Listening to the AI report a ninety-one percent chance that their conclusions were correct, Kanuka felt a surge of satisfaction, and the rest of the leadership clearly did too.
“Thank you, AI,” Ren said.
Even though the AI was just a clump of ones and zeros processing information, Ren was always polite when speaking to it.
You never knew.
If some RoboPocalypse-level nonsense ever happened, maybe it would remember who said “thank you” and who didn’t.
And he had no intention of ending up in a pod because he skipped basic manners.
“So based on this,” Ren continued, “we shouldn’t be letting our squads teleport unless it’s absolutely vital.”
“I agree,” Kanuka said.
“Yep,” Silk added.
“Yes,” Leslie said.
Ren nodded. “Second. Anyone who wants to explore spell manifestation should move into rooms in the Living Core.”
Kanuka shook his head. “That’s not realistic.”
“Why not?” Ren asked.
“Because room allocation isn’t fluid,” Kanuka said. “Even if you and Lorena gave up your rooms for a study, you’d want them back later. Right?”
Ren paused. “Yes.”
“Exactly,” Kanuka said. “It makes more sense to keep tracking the people already living there. We log exposure, output, and changes.”
Ren considered that, then nodded. “Fine. That makes sense.”
“What about proximity to kills?” he asked.
Leslie brightened. “The new chainsaws are really popular.”
WickerBasque said, “The barkrippers are getting a lot of attention. The teams love them. I can push more field use.”
“I could enhance them too,” said Leslie.
WickerBasque looked at her. “If you enhance them, they’ll absolutely use them more.”
Leslie nodded once. “Done.”
“I guess the last point is these mana enhancement bracelets or rings,” Ren said. “How many fragments do we actually have? How much do we need? Are we talking full suits of armor? I turned down the requirements on the heart node last time I was out there, so that should’ve freed some up.”
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Mira shook her head. “There’s definitely not enough for hundreds of suits of mana armor, Ren. The question is really for Leslie and Reed. How much do you need?”
Leslie frowned thoughtfully. “I don’t know. A ring affects a finger. A bracelet affects a hand. A toe ring? A crown? It’s hard to calculate. But it’s fun to think about.”
She tilted her head. “And I’m thinking about body piercings too. How would implanting it into the human body even work? So far, rings have been useful. But what about direct implants?”
Ren saw that look in her eyes and cut in before she disappeared entirely into design mode. “Okay, Mira. If we set aside fifty chunks, each about the size of a fist, consisting of shards, could we afford it?”
Mira answered immediately. “Yes, we can afford it. But Reed’s not going to like it.”
“What?” Reed said.
“Those fifty fistfuls of mana would come straight out of CraftNest’s budget,” Mira said. “Your crafters use a lot for thread work, leather infusions, tool reinforcement. All of it.”
“All of that is vital,” Reed shot back.
“I’m not arguing that,” Mira said evenly. “Ren just asked for fifty fistfuls. That has to come from somewhere.”
“Why can’t it come from a mixed pool?” Reed pressed. “Why does it have to be directly from CraftNest?”
“Because there isn’t a mixed pool,” Mira replied. “It’s you, Leslie, and Ren. Both Leslie and Ren are flagged essential in the system. CraftNest is marked high priority.”
Reed frowned. “High priority as in… third out of three?”
“No,” Mira said. “There are others. They just get almost nothing. Most of them buy off the black market.”
A brief pause.
“But yes,” she continued calmly. “You’re three of three. And you use more than the other two.”
Her tone left very little room for argument.
Hearing all of that, Ren almost said, “District 1. Kanuka, add to the agenda mana fragment usage and a full audit of how every crafter is consuming it.”
The words were halfway out of his mouth.
He stopped.
He blinked once and nearly smacked himself.
“What the hell,” he muttered under his breath. “I’ve been in way too many meetings.”
Instead, he said, “Hey, Reed. This is the first I’m hearing that you guys are using that much mana. Can you run a audit or something? See what they’re actually doing with it. Maybe reward efficiency instead of just raw consumption.”
Reed nodded slowly. “Yeah. That’s the first time I’ve heard it framed that way too. I’ll look into it.”
Seeing Reed starting to tense up, Silk jumped in.
“Well, the PopCrate stores are going to start providing gear, so you’ll be fine, Reed. You’ll actually get more, especially once adventurers start turning in usable materials for the gear they want.”
He pointed lightly at him. “We can track what gets bought most—leathers, lifestyle gear, weapons. That way we know who’s producing stuff people actually use and who’s just… experimenting.”
Reed’s expression eased.
He knew exactly who that applied to.
A decent number of his crafters loved theory. Sketches. Prototypes. Concepts that looked brilliant on a slate but never made it into the field.
Actual demand tracking would sort that out fast.
Leslie, who had been quietly mumbling numbers to herself, finally looked up.
“With those requirements, I’ll probably need about one hundred fifty milliliters per person.”
Kanuka nodded once. “Okay. Reed, you’re going to have to deal with your people screaming.”
Reed sighed. “I don’t think it’ll be a problem if we only do four or five at first. What are you making, Leslie? A giant bracelet or something?”
Leslie looked at him like he’d suggested strapping a brick to someone’s wrist.
“No. Remember, I used to make custom body jewelry. I want to shape those fifty pieces for fifty people into at least five or six contact points each. Nose, ears, rings, toes, maybe a belly button. Distributed exposure.”
She tapped the table lightly.
“I need to measure whether it dissipates past a certain contact threshold. Or how fast it dissolves depending on placement.”
Ren nodded. “That’s smart.”
Lorena grinned. “With all those piercings we’re all going to look so badass. Like punk rockers!”
Ren laughed.
