Chapter 422: An Absolutely Lovely Idea

Chapter 422: An Absolutely Lovely Idea

Tala and Rane entered the Constructionsts’ Guild with quite a bit of fanfare.

Well, to be fair, the fanfare was on the part of the attendants.

As soon as the magical detectors announced the presence of two Refined, they were swarmed with Archons offering them refreshments of various kinds as well as seeking to discern why they had come.

One sharp-eyed young woman even brought a small tray of treats for Terry. The avian, of course, ate them happily before returning to Tala’s shoulder, where he trilled loudly, causing everyone to freeze momentarily in startlement.

Into that silence, Tala spoke. “Thank you, Terry. Thank you all as well. We are looking for a consultation on dimensional storages.”

One of the attendants bowed, taking the lead. “Are you seeking an expert on soulbound or unbound storages?”

Tala let out a relieved breath at having such a clear path forward and smiled. “Soulbound, please.”

That caused most of the attendants to disperse as they weren’t able to offer assistance. Though, they did give appropriate bows and departing words.

Only a young looking man—who probably was many decades older than either Tala or Rane—remained, gesturing for them to follow him. “This way, Defenders. Master Torralos should be available for a consultation.”

They walked through the corridors, and Tala picked up many, many goings on with her threefold sight.

You know, I don’t think we’ve come to a Constructionist Guild since we consolidated our threefold sight.

-No, I don’t think so.-

Interesting.

The attendant led them rather deep into the compound before opening a heavy door and leading them inside.

Within, a surprisingly tall, thin man was working across several surfaces, magical projections highlighting various parts with notes scribbled around the illusory version of the objects above the tables.

Most seemed—as was reasonable—to be relating to dimensional storages directly or indirectly. A lot seemed to have incomplete notes as made sense for items undergoing research, but Tala only caught a passing glance.

The man turned their way when they came in and smiled, placing what he’d been working on to the side. “Ahh! Auspicious guests indeed.”

He walked over before bowing to each in turn.

“I am, of course, Torralos. Do my eyes deceive me, or are you Mistress Tala and Master Rane?”

Rane and Tala exchanged a look before Tala shrugged and turned back to the Constructionist. “We are, yes. Do you know us, somehow?”

“Of course! I have quite enjoyed watching your battles.” He said this to Tala, directly before turning to Rane. “Your singular fight was quite interesting as well. Though, I will admit, I had thought Mistress Tala would be the Defender to fight when her unit’s section was attacked.” He laughed jovially. “That serves me right for not paying attention to the latest unit rosters!”

The attendant bowed, drawing the man’s attention. “Master Torralos, can I do anything further to assist?”

“No, thank you, Master Atdane.”

Master Atdane bowed toward Tala and Rane before departing. “Best of luck to you two.”

When the door swung shut again, Master Torralos clasped his hands. “Now, I assume that you’re here about dimensional storages?”

“Yes.” Tala frowned. “You know that because it’s your specialty?”

He beamed in return. “But of course! At my level of specialization, the only other reason you’d be here is some sort of mixup, and Master Atdane isn’t one to make such an error.”

Tala shrugged again. “Well then, let’s get to it.”

She and Rane briefly outlined a bit about themselves along with what they were thinking and the issues that they were facing.

Master Torralos listened attentively, then shook his head. “I trust you did not convey this to Master Atdane?”

Tala frowned, checking the time. It had taken them nearly half an hour to lay out all the specifics and answer follow-up questions. “No. So... you can’t help us? There was a mistake?”

“You? No. There was no mistake, even if I’m not really necessary. That said, I won’t allow you to do anything so foolish as bonding another dimensional storage.” He then looked at Rane. “As for you, Master Rane, you could bond with your dimensional storage, but nothing that you expressed makes me think that is necessary, nor even a good idea.”

Rane tilted his head to one side. “Can you explain?”

The man was clearly happy to talk on the topic. “Of course! One of the things I am asked most often—and honestly what I thought you two were coming to ask—was how to merge two already soulbound storages, once a marriage has taken place.”

Tala flushed, and Rane cleared his throat, slightly stammering. “We’re... we’re not married.”

Master Torralos looked at Rane like he was an idiot. “Of course not, Master Rane. Am I a mageling to have been unable to see that you are unbound? Even so, only a fool waits until the bond is struck to sort out such important details. Indeed, the meshing of storages is a delicate art, which requires great expense, time, and attention.”

“But—?” Tala started.

He cut her off. “But you are in an enviable position.” He pointed at Rane. “You don’t need a soulbound storage at the moment, so the one you currently have will do. Honestly, you are in quite a good position, being so young and so advanced.” He then pointed to Tala. “You need a bifurcated storage, which is one of the most popular solutions for dimensional storage between spouses, even if that is not why you need it at the moment.”

“What is a bifurcated storage?”

“Well, a dimensional storage can be seen as conceptual space, held together by a magical mind which is constantly aware of everything within it, thus maintaining the existence of all that it contains.”

Tala gaped slightly. “What?”

With a thought, Tala took both herself and Rane into her sanctum, bypassing the physical entry, as that was only required for those without deeper access.

Indeed, it had been a major boon when they’d figured out how to have Master Simon, Mistress Petra, Adrill, Brandon, and Kedva be able to enter and leave with a request to Kit, just as they’d been able to move around within the dimensional storage for some time, now.

Regardless, Tala arrived within and used the internal communication construct to flag down her assistants.

Master Simon asked her to lower the magic density where she was, and she did so with a thought.

Soon thereafter, the three men showed up, along with a couple other newer faces.

Ahh, so these gateless are why he wanted the power density lowered. No need to give them a rebirth by accident.

Master Simon quickly explained when Tala cocked an eyebrow, “They are learning the ropes in the hopes of joining our various research efforts.”

Tala considered for a moment, then shrugged. “Sure, I suppose that makes sense.”

She and Rane then explained their intentions.

“Ahh, that does make sense.” Master Simon smiled. “I apologize, but honestly, I can’t say that I’ve ever come across such a utilization of dimensional storages. Maybe it’s something only supportable by Refined, or I simply didn’t ask the right people or the right questions.”

“Completely understandable, Master Simon. No one can be an expert in all fields, nor think of all options. That is why working together is useful.”

He smiled and bowed. “Thank you, Mistress Tala. If I am recalling correctly—with regard to bifurcated storages—there is some inherent stress to be taken into account, but that shouldn’t factor here.”

When Tala frowned, the man explained further.

“There is an active strain upon the soul and mind which doesn’t exist for purely separate storages... At least that is my understanding. If the Constructionist didn’t mention it, it is possible that this is another area in which Refined simply bypass the difficulty.”

She found herself nodding. “Such as a soulbound Archive link and sub-mind.”

He smiled. “Quite like that, yes.”

“Alright, let’s see what we can do.”

It was trivial for her to separate her sanctum from Irondale, given they were already all but separate, only connected by a long thin bit of dimensionality.

She moved that space over to Irondale, only leaving a bit of extended volume for easy reconnection if she ever so desired.

Then—with everyone present monitoring the situation with all their various means—Tala willed for a doorway to appear leading out of her sanctum.

The gate in and out of Irondale remained. So, Tala—honestly—thought adding the secondary door would be difficult.

It wasn’t.

A door opened before her, leading out onto the alley beside Artia’s shop.

She felt an odd pulling at her mind, as if she was now even more aware of everything within her sanctum than she had been before, but in an odd, disconnected sense that was difficult to quantify.

She could still feel Kit’s influence, it wasn’t as if she’d cut the voidling off from a part of herself, but Tala still felt like something of the burden of the dimensional storage had shifted from Kit to herself and Alat.

Interesting, so we couldn’t do it again, as we’re considered the same mind?

-Sadly, it seems like not. We likely aren’t split enough. I’m sort of layered overtop of your thoughts rather than entirely separate from them.-

At the same time as the shift in mental load, Tala felt a... closing off? Something like that.

She knew that it was no longer a matter of strength, and she simply would be unable to move directly into Irondale. Though, she could still will things within Irondale to move around within that partition.

Given that her sanctum was still within the dimensional sway of Irondale, Tala could will herself out of her sanctum and then back into Irondale, but there was what amounted to a conceptual block, preventing her from going directly from one to the other.

“Fascinating,” it was Brandon who spoke first. “I cannot move to Irondale, but it doesn’t feel like I’m being blocked, simply that I can’t.”

Master Simon nodded. “Before, it was like taking a step, easy, unobstructed. Now, I’m on the edge of a cliff, so where I wish to step simply isn’t there.” He frowned. “But without the danger that seems to imply.”

There was a lot more back and forth, and the three senior researchers spoke at length with their tag-alongs, explaining the various readings and fluctuations measured and what those could possibly mean.

-Tag-alongs? They have names.-

And if Brandon, Master Simon, or Adrill find them worthy, I will happily learn them.

Alat huffed a laugh but didn’t disagree.



Terry had stood up, stretching and looking about now that things had calmed down a bit.

Then, Tala felt him flicker, barely touching Alefast before appearing in Irondale—off in the wilderness away from anyone else. Then, he flickered back, once more barely brushing Alefast before returning to her shoulder.

Tala grinned. “That’s right, so long as the two are overlapping, it is effectively the same, but we are going to be moving beyond that range, that’s one of the points of this split.”

Rane stepped up beside her. “So... do you want to go for a run to test out the displacement limits between the two?”

She turned to look his way, a smile pulling at her lips. She felt a little playful, and so she decided to tease him just a bit, “Why, Master Rane, that is an absolutely lovely idea.”