“Are you ready, Glint?”


    “Of course, my bond.”


    “Then I’ll go in as planned and suffer the initial wave. An excellent way to see if your new powers work as intended,” Kite said, looking to the others for confirmation.


    Dragonfly and Glint both nodded, with only Will still showing a bit of hesitation where he stood holding Laevyeth in her spear form.


    “Kite, my friend, I do ever trust in your capabilities, but charging the whole pack like this…”


    “Don’t fret, Will,” Kite said, clapping the spearman on the shoulder as he passed, setting out for the mouth of the valley in the distance where their quarries nested. “I have the cleansing pill ready, as well as the healing ones should our theories prove false. And besides, I am quite used to this with Gauntlet. Going in first is kind of my signum by now.”


    “Don’t worry, Will. We’ll only be a few seconds behind.” Dragonfly said, followed by Laevyeth.


    “Also, my Lord, I shall bathe ye all in my light shouldst the need arise.”


    “Then may Fortune favor us. And let us see if we can’t, on behalf of adventurers everywhere, unleash some sweet vengeance on those gazers.”


    At that, Kite set off at a run, Glint joining him soon after as she changed to her much bigger serpentine form. That shape also sported the crystalline set of antlers, even more glorious as they caught the light of dawn in the distance, and she gracefully lowered herself to let Kite leap onto her back as they set off together.


    The brief ride where the pair blitzed across the landscape, wind roaring and the greenery of the hills dotted by smaller cliffs, did drive home to Kite that he was already most fortunate in so many regards. He had the power to make his way in this world along with those who mattered to him, and the freedom to steer his path in so many ways. Be it influence, leisure, security, ambition; all of them were attainable. Not always easily so, but attainable nonetheless. The idealized life of an adventurer, in many ways.


    “Thank you, Fortune, for all of this,” he thought in silent prayer as the mouth of the valley drew closer at a furious pace while he felt the auras of his companions follow in his wake. “And now, for the other part of the adventurer’s life that makes all of this possible.”


    Just as they crossed into the valley proper, covered in once green but now withered and black grassy slopes with clusters of cliffs forming uneven ridges along its side, Kite let his aura burst outward in the most forceful projection available. At the same time, Glint twisted and flung him forward before transforming in mid-air to her draconian form which remained held aloft by conjure water.


    But the projection was not for the benefit of his allies, but rather his foes. Down in the valley, a gathering of over twenty tall, thin creatures suddenly turned as one to face him. Each of the monsters, called silent gazers, had one single big eye forming something akin to the head of an otherwise whip-like body with two tentacles for arms and just a single, long and sinewy tail making up the rest. They looked to be made from yellow, oily wax, but being silver-ranked beings meant that the brittleness was but an illusion to most of lower rank.


    And as the whole pack turned to regard him, each huge eye seemed to flash for an instant, and then the afflictions hit. So far during his career, Kite had found ongoing necrotic damage to be one of the most unsettling; a kind of mix between pain, feverish heat and chilling numbness as the magics of the gazers - unerring and unfaltering, requiring only line of sight and focus for the beings - tried to cause Kite’s flesh to start sloughing off his body in stinking heaps.


    This instant, hard-to-counter barrage of short-lived, intense necrotic afflictions were the main reason why the gazers were so hated by adventurers everywhere. The monsters were bodily weak and not very bright for silvers, as well as manifesting in numbers which usually meant quantity over quality. But those flashing gazes meant that things could turn ugly fast if they happened to focus too much on one member of a group taking them on unless that person was very resistant to the necrotic attention or possessed other similar means. Or, as in Kite’s case, had help.


    Because just as Kite had been flung towards the group of monsters, projecting his aura like a beacon in order to really grab their attention, a silhouette had appeared behind him. It was as if he had gained an additional shadow, two-dimensional and made from shimmering water. Much like a shadow, it mimicked his form perfectly. But unlike a shadow, this one was bound to him in another way.


    As such, Kite’s flesh was unmarred and pristine as he completed his not-flight and descended towards the gazers below. In his stead, the watery image started withering rapidly into a trail of foam as it accepted the damage in his stead for the duration of its existence; a karmic reflection formed from Glint’s new magic which shimmered like the antlers now adorning her head.


    The tattoos of Kite’s mantle lit up just before he struck, and spectral arms thrust outwards as they projected attacks out into the mass of monsters while Kite himself swung his staff as it trailed the nothingness of Void-Sunders-Firmament, the attack lengthening through the use of Potential of Stolen Power. One should hold nothing back once you engaged a pack of gazers, as the delay between their eye-flashes was only around a dozen seconds. But at silver rank, a dozen seconds - especially if well-timed and planned for - was plenty of time.


    “Ward!”


    Kite’s barriers appeared to absorb some of the lashing, whip-cord strikes which the monsters started delivering towards him in eerie silence, the twin discs protecting his back and flanks while he himself attacked and countered wherever he was facing. Seeing that the watery image behind him was all but spent, Kite chose to accept a glancing blow to further test the new power, and noted with some satisfaction that the tentacle lashing across his shoulder barely felt like more than a touch while the image was sundered a bit more at the corresponding location before it finally collapsed completely.


    It was also at that time when Will - wielding a glowing Laevyeth as he soared across the rim of the valley on wings of spears - and the comet that was Dragonfly made their appearance, striking from each side in a pincer attack which cut through the monsters now turned inward towards Kite. Many fell before their onslaught, and even as the eyes of those remaining flashed a second time, the necrotic gazes were too spread out to make much of an impact, which only added further insult to injury as Laevyeth flashed with pure brilliance just after.


    “Iniquity’s bane!”


    <table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%" border="1">


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td style="width: 99.0252%">


    - Iniquity’s Bane -


    Innate. Cost: High mana  Cooldown: 10m


    Effect - silver: Release a powerful burst of revealing light which shreds the wicked, dealing high disruptive force damage to nearby foes. The light will attempt to dispel hostile illusions, with additional effectiveness against effects involving darkness, shadows or smoke. Additionally, the light will attempt to cleanse all afflictions of the curse, poison and unholy subtypes from allies within range.


    Resonant - Triumph of Indomitable Will: Each illusion dispelled and afflictions cleansed will coalesce into a temporary spear conjuration that is launched towards the origin of the dispelled effect.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    The dark afflictions vanished in a literal flash while the monsters were rocked by the wave of disruptive force, soon followed by jagged and rough spear-like constructs that emerged from each adventurer and flew towards the reeling beasts. With the pack’s focus scattered and the adventurers already among them, the remainder of the hunt was brief.


    “Oooo that felt good,” Dragonfly cheered as she sat high up on the valley slope, watching the bodies of the monsters go up in rainbow smoke after Laevyeth claimed them. “I mean, I usually love facing afflictions, at least when they’re nice and slow. But these are just evil. And now we could just sweep in and ‘boom’.”


    “It did work like a charm. Thank you, little beauty,” Kite agreed, giving his praise to Glint who currently floated at his side in her smaller carp form. “This new power of yours is most impressive, and a true boon to us in the years to come.”


    “Almost feels like healing in a way,” Dragonfly quipped. “But without the part where you first get hurt.”


    “It does add to my excellence, even though I can’t help but feel disappointed that it cannot completely transfer heavier strikes,” the familiar added, her tone hinting at a frown.


    “You may not be an essence user, but it seems that the rule of tradeoffs holds true for you too, perfect as you may be” Kite said consolingly. “Had it been able to weather any blow, it might just have been able to transfer the one. Now you have a bit of duration, and as long as each hit or instant of damage isn’t too great, your charge will remain unscathed. Heavens, just being this efficient against something like the silent gazers - universally shunned, from what I gather - is enough to earn you accolades wherever you may go!”


    “And besides, the new retributive power is great too,” Will agreed, joining his friends in laying on the praise as thickly as possible. “There just wasn’t any need for it this time.”


    Seeing the familiar mollified, Dragonfly returned to their original topic. “But we can honestly earn ourselves quite a bit of coin if we’re willing to take on gazer packs. The contracts reward premium for a reason, as most groups just need to strike simultaneously from multiple directions and hope for the best.”


    “Speaking of rewards, I would like to share some spoils with thee as well,” Laevyeth said, rising from where she sat next to Will. With a gesture, one essence appeared in each of her hands which she held out to Kite. “A contribution to thy guild. While I wouldst not yet officially join and thus make myself known, I wish to maketh what contributions I may.”


    “From the look of them, they are from this pack alone? Fortune truly blessed you then,” Kite said, regarding the two cubes. One seemed to contain manifold eyes looking outwards in all directions while the other looked to be made from rubbery tentacles, pseudopods and other similar appendages compressed together. “The eye essence is obvious, but the other? That is a tentacle essence. Rare. Very rare, from what I gathered. Just trying to imagine where they usually manifest makes one shudder. That is worth a lot, Laevyeth, even by our standards. Are you really sure you want to make a gift of it?”


    “Remember that I do knowest most that thou - and now my Lord - does of the world, Kite,” the outworlder said, still holding out her offering. “This bounty alone shows that we will want for little, me and my wielder, no matter where we may find ourselves. So please, accept it with my gratitude. What thou did for me remains something I will never forget, debt of gratitude or not.”


    “I suppose that this is a good reminder that it is somehow a lot easier to gift something lavish than accept it,” Kite reflected as he accepted the essences, stowing them away in the pouch where he carried other things for the guild. “On behalf of the guild I thank you, Laevyeth. And you will always be welcome among us, officially or not.”


    As the last wisps of rainbow smoke, Dragonfly was the first to rise, stretching briefly before leaping up atop one of the low cliffs to look around while she spoke. “Well, off to the next then? Heavens, it still feels like you can see so far compared to up north, even if they sure have less - and punier - cliffs and mountains around here.”


    “Indeed, let us be off,” Kite agreed, the others joining him as they too got to their feet. “Even in the face of spectacular trees and unexpected transformations, there will always be more contracts waiting for us, it seems.”


    <hr>


    “Will, can I ask you something?”


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    “Of course, Dragonfly.”


    “Not that there’s anything wrong with it, but I’m just curious; have you been practicing being close to people during your time around the Sea of storms?”


    “What? No, why? That hardly seems proper. None of the people I met there were one’s I would have considered true friends.”


    “Well, I just thought you might be more comfortable with it these days, since you always seem to be touching Laevyeth in some way.”


    The group, currently sipping tea in the Convergence guildhall while an autumn storm was in full swing outside, all turned as one to look at where the hands of the spearman and the outworlder were slightly overlapping in the couch they shared. This included Will and Laevyeth themselves, who regarded the point of contact for a moment before Will shrugged.


    “That is obviously a different matter.”


    “Is it? Because you always seem to be in contact one way or another.”


    “Well, we are a pair, a unit. I am her wielder,” Will stated, as if that explained everything.


    “That sure is one way to put it. Would you even say that you are committed to one another? A bond meant to last?” Dragonfly asked sweetly, voice filled with faux ignorance.


    “Of course. I have sworn my hand to my Lady for as long as she would have me.”


    “As have I,” Laevyeth added primly, but seemed content to let Will speak while she enjoyed her tea.”


    Their unbothered responses seemed both pleasing and frustrating to Dragonfly at the same time, who pressed on.


    “But Laevyeth is still a woman.”


    “Yes.”


    “So would you be fine if I also hugged you more?”


    “Well, you are my friend… So yes, if in moderation.”


    “But she’s a woman too.”


    “... Yes?”


    “Bah… You’re no fun anymore,” Dragonfly grumbled, returning to her tea in defeat as Will’s obliviousness had, for once, proven too great a defense for her to overcome.


    <hr>


    A soft rainfall blurred the windows of the flying ship enough so that Kite could barely make out Bastion in the distance as they drew ever closer.


    “I miss the winters in Gilded. Up there we at least got more snow than rain,” Dragonfly grumbled at his side.


    “Agreed, even though Glint seems to be enjoying herself at least.”


    “She’s a fish-turned-dragon-turned young mistress, Kite. You’d suspect that water shouldn’t be a bother to her.”


    “Point conceded,” Kite replied with a laugh. “Still, I’m curious if Jarvan and Dobrazza have received any word from their contacts. The call to the meeting didn’t say, so it might just be an update in regards to the broader investigations of ‘the matter’ and new assignments of contracts to the guild.”


    “And while you’re going to meetings, Sprite and I will be shopping,” Dragonfly said, obviously pleased. “We really need some more reading for my diligent little student, as well as to pick up a birthday gift for little Raven. To think that she’s turning three already. Do you want us to find anything from you too?”


    At her words, Kite couldn’t help but smile as said diligent student - who sat reading in another seat and most definitely wasn’t listening in on them - straightened slightly in her seat.


    “No, I believe that I have got that covered. Raven does love her shiny stones.”


    “And with the rate you’re constantly finding reasons to give them to her, she will have enough for several full sets by the time she actually comes of age.”


    “Well I don’t want to decide her path for her, do I? She will need some options, as well as some to trade for others, should she wish.”


    “And here I thought that actual nobles were well off in the awakening stone department,” Dragonfly sighed with a roll of her eyes. “Turns out that they’re all completely outdone by an older brother with an odd familiar.”


    “Careful, Dragonfly, or Sage might start withholding those additional monster manifestations you enjoy so much for training.”


    <hr>


    As it would turn out, Kite was right in both his hopes and original predictions. Upon drawing closer to Dobrazza’s office in the adventure society’s Bastion branch, he could feel several familiar auras belonging to the people which usually coordinated around the continued hunt for the cells of cultists or other unpleasant elements which hid scattered around the rural wilderness or isolated settlements. Said cells were a lot fewer these days fortunately, and that by quite some margin as the investigators had been quite persistent in rooting them out.


    But there was one aura among those gathered which gave Kite pause as he sensed it, a smile spreading across his face as he recognized it even after the changes it had undergone since they last met.


    “Bloom! My congratulations on reaching silver,” Kite exclaimed as he entered Dobrazza’s office.


    The former young master and partial antagonist had apparently already sensed Kite as well, having already risen from his seat.


    “Senior brother Kite! It’s been too long,” Brilliant Bloom replied, walking over to give Kite a quick, friendly embrace in which he was sure to prove his now silver-ranked strength.


    “As is often said these days, or at least that’s what it feels like. Once more, congratulations. Silver has treated you most well it seems. Was it recent? I haven’t heard anything through the guild yet.”


    “Well, I might not have done it with your speed, oh Pathbreaker, but I did say that I would strive to catch up to you. Even… if it looks like I still have quite some way to go,” Bloom added, a bit dejectedly as he seemed to get a better sense of Kite’s own aura which hinted at his slight progression past the infamous wall of silver rank. To his credit, it soon passed only to be replaced by determination. “But then we must find the time to spar, and let me get a proper sense of how our paths measure up these days. How long will you be staying?”


    Kite was about to reply, but was interrupted by a firm nudge of aura accompanied by a cleared throat from the others gathered inside the spacious office.


    “Boys, while your reunion is touching, would you mind waiting until after the meeting to make more private plans?” Dobrazza asked archly.


    Both young men had the good sense to look at least somewhat abashed at the light chastisement, and soon joined the others in the seats reserved for them. Dobrazza remained seated at her desk, clearly claiming center stage as she presided over the meeting. Jarvan sat next to Kite along with his deputy director Rupert Versis who had been more present these days now that Grim could portal several silvers with ease. Bloom took his seat next to Azure Devil, the scarred elf who had assumed the deputy director position beneath Dobrazza around half a year earlier when his predecessor returned to his homeland.


    With five silvers present, each having reached their current rank the hard way, the gathering was a surprisingly potent one in the region where more than two or three silvers in the same place was quite rare outside of the feasts and gatherings of the city’s elite. Some of Azure’s closest subordinates were present as well, local bronze-rankers who had forsworn sect membership to work more closely with the adventure society, but they kept to the background and let the silvers do the talking. Bloom had previously been one of them, working closely with Azure in certain contracts, but his recent advancement had now given him a seat at the table proper.


    “Well, let us get this little gathering underway,” Dobrazza continued once they had all settled in their seats. “I will get right to business; we are closing in on a decision point in our little… venture. Traces of illicit activities are now few and far between, and have been for some time to the extent that we have been able to let the Autumn Wanderer’s guild handle the few that have sprung up. And neither of those have had the same scope and organization as we saw in the initial days.”


    “You might be wondering why this is a bad thing, and don’t get us wrong, it truly isn’t,” Jarvan added, continuing the explanation at a gesture from Dobrazza. “While northern Hua-Xi will probably always have enough nooks and crannies for filth to crawl into, the concentration isn’t there anymore. We should be able to leave it to normal adventurers in the years to come. But that does leave the question of where to go next, as we have few illusions that our targets have just up and left, at least not the country as a whole.”


    “And I assume that simply continuing southward is more complicated than just doing it, else we wouldn’t have the need for this discussion?” Kite asked. “Shall I presume politics?”


    “Ah, it warms an old man’s heart to see what a perceptive adventurer we have raised, doesn’t it, Rupert?” Jarvan replied, getting a nod - accompanied by a tired eye roll - from his leonid companion. “But yes, Kite, you are right. Anasta Temren, or national director and head of the Heavenward branch, has done an admirable job in covertly disseminating the information to the branches whose leadership she felt could be trusted, but so far I know of no efforts as concerted as ours, with many branches working together.”


    The blond man rose from his seat as he talked, and started pacing back and forth around the room while swirling his glass of some kind of constantly boiling liqueur.


    “If we want to expand south, we will have to cue more of them into what we know, which means a whole process of investigations and vetting to make sure we don’t just tip our hand. And not just to our enemies. Plenty of other branch heads aren’t as… skeptical… to their local sects as I myself have been, and while the sect warrior would probably do a fine job with the strikes themselves, you can count on them falling over one another in the quarrels of who gets assigned which special contracts. And we can’t really wait for them to hold a local tournament to figure out the pecking order each time either.”


    At this statement, Rupert cleared his throat in a low growl which caused Jarvan to stop and take note.


    “Ah, yes, thank you Rupert. As my dear friend probably wished to point out, we do have one distinct ally among the sects. The Fated Severance. They will probably be most useful companions in their region of the kingdom, assuming that Sect Leader Dew has managed to properly purge unwanted elements?”


    “She has indeed, at least to her knowledge,” Rupert confirmed. “While a sect is slow to change, being the only gold-ranker in it does help quite a lot; both in getting the respect she deserves and helping her know the heart of those around her. She sends her regards to you in particular, Kite.”


    “It is most flattering that she still thinks of me. I do hope to visit in the months to come, even though the guild, Gauntlet and other matters are enough to keep me quite busy.”


    “To bring us back to the matter at hand -,” Dobrazza said as she once more claimed everyone’s attention, “- we have a choice to make. To continue this line of investigations with the risks that it entail, or leave it as is for now, which means letting the other branches pick up the slack.”


    “I mean, is it even a choice? Would we, the adventure society, just sit back and leave things be now that we have their scent and know their ways of operating?” Jarvan asked, making his stance clear.


    “It is, as the other choice would be to trust in our colleagues - who are also of the adventure society - to do their job,” Carmella shot back.


    “They would, they would. It’s not like we can just barge completely into their areas of jurisdiction. But we could give them a lot of information, contacts and -,” Jarvan said, eyeing Kite,”- some competent contacts who they could draw upon to advise and support them. And us directors can provide both some push and incentive if we can get Temren on board. Assuming that people like our dear Kite here are willing to push further south in your wanderings, with all the trouble I am sure that entails.”


    Seeing Jarvan’s gaze upon him, Kite took a moment to collect his thoughts before nodding. “As you probably know, directors, me and mine are already quite committed to this venture. Even should you decide to sit back, I will not let this rest. But you also know that I am no investigator, and would therefore be most grateful for any assistance you would provide.”


    “See, a most wise young man,” Jarvan said, obviously pleased.


    Azure Devil took this opportunity to break in himself, turning to Dobrazza. “You know we’re dedicated too, Carmella. Surely you’re not suggesting we just leave this be?”


    The smolder turned to look at her deputy, one eyebrow raised before chuckling to herself. “No, Azure, no I’m not. But the question needed to be asked and truly considered as there are real risks to it. But no, I would rather see this through. Or at least as far as possible. My tenure here does end in three years, so you’ll have to be ready to take over by then.”


    “We’re at least in agreement then. Good. Had someone truly protested, I might even have gone native enough to challenge them to a clash in the matter. I’ve always wanted to do that, ever since getting here,” Jarvan said, obviously pleased as Kite too nodded with a smile.


    “Having decided, this does mean that we will have to plan out our next steps. Us directors should be able to handle the communications with our peers around the kingdom, but that does leave you and your guild, Kite. Think you can expand your influence southward a bit more?”


    “That, director, is a bit more complicated prospect,” Kite said, leaning back in his chair with a concerned frown. “If possible, I believe it would have to be through other means than to overtly create a new guildhall in - say - Orchard, given the pushback we faced the last time. Even though other forces seem to have pushed the matter to its more violent head, the sects closer to the heartlands are much more powerful as well as influential. We will do what we can, of course, but it will have to be measured. I’ll make sure to talk with my uncle about it.”


    “Excellent. Then the preliminaries are decided upon. Let us get a lay of the land and see what we have to work with in the upcoming years,” Dobrazza said, rising in a clear sign that the meeting was now adjourned.


    As Kite too rose, Jarvan caught his eye which had him fall in step beside the branch director on the way out.


    “I have some more matters to see to here, but why don’t we meet over dinner today and catch up, Kite?” Jarvan asked casually. “With as many kids as I have, there are plenty of updates to give, as well as a certain other matter which Carmella and I have looked into.”


    “Oh? Of course, Jarvan. I’d be delighted, and most curious too,” Kite replied honestly, feeling a thrill at the excited gleam in the other man’s eyes which no doubt meant that Jarvan too was eager to share the news.


    “Good, good! Meet me at that dumpling place just outside the society campus at sundown! Until then, I have a certain hall master of a son to seek out and lavish with praise, affection and some stern words from his mother back home.”