“If you don’t, I’ll kill you!” Jan said, eyes opening fully after his announcement.
Arthur snorted at the threat. “I’ll come through on my side. Haven’t I so far?” He opened his hands sideways. “Also, you suck at hiding coming out of cultivation.”
Jan sniffed, but reluctantly inclined her head in acknowledgement of his point. He had, after all, done everything he had said. Even if it had not always been to their benefit or as they envisioned.
“Thank you.” Mel’s voice was quieter but filled with emotion.
“M sai.” With a hand, Arthur waved away any need for thank-yous. Then he tapped the brand on his palm. “Alright, so that’s Aspects. And I know Sigils are bonuses with more concrete numbers. They come from a variety of sources and can be quite different in goals from Aspects.” Cudgeling his brain for what he knew of the various guilds’ Titles and Guild bonuses, he eventually just shrugged. That was about all he had.
“That’s a start,” Mel said. “Clan Sigils are more limited in some ways than Guild Titles. Guilds can have a variety of bonuses, including multiple Titles, but each bonus is often significantly less powerful than a Sigil. And that's a good thing: as a clan, we get to add up to four or five Sigils to our clan seal. Maybe as few as three, though, depending on the size of the Sigil.”
Jan, listening in, was silent. She had managed to find a water bottle and was sipping on it, head propped against a tree. She startled a little when Uswah smacked her arm to ask for a drink.
“You two have anything to add?” Arthur said.
“Not my place,” Jan said.
“No,” Uswah said curtly.
Arthur frowned, noting how the woman had grown more silent and curt over the last few days. He assumed it happened when the initial shock of losing her arm had faded and the reality of her new situation had sunk in. He hoped that she was not spiraling, though he had a feeling she might actually be somewhat protected by the Yin chi that suffused her body.
It certainly helped him from becoming a complete gibbering wreck. But he wasn’t going to tell anybody that.
“This kind of information isn’t exactly something we have been passing around,” Mel said. “Anyway. Sigils, they’re more powerful but limited. You can add swirls—they’re additions to a Sigil—but only if they combine right.”
“And how do you tell if things combine right?” Arthur said, intrigued.
Mel could only shrug. “Remember, we’re getting all this information secondhand. It’s not as though most of this information is passed around in general, so we’re just making do.” When Arthur nodded, she continued. “In general, the Sigil—and the clan crest—will appear on every upstanding guild member, giving them the bonuses that they confer. It can be different from the Aspects, but they almost always deal with our stats.”
She hesitated, then added, “Sigils also have one extra benefit, or so we’ve been told. It’s . . . unknown if it’s true.”
“Go on.”
“They can allow the passing on of cultivation exercises rather than direct bonuses.”
Three indrawn breaths, slight hisses of surprises from the group.
“Really, ah?” Jan said, the first to recover.
“It’s a rumor. We think it’s likely and would explain how some clans all seem to pass on certain techniques,” Mel explained.
“Clan libraries explain that too, no?” Arthur said.
“Ya, of course. But so do Sigils that let you pass on techniques,” Mel said.
Arthur nodded, conceding the point. More importantly, “How do you get a Sigil added to the seal, then?”
That was when Mel grimaced. “We’re not sure. Maybe you’ll get more information when you establish a clan building?” She shrugged. “If it’s like the guilds in the West, then I would say you get a Sigil when you—or the clan—does something noteworthy. But . . .”
“But that’s guilds and we’re a clan,” Arthur said, rolling his eyes. “Yay, we get to be exotic. Which idiot decided that?”
“Probably the same kind of person who dumps a Tower in every major country but still misses Singapore,” Uswah said, snidely.
“Well, that worked out for us, no?” Arthur could not help but remember the initial cries of relief when Singaporeans realized they’d been missed by the sudden appearance of the Towers. And then, later on, the even louder cries of dismay when they realized what the lack had caused.
Negotiations for Singaporeans to gain access to the Malaysian Tower in Kuala Lumpur on a regular basis had been just as tense as the water supply negotiations, with all the requisite threats about invasion and economic sanctions involved.
Luckily, cooler heads and the sudden acquisition of a few luxury cars and residential properties in the US by certain Malaysian politicians had prevailed. Now the Singaporeans got their own slots to enter, flooding into the Tower about once a week and moving in groups to everyone’s chagrin.
Of course, it wasn’t just Malaysia’s Tower that they entered, having organized entry into multiple countries for initial slotting. Still, being one of the easier Beginner Towers, the Kuala Lumpur one certainly saw a dedicated presence of the Singaporeans.
“Huh. Didn’t see any Singaporeans, though,” Arthur said, realization striking him.
“What? You literally talked to one as your attendant. Anyway, most of them hang out around the Suey Ying tong. Being, you know, Chinese.”
Arthur nodded. That made sense. The racial lines might blur a little, but this was Southeast Asia. Racial cliques never really went away. He wasn’t looking forward to having to try out other Towers in other countries. At least, in the Indonesian Tower, he could understand them since Bahasa Melayu—that is, Malay—and Bahasa Indonesia were somewhat mutually intelligible. Thailand would suck, big time, in that sense.
“Whatever. I’ll deal with the Singaporeans later, if I have to.” Annoying kiasu. Kiasu is what Malaysians called their southern neighbors: overly competitive. Arthur himself subscribed to the belief that the Singaporeans thought themselves better than others, always needing to one-up everyone else “So. Sigils. We don’t know how to get more, we don’t know how they fit, and we don’t know how to optimize them. Is that about right?”
Mel made a face but nodded in agreement at that summary.
“Yeah, fine. So, I think that’s the talk, right? I’ll pick something useful for the Aspect to help safeguard everyone, make us tougher or something.” Mel looked like she wanted to object, but then bit her lip and nodded. “And as for Sigils,” Arthur continued, “we’ll just work it out when it happens. Or I will, I guess.”
“I’d like to advise, if possible,” Mel said, offering Arthur a tentative smile.
Arthur nodded. Then, suddenly, he grinned. “Well, I’ll need a trusted lieutenant anyway.”
“Trusted lieutenant.”
“Evil overlord,” Uswah replied, rolling her eyes. “You’re not trying to go evil, right?”
“Who said it has to be an evil overlord?” Arthur protested. “I could be a generous and wise king.”
“Jangan, lah.” Jan hooted, clutching her side and waving a hand. “Stop. Please. Your jokes are getting worse.”
Arthur turned to stare at Mel and said, “But seriously. I’ll need help, and it seems you know more of this than I do. So when I can, I’ll ask. Otherwise, you run interference with your people. Deal?” He stuck a hand out, waiting.
To her credit, she only hesitated for a second before she shook his.
“Good. First thing, you get to explain why we’re letting in men too,” Arthur said with a grin.