Me, My Spirit, And I [Book 1 Complete]

"Master Shada, my sales people have reported that Duplicated versions of Shadow Steel are being sold around the city. The people buying them know they are knockoffs as there are plenty of ways to detect Duplicated items, but for something like this it doesn't matter. Duplicated Shadow Steel can be reheated and reforged into items that are nearly as good as those made by us. Even lower quality steel is still steel after all," Kariss told Shada during their next official meeting.

They were in Kariss's office at Shadow Steel Industries. The office was of Wylderfolk design, but with a new twist. Shaped steel was incorporated in such a way as to look like the room was made of metal logs and branches with stone in between. The metal was polished to a high shine and the Shadow Scribe office supplies were given pride of place.

"I assume that they are selling the Duplicates at a lower price point than we are currently?" Shada asked as he floated as a visible ball of light in the room.

"Yes, it appears our monopoly was rather short-lived. The feedstock of iron ore and charcoal were rather obvious giveaways after all. Once we reached market saturation among weaponsmiths and armorers here in Westlin it was inevitable that the Duplicators would become involved."

"I see, well the solution to that is simple. We lower the price."

"We will lose money if we do that, you and I set the prices based on the cost of production," Kariss said tensely.

"Well about that, you have worked with me for over a year now so you might as well know a little secret. I have been faking the Essence cost of the Steel producing black boxes significantly."

"What!? Why would you do that? Why wasn't I informed!?" Kariss practically shouted in surprise as she leaned forward with both hands on her desk staring at Shada's glowing form.

"You know that the actual enchantments for steel production are hidden, yes? They are hidden for good reason. Anyone that knows spellcraft would easily recognize some key components. The spells used by the Duplicators are highly inefficient and were purposely flawed by the person who created them. They have been passed down unchanged and unchangeable for generations. I fixed them. The ingots we are selling are Duplicates, perfect Duplicates, made with an improved more efficient version of the Duplication Spell. Of course there is preprocessing that purifies the iron ore and charcoal into pure iron and carbon using a technique I designed from scratch, but at the end of the day our ingots use much less Essence than the Duplication spells do to produce," Shada explained to his stunned manager.

"If that is true then where is the excess Essence going?" Kariss asked in obvious confusion. "We are dumping Essence Crystals into that machine by the bucket full on a daily basis!"

"We are also making buckets full of chips on a daily basis. It all evens out in the end or this wouldn't be a profitable business endeavor," Shada responded while bobbing up and down in his spirit form's version of a shrug.

"Ok, I get that, but what happens to the excess?" Kariss asked in an exasperated tone. Shada's often unflappable demeanor could be trying at times for her.

"After the facility was built I carved warded chambers from the bedrock," Shada answered nonchalantly.

"You mean there are chambers with Essence Crystals just sitting around below us right now? Do you know how many Crystals a year steel production costs? Of course you do! I am the one telling you the ongoing costs during each of our meetings! Shada, how much more efficient is the machine than I think?" Kariss said while running her hands through her hair in frustration.

"It depends on the quality of the feedstocks and a few other more esoteric factors that involve Etheric Resonance. Right now we have it priced as a luxury metal, especially the shinier corrosion resistant versions our smiths helped create, but we could still make a profit by lowering the price by a factor of five or even ten," Shada explained. "To be honest the devices can produce steel at a faster pace as well with some adjustments, but I put a few limiters on it to keep prices high. We will have to shift towards exporting, but there is no reason we can't keep the same profit margins."

"Shada, are you telling me that we have been producing steel using up to 10X the Essence Crystals that are actually needed to fuel the process and the rest are below us?" Kariss's voice was intense.

"Something like that; I honestly stopped doing inventory after the first few weeks. It took too long even after I created an enchantment just for Crystal counting, but then I got distracted and forgot to use it for a few weeks. By then it was too much of a chore for one spirit to do," Shada explained to the stunned Kariss.

"You are mad, you know that? A crazed demonic spirit sent here to torture me! By the Gods Shada, businesses need accurate accounting. I have been holding off on expansion in part due to the costs of purchasing new buildings in other cities. I can't run a growing business empire without knowing how much money we are using. I will gather a team of my most trusted employees and get them under strict Contracts then you will be showing me these hidden chambers! Now are there any other secrets about our business you are hiding?" a visibly frustrated Kariss asked.

"All our products are Duplicated using my perfected Duplication spell. Every blackbox in our factory is operating at multiple times the expense it costs us to actually produce anything and we have still been making a profit."

"Every single blackbox Shada? Everyone is actually a Duplicator? How is that possible? Duplication destroys the original item, everyone knows that! We aren't putting newly crafted items in to be Duplicated!"

"Again I improved the spell and associated enchantments. I figured out a way for the spell to store a template without requiring a new item each time. So, well, endless Duplicates from one item. In other words they have just been producing without new item input this entire time."

Kariss's eyes were large; the implications of what Shada had done left her stunned, and she couldn't help but consider the possibilities. They could take over every type of manufacturing and crafting. They could eliminate the need for entire professions and processes. The implications were staggering. "Why aren't we expanding this to, well, everything? If what you are saying is true, and you aren't known for lying, then we could usher in an era of material wealth that no one has ever imagined!"

"And crash the economy of entire nations and empires, creating civil unrest on a scale that could pull the world asunder. There is a reason that the original creator of the Duplication spell made it inefficient and unable to produce perfect Duplicates. It is difficult for me to explain why, because of personal secrets related to the source of my information, but there is a reason I started with products no one else was making."

"Yes, I get all that, but in theory you could create one of your blackboxes to Duplicate anything from raw materials right?" Kariss asked insistently.

"Yes and no; the efficiency of the process, as I have mentioned, depends on a lot of factors. The composition of the feedstock vs the end product, the complexity of what is being produced, the types of Essence that work best, and many other factors all play a role. I would also have to understand how something was made to properly design one of my devices. The real problem is, as I keep stressing, efficiency. Just like with Conjuring there is a point when the Essence needed to produce an item exceeds the value of the Essence used. The regular Duplication spell used by Duplicators has the same issue. It's why everything isn't Duplicated," Shada explained in a lecturing tone.

"I see. I don't, not really, but I trust that you understand the production side of things better than I do. So about those Essence Crystals, we need to take inventory and I need to know the real costs of production!" Kariss said, turning the conversation back to her area of expertise.

"Of course, I do understand, but I will need to carve doors and get Vanestra to redo the wards before that can happen. The chambers are sealed so only I can go in and out," Shada told his irritated manager.

—

Several days later a shocked Kariss and four assistants under restrictive Contracts were led through a convoluted series of narrow passages deep underground to Shada's chamber of secrets. Here the five people stood transfixed as they looked at an impressive pile of Essence Crystals just sitting on the floor like random debris. Periodically new Crystals fell from small shafts embedded in the walls and ceiling that led to the machines above.

"Shada I know you said that the process was more efficient than what you told me, but this? This is madness! Why are there so many? If this is the excess…we could have been running 10 other factories easily!" Kariss said as she gesticulated wildly at the piles of unused Essence Crystals. "I studied up on Duplicators while you carved the path down here. I know enough now to know that this is more than there should be. How? What did you change to improve the efficiency so much?" Kariss asked in something akin to awe.

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"Hmmm, first, most Duplicators don't know how their spell really works. It is flawed and inefficient by design. A significant cost comes from the destructive scanning of the starting item. My method only requires us to pay that cost once. Then there is the unique method I use to separate the iron and carbon from the ore and charcoal, which requires an understanding of chemistry, er, alchemy that isn't common. I won't go into detail as it requires too much background knowledge, but after processing, the inputs are pure so the Duplication spell doesn't have to work as hard. Finally the real key is Metal Essence. I figured out a technique for converting regular Essence into Metal Essence using a Conjuring trick I learned from my Essence Mastery Skill," Shada explained to the blank faced business manager.

"I only partially understand that explanation and I think the real answer is you are insane," Karisss grumped as her team began counting Crystals.

"There is a fine line between genius and insanity," was Shada's only response.

—

Change came slowly to Sierrallas. People were very much stuck in their ways when it came to crafting items. Innovation was rare and new products even rarer. Shadow Steel Industries and the Shadow Scribe Shop created ripples when their products were considered novelties of the rich, but with the prices dropping through the floor, those ripples became waves. Those waves took a while to propagate, but in time they reached the reclusive Dwarves of the Ice Fang mountains and even the Imperial Court of the Eastern Imperium thousands of miles away.

—

As his merchant empire grew Shada was slowly working on a much more secret project. He had debated with himself whether or not he should use his unusual combination of Conjuring and Holy Essence to help the Temple's efforts against the darker sides of magic. His Dungeon trip showed him how valuable weapons made of Holy materials could be, but he didn't want to spend all of his time producing them. So he was working on a solution based on the blackboxes in his factory.

The biggest problem was that regular materials did not react well to Holy Essence. They broke down, deteriorated, or corroded in strange ways. Pure precious metals were the least affected, but even those would have to be replaced periodically. Shada found that to be a truly suboptimal solution so had spent his spare time Conjuring replacement materials with Holy Essence. The process was slow and incredibly Essence intensive, but Shada was nothing if not patient.

In the Holy Essence workroom of the Mound there was a box glowing with Holy light. It did one seemingly simple thing. It produced an ingot of steel, not just any steel, but Holy Steel. It Conjured the Holy Steel from the Etheric Plane on demand. It took a lot of Holy Essence to charge the ritual enchantment hidden inside the box, but anyone with access to Holy Essence could power it.

The Holy Steel itself appeared to glow from within as all Holy materials did. Raelis couldn't even come near this workroom anymore and Vanestra had needed to add shielding wards to prevent the Holy aura from the box and what it produced from leaking throughout the Mound. Shada planned to offer the box to the Temple. With it they could produce a steady and reliable supply of Holy Steel to be forged into whatever they needed. Given enough time every Cleric, Priest, or Paladin would be able to have a Holy Artefact to carry with them.

The production of the first Holy Steel ingot was met with a burst of light and sound in Shada's mind. For the briefest moment he glimpsed a realm beyond his ability to comprehend, a place filled with golden light and the sounds of massive choirs singing hymns in a language that even his Polyglotism Skill couldn't recognize. In the distance he saw the Goddess Sierra, this was the real Sierra in all her glory, not the pale imitation of the avatar he had encountered. Here was light, glory, hope, and joy made manifest. She smiled at Shada before the visions vanished and his Guide let him know he had notifications.

Shada checked his Path and sure enough it now included the new Attribute.

He hadn't been able to advance his Attributes as much as he liked and was stuck at level 19 to avoid putting excess strain on Luca, but his new Attribute gave him something to work on.

Skills were not what Shada had thought when he first arrived on Sierrallas. They weren't a measure of his real ability or competency at a task, but a representation of how much help the System would provide to accomplish a task based on Essence invested and understanding. They were more like quick cast spell slots or simple hotbars from games. So his real life abilities could exceed those granted by the System, but System granted Skills were more automated and never failed to work at the listed Level and Rank. Skills saved time, they saved effort, and they never failed.

Much like other aspects of his Status Sheet, Shada's Path Skills were stuck at the Novice/Beginner rank due to his inability to Cultivate without harming Luca. Even now there were side effects of Shada's magical workings.

—

When Shada was ready to present the Golden Goose to the Temple of Sierra in Westlin the Goddess decided that the occasion required a bit of extra pageantry and provided a bit of theatrics to the whole thing. Shada had originally planned to just stuff the box in his inventory and then go visit the Temple, but Sierra had other plans.

"Sha Sha, I had a dream. The Goddess told me about the special box you made and wanted us to present it to the Temple together," Luca told him a few days after Shada completed the project.

"Together? Why would she ask that of us or you?" Shada asked in confusion.

"She said she has a thing about spectacle and we represent a unique opportunity," Luca said while trying to remember the details of the dream.

Shada was poking the point inside himself and felt confirmation coming from his connection to Sierra, which lay dormant most of the time.

"Was there a plan?" Shada asked curiously.

"Oh yes! It should be fun!" Luca said happily while Shada got an uncomfortable feeling in his non-existent stomach.

—

In the central area of the Branches of Westlin was an area known simply as Temple Square. Temple Square was home not only to the Temple of Sierra, but also to temples, shrines, and monuments dedicated to the entire host of spirits and deities worshiped by the people of Westlin. Temple square resembled a queen's court with large column-like temples leading to the main Temple of Sierra, which took the place of a throne. The shrines were like courtiers mixed among the columns including larger than life statues. It was one of the most beautiful parts of the city.

A beam of golden light pierced the center of the square. Where it had touched down a blurred figure appeared shroud in the golden glow of Holy Essence. They were small and draped in voluminous white robes with golden trim, indistinct luminescence wings unfurled behind them as they approached the Temple of Sierra slowly.

While the glowing angelic figure was instinct, the box in their hands was crystal clear. It was snow white and embellished with gold filigree that framed polished steel decorations on each face. The steel was polished to a shine so bright that it appeared like liquid silver with the Holy Light that the box cast around itself.

The figures' slow progression caused a crowd to gather rapidly. People were drawn from the Temples on all sides of the square and the High Prelate herself stood at the top of the Temple steps waiting for the Divine figure to approach. People knelt, bowed, or full on prostrate themselves as the pageantry continued.

The figure didn't so much as climb the Temple steps as they seemed to float gently up. When they reached the large landing at the top they paused floating above the stone. Then a golden voice, light and musical, rang out. It was clearly heard among everyone in the square and far beyond the walls of Westlin.

"On this day the Goddess Sierra smiles upon the city of Westlin! Behold oh ye mortal men and women! I come bearing a Divine gift! Crafted not by mortal hands, but by the will of Her Agent on Sierrallas! Let this gift be a beacon in the darkness, let the fruit its bears be forged into Holy weapons and armor, may the Sanctus Ferrum Argentum of Sierra be a boon to all those who fight against evil, and may this Golden Goose serve as a reminder of Her love and Her grace for all the people of Her world!"

In another flash of Holy light the angelic figure disappeared after handing the Golden Goose to the stunned High Prelate Vallas whose knees quivered and hand shook as she held the box up high above her head for the entire crowd to see. There were shouts of joy and religious fervor, which led to an impromptu festival that lasted three days and nights.

The Golden Goose was given pride of place in the Temple, carefully guarded and warded, but visible to anyone who wished to see it. Throughout the day Priests, Paladins, and other Holy Classed individuals could be seen pouring their Holy Attuned Essence into the Artefact, which would at least once per day produce a Holy Steel ingot with a golden glow that was then led via procession to a Paladin with a Smith Profession to be turned into weapons and armor as the Goddess had instructed.