The space they walked into was far larger than expected, but did fit the arcane strangeness Darion was expecting. A large polished desk sat in the center of the room encased in a square of that enchanted glass. All around the massive room were strange multi armed devices standing above magic circles where objects floated in containment fields. Some evil looking book, a skull and sword with a completely shattered blade that none the less seemed to have all the pieces floated as if whole aside from slight separation of each shard of the blade.
Biron moved to open the door to the glass cubicle the back half liked with bookcases. The books looked new but in an older style. Hard covers in a variety of colors with cloth and metallic inlay lettering.
“Ok… but where did all the books come from? I swear you all can bring stuff from earth here.”
Biron glanced up sharply but then his expression smoothed out at Darion's clear awe and wonder. “The head librarian is a tier 2 scribe with a Skill that lets him copy the contents of a book into his mind on earth. Another skill that he has here in the expanse lets him transcribe any book in his mind palace onto a blank. We've been paying him quite the fee to gather works from earth and transcribe them onto blanks. Arthur fabricates a new stack of blank books every time he stops into the city. His tier 0 lv 1 talent is an amazing utility ability. It lets him spend stamina to instantly complete anything he knows how to do like… book binding. We put all the ingredients in the room and then in a flash we have piles of blank books in various colors.”
Darion's brow furrowed “how does that work?”
“This is all publicly known because when he recruited the first 1000 he used and explained his ability. But initially it was called caloric completion; it's a space and time affinity. It lets him expend the amount of energy it would take to perform a task. Took the energy and completed it instantly. His example was folding 10’000 origami cranes in an instant. The caveat is that he needs to fully understand and visualize the entire process.”
“Ok, I can see the time aspect at play but what about space?” Darion pointed out.
“Well.” Biron chuckled. Say he wanted to expand the stamina to walk back here. He’d envision a casual stroll, and the route back…” Biron left off the end.
“Then he'd just appear at his destination?”
Biron pursed his lips and nodded. “Exactly. Now let me go through the stores real quick.” he pulled out a 3 ring binder. “How do you imagine yourself fighting? Do you have any combat training like martial arts or…?” he glanced from his binder up at Darion who had taken up the seat on the visitor side of the desk. “Close to midrange short blades and throwing knives.”
“All right, so light armor, short blade, throwing knives.”
Tied to a silk ribbon that hung from the binder like a book mark was a silver ring, something about it hummed in his senses like a ball tension around it.
“Is that a spatial ring?” Darion asked in excitement.
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“Let's call it a stable prototype, I wouldn't take this one to the field, if it were damaged the space uncompressing would be catastrophic. We have system granted storage rings and other storage treasures, but crafting our own will be a technological breakthrough that will advance the city stone.
Biron placed his hand on the ring; and on the table top appeared a vest, pants, gloves, and boots. They all shared the bat black and gray color with the multi pocketed nature of modern tactical gear. The pants had shins with some sort of firm but flexible plating under the surface; with ties at the knees and ankles to make sure the plates sat in the correct position while moving. The vest was similar. Lots of pockets and plating to cover vitals. The gloves had unobtrusive studding on the knuckles with finned ridges on the sides; the top of the forearm seemed to have a light metal under the leather surface, with loops that looked like you could affix a knife or dagger sheath.
Darion raised a hand and finger hesitantly, “do you perhaps have a hooded cloak and mask in there? I apologies if I'm overstepping-”
Biron waved his hand to cut him off. “ No no… outfitting you is literally the least thing I could do. I don't think you understand what I've gotten you into. But we will go over that after we outfit and equip you. I have a special something that I have been developing with the help of the founder, it's not to his combat style even if it's to his taste. Biron moved past Darion. “Wait here a moment.” Biron left the clear cubicle and around out of sight.
Darion looked at the gear piled on the desktop, as he pulled on the elbow length gloves they magically resized themselves to fit snugly but not cut off circulation. The door behind Darion opened again and Biron walked back in. A metal disk clutched in his hand, the edge seemed to be a blade all the way around, with an S shaped center handle creating a yin yang type pattern. After a moment Darion realizes it was a chakram.
“This was made with some of Arthur’s space affinity. Since that is an affinity that you share. It seems like a fitting weapon. He handed it to him alongside a strap to hang from his belt. Drop some blood on it and bind it to yourself. This and your gear he gestured towards the table, will bind to you even on death. They have sizing, self repair and cleaning enchantments they are all made with tier 2 materials except the Chakram, those are 8th layer materials. The weapon has two spatial abilities attached, the chakram will return to hand when thrown. And you can also send yourself to it.
“Both of which are redundant, with Arthur's first talent.”
Biron nodded in response and pointed at Darion. “Got it in one.”
Darions brow furrowed. “But I can teleport too with my initial talent.”
Biron held up a finger like a professor. “About that… I think you should keep that under wraps. Use the weapons teleport, and pass off your ability as a perception Talent rather than a spatial one. That way in a pinch…”
“Then I have a backup escape plan!” Darion exclaimed.
Biron nodded. “Bind your gear and we'll talk a little about the mess you are in on my behalf.”
Darion followed up and bonded his gear. From what he could see he looked like an assassin. The chakram was an interesting choice as it was both a throwing and melee weapon. He moved around but the cloak did not impede his range of motion. After securing his new weapon in the clap on his belt he settled into the seat across the desk from Biron who took his own seat.
“Now where to begin… ah alright we have covered how The Expanse is on a lot of radars on earth. That being said, those powers will do what they can to gain as much control of a strategic resource, in this case The Expanse and its ability to manifest skills in the real world. So right now there are world powers and corporations who are sending people in,
to get strong, overtake the leaderboards and take up as much clout and real estate as they can get.
So as you can see that us seated council members, much like in the real world with lobbyists and government officials. Now where this Pop Up dungeon comes in, is a reward for achieving milestones in the progress of the city. We agreed to each pick an entrant. I know that 4 of the 7 for sure sold their slot to the highest bidder. And I'll find out what I can about their candidates at the meeting. Either way you are going to be partying up with elites with a lot of backing. The political system as it stands is each one of the council members ahs their own camp full of backers and supporters hoping to get a piece of The Expanse. Except for me that is, because I don't log out I rarely leave my lab unless there is an official function. Though to be honest i lean towards the founders out of gratitude for getting some semblance of my life back.
“So I'm assumed to be backed by your camp in this political landscape. And since you are mostly unassailable i will be seen as a channel…”
Biron started to stand. “I have to head over to the meeting, you are welcome to wait here in my office though I'd ask you not to touch anything; or you can explore the city, Just stay out of any trouble will level you.”
