A quest for paindne. That could mean a thousand different things. But they all wrap back around to the three ‘leads’ Clutter found. The jewelry store–run by Paindne. The graveyard–feared by Paindne. I’m not sure how the farm factors into it, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the people who owned it–or something to do with ‘phasing’ itself–turned out to be paindne-centric. Add in the rock full of plastic that was found at a paindne gathering spot, taken by paindne to be studied…

  Yeah, it all adds up a little too well. Scooch even lived in Denmary, which further solidifies the assumption. Hell, maybe Well himself is a mind controlled paindne. Makes me wonder what all the other entrances are–and if every group that found one has at least one Paindne member.

  “So this is a quest for paindne.” I gently brush my fingers over Clutter’s cheek. He feels like a little kid that I just want to protect. Maybe that’s the Illumisia in me. “What does that mean? Are we the only two non-paindne in here? Was there a hidden requirement for each group to have a paindne in it if they wanted to get in? Is that why the horizonguard wanted Clamber’s dad?”

  Pearl sighs and leans against my neck. “Good questions. I don’t have the answers to any of them. There’s the chance that I’m missing something, and this is a quest about paindne, not for them, but to us, that’s just semantics. Clutter’s the one it would matter for.”

  I glance down at Clutter, who is completely out of it, his rhythmic breathing far too peaceful for what we just saw. Maybe the tower helps you sleep, too. Slowly I back away to let him sleep, quietly get to my feet, and nod at the window.

  “Is it safe to leave him here alone?”

  Pearl frowns in concentration, then slowly nods. “I think so. Whatever those paindne were before Clutter saw them was way more dangerous than what they are now. Should we leave him a note?”

  “I would, but…” I spread my hands to show the nothing I have. “Nothing to write with. If he wakes up he’ll see my jacket, and hopefully that’ll be enough. As long as he doesn’t jump to conclusions and think we ran off without him.”

  “I hope he trusts us at least that much.” Pearl sighs and looks over at me. “If those things are the level of enemy we’re going to face from now on, Shelby, you need to get stronger fast. Like, really fast.”

  I grunt in agreement as I make my way down the steps. “If you’ve got any suggestions, I’m all ears. Otherwise we’re stuck with the pills and my dwindling stash of Worth–which I’ve already pretty much hit the limit on.”

  Pearl shakes her head. “Noland said the diminishing returns are workable until it hits ten Worth. You’ve only used at most five Worth coins up until now. And you haven’t dipped into the next level of high stakes’ odds yet. Or found the threshold skills for your other stats. There are ways to get stronger.”

  “Yeah, but all of them need one very specific thing.” I rub my thumb and two forefingers together, and a coin appears between them. “Cold, hard Worth. I’m almost out of the stuff I got from the krarig. That’s our bottleneck.”

  Even though she obviously has more to say, Pearl reluctantly nods in agreement. She drums her fingers against her chin until we get back into the lab, and when I go for the heads Clutter put on the shelves, she still doesn’t say anything. I pick one of each–some of which we have more than others–and bring them over to an instrument that looks like a microscope attached to a see-through vacuum canister with a foot-long rubber tube on it.

  I pull out my Class Card, but before I can even try to identify it, a popup appears with instructions.

  Isolation Chamber.

  Current Attachment: Magical-spec Microscope.

  Connect your container to the hose, then use the attached mana control panel to input commands.

  Warning: this device drains mana at a (low-medium) rate, depending on the items contained within the chamber. If it loses a mana connection while working, the following risks apply.

  Detonation.

  Total Personal Obliteration.

  Permanent Befuddlement.

  Magical Allergies.

  Severe Magical Allergies.

  Fatal Magical Allergies.

  …

  The list goes on for at least three scrolls down, but it got the idea across at ‘total personal obliteration’. I lower my Class Card and study the thing, looking for the control panel that the instructions said there would be. Nothing instantly jumps out at me, but after a thorough look with my awareness, I find a little switch and knob at the back of the isolation chamber. The switch is labeled ‘on/off’, and the knob is numbered from 0-100. Not sure why they need a knob if there’s a control panel, but whatever. I flick the switch, then slowly turn the knob up to five.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  A magical hologram barely flickers into existence. It’s barely as big as a graham cracker, hovers half a foot away from the chamber, and is littered with symbols that I barely recognize as the language of this world. I frown at it and twist the knob further, and the panel grows in turn with the increase in numbers. Doesn’t help with the fact that I can’t read it at all, but at least I can see the different buttons and prompts clearly now.

  “Hey, Pearl.” I roll my shoulder to get her attention. “Your turn.”

  She blinks absentmindedly, then shakes her head and smacks her cheeks with her palms. I raise an eyebrow at the motion, and she returns a sheepish grin.

  “I got lost in my thoughts. What’re we looking at here? Oh, nevermind, the panel says everything.” Pearl scurries down my arm, grabbing the panel with one hand on the way down, and twists the hologram so it’s right in front of where she stands on the table. “Let’s see here… alright, it says we can safely transfer anything we put in here back to its original container as long as we don’t disconnect the hose. And it needs mana, so that part’s on me. Which colour do you want to start with?”

  I look over at the four options we have. The red stands out as the worst idea, since if things go wrong they’ll go really wrong, but any of the others should be fine. Might as well start with one of the ones we’ve got spares of, too, so that narrows it down to blue and yellow. I’d flip a coin to choose, but after the way my skill found this quest, I’m not eager to do that again.

  “Here.” I grab a blue sphere and press the hose to it. A weak suction connects rubber to glass. “Anything you need me to do?”

  Pearl shakes her head as she taps on the oversized for her control panel. “All good here. I just press this button, and we’re good!”

  With the tap of a key, magic rumbles to life in the chamber. It feels simple, yet directed–a machine made to do one thing, and to do that one thing without any errors at all. If that long list of dangers is anything to go by, there’d be disastrous consequences if it wasn’t good at its function.

  “Ooh, that tickles.” Pearl giggles as the machine takes her mana. “Greedy little thing; I’m not your battery. Shelby, take a look through the microscope. See if there’s anything weird about the magic, then switch it to a scanner.”

  I nod and carefully set down the sphere, watch it for a second in case it rolls away, then make my way to the eyepiece. The thing looks like any normal microscope I’d see back on Earth, but I won’t let that surprise me when it does something weird. I loosen my shoulders, close my left eye, and lean down to see through the glass.

  For a moment, all I see is a blue blur. Then everything shifts, becoming crystal-clear in the blink of an eye. A very disorienting blink of an eye. I swallow down the nausea and focus on the magic–which looks… like a liquid. Nothing dissolved in it, no particles, and barely even a sheen. Just the base colour and nothing more.

  “Can’t see anything but the colour.” I relay to Pearl without looking up. “Does that line up with what you found with Clutter?”

  “Mmhm. We’re dealing with pure liquid magic, and now I’m completely sure of it.” She waves at the back of the microscope where it snaps onto the chamber. “The scanner looks like it has two metal rods that’ll rotate around the chamber. It’s on the counter right there.”

  I look up from the microscope and follow her hand to the back of the chamber. There’s no scanner there, but she obviously wants me to remove the microscope first. A reach around to undo some clamps and a snap-in metal bit easily gets it off, and then Pearl shifts to point at something further down the counter. A thing with an arm connected to two metal rods. I lean over the chamber to grab it, snap it on, and position the rods around the chamber.

  It takes all of thirty seconds. Once it’s in place I lean away, nod down at it, then turn to Pearl. “All good?”

  She nods back. “It’s connected to the panel, so it better be. You might want to take a step back–I don’t know how far out the rods are going to extend.”

  As she speaks she, too, backs away a good two feet from the chamber. I follow her example and put about the same distance between me and the thing. Then I look between her and the device, reconsider slightly, and move to stand right next to her. She inclines her chin at me with a smile, presses a few buttons, and the scanner’s arms start to turn around the chamber. Slowly at first, but with every passing second, they pick up a damn good amount of speed. Until even my enhanced eyes only see a blur, and my awareness struggles to pick up the individual arms.

  “It’s saying we’ve got magic in there. Very observant.” Pearl giggles and taps a few more buttons. “It means it’s working, though, so we’re on the right track. Give it a second to work, and… oop! Something’s already coming in! And it’s giving me the option to send it to both your and Clutter’s Class Cards, so I’ll do that!”

  She swipes her hand across the panel and extends the motion into a point directly at me. We stand there in silence. Her excited expression slowly turns to embarrassment, her cheeks brightening every second that the notification we’re waiting for doesn’t come.

  “Um, did I do something–” My Class Card chimes, cutting Pearl off. She startles and takes a step backwards, then pouts adorably and crosses her arms. “It was waiting for me. There’s no way it wasn’t. Stupid system.”

  I chuckle, but honestly, that’s the kind of petty shit I bet the system would do. It can’t directly stop things from happening, but it can delay them for just long enough to be awkward. Or make us second guess ourselves. I whip out my Class Card, make a show of swiping my notifications, then turn it so Pearl can read it too.

  Activated Basic Magic: Blue.

  The magic of resilience.

  Basic magics are magical catalysts that react with their associated devices or spells, and do not have any effects of their own until activated as such.

  This magic has been activated by a basic construct, and will take a shape that protects the construct if destroyed.

  …

  To deactivate this magic, you will need something you do not have.

  Seek out oddities within the city, such as the one that granted you this Workshop, to find a way to deactivate it.