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Book 2: Chapter 23: Symmetrical Duplication

He staggered to the candle, unsure if the sudden vertigo was due to the pain or if it was all rolled into one. It took all of his concentration to snuff the candle out. After that, he fell to his bed, curling up with his hands cradling his throbbing head.

He had lived hours in the space of moments. The backlash made sense though it wasn't pleasant.

Still, he couldn't keep a grim smile from stretching his lips.

What else could he improve, given all the time in the world?

Opening up his heart deck and scanning through his list of skills made his eyes water. So, instead, he planned.

He didn't realize he was drifting off before he was already asleep.

Arthur woke the next morning to a reduced -- through still present headache. It wasn't severe enough to keep him from moving.

When he sat up and looked around, he found someone had slipped an envelope under his door.

The paper was pristine white -- the sort of bleached he'd only seen the rich use. The note inside was on such thick, creamy paper that for a moment he thought it was a card.

The moment Arthur's fingers brushed across it, he felt warm energy zip up to his heart. There was a small card-anchor mark on the corner used for identification. He must have passed because fine dark ink revealed itself across the page as if being written in front of him.

This was a formal invitation for all Legendary hopefuls to attend a dinner the hive banquet hall tonight.

For a moment he allowed himself to imagine it would be like the Rare promenade. Would he be allowed to get close to the Legendary egg tonight? Close enough to formally present himself to the hatchling inside?

No, he realized after a moment's consideration.

Considering the danger of unleashed Legendary magic, there was no way the hive leaders would allow noble scions to troop past the egg and hope for the best.

After another moment's consideration, Arthur revised that: Valentina might threaten to do it, if only to weed out people who weren't serious.

Nevertheless, he doubted this was going to be a simple dinner. The hive leaders might have something in mind to narrow the recruits. The recruits themselves would be fiercely competitive.

With that in mind, Arthur decided to conduct a little experimentation.

He had hit Fabric Snipping - Level 9 last night using the skill card. But would he keep the skill if he removed the card from his anchor deck?

Only one way to find out.

A moment later, the card was in his hand. A quick check to the status list in his heart deck confirmed that the skill itself remained as it was still linked to his Master of Skills card.

But something... felt missing.

It wasn't nearly as bad as that time he removed the Return to Start card from his heart deck. He wasn't in danger of damaging himself or yanking out a piece of himself along with the card.

He simply felt, without being able to put his finger on it, that the card had more to offer him.

After a moment's thought, Arthur replaced it back into his card anchor deck. It wouldn't hurt to keep it there for now. He had the room. Plus, he could always switch it out later for other single-skill based cards. He'd seen a few smithing-type skills in the card shop yesterday. Learning quick skills from Common cards would be faster than apprenticing himself to the local crafters.

He had so much to do and so little time.

Speaking of time... the dinner was this evening. He knew Legendary recruits would be flooding into the hive. The beginning of the social pecking order would be established tonight.

Arthur wasn't interested in being at the top of the heap. He just needed to stay in the game: Only the egg mattered.

He briefly considered returning to his Personal Space, but he needed to be at his best tonight. Not crippled by a migraine.

With that in mind, he stayed in real time and simply withdrew the largest piece of plain fabric he had left, along with a pair of scissors.

Ignoring a warning bolt of pain through his head, he concentrated on the Fabric Snipping skill and got to work.

Generally reaching the tenth level meant breaking through some sort of bottleneck. With some skills, breaking through was a breeze. Others, like Stealth, had him stymied for a good period of time before he figured out a new approach and broke through.

He got lucky this time. His revelation came only an hour later.

It happened when he stopped cutting up the fabric like he was trying to make expensive confetti and actively tried to create shapes. This was part of a tailor class, after all. He was meant to design clothing.

Arthur didn't know the first thing about tailoring, but he figured trying to cut out the rough shape of a shirt couldn't hurt. Once it was complete, he was awarded with the tenth level.

Perhaps it was a conjunction with his Master of Skills card, but the new level came with a touch of wisdom. He started his next cut thinking about how would roll up the fabric to make a sleeve. It would be sort of like a tube, though he would have to make sure the edges overlapped for later sewing...

He made his next cut quickly and with new precision.

With it came a notification.

Alert: Your skill, Fabric Snipping, now has a new benefit. Future snips now have a 5% chance of being symmetrically duplicated along the same project. Continue to level up this skill for added benefits.

Arthur leaned back for a moment, pleased. He had hoped for something like this. He'd seen guild-level crafters work and the most advanced had card-abilities to duplicate their products.

So far, none of his skills from his Legendary cards had shown those hidden benefits. But he had been haphazardly leveling them, focusing more on classes and survival. Now that he had use of his Personal Space, he would have time to focus leveling his existing skills.

In any case, a 5% chance of duplicating a cut wasn't high enough. He would have to increase it.

That meant leveling.

Arthur resumed his cuts.

He finally took a break at level fifteen. Though he received no new benefits, his chance to copy a snip increased by 2 percent every level.

Now whenever he tried to make a shape -- say, a star -- an identical cut would inconsistently appear to complete that shape.

He could see how, under the practice of weeks or months in the craft, those small inconsistent time savings would add up. Plus, it meant less wear on his tools.

He would have leveled more but it was time he got ready for the super.

Arthur changed into the new clothing Kenzie had bought for him. He spent entirely too much time making sure his hair sat exactly right. Finally, he slipped a small knife in his pocket. Not a knife for dueling or even butchering, but one meant for thread snipping.

He was as prepared for tonight as he could be.

With a mix of anticipation flavored with anxiety, he made his way out the room and walked down to the first level.

He barely rounded the first corner before he nearly ran into Cressida.

She looked... different.

Dressed in sturdy clothing that was meant to take heavy wear rather than noble finery, there were actual dirt stains on her elbows and knees. Her red hair looked like it had been pinned up into a bun earlier in the morning, and then completely forgotten about. There were so many errant wisps that it created a mini halo around her head. Her fair skin, too, was reddened as if she had spent an unusual time out in the sun. The mild burn made her freckles stand out all the more.

All of that, and Arthur's mouth still went dry at the sight of her.

He simultaneously tried to say, "I'm glad to see you" and "What are you doing here?"

It came out as: "Cressida, I'm glad you're doing here?"

Thankfully, she seemed too busy taking him in to notice. Her eyes narrowed.

"You intend to be seen in public... like that?"

"What?" He looked down at himself and checked to make sure all buttons were secured, especially around his pants. All was well. "Is something wrong with what I'm wearing?"

"Other than it's from at least three seasons ago? I can see why Joy said I was needed."

"What?" The mention of her dragon kickstarted his mind back into action. The little pink was nowhere around. "How is she? Where is she?"

Are you alright?

He wanted to ask but that felt like too personal of a question.

Cressida's sharp gaze softened. "She's wonderful. Taking a nap, actually. The hive trainers have her on an exercise regimen to strengthen her lungs. But she sent me to you with an odd quest." She then held out her arm, and Arthur realized she was carrying folded dark fabric. He took it, shaking out a shirt so blue that it was almost black.

"It's not the most recent in men's fashion," Cressida said apologetically, "But it should fit. And it's better than... that."

"This is new!" All the pride in his new clothing had drained away.

"And which tailor's shop did you buy it from? Wait, don't tell me. Something close to the hive?" Cressida rolled her eyes. "You buy for the shop name, not for the location. Anyway, try it on."

It was only a shirt, though he felt a little strange changing it in front of a girl. At least there was no one else in the tunnel to see.

He felt the difference the moment the shirt slipped over his shoulders. It was a much tighter fit than the last one, though by design as it cinched in the middle. The fabric was breathable and there wasn't a bunch or pull. He still didn't know much about tailoring, but he could tell the fabric was... well, a cut above.

"Where did you get this?" Arthur asked.

"From one of my servants." She waved away his dark look. "They work for me, so they're impeccably dressed. Now, tell me you'll accept it."

"But, I..." He felt bad possibly taking the shirt from someone else. Especially something as nice as this.

"Go on," she insisted. "Accept it."

Oh well. Cressida likely compensated the staff member. "Fine. I'll accept the shirt."

There was a brief flash of night and Cressida plucked a glimmering, jeweled hair-pin out of the air. She examined it with an air of satisfaction.

Arthur could only stare. "What?" He felt like he'd been saying that a lot recently.

"I get rewards for every quest I complete. So far, it's just small things," Cressida said as she casually slipped the jeweled pin worth more money than some families made in a month into her pocket. "But I'm certain that will improve as Joy's power grows."

"Huh. Maybe I should try to link a pink dragon," Arthur said. "Meta powers are amazing."

"They are. She is. Joy, I mean." Cressida looked down and bit her lip. She looked like she was coming to a decision. "I never properly thanked you for helping me. You went above and beyond to help me link with Joy and... thank you, Ernest."

To his utter shock she leaned in and brushed her lips across the side of his cheek. When she pulled back, he knew he was flushing beat-red.

Mind stuttered to a stop, the only thing he could think to say was, "I said to call me Arthur, didn't I?"

"Arthur, then." She smiled. "You wouldn't be the first to hate your family name."

"I... uh... yeah." He wanted to scream at himself, but it was as if all intelligent thought had evaporated away.

Somehow Cressida looked at him as if he wasn't an idiot. "I mean it. I owe you, and if you're ever in need of mine or Joy's help... call on us."

The favor of a powerful meta dragon rider was no small thing. Arthur nodded.

Cressida said her goodbyes, wanting to return to her hatchling dragon. Arthur watched her go, still a little poleaxed.

Something she said drifted around his thoughts:

You wouldn't be the first to hate your family name.

Huh. That gave him an idea...