by Sarah Lin
"Transportation, healing, instruction, material evaluation, repair..." Nauda shook her head and stared at the list skeptically. "They promise you a huge salary, then take most of it away in bits and pieces. Now I understand how some people become permanently indebted to Houses."
Fiyu looked between them nervously. "Is this a trap? Should we reject the offer?"
"No, I think this is reasonable." Theo tapped the list and nodded to himself. "They could easily charge more and force people to become debt slaves, but these fees are reasonable. An average soulcrafter working with them would receive a decent life, just not much profit on the side. It's a fair offer, and we should be able to do much better than average."
Across the room, the functionary had finished her work and now watched them. Though she likely couldn't hear their whispered conversation unless she'd significantly enhanced her hearing, she wiped her eyes and sighed. "I knew the three of you might be trouble. I believe you could do very well in House Blacksilver, but please don't make my job harder than it already is."
"We have some questions." Nauda broke from their huddle and they returned to stand in front of the desk. "Deducting some of these fees from our pay seems unfair. For example, we will not require House transportation, because we possess a levitating vehicle already."
"If you use your own vehicles, then we could remove that fee." The woman smiled a little too readily and got out a paper contract, but Theo cut her off.
"There's more. We have our own blueprints, so we don't need to pay for soulcrafting instruction. I can evaluate all the sublime materials we harvest, and we can repair our own equipment..."
Though the woman groaned, she accepted their negotiations. Nauda looked a little hesitant at some of his choices, but Theo was confident in every skill that required nothing but expertise. In the end, they negotiated contracts that granted them the services they needed while still leaving them with the majority of their salaries.
The others seemed pleased by the results, but Theo had one more question: "Was House Blacksilver given any invitations to the Chasm of Lamentation?"
"Oh?" That got another look of mild surprise, but the functionary quickly nodded. "We are not a small House, so we were granted five Chasm Invitations. Three of them are reserved for our most talented and skilled Authorities or veterans of previous chasm expeditions. That leaves two that can be purchased by merits... but I must warn you, they will cost over a thousand, and there may be competition for them."
"That's fine." Theo glanced back at the others and Nauda smiled at him.
"So we finally won you over?" the woman asked. He nodded and then turned back to the official.
"We'd like to join House Blacksilver."
Chapter 9
After so long rushing between worlds, a significant portion of it being pursued, Theo was glad to fall into a routine. Though they could serve as ruts, routines could also be optimized. As the three of them adjusted to life in House Blacksilver, he set about doing exactly that.
Since they were new recruits, they weren't taken into any important confidences, just given necessary tasks. Fortunately, their strength as soulcrafters ensured that they didn't need to waste time with any truly tedious activities, as unranked members often needed to do. Instead, they could begin with work better suited to their skill.
Unfortunately, it wasn't possible to work day and night to rack up as many merits as possible: everyone else had the same idea. The jobs he judged had a good merit/hour ratio - like dangerous harvesting or occasionally demon extermination - were all fiercely contested, so they could only get one per week or so. However, he'd learned that there were rarer and more rewarding tasks, so resolved to pay attention for those.
What they could do beyond the other members of House Blacksilver was work on everything at once. Theo built his schedule around enormous blocks of working, soulcrafting, and skill refinement with Nauda and Fiyu. The result left them with very little free time, but they were simultaneously racking up merits, money, and most importantly power.
At the moment, Theo sat within his soulhome, hammering away at a boulder. The sublime material was called eclipsebasalt, and he was still immensely pleased to have found it. Eclipsebasalt was incredibly durable and contained cantae nearly perfectly, but it wasn't exorbitantly expensive for two reasons: it was unusually challenging to soulcraft, and difficult to work into a soulhome. But since it fit his design perfectly and he had the skills to soulcraft it, he'd been able to acquire multiple boulders for a reasonable price.
It was durable enough that even his skills with a spirit hammer couldn't just break it apart, but he had more tricks in store. The traditional method of breaking such boulders in half was to hammer a line of spikes and create a plane of weakness. Instead of purchasing any from the House stores, he'd improvised them from other materials, though it still required significant work.
How many hours had he been working? Theo stopped hammering at the spikes and immediately felt new waves of spiritual soreness. Recognizing that he needed a break to work efficiently, he wiped away some sweat and just leaned on the spirit hammer for a while, staring back toward his soulhome.
With the eclipsebasalt he'd broken so far, he'd laid most of the groundwork for his second floor, though it was currently covered by a tarp and still missing most of the bricks in one corner room. Still, it had been satisfying progress: with each new room completed, he'd significantly increased his available supply of cantae. He might not be a peak Archcrafter yet, certainly not with empty rooms, but no one on his tier was going to out-muscle him with raw cantae.
He thought about checking on how the other two were doing before remembering that they'd gone out on some sort of assignment with Ichili immigrants. Still, he knew their soulcrafting quite well.
Fiyu had been spending her money in the markets near the Ichili gate, acquiring the materials that she was missing in order to complete her first floor chambers. Meanwhile, Nauda had completed the walls and ceiling of her second floor, though this time instead of pushing upward, she remained focused. That was good, because for all the strength of her Archcrafter materials, her blueprint needed tightening overall.
Early on during their work, he'd explained to them his basic strategy: they'd spend their money and merits freely until they had run out of options with an excellent rate of return. Fortunately, they'd understood immediately, and in fact the explanation might have been unnecessary. Every merit he'd spent building his second floor strengthened him enough to acquire even more merits, and so on. The trick was recognizing the point where investments got diminishing returns and start saving instead, which would likely be different for each of them.
Of course, the easiest promotion available to them was having Fiyu ascend to Archcrafter, but she insisted that her relative would give her a special sublime material for that step. Theo was sure she had the willpower for it, and she'd done plenty of polishing on her first floor, but decided not to press the argument.
When Theo returned to his work, he was surprised how much easier it felt, putting more spiritual force into each swing. It wasn't long after he resumed work that he finally heard a crack from deep within the eclipsebasalt. He eagerly struck the line of spikes until at last the boulder split in half.
Though the outer surface of each boulder was black, the inside glowed hot white. One of the things that made eclipsebasalt so difficult to work with was that the light and dark sections shifted unpredictably, but he'd mastered the patterns after a few false starts. Now he could craft solid bricks that had a brilliant exterior and a dark interior, then place them with the light side out.
Theo retrieved his spikes, set the boulder halves on their flat ends, and began creating new lines. The trick was not to work the light side until the final chiseling stage. Done this way, his second floor glowed to match the solarstone of his first floor. It could represent an eclipse, like the name, or it could be the corona of a black hole. The exterior would deflect attacks well, while the interior
was a good match to his gravitational cantae. He almost considered using plates of eclipsebasalt to cover the entire tower, but felt that he could find a more perfect sublime material for that.
Most of his soulcrafting hours had been spent on the hard work of building a new floor's walls, but the majority of his thoughts had been on the contents of his chambers. He had an absolutely perfect design for his second floor, which would come later. For now, he was more concerned with finding appropriate materials to furnish the chambers on the ground floor.
That was the point where he wasn't sure about the balance of cost and rewards. There were countless worthy sublime materials available through House Blacksilver, it was a question of which were most helpful to them at the moment. He'd eaten some sublime foods along with the others, and the addition of Fithan dishes had strengthened his feasting chamber, but he needed more than incremental improvements.
His weakest chamber was unquestionably the southern one, which was filled with emblems won from Deuxan nobles. Those had nothing to do with his design, they were just being stored where they'd do some good, so the room might as well be empty. He already had chambers dedicated to concepts like feasting and storage, so he needed something else, perhaps something relaxing...
Unfortunately, relaxing wasn't his strong suit. And while there was so much work to do, he saw no reason to be worried about it.
Once he had broken the boulder apart into block-sized chunks, Theo recognized that he needed to stop for the day. Carving them into proper bricks without ruining the bright surfaces required absolute focus, which he didn't have at the moment. When Theo withdrew from his soulhome, he was surprised to find that his room was completely dark. The sun had set and he'd been too deep in his work to bother creating any sort of light.
After finding one of the light spheres, Theo turned it to generate a soft red light. They sold others that created light in many hues, but the red ones had been cheapest. What mattered was that they lit up the room enough for him to read the papers on the desk beside his bed.
There he looked over the calculations again, more as a focus aid than because he'd needed to run the numbers on paper. The Fithan year was slightly longer than an Earth year and they operated on a thirteen month cycle. So each of them needed to acquire 1300 merits from their work just to remain employed at House Blacksilver - they received security and other services for that fee, but he counted it as a loss toward their true goals.
So far, they'd been able to earn an average of fifty merits per week, meaning over 2500 per year. The 1200 merits after their salaries might be enough to purchase Chasm Invitations, but that would mean purchasing absolutely nothing else. He'd already spent a significant amount on eclipsebasalt, and Nauda wanted her armament. On top of that, he worried there might end up being a bidding war. So the simple math suggested they needed to find better sources of merits on top of other paths to Invitations.
That would have been necessary in any case, since there were apparently only two invitations remaining. There was an outside possibility that one of them could become one of the House's top soulcrafters and earn one of the protected spots, but unless everyone above them stopped soulcrafting or there was a war, that possibility seemed unlikely. He needed to get into the city more and find out where a Chasm Invitation might be bought.
Looking over the numbers again didn't do him any good, and he didn't feel like sleeping, so Theo locked his room and headed out for a walk. The Blacksilver complex was generally silent at night, but various guards and workers still kept busy. Theo wandered from the men's chambers and started to go toward the women's side before remembering both the hour and his friends' absence.
Instead he drifted to the main courtyard and eventually into the office. His plan had been to check the various lists and boards of work, just in case any new options presented themselves. As soon as he entered, the woman who had administered their test - he'd learned her name was Antha - waved him toward her desk.
"There you are," she said. "You were supposed to come today, but I suppose it doesn't matter. It's the same salary no matter when you take it."
"Salary?" Theo asked brilliantly. She tossed a small sack of coins to him and he reflexively caught it in one hand. It wasn't her words that surprised him, but the fact that it had actually been a full month since they'd joined the House.
His life was so filled by his work that the month had passed almost before he'd realized it. Finally, all of the preparations he'd made and skills he'd redeveloped could come together in the swift pace he'd hoped for. Buoyed by his progress, he didn't even resent the time he'd needed to wait, because it had given him the chance to refine his new blueprint.
"All of you have been worth the trouble." Antha gave him a slight smile before she returned to her work. "Keep it up and I'm sure you'll be pillars of House Blacksilver in no time."
"We plan to stick around, but we need to make faster progress than this." Theo tested the bag's weight in his hand as he considered the matter. "Are there any special opportunities we could volunteer for?"
"That's not enough for you? You already negotiated a hard enough deal... apparently it works for you, so I can't object, but you're getting better salaries than most newcomers."
Unfortunately, it would be a bad deal to spend merits increasing their salaries when they might not remain with House Blacksilver long term, so they needed alternate paths. "Are there any high value jobs we'd be specifically suited for? They don't have to involve combat or soulcrafting."
"That sort of thing doesn't just fall into your lap. But..." Antha paused, frowned to herself, then dug beneath a record book for another paper. "We actually do need a delegation to go meet with some mud Fithans. Dust Fithans are a bad choice for obvious reasons, so we usually rely on foreigners to represent us. Now, the House has a lot of foreigners, but if you three can prove your negotiation skills, perhaps..."
"Weren't you just complaining about those skills?"
"I suppose I was. I'll mark you down and we can discuss it further when the time comes. It won't be for months, depending on higher level negotiations, so just focus on earning merits and proving yourself for now."
He nodded acknowledgment and wandered back out, counting his salary just in case. After fees, he'd earned 110 Fithan Discs, which meant 1430 per year. That would be 3250 between them, though it could have been over four thousand if Fiyu had been willing to ascend to Archcrafter. Theo set that aside, since he wasn't sure how much it would matter in the end.
The amount of money they were earning, especially combined with their reserves from Deuxan, was a considerable amount for individuals, but not so much for vast organizations like Houses. Until he had more information, he wasn't sure whether Chasm Invitations would be available on the black market or only fought over in auctions by Houses. It might be wiser to spend that money on themselves, though he intended to save his until they knew for sure.
On his way back to his room, Theo considered alternative methods. He'd learned that the granitebile used in the entrance trials was produced in great quantities and considered almost useless. Several possibilities for its use, such as cleaning or intentional coloring, had leapt out at him, but the Fithans weren't stupid: over generations they'd tried most of the obvious things. His methods would work, they just required other ingredients that rendered the result more expensive than the cheapest alternatives.
Still, if he could come up with a new use for granitebile the House would immediately become richer and they'd reward him for it. Theo spent a while sorting through all his old memories for a hint of something that might lead to a breakthrough. He'd been focused on combat soulcrafting, but with all the sublime materials he'd encountered, there might be a fragmentary memory of something.
When he returned to the corridor to his room, Theo spotted a body on the floor and immediately threw aside all his long term thoughts. The lump of cloth gave little clue in the low light, but a pool of liquid glistened beside it. If it was a corpse, the Hou
se might be under an attack, so he-
No, it was Senka lying in a puddle of her own drool, which was worse.
"Senka's back!" She popped up with a cheerful smile. "Senka waited a long, long, long time for Fiyu and Nauda but they never came."
"Where have you been, anyway?" Theo walked past her to unlock his door. He knew that she'd find a way in somehow, so he might as well get her out of the hallway where she might blurt sensitive information.
"Senka found some food that tasted yummy but then someone got angry for no reason and Senka had to run away and then Senka jumped into a sewage pit and that did not taste yummy." She continued her nonsensical babble as she followed him, then suddenly tossed a bag down onto the ground. "Anyway Senka found pretties!"
Since "finding" objects was her one real use, Theo bent down to pick up the bag. To his surprise, it contained several dozen Fithan Discs, smaller bags of craftgems, a few lumps of sublime coal... and what appeared to be a half-eaten fruit. Not a sublime one, just severely chewed and extremely smelly.
"Thanks, Senka. You can have this part." He gingerly picked out the fruit and tossed it toward her, only for her to swat it directly back into his face.
"Take Senka's gift, you big mean fumpet! Hmph! Senka is angry now!" She promptly stormed out of the room in a huff, though unfortunately it wouldn't last for long.
As he locked the door, Theo looked back to the bag and considered that she'd inadvertently taught him a lesson. Yes, they'd find other resources outside of House Blacksilver, but he'd been counting on that.
The real lesson was that they had no idea what random chance would throw at them.
Chapter 10
"Come on, Theo, didn't you say we should be taking more risks?"
He frowned at Nauda, even though he knew that he was going to give in eventually. "There are different kinds of risks and you know it. Fighting demons is one thing, but getting near power-mad Authorities? If he gets it in his head to kill us, there'd be nothing we can do."
