by Dakota Krout
“Done.” Daniella shook his hand. “I’ll get the contracts ready. Is there anything you need from me?”
“I need a fat stack of high-quality blueprint paper at cost.” Joe pulled out a bank note for fifty gold and handed it over. “I’ll need that well before we get started.”
“I can have it delivered today…” Daniella looked at the note and winced as she realized how much paper that could buy when it was sold at cost.
“Get it here by noon, and we can start tomorrow morning,” Joe cheerfully informed her.
“I didn't expect you to be so… decisive. Done.” Daniella nodded and walked away, calling back with, “I’ll add the at-cost paper to the contract. If you don’t sign, you’ll need to pay current market value!”
“Then make sure not to put any stupid clauses in the contract!” Joe yelled after her vanishing form. “Hmm. Gonna have to read that contract carefully. Hopefully Tatum will help me find any hidden sections.”
By lunch, a courier sprinted up to Joe and handed over a large, well-wrapped box full of blueprint paper. Joe tipped him ten copper and got straight to work. He rounded up his Coven members and assigned them a task, “Taka, Kirby, Rob, Big_Mo, Hannah… sorry about this, but I need us to sit down and just make an unholy amount of this ritual diagram.”
The group looked at the diagram for Architect’s Fury and discussed how they could separate out tasks. It was Big_Mo who came up with the real issue. “Joe, I want to do this, but it's a Student ranked ritual. I’m still a Novice with ritual magic. It’ll just explode if I try to make it.”
He had a point. Joe had them all sit together at a table and tried to figure out a plan. “Alright… here’s what we’re going to do. Hannah, with the highest rank after me, is a solid Beginner that is getting close to Apprentice. Teaching moment here: since this is a Student ranked ritual, there are still two circles that each of you can draw up with a high probability of success. We are all going to make a diagram with the highest circles we can, then divide the work up.”
“Those with the lowest ranks will draw the first Novice circles, then the next group does the Beginner ones. When Hannah hits Apprentice rank, she’ll do those as well. Whatever can't get done is something I’ll do. Also, I’ll come around and make sure things are looking correct as we get started. That should help boost your productivity, grant a boost to leveling up your skills, and even help me rank up my teaching skill. Oh… never mind, I added that skill to a skill combo. Shoot.”
Joe grinned at the confused faces. “Are you all waiting for an invitation? Let’s make the magic happen!”
Chapter Ten
Daniella arrived at the same time she had the day before, just after Joe finished his hot-coal training. The extra point of strength and constitution was just enough for him to fully ignore a sleepless night. He had taken a peek under his shirt, and was pleased to see the first hints of beautiful abdominal muscles.
“Joe, are you ready to begin the day?”
“Good morning, Daniella.” Joe responded calmly, just as the last hints of sweat vanished thanks to his aura.
Skill increase: Neutrality Aura (Apprentice 0): Your constant usage of this skill has made it feel all warm and tingly toward you. Mana reserved from mana pool to keep this skill active has decreased from 8% to 7%.
“Have you decided whether to take some unique blueprints from us, or to make your own based on what we can find in the city?” Daniella continued her line of questioning even as the air around Joe seemed to grow just a single shade darker. Not that she didn't notice; her duty was to notice details. She simply didn't feel the need to comment.
“I will certainly study buildings, thank you.” Joe replied coyly. Daniella squinted as though felt a headache coming on, but she simply nodded and turned to walk toward Ardania. He reached out a hand to forestall her. “Wait. Follow me for a moment? I’d prefer not to walk all the way back to the city.”
“Oh, you have transport? That will make things easier.” Daniella followed him past an enclosure of various beasts. “Do you have a two-person mount? A carriage…? Where are we going?”
“Just trust me.” Joe snorted softly as he held in a laugh. Perhaps he shouldn't be showing her his ability to fast-travel, but this was going to be a show of strength that he could use to his advantage in the future. They walked into the Pathfinder’s Hall, and Joe saw Daniella try to stop herself from gasping. She failed, much to his pleasure.
The building was dark, but the interior was entirely open, except for the central pillar and the small booths designated for plotting out classes and skills. There was enough light to see the entire space, reflected from the glossy surfaces and galaxy-style points of light interspersed throughout. It felt like walking through space, and Joe knew exactly how amazing it was to walk through the building. Even more, he knew that an architect would nearly be forced to drool when they saw it for the first time.
“Oh, I suppose you haven't been allowed in here before,” Joe spoke nonchalantly, taking the long way around to the temple. “Have you been in many Artifact-rarity buildings, then? I know it doesn’t look nearly as interesting from outside.”
“Artifact…!” Daniella caught herself and took a deep breath. “I would love to know more about this building. For instance… I don’t suppose that you have an extra copy of the blueprints?”
“I don’t.” Joe wasn't lying; he had given the blueprints to the Scholars. Seeing her disappointed look, he continued. “Though, I can remake the building after I get my skill into the Master ranks.”
“Oh…” She shook her head at that and changed the subject. Not a great sign. How difficult was it to actually reach the Master ranks? “Normally we work with tier one, common-ranked buildings. Seeing something like this is usually reserved for those at the palace or the Mage’s College.”
“About that, what’s up with the distinction between ‘tier one’ and ‘common’? I thought that was essentially the same thing?” Joe coughed and blushed, not that it could be seen in the dark. “At least, I’ve been using those terms interchangeably.”
“Ah. Easy enough.” Daniella tore her eyes off the ceiling that seemed to show the far reaches of space. “There are two terms because the blueprint may be of a higher tier than the actual workmanship. A tier-one building means that the blueprint will make a common-ranked building if everything is done to specification. However, if you give that to a carpenter and they mess it up, you might end up with a tier-one design, but a trash building.”
“Conversely, give that same blueprint to a Master Carpenter, and they may improve upon it during the actual crafting. That’s how you get variations, but the base design is still only a tier one. It might be an Uncommon tier one, but there is only so much you can do to a place and have it remain the same building. Now, if a new blueprint is made from that building, it would be an uncommon blueprint, or tier two.”
Joe nodded along as they walked. “So, the tier is all about what it should be, and the rarity is about the final product. Makes sense to me. Here we are.”
Daniella had thought that she was done being amazed by the building, but as her eyes drank in the river, trees, fires, and dark shadows that whispered about hidden secrets… she couldn't help but gaze around like a tourist. “How did you manage… this is not…”
Deciding to rescue her, Joe released a happy sigh and looked around the temple. “So, if I am correct, this building - the Pathfinder’s Hall, going by your measurement - is a tier six, Artifact-rarity building. That means that the blueprints were Artifact, and the final result was Artifact, correct?”
“Yes… that would be correct.” Daniella’s voice was faint.
“Good… ready to go? Another function of this building is…”
Would you like to accept the teleportation request from Joe ‘Tatum’s Chosen Legend’? Destination: Ardania Town Square. Yes / No.
“…Yes.” Daniella stated, just before the two of them vanished from Towny McTownface.
Joe blinked at the sudden bright morning light that washed over the two of them. “Ardania. Perfect. Shall we get to it?”
Mind reeling, Daniella started walking. Slowly at first, then faster and with more purpose, as she snapped out of her passion-for-new-buildings fugue. She was nothing if not a consummate professional, and the fact that Joe had been able to catch her off guard so fully made her fluctuate between flattered and embarrassed. “The… first option I have for you to take a look at is a specialty store. This store is focused on high-end products, and has agreed - however begrudgingly - to allow you entrance to try to make up your own blueprints.”
“I see. Is this the only place I get to look into?” Joe was already reconsidering the deal. He hadn't signed anything yet, after all…
“No, of course not.” Daniella pulled out a short contract and handed it over for Joe to examine. “You are allowed to go to any of the structures that we have had a hand in building, so long as it is not a restricted access area. Then, even our clout can't get you close. You simply need an architect with you, and section three-dot-two-dot-one stipulates that we have twenty hours to provide you with a person upon request.”
“I see.” Joe read over the contract, and found that some of it was a strange flat grey color. His ability to read the truth was being interfered with somehow. “This section… can you put that in more simple terms for me?”
“Ah, yes. Legalese.” Daniella looked at the section, “This is what I had just told you: we have twenty hours to get you an architect upon request.”
“No, here. The next line.”
Daniella glanced at it and gave him a quizzical glance. “This line clearly states that you agree to give us the needed twenty hours to provide you with an architect.”
“Clearly?” Joe started to read the text in an aloof manner. “Upon signing, the signatories consent to the aforementioned plurality of allotted time for the provision of an attendant companion, whereupon the restrictions of section three-dot-one-dot-three are considered fulfilled.”
He looked up at Daniella and shook his head. “Lot of recursive calls in there. You know… the document referencing itself. Makes it seem like you are trying to hide things in the text to ‘get’ me.”
“Would you like to create a different contract for us to work with?” Daniella pulled out blank parchment and a quill. They stepped into a small cafe and she wrote out in clear language what they had been discussing. When it was finished to both of their satisfaction, the document was less than a single page long. “You know that a simple contract like this, while easy to understand, leaves much less to be interpreted. It will be very hard to find any workarounds.”
“Well, at least that will work both ways.” Joe signed the parchment after Daniella signed on behalf of her Union. “I’m sure your people already knew all the loopholes in that last one. I’m just surprised that you are so willing to make a new contract.”
“To be frank, Mr. Joe, we are worried that if you are allowed to make buildings for anyone who wants them, we would go out of business.” Daniella blew on the parchment and whisked it away to some hidden spatial storage device. “The Union cannot match your speed and precision, and it is clear from your reputation that attempting to swindle you only leads to the utter destruction of an organization.”
“I’m actually very nice.” Joe stood as she did and they started walking toward the shop. “Most of the time, my future was at stake, and I did what I felt was needed in order to survive and thrive.”
“Oh, I’m sure you did everything for a good reason,” Daniella placated him easily. “I’m not terribly upset about getting the position I have now either, and that couldn’t have happened if the Architect's Guild didn't become the Architect's Union. Here we are. Let’s meet the owner.”
They stepped into a small boutique, and the proprietor perked up… until he saw Daniella. “Ugh… you. I suppose that you came here to show the miscreant around? How long must I suffer your ‘attention’ for?”
“Now, now.” Daniella gave the man a dark look. “You agreed to this, so let’s not scare off the man who will let you repay your debt…?”
Joe wasn't paying attention at all. He was browsing the shop, intensely interested in what he was seeing. The shop itself was shaped like a cylinder, instead of the standard box that he had been expecting. There were only thirty items for sale, and each of them was hovering in the air over a small plinth. Off to the side was a small refreshment stand, where bite-sized sandwiches were creating themselves even as he looked on.
“This… this was never meant to be a shop.” Joe muttered to himself, looking around the spacious, well-lit room. “This is straight-up a trophy hall.”
Wisdom +2! Charisma +2! For being able to see to the heart of a long-dead architect’s design, you have proven that you are both wise and able to form a connection with another person! Too bad they need to be dead, but perhaps as you gain more charisma, you can try to connect to living people!
“I’ll start making a blueprint right now, if that is fine with you both.” Joe already had an Architect's Fury ritual in hand. His words interrupted the two quietly bickering people, and Daniella came over at once.
“You know this is only the first option, right?” Daniella looked at the door, then him. “You can look at some others, then decide where you want to start. There’s really no rush…?”
She trailed off as Joe patiently stared and waited for her to finish speaking. “Right, but you said that I can make blueprints of all of them, right?”
“Yes… but how high are your skills that you think that you can casually make blueprints in a hurry that function proper-”
“Activate.” Joe interrupted her, slapping his pre-formed ritual to the ground. A halo of light shot out, growing until it encompassed the building. A ritual diagram appeared under Joe’s feet as the ritual began, and details began to appear on the blueprint he held.
Daniella watched in shock as the blueprint filled out over the next few minutes. When the ritual completed, she inspected the document in Joe’s hand and nearly fainted.
Blueprint: Trophy Hall (Rare). Having a Trophy Hall will allow groups such as Guilds to display various trophies. Potent enough trophies will offer a small boost to either stats or skills.
There was more to it, something she didn't understand about a ritual, but the blueprint alone was enough to make her swallow in an attempt to moisten her suddenly dry throat. “You can do that… with any building?”
“If I have enough time, and I’m not interrupted.” Joe made the blueprint vanish into his storage ring. The door to the shop popped open, and a flood of people entered to see what the light show had been all about. Joe and Daniella left the very happy shop owner to his business and started toward the next building that Daniella intended to show him.
“How many of those… building scanners did you bring?” Daniella nervously questioned.
Joe showed her a stack of papers.
“Fifty.”
Chapter Eleven
“Are you still wondering why I said that I was worried that you would put us out of business?” Daniella sounded exhausted. “If you can make half of those buildings, you’ll be able to do something that no one in the Union has been able to do for over a century.”
Joe had only scanned twenty-eight buildings, but the results had been spectacular. Not only did he gain mostly Uncommon and Rare blueprints, but each building he left suddenly had an influx of tourists. When it was near a shop, sales spiked. It seemed that people had started to correlate the light show of the ritual with something ‘special’.
It was true, because Joe didn't bother to scan common buildings. His ability was too costly, and even though he had an eighty-five percent reduction in component costs, he had still needed to use seven and a half Cores, which left him with only a few much more potent ones that he wasn't going to use on building. Not unless he needed to do so.
A glance at all the experience he had gained for
his Rituarchitect class made him grin; two thousand, nine hundred and ninety-six. He had reached class level four just by scanning everything; he couldn’t wait to build them. The level increase had given him a new ritual, Structural Repair, but it wasn't overly useful at the moment.
“I honestly think that you are thinking about this too much.” Joe started walking back to the town square, and Daniella followed. “I have no time to go out and about setting up basic buildings for people. I don’t-”
“You don’t have time right now.” Daniella shook her head. “You think I haven’t heard people discussing how they are going to live for a very long time? That I haven't seen people come back to life after being reduced to dust? This contract protects us against the far away future.”
“I’m starting to be happy that I put in the provision that the contract is voided if your group collapses. I’ll still be young and healthy.” Joe winced as he realized how dark that sounded. “Also, good call on making exceptions for the kingdom’s use. I hadn't thought about that.”
“I really don’t want to anger the only person on Midgard that can void standard contracts, so that only makes sense to me.” Daniella shook Joe’s hand and started to turn away, but Joe cleared his throat and she paused.
“I’d like to learn architecture. I need to get skills in this field if I want to improve upon what I can do currently.” Joe looked at her meaningfully. “Do you know any teachers that I could contact?”
Daniella paused and nodded slowly. “I’ll send someone along. Until then, try to learn the theory. I’ll expect you to know what I mean when I say ‘strut your struts’ by the time a tutor appears. Here.”
She handed over a small book that appeared from seemingly nowhere, and Joe read the title. Basics of Architecture. Daniella stepped away, “That should get your architecture lore skill to at least Novice five if you read through and understand all the material. Good luck.”