There were two objectives that Lucian needed to attend to in these canalworks. The first was pretty straightforward. He needed to go from this end to the opposite end of the big chamber. There, he’d find the control room. That was where the valves could be turned to change the flow of water in the gargantuan, domed apparatus in the center of the room—the Central Flow Chamber. Lucian needed to turn off one of the valves in the control room, which would allow him to enter a pipe that led to the Central Flow Chamber. That was where the blessing was.

  The intensely loud noises in the canalworks were a great way to disguise all the noise he was making, but they did nothing to quiet Lucian’s nerves. He didn’t want his first day in this place to be the one where he was unceremoniously arrested and branded a criminal. He might even be expelled from the Collegium if he did get caught. Still, that wasn’t as terrible a fate as dying, and dying seemed likely if he couldn’t get his plans together.

  Unlike in the game, the guards didn’t follow a set patrol route. That might have been a total disaster if not for the fact that there simply weren’t as many guards as there had been in the game. Most of them would be guarding the outside of the facility. This was a peaceful time, and thus there was no need to dedicate tremendous resources to guarding a facility that very few people even understood the importance of.

  He took some time to spot and keep track of every guard that he could. It was pretty easy, because each of them wore bright white uniforms that stuck out like a sore thumb. Once he did, it wasn’t like sneaking through the princess’ garden, where he’d wait for the guards to pass and then somersault by as fast as he could. Rather, he weaved through empty rooms, behind pipes, and took cover where he needed to. He blended in nicely with the pipes on account of his clothes.

  Everything was going perfectly fine until he made it to the control room.

  There was someone he presumed to be an engineer in the room. He had his feet kicked up, and he read through a newspaper. He wasn’t exactly perceptive, elsewise Lucian would’ve been caught immediately… but he was sitting by the valve that Lucian needed to turn to open the path. Lucian crouched into a place out of sight, his head racing.

  The hell do I do? Lucian asked himself. Can’t just take him down. I’m not a damn special agent, not some hitman.

  Lucian thought for a moment. If he was sitting around without doing any work, that probably meant that he was just here to make sure that everything went smoothly. His whole job was to make sure that nothing went wrong in this facility. He probably spent the whole day in the control room and tell him the issue arose. Spending the whole day in here…

  It’s hot and humid as hell, Lucian thought. Yet he seemed relaxed.

  Realizing this, Lucian looked around the outside of the control room. Before long, he found it—a set of fans, operating on the same set of gears powered by watermills that ran through the whole of this place. Moreover, it didn’t seem all that difficult to disable.

  Lucian quickly made his way to where the control room’s fan connected to the outside. He reached out and grabbed the top of an axle. After struggling for a while, it unscrewed. He took a few breaths to prepare himself, then pulled the axle out. The fans stopping working.

  Immediately after he’d done this, Lucian sought the place where he’d be least likely to be seen. He kept an eye on the command room, waiting. His thoughts ran away from him, thinking of how disastrous this was going to be. Then… the engineer walked out.

  “Did one of you asses turn off my fan again?” he shouted up into the canalworks.

  All of the guards laughed. It seemed like this wasn’t the first time someone had done this. Lucian’s heart beat fast enough to shame a hummingbird. The moment the engineer went to take a look at the fan, Lucian made a break for it. He went right for the valve that he needed to turn and grabbed it. It took the whole of his being, but he turned, turned, and turned again until he couldn’t anymore.

  “Hey—where’s the damn axle!” the engineer shouted again, and Lucian looked back to see him pass by the door, looking up.

  Rather than leave from the door he’d come from, Lucian stepped out of one of the windows in the control room where he knew there weren’t any guards. He skulked away to the corner of the canalworks, taking his assessment of the situation.

  The pipe I sealed is up there, Lucian reflected, looking to the very top of the canalworks. Have to take that ladder up.

  “I’m serious! Do you know how humid and hot it gets in that command room?” the engineer continued to shout.

  “Alright, guys, who did it? You’ve got Rohan all upset, and I’m the one that has to deal with his complaining,” another one of the guards shouted. “All kidding aside.”

  A lot of the guards started to converge toward the engineer to talk to him. Getting up to the top of the ladder had been Lucian’s primary concern—it’d be a damn nightmare to do that with properly watching people. Maybe, just maybe… this was his chance. His heart was bursting out of his chest and sinking into his stomach every second, but Lucian made for the ladder, hopped on, and started climbing.

  What a thrill, Lucian thought as he climbed this long ladder. Every rung that he ascended higher, he felt he was going to get spotted. When he neared the top…

  “Who’s that?”

  Lucian hastened his ascent, and came to the top walkway. He didn’t dare look down as he jogged across the catwalk that led to access point of the disabled pipe.

  “Stop!” one of the guards shouted as Lucian took hold of the access door.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Lucian rotated the valve once, twice, and then the door opened. He ducked inside—the pipe was still quite wet. He moved as fast as he could while crouching. Eventually his foot slipped on the wet metal, and he fell down until he started sliding. Not a few moments after traveling through the pipe, he found himself in freefall toward a giant pool and took a deep breath moments before he splashed inside. The water stung his eyes, but he kept them open, searching.

  Lucian spotted it. A bright white orb that looked like the largest pearl he’d ever seen.

  He swam downward toward it, then thrust his hand out as far as he could. The moment that his finger touched the pearl, it looked as though a bubble had burst. Its white energy exploded outward briefly before coalescing around Lucian himself. He could still remember the prompt from War of Four clearly in his mind, though it wasn’t here.

  You’ve received the Blessing of Shifting Flow.

  +5 MAG

  You may reverse an elemental affinity once, whenever you choose.

  When its energy embraced him, Lucian didn’t receive a game prompt like that. Instead, it felt as though his body was being infused with heat—a warmth springing from within. It was much more than that. Even though it was nonsensical to say, it felt as though his body was being carbonated.

  Just as in the game, the moment that he took the blessing, the water’s flow shifted dramatically. He was violently pulled into a pipe. Lucian curled into a ball and went with the flow, protecting his head from being bumped. Eventually, when he thought his lungs might collapse, he was spat out ungracefully into the sea, and surfaced as quick as he could.

  Lucian inhaled deeply once he arrived back on the surface. He did so right alongside several other swimmers—this was a popular swimming spot, with warm waters and mild tides. No one paid him much mind at all as he walked toward the stairs leading out of the water. Once he was out, he sat on the edge, watching the sea.

  Lucian started laughing. I did it, he thought with triumph. Got spotted, but… what could they see from down there? Nothing, I don’t think. They saw a person on a ladder with a cap on, then a figure in gray entering a pipe. As he recalled the cap, Lucian touched his head. It was gone. He was certain he had it when he went into the pipe, but…

  Must’ve fallen off, Lucian reflected. He didn’t see it out there, in the sea. And here I thought things went perfectly.

  Was that bad? Even if they found it… it didn’t have a nametag on it. It was just a cap. At worst, it’d have some long gray hairs, but that wasn’t especially uncommon in this world. Maybe they’d look for a senior citizen first. Even if they did suspect Lucian, he could throw the names of two dukes around—Metterand and his father, Cyril.

  Not perfect… but not awful, either. Certainly good enough. Lucian stood. Still, time to head back and change clothes as quickly as I can.

  For the first time in a while, Lucian didn’t feel a crushing sense of defeat coming on.

  ***

  The doors to the canalworks opened wide. A woman with blonde hair and sharp green eyes walked in the canalworks. She wore a uniform in white with gold epaulettes.

  “Lady Lorenna! Thank the heavens you’re here,” said a panicked-looking bureaucrat. “I’m terribly sorry to call you here on such short notice. I’m sure that you’re quite busy with the Collegium opening soon, and I hope this isn’t interfering with your instruction.”

  “Not at all,” Lorenna said. “I’m a gold-level instructor. It’s rare I have work to do at all, these days… though it seems like we’ve some talented kids coming in this year, so perhaps I’ll be busier soon.” She shook her head. “Anyway. What’s the trouble?”

  “Well, it’s…” the bureaucrat walked up to the Central Flow Chamber. “Someone broke in here, and we’re concerned they might’ve tampered with or sabotaged the canalworks in some way. We’ve checked out all of the engineering, and it seems to be sound, but now our concern is that they might have poisoned the canals.” He clasped his hands together. “We were hoping that you could use your holy magic to purify any contaminants.”

  “They broke in?” Lorenna repeated incredulously.

  “Yes, there’s…” the bureaucrat sighed and grasped his forehead. “Apparently there was a hole in the wall. They think that’s how the person got in. The intruder turned off the main pipe and then climbed up top, went inside it,” he said, tracing the intruder’s route with his fingers. “From there… no trace. They lost a cap, but any hairs that might’ve been on it were washed away.”

  “I see.” Lorenna nodded. When the other man didn’t move, she prompted, “Well… I’ll check the waters, now.”

  “Oh, of course!” The bureaucrat moved quickly, opening the door to the Central Flow Chamber with a key. “Here.”

  Lorenna walked inside, looking out across the pool. At first she used her eyes alone, but then held her arm out and called upon holy magic. A golden orb of light fell from her hand, spiraling daintily like a flower petal. When it impacted with the water, a white sigil with the faintest suggestion of gold spread out across the whole of it. It seemed visibly cleaner immediately.

  “Huh,” Lorenna laughed.

  “What? What is it?” the bureaucrat asked, panicked. “Oh, heavens, no…”

  “Relax, it’s…” Lorenna smiled, crossing her arms. “There was a blessing here.”

  “A blessing?” repeated the bureaucrat.

  “They’re natural phenomenon that tend to appear in places of extreme,” Lorenna said, walking around the pools. “They manifest in very unusual places. They bestow certain abilities upon those that claim them—most often greater strength, greater magic, and rarely more complicated abilities. They’re said to be left by the gods… and they become particularly numerous in times of crisis.” She looked over. “Whoever broke in, they were probably just trying to get the blessing. Though, how they knew of it… I’ve no clue.”

  “I see.” Some of the man’s panic finally faded away.

  “I don’t think you have any concern. They broke the law, certainly, but I don’t think it was for any malignant reasons. I can check out any other places you might want me to.” She pursed her lips, then said playfully, “Might’ve been a student, even.”

  ***

  Lucian threw aside the towel that Walter had provided him and sat on his bed. He wasn’t under arrest, so he could only assume that he did enough right to get away with it. He took a deep breath, and looked inward. Ever since he had obtained that blessing, he could feel a new presence within. He took out his Evercodex and amended his stats, adding the +5 to his magic.

  After, he flipped the Evercodex to his plan of action. On the page, he had the Blessing of Shifting Flow listed. He tapped his finger on the real prize—the foundation of his build for Lucian.

  You may reverse an elemental affinity once, whenever you choose.

  It was time to use that secondary effect. And considering the sensation boiling within… Lucian felt he knew how.