Mist of Shadows
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Dragon King Part 24
🕑 Added 2022-10-29 08:24:52 +0000 UTCKari al'Thor looked up from the book filled with life-like drawings of impossible cities and focused on the dark haired boy that was floating a statue of a naked girl into an ornate coffin in the middle of the lounge, not quite sure what to think of the magic user from another land. "How hard would it be to create a flying city?"
Dawn glanced down at the picture of a flying city in the art book she'd found in the bookstore in the temporary dungeon where they'd found Wolverine and Magick. "We'd need a team of stonemasons or architects to design the city, an enchanter to enchant the control systems and we'd need a way to power it."
Myst carefully set the statue down so that a second statue would fit and closed the lid, creating a duplicate of the 'cursed' statue that reduced people's faith in gods and pushed people towards 'sinful' behavior. He turned to look at Kari and Dawn, rather amused that Kari didn't have any problems with lounging around naked, unlike Egwene who was still blushing. "One of the toys the slimes dropped is basically a magical drone, we should be able to use the enchant to control the city."
"Drone?" Egwene asked, unfamiliar with the word.
"It's basically an object that you can control the movement of from a distance," Mione explained as she ran a brush through Egwene's hair.
Dawn absently ran her fingers down Kari's spine as she thought about what they'd need to actually make a flying city.
Myst opened the coffin, reached in and stuffed one of the half strength statues into his inventory then closed the lid, turning the remaining statue into two weaker statues. "We can probably scale up the enchantment on the drone and we have the levitation dust we can upgrade."
Hermione looked up from the enchanting book she was reading. "Which means we have flight and movement covered. If we use slimes for waste treatment, it shouldn't be that hard to design a sewer system that works."
"Or we just skip the problem and make a bunch of copies of your portable bathroom," Harry suggested, not seeing a point in trying to explain plumbing to people that were even less advanced than the wizarding world.
Myst turned to look at Harry. "I'm not spending a couple of days creating thousands of bathrooms and making sure they're upgraded to a level we can live with."
"Cheat, you're a wizard," Harry said sarcastically as he pulled his wand and pointed it at the coffin. "Gemino!" he chanted, causing a duplicate of the coffin to appear. "Is there enough of the enchantment to upgrade it or should I get rid of it?"
Myst looked at the duplicated coffin with his upgrade ability. "Huh, I wasn't expecting that to actually work."
"That's it? It worked?" Dawn asked in surprise.
"For a given value of work," Myst replied with a shrug. "You might get two uses out of it before it falls apart or explodes and I'll have to upgrade the quality." He slid the sliders for stability and the quality of the duplicates up on his floating page then burned the mana to upgrade the coffin, figuring it would be easier to make a copy of the actual coffin than it would be to fix the conjured coffin.
"This is where a shrink ray would come in useful," Dawn complained, wishing she had the material to build one.
"That's one way to do it," Myst said as he upgraded the size of the copied coffin until it was the size of a queen sized bed. "Or we steal a page from Harry's book and cheat."
Harry laughed. "That's the spirit."
Myst levitated the original coffin into the larger coffin and closed the lid, causing a flash of magic and the large coffin to fall apart, leaving two identical coffins on the ground. He quickly checked the two coffins with his upgrade ability then upgraded the second coffin to perfectly duplicate things. "Perfect."
"If I introduce you to some of the Harpies, could you copy their quidditch skills?" Mione asked thoughtfully.
"What are you thinking?" Myst asked as he opened the lid on the upgraded coffin and looked at the two statues with his upgrade ability, happy to see that the sin boosting part of the curse had degraded to the point where it was effectively useless.
"You have a bunch of magic users and you don't have a national sport outside of tournaments, if you want people to see the fun in magic, you should give them a good show," Mione suggested, figuring he could use the coffin to duplicate their firebolts and safety equipment then spread the skills around so they could form a league.
"We'd probably need to recruit some healers," Myst mused as he upgraded one of the statues to get rid of the pride, greed, envy, wrath, sloth, and gluttony parts of the weakened curse. 'Let's see, an almost useless lust curse and a curse to make people lose faith in the gods that would probably take years to do much of anything, perfect.' He upgraded the part of the lust curse that made you care less about clothes then looked at the details for the faith reduction curse.
Mione smiled as she thought about recruiting a bunch of muggleborns and half bloods and depriving the wizarding world of their best and brightest. "I know a couple of people that would jump at the chance to go somewhere they don't have to hide their magic."
Myst considered Mione's idea as he played with the sliders for the Dark One, Rhilor, the Faith of the Seven and the Drowned God, trying to figure out a reasonable level to set the curse that eroded people's faith in them so the average person would think it was natural and in response to the setbacks he was planning on causing their religions. "If nothing else, there are empty mirror worlds they could have."
"You're going to cripple the British wizarding world if more than a handful leave," Hermione pointed out, knowing they were still recovering from the war.
"Oops," Mione replied with a grin. "If the ministry didn't want people to leave, maybe they should have made an effort to get rid of the corruption and to actually treat people with respect."
"Point," Hermione admitted, knowing the ministry hadn't actually tossed most of the people that had continued working under Voldemort's puppet regime or even questioned everyone with truth serum because Voldemort was dead there was no point rocking the boat.
"Welcome to the wizarding world," Mione replied sarcastically as the door opened, revealing Moiraine, Bodewhin and Elayne.
Myst finished adjusting the sliders for the various gods and demons then spent the mana to upgrade the statue. "Did you need something?" he asked as he spent mana to increase the craftsmanship of the upgraded statue, changing it from a rough statue of a girl into something that looked shockingly life-like.
Moiraine stared at Egwene and Kari, trying to wrap her mind around their impossible increase in potential.
Egwene's blush got worse when she noticed Bodewhin staring at her.
Elayne pulled her attention off of Kari and looked at Myst, not sure how he'd gone from being a child to being in his teens though she was sure it was him. "How much for a boost to my potential?"
"That depends, how much do you want?" Myst asked as he spent mana to upgrade the statue's durability to the point where you'd have to nuke it to scratch it.
"How much can you boost my potential?" Elayne asked, wanting enough power to defend herself and never feel trapped like in the garden with the assassin.
"Enough to shake the world," Myst admitted as he reached down and moved both statues to his inventory.
"How much?" Elayne asked, wondering if she could afford it and how much she could talk her mother into giving her.
Myst pulled a copy of the hairpin angreal out of his inventory and dropped it in the coffin. "More than you can afford."
Elayne glanced between Egwene and Kair, wondering what they'd bribed him with and why that wasn't an option in her case. "What do you mean?"
"I don't deal in gold, you don't have any lost relics of another age and any deal for land would have to go through your mother," Myst replied as he closed and opened the lid of the coffin eight times, creating one hundred and twenty eight copies of the angreal hairpin.
"You want land?" Elayne asked, fairly sure her mother wouldn't make the deal.
"Technically, the only land I want from her is hers in name only so there's a chance that she'd 'sell' it," Myst replied as he reached into the coffin and grabbed one of the hairpins.
"What did Egwene give you?" Elayne asked, trying to figure out what the daughter of an innkeeper had promised him that was worth increasing her power.
"Not my place to say," Myst replied as he dropped the hairpin in the cookie tin, closed the lid and shook it.
"Why are you shaking a hairpin?" Elayne asked, starting to wonder if he liked being difficult.
Myst opened the cookie tin and pulled the hairpin out, revealing the fact that the tree of life on the end of it was slightly different. "I don't want all of the hairpins to look the same."
"You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?" Bodewhin asked with amusement.
Myst used his food conjuration spell to conjure a large chocolate chip cookie and levitated it over to Bodewhin. "Have a cookie."
"Is there a reason you're antagonizing the princess?" Moiraine asked.
"I was curious if she'd snap," Myst admitted as he opened his upgrade menu and looked at Elayne's potential.
"What makes you think I'd snap?" Elayne demanded, trying to keep her voice even.
"Nothing but I'm giving you the potential of a legend, I had to check," Myst replied as he spent the mana to double Elayne's potential with saidar. "And we're done, you have enough strength to match some of the forsaken in power though not in skill. Best of luck escaping the Tower."
"Why would I want to?" Elayne asked, shocked that he'd given her a boost without setting a price.
"Because you're a queen, your country and people should always come first, not the Tower, not your pride," Myst replied as he held the hairpin out towards Moiraine. "Feel free to give it to her when you think she's ready."
Moiraine accepted the hairpin and put it in her bag. "I'll take care of it."
"How much stronger will I be?" Elayne asked Moiraine excitedly.
"Enough that you're going to have to work hard to learn to control your power," Moiraine warned her.
"Thank you," Elayne told Myst, glad that she'd summoned up her courage and asked for help.
"If you're handing out upgrades, can I get one?" Bodewhin asked with a grin.
"Sure," Myst replied with a grin. "How do you feel about being six inches taller and having the strength to toss a horse?"
Bodewhin considered the question for a couple of seconds then smiled. "I'll take it."
Myst created two popsicle stick skill books for his strength boosts and handed them to Bodewhin. "Go ahead and break them."
Bodewhin broke both of the sticks one after another, causing them to vanish. "Now what?"
"Now you strip so you don't ruin your dress," Dawn suggested.
Bodewhin glanced at Harry then decided she didn't actually care who saw her without clothes if it resulted in her getting extra abilities or talents. She set her cookie on the table then started taking her dress off, not seeing a point in ruining a perfectly good dress.
"What type of abilities can you give people?" Elayne asked.
"Enhanced strength and durability, immunity to disease and poison, the ability to turn into a wolf and the ability to fly, just to name a few of the powers I'm willing to trade," Myst replied as he created two skill books of the immunity to disease and poison abilities that he'd picked up from the slimes. He handed Elayne two of the popsicle sticks and Moiraine the other two. "The immunity to disease and poison are free, just break the sticks. You'll have to pay for the rest."
"How much for the ability to fly and enhanced durability?" Elayne asked as she broke the wooden sticks, not wanting to ever feel trapped or worried about an assassin finding her.
Myst glanced at Dawn. "What do you think?"
"Stripping, dance lessons, package delivery while naked?" Dawn suggested, fairly sure the princess would grow as a person if she stepped out of her mother's shadow.
"Package delivery?" Elayne blurted.
Moiraine broke the sticks, knowing poison was a favorite weapon of some of the Black Ajah and the whitecloaks and that there were diseases channelers weren't immune to. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Myst replied.
'Just go with it,' Dawn told Myst via telepathy. "I need to give someone in the school poison and disease immunity, I don't want to track them down which means you have a chance to earn some powers and abilities."
"While naked?" Elayne complained.
"How much is your pride worth?" Dawn asked, smiling as Bodewhin finished pulling her wool dress off, revealing her generous breasts and curves.
Elayne shook her head. "My mother would be horrified if she found out."
"Last I checked her mother was back in the capital," Dawn replied with a grin. "Besides, your mother doesn't have the power to destroy a mountain, to stand at the heart of a storm of fire and laugh as her clothes burn to ash and the fire caresses her skin."
"I'd burn," Elayne pointed out.
Myst created a popsicle skill book for fire immunity and smiled at Elayne. "We can fix that."
'Perfect,' Dawn told Myst. "Your mother will never walk into battle and call lightning down on her enemies, scream in rage at the world and force the pattern to shift with the fire of her soul and the strength of her magic. She'll never create ter'angreal that will change the world. You'll never be the queen she is, she'll never be the queen you'll become. This is a chance to make a choice, what is your pride worth?"
Elayne briefly considered arguing that Aes Sedai weren't supposed to use the power in battle until she realized that was part of the point they were trying to make and actually considered her question about her pride. "Nothing," she admitted reluctantly after a couple of seconds. "I'm going to need help with my dress."
"I'm ready to be taller than my brother," Bodewhin said cheerfully as Egwene got up to help the princess with her dress.
Myst snapped his fingers as he spent the mana to boost Bodewhin's height up to six feet, changing her from a curvy girl that was slightly taller than Egwene to a six foot bombshell with curves in all the right places. He created a skill book for the werewolf durability and handed it to Bodewhin along with the fire immunity skill book. "Immunity to fire and enhanced durability, just don't play with silver knives, they'll cut right through it."
"I wasn't planning on it," Bodewhin replied with a grin as she broke the sticks. "What else can I talk you out of?"
"How do you feel about modeling for a portrait?" Myst asked thoughtfully, sensing her amusement with showing off and being naughty. 'That explains why she liked getting Mat in trouble.'
"Sounds fun," Bodewhin replied with a smile, rather happy that her enhanced durability would protect her behind from her mother.
'Best vacation, ever,' Mione mused as she watched Egwene undress Elayne.
'I might have to retire early, I wonder if he needs a court wizard?' Harry mused, fairly sure it would be more interesting or a decent way to pick up useful abilities.
Myst pulled two cloth bags out of his inventory and tossed them to Kari. "How do you feel about shaking a bunch of hairpins?"
"Do I get to keep one?" Kari asked as she rolled off Dawn's lap and got to her feet.
"I'll even boost it," Myst replied with a grin as he tossed her the cookie tin.
Kari caught the tin and knelt down next to the coffin so she didn't have to reach down to grab the hairpins. "I'm happy to help."
Elayne slipped out of her dress, trying not to blush and failing miserably. "What do you need me to deliver and where am I taking it?" she asked, trying not to think about her mother's reaction if she ever found out.
"Durability, immunity to fire and cold, enhanced strength and the ability to fly?" Dawn asked Myst without taking her eyes off Elayne.
"We should probably toss in immunity to nature, that would cover lightning," Myst mused as he worked on creating the skill books he wanted to give Rand. "You're taking the skill books to the younger Rand al'Thor, last I checked he's with Lan training." He handed the popsicle sticks to Elayne. "On the off chance that I'm gone when you get back, I'll leave the skill items with Moiraine."
"Fine," Elayne muttered as she headed out of the room, forcing herself to keep her head up and own her choice.
Moiraine waited for the door to close before she turned to look at Myst. "How much would you charge for enhanced durability for Lan and myself?"
"Nothing," Myst replied as he created an enhanced durability skill book. "You're not looking for a reason to misbehave," he told her as he glanced between Egwene, Bodewhin and Kari, "and you're not a girl that needs to learn to stand on her own like the princess. You'd strip and you'd dance if I asked but you wouldn't enjoy it, nor would you grow as a person from the experience which makes it pointless," he explained as he worked on creating a full set of skill books for Moiraine and Lan.
Bodewhin glanced between Myst and Moiraine. "Are you saying you wouldn't enjoy it?"
"Yes and no, she's certainly attractive but there's a difference between asking a cute mischievous lady to strip in exchange for magic or gold because she wants magic and doing the same when a lady needs help. Kari just wanted to have some fun, you wanted an excuse to be naughty and Egwene wanted an excuse to break traditions and forget her troubles for a bit. Moiraine would have taken the deal out of duty and because it would help keep her friend alive," Myst explained as he finished making the skill books he wanted to give Moiraine and Lan.
"Without hesitation," Moiraine admitted.
"And the princess?" Bodewhin asked as Kari dropped a hairpin in the cookie tin and shook it.
"She needs to remember that gold isn't the only currency in the world. Besides, she wanted more power, she didn't need it," Myst replied as he pulled a bag out of his inventory and stuck Moiraine's half of the skill books inside then handed it to her and did the same with Lan's half.
"Which means you're free to make deals?" Egwene asked.
Myst smiled at Egwene. "I'm free to make deals regardless, this just means I won't lose sleep over it."
"Thank you for the help," Moiraine told Myst. "Did something happen to Morgase in the vision you saw?"
"Rahvin decided to take over, he used compulsion and Morgase went a bit crazy and ended up fleeing to the whitecloaks for reasons I'll never understand. She fled Amadicia when the lord commander was murdered by his fake spy master for keeping her prisoner and not killing her like the law demanded. Rahvin was murdered by the Dragon Reborn because of the rumors of Morgase's death," Myst explained.
"I can't see her fleeing to the Children of the Light," Moiraine admitted.
Myst scowled as he tried to remember the details since he hadn't read the early books in over a decade. "She blamed the Tower and Elaida for Elayne vanishing from the Tower, she wasn't particularly sane by that point because of compulsion. Thankfully, she eventually recovered but not until she was out of his influence and had time to recover. Of course, this was a vision without Westeros which means some of the forsaken might decide to swap locations."
"Can we visit?" Bodewhin asked hopefully.
Myst pulled the globe out of his inventory and focused on King's Landing, showing everyone a bird's eye view of the city. "We just survived a civil war, give us a…" he trailed off as he zoomed in on the port to get a look at an unfamiliar ship and noticed a collection of dark skinned sailors on the unfamiliar ship. "Does that ship look familiar?"
Moiraine looked at the ship in the globe. "It looks like a Sea Folk ship."
Myst sighed as he realized he needed to get back to the castle before someone made a deal they shouldn't or did something they shouldn't. "So much for enjoying my vacation, do you want to visit a castle?"
"Yes!" Kari and Bodewhin said simultaneously.
"You're going to need something to wear," Egwene reminded them.
"I've got it covered," Myst assured them as he used his telekinesis to lift the rest of the hairpins Kari hadn't grabbed out of the coffin and drop them in the bag he'd handed Kari. He pulled the off-white shape and color changing dress he'd picked up from a gacha wheel and dropped it in the coffin that perfectly duplicated things. "Dawn, can you look through the jewelry we got from the slimes to see if there is anything appropriate for visiting nobles?"
"What are you thinking?" Dawn asked as she flew over to the expanded chest filled with the jewelry the blue girls had picked up from the dead slimes Myst had used to eat the demon lord.
"I'm thinking most people don't harass nobles," Myst replied as he closed and opened the lid three times, creating seven more dresses.
Mione glanced between Bodewhin and Kari. "Do you honestly expect them to be able to pull off being nobles?"
"Nobles generally react badly when people try to claim nobility and can't prove it," Moiraine warned them.
"To be fair, Kari's grandmother on her father's side was a princess and the 'al' part of her mother's name means her family were nobles in Manetheren on her mother's side, which includes Egwene's alternate," Myst argued as he floated the dresses over to the couch with the rest of the magical clothing. "Of course, the entire village is basically related to royalty if you go back far enough."
"What?" Kari asked in surprise.
"Think of how many people have an al in front of their last name, most of the village are distantly related to nobles in one way or another. In your case, it's a bit more recent. Your father was born on Dragonmount, his mother was the previous princess of Andor, his father was an Aiel clan chief which is the closest thing they have to nobles, so you're basically a noble without any lands. Of course you're also an extremely powerful magic user so I doubt the lack of lands will matter all that much."
Kari stared at Myst. "Are you serious?"
"Yeah," Myst replied.
"Does that mean she's related to Elayne?" Bodewhen asked.
Myst turned to look at Bodewhin. "Distantly, you'd have to check the records but most of the connections are old enough that she's probably more closely related to half the village."
"Can we keep the jewelry?" Kari asked, making a mental note to look up her father's family when she had a chance.
Dawn laughed. "Of course, we have plenty."
"What are we going to do about Bodewhin?" Egwene asked, fairly sure her friend wouldn't be able to fake being a noble.
"She can be our apprentice," Moine offered, looking forward to seeing the city.
Dawn glanced between Bodewhin and Mione. "You should probably make a bunch of skill books for poison immunity."
"Wouldn't hurt," Myst agreed as he started making a skill book for poison immunity, hoping they weren't making a mistake by showing the girls around the city or at least the Keep.
"We're going to need decent boots," Egwene pointed out, knowing her boots weren't particularly impressive and she doubted any of Bodewhin's clothes or boots actually fit with her change in height.
Myst glanced between Harry, Mione and Hermione. "Can you transfigure boots?"
"I have a spell that alters clothes but it doesn't work particularly well on shoes," Hermione admitted.
Harry shook his head. "Better than anything I have."
"Same," Hermione admitted.
"We just need to get close enough," Myst assured her as he pulled a left tennis shoe out of his inventory and dropped it in the coffin then closed and opened the lid. "See if you can turn one of the left shoes into a right one."
Hermione pulled her wand out of its sheath, pointed at the nearest left shoe and silently cast her spell, changing the shoe into a right shoe that looked a little off. "Close enough?"
"Probably," Myst replied as he picked up the shoes, causing them to shrink to fit. "Can I see the cookie tin for a minute?"
Kari handed him the enchanted cookie tin. "Here."
"Thanks," Myst replied as he put the tennis shoes in the tin and shook it, not sure his idea would actually work. He relaxed a touch when he opened the tin and saw a pair of black boots that wouldn't be out of place on a hunt or walking around the city.
He upgraded the comfort enchantment, the quality of the leather, the design and the durability of the boots then dropped them in the coffin. He closed and opened the lid five times, creating thirty two pairs of silenced boots that would change size to fit the wearer. "Grab a magical loincloth and halter top then grab a dress and boots."
"They're going to need socks," Dawn pointed out, knowing Myst had picked some up that he could duplicate.
"On it," Myst replied as he looked through his inventory for the enchanted socks.
Dawn turned to look at Moiraine. "Do you want to come with us? We're going to need someone familiar with the Sea Folk."
"I can spare the time," Moiraine admitted after a couple of seconds of thought, wanting to make sure the girls survived.
"Great," Myst said cheerfully, happy to have someone that would put the Sea Folk on edge.
Comments
Mist of Shadows
We'll have to see.
MND
They should probably grab Lan, Rand, and Elayne. Lan is going anyway, and they are all Nobel...
Bable Zmith
And a hunting we shall go, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...
