The System Seas

The temple turned out to be out in the open, unhidden and unconcealed in any way. It was a large enough building that they would have seen it from a good ways off if the palace built around it wasn’t massive enough to block the view. As they approached, several Sturdy looking men were ahead of them with wheelbarrows, taking them inside the open archway where several scholar-types stood taking notes and tallies.

“Are those…”

“Skill crystals. Pretty much our nation’s whole strategic reserve.” The overseer waved a hand of dismissal as if the dozens of piles of gold interspaced by much smaller piles of much more valuable crystals were an afterthought for him. More disturbing, they probably were. “Trust me when I say it’s nothing we can’t replenish over time, but my people have to have food and supplies to do that. As much as I’d like this to go off without a hitch, the system won’t let me do this for free.”

“I hate to ask this,” Marco said. “I really do, but…”

“Why not just kill me? I asked the same thing. Much quicker. Much easier. It wouldn’t even take much.” The overseer looked genuinely annoyed at a problem that was harder than just getting stabbed in the chest. “Some of my advisors pointed out that would only let you have this temple, and only if you claimed it before someone else decided to make trouble over it.”

“Is that a risk? I thought it was all your people here.”

“It is, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that there’s always risk. It’s moot, anyway. I don’t want to leave the rest of the temples up for grabs. Here, I at least get to look you in the eye before I hand over my legacy. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to sit. There’s a nice terrace over there we can use as we wait.”

They made such small talk as it was possible to make with a nonagenarian overlord for a while. Elisa was quiet for a while, then seemed to come to a decision.

“Can you read that?” Elisa held out the notebook they had taken from the turtle. “Or do you know someone who can?”

“Ah. No,” the old man said. “I’ve seen it, I had it looked into, never made much headway, had better stuff to do. It’s been a long time since then. I think they did get a couple words deciphered, though.”

“Really? How?”

“High-level guys. The problem was I only had a little bit of text for them to work on, they said. You want the notebook? I still have it in my desk somewhere.”

“Absolutely. Please,” Elisa said. “Anything would help.”

The overseer sent someone back for it, and within minutes Elisa had a small leather-bound book which she glanced over before reluctantly stowing. Marco respected that restraint. Riv absolutely didn’t have it. It turned out to be a better choice than he even realized when, a few minutes later, one of the overseer’s advisors came to the table.

“It’s ready, sir. Whenever you need it.”

“Alright, then.” The old man wobbled to his feet. “No use waiting.”

They all moved inside the temple, where the piles of wealth were laid out in a large circle. It was more accumulated value than Marco had ever seen in one place, unless it was hidden in the functionality and build of a ship.

“Is the shape important?” Elisa asked. “Like a formation or rune?”

“No, I don’t think so. I think it was just easier for them to count this way. You know book types. They don’t want any extra getting sucked up if it doesn’t need to be. Are you all ready for this? I can get it going any time.”

“Is there any reason to wait?”

“Not that I know of. You should be getting a notification any time now.”