150. Unexpected Opportunities (Patreon)

“Do you have a short list of where you’ll be moving your operation?” asked Erza, the Union representative. 

“I was strongly considering the Anglar Plains or Tortuga,” Lukas answered, walking along the narrow path cleared in the snow. They were in the more affluent part of the Gray, close to the City Council building, where the structures were large and made of stone, and the spaces between them were wide. Lukas only visited the area when he had important meetings or soirees to attend. “Both have what I’m looking for.”

“A scarcity of great smiths? I know that both have excellent resources for anyone looking to expand their business into alchemy, but the Anglar Plains are far too spread out, and most settlements don’t have a lot of money to spend. They might also be too quiet for the likes of you.”

“Maybe quiet is precisely what I’m after. In the past three years, I’ve dealt with a Cult of Rakan, a Slaver’s Ring, a coven, and then a Void Cult. Now, there is all of this. All of the conflict has come with excellent opportunities for growth, wealth, and infamy, but it's tiring. I finally have someone in my life I adore and an enterprise I thoroughly enjoy operating. Quiet sounds perfect.”

“Very well. But the point regarding there not being a lot of money in the plains stands.”

“While that might be true, a lot of money moves through the plains,” Lukas said. “They expand across the center of the Empire of Gilded Sky and are its primary source of food. Merchants are regularly traveling across it. If I plant myself in or near one of the market towns through which the caravans travel, there will be plenty of money to be made. It might not be as immediately available as here, Iskander, and Tortuga, but I’m optimistic.”

“What I’m most interested in, Lukas.” Ezra paused. “I can call you Lukas, right?” She continued when he nodded. Good. What I’m most curious about is how your golems work. I haven’t encountered shard abilities that allow for creation of minions that can be puppeteered across long distances.”

“I wouldn’t say I puppet them. I assign them tasks and grant them abilities suitable for the role before sending them on their merry way. Our connection gets weaker the further they move from me. I get limited information from them but can’t send new instructions. This isn’t the product of one ability but three working in tandem.”

“What about your ability to send them across long distances? You made it sound like you were going to send them across continents in no time at all.”

“As much as I’m enjoying your company, Ezra, it would be foolish of me to divulge all of my secrets,” Lukas answered. “But I will say that currently, the process is far too expensive and leaves me weak and vulnerable for quite some time. As a result, I’m not willing to use it more often than once every month or so.”

“As one would expect of something so potent,” Ezra stated thoughtfully. “Outside of confluence abilities, I’ve only heard of expensive rituals that demand one or more essences and more magic than the average person can muster, granting such long-distance travel.”

“You could say what I do is fairly similar, but it's only safe for golems, constructs, and inanimate objects. I’m developing a new process so my friends and I can also use it for travel, but that’s unlikely to happen anytime soon.”

“Are you tied to Conclave or any guilds besides the Shadow Seekers?”

“No,” Lukas answered. “I enjoy operating freely and don’t particularly want to have to answer to anyone. Fortunately, the Shadow Seekers let me move freely as long as I occasionally check in on their interests. I’ve indirectly assisted the Conclave while I was working for the Coldfire Sorcerer, but not when I don’t like the sound or nature of the job.”

“Has there been a lot of that? As in jobs you don’t agree with or like?”

“No, and that’s not something I’m particularly interested in discussing.”

“That’s fine. The reason I asked is that the Union of Guilds can use a person like you. Perhaps not as a public spokesperson or an enforcer but in the intelligence department.” Erza came to a stop, released Lukas, and faced him. “We have agents planted across guilds, continents, and kingdoms. There aren’t many individuals with skill sets like yours out there. Believe me when I say that even fewer know how to use their abilities effectively.”

“So you want me to be a spy. What’s in it for me?”

“The resources and treasures we can access pale before those of the Aquila, Shadowseekers, or the city council’s,” Erza replied. “It took you over a year to get your hands on the Essence of Arcane Projection. If you served the Union of Guilds, we would’ve ensured you had it in a month, or however long it took you to submit a request, for us to process it, dig it out of our many treasure users, and send it back to you. There is a reason pieces like it don’t end up in the market. In lieu of pay, you could make a list of things you want, and we’ll find them for you. Within reason, of course.”

“That does sound appealing. Can I think about it and get back to you?”

“Don’t take too long,” Erza told him. “I’ll sweeten the pot. Wherever you end up picking as your next destination, the Union of Guilds will help set you up with excellent accommodation and an attached workshop to meet all of your artisanal needs. We’ll also introduce you to the best local suppliers and ensure you get preferential rates.”

Their meeting carried on for longer than Lukas would’ve liked. His maybe wasn’t good enough for Erza, and she spent close to another hour talking about the benefits of working for the Union. She presented an appealing deal, but his suspicion of large, authoritarian, and surveilling organizations kept him from committing straight away. The fact that she skirted topics like commitment, limitations and obligations didn’t help. 

Since the walk and talk with Erza took longer than Lukas had expected, he didn’t get the time or opportunity to go home before his next meeting. Ideally, Lukas would’ve liked to prepare a mock or preliminary contract and put together a more concrete business plan before they sat down together. He hated going in unprepared or without contingencies in place. 

Erza came across as someone excellent at reading people. Lukas guessed that she had insisted on talking to catch him off guard, off-balanced, and mentally drained after the meeting. Unfortunately for her, Lukas had the mental fortitude four times what would be expected of someone of his body’s age. People often appeared to underestimate him, expecting some degree of naivety and impulsiveness from a man in their early twenties. His hormones occasionally threatened to interfere, but Lukas usually managed to wrestle them into submission.

Now, distraction was the greatest threat. Lukas had done his best to keep his thoughts focused while talking to Erza, but now thoughts of Shadow Gate dominated his mind. He wanted to talk to Merlin about making the Shadowsteel Fortress a permanent anchor for the spell. The journal considered the Confluence ability complete, but Lukas hadn’t yet physically entered his soulspace. Only his consciousness had spent time within. He hadn’t articulated it, but Lukas was terrified of entering it body and soul. Technically, he’d be stepping into another universe. Concerns of being unable to make his way back haunted him, and then spending the rest of his existence stuck within with no one but his clones to keep him company. 

“You’re probably the first man in all of existence to get stuck within himself, boss .” He could already hear the jokes. 

The second meeting took Lukas away from the city’s affluent section. He needed to take the cable car to descend from the plateau down to the entrance of the subterranean district. Instead, he opted to Shadow Step his way down. The cliff face provided ample darkness for him to utilize. It was a silly risk since it wasn’t something the clones hadn’t practiced. Lukas dropped several dozen feet, fell into a shadow, and emerged from another nearby. The velocity shot him out of the shadows and up into the air, resulting in a much shorter drop. 

I wonder if I can turn shadows into fabric and make a parachute out of Shade’s Mantle.

Lukas had kept an Essence of the Dusk Spider expressly for the purpose. The Shadow Seekers guild had procured it for him. He wasn’t personally familiar with the beast. It was apparently an ambush hunter that used magic similar to Shade’s Mantle to conceal itself. The magical black spider silk it wove was also invisible to most of its prey. He had high hopes for its compatibility with Shadow Clone. 

Dreamfire had proven to have minor reality-bending powers. Currently, Oberon’s capabilities are limited to changing colors, textures, and producing scents. He hadn’t yet tested it on Shadowsteel, but changing the appearance of permanent structures appealed to Lukas, not just for aesthetic purposes but also for deception. 

The descent took him several minutes. Without the adrenaline rush of battle, it took more effort to pick emergence points, process the sensory and arcane feedback, and deal with the mental stress. It wasn’t just creating clones that encouraged Shadow Clone’s growth but also using shadow magic and all connected abilities. Shadow Step also helped with Spellweaver’s growth. Now that Lukas had the Essence of Arcane Projection, getting the ability to the next tier was a high priority. He could feel that the construction of the Shadowsteel Fortress was helping. 

By Merlin’s estimate, the Forge would be done in the next day or two. It would be ready by the time of Eins’s return. Merlin believed connecting the specialized clones’ abilities to the confluence wouldn’t be too challenging. They were all part of a whole, of course. Lukas wished to test the fortress for storage already and remove his reliance on the journal, but Merlin insisted he remain patient. Conditions in the core room were likely to adversely affect materials and enchanted objects, and incomplete rooms were unstable. Their arcane fields had a high chance of destabilizing the Shadowsteel framework before it stabilized.

It took Lukas fifteen minutes to reach the Miner’s Federation offices after his descent, making him fifteen minutes early. He took the time to get his thoughts together and mentally prepare before heading in. As one would expect of a structure that served and looked out for the average working citizen, the interiors were humble and utilitarian. Most people in the building wore work clothes or simple dark office outfits that didn’t look dirty even when covered in the dark grey dust that covered the floors. All of their work boots and shoes left trails in them. 

Lukas expected the representative’s office to be no different. He wore simple clothes like the people he served. His narrow build and gaunt face suggested he wasn’t a stranger to a hard day’s work. Zhent was a stark contrast to the pudgy, arrogant, and now-proven corrupt nobleman who had preceded him. His office told a different story.

As soon as Lukas passed the heavy iron-bound door, his senses threatened to overwhelm him. Violent splashes of color in the form of grand, mismatching tapestries, sculptures, and other art surrounded him. A life-sized portrait of Zhent, a tall, beautiful woman, and three children who inherited her looks, hung behind the marble desk that somehow managed to act as the center and focus of the room. 

A pair of housecat-sized felines groomed each other in the corner, and a variety of flowers, many not native to the Grey, sat in vases around the room. The cocktail of aromas made his stomach turn.

“Oh, good. I was wondering when you would show up,” Zhent said from behind his desk. He looked even smaller surrounded by the gaudy decorations, standing out against all the color and grandeur. A bejeweled pipe hung out of his mouth, and the shade of smoke rising from it suggested the contents weren’t legal in the city. “Please sit.” Zhent waved at a chair on the opposite side of the desk. It was far smaller and more humble than the oversized leather armchair he occupied. “I hope Erza didn’t discourage you from working with me. I’d feel it would be far better for us if we cut out the city and made our contract more one-to-one.”

“Not at all. You weren’t a topic of discussion at all.” Lukas smiled, settling in his uncomfortable seat. It was hard, and the back made it challenging to lean. He recognized the business tactic and refused to acknowledge it, let alone allow it to get to him. Lady Silverspine used a similar strategy to much better effect. “I love your decor. After our initial meeting, I didn’t take you for a man of such fine tastes.”

“That’s an assumption many seem to make. They don’t seem to realize that, despite humble beginnings, a man can grow to appreciate the finer things in life.” Zhent pointed at a sculpture of a Roc tearing open one of the local four-armed humanoid beasts. Lukas recalled encountering the latter during his journey to the Grey. “That’s my latest acquisition. It was hand-carved by a sculptor to the west. He used to be a member of the Frozen Phoenix guild. I believe you’ve visited his home. One has to support local art and the economy, you know.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Lukas replied, struggling to put a finger on it. “I’m afraid my work doesn’t give me the opportunity to hunt down such beautiful pieces. My tastes probably aren’t as refined as yours either. If we can settle on a decent deal, I wouldn’t mind accompanying you the next time you’re looking to add to your collection.”

“Of course! You can join me in my private box at the Royal Auction House in the capital.” Zhent leaned back in his gaudy chair, crossing his arms. “I presume you want to get straight to business?”

Lukas nodded. “If you wouldn’t mind? I’ve had a long day, and I desperately need to get back to work. There is a lot to get done before my companions return to the city, and we get sucked into another round of interrogations, inquisitions, and worse.”

“As soon as I met you, Lukas Zaun, I knew I’d like you. You don’t waste time and have your priorities straight.”

What a convincing fucking slimeball. I wish I had clones to spare for these damned meetings.

“I can’t admit to the same.” Lukas laughed. “I was sure you wanted me in the stockades and my riches stripped.”

“Oh, you know hot is!” Zhent guffawed, waving dismissively. “You need to look out for the good of the people and the federation, and whatnot. It’s tiring, to be honest. So, how about you detail what you can provide and what you cannot? We’ll haggle a bit back and forth, and then we can get out of here for the best venison steak, wine, and perhaps a soak and a smoke.”

“That sounds great. Unfortunately, you’re not my last meeting of the day.”

“Nonsense! Good business deals are made on trust, and I can’t trust a man until I’m wined and dined.”

Lukas summoned the journal in his lap. He couldn’t look directly at it, but asked for all clones not locked in confluence construction or dire tasks to report. He refused to spend a second longer with Zhent than necessary, and it had already been too long.