They both looked at me, started calculating, looked at one another. "What's the math on that?" Briggs asked immediately, dead serious now.

"One Wish per point of the next Stat point you are raising to, maximum of 18, no exceptions, all Wishes must be accumulated during seven days or they dissipate," I explained promptly.

"So, if you can do two Wishes a day, you can raise someone up to 14 in all Stats." Which was basically human elite level, if not Olympic or World-class. "And if you can do three a day, you can basically reach mortal perfection?" Sama asked for clarity.

I bobbed my head, and they both sat back, their brains on overdrive. "As you can imagine, I've been very circumspect on how I deploy Inherents, as the only reasonable use is for them to exceed 18. I can make normal Wishes all day, however, and they actually don't attract any attention whatsoever, as this is an accepted and common use. Well, common for Wishes," I hedged.

"But investing hundreds of Wishes into yourself and your companions is not common use," Sama grinned knowingly, and I nodded patiently. "And you are doing this."

"I am. I am concentrating on Dexterity, Constitution, and whatever the Prime Stat is, while also raising all Stats to a minimum of 13.

"Incidentally, I don't know if you've traveled in Delpha, but this is the basis for their Imperial Wizard training. A Grand Archmage or Overmagus is generally your sponsor, and makes the time investment to raise your Intelligence to 18, with extra Stat boosts dependent on personal interaction.

"They do this for all their elite spellcasters, and the Clerics replicate it to a degree with the Faithful of their religions.

"There is a reason they have endured as long as they have without meaningful corruption afflicting their Empire, not that there aren't black spots. It seems that taking a person of slightly above-average ability and raising them to geniuses results in a more understanding and open-minded wizard than someone who was naturally at that level and has inflated notions of their own superiority."

Both of them snickered. "How many Wishes or equivalents can you Cast per day?" Briggs asked reasonably.

I held up a finger. "Such things I reserve for my own usage," I told them calmly, and they reluctantly nodded. "I am capable of Casting up to 15 Valence IX's, +1 for Earth Spell, per day."

Sama whistled soft and low. "That's an impressive amount of spellcasting," she acknowledged, with an invisible hat-tipping to me.

"What is more important is how many my Simulacra can Cast per day." Their eyes narrowed immediately, total understanding the principle of leveraging subordinates. "They are at sixty percent of my level, but Ur-Priests have a very quick advancement paradigm. All of them can Cast five IX's per day… and they can combine Valences through the Thaumic Method taught in Zanzyr to add another anywhere from one to twenty-two more per day if they use all possible Ur Slots for the purpose of doing so." I paused as they both stared at me in disbelief. "If they add all possible Sorcerer and Wizard Slots in addition, that is another ten Miracles possible, fed by Mystic Theurgy.

"I have twenty Simulacra active at this time, the maximum I am permitted by mortal limits. Princess Brittabelle Erewan is working on maximizing her own numbers of Sims, but hers cannot reach the minimum Caster Level of 30 that I can with mine, nor can all those human Overmagi."

Briggs bowed his head and pinched the bridge of his broad, flat nose. "So, you are saying you have thirty-seven potential IX+1 Slots available per Sim if needed, leaving them little but lower Valence slots. 740 potential Wishes per day."

"Plus I know the Thaumic Method, for an additional 25 and 18 Slots myself, if I truly wanted that many IX's for myself."

"Gods above," whispered Briggs. "The amount of Wishcrafting you could indulge yourself in… it would take multiple Overmagi just to counter what you could accomplish by yourself!"

"And there's no cost to them at all?" Sama asked skeptically, staring at me a little goggle-eyed at the implications. "That much Wishcrafting…"

"No. No aging, no goldweight, no material components. Just an 18 Wisdom, Caster Level of 30, and access to IX's or Clerical VII's.

"Oh, and that's also if I don't have access to a bound Efreet I can replicate the ability to grant Wishes of, although I have to grant those Wishes to others." I tilted my head thoughtfully. "I could also replicate that ability from a noble djinn, if I was inclined to Bind one to service, but that is a different matter."

Briggs was rubbing his face in disbelief. "And you would make one of these Simulacra available to us?" he asked with only mild eagerness.

"Certainly."

"Permanent spells?" Sama followed up quickly, even more eager now.

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"Permanence is not an Ur VIII, it's arcane, and my Sims cannot Cast arcane VIII's. They could Cast Permanency at VI here, but the spells it can affect are limited, and there is a goldweight cost that is not small.

"Therefore, one of the things that I do every day is dispense Permanence spells here and there, if I am available to do so. Start making lists. If I don't devote them to IX's, I can dispense up to a base 9 a day… more if I devote IX's to the job, or use the Thaumic Method.

"Permanent spells are potentially far more revolutionizing than raising Stats, in the short-term."

"Until you raise up the people who can also Cast them," Briggs agreed roughly, his eyes a little glazed as he went over the possibilities mentally. "How were you planning on addressing air power, Edge? Technology?" he asked carefully.

"It would be by far the cheapest and easiest, but the number of flying monsters is not small, and basic airplane technology is not suitable for taking them on, while anti-grav technology might attract a bit more attention at this level. Ah, you aren't aware of the spelljamming physics and research into alternate flight systems...

"Needless to say, the standard aeromantic methods used by the Delphans and stolen by the Siricilans are hideously inefficient and cost-intensive. They ply magic directly against physics, and require enchanting massive volumes of material. The amount of goldweight expended is a foolish sin.

"We simply use a gravity-drive. This is made even simpler by the fact you can Permanence a Reverse Gravity spell here."

Neither of them were slow. "Directed gravity would be far more effective at moving things than just magic!" Sama hissed excitedly. "That's much more useful than a captured Delphan Skyswift, Briggs!"

"I want one," he informed me solemnly. "Whatever you are making."

"Oh, no. You design your own. Here's the principles for how we make them and how they work." I waved the mechanical implications over them, and they were promptly devouring them with separate thoughtstreams. "You can design the entire air force while you are at it."

"I'd like access to some form of computer tech if I can," he promptly asked. "Visual Files only go so far."

"I think I can part with some datapads and stuff. Allocate a room and I'll get some techs to come in and set you up."

"Done and done!" he agreed quietly, twitching in his eagerness to get started.

"I trust you have fine ki pressure-point manipulation, or they'll have to rebuild the keyboards," I noted, glancing at his huge hands.

He just grinned, glancing at Sama, who just shivered slightly and winked at me. "He does!" she assured me with a smile of sly experience.

"You also don't know the implications of me being a Cryptomancer, either."

"Oh, gods. More stuff?" Sama grinned like a kid whose Christmas presents hadn't ended yet.

"Let me give you some idea of the potential of Rune Magic on this world…"

------------

A few hours later, and much unseen physical exertion...

Sama collapsed onto the hairy chest of her man, crawling up the length of him to nuzzle into the side of his neck.

"Been a while since we had this much fun," Briggs rumbled contentedly, sighing as he clasped his Hag to himself.

"Game-changers!" Sama hissed into his cheek, wriggling to get more comfortable, and making him chortle as her nails raked and bit into hide that was about as easy to get through as steel armor. "All that stuff she can do! So unfair! So damn cool!"

"And she's recruiting us to find ways to use it all," he sighed, drumming along her spine and starting even more wriggling as she writhed against him in delight.

They didn't get this kind of fantastic good news at all, ever. It was worth it to celebrate. "Something else she might be both able to and willing to do," he said to her.

"What's that?"

"Raise a couple of our kids in that alternate timeline of hers. We can't go there… but kids we have before they become strong Sources and Nulls can."

Sama grimaced. "We both know our mutual children are going to be more templates, just like we were. But that leaves them in a timeline where they are going to be siblings, and will never have their own partner who technically isn't a relation… even if the Hag Curse activating removes any shared genetic markers. You can't expect our daughter to shack up with her brother now, can you?"

"If either is present, won't at least one naturally manifest in counterpoint as soon as they show up?"

"We'd have to ask first. And, you know, if we want to have kids that are not templates like us…"

"We have to have them with others. I know…" he sighed, clutching her tighter. It was all part of the nature of the Hag Curse that was the reason they existed in the first place.

"But now we can start introducing technology, and really start upgrading stuff. And when Immortals start interfering…"

"It will be really, really good to call them and their snobbery to account. Let them see what it's like to be on the other side of the axe again, and how that changes their behavior!" Briggs ground out. "What's your first move?"

"I'm taking that kid back to his homeland of Caergard and I'm going to recruit every single potential Forsaken I can. Then we're going to that Principality of Neuva Vascovune, going to grab everyone else who couldn't be a wizard, and then I'm going to train them up into the biggest threats to arrogant spellcasters that they don't want to think about!"

"Think any could be Void Brothers?" Briggs asked in a hushed voice.

"No," Sama sighed instantly. "Or the Land certainly would have Awakened them by now, given the sheer amount of shit on it that needs to be stopped. I think we'll be lucky if any end up being Sources, my gut tells me."

"Well, all those wizards potentially being able to get their hands on Bonded Nulls and their Matrix Reserves, and have a magic-defiant bodyguard, will definitely change the dynamics of things," he nodded. "Prep the movement up north? I don't see anything in Federyn having long-term staying power without us up and taking over the country, and I'd rather build a nation from scratch than hammer my way into or out of a plutocracy, all other things being equal."

"Siricil and Delpha have fought over Eislas before," Sama reminded him, twining her arms around his thick neck and nuzzling his ear.

"Delpha considers the whole planet theirs to take whenever they get serious about it, in the end," Briggs grunted, enjoying the nibbling as he began pattering her washerboard abs, too. "I think we can make it interesting for them."

"In both war and peace! Rargh!" Her grip became a bit more of a clawful from before, and he chuckled as the wrestling started again in earnest.

The bed didn't have a frame, or it certainly would have failed under the pressure of what followed forthwith.

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