Elder Cultivator

Everyone exchanged looks. This slovenly projection of Everheart was somewhat of a surprise- not for his demeanor, but because of where he had appeared. “We are a group, yes.”

“Are you sure?” Everheart asked. “Because it’s worth more if just one person has all the points.” He folded his arms and tapped his foot. “... And thus you get more rewards in total! And all to yourself.”

Glances continued. Everheart was many things, but as far as the mechanics of his trials went he wasn’t a liar. Or at least, he hadn’t been. This particular Tomb was deadlier than the others, but nothing had strictly been a lie. Catarina put on her best evil grin, “Alright everyone, hand it over.”

Timothy personally didn’t find the situation very convincing, but it might not matter if Everheart believed them. It was just that he might change his mind if they talked about it. Timothy did his best to be convincing by starting with a very real truth. “I don’t want to fight you, here.” He extended the orbs he had collected.

Everyone else handed them over as well, including Vari. Catarina looked at Everheart, “I have obtained all of the orbs.”

“That’s umm… yes, indeed,” Everheart nodded. “It seems you have. Come with me!” With only a slight moment of disorientation, they were elsewhere, or perhaps nowhere. Around them was a room filled with nothing- not light or darkness, but a strange absence of either. The projection rubbed his hands. “Good job. You connived your former companions into giving up their rewards. None will know what great wealth you can obtain here, so even if you return with pitiful prizes to placate them, you can still be wealthy beyond your wildest dreams!”

“What was that?” Catarina asked.

“What was what?” Everheart asked in return.

“The teleportation. I know how to teleport people, but the local formations didn’t have anything related to that. The power requirements are also an issue.”

“Oh, a formation master, are you? I can tell you, for a price.”

“How much?” Catarina paused, “How much will it cost, how much will I learn?”

“I don’t know what you will learn,” Everheart admitted, “But I would tell all, leaving no secrets. It would be up to you to understand it. But of course, this would cost… half of your prize.”

Catarina knew the orbs they had were not insignificant, by comparing with the illusionists group. It was possible that others got more than them, through luck or force, but they should be near the top. “Quite expensive. I would like to browse other options first.”

“Of course,” Everheart smiled. “What would you like? I have wealth beyond all measure!” He waved his arms, revealing the existence of something around them for the first time. A pile of precious metals and gemstones flickered into vision, sitting on some sort of shelf Catarina could not see. “Weapons and armors!” Everheart waved his hand, revealing racks of weapons and stands filled with glittering armor, stretching out into the distance. “Utility items, medicines, precious materials, I have it all!”

Catarina nodded, “Do you have anything to hide the origin of goods.”

Everheart smiled. “Do I?” He frowned briefly, muttering under his breath, “Do I?” Then his face lit up and he clapped his hands, “Of course I do! I have just the thing!” Everheart waved his hand and there was a shift. Then he reached over next to him and tapped a chest that sprang into being. It was about one meter long, half a meter wide and tall with a bit of an arch on the top. There was little special about it, as aside from fine wood and metal bindings it seemed to be a normal chest.

“A chest,” Catarina said.

“Yes!” Everheart nodded enthusiastically.

“If I want to hide things I can just put them in a bag,” Catarina said. “I need to be able to use things.”

“That’s- what do you take me for, a charlatan?” Everheart smiled, “Good sense! But this actually works. Anything that can fit through the mouth can be resized and reshaped, within certain limits. Functionality remains identical, though visual features that are part of functionality cannot be redone.”

“Sounds dubious,” Catarina commented.

“No, it works! Perfect for using ill-gotten gains without any of the consequences! Though resale value might change depending on fame.” Everheart shrugged, “And a skilled master can still determine who it was made for, and for what purpose. That’s part of the inherent form of something.”

“So if I were to take this sword, for example,” Catarina pulled out one from the Harmonious Citadel, “What could it do?”

“Why don’t you try it and find out?” Everheart asked.

“Will it cost me anything?”

“A few points… subsumed into the price should you acquire this.”

Catarina squinted her eyes, “And it works… how many times?”

“As many as you want,” Everheart reassured her.

“What’s the biggest limiting factor?”

“Getting something worth transforming, of course.” Everheart shifted awkwardly as Catarina’s eyes bored into him. “... and the energy requirements.”

“More or less than teleporting someone to the moon?”

“... Depends on the planet?”

“I’ll test it,” Catarina said.

“Go ahead,” Everheart gestured. “And just this once I’ll provide the juice. So your ‘friends’ don’t kill you so easily when you get back out.”

The sword fit easily into the box- it had the same sort of extradimensional nature as a storage bag, so though the sword should barely fit lengthwise, it went in quite easily. Catarina watched as Everheart closed the chest, and the outer surface shimmered and became transparent. She watched as the weapon inside transformed, the crests shrinking away and the shape of the hilt slightly reforming. As far as she could tell the balance should have remained the same. The blade itself changed less, but it soon looked much more generic.

“Here it is,” Everheart handed it to Catarina, beaming.

She turned the sword over in her hands. If she hadn’t just seen it transform, she wouldn’t have known it was the same sword. The coloration was the same, but it would be hard for the Harmonious Citadel to claim anything with how it looked. “I like it,” Catarina smiled.

“Thank you! I mean, of course. Everything I have is amazing and valuable.” Everheart nodded seriously. “I told them…” he cleared his throat. “The other… participants… haven’t recognized my genius. In acquiring valuable goods. Was there anything else you wanted?”

“How much would this cost again?”

“About a quarter of your points.”

Catarina pursed her lips. If she got this, it would basically be something for herself and Timothy at the moment. Even if she discounted Vari’s contribution, spending three quarters of the points on the two of them seemed a bit much. On the other hand, it would provide value to the group in the future, and they were trusting her to make good choices. Did she really need to know how the teleportation worked? No, that was silly. Could she afford not to learn it? Being stolen away from somewhere without even realizing it could happen was not an insignificant issue.

There was no way she could get a new bow for Alva anyway, nor an axe for Hoyt. Not that was better than what they had. Maybe some nice bracers, boots? And some gauntlets or gloves for Vari. Hers were nothing impressive to speak of, and if she was going to be striking and grappling stronger opponents, she needed as much defense for her fingers as possible.

“Show me the formation,” Catarina said.

Everheart swept his hand, drawing in the two rainbow orbs. “That’s half. Now then, it’s rather simple…” Everheart unfurled a scroll he pulled from somewhere. “See?”

“Ooh, it’s some kind of sub-runes woven into everything? I couldn’t even tell.”

“Wha- I mean, well yes, of course. A genius such as myself has many tricks up his sleeves.”

“I know,” Catarina nodded, “I’ve studied much of your work.”

Everheart couldn’t stop himself from grinning. “I am a formation grandmaster, after all. None compare to me. Though there are secrets you will not even find here, in my Tomb.”

Catarina nodded, “Yes. I’m surprised there is hardly any future-hedged functionality like from your earlier work.”

“Oh, you… know about that?” Everheart shifted awkwardly. “Well, of course, it’s quite an elegant design giving the design constraints I was working with.”

“Rather odd there isn’t more of it here,” Catarina said.

“Yes? No, not really. I don’t need such crutches anymore. I’ve developed far beyond that,” Everheart said cagily. “Anyway, wouldn’t you like to keep looking at these elegant sub-runes?”

She did want to. Especially since she probably wouldn’t have the chance later, unless she learned to recognize it here. It was actually fairly clear how it worked when separated on its own, but it would be almost impossible to pick things out in a functional formation if she didn’t properly take this chance to learn. She was quickly scrawling her own copy as she asked Everheart questions. He seemed quite happy to answer them, though she had the feeling he hadn’t intended to be so generous.

-----

Catarina was gone. Snatched away by Everheart. For a reason, but that didn’t make Timothy less nervous. Theoretically she should be choosing prizes of some sort. If she took her time, perhaps the first hour was reasonable. The second hour was a bit uncomfortable. By eight hours, they were setting up their camp and taking watch, with only pitiful formations instead of the proper defenses Catarina could put together. Timothy might have been impressed with his own work a century before, but it was hardly something that would affect cultivators on his own level. Though every little bit mattered.

“Perhaps lady Catarina has returned at a different location?” Vari suggested. “She could be waiting for us outside the Labyrinth.”

“Perhaps,” Hoyt admitted, “But if Catarina is still in the Labyrinth, remaining here would be for the best. There’s still a week until we need to be out. We should be able to leave the other side within a day or two if we hurry so… we can afford to wait five days here.”

“She hasn’t responded to our attempts to contact her, either,” Alva shook her head.

“Is that what those formation plates are for?” Vari asked. “Do those allow you to talk to her?”

“I thought I told you I had contact with her after coming here?” Alva said. “Though it was kind of unreliable.”

“... You can do that outside of communication stations?” Vari asked.

Alva looked to Timothy and Hoyt for help. Hoyt was the first to respond. “I believe the Harmonious Citadel has restrictions on communication, but it’s quite possible to do on a smaller scale, yes.” Left unsaid was that some of Catarina’s techniques weren’t in use by others- but for the most part communication worked the same, including the delay between planets and systems- and the upper and lower realms. Which seemed to be just further systems.

They continued to wait. After a full day, there had been several attacks by roaming creatures… and a half dozen groups of cultivators came near them. Some directly turned back upon sensing them. Three Integration cultivators was not a group to be trifled with. Even if they matched in power, nobody wanted to risk being on the losing side for no good reason. Especially when they considered that they might be the one to die, even if their ‘side’ won. A couple groups of cultivators directly passed by the waiting group, cautious but not cowardly. Each group mentioned the challenge being over, orbs already having been exchanged for points and prizes. In short, there was nothing terribly valuable that couldn’t already be seen and used against them.

Even after a full day, there was no sign of Catarina anywhere, nor a response. They hoped that the latter was simply because wherever Everheart had brought Catarina had more of the interference the planet had, but they couldn’t be sure. She was the one who would be able to make that judgment the best. So they waited, and waited. Soon, they would be pushing up against the limits of their opportunity to leave. If she was already out of the Labyrinth they had to move to meet her, but if she was not and returned after they left a lone cultivator was much more at risk of death.