Chapter 172: New Hires.

The weekend was anything but boring, or even calm. From the moment I was up and about my phone had started to ring. Call after call flooded in, from various members of the team, each calling to give me status updates, to coordinate with each other, and every other possible reason.

I was tempted to just have everyone meet at the office, but even if I wanted to, it wasn’t possible. With the most recent full moon, an event I had skipped over to take that hot spring trip, the city had undergone a change. There was already a curfew in place. Limiting working hours, and what times people could walk in the street. Well, those limits had expanded.

Rather, it was more like, nobody wanted to risk anything happening. Apparently, over the last weekend, there had been an alarming number of break ins, shops being vandalized, and people straight up vanishing. Enough that the police had to elevate the alert level of the city.

There were complaints, of course, but the police didn’t have the ability or means to keep a handle on everything. During the week, Taylor had called me incessantly, constantly asking if I’d go patrolling, but I had to turn her down. Not because the patrols were getting more dangerous, but due to the project I was currently leading.

She wasn’t happy, even after I explained my situation, but… what else could she do? In the end, she stopped calling, leaving me with an open invitation to help them whenever I had the time. Even then, with the city’s current condition, I had no intention of getting involved.

Word was, even the Lower District was facing issues with the influx of monsters. With even Éclair sending me a warning to not bother showing up as she was going to be assisting the Wizard Gang.

It was clear that the state of the city was not improving, and honestly, I wasn’t nearly strong enough to be at the center of it. Hell, I doubt I was even strong enough to be at the periphery. I’d probably just be an active foot soldier, or simple chaff that would be swept away by a mere gust from this particular storm.

My spars with Éclair said as much, and moreso, that one spar with Roman was even more enlightening. And, I had no intention of just being a background character for a much larger event. If anything, I’d be better off spending my time improving myself, and building myself up.

Which is exactly what I was doing.

Between calls, as everyone was doing work, or parts of their job at home, I was focusing on improving my magic. My lessons with Éclair were simple, but integral, especially to what I was currently working on. The task, or rather, what I was attempting sounded simple on paper. It was anything but…

Instead of manually freezing large blocks, I had Talia help me with sorting out a few dozen smaller trays, each capable of making palm sized blocks of ice. The trays could be filled with water, and I could proceed to use my magic to freeze them. It was a quick and painless process, but what made it difficult was making the water freeze in the necessary patterns.

Forming questionable shapes, even jagged lettering was entirely possible. Precise lines, or even detailed images were an impossible task, let alone making something as complex as an array. Where I had difficulty though, Talia took to the task with gusto.

Her new totem gave her the ability to use a vast array of magic types with startling proficiency. Among them, was ice, my own element. Seeing my training, she quickly joined in. And just as quickly progressed well beyond my own abilities.

“It’s not hard once you get the hang of it.” She said to my chagrin. “I mean, once you realize that frozen water, or ice, has a crystalline structure, it’s just about lining up the structures to create patterns, patterns that become the base for writing, pictures, or arrays.” She said, not sounding smug at all, just very matter of fact.

It was annoying, but admittedly, her guidance did help me improve. As we practiced, eventually, a question came into being.

“Hey, do you think we could do this with your ice soldiers?” Talia asked, “Or maybe the knights?”

I wanted to shoot her down, I opened my mouth to do just that, but… then I thought about. Like, really thought about it. Instead of answering, I did something else.

“Fathom, step over here.” I commanded the knight standing nearby. Without word, nor complaint, he came over.

I said nothing else as I began inspecting him. Placing a hand upon his form, I felt his core, thrum, beat, as if it were a flesh and blood heart. I felt how the magic stirred in his veins, how those veins filled with magic snaked through his body, like a great trees roots.

The more I looked though, the less I felt I understood. Sure, I animated him, but the base process was fairly simple. Carving out the main lines for the magic to course through, feeding into the material, with the core being a mass of magical energy kept into being with a bit of my soul, and a bit of donor material from the ice itself.

The core, to the naked eye, would probably look something like a small crystalline orb, though, ripping it out would be like ripping a seed out of the ground, just as it began sprouting. The core was sensitive as it was. Given time, and with each advancement, the core grew denser, more durable, and clearly, the roots filling its body would grow as well.

Still, it provided little information. Estrella and Luna were next. And immediately, I was taken aback by their forms. Each had been animated with a silver coin, and unlike Fathom, their channels were works of art.

At my exclamation, Talia herself stepped in to examine the network. A soft sigh of appreciation left her lips as her eyes lit up with wonder.

“This is amazing…” She muttered and began speaking rapidly, trying to decipher what it was she was that she was seeing, but in the end, she was no closer to finding out. “Maybe I could map it?” She mumbled, already reaching for a piece of paper to just that. Creating a simple model of Luna and beginning to translate all of what she could see and sense to paper.

Even then, with this new discovery, I felt no closer to understanding if what Talia said was even possible… Could we perhaps look at ourselves? But what would that grant us exactly? I was attempting to see if the material for the soldiers could be manipulated in some way, but none of the soldiers under my employ were modified in such a way, but…

What about Shi? Wasn’t she a former fox? Though, she was now a mistake, surely, she should still have remnant perks, as Éclair had called them. As a fox she had a full complement of perks, of which, I wasn’t really sure what they had been. As for what perks she had now, I was no closer to figuring out than I was before.

But, would examining her give the answer? Would it really be that easy? Well, there was only one way to find out.

“Shi, would you come over here?” I asked, and the girl gave me a look. Not quite answering my call, not quite dismissing it either. “I’ll give you some blood for the trouble.” I finally offered and she leapt up, eager and slavering.

Talia, too lost in her own activity barely paid me or Shi any mind as I had her sit on a small table. I placed my hand on her back, and felt how her heart thrummed, how the blood stirred through her body.

I wasn’t really sure what I was looking for. So, I just worked my way through, poking and prodding at her with my magic, trying to see if there would be any kind of reaction.

And just as I was about to give up, something flared. I barely caught it. Like a spark flying off a flint. There in one moment, gone the next. Thinking it to be a fluke, or perhaps a figment of my weary mind, I gave it another prod, one with a bit more force behind it.

This time, it was like throwing a stone into a pond. I blinked. Stared as the magic coursed through her and seemingly vanished. Shi looked, completely unbothered by what happened. Even now, I wasn’t entirely sure what had just happened.

So, I asked for a second set of eyes. “Talia, come here. I need you for a moment.”

My words jolted Talia from her fugue, and out of curiosity, she came close. “What did you need?”

“Put your hand here, beside my hand, what do you sense?” I asked, and the moment she placed her hand on Shi’s back, I prodded that same area.

Talia immediately let out strange noise. I felt her hands shift, her own magic without warning pulsed, receiving the same feedback. She repeated this a few times, until Shi finally shifted clearly bothered.

“Oh, sorry! I just got a little excited.” Talia said, only now realizing what she was doing. As for Shi, She actually looked upset. Even stranger, she looked about ready to just leave.

“Is that bothering you?” I asked, curious to see if she would respond. She stared at me for a moment, something flickered in her eyes for a bare moment, and… she nodded. Slow, unsure.

“So, it bothers you when she does… this?” I asked, pulsing inside her. I felt her twitch. She nods. “Alright, we won’t keep doing it then.”

Talia looked ready to complain but said nothing when I looked at her. Looking back at Shi, I asked. “Would it be okay if she kept her hand on you while you feed?” I ask, Shi’s eyes had a small spark in them, a flittering light at the mention of food. She nodded rapidly.

Glancing over, it was clear that Talia understood what I was asking. Eager to take advantage of the situation, she put her hands on Shi’s back, while I offered her my arm. Without any hesitation, Shi bit down. Her fangs punched through my skin with surprising ease. My blood rapidly left my body, gushing into her as she ravenously drank. All thew while, Talia was making equally off-putting noises.

I held off on my growing annoyance and waited until Shi had her fill. Once she stopped, Talia, with a disappointed grunt, finally took her hands back.

“Find anything?” I asked.

“Yeah… what exactly, I don’t know. Between figuring out those knights, this, and expanding the workshop, I really do have a lot on my hands now…” She bemoaned, but I could see the excitement on her face.

“But what do you think? Surely you have some early ideas?”

“I do… I might have to inspect my own body too, as I should have a perk or two, but I never really thought about it. With Shi though, it’s clear she has multiple perks, but I can’t even begin parsing them out. One clearly activates when she drinks blood, and it feeds into the others, like, what Éclair said. There’s an obvious synergy, and these perks, They seem to almost be, imbedded into her being.”

“Could you decipher them?” I asked.

“I could probably work out what they do based on trial and error, especially if Shi helps me out. As for putting them to paper? Or even just trying to replicate them? Yeah, no… There’s no way I could do that. If they are indeed perks, each of them are impossibly complex arrays that meld and mold into one another. In a way, becoming more than the sum of their parts. Unless I can get a look at the original design for the perk, there is no way I can replicate it. And even if I could replicate the current set of perks with absolute accuracy, I can’t guarantee it will work, as they seem to be tuned to only work for Shi.”

“Which lends credence to Éclair’s lessons. That we don’t necessarily need gold coins to acquire perks. Or at least, lesser versions of them.” I say.

“Yeah, definitely. Not that I doubted her.”

“Me neither, but it’s always good to have more information… But… what does this mean exactly?” I asked, still trying to put it all together.

“I don’t know…” She said honestly. “I think… just give me some time and I’ll work something out. Even if I can’t fully understand what’s going on with Shi or with your knights, I’m sure I’ll have something workable eventually.”

“Well you have time. I won’t be around much in the coming months.”

“And that’s fine. Getting the workshop up and running, plus all of this? That’ll take up most of my time.”

“Just make sure you take some time to do your own things.”

“Don’t worry, I am.” Talia said with a smile. “I mean, this is all fun, and it’s satisfying to do it, but I’m not just sitting around working all the time. I’ve been taking time to visit the library, and I was looking at resources to maybe get my license.”

“Is that so? Well, make sure to forward me the receipts for any lessons you take. I’ll make sure to reimburse you.” I say.

“What?” She says, almost like she couldn’t believe what she heard. “Why would you do that? I mean, I’m doing this for myself.”

“You’re also expanding your capabilities. You learning to drive not only helps you, but me. It’s only fair that I give you recompensed for making yourself more valuable to me.”

Again, she gave me an odd look, but eventually, “I’ll do that then?”

“Good. And I wish you good luck.”

“Thank you, I’m not really that confident… but, yeah…” She sighs. “Anyway, I’ll get working on that, since I won’t be seeing you over the week, will you be over on the weekends then?”

“Yeah, most likely. I’ll probably be mostly busy, like I have been, but I do plan to spend my time here on the weekends.”

“Alright, that’s good. I can give you updates when you do, well, when you’re not on your phone.”

I opened my mouth to say something when my phone decided to once again ring. “Sounds good and keep up the good work.” I say as I leave to answer my phone.

Like that, the rest of the weekend blitzed by. With me eating into my minutes like crazy. Already, I was beginning to dread the coming phone bill.

But what choice did I have?

Though, there was something to look forward to. Starting tomorrow, Monday, the start of yet another week, we were officially getting our new recruits.

They weren’t arriving righty away. We had some time to prep, to get the stations ready for their arrival. I already had the teams prepped, each of them were warned that they’d be teaching a newcomer.

Many of them weren’t too happy with the prospect, but the idea of finally having someone to help lessen their load helped keep their dissatisfaction from showing. Everyone seemed to expect a disaster, as if the newcomers would come in like a storm, upending all the work they’d done up to this point.

I understood where they were coming from. I also knew we couldn’t afford a lengthy assimilation period. The newcomers needed to fit right in, like pieces in a jigsaw puzzle. Whether or not it would work out, came down to how well I had chosen.

Leo seemed eager to see the result. Talking and expounding on how each division had been shocked by her choices. The first division had been the most surprised, having been the division to give up their right to first pick.

The new second division though… according to Leo they seemed oddly upset for some reason. As for the fourth division, the lowest ranking one, well, as usual, they didn’t really care. After all, the fourth division always got the chaff.

As the day pressed on, as everyone prepped for the coming storm, the first of the new recruits began to pile in. Notably, these were the ones to take the stairs. Under my direction, Terada immediately led them to their teams.

Miraculously, there was no trouble at first. The second batch started to pool in from the elevator. This batch was much larger. And with their arrival, the large space was rapidly filled.

At the tail end of the new arrivals, I finally spotted them, rather, her. She came in, head high. Though, clearly nervous, she still had an air of superiority about her. Something I expected.

As she took in the space, I could see her sniff, and sneer in derision, only to freeze when her eyes fell on me. She froze, like a deer in headlights, or prey before a predator. Her eyes widened, mouth gaped.

I gave her a not so kind smile, and she very nearly lurched to the floor. Only her stiff and locked up knees prevented her from doing so. As I approached her, the girl, she trembled, shook with each step.

She never looked away from me as I approached. A few, more observant members of the division noted the oddity that was occurring, of course, I ignored all that. After all, I was having my fun.

“Liu Lian. What a surprise to meet you again, am I right?”

My words jolted her awake. She flat out crashed to the floor, head banging on the floor.

“My apologies for the disrespect! This one deserves death!”

My smile stiffened, I couldn’t hold back a faint twitch. All eyes were on us… I might have gone a bit too far…

Figures…