"Yeah. And to predation being a common thing, and the Seal of Solomon not being good enough."

"You really are aiming high, aren't you?"

"Aim for the moon; if you miss, you'll land in the hard vacuum and die a horrible and painful death. Something like that?"

"A good analogy, what with there being no clear path to magicking your way to the moon either."

"Yeah. But you definitely don't get to the moon otherwise."

"Fair.

It sounds impossible, probably risky just because everything is dangerous, but it's your risk to take."

"Yeah. And I don't know what the best thing I can do is, yet, but it might have something to do with that and I don't want to blind myself to all the horrible stuff just because it's the status quo and everyone says I won't succeed."

She smiles. "I'm not saying that part."

He grins. "Thank you."

"Good luck with your apparently-impossible task. If you come up with a plan to make it less impossible and it looks like I can help, feel free to ask."

"Thank you, you're very kind."

"Any other heroic quests you're planning to embark on?"

"I'm thinking of a couple, but they're kinda half-baked. By the way have you heard of money?"

"...yes?"

"What about the magical version of it?"

"Only metaphorically. Is this an "almighty dollar" pun?"

"No, it's a project started in Montreal a few decades ago, about creating magical currency."

"I wouldn't use that; I'm not really making deals with other practitioners as much as some people, but it could make sense for some people.

Or are you thinking Conquest might want it? If I could just buy Doug's ghost back..."

"I'm really confident Conquest would hate it on principle. I just think it's in general a good idea and want to spread the word."

"Good point. I could see him taking tribute, but selling his prizes maybe not."

"Yeah. He'd probably hoard it if he managed to steal a lot of it from his enemies."

"Probably. Well, hopefully the money catches on anyway."

"It's at least a thing that improves everyone's life without really rocking the boat too much." He reaches inside his pocket for a few bills and offers them to her.

She examines them. "Who all accepts these?"

"The Lord of Montreal redeems them for direct power but I think most people aren't too willing to go to Montreal so it's limited anywhere other than there."