-Wes Chaput-

Ducking out of Historie Pastoria Sweets through one of the artificially made gaps in the Proto-Ideal Carapaces that Sous and the other system assistants somehow managed to set up, I made my way to the nearby food truck and open market park; you could see how much of an influence the Enigma had on Sugar Hills just by these places alone, they were all over now and ranged from everyday food to high class high cuisine now. I guess when you get a blackzone that provides ingredients from monsters, treasure chests, trees, and access to other worlds and blackzones, your local economy changes to capitalize on that. Let’s get something to drink before Wesley gets here, I mentally told myself, pulling out my phone to see a text from my alt-rhi saying he was on his way right now. 

Making my way through the food trucks, I decided on grabbing a cheesecake shake from a food truck called the Cheesecake Knight’s Shakery. Getting in line I went to grab my wallet, only to realize I only had bodicors from the Corpormancer’s Footholds. Crap, I swore under my breath as I stared at the thick metallic paper bills in my wallet before looking up and noticing the food truck actually accepted credit cards and mana crystals. Never mind, I don’t need to go to the currency exchange just yet.

“You want cash or mana crystals for your change?” asked the cashier as he used a standard model mana crystal scanner to determine how valuable the mana crystals I gave him were. I was half tempted to just get the cash on hand now, but I was going to need to go to a currency exchange sooner or later if I was going to stick around for more than a few days. 

“Mana crystals,” I replied before accepting my large non-alcoholic rum & dark chocolate cheesecake shake and a handful of small cut coin-shaped mana crystals. Sipping on the shake and enjoying its blend of smoky caramel-esque and bitter sweet flavors with undertones of refreshing mana, I started to notice how many food trucks were actually set up so they could accept mana crystals, regulated coin and otherwise: there were even a few automated currency exchanges set up. It looked like magical devices were actually a part of everyday life for everyone in Sugar Hills now: a lot had changed in a month, then again it was easier to notice since I was gone for so long. 

“This place feels nice… more transactions going on here than Blackentrail and Ridge Corner,” noted my asset, Sheryl, sleepily as I sat down to watch people watch a little bit and take note on what else has changed.

“More than both of them combined?” I telepathically ask, honestly surprised to hear Sheryl say that cause Blackentrail and Ridge Corner were both board towns with a lot of trade going on for their sizes. 

“Not both of them combined, just on it’s own. I feel more lively here too.”

“Probably because the Enigma just installed Aux cores to access El’Vega’s Asset System and proxy services.” 

“That would explain it, I can still fully feel the presence of that dungeon-like distortion from even here.” 

“Damn, is it that strong now? It only just became a super distortion.”

“No, it is because it is a nexus of many locations and worlds.”

“A melting pot huh?” I thought to myself before noticing someone that looked exactly like me except for having redder hair, holding his own cheesecake shake. Calling out to him, I asked,

“That’s you, Wesley, right?”

“Yes, nice to see you, Wes,” replied Wesley before pausing, “Yeah that felt weirder than I thought it would.”

“Saying ‘nice to see you’ to someone who is basically yourself? I can only imagine.” 

“So how did you convince Lieutenant Instructor Oren to let you head back on such short notice?” asked my alt-rhi as he sat down. Unconsciously I went to rubbing my shoulder and grimacing: they weren’t sore but after the gruelish training sessions that the lieutenant instructor that I ended up enrolling over in Ridge Corner made me do to head back, it wasn’t easy to forget just yet the pain.

“Spartan training, and I have until the end of the week to head back before he sends someone to get me.”

“Damn, we really got the short end of the stick didn’t we?”

“I got the short end of the stick. Glyiria hooked me up with the lieutenant instructor, not you. You don’t have to worry about working for Glyiria or training in Witch Synthia,” I pointed out before sighing and dropping it: there was no reason to get pissed off at my doppelgänger over something I signed up for willing every step of the way, especially when it was paying my bills and improve my spellcraft.

“Well, not exactly,” awkwardly replied Wesley between sips of his shake.

“Because of that Hime chick?” I asked, thinking back to our texts and remembering one of his housemates who was a sentient and fellow impostor spellman was from Mercury-Gardenia, so the same hybrid system was in play. Still, it was weird to think my alt-rhi was actually a partial-magi-sentient and not a magi-sentient like me but could still wipe the deck with me: an almost two full tier gap would do that to you.

“Yeah, she went to Mercury-Gardenia a few weeks ago and some of my housemates went with her and all ended up getting system slot’s connections,” explained Wesley before listing off who got what, “Ian got a break wheel, Gloria got a giant hand drill, and Nicole got a bag full of coins that explode. And well since Ian and Gloria are Quinns, you know that family that makes those freaky grudge nails, it’s only a matter of time before they get interested in Witch Synthia also.”

“Grudge nails? Wow…” I muttered with a slight shudder; my alt-rhi was actually studying to be a spellman with people who made actual curses for living and were famous for it, insane.

“Yeah I know, not to mention Ivin, Mader, and Cho are all interested with exploring the place and checking out Hollo Oceania. I actually left them back at the Enigma, they are still delving and hanging out until we head back through Sweets Progressive. Oh and I guess there is also Ava who is from Sins of the SteelStar, but I have no clue which world she is from and Tiffany who is interested in painting the Enigma’s different areas,” continued Wesley, listing off everyone else from his house at Nierelf who were currently interested in Historie Pastoria Sweets. Eleven out of twenty-four… and we thought the Goltinium Spellman Nine and their secret other half were a lot, I thought to myself, glad that I was one of the few sweet tooths that knew more about the secret stuff the spellmen that frequented the Enigma were during but also getting frustrated with the fact that I couldn’t really do anything about it or really even in join in their stuff.

“Robert is going to have a field day when he wakes up.”

“Oh yeah how is Robert doing, I heard from Tabbi he is in a coma or something.”

“Yeah he is knocked out cold, Terrin said he would be waking up any day now. Probably around the same time that Proto-Ideal Carapace barrier collapses.”  

“That’s good to hear, the sooner that everything is back on track for the Endless Strip stuff,” commented my alt-rhi as he looked at the barrier. “Cause I would like to actually have an apartment to crash in that isn’t on campus.”

“Isn’t your place at Nierelf really sweet?” I questioned as I pulled out my phone to show the pictures Tabitha had of her own alt-rhi’s current living quarters: for something that was supposed to be a college-provided apartment, it was completely decked out with all the luxury magical commodities.

“It’s not as big as the one that Robert provides. Speaking of which, when are the apartments in Sweets Progressive going to be up for sale?”

“Next week.”

“Perfect, same deal as usual?” asked Wesley as he finished off his shake and got up.

“Same deal as usual, sweet tooths only with affordable enough rates. Although I guess it’s not just sweet tooths now, we got those taffy twined now,” I nodded in confirmable: fifteen hundred a month, less if you bought it as a condo. Of course both of us knew it was easy enough to make that sort of money when you lived in a blackzone that provided for most of your needs, including financing. So for a place that was actually worth about four grand a month, it was definitely a steal.

“Oh yeah, that new type of witch-cursed.”

“Yeah, Margaret is one of them.”

“Holy shit, Robert’s cousin?” half-shouted my alt-rhi as he stared at me wide-eye.

“I know, it’s crazy. Apparently she was in town when the whole divergent distortion thing happened and got caught in it,” I replied, getting up also and tossing my empty cup into the nearby trash can. “We officially have over a hundred witch-cursed living in the Enigma now, almost two hundred really.” 

“Is she doing well?”

“I guess, we got our increased sugar intake, they got their mild heat intolerance.”

“Ouch, that must suck living here,” pointed out Wesley as he went back to looking at the Proto-Ideal Carapace Shell: probably thinking about who he is going to have to talk to about getting an apartment.

“Yeah but this isn’t the only world she can live on. She can easily live in Sins of the SteelStar or Glyiria. Hell even Witch Synthia is an option now, Sous finally finished setting up those apartments,” I replied with a grin, glad to have been able to transfer my lease over to System Assistant’s Caketopia and convert it into a purchase of a condo. From what I heard from Minerva over the phone was the place was still pretty open resident wise, just a few Glyirian sweet tooths who were working with the Glyirian government that wanted to be a bit closer to Blackentrail for convenience: not like it really mattered cause of the teleportation pads but to each their own.

“True, man… I should probably get a place over at System Assistant’s Caketopia then, wouldn’t have to worry about using teleportation pads to get to Witch Synthia.”

“Well, let’s find Mita and see if he can hook you up. Maybe you can ask to see you and your housemates can help with the quests he’s dealing with.”

“Wait, Mita is dealing with a quest right now?”

“Yeah, him, Robert, and Ras all got one, well are going to get one. The Vox Phantasm told them in advance about them. I’m sticking around to help out if needed in case Minerva gets wrapped or it involves Witch Synthia.”

“So it wasn’t because Historie Pastoria Sweets got turned into a super distortion.”

“Nope, don’t worry I can keep you informed whenever I hear anything. I already know Tabitha is doing the same thing with Tabbi,” I reassured my alt-rhi with half-smile.