of the cannister, and it didn’t take a genius to realize what it represented. When it neared the top, Det twisted the ink bottle up and away to cut off the pour, then put the stopper back in place.

  The cannister held about a third of the ink his normal bottle did. Not a lot, but it was something. Stowing that ink bottle and recapping the cannister on his wrist, Det turned his attention to the palm of his hand. Was there a switch or something he needed to flick? A button? A thwip gesture he needed to make with two fingers?

  “Wordless gear bonds with the owner,” Vans said from where he stood. “Will what you expect to happen, to happen. If that is the gear’s purpose, it will work.”

  “It’s that simple?” Det said.

  “It’s that simple,” General Vans confirmed.

  Well then, what Det expected to happen was…

  Black filled in the space of the stencil on his hand, lines of ink transferring to the skin of his palm beneath. Just like that, he had the perfect replica of a little black flame in the palm of his hand. The only question was whether it would count for his magic or not.

  In the past, he’d tried to bring other paintings to life. Even simple images others had drawn with his ink. Neither of those things had worked. Drawing or painting the images himself was half of the magic, and was required for it to work. Being able to use a stencil was something he’d never considered.

  Is this going to work?

  Instead of asking himself the same question over and over, Det tried to push his magic into the image on his palm. The black flames erupted with a whoosh to surround his hand, just like they had when he’d used the ability against the big white ant.

  Like flipping the pages of drawn flames, the black fire flickered oddly in the air, and Det squeezed his hand into a fist. The flames didn’t vanish. Open. Closed. Open. Closed. Open. Closed. The movements didn’t diminish or strengthen the fire.

  What about…?

  Reaching down to the sword hilt at his hip, he stepped back from the general and turned to the side before drawing the weapon. The flames didn’t leave his hand to crawl up the blade, but they also didn’t damage the weapon in any way. Next test, Det sheathed the sword, and spotted a small rock on the side of the road. Picking it up, he imagined the flames spreading to the stone.

  Nothing happened there either. If the flames couldn’t spread, would they even be useful?

  “Try that,” General Vans said, pointing to the Wordless queen sphere.

  Shrugging because he wasn’t sure what it would matter, Det walked over past Calisco and put his hand down on the cool material of the sphere. The flames didn’t immediately jump across to engulf the queen, but, then again, Det hadn’t willed it to.

  As soon as he did, there was a second whoosh as the flames ignited across the ball embedded in the ground. The spread was so fast and complete, there was a soft whump that startled Det into taking a stumbling step backward. Just like that, the sphere burned, the ground around it softening as the black flames clearly covered every inch of it, despite the lack of oxygen.

  “Your flames spread to things you consider enemies,” General Vans said. “I suspect the sphere has a red name when you look at it?”

  “Huh, it does,” Det confirmed, the thing still coming up with the same name—Wordless Ant Queen, C-Rank—despite being a condensed ball of whatever-the-hell-it-was-made-of.

  “When did you learn how to make fire?” Calisco asked. “I thought you could only do bunnies or something.”

  “That was for Kels’ birthday party,” Det said. “She wanted to play with a rabbit. It was the best I could do.”

  “Can you make burning bunnies?” Calisco said.

  “That seems inhumane, somehow,” Det said, until he actually considered it. “Huh, I probably could…”