Chapter 281 -17

With bitterness heavy in her voice, Harmony asked her final option for getting information. “Ok, Marci, give me your evaluation of these skill choices for a royal eraser  [Remove Presence]- [Secure Seal] -  [Timely Distraction].”

It was a long journey to get here. Von Trell’s apes were the first ones to leave her party during Xera’s crisis. Asking why was high on her list of things to find out. The apes had done her dirty with that retreat; damn them.

Hunting down their master, Maekus, turned out to be a dead end. The sign on his door read that he was out for a week on personal matters. Even the emergency option of thinking really hard about him caused his voice to boom in her skull. “I’m busy at this time; please refrain from thinking about me for the next week.” Leaving her with a lingering headache.

Tun-Knee had limited Zotarian resources and information, as her vassalship was still being processed. He’d spent most of the official funds that he’d been assigned for her recruitment on the resources she’d used to make Tasha’s body potion. A book about beast-kin necromantic or death magic might come with the gift basket celebrating her acceptance, but it hadn’t arrived yet. No one except the beast-kin who’d watched her in the Ascendant Games had the details of the true roots of her necromancer class, which would help with research.

The school had thousands of students who gained levels in numerous classes and professions; surely they kept records to assist in the choices they needed to make.

“What you’re looking for is in the student annex. I’m sure the library has copies, but you know how stingy and restrictive they are after all the thefts a decade ago.” Becca answered Harmony’s question. “Now if you’ll excuse me, your pet siren is expecting me at the Bronze Dancehall.”

The Student Annex looked the same as all the other square shining metal buildings on The Academy school grounds. Except this one was surrounded by activity, as this was where the intramural games were organized.  A process she thankfully got to skip as su-primus.

Teams ran about outside throwing heavy metal spheres through floating hoops and chasing a tiny cube with wings.  That was just one aspect of the event where she’d need to learn the rules before playing. In the Tournament of Future Worthy, all she needed to do was boot people in the head with [High Kick], and she wouldn’t need to hold back

You should just use Marci.”  Answered the student working the desk when Harmony asked about reviewing the choice records, which brought out a glare that she wouldn't waste [Poise and Bearing] on masking. “Third basement level, watch your head.” It was a colder response after that.

Stepping off the stairs and through the doors to the third-floor basement level, Harmony would have smacked her head without that warning. Scaffolding cut the doorway down short as students ran around half-empty metal stacks full of metal sheets. They took an armload and rushed to drop them off with waiting students who’d snap them in half before feeding each half into what looked like a glowing furnace.

“Are you the extra help I asked for?” asked a frazzled old woman who’d rushed up, wearing the normal clothes one saw on professors or admin rather than a student’s uniform.

“No, I’m a student hoping to research some choices I have to make.”

The woman blinked and stared closer. “Oh, our new su-primus. I’d heard you'd quickened. Nothing about any choices, but the deal between the mayor and headmaster Crottish has been keeping us busy down here.”

“Deal?” Harmony asked

“Several of the school's archives are being added to Ricort’s new Legendary assistant. The skill records are the first among them so far. Sadly, the input mechanism requires us to snap the metal engravings in half and feed them into the transfer device as it strips the plates clean. The Information is ninety-nine percent preserved for retrieval, accurate if slightly modified.”

Metal sheets were always the backup to books in this city; announcements, invites, and daily news plates were delivered on metal cards processed from dungeon rewards.

“Is there no way to browse the information myself?”

“There is an offsite backup in the village of Summa, but they didn’t have stacks to go through, the labor needed, or being part of the wards. We’re seventy-five percent done with the transfer. Promising the space to the debate team for the games has really accelerated the process, but we could always use more help.”

Harmony walked to the quickly emptying shelves and picked up a metal information plate. [Crystal Lance] -3  Four entries filled the page listing their class or profession: ice mage, diamond knight, spear fisherman, expert geologist, each engraved with a date and description of how the skill worked for them in about a hundred words.

Shoots crystal projectiles… summons a weapon with high piercing ability… stabs fish… quickly grows a long spike from source material; diamond is nice, but I save salt for those who piss me off.

“Let me show you how we transfer the information.” The woman motioned for Harmony to follow.

Around the room, several small knee-high devices attached to the ward system glowed faintly. Most were in use, but students working the shelves backed away as the pair approached. An act of deference to the woman, or recognition of the now-signature look of the su-primus, with her nails, eyebrow, and badge glowing with blue flames.

Harmony winced as the woman snapped the tablet in half lengthwise, cutting the script straight down the middle, making what she’d just read almost incomprehensible; essentially destroying it.

“Fits better this way. Now add mana like charging a glow stone and put it in the slot.”

The words sparked as they went through, coming out as a now flat, smooth plate with every word removed. The sparks had an odor; nothing about the energy was necromantic, but the smell had a tang closer to blood than electricity; even then, it was hard to tell. One more small confirmation that Bantz had a necromancer or someone with necromantic skills working for him.

“How does that make sense for Marci  to process if you break it that way?”

“It stitches it back together. I visited the mayor’s mansion and watched his seminar. The information helps the legendary language marionette learn and reconstitute it for those who request it. I've only evolved thrice, so the magical theory is beyond me.”

It all stank of gnomeshit to Harmony. This soulless didn’t even have access to the real Marci Winter’s memories, which had been the original goal. Now Harmony was to accept that the insane, hallucinating machine was taking all this information in perfectly. As accurate to reality as some of the undead’s answers might be, it wasn't the same as records and written reports from beings who experienced the events, even if they lied about it. What was going on here?

[Poise and Bearing] hid Harmony’s disdain this time. “Thank you for the information. I’ll stay and help a bit.” The transfer had made the place a mess, but she hunted anyway, even if it hurt a little every time she snapped and fed in a plate to be wiped away. Nothing about any of her skill options, only a few that were slightly similar, she could draw some information on as she stumbled across one or two things on distractions and seals.

It all circled back to sitting in her room, staring at the wards and waiting for Marci to answer her question.

“[Remove Presence] has the most potential for the eraser profession. At higher levels, it could potentially completely remove low-ranked beings. Outside of its potential offensive use. It could clean up before, after, or during an issue, potentially masking you from other people. This might make you hard to track or counter.

[Secure Seal] could be considered a restraint, or a way to hide information, lock doors, or seal away abilities. Secure-type skills often make things difficult to open or claim things for the user. Seals add extra layers of magical protection, and if applicable or with the right knowledge, can hide skills and abilities, but don’t provide actual stealth. This is probably the next strongest option.

[Timely Distraction] is a tool for creating an opening or escape, allowing you to act while others are busy, working as a form of mental manipulation, fascination, or image projection. It is the most specific and least flexible of the options, but probably the most assured to work at lower levels. “

Not even a blip of insanity in that response. No mention of singing grandchildren, finding a person named John, or calling her Dave. Never mind the endless rambling.

“Do you have any first- or second-hand records of the usage of these eraser skills?”

“That information has not been provided to me. This is mostly conjecture based on the thousands of skills that have been given. [Timely Distraction] has shown up three other times, once for a politician as mental manipulation, once for a brazen thief, which created a pyrotechnical display that taunted visual attention for a second, and once for a wanton escort, which had targets focusing on her body more than any other topic.

Records of removal skills are common, and presence skills usually involve aura or projection effects. I have no record of the combination.  While seal shows up as a rare option for several classes and has a wide variety of potential effects.”

Harmony dug into questioning Marci on the information she’d seen fed into it from the student annex.  Most of it showed up, even a few quotes that were 99%  accurate, but it had a hard time reproducing exactly what she’d seen.  This is where the flaws appeared. Asking about skills she knew about, correcting the creature, and having it apologize to tell her she was right no matter how she directed the soulless. Highly manipulable and willing to feed a person any answer that got it more attention, it definitely couldn’t be reliable.

“Bloody useless.” No, if she were going to respect Marci’s opinion, it would be based on one thing. “Which skill will get me the best hat?”

Now the wards giggled. “[Secure Seal].”

Good enough. It aligned with what she wanted, what she felt upon seeing the options. If she were right, it would be a key to a problem close to her chest.  Accessing her choice relieved some of the pressure on her soul; the royal eraser grasped the option. “I choose [Secure Seal].”

Inside herself, the skill formed, a new island among many rising out of the sea of mana; around it, Xera inspired structures framed it, protecting it, and felt a touch more solid having been grown since birth rather than installed at her quickening. Close to [Final Silence], [Mend], and [Cold Touch], while interacting with [Renew Spirit] and [Claim the Remains of Power]. This would affect the soul, skills, and even the wider world.

This should buy her a day or two longer before making the other selection, and now would be a good time to check on Xera to see how the girl's recovery was progressing. A new part of her resisted leaving the room. Remembering all the quirks of gaining a new skill, a mindfulness check with [Recall] on how her emotions changed, spotting a stronger desire to keep things more private, which annoyingly included leaving the room. Rotting social interactions will be painful until she overcomes this.

“Think of all the wonderful hats you will get!” Marci laughed.

The first thing she did was cast her [Secure Seal] on the wardings that projected Marci to shut that insane hobby project up. A web-like wrap shot out, encapsulating the node before fading out invisibly, dulling the blinking lights and turning Marci’s sounds into a slight buzzing.