The walk from the slave quarters to the main house took four minutes if you went the way the slaves were supposed to go, which was around the back of the stable block, past the kitchen midden, and up the servants' stair.
Okay. Before I go anywhere near that woman, I need two things.
One, I need to know where I actually am. Not the house. The world.
Two, I need to stop calling you two by the names on the box.
<<Lottery: Elaborate on the second one.>>
<<Covenant: Ooh, is he naming us? He's naming us. Say something embarrassing, go on.>>
Give me the first thing and I'll get to it.
The panel spread out sideways into something that was almost a map, and then thought better of it and became a list instead.
<<GEOGRAPHIC ORIENTATION. ABRIDGED.>>
<<Continent: Karthval. Wealthiest landmass on Ariyas, most of the money and nearly all of the slavery.>>
<<Nation: the Solvane Ascendancy. A magocracy with a crown on it. Nobles keep their titles by producing an heir who reaches Master Mage before thirty, which is why every noble house on this continent is quietly terrified of its own children.>>
<<Capital: Aurenhall. Eleven days by cart. You will not be going there.>>
<<Your location: The Marrow Vale. A backwater. Grain, stone, and sheep define it. The nearest settlement is Greyfen, roughly two hours south by cart, population around four thousand.>>
<<Threat assessment for the region: the strongest individual within a hundred miles is most likely a low Expert, and he is a tax official. Everyone else is Adept or below. This is a small pond, Soren. That is good news for you and you should enjoy it while it lasts.>>
And the rest of the world?
<<Later. You are a 1st level Apprentice standing in a stable yard. The rest of the world does not know you exist and there is no reason to burden you with it.>>
Fair.
He got to the servants' stair and started up.
Right. Names.
<<Covenant: Yes! Yes. Go.>>
You're two halves of one thing now. But every time you talk I've got Grand Lottery System and Lust Covenant System in my head, and those sound like two different companies that hate each other.
<<Lottery: We do.>>
Exactly. So you're getting names, because I'm not spending the rest of my life addressing a department.
He stopped on the landing.
Any gender warnings I should take note of?
<<Both: Genderless...but preferably female>>
A small smile slipped out of his lips, at least it wasn't another guy stuck in his head, it was already weird dealing with two separate set of memories.
Gold one...Grand Lottery System...You're Loraine.
There was a very long pause.
<<Grand Lottery System => Loraine: ...Why?>>
Because it's an accountant's name and you're like an accountant. You've mentioned the odds on everything I've done since I got here and you've never once been wrong and you've never once been kind about it. That's a Loraine.
Another pause.
<<Loraine: That is disgustingly accurate.>>
<<Lust Covenant System: Me! Me! Me! Me!>>
Lilith.
<<Lust Covenant System => Lilith: ...>>
<<Lilith: That's it? Just the obvious one?>>
Yeah.
<<Lilith: Not even a little clever?>>
Nope.
<<Lilith: I love it so much. Oh, that's going straight in me forever, hear mine Lorie?>>
<<Loraine: I am inside the same skull. I hear everything, including the things I would very much rather not...and it's Loraine>>
<<Lilith: You're jealous because yours is a bookkeeper name>>
<<Loraine: Mine is accurate>>
<<Naming Event Registered. First Instance>>
<<Award: 1 Epic Ticket.>>
Soren stopped walking entirely.
<<Loraine: This has never happened. In any deployment. Not once. Hosts do not name us, hosts curse at us and then die of something preventable.>>
You're giving me a ticket for that?
<<Loraine: I am giving you a ticket because I have nothing else to give and I dislike owing people. Take it before I reconsider.>>
<<Lilith: She's blushing. You can't see it but and she's blushing.>>
Before I pull it. Question.
The jar situation... he asked with a wry tone.
<<Loraine: ...Yes?>>
You said Profound grade roll. I got a Mortal grade empty jar. Could you explain that.
The panel dimmed slightly. When Loraine spoke again the tone had changed, and even just from reading, he could tell it was serious.
<<Loraine: It is not how it works. It is how it works now.>>
<<Loraine: A ticket's rarity sets the ceiling of what can be drawn from it. An Epic ticket produce up to Profound grade. A Legendary anything up to Exalted. Mythic, Heavenly. Godly, Empyrean.>>
<<Loraine: Standardly, rarity also sets a floor. Epic ticket should never have been able to produce a Mortal grade. At least Refined.>>
Should have?
<<Loraine: We merged. Parts of both of us came through damaged, and one of the parts that came through damaged is the floor guarantee. It is gone. The ceiling holds. The bottom does not exist anymore.>>
<<Lilith: We didn't want to tell you while you were happy about not dying>>
So every ticket I ever pull could be a jar?
<<Loraine: Every ticket you ever pull could be a jar.>>
Soren leaned against the stairwell wall and laughed, quietly, for about five seconds.
Well fuck me. That's the funniest thing I've ever heard.
<<Lilith: ...He's...taking it well>>
<<Loraine: He is not. He is a gambler and you have just told him the machine has no lower limit. Watch.>>
Pull the Legendary.
<<Loraine: Told you.>>
The wheel that came up was gold, and it turned slower than the others had, and it made a low sound like a bell rung in another room.
Soren's heart beat with every turn, a slight maddening look in his eyes.
Sorry mom, guess I can't help it...hope you all live a happy life though...
<<EXALTED GRADE ROLL.>>
<<TECHNIQUE: PEBBLE AMONGST DRAGONS.>>
<<GRADE: EXALTED.>>
<<CURSE TAG: NONE.>>
<<Conceals the user's true cultivation rank from observation, including from soul-sense, appraisal arts, and direct spiritual pressure. Effective against any observer whose rank does not exceed the user's by more than two levels.>>
<<Secondary function: the user may set a false rank at will, at any point below their true one. Displayed strength must be selected deliberately and holds until changed.>>
Soren stood on the servants' stair of a slaver's house and read that four times.
Loraine.
<<Loraine: Yes.>>
Is that good?
<<Loraine: Do not get excited.>>
It sounds extremely good.
<<Loraine: It is Exalted grade, which is the ceiling of a Legendary ticket, and it is the single most disappointing thing in the entire Exalted band. It does not improve your core, your body, your speed, or your capacity. It is a hat.>>
It is not a hat.
<<Loraine: It is a very good hat>>
<<Lilith: She's furious. She wanted you to get a physique.>>
<<Loraine: I wanted him to get a physique. That ticket could have produced an Exalted grade body refinement and he would have walked out of this stairwell able to fight a mid Adept. Instead he has received a lie.>>
He smiled a little to himself, at least it seemed they were interested in making his life better.
Loraine.
<<Loraine: What?>>
I'm a slave with seven weeks until a Bindmaster puts his hand on my wrist and finds out I'm technically not a slave. What exactly do you think I need more than a lie?
Silence.
<<Loraine: ...>>
<<Loraine: Learn it. Now, on the stairs, before you go through that door.>>
<<Lilith: There she is.>>
It went in the way everything from the system went in, all at once and finished, like remembering something he had always known. Soren felt his own rank settle behind his sternum and then felt a second layer settle over it, thin and quiet, like a sheet thrown over furniture.
<<Loraine: Set a display rank.>>
<<Loraine: Anything below first level Apprentice. Which is nothing. You are at the bottom.>>
Then set it to nothing. Unranked. Same as yesterday.
<<Pebble Amongst Dragons: Active. Displayed Rank: Unranked.>>
<<Loraine: Two levels of protection. Anyone up to Second level Expert will read you as an ordinary slave.>>
Vesper's second level Adept.
<<Loraine: And she will be none the wiser until you prove otherwise...>>
Comforting. Pull the Epic.
<<Profound Grade Roll.>>
The purple wheel turned. Soren watched it the way you watch a coin in the air.
<<TECHNIQUE: Piercing Palm Arts>>
<<GRADE: Profound.>>
<<CURSE TAG: None.>>
<<A barehanded battle art of the Ordwyn southern schools. Carries Armour penetrating capabilities.>>
<<Note: barehanded arts scale with the practitioner's physique and understanding>>
That's the best rank I could get no? That's a Profound off an Epic.
<<Loraine: That is the ceiling, yes.>>
You said the ceiling never happens.
<<Loraine: I said the floor is gone. I said nothing about the ceiling.>>
<<Lilith: She rigged it.>>
<<Loraine: I did not rig it.>>
<<Lilith: She absolutely rigged it, she can't rig it, but she wanted to so badly that I think the odds just felt sorry for her.>>
<<Loraine: Learn the technique, Soren.>>
He learned it on the last three steps.
Then he straightened his collar, put his shoulders in the way Soren had always carried them, dropped his eyes to the correct height, and knocked on the study door.