Pandora Unchained B1C22 - Loot Distribution

Blergh. Spent the whole weekend being sick. But I'm better now! Writing time!

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“Now let’s get back to the main topic,” said Sorin, setting Lorimer on the floor. “You were saying something about Marcus, Percival? How’s the clinic going? And how’s Gabriella doing?”

“The clinic is developing,” said Percival. “Marcus has taken a keen interest in running it and has even brought over some physicians and apprentices from Dustone. As for Gabriella, I’m not too sure. I know she’s still employed by the clinic, but I don’t know anything about the details. Physician Marcus has made a point in providing me as little information as possible.”

“What about Marcus himself?” asked Sorin. “A powerful figure like him makes big waves. People would definitely talk.”

“He’s been making inquiries about you, much like you expected,” said Percival. “He’s also established contacts in all the guilds. I believe its only a matter of time until details of your adventure reach him. Also…” he shook his head. “Never mind.”

“Just say it, Percival,” said Sorin. “However improper it might seem.”

“I’d just like to warn Mr. Kepler not to underestimate Physician Marcus,” said Percival. “He was sent here for a reason, and the clinic is not that reason. I’m sure you can understand my meaning.”

Sorin nodded. “Don’t worry. I fully expect sabotage and spying.”

“I wouldn’t limit myself to these two things,” said Percival, giving Sorin a meaningful look.

“Don’t worry,” said Sorin. “I’m no longer the naïve boy I used to be.” He felt at the lingering scars on his chest that hadn’t healed despite his organs recovering. “Do you think he’d act personally, or would he pay someone to do that sort of thing?”

Percival shook his head. “Not likely. A bone forging cultivator using their powers in a backwater place like this would be glaringly obvious. The Adventurers Guild would notice, and all the other guilds and organizations would as well. The Kepler Clan might be ruthless in the way it operates internally, but it still cares a great deal about its image.”

“That’s good,” said Sorin. “If it’s blood thickening cultivators, I should be able to manage.”

“I recommend maintaining a humble attitude towards this problem, Mr. Kepler,” said Percival.

“What do you think, Lorimer?” Sorin asked the rat, who was now nibbling at a wheel of cheese in a corner of the room. “Are you worried about a few human blood thickening cultivators?” Lorimer nodded vigorously, and Sorin rolled his eyes. “Coward.”

An hour later, a second dinner was ready. Lorimer was instructed to wait till they’d all eaten. Only then did he eat the leftovers, bones and all.

Sorin chatted with Percival for a while longer and assured Clarice that he would keep Lorimer in check. He then retired to his room. It was only then that his polite demeanor faded. He grabbed Lorimer from the floor with lightning hands and held him up to his face.

“So you like courting death and testing my bottom line, do you?” Sorin said to Lorimer. “Well here it is, Lorimer: your eating ability is a liability. I tamed you for value, but so far, all you’ve shown is that you’re a cowardly demon that’s weaker than a housecat. At best, you’re a tiny spy. But that’s not enough if you want to avoid the chopping block. I’m more than willing to cut my losses.

“So show me what you can do. Make me happy, Lorimer. If you can do that, I’ll keep feeding you. Otherwise…” He made a throat-cutting gesture to Lorimer, then placed the rat on his desk.

The rat immediately began to explain itself in rat language. Then, seeing that Sorin didn’t understand, he demonstrated. Lorimer tumbled across the room in a wonderful display of acrobatics. He climbed up the tallest book shelf and hopped down with the grace of a swan and the elegance of a peacock.

“Not good enough,” said Sorin, not batting an eye. The rat scratched its head, then turned towards Sorin’s chair. He pointed at the chair and squeaked at Sorin. “Will I get mad if it disappears? No, not really. I never liked the chair, so I won’t get mad.”

Lorimer squeaked and ran over to the chair and began gnawing on it. “Look, showing your wood eating skills off is…” He didn’t even have time to finish before the rat was done. The chair was much larger than Lorimer but had completely vanished within seconds.

“Let me clarify something,” said Sorin. “Can you eat through bone like that?” The rat nodded in affirmative. “Stone?” Another nod. “Metal?” An uncertain nod. It depended on the metal. Unenchanted metal was a firm yes.

Sorin pulled out his mithril dagger. “Could you eat through this?” The rat shook its head. Mithril was a no-go. “Okay. Eating fast is actually a good ability. If you can eat a demon’s leg while we’re fighting, that’s a plus. But it’s still not enough. What else can you do?”

Lorimer adopted a thinking posture. It thought for several minutes before holding up a finger. It then began to channel its internal mana. Finally, thought Sorin. I knew it was hiding something.

Yet Sorin’s expression fell when all the rat did was glow with a familiar blue light. The rat looked exceedingly pleased with itself, but Sorin was not impressed. “So you can glow like a mana lamp. How wonderful.” That level of illumination wasn’t even worth mentioning in front of a light stick. “That’s still not enough, Lorimer. That much light wouldn’t even be a distraction. What else can you do? Don’t hold back or…” his voice trailed off as he realized something.

“Lorimer?” said Sorin. “Can you glow this way because you ate those mana lamp crystals?” The rat nodded. “Are you telling me that you can take on the properties of things you eat?” The rat both nodded and shook its head. “What if you ate a demon’s core? Would you be able to take on its properties?” Both a nod and a shake. “So it’s luck-based?” The rat nodded.

“Interesting,” muttered Sorin. “So it’s not that you can eat, but that you can eat things and potentially grow.” That changed things quite a bit. “What about demon corpses, can you eat those? Would you gain their abilities?” This time, Lorimer shook his head. Then he gestured to his arm and flexed. “But you’ll grow stronger.” Another nod.

“Okay,” said Sorin. “I’ve decided to keep feeding you, Lorimer. But you’re going to have to be selective about what you eat. Don’t eat expensive things without my permission. Understood?” The rat nodded.

Having finished his interrogation, Sorin gave Lorimer strict instructions about sleep time and how he shouldn’t eat things while Sorin was asleep in his home or cultivating or otherwise preoccupied. Only then did he feel comfortable entering a meditative state. Mana entered his body from the outside world and replenished his blood.

Cultivators were people who took in mana from the outside world and stored it inside their bodies. They transformed their bodies little by little, starting with their blood, then moving into their bones, and then their flesh.

Unfortunately, Sorin wasn’t a normal cultivator. No matter how much he cultivated, the mana in his blood di not increase. Absorbing poisons was apparently the only way for him to grow. That meant he would need money, and a great deal of it. He was far more dependent on money than the average cultivator.

I’ll need to see how much money I have left over before going to the Alchemists’ Guild, thought Sorin. According to the prices he’d seen last time, he’d be able to purchase one or two premium poisons. Worst case, I’ll blend my own poisons. In fact, maybe I should just do that to save money.

***

Sorin showed up at the Adventurers Guild just before noon the next day. He wore casual clothing instead of his torn-up leather but kept a dagger at his belt and his trusty mithril string and a set of crystal acupuncture needles inside a belt pouch.

Stephan showed up at precisely 12 o’clock. He carried a folder full of papers and five small pouches filled with jingling coins.

Like Sorin, Stephan had abandoned his armor in favor of casual wear. He wore a stiff tunic and boiled leather pants. Sorin had met many other geniuses from large families, but it was his first time meeting one who was so unpretentious.

Gareth showed up around the same time, and usurpingly, Lawrence showed up late, as did Daphne. The latter yawned deeply and practically fell asleep when she took a seat.

“Since everyone is here, I’ll get straight to the point,” said Stephan. “I’ve gotten our gains evaluated by a professional appraiser. Including our initial bounty haul of 5203 gold, we netted 9,888 gold coins in value, excluding potions, which I added to the group stockpile. I’ll get into details as I hand out everyone’s share.”

He turned to Sorin first. “We’ll get yours out of the way up front because it impacts distribution to the other team members. Is that fine?”

“Of course,” said Sorin.

“Your share should have been 1977 gold pieces,” continued Stephan. “But you used up 500 gold to perform that ceremony. Keeping the rat king instead of turning it for its bounty and keep its core cost the team 1,000 gold coins. That means you owe each team member of the team 200 gold. Your share is therefore 677 gold.” He handed a pouch containing 177 gold and a card worth 500 gold to Sorin. “Other than that, good work. I suggest investing these funds in your growth to prepare for our next outing.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” said Sorin, accepting the money.

“Next up is Gareth, you should have initially gotten 2177 gold, but your bow was appraised at 1875 gold,” Stephan continued. “That leaves you with 302 gold.” He handed over one of the larger pouches to Gareth.

“Me next!” said Lawrence.

“If you insist,” said Stephan with a smirk. “You got unlucky. Your skill, Triple Stab Execution, has increased in price to 1625 gold.”

“What?” said Lawrence. “That’s unfair.”

“It’s reality,” said Stephan. “Fortunately, that movement skill book was slightly more expensive at 375 gold. In the end, your share is 552 gold.” He handed over the smallest pouch of gold along with a 500-gold card to Lawrence.

“Daphne’s hat was also a little more expensive than we’d thought,” continued Stephan. “Your share less 860 gold comes to 1317 gold. But knowing how expensive spell books can be, I’m sure you’ll burn through that in no time.” Daphne accepted two cards worth 500 gold and a heavy bag containing 317 gold.

“Last is me,” said Stephan. “Initially I should have gotten 2177 gold. Unfortunately, I had to use group funds to pay for my armor repairs – 600 gold in total. So that leaves me with a measly 1577 gold.”

“I’m afraid that leaves you with exactly zero gold,” came a voice. Stephan panicked and tried picking up his share, but too late. Assessor Haley was already holding the small pouch and three small cards. “Actually, keep the pouch, since you need to pay for living expenses,” said Haley, tossing the bag back to him. “But I’m taking the gold to pay off part of your debt.”

Stephan glared at Haley. “How and when I pay my debts is up to me. Hand those over.”

“Make me,” said Haley, stuffing the cards in her belt pouch. “And you’re wrong. Your training is to be overseen by yours truly, and that includes your debt repayment. Enjoy being poor for the foreseeable future, Stephan.”

Stephan’s arms bulged as his temper flared, but quickly returned to their original size. “This isn’t over, Haley. I’ll be speaking to father about this.”

“Knock yourself out,” said Haley. “By the way, long distance communication costs 50 gold per minute. Try to be efficient, or you’ll find yourself penniless once again.” She looked over the rest of them a nodded to herself. “Not bad. You’ve all grown considerably since last night. Most of you have reached the 8th level of blood thickening. Only Stephan hasn’t grown in the entire team.”

“You know fully well why I haven’t grown,” Stephan cut in.

“Results, brother dearest,” said Haley, wagging her finger. “By the way, I told the master of the Mages Guild about your little experiment in the rat nest. He was quite excited by both the fact that you can cast a legitimate fireball, Daphne, and the field data surrounding the mana crystal detonation. I don’t suppose you have that data?”

Daphne pulled out a sheaf of papers. “I spent all night crunching it and calculating. It’s good to know my efforts weren’t wasted.”

“Excellent,” said Haley. “I suggest you run over right now and have a chat with the guild master while he’s off for lunch. It’s a good opportunity to butter him up. Who knows, you might get some freebies or discounts.”

Finally, her eyes landed on Sorin. “The rest of you are excused. I need to speak to this troublesome brat for a few minutes.” The rest of them cleared out. Gareth and Lawrence took off to go shopping, while Daphne rushed off to the Mages Guild.

Haley took Sorin to her office. It was a small office with barely enough room to stretch one’s legs, but it was tidier than Sorin had expected.

“Has the guild master looked into my request?” Sorin asked as he took a seat.

“He has,” said Haley. “And he’s agreed to have you treat patients, but only on his terms.”

“Interesting,” said Sorin. “The situation must be worse than I thought.”

Haley sighed. “Two of our life mages were especially active in treating patients. The Medical Association claims that their application of life mana outside of adventuring duties infringes upon the basic business agreement between our two guilds.”

“That’s nonsense,” said Sorin. “Physicians in big cities are always overworked, and life mages not on duty always have life mana to spare. In theory, the association is entitled to take legal action against competitive use of life mana, but in practice, life mages are typically kind and don’t charge. They also clean up small cases that are a waste of time for physicians. It’s really a win-win.”

“Be that as it may, they are pressing charges,” said Haley. “Our counter play is to treat the situation as an emergency and expose Marcus’s foot-dragging. If you’re willing, we’ll have you run a temporary clinic. You are to treat poisons and corruption only. Moreover, you are to do so near your old clinic. Some life mages, including the two that pushed the boundaries, will assist you. We’ll give you any consumables you might need, but expensive ingredients will come off the top. You can charge as you see fit, but I suggest being aggressive with your pricing.”

Sorin was of the same mind. It was normal practice for physicians to overcharge in big cities, and Marcus had brought this practice back with him to the Bloodwood Outpost, much to the annoyance of the Adventurers Guild. But Sorin cared less about the adventurers, and more about the non-cultivators. They would be the most impacted by this change in cost structure.

“Just so you know, there will be some risk to operating in this fashion,” said Haley. “I can’t guarantee your safety. We will provide you with some muscle, but if Marcus personally, acts, you might be dead before I get there. Understood?”

“Not to worry,” said Sorin. “I know my limits. I won’t push him to the point that he feels he has to kill me directly to save face. Also, he comes off more as a scheming individual.”

“Then I’m relieved,” said Haley. “We’ll draft up an official plan soon enough. We’ll let you know the details via runner.” She picked up a paper off her desk and began to work. She had silently dismissed him. “Unless there’s something else you need?” she said, looking up.

“As a matter a fact, there is,” said Sorin. “I was looking to get assessed.”

Haley frowned. “Talk to the scheduler and she’ll work you in.”

“Ah, but that would be an official assessment,” said Sorin. “What I want is an unofficial one.”

“I see,” said Haley. “You don’t want your information on the books, since your family will get it within the hour.”

“Exactly,” said Sorin. “Can you make yourself available?”

“Tonight then,” said Haley. “Right now, I’m on the clock, and everything I do needs to be recorded. But once I’m off duty, I’m allowed to use the guild’s facilities as I see fit. Come back at 7, and we’ll see how you unofficially measure up as a cultivator.”