“We should’ve gone to the temple.”

Sybil was pacing back and forth, her steps having an added spring. She seemed to lean forward when nervous. Damon’s gaze kept moving back to her prosthetic legs and how they seemed to be gathering some of that power in preparation for those super-jumps she’d shown during spars.

“The invitation was clearly not meant as an urgent notice. Just calm down before your next jump launches you to the moon.”

They’d been walking through the edges of the city’s populated area. It was a rather interesting experience, seeing houses on one side built on wood, stone, and metal, while on the other were ruins made out of some kind of cement. The “ruined” parts of the city consisted almost entirely of structures with an age measured in the thousands of years. Broken, worn out stone, most covered in moss, some cracked and broken, everything appearing as little more than a hint that there had been a house there, once upon a time, well before anyone’s birth.

The houses that had been worse off were little more than a mound of rocks. The ones that had somehow managed to survive would usually only have a floor or two, and even that looked overall… fragile. Definitely not something you’d want to climb, else risk it collapsing on its own.

Damon felt slightly surprised at how little dirt there was all around. He would’ve expected everything to be entirely buried. Though maybe it just was this devoid of dirt because of the area they were in specifically.

And in contrast to this dilapidation, on exactly the opposite side of the street, the houses stood in much the same style as the ones that’d been built in the town at the base of the cable-cars. Two and three stories tall, the beams were made out of wood with metal to reinforce it further. Glass and stone were ever-present in a combination Damon could only properly describe as a medieval town that had been built while in the proximity of a giant scrap-yard.

As they walked, Idina stayed close to his side, while Han appeared marginally interested in eyeing the houses. “Some new houses.” He commented offhandedly. “The city is growing fast.”

“Just what would someone have to do to get their own place?”

“The administrative offices are near the Thalaring temple. You’d just have to give them your axon identification, and they’d assign you an area. From there, things get expensive. Most share their homes to alleviate expenses. Many houses have two or even three families.”

“You?”

“I’m sharing with Sybil.” He laughed. “Though I do have some friends that pop in to make sure everything’s in order from time to time… and to raid my pantry.”

Damon nodded along, rubbing his chin in thought.

“No! Don’t you dare!”

Sybil’s comment caught him off guard, glancing at her indignant expression. “What?”

“You’re thinking about doing something like earning a living by helping with construction with your stupid strength and endurance or something like that.” She hissed.

Han laughed, even as Damon rolled his eyes. “It’s not that crazy.”

“The Goddess of Smithing called for you. No doubt she intends to give you a powerful graft so that you can fight monsters better.” No sooner had she spoken that her eyes widened in shock. “We don’t have a tribute!”

Not half a second, she broke into a full sprint ahead, her legs not making a sound as she abruptly leapt a considerable distance and continued her run.

“Just what…?”

Han made a face. “To become a user, you generally have two options. Either a user shoves the axon into you and you hope they do a good job, or you go to the Thalaring and the Goddesses place it upon you. The latter requires you to bring some components as tribute. And the Goddess always grants a graft in return.”

Damon could only frown. “Is Sybil about to insist I bring everything she owns as a tribute?”

“I honestly don’t know.” He commented idly. “Though now that she’s gone, I do think we should talk a bit more about grafts. I’m not sure what the Goddess would want, but knowing what you could expect doesn’t cost anything.”

“I guess.”

“Users can have up to fourteen grafts.” Han stated. “Users are measured, typically, by how many they have. Most average around five… aside from the ones they’ve inherited. Usually, you try to seek out cores that are likely to give you grafts that work together with what you have or want to do.”

“Except what the Goddess gives you can be random.” Damon replied, nodding along. He was sure he’d heard the explanation before, but he’d been a bit too focused on other things at the time.

And now that he couldn’t really escape the subject… might as well bite the metaphorical bullet.

“Sure, it’s no guarantee, but if such happens to be the case, there are ways to work around that.” Han patted his arm. “I’d wanted to be a bulwark, to reinforce my shielding ability, but I received the power to heal. It meant I had to change my strategy considerably, but it was well worth it. Quite literally, kept me alive more than a few times.”

“What… kinds of grafts are there?”

Idina spoke up for the first time in a while. She’d been trailing behind Damon quietly watching and listening.

“The physical type is the most common. Things like having a blade hidden within your forearm. They’re simple, and usually incredibly tough.” He tapped his forearm. “Next are chemical types. They produce substances, it can range from fire oil to the patch-up juice I use. All healers have a chemical type. Sybil has one as well, for poisons.”

“Right, the paralytics.”

“Exactly. Hers are in her mouth, however.” Han chuckled. “Chemical types usually add a graft to your torso, so that it can extract substances from what you eat to make what it needs.” To demonstrate, he raised his shirt, patting the patch of silver and gold that covered his stomach. “Which brings us to the booster types. They’re grafts meant to help do the things you do, but better. A boosted arm will be stronger, harder, tougher, and so on.”

“And Sybil’s legs?”

“That’s a power type, much like my shield arm.” He explained. “It might look like a physical type, but her legs have the noise canceling feature and the surge feature. While my shield arm has a ferrofluid shield.” As he said this, he took out the sheathed sword and pressed it against his right forearm. The entire thing stuck in place. “Mine is magnetic. It is useful for some minor things like this.”

Idina’s eyes twinkled as she nodded along. “What else would be powered?”

“Power types are mainly magnets, compressed air, sound, or lightning. There are rarer sorts, but many grafts are a combination of things, however. Categorizing it as a power type will always prioritize over the rest.” Han slowed as he grimaced. “Then there’s the… remote type of graft.”

Idina lowered her face, hands clenching slightly. It was clear she was thinking of her father. “Remote types are drones and familiars.” She said with a sigh.

“Exactly.” He stopped. “A graft for a familiar occupies the torso, but a drone one is usually in the head. Drone grafts amplify one’s hymn and produce receptor keys.” He reached out and touched his ears. “There are also receptor types, meant to amplify senses, almost always being part of the skull.”

“Then there’s the whole part where they can be upgraded and all that.” Damon nodded along, keeping the grimace to himself. “And how, if upgraded enough times, your children can inherit it. Sybil had mentioned wanting a whip of some sort?”

“A physical type. It contains a coil of special metal rope that uncoils from the wrist.” He nodded along. “There are some upgraded variants that allow the wire to move on its own to a degree.”

“Wait, seriously?” Damon blinked.

“It is quite useful.” Han nodded absently, glancing at Idina for a moment. There was something in his tone that appeared carefully neutral. “I would’ve thought you had more contact with users.”

She flinched. “I only ever lived in the blue mountains. The users there are the ones with little to no experience or… grafts.”

Han nodded along and turned to one of the houses. “We’re here. Welcome to my home.”

It was a simple construction. Where the other houses seemed to focus on wanting to occupy as much space as possible while also adding several layers of verticality, Damon’s abode only had one extra floor over the main one. It was also the only house with a layer of blue paint where the others were white or gray.

“Why the paint?”

“A friend of mine made a stupid bet and lost.” He chuckled.

“It looks nice.” Damon nodded. “Though… the roof is flat, don’t you have a problem with the snow?”

Han laughed, tapping the ground with his foot. “Haven’t you noticed it’s not cold?”

That caught Damon off guard.

He took a step back from the house, whirling to look around in an attempt to get a sense of location. How far up were they? From where he stood, there were very few things standing above the skyline drawn by the houses and ruins around him, only mountain peaks and the temple.

“Oh, the floor is warm.” Idina had crouched to touch the street.

“The steam from the golden arches circulates through the ground. Some areas are still blocked or badly connected, but there is work being done.” Han explained. “To set up a home, you need to install piping because otherwise you might get a lot of snow on your roof. You don’t have to worry about running out of hot water here.”

Damon grinned from ear to ear. “I am so going to take you up on that offer for a shower.”

Reaching out, he patted the human’s shoulder. “Damon, if you plan to stay in the house any longer than it takes to wash up and change into more clean clothes, I’ll join Sybil in dragging you to the temple.”

The only way he could react to such a proclamation was to flinch.

“The Goddess did invite you, sir.” Idina commented. “It would be rude.”

“Let’s get you presentable.”

Damon’s shoulders slumped. “I just wanted to get at least one good night of rest.”

“Not today.”

 

---

 

The temple from up close was a skyscraper in its own right. A tower of multi-colored glass that spiraled up towards the heavens. It vaguely reminded Damon of a shard of glass embedded into the ground. The thought made him feel like an ant, and once more the sheer scale of everything just kept feeling as if nothing short of giants could have made this.

The air was thick with drones and robots, and if any of them were familiars, only those able to hear the hymns would be able to determine that. As far as Damon could tell, the tower was a hive of activity, hundreds of people going into and out of the building at several levels.

They were walking towards the main entrance. A gate that stood smack in the center of a ten meter tall void-black wall.

“Just what do they do there that’s got so much bustle?” Damon muttered from under the blank mask.

“Rali is the Goddess of Knowledge, and Irsi the Goddess of Smithing.” Sybil commented, huffing as she hefted the heavy backpack along. “It’s not just users that need to visit the Thalaring temple. They teach mortals many things, especially how to handle and work with the God’s gifts.”

Damon blinked. “That explains the standardized parts.”

“What?”

“The parts.” He pointed at the robots. “It felt weird that they were different, but clearly so similar. For them to all be able to fit together felt… off.”

“It’s different where you come from?”

“Standardization is an ongoing argument, and every time someone brings it up, they invent a new standard that no one but them and a few others stick to.” He chuckled, trying to force his nerves under control.

The fact that the surrounding crowd was clearly focused on them was not helping any. Damon couldn’t quite catch any conversations, but if he were a betting man, he’d have gambled that the rumors from that morning had spread fast.

The knights at the gates didn’t bother stopping them, but their gazes certainly lingered.

There was a wide patio leading to the base of the tower, people mingled, walking around, and there were even a couple of stands selling water and food. Damon just marched towards the temple, followed closely behind by his three companions.

A prompt gave him pause.

[…]

5͟͠҉&̶̴̡_̀͢:̶̀̕̕͢ȩ͝2̷̢͜2̸̨ booth located!

Welcome to c̕6̴*̵҉2>̧́͘<҉̧.̀͜͟, user!

Redeem your points for upgrades and gear!

You can also purchase your mount and starter guide!

And remember!

Janus: For all your exploration and entertainment needs!

[…]

The logo of the archway played out, the figure walking through and the image zooming into the planet. Black and white became color and texture. There was a silhouette of a man standing in front of a sea of stars. In his right hand, a flaming sword, in his left, a shield with lightning dancing on its surface, before him, a gaper monster.

Except the gaper was different to the ones Damon had fought. This one was larger, its fangs metallic, its eyes robotic. There were pistons and cables on its legs and jaw. An entity that seemed more robot than flesh.

Damon dismissed it with a quiet mutter, trying to pretend he hadn’t been startled.

The moment they reached the doors, the crackle of speakers boomed, its sound spreading in every direction. The female synthetic voice rang out, this time without the static interference.

“Welcome Administrator Damon.”

The two knights that had stood near the doors jumped away as they opened on their own. Stunned, quiet looks emerged all around.

“The workshop is to the right, following the stairs downwards. Pets and companions are welcome.”

“Sir?” Idina had stuck to his side. “What… did the Goddess say?”

“Uh… she told me to go to the workshop downstairs.”

Han and Sybil’s eyes widened so much they might pop out of their heads, Damon felt a sliver of concern.