Chapter 339 The Central Dominion (1/2)

Chapter 339: The Central Doht, you re I told you?” Alaric askedit twice thatwith his hands in the pockets of a royal purple robe—an outfit closer to the bath robes of es in this one—that was stretched just a little too tight across his midsection

“Yes, Uncle Al,” I said sarcastically, tugging at the he clothes

Darrin had offered to let h-end outfits, which he said would fit in better in the central donificantly broader across the chest and shoulders, and there was no ti altered

“You know,” he replied thoughtfully, “I don’t know if I hate that or not”

“By the High Sovereign, are we going or what?”

Alaric, Darrin, and I turned to look at Briar, as leaning against the wall of Darrin’s warp chamber She had clad herself in crisp white leather armor, and kept her hand on the po woet back to the acade all the forces of evil arrayed against you,’ Regis said soleuessed you would be irl’

Alaric barked out a laugh and clapped Darrin hard on the back “Howeveryou, irl only huffed, redirecting her line of sight to the tempus warp, which sat at the center of a raised stone platforray, pockraved with dozens of runes

A quick glance at the lines of runes told ates in Dicathen, but these were much more compact and co casual interest

Darrin bent down over the artifact, brushi+ng off nonexistent dust froet to the west coast of Sehz-Clar, or just past the southern border of Truacia”

Seeing idan City in the central doht, anyway As much as I wanted to tellto Dicathen now er than they already were

‘Hey, you still have the Creeper’s Stone,’ Regis said in what he thought was a consoling tone Sorry, the what? I asked, ht co-terht off the tongue—figuratively speaking’

Forcefully shunting Regis’s thoughts to the back ofto calibrate the te to send you to the Library of the Sovereigns,” Darrin was saying “Briar, can you show Grey to the—”

“Student Administration Office, yeah” When Darrin cocked a brow at the girl, she straightened and said, “Ito himself, Darrin finished the calibrations and stood back “All ready to go”

I offered my hand to the Alacryan, and he took it “Thank you for your hospitality, and your help,” I said sincerely

Although I could have forced h Hall at any point, it would likely haveelse I needed to do much more difficult—even impossible, if it drew the attention of a Scythe or two Thanks to Alaric and his friend—and Caera—I’d avoided that

“What you faced was a terrible injustice,” he replied “I’, kid,” Alaric said wryly as I offeredto letall the other favors I’ve had to call in”

“My hero,” I replied, deadpan

“So, before you go, we better settle up”

Thinking he was joking, I gave hierated roll offrom a pocket and held it out “Forty percent, I believe?”

Briar scowled “Forty percent is highway robbery”

Darrin gave the old man an embarrassed frown, but kept his opinion on our transaction to hial counsel,” he added with a wink

I ” it as I rifled through the collection of accolades I’d brought back from the Relictombs Few of the iterade too quickly when ined to channel or utilize mana

When I pulled out the first piece—a silver crown set with blood red jewels that swirled with so much fire mana it was visible to the naked eye—Alaric bea over half the treasure I’d collected

Briar’s bright eyes grew larger and larger with each piece that cae rune, and even Darrin failed to hide his surprise at the size of the payical artifacts

“I thought you said you didn’t have any wealth?” Darrin asked, cocking an eyebrow in my direction

“I don’t I have a bunch of stuff It’s not really ‘wealth’ until I get the chance to sell it, technically,” I said as I pulled another accolade fromeach piece before tucking the to keep up a cool facade, but by the end he was practically drooling, and his hands trembled with excitement

“Do me a favor and don’t drink yourself to death with this,” I said, fixing him with a stern look

The old ascender hefted the ring as if he could feel the physical weight of all the treasure it now contained “When you get to Cargidan, the local Ascenders association will buy whatever else you have and put it right on your runecard,” he said distractedly “And they can print you an official badge, too, now that you’ve coot all that froly, her eyes ju and back

Darrin was quick to reply “Don’t get your hopes up, Briar That definitely isn’t a norle ascent—or even several ascents”

I si coot lucky”

“I’ll say,” Darrin replied “Anyway, you two better be on your way Grey, Briar will help you find your way around” He eyed his student and ran a hand through his blond hair “And Briar, don’t forget that Grey is going to be a professor at the acadeine he’ll take kindly to any more rudeness from you”

Briar was slow to peel her eyes away fro onto the platfor with military precision as she waited for me to join her

“See you around, Grey,” Darrin said as I joined the young woet settled so you can go back tothe dier

“Bye bye!” a tiny voice said fro I waved back, then theon a different platform, far away from rural Sehz-Clar

The transition was sea of ed from bare stone to dark wood, while the room around me was si quickly around the rows of bookshelves, each one laden with leather-bound tomes, I considered the enormous amount of information contained within this library Tens of thousands of books on every topic ih, if it’s as carefully curated as the library in Ara very i er for a few quiet ns, and the Relictombs There was still too much I didn’t know, tooit I hoped the library would contain soaze away fro on a separate s me carefully, but her attention was pulled away as a ray battle robes approached

“Identification?” he asked in a bored drawl, holding out a hand

Briar had hers ready, but I had to drawuard’s eyes darted across the face of her identification badge before handing it back wordlessly

When he got toon his face His eyes darted to nored her

Eventually, he turned his focus onon my simple clothes “I’m afraid I’ll need you to come with me, Mister Grey, so we can verify the validity of this identification” Although the guard’s words were professional, his tone told ht about the “validity” of aze pass over him lazily, I said, “Very well, but I hope you’re prepared to handle the consequences of harassing a Central Acadeuard turned his uncertain gaze on Briar, who jerked her thu shot”

“A, ulanced down at the identification badge again “So sorry, Ascen—Professor Grey, I didn’t realize—”