“Alright, I’ll trust you on this one,” Krahe said. She didn’t quite believe that she had actually said that. “I have two personal requests. First, there’s a certain technique I can use to fight well above my baseline with no physical side effects — but I can’t do it on-demand. Not anymore. When I fought Semzar, that was the first ti I entered that state since I ca to Zastreon. If I were to reach that state of mind through ditation for you to observe, could you produce a graft that would allow to do it at a mont’s notice?”
“And… What would the nature of this state of mind happen to be?” Firminus asked, making no effort to hide his curiosity.
“Near-death focus. So called it nil-thought, but I think that’s wrong. It’s not that I stop thinking, but more that I can act with zero delay and think perfectly clearly no matter what is going on around . As far as I know, various martial arts sects developed their own ways of reaching that ntal state for short bursts. My world’s grafters learned of a way to trigger it in-demand and made it into a bare-minimum, low-footprint graft that anyone worth their salt would have. I can, of course, share my understanding of that graft, but it might be useless to you.”
“It surely won’t be completely useless. Even if it’s not applicable, we can still learn from your world’s grafting arts through comparison. And your second request?”
“Make my eyes better. Motion vision, in particular. I started noticing myself pushing up against the edge a few tis, things blurring around .”
Firminus almost deflated at that, but Krahe wasn’t sure if it was relief or disappointnt.
“Ah. The flicker fusion threshold. We can address that issue as part of a generalized ocular combat enhancent course of the close-quarters type. It’s a fairly standard mid-ranker choice. Just so minimally invasive modifications to the eyes, ocular nerves, and visual cortex, nothing too major. A word of warning, your eyes will beco physically stiffer, and it will take a few days to adjust to your new ocular muscles — you may overshoot when trying to look at things at first, but it will improve quickly and any inconsistencies should vanish within two or three days. In terms of visual quality, it may take so ti to beco acclimated to the absence of motion blur — thus, the visual cortex modifications include a ntal switch for this enhanced visual processing. Ah… Ms. Krahe? Are you alright?”
Shaking her head, Krahe blinked a few tis and snapped back to the present. “Yeah, sorry. I’m fine. I just zoned out. The way you described it sent twenty years back.”
“Alright, well, now it’s my turn to make a request. To be clear, this really is just a personal request, no pressure. I wish to take samples of your… What did you call it? Biosuit? I wish to take samples so that I may study it and attempt to grow more, if it truly is alive. You would have first pick of the results, of course.”
After thinking it over for a mont, Krahe replied: “I also want veto on who gets to have it.”
“Deal,” Firminus agreed without hesitation. “I will return to take the sample after we finish with this paperwork.”
“Why?” Krahe asked, already reaching behind her back. She hooked a finger under one of the suit’s edges, and with so stretching, she cut a large rectangle out of her back. It briefly wrapped around her forearm, but imdiately lost shape and turned into an amorphous mass when she willed it to do so. She uncouthly placed it at the edge of his desk, taking a small asure of amusent in how the mass settled down. “There’s your sample. It needs water and simple nutrients. Probably minerals too, but you’ll figure it out.”
“Alright, well, let’s go over things all at once to be certain…” Firminus said once he recovered from the slight shock of seeing her do what she had just done. They went over the full list of modifications.
In summary, the full list of treatnts included: Lung replacent with a heretofore undecided graft, replacent of the spleen with the Adamas Organ, implantation of reinforced conduit lines, implantation of a Jas’raban Heart Scarab, retuning of the Liminal Coil, a course of flesh-transformation elixirs to address her vascular tissue elasticity issue, eye and ocular cortex modifications, and lastly, a possibly entirely new graft to allow Krahe to achieve the state of Razormind on-demand, or at least to make entering that state and staying in it easier.
It all brought to mind a reality that Krahe had been aware of, but had ignored until now.
“Tell , for how long will I be out of play?” she asked. “What we did at Mirzaii Two won’t an anything if the Hashems and their Benefactors can just freely regroup and adjust over the course of weeks or months.”
“Aristedes raised the sa concern. High Grafter Fidelia has accounted for it — key operatives of the Inner Wheel have been briefed on the situation to the extent necessary for their involvent, and Yazata Heptaxia will remain active within Audunpoint for the imdiate future. Moreover, a high-ranking graft-saint by the na of Favonia Aristedes has finally contacted the church and confird her impending return. You may be familiar with her — knowing Casus, he has likely told you about her already. The Inner Wheel has disseminated rumors of her return to create further pressure. In short, we are doing all that we can to ensure that your work does not go to waste without involving the greater church. Thus far, your modus operandi has worked. Let us hope it continues to do so, yes?”
Krahe released a sigh of relief.
“It’s not ideal, but it can’t be helped. Let’s get this paperwork done and over with.”
And so, they did — over the course of the next several hours. During those several hours, Firminus pulled one thing after the next out of his ass, and even brought in an entirely new, larger projector alongside several mslates the size of her head. There were stretches of ti during which no input was required of her, so she requested so light reading that could help her pass the ti without requiring too much attention, so she could still observe what Firminus was doing. What she received was a treatise on the political landscape of the Inax moving islands seven centuries ago, which turned out to in fact be a sort of quasi-biographical novel in disguise, detailing the adventures of a certain saint.
Just as Firminus had said he would do, once the paperwork was done, he brought in a kind of brass bowl and three different bottles of dark glass. As he mixed them in the vessel, they bubbled and hissed, and he then stacked in the papers, one by one. He then brought out a thin, silver wand, its tip alight with a small, blue fla.
He wordlessly offered her the wand, and Krahe took him up on it.
With a ntal command, the mote of fla jumped from the wand, and at the instant it landed in the bowl, a vortex of blue fire erupted towards the ceiling. Without so much as an iota of smoke, and strangely devoid of heat, it rendered the stack of papers into white ash before her very eyes.
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