The Power of Ten

Chapter 5-123: Someone has Cabin Fever

By the power of the djinn, I Wish that Kayla Mafafars Charisma rise permanently!

Windgraf Kochtal waved calmly at my words, and the young Sorceress tried to hide how she was quivering with excitement.

Think long and hard about what you want to do with your life now, I warned her, before she could hit that Level to Four. You know exactly what you need to do now, and the road to the higher Levels is wide open to you.

Youre going to make it to Six if you arent dumb. You are going to make it to Eight if you are clever. And you can make it to Nine or higher... if you are smart... and patient.

The young woman of Iraqi descent clutched the Leveling Guide in her hand. Those things were like gold in Heavenbound Hall now; someone leaving the room with one of those Bloodbound pamphlets in their hands basically had a huge future ahead of them, and everyone knew it.

The Windgraf watched her go and turned to me respectfully. I nodded once and sighed, By the power of the djinn, I Wish that my Intellect would rise permanently, not to take effect until five Wishes like this have been made!

There was a kind of convergence in my head, a rumbling of pure thought, and then, with an explosion that was purely mental in effect, bits of my mind exploded away, and began to split and reform.

+5 Inherent bonus to Intelligence. Intelligence 28! First mental division!

With the ease of familiarity, I started partitioning duties between mental-only and physical, moving my cerebral functions away from my real-world functions to help manage things. It basically allowed me to take extra mental-only actions, process information from multiple sources quicker and more thoroughly, all without impacting how I was interacting with the physical world.

It was kinda like having two computer screens, only one half was looking out from inside the screen, doing computer things, while the other was playing at the keyboard and making things happen.

I opened my eyes, aware Id slumped back in relief. Finally. Dual thoughtstreams! I missed multiple thoughtstreams so much!

The noble djinn cocked an eye at me thoughtfully as he digested that, and decided to simply harrumph. Is it really so useful? he had to ask.

Admittedly, it becomes a lot more useful once I can apply Still and Silent to every single spell I cast. Once I can do that, I can do full spellcasting at the same time Im engaged in full-on melee.

His eyes widened a bit. Ah, he said after a moment of thought. That does seem incredibly useful at that point...

Yes, very. Although there were risks for trying to Cast while in melee, which was one of the reasons I was shooting my Concentration modifier to the moon. Are things progressing smoothly on your end?

Yes, the big blue Windgraf nodded, unable to hide his eagerness. I am advancing smoothly along the Artificer progression. Having to take the full Masteries at each Level is slowing me down, but I acknowledge that it is wise to do so. The amount of Karma I have to use is quite fixed, and if I rise in Level too fast, I will wind up paying extra Karma for them. He gave me a concerned look. Is this not a problem for you too, Lady Traveler?

Yes and no. Yes, its a problem in that all the extra Masteries Im not waiting to take are going to cost multiple times more. No, its not a problem, because the sheer volume of Karma Im going to be earning will pay for it all when it is time.

He was impressed. And you are certain of this?

I have second-hand direct recollection of just how much Karma collapsing a Dead March and their Shroudzone is, and that was divided by literally hundreds or thousands of people. Karma, noble Windgraf, is not going to be an issue at all.

He nodded slowly, trusting my judgement. I had been spot on with so many other things, after all.

He seemed to have something he wanted to ask, and was deciding how to get around to doing it. I waited patiently, he realized I was doing so, and that impelled him to action. In your plans, Lady Traveler... is there any way that I could get out of this area and accompany you?

I did not move my eyes from him as I thought that over. Having the noble djinn here was a huge boon, especially now that Heavenbound Hall was taking massive advantage of his Wishcrafting. Even if we couldnt do anything too overwhelming, because it would simply be eaten by the Shroud, just his empowering of the agents of the Hall was incredible, and his Artificing would only take it to the next level.

That said, he was a djinn, a Chaotic Good genie, and sitting in one place all this time, threatened by so many powers that wanted to tap him for Wishes, had to be grating on him hard.

How patient are you? I asked calmly, after long thought.

I have endured here for over four decades, he got out grimly, and I inclined my head in acknowledgement of the fact. Even as an Elemental being, with a different perspective of time than we had, that was not a small amount of time. I can endure longer, if I must.

I nodded again. I have some points for you to think on, Lord Windgraf.

Go on, my Lady, he replied formally.

The first point is, you will never have the ability to use Wishes as freely in the future as you do now under the Shroud. His eyes drifted towards the window, and the ever-present gray Haze in the sky. What I would like to suggest you do... is write down things you would like to Wish for, things that you would like to see done, and we can see if we can get them done, via Wishcraft or other means.

He ruminated on that, then nodded slowly. I will do so. Only mortals can directly profit from our Wishes, but there are... loopholes, as you say. I nodded, having no issue whatsoever with that. Indeed, genies would probably be selling their Wishes outright if they could do so, but they couldnt even receive actual payment for a Wish, or bad things would happen. The genie Suzerains, and the gods themselves, did not look kindly on unlimited Wishcrafting!

Two, you arent going to remember any of this, when we finally win. He blinked at me. All the years, the grinding, the drudgery, the work, the humiliation... its all going to go away. All that is going to be left... is whatever memoirs you write yourself, and that Hat. His eyes turned up to the Bowler on his head. So, all the frustration and anger you are holding at your situation, at being unable to leave, at being separated from your family... when I break the Shroud, youre not going to remember any of it. Youre not going to remember any of this, I waved my hands to include everything around, including myself. Now, I would like you to remember. Id even like to Wish that you could remember, because losing nearly a hundred years of your life to the Shroud is horrible to even contemplate. But thats not going to happen.

So, you dont have to worry about how this skulking is going to impact you in the future, because you are going to lose it all. Youll probably keep vestiges of it, changes in behavior that have happened, but you wont know why youve changed like you have.

He looked quite troubled at that, and we sat there quietly as he worked out the implications silently to himself.

I... he said firmly, will be writing myself some very good memoirs!

I nodded at him. As is the Angelos. Third point... we dont have enough money coming into the Hall for you to leave quite yet.

Money is the issue, now? he asked, rather surprised.

You need an Astral Ward just to leave this place and not be tracked, a Vampires Veil so you arent recorded on any devices in passing, at least some manner of Morphing to disguise yourself, and youll need a Death Ward item and an appropriate arsenal of anti-Undead Gear to handle where Im going to be going. Thats already at least a hundred and twenty-five goldweight in Infusing material... and thats just for you.

His very expressive face grimaced. Sure, his family could buy and sell planets if need be, but here, that was an ungodly amount of money to try and gather, just to burn away and make magic items for himself. Sure, he had some stuff already, but it really needed to be upgraded.

Now, after I collapse the Firelands in Yellowstone, Im going to start pulling a ton of gold or the equivalents out of the ground a day. Money... will not be an issue. Four hundred goldweight in raw material, potentially tripled by Crafting... nope, money would not be an issue at all.

The Windgraf nodded thoughtfully. So, getting me there and opening that place up was a thing.

On top of that, Stone Shape at V being able to refine and purify low quality gemstones is also going to create a tremendous amount of money. So, a device that could do such a thing automatically is literally worth its weight in crafted diamonds.

And he, or I, were basically going to be the only people who could make such a thing. Multiplying the wealth of the Hall significantly would only get him ever closer to leaving.

You say you are trapped, but now... you are not trapped. Now, you are making a choice! You are now a force multiplier! Every day you stay here, another human can rise to Six, Seven, Eight... even Nine. They can do the work outside that you could, fighting against the Shroud, fighting to get you out of here, out of this world, home to your friends and kin.

Every day you Artifice, you are going to be able to make things that no one else on the planet can do... but which they can finish up for you, once youve begun it. You can turn out the Death Ward Amulets, the Vivic Weapons, the Teleport Nexals, the Full Ward Obelisks, that literally no one else on the planet can do... but which will enable people to finally bring the fight to the undead.

You are now the being arming the world. You finally have a hammer in hand, and a mighty spike you can drive into the heart of the Shroud.

You are no longer hiding, Windgraf Kochtal. Now, you are WORKING, and your efforts are the levers which will crack open the Shroud, and deliver this Earth back to the wonders of Creation once again.

You are going to be right there in the heart of this fight, Windgraf, even if you do not step a single foot beyond these Halls!

He stared at me through his monocle, and I didnt drop my eyes. I wasnt scared of him, and I was totally serious. He was going to end up at least a Ten Artificer... in terms of what he could make, there was nobody on the planet who could match him.

All he needed now was gold, Craft, and time, and bringing down the Shroud, and getting out of here, was inevitable.

He finally realized that, too. As long as he kept equipping people, and got them strong enough to fight, the Shroud was going to lose. It might take some time, but he was basically the nail in its coffin!

I was just planning to burn the coffin a bit faster than that...

When you are stronger, than, I will certainly be able to come along for some, mmm, entertainment, will I not? he ventured brusquely.

Oh, most certainly, I agreed with a smile. Consider how you want to present yourself at that time. Would you like me to put out a recommended set of Gear? I inquired.

Your thoughts on such matters are rather meticulous, he had to admit, and I laughed politely at the compliment. If it is not too much effort...

I will have things you can start on as of tomorrow, I agreed politely.

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