Talent is wasted on the indolent.

~Ogma, God of Eloquence and Inspiration

Nin sat up in her luxurious accommodations and kept turning towards Crow’s location. Lily left her in the lurch, claiming that it was an emergency. A week ago, Nin felt a massive disturbance in her bond and nearly tore her place apart in grief. She knew she couldn’t help, and Lily was adamant that she stayed. Still, it felt awful knowing her mate was in danger, and she had no way to help.

“Little Queen, your breakfast is ready,” a servant informed her through the door.

Only a handful of people were allowed to enter the upper floors of her café, but that was a more recent measure. Someone was trying to control the underground of this city, which allowed Nin to excel at the protection racket. This was the place she bought with all the protection fees she’d gathered. Even now, her corner of Rosdoe was falling under her control as more and more businesses came to her. Unlike those underworld thugs, she didn’t force anyone. The only difference between this place and Matun was she was more selective about who to protect. She only wanted to maintain a presence in the western market area, so she didn’t bother with the rest of the city.

If she could expand, she would, but lacked talented manpower. Therefore she could only control what was feasible for her, a single-person organization, to handle. Hell, she ran her entire outfit out of this café, but only the bottom floor was open to the public because of assassins. She specifically marked her trusted people with a pheromone, so if anyone else was wandering around, she’d know instantly.

Sitting down at a table in her half-empty café, her servants brought out her food. She ate listlessly, eyes pointed northeast, yearning for her mate. She felt ridiculous being that girl because she was a damned dragon. Dragons were overbearing, materialistic, and royalty—they didn’t pine after a man like a lovelorn fool. The human world had changed her—no, Crow changed her. She’d beat that ass up when she saw him again.

While she was eating, a giant shadow fell across her table, and she glanced upward to see a man whose head grazed her ceiling.

“Sister,” Otto said by way of greeting.

“Nin, why does everyone call you little queen?” Mara asked with a big smile on her face as she sat down across from the little dragon. “And when did you seduce our husband?”

The second part was casually tossed out there, but Nin choked on her steak, which caused Mara to let out an evil chuckle. Nin was reminded of how scary a woman’s intuition was, especially a human female.

Mara was more than satisfied to see the thick-faced Nin flush.

“Ma’am, you can’t sit there!” One of the cafe’s guards said.

“Don’t worry, she’s my sister. Go back to doing whatever you were doing.”

“That—”

“Go,” Otto commanded. The guard gulped and backed off.

“Wait!” Nin said. “Bring this big oaf a metal stool or crate. Something durable, or he’ll break all our furniture.”

“Yes, my lady!”

“Okay, spill it. What the hell is going on here? And where is Lily?” Mara asked.

“I was honestly lying low in Matun and minding my own business, but then these stupid bald guys came in causing trouble. So…” Nin explained everything, including how she reestablished her protection company here in Rosdoe. Mara and Otto were staring incredulously at times and laughing at others. Nin was a character all on her own.

“And Lily?”

Nin sighed. “She flew off to save Crow.”

“What!?” Mara almost jumped up to run back, but Otto held her down.

“With brother. Fell pit.”

Mara slowly explained their story, and Nin nodded her head.

“Don’t worry, whatever happened has already passed. Crow’s fine now,” Nin soothed Mara, who looked guilty. “Lily left me here too because she said I couldn’t fly, so I wouldn’t be able to help him. You couldn’t have done anything even if you stayed.”

“Money? Place sleep?” Otto asked Nin.

“Oh, right! I own this building. The upper floors are my home, and there are plenty of rooms. I already went to the inn where the Adventurer’s Guild is housed and sent a message for everyone to meet here. There is a public academy in the northern part of town. Anyone can enter and study, but you need to get accepted into their program if you want better resources. I’m told the program isn’t worth the hassle. But the public resources provided are more than decent. The Keystone Henge is in the middle of town. You can link your Shield to it, which is highly recommended.”

“What does that do?” Mara asked. “Oh, wait. Is that the portal thing?”

“Yes. Everyone just calls it the Keystone. Anyway, once linked, your Shield can create a portal that will link to one of the archways. It’ll only remain open for sixty seconds, so don’t dawdle. The other advantage is that if you are at the Keystone, you can use the archways to connect to other Shield-linked Keystones.”

Otto listened but didn’t join in. He could understand them, but talking became too arduous, so he didn’t bother.

“How many Keystones are on each floor?”

“My network says only one on each floor, but there is conflicting data on higher floors. There is at least one—I know that for a fact. There are secondary portals created by different sects, but they are expensive and cannot jump to higher floors.”

Mara processed most of that information pretty quickly. She remembered the Hunt and how that henge worked, but these seemed more refined. Or maybe the Druid Order just didn’t know how to use what they had properly. Honestly, now that she thought about it, she wondered if Shields could link to that one. The elders never mentioned it, but Mara immediately understood why. If it was possible, it was like a big gaping hole in the defense of their ancestral lands. No one would willingly admit to its existence.

“How expensive are the secondary portals?”

“On this floor, the only one I’ve heard about is the one that connects Rosdoe to Sunstar. And it costs a thousand Mana Crystals. It is almost impossible for any newbie to have that many crystals.”

After Nin gave them more information, she took them to their rooms.

“Otto, I’m afraid you probably can’t go upstairs. I have a room down here on the ground floor, and I had a special bed made for you. Its door is right by the stairs, so you’ll be our guard at night.”

“Otto do.”

Nin stared at the giant since she never had a chance to interact with him during the trial, and so the two never officially met. Based on Crow’s stories, the man wasn’t simple and shouldn’t be underestimated. “Good, I think we’ll get along great. Plus, I’ll have jobs for you later. Mostly you just need to protect the people that pay us money.”

Otto nodded, and Nin brought him to the door of his room and opened it. Inside was a massive bed but otherwise sparse decoration. She left it mostly empty because she felt the other furniture would just get in the big guy’s way.

“That wall over there has a window that looks into the café. It’s a mirror on the other side, and no one can see you. This room used to be a guardhouse, but I figure you are more than adequate.”

Otto nodded and dropped his pack in the corner. He knew Mara could carry it in her Shield but was more comfortable carrying his own things just in case they were separated. Crow’s fall into the pit was a prime example.

Nin brought Mara upstairs and waved at a hallway full of doors. “Take your pick. They are basically all the same. My suite is up those stairs, you can come up, but nobody is supposed to enter either of these floors except for a few selected people, which I’ll introduce you to later. If you see anyone else, kill them.”

“K-kill? Is that okay?”

“It’s fine. I’ll take care of it. I explained it all before, they are assassins, and they won’t run away once discovered. You die, or they do. Just warning you, don’t hesitate. Also, I’m putting Otto to work since he doesn’t have a Shield, but you’ll need to cultivate so we can climb. You do what you need to do, and I won’t interfere.”

“Are you trying to butter me so you can avoid talking about how you slept with Crow?”

“I did,” Nin smiled, her eyes glittering coldly. “What are you going to do about it?”

Mara laughed. “Nothing. I was never all that concerned about it. He’s the man I love, and I know he loves me. That’s all I need to know. Faelan is the one that you need to convince. You could say she is Crow’s childhood sweetheart, and she has a cold side to her. You’ll see. Now the question is, do you have a problem with me?”

Nin sighed and finally let her body relax from its tense state. She felt on edge for no reason, it seemed. “Like I can stop that stubborn fool from doing what he wants,” Nin grumbled, and Mara giggled.

“That doesn’t mean we have to let him get away with it…”

Nin’s toothy smile was the icebreaker that opened the gates to a budding friendship. Mara and Nin talked for hours, and their antics would later give Crow endless headaches.

Days flew by while the three settled into their routines. Mara spent her days cultivating, going to the academy, and figuring out which Scholarly Art suited her. She didn’t know how long they’d be here but understood they couldn’t leave unless they had the cultivation to ascend.

Sitting through several classes explaining the basics of various talents, she realized there were two she had an affinity with. More precisely, it was her access to Void mana through her doppelganger. The first was Gem crafting because most gems already had an odd affinity with the Void. She assumed it was because Void Mana was essentially primordial energy. The condensing process of creating a gem also generated Void Mana. Using the Gem Crafting analyzing ability, she felt like the gemstone was connected to her.

The second option, and the one she liked the best, was Talismans. The simplest were like spells drawn on paper, and either placing it on something or ripping it would activate it. The medium added to the difficulty, so anything beyond paper was exponentially harder to achieve. The activation on each medium would impact the types of spells that could be used and how they needed to be drawn or carved. Mara knew that Crow had some achievements in this talent, but his studies followed the root of all talents, spells, and more. That was beyond her capability, and she knew it. Her mind just didn’t work that way, but if she followed the formulaic process, she knew she’d gain plenty of achievements. Also, she felt that if there was a type of spell she wanted to create, she could have Crow help her design it. It was almost guaranteed she’d become a master in her own right.

The cost was the only other consideration in choosing a talent. Gem Crafting was not something she could afford, at least for now. Talismans weren’t cheap either because inks had to be specially made for each spell imprinted to maximize its effects. Then the entire thing needed to be dusted and sealed using Beast Bone Powder from powerful beasts. The powder was actually one of the most abundant resources, so it was the cheapest.

Talismans were her primary choice because of her Void Mana. As long as she used Void Mana, it didn’t matter what kind of ink she used. Even mundane inks were fine, but the downside was they lowered the quality of the Talisman. If she used the appropriate ink, its quality would be several times higher. The takeaway was that she could create Talismans for the cost of low-quality inks and Talisman paper.

So she spent the following weeks on this routine and pined after a particular man she sorely missed.