Chapter 17

A commonly found defense device among adventurers and even many civilians is the Personal Sanctum Guard. A PSG is a device that can range in size from a broach to a buckler. These devices are powered by a myst crystal and provide a defensive shield that dulls attacks with the same element as the crystal installed to power it. A broach-sized PSG is considered Iron Class, a larger book-sized PSG is Steel Class, and the largest type, Adamantine Class, is the size of a small shield. The larger the item, the larger the crystal size it requires, but also the higher the energy use threshold it has, allowing it to negate more damage.

After hours of effort, Kharmor and I finally finished reassembling Nennel’s body. After we started her internal systems and took her off the life support devices, Master Navor gathered everyone who was still conscious. I was in the middle of attempting to pick Nennel up in a cradle carry, but my body gave under the stress. Without a single word, Ferris stepped up and took her into his own arms.

Navor escorted our entire group from the building and into an armored aerial vehicle. As the AV took off with everyone safely fastened down, the silence was thick, and the emotions in the tight space were cloying. Ferris still looked like a storm was churning in his mind. Demierra and Zynna traded between momentary glaring at me before looking at something else and glancing at me with confused expressions. I pretended not to notice the two girls, instead locked inside my own head, brooding.

The only two in the cramped space who weren’t emanating some degree of negative emotions were Kharmor and Master Navor. The Half-Dwarf was staring down at his bracelet with a distant look. Navor simply looked tired. Ozwald was completely absent from the scene, which made me dislike him just that much more.

Nennel remained unconscious for the entire ride back to the house. Ferris laid Nel in her bed and made sure to periodically check up on her for the entire time she was unconscious. After Nennel was nestled safely in her room, Master Navor healed my wounds while she debriefed me on what happened. I told her everything from the message Nennel had sent me, up to the arrival of Kharmor and the others with the much-needed supplies.

The others listened to my explanation, even Ozwald, who walked in shortly after we gathered in the living room. Not long into my explanation, Master Navor instructed Ferris to fix me a cup of coffee. This made everyone in the room tense up. Ferris stood from his place on the couch and left to step into the kitchen without a single word.

As I continued my explanation, I could be my blood boil as I described how I found Nennel, and my tone reflected that. By the time I finished, everyone in the room was visibly upset in one form or another. Ferris was cold and hard, his gaze staring down at his feet with an intent to kill. Zynna had a snarl on her face that was trembling, and she seemed ready to emotionally explode. Demierra’s fists were clenched tight and throbbing in and out of a flaming state with white-green tongues of fire. She looked like she wanted to punch something or someone. Kharmor and Ozwald were the calmest of the students. Kharmor wore a hard expression while he cleaned a kinetic pistol on the table before him. But his act seemed more like a catharsis than a preparation for violence.

Ozwald simply looked uncomfortable, not looking at any one thing for longer than a few seconds. He shifted his weight from one foot to another with his hands in his pockets. I chose to ignore the Human in favor of trying to enjoy the coffee that Ferris made for me while I listened to Master Navor.

“I think I get the gist of what happened, kid. Now, I could tell you to stand back, behave, and just do the jobs I give you. But I know that you won’t listen. So, I’m going to tell you to act with caution and don’t get into anything that you can’t handle.”

“Wait, what?” I asked in surprise.

Navor sat back in her seat and crossed her legs as she pulled a cigarette from seemingly out of nowhere. As the Master conjured a flame at the end of her index finger and lit the end of the stick of tobacco, I noted the gold stripe down the center and an electric blue filter. That meant that she was smoking the Gold-Cobalt Dragon brand. A premium brand known for being laced with pain inhibitors. What could cause her enough pain to need such a thing regularly?

As she lit her cigarette, Navor took a deep inhale, causing the cherry to light with a bright gold and blue color before dimming to a dulling glowing ember. “Kid, Iver,” she corrected. “You should know by now that I prefer for my students to learn from experience. While I prefer using guided experiences, I won’t stop a student from making mistakes to learn from them. But I draw the line what getting into a situation that could kill you.” She took a long drag of her cigarette and blew out a thin stream of smoke before she continued. “I know you crave revenge for your friend. I also know that you won’t simply do as I say if I tell you to sit back and let go. So I will let you do what you think is best, but be careful and think things through before you act.”

“You, you won’t stop me?” I asked, nervous that she was just pulling my leg.

“No. But I won’t help you either. You need to make your own mistakes, suffer the consequences, and learn.”

“So, then, you won’t help me.”

“Isn’t that what I just said?” She pulled her cigarette from her lips with two fingers and tapped it to dislodge the ash from the tip. The ash fell a few inches before vanishing.

“So… then what do I do next?” I asked, numb with shock from everything that had happened.

“That’s up to you, Iver. I will provide wisdom when you ask. I will give advice when I think you need it. But I will never step in when you dig the hole too deep. Start a fight and get beaten into cream filling. That’s your problem. Go too far and lose a limb. That’s on you. My original plan was to give each of you safe jobs that would let you learn slowly. But you stepped into a deep pile of blighted shit. And I know you’re only going to go deeper. So step up your game or get buried six feet deep… or deeper.”

“…Or deeper.” I echoed as I lowered my head and watched the carpet between my feet. I had no safety net. Even at the Academy, I had teachers who would protect me to some degree, even if murder was legal. But here, out in the real world, there were no duals to instantly warn me of a threat. There were no assassins using debilitating and nonlethal poisons to earn points. There were only a few students in this city, and I lived with them, and at least one wanted me shamed at least, dead at most. I needed to be careful. I needed to think through every single action I made.

I clenched my jaw as I made my choice. “Fine. I will be careful. But I will still take action against those that hurt Nennel.”

Navor eyed me for a long moment as she took the final drag off her cigarette. “It’s good to see your resolve. But now that I’ve let you off the leash, you’ll need to step lightly. I feel like something bigger is at play here.”

“Yes, ma’am.” I muttered in a quiet tone as I brooded over what I would need to do. 

Nennel was unconscious for the next three days. Both Ferris and I checked on her every day. We did our best to feed her simple soups and broth when she needed food. In my free time, I worked on a special weapon designed specifically for Nennel. Whenever Kharmor wasn’t on a job, I either trained with him or had him help me with my project. The Half-Dwarf helped me find flaws twice as fast as I would have found myself. He spotted errors with ease and told me what would fail before I even tested the devices. I worked night after night with no sleep, given the free rein that the Master granted me.

By day three, I had finished my gift for Nennel and readied her a few modifiers to help her in battle. I made her a unique weapon and tool that could keep her safe in even the most dire of straights if she could keep a clever mind. I had been struggling with the design ever since she had asked for me to make her something on par with Ferris’s infusion dagger. But Kharmor had helped me flush out the design and complete the project faster than I ever could have by myself.

I also made an effort to spar with Kharmor daily and give him in-depth reviews after each match. The young Half-Dwarf was surprisingly skilled for someone who didn’t manage to join Crimson Blade. I will admit that his cybernetic fists were pretty painful, but nothing I couldn’t handle, given my trained pain threshold. I also made sure to notify Master Navor of his desire to test into a Type 3 member. When I asked her if that meant that he would join the Dark Hunters, she told me that standard Type 3s were actually a thing.

Nennel was attacked on that Marday. Every day after, I had devoted two hours to walking the streets to get to know the city better. What I saw on my strolls ranged from saddening to disturbing. I had seen dozens of beggars of all kinds of species. Twice in four days, I had seen building fires that the news classified as arson. In those same four days, I had stopped no less than ten attempted thefts. Sadly, whenever I attempted to return the stolen goods, the victims thought I was going to extort them. In that time, I also received an uncountable amount of glares, slurs, and people spitting in my direction, in addition to seventeen attempts to steal from me. The discrimination continued even when I entered shops to purchase goods. Grocery store employees almost always denied me service. Technology components and parts stores always had me thrown out whenever I stepped through their door.

On this day, in particular, the fifth day after Nennel’s attack, it was Sacreday. Navor had replenished my funds, and I was meeting up with Bit, Byte, and Gig. After I tracked down the three, I put on a Mimic Facade of a generic-looking Human boy of my own age. The kids oohed and awed over the ability, but I didn’t show them or tell them about my Venna gauntlet.

I asked the kids where they wanted to go for food. As the kids bickered over their options, I watched with sad amusement. I didn’t have any actual siblings, so I never had those kinds of arguments. As strange as it sounds, I felt like I was missing out on something that I could never get. Watching the three kids also reminded me of Nennel and her state.

The three finally agreed to go to an Ethran restaurant a few blocks west of where we stood. I guessed at least one of them had a thing for tacos, but I could go for a bowl of black garlic tonkotsu, so I didn’t argue. The restaurant in question was a small mom-and-pop shop called KymGekaw. The inside was painted fire red and peach tan with a jungle theme. The tables were well-worn but also well-cared for. We sat down and ordered our food. Sure enough, Bit ordered a taco plate with a large soda drink. Gig ordered pork dumplings and a black coffee. He came across as trying to be more mature than he really was. Byte ordered the same meal as me when I told him what I was getting - black garlic tonkotsu with a side of zesty Ethran rice, a water, and an energy drink. It was plain to see that the twelve-year-old was imitating me. Why he was doing so, I could only guess. I had never been very good at understanding other people without knowing them on a personal level.

The three ate their food with ravenous fervor while I picked at my food. I had lost my appetite after watching the kids devour their food like starving animals. I felt guilty, so I split my meal between the three kids, who looked at me like I had grown a second head. I gave them a half-hearted explanation about a stomachache, and they took it without question.

After they finished every scrap of food that was on the table, I pulled free the armband I had stolen from the ganger when I saved Nennel. “Alright, guys, I need you to hold up your end of the deal. A friend of mine was attacked by a gang. She got scrapped pretty bad, and I’m looking for answers.” I dropped the armband in the center of the table. “They were all wearing this.” On the bright red fabric was a black, stylized design of a sleek bird, with wings made of a row of knives, diving at a steep angle.

Gig poked at the armband with a fork. “This is the logo of the Razor Wings. They’re bad news. These guys cause a lot of trouble and will do anything that will earn them any good amount of clat. They strip cybernetics like any other CySkav gang, but they also do a load of drug deals.”

“Is there anything else you can tell me about them?” I asked. “Recent news and blind spots are what I’m looking for. Are they working for a corp? Has anything changed with their regular actions? Have they had any deals curdle in a big way?”

Gig sat back with a pensive expression. “Yeah, they have had something strange happen. Before, they sold the standard street drugs, mostly Inkk. No more dangerous than normal, but they released a new product two weeks ago. The word on the streets is that the stuff is called ZipVane. The claims are that the stuff is a battle booster with a serious high that just happened to drop in their lap. The RWs said the stuff was clean and safe but also packed a  fraggin’ punch.”

“That sounds like a problem. But, I’m hearing a ‘but’ coming up.” I said to Gig.

The kid gave me a proud grin. “You’re right on the clat. But since they released it, their normal buyers have been droppin’ like nats.  A couple of the Inkk users near our hideout, ones we know bought from the Razor Wings, ODed just a few days ago.”

“You think they used this ZipVane stuff?”

Gig leaned forward and spoke with total certainty. “I know they used the stuff. One of the guys to turn corpse, an Elf we called Weird Wellon, was bragging to his buddies that he got his hands on the stuff the day before his corpse was pulled out of an alley.”

“Good to know.” I muttered as I thought about how I could use this info to my advantage. “Do you know where the gang makes their nest?”

“Yeah. It’s an abandoned hospital at 332 North, and Griffin Cliff Way. We avoid the place pretty hard.”

“Also good to know.” I replied. “Do you know if they have any initiation trials or rituals?”

“I’ve heard a couple of rumors, but nothing certain.”

“Hmmm.” I hummed to myself as I thought about how to approach. I had a rough idea that might work, but I needed to be totally certain that I could pull it off without a hitch. Navor told me that I had no safety net and I needed to minimize my risk.

“Do you know of anyone that would know their initiation process, that isn’t part of the gang?”

All three of the boys looked at each other with worry. “Uh, yeah. But the dude lives in Undercity and is pretty strange and scary.”

“Scary how?” I asked. 

After my talk with the kids, I had made my way back to the team home to make preparations for a trip. I had done some quick research on my walk back home to see what I was in for. Gig and the others had only heard of this so-called creepy guy through the rumor vines. According to the kids, the mysterious man might have more than two eyes, more than two arms, and/or more than two legs. This raised more than a few questions for me. If this unknown informant had extra anything, they had to be cybernetics, but were they for a purpose or simply an esthetic choice? If they served a purpose, what was it? Extra hands I could understand, even extra eyes. But extra legs?

I pondered this puzzle as I stepped in through the front door to the team home. As I stepped through the door, I found Ferris preparing to leave. “Where are you heading?”

“The temple.” was all Ferris said before he stepped around me and moved out the door with a determined pace.

I watched him leave with sadness weighing on my mind. Ferris hadn’t been the same since he had seen Nennel in pieces. The Quint Elf was normally so easygoing and fun. I had never realized just how much I had relied on Ferris being the laid-back goofball until that was gone. He had been someone to keep me grounded and remind me that there was always fun to be had in life, even in the darker times.

I watched the door close even as I walked into the living room where Demierra and Zynna were lounging. Demierra sat in the recliner as she strummed at a guitar in a slow rhythm while she read something on her therra. Zynna was reading a book while she lay splayed out across the coach.

“Did I just hear Ferris say that he was going to a temple? Since when did he find religion?” I asked the other two.

Zynna gave a heavy shrug without looking up from her book. “Maybe seeing his friend picked to pieces gave him a crisis.”

I turned to Demierra. “I didn’t know you played.”

The Dracose bared her teeth at me. “I’m learning. Don’t give me crap.”

I put my hands up in a sign of submission. “No offense meant. I’m just surprised.”

“Who’s playing a guitar like a drunk clock with a bad gear?” groaned a familiar voice.

I whipped around to find Nennel shuffling into the living room with one hand on the side of her head like she was in pain, and rubbing one of her eyes with the other. The moment I saw her, I rushed toward her. My gaze jumped all over her body, searching for flaws. At the same time, my hands traded between jumping around randomly and testing parts of her body while questions poured from my mouth in a torrent. “Nel! How are you feeling?” Before she could answer, I knelt down and rapped a knuckle against one of her shins. “Do your legs feel right?” I shot back up, grabbed her arm, and tested the movement of her elbow. “Are your elbows too tight?” I shifted my grip from her arm to her hand. I rubbed and squeezed each fingertip in order. “Can you feel your toes and fingers?” I dropped her hand and slapped my forehead with the heel of my palm. “I’m so stupid. Do you need water? Or food? Oh! I have something for you!”

I rushed past Nennel and down to my room to snag the items I had crafted for my borg sister. I hurried back upstairs to find Nennel gingerly lowering herself onto the couch, Zynna now sitting up with a leg draped over the couch's arm beside her.

I approached Nel with a belt hanging over one shoulder, a pair of gloves in one hand, and a pair of broach-like items in my other hand. “Ives’, you need to calm down.” Nel said in a tired voice. “I can’t handle that kind of energy right now. How long was I out for?”

“I-um,” I stammered. “Three days.”

Nennel gave me a surprised look as she rapidly blinked her eyes. “What?”

“You heard him right. Three days.” Demierra confirmed as she toyed with a tuning peg on her instrument.

Nennel lowered her head into her hands and let out a long and low moan. “So it wasn’t a nightmare. Those gangers really did get me.”

“Yeah.” I numbly muttered, my gaze falling to the floor. After a long few moments of total silence, I looked back up at Nennel as I explained. “I rushed to track you down after I got your message. Found you in an abandoned factory in the hands of a gang. You were in bad shape. I pulled you out and fixed you up.”

Nennel was dead silent and as still as the grave for almost a whole two minutes. When she spoke, it was in a quiet tone that I had to strain to hear, “I, I think that I need a moment to take this all in.”

“What you need is therapy, sweetheart.” Zynna commented bluntly.

I set down everything I was carrying on the coffee table that stood just in front of the coach. “Let me get you a glass of water.” I hurried to get what I promised. While in the kitchen, I had a thought and brought my sister a box of gram crackers as well. When I stepped back into the living room, I found the three girls handling the gadgets that I had crafted. Nennel was inspecting one of the gloves. Demierra had set aside her guitar to look at one of the broach-sized items, the device tiny between her massive fingers. Zynna was eyeballing the belt.

“Uh, Ives’, what are these?” Nennel asked with obvious curiosity. I was happy to see that she was feeling well enough to show interest in something. The fact that her interest was in one of my pieces only made me proud.

“I’ll show you. But first, I want you to have some water and a gram cracker or two.” I said as I set down the glass of water and box of sweet crackers.

“Why the crackers?” Nel asked as she set down the glove and pulled free one of the crackers.

“I’ve always found that gram crackers help settle the stomach and provide glucose, which not only tastes good but also makes me feel better for the rest of the day.”

Nennel nibbled at the cracker in her hand as I began to explain the tools I had crafted. I offered a hand to Demierra in request for the item that she was inspecting. Without comment, she dropped the device in my hand. With experienced hands, I picked up the small device and showed it to the group. The small item was circular, with a metallic ring around a glass centerpiece I had etched and painted with the design of a cute cat face. I had done some research and made the design in a fashion that was popular with girls in the current year.

I showed the design to each girl before I clipped it to the collar of my shirt and pressed the glass piece. My appearance blurred and rippled before appearing as a young Human girl, if a very boyish one. The illusion’s hair was brunette and long, with slightly tanned skin and brown eyes. The clothes were well-worn jeans with a few holes and a plain lavender-purple T-shirt. “This is a simple illusion device crafted to look like a plain pin that I designed for you to look like a standard Human, with no cybernetics. It has two modes. The first changes nothing about your appearance but obscuring your cybernetics. Twist the outer ring to switch modes. The second mode will completely cover you, giving you this appearance. The device bases the illusion’s framework on the natural structure of your face and only makes slight alterations. I set this mode to change your hair and eye color into the most generic and bland colors and style. The facial alteration should be enough to throw off anyone chasing you if you don’t change in front of them. But the changes should be minimal enough that someone who actually knows you will recognize you if they are aware of these changes.”

I turned off the illusion pin and set it on the table in front of Nennel before picking up the second, slightly larger item. The item was diamond-shaped with a thick and dark, gunmetal-colored rim around a faceplate displaying a switch and a pair of interlocking shutters. The shutters held two small triangular windows and a center button where the shutters overlapped. One window glowing red and the other was glowing gray. I clipped the device to the waist of my pants and pressed the dial switch set at the top.. After I pressed the switch, a shell of red and gray energy flashed around my body for a brief second before vanishing. “This is a modified Personal Sanctum Guard. It isn’t much different from a standard Personal Sanctum Guard… Well, other than a total internal overhaul. But that’s beside the point. This one can shield you from two elements simultaneously.”

“A dual element PSG? I’ve never seen one of those.” Demierra commented.

I unclipped the device and set it in front of Nennel, beside the illusion pin. “It’s not a big deal. The design isn’t too different from the standard type, just twinned. I assembled it with a split pair of myst circuits and a dual infusion stabilizer.”

“You think you could make me one, too?” The Dracose asked.

“I, I guess.” I stammered. “But it wouldn’t be for free. I’d need you to pay for the components and throw in a little extra for my time.”

“That’s not an issue.” Demierra said with a wave of her hand. “How much would you need?”

I did some mental arithmetic before I gave her an answer. “I’d need fifteen credits for the parts and two credits for my time.”

“What?” Demierra complained. “That’s over half of my weekly check.”

I gave her a helpless shrug. “Are you willing to spend a week eating cheap instant meals for a device that could save your life?”

I watched with hidden amusement as she thought about it with a scrunched snarl on her face. “Alright, you have a point.”

I turned back to the items on the table and picked up the belt that Zynna had been inspecting. The design of the belt was simple, but useful. Attached to the outer side of the belt were six metal cases that were about three inches long, a half-inch wide, and seven inches deep. Each case had a latched lid that could be popped open in an instant but sealed firmly. I displayed the belt before pulling three shard-size myst crystals from a cargo pocket of my pants and showed how it worked. I slipped the crystals into a case one at a time, like loading bullets into a magazine. The base platform of each case was a spring-loading floor piece that pushed the crystals to the surface. A pair of half-hook lips at the top of the interior prevented the crystals from being totally ejected all at once.

“This belt is obviously meant to hold power crystals for either the PSG that I made you, Nennel, or for the last item that I made for you.” I set down the belt and picked up the gloves. “If you ladies would follow me to the backyard.” With those words, I made my way to the stated location.

The backyard of the house was a space almost the exact same size as the footprint of the house itself. The space was filled with false grass, called synth-lawn, complete with false flowers and bushes. Because of the polluted air and lack of sunlight in the hive-city made it unbelievably difficult to grow plants within the city. Some businesses and homes used moss gardens, with bio-engineered moss designed to feed off the pollution. Other areas and homes had enclosed yards with air filtration systems and grow lights to support actual plants. But most homes that had any kind of yard were much like the one we stood in at the time.

Installed at the far end of the yard were three training dummies that Kharmor and I had crafted and installed. The setup was Kharmor’s idea. After he understood what my intention for the gloves was, he proposed the idea of setting up specialized dummies for Nennel to train on. The humanoid shapes were made from ultra-tough rubber used for all-terrain tires. That only made up the outermost layer of the dummies. The skeletal frame of each was made from elemental resistant rebar, which had been a serious pain to weld together. Each dummy was set in a T-pose shape with only minimal changes, given the time Kharmor and I had spent on them.

I pointed to the center dummy with a freshly gloved hand. “Watch the target.” I instructed. Without another word, I pressed the trigger button at the heel of my right palm as I stood ten feet from the target dummy. A threat of red energy extended from the inside of the wrist of the glove I had triggered. I held down the button until the thread was fully extended to its maximum eight-foot length. In a single fast and sharp motion, I spun the hand over my head and struck out toward the dummy. The line of pure Fire Myst followed my motion overhead before reaching out to lash against the target like a striking serpent. A blackened singe line marked where the whip had struck. After my display, I tapped the button on the back side of the glove at the wrist, and the cable retracted.

I turned back to the girls with a mad grin and was deeply satisfied by the slack-jawed look on the Dracose and Half-Elf. Nennel just looked excited at the new lethal toy I had made for her.

“What, in the name of all the Gods, was that?” Demierra asked in astonishment.

“That, my scaly friend, is an elemental whip glove. I call them Lash Gloves for short.” I walked over to the girls and the gloves to the girls as I pointed out each component, and I explained how they worked.

“The gloves themselves are crafted from synthetic fibers interwoven with adelren material. The adelren material resists any myst element that matches what is channeled through it. But because the stuff has a high myst bleed-off rate, I laced the material with mythril myst circuits. That improves the the myst flow rate and minimizes the bleed-off rate.”

I pointed to the wrist of the gloves, which only looked slightly bulkier than standard to a casual inspection. “I store the cable here and use a micromotor to pull it out when the button at the heel of the palm is pushed.” I moved my hand to point at the button on the back of the hand. This button stops the flow of energy through the cable to prevent damage and rapidly retracts it.”

“How does the cable work?” Zynna asked. This question made me giddy. It was an excuse to really explain what I had done on a technical level, which I was really proud of.

“The cable was the hardest part of the whole thing to design. It took some trial and error, but Kharmor helped me get the concept finalized. I took several molecular threads of mythril, the metal used for myst circuits, and wove it into a nano cable core of mirrorloom. Mirrorloom is a flexible and highly resilient fabric and reflects spell effects based on its degree of refinement. I doubt that I have to tell you that I got the purest stuff I could get my hands on. The mirrorloom’s flexibility is what allows the whip to move like it does. At the same time, the spell-reflective effect forces the element powering the cable to only be forced outward, which increases the intensity.”

“Wait,” Demierra spoke up, confusion plain on her face. “molecular threads? nano cable? Isn’t that all smaller than normal eyes can see?”

I vigorously nodded. “Without question, it’s that small. I had to request an advance from the master to afford a tool able to spin the materials that thin. I also had to get a loan from Kharmor to get goggles capable of seeing that small. The mono-molecular spooler cost a shiny copper, to say the least, and weaving the whole thing together was a total nightmare until I figured out how to alter the spooler to do it for me. I’ve been working on these for weeks now, and I’ve spent plenty of sleepless nights working on them. But this cable is so thin that it can cut like a razor if used right.” I turned to Nel. “If you can get good enough with these, you could wrap someone with them and restrain them or totally cut them in half if you have the angle right and enough strength.”

Nennel looked at me in total shock. “Iver, why did you make these for me?”

I gave her a confused look as I explained. “You were upset by the elemental infusion blade that I made for Ferris. I promised you I’d make something on par with that.” My face lit up with excitement again. “Which reminds me, you can change the element that the whips are infused with. It can use elements like Fire, Ice, Lightning, or Acid. But don’t try using elements like Earth, Sand, Tar, or Blast Stone. The design of the cables can’t handle the rigidity inherent in Earth Myst and any hybrid elements with an Earth base. It would make the cable hard and brittle.

“Screw the Sanctum Guard, I want a pair of those.” Demierra said.

I shot the Dracose an annoyed look. “Only if you have three mythril worth of clat.”

“What?!”

“You heard me. Those things were a total nightmare to make and weren’t cheap. I was lucky that I had stocked up on the needed materials at the Academy Foundry before I left. Besides, your spell focus is a pair of special gauntlets, right? I would have to make them big enough and from a material that can stretch around the things. Or, I would have to modify your gauntlets which would be an even bigger pain. I would also have to work with you to craft them so you could still use them as a channel for your spells. Thinking about it, it would cost more like five mythril with all that work, and it would take weeks of working with you to get them complete.”

“Are you bleeding me for coin?” Demierra growled in a threat.

I raised my hands in a warding-off gesture and started verbally back-peddling in panic. “No, no, no. I’m not in the business of bleeding anyone for clat. Well, unless they cause me trouble.”

“You mean like putting you in an arm lock and accusing you of poisoning the party?” Demierra accused. 

“What?! NO! Don’t get me wrong. It hurts that you made those claims.” I started, and the Fury growled even deeper. “I get why you would think I did that with the evidence given.” I forced the words out at a panicked pace. “And you also don’t know me from a fiend. So I get it.” 

I lowered my hands and spoke in a forced calm tone. “I promise to everyone in this group that if you need or want something built, I will do my best to get it done and charge you fairly.”

Demierra turned her head away with a snorting scoff. “This is so stupid. I want to cut people in half.” She said with a pouting expression.

“Dem, couldn’t you just rip people in half?” Zynna asked. “You’re a Dezzar Dracose and a Fury. Your strength has to be borderline barbaric.”