Sacrifice Mage

Gutran had a point. I had been thinking too much about light having the effects of other Aspects to empower it and actually make it do something. Because plain light alone wasn’t going to do much to most opponents I faced.

But that didn’t mean it had to be relegated to light with just an Affix. An Augmentation was a much better idea. That way, I could have every Aspect call upon every other Aspect without any restrictions. Gravity, for instance, was optimal for this idea too, almost as much as Illumination. Why only trap enemies to the ground when I could have them immediately start burning too?

Of course, the question was whether it was actually necessary to get an Augmentation to essentially cast multiple Aspects at the same time when I could already do that by using Manifestation concurrently on multiple Aspects. Was letting it happen automatically really that big of a benefit?

And then I thought about light alone seeming to burn my enemies and weigh them down… yes, it was starting to look pretty appealing.

Of course, it wasn’t going to happen so easily. The best way I could train was by combining my Aspects like I was already doing with Manifestation and to call up my Compound Aspects. I just had to exercise a little bit of finesse with it.

As in, when I manifested Illumination, I called on threads from Gravity and Flare as well, but I didn’t let them activate. I didn’t let heat burst forth or black orbs of condensed Gravity form in the air. Instead, I tried to focus on the manifested threads somehow aligning with the rays of light radiating everywhere.

It didn’t work immediately. Nothing ever did. But I felt the tiny hollowness within me that had arisen at yet another Attribute hitting Gold now shifting ever so slightly. Progress.

My hours-long practice was interrupted later on when I received a letter from Linak.

I quickly read through it. There wasn’t much. Linak was only stating that he had made some progress on figuring out the treasure from the Nether Vein and that he was figuring out how to implement it with the Starlamp to take care of the mana issue. There was a bit of jargon written in an excited ramble that I didn’t really get, but I was happy he was making progress.

I was also happy that I soon gained more ranks.

[ Rank Up!

Your Spirit Attribute has risen by one Rank.

Your Leadership Aspect has risen by one Rank.

Your Path of Starforged Firmament has risen by one Rank.

Spirit: Gold VIII

Leadership: Iron VII

Path of Starforged Firmament: Gold VII]

No rank up for Illumination, but that made sense. I was waiting for a breakthrough, after all. What was more curious was the fact that I got a rank in Leadership of all things at receiving news of growing success from Linak. I didn’t exactly consider myself the “leader” of our little endeavour, yet it looked like the Weave was giving me credit.

Regardless, it did make me want to step up, sort of. With my partner busy progressing the mechanical side of the Starlamps, I decided to take an active hand in everything else.

Namely, setting it up as an actual business in Zairgon.

To that end, I went all the way to Ring Two. According to everyone I talked with, which included Linak, Silhatsa, and Hamsik, I’d need to register my operation with the Council. All businesses, companies, etc., had to be officially chartered before they could legally operate, so I decided to take care of that.

“Fill out these, these, and those forms please,” said the crisply dressed officer in the small but opulent building.

I looked them over. Documents for fund allocation, employee matters, any intellectual properties or patents—the Ephemeroth equivalent of them—and so on. It was a lot better thought out than I had been expecting. I was once again thinking that Zairgon was decently advanced in terms of socioeconomics, even if it was technologically lagging behind Earth.

And it had magic too.

I couldn’t take care of all the forms then and there. For one, they’d need information I didn’t have handy on my person, like Linak’s details. For another, they asked for certain proving documents such as bank statements and the like. I’d have to gather them up and submit everything together.

I took care of all that by the next day, though I was left waiting on Linak, who promised to send his details as soon as he could. That gave me some time to focus on other things.

“We have even more initiates now, Cultist Ross,” Aqrea said. “I wonder if the magic festival showing had an effect.”

She had a point. My displays at the magic festival could have been inspiring to a lot of attendees.

“It’s nice,” I said. I pursed my lips. “But I don’t want to give anyone false hope.”

“That’s the last thing you’re providing anyone, Cultist,” Aqrea said, somewhat fiercely.

I conceded the point. It wasn’t like I was encouraging anyone to try and emulate me specifically.

We talked some more, first a bit about the cult’s finances, which were in good shape, and then about Ring Four in general.

I hadn’t been on Ephemeroth for a tremendous amount of time yet. Not even a year, though I’d get there in a few more months. But despite that, things were changing around here at a steady pace, and in ways that I had only indirectly influenced.

The Ration House had given people greater security with their food. All the recent experiences with the Scarthralls and the Blight Swarm had granted people a hardiness like nothing else. Slowly but surely, this would lead to economic movement as well, where everyone’s standard of living improved too. We’d just need to be patient.

I was… happy to have been able to help. All that time ago, I had told Hamsik that just helping wasn’t enough. That just being good people wouldn’t amount to much in the long run.

And then he’d flung back a question on whether I was some kind of revolutionary. Bastard.

Funnily enough, though I had rejected such a moniker because I myself had been unsure of my footing when I had just landed on Ephemeroth, things were different now. Things had changed. Pits, I had changed. Before Ephemeroth and Zairgon, I wouldn’t have called myself selfish, but I wouldn’t have said I was a paragon of altruism either.

Now, though, so much of my thoughts were influenced by how my decisions would impact Ring Four as a whole. So much of my motivation was based on how I could further the cult and the rest of my neighbourhood.

It wasn’t bad. The strange combination of belonging and satisfaction that I got from it made me feel whole in a way I never had before.

Early the next day, Linak had sent in his forms. I had also acquired all the necessary supporting documents and such that I needed, so I headed all the way back to the business administration office on Ring Two. It was a pretty smooth if overlong process of gaining official certification for my new business.

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“Well, well, well.”

The familiar drawl had me turning with a scowl. Casvat, that Rakshasa facilitator, was standing near the doorway to the office building. He opened his mouth but I just kept on walking. Pretty sure the only response I’d find appropriate for anything he said was a punch straight into his face, and I didn’t want to lose my business license so soon after just getting it.

“Oh, come on,” he said. “Ignoring me, now? That’s a mistake too. I’m trying to give you an opportunity here, you know.”

I continued walking away, just as I had been doing before the bastard had appeared. “Screw off, Casvat.”

“Is that any way to treat a fellow businessman? Because that’s what you are now too, isn’t it? You’ve got the naive little look of a youthful man with a youthful enterprise. Wouldn’t want to ruin its chances of taking off before you even leave Ring Two, now would you?”

There was a lot I could ignore, and I probably should have remained silent from the get-go. But naked threats weren’t something I’d let stand.

I turned to face him. “Don’t mess with me, Casvat. Or you’ll regret it.”

The Rakshasa scoffed. “There you go again, being hostile like anything I’ve said warrants such barbarity.” He shook his head. The sheer amount of shameless gaslighting this guy was capable of… “One last chance, Cultist Moreland. Why don’t we sit and chat and you can tell me what sort of endeavour you’re embarking on?”

“One last time, Casvat. Screw. Off.”

I turned to leave, but it appeared I had discounted just how much of an ass Casvat was.

“You’re going to rue this, you Ring Four mud-licker.” He was seething, eyes squinting in rage. “A pest like you is never going to get anything going in Zairgon without my say so. And when everything you keep trying fails, you’re going to come back crawling on your knees, begging me for mercy.”

His anger, stupid as it was, actually lightened the stress on my shoulder. It was out in the open now, out where I preferred it. “Like I said, Casvat. Try whatever you want. You’ll regret it.”

“How, huh? How?” He pointed a sharp finger at me, like he was about to shoot a bolt of energy from it or something and pierce right through my chest. I resisted the impulse to tense in preparation for defending myself. “How exactly are you going to do anything to me? Do you know how much I own? Do you have any idea how many people are in my pocket?”

“Like any of those fucking matter.”

“Of course it does. This isn’t a Pits-cursed dungeon, you base brute. You can’t punch and kick and kill your way out of this. We live in a city. In civilization. Where you’re less than shit.”

A vein in my temple throbbed terribly, but I did my best to remain calm. Blowing a real gasket here would be playing exactly into Casvat’s hands, even if he did look like he was about to have an aneurysm.

With a deep, calming breath, I turned away and walked off. “I intend to succeed, Casvat. And if I find that you’re the reason I’m not, you will pay. This is your last warning.”

There was more he said, a mixture of warnings and insults he flung at my back, but I was done wasting my time.

All the way back to Ring Four, my mind was messed up. I could only formulate images of kicking the ever-living crap out of Casvat before reminding myself that’s exactly what he was counting on to screw me over. I wasn’t dealing with some rowdy asshole in the lawless zone of the Adventurer’s Guild.

The sheer amount I was bothered definitely irked me, though. So much so that I wondered if I could come up with a Ritual to help with it. Maybe I’d call it the Ritual of Equanimity or something fancy like that. Surely if I could make Rituals for relaxing, I could come up with Rituals for staying calm during stressful situations.

Linak was very appreciative of the fact that I had taken care of the business sides of it. While our primary goal had always been to set it up as the main source of energy for the vineyards, I wasn’t going to lie that economic applications had a strong appeal.

That said, the integration of the Starlamp with the Anymphea-made greenhouse on Kalnislaw lands was the primary test we were focusing on just then.

“They’re a little heftier now,” I said, handling one of the torchlike devices.

“Yes.” Linak was setting one up in the centre of the field. “Integrating everything the Nether Vein treasure taught me took more work and resulted in more changes than I had anticipated.”

“Can’t believe we have manatech inspired by Nether Veins already,” Ascelkos said, shaking his head in wonder.

Linak gave us a beaky grin. “The first of its kind!” He paused. “Well, the first in several generations, at least.”

His work paid off. Ascelkos wasn’t the only one staring in awe. My own eyes widened a bit as I saw the Starlamp in the centre float on its own, throw out both heat and light in equal measures. The energy emanating from it didn’t have the harsh jaggedness that my Protostars did. I didn’t feel like accidentally brushing against it was going to make it explode.

“Brilliant,” another Anymphea said. He was the one in charge of running most of the greenhouses. “This is a far more advanced lighting and heating setup than even our Bloomwagons are capable of.”

“That’s what I’ve been saying all this time!” Ascelkos grinned at me.

I tried not to look too excited, though I couldn’t help answering with my own wide smile. “Looks like you’ve got your Bloomwagon upgrade, just as I promised.”

“We do indeed!”

Linak cleared his throat with a little squawk. “Please! Hold your excitement until after I’ve completed my demonstration.”

We laughed and let him get on with it. Needless to say, it was pretty much perfect. The more Linak showed how the Starlamp could regulate its outputs through various means—we could even set it up on a timer to follow the cycle of the day!—the more impressed I was by him.

By the end of that evening, I left with a happy heart, leaving behind Linak and Ascelkos discussing Starlamp deliveries, with Yerenc holding back his disgust that we’d have to get regular grape seeds now, instead of the blood-drinking variants he had used so far.

Running the Starlamp business was something I tackled with no less gusto than everything to do with the Weave.

Our Starlamp endeavour involved knowledge I had from Earth, knowledge I had accrued and used in my day-to-day life and job. Finally. Here was something professional I could excel in.

First there were the legalities we needed to take care of. We had to list our employees, our premises, the official name of our business, and so on and so forth. A lot of that obviously felt familiar. Paperwork, it seemed, was an even more universal constant in every plane of existence than death.

We just named it Starlamp, set the official premises as the Artificer’s Guild for now—Linak promised me that the Guildmaster would be fine with this, as they did it all the time—and I was taking in some of the cultists as employees. With their permission, of course.

This had multiple benefits. A certain number of employees would land us in a more favourable tax bracket. The Council wanted people to be employed, so provided benefits accordingly. Besides that, providing a job to people from Ring Four that wasn’t the regular menial task was also something I had been looking to do for a while now. A win-win all around.

That said, getting the actual business underway was a lot harder than just filing the right paperwork. We needed to find our audience. We had to establish a clientele.

We needed to build a reputation that we then had to maintain.

I was familiar with how difficult it could be for any enterprise starting out. It was just something we’d have to roll with.

“Good business will come,” Gutran said with a wisdom gifted by running his smithy for years and years. “It’s the way of things. Just look at me.”

I wanted to point out it had taken me getting word out about how good his work was before he really started to see the benefits. But that would have been kind of a dick move. He wasn’t wrong, after all. Good, unique work would surface at some point. I’d just like it to not take years and years.

“What all have you done so far?” he asked.

“I’ve asked some of my employees—”

“Employees?”

“Well, they’re people from my cult whom I hired. Anyway, I asked them to carry out public demonstrations and also call out to people on Ring Three streets.”

Gutran raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t worry,” I said. “I ran some practice drills with them before sending them out. They won’t be harassing anyone. I made sure of it.”

“If you say so.”

“I’ve also got Ascelkos using his network to promote the Starlamps. Plus, I was thinking of giving some free donations to some people I like.”

Gutran turned to where the Starlamp I had gifted him was floating about his workstation. “I can certainly see that.”

I snorted.

While we didn’t get any real sales to speak of for the Starlamps, at least I could console myself that I was ranking up the important stuff and maintaining my progression.

[ Augmentation Unlocked!

You have acquired a new Augmentation for your Thauma Attribute.

Augmentation: Multicast ]

[ Rank Up!

Your Thauma and Fervour Attributes have risen by one Rank.

Your Entropy and Sacrifice Aspects have risen by one Rank.

Your Path of the Auric Hierophant has risen by one Rank.

Thauma: Gold II

Fervour: Gold IX

Entropy: Silver I

Sacrifice: Gold VII

Path of the Auric Hierophant: Gold VII ]

Excellent. All the practice in tying my Illumination casts to the Aspected mana of gravity and Flare had worked. I could finally weigh things down and set them on fire just by shedding light on them. It was kind of crazy.

A day later, after I had gifted Revayne one of the Starlamps, I found out why we were having trouble kickstarting our business.

“Look at this, mageling,” Khagnio said. He had been searching for me all this while, and now, he handed me a torn piece of paper. “Found this in Ring Zero.”

It was stiff, not at all the wood-based pages I was familiar with from Earth. But I wasn’t paying attention to that. Not really. Instead, I just focused on the message.

Apparently, there was some kind of concerted underground effort at stopping the Starlamps from circulating.

I just slowly looked up at Khagnio. “What?”