Alten was another dense city but one built properly, unlike Saetwixia or Vespera. The buildings were all at least three stories tall, packed in tightly next to each other, made of old conjured stone and timber from the nearby forests that had long since been cut down. Everything other than the trim of the buildings was stone. Stone streets, stone walls, slate roofs, stone lamp posts, stone sidewalks, even stone doors in the case of government buildings. The city also glowed. It was made of dark grey stone but cast in yellow firelight from either the sun or the seemingly limitless number of lamps and torches. The city was also ringed. Not in a segregated way but one of age. As the city reached new population thresholds, a new set of stone walls would be made a city block out from the old ones in all directions. Once the new walls were finished, the old ones would be torn down and then the city would be expanded. The city had grown in building waves for almost three centuries.

The duke and duchess that ran Alten were also supposedly the absolute example of nobility. The Sasstons were merchants, the Heidenburgs were paladins, the Arbencrofts were soldiers, but the Victorias were nobles. They were diplomats, rulers, court adjuncts for the royal family, planners, strategists, artists, dancers, and hosts. And throughout all of what they did, they were always the absolute pinnacle of elegant and honorable power. Perfection was a word that was created to describe the Victoria noble house. At least, that was how people spoke of them. The reality, just as one would expect, was not so cut and dry.

The Victorias were raised in a house that constantly put far too much pressure on them. To those that knew them personally, they were cold, calculating, and almost entirely devoid of love and compassion. At times, they were hardly human and seemed more like machines. They could be as predictable as a waterwheel and that predictability caused stability to form in their wake.

Isaac and Lenna didn't see a reason to stop by and talk to the Victorias before they continued their trek to the capital itself. They did, however, stop long enough to rent a room at an inn that was as normal as possible. In the room, above a bustling dining hall, Isaac and Lenna rolled out the portable Identify ritual mat. "Shamesh, can you skip the power converter and power the ritual directly?" Isaac wondered. He was not feeling entirely up to the task of dumping copious amounts of power into a ritual that would convert his power into mana that could actually power the ritual.

Shamesh eyed the ritual. "I do not know. Identify is a spell that Shamsha most definitely knew, but I do not." He confessed. "I can try to power it from the point that you referenced, but I do not know if it will cause a backfeed and damage the converter in some way."

Isaac shrugged. "If that happens, we can pay Alexander for another one." Isaac told him honestly. Money was the least of their worries at the moment. Isaac truly had no idea how much money was written under his name on the ledger in the Safeharbor Bank, but it had to have quite a few zeros. Isaac just wished that more of his problems could be bought away.

Shamesh nodded and placed his hand at the designated position on the ritual. Isaac sat down in the middle of it and handed Lenna his wedding ring. He nodded for Shamesh to continue. Shamesh slowly began powering the ritual and Isaac felt the gentle probing pulses of the spell go over and through him. After a few minutes, it was finally time to see his updated status sheet.

Name: Isaac Wexler Race: Human Age: 20

Height: 5'10" Weight: 157 Eyes: Silver

Skin Tone: Pale Hair: Black Level: 15

Strength: 16(-1) Dexterity: 16(-1) Constitution: 16(-4)

Intelligence: 19 Wisdom: 19 Will Power: 16

Total: 60 + 42 - 6 Polarity: Dark

Class: Mage - Dark Multiclass: Impossible

Talents: Dark Mana Manipulation, Deflection

Skills: Stealth, Deception, Persuasion, Intimidation, Insight, Performance, Unarmed Combat, One-handed Sword Combat, Polarity Sense.

Blessings: Zei (Eternal Youth: You Will Still Die When Your Natural Time Comes, However You Will Always Look As You Do Now.), Lua (A Thanks From The Moon: Perfect Recall Of Songs Once Played, Even Those From Another World.)

Curses: N/A

"Ouch." Isaac commented as he looked over his status. His higher level was nice to see, obviously, but the visible debuff to his stats that came from his Soul Integrity Degradation was harsher than even he realized. "Though, the blessing from Lua is nice. I was pretty sure that she had done something that night when I started playing all of those songs from my old world. It is nice to know for certain."

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"Indeed." Lenna agreed on all accounts. "At least the damage showed up on the Identify. It is nice to know that we can check on the damage this way. Also, you lost weight."

Isaac blinked owlishly at her. "How much?" He asked after a moment.

"One pound." She replied simply.

Isaac continued to blink owlishly at her for a moment and then he just shook his head. "I just wish it showed things like how much mana and at what density I could use it at. That is where the damage is truly visible. It is also strange that my Willpower stat is not under any negatives. I guess it is not usable Willpower but total actual Willpower. If it was usable Willpower then it would definitely be debuffed. Just trying to focus too intently on something causes pain, but I guess I am still able to do it." He shrugged. "The update is nice, but it is kind of irritating that my numbers didn't go up at all."

"Isaac, your 'numbers' are already far higher than almost everyone on or in the planet. In the Empire, if you were a drow, you would've been married off to one of the great houses instantly. The only issue would be finding an adequate mate for you." Lenna reminded him.

"Fair enough." Isaac commented and got out of the way so Lenna could see her status as well. A few minutes later, Lenna's status was ready to be seen as well.

Name: Lenna V'Nova Race: Elf (Dark) Age: 299

Height: 5'11" Weight: 158 Eyes: Silver

Skin Tone: Grayish Dark Purple Hair: Silver Level: 18

Strength: 18(-1) Dexterity: 13 Constitution: 18(-1)

Intelligence: 14 Wisdom: 14 Will Power: 19

Total: 60 + 36 (-2)

Class: Paladin - Oathbreaker Multiclass: N/A

Skills: Stealth, Athletics, Insight, Survival, Perception, Arcana, Language: Innerworld Standard, Language: Elvish, Language: Dwarvish, Language: Gnomish, Language: Overworld Standard, Language: Orcish, All Weapon Combat, Unarmed Combat, Mounted Combat, Horsemanship, All Savings Throws.

Blessings: Lua (Healing Over Time Based On The Phase Of The Moon And Its Position In The Sky.)

Curses: N/A

"Nice. You really are almost there." Isaac told his wife with a proud smile on his face. She was steadily approaching the point where mana and her class would stop helping her get stronger. The thing was, for Lenna, that wasn't new. She had reached a wall a very long time ago and had been forced to progress through time, dedication, and hard work. When she eventually hit level twenty, she would just go back to getting stronger the hard way.

"My blessing changed." Lenna said with total seriousness and gravity.

"Oh?" Isaac wondered and scanned down to the bottom of her Status. "Oh." He said with wide eyes as he realized how much of a change it had been. The first change was the removal of the word 'slight' before the healing over time effect of the blessing. The next change was the addition of Lua's position in the sky affecting the rate of the healing over time. "How strong do you think the healing is on a full moon at midnight?" Isaac wondered.

"Strong." Lenna spoke with her eyes still glued to the status sheet. "I would be surprised if it was not at least as strong as my normal healing."

"That has kept mortal wounds from killing you, multiple times, in the past. Your healing combined with that might be as strong as my healing is when I am not purely focused on it." Isaac commented. "And I am way easier to hurt than you are."

Lenna smirked and then closed her eyes and bowed her head slightly. "Thank you, my goddess, for the gifts. I do not know what I have done to deserve such direct favoritism from my first savior, but I thank you." She prayed aloud.

Isaac smiled and put a hand on her shoulder. "Thank you, Lua, for the gift of music that you have given me. I have enjoyed every minute of it and I hope that I will continue to enjoy it until the end of my days." He added.

Shamesh wasn't sure what to do, but both his master and mistress were praying, so he bowed his head as well and waited for them to finish. He truly had no idea who he should or even could pray to. He vaguely remembered meeting the Reaper at one time but, despite their similarities in bodily construction, they were entirely unrelated.

"Okay, Shamesh, your turn." Isaac said and gestured for his physical shadow to take a seat in the ritual. Shamesh did as he was told and sat down in the ritual and then powered it himself.

Name: Shamesh Race: Golem (Bone - Elf - Dark)

Height: 5'6" Weight: 89 Eyes: N/A

Skin Tone: N/A Hair: N/A Level: 7

Strength: 12 Dexterity: 12 Constitution: 17

Intelligence: 17 Wisdom: 17 Will Power: N/A

Total: 75 + 0

Talent: Innate Spell Casting

Skills: N/A

Blessings: Familiar of Isaac Wexler (Small healing over time as long as you are receiving mana from your master.)

Curses: Familiar's Curse. (You can only exist as long as you are receiving mana from your master.)

"Huh, you are harder to put down than I am." Isaac commented. "Which I guess makes sense, considering you survived the explosion and I did not."

"I was further away." Shamesh offered as he moved around to look curiously at his own status sheet.

"You see where it says 'Skills: N/A'?" Isaac asked his physical shadow. "That means that you can learn skills that can be acknowledged by the spell or mana or whatever keeps track of those things." Isaac explained. "That is a great sign that not only are you capable of growth but whatever is keeping track of these things acknowledges that you can grow too."

Shamesh felt a surge of warmth inside of him. Emotions were not something that he understood well, and it took him a moment to place exactly what he was feeling, but with the context of the look on Isaac and Lenna's faces, it was pride. He was both a fragment and his own being. He was proud of both of those facts and he knew that his master was proud of him as well. "Thank you." He told his master.

"Of course, buddy, you're my retainer, my physical shadow, a part of me, and in some ways, my offspring. I," Isaac began and then locked eyes with Lenna and they shared a nod. "We are here for you."

After their little Identify party, Shamesh had to return to Isaac's shadow so the Lord and Lady could eat real food. The pair then restocked their travel rations, stopped by a tailor that specifically did work for adventurers, picked up self warming wool under armor for Isaac, and then stopped by the local Adventurers' Guild Hall to see if there was a caravan heading up the mountain within the next day or so.

The reason Isaac needed warmer under armor was because they were about to go up five thousand feet in elevation and the already barely above freezing temperatures were about to drop to well below freezing. According to the woman who sold them the enchanted wool under armor, Altia tended to be between fifteen and thirty degrees colder than Alten depending on the weather. Isaac was beginning to regret going on their honeymoon in winter. Actually, now that he thought about it, he probably started to regret it around the time Heitor dropped a sheet of water on him. He was beyond the point of 'starting to regret' and had reached 'actively regretted'. Hopefully he could avoid getting soaked in the cold again, though, with his recent string of luck, that was more than a little unlikely.

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