Safe House.

I had woken up in Varian's body early that morning, and from then until late evening, I had spent the day relaxing. I could do that because, for Varian, ten days was an absurdly long time – something I would explain later.

Varian's—or rather, my—safe house didn't have a name for security reasons. Instead, there were countless euphemisms for it. Varian's estate, the Duke's or Duchess's retreat, the villa, to name just a few.

My estate was a town disguised as a forest village. It had a population of five thousand or so strong, battle-hardened people who wanted to escape their horrific pasts. In their time of need, my father had offered them this escape route in exchange for spending the rest of their lives here; those who accepted the offer now stayed here.

The woodland town had houses, farms, livestock, and all the typical amenities needed for a community to function, along with a castle – my castle. The town was fully self-sufficient, thanks to its hearty folks and, importantly, magic. 

You see, virtually everything here had a magical replacement available that required little to no human direction, so even if the human operators made a mistake, everything worked smoothly.

I was marginally concerned that this might make them feel aimless, isolated, or imprisoned, but they were delighted to be here. The reasons for their happiness made sense; it was one of the safest places in the world, and all they had to do was perform relatively low-skilled work—it was the best retirement home for any commoner or low noble.

Only four people had access to this place's portal: my parents, Morticia, and I. No one else could enter or exit.

The estate's exact location was unknown to everyone but my father. However, I, as the writer, knew it was nestled inside an artificial volcano, and situated deep within one of the world's deadliest forests, with clever light magic to turn the estate invisible from the outside and simulate a natural sky inside,

Speaking of natural, the natural defenses of my estate alone were enough to repel anything short of a dragon. But even if those were compromised, the entire artificial volcano was a massive weapon in itself, capable of teleporting the entire safe house to another remote location if a greater danger was spotted. 

The bottom line was, it was incredibly safe.

…Though that safety came at a steep price: mana. Lots and lots of mana. The thousands of runes, spell frameworks, and enchantments in the estate sucked mana like the thirstiest sponge on the planet. Thankfully, Varian existed. 

From the moment he was born, his mana reserves were so high that they dangerously raised the ambient mana density in his surroundings.

Oversaturating a place with mana caused a plethora of problems, each worse than the last. So, Varian's mother crafted a special artifact for him that siphoned all that excess energy into the largest hidden mana battery ever made; a battery that would become a core component in the estate's creation.

Oof, I still remember writing that juicy plotline like it was yesterday. My eyes brightened with a nostalgic flare. Varian's mother had to pay a hefty, and I mean hefty, sum to acquire that mana battery. It almost halved her entire treasury.

As I reminisced, my right hand moved as if it were magnetized, coming to rest on my left thumb. Specifically, on a ring.

Is this…Varian's emotions I'm feeling? I wondered with intrigue as my right hand automatically caressed the ring. A primordial warmth bloomed in my chest. I had never met Varian's mother, Mimetic De Lune, yet through his emotions, I could feel his love and respect for her.

After taking a moment to enjoy the sentiments, I inspected my hands.

I had two golden-brass rings on my thumbs, both with the [Indestructibility] enchantment. The name was a bit of a lie. It didn't actually make them indestructible, or else you could just make indestructible armor with them. The enchantment only protected the rings themselves from harm. It did nothing to protect me; the damage from any blocked attack would pass straight through to my body.

My left ring looked like a simplistic band of intersecting tones of brass, gold, and tiny flecks of mythril. I willed its status window to appear. And with a – ding! – appear it did. 

[Mother's Blessing]

—Once a necklace, this ring was reforged from a mother's love and anxiety for her son.

—The ring contains a spatial storage with a set of mana-storing cubes. These cubes perpetually teleport in cycles to an unknown location to discharge their stored mana before returning.

—Upkeep Cost: 1000 Mana per minute (drained from the wearer).

—Enchantments: Namebound, Indestructibility, Wielderbound.

The enchantments [Namebound] and [Wielderbound] sounded similar, but their functions were different. [Namebound] was a loyalty enchant: if the ring were ever lost, it would use its present mana to teleport directly back to me. [Wielderbound] was a safeguard spell, ensuring the wearer's own powers don't, in any way, interfere with the ring's functioning.

These were divine-tier enchantments, meaning entities without divinity cannot make these enchantments. In other words, only people with a particularly intimate relationship with divine beings can get items enchanted with these enchants.

On my right thumb was another mechanical ring, this one was functionally a spatial ring, but better, and also thicker. 

Made up of brass, gold, and…liquid blood. J-Jesus, what was I thinking when I wrote this… This ring had an inner ring that could be spun to select different modes, like a drive mode selector.

When I wrote about it, it sounded really cool, and even visually it was cool; red, cooper and gold looked awesome, but dear god, knowing I sleep at night with the literal blood of a monster wrapped around my thumb is so creepy.

I squinted at that thought, but read the status of this one anyway.

[Varian's Master Ring]

—A collective effort by the finest craftsmen of their respective specialties, this bespoke multi-purpose ring is an artifact decades ahead of its time.

—The ring allows the user to perform three functions: Item Transference (retrieve from or store items within the estate), Portal Creation (open a gateway to the estate), and Teleportation (instantly travel to the estate).

—To switch between portal creation, item transference, or teleportation, one must physically adjust the dial on the ring. The artifact consumes no mana while idle. Activating a function consumes mana proportional to the task.

—Enchantments: Namebound, Indestructibility, Wielderbound, Self-Repair.

The corners of my lips curved at the sight of the rings. One signified his mother's care, the other his father's. 

They were always busy with the responsibilities of their dukedoms, but they had always looked after Varian… At least, until a series of misunderstandings and deceptive schemes, all orchestrated by a cunning minister that drove them to hunt Varian to the death. That was a particularly sad timeline.

I let out a heavy sigh. A phantom headache was building behind my eyes—a purely personal flaw, mental fatigue that Varian's perfect body could never experience.

It was the pressure of knowing what was coming. All those cogs of fate I'd written will be set in motion the moment I step out of my estate. All those hostile forces, the chaos, the death… The sheer scale of it all was overwhelming, and I couldn't help but let my head drop.

My eyes fell to my chest, and that's where I saw a pair of soft hands gently brushing against my bare chest.

Oh, I'd forgotten to mention one good thing about this whole situation: turns out, I wasn't a total moron. My evidence for such a bold claim? Turns out the clothes I'd struggled with earlier weren't meant to be taken off by the wearer.

An maid, just barely older than my mother, was deftly swapping my day clothes for sleeping garments. She removed my trousers—undies and all—with a practiced ease that made me flush about my earlier struggles. Once the soft sleep clothes were on, she gave a final, gentle press to my ribs.

"You are ready for the evening, Your Highness."

It soothed my mind knowing that that particular tunic was an outlier in its discomfort; every other garment was wonderfully comfortable against the skin. Some were even more comfortable than modern clothes. It was glorious.

"Thank you. You may leave," I said, nodding to the maid. Neither I nor Varian knew her name.

The maid looked a bit unnerved. "Your Highness, should I not feed you tonight?"

Damn you, Varian! What do you mean you get spoon-fed by a mature and attractive lady every night?! I screamed internally, even as I kept my voice soft. "No, that won't be necessary tonight."

She nodded and left my bedroom.

The moment the door clicked shut, I lay down on the edge of the bed, my lighthearted mood evaporating. 

Earlier, when I checked the status of my rings, that was my first time accessing the system. Now that I knew how, it was time to work.

"Status."