He wasn't nearly fast enough.

The sound of collisions shook the air around the compound only seconds after he left, and Karl mentally checked in on Cara. She had used [Greater Beast Form] and [Behemoth] to turn her into a six-metre tall badger, now larger in every dimension than her Wrath Demon opponent, who was buffed up by his new ring.

The battle was shaping up to be an epic one, as the arena was shaking with the barriers up, and they hadn't even gotten serious yet.

Cara had fully buffed herself for this fight. She had even used [Haste] [Brutality] and [Warbeast] to fully armour and enhance herself, though the armour was hidden under the hide of her badger form.

Even with all that, Amaldor was still stronger than she was now that he had such a huge buff to his stats, and Cara was not going to win by overwhelming force, but they had also agreed not to use weapons or offensive skills.

Only their own claws and buffs.

"Are you not going to go watch the fight?" One of the clerks asked quietly as Karl began to work on the swords for the Paladins.

"Nope, you can go, though. Call it a paid break, as long as you're back in fifteen minutes. I won't tell anyone."

The clerk looked longingly at the door, then nodded. "It's not neglecting my duties, nobody will be here for Alchemy herbs until after the fight. If we can hear it from here, then half the Clan knows that something is going on."

"Precisely. Go, have fun."

The last of the staff members who stayed in the front left, and Karl started to draw on the swords with a paint pen. It was better to work when there was nobody around, but after only a few seconds, he saw bunnies poking their heads out from the back room.

Today had been slow for actual customers, and they were missing the snacks that Karl had handed out so freely yesterday.

"No customers, so everyone is on break. Here, take these and pass them around. They're a failed batch, so I can't vouch for the taste." Karl warned.

They even had a failed batch label on them, but as to why they had failed, he couldn't tell.

If they were actually toxic, Lotus presumably would not have put them into storage in the Tiny World's cupboards.

It had been enchanted with a [Preservation] spell by Lotus, using nature magic to keep the food fresh without freezing it.

"You know, you're pretty alright," the bunny whispered as she returned to the others.

"You don't have to be afraid to talk around me. If there is nobody else here, we're not in public. That's the rule, right? Mortals don't speak in public?"

The bunny nodded. "Nobody wants to hear what we have to say anyhow, so it works out fine. But you're different. Friendly, but not creepy. Maybe because you have a fox wife?"

"I agree, some of these Immortals need to get laid more often."

The bunny giggled and held up the tray of cupcakes. "Thank you for this. We've made great progress this week, just using the resources that you've provided."

"Of course. I will be sure to keep sending them even after my time at the counter is over. Miss Remi will be here all the time, and she can deliver them as well."

"The snake is scary."

Karl smiled. "She's not going to eat anyone. She's not big enough to, anyhow."

"But you never know what she will make you drink. She's got a very frightening 'mad scientist' vibe."

[She hasn't even talked to her yet, and she has Remi pegged.] Hawk joked.

The Naga couldn't even deny it. The bunnies were perfect test subjects. They weren't allowed to say no.

Not that she intended to hurt them. Quite the opposite, really. But nobody trusted her new concoctions, and it was not easy to get people to test them out if they didn't come from one of the established recipes that the Elders could vouch for.

It was horribly limiting, even if Elder Socrate was glad to help her learn and refine her new techniques.

What good was learning new things if nobody was going to use them?

Karl finished setting up the runes on the first sword, then made a couple of alterations that would increase the output, while allowing the sword to channel its own energy for the [Consecrated Ground] effect.

Having that effect active at will, without cost to the user, would be perfect for the Paladins.

They had enough to worry about on their own, and they didn't need a blade that caused them even more mental stress and mana use.

The blade glowed with bright white holy light as Karl finished it, so he quickly put it in storage, before it attracted attention. Well, more attention because there were a half dozen bunnies watching at the door to the back room, enraptured by his skills.

Then, he started work on the second one, which went much more smoothly without the need to make alterations. That would turn them into a matched pair, and they were designed to grow with their user, so they would be with the Paladins for a very long time.

Assuming nothing drastic happened to their wielders.

Perhaps that was the reason that so much was lost? The Immortals regularly fought and killed each other, so whatever was in their inventory would vanish with their final death.

They didn't wear most of their valuables, or keep them in a storage item unless their inventory was full.

So, every death caused an unknown number of valuable relics to be lost forever.

It was a tragedy for the overall power level of the Immortal Worlds, but in a way it really was a self-regulating system. The Immortals weren't sitting on mountains of loot because so much of it vanished with every kill.

That kept power scaling from getting out of hand, and kept people with eternal lifespans interested in doing the things near home, instead of getting bored after collecting all the good stuff and going out to cause trouble for others.

Perhaps the Gods knew what they were doing when they designed the System?

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