“You mean you’ll give me Skills?” I ask Nicholas bluntly. Arguably, Nicholas did promise a ‘heritage’, but given how many things he let out of that letter, I wouldn’t put it past him to have misrepresented what he was going to give as well.

  “You are now part of the House and will be representing us in a competition sponsored by the king. Of course I’ll give you the Skills you need,” Nicholas tells me in an offended tone of voice. “And before you leave here, I will give you at least two.”

  “Oh?” I ask, excitement starting to rise now I know that it’s not unfounded. Nicholas pushes the door closed and heads over to the Skill stone ranks. I eye the door dubiously. “Are we trapped in here now?” I reach out to Bastet and find that I can still feel her, though the Bond between us is oddly muffled and I have no idea where she is. She feels alarmed – perhaps she’s realised that she can’t feel where I am either – so I quickly reassure her that everything is fine and let her reassure several others including River, Catch, and Fenrir that nothing has happened to me.

  Nicholas looks over at me, slight confusion in his expression. Then he sees where I’m gazing and understanding passes over his face.

  “Ah, no. The doorway is no longer active, that’s true, but a failsafe was built in that anyone inside can open the door from the inside and leave. It does mean that I must be absolutely sure that when I leave the room and close the door behind me that there is no one left in the room, but I have a Skill which is ideally suited to that. So do you, actually.”

  “Inspect? You have that too?”

  “Not exactly the same – mine is not combined as yours is. However, it is similar enough.” He turns his attention back to the ranks of stones and hovers his hand over each of them. Since Nicholas has mentioned Inspect, my curiosity has been piqued. I use it on the room, seeking to receive as much information as I can. Nicholas looks up sharply as my pulse of magic washes over him and I feel a sense of my pulse hitting a brick wall and rebounding off him. Unsurprisingly, I get pretty much no information about him apart from the fact that he exists. To be honest, I don’t mind that too much – I’ve got so much information about everything else that I’m feeling overwhelmed as it is.

  I have to close my eyes for a moment to process it all. I can now say for certain that my new House has had some powerful fighters in the past – the three biggest Cores sitting on the top of the shelves are from Tier five beasts. Then there are about fifteen Cores from Tier fours, a bit over fifty Cores from Tier threes, and close on two hundred Tier two Cores both on the bottom shelf and inside the cupboards below. Considering how difficult it is to get all of those and the way Cores are able to help with the advancement of man and beast, I would call the collection a treasure trove in and of itself.

  The books themselves didn’t return much information except that most of them are haloed in the green that I’ve come to the conclusion shows rune-based enchantments – everything that bears runes seems to be coloured the same, to a varying degree of brightness. Of course, Hunter is over the moon about all the new runes she’s come across – and the complicated arrangements some of them are in. I’m happy and hope that I might be able to get a trainer for her with the resources of my new House – having someone on my team who’s able to create the kinds of things I’ve seen so far, both weapons and quality of life devices, has got to be a good idea for the competition. And life in general – I saw the difference her inventions made to the samurans. A few of the books are also haloed in blue – I’m less sure about what that means. I’ve only seen it in the walls of the manor otherwise. Maybe something to do with structural integrity? Could it be a way of preserving the books? I’ll have to ask Nicholas later.

  The majority of the information that threatens to overwhelm me is, of course, from the wall of Skill and Class stones. I keep my eyes averted from them – the clashing bright gold, green, red, and white shades that halo various stones are almost blinding. Nonetheless, I’ve got a much better idea about which items are which, and though I wouldn’t be able to say for certain that a particular stone contains a specific Skill, I can definitely identify what their general tendency is.

  For example, I can tell that the stones are grouped by functionality. A whole group of them practically scream that they’re knowledge stones much like the ones I absorbed to help me survive the wilderness I found myself in. Another group pulse almost violently – those are mostly the ones with red auras. I reckon that those are attack Skills – and perhaps some of them are incompatible with my Class which is why they feel dangerous to me. Then again, if I have the same Class as everyone else in the Titanbend family, why would they store Skills which could be dangerous to us?

  I do my best to identify what I can see and memorise where they are before the active effects of my Skill disappear. When they do, I open my eyes once more, only to see Nicholas standing in front of me, his arms crossed and staring at me with a slight frown.

  “I was just trying to get some information about the room,” I justify defensively.

  “I know you were,” Nicholas answers grimly. “That’s the problem. You’re going to have to be very careful with that Skill. Perhaps that’s why the family grimoires don’t specifically recommend combining the three Class Inspect Skills.”

  Stolen story; please report.

  “I know that it leaves me a bit vulnerable when I have to process a lot of information,” I acknowledge.

  “It’s more than just that, though leaving you vulnerable when using it is not a good thing, no. I suspect you’re not fully using your Intelligence or Wisdom attributes as much as you should – getting overwhelmed with information shouldn’t be happening with the number of points you have in each of those. However, the main issue with what you just did is that I would be perfectly in my rights at this moment to declare a duel between us.”

  His words are calm and give no indication that he’s actually about to do so, but his expression is very serious.

  “What, by using Inspect on you?” I ask, a little incredulously.

  “By using such an invasive Inspect without consent, authority, or even good cause,” Nicholas corrects. “I was going to cover this in your cultural education during our journey to Crownseat, but I might as well start now.” He uncrosses his arms and moves to perch himself on the desk which sits just to the side of the bookcase. I’d barely registered it before – it’s dark wood and hardly deserves a mention next to all the wonders which are around it. As Nicholas moves, I see stones flash in his hands – he’s holding two. I can’t help but feel a hint of excitement at that, despite the topic of discussion.

  “There are many versions of Inspect,” he continues, taking on that lecturing tone I’ve come to be familiar with from our sessions together. “Some are more invasive, others are less. Some don’t work on people at all; others focus entirely on them. You have experienced three of them and have clearly somehow combined them together into a mass Skill. Fortunately, you also prove to have some control over how invasive the Inspect is since last time I barely felt its presence; anyone with less Wisdom than I have wouldn’t have even detected it. Otherwise I would recommend that you take Inspect Person and level it up as quickly as possible to gain a Skill which offers you information about another person without them feeling like they’ve been stabbed with a blunt sword.”

  “Ah, sorry about that, then,” I wince at his description. “There are more Inspects than just the ones I got access to at level five?” I ask, curious.

  “Many more,” Nicholas answers. “And many Classes have their own specific version. For example, Inspect Flora is nowhere near as useful to an alchemist as Inspect Alchemical Properties, however that latter wouldn’t give information about its general danger rating or even if it is edible or inedible. But we can discuss that more later.

  “So that you are aware, attribute points, Skills, even someone’s Class itself are all considered to be private information. An employer might require an employee to swear that they have a certain Skill or attribute at or above a particular level if such is required by their work, but them asking for details would be considered insulting. Friends, especially those who battle together may choose to share aspects of their statuses, but rarely share them in their entirety. Spouses might share their entire statuses, but it’s considered thoroughly intimate as it is essentially giving the other person details about one’s vulnerabilities. Demanding to know is an insult; forcing the matter by using an invasive Skill is grounds for a duel.”

  My eyes are narrowed.

  “So when you asked me the day I arrived about my status, that was in fact a very rude question?”

  Nicholas inclines his head.

  “It was, and I apologised for that at the time. However, my question was not without precedent. Like with most things, there are exceptions. Teachers, trainers, and masters – of both sorts – are often entitled to know part or even all of a person’s status as such is necessary to help develop the student. As lord of your House, I am also entitled to know any information about you which is relevant to the House – and considering the challenges facing us, your status and the attributes and Skills therein are obviously important information.”

  “I see,” I murmur. “So, basically, only use my non-invasive version of Inspect when trying to find out information about a human?”

  Nicholas shrugs.

  “Essentially, though I would qualify that to ‘only use your non-invasive version when you care whether you are giving insult to the person’. If you are facing someone against whom you can act with impunity or you are in the middle of a duel, do what you must. Though, again a caveat, do be absolutely sure that you can act with impunity before you actually do. I have seen far too many nobles make fools of themselves – and often their Houses as well – because they’ve incorrectly assumed they are more powerful than the person they are facing.”

  It’s sound advice, though I hope that I don’t need it – I’ve read too many novels where the main character encounters someone who thinks they’re ‘the biz’ only to realise too late that they misjudged the situation and end up in a bad position as a result. It’s fun when it’s the enemy of the main character; it’s less fun if I end up as the one who misjudges someone to my detriment.

  “I understand. And I apologise for any offence I gave,” I offer – I certainly wasn’t intending on offending Nicholas. Not this time, anyway.

  “Apology accepted.” He holds up the two stones and I peer more closely at them, as if looking more intently will reveal their secrets more than using Inspect will.

  “What stones are those?” I ask bluntly. Nicholas’ lips quirk up at the corners.

  “Two Skills that I think would benefit you: Seal and Inspect Item.”

  “Another Inspect Skill?” I ask, a little surprised.

  “Inspect Item is a Class Skill of mercantile Classes, and also of several crafting Classes. It is not, unfortunately, one of our Tamer Class Skills. However, it is uncommonly useful and most Classers attempt to gain it unless they are completely uninterested in buying and selling. As you can imagine, it’s one of the most sought-after Skills and demand thoroughly outstrips the supply. As a result, I require you to swear that you will do your best to raise Inspect Item to at least Journeyman level and that you’ll commit to imprinting at least one Skill stone to replace this one.”

  I frown in confusion.

  “Journeyman….I thought that I had to raise a Skill to Master to imprint it.”

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