Before I could even consider the implications of Glyph’s revelation, Mindy yelped and started pulling out her hair with her free hand while she frantically adjusted her previous calculations.

  “In that case…” She trailed off before looking at me squarely in the eyes. “You have to take [Imperial Reserve]. Even if you only have a single person benefiting from it besides yourself, presently Volta, it far outweighs reducing even five other people’s Mana costs.” She gestured to the calculations beside her. “Any additional pact summons, like Glyph or permanent pacts, would push it so far over the other option as to make it look comical, mathematically speaking.” She flipped her hair back and started fanning herself like she’d just run a long distance with monsters chasing her.

  Looking at Glyph, he nodded, and that told me all I needed to know. Mindy’s math checked out and he agreed with her sentiment. Checking with everyone else, they all told me it was my decision and, considering most of them were Stamina heavy adventurers instead of Mana heavy, that made a lot of sense.

  After nearly an hour of debating with myself, I finally caved and accepted the wisdom of the crowd and took [Imperial Reserve]. Part of me was sure [Shared Dominion] would be great in the long run, but I had to make it to that point for that to happen and [Imperial Reserve] would be far more useful if I kept down my path as a pact summoner.

  In the distance, through the snow, I was just barely able to pick out the distinctive tooth shaped peak that gave the mountain its name, Fang Peak. I guided the [Cloud Carpet] toward the peak two to the west of Fang Peak, Needle Spire, where I remembered the Ironwind Clan had a landing zone dedicated for aerial visitors to Ironhold. It also just so happened to be my family’s peak, so I hopefully wouldn’t have to argue with anyone for us to be allowed entry unless one of my asshole cousins was on duty.

  We weren’t that lucky.

  As I approached the massive horizontal cut in the side of Needle Spire, I spotted a pair of airships docked there but wasn’t able to make out their affiliations as I came in for a landing. Fifty feet from the entrance, a powerful beam of light, ten feet wider than our carpet was long, stopped us mid-air with a surge of runic magic.

  I groaned and hurried to fix my hair before standing and stepping back to fix my cloak’s placement. “Fucking Derrick, I was really hoping he’d have finally left this post.” With a thought, I pulled my Ironwind signet ring and pulled it on next to [Suzerain’s Seal] before clenching a fist. “Not my favorite accessory, but it should serve its purpose here.”

  “Who’s Derrick?” Raiju prowled around me, prodding at me a few times before Gabby took over and rearranged my outfit to look less road-worn. “Is he an enemy?”

  “Not exactly, he’s my–”

  “Cousin!” A tall–by dwarf standards, though he was even shorter than I was–figure appeared over the lip of the carpet. “I thought I recognized that unruly mop poking out over your tiny carpet.” He brushed at his impeccably polished pauldron as a snowflake landed on it. “To what does Ironhold owe a visit from your esteemed personage?”

  “Derrick.” I fought back a gag, the man before me was a trumped up piece of garbage the family put in the least desirable post in the spire. “I’m here to visit our grandfather.” I threw on a fake smile. “He’s likely still in the clan hall, throwing bones with the guards, and I’d appreciate being able to speak with him tonight if at all possible.”

  “I’m sorry, but it’s almost ten and you know the rules.” True to his nature, Derrick decided to be as assholish as possible. He shot me a huge grin. “No visitors are to be allowed entry after nine.” He floated back a bit in the light by manipulating a golden stud on his belt. “Feel free to come back–”

  “Derrick.” My voice was laced with venom. “If I’m not in that landing bay in the next thirty seconds, I’ll let Ylsa throw you as far as she wants into the valley.” I gestured to the goliath, who began limbering up and taking practice tossing motions. “She loves throwing insufferable assholes off of mountains.”

  “Why I never!” His hand hovered over a separate stud on his belt, which I knew would summon a squad of guards. “Who are you to speak to me in such a way?”

  “I’m second in line for the seat of Clan Chief. Now get the fuck out of my way because I’m cold, I’m wet, and I’m fucking tired.” I unleashed my [Lordly Aura] and forced it all directly at my shitty cousin as I flashed my signet ring at him. “Now, move.”

  For a moment, I swore I saw the shadow of a grin before Derrick pressed yet another stud on his belt that caused the light to decrease in intensity as it drew him back in toward the source, a runic circle in the center of the landing bay.

  I rolled my shoulders and turned back to look at my friends. “Sorry about Derrick, he’s–”

  “A dick?” Ylsa supplied.

  “Useless?” Raiju chimed in.

  “A trumped up bureaucrat?” Gabby nodded knowingly.

  “The worst your generation has to offer?” Volta asked hopefully.

  I couldn’t help it, I burst out laughing. A few moments later I wiped the tears from the corners of my eyes. “You all got it, pretty much on the nose. His dad, Uncle Grimnir, is awesome. He leads the Cliffspiders, the Clan’s second division focusing on aerial insertions. They jump off of airships and glide in on these gossamer…”

  I realized I was overexplaining and moved on. “Anyway, Uncle Grimnir and Dad were best friends until Dad left Ironhold and never moved back. They still keep in touch though, and the few times I met him he was really nice to me and Mom. I guess Derrick was fine until his System day, a few years before I was born, when he didn’t get any of the Classes the Clan really values and instead got [Mountainguard].” I held up my hands. “It’s a great Class, even if it’s an Uncommon C-Rank. It makes him a hell of a lot tougher when within the walls of the mountain, but is basically useless given the Ironwind Clan’s role in the hierarchy of Ironhold.”

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  “Which is?” Ylsa asked just before we passed through an invisible wall of warm air as we crossed the threshold of the landing bay.

  Years of living with Dad as my teacher were the only thing that let my arm blur to catch the wooden shuriken before it would have plinked me in the head. I hadn’t even sensed it with [Spatial Awareness], that’s how imperceptible the tiny weapon had been, but I knew one thing better than any outsider…

  The Ironwind Clan doesn’t abide weakness.

  “It’s nice to see Neil’s precious pupil lives up to the hype.” A painfully average looking dwarf, long braided beard and short cropped brown hair, stepped out of the shadows beneath the airship on our left. “It’s good to see you, nephew!”

  “Uncle Thorin!” I launched myself from the [Cloud Carpet] to give the man a hug.

  He stumbled back a bit as I slammed into him before pulling me close. “It’s been too long, Artie.” Looking over my shoulder, he pushed me back and set me on the ground once more. “So, who else does the Ironwind Clan have the pleasure of hosting tonight?”

  Stepping back, I waved for everyone to come and join me, stashing the [Cloud Carpet] in my spatial ring once more. “Let’s introduce them in order of when I met them. This is Raiju, my bonded companion.” I gestured to my side, where Raiju stood plastered against me.

  He raised an eyebrow, but I cut him off before he could embarrass me. “We bonded back when she was still an evolved [Gale Wolf] and both agreed we didn’t want to lose that in her new body.”

  “Ah.” The way he looked at her told me he didn’t exactly believe me, but he wasn’t one to push family about their love lives so he let it drop.

  “The tall one behind Raiju is Ylsa. We’ve been through hell together and she always got me out.” As she nodded to him, I considered introducing Jaegan in my staff, but when I asked him if he wanted that he said it could wait. “She’s officially registered with the System as my Chief Bodyguard.”

  His eyebrows shot up and I held up a hand to stop him from interrupting. “I’ll explain that more when we meet with Gramps, but until then we have Volta, my Marshall.”

  She bowed a respectful thirty degrees. “It’s my pleasure.” Immediately afterward, she returned to looking around the docking bay, ever at attention for threats.

  “A Marshall as well, the plot thickens.”

  “This is Mindy, she’s a powerful healer and a genius when it comes to math and magitech, but especially shields.” I waved for her to step up and she curtsied, but didn’t say anything.

  “Shields you say?” Uncle Thorin stroked his beard. “While you’re here, please ask Atie here to direct you to my armory. I’d be happy to see what your shields are made of.”

  She flinched back and I instinctively stepped in front of her protectively. “I’ll make sure to keep that in mind.” I turned to look at Gabby and she nodded. “This is Gabrielle Honeydew, my Treasurer and the former lord-administrator of Chalcedony.”

  The gold elf strode forward and performed a deep curtsy. “It’s a pleasure to meet you in person, Thorin.” Her eyes sparkled. “How was that last vintage I sent your way?”

  My uncle blushed at that before coughing into his hand. “I have no idea what you mean.” He looked away with a face red with embarrassment.

  Gabby said she had contacts in Ironhold, but I had no idea she had any within the Ironwind Clan. I am so glad I poached her from King Evergreen. I really should let him know I took her via [Sending] at some point…nah. He’ll figure it out, assuming Gabby didn’t send him anything already.

  Seizing the momentum, I finished off the introductions. “Last, but not least, is Glyph. He’s a [Voxel] from the Labyrinth of Lore. He and I are pact-bound at the moment, though a long term commitment hasn’t been made on that front yet.”

  The young [Voxel] looked me in the eye and I felt it. He wanted to stay here on Genovia more than anything for some reason, despite his earlier disdain for it.

  More and more mysteries, I wonder how long it’ll take me to catch up with all of them? I chuckled mentally. Who am I kidding, I’ll never catch up. I’m just going to ride the wave and figure out what I can along the way.

  “Labyrinth of Lore you say? That’s the ever expanding labyrinth of tomes containing all the knowledge of the universe, correct?” He locked eyes with Glyph, who nodded.

  “Not all the knowledge of the multiverse, but a fair smattering if I am being generous.” Glyph seemed particularly chuffed that someone knew of his home. “How is it you came to know about my home?”

  The [Shadowhammer]’s eyes flicked from side to side. “One too many portals in a Dungeon nearby before we cleared and closed it. Got stuck there for a bit until we found our way home.”

  “Fascinating!” Glyph’s eyes flicked to their drifting rune state for a moment before they snapped back to normal. “Oh.” He no longer sounded excited. “Your group were the ones who raided the Lesser Archive twenty-two years, three months, and four days ago. You killed my sixth cousin, thrice removed that day.”

  Uncle Thorin’s face fell. “I’m sorry for what I did, but we were just trying to get home and they kept attacking us until we killed one of your kind.”

  “Apology accepted.” Glyph shot him a surprisingly good wink. “She was insufferable, a true waste of lore points, in her attempt to change into a human. You probably did the multiverse a favor in removing her from it, I know you benefitted her fellows in not gathering her corpse, so I have to thank you for that.”

  Yup, it’s time to be done with that line of conversation.

  I walked up next to Uncle Thorin and led him down the path I knew led toward the clan hall. “So, what have you been up to? What’s new with the Clan? As the second in line for Clan Chief, I figure I should ask while I’m here.”

  At first, he didn’t seem to know how to answer, but quickly snapped back into it as I mentioned my placement in the Clan. “About that…things have changed.”

  “Did Gramps remarry or something?” I frowned, that was the only way I knew the line of succession could change. “Did something happen to Gran?”

  “Nothing like that.” He sighed. “It’s–”

  “Arthur!” A voice as cold as steel called out from down a hallway we were just about to pass by. “Stop there, you waste of space!”

  Looking down the hall I was greeted with a sight I truly didn’t expect. It was my half-sister, Anya, and she looked pissed to see me in the Needle Spire.