“Totally talented little furless monkeys that we are,” Sama agreed, completely fine with that. “How’s the Archmage production conga line working?”

“Red and Sunny are on their way to see Fire Phoenix together, He’s expecting them. That leaves us shy in Psychic and Light for the moment, but we’ve got the rest covered. If someone turns up with those two and Summoning, I’m going to pop a blood vessel for their idiocy. Maybe we could talk to the Sunbreasted Duke and see if they will help, I don’t know.”

“We’ll tell people to avoid that particular combination of Elements, I think,” Sama judged. “The work with Michigan’s Great Beasts is going pretty good, I saw. We’re popping a fake Archmage a week now, aren’t we?”

“After all the time working the Boonies, with Tier-5 Stars in one Element before we let them try, yeah, they are damn solid,” I agreed. “The Soul Crystals solve so much grasping for Seeds and stuff, too, and the volunteering takes care of itself.”

Our standards were pretty strict, with Wizard/9 required if you wanted to do it with one Element, otherwise you needed to be a Wizard/6 and a half-Archmage, all three Elements topped off. Even with an Element at Tier-5, those extra Caster Levels made a difference, and the high Stats helped with the Enlightenment of the Elements.

Most were opting for the Wizard/9 route, as six months to a year at the Boonies could totally get them there... and they loved the additional brains earned from Leveling and the Masteries. For the Typeless, it was basically universal to go for Wizard/9, as we needed them able to Cast V’s and really contribute in ways normal mages simply could not.

We had a regular van convoy going around the country now, extending the Lived-Lines of our people from one location to the next, chauffeured by those who could Teleport bringing along some who could not. Just a few hours a day, every day, for a month, and basically they’d be able to reach every major city in the States, and a whole bunch of smaller ones.

The locations of our Seal Focuses were a different matter we kept on the sly until people could Teleport, but suffice it to say our ability to move around the United States and Mexico was getting better and better.

That was really important for the coastal communities in Mexico we’d taken under our wing, as it allowed them to reinforce one another with literally breathtaking speed. Our recruits from there were absolutely spoiling to get good enough to do so, and if they were all Typeless, that just meant they got to murder raiders and bandits with the most appropriate spells from all those possible.

My own Lived-Lines with Driver Sam had slowly extended down the isthmus into the heavily-divided nations of Central and Southern America, all rife with conflicts between Synod and Curia, rich and poor, colonist descendants and native peoples, old traditions of magic and newer schools thereof.

The place was a tinderbox of conflicts, interspersed with the dangerous presences of some of the most powerful Land Emperors in the world around the Amazon forest, definitely including the most powerful Bugs and Plants among them.

They were conflicts we wanted nothing of, the area torn between the massive egos and inequalities of the peoples there, the least caught up in fights between those with far, far more power they could not hope to defy.

Those powerful forces did not want to see Typeless Casters or more magic of any kind happening among the underclasses who labored to enrich them, be it by labor or taxes. Recruiting people away was seen as the exact same thing as both thievery and inciting rebellion, and treated pretty much the same way.

That said, quietly spreading word of a better way out for them up in Mexico was not a bad idea at all, and arranging regular trips through the smaller towns to find people who quietly wanted to ‘go to the big city’ was also an event. We had to find places for them all to go and work, but of course the key thing was to find the smart ones, get them out and trained, and then let them go home to change stuff from within... or simply remove everyone and leave the places of de facto slavery empty and abandoned, with incensed landlords fuming at the lost production and perhaps belatedly realizing how important a happy workforce was.

It wasn’t a quick process by any means, especially considering the pure numbers of those being oppressed and our much-smaller ability to train people up... but like everything else, the numbers were only going up. The Allegiance was spreading, and the Markspace growing with a newer, broader community.

It was very satisfying to see and feel.

“I heard some rumors about the Hush-Hush experiments,” Sama told me. “What was that all about?”

She and Briggs had pet projects, so naturally I had a couple of my own on the Caster side of things.

The Hush-Hush project was about Burning Stars free of Dark Elements.

“We found some volunteers to work with, who were willing to give up damaged Dark Elements for Typeless Elements that could support the ones they still had left... and we found a way to make it so.”

She arched an eyebrow at the implications. “Can it be forced on someone?” she asked specifically.

“Not this way, no. That’s not to say a method doesn’t exist, but it would be more complex, higher Valence. The easiest way to do so is with Heavy Light Mana, and use a new Spell, Purify Star, to purge the Dark Mana from the Star. The remaining neo-Elemental Mana isn’t enough to bias the Star, and can basically be refined out of it, and multiple Elements applied to balance it.”

“Having Light and a Dark Element is highly unusual, basically on the level of a Talent,” she pointed out. “Having any Elements limits your Wizardry to the Elements you have, even if you have Typeless Stars. How are they managing the spell?”

“They are dropping the Heavy Light Mana into a Soul Crystal, dousing it in vivic fire, and using that Crystal to burn the Dark Mana out and infuse the Light Mana at the same time. They described it as taking a white-hot poker to the soul.”

She eyed me, her mobile lips twisting harshly. “So, this could be used on the Dark side, too...”

“I’m pretty sure massive Dark Mana infusion is an alternate way of getting Dark Elements from normal ones, and how the Poison Element was Corrupted in the first place. Even if it takes Soul Remnants to do, it’s an easy way to get the process started, and I’m pretty sure could just be helped along after the original Seven Stars are Corrupted.”

“Your thoughts on the external elements forcing the issue?”

“Definitely possible. Much easier to Corrupt than to Purify, but things always are. Undoing a Corruption wouldn’t be that difficult, but going down to Typeless is a step beyond, of course. If we could just counter the Dark and go back to a standard Element, that would also be a win, but trying to do that is proving non-feasible with our level of control and comprehension. I just don’t have the Ranks to figure out things at that level, which is unsurprising. We’re talking Emperors and Realm Lords involved in this kind of thing, at the least. The only ones who could counter them readily would be Divinities, who just operate on a higher scale.”

“And given the higher difficulty of Purifying, Axiom has no interest in coming in with a net loss of power, and would just prefer to kill the wielders of Dark Mana and remove them entirely, or just make limited use of them,” Sama huffed knowingly.

“Whereas freeing people of such is one of the High Callings of Good, and actually doing so is a net positive for Heaven,” I agreed with a slow nod. “Assuming those freed have a sense of morality and appreciation, of course.”

“In the end, always the hardest part to deal with,” Sama groused knowingly. “Any other restrictions?”

“Can’t use the remnants of the Element throughout the process, or the Purified Stars are promptly resaturated, and you have to start over. So, definitely something that takes some time and isolation.”

“Seems like a good way to test your Will, too,” she noted.

“It is. Nobody gets away with poking their soul like that without coming out the other side changed somehow. A direct improvement to 4 or 5, we’ve found on the Novices and Adepts who’ve agreed to test the process out. Having further support from Coralost and access to Wizardry is a good motivator for them, too. The Mixed magi, as they are calling themselves, have some impressive focus to them. You don’t invest that kind of pain without being really committed to the end result.”

“The non-damaged ones can still take new Elements?” she verified.

“We’ve only had one Adept manage to succeed at Burning her Shadow away. She hasn’t tried for Mage yet. Probably be a year or two before she does. She is getting a LOT of work in on her Fire Element, however!”

“Must be Shelbie. She’s tearing it up in Baja among the Adepts,” Sama guessed.

“That’s the one.”

“Expecting any difficulties with the Firehouse? I heard there is a LOT of petitioning to open the scheduling early, and some are even trying to set up an impromptu schedule, which we quietly quashed since we were going to ignore it.”

“Pity them, and no. It opens when it opens, and they’ll get their phat Spells when it does.” We rubbed our fingers together in tandem. Doing a lot of things with all that revenue, we were. Coralost was already one of the wealthiest organizations in the world in terms of income, and we were only getting bigger as our operations expanded. “How’s Cam doing on the Brazilian Compound?”

“Amazingly enough, he still has a lot of pull with the new governor down there, and all the Dow people working down there idolize him, no matter what the Family says. Him being an Archmage now doesn’t hurt at all. They are basically doing what he wants them to do, not bothering to tell the Family, and they are quietly supporting the new Compound. The new governor is taking one look at our tax revenue and clucking to himself in glee. Even if all they make is Mana Gathering Amulets, the profit will still be sick, and you know it’ll be much better than that.”

“That’s truth.” The Bophal Project was naturally beyond the Dow Family completely, and was progressing nicely. The allied Families there had no problems attracting tons of applicants, whose first job was generally to expand the facilities in order to train more applicants, of course!

The fact we were cherry-picking the Good folk for the Allegiance, and even some members of their own Families, was something we kept on the sly. Big advantages and all didn’t need to be shared with those who’d just exploit them for themselves... or sell us out, which was probably what would happen.

Her expression was more thoughtful as she asked, “And how about that Sevenfold Laser Test?”

I sighed and pulled out a Laenwork Rod, waving it for her attention. “Worked. Devoted Matrice Full-Temp Impervious Soulbound Channeling Rod, eight goldweight investment.”

I tossed it to her, and she caught it deftly, tapping it with her nails patiently as she held it up to her eyes and swept her Tremblesense through it.

“This is the full x64 multiplier Adept spells are supposed to have?” she asked, shaking her head.

“Yes. As you can see... not so easy.”

The Matrices were clearly strained from the harmonic effect of the layered spells. The base Hardness of the Laen Rod was 20, with +8 while Soulbound, yet it had clearly sustained damage from channeling the seven Mana of an Adept spell in a layered Harmonic Pattern!