against revealing our secrets was still active. Would it remain if I removed Tissa’s rank and follower status? Besides, she was still in the Awoken. I’ll decide when we get closer to her leaving the sandbox, I thought and went back to studying the numbers.

The number of adepts went up by a few as I watched. Must be the work of one of the priests. We needed a third temple, and soon!

“I wonder what the limit will be with three temples,” Bomber mused.

“Don’t you see the pattern?” Crawler chuckled. “One temple is a hundred and sixty-nine adepts. That’s thirteen times thirteen. Two temples is twenty-eight thousand five hundred and sixty-one adepts. That’s a hundred and sixty-nine multiplied by itself. Three temples…”

“I can’t multiply numbers that big in my head,” Bomber said.

“A little over eight hundred and fifteen million,” Irita said. “If you multiply the number of adepts by itself. But I think the formula might be different: it might be to multiply it not by itself, but by thirteen. And as many times as you have temples.”

“Around sixty million?” I guessed.

“Sixty-two,” she nodded. “And change.”

“Three temples, millions of adepts…” Bomber scratched the back of his head. “With the Unity bonuses, we’ll be able to capture the whole Commonwealth on our own! But where do we find that many adepts?”

“That’s why the temple in the desert pissed off Nergal so bad. With three, the followers of the Sleepers will be so strong that everyone will abandon the other gods for us.” My mouth went dry and my voice hoarse as the possibilities opened up to me. I took a big gulp from my glass. “Isis’ Blessing has cooled down. Time for me to go to Terrastera.”

However, as I stood up from the table, I remembered something else I hadn’t told my friends yet.

“Another Threat wants into the fold. High potential, and seems a good guy…”

 

 

Chapter 29. Path of Spirit

CRAWLER HANDLED the question of Hiros. We decided that Hairo would meet with the ninja in a private room, talk to him and make his own decision as to whether he could be trusted. If it was a yes from Hairo, then Hiros would be taken to Cali Bottom and placed under a mental contract, and then Crawler would ordain him to the Sleepers and take him to Kharinza. That was, of course, only if the man accepted our conditions. All I had to do was convey them to Hiros, and if he agreed, set him up a meeting with Crawler in a special room at the ASS.

I wrote to Hiros right away, then remembered another promise I’d made. Big Po had held up his end of the deal, but I’d totally forgotten about him. Bomber got along well with Wesley, so he volunteered to go to Tristad to, as he put it, ‘bring that fatty into the clan and make him an adept, and scare the hell out of some noobs in the sandbox while I’m at it.’ To make sure he could, the warrior tried to teleport through the depths to the sandbox, and it worked. The ‘junior’ debuff took down health faster than the frost on Holdest, but Bomb would have time to make Poly… um… Polydeuces into a priest.

These issues decided, I went off to my room to fetch my artifact. The room was now called ‘Scyth’s Chambers,’ but I renamed it to ‘Scyth’s Place.’ ‘Chambers’ was a little high and mighty for me.

The apartment was impressive. It obviously unfolded into a separate dimension, because it was bigger than the Pig and Whistle, even its new version. This was the highest possible upgrade for a private room, costing a million and a half gold. ‘Royal’ standard. Twelve rooms, each with a Ball of Egeria, the Dis version of three-dimensional television. In the center of the hall, a pool with its own small waterfall cast reflected light up to the ceiling. The pool was surrounded by tropical trees, as if a small forest lake had been magically transported there.

In search of my personal chest, I looked into one of the bedrooms and saw a bed bigger than my room in my parents’ apartment. The fluffy pillows beckoned to me, but I suppressed a yawn and silently closed the door. There’ll be time to relax, I thought, and blushed imagining exactly how one well one could relax on that bed.

I blushed even more when Gruzelix, one of the bosses of the haulers’ guild, chose that moment to call me.

He stuck his head through the portal window, looked around in a businesslike manner. “Hey, you’ve been busy, kid! Great digs! They are yours, right?”

“Thanks to Madame Kusalarix. Any news?”

“Yeah, but not good,” Gruzelix darkened. “It’s about your order to deliver a portal beacon to the South Pole. We lost four giants…”

“How?” I interrupted him.

“Good question, we asked it too. The first three disappeared without a trace, the fourth managed to activate a portal and leave. Before he turned into one of the living dead and tore down the guild building, he said he was attacked by Eileen. The Supreme Legate of the Destroying Plague, as far as I know. In light of what happened, the haulers’ guild regrets to inform you that we cannot complete your order. We’re breaking contract. The penalty fee will be transferred to your personal account at Disgardium Bank. We offer our humblest apologies, Mr. Scyth.” The goblin wiped away a tear. “I can’t send our giants to die. Especially not like that!”

I accepted his apologies, of course, and expressed my sympathies. The giants were gentle creatures who wouldn’t hurt a fly. And the race itself was dwindling; the loss of each was a heavy blow not only to the guild, but to the entire Goblin League as protector of the giants.

There was still something left before I could go to

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