"Nothing else managed to keep me down yet, why should I let depression?" Isaac asked himself as he forced his heart and mind to power through the loss of his best friends. "Mannen was right, I need to use my damned brain and focus. There are too many other things going on right now for me to be wasting away in bed for all of eternity."

Shamesh watched on as Isaac paced back and forth across his study, occasionally stopping to take a sip of tea or a bite from one of the sweets. He was his master's retainer so he had a duty to be available whenever Isaac needed him, and he got the feeling that Isaac wouldn't know when he needed Shamesh until a split second before he called for him.

Isaac walked over to his desk and pulled out a stack of paper. The paper was not of the highest quality, that was in a different drawer, so it was thick and coarse but that was fine. He wasn't planning on it being his final draft. He pulled a crystal pen out of a different drawer and started writing. His pen flowed with ink as he drug and pushed the crystal writing implement across the page. He could feel the slight intake of mana in the writing utensil as it refilled its own ink reserves.

His first list ran long and covered a page both front and back:

Goals:

Find and Kill the raiding party who killed Aria and took Claus

Things that need to be done first:

Reach Level 20

Understand what the final two pairs of abilities are and make it work

Get a hold of a "White Dragon With Black Flames That Is Large Enough To Blot Out The Sun"

I have no idea where to even start…

Find and Kill Chatohsha

Xlen will contact us when she is found

Find and Kill Morgan Effy and Arnold Drake

Morgan: Wizard LvL +14

Arnold: Warrior LvL +15

Arthur Sasston & Phantom are looking for information

Locate and Remove Escaped Bandits

We never should have let them escape in the first place. It is a blunder on our record

Create the Ultimate Armor for Lenna

Find high end dwarven smiths

Find high end spatial mage and enchanter

Somehow get them to work together (Bribery)

Create the Ultimate Sword for Lenna

Find

Blade

and request the weapon

It might be a good idea to wait until she is LvL 20 just in case it changes the final product

Enlist Eliza (or maybe Walter?) to make a simple but effective placeholder legendary sword

Ask Walter if he can make it in less time but just as good as Eliza

Pick up Black Steel base form from Stan

Create the Ultimate Sword for Me

Get Eliza to make a newer version of Truth that can handle higher mana output.

Create the Ultimate Armor for Me

Ask Xlen if he can find black dragon scales and red dragon wing-webbing.

Find someone capable of working with it

Get the final product heavily enchanted with:

Self Repair, Impact Negation, Durability

Ensure proper income flow

Check in with Izen and/or Jessica in relation to the drider silk business

Grab more bounties and get back to work

Heal Completely First

Other Things To Do:

Pick up ShadowWolf Cloak

Give the twins their dolls

Thank the Fatebreaker Properly

Figure out if the Thronsen sister was killed by Time

If she wasn't, then we might have to hunt her down. The less enemies the better at this point

Figure out if Cain ever killed the necromancer in the Altian Mountain Range

Necromancer is actively hurting my image as 'Dark but Not Actually Truly Evil'

If he needs us to kill it, then we can add it to the list, later

Heidenburg tournament

Find out when it is held and ensure transportation

Lenna really seemed like she wanted to take part in it

Isaac tapped the back of his pen against his lips. "Shamesh, look over this." He told his retainer. "Is there anything that I missed?"

Shamesh did as he was instructed and paused almost immediately. "White dragon?" He asked his master for clarification.

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"Aria read Lenna and my futures before we left, remember?" Isaac brought up to which Shamesh just nodded. "She said that razing Contantis would be impossible before we had 'a white dragon with black flames' that was 'large enough to blot out the sun'." Isaac explained.

Shamesh nodded and continued reading. Eventually he finished it and had one thing to add: "What about regular items? Like your necklace that protects you from dying or my Lady's crown that is embedded inside of her helmet. Would it not be prudent to acquire more magical items of that magnitude?" He questioned his master.

Isaac hummed in thought. "Yes, it would be." He agreed. "Though I'm not sure what kinds."

"Protection items?" Shamesh asked hopefully.

"Like the ones that make Reality Shields right before you get hit?" Isaac wondered what Shamesh had in mind. "I might need something stronger to protect me from mental magics. My wedding ring can be powered through by strong enough mages and wards."

"It is as you say." Shamesh agreed. "Perhaps more mana storing items for my Lady? Though, she has never used the one that she owns already so it may just be a waste."

Isaac nodded in agreement. "Check with Clayton, Alexander, and Phantom. Lenna and yourself could use necklaces with the Reality Shield enchantments and I could use a circlet, headband, or even earrings with the mental magic protections and Reality Shield summoning as well. You know what? Just have them send a list of everything and we can go through it. There might be some strange combinations that only we, with the complete lists, will notice." He instructed his retainer. He added: "Acquire Additional Magical Gear" to the bottom of his list.

Shamesh bowed in acknowledgement of his new mission. "Immediately or would you like me to wait until you are finished?" Shamesh asked his master.

"Just do it now." Isaac told him. "I would like to wait until Lenna can move on her own again before we head out to run errands and I don't think the city is quite ready for you to run them for us."

Shamesh bowed again. "Very good, sir." He replied and got to work sending telepathic messages and carrying on telepathic conversations with each of the three men on his list. All three said that they would either keep an eye out or go looking through what they had stored away and get back to Shamesh with a list of what they had available when they could.

While Shamesh carried out his task, Isaac got to work doing something else. Isaac got down on the floor and started doing pushups. He had this burst of energy that needed to go somewhere and working his muscles was the best use of it at present. It also gave him more time to think as his non-brain muscles worked. Isaac's chest almost instantly felt like it had a solid stone sitting in it as soon as his focus and attention were no longer being taken up by the to-do list. Each pushup felt ten times harder and the difficulty only kept growing. Eventually, Isaac almost just dropped onto the floor but he knew that if he did, then he would stay there for a while. He couldn't lose all of his forward momentum. He could lose some of it, sure. But a total stop could prove disastrous.

With a light effort of will, Isaac used the shadows to push him back up into a standing position. It was about that time that Shamesh had finished his telepathic communications. "Shamesh, what on the list can we do here, until Lenna and I are healed?"

"I can begin requesting the information noted?" Shamesh offered. "I believe Edward Sasston may be able to acquire a good deal of it."

"He is still out, he is bringing the bodies back." Isaac explained to Shamesh. "Once he has returned, and had a moment to sort out everything pertaining to those lost, then we can add more things to his plate."

Shamesh bowed in acknowledgment of the new information. "I could make the request to Magus Alexander?" He offered another suggestion.

Isaac shook his head. "No. That won't work either. He has too much on his plate that if we add anything else then what we do need him to do will just take even longer. The twins should be able to make inquiries on our behalf. I'll write a letter explaining what information I want them to look into. Have Margaret find a runner to deliver it for us." Isaac informed his retainer who bowed and settled in to wait until Isaac had finished writing the letter in question. "You can, however, make the request of Walter and ask him to let us know when the Fatebreaker is awake. We should save the requests of Xlen until after the Fatebreaker has awoken. I'm sure Xlen is worried sick."

"Understood." Shamesh replied. Around the time Isaac finished writing his request for the twins, Alexis and Alicia, Shamesh finished his conversation with Walter. "Master Walker has stated that the actual enchanting process will be slower if he creates the weapon, because he will have to also make new plates for the 'box'." He informed Isaac. "He also believes that it will be unlikely that he can incorporate Lenna's magic into a sword in less time and with less active research than Eliza Thane. He has reminded us that Eliza Thane is praised as one of the fastest artificers on the continent in general and is actually the fastest when it comes to creating new enchantments with high levels of efficiency and durability. Master Walker believes that he could 'throw something together' but it would be both inefficient and would not last very long compared to what Master Thane could create, even if it would be in half of the time."

"Thank you, Shamesh, and thank Walter for his time." Isaac replied and blew on the ink of his letter to help it dry faster. "How is Master Su'Sol?"

"Still unconscious." Shamesh relayed. "Master Walker hopes that he wakes up soon because if he does not, then he might not wake up at all. Lady Ashborne and Pope Tina are doing their best to keep him stable but their effectiveness has yet to be seen."

Isaac nodded. "I understand." Isaac said and folded the letter. "Tell him that I have faith in the ancient one's will to see the city in springtime. I have a feeling that he will wake up for the first day of the year, at the very latest."

Shamesh was silent for a moment as he received the letter from Isaac and relayed Isaac's reply to Walter. "Master Walker thanks you for the confidence and faith in 'grandpa Su'Sol' and bids you goodbye for now."

Isaac nodded in acknowledgement of what Shamesh had told him. "Goodbye for now." He returned and then sighed. "Shamesh,"

"Yes?" Shamesh asked when it was clear that Isaac was waiting for Shamesh to continue the interaction.

"The world is a massive place, and we have only seen a fragment of it, even so, far too many things happen at once. I really wish that one thing would happen at a time." Isaac confided in his physical soul shadow. "It is almost too much to keep straight and is far too much to react to all at the same time."

"I agree." Shamesh replied. "But, if I may bring something else to your attention, that is why you have people like me, Phantom, and Margaret, is it not?"

Isaac smiled slightly. It was just the corner of his mouth but it was still an expression of joy, no matter how small, and pride. An expression that probably wouldn't have been seen on his face for a very long time if Mannen hadn't scolded him. Isaac was not the kind of person to sit still. He needed to deal with his loss, to process and grieve them, but he also couldn't just sit still and let all of those negative emotions drown him. Mannen was right, he needed to use his mind so he could give his heart time to settle and then both his heart and mind could mourn the loss together, when he was more stable and could properly sit and process his own feelings.

"Yes, Shamesh." Isaac agreed. "You are very correct. Deliberation and a firm base is what separates the strong from the powerful." Isaac sat in thought for a short moment and Shamesh looked as if he was going to take the time to find Margaret and get the letter delivered, but before he could, Isaac moved his gaze back down from the ceiling and locked eyes with Shamesh. "Tell our Phantom that if he ever finds anyone who he wants to recruit, to send me their information and I will meet with them. If I like what I see, then I will do whatever I must to enlist them as one of my minions."

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