Due to your insight, Perception has increased by 10.


    Perception has reached 100.


    Due to reaching 100 in Perception while at Rank F, you may now awaken and bind an element and skill to this stat.


    Zoe re-read the last system notification. This looked important, and it was obviously something she should ask Lilith. The apparition had seemed fairly surprised, which made it even more interesting.


    “What’s surprising isn’t that you’ll awaken an element. What’s surprising is the way you did it, as well as how quickly.”


    There were a lot of questions Zoe wanted to ask, but she held her tongue as she continued her ascent. Interrupting her helpful little Demonic encyclopedia would probably just make it take longer.


    “The number one determinant of power is your rank. The gaps between adjacent ranks are far bigger than the gaps between each level. Also, the two are somewhat independent, so it is possible to be high level and low rank, or vice-versa.”


    That made sense, and it fit with what Zoe had already assumed and observed. The obvious next step would be to ask how you increased your rank if it was independent from level. Which is exactly what Lilith answered next.


    “To increase your rank, you first need to create a new binding for each of your five core stats. That’s why your status labels that section ‘stats and bindings,’ by the way. Anyway, what you actually have to bind depends on what rank you’re moving to. For F to E, it’s awakening an element for each stat. But from E to D, it’s binding skills, and so on.”


    Zoe slowed to a stop as she made it onto the final platform. It was basically empty, being little more than an empty circle with a few doorways leading to what must be the outer railing. To get to the actual control area or whatever, there must be another way even higher up. Because I’m pretty sure Arthur and Millie didn’t just disappear.


    “Is that what those elemental awakening gems are for?” Zoe asked as she finally spotted a set of simple rungs leading straight up the outer wall. They were cool to the touch, and a little rusty.


    “Yes. It’s a good thing you already have a few of those. You could go ahead and use one of them now, if you wanted to. Elemental bindings aren’t too difficult.”


    Not too difficult? There was some kind of implication there that Zoe was sure she’d find out sooner or later. Also, she didn’t think it would be a good idea to immediately go and choose one without getting a better sense of her options and abilities first. It’s literally still just my second day. She did, however, bring up that section of her inventory.


    /Misc Valuables/Magic Crystals/Awakening Gems


    > Cold


    > Ice


    > Shadow


    > Empty x4


    Cold, Ice, and Shadow. Those were her three options—well, at least the ones that she could pick right now if she wanted to. She did wonder what the difference between cold and ice was. Well obviously they’re different concepts, but separating them for elemental magic seems a bit weird.


    Ice could totally be useful though. Zoe had barely seen what Lily could do with it, but what she had seen was already impressive enough. Also, ice seemed like the sort of thing that hit a perfect balance of being easily conjurable but also, you know, solid. Zoe was pretty sure that was a pretty useful combination.


    Shadow, though, shadow was just way too edgy.


    Lilith finished up her basic explanation as Zoe finished climbing the final rungs. “The empty ones are actually even more useful, because that means you can create your own—provided you already have a mana crystal with the element you want. And we already have a bunch of those.”


    That was true. Zoe went ahead and pulled up her inventory list for the mana crystals as well.


    /Misc Valuables/Magic Crystals/Mana Crystals


    > Cold


    > Fire


    > Ice


    > Light


    > Metal


    > Shadow


    > Stone


    > Water


    > Wind


    > Wood


    > Empty x6


    It was interesting that there were duplicates for all three of the awakening gems she already had. Maybe having one of those is useful for stuff you might do after you’ve already awakened the same element. Clearly, the cultist chief had intended for her to awaken both shadow and cold or ice—if not both of the latter two. And that means he would have, if the Outsider title didn’t let me break his control over me.


    Despite all the subsequent hardships, Zoe was still glad she made the decision to run away.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    “So when I awaken and bind an element for all of my stats, is that when I rank up?” If that was the case, Zoe should probably focus on just getting all of her stats past one-hundred. Well, and actually figuring out all my random skills too. It was pretty obvious she should understand her abilities before deciding on particular elements.


    Lilith grinned, and Zoe didn’t think she liked that. “No. That just makes you eligible. To actually rank up—that’s when we’ll need one of those advancement techniques.”


    Ah. Those. Zoe had a couple of those as well, so that was good. It was just a shame she couldn’t actually read them.


    But that was something to worry about later. She’d finally made it to the interesting part of the lighthouse, and Millie waved her over to where Arthur was poking at a giant, complicated-looking metal device with a stick.


    Yes, the archmage was poking and prodding the giant magical beacon with a thin metal stick. As he tapped it again against a curved plate of what looked like brass, a glowing rune flared to life under the tip. Zoe blinked in surprise.


    “Maybe you should reserve judgment on the expertise of mages until you understand some basic magic yourself.”


    Zoe glared at her illusory companion. Just because the ghost was right didn’t mean that Zoe was at all interested in hearing it. But she couldn’t stay irritated for long, because more runes were lighting up on the concave dish under Arthur’s touch. They looked a lot like the glowing symbols on the sarcophagi, actually. The ones in the deep inner chamber where Zoe herself first woke up.


    There was something that felt slightly different about them, though. Not that Zoe would remember the exact shapes and colors from yesterday, of course—and fundamentally, they seemed the same. A different… vibe, perhaps?


    The final symbol lit up with a deep navy hue. Zoe didn’t understand how it was possible for something to glow navy, but it did. She could tell it was the last one because it was in the center, and Arthur dramatically took a step back.


    “If this thing still works, we should be able to get the message to Lord Loch within an hour. Then we just have to hope he decides to actually come.”


    Lord Loch. Zoe giggled a little. What a funny-sounding name. It would have been funnier too, had she not been rather concerned by several different things the archmage just said.


    “Uh…” Millie shared an equally concerned glance with Zoe before continuing. “What do you mean, if this thing still works?”


    A shrug was all they got. “I think it’s rather self-explanatory. Though it does appear to be working.”


    It was definitely moving, at least. The convoluted hunk of dull-golden metal made a sudden jerk, several gear-like bits spun, and then the whole apparatus swiveled around to point the rune-covered disk in a very specific direction. Not that there was anything unique about it, aside from how precisely the device oriented itself to such an otherwise meaningless spot.


    “See? It works.”


    Aside from it moving—no, Zoe didn’t really see. But she still had a more important concern. “Well that’s good, but I was more concerned with what you meant by if he decides to actually pick us up.”


    Now it was Millie and Arthur who shared an uncomfortable glance. “Lord Loch is a—very capable man, and it is a great honor for all of us to tutor under him. That being said, his methods, while effective—“


    “He’s a dick.” Arthur sighed and Millie shrugged. “It’s true. No use not saying it how it is. I’m plenty grateful to him, but he’s still a dick.”


    Zoe had some additional—questions—but she didn’t get a chance to ask them yet. A crystal-clear chime rang out from the beacon, followed by a faint distortion in the surrounding air.


    “Ah, we’ve made contact.” Arthur cleared his throat. “And please let me handle this one.”


    _____


    Lord Darius Loch, widely known as a former Rank A soldier and current director of Norvask’s alchemists’ guild, was in the middle of a very important private meeting when a courier nearly took the foot-thick set of oak doors off their hinges with the intensity of his knocking.


    He and his subordinate shared a quiet glance. “It appears someone is under the impression their message will be very important to you.”


    Darius was inclined to agree. “Yes, though I can’t say whether I’d prefer them to be right or wrong.” The couriers within Verdanport were always quite professional. For one of them to behave like this—it didn’t just mean the sender considered their message to be of utmost importance. People operated under such assumptions far too often, in the former soldier’s experience. No, this also meant that the courier agreed with the assessment as well.


    And good things rarely happen fast.


    “Right, what is it?” The young lad had already performed a full salute and delivered a courier’s authentication slip within the space of time it took for Darius to open the door. Professional even under pressure, yet practical enough to skip through the formalities. Darius appreciated the boy’s attitude far more than he appreciated the ensuing message.


    “Is that all?” The alchemist mentally cursed as the young courier nodded. Under most circumstances, he would have let the students survive on their own. The added difficulty of the challenge would neatly fill in for the punishment for interrupting matters of such great personal concern.


    But these were not ordinary circumstances. “You have my permission to make the required reports of suspected cult activity within the frozen wastes. You do not have my permission to relay this information in any other capacity.”


    The courier nodded once, sharply. “Yes sir.”


    “Good.” Darius took the authentication slip and handed the boy an eighth-piece of silver in return. “That is all, you may be dismissed.”


    And with that, the aging lord turned his back to the closing oak doors. The one other person present arched an eyebrow as the heavy doors thunked shut. “Interesting timing.”


    Darius really didn’t have the energy to spare on a witty response. He just returned to his desk and began sorting through the relevant records. “Yes, it is. I think you understand why we will be cutting this meeting short.”


    The adventurer before him smirked. Somehow, that was far more irritating than any form of protest. “Yes, I certainly do. Have fun taking care of the kids.” And with that, the high-ranking adventurer swept himself, his cape, and his ego out of the chair and out of the room.


    Darius shook his head. He only had so much tolerance for the man’s personality—and most of what he did have was only due to the man’s usually high degree of competence. Quite effective, for someone a full two ranks below the former soldier himself—not that this was ever a reasonable comparison. At least his actions carried a great deal more professionalism than his attitude would imply.


    The next step—after getting a few personal items in order—would be to get Stella to ready his smaller manaship. Lord Darius was confident he could be docked at the lighthouse within an hour. That being said—it really wasn’t the added time that made him so unhappy about all of this.


    There might be one positive outcome of this. His students stumbling onto blighted infernal cult activity in the midst of their survival training was not something that ever should have happened. Yet on the upside…


    The courier’s message did briefly allude to someone he was very interested to meet.