Fenrir knows that most protagonists would normally just shrug aside a mystery until its somehow relevant again in later levels or chapters, usually having its secrets exposed by some new character to the storyline, but he hates when he’s reading stories and that happens. If he discovers a mystery, he wants to know the truth behind it right away!

“I mean, I get it, you know? By drawing out a mystery, authors and video game designers and all of them have the ability to prolong plot points, or something like that. It gives people a chance to theorize about what is going to happen, and in case the people in charge ever run out of ideas, they can go ‘Boom! Convenient mystery plot device time!’” Fenrir explains to Corwin as the two head for the Hermetic Scholars’ office.

“I – I suppose I can see your point, Fenrir. Realistically, it is best to discover the truth behind such mysteries as immediately as possible,” Corwin says.

“Exactly. What if it’s dangerous? What if it’s useful? It’s stupid to just carry something mysterious around without knowing what it really is. Especially when it’s some bastard that hooks your ears.”

Fenrir looks up at the rod just in time to see the line ever so slowly hanging lower and lower, dangling its hook next to his ear.

He stops to take the hook off from the line so that the sadistic rod has nothing but a line.

“I’m not some slapstick character that is going to let you use the same gag on me twice in a row, Rod,” Fenrir scolds the rod.

“You are smart for a dog, captain,” Corwin says before chuckling.

It’s the first time that Fenrir has seen Corwin laugh around him. It’s also the first time that Corwin has teased Fenrir which makes the wolf-man’s ears perk up from surprise.

“What can I say? Dogs are the best.”

They reach the office and head inside.

Thelmes immediately runs up to Fenrir waving his arms. “Fenrir! Are you here to discuss fish weaponry? I have the perfect experiment designed!” Thelmes shouts out.

Fenrir wants to roll his eyes and sigh, but he has a better idea. He can take advantage of the cat-goblin-thing’s curiosity to get some free information out of him. “Sure, but only if you can tell me what’s up with this rod,” Fenrir offers, holding the rod out to Thelmes.

Screw mysteries. Fenrir wants to know the truth already.

“By the way, seems pretty slow in here again,” Fenrir continues.

“Splendid! And ah, yes. We had a busy rush due to those whom wished to acquire new cards for tournament registration, but with the deadline for that being passed, we have returned to our usual pace. I have a few coworkers currently attending to customers as well, so I am free to help you right away!” Thelmes says.

“I would assume that many are out waiting for the king’s arrival as well, yes?” Corwin asks.

Thelmes looks at Corwin and nods as he takes the rod from Fenrir’s hands. “What do you wish to know about this rod?” Thelmes asks.

“Look at the bottom of it. It’s got some sentient opal thing in it,” Fenrir says.

Thelmes’ eyes light up. He excitedly positions the rod to look at the bottom of the handle and looks as if he wants to squeal from excitement when he sees it! “An etaíros gem! How splendid!”

“Etaíros gem? What’s that?” Fenrir asks.

“Etaíros gems, or ‘partner gems,’ are rare gems that can be found as rewards for slaying elite bosses, found in dangerous area by masterful gatherers, or artificially created by master crafters! As for the name itself, it comes from when our dear leader, Trismegistus, used Hoogle to look up the translation of ‘partner’ into Greek.”

“Saying that last part kind of takes some of the magic away.”

Thelmes adjusts his monocle. “Ah, my apologies, I do suppose that explaining the rather lackluster origin could be disappointing. Where did you find this?”

“Just some fishing shop down by the docks. Only cost a couple of gold, and the shopkeeper didn’t really have anything to say about it when I picked it out.”

“A – a couple of gold? Only a couple?! Does – did – how – he must not have known how valuable these are! These are worth nearly a thousand gold! You could buy a mansion! You could buy yourself a ship that almost rivals the size of Blackstache’s! You could build a small town!”

“…so you’re telling me that I could sell this thing to the highest bidder and be rich?” Fenrir asks, immediately thinking of all the upgrades he could give The Shoebill with that much gold.

Corwin and Thelmes both look at him in shock. Even Rock looks surprised that he would be willing to sell something that is apparently as rare as this!

“What’s it do anyways?” Fenrir asks.

Thelmes calms his excitement before answering. “Etaíros gems are gems with souls inside of them. They can be built into anything, and whatever they are a part of essentially becomes them. Once they are part of something, they cannot be separated from it. Their soul becomes dependent on what they are built into. For example, if we were to take apart the rod, you would likely see that the gem has grown ‘roots’ throughout it. Assuming that this rod is not brand new, the rod is essentially an extension of the gem.”

“Alright, so it’s a living fishing rod. I will admit that sounds awesome, but what makes it so valuable?”

“You see, the stronger the bond grows between it and its wielder, the more powerful the item becomes. You could place an etaíros gem into a rusty iron sword, and over time, the sword will grow strong enough to cut through rock as if it was butter! More importantly, once it has grown powerful enough, it is capable of taking on other forms. A sword could turn into a shield, a hammer could turn into a mighty axe, and so forth! I have even heard legends of some players using magic to absorb the souls of beasts into the gem, giving it the ability to transform into the form of whatever soul was absorbed!”

“That sounds OP.”

“Well, only a little bit. You see, it takes a very long time to develop such a powerful bond with the gem. You must also meet all of its hidden conditions, you must train with it for hours every day for months, and it has a free will of its own which means that it must agree to your wishes.”

“So I could be in a fight where I desperately need a shield to survive an attack, and I could tell it to transform, and it could refuse if it doesn’t feel like it?”

“Basically, yes.”

“Yeah, I can imagine this bastard doing that to me.”

“To think that such a powerful item was only selling for a few gold in some shop… Fenrir, if you wish, we would be happy to purchase it from you in order to study it. We can only afford to give you seven hundred gold right now, but if you wait a week, we could give you another four hundred,” Thelmes offers.

“Captain! You would not seriously consider giving away such a powerful artifact, would you? According to the creature here, this is something that could grow into a powerful tool useful for a variety of situations! To sell it for coin, no matter how much coin it may be, I believe would be very foolish,” Corwin says.

Fenrir isn’t entirely sure what he should do, but he does know one annoying thing.

He came to this place to get a mystery solved, which he did, but now he’s stuck with another mystery. “You can’t tell who made this or gave it up by any chance, could you?” Fenrir asks.

“Sadly, no,” Thelmes answers.

Yeah, this is going to be annoying. Fenrir hates mysteries, and now he’s stuck with one even bigger than the original one!

“I don’t suppose there’s any way to get this thing to talk in more than flashes, is there?” Fenrir asks.

“Ah – yes, I have heard that they are able to communicate with their wielder after they have matured and grown a deep enough bond,” Thelmes explains.

“Got it. Sorry, Thelmes, but I’m going to have to hold onto her until I can find out where she’s from. It’s going to drive me crazy if I don’t find out.”

“If that is all then I assure you we will ask it itself when we are able to, and we can relay the information to you!”

The cat-goblin-thing has a point. A very tempting point.

“Captain!” Corwin interjects.

“Right. Sorry, Thelmes, but I don’t think I can pass this up. It would be like the main character of some RPG being gifted the legendary sword at the beginning of the game and then selling it right away. Actually, that’d be pretty funny. Just imagine like this little kid destined to be the hero of the world, he gets a legendary sword, and then he sells it for some money to go buy some candy instead,” Fenrir says, chuckling from his own idea.

Nobody else looks amused.

“Y-yes. Anyways, shall we perform those tests?” Thelmes asks.

Fenrir internally groans when he remembers that he agreed to it.

Thelmes leads Fenrir, Corwin, and Rock into that gymnasium-like area for combat testing.

Fenrir is instructed to wait by one of the slime golems, Thelmes runs off only to bring back what looks like a massive tuna larger than he is!

When Fenrir picks it up from Thelmes, he can immediately tell that it’s frozen going by its rigid form and the cold sensation snapping at his fingers.

“First, hit the golem with the fish,” Thelmes orders.

Fenrir does it. Thelmes measures the damage done and then steps back.

“Now, smack the training golem with it until you can feel that sense of learning a new skill,” Thelmes requests.

With a shrug of his shoulders, Fenrir sets aside his pride so that he can repeatedly smack an oversized fish against a slimy golem.

He smacks, and he smacks, and he smacks.

Everybody in the room, including other adventurers performing their own tests, has stopped to watch the curious wolf smacking a slime with a frozen tuna.

The only one not looking his way with a blank stare is Thelmes.

And then he feels it. Stopping the abuse of both the fish and the slime golem, Fenrir looks at Thelmes and gives him a thumbs-up. “I… amazingly, think I learned a skill,” Fenrir says. He got the same sensation that he felt when he walked, fished, fought, and steered the ship, so he assumes that this is a new skill just like all those other times.

Thelmes measures the target’s health. “One more time, please!” he says, voice full of excitement.

Fenrir attacks the golem one last time with the tuna.

When Thelmes measures its health again, he lights up and excitedly hops up and down a bit. “We did it! We discovered a new skill! I’ll be able to write my thesis on this to get a promotion!” Thelmes cheers.

Fenrir looks around the room and feels ashamed when he sees just how people are staring at him. Nobody else is as excited as Thelmes is about successfully using a fish as a weapon. “Why – why couldn’t you do this yourself?” Fenrir asks the cat-goblin-thing.

“Ah, well, because it would be much too embarrassing to swing a fish around as a weapon,” Thelmes explains.

Fenrir wants to punt the short creature as far as he can. “Can I go now?” he asks.

“Oh, no, we have so many more tests to perform! Wait here and I will bring out the rest of the test materials.”

Thelmes runs off, leaving Fenrir alone with all of the judging stares.

He looks down at Rock.

“Rock, please,” Fenrir says.

Rock looks embarrassed that he’s her owner.

“Don’t make me use my secret weapon.”

Her ears perk up.

“Who’s…”

Her tail starts wagging.

“A…”

She turns her head to look up at him.

“Good girl?”

She happily jumps up and paws at him. Her cuteness is rewarded with having her head rubbed and sides playfully smacked.