“How do I create a conclave?” Kael asked, his voice filled with a strange mix of hope and uncertainty.

  Skrindle raised his eyebrows, clearly taken aback by the newfound motivation of his Master. “Ah, well, that's... that's an unexpected question,” he said. “To form a conclave, you’ll need a square that’s at least at bronze level. That’s the first hurdle.”

  Bronze-level? Kael’s heart sank. The goal wasn’t out of reach but it would involve fighting a Master, inviting danger to his square that he had so recently negotiated peace. And that’s not including the chance of fighting his friends.

  "The second hurdle," Skrindle said, scratching his chin with a mischievous grin, "you’ll need ten thousand gold."

  Kael’s brow furrowed. Ten thousand gold. The amount felt impossible to him. He barely had more than a thousand, most of which had come from Avaris. How could he gather that much? The thought made him frustrated.

  Kael shook his head. "Ten thousand? How am I supposed to get that much?"

  “Dig up resources, kill invaders, take their loot. The usual way.”

  The road ahead felt steep. But he couldn’t let that stop him, not when he was sure this was his purpose. “I’ll think about the gold later,” Kael said. “Right now, I need to focus on ascending.”

  I can take on another Master, he thought, but doubts crept into his mind. He wasn’t sure he was ready to face another battle, but he didn’t have much of a choice. Would he have to face Lira? She was the only one who had truly walked this path with him, and he would not be able to hurt her, much less face her in an Ascension Trial.

  “The chances of facing a friend or someone like Lira are low,” Skrindle said, almost reading Kael’s mind. “But it's possible since you both are no longer in the same conclave. If both of you are ready for ascension, one of you can say yes first. After they succeed and go up to bronze, the other can then ascend.”

  Kael blinked, processing the information. It was a good plan, simple in its execution. If he ascended first, Lira could ascend later, just as he could be behind her if she was ready. It was the best course of action they could take.

  But then, Kael’s thoughts shifted, and the reality of the situation hit him. He didn’t know if Lira was ready for ascension.

  She had gone back to her own square, no longer in the same conclave, no way of communicating. How was she coping with leaving the conclave? Losing her wings? Kael found himself lost in the thought of her, wondering if she, too, had been thinking of him.

  As he mulled over these thoughts, a sharp flicker of red flashed across the blue walls of his square, and Kael’s attention snapped back to the present. The wall had changed color, a clear sign that an invader was approaching.

  "Well, looks like you’ve got yourself another battle, Kael," Gerry said. “You’ve been having lots of them lined up.”

  Kael could only nod in grim acknowledgment.

  "Prepare yourselves," Kael ordered, his tone resolute. “Let’s see who’s foolish enough to challenge us now.”

  Kael stood with his Ice Sickle raised and his mind sharp, surrounded by his loyal allies: Jello, his ever-watchful slime, Mush with his ice slimes, and Blue with his wisps. The weight of his decisions settled on him, but there was no time to dwell on them. The air was thick with anticipation. His golems, Three Arms and Gerry, stood beside him, ready to fight, their mechanical limbs twitching with the promise of action. Whoever chose to invade, would soon learn to regret it.

  And then, a creak of wheels broke the stillness.

  A cart appeared, rolling toward the square, its wooden wheels turning with a slow, deliberate rhythm. Atop it sat Myke, the merchant Kael had crossed paths with before. His ever-present salesman grin stretched across his face, the sort of smile that Kael had come to recognize as ingenuine, albeit harmless.

  “Kael!” Myke called, his voice cheerful, as he waved from atop his cart. “Master Kael! You are back.”

  The tension in the air broke. They had prepared for battle, but the slimes and golems relaxed at the sight of the merchant. Deceitful and tedious perhaps, but hardly dangerous.

  Kael nodded slightly, but didn’t drop his guard completely. "What have you brought for me today, Myke?" he asked, his voice steady.

  Myke’s grin widened even further as he gestured to the cart behind him. "Two days worth of iron bars and leather hides," Myke announced with a flourish, pointing to the neatly stacked materials in the cart. "Since you’ve been gone for two days, figured I’d bring these to keep you stocked up."

  Kael looked over the materials briefly, then let his gaze flicker back to Myke. But Myke wasn’t finished yet. His eyes sparkled with a hint of curiosity as he glanced over at Kael’s newest additions. Three Arms and Gerry.

  The golems were powerful, Kael had seen them in combat and effective when needed. But Myke looked at them with curiosity and greed. The subtle shift in Myke’s expression didn’t go unnoticed by Kael, though he ignored it.

  "Well, well, what do we have here?" Myke said. “These can do many tasks, these golems. And they look intricate for even the most complex of jobs.”

  Three Arms looked at Gerry, then Kael then to his three arms. Gerry merely stood there, silent.

  "These golems—are they for sale?"

  “They’re not for sale, Myke.”

  "Oh, of course, Master Kael," The merchant immediately recoiled, his expression turning apologetic.

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  "I didn’t mean to offend! Just... curiosity, you know. A golem like this could fetch quite a price on the open market..." he said.

  “I would not consider the thought of selling my companions, so leave that thought outside the square, Myke.”

  Myke’s body tensed instinctively. The salesman cleared his throat and shifted his weight, now visibly more cautious.

  Changing topics, Myke said, “And the armors and daggers? Are you still forging them?”

  Kael hesitated for a moment, recalling that, after severing ties with Avaris, resources were now a more precious commodity. He no longer had the luxury of a rich conclave to back him up. The gold he had gained was precious, and his resources were limited. Every decision mattered now.

  He reached into his orb, pulling out twenty gold coins, the weight of them reminding him of the fragile position he was in. Without a word, Kael handed the coins to Myke. The salesman’s eyes widened slightly, but he didn’t say anything, accepting the gold with an exaggerated flourish.

  “I want you to find something,” Kael said. “Go and find rare artifacts. Anything that can help with communication, with magic, anything that might be useful for our situation. Bring something valuable back and you will be rewarded.”

  Myke’s grin returned, albeit a bit more strained, as he nodded eagerly. “Of course! You’ll have it, Master Kael. I’ll be back with some great treasures, you’ll see. Just get your coin ready.” He turned to leave, his cart creaking as he whipped his mules into action.

  As Myke disappeared into the distance, Kael turned his attention back to the task at hand. Kael stood over the pile of iron bars and leather hides as they lay in neat stacks, arranged by his new golems. Kael could craft more daggers, though his mind churned for more options.

  “Remember before Highhaven, you said I unlocked another crafting tree? What are they?” Kael asked.

  The imp, as ever, hovered nearby, his tiny wings fluttering in the air. Skrindle cracked a smile, not the snarky one Kael was used too but a genuine smile.

  “Looks like you’re remembering all your skills now, eh Master?” the imp teases.

  The imp cleared his throat. "You’ve got four main choices. The first is enchantment, turning mundane objects into magical items. Take something existing and give it magical abilities. It’s useful for things like boosting the strength of weapons, special powers, and so on."

  Kael raised an eyebrow. Enchantment could be useful, he thought. Although it depends on the enchantment.

  “Materialization,” Skrindle continued, waving his hand in the air. “That’s creating things straight from mana, a handy trick if you need supplies, weapons, or just about anything. Less finesse required, more raw power. Bad use of it and you got no mana left to summon.”

  Kael nodded. The thought of creating Ice Sickles out of thin air appealed to him but the last thing he wanted was to run out of mana.

  Then came the third option. “Advanced crafting. It's more complex, but allows you to make intricate items—potions, lockpicks or elaborate projects—carriages, windmills, forges.”

  This seemed practical, but Kael had always favored more interesting crafting. The thought of having to forge daggers of different sizes was not what he envisioned with this skill tree.

  “And then,” Skrindle said, his tone darkening slightly as he said the last word, “there’s engineering. Basically, creating golems.”

  "Did you say golems?" Gerry's voice was heard, though his mechanical voice made the word seem almost foreign. The golem lumbered over as if the very mention of his kind was a call to action.

  Skrindle snorted, floating slightly higher, and tilted his head at the golem. "Oh, here we go. It's not enough that you're made of iron and steel—you have to come over here and be all… golem-y."

  Gerry, however, paid the imp no mind. He leaned closer, his eyes fixed on Skrindle with a blank stare, and he stretched out a massive finger, prodding at the imp’s translucent body.

  “Take a look at this, little fella.”

  Skrindle’s eyes widened, and he let out an annoyed yelp, jumping back as the finger phased straight through him. "Don’t you dare touch me, big guy," Skrindle snarled, visibly irritated. "You can’t even touch me!"

  Kael couldn’t help but smile faintly at the exchange. It had been a while since he'd felt anything but the weight of battle or the mechanics of square management. Watching his companions interact had once been strange, but now, it was a reminder of home, a reminder of comfort.

  “Calm down, both of you. We're on the same side here.”

  But Skrindle wasn’t done. “Tell me, Kael,” the imp growled, turning to him. “Why did you bring these things back with you? I’ve had enough of this giant lug and his antics. If you’re going to keep him around, don’t expect me to be nice about it.”

  “They’re our new allies, Skrindle. Play nice.”

  “Well, golems need purpose, if not, they are just walking piles of metal stacked up high. Give them something to do.”

  "And I think I know what,” Kael said.

  Skrindle watched Kael, his eyes showing he was being too intelligent for his own good.

  "They can help around the square. Looking for metals and ore. You said that’s a way to make gold,” Kael explained.

  "Really? The golems? I didn’t think they were much for digging,” Skrindle said, his voice dripping in doubt.

  “Nah, we can do that,” Gerry replied. He flexed his fingers, each an intricate gear and cog moving in unison. "I’m dextrous enough."

  Three Arms, who stood beside Gerry, took the moment to chime in with a high-pitched squeal. "Yes! Yes! I can dig too!" His voice was shrill, but there was an unmistakable enthusiasm in it.

  Skrindle made a sound that was somewhere between a snort and a scoff. "You two can dig with your hands, then? Really?" He sounded more than a little incredulous. "What are you going to do, scoop up the earth like a child with a shovel?"

  "Sure we can," Gerry said with confidence.

  “We’ll need a better way to do things, they can’t use their hands,” Kael said, realising it was not a practical solution. "That would take too long," Kael said. "But if we had daggers? They could be more precise, cut through the earth with sharper edges. The work would go quicker."

  Skrindle raised an eyebrow at this, unconvinced. But Kael was already moving toward the Arcane Anvil and placed his hand on its surface. The pulse of crafting magic ran through the anvil and through Kael.

  Fifty iron bars dissolved into the air. Fifty daggers fell to a pile near the anvil.

  Gerry, eager to put them to use, picked up one dagger in each hand, inspecting the blades. "These will work great," he said.

  Three Arms, as if drawn by the same instinct, approached the pile and picked up three daggers, one in each hand and one clenched in his teeth. He held them up, his mechanical joints clicking as he began to juggle the blades with surprising dexterity. The daggers flashed through the air, cutting a path of motion that was almost hypnotic. "This is fun!" Three Arms squealed, his high-pitched voice filled with glee as he tossed and caught the daggers with ease.

  Kael watched the display, a small smile playing at the corner of his lips. "You're really good with those," Kael said, the praise genuine.

  "Well, Three Arms was built for complex tasks, Kael," Gerry said, his voice deep with pride. "Not for smashing things. No surprise he’s good with these."

  "Time to work, then," Gerry said. "We’ve got ore to find."

  Three Arms, still juggling his daggers, nodded in agreement. "Yes! Time for work!"

  The two golems moved to the edges of the square, and with synchronized motions, they began to dig, their daggers plunging into the earth with ease.

  Kael stood silently, watching them. Gerry with his strength and Three Arms with his nimbleness, his square had been coming across nicely.

  ******