"Yer in no condition ta tackle either problem. The table or the plague. The answer to both lies in Sullivardic village…" Grandpa Seamus said.
"Because I look terminal?" I asked sarcastically. Grandpa Seamus shook his head.
"Cause yer weak, events on the island proved that…" Grandpa Seamus said, his words cutting deeper than a white-hit knife.
"Didn't have to say it like that…" I muttered. Grandpa Seamus looked guilty for a brief moment but his expression hardened.
"Prolly not…but ya need ta hear this…" He started then paused and took a deep breath. "...Yer going to keep losing people and evos like yer Gran and Fours…unless ya change."
"…Change? How…?" I muttered softly. My voice was so low it could barely be heard in the silent boardroom. Grandpa Seamus sat silently then glanced at Jane. My eyes immediately shot to Jane and she looked back at me concerned.
"In the last six months we've heard of several cases in Egypt of a mysterious illness sweeping through villages…one of them spoke of a infected person developing crystal growths over parts of their body…just like my ancestor wrote about in his logs." Jane explained. She paused, clasping her hands together on top of the table. "They wielded a strange magic that overwhelmed the guardsmen of the town and rendered most magic useless."
That revelation struck a cord of a fear in me. New magic that renders most magic useless. It was then that realization dawned on me why Grandpa was so being so serious.
"I mostly fight using mana channeling and enchanted items. If I run into infected people with these new powers I would be completely defenseless…" I muttered.
"Yes." Grandpa confirmed.
"Iris and I have advanced combat training to fall back on once spells fail, Sin has years of street fighting, even Damon and Astrid have training with weapons other than spells…all you have is your firearms…which are mostly useless against these new threats…" Jane ssummarized. I sat quietly for several moments to let that new knowledge sink in when Minister Sazeem spoke up.
"Egypt's intelligence branch has been keeping a ear out for any information of strange illnesses and plagues starting in other countries. News…unfortunately hasn't been that scarce." The minister started in a confident tone then dipped into a morbid one. "There have been whispers of cases appearing in the Divine Chinese Empire, England, France, Australia, Ireland...and Scotland."
"That is significantly more countries than we originally thought there would be." Astrid said.
"Am I the only one that's noticed that all but one of the countries that conspired to kill Chase now have cases of the plague within their boarders?" Nate asked.
"It has not escaped our notice, I assure you." Minister Sazeem said.
"Just like it didn't escape Chase's notice that nobody has talked about being at war with Scotland." Iris spoke up, grabbing my attention.
"Scotland is under a global quarantine currently. In the last six months they have been hit relentlessly by a epidemic where all the symptoms match the plague of Ra that Jane's ancestor talked about."
"Quarantine?!" I exclaimed, looking around the table for conformation. Everyone nodded solemnly in response.
"There are more than fifty thousand confirmed deaths as of last night and more than a million confirmed cases." Minister Sazeem added.
"Those numbers…" I breathed.
"With that many confirmed cases it's a statistical possibility that there are more than a few survivors of the plague with these crystal growths and powers." Minister Sazeem said.
"Which puts ya in danger Starlight. Ya can't fight, not up close 'n personal at least laddy." Grandpa reiterated.
"Up against splicers and soldiers you are very dangerous because of the way you fight but…when you can't use mana…" Jane started.
"I get it!" I interrupted Jane with a snap then looked down at my farm crystal. "My shaped evos would be in danger as well since they wouldn't be able to use mana…"
I took a deep breath then clasped my hands together and rested my forehead against my knuckles. My mind was a raging buzzing with the information I had just received and from the implications it provided.
'I am shit in a close up fight unless I'm using mana. Even when fused with my evos that fusion was mostly using my evo's experience in a fight more than mine…' I thought. I let out the breath I was holding then looked up at the people around the table, my Grandfather in particular.
"Okay…what do I do then?" I asked calmly. The room was silent once again with everyone shooting each other looks. Everyone except Grandpa Seamus. He sat staring down at the table before looking up at me.
"Ya need ta head back to Tolapo Village." Grandpa Seamus proclaimed. I was surprised and confused by his proclamation and that showed on my face.
"Why head back to the village?" I asked.
"Well ya promised ta take me there fer one, Starlight. Also among the three legendary villages, Tolapo Village is known for being the most combat oriented. Even if its mostly 'bout their spell casting." Grandpa Seamus explained.
"But my dependence on spell casting is the problem." I griped.
"I said mostly 'bout their spell casting! They have some martial skills." Grandpa Seamus reiterated.
"Some…" I grumbled. Grandpa Seamus narrowed his eyes at me.
"Chase…" He growled, dropping into dangerous timbers again. I flinched then looked away from him. "…I'm not suggesting this ta waste yer time."
"I know…" I admitted.
"It would probably be a good idea for Chase and several company employees to receive training there." Nate spoke.
"By several company employees, you really mean Bo right?" Sin asked, giving Nate a pointed look. Nate shot Sin a tired look from the corner of his eye. Sin smirked slightly but said nothing else.
"Chase…" Jane spoke softly and placed a hand on my shoulder. "…I'd definitely feel better if you went to the village for training."
"Okay!" I grumbled loudly then laid my head on the table. "I'll go…"
"Don't sound so enthused…' Iris said sarcastically.
"Now would be the best time for Master Kingston to take a leave of absence, considering the cut backs on orders from your largest customers." Minister Sazeem chimed in.
"Yeah…funny how that just happens…" I said.
"Whatever happened to that saying of don't kiss a gift horse in the mouth?" Damon said.
"Its look, not kiss." Astrid corrected.
"Whatever!" Damon grumbled.
***
"I think this is a good point to stop the meeting." Jane announced.
I was struggling to stay awake through all the boring figures and stats that everyone started talking about after the talks of me going to Tolapo Village simmered down. Jane saw that I was half asleep then reared back and slapped the back of my head, slapping me awake.
"OWWWWW!" I groaned and grabbed where Jane slapped.
"Wake up!" Jane snapped earning a laugh from everyone else.
"I was awake!" I snapped at her.
"Suuuuure!" Jane said sarcastically.
Despite my half sleeping and barely being able to follow the flow of the conversation I was picking up a bunch of information. Damon was put in charge of managing the Silver and Gold city. Basically acting like the lord of Silver and Bronze city making decisions about infrastructure and tax management and redistribution; which Sho'lajah Artifact Company was collecting taxes from residents of the Silver and Bronze city. Louie was in charge of Moldworks; which was now a series of warehouses throughout the Silver city connected by mana trolleys.
Astrid was in charge of recruitment and training of Sho'lajah employees; Sho'lajah Artifact Company now employs more than half of the people that lives in the silver and bronze city. Sin was now in charge of Company security and the militia force that patrols the Silver and Bronze city; the militia force is technically the police for the silver and bronze city in everything but name only. And Nate was in charge of the residential properties owned by the company, which is all of the residential properties in the silver and bronze city.
"Right now you all want to focus on expanding the militia force and erect a second manacite wall around the edge of the bronze city where the desert meets the city." I summarized the last bit of the meeting as best I could. That earned a skeptical look from Jane.
"Before everyone dashes off I'd like to propose that Chase waits a few days before heading to Tolapo Village." Louie said.
"Why?" I asked. Louie looked at me with a strained expression.
"While Sho'lajah is a large company that is still growing, you are the focal point of everything. Without you we can't make enchanted items or shape more evos." Louie said then looked at Nate and Sin for support.
"We need to come up with a plan to deal with the possibility of you being gone for a while Boss. What happens of you're gone for months on end?" Sin asked. I frowned and scratched my chin.
"Good point…" I muttered then glanced at Damon. "…where is Alberto?"
"Why?" Damon asked suspicion deep in his voice.
"Because he is my apprentice and a good stand in for me at least in the shaping evo regard." I replied. Damon nodded and stroked his chin.
"He and Bo have been working in Moldworks, the original building." Damon replied.
"Alberto wouldn't have the mana capacity to learn the mana-nana tattoo spell." Jane commented. That knocked some of the wind out of my sails.
"You're right…" I admitted then pinched the bridge of my nose. "…I don't know if he even has the technical skills to fully understand a lysdale script…"
"Cause ya haven't taught 'em nuthin' since ya got back from that island." Grandpa Seamus said.
"Yeeaaaaah…" I sighed.
I reached into my void pocket and reached around until I felt what I was looking for: mana crystal core containers. Sealed jars that had inactive cores inside a non-mana conductive solution. The jars themselves were barely the size of a shot glass an barely weighed anything. I plucked one of the jars out of my void pocket and placed it on the table.
"I kinda made extra cores when nobody was around." I announced. Jane looked at the core container then frowned and looked back at me.
"Chase we are going to need significantly more than that." She said.
I grabbed the edge of the void pocket and tilted it downward. Mana crystal cores started pouring out of the void pocket by the dozens and fell onto the floor, making a small pile. It only took a few seconds before the pile was higher than the table.
"Oh gods! How many did you make?!" Astrid exclaimed.
"A lot…" I said, then tilted the void pocket back to its original position. Iris grabbed a jar off the pile then laughed, not a happy laugh but the kind of laugh one makes when they are just done with rationality.
"There has to be hundred in here alone!" She yelled. I shrugged nonchalantly.
"Mana channeling gets easier the more you do it. You learn how to be efficient. Having to make hundreds of mana crystal cores weekly, sometimes daily you learn to make cores with only the smallest fractions of mana." I said casually.
"How many do you have?" Astrid asked again sounding a lot less patient.
"A lot! It's not like I was counting!" I exclaimed. Sin and Louie shared a look that screamed of conspiracy.
"Bet you three hundred it's more than fifty thousand." Sin said.
"It's definitely more than that. Four hundred its more than two hundred thousand." Louie rebutted.
'Actually I think it's closer to a million…' I thought with a scratch of my chin.