Khrem continued to smile, a disturbing site given his death trap of a mouth. He pointed to my chest. "I'd like to join you, specifically. But I'm assuming you and Broken Tower will still be together for the foreseeable future?"
I glanced around, but was interrupted by Isaac.
He snorted. "You're not getting rid of us that easily."
It was touching, in his own way.
"We have no plans to abandon Cyrus. And as long as he finds it worthwhile to train with us, we'll continue to do so," Teddy added.
"Then yes. I wish to join you," Khrem said.
"Okay. But why?"
The sharkman cocked his head. "Why what?"
I rolled my eyes. "Why would you want to join me? Us? Well them I understand, but you said me specifically."
"I assumed it would be obvious."
"My bright and sunny disposition?"
That earned a few dead-pan glares thrown my way and I dropped my shoulders.
Khrem also stared, with narrowed eyes.
"Two reasons..." He paused and sat upright. "One, and the most obvious being your harvesting skill."
"Oh, so you just want access to Erebus' sweet loot. I get that."
"Two," he continued. "Is because my goddess had informed me that it would be in my best interest to do so. And that it would be beneficial to the both of us that I join your team and provide support."
As much as I wanted to play up the antics to distract myself from my not-so-enjoyable awakening, I decided to cut to the chase.
"I think Ysanna mentioned something about that. Truth be told, I wasn't entirely paying attention before I jumped into the portal."
Khrem looked lost. Isaac appeared behind him and patted him on the shoulder.
"It's okay. If you stick around your free to come to the support group. We have drinks and discuss the lunatics' insanity every Thul at seven."
"Haa, haa. Very funny."
Teddy and Celenae looked away and Igas pretended to look for another scone.
My jaw dropped. "You're kidding."
"Cyrus," Eodyne started.
"No. You know what. Fuck all of you. If anything it's an honor to have a support group made about me."
Khrem coughed, and steepled his hands into his lap.
"Right. So I've stated my reasons. What say you? If it helps, I am willing to submit my full status sheet."
I shook my head. "No need for that. The only thing that really matters is that I can trust you. But hold up. Ysanna told you directly to come to me?"
"What? No, of course not."
I paused.
He looked genuinely confused. That was strange.
"Then what do you mean, your goddess told you to come to me. Are we not talking about Ysanna?"
"We are. Lady Ysanna is the patron deity of the islands. Even more so after her return."
"Okay. I'm drawing a blank. Then who told you to come here?"
"The goddess's chosen. Sir Callen."
"I think I understand the confusion, Cyrus," Teddy interjected.
He smiled in the same way one would to a kid before telling them they were being an idiot.
"What do you mean?" I said, my eyes narrowing.
"You have to understand that to any normal person, speaking with a god or goddess is unlikely or impossible. Beyond high clergy members or individuals like a chosen or a scion, to speak to their deity just isn't likely. And why would a goddess speak to a mortal if they have their chosen for that?"
"But I-"
"Yes," he sighed. "We know. There's a reason why we sit down and talk."
So you are confirming it you bastard.
I wasn't actually mad, or disturbed by the idea. It would be crazy to assume the others didn't have to destress or talk about the chaos I brought to their lives.
But so long as they kept telling me to stick around, then so be it. They were all big boys and girls, if they wanted me gone, they could have easily told me so.
Though, considering how Isaac reacted to me earlier...
I cleared my throat. "Well, I'm not going to say no to a trained alchemist who can identify things. But it's not just me traveling around. It's up to the rest of these guys."
"We'd be happy to have you join us, Khrem," Teddy said.
"An identify skill would be a boon to keeping up with Cyrus," Celenae said cheerfully.
Isaac shrugged, too busy finishing off the last of the Nathan pancakes and Igas repeated the motion.
But it was Eodyne who held up a hand.
"Yes?" Khrem asked, sounding nervous.
"Do you plan on fighting?" Eodyne asked.
"Fighting?"
"Whether he reveals the details to you or not, is not up to me. But you must know what joining us will entail. It will be dangerous at times, far more dangerous than what you would have experienced on the island."
At that, Khrem relaxed.
"I do not plan to fight. But if I must, I will be prepared. I'm a crafter, not a fighter, nor an adventurer. My skills are mundane and geared toward helping me in my pursuit of alchemy. But through that, I am never unprepared."
He slowly reached into his robe and started to undo some of the strings keeping it fastened. I doubted he was about to strip for us, but he quickly undid the top knots and then tugged on his shirt.
Underneath the robes and across his chest were two bandoliers of bottles slotted into pouches. Among the vials, I even spotted a large knife as well as smaller knives toward his hip.
"I'm not so inexperienced as to misunderstand the dangers of this world. If a monster or individual shall come for my life, I will endeavour to make theirs a realm of torture."
Isaac whistled. "I thought Sereza was loaded."
Eodyne nodded approvingly and Khrem put his robe back on.
"I've no objections," she stated.
I looked around and then smiled. Khrem sat straight, and held his head high, but I could see the nervous wringing of his hands underneath the sleeves of his robes.
His eyes darted to my hand as I held it out for a shake.
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"Welcome aboard, Khrem. I hope you don't regret this."
He grinned a full shark--toothed smile and clasped my wrist.
"I won't."
Before I could return to finishing breakfast, Celenae slammed a journal onto the table and pointed her pen at the beastkin.
"I'm ready," she stated.
"F-for what?"
Khrem hesitated, and looked at me but I was too busy smearing butter on my food.
Celenae leaned closer. "I'm ready for the identification. I've been waiting to see what the core can be used for."
Sorry buddy, better get used to this. Maybe this'll take the heat off me for a while.
"R-ight. I'll do that, yes," Khrem replied.
He reached for the pouch filled with metal wire. Celenae was already adding a new entry into the journal. All the while, the others astutely looked away and made themselves busy.
***
Shadsteel Golem Sinew (Spool) x2
Shadsteel Golem Threader Rods (Pouches) x2
Golem-essence Dust x1
Golem Core (Predatory Type A) x1
Abyssal-touched Welebrus x1
Catalouger's Assistant x1
I read through the list and checked the descriptions one last time before giving it to Zharia to burn.
The golem parts were pretty much exactly what I expected them to be. Shadsteel was interesting but wasn't unknown to the kingdom. It just wasn't the most popular type of metal due to the relative toughness of the material.
And while the golem bits were interesting, they meant nothing to me being I was decidedly not a crafter. The descriptions didn't stop Celenae from cataloging them anyway.
It wasn't hard to guess that one day she would be publishing her findings, whatever those may be.
The golem dust was mildly more interesting but relatively simple in its use. Khrem did note that while he could experiment with the material, it was best sold to an engineer or enchanter rather than wasting them for what would likely be dud potions.
Golem-essence Dust: Refine mana powder infused with mental and metal-aspected mana. Highly conductive material allows for the instantaneous transfer of mana throughout the golem's body.
It was essentially, golem blood? Or something similar, my analogy wasn't perfect but it made the most sense.
The golem core had drawn the most attention, and I was persuaded to either keep or bring to the kingdom's library.
Golem Core (Predator Type A): Inactive core of a Predator class golem. Configuration set to ambush. Best suited for stealth and assassin type models.
- Complex rune pathways engineered into a crystal catalyst core enables the memory data of a golem persona. Persona dependent on core type.
- Best suited for tier one to two materials.
- Rule set, set to monstrous. Will require an active Controller Apex to command golem outside of preset Persona.
It sounded 'techy' which was a surprise for a world so reliant on magic. The rune pathways interested me, and I was half tempted to crack the thing open and see what was inside.
Celenae nearly grabbed the core from my hands and treated it like a delicate egg. Unfortunately, the others seemed to share her sentiment and glared at me as if I threatened to murder a puppy.
After promising to hold on to it for the time being, I moved onto the jar of brine. Khrem looked at it in disgust, and when he popped the cap, the smell was nearly overwhelming.
Abyssal-touched Welebrus: Preserved fourth hindbrain of a creature corrupted by the Abyss.
- Mind numbing properties will inflict consumer with increased levels of aggression along with cognitive disruption until the poison has been filtered from the consumer's system.
It didn't take long for the betting board to appear and the organ to go down my gullet. Khrem looked mildly horrified but I showed him my perk to mullify him.
The organ did... Something. What; I wasn't entirely sure, but there was a blip to my mana that smoothed out as I breathed.
Celenae noted it down and asked probing questions but even a trip into my soulspace revealed nothing out of the ordinary.
Eventually, we agreed that a few more organs would show a change. If it was anything like my crystal bones, it'd serve to benefit me in the next evolution.
And finally, there was the pen. To no one's surprise, Celenae claimed the pen with an almost zealous reverence.
Cataloguer's Assistant: Enchanted pen reinforced with shadsteel metal and shade ink.
- Inkwell is replenishable through mana
- Upon imprinting of mana signature, the pen uses an autonomous golem core carry out its functions
- Will write what the user desires as long as ink is available and provided there's a surface to write on.
- Prolonged use of the pen with the same mana signature will deepen the connection allowing for a faster transfer of mental data.
The others collectively oo'ed at the display as Celenae wasted no time pushing her mana into the pen. I didn't expect the sturdy thing to be a miniature golem, but Celenae's smile was enough to make me happy.
Where once was black metal, the end cap along with gemstone like patterns etched itself into the metal and glowed with purple light. I could feel the mental mana latch onto Celenae's thoughts but a quick checkup from Teddy revealed she was okay.
Soon enough, she practically cackled as the pen floated to the journal and started writing for her. It was even more impressive when she brought out another journal and managed to write on her own while controlling the pen.
I received a bone-crushing hug and was forgotten about for the rest of the morning.
After filling ourselves silly and saying goodbye to Walter, Khrem joined us on our way to the arena. And when the beastkin asked why it was so packed, I could only grin.
"It's the second day of the tournament, Khrem. And I got some asses to kick."
I hope you guys have a great weekend, and I hope I do too. Frankly had a really rough week and a crappy last weekend. May this one be filled with DnD and eggnog (fingers crossed.)