Once all three are done, I pick them up and find a guard to take me to the emperor. I am led to a huge office where both the emperor and empress are working at desks. I walk over and hand the male lion stein to the emperor and then give the other two to the empress.

  Empress Atesh says “These are beautiful! They are so life-like that I half expect them to jump out and walk around! They aren’t going to, are they?”

  “No, they aren’t. There is just an illusion on them to make them more ornamental. Without it they looked a little dull, not really fitting for royalty.”

  Emperor Amn says “I don’t care how they look, but they do look amazing. They will create the tea? Do they need to be recharged or anything?”

  “Yes, they will create tea anytime you hit this button. They will also keep the tea warm no matter how long you let it sit. The steins also have minor healing and poison removal on them. You don’t need to worry about recharging them, they absorb mana on their own.”

  Emperor Amn says “That’s amazing! These are magnificent gifts, thank you!”

  Empress Atesh says “Yes, these will make our mornings much more productive!”

  “One other thing. Pay attention to the eyes on the steins, if they ever stop glowing it means someone broke the lock and messed with the enchantments. If that happens, you should probably call me immediately.”

  Emperor Amn says “Understood. However, I doubt there is anyone out there that can break your lock.”

  “I may be powerful, but I am not arrogant enough to call myself the best enchanter in the world. Lin for one would be able to break it given some time. There are probably others in the Magic Empire that can do the same. That’s why I linked the lock to the eyes.”

  Empress Atesh says “He’s right. You should know better than to underestimate your enemies.”

  Emperor Amn says “You are right, as usual. I spoke without thinking.”

  Empress Atesh says “I will make sure and repeat everything you told us to my daughter when I pass the stein to her.”

  “Alright. I’ll be leaving now, but I will be back in a day or two to take a look at the drug sample.”

  Emperor Amn says “Are you sure you don’t want to stay for dinner?”

  “I would, but my list of things I need to get done is just way too long.”

  Emperor Amn says “I completely understand. Just make sure you don’t overwork yourself.”

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  Empress Atesh says “Like you have any room to talk!”

  That makes me laugh, but they are still bickering as the door closes behind me. A guard escorts down to the platform room and from there I gate to the palace in the elven city. After the gate is closed, I use the crown to check the population and look for a specific human.

  I find Bella’s location and head over to where she is talking with a couple of elves. Luckily, Lin has already contacted her and explained things, so Bella just gives me a smile.

  “It’s not my fault!”

  Bella says “I know. She can’t resist new knowledge. I just don’t know how I am going to create the new tattoos without her help.”

  “I will be going back to the southern empire in the next day or two. I will take you with me and you can track her down. If I know Lin, she has already thought about the spells and probably has them half completed. If you get that from her, me and the kids should be able to complete them.”

  Bella says “That could work. Your kids have been learning from Lin for a while, but from what Lin told me, you aren’t as good with standard spells.”

  “That’s true enough. The kids will help with most of it and I will help if creativity is needed. Speaking of the kids, I believe that Asuna and Mulan have both the talent and desire to become tattoo artists.”

  Bella says “It will be great if they do, I’ve already found four potential students, so they will make it six. Where are they?”

  “They are in the castle, I already moved it to the trade city. I also made fifteen new tattoo guns and I just got the materials for more. If you are ready, I will move all of you to the castle where you can start the training.”

  Bella says “Uh, no, I’m not. Can you give me an hour or two?”

  “Sure. Gather what you need and the people you want to bring with you. When you are ready, come over to the palace.”

  Bella says “Isn’t the palace sealed? Oh wait, I forgot for a second that you are the king. Sorry.”

  “It’s fine. I sometimes forget and I am wearing the crown!”

  Bella says “Alright, I will get ready and meet you at the palace.”

  I watch as Bella and the two elves leave, then I head back to the palace to wait. Once I am there I sit down on the throne and bring up the control system for the city. This time I ignore the various stats and start looking to see if there are other options.

  Unfortunately, I don’t find what I was hoping for, the system is too limited for what I want. So instead I start looking for ways to upgrade the system and add new options. For one thing, I want to be able to extend the range of the system beyond the city. I want to be able to easily see what is going on in all the areas that I control.

  However, I want to keep it as a useful system, I don’t want to turn it into a spirit. While I like Jarvis and Athena, I don’t want to put an entire city under the control of an artificial spirit. That would just be too much power to entrust to a spirit and I don’t want to take the risk.

  Unfortunately, the elves who made this system didn’t leave any way to upgrade it. Leaving me only one option, to completely redo the enchantments from scratch. Before I do that I need to make sure I understand everything about how it currently works.

  The plus side is that I am going to be able to change the language of the enchantments. That will make adding all the extra options much easier, but it won’t be a quick process. So, while I am waiting for Bella, I spend the time studying the enchantments of the palace.

  The enchantments are spread all through the palace and then tie back into the throne. The throne is basically the control node for the palace and the city’s enchantments. Unfortunately, that means that I am going to have to redo the enchantments for the entire city.

  This is not something that I can do right now, I need to properly plan out how I am going to do it. Especially since if I am going to do it, I may as well make improvements while I am at it. Luckily, from the throne I can see every enchantment that is attached and where it is enchanted.