“I need you up there with me,” Rieker said.

  Kaius blinked. Rotten roots, the guildmaster really wasn’t one to mince words.

  “You what?” Kaius replied, surprised.

  Another runner had come for him and his team, meeting them at the dusty stables. Rieker had asked them to arrive at the guild an hour early so that he could brief them on what to expect. They’d barely been in the guild hall a second before one of the administrators on the front desk had shown them to a hall beneath the compound.

  He had to admit, the guild moved quickly. Most of the open spaces built beneath the city were left bare during normal functioning, used for infrequent gatherings. Yet despite the late notice, the space had been filled to the brim with dozens upon dozens of round tables, each with enough seats to fit teams of varying sizes.

  They’d been led to a room tucked behind the stage where Rieker and Ro waited. Kaius had barely even gotten a few seconds to breathe before Rieker had hit him with his question.

  What did the man mean, that they were needed up on stage?

  Beside the guildmaster, Ro sighed and leaned on the side of a desk nearby. “You are Silver, and that means more than just strength and status. The six of us are, in essence, living totems of the guild’s strength, and walking examples of capability. The city is in the grips of the greatest threat it has faced in centuries, and we’re about to throw fuel on the fire. Normally, it would be Bronwyn up there with his team, but…”

  Ro snapped her mouth shut, jaw clenching.

  Stoic as she was, it was impossible to miss the raw edge at the mention of the vanquished Silvers.

  “Look, we need you, Kaius,” Rieker said, stepping in. “You won’t need to say anything if you don’t want to, but if the four of you aren’t up there, people will question it.”

  “So we just have to stand up there?” Kenva asked.

  Rieker nodded. “It’s a simple show of strength, and a display of our capability. Nothing more.”

  Kaius let out a slow breath. He supposed he could manage that — even if he could feel his stomach clenching at the thought of hundreds of delvers focusing their attention on him. That said, the knot in his stomach made him feel that it was unlikely they would get away with simply being present. Their rise had been too swift and too sudden. Their presence in Deadacre too obvious. They were prodigies beyond prodigies in the eyes of many.

  Somehow, he doubted that they would get away with playing mum when questions arose about Honours.

  Judging by the apprehensive looks on his friends’ faces, his team was equally uncertain about being paraded in front of the entire guild. None of them had gotten into delving for fame. Really, it had just been a convenient method to make a bit of coin while pursuing their own growth, and make a few connections while they were at it. Kaius supposed that none of them should have been entirely surprised. It came with being Silver.

  Still, he had other questions on his mind. Porkchop had mentioned that there were more skills being shared than just the ones he had given to the guild. By the time he had arrived back at the dusty stables, there hadn’t been time to ask after it. And in any case, he suspected that neither Porkchop nor Ianmus or Kenva knew.

  “If we must be presented, then we must be presented,” Kaius said. “But tell us what will be in the announcement at least. I was told there is more being shared than simple Honours — and the skills I passed over.”

  Rieker grinned. It was an enthusiastic smile, bright and wide. “Oh yes. It is just as much a surprise to me as it would be to you.”

  Kaius blinked. He’d half-suspected that given their positions, Rieker and Ro would have been directly involved in these new acquisitions. But it seemed like that wasn’t the case.

  “Olmos really used everything you gave him, it seems. Of all of the grandmasters, he is amongst the most seasoned, especially in the sphere of politics. He utilised everything — and what a turnout it was. Of course, there were no real outrageous legacy skills, but he managed to secure just over a dozen others, with a few reaching as many as four or five mergers.”

  “What?” Ianmus gasped.

  Kaius understood the mage’s surprise. That was… unprecedented. Legacy skills, so jealously guarded. Sure, there were some that were more widely known, such as Identify or Mana Manipulation, but that many?

  Rieker nodded. “That’s even ignoring the more commonly known mergers. A full nine of those were gathered as well. Most came from within the guild’s ranks. Even one from Ro and I. Though… I will not say which. When you front up that much, well…” He shrugged. “The guild, by nature, is an institution of independents. There are more than a few of us old fogies who have our own secrets not bound by the oaths of dynasties. We couldn’t exactly let ourselves be shown up by young bucks now, could we?”

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  Beside the guildmaster, Ro smiled as she saw Kaius’s shocked look. “There’s more than that,” she said. “Nearly two hundred skills of the more mundane variety were gathered, all between Rare and Unusual. Plus multiples of that for Uncommon and Common.”

  That was too much for Kaius. He stepped back, slumping down into one of the many chairs in the room.

  “So many?” he whispered.

  “By the bloody Matriarchs, finally!” Porkchop said with a chuff, sitting down next to him. “I was beginning to think there was some sort of chronic head injury that you all suffered from. A den does not survive long when those of the most potential are hampered by simple lack of knowledge.”

  Rieker chuckled at the jab. “I think it has become more than clear over the last year. Perhaps it is a sentiment that only becomes obvious when life is more uncertain. The Arboreal Sea is, after all, a far more wild place than the kingdoms of central Vaastivar. Or at least it was.”

  Kaius just shook his head. He still couldn’t believe it. He’d known that something similar had occurred in Dawntown, but out there on the edge of the known world, people were close-knit and used to working together. Something like this, spreading all over Vaastivar… it was almost impossible to believe that he had a hand in such change.

  Kenva shook her head in disbelief. “That might just be enough to lift the city’s spirits.”

  “Aye, that’s the idea,” Rieker agreed. “Honours should give the guard and our delvers something to strive towards. With these skills, that’s hope for the next generation — and insurance that those who would want to change their fates can, if they’re just willing to put in the effort. Now let us get out there. The hall will be full by now.”

  Kaius looked up to meet Rieker’s eyes, and was surprised by what he found. Pride. Its presence straightened his spine.

  “Let’s go,” he agreed with a nod, rising to his feet.

  ….

  To Kaius’s great and utter relief, Rieker had not forced them to stand at the front and centre of the stage. Instead, they were at the back to one side — present and visible, but merely observing.

  The underground hall was packed, despite its immense size. It was an incredible sight. Hundreds of delvers, from Copper to Steel, gathered around every table. Many were geared, fully armoured with their weapons belted at their sides, yet just as many could almost pass as average, everyday citizens — if not for their warriors’ physiques, and the fact that they held themselves with the steely bearing of fighters despite the recent bad news.

  It was, at once, an inspiring sight. So many people, willing to commit to a life of combat and battle. On the other, it was worrying. The contents of the room were without a doubt Deadacre’s premier fighting force — mere hundreds to defend a city of fifty thousand.

  He did note, however, that the delvers in front of him were far stronger and far more seasoned than when he had first arrived in the city.

  While he wasn’t so rude and inappropriate as to start identifying people willy-nilly, most of the assembled wore their guild emblems somewhere visible. And with his strength, his sense for the power that people possessed had grown sharper and sharper.

  With a start, he realised that there were barely any Coppers — and the ones that there were were new to him, and young.

  The Steels, too. Once, that had been a lofty rank that few ever attained before they were old and grey. The hundredth level was a major milestone. And yet now… there had to be dozens of teams.

  A good sign for their prospects in the coming times, at the very least.

  At the podium, Rieker cleared his throat, his basso filling the hall and silencing the soft whispers of the arrayed delvers.

  “Thank you for joining me. I know many of you will be worried, and wonder after our plans for the defence of our city. However, that is not why I have called you here. In response to the phase change, the guild has been planning; we have, through recent developments, known that the old ways are insufficient for a new world. I have two things to share with you today, both of which I hope will buoy your spirits. The first will make us strong — though unfortunately not in time for our upcoming siege. The second will bring advantages beyond what you could possibly imagine.”

  As Rieker started to speak, the entire hall hung off his words.

  The guildmaster waved his hand, and artifice built into the podium activated. Above him, the illusory recreation of a chalkboard seemed to cement into existence.

  On it were listed skills — nearly the first two dozen clearly signed as legacy skills, with their merged requirements sitting beneath them.

  “For our children, and the delvers of tomorrow: the guild is releasing the skill list across Vaastivar, so that all will have the resources to prove their capability,” Rieker continued.

  From silence, the hall broke into chaos. Warrior, mage, and ranger alike launched to their feet across the hall, yelling questions while others broke into hushed whispers, gesturing wildly to their teams.

  The reaction was understandable, considering it was revealing public knowledge of nearly two dozen legacy skills. Hells, Kaius himself couldn’t help but wonder what the implications of this might be.

  The institutions of Vaastivar were old, some rare few old enough to trace their heritage to the dark days that followed the shattering. Secrecy had been a tenet for thousands of years — the primary method through which the nobility and well-off of the world secured their advantage over others. A public store of skill knowledge was big, almost as big as the phase change itself.

  There was a niggling feeling in the back of his throat… how would those cemented powers take this change? Their greatest advantage spread to all.

  With the list that Rieker had projected in the air with a great illusion, anyone would be able to fill their general skills with the kind of abilities that would make a duke jealous.

  Only time would tell what the outcome would be. Kaius could only hope that the guild was prepared for the blowback.

  And to think that this was something that would have no personal impact on any of those gathered.

  How would the guild react when Rieker mentioned Honours? Those were a reward potentially available to any of the gathered warriors before him.