"And that's my proposition," Viviann said, arms spread wide as she concluded her spiel.

Silent for several seconds, it was Irene who spoke up first.

"I don't know. While I understand the intent and merit of this…. Project of yours, I can't help but feel it might be taking risks for the sake of risks."

"I disagree," Another voice said, the third member of their council room, the sole rotating member. "While I understand what you are looking to avoid, Esteemed Luminary, the loss of our head Gem Crafter is a loss that cann't be overstated. As such, while you seek to avoid another potential setback or loss, I see it instead as a moment that we need to be ambitious."

Apostolos frowned, knowing that with that, he would be the deciding vote.

Oh, Rory, if only you were here.

The council of Ehkorrus was considered the 'supreme' ruling body, attended by three members. The first was Irene, the Luminary of Ehkorrus; it was she who undertook planning pretty much… everything, though tending to err more on the side of regular citizens rather than the combat folks.

That was where Apostolos came in; as Chief Protector, he had a seat at the council, with the ultimate duty of safeguarding Ehkorrus. Sometimes that meant he and Irene butted heads, but overall, they were on the same page.

Finally, there was the only regular rotating position, the Sitting Director of the Crafts. Once a year, though Apostolos could see the tenure duration increasing with time, the members of the Crafts guild would vote on a Director who would essentially be their 'voice,' something which had come at the suggestion of Viviann herself.

Which, for note, had led to her being the first Director of the Crafts when it had been established twelve years prior.

The current Director was a man named Jed, a man taller than even Apostolos, which was impressive given that Apostolos wasn't even human. His skin was even darker than Apostolos', looking like obsidian or the night sky, and his head was shaved save for the single twisting plait. He had been one of Viviann's first apprentices, a well-respected inscription artist.

What wasn't voiced out loud was that it was an unsaid truth that Jed had surpassed his former master several years back. Viviann herself didn't seem to mind, or she hadn't for a while.

Then, Old Man Kal had died just the year prior, from old age. As tragic as it had been, the man had been old since the first day he set foot in Ehkorrus. Although ascensions had granted him over thirty years of life he might not have seen before, being near the end of his life had heavily limited the benefit of ascensions in terms of life span.

It was after Old Man Kal passed that Viviann had changed. Not egregiously, but there was an air of discomfort, of unease constantly carried on her shoulders.

Precisely what it was was anyone's guess. She hadn't gotten all that close to anyone; the age differential between herself and most of the other citizens had left a divide. While others were in their thirties or forties or even fifties, she was in her eighties, and the blight of age was beginning to crack her face, still A4.

All of that led to the present moment, where she was proposing a 'project' of sorts to the council. While people were free to pursue things as they pleased, any experimental project needed permission.

"Viviann," Irene's voice was gentle but firm. "You understand, you are still one of our lead inscriptionists, right? This project…. It could go terribly wrong."

"I've considered," Viviann said, her jaw grinding for a moment. "But if I may be frank?"

The other two, seemingly unfazed, left it to Apostolos to wave her on.

"We have problems. The waves grow stronger, and our folks grow stronger too, but the wall from A6 to A7 is vast. Unless something unexpected occurs, within what, two or three years of the A7 waves, we will be facing an extinction-level threat."

Apostolos frowned as Viviann voiced thoughts he'd been battling for quite a few years now.

"Apostolos, you are strong, as is your wife and Marcie and others, but can you face down hundreds of tier sevens by yourself?"

"Those are problems that will be faced," Apostolos said rather noncommittally.

"It's god damned lucky we have the walls we do," Viviann continued as if Apostolos had proven her point. "But they are nearing their limit. They can't hold back a horde of tier sixes without some defenders. You think they will hold up against A7 monsters? If the Founder were here, perhaps he could salvage the situation, but Jed, you know this well, none of us has what it takes to elevate those walls past where they are. We maintain them, even apply small improvements from time to time, but you'd need a truly exceptional artisan to overcome the gulf of what we can manage as tier fours and fives, the only tier six artisan being Gil isn't helpful given he's specialized primarily in smithing and the likes."

It was Jed's turn to frown, crossing his arms.

"Am I correct?" Viviann finally asked.

Jed sighed, nodding slowly. "You are. The Founder's understanding of runes was… inexplicable. Not profound necessarily, but he saw alignments and connections that others have not. I've studied his tome of inscriptions for quite some time, but I still find myself unable to internalize the Living Rune. Furthermore, we've stagnated our runic knowledge. None of us can safely introduce new runes."

"Thus, my proposition," Viviann said. "I'm not the best anymore, haven't been for some time, and I fear my growth isn't keeping up with the passage of years. Perhaps I have another fifty or sixty years left to my life, but I can feel myself slowly losing the race. I might rejuvenate myself by reaching my next ascension, but what of the next? Will I be fast enough, make enough progress? For that reason, I believe I am the best suited for this. My…. loss would be felt, but not crippling. My success, meanwhile, could break our deadlock. With my mortality slowly approaching, it would also further motivate me to excel."

Apostolos let the words sink in, mulling them over.

Her suggestion was…. Insane, to be frank.

It was true that the problem with their artisans was primarily that of tier. The ability to create something that defied the regular conventions of tier restrictions, such as a tier five making gear for a tier six, yielded noticeably worse results than a tier six making gear for other tier sixes. While it was possible to craft items that broke that tiered wall, it was only possible through inspiration creations, as the crafters called it. Gil was probably their most successful in that department, but even then, it was only maybe ten or fifteen percent of the time.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Of course, Rory basically only EVER made items that were inspiration liberated; in fact, I wonder if he ever even realized this conceptual restriction existed.

The only other way around their problem of tier restrictions was to approach it from an angle of out-of-the-box thinking, such as using entirely new runes.

Except, much like Rory likely had never realized tier restrictions, he probably never realized just how difficult making a new rune was, given he spat them out like there was a fire sale going on.

Which was where Viviann came in. If no one had the sort of Inscription skill necessary for conceiving new runes as Rory did, then they would simply have to gain the skill.

A ritual, using the inscription tome left behind by Rory as the catalyst, Viviann was planning to forcibly draw upon the concepts and aspects not of Rory but of the Founder, and fuse them within herself, forcibly evolving her inscription skill into something more akin to what Rory had. With that version of the inscription skill, she would hopefully be able to conceive new runes without it being a death sentence, allowing them to modify the walls in ways that might enable them to overcome the looming tier seven wave threat.

It was an entirely untested idea; they had no idea if it would work or not, or what the repercussions might be, but that was also why Viviann was bringing the proposition before the council.

Ultimately, it was Apostolos's final verdict that would decide what would happen.

Mulling it over for nearly a minute, Apostolos finally laid his hands flat out upon the table.

"I agreed with Jed. We face a looming threat, and if we are to hope to avert said crisis, we need every tool we can get our hands on. Suppose this ritual can allow you to evolve your inscription skill so that we can begin making new runes. In that case, it might allow us to thread the needle of this predicament in a way we currently haven't considered."

Irene looked at him, not with anger, but a reaction that hinted at her disapproval. Still, that was ultimately the difference between combat types such as himself and non-combatants like Irene. She wanted to consolidate their gains, whereas Apostolso believed their best opportunities were in advancing where they could.

Maybe not to the same extent as Rory himself, but then no one was like Rory.

"I appreciate the wisdom of the council," Viviann pressed her fists together before offering a slight bow. "I will begin work on the ritual. My early theories suggest it will be at least several years before I can even think of starting. In all likelihood, this will be an endeavor that spans a decade, if not a bit more. It's why I had to bring it forward now, as if I delay much further, there could be the chance that I wouldn't be ready in time."

"Yes, well, we will keep this project on the down low for the time," Irene said, still looking disapproving. "Unproven and untested theory is dangerous to spread. All we need is our artisans all trying to forcibly draw from the aspects of the Founder and fry themselves in the process, that would doom us even more certainly than the future threat of tier seven waves."

"I understand," Viviann nodded. Turning to leave, it was Apostolos who called out.

"For the purpose of this project, I will grant limited access to his quarters," Apostolos said. As he did, Viviann slowly turned around, raising an eyebrow at Apostolos.

"I thought the Star Blood Sequoia was strictly off limits to the public?" Viviann asked with a half smile as if she were recalling a fond memory.

"Yes, but for the sake of this project, I will allow limited access with myself as escort. Given you've had some… limited history with Rory, I believe you would be one of the few trustworthy enough to be given access even with an escort."

Once upon a time, Rory had hooked up with Viviann, but that was decades ago at this point, and being truthful, Apostolos felt protective of anything related to Rory. If it were not for the good of Ehkorrus, even for Viviann Apostolos wouldn't have made an exception.

"Much appreciated, that should aid in the ritual, I believe," Viviann said before finally leaving the council chamber.

"I believe we've made a mistake," Irne finally said with a sigh. "She is clearly still suffering from the loss of Kal; he was perhaps her one real companion within the city. We are allowing a distressed woman to gamble on what is frankly an asinine idea."

"But there is merit to her idea, and I do not believe my former master to be some flighty child who cannot compose herself or think logically," Jed countered.

"And yet she is still human," Irene said before inclining her head to Apostolos. "Apologies,"

"It's a phrase," Apostolos waved the comment off. Even Apostolos often forgot he wasn't actually human. For the longest time, he had been the only member of his species, that was, until his daughter was born; thus, it was an easy mistake to make.

"My point is, for as composed as she appears, how are we to know she isn't being motivated by feelings of regret or sorrow? She may not be the best in her field anymore, but she is still a valuable artisan; it's not as if inscription is the easiest of arts to understand."

"Ultimately, I believe it's a moot point," Apostolos finally added. "What she said is correct. We face a crisis. Twenty-five years from now, the arrival of tier seven waves will be upon us. As much as we've attempted to foster the growth of our adventurers and the likes, we won't have the numbers needed to endure those waves. Our wall and sub-seven adventurers and their ilk can handle the excess tier-sixes, but it's just a matter of math."

Silence reigned for several moments, the council room steeped in enough tension to cut with a knife.

"How have your attempts gone?" Irene asked after finding her voice again.

"Poor," Apostolos muttered. "I've attempted to bolster the range of my message to reach Rory, but no connection exists. It was expected that our message feature generally only works within the limits of our controlled territory after all. However, even utilizing other attempts to bolster the strength, I'm still unable to find even an iota of success."

"Assuming the Founder is even alive out there," Jed added as Apostolos scowled.

"I'm certain that he is," Irene said, placating Apostolos. "But the point stands that if we cannot find a way to call back the Founder, our next best solution is ourselves."

"Well, for that matter, with Violet having reached tier seven, we've been able to resume full speed spars," Apostolos said. "Edward will be reaching tier seven within the year as well. We have another squad looking at tier seven, perhaps five to seven years from now, and perhaps another four squads by the time of the first tier seven wave. If we reach those numbers, I believe at the very least we will withstand the very first wave."

Irene nodded before turning to Jed. "Any updates on your side of things?"

"We continue to see progress, just not where it counts. Night Copper remains the only rare-grade material we can produce ourselves, albeit in limited quantities. Inversion Steel requires an enormous amount of energy to make; the problem is that only Gil possesses the overall ability to withstand the environment necessary for processing Inversion Steel. Then we need to attune it for a year to the Null Window, before finally fusing it with a Stellar Mass of at least five percent purity, which requires an obscene amount of materials to be fed to the Stellar Heart. We either arm our tier sevens with Night Copper weapons, or we give a single tier seven a full set of Night Copper armor."

"Even with the potency of Night Copper, it doesn't play nice with my constitution," Apostolos shook his head. "So if you were angling toward an 'Apostolos will be our champion armed with rare-grade armor and his rare-grade weapon' I'm going to have to unfortunately throw that out, my armor, while not rare grade, synergizes with my capabilities enough that I'd be hesitant to swap it out freely even if Night Copper wasn't poisonous to me."

"Fair enough," Jed said with a nod. "Then we will continue with the assumption that Night Copper will be used solely for the creation of weapons."

"Has Mariah had any breakthroughs?" Irene questioned.

"Mariah…" Jed drummed his fingers on the table, trying to find words for his thoughts. "I am unable to direct her; she never formally joined up after all, it's a blessing that we at least have an amicable relationship with her. That said, I doubt her most recent research project will be all that applicable to our concerns. And before you suggest pressuring her to do different research, she already is responsible for producing brews of strength, minor recovery, and mind. I highly advise against attempting to wrangle her any more than we already have. I would not put it past her to decide to leave Ehkorrus if we became too overbearing; she's one of the few artisans who could strike out on her own and probably survive."

"That sounds like Mariah," Irene muttered. It was often forgotten by most, but Irene had for some time been the 'mother hen' figure of the original generation of Ehkorrus citizens; she knew Mariah's personality well enough to have expected such a response.

"I do have one piece of good news," Apostolos decided now was the time to add some good news to the atmosphere.

"Oh?"

"Marcie and Manda returned from their small expedition on the third floor. And they said they found something interesting."

"Interesting?" Irene leaned back, thinking for a moment before pulling out a pipe and igniting it with a flick of her fingers. "Well, let's hear it."

"It's a bit of a long story," Apostolos cautioned.

Irene raised an eyebrow at Jed, who merely shrugged.

"Then let us send for some food if we will be camping out here for a while."

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