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Chapter 634 - The Treaty of Kazehara V
🕑 Added 2025-02-24 15:00:16 +0000 UTCKawaji stood up at the front of the room, a little later than usual.
It was fine. Nobody had left breakfast, although I sensed a few people higher up sleeping off a huge night of partying and drinking.
Oh, they were so fucked. This was not the time to sleep in and miss things. A part of me said I should let them sleep in and miss things, a benefit to me. Another part told me to go in and personally wake them up, possibly making them indebted to me and swinging a few votes my way.
Damnit Arachne. I have regrets.
Instead, I chose the middle path, and [Teleported] a glass of water over all of them.
Upside down.
The spluttering and cursing was deeply satisfying, and the rest was up to them now. A small, petty part of me delighted that I’d end up far better dressed than them. I’d gotten up extra early just to do myself up to the eights. I looked fantastic, white tunic with gold trim, hair beautifully curled and makeup expertly applied, and I knew it.
I didn’t know if I wanted to curse the bond-given vanity or not.
“Welcome honored delegates!” Kawaji said, some skill or another muffling whispers and letting his voice carry. “Today is the day the great summit of Kazehara begins! We are a little later in the order of things, as none of you are particularly large. The organizers have decided that a few minutes spared on the sphinxes, treants, and other large creatures will dramatically help with logistics further down. As you are all on the small and nimble side, we will be waiting outside until called in. Patience from everyone as we wait will be appreciated. Nullifiers, or Cancelers if you use that term, will be in effect, preventing skills from being used. If you would please follow me at the end of the announcements?”
The kappa repeated his speech in a dozen more languages, waved to catch all of our attention - I totally had paid attention the entire time - then left out the doors. We started to file out after him. Katarina fell in step beside me.
“Thought I had another minute, sorry for the late request. Skye and I are part of a small former-Exterreri voting block. Sentinel Queen’s in it as well. Are you interested?”
I’d been expecting something like this. And Queen was around! I hadn’t seen her yet, I had to go say hi.
“Possibly, in broad strokes.” I agreed. “There’s no expectation to vote in lockstep is there?”
Katarina shook her head.
“No, we know it would never work.”
I shrugged. I’d already mulled over what I’d say when asked.
“Sure, sounds good to me. Unrestricted medicine’s my big concern.”
I hadn’t gotten a chance to see the large central arena that all the apartments had surrounded. Part of me had been curious, but there were so many other things to see and do that I hadn’t peeked in yet. Given that I might be here for several weeks, I figured I’d get my fill now.
I must’ve passed through some sort of barrier - and damn, it was a good one, I hadn’t even noticed it existed - and the arena snapped into view.
It was the same arena, but I was inside the cloak that had hidden all the people around it. I looked up and my eyes went wide.
Around the top of the arena were a series of large platforms, and I immediately zeroed in on the three dragons lazily perched up there. One black-scaled, one silver-scaled, and I vaguely recognized the flood dragon.
Oh! It was the [Cerulean Scholar] from the School! I guess that made sense. I did a bit of wild speculating. Most dragons didn’t bother to lower themselves to us measly lifeforms, but this arena was one of the few times they could throw their weight around? Remind us about their power? Or maybe they had their own terms they wanted to dictate to us. Or just be in a position to roast us all if we started to make dragon hunting teams. This was exciting!
Huh, there had to be some serious Spatial warping going on for the dragons to fit on the platforms. They shouldn’t be that small, not compared to some of the age markers I was seeing. At the same time, the [Cerulean Scholar] had his home in a spatially warped space in the first place, perhaps it was his work?
The great riddler sphinxes were next to the dragons, lion’s paws crossed as they peered down. Each one had a pair of attendants, which felt massively unfair for a moment before remembering they were probably for the rest of us. They had to speak in riddles, and a [Translator] was a blessed addition for the rest of us. I didn’t spot any phoenix representatives - it would’ve been nice to say hi to Sasha - but there were a few noble kirins.
Part of me wondered why they weren’t transforming into elvenoids to better join the groups, but maybe there were a number of kirins who’d joined up.
A pair of cyclops had another platform, and giants ringed the arena, peering in. They were in distinct factions, the snow giants of Modu - they had ice crystals forming around them, a little thermal skill to keep them comfortable - the high priests from the Tabernacle, and quite a few from Bhutai. I spotted Kunchenjab! The [Runesmith] from the Monastery who’d helped me out with Spatial Wizardry. He was standing next to one of the [Head Monks], which suggested he was here because he was one of the best [Runesmiths] in the world, not as the leader of a group.
Ah. Scattered monasteries. That’s why there were so many giants here! Some of the ice giants were arguing down, their words muffled by skills. From their body language and the stormy looks on their faces, they weren’t too happy about something. They were talking down into the arena, but more skills were in play. Couldn’t hear a word they were saying. It did make me wonder how they were managing light with both vampires and trolls.
Hadn’t seen any trolls so far. I probably would once I got inside.
Our group halted a little outside one of the entrances, and I could see dozens of other groups of elvenoids scattered around their own entrance.
Part of me wanted to wonder just how many people were here. Like, this was only a few select groups! Everyone was representing hundreds to thousands of people, and there were so many.
Put in a different lens though… this was it? Take the people here, multiply by a hundred, and that was the entire world population? A hundred was on the low end for a [Governor] or [Mayor], but the number of Wardens, specialists, and others brought that average down significantly. People who couldn’t make it brought the numbers back up, but it was sobering.
Did giants even have a viable population? The titans seemed to be gone… although there hadn’t been a notification that they’d gone extinct. At the same time, viable population calculations got utterly torched by the giant’s practical Immortality.
I let that thought process spin off into its own musings. Kawaji signaled to us, and we stayed in a milling group for several minutes before the kappa got some unidentified signal.
“If you would all please follow me. There are small amulets as we enter, please pick one. It will tell the translation spell which language you’d like to hear.” He said. With only a bit of pushing and shoving - seriously, some of the people here needed to chill, there was no need for any of that - we streamed into the arena entrance, along with all the other groups waiting by the side.
Along the way I spotted rows and rows of small amulets, each one with a tiny language inscribed in it. Ooooh, they had Creation! Yes please!
The tunnels weren’t quite as direct as I would’ve wanted, but we shortly spilled out onto the floor of the arena. The place was definitely larger on the inside than the outside. The dragons and other large creatures were high up, looking down on us, and the giant’s faces ringed the arena. There were several dark, shimmering layers, that looked like the whole place was under dark glass. It very well might be under dark glass, along with a thousand and one more protections.
I didn’t know all of the security details, but I’d gotten pulled aside two days ago and asked extensively about my healing. A dozen tests later, and I was told that my healing had been whitelisted, and was going to be involved in part of the security of the place.
I wasn’t being told all of the methods - only a few people had been, and security was being handled by three different Classers who didn’t quite trust each other. The paranoia was basically mandatory, given how many lives were in their hands.
The long and the short of it was - I was to keep my healing up, and not try to use any other external skills.
A dozen or so seats up in the stands were taken already by various elvenoids. Oh hey, there was Susan! She already had a seat. Another section was marked off, and the treants were standing in the back of the arena. Made sense, they couldn’t exactly sit down, or go up to the large platforms. Most treants were too short to look over the arena like giants could.
There was a massive aquarium taking up about a quarter of the seats, and it was filled with people. A… my best guess for it was a kelp-treant that was slowly walking along the bottom. Beautiful mermaids swam around, and I counted myself lucky to see one in my lifetime. A mosasaurus and plesiosaurus type saurian were in there. Narwhal and shark beastkin were well represented, along with a single octopus beastkin. I looked around for a frog type, but didn’t see one.
The enchantments were as plain as day. Runic script covered everything, from the floors, on and over the chairs, up the walls and across the ceiling. They were slowly lighting up with the faint discharge of wasted mana. Part of me split off and started to study them all.
It was impressive, and the sheer number of redundancies had me taking notes. The protection was obvious, but a minor layer… was the bulk of the material translation spells? Redundant translation spells? Oh, this was neat, I needed to take more notes, I could level just studying all this…
There was a platform at the front of the arena, and a raised table with thirteen people sitting at it. A lower table had three people and an epic stack of paper in front of each one. All three of the lower people had some weirdness around them, clearly allowed to use their skills just like I was. Light was faintly flickering from one to the rest of the seats, the second one had an ear trumpet in, and the Wind was gently swirling around the third. One central devil on the higher portion was seated higher than the rest in the middle, armed with a gavel and a ridiculously powdered wig. I quickly skimmed the rest of them.
First and most obviously was Night, sitting near the central devil. A lich was in fine regalia. I assumed the gold-masked Warden was the head honcho. The Witch in White from the School had a seat. A very nervous and low-level kitsune - for the event in question, only 312 - had a chair, along with a trio of elves. A harpy, a demon, a yeti, and an elvenoid that smelled of fur rounded out the members.
The arena was built large, but we were all packed in together. Every race was represented in one place. Trolls and ogres, dullahans and gnomes, liches and minotaurs, werewolves and kobolds. Mermaids swam with selkies in the aquarium. Even the extremely rare races were here, some of which I’d only ever read about, like nymphs.
All types of saurians were here, from the triceratops to the dilophosaurus, from stegosaurus to spinosaurus.
The devil stood up and banged his gavel once. Instant silence fell over the crowd, enforced by powerful skills. He only needed to speak once, and the translation whispered in all our ears.
“My name is Verris Lexael. I am the chief of the High Council for the Summit at Kazehara. We will be the ones managing who speaks, who talks, the agenda, and who is allowed to vote. The three [Scribes] in front of me will be managing the voting and tallying. The rules state that the members of the High Council may only make a single proposal, and are barred from voting. However, we are the ones who select who may vote. The division is an attempt to prevent blatant favoritism, an attempt at checks and balances. If we don’t have buy in for the treaty forged over the following weeks, there will be no adherence to it. If nobody is paying attention to the agreement, there is no purpose to us being here, and all this time and expense will be worthless. All of you are potential candidates, but there is a selection process, and a chance to challenge, for most of you. For the first group, I will hand you off to Rindaer.”
The devil sat down, his oversized wig swaying, and the gold-masked Warden stood up and barked out orders.
“Wardens! To your seats!” He shouted. The masked men and women of the Order mixed into the crowd snapped off a salute, then filtered through to their seats. Already I had a little more elbow room. Rindaer sat back down. The lich stood up next.
I wonder how many times they had to practice and rehearse this?
Wait.
Given the levels involved, and given how old I knew some of them to be, I wonder how many times they’d done this. Goddess, that was a depressing thought.
“All of you who believe you are here to represent a people, territory, or race, please shuffle forward. Those of you who believe you’re here for other reasons, if you’ll move back a bit to help make space, yes, thank you.” The lich declared.
I shuffled back, other people shuffled forwards. Skye gracefully surged to the front of the crowd.
“Good luck.” I muttered to Katarina in passing. Her shadow legionnaire had abandoned her. The [Cancelers] were good, but that unfortunately meant I had my shadow again and couldn’t troll people with it. She stiffly nodded to me.
“Welcome, welcome, excellent!” The lich grinned wildly, and let his skull ‘unhinge’ off his neck. Shudders went through the audience. “Now, this is going to take some time. Shorter than the poor folks in the back there. You. Who are you, and where are you from? The typical area I see you lot from is called the Tuvan Tribes, none of this yeti-yuki fighting nonsense now.” He asked, pointing to Skye.
The yeti on the council snorted and rolled his eyes.
Skye cleared her throat.
“Skye, [Princess] of Orthus, of the territory formerly known as Exterreri.”
“Exterreri!” The lich’s crown jumped off his head like he was surprised, neatly landing back on top. Was… he entirely sane? “You’re a long way from home! Alright! Skye, of Orthus, in Exterreri! Does anyone contest her claim?”
There was a moment of silence.
“No! Good, grab a seat. Next!”
It all went smoothly, people being picked, declaring their location, and the lich waving them through, until a strapping young gnoll was selected.
“Rongrr of the Icewind Tribe of Dairalt.”
“Rongrr of the Icewind Tribe of Dairalt!” The lich shouted. “Anyone to contest his claim?”
“Yes!” Another, older gnoll stomped through the crowd. “Rongrr! What are you doing here!? You were told to stay at home.”
The lich cleared his throat.
“Well, excuse me, but who are you, and what’s your claim?”
“I am Burlorr, [Chieftain] of the Icewind Tribe of Dairalt. This is my wayward son, who was told to stay at home, and who somehow managed to make it here.”
“Oh my!” The lich’s skeletal hands theatrically flew to his mouth. The rest of the High Council was rapidly becoming more alert. “A dispute! Rongrr, are you the [Chieftain] of the Icewind Tribe?”
The gnoll shook his head, and the lich’s face grew enraged. Somehow. There had to be skill bullshit to get emotions like that on a skull, nevermind the appearance of breathing and clearing his throat. One of the elves put a warning hand on the skeleton’s arm, and Verris stood up.
“Burlorr, are you the [Chieftain] of the Icewind Tribe?”
“I am.” He said.
“Do we believe anything more needs to be said, and are there any other objections?” The devil asked.
After a moment of silence, he continued on. I made a mental note to myself - if I had any objections or wanted to get a word in, do it fast. Step one of noticing something was going on was to speed up my thought process to the max. It should give me enough time to react.
“All those in favor of Rongrr to represent the Icewind Tribe, raise your hand.” He waited a moment, and not a single hand went up. “All those in favor of Burlorr to represent the Icewind Tribe raise your hand.”
Twelve hands belonging to the High Council went up, and the three [Scribes] dutifully wrote down the numbers. A moment later they each flashed up a card. Twelve was written in blue, one was written in green, and a big fat zero was written in red. Side one, abstain, and side two, if I didn’t miss my guess.
“Burlorr will represent the gnolls of the Icewind Tribe. Rongrr will be removed from the event.” Verris announced. A different elf snapped his fingers and pointed to Rongrr, who popped out of existence.
“He has been teleported away, and will not be allowed back in.” Verris announced. “He is otherwise unharmed. I will not repeat this the next time we need to remove a delegate.”
The process continued at a good clip, and there was only one more interesting part before it all wrapped up.
“I would like to make a minor objection, if I could.” A finely dressed [Noble] from Rolland looked nervous. Verris narrowed his eyes.
“I trust this is a well-considered objection, and not a frivolous waste of everyone’s time.” He said.
The [Noble] cleared his throat.
“I’m ruling over a city of about 6,000 people, and responsible for lands of about twice that number. Yet, it sounds like I’ll have the same weight as the leader of a tribe of around 80 people. It feels like there is a disparity in weight of responsibility and scope to votes. If I took the same land and split it 200 different ways, I’d get significantly more voting weight for the same number of people.”
Huh. Wow. He was almost single-handedly bringing the average up. That was a lot of people.
The devil nodded.
“Everyone will have a different number of votes assigned to them, depending on a number of factors that we will determine. You will be told once everyone is seated, as the number of people and their distribution is a factor. It is not fair. I will not pretend it is fair. But it is the best system we’ve found so far.”
Verris sat back down, the lich went back up, glaring at the [Noble] for daring to interrupt.
The penny dropped.
The penny fucking dropped.
That was Anurak, the mad lich behind the Pekari. No wonder he was managing all the rulers, he probably already knew them already!
And I could easily imagine that if he was ticked off enough, he might pay them a little ‘visit’ sometime down the line.
… That was possibly my imagination running away with me. Everyone else on the High Council wouldn’t tolerate that, would they?
He summoned the next person.
It left me with one thought. If votes could be apportioned… why were practically all the Wardens here? Wouldn’t one Warden holding all their votes work?
There was probably a damn good reason lurking around somewhere.
The rest of the rulers finished up with only a few more spats and disputes. I was a little surprised, I thought most of them would be handled before we got here. The most interesting one was a city with a ruling triumvirate, where two of the members had shown up, each one insisting they were the proper ruler. The High Council had a really close 7-6 vote, with Verris casting the tiebreaker. It took way too long, and the lich - who STILL hadn’t said his name - was in a Mood afterwards.
Also, Rindaer had to step in when a visiting lich requested his seat on behalf of all Penujuman Necrocracy.
“A reminder that constructs are not considered citizens. In this august meeting, we only count those living beings that are proven to have a soul and a connection to the System, those deemed as elvenoid or superior.” Night said, with a glance up high to the dragons. “Regrettably, those created, or brought back to life, depending on how you view the world and events, by the venerated [Lifebringers] are not qualified to count as members. As devastating as it is, we have had historical issues with people attempting to play games with artificial life and summits of this nature in the past. Do not construe my words-”
Verris pointedly coughed and looked at Night. Night stared him down, and the devil turned away. He continued. “-as saying they are in any way lesser, simply that we will not be considering their numbers. Please, continue to treat them as your neighbors and your friends, and do not allow internal policy here to dictate your actions at home.”
Having said his part, and spoken for the first time, Night sat back down.
Verris got back up at the end.
“Next, we have the specialists. The experts in their field. The best of the best. Please step forward.”
I stepped up along with most of the crowd, and I spotted an old, familiar face. Mormerilhawn! The [Referee] from the School. Huh. I wondered if I was going to see any deities here?
The Witch in White stood up, and unrolled a flowery scroll. Literally, it had flowers growing off of it. She cleared her throat and started to speak.
“The following professions are up for consideration. [Tailor]. [Alchemist]. [Farmer]. [Fisher]. [Weaver]. [Mason]. [Carpenter]. [Driver]. [Drover]. [Dyer]. [Leatherworker]. [Ropemaker]. [Jeweller]. [Lawyer]. [Sailor]. [Scribe]. [Plumber]. [Merchant]. [Cook]. [Miller]. [Smith]...”
The list went on and on, and I relaxed when I heard [Healer]. Excellent. It was comprehensive, and there were more jobs listed than people here.
She finished reading and rolled the scroll up.
“If there is any profession I didn’t name, please step up now.”
A man with a mask and a flowing cape dramatically stepped up. I wanted to roll my eyes at him. This was a meeting, not a theater stage!
“I believe my invitation was misplaced, -”
Ohhh, he was so getting teleported out of here. I wish I had someone close to me to bet how long it’d take.
“But as I am the greatest [Thief] in the world, I was able to steal my way in. We are woefully under-”
The Witch in White cut him off.
“All in favor of allowing [Thieves] a seat at the table.” She called out. The yeti raised his hand, and got dirty looks from half the High Council, and most of the audience. He was serene under the collective glare.
“All those opposed.”
Eleven hands went up, and a pair of fingers snapped to a faint pop.
“Excellent. Moving on. Who would like to begin?”
One of the elves stood up.
“I would like to begin by presenting an unusual guest, and a potentially contentious candidate. Royal, the apista, representing [Beekeepers]. Are there any other candidates for the position? This includes the representative from Kyowa, if she is here.” She asked.
There was a moment of silence, then the elf continued.
“Royal’s qualities for the position are numerous. Basic competency in the field is a given. She has traveled the world, collecting bees of every species. She has fields of hives, testing every given combination. She has written treatises on bee-flower-honey combinations. She has, with the help of millions of buzzing friends, revived multiple species of plants. Royal has made literal rivers of honey, and…”
The elf went on in quite some time in this vein, extolling Royal’s virtues and accomplishments. They were as impressive as I suspected.
Verris stood up at the end.
“Are there any questions?”
I’d worked out the human with the furry smell was a selkie, rare as they were. She raised her hand, and was acknowledged.
“What knowledge do you have on the impact of laws and policies impacting beekeeping?”
Royal blinked.
“Basically none. It’s not my area of interest.”
“Thank you.”
She sat back down, and the questions continued. The interrogation was much more extensive than for ruling a tribe or town. In the end, Verris stood up.
“All those in favor of allowing Royal a seat as a delegate?” He asked.
Nine hands went up for yes, three hands went up for no, and Royal was seated. Yikes - I thought she was more than qualified, but getting that many dissenting votes?
“Who is next?” Verris asked.
Night stood up.
“I would like to present a second contentious candidate, and I am aware of two people vying for the same position. Would Elaine Elaine and Elaine Silon please approach?”
It was go time! Heart in my throat, I approached the bench, aware of the eyes of the world upon me.
Comments
Harry Hirsch
Who the heck is this wannabe healer. His name didn't even became the word for his supposed "expertise" that's the least you should aim for if you want to be called expert for something.
Trevor Mergen
Thanks!
Clinton Walsh
Just re read and yeah it turns out Flora is the daughter of Ranger Kallisto who married a senators daughter. They were part of her small circle of friends while a sentinel. Flora (as a little kid) gifted Elaine a flower and even baby Auri could tell that the flower should be treated special.
David Hall
It’s sounds like the rulers may have an interest in not letting the most suitable candidate represent if they want to vote otherwise
Roombot
Ahhhh yes, you’re right
CringeWorthyStudios
She actually did that a while back, which was probably the skill. I think it was the last chapter of the book that just dropped. The interlude with the demon with a cleaning obsession.
CringeWorthyStudios
Wish granted.
DireGoat
There is no way that dragon is Lankat. That would have had Elaine panicking at the very least.
Thorium
Just looked it up, and you are right, Arachne did call it Creation. Elaine Elaine it is.
Phsteven
I don't think that that is the case because I'm pretty sure Arachne called it creation in her interrogation of Elain, and still believed that it meant healer...
Skitterdidnothingwrong
If [Elaine] Elaine becomes representative she should present a motion to rename [Elaines] to back [Healers] just for her sanity
Taylor
And if the black dragon there IS LunKat, and also recognizes her... that would be just... peachy ;)
MoonlitShade
I don’t care one way or another if she becomes the representative but there better be a badass scene where all these immortals realize that she is the Mother of Modern Medicine ect ect
Kurosov
It's not a case of the gods selecting a representative. It's a case of two choices brought forward without consensus and as a result asking the god which is the better healer.
TroubleFait
I seem to remember Elaine spent some time fawning over baby White Witch (Flora), before she skipped through time. Flora might not remember Elaine, but Elaine should remember Flora. Not sure Elaine knows Flora = White Witch though.
Quantenmecha
Yeah. I mixed them up. Fixed it, thanks.
bcdp
IIRC, she supposedly is the daughter of one of her Ranger team mates back in the past.
zadcap
As part of proving their credentials, she gets asked to name a most impressive single healing she's ever had to do. "That would probably be that time I stumbled upon Lun, uh," *points at the visible moons* "yeah, that took me a couple weeks..."
TeaGeek
They may be of the camp of limiting higher level healers to immortal lands, which is counter to Elaine’s stance. I can see a few valid arguments being fielded, chief among them being the same sort of limits Elaine faced with vitriol against other oathbound healers stunting local healer development. Since the whole grasping immortality thing was a major issue at the level limit introduction, I’m sure it is mostly a political reason stemming from segregating immortal and mortal lands, though.
Clinton Walsh
If Elaine (Healer) Silon has more political connections and is shooting for the same objectives (and ideally wasn't the bloke who let healers get the short end of the stick at the last convention) then they might be the better person to represent healers. Elaine has definitely been growing in this way but she is still new/inexperienced in the political arena. Plus Elaine's other friends who are there will likely vote for medical freedom simply so they can look her in the eye when they go back home anyway. I'd love to see Elaine represent. And she is arguably the best healer. But she might not be the best to represent all healers. Not to say she wouldn't do a fine job. It's a question of good, better, best I think.
Clinton Walsh
I'm not sure the gods* are going to want to have input at this event otherwise they would have already selected a representative. Edited for spelling correction*
Clinton Walsh
I don't think the White Witch ever knew Elaine personally. So why would Elaine care? She already knows the White Witch got all the way to the present day 'the hard way' rather than time skipping through a fae circle.
Jason Hardman
Her necklace is translating into creation from whatever Night spoke in, although I'm not sure what else Night would choose other than his "birth" language. When Elaine first became a healer, it was a known term in the creation language they all used at the time. It does suggest that creation has changed as all languages do, and picked up the Elaine == Healer meaning that most languages appear to have. If that's the case then there should be a preexisting, if archaic, word though. I wonder if it will come up in the debate to follow. Another take would be that "Creation" being the original language, the language of the gods, that some people there were born with the knowledge of, should be stable and perfect. Therefore, Elaine wouldn't mean Healer, and it has instead been translated wrongly. Not that it should require translation, as it's most likely the language Night would speak.
Patrick
Crelers are Innworld creatures. Do you mean Vorlers?
Lijwent
Oh the power of the one handling the teleportation, I mean the one teleported like the thief must have thousand of vitality and cost a staggering amount to remove from the arena
Quantenmecha
If every sapient species is there, will we see some vorlers making their case for doing … vorler-things?
Quantenmecha
I wouldnt put it past Elaine to ask LunKat because Elaines is mid-speech nd forgot to care about social stuff
Quantenmecha
As described, multple people handled security independent of each other (due to their paranoia), so i think its reasonable to assume that Silas is also providing aoe healing for the event.
Joshua Little
Thanks for the chapter.
Roombot
This is random but it just occurred to me that [Everywoman] should include the skill to blow epic smoke rings with her pipe. I’d love to see artwork of her and Fenrie smoking together, making cool smoke art like Gandalf
Daniel B
They could call in the founder of the school of sorcery and spell craft and ask her who the first teacher of Elaineing was.
Nait02
Ah yes, Showoff Time! I divine invoking Ciriel xD
Daniel B
like a hang nail... or a paper cut.
Daniel B
Probably not, but she may vouch that the school had confirmed her identity.
Joppest
Congrats on 14 books!
Isaac Boyles
Yeah but I doubt anyone wants to ask LunKat anything
Khal Lee
I am sooo hoping to see Scholar Elaine Elaine... Proffessor Mad Healer Elaine, or maybe Witchie Brrrrpt Elaine! Gogogo! But in meantime thanks for my new ebook and this chapter!
Roombot
Oh she better not get her seat stolen by this newcomer
Andrew
Thank you!
DocSmitty
Probably LunKat too assuming she’s the black dragon. Amber miiiight be there as an expert, Artemis is not
elijah pickett
Gaaarganlaaah! The cliff😭
Hauke Sattler
We know that there are at least five who could vouch for her being the original. (Auri was too young back then) Elaine Night Witch in White Artemis Amber
Thorium
Vitus, the translator, specifically referred to it as the Vampire Tongue, not Creation, which I took to mean that the vampires were using a language mostly faithful to Creation, but with some language drift, while Creation remains the language the gods installed in everyone they created and therefore has no language drift unless the gods decide to change it.
tr13ze
Thanks for the chapter 😁
Ronny Cook
The fact that it's her healing backing up security speaks for her relative expertise. What Silas has going for them is likely depth and breadth of experience as a healer. Aside from the aftermath of the Immortal War and her few years in Remus, Elaine's experiences as a healer are largely restricted to Exterri (which had cultural similarities to Remus). Honestly, Silas is probably a genuinely better candidate, unless they're fairly "young."
Phsteven
no because of language drift. In the however many years that the Reman Empire was around after she went to the fae, her name became synonymous with healer in creation too. She complains about this in book 8 when she first talks to the vampire translator.
TheBotler
My fingers are struggling to hold on to this cliff! But I must keep holding!
SwitchBlaze
Highly interesting chappie. Thank you.
Kurosov
On healing ability they likely both excel in different area's. If this Silas is a typical "the best" candidate then they're likely much higher levelled than elaine, each level gives stats and and higher skills go further. Elaine on the other hand has class quality, her skills are more useful at a base level, she gets more stats per level compounded by the fact that she got the better quality classes at a lower level, she's got system weight strongly affecting her options each class up and most importantly she's got downright absurd multipliers. She always healed way above her level in the past and the only limitation was she never had the mana to support it, this issue was all but solved in her current build. I wouldn't be surprised if she can heal more effectively than a near ascension healer at this point.
Archer
Also, Lumanor, the elf guy that was given an original copy of her manuscripts, shortly after she first got Auri's egg, ended up using the knowledge from them to advance biomancy and creat the beast folk- and became a god. He still remembers her and knows who she is.
TheHornedOne
It does, but Elaine has meant healer for probably tens of thousands of years at this point, and is what everyone uses for healer. Since Elaine’s necklace translates creation, that’s why she hears healer as Elaine.
TheHornedOne
I mean, if it comes to that both White Witch and Night can verify her identity, no need to call in a goddess.
Thorium
I appreciated the Elaine Elaine joke, but wouldn’t Elaine hear Healer Elaine since she is getting everything translated into Creation?
TheHornedOne
The limit on healer level is only for mortal lands, so Silon is probably an immortal healer.
Hayden Pech
Exciting!
Bladehawk256
Does this mean maybe the white witch will finally tell Elaine who she is?
Kurosov
It should be easier for her to prove she’s THE Elaine this time if it’s called into question because not only does she have the documentation of the school acknowledging it but there are two people in that room who lived around the time when she wrote the manuscript and met her. There’s also the literal goddess of healing being the number one member of her fan club. Of course this other healer could be higher level but Elaine’s oath and class quality boosts do a lot to close the level gap.
Jason Hardman
So it'll be interesting to find out if this other healer is an immortal who predates the previous accords, and therefore attended them and allowed for the rule that limits healers to a certain level. Or is she bound by the previous accords and therefore is only level 255? Or maybe she knowingly breached those accords? Elaine, should get a pass if that objection is raised, because she was beyond that level long before it became a rule. I wonder if it's appropriate for the God of Healers (Ciriel?) to intervene and name her preferred candidate. So looking forward to the next chapter.
DowagerOfVeils
Elaine does speak Creation, though
Julian
Elaine Silon might have been the class representative for the past few sessions for all we know.
Jason Hardman
I hope we finally get Elaine spelling out that she is the founder of modern healing, the Mother of Modern Medicine as one of her classes could have been; The Elaine. Every time it's come up to explain why was she named "Healer" has always been a bit unsatisfying to me as she's never really gone full bore to justify her credentials and explain that people have it backwards. "I wasn't named Elaine to mean one who heals, ALL healers are named such because that's my name. I was named Elaine for my father Elainus in ancient Remus tradition. I wrote the original Medical Manuscript and signed it with my name. My name became synonymous with "Healer" because all modern medicine was formed from the foundation that book provided."
joss sim
Funnily enough I can't picture healing stronger than Elaine's.
Kennyevilmonkey
I wish to inflict physical harm upon this cliffhanger...
Jason Hardman
Surely Creation has a word for Healer that predates "Elaine" coming to mean Healer. There shouldn't be any confusion, especially as Elaine's name comes from her father, and not some word with a pre-existing meaning.
Samuel Lévesque
I'm not saying Ciriel should pick but she can confirm Elaine is the Mother of Modern Medicine, the other candidate probably owes his Class to her
TheHornedOne
It can’t be about reputation either, because this category should just take into account someone’s ability at that profession. I guess it’s possible they have Elaine beat in total time healing, but the weight behind her name and accomplishments is hard to contend with in terms of healing.
Anonymous
I believe liches like Anurak were created
TheHornedOne
Yeah, its not like Healers are a religious order. Im surprised Night never mentioned there was another Healer candidate though.
Ant1h3ld
I mean, yes, she's THE Elaine, she has the MoMM class and she's from Remus. But we gotta remember that she skipped 20k+ years. Silon might be a lvl 3k+ 10 millenia old super-healer that outclasses Elaine in everything but seniority.
Brian
Can we just have the next chapter now? Please? I need my fix
John
Thanks and darn when it fianly gets interesting. Darn you thr all powerful cliff hanger. =)
Archer
That is a rough cliff.
Grumlen
If we take intent into consideration, what was said was "Healer Elaine and Healer Silon".
Julian
Not necessarily as they probably try to avoid too much divine influence.
Tsorov
Elaine wasn't created at Creation, she was born ca. 4000 after, same for the witch in white. They are old, don't get me wrong, but were not Created.
Markus
We know there is at last three. Elaine, Night and Witch in White. That means that there should be more. I can't believe that the only three left from that time is from same part of the world.
Markus
I think Night is calling upp Healer Elaine and Healer Silon. Elaine just has the problem of being the same name as Healer.
joss sim
Thanks, I don't know who this Silon is but I hope they are up to snuff because they are facing The Elaine. This kinda unfair.
Ant1h3ld
Can someone knock me out so I wake up on friday?
CringeWorthyStudios
Honestly, I’d be surprised if there’s more than two, including Night. After all, he’s only still around because Vampires level up ridiculously slowly. Most of the others still alive have probably ascended by now.
Samuel Lévesque
A quick call to Ciriel should answer the question of who's more qualified ;)
TheHornedOne
Lmao, ofc the other contender for Healer rep is also Elaine… but can she claim to be the reason Elaine means healer? I wonder what they’re like though. Maybe Elaine makes a new friend here. Ah, I made a stupid, its Healer Elaine/Silon
Julian
Well of course they have translation for Creation (language), I imagine that quite a few of the powerhouses in the conference remember Creation (event).
CringeWorthyStudios
Well… that was just a cruel place to end it… Thanks for the chapter!
Tilen Praprotnik
Thanks for the chapter
Mad Dessert
Thanks!
TheHornedOne
Tftc
