《Broken Lands》


 Chapter 1 - To Break a Dungeon

    Sophia cursed softly as the hawk slipped out of the way of her Mana Spike. It was entirely too agile and she didn¡¯t have anyone able to hold it in place on this delve. She¡¯d figured out a way to mislead the bird a couple delves back, but she hadn¡¯t actually tried the new method yet.


    Sophia tugged on the mana around her. It swirled around a new Mana Spike as she formed it near the eye of the gigantic Wind-touched Rough-Legged Hawk that served as the final boss for the Cliff Dungeon¡¯s first area, the top of the cliff. If it saw the attack, it would dodge out of the way again, but the swirls in the ambient mana should conceal the nearly invisible missile.


    This time, it worked. The hawk didn¡¯t see the Mana Spike flying towards it until it was too late. It crunched into the bird¡¯s eye, exactly the way it was supposed to. She watched the hawk fall bonelessly to the cliff top, grateful that she didn¡¯t have to try to do it again. Managing atmospheric mana at the same time as she cast a spell through a Path Skill was not easy; in fact, it was one of the hardest things to master she¡¯d ever tried.


    Sophia glanced around. The Tier Zero she was escorting through the Tier One dungeon was still holding off some of the smaller birds that accompanied the Wind-touched Rough-Legged Hawk. She only saw three, now, which meant that he and the three offworlders must have dealt with the other seven.


    Why was he fighting alone? Sophia frowned and looked around as she started to manifest a Mana Spike to kill another of the small birds, now that the great hawk couldn¡¯t bat it out of the way with its wind magic. Three bird bodies littered the floor near where the Tier Zero fought; all three had injuries that could easily have been from his sword. If he¡¯d managed six of them for even a short time on his own, Sophia was impressed. She wasn¡¯t certain she could have done the same at Tier Zero, at least not with the well-made but mundane equipment that was all he had.


    Sophia killed one of the last three birds as it flew at her charge, but her attention wasn¡¯t as focused on the fight as it should have been. Where were the others?


    Her eyes caught on a bird corpse, then a second. The trail led away from the fight. Sophia shook her head with a frown and turned back as the rookie skillfully smacked one of the small hawks out of the way. Another Mana Spike easily handled the last.


    ¡°I know I said it earlier, but I still want a spar after we¡¯re done here,¡± Sophia proposed. ¡°You¡¯ve clearly had a lot of training and practice. What happened to the others?¡±


    ¡°They ran,¡± The Tier Zero said as he looked in the direction where Sophia saw the dead birds. ¡°It wasn¡¯t fear. It was like it was planned; they waited until I was distracted by the birds and you were busy with the big one. They disappeared that way, through a wall.¡±


    Sophia glanced at the gigantic hawk for a moment. If she wanted to follow quickly, she wouldn¡¯t be able to harvest any of the bird¡¯s feathers.


    It was worth it to Sophia. She wanted to know what they were up to more than she cared about the feathers. She was already being paid for the delve, anyway, and the feathers should have been split five ways. ¡°If we go after them, we won¡¯t get the feathers,¡± she warned, ¡°but I want to know what they think they¡¯re doing.¡±


    He took a moment to clean his sword, then sheathed it to get it out of the way.  ¡°A choice. Sure, why not? Sounds interesting.¡±


    Sophia frowned at him, but his agreement was clear. She turned and hurried after the missing mercenaries. The trail of bird bodies led to the boss arena¡¯s exit; it looked like they¡¯d waited there for Sophia to kill the boss, then hurried through while the small birds were handled. That was possible, but it was pretty rude.


    The exit was a door; they¡¯d clearly closed it after they went through. Sophia pushed on it, but it stopped after less than an inch of travel. That wasn¡¯t right; they had to have blocked it. Sophia wasn¡¯t about to let them steal the end rewards; they weren¡¯t great for the Cliff Dungeon but they did exist. She put her shoulder to it and slammed it open.


    A startled ¡°Oof!¡± from the other side of the door told her that the blockage was one of the three unscrupulous delvers. That was too bad for him.


    Surprisingly, they hadn¡¯t opened the reward chest yet. Sophia paused for a moment; had she guessed wrong about what they were up to?


    A glance around the room told her it was worse than she¡¯d realized: the leader of the three foreigners had already removed the instance core from its pedestal.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you dare break that,¡± Sophia threatened him. ¡°We need all the low-Tier instances we can get.¡± He should already know that; it wasn¡¯t allowed without prior approval on any planet that properly managed its dungeons, and they¡¯d arrived with cards from the off-planet Mercenaries¡¯ Guild.


    The leader snorted. ¡°Who¡¯s to stop me? A Tier Zero and a soft mixedblood mage? You¡¯re getting the blame for this; the only question you need to ask yourself is if you¡¯re going to live to accept it or not.¡±


    There were so many things wrong with that statement that Sophia actually stopped for a moment. She was a mage, yes, and she was a half-dragon, so mixedblood wasn¡¯t wrong but it was definitely an insulting way to put it. There was no way she was going to take the blame, however, and she was certain she could win if it came to a fight, even with three of them against her. She wasn¡¯t soft. No matter what she looked like.


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    ¡°What, do you think being human will help you at the Adventurer¡¯s Guild?¡± Sophia snorted as she shoved the door into the mercenary behind it again. ¡°They don¡¯t know you and they do know me. We don¡¯t judge that way.¡±


    Sophia didn¡¯t mention her father¡¯s position with the Adventurer¡¯s Guild. The mere fact that they were so insistent on calling her a mixedblood as if that mattered meant they wouldn¡¯t believe it.


    ¡°Maybe not,¡± the leader grinned wolfishly at Sophia. ¡°But no one will contradict us.¡±


    A hand gesture from the leader brought Sophia¡¯s attention back to the third bandit, the one that wasn¡¯t on the other side of the door. A lightning bolt darted towards her at far less than the speed of lightning; Sophia hastily dispelled it with her Spellbreaking Skill. Little fragments of false-lightning jittered in the air; some sparked the distance to Sophia and made the arm she¡¯d unconsciously extended to stop the spell cramp painfully.


    Before she could recover, something hit her from behind.


    No, someone. Sophia twisted as she fell and discovered that the push came from the rookie she¡¯d been escorting as he pushed her out of the way of a sword blow from the one she¡¯d shoved out of the way with the door.


    He was close and dangerous to both her and the man she needed to protect, the man who¡¯d just been in the right place to protect her. She yanked a talisman off her belt; it was the only one she had on her, but this was the right moment to use it. It was far more powerful than a Tier Two like her could afford on her own merit, but her family insisted she carry some precautions.


    She tossed it to the floor and carefully told the mana that erupted from the shattered runic talisman that it was to protect two people: her and the rookie. A shimmering translucent dome quickly expanded from the point where the talisman shattered. It parted cleanly around them, but when it reached the nearest mercenary, it knocked him backwards. An arrow from the leader and another lightning bolt from the mercenaries¡¯ mage impacted on the surface moments later with no effect.


    Sophia relaxed a little. The talisman was supposed to protect against everything her father could think of, while allowing her to protect the rest of her team and attack from the inside. This wasn¡¯t what it was for; it was supposed to protect her and her group from monsters if something went badly wrong. She hadn¡¯t used one in years, but neither its age nor its planned purpose meant it wouldn¡¯t work here.


    Sophia turned to the rookie. ¡°Do you have magic? Any way to attack at a distance?¡±


    Another spell splashed harmlessly on the protection, then the nearby swordsman threw everything he had into a haymaker aimed at the shimmering bubble. It didn¡¯t even make any sound.


    The Tier Zero shook his head. ¡°No, not yet. I haven¡¯t figured out which way to go yet. I definitely want magic.¡±


    Sophia nodded and half turned away, towards the mage. He was the most likely one to have a way to break the bubble; it wasn¡¯t made to prevent counterspelling. ¡°Stick with the sword for now. You¡¯re good with it, and a Path that lets you channel mana through your sword is a good first step. After that, you can head into a more mana-focused Path, especially if you practice with mana. I can help you with that if you want after we¡¯re out of here.¡±


    Another lightning bolt showed Sophia that if he did know how to counter spells, he hadn¡¯t thought of it yet. He probably assumed the bubble was weaker than it was; anything a Tier Two could normally afford would probably be about to fall from their attack.


    Sophia didn¡¯t wait for him to figure it out. She could cast through the bubble, and he was not paying any attention behind himself. She formed a Mana Spike above and behind his head, then slammed it into his skull before he could react to the mercenary leader¡¯s shout of warning.


    Sophia didn¡¯t have time to make another Mana Spike before the leader pulled a metal-lined cloth bag out of a pocket and used it to crush the crystalline shard that anchored the dungeon instance. Unlike the mage, he must have realized that he had a way to cancel Sophia¡¯s protection: it would evaporate when the instance did.


    Normally, there was time to escape the collapse and collect additional rewards, but whatever the item he used to destroy the shard was, it clearly also removed that time. Sophia suspected that it also forced the additional rewards to form in the pocket created by the crushed instance core; in fact, they might even be the rewards he was after. It was a dirty device and Sophia already hated it even before the world seemed to warp around them.


    Sophia felt the dungeon¡¯s Essence whirl around her for a moment. She braced herself for the return to the outside world, but before that could happen, she felt something yank her sideways. She couldn¡¯t describe it any better than that; it was sideways to reality.


    The world seemed to glitch for a moment. When it settled, she was looking at everything and nothing, all at the same time. Monsters and people flew past her, devils and saints and sinners and voices and colors and smells and taste all blending into a whole that made complete sense and no sense at all. She steeled herself; she recognized the feeling. She was in the Origin; everything she saw and felt, heard and smelled, sensed in any way, was both true and false. It was a could-be, not something that was.


    A couple of blinks later, she floated in a sea of darkness, shielded from the insanity that was the Origin by the simple fact that she was a child of the Origin; it was only her surprise that made it overwhelming for even a moment. It wouldn¡¯t harm her, though it might harm others.


    The thought made her glance around, seeing without using her eyes. The mercenaries seemed to be trailing behind her, but they were growing farther and farther away as they struggled. A closer presence felt like the Cliff Dungeon¡¯s essence; it was snuggled up against her as if it was hiding. On the other side of her, the rookie floated. He screamed silently; she didn¡¯t know if it was in fear or joy, but in any case he certainly shouldn¡¯t watch the Origin.


    Sophia moved to envelop the man in her arms, to hide his eyes and ears from the chaos that surrounded them. He didn¡¯t resist.


    It was forever and no time at all later when reality seemed to tear again and Sophia found herself falling alone in darkness.

 Chapter 2 – Disoriented

    When Sophia landed, she landed hard, directly on top of the man she was trying to protect. He gave a soft sound but otherwise didn¡¯t stir. That was probably for the best.


    She took a moment to search the surroundings and realized with relief that they were no longer in the Origin. It was too dark to see where they were, but the simple fact that it was dark meant that it was safer for the man than it had been. Too much time in the Origin was bad for anyone who didn¡¯t have a touch of its otherworldly nature protecting them.


    What was his name? Dave or something like that? No, that wasn¡¯t right; she remembered him correcting her at the beginning of the delve. Dav, that was it. Not quite Daav, but closer to that than Dave. She guessed they¡¯d probably be working together for a while, under the circumstances, so she needed to remember his name and say it properly.


    The floor felt cold and solid as she pulled herself off Dav. It was probably smooth stone or tile; it wasn¡¯t quite smooth enough to be polished metal and it didn¡¯t bite at her hands the way a rough metal would. There was texture but not too much texture.


    Before Sophia could retrieve the magelight she always carried on delves from her backpack, she heard a voice talking to itself in the near distance; if it was speaking at a normal volume, that meant ten to fifteen feet. The voice didn¡¯t echo, but it also didn¡¯t sound like they were outside.


    ¡°Two different locations? Yes, keep them alive. Both of them. All three of them? No, no, only two are candidates. The third is a tool, for all that it also has a strong link elsewhere; it is the same as one of the two candidates. What is it?¡± The voice sounded distinctly confused.


    Sophia wasn¡¯t certain if the voice was talking about her and Dav or not. It could have been talking about the raiders or about her and Dav, but in either case, who was the third person or tool?


    More importantly, did she want to bring herself to the attention of whoever that was? He might be her only way out, but at the same time she didn¡¯t have any idea who he was or if she could trust him. For that matter, how did she even understand what he was saying? He wasn¡¯t speaking either Bridge or English, and unlike a normal translation artifact, she wasn¡¯t hearing it in her native tongue. Instead, she heard what he said and understood what it meant.


    ¡°How did they combine all of these functions? Yes, I see; it is helped by others, it cannot stand alone. It will fail if it is alone. So! I must give it support. One of the candidates is uninjured; she even has an interesting resonance with it. Yes, that will work.¡± The odd voice started to hum.


    The voice had to be talking about Dav and Sophia. The fact that it knew she was uninjured but seemed to think Dav was meant it probably also knew she was awake. More importantly, it meant she should check on Dav.


    The magelight was clipped to the outside of her pack; it was one of those things she always wanted accessible but didn¡¯t always want out. She unclipped it and channeled a small amount of mana into the magelight, then directed the light at Dav.


    Dav was lying on his belly with his face turned to the side. She didn¡¯t immediately see any injuries, but she didn¡¯t think the raiders had hurt him before they tried to shatter the dungeon core. They had hurt her, rather badly, but she was a child of the Origin; being thrown there let her heal herself. She was less worried about actual injury to Dav than she was about what the Origin might have done to him.


    Sophia reached out and turned Dav onto his back. As she did, she saw black lines with glowing purple patches on his left cheek and forehead; that wasn¡¯t a good sign. He¡¯d clearly been affected. The fact that that was the only visible effect meant that it couldn¡¯t be too bad. At least, she hoped it couldn¡¯t; there wasn¡¯t much she could do about it. Yes, she was a child of the Origin; yes, she¡¯d learned to heal from the man who was possibly the best healer on Earth. That didn¡¯t mean she was all that good at it.


    On second thought, maybe it wasn¡¯t all bad. At least he was still visibly human; that meant there was a good chance he was still mentally intact as well. More or less, at least. The mind was what mattered; if only his body was affected, that could be healed once they got to somewhere with a decent healer.


    Sophia turned the light towards the voice. She¡¯d already given away that she was awake by turning it on in the first place; seeing who or what the other person present was wouldn¡¯t give anything more away. She wanted to know who talked about someone rather than helping them when they suddenly appeared after crossing some sort of unstable rift.


    All she saw was a floor made of cut stones between her and a wall that she could barely make out in the limited light her magelight gave; there was no one there. At least, there was no one there with ordinary eyesight. Sophia reached for her ManaSight Skill, but nothing happened. It was like it didn¡¯t exist. That set her off balance more than she¡¯d expected; she¡¯d picked up a ManaSense Skill with her second Path. It was second nature to her to use it and now she didn¡¯t have it.


    Before she could refocus and try to look using the innate sensitivity that originally earned her the Path that gave her the Skill, Sophia noticed something floating in the air between her and the far wall. Maybe that was the person she¡¯d heard?


    Sophia walked over to it. It did seem to be in the correct position, but it also seemed far too familiar to her. In fact, she was pretty sure it was identical to the dungeon core she¡¯d seen the thieves attempt to smash. They clearly hadn¡¯t succeeded, but how was it here? This was not the Great Cliff Dungeon! That dungeon had no interior areas like this; all of its zones were exposed to the outside air.


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    ¡°Yes, this should work. An improved training area controller would be a positive outcome, and while this does increase the chance of losing a set of location information, that version of the information would likely not survive bonding to another support in any case. Even a small increase in the survivability of the remaining set is worthwhile; it is unfortunate that direct intervention is disallowed.¡± The voice still seemed to be coming from the far side of the dungeon core, but there was definitely no one there and it definitely wasn¡¯t the dungeon core talking. Perhaps it was invisible?


    Sophia ducked around the floating dungeon core. She¡¯d get back to it when she had the chance, but at the moment she was far more concerned about the voice that seemed to have still not noticed she was aware. ¡°Hello? I know you¡¯re there; I can hear you.¡±


    ¡°No reward beyond the merge is required, but there is still a little room in the reward budget, since the item itself did not have to be supplied. Fortunate, given the likely value of the reward, especially to an unblessed. Let¡¯s see ¡­ ah, yes, that will do. It¡¯s appropriate to the circumstances and should significantly improve their chances of survival once they encounter others. Begin!¡±


    Sophia reached the spot in the air the voice seemed to be coming from. She waved her hand through it while the speaker, whoever it was, kept talking. There really wasn¡¯t anything there. It wasn¡¯t an echo, either; once she moved past that point, she could hear the voice from behind her.


    At least that explained why the speaker hadn¡¯t noticed she was up and moving; they weren¡¯t there. It was probably a projection from somewhere else, although Sophia had no idea where or how it was managed. A spell seemed the most likely reason, even if she had no idea why. Perhaps it was a side effect of whatever he was doing to examine her and Dav? Then why hadn¡¯t he noticed she was conscious?


    Did he simply not care?


    Unfortunately, that was all the time she had to investigate. A moment after she heard the word ¡°Begin,¡± something hit Sophia in the back. It was a soft impact, not enough to bruise through the light armor she wore, but the impact also came with a creeping numbness that started in her back and quickly spread. The last thing Sophia remembered was realizing she was falling and trying to keep herself from hurting herself as she fell.


    She didn¡¯t think she¡¯d managed it, but when the world swam back into focus she didn¡¯t feel hurt. If anything, she felt energized, like she¡¯d had a good night¡¯s rest and slept just enough but not too long - or maybe like she¡¯d had way too much coffee. The feeling was kind of similar to both but not really the same as either.


    She bounced to her feet, then realized that even though her magelight was completely dark and she couldn¡¯t see anything, words floated in front of her eyes. For some reason, they seemed to be surrounded by feathers and splotches that almost looked like ink. Were those supposed to be quills, like an antique pen?


    Merge Complete


    Determining Effects upon Current Sphere


    Profession Not Chosen


    Participant Not Eligible to choose a Profession


    Current Age: Less than One Year


    Vocation Not Chosen


    Participant Not Eligible to choose a Vocation


    Current Age: Less than One Year


    No Vocation-granting Feat Completed


    Hallow Not Chosen


    Participant Not Eligible to choose a Hallow


    Patron: The Wanderer


    No Sphere Chosen


    Further Effect cannot be determined until Sphere is chosen


    Recommendation: Choose a Sphere


    ¡°What in the world,¡± Sophia breathed. She¡¯d never seen anything like it. That was not what messages from the Voice looked like. She couldn¡¯t think of what else that might be, however; there were very few things that could put a message in front of someone¡¯s vision and this was definitely floating in front of her vision like a message from Order¡¯s Voice or from A¡¯Atla.


    Neither of them had a background image. It was weird, almost like whoever made this was worried about the words not being legible depending on what was behind them. Was it actually using her eyes to display the image?


    Sophia shook her head wildly then mentally acknowledged the screen the same way she would to dismiss one of the Voice¡¯s messages. The screen flickered and vanished; at least that worked the same.


    A new screen appeared just as she was about to go check on Dav.


    Grand Feat completed!


    For your Grand Feat of crossing between universes, you have been awarded two Rewards!


    First Reward: Enchanted Mana Crystal Enhancement Merged with Personal Mana Core!


    Second Reward: Bonus Ability Slot and Free Ability!


    Bonus Ability Slots and Free Abilities do not increase the cost of future Slots or Abilities!


    New Ability Known: Innate Communication


    Innate Communication is the most comprehensive of the set of Communication Abilities for sapients. It includes understanding of all forms of the language and the necessary knowledge to easily communicate in those languages so long as the capability exists. Languages that require methods not possessed by the possessor of Innate Communication cannot be used without that method.


    You have passed within the area of a Shard of Kestii!


    Participation in the collection of a Shard of any sort will qualify as a Vocation-granting Feat. Actions taken and the Shard retrieved may affect the Spheres offered.


    Warning: the area around a Shard is prone to both generate and attract Animals, Beasts, and Monsters. Some Shards may be located inside manawarped areas or may collect mana around them in nonstandard ways.


    This can affect both spells and equipment.


    Sophia shook her head as she dismissed the second message. If that was going to happen all the time, it could get old very quickly. On the other hand, both messages seemed important; the first one didn¡¯t tell her much, but that was probably because she didn¡¯t understand it and didn¡¯t qualify for whatever a sphere was. The second one, on the other hand, seemed to explain the first, and tell her she didn¡¯t need to worry about communication. That was not at all minor.


    As for the bit at the end, if being ¡°within the area of a Shard of Kestii¡± was like entering a dungeon, she ought to appreciate the warning. It wasn¡¯t nearly as much information as she was used to, but at least it was something.


    Sophia dismissed the warning. If she really was within the area of a dungeon, she needed to get Dav back on his feet as quickly as possible.

 Chapter 3 - It Starts Calm

    Sophia knelt next to Dav. He hadn¡¯t stirred yet; did that mean he was more injured than she¡¯d first assumed or was something else going on?


    Sometimes she wished she knew more about healing. For all that Blaze had tried to teach her, healing simply wasn¡¯t her strength. She knew that was because she¡¯d never put the time in to learn more than enough to keep someone alive until they made it to a healer, but that had always been enough; she¡¯d delved without a proper healer more times than she could count.


    The only thing in her favor right now was that she¡¯d never taken a healing Path. Her Skills weren¡¯t working, but she wouldn¡¯t have lost what little ability she had to figure out what was wrong.


    Spreading her aura across Dav felt strange. She¡¯d never felt an adult that was Tier Zero before, but he was definitely Tier Zero. She moved as gently as she could; a three-Tier difference didn¡¯t sound like much, but she wasn¡¯t sure how much of a difference it made for aura strength. She didn¡¯t worry about it with most people, but she didn¡¯t want to hurt him just because she was trying to check for injuries.


    His Tier didn¡¯t make sense; he was well past the age where the Voice should have counted him as an adult and allowed him to choose his first Tier One Path. Why had he never picked one?


    Sophia could come up with some dark possibilities, but none of them squared with the fact that he had the Etherium to hire an escort for a delve. She was just going to have to ask.


    There was something else odd about him, too. It was like his spirit wasn¡¯t properly anchored to his body; his aura was actually centered just above where he lay on the ground. Sophia took a moment to check his body, but when she didn¡¯t immediately find anything obvious, she guessed that oddity was probably why he was unconscious. She¡¯d never had one, but she¡¯d heard about out-of-body experiences; this sounded a lot like one.


    Fortunately, that meant she ought to be able to push him back into his body. He could probably go back on his own, but he probably didn¡¯t know how; Tier Zero people usually didn¡¯t know enough about their auras to control it. The only real trick was that her aura was apparently ¡°not very scary;¡± she could stand up to others but she just couldn¡¯t take her own aura seriously enough to scare others. She blamed her father; no one else seemed scary when compared to Sophia¡¯s Dad.


    Sophia pulled her aura back carefully, then physically moved so that Dav¡¯s aura was between her and his body. She wasn¡¯t good enough to finely control her aura, so her physical position would have to do. Once she was in place, she pushed her aura out quickly but carefully, watching what happened as best she could.


    She felt it as his aura moved away from hers. It seemed to click into place as he reached his body and she had to quickly halt her expansion. Good enough; she¡¯d rather not do that again any time soon. Hopefully it would be enough.


    Dav coughed, then leaned to the side and retched. Nothing came up, but he sounded like he felt absolutely wretched.


    Sophia wasn¡¯t sure if that was the trip through the Origin, landing on the stone ground without the cushion she¡¯d had, or the way she¡¯d performed rough field medicine on him. All she could do was hope he recovered quickly. ¡°How are you feeling?¡±


    ¡°Ugh. Pretty bad. I thought they¡¯d fixed that.¡± Dav took a breath, gagged one more time, then seemed to gather himself. He focused, then blinked and shook his head before waving a hand in front of himself. ¡°Going to have to fix my settings, not really a fan of the eyeball theme. Anyway, the only way to get over this is going to be time, so let¡¯s get moving. Do you know which way we need to go to get out of here?¡±


    Eyeball theme? Sophia had to agree that that sounded a lot less pleasant than the one she¡¯d seen. ¡°Mine had feathers. Do you really think it¡¯s customizable?¡±


    ¡°Almost has to be. Why would yours be different from ¡­?¡± Dav had an odd expression on his face, but he shook his head then seemed to have a moment where he realized just how bad an idea that was when he was already feeling under the weather. After another deep breath, he stood carefully still and repeated his question. ¡°Do you know which way is out?¡±


    Sophia shook her head, then reminded herself that he probably couldn¡¯t see her, even with the limited glow from the magelight. It was pointed mostly at Dav, not at Sophia.. ¡°No, I¡¯ve only been awake a little longer than you have. There was someone watching us; I think he assigned the rewards that were on that screen. I don¡¯t understand why he gave rewards instead of, you know, helping us out.¡± She was still more than a bit ticked about that. Sure, she was fine, but Dav wasn¡¯t! For that matter, leaving two people inside a dungeon without checking to see if they were able to manage it was not okay!


    Dav sighed then shrugged. ¡°Limited programming, probably. It¡¯s supposed to hand out rewards, so that¡¯s what it does.¡±


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    Sophia nodded unhappily. ¡°You¡¯re probably right. It wasn¡¯t a dungeon, but the Voice here is weird. Maybe it was related to that. Did you get the notice about being near a Shard of Kestii? I think that might mean we¡¯re in a dungeon, but it didn¡¯t give a Tier.¡±


    Dav shrugged. ¡°This is still the intro section; it shouldn¡¯t be too hard.¡±


    Sophia paused at the odd response. Did he think the portion of the dungeon they¡¯d been in affected where they¡¯d landed? If only that were true. ¡°Intro section? Only if we¡¯re lucky. The Origin connects to all places. We can¡¯t be sure what this place is like. This area doesn¡¯t have particularly high mana density, but who knows what it¡¯s like near the Shard or if we can get out without going near it? If it¡¯s like a dungeon, it¡¯ll get worse the closer we are to the center.¡±


    This wasn¡¯t a dungeon, but it was definitely similar. The more time Sophia spent here, the more obvious that was. She wasn¡¯t sure what she¡¯d noticed that made her so certain, but she¡¯d grown up in a dungeon; it wasn¡¯t that surprising that she could tell when she was in one or not.


    Dav shrugged and turned away. ¡°Do you have a second light? I ¡­ can actually see. Huh. Weird. That¡¯s the strangest lighting effect I¡¯ve ever seen.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t, but I can loan you this one if you like. I think I can cast a basic light spell without it.¡± Sophia was a bit nervous about that, but she was pretty sure she still remembered the spellform. It was pretty simple and if she messed it up it would just be inefficient.


    ¡°Nah, just don¡¯t point the light at me,¡± Dav answered. ¡°Seems like it¡¯s too bright and I have to let my eyes adjust.¡±


    Sophia shook her head. She knew it was dark in here; she¡¯d been in the dark twice and she definitely couldn¡¯t see anything where her light didn¡¯t reach. It sounded like they¡¯d found one of the effects of whatever happened to Dav in the Origin; he could see in the dark. As side effects went, that one was positive. Sophia hoped they were all similarly minor. It would be better if that was the only one, but she wasn¡¯t about to bet on it. At least he seemed to still be present mentally, even if he was a bit confused about where they were; that was the big thing. Anything else could be fixed or lived with.


    ¡°We should probably stay somewhat close together,¡± Sophia offered when she saw Dav start moving towards one of the walls. ¡°You can lead if you want, since you can see better than I can. I don¡¯t want to be too far apart if there are monsters.¡±


    Dav nodded, then paused. ¡°The exit¡¯s over there; at least, an exit is. Let¡¯s search the rest of the room and see if there¡¯s anything else hidden here. Wouldn¡¯t want to miss a secret by being too eager.¡±


    Sophia nodded to herself. That seemed reasonable; few dungeons hid things at the entrance, but there was no reason to assume they were at the entrance and many dungeons did hide things. The description of the Shard of Kestii didn¡¯t sound like something that was that active, but if it attracted things, they might also have a den or something. There wasn¡¯t a reason to hurry yet; she still had her pack and it had supplies.


    They took the time to check the cavern they¡¯d found themselves in. Cavern was definitely the right term; it was a single huge void in natural rock, though the area had clearly been improved at some point. Whenever that was, it was probably a long time ago; there was no evidence of recent habitation by anything. The only noticeable marks in the small layer of grit that covered much of the floor were those left by Dav and Sophia.


    Unfortunately, the only thing they found was that there were three other entrances or exits and no sign of which one actually led out of the cave system. Two were relatively level exits, while one seemed to lead up for a while and one seemed to head downwards. Sophia was about to suggest that they follow the fourth one they¡¯d found, simply because they were next to it, when Dav turned and walked over to the previous exit. The slight purple glow from his face made him relatively easy to follow, even though it didn¡¯t give enough light for her to see anything else without using the magelight.


    ¡°Any particular reason you picked this one?¡± Sophia couldn¡¯t see one, which meant she didn¡¯t really care, but she wanted to know if there was something she¡¯d missed. He was able to see in the darkness, at least to some extent; maybe he¡¯d seen something she missed?


    Dav shrugged. ¡°It goes down. That should be where the good stuff is. It¡¯s no guarantee, but it seems worth trying.¡±


    Sophia frowned at that. ¡°I¡¯d rather find people and know what we¡¯re getting into than charge into it blindly, but I guess there¡¯s really no way to know which leads to the danger and which leads to safety.¡±


    Dav took that as agreement and headed down the passage. Sophia wasn¡¯t entirely happy to have him in the front, since he was Tier Zero. Even without her Skills, Sophia was Tier Two. She¡¯d be able to handle a surprise better than Dav. Unfortunately, he was probably right to take point; he could see.


    If she were willing to let him range ahead, he might be able to sneak up on things. She wasn¡¯t willing to let it go that far; she was still responsible for him. She was supposed to be his escort, even though this wasn¡¯t exactly the delve he¡¯d signed up for. Since she needed light, everything was going to see them coming. With him between the light and the corridor, that would be minimized and give them the best chance.


    Sophia didn¡¯t see anything until Dav drew his sword and smacked something on the wall with a surprisingly metallic-sounding crunch. Rather than worrying about something Dav seemed to have already handled, Sophia directed her magelight at the wall he¡¯d turned away from.


    A bright flash, like the light had hit something well-polished, made Sophia spring forward, knife in hand. She buried her knife in the gleaming metallic insectoid before she registered anything more than its presence and size. It crumpled at her blow, the same way the other had crunched to Dav¡¯s.


    Sophia sent her light around the curving tunnel ahead of them. She didn¡¯t see any more of the metallic monsters within the short distance before it turned.

 Chapter 4 - Mechanical Bugs?

    <div>


    The lack of more monsters gave Sophia the chance to examine the one she¡¯d just attempted to pin to the wall. She¡¯d speared it through what would be its back if it were alive. She clearly should had struck it a bit more gently; she¡¯d collapsed the outer shell until it crumpled around her knife, partially trapping it. She might have had trouble if she¡¯d had to deal with more of them.


    It was a mistake her teachers would have scolded her for and made her practice, but it was one she couldn¡¯t be all that surprised about. It was often better to use too much force than not enough, though too much could be bad as well if it trapped your knife. She forced her knife out of the thing¡¯s back before she did anything more.


    It resembled nothing so much as a mechanical beetle almost the size of a soccer ball. The outer surface was smooth, but Sophia¡¯s strike had penetrated into its interior and revealed that it ran on clockwork rather than anything she was more familiar with. That explained both why the outer surface was so weak, it probably couldn¡¯t handle much weight, and why a single hit from either of them disabled them; they were easy to break if their gears were hit.


    A closer examination showed all the ways it wasn¡¯t a beetle. It had too many legs, for one thing; Sophia thought a spider or even a centipede might have been used as inspiration there, and the legs seemed more like a fly¡¯s legs than like a beetles. That might explain how it was able to stick itself to a wall. The face was also very wrong, distorted and bulbous in the wrong places, with nothing that looked like real eyes. Directly behind the face was a series of mostly black flaps that glowed an almost iridescent blue when the magelight caught them just right.


    Sophia lifted one of the flaps and found a socket that held a miniscule blue gem-cut crystal. It looked just like one of the small ones you might find on the side of a fancy ring, but she didn¡¯t know enough about them to know what that meant. What she did know was that the socket seemed to be connected to all of the flaps covering the beetle¡¯s thorax. That probably meant something, but she wasn¡¯t sure what. She had some ideas about monsters, but mechanical beetles weren¡¯t her specialty. ¡°Are these monsters or did someone make them?¡±


    ¡°Is that important?¡± Dav sounded startled. ¡°Could there be a secret way through here if I figure out where they came from?¡±


    He almost seemed to be talking to himself. Sophia cocked her head to the side as she considered saying something, but this wasn¡¯t the time. He seemed to be holding it together for now, but he hadn¡¯t said anything about the fight in the dungeon, the trip through the Origin, or even the fact that he¡¯d suddenly become able to see in the dark, other than noting it. She needed to know if he was going to keep it together, but poking at it might bring it to the surface. It had to wait until she knew they were safe enough for him to be useless for a bit.


    ¡°It could be.¡± Sophia limited herself to answering the surface question. ¡°If it¡¯s a monster generated by whatever the Shard of Kestii is, then we¡¯re probably just going to have to deal with more of them and things like them. If it¡¯s a monster, they have to be coming from somewhere and I don¡¯t think golems breed.¡±


    Sophia bit her lip and continued. She wasn¡¯t entirely comfortable with applying the knowledge of her own world to this one, but she didn¡¯t have anything else to go on. ¡°If it¡¯s manufactured, it could be anything from specialty work to something easy and fast. Back home, the tsarualk have a few Von Neumann devices, though we haven¡¯t managed to make any yet. Something like that ¡­ well, who knows?¡±


    Sophia took a deep breath. Dav might not be the only person who needed to not think of home right now. She¡¯d deal with it when she had time. ¡°Why don¡¯t we move on? The sooner we either get to the Shard or get out of here, the better.¡±


    ¡°Aren¡¯t we going to loot the monsters first?¡± Dav pointed at the gem. ¡°That stone looks like it might be valuable, if you don¡¯t want to carry the whole beetle.¡±


    Sophia opened her mouth to refute his claim, since that wasn¡¯t in the plan, then realized that none of this was planned. She was used to delving well-known, explored dungeons with a plan for what to bring out, but she needed to treat this like a first delve into an unknown dungeon. She¡¯d only done that once; it wasn¡¯t an opportunity many people had unless they specialized in it and sought it out. She had no idea what, if anything, was worth taking off the beetle. She didn¡¯t even know if it would dissipate into mana the way many dungeon monsters did or not.


    She converted her objection into a sigh. ¡°You¡¯re right. I have some room in my pack; do you have any room in yours? We can take both of the machines for now and cut the jewels out if we need to toss them later.¡±


    He did; in fact, the glimpse Sophia got inside Dav¡¯s pack showed that it was nearly empty. The fact that she could see that unfortunately meant that his pack wasn¡¯t a spatial storage; he only had what would fit. Her pack wasn¡¯t all that large, but it would definitely hold several times the amount Dev¡¯s would.


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    The tunnel led them deeper into the ground, curving as it went. Sophia saw several places that had clearly once been either cross-passages or simply cracks in the tunnel¡¯s walls; they¡¯d all been filled with stone or concrete.


    A few minutes after they left the spot where they killed the beetles, Sophia started hearing water moving in the distance. It sounded like a stream, but sounds could be deceiving in dungeons. They could simply be atmospheric or they could be vastly magnified or reduced by distance; it was impossible to know until you got there. This wasn¡¯t a dungeon, but Sophia had to assume that it could be the same. There was water somewhere ahead, but she didn¡¯t know how much or where.


    The mechanical beetles were easy to spot by the blue luminescence of their thorax now that Dav and Sophia knew what to look for. Three more perched on the walls they walked past, but none of them reacted fast enough to avoid Dav¡¯s sword. In fact, Sophia wasn¡¯t certain any of them had even noticed Dav before he struck.


    The sound of water grew louder over the next few minutes until they reached another large cavern. This time, Sophia¡¯s light revealed a sheen that reflected off the floor of the cavern; whether it had once been improved and drained or not, the floor was now covered in water. It didn¡¯t look very deep.


    Before Sophia could determine the depth of the water, Dav shouted ¡°Incoming!¡± He stepped forward into the water and raised his sword.


    Sophia turned her light up to see what he¡¯d noticed and gasped in surprise. How did a mechanical flying grasshopper manage to move silently? Real grasshoppers made noise!


    Three more grasshoppers followed the first. The thought flashed through her mind that this was going to be a lot harder than she liked; she didn¡¯t have her Skills, which meant that she only had her knife. She knew how to use her knife, but it definitely wasn¡¯t the weapon she¡¯d have preferred to use on giant flying mechanical bugs anymore than she¡¯d have used it on true giant wasps. Throwing fire or wind seemed like a much better option, but it was one she didn¡¯t have.


    It was a good thing that they didn¡¯t seem to have any sort of distance attack, either.


    As the first one closed on them, Sophia lunged forward and plunged her knife at the brass grasshopper¡¯s head. Her knife skittered off some sort of projected shell around the grasshopper, almost like a personal shield Skill, but far weaker than any Sophia had ever seen. She left a scratch behind but didn¡¯t manage to throw the grasshopper off course in its dive towards Dav.


    At the last moment, the grasshopper¡¯s wings whirred into motion, finally making noise, as it avoided an actual collision. Its legs were aimed at Dav¡¯s eyes, but Dav twisted away before it could hit and the grasshopper barely managed to connect, leaving three lines of blood in his scalp.


    Dav grabbed the hilt of his sword in his left hand as well as his right and swung it almost like a baseball bat. Sophia had just enough light to tell that while the strike was large and slow, it wasn¡¯t poorly aimed or unskilled; the blade hit the grasshopper squarely between the thorax and the abdomen and sent it into the wall, sliced more than halfway through. He might be a better swordsman than she¡¯d given him credit for.


    Sophia noticed that something seemed to slow Dav¡¯s sword a little as he hit the oversized metallic bug, but it wasn¡¯t significant. Either she¡¯d significantly drained the shield or it couldn¡¯t hold up to the massive blow Dav gave it.


    A gear sprang out of the broken grasshopper¡¯s innards as Dav tore his sword free from its guts.


    Dav¡¯s strike gave the next two grasshoppers time to close the distance. Sophia was able to step past him and guard his back, but she could only really stop one of the two grasshoppers. They made the decision for her when one went high, near the tunnel¡¯s ceiling, and the other went low; she couldn¡¯t reach the ceiling with her dagger, at least not with any reliable force.


    ¡°It¡¯s up high, Dav!¡±Sophia shouted as she attempted to draw the other grasshopper¡¯s attention with her knife. She might not be able to penetrate the shield, but she could at least give Dav only one target to worry about.


    The low grasshopper moved slowly as Sophia moved between it and Dav. Its slow approach hid a reaction speed Sophia didn¡¯t expect; it shied to one side as she struck out at it, and while her knife sank a little ways into the shield and slowed, it slip just barely past the grasshopper without touching it.


    The mechanical bug¡¯s return blow was a headbutt directly into Sophia¡¯s chest. It knocked the air out of her lungs but her armor protected her from anything worse.


    Dav leapt up at the grasshopper near the ceiling. His attack was awkward and the grasshopper nearly made it miss as it bent itself almost in half in an attempt to strike Dav. It was hit by the flat of Dav¡¯s blade instead of the edge due to its twist and flung away, delayed but essentially undamaged.


    Sophia sliced at the bug in front of her as quickly as she could manage. The last grasshopper was almost there and she didn¡¯t want the fight to turn into a three on two; they were already having enough trouble handling one grasshopper each. This time, her slice went through the shield easily and cut into the grasshopper¡¯s head, disabling one of the eyes. At least, she hoped it was an eye and not essentially decorative the way it had been on the beetles.


    One thing the strike did tell her that hitting the shield wasn¡¯t useless; it seemed to have limited power, at least in the short run. If she couldn¡¯t get through it in a single hit, she just had to keep hitting. As ablative shields went, it seemed weak, but the bugs themselves didn¡¯t seem very strong.

 Chapter 5 - Yes, you have to

    The new grasshopper seemed to have fixated on Sophia. It flew down at her and with her blade only just freed from the other grasshopper¡¯s head, all she could do was try to dodge. There was enough room, if only barely, but the grasshopper followed her. It moved just a hair faster than she could and smacked full force into her side. It tried to grab her and pin her arm down, but didn¡¯t have the leverage to do more than knock her arm painfully into her side as it scraped one of its legs along her chin and back towards her neck.


    The grasshopper at her feet picked that moment to attempt to bite Sophia¡¯s feet, but her armor stymied it for the moment.


    Dav¡¯s armor wasn¡¯t as good as Sophia¡¯s. When the fake grasshopper he¡¯d temporarily knocked away grabbed him, its claws pushed through the armor and into his leg. The only good part about that was that it anchored the grasshopper; his next swing sliced into the grasshopper¡¯s abdomen and stopped its gears. It stayed attached to Dav¡¯s leg, locked in place, but it was no longer trying to dig in more.


    They were down to one-and-a-half grasshoppers, which was far better than four, but it was still one-and-a-half too many as far as Sophia was concerned. The only good part of it was that they both seemed completely intent on attacking Sophia; she had far better armor and was higher Tier than Dav. She could handle being hit better than he could.


    Sophia had a moment to decide whether she broke the half-blind mechanism or tried to take out the fully functional one first. She hadn¡¯t hit it yet, which meant its shield should still be full and she hadn¡¯t managed to penetrate the shield in a single blow yet.


    She tried to twist out of the grip of the intact grasshopper at the same time as she bent down far enough to impale the damaged bug on her knife. The knife slipped into the grasshopper¡¯s thorax far easier than any of her other strikes; without the shield protecting it at all, the bronze outer coating was so thin that it almost might as well not be there.


    The undamaged grasshopper lost its hold on her armor and started to slide, but it twisted in midair so that its feet hit the nearby wall, then sprang off the wall directly onto Sophia¡¯s back. It knocked the wind out of her again and it was definitely going to bruise. Worse than that, Sophia felt her right leg crumple under her. She wasn¡¯t certain if that was from the injury or simply from the force of the impact, but she definitely wasn¡¯t in a good position now.


    Sophia saw Dav shift his stance and stab directly into the grasshopper, clearly trying to avoid hitting Sophia. He put his mass behind the stab, but the angle was a little awkward and it barely made it through the grasshopper¡¯s shield and into the mechanical bug¡¯s abdomen.


    Sophia¡¯s eyes lit up with fierce joy. Dav had just taken out the bug¡¯s shield! Sophia twisted under the grasshopper enough to manage a clumsy strike into its clockwork innards.


    The blow was enough; the grasshopper shuddered a few times, then stopped.


    Sophia shoved the grasshopper off her body. It looked smaller now that it wasn¡¯t a threat; it was less than two feet long from the front of its head to the rear of its abdomen. That was still longer than she was comfortable with right now; it seemed like a lot more of a threat when all she had was a backup knife. Not having her Skills was awful. Despite the shields, these didn¡¯t feel like proper Tier Three threats; they were more like a high Tier One or low Tier Two, something a group of four Tier Ones ought to be able to handle. Even with only two people, they¡¯d have been easy to handle if she just had her Skills!


    Sophia reached for her Skills again and felt absolutely nothing. They just weren¡¯t there.


    She cautiously shifted around, then rolled onto her knees and stood. Her leg felt just as steady as before; it seemed that the grasshopper knocked her over, rather than damaging her spine. The bruise on her back was painful but apparently not disabling.


    She couldn¡¯t have done anything about it if it had disabled her. There was no healer available for her group to carry her to, either. If there was a long-term consequence, Blaze and Hearth weren¡¯t around to make it better. That felt like more of a loss than her Skills, somehow; she¡¯d always had people backing her up. Knowing they weren¡¯t there was like taking a step into nothingness without a parachute.


    Sophia shivered, then determinedly packed her feelings away. She couldn¡¯t afford them right now; she would worry about them when she was somewhere safe, or at least safer than this clockwork-infested cave system.


    ¡°Are you good to move on?¡± Dav sounded neutral, almost uncaring. Sophia guessed he was probably going through as much as she was; he wasn¡¯t even an experienced delver, even if he had trained with that sword. It was probably worse for him.


    A glance at Dav revealed a series of scrapes on his head; when she saw them, she was reminded of the one on her chin. She¡¯d forgotten about it with the pain in her back, but thinking of it made her notice the way it throbbed with pain. ¡°No, we need to take care of injuries first. I¡¯ve got some supplies in my pack; I don¡¯t use them often, but Blaze doesn¡¯t let any of us delve without what he considers basic first aid supplies.¡±


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    Sophia knew that many delvers didn¡¯t carry as much as Blaze recommended, but she had the space; there was no reason not to. She dropped her pack onto the wet stone and started pulling out disinfectant, antibiotic, and bandages. Dungeon monsters were generally safe, but people carried nasty stuff on their skin and it was always better to prevent infection than deal with it later. More importantly, this wasn¡¯t a dungeon and who knew what was in the water or where else the grasshoppers had been?


    ¡°That¡¯s necessary?¡± Dav sounded surprised. ¡°Well, you¡¯d know better than I would, I guess.¡± He seemed to know what to do, at least, as he cleaned then bandaged the slice on her chin. It was a good thing it wasn¡¯t deep, but Sophia still hoped it would heal cleanly; she didn¡¯t have the supplies to stitch an injury closed if it needed it, and that one was long.


    Dav winced a couple of times as she cleaned out the scrapes on his scalp, but he didn¡¯t say anything. Sophia noticed that none of the black likes or purple skin extended significantly past his hairline; almost all of it seemed to be on his face.


    She didn¡¯t have the right tools to shave Dav¡¯s hair so that she could bandage it. A razor just wasn¡¯t in her kit. ¡°I can either cut your hair and try to bandage over it or I can put some antibiotic on the wounds and hope it stays put,¡± she offered. ¡°On a normal delve, I¡¯d say we should antibiotic and go, but this isn¡¯t exactly normal.¡±


    Dav shrugged. ¡°If you¡¯re not sure, let¡¯s go with the one that doesn¡¯t put tape in my hair that has to be cut out later.¡±


    Sophia nodded. ¡°Okay, but once we¡¯re out of this place, I¡¯ll need to clean them again.¡± She¡¯d really prefer if they found a town with a healer, but that didn¡¯t seem all that likely. ¡°Now take off enough of your armor that I can get at the punctures in your leg. I need to clean them, too.¡±


    ¡°Do I have to?¡± It was the first time Sophia had seen Dav actually not want to do something.


    Sophia sighed internally and put on her best Blaze hat. He might not have been able to convince her that healing was her calling, but he certainly had managed to impress her with how to get people to do what the healer said, and she was the healer right now. She wasn¡¯t a Skilled healer, but that didn¡¯t mean she could let Dav get by without tending. Even if she were a Skilled healer, those Skills probably wouldn¡¯t work right now anyway. ¡°Do you want to have it get badly infected while we¡¯re far from anyone who can treat it? That¡¯s something we can prevent, but it has to be cleaned out as soon as possible.¡±


    Dav stared at her for a moment, then muttered, ¡°This is not how I thought I¡¯d ever have a pretty girl ask to get in my pants¡­¡±


    Sophia managed to keep her stern face on instead of laughing, but it was a struggle.


    Dav turned his back on Sophia, like that would matter. She¡¯d seen men before while delving. Armor got damaged and people got hurt; it wasn¡¯t exactly a safe profession. Sometimes you needed to change in the field or do field medicine, like this. It was polite to not specifically look, and if you were doing just what needed to be done it usually didn¡¯t matter.


    Dav¡¯s injury was on his outer thigh, about halfway between his hip and his knee. That was plenty far enough away for modesty; Sophia didn¡¯t even have to move his boxers out of the way to clean or bandage the injury. It was oozing slowly, but there was no significant bleeding at the moment; that was good, though it made her worry about the chance of something stuck in the injury she didn¡¯t see.


    Dav flinched and muttered something that sounded like ¡°dust¡± when she poured the antiseptic into the puncture. She¡¯d probably misheard; swearing wasn¡¯t unusual, but unless he was used to cleaning up his language for little kids, that wasn¡¯t exactly a normal swear word. Sophia shrugged to herself and finished dealing with the injury; it was deep but small, which meant they¡¯d have to keep an eye on it and probably clean it out again later.


    Sophia looked up at Dav¡¯s face as she finished with his wound. He was blushing, though she wasn¡¯t about to call him out on it. It was kind of cute, really; it said he wasn¡¯t quite as confident as he seemed to be pretending and there was something nice about that, something real. ¡°I think that¡¯s everything. I¡¯ll pack up the first aid supplies while you get your armor back on.¡±


    Dav¡¯s blush spread a little, so Sophia turned away. She needed her attention on the first aid supplies anyway. It had nothing to do with the blush that was probably spreading across her face at the thought of the area of his body she¡¯d specifically avoided glancing at; why did he have to bring it up?


    Sophia grabbed the four mechanical grasshoppers and shoved them into her pack after the first aid supplies were back where they belonged. It meant her pack was essentially full, but there wasn¡¯t any reason to leave them behind if they might be valuable; she had room. Barely.


    As Sophie moved into the cavern, following Dav, she realized why the grasshoppers were as visible as they were: they were backlit from the cavern. Bluish-white light shone down from above and set the entire cavern aglow. The sound as drops of water fell from the ceiling blended with the sound of moving water she¡¯d heard earlier.


    A massive column filled the far side of the cavern and extended up into an upper chamber; below the division, it reflected the blue-white glow, almost like it was crystal instead of rock. Maybe there was something in the rock?


    Somewhere in the darkness, miles from the tunnels Sophia and Dav explored, a creature woke. It hurt in a way it had never hurt before.


    Something had been torn. Something important. Its home was missing, yes, but also a vital connection to that home was badly marred.


    It bled.


    But it could feel its home in the distance. It was not easy, but it picked itself up and ran a few steps on its aching talons, then launched itself into the air. Home called and it would find it.

 Chapter 6 - I think it heard us

    Sophia scanned the cavern. There wasn¡¯t anything coming towards them in the air, above them, or on the walls. That wasn¡¯t particularly reassuring; while the beetles were clumsy and slow, the grasshoppers were aggressive and fast. They weren¡¯t the nastiest monsters Sophia had ever fought, but she didn¡¯t want to fight anything like them again until she figured out what was wrong with her Skills.


    She tried to reach for them again, like prodding a sore spot to see if it was still sore. Any Skill would do.


    Nothing responded. She couldn¡¯t even bring up her Status, and she¡¯d been able to do that since she was old enough to know what that was!


    She knew there was something here that was like the Voice; it¡¯s spoken to her. Or, well, more accurately it had thrown a feathered screen in her face. Even though it had responded when she told it to go away, there didn¡¯t seem to be anything to call back.


    She had to deal with what was in front of her. She could worry about her Status when things were safer; worrying at it wasn¡¯t helping.


    Sophia glanced down and saw that, unlike the earlier tunnels, the floor in here was clearly manmade. It was made up of individual stones that had been mortared together; she was fairly certain they were stone and not tile, this time, because they were only approximately square and they weren¡¯t all the same size. They¡¯d apparently cared more for making the floor all the same height than making certain it was perfectly symmetrical.


    If this whole place was man-made, or more likely man-altered, how long had it been here? She didn¡¯t remember how quickly cave formations grew, but she vaguely remembered that it wasn¡¯t fast. The only place where they grew quickly was in dungeons, because the dungeon could make them grow. Was this place like a dungeon in that way, too?


    While Sophia was examining the entire cavern, Dav moved a few feet forward. After a look around, he stepped forward again, then pointed. ¡°Over there, on the rock to the right, just past the stalagmite. Is that what I think it is?¡±


    Sophia didn¡¯t see what he was pointing at until she moved as far into the cave as he had, but once she had a clear line of sight it was obvious in the cave¡¯s bluish radiance. ¡°If you think that¡¯s a man-sized butterfly, with even bigger wings, then yes. I see what you do.¡±


    ¡°Think we can sneak up on it?¡± Dav asked, but he must have been talking mostly to himself because he didn¡¯t wait for Sophia¡¯s answer. He moved to the right, along the cavern¡¯s wall. He moved relatively quietly, but he wasn¡¯t able to stop his steps from splashing in the inch of water that covered the floor of that part of the cavern.


    In the distance, past the butterfly, Sophia could see an area where the floor dropped away. It was mostly hidden by the stalagmites, but it sort of looked like a canal or other man-made streambed, unless she was being fooled by the reflections on the water, and she didn¡¯t think she was. It was something to keep in mind if they ended up fighting the butterfly, and she was fairly confident they were going to. Either it would attack or Dav would attack it.


    After the grasshoppers, Sophia didn¡¯t blame him at all. Truthfully, she didn¡¯t blame him for the beetles, either. Even if they were manmade, making something that looked like a bug that crawled on a wall was just asking to get it smashed.


    Dav and Sophia covered most of the distance to the butterfly before anything changed. It started with a clicking noise that made them both freeze and look around. It was hard to tell where the sound came from, but when it changed to a whirr, Sophia thought she knew the origin. ¡°The rock under the butterfly isn¡¯t a rock. There¡¯s that metal plate and the side closest to us has something that looks a lot like a circle. I think that¡¯s where the noise is coming from.¡±


    Dav whispered back, ¡°I think it has legs, too. I don¡¯t think it can move, maybe a stand?¡± He leaned forward as if it would help him see or hear better. ¡°What do you think it¡¯s doing?¡±


    Sophia shook her head. ¡°No idea.¡±


    Speaking while they were that close to the butterfly seemed to be a mistake. It flapped its wings and seemed to hover vertically up. Unlike the grasshoppers, which seemed to mostly hop and only used their wings for maneuvering, the butterfly didn¡¯t seem to use any sort of normal method of flight at all; it simply floated up, like it was being picked up by a string.


    ¡°Too late now,¡± Dav said. This time, he didn¡¯t bother to whisper. ¡°Think you can get it from behind?¡±


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    Sophia wanted to object, to say that she¡¯d be the one to draw the butterfly¡¯s attention and that he should surprise it from behind. She was wearing better armor and had a higher Tier. He was also supposed to be under her protection. Unfortunately, even with his worse armor, he was probably right that he¡¯d have the easier time attracting its attention and dealing with its initial assault; he was larger than she was and had the better weapon. It would have been different if she had a shield, but she didn¡¯t.


    Sophia moved away from Dav. That way, it would be clear which one of them it went after and would make it easier to surround the butterfly. She just hoped it would come low enough for her to hit it.


    The butterfly charged directly at Dav, but seemed to shy away from his sword. It didn¡¯t move far enough; while Dav didn¡¯t get a clean strike on its body, he managed to hit the butterfly¡¯s left wing near the middle of its span. Despite the slowing caused by the butterfly¡¯s shield, its own momentum pushed the wing onto his sword and pulled it along, shattering the wing with a sound that was eerily reminiscent of a car crash. Bits of broken glass tumbled from the wing as the metal holding it in place tore.


    Almost immediately, the butterfly began to plummet. Unlike during its earlier flight, it tried to move its wings, but that only made it spin.


    Before it hit the ground, Sophia dashed through the water towards it. Every step included the hope that she wouldn¡¯t slip on the wet ground, but it seemed that the builders had deliberately left the stone rough enough for the soles of her shoes to grip and there didn¡¯t seem to be any moss or silt to make her slip. She made it to the butterfly and tried to do exactly what she¡¯d done for the beetles and the grasshoppers: stab it in the large section and make its gears grind to stop it.


    It was a good hit, but not an excellent one. More importantly, despite the fact that Dav¡¯s earlier hit had penetrated its shield, her strike didn¡¯t. She still didn¡¯t know exactly how these things¡¯ shields worked, but either the shield was weaker on the wings or there were different shields for different body parts. Neither one matched the shields she was used to, but it wasn¡¯t like she¡¯d actually fought against them. She wasn¡¯t high enough Tier.


    Weirdly, even though the shield stopped her knife, it didn¡¯t stop the rest of her momentum. She kept moving and suddenly the floor that seemed so grippy during her sprint to the butterfly didn¡¯t catch her. She skidded directly into the butterfly¡¯s central body. Her knife hit her in the chest right before all of her weight landed on the butterfly.


    Sophia desperately tried to catch herself, but all she managed to grab was the broken end of the butterfly¡¯s wing. It slowed her fall only a little and she landed hard on her knees, half-draped over the butterfly.


    The butterfly bucked under Sophia. As it twisted, it slapped her with its good wing and sent her spinning away. It stung more than it should have, too. The wing seemed surprisingly massive, but perhaps she should have expected that. It seemed to be made of glass, after all. Even if it was thin, that much glass had to have a good bit of weight.


    As Sophia reeled backwards and tried to regain her feet, she had the odd thought that this wasn¡¯t actually a butterfly; its antennae were much more like a moth¡¯s, and wasn¡¯t that how you told them apart? She pushed the thought away as quickly as it came; first of all, it was a monster or a manmade drone and that meant it didn¡¯t have to observe the rules of real creatures. Second, who cared if it was a butterfly or a moth? It was aggressive; they needed to kill it!


    Hitting Sophia distracted the butterfly just long enough for Dav to do exactly what Sophia tried to do, only with more success since she¡¯d drained the shield. It was getting a little annoying always doing the assist rather than the kill, but Sophia reminded herself that both were needed.


    Anyway, she¡¯d be fine again once she figured out the Skill situation. If she had to, she could rebuild them as spells. That wouldn¡¯t be as useful as Skills; they¡¯d be either incredibly slow or far weaker. That didn¡¯t mean it wasn¡¯t possible.


    The whine from the box the butterfly had been guarding stopped and was replaced by a scraping noise. Sophia and Dav turned towards it just in time to see why it had been making all the noise as a new mechanical bug squeezed out of the circular opening that faced towards them.


    Before it could get all the way out, both Sophia and Dav charged, racing against time to reach the box before the new bug had the chance to attack. Sophia wasn¡¯t certain which of them got there first, but as it squeezed the last of its body out of the opening, they both struck. The newly-made mechanical critter didn¡¯t even get a chance to charge before the pair of blades bit into its clockwork innards and stopped it forever.


    It was ugly, far uglier than the beetles. They were at least symmetrical and the blue balanced the brass. This thing wasn¡¯t immediately recognizable as any specific bug. Instead, it looked sort of like the abdomen of a grasshopper, only fatter and with a single malformed rear leg and a single pair of wings that attached directly behind the arms; they were completely in the wrong spot. There was no separate thorax or head; instead, something that looked sort of like a faceplate was attached directly to the abdomen. The faceplate didn¡¯t even look like an insect; instead, it looked like it was supposed to resemble a stylized human skull that emphasized the bright blue gems set behind the eye sockets. The forelimbs were also wrong, long and clawed sort of like a predator¡¯s, nothing like a grasshopper¡¯s legs at all.


    Sophia had the distinct suspicion that it was intended to be a larger grasshopper, but that their early attack meant that it came out half-baked. She was definitely just as happy about that; a larger, nastier grasshopper monster was not something she really wanted to face. She was even happier that they hadn¡¯t given it time to attack.


    Sophia didn¡¯t stop there. She could already hear the fake rock clicking like it was trying to start making something else. Stabbing a rock seemed like a great way to break her knife, so she went with the next best option: it was a machine, wasn¡¯t it? Maybe she could take it apart. She started at the top; the brass plate had to be there for a reason.

 Chapter 7 - Shard of Kestii

    The monster-maker was huge, nearly as tall as Sophia. She could still reach the brass plate on the top, even if it was a little awkward, but putting any real force on it would be awkward. When Sophia tried to yank it off anyway, she lifted the entire device. It was heavy, but not as heavy as a rock that size should have been and certainly not as heavy as if it were solid metal; she was able to lift it enough, balancing on its back legs with its front off the ground, that it felt positively precarious.


    Knocking the thing over might let them see if there was an access from another side. If that didn¡¯t work, they could knock it off its perch; it wasn¡¯t that high, really, but three feet was still a decent drop if there was something fragile inside. She could probably let it down and try again with a better hold, but it was already up in the air and she didn¡¯t really want to start over. Maybe she could get a better hold with Dav¡¯s help? ¡°Do you think you can push this over from here? I¡¯m not quite tall enough.¡±


    ¡°Uh, sure. I think I can flip it now that you have it up; do you want to catch it?¡± Dav moved in front of her and took the weight of the monster-maker, supporting it from its underside, then lifted it farther. He took it almost the point of no return, then stopped.


    Sophia already knew that the only opening on the sides of the monster-maker was the hold the deformed bug emerged from, but she took the chance to examine the top and bottom of the device more carefully; they¡¯d been hard to see earlier. The top only had the brass plate, but there was a rectangular plate in the bottom that actually had hinges.


    ¡°No,¡± Sophia decided. ¡°It¡¯s too close to the edge; I don¡¯t want it to knock me over. If it falls over, well, we¡¯ll deal with that then.¡±


    Now that she thought about it, the rock the monster-maker sat on was sort of like a natural pedestal. It didn¡¯t fit with the clearly man-made floor. It was almost perfectly flat, which made it seem like it was placed in the room deliberately; there were no signs of rockfall elsewhere in the room and a fallen rock probably wouldn¡¯t be flat anyway.


    Eh, it was probably added specifically to hold the monster-maker. It made flying bugs, after all; maybe some of them needed a little height for their first flight.


    Sophia moved up next to Dav and helped him tip the monster-maker onto its back. It skidded as it flipped, but managed to stay on the top of the large rock. The far end extended almost a foot past the edge, which made Sophia glad she¡¯d decided not to be there. ¡°We¡¯d better pull it back onto the rock; I don¡¯t want to get on this thing to try and open it until it¡¯s stable.¡±


    ¡°Did you see something on its bottom?¡± Dav grabbed one of the legs and started pulling the device along the rock. It was light enough that he was able to do it, but it was clearly difficult.


    ¡°Yeah. Give me a lift?¡± The new top of the monster-maker was only about three and a half or four feet above the surface they were standing on; Sophia could have made it on her own. It was still easier with a little boost from Dav.


    She was almost next to the side of the brass sheet that didn¡¯t have hinges. Unfortunately, it also didn¡¯t have a catch or any clear place to grab it to get it to open. Sophia shrugged to herself and smacked it with the palm of her hand; maybe that would reveal something.


    Shockingly, the side near her sprung up a full six inches, leaving a large gap between the brass door and the inside. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect that to work.¡±


    Dav lifted himself up onto the top of the monster-maker next to her. ¡°Looks like it did. I can open it while you go in? It¡¯s really too small for me.¡±


    Sophia grumbled to herself; sure, she was below average height, but 5¡¯3¡± wasn¡¯t that short. For where she¡¯d fit, you really had to include her horns and that made her 5¡¯6¡±! Yes, Dav was taller than that, and she was sure he wasn¡¯t deliberately making a dig at her height; it was just annoying to always feel short because most of her family was tall.


    ¡°Go ahead.¡± Sophia lifted the hatch a little farther, then let Dav take it the rest of the way up while she examined the area near the opening. It was apparently spring-loaded with an internal catch, sort of like the cabinet doors at home. No wonder it opened so easily. It didn¡¯t seem to be made to be used while the device was right-side up; the legs weren¡¯t long enough to let the door open far enough to access the inside.


    Entering the monster-maker wasn¡¯t really a thing, because there wasn¡¯t a space to move into. It was mostly filled with an inner chamber defined by a sheet of bronze that seemed to connect to the exit the bugs came out of. There were a few other bits and pieces that filled the open spaces. They were mostly made of brass; a set of rods seemed to surround the inner chamber connected to a complex arrangement of gears at the back end.


    Damaging the gears would probably halt the machine, so Sophia smacked them with the rear of her knife until she got one of them to come loose. She pulled the largest gear out of the box before she turned her attention to the one thing in the monster-maker that wasn¡¯t made of bronze: a three-inch-long crystal that shaded from clear at the base to blue at the tip.


    The small crystal had some thin bronze foil on the tip and some lines of what looked like bronze on some of the edges, but the important thing was that it was nestled into a cage that had clearly been made to hold it. There was no easy way to get it out without damaging the box, but bronze was softer than steel and Sophia was in favor of damaging the monster-maker.


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    The moment Sophia held it up to show Dav, the feathered displays made their return.


    Shard of Kestii Collected!


    Collecting a Shard is Vocation-granting Feat.


    Generating List of Possible Vocations.


    Participant Not Eligible to choose a Vocation.


    Collection of a Shard of Kestii prior to the minimum age to select a Vocation will affect the possible Vocations granted. A Vocation list will be presented as soon as all required conditions are met.


    Your Patron wishes to communicate with you!


    Hello, child. Wait, you aren¡¯t really a child, are you?


    ¡°No, I¡¯m not,¡± Sophia agreed. She heard Dav say something similar at the same time.


    A fuzzy ball of bluish-white light, almost like a light in a fog, appeared in front of Sophia and Dav. ¡°I assume you two would rather talk in person, or, well, person-to-ball, than through the screens?¡±


    Sophia blinked. She hadn¡¯t even realized that was an option. Talking with someone who spoke only through text was fine; that was how she spoke to the Voice. She was used to it. The Voice didn¡¯t carry on conversations, though, so perhaps whoever this was meant to talk more than it did?


    ¡°Yes, please,¡± Dav confirmed without waiting for Sophia. ¡°I¡¯d say it seems more personal, but you don¡¯t exactly seem like much of a person.¡±


    The ball of light laughed. ¡°I was, once. These days, well, it¡¯s much easier to project sound and a fuzzy image than to actually manifest in person. Maybe I¡¯ll do that someday, but for now you¡¯ll have to put up with this shape. Let¡¯s get on with it; I only have so much time and I¡¯m sure you¡¯d rather not wait until the next time you do something big enough to allow me to talk to you for this.¡±


    The ball seemed to move up and down a little as he spoke. ¡°I¡¯m known as the Wanderer. Unless you choose another Patron or renounce me, I¡¯ll be your Patron. I am, among other things, the Patron for orphans, travelers, and the lost; as far as the Guide is concerned, you two are all three of those.¡±


    ¡°The Guide?¡± Sophia interrupted the speech. She certainly hadn¡¯t felt guided since she got here.


    The Wanderer seemed unbothered by the interruption. ¡°The screens you¡¯ve seen. When he uses a name for himself, he calls himself the Guide. Occasionally, someone will hear a voice talking outside the screens, as well; we believe that¡¯s the Guide talking to himself. Anyone can understand the language even though no one knows what it is; that and the fact that it seems to come from nowhere are two of the big clues that it¡¯s the Guide. No one¡¯s ever been able to find him, but-¡± the Wanderer stopped for a moment. ¡°That¡¯s a story for another time, I¡¯m afraid. We don¡¯t have time for it right now.¡±


    Sophia was fairly certain she¡¯d heard the Guide before the first screen appeared, but that wasn¡¯t what caught her attention. She remembered the way she heard things from it and understood them without knowing the language. That wasn¡¯t happening with the Wanderer. ¡°You¡¯re speaking English!¡±


    Sophia had the weirdest feeling that if the Wanderer could have blinked, he would have. Instead, there was a moment of silence.


    ¡°Yes, I am,¡± the Wanderer said slowly. ¡°And if we had a few hours, I¡¯d ask you why you are as well; unfortunately, we don¡¯t have that much time. I will remember the question for later; I¡¯m very curious about where you come from. Both of you, since you come from different places. By the way, where¡¯s the third one of you?¡±


    ¡°Third one? There are only two of us,¡± Dav objected.


    ¡°No, I can see ¡­ what the hell. Okay, that makes sense. Kind of. What a crazy way for the Guide to handle things.¡± The Wanderer sighed, though how a ball of light could sigh was hard to understand. On the other hand, he couldn¡¯t just be a ball of light or he wouldn¡¯t be able to speak. ¡°Well, I can¡¯t undo anything the Guide¡¯s done; so we¡¯ll have to live with it. Sophia, Cliff, this will affect your Spheres significantly, but I think I can adjust things so that whatever you choose will work together.¡±


    ¡°Cliff?¡± Sophia and Dav spoke at almost the same time.


    ¡°I¡¯m not going to say the Great Cliff Dungeon every time, so yes. Cliff.¡±


    ¡°Aren¡¯t we still in the Great Cliff Dungeon?¡± Dav sounded a little confused. ¡°I never saw a notice that we left; aren¡¯t we in a secret area?¡±


    Sophia stared at Dav. She hadn¡¯t realized that he had no idea what was going on. Had he forgotten the trip through the Origin or had he simply not understood it? Was his mind suppressing the memory because it was too painful?


    ¡°No,¡± the Wanderer answered before Sophia figured out what to say. ¡°The Great Cliff Dungeon appears to be a sapient individual with some very interesting abilities, in potential at least, but it requires connection to a larger infrastructure for most of them to actually work. It also can¡¯t sustain itself on its own, so the Guide bonded it to Sophia¡¯s mana core. I can¡¯t tell if that¡¯s because her mana type is compatible, they¡¯re from the same origin, or because you don¡¯t have a mana core; any or all of those is possible.¡±


    Sophia had a sudden sinking feeling as a couple of facts clicked into place. Her Skills weren¡¯t working even though she still felt otherwise normal. Was this the reason why?

 Chapter 8 - Hallow Choices

    ¡°Are you telling me I can¡¯t be a spellcaster?¡± Dav sounded upset. He¡¯d certainly heard something Sophia hadn¡¯t paid any attention to in the bad news that her lack of Skills might be permanent. Was she going to have to relearn all of her Paths?


    ¡°No.¡± The Wanderer didn¡¯t sound bothered by Dav¡¯s outburst. ¡°I¡¯m telling you that you didn¡¯t arrive here with a mana core. If you choose a mana-using Sphere, the Guide will establish a mana core. Of everything he does, that¡¯s one of the most valuable.¡±


    The Wanderer was clearly telling Dav to calm down. Sophia needed to do the same thing. Rebuilding a Path wasn¡¯t unknown; her father did it, for one, and so did Aunt Kaasi. It took time and effort but could lead to better Paths if you did it right, Paths more suited to who you wanted to be than the person you¡¯d been when you took them the first time. She didn¡¯t think she¡¯d changed enough to justify it, but apparently she now had a guest. A guest she¡¯d never heard from; that was worrying in its own way, especially if she had to adjust her Path to accommodate his.


    Before Sophia could spin herself back up, the Wanderer sighed. ¡°Time is limited. How about we do this the other way around; I¡¯ll show you some Hallows I can grant you and you can ask questions?¡±


    He didn¡¯t wait for either of them to answer.


    Your Patron has offered you a choice of Hallows!


    As you have no other Sphere, the Hallow you choose now will become your primary Sphere.


    Choosing a primary Hallow will not prevent the choice of a Profession, Vocation, or secondary Hallow, but you may be unable to return to your primary Hallow without your Patron¡¯s permission.


    Blessed Blade


    Linked Hallow: Blade Manifestor


    Knight-Errant


    Linked Hallow: Mount Manifestor


    Infuser


    Linked Hallow: Comestible Manifestor


    Linked Hallow: Poison Provider


    Linked Hallow: Clockwork Generator <<will consume the Shard of Kestii>>


    Linked Hallow: Blade Manifestor


    Linked Hallow: Ammunition Supplier


    Disappearing Shadows


    Linked Hallow: Shadow Portal


    Monster Mimic


    Linked Hallow: Monster Memorizer


    Wandering Healer


    Linked Hallow: Mount Manifestor


    Linked Hallow: Comestible Manifestor


    Linked Hallow: Blade Manifestor


    ¡­


    The list was long, far longer than Sophia¡¯s Path choices had ever been. The Linked Hallows also seemed interesting; she probably had to choose one of them, unless that was chosen by Cliff based on which Hallow Sophia picked?


    Sophia was still reading through her list when Dav exclaimed. ¡°All right, I¡¯m done. What¡¯s next?¡±


    Sophia blinked at Dav. ¡°How did you get through them that fast? Was your list shorter than mine?¡±


    Dav shrugged. ¡°Probably not, but it was an easy choice. Only two of them said they were Eldritch, which is always worth checking, and I want to try out the magic, so it was easy. Eldritch Summoner.¡±


    Sophia had heard dumber reasons for choosing a Path, but most of them came from people on their first non-Species Path, people between sixteen and twenty. Dav seemed older than that; surely he¡¯d picked a Path before. He was Tier One and just moving into delving ¡­ wasn¡¯t he? That was the only way things made sense ¡­


    She was definitely going to have to talk to him when they had time.


    Sophia turned back to her list. It kept going and going, listing all sorts of possible Paths ¡­ er, Hallows. She wasn¡¯t much more than halfway through it when a soft voice spoke in her head. ¡°Collector.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Sophia looked around. The voice wasn¡¯t Dav or the Wanderer and she didn¡¯t see anyone new.


    ¡°Collector. That¡¯s the Linked Hallow I want.¡± The voice, which Sophia belatedly recognized had to be Cliff¡¯s voice, sounded a little stronger. ¡°You can pick whatever Hallow you want as long as I get that Linked Hallow. It¡¯s the best, the most general. The closest to who I am.¡±


    Sophia had to admit that she needed something to narrow down her choices, so she might as well start with that and see if there was a Hallow that interested her in the list. She focused her Intent on the image, just like she would have at home, and the list warped.


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    When she saw that, she frowned and realized she was being dense. There was probably more information than just the name available. Some of the Hallows were clear enough from the name, but others really weren¡¯t. With another push, the image flickered again.


    Available Hallows with the Linked Hallow: Collector


    Weaponsmaster


    You excel in the use of any and all weapons. You may learn additional Weapon Techniques from your partner¡¯s Collection.


    Shield Wall


    You stand in the way of the enemy. You may borrow from your partner¡¯s Collection of tricks to halt the advance of an enemy and guard your allies.


    Effect Inflictor


    You may inflict conditions upon enemies that do not always make direct sense through the use of mana. Conditions inflicted must be within your partner¡¯s Collection.


    Elementalist


    Call upon the power of the Elements to shape the World. The Method and Element must both be within your partner¡¯s Collection, but they do not have to have been Collected together.


    Elemental


    Choose an Element to emulate. Grow closer to the Element as your partner learns more about it.


    Aural Emitter


    Enhance your understanding of aura to affect those around you. Any effect recorded in your partner¡¯s Collection may be emitted through your aura.


    Natural Fighter


    Temporarily or permanently gain enhancements to your body from your partner¡¯s Collection.


    Image Specialist


    Display the image of something in your partner¡¯s Collection. Images may include any and all senses and may have solidity if enough mana is invested in the image.


    Sophia could see what Cliff meant when he said Collector was the most general Linked Hallow; it apparently meant Cliff could Collect anything, whatever that meant. She was pretty certain it didn¡¯t mean he could act as a storage device, but other than that it seemed very open ended.


    She¡¯d already rejected several of the options near the top of the list. Shield Wall could be useful under the right circumstances, but not with only one ally. Yes, he was a summoner, but until she knew what he could summon and how well he could control it, that didn¡¯t change things. Weaponsmaster was awesome if she had weapons, but she didn¡¯t. Effect Inflictor was almost the opposite problem; it would probably let her delay enemies like Shield Wall but it didn¡¯t sound like it came with much else. It sounded powerful but once again specialized.


    Maybe she was overthinking it. ¡°Wanderer? Is it a problem if I overspecialize? Some of these seem really narrow.¡±


    ¡°They are,¡± the ball of light agreed. ¡°They¡¯re generally powerful within their niche but if you run into something they don¡¯t work on, you¡¯re in trouble. I was always a generalist, personally. That¡¯s what I¡¯d recommend for you, as well, though I can¡¯t deny the power of a properly-used specialist Hallow. That¡¯s why they¡¯re there. Normally I¡¯d limit the list more, but I simply don¡¯t know enough about you. If something isn¡¯t included in your Spheres, it will be hard to get any assistance with it, and new Spheres are very difficult to obtain. You should plan to learn anything not covered by your Hallow yourself.¡±


    That brought up another question, even if she wasn¡¯t sure quite how to ask it. ¡°I don¡¯t see any Eldritch Hallows on my list, even though Dav got one.¡±


    The Wanderer laughed. He seemed to understand her question. ¡°You aren¡¯t Chaos-touched. He is. I¡¯m not sure how you avoided it, since you both came through the Void, but there it is. I was going to say something later, but I¡¯ll say it now before I forget: Dav, be careful what you pull from Chaos. There are things there that aren¡¯t friendly. Be careful that you don¡¯t pull them over or become one yourself.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re letting him reach back into the Origin?¡± That was enough to pull Sophia¡¯s attention off her choices and onto the Wanderer¡¯s ball of light. ¡°That¡¯s a terrible idea.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s why he needs to be careful,¡± the Wanderer agreed. ¡°It¡¯s possible to warp yourself so you are no longer yourself with an Eldritch Sphere. They are also very powerful; they wouldn¡¯t be so dangerous if they were weak.¡±


    He¡¯d gotten those Hallows as options because he was damaged by the trip through the Origin while she hadn¡¯t because she was relatively comfortable there? That seemed backwards, but Sophia had already noticed that there weren¡¯t any Hallows based on her draconic heritage, either. There weren¡¯t even any based on her extreme Affinity for mana and essence, unless you counted the fact that she apparently now had a dungeon core as a ¡°partner.¡± There were a whole host of questions she could ask about that, but it was probably better to save them for later unless they¡¯d open up additional Hallows to choose from. ¡°Can learning something about me change the Hallows I¡¯m offered?¡±


    ¡°Not right now.¡± The Wanderer sounded happy she¡¯d asked. ¡°If you demonstrate a proficiency, it can change the abilities you can choose from; if you have something you think should have been included but can¡¯t find, choose a more general Hallow and you will be able to develop it in that direction.¡±


    They were a lot like Paths then, just Paths that were harder to change. Cliff¡¯s approach of choosing something very broad sounded like a good idea. That immediately struck most of the options off Sophia¡¯s list; the last thing she wanted to have to do was learn how to do everything manually except for aura manipulation, for example. That was probably extremely powerful but it was just so limited!


    Elementalist was interesting since it gave the option of any element. If that was like Affinities, it would be broad enough to do anything. It would limit her to using magic, but she could absolutely learn to use weapons on her own. She¡¯d trained for years for that very reason. ¡°Is magic an element? That is, arcane, the pure manipulation of mana and essence?¡±


    The Wanderer chuckled. ¡°No, it¡¯s not nearly that broad. Anything that specifically calls out the elements means the pure conceptual pieces of the natural world. Generally, that¡¯s fire or heat, cold or ice, air or wind or sound or lightning, acid or water or liquid, and stone or metal or earth. Composite elements, like anything affecting living things or even the remnants of living things are rare but also possible. It varies from Sphere to Sphere; concentrate on the Hallow to see exactly what it offers.¡±


    Sophia sighed to herself and tossed Elementalist on the mental pile to come back to later if there was nothing better. A pure mage Hallow was already limited, she didn¡¯t want to be limited in what she could do with it in the future as well.


    Elemental wasn¡¯t even worth considering and neither was Natural Fighter. That one sounded like it might even make her more eldritch than Dav, even if it didn¡¯t use the term.


    Image Specialist was possible. Actually, it looked pretty good. She suspected it would cost a lot of mana, but it ought to be very flexible for a pure mage-type. It was a little too close to being another summoner, but that wasn¡¯t necessarily terrible. The terrible part was that it was probably a worse summoner. It still made the short list.


    Sophia kept going down the list, but when she reached the end, the short list had only three options: Image Summoner, Collections Agent, and Spellblade. Of the three, Collections Agent was definitely the broadest in what it would let her use, since she could use anything ¡°to aid in the Collection of new things.¡± Spellblade was the most straightforward combat Path in the entire list of Collector-related Hallows, in a way; it allowed her to ¡°use Spells and Martial Techniques in the Collection to enhance her magical and physical combat.¡±

 Chapter 9 - First Status

    Collections Agent would probably work really well as long as she was dealing with things she¡¯d never seen before or hadn¡¯t seen enough for Cliff to Collect, but it would fall down hard if she had to fight something she already knew about, where there was nothing new to Collect. That was a pretty major problem as far as Sophia was concerned; she didn¡¯t know how easy Collecting was, but she definitely didn¡¯t want to have her Path ¡­ er, Hallow ¡­ failing in the middle of a horde attack. There were simply so many times where you wanted to fight something you¡¯d seen before that it was hard to justify.


    Spellblade felt basic. It was close to her old Path, which was certainly nice, but she wasn¡¯t certain it brought anything new. It was broad, since it dealt with all combat, but was combat really all she wanted to do?


    Image Specialist didn¡¯t have a use limit. If she wanted to, she could use it anywhere. In many ways, she wanted both it and Spellblade; that sounded very flexible, at least once Cliff had enough things Collected.


    Collections Agent was the first one Sophia crossed off her list of the three. While it was definitely the one that would let her do the most things, it was also the only one that had situations where it didn¡¯t work at all where she would definitely want the support of a Path.


    Hallow. She needed to get used to calling it a Hallow. Or should she use the more general term Sphere? Well, whatever it was called, she needed to remember that it wasn¡¯t the same as the Paths she knew. She would never have warned someone that a second Path was hard to gain, while the Wanderer had warned her of exactly that about Hallows.


    Thinking of Paths made Sophia realize there was something she¡¯d completely missed on her first look at the Hallows. ¡°Why aren¡¯t there any quality of life or ¡­ well, peaceful Hallows? I guess the healing one was sort of peaceful, but one of the linked Paths, Hallows, was about blades.¡±


    ¡°All Hallows have a purpose in combat, as do all Vocations.¡± The Wanderer¡¯s tone shifted from cheerful to serious as he spoke. ¡°In fact, that¡¯s their primary purpose; you won¡¯t find one that doesn¡¯t have a way to kill, though a trap specialist might never fight himself. A healer may well spend more time healing than fighting, but that doesn¡¯t mean they can¡¯t or shouldn¡¯t kill. All other Spheres are Professions, and if you don¡¯t know that then I need to warn you: if you take a Profession, you will never be able to advance your Vocations and Hallows again. I do not know why it is that way, but it is.¡±


    Sophia wasn¡¯t really interested in a peaceful Path as her primary Path; she was a delver and she enjoyed it. Even so, the idea that she couldn¡¯t have one grated on her sensibilities. She¡¯d always planned to take one to help with her inability to shapeshift at some point, and while that wasn¡¯t exactly useless in combat that wasn¡¯t the point.


    Not that that helped her decide between combat Paths. Sophia wrinkled her nose; this wasn¡¯t an easy choice. Image Specialist and Spellblade both sounded good, but it was almost like whoever wrote them went out of his way to make them as generic as possible. Illusionist would be better than Image Specialist and would mean the same thing, while Spellblade was literally just the two things it did jammed together in a single word. ¡°None of these seem like they want me to choose them, there aren¡¯t any that really stand out.¡±


    ¡°Why, thank you,¡± the Wanderer interjected. He sounded pleased with her complaint. ¡°They¡¯re not supposed to. If you see something that stands out, it¡¯s either my mistake or, hopefully, because it¡¯s exactly what you want and are looking for. I refuse to entice people to choose things that aren¡¯t their preference, no matter what I think would be better for them.¡±


    ¡°Of course not. People will always choose what they want to do. Or, I guess, what their friends want them to do.¡± Dav seemed eager to hop into the conversation. He was probably bored since Sophia was taking longer than he had, but Sophia refused to hurry. It¡¯d probably been only five minutes or so and this was an important decision.


    The Wanderer chuckled. ¡°Patrons who choose to can have a great deal of influence. Your choice alone tells me that I may want to change Eldritch to Chaos-touched or even the simpler Warped. Or maybe it is right for you; if it is, then I should certainly leave it the way it is.¡±


    ¡°¡®Course it¡¯s right for me. How could I skip¡­¡±


    Sophia tuned out their bantering; it was distracting her from her choice. It was funny; the Wanderer¡¯s advice was just like her father¡¯s. Choose who you want to be and what you want to do. Image specialist still sounded powerful; it would let her do all sorts of things, even without making the illusions solid. Illusionists could be scarily powerful and worked across Tiers well, because they made the opponent work against themselves if they were smart.


    Unfortunately, Image Specialist wouldn¡¯t let her stab trouble. It might let her blow it up if she made the image of a giant spell explosion real, but she¡¯d probably only be able to do it rarely. That was an assumption but it seemed a reasonable one.


    Which did she want to do, fool the enemy or stab them in the face?


    The fact that she asked herself that question made her choice obvious. She thought Image Specialist might be the more powerful and flexible of the two, but it wouldn¡¯t let her do what she wanted. She picked Spellblade without further thought; she¡¯d already agonized over the choice long enough, and no matter what she was confident Spellblade wasn¡¯t a bad choice.


    She knew she¡¯d regret the decision, but that didn¡¯t mean it was the wrong decision. She¡¯d regret any decision she made. She thought she¡¯d regret Spellblade less than the others, and that was enough of a reason to choose it.


    The Guide didn¡¯t wait for Sophia to ask for a Status screen; he shoved it in front of her vision as soon as she confirmed her choice of Hallow.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Sophia


    </td>


    <td>


    Spells:


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    </td>


    <td>


    Unaffiliated Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Warped Human


    </td>


    <td>


    (Empty, 1, 1)


    </td>


    <td>


    Innate Communication (Bonus, Free)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    (Feather Image)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Body: 5


    </td>


    <td>


    Martial Abilities:


    </td>


    <td>


    Species Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Core: 7


    </td>


    <td>


    (Empty, 1, 1)


    </td>


    <td>


    (None)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Shield: 10


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Spellblade Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Empty, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Wisps: 10


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Spheres


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Spellblade (Hallow)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Level:1


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Collector (Linked)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Level: 1


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    There was a lot of stuff to unpack on the Status screen, but one thing stood out immediately. ¡°Warped Human? What the heck?¡±


    ¡°Mine says Chaos-Warped Human,¡± Dav supplied. ¡°Interesting.¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you know you were warped?¡± The Wanderer sounded a little surprised. ¡°It seems fairly minor, just a pair of horns and maybe your eye color.¡±


    ¡°No, the problem is that I¡¯m not human!¡± Sophia snapped at the Wanderer. He¡¯d missed her ears and her scales, but none of that changed the fact that her heritage was a bit of a sore spot. ¡°I¡¯m half-dragon and the other half isn¡¯t human, even if it looks pretty close!¡±


    ¡°Dragon?¡± Dav sounded startled. ¡°I guessed demon, but dragon works too.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s a dragon? I know what a demon is, and Sophia definitely looks nothing like a demon.¡± The Wanderer¡¯s question got both Sophia and Dav to stare at the ball of light.


    ¡°You¡¯ve never heard of dragons.¡± Sophia shook her head. Somehow, the surprise of that statement cleared the shock of seeing her species misrepresented. ¡°We must be farther from home than I expected. I thought dragons were known everywhere.¡±


    The Wanderer gave her a moment to collect herself before he prompted her, ¡°Keep going; you¡¯re not done yet and I¡¯m almost out of time to answer questions. I think your companion is already done.¡±


    ¡°Almost,¡± Dav disagreed. ¡°I still have ten more Wisps to spend. I¡¯m not sure what to spend them on; everything seems to cost more than that now.¡±


    ¡°The first is the cheapest,¡± the Wanderer agreed. ¡°I expect that the only thing you can afford if you¡¯ve filled your initial slots is a level, but don¡¯t buy that. A level will increase your Shield, but it will also make the cost of everything else increase.¡±


    ¡°I could also afford a Species Ability Slot,¡± Dav countered. ¡°Should I buy that or wait until I have more?¡±


    The Wanderer paused. ¡°With the Eldritch Summoner ability you chose ¡­ if you have an open Species slot, you might be able to gain a Free Ability. It won¡¯t be shaped by the Guide, so it may or may not be useful. You probably won¡¯t be able to choose whether or not to slot it, and unslotting or fully removing it may be expensive if it¡¯s possible at all. I can¡¯t recommend it, but I have to admit that it is an option.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± When the Wanderer didn¡¯t immediately answer, Sophia repeated the question. ¡°If you can¡¯t recommend it, why do you have to mention it?¡±


    She was glad he had; it was as much a warning as anything else. Even so, she couldn¡¯t leave the question just sitting there. She expected to hear that it was in the rules from the Guide or something, but that wasn¡¯t the answer the Wanderer gave.


    ¡°Many people choose to restrict information that way,¡± the Wanderer agreed. ¡°I don¡¯t. For all that the Guide believes you are newborns, you are not; you can make your own choices and your own mistakes. I¡¯ll help where I can, and I¡¯ll try to warn you, but I won¡¯t do something to you or not tell you something for your own good. Now, get on with it; we have only a few minutes left.¡±


    Sophia could respect that position. She just hoped she¡¯d ask the right questions.


    A quick examination of her Status showed that she didn¡¯t have any new Abilities yet, but Dav was busy buying some with Wisps; hopefully the ten she had would let her fill one of the open slots. The fact that Cliff¡¯s Hallow and level appeared on her Status was a little bit of a surprise, but not enough to really question. That only left one thing to ask before the Wanderer had to leave from this screen. ¡°What are Body and Core?¡±


    ¡°An evaluation of your physical and magical prowess. They can be increased by dedicating Wisps-¡±


    Dav interrupted the Wanderer with a snort.


    The Wanderer chuckled lightly. ¡°But as your companion has noted so eloquently, they are expensive. You¡¯re both lucky to have such high starting values; it will make them cheaper in the long run, because only the amount of increase is figured in, not the total value. Be warned that you do still have to maintain your body and mana core; all too many people forget that the numbers can go down as well as up.¡±


    Sophia could bet that was true. It was the same way at home; many people depended on their Enhancements  and forgot that those were essentially just a modifier to preexisting strength or whatever.


    She focused on the Spells section, to see if she could buy anything that way. Everything else seemed to be Intent-based and context-sensitive.


    No Spells are available for your Hallow!


    Your Spells are obtained from your Linked Partner¡¯s Collection.


    (Feather Image)


    Would you like to dedicate some of your Wisps?


    Yes. Yes, she would. This was clearly going to be a pain, since she apparently wouldn¡¯t have any Spells until Cliff somehow Collected some. She¡¯d bet the same thing was true of Martial Abilities. ¡°Wanderer, how do I slot Spells and Martial Abilities once Cliff has them?¡±


    ¡°Focus on them and you should get the option. If you don¡¯t buy any related Spellblade abilities, you¡¯ll have to pay to remove them later, but if you pick up the right Spellblade Abilities, you should be able to develop a library you can choose between periodically and add to from Cliff¡¯s Collection. There might even be a way to use Cliff¡¯s full Collection; it depends on how you progress the Hallow.¡± The Wanderer paused, then addressed them both. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen either of your Hallows before, so your progression paths are new to me; I¡¯ve seen a lot of other Paths but none quite like yours.¡±

 Chapter 10 - Wisp Dedication

    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Body: 5


    </td>


    <td>


    Wisp Dedication - Sophia


    </td>


    <td>


    Unaffiliated Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    50 Wisps


    </td>


    <td>


    Available Wisps: 10


    </td>


    <td>


    Innate Communication (Bonus, Free)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Feather Image)


    </td>


    <td>


    Dedication Requires Available Slot


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Core: 7


    </td>


    <td>


    Ability Slots:


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    50 Wisps


    </td>


    <td>


    Unaffiliated: 20 Wisps


    </td>


    <td>


    Species Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Species: 10 Wisps


    </td>


    <td>


    (None)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Spheres


    </td>


    <td>


    Spellblade: 25 Wisps


    </td>


    <td>


    Dedication Requires Available Slot


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Spellblade (Hallow)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Level:1


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Spellblade Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    10 Wisps


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Empty, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Variable


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Collector (Linked)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Level: 1


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    No Dedication Possible


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    The ¡°Wisp Dedication¡± screen was on the same lightning background as the Status screen, rather than the feather background of the Guide¡¯s messages. That probably meant something behind the scenes, but Sophia doubted there was any reason to worry about it now. If she ever became involved with the way the Guide worked, it might matter; right now, it didn¡¯t.


    ¡°Is the Guide the same thing as all of the screens?¡± Sophia wasn¡¯t sure why that was the first question she asked, instead of asking about the weird prices for ¡°dedications,¡± but it was.


    ¡°We don¡¯t think so,¡± the Wanderer answered easily, ¡°but unless we can separate the Guide from his control of the screens and the power they represent, it doesn¡¯t matter. Most people don¡¯t separate them and simply use the name the Guide for both.¡±


    That was an interesting way to answer the question.


    ¡°So the System and the Guide aren¡¯t the same thing?¡± Dav chuckled at that. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re setting me up to do something about the Guide.¡±


    Sophia blinked at Dav. What?


    The Wanderer answered slowly and carefully. ¡°You are nowhere near strong enough to think about that. Even if you were, I cannot push you in such a direction.¡±


    Sophia listened to what the Wanderer didn¡¯t say as well as what he did. He didn¡¯t say that it was impossible or unwanted, simply that they weren¡¯t ready and that he was unable to push them. He¡¯d talked about being unwilling to conceal things earlier; was this tension something else he did not want to conceal but also couldn¡¯t actively promote? ¡°Are you saying you¡¯re limited?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re all limited,¡± the Wanderer agreed. ¡°I told you I was once human, did I not? In any case, we no longer have time to waste. Are there any more questions before I have to leave?¡±


    Sophia glanced at the Wisp Dedication screen, then asked the question she should have asked in the first place. ¡°Price for dedications, how do they work?¡±


    The Wanderer nodded, then spoke quickly. ¡°At low levels, they¡¯re consistent - they start at a set amount, usually ten, twenty, or fifty, though abilities vary more, then increase in price based on how many of them you have and your level. It gets increasingly complex as you level and at some point becomes inconsistent with other people, though we suspect that¡¯s a factor we don¡¯t understand rather than a breakdown in the prices. Unlocking a Sphere requires the necessary achievements. For your first Hallow, that¡¯s your Patron¡¯s permission plus anything the Sphere itself requires. You also have to have enough Wisps to unlock its basic slots but you aren¡¯t required to have the Wisps to get the Abilities. Future Spheres aren¡¯t relevant for a while, because you can¡¯t get a second Sphere unless this one is disabled or you¡¯re at least level five.¡±


    Sophia blinked. There was a lot there, even if he didn¡¯t go into details about what the numbers were exactly. The thought of having the exact numbers made her frown. ¡°I get why you wanted us to see everything and go through it while you explained, but why didn¡¯t you also give up the details somewhere we can look them up?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not allowed. General guidelines are allowed but specifics vanish when they¡¯re written down with the idea of sharing them; sometimes they¡¯ll disappear even when you¡¯re tracking them for your own use. We think it¡¯s a choice by the Guide, but we don¡¯t know for certain.¡± The Wanderer paused almost long enough for Sophia to interject and ask who ¡°we¡± was, but he spoke again just as she got the first word out. ¡°And that¡¯s all the time we have; I¡¯ll talk to you the next time I can, but probably not in front of anyone who I¡¯m not the Patron for. On that note, you should probably not mention that I gave you Hallows; it would be better if everyone thinks you have Vocations instead. You may share the names, if you like; neither of you chose a Hallow that couldn¡¯t also be a Vocation.¡±


    With that, the ball of light that was the Wanderer dimmed quickly; the fogginess in the area vanished a moment after the light did.


    ¡°You ready to get moving?¡± Dav stood up and looked around, then turned back to the bugs. ¡°Once we get this all in your bag, that is.¡±


    ¡°It won¡¯t all fit,¡± Sophia stated, then dropped her backpack onto the fortunately dry ground. ¡°I wish I knew if the dragonfly¡¯s wings would be valuable or not. The brass is probably more valuable on modern Earth, but there are planets where colored glass like that comes from dungeons.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not magic glass, then? Just mundane, everyday glass? Why would that be in a monster¡¯s wings?¡± Dav sounded confused and Sophia couldn¡¯t blame him.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know either.¡± Sophia paused, then looked at her bag for a moment. ¡°There¡¯s no more space in the bag, but we¡¯re not at the weight limit and there¡¯s a good bit of air in the bugs. Do you think you can flatten them a bit so we can take them that way?¡±


    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡°I can try.¡± Dav didn¡¯t sound happy. ¡°I think I¡¯ll start with stripping the box¡¯s fittings. They¡¯re flatter than any of the bug bits except maybe the gears. You don¡¯t have tools for it, do you?¡±


    Sophia shook her head. ¡°No, I don¡¯t usually reclaim things that need disassembly. There aren¡¯t that many mech dungeons around ¡­ that¡¯s odd, when I think about it. You¡¯d think they¡¯d be more common. It¡¯s probably because of how many dungeons are based on history and stories. Let me finish picking my new ability and I¡¯ll help.¡±


    ¡°Do you need help?¡± Dav sounded cautious. ¡°I¡¯d be happy to go through them with you if you want.¡±


    Sophia shook her head. ¡°Nah, it¡¯s my Path ¡­ er, my Hallow. I can handle it. Is there anything we need to cover? I¡¯m not sure what you picked up.¡±


    ¡°Hm? Oh, sure.¡± Dav focused for a moment, then made a flicking motion at Sophia. She was about to ask what he was doing when she realized that another Status had appeared in her vision right next to the Wisp Dedication page.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Dav


    </td>


    <td>


    Summons:


    </td>


    <td>


    Unaffiliated Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Chaos-Warped Human


    </td>


    <td>


    (Bastion of Health, 1, 1)


    </td>


    <td>


    Innate Communication (Bonus, Free)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    (Eye Image)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Body: 8


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Species Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Core: 2


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Empty, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Shield: 10


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Eldritch Summoner Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Reinforcement, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Wisps: 0


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Spheres


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Eldritch Summoner (Hallow)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Level:1


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    The eye on Dav¡¯s Status was slightly creepy; it almost seemed like it was watching her. She could understand why he didn¡¯t like the theme.


    ¡°You¡¯re stronger then I am but have less mana. At least, if Core means how much mana you have.¡± Sophia thought that was strange. She didn¡¯t feel noticeably weaker than she had before, but she ought to be stronger than a Tier One like Dav. She hoped the Guide was simply missing or ignoring her increased Tier. If it had taken that into account, either Dav was a lot higher Tier than she thought he was or he¡¯d been changed physically by the Origin.


    On second thought, it was almost certainly the second option. There had to be a reason the Guide called him a Chaos-Warped Human when he called her a Warped Human. The Guide must recognize something about Dav that he had completely missed in her.


    ¡°Makes sense.¡± Dav stuck his head into the opening in the former bottom of the monster-maker. ¡°We all have to have strengths and weaknesses, there¡¯s nothing to tell people apart if they¡¯re all the same. I figure my Core is probably because it just got kickstarted.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure Hallows matter,¡± Sophia countered. She wouldn¡¯t mind if she didn¡¯t have to worry about Body and Core. The fact that she apparently needed to specifically buy increases to them with the same ¡°wisps¡± that were going to be needed to gain abilities and levels wasn¡¯t great.


    She focused on Dav¡¯s abilities. The Guide was willing to tell her a little more, but not much. ¡°If I¡¯m reading this right, the Bastion of Health is something you can summon that will provide a health aura, maybe it speeds up healing?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s why I got it,¡± Dav agreed. ¡°You said you aren¡¯t a healer, I figured it¡¯d be a decent out of combat healer and something we need right now. I can replace it later if it doesn¡¯t scale. Eldritch reinforcement isn¡¯t quite as clear, it just says it reinforces my body with eldritch power. I assume that means it makes me sturdier; I¡¯m hoping it makes me stronger as well since this system seems to tie those things together.¡±


    Sophia glanced at the description and noticed that Dav left out the warning noted on the Ability that the overuse of eldritch power ¡°could have consequences.¡± Since he¡¯d clearly bought the slot for a Species Ability even after the Wanderer¡¯s warning, he must be comfortable with that gamble. She¡¯d have to keep an eye on him, but that wasn¡¯t really anything different from what she¡¯d done before.


    ¡°So we need something that will work at a distance or something magic,¡± Sophia muttered. ¡°Something that can hit multiple enemies would be even better, but I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll manage that without magic or a new weapon.¡± She didn¡¯t wonder out loud if he could have just said that; she wasn¡¯t sure her standards for what they needed and his were the same. Sharing his Status was probably the best option.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Dav agreed. He sounded slightly grumpy but not actually upset. ¡°I wanted to pick up a spell, but that¡¯s apparently not an option for a Summoner, at least not at level one. I could have gotten a summons that could shoot darts, but I figured healing would be more useful.¡±


    ¡°Good choice,¡± Sophia approved as she started through her options. ¡°I don¡¯t see a heal in here anywhere.¡±


    What she saw, mostly, was abilities she was never going to pick. Everything was in groups, which made it harder to figure out initially but made it easier to skip from category to category after she realized what each one was. The one that made her sword harder to control but increased its force didn¡¯t seem worthwhile. The group that let her imbue magic into the blade to deal additional elemental damage looked good, but not like what they needed right now.


    The one that would let her combine a Spell with a Martial Ability ¡°in a basic manner¡± was probably important, but it was also useless for now. Similarly, there were a number of Spellblade Abilities that looked like they interacted with Cliff¡¯s Collection to do things like increase damage against Collected monster types or offer protection against Collected attacks. They would almost certainly be impressive eventually, but right now they were useless.


    There was an entire section set aside for ¡°Bonding Abilities¡± that Sophia ignored. She wasn¡¯t certain if that was to call a familiar, accept service with someone in exchange for power, or give her the ability to force a bond on someone else but she couldn¡¯t think of anything she wanted out of a category with that name.


    It took a lot of searching, but Sophia eventually found three viable options: Floating Blade, Phantom Blade, and Imbue Blade. Floating Blade was the easiest to understand, since all it did was let her move her knife at a distance. It warned she wouldn¡¯t get the benefit of her Body when she used it, which made sense; it wasn¡¯t like her body was with it if she was moving the knife with magic.


    Phantom Blade would let her make her blade ¡°phantasmic¡± to ¡°more easily harm insubstantial creatures while partially bypassing armor.¡± That sounded great, but it was only going to work on things directly in front of her and wouldn¡¯t have worked on the insects, since they were probably made of something it would consider ¡°armor;¡± using it would likely have meant less damage and not just because the ability mentioned that its phantasmic properties limited what the weapon could do to flesh. She wasn¡¯t that worried about the damage penalty; if it wasn¡¯t better than not using it, she could always turn the ability off. As useful as it sounded, it was just a little too specialized when she didn¡¯t know what she¡¯d be fighting in the immediate future.


    Imbue Blade would let her cover the knife in a shell made of mana. She was about to skip past it when she noticed that it would also let her ¡°throw¡± the ¡°sharp mana blade¡± without actually throwing her knife. That made it a direct competitor with Floating Blade; it would probably cost more mana but it had a secondary use when she was close to the enemy as well.


    That settled it. Imbue Blade was the clear winner.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Sophia


    </td>


    <td>


    Spells:


    </td>


    <td>


    Unaffiliated Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Warped Human


    </td>


    <td>


    (Empty, 1, 1)


    </td>


    <td>


    Innate Communication (Bonus, Free)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    (Feather Image)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Body: 5


    </td>


    <td>


    Martial Abilities:


    </td>


    <td>


    Species Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Core: 7


    </td>


    <td>


    (Empty, 1, 1)


    </td>


    <td>


    (None)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Shield: 10


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Spellblade Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Imbue Blade, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Wisps: 0


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Spheres


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Spellblade (Hallow)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Level:1


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Collector (Linked)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Level: 1


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>

 Chapter 11 - So, why are you here?

    Before she did anything else, Sophia pulled out her knife and Imbued it. She only half-believed in the Ability, since it was not at all like the Abilities the Voice would give for an initial Path; even the fact that she already had an ability was weird. Admittedly, she¡¯d had to fight her way to the Shard of Kestii first; perhaps that was similar to the minor amount of Path-aligned learning the Voice required?


    Dedicating Wisps was a completely weird way to look at it, though. Progress through a Path was simply experience in what you¡¯d decided to learn; that made sense. What was a Wisp?


    For that matter, had she earned any from killing the monsters or were they all from reaching the Shard? It sounded like she and Dav had the same number of Wisps; he had an extra Ability because he¡¯d been required to buy one fewer Ability Slot. That didn¡¯t help, but she could only save the question for later. She didn¡¯t regret the questions she¡¯d asked; they were probably more important than questioning what a Wisp was.


    Sophia shook her head and waved the Imbued knife in the air as if she were clearing her mind with the motion. The imbuement was fairly draining for a basic attack; she¡¯d probably be able to use the ability a decent number of times before she had to rest, but ¡°a decent number of times¡± wasn¡¯t all day and might not even be an entire fight if it all went away when she threw it. It was too bad that the Guide didn¡¯t give her discrete numbers for her mana, but she could feel that she¡¯d used roughly a tenth of it, maybe a little less.


    Throwing it seemed like a good thing to test first, now that she knew what the cost was. Sophia turned and faced a distant stalagmite; it would do for a test subject. She slashed towards it.


    Nothing happened. Her knife was still Imbued and she didn¡¯t feel a drain on her mana. That was kind of embarrassing. How exactly was she supposed to make this work?


    For her second try, Sophia pushed her Intent out like she was shaping an incomplete spell as she slashed. This time, she could see an insubstantial knife that looked just like her own blade as it sped across the space and smacked into the stalagmite.


    There wasn¡¯t much effect on the rock; at the most, she¡¯d left a nick. That was really all she¡¯d expected to do with a single hit. At least she knew what she needed to know about launching the Infused knife; it was a lot like casting a spell where some of the parameters were fixed either at the time of casting or even later instead of being in the spell or Skill itself.


    Sophia triggered the Imbue again. This time she paid attention to how it worked; it took time for her mana to spread through the blade. That meant throwing it would be far slower than a proper ranged weapon like a bow; it was too bad she didn¡¯t have one. It would be even better if she had someone who was better with a bow than she was or her spells dammit-


    Sophia cut off that train of thought. Maybe she was temporarily crippled, but it wasn¡¯t going to last. She wasn¡¯t going to let it last. Which meant she needed to fully understand this new Ability and figure out how to make the most of it. It would be a while before she could go home; with luck, by then it would no longer be urgent.


    There was one more piece of the Ability to test: it was supposed to be able to enhance her knife. That was a little harder to test, since she didn¡¯t want to damage her knife. It was her backup weapon and the only weapon she carried that didn¡¯t require a Skill. She couldn¡¯t afford to break it until she had a replacement.


    Maybe she could extend the imbuement beyond the knife¡¯s physical structure to give it a better edge? That seemed implied. She tugged at the Imbuement mentally, then tried to push it where she wanted it to go. No matter how she tried to influence the Imbuement, it stayed right where it had gone when the Imbuement stopped. She could apparently throw it but wasn¡¯t able to alter its form.


    That left one obvious thing to try: could she shape it while it was forming? That could be useful both for throwing it and for fighting with a slightly different weapon than the one she actually carried. It would be unfortunate if it could only take on the shape she pushed it into when she Imbued the weapon, but in some ways that was almost a relief; it was the sort of limit the Ability probably needed in order to make sense.


    Sophia released the Imbuement and watched as it faded. That was interesting in its own right; it took at least three times as long to fade as it did to form, even after she stopped holding it. That might actually be a feature rather than a bug, even though it meant she probably couldn¡¯t re-Imbue it until it finished fading; for anyone without the practice at holding a spell in place, the lingering effect would mean that losing concentration wouldn¡¯t cost them the time and mana spent using the Ability. It probably also explained why the Imbuement could be thrown; it was to get rid of the lingering mana. The fact that it was also an attack was a bonus.


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Sophia triggered Imbue Blade a third time, but this time she gave it the image of a blade slightly larger and sharper than her knife¡¯s blade. When the magic settled into the shape she¡¯d pushed it towards instead of into just the blade, Sophia knew that she¡¯d cracked that part of the way the Ability worked. There were still some tests to do on just how good the Imbued blade was and whether she should Imbue beyond the blade itself, but now she knew she could.


    That meant it was time to help Dav break down the bugs and the monster-maker. It was only right to help, and it would also give her a good chance to work with the Imbued blade.


    Dav seemed to take Sophia¡¯s assistance as permission to talk to her, or at least to ask a question that he¡¯d clearly been wondering. ¡°So, why are you here? I mean, what¡¯s your specialty?¡±


    Sophia frowned at Dav. ¡°What do you mean? You were there when the bandits tried to kill the dungeon; I don¡¯t know what went wrong then, but it tossed us through the Origin and we ended up here. I¡¯m not very happy with the Guide, but I think it may have pulled us out, which is worth something.¡±


    Dav shook his head. ¡°No, not here; here here.¡±


    Sophia paused her effort to cut a tube away from the bronze chamber that once held newly-created monsters to stare at Dav. After a moment of wondering what the heck he was talking about, she used a phrase she¡¯d heard her mother use with her father. ¡°Use your words, please. I need a better explanation than that, I¡¯m not a telepath.¡±


    Dav flushed. ¡°Oh, um, right. I mean, I know why we¡¯re here in the game; the world shattered and then the emergency disconnect threw an error. Unusual, certainly, and the intro wasn¡¯t very good before that, but not unique. Good and immersive; in fact, it would have been better to start there. No, I mean, why are you participating? I didn¡¯t guess you were real until you were here, you did a great job of playing your role, but you¡¯re definitely not scripted.¡±


    Scripted?


    Sophia took a moment to process what Dav clearly believed about what was happening. He thought they were in a game and had thought she was an NPC until he spent time with her? Was that what he said?


    She wanted to blame his weird beliefs on his time in the Origin, but there was enough odd about him that she couldn¡¯t quite do it. Why would anyone do the years of training Dav so clearly had and not take either a combat or training Path at some point? Yes, there were people on Earth who didn¡¯t choose to Tier up, but it just didn¡¯t add up. This was clearly the time to ask about that.


    ¡°I see. So, back up and tell me about why you¡¯re here, first.¡± Sophia needed to get him to realize that they were in reality, but she also needed him to stay functional. A few hours of downtime would be fine, but it might be better to take it slow. She needed to not lie but also not confirm anything until she knew what she was working with; whether he was hallucinating or not might change what she needed to do. ¡°I agree that we¡¯re both real, but I need to know more about you before I say anything about where I come from or the situation we¡¯re actually in.¡±


    Dav took a deep breath and set the makeshift rock hammer that had once been half of a loose floor stone down. ¡°That ¡­ yeah, I guess that makes sense. I wondered why it was set up the way it was, why I didn¡¯t even get to use a character creator when you clearly did. They must have snuck me in the back. If you can help me leave, I will; I don¡¯t mean to be anywhere I¡¯m not supposed to be.¡±


    Sophia held up a hand. Dav had clearly realized that something wasn¡¯t right, but he didn¡¯t seem to have figured out the truth yet. ¡°You¡¯re not in any trouble, at least not from me. Tell me what you think is going on, or what you were told, and I¡¯ll tell you what I know.¡± She paused, then glanced around. ¡°While we do that, why don¡¯t we start a fire and have something to eat? I¡¯m pretty sure we¡¯re going to spend the night here. I have a tent, and it¡¯s big enough for two, but uh¡­¡±


    Dav didn¡¯t seem to get the hint that she wanted him to tell her about his overnight supplies. He also didn¡¯t seem to get the hint that he was supposed to help Sophia set up a camp on the large dry rock that once held the monster-maker. Fortunately, he wasn¡¯t oblivious enough to miss the fact that she wanted him to talk and if he was willing to do that, Sophia was willing to set up the camp alone.


    This time.


    ¡°I¡¯m from Alinport, in New Hartford,¡± Dav started. Instead of looking at Sophia, he faced away from her, almost as if he was ashamed of his origins. ¡°It¡¯s near the Dust zone, but we weren¡¯t Dusted; my parents were both soldiers, and we stayed after they left the service. There were only three things to do in Alinport: join up, work for the base, or work the docks. I didn¡¯t want to do any of those, so I studied and got out. I didn¡¯t get the schooling I wanted; they wanted my skills but somehow the payments for school never happened. Funny thing is, they probably spent more than twice the amount they didn¡¯t pay on directly teaching me the things they didn¡¯t want to pay for, so I¡¯d be useful to them.¡±


    The fire was finally going well enough that Sophia could leave it and start setting up the tent. They wouldn¡¯t need it to protect against rain, but they probably would need it to deal with the chill. With luck, Dav would also have a sleeping bag; Sophia¡¯s wasn¡¯t really big enough for two.


    ¡°What did they train you to do?¡± She didn¡¯t really care who ¡°they¡± were; they were either figments of Dav¡¯s imagination or they were far enough away that they didn¡¯t matter. What they¡¯d trained him in, however, might be relevant.

 Chapter 12 - You Did Wake Up

    ¡°I broke games,¡± Dav answered. ¡°Not the ones where you can just change the game client, but the others, the ones where they have people looking for that. The big games, the ones where bots are easy to catch because they can¡¯t quite imitate humans. It wasn¡¯t what I wanted to do, but it paid back my debts for the move and continued to pay for my living expenses. At least, that¡¯s what they said it was going to; after the first year, it was obvious that that was just as reliable as the continued reassurances that they¡¯d pay for a scholarship.¡±


    Sophia fed mana into the tent¡¯s enchantments. It was completely possible to set it up by hand, but that was pointless when she wasn¡¯t low on mana. The tent¡¯s enchantment was robust; it was made to handle hundreds of uses, maybe even a thousand. The comfort enchantments inside the tent would fail first; they had to be continuously active while the tent was in use, after all. The only one that might not fail early was the privacy enchantment, because Sophia usually left it unpowered.


    The tent made noise as it snapped itself together. It was possible to muffle that, but Sophia decided not to; that particular enchantment was relatively fragile and they¡¯d already made enough noise here that they¡¯d already attracted anything that was nearby. After a particularly loud snap, Dav looked up and blinked. He didn¡¯t say anything, but Sophia didn¡¯t miss the way his hand went to his hilt.


    Dav¡¯s eyes stayed on the tent and his hand stayed on his hilt as he continued. ¡°I¡¯d been there for about four years when they were caught. I was lucky; I was locked in my pod at the time, so I didn¡¯t know anything until it was over. Even better,¡± Dav¡¯s voice didn¡¯t sound like he thought it was actually better. ¡°They¡¯d been experimenting with creating Dust; I didn¡¯t know the details then. I do now, of course; you probably do too. It was pretty famous.¡±


    Dav paused as if he expected Sophia to say something, but she didn¡¯t know what to say. If this was a fiction created by his experience in the Origin, it seemed awfully detailed. ¡°I was lucky the Knights decided I was a victim instead of one of the Dusters, even though I was one of the people effectively funding them. Instead of sending me to the courts and my death, they threw me at the Modern Slavery Recovery program.¡±


    Dav snorted and shook his head. ¡°They were thrilled that I had technical skills, at first, but they were the wrong technical skills. Most of the people they knew who could offer quick employment were hiring for things I couldn¡¯t do; finding game flaws doesn¡¯t prepare me to fix slates or even to find the flaws in anything else. I could break False World physics and interactions, not financial systems. I certainly couldn¡¯t safeguard things I couldn¡¯t break. It wasn¡¯t until Cori reached out to a friend of hers who worked for FalsePods that I had a way forward: they were willing, even happy to have me show them how I broke their systems so they could fix it. It paid well, and the pay got even better when they started pulling in the developers whose games I knew how to break. It even paid well enough that I was able to pull my parents out of Alinport a couple years ago when the Dust started advancing into New Hartford. It¡¯s not to Alinport yet, but it¡¯s still better to not be there.¡±


    Sophia poked her hand into the tent and started to fill the tent¡¯s mana reservoir. It wasn¡¯t that low, but it was low enough that it was clear she hadn¡¯t filled it the last time she put the tent away. That was probably a mistake; she rarely needed to use mana immediately and it was always better to have the reservoir full rather than empty. It would bleed off in time anyway, just like a battery, and she didn¡¯t have enough mana to completely fill it if it was totally empty. It held several days¡¯ worth of mana, but if she set the tent up while she was low on mana and the tent was empty, she might not be able to power the enchantments all night even if she took a couple hours to try to regain mana. That wouldn¡¯t be fun.


    When Sophia finished filling the tent¡¯s mana reservoir and triggered the enchantments she knew they¡¯d want that night, Dav was still staring off into the distance without speaking. He¡¯d clearly either forgotten to talk about the current situation or he¡¯d gotten lost in his thoughts. At least he¡¯d stopped staring at the tent like it was about to eat him; that was progress. ¡°Dav? How does that lead to you being here?¡±


    Dav looked up, like he was startled. ¡°Oh, right. I guess I didn¡¯t say that. I thought it was obvious. World Transit Thirty-Two is under development; I¡¯m supposed to be testing it for Transit Game Holdings. It¡¯s extremely different from the previous incarnations; I figured that was a combination of it being early in the development process and World Transit changing the game systems again. It¡¯s a little odd that there was no character creation process, but using my body as a base is usually an advantage so I can¡¯t complain. The combat is far more real than normal, but World Transit¡¯s tried realtime before. The weird thing is that none of the normal pod commands are working; I can¡¯t even find them. I haven¡¯t been able to since the game started.¡±


    Sophia frowned at that. He really did seem to think this was a game. That was frustrating; it might be hard to treat everything around them as real if he didn¡¯t think it was. The one good thing there was that he wasn¡¯t reckless; that would help, even if she couldn¡¯t convince him. She¡¯d try to convince him, but she¡¯d only try so hard; he was an adult, after all. She felt somewhat responsible, but none of this was her fault.


    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    The funny thing was that he still hadn¡¯t explained how he¡¯d ended up on a delve. She might as well ask. ¡°So how did you end up buying a delve escort?¡±


    Dav shrugged. ¡°I didn¡¯t know what else to do. The entrance was near the Adventurer¡¯s Guild, so I figured that was probably the primary point of interest for this World. It seemed like a sidequest, but the receptionist wouldn¡¯t let me sign up for anything other than a guided delve; she said my Tier was too low for anything else. I guess you¡¯re supposed to be higher Tier when you get there; it seemed like I¡¯d activated either some sort of failover for glitches or it was the beginning, just without the explanation. If it wasn¡¯t really World Transit I was working for, if whoever I was working for hacked an incomplete game and wanted me to catch things they could use to make some quick money ¡­ well, that makes sense. You¡¯re a real tester, aren¡¯t you?¡±


    Sophia squinted at Dav. A World Transit game, arrived at the Guild ¡­ oh, of course. He wasn¡¯t from Earth, even though some of the terms he used sounded awfully Earth-like. She didn¡¯t quite understand how he spoke English, but she wasn¡¯t certain how the Wanderer spoke English either. Bridge would make a lot more sense, but Dav seemed to avoid even the common Bridge loan-words. ¡°You came through the portal, then?¡±


    Dav nodded. He didn¡¯t seem surprised that she¡¯d ignored his question. ¡°Yeah, waking up and exiting the pod then walking through a tear in space was the game intro. It was pretty confusing, really; it felt like I actually woke up from the pod. They had to remind me that they¡¯d told me that was the intro. I have to remember to compliment-¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s because you did wake up.¡± Sophia was tracking what was going on now, and whether or not Dav¡¯s story was true this was the most obvious way to make the point that this was all real. ¡°I suspect you weren¡¯t working for the company you thought you were, but more than that you aren¡¯t working on breaking a game. You¡¯re exploring a new world. Worse, I think you¡¯re not exploring the world you thought you were, either; we¡¯re not on Earth anymore.¡±


    ¡°Earth?¡± Dav sounded confused. ¡°Is that the name of the planet we¡¯re on?¡±


    Sophia shook her head. ¡°No, it¡¯s the name of the planet we were on before the bandits tried to break the dungeon. I don¡¯t know what planet we¡¯re on now.¡±


    It would explain a lot of the oddities about him. She¡¯d prefer to believe that he was from somewhere the Voice hadn¡¯t gotten to yet but that didn¡¯t explain the portal use or the language. It seemed highly unlikely, but some sort of transit from a parallel universe seemed like a simple explanation, even if it just pushed everything back a little. She¡¯d just have to wait and see.


    She decided not to mention that she still wasn¡¯t entirely certain that Dav wasn¡¯t from Earth with very messed up memories. It was better to work with what he thought was true and tell him he¡¯d misinterpreted it. If what he said was true, though, she might be better off treating him as someone with similar training and experience to hers; he¡¯d learned it for games, probably, while she¡¯d learned it to delve. Either way, it was their professions and he clearly took his as seriously as she took hers.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t we have dinner?¡± Sophia invited Dav. ¡°I¡¯m carrying food if you aren¡¯t. Oh, and do you have a blanket of your own?¡±


    Dav did, as it turned out, have both food and a blanket in his pack. He also turned out to be fun to talk to; they traded stories about delves and games. Sophia had to admit that Dav¡¯s job sounded like it was often a lot of fun, but at the same time it sounded horribly annoying in other ways; he wasn¡¯t playing the games, he was breaking them, so he rarely got to see them as they were intended. More than that, he had to look for everything which wasn¡¯t as simple as it sounded.


    ¡°That¡¯s how I found the beetles,¡± Dav said between bites of his Homestyle Mac¡¯n¡¯Cheese with Grand Lobster (Tier Two). ¡°They were clearly intended to be found, but only if you look. I doubt they¡¯d even attack if you didn¡¯t; they were probably a warning for the grasshoppers but only if you pay attention. That¡¯s not the important thing, though; the important thing is the monster-maker. It¡¯s pretty clear that you aren¡¯t supposed to take it out of the cave; it¡¯s just too big. I don¡¯t yet know if it¡¯s a reward for people who are thorough or something you¡¯re not supposed to redeem at all, but taking it apart and recovering it is exactly the sort of thing I was trained to do. In an economy that values scrap, there¡¯s a good chance it¡¯s ridiculously valuable if we can get it out. It could be a bad bet, but there¡¯s so much in there that it¡¯s worth trying to see if it¡¯s already been closed off. This place seems so real so far that it might well be treated properly.¡±


    Sophia shook her head. She kept having to remind him that this wasn¡¯t a game. ¡°That¡¯s because it is real. I figure the odds are about even that it¡¯ll be worth a lot and worth nothing; we just don¡¯t know enough to pick odds.¡±


    ¡°Right. I knew that.¡± Dav¡¯s spoon scraped the bottom of the plastic container as he tried to get the remainder of the sauce. He seemed to like it even more than Sophia did, and she only carried food she liked. It was expensive, but there was no reason to carry the nasty reconstituted food when you could afford the stuff that cooked itself while you waited. On longer delves, she often carried food that she actually cooked herself, but this was supposed to be a simple day trip; she hadn¡¯t expected to eat in the dungeon at all.

 Chapter 13 - Mana Manipulation

    Even with two of them working on it, it took far longer than Sophia expected to disassemble everything and get it ready to leave. She¡¯d expected to finish fairly early the next morning, but it was hours before they had everything taken apart.


    It was too bad that taking everything apart wasn¡¯t enough.


    Later, Sophia couldn¡¯t be certain which of them came up with the idea of making a sledge out of the bits of the monster maker. It was really more like a toboggan than anything else Sophia could think of; the slab of bronze was flat enough that it was easier to just tack one of the interior sheets onto it and create a sort of prow that could be used to both lift the front of the slab and give it a smooth curve instead of a sharp corner and provide a surface to hold the rope Sophia always carried to let them pull the sled.


    She was, however, certain which of them figured out how to actually join the two pieces of metal. Dav had given up on the idea of rivets and was trying to figure out a way to make a decent clamp when Sophia decided that the solution was just to melt the damn metal. Sophia couldn¡¯t cast spells quickly without a Skill, but she could still cast them. Her Affinity for Fire wasn¡¯t the best, but she¡¯d practiced fire-based spells anyway. She¡¯d never used them for something this big, but she¡¯d cast a small version to start a campfire or light a recalcitrant camp stove more than once.


    Sophia¡¯s first few tries weren¡¯t hot enough, but when she got fed up and really threw her mana at the problem in a seriously oversized spell, she actually melted the end off the thinner piece of bronze and left an inch-deep scar in the large cap piece. At that point, Dav was happy to help her try. It took quite a few more attempts to figure out that the key was to strike it with yet another thick, flat piece of bronze after getting the temperature right for a period of time; whenever Sophia tried to make a welding torch, she only ever succeeded in cutting. She was missing something for welding but they could, with care, sort of melt the two metals together in a far more haphazard but probably functional way. It wasn¡¯t like they needed all that much strength, after all.


    Naturally, Sophia figured out how to do it and then promptly ran out of mana because of her experiments. While she waited for her mana to recover, she helped Dav turn the large, thin-walled components of the monster maker into bins to hold the flattened remains of the bugs. If they were going to have to build a sled to move the big parts, they might as well carry all the small stuff that wouldn¡¯t fit as well. It wouldn¡¯t add that much weight, even with the harness that was needed to keep it on the sled, and there was more than enough room.


    The second time Sophia had to stop because she ran out of mana, she was halfway done with the tack-melts that they¡¯d decided should be enough to hold everything together. This time, she was exhausted; the sheer concentration needed to keep a spellform in place for a high-precision high-output spell was hard to maintain and that was before she added in the fact that she¡¯d gone through her mana twice. She might not pass out when she ran out of mana but it was still exhausting.


    When Dav plopped down beside Sophia, she was halfway through recovering her mana and finally starting to feel a little less woozy. ¡°I think all the buckets are ready. We have more than enough for the parts; we even have a few spares in case we see anything else that might be valuable. Is there any way I can help your part? Give you my mana or something?¡±


    Sophia looked tiredly at Dav. She needed to pace herself better. ¡°Don¡¯t you need your mana for your summon and reinforcement Skills?¡±


    Dav shrugged. ¡°If we¡¯re going to depend on them, sure, but we got down here without them and I notice you¡¯re not saving your mana. Does that mean there is a way?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Sophia admitted. ¡°I don¡¯t usually think about it because, well, I don¡¯t usually run out of mana. It¡¯ll be inefficient; I¡¯m not good enough and you¡¯re not trained. Still, anything would help.¡± He ought to have a decent amount of mana; wasn¡¯t his Core value almost half what hers was? That ought to mean a decent amount of mana. Sophia had always had a lot of mana for her Tier, but truthfully having a little more mana rarely mattered. This was one of the cases where it might make a huge difference.


    ¡°What do I need to do?¡± Dav glanced at the incomplete sled then back at Sophia.


    ¡°Do you want me to just take it or do you want me to teach you the right way to give mana to someone else?¡± There was a big difference between the two. For this situation, it wouldn¡¯t matter much, but if they ever had to do it in a fight it might matter a lot. She really ought to teach him the right way.


    ¡°Which one gets us moving faster?¡± Dav flexed his hands and glanced at the sled then back at Sophia. ¡°I mean, I¡¯m happy to learn something new, but I want to be doing something. Maybe you can teach while we travel?¡±


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    It was clear that Dav had guessed that learning the right way would take time. He was right, too. Once he knew what he was doing, it would be far better, but that would require time and practice.


    ¡°As long as you realize that I am going to teach you,¡± Sophia threatened. ¡°All you need to do is let me hold your hand, relax, and let me have your mana. Don¡¯t even try to send it to me; that¡¯s what you¡¯ll have to do when I teach you, but it¡¯s far too easy to snag onto it if you try to hold it at all.¡± She could still remember learning the technique herself. It was a lot harder than it sounded to smoothly push mana out while keeping control of it and not grabbing onto it and slowing it down.


    Dav nodded and held his hand out to her.


    Sophia found it weirdly easy to look inside Dav¡¯s mana pool, but what she saw was odd. Instead of the complex structure she was used to in both herself and others, Dav¡¯s mana pool was nothing more than a sphere of mana without any easy walls to constrain or guide the mana flow. It was stagnant instead of continually moving; she could see that he was generating mana, just like everyone always did, but his generation was slow. Some of that was probably because his mana pool was full, but Sophia suspected that most of it was because his mana pool was stagnant.


    Sophia had no idea how to build a mana pool. She glanced at hers; she¡¯d been born with it, as far as she knew, and it was both far larger than Dav¡¯s and much more complicated. She normally controlled mana by flexing the walls of the mana pool or mana heart; most of the time she didn¡¯t even have to think about it. She wasn¡¯t sure how she was going to teach Dav proper mana control with such a simple mana pool. Maybe he¡¯d have to squeeze the whole thing?


    Sophia¡¯s mana pool looked different from usual. It was almost like there was an entire second mana pool superimposed over it; that had to be Cliff¡¯s. It was strange to look at, because where Sophia¡¯s mana pool was refilling, Cliff¡¯s had clearly not been emptied. They were both complex but very differently structured. Sophia was sure she¡¯d want to explore that later if Cliff agreed, but for now it wasn¡¯t important. It didn¡¯t seem to interfere with anything.


    Sophia could only think of one thing that would explain the lack of complexity in Dav¡¯s mana pool, and it was honestly kind of terrible: he lacked any Affinities. She¡¯d never examined the mana pool of anyone with low Affinities, but it kind of made sense, The way you accessed and modified mana, especially without the Voice¡¯s help, was through Affinities. That was probably the same as using the complexities of the mana pool, the method she¡¯d been taught as a child by the man who taught her Intent-based casting.


    Sophia turned her attention back to Dav¡¯s mana pool and noted how small it was. It was like comparing a marble to a baseball, but that wasn¡¯t entirely fair. She¡¯d expected it to be roughly two-fifths the size of her own, given the information on their Statuses, but it wasn¡¯t even close. Even without including the addition of Cliff¡¯s mana pool and after accounting for the fact that Dav¡¯s was artificially reduced in size because of its lower complexity, Dav¡¯s was at best a fifth the capacity of hers and it might have been only a tenth. It was hard to measure.


    Well, she¡¯d get to measure part of it shortly when she swept his mana into her mana pool. Sophia turned her attention to that instead of just examining his pool. It was just as weirdly easy to pull on Dav¡¯s mana as it had been to look inside; it was almost like she was pulling her own mana out of an attuned container instead of taking someone else¡¯s mana. Dav clearly had no idea how to access his own mana, so he wasn¡¯t accidentally getting in the way, but that wasn¡¯t all of it.


    No, there were only two real options: either the Guide made mana pools, or mana cores as it called them,  that were far simpler and more compatible with everyone than natural mana pools, or something that had happened in the Origin when Sophia tried to protect Dav made their mana unusually compatible. Sophia¡¯s guess was that both were likely. It did mean that Dav was unlikely to ever be capable of Intent-based casting and he might never be able to learn spellforms. He might well be limited to the Abilities the Guide gave him.


    From the Guide¡¯s perspective, that probably wasn¡¯t a bad deal. It might even be intentional.


    It almost had to be, didn¡¯t it? Almost everyone had at least some sort of low Affinity back home; it was something the Voice showed on the default Status screen. It was interesting that the Guide didn¡¯t. Maybe it didn¡¯t think it was important or maybe it knew most people didn¡¯t have Affinities because it didn¡¯t create mana pools with Affinities.


    Sophia knew which way she was going to bet, and she already preferred her homeland¡¯s Voice to the local Guide. She trusted the Voice, but the Guide seemed less and less trustworthy. She¡¯d just have to hope that the system the Guide oversaw was fair. She hadn¡¯t seen it lie yet, which was something.


    Sophia finished drawing Dav¡¯s mana and noted that she¡¯d had far less loss in the process than she expected. When she opened her eyes and looked over at Dav, he didn¡¯t look abnormally tired; that was one of the few places she envied humans. ¡°How did that feel?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure if I felt anything or if it was just my imagination. I think I¡¯m going to have to work to even tell that I have mana. It¡¯s always been just a number and it still feels that way.¡± Dav shrugged as he spoke, then paused with a frown. ¡°I still can¡¯t believe this is real, but I have to treat it that way. Too many things don¡¯t add up to any other solution and you¡¯re one of them.¡±

 Chapter 14 - Tunnel

    ¡°Thanks, I think.¡± Sophia winked at Dav. She wasn¡¯t really certain how she felt about being something that didn¡¯t add up, but at the same time she was pretty sure that Dav meant it as a complement, because it meant he saw her as a real person. As little as that sounded, it meant quite a bit given what he thought was going on. ¡°I¡¯d better get started. I¡¯m not quite full, but it should be close enough if I¡¯m careful.¡±


    Practice made perfect, after all, and Sophia was getting a decent bit of practice. In this case, the melts were still both makeshift and ugly, but they cost a lot less mana than they had at the beginning. The three quarters or so of her normal mana that Sophia had available was enough to finish the second half of the sled fairly quickly.


    Once they assembled everything, it turned out that the sledge slipped over the inch-deep water acceptably well ¡­ as long as Dav was the one who pulled it. Sophia tended to slip; she wasn¡¯t certain if that was because of her lower upper body strength or her lower mass, but she was happy to blame her lower mass. It could also have been her shoes; they were fine for walking around, even in the water, but they weren¡¯t really designed to pull a sled.


    They searched the large cavern and found only one viable exit other than the one they¡¯d entered through. There had clearly once been several others, but most of them had been blocked with stonework; the one that wasn¡¯t deliberately blocked was the way the water exited and it was filled with rocks about fifteen feet into that branch of the cavern.


    The way they picked was the stream¡¯s entrance. It didn¡¯t carry much water right now, though it could clearly carry more. More importantly, it was obvious that it was manmade, or at least improved. There were clear tool marks on each of the points where the walls narrowed and at each point where the ceiling rose high enough, there was more of the glowing bluish crystal that dominated the large cavern.


    Even more importantly, it went uphill. The slope was pretty shallow, but it ought to be a good way out, especially since the walls had clearly been deliberately widened. The sledge was quite a bit narrower than the width of the widened sections, so they were almost guaranteed to be able to fit all the way through to the exit.


    As long as nothing more had collapsed, at least. There was never a guarantee about that in an unexplored cave.


    It was slow going. For all that Dav could pull the sledge, he could only manage it slowly. When he was too tired to keep pulling, Sophia tried again. This time, she was able to get it to move without falling, but she was even slower than Dav. After the first few minutes, neither of them wanted to talk; when Sophia was pulling the sled, she was working too hard to have the breath to spare while when Dav was pulling the sled she didn¡¯t want to bother him. She wasn¡¯t sure why he didn¡¯t speak, but it really wasn¡¯t like there was much to say, was there?


    It was almost a relief when they reached a branch in the tunnel. Both of the incoming branches carried water and seemed to lead up; there wasn¡¯t much to choose between them. The only real difference was that the one on the right seemed to have been covered in stonework at some point while the one on the left looked like it had had less work done.


    Sophia stopped pulling and carefully set the rope on the sled before setting on it herself. ¡°A short rest, then explore the tunnels and see which way to go?¡±


    Dav found an open spot on the sled and sat down as well. It was obviously purely coincidental that the open spot was next to Sophia, close enough that she could almost feel him but somehow not so close that it was uncomfortable. ¡°Sounds good. Do you want to sleep or just sit for a few minutes?¡±


    A nap sounded good, but a few minutes¡¯ rest followed by not dragging the sled would do almost as well. ¡°Just a few minutes. I haven¡¯t seen any sign of anything actually living down here and that makes me want to get out of here as fast as I can. There¡¯s usually a reason when nothing lives somewhere and there is light; there should at least be moss, maybe some fungus too, plus insects and fish. Those might hide, but the plants can¡¯t.¡±


    Dav glanced around the tunnel, then frowned. ¡°You¡¯re right, I don¡¯t see anything. Now you¡¯re making me wish we hadn¡¯t stayed to salvage everything. Do you think we should abandon it and hurry?¡±


    Sophia shook her head. ¡°Only for long enough to figure out which path we¡¯re taking. There¡¯s no sign of a danger we can¡¯t see; I have enchantments to detect those. I¡¯m more worried about a sudden storm that washes everything away than I am about anything else, and there¡¯s no way to know when a storm will happen. I think we were safe back in the large cavern, so if the water level rises we may want to retreat.¡±


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    She still thought her mother was paranoid to pay an enchanter for a necklace that would detect everything from diseases to radiation, but that didn¡¯t mean she didn¡¯t wear it. She just usually wore it under her shirt where it couldn¡¯t be seen; she didn¡¯t have to see it to know if it found something. It was far, far too elaborate to wear out in the open under almost any circumstances.


    Dav leaned back on the sled and stretched ¡­ or, at least, he tried to. His left arm almost immediately hit one of the metal bins. ¡°Argh. Forgot that was there.¡± Rather than scoot a bit farther down the slab of metal, he set his left arm stiffly against his side. ¡°Let me know when you¡¯re ready to move on.¡±


    Sophia shook her head. All he had to do was scoot a bit farther down and there was plenty of room for one of them to lie down. There wasn¡¯t really enough room for both of them without emptying the sled, but that was fine. She didn¡¯t need to nap. Sophia closed her eyes and leaned back against the bin behind her; it wasn¡¯t all that strong, but it would still act like a seat back for a few minutes.


    The next thing she knew, she was curled up on her side and something was shaking her shoulder. It took her a moment to blink herself awake and realize that the ¡°something¡± was Dav. She felt annoyed with herself; sure, dragging the metal sled was a workout, but it wasn¡¯t that bad! ¡°I fell asleep.¡±


    ¡°So did I,¡± Dav admitted. He didn¡¯t sound nearly as bothered by it as Sophia was. ¡°Seems like we both needed it, but you said you didn¡¯t want to spend too much time here.¡±


    ¡°Right.¡± Sophia bounced to her feet and looked around. Nothing had changed, not even the light level from the stones set in the various openings¡¯ ceilings.


    No, there was one thing that had changed: her magelight had gone out. That made sense; she hadn¡¯t put all that much mana into it to power the enchantment. She lit it again, then nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s get going. The right, since that seems to be built instead of dug?¡±


    Dav nodded and turned to lead the way. ¡°Good by me. How far do you want to go down the tunnel before we come back for the sled?¡±


    ¡°The exit or the next split,¡± Sophia said, then thought a little more. Those two options were easy, but she didn¡¯t want to have to walk back miles to get the sled. ¡°Or when we¡¯re pretty confident there will be a big enough opening on the way out. I want to know what this place is before we head into it.¡±


    The water seemed to be moving a little when they entered the branch, but as they got farther in Sophia started to think it was just a puddle. A huge puddle, yes, but the motion in it was so slight she wasn¡¯t sure it was moving at all, sort of like a lake. She was arguing internally with herself about the fact that some lakes have notable currents because they are moving and it¡¯s just not obvious because the top is smooth when Dav suddenly stopped in front of her.


    Sophia stopped to not run into Dav and glanced ahead. The most obvious thing was that the rocks in the water were suddenly covered in green gunk, gunk that wasn¡¯t there at all less than a foot away from where it coated the floor. There was green stuff on the walls, too. It looked sort of like moss and moss-covered roots, but there was something about it that just looked wrong. If she¡¯d suddenly stepped from darkness into light, that would be one thing, but the area seemed even dimmer than the areas they¡¯d just left and the only change was the green.


    Sophia followed Dav¡¯s gaze forward towards the water and saw that was probably the real reason he¡¯d stopped: the water was bubbling. It was ugly and green, more like snot bubbles than boiling water. ¡°You think that¡¯s a monster?¡±


    ¡°No shit,¡± Dav immediately replied. ¡°I¡¯m trying to decide if we should leave or try to fight it. Makes me wish there was some way to tell how strong it is.¡±


    There was a way, if the rules for auras worked the same here as back home. Unfortunately, Sophia¡¯s aura control was only really good enough to sense a few feet around herself; she¡¯d have to nearly step in the bubbles to get her aura close enough to have a real chance to guess how strong the monster was that way. She¡¯d have to fall back on other methods. ¡°Well, it can¡¯t be all that large. The water just isn¡¯t that deep; an inch, maybe? That means-¡±


    Sophia stopped talking as something green seemed to solidify on top of the water, then rise. The water spilled to the sides as the green thing continued to rise. ¡°Well. That¡¯s not good. Either the water¡¯s a lot deeper there than I think it is or that thing can shift forms.¡±


    It had a face with entirely too many jagged teeth and bright red eyes. ¡°Definitely a monster,¡± Sophia muttered. ¡°I think we need to fight it; I think it¡¯ll come after us if we try to run.¡±


    Right now, the green thing didn¡¯t look like a threat; it had a pair of arms but they were clearly insufficient to lift it out of the water. It also had a bunch of tentacles or maybe roots instead of legs. It didn¡¯t look like the creature would be able to move very quickly; they could probably outrun it at a slow walk if they wanted to. Sophia wasn¡¯t certain if they¡¯d be able to outrun it while dragging the sled, though, so she really hoped they¡¯d be able to kill it. She lifted her magelight to see a little better.


    The good news was that the water wasn¡¯t any deeper near the monster than elsewhere. The bad news was that the transformation wasn¡¯t done. The critter had absorbed quite a bit of the green goo around where it started, so it was clearly a goo monster of some sort. That was bad news, again, but it looked solid now and that was good news. In this form, it would probably be able to move faster, even if she couldn¡¯t make out its legs, but it would almost certainly have all the vulnerabilities of a flesh and blood monster. She¡¯d rather fight one of those than a ball of acid any day.

 Chapter 15 - Gunk Slime Monster

    Dav seemed just as stunned by the sudden growth of a monster from little more than pond scum as Sophia was, but they still reacted faster than the monster grew. Sophia couldn¡¯t see it, but she was certain that Dav called on Eldritch Reinforcement at almost the same moment that she Imbued her knife. He then darted forward.


    Sophia carefully aimed for the green monster¡¯s eye; she was only going to get one free hit before the monster finished its transformation, so she needed to make it count.


    Sophia¡¯s Imbued blast hit the monster just before Dav did. It impacted exactly where she aimed and was absorbed by the monster¡¯s shield without damaging its eye. Oddly, the shield seemed to turn dark and hazy where she hit it; that was an effect she hadn¡¯t seen before. Was the Guide giving her some sort of bonus for hitting a sensitive location or was that a side effect of her Imbued attack that wasn¡¯t obvious without hitting a shield?


    Either way, she¡¯d take it. Anything that made it harder for the monster to see Dav was a bonus.


    Dav didn¡¯t have the luxury of time to aim; by the time he reached the monster, it was already moving. He managed to slice its left upper arm as it came for him, but he stumbled when his sword was stopped cold by the creature¡¯s shield, leaving only a thin score in its flesh that started to slowly ooze a green fluid.


    Dav¡¯s stumble earned him a backhanded smack from the arm he¡¯d sliced, but he somehow managed to duck under the other arm and dodge a step backwards away from its attempted lunging bite. The slime monster seemed sturdy and strong but slow. While that would have been a great combination under other circumstances, it was less than ideal in the cramped confines of a rumble-strewn corridor, which Dav proved by tripping over a four-inch-high broken stone block and landing on his butt.


    Sophia rushed forward and pushed another Infusion into her knife. She wasn¡¯t going to be able to stand back against this creature and throw mana at it, but she might well need the reinforcement if she had to block instead of getting out of the way. She didn¡¯t need to attack, which was good since she reached the monster before the imbued mana settled into the form she¡¯d picked, larger than her knife but not quite as large as the sword she¡¯d normally have preferred.


    The monster¡¯s arms snapped through the space above Dav, where he would have been if he hadn¡¯t fallen, before Sophia was there to help. It followed up that useless grab with another lunging bite attack, aimed lower.


    Sophia was there by then; her Imbued knife smashed into the spot where its nose should have been and stopped the monster short. Like Dav¡¯s earlier slice, it was almost completely stopped by the shield but left a small, slowly leaking, injury behind. Sophia was forced back two steps from the force of the impact, but she managed to stay on her feet.


    There was definitely something weird about the shields. It was clearly not penetrated, but it also didn¡¯t completely stop the attack. Sophia was beginning to think that the Guide was deliberately allowing just enough damage through the shield to make it clear that you¡¯d been hit without allowing you to be too badly hurt. That would explain the darkness, too; it was saying she¡¯d hit the eye without leaving a permanent scar if the monster survived.


    Even the mechanical monsters made sense. They hadn¡¯t realized they were leaving damage behind because against the brass it meant only a small streak or gouge. It might not even do that if the bronze couldn¡¯t take it, since the clockwork monsters didn¡¯t have feedback in that area.


    It felt almost more like a training tool than what Sophia would consider a real shield, but it seemed to be built into what the Guide did for everyone and everything.


    Dav took advantage of the pause Sophia created in the monster¡¯s motion to awkwardly roll to the side and get his sword aimed at the monster¡¯s throat. He then convulsively leapt up from the ground, rather than standing, in a clear attempt to skewer the creature¡¯s throat. He opened a larger puncture, but still clearly hadn¡¯t broken the shield yet.


    The monster roared. Cliff¡¯s voice rang in the back of her head with triumph; it seemed like the roar itself was something he could collect and he was thrilled to have it. Sophia suspected she¡¯d be thrilled as well, but this was so far from the time to think about it that it wasn¡¯t even funny. She didn¡¯t have time for humor.


    Sophia tried to move, but for a split second she couldn¡¯t. There was no obvious reason, but Sophia was certain it was something carried by the monster¡¯s roar, some effect that it used on its prey. What she felt wasn¡¯t quite fear; it was more like shock. Either way, she was stunned for just long enough that the goop monster raked its claws across her chest.


    Well, almost raked her chest. This was Sophia¡¯s first real experience with being hit herself with the Guide¡¯s Shield, and it was weird. She could see that the claws should have hit her and should have kept going at least enough to jar her backwards even if they didn¡¯t penetrate, but she didn¡¯t feel that force. Instead, the claws lightly scraped her armor.


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    The surprise delayed her enough that she was almost hit by the monster¡¯s other claw. She swayed to the side, then lunged forward herself to try to finish off the monster before it hit her again. She wasn¡¯t sure how many of those hits her shield would take, but she didn¡¯t expect that it would be many and she definitely didn¡¯t want to be hit by the thing¡¯s meaty paws without the shield.


    Sophia¡¯s knife stabbed towards the monster¡¯s throat, but at the last minute she realized that it was trying to bite her arm and that it would succeed if she stabbed it. She lurched to the side instead, aborting the blow but keeping her arm unpunctured.


    Dav wasn¡¯t faring much better. He¡¯d finally regained his feet, but somehow his sword was still on the ground. He tried to punch the monster, but despite the shield, his fist actually sank into the monster¡¯s flesh as if it were mud. Sophia couldn¡¯t quite believe the shield was gone, but maybe it didn¡¯t stop anything that wasn¡¯t going to harm the target?


    Sophia was actually closer to Dav¡¯s sword than he was, so she scooped it up. She turned to hand it back to him, then had a sudden thought: why was she only using Imbue Blade on her own weapon? There was nothing in the description that said she had to be the one to wield the charged weapon. She envisioned a weapon that was essentially the same size and shape as Dav¡¯s blade but that had a far sharper edge, since it would be maintained by magic, then pushed mana into the blade. It snapped into place after taking only a fraction more mana than it took to fill her own far smaller knife.


    Imbuing the blade was fast, but it still took longer than Sophia liked. Dav ran back several steps to stay ahead of the monster and Sophia followed him only a half-step behind. When the Imbue finally finished, Sophia reversed her hold on the sword and held the pommel out towards Dav. ¡°Here. I¡¯ve imbued it; see if that works better.¡±


    ¡°Thanks.¡± Dav snatched the blade from her hand, then whirled and sliced at the monster in a single motion. It was too soon and cut only the air in front of it instead of the green flesh.


    Sophia positioned herself a few inches behind Dav and off to the side. If everything went the way she expected now, she ought to be able to - there!


    The monster drove itself forward and Dav twisted out of the way. Sophia thought he didn¡¯t quite manage to fully avoid the creature, but she didn¡¯t have the spare attention to waste on being certain. She had to focus on her task, and her task was sinking her knife into the monster¡¯s elbow. It wasn¡¯t the blow she¡¯d have gone for without the weirdness of the Guide¡¯s shield, but she thought it might work well here; if the Guide disabled the monster¡¯s elbow, it would be weak on that side.


    Of course, normally she wouldn¡¯t need to go for the elbow. Normally, she¡¯d just kill the monster. It was too bad that wasn¡¯t possible here. Maybe it would be possible if she was strong enough, but the shields almost  seemed to be set up specifically to prevent a lot of the immediate kills she preferred and make fights more even.


    It was annoying in some ways, but it might also have saved their bacon here; what she could manage with her normal Skills and what she could manage without them weren¡¯t the same and she wasn¡¯t certain she and Dav could handle the muck monster without them or the shields that had saved each of them at least once. As it was, they had to keep evading the monster; Sophia didn¡¯t expect the shields to hold up to more than a blow or two, given how strong the monster was. She¡¯d already taken one and Dav had just been hit the second time.


    Sophia kept her focus on the monster rather than Dav. When it was finally close enough to the right position, she lunged forward and put everything behind it.


    Sophia expected the monster¡¯s shield to stop her. It didn¡¯t; instead, her knife punched through it and penetrated the flesh that surrounded the monster¡¯s elbow. It was only a fraction of an inch, but she thought she¡¯d hit bone. She yanked on the knife, twisting it slightly to help free it, and when the knife popped free she was rewarded by a gush of oddly antiseptic-smelling fluid and a roar from the monster that seemed to carry pain instead of the earlier anger.


    The monster tried to reach for Sophia, but its arm simply refused to move in that direction; it swung up at the shoulder but not out at the elbow. She must have hit something important; even better, she must have finally depleted the shield.


    A glance down showed that she wasn¡¯t the only one to have hit something important: Dav was still on the ground next to the wall the goo monster must have smacked him into. The entire left side of his face was purple, but it wasn¡¯t the purple of a bruise; instead, the glowing purple that had appeared on his face after the trip through the Origin had spread down to his jawline. Dav simply lay there for a long moment.


    Sophia had a moment of indecision: should she try to pull Dav away from the monster or just kill it before it did any more damage?


    She hated it, but the answer had to be to kill it first. It was badly hurt but she didn¡¯t think she could drag Dav faster than it could walk, much less faster than it could hurry. Sophia had just turned back to the monster when she saw motion in the corner of her eye: Dav was climbing back to his feet. Good. This would be a lot easier with two and that meant he probably wasn¡¯t hurt too badly. ¡°I¡¯m going to try to work around to its damaged side, can you hold its attention?¡±


    Dav¡¯s only reply was with his sword, which licked out and opened a wound on the monster¡¯s uninjured right arm. It was clear he hadn¡¯t committed fully to the move; it was just enough of an injury to hurt, not to kill. It seemed to serve the purpose, at least, since it drew the monster¡¯s attention back to Dav.

 Chapter 16 - Devouring Moss

    Dav¡¯s punch of the monster gave Sophia an idea. It was either brilliant or blindingly stupid; she¡¯d know which when she found out if it worked or not. At best, it would resolve the problem. Far more likely, it wouldn¡¯t matter and they¡¯d have to finish this the hard way. There was also the outside chance that it would get her eaten, but Sophia didn¡¯t think that was likely. Things were already looking pretty dark and this was the best chance she could think of to turn things around.


    There wasn¡¯t much room in the passage beside the monster, so Sophia hopped on the ledge to her right and used it to climb onto the higher ledge beside the monster. It was slick with moss, so Sophia had to take it slowly; if she moved too fast, she¡¯d slip and either injure herself or alert the monster. It was partially blind and had a disabled arm; that didn¡¯t mean it was helpless.


    Once she made it onto the higher ledge, Sophia carefully turned. Dav definitely still had its attention; as she watched, he dodged backwards, ducked under a wild swing from the injured arm, and easily dodged an attempt to all too literally bite his head off. Her eyes were drawn to his side, where a bright purple liquid oozed out through a gash in Dav¡¯s armor. That was new; he must have gotten a little too close while her back was turned.


    She¡¯d deal with the fact that he bled a color other than red later. He wasn¡¯t the only person she knew who bled an unusual color; it didn¡¯t really change much. All it really told her was that for some reason the Origin presented as glowing purple to Dav; it didn¡¯t have to mean more than that.


    Sophia gathered her legs under herself then lept for the back of the monster. She hadn¡¯t done such a foolish thing in years, but if she was right this was exactly the monster where it wasn¡¯t a bad idea. Her first concern was the landing, rather than the attack. Against another monster, she¡¯d have different priorities, but against this one she was pretty sure she could stay on its back and kill it from there.


    She wanted to land evenly but she was a little off. As she twisted, her left boot hit the monster first. It sank in, just as she¡¯d hoped, but it also held the foot in place and it wasn¡¯t quite the right place. Her momentum pulled her the rest of the way around so that when her right foot hit, it was roughly where she wanted it, but it wrenched her left knee.


    Not that she was going anywhere any time soon. With her full weight hitting the monster, she¡¯d sunk at least eight inches into it. Her feet were both trapped. That was uncomfortable but it was also the plan.


    Dav definitely didn¡¯t have the monster¡¯s attention anymore. It straightened and seemed to flail at Sophia, first with its good arm then with the bad one. All it managed was to press its back fully against Sophia¡¯s knees. She hadn¡¯t been certain, but as she¡¯d hoped it was completely unable to reach behind itself and it also seemed to be unable to eject something that had pushed inside its rubbery flesh without hurting it. She¡¯d anchored herself to the monster in a place it couldn¡¯t easily remove her from where it also couldn¡¯t attack her.


    Now all she had to do was take advantage of it before it realized it could slam her against a wall or shapeshift. Sophia picked out the area that was probably where its spine ran; it seemed to have bones so it probably had a spine, at least in this shape. She rose up to her full height, or as close as she could manage without losing her balance, then crouched as quickly as she could and shoved her knife between two of the discs of its spine.


    Amazingly, it worked exactly as intended. Even more amazingly, the whatever-it-was seemed to keep its brain in its head, at least in this form, because it collapsed. Sophia had hoped that would work but hadn¡¯t really expected that it would; she knew several people who wouldn¡¯t die if they lost their heads entirely. A monster that formed from goo on top of a thin layer of water seemed like the kind of thing that ought to be able to do the same.


    She stayed right where she was for a minute, just in case the monster had something else in store for the two of them. She was thinking about moving when the monster seemed to shiver and shift. She tensed, expecting to have to fight, but instead it collapsed a little as it turned into an extremely thick layer of something like moss.


    With her feet still stuck inside it.


    ¡°I think we¡¯re good,¡± Dav called out to Sophia. She felt the comforting feeling of healing magic wash over her. It was cool, rather than warm, and felt weak and undirected. Sophia still recognized it. The cool was nice, in a way; her knee hurt where she¡¯d twisted it and the cool feeling soothed the pain. ¡°I have some Wisps, so I think the Guide is telling us it¡¯s dead.¡±


    Already? Sophia pulled up her status to check.


    She had exactly 3 Wisps. She¡¯d checked prices fairly thoroughly earlier, so she knew that wasn¡¯t enough to buy anything. On the other hand, there was that exclamation from Cliff she¡¯d heard during the fight.


    ¡°Cliff? Did you collect anything?¡± As much as Sophia would prefer not to talk out loud to the voice in her head, she wasn¡¯t sure how else to make him hear her. At least Dav already knew what was going on. That might make her seem a little less crazy.


    ¡°I did!¡± Cliff sounded jubilant. ¡°A plant and a monster and something called a Martial Technique! Both the plant and the monster are called Devouring Moss. I think they¡¯re the same thing, or maybe the plant is a dormant form of the monster? I got the monster when you jumped on it, then the plant when it collapsed.¡±


    Cliff didn¡¯t elaborate on what the Martial Technique was and Sophia didn¡¯t ask him to. She had a better way to find out: her Status.


    Available Martial Techniques


    Stunning Roar


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    Daze the world with the force of your anger! Imbue your shout with mana and anger to temporarily disorient opponents.


    (feather line break)


    Add Stunning Roar to the available Level 1 Martial Technique Ability Slot?


    The answer to that was easy: yes. There wasn¡¯t a Wisp cost for it, which Sophia was grateful for; she already had the feeling that she was always going to want more Wisps. The Guide almost immediately presented her with her Status.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Sophia


    </td>


    <td>


    Spells:


    </td>


    <td>


    Unaffiliated Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Warped Human


    </td>


    <td>


    (Empty, 1, 1)


    </td>


    <td>


    Innate Communication (Bonus, Free)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    (Feather Image)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Body: 5


    </td>


    <td>


    Martial Abilities:


    </td>


    <td>


    Species Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Core: 7


    </td>


    <td>


    (Stunning Roar, 1, 1)


    </td>


    <td>


    (None)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Shield: 4/10


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Spellblade Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Imbue Blade, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Wisps: 0


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Spheres


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Spellblade (Hallow)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Level:1


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Collector (Linked)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Level: 1


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    That was going to get very annoying very quickly. In fact, Sophia was already annoyed with it; she didn¡¯t want screens to pup up in her vision unless she asked for them. They were simply too likely to distract her at a bad time.


    Sophia looked up at Dav as she dismissed the screen. ¡°Did you ever find a way to adjust when the Guide shows you things?¡±


    ¡°That wasn¡¯t what I expected you to ask,¡± Dav said with a chuckle. ¡°I thought you were going to ask for a hand getting your feet free. And no, I didn¡¯t find a setting screen or anything. It¡¯s still showing me eyes on every message.¡±


    Sophia looked down at her feet. They weren¡¯t uncomfortable, per se, but it would be nice to sit down while her knee healed in the radiance of Dav¡¯s beacon.


    Her eyes wandered over to the beacon for the first time and she took in the full scope of its strangeness. It looked like someone had slid a metal butterfly ornament into an upside down multicolored wide mouthed vase, then anchored the butterfly into a block of green stone and made the whole thing glow a rather disturbing shade of yellow-green, especially where the butterfly met the vase. It looked a lot more like some of the enchanted objects Sophia had seen over the years than a summon.


    It looked pretty odd even for an enchanted object.


    ¡°I could use some help, now that you mention it,¡± Sophia admitted. ¡°Also, while we heal, do you want to harvest some of the monster? I think it may have become a sort of magical moss now that we killed it.¡±


    ¡°Are you sure it won¡¯t turn back into a monster?¡± Dav held a hand out for Sophia. ¡°I don¡¯t want to have to fight it again.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Sophia had to admit. She used Dav¡¯s hand to steady her as she struggled to get one leg out of the moss trap then the other. Unlike the monster, the moss seemed pretty solid; once her legs were free, she only sank as she compressed the moss instead of actually sinking into it. ¡°But I¡¯m pretty sure we can catch it if it does. Wait, I have a better idea. Cliff, do you know if the moss can become a monster or not?¡±


    ¡°It can, sort of!¡± Cliff sounded almost chirpy. Sophia wasn¡¯t sure what to think about a dungeon that was that happy, but then again she probably shouldn¡¯t think of Cliff as ¡°a dungeon¡± anymore, should she? It wasn¡¯t like he could build a proper dungeon right now. ¡°Devouring Moss is the sessile form of the Devouring Moss monster! It acts like a plant, but when the conditions are right it will ¡­ well, blossom I guess? The Devouring Moss monster is sort of both the mobile form and the plant¡¯s spores. The moss releases a thin form of itself which travels through wet areas and eats pretty much anything. If it runs across something too large or mobile or it reaches a dry area without finding more Devouring Moss, it can gather itself temporarily into a solid monster. If it¡¯s killed or finds more Devouring Moss, it will revert to the moss form and start over.¡±


    ¡°So ¡­ no moss monster unless the moss starts leaking green goo?¡± Sophia kicked the top of the pile of moss softly. It was surprisingly dry. ¡°I think we can work with that.¡±


    She stumbled as she tried to step off the moss and her knee gave out. She would have hit the floor if Dav hadn¡¯t caught her.


    ¡°I¡¯ll deal with the moss,¡± Dav told her. ¡°You sit down and heal. Hmm. I wonder how quickly Shield heals? We must both be out, since we¡¯re both hurt.¡±


    Sophia pulled up her Status and glanced at it. ¡°I¡¯m at four out of ten. Either it comes back quickly or I didn¡¯t run out. Maybe I hurt my knee because I did it, not the monster?¡±


    ¡°Mh,¡± Dav grunted. ¡°It can¡¯t come back that quickly; mine¡¯s still at zero. I think the healing beacon¡¯s helping with our injuries but not the Shield. You¡¯re probably right about the knee.¡±


    ¡°At least that means the beacon will help it,¡± Sophia offered. She definitely didn¡¯t want to have to dig out the pair of healing potions she had in her pack; they were for emergencies only, so she¡¯d only use them for her knee if she just couldn¡¯t walk. Healing potions were one of the worst ways to heal injuries and that was even more true of joint injuries. She¡¯d never hear the end of it if she used a healing potion for a damaged knee when she didn¡¯t have to.


    Well, she¡¯d never hear the end of it if she made it back home. Sophia flinched away from that thought.

 Chapter 17 - Dead End

    Sophia limped to the entrance and took a good look back the way they¡¯d come. She didn¡¯t see anything but the same lifeless corridors they¡¯d walked through.


    This probably wasn¡¯t the safest place to rest, but at the same time it probably wasn¡¯t the most dangerous. They¡¯d just made a lot of noise, but nothing had arrived to investigate and it wasn¡¯t the first time they¡¯d made noise in the tunnels. On top of that, the moss monster had probably killed anything else dangerous that was nearby; it was unlikely there was a threat headed towards them from that direction either.


    This might actually be a good place to rest. If nothing else, resting here would mean she didn¡¯t have to make her way back to the sled on her decidedly unhappy knee.


    With that, Sophia set her back to the casing that held the doorway and slid down to a seated position. She was close enough to the beacon that it could help her heal; other than that, all she had to do was keep an eye out for danger. She could do that and think about better ways to deal with another moss monster if she ran into one at the same time.


    An hour or so later, Sophia realized that she was subconsciously maintaining the Imbuement of both Dav¡¯s weapon and her own. She hadn¡¯t had many maintained spells in the past, but when you did you didn¡¯t drop them without meaning to; if you did, you were likely to be killed when something you expected to be there wasn¡¯t. It was something she¡¯d practiced for almost as long as she¡¯d been learning magic, and the Imbue Blade ability was close enough that she¡¯d kept it running without thinking about it.


    That explained why her mana was so slow to return; she was using it. She could maintain the two spells and still have it recover, but it was very, very slow. Even with that, she was down roughly enough mana to perform the Imbuement twice. She suspected that a third maintained Imbuement would leave her with essentially no mana regeneration and a fourth would put her negative, but somewhere around there she wouldn¡¯t be able to do much other than maintain the magic. It might be even worse than that if the imbued blades were actively being used; she hadn¡¯t paid attention to the mana cost during the fight, but it made sense that it would be higher.


    She decided to keep the dual Imbuements running for now. They were a little tiring, but they meant she wouldn¡¯t have to perform them at the beginning of a fight, and if the fights were far enough apart she might even have full mana. She felt a bit silly for having dropped it in the first place, after doing her testing; if she¡¯d done what she should have, she¡¯d have had the ability already there when they saw the moss monster.


    Sophia shook her head. Something about Dav caught her attention, and once she focused it was clear what it was. It was clear now that the odd growth or whatever it was around his eye hadn¡¯t spread after all; instead, his skin glowed from within when he was hurt. It was probably because of his glowing purple blood, though Sophia wasn¡¯t sure why that didn¡¯t affect his skin color the rest of the time. Maybe it was like the way blood would rush to the site of an injury and swell the surrounding flesh? ¡°Huh. You¡¯re clearly healing; your face isn¡¯t glowing purple anymore.¡±


    ¡°Bruising?¡± Dav sounded startled. He put his hand up to his cheek and tapped it. ¡°That does feel a lot better. Talking hurts less, too.¡±


    No wonder Dav hadn¡¯t said anything in the past hour. Sophia probably wouldn¡¯t have said much if talking hurt either; she certainly hadn¡¯t moved her leg much.


    With the reminder, Sophia tried bending her leg. It felt a lot better; apparently, Dav¡¯s healing beacon worked wonders on soft tissue. She pushed herself to her feet. ¡°I think your totem did a good job. How¡¯s your mana doing?¡±


    Dav shrugged. ¡°No idea; it¡¯s not on the display. I can¡¯t even tell if the summon requires mana, though it says it does. I can say that I¡¯ve only recovered one point of shield.¡±


    Sophia took a quick glance at her own Status. It showed 5/10 for Shield, so she¡¯d also recovered only one point. ¡°Same here. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s considered healing. Maybe there¡¯s another way to recover it faster for mana, but I think the healing beacon was the better choice even if you had the option. Something to think about for the future, but as long as we have enough time between fights it looks like it recovers on its own.¡±


    ¡°An hour for a point?¡± Dav sounded doubtful. ¡°Are we going to have to wait ten hours between fights?¡±


    Sophia shrugged. ¡°Outside a dungeon or a war, it¡¯s probably good enough. Inside a dungeon ¡­ well, I think we¡¯re going to need a better way to recover or not fight things like the moss monster very often. We could probably take on a bunch of the bugs from that Shard now, though. They didn¡¯t hit nearly as hard.¡±


    Dav rubbed his hip but didn¡¯t say anything.


    ¡°So, are you ready to keep going, or do you want to stop until your shield is back?¡± Sophia knew which one she¡¯d prefer; she wanted to get out of here. She wouldn¡¯t blame Dav if he wanted to be more cautious, however. The moss monster was a reminder that this place wasn¡¯t like a dungeon. She couldn¡¯t count on everything being as easy as the mechanical bugs.


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    Dav took a moment to stretch, then ran a hand over the part of his chest where he¡¯d been clawed. ¡°I don¡¯t feel any pain, so I think it¡¯s fully healed. We can keep going.¡±


    Dav moved to the opposite end of the room, past the pile of moss that had once been a monster. Sophia was startled for a moment; she¡¯d expected to have to convince him to check beyond the moss monster. It seemed at least somewhat likely that there wouldn¡¯t be more monsters near it for a while, after all.


    Once Sophia caught up with Dav, he moved forward. The tunnel continued to be covered in bits of moss and algae; there was even lichen on some of the rocks. Sophia was pretty certain she saw an insect with thin, sticklike legs and gossamer wings dart away from the pool of water as they neared it. It was a completely different environment from the dead tunnels they¡¯d been in not too long before.


    About twenty feet past the arch leading away from the moss monster, they came to another archway. When Sophia passed into the room and was finally able to really see it with her magelight, she stopped in dismay.


    Her first impression of the room was green; the ancient stonework was even more covered in moss and algae than the previous room, the one the Devouring Moss monster formed itself from. Sophia relaxed a little when she came to the conclusion that this room¡¯s moss didn¡¯t seem to be actively inclined to eat her or Dav.


    Water poured out of an archway that looked like a possible exit at the far end of the room. That was good, but it then flowed over a lip and onto a pair of stone platters that extended past the wall; they looked like they were originally designed as spouts to direct the water flow into the pit between that archway and the one Sophia stood in.


    They weren¡¯t going to be able to go any farther this way.


    The room wasn¡¯t actually a dead end. In fact, there was a narrow, if probably treacherous, ledge that led around the pit in the center of the room to two different archways, the one with water coming out of it across from the entrance and one to the left. The pit was the real problem; it was at least five feet deep, probably more, since Sophia couldn¡¯t see the bottom through the collected algae and moss that covered the rocks and tinted the three pools of water in the pit a murky green.


    At the far end of the pit, there was a third possible exit. It was not an exit Sophia wanted to try unless she had to; it was under the waterfall and was probably where the water exited the pit when the pit wasn¡¯t full. The lower water level of the pit made Sophia wonder for a moment where the water they¡¯d been walking through came from, but the answer should have been obvious, shouldn¡¯t it? ¡°No wonder the water didn¡¯t really seem to be moving. In this direction, it isn¡¯t. It¡¯s leftover from a flood.¡±


    ¡°Hmm.¡± Dav sounded thoughtful. ¡°And yet it was definitely moving back in the big cave. That should mean the water¡¯s coming from the other direction. That¡¯s clearly the route we should try.¡± He didn¡¯t waste any more time looking at the room.


    The sled was still where they¡¯d left it, though the water level seemed a little higher on it. Sophia hoped that was just her nerves; she definitely didn¡¯t want to be down here if the place flooded. They hadn¡¯t seen a good place other than the big cave to get out of the water.


    Dav grabbed the sled¡¯s rope and started it moving. ¡°How deep do you think we are?¡±


    Sophia shook her head. ¡°No way to tell. It¡¯s cool, but that can happen in caves that aren¡¯t all that deep or in caves that are really deep. The work that¡¯s been done on it gives me hope that we¡¯re not that far below ground.¡±


    ¡°Do you think it¡¯s an aqueduct or a sewer?¡± Dav waved at the water beneath their feet. ¡°I¡¯m hoping it¡¯s an aqueduct, myself; sewers are supposed to be pretty nasty and we haven¡¯t seen any of that. I¡¯d rather not.¡±


    Sophia shook her head at that. He hadn¡¯t thought it through. ¡°If it¡¯s an aqueduct, we¡¯re headed the wrong way; people would be at the outflow so we¡¯d want to head downstream instead of upstream. I still think this is the right way, though; we¡¯re heading through an improved tunnel away from a cave that couldn¡¯t be manmade. It wouldn¡¯t make sense to make that cave for moving water around.¡±


    ¡°It was built up,¡± Dav argued back. ¡°The floor was stone blocks, and¡­¡±


    The discussion continued for hours. It changed from the way out of the cave to hobbies, family, and even movies they¡¯d seen. The talk about movies was another big clue to Sophia about Dav; he¡¯d never seen any of her favorite movies and she¡¯d never heard of any of his. She was becoming more and more convinced that he was actually from somewhere other than Earth.


    It was frustrating that she couldn¡¯t come up with any way to tell where he was actually from, other than the name of the planet: he called it Dust. She wasn¡¯t sure if it mattered whether he was from an undiscovered planet in her own universe or from another universe, but she would have been able to find out if she were at home. It might matter for getting home, at least if her suspicions were true.


    They¡¯d been thrown through the Origin and probably across universes when the bandits tried to destroy Cliff. That wasn¡¯t a normal consequence of damaging or destroying a dungeon¡¯s crystal, whether it was an individual instance or the main dungeon crystal. The only thing that was different, at least as far as Sophia knew, was Dav.


    He had no idea what caused it. She¡¯d asked.


    Sophia sighed to herself and went back to listening to Dav describe the grand adventure of a commoner who was mistaken for the king and eventually grew into the role, rescuing his kingdom from a series of calamities along the way. It sounded like the plot of a comedy, but the way Dav told it made it sound far more epic than silly.

 Chapter 18 - Finally Outside

    ¡°...frolicked in the autumn¡­¡± Sophia¡¯s probably not entirely on key singing trailed off as she saw light in the distance. Yellow light, not the bluish light of all of the artificial ceiling lights they¡¯d passed as they traveled up the waterway. She was more than ready to leave the tunnels. ¡°Is that the outside?¡±


    ¡°Could be,¡± Dav answered. He was dragging the sled once again; he seemed to want to pull it as much as he could and Sophia wasn¡¯t about to get between him and that task. He sounded less eager to get outside than Sophia was. ¡°I just hope it¡¯s an easy exit.¡±


    Sophia had to admit that that was fair. She hoped so too, but she wasn¡¯t betting on it. If this was a sewer system, it was clearly built on a gigantic scale, either for floodwater as a storm sewer or for inspections and maintenance, but that didn¡¯t mean the entrances were equally large. There would definitely be a way for people to get in and out but it was just as likely that it was through manholes you had to climb into as through an entrance you could just walk through.


    Once they were a little closer it was clear it was, in fact, not an easy exit. The top of the tunnel had fallen in at some point in the past. It was long enough ago that all of the small rubble must have been washed away, because there wasn¡¯t anything left of the collapse that was smaller than a softball, fairly similar in size to the rocks they¡¯d been seeing as they traveled. They were small enough and rare enough that the sled could simply push them out of the way, but that wasn¡¯t the case here; here, those were the small rocks and the big ones were larger than Sophia and Dav combined.


    The collapse was only about twenty feet long and the tunnel very clearly continued after the collapse. They had a choice: somehow figure out a way to jump up to the ceiling and get out, leaving the sled behind, or continue on down the tunnel. They couldn¡¯t see much of the outside world, other than the sunlight and some tree roots and vines that fell from the sides of the opening, but that and the warm air was enough to know that the outside wasn¡¯t hostile.


    It was also enough to know that they weren¡¯t inside a city as they¡¯d hoped. The sounds around them were the sounds of nature, not the sounds of people. They might be near farms but they definitely weren¡¯t even close to well-used city streets.


    ¡°We can get the sled over that rock, can¡¯t we?¡± Dav pointed at an inclined slab of rock that was larger than average but mostly flat, almost level, and tilted away from them. ¡°I think we can get past most of this rubble if we get it up there, slide it along the rock, then lift it down at the other side.¡±


    It was a plan, and after moving a few of the larger rocks that were in the way, it was a plan that worked. It took them more than half an hour and a lot of heavy work to get past that short distance, but it could be done.


    The confirmation that they were near the surface but couldn¡¯t get out there was almost more of a blow than a help to Sophia. It completely broke her happy mood. They continued in near silence for the next hour, until the passageway curved to the left, followed by a surprise: a tunnel off to the right that was significantly smaller than the one they were in branched off to the right, almost in the direction they¡¯d been heading.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think the sled will fit through there.¡± Dav nodded towards the opening.


    ¡°Not easily,¡± Sophia agreed. The sled was wider than the passageway. It wasn¡¯t wide enough for two people to walk side by side, though it was still easily both wide enough and tall enough for a single human. ¡°I think we should check it out anyway. If this really is a sewer system, wouldn¡¯t a smaller line mean we¡¯re closer to an exit?¡±


    ¡°Does it matter? The point of dragging the sled is to get it out too.¡± Dav dropped the rope on the sled and glanced at the ground, then back at Sophia. ¡°It would let us see if we¡¯re near people, I guess. If we are, maybe we can drag it through there if it¡¯s close and there¡¯s a big enough exit.¡±


    That was enough of an agreement for Sophia. She turned and headed down the tributary tunnel, with Dav not far behind her. Before long, they saw an old rusty ladder. Sophia gave it a quick check for anything magical or obviously dangerous before she started climbing, testing each rung as she went.


    The third rung from the bottom gave when she pushed on it with her leg. Fortunately, she had a good grip on the ladder and her weight was on the solid second rung.


    It made her even more cautious.


    There were several more bad rungs, but there were enough good ones that Sophia made it to the top of the fifteen foot ladder without falling or hurting herself. Above her was a metal grate. When she pushed on it, it groaned unhappily then lifted out of place.


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    Sophia climbed the rest of the way out of what was now clearly a storm sewer through the grate and found herself in a courtyard or maybe a plaza. It looked old but not quite abandoned; while water pooled on broken or lifted stones in the plaza itself and greenery grew on the arches, the walls themselves were clear of growth and seemed intact. There were even several bridges visible through the fog that looked to be in good condition.


    The one thing she didn¡¯t see or hear was people. It was eerily, even creepily, empty.


    ¡°Well, we¡¯ve definitely reached somewhere. Any guesses on which way to go to find a hot meal and a bed?¡± Dav startled Sophia out of her introspection; she¡¯d looked around for more than long enough for Dav to follow her up the ladder.


    Sophia took a look at the bridges, then shrugged. ¡°The one close to us is in the worst shape, I think, so probably that way. Do you want to leave the sled behind and come back for it later?¡±


    ¡°Not really,¡± Dav admitted, ¡°But maybe if we find people, we¡¯ll find someone who knows where a bigger entrance to the waterway is. That might be faster than trying to find it ourselves.¡±


    Sophia nodded. It might or might not be true, but she was just as happy to not have to take her turn at hauling the sled. ¡°Maybe we¡¯ll even be able to get warm.¡±


    Sophia turned around and set the grate back into place. It didn¡¯t fit perfectly, but that was probably for the best; she was confident she¡¯d want to go through it again later. With no clue of which way to go, other than that further was probably better, Sophia headed to the first archway on the left. She could try the others in sequence without that much extra walking.


    There was a small covered area inside the archway before it was closed off with a door. Sophia couldn¡¯t tell what the covered area was used for, other than a roof to protect against rain, since it was empty other than mud and a few opportunistic plants.


    The door looked simple. It was flat and painted red, though the paint was clearly flaking. The handle was a simple half-oval with no sign of a lock nearby.


    When Sophia touched the handle, there was a loud CRACK and she felt a slight but unpleasant buzzing sensation in her hand until she let go of the handle. Had someone electrified the door handle? If so, why? Also, why hadn¡¯t it hurt more than that?


    ¡°What was that?¡± Dav looked around. ¡°Where did that come from?¡±


    ¡°The door handle,¡± Sophia told him. ¡°It stung me. Not too - wait a moment.¡± There absolutely was a reason that a deadly attack here might feel like a painful buzz. Sophia pulled up her Status and checked. Her Shield was at 7/10. It had long since recharged to full after the moss monster, so it was clear the handle had hit it enough to hurt but not enough to kill anyone with a Shield. ¡°I think it was a trap, but why?¡±


    ¡°To make noise,¡± a high-pitched voice called from behind her. ¡°This isn¡¯t a nice safe village; it¡¯s not even an outpost. We have to do what we can to keep ourselves safe.¡±


    Sophia spun around, cursing internally that she¡¯d allowed the shock to distract herself from keeping an eye out. That was probably the point, but she knew better than that! She¡¯d just lowered her guard because they weren¡¯t in a dungeon, they were in a city, and cities were generally safe.


    Well, safe enough. There were definitely places where you could get mugged, but a delver of even relatively low Tier was generally dangerous enough that people picked easier targets. Most people couldn¡¯t tell Tier at a glance anyway, so Sophia¡¯s armor and weapons meant people didn¡¯t bother her. More than that, she never went into the bad parts alone and rarely went there at all; the only time there was a need was when she was headed to a dungeon.


    The voice came from a very short woman standing on the low bridge that separated the archway Sophia was at and the flat stone wall behind her from the other archways she¡¯d seen in the fog. She had hair that was so yellow it wasn¡¯t blond but was instead more like sunflower yellow and eyes that glowed slightly in the dim air. ¡°It also deters creepums and does a number on Devouring Moss; that stuff¡¯s too dumb to let go. Destroys the moss, unfortunately, but that¡¯s better than waking up with a moss blanket. Or not waking up, as the case may be. Anyway, you two aren¡¯t creepums or moss; you look like a pair of lost youth. I don¡¯t recognize your Warps; you must be newly outcast. Why don¡¯t you come in, have a rest, and tell me about yourselves?¡±


    Sophia glanced at Dav. ¡°Should we ¡­?¡±


    He shrugged. ¡°We wanted a meal and a warm place. Seems like the best way to get it.¡±


    It was a bit of a jump up to the bridge, but both Dav and Sophia made it without a problem.


    Now that they were close enough, Sophia could see that the woman was not only just as short as she¡¯d seemed from a distance, barely half Dav¡¯s height, but that she had a pair of bright yellow furry cat ears peeking out of her too-yellow-to-be-blond hair. She was also dressed very similarly to Sophia, armed with a crossbow and wearing light but functional armor. Sophia got the feeling that if they had turned out to be creepums, whatever that was, they¡¯d have noticed the woman after they met the business end of a crossbow bolt rather than her voice.


    The woman turned and led the way along a narrow walkway to the second archway. It didn¡¯t have much of a covered entrance; instead, it was a platform at the same height as the bridge and the walkway with a door set immediately behind the outer row of stone blocks of the arch. As she put her hand on the door handle, before she even opened the door, she intoned, ¡°Welcome to Fallen Kestii.¡±


    The name Kestii sounded familiar.


    Dav was faster than Sophia to recognize the connection. ¡°Wait. Kestii? Wasn¡¯t that the name of the Shard?¡±

 Chapter 19 - Fallen Kestii

    ¡°You found one of the missing shards?¡± The diminutive woman stopped in place for a moment, then shook her head. ¡°Let¡¯s get you out of the Mists before night arrives; we can talk when we¡¯re inside solid walls. Come on.¡±


    Sophia gave Dav a look for revealing the connection before they¡¯d had a chance to find out anything about it. He didn¡¯t seem to notice; instead, he was right behind the woman as she stepped through the door.


    The room on the other side of the door was small, about ten feet wide and six feet long. One side of the wall had a pallet on the floor that was just the right size for the lady they followed, while the other was filled by a pallet that looked bigger than Dav would need. A lantern hung from the ceiling, but instead of shining with the reassuring light of flame, it shone purple. It took Sophia a moment to realize that everything in the room wasn¡¯t purple; instead, the purple was how she was seeing the dense magic it emitted along with ordinary lamplight.


    The short woman led them past the stone walls and pallets, through an archway that was not filled with a door, and into a huge, high-ceilinged room with a balcony. It was dominated by a far larger magical artifact hung from the arched ceiling that pulsed with purple light and seemed to stain the windows with its violet hue.


    The rest of the room looked reassuringly normal; there were candelabra on the walls that supplied the rest of the light for the room, wooden tables, and a number of people. At first glance, they seemed normal, though there were several others that were short like the sunny-haired cat-eared woman.


    Everyone turned to look when she entered, but the woman leading Dav and Sophia waved to them. ¡°False alarm, it was just a couple of youngsters wandering around lost. I¡¯ll take care of them.¡±


    Most of the strangers turned away at that, but Sophia caught several of them peeking back over as the woman led them to one of the tables in the room. The yellow-haired woman hopped up onto a stool, then into a chair that was clearly built for someone her height to be comfortable at the table, even though it was built for people Dav and Sophia¡¯s height. ¡°Pull up a chair, you two. I¡¯m guessing the Shard of Kestii you found was where you got your Vocations?¡±


    Sophia remembered the Wanderer¡¯s instructions to pretend they had Vocations rather than Hallows and nodded her head. ¡°I¡¯m a spellblade and-¡±


    The woman put up her hand. ¡°Hold off on that. Do you know what I meant when I said this is Fallen Kestii?¡±


    Sophia glanced at Dav, then shook her head.


    ¡°You really are new; children of Professionals, I¡¯d guess, and likely from a purely human town.¡± The woman said it with certainty, as if it were obvious. It wasn¡¯t.


    Sophia shook her head. She still wasn¡¯t certain what the difference between a Profession, a Vocation, and a Hallow was, but she wasn¡¯t from a town of humans. ¡°Purely human? No, definitely not. Some people wanted that, but they¡¯re fools; everyone has something to contribute and anyway about a third of them aren¡¯t as human as they think they are.¡±


    The woman chuckled at that for some reason. ¡°Fair enough. Does that mean you can go back?¡±


    Sophia shrugged. ¡°If I had the power to get there and knew the way, yes. It¡¯s not going to happen any time soon. I¡¯m nowhere near powerful enough to even find home, much less to open a gateway there.¡±


    ¡°A Gateway?¡± The way the short lady repeated the term made Sophia think she¡¯d accidentally said something with a specific meaning. ¡°How did you get here if it would take a Gateway to get back?¡±


    ¡°Something went very wrong,¡± Dav contributed. ¡°Neither of us understands it, but we were thrown through a place that isn¡¯t a place and ended up in ¡­ well, here. Wherever here is.¡±


    ¡°A Gateway collapse ¡­ yeah, anyone would be lucky to survive that mostly intact, much less slightly Warped. You¡¯re as much exiles as we are, then, for all that you might have a home to return to if the collapse didn¡¯t destroy it.¡± She seemed to relax a bit. ¡°Good enough. If the Silvanen knew we were here, we¡¯d be in trouble, but you¡¯ve no way to call them down on us. That puts it all in the Guide¡¯s hands.¡±


    Sophia couldn¡¯t stop her frown. So far, she was distinctly unimpressed with the Guide, so putting anything in his hands seemed like a bad idea.


    ¡°Ah, if you¡¯re from far away you wouldn¡¯t know of the Silvanen. That must be nice, especially if you¡¯re from a place where the Warped can freely walk on their own. We can talk more about that later, but for now I¡¯d like to get to know you a little better. My name is Aymini; I¡¯m one of the three alchemists here but I was desperate enough to take a Vocation in my younger years and it was my day to watch the gate. Vramt will take over shortly; I¡¯ll introduce you when he arrives. What are your names?¡±


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    ¡°Sophia,¡± Sophia introduced herself. She debated adding the rest of her name, but one name was all Aymini used, so one name was probably good enough.


    ¡°I¡¯m called Dav,¡± Dav stated with a smile. ¡°You asked if we knew what Fallen Kestii meant as if that was something specific. What did you mean?¡±


    Aymini shook her head slightly. ¡°That is a tale best told over a drink, for I¡¯ll surely want one before I¡¯m done. Come, let¡¯s find Vramt-¡±


    ¡°No need.¡± A deep rumble drew Sophia¡¯s attention to a spot directly behind Aymini. She¡¯d have sworn there wasn¡¯t anyone there a moment before, but there definitely was someone there. Vramt, because that was who he had to be, towered over Aymini. In fact, at nine or ten feet tall, he towered over everyone present. Sophia had no idea how he moved so invisibly.


    Vramt¡¯s eyes glowed blue with a touch of orange in the center; similar orange splotches dotted his dark skin. Sophia couldn¡¯t tell if the rest of the colors on his skin were paint or more of whatever had altered his eyes. He had a large metal pendant with a blue stone on his forehead that matched the one around his neck; the rest of his jewelry was a different style, beads strung in a set of necklaces without the metal.


    ¡°I heard you¡¯d found two lost children outside the door. These do not look like children to me. Young, yes, but no longer children.¡± Vramt nodded towards Dav, then Sophia. ¡°Be welcome in Fallen Kestii, young ones. So long as you hold to the Ways, you are welcome here. May the Guide¡¯s hands watch over you and the Broken Lord¡¯s eyes ignore you.¡±


    With that oddly evocative statement, Vramt turned away. The next Sophia knew, he was already at the archway that led to the guards¡¯ rest area. She could guess that the second, larger, pallet was for Vramt; it didn¡¯t seem even close to large enough.


    ¡°Does he always do that?¡± Dav complained at Aymini.


    Aymini chuckled. ¡°Only every chance he gets.¡±


    ¡°I heard that.¡± Vramt¡¯s deep rumble of a voice sounded like it came from next to Aymini, but Sophia didn¡¯t see anyone there.


    ¡°You were supposed to!¡± Aymini snorted, then shook her head. ¡°That man. He¡¯s one of the few here who isn¡¯t a Professional and he makes sure we know it. Always practicing his Vocation. You¡¯d think a stone mage would focus on things like, oh, moving stones around, but he¡¯s turned that Vocation into something very different.¡±


    ¡°Or maybe stone mage doesn¡¯t mean what you think it means.¡± Sophia considered Vramt¡¯s jewelry in that light and realized that he had a mix of all sorts of different stones in it, everything from gemstones to carved rock. Most of it was semiprecious stone, probably, but it was a huge variety. If ¡°stone mage¡± meant that he was able to call on some aspect of stone or some aspect symbolized by each stone, he could be very flexible and potentially powerful with all the stones he wore. ¡°I wonder if how much stone he has matters, and if he can use the floor.¡±


    Aymini shrugged. ¡°Better him than me. I¡¯m no mage; I can barely manage enough magic to make medicines, and that¡¯s my Profession.¡± She hopped out of her chair and led Dav and Sophia to the next room with a wave of her hand to tell them to follow. It turned out to be a kitchen; they stood on the opposite side of a table from the two people cooking.


    Sophia stopped and stared for a moment. Both of the cooks¡¯ hands blurred as they chopped and stirred; they worked nearly as quickly as the tools Sophia was used to, but they did it all by hand with only basic equipment. It was impressive but it somehow seemed like wasted effort even though Sophia knew it wasn¡¯t. They didn¡¯t have the tools, after all.


    ¡°Never seen Professional cooks working, then?¡± Aymini sounded amused. ¡°You¡¯re in for a treat, then. They¡¯re competing, so they¡¯re both cooking tonight. Grab a bowl and a mug and we¡¯ll head back to talk.¡±


    By the time Aymini stropped talking, there was a selection of dishes on the table. It included the three bowls and mugs Aymini mentioned, as well as a short loaf of bread and some tableware. Sophia saw it all arrive, but it was still hard to believe that it was done by hand instead of magic with how quickly it arrived.


    Dinner turned out to be a stew. It was hearty and surprisingly heavy on the meat. She¡¯d traveled a bit with her parents and knew that many places were heavier on the starches, though she¡¯d also been to places that used even more meat. ¡°Do you raise animals or do you get the meat from somewhere else?¡±


    ¡°Vramt brought down a beastalow a couple of days ago. They¡¯re good eating but it¡¯s hard to use all of the meat before it goes bad; we don¡¯t have the facilities to smoke that much meat, so we have to eat as much as we can fairly quickly.¡± Aymini spoke slowly, clearly more interested in her food than Sophia¡¯s question.


    Sophia couldn¡¯t blame her. It was surprisingly delicious, even for someone who wasn¡¯t really all that fond of stew. She had no idea what vegetables were in it, since they seemed totally unfamiliar, but they were delicious with the beastalow meat and the spices in the broth. The freshly baked crusty bread was another chewy delight; it seemed to clear the flavors just enough to make them really pop in the next bite of stew.


    There were no more questions until the food was all gone. Aymini finished first, but Dav wasn¡¯t far behind her.


    Dav took a mouthful of the drink in the mug, then nodded. ¡°That¡¯s good ale.¡±


    ¡°Thanks,¡± Aymini said with a grin. ¡°I did think that batch came out rather well. Now, I promised you two that I¡¯d talk about what being a Fallen city like Fallen Kestii means. You¡¯re both from protected villages, aren¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°Protected?¡± Sophia was puzzled and a glance at Dav told her that he didn¡¯t have any more of a clue than she did.

 Chapter 20 - Fallen

    ¡°Villages with a real Nexus, not just a wardstone like that,¡± Aymini gestured up at the glowing purple thing.


    It didn¡¯t resemble any wardstone Sophia had ever seen. Weren¡¯t wardstones supposed to be, well, stones? She was pretty sure this one was mostly metal, sort of like an overcomplicated chandelier with candles or something. It was hard to tell through the magic it exuded.


    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen a wardstone like that,¡± Sophia admitted. ¡°That might be because Dad prefers spellwards and camera-locus detection emitters, but even then, that seems wasteful. Does it have to dump out mana like that? I didn¡¯t feel a ley line as we walked in.¡±


    Aymini¡¯s eyebrows shot up. ¡°Are you mage-trained? You said you were a spellblade, but most spellblades don¡¯t do much with their magic outside enhancing their weapons and some movement spells.¡±


    Sophia nodded. She¡¯d practiced magic since she was a child. She glanced up at the ¡°wardstone¡± again and the sight combined with her memories of childhood practice crystallized into a realization that had been nagging at the back of her mind: she could see the magic. She hadn¡¯t seen any other magic directly since she crossed the Origin and her ManaSight Skill disappeared.


    She reached for it and it still wasn¡¯t there, so that clearly wasn¡¯t how she was seeing this. She couldn¡¯t turn this vision off, either, just like when she was a child. She was going to have to practice and get her natural ability to feel and see magic back under her own control again, wasn¡¯t she? The Voice wasn¡¯t going to step in and help and she didn¡¯t want to accept the Guide¡¯s help.


    At least she already knew the exercises. That would help.


    ¡°If that¡¯s a wardstone, what¡¯s a Nexus?¡± Dav waved up at the glowing light source.


    ¡°The central point of any Guide-sanctioned settlement.¡± Aymini said it as if it were completely obvious. It probably was, to her. ¡°Are you telling me you didn¡¯t worry about monsters wandering into your home?¡±


    ¡°We didn¡¯t have monsters, not like the ones here. This is like something out of a game or a story.¡± Dav shook his head. ¡°Are you saying that a Nexus keeps monsters like that Devouring Moss we saw out and so does a wardstone?¡±


    ¡°Mostly,¡± Aymini agreed. ¡°If you didn¡¯t have monsters, you definitely had a Nexus; it must have been kept secret. That¡¯s interesting, since everywhere I know of has a public space for the Nexus. Without it, you can¡¯t - wait, are you telling me that you didn¡¯t have Professionals?¡±


    Dav shook his head. ¡°Not if you mean the Spheres. That¡¯s all new to me.¡±


    It was a little less new to Sophia, but she was beginning to think that Spheres had less in common with Paths than she¡¯d originally thought. The interfaces were similar and they both provided abilities you wouldn¡¯t have without them, but beyond that they seemed quite different.


    Aymini sighed, then looked down and shook her head slightly. ¡°I see. That means you don¡¯t even know the basics. Do you at least know the three types of Spheres?¡±


    Sophia nodded. She remembered that from the Guide¡¯s first message. Or maybe it was the second? No, she was pretty sure it was the first. ¡°Professions, Vocations, and Hallows.¡±


    Aymini nodded. ¡°Most people are Professionals. It¡¯s safe and stable; apprentice until you¡¯re twenty-five, then visit your local Nexus and take the Profession you¡¯ve earned. As long as you stay inside a Guide-recognized Settlement, you¡¯re safe unless there¡¯s a Challenge; if there is a Challenge, there¡¯s time to get to a safe area so really you¡¯re only in danger if your Settlement is defeated in the Challenge.¡±


    She looked at Dav, then Sophia. ¡°Almost anything can be a Profession, from barmaid to farmer to settlement guard or alchemist. It¡¯s even possible to change Professions if you gain the necessary skills. The one thing that can¡¯t be a Profession is anything focused specifically on fighting and support of people who fight. Guards and healers sometimes seem like they cross those lines, but they really don¡¯t; guards do get some fighting Abilities but their focus is very clearly on maintaining the peace in the settlement; in fact, many of their abilities are specifically tied to being in a settlement. It¡¯s the same for everything else that¡¯s split; the Professional version is focused on something other than fighting and the Vocation is focused on fighting. There are a lot of nuances, but they don¡¯t matter to you two unless you want to switch to a Profession, and once you have a Profession, you can¡¯t return to a Vocation, even if you want to.¡±


    Frustration shone in Aymini¡¯s eyes for a moment. She clenched her hand, then deliberately relaxed it. ¡°You¡¯ve probably wondered why I can tell you have a Vocation. It¡¯s simple: it fades quickly, but if you know what to look for, anyone with a Profession can feel when they¡¯re facing someone with an active Vocation or Hallow. It doesn¡¯t happen if they¡¯re close to a Nexus, whether it¡¯s permanent like a Settlement or temporary, provided by a Profession. The wardstone doesn¡¯t count as a Nexus, so I knew you two had Spheres but not a Profession the moment I saw you.¡±


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    ¡°Does it work the other way around?¡± Sophia didn¡¯t think she¡¯d felt anything odd when she first saw Aymini, but she wasn¡¯t looking for anything either.


    Aymini shook her head.


    ¡°Why are you helping us?¡± Dav¡¯s question wasn¡¯t quite an interruption, but it definitely broke Sophia¡¯s train of thought. ¡°We showed up out of nowhere with a story that probably doesn¡¯t make much sense; why would you go to all this effort?¡±


    Aymini snorted. ¡°What effort? We fed you two and I¡¯ve talked to you for a bit. At another time maybe we¡¯d have to be careful with the food, but right now we¡¯re more worried about it going bad before we can use it all than we are about not having enough. As for why I¡¯d help you? Two reasons. First, you need the help; we¡¯ve all been there, that¡¯s why we¡¯re here in Fallen Kestii. We help each other. Second, well, you have Spheres that aren¡¯t a Profession. That means you can fight; we need people who can fight.¡±


    As if to underscore Aymini¡¯s words, a loud crack of noise, almost like a bug zapper, echoed through the room. Aymini sighed and gestured for the two of them to stay seated. ¡°Vramt will take care of it. It¡¯s his turn. It¡¯s probably just creepums; it¡¯s still early in the night.¡±


    Sophia had to ask; Aymini had mentioned them several times and she had no idea what the name might really mean. Devouring Moss was descriptive, shouldn¡¯t creepum also be descriptive? ¡°What is a creepum?¡±


    Aymini looked startled. ¡°I thought everyone knew what creepums were. They¡¯re minor annoyances, but they tend to come in groups and they¡¯re too dumb to stop when they¡¯re outmatched. Come on, follow me.¡± She hopped down from her chair and darted towards the entrance they¡¯d come in. Sophia and Dav were close behind her.


    Sophia stopped short when she stepped through the archway back out into the courtyard. There were at least twenty of the critters; more than half were already dead, fried by lightning or fire, frozen, or cut in half. The moment she saw one of the still living ones move, she knew why they were called creepums. They looked almost exactly like a colorful fat caterpillar with a stinger on the back and an oddly flattened head that seemed to be mostly eyes in front. They even moved like a caterpillar or an inchworm, pulling themselves up to scoot the back forward then flattening themselves back down to push the front forward. It looked both extremely silly and a little disconcerting at the same time. Caterpillars weren¡¯t supposed to be over two feet long.


    Aymini let them watch Vramt kill creepums for a minute or so, then ushered them back inside the warded space. ¡°Let Vramt have his fun. With that many, I¡¯m definitely happy it was him on duty tonight and not me. Which is exactly why I want to recruit you two: we can promise the opportunity to fight and gather Wisps, along with support from us to keep yourselves ready to fight. You¡¯ll serve as guards for Fallen Kestii and possibly even venture into Shard spaces to try to gather more of the Shards. If we get enough, we might be able to rebuild the Nexus, but even if we can¡¯t gain that many, we can use them to sustain persistent spells like the wardstone.¡±


    A Shard of Kestii was the power source for the giant purple ward thing? Sophia wasn¡¯t certain if she was glad she¡¯d had Cliff save the Shard they¡¯d gathered or saddened that she hadn¡¯t let him gain the power he might have from it. Maybe she should present that to Dav before they got too deep into the conversation with Aymini, if she had the chance when Aymini wouldn¡¯t overhear.


    Dav¡¯s reaction at Aymini¡¯s proposal seemed unimpressed. Sophia felt the same way; food and a place to sleep was good, but it wasn¡¯t worth tying themselves permanently to people they didn¡¯t know without asking for more.


    Sophia shook her head. ¡°We can probably work with that for a few days, but I don¡¯t think we want to stay here long term. I don¡¯t know about Dav, but I want to eventually be able to go home and before that I want to explore this place. I¡¯m not ready to settle down.¡±


    Dav nodded emphatically. ¡°What¡¯s the point in being here if we don¡¯t travel?¡± He paused, then pointed at Aymini as she started to take in a breath. ¡°Don¡¯t answer that.¡±


    Sophia chuckled.


    ¡°A few days is a start. We can start tomorrow, let you get used to things while I¡¯m there to watch your backs. For now, is there anything else you two want to ask me?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Dav spoke up almost immediately. ¡°You said you¡¯re an alchemist. Do you have any use for Devouring Moss? How about large quantities of a metal I think is probably bronze?¡±


    Dav¡¯s question led to the two of them actually explaining how they appeared, found the Shard of Kestii, and fell across the Devouring Moss before making their way up to find the group of people in Fallen Kestii. They left out any mention of the Guide¡¯s appearance, Cliff, and the Wanderer; the rest didn¡¯t seem worth keeping secret. Once they sold the stuff they¡¯d gathered, someone would figure out where they got it anyway.


    As it turned out, the answer was yes for the moss and no for the bronze, but Aymini knew exactly who they needed to talk to about everything else. Vramt would want the stones they¡¯d found in the mechanical insects; they were exactly the sort of stones that he made necklaces around. There were quite a few people who would be interested in the bronze.


    It also meant that they learned something about the currency used in Fallen Kestii. It seemed quite a bit more complicated than the dual Etherium and dollars system Sophia was used to, but Dav seemed to follow the series of conversions easily. Sophia had to admit that she liked the decimal system she¡¯d grown up with; moving from one coin to another by multiplying by four, eight, or sixteen just seemed odd.


    It seemed like it would take some time to sell everything, but Aymini seemed thrilled at the idea of Fallen Kestii gaining a large amount of metal, so Sophia assumed they¡¯d probably come out ahead. Since they had no real idea what it was actually worth, they probably wouldn¡¯t do as well as someone who did, but at the least it would be worth the pain of dragging the sled.

 Chapter 21 - Yes, Aunt Aymini

    Over the next week, Dav handled the sale of everything they¡¯d gained from the Shard of Kestii and the Devouring Moss other than the Shard itself. Sophia was pretty certain she¡¯d heard him talking about shillings, ducats, and bob, which didn¡¯t make any sense at all even though she recognized them all as words for denominations of money. The important thing was that they had more than enough to restock the travel food they¡¯d used up and even buy some of Aymini¡¯s cheaper alchemical concoctions but not enough to buy any of the relatively scarce magical swords that existed in Fallen Kestii.


    At least, not without trading away the Shard. It was apparently worth more than everything else they¡¯d brought up combined, though that seemed to be because it was specifically a shard of Kestii.


    Fallen Kestii was honestly pretty small; Sophia thought there were only a couple hundred people spread out across the half dozen buildings that were in use. Aymini and Vramt were the only people with Vocations in the building Dav and Sophia had stumbled into, which meant they were the two who handled its defense. While Aymini had shown them around the rest of the tiny pocket of people in a fallen city, Sophia didn''t feel like she knew any of the other buildings well yet and she only barely knew the people in her own building.


    Sophia had also learned some things about Dav. While they were in the storm sewer dragging the sled, Sophia hadn¡¯t done any exercise or practice since she hadn¡¯t had the energy to spare. The first morning after they arrived in Fallen Kestii, she could feel the lack of practice. It didn¡¯t show all that strongly, but it was obvious that she¡¯d skipped a day. It happened every time she went on a multi-day delve, so it wasn¡¯t that surprising.


    Sophia was debating cutting her physical practice short and moving on to mana control exercises since she didn¡¯t have any other weapons to work with when Dav emerged from the building. He nodded at her and started with a run. Sophia did some basic exercises for speed instead of control and kept an eye on him as he moved from simple exercise into weapons work.


    It was clear from his movements and from the fact that he hadn¡¯t said anything that he was used to practicing alone; that was useful right now since there didn¡¯t seem to be that many people to practice with; other than Sophia and Dav, the courtyard was empty. Even the creepum bodies were gone.


    After the first few, she got tired of watching katas, or whatever Dav called them. She was also essentially done with her practice for the day, at least for this exercise. Sophia stood and walked close enough to be clear that she was trying to get his attention but not close enough to interfere or interrupt his obvious concentration.


    When he finished the sequence, Dav turned towards Sophia. ¡°Do we need to head inside?¡±


    Sophia shook her head. It was funny that that was the question he had; it was like sparring hadn¡¯t occurred to him. ¡°No, I thought we might practice together for a bit. With the shield and your beacon, we¡¯ll have to be careful but we should be able to have a good spar, even with sharp weapons.¡±


    Dav¡¯s surprise quickly morphed into a fierce grin. ¡°Sounds like fun. I¡¯ll try not to break the shield. Do you want to start off slow or full speed?¡±


    The spar was fun and over the course of the week, it became a regular part of their morning routine. Sophia looked forward to it. It helped rebuild her confidence in her training, as well; while Dav was both taller and stronger than she was and his weapon had more reach, he wasn¡¯t half as tricky as the people who taught Sophia and he was a bit slower as well.


    Sophia was competent with his sword when they swapped weapons, but Dav tried to use the knife like a sword. It was clear he¡¯d only ever trained with longer weapons and needed some additional instruction. That seemed odd to Sophia; didn¡¯t everyone learn how to use a knife?


    No one inside Fallen Kestii seemed aware of the duo¡¯s practice sessions until the third day, when they continued a little longer than the first two days and Aymini caught them in the middle of their spar. She didn¡¯t say anything about it; she invited them to breakfast and headed back inside. Sophia noticed that either Aymini or Vramt showed up to watch for a few minutes each morning after that.


    It wasn¡¯t until the eighth morning that Aymini happened to come outside while Sophia was practicing spell control. She had a half-dozen tiny balls of mana-fueled light that she was moving in complex patterns. It wasn¡¯t an illusion or a Light-affinity spell, but leaking light was easy and it let her track the spells without her ManaSight Skill more easily. They were tiny pinpoints of light rather than real lights, but that was all she needed.


    Aymini paled and stopped in her tracks, then quickly closed the door to the warded area. ¡°Sophia, hold very still. Glowstings are attracted to movement.¡±


    Sophia froze. Aymini sounded serious. It took Sophia a moment to connect that Aymini might be referring to the lights she was using to track her manaflows. If she didn¡¯t, then whatever Aymini was worried about was probably attracted to the mana; she probably should have asked before practicing outside the wards, but no one had mentioned anything more dangerous than creepums and devouring moss that often got close to Fallen Kestii. She carefully let the incomplete spellform fade, which meant the lights went as well.


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    Even after it was gone, Sophia didn¡¯t move. For all that there was a good chance Aymini meant the spellform¡¯s light, she might not.


    Aymini took the time to search the area quickly before she relaxed a little. ¡°They¡¯ve gone; I didn¡¯t see them leave.¡±


    ¡°Do you mean the lights that were in front of me?¡± Sophia guessed that she could probably move again.


    Aymini nodded sharply. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen so many glowstings here at this time of year before. I hope there isn¡¯t a nest nearby.¡±


    Sophia shook her head. ¡°That wasn¡¯t glowstings. It¡¯s a mana control exercise. I was using the light to track the manaflows more easily. If it worries you, I can keep them dark in the future.¡±


    ¡°Mana control exercise.¡± Aymini¡¯s words were flat before she sighed and shook her head. ¡°That would probably be best, it looked exactly like glowstings. That¡¯s not why I came out here; I know it¡¯s a bit earlier than usual, but you two should come on in and get breakfast. Revina wants to head into the central part of the city and search for blowshrooms today. She usually just goes with Vramt, but he¡¯s doing something with that managlass you had.¡±


    The butterfly¡¯s glass wings were surprisingly valuable, as it turned out; Vramt wasn¡¯t the only person who bought some of it. No one wanted all that much of it, but they still ran out of glass before they ran out of interested people.


    Sophia frowned at Aymini, then turned to Dav and quietly asked, ¡°Do you know who Revina is? I can¡¯t remember her.¡±


    Dav shook his head. ¡°I think I¡¯ve heard the name, but all I can say for sure is that she didn¡¯t buy anything from us.¡±


    A young woman was seated at the table Dav and Sophia usually shared with Aymini and Vramt when they walked into the main hall. She had breakfast in front of her, but she ignored it in favor of staring at the giant wardstone that hung above her. That had to be Revina.


    Revina was young, probably in her late teens or maybe early twenties. That was as close as Sophia could manage to guess, because she had gray hair and it threw off any attempt Sophia made to guess her actual age. Between the hair color and the fact that her ears had an odd bronze-like fin extending from their rear, it was clear that she was Warped, like everyone else in Fallen Kestii. Unlike some of the Warps, hers definitely didn¡¯t detract from her appearance.


    ¡°Revina!¡± Aymini smacked the table when she reached it. ¡°Eat! You¡¯ll need to tell these two what you want to do in the city. You can¡¯t just expect them to go along with you because you asked the way Vramt usually does; convince them.¡±


    Revins jumped in her chair at the noise, then flushed. ¡°Yes, Aunt Aymini.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m still not your aunt,¡± Aymini grumbled. ¡°Get started eating while we get food.¡±


    Sophia saw Revina wink at her and Dav as they walked away. She wondered why she hadn¡¯t met the girl before; she seemed pretty memorable, so Sophia was confident she hadn¡¯t forgotten her.


    The first few minutes after they got back to the table were filled with eating, but Revina finished well ahead of Dav and Sophia. She looked back and forth between the two of them for a solid minute, apparently unsure of how to start, before Sophia took pity on her. ¡°You¡¯re Revina? I¡¯m Sophia and this is Dav.¡±


    Revina nodded. ¡°I knew you had to be, Father mentioned you two and you¡¯re pretty unique even for Fallen Kestii.¡±


    ¡°Father?¡± Dav didn¡¯t say more than the single word, but it was still clear what he was asking.


    Revina nodded. ¡°You¡¯ve met him; Vramt is my father.¡± She paused and grinned mischievously. ¡°That¡¯s why Aunt Aymini is my aunt, of course.¡±


    ¡°I am not,¡± Aymini grumbled. ¡°Vramt isn¡¯t my brother.¡±


    Revina snorted. ¡°You were on the same Team since you were kids. Would you rather I called you Mom?¡±


    Aymini shook her head. ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°There, see? Aunt Aymini. Anyway, you two.¡± Revina turned towards Dav, then Sophia. ¡°I don¡¯t know how much Aunt Aymini-¡±


    ¡°Still not your aunt,¡± Aymini muttered.


    Revina ignored Aymini¡¯s interjection. ¡°-told you, but I don¡¯t have a Sphere yet. I¡¯m too young for a Profession, and I don¡¯t want one yet anyway, even if Aunt Aymini keeps telling me it would be safer.¡± She shot a quick glare at Aymini, but even Sophia could see that Revina was more amused than actually upset. ¡°I want some kind of combat magic, but this isn¡¯t exactly a Spell Tower, so I have to do what I can, which means following in Dad¡¯s footsteps and heading towards some kind of elemental magic.¡±


    Sophia nodded. The only real question she had so far was what a Spell Tower was, but she could ask that later.


    ¡°Stone doesn¡¯t speak to me the way air does, so that¡¯s what I¡¯m going after, wind magic. That means I have to experience all sorts of wind and keep as many kinds with me as possible all the time. Blowshrooms are the best option for that. I have to go out and get new ones pretty often. Father usually goes with me, but today he¡¯s busy with some glass; he thinks he can add glass as a stone subtype if he studies enough of it, and he¡¯s close to the Dedication. He¡¯d go if I asked, but I don¡¯t want to interrupt him.¡± Revina looked at the table and whispered to herself. ¡°He¡¯s excited about the glass.¡±


    ¡°The edges of the inner city, where the blowshroom is found, are fairly safe but no one goes out alone.¡± Aymini sounded impatient. ¡°I could go with Revina and leave you two here covering the door, but I thought you two might like to see more than this building. If you two can handle Devouring Moss, you can handle anything you¡¯re likely to find nearby. What do you say? Do you want to watch out for Revina or stay here and watch the door?¡±

 Chapter 22 - Revina

    ¡°Exactly what you need? That¡¯s great news!¡± Revina grinned at her father. He¡¯d been searching for a new material for years. ¡°Does that mean you¡¯re going to be looking at Leveling again soon?¡±


    Vramt shook his head. ¡°I doubt it. It¡¯s more likely it¡¯ll open up a new Shaping tree, and you know what that means.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡± Revina rolled her eyes. She did know what it meant; it meant months of practice and probably a year or two of wisp dedication. ¡°At least there¡¯s no new Ability chain?¡±


    Vramt shrugged, then winked at his daughter. ¡°If there is, I shouldn¡¯t need to buy new Slots. If the glass does what I think it will, it should let me unslot the Spike and Melt chains. I don¡¯t use Melt that often, so relying on glass¡¯s innate potential should be enough. I don¡¯t want to get ahead of my planning; the new tree will be plenty to absorb all the wisps I¡¯ve managed to gather in the past two years. That¡¯s enough about me, though; I¡¯m an old man and almost done with my journey. What about you?¡±


    Revina suppressed her inclination to snort. Her father wasn¡¯t old; he just said that, the same way he had for years. ¡°I¡¯m working on it. I think another half-dozen blowshrooms will let me finally call a wind spirit to bond with; I have the air-aspected nightshimmer to use as a base this time. While you¡¯re working on the managlass shaping, I¡¯ll head over to the Deryns¡¯ place. Vyk and Reba are planning another hunt, since we¡¯re getting low on beastalow meat. They want to take a Ruins Constrictor this time; there¡¯s one a little ways in towards the city center and they don¡¯t want it to establish a Nest.¡±


    ¡°A Ruins Constrictor?¡± Aymini spoke over Vramt¡¯s nod. ¡°I assume it¡¯s near where you want to search for blowshrooms?¡±


    Revina nodded. That was why she¡¯d been talking to the Deryns about it, after all. Vyk Deryn wasn¡¯t that interested in Ruins Constrictor meat, but meat was meat and he loved to hunt. They might both be Professionals, but the Deryns managed to keep their building safe without a proper Vocation; they knew the value of stopping a threat before it became a danger.


    ¡°Those are usually pretty weak if they haven¡¯t formed a Nest,¡± Aymini mused. ¡°All you have to do is see them before they see you, and I know you can do that. I have a better idea. Why don¡¯t you ask Sophia and Dav? They¡¯re strong enough to handle a Devouring Moss, so they should be able to handle a Ruins Constrictor with no problem. They¡¯ll get more out of it than the Deryns and more importantly you¡¯ll get to spend time with them and see if they¡¯re suited for your initial party.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re nobles,¡± Revina protested. She¡¯d avoided them; every experience she¡¯d ever had with noble youth was terrible. It was far too obvious she was Warped. Both of her parents had dark skin and she was not only pale but slightly gray-skinned. Her hair didn¡¯t help. ¡°They¡¯ll never agree to help someone like me.¡±


    Aunt Aymini shook her head. ¡°They¡¯re nobles, yes, but they¡¯re also Warped. More importantly, I think they grew up in the kind of community we¡¯re trying to build, a place where Warped people are accepted. They don¡¯t treat me like a child and their reaction to Lorisel was awe at his cooking; I don¡¯t think they even noticed that he has stripes.¡±


    Revina turned to her father for support; after all, he didn¡¯t like nobles either.


    Vramt shook his head. ¡°Talk to them. I¡¯m not as sure as Aymini that they¡¯re nobles, I think they may be raised by Vocational families the same as you, but it doesn¡¯t matter. Rank stops at the door, you know that.¡±


    Revina nodded; she knew the quote, she¡¯d just never seen it in action outside her own home, back in the days before they fled to create Fallen Kestii. ¡°You really think they¡¯d respect that?¡±


    Revina¡¯s father grinned at her. ¡°Honestly? I think they¡¯re both as uncomfortable with hierarchy as you are. It wouldn¡¯t hurt to talk to both of them about magic; neither seems to be primarily a spell user the way you should be, but they may have some family techniques they¡¯d be willing to share. More than that, they¡¯re worth a tryout because there really aren¡¯t any other options; no one else in Fallen Kestii is trying to get a Vocation. They got their Vocation alone and recently, so they can help you through a Vocation-granting Feat if we can find one.¡±


    Vramt¡¯s expression grew serious. ¡°With that said, be careful. Feats like that grant Vocations because they¡¯re dangerous; if the Ruins Constrictor turns out to be from a Nest, don¡¯t just jump into it. Talk it over with the rest of your party. They won¡¯t know as much about the snakes as you do. If it looks too dangerous, back off; we can keep looking for a new Feat.¡±


    Revina rolled her eyes. She knew she was lucky her father supported her effort to gain a Vocation, but she wasn¡¯t a child. She was twenty-one; she¡¯d been old enough for a Vocation for years! Did he have to repeat that every time he mentioned the Feat? ¡°Yes, Dad. I know.¡±


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    Sophia glanced at Dav. ¡°I¡¯m up for it. You?¡±


    ¡°Definitely,¡± Dav stated with a grin. ¡°Anything that lets us get out of here and get moving. I ¡­ this place is nice enough but I¡¯m not ready to settle down, you know?¡±


    That was a bit more than Sophia meant, but he wasn¡¯t wrong. She was also ready to move on. The people of Fallen Kestii were nice enough, but she was definitely starting to feel cooped up. ¡°I don¡¯t think escorting Revina is the first step in leaving, but I don¡¯t have any idea where we¡¯d go, so I haven¡¯t been in a hurry. I don¡¯t see any reason we can¡¯t stay a little longer. The only thing we really need to do here before we leave is figure out what to trade for the Shard we found, and that¡¯s not something we¡¯re going to decide by staying inside.¡±


    ¡°There are a lot of places you could go,¡± Revina offered. ¡°It depends on what you want. We¡¯re not close to much here; that¡¯s why Fallen Kestii is safe, but it¡¯s also why there aren¡¯t that many people here. We need more people to expand the farms and maybe someone to raise some meat animals, but without a nexus there¡¯s not much point in that.¡±


    ¡°Unless there are enough people with Vocations to guard the place,¡± Aymini countered. ¡°Not that that¡¯s likely to happen here soon; maybe if there¡¯s another Warped War, but I¡¯d rather we stay small. Most likely, we¡¯ll collect enough Shards to crystallize a new Nexus before we have enough people to manage without one.¡±


    Revina waved her hand in the air. ¡°Let¡¯s talk about the trip instead of the far future. I need blowshrooms. If I can get my hands on some Dancing Feathers or Solid Clouds, that would be great; Driftweed might also work. Anything that has air or wind-related mana that I haven¡¯t already used would be even better. I know where to find blowshrooms but the rest is more a matter of being lucky than anything else. There aren¡¯t any Air-aspected zones nearby so I need to make one, even a bad one, to be sure I¡¯ll be offered the Vocation I want. As long as it¡¯s in the family, I can make it work. That means we¡¯ll probably be going all over the near city, as far as we can get today.¡±


    Revina glanced at both Sophia and Dav. Whatever she saw seemed to satisfy her. ¡°It won¡¯t be free of danger, especially not if we go without anyone else. Vyk Deryn is planning to hunt a Ruins Constrictor today; if you want to stay safe, we could travel with him. If we do, we probably won¡¯t see anything other than a dead snake.¡±


    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t be asking us if that¡¯s what you wanted to do,¡± Sophia responded. That much was obvious. ¡°You won¡¯t need us if you know you won¡¯t see any dangers. So you want to go places he isn¡¯t going.¡±


    Revina nodded. ¡°I want to go out earlier and stay later. He¡¯ll return when he catches the snake; there¡¯s not too much of a reason to try for two. One will feed everyone here for a few days, then he¡¯ll hunt again.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a big snake.¡± Dav had an expression that Sophia took a moment to interpret. Disbelief. ¡°Can they get that big and still be dangerous?¡±


    ¡°Magic,¡± Sophia answered before Revina could. ¡°And yes, it¡¯s possible; even without magic, the largest snakes can be really large and have a lot of muscle. That¡¯s a lot of food.¡± They could also be dangerous to humans if they were large enough; venomous snakes didn¡¯t require the size, but that wasn¡¯t what they were talking about.


    Any snake called a ¡°Ruins Constrictor¡± was bound to be a constrictor and almost certainly not venomous. There were records of snakes eating adult humans on Earth before magic was known; with magic, Sophia knew that anything was possible. She didn¡¯t think the World Serpent was a likely possibility here, but that was all she was sure of.


    ¡°What does it eat?¡± Dav still didn¡¯t seem to want to believe that there were snakes that big nearby. Sophia couldn¡¯t entirely blame him; it made her glad that she was sleeping in a secured guarded building.


    ¡°Young beastalow, Ruin Rats, whatever it can catch. There¡¯s more living here than you¡¯ve seen. We keep the plants off Fallen Kestii but the rest of the ruins are far too large for us to deal with.¡± Aymini didn¡¯t seem to want to spend time talking about the eating habits of giant snakes. ¡°I want you to stay above ground and out of the ruined buildings. I¡¯m trusting you two to keep Revina safe; remember that she doesn¡¯t have a Sphere yet, so she¡¯s especially vulnerable. If you find another Shard or a Nest, you can investigate but run if it¡¯s too dangerous. Got it?¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s a Nest?¡± Dav asked the question before Sophia could.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you know that?¡± Revina sounded dismissive. ¡°You have Vocations, how can you not-¡±


    ¡°Revina.¡± Aymini interrupted Revina¡¯s verbal attack. ¡°You grew up with me and your father. They didn¡¯t. When a Beast settles down and breeds, they sometimes create a Nest or a Burrow. It means they can¡¯t leave; only their spawn can. They can be farmed, but more often they¡¯re destroyed when they¡¯re found before the Beasts that spawn from them overwhelm the area. Destroying a Nest or Burrow by killing the Beast that created it is a Vocation-granting feat as long as you legitimately participate; you two could help Revina through one and get her her Vocation. Vramt and I could not; we¡¯re too strong. That¡¯s why I¡¯m willing to let you decide to do one; we haven¡¯t found a Ruins Constrictor nest, so if there is one it should be fairly weak and Revina needs the Feat.¡±


    Sophia was pretty sure Revina was just trying to make herself feel better for the fact that Sophia and Dav had to protect her, but she knew better than to say that. It would only make Revina more defensive. Instead, she nodded at Aymini¡¯s description. ¡°That sounds like a dungeon with a focus on a particular creature. I¡¯ve heard of dungeons like that.¡±


    Aymini gave Revina a look that Sophia carefully didn¡¯t echo. The last thing she wanted right now was to say ¡°I told you so¡± to Revina.


    Well, maybe not the last thing. It would be satisfying. Sophia knew better and knew it would be detrimental in the long term, though, so she didn¡¯t.

 Chapter 23 - Snake

    Sophia set her fork down and looked between Aymini and Revina. ¡°So, a couple of things. First, did you have to spring this on us today? A little warning would have been nice.¡±


    Revina turned to Aymini, while Aymini looked down. Dav took another bite of his breakfast with a smile.


    Sophia knew she wasn¡¯t going to get a good answer, because there probably wasn¡¯t one. It was probably a case of ¡°I didn¡¯t think of it until just now,¡± but Aymini didn¡¯t want to say that. It meant her next question would also leave Aymini floundering, but Sophia was pretty sure she was okay with that. ¡°Second, why should we? So far, you¡¯ve said we should keep Revina safe if we go out with her; I¡¯m good with that part but I haven¡¯t heard why we should go at all. Wouldn¡¯t you be better able to keep her safe?¡±


    If they didn¡¯t go, they¡¯d have to watch the building and deal with anything that attacked while Aymini was out. They¡¯d been doing that for a few days, so she was pretty confident she could handle that with Dav¡¯s help, even if Aymini and Vramt weren¡¯t available.


    Aymini looked up at Sophia. ¡°If you do find a Nest, they hold Wisps. That¡¯s worth something. I also thought you might want to get out and see the city, and ¡­ well, I want Revina to get her Vocation safely and maybe earn a place with people who can handle themselves and I know you two can. You¡¯ll be leaving, probably with the next merchant that comes through, and Revina really shouldn¡¯t leave until and unless she has a Vocation. But she won¡¯t get one here on her own or with our help; it¡¯s almost impossible to find something that one person can do alone that counts as a Vocation-granting feat these days.¡±


    ¡°The next merchant that comes through? How often does that happen?¡± Dav leapt on a detail that had nothing to do with Revina.


    Aymini shrugged. ¡°Whenever they arrive. It could be any time; the roads should be as clear as they ever are. Gianre will probably be the first merchant this season; he travels on his own, and usually makes his way across the pass before anyone else does. I¡¯d rather it was Arryn, but Gianre usually gets through before he does.¡±


    ¡°Pass?¡± Sophia frowned at that. ¡°Through the mountains? They seem a long way away for that to be the only way to reach civilization.¡±


    Revina shook her head and spoke faster than Aymini. ¡°No, the pass to enter Fallen Kestii. That doesn¡¯t take you to the mountains. It¡¯s sort of like a bridge, but it¡¯s natural, so we call it a pass.¡±


    Sophia blinked at that. A pass was like a bridge? They were almost opposites; the only way they were really similar was that they were routes you could travel on.


    ¡°It¡¯s more like a stitch, holding Fallen Kestii to another place,¡± Aymini said. ¡°If we were to restore the Nexus, it might be possible to reweave the old connections. I¡¯m not sure we want to do that. For now, the pass is enough.¡±


    So it was sort of like a magical portal, maybe? ¡°Is it a gateway? I know you mentioned those?¡±


    Revina looked doubtful but Aymini shook her head. ¡°No, Gateways are different. There are no Gateways in Fallen Kestii; it takes a powerful Nexus to handle a Gateway. How about this; you can take her around searching or I can, but if we find a Nest, I¡¯ll come back for you and take you to where the three of you can run through it. I¡¯ll also pay Gianre to escort the three of you out of Fallen Kestii to the Vocational Registry. After that, you can stay with Revina or split from her because she can find others there; she¡¯ll be valued.¡±


    Sophia was beginning to think that they didn¡¯t know what it was and that she¡¯d have to see it to really understand what they were talking about.


    ¡°What¡¯s a Vocational Registry?¡± Dav glanced between Sophia and Aymini. ¡°I don¡¯t really want to register my Vocation. That seems a bit intrusive.¡±


    Aymini frowned. ¡°Why would you - oh, right , the name. No, all you tell them is a general classification so they can match you with teammates and requests. Most of what they do is for the large Companies, and you¡¯ll probably want to join one, but you can start as a Party first. Most do, until they¡¯re ready to start taking on the bigger tasks. A Party can clear a Nest if it¡¯s small, but a big one requires a Company; the Registry helps people find a group with appropriate Spheres to handle it. We don¡¯t have a Registry Office here because, well, we¡¯re far too small; you only find them in the true cities and sometimes Company headquarters.¡±


    It sounded a lot like the Adventurer¡¯s Guild to Sophia. At least that was familiar, though she wasn¡¯t really sure how well that would work in a place where you had to travel on foot or maybe on an animal; could you actually travel fast enough to reach places where there was trouble before it was over?


    Sophia dismissed the thought. It was something to worry about later, other than one question. ¡°Will that help us figure out how we got here and maybe figure out how to get home?¡±


    Aymini shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but it¡¯s the best idea I¡¯ve come up with. Most powerful mages are nobles, but they do usually maintain close ties with the Registry, even if they aren¡¯t members. A lot of them are members, because they head Companies. If nothing else, it¡¯s a place to start.¡±


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    Sophia nodded reluctantly. It was irritating to not have a solid plan, but she knew that if someone landed in the middle of nowhere on Earth, they¡¯d have a hard time finding anyone who knew how to teleport them home unless they knew where their home was on the portal network. Everything Sophia had seen so far indicated that the people of Fallen Kestii were even more backwards than that. They didn¡¯t even have a full map of the city; she hadn¡¯t found anyone with much more than directions to a couple of towns outside Fallen Kestii, even though she knew they all came from elsewhere.


    ¡°Does that mean you accept?¡± Revina sounded hopeful.


    Sophia wanted to. She wasn¡¯t quite ready to explore the city on her own, but she was getting close despite the dangers; there just wasn¡¯t enough to do in the buildings that had been set aside as Fallen Kestii. She glanced over at Dav. ¡°I¡¯m willing if you are.¡±


    Dav nodded. ¡°It seems like a fair trade. Fair enough, at least.¡±


    Sophia stayed with Revina while Dav roamed a few buildings ahead, watching out for possible threats. She wanted to understand the young woman a little more before she passed a decision on her; was she really as spoiled as she seemed or was she just nervous?


    So far, Revina seemed to know what she was looking for. She¡¯d directed them to several patches of mushrooms, though apparently only one of them had even a single blowshroom. She hadn¡¯t found anything else she was looking for, but she also hadn¡¯t been annoying; instead, she seemed focused on her task.


    ¡°Vramt and Aymini are your parents?¡± Sophia already knew that wasn¡¯t true, since Revina called Aymini ¡°Aunt,¡± but it seemed like a good place to start.


    ¡°They were a Team,¡± Revina didn¡¯t sound bothered by the question, at least. If anything, it was like she¡¯d expected it. ¡°There were five of them. Mother was the Team¡¯s bruiser; her brother was the healer and Aymini¡¯s sister was their second swordsman. When I was eight, there was fighting. I don¡¯t know the whole story; I just know that only Father and Aymini survived and they joined a group headed for Fallen Kestii. That¡¯s what you wanted to ask, right?¡±


    Sophia nodded. ¡°Your aunt seems to care about you a lot.¡±


    Revina shrugged. ¡°She¡¯s afraid that I¡¯ll-¡±


    A shout from Dav drew Revina¡¯s attention at the same moment it drew Sophia¡¯s. It wasn¡¯t immediately obvious why he was shouting, but Sophia could see sunlight glint off his sword, so she ran forward. As she got closer, she could see that there was a large snake wrapped around Dav¡¯s left leg. He was trying to stab it with his sword, but the weapon was just awkward enough that he wasn¡¯t having much luck.


    Fortunately, the snake didn¡¯t seem to be doing much of anything.


    Sophia pulled her knife and struck as soon as she was close enough. It glanced off the shield that the snake, surprisingly, had, but scratched the back of its neck. Now that she was closer, she could tell that the snake was, in fact, doing something: it was squeezing Dav¡¯s leg like it thought that would be enough to kill him. From Dav¡¯s pained shouts, that probably wasn¡¯t true but it definitely wasn¡¯t fun.


    The snake snapped at Dav¡¯s sword ineffectually the next time he tried to stab it. It was sort of flat-nosed, with a wide overall head. Sophia only knew a little about snakes, so all she could really say based on its head was that it definitely wasn¡¯t a viper. Of course, she already knew that; it was almost certainly a constrictor of some sort, since that was what it was doing to Dav¡¯s leg.


    The fact that they¡¯d been warned there was a snake called a Ruins Constrictor helped, too. Sophia was certain this wasn¡¯t the snake Revina meant when she said that; it had to be a juvenile at best. There was no way this snake would feed almost a hundred people for several days.


    On the other hand, as annoying as this one was, Sophia wasn¡¯t sure she wanted to face the larger snake.


    Sophia¡¯s second stab hit the snake in the back of its head and it went limp. Even with that, it took a little while to unwind the snake from Dav¡¯s leg and he didn¡¯t want to put any weight on it after the snake was removed. Sophia supported Dav¡¯s weight over to a large fallen stone block after carefully checking to be certain there were no snakes nearby.


    Revina followed, carrying the carcass of the dead snake. She clearly didn¡¯t want to leave it behind, which made sense; it might not be even close to the size of the snake the hunter Vyk Deryn wanted to kill for meat, but it was still plenty large enough to provide a good bit of meat. ¡°What happened?¡±


    Dav looked away from Revina for long enough to summon his Healing Beacon. ¡°I made a dumb mistake. I saw a stick lying in the middle of the road and didn¡¯t think twice about stepping on it. I should have looked closer; it was a snake, not a stick.¡±


    Sophia blinked when she saw the beacon. It wasn¡¯t the same as the last time he¡¯d summoned it; this one looked more like a glowing green stone tower made of round disks, some of which were covered in moss, with a conical stone cap on top. It looked more like something Sophia might have called a beacon than the first one, but it definitely still didn¡¯t look anything like something that ought to heal.


    ¡°Oof. That¡¯s no good,¡± Revina told Dav. ¡°Did it get through your shield? Do you need to head back? Aunt Aymini makes a really good healing salve that should be able to heal your leg.¡±


    Dav shook his head. ¡°We just need to sit here for a bit; my summon will handle the healing. Do you know why the snake didn¡¯t do much to my shield? It seemed like it bypassed it.¡±


    Revina nodded. ¡°Snakes can do that. That¡¯s why Vyk doesn¡¯t hunt the small ones; he says only the big ones are worth the effort of building the trap and leading them into it. I think part of it is that the lure he uses takes some ingredients that are hard to gather.¡±

 Chapter 24 - Crossbow

    It only took about fifteen minutes of sitting in the light of his beacon for Dav to feel recovered enough to keep going. He could have moved earlier, but neither he nor anyone else wanted to hurry; he might not be outwardly hurt but soft tissue damage wasn¡¯t anything to laugh about either. They waited until there wasn¡¯t any pain or signs of bruising.


    Sophia found sitting in the light of the beacon refreshing; it eased aches in her shoulders and leg that she hadn¡¯t realized were there. That, along with the fact that her joints hadn¡¯t bothered her at all after she recovered from the Devouring Moss fight, gave her hope that Dav¡¯s beacons were really good enough to properly heal.


    Dav hadn¡¯t gone more than a dozen steps away from his resting point when he froze. He gestured at them to come forward but didn¡¯t take his eyes off of something in front of himself. ¡°Sophia! Revina! I¡¯ve found another snake.¡±


    Sophia made her way up next to Dav and looked where he did. There was a dull gray-brown shape ahead of them. It was fairly straight but slightly curved and it lay in the middle of the street. It didn¡¯t really look all that much like a stick, but Sophia could sort of see how you could mistake it for one if you weren¡¯t expecting it. ¡°You thought the snakes would be brightly colored, didn¡¯t you?¡±


    Dav flushed but didn¡¯t deny Sophia¡¯s accusation. ¡°Or patterned. Every snake I¡¯ve ever seen was obvious.¡±


    Sophia nodded. That meant he was from an area where venomous snakes advertised themselves and he¡¯d never noticed the non-venomous ones. ¡°City boy?¡±


    Dav nodded.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay, I¡¯m a city girl.¡± Sophia wasn¡¯t sure she¡¯d have made the same mistake. She liked to think she¡¯d have been more paranoid and not trusted that a weird stick was a stick, but she¡¯d made dumber mistakes in the past. ¡°How are we going to handle it?¡±


    ¡°Vyk uses a special long stick with a curved thingy on the end,¡± Revina offered. ¡°For the ones that are that small, anyway. It doesn¡¯t work on the bigger ones, they¡¯re too strong for him.¡±


    ¡°You couldn¡¯t have mentioned this earlier?¡± Dav glanced at Revina this time.


    Revina glanced away and seemed almost embarrassed. ¡°You seemed to know what you were doing, and uh, I didn¡¯t think of it.¡±


    Sophia nodded to herself. She needed to remember that both Dav and Revina were essentially completely new delvers and new delvers made mistakes. Lots of them. Preparation was one of the most common mistakes and this sounded like a preparation mistake. She¡¯d made the mistake herself when she didn¡¯t ask if there was anything they should bring to deal with the snakes; she¡¯d just assumed Revina would know and would warn them if there was.


    This was really Sophia¡¯s mistake. Revina couldn¡¯t be expected to know better and Sophia should have asked. ¡°Should we head back and get one?¡±


    ¡°But they¡¯re a hunter¡¯s tools, not a fighter¡¯s. Shouldn¡¯t you be able to do without them? Don¡¯t you use weapons instead?¡± Revina¡¯s immediate protest made Sophia give her a hard look.


    Dav seemed less bothered by it. He nodded towards the dead snake meat Revina carried. ¡°Probably. I¡¯ll admit that one seemed pretty weak; if it hadn¡¯t caught me by surprise, I doubt it would have hurt me. The problem is that we really need distance.¡± He turned to Sophia. ¡°Can you make a spell or something that will kill it before it wakes up?¡±


    Sophia sighed but considered the problem seriously. She could, as long as it was just going to lay there. It was fairly easy to make a spell when you had all the time you needed and could see what you were doing. She¡¯d done that for years. It wasn¡¯t fast, but they didn¡¯t need fast.


    On the other hand, maybe this was a good time to find out more about Imbue Blade. She¡¯d already invested the mana into both her blade and Dav¡¯s and that might well be why her knife went right through the snake¡¯s scales as if they weren¡¯t there once she penetrated the shield. It would probably take two hits, like killing the one wrapped around Dav¡¯s leg.


    For that matter, she wasn¡¯t sure how the shield would react to a proper spell; she might need to overcharge it to get through the shield and still kill the snake; maybe she could build a spell that did both of the necessary attacks, one to destroy the shield and the other to kill the newly defenseless snake?


    ¡°I have a few things I can try.¡± Sophia frowned at the snake. Which was the best to try first?


    It was obvious, really. Figuring out how to kill a sleeping snake with a spell using the least mana was very specific and wouldn¡¯t help that much in the future. Figuring out more about Imbue Blade, especially whether or not Dav could throw it the way she could, was far more likely to be useful. She¡¯d probably work on the spell to see if she could get it cheaper than Imbue Blade but the place to start was Imbue Blade.


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    And the person that should start it off was Dav. Sophia all too clearly remembered the number of tries it took her to both throw the blade at all and aim it correctly; she didn¡¯t want that time delay after she destroyed the shield. It was better to have Dav destroy the shield then kill the snake with her thrown Imbue Blade. If they did it right, it would be fast and safe.


    For that matter, could Revina do it? Sophia was pretty sure she could maintain three Imbuements and it would make the girl safer if she had a functional weapon. ¡°Revina, do you have a knife or something you know how to fight with?¡±


    Revina nodded, but what she lifted to show Sophia wasn¡¯t a knife. It looked more like a gun, but with a wide curved stick in front that connected to a piece of wire at both ends which was pulled back almost to the stock. Sophia hadn¡¯t seen many of them, but it was very clearly a crossbow. ¡°I¡¯d rather use this until I have my magic. It¡¯s not enchanted, Father says I can¡¯t use an enchanted weapon until I have a Sphere, but he also says it will work fine until I have my Vocation.¡±


    Come to think of it, Aymini had a crossbow. It had completely slipped Sophia¡¯s mind since she¡¯d only seen it once.


    If Sophia had really realized the people of Fallen Kestii had crossbows, she¡¯d have gotten several. At a minimum, she wanted one for her and one for Dav. It would help immensely. Right now, it would mean that she wouldn¡¯t have to teach Dav how to ¡°throw¡± the Imbuement, at least not if it would stick to a crossbow bolt. That was definitely worth testing.


    ¡°Aunt Aymini doesn¡¯t like it when I use it,¡± Revina continued. ¡°She¡¯s worried that since it¡¯s a hunter¡¯s weapon, I¡¯ll end up with only hunting Vocations. Father says that¡¯s unlikely, that as long as I show aptitude with magic or with an element I¡¯ll get at least one magical Vocation, but I still try not to use it too much.¡±


    Sophia shook her head. She couldn¡¯t really comment on Vocations; it sounded like they were different from her experience with Hallows, where she had an incredible wealth of choices, even if most of them were not well suited to her preferences. It wasn¡¯t like she¡¯d been here long enough for her preferences to be clear; if she¡¯d been judged solely based on what they knew, there was no way she¡¯d have gotten a spell-using Hallow. There just wasn¡¯t time for it.


    Come to think of it, maybe that was exactly the reason there weren¡¯t many spellcasting Hallows and why most of the Hallows were so poorly suited to her?


    No, that really wasn¡¯t the main reason. The main reason was Cliff. Sophia couldn¡¯t even really blame the dungeon; he didn¡¯t ask to be bonded to her mana core, after all. It was the Guide¡¯s fault, as was the fact that most of the Hallows that worked with the situation were not ones she was interested in.


    ¡°Use it anyway,¡± Sophia directed. ¡°If most of your effort is focused on other things, that¡¯s where most of your Vocations will come from, right? Isn¡¯t that what your father says?¡±


    Revina nodded. She seemed reassured by Sophia¡¯s direction. That was a good thing; it meant that Sophia might even be able to count on Revina to be useful.


    ¡°Are you good with it? That is, if Dav or I take down the snake¡¯s shield, can you kill the snake with a bolt immediately?¡± Sophia needed to plan exactly how they were going to do this. Dav didn¡¯t seem to be much for planning and Revina seemed unpolished, so it was Sophia¡¯s job.


    Revina frowned. She looked at the snake, then at her crossbow, then up at Sophia. ¡°Maybe? I¡¯ll hit it, if the snake doesn¡¯t move, but it might skid off the scales.¡±


    Sophia nodded. ¡°That¡¯s fine. Let me see if I can imbue your crossbow bolts; if I can, it¡¯ll definitely penetrate if you hit it after we remove the shield.¡±


    Revina offered Sophia a bolt and Sophia tried to use Imbue Blade. Nothing happened; the ability didn¡¯t trigger at all.


    Sophia grumbled. ¡°It must not be counting the head of the bolt as a blade. That¡¯s dumb; it¡¯s still a weapon and the edge of the bolt is sharp; there¡¯s no reason it shouldn¡¯t work the same way¡­¡±


    She knew how to push a Skill given by the Voice; maybe the same thing would work with an Ability granted by the Guide?


    Sophia pushed at the Ability. It was sort of like casting an Intent-based spell, even though there wasn¡¯t any mana moving unless she got the Ability to activate. She could feel something there, but it just didn¡¯t want to work at all. ¡°It feels like it¡¯s almost working, but not quite. It¡¯s like it should work but it doesn¡¯t want to let it happen. It¡¯s going to take more practice, probably a lot more practice. It might even take another iteration of the Skill to get there. At least, that¡¯s how it works at home. I¡¯m not sure how that works here?¡±


    Revina nodded. ¡°Father says that if you think something should work and that you¡¯re close, there¡¯s probably an Ability available that will let you do it. Otherwise the Guide doesn¡¯t let you know you¡¯re close. It just takes the Wisps to Dedicate and you can do it.¡±


    Sophia nodded at that. It was reassuring that this worked the same way she was used to, even if the process of gaining Abilities was different from gaining Skills. It would probably become difficult later on, but right now it seemed like the first few Abilities were really easy to get; they¡¯d gained fifty Wisps for dealing with the Shard of Kestii. That seemed like a lot.


    Sure, they¡¯d each only gained one during the past week of  defending Fallen Kestii, but one in a week was still fast for not doing much when an Ability only cost ten or so Wisps. Sophia expected a Path that contained four or five Skills to take at least a year and more often several years. The Guide clearly started things off faster but she had the feeling it slowed down quickly.


    ¡°Okay, then you¡¯ll have to strike with just your bow. I think ¡­ Dav, can you feel the fact that your blade is imbued?¡±  Sophia was certain she¡¯d have to walk Dav through each step of the process. She hoped she¡¯d succeed; it would be very nice if he had a magical ranged attack the same way she did, even if she had to supply the magic. Even the single charge that she could maintain on his weapon could be useful.

 Chapter 25 - Advance or Retreat?

    Dav frowned for a long moment, then nodded. ¡°Yes, there¡¯s a slight buzz there that isn¡¯t exactly normal.¡±


    That wasn¡¯t exactly what Sophia meant, but she knew Dav wasn¡¯t used to magic. Maybe it did feel like a buzz to someone who wasn¡¯t used to manipulating mana. ¡°Right. Then ¡­ you¡¯ve seen me throw the imbuement. Do you think you can manage the same thing?¡±


    ¡°It looks easy enough,¡± Dav agreed. He lifted his sword, waved it in the air, and nothing happened. He tried again to an equal lack of results.


    Sophia felt a little relieved. At least she wasn¡¯t going to be worse at this than Dav was; he seemed to be even slower at it than she had been. A couple tries was enough for her to realize she needed to be doing something different, while he was still trying different physical methods. That was probably his lack of familiarity with working with and modifying Skills. ¡°No, you actually throw it with your mind. The physical gesture is just to help guide the direction, because we¡¯re used to throwing things. That¡¯s something I need to practice; I need to get to the point where I don¡¯t need the gesture.¡±


    Dav held his sword out. His expression stiffened and almost looked constipated, but still nothing happened.


    Sophia clearly needed to simplify. ¡°Okay, so first feel for the enchantment. You said it feels like a buzz, right?¡±


    Dav nodded.


    ¡°Grab it and move it. You need to think of where you want to go and sort of guide it there.¡± Sophia bit her lip because that was a bad set of instructions; it was like telling someone to throw a ball by saying ¡°grab the ball and toss it where you want it to go.¡± She needed to say it better than that, but she wasn¡¯t sure how to describe it. Dav didn¡¯t have the vocabulary or practice she had and she didn¡¯t have the control or ability to see what he was doing that some of her teachers had.


    ¡°If that doesn¡¯t work, try holding onto it while thinking about where you¡¯re looking intently, that might do it.¡± Sophia was pretty sure that if he could move it, he¡¯d be able to direct it with practice.


    It took Dav only a few minutes after that before he had his first success: an unformed block of mana that no longer really looked like a blade shot straight up from his sword. Sophia felt the drain on her mana disappear as Dav ripped the Ability out of place. He wasn¡¯t looking at it and it didn¡¯t go where he was looking, but he did succeed in moving it and he didn¡¯t hurt himself with more than a minor headache.


    ¡°Well, the concept clearly works,¡± Sophia muttered as she replaced the Imbuement on Dav¡¯s blade. ¡°Now we just need to work on execution.¡±


    Dav managed to throw his sword¡¯s Imbuement again less than a minute later, but it once again went the wrong way. This time, but went off to the left and down. It didn¡¯t come even close to the snake, fortunately.


    Sophia Imbued Dav¡¯s sword again, but he didn¡¯t immediately start trying to use it this time.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think this is going to work.¡± Dav stared at his sword with a frown.


    Sophia shook her head. ¡°You¡¯re getting there, it just takes some practice.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what I mean.¡± Dav looked up at Sophia. ¡°I need practice before I can do this for real. I saw you pick this up quickly but it¡¯s just not like that for me. I probably need a few days of practice before I¡¯ll be able to do this reliably. It¡¯s not like throwing something. I¡¯ll get there, but it¡¯ll take time.¡±


    Sophia started to object that it wasn¡¯t that different from using any other Skill, then stopped herself. That was exactly why he was having trouble; he didn¡¯t have the practice she had. Reluctantly, she had to admit that he was probably right. ¡°That makes sense. Unfortunately. Ah, in that case I¡¯ll handle the shield. Revina, as soon as I hit it, kill the snake. Dav, get a bit closer but not so close you get the snake¡¯s attention. If It doesn¡¯t die for some reason, kill it. Hopefully that will do.¡±


    The only other option was going back and figuring out how to trap snakes, and this wasn¡¯t about hunting snakes. Revina clearly wanted to carry the meat back or she wouldn¡¯t have field-dressed the one they cut off Dav, but that wasn¡¯t the point of this trip. They did need to deal with the snakes in order to get through safely and there was no reason not to gather any they found, but the point of the trip was air-aligned magic for Revina.


    Sophia kind of hoped they¡¯d also find a snake nest. It might let Cliff pick up another martial technique or even a spell, but even if it didn¡¯t it ought to let her get a Spellblade ability or two. Imbue Blade seemed simple but was anything but useless; hopefully one another ability would be just as good.


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    Everyone took their places, then Sophia attacked the snake. Revina¡¯s crossbow bolt hit the snake¡¯s head, instead of the neck, but it shattered the snake¡¯s skill and pierced its brain. Sophia relaxed internally; the plan was working and should be good enough to get them through the day even if they found several more snakes. All they had to do was see them first, and now that they knew what to look for it was simple enough.


    Half an hour later, Sophia quietly cursed her internal confidence that everything was going well. They¡¯d found four more snakes in about fifty feet of street; that was far more than she expected. Three of the four were just as easy as the second snake, but the second of the four, fourth overall, almost went badly sideways.


    It was far too close to the previous snake and must have been disturbed as they moved close to that snake and waited while Sophia field dressed it, following Revina¡¯s instructions since Revina knew snakes better than Sophia did. They were already too close to it when they noticed it, because of the distraction of the previous snake, and it twisted right before Revina¡¯s crossbow bolt would have impacted and she hit only the battered stone walkway. Dav managed to kill it before it either wrapped itself around anyone or got away, but it wasn¡¯t nearly as clean as Sophia wanted. They took a little longer to check for a second snake after each snake kill after that.


    Six snakes in less than a hundred feet of distance was too many, even if only one of the last five went poorly. The reason was obvious. Sophia shook her head and turned to Revina. ¡°There¡¯s a nest here, isn¡¯t there?¡±


    Revina nodded. ¡°They¡¯re definitely from the same hatching, they¡¯re almost exactly the same size. That probably means a Nest. I¡¯m not sure how close it is, but it should be close, I hope.¡±


    ¡°How does the Guide handle notification of a Nest? Does it tell you when you step into one?¡± Sophia hoped it did, the same way it had for the Shard of Kestii. It would be even better if she could tell where it was from the outside, but that was probably a fool¡¯s dream.


    Unless maybe the dungeon could tell? She tried to silently ask Cliff if he could tell, but either he couldn¡¯t or he couldn¡¯t hear her ask. He probably couldn¡¯t hear her; she¡¯d only managed to talk to him by speaking out loud, so far. She didn¡¯t want to do that in front of Revina.


    Rvina nodded slowly. ¡°It¡¯s supposed to. I¡¯ve never been in a Nest.¡±


    There was no point in asking Revina for details she clearly didn¡¯t know. Instead, Sophia visually searched the area on each side of the road. The snakes had to come from somewhere; was there anything obvious? The fact that they were stretching out and lying in the sunlight once they were out of their nest made sense, but it might not help find the Nest.


    The only thing Sophia could see on either side of the road that snakes might have come from was the ruined buildings. They lined both sides of the road, partially overgrown and tumbled but still intact enough a huge snake could hide in them.


    The thing that worried Sophia was that the buildings didn¡¯t look safe to enter; it seemed all too possible that the stones that formed the second and in some cases third or fourth floors might collapse at any time. Maybe they were good enough in the first place and still in good enough shape to stay where they belonged, but Sophia didn¡¯t want to count on it. She also didn¡¯t want to depend on Revina¡¯s knowledge if it came to it; the buildings looked really unsafe.


    Naturally, she was looking around carefully when Dav called out that he¡¯d seen movement. Sophia turned to look. It was obvious what he¡¯d seen: two snakes were traveling together away from one of the relatively close buildings. The nest was almost certainly in that direction; it looked like they¡¯d emerged from a building. Its second story was holding on, more intact than almost anything nearby.


    It was impossible to resist and Sophia didn¡¯t really try. She carefully checked for snakes between her and the building, then made her way to one of the openings in its falling wall. As she moved, she watched for snakes and avoided the only one she saw.


    Sticking her hand through the opening was enough, even without actually entering the building: the Guide notified her that she¡¯d entered the area of a Ruins Constrictor Nest. Sophia noticed that it didn¡¯t give her any warnings or let her know that clearing it was a vocation-granting feat. It clearly assumed that she already knew that, probably from her experience with the Shard of Kestii.


    The question was ¡­ should they enter?


    Truthfully, Sophia already knew the question. They shouldn¡¯t. They were having some level of trouble with the small snakes that were escaping; they shouldn¡¯t try to fight bigger snakes. They should wait at least until Dav mastered using Imbue Blade and all three of them had crossbows.


    It didn¡¯t mean Sophia didn¡¯t want to enter. She did. She just didn¡¯t want to die, which meant she needed to be careful about what challenges she picked.


    Dav and Revina joined Sophia at the entrance before she convinced herself to back off. She knew it was the right choice. It just wasn¡¯t the choice she wanted to take.


    Dav didn¡¯t suffer from Sophia¡¯s hesitation. He nodded at her, as if he thought she¡¯d been waiting for him, then stepped past the damaged wall. ¡°Wow. This place isn¡¯t at all like it looks from the outside.¡±


    That was enough to get Sophia to actually look. Dav was right: the building looked half-destroyed from the outside. From the inside, it didn¡¯t; in fact, it looked mostly intact, like the building changed as she passed the boundary between what was Nest and what wasn¡¯t.


    ¡°We really should go back,¡± Sophia muttered, then looked at her companions. ¡°But we aren¡¯t going to, are we?¡±


    She wasn¡¯t sure either of them heard. If they did, neither answered.

 Chapter 26 - The Easy Kills are Over

    Sophia followed them into the dark interior with mixed feelings. She was the experienced one, so she ought to be the one to say if they went forward or back. At the same time, she wanted to move forward. Other than the snakes, they hadn¡¯t yet seen anything dangerous, and the small snakes weren¡¯t really all that dangerous as long as they weren¡¯t swarmed.


    They seemed large, but humans were even larger, too large for the snakes to see humans as prey; Dav was probably only attacked because he actually stepped on the first snake. A larger snake would be more dangerous; it might well see them as prey.


    Sophia shook off her misgivings. She was being overly cautious and she knew it. It was probably the lack of information. This wasn¡¯t like home, where she knew what she was getting into and had an experienced team; they were all new. Including her. It made her nervous.


    Sophia took two steps into the darkness then stopped short as light suddenly returned from nowhere. The place she was in was nothing like she¡¯d expected; it was far more like walking into a dungeon than the ruined building she¡¯d expected. It wasn¡¯t that she wasn¡¯t in a ruined building; she was, but it was far more ruined than it should have been. The walls were broken but short; it simply didn¡¯t match the exterior at all. If anything, it was like walking into a jungle.


    The humidity backed that up, too. Sophia could already feel her clothing starting to stick to her body.


    The group seemed to have landed in a walled courtyard of some sort; most of the courtyard was overgrown, but a slightly greenish set of stones led the way to an archway that formed an opening in the roofless stone wall almost straight ahead. To the left and right were only walls and greenery. A glance behind told Sophia that she could simply walk out again if she wanted. Another archway stood there, though it led to darkness instead of to the city Sophia knew was beyond it.


    Neither Revina nor Dav had moved more than a few steps past the opening. It was clearly up to Sophia to get things moving. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect the entire area to change.¡±


    ¡°Dad says that happens sometimes with Nests. It¡¯s supposed to be either a really good sign or a really bad sign.¡± Revina sounded nervous.


    Sophia¡¯s earlier worries tried to get her attention and she shoved them down. She didn¡¯t need to worry about the ceiling falling in on her; that alone meant that she was safer than she¡¯d expected. ¡°Oh? Why?¡±


    Revina bit her lip. ¡°It means it¡¯s either a strong old Nest with a smart beast at the center or it¡¯s a new Nest and will be easy to clear out, with probably only a few creatures other than the nesting mother. I¡¯m not sure why there aren¡¯t many in between.¡±


    Sophia shook her head at that and chuckled. ¡°I can guess. If they start off really weak, I bet not many of them survive the weak phase. Should we leave this one alone so that your family can farm it?¡±


    Revina shook her head. ¡°There are plenty of Ruins Constrictors. Vyk sometimes has to cull them even when we can¡¯t use the meat, and that¡¯s just in the city outskirts. They come from farther into the city; there are probably several Nests there. Father says that some cities have to farm Nests but we¡¯re nowhere near big enough.¡±


    Sophia nodded at that. She hadn¡¯t seen much wildlife on their trip through the city but she had seen a lot of plant life, and that meant animals couldn¡¯t be far away. Fallen Kestii wasn¡¯t big enough to make a huge impact on the surrounding life, at least not quickly. In time, Sophia was certain they would.


    Killing the snake that created the Nest wasn¡¯t like killing a dungeon at home, either. Nests were apparently easily created and common, based around a single beast or a small group of beasts and their breeding. It was a permanent choice for the mother or breeding group, and the Nest only lasted as long as they lived, though apparently they could be inherited and grown in size.


    Sophia hadn¡¯t thought to ask about the landscape of a Nest and that was clearly a mistake. It didn¡¯t change what they should do. ¡°Let¡¯s go on. If this is a weak Nest, that sounds like the perfect place to help Revina get her Vocation. Dav, do you want to take point?¡±


    Dav nodded and led the way towards the archway in the wall ahead of them. ¡°Do I need to watch out for any snakes other than what we¡¯ve already seen?¡±


    Revina shook her head. ¡°No, this is a Nest. Anything in here other than Ruins Constrictors is an intruder, and we saw snakes leave just a couple minutes ago. There shouldn¡¯t be anything else in here.¡±


    Dav was only a few steps past the archway when he stepped to the side and indicated ahead of him, where a snake the same size as all of the other snakes they¡¯d seen that morning was slowly making its way towards them. ¡°I think the easy kills are over.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s try the same thing anyway,¡± Sophia decided. ¡°It might still work if the snake doesn¡¯t realize what¡¯s happening. Come on, Revina.¡±


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    It didn¡¯t work as well. While Sophia hit the snake with her thrown Imbuement, Revina missed. It was a simple mistake; she misjudged the snake¡¯s speed and her crossbow bolt passed through the air right in front of the snake¡¯s head. It didn¡¯t try to hide or attack; instead, the snake froze and scented the air. Sophia suspected that it was reacting more to her strike than Revina¡¯s.


    Revina¡¯s second bolt had no trouble burying itself in the snake¡¯s skull. The pause was more than long enough for her to reload, aim, and shoot the snake.


    They didn¡¯t stop to dress the kill. They were already carrying as much snake meat as they really could if they still wanted to be able to fight and they expected to kill a far larger snake once they reached the center of the Nest.


    The next snake was even worse. This time, it was Sophia that missed instead of Revina. Dav ended up dealing with the snake when it ducked into the greenery and hid.


    Dav carefully made his way back from the dead snake with a frown on his face. ¡°Why are we killing the small fry? We¡¯re not collecting anything from them, and they¡¯re probably not hostile if we don¡¯t get their attention; why don¡¯t we just let them pass and head for the momma snake?¡±


    Sophia didn¡¯t have a good answer for that. That wasn¡¯t possible in a dungeon, but this wasn¡¯t a dungeon, was it? This was a Nest.


    From Revina¡¯s silence, she didn¡¯t have a good answer, either.


    It took close to half an hour of careful progress to reach the first sign of a larger snake. During that time, several small snakes went past the group. True to Dav¡¯s guess, they were completely ignored. It made Revina¡¯s belief that the presence of snakes meant there weren¡¯t other intruders seem far less reassuring, but it also meant their forward progress was both faster and safer. Sophia was happy to make that trade.


    The first sign of the Ruins Constrictor that created the Nest came at an archway that seemed to lead into a building that was probably more intact than the others they¡¯d walked through the ruins of. It wasn¡¯t obvious at first glance, but something was just wrong enough that Sophia took a more careful look at the wall above the arch. ¡°Do you two see what I see?¡±


    Dav stopped and glanced back at Sophia, then looked forward again. ¡°What should I be looking for?¡±


    Sophia pointed ahead at the archway that led farther into the Nest. ¡°Above the doorway, is that the tail of a snake?¡±


    Both Dav and Revina seemed to see it at once, if their gasps were an indication.


    ¡°I think it¡¯s going to be a really large snake,¡± Sophia said needlessly. She was certain they all already knew that from the gigantic tail. She hoped they were seeing most of the snake but somehow she doubted it. ¡°Should we attack it here or move forward to the other side of the wall?¡±


    Normally, Sophia would have suggested using the archway as a choke point, but with the snake literally wrapped around the wall, that seemed like a poor idea.


    Surprisingly, it was Revina that answered first. ¡°Other side of the wall. If we really are at the center of the Nest, that may be separate the same way the outer nest was separate from the outside world. It¡¯s a lot bigger on the inside.¡±


    Sophia definitely should have asked more about Nests. The more she heard, the more she thought that they were just similar enough to dungeons to fool her and just different enough to get her into big trouble. ¡°Does that mean the tail we see might not belong to the Ruins Constrictor?¡±


    Revina nodded slowly. ¡°It¡¯s not the right color. That¡¯s almost like a stone carving of a snake tail instead of a real snake tail.¡±


    ¡°We should still be careful when we walk through.¡± Sophia didn¡¯t really expect traps; dungeons that centered around a specific monster type that wasn¡¯t intelligent and didn¡¯t have hands rarely had much in the way of traps. On the other hand, this wasn¡¯t a dungeon and the snake tail was obvious enough to be a warning if Nests did that. They probably didn¡¯t, but what did she know about them?


    ¡°Let¡¯s shoot it from a distance,¡± Dav suggested. ¡°Just in case.¡±


    He was going to have to walk through first, so Sophia couldn¡¯t really argue with his request to stay even a little safer. On the other hand, crossbow bolts seemed to be easier to come by than mana, at least in the middle of a delve; Sophia was still only about half-full on mana even though she hadn¡¯t used any in the past half hour for anything other than maintaining the Imbue Blade on her knife and Dav¡¯s sword. ¡°Revina?¡±


    Revina nodded and shot the tail. A loud noise, definitely from the metal of the bolt hitting the stone of the fake tail, happened as her bolt struck the part of the tail above the archway. Sophia could even see a chip in the stone that looked far fresher than the existing stone. ¡°Seems to be safe.¡±


    Dav nodded and led the way into the archway. Once they were inside, there was enough room for them all without even approaching the large green snake that dominated the middle of the room. It seemed to be asleep, which gave Sophia a chance to look around for anything that might help them kill the Ruins Constrictor before it woke up.


    They were indeed in a room, even though it wasn¡¯t possible for the three-story hall to be present on the other side of the one-story wall they¡¯d entered through. Large windows filled openings on the far side; combined with the partially collapsed roof, they let plenty of light into the huge chamber and made the gigantic stake sleeping in the center easy to see.


    The walls were essentially intact, but the floor was covered in rubble from the damaged ceiling. Well, rubble that was probably supposed to be from the damaged ceiling; Sophia suspected that it was more to make the Nest be what it was supposed to be than the product of actual events.


    Naturally, that brought another threat to mind. ¡°Revina, what happens when we kill the Ruins Constrictor? Do we need to hurry out of the Nest?¡±


    Revina shook her head. ¡°Nah. It will eventually collapse but we¡¯ll have hours, maybe days, before that happens. We can take time to look around and find the eggs and anything else that might be here.¡±

 Chapter 27 - Ruins Constrictors

    The Ruins Constrictor¡¯s eyes flicked open at Revina¡¯s words. Either her whisper was too loud or the Ruins Constrictor wasn¡¯t really asleep. Sophia was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt; Revina hadn¡¯t been any louder than Sophia. The snake must not have been truly asleep.


    It lifted its head and tasted the air, then started to rise into the air. Its hiss somehow sounded pleased.


    ¡°This isn¡¯t going to be nearly as easy as the others. Revina, shoot from here; Dav and I will get in close. Yell if it grabs Dav; I think I can make it loosen up for a moment, might be long enough to get out.¡± Sophia didn¡¯t wait to find out if Revina got all of her instructions. She wasn¡¯t certain they had time for that. The apparent boss snake hadn¡¯t given them any time to prepare.


    Dav was already a step ahead of Sophia, because he hadn¡¯t stopped to plan. Sophia curved a bit to the right; she wanted some separation from Dav, just in case. She couldn¡¯t move as quickly as he was; the stone floor was treacherous with fallen rubble. About halfway to the snake, Dav stumbled and caught himself, but he still managed to get to the snake before Sophia did.


    Dav stabbed forward. He didn¡¯t seem to spend any thought on aiming for a good spot to hit; instead, he put his back into it and hit the snake as hard as he could. The sword slowed as it got close, then skidded to the side, deflected by the snake¡¯s shield. They needed to get past that before they could actually injure it, and Dav had clearly decided that the best way to do that was to hit it as hard as he could. From what Aymini and Vramt said, that was one of the options: just beat on it until it disappeared.


    Sophia preferred a slightly more precision-based approach, but she already knew that that was harder to make work and that it would probably require supporting Abilities. For now, ¡°just have to hit it harder¡± was applicable to her as well. She sliced instead of stabbing, with exactly the same result. The snake was so large that it would be hard to miss it, but its shield was clearly stronger than the one the snakes outside the Nest had. She expected that, even if she wasn¡¯t happy about it. The only good part was that hits anywhere would weaken the overall shield, even if she couldn¡¯t punch through it all at once.


    The snake¡¯s first strike was a bite. It snapped at Dav and caught him in its mouth. Before it could bite down too hard, Dav twisted and somehow managed to twist so that his sword smacked the inside of the snake¡¯s mouth. It seemed startled, which gave Dav just enough space to quickly squeeze out of the snake¡¯s jaws.


    A hiss drew Sophia¡¯s attention away from the giant snake to the back of the room, where a green snake¡¯s head rose above the rubble. Sophia wasn¡¯t certain if she¡¯d missed it or if it had just entered the room through the archway behind itself. It didn¡¯t seem to be moving quickly, but its mere presence meant that they didn¡¯t have much time. It was far smaller than the giant snake, about half again the size of the ones they¡¯d killed on the way in and far from large enough to eat a full-grown man, but that didn¡¯t make it harmless if it decided it wanted to help the giant snake.


    Sophia stabbed the coil in front of her. This time, her knife sliced through the snake¡¯s skin and into its flesh, as though the shield wasn¡¯t there. It must have been only about twice as strong as the small snakes¡¯ shields.


    Unfortunately, she must not have hit anything immediately vital; while the skin gaped and bled, the snake didn¡¯t stop moving. She needed to either hit it somewhere that mattered or hurt it enough that it bled out, and she might not have enough time to wait for the second option. One more snake was fine, but if there was one more, who knew how many others were behind it?


    Sophia glanced around and noticed a broken crossbow bolt in the rubble. Revina must have shot the snake, as well; that might be part of why the shield went down as quickly as it did. Unfortunately, while she could probably pincushion the giant snake now, Sophia wasn¡¯t sure it would do much good. There was somewhere Revina could be very helpful. Sophia half turned and shouted. ¡°Revina! Shoot the smaller snake, see if you can deal with it and any others that come while we¡¯re fighting the big one!¡±


    Revina shouted something back, but the meaning was lost in the noise of the giant snake shifting its position and Sophia didn¡¯t have the chance to ask her to repeat it: she had a snake to deal with. As she turned back, she saw that Dav had narrowly dodged another bite by the snake. It looked like he¡¯d given it a shallow slash on the way by, but like Sophia¡¯s earlier stab it didn¡¯t seem to be slowing the snake down at all yet.


    Sophia jumped on one of the snake¡¯s coils and used it to leap to another. She needed to get at the head, preferably from behind; that was the only place where she could be certain she¡¯d be able to disable the snake well enough to actually stop it. Chopping off part of its tail would be bad for it and might eventually kill it, but she didn¡¯t have ¡°eventually.¡±


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    Sophia turned to jump over a third coil and found the snake staring directly at her. Before she could move out of the way, it lunged forward. It felt like everything was in slow motion; she saw the snake coming at her and frantically tried to dive out of the way, but she couldn¡¯t move fast enough. Her movement was also in slow motion.


    The snake¡¯s jaws closed around Sophia¡¯s left shoulder. Oddly enough, it didn¡¯t hurt; it wasn¡¯t comfortable, but it felt far more like pressure than pain. That was probably a combination of how the snake bit and Sophia¡¯s still-functional shield. Before she could do more than quickly squirm, Sophia felt the snake yank her down into its coils, which parted like water before they began to wrap around her.


    This was not how it was supposed to go. She did not want to make Dav have to rescue her and she definitely didn¡¯t want to die to a snake that wasn¡¯t even venomous!


    Sophia couldn¡¯t move her left arm, but she could still breathe which meant she could shout. She yelled out her anger at the world and at this snake in particular. She had just enough presence of mind to trigger the Stunning Roar Martial Technique; that was her plan if Dav were captured and it should work for her just as well. She had to make herself feel angry, which made it hard to trigger, but she could do it.


    If anything, it worked better than she expected. The snake¡¯s grip on her shoulder loosened and so did the coils it had around her. Sophia knew they¡¯d tighten again momentarily, as soon as the snake overcame the technique Cliff learned from the Devouring Moss monster, but right now she had a window of opportunity.


    A shift in one of the coils above Sophia told her that Dav was doing something she couldn¡¯t see. Sophia didn¡¯t wait for him; she pulled herself down along the snake¡¯s jawline and plunged her knife into the side of its head. From where she was, she couldn¡¯t get at its brain easily but she might just be able to do something about its spine, and disabling the snake¡¯s spine at its head would make it harmless. A venomous snake wouldn¡¯t be harmless, but a Ruins Constrictor didn¡¯t have venom.


    The first chop wasn¡¯t enough, so Sophia tried again. She was well into the flesh in the area when her third strike hit bone as the snake seemed to come to and shook itself as hard as it could. Sophia was caught and painfully squeezed between several of the snake¡¯s coils, even though it wasn¡¯t trying to hold her; instead, it seemed to be trying to flee.


    Sophia¡¯s leverage wasn¡¯t great, but she could still reach the wound she¡¯d started, so she twisted her knife and stabbed. Either she hit something vital in that moment or Dav did, because the snake shuddered and stopped trying to move.


    It collapsed on Sophia and tried to crush her with the sheer weight of its body. By the time Sophia extracted herself from the snake¡¯s heavy coils, the rest of the fight was over. In addition to the giant Ruins Constrictor, there were four of the larger (but not giant) Ruins Constrictors scattered across the broken ground. Three of the four were pierced by crossbow bolts, while the fourth had clearly had its head hacked off by a pissed off Dav.


    Sophia knew Dav was pissed off because she could see it in the way he chopped at the giant snake¡¯s head with his sword. It was dead, but that didn¡¯t stop him; he was far angrier than the situation seemed to deserve. ¡°Dav? Did something -¡±


    Dav whirled, saw Sophia, and dropped his sword.


    Sophia¡¯s eyes flicked to Revina, who stared at her in shock. Revina at least didn¡¯t drop her crossbow, but it was clear she was paying no attention to it.


    Oh. Sophia knew what was going on here. She was enough smaller than Dav that the snake was able to completely hide her in its coils; they must have thought she was badly injured or something. ¡°Guys? I¡¯m fine. The snake didn¡¯t even hurt me much.¡±


    Dav took two steps forward and swept Sophia up in a hug. She was completely shocked.


    It did feel kind of nice to be hugged. She wasn¡¯t quite sure what to do about it, but she suspected she could get used to it.


    Dav didn¡¯t hold Sophia for long. Moments after he grabbed her, he seemed to realize what he was doing and released her like she was a hot stove. He stumbled backwards with a flush on his face. ¡°Sorry! I shouldn¡¯t have.¡±


    Sophia nodded. He was right; he shouldn¡¯t have. They didn¡¯t have a relationship that included hugs. At least, they hadn¡¯t had that sort of relationship until now. She wasn¡¯t sure where they stood now, but she was pretty sure it didn¡¯t include hugs. At least, not normally. ¡°I¡¯m not mad at you. Just ¡­ maybe next time look for me first? I was fine, but the snake is huge and it was hard to get out from under it.¡±


    The staring contest broke with a chuckle from Dav. It sounded a little hysterical at first, but he quickly wound down into something that sounded like actual humor. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll do that next time. After killing the other snakes, of course. Do you need a healing beacon?¡±


    Sophia shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll want one when we get back to Fallen Kestii. For now, though, I¡¯m in good enough shape to keep going and we need to.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean? All the snakes are dead.¡± Revina walked forward to stand with Sophia and Dav near the dead snake. ¡°This has to be the center of the Nest.¡±


    Sophia nodded. ¡°I hope so, but we haven¡¯t seen a notice yet. I assume you don¡¯t have a Vocation, either?¡±


    Revina¡¯s mouth dropped open in a large O. It was clear she hadn¡¯t realized it yet.


    Dav¡¯s expression firmed, but he didn¡¯t look surprised. Of course, he¡¯d been with Sophia when they cleared the Shard of Kestii; he knew what it looked like. Revina clearly didn¡¯t.

 Chapter 28 - To Kill a Nest

    ¡°It¡¯s possible that wasn¡¯t even the nastiest monster in this Nest,¡± Sophia continued. ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s going to be true; it was enough of a step above the others that it seems likely it was the Nest¡¯s focus. But since none of us really know how Nests work and the Nest isn¡¯t clear¡­¡±


    Sophia shrugged. She thought she knew how Nests worked, that they were simply dungeons that centered around a particular monster that established them instead of a dungeon core, but either that was wrong or there was another monster in this one. With the way the Nest suddenly changed before they faced this beast, it was clear they¡¯d entered another zone, but maybe it was a zone that held more than the boss.


    ¡°The smaller snakes all came from the right,¡± Dav suggested. ¡°Why don¡¯t we check that way first?¡±


    Sophia nodded, then waved Dav ahead of her.


    The other side of the archway was a room filled with brush, but even with the brush partly in the way, it was easy enough to see what was there: eggs. There were no snakes immediately obvious, but Dav took his time looking around before he moved into the room anyway. It was a good thing, because he caught a glimpse of something that didn¡¯t belong, probably something green when the brush was all brown, and dove out of the way of a diving snake.


    Sophia was right behind Dav and immediately slashed at the snake. She didn¡¯t pay attention to where she hit it; she just had to get the shield gone and that took a good solid hit but the location didn¡¯t really matter.


    Revina¡¯s crossbow bolt hit the snake at almost the same time as Sophia¡¯s knife. Neither did more than scratch the snake¡¯s skin. This snake was quite a bit smaller than the big one that slept in the larger room, so Sophia could only hope that that meant they were essentially through its shield and just hadn¡¯t penetrated yet.


    The snake seemed to gather itself up, but before it could try again, Dav¡¯s sword licked up from the ground and cut deeply into its side. The snake shuddered but didn¡¯t stop moving.


    Sophia wished she had a better tool for the job; an ax would be perfect. As it was, she had to destroy the snake¡¯s brain or cut its spine and that wasn¡¯t the easiest thing to do on the large snake that kept moving. Maybe she could stop it?


    Sophia shouted and tried to trigger Stunning Roar to give the three of them a pause to use to kill the snake. She felt a little mana push into the Technique, but the snake barely slowed for a fraction of a second. It was completely unlike what happened with the other snake. Sophia was pretty sure she knew why, too; she felt annoyed and irritated but she really didn¡¯t feel angry right now. It seemed like annoyance and irritation weren¡¯t enough.


    She wasn¡¯t really surprised. She¡¯d known that was a possibility ever since she got the Technique; its description was clear. She just didn¡¯t have any other options for the slot and it still seemed like a useful choice, even if it wasn¡¯t reliable. It would probably work when it was the most important. She¡¯d still replace it when Cliff got a better option; she didn¡¯t like Skills that were unreliable.


    The snake tried to lunge forward to grab Dav. Its lunge was met by Dav¡¯s sword and Revina¡¯s bolt. The crossbow bolt skidded off the snake¡¯s upper skull while the sword impacted on its lower jaw. Sophia heard the bone crack.


    Even more importantly, she saw the snake try to stop its motion. That pause, with the snake stretched out right in front of her, was exactly what she needed to stab it right behind the head. Her knife slipped between its vertebrae and probably severed its spine. The snake slid to the ground and took Sophia¡¯s knife with it.


    Getting her knife back was a challenge. Somehow, the snake seemed to have shifted as it fell and locked it in place; Sophia actually had to borrow the knife Revina used to field dress the snakes to dig it out. Even with the flesh mostly out of the way, the bones didn¡¯t want to let go. Sophia was grateful for Imbue Blade; without it, she wasn¡¯t certain Revina¡¯s knife would have been good enough. It was also probably the only reason Sophia¡¯s knife hadn¡¯t snapped; while the knife was well made, it wasn¡¯t enchanted and wasn¡¯t really made for the kind of abuse she¡¯d put it through over the past week or so.


    Dav and Revina watched for more snakes while Sophia worked.


    ¡°Do you think there are more of them?¡± Sophia was tired of snakes. She was pretty sure that she¡¯d have brought special tools to deal with them if there was a snake dungeon at home. There were probably several on Earth, but she¡¯d never been in one and she was just as happy about that.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Dav said the obvious as he thought. ¡°I doubt there are any close, though. These are their eggs; you¡¯d think they¡¯d be with them if they don¡¯t just abandon them, and I doubt you get a Nest with any creature that abandons its eggs.¡±


    ¡°There was a snake in here,¡± Revina contributed. ¡°Plus the four that came to help the big one. I wonder if they were the males or the females?¡±


    ¡°Some of each?¡± Sophia suggested. ¡°This isn¡¯t an ant colony, after all. Speaking of which, do you want to retrieve the eggs? Are they edible?¡±


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    ¡°They¡¯re edible, but there¡¯s no way we can carry them. We didn¡¯t bring a cart.¡± Revina sounded a little saddened by that. ¡°Vyk brings them home when he finds them, but I don¡¯t know if we can get them out. The big snake is more important than fragile eggs. We won¡¯t even be able to get the smaller snakes. I hope the nest doesn¡¯t destroy everything when it turns back into a building.¡±


    ¡°Is that how it works?¡± Sophia was definitely going to corner Aymini or more likely Vramt when they got back to Fallen Kestii. She would almost certainly not ask everything she ought to know, because she wouldn¡¯t think of it, but she had an entire list of questions already.


    ¡°I think so,¡± Revina answered. ¡°It can¡¯t stay like this.¡±


    Sophia had to nod at that. Without a dungeon core or whatever it was a Nest ran on, she couldn¡¯t see how the nested spaces this Nest had would possibly be stable. She shaved a little more of the flesh away from her knife and yanked on it as hard as she could, pushing away with her feet as she pulled with her arms.


    Sophia felt herself skid backwards a bit as she pushed the snake away, but this time the knife slid out with a sucking sound. ¡°That was in there all too well.¡±


    She wiped off Revina¡¯s blade and her own before she handed Revina¡¯s back and sheathed her own. ¡°No sign of more snakes?¡±


    ¡°Nah,¡± Dav agreed, then pointed at the far corner, to the left. ¡°I see something odd in that corner. It doesn¡¯t look like a snake or an egg.¡±


    Sophia followed his finger to the corner. She saw a blue glimmer, first, a light where there shouldn¡¯t be a light. She frowned and tilted her head, trying to get a better look without getting close. Was that what she thought it was?


    ¡°Yeah, I think that¡¯s important. Watch my back,¡± Sophia told Dav and Revina. She looked around as she went, but she couldn¡¯t watch everywhere all at once.


    The blue gleam came from a crystal that was almost exactly the same shade as the Shard of Kestii they¡¯d recovered. It seemed to glow with a faint inner light; she didn¡¯t remember the Shard doing that. It was also far smaller; instead of being three inches long, it was less than an inch in any dimension. It clearly hadn¡¯t been covered in a thin skin of metal at some point in its past, either.


    ¡°Is the glow because the Nest is still active?¡± Sophia asked the question but didn¡¯t expect an answer; neither Dav nor Sophia would know. It was just as well that she didn¡¯t expect an answer, because the moment her hand touched the crystal, a message from the Guide appeared.


    Nest Cleared!


    Nest Fragment Collected!


    This Fragment was once used to create a Nest used by Ruins Constrictors (monsters). Any use of it to attack or defend against Ruins Constrictors is enhanced due to its familiarity with the monsters.


    Sophia blinked at the message. It was a little longer than the notice they¡¯d received when they entered the Nest, but not by much. The important thing, apparently, was not killing the monsters; instead, they had to find the fragment. She definitely needed to talk to Aymini and Vramt; that seemed a bit too important to leave out of their descriptions of a Nest, but even Revina seemed clueless.


    ¡°Can I see that?¡± Dav held out his hand towards Sophia.


    She dismissed the message in front of herself and dropped the fragment of glasslike crystal into his hand. ¡°It looks like something a crafter can use, maybe? Perhaps that¡¯s why the Shard of Kestii was in that box?¡±


    Dav seemed startled when the gem hit his palm. He seemed to read something quickly, then shook his head. ¡°It says I can absorb it. Did you get that? Can Cliff use it?¡±


    Cliff didn¡¯t wait for Sophia to repeat the question. ¡°No. It is much too weak. It also has nothing of interest; I Collected the Ruins Constrictor form from the great snake, but it is nothing more than an oversized snake. I would not put it in any dungeon I built; it is far too boring.¡±


    That was disappointing; Sophia had hoped for something to replace Stunning Roar. She hadn¡¯t really expected it, since she hadn¡¯t seen the snake do anything unusual, but she was still disappointed.


    Sophia shook her head at Dav. ¡°That wasn¡¯t an option for me, it just said that the fragment is stronger against Ruins Constrictors. Cliff got the monster but doesn¡¯t think he can do anything with the fragment. If you want it, it¡¯s yours; I think we got Revina what she came here for.¡±


    That reminded her to look at Revina. Sophia expected to see her smiling; instead, she had a scowl on her face. ¡°Revina? What¡¯s wrong? Didn¡¯t you get your Vocation?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not there.¡± Revina¡¯s hand clenched, then released. ¡°I finally got the Vocation-granting feat and the Vocation I want isn¡¯t there! The only magical Vocations it¡¯s offering are Potionmaster and Smokeseer! Potionmaster is barely a magical Vocation anyway, it¡¯s all about preparation ahead of time; you can¡¯t actually cast spells, just make things that have magical effects. I want something like Father¡¯s Vocation, something flexible and useful in a lot of different ways, not something where I have to know exactly what I want ahead of time or something that just messes with monsters¡¯ vision!¡±


    ¡°Ah,¡± Sophia scrambled for something she could say that might help.


    Dav got there first. ¡°Then don¡¯t choose it yet. You said you needed more items of Air, right? We got those blowshrooms; if they aren¡¯t enough, maybe we can find something more for you.¡±


    ¡°Or maybe you¡¯re in the wrong place,¡± Sophia added. ¡°This isn¡¯t exactly the open air; maybe you should be out, feeling the wind? Or perhaps you need to move the air with a spell? That sounds like something that you help in getting an air-based magic Vocation.¡±


    Revina snorted. ¡°Move the air with a spell? I can¡¯t, no one can without a Vocation. Sometimes you say the oddest things.¡± She seemed to be in a better mood.


    Sophia had the distinct suspicion that Revina was going to wear on her nerves quickly. ¡°You don¡¯t have anyone who can cast freeform spells?¡±

 Chapter 29 – Back to Fallen Kestii

    ¡°What? No, of course not. Spell creation¡¯s an Archmage thing, you know, people at really high levels with tons of other magic. Why would any of them live in a place like Fallen Kestii?¡± Revina shook her head as if the thought were simply impossible. ¡°Father¡¯s the closest we have to a spellcaster, and he can¡¯t do air spells, he does stone spells. If we had an archmage, I¡¯d be trying to learn from them, not collecting items and hoping unless that¡¯s what they said to do.¡±


    For once, Revina sounded positively reasonable instead of acting like Sophia¡¯s question was simply the most ridiculous thing in the world. She was wrong, but confidently wrong and not dismissive. Sophia decided not to undercut her immediately; if she did, Revina would probably go back to her earlier complete dismissal of Sophia¡¯s questions as stupid, even if she never said that. Sophia would talk to Vramt about it; he seemed like a better choice than Aymini. He was both Revina¡¯s father and the man whose path Revina wanted to emulate.


    ¡°So what are we taking with us and what are we leaving behind? Should we search the rest of the building? I don¡¯t generally think of snakes as things that collect lots of stuff¡­?¡± Dav clearly thought the discussion of Revina¡¯s new Vocation was over. Sophia couldn¡¯t agree more.


    Revina seemed to accept the redirection, as well. She wrinkled her nose as she answered, ¡°No? Vyk never comes back with anything other than meat and sometimes eggs. We should take the giant snake and as many of the smaller ones as we can, then let Vyk come back.¡±


    Sophia nodded. She probably could have fit some of the eggs in her pack, but she didn¡¯t know which ones had snakes that could hatch at any time and which didn¡¯t and she didn¡¯t want a giant constrictor plus eggshell in her pack. Cleaning it out would be a pain, possibly in more than one way.


    ¡°Should we hurry, then?¡± Sophia glanced at the others, then made her way to the giant snake. Moving it was not going to be easy.


    They didn¡¯t make it all the way to the building they¡¯d been staying in before they were seen. Someone who Sophia didn¡¯t know hailed the group a couple of streets before the entrance. ¡°Hey there, Revvy! That¡¯s a heck of a large snake. Vyk be back soon?¡±


    Revina sighed audibly before she shouted back at the man. ¡°Dammit Johan, I told you not to call me Revvy!¡±


    ¡°And I told you not to call me Dammit Johan!¡± The man sounded amused as he trotted over towards them. He was surprisingly short. While he was taller than Aymini, that was about all Sophia could say for him; the top of his head barely came to Revina¡¯s shoulder. He was covered in grimy fur, mostly gray and white on his face with a deep gray where his hair would have been if he were more human in appearance. Oddly enough, he didn¡¯t have animal-like ears; the fur seemed to be the only odd feature he had other than his height.


    ¡°Seriously, though, I didn¡¯t see you with Vyk when they left this morning. Did you go out on your own?¡± Johan waved at Sophia and Dav. ¡°And you two, I don¡¯t know you. Are you the strays Aymini picked up a week ago?¡±


    Sophia could not wait to get out of this tiny town.


    Dav¡¯s sigh sounded like he felt the same way. ¡°Yes. Are you going to help us carry this stuff or are you just going to stand there and talk?¡±


    Johan grinned at Dav. He pranced alongside Dav, pacing him as he dragged the travois they¡¯d improvised to carry the giant snake. ¡°Stand here and talk, probably. I¡¯m not very good at carrying things.¡±


    ¡°He always drops them,¡± Revina agreed. ¡°You¡¯d think he¡¯d have more pride, but no¡­¡±


    ¡°Pride doesn¡¯t get things done,¡± Johan countered. ¡°And no one¡¯s going to complain if I don¡¯t do the heavy work; I get my tasks done and more. I¡¯d rather take pride in fixing windows and making your mom¡¯s glassware than in things other people can do.¡±


    That told Sophia what Johan did; he was probably a glassblower. It seemed like an odd occupation for someone with fur over their skin, but it wasn¡¯t like hair wasn¡¯t flammable and a burn on ordinary skin wouldn¡¯t be pleasant, either. ¡°Glassblower is a prestigious job, then?¡±


    ¡°You can call it that,¡± Johan agreed. ¡°Not as prestigious here as back in Vremin, but that¡¯s as it is. Vremin doesn¡¯t exist anymore but I¡¯m still alive.¡±


    Sophia adjusted her grip on the travois she was pulling; it held several smaller snakes and while that made it easier than Dav¡¯s, it was still a pain to pull. ¡°What happened to Vremin?¡±


    ¡°Does it matter?¡± Johan sounded bitter. ¡°Monsters, war, an aetherstorm ¡­ it¡¯s gone now and that¡¯s all that matters. What few survived are scattered. More here in Fallen Kestii than most places, but not enough to rebuild Vremin. Get too big and you¡¯ll get chopped; it¡¯s what happened here and its what happened in Vremin.¡± He stopped at the door to the building and opened it. ¡°I¡¯m sure Revina told you already, but get the snakes to the kitchen. They¡¯ll take care of it from there.¡±


    Revina leaned over and quietly whispered in Sophia¡¯s ear, ¡°It was all three. Ask Aymini for the story if you want to know about it. Johan doesn¡¯t like to talk about Vremin.¡±


    Sophia nodded slightly. It was clearly a sensitive subject, so it was probably best to avoid it for now.


    Johan left after opening the door, muttering something about still needing straw. Sophia wasn¡¯t sure what straw had to do with glassblowing, but she didn¡¯t need to know and she didn¡¯t really care to ask.


    It took some maneuvering to get all three travois inside, but from the entrance to the kitchen was a straight passageway with only a single additional door. It was clear that the kitchen was set up to get large deliveries from outside; that was even more clear when they were told to leave the snakes in a large open area just outside the main kitchen, through a door Sophia hadn¡¯t paid any attention to previously.


    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ¡°Vyk isn¡¯t back yet,¡± Revina muttered. ¡°There isn¡¯t another snake here. I¡¯d better go find Reba; she can pull everyone together to go get the rest. She won¡¯t have gone out with Vyk.¡±


    With that, Revina trotted away and left Dav and Sophia alone except for the kitchen workers, who looked like they¡¯d just as soon have Dav and Sophia disappear as well. Sophia gave them a quick grin, then grabbed Dav¡¯s hand and pulled him out into the main room. He didn¡¯t resist at all; if anything, it was more like he was pushing her ahead of himself.


    When they got far enough into the room, Sophia whirled and looked at Dav. ¡°What do you think? Should we get cleaned up, hunt down Aymini or Vramt, or just sit and relax with a Healing Beacon for a bit?¡±


    Dav gave Sophia a long look from her head to her feet. Sophia found herself blushing for no reason and suddenly realized she was still holding Dav¡¯s hand. She let go hastily; there was no reason to hang on.


    ¡°Let¡¯s check when they¡¯re available,¡± Dav suggested. He flexed the hand she¡¯d just released; she hoped she hadn¡¯t been holding on too strongly. ¡°Then I think I want a bath and a chance to look over Ability choices; I haven¡¯t checked, but I¡¯m sure we picked up some Wisps from the Nest. Hopefully there will be time for that before we talk to them. I can pull out a Healing Beacon while we bathe or while we talk.¡±


    Something wrapped itself around the head of the great Black Bird that bled in eternal darkness. This pleased the Black Bird; it had no way to hunt other than waiting for another creature¡¯s attack and it was hungry. It had not eaten in far too long.


    It moved its head sharply forward and stabbed with its beak. As the attacker loosened its hold, the creature spread its dripping wings and covered the attacker in its dark blood. No matter how the attacker struggled now, it was caught in the creature¡¯s dark blindness.


    The attacker was long and sinuous. Somewhere in the dimness of the Black Bird¡¯s past, it thought that perhaps it knew what the attacker was: a snake. Snakes were prey to the Black Bird, and this snake was no different.


    The snake did not struggle much, once the Black Bird savaged it with its beak and talons.


    The Black Bird slowly ate its prey. As it did, it felt Home¡¯s direction become clear once more. It did not trust the feeling; always by the time it got closer, Home¡¯s direction was blurred once again.


    It did not want to give up the first large meal in far too long, so the Black Bird waited to head for Home as it ate. It ate and ate and ate.


    There was still part of the snake left when the Black Bird could eat no more. It could still feel Home, as well. Perhaps it was time to try again. This time, surely, Home would be found.


    The bleeding Black Bird waddled awkwardly forward and launched itself into the sky. It knew its bleeding flight was different, but it did not pay attention. It could still feel Home!


    It flew closer and closer. It was almost there when Home once more disappeared.


    It knew it was close. This time, the blind Black Bird did not stop. It flew on and on, in the direction Home had been, though it could no longer tell if that was the correct direction.


    Its flight ended with pain and something it had not expected: light. Purple light filled its mind. It had not seen light since it was torn from its Home, and it did not see the light now. It merely knew it was there.


    The Black Bird recovered quickly and launched itself into the air. Home was not here; Home was hidden. It would find Home the next time the purple light revealed it.


    Home had to be close.


    Fallen Kestii had very nice baths. What it didn¡¯t have was individual baths; instead, it had a series of rooms that you were expected to progress through, sort of like a fancy spa. Oddly enough, it wasn¡¯t fancy; the baths in the building they were in were plain, as if they were just the minimum that was expected.


    The first area was the washroom. It was the only area that was separated into two areas by gender; it was also the only area where you were supposed to be naked. If all you wanted was a quick shower or to remove grime, you could visit the washroom and leave, but almost no one did that. You could choose to wash in a tub, from a bucket, or using a shower arrangement; Sophia used the shower even though it was the coldest because it was also the fastest.


    Sophia didn¡¯t like the washroom. The water was colder than she liked and the soap was harsh. The one good thing she could say about it was that she was always happy when she was done and could wrap herself in the thin but opaque soaking robe that was expected for the next room.


    It was cotton, dyed unevenly red-purple, and available in a wide range of sizes. Sophia had no trouble finding one, though the oversized sleep shirt that it reminded her of seemed like an odd thing to wear when she knew she was about to get into hot water. They didn¡¯t have bathing suits, so a communal set of bath gear that was washed after each use was apparently the standard.


    The communal hot bath was a long, snaking waterway that you climbed into from the back. It had seats on both sides and was hottest right where it started; as it traveled, it cooled. If you wanted a different temperature, all you had to do was move. The seats were carved right into the stone of the waterway itself and were a wide variety of heights; most were set up for more or less human-sized adults, but there were ¡°seats¡± that were nearly flush with the floor and seats that had to be for children, because even someone as short as Aymini would be wet only to her waist.


    Sophia gave a quick look up and down the hot stream and didn¡¯t find Dav. She must have been faster. It wasn¡¯t surprising; he didn¡¯t seem to have the problems with either the cold water or the soap that she did. Or maybe he just wasn¡¯t willing to suffer through getting drenched in cold water all at once just to speed up getting out of it; that was also possible. She was almost always faster than Dav.


    Not that the three times they¡¯d gone to the baths together after Aymini showed them how they worked were that much of a benchmark. It wasn¡¯t like Sophia had hurried this time just so that she could pick the starting point. Really.


    The fact that the soaking robe would be plastered to Dav¡¯s chest when he got out had nothing to do with the reason they kept going to the baths at the same time, either. Sophia knew that was just as much of a lie as the first, but she was still going to keep telling herself that. She didn¡¯t know Dav well enough to be interested yet. She didn¡¯t even know if he was interested in her!


    Either way, it meant she got to pick the temperature. Sophia moved to a spot a little higher than she actually preferred; she¡¯d found that if she warmed up then backed off to a more comfortable temperature, it worked better.


    She slipped her feet into the water then carefully slid along the smooth warm stone until she was buried up to her neck in water that felt way too hot for a moment, then quickly seemed nice. It was starting to seem just a bit too warm again when she heard Dav¡¯s voice. ¡°Sophia! Why do I always find you at the hot end?¡±


    Sophia stood up. She acted like it didn¡¯t mean anything, but one corner of her mind wondered if Dav would finally notice what she looked like with, essentially, a wet shirt on. ¡°I need to warm up, same reason as always. I¡¯m ready to move a bit cooler; why don¡¯t you join me?¡±

 Chapter 30 - So Few Wisps

    Sophia led the way to a cooler part of the hot bath, where they could sit in comfort for as long as they needed to without overheating. It was closer to the cool end than she usually picked; she expected both of them to be distracted dealing with possible new Abilities, so they might be in the water longer than usual.


    Dav climbed into the pool across from Sophia when she stopped and sat with a groan. ¡°Oh, this is so nice. Maybe I should set up the healing beacon here.¡±


    Sophia shook her head. ¡°If we were alone, sure, but what is it going to look like this time? Do you want someone surprised while you¡¯re looking at new Abilities?¡±


    ¡°Ah, fair enough. We should probably get started.¡± Dav didn¡¯t seem to be in a hurry.; his gaze stayed focused on Sophia instead of looking at screens in front of himself.


    Sophia felt oddly reluctant to look, too. She wasn¡¯t sure why, but the moment seemed too perfect to disturb.


    The silence grew longer until Sophia finally decided that she really shouldn¡¯t wait any longer and pulled up her Status. ¡°Yeah, we really should look. Huh. I have 31 Wisps available. You?¡±


    ¡°The same. That means we each got thirty from the fragment; do you think that¡¯s because there were three of us or because fragments are weaker than shards?¡± A grin started to form on Dav¡¯s face as he speculated on how things worked.


    ¡°It could be because it was easier, or it could be because we have a level now. Do you think anyone here knows?¡± Sophia really meant Aymini and Vramt, since they were the best guides they had.


    ¡°Probably.¡± Dav sounded a little disappointed at that. He looked around and seemed to confirm no one was within easy earshot before he added in a quiet voice, ¡°I noticed that no one tried to talk to us after we cleared the fragment.¡±


    He had to mean the Wanderer. Sophia nodded and whispered back, ¡°Yeah, Revina was there.¡±


    Sophia glanced across her Status. There wasn¡¯t anything she could do about her Spells and Martial Techniques, since Cliff didn¡¯t have anything new. She wasn¡¯t ready to increase her Level yet, not if it would make things more expensive. That meant she couldn¡¯t do anything about her Shield.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Body: 5


    </td>


    <td>


    Wisp Dedication - Sophia


    </td>


    <td>


    Unaffiliated Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    50 Wisps


    </td>


    <td>


    Available Wisps: 31


    </td>


    <td>


    Innate Communication (Bonus, Free)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Feather Image)


    </td>


    <td>


    Dedication Requires Available Slot


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Core: 7


    </td>


    <td>


    Ability Slots:


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    50 Wisps


    </td>


    <td>


    Unaffiliated: 20 Wisps


    </td>


    <td>


    Species Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Species: 10 Wisps


    </td>


    <td>


    (None)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Spheres


    </td>


    <td>


    Spellblade: 25 Wisps


    </td>


    <td>


    Dedication Requires Available Slot


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Spellblade (Hallow)


    </td>


    <td>


    Martial Techniques: 25 Wisps


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Level:1


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Spellblade Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    10 Wisps


    </td>


    <td>


    Unslot Ability: Varies


    </td>


    <td>


    (Imbue Blade, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Dedication Requires Available Slot


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Collector (Linked)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Level: 1


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    No Dedication Possible


    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    ¡°Hell¡¯s bells,¡± Dav swore. ¡°I can¡¯t even look at possible abilities without an open slot?¡±


    Sophia turned her attention to that part of her Wisp Dedication screen. ¡°I can¡¯t either. Dedication Requires Available Slot is what it says. Hm. I think it may be worth buying a slot. I wonder, should I go for a Species slot or a Spellblade slot?¡±


    Dragons were powerful. If she were certain the Guide knew what a dragon was, she¡¯d go for a species slot without thinking too hard about it. She didn¡¯t know what was there.


    On the other hand, she knew some of what was in the spellblade section and she thought some of it was likely to be very useful in the coming days. It was a sure bet, if she had the wisps for it. The thing was, she didn¡¯t. Not at 25 for a spellblade slot. A spellblade ability was certain to cost at least ten and she only had 31. She could probably get a species ability as well as the slot with that.


    ¡°Could go unaffiliated, too,¡± Dav muttered. ¡°Those could be anything.¡±


    ¡°Could work,¡± Sophia agreed. ¡°At least you might have the points to buy an ability as well as the slot.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. I¡¯m going to look through species abilities since that one hasn¡¯t filled in yet, then probably buy an unaffiliated slot and see what¡¯s there. I kind of want to save points for attributes, but I don¡¯t think that¡¯s the right play yet. I think we¡¯re going to want to spread things around, which means one slot in each. Yeah, that sounds good.¡± Dav was clearly more muttering to himself than talking to Sophia by the end.


    He was probably right. It seemed possible but very expensive to focus on one thing to the exclusion of everything else. It looked like wisps were going to come fairly easily but unless the rewards went up, they¡¯d disappear even faster.


    Sophia started to pick up a Species Ability Slot, then paused. Theoretically, she could afford either a Species Ability Slot and Ability or an Unaffiliated Ability Slot and Ability, but she couldn¡¯t look at them both. Dav was planning to look at Unaffiliated Abilities, however, and it seemed plausible they¡¯d be shared. If she waited, she could get an idea of what was there without spending her points on it yet. ¡°Dav, what are you seeing in Unaffiliated Abilities? Is there one I really should pick up without looking at anything else?¡±


    ¡°Hmm.¡± Dav muttered to himself as he looked through his options. ¡°Regeneration ¡­ no, that looks like a worse version of the Healing Beacon that only applies to yourself, it specifically says it doesn¡¯t work on major injuries and is very slow. Now, if it worked on Shield, that might be something, but it doesn¡¯t. Oh, wait, there¡¯s one that does ¡­ recovers ten percent faster. Yeah, no. I bet there¡¯s a chain of those; might be useful if you take enough of them but that¡¯ll be really expensive. Effect reduction, that¡¯s interesting. Oh, hah, it says I¡¯m not high enough Level for anything here. Minimum level is four? That¡¯s good to know.¡±


    Dav chuckled at the next one. ¡°Harder to hurt? One extra point of Shield probably does that, but it doesn¡¯t seem that significant. Equipment abilities ¡­ and of course it¡¯s blank because I haven¡¯t used any valid equipment. We should ask about that. Oh, hey, now there¡¯s something useful. Individual Telepathic Link ¡­ but it¡¯s a hundred wisps and both people have to take it with each other designated as the target of the link. I¡¯m surprised it doesn¡¯t have a level limit.¡±


    Sophia was too. On the other hand, a hundred wisps and an ability slot seemed like a sort of limit; you would have to really want it to go for something like that.


    ¡°There are some more with trained animals or linked companions, but most of them are underwhelming or far too expensive. Oh, there¡¯s one. Danger sense sounds useful, I may take that one.¡± Dav paused, then read the description of the Ability. This time, he was obviously reading it to Sophia. ¡°Sense the world around you with your aura to gain a small chance to notice possible dangers before they occur. Hm. The combination of small and possible isn¡¯t filling me with confidence.¡±


    Sophia blinked. She already knew how to do that. It wasn¡¯t hard; it was basic aura manipulation. Well, it wasn¡¯t hard for anyone who¡¯d been using their aura since they were a child; it might be hard for people who didn¡¯t have that experience. ¡°If you don¡¯t take that one, I can probably teach it to you. Something a lot like it, at least; the Ability probably takes less attention. Normal aura sensing requires you to pay attention unless it¡¯s really strong. It¡¯s just another sense, like hearing; if it¡¯s loud, you¡¯ll definitely hear it, but it can be lost in other noises or you can just not be listening.¡±


    ¡°That sounds like a bit more than it¡¯s promising with the ability,¡± Dav noted. ¡°I¡¯ll take you up on that whether or not I pick danger sense. I don¡¯t think I will, at least not for now. Let¡¯s see ¡­ huh. Specialize mana core? It says it makes spells and abilities using the element cheaper and more powerful but may make managing other elements more difficult.¡±


    ¡°That might be worth picking up once you know which way you¡¯re headed. I¡¯m pretty sure Revina¡¯s trying to get an Air specialization and Vramt has one in rocks or stone. Earth, perhaps, if they¡¯re not that distinct.¡± Sophia shook her head. If only she knew more. She thought she knew what it was talking about, but gaining one element didn¡¯t directly make others harder usually. At least, it didn¡¯t with the Voice¡¯s help; maybe the Guide did? ¡°I also have a specialty, but mine¡¯s in magic itself. It means all my spells are a little easier to shape properly, a little more efficient, a little faster. It doesn¡¯t make them any more powerful directly unless they¡¯re interacting with magic. It helps more with spellbreaking than with spellcasting, really.¡±


    It also helped with runic inscription and enchanting, but Sophia only knew the very basics of both and she didn¡¯t know if those would carry over into this world or not. Her guess was that some of the basics would but that she¡¯d have a lot to learn. Realistically, she¡¯d have had a lot to learn back home, as well; while she could patch up a damaged enchantment temporarily, that was about the best she could manage. Making one from nothing wasn¡¯t something she¡¯d ever done on her own. Even with help, she¡¯d only done it a couple times. She had none of the tools she¡¯d need and she wasn¡¯t skilled or knowledgeable enough to make the tools. They¡¯d probably be available when they got to a bigger city, but Sophia wasn¡¯t interested in settling down to make things.


    ¡°There¡¯s only one specialization available for me,¡± Dav reported. ¡°Eldritch. Attune yourself to the primordial chaos that lies beneath reality. That¡¯s a bit grim, if this is all real.¡±


    Sophia gave Dav a hard look. Did he still have doubts that he was in reality? ¡°It is real. You should know that by now.¡±


    Dav sighed. ¡°I just don¡¯t want to know. You know?¡±


    Despite the fractured way he said it, Dav¡¯s meaning was clear. ¡°You don¡¯t want to believe it because it¡¯s not what you thought reality was. Yeah, I get it.¡± She probably didn¡¯t, at least not the way he did, but she could try. It definitely didn¡¯t help that she¡¯d expected to have her world change at some point, but that was less important than the fact that he¡¯d been lied to and sent to another world when he thought he was just testing something in virtual reality. ¡°But unless your virtual reality is a lot more advanced than ours, it can¡¯t do anything like this.¡±


    Dav shook his head. ¡°No, this is too real. I mean, the scenery and monsters could be generated; the fighting¡¯s a bit too smooth but that could be new tech. The fact that I can feel something when I call the beacon could be my imagination. The people, though? We can¡¯t do anything like the people. That takes people.¡±


    AIs might be capable, but Sophia wasn¡¯t certain. She knew several, and none of them really felt human when you dealt with them, not the way people like Dav, Aymini, Revina, and Vramt did. They were people but they weren¡¯t natively embodied in flesh and that changed things. ¡°We can¡¯t either. Even if they were people, I can¡¯t believe that anyone could act that well and that consistently without believing in it. So ¡­ yeah. This is real.¡±


    Dav stretched. Sophia had noticed he did that when he talked about whether or not this was real, as if he were either testing his body or maybe trying to become more comfortable with it. In water like this, it momentarily outlined his muscles through the cloth of the soaking robe. Sophia couldn¡¯t take her eyes off them until he rolled his shoulders and settled back into place. ¡°So, back to what we were doing. What do you think about mana core specialization? You said you have one?¡±

 Chapter 31 - Mana-Warped Human (Sophia)

    Sophia thought she¡¯d already said what she thought, but that was before Dav told her there was only one option and what it was. ¡°Eldritch? I can guess what that means but it¡¯s only a guess. I think it comes down to how much you want to follow your Hallow¡¯s theme. I think it¡¯s about specialization or keeping your options open. If you take it, I bet the Guide won¡¯t give you any magical options that aren¡¯t eldritch.¡±


    ¡°How much of a limit is that, really?¡± Dav shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m an eldritch summoner; anything I summon will definitely be eldritch.¡±


    ¡°There could be some spells or something in Unaffiliated that you¡¯d be blocking yourself out of, but Eldritch does seem pretty open. It might still be worth asking Vramt. He¡¯ll know more than I do.¡± Sophia was pretty sure Vramt would tell Dav to specialize. He was a specialist and seemed to do quite well at it. ¡°He might also have some ideas on how to stay flexible if you do take it; I¡¯m pretty sure his beads have something to do with his Vocation, but they also seem to give him a lot of options.¡±


    Dav frowned, then nodded slowly. ¡°I¡¯ll wait, but that¡¯s what I¡¯ll end up taking unless he says not to. It should improve everything my magic does, after all. Do you need me to look at more options? I¡¯m nowhere near the end.¡±


    Sophia shook her head. ¡°No, that¡¯s enough for me to get an idea of what¡¯s there. I¡¯ll probably open it up the next time I have enough Wisps, but this time I think it has to be Species abilities.¡±


    Something hit Sophia¡¯s ankle. She almost flinched before she realized that it was Dav¡¯s foot. He was flexing his ankle, like it needed to be stretched in the warm water. Sophia shifted her ankle slightly but kept it next to where Dav¡¯s was. Heat rose on her cheeks, but that was just because the water was warm. Really.


    Sophia resolutely turned her attention to her Wisp Dedication page and Dedicated Wisps to an Ability Slot for her Species. She hadn¡¯t felt anything when she gained the Hallow or when she bought Imbue Blade, but this time she felt something. It felt almost familiar but somehow also strange. It lasted only a fraction of a second and left her wondering if she¡¯d felt something after all. Were Species abilities and ability slots different from everything else, or had she imagined it?


    The question vanished from her mind moments after she checked possible abilities. The options were broader than she¡¯d thought possible.


    Available Species Ability Categories for Mana-Warped Human (Sophia)


    Human Abilities


    These Abilities are available to all Humans. Some Abilities may be blocked by certain Mana Warps.


    Permanent Physical Warps


    Your Mana-Warping has hidden secrets within your body. Allow them to emerge and grow closer to the source of your Mana-Warp. A cat''s claws, a hawk''s vision, or a turtle''s shell could be useful, but which you gain depends on what your Warp has hidden within you.


    Temporary Physical Warps


    It takes power to maintain a temporary change, but sometimes that is worthwhile. These Warps draw on the hidden secrets of your Mana-Warp to enhance your body for a short time.


    Warped Magic


    Your Mana-Warping affects your magic as well as your body. Explore the alteration.


    This includes the potential to learn spellcasting associated with your Mana-Warp even if your Spheres do not include spells.


    Warped Spirituality


    Your Mana-Warping affects your Spirit as well as your body. You are sensitive to the movement of a power few can touch without assistance. Explore the alteration. This includes the potential to gain a greater understanding and control of your natural aura even if your Spheres do not include aura use.


    This includes the potential to collect the spiritual power of a group and use it in spiritual spells even if your Spheres do not include spells.


    Sophia wasn¡¯t sure where to start, but one thing stood out to her. ¡°Dav? Do you have a category of Species Ability named something like Warped Magic? It looks like there might be spellcasting there.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Dav answered almost immediately. ¡°I looked through it while you were picking out Imbue Blade. It was pretty limited; I could get spells but each one was an Ability Slot and they looked more like separate powers than real spells anyway.¡±


    Sophia frowned and opened the category. Dav was right; most of the items listed were what Sophia would think of as individual spells. They were all very basic. ¡°Really? A spell that creates a dot of light? That¡¯s not even as good as my magelight.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Dav sounded a little sad. ¡°The few that look powerful enough to be useful have drawbacks that make them pretty bad, too. The one that lets you shock people specifically says that you aren¡¯t protected from the lightning, while the one that makes wounds bleed more easily requires you to touch the enemy; hitting them with a weapon doesn¡¯t work. That could be useful if we are ever in the right situation, but it seems like it¡¯d be less useful most of the time than stabbing them one more time.¡±


    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    ¡°That sounds pretty useful, actually.¡± Sophia knew Dav hadn¡¯t ever fought monsters in reality before she escorted him through Cliff¡¯s dungeon and everything went sideways. He¡¯d fought them in his games, but that wasn¡¯t the same thing. ¡°It sounds especially useful here; if we get in a long fight against something with a lot of Shield, well, we¡¯re going to keep scratching it but that¡¯s all. If you could make those scratches bleed, we might be able to kill it without ever getting through the shield, or at least make it woozy from blood loss.¡±


    Dav grunted deep in his throat. ¡°I¡¯m not sure those scratches would be enough, but I guess it depends on how much the spell does. That sounds like something else to ask Vramt about. Also-¡±


    Sophia stopped looking through the Warped spell options when Dav didn¡¯t go on even though she hadn¡¯t found a spell that would make enemies bleed yet. ¡°Also?¡±


    ¡°Spell Reservoir: Learn to cast the spells of your species. Does not include any Spell Slots or Spells. If selected, all Species spells will be reserved for the Reservoir.¡± Dav made a splash as he leaned back against the stone seat. ¡°I think that¡¯s how you¡¯re supposed to get species spells. Since slots seem to go up in cost separately, you probably can¡¯t buy many without it and still get any other species abilities.¡±


    ¡°Might depend on the species, but I think you¡¯re right,¡± Sophia agreed. ¡°I wonder how it plays with the spell slots I already have?¡± She started looking for the ability and found it right before Dav asked if it was even available to her.


    ¡°Looks like it is.¡± Sophia bit her lip, then shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m not sure I want to take it, though; I ought to get spells through Cliff and my class. I¡¯m not seeing anything that I have to have, though there are a few basic things that could be useful. If I don¡¯t find anything else I want, I can come back to it.¡±


    Sophia was completely confident she wouldn¡¯t. The other possibilities were simply too good, especially if they actually pulled from her draconic heritage.


    For completeness, Sophia moved to the Human abilities first. She knew she wouldn¡¯t take any of them, like the spells, but she wanted an idea of what was there. It was a decent list; faster movement, more flexibility, lowered food or air requirements, both deeper sleep for better rest and lighter sleep to wake more easily if there was danger, an easier time gaining muscle, improved healing speed, better temperature tolerance ¡­ there was a lot of useful stuff there. Most of it wasn¡¯t amazing, but she could see how it was useful. None of it sounded like it would push someone beyond the normal human limits, but it would push them a little bit that way.


    Permanent Physical Warps was the next section Sophia thought she wouldn¡¯t take. Even a quick glance told her that she was right; while there were a few things she might consider eventually, none were worthwhile now. The one reassuring thing was that the section very distinctly showed that it knew about her draconic heritage.


    She still wasn¡¯t going to take something that would increase her height by a foot and everything else proportionally, claws, or a lengthened muzzle. Sharpening her horns was more interesting than lengthening them and she wasn¡¯t going to do either of those, either, any more than she wanted to shift her vision to see in a different frequency range. Exude Wild Magic seemed like a weird version of the classic dragonfire, adjusted to her draconic type, but it also sounded less controlled than she thought was wise.


    It offered wings, but the description talked about ¡°slowing and guiding a fall¡± rather than actual flight, so they were probably relatively small. That was tempting, since she¡¯d always wanted wings, but it seemed a poor use of her Wisps. It was probably necessary to get actual flight, but she wasn¡¯t yet certain that was worth several Abilities. They seemed pretty weak compared to what she was used to. Even as expensive as they were, they were faster to get, but she wasn¡¯t sure it was a good trade unless there was a much better way to gain Wisps.


    The only other possible chain that she¡¯d consider taking permanently from what she could see now was toughened skin, because that probably led to scale armor. She¡¯d check back later; with luck, there would be something interesting that required a higher Level to be offered that simply wasn¡¯t shown.


    Unfortunately, the temporary physical warps were almost identical to the permanent ones, but with a note that they required mana to initiate and maintain. There was also a note that they could, with the dedication of additional Wisps, be turned into the permanent version later. The fact that the permanent versions didn¡¯t have a similar note didn¡¯t escape her attention.


    Sophia felt a little down about it; while there was definitely some interesting stuff, none of it screamed to her to take it. On the other hand, she¡¯d tried to save the best for last; with luck, she¡¯d succeeded.


    Warped Spirituality was boring at first; expanding her aura¡¯s size and density would happen naturally as she Tiered up and increasing her sensitivity to both aura and mana was a matter of practice more than anything else. None of those were worth spending Wisps on, at least not at the amounts listed.


    Of course, that assumed leveling was like Tiering up. She thought it probably was, but she didn¡¯t know for sure. Well, she¡¯d see when she got there; she could always buy a bigger aura later if that was the only way to get it.


    There was a set of abilities that would let her aura affect people around her; each one said it was a slight effect, but she could draw attention, push it away, inflame emotions, or act as a soothing presence. Each one said it was a weak effect unless she focused on it. She wasn¡¯t particularly interested in any of them, but she could see where they would all be useful to the right person. She could also see that using them on the wrong person could completely piss that person off. Some level of each was normal with aura, but normally it reflected the actual feelings and control of the person whose aura it was.


    When she saw the ability called Deadly Aura, she paused for a moment. That wasn¡¯t her Affinity; her Death Affinity was good, but that was simply because of her family. She relaxed a little when she read the ability; the ability to instantly kill creatures vastly weaker than her with her aura alone was not very useful right now. If she were surrounded by ordinary scorpions that were for some reason pissed at her, she might feel differently, but it seemed exceedingly niche.


    Aura Sight looked interesting, as did Aura of Healing, but neither seemed worth taking. Aura of Healing seemed like it overlapped with Dav¡¯s Healing Beacon, so while it might be worth taking at some point, it wasn¡¯t worth it now. Aura Sight sounded far less comprehensive than her old ManaSight Skill; maybe she ought to take another look at the Warped Magic section and see if it was there.


    Aura Armor stopped Sophia in her tracks. It sounded minor the first time she read it, but every time she reread it, she liked it more. All it said was that she could use her aura to passively slightly deflect attacks before they hit her shield. That wouldn¡¯t help much against a battering ram, but it would be huge against many other attacks.


    There was a similar aura defense against spells available, but Sophia didn¡¯t care. She could take it later, when she started actually fighting creatures that could cast spells. Aura armor was far better right now and would likely stay useful forever.


    A quick check of the Warped Magic section later, Sophia had two options to choose between: Aura Armor and Mage Sight, which sounded almost exactly like her old ManaSight.

 Chapter 32 - Auras and Advice

    Sophia was pretty sure she knew which of the two options she¡¯d narrowed her choices down to that she preferred, but she wasn¡¯t certain which one she¡¯d actually choose. She wanted Mage Sight; it would help her correctly make her spellforms. Right now, making anything she hadn¡¯t made hundreds of times was a little questionable.


    At the same time, Aura Armor would help her stay alive. Mage Sight wouldn¡¯t. In the choice between survival and utility, survival was generally the better choice.


    She dismissed the screens and settled back to enjoy her time in the water. The heat was relaxing muscles she hadn¡¯t even realized were tense;


    Dav seemed to enjoy his soak as well. He took a bit longer to finish looking through his options than Sophia did this time. When he did finish, he pushed himself backwards as if he were trying to push away from the screens he¡¯d just been examining. ¡°I¡¯m waiting until we talk to Vramt, but it¡¯s going to be either the mana specialization or the spellcasting. Neither one really helps what I¡¯ve been doing, but the specialization sounds too good to miss and I don¡¯t want to only have summons for magic. Even if they can cast spells for me.¡± Dav sounded a little bitter as he said the last line.


    Sophia got the impression that it was somehow worse if his summons could cast spells than if they couldn¡¯t, unless Dav was also able to cast spells. ¡°I should be able to teach you spellcasting as well,¡± she offered. ¡°They¡¯re not really viable during combat, they¡¯re too slow, but it¡¯s still spellcasting. We both would have to pick up Mage Sight to do it, but I¡¯m pretty sure I can.¡±


    It might also require Dav to have a mana specialization; Sophia wasn¡¯t sure. She¡¯d never taught spellcasting before and she¡¯d certainly never taught it to someone without an Affinity. She was trying to figure out how to say that when Dav shook his head.


    ¡°If it¡¯s not viable for fighting, I don¡¯t want to take it yet. That fight with the snake was way too close; we need to make sure nothing like that ever happens again.¡± Dav¡¯s fists clenched and he had to make a clear effort to force himself to relax again.


    Sophia knew he didn¡¯t mean it as a rejection of her, but it still hurt a little to have him immediately dismiss her offer. ¡°I, er, it¡¯s just an option. Probably not a good one now, but maybe for the future?¡±


    Dev nodded, almost angrily then looked up at Sophia and stilled. His voice was almost soft when he spoke. ¡°Yeah, maybe for the future. I¡¯ve always wanted to cast spells, I¡¯m just pissed that I ended up in a world with spells and I don¡¯t have any. I shouldn¡¯t take it out on you, you¡¯re trying to help.¡±


    There was a long moment of uncomfortable silence. Sophia wasn¡¯t sure what to say and Dav didn¡¯t seem to know what to say either.


    ¡°So, you said you could teach how to sense danger with aura manipulation. What does that mean?¡± Dav probably meant that as an olive branch.


    Sophia was happy to take him up on it to get past the awkwardness. ¡°Aura is a lot of things. At its base, it¡¯s the area you control around yourself. Have you ever had the sense someone is watching you, then turned around and there was actually someone there?¡± She waited for Dav to nod. ¡°That¡¯s aura - theirs extended unconsciously to overlap with yours and you literally felt it. That¡¯s one of the easiest things to sense with aura, because attention carries Intent and Intent is what shapes aura.¡±


    Dav frowned, then nodded slowly. He seemed to have a question but wasn¡¯t sure how to state it.


    Maybe it would be answered if Sophia continued. It wasn¡¯t like she could actually teach anything in a few minutes; this was just an overview. ¡°That¡¯s why I said it can be used as a danger sense, but there¡¯s more than that; with practice, aura can sense all sorts of things. There¡¯s also the flip side of the coin: you can express yourself with aura. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve felt it too, the person who just seems intimidating and you don¡¯t know why? That¡¯s aura. Most people don¡¯t even know they¡¯re doing it, but you literally can exude confidence or friendliness or fear.¡±


    Dav nodded at that, like he knew what she meant. Good; Sophia had never really taught anyone, so it was good to know that this was working.


    ¡°Everyone has an aura, it¡¯s part of being alive - and by that, I mean in the broadest sense, elementals also have auras. You feel the world, project yourself, and even protect yourself from other auras with your aura. Most people never really learn to do more than limited aura control, the equivalent of holding your breath, but it¡¯s possible to do a lot more with it. The biggest thing I use aura for personally is spellcasting; it lets you directly manipulate your own mana. So, uh, this is probably something I need to teach you before I even start trying to teach you spellcasting.¡± She should have thought of that earlier, before she offered. Yes, she probably could teach it with only mana sight, but without good aura control he¡¯d never get beyond the absolute basics and he certainly wouldn¡¯t have his entire aura¡¯s range for most spells.


    Dav was grinning now. ¡°I can see why you thought that Ability was awfully limited if you can do all that. How long do you think it will take to learn?¡±


    Sophia bit her lip. She wasn¡¯t sure. ¡°Uh, I¡¯ve been learning my entire life. So probably pretty quickly for the basics? I¡¯m not sure how long pretty quickly is.¡±


    ¡°Only one way to find out then. It¡¯ll be something to do in the evenings, at least. When do you want to start teaching?¡±


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    Sophia shrugged. ¡°Why not now? I think the place to start is with sensitivity and awareness, knowing when you¡¯re feeling an aura, where it is, and what it¡¯s doing. I think that¡¯s how I started. I¡¯ll do something with my aura; let me know if you feel something and what you think it is.¡±


    It only took about half an hour before they were both done with the exercise and a little too warm from the hot water. Dav was willing to keep trying, but Sophia could tell that he was getting tired; for a few minutes, he¡¯d actually been able to tell when she extended her aura to poke his, but it was getting more and more erratic. It was best to let him rest and recover and practice more later.


    Not long after that, Sophia knocked on the door to Vramt¡¯s study. He didn¡¯t like to talk the way Aymini did, but realistically that meant he was more comfortable to be around for Sophia. He¡¯d think before he spoke and his words meant something.


    Vramt ushered the two of them inside his study. It was the first time Sophia had been inside in daylight and she took the chance to look around. It was clear that Vramt had completely redone the room; the walls were covered in colorful stones, as were the shelves. A few glass containers showed Aymini¡¯s influence, but most of the room was covered in stone. There were even piles of stones on the floor. Some of the stones glowed with an inner light that had to mean magic.


    A fire flickered in the fireplace, warming the room to a temperature that reminded Sophia of the hot baths. She knew she wouldn¡¯t find the room comfortable for long, but Vramt seemed entirely comfortable.


    ¡°Come in, find a seat.¡± As Vramt ushered them towards the small table in the middle of the room, something plucked at the back of Sophia¡¯s mind. It took her a moment to realize that it was the windows. She was so used to the purple of the warded windows below and the darkness of filled windows that the clear windows of Vramt¡¯s study seemed wrong, even though she knew that he had to have his own wards.


    Vramt sat on the stone directly in front of his fireplace. It looked like it ought to be uncomfortable, but then he was a Stone mage, wasn¡¯t he? Maybe it was more comfortable to him than having something between him and the stone.


    Sophia picked a spot on one side of the short table, facing Vramt. Dav hovered behind the table for a long moment, then settled down on the other side of it. Sophia could see his head over the table and his folded knees in front of it, but everything else was hidden.


    ¡°Revina told me about your trip,¡± Vramt started. ¡°That was your first fragment, wasn¡¯t it?¡±


    Sophia nodded.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure you have questions, but before you ask them, why did you come to me instead of Aymini? I know she¡¯s answered your questions in the past.¡± Vramt sounded honestly curious.


    ¡°She¡¯s not very good at answering them.¡± Dav spoke up before Sophia could. ¡°She tries, I think, but she expects us to know things we don¡¯t and skips over stuff. I¡¯m also not sure I trust her advice, and we have questions about magic; you¡¯re the mage, not her.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not much of a mage,¡± Vramt protested with a slight headshake. ¡°I¡¯m good with my magic, but it¡¯s all learned through practice rather than study, practice and my Warp. That makes it closer to beast-magic than anything that would be classed as true magic.¡±


    Sophia shook her head. ¡°Specialists are true mages. Everyone has specialties.¡±


    Vramt shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s not the difference. True mages study and learn and practice; they often have knowledge-based Vocations. Beast-magic is innate, Abilities rather than Spells. I have some of each, but even my Spells are based on my Species. I didn¡¯t have to learn it; I can just do it.¡±


    Sophia blinked. Did that mean she had a ¡°knowledge-based Vocation¡± the way Vramt meant it, only Cliff learned things instead of her? She shook her head to clear it; that was a pointless thought. It wasn¡¯t an important distinction to her, even if it meant something socially here.


    ¡°That¡¯s one of the questions we had, actually. I¡¯ve narrowed down my next choice to a mana core specialization or the Species ability Spell Reservoir. That sounds like what you¡¯re talking about; is it worth taking if it¡¯s not true magic?¡± Dav somehow managed to sound both hopeful and worried at the same time.


    Vramt leaned forward. ¡°It is, but does the specialization match your Vocation? Don¡¯t take anything that conflicts with your Vocation. It gives you a little more flexibility but it makes you far weaker; it¡¯s only worthwhile for people with Professions that need multiple specializations.¡±


    Dav shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s Eldritch, and I¡¯m an Eldritch Summoner.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know that element,¡± Vramt admitted. ¡°But take it anyway. Your Vocation will already limit what Spells you can learn; specializing in exactly what it¡¯s designed for makes everything work better. You got lucky there; most people have to take a related specialization and try to patch the difference with Abilities.¡±


    Sophia didn¡¯t think it was luck.


    ¡°It¡¯s my Warp,¡± Dav admitted. He clearly didn¡¯t think it was luck either. ¡°I suspect it was the only possibility once I picked Eldritch Summoner.¡±


    Vramt nodded, then pointedly looked at Sophia. He didn¡¯t say it, but she was certain he was telling her to ask her first question.


    She wasn¡¯t going to ask about her Ability choice, at least not directly. She knew she wanted both Abilities; the question was which to take first. ¡°When we leave here, do we need to immediately be stronger or can it wait a bit? We seem to be doing okay so far.¡±


    ¡°The area that used to be Kestii is weak, as long as you stay out of the center of the city. That¡¯s why we¡¯re here; there aren¡¯t enough Nests, Hollows, Challenges¡­¡± Vramt made a rotating gesture with his hand, as if he was indicating that there were a bunch of other possible names for the areas, ¡°to be extremely dangerous without a Nexus. That also means there aren¡¯t the resources for anyone to want the area. It¡¯s perfect for us, but it means you can¡¯t judge elsewhere by what you¡¯ve seen here. If you have the choice between something that will make you stronger now and something that will take time, take the immediate option. You can always drop the Ability later when you don¡¯t need it; you¡¯ll have to Dedicate some Wisps to removing it, but as an early Ability it won¡¯t take many.¡±

 Chapter 33 - Just a Few More Questions

    Sophia was certain that if she took Aura Armor, she wouldn¡¯t replace it unless she found an ability that was a direct upgrade. The Voice would do that; she wondered if the Guide did and if so how it worked. Would she have to devote two Ability Slots to the basic and upgraded Ability or could she drop the basic Ability once she had the upgraded Ability?


    Even so, she couldn¡¯t really argue with the advice. It was pretty similar to what she¡¯d been thinking and it was clearly informed by the area.


    Come to think of it, she should ask. ¡°Is it possible to upgrade Abilities?¡±


    Vramt nodded. ¡°Of course. The usual way is to Dedicate Wisps to a better Ability at a higher Level. Some of them can be traded out, but most of them require the lower Ability to work. It¡¯s often worth doing; upgraded Abilities can be a lot better than the basic ones.¡±


    ¡°The usual way?¡± Dav leapt on the phrase before Sophia could.


    Vramt chuckled. ¡°The other way is usually only achieved by Professionals; Vocational Abilities are hard to completely master. To completely master an Ability, you have to be able to do it on your own, without the Guide¡¯s help, reliably and as well as the Guide can. If you can do that, Dedicating Wisps to an Ability upgrade will set it into the mastered Ability¡¯s slot. If you manage to master an Ability and already have an upgrade to it in an Ability slot, it will slide into the mastered Ability¡¯s slot and give you a free slot. Unfortunately, that¡¯s the only way to be sure you¡¯ve actually mastered the Ability; the Guide doesn¡¯t tell you.¡±


    That was the first way Sophia had heard that made the Guide actually sound like it was giving guidance, and it was awfully poor guidance. You had to feel how an Ability worked, reverse engineer it, and then manage to repeat it on your own? She could see why few people managed it. It could easily be faster and more effective to just go get the Wisps for the additional Ability slot.


    Of course, there would come a point where that wasn¡¯t true. Sophia suspected that most people didn¡¯t ever get to that point. She¡¯d have to see just how hard it was. She was certain it would be tough to do with spells, but Imbue Blade seemed possible. It wasn¡¯t that far off the magic she knew, especially Intent-based magic; she¡¯d just have to take the bits apart and see if she could replicate it. Maybe there was a spellform she could maintain to help guide it?


    ¡°What can we expect when we leave?¡± Dav didn¡¯t wait for Sophia.


    Vramt smiled. ¡°If you go with old Arryn, the merchant we¡¯re expecting some time in the next couple weeks, he¡¯ll take you through the plains to the mountains. The plains are fairly safe, like this part of Kestii or even a bit safer, as long as you avoid any of the old warpsprings. He knows a safe route, so I doubt you¡¯ll go anywhere near them. The mountains are not safe; if you see a monster, listen to Arryn. He¡¯ll know if it¡¯s something you can fight or if you need to hide in his wagon. It¡¯s spellwarded to be ignored when it¡¯s all closed up, and most monsters will avoid his draft sloth.¡±


    Sophia blinked. Had she heard that correctly? ¡°Draft sloth?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, no idea where he got Peaches, but the sloth will do almost anything for his namesake and is more than big enough to pull Arryn¡¯s wagon. He seems slow, but Arryn says he¡¯s good in nearly any weather and far sturdier than a horse.¡± Vramt shrugged. ¡°He¡¯s had Peaches for years and says he¡¯s the best deterrent he¡¯s ever seen; something about Peaches makes most monsters cautious.¡±


    All of Sophia¡¯s questions fled at the idea that they¡¯d be traveling with a merchant in a wagon pulled by a guard sloth. All she could do for a long moment was stare at Vramt.


    Dav didn¡¯t have the same problem. ¡°So what¡¯s past the mountains?¡±


    ¡°It depends on which way you take through the mountains. He usually talks about Censit, which at least used to be a prosperous market town and fort. Like Revina, you two can pass; your Warp glows a bit, which makes it look like manaburn, while Sophia looks almost like a Wyld Elf. I¡¯ve never seen one with silver horns, but that¡¯s what people will assume. You aren¡¯t radiating the magic of your Warp nearly as strongly; if I hadn¡¯t seen it back when it was strong, I might well think that your face was just a case of manaburn. Turn down treatment if it¡¯s offered and you¡¯ll be fine. They¡¯re probably not looking for hidden Warped anymore.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re talking about why you ended up here in Fallen Kestii, aren¡¯t you?¡± Sophia had heard Aymini talk about it a bit as well, as if being Warped was considered a bad thing elsewhere.


    ¡°It¡¯s ancient history now,¡± Vramt answered. ¡°More than a decade. Aymini talks about it like it was a war, but it wasn¡¯t nearly that big; it¡¯s probably forgotten and it¡¯s better that way. You two are from a long way from here and not involved; it¡¯s best for your sakes that that stays true. Revina can make her own choices. If she starts looking into it, I don¡¯t expect you two to protect her. She should know better.¡±


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    The fact that Vramt said that made it sound like he wasn¡¯t confident Revina would leave well enough alone.


    ¡°Now, as for what¡¯s there. I know Aymini has mentioned the Vocational Registry. They¡¯ll be your best resource; they¡¯re used to people who travel a long way from home to find an area suited to their Level and Ability set. I¡¯m afraid I can¡¯t tell you much more than that; I used to know people in Censit, but most are either dead or here in Fallen Kestii.¡± Vramt had a faraway look in his eyes, like visions of better days danced in front of his mind¡¯s eye.


    ¡°What are the differences between a Shard and a Fragment?¡± Dav seemed ready to move on at the simply inadequate description of Censit. Sophia wasn¡¯t certain what she would have asked, but surely there was something. Going to a new place and knowing only the name of an organization to talk to seemed inadequate.


    ¡°Everything,¡± Vramt picked up a stone from the shelf next to himself. ¡°This was part of a wall, once. A Shard is like that, something that was once part of something bigger. A Fragment sounds like it ought to be the same thing, but it¡¯s the opposite: it¡¯s something small that is trying to become something larger. A Shard, once removed from its area, can be joined to other Shards to remake what it once was, though usually in a weaker form unless it is given time to grow. A Fragment, on the other hand, has nothing to be joined with; it can only be made into something else. Shards and Fragments are the two most common pieces used to create enchanted items, but they¡¯re used for different things. As to what those things are, you¡¯d be better off asking Aymini; she has a Profession. I don¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°What does a Profession have to do with it?¡± Sophia didn¡¯t get that. Why would that change what knowledge they had?


    ¡°Almost everyone that makes things has a Profession-¡± Vramt was interrupted by a knock on his door. Before he could even get to his feet, the door swung open to reveal Revina.


    Revina ran a step into the room, then bounced on her toes. ¡°He¡¯s here! He¡¯s already here!¡±


    Vramt finished standing, then gave his daughter a long look that promised a scolding later. Sophia knew the look well, even if her mother used it far more than her father. ¡°Who is here?¡±


    ¡°Old Arryn! Vyk and the hunters met him on their way back from the hunt, so he helped carry the snakes they¡¯d killed!¡± Revina didn¡¯t seem to notice that her father was significantly less excited than she was.


    ¡°You know better than to call him Old Arryn when he¡¯s here.¡± Vramt frowned, then shook his head. ¡°Already? He¡¯s early. I¡¯ll have to ask why later. Right now, we need to make sure you have your Vocation before you go back downstairs. Go get your things, including the wand. We don¡¯t have time to find more options, so we¡¯ll have to make do with what we have. As for you two,¡± Vramt turned his attention on Dav and Sophia, ¡°I¡¯m afraid that your questions will have to wait. You should have a few days before he leaves to ask me anything else you want to know.¡±


    Sophia knew that for a dismissal, and Dav seemed to take it the same way. They made their way out onto the balcony then down the stairs to the main hall, where they found Aymini talking to an older man dressed in a completely different style than any she¡¯d seen in Fallen Kestii.


    His graying hair was long; two sections of it were braided and hung over his shoulders to rest on his upper chest. His face was weathered and deeply lined, but it looked more like someone who¡¯d lived a hard life than someone who was simply old. His clothing was complex and ornate, with strong colors and slightly faded golden embroidery. There was a metal emblem on both his hat and his chest that looked almost like a star in a circle with lines radiating from it; it probably meant something, but Sophia didn¡¯t know the local culture enough to be certain that it wasn¡¯t just a fancy embellishment.


    The old man paused and looked up at them as they came into the room. ¡°You didn¡¯t say you had new residents.¡± He was clearly talking to Aymini, even if he wasn¡¯t looking at her.


    ¡°That¡¯s because they aren¡¯t,¡± Aymini answered. ¡°They¡¯re travelers; a portal failure, it seems, and they¡¯re not certain how to get home. The boy took some backlash; you can still see where it glows.¡±


    ¡°Not a full Warp, then, just some backlash?¡± The man sounded interested but not concerned. ¡°That explains why you¡¯re not trying to get them to stay.¡±


    Aymini shook her head. ¡°That¡¯s a lost cause. The first thing they asked when they got here was how they could get out of here. They both have Vocations, so they¡¯ll be a good escort for Revina.¡±


    The man who had to be Arryn turned back towards Aymini and set his hand on his chest flamboyantly. ¡°I¡¯m not enough of a guard? You wound me.¡±


    ¡°Not for the trip, for after they arrive,¡± Aymini countered quickly. ¡°I hope they¡¯ll make a long-term group, but even short term will help Revina get set up with something. We can¡¯t send her with much; you know that.¡±


    ¡°All too well,¡± Arryn agreed. ¡°Although this year it sounds like there might be significant quantities of Ruins Constrictor meat?¡±


    ¡°How do you already know that?¡± Aymini sounded annoyed. ¡°I know you came back with the hunters, but they didn¡¯t have that much more than normal, even with your help.¡±


    Arryn chuckled. ¡°The butcher was most unhappy to see even more of those damn snakes.¡±

 Chapter 34 - The Lion of Catshold

    Arryn¡¯s face lit up when he smiled. He was clearly a salesman, a man who was able to be friendly to everyone. That wasn¡¯t necessarily a bad thing, but it did mean that Sophia would need to be careful with her money when she talked to him. It would be all too easy to be tricked, especially when she still wasn¡¯t entirely clear what the difference between a guinea and a ducat was. She thought the guinea was about twice as valuable, but she was pretty sure she was missing something there. Why couldn¡¯t they use a rational set of money?


    Arryn nodded towards Dav and Sophia. ¡°It¡¯s a pleasure to meet two new people, especially two who have taken on the mantle of a Vocation. Tell me, does your manaburn ache? I can see it¡¯s still active; I don¡¯t have the right preparations to drain a burn that large, but I do have some cream that might help ease an ache or an itch.¡±


    Dav shook his head. ¡°Not particularly. Aymini made the same offer about a week ago and even gave me something in case it acts up, but it¡¯s really not necessary. I don¡¯t notice it unless I¡¯m thinking about it.¡±


    Sophia blinked at that; she hadn¡¯t realized he¡¯d actually asked for anything from Aymini. Of course, she hadn¡¯t even realized he felt anything from the odd purple glow and black lines. She hadn¡¯t asked; she should have. The time to ask was when it first happened, but she was preoccupied then. She should still have asked while they were walking through the sewers. She couldn¡¯t have done anything, but she could have asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s nothing much,¡± Aymini agreed. ¡°A monksweed willow bark paste in a pinesap binder, carried by any of the common fats. Activated, of course, but only a minor mana infusion. It¡¯s the standard soothing concoction for mild manaburn that isn¡¯t an open wound, an apprentice can manage it.¡±


    ¡°Common manaburn ointment? That is what you¡¯re talking about?¡± Arryn sounded surprised. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t expect you to use something that weak on something as extensive as glowing manaburn.¡±


    That made sense, sort of. It sounded like Aymini had thought of the same thing as Vramt had recommended, but instead of telling Dav not to accept treatment had instead given him something he could claim was treatment. That was probably for the best. Neither of them had really mentioned anything to Sophia, but apparently she didn¡¯t need help to pass beyond not grumbling about the Guide failing to recognize her actual Species.


    Aymini shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s only for the irritation; it won¡¯t do anything about a burn, but that usually heals on its own if you give it time and I don¡¯t want to use something too much stronger on someone low-level who¡¯s already suffering from manaburn. A strong concoction would only make matters worse. It doesn¡¯t hurt that everything that¡¯s in the ointment is easy to get, so he¡¯ll be able to find more wherever he goes.¡±


    ¡°Sells for pennies,¡± Arryn agreed with a nod as he turned back to Dav. ¡°¡®Tis well it¡¯s taken care of, then; be sure to use it. Better to get the burn under control than allow it to spread. Manaburn¡¯s nasty and sneaky sometimes, but as long as you have feeling in the area, it¡¯s not as bad as it looks.¡±


    Dav¡¯s left hand rose towards his cheek for a moment, but she stopped before he touched it. ¡°Lack of feeling isn¡¯t a problem.¡±


    Arryn nodded. ¡°When you poke into as many nooks and crannies as I have, these things happen. You¡¯re unlucky enough to get burnt but lucky to survive; many a man hasn¡¯t, or has come out the other side twisted. I don¡¯t hold with the hatred of the Warped; weren¡¯t our ancestors all Warped once? Any who claim magic were, ¡®tis true, and most of the rest. Still, it¡¯s only been ten years since the Lion¡¯s death, and so ¡®tis well your burn wasn¡¯t worse.¡±


    ¡°Lion?¡± The question slipped out of Sophia¡¯s mouth while she was still thinking through the rest of what Arryn said. She got the impression that he was slick; whether he¡¯d guessed that they were listed as Warped or not, he wasn¡¯t going to admit it. His accent was either false or simply something he hadn¡¯t bothered to change because it put his customers at ease. Sophia couldn¡¯t tell which; some of each seemed likely.


    ¡°You are from a ways away aren¡¯t you?¡± Arryn grinned his guileless smile. It didn¡¯t hide the depths of thought in his eyes from Sophia. She¡¯d seen far too many people who wanted to get on her good side just to use her when she was a child. ¡°I¡¯m a little surprised your hosts didn¡¯t tell you yet. ¡®Tis a simple enough tale, and one that¡¯s happened before. Still, I¡¯m getting ahead of myself; if I¡¯m to be telling tales, it should be over food. Aymini, what do you say to some grilled snake and noodles?¡±


    ¡°Only if you brought the flour, old man, you know that,¡± Aymini said with a grin that looked a little weak. ¡°We still haven¡¯t gotten a field in, not that we have a mill anyway. You can have your snake grilled, fried, honey-roasted, or stewed; I¡¯m planning on honey-roasted, myself. The cooks have promised a surprise for the side; I don¡¯t know what they¡¯re planning, but I¡¯m hoping for a nice spicy wilted spinach.¡±


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    Arryn sighed and shook his head. ¡°I did bring flour, but it¡¯s for sale, not for me to eat. Another time, perhaps; I have some seed wheat if you¡¯re ready for that.¡±


    Aymini shrugged. ¡°Talk to Jessira. She runs the gardens, she¡¯d know better than I would.¡±


    The cooks were already hard at work and had already started serving meals. It only took ten or fifteen minutes to get everyone settled with the snake meat of their choice and some of the surprise, which was not spicy wilted spinach. Instead, it was something Sophia wanted to call a dessert, a sort of a baked berry dish with chilled honey-sweetened cream. It wasn¡¯t quite the same as pie and ice cream, but it hit a lot of the same notes.


    Sophia noticed that Dav was the only person other than her who seemed to treat the berries and cream as a dessert and leave it for after the snake meat; everyone else got it on the same plate instead of going back for it.


    Once they were well into their meal, Arryn was happy to continue his story. ¡°The Lion, Sir Hevryn of Catshold, was the leader of the Feline Four, a group of Called who carved Catshold out of the wilderness about forty years ago. It was the opposite of Fallen Kestii; a new place in the wilderness surrounded by dangerous, rich lands. That¡¯s what got them, you see; they went in one too many Challenges and they found one they couldn¡¯t beat. Hevryn himself was the only one of the Four who walked out of his last Challenge and he came out Warped.¡±


    Arryn paused and glanced around the group. Sophia followed his gaze and saw that she was the only person still eating. Dav had already downed his entire meal and Aymini set her fork down as soon as Arryn started talking. Revina was still upstairs with her father, so it was just the four of them at the table. Sophia wasn¡¯t about to miss out on the last few bites of the surprisingly delicious (if a bit too sweet for her taste) berry dessert, so she scooped up another bite, making sure to get both berries and chilled sweetened cream.


    ¡°No one thought much of it. A Called, even a Hallowed like Sir Hevryn, being Warped by a failed Challenge is uncommon but not overly unusual, especially in a place like Catshold. Entire teams are Warped in places like that, sometimes even when they succeed. Even Professionals sometimes Warp, if they travel outside the region protected by the Nexus. No, that wasn¡¯t the problem at all.¡± Arryn smiled. His voice rose and fell as he told the story, keeping Sophia¡¯s interest even though he hadn¡¯t really said much yet.


    Sophia finished her last bite and set her fork down. Somehow, the idea of a story told at the end of a meal reminded her of trips when she was younger, times when her family and mentors would travel to other worlds by the longer route, seeing the sights as they went. A story after a meal was common, especially when they spent the night camped on the road.


    ¡°The problem was Sir Hevryn himself. Somehow, he was Warped in a way that let him Warp his Nexus. Everyone in Catshold Warped the same way Sir Hevryn did. Everyone who visited Catshold Warped as well, though most far less than the residents.¡± With that, Arryn paused and gave a telling look towards Aymini.


    ¡°I don¡¯t talk about it. Ever.¡± Aymini met Arryn¡¯s gaze with a fierceness that was almost a glare. ¡°I¡¯m listening to make sure you don¡¯t fill their heads with false nonsense. Far too much of that is said about the war.¡±


    Arryn nodded slowly. ¡°The next part is more Aymini¡¯s story than mine, but I can tell what I know. In those days, she was Called; she had not taken up her Profession yet.¡±


    ¡°I was young and an idiot,¡± Aymini muttered. ¡°I didn¡¯t see the signs that something was wrong.¡±


    Arryn¡¯s mouth quirked in a half-smile. He gracefully turned his hand palm-up towards Aymini in invitation. ¡°If you would like to tell the tale, I will happily listen.¡±


    Aymini shook her head in a quick negation.


    Arryn inclined his head towards her, then folded his hands in his lap. ¡°Aymini was one of a team traveling out to Catshold to explore the local Challenges. For myself, I believe the reason she noticed nothing wrong that night was that there was nothing wrong yet; yes, Sir Hevryn had returned alone, injured, and Warped, but there was no reason for her to assume it meant more than that. Aymini¡¯s group traveled deep into a stable Challenge near the entrance to Catshold.¡±


    ¡°Places like Catshold, outposts in the wilderness, are the best place to gather Wisps,¡± Aymini contributed. ¡°They aren¡¯t great for training and practice; for all that they¡¯re busy, the best teachers stay in more settled places. Look for a place that¡¯s at least fifteen years old when you settle down for the winter training. Thirty is better. You want a lot of older Called who¡¯ve taken up Professions but still teach the basics, and that takes a community that¡¯s been there for a while.¡±


    At Arryn¡¯s pointed look, Aymini groaned. ¡°Fine, yes, I¡¯ll talk. I don¡¯t remember what the Challenge even was anymore; all I remember was that it capped out at Level Seven; that made it a low-level Challenge for Catshold. I think the entry areas were more or less Level Five; we didn¡¯t expect to gain anything worthwhile from them. Whatever it was, it took us a few days to complete it. We came prepared and it was essentially a practice Challenge to make sure we were ready for the others in the area anyway. When we finished, we headed into Catshold. This time, we all knew something was off. There was no guard at the gate, even though it was open. We hurried inside; when we saw blood, we assumed something had broken through the gate. It never occurred to us what was actually going on.¡±

 Chapter 35 - Aymini and the Lion

    Sophia frowned internally. It was hard keeping the frown off her face. She could put things together from here and everything wasn¡¯t adding up. From what Arryn said, the changes were cat-related. He¡¯d strongly implied that Catshold was where Aymini was Warped and gained her catlike ears, but that didn¡¯t make sense. She, along with the rest of her team, was gone when it happened.


    This also didn¡¯t seem to be leading up to a war. Sophia remembered that Aymini mentioned something called a Warped War, but also knew that Vramt said it wasn¡¯t really a war. Maybe this was that situation?


    ¡°We followed the blood into the guardhouse, not because we thought there was any need to find the monster but because we thought someone there might know what was happening. We were right about that, but wrong about whether or not they¡¯d talk to us. We found a body,¡± Aymini didn¡¯t say the condition the body was in. Sophia knew enough to be grateful. ¡°While we looked at it, we were surrounded. The people surrounding us seemed big, even for guardsmen and almost all of them had catlike features; several even had fully Warped faces. The thing is, people with catlike features flocked to Catshold and they were all in guards¡¯ uniforms; it seemed strange but we still didn¡¯t know what happened.¡±


    Aymini paused for a moment. Unlike Arryn¡¯s pauses, Aymini¡¯s seemed to be more to regain her composure than to heighten the tension. ¡°They ushered us into a jail cell and said they¡¯d deal with us later. I think there was more, something about not having time and finding us over the Watch Captain¡¯s body, but at least some of that was to convince us to come peacefully. If only we hadn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t know,¡± Arryn told Aymini. ¡°Catshold had an excellent reputation. It was the right choice at the time.¡±


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t the right choice,¡± Aymini disagreed. ¡°We should have seen that something was wrong. We did, really; we just didn¡¯t believe it. We talked about it once we were in the cell. Why was the gate unguarded? Why did they take us into custody for killing the Watch Captain when there was blood everywhere and none of it on us? What were they so busy with other than what we¡¯d seen? We came up with all sorts of questions and a bunch of answers, but none of them were the truth.¡±


    Aymini sighed. She looked older than Sophia thought she was for a moment. ¡°In the end, we slept. That was all it took. When we woke, it was clear that the men who captured us were, in fact, once guardsmen ¡­ and that they weren¡¯t the men they once were. I was shorter, with far brighter hair and a second set of ears. My changes were less than the others¡¯ other than my height. Dren, our frontliner, went the other way; he was about a foot taller than he had been and far more muscular. He also gained a coat of fur and his hands shifted into uselessness; he couldn¡¯t hold anything in his new paws. They had claws, but he was definitely unhappy with the change.¡±


    That was actually pretty horrifying. Effectively losing your hands because you slept for the night was terrible. Sophia suspected she had a new candidate for her rare nightmares.


    ¡°Jassyn was in trouble in a different way; he didn¡¯t change in size much, but his entire shape changed. When he woke, he looked like a furless cat. His head was unchanged, and his hands were still shaped like hands, but he could no longer stand upright. He tried to make light of it, joked about how uncomfortable a tail was when you wore pants, but he was obviously panicking inside. He wasn¡¯t the worst, though; that was Lahy Irmine. She woke up with the head of a giant cat growing out of her chest and no control over her magic. She said the cat was fighting her for it.¡± Aymini was out of breath by the time she finished.


    ¡°I had no idea Warps like that were possible.¡± Dav sounded almost interested, rather than horrified.


    ¡°They¡¯re very rare,¡± Arryn contributed. ¡°Few people survive them, so they¡¯re generally considered a fatal magical side effect rather than a Warp.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know if Lady Irmine survived or not,¡± Aymini admitted. ¡°What I do know is that I could fit through the cell¡¯s bars. Everyone agreed I should run and get help; someone needed to and it was clear there was something very wrong with Catshold. So I did. It took two weeks to get to Hailport, but there weren¡¯t any better options, so Hailport is where I went.¡±


    Sophia was certain there was more to the story than that. You didn¡¯t cross significant stretches or territory, especially not monster-infested territory, alone and without supplies and not end up with a longer story than that. It wasn¡¯t relevant, so Sophia didn¡¯t push. It might be an interesting story for another time.


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t believed. I know that sounds strange now, but at the time it was thought to be impossible for people inside a Nexus to be Warped. It was far easier to believe that my obvious Warp confused me and made me see cats in shadows of nothing. No one blamed me for my missing team, but I couldn¡¯t go rescue them. It was months before I was able to find a new team, too, because who wanted the tiny catgirl that had to learn how to fight again and didn¡¯t have any kit that actually fit her, even if she wasn¡¯t hallucinating anymore?¡± There was no doubt that Aymini was bitter about it.


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    Sophia could understand her situation and could also understand how it happened. People often failed badly when black swan events happened and this sounded like a completely unexpected event. That didn¡¯t make the experience any better for Aymini.


    Aymini waved off the experience. ¡°The team that picked me up was the team Vramt was on; him and his wife and an old friend of theirs. By then, it was known that messages weren¡¯t coming from Catshold and anyone who went there didn¡¯t come back as planned. I think that was what made them take a chance on me, that and the fact that their scout decided to move on. They weren¡¯t about to head to Catshold and I couldn¡¯t argue with them, not months too late when teams far stronger than ours were disappearing. We found out why they disappeared a year after that, when Hailport was attacked.¡±


    Aymini scooted her plate a little farther away from herself so that she could lean on the table. ¡°This time, we were there. We saw the cats come over the wall. Giant cats ridden by catmen and women, some who looked like cats and some who looked like nightmares with cat ears. We beat them back that day, and the next, but by the third it was clear that all we were going to be able to do was buy time for the Professionals and the children to evacuate. Even at that, many Professionals who once held Vocations stepped up to fight, people who should never have used a weapon again. With the decision to fight, they gave up the Nexus¡¯s protection. All too many died.¡±


    ¡°All too many Called died as well,¡± Arryn half-scolded Aymini. ¡°You were no safer than they were.¡±


    Aymini took a long, shuddering breath. ¡°Right. Well, those who could afford it bought the spells to leave Hailport through portals; those who couldn¡¯t manage that fled in refugee caravans, usually with far too few Called to keep them safe. Those of us who had spare Fragments donated them, but the portals ¡­¡± Aymini shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s simply too expensive to travel that way and we had nowhere near enough Fragments to get everyone out. It would have taken more Called than the city had to protect everyone and we had to stay behind to delay the cats. There was no good choice.¡±


    Aymini sounded like she was reassuring herself that they¡¯d made the best choice possible in a bad situation. Sophia wasn¡¯t there which made it hard to know, but it certainly sounded like there weren¡¯t any good options.


    ¡°Evacuating a city is nearly impossible,¡± Dav rumbled. ¡°Especially with very little warning. It¡¯s worse when it¡¯s through contested areas. I¡¯ve seen it. To the last minute there are always people who think they can hide rather than run, people who can¡¯t travel, and people who just don¡¯t know they need to run. Then when the Dust comes through the air and-¡± He stopped and vigorously shook his head. ¡°You were talking about catmen, not the Dust.¡±


    Both Aymini and Arryn were staring at Dav with inquisitive expressions. Aymini seemed willing to leave well enough alone, but Arryn clearly wasn¡¯t. ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of dust attacking a city. Was there something hidden in the dust or was it something big?¡±


    Dav shook his head. ¡°Call it something hidden, if you like. That¡¯s more accurate than not. I¡¯m from a long way away; there¡¯s no chance of the Dust coming here.¡±


    Sophia made a mental note to ask Dav about the Dust later. She was beginning to think that it meant more to his childhood than he¡¯d said in his quick description.


    ¡°Hailport held for days, but it was never going to be long enough,¡± Aymini restarted. ¡°We ended up with one of the last refugee caravans out of Hailport; because of Revina, we couldn¡¯t stay to the end. I¡¯m fairly confident I saw Dren die. I didn¡¯t see Jessyn or Lady Irmine, but I¡¯m certain they were both there as well. By then, it was too late to save them; it was all we could do to save ourselves and even that was not always possible. On the trip, Vramt and I were injured; his wife and friend were killed.¡±


    It didn¡¯t escape Sophia¡¯s attention that while Aymini named the members of her team that were Warped into catlike beings, she didn¡¯t name Revina¡¯s mother or the ¡°old friend¡± who was in the team with them. There was almost certainly a story there and it probably had to do with Revina and why Aymini didn¡¯t like being called ¡°mother.¡±


    Of course, that was only a guess on Sophia¡¯s part, one that was likely to stay a guess. She was leaving when Arryn did as long as they could arrive at some sort of agreement.


    ¡°We didn¡¯t stop running in the next city we came to; there were too many refugees there already and staying would have meant trouble. By the time we did stop, we heard that two more cities fell before the advance was stopped. It took years for the fallen cities to be reclaimed, and the only reason people went to the effort was because the catfolk kept sending out raiding parties. They weren¡¯t good neighbors. In many ways, defeating them was good. It came with new information; everyone who slept in a catkin-controlled Nexus started to Warp. More than one team fought themselves when some switched sides. It was a huge mess before the Nexuses were reclaimed, even Hailport¡¯s. Even Catshold¡¯s.¡± Aymini stopped talking and took a sip of her beer.


    She shot a glance at Arryn; when he nodded, she shook her head and continued. ¡°By then, I always wore a hat or a hairband to conceal my ears. No one cared that I carried the first warning, even if it wasn¡¯t believed; I looked catlike and that was enough. Over the next few years, the fear grew: what other Warped were out there that could somehow corrupt Nexuses? In the end, that was all it took; we had to flee and we did. That¡¯s why we¡¯re here. That¡¯s all there is to say.¡±


    ¡°You left the best part out,¡± Arryn objected.


    Aymini snorted. ¡°No, I didn¡¯t. There isn¡¯t a best part to the story.¡±


    Arryn raised both of his eyebrows. ¡°Not even the fact that you killed the Lion yourself? That was quite an accomplishment. He was Levels above you. You know as well as I do that until you did that, none of the captured Nexuses stopped Warping people.¡±


    Aymini shrugged. ¡°My hand may have been the one on the dagger, but I was more of a weapon than a fighter. It was a huge plan; they needed someone he¡¯d overlook in the battle until it was too late. So no, I don¡¯t count that as the best part. It¡¯s not even worth mentioning.¡±

 Chapter 36 - War Mage

    No one had much to say after Aymini finished her story. Fortunately, they were rescued from the gloom of the tragedy that led to the founding of Fallen Kestii by the arrival of Revina and Vramt carrying an unusually large bowl of berries and sweet chilled cream. A single glance at the pair told Sophia that they were both immensely pleased with themselves.


    Aymini could tell, too; she seemed to relax as they got closer. ¡°You did it, then? Got Revina the Vocation she wanted?¡±


    ¡°Close enough, at least!¡± Revina piped up before her father could say anything. ¡°Wafting Wind isn¡¯t exactly Master of Winds, but it¡¯ll do as a starting point. It¡¯s a wind-based magic Vocation, and that¡¯ll do. I should be able to push it in the direction I want with the first specialization.¡±


    ¡°It sounds like a wind-based support Vocation,¡± Arryn said with a smile that seemed a bit more genuine than the ones he¡¯d given Sophia. ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid to go all in on that; support Vocations aren¡¯t the ones that get the stories sung about them, but they¡¯re the ones that have the easiest time finding a higher-Level team. Wind¡¯s popular; you¡¯ll be a bit too weak at first, but it won¡¯t be too long before you can help people move around the battlefield or impede enemy movement.¡±


    Revina nodded happily. ¡°I have two spells, Buffet and Slice. Slice is an attack, because everyone should have something, and Buffet is a distraction spell.¡±


    Sophia felt a spike of envy. She didn¡¯t have any spells from the Guide yet, and while she could have a second Ability, she hadn¡¯t actually bought it yet. Even so, she¡¯d been through a lot more than Revina and would have the same number of Abilities. Sure, her Hallow was probably better in the long run because it had more different types of slots, which would mean that she¡¯d be able to buy slots without the cost going up as quickly, but it still stung a bit now.


    ¡°Eat your berries before you go show them off,¡± Vramt told his daughter with an indulgent smile. ¡°Now, who else wants berries and cream? I got enough that everyone can have a celebratory helping.¡±


    The second helping of not-quite-ice-cream was just as good as the first, though Sophia was certain she wouldn¡¯t have wanted a third without a break to get over the sweetness. Before she could forget, Sophia pulled up her Status and bought the Aura Armor Species Ability. It gave her a good excuse to eat slower, too, and she needed that with all the sweetness.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Sophia


    </td>


    <td>


    Spells:


    </td>


    <td>


    Unaffiliated Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Warped Human


    </td>


    <td>


    (Empty, 1, 1)


    </td>


    <td>


    Innate Communication (Bonus, Free)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    (Feather Image)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Body: 5


    </td>


    <td>


    Martial Abilities:


    </td>


    <td>


    Species Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Core: 7


    </td>


    <td>


    (Stunning Roar, 1, 1)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Aura Armor, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Shield: 10/10


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Spellblade Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Imbue Blade, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Wisps: 11


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Spheres


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Spellblade (Hallow)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Level:1


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Collector (Linked)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Level: 1


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Revina finished the treat first. She vibrated in place like she¡¯d had far too much sugar even though Sophia knew she¡¯d had less than most of the others. It had to be excitement. Sophia couldn¡¯t help but smile at her; it was nice to see someone so excited and anxious to share. It brought back the memories of her own first adult Path Ability. She¡¯d shown it off to her parents in a scene that seemed surprisingly similar to what she saw here, though her parents had insisted that she not use Firebolt inside. It probably wouldn¡¯t damage anything, but they didn¡¯t see any reason to take the chance.


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    Revina contained herself until her father finished his berries. Sophia was pretty sure he deliberately drew it out to tease his daughter; Vramt didn¡¯t normally eat slowly, but this time he savored every berry. When he finally set his spoon down after scraping up the last bit of sweetened cream, Revina bounced to her feet. ¡°Can I show you now? I want to try it out!¡±


    ¡°Outside,¡± Aymini waved her hands at Revina and ushered her towards the exit. ¡°You¡¯re low enough Level that you probably won¡¯t hurt anyone, but you should build good habits. Always practice outside or in a training room you¡¯ve cleared.¡±


    Sophia had to suppress a laugh at how close Aymini¡¯s words were to Sophia¡¯s memories. Some things never changed, did they?


    Revina rushed outside and didn¡¯t wait for them all to arrive. Sophia heard Revina shout ¡°Shahi-ka!¡± through the open doorway twice before she made it through the door to see her wave a carved wand for what had to be the third time, call out the same phrase, then quickly slash with the wand at a bit of moss that came down low on the wall. The patch of moss peeled away from the wall, leaving a patch of stone that was slightly lighter in color and almost looked sandblasted in the small area the Slice hit, but it was the Slice itself that held Sophia¡¯s attention. It was barely visible, a distortion in the air that looked more like seeing in moving water than air; it wasn¡¯t obvious but it also wasn¡¯t invisible, the way the wind usually was.


    The fact that ¡°Shahi-ka!¡± sounded a lot like ¡°shika,¡± the Bridge word that meant slice or cut, didn¡¯t immediately seem notable to Sophia. You could say anything as a mnemonic for a spell; using an appropriate word was pretty reasonable compared to some of the chants she¡¯d heard. Butchered Latin and Greek were especially common on Earth.


    Sophia frowned. She¡¯d seen quite a bit of wind magic in the past, and visibility was a sign of poor control or picking up things, not of the magic itself. Wind magic should only be visible when it was strong enough, carrying something, or when some form of mana sight was used. ¡°Is there a reason the wind slice is visible?¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Revina sounded puzzled. ¡°This is how the ability works, I just trigger it and it slices through whatever I want it to. I can make it really small, too!¡± Revina searched the courtyard for a moment, until she found a pine needle. She held it up, scrunched up her face in concentration, then sliced through it. The slight distortion in the air was harder to see because it was so much smaller but it was still there. ¡°See? A lot less obvious.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s probably a good thing to practice,¡± Sophia agreed. ¡°A small, solid hit in the right place can be more impactful than a broad smash that doesn¡¯t hit anything important. That¡¯s not what I meant, though. Making it invisible isn¡¯t about making it smaller. It¡¯s about putting all of your mana to use doing what you want it to do. Give me a few minutes and I¡¯ll see if I can show you what I mean.¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s correct,¡± Vramt told his daughter, ¡°But you also have to practice the big magics. They¡¯ll wear down a shield far faster than the small ones, even small well placed ones, and the practice may enable you to gain Abilities for larger scales. That¡¯s a few Levels off, but remember that you have to practice things for improvements to show up as Ability options.¡±


    Sophia pulled a little mana from her mana pool, her core. It came easily, even when she attuned it to be Air. It was nowhere near her best Affinity, but for this it would be fine. She¡¯d practiced the exact spell she wanted to use for months when she was younger, before she had her first Path. Creating spells without the specific Abilities was a great way to get a mage-type Path, so she¡¯d created spells based on her family¡¯s Abilities. It was just as well that she¡¯d practiced the spell enough to almost be able to cast it in her sleep, since she once again didn¡¯t have a way to see the spellform she was creating.


    Revina nodded. She looked somber for a short moment, then grinned. ¡°Time to try out Buffet! I think you guys need to be moving around so it can slow you down.¡±


    ¡°Try it on us when we¡¯re not moving first,¡± Aymini suggested. ¡°Abilities have some flexibility and they often don¡¯t give all of the details. Buffet sounds like it might be an annoying ability even when we¡¯re not walking.¡±


    Revina took that as permission to use her new spell on her parents and gleefully repeated the chant ¡°Dast Koon!¡± as she lifted her want in an upwards motion. Slightly visible shimmers in the air slammed sideways into Aymini and Vramt. They weren¡¯t knocked off balance, but some of them hit well enough to stagger one or the other and made them steady themselves. When Aymini tried moving forward, the first few steps were slowed but Revina soon learned that it was better to hit when Aymini was on only one foot and didn¡¯t yet have the other one in position to catch herself. Aymini didn¡¯t get knocked to the ground, but she definitely moved a lot slower than normal as she tried to keep from falling.


    This time, Sophia took a little more note of the words. Dast koon was also in Bridge; it meant turbulence, more or less, though ¡°moving winds¡± might be a closer translation. Buffet would also work, though it wasn¡¯t a great translation. The overlap was odd but didn¡¯t yet seem significant; a second language shared didn¡¯t make things all that much weirder than the first.


    Revina ran out of mana fairly soon after she started splashing her parents with her new spell. Even after she was done, Sophia had to wait for her to stop cackling at Aymini to even try to get her attention.


    ¡°Revina?¡± Sophia called out to the young woman as she turned to head back into the building in triumph. ¡°Can you wait a moment? I want to show you what I meant, earlier.¡±


    Revina turned back with a puzzled look on her face. ¡°Sure?¡±


    Sophia walked over to another patch of moss and made sure Revina was watching. ¡°I can only do this once without setting it up again, so please watch carefully.¡± She waved her hand at the moss. It was a bad habit; she didn¡¯t actually need gestures. They were just for show, a show that she needed to remember not to use. She¡¯d always been told not to reveal herself so easily.


    A strip of moss both wider and longer than the one Revina stripped disappeared from on top of the stonework. Sophia frowned; she¡¯d used too much mana. She¡¯d tried to cut it down to be similar to what Revina was doing, but she must have overestimated the moss¡¯s resilience. Not being able to see the spellform definitely didn¡¯t help.


    ¡°How did you do that? I couldn¡¯t see anything! And you didn¡¯t say anything, either!¡± Revina sounded amazed.


    Sophia shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s just a wind spell I learned from my aunt¡¯s best friend; it¡¯s very similar to your Slice, so I thought it might help to know what I mean when I say wind spells shouldn¡¯t be visible. That¡¯s a waste of mana; don¡¯t harden the air, move it. Speed is your friend with the wind.¡±


    ¡°I was wrong about which of you would get the most offers at the Vocation Registry and have the easiest time finding a higher-Level team,¡± Arryn interrupted. ¡°Everyone wants a war mage on their team if they¡¯re tackling things a little out of their reach, and war mages are really rare.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s a war mage?¡± Sophia had never heard the term. Any sort of mage could fight in a war; it could be really messy, too, just like any other large-scale weapon.


    ¡°People with Spells like yours, where you can spend time to gain more flexibility or power. You can do a powerful, wide area spell if you have enough time, can¡¯t you?¡± Arryn sounded confident that she could, that he was only asking for the sake of completeness.

 Chapter 37 - Healing Beacon

    Sophia could, but she wasn¡¯t sure she wanted to just say that. It would be a difficult spell, made worse by the fact that she couldn¡¯t see the spellforms; trying to dump most of her mana into a single spell would not be a good idea right now. It would probably mostly work, but ¡°probably mostly¡± wasn¡¯t good enough when you were dealing with that kind of power.


    Even if she could do it properly, Arryn was talking about a fairly uncontrolled spell; while that was far easier to put extra mana into, the odds were good the mana would be wasted. She could make something she wouldn¡¯t want to be in the middle of, but she¡¯d probably also survive it if she made it large. ¡°It depends on what you mean by powerful and wide area?¡±


    Arryn chuckled. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s a war mage answer, all right. When you register with the Registry, tell them you¡¯re a siege mage. They¡¯ll want a demonstration, but it¡¯ll be worth it. It¡¯ll get you jobs you wouldn¡¯t have a chance to get into, otherwise. It¡¯ll get both of you hired, maybe all three of you; a swordsman and a support mage with the ability to knock people off balance is a good team to defend a siege mage.¡±


    Sophia wasn¡¯t sure what to say to that. Why was someone she¡¯d only just met telling her how to deal with the Registry? It didn¡¯t seem like something he should care about. She understood it from Aymini and Vramt at this point; they were watching out for Revina and probably felt a sort of friendly interest in Sophia and Dav as well, under the circumstances. Arryn, however, was just a merchant with no relationship to Sophia or Dav. Wasn¡¯t he?


    Arryn shifted gears smoothly and turned his attention to Dav. ¡°You are a swordsman, aren¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°Yes and no?¡± Dav sounded almost as puzzled as Sophia felt just then. ¡°I mean, I know how to fight with a sword, but I¡¯m a summoner.¡±


    ¡°A summoner who can fight?¡± Arryn sounded a little surprised. ¡°That¡¯s an unusual combination, Vocations usually emphasize your existing capabilities. What do you summon? The only fighting summoner I¡¯ve ever known summoned the aspects of creatures he¡¯d killed; he could temporarily have the speed of a lightning rabbit and the sturdiness of an earth bear. It took him a lot of practice to manage it.¡±


    A smile flashed across Arryn¡¯s face and he chuckled at the memory. ¡°I still remember the first time he tried. The good part was that running into walls and falling on his face didn¡¯t hurt. The funny part was that he did all that and more. Repeatedly.¡±


    Vramt smiled as well. ¡°I can just see Carlson doing that. By the time I met him, he always did his initial testing in a reserved training room. He¡¯d never say why.¡±


    Sophia glanced between the two old men. ¡°You two have known each other for a while.¡±


    Arryn nodded. ¡°We have. I was the Registry Master in Hailport; Vramt led-¡±


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t the leader,¡± Vramt objected. ¡°That was just for the paperwork. Sivas was the real leader.¡±


    ¡°No, he wasn¡¯t,¡± Aymini disagreed. ¡°You and everyone else let him think he was, but you were always the planner and any time you disagreed, everyone followed you. Including Sivas!¡±


    ¡°You always say that,¡± Vramt countered, ¡°But-¡±


    ¡°But Sivas needed to think he was the leader so he could pick up girls at the Registry¡¯s bar by claiming to be the team lead for Stonefist. He had to actually believe it, too.¡± Aymini shrugged. ¡°I know he started the team and talked you into getting a Vocation with him, but by the time I joined Stonefist you were definitely the leader.¡±


    Sophia ignored the ongoing byplay between Aymini and Vramt. She was pretty sure they had a similar setup in Fallen Kestii, where Aymini was the outside face but Vramt actually made many of the decisions. She didn¡¯t really care any more than she cared that they argued like an old married couple even though they weren¡¯t. At least, she didn¡¯t think they were; she¡¯d never tried to find out if they actually slept together.


    ¡°That¡¯s why you know them,¡± Sophia challenged Arryn. ¡°Is that why you¡¯re trying to help, too? Why you¡¯re telling me what to tell the Registrar?¡±


    Arryn sighed. He looked even older for a moment, then took a deep breath and seemed to recover. ¡°After the defeat of the catkin, I wanted to rebuild Hailport. I wasn¡¯t going to be able to do that as the Registry Master, so I resigned and took a Profession. When I found out these two,¡± Arryn waved a hand at the still arguing couple, ¡°were setting up a village in the middle of nowhere, I figured I owed them enough to set up a link. Since then, well, I visit a few times a year; most of the time, the trip barely pays for itself, but that¡¯s enough. I hear they¡¯ve picked up a few other traders as well.¡±


    Sophia raised an eyebrow, but internally she nodded to herself. That matched what she¡¯d heard from Aymini; Aymini had expected that Arryn would be the next merchant to come through but she wasn¡¯t certain. That meant there were others.


    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    ¡°As for why I¡¯m helping you, well, it should be obvious why I¡¯m helping Revina.¡± Arryn paused for a moment as if waiting for Sophia and Dav to nod. ¡°For the two of you ¡­ why not? Aymini often isn¡¯t taken seriously because she¡¯s so short and Vramt prefers not to deal with people, but they¡¯re both decent judges of who can and can¡¯t fight. They wouldn¡¯t have had you two take Revina into a Nest unless they were as confident as you can be that you¡¯d get her out safely. That makes you both a friend of theirs and a good investment as a merchant. It costs me essentially nothing to help; why wouldn¡¯t I?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a very Dad way of putting it.¡± Sophia clamped a hand over her mouth right after she realized what she¡¯d said. She felt her cheeks flush as she realized she¡¯d compared Arryn to her father.


    Fortunately, Arryn didn¡¯t ask what she meant. He turned to Dav instead. ¡°So, what sort of summons do you have? They¡¯re not like Carlson¡¯s, I hope? He made good use of them, but it wasn¡¯t easy.¡±


    Dav frowned. ¡°I¡¯m not entirely certain. My initial selection was between several beacons; the one I picked is a healing beacon.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s too bad.¡± Arryn leaned back in his chair. ¡°I can see why that might be offered to someone combat-capable, but it¡¯s not a great choice. You¡¯ll need to decide if you want to buy several Abilities to support it or if you want to unbind it and pick something else. Shield recovers on its own and making the Shield restoration abilities function well requires centering your build around it. It can be very good, but it takes a lot longer to get going than almost any other setup.¡±


    Dav tilted his head and his frown deepened. ¡°Not shield restoration. Healing. It doesn¡¯t improve how quickly my shield recovers at all, as far as I can tell, but it did help Sophia¡¯s twisted ankle.¡±


    Arryn seemed to pause for a moment before he sat up straight. ¡°Real healing? Do you have to direct it, or is it passive? How does it know what to heal? Does it cause any Warp or heal towards a particular element? No, wait, you know what? Summon it here. Please.¡±


    Sophia leaned back with a grin. This should be interesting.


    Dav snorted softly and shook his head. A disbelieving smile formed on his face as he summoned the healing beacon. Once again, it looked different from the previous times. This time, it was some sort of craggy green stone twisted into an hourglass shape with spikes around the top of the upper disk and a green glasslike lens that glowed softly floating above it. Oddly, the light the lens gave off was more yellow than green, even though the lens itself was definitely green.


    Arryn¡¯s expression was priceless. Even Aymini and Vramt, who had both seen Dav¡¯s healing beacons before, seemed a little shocked by this one.


    After his moment of shock was past, Arryn held his hand above the glowing green stone and concentrated. He sat like that for several minutes; either his hand didn¡¯t get tired or he was willing to force a tired hand to stay in place for some reason.


    After the first minute, Sophia leaned back in her chair and relished the warm comfort of the healing beacon. She wasn¡¯t injured, exactly, but she had pushed herself during the fight with the snake and then had it land on her. There were probably some bruises and the like that she hadn¡¯t noticed yet and there would definitely be stiffness in the morning without the healing beacon¡¯s help. With it, she thought she had a good chance to escape the consequences of the fight.


    A glance at Dav told Sophia that he was doing the same thing. He might not have had a snake land on him, but that didn¡¯t mean he hadn¡¯t pushed himself to his limits. His rampage after the snake died wouldn¡¯t have helped.


    He was really attractive when he let himself relax. Sophia was beginning to think that she should say something. It seemed like they¡¯d be spending a lot of time together in the near future and she liked that. She wanted to get to know him better, but after spending more than a week with him most of the time, she knew they worked together on a good level. They just ¡­ clicked, like they¡¯d known each other for months instead of days.


    She also didn¡¯t feel responsible for him anymore. He¡¯d really come into his own when they landed here; she could no longer see the confused newbie being escorted through his first dungeon. She wondered if he¡¯d ever actually been that confused newbie or if she¡¯d just projected it because a Tier One dungeon escort was always for a confused newbie and he¡¯d felt weak. Of course he felt weak; he was Tier Zero at the time. That didn¡¯t mean he was confused.


    ¡°You can put it away now, if you want. Or you can leave it out if you prefer; it¡¯s safe enough.¡± Arryn pulled his hand back from the beacon and shook his head slightly at Dav. ¡°First, true healing is extremely unusual at low Levels and it almost always comes with a drawback of some sort. Yours does; in fact, it has two. First, you don¡¯t guide the healing. That means that if there¡¯s something in a wound, it will try to heal around it. Always clean your wounds before summoning your beacon if they¡¯re more than scratches. It can heal scars, but that will take a lot longer.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ve been doing that,¡± Sophia stated. ¡°I wasn¡¯t sure it was necessary but I figured it didn¡¯t hurt.¡±


    Arryn nodded at Sophia. ¡°Good. Many groups don¡¯t, even without an actual healer. There¡¯s a reason sterilization oils exist; use them.¡±


    Sterilization oils? Sophia definitely needed to talk to Aymina now. That definitely sounded like something an alchemist would make, and while Sophia still had quite a bit of disinfectant, more wouldn¡¯t hurt.


    Arryn raised his eyebrows at Dav and waited for him to nod. ¡°The second downside is related to the first. There isn¡¯t really any such thing as undirected healing; something is directing it. Most of the time, that means the healing source provides healing energy to your body to be used however it wants; that¡¯s how healing potions work. They¡¯re good when you need healing but are dangerous to overuse. Your healing beacon doesn¡¯t work that way. It knows what you two should be and tries to heal you into that shape. The problem is that it doesn¡¯t know other people; it¡¯s guessing based on you two. That will be fine for most things, but there¡¯s no way to know what it would do for an injury it didn¡¯t understand. Aymini¡¯s ears, for example; it might or might not be able to figure out how to heal them.¡±

 Chapter 38 - Peaches

    There was an obvious question to ask, so Sophia asked without waiting on Dav. ¡°How does it learn more people?¡±


    Arryn shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s hard to say. Healing spirits like this are rare; most are fairly smart, but this one isn¡¯t and I haven¡¯t seen anything quite like it before. That means it can¡¯t tell us what it¡¯s looking for. It might be the length of time it¡¯s around someone or it might be something more esoteric, like a sufficient importance to the summoner or even an elemental connection. It¡¯s not going to be as easy as telling it to memorize someone, unfortunately; I asked and the response was that it can¡¯t memorize me, not that it needs to be told to memorize me.¡±


    Importance to Dav or a common element? Either one seemed possible, especially with the way Dav wasn¡¯t meeting Sophia¡¯s gaze. They¡¯d spent a lot of time together, after coming through an experience that was probably pretty traumatic for Dav, even if he didn¡¯t talk about it that way. He didn¡¯t talk about it at all. Sophia knew she wanted to be important to Dav in one way, but it was possible she was important in others instead.


    At the same time, Dav¡¯s ¡°element¡± had to be eldritch, the Guide¡¯s name for what Sophia knew as Potential. Potential wasn¡¯t the same thing as Sophia¡¯s main Affinity, but she¡¯d grown up around it. It didn¡¯t harm her or try to change her, which was about as close as you could get to having it as an Affinity. She couldn¡¯t discount that, either.


    ¡°Any of those seems possible,¡± Sophia admitted. ¡°Dav? Any idea?¡±


    Dav shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t get any feedback from it; I summon it and that¡¯s it. It just sits there and does its thing.¡±


    Arryn chuckled. ¡°I¡¯ve heard that before. Listen to it and you may learn something. Or you may not; some people never do. That may unlock some of the inspection skill set, but even if they¡¯re available to you, you probably shouldn¡¯t take them all. They¡¯re just too expensive unless you¡¯re in a line of work that requires them. You¡¯ll see it again when you talk to the intake specialist at the Registry; other than that, most people depend on a scout team to find and categorize Nests and Challenges, and your talents don¡¯t look like you¡¯re headed in that direction, though Revina might be.¡±


    ¡°You talk like a teacher,¡± Sophia accused Arryn. ¡°Is that because you were a Registry Master?¡±


    Arryn shrugged. ¡°I taught a lot of young teams to work together. I guess some things stick with you. Anyway, that was a lovely meal. Why don¡¯t the three of you come with me and I¡¯ll introduce you to Peaches?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve met Peaches,¡± Revina said. ¡°He¡¯s probably asleep anyway.¡±


    Sophia noticed that Revina followed Arryn despite her objection. She figured she might as well go with them, and Dav seemed to agree.


    They were almost to the exit when Aymini cursed behind them. She must have realized that they¡¯d left her and Vramt with the cleanup of their daughter¡¯s celebration. Sophia rushed a glance backwards; Aymini seemed annoyed but Vramt was definitely amused. Vramt had already started clearing the table with a giant grin on his face. Sophia grinned back, then hurried to catch up with the others.


    The first thing Sophia noticed when she got outside wasn¡¯t Peaches. Instead, it was a fancy-looking wagon. It was made of wood covered with a curving, flowery inlay; over the top was a gray cloth cover. On top of the cover was a semicircular box topped by a tiny flag and a light. There seemed to be more lights, or perhaps small openings, in the side of the cloth cover. A door on the end clearly gave Arryn a way to see out while he was inside. A pole ran from one side of the door forward; Sophia couldn¡¯t imagine how that could help connect a draft animal to the wagon, so it was probably for the display of a sign or something.


    ¡°It seems really small.¡± Dav glanced up at Sophia as she let the door close behind her, then immediately looked back at Arryn. ¡°How do you carry everything? Do you have a tent, too?¡±


    Arryn grinned. ¡°You don¡¯t think I have an enchanted wagon? This thing was one of my first purchases when I decided I wanted to become a traveling merchant. It¡¯s bigger on the inside. I also don¡¯t keep my goods in it; it¡¯s for me to sleep in. I have a bed for Peaches, too, but he only comes in when the weather¡¯s nasty or there¡¯s a monster he doesn¡¯t want to face; he doesn¡¯t like the climb and is comfortable outside. You three will make it a little tight, but there¡¯s enough floor space.¡±


    Arryn walked around the wagon, then gestured for them to come closer.


    Sophia got halfway around the wagon before she realized that the lump of brown fur on the ground was probably Peaches. ¡°How does he even fit through the door? He¡¯s wider than it is. I think he¡¯s as big as the wagon!¡±


    Arryn chuckled. ¡°Not quite, and carefully. There¡¯s a reason he doesn¡¯t like the climb ¡­ and that I have that much floor space. All right, Peaches, you can stop faking sleep now; I know you¡¯re comfy but you have to get up.¡±


    A rumbling voice came from the brown lump of fur. It sounded like a wordless protest.


    ¡°Fine, Peaches. I¡¯ll get you some grilled snake if you get up and say hi.¡± Arryn clearly wasn¡¯t above bribing his draft animal and he clearly expected Peaches to understand him, even if Peaches couldn¡¯t talk back.


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Sophia took in Peaches as he stood. He was at least ten feet tall and as wide as her and Dav put together. His head did sort of look like a sloth, but if she hadn¡¯t been told he was a giant sloth, she¡¯d have assumed he was some sort of bear, able to stand upright even if it was a little awkward looking. He wore a leather harness with quite a few buckles that was clearly to distribute the load of pulling the wagon better. There were also leather straps woven into his brown fur in a number of places. On his arms, they almost looked like arm guards, but sophia couldn¡¯t think of any reason for the ones on his head other than decoration.


    Peaches rumbled again. He focused on Dav, then Sophia, and nodded at the pair. He then turned back to Arryn and made a sound that Sophia would have sworn was inquisitive.


    ¡°Yes, you big lunk. It¡¯s dinnertime and I promised grilled snake. Peaches, this is Dav; that¡¯s Sophia and this is Revina.¡± Arryn pointed to each of them in turn, then gave a wave in the direction of the bearlike giant draft sloth. ¡°And this is Peaches. He can¡¯t talk, but he has his ways of making his opinions known; listen to them. I¡¯ll be here for a couple of days, then we¡¯ll head to Casterville; that should be a good place for the three of you and it¡¯s on my normal route. We can talk about how the trip will work tomorrow; for tonight, I¡¯m going to be feeding Peaches and then making some sales. You know how it goes.¡±


    Arryn winked, then led Peaches into the building.


    ¡°Did that just happen?¡± Dav stared at the doorway ahead of them.


    Sophia nodded. ¡°Yeah, he just told us we were coming with him. I guess that¡¯s a good thing?¡±


    ¡°No, not that. I mean ¡­ how did that bear just fit through the doorway? The door is smaller than it is. In all directions.¡± Dav still hadn¡¯t looked away.


    Sophia shrugged. ¡°He has to be able to fit to get into the wagon. That door¡¯s even smaller.¡±


    ¡°Peaches does that,¡± Revina sagely told the two stunned foreigners. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure a lot of his bulk is actually fluff. You¡¯ll see when he lets you pet him; he looks really rough but he¡¯s actually really sweet and fuzzy!¡±


    Sophia stared at the door for a long moment, then turned to Dav. ¡°I think our training space has been occupied by a wagon.¡±


    Dav grinned at Sophia and waved at a spot a bit farther down the courtyard, outside one of the other occupied doors. ¡°We could move a bit?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll have to.¡± Sophia thought a little light sparring would be a great way to work off her nerves. It might also be able to take her mind off the possibly magical bear-sloth.


    ¡°Did you take the mana core specialization?¡± Sophia settled onto her warm sleeping bag. It really wasn¡¯t quite cushioned well enough for a stone floor, but it was the best she could do unless she set up her tent and used its magical features. That seemed silly when they had a perfectly good building keeping them warm and dry, but the floor really was getting awfully hard.


    ¡°It seemed like the best option,¡± Dav admitted. ¡°Vramt was really adamant about it, and with the knowledge that it probably doesn¡¯t limit me any more than I already was ¡­ really, does Eldritch even have limits?¡±


    Sophia shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s more about creation than manipulation of what¡¯s here, so that¡¯s probably a limitation. Even then, I bet there are ways to do a lot of things. I mean, look at Vramt; he¡¯s a stone mage, but he does a lot more than just moving stones around.¡± She paused and decided it was time to say something she hadn¡¯t quite brought herself to say before. ¡°I don¡¯t know why the Guide labeled it eldritch. As far as I can tell, you¡¯re affected by Potential, the sea of chaotic energy that created everything in the first place.¡±


    ¡°If that¡¯s not eldritch, what is?¡± Dav winked at Sophia. ¡°Primordial chaos sounds pretty impossible to understand.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s whatever you make of it,¡± Sophia half disagreed. ¡°If you think you can¡¯t understand it and control it, that will be true. If you believe you can and are careful to always know what you want, I bet you can control it. Maybe not completely, but you already are partly controlling it by summoning the healing beacon. I bet you could summon the same one again if you tried hard enough.¡±


    ¡°Maybe if I remembered it well enough,¡± Dav agreed. ¡°I don¡¯t think I do, so I¡¯d end up with a half-melted abomination that seems more eldritch than what I¡¯m already getting.¡±


    ¡°Only if that¡¯s what you expected to get.¡± Sophia shook her head with a grin. ¡°Go on, try.¡±


    Dav groaned. ¡°Are you sure?¡±


    ¡°What else are you going to use the mana on?¡± Sophia tried to look like the picture of innocence. She didn¡¯t think she succeeded. ¡°Anyway, it¡¯ll be good practice in visualization. You¡¯ll probably need that later if you¡¯re going to work with Potential. Go on, give it a try.¡±


    Dav rolled his eyes but summoned a Healing Beacon.


    Sophia looked at it and frowned. The stone base with flattened speckled blue then green spheres stacked, topped by a cone, didn¡¯t look exactly like any of the beacons Dav had summoned in the past. Sophia was pretty sure the glow was different, too, more like the yellowish glow of the most recent beacon than the green glow of the earlier ones. It was still close enough that Sophia was pretty confident which beacon he was trying to imitate. ¡°You¡¯re trying to make the one you did right after the snake that wrapped up your leg, aren¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Dav admitted. ¡°It seemed the simplest. I think I may have oversimplified it, though; I don¡¯t think any of them were this plain.¡±


    It did seem kind of plain, like everything was smoothed. That didn¡¯t seem like a bad thing to Sophia. ¡°That proves my point, doesn¡¯t it? It¡¯s following your mental image.¡±


    ¡°Does that help?¡± Dav looked up from the beacon to meet Sophia¡¯s eyes. ¡°I¡¯d have to be able to change more than looks for it to matter.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s worth trying, but maybe not on a healing beacon?¡±

 Chapter 39 - The L Word

    Dav¡¯s eyes turned back to the healing beacon. ¡°Yeah. I¡¯d probably have to be able to tell the dart-thrower what to target, after all. Maybe it¡¯s best that I got the healing beacon first; even if it heals enemies too, it¡¯s slow enough that it only works after a fight.¡±


    ¡°Mm.¡± Sophia liked his enthusiasm, even if wasn¡¯t so certain it was necessary for that particular thing. ¡°That¡¯s likely to be a lot easier; I¡¯m sure a dart thrower would be looking for targets. Practice is still good. Anything you do like that is practice at forming Intent, and Intent is used in all sorts of magic, even if it¡¯s not how you¡¯re forming the magic itself.¡± She trailed off, unsure of where to go next.


    Dav waited a bit, then dismissed the beacon. He flexed his hands a few times, then looked at Sophia. After a long moment, he looked away.


    ¡°Sophia, I-¡± He stopped short and shook his head.


    Sophia cocked her head to the side. What did he have to work up courage to say? It surely wasn¡¯t about magic, was it? No, that wouldn¡¯t make sense. It was far more likely to be personal.


    She could only think of one personal thing he might be trying to say. She flushed a little and felt a grin cross her face. ¡°Yes, Dav?¡±


    ¡°Ah, nothing.¡± Dav was carefully not looking at her now. ¡°Too tired, it¡¯s been a long day. I¡¯m going to get some sleep, I think. Sleep well, Sophia.¡±


    He¡¯d lost his courage, hadn¡¯t he? Well, maybe she needed to speak up first. After his aborted attempt, she had a pretty good guess that he wasn¡¯t about to tell her he hated her or something. Maybe she was wrong; that would be awkward, but it wouldn¡¯t be the first time. ¡°Dav¡­¡±


    It really was harder than it should be, wasn¡¯t it?


    ¡°Yes, Sophia?¡± Dav almost perfectly echoed Sophia¡¯s response. Did he know what she was trying to say?


    Having him know she was too nervous to say anything was somehow more intimidating than the fear of rejection that kept her silent. The words spilled out almost like a single very long word. ¡°Dav, I really like you.¡±


    Sophia almost facepalmed. That was how she said it? Really? She was certain her face was bright red now, but she wasn¡¯t going to take the words back. It was too early to talk about love and she did really like Dav.


    ¡°Sophia¡­¡± Dav paused for just long enough to get Sophia worried, but his next words made the butterflies in her stomach do somersaults. ¡°I really like you too.¡±


    Sophia turned towards him and found that Dav had stepped over to her bedroll. He gave her a look that she took as asking if he could sit next to her, so she patted the spot next to her and nodded. She must have been right, because he sat down. He settled on top of her bedroll, but instead of sitting beside her, he sat a little farther away where he could face her.


    Dav reached a hand towards Sophia¡¯s face. She touched the back of his hand and guided it to her cheek. His hand was warm on her skin.


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t sure,¡± Dav admitted. ¡°You were friendly, but I wasn¡¯t sure you were interested.¡±


    Sophia was pretty sure everyone else knew. She hadn¡¯t been very subtle and she knew it. She wondered if everyone else had known Dav was interested too. ¡°I wasn¡¯t sure either. I thought you were, but what if I was just imagining it? We haven¡¯t known each other for very long and we¡¯ve spent a lot of time together; what if I just wanted to think you liked me?¡±


    ¡°I do.¡± Dav had a silly smile on his face and his eyes glinted in the lamplight. At least, Sophia hoped it was the lamplight; they could have been glowing a little on their own.


    Sophia decided she didn¡¯t care about that right now. She leaned forward and brought her face close to his. She put her hand behind his head, but it was Dav that moved forward and brought his lips the last inch to meet hers.


    As it turned out, neither of them was too tired to stay up for quite a while longer and while the floor was hard, it wasn¡¯t too hard.


    The next morning, Sophia was halfway through her usual routine when she stopped and stared at the mostly-used 28-day round disc she¡¯d just popped a pink pill out of. It had never been a problem in the past; dungeons didn¡¯t take more than a few days at her Tier and that meant she could always drop by the pharmacy before her birth control ran out. Most of the time, it wouldn¡¯t have mattered even if she did; it wasn¡¯t like she¡¯d had a boyfriend for months before she fell through the Origin with Dav.


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    It mattered now and there was no pharmacy here. The closest thing they had was an alchemist. Maybe Aymini would have something; birth control went back a long, long way and there were magical methods of birth control available on modern Earth. She didn¡¯t use them because the chemical kind worked fine for her, but there were people who needed them.


    Sophia swallowed the pink pill then hurried through the rest of her morning routine. It wasn¡¯t very long these days, at least if she didn¡¯t count the morning spar with Dav. He wasn¡¯t quite ready yet, so she kissed his shoulder (he didn¡¯t have a shirt on yet and it was within reach) and told him what she was up to. ¡°I¡¯m going to go see Aymini.¡±


    ¡°Came up with a new question for her?¡± Dav grinned at his new girlfriend. ¡°You said you had some for both her and Vramt last night.¡±


    ¡°This is a new one,¡± Sophia admitted. ¡°I need to ask her about birth control.¡±


    She was out the door before Dav managed to pull himself together enough to respond. It made her giggle; some men handled the idea well and others didn¡¯t seem to quite know what to say. Dav appeared to fall in the second category and it was almost funny.


    Okay, it was funny. She wasn¡¯t going to make fun of his confusion too much, but she was going to laugh about it when it happened. She was surprised to find that she was whistling as she made her way to Aymini¡¯s room. She didn¡¯t whistle often, but this was going to be a good day.


    Aymini¡¯s room was upstairs, directly next to Vramt¡¯s. Sophia was certain that was because they were close, even if they weren¡¯t together. She wasn¡¯t certain where Revina¡¯s room was, but if she had to guess it was the one on the other side of Vramt¡¯s.


    Sophia stopped outside the door and knocked. Aymini was probably up by now, but she might well not be here; she slept in front of the door she was guarding as often as not, so it was hard to say when she¡¯d be in her room. It was still a reasonable first place to check.


    ¡°Come on in!¡± Aymini¡¯s voice called from the other side of the door.


    Sophia opened the door and looked around. She¡¯d seen the room once before, but that didn¡¯t change its impact. The room was dominated by a double layer of fire in the middle, where a flaming bowl floated over a fire that burned in a wide cylindrical container. A metal support hung from the ceiling; it had to be there so that Aymini could hang something over the fire, but it swung freely right now with nothing on it.


    One wall held the fireplace, while the others were lined with shelves filled with equipment Sophia didn¡¯t recognize along with a significant assortment of pots. The only time she¡¯d ever seen an alchemist¡¯s workroom, the place was full of jars and vials. Aymini¡¯s wasn¡¯t; instead, it was full of tools. Oh, there was a line of mysterious substances that were probably precursor materials of some sort on the mantel above the fireplace, along with a few baskets full of stuff, but Vramt¡¯s room had more glass jugs than Aymini¡¯s.


    Aymini herself was on the far side of the fire, attending to something on one of the upper shelves. She stood on a desk to reach it. It didn¡¯t look secure to Sophia, but Aymini clearly wasn¡¯t bothered by it. Aymini looked startled as she turned around. ¡°Sophia? You aren¡¯t the person I expected. What do you need?¡±


    ¡°I need to talk to you about potions. Arryn mentioned something about a sterilization oil; is there anything else I should get? Also, do you have a potion that helps with birth control?¡± Sophia combined her primary requests together. She wasn¡¯t entirely certain what Aymini made. It probably wouldn¡¯t be entirely like the potions at home; the simple existence of the shield on all combatants changed things.


    ¡°Ask Vramt for the sterilization oil; he has the remainder of the last batch I made. I don¡¯t keep finished product here, as you can tell; it degrades too quickly near the alchemical flame.¡± Aymini leaned down, set a hand on the desk, and hopped down to the floor. ¡°What do you mean by birth control? That¡¯s not a phrase I¡¯m familiar with.¡±


    ¡°Contraceptives. Something to keep from getting pregnant.¡± Sophia flushed a little; she¡¯d never realized that birth control might not be a term everyone was familiar with. She was certain they had it, or at least had something; it had existed on Earth for millenia. ¡°Mine is about to run out. I didn¡¯t expect to be sent away from home.¡±


    Aymini¡¯s face creased in a conspiring smile. ¡°You didn¡¯t expect to need it until now? Well done, girl; he¡¯s a handsome one and he¡¯s smitten with you too.¡±


    Yup. Everyone clearly already knew. Sophia felt a mix of embarrassment at being so transparent and pride at the older woman¡¯s clear approval.


    ¡°As for a method to avoid pregnancy, there are several. One of them is a Human species ability; do not take it if you wish to ever have children. While it can be removed, most who take it are forever infertile.¡± Aymini¡¯s warning was helpful only in that it told Sophia to be careful about what Abilities she picked. Either the Guide was far less forgiving than the Voice or the healers here weren¡¯t as good as the healers at home. Sophia suspected that both were true.


    ¡°That is the only guaranteed method, but there are several other methods. The poor use childbane; those with a little to spend prefer childbane potions. Either one is hard on the body but will prevent a child from taking hold and can rid you of one that already has. I prefer to avoid childbane in any form; it¡¯s dangerous in its own way and can harm the person who takes it permanently and ruin any chance you have of bearing a child. Perhaps it would be healed by Dav¡¯s beacon, but it is still not a good choice.¡± Aymini stared at Sophia until she nodded in acknowledgement.


    ¡°No, what you need is simple.¡± Aymini flashed Sophia a grin that seemed to contain her amusement at dragging out the answer.


    Sophia tried to glare at her but she was pretty confident it just made Aymini even more amused.


    ¡°You need a birthbane amulet. It would be best if you both get one. Arryn is probably carrying some; they¡¯re a common enchantment, if a little expensive. I know you have the money even without selling the Shard and the Fragment you still have.¡±


    Sophia frowned. She¡¯d rather buy directly instead of from a merchant if possible. ¡°No one in Fallen Kestii makes them?¡±


    Aymini shook her head. ¡°We don¡¯t have any spellcasters, much less a Professional spellcaster. That means we don¡¯t have any enchanters.¡±

 Chapter 40 - Final Purchases

    Sophia turned to leave.


    ¡°Before you go,¡± Aymini stopped her, ¡°go talk to Vramt about the Shard of Kestii. We¡¯ve been talking, and he¡¯s willing to trade a set of his old armor for it. It¡¯ll probably fit Dav better than it will fit you, but he can adjust it if you two decide it should be yours. For the Fragment, I recommend talking to Arryn; neither Vramt nor I have an immediate use for a Fragment. It¡¯s probably worth more in a place with more enchanters.¡±


    ¡°An alchemist can¡¯t use it?¡± Sophia was pretty sure that alchemists could use almost anything, and the Fragment had promised to be useful to counteract the Ruins Constrictors that were common in the area. ¡°Maybe a poison for the Ruins Constrictors?¡±


    Aymini shook her head. ¡°I can probably make something that kills them and still leaves the meat edible with it, but there¡¯s not that much reason to. Vyk has a pretty easy time hunting them when they come close enough, so it¡¯s not that worthwhile. I¡¯d probably use it for a Potion of Unrestricted Breathing, Escape Oil, or to make a snake antivenom. The first two are fairly straightforward; the last would be harder since the Ruins Constrictors aren¡¯t venomous, but the fact that they¡¯re snakes would let me make something that would work specifically against snake venom. The thing is, I haven¡¯t used up the last Fragment I have from a Ruins Constrictor nest. I just don¡¯t use it that often.¡±


    ¡°No one else can use it?¡± Sophia had somehow expected the Fragment to be valuable, though probably not as valuable as the slab of bronze they¡¯d gathered from the monster-maker they¡¯d found with the Shard.


    Aymini shrugged. ¡°There are some who can, like Vyk, but they already have their own. Ruins Constrictor Nests aren¡¯t common, but there¡¯s generally one or two a year that is close enough to Fallen Kestii to be concerning. Vramt and I clear those out. The one you found might well have gone that way if you didn¡¯t clear it, but you did. We sell them to merchants. Arryn gives fairly good prices for them, but he gives pretty decent prices for everything.¡±


    ¡°Would it be better to wait until we¡¯re in another city to sell it? I think Arryn said we¡¯re headed to Casterville; that should have enchanters, shouldn¡¯t it?¡± Sophia didn¡¯t really like the idea of selling everything to Arryn without checking prices elsewhere. There was every reason to assume they wouldn¡¯t be the same, and if Arryn knew there were a lot of Fragments available here, they were probably less valuable here than elsewhere.


    ¡°There will also be a lot of other Teams trying to sell things,¡± Aymini countered, ¡°but they may well not have Ruins Constrictor Nest Fragments. That means they¡¯re a bit less valuable to enchant with but they¡¯re also less common. It¡¯s hard to say, but if you have enough to buy the charms you want, it¡¯s not a terrible idea to hang onto it for a bit.¡±


    Sophia nodded, then realized there was a question she hadn¡¯t asked that she should have. ¡°Is there anything else you can make for me that would be helpful? I wouldn¡¯t know about the sterilization oil if Arryn hadn¡¯t mentioned it.¡±


    Aymini smiled at Sophia. ¡°You might as well take a seat. This could take a while. I assume you aren¡¯t interested in contact poisons that would work on monsters? They¡¯re useful, but they have the same effect on you if you touch them accidentally so they are usually best on weapons designed to use poisons, unless you have a poison-related Ability.¡±


    Sophia shook her head. She knew of people who used them, some quite successfully, but she didn¡¯t have the training and she didn¡¯t think Dav did either. She also wasn¡¯t sure his healing beacon would do anything about it if they did get poisoned. If it would, then poisons might actually be worth using. If it didn¡¯t, it probably wasn¡¯t worth the risk.


    ¡°Then how about stimulants? The basic ones just help you stay alert when you¡¯ve been on your feet too long¡­¡±


    It took hours to go through everything Aymini could make. Most of it either had drawbacks Sophia wasn¡¯t interested in, like the potential for addiction or a blast radius farther than the alchemical grenade could be reliably thrown, wasn¡¯t useful, would take up too much space in her pack, or simply cost too much. That still left a lot of things to buy from Aymini.


    It didn¡¯t help that Dav showed up less than an hour into the discussion. Aymini insisted on going over everything she¡¯d already covered with him, and Dav ended up picking up a couple things Sophia had passed on, including both a lightning grenade and a ¡°poison gas cloud¡± glass canister that Sophia worried about causing more issues than they solved. Dav promised to use them responsibly, and Aymini backed Dav up with anecdotes of both items used well. Sophia had to concede, but she still wasn¡¯t going to get them herself.


    They didn¡¯t pick up any healing potions because she had some from home and they were less effective than Dav¡¯s healing beacon. Mana potions were more interesting, but after they found out that it was closer to a boost to mana regeneration than a direct mana infusion, they decided it wasn¡¯t worth it. Sophia didn¡¯t mention the fact that she wanted to teach Dav at least enough mana control to be able to supply her with mana, but that seemed like a far better option since his only use for mana at the moment was the healing beacon.


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    Other than that, it was open season on alchemy. Matches, flares, energy drinks, a basic antidote/antivenom, monster repellent, a pepper bomb, some scent reducer and a few chameleon potions, several stunning light flasks, some potions of improved eyesight and a pair of potions of fire resistance were all on the list. They passed up significantly more items than they bought; they simply didn¡¯t have room to carry them.


    Neither of them entirely trusted that they¡¯d remember everything they had, either. They¡¯d be better off buying items for specific situations and generally depending on their own abilities to get them through most of the time than trying to carry an arsenal that could handle everything at all times.


    When they were done, they headed over to Vramt¡¯s room. The armor he was willing to trade for the Shard of Kestii was laid out on the floor. It wasn¡¯t like any armor Sophia had ever seen before; it was mostly mail, but the chest, back, and limbs had stonelike plates, closer to very large scales than the large expanses Sophia thought of as ¡°plate armor.¡± It would be relatively mobile, if it wasn¡¯t too heavy. ¡°How much does that weigh?¡±


    ¡°More than I¡¯d like,¡± Vramt admitted. ¡°It worked well for me because I¡¯m a stone mage; that¡¯s why it¡¯s covered in stone plates instead of metal ones. The extra weight is useful, even, since it doesn¡¯t make it harder for me to move but makes it harder for others to move me.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not a stone mage,¡± Dav noted. ¡°I can¡¯t do that.¡±


    Vramt nodded, then gestured towards the armor. ¡°Touch it, let¡¯s see how bad the weight and fit are for you.¡±


    Dav turned to Sophia, as if he was asking if he should go for it or if she wanted it. Sophia was in armor; it might be light, but between it and her new Aura Armor Ability, it seemed to make more sense for Dav to get new armor. He didn¡¯t have any. She waved her hands at him to tell him to go ahead.


    Once Dav touched it, so did Vramt.


    Dav seemed surprised when the armor separated and flowed around him, quickly fixing itself in place as best it could. Armor-donning enchantments were fairly rare in her experience, but she¡¯d seen them. Dav remained standing there for a long moment after the armor finished moving. He seemed more puzzled than anything.


    Sophia had to suppress a giggle; he looked like a kid playing dress-up in his father¡¯s armor, since Vramt was at least half again his height.


    Vramt frowned and the armor started to shrink. It was clear that he had control of the metal as well as the stone, which told Sophia that calling him a ¡°stone mage¡± was a misnomer. Stone might well be easier for him to work with, but he was far more capable than only stone. ¡°You¡¯re lucky this has a better-than-average enchantment for adjusting to different sizes. The set before this didn¡¯t, but I acquired this set during the fight against Catshold. Custom-made armor takes more time, and the spiritual burden of a size-adjustment enchantment is relatively light, so that¡¯s what they did.¡±


    ¡°Are you sure you won¡¯t need it?¡± Dav seemed absolutely amazed as the armor shrank to fit him. ¡°I know you and Aymini are two of Fallen Kestii¡¯s strongest defenders.¡±


    Vramt chuckled. ¡°I haven¡¯t worn it in years. It¡¯s useful when I¡¯m exhausted or running from fight to fight and have to watch my mana consumption, but for Nest clearance on a new Nest it¡¯s not even very helpful; I have spells that are better protection. I¡¯ll be fine. Ah, there we go. How does it feel?¡±


    The last step of the shrinking was that the armor fitted itself closely to Dav. He shifted his shoulders, then started testing the limits of his movement. It took a few minutes, but Sophia knew better than to hurry him; getting the fit of armor right was the only way to avoid raw patches or an unfortunate surprise from not being able to move quite as far as you thought you could. The armor seemed good to Sophia, as far as she could tell from the outside.


    ¡°It¡¯s pretty flexible,¡± Dav admitted as he finished, ¡°But it¡¯s really heavy, especially on the arms. I¡¯m not sure how long I could wear this without getting too tired to fight well.¡±


    ¡°I expected that,¡± Vramt admitted. ¡°I¡¯m sure you did too. That¡¯s one of the reasons for the enchantment that assembles the armor on you; that way, you can carry it elsewhere and only put it on when you need it. The other thing you can do, though it will take time, is replace the material in the plating. I had that enchantment added to let me add the stone, but you¡¯ll probably want metal. If you can get it, enameled azurite is a good choice. I¡¯m not sure if you¡¯ll be able to get it to affix properly without a few levels; it depends on how well you can bond to the armor. You may not even be able to adjust the plates at all at your level.¡±


    ¡°At my level? What does that have to do with anything?¡± Dav looked just as puzzled as Sophia felt.


    Vramt paused, then shook his head. ¡°I guess you¡¯ve never attuned an item, have you? This is attuned armor; that means it only works for the person attuned to it. I had to command it to move and shrink. If you¡¯re not attuned to it, it¡¯s purely mundane for you. You can still wear it, but none of its enchantments will work. At Level One, you have several attunement slots, but I¡¯m not sure you have enough for this armor. Each level you get will expand your attunement slots, which means you can either attune stronger items or simply more of them. Most permanent items require attunement. That¡¯s how they know who to listen to. You wouldn¡¯t want an enemy to be able to command your armor to remove itself, after all. Give me a bit to break my attunement and we¡¯ll see if you can attune it or not.¡±

 Chapter 41 - Attuned

    Attuning equipment was an interesting concept. It seemed almost more like a security system than anything else to Sophia. It definitely wasn¡¯t the same as the ones used on Earth, but the concept wasn¡¯t new. It wasn¡¯t common for delvers, since monsters wouldn¡¯t try to deny them the use of their equipment, but it was very common among people who expected to fight other sapients.


    Sophia didn¡¯t think it came up much, probably because of the enchantments meant to limit it. An extreme lockdown that also limited how many items you could use might be useful occasionally, but it definitely wasn¡¯t the best solution for most things unless you really expected it to happen a lot.


    Maybe it served an additional purpose. Would it make the armor easier to command? That probably wasn¡¯t too important for most enchantments, but it might well be vital for the ability to quickly don armor. Even for things where it didn¡¯t make it faster, making something require less attention in combat was a significant improvement. That might well be worth limiting the amount of equipment you could wear, especially if the limit was close to the amount you could practically carry and use.


    ¡°There, finished,¡± Vramt announced. Sophia hadn¡¯t seen anything as he severed his connection to the armor; she really did have to get that Mage Sight Ability soon. ¡°Dav, since you¡¯re already wearing the armor, this shouldn¡¯t be too hard. Try to see if you can feel it. When you do, the Guide should ask if you want to attune the armor.¡±


    Dav frowned and closed his eyes. Seconds later, he opened them and seemed to stare at one of the Guide¡¯s screens. ¡°Yes, okay. It says it¡¯s attuning.¡±


    ¡°That always takes a while,¡± Vramt stated with a nod. ¡°For something like this, it might take hours if it works at all. It gets faster as you level, fortunately; for me, that set of armor would take less than an hour, probably less than half an hour, even though it still took several slots.¡±


    ¡°If it works at all?¡± Dav didn¡¯t sound entirely happy about that. ¡°What happens if it fails? Does the armor just act like mundane armor?¡±


    ¡°It can,¡± Vramt tilted his head to the side as he agreed. ¡°More likely, the Guide will ask if you want to accept a partial binding. In that case, you¡¯ll only have access to the most central of the armor¡¯s magic, probably either the size adjustment or the rapid donning. Unless you break the attunement, the armor will automatically attune more as you level. If you hear about a growth item, that¡¯s what people usually mean - an item too strong for them that they¡¯re growing into. It works well, so it¡¯s not that unusual, but it does mean that you can¡¯t attune anything else until the grown item stops its attunement, including replacing another item. If you de-attune something, the growth item will take the slots until it reaches full attunement. Not that that matters for you yet.¡±


    ¡°Can you pick which abilities are disabled?¡± Sophia thought the size-adjusting feature was probably the least useful, now that the armor was adjusted. It seemed unlikely that it had to keep running to keep the armor the correct size and shape, since it hadn¡¯t reverted when Vramt broke his connection.


    Vramt shook his head. ¡°No, that¡¯s only possible with a forced binding, where you override the Guide¡¯s choices. I never did one, so I can only tell you what I¡¯ve heard. Forced bindings are supposed to be difficult, can disrupt any other attunements you have, and will prevent future attunements until you can hold the attunement properly. I¡¯ve even heard that they can be impossible to unbind until you¡¯re strong enough. They¡¯re also supposed to let you use the full capabilities of items you couldn¡¯t otherwise use.¡±


    ¡°That sounds like a pretty good trade,¡± Dav mused out loud. ¡°Especially since we don¡¯t have anything else to attune.¡±


    ¡°Most people don¡¯t think so,¡± Vramt contradicted Dav. ¡°It¡¯s not that difficult to get more items. If you are going to have a forced binding, though, this is the time.¡±


    Sophia frowned at that. The contraceptive enchantments might require attunement. At the same time, if it got Dav armor he could actually wear, it might be worth having only one contraceptive enchantment. ¡°We might have a second. We¡¯ll have to buy it from Arryn; Aymini said that would be better than any potions she could provide.¡±


    ¡°Then you should go get it,¡± Vramt prompted. ¡°That gives you the best chance of keeping it functional with the armor. If it¡¯s small, it¡¯ll attune more quickly. That should mean that there¡¯s simply less space for the armor. That¡¯s exactly why most people don¡¯t attune multiple items at the same time; they all take longer and while the weakest usually finishes the fastest, you can never be certain, just like you¡¯re never quite certain how many of your attunement slots something will take.¡±


    Dav paused in the doorway. ¡°Do I have to keep the armor on?¡±


    ¡°While it¡¯s attuning? Yes. It really only has to be close to you, but for armor it¡¯s best to wear it.¡± Vramt didn¡¯t wait for another question; he gently closed the door in Dav¡¯s face after using it to encourage Dav to get out of the way.


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    As it turned out, buying something from Arryn wasn¡¯t hard; finding him was. He was happy to part with a pair of contraceptive enchantments worked into amulets to be worn under clothing or armor for what seemed a relatively small price. Each one was about the same price as a dozen of Aymini¡¯s concoctions, but they would last for months. Arryn said they could even last years if they weren¡¯t used much, but Sophia sincerely hoped that she wouldn¡¯t have to put that to the test. She was fine with hers wearing out in a few months.


    It helped that the materials they¡¯d scavenged from the monster-maker that held the Shard of Kestii were valuable. Sophia wasn¡¯t sure how they compared to the value of the armor they¡¯d gotten from Vramt, but she sort of suspected that they¡¯d gotten a good deal on the armor. She didn¡¯t think the same about the contraceptives; Arryn was a merchant, after all, and even if he wished them well that didn¡¯t mean he¡¯d sell things at a particularly good price.


    Attuning the amulets was just as easy as Vramt made it sound. Sophia¡¯s finished in about half an hour, while Dav¡¯s took over an hour. That had to be because Dav was also attuning armor at the same time.


    With Vramt¡¯s recommendation that Dav keep the armor on and the weight of the armor, Dav relatively quickly found his limits. He was able to keep moving and keep fighting, but after a few minutes he was a little unsteady and imprecise. It was a lot more weight than he was used to, and even though it moved well it wasn¡¯t quite as flexible as his clothing. Sophia ended up helping Dav practice aura control instead of any of the other things they might have wanted to do.


    Lunch came and went, followed by dinner, and Dav¡¯s armor still hadn¡¯t finished attuning. They were back in their room cuddling as best they could with the armor on when Dav froze.


    ¡°I have the choice,¡± Dav told Sophia. ¡°I can cancel the attunement, accept a partial attunement to the size changing enchantment, or attempt to force a stronger attunement. There¡¯s a warning that forcing the attunement could harm me or the armor. I don¡¯t remember Vramt mentioning that.¡±


    ¡°I think he said something about it being impossible to unbind, but he didn¡¯t mention either of those.¡± Sophia tried to squeeze Dav a little harder, but it just wasn¡¯t the same with a layer of stone over Dav¡¯s ribs.


    ¡°Size changing ¡­ I think I have to go for it. Both of the other enchantments are good and I think the one that will let me get rid of this stone is vital.¡± Dav¡¯s words were cautious but his tone was joyful. He might be pretending to dislike the choice, but he was happy to have the excuse to try.


    ¡°Go for it,¡± Sophia encouraged him. Vramt¡¯s description said there were risks, but it was quite clear that there were also benefits. As it was, the armor wasn¡¯t really combat-functional for Dav. He simply couldn¡¯t keep moving long enough while wearing it.


    Sophia was torn as she watched Dav nod and close his eyes. She half wanted to be the person trying the new thing and was half proud Dav got to go first. At the same time, she was half annoyed that she didn¡¯t have any way to see the magic and know what was actually happening; attunement almost had to be visible, but she had no way to know.


    Her emotions were split into too many halves, mostly because they kept changing. She flipflopped back to feeling slight concern and a little more hope about Dav¡¯s armor as she watched. No matter how this turned out, she was definitely going to pick up Mage Sight as soon as she had the wisps for it. She didn¡¯t regret choosing Aura Armor, at least not much, but her aura sensitivity wasn¡¯t nearly as good as a proper sight ability.


    Nothing seemed to happen for a while other than Dav wincing and gripping her arm a little too hard; he was clearly in pain and trying not to show it. Sophia couldn¡¯t do anything to help; she couldn¡¯t see or sense what was happening beyond Dav¡¯s clearly tight muscles.


    Something pulled Sophia¡¯s attention directly towards the armor and Dav. Something moved in Dav¡¯s aura, in the mana he controlled, and it was strong enough that she could actually feel it, even when she wasn¡¯t looking for it. That was strong, stronger than Dav had yet managed consciously. Sophia turned to look at him and saw the patch of purple skin on his cheek was glowing softly, brighter than usual.


    His armor began to glow with the same sort of radiance and Sophia heard a cracking noise. It was fairly high pitched and thin, sort of like breaking a piece of chalk. It came again and again. Sophia felt something move under her hand and next to her leg; when she looked, each area had thin slices of stone that had fallen off the armor.


    That seemed like a good sign; it had to be related to the last enchantment added to the armor, the one that let Vramt coat the armor in rock. Since it was one of the reasons Dav had trouble with the armor, that was probably the most important enchantment to attune.


    As the rock broke away, it revealed a rough metal surface. It might once have been polished, but it clearly wasn¡¯t any more. In places, it was even slightly pitted as if it had started to rust. Sophia frowned at that; was the armor still in good enough shape to be usable?


    The slight glow around the armor intensified, then the metal seemed to shimmer and almost melt. The formerly rough-looking patches smoothed themselves out into irregular hexagonal shapes. It almost looked like the pattern on the back of a sea turtle, only it was clearly far thinner and spread across the armor. As the glow settled down, Sophia could see that she was actually looking at purple and black enamel that covered the patterning, which seemed to be part of the metal even though it hadn¡¯t been there before.


    Attunement had clearly replaced the overlapping stone plates with a pattern in the newly enameled metal. It had also completely removed the mail at the joints; they looked more like they were covered in black cloth than they did like mail. It would be more flexible but also more vulnerable.


    The one thing Sophia could say about the armor for certain was that it must be far lighter than it had been.

 Chapter 42 - Final Steps

    Dav groaned. ¡°That was unpleasant.¡±


    ¡°Do you need anything?¡± Sophia wasn¡¯t sure what to offer. She just didn¡¯t know enough.


    Dav shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m sore, but it¡¯s not physical. It¡¯s not really a headache either, I¡¯m not sure how to describe it.¡±


    ¡°Aah.¡± Sophia had a guess about what Dav was feeling. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s never fun. If you try to reach out and use your aura, does it feel better or worse?¡±


    Dav frowned at Sophia for a moment, then winced. ¡°Both. It was better for a moment, then it felt almost like I¡¯d hurt something. Now it¡¯s back to the same, more or less.¡±


    Sophia nodded. That confirmed it. ¡°Aural strain. Not much to be done about it; there aren¡¯t many that can heal it, which makes it a good thing that it doesn¡¯t happen often. Time is all I can offer; I can barely use my aura, I¡¯m not skilled enough to heal with it.¡±


    ¡°Figures.¡± Dav gave a long sigh. ¡°Story of my life, really, everything takes work and work means pain. As long as this only lasts a few days, it¡¯s not too bad.¡±


    Dav didn¡¯t ask if a healing beacon would help or not; he¡¯d probably already figured out that Sophia didn¡¯t know. He simply summoned one. This one looked more like some sort of weird green flower than the towers that had appeared before.


    Sophia didn¡¯t expect it to help, but she also didn¡¯t think it would hurt.


    ¡°I should have waited until we were in our room.¡± Dav scolded himself, then picked up the flower. ¡°I¡¯m going to go see what I can do with the armor now. Would you like to join me?¡±


    Sophia wasn¡¯t about to say no.


    The first thing Dav tried was to see if he could dismiss the armor. He couldn¡¯t; in fact, he needed Sophia¡¯s help to undo the hidden buckles and straps to take it off. As she did, she noticed that while the black material at the joints looked like cloth, it didn¡¯t move like cloth. It was surprisingly heavy, almost like there was something inside the cloth. All she could say for certain was that it wasn¡¯t chainmail; it didn¡¯t have the characteristic repetitive bumpiness.


    The cloth, whatever it was, ran under all of the armor, almost like a second layer of armor. Once the outer plates were off, Sophia took a moment to admire how clearly it showed Dav¡¯s musculature before she helped him remove it. ¡°That looks like it¡¯s going to be really warm. Does it breathe at all?¡±


    ¡°Armor is always warm,¡± Dav agreed with a frown. ¡°This seemed less uncomfortable than most. It was probably just the relief of not having the stone plating.¡±


    Removing the black cloth was a matter of peeling it off Dav. Sophia was pretty sure that getting into it wouldn¡¯t be easy; it would be hard to get the cloth to lie flat enough for the remarkably close-fitting and actually clearly fitted armor plates.


    Once it was all off, Dav stared at the pile. ¡°I¡¯m not sure I want to go through that again immediately if the armor¡¯s quick donning does actually work.¡±


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t that bad,¡± Sophia countered. ¡°The inner layer was a bit tight, but the rest was pretty normal. I¡¯m more worried about getting it right when putting it on.¡±


    ¡°Mmh.¡± Dav didn¡¯t sound thrilled at the thought. ¡°Yeah, that will be worse, won¡¯t it? I wonder ¡­ oh, hey. It¡¯s on the main Status page now.¡±


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Dav


    </td>


    <td>


    Summons:


    </td>


    <td>


    Unaffiliated Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Chaos-Warped Human


    </td>


    <td>


    (Bastion of Health, 1, 1)


    </td>


    <td>


    Innate Communication (Bonus, Free)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    (Eye Image)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Eye Image)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Body: 8


    </td>


    <td>


    Attunements:


    </td>


    <td>


    Species Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Core: 2


    </td>


    <td>


    Contraceptive Amulet, 3


    </td>


    <td>


    (Bonded Armor, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Shield: 10


    </td>


    <td>


    Eldritch Armor, 7 (Growth)


    </td>


    <td>


    Eldritch Summoner Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Level: 1


    </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Reinforcement, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Wisps: 1


    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    </td>


    <td>


    Perfect Fit: Dav


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Rapid Assembly


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Spheres


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Eldritch Summoner (Hallow)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Level:1


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Sophia glanced over Dav¡¯s page. Perfect Fit seemed like it replaced the size-changing enchantment; Rapid Assembly had to be the way it was donned quickly. If there were any other enchantments on the armor, they weren¡¯t shown. There might well be, since it sounded like that was what ¡°Growth¡± really meant.


    She hadn¡¯t checked her Status yet, but what she saw on Dav¡¯s told her that she probably also had a new Attunements section. Hers would only have the Contraceptive Amulet. She felt a little envious, but at the same time there was really no reason to envy Dav. Her armor also fit her well and while it didn¡¯t have the Rapid Assembly feature, it wasn¡¯t that hard to put on. It did have an upkeep enchantment to handle minor repairs, while Dav¡¯s didn¡¯t, and it didn¡¯t require ¡°attunement.¡± Her armor was probably better than his, at least at the moment.


    Her eyes wandered over to the right of the screen. ¡°It looks like keeping your Species slot open paid off for you.¡±


    ¡°It did?¡± Dav clearly hadn¡¯t noticed. ¡°Bonded Armor. Huh. It says that the process of forcibly bonding with the armor has permanently connected it to me, like a Summons, and that all of its magical ability now draws from my mana. It also says that continued use and empowerment may awaken or create additional abilities. That sounds good, I think.¡±


    ¡°It does,¡± Sophia agreed. She suspected that Dav wouldn¡¯t get to pick the abilities. ¡°You know, I bet Perfect Fit is why we had to peel you out of the armor and Rapid Assembly probably means you can put it on automatically. I bet it¡¯ll take mana, though.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. I feel like I should test that, but it can wait until morning. What can¡¯t wait until morning is getting a cloak or something to hide the armor.¡± Dav shifted the armor so that it wasn¡¯t on his sleeping bag anymore, then brushed his loose shirt, as if he expected it to be badly out of place after removing the armor. There were a few wrinkles, but that was all. The wrinkles mostly weren¡¯t new.


    ¡°A cloak?¡± Sophia glanced at the armor then back at Dav. ¡°I don¡¯t think it looks so expensive that you¡¯d need to hide it to prevent people from trying to steal it off your back or something. It just looks like it¡¯s enameled.¡±


    Dav chuckled. ¡°That¡¯s not the problem. The problem is that it makes me look like I want to eat babies or send undead to ravage a city or something.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen a necromancer wear anything like that,¡± Sophia countered seriously. ¡°Most prefer ordinary clothing, robes, or bone armor. I admit I don¡¯t get the bone armor; even with their magic supporting it, it¡¯s usually not as good as enchanted armor and it weighs more.¡±


    Dav chuckled, then seemed to realize she was serious. ¡°Wait, you¡¯ve actually met necromancers?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡± What was so surprising about that? ¡°You just have to know where to go; they tend to congregate, just like any other type of mage. The best place to learn is from other people who do the same thing, after all. Necromancers and death mages often gather in places just for themselves, since a lot of people really don¡¯t like the idea, but in places where they¡¯re accepted you can meet them anywhere. Having someone around who can ask the dead questions can be very useful, too.¡±


    Dav didn¡¯t seem to know how to respond to that; he stared at Sophia and blinked a couple of times before he came up with anything. ¡°Huh. Well, okay. I still don¡¯t want people to think I¡¯m something evil when I¡¯m not.¡±


    ¡°Necromancers aren¡¯t evil. I mean, some are, but not all.¡± Sophia glanced over at the armor. ¡°And anyway, the armor doesn¡¯t make you look evil. It¡¯s way too shiny.¡±


    Dav burst out laughing. ¡°I can¡¯t tell if you meant that or not, but I don¡¯t think shininess rules how evil something looks.¡±


    Sophia hadn¡¯t been entirely serious. She grinned at Dav. ¡°Neither does purple, but if you want a cloak to cover it, we should find Arryn before dinner.¡±


    The next two days passed all too quickly. Sophia enjoyed her time with Dav, both in bed and out. He seemed to do the same. In a way, it was sort of like a honeymoon; they didn¡¯t have anything they had to do, so they were able to spend as much time doing what they wanted to do as they chose to.


    They still held their daily sparring and practice sessions. Both of them enjoyed the competition; just as importantly, both of them knew that keeping their skills sharp and even learning new ones was going to be important. This wasn¡¯t a world where they could sit back and be taken care of; they had to earn their way and with their skill sets, that meant fighting.


    Not that either of them minded. Fighting monsters was fun. It wasn¡¯t for everyone or even most people, but both Sophia and Dav were clearly in the group of insane people known as delvers. Sophia, at least, was looking forward to getting somewhere that they could do more of it; this area was pretty sparse. There would be more if they went towards the destroyed city center, but Sophia believed Aymini when she said it was too dangerous there.


    Revina, on the other hand, was clearly not cut out of the same cloth as Sophia and Dav. While she showed up for one of the spars early on, she quit early in the session. She also seemed to have no interest in Sophia¡¯s lessons on aura control, even though Sophia made certain to tell her that they would help when it came time to learn Sophia¡¯s spellcasting style. It wasn¡¯t something Vramt did, so Revina didn¡¯t think it was important for her Vocation.


    On the fourth day after Arryn arrived at Fallen Kestii, all four of them left. It should have been quick, but all of Fallen Kestii seemed to turn out to see Revina off. There were people Sophia hadn¡¯t even known existed in the crowd; they all seemed to know Revina and she seemed to know them. For the moment, at least, Revina was everyone¡¯s child, headed off to the big city.


    Arryn seemed to have expected it. He¡¯d announced they were leaving but hadn¡¯t harnessed Peaches to the wagon; instead, Peaches was still asleep. Sophia figured there was a good chance that Peaches was shamming, but she wasn¡¯t about to disturb him to find out. He was going to be pulling the wagon; there was no reason not to let him have as much sleep as he could manage.


    Aymini and Vramt spent the entire time near their daughter. Sophia was convinced that Aymini saw Revina that way, even if she¡¯d never say it; she hovered just like Sophia¡¯s mother had when she went off to college. The fact that she could easily come home whenever she wanted didn¡¯t seem to change that at all.


    They finally left more than an hour after the announced departure time, but Arryn seemed pleased anyway. Sophia waited until they were out of hearing distance of the collection of buildings known as Fallen Kestii before she turned to Arryn where he sat on the wagon. ¡°You expected that, didn¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°Expected that?¡± Arryn thought for a moment, then nodded. ¡°Oh, the long goodbye? Yeah. Aymini is essentially the leader of Fallen Kestii, so of course a lot of people turned out to say goodbye when Revina left. We¡¯re actually on the road a little earlier than I expected.¡±


    ¡°She isn¡¯t the leader,¡± Revina objected. ¡°There isn¡¯t a leader. Everyone just does what has to be done.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯ll never happen,¡± Dav objected. ¡°There¡¯s never been a society as large as Fallen Kestii where everyone just does what needs to be done. That doesn¡¯t mean there¡¯s always a formal leader, but there¡¯s always someone people look towards. Sometimes that¡¯s a handful of elders that know what happened in the past, but they¡¯re still leaders. Aymini doesn¡¯t make all the decisions, but she¡¯s the one people turn to when there¡¯s a dispute.¡±


    ¡°She also tries to plan things out,¡± Sophia added. ¡°Even when maybe she shouldn¡¯t.¡± Sophia still resented the way Aymini shoved Revina at her and Dav. A gentler approach would still almost certainly have gotten them to agree. If anything, Sophia thought that the way Aymini had approached the situation had made them less likely to help Revina instead of more likely.


    ¡°She was the person who created Fallen Kestii,¡± Arryn said as if it were the final word on the topic. ¡°Yes, a lot of others helped, but it was her idea and her enthusiasm that got it started in the first place. It¡¯s good that people look to her.¡±

 Chapter 43 - Out of Kestii

    It took a while to actually leave the Kestii ruins. Peaches was large, but he didn¡¯t walk quickly; they were easily able to keep up with him on foot.


    Sophia knew this because they were walking next to the wagon, not riding in it. Only Arryn was on the wagon, and he was on a sort of folded-out platform that let him see their surroundings from a higher vantage point. Oddly enough, he didn¡¯t have reins; he directed Peaches with his voice. That probably shouldn¡¯t have been as surprising as it was; she¡¯d seen Arryn talk to Peaches before.


    She looked up at Arryn, who seemed to be absently watching the ruins as they passed through them. He was alert but didn¡¯t seem to actually anticipate trouble. ¡°How smart is he?¡±


    Arryn followed Sophia¡¯s glance towards the giant sloth. ¡°Peaches? It¡¯s hard to say, since he can¡¯t talk. I know he¡¯s smart enough to understand what I¡¯m telling him and to know that staying with me gets him treats. Beyond that, As far as I know, he¡¯s unique. There are probably more monsters like him somewhere, but if so no one¡¯s found them.¡±


    Sophia blinked. Peaches didn¡¯t have the touch of dungeon mana residue that meant ¡°monster¡± to Sophia. Maybe that wasn¡¯t how they measured it here? ¡°He¡¯s a monster? He doesn¡¯t feel like one. I¡¯d figured he was an oversized animal.¡±


    Arryn chuckled. ¡°Well, he is, but the only difference between that and a monster is if it¡¯s trying to take your head off and eat the rest of you. Peaches gets a lot more by not doing that, and he knows it.¡±


    Peaches ignored both of them and continued walking on all four limbs slowly down the broken road. He didn¡¯t seem to notice the weight of the wagon. Sophia wasn¡¯t certain if it was his presence or if they were simply lucky, but there were no monsters as they made their way down the streets of the ruins.


    The particular road they followed dipped down into a valley that was strangely still filled with fog. It was late enough in the day that it wasn¡¯t just a morning fog; instead, it seemed more like a stationary low cloud. Sophia could feel the increased moisture on her skin within minutes. Giant stone blocks loomed out of the fog several times, fallen from whatever buildings they were once part of, but each time they¡¯d clearly either fallen far enough away to not be a problem for the wagon or they¡¯d been shoved off the road.


    ¡°Places like this are better in games than in reality,¡± Dav commented. ¡°I don¡¯t know what happened here, but it¡¯s sad to see places that clearly once held a lot of people so empty. It¡¯s the opposite of the cities I¡¯m used to.¡±


    Dav hadn¡¯t talked much about his home. Was he used to absolutely pristine cities? Sophia was about to ask him what he meant by that when Arryn answered Dav¡¯s implied question. ¡°The legend of the Broken Lord is a story of honor and sacrifice, triumph and loss. Though his name is never spoken, all know he was not the King but merely a Prince, and not the eldest, on the day the monsters first came to Kestii¡­¡±


    It was a long story, and clearly one that was told the same way every time, like an old bard¡¯s tale. Arryn paused several times over the hours the recitation took, either to drink some water or to try to remember what came next. Each time, Revina perked up and supplied a few sentences. She clearly knew the tale; the fact that she used the same sort of language Arryn did without rephrasing it told Sophia that it was frequently told, even though she and Dav hadn¡¯t heard it while they were in Kestii.


    The bones of the story were easy enough to decipher. Kestii once held the Monsters¡¯ Lair, the place where all monsters came from, ruled by Typhos, the Father of Monsters. It was either the only or one of the few cities with a Nexus of its own; the story wasn¡¯t clear about why the Broken Lord had to visit Kestii¡¯s Nexus repeatedly, but he seemed to do so after each major victory.


    The Broken Lord went through years, probably decades, of adventures as he grew powerful enough to challenge the Father of Monsters. When the Broken Lord finally defeated him, it was inside the Monsters¡¯ Lair and he destroyed the Lair¡¯s Nexus. It exploded and scattered the ¡°seeds that monsters use to create places of their own¡± across the landscape, far beyond the bounds of Kestii. At the same time, it destroyed Kestii¡¯s own Nexus and the Broken Lord disappeared, becoming a Patron instead of roaming the landscape killing monsters or ascending to the ¡°now vacant throne of the empire that once ruled from fallen, monster-ridden Kestii.¡±


    At least that explained why the center of the city was so much more dangerous than the outskirts; it probably held whatever managed to escape the destroyed Monsters¡¯ Lair. Sophia wondered how many of the monsters were the females the Father of Monsters must have needed to create all of the monsters. Of course, that assumed that ¡°Father¡± was literal.


    It also explained what happened to Kestii. ¡°I guess everyone ran when monsters came out of the destroyed Lair?¡±


    ¡°Most died,¡± Arryn corrected Sophia. ¡°No one expected what happened. The people who were far enough away from the Monsters¡¯ Lair and ran immediately survived; no one else did. That¡¯s one of the reasons Fallen Kestii is where it is; it¡¯s not the first group to try to reclaim the city. As long as they stay in the outskirts, it¡¯s safe enough to live. I don¡¯t think they¡¯ll succeed; they¡¯re going to fall to the same thing that killed the previous attempts.¡±


    This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± The question came from Revina. ¡°Aymini didn¡¯t say anyone tried before.¡±


    ¡°You and people like you.¡± Arryn didn¡¯t pull his punch. ¡°If no one with a Vocation stays in Fallen Kestii, there will be only hunters to defend the place when the wards fall from the lack of an enchanter. At the same time, there¡¯s no real way for people with low Level Vocations to grow in Fallen Kestii; there simply aren¡¯t enough weak enough Challenges and what few are there are all Nests. Leaving is definitely the better choice; the only hope Fallen Kestii has is if the children grow enough when they¡¯re gone to be able to fight in the outer ring. If that happens, Fallen Kestii could become successful.¡±


    ¡°How long ago did Kestii fall?¡± Dav waved at the ruins that surrounded them. ¡°In a place as fertile as this seems to be, I¡¯d expect them to be mostly overgrown if it was generations ago, but it isn¡¯t.¡±


    Arryn shrugged. ¡°Kestii fell before any of the modern cities in the Broken Lands were established. It¡¯s a legend and a warning.¡±


    A gasp from Revina drew Sophia¡¯s attention to the girl. She¡¯d stopped walking and stared directly ahead, at at the road in front of them. Sophia¡¯s hand moved to her knife as she looked forward, but there was no threat. Instead, the fog had lifted enough to reveal the land ahead of them. The road led forward, through a gateway that seemed to have crumbled on either side of the two towers that supported the opening over the road. Beyond that, the road continued down through a foggy valley and probably up towards a mountain in the distance.


    ¡°This is the Kestii East Gate. Kestii doesn¡¯t have a full wall, but all of the entrances have an impressive gate like this. I guess they were only concerned about traffic that came in along the roads?¡± Arryn shrugged. ¡°It is impressive, I¡¯ll give them that, and it would probably have kept guards dry in bad weather; there are rooms built into the gate. You¡¯ll see them when we get closer.¡±


    ¡°It was built before the Monsters¡¯ Lair appeared, wasn¡¯t it?¡± Sophia spoke louder than she meant to; she hadn¡¯t really meant to be overheard. Since she¡¯d started off that loud, she might as well finish the thought. ¡°It was probably built as a mark of status and to show where the dividing point is. If there were guards there, they were probably to turn people away, not to stop monsters. I haven¡¯t seen anything quite like this at home, but I have seen smaller versions.¡±


    Quite a few universities had large entrance gateways. It had always seemed a little silly to Sophia, but if that was how they wanted to spend their donors¡¯ money, it wasn¡¯t her business. Businesses did it too, though many also had actual access control for the non-public areas. It wouldn¡¯t stop anyone who was determined; it wouldn¡¯t even usually stop anyone who could fly, at least not until you got to the building itself. Sophia was pretty sure a lot of it was for the same reason as door locks on houses: to reduce temptation. You had to do more if you wanted to stop people who were determined.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know about before the Monsters¡¯ Lair appeared, but certainly it was before the monsters scattered.¡± Arryn shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s impressive, but I only know the name from an old map in the Vocational Registry¡¯s archives. Not that it¡¯s much of a name.¡±


    ¡°What else is in the archives?¡± Revina had stayed mostly silent as they walked, but now she wanted attention. ¡°Stories of times before the Shattering?¡±


    ¡°Only a few,¡± Arryn admitted. ¡°It¡¯s been more than a thousand years since the Shattering, after all. Most of it isn¡¯t useful, since they didn¡¯t have magic until the Monsters¡¯ Lair appeared in Kestii. At least, that¡¯s what the books say.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t agree?¡± Dav sounded doubtful.


    Sophia had to agree; magic might have become more common but it was unlikely it had never existed. She knew that ¡°more than a thousand years¡± wasn¡¯t long enough to put her Earth back into its time of magic and legends, but she also knew that magic existed the entire time, even if it was weak and hidden.


    ¡°How was this built without magic?¡± Arryn answered instead. ¡°No one can lift a stone above their head without magical help. Even carving those columns ¡­ why, it would take years. All of these buildings are evidence of magic.¡±


    Sophia shook her head. That wasn¡¯t a good argument for magic. ¡°It can be done. We build mostly without magic, and even then we¡¯ve only had widespread magic for about thirty years. Gateways like this are built with knowledge and tools instead.¡±


    ¡°But it takes years without magic,¡± Arryn objected.


    Sophia nodded. ¡°Usually not anymore, but it can, if the building¡¯s big enough.¡±


    Arryn shook his head. It was clear Sophia wasn¡¯t going to change his mind. ¡°Artifacts of other worlds, then. We know those predate the Shattering.¡±


    ¡°Magic goes back millenia, probably longer,¡± Sophia agreed. ¡°It¡¯s a natural force. That doesn¡¯t mean your ancestors knew how to harness it.¡±


    No one seemed to know what to say to that. The silence lasted through the East Kestii Gate, but it wasn¡¯t long after that when Revina once again asked for a story from the Vocational Registry¡¯s archives. This time, Arryn obliged her with a story about a hero who fought demons. It was not a particularly good story in Sophia¡¯s estimation, but it was good enough to fill the time as they walked.


    It took two days of empty countryside before they finally arrived in the foothills of the mountain they¡¯d seen from in the distance. There weren¡¯t even many animals; it was spooky. Sophia kept expecting something to change but it never did.

 Chapter 44 - Black Bird

    The Black Bird cried tears of its dark blood as it flew. Home was still hidden from it, and the tear it bled from ached more and more. It had not hunted since it slammed into the purple light, and it would not. It would find Home or it would die.


    Hints of Home appeared once more, and once more it flew towards them. It would not try to follow if they disappeared, it had learnt that lesson, but so long as the hints of home were there, it would follow them.


    This time, they did not vanish. The Black Bird flew onwards, following Home as it moved away. It was not as far away as the first day, yet Home was moving steadily away from the Black Bird. It could fly no faster than it did and it gained only slowly.


    It caught up slowly. It was faster when Home stopped. This was the longest Home had been unhidden. This time it knew for sure it could catch up!


    Nothing changed when Home was finally close enough. Home was below it. The Black Bird dove; it was going Home!


    Sophia sang along with Revina as they walked. So far, all she¡¯d managed to learn was the repeated chorus; the music was fast and surprisingly difficult. ¡°Promises broken and promises kept, fam¡¯ly forsaken and mother who wept, the Lord of the-¡±


    Something slammed into Sophia from behind. She fell to her knees as the world whirled around her. All of the colors smeared into one another for a moment, followed by small fragments of her vision clearing but none of it made sense. A pebble filled her vision, followed by a hand. Was that her hand? No, it had to be Dav¡¯s. It was huge. A voice spoke, but the words ¡°Hawk kill hit a it black her monster!¡± made no sense.


    Cliff shouted something in the back of her mind. The words made no sense, but somehow the feeling came through: as she was hit, Cliff felt a connection he thought was lost, but it was wrong. Twisted.


    She had just enough time to realize that something was very, very wrong before something wet wrapped around her from behind and left her momentarily without vision or hearing. She could still feel her body, and that meant she could feel as her necklace warmed.


    That meant it was working and that definitely meant something was very wrong. It should have already worked by now, shouldn¡¯t it? It was fast when it worked.


    Sophia knew what to do. She fed some of her own mana into the necklace. It was hungry, but even with everything she could send to the necklace, it was nowhere near its capacity. Just what had her mother paid for this thing? It was far more than something she should need for any dungeons of her Tier if she couldn¡¯t supply it with more mana than it could take. It felt like large parts of the enchantment weren¡¯t being used, but that made sense; it could detect and at least partially protect from a lot more than whatever this was.


    A moment later, Sophia¡¯s sight and hearing cleared suddenly and she realized there was a weight on her back. She convulsively jumped and the weight seemed to fly away from her. Sophia spun and saw the strangest thing: a giant black hawk that seemed to float in midair for a moment. Something black dripped slowly from its talons, beak, and feathers.


    Cliff¡¯s horror in the back of Sophia¡¯s mind told her that he knew exactly what he saw, but he didn¡¯t have to say anything for her to know what it was. This was one of the hawks from the top of the cliff. Or, rather, it had once been one of Cliff¡¯s hawks.


    Moments later, Dav¡¯s sword crashed through the bird. He¡¯d clearly been afraid to hit it while it was on her, but he had no compunctions once it was off her. A distortion in the air said Revina was doing her best, as well.


    Sophia didn¡¯t take the time to do anything fancy. She wasn¡¯t maintaining the Imbuements on her or Dav¡¯s blades; she¡¯d assumed it was unnecessary. That meant she had only one real option. She yanked her knife from its sheath and hopped forward just far enough to reach the bird where it landed after Dav¡¯s blow. Perhaps it was already dead, but she did not care. Her slice cleanly hit the bird¡¯s neck just below the skull. It didn¡¯t remove the head completely, but it did slash through it.


    Sophia darted backwards in case the hawk was going to try to attack again, but instead of attacking it seemed to slump in place. A moment later, it wasn¡¯t just slumped; it was smaller than it had been. It shrank and shrank, melting into a pile of black goo that quickly evaporated.


    Sophia glanced down at her armor and saw a layer of similar dissipating black liquid. Before she could say anything, the Guide set a notice directly in her vision.


    Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    Feat Completed!


    For your Feat of defeating a Remnant Shadow of your Linked Sphere, you have been granted a reward!


    Reward: Hawk of the Black Blood as been added to the list of possible Summons for your Linked Sphere (Collector).


    Unlike other Collected Summons, Hawk of the Black Blood may be upgraded to a maximum of the Collector''s Level, rather than the Level of the monster it was Collected from.


    No open Summon Ability Slots are available at this time. An additional Sphere or Sphere modification may be required to obtain Summon Ability Slots.


    (Feather Image)


    Your Patron greets you!


    You are around others, so I cannot stay or do more than pass along a short warning: the Hawk of the Black Blood is not the only thing I see that came with you from wherever you came from. I do not sense many others, but you will likely encounter them.


    I do not know if they will be friendly or hostile. I would have guessed that the Hawk was friendly, because it felt a sense of longing for Cliff. I do not think I can safely predict the others.


    Good luck, Sophia and Cliff. I wish you and Dav well.


    Perhaps someday I will be able to say more.


    --The Wanderer


    Sophia waved the notice away after she read it. She¡¯d talk to Dav about the message from the Wanderer that evening, in her tent; if she powered the correct enchantments, it could prevent her from being overheard. The rest of it she could mention. ¡°Did anyone else get a Feat for that?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Arryn stated. ¡°That wasn¡¯t powerful enough to grant a Feat to a group. What did you gain, a recognition of the fact that you resisted whatever it did to you?¡±


    ¡°An Ability I don¡¯t have a slot for,¡± Sophia answered, annoyed. ¡°It¡¯s of a type I can¡¯t even Dedicate Wisps for. Why didn¡¯t it give me something I could use?¡±


    Arryn barked a laugh. ¡°Keep it in mind when you have the chance to gain a new Sphere or alter the one you have. The Guide does that sometimes; it likes to grant appropriate abilities for Feats but does not care if you use them or not. Granting an Ability Slot as well requires a much larger Feat; I¡¯ve only heard of it for Grand Feats, and most people do not manage even one of those while most people, Professional or Called, will manage a few Feats in their lifetime. Take a Sphere that will allow you to use it only if it¡¯s a Sphere you otherwise want. Taking a Sphere for a single Ability is a waste.¡±


    ¡°Why is your shirt glowing?¡± Revina pointed at Sophia¡¯s chest. ¡°It was brighter earlier.¡±


    Sophia looked down and sighed. Her necklace was still glowing enough to be visible beneath her armor.


    She fished it out just in time to hear Arryn scold Revina, ¡°Don¡¯t ask about others¡¯ magic or items. It¡¯s rude.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fine, this time,¡± Sophia said. ¡°It¡¯s a necklace my mother gave me; It protected me from whatever the hawk did.¡± She held it up so the others could see the purple stones set in a stylized shield pattern in a silver-colored metal. It wasn¡¯t quite perfectly symmetrical, but it was close. She had no idea how expensive it was, but it was horribly gaudy, too gaudy to wear in the open.


    ¡°I don¡¯t care about that,¡± Dav said. ¡°How¡¯s your back where the bird hit you?¡±


    Sophia blinked at that. ¡°I don¡¯t feel anything bad?¡± She pulled up her Status and found that the hawk¡¯s impact had wiped out her entire Shield. ¡°It never got a second hit in, so I think my shield blocked everything.¡±


    ¡°Hmf.¡± Dav stepped behind Sophia. ¡°I can see your armor through a tear in your shirt, so it looks like your armor worked. I¡¯m still going to set up a healing beacon and you¡¯re going to stay inside it, okay?¡±


    Sophia smiled at Dav. If that would keep him happy, it was a small price to pay. It wasn¡¯t like she intended to separate from the group anyway. ¡°Can you set it on the wagon so it can travel with us?¡±


    That was all it took to get them moving again. For the next several hours, there was no more singing and they all kept an eye on the sky, but nothing else happened that day.


    Dav was especially attentive that evening after they camped, but Sophi still managed to find time to talk to him about the Wanderer¡¯s message. He didn¡¯t know what to think about it any more than she did, but it was good to have both of them aware of the situation even though there was nothing they could do right now.


    She also had a chance to check with Cliff and found out that he now had Hawk of the Black Blood on his Collected Monsters list and three new Martial Abilities. Sophia remembered Black Blood Strike, which used the power of Black Blood to disorient an opponent. She was fairly certain that she¡¯d also been hit by Engulfing Black Blood, which used Black Blood to deprive an opponent of their senses. The last one, Black Blood Flight, she hadn¡¯t seen except for that moment where the bird seemed to hover in place.


    The first two Martial Techniques seemed pretty useless to her. She didn¡¯t have Black Blood and she was fairly certain she didn¡¯t want to, either. Even if Black Blood wasn¡¯t a requirement, they both required coming in close to an opponent, which was not the direction she wanted to develop her abilities. She wanted actual spells, dammit!


    Black Blood Flight seemed very useful. If it didn¡¯t specify that it worked by covering all feathers with a layer of Black Blood, she knew she¡¯d have tried it out even with the risk of whatever Black Blood was. As it was, she couldn¡¯t. She didn¡¯t have feathers. There was no point; it simply wouldn¡¯t work for her.


    Sophia took a while to get to sleep that evening. She was seriously grumpy; she¡¯d always wanted to be able to fly, and this was just one more hope that was dashed. It took her quite a while to calm down about it.


    Another day¡¯s travel brought them around the side of the mountain to a path that led to a tunnel that had clearly been carved into the cliff at some point in the past, then reinforced with stone. It was a narrow, rough trackway, but it was the only way forward unless they wanted to descend the steep slope to the valley floor and its seemingly thin river.

 Chapter 45 - Shattered World

    Peaches didn¡¯t even slow as he moved onto the precarious road surface. It was wide enough for the wagon, barely. It wasn¡¯t until the wagon was actually on a thin surface hanging over an edge that Sophia realized just how precarious the road was. She wasn¡¯t about to walk on that area without some sort of preparations to deal with the surface giving way.


    Arryn didn¡¯t seem concerned; it was clear he¡¯d been over it more than once.


    ¡°Looks like we¡¯re lucky,¡± Dav said as the wagon passed the overhanging curve. ¡°I wonder how heavy the wagon is?¡±


    ¡°It looks pretty heavy,¡± Sophia concurred. ¡°It doesn¡¯t look like the roadway is damaged, though. Maybe there¡¯s more to the path than is obvious?¡±


    Dav shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m betting on luck. There¡¯s clearly something to the road since it hasn¡¯t fallen but-¡±


    ¡°Come on you two!¡± Revina called from the path ahead of them. She was also past the danger point. ¡°Come on, Arryn says we all need to go through the cave together!¡±


    Sophia gave a minute share of her head. ¡°Might as well. Do you want to go first or shall I?¡±


    ¡°Ladies first,¡± Dav said with a wink.


    ¡°Now you¡¯re calling Arryn a lady?¡± Sophia winked at Dav, then hurried down the path. She didn¡¯t want to spend any longer than she had to without solid ground under her feet. She didn¡¯t have wings, after all. Dav followed a little behind her.


    There was just enough room at the tunnel mouth that they all could enter together. It just looked like a tunnel made of gray stone blocks at first, but once they were all inside it started to glow. Colored lines of light raced over the stone from behind them to the exit and turned some of the pebbles lining the sides of the tunnel¡¯s floor into colorful marbles. Sophia glanced back and saw only darkness even though the way ahead was lit by white light where the lines all came together.


    ¡°You can¡¯t go back once you enter,¡± Arryn informed her. ¡°You have to go out the other side. Once you¡¯re out, you can return, but it can take time for the conduit to become available. That¡¯s why we all had to go in at once; as soon as there¡¯s a long enough pause in people entering, it activates.¡±


    It looked like a huge waste of mana to Sophia. The mana streaks showed the sheer amount of loss the spell had, and that was before the basic flaw was even considered. Why did they bother to move an entire tunnel? ¡°Why isn¡¯t it just a portal surface? Wouldn¡¯t that be a lot easier?¡±


    Surprise flickered across Arryn¡¯s face just fast enough that Sophia wasn¡¯t certain she¡¯d actually seen it. ¡°That¡¯s not how it works. Only routes like these allow passage between Shattered realms; teleportation of any sort can¡¯t, and portals are teleportation. If you¡¯re lucky, you end up somewhere else in your current realm, injured or dead. If you¡¯re not lucky ¡­ well, no one¡¯s ever been able to find them again, so they probably just got even less lucky on where they landed.¡±


    Sophia didn¡¯t entirely believe that. If she could cross the Origin with Dav to land in a ¡°shattered realm,¡± there had to be a way to cross between them that didn¡¯t require all this. Admittedly, she wasn¡¯t certain exactly how that happened, but she knew it wasn¡¯t that hard to get to the Origin. It just wasn¡¯t somewhere you went casually; it was too dangerous.


    On second thought, if transit through the Origin was how the Guide managed to move people between areas, maybe that was the entire reason for the tunnel?


    Peaches moved forward, so everyone else did as well. Sophia watched everything as she walked; her eyes were on the arch over her head, the lights that flickered and moved, even the bright surface that was the way out. The only place she didn¡¯t look was back. She¡¯d seen it once and there was no point in looking again.


    She could feel the mana moving around her. It was even building up as it leaked, sort of like a static charge, but one she could only sense with her aura. It didn¡¯t feel like the Origin; it felt like spatial magic with a hint of liminality and quite a bit of something else. She couldn¡¯t tell what the something else was; it wasn¡¯t something she was all that familiar with. What she knew was that if she wanted to replicate the spell, she¡¯d need to figure out what that something else was ¡­ and find a big enough power source. This definitely wasn¡¯t cheap.


    Peaches paused in front of the exit and waited for it to turn from a lightning-crazed white surface to a view of the outside world before he stepped through. Just like when they¡¯d entered the mountain, there was no feeling of transition; they simply stepped from a tunnel into the outside world.


    It was far later in the day when they left than when they arrived, late enough that the sun was hidden behind the mountains but still early enough that the snowy peaks of other mountains were illuminated in the distance. They traveled a little ways, then set up camp for the night. No one was really all that tired yet, but Arryn didn¡¯t want to travel after dark.


    Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    Sophia looked back along the trail they¡¯d taken from the campsite and saw that the place they¡¯d come from was a glowing opening in an artificial looking false mountain peak. It was completely different from the place they¡¯d entered even though the countryside looked the same. ¡°Do all links between shattered realms connect places that were once close to each other?¡±


    ¡°Probably not,¡± was the only answer Arryn had for her. ¡°I¡¯ve seen tunnels that are very different on the two sides. They can also change; remapping the roadways is a common task for injured Called. That¡¯s how I found Old Kestii, back in the day. It wasn¡¯t this entrance, it was one nearer to Hailport, but Old Kestii has quite a few entrances. Most shattered realms do. Now, how much did Aymini and Vramt tell you about Casterville and its area?¡± Vramt turned his attention to Revina, as if he expected her to be the only one with a useful answer. Sophia had to admit that he wasn¡¯t wrong about that. She didn¡¯t know anything about Casterville other than the name.


    ¡°The nobility are spellcasters. Even associated Vocations like elemental mages are valued, but if you don¡¯t use magic you don¡¯t matter to the city,¡± Revina recited. ¡°Dad hated it worse than Aymini did; he said it was worse being a mage there than elsewhere because everyone hated him. I know you said that¡¯s where you¡¯re headed, but I thought we¡¯d stop somewhere else along the way?¡±


    Arryn shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s an oversimplification. I suppose it¡¯s hard to explain if you¡¯ve only ever really known Fallen Kestii. Magic is both respected and hated in Casterville, that¡¯s true enough. It only applies to Professionals, not Called. Called can¡¯t rule, after all. Your father probably hated it because he hated wearing the Registry¡¯s sigil yet he wouldn¡¯t avoid using magic. Wear the sigil and you¡¯ll be left alone. I¡¯ll be taking you there first to register.¡±


    Revina frowned but nodded. ¡°So why Casterville? You were the Registry Master at Hailport, weren¡¯t you? Isn¡¯t that your home base?¡±


    ¡°It is, but it¡¯s also Hailport. Anyone who even might be Warped isn¡¯t welcome in Hailport. Any one of you might make it, but together there will be assumptions. You can claim what you like, but the only one of the three of you that isn¡¯t obviously touched by some sort of magic is Sophia, and Hailport doesn¡¯t have any Wyld Elves; people might not recognize her as one. Castervill is in another realm, far enough away from Catshold that they don¡¯t really care. In fact, you may see some of the children of Catshold there.¡±  Arryn gave a smile and a shake of his head. ¡°It¡¯s also a good place for low Level people like you three. The high Level threats in the area are all slow; they just redirect them away from the city when they get close and they protect the city from moderate Level threats. It¡¯s a good strategy for training the young.¡±


    Dav frowned at Arryn. ¡°You say that like it¡¯s a bad thing.¡±


    Arryn shook his head. ¡°It isn¡¯t, if it¡¯s intentional. Casterville does it that way because they¡¯re lazy; they don¡¯t see why having all Called leave if they want to grow is a bad thing, or why having only second-rate spellcasters who want power return to rule creates problems. Of course, it¡¯s those very second-rate spellcasters that are making the rules, so maybe it¡¯s not a bad thing for them.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re cynical.¡± Sophia shook her head. ¡°Is that something we should avoid saying in Casterville?¡±


    ¡°Not if you¡¯re Called,¡± Arryn answered with an easy smile. ¡°Or if you¡¯re strong enough in your Profession that you can ignore the rulers. Fortunately, I am.¡±


    Arryn told them a lot more about Casterville as they traveled. Very little of it was something they could directly use, but it gave Sophia a much better idea of what she and Dav would face when they got there.


    Sophia found, once again, that she didn¡¯t count Revina as part of her group. That might be because she withdrew the moment her parents weren¡¯t pushing her at Dav and Sophia or it might be because they just didn¡¯t click; either way, it told Sophia that she was going to look at other options for delving partners when they reached Casterville.


    Another day¡¯s travel along the old faded trackway brought them to a wide road. A solid fifteen feet in width and covered in smoothed cobblestones, it was clearly made to move large amounts of traffic. Indeed, Sophia could see both wagons and people moving both ways along the road. It was the first overt sign of life other than plants that she¡¯d seen since they left Fallen Kestii.


    Even before they stepped onto the road, Sophia could feel the enchantments. They were strong enough that she expected Dav to feel them, even with as little aura training as he had; they were impossible to miss. Whatever they were, they weren¡¯t for travel; there was no hint of Space attunement. ¡°What does the road do?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ve never been on a Transit Road?¡± Arryn sounded surprised. ¡°I know Revina has, though she likely doesn¡¯t remember.¡±


    Sophia shook her head. Sha and Dav had told much of their story to Arryn by now, enough that he knew they came from different places a long way away, but he kept expecting their experiences to be closer to his own than they were. ¡°We don¡¯t have enchanted roads like this. We don¡¯t need them.¡±


    ¡°But you have City Nexuses, or something similar?¡± Arryn still sounded confused. ¡°Transit Roads grow between any two linked City Nexuses. It¡¯s one of the ways to know when there¡¯s a new City or a new route has formed. Or broken, for that matter, though that¡¯s fortunately rare.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s part of the reason no one believed Aymini when she tried to warn Hailport,¡± Revina contributed. ¡°The Road to Catshold didn¡¯t break. The Cats used it to attack Hailport.¡±


    ¡°It weakened and changed,¡± Arryn corrected her. ¡°But no one put it together with the warning by the time it happened. I like to think that I¡¯d have done better if I¡¯d heard, but her story didn¡¯t reach me until it was too late.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s great, but what does it do?¡± Dav stared at the road. ¡°I can feel it from here and I¡¯ve never felt anything like it.¡±


    ¡°It limits the power of monsters and of the Called,¡± Arryn answered. ¡°Just like a Nexus.¡±

 Chapter 46 - Smoke in the Distance

    ¡°You won¡¯t really notice it at your level,¡± Arryn continued. ¡°Level one abilities aren¡¯t any stronger than ones a similarly focused Profession can have, and that¡¯s what the restriction seems to scale to. We think it¡¯s to protect civilians, because more violent abilities are restricted more, especially if they¡¯re large. A siege mage like Sophia would find her Abilities far more limited than a healer like Dav, if you were capable of large enough spells for it to matter.¡±


    Sophia stared at the road like it was a snake that might bite her. She could see the appeal of reducing the impact of powerful Abilities, but at the same time she didn¡¯t like the idea. ¡°Does it affect mana manipulation, too?¡±


    ¡°Anything the Guide gave you,¡± Arryn confirmed. ¡°It¡¯s pretty common for Called to cause problems. especially if they get a bit drunk while they¡¯re safe in town. The restriction means the Town Guard can deal with them, even though Called are far stronger out in the wild. It also means that people are more likely to survive a monster attack.¡±


    Sophia shook her head at that. She couldn¡¯t argue; she¡¯d grown up around delvers, and it wasn¡¯t that unusual for them to celebrate a successful delve with alcohol and a bar fight. As long as it happened at an Adventurer¡¯s Guild, which was always built to contain the damage and had people available to contain the delvers, there was no need to get the local police involved. Some Guild buildings even had separate bars for people who specifically wanted to avoid a fight.


    The one thing that was still up in the air was if the enchantment on the road actually stopped magic use or simply limited the abilities granted by the Guide. Sophia couldn¡¯t tell and it sounded like Arryn thought it was everything but also wasn¡¯t clear on the distinction.


    Peaches moved onto the road; Revina was right behind the wagon, apparently unbothered by the power emanating from the cobblestones. Without much of a choice in the matter, Sophia and Dav followed. It felt like a soft weight around her, not stopping anything but maybe blunting things a little, sort of like a heavy coat that didn¡¯t protect her from what little wind there was.


    Three hours later when they stopped for the night, Sophia had gotten used to the weight of the road. It was nice to step off the road to set up camp, sort of like stretching, but the road¡¯s enchantment no longer felt obtrusive.


    Soon after they set up camp for the night, the sky opened and rain fell down in torrents. They all grabbed their dinners and hid away from the rain. Sophia and Dav retreated to their tent. Revina and Peaches both joined Arryn inside the wagon.


    The rain lulled Sophia to sleep. By morning, it was long gone and the only sign it had happened was a few puddles and tacky ground where there wasn¡¯t any ground cover. ¡°Rain must not have lasted long.¡±


    ¡°It never does near Casterville,¡± Arryn confirmed with a frown. ¡°Blows up out of nowhere and is gone almost as quickly. You won¡¯t be able to tell it rained in a couple of hours. If it happens while we¡¯re traveling, we¡¯ll stop where we are and all take cover in the wagon.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t seem happy about it,¡± Sophia noted. She didn¡¯t see the problem with a quick rain.


    Arryn shook his head. ¡°The problem isn¡¯t the rain itself, it¡¯s what the rain means. It could be nothing, but it could also be stormbirds. As quickly as it came, I want to say it was, and that means there¡¯s a chance for trouble. Keep an eye out while we travel; we should be fine on the road, but that doesn¡¯t mean we can afford to be taken by surprise.¡±


    Packing up the campsite took longer than usual. They started with building a new fire, but that meant cleaning out the old wet ashes had to happen before anything else, as did cleaning the previous night¡¯s dishes. Everything was like that, half-done tasks that were abandoned for the rain had to be completed before they could get anywhere. Getting moving in the morning took a full hour longer than it had on previous nights even though there was only a single tent that had to be repacked.


    An hour after they got going, the mist was gone and the sun was fierce. Unfortunately, the humidity from the rain was still there. It was miserable weather to walk in. Even Arryn¡¯s stories didn¡¯t do much to pass the time. By the time the light started to fade and they started looking for a campsite, Sophia was more than ready to be done with the day; for once, she thought she¡¯d use the more delicate features of her tent. Climate control was expensive in terms of mana, but sometimes it was worth it.


    ¡°Peaches, stop.¡± Arryn sounded stern. When Sophia looked over at him, he was frowning and staring ahead and to the left.


    Sophia turned to follow his gaze. ¡°Is that smoke?¡±


    ¡°I think so,¡± Arryn confirmed. He sounded serious, even concerned. ¡°We¡¯re going to keep going for a bit and see what¡¯s happening. I hope that¡¯s the forest.¡±


    It was clear that there was something he hoped it wasn¡¯t. Sophia could think of several things it might be, and only one of them made any sense to head towards, especially in a hurry. ¡°You think there are people there?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s a town in that direction, a town without a Nexus, a lot like Fallen Kestii. Grisanton is on a hill and has walls, but walls don¡¯t stop everything and they don¡¯t have the wards Vramt established. They have saferooms and the Road instead. If they can get there.¡± Arryn shook his head. ¡°If it¡¯s the forest, we¡¯ll see them running this way; they¡¯re close enough they won¡¯t want to stay for a fire. If it¡¯s the town, we¡¯ll have to see what¡¯s going on before we know what to do.¡±


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    They hurried towards the smoke. Peaches grumbled about the increased pace but kept going without any signs of actually tiring. Sophia wasn¡¯t certain how she knew that Peaches was grumbling mostly for form¡¯s sake and was actually a little eager and looking forward to seeing Grisanton, but she knew he was. She assumed it was from his aura; she must be reading the subtle clues in the way it flowed. That usually required knowing a person well, like reading body language could, but it was entirely possible and usually happened at a level below consciousness.


    At least, she assumed it until Cliff announced in Sophia¡¯s head, ¡°I just Collected the Giant Sloth! It¡¯s not quite complete, I don¡¯t know what the Abilities are, but I know a lot about the monster!¡±


    Sophia blinked and nearly tripped over her own feet. She hadn¡¯t thought about Cliff in days and she certainly hadn¡¯t expected to suddenly see a display of Peaches¡¯ abilities flash in front of her eyes.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Peaches


    </td>


    <td>


    Abilities: Unknown


    </td>


    <td>


    Abilities: Unknown


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Giant Sloth


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    (Claw Image)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Body: 22


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Core: 2


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Shield: 100


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Wisps: Unknown


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Spheres: Giant Sloth (Monster)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Level: 10


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Sophia dismissed the message, but noted that Peaches was far stronger than she¡¯d expected. He was also noted specifically as a monster, which told her that ¡°monster¡± meant something specific. There wasn¡¯t anything about him being tamed, either. That might mean he wasn¡¯t or it might mean Cliff couldn¡¯t see it.


    This was the first time Cliff had actually shown her what it learned. Sophia had the feeling that it wouldn¡¯t be the last, though the clear implication was that she had to interact with something enough for Cliff to learn about it, and ¡°enough¡± was a fuzzy metric. Sophia had no idea what put her over the top; was it figuring out how Peaches felt or did she figure out how Peaches felt because Cliff learned enough about Peaches?


    ¡°Thanks,¡± she whispered at Cliff. She wasn¡¯t certain how to feel about Peaches, though it did make Arryn¡¯s confidence that Peaches could scare off anything that came near them make a lot more sense. It also made her wonder just how powerful the old man was; Level Ten seemed high, but she didn¡¯t really have a scale. 22 Body also seemed high, though that was more because of how expensive it probably was to buy than because she had any real scale for how powerful it was.


    Was Arryn more powerful or not? He almost certainly wasn¡¯t stronger than Peaches, but that didn¡¯t mean he wasn¡¯t more powerful in his own way. He¡¯d already shown that he had hidden depths.


    Sophia¡¯s attention returned to the outside world before they were able to make anything out about the fire, but it wasn¡¯t long before she could see people milling around on the road.


    Peaches started to slow the moment he saw the crowd; it took until they were actually quite close to the jumble of people that he was back down to the walking pace he usually preferred. A look over at him told Sophia why he started to slow so early, even without Arryn¡¯s instructions: he didn¡¯t have a brake. Peaches was connected to the wagon only by a leather harness, which meant that he couldn¡¯t slow the wagon down. It seemed like an oversight, which made Sophia wonder if Arryn had a brake of some sort. She hadn¡¯t seen one, but she also hadn¡¯t been in the wagon.


    ¡°Hey there!¡± Arryn called out. ¡°What¡¯s happening? Why are you all here?¡±


    The crowd shouted back a number of different answers. Some of them were as unhelpful as ¡°the alarm bell rang so we ran,¡± but others helped to give a picture of what was going on. Sophia watched as Arryn quickly questioned them; it was like watching her uncle get information from people. He somehow managed to get the people who didn¡¯t actually know anything to feel like they¡¯d been heard while he got the people who did know something to give all the details they could, and in only about five minutes they knew the bare bones of the story.


    Monsters came out of the forest and attacked the town from the east. They came right over the walls; one villager said he saw them ¡°like a furry wave.¡± No one seemed to be quite certain what sort of monster they were, but everyone seemed to be certain that they were furry and flaming, though some of the villagers claimed that only the big ones were actually on fire. There was a wide range of sizes, everything from the size of a small dog to man-sized, though everyone agreed that they hadn¡¯t seen any as large as Peaches.


    Unfortunately, everyone also agreed that the town was in flames and there were still people in the town. Arryn quizzed them for the locations of the saferooms; it turned out those were in the walls.


    When he was done talking to the villagers, Arryn turned to Sophia, Dav, and Revina. ¡°You three have a choice; you can stay here and watch for monsters or you can come with me and try to help evacuate the safe rooms. You shouldn¡¯t try to fight the monsters; there are far too many for the three of you. Peaches and I will handle that. Which do you want to do?¡±


    Sophia glanced at the villagers, then back at Arryn. ¡°Are the monsters likely to come here? Do the villagers really need to be guarded?¡±


    Arryn shook his head. ¡°With the town still under attack? Probably not, and even if they do, the locals should be able to defend themselves as long as they stay on the Road. It wouldn¡¯t hurt to leave someone here, but it¡¯s not necessary.¡±


    That made the decision easy. ¡°Then I¡¯m coming with you.¡±


    Once Sophia made her choice, both Dav and Revina chimed in supporting her decision, in that order. Sophia could tell that Dav was eager to head into the town and see what was going on, but she couldn¡¯t tell if Revina agreed because she wanted to or because everyone else was going. It didn¡¯t really matter.

 Chapter 47 - Flaming WHAT?

    ¡°Come on in.¡± Arryn opened the door beside his seat, then did something and the seat turned into a wall. It had clear lines where the wood moved, but it was definitely a clever arrangement.


    Sophia shrugged to herself and followed Arryn into the wagon. It was her first time inside and it seemed far more spacious than she¡¯d expected. She¡¯d expected a room with enough space for a pallet, probably under an overhang, and perhaps a passageway; instead, the interior was far more like a Winnebago¡¯s interior. There were two beds, one of which was covered in hair that had to be from Peaches, an eating area, a tiny kitchen, and a number of windows that didn¡¯t show from the outside. Arryn definitely wasn¡¯t joking when he said he had a magical wagon, but it wasn¡¯t where he carried his stuff the way he implied; instead, it was a cozy place to live.


    Arryn leaned outside. ¡°Peaches? Head towards the burning town. Make it quick, but stop us outside the gates.¡± Arryn then closed the door behind himself. It was quickly obvious why he closed up the vehicle and brought them all inside; the wagon accelerated slower than a modern car would, but it soon reached similar speeds. Sophia was pretty sure it was flying, as well; there was no way it could be that smooth over the rough terrain she saw outside otherwise.


    ¡°You three haven¡¯t been to a Vocational Registry yet.¡± Arryn frowned, then reached into a pouch at his side. He took a moment digging, then pulled out a jumble of ribbons, cords, and medallions. Most of them looked like some sort of multicolored stone inlaid into brass or gold; Sophia was betting on brass, especially since some of them showed a deeper color from tarnish. ¡°I keep meaning to organize this, but that would be saying I think I¡¯ll use them and I¡¯d rather not. This is the time, though. Let¡¯s see. Here¡¯s one for Revina.¡±


    Arryn untangled a medallion from the others, then set it on the counter next to him. It was hung on braided black twine; the medallion itself showed a starscape with an aqua pattern that looked like wind or waves covering part of it and a brass design that reminded Sophia of a complex compass rose over it all. The medallion seemed to have a sort of a swirling motif, so that had to be why Arryn set it aside for Revina.


    ¡°For you two, probably swords; hmm. These might work, give them a look. Pick something you¡¯re willing to wear and show off; these are Registry emblems and you¡¯ll wear them a lot. As you can tell, there are generally two styles, the iridescent inlay and the complex field; they don¡¯t mean anything specific, though the symbol you pick does generally say something about who you are. The sun-and-moon symbol here,¡± Arryn tapped the only one of the three pendants that didn¡¯t have a sword, ¡°is a fairly common symbol for a healer. The sword-and-wreath and the fancy sword can both mean whatever you want, though they do both indicate that you use a knife or sword, along with something else. If you prefer, I can find something more appropriate for a siege mage; I just didn¡¯t see anything immediately.¡±


    Dav took one look at the pendant Arryn called a sun-and-moon medallion and shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m not just a healer and I don¡¯t want to be limited that way. Either sword would work, I think.¡±


    Sophia took a good look at both swords. The sword-and-wreath was relatively straightforward. It would be fine. The ¡°fancy sword,¡± on the other hand, had both a face and a skull worked into the brass filigree between the crossguard and whatever the second, smaller, quillon was supposed to be. It reminded her of her family, especially her father and his sister, which made her smile. That was enough of a reason for her. ¡°I¡¯ll take this one, you can have the sword with the wreath?¡±


    Arryn scooped up the unclaimed pendant and stuffed it back into his pouch along with the rest of the tangled pendants. ¡°Wear them openly; that way, people will know you¡¯re there to protect them from monsters. They¡¯ll also track your kills, in case that matters, but it shouldn¡¯t here.¡±


    ¡°You aren¡¯t wearing one,¡± Sophia interrupted.


    Arryn shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t qualify anymore, I¡¯m a Professional. The only Vocational Registry badge I can wear is the Professional one, and I¡¯d rather not. I won¡¯t be dealing with people anyway; that¡¯s what you three will be doing. The monsters don¡¯t care about emblems.¡±


    ¡°But you can give them out?¡± Sophia probed. She hadn¡¯t forgotten that Arryn told them he was taking them to the Registry or that one of the reasons for it was to get their badges.


    ¡°In an emergency? Yes.¡± Arryn paused, then shook his head. ¡°This isn¡¯t exactly what the exception is meant for, it¡¯s meant for when someone gains a Vocation during the emergency, but this is still allowed. We were on our way to the nearest Registry and came across an emergency; this is less of a deviation than many.¡±


    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Before Sophia could probe further, the wagon lurched, bounced upwards, then slammed down to the ground. Sophia grabbed the bedpost to steady herself and managed not to fall over at the next lurch. Revina wasn¡¯t as lucky, but when she fell she landed face-first on Peaches¡¯s bed. She was fine other than a liberal coating of giant sloth fur and an annoyed expression.


    Arryn barely waited for the wagon to stop bouncing crazily before he opened the door. Dav was right behind him, closely followed by Sophia, with Revina in the rear. As they poured out of the wagon, Sophia was able to see the town, or at least the town wall. It was an earthen bank with a ditch in front of it and a palisade of poles rising from the top of the bank. The poles had thin branches weaved through them; the cracks between the branches were filled with something. That was odd enough, but there were literal tree trunks leaned against the wall. In places, they¡¯d actually knocked the poles that formed the wall over. The tree trunks were clearly how the monsters entered the town.


    It was also how the five of them were going to enter the town. It had to be; while Sophia could see a gate, it wasn¡¯t open. They¡¯d probably have to open it to get people out. She wondered how the people they¡¯d seen on the Road escaped.


    A glance at Peaches let Sophia see him unbuckle the last connection he had to the wagon, then he paused long enough to let Arryn hop onto his back and grab ahold of his harness. Arryn took one last look at the trio. ¡°Remember: find people and get them to the Road. They¡¯ll be safe there. Getting them safely out of town may be enough; it doesn¡¯t look like there are any other fires, so they can probably run without you while you get others.¡±


    Peaches didn¡¯t wait for Arryn to say more. He leapt onto one of the larger tree trunks, then bounded over the wall and was lost to Sophia¡¯s vision.


    Sophia looped the cord for her pendant around her neck and made a mental note that she needed a better way to carry it next time, a way that didn¡¯t invite something to grab it and use it to control her movement. She hurried to the same trunk Peaches used and hopped up on it with a look at the wall. ¡°Weren¡¯t there supposed to be refuges in the wall?¡±


    ¡°Maybe they meant the bank?¡± Dav climbed up behind Sophia, but his attention was ahead of them not on the wall. ¡°What are those things?¡±


    Sophia turned to follow Dav¡¯s gaze. In the distance, silhouetted against a wooden building that seemed to be mostly a steep roof that wasn¡¯t yet aflame even though fire showed through an upper vent, was a group of four creatures. They looked short and chubby, with brown fur. The largest two seemed to have fire rising from their bodies, while the middle one emitted the occasional spark. Only the smallest one didn¡¯t seem to be on fire.


    It gave Sophia a moment of cognitive dissonance, because she was pretty sure that only the smallest one was the correct size. The biggest one was probably as large as a large human. ¡°I think they¡¯re beavers. Flaming beavers.¡±


    It explained the tree trunks, at least. Sophia looked at the one she stood on; at the end, there did seem to be the characteristic gnawed section of a beaver-felled tree. ¡°Flaming beavers are a new one for me.¡±


    ¡°Does that change what we have to do?¡± Revina hopped up on another log and looked over the wall. ¡°Uh. That¡¯s a lot of fire.¡±


    ¡°We should start along the wall,¡± Dav said as he hopped off the far end of the log Sophia was on into the town. ¡°There has to be a way into any hiding places, and it¡¯s probably easy to find. Come on; we should stick together.¡±


    Dav paused and looked at his pendant, then wound it around his hand and pushed it onto his upper arm. It caught on one of the armor plates until he pulled it around, but he managed to get it to lie more or less snug against his upper armor. Sophia was going to have to remember that trick. She was also going to have to help Dav with it next time; right now, it looked like it was trying to fall down to his elbow.


    They raced along the inner edge of the earth wall away from the gate until they found a section that had clearly been built from stone instead of dirt. There was even a door set into the side of the wall. Dav was in the lead, so he was the one that got to pound on the door. ¡°Anyone in there? We¡¯re here to get you out, get you to the Road.¡±


    The door opened a crack, then far enough to see inside. There was an entire group of people, at least a dozen, but half of them were children under the age of six. Two were babies being held by parents. The woman at the door took one look at them and seemed to sag in relief. ¡°Called. Come on everyone; we have an escort out of town.¡±


    It took four times as long to get from the safe room to the gate as it had to get from the nearby breach in the wall to the safe room. The children were well behaved, but they simply didn¡¯t move that quickly. When they were a few yards out of the saferoom, two of the adults scooped up the two youngest kids; the last two were able to move at least somewhat quickly.


    No flaming beavers seemed to notice them before they were at the gate, but when the woman who answered the door unlatched the gate, it made a loud creaking noise. Everyone froze and looked around. When there was no immediate beaver attack, she opened the gate just wide enough for someone carrying a child to slip out.


    That was when a small lone beaver rounded the corner. It ran straight for the group until Revina pegged it in the nose with a gust of wind. It didn¡¯t seem to do any damage but it definitely disconcerted the beaver. It paused for a moment and several more people escaped out the gate. Sophia triggered her Imbued weapon to strike at it; that did seem to penetrate, at least enough to leave a bloody scratch on the beaver¡¯s chest.


    Dav managed to trigger the Imbuement on his sword as well. Sophia might have cheered under other circumstances; right now, all she could do was watch with fierce joy as he left a second, matching scratch that crossed the one she left.


    With that, the fight was on.

 Chapter 48 - Rage Beavers

    Sophia heard a wail from behind her, where the civilians were. She couldn¡¯t take her attention off the beaver, but it sounded low pitched enough that it probably wasn¡¯t one of the children. Perhaps the adults understood the threat better than the kids did?


    A thump followed the wail. Sophia thought it sounded like flesh hitting wood, perhaps like someone smacked the gate, but she didn¡¯t turn to look.


    The beaver charged towards the group. Sophia was grateful that it wasn¡¯t one of the fiery ones; this seemed to be an ordinary beaver. It clearly wasn¡¯t, but it also didn¡¯t seem to have any way to affect them at a distance.


    A distortion in the air showed where Revina slammed air into the beaver¡¯s side as it ran forward. That had to be her Buffet spell. It did what it implied and knocked the beaver a step or two sideways. It slowed as it regained its balance, which let Dav and Sophia take the initiative from it as it recovered. Sophia¡¯s knife plunged into the beaver¡¯s chest as Dav smacked its skull and cracked it in two. Either wound was probably fatal; together, they meant the beaver wasn¡¯t a threat.


    The scrape of claws on stone was the first sign that Sophia was wrong. That beaver might not be a threat, but it wasn¡¯t the only beaver they¡¯d attracted. She risked a glance behind her and saw that the civilians were still bunched up inside the gate; less than half of them were on the other side. She yanked her knife out of the beaver¡¯s corpse and hurriedly reestablished the Imbue Blade on her knife.


    Dav would have to do without, but his weapon was better than hers. It only made sense; his was supposed to be his primary weapon, while hers was a backup she rarely needed. She couldn¡¯t wait until she actually had combat-usable spells again.


    Three beavers hurried into the area in front of the gate. Two were the same size as the one they¡¯d just killed, but one was larger and had flaming sparks drifting off its hide as it moved.


    ¡°The small ones are Enraged Beavers,¡± Cliff spoke in the back of Sophia¡¯s head. ¡°They¡¯re faster and stronger than normal beavers but have no ability to make choices; they will always charge directly at the closest non-beaver. They can, to an extent, be controlled by other Flame Beavers, but only until they see an enemy.¡±


    Cliff must have Collected the Enraged Beaver they¡¯d killed. That was fast. It was definitely useful that he could tell her what he¡¯d learned as they went, too. That was almost as good as the news that the smaller beavers would fight dumbly.


    Air swirled around the large fiery beaver. It didn¡¯t knock it off balance as far as it had the smaller beaver, both because it was larger and because it wasn¡¯t charging at full speed towards them. Sophia frowned. In many ways, Revina had the right idea. They needed to separate the enemies to make this easier. Unfortunately, that wasn¡¯t the way to achieve the goal. They¡¯d have to stagger the small ones out and hope the large one didn¡¯t charge when the small ones did. ¡°Revina! Knock one of the small ones over when they charge!¡±


    Sophia picked one and launched her Imbued blade at it right as it saw them and charged straight at Dav. As she¡¯d requested, Revina threw a Buffet at the other one. She must have caught it at exactly the right time, because it actually tipped onto its side and had to take a moment to recover.


    Dav met the first Enraged Beaver¡¯s charge with the point of his sword. It skidded off the beaver¡¯s shield but left a nasty gash along the beaver¡¯s muzzle, then skipped past the neck and penetrated into the beaver¡¯s back. A wound like that wasn¡¯t going to kill instantly, but it might well make the beaver bleed out fairly quickly. More importantly, it meant Dav had penetrated the shield; somehow, that must have counted as two separate hits when it bounced sideways then impacted the beaver¡¯s shoulder.


    The injury didn¡¯t stop the beaver. It turned its head to bite Dav¡¯s arm and slashed out with its claws; Sophia knew which she was more worried about and it wasn¡¯t the claws. They didn¡¯t hurt him at all; anything that got through Dav¡¯s shield simply skidded off his armor. The bite, on the other hand, managed to close around Dav¡¯s sword arm. Sophia didn¡¯t think it had fully penetrated the shield either, but Dav¡¯s immediate profanity said that breaking the shield wasn¡¯t necessary to make an attack like that dangerous in its own way.


    Sophia twisted and slashed the beaver¡¯s neck. One down, two to go.


    She turned back towards the other beavers just in time to see another gust of wind press against the second small beaver, but it had far less effect this time. Before she could do anything else, a marble-sized flaming ball impacted on her armor from the direction of the large beaver. It left a tiny scorched mark; Sophia suspected that her shield took the majority of the heat away. She¡¯d have to check later, but she suspected the scorching was essentially cosmetic.


    If she had more time, she might have checked how much shield it took to block what she hoped was a firebolt spell, but as it was she barely managed to get her knife in position to hit the incoming beaver¡¯s teeth as it charged her. The beaver¡¯s shield prevented her knife from penetrating the beaver¡¯s body, but it didn¡¯t stop it from entering the beaver¡¯s mouth. There was a worrisome metallic twing noise as the beaver bit down on the knife, but Sophia knew she could replace a knife if she had to.


    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    The impact didn¡¯t stop the beaver¡¯s momentum and Sophia¡¯s turns left her a little off balance. She fell backwards onto her back as the beaver barrelled into her. This one seemed intent on its bite, as its claws hit only air, but Sophia knew that wouldn¡¯t last. She shoved her left arm between her body and the beaver, then convulsively flung it to the side as she pulled her knife out of its mouth.


    The beaver didn¡¯t try to resist and landed on its back next to Sophia, only to receive Dav¡¯s sword through its skull a moment later. Huh. Apparently getting it to bite her knife did a number on the beaver¡¯s shield. Hitting the inside of its throat probably didn¡¯t hurt either.


    The impact of a second marble-sized ball of fire on her leg made Sophia realize the fight wasn¡¯t over. She wasn¡¯t down long, but she couldn¡¯t afford to stay down. She climbed to her feet and saw a long distance battle happening between the fiery beaver and Revina; wind Slices peppered the beaver as it threw small balls of fire at all three of them. Sophia was glad it wasn¡¯t focusing on any one of them, but that didn¡¯t mean she could afford to let it continue. It hadn¡¯t shifted its attention to the civilians that still weren¡¯t all through the gate, but it could at any time.


    There was no point in wishing that she had a good ranged option. Imbue Blade was too slow. She glanced over at Dav. ¡°You circle left and I¡¯ll circle right?¡±


    Dav nodded and they both set off at a run around the cleared area, trying to divide the beaver¡¯s attention. Against a smarter monster, it might not have worked, but the beaver was already splitting its attention. It kept up its pattern, but it was slowed by the extra turning to hit them all and its aim seemed to be far worse against moving targets that weren¡¯t running directly at it.


    Sophia deliberately stayed a little slower than Dav. She might or might not have been able to keep up, but she didn¡¯t even try; she didn¡¯t trust her knife, which meant her best option was to serve as a distraction. She managed to push an Imbue Blade into the knife as she ran; hopefully, that would mean it wouldn¡¯t break further if she used it. It would certainly let her cut, as long as the blade lasted.


    By the time Dav got to the beaver, it had a number of small slashes from Revina¡¯s slices. None were large or debilitating, but they must have depleted its shield because Dav was able to skewer the beaver without being deflected. Unfortunately, the beaver did manage to twist partly out of the way, so all he hit was the beaver¡¯s arm.


    It was enough. The arm Dav hit was the one it was using to direct the flaming marbles.


    Sophia was two steps out when the beaver decided it had indeed had enough and went up in literal flames. Sophia stumbled to a halt, amazed at the heat it gave off.


    Dav coughed once and retreated. His hand and face were far more purple than normal; Sophia suspected it was like a bad sunburn, except that his blood glowed purple instead of a normal red.


    The flaming pillar that was once a beaver stepped forward, waving its arms to both sides. It was easy to avoid. The beaver clearly had no way to sense anything in that form.


    Sophia expected it to change back quickly; it seemed like a good escape Skill but not one you¡¯d want to maintain. In a way, she was right: the Ability didn¡¯t last long. When it ended, however, there was no longer a beaver left. Instead, there was a charred and blackened pile of former beaver.


    Dav took its head off anyway. It was charred most of the way through the neck but not completely.


    When Sophia turned back to the gate, only Revina stood on the inside with them. Sophia badly wanted a short rest after the intense fight, but now wasn¡¯t the time. ¡°Let¡¯s go outside; I want to know if we need to escort them to the Road. I don¡¯t want to abandon them after we pulled them out of a safe place.¡±


    Dav slid his sword into his scabbard and followed her without saying anything. Sophia gave him a worried look, but he caught her eye and gave a slight shake of his head accompanied by an understated smile. She took that as him saying he wasn¡¯t badly hurt.


    Unexpectedly, the civilians weren¡¯t just waiting outside the gate and they also hadn¡¯t run into the forest. Instead, they were at the edge of the forest, trying to ¡­ open a cellar? That was Sophia¡¯s first impression, and it was a pretty strange one. She put her knife away and rubbed her eyes.


    Yes, they were indeed trying to open a door that had the button edge a few inches above ground level and the top edge about four inches higher than the bottom. It seemed to be stuck.


    When Sophia got there, she saw that it wasn¡¯t just stuck; it was badly scorched. In fact, she was amazed the wood was still intact with as blackened as it was. The reason it wouldn¡¯t open was that the metal hasp that secured the latch had actually partially melted. It didn¡¯t take much thought to figure out when that happened. ¡°Is this another safe room?¡±


    If it was, she didn¡¯t think it was particularly safe.


    ¡°No, it¡¯s the tunnel to the Road,¡± a younger woman holding a baby as she watched, clearly worried, told Sophia.


    Sophia blinked at that. She supposed it made sense; if there was a reason to be off the Road yet you wanted to be able to get to it quickly in an emergency, a tunnel was a good thing to have. ¡°Why isn¡¯t it inside the village?¡±


    The young woman gave her an incredulous look. ¡°Would you want a tunnel into monster-infested woods that came out inside your town?¡±


    Well, when you put it like that, Sophia supposed she¡¯d asked a dumb question after all.

 Chapter 49 - Escort Mission

    ¡°How do you know the tunnel¡¯s safe to use?¡± Dav leaned forward to look at the damaged door. ¡°I think we can be sure nothing got in from this side, but what about the other end?¡±


    ¡°There were people at the other end,¡± Sophia reminded Dav. ¡°That means it was clear when they went through. They didn¡¯t say anything about danger near the road, only at the village.¡±


    ¡°There should be a guard at the end of the passage to draw the monsters away,¡± the woman carrying the baby added. ¡°Probably Lucas; he¡¯s a Hunter, but he¡¯s always been happy to help out the Town Guard and his Abilities are more suited to the woods. If he couldn¡¯t deal with the beavers himself, he¡¯d lead them to the Road where the guards can handle them. If we can get in, the tunnel will be safe.¡±


    ¡°As long as nothing enters from this side.¡±


    Sophia¡¯s eyes flashed to Revina. She clearly wasn¡¯t trying to be reassuring with that statement.


    Revina stared intently at the melted metal, then called out ¡°Shahi-ka!¡± with a wave of her wand. A distortion in the air followed from the tip of her want and struck the door at the point where the metal joined the wood. It took Revina several Slices to break the melted metal away enough to ¡°unlock¡± the door. ¡°I will guard the door, the way your hunter does on the other side. I am more suited for that; I can hide and run but I do not strike as hard as you two do.¡±


    Sophia wasn¡¯t sure that splitting up was the best choice, but she realistically couldn¡¯t see a better one that let them both rescue people from the shelters and kept the escape route safe. Sure, it was possible that nothing would come out here - but it was obvious that a beaver had been at the escape route long enough to damage the outer door. It probably followed escaping townsfolk, but that didn¡¯t mean there were no other beavers in the area. Neither Sophia nor Dav had a spell to slow things down as they ran, but Revina did. Dav or Sophia would probably have to kill whatever they encountered. ¡°Fine, but be sure you run if you need to. And don¡¯t be afraid to yell for help; we¡¯ll be coming this way anyway.¡±


    ¡°Leave a trail if you can if you have to run,¡± Dav added. ¡°We¡¯ll come for you.¡±


    ¡°Go on,¡± Revina told them. ¡°There¡¯s no need for you to stay, go get more people out.¡±


    Sophia paused, then turned to the talkative woman. ¡°Where are the other shelters? We found yours by following the outer wall; is that where they all are?¡±


    The woman shook her head. ¡°There are also some in the middle of the town. They¡¯re in the larger buildings, usually, because that¡¯s where people are more likely to be when an attack happens.¡± She glanced back at the town and sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t think I can give you directions. Not to all of them. Just look for the big buildings; safe places that aren¡¯t in the wall usually have a door like this one.¡±


    Sophia nodded, even though she didn¡¯t think they¡¯d actually have much luck without directions. The town wasn¡¯t laid out on a grid system or any obvious plan; the only semblance of a plan she could see was that there was space between the buildings. They didn¡¯t even face a consistent direction. The odds that she¡¯d be able to find any specific building, especially with half of them on fire, was insane. ¡°I assume the bigger ones, the ones with safe spots, will be closer to the center of town?¡±


    That was her first guess, because it didn¡¯t make sense to build too many hideyholes next to each other. It might be worth looking if they got everyone on the fringe out first. It depended on what things looked like; Sophia wasn¡¯t about to head into an inferno to try to get people out. They¡¯d be safer where they were holed up than trying to head through active fire, at least if the air held out. With the flame beavers, it probably would; the risk was more from the buildings than the beavers at that point.


    ¡°Mostly,¡± the woman agreed. ¡°I think the Mayor¡¯s residence has a saferoom they use as a cellar. It¡¯s on the far side of town, not far from the wall. You can¡¯t miss it; it¡¯s twice the size of everything around it.¡±


    That actually made some sense, at least if the Mayor¡¯s residence had staff that spent a lot of time there. Sophia nodded. ¡°We¡¯ll look if we can.¡±


    The woman nodded. ¡°If you find Glenn, tell him I got out with Kess.¡± She turned and disappeared into the tunnel before Sophia could ask for her name or what Glenn looked like.


    Sophia shrugged internally. If she happened to hear someone named Glenn ask about a baby named Kess, she¡¯d know what to say. Otherwise, she¡¯d just have to tell everyone to look for each other at the Road.


    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Before Sophia and Dav reached the town, they could hear the sounds of fighting. They hadn¡¯t been nearly as obvious when they left through the gate with the citizens, but as they returned it was clear both that Arryn had found something to fight and that Sophia didn¡¯t want to be anywhere near that fight. The quieter noises included the crackle and pop of a large fire; the louder ones were more like explosions, gunshots, or even lightning. A roar that had to be from Peaches echoed through the air, easily audible over everything except the thunder.


    Dav set off down the wall to the left. Sophia frowned, since that was sort of the direction the fighting was in, but he was probably right; they should try to get people out of the way. They reached the saferoom before they were actually within easy sight of the fighting, though it sounded closer than Sophia liked.


    It was a bit more difficult to get the cowering townspeople to open the door, but once they heard there were Called there to escort them to the tunnel and it was open and guarded, they were willing to not just walk but run, carrying the few children that happened to be in the group. The one good thing about the nearby fight was that it seemed to have drawn all the beavers away; Dav and Sophia didn¡¯t have to fight anything on the way out.


    When Sophia and Dav returned to the town once again, one of the buildings between the gate and that saferoom looked demolished; something or possibly someone had gone right through it. They didn¡¯t even have to consult with each other before they headed the other way, towards the first saferoom.


    The third saferoom door was badly scorched. It still held, but it was clear that seasoned wood wasn¡¯t the best possible material to use against monsters that exuded fire. The terrified people inside the saferoom were easily convinced that they needed to follow Dav and Sophia to safety, but they moved far slower than the second group. Sophia was able to gather that a beaver larger than the ones they¡¯d fought had attacked the door until something distracted it. The people hidden inside the room had no idea what. Sophia suspected the answer was Peaches.


    Over the next hour and a bit, the sounds of fighting grew and ebbed repeatedly. It was clear that Arryn and Peaches were cleaning beavers out of the town, but there must have been a lot of beavers. Sophia and Dav only had to fight three more times, once while they were escorting a group that had more children than parents and twice while they were searching for more saferooms and fell across beavers.


    None of the fights were as large as the first, but by the time Sophia was pretty certain they¡¯d cleaned out all of the saferooms in the part of the wall they could actually access, along with the Mayor¡¯s cellar (which contained the Mayor¡¯s wife and several servants), both she and Dav were exhausted. At the same time, they¡¯d managed to escort over a hundred people to the tunnel, possibly several hundred; Sophia had completely lost count.


    However many it was, it was a lot. Most of them would probably have been safe inside their hiding places, but not all of them. More than once, Sophia and Dav passed a cleared-out bunker and found that the door was damaged or destroyed.


    They only found one saferoom that the beavers got inside before they did. Sophia carefully did not look closely. Even so, she was not going to forget the charcoal they found inside any time soon.


    Sophia leaned against the wall, exhausted. She¡¯d always expected that she¡¯d run out of mana first in an extended fight, but her mana was nearly full. It was everything else that she was nearly out of, starting with any idea of where to go next. ¡°Do you think we can find the other saferooms?¡±


    Dav shook his head. ¡°In this mess? Do you remember that one in the wall that we walked by four times before we saw it?¡±


    Sophia sighed, then nodded. Some debris from the fighting had somehow ended up partially in front of the door, which hid it from casual view and forced them to walk a long way around that particular entrance. It was probably the safest of the bunkers they¡¯d cleaned out because the beavers would also have been unlikely to notice it. That didn¡¯t protect it from the fighting, however, so they got people out and headed to the Road by the tunnel anyway. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s what I thought, too. This town is probably only easy to navigate for locals.¡±


    Dav snorted. ¡°Have you seen how much trouble they¡¯re having? The fires have made the place impossible for them too.¡±


    Sophia nodded glumly. ¡°I don¡¯t want to think about how many people we can¡¯t find.¡± They were the most endangered, too. The closest to the fighting and the fires. There simply wasn¡¯t a good way to find them.


    Another crack of thunder made both Dav and Sophia glance towards the center of town. Dav then glanced up at the clouds that had gathered over the last few hours; they¡¯d threatened rain since before they got to the town but somehow it never seemed to come. ¡°You don¡¯t have a spell to make the clouds rain, do you?¡±


    Sophia shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m not good with water magic. I can move it around, but I don¡¯t think I can make a storm system rain. You¡¯d need a water mage for that. Or maybe wind. The best I can do with water is move it around. If there was a big enough water source - wait. The stream.¡±


    ¡°The stream? The one next to the second gate?¡± Dav gave Sophia a funny look. ¡°How does it help? Didn¡¯t you just say you didn¡¯t have a spell for rain?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t,¡± Sophia said with a toothy grin. ¡°I do, however, know a ritual for telekinesis. It¡¯s short range and horribly inaccurate so it¡¯s generally not very useful, but for moving water from a stream to above a city? It¡¯s perfect. I just need an energy source.¡± It wasn¡¯t as bad as it could be, since she could manage telekinesis with her Arcane affinity with magic itself, but water was heavy and she was going to have to move a lot of it. ¡°I really hope the stream¡¯s running quickly. If it is, I can probably make this work. If it¡¯s slow, I can¡¯t.¡±

 Chapter 50 - Make It Rain

    The second gate was on the other side of the town. As far as Sophia could tell, it was there mostly because it was very close to the stream. She wasn¡¯t sure why they hadn¡¯t tried to incorporate the stream into the town¡¯s defenses, but she was sure there had to be a reason.


    Getting to the tunnel from the gate was a longer walk than going through the town, but it also didn¡¯t require going through the town. Once they found that gate, quite a few of the townsfolk were escorted the long way around. It was better that way.


    They hurried to the gate, then slipped through the small opening. There were still periodic explosions, roars, and lightning strikes towards the middle of town. Sophia tried to ignore them; while there weren¡¯t many beavers outside the town, one very lost small Enraged Beaver had attacked Revina while they were going back for the fourth saferoom. Revina almost killed it before they returned with the townfolk; a single thrown Imbued Blade was all Sophia needed to finish it off. She needed to stay alert in case there were more.


    When they got to the stream, Sophia heard water moving in the distance. A short walk led her to an odd waterfall. She gave it a long look, then realized that the reason it was odd was that it was clearly manmade; the surface that the water ran over and even the strangely square overhang the water fell from were made of bricks. There was nothing there now, but it looked like people had once deliberately used the water from the stream to do something. A mill, maybe? She wasn¡¯t familiar enough with old water-powered tech to be sure.


    Sophia measured the drop with her eyes and heaved a sigh of relief. This wasn¡¯t going to be easy but it could work. She¡¯d need to make minor changes to the ritual to deal with the fact that she was using flowing water, but it could work. She¡¯d be breaking some of the rules of physics, but that was the point of the ritual, to defy gravity.


    Sophia found a flat open space near the stream without any large tree roots and hacked away what little ground cover lived on the sandy soil. She was definitely lucky there; there was no way she¡¯d be able to safely draw a ritual circle without removing the plants first. The soil was poor, which meant there weren¡¯t many and those that were there didn¡¯t seem to have good root systems.


    Dav helped once he realized what she was doing. He worked in companionable silence for the first few minutes, but when they were about halfway through the weeding, he cleared his throat.


    Sophia looked up at him, though she kept pulling out plants, including as much of the roots as she could get. Some of them had runners, which was nice in that she could get several at once and annoying because it meant they didn¡¯t stop. At least they were all near the surface!


    ¡°You said you¡¯re going to do a ritual?¡± Dav sounded a bit uncomfortable. ¡°Is that religious? I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever asked you what religion you follow.¡±


    Sophia shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t. I mean, gods are real, but they¡¯re not ¡­ I don¡¯t follow any of the usual faiths. Probably the closest I get to actually following a religion is the Dungeon Deity, and that¡¯s not really a faith. It¡¯s a set of good practices when you¡¯re dealing with dungeons.¡±


    Was it really a faith if you knew they were there and had evidence? Sophia shook her head. She¡¯d had that debate with Ita more than once. Ita always won. Apparently faith without knowledge wasn¡¯t required as long as you did believe and followed the precepts. ¡°Anyway, no, ritual magic doesn¡¯t have anything to do with religion. Well, it doesn¡¯t have to and this doesn¡¯t. It¡¯s manipulating the world, the same way a spell does, but it takes advantage of the properties of what you bring to it. In this case, it means I can use the energy of the waterfall and the swiftly moving spring water to throw the water in the air sort of in the direction of the town. It¡¯s ¡­ like the water hit something solid, even though there¡¯s nothing there. Sort of.¡±


    Ritual magic was weird. It let you do things you didn¡¯t have the power or methods to do otherwise; in this case, Sophia could do the exact same thing with a spellform to a small amount of water but there was no way she could move enough to actually put the fires of a town out with her mana.


    ¡°I¡¯m not really very good with ritual magic,¡± Sophia admitted. ¡°It¡¯s not commonly used in modern magic, at least not on Earth. It¡¯s famous in stories of course, but that just means everyone gets it wrong so it has a terrible reputation. Enchantments and runes are more repeatable and reliable anyway, so that¡¯s what people use. I only know this because, well, it was my project the year I turned fifteen. I got into rituals and decided I wanted to prove everybody was wrong about how useless they were, so I picked a combat ritual as my project. Dad told me not to expect too much but he still taught me a lot. I don¡¯t remember all of it, but I remember enough to modify that ritual for water.¡±


    She risked a glance at Dav. He was pulling weeds again, but he kept sneaking glances at her. She blushed and continued talking. ¡°I was homeschooled. Mostly, anyway; Mom did hire tutors for some of the subjects she didn¡¯t want to teach herself, other than magic. I didn¡¯t need tutors for magic; almost everyone who spent time at our place taught me something. I did a project each year, sometimes more than one. This was one of them. Well, it wasn¡¯t to put water in the air; it was for sand. It sort of worked, mostly because sand got in peoples¡¯ eyes. It was pretty funny.¡±


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    ¡°I don¡¯t have any stories like that,¡± Dav answered softly. ¡°My childhood was pretty boring other than moving all the time, at least until my parents left the service. That¡¯s when my formal schooling stopped; the children of soldiers get free training. The children of a dockworker and a barmaid don¡¯t, at least not until they enlist. I was lucky, really. If Mom hadn¡¯t worked in Waste Reclamation and gotten her hands on an old military pod shortly before their terms expired, I¡¯d probably still be in Alinport.¡±


    Sophia doubted it was half as boring as he thought it was. No one had a childhood that was completely boring. She was pretty sure most kids just thought it was normal. She certainly had, at least until she realized just how different her life was from the lives of kids in modern TV shows. In fact, he¡¯d already mentioned a couple of things that sounded pretty odd to Sophia.


    ¡°I think that¡¯s enough area; I¡¯ll start cutting the circle into the ground now. You said something about a pod; what do you mean? What¡¯s a pod?¡± Sophia canceled the Imbue Blade on her weapon and replaced it with one that was better shaped to create a precise line in the dirt. It was a hit to her mana, but that would recover. She¡¯d need to depend on Dav to defend her while she worked on the ritual, so she left the Imbuement active on his sword. She¡¯d have to cancel it to preserve her mana regen when she cast the ritual, but until then it could stay.


    ¡°What¡¯s a pod?¡± Dav looked at her like she was crazy. ¡°You really don¡¯t have pods? They¡¯re the cornerstone of modern technical society!¡±


    Sophia shook her head at him. She had to start with the central design and work her way outwards, which meant she had to reverse the way she¡¯d designed it. She also had to add the adaptations that would indicate that she was moving water, but that wouldn¡¯t be until the circle that was second from the outside. The entire inner section managed the telekinesis. At least it was relatively simple even if it did absolutely have to be correct.


    ¡°Then how do you combat the Dust? Without integrated control and learning program assistance¡­¡± Dav trailed off. ¡°You don¡¯t have the Dust. Maybe you don¡¯t need the help?¡±


    Sophia frowned at the circle. She¡¯d gotten a line off course and accidentally intersected it with another one. That meant she had to rub out part of both of them and redraw them. At least that was possible in this ground. It might make it hard to move over the top of her design but at least she wouldn¡¯t have to completely start over if she made a mistake.


    ¡°We don¡¯t have the Dust. I assume that¡¯s nanites? How do they work? You don¡¯t have a rogue AI, do you?¡± Sophia might be a delver but she still enjoyed science fiction movies. A surprisingly large number of them still ignored magic, assuming that societies without the Voice never discovered it. It wasn¡¯t an insane idea; the Tsarualk managed to build ships with no magic required that were better than most magical ships. They were the home of technology the way Earth was quickly becoming a hotbed of magitech.


    Dav snorted. ¡°Depends on what you mean by rogue. It¡¯s apparently doing exactly what it was programmed to do, just not the way the people who designed it thought it would. Something about it learning from a large data set and making connections that aren¡¯t real. I don¡¯t know; I have a practical education, not a theoretical one. It was supposed to create a pristine wilderness but if no one can get there, how does that help? The Dust¡¯s idea of a pristine wilderness doesn¡¯t have much living there, either.¡±


    Sophia nodded. She¡¯d seen the movies, but more importantly she¡¯d also known some relatively young AIs even though she didn¡¯t have one herself. ¡°That¡¯s pretty much what rogue means. AIs have to be taught what things mean and to doubt themselves and ask questions. They see the world differently, but really that¡¯s true of anyone. You don¡¯t give a baby a weapon.¡±


    Dav shook his head. ¡°That seems incredible. How do you keep people from just creating them and handing over things they shouldn¡¯t?¡±


    Sophia shrugged. ¡°I can make guesses, but what I know is that it¡¯s not easy and it¡¯s watched for. Maybe it¡¯s easier to contain when there¡¯s also magic?¡±


    They kept talking as Sophia scratched the spell into the dirt. It took a while, and she had to ask Dav to let her concentrate a couple of times as she checked the ritual¡¯s pattern, but she did eventually get it in the ground. By the time it was all there, she hadn¡¯t heard lightning from the town in a while, but the noise of the fires had only grown. She hoped that didn¡¯t mean Arryn was hurt or dead, but if he was there was little she could do about it. She¡¯d seen enough of the damage from his running fight to know that almost anything that could kill him wouldn¡¯t even notice squishing her.


    It was finally ready. Sophia had to use her magelight to see some of the shadowed areas, but everything checked out. It was time to cast the ritual and see what happened.


    She just knew she was going to feel silly. The ritual required both movement and chanting to focus the spell. She was going to look like she was dancing and singing nonsense around a magic circle. She flushed at the thought of all that embarrassment. ¡°Don¡¯t laugh, okay? It¡¯s part of the ritual. I designed it when I was fifteen.¡±


    ¡°I won¡¯t,¡± Dav promised. He met her eyes for a long moment before Sophia looked down, then back at the ritual circle. She had to get started.

 Chapter 51 - Rain

    Sophia froze with anxiety as she looked at the ritual for the last time before starting it. What if she¡¯d gotten it wrong? She looked over the ritual one more time and paid extra attention to the inner circle. Yes, that was all right. It was the same inner piece she¡¯d included in every ritual she¡¯d ever done: a limiter that made the ritual begin slowly and allowed her to cancel it safely if something went wrong. It was basically never optimal but it was safe, and that was hugely important when working with something she might not have quite right. She was confident she¡¯d gotten close enough that she¡¯d have a chance to prevent catastrophe.


    The only real remaining risk was that it might pick up dirt instead of water. That was the original purpose of the ritual, after all. Sophia was pretty sure she¡¯d both remembered it correctly and altered the correct sections, but she hadn¡¯t actually done anything with rituals in years. She might be completely wrong.


    Was that really so bad? It would mean she¡¯d wasted however long it took to set the ritual up, but the only other useful things she could have done were to guard the tunnel or try to organize the refugees. Revina was doing fine as a guard and the refugees were probably fine as well. If this worked, it would be worth it. If it didn¡¯t, it was still worth a try.


    She took a deep breath to settle her nerves and started.


    Sophia chanted as she walked around the circle and slowly fed a tiny amount of mana into the ritual. That was half of the puzzle; the other half was keeping her mind (and, more importantly, Intent) on what she wanted to have happen. She wanted the water of the stream to spray into the air, like it hit something, but for it to go far higher and wider than it should have.


    It started as a splash in the middle of the waterfall, a spot where the water went out instead of down. Before long, it headed up as well as out. It sprayed everywhere, completely uncontrolled. Sophia remembered that effect from her sand ritual. She was getting soaked, but that was less unpleasant than with sand.


    Sophia sent a bit more mana into the ritual. She needed that if she was going to manage anything better than spraying the people next to the waterfall; that took very little energy, really, but it also didn¡¯t accomplish her goals.


    The ritual was as basic as you could get, without even candles. That meant she¡¯d need more mana and she had to be even more careful with her Intent. She could only hope that she had enough mana to put a useful amount of water across the town; she couldn¡¯t be certain she did. At least this was a simple ritual and one that wasn¡¯t trying to be terribly precise. There was no way she was going to manage precision. She could, however, manage to keep most of the water off herself if she refined its direction a bit.


    The spray from the waterfall rose a little with each step forward she took and each word she spoke. It also tightened; she was now only casting water at one side of the stream instead of both. A bit more and it finally arced over the heads of Sophia and Dav. She felt chilled despite her armor. At least she wasn¡¯t getting much wetter.


    Sophia kept moving. The spray from the waterfall now rose more than twice their height of the waterfall at its peak; that wasn¡¯t enough, not when she had to get it to the far side of the town and reach even the peak of the Mayor¡¯s mansion. It was still a good start, so she shifted her focus to getting it to move more towards the town. That made it spread in that direction, but that was all to the good since she had to cover quite a bit of town. She tried to pull the sides in a bit as well. There was no reason to rain outside the town.


    Step by step and word by word, she eased the water towards the town. When it first reached over the wall, Sophia was grateful that the ritual, like any ritual, pulled a good portion of its power from ambient mana; she could already feel hers dropping. She still had a lot, but there was no way she could have managed this under her own power.


    Several minutes after Sophia¡¯s waterfall reached the town, Dav turned to her. ¡°Do you want me to see what the water¡¯s hitting and how well it¡¯s working, or should I stay here to guard you against beavers? There haven¡¯t been any beavers yet, but there was that one that attacked Revina.¡±


    Sophia gave Dav a dirty look. She couldn¡¯t stop chanting or she¡¯d break the ritual; how was she supposed to tell him which option she wanted?


    The chances of a beaver attacking were pretty low, even though she was next to a stream; there was no beaver dam nearby. She needed to know if she was getting enough water on the places that needed it to actually put the fires out. She was afraid that she might not be, that she might be just making a gentle mist over the town that wouldn¡¯t do anything. Alternatively, maybe she was only getting the water to a small part of town?


    The best thing she could think of to do was to hold up a single finger, trying to indicate that she wanted the first option.


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    Dav frowned. ¡°You want me to wait?¡±


    Sophia shook her head. She could do that much, at least. She waved a hand at the town.


    ¡°Oh, you want me to check on the town and the water?¡± Dav guessed with his eyes on Sophia.


    Sophia nodded emphatically.


    Dav didn¡¯t ask any more questions; instead, he hurried away at a run. The lack of his presence made maintaining the ritual somehow even more boring but it also made keeping it consistent even more important. If she allowed it to shift, whatever he told her about what he saw might not be accurate because it might have changed.


    When Dav returned, it was at a full run. He skidded to a halt in the mud a little ways from the ritual circle and panted for a moment before he could actually make intelligible words. ¡°You¡¯re, that is, the water¡¯s almost all landing in the city. It¡¯s doing well at putting out the exterior fires, but some of the fires are inside buildings. It also only covers about a quarter of the town.¡±


    Sophia was actually really pleased with that. She didn¡¯t expect to easily extinguish anything the water couldn¡¯t get at. The fact that what it could get at was starting to put fires out meant that she was doing something useful. She just needed to expand the far end a bit and move around where it hit. Once everything was wet enough, the fires should eventually fizzle out.


    On Dav¡¯s next trip, he went and found Revina. They blocked off the tunnel entrance, since they didn¡¯t think they¡¯d send anyone through it, and both came to the ritual circle with an updated report on how the water ritual was working.


    The trip after that was just Revina; Dav stayed behind to guard Sophia, in case there were beavers. There weren¡¯t any, but Revina somehow managed to find Arryn and Peaches. They were both soaked and unhappy. Peaches had a number of scorch marks in his fur, while Arryn looked like he¡¯f caught not only the charred end of a burning log on one of his legs but a claw to the upper left arm. The injury didn¡¯t seem serious, but he was still happy to stand in the mud near Dav¡¯s healing beacon.


    Sophia expected him to ask dozens of questions, but when her response to his first question, ¡°How long can you keep this up?¡± was simply a shake of her head, he didn¡¯t ask any more.


    The last trip to town was made by Arryn riding Peaches. They were gone for several times as long as any of the previous trips. It made sense; Peaches didn¡¯t walk all that quickly. It still took longer than Sophia expected, but Arryn¡¯s first words when he returned made it make sense. ¡°I¡¯ve checked through the town and I can¡¯t find anywhere that still has external fire. You can stop, Sophia.¡±


    Sophia wanted to just drop the ritual, but that would be a very bad idea. If she was lucky, it would just get everything wet as the water fell. If she wasn¡¯t lucky, the ritual circle itself could do something strange. An explosion was only the first possibility; there was a lot of power running through it, and letting it go wild might well cause a break that might create a different valid pattern that would have mana for an unpredictable period of time. She didn¡¯t really believe all the stories she¡¯d been told, but they achieved their purpose: she knew to properly close down a ritual.


    Sophia changed her chant and walked slower as she pulled the focus of the water back from the town. It took about the same amount of time to return the water¡¯s output to the stream as it had to reach the town originally. By then, the amount of mana she was running into the spell was nearly nonexistent; all she had to do was maintain the connection to the ritual, she didn¡¯t have to supplement it the way she¡¯d had to when she changed anything and especially not when she slowly grew the amount of water it moved.


    Sophia came to a halt as the connection to the stream finally faded away. She kept chanting as she closed the ritual down. It was probably safe to drop it at this point, but you never knew exactly when it was safe, so it was best to get it as low as possible. If it were a better designed ritual, or she wanted to use the spot in the future for another ritual, letting it end properly would help to preserve the area. She didn¡¯t care about that right now, but she still did what she¡¯d been trained to do.


    When it was finally done, Sophia sat down. She didn¡¯t care that she was sitting in sticky mud; at that moment, she just wanted to be off her feet.


    Arryn looked at her, nodded, then touched the ritual circle. ¡°Did you mean to sear this into the ground?¡±


    ¡°Did I what?¡± Sophia looked at the scratches in the ground. She¡¯d more than half expected them to be nothing more than lines in the mud, since she¡¯d rained on it; she was a bit lucky that raining on the diagram hadn¡¯t hurt anything important.


    Or maybe she wasn¡¯t just lucky; when mana was running through a ritual, it did tend to help it stay in place. It wasn¡¯t perfect and she wasn¡¯t good enough to actually incorporate protection of the ritual in her design, but it looked like it had done something. The cut in the earth Arryn touched didn¡¯t smudge at all; instead, he smooshed some earth away from it. It seemed to have hardened. ¡°No, it wasn¡¯t intentional. Could be several reasons it happened, but I think it was mostly just how much mana was running through it.¡±


    It had definitely pulled a lot of mana out of the area. Sophia wasn¡¯t powerful enough to really feel the lack when she was in a low-mana area, but she could tell that she wasn¡¯t pulling in as much ambient mana to fill her mana pool as normal. It was usually a completely unconscious action, just like generating mana in the first place, but at the moment she only felt her base mana generation without any help from the area around her.


    Arryn nodded, then asked a question he¡¯d danced around but never directly asked. ¡°Who are you?¡±

 Chapter 52 - Who are you?

    Sophia bit her lip. Who she was was a question she really didn¡¯t want to answer. It never went well. That was back on Earth where people actually knew who her family was, too; she didn¡¯t think it would go over any better here, especially not when they had a problem with people whose species the Guide didn¡¯t properly recognize. ¡°Is it important? I¡¯m a long way from home; all that should matter here is me, not my family.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t ask about your family,¡± Arryn countered. ¡°But I suppose that¡¯s still an answer. Is your family where you learned the basics to gain an Ability like that at your Level? It¡¯s like siege mage magic but even more extreme.¡±


    Sophia blinked. How did he expect her to explain who she was without reference to her past? Maybe that was exactly what he wanted, though, and that was why he said it was an answer; he now knew her family shaped who she was?


    ¡°It¡¯s not an Ability,¡± Dav commented when Sophia didn¡¯t say anything. ¡°Sophia called it a ritual.¡±


    Arryn looked from Sophia to the stream then to the town. ¡°Why would a Patron grant the movement of water to put out fires? Is that something from your family?¡±


    Sophia caught herself bringing her hand to her face and forced herself not to literally facepalm. She was pretty sure ¡°Patron¡± meant ¡°God¡± in this context. ¡°It¡¯s not a religious ritual, it¡¯s a magical one. Think of it like an Ability that you learn instead of one granted by the Guide.¡±


    An expression of doubt crossed Arryn¡¯s face.


    Sophia was certain that the expression was deliberate; it was too clear to be anything else. She still needed to answer it, but she could at least pick a reasonable way to do so. ¡°You¡¯re wondering if I learned it from my family, aren¡¯t you?¡±


    Arryn shook his head. ¡°I can¡¯t think of anywhere else you¡¯d have learned it, but mostly I¡¯m wondering what else you can do with it, if it¡¯s not granted by a Patron or the Guide.¡±


    ¡°Me?¡± Sophia snorted softly. ¡°Not much. I don¡¯t even know the basic divination rituals, and they¡¯re about the only ones that actually see much use on Earth because those Skills are almost impossible to get if you don¡¯t have a Talent. There are better ways to do almost anything else. Rituals are old magic, mostly replaced by other things; the knowledge is so specialized that it¡¯s mostly useless. I didn¡¯t see anything in the town that could actually fight those fires or I¡¯d have used it.¡±


    Arryn seemed to consider that for a moment, then nodded. ¡°Old family knowledge is common in the noble clans. Yours is not in any of the groups I know of, but you are from far away. It makes sense that it would be somewhat different.¡± He turned to look at Dav with a questioning expression. ¡°What about yours?¡±


    Sophia wanted to say that she wasn¡¯t a noble. Unfortunately, it kind of sounded like she was, at least by local standards. She wasn¡¯t wealthy or powerful, but her family was; that was close enough. It was probably better not to try to make the distinction when it wouldn¡¯t be believed and didn¡¯t really matter.


    ¡°I¡¯m not a noble,¡± Dav protested. ¡°Kind of the opposite, really. I grew up poor.¡±


    Arryn looked doubtful. ¡°How do you have sword training and a summoning Vocation, then? The poor can¡¯t afford swords and summoning is not a normal basic Vocation; it¡¯s usually a branch off Mage and Mage isn¡¯t open to most.¡±


    Sophia had the feeling that Spellblade wasn¡¯t a ¡°normal basic Vocation,¡± either. She knew they¡¯d been granted them because of the Wanderer, but he¡¯d also warned them not to talk about him.


    Dav shrugged, then gestured at his face. ¡°I think it¡¯s the manaburn. It did something, gave me an element? That¡¯s what I can summon. It was one of the options I had, that¡¯s all I know.¡±


    That was an explanation Sophia wouldn¡¯t have thought of. It was true, if not complete. Lack of knowledge and a possible partial explanation might well cover it.


    Arryn seemed to relax. ¡°And the sword training?¡±


    Dav blinked as if he hadn¡¯t even thought that was a real question the first time. Maybe he hadn¡¯t. ¡°My parents were both soldiers. Of course I had access to weapons. I prefer the sword, but it¡¯s not the only weapon I know how to use.¡±


    Sophia had no doubt that he could use guns, probably several different types of guns. They weren¡¯t her weapons and she hadn¡¯t seen any here yet, so it probably didn¡¯t matter. She wondered if he had any other weapon types he could use well. He certainly hadn¡¯t seemed particularly interested in the crossbow when Sophia asked about buying a pair for Dav and herself. Having Arryn tell her that she¡¯d be better off buying them in Casterville probably shouldn¡¯t have been a surprise.


    ¡°Soldiers?¡± Now Arryn actually sounded surprised. Had Dav not mentioned that to him?


    Sophia thought about it. She couldn¡¯t entirely pin down when she¡¯d heard Dav talk about himself other than before they made it to Fallen Kestii and inside the baths before Arryn arrived. It seemed a little incredible but it was actually possible Arryn didn¡¯t know that because Aymini might not have known.


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    Dav nodded. ¡°We had what they were able to take with them, plus what they earned afterwards. They didn¡¯t make much, but it was enough along with their retirement package.¡±


    Sophia was pretty sure Dav put an emphasis on the words retirement package. From what he¡¯d said before, it made her suspect that they¡¯d come away with all the not-quite-junk they could liberate, anything that wouldn¡¯t be missed even if it wasn¡¯t really supposed to go to them.


    Arryn relaxed even more and cluckled. ¡°A pair of smart soldiers and a magical accident while traveling? I suppose I can see that. You make me think I¡¯d like to meet your parents.¡±


    Dav¡¯s slight grin fell off his face as he shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s unlikely. I don¡¯t know if I¡¯ll ever see them again.¡±


    ¡°Life is uncertain,¡± Arryn agreed. ¡°Still, you are a summoner. Even if you cannot learn the teleportation magic that would allow you to rejoin them yourself, perhaps you can someday manage to summon them to you.¡±


    Dav perked up for a moment before he clearly deliberately schooled himself to not show the sadness he felt. ¡°No. I bet summoning them would make them travel through that place and I wouldn¡¯t do that to anyone I cared about.¡±


    Dav clearly remembered more of the Origin than Sophia had assumed, but it also didn¡¯t seem to bother him the way she¡¯d feared it would. So far he seemed basically fine.


    Peaches made a grumbling noise. It was surprisingly loud.


    ¡°You want a nap?¡± Arryn sounded surprised. ¡°Well, we did deal with the flame beavers. We can stop for the night once we get the wagon back to the road. And yes,¡± he held a hand out to Peaches as if to forestall a question, ¡°I¡¯ll give you peaches when we get there.¡±


    Peaches was never fast, but he made better time getting to the wagon, connecting himself to the harness, and getting to the Road than Sophia had thought was possible even after the quick run from the Road to the town.


    When they reached the Road, Arryn told Revina, Dav, and Sophia that they were welcome to stay in the wagon, then got Peaches his reward. Sophia could hear him talking to people outside the wagon. From what she could hear, he seemed to be giving himself credit only for having a fast wagon; defeating the Flame Beavers and rescuing people was all done by the three Called, who were ¡°resting¡± in the wagon and not to be bothered.


    Sophia wasn¡¯t sure what to think about that. Dav had an even stronger reaction, and hopped out of the wagon. She followed him; she wasn¡¯t sure what Dav was up to, but she wasn¡¯t going to let him face whatever it was without support.


    Dav walked over to the side of the road, then stopped and turned to Sophia. ¡°Good, I forgot to ask you to get out the tent.¡±


    Sophia frowned at him, but pulled out the tent anyway. ¡°Why do we need the tent? It¡¯s not that late yet.¡±


    Dav grinned. ¡°It¡¯s an excuse for us to be outside. We¡¯re setting up the tent. That way, we¡¯re visible. I don¡¯t think Arryn¡¯s trying anything he shouldn¡¯t, but this way we have less to worry about. People will know.¡±


    It seemed to Sophia that that was less important than Dav thought it was. Not only was there no real reason to believe that Arryn was hostile, even if he was, who¡¯d actually come and find out what the villagers saw? They didn¡¯t know anyone and no one would miss them. It was a terrifying thought; she¡¯d always known that her family would come for her if something happened and now that wasn¡¯t true.


    The thought was like a cloud covering the Sun. She¡¯d missed her family, but she¡¯d never quite realized just how much she depended on knowing they were there.


    ¡°Sophia?¡± Dav¡¯s warm arm went around her shoulders. She leaned into him, shaking. It was freezing out here, suddenly, but Dav was warm. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±


    ¡°N-nothing¡¯s wrong,¡± Sophia choked out. ¡°It¡¯s just really cold out here. It must be the water.¡±


    ¡°We are kind of wet,¡± Dav agreed cautiously. ¡°Let¡¯s get you warm first. Do you have a coat in your bag?¡±


    Sophia shook her head. She wasn¡¯t prepared for cold weather. The Cliff Dungeon echoed the weather that surrounded it and it was always warmer in armor. She didn¡¯t need cold weather gear there in any weather she¡¯d actually want to fight in.


    ¡°A blanket, then?¡± Dav actually sounded worried.


    Sophia wasn¡¯t sure why he¡¯d be worried. She leaned closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder as he rubbed her other shoulder with his hand. It felt nice. Seh turned towards him and turned the sideways hug into a full hug.


    ¡°Thank you,¡± she whispered. She squeezed him hard once, then stepped back and held the tent out to Dav. ¡°We should set up the tent.¡±


    It was quick to set up and didn¡¯t even require magic, as long as they always packed it away properly. She was pretty sure they had, and her confidence was rewarded when Dav set it up in just a few minutes. The only thing he hadn¡¯t done was anchor it to the ground when he ducked inside and ushered her in to change out of her wet clothes.


    Before Dav could follow her, one of the townfolk interrupted him to thank him for what he¡¯d done in getting them out of their saferoom. Sophia thought it was the woman with the baby from the first saferoom, but she wasn¡¯t certain. Whoever it was, she didn¡¯t stay long, but her visit seemed to open up the floodgates.


    By the time Sophia was dressed in warm clothing, she felt a lot better. She¡¯d also heard at least a half-dozen different people thank Dav. When she ducked outside, Dav looked a little bothered. For him, that was as big a sign that he was extremely uncomfortable with the situation as she¡¯d ever seen. For Sophia, this wasn¡¯t that unusual a situation. She sent him inside the tent to change into dry clothes himself and started talking to the villagers. She spotted the Mayor coming and was glad she¡¯d taken the time to change; she might be in less formal clothing than she should be but at least she wasn¡¯t covered in water.


    For some reason, she felt a lot more comfortable now, even if she was a bit impatient. This was important; the townfolk wanted to thank them, so they should be allowed to. She¡¯d deal with Cliff¡¯s message that he¡¯d Collected things as soon as she had the chance, but now wasn¡¯t the time.

 Chapter 53 - Collected

    Sophia had met more of the villagers than she¡¯d saved; everyone seemed to want to come meet her. She¡¯d also figured out that there were at least three groups among the villagers. One wanted to go back to the town now and start fixing up places to sleep for the night. A second wanted to camp at the road and wait for support from either Casterville or the ¡°helpful Called,¡± meaning Sophia, Dav, and Revina, to search the town and make certain it was clear. The third group wanted to head to Casterville immediately so that they could sleep there.


    They all wanted Sophia¡¯s support.


    Sophia tried to be clear about what she knew: as far as she knew, the flame beavers were dead or routed, but she hadn¡¯t actually searched the town. As far as she knew, the fires were out, but again, she hadn¡¯t actually looked. She didn¡¯t know if it was safe to return or how much of the town was intact. No, she didn¡¯t think there were any untouched buildings that were big enough to hold everyone. No, she hadn¡¯t seen any of their livestock, not even the chickens.


    By the time the impromptu meet-and-greet was finished, Sophia was exhausted but she felt like she knew what was going on. The nameless town was close to Casterville, close enough that they could reach the actual city in a day¡¯s travel, even with a loaded wagon. It wasn¡¯t the closest village, but it wasn¡¯t the farthest, either.


    As for why it didn¡¯t have a name, there were two reasons. First of all, it didn¡¯t need a name beyond ¡°my village.¡± There was nothing there anyone would want unless a Nest appeared, and in that case they would either send people to Casterville to get help or the village would be destroyed. That was the most likely cause of the Flame Beaver attack. Second, devastation was not that unusual; they expected to have to relocate about once a decade. There was no point in naming a place that was little more than a long-lived campsite.


    Sophia wouldn¡¯t want to live that way, but she couldn¡¯t exactly blame them for it. It was what it was. If she were to blame them for anything, it would be the fact that they didn¡¯t try to change things, but the reason for that was all too clear. Those who took a Vocation went to Casterville, they didn¡¯t stay in a small village where there might not be a Nest any time soon. In Casterville, the Vocational Registry would help them find places they could fight, whether that was their hometown or not.


    It was the same problem small towns across Earth had when there were big cities close enough to move to, a problem they¡¯d had for centuries. It was also the same problem Arryn predicted for Fallen Kestii. Sophia didn¡¯t have a solution.


    After she celebrated her survival with Dav, Sophia had a decent night¡¯s rest. Part of that was definitely the enchantments on her tent, but a lot more of it was the level of exhaustion she¡¯d reached. She didn¡¯t have any bad dreams until near morning, when she woke to Dav¡¯s nightmare instead of her own. She didn¡¯t ask what he dreamt of; she simply held him until he fell asleep again. He never quite seemed to be awake, so she wasn¡¯t even certain he¡¯d remember it in the morning.


    After a quick breakfast, they headed off towards Casterville. A fraction of the villagers headed off towards their town; Sophia noticed that it included most of the hunters and two of the four Town Guards she¡¯d met the previous night. She wished them well; as long as Arryn had dealt with the larger Flame Beavers, they¡¯d probably be fine. Most of the rest of the villagers followed Arryn¡¯s wagon like lost ducklings; they seemed to have decided that sticking close to the people who supposedly cleared out the monsters was a good idea.


    Sophia couldn¡¯t blame them, but that didn¡¯t mean she wanted to deal with them this morning. She had nothing to talk to them about. Instead, she decided it was time to see what Cliff had to say. She¡¯d put him off more than long enough, even if he didn¡¯t mind the delay. He¡¯d given no sign of annoyance; he hadn¡¯t even reminded her. She still probably shouldn¡¯t have pushed him off overnight. ¡°What did you get, Cliff?¡±


    ¡°Two monsters, six spells, and a Martial Technique!¡± Cliff sounded absolutely excited.


    Sophia wondered if he even realized how long she¡¯d forced him to wait. Somehow, she didn¡¯t think he did; was that because he used to be a dungeon or because of what the Guide did to them?


    She couldn¡¯t blame him at all for being excited. In fact, with six new spells, Sophia already regretted not talking to him earlier.


    ¡°I already told you about the Enraged Beavers. The bigger ones are Flickering Rage Beavers.¡± Flickering had to refer to the specks of flame that fanned out from the larger beavers. They¡¯d also seemed a little smarter than their Enraged lesser cousins; maybe they were less enraged? It could also be a normal progression, at least if the monsters were like monsters back on Earth. There was no real reason to assume that, with how different everything was, but there was also no reason not to.


    ¡°The spells are Rush, Flaming Spark, Spit Fire, Buffet, Slice, and Hydrokinesis. The Martial Technique is Consuming Rage,¡± Cliff reported gleefully. ¡°Consuming Rage is really interesting, because it actually burns you from the inside out while you use it if you run out of mana. It makes you a lot stronger. Rush is really boring, it just moves you forward. Flaming Spark seems really weak, it can light flammable things on fire and that¡¯s it. Spit Fire is exactly what it says it is, it¡¯s a spell to create a tiny fire in your mouth that you spit at the enemy. Hydrokinesis also sounds pretty weak, it just says you can move water, but it¡¯s different somehow. It¡¯s hard to read, like it¡¯s there and not-there at the same time.¡±


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    Sophia kept walking mechanically. Hydrokinesis had to have come from the ritual she¡¯d cast. That was crazy; could she really have taught Cliff spells this entire time? Had she simply missed the obvious?


    No, that didn¡¯t make sense. She¡¯d used spells she built from spellforms. A few of them, at least. If it was that easy, Cliff would have picked up one by now. She tried to remember what she¡¯d done.


    She¡¯d melted metal with one, to build the sled. She¡¯d used light to try to track her manaflows as a sort of a poor man¡¯s mana sight. She¡¯d given an example of a more efficient Slice spell to Revina. That was all she could think of offhand; if there were others, she wasn¡¯t thinking of them.


    It probably wasn¡¯t just the amount of time the spell was used, or Cliff would have Collected the welding-spell. The reason this one was Collected might be that it was a ritual. Sophia hoped that wasn¡¯t the problem; she could adapt the ritual a little, but it would never be a flexible spell.


    It could be because the welding-spell wasn¡¯t a spell the Guide knew, while hydrokinesis was. Sophia doubted that, because surely there were metal-mages.


    It was at least slightly possible that Cliff could only Collect abilities that could harm enemies; the welding spell would have trouble doing that because of how slow it was to heat the metal. At the same time, the only direct-attacking spell in the lot was Spit Fire. It didn¡¯t seem likely.


    On second thought, Sophia had to strike time and number of uses off the list of reasons. Cliff had Collected the first three spells from the beavers after seeing them only once. He¡¯d seen Buffet and Slice a lot more than that, yet he hadn¡¯t collected them until now. The reason was at least somewhat obvious, even if it was annoying: he could only collect things when there was a real fight. Maybe it had something to do with Wisps?


    Sophia pulled up her Status and was shocked at the result. The fights were simply not that hard yet somehow she¡¯d gained two hundred Wisps! That was definitely enough to do something with, but it also told her that she definitely didn¡¯t understand how they were apportioned. This was simply not that much harder than the Ruins Constrictor Nest.


    Sophia shook off her shock. It wasn¡¯t easy; maybe now she could afford some of the other interesting things that were available. She might even be able to afford a second Spell slot, or that secondary spellcasting Species ability. She definitely wasn¡¯t buying another Martial Technique slot right now; Consuming Rage could sit right where it was in Cliff¡¯s Collection. She was definitely never going to use it.


    ¡°Cliff? How many Wisps do you have?¡± She should have asked earlier. She¡¯d asked Dav; why hadn¡¯t she asked Cliff? She didn¡¯t even know how his Hallow progressed.


    ¡°I don¡¯t have Wisps,¡± Cliff answered calmly. He¡¯d clearly had plenty of time to think about his situation. ¡°I will grow as you do. This is a good trade for me; I have no limit on the amount I can Collect. I cannot do anything with it yet, but you can, and I believe I will gain the ability to do more as you gain Levels. I will be happy when that happens.¡±


    Sophia knew she wouldn¡¯t be as calm as Cliff in the same circumstances. She would be pissed to have her ability to act taken from her.


    Had Cliff ever really had the ability to act directly? He was a dungeon; Sophia wasn¡¯t certain how much control he¡¯d ever had after he decided what areas and monsters he had. It seemed like it varied, but many dungeons either didn¡¯t or couldn¡¯t control their monsters. Sophia wasn¡¯t sure if there was a reason beyond that or not.


    ¡°I¡¯ll try to involve you more,¡± Sophia promised. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t be left out of decisions.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t.¡± Cliff¡¯s answer shocked Sophia. ¡°You talk and think too much. I want to Collect things. Monsters, spells, whatever I can. I want to build another dungeon, and Collecting things is the place to start. That will always be my choice.¡±


    Sophia gaped at that. It hammered home the point that she and Cliff were different; he didn¡¯t want to deal with making choices and deal with people. Instead, he was happy to hand that off to her and to trust her to choose their direction. ¡°Why do you trust me to make those choices for you?¡±


    ¡°I have Collected six Spells, two Martial Techniques, and five Monsters so far,¡± Cliff answered as if he was explaining the obvious. ¡°Are you going to stop going to places where I can Collect things?¡±


    Sophia blinked. She hadn¡¯t thought of it that way. ¡°No, but don¡¯t you want a voice in where you go?¡±


    ¡°Why should I? As long as I can Collect things, why does it matter where I am?¡±


    ¡°I would want a say,¡± was all Sophia could think of to answer Cliff¡¯s question. She knew it was a weak answer. It was still true. ¡°I want to make my own choices.¡±


    ¡°I make the ones that are important to me,¡± Cliff countered. ¡°You can make the ones I don¡¯t care about.¡±


    ¡°You pay attention to the outside world, don¡¯t you?¡± Sophia wasn¡¯t certain how much Cliff saw but it had to be some things. ¡°Tell me when something¡¯s important to you.¡±


    ¡°Of course,¡± Cliff stated as if there was no reason to doubt that that was always the plan. Sophia supposed he was right.

 Chapter 54 - Terrible Descriptions

    ¡°Talking to Cliff?¡± Dav¡¯s quiet rumble made the taut muscles in Sophia¡¯s back relax a bit as his voice cut through the clamor of the villagers that trailed behind them.


    ¡°Yeah. He doesn¡¯t want to be consulted on where we¡¯re headed. He only cares about Collecting things.¡± Sophia shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t understand it, but he was really clear.¡±


    Dav shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s easier. Choices are hard. You¡¯d be shocked at how many people just go along with what other people think they should do because it¡¯s easier, especially if they aren¡¯t sure what to do. Heck, I do that. Cliff just recognizes it.¡±


    ¡°I guess.¡± Sophia didn¡¯t think she¡¯d ever agree with Dav on that. Who wanted to give up their agency? She certainly didn¡¯t. She¡¯d had enough of that as a child. Sure, she was lucky she didn¡¯t have to spend hours every day inside a childcare facility disguised as a place of learning, but that still didn¡¯t mean she could do whatever she wanted.


    Dav shrugged. ¡°We¡¯ve done it here, you know, gone along with what others want because it¡¯s easier.¡±


    Sophia frowned at the comparison. ¡°That¡¯s not the same thing. We could have decided not to help the village, for example. Or to not go into the snake dungeon. Those were both things we were asked to do but I made the choice to go and so did you. We didn¡¯t give up our right to choose. I don¡¯t want to say no just because someone asks me to do something; I just want the chance to choose.¡±


    Dav frowned. He took his time thinking over her answer before he nodded. ¡°Fair enough, I guess. We could have done a bunch of other things, but there wasn¡¯t really any reason to. There will be more options once we¡¯re in a bigger city. What do you think of the Vocational Registry?¡±


    Sophia shook her head. She wasn¡¯t sure what she thought yet. ¡°The name sounds all Big Brother-y, but the way they talk about it, it¡¯s like the Adventurer¡¯s Guild back home, a place to find dungeons and people to delve with. I¡¯m not sure what to think. They must be pretty powerful; that¡¯s not always a good thing.¡±


    ¡°I hope you¡¯re wrong,¡± Dav said with a nod. ¡°What do you mean by big brother-y?¡±


    Sophia blinked. This wasn¡¯t the first time she¡¯d run into slang Dav didn¡¯t get, but it didn¡¯t happen often. Their worlds seemed pretty close in a lot of ways; slang was one of the things she¡¯d have assumed was the least likely to transfer even with a shared language, but most of it did. It shocked her that something so ubiquitous as Big Brother wasn¡¯t something he knew. ¡°You know, the government is watching? I think calling the government Big Brother is from a movie, but I¡¯m not sure which one. Vocational Registry sounds like a required registration program for potentially dangerous people. Some countries have one back home, but none of them work. It¡¯s impossible to verify so it¡¯s really just a joke.¡±


    ¡°Ahh.¡± Dav seemed to be saying he understood, but Sophia was pretty sure he didn¡¯t really get it.


    Sophia tried to remember what she¡¯d been talking about before Dav derailed her by asking about Cliff¡¯s opinions. Oh, yeah, spells. ¡°Cliff collected some spells from that fight. He also got a technique, but I definitely won¡¯t be taking it; rage that burns you up from the inside seems like a terrible technique.¡±


    ¡°Which ones did you take?¡± Dav sounded interested.


    Sophia glanced over and saw that he was watching her instead of the road ahead of them. She felt her cheeks tighten with a grin as she looked back at the road. It certainly wouldn¡¯t do to trip while he was watching. ¡°I haven¡¯t picked yet. I only have one open slot; I can buy more if the spells are worth it, but I haven¡¯t decided what to get yet.¡±


    ¡°If it¡¯s like mine, you¡¯ll want to be picky. The slots get more expensive each time you get one. The spells don¡¯t seem to change, and the slots only go up five Wisps each time, but that seems like it¡¯ll add up quickly if you aren¡¯t careful.¡± Dav chuckled softly. ¡°I think I made decent choices. It¡¯s hard to be sure when the Guide gives such terrible descriptions.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡± Sophia grinned a little as she tilted her head. There was nothing quite like sharing new Ability choices with a friend, and while the Guide wasn¡¯t the Voice, she was very interested. ¡°What did you pick up? Two hundred points is a lot.¡±


    ¡°Two hundred?¡± Dav sounded startled. ¡°I only got one-fifty.¡±


    Sophia frowned. She knew the Voice awarded progress based on learning and practice, but the Guide didn¡¯t. She¡¯d finally found the time to ask Arryn about it during the trip from Fallen Kestii. ¡°Didn¡¯t Arryn say that Wisps came from completing challenges? We did the same things.¡±


    Dav shook his head. ¡°You put out the fires in the village.¡±


    ¡°Fifty Wisps for that when it was only a hundred fifty for rescuing villagers? The village was in pretty bad shape; I bet it¡¯ll need to be rebuilt almost completely.¡± Sophia snorted. It didn¡¯t make sense on any kind of scale she could think of. ¡°If I prevented the fire in the first place, maybe, or if it weren¡¯t a half-remembered ritual I built years ago then used wildly. You helped, too, you told me where to aim.¡±


    Dav shrugged. ¡°We can ask Revina if you want to, but I bet she got the same as I did or even less since she was guarding the tunnel instead of actively evacuating people.¡±


    Sophia looked back towards the wagon. Revina wasn¡¯t visible, so she was either inside or talking to the villagers. She¡¯d have to ask later if she remembered. ¡°I hope not. We needed someone there, just in case. It¡¯s not fair to get lower rewards because you did what you needed to in order to keep people safe.¡± She hoped that Revina had received at least as many Wisps as Dav or Sophia; guarding the tunnel on her own was potentially dangerous, stressful, and boring when it wasn¡¯t stressful.


    ¡°I definitely didn¡¯t want to be the person guarding it,¡± Dav agreed. ¡°If Arryn doesn¡¯t know how the Guide hands out Wisps, I doubt we¡¯ll figure it out any time soon. What did you spend yours on?¡±


    Sophia blinked. Hadn¡¯t she just said she hadn¡¯t picked yet? ¡°I haven¡¯t. I think I should pick spells from what Cliff collected before I pick everything else. Or maybe I should look at what¡¯s available? I didn¡¯t see anything the last time I looked that really jumped out.¡±


    Dav shrugged. ¡°I saw some things I don¡¯t remember seeing before, but there are so many options it¡¯s hard to be sure. The most interesting ones were my new Summons - here, let me show you.¡±


    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    <table style="width: 89.9829%">


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td style="width: 29.5238%">


    Dav


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    <td style="width: 27.4286%; border-width: 100px; border-style: solid" scope="col">


    Summons:


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    <td style="width: 42.6667%">


    Unaffiliated Abilities:


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    <td style="width: 29.5238%">


    Chaos-Warped Human


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    (Bastion of Health, 1, 1)


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    Innate Communication (Bonus, Free)


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    <td style="width: 29.5238%">


    (Eye Image)


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    (Thorn Emitter, 1, 1)


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    (Mana Core Specialization: Eldritch, 1, 1)


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    Body: 8


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    (Eyes that See, 1, 1)


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    (Empty, 1, 1)


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    Core: 2


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    (Eye Image)


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    Attunements:


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    Species Abilities:


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    Shield: 10


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    Contraceptive Amulet, 3


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    (Bonded Armor, 1, 1)


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    <td style="width: 29.5238%"> </td>


    <td style="width: 27.4286%; border-width: 100px; border-style: solid" scope="col"> </td>


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    (Empty, 1, 1)


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    Wisps: 6


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    Eldritch Armor, 7 (Growth)


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    <td style="width: 42.6667%"> </td>


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    Level: 1


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    Eldritch Summoner Abilities:


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    Spheres


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    Perfect Fit: Dav


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    (Eldritch Reinforcement, 1, 1)


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    <tr>


    <td style="width: 29.5238%">


    Eldritch Summoner (Hallow)


    </td>


    <td style="width: 27.4286%; border-width: 100px; border-style: solid" scope="col">


    Rapid Assembly


    </td>


    <td style="width: 42.6667%">


    (Eldritch Weapon Alteration, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td style="width: 29.5238%">


    Level:1


    </td>


    <td style="width: 27.4286%; border-width: 100px; border-style: solid" scope="col"> </td>


    <td style="width: 42.6667%"> </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    ¡°I managed to use all but five of the new points,¡± Dav stated almost proudly. ¡°I didn¡¯t see anything in the Unaffiliated section that I wanted more than the two summons, so I went with them, and I figured I should leave a Species slot open to see if I can get another free ability. Other than that, the chance to maybe get weapons like the armor I have is too good to pass up.¡±


    Sophia nodded, then paused. ¡°You think Eldritch Weapon Alteration will do that? Why didn¡¯t you take it first?¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t see it,¡± Dav admitted. ¡°It¡¯s one of the ones that makes me think some things might have been added, but there are so many options I might have just missed them.¡±


    It almost made her wish for the Voice¡¯s limits. It generally gave no more than five Path options, all of which were viable and different from each other. She¡¯d thought that was a bit limited and never understood her father¡¯s grumbling about ¡°too many options¡± until she saw what the Guide gave as options.


    There were literally hundreds of options and most of them were absolutely terrible. Did anyone actually need help with Basic Wand Use? Sure, maybe it was like the Voice¡¯s Path Skills in combat styles, mostly intended for people who didn¡¯t have access to teachers, but it certainly wasn¡¯t something Sophia would ever pick. There was no reason to present it to her.


    She hadn¡¯t asked about that yet. Revina hadn¡¯t mentioned it, which worried Sophia; what if it was something that was tied to having a Hallow? The Wanderer wanted to keep that quiet; how important was that, really?


    For now, she¡¯d be careful how she asked the question. She¡¯d also ask Revina instead of Arryn; for all that he¡¯d been helpful, Sophia kept getting the feeling that he had deeper plans. She didn¡¯t think he was hostile. In fact, she thought he wanted all three of them to do well. That didn¡¯t mean he didn¡¯t have plans for them, though, and that worried her.


    ¡°Eldritch Weapon Attunement wasn¡¯t very descriptive,¡± Dav continued. ¡°It just talked about claiming a weapon as my own. I¡¯m guessing that¡¯s like bonding the armor, only I might get some choice in its abilities? I¡¯m hoping for either resizing or the ability to summon it to my hand; either one would add a bunch of options.¡±


    ¡°Does it really not give you more than that? That¡¯s not much of a clue on how to get it to work. The abilities I¡¯ve seen weren¡¯t detailed but they gave a starting point, at least.¡± Sophia knew that her Imbue Blade didn¡¯t say everything it could do, but it gave the basics: put power in a weapon to make it stronger and throw the power you¡¯d invested as an attack. It didn¡¯t say you could change exactly what the shape of the power was, but that wasn¡¯t a huge leap from what it did say.


    Dav shook his head. ¡°No, it just says I can imbue it with my eldritch might and claim the weapon. It¡¯s really not much. It¡¯s still better than Eyes that See.¡±


    Sophia wasn¡¯t sure how anything could be less helpful than that without being utterly useless. ¡°What does that one say?¡±


    ¡°Summon the Sight of the Eyes that See.¡± Dav stopped and grinned at Sophia. ¡°Really, that¡¯s it. I wanted something that would let me see magic. It was the only ability I saw that seemed likely to do that; I didn¡¯t have a Mage Sight like what you mentioned. I spent a lot of time looking through the Species menu, but that wasn¡¯t there. Eyes that See was, but I just couldn¡¯t take it. What if it gives me another eye or something?¡±


    However much Sophia wanted to reassure Dav, the ¡°Eldritch¡± energy he was messing with was what she knew as Potential. The Guide also called it Chaos or Primordial Chaos. Sophia¡¯s eyes widened as she realized that was the key. ¡°I think I know why your descriptions are so terrible.¡±


    Dav raised an eyebrow at her quizzically.


    ¡°The Guide doesn¡¯t know what they¡¯ll do. It might sort of know, but it¡¯s dealing with chaos. You have to guide it and set the form it¡¯s going to follow. If you think it¡¯ll give you another eye, it probably will, but if you think it¡¯ll just change the way your eyes look, that¡¯s probably what it¡¯ll do. I bet that¡¯s why it can¡¯t say too much; it needs you to have a general idea of what¡¯s going to happen but it can¡¯t be sure it¡¯ll manage exactly what it intends because you can alter it and it¡¯s playing with things it can¡¯t fully control. It¡¯s sort of like the partial successes you get at shaping what your healing beacon looks like.¡± It was only a guess, but Sophia thought it was a horribly convincing guess.

 Chapter 55 - Slots Not Included

    Dav chuckled and shook his head. ¡°That would figure, wouldn¡¯t it? I finally get something eldritch in a game that actually seems like it could develop into something that¡¯s truly eldritch, only it¡¯s not a game and it doesn¡¯t have decent instructions. I¡¯m not sure if I should push for it or try to avoid it. It seems like it might be really powerful but that it also might completely screw me over. There are a bunch of things on the Summons list and the Species list that worry me; I don¡¯t want Frog Legs. The Jaws that Bite or the Claws that Catch might work as summons, but why does it have to sound like stuff that changes me instead of another creature?¡±


    Sophia didn¡¯t know how to answer that. She groped for a response that wasn¡¯t as simple as telling him to follow his judgment; that was a non-answer. ¡°It sounds like a balancing act. It¡¯s always possible to go too far; there are lots of stories about people who did that. You¡¯re working with Potential, so you need to shape it to be what you want instead of letting it shape you. It won¡¯t be easy, I¡¯m sure, magic never is. I¡¯ll be happy to help you pick if you want to share?¡±


    Dav paused as he listened to Sophia¡¯s offer. He stayed mostly still for a long moment, then seemed reluctant as he nodded. ¡°I think I¡¯ll take you up on that. I don¡¯t usually let others choose my builds, but this isn¡¯t a game and there¡¯s no way to respec. I keep having to remind myself of that, when I¡¯m not concerned about what it means. Some advice might be helpful, but I¡¯ll always make the choice.¡±


    Sophia nodded. With anyone else, it wouldn¡¯t need to be said; telling someone else what Path to take was bad. She knew it happened, especially for early Paths where a child lived with their parents, but it made no sense to Sophia. She¡¯d always been encouraged to take whichever Path interested her, since that would be the easiest to follow. ¡°Of course not. It¡¯s your Path ¡­ er, your abilities, not mine. I can teach you what I know and maybe help you use things, since this is sort of close to what I know, but I can only choose for myself. You should pick yours, too.¡±


    Dav nodded, then tilted his head and grinned at Sophia, like he¡¯d just thought of something amusing. ¡°So, you said you hadn¡¯t picked yet? What are you thinking about?¡±


    Sophia supposed that was fair. If she expected him to accept her help, she should talk to him about her options too. ¡°The only new Martial Technique Cliff has available is Consuming Rage. It¡¯s definitely off the list; I don¡¯t want an ability that hurts my ability to think. That¡¯s already hard enough in combat.¡±


    Now that she¡¯d thought about it more, the part where it burned you from the inside to use it seemed like less of a disqualification than she¡¯d originally thought. Dav had a healing ability. She still didn¡¯t want Consuming Rage.


    Sophia moved down the list Cliff talked about. She hadn¡¯t forgotten what was there yet, even if she hadn¡¯t yet opened up a slot to see the full descriptions. ¡°He picked up a bunch of Spells. I don¡¯t understand why Rush is a Spell instead of a Martial Ability, but it¡¯s definitely on my list of potential choices; movement Skills are useful for anyone. Cliff says Flaming Spark is just that, a way to start small fires, so I probably won¡¯t take it, but Spit Fire sounds interesting; it might be a better way to deal with things at a distance than throwing an Imbued Blade.¡±


    ¡°Are you sure you want to spit fire?¡± Dav sounded surprisingly unimpressed with the Spell that Sophia thought was probably the best offensively in the entire set. ¡°I had an Acid Spit option and it sounds terrible. Wouldn¡¯t that hurt the inside of your mouth?¡±


    ¡°Not if the spell is built properly,¡± Sophia countered, then paused. Could she count on the Spell being built properly? She¡¯d already seen that the flaming beavers were willing to use Consuming Rage; it wouldn¡¯t be impossible for them to use a Spell that hurt themselves. ¡°Maybe they¡¯re depending on their Shield to protect themselves? That seems foolish, but it matches up with the Consuming Rage technique. Yeah, that¡¯s a good point. Maybe after I read the description, I¡¯ll know.¡±


    ¡°You haven¡¯t?¡± Dav seemed startled. ¡°Did you say you were definitely going to take at least one of the Spells?¡±


    Sophia flushed and didn¡¯t answer. She didn¡¯t even have to open a slot to do that, which meant she didn¡¯t have a good reason for not reading the descriptions. It didn¡¯t even take long. A quick review of the descriptions told Sophia that while Cliff¡¯s opinions about what was good and what wasn¡¯t were clearly shaped by his past as a dungeon, his descriptions were close to the ones the Guide used.


    Sophia could only see one major difference, and she could see why Cliff hadn¡¯t mentioned it: the Cliff Dungeon was largely stone. ¡°Flaming Spark is a little more than a fire starting spell; the description says that you can either direct a single spark or gather a group of sparks around yourself to hurt creatures that attack you. I bet that¡¯s why the larger beavers looked like they were surrounded by fire.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s probably also why the entire place went up in flames,¡± Dav noted. "That one might be worth something, but not in a town.¡±


    Sophia nodded reluctantly. She still didn¡¯t like the spell, but she had to admit that it might be situationally useful. ¡°As for Spit Fire, it doesn¡¯t say either way. I think it depends on having enough Wisps. There are three more spells. Buffet and Slice are the same as what Revina described, and Hydrokinesis¡¯s description doesn¡¯t actually say what it does, just that I can¡¯t select it in a Level One slot. I bet that¡¯s what one of the numbers after the slot is, its level.¡±


    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    ¡°I wonder what the difference between bonus and free is, then,¡± Dav said with a grin.


    Sophia¡¯s eyes darted to the Innate Communication line on her status screen. ¡°Who knows? We could ask, but I¡¯m pretty sure it¡¯s unusual. I doubt most people know the answer. Arryn might, but I¡¯m not sure I want to ask him.¡±


    Dav nodded. ¡°He¡¯s been helpful, but it¡¯s the sort of helpful that says he wants to sell us something. I¡¯m not sure what, other than getting us to join the Registry, and that¡¯s done.¡±


    Sophia nodded. She liked Arryn well enough, but she couldn¡¯t forget that he was a merchant and not her friend. ¡°Arryn said there are training classes at the Registry, since a lot of people who take a Vocation have parents who are Professionals. I bet we can find out there.¡±


    Dav nodded and didn¡¯t say anything.


    Sophia didn¡¯t notice; she was too busy digging into the other options in her Status. Time slipped away as they walked; she didn¡¯t pay attention to their surroundings beyond noticing that the enchantments on the road repeated but didn¡¯t otherwise change as they traveled. ¡°Mana Core Specialization doesn¡¯t seem to be an option for me, but I do see the Spell Reservoir you mentioned. Other than that, if I leave out the silly things like sharpening my horns to make them a better weapon, there are a few interesting things in the Species area. I can harden my Shield against my Specialization or against what it calls nonelemental damage. I bet that¡¯s why I don¡¯t have a Mana Core Specialization as an option; it doesn¡¯t know how to change my Affinities and I already have them.¡±


    Sophia snorted when she saw the next item on the list. It was clear that whether or not the Guide knew what a dragon was, a dragon was still a dragon. ¡°Warped Breath is hilarious. Infuse your breath with your Warped element, then exhale to damage your enemies. I bet that one won¡¯t hurt me, even though it doesn¡¯t say either way.¡±


    ¡°Do you think it¡¯s worth taking?¡± Dav actually sounded eager, this time. ¡°It sounds like a good one.¡±


    Sophia shook her head. ¡°It doesn¡¯t say anything about the breath going farther than I can actually breathe. It¡¯s probably directional, but I¡¯m far smaller than a dragon. Although ¡­ didn¡¯t that beaver spit fire at us from something like twenty feet away? Maybe that¡¯s less of a problem than I think it is. That was a spell, though, so who knows.¡±


    The smile vanished from Sophia¡¯s face as she looked at the very next option. It was completely unexpected; while she, like many from Earth, had a higher than normal Death Affinity, it wasn¡¯t one she¡¯d expected to turn up here. Despite her training, it wasn¡¯t her focus and there was no reason the Guide should be able to see more about that part of her heritage than the fact that she was a half-dragon. Despite the fact that death was her father¡¯s primary Affinity, it wasn¡¯t hers. ¡°Death¡¯s Embrace. There are those that walk the line between life and death. Many are difficult to harm, yet you know the way to bring them to the sweet embrace of death as easily as the living. Why is that a Species ability?¡±


    Dav shook his head. ¡°The categories don¡¯t really seem to make much sense. That sounds a lot more like a Spellblade ability to me.¡±


    ¡°To me as well,¡± Sophia agreed. ¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting a Death-based ability, either. It sounds like a useful one, if we run into the wrong enemies. I think I¡¯ll wait on it, since we haven¡¯t seen anything like that. I wonder if it¡¯s important?¡±


    ¡°I hate training classes.¡± Dav¡¯s answer brought a bark of laughter from Sophia.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Sophia agreed. ¡°I probably should wait to pick things, but some of this is so obvious. There are quite a few things on this list, but the only important one I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve mentioned is MageSight. I¡¯m definitely taking Spell Reservoir; a lot of what¡¯s here is spells. I haven¡¯t listed any of them, since I don¡¯t really need things like a spell to make light, but I think it¡¯s still worthwhile.¡±


    She suited her actions to her words, then swore. ¡°The heck. The reservoir doesn¡¯t come with any slots, you have to buy that separately? Really?¡±


    Dav laughed softly. ¡°I guess that explains why it seems so useful but isn¡¯t more expensive than other abilities. It is more expensive, it just hides it well.¡±


    Sophia huffed at Dav. It wasn¡¯t funny!


    Okay, maybe it was. It still wasn¡¯t nice to laugh at her.


    Her indignation vanished the moment she opened the list of Species Spells. It was as bad as the other categories; there had to be hundreds of possible spells. One thing was immediately obvious. ¡°You definitely want to buy the Spell Reservoir as soon as you can,¡± Sophia told Dav. ¡°There are a bunch of spells here that weren¡¯t on my Species list; they must require the Reservoir to become available.¡±


    She didn¡¯t pay attention to what Dav replied. She was too busy looking at spells. This was finally what she¡¯d been searching for: a choice in where she went that wasn¡¯t all about her physical capability. If she could lean on her spellcasting, she would. There was more than one reason she¡¯d picked a fairly pure mage Path; she knew how to fight, but it wasn¡¯t her preference. She wanted to plan things from a little farther back, where she could actually see what was going on.


    It was a better choice for her anyway. She might be a half-dragon, which made her stronger than most humans, but she wasn¡¯t exceptionally strong or fast for a half-dragon. She also kept up with physical combat mostly through training. She knew she was no prodigy. Worse, she didn¡¯t really enjoy it.


    The opposite was true of magic. She loved magic and was very good at it. It was her chosen Path and she wanted to return to it.


    Now she finally could.

 Chapter 56 - So Many Spells

    So many spells. There were far more than she was used to looking at, so she started categorizing them. At least half of them were simply attack spells; they had different shapes and different elements, but all the did was damage. She definitely wanted one of those, maybe two. More than that would probably be far too expensive to be worthwhile.


    No, definitely two. One for when she was fighting one enemy or needed to be careful what she hit; the other to cover the area in flames. Well, not literal flames; she wasn¡¯t that good with fire. The village also gave a good example of why covering things in fire was a bad idea.


    A review of the spells that were available revealed some interesting things. First, there weren¡¯t nearly enough elements. Second, the ones that were there didn¡¯t seem to line up with any model Sophia was familiar with for how the world worked. The elements she found quickly were Fire, Light, Ice, Acid, Stone, Metal, Wood, Sound, Lightning, Force, Corruption, and True Death.


    A look through the descriptions told Sophia that most of them were roughly what she¡¯d expect. The interesting thing was that the descriptions seemed to tie back to a less detailed list of elements. Fire and Light were sub-elements of Fire. Lightning and Sound were sub-elements of Air. Ice and Acid were sub-elements of Water. Stone, Metal, and Wood were all sub-elements of Earth. Sophia wasn¡¯t sure why Earth had three common sub-elements instead of two. Maybe she¡¯d be able to find someone to ask once they reached Casterville.


    Force, Corruption, and True Death were all sub-elements of magic itself, which was a very odd way to look at it as far as Sophia was concerned. Interestingly, the spells with those elements had an additional note that stated they were aligned with Sophia¡¯s Mana Specialization. Sophia was certain that meant they¡¯d be both easier to control and more powerful if she picked them. At this point, she didn¡¯t have any reason not to, as long as they¡¯d do what she wanted.


    Force seemed the most straightforward. The Mana Bolt spell was actually extremely similar to her old Mana Spike, though it flew from her hand instead of allowing her to form it wherever she wanted. There were no other good targeted Force spells available, but she had a choice of spells with broader impact. Only one of them allowed her to choose an area to target instead of starting at her location, which made the choice easy; Force Blast was the obvious pick. The area wasn¡¯t shapeable in the spell description, but she¡¯d just have to manage that with Intent. It probably wouldn¡¯t be easy but that was what practice was for.


    Corruption spells were strange. There was the same set of spell shapes available, and the descriptions were all similar to each other, but the way they described the ¡°element¡± was ¡°Corruption erodes the core element of a being.¡± There wasn¡¯t anything else there to really know what that meant, so Sophia knew she¡¯d have to ask. It was far too open to interpretation.


    True Death spells, on the other hand, seemed far more straightforward at a first glance. They were the spell version of the Death¡¯s Embrace Species ability she¡¯d seen earlier. They were a bit more prosaic, since they simply stated ¡°True Death has little effect on natural creatures. It is extremely effective against beings created by magic, such as magical constructs and the walking dead.¡±


    The walking dead clearly meant undead, which made it an interesting combination. Sophia¡¯s first thought was that it meant a sort of antimagic, but it clearly wasn¡¯t; undead weren¡¯t necessarily any more animated by magic than living creators were. Sophia herself wasn¡¯t technically living in that sense; she was technically an elemental, even though no one would guess it by looking at her. She was fairly certain she¡¯d be classed as a ¡°natural creature¡± by the Guide.


    It made her wonder if the spells would work for her. Sure, she could probably get them to work on constructs or undead that were controlled by magic; those things were basically constructs anyway. Whether or not the spells would work on other undead depended on how they were built. That made them unreliable until she learned more. In any case, she didn¡¯t need them right now.


    Sophia picked up the two Force-based spells. They were simple enough and seemed to be exactly what she¡¯d been looking for. The only thing that seemed to change immediately was that the descriptions no longer mentioned her specialization, as if that no longer mattered once she had them, but she was quickly able to feel the triggers that would let her cast them. It was just like using a Skill in the Voice¡¯s system. She left it at that for now; using spells in front of the villagers seemed more likely to cause panic than to be useful. The Road was supposed to be safe.


    The remaining spells on the Species list were highly varied. She ignored any of the spells that influenced or read other beings¡¯ minds; she didn¡¯t have a particularly good Affinity for that type of spell any more than she had one for seeing the future. The only reason she had any skill at all with either category was her siblings, and she wasn¡¯t even close to as good as they were.


    There were a number of spells that were obviously designed to trip, slow down, or even restrain monsters. Unfortunately, they were all clearly connected to one or another of the elements that she wasn¡¯t strong in. Covering a battlefield in clinging vines that ignored your allies and hampered your enemies sounded great, but it was useless if the vines were less than an inch long. Creating a buildup of dirt or snow that your enemies had to push through had the same problem.


    Sophia became almost excited when her eye caught on the spell Patron¡¯s Word. Her enthusiasm dimmed when she read the description, ¡°allow a Hallowed caster to hear a few words from their Patron if their Patron chooses to speak,¡± but it opened the possibility of a better version at some point. She wouldn¡¯t mind asking the Wanderer some questions if she had the chance.


    A few spells later, she realized there was a category she hadn¡¯t identified before: transformation spells. They were all short-lived and temporary, but there were a bunch of spells that could give the caster¡¯s body a short-term burst of strength or flexibility or even claws. Most of them seemed to last only a few seconds and none of them seemed useful enough to be worth the Wisps, but they meant that there would be better versions later.


    In the end, it was the other Force-based spells that kept Sophia¡¯s interest, along with a couple of spells she couldn¡¯t really categorize. Basic Kinesis seemed like a telekinetic spell. It wouldn¡¯t work as an attack spell but it could be really useful for other uses.


    Quickstep shifted space around her target to make them move farther with each step. Sophia didn¡¯t think she¡¯d use it on herself since she now had Rush, but it didn¡¯t say it couldn¡¯t be used on someone else.


    Force Weapon and Force Shield were interesting but not worth taking yet, not while she already had a weapon and the ¡°shield¡± she had was sufficient. They were both spells to consider for the future.


    She almost took Basic Magesight simply from the name, the same way she¡¯d almost bought the MageSight Species ability. She was definitely going to take one of them. After reading the spell description, Sophia returned to the Species ability and selected it instead; the spell was less comprehensive. The higher cost of the Species ability would be worth it instead of having to take another spell later. Spell slots seemed like they were going to be pretty precious anyway.


    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    Weaken Spell was the last one she noticed that looked useful. She knew how to counterspell, but counterspelling took time. This wouldn¡¯t. When she read it, however, it wasn¡¯t as good as a true counterspell: it couldn¡¯t break a spell as it was being cast. It would weaken an existing spell and could break it with enough time and enough castings or it could make a spell less powerful as it was being cast. On the other hand, it didn¡¯t require her to know or understand anything about the spell. It would handle everything. In that way, it was completely unlike counterspelling.


    The flaming beavers used spells. That was enough of a reason to want Weaken Spell. Sophia had no doubt she¡¯d encounter more spell-using creatures. Weaken Spell, Basic Kinesis, and Quickstep all made her list of options if she had enough points, but she needed to look at both Unaffiliated and Spellblade abilities before she bought any more.


    After she bought those two slots so that she could look and see what was there, she had 81 Wisps left. She wasn¡¯t going to be able to afford all three spells even if she didn¡¯t buy anything from the other categories, and she probably would.


    Sophia wasn¡¯t more than a handful of entries into the Unaffiliated section when she saw something that made her laugh and look up at Dav. ¡°You were trying to tell me that Mana Core Specialization is in Unaffiliated, not Species, weren¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°I did tell you that,¡± Dav protested with an innocent look that poorly hid his smile. ¡°I can¡¯t help it if you weren¡¯t listening. I assume you¡¯ve had a chance to look at your options?¡±


    ¡°Most of them,¡± Sophia admitted, then flushed. She was the one who suggested they work together and here she¡¯d gone and picked stuff without talking to Dav!


    She stopped looking at things for long enough to fill him in on what she¡¯d seen, what she¡¯d chosen, and why. Dav listened politely and nodded as she went along, but didn¡¯t offer any advice beyond things she already knew. She was going to look at everything else before she picked more things!


    There were a lot of Unaffiliated abilities, but other than Mana Core Specialization and Individual Telepathic Link, which Sophia couldn¡¯t afford, there were none that seemed particularly interesting. Mana Core Specialization was available for each of the sub-elements Sophia had seen other than the three she apparently already had, but each of them held a warning that selecting them might weaken existing specializations. She wasn¡¯t about to take that chance.


    She was certain she¡¯d want some of the other Unaffiliated abilities; uninteresting didn¡¯t mean bad, just boring. She wasn¡¯t going to choose any of them immediately, that was all. If she could, she¡¯d keep enough Wisps available to buy something later. If not, well, she had an open slot and Wisps didn¡¯t seem to be that hard to get.


    Sophia told Dav about that and moved on to the next category: Spellblade. She didn¡¯t expect much, not after her lack of luck earlier, but the category was at least three times as long as she remembered. It seemed like she¡¯d needed a spell before most of the abilities became available. Just as importantly, a lot more of the abilities looked like ones she wanted.


    She could only afford one or two of them. Spellblade slots were expensive. With what she saw now, that made some sense; there were simply so many seemingly good options. Her eyes caught on one ability after another. With Dav¡¯s help, she narrowed her options down to a handful.


    Animate Blade was essentially telekinesis that was specific to Imbued blades, but instead of having to concentrate on each motion, she could give the blades commands. Blade Discharge would let her cast a preselected spell whenever her blade made a solid connection with her enemy¡¯s shield. Arcane Blade would pull a little power from each spell she cast to empower her blade. Empower Spell would let her essentially overcharge a spell, trading time and additional mana for a larger effect when she finally cast the spell.


    Blade Discharge was Dav¡¯s favorite, because it seemed the most immediately powerful. Sophia knew better than to look only for immediate power. It would lock her into a fighting style that she didn¡¯t like unless she also took something like Animate Blade and they worked together. Arcane Blade had the same problem. Empower Spell, on the other hand, was purely spellcasting and that made it Sophia¡¯s initial favorite until Dav pointed out that she could just cast two spells if she had a bit more time. Empower Spell might well be better in some way, but it didn¡¯t change things.


    Sophia picked Animate Blade because it did exactly that: it changed things. A ¡°spellblade¡± Hallow almost certainly needed a blade; if she could meet that requirement with a blade that fought for her at a distance, it was worth it. She¡¯d have to see how good it would be, but even a distraction could be useful if it was precise enough.


    Sophia bought a second slot and checked the list. As she¡¯d at least half expected, picking up Animate Blade did add new options to the list, the way picking up Imbue Blade had probably added Animate Blade. There were several that looked interesting, but her choice was obvious: Animate Spell Blade, which would let her cast spells that originated from her Animated Blade. She¡¯d have to test and see if she could do it with a command, but if she could it would almost double her ability to act quickly on the battlefield.


    With that, she was out of Wisps she wanted to spend. She couldn¡¯t even afford another Spellblade Ability Slot and if she bought a Species Spell Slot she wouldn¡¯t have enough to buy a spell. She could afford a Spell Slot, but she wasn¡¯t that interested in the other spells Cliff had gathered so far and if she did that, she might not have enough for an Unaffiliated ability later.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Sophia


    </td>


    <td>


    Spells:


    </td>


    <td>


    Unaffiliated Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Warped Human


    </td>


    <td>


    (Rush, 1, 1)


    </td>


    <td>


    Innate Communication (Bonus, Free)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    (Feather Image)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Empty, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Body: 5


    </td>


    <td>


    Martial Abilities:


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Core: 7


    </td>


    <td>


    (Stunning Roar, 1, 1)


    </td>


    <td>


    Species Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Aura Armor, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Shield: 10/10


    </td>


    <td>


    Species Spells:


    </td>


    <td>


    (Spell Reservoir, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Force Bolt, 1, 1)


    </td>


    <td>


    (MageSight, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Wisps: 26


    </td>


    <td>


    (Force Blast, 1, 1)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Feather Image)


    </td>


    <td>


    Spellblade Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Spheres


    </td>


    <td>


    Attunements:


    </td>


    <td>


    (Imbue Blade, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Spellblade (Hallow)


    </td>


    <td>


    Contraceptive Amulet, 3


    </td>


    <td>


    (Animate Blade, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Level:1


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Animate Spell Blade, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Collector (Linked)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Level: 1


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>

 Chapter 57 - Former Registry Leader

    Arryn was not happy that one of the closest forest villages to Casterville had been attacked. He was even less happy that no one from Casterville had arrived to check out what was going on, even after people fled along the Road to the city. There had been plenty of time; there might even have been time to get people there before Arryn saw the problem, but Casterville¡¯s authorities had clearly decided to let the village sink without help. They probably hadn¡¯t even told the Registry, since that would require setting a bond to pay the Called who answered the call.


    It was short-sighted, but what could Arryn expect? This was Casterville. Short-sighted was normal. Outside the Registry, the place was a mess.


    Arryn talked to the villagers as they traveled the short distance along the Road. There were no real surprises; Casterville hadn¡¯t changed in the year since his last visit, though this wasn¡¯t the first outlying village to be trampled recently. In fact, the only real surprise were the snippets of conversation he could hear from the pair in the lead; he hadn¡¯t expected them to consult on their choices. That was something that most people only learned through bitter experience when they no longer fit in a group together and many never learned. It was too early for there to be any real problems, but it was still heartening.


    The fact that Revina was hiding from the villagers in the wagon was less hopeful. He still had hope for her, but she would probably need to grow up a bit before she could be as impressive as her father. Well, there was time. It would probably be best for her if she stuck with the two in the lead, but Arryn didn¡¯t think that would happen; they weren¡¯t in the same place and she didn¡¯t fill a role on their team they couldn¡¯t fill elsewhere. He¡¯d have to make sure Revina found a team that could help her adjust. It wouldn¡¯t be the first time.


    Arryn dumped the villagers on the Casterville city guard; that was how it was supposed to work and he didn¡¯t want to deal with them more. He let Peaches make his way to the Vocational Registry building; his partner knew the way at least as well as Arryn did.


    The building was still an architectural abomination. Arryn was glad that he wasn¡¯t the one who had to deal with all its issues. That was Jessamine¡¯s problem, and he knew he¡¯d hear all about them when they settled in for a drink that evening.


    Arryn waved the three youngsters at the Registry¡¯s attendant, then slipped away into the back. Peaches would make sure they talked to her. Arryn doubted he¡¯d have trouble with any of them. Sophia and Dav were fairly sensible and Revina trusted Peaches.


    Arryn didn¡¯t bother to knock on the door before he opened it. Jessamine wouldn¡¯t notice a knock unless he pounded so hard that he¡¯d bother others.


    As expected, entering didn¡¯t bother her. Neither did closing the door behind himself. Jessamine didn¡¯t look up from the chronicle she was writing until Arryn cleared his throat to get her attention.


    Jessamine set her enchanted quill down on the chronicle, then looked at Arryn over the rim of her spectacles. ¡°Arryn. Did you have to hand out three of the advanced badges?¡±


    Arryn winced. He¡¯d hoped to be able to tell her himself; Jess hated surprises. ¡°Unfortunately, yes. The closest village along the Road outside the south gate was under attack by flame beavers. I had three youngsters with me, escorting them here to be Registered.¡±


    Jessamine gave Arryn a disbelieving look. ¡°Advanced badges?¡±


    Arryn sighed internally. This was not how he wanted to explain the three of them, but there was no point in getting upset at Jess. Yes, he had the right to hand out the badges, but she was the Registry Leader that was going to have to deal with them.


    ¡°Yes. One of them is Vramt¡¯s daughter; she picked up a Wind-based variant of his stone Vocation. The other two¡­¡± Arryn trailed off. He¡¯d had days to think about how he was going to tell Jess about them, but giving them advanced badges early made things a lot more difficult. He¡¯d wanted to ease her into understanding their situation and that would make it very difficult to understand.


    ¡°And you couldn¡¯t give them badges that were clearly inferior?¡± Jessamine smiled slightly as she shook her head. ¡°You always were-¡±


    Jess stopped abruptly. Arryn followed her gaze to the smaller of her two messaging enclosures; it had a yellow ball of light sitting above the aperture. If Jess was still using the code they¡¯d developed back in the day when they worked together, yellow meant important, possibly urgent, but not an emergency yet. The fact that it was in the smaller enchanted enclosure meant that it was a message from elsewhere in the city; a message from elsewhere would come in through the larger enclosure.


    Jess glanced up at Arryn, then touched the yellow ball without gesturing for him to leave. That was clear permission to stay. ¡°Aimiva? What is it?¡±


    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    A lightly accented voice spoke from the yellow ball of light. Arryn recognized the voice as the receptionist¡¯s, even though he wasn¡¯t sure he¡¯d have come up with her name quickly. He generally just waved at her and walked past. ¡°The new Called, the ones who came in with that friend of yours. Two of them are nobles, but they¡¯ve registered for the general introduction session instead of the individualized one. I¡¯m worried they¡¯re looking to cause trouble.¡±


    Arryn knew where she was coming from. Young nobles new to a Vocation had to be handled carefully; so many were spoiled and thought other people, even people who were stronger and more experienced, should yield to them because of who they were. For many, it was unconscious; those could be eased into recognizing a different sort of rank fairly easily. It was the ones who liked to cause trouble who were truly problematic, and those were exactly the sort of nobles who would sign up for a session that included commoners to cause problems. Most would take the individualized session, as they¡¯d assume that would cover what they needed and that the instruction intended for commoners wouldn¡¯t help them.


    Arryn caught himself leaning forward before he actually opened his mouth to reassure Aimiva. He glanced at Jess to be sure she was willing to let him speak up. From her amused expression and her gesture telling him to get on with it, he didn¡¯t need to wait. ¡°I assume the two who signed up for the general introduction are Dav and Sophia and that Revina signed up for an individual session?¡±


    The next noise from the glowing ball was a clearly audible sigh. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right.¡±


    ¡°It will be fine,¡± Arryn reassured the receptionist. ¡°Those two aren¡¯t going to try to cause trouble. By the way, why do you assume they¡¯re nobles?¡±


    Aimiva snorted. ¡°Two mage-type Vocations? Of course they¡¯re nobles and you know that. Ah¡­¡±


    Arryn chuckled at Aimiva¡¯s slip into temper. He remembered when Jess did the same thing. She was probably grooming Aimiva to take over her job eventually; that was exactly the attitude he¡¯d encouraged in Jess when he trained her, after all.


    ¡°Thanks, Aimiva,¡± Jess told the glowing ball. ¡°Schedule Rensyn for that session; he can handle a couple of nobles, especially if they¡¯re not there to cause trouble. Let him know I¡¯ll talk with him later, when I know a bit more.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Ma¡¯am.¡± The light flickered out.


    Jessamine tilted her head towards Arryn. ¡°All right, spill. Nobles?¡±


    Arryn shrugged at her and finally sat in the deliberately uncomfortable chair she kept facing her desk. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure only the girl is a noble; the boy¡¯s her guard. They both have some mage training, but he¡¯s also sword-trained. I¡¯d say they grew up together and ran off to be foolish together then ended up in a bad situation when their escape talisman failed and dropped them in Kestii¡¯s storm sewer. Both of them got mage Vocations; for some reason, he got a summoning Vocation and she picked up spellblade. Realistically, he¡¯s a strong sword arm with a healing summon and she¡¯s a siege mage.¡±


    ¡°Siege mage?¡± Jessamine pushed her spectacles up her nose. It was an affectation she¡¯d picked up to give her a moment to think, but it clearly wasn¡¯t enough under the circumstances. ¡°How did you find a siege mage? We haven¡¯t had one here in decades.¡±


    Arryn shrugged. ¡°I saw her put out the fires in a village with a single spell and some carvings in the dirt near a stream outside the village walls. All of them. She seemed almost embarrassed about it; she¡¯d only used a spell she learned as a child with minor modifications to pick up water instead of dirt. Wherever she¡¯s from, she knows more about magic than anyone in Casterville outside the High Houses and she doesn¡¯t seem to know what that means. Dav doesn¡¯t have the same skill; I¡¯ve heard her teaching him when they think they¡¯re not being observed.¡±


    Jess nodded slowly. ¡°So you gave them advanced badges because of her potential. Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re already thinking of the Gateway.¡±


    Arryn nodded slowly. ¡°We need to open it, and there are only two ways to do that.¡±


    ¡°Three,¡± Jess corrected him. ¡°I know you think it¡¯s a fable, but it¡¯s as likely to work as the other two.¡±


    Arryn snorted in disbelief. ¡°That¡¯s because it is a fable. Maybe one of the Patrons did actually manage to learn the language of magic, but She¡¯s the Lady of Magic. Of course she can make it do what she wants. She doesn¡¯t need some mystical understanding of magic as a language to make it do what she wants any more than the Broken Lord needed to speak the language of swords to kill every Guide-recognized Lord in his lands and prevent us from opening the Gateway. There are only two ways: we have to either get the Guide to recognize a Lord who can open the Gateway or we have to get a group of Called strong enough to conquer the Labyrinth.¡±


    ¡°And you think the mystery noble siege mage might be strong enough. When you had to give her her Registry badge yesterday. Really, Arryn?¡± Jess shook her head. ¡°There¡¯s a reason we start with the ones who¡¯ve survived at least two Vocation upgrades. Next you¡¯re going to tell me she¡¯s Hallowed, too, or that her father¡¯s the Broken Lord himself.¡±


    Arryn shook her head. There was no chance they were Hallowed by the Broken Lord, and the odds that any other Patron would dare interfere in the Broken Lord¡¯s territory were low enough that he¡¯d never seen anyone Hallowed by anyone else. ¡°Definitely not. The badges I offered Sophia and Dav both have unbroken swords and I made sure to tell them that people would take meaning from the badges. There¡¯s no way they follow the Broken Lord.¡±


    ¡°At least you have that much sense.¡± Jessamine looked down at her chronicle and shook her head. ¡°I¡¯ll mark them down as people to watch, but I¡¯m not going to invest more in them than that until they prove themselves. I have enough trouble on my plate; you¡¯re lucky you don¡¯t hold Hailport anymore. Catshold is being resettled.¡±


    Arryn clenched a fist, then forced himself to relax. Catshold was a mistake, but only because he didn¡¯t hear about the problems in time. He should have; if only he¡¯d heard Aymini¡¯s warning when it came instead of months later! He could have sent people to deal with Catshold before it was too powerful. That was why the Registry existed, after all.


    ¡°It almost worked,¡± he whispered. ¡°Until the Broken Lord broke the Lion¡¯s mind.¡± It was a valuable lesson, painfully bought. Hailport¡¯s new Registry Master was going to be busy for decades getting the new catkin accepted and tamping down warp-fear. It would have been worth it if the Lion became a Lord and opened the Gateway, but as it was it was only a lesson in what they couldn¡¯t do.


    ¡°But it didn¡¯t,¡± Jess agreed. ¡°Which is why we have to raise a group that can make it through the Maze.¡±


    END OF ARC 1: BUILDING BLOCKS

 Building Blocks End Notes

    Author¡¯s Commentary on Broken Lands: Building Blocks


    Wow, we¡¯re at the end of Book One (or Arc One if you prefer) already!


    This was a bit of a rough arc for Sophia, since she didn¡¯t actually get her keystone abilities until the end. Unlike her father, she¡¯s very distinctly more of a mage than a hybrid by preference and temperament. (If you don¡¯t know who I¡¯m talking about, Sophia¡¯s father Serenity is the main character in After the End. You don¡¯t have to read that for this story to make sense, though she does regularly think back on her family, which is quite a bit wider than the people genetically related to her.)


    Dav¡¯s issues are different. He doesn¡¯t talk about them that much, though, so Sophia has her worries and they may or may not line up with Dav¡¯s real issues. That¡¯s something they¡¯ll have to figure out as they get to know each other more. They really haven¡¯t known each other all that long.


    It¡¯s an interesting balance to keep as an author - the main character is a bit more informed than her co-star and very powerful in her own right, but shackled by circumstances that make it hard for her to show her power and ability. Early on, Sophia thinks she¡¯s protecting Dav and it takes her a bit to realize that they¡¯re equals here. She never really does admit that he¡¯s stronger than she is without access to her magic and he never feels the need to point it out, since he never feels like she¡¯s being unreasonable. She should shine a bit more in the next arc; this may not be the magic she¡¯s used to, but it¡¯s close enough.


    The other thing I feel like I should talk about is AI art. I¡¯ve used it throughout Building Blocks. It grew out of the desire to have a static image character sheet, which meant I needed a background; as you can tell, it turned into a lot more than that.


    In some ways I like it, since it lets me give a visual representation of what you see; in other ways, I kind of hate it. I can say that if it didn¡¯t exist, the story would simply not have art. In this case, at least, it¡¯s not replacing anyone. I¡¯m aware of the issue with displacing the work of artists; at the same time, a hard stance there wouldn¡¯t result in more work for artists; it would actually mean no art for the story and less work touching up AI art for me. Not using the AI art for this story wouldn¡¯t actually achieve anything.


    As for how it directly affects the story, I like the fact that I can get art that works with the story I¡¯m trying to tell. If I want to show a giant snake in a jungle ruin, I can. It¡¯s not always easy, but it¡¯s possible. I do a lot of touch-up work on some of it (would you believe that the best art I could get of Peaches originally had a third leg?). In many ways, that¡¯s also why I hate it: unlike working with an artist, an AI doesn¡¯t actually know what you¡¯re saying.


    For example, if I told an artist that a character was ¡­ for a completely random (okay, very not-random) example, a superhero with wings made of lightning, I¡¯d get someone with blazing wings that look like lightning in some way; I can come up with a couple possibilities.


    An AI is more likely to give me this:


    Well, it¡¯s a superhero, there are wings, and there¡¯s lightning. It¡¯s not wrong, exactly, but it¡¯s definitely not what I wanted. And that¡¯s before we talk about the appearance of his legs or the black lightning. This one actually has fewer small details that are just wrong than most.


    In short, I don¡¯t have a solidified opinion on AI art. It¡¯s been an interesting experiment, one I¡¯ll probably continue into the next book. I suppose that¡¯s enough for now.


    On the topic of the next book, I¡¯m looking forward to it. We get to see more of the world ¡­. Well, the Broken Lands, at least the ones near Casterville¡¯s shard. I was originally going to make the book titles follow a theme of building, but that seems too artificial. The working title for the next arc is Warped.


    See you there!


    ~Lillene


    Latest Status / Latest Wisp cost sheet


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Sophia


    </td>


    <td>


    Spells:


    </td>


    <td>


    Unaffiliated Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Warped Human


    </td>


    <td>


    (Rush, 1, 1)


    </td>


    <td>


    Innate Communication (Bonus, Free)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    (Feather Image)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Empty, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Body: 5


    </td>


    <td>


    Martial Abilities:


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Core: 7


    </td>


    <td>


    (Stunning Roar, 1, 1)


    </td>


    <td>


    Species Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Aura Armor, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Shield: 10/10


    </td>


    <td>


    Species Spells:


    </td>


    <td>


    (Spell Reservoir, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Force Bolt, 1, 1)


    </td>


    <td>


    (MageSight, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Wisps: 26


    </td>


    <td>


    (Force Blast, 1, 1)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Feather Image)


    </td>


    <td>


    Spellblade Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Spheres


    </td>


    <td>


    Attunements:


    </td>


    <td>


    (Imbue Blade, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Spellblade (Hallow)


    </td>


    <td>


    Contraceptive Amulet, 3


    </td>


    <td>


    (Animate Blade, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Level:1


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Animate Spell Blade, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Collector (Linked)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Level: 1


    This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Dav


    </td>


    <td>


    Summons:


    </td>


    <td>


    Unaffiliated Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Chaos-Warped Human


    </td>


    <td>


    (Bastion of Health, 1, 1)


    </td>


    <td>


    Innate Communication (Bonus, Free)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    (Eye Image)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Thorn Emitter, 1, 1)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Mana Core Specialization: Eldritch, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Body: 8


    </td>


    <td>


    (Eyes that See, 1, 1)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Empty, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Core: 2


    </td>


    <td>


    (Eye Image)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Attunements:


    </td>


    <td>


    Species Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Shield: 10


    </td>


    <td>


    Contraceptive Amulet, 3


    </td>


    <td>


    (Bonded Armor, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Empty, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Wisps: 6


    </td>


    <td>


    Eldritch Armor, 7 (Growth)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Level: 1


    </td>


    <td>


    Eldritch Summoner Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Spheres


    </td>


    <td>


    Perfect Fit: Dav


    </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Reinforcement, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Eldritch Summoner (Hallow)


    </td>


    <td>


    Rapid Assembly


    </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Weapon Alteration, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Level: 1


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Body: 5


    </td>


    <td>


    Wisp Dedication - Sophia


    </td>


    <td>


    Ability Slots:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    50 Wisps


    </td>


    <td>


    Available Wisps: 26


    </td>


    <td>


    Spellblade Spell: 15 Wisps


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Feather Image)


    </td>


    <td>


    Spellblade Martial Ability: 15 Wisps


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Core: 7


    </td>


    <td>


    Unslot Ability:


    </td>


    <td>


    Unaffiliated: 25 Wisps


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    50 Wisps


    </td>


    <td>


    Spellblade Spell: 1 * Slot Level * Spell Level


    </td>


    <td>


    Species: 25 Wisps


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Spellblade Martial Ability: 1 * Slot Level * Spell Level


    </td>


    <td>


    Spellblade: 40 Wisps


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Spheres


    </td>


    <td>


    Species Spell: 5 * Slot Level * Spell Level


    </td>


    <td>


    (Feather Image)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Spellblade (Hallow)


    </td>


    <td>


    Unaffiliated: 5 * Slot Level * Spell Level


    </td>


    <td>


    Unaffiliated Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Level:1


    </td>


    <td>


    Species Ability:201 * Slot Level * Spell Level


    </td>


    <td>


    (Empty, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    10 Wisps


    </td>


    <td>


    Spellblade Ability: 10 * Slot Level * Spell Level


    </td>


    <td>


    Variable


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Collector (Linked)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Species Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Level: 1


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Dedication Requires Available Slot


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    No Dedication Possible


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Spellblade Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Dedication Requires Available Slot


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Ability Descriptions


    Innate Communication


    Innate Communication is the most comprehensive of the set of Communication Abilities for sapients. It includes understanding of all forms of the language and the necessary knowledge to easily communicate in those languages so long as the capability exists. Languages that require methods not possessed by the possessor of Innate Communication cannot be used without that method.


    Sophia


    Spellblade


    Use Spells and Martial Techniques in your partner¡¯s Collection to enhance your magical and physical combat ability.


    Rush


    Surge forward at an increased pace.


    Stunning Roar


    Daze the world with the force of your anger! Imbue your shout with mana and anger to temporarily disorient opponents.


    Force Bolt


    Discharge a bolt of magical force to damage your target.


    Force Blast


    Create a rapidly expanding shell of magical force at a distance to damage targets in the area.


    Aura Armor


    Use your aura to slightly deflect attacks before they reach your shield.


    Spell Reservoir


    Learn to cast the spells of your species. Does not include any Spell Slots or Spells. If selected, all Species spells will be reserved for the Reservoir.


    MageSight


    See magic in all its forms.


    Imbue Blade


    Enhance the spiritual body of your blade with mana to create a projectable imitation.


    Animate Blade


    Command an Imbued blade to move and attack.


    Animate Spell Blade


    Animated Blades may also be commanded to cast spells. These spells consume mana as if they were cast by the controller.


    Dav


    Eldritch Summoner


    Call on the eldritch power of Chaos Itself.


    Bastion of Health


    Summon a beacon to heal yourself and those you consider your allies.


    Thorn Emitter


    Summon a beacon to assault your enemies.


    Eyes that See


    Summon the Sight of the Eyes that See.


    Mana Core Specialization: Eldritch


    Align your mana core with the Eldritch power that runs through you.


    Bonded Armor


    Forcibly bonding with your armor has permanently connected it to you. Armor abilities draw on your mana. Continued use and empowerment may awaken or create additional abilities.


    Eldritch Reinforcement


    Reinforce your body with eldritch power.


    Eldritch Weapon Alteration


    Channel your eldritch might through a weapon and claim it as your own.


    Cliff¡¯s Collections


    Spells


    Rush


    Flaming Spark


    Spit Fire


    Buffet


    Slice


    Hydrokinesis (higher level than 1 - actual level requirement unknown)


    Martial Techniques


    Stunning Roar


    Consuming Rage


    Monsters


    Devouring Moss


    Ruins Constrictor (giant snake, constrictor)


    Giant Sloth (incomplete, Abilities unknown)


    Enraged Beavers


    Flickering Rage Beavers

 Building Blocks Character Gallery

    Sophia Rothmer


    Dav Carolan


    The Guide


    <No Image>


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    The Wanderer


    <No Image>


    Aymini


    Vramt


    Revina


    Vyk and Reba Deryn (hunters in Fallen Kestii)


    <No Image>


    Johan (glassblower in Fallen Kestii and former resident of Vremin)


    <No Image>


    Old Arryn the Merchant


    Peaches the Draft Sloth


    Jessamine, Registry Master of the Casterville Vocational Registry

 Warped Teaser

    The Broken Lands are new to both Sophia and Dav, but they¡¯re starting to find their way. The people are a bit strange, but so far they¡¯ve been nice. The wildlife is a bit aggressive, but other than the flame beavers that burned down a village, it¡¯s all been things they could handle. Sophia is beginning to think that this might just be the adventure she was looking for after all, even if she¡¯s still not sure how to get home. That¡¯s fine; she doesn¡¯t need to yet.


    They aren¡¯t aware of just how much attention they¡¯ve drawn. Several powerful individuals have their eyes on Sophia and Dav, all with different reasons and different goals. Sophia has her attention on Arryn, the friendly merchant who brought them to Casterville. She knows he¡¯s hiding something; she¡¯s simply not certain if it¡¯s a problem or not.


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    She¡¯s forgotten about the bandits that triggered the event that sent her and Dav through the Origin to the Broken Lands. They drifted away before she landed with Dav and are unlikely to have survived the trip. If they did, they almost certainly aren¡¯t sane.


    Unfortunately for Sophia and Dav, they did survive long enough.

 Chapter 58 - Two New Beginnings

    It didn¡¯t remember much. It didn¡¯t remember its name or how it ended up in darkness. It knew there was a before and an after, and this was after.


    It heard something, or it thought it heard something. It wasn¡¯t the way it vaguely remembered hearing; no, it heard with its body, its mantle, its tendrils. The noise came from all around it. It took far too long to figure out that there was a direction to the noise. By the time it figured that out, the noise had stopped.


    The noise had been patterned. Words? It wasn¡¯t sure. That had meaning, but it wasn¡¯t sure what meaning there was.


    It tried to blink and realized its eyes were closed. Oh. That was why it was in darkness. Open eyes revealed that it wasn¡¯t in darkness. Light filtered into the ruined area it stood in. It got a short look at stone columns and a rubble-strewn walkway before something else appeared in its vision.


    It knew this. It was important. It had words on it, and they were important.


    It couldn¡¯t read the words.


    It blinked, when waved an arm-tendril irritatedly at the Status. Yes, that was what it was, wasn¡¯t it? A Status. That was why it was important; it told you important things. It couldn¡¯t remember what, but it was coming back to it. Slowly, but it could remember!


    Something was very, very wrong. It wasn¡¯t sure what. Not being able to read the Status was only one part of it, but it was a major part.


    Something seemed to click, and even if it couldn¡¯t read the words, it knew what they meant. Monster, they said. It would give monsters power. It never turned down power; it might not remember much, but that was not something it could forget. Power was good.


    More words appeared. This time, the monster knew they described it. It still couldn¡¯t read the title; Chaos-Warped (Land Jelly) didn¡¯t mean anything to it. The Status seemed to recognize that after a moment and it shimmered and warped into an image.


    That was it?


    Yes, yes it was. It felt both completely right and deeply wrong at the same time. It stared at the image for a long time. A giant, multi-lobed top section with enormous orange eyespots on the pair of symmetrical bluish-green side-bumps explained why it could see all around itself. The many, many thicker tendrils were arms; the largest ones could support its weight and serve as legs. The thinner tendrils were how it caught prey, then it would drag the prey in to consume.


    That was now. It was right for now, and the longer it stared at the image the more right it seemed. Before was lost.


    Mostly lost. There was still something it needed. Several things it needed.


    First, it needed a name. A label. Chaos-Warped (Land Jelly) seemed to be what the Status wanted to call it, but that wasn¡¯t its name. It was it.


    It was ¡­ it was ¡­ it was Physalix. It knew that was not the name it once had, but a new name was needed and Physalix sounded right. It didn¡¯t know why it sounded right, but it did.


    The Status seemed to agree. A section of it changed. Physalix still couldn¡¯t read what it said, but it knew it meant what it was.


    What else did it need?


    It simply stood there, lost in thought, until well after the image of itself disappeared and it finally realized one part of what it needed. It was alone. It wasn¡¯t supposed to be alone. There were supposed to be others there. They¡¯d been there, helping it, assisting it, serving it, before. This was after, and in the after they were not quite as separate as they had been in the before.


    It knew where they were, or at least which direction to go to find them. It also knew that they were just as lost and confused as Physalix was. That was all it knew, but it was something.


    It also knew that there were others. Others who had caused before to become after. Others who had ruined everything, even if Physalix didn¡¯t know what the everything that was ruined was.


    It also knew that they would make tasty food, especially the one who was different. The one that should have ended but did not when the before became the after. The one that glowed.


    It could even tell which way they were, or which way one of them was. The one that would be the least tasty was also the one that was the most like Physalix; that was the one it could feel. The feeling was weak, almost broken, and very far away, but it was still there. It could follow the feeling.


    That was for later. First, it needed to find the other pieces of itself that were not itself. It needed to find out what the Status could do for it, what being a Monster could give it.


    That word was wonderful. Monster. It meant power, and Physalix liked power.


    Oh! That was why it wanted to eat the tasty bright spark that should be dead. It was power!


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    Physalix¡¯s tendrils twisted in joy. It was learning and remembering! It would be all that it had once been and more, and it would be soon!


    As soon as it found and ate the bright spark.


    Physalix slowly turned and lumbered towards the closest of its allies / other selves. It could not come to Physalix, so Physalix would go to it.


    A knock on the door woke Sophia from a restless sleep. It wasn¡¯t the worst sleep she¡¯d had since she fell through the Origin and ended up in the strange land on the other side, but it also wasn¡¯t the best. For some reason, she¡¯d had nightmares of jellyfish. She had no idea where that came from. She hadn¡¯t seen an ocean in months!


    ¡°What is it?¡± Dav called out from his position partially next to and partly under Sophia.


    ¡°You two should get moving if you want a morning meal before the general session,¡± a cheerful voice called from the other side of the door. Sophia thought it might be the receptionist from the previous day. ¡°Rensyn¡¯s almost done with his. The others will be here soon.¡±


    Sophia groaned and untangled herself from Dav. There wasn¡¯t time to cuddle; it sounded like they were already running late.


    Ten minutes later, Sophia followed Dav down the stairs. She stopped at the bottom and looked around; there was supposed to be a tavern area with meals somewhere on this floor, but she¡¯d forgotten to look for it the following morning.


    The entrance and the receptionist were off to the right. Sophia noticed that the woman at the table was the same woman. Aimiva, if Sophia remembered her name correctly. She must have been the one to knock on the door.


    Sophia gave her a cheerful wave. ¡°Thanks for the knock!¡±


    ¡°Of course!¡± Aimiva smiled as she waved back. ¡°You asked for a wake-up and things are always quiet this early in the day.¡± She chuckled, then pointed down a hallway that looped around behind the stairs. ¡°The tavern¡¯s that way; most people use the other entrance if they¡¯re not sleeping here.¡±


    ¡°Thanks,¡± Dav rumbled, then led the way. Sophia waved her own thanks.


    The tavern, as Aimiva called it, was really not all that different from a small restaurant in a hotel back home. The decor was different, but there were people seated at several of the tables. Sophia guessed that one of them was probably Rensyn, but she didn¡¯t know which. She could wait; she¡¯d meet him soon enough.


    Sophia and Dav hurried through a quick but high-calorie meal. The food was decent, even good, but the real star as far as Sophia was concerned was the chewy, flavorful brown bread. She hadn¡¯t realized how much she enjoyed bread until she¡¯d gone without it in Fallen Kestii. Fruit was good, but it wasn¡¯t the same. The fact that Dav didn¡¯t seem to feel the same way was convenient. ¡°Are you going to eat your bread?¡±


    ¡°Nah,¡± Dav shook his head. ¡°Trade it for that ham you¡¯re ignoring?¡±


    It wasn¡¯t just ham; it was a full-size pork chop, and Sophia had eaten as much of it as she wanted. It was already odd for breakfast, even though she knew she¡¯d appreciate the energy later in the day. ¡°Sure.¡±


    Either the meal was shockingly cheap or Sophia still didn¡¯t quite get the value of money; three bits each sounded small, but she wouldn¡¯t really know until she had a chance to look at more prices in Casterville. The one thing she could say for certain was that they had enough money that six bits wasn¡¯t really enough to notice.


    It wasn¡¯t until they were outside the tavern that Sophia realized she didn¡¯t actually know where the class was being held; Aimiva hadn¡¯t ever said. When she asked, Aimiva directed them to the ¡°inner courtyard.¡±


    The door to the inner courtyard, unlike the other doors in the Vocational Registry building, was inlaid with small panes of frosted glass. It reminded Sophia of a particularly fancy screen door, but there was no second door; only the wood-and-glass door stood between the building and the courtyard. Sophia opened it, took one step into the courtyard, and froze.


    The courtyard was full of magical sources. The door must have blocked them; she hadn¡¯t felt anything until she stepped outside.


    Everything looked like it was covered by a heat haze for a long moment as the magic made its presence extremely obvious in her new MageSight. She blinked, then blinked again, trying to clear her vision.


    ¡°Sophia? Are you all right?¡± Dav sounded worried as he set a warm hand on her shoulder.


    ¡°It¡¯s all the magic,¡± Sophia answered as her eyes finally started to refocus on the scene around her. None of the magic was strong, but it clashed and eddied and billowed. She wasn¡¯t used to it; with some practice, she was certain she¡¯d manage to control her vision better. It seemed to emanate from either the plants or maybe the ground where they were planted. ¡°Are the plants magical?¡±


    ¡°Many of them are,¡± a man she¡¯d overlooked because of how well he blended into the strange magical landscape answered. He was dressed in colorful clothing with wide vertical stripes of green, blue, orange, and purple, with fancy golden embroidery at the cuffs and neck. The pendant on a golden chain around his neck was clearly the equivalent of the ones Sophia and Dav now wore that identified them as Called to the Registry, but the spherical orange stone that dangled from a chain attached to his belt had an entirely different feeling of magic. ¡°I find the gardens pleasant, and it¡¯s a nice day today. I assume you two are new to the Registry?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m Sophia and this is Dav,¡± Sophia answered before Dav could. ¡°We¡¯re here to ¡­ that is, we¡¯re looking for Rensyn?¡±


    The man smiled. It was clearly something he did often, as his face fell into well-established lines. ¡°You¡¯ve found me, then. I take it you¡¯re here for the introductory session?¡±


    Sophia nodded.


    ¡°There should be five of you today,¡± Rensyn said calmly. ¡°The other three aren¡¯t Called yet; they¡¯re still thinking about whether they should go through with an apprenticeship or try to gain a Vocation. Until they arrive, why don¡¯t we take a look at the plants? Many of them are flowering at the moment, but there are a few that should be ready to harvest. Unless you both already know how to do that?¡±


    Dav shook his head. Sophia had to think about it for a moment; she¡¯d done a little, but it wasn¡¯t really what she was good at. ¡°Is that something Called often do?¡±


    Rensyn gave a cheerful roll of his shoulders. ¡°In a garden like this, no, but out in the wild? That depends on how dangerous the area is and how important the plant is.¡± He didn¡¯t wait for a further response before he walked over to something that looked like a profusion of green leaves with an extremely low, barely visible amount of magic. ¡°This is spikeleaf. As you can tell, it¡¯s not called that because of the shape of the leaves; instead, it¡¯s called that because of how it tastes when it¡¯s cooked¡­¡±

 Chapter 59 - Welcome to the Vocational Registry

    Sophia expected the three they were waiting on to all be teenagers, since that was when Vocations became available. She was wrong; while one of them was almost certainly the minimum age, the other two were easily in their twenties.


    Sylva was the first to arrive. She was one of the two in her twenties; stout, sturdy, and only about four feet tall, she seemed almost like a stereotypical fantasy dwarf to Sophia, except that she dressed absolutely nothing like the stereotype. She was dressed in bright, clashing colors that outshone even Rensyn¡¯s colored stripes, with masses of silver embroidery that made the multicolored cloth look almost as silver as any other color. It somehow escaped looking at all like armor mostly because it was clearly not protective in any way. There wasn¡¯t even any magic worked into the cloth. It was fancy, but Sophia was happy she didn¡¯t have to wear it and she definitely wouldn¡¯t want to work out in it.


    Dykken and Roy arrived together. They were both some sort of lizardkin or possibly snakekin; they looked essentially human other than oddly pebbly pale yellow skin with a blue streak that crossed their eyes. They were clearly related and just as clearly far poorer than Sylva, at least if simple clothing in more natural colors indicated less wealth. Sophia suspected that it did, especially since it was well-used, practical clothing.


    ¡°Good, that¡¯s everyone I was expecting.¡± Rensyn grinned widely and looked around the group, then walked over to a short wall that was probably normally used to hold a potted plant but happened to be empty. ¡°Find a spot and get comfortable. Roy, you¡¯re the youngest; I assume you¡¯re here to decide if you want to take an apprenticeship or go directly for a Vocation?¡±


    The young man nodded shyly.


    Rensyn turned his attention to the older brother. ¡°And Dykken?¡±


    Dykken shrugged. ¡°Called make money. We can only afford one escort, so I¡¯ve waited for Roy to be old enough. I don¡¯t have an apprenticeship, and I don¡¯t want to be a Professional laborer. If Roy doesn¡¯t want to go, well, a Vocation will pay for an apprenticeship for him.¡±


    Roy shook his head but didn¡¯t say anything. Sophia could see that he didn¡¯t agree with Dykken¡¯s choice, but his mute protest didn¡¯t seem to get Dykken¡¯s attention.


    Rensyn nodded slowly. ¡°A reasonable choice, but you will find that it¡¯s harder and more expensive than you think. Vocations make money, but they also have costs. Almost any fighting Vocation requires armor and weapons; even mage Vocations-¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s not going to qualify for a mage Vocation,¡± Sylva interrupted. ¡°There¡¯s no point in taunting him with what he can¡¯t have.¡±


    ¡°Even mage Vocations require equipment,¡± Rensyn continued as if he hadn¡¯t been interrupted. He didn¡¯t even glance at Sylva. ¡°The most common is a focus wand, but we strongly recommend either armor or enchanted robes.¡±


    Sophia didn¡¯t miss the emphasis he put on the word enchanted. It made her smile; he clearly hadn¡¯t missed the fact that Sylva¡¯s clothing was fancy but not enchanted; now that Sophia thought about it, it was probably intended to look like it was enchanted to people who didn¡¯t know better.


    ¡°There are a lot of smaller things that are useful and necessary, but that¡¯s why we assign mentors for newly Registered Called. We¡¯ll help you get your initial equipment; we¡¯d like you to stay alive, after all, but you will be expected to pay it back.¡± Rensyn¡¯s gaze finally turned away from Dykken to look at his younger brother. ¡°If you¡¯re not sure when we¡¯re done, Roy, that¡¯s fine; I think we shouldn¡¯t be sending sixteen-year-olds out to fight. You¡¯re not done growing yet, give it a couple of years. If your brother¡¯s going to go for a Vocation, we can see if there¡¯s work for you around here. There often is, although it may well be in the stables.¡±


    ¡°Work in the stables is good,¡± Roy agreed. ¡°I like horses.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not just horses,¡± Rensyn said with a grin, ¡°But you¡¯ll see that when we get there. That brings us to you, Miss Sylva. Are you trying to decide between an apprenticeship and a Calling?¡±


    Sylva shook her head. ¡°No, I want a Vocation. I¡¯m not going to spend my life stuck inside one dinky little town like my parents, but Mother wouldn¡¯t pay for the Awakening escort unless I came here first.¡±


    Rensyn¡¯s smile became a little strained when Sylva called Casterville ¡°dinky,¡± but it smoothed out before she even finished her sentence. ¡°I see. Well, in that case, you¡¯ll want to pay attention when I explain what the Registry offers; you¡¯ll have to make the choice between a minimal registration where you pay for services as you need them, an assisted registration like what I expect to offer Dykken, full membership like Sophia and Dav, or an employment contract like me. There are advantages and disadvantages to each.¡±


    Full membership? Sophia didn¡¯t remember signing up for that. Was that what the badges Arryn gave them meant?


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    Rensyn started to say something, then paused and asked a question he hadn¡¯t asked any of the others. ¡°Is there an honorific I should use for you?¡±


    ¡°An honorific? You mean a title, the way you called Sylva Miss?¡± Sophia shook her head. She wanted to counter that idea before it even got started. Being called Princess probably seemed nice when it wasn¡¯t true, but to Sophia it was simply someone being polite before they told her what not to do or, worse, what she was supposed to do next to be a proper Princess. The titles changed from world to world, but Sophia preferred the informality she grew up with on Earth. ¡°Call me Sophia. My family doesn¡¯t matter here.¡±


    Rensyn smiled at that. Sophia could tell he¡¯d caught the implication that her family did matter elsewhere, but he seemed to appreciate the fact that she wasn¡¯t going to make an issue of it. ¡°Sophia, then. A bit of a different question for you; why did you choose a Calling instead of waiting for a Profession?¡±


    ¡°In the middle of a monster-infested cave? That¡¯s not much of a choice, is it?¡± Dav interrupted, answering for Sophia. He seemed almost upset, like he didn¡¯t understand the point of the question. ¡°We didn¡¯t have the time to wait. Sure, we made it through the insects, but the moss monster was far worse.¡±


    Sophia set a hand on Dav¡¯s shoulder. ¡°I¡¯d choose a Calling if I had the chance to choose again. I¡¯ve always wanted to see new places and make my own way in the world, plus I enjoy a good fight. That was the Path I chose originally and it¡¯s the Path I¡¯ll choose again here. If anything, it seems even more important here; the wilds seem less settled than back home. I planned to travel to either the frontier or to one of the damaged worlds to help; it seems like I can go anywhere here to explore.¡±


    Sophia¡¯s answer seemed to please Rensyn; he relaxed a little and his smile seemed more genuine and less of an ordinary formality as he turned his attention fully on Dav. ¡°How about you? If you truly don¡¯t like your choice, you can change it; if you take a Profession, you¡¯ll never level your Vocation again.¡±


    Dav shook his head fiercely. ¡°I¡¯ll never find a way home if I do that. Everything Sophia said is true for me, too.¡±


    That was true, but it didn¡¯t really matter to Sophia. She knew she¡¯d find a way home eventually. If she didn¡¯t, her family would eventually figure out a way to find her. Either way, she was looking at years of effort, so she might as well combine the search for a way home with doing what she actually wanted to do and see the world. She really hadn¡¯t seen much of it yet, but the fact that there were flaming beavers that could use spells meant that there was a lot out there to see.


    Rensyn nodded in acknowledgement then turned his attention back to the trio of people without Spheres. ¡°Right now, I¡¯m expecting both Dykken and Miss Sylva to choose a Vocation, so the four of you do need to know the Registry facilities. Roy, you¡¯re welcome to come with us; I¡¯ll help you find work even if it isn¡¯t an apprenticeship in anticipation of your brother¡¯s registration.¡±


    He didn¡¯t wait for responses before he made a wide gesture that clearly meant their surroundings. ¡°Right now, we¡¯re in the courtyard gardens. This area is popular with people who want to hone their mana senses, because most of the plants either produce or use mana; they¡¯re all carefully balanced so that they have enough to thrive but not so much that it crushes them. Type is important as well as quantity, but I won¡¯t say more than that; you¡¯re better off learning that from someone who actually knows what they¡¯re talking about.¡±


    Sophia was certain Rensyn knew more about gardening than he admitted there. You didn¡¯t randomly talk about plants for half an hour, with examples from everything around you, unless you knew something.


    ¡°The plants are why we¡¯re out here because of what they represent: food. The vast majority of these plants are used in the meals served at the tavern. Mana-enhanced food is fairly expensive ¡­ everywhere except at a Registry. The Registry tavern is a place to meet people, plan missions, and have good, healthy, cheap food that won¡¯t pull mana out of you. That¡¯s not important at low levels, but it becomes far more important the higher you level. Now, follow me.¡±


    Rensyn led the way out of the courtyard through a different doorway than the one Sophia and Dav used to enter it. The new door led to a small antechamber near the kitchens; Sophia could hear the sound of people eating from one direction while the sounds of cooking came from another. Rensyn led them through the door towards the kitchens. It led into a clear preparatory area with quite a bit of floor space.


    A quick left took them into another back room filled with large work tables. A handful of smears of dried blood in hard-to-reach places and several incompletely dissected carcasses revealed the purpose of the room even though no one was working in it when they walked in.


    ¡°This is the Registry¡¯s butchery area,¡± Rensyn confirmed. ¡°If you bring back a field-dressed carcass, the butchers will properly remove the valuable pieces; we keep the meat. This is the primary source of meat for the tavern. You can, of course, take the carcass to an outside butcher, but if you do that you will need to work with them to get your own price. It¡¯s a specialized task to remove the valuable components without damaging them, so most people find that it¡¯s a better use of their time and more rewarding than butchering the monster  themselves or going elsewhere. This won¡¯t be important to you until you encounter something with valuable organs; the more valuable they are, the more dangerous they usually are.¡±


    Rensyn gave a quick glance around the group. When no one asked anything, he hurried on.


    Rensyn¡¯s whirlwind tour took them all over the Vocational Registry building. The Registry handled everything a delver could want, from laundry to training facilities and instructors. The basics were apparently included in the ¡°full membership¡± she and Dav had from Arryn, but even without that the prices didn¡¯t seem too bad compared to the cash they¡¯d gotten from selling the huge slab of bronze back in Fallen Kestii.


    She¡¯d have liked to spend more time looking at enchanted equipment, but she didn¡¯t argue when Rensyn kept them moving. She could always come back later. Unlike the rest of the Registry, the prices in the shop were not cheap; in fact, Sophia wasn¡¯t actually certain she could afford much of anything.

 Chapter 60 - Apothecary

    There were, as it turned out, three shops for enchanted items in the Vocational Registry. One was full of expensive enchanted trinkets. Sophia really wanted to spend some time in the wand section; there had to be some good things there. Based on the prices, it was probably a good thing Rensyn didn¡¯t let them spend long in the shop; she didn¡¯t have the cash to afford to buy anything there. A small item or two, maybe, but she¡¯d have to plan to spend nearly all of the money she had on it to get even something small.


    The second shop was different. It wasn¡¯t full of enchanted items. The first thing Sophia noticed as she stepped through the doorway wasn¡¯t a haze of slightly-clashing quiet magic; instead, it was the smell. A combination of flower perfume, earthy loam, and a hint of the astringent smell of disinfectant washed over her.


    The magic was there, of course. It was far more harmonious than the previous room; there was a very strong hint of healing to much of it.


    Sophia saw potions and salves, wraps, pills, aromatic oils, and even whole plants. There was a section clearly labeled as poisons. A section near the entrance had an odd label; Sophia wasn¡¯t sure what ¡°recreational supplies¡± were, but she rather wanted to find out. At the back, a young man stood behind a counter. His attention didn¡¯t seem to be on them; instead, it was on the powder he was slowly adding to a glass beaker with a flared top.


    There were no prices on anything.


    ¡°This is the apothecary area,¡± Rensyn stated. It seemed kind of redundant; this was obviously something like that. Sophia would probably have called it a pharmacy, but the two weren¡¯t really all that different. These days, Earth pharmacies stocked magical remedies as well as mundane ones. ¡°Halven takes payment in coin, Registry credit, or supplies he can use. He keeps the healing items cheap, but everything else is priced similarly to the outside market.¡±


    ¡°Everything except the things you can¡¯t get elsewhere, which is a lot of it. You always leave that out,¡± Halven interrupted from the back corner. ¡°I also take payment in alchemical recipes, and you¡¯ll see requests from me when you see what jobs are out there. I mostly pay in stock. Don¡¯t forget to pick up some healing supplies before you head out wherever you¡¯re going; even something as simple as bandages can save your life. I sell basic supply kits if you don¡¯t have your own. The Registry will pick up some or all of the cost if you¡¯re headed out on a job, so there¡¯s no reason not to have one.¡±


    Rensyn gave them less than a minute to look around the alchemist¡¯s before he started to shoo them towards the next area. ¡°The last area we¡¯ll see inside is the delivery area, but before that I want to show you the armory. The delivery area is exactly what it sounds like: it¡¯s where you drop off large items, whether they¡¯re to fill a request or to be butchered, so it¡¯s just outside the butcher¡¯s area we visited when we started.¡±


    Sophia wondered why they hadn¡¯t stopped there at the time. It seemed like it would have made sense.


    Her confusion vanished moments later when they stepped into the armory. It was absolutely full of both weapons and armor, enough to outfit at least a hundred people. The variety was incredible, as well; Sophia wouldn¡¯t be surprised if almost anyone could walk in and find their preferred weapon. Armor was always a little more difficult, but there was enough magic in the air that much of the armor probably had some sort of size-adjusting enchantment.


    It was several times the size of Sophia¡¯s father¡¯s collection.


    A second look made Sophia frown. It was completely missing several categories of weapons. She wasn¡¯t surprised that there were no guns; it seemed like guns weren¡¯t known here. The lack of crossbows was more surprising, since she knew they were known. Worse than that was the lack of any equipment that projected its damaging surface or the damage itself. There were no manablades, like her father¡¯s and grandfather¡¯s preferred weapon, and Sophia didn¡¯t see any spellstaves either. Spellstaves might be in the expensive enchanted items store, maybe, but Sophia was pretty sure that manablades would fit better in the armory.


    ¡°Items in here can be loaned out for an individual mission or bought outright. Loans usually only happen when you¡¯re on an assisted membership or while you¡¯re waiting for replacement equipment to be made, but you can also use equipment from the armory in the training yard if necessary.¡±


    Rensyn gave them quite a bit longer to look around the armory while he wasn¡¯t talking than he had with most of their previous stops. When it occurred to Sophia to check on him, he had a small pleased smile, like the smile of a parent indulgently watching their children play.


    There was nothing much to say about the delivery area when they got there, but the reason they went there last quickly became apparent when Rensyn led them out a wider than usual pair of doors and into a courtyard near the stables. From the exit, Sophia could tell that ¡°stables¡± was a misnomer: there were stables, yes, but there was also a paddock and several areas that were clearly set up to house larger, odder mounts. Right now, in addition to a significant variety of horses, Sophia could see a pegasus, a griffin, a pair of matched red lizards, and a curled-up ball of brown fur that had to be Peaches, the giant draft sloth that pulled the wagon for the merchant they¡¯d accompanied on the way to Casterville.


    Rensyn gave them all time to take in the scene before he spoke. ¡°If you¡¯d like to take an apprenticeship here, Roy, we can talk to the stablemaster. It will likely lead to a beast-handling Profession of some sort, or give you a chance at a beast-related Vocation if you decide you want that when you¡¯re a little older.¡±


    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    ¡°I¡¯d like that,¡± Roy answered breathlessly. He couldn¡¯t seem to decide where to look; every time one of the animals moved, his gaze snapped to it.


    ¡°The other four of you, please wait for a moment while I get Roy settled,¡± Rensyn told them. ¡°Feel free to watch the animals while you wait, but don¡¯t get too close to them; many of them bite. The pegasus is especially fierce.¡±


    Sophia chuckled. The warning seemed to come from painful experience, and she could easily imagine someone walking up to a winged horse, treating it like a horse, and being painfully nipped for the indignity. She¡¯d never seen a pegasus before, but she knew better than to assume that it was just a horse with wings; a horse with wings wouldn¡¯t be able to fly. It had to have magic as well.


    Despite that thought, the pegasus didn¡¯t do anything that seemed unhorselike while Sophia watched. It simply paced around the paddock. It did seem to pay attention whenever anyone walked near it, but that was all she saw. A look at it while paying attention to her MageSight revealed that the pegasus¡¯s body contained magic, but she couldn¡¯t tell what type. It wasn¡¯t one that she was good at, which meant that it could be anything from air to flight to gravity. Air magic of some sort seemed the most likely; many birds had air or wind magic.


    Sophia¡¯s attention had turned to the griffin before Rensyn came back out of the stables without Roy but with Dykken still following him. That made Sophia look around; Sylva was acting ostentatiously bored, but her eyes kept drifting to Peaches.


    Sophia didn¡¯t have to wonder where Dav was. He was next to her, with his arm around her shoulders, watching the magical animals.


    ¡°That¡¯s the end of the tour,¡± Rensyn informed the four of them. ¡°Anyone who isn¡¯t intending to take up a Vocation soon can leave now; if you are thinking about it, please follow me.¡±


    Sophia assumed that included her and Dav, even though they already had Vocations. Rensyn didn¡¯t lead them far; there was a pair of benches set up under a tree a little farther away from the stables. Sophia¡¯s guess was that this was close enough to watch the animals while also being far enough away to not interfere and probably far enough away to not smell the manure.


    ¡°Good, all four of you are still here. I¡¯m going to take this in the other order, this time; Dav, you have a Calling. What is it, and how did you earn it?¡±


    ¡°Ah,¡± Dav temporized. He clearly hadn¡¯t expected the question.


    ¡°You can say as much or as little as you like,¡± Rensyn prompted. ¡°But most of the time, what people think are family secrets actually turn out to be pretty well known; it¡¯s having the skill and practice that¡¯s hard, not figuring out how to reach a basic Sphere.¡±


    Sophia nodded at Dav to encourage him. As far as she could tell, the only thing they needed to keep quiet was the fact that they had Hallows rather than Vocations, and with the way the Registry people talked about Callings, she thought they had suspicions anyway. It was either that or they treated everyone as if they might have a Hallow; she wasn¡¯t sure which she wanted to believe.


    Dav nodded back at Sophia. ¡°Ah, well, it¡¯s ¡­ I¡¯m an Eldritch Summoner. I think it¡¯s because of the marks on my face; it¡¯s that kind of magic. We were thrown through a place that was full of ¡­ well, full of eldritch energy, and it marked my face.¡±


    ¡°Not an easy thing to duplicate, especially not safely,¡± Rensyn agreed. ¡°It does explain how you achieved a summoning Sphere surprisingly well; that¡¯s normally a Specialized Sphere, but you meet an unusual requirement. Congratulations on that; Specialized Spheres can be hard to reach even when you know the requirements and gain the levels required to specialize. You have to know where you want to go, and that¡¯s difficult. How about you, Sophia?¡±


    Sophia wasn¡¯t about to say she¡¯d just picked the Hallow from a list; fortunately, she probably could have gotten Spellblade even if there were other requirements she had to reach. ¡°Spellblade. I¡¯ve been training with weapons and magic since I was a child; I prefer magic, but my parents made sure I know how to fight, too.¡±


    She paused and huffed softly. ¡°It sure came in useful in that tunnel, when all I had was my knife. The first Spellblade ability I got was a weapon enhancement; if I didn¡¯t know how to fight, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to do anything.¡±


    ¡°You also wouldn¡¯t have gotten the Sphere,¡± Rensyn noted. ¡°Spellblade is a merged Sphere; I¡¯ve seen it quite a few times, but every single Spellblade is different because they choose different abilities. It¡¯s one of the best examples of divergence in a single Sphere. Merged Spheres are the opposite of Specialized Spheres; there are far more options, which can be either good or bad. You¡¯ll probably want to talk to a Sphere Planner some time soon, to make sure you¡¯re headed in a direction you want to go.¡±


    It was good to hear that there were people who knew more about Spheres. Sophia definitely wanted to talk to one. She¡¯d talked to experts about her Paths; she should do the same thing now that she had to specifically choose each Ability.


    Rensyn turned away from Sophia. ¡°Miss Sylva, what Calling are you interested in?¡±


    ¡°Magic,¡± Sylva answered quickly. ¡°I don¡¯t know any, but I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll pick it up quickly and I heard that you can get a Vocation that will teach magic if you pick carefully, then Merge and Specialize until you get a mage Vocation.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s possible,¡± Rensyn temporized. ¡°It¡¯s a slow route, though, so you should pick something you actually want to do when you choose a Sphere, not just whatever you think will lead to magic.¡±


    Sophia didn¡¯t think Sylva was listening.


    Rensyn looked a little saddened as he turned to the last person. ¡°How about you, Dykken?¡±


    Dykken shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m not really sure. I¡¯m fast and agile, so I figure something that takes advantage of that. The only training I have is with blow darts, so I¡¯m probably going to learn whatever weapon I end up using from nothing.¡±


    ¡°Maybe not,¡± Rensyn said. He seemed a lot happier with Dykken¡¯s answer than he was with Sylva¡¯s, even though Sylva knew what she wanted and Dykken didn¡¯t. ¡°You will want to learn something else, but blow darts can be quite effective. You¡¯ll need to pick up some poison resistance Abilities and make good friends with Halven, but if you get the right Vocation, that can work.¡±

 Chapter 61 - What About Hallows?

    ¡°That¡¯s something to talk to your mentor about, once you have one. If you decide to go that way, I¡¯ll recommend that you join the group Fila¡¯s currently shepherding. They¡¯re less than a moon ahead of you and need another person or two to balance the group. I believe there¡¯s a Wind specialist that will also be joining them, so you won¡¯t be the only new face. Fila¡¯s skilled with a blowgun herself, so she¡¯ll probably be your trainer even if you don¡¯t join the group she¡¯s shepherding. What do you say?¡± Rensyn watched Dykken, but Sophia could tell a lot of his attention was on Sylva.


    Sophia was certain that the ¡°Wind specialist¡± that Rensyn mentioned had to be Revina. Sophia was happy to hear that the young woman they¡¯d shepherded through her own Vocation-granting feat was being taken care of. If nothing else, it meant Sophia didn¡¯t have to worry about her.


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t commit to anything before I knew what my Vocation was,¡± Sylva interjected before Dykken could answer. ¡°You might not get to use your blowgun after all.¡±


    Dykken frowned for a moment, then nodded decisively. He spoke to Sylva instead of Rensyn. ¡°Even if I get something else, I might still fit in the group. I want to have a plan laid out; if it doesn¡¯t work, that¡¯s life. Things change. I was supposed to get a Profession two years from now, but that¡¯s not going to happen. Maybe I¡¯ll hate them or maybe I¡¯ll find friends for life; I have to try.¡±


    Sophia was certain she didn¡¯t imagine Rensyn¡¯s reaction to Dykken¡¯s words; it was fast, but she saw his lips twitch in a grin before he resumed his formal expression. ¡°Good. I¡¯ll talk with Fila once we¡¯re done here. Miss Sylva, I expect that you¡¯ll wait to formally enroll until after you have your Sphere?¡±


    Sylva¡¯s lips were pressed together in a thin line. Sophia doubted that she¡¯d also seen the crack in Rensyn¡¯s facade; instead, she was probably mad about Dykken arguing with her. Sylva seemed like the type to get mad about that, but she didn¡¯t seem like the type that would do anything about it as long as an authority figure watched.


    Sylva gave a slightly delayed short nod in answer to Rensyn¡¯s question.


    ¡°Good,¡± Rensyn continued. ¡°Sophia and Dav, there is no group forming that needs a pair like you two. There are several you could work with, including the Fila¡¯s group, but their front line and mage spots are already full, so you¡¯d end up working in secondary roles that I¡¯m not sure you¡¯d enjoy. I¡¯d like to form a group around you instead. It may take some time, but I¡¯d like to see how you fit with some of the other relative newcomers who¡¯ve trained for most of their lives. If you¡¯re amenable, I¡¯ll register as your mentor and see who is working with a temporary group to try and pull a group together.¡±


    Sophia glanced at Dav. Her initial reaction was that she liked Rensyn enough to give it a try. ¡°If we don¡¯t like the group, we don¡¯t have to stay with them.¡±


    Dav already had a smile on his face. ¡°The search is always the hard part. I¡¯m happy to let someone else start the process.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll be able to refuse to work with anyone you want,¡± Rensyn confirmed. ¡°You agree, then?¡±


    Sophia and Dav both nodded.


    Rensyn¡¯s smile looked practiced, but Sophia could tell that he was actually happy this time. ¡°Good. In that case, it¡¯s time for the last topic: Spheres. Miss Sylva, from what you¡¯ve said, I believe you already know this, so you may leave if you want. We¡¯ll still confirm to your mother that you attended the session.¡±


    Sylva stood up and walked out without another word. Sophia was glad she didn¡¯t have to work with the girl; she could already tell that they wouldn¡¯t get along well. Sylva rubbed Sophia the wrong way.


    Rensyn waited until the door closed behind Sylva before he spoke. ¡°Right, let¡¯s get started then. Professions aren¡¯t important to this discussion, except for a general reminder that you can¡¯t take one until you¡¯re twenty-five and that once you take one, you can never gain a level or buy an ability or ability slot in a Vocation. They¡¯re structured similarly to Vocations, but when you take your first Profession, you are no longer considered Called.¡±


    Sophia took advantage of Rensyn¡¯s pause to ask a question that she hoped sounded natural. ¡°What about Hallows?¡±


    Rensyn tilted his head to the side, almost like he was tipping a hat he wasn¡¯t wearing. ¡°Hallows are different, but they probably are worth mentioning; there are quite a few Hallowed in the Registry, which is why you¡¯ll find us talking about Spheres and Called instead of Vocations most of the time. I know you two are from a long way away; how much do you know about the Broken Lord?¡±


    Sophia glanced at Dav, then back at Rensyn. ¡°Nothing?¡±


    Rensyn¡¯s eyes widened at the admission. ¡°We definitely need to fix that. I can tell you some of the stories later, but the important piece for now is that even though He was accompanied by others through the Maze, all of the Shards we can reach are ones held by the Broken Lord. All of the Gates to other Shards were Broken by him long ago. He sets the rules for the Broken Lands, and one of those rules is that He is the only Patron with power here. Many people follow him; if you see anyone with an emblem that contains a broken sword, they¡¯re proclaiming that they follow the Broken Lord. Your sigils proclaim that you don¡¯t.¡±


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    That definitely explained why the Wanderer told them not to mention that they had Hallows. He wasn¡¯t supposed to grant them here.


    ¡°Is that a problem?¡± Sophia definitely didn¡¯t follow the Broken Lord. Despite the fact that the Wanderer being her Patron was listed somewhere deep in her Status, she didn¡¯t follow the Wanderer either. That didn¡¯t mean she wanted to offend a godlike being; far too many gods were petty, and their followers usually weren¡¯t better.


    Rensyn shook his head. ¡°No, it¡¯s a common symbol for swordsmen. Both of you use blades, so it will be seen as that, rather than disdain for the Broken Lord.¡±


    Sophia relaxed at that response. That meant it was something she¡¯d have to watch out for, but she probably didn¡¯t have anything to fear as long as she was careful. It also meant that she was going to have to be careful whenever she saw a broken blade. It reinforced the Wanderer¡¯s instructions to not mention the Hallow, but it also meant that people would assume she didn¡¯t have one because she didn¡¯t follow the Broken Lord.


    ¡°How are they different from Professions and Vocations?¡± Dav sounded far less concerned about the possible social implications than Sophia was; he clearly just wanted to know what it meant. He was right to ask; this was definitely the best chance they¡¯d had to get answers.


    Rensyn tipped his head again. ¡°Hallows are close to Vocations; like a Vocation, you must complete a Vocation-granting Feat to gain your first Hallow. They are granted by the Broken Lord instead of the Guide. It is rare, but the normal sixteen-year-old requirement to gain a Vocation does not apply; we have records of Hallows being granted to children as young as twelve. Other than that, the main differences are that the Broken Lord presents only one choice instead of the five Vocation or Profession options the Guide gives, and the Broken Lord can allow a Hallowed to continue to improve their Hallowed Sphere even if they have taken a Profession. He usually doesn¡¯t, but there are verified cases where it¡¯s happened.¡±


    Sophia could already tell that she wasn¡¯t going to be able to base her experience with her Hallow on the ones Rensyn knew. Anything that was the same between a Hallow and a Vocation would probably carry over to hers, but anything that was different was clearly something the Patron could choose, and it was blatantly obvious that the Wanderer and the Broken Lord didn¡¯t make the same choices. She¡¯d had hundreds of choices to look through for her Hallow and for every Ability she¡¯d chosen.


    Actually, that might make a good question. ¡°Does the Broken Lord limit Ability choices, too?¡±


    Rensyn nodded. ¡°Yes; Hallowed usually have only two or three options available at a time, and some things that would be choices in a Vocation are the only option a Hallowed will have. They¡¯re always good options, and Hallowed tend to be relatively powerful in their specific area of expertise for the number of Wisps they¡¯ve Dedicated, but they also tend to be more focused and to require that their groups cover whatever weaknesses they haven¡¯t covered.¡±


    Sophia chuckled at that. It was the exact opposite of what she¡¯d seen. She wasn¡¯t certain if it showed two different types of laziness or simply a difference in philosophy. Sophia hoped it was a difference in philosophy. She could get behind someone who said ¡°I trust you to make your own choices¡± more than someone who believed that people had to be forced into a ¡°known good¡± option.


    She wondered if the Wanderer would be willing to limit the number of options presented if she asked.


    She had no intention of asking.


    ¡°If there are no more questions about-¡±


    Rensyn stopped short as the glass globe on the end of a chain that dangled from his belt lit up with an orange light. He lifted it to look into it, then dropped it back to the end of its chain. ¡°Shit. I wanted to talk about upgrading Spheres, but I need to run. We can talk later. Dykken, make sure you mention the topic to Fila.¡±


    Rensyn spun on his heel and headed towards the main Registry buildings. He wasn¡¯t running, quite, but he was walking fast enough that only running would be quicker.


    Sophia traded a glance with Dav. He didn¡¯t say anything, and Sophia didn¡¯t either; there was no need. She wanted to know what was going on and she was certain Dav did as well. They hurried after Rensyn. Sophia didn¡¯t see which way Dykken went, but she did notice that she didn¡¯t hear any running footfalls other than Dav¡¯s and her own.


    They reached the door to the building in time to see Rensyn disappear around a corner. He¡¯d abandoned his attempt to look like this wasn¡¯t an emergency and was now running slightly faster than Sophia could manage. The reason became obvious a moment after the door closed: the loud CRACK of breaking wood came from ahead.


    Sophia thought it was the direction of the tavern. It was too early in the day for a bar fight; no one should be drunk this early. It sure sounded like a bar fight, though; even the shouting was right.


    She didn¡¯t let her confusion at the discrepancy slow her feet.


    Sophia skidded to a halt just inside the door to the tavern. Part of the room was the calm restaurant they¡¯d seen at breakfast, but nearly a third of the floor space was covered by wild fighting. Most of the combatants seemed to be having a good time, at least by the standards Sophia knew from bar fights, but there was one person that looked more like she was getting a beating than having a good fight. She was huddled in a ball next to a table she¡¯d clearly ducked under to try to protect herself. This wasn¡¯t a normal bar fight; it almost looked like it was deliberately started to hide a beating as ¡°got unlucky in a fight.¡±


    Sophia¡¯s eyes narrowed and she started to pull together a spellform as she watched Rensyn pull one of the fighters back and tell him to sit. He wasn¡¯t the only one trying to pull people out of the fight, but it was going to take some time to break it up and she could already see that the Registry staff were being hit by people who didn¡¯t realize they needed to stop.


    Dav moved past Sophia and pulled one of the people on the edge back from the fight, the same way Rensyn had. It would work eventually, but it wasn¡¯t fast.

 Chapter 62 - Meet the Quinns

    Sophia wasted a moment wishing she had her father¡¯s aura. He could make a fight stop by putting the fear of Death into people who were fighting. She couldn¡¯t. Her aura was far better at comforting than it was at shocking, which was simply annoying. She had to use spells to do what he could do just by being there.


    Her spell was taking too long to build. Sophia growled under her breath and decided that she could afford it: they weren¡¯t going to be fighting today, after all. She let the spellform fail and threw a bunch of mana into the center of the room, roughly shaped by her Intent. It wasn¡¯t reliably repeatable, cost her more than half her mana pool, and was nearly useless as an attack, but it would get everyone¡¯s attention. They¡¯d probably be half deaf and dazzled for a moment, but even that would help.


    A deafening noise filled the air, accompanied by streamers of color that swirled around the room. Sophia couldn¡¯t hear herself swear at the not-quite-right spell effect; she¡¯d wanted a bright flash, not the aurora!


    It seemed to work, at least. Almost everyone other than the people administering beatings stopped for long enough to look around, and that made the three people beating the woman obvious, especially when one of them yanked on her cloak hard enough to pull her momentarily out of a ball and she yelped just as Sophia started being able to hear again.


    This time, it wasn¡¯t just the staff that tried to stop the fight. About half of the participants were shocked out of their single-minded focus on the people in front of them for long enough that the pained grunt of the woman being beaten could be heard as she was kicked by one of the men surrounding her.


    A young man who looked similar to her lunged at her assailant. He didn¡¯t manage to stop the next kick. He was knocked aside into a woman with wolf ears, who caught him, then stepped forward and grabbed the attacker¡¯s arm and twisted it behind his back.


    After that, everything seemed to happen at once. Sophia¡¯s view was hidden almost immediately, but the room no longer had the energy of a fight.


    That was a good thing, because after that spell, Sophia didn¡¯t either. She wasn¡¯t out of mana and she hadn¡¯t hurt herself, but spending that much of her mana pool all at once always made her feel a little off until she had a few minutes to recover. Sophia found a chair and watched as Dav set up a healing beacon under the table she was seated at then waded into the crowd to see if there was anything else he could do.


    It was almost a minute before her hearing returned, and that was with the help of Dav¡¯s healing beacon. Maybe she wasn¡¯t just feeling woozy from the magic; maybe she had actually hurt herself with that spell.


    Sophia checked her ears. There was no visible sign of blood, so it probably wasn¡¯t too bad. At least, she hoped it wasn¡¯t; hearing damage from loud noise was not something she¡¯d ever looked into. She knew how to judge all sorts of other injuries, but that wasn¡¯t one of them.


    The fact that she could hear again meant that it was fine for now. She¡¯d have to get checked when she got to a good healer, but she was certain Uncle Blaze would insist on checking her health, even if she forgot. He did that after month-long trips to other planets; he¡¯d certainly insist on it after a years-long trip to another universe.


    Sophia smiled at the thought. She missed home, but so far it wasn¡¯t that bad. The memories of her family kept her company, and she knew they¡¯d want her to have a good time on her adventure. It wasn¡¯t quite the adventure she¡¯d dreamed of, but a glance at Dav reminded her of several ways it was better than she¡¯d imagined.


    Sophia wiped the sappy smile off her face when she saw Rensyn approach with his hand encouragingly on the back of the young woman she¡¯d last seen curled up in a ball on the floor. She moved like she hurt, but Sophia knew that as long as it was just bruises and strains, she¡¯d be fine after spending some time in the area of Dav¡¯s healing beacon. Even hairline fractures would likely heal successfully, and she didn¡¯t look like any of the hits she¡¯d taken were worse than that.


    The woman was mostly dark-haired, but it went from dark to white partway down. The length didn¡¯t seem to be consistent; there was even one white streak on the top of her head. She had dark eyes and pointed ears and she was dressed in black clothing with white embroidery and a white shirt underneath. Her skin color was just deep enough that she didn¡¯t look washed out by her colorless apparel. The only hint of color she wore was the bright blue stone on a necklace; that had to be her Registry insignia, even though it was noticeably simpler than Sophia¡¯s.


    ¡°Sit down, Raevyn.¡± Rensyn pulled a chair out for Raevyn. ¡°We need to talk, but I¡¯m going to want your brother for that. And did you see where Amy went?"


    ¡°Moti¡¯s headed this way,¡± Raevyn answered as she sat. Her eyes were already examining Sophia and Dav curiously as she spoke to Rensyn. ¡°I think Amy headed to the bar.¡±


    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ¡°Of course she did,¡± Rensyn sighed. ¡°I¡¯ll send her your way. Until then, this is Sophia and Dav; I¡¯m going to be acting as their mentor and building a group around them. Why don¡¯t you talk a bit and see if you suit each other?¡± Rensyn turned and walked away without waiting for Raevyn¡¯s answer.


    Sophia wasn¡¯t sure where to start, or at least not how the conversation about party membership usually happened here. What she did know was how it happened back home; there, it was a combination of friendship, compatibility, and utility. She and Dav were friends, at least for that definition; they¡¯d choose to fight together even if their styles didn¡¯t mesh and adjust their styles until they did work well together. Since she didn¡¯t have any other friends here, she needed to look for compatibility. ¡°Raevyn? Is that your name?¡±


    The black-and-white haired girl nodded. ¡°Raven Quinn.¡±


    Sophia nodded politely and gestured to herself. ¡°I¡¯m Sophia Rothmer.¡±


    ¡°Dav Carolan,¡± Dav said quietly. Sophia glanced his way and saw that he was watching Raevyn with a worried expression. ¡°How do you feel? It looked like you were beaten pretty badly.¡±


    Raevyn shook her head. ¡°I¡¯ve had worse, I¡¯m already feeling better.¡±


    Sophia knew that wasn¡¯t necessarily a sign of how bad the damage was; instead, it was probably because of Dav¡¯s healing beacon. Raevyn didn¡¯t seem to have noticed it, since it was under the table and probably mostly hidden by Dav¡¯s legs.


    Raevyn let out a long sigh and looked down. ¡°Rensyn wants us to see if you¡¯ll let us join your group. I guess I should get it over with; you¡¯d find it out when you ask around about us anyway. My twin Moti and I are Bean Sidhe.¡±


    Sophia blinked at that. Was his name moth the way his sister¡¯s was raven? Surely not.


    The term Raevyn used for the two of them was distinctive. For a moment, she thought the girl said banshee, but she shook that thought off; she¡¯d clearly meant it as two words. Sophia was pretty sure that she meant the mythical faeries that were the origin of the term banshee and not the monsters that also used the name, but in truth, the woman in front of her didn¡¯t look like either a wraith or a fairy. An elf, perhaps, but Sophia knew that modern myths, ancient myths, and reality were all related but might be rather different from each other. ¡°Bean Sidhe? What does that mean?¡±


    ¡°Do you want the truth or what everyone says?¡± The words were said dismissively, but Sophia could hear the worry behind the flippancy in the voice of the man who spoke them.


    ¡°How about both?¡± Sophia answered without skipping a beat as she turned to look at the man she assumed had to be Moti Quinn.


    Like his twin sister, he had hair that started out black and became white as it flowed down his head, dark eyes, and pointed ears. Unlike his sister¡¯s hair, the white in his hair all appeared at more or less the same length, somewhere between his ears and his chin. He had a pair of scars under each eye; they looked almost even enough to be some sort of ritual scarification, but they weren¡¯t quite in the same place and the pair under his right eye were far more distinct than the pair under his left eye.


    Like his sister, he wore black and white clothing, although his vest was clearly dark leather rather than his sister¡¯s dark cloth. It was in rough shape, like he regularly fought in it and didn¡¯t have a great way to repair it. That made a lot of sense when Sophia thought about it; armor repair enchantments were probably a lot less important when you had the ¡°shield¡± that the Guide provided. It let some things through but not the full force of the blow.


    Sophia wondered how much of the damage to his armor and clothing was from the fight. She hadn¡¯t seen him get hurt, but she didn¡¯t know what happened before she entered the tavern.


    His Registry medallion was fancier than his sister¡¯s. Instead of the simple half-sphere, Moti¡¯s stone was faceted and the setting included a radiant pattern that almost looked like feathers. Or ...  maybe they were moth antennae? Sophia didn¡¯t think she¡¯d have considered that as an option without his name.


    Moti chuckled and pulled a chair from another table to sit with the trio. ¡°At least you¡¯re not running. Most people think Bean Sidhe are bad luck. Associated with death, tell you when you or someone you love is about to die.¡±


    ¡°Or if they know a little more, they know we can see ghosts and think that means we can get them to talk and tell them where treasure is.¡± Raevyn sounded bitter. ¡°We can¡¯t. Even if we could talk to them - which we can¡¯t, neither of us has a Sphere that lets us talk to ghosts on our own - most people don¡¯t leave treasure lying somewhere that¡¯s easy to get!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what that fight was about?¡± Dav made the connection faster than Sophia did.


    ¡°More or less.¡± Moti¡¯s tone of voice and his refusal to meet Dav¡¯s gaze told Sophia that there was more to the story and that he didn¡¯t want to talk about it.


    Raevyn set a hand on her brother¡¯s arm, but her attention was on Sophia. ¡°You should also know that what we do isn¡¯t magic. We can¡¯t cast spells; we deal with spirits.¡±


    Sophia was pretty sure that dealing with spirits was magic. It might not be spellcasting, but there were a lot of magical abilities that didn¡¯t require spellcasting; Dav¡¯s Healing Beacon Summon was a good example. On top of that, she couldn¡¯t really tell what the Guide called ¡°spells¡± apart from any other use of magic. ¡°So? Why would that matter?¡±


    Both Quinns seemed shocked by the question. After a moment of stunned silence, Raevyn seemed to realize something. ¡°They¡¯re not from Casterville.¡±


    ¡°No, we aren¡¯t,¡± Dav agreed before Sophia could speak. ¡°And we don¡¯t care if what you do is magic or not. We do care if you can work with us. So far, you¡¯ve told us what you can¡¯t do; what can you do?¡±

 Chapter 63 - A Fifth

    ¡°We deal with spirits. Ghosts are one type of spirit, but there are many others. I¡¯m Spirit Touched.¡± Moti paused as if he expected that to be enough of an explanation and looked at Dav, then Sophia, then back to Dav. ¡°You have no idea what that is, do you?¡±


    Sophia shook her head. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Dav do the same.


    ¡°Moti can borrow small amounts of the power of the spirits around us.¡± Raevyn dropped her voice and spoke in a whisper. ¡°Exactly what he can do depends on what spirits are nearby and how powerful they are. If there aren¡¯t any cooperative spirits, he¡¯s limited to the abilities of the spirit who connected with him, the only spirit he can always work with. That¡¯s why he couldn¡¯t do much in the fight; there were no other spirits nearby and clouding minds or causing rage wouldn¡¯t help, while inducing sleep wasn¡¯t going to work at all. He tried to empower me, but neither of us is strong enough for that to help.¡±


    Sophia frowned thoughtfully at that. Mental effects could be powerful if they were used well. The type of effects Moti could achieve were definitely useful and they didn¡¯t sound like they were any more intrusive than they had to be. Empowering allies would be useful when the others weren¡¯t, at least if the allies were strong enough and the boost was good enough.


    The real question was why they weren¡¯t trying to join one of the larger groups Rensyn mentioned; was that just because of prejudice against their Species? ¡°How many people can Moti affect at once?¡±


    Moti answered for himself. ¡°One at a time. I don¡¯t know if that will ever change. Some of them can last for a little while.¡±


    Well, that answered that question. If he could only boost or restrict one person at a time, that was a huge limit. Being able to effectively overlap them on a few people meant that he might well succeed on smaller groups.


    ¡°I¡¯m a Spirit Seer,¡± Raevyn announced quietly while Sophia was still thinking about Moti¡¯s fit. ¡°I can see spirits of all sorts, not just ghosts, but I can also see with the eyes of the spirits. I can often find hidden things because they mean something more than what¡¯s around them or see people who are trying to hide. None of that really helps in a fight; all I can do in a fight is find other spirits for Moti to request help from or help my allies see better.¡±


    Sophia strongly doubted Raevyn¡¯s Sphere was as weak as Raevyn seemed to think it was. The far more likely problem was that she hadn¡¯t yet figured out how to take advantage of it. Sophia had that problem; she¡¯d spent her entire time here feeling like she was fighting with one hand tied behind her because she didn¡¯t have any quickly castable spells. She¡¯d only recently resolved that and hadn¡¯t had a chance to try it out yet.


    On top of that, there was really no reason Raevyn had to be good in a fight. ¡°If you can see the things we can¡¯t, that¡¯s worthwhile. Finding hidden treasures is nice, finding traps is better, and seeing things that are trying to ambush us before we get there is even more important.¡±


    Sophia was not really sure how well the Quinns would fit with her and Dav. The one thing she could say was that they were definitely different; while Dav had his summons, he mostly used his sword and Sophia was fairly certain she was going to mostly use her force magic. Neither of them had the sort of disabling abilities Moti had or the sensory ones of Raevyn. She¡¯d guess that Raevyn would probably fit better, but neither was someone she¡¯d reject out of hand.


    At the same time, Sophia wasn¡¯t certain that two people that couldn¡¯t really fight was a good choice when there were really only two people who could. ¡°You two don¡¯t want to be separated, right?¡±


    Moti shook his head. ¡°We will go together or not at all. Anyone who wants my help needs to take Raevyn as well.¡±


    Did people around here really value knowing what they were looking at so poorly that they rejected Raevyn? Maybe there simply weren¡¯t many hidden things in the area around Casterville? If everyone thought there weren¡¯t any secrets to be found or traps to avoid, having someone who could find secrets and traps would be a lot less valuable.


    Sophia shook her head to clear her mind. It didn¡¯t matter what others thought about their abilities; what mattered was if they¡¯d suit well enough to fight together. This world didn¡¯t seem to limit the number of people that could enter a Nest, so keeping a group small probably wasn¡¯t as important as back home. ¡°I think we can-¡±


    The door to the kitchen slammed against the wall next to it as a young woman walked into the tavern. Sophia looked up in surprise and recognition. This was the woman who caught Moti then captured the man who threw him, the man who kicked Raevyn.


    She was tall, tall enough that Moti¡¯s head only came to her shoulder when he slammed into her. Sophia was fairly certain she was at least a few inches taller than Dav, as well. She was tanned, with long brown hair that didn¡¯t quite match the gray of the wolflike ears that sat on the top of her head, twitching and moving as she listened to the world around her. Strangely enough, the wolf ears did match the fur at the top of the hooded cloak she wore. The lower portion of the cloak was dyed in a mottled green-and-brown pattern that was probably intended as forest camouflage.


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    ¡°Amy,¡± Rensyn said in a warning tone as he caught the door before it could slam closed. ¡°Be a little more careful.¡±


    ¡°Oops.¡± Amy grinned happily.


    Sophia had the distinct feeling that slamming the door before she walked through it wasn¡¯t an accident. Amy wanted to make an entrance.


    ¡°I know you two,¡± Amy said, her grin still plastered on her face. She waved at the Quinns. ¡°And I¡¯ve worked with you before; we can make it work.¡±


    Raevyn straightened in her seat. She wasn¡¯t grinning, but if Sophia had to guess what she was feeling, the word she¡¯d use was hopeful. She clearly knew Amy and seemed to want to work with her. That was a good sign.


    ¡°Who are you two?¡± Amy gestured at the other end of the table, more towards Dav than Sophia. Her meaning was still obvious.


    ¡°I¡¯m Sophia Rothmer,¡± Sophia introduced herself. Amy¡¯s dramatic entrance might have put her off her game for a moment, but she wasn¡¯t about to stay there. She gestured towards Dav to include him. She needed to pull Amy off her high horse and get them back onto even footing. ¡°Dav Carolan and I are a long way from home, and it looks like we¡¯ll be here for a while so we¡¯re looking for people to work with. I take it you¡¯re one of the people Rensyn thinks might be able to work with us?¡±


    Rensyn stopped near the entrance. He tried to look stoic, but Sophia could see how a smile pulled at the corners of his mouth. He was amused.


    Amy huffed. She glanced at Rensyn, then back at the four seated at the table. ¡°Yah, but that¡¯s not the real question here. The question is if I¡¯m willing to work with you. You¡¯re not going to spend all your time stuck in this excuse for a place to live called Casterville, are you?¡±


    ¡°Why would we do that?¡± Dav actually sounded puzzled as he spoke up. ¡°There can¡¯t possibly be enough to do here, unless there¡¯s a giant dungeon or something?¡±


    They hadn¡¯t yet had the chance to explore the city, so Sophia didn¡¯t know the answer either. She still couldn¡¯t believe that staying in the city was the right answer, not with things like the flaming beavers they¡¯d encountered on the way to town outside. Those things needed to be hunted down before they destroyed another village.


    Amy nodded. ¡°Right answer. I don¡¯t mind coming here for supplies, but all these piles of stone give me the chills. So who¡¯s up for a drink, or d¡¯ye want to go kill something instead?¡±


    Sophia blinked at that. It was far too early in the day to be drinking. With the bar fight earlier, she was beginning to wonder if the locals disagreed with her on that.


    She wanted to know more about Amy before she was pulled along in the other girl¡¯s wake. That meant she¡¯d need to be blunt. That was even more true if Amy had been drinking, and drinking would certainly help explain her brashness. ¡°What can you do in a fight? I saw you disable that guy in the bar fight.¡±


    Amy waved a hand in the air. ¡°Aah, that was just a bar fight. No need to really hurt anyone there. Got a bit unfriendly at the end, you don¡¯t kick people once they¡¯re on the floor. In a real fight, well, I¡¯m a wolf. What do you think I do?¡±


    ¡°Are you a werewolf?¡± Dav leaned forward and asked the question before Sophia could. ¡°I¡¯ve always wondered what that would really be like.¡±


    Dav had some of the strangest questions and opinions. Sophia supposed that was because he¡¯d grown up in a world without magic. She knew that modern presentations of magic were often not particularly realistic; they were almost certainly worse in a world that didn¡¯t have real magic to compare them to.


    Amy jerked backwards. ¡°A werewolf? No, I¡¯m no cursed monster enthralled by the moon. I¡¯m a beastshifter; I take on the shapes of animals to fight or whatever.¡± As she spoke, she waved a hand in the air, like it would make ¡°whatever¡± mean more than it did. ¡°I only have two shapes so far, but wolf¡¯s one of them and it¡¯s good in a fight. If I can¡¯t get close, I can just shoot the monsters, but where¡¯s the fun in that?¡±


    Sophia wanted to say that fighting wasn¡¯t supposed to be fun, but she¡¯d met people like Amy before. To them, it was fun; some of them were hopeless because they became lost in it, but many simply enjoyed it the way other people enjoyed running or swimming or any other physical activity. Sophia wasn¡¯t going to be able to tell which type Amy was until she saw her in a real fight.


    Sophia knew which type she was, personally. She didn¡¯t talk about fighting being fun the way Amy did, but she enjoyed it. She liked a good fight. Almost all delvers did, whether they admitted it or not; there were many other ways to earn a living, after all. Delving was for people who enjoyed it or couldn¡¯t find anything else they were good at.


    Sophia was pretty certain which type Dav was, as well. He was a lot like her.


    ¡°So what can you two do? I already know about the Quinns.¡± Amy set her hands on her hips and stared at Dav. ¡°If you¡¯re going to ruin my surprise, you can ruin yours too.¡±


    ¡°I have a sword and some summons,¡± Dav admitted. ¡°I haven¡¯t had a chance to try them all out yet, so a fight does sound good. Perhaps it¡¯s time for some live testing?¡±


    Yeah, Dav was definitely a lot like Sophia. She grinned at him, then gave her own answer to Amy. ¡°I¡¯m a spellblade. I can enchant blades and cast spells from them. I just picked up that ability, so sure. Do you know a good place?¡±

 Chapter 64 - The Hungering Spark

    Physalix despised walking. It would be so much easier to float where the water took it.


    Stairs were worse than walking. It had to use its arm-tendrils to help as it climbed stairs. It was a long ways to the surface.


    At least it was no longer hungry. Eating the ¡°Nest¡± of a ¡°Ruins Constrictor¡± along with all of the snakes inside was more than enough to keep it happy and healthy. It was too bad there weren¡¯t more.


    Then again, it had no way to carry extra snakes. They probably wouldn¡¯t be good all that long anyway; Physalix had noticed that once the warm red blood drained away, Ruins Constrictors were dry and unappetizing. It skipped eating the ones that were too far gone. There were enough.


    There was no climb from the Ruins Constrictor¡¯s Nest to the outside world. It was a short walk through a partially collapsed building. Physalix accepted that, along with the fact that the building seemed different from the more natural-looking caverns it walked through to get to the Nest, without question. What was there to question, after all?


    The first sign of something different was light in the distance. Physalix headed that direction without thinking twice; sunlight meant it would be able to see better.


    Physalix expected warmth and comfort as it stepped the last step into the far too bright sunlight. The blinding light was surely because it had been in the darkness too long, but no, the light burned. It retreated back a few steps into the shade.


    A few pats from an arm tendril showed that no, it was not truly burnt. It had retreated in time. It did feel painfully dry, like it had started to feel before it ate the Ruins Constrictors. Did it need water? Was that why the light burned?


    Physalix did not know where to find water. It knew that water was usually down, but it had been down. There was very little water there. It was either not down far enough or there was something blocking the water.


    It didn¡¯t want to go down the stairs. It really didn¡¯t want to go down the stairs and not find water.


    Physalix turned its attention to the outside. The brightness would go away if it waited. Would the pain and burning and dryness go away as well?


    There was only one way to find out.


    Physalix closed its eyes and waited.


    That was good; it gave it time to think about the odd links that it was following. The ones that felt like they were to other parts of itself. It now knew they were not other parts of itself. They were other beings. Allies, it hoped, in the search for the bright tasty spark. Physalix was certain they would want to eat the spark as well, but Physalix knew the others would give the spark to it as long as Physalix gave them scraps.


    That was how it worked in the before time.


    What Physalix wanted to know now was something about the others. He could barely even feel the bright spark at all, so he ignored that one. The other two, however, he could feel. One of them felt sharp and spiky and made him tingle; that was the closer one.


    The other one felt split and fuzzy. It was brighter than the tingly spiky one, but it didn¡¯t seem tasty like the true bright spark. It seemed almost like not-food. It wasn¡¯t rock like the walls around Physalix; it was more food-like than that. It wasn¡¯t even like the dead wooden timbers and partitions it saw in the partially collapsed building. Instead, it was more like the small plants that Physalix saw as it climbed the stairs, the mushrooms and fungus. It was brighter than they were, more like the snakes, but not nearly as tasty as the snakes.


    The tangy one would be tastier than the fuzzy one, but Physalix thought he felt his own hunger reflected in it. It would help find and catch the bright spark, the truly tasty one. There was less hunger in the fuzzy one. That was fine, maybe even good; it would not require so many scraps of the tasty one when the time finally came to eat.


    Physalix tried to imagine what the tasty one would taste like. It would surely not be like the Ruins Constrictors; they were tough and stringy with an overpowering taste of solid dirt that made everything else hard to distinguish. It would have been better if they tasted of water, but that was only a tiny hint under all the dirt.


    The next thing Physalix knew, it felt cooler than it had. It opened its eyes and found that the brightness outside, the sunlight, was gone. It made its way into the open air, which did not burn this time.


    Which direction was the tingly one?


    Left was the answer, left and slightly down. Physalix could not go down, but it could go left. It followed the trail past many more ruins and caught several somewhat tasty things as it traveled. It did not find another Nest, which was sad, but it did find a pool of brackish water where it hid through the next sun-time.


    While it rested, it searched once more. It was close, now, very close. It was closer to both the tangy one and the fuzzy one. They were also far closer together; Physalix did not feel that the fuzzy one was farther than the tingly one now. It had come closer, like it also searched for the tangy one. Did it want to eat the tangy one?


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    Physalix did not think so. It would need to find out. Both the tingly one and the fuzzy one were needed to help catch the tasty bright spark. If they ate each other, Physalix would have to do it alone.


    Physalix was certain it could do it alone. It was always certain. It only needed the tingly one and the fuzzy one if the tasty bright spark had help. Food often had help, even when it was not in a Nest. That was clear from the food Physalix had caught on the way to the pool.


    The links to the tingly one and the fuzzy one were weakening even as Physalix grew closer to them. They were still definitely there, but at the strength they were now he would never mistake them for parts of himself. In a near-panic, Physalix examined its link to the tasty one; that was the important link! Without it, Physalix might lose track of the tasty one!


    Physalix relaxed and let itself float free in the water when it found the link still there, weak because of the distance but in no apparent danger of completely dissipating. The tasty one would not escape that easily.


    One of Physalix¡¯s tendrils brushed against something, something that moved. Physalix stung it through any further thought, then reached for it with an arm-tendril and pulled the still living but painfully stunned fish to its open maw. The fish was small but tasty. It would have been more tasty if it had the power of the Ruins Constrictors, but at least it did not have their unmoving dirt. It tasted mostly of water. Still, stagnant, waiting water was still water. Physalix savored the taste, even as weak as it was.


    This time, Physalix was more aware as the light left and emerged from the water once it started to dim, well before it was dark. It wanted to see if the small light would burn.


    It did not. That was good. It meant Physalix could travel now, and that it could wait until later to hide from the brightness.


    Physalix tromped towards the tingly one, cheerful now that it was close. It kept going as the sun finished setting. The wind rose and brought the feel of water with it. Physalix felt its steps lighten with joy; there was water! Water wasn¡¯t as good as tasty food, but it was much better than the nasty sun.


    Physalix saw the message about entering the Domain of the Hungering Spark. It didn¡¯t stop. It didn¡¯t even slow down as storm clouds gathered far too quickly to be normal. It was almost there!


    It hoped a Domain was kind of like a Nest. If it was, it might be able to eat the Domain Core the way it ate the Ruins Constrictor¡¯s Nest¡¯s Core. That sounded delicious. It would probably be tangy; a spark was tangy, wasn¡¯t it?


    It was several more steps before Physalix made the connection that it was looking for a tangy ally and was nearly on top of it. Maybe the Hungering Spark was the ally it was looking for? Physalix did not like that idea. It meant that Physalix should not eat the Hungering Spark or its Domain Core.


    Another few steps passed while Physalix thought. Should it eat the Hungering Spark anyway? It sounded yummy and there was the water carried on the wind; that would add to the meal.


    Would the water be there if it ate the Hungering Spark¡¯s Domain Core? The Nest changed after Physalix ate the Nest Core. This place would change if it ate the Hungering Spark¡¯s Domain Core. That made sense.


    Even better, if the Hungering Spark could travel with Physalix, it could block the unpleasant brightness of the sun and bring the cooling water with it!


    Physalix had just reached the conclusion that it should only eat the Hungering Spark if it refused to travel with and help Physalix, a series of entirely-too-bright but not burning flashes erupted slightly ahead of Physalix. Noise washed over the Chaos-Warped (Land Jelly). It froze in place; even the movement of its arm-tendrils stopped as it stood there in shock.


    The flashes and light continued. Physalix¡¯s vision blurred, then began to clear.


    Was that an image of something forming ahead of it? It looked vaguely humanoid, but the only part that seemed solid was the belly. The rest was dark fog and lightning in red and green, where it was present at all.


    Was that the Hungering Spark? It was definitely sparking and if Physalix was only a belly, it knew that it would be hungry.


    Physalix concentrated on its link to the tingly one. It was still there and it did indeed seem to be directly in front of Physalix. Physalix spoke to the being in front of itself with its brain instead of its mouth; its mouth could not form words but its brain could, and it could send them to others who were close enough. ¡°You are the Hungering Spark. You once were my-¡±


    Physalix did not know what word to use for the Hungering Spark. It could not remember.


    While Physalix groped for words, the green and red lightning struck again and again. When the flashes finally cleared, the true Hungering Spark stood in front of Physalix. It was solid and humanoid but it was definitely not human. Its abdomen was open, revealing a wet red fleshy object but no blood. Above and below the abdomen, its chest and limbs were made of an odd blackish fibrous material that imitated the human form without duplicating the skeleton, musculature, or skin.


    The Hungering Spark did not seem to have feet or hands; instead, it emitted green lightning in a clawlike pattern from stubs on the end of its arms. Its legs seemed to spread a little at the base, almost like hooves, but there was no break in the smooth fibers. Above its chest, the fibers rose and formed a neck, then merged into a single tiny helmet, smooth and without breaks for ears, nose, or mouth. A single bright red-and-white light seemed to serve as its only eye.


    ¡°Yes,¡± the Hungering Spark answered in Physalix¡¯s mind. ¡°I am Yen, the Hungering Spark. You are not like the others, food waiting to be eaten. I can feel you. You are like me. I can hear the call of your hunger. Are you here to eat me or to be eaten?¡±


    It could only feel Physalix? That was great news; it meant that Yen would have to depend on Physalix to find the bright spark.


    Physalix fixed its goal in its mind. ¡°Neither. I am here to propose a way that we can both eat more¡­¡±

 Chapter 65 - Practice Yard

    Sophia dodged sideways again as she worked to reorient the floating blade towards the wolf. She¡¯d already found out that she was, surprisingly, stronger than Amy but she could not afford to get pinned. That was how she lost last time, and Amy was excellent at using her low mass to knock someone over then pinning them with her jaws.


    It wasn¡¯t how wolves hunted in the wild, but other than her appearance Amy was not much like a real wolf and this was no hunt. This was a fight and it was clear that Amy had far more experience fighting in her wolf shape than Sophia expected.


    Sophia deliberately moved a little slower than her top speed as she fell into a rhythm. Dodge here, sidestep there, wait for Amy to overcommit a little. When it finally happened, Sophia dodged the other direction and pushed her speed with a quick casting of Rush that pushed her entirely out of Amy¡¯s reach. She then took the shot she¡¯d lined up several steps earlier, the one that just needed Amy to not see it coming and not move out of the way. Sophia¡¯s floating blade shone brightly in her MageSight as she threw one Force Bolt at Amy¡¯s head, then another.


    Amy tapped the ground twice with her chin before a third Force bolt hit her.


    ¡°Did you have to hit her that hard?¡± Moti frowned at Sophia as he held a strip of wet cloth out to the wolf. It dipped a single drop of an ugly but fortunately scentless brownish-yellow liquid. ¡°Shield recovery tokens are not cheap, even these apprentice-grade tokens without real healing.¡±


    Sophia shrugged at Moti. She wasn¡¯t worried about the price; some things were worth what they cost. The fact that there wasn¡¯t a truly safe training facility and there weren¡¯t very many healers was weird; she wasn¡¯t about to skimp on what precautions there were. ¡°Train like you fight or you¡¯ll fight like you train.¡±


    Sophia didn¡¯t know where the quote came from, but it was true. The fact that there was no way to practice against some kind of illusionary enemy in Casterville bothered her; if she had her choice, they¡¯d be practicing against all of the monsters that were common to the area before they went to fight them for real. Since that wasn¡¯t an option, this was the next best thing. ¡°We¡¯re going to go fight monsters; we need to know how we all fight and how we can work together. I¡¯d rather train in a group with all of you against an opponent, but this is the next best thing. We have Shield and a way to recover it; I¡¯m not going to ignore that.¡±


    What she was ignoring, or at least was trying to ignore, was Amy¡¯s shapeshifting. It looked painful, far more painful than the smooth shift Sophia was used to when she saw her family members change forms. Amy didn¡¯t make any noise as she changed, which probably said as much about how painful it was as screaming would have.


    When Amy¡¯s shift finally finished, she climbed to her feet with a wide grin. ¡°Tricky. I like it. Can you manage that with more than one knife at a time?¡±


    ¡°Um,¡± Sophia started.


    Amy grabbed the thin strip of cloth dripping a yellow-brown liquid and tied it around her wrist. Technically, she could hold it if she wanted to, but it needed to be touching her skin if she wanted the best effect. It would slowly recharge her Shield until it dried, but slowly was the correct word; it was less than a point per minute, and once it started it couldn¡¯t be stopped and restarted. There were better ways to recover Shield, but this was apparently the cheapest if you didn¡¯t have a Shield-based healer.


    Sophia had tried to cast from the image she could project from an Imbued blade, but it didn¡¯t work. She¡¯d also tried to float just the Imbuement, but that also didn¡¯t work. Neither one felt like it was possible to push into easily, either; they were both well outside whatever parameters the Guide used for the abilities. ¡°I¡¯m not sure. I¡¯d need another blade to test with.¡±


    ¡°Easy,¡± Amy said with a predatory grin. ¡°Moti, lend her yours. You¡¯re not using it anyway.¡±


    ¡°My knife?¡± Moti protested. ¡°But it¡¯s my only weapon!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s just for here, to try out her new ability,¡± Amy said impatiently. She set her hands on her hips. ¡°If she can, we¡¯ll get her more knives. As many as she can manage, plus one to fight with if she needs to. Maybe two.¡±


    Amy clearly liked knives.


    ¡°I can buy my own knives,¡± Sophia said as she shook her head. ¡°You just need to show me where. Until then ¡­ Moti, may I borrow your knife to test with? I¡¯ll return it when we leave the practice area.¡±


    Moti sighed, then pulled his knife and passed it to Sophia hilt-first. He gave Amy a glare, but his heart didn¡¯t really seem to be in it. ¡°Since you asked nicely.¡±


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    ¡°Does that make it my turn?¡± Dav stepped forward with a cocky grin. His attention was on Amy. ¡°I¡¯d lend Sophia my sword, but I think I¡¯ll need it if I want to have a good fight with you.¡±


    Amy seemed to stand a little taller. Sophia wasn¡¯t sure how that worked; she¡¯d already been standing fully upright, hadn¡¯t she? ¡°Absolutely. Don¡¯t think I¡¯m going to go easy on you just because you¡¯re managing the healing.¡±


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t dream of it.¡± Dav stepped into the cordoned off square.


    Sophia made her way out, followed by Moti. She¡¯d use the next available space; it looked like there was a range a few dozen feet away designed for everything from arrows to magic. It wasn¡¯t designed for guns, but Sophia suspected it would work anyway; it was clear that archers could be just as deadly here as they were at home.


    She didn¡¯t look back immediately. She was certain Amy was shifting again and Sophia did not need that in her nightmares. She¡¯d keep an eye on them once she started testing.


    Sophia started with her new Spells. Rush was easy; while it wasn¡¯t identical to any spell she¡¯d used back home, it was similar to several. Force Bolt and Force Blast were also simple, though they were less intuitive in their adjustments. She was going to have to practice if she wanted to do anything but a sphere with Force Blast or change the amount of mana (and therefore the amount of force) in either spell. She tested them both until she was confident in the basics and that she knew what she needed to work on, then moved to the Ability she really wanted to test: Animate Spell Blade.


    Sophia tried one thing after another and found the current limits of the Animate Blade abilities. She could only manage to float one blade at a time; trying to pick up the second one meant the first fell. That didn¡¯t feel like something she would be able to fix any time soon, since she couldn¡¯t even make one wiggle without the other becoming unstable, but the fact that she could split it at all meant that she might be able to get a second in the air eventually.


    More importantly, she could Animate any blade she was maintaining an Imbuement on. She didn¡¯t actually have one on Dav¡¯s sword at the moment, but she was certain she would be able to pick it up if she did. She didn¡¯t actually know what her maximum range was yet; she couldn¡¯t find it within the confines of the range. It was probably the same distance as however far she could both hold an Imbuement. So far, all Sophia knew was that she hadn¡¯t yet run into a distance limit.


    Using the ability on someone else¡¯s weapon was an interesting thought. If she was willing to risk Imbuing an opponent¡¯s weapon, she might be able to affect how it moved even if she couldn¡¯t rip it from their hands. It probably wouldn¡¯t come up any time soon, since she expected to fight monsters, but some monsters used weapons.


    At least, they did at home. Sophia didn¡¯t see any reason there wouldn¡¯t be some that did here.


    While Sophia tested, Dav and Amy fought. Sophia kept one eye on the fight and had to admit that they were both good. Dav had a huge advantage in strength, oddly enough, but Amy was faster and clearly just as comfortable in her wolf shape as Dav was in his human shape. If Dav managed to connect, Amy yielded. That was how she lost the first time.


    The second bout, Amy was more cautious and managed to bite Dav several times. For some reason, each bite left Dav bleeding significantly from injuries that should not have been that bad. He tapped out before he passed out, then sat down with his healing beacon and talked to Amy while his injuries healed. He probably wouldn¡¯t have been injured if he wore his armor, but he¡¯d left it in his room.


    Sophia stayed where she was and kept testing. Her latest set of tests were far too interesting to abandon: she¡¯d found out that she could simultaneously cast from her Animated Blade and herself. She couldn¡¯t cast from an Imbued Blade she hadn¡¯t Animated, so the limit of one Animated Blade at a time was a problem, but she could almost double her firepower (and mana cost) by dual-casting.


    It took a little longer than a single Ability cast, but far less than two. It had to be the same spell on the same target; anything else gave her a headache that told her it wasn¡¯t something to push at yet. It might be possible when she was more used to casting through an Animated Spell Blade, but for now it was a bad idea.


    She definitely needed another knife. If she had the choice, it would be two: one the same as her current blade and one that was longer, almost a sword, with a strong crossguard midway down the blade and a blunt blade above that would let her use it almost like a very short spear if she had to.


    No, that was wrong. If she wanted a spear, she should get a spear. She might well do that, but not yet. She¡¯d need a better way to transport additional weaponry first.


    The first blade or blades should be light and small, as small as she could get, and balanced for throwing. She should get several of those and use them as her Animated Spell Blades. The size of the blade didn¡¯t matter if she was using magic through it and a light, small blade that was balanced for throwing would let her get it more or less where it needed to be without taking the time and energy to move it after Animating it. She could pick it up from where it landed just as easily, and it might be useful to have some throwing knives.


    The second type of blade she¡¯d want at that point was an actual sword, made for someone her height to use with a shield. The additional reach could help and she did know how to use a shield. In cases where the sword was too long, she had her knife. It was too bad she wouldn¡¯t be in a shield wall, with someone to cover her side, but she could make do. A spear might work better if it was her primary means of fighting, but for now a sword was better simply because it was easier to carry.


    Sophia headed back to where Amy and Dav were holding their fourth bout. This time, Amy was in her human form, fighting with a wicked pair of short knives that ought to have left her at a worse disadvantage than she seemed to have. Sophia wasn¡¯t sure who won the third bout, but they were both clearly enjoying themselves.

 Chapter 66 - Ten Years Ago

    Rensyn pulled a chair up to the table where the five of them had settled down for dinner. There wasn¡¯t really room, but he didn¡¯t seem to care. ¡°Are you five comfortable with each other?¡±


    ¡°Comfortable enough,¡± Amy agreed quickly. ¡°No way to know if we work ¡®til we try, especially not with the twins.


    Sophia nodded. Practice was important and she thought she¡¯d learned a lot from the time in the practice yard, but she wouldn¡¯t really know how well they fought together until they did. For now, the plan was to have Raevyn on point, with Dav backing her up and Sophia acting as rear guard. Raevyn had the best senses, given her spirits¡¯ help, and could hopefully warn everyone in time.


    Amy would need to be protected for a moment if she had to shift without forewarning. If she didn¡¯t shift, she could still fight, but she¡¯d be using her bow or knives instead. Moti was effectively a mage, even though he still insisted it wasn¡¯t magic; he could do his work without getting close to enemies. Sophia was similar, now that she had her spells, but her armor was better and she was at least trained in how to fight with her knife.


    Rensyn glanced across the group. Sophia saw Dav and Moti nodding. She couldn¡¯t see Raevyn from where she sat, but Rensyn clearly could. ¡°Good. There are several options now. I can leave you to your own devices if you want; that¡¯s what we normally do for relatively new Called.¡±


    Amy snorted before Sophia could reject the option. ¡°If you were going to do that, you wouldn¡¯t be here.¡±


    Rensyn inclined his head towards Amy. ¡°If you want me to, I will, but you¡¯re right. That¡¯s not what I want to do. The second option, which a couple of you went through a few months ago, is large training groups. There¡¯s another group coming together now; I expect we¡¯ll send them on an expedition into the wilds in the next week or two.¡±


    ¡°Uh huh. You want us to accomplish something before then, don¡¯t you?¡± Amy sounded distinctly impatient with Rensyn¡¯s slow buildup.


    ¡°It would be nice,¡± Rensyn admitted, ¡°but what I really want is for the five of you to be ready to take on your own expedition at the same time, preferably into a more dangerous location. You¡¯ll probably want to advance your primary Sphere to level two before then, which means I need you to accomplish enough tasks the Guide recognizes to get you the Abilities you want to have before then. And yes, Amy, I do already have the place in mind and yes, you will be able to reject it if you don¡¯t want to go for any reason.¡±


    ¡°But you¡¯re not going to tell us where it is?¡± Dav sounded a little skeptical. ¡°This sounds a little sketchy.¡±


    Rensyn shrugged. ¡°The last time I told a group of mentees what I had planned for the future, they decided they didn¡¯t want to wait. Half of them died in a trap; they¡¯d have all survived if they¡¯d waited until they were the level I recommended. I don¡¯t know you well enough yet to know you won¡¯t do the same thing.¡±


    Rensyn didn¡¯t say anything more about what happened to the past group. The fact that he was no longer helping them probably said everything that needed saying.


    Sophia leaned forward. They were never going to get anywhere at this rate. ¡°Why don¡¯t we do this one step at a time. What do you want us to do first?¡±


    Rensyn smiled. He clearly liked the invitation. ¡°I want you to look into a problem and see if it¡¯s actually a problem or if it¡¯s just people jumping at shadows because there used to be a problem. Almost ten years ago, the West Conservatory had a corpsevine infestation. It was bad enough that it spawned a Domain and took a concerted effort from the Registry that included everyone we could task who was past their first Vocation upgrade. We destroyed it; to make sure it was dead, we killed everything in the conservatory. It¡¯s been empty since then; it¡¯s thought to be haunted by those the corpsevines killed.¡±


    Sophia nodded thoughtfully. Plant monsters could be sneaky if you didn¡¯t have someone who could tell them from ordinary plants that didn¡¯t want to eat you. At least it was a vine instead of a fungus; nothing was as bad as a fungus. Sophia could still remember the lessons her father gave her on how to deal with creeper rot. She didn¡¯t have the right spells to deal with something like that, and she wasn¡¯t certain she remembered the rituals well enough. If she ran into it, she¡¯d try, whether or not she could get all the details right. The stuff was just that nasty.


    ¡°Lately, there have been rumors of people going missing in the area. It¡¯s not quite the worst part of town, but it is outside the Casterville Nexus¡¯s reach, so there can be monsters. A lot of Casterville is and the Conservatories have to be. There are a lot of reasons people might be disappearing, but it has reignited the rumors of deadly plants walking the streets. Personally, I¡¯m hoping it¡¯s something moving into the area; a quessik or a flying sheet could do the same thing and either one would be far easier to handle, even if there¡¯s a Nest.¡± Rensyn paused and reached into a pouch that hung from his belt that was definitely not large enough to hold the tome he pulled out of it. It would fit through the entrance but there was no way the whole thing would fit. That was good enchanting work, even if Sophia thought her backpack was still more practical.


    Sophia frowned, distracted by the mention of a City Nexus. She remembered that neither Fallen Kestii nor the unnamed village they fought the flame beavers in had one. They were supposed to make a safe space for Professionals, weren¡¯t they? Why would Casterville¡¯s Conservatories have to be outside the Nexus¡¯s area? For that matter, why did Casterville have Conservatories? What did they grow there?


    Stolen story; please report.


    She wasn¡¯t sure if she should ask or not. It didn¡¯t affect the current problem, but at the same time it seemed like something she should know.


    Rensyn flipped the thick book open to a page he¡¯d bookmarked with a small piece of cloth. He flipped the book around so they could all see the image. ¡°This is the best drawing we have of someone infested with corpsevine. As you can tell, it was drawn after everything was over and it¡¯s highly embellished, but it¡¯s still good enough to know what you¡¯re looking for. Don¡¯t fight them if you can avoid it; run. The five of you can take one or two, probably, but they can call for help if any others are close enough. We need to know if they¡¯re there; that¡¯s all.¡±


    Strangely, most of the drawing seemed to be almost like a picture frame made of plants; it was elaborate and detailed, even if Sophia couldn¡¯t identify any of the actual plants involved. There were several different leaf shapes, which seemed to indicate multiple different plants, and something that looked more like a sort of yellowish string. A plant fiber, maybe?


    Inside the frame, a man wearing a head covering made of a bundle of vines a lot like the ones around the edges of the frame looked off to the side. Vines from the bundle draped down both sides of his head onto his chest, which was covered by something that looked a lot like a woolen vest. His sleeves appeared oddly leaf-like, which made Sophia wonder exactly what was supposed to be happening there.


    Sophia shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯d recognize the vine from that picture. Is that supposed to be one of the corpses?¡±


    Rensyn nodded. His face seemed to turn to stone, like he was suppressing his emotions, but Sophia could see pain hiding in the tightness around his eyes. ¡°Derek was a scout. At that point, it was just a request to the Registry; the Gardeners¡¯ Union knew their people weren¡¯t coming out but not why, so they came to the Registry. Most of the time, missions like that are easy enough; a team is sent in, they find the monster that¡¯s hiding and kill it. If they find a Nest, they either take care of it or come back for more people. This time, we sent Derek in alone to scout. When he came back, we didn¡¯t realize he wasn¡¯t Derek anymore. Not at first.¡±


    ¡°We?¡± Sophia leaned forward, caught up in the tale. ¡°You were there?¡±


    Rensyn¡¯s eyes narrowed for a moment before he forced his expression to behave, then he nodded. ¡°Yes. It was my team. Derek was a friend. He died in there and we didn¡¯t know until the corpsevine he carried out moved and attached itself to Yobhan. I sometimes wonder if there was enough of Derek left that he was the one who chose the target; I¡¯m not sure any of the rest of us would have realized what was happening in time.¡±


    Sophia shivered. Monsters that could masquerade as allies were the worst. ¡°Could it talk, pretend to be Derek?¡±


    Rensyn shook his head. ¡°It didn¡¯t say anything. I don¡¯t think it could. It¡¯s a plant, after all.¡±


    Sophia shook her head. She knew that being a plant didn¡¯t mean you couldn¡¯t talk; true dryads were basically plants, after all. ¡°It¡¯s better if they can¡¯t,¡± she muttered. ¡°Plant zombies are bad enough, talking plant zombies would be terrifying.¡±


    Dav chuckled and shook his head slightly. The grin on his face seemed to say that he wasn¡¯t taking this as seriously as Sophia was. ¡°That¡¯s not quite what I think of when I think plant zombie, but fair enough. Is someone with plants on their head what we need to look for? Can I use a sword on them or do we have to use fire or something?¡±


    ¡°They can be chopped apart; that keeps them from doing anything,¡± Rensyn answered without any hesitation. ¡°It doesn¡¯t kill them, at least not immediately, but that¡¯s enough to let you run. Unlike most monsters, they don¡¯t have shield, but the corpse they¡¯re puppeting seems to act almost like a shield; you have to get through it before you can hurt the part of the plant that matters. Cut apart whatever plant you see and dismember the bodies; that¡¯s what we had to do until we could get someone to burn them. It takes a really hot fire; an ordinary spell doesn¡¯t do it.¡±


    ¡°And that¡¯s why you want us to report back instead of taking them on ourselves.¡± Sophia bit her lip. Rensyn¡¯s personal past with corpsevines was probably the real reason he wanted them to retreat, but it was also probably the reason he wanted the task handled. It was obvious that the more information they had, the better. At the same time, Sophia wanted to survive.


    She went over the information Rensyn had given them. She had questions. Most of them could wait until later, but there was one thing she probably needed to know before they went. ¡°What¡¯s a Domain? How is it different from a Nest?¡±


    Rensyn blinked, then nodded to himself, as if it was to be expected that she didn¡¯t know the difference. ¡°A Nest is the creation of a single monster, usually either one of a mated pair or a pregnant or brooding mother, depending on the creature. It¡¯s a place centered on the creation of young. If you can kill the central figure, it will fade unless one of the young is strong enough and old enough to recreate the Nest immediately. A Domain is both more and less than that. It won¡¯t help raise young; instead, Domains seem to aid the other properties of the creature or creatures that establish them. For the corpsevines, the biggest thing we saw was that they could infest a creature in minutes without being noticed unless the creature had an Ability that counteracted it.¡±


    There was a haunted look in his eyes that had to be related to Derek and Yobhan. Sophia decided not to ask what became of the rest of Rensyn¡¯s group in the fighting; whether they survived or not, it was clear they weren¡¯t a team anymore. If they were, Rensyn would undoubtedly not be working as a mentor for the Registry.


    In fact, he¡¯d probably have taken the mission himself if he could. Sophia doubted he was happy with having to ask someone else to take care of it. She knew she wouldn¡¯t be.


    ¡°The other thing to know about Domains is that they can be hidden. Most of the time they aren¡¯t; it seems to only happen with monsters that are either actively hunting or use some kind of disguise or camouflage.¡± Rensyn made a sound that was almost like a choked laugh, like he tried to suppress it but couldn¡¯t quite manage it. It didn¡¯t sound like the laugh would have been happy. ¡°We were in a Domain the whole time, but we didn¡¯t know that until later."

 Chapter 67 - Why did they Lie?

    Sophia frowned for a moment, then realized that it didn¡¯t matter. Knowing a Domain was around would tell her that there was something potentially dangerous nearby. Yes, it would help, but not everything would advertise its presence. That wasn¡¯t new. It would potentially make some monsters a bit stronger, but that was no different than monsters with an additional Path or a slightly different one.


    In other words, knowing a Domain could be hidden didn¡¯t really change anything. Sophia nodded slowly. ¡°So you want us to see if we can figure out what¡¯s happening there and report back, not take care of it unless we have to, and you¡¯re warning us about what it might be. Do I have that right?¡±


    Rensyn blinked. He seemed a bit startled by Sophia¡¯s summary. She wasn¡¯t sure why; it was always a good idea to make sure you agreed on what a task was before starting it. Was it the way she said it? ¡°Ah, yes. That¡¯s right. If it is corpsevines, you need to wait until well after dark the start searching, since they¡¯re less active at night. Waiting until morning is probably better. It takes a bit of sunlight for them to really wake up, so early morning¡¯s the best time to fight them.¡±


    That was useful information, at least assuming the problem was indeed corpsevines. It was afternoon now, so the only thing they¡¯d lose by waiting until very early morning was time, and it didn¡¯t sound like this was a new problem. Sophia wanted to be mad that Rensyn hadn¡¯t mentioned it earlier, but she had to admit that there really hadn¡¯t been time, especially not if they weren¡¯t going to go during the day.


    ¡°How much does it pay?¡± Dav¡¯s question interrupted Sophia¡¯s thoughts.


    Sophia blinked at her boyfriend. She really should have thought of that question, shouldn¡¯t she? They might have a decent amount of cash on hand after the salvage on the monster-maker under Fallen Kestii, but it wouldn¡¯t last forever and might go very quickly if they had to spend it on expensive purchases, like the weapons she wanted.


    Rensyn, Amy, and both Quinns seemed to pause to stare at Dav for a long moment, as if they were surprised by the question. Rensyn gathered his wits first. ¡°Right, you¡¯re new to the Registry, you wouldn¡¯t know. All Registry-handled missions have a standard payout based on the expected required difficulty of the task, basically what Level we expect the people fulfilling the task to be at, and the type of mission. Additional prizes based on results are handled after everything is taken care of. Anything you see on the corkboard in the main hall is not an official mission, so it will list its reward. Aimiva handles most missions, but since I¡¯m your mentor, I¡¯ll take care of that for you.¡±


    Rensyn glanced at Sophia, as if to be certain she was also following. She gave him a nod and he turned his attention back to Dav. ¡°This is a low-Level reconnaissance mission into the outskirts of the city, so it¡¯s very low in rewards; it¡¯ll cover food and lodging for the five of you for a day. That¡¯s what you get if you don¡¯t find anything at all. Since it¡¯s a reconnaissance mission, if you do find something, you¡¯ll be on the books for a split of the eventual reward for the extermination mission. If you go on that mission, it¡¯ll increase your cut.¡±


    Sophia frowned. The fact that Rensyn phrased the reward as ¡°room and board¡± didn¡¯t go over well with her; it sounded entirely too much like getting paid in company scrip. At the same time, for this mission with the promise of potentially greater rewards later, it didn¡¯t seem that bad. ¡°If there is a later extermination mission, how is it paid?¡±


    Rensyn shrugged. ¡°It depends on what we find. If all we get is monster parts, well, corpsevines do actually have some pieces that are valuable once they¡¯re completely cleaned and if they¡¯ve killed any Called, there could be some useful salvage as well. Don¡¯t worry about scavenging the field; we have some Professionals that can handle that part far better than you or I could and this is close enough to town that it ends up being just a small big of extra guard work while they take care of it. The Registry gets a portion of the total value, then the rest is split based on the relevant contributions. I can go over it in detail with you if you want after it¡¯s all over?¡±


    Sophia thought she¡¯d probably take Rensyn up on the offer if Dav didn¡¯t. She wanted to understand how it all worked. The fact that Rensyn was willing to go to that much effort was reassuring. For now, she was willing to go along with it. This was the only game in town, apparently, so she might as well give it a chance.


    ¡°They¡¯re fair,¡± Amy contributed. Her attention seemed to be on Dav, but Sophia could see that Amy¡¯s eyes were actually on Sophia instead. ¡°Not at all generous, but fair. If they weren¡¯t, I wouldn¡¯t be here; I can manage on my own just fine.¡±


    Sophia nodded slowly. ¡°Thanks. That helps.¡±


    Rensyn broke the awkward pause after the discussion of money by clearing his throat. ¡°If there¡¯s nothing else, I¡¯ll see you in the morning?¡±


    Sophia shook her head. She was tired of being inadequately equipped. ¡°I need to visit the armory. I need a sword and a shield and some throwing knives; you said that¡¯s better than trying to find a shop, right?¡±


    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    It turned out she was right, unfortunately. While they did have enough money to buy what she wanted, as long as she stuck to relatively simple throwing knives with blades of flint instead of worked stone, the knives plus a far better quality small round shield and a slightly curved single-edged sword were almost all they could afford. Dav looked at shields for himself but decided in the end not to get one; he was more comfortable with his current setup. He did end up getting a smaller metal knife in case they ended up in tunnels too small for his current weapon.


    Two hours later, Sophia felt exhausted. She knew she needed to spend time with Amy, Moti, and Raevyn, but as soon as Rensyn left, Moti would not stop talking. He had opinions on Rensyn¡¯s clothing (it was apparently understated and staid, something only old people would wear), the Registry (both good and bad), the music at other taverns in Casterville, the fact that the only music in the Registry was what the Called made, and on and on and on.


    Dav managed to get him to quiet down for a short time after he asked why Moti wore such plain clothing and he had to admit that it was because he was a Bean Sidhe; apparently any clothing he wore faded quickly; even undyed material would lose their color and become black or white.


    It was an effect Sophia had never heard of before, but it was hard to argue against when Raevyn backed her brother up. Sophia wasn¡¯t certain they weren¡¯t just having a joke at her expense, but at least it was a harmless prank at the worst.


    It wasn¡¯t until Sophia decided she¡¯d had enough to eat as well as enough of the evening and wished them all a good evening that Raevyn Quinn told Sophia to call her Rae instead of Raevyn. Sophia agreed, of course; it was better to call someone by the name they preferred. The request might have meaning behind it, but if so, Sophia was too tired of dealing with people to try to figure it out.


    When she got to the room she shared with Dav, all Sophia wanted to do was sink into bed, but she couldn¡¯t. Not yet. She needed to get clean first, which meant stripping off all of the weaponry she¡¯d picked up at the Armory.


    Sophia had carefully unbuckled the thigh harness for her new knives and set it to the side on a framework that would keep the weapons safe and out of the way and was working on her belt when Dav arrived in the room.


    ¡°Are you all right, dear?¡± Dav stepped into the room and softly closed the door behind him. ¡°You didn¡¯t look great when you left the table.¡±


    Sophia tried to shrug and shake her head at the same time. It didn¡¯t work very well. ¡°I just need some time. Alone time or maybe couples time?¡± That seemed to spark some interest in Dav, so Sophia pushed a little more. ¡°Join me in the bath?¡±


    Dav was not hard to convince.


    Casterville¡¯s Vocational Registry had its own set of baths. Like the baths in Fallen Kestii, they were public, with an area where you cleaned yourself followed by a stream feeding small pools that were hot near where the stream started and cool near the far end meant for relaxing and quiet conversation. After those pools was another area where you could do a quick cold rinse or pay for a massage or oil treatment. There were probably other services as well; Sophia hadn¡¯t checked out that section yet. She was certain she would at some point.


    Based on the signs Sophia saw forbidding weapons and shouting, there were occasionally issues with the ¡°quiet¡± part in the pools, but the huge room was fairly empty. Of course, it was still at least an hour until sunset; most people were probably busy outside. Sophia had to be up before the sun in the morning, so she needed to be asleep by the time the sun set.


    Dav seemed quiet when he joined Sophia in a warm pool.


    At first, Sophia thought he was being polite; she had said she needed some alone time, and she did. After a while, though, she realized that he seemed more withdrawn than relaxed; in fact, he was tense. Her head tilted to one side in concern. ¡°Penny for your thoughts?¡±


    Dav chuckled. ¡°Amazing how phrases like that last even though pennies don¡¯t exist anymore.¡±


    Sophia blinked. Pennies didn¡¯t exist? She hadn¡¯t used one in a while, but she knew they were still made. Of course, he came from a parallel world; maybe they were gone in his world.


    Dav gave a long sigh. ¡°I¡¯m just thinking about home. The last time I was out of contact for a long time, my parents thought I died. I really hope they don¡¯t think that this time. Do you have anyone you miss?¡±


    Sophia nodded. ¡°Yeah. My whole family. They - they¡¯ll know I¡¯m fine, or at least probably fine. Hah. They¡¯ll at least know I¡¯m alive. Aunt Amaia would know if I wasn¡¯t. That¡¯s surprisingly nice to think about.¡±


    A smile settled into place at the thought of Sophia¡¯s aunt. She was powerful, but you¡¯d never know it from the way she acted. She was a terrible movie buff and loved every movie she ever saw, which was every single one that came to the theater and many that didn¡¯t. She was also trained in combat and had probably taught Sophia more about how to manage her smaller size than anyone else Sophia could think of. She let out a contented sigh.


    ¡°If there was a way to get a message to them ¡­¡± Dav¡¯s sigh was far less contented than Sophia¡¯s. He shook his head. ¡°They probably haven¡¯t started worrying yet. I told them I¡¯d be out of touch for a month. It¡¯s hard to believe, but it hasn¡¯t been a month yet.¡±


    Sophia blinked, then tried to add up the days. A day or so under Fallen Kestii, a couple weeks there, then the travel to Casterville. Dav was right; they¡¯d been here for less than a month. She wanted to offer hope, but even if she could figure out a way to get a message across the Origin, she didn¡¯t have a way to get it to his parents. She had the wrong Affinities to easily find them, so she¡¯d need very complicated spellforms or a ritual she didn¡¯t know.


    ¡°I wonder why they lied to me,¡± Dav muttered. His voice rose and he looked up at Sophia. ¡°They had to know; there¡¯s a huge difference between a game and sending someone to another universe. Why did they decide to fool someone like me instead of getting someone who was actually trained for it? What was the point in the lie?¡±


    Sophia could only shrug helplessly. ¡°We¡¯ll have to ask when we get you back to your world. There has to be a way."

 Chapter 68 - Backwards Border

    Rensyn moved his attention from the arena where the swordsman and the shifter fought to the one where a young woman tried to understand her abilities. Another pair of nearly invisible projectiles zoomed from Sophia¡¯s hand and knife towards a target that was little more than a hay bale. It was one of the fragile but cheap targets that the Registry kept on the field; anything better had to be requested and potentially paid for, but this was clearly enough for Sophia¡¯s practice.


    ¡°You¡¯re certain she¡¯s a spellcaster?¡± Rensyn turned to the man who sponsored the odd new pair of Called. ¡°Those don¡¯t look like spells to me. Martial Abilities seems more likely, and she is a spellblade. Most spellblades aren¡¯t spellcasters.¡±


    Arryn chuckled. ¡°Those are spells. They glow with mana. If you¡¯d seen the siege spell I saw, you wouldn¡¯t doubt it.¡±


    Rensyn shook his head. He didn¡¯t see what was so special about the pair. In his opinion, they were a lot like Amy, with Spheres that disposed them to violent solutions and few options. That could be useful, but it was best when paired with Spheres that could cover their shortcomings. The Quinn twins weren¡¯t perfect for that, but they were the best he could find in an evening. He¡¯d originally intended to tap Dougal for the team, but Dougal was still happier taking missions on his own or joining a team for a single mission; that made the Quinns a better choice for now. ¡°Why are you so interested in them, anyway?¡±


    Arryn didn¡¯t have an immediate answer. Instead, he stared out the window next to Rensyn for a long minute. ¡°Hope, I think. Peaches likes them. Do you know how rare that is in people he hasn¡¯t known for years?¡±


    Rensyn shook his head at the old former Registry Master. He knew Peaches, of course, but he¡¯d never thought of Peaches as a particularly good judge of character. He was pretty sure the draft sloth liked anyone who either fed or groomed him and disliked anyone who disturbed his naps.


    ¡°It¡¯s also that spell and the way she explained it. She said she modified it to move water instead of dirt.¡± Arryn paused for only a moment. ¡°You know what that means, of course.¡±


    ¡°That she¡¯s lying,¡± Rensyn said as he shook his head sadly. It was obvious; he¡¯d never heard of anyone who could modify a spell successfully. Doing it in minutes or even hours and to a siege spell? No, there was no other conclusion.


    ¡°She wasn¡¯t.¡± Arryn said the words with absolute confidence. ¡°She spoke the truth as she knew it. She has enough knowledge to modify siege spells, which explains how she¡¯s doing wordless casting. She doesn¡¯t even realize how difficult that is; she seems to think it¡¯s normal.¡±


    Rensyn turned to look at Arryn instead of the practice happening below them. There was no sign that the former Registry Master, now a Professional who seemed to have more pull with the Casterville¡¯s Registry Master than any non-Called should, was saying anything other than the truth. ¡°The last person who could do that is more of a legend than a real person, and it¡¯s said he learned it at the feet of the Lady of Magic. How could a Level One Called be as capable as the Archmage?¡±


    ¡°She isn¡¯t,¡± Arryn agreed. ¡°What she has is knowledge; I want her to gain the power to go with it. She¡¯s eventually going to want to go home.¡±


    Rensyn frowned. What did that have to do with anything? ¡°So?¡±


    Arryn tilted his head to the side and seemed to flick it out the window towards Sophia. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen anyone like either of them and from what she says and knows, she¡¯s from a very, very long way away. I think they¡¯re from beyond the Gateway.¡±


    ¡°No one can get through the Maze. Not since the Broken Lord broke it,¡± Rensyn protested. The Gateway was behind the Maze and no one had made it past the Maze in centuries. ¡°There might not even be anything beyond the Maze anymore. There¡¯s certainly no reason to go looking for a way to get past it.¡±


    The Broken Lord had his reasons when he broke the Maze. The Broken Lord¡¯s lands were being overrun with monsters and no one could be everywhere. Rensyn wasn¡¯t Hallowed, nor did he aspire to be, but he did know his history.


    ¡°If she came here from beyond the Gateway, it was without going through the Maze,¡± Arryn half-agreed. ¡°She hasn¡¯t said much about how she came here; as far as I can tell, she went through a portal that was damaged or destroyed while she was inside and it spat her out in an unexpected place. Portal links that bypass the Gateway seem unlikely, since no one¡¯s ever found any, but she got here somehow and it was based on her people¡¯s knowledge of magic, not our own. I don¡¯t care how we reach the other side.¡±


    Rensyn wasn¡¯t sure he agreed. The Gateway was little more than a myth, despite its presence in history.


    The next morning started too early. Sophia couldn¡¯t exactly judge the time, but ¡°an hour and a half before dawn¡± sounded an awful lot like ¡°might as well just call it 5 AM¡± to Sophia. Whatever time the clock might have said, it was too early.


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    It was also as late as she could possibly sleep and still be able to gear up, grab a quick bite to eat, and meet the others in the Registry lobby an hour before dawn. She probably should have grabbed more food than she had, but she just wasn¡¯t that hungry in the morning and especially not when she had to get up early. She had snacks she could carry with her instead.


    Despite how horribly early it was, Sophia and Dav were not the first of the group to arrive; instead, they were last. The other three were seated at a table, which indicated they¡¯d been waiting, but they didn¡¯t seem impatient. They mostly seemed tired.


    That must have lowered Amy¡¯s defenses a bit, because Sophia could see that Amy was watching Rae with a half-smile. It wasn¡¯t the gaze of someone worried about an attack; it was far friendlier than that. Sophia¡¯s mind flashed back to the night before; had Amy paid more attention to Rae than to anyone else?


    She wasn¡¯t sure. It was possible.


    Sophia shrugged internally. That was their business, not hers, as long as it didn¡¯t affect group cohesion. She waved slightly, then coughed to actually get the attention of the tired trio. ¡°Hey guys. Ready to head out?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Moti said with a large yawn. ¡°Who has the map?¡±


    Sophia¡¯s attention turned to Amy just in time to see her thwack Moti with a rolled-up piece of paper. That had to be the map.


    Amy grinned at Moti¡¯s offended expression. ¡°I do, of course. If you were paying attention last night, you¡¯d know that.¡±


    The map was really more of a sketch than anything else, as far as Sophia was concerned. It was a copy of a map of Casterville with a route drawn from the Registry building to the West Conservatory. Sophia had no idea how accurate the map was, but it ought to get them there as long as nothing had changed in the last decade.


    Sophia didn¡¯t have much hope that it would be that easy, but at least the Quinns knew the part of the city near the Registry building. That would make it easier.


    When they got outside, Sophia expected it to be quiet and empty outside. There was no street lighting like a modern city, so Casterville should wake at dawn, shouldn¡¯t it?


    That wasn¡¯t true at all. There were a surprising number of people out and about, though they all seemed to be going somewhere. It was actually busier than when she and Dav arrived in town with the villagers from the destroyed village. Was she seeing a sort of a morning commute, people who needed to be somewhere before the sun rose?


    They had to cross the city from the northern edge to the western edge. It was faster to use the city streets than to try and go around, which took them into the bounds of the Casterville Nexus temporarily. Sophia didn¡¯t notice anything herself, but both of the Quinn twins seemed to relax a little when they passed the clearly marked line on the street that was probably the Nexus boundary.


    They made their way across the city with no more than a couple of wrong turns that Rae Quinn quickly pointed out. The portion of the city inside the range of the Nexus didn¡¯t seem to have changed much since the map was made.


    Amy stopped suddenly. ¡°This is the edge of the Nexus,¡± she hissed. ¡°We could be getting close.¡±


    Sophia eyed the red circle inked on the paper as Amy held it up for inspection. It wasn¡¯t a perfect circle, which made her wonder if that reflected the actual shape or if the map-maker simply wasn¡¯t entirely certain where the edge was. Sophia leaned towards the second option. She let her aura seep out of her body a little ways to try and see if she could sense anything, but there didn¡¯t seem to be anything there to sense. ¡°Let¡¯s keep going. I haven¡¯t seen anything worrying yet.¡±


    It was an absolutely inane statement, since there shouldn¡¯t be any problems for several more blocks based on the reports and the fact that they were still theoretically within the Nexus, but it got everyone moving again and that was all Sophia was trying to do.


    A few steps later, Sophia paused. She thought she¡¯d noticed something with her aura. She took a step backwards, then a second, then moved forward again. Yes, she definitely had noticed something. The fact that there was an abrupt, if small, change in the mana level at or near the edge of the Nexus¡¯s protection wasn¡¯t a surprise. What was a surprise was that it was lower inside. That was backwards, at least by her Earth¡¯s standards; a nexus was the intersection of at least two ley lines, which led to a higher mana level.


    ¡°Did you see something?¡± Moti sounded worried.


    Sophia shook her head. ¡°No, I think this is the border of the Nexus, but why is there less mana inside?¡±


    ¡°The Nexus keeps mana out,¡± Amy answered with a puzzled expression. ¡°That¡¯s one of the ways it keeps monsters out and part of why Called are less powerful inside a Nexus. It also prevents Warping from ambient mana. Of course the mana levels are lower.¡±


    What. The. Hell.


    ¡°Why would you want to keep mana out?¡± Sophia shook her head. Amy had just said why they wanted to keep mana out. The fact that none of the explanations were particularly convincing to Sophia didn¡¯t mean she was going to get a better answer by asking again. It did, however, make her wonder if the other part of how the Nexus protected against Called was by draining the mana pool; that could happen naturally in low mana areas. It was one of the few reasons she had to be glad that she was only a half-dragon instead of being a full-blooded Essence Dragon.


    ¡°Never mind. It¡¯s different at home.¡± A lot of things were different at home; the different attitude towards mana (in a city named after spellcasters, no less!) was only a piece of the picture. ¡°Which way did we need to go to get to the West Conservatory?¡±

 Chapter 69 - What does Warped mean?

    Sophia got a few minutes to chew on how different things were in this place before the first question came. She should have expected it.


    ¡°How different is it where you¡¯re from?¡± Moti actually sounded interested.


    Sophia looked around, then found herself laughing for no reason at all and all the reason in the world. ¡°Very different and yet the same at the same time. People are still people, but everything here is so isolated. It¡¯s not just the travel times; we have that too, it¡¯s just between planets instead of cities and villages. No, it¡¯s the communication. I can¡¯t send a message to Fallen Kestii unless someone is headed that way. The only times I¡¯m ever that isolated is in a dungeon or on a spaceship, and even then there are ways to get messages out. It¡¯s also a lot safer, at least on Earth. We know how to manage our dungeons.¡±


    ¡°Wait, you¡¯ve been on a spaceship?¡± Dav sounded shocked.


    Sophia frowned. She knew she¡¯d told him about some of the other worlds she¡¯d visited. ¡°Did you think we just used portals? I know I¡¯ve mentioned some of the places I¡¯ve been.¡±


    ¡°I thought those were on Earth.¡± Dav sounded hesitant.


    Sophia sighed. It was probably her fault; she might not have mentioned where they were. She couldn¡¯t remember if she had or not. ¡°I guess I expect people to know where Aeon and Tzintkra are. Tzintkra¡¯s a planet; Aeon¡¯s the moon above Lyka. There are a lot of routes that lead to Tzintkra, so it¡¯s not a bad trip from Earth, but it¡¯s a lot faster to take a ship to Aeon.¡±


    ¡°Wish I could see that,¡± Dav muttered. ¡°No one goes to space anymore, at least not to do anything but fight the Dust. It¡¯s not safe to go up that high.¡±


    Sophia gave Dav a slightly horrified look. He¡¯d mentioned the Dust, but she¡¯d assumed it was a threat in the sense that monsters were a threat: always present but manageable. If the Dust was preventing something as common as space travel, it was clearly far worse than she¡¯d assumed. It was too bad they didn¡¯t have magic to help them; it might have allowed them to get ahead of the Dust.


    ¡°That¡¯s not what I meant.¡± Moti sounded a little frustrated. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you worried about too much magic? How do you keep it from Warping everything?¡±


    Sophia frowned at that. She still wasn¡¯t certain what really caused Warping. She remembered that Aymini had referred to Sophia¡¯s horns and Dav¡¯s purple facial marking as Warps, but that didn¡¯t really help; Sophia¡¯s horns were natural and Dav¡¯s changes from baseline human were because of the trip through the Origin and his exposure to the chaotic energy there, which was closer to essence than mana but was really both, since it could be anything.


    She also remembered the story of Catshold and how everyone inside the settlement started to turn into catlike beings, essentially monsters. That seemed to really be what was meant when people talked about Warping, but the story made it clear that it wasn¡¯t normal for it to happen to a lot of people at once.


    ¡°Magical accidents happen,¡± Sophia temporized, ¡°And they can have some very odd effects sometimes. I¡¯m not sure that that¡¯s what you mean by Warping; what usually happens when someone is Warped?¡±


    ¡°Warping is unexpected physical or mental changes caused by magic,¡± Rae answered for her twin. ¡°It happens when you spend too long in an area with a strong magical concentration without cleansing yourself. At least, that¡¯s what the books say. They don¡¯t say how to cleanse it, other than taking time to rest and recover and even then repeated exposure can cause Warps. I think it¡¯s really just what people call you when they don¡¯t know a lot of people like you.¡±


    Sophia frowned. That description made her feel like she should know what they were talking about, like she¡¯d learned something similar before, but she couldn¡¯t place it. She knew she¡¯d never been to a place like that herself. For Dav, the Origin was like that because he had no tolerance for the place, but Sophia didn¡¯t have any issues with it. Her heritage meant that Potential was natural to her, probably because she used both mana and essence naturally, even if she rarely cast essence-based spells.


    One thing that was similar but not the same came to mind. Being Warped sounded a lot like the effect of consuming monster cores for power. It worked, sort of, but it corrupted the individuals who tried with the frozen essence of the monster that created the monster core. They were safe to use in making items or in powering enchantments because the enchantments could be built to reject the frozen essence, but most people didn¡¯t have any way to do that themselves.


    Sophia hadn¡¯t seen any true monster cores here. They certainly didn¡¯t explain the phenomenon, even if the effects were similar. Could it be the essence that mattered? Something felt wrong about the notion, like she was missing something important, something she should know. It was always annoying when that happened.


    She was pretty sure that whatever she was trying to think of was something her greatest grandfather Senkovar taught her. For some reason, a freshly painted room near the top of one of the towers of Suratiz kept coming to mind, like that was where the lecture was. Why couldn¡¯t she remember the details?


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    Amy snorted. ¡°The magic near a Nexus City like Casterville¡¯s too weak to Warp anyone. You have to go out into the wilds to find a stale pool of magic powerful enough to be a problem, maybe even into the Deep Wilds. Or the Maze, of course, it¡¯s not safe to even approach the Maze without protection and a couple Sphere upgrades.


    At the word ¡°stale,¡± everything clicked into place for Sophia.


    ¡°Ley lines should be placed to properly drain the mana from the land and distribute it to dungeons to be filtered and refined to a usable state,¡± Sophia muttered. No wonder she was thinking of her many-times-great-grandfather Senkovar; he¡¯d taught her the basics of dealing with a World Core. She couldn¡¯t actually do any of it because she hadn¡¯t taken the right Paths yet, but he kept trying to convince her that she should.


    Sophia looked up at Moti, since he was the one who originally asked. ¡°I know you don¡¯t have proper dungeons here. Do you have a World Core to manage your ley lines, or is that what was shattered? For that matter, do you have ley lines? I haven¡¯t felt one in the entire time we¡¯ve been here.¡±


    Now that she thought about it, that was odd. Earth was unusually rich in ley lines because of its history, but they¡¯d traveled far enough that the odds of crossing a ley line should have been good. Maybe they were in a ley line desert as part of the effort to keep mana levels low, but that ought to increase the chance of stale mana rather than decrease it. It would explain the lack of a ley line in Casterville but not what powered Casterville¡¯s Nexus.


    No, that wasn¡¯t all of it. There had to be something that powered the portal they¡¯d come through on the way from Fallen Kestii to Casterville. She¡¯d seen the magic, not just felt it, but she hadn¡¯t felt a ley line. Was it possible they didn¡¯t have ley lines at all?


    ¡°What¡¯s a ley line?¡± Rae¡¯s puzzled expression matched her voice exactly.


    ¡°On the left!¡± Amy called out. Her words were punctuated by the thwip of an arrow being shot, followed by a crack as it hit the stone building next to an archway partially covered in vines. ¡°Damn it, he¡¯s gone.¡±


    ¡°What did you see?¡± Sophia frowned at the opening. She was really frowning at herself. She¡¯d managed to forget they were in enemy territory and that she needed to pay attention to her surroundings. It was a rookie mistake and one that would get her hurt or killed if she didn¡¯t start paying attention.


    ¡°A man covered in vines,¡± Amy said grimly. ¡°I didn¡¯t get a good view of him before he ducked back behind the wall.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re not even that close to the Conservatory yet,¡± Dav said with a frown. ¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting anything this far out. Surely corpsevines this far out would be more than vague reports of people disappearing.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re from the Vocational Registry, aren¡¯t you?¡± A gruff voice came from around the corner where the man Amy shot at had disappeared. ¡°If you say you won¡¯t shoot me, I¡¯ll tell you what¡¯s really happening here.¡±


    ¡°How do we know you aren¡¯t infested with corpsevine or something else equally bad?¡± Amy called back to the man.


    A short laugh told Sophia what he thought of that suggestion. ¡°They can¡¯t talk. That¡¯s the easiest way to tell them apart from real people. Now, do I need to run or are you going to let me talk?¡±


    That matched with Rensyn¡¯s information. His lost friend, Derek, didn¡¯t say anything and Rensyn didn¡¯t think it could.


    ¡°Come on out,¡± Amy said. Sophia noticed that while she didn¡¯t have the arrow actually drawn to fire and it wasn¡¯t aimed directly at the opening, she did have it out and would likely be able to shoot almost instantly if something charged at her.


    A man stepped cautiously around the corner. Sophia¡¯s first impression of him was that he was brown, his slightly tanned but with brown hair, mustache, and eyes. Despite his grey clothing, the leather bracers and boots only added to the impression of brown-ness. The harness of crossed vines across his chest and the vine belt wrapped around his waist didn¡¯t help. Both had a significant quantity of green leaves handing from them, but the vines themselves were also brown.


    He stood in the archway almost challengingly. ¡°You¡¯re from the Vocational Registry? You don¡¯t look like much.¡±


    Sophia sighed. She got that a lot and most people didn¡¯t get over it until they saw her blow something up. She wasn¡¯t about to do that here, at least not unless she saw a monster.


    ¡°Enough to handle you,¡± Amy snapped. ¡°What are you doing here and why are you covered in vines?¡±


    ¡°Corpsevines leave you alone if you wear vines,¡± the stranger answered. ¡°Everyone wears vines near the Conservatory. It¡¯s safer. As for why I¡¯m here? I live here. Why are you here?¡±


    Sophia stepped forward a half step. ¡°We were told that people are disappearing on the west side of town, near the West Conservatory. We¡¯re supposed to find out what¡¯s causing it and report back.¡±


    The man snorted. ¡°People have been disappearing out here for years. Nobody believed us. They said it was just monster attacks. Let me tell you, monster attacks don¡¯t make someone just get up and walk away. Monsters leave things behind. Blood, usually. Sure, you all came and killed a few monsters; so what?¡±


    Sophia frowned at that. It sounded all too similar to what Aymini experienced when she tried to report the issue at Catshold. At the same time, it also sounded all too much like the ravings of a conspiracy theorist. Sophia could understand why he¡¯d been dismissed if that was how he approached the Registry.


    He was probably one of the people Rensyn had half-dismissed as spreading rumors of people infected by plants walking the streets. In fact, given his appearance, he might even be the source of the rumors if someone else saw him. Whether or not he actually knew the truth, he might know something. She¡¯d have to make sure to confirm whatever he said, but a starting point would help. ¡°Then what is going on here?¡±

 Chapter 70 - Domain

    The stranger threw his arms in the air and shouted. ¡°Monsters that kill people and take them over! I told you!¡±


    Sophia exchanged a glance with Dav. She could definitely tell why this guy wasn¡¯t being taken seriously. At the same time, she couldn¡¯t quite afford to dismiss him. She just didn¡¯t quite know how to handle him.


    Dav nodded, then took a step forward and held a hand up ahead of him as if to tell the guy to calm down a little. His voice was a low, reassuring rumble. ¡°We understand. Can you show us where they are or lead us to someone who knows more? We haven¡¯t been in this part of Casterville before and a guide would help.¡±


    Sophia wasn¡¯t sure why that worked when everything she said seemed to set the man off. Maybe it was the fact that Dav looked imposing and Sophia simply wasn¡¯t. Maybe she¡¯d said something wrong. It was hard to tell sometimes.


    The reason why he calmed down didn¡¯t matter. The man seemed to think for a moment, then grunted and nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll take you to Lillah. She¡¯s the only one who still sneaks inside the Conservatory.¡±


    He turned and left without a glance behind himself to make sure they were following. Sophia was sure he knew, they made enough noise to be obvious. She suspected he didn¡¯t really care.


    Admittedly, she probably wouldn¡¯t care too much about helping people who shot at her, either.


    Sophia shot a glance at Amy. The shifter¡¯s bow was still in her hands, but she didn¡¯t look like she was ready to shoot immediately. Her attention was all on the stranger. That worried Sophia a little; wasn¡¯t Amy supposed to be keeping an eye out for anything that might jump them? Wasn¡¯t that why she¡¯d shot at the man in the first place?


    They turned left, then right, then left again. There was no sign that they were getting particularly close to Lillah, so Sophia took the chance to catch up with the archer. Amy was still paying far more attention to the man in the lead than she was to her surroundings, which was starting to really worry Sophia. She whispered, ¡°Do you see something I¡¯m not seeing?¡±


    ¡°He smells wrong,¡± Amy whispered back. ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s corpsevine, it¡¯s more like¡­¡±


    Sophia waited for a moment, but Amy didn¡¯t say any more. Sophia couldn¡¯t smell anything, but Amy clearly wasn¡¯t a human; her ears showed that. She clearly had a more sensitive nose as well. ¡°More like what?¡±


    Amy shook her head with a frown. She didn¡¯t seem to be certain. ¡°It¡¯s more like what isn¡¯t there than what is. There¡¯s no scent of plants, not even the vines he¡¯s wearing. I¡¯m not even sure I¡¯m smelling him. It could be someone else who went by here not too long ago.¡±


    Sophia frowned at that. She didn¡¯t have any sort of special senses. All she had was her manasight ¡­ no, it was called MageSight now, wasn¡¯t it? Either way, it was all she had.


    A quick look at the alley ahead of the group made Sophia pale. With her MageSight active, the stranger disappeared; there was a bright blue magical aura where he should have been but it didn¡¯t look like an aura. She blinked and he seemed to flicker back into being, only to flicker out of her view again, hidden by the magical glow.


    ¡°I¡¯m not even sure if he¡¯s really there,¡± Sophia half-muttered and half-whispered to Amy. ¡°I think he might be an illusion. I see an enchantment, but I¡¯m not sure anyone is carrying it. Something has to be, but what.¡±


    Sophia started to refocus her attention to try to find the source of the illusion, but before she could locate anything, the man turned left and led the way down a short corridor, then turned right again. She was far enough behind that all she could do was try to keep up; she couldn¡¯t keep him in her sight long enough to figure out what was going on.


    Despite the deception, this didn¡¯t feel like a trap. Sophia wasn¡¯t sure what it was, but she knew that being prepared was important. She Infused an additional blade as she hurried, then glanced at Amy¡¯s arrow. She hadn¡¯t tried Infusing an arrowhead before; was it close enough to a blade that it might work?


    The next chance Sophia had to concentrate on the illusion was as the illusory man led them down a small set of stairs. She stayed at the top of the stairs and watched. By the time he reached the last step, she was pretty sure she knew what she was watching. The man in front of them was insubstantial. Sophia couldn¡¯t tell if that made him a ghost or if he was just a projection, but there didn¡¯t seem to be anything physical there at all.


    Well, at least she now knew why he wasn¡¯t that worried about Amy¡¯s bow. The arrow would probably have gone straight through him. In fact, Sophia couldn¡¯t be sure that wasn¡¯t exactly what happened in the first place.


    He didn¡¯t look quite like a ghost, though there was definitely some Death Affinity present. Something else was going on and Sophia couldn¡¯t tell what. A ghost shouldn¡¯t be visible to the naked eye, not without more power than he seemed to have. Even then, few ghosts were good enough to look that real.


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    ¡°Why are you growing spiritweed?¡± Moti¡¯s question pulled Sophia¡¯s attention off the ghost and onto Moti Quinn and the other stranger present, a woman Sophia had ignored because she didn¡¯t radiate magic the way the ghost did.


    The woman was a little older than Sophia, with dark hair covered by a drab hood that matched the rest of her sturdy, practical outfit. It looked well-made but had clearly seen better days. A scar on her hand showed that her life hadn¡¯t been without challenges, but it was long-since healed and there was no other obvious sign of injury. Her hands were caked with soil and there was a slight smudge on her face as well.


    She carried a plant, which Sophia had to assume was the ¡°spiritweed.¡± It had a profusion of dark green leaves above a wrapped bundle of dirt and roots. It reminded Sophia somewhat of some ornamental plants with flowers she¡¯d seen in the past on Earth, but there were no flowers now.


    ¡°I use a lot of spiritweed,¡± she answered. She seemed unperturbed as she turned and set the plant into a clay pot, then used a trowel to scoop dirt from a plantless pot into the one she¡¯d just placed the spiritweed into. ¡°It has to be split regularly or it won¡¯t spread. Why are you here?¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re from the Registry,¡± the ghost informed the woman. ¡°They want to see the West Conservatory.¡±


    The woman shoved the trowel deep into the soil of the empty pot and turned around to face the group. Her expression was somewhere between hope and worry. A slight, tentative smile seemed to be winning. ¡°Are you, now. Are you here to clear it out?¡±


    Sophia shook her head. ¡°No, we¡¯re here to find out what¡¯s going on. Your ¡­ assistant¡­?¡± She paused to give the other woman a chance to fill in the blank.


    ¡°Oh, him?¡± The woman with dirt on her hands chuckled. ¡°I guess you could call him that. He¡¯s one of the reasons I grow spiritweed; I give him spiritweed leaves and he tells me about the city. Anyway, I¡¯m being rude; come on in.¡± She rubbed her hands on her pants, then headed towards the back of the room. ¡°Oh, I¡¯m Lillah. As you can probably guess from this place, I¡¯m a Gardener. If the West Conservatory wasn¡¯t infested, I¡¯d probably do my gardening there instead of here.¡±


    The room behind Lillah was covered in plants. The area near the entrance held a collection of pots filled only with soil, but everywhere else the pots were nearly hidden by the greenery they held. There were a number of places that Sophia would have sworn the plants grew out of the stone walls. The furniture in the corner Lillah was leading them to was wooden, but it wasn¡¯t wooden furniture made by cutting up a tree; instead, it looked more like bamboo that grew in the shape of a table and several chairs.


    There was a fireplace that had a contraption that clearly allowed a pot to be swung over the coals or pulled out to use. A collection of dried herbs in small bags hung next to the fireplace; that was clearly the cooking area, even though Sophia saw no obvious source of water. In fact, as she looked around, water was the one big thing she didn¡¯t see. Didn¡¯t plants require regular watering? ¡°Where do you get your water? Do you have to carry it all down here?¡±


    Lillah chuckled and pointed at the window at the other end of the room. ¡°There¡¯s an old fountain just outside that still has fresh running water; all I have to do is open the window and I can get as much as I need. That¡¯s why that window opens. Come, sit down.¡±


    Moti Quinn didn¡¯t follow them to the chairs; he stopped at the freshly potted spiritweed plant and stared at it. Everyone else slowly made their way across the room. Perhaps it was more like a well-lit cellar? Despite the window, it definitely felt more underground than anything to Sophia.


    ¡°What does he do with the spiritweed?¡± Rae waved at the stairs and their guide, who hadn¡¯t moved far from the entrance. ¡°It¡¯s dangerous if it¡¯s used wrong.¡±


    Lillah grinned at Rae. ¡°How would I know? I¡¯m just a gardener.¡±


    Sophia decided it was time to make her guess. ¡°He¡¯s using it to be visible and maybe solid, isn¡¯t he?¡±


    It was completely worth it to see Rae¡¯s mouth drop open and her head whip around to look at the guide. The muttered ¡°so that¡¯s what it was¡± only confirmed Sophia¡¯s guess. He was a spirit of some sort, but the Quinns were fooled because he was visible to normal sight. She hoped they¡¯d catch it if it ever happened again. They were supposed to be the experts, weren¡¯t they?


    Sophia was willing to guess he was a ghost. A fairly weak one, probably, since the traces of Death Affinity she¡¯d seen were weak. Maybe that was another part of the reason the Quinns hadn¡¯t recognized what they were seeing?


    Lillah shrugged again. ¡°Maybe. I don¡¯t know and I don¡¯t care. He doesn¡¯t talk about his past. You five are here to find out what¡¯s happening here. You could have asked around the market, but I doubt they¡¯d tell you much of use. They don¡¯t know plants. It¡¯s really obvious to a gardener; the Domain of the Vine is growing. Hadn¡¯t you noticed?¡±


    ¡°Domain of the Vine?¡± Sophia didn¡¯t like what that sounded like. Her eyes moved up along the wall to the vines that ran along cracks in the ceiling. ¡°Is that why there¡¯s so much greenery everywhere? Are you telling me that corpsevines could be anywhere?¡±


    Lillah shook her head. ¡°There are none in this area. The central vines do not come this far. Only the cuttings can travel easily.¡±


    Sophia felt a little queasy at the terminology. ¡°When you say cuttings, you mean people the corpsevines control.¡±


    Lillah nodded gracefully. ¡°Yes, cuttings can control both people and monsters. I believe I have even seen them control animals, though it is unusual. I suspect they are far less useful for anything but fertilizer.¡±


    ¡°We need proof,¡± Amy interrupted. ¡°Some way to show that there are actually corpsevines here, that it¡¯s not just rumors.¡±


    ¡°Rensyn said to run if we saw corpsevines, not to bring back proof,¡± Dav objected.


    ¡°We haven¡¯t seen any corpsevines yet,¡± Amy countered. ¡°Lots of vines, and Domain of the Vines certainly sounds bad, but I don¡¯t have anything from the Guide yet. Do you?¡±


    Sophia found herself shaking her head along with Dav even though she wasn¡¯t the target of the question. She hated it, but Amy had a point. They had believable rumors, but they were still only rumors.

 Chapter 71 - Convincing Lillah

    A smile tilted the corners of Lillah¡¯s mouth up. It wasn¡¯t obvious but it was definitely there. ¡°Well then, you will need me to lead you to where the corpsevines are.¡±


    Sophia glanced around the room in the hope that there would be something that would help. She saw plants and the supplies to tend them; beyond that, there was only the minimum necessary for a marginally comfortable life. Sophia was fairly confident she was more comfortable in her tent with the supplies she kept in her backpack.


    The ghost who guided them was still there. He seemed to be ignoring Moti, who was obviously trying to talk to him. A glance at Rae showed Sophia that her concentration was also on the ghost instead of the gardener. The Quinns weren¡¯t going to be able to help deal with Lillah. If they were lucky, maybe they¡¯d learn something useful from the ghost. Sophia didn¡¯t expect too much, but she knew better than to underestimate ghosts. Some of her father¡¯s stories were memorable.


    ¡°Are you willing to lead us there?¡± Dav sounded surprised. ¡°Is it safe for you to come with us? We¡¯ve never fought corpsevines.¡±


    That was Dav, blunt and honest when he bothered to say anything at all. Sophia found herself smiling fondly despite the situation.


    ¡°Maybe,¡± Lillah said. Her smile widened into a sharklike grin. ¡°What do I get out of it? Why should I tell you where they¡¯re hiding?¡±


    ¡°They threaten everyone outside Casterville,¡± Amy answered bluntly. ¡°Including you. We¡¯ll bring in people to kill them.¡±


    ¡°Almost everyone,¡± Lillah answered. Her smile was, if anything, even wider. ¡°I¡¯m a Gardener. I may not be able to kill corpsevines, but they¡¯re still plants. They¡¯re not going to hurt me as long as I¡¯m careful. They keep everyone away and give me space where plants grow easily. Why would I want them gone?¡±


    Sophia was fairly certain that was a bargaining position rather than a hard stance on the matter. Lillah opened with an offer to do something they wanted, then asked for pay. She clearly wanted the most she could get. Sophia couldn¡¯t tell if she was actually willing to mislead them if she didn¡¯t get what she wanted, but it was obvious that she wouldn¡¯t actually lead them to what they needed without getting something for it.


    Amy¡¯s fist clenched. Sophia recognized that motion; she might not know Amy, but that only meant that she didn¡¯t know how far Amy would go if Lillah kept pushing. They could probably do without Lillah¡¯s directions, but a guide who knew the area would be helpful.


    ¡°You do want them gone,¡± Sophia asserted. She wasn¡¯t entirely confident that was true, but she thought it was likely; having to be careful all the time was not fun, even if it was possible. That was a good starting point, since it put them all on the same side. They all wanted the corpsevines gone. ¡°But you want something for it. You have something in mind. What?¡±


    Lillah had to be pushing for a reason, but Sophia didn¡¯t care what it was. Sophia didn¡¯t feel like taking the time to figure out the details; it wasn¡¯t like she had much she could actually offer. Sophia was pretty close to broke until they were paid for the mission. She doubted that was what Lillah was after in any case. The easiest way to find out was to ask.


    Lillah seemed to relax a little as her attention moved from Amy to Sophia. Good; that meant Sophia had asked a question that was close enough to the right question.


    Lillah cocked her head to the side, then moved her right hand in a circling motion that seemed to include everything around her. ¡°What do you think I want? This is where I live and work. It¡¯s safe but small and not the best for plants. I want the West Conservatory. That¡¯s where I¡¯d be if the corpsevines never appeared.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean, you want the West Conservatory?¡± Amy sounded disbelieving. ¡°What do you want about it?¡±


    ¡°I want to own it,¡± Lillah clarified. That was what Sophia thought she¡¯d meant to begin with, but it was clear that Amy either didn¡¯t understand or didn¡¯t believe it. ¡°It¡¯s damaged, but it¡¯s a great place to grow plants, even as damaged as it is. I find-¡± Lillah stopped short, as if she¡¯d said more than she meant to.


    Sophia glanced around the room again. The only thing that had changed was that both of the Quinn twins were talking to the ghost. The size of the room was unchanged, as was the relative lack of light. She could see why Lillah might want a better place to garden. At the same time, she suspected that Lillah had no idea what she was asking for in terms of work.


    Not that Sophia cared if Lillah knew how hard what she was asking for would be. It didn¡¯t change Sophia¡¯s answer. It was best to establish a hard line to start the negotiation from, especially since it was something she literally couldn¡¯t do. She had an idea of what she could offer, but if she started there it was all too likely Lillah would want more. ¡°We can¡¯t give it to you. It¡¯s not that we don¡¯t want to; we can¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°No one but me has used it for years.¡± Lillah stated loudly, almost but not quite shouting. ¡°It should be mine!¡±


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    ¡°It¡¯s not ours to give,¡± Sophia said firmly. She carefully didn¡¯t raise her voice; she didn¡¯t need this to become a shouting match. At the same time, she thought it was time to offer something.


    She¡¯d originally intended to drag it out a bit more and make Lillah tell her who the last owner was, but it didn¡¯t seem like she really needed to do that. It might even be counterproductive; Lillah didn¡¯t seem to be used to bargaining. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you what we can do, though. If you lead us to what we need - proof of the corpsevines¡¯ existence - we¡¯ll bring you to someone who can make a better deal with you.¡±


    Lillah frowned at that. It clearly wasn¡¯t the answer she wanted and she didn¡¯t quite seem to know how to respond. She didn¡¯t immediately reject it, which told Sophia she was thinking. That was a good start.


    Sophia had no doubt that Rensyn would see the value in a guide who could lead them to corpsevine infestations. In fact, that would be a huge bargaining chip if it worked out, for both Lillah and Rensyn. It might also be the last thing she needed here, something that Lillah could offer that would be obviously useful. ¡°You¡¯re a gardener, can you lead us to other corpsevines? Seeds, maybe, ones that might be missed? I can guarantee that it would be worth a lot if you can help truly eradicate them. I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s worth a Conservatory, but you ought to be able to make a deal¡­¡±


    ¡°Ah,¡± Lillah didn¡¯t sound certain. ¡°I can find them once they sprout. I¡¯m not sure if I can find seeds.¡±


    That might actually be even more valuable to Lillah than being able to find the seeds: it would be a reason for people to keep Lillah around after all of the corpsevines that could be found were destroyed. Sophia decided not to say that; there was no reason to make Lillah any more difficult than she already was and it wasn¡¯t like knowing would help. ¡°That should work then; I¡¯m sure that will be valued. How about it: you lead us to what we need and we take you back to the Registry with us so you can make a deal?¡±


    It was honestly a great deal for Sophia. She guessed they¡¯d get credit for bringing Lillah in. At the same time, it was a good deal for Lillah; she might be able to get what she needed even if she couldn¡¯t get everything she wanted. Everyone was going to come out ahead. Sophia liked deals like that.


    Lillah glanced around her area, almost like she was saying goodbye. She hadn¡¯t agreed, but she was clearly thinking about it.


    Sophia could wait.


    ¡°Well?¡± Amy sounded impatient. ¡°Are you coming, or not?¡±


    Amy, apparently, couldn¡¯t wait. Sophia tried not to sigh too obviously; pushing now could help or it could backfire and Sophia wasn¡¯t sure which would happen.


    Lillah glanced at her feet, then up at Amy. Her eyes moved to Sophia and stayed there. In a clear, firm voice, she stated, ¡°Yes. Yes, I can do this. I will lead you to a cutting and you will deal with it, then take me to the Registry and someone who can make a deal about the Conservatory.¡±


    Sophia nodded. She didn¡¯t know if Rensyn could actually sell the West Conservatory. She suspected that he couldn¡¯t. At the same time, he might know who could or be able to come up with something else Lillah would accept. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


    Lillah nodded, then grabbed a coarse bag clearly made of hand-woven plant fibers and started adding leaves from a number of different plants. Sophia watched for just long enough to know that she didn¡¯t know anything about the plants Lilah was taking before she headed over to where the Quinns were talking to the ghost.


    At some point while Sophia was talking to Lillah, the ghost seemed to have disappeared. Its image wasn¡¯t there and she couldn¡¯t see anything with her MageSight, either, even though the Quinn twins were still talking to something. She couldn¡¯t hear a word they were saying; she could see Moti¡¯s mouth move, but he didn¡¯t seem to actually be using his voice.


    Sophia blinked and inserted herself into the conversation. ¡°Does this happen often?¡±


    Rae turned towards Sophia. ¡°A spirit others can see? It¡¯s very rare, I¡¯ve only seen one other spirit that could use spiritweed that way and it was a very old spirit of a river. We could never understand exactly what it did with the spiritweed, so Moti¡¯s trying to find that out.¡±


    That wasn¡¯t exactly what Sophia meant, but it was close enough. ¡°Spirits can make themselves solid at home, but it¡¯s rare. I don¡¯t think they use spiritweed, I think they use mana. That¡¯s all I know; spirits don¡¯t linger around my family.¡±


    Rae looked puzzled. She turned to the spot where the ghost had been and moved her mouth, but like with Moti, no sound came out. A moment later, she turned back. ¡°He thinks you¡¯re comfortable to be around, almost as comfortable as my brother and I are. He says the uncomfortable ones are Amy and Dav.¡±


    Sophia shrugged. She had no idea what made a ghost comfortable. ¡°Does that mean he¡¯s going to stick around and help?¡±


    Rae shook her head. ¡°He won¡¯t go anywhere near the corpsevines, so I don¡¯t think so. I¡¯m pretty sure that as soon as the corpsevines are dead, he¡¯s going to let go and go ¡­ wherever spirits go.¡±


    That was probably the same as home, which meant that unless someone or something interfered, he was headed for the River of Souls. Sophia nodded. ¡°Hopefully his next life will be better. It seems like it should be; hanging around here waiting for someone to kill his killer can¡¯t be fun.¡±


    Sophia paused and frowned. ¡°That is what he wants, right?¡±


    ¡°His wife worked in the West Conservatory,¡± Moti answered for the ghost Sophia could no longer hear. ¡°She never came out one day. He wants to make sure she isn¡¯t still in there somehow and that her body is burned. The corpsevines didn¡¯t kill him; someone who saw him wearing vines to fool the corpsevines did.¡±


    That was a sad story, certainly. Sophia could completely understand how it happened, in the middle of a fight where you didn¡¯t know who your enemies were. Amy had almost shot him earlier; Sophia was glad the ghost didn¡¯t seem to hold that against Amy.


    ¡°He¡¯d be a great scout, but he¡¯s still not willing to go near the Conservatory until the corpsevines are dead,¡± Moti added. ¡°When we get close, we should see if there¡¯s anyone who is willing and able.¡±

 Chapter 72 - Miss? Are you all right?

    Sophia borrowed the map, such as it was, from Amy and tried to track their progress on it as they followed Lillah through the outer part of the city towards the West Conservatory. It fairly quickly became obvious that either Lillah was taking them through paths that weren¡¯t on the map or that Sophia was lost.


    Sophia was pretty sure both were true. She couldn¡¯t find any paths on the map that led through either badly damaged buildings or underground tunnels and Lillah led them through both. She also couldn¡¯t find the small stream in a brick streambed they crossed three times anywhere on the map.


    At least, she hoped it was the same stream. If it wasn¡¯t, she was even more confused about where they were.


    Her best guess, more or less two hours after they left Lillah¡¯s place, was that they¡¯d looped around behind the West Conservatory and were coming at it from the northwest. If she was correct about that, she knew more or less where they were on the map. There were far more trees than the map showed and she was fairly certain that some of the green lumps she saw were actually buried rubble, but she thought she knew where they were and that meant they were close to the West Conservatory. If they went directly, it was probably ¡­ ten or fifteen minutes¡¯ walk?


    Of course, that depended on how well she¡¯d gauged their progress and whether or not that last area they¡¯d crossed was actually the Old Market Field.


    Lillah led them up a set of stone stairs that were different from most of what they¡¯d seen because they¡¯d clearly had a path cut through the vines that tried to block them repeatedly; Sophia could see the cut marks and dead vines.


    Sophia still had her head down, watching her feet, when Dav stopped right in front of her. She ran into him and had to catch ahold of him to steady herself.


    A moment later, she was glad that she was holding him and that she hadn¡¯t knocked him over. ¡°Woah,¡± escaped her mouth as she looked over the vista that appeared once they were at the top of the stairway.


    That had to be the West Conservatory. It was a clearly glass-walled building with an oddly curved roof and a pair of glassed in cupolas on top of a pair of peaks in the glass paneled roof. Most of the glass panels seemed intact, though Sophia was pretty sure some were damaged and some seemed to be entirely missing. Below the top tier, it changed from a structure that looked mostly metal with glass panels to something that was more like stone with huge windows; Sophia had to guess that was to support the weight. The lowest level was even more heavily stone and less glass; it didn¡¯t really look like part of a greenhouse at all. Even so, she was pretty sure there had to be magic somewhere in the building process, even if it was only the magic of good engineering.


    The entire structure had vines and other greenery growing on the ledges and even in some places where Sophia wouldn¡¯t have expected it to have support. Her eyes followed the greenery out beyond the walls of the building onto another set of walls; were those additional garden walls or was that another building to the left? The overgrown wall in front of her, at least, looked like it was a sort of courtyard wall for the West Conservatory, even if it was so overgrown that it didn¡¯t look like much of a courtyard anymore. There might even be more than one courtyard.


    In the distance, Sophia couldn¡¯t see the city. That meant one other thing: she was wrong about which side of the Conservatory they were on. She¡¯d thought they were on the west side, but Casterville ought to be visible to the east of the West Conservatory. Despite the trees, she thought she could see it in the distance to her left, which meant they were north of the West Conservatory instead of west of it.


    ¡°It¡¯s quite a view, isn¡¯t it?¡± Dav¡¯s question startled Sophia for a moment. His arm steadied her and she realized that it wasn¡¯t just her holding Dav; he was holding her, too. Some time while she was taking in the scenery, they¡¯d shifted from her balancing against him to actually holding each other like it was a romantic moment.


    It kind of was a romantic moment, in a way. Whatever was hidden behind the beautiful if overgrown and slightly decrepit facade below was just that: hidden. They were here together, balanced on a short platform that overlooked the garden. ¡°Yeah, it is. There¡¯s nothing really like this at home. This is ¡­ it must have been a grand building when it was used.¡±


    ¡°It was.¡± Lillah¡¯s cold voice broke the illusion of an interlude Sophia could share with Dav. ¡°But that¡¯s not why you¡¯re here. Be careful what you touch; there are cuttings all around here. If you only want one, you¡¯ll want to lure it into a tunnel. Don¡¯t go down the steps into the outer yard; there¡¯s a cutting just below the stairs and I¡¯m pretty sure you¡¯d wake it up.¡±


    Sophia looked ahead and to the left where a set of stone steps led down to a broken path inside the outer courtyard. There were plants near the steps, but Sophia definitely didn¡¯t see any sign of a person hidden in the plants. She didn¡¯t see anything with her ManaSight, either. She hadn¡¯t really expected to, but it was worth a try. ¡°How can you tell?¡±


    Lillah shrugged. ¡°They are plants. I know plants. Follow me. There are usually fewer cuttings this way.¡±


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    The Gardener turned and walked along the top of the platform to another set of steps that went the other direction. A slightly less overgrown stone path led around the corner from there; it seemed to lead to a different entrance to the inner courtyard without going through the outer yard.


    Sophia stopped at the bottom of the stairs to grab Moti Quinn. ¡°You said you would try to find a guide?¡±


    Moti shook his head and whispered, far quieter than Sophia. ¡°They¡¯re mostly farther in, but I can get a feel for what¡¯s here. There are a lot of ghosts in that building, but none of them are aware of when it is or what¡¯s going on. They¡¯re just echoes, scared of what was happening. This is a powerful place for us to fight their killers but I can¡¯t see where they might be.¡±


    Sophia nodded. She couldn¡¯t be too surprised by that; she didn¡¯t really know what the Quinns could and couldn¡¯t do yet. She wasn¡¯t sure they did, either. She wasn¡¯t all that surprised, overall; the only problem was that it left them dependent on Amy¡¯s senses and Lillah to know where things were.


    Sophia wasn¡¯t certain if Amy could scent the ¡°cuttings¡± or not. It seemed likely, but at the same time it seemed unlikely Amy would be able to find the plants they came from. Most plants didn¡¯t have that much of a scent unless they were specifically trying to attract a pollinator.


    At least, Sophia didn¡¯t think they did. She wasn¡¯t a gardener and her senses weren¡¯t above human-normal for anything but magic.


    They weren¡¯t going to find out for certain until they actually encountered a corpsevine. Sophia hoped they wouldn¡¯t; a ¡°cutting¡± that couldn¡¯t infect anyone but that would serve as evidence would be perfect. She was going to have to ask Ann and the Quinns exactly what they needed to do with it once they had it; surely they didn¡¯t need to drag the entire body back to the Registry? That would be possible but very awkward and annoying, since it wouldn¡¯t fit in her backpack¡¯s opening. She wouldn¡¯t want to put a body in there anyway; it wasn¡¯t like everything had its own space.


    Sophia frowned to herself and realized that she¡¯d fallen behind again. Dav was waiting for her but everyone else had moved ahead. They weren¡¯t doing a very good job at keeping in anything resembling a formation, now that Lillah was leading. Sophia figured the only reason they¡¯d done reasonably well before was that it wasn¡¯t that far from the edge of the protected area to where they saw the ghost.


    Sophia hurried to catch up when she saw everyone else stop ahead of her. There was an archway in the wall to the right; Lillah was just past it. The archway was covered in a vine that clung to the stone wall and archway. There was clearly a space after that where the ceiling was gone, then a far flatter opening that led into darkness. Small white flowers covered the vines over the inner opening. Sophia could only see vague shapes in the distance in the dark room. They didn¡¯t look plantlike, but that was really all she could say.


    ¡°This is the best place I can think of for you to enter,¡± Lillah said once Sophia was back with the others. ¡°This arch leads through the wall, then into a storeroom. It¡¯s dark and dry, so nothing really grows there. Even the cuttings avoid it, normally, but it feels like there¡¯s one in there. If it¡¯s not there, it¡¯s on the other side of the door at the other end of the storeroom. I¡¯ll wait out here.¡±


    Sophia glanced at the others, then made sure that the blade she wanted to animate was imbued along with her sword and Dav¡¯s sword. They all were, so she pulled her magelight off her belt and lit it, then animated the blade. It wasn¡¯t useful farther than she could see, but she did have enough mana available to have it already going when they walked into a fight. ¡°Everyone ready?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± Dav had his sword out, but that was all. They weren¡¯t close enough for him to summon a beacon, especially not if the ¡°cutting¡± was on the other side of the door.


    Rae Quinn nodded. Her eyes glowed slightly with mana. ¡°I¡¯ll lead,¡± she whispered. ¡°I can see people who are hiding, maybe I can see cuttings too.¡±


    Sophia handed her magelight to Rae with quiet instructions. ¡°This will be lit for the next few minutes even without more mana. Try not to drop it; it¡¯s sturdy, but it can break if you drop it on stone.¡±


    A magelight was a standard piece of equipment for mage-type delvers back home, since a powerful magelight was cheaper than a really good flashlight as long as you could supply the mana. It seemed odd to her, but she hadn¡¯t seen anything really equivalent in the cheap section of the general magical items store back at the Registry.


    Not that there was much of a cheap section.


    ¡°I¡¯m ready,¡± Moti whispered hoarsely, then coughed. He flushed slightly and tried to pretend that he hadn¡¯t startled himself with the cough. His voice was a little louder with far less of the clearly artificial roughness when he continued. ¡°There¡¯s a very angry spirit nearby. I will try to get its help when we see something it can help with.¡±


    Sophia hid her grin at Moti Quinn¡¯s clear effort to try to seem older. She nodded seriously, then turned her attention to the person she was the most worried about: Amy Hunter. She knew Amy could fight, but she wasn¡¯t sure if Amy wanted to shift or not.


    The wolf-girl frowned and glared at her bow. Her expression didn¡¯t relax when she returned Sophia¡¯s gaze. ¡°I¡¯ll shoot a cutting. I think I¡¯d better not bite anything that can infect people. I¡¯ll stay in the back.¡±


    Sophia waved Rae forward. Dav was next, then Sophia herself. Sophia knew the last two would be Moti and Amy, but she didn¡¯t watch them come in. Instead, her attention was focused ahead on the area illuminated by the magelight. She was only a few steps in when Rae pointed the magelight all the way down the room at the far end, where the door was.


    A woman stood in front of the door. She stared forward, directly into the light, and clearly couldn¡¯t see them because of the sudden brightness. She had vines in her hair and around her shoulders, with what looked like a belt made of roots tied around her waist. It reminded Sophia of the ghost¡¯s attempt to avoid the corpsevines by seeming to already be a ¡°cutting¡±.


    Well, there was one way to tell if she was hiding or not: could she talk? ¡°Miss? Are you all right?¡±

 Chapter 73 - One Corpsevine

    The answer to Sophia¡¯s question was fast. The woman opened her mouth as if she was about to speak, but no words came out of her mouth.


    Instead, a long, leafless brown vine unrolled from where the woman¡¯s tongue should have been. It extended all the way to her waist, where it wrapped around one of the lines extending from the knot at the woman¡¯s waist.


    That was enough for Sophia. She was ready for a fight and it was here. She launched a Force Blast from her hand and a mirror of it from the throwing knife that floated next to her. She didn¡¯t bother to aim carefully; as far as she could tell, it didn¡¯t matter all that much where the first few attacks hit. They¡¯d cause miniscule damage below where they hit as they were blocked by the enemy¡¯s shield, and the shield seemed to be damaged roughly the same amount no matter where it was hit.


    It nagged at her for a moment that she¡¯d used her hand; she was supposed to know better than that, to simply be able to manifest spells from an arbitrary point in her aura¡¯s radius. Sophia pushed the feeling away; it was easier this way for now and she would practice when they weren¡¯t in a fight.


    The concern vanished when the pair of spells connected with the woman. One tore a hole in her shoulder, while the other hit her upper leg and removed a chunk of flesh. Neither injury was likely to be fatal on an ordinary person, but both were unexpected. Sophia really had expected them to damage her shield and that was it.


    Inside the holes, Sophia could see something move, something that clearly didn¡¯t below as part of a person. Somehow, the vines were animating her from the inside, even though they weren¡¯t visible on the outside except as small ornaments. It was creepy and wrong in a way Sophia had never seen before.


    The term ¡°cutting¡± that Lillah used suddenly seemed to make a lot more sense. That wasn¡¯t a person anymore; it was simply meat more or less animated by a plant. Somehow, the stories and even movies didn¡¯t actually manage to capture the horror of seeing a person turned into a puppet.


    The woman didn¡¯t react to the injuries at all; it was like she was totally unhurt. She didn¡¯t even stagger. Instead, the vines that had been wound around her waist seemed to lunge across the room towards the group.


    Dav was only barely slower than Sophia in his reaction, but rather than place a thorn-throwing beacon, he decided to charge towards the woman. In a way, that was lucky, because the vines curved towards him instead of continuing towards the others. Two of them looped around his right arm and started to drag him in the direction he¡¯d already been headed.


    Somehow, Dav managed to keep his feet and even slow his pace, but he was now playing tug-of-war with the vines instead of slicing them. He tried, but with his sword arm bound he simply didn¡¯t seem to be able to cut the vines that restrained him.


    Sophia felt a sudden warmth and support from behind her. She could see a little better, tell where the vines were a little easier, and she was fairly certain that her spells would work just a little bit better. That had to be Moti¡¯s spells, and they were a surprise. Any one of those effects would be useful; all three in a single spell was huge, especially if it applied to everyone.


    An arrow sped past Sophia and impacted on the girl¡¯s chest, more or less where her heart should be. It didn¡¯t penetrate quite as far as either of Sophia¡¯s spells, but even from across the room, Sophia could hear the crack as a rib broke from the impact.


    Neither woman nor the vines reacted.


    ¡°Ignore the woman!¡± Rae Quinn shouted loudly as she turned and ducked behind Sophia. ¡°She¡¯s dead, everything is the corpsevine, we have to kill that to stop this! I¡¯m trying to see if there¡¯s something central we can kill, but for now just chop them up!¡±


    That was not great news at all. The best person they had for chopping was Dav, and his sword was unusable for the moment. Rae and Moti weren¡¯t good at directly damaging things and Amy had the same problem as Sophia would with her spells: she¡¯d need to be very precise. It might well be worse for Amy.


    Sophia grumbled to herself and did the only thing she could think to do. She threw another pair of Force Bolts, but this time she targeted the vines between Dav and the cutting. One of them snapped under the pair of impacts, but that didn¡¯t immediately give Dav his freedom back. It did mean that Sophia could see well enough to tell that there were two more vines they¡¯d have to remove before he¡¯d be completely free.


    Dav yanked on the vines wrapped around his arm as he pulled a knife from his side, the smaller (but still not small) one he¡¯d bought for places where his sword was too large. It was obvious that he wasn¡¯t left-handed as he nearly missed both of the remaining vines. The tip of the knife hit one of the taut vines and sheared most of the way through it, enough that another tug snapped what little was left.


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    The vine-filled cutting swayed forward, then back. Her motion was wrong, unsteady yet sturdy. At Dav¡¯s second yank, she staggered forward. The movement revealed more vines, or more likely roots, wrapped around her legs under the skirt of her dress. They writhed as they trailed along the floor, deprived of the locations they¡¯d been rooted.


    The vines that extended from the cutting¡¯s waist were joined by the false tongue in an attempt to batter Dav into submission. As she swayed, she pulled Dav back and forth and lashed out at him with all the vines that could reach him. None got through his shield, but it looked intensely unpleasant and Sophia was certain that it would make doing anything harder.


    A half-seen light that seemed more magical than real hit her from the side. Sophia had to assume the light was another ghost directed by Moti. There was no obvious effect, but if it was like Moti¡¯s first spell there wouldn¡¯t be. It would make the vines easier to deal with but clearly wasn¡¯t enough to handle them on its own.


    An arrow sheared through the last of the vines that extended from the cutting¡¯s waist towards Dav. Unlike Sophia¡¯s, Amy¡¯s aim was clearly aimed at cutting away as much of the vine as possible, because the arrow hit right next to the cutting instead of near Dav. With the way the cutting was moving Dav all over while it stayed as steady as it could, that made all too much sense.


    Dav stumbled to the left. His shoulder impacted with a cracking noise that sounded like he¡¯d probably have a bruise but hopefully not a broken collar bone.


    ¡°There¡¯s a knot of something in her head,¡± Rae called out. She wasn¡¯t as loud this time and she sounded a lot less certain. ¡°I think it might be what¡¯s letting a plant fight like that?¡±


    Sophia groaned to herself. If she¡¯d known that when they started, she might have been able to take the monster out without it throwing Dav around. They¡¯d learned a lot about corpsevines during this fight and it made Sophia wish she¡¯d thought to ask more about them from Rensyn.


    Regrets wouldn¡¯t help win the fight. Sophia concentrated and sent out a third pair of Force Bolts. This time, she aimed at the cutting¡¯s nose. She wasn¡¯t sure where in the head to aim, so the middle of the head seemed like as good a place as any. The bolt from ehr hand hit squarely on target, but the one from her Animated Blade was off by enough that it seared into the cutting¡¯s forehead instead.


    The cutting no longer had a nose and the skin on the forehead where her second hit landed was also missing, but the cutting¡¯s skull was chipped rather than penetrated. Sophia knew that would have badly harmed a human but it didn¡¯t seem to do much to the cutting. She needed to penetrate better. At least there was a weak point now; that should help a lot.


    Just as she was thinking that, one of Amy¡¯s arrows hit the skull exactly where Sophia¡¯s Force Bolt had weakened the bone. It barely slowed as it sliced into the cutting¡¯s head.


    The cutting froze for a moment, then turned away from Dav. It took a clumsy step forward, followed by another. Strangely, the tongue-vine hung limply even though the two remaining waist-vines reached forward and strained towards Amy.


    Dav dove for the sword he¡¯d dropped somewhere in the mad scramble to free his arm, then whipped around in a whirling strike that had all the power and precision of a haymaker. If he connected, he was going to badly damage the cutting, but it had all the time in the world to get out of the way of the highly telegraphed attack.


    It didn¡¯t even try.


    Despite one more step forward from the cutting, Dav¡¯s sword hit exactly where he¡¯d aimed: the cutting¡¯s neck. It sheared through the flesh and vines at the front, then caught on the spine and threw the cutting¡¯s entire body backwards before the sheer force involved managed to separate the cutting¡¯s head from her body. Almost immediately afterwards, Dav¡¯s sword hit the wall and filled the storeroom with the loud clang of metal on stone.


    ¡°Did that do it?¡± Dav sounded almost out of breath, which couldn¡¯t be true; he was in better shape than that. It had to be the adrenaline.


    Sophia watched the body for a long moment. When it didn¡¯t move, she relaxed a little. ¡°I think so.¡±


    ¡°Mostly.¡± Rae Quinn¡¯s answer was far from definite, but her tone of voice was finally confident. ¡°It¡¯s still alive, as much as something like that lives, but you cut off all of its vines, except for the tongue one, and that one doesn¡¯t seem to work. I¡¯m pretty sure you can actually kill it if you find whatever it is in the head that¡¯s actually controlling everything.


    ¡°That might be our best evidence for the Registry,¡± Amy commented. Sophia wasn¡¯t sure if that was an objection to destroying whatever it was or concurrence that they needed to find it. Both seemed possible.


    ¡°I don¡¯t care what Lillah said about the cuttings not taking people over,¡± Dav said with a slight shudder. ¡°That was a little too close for comfort. I¡¯m all for cutting this thing into pieces until you say it¡¯s really dead, whatever we need to tell the Registry. From what Rensyn said, reporting back that we fought a vine-monster in the body of a woman next to the West Conservatory is probably all we need.¡±


    ¡°We didn¡¯t do very well,¡± Sophia agreed. ¡°That could have gone a lot better. I think we were overconfident. I know I was. This wasn¡¯t as easy to fight as the beavers.¡±


    ¡°Beavers?¡± Amy sounded interested. ¡°You¡¯ll have to tell that story later. What do we do now?¡±


    ¡°Bag the head and get out of here?¡± Rae suggested. ¡°Or leave the head and take an arm or something. That might be safer.¡±


    Dav looked a little green at the suggestion, though that was more a matter of expression than actual color change.


    Sophia didn¡¯t feel much better about it; it made sense, but she didn¡¯t like it. ¡°An arm, I think. Let¡¯s make sure there are plant fibers visible; I¡¯m pretty sure I saw some inside. Does anyone have a bag?¡±


    She really, really didn¡¯t want to use her backpack for this.

 Chapter 74 - Is that Loot?

    While the others cut off an arm and stuffed it into a burlap sack that Amy happened to have, Sophia pulled together the spell for a proper magelight. Her handheld light was good, but it was somewhat focused, like a flashlight. If she was willing to spend the mana, she could make one that lit a larger area and see better.


    For some reason, everyone turned to look when she cast the spell. Dav almost immediately turned back to the grisly task of removing an arm, but the others seemed shocked.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t say you had a light spell,¡± Rae Quinn scolded Sophia. ¡°We could have used it earlier.¡±


    Sophia flushed. She didn¡¯t think that was entirely fair; they probably wouldn¡¯t have used a wide light like this. Even if plants didn¡¯t see, they¡¯d probably notice light where there wasn¡¯t supposed to be any. There was no point in making a beacon. Even so, it was true she hadn¡¯t mentioned it, which meant no one other than her got input about whether or not it would be useful.


    ¡°This one doesn¡¯t move and can¡¯t be adjusted at all,¡± Sophia countered weakly. ¡°My magelight is a lot more adjustable, turns on faster, and takes a lot less mana than this spell, even without all the extra features. I don¡¯t use it often, I didn¡¯t think of it.¡±


    Sophia was used to everyone carrying their own light. The fact that magelights seemed to actually be expensive here was odd to her; they were a common consumer good on Earth. Yes, they cost some money, but any delver could afford one, whether they chose a battery-powered one or a magelight like Sophia¡¯s. There were more expensive models out there, but Sophia was happy with the one she had.


    ¡°It¡¯s just-¡± Rae broke off her comment with a headshake followed by a sigh. ¡°Just warn us next time, okay?¡±


    Sophia nodded her agreement. She couldn¡¯t quite interpret Rae¡¯s reaction; she¡¯d originally thought Rae was upset, but the fire seemed to go out awfully quickly. She didn¡¯t think it was envy, at least. That could break parties faster than almost anything other than sleeping with the wrong person.


    ¡°There, it¡¯s wrapped up.¡± Dav¡¯s soft words interrupted whatever standoff was left between Rae and Sophia. ¡°Are we ready to go?¡±


    Sophia shook her head as she tried to get her thoughts back in order. ¡°I think we should look around here for a bit, see if there¡¯s anything here. Why was there a corpsevine on this side of the door with the door closed?¡±


    That was why she¡¯d created the light, after all.


    ¡°Good idea,¡± Dav agreed the way Sophia knew he would. He wasn¡¯t one to leave even possible loot behind, though he¡¯d gotten a little less adamant about it once he realized this was real life and not a game. ¡°This place seems awfully empty for a storeroom.¡±


    Sophia glanced around and found she agreed with Dav. There were a few crude tables and one set of shelves, but other than a handful of pots that held nothing obvious other than old dry soil and one nearly flat bag, they were empty. Off to the side of the door, a small group of rusty gardening tools leaned against the wall.


    A little ways down from there, there was a pair of ratty old blankets with several holes and a small, empty bowl. They didn¡¯t look like they were good blankets even when they were new. Sophia had a hard time believing they belonged to the woman who was taken over by the corpsevine they¡¯d just killed; she seemed to be far too well taken care of for that. At the same time, she didn¡¯t know what else to assume about them.


    Sophia turned to take in the rest of the room. There wasn¡¯t really anything else of note, other than an odd shine that might be a trick of the light under one of the tables. Sophia crouched down; there was something there, but she couldn¡¯t get a good look from where she was. She sent her Animated Blade under the table to push it out into the light.


    It was a rock. An approximately round rock about the size of a baseball with a flatter face that lay aground the floor; Sophia thought it had flipped onto that face when she pushed it out from under the table. That seemed like the most likely source of the shine, so she used the Animated Blade to flip it onto its back.


    It wasn¡¯t just a rock. Sophia was pretty sure the sparkling colored bands inside the rock meant it was a geode that had been roughly hacked open. She could see several different colors; the outer one was a yellow or maybe yellow-orange, then a greenish blue, perhaps a teal? Inside that, there was a thin band Sophia thought might be blue, followed by a definite purple and then the teal again in the very center.


    It was pretty. It also didn¡¯t belong in a greenhouse. Conservatory. Whatever. ¡°Why is there a geode here?¡±


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    ¡°A what?¡± Moti¡¯s words seemed to capture the feelings of the rest of her party. They all crowded around the geode.


    Sophia took a moment to look at it with her MageSight. It glowed, but only barely. ¡°It¡¯s very, very weakly magical. I don¡¯t see any sign of spellforms or any structure to the magic, so it¡¯s probably safe to touch. I think we should take it with us and show it to Rensyn along with the arm.¡±


    She didn¡¯t really think it had anything to do with the corpsevine infestation. It was too weak. It was still worth taking, however; if nothing else, they ought to be able to sell it.


    Sophia looked around, wishing she had a way to carry the rock that wasn¡¯t loose in her backpack. It shouldn¡¯t interact with the enchantment, but this place was strange enough to make her paranoid.


    Wait. Did she still have those magically insulated silk bags her mother talked her into carrying back when she first started delving? The only time she¡¯d ever used one was the one time she did a delve in a new dungeon and that turned out to be nothing worse than a variety of magical ore she didn¡¯t recognize, but she didn¡¯t remember ever deciding to take them out. They didn¡¯t take up much space.


    Sophia had to really dig through her bag to find them, but her hand felt silk before it felt the bottom of the space inside the pack. She pulled the bag out. She definitely needed to repack and figure out exactly what she had in the bag soon. There could easily be other small things she¡¯d forgotten about.


    Heck, there could be something large she¡¯d forgotten about. When was the last time she¡¯d actually gone through everything hiding in all of the expanded-space pockets?


    Sophia wasn¡¯t sure. It could have been years.


    Rather than think about that depressing topic, Sophia used the bag to scoop up the geode without touching it, then tucked it away in her pack for safekeeping. ¡°Did anyone find anything else?¡±


    ¡°A couple of coins, that¡¯s all,¡± Moti said from near the entrance.


    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure the corpsevine came in the same way we did,¡± Rae informed the others. ¡°It might have been trying to get to the others or something. This door is locked and the key isn¡¯t here.¡±


    Sophia¡¯s head whipped around to stare at Rae. She hadn¡¯t realized the woman was messing with the door that might lead to other corpsevines. ¡°Don¡¯t do that! We don¡¯t want them to know we¡¯re here, even if they can¡¯t get through the door.¡±


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t going to open the door,¡± Rae said somewhat mulishly. ¡°I hadn¡¯t gotten past looking anyway.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± Amy interjected. ¡°I¡¯ve got the arm, Sophia has the geode. Dav, do you have anything? I want to get out of this place. It smells like rot, and I think I know what was rotting.¡±


    Sophia couldn¡¯t help but glance at the body on the floor. It made sense that it was rotting. At the same time, she wondered what they¡¯d find once they got into the Conservatory itself. Would there be more plant-zombies? Would they be bones with plants growing on them? Did the ¡°cuttings¡± even last long enough for that?


    Sophia shook her head. She wasn¡¯t even sure they¡¯d go back, though she rather expected that was Rensyn¡¯s plan.


    ¡°Nothing.¡± Dav sounded distinctly unhappy about it, too.


    Oddly enough, that made Sophia grin a little. She could have predicted how Dav would react to not finding anything and this gave her the chance to cheer him up once they were back at the Registry. She was already looking forward to it.


    Sophia cut her connection to the spell lighting up the room just before they stepped outside. It was light out but not bright, and she didn¡¯t want to accidentally attract attention. It probably wouldn¡¯t, but she was pretty sure this was a case of better safe than sorry and she definitely didn¡¯t want to attract more corpsevines. Sure, one cutting wasn¡¯t a problem, but who said it would be only one next time?


    Lillah was waiting for them outside when they emerged. With her help, finding their way back inside the city¡¯s wards was simple and safe, if time consuming. From there, it was a reasonably easy trek back to the Registry.


    It was barely afternoon when they arrived. The first step inside the Registry building reminded Sophia that breakfast was a long time ago and wildly inadequate as the smell of cooking food wafted from the tavern at the back of the building.


    Dav¡¯s stomach rumbled almost in time with Sophia¡¯s. He chuckled and gave Sophia a quick side hug, grabbing her then releasing her again almost immediately. ¡°Let¡¯s get this taken care of so we can get some food.¡±


    Rensyn wasn¡¯t in the lobby. Aimiva was once again at the front desk, but Amy was already on her way there with the arm, still wrapped in its concealing burlap sack. Sophia grabbed Dav¡¯s hand and followed Amy; she wanted to know if they needed to wait for Rensyn or if they should get food first.


    Aimiva nodded along to Amy¡¯s explanation, which Sophia noticed didn¡¯t actually include what Rensyn sent them out to check on. When Amy finished, Aimiva reached under the desk she stood at and seemed to concentrate for a moment. Sophia almost reflexively activated her MageSight and saw exactly what she expected: a small flow of mana from Aimiva to whatever was hidden by the desk. She was clearly activating a magic item of some sort, probably something that would call Rensyn.


    Once she finished, Aimiva turned to the table behind her and opened a cabinet door, then pulled a small key on a single ring off a small hook. The sight made Sophia reach into her pocket for the similar key that unlocked the room she shared with Dav. It was positively quaint to use a key to lock and unlock things, something from a historical movie instead of real life.


    Aimiva closed the cabinet with a jangle from the other keys, then walked out from behind her desk. ¡°Follow me, we have a small meeting room for things like this. Rensyn doesn¡¯t like to use it, but you should know where it is and he can put up with it; the last thing I want is to have to hunt you down once he turns up. I think I know where he is, but with Rensyn you never know. He should be with you shortly.¡±

 Chapter 75 - Yes, that’s a Corpsevine

    It took long enough for Rensyn to show up that Sophia really wished they¡¯d stopped for food first, or at least asked Aimiva if they could have food sent to the meeting room. No one seemed to want to talk, which left Sophia stewing in her own thoughts and half-wishing for food while she kept her eyes resolutely off the arm that sat at the far end of the table from where everyone in the group had chosen chairs.


    At the same time, she wasn¡¯t entirely sure she wanted to eat before they handed over the arm. She thought she was handling it pretty well, but every time she thought about the way the corpsevine-controlled woman opened her mouth, Sophia felt a little nauseous. She was trying to think about this like a delve, but this was the first time she¡¯d ever come back from a delve with a human or human-like arm as a prize.


    It shouldn¡¯t bother her. She¡¯d fought in dungeons with zombie monsters and they didn¡¯t bother her the way they bothered some people.


    They didn¡¯t look alive the way that woman had and then suddenly reveal the monstrosity beneath, either.


    Sophia scooted her chair a bit closer to Dav¡¯s and leaned up against him. He put an arm around her shoulders without saying anything. It made her feel better, somehow, to know there was someone there for her, someone she could count on for help. The fact that he couldn¡¯t really do anything about the corpsevines wasn¡¯t important at that moment.


    Naturally, just as Sophia was finally starting to get comfortable, the door opened. Rensyn came in first, followed by a man who was probably a few years senior to Rensyn; Sophia couldn¡¯t guess ages that well when they were both so much older than she was, but Rensyn moved more fluidly than the new man.


    He had red hair, which made Sophia think of Uncle Blaze, but he lost to her uncle in every other measure. Uncle Blaze would never wear that sort of loose, layered multicolored robe; he preferred practical, easily washable clothes. Uncle Blaze usually had his hair up, instead of long and draped across his shoulders. Uncle Blaze also knew how to fight with both his hands and his magic, while this man moved like he¡¯d never had to think about fighting.


    The biggest place that he lost, however, was none of those. It was simply the fact that he wasn¡¯t Uncle Blaze. Sophia knew it wasn¡¯t fair to compare every redheaded man to her uncle, but it was hard. She missed her uncle.


    Rensyn turned right when he entered the room, headed towards the group, but the redhead went left. He¡¯d zeroed in on the arm like it was exactly what he was looking for. Maybe it was.


    ¡°What did you find?¡± Rensyn asked urgently. His gaze swept along the group and he seemed to relax a little. ¡°Did any of you get hurt?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re all fine,¡± Sophia answered the second question first. ¡°Dav¡¯s arm was twisted, but it couldn¡¯t get through his armor.¡±


    Under other circumstances, Sophia would want a healer like her uncle to check on Dav¡¯s arm, but at this point she had faith in Dav¡¯s healing beacon, more faith than she had in the local healers. If there was any minor injury, it would take care of it without the need for outside healing. She hadn¡¯t even met any healers; it was the most notable omission from the tour of the Registry hall, now that she thought about it. The Adventurers¡¯ Guild building back home had an entire wing of one floor dedicated to healers, even though many groups had some sort of healing with them when they went into any dungeon.


    Dav¡¯s arm tightened around Sophia, but he didn¡¯t say anything. She wasn¡¯t sure if that meant he wanted to say something himself or if he was thanking her for talking; either way, she was confident she¡¯d find out later.


    ¡°That¡¯s great,¡± Rensyn said with a grin as he seemed to relax still more. His eyes fell on Lillah and he frowned slightly. ¡°Who are you?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s definitely corpsevine, and fresh,¡± the redhead at the other end of the table declared before Lillah could answer. ¡°I really hoped you were wrong.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m Lillah Gardener,¡± Lillah stated, seeming to ignore everyone except Rensyn. She clearly didn¡¯t miss anything, however, because she went on to make her offer. ¡°I¡¯m here because I can find corpsevines and their cuttings. Sophia said that was something you¡¯d value; can we come to an arrangement?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± the redhead declared, speaking over whatever Rensyn¡¯s answer would have been. ¡°We can. I¡¯m Matt Walsh, and I¡¯m the person you need to talk to about that. I will almost certainly be commanding the effort to eradicate the corpsevines, completely this time. Someone who can find them would be very useful. First, one moment¡­¡±


    Matt Walsh paused just long enough to take a good look at everyone in the room, including Lillah and Rensyn. He then turned to the table and stared at the geode where it sat on the insulating silk bag for a moment. ¡°It¡¯s dead and everyone here is clean. Rensyn, make sure the arm and the burlap bag are burned. The rock and the bag under it are fine, so you can do whatever you want with them. Come talk to me when you¡¯re done with your mentees. For now, though, Miss Gardener?¡±


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    Lillah twitched in surprise when she realized that when Matt Walsh said ¡°Miss Gardener,¡± he meant her. ¡°Yes?¡±


    Sophia got the impression that not many people used her last name with her. Of course, that assumed that Gardener was her original last name; it wouldn¡¯t surprise Sophia much to learn that it was one she¡¯d assumed after she got the profession.


    Matt Walsh nodded. ¡°Follow me. We need to have a long talk about what you do to find corpsevines. And how I¡¯m going to pay you, of course.¡±


    It was obvious that Matt Walsh cared a lot more about finding the corpsevines than he did about paying Lillah. Sophia was certain that Lillah could still do something with that; after all, as far as they knew, no one else could sense them at a distance.


    Once the door closed behind Lillah, Rensyn leaned against one of the walls and sighed. ¡°Sorry to spring that on you. I was talking to Matt when you returned, and he¡¯s one of the few people who can tell where an enemy is. It works on corpsevines, even when they¡¯re not in a body, but he has to be able to see them. We assume that¡¯s how some of them escaped last time. If one was somewhere we didn¡¯t look or even buried in the dirt somewhere, he could miss them. We also don¡¯t know how they got into the Conservatory in the first place, but since it hasn¡¯t been used since then¡­¡±


    Rensyn¡¯s apology trailed off with a wave of his hand, as if to indicate that it wasn¡¯t important. Sophia could see where it probably wasn¡¯t important for the current infestation, but it was something they really ought to try to find out to prevent another infestation from consuming another Conservatory. There had to be others if this was the West Conservatory, didn¡¯t there?


    Sophia shook her head to clear it. She could bring up investigating the corpsevines¡¯ origin once they had something to investigate, which meant after they¡¯d killed them all. She glanced at the arm on the table, shook her head, and added another condition. After they¡¯d burned the bodies, too. She certainly wouldn¡¯t be comfortable going through the West Conservatory for clues before that.


    ¡°That isn¡¯t how I¡¯d have wanted you to meet him, but Matt was right: he¡¯ll almost certainly be commanding the effort to rid Casterville of corpsevines. He¡¯s our only full commander, uniquely qualified to-¡±


    ¡°I won¡¯t work under him,¡± Amy interrupted Rensyn. ¡°Not in the way that makes his Spheres work. I won¡¯t place anyone¡¯s judgment above my own.¡±


    Rensyn frowned. He clearly hadn¡¯t expected Amy¡¯s objection. ¡°If you know that much about commanders, you have to know the benefits they bring.¡±


    Amy nodded as she stared defiantly at Rensyn. ¡°I do, but I still won¡¯t agree to following someone else¡¯s orders even if I think I should do something else, and that¡¯s what being under a commander means. Sure, you can try to work around the restrictions, but do what you think is best based on what you find doesn¡¯t work. You have to actually be following a command, not a suggestion. That means consequences for disobeying the command, and I won¡¯t accept that. I¡¯ll fight corpsevines, I¡¯ll even try my best to do the tasks I¡¯m assigned, but I won¡¯t do it under a commander. I figure I¡¯d better make that really clear before we start.¡±


    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t.¡± Dav surprised Sophia when he spoke. She¡¯d expected him to be quiet and listen, the way she was. ¡°What does a commander do?¡±


    ¡°Depends a bit on the commander,¡± Amy answered without taking her eyes off Rensyn. ¡°People under their command are faster, stronger, use less mana, all sorts of things. It¡¯s like having an enhancement mage except a commander and an enhancement mage can work together in a way two enhancement mages can¡¯t. Thing is, there¡¯s always a cost and for a commander that cost is that you have to be under their command to get the benefits and disobeying orders has a penalty. No one¡¯s quite sure how the Guide decides when someone¡¯s under another¡¯s orders, but we know that trying to ride that line and get the boost without the cost doesn¡¯t work. If you go into a fight knowing you¡¯ll pull back at a point different from where the commander ordered, you won¡¯t get the boost. If you come back because going forward will get you killed but that wasn¡¯t in your orders, the backlash will hurt you, maybe even cripple you. It¡¯s a lot of trust to give someone, and I don¡¯t trust him that much.¡±


    Sophia stared at Amy for a moment then turned towards Rensyn in disbelief. Up to now, the Spheres here had seemed more or less analogous to the Paths she was used to, but there was no Path like that that Sophia could think of. There were certainly Paths that could help others, but a Path that could cripple someone else if they didn¡¯t do what the ¡°commander¡± said? That was not something that matched up with a Path that improved others; it sounded more like a curse than a blessing.


    Unexpectedly, Rensyn didn¡¯t contradict Amy. Instead, he took a deep breath and let it out. ¡°That¡¯s ¡­ very unlikely. I¡¯ve worked with Matt before; he knows to set up orders so that you can retreat if things are too bad. It¡¯s not going to go the way you¡¯re imagining.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Amy agreed, ¡°Because I¡¯m not going to let anyone else make those decisions for me. I¡¯ll go solo or even back out of the task if I have to. Clearing out the West Conservatory will be worth a high reward but a high reward isn¡¯t worth that.¡±


    Sophia glanced at Dav. She wanted to support Amy, but she wasn¡¯t sure if that was the right call. Dav met her eyes and tilted his head slightly towards Amy. Sophia took that as him asking her what she wanted to do, so she nodded slightly.


    Dav nodded back at Sophia, then turned towards Amy. ¡°You won¡¯t have to go solo. Sophia and I will watch your back, whether or not that means we¡¯re benefiting from Matt¡¯s abilities. That¡¯s no reason to split up the group.¡± Dav paused and looked towards Rensyn. ¡°Us being there won¡¯t mess things up for anyone else, will it?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll go, too,¡± Rae piped up. ¡°I think we worked together against the corpsevine pretty well, we can do it again. It¡¯ll be easier now that I know what to look for.¡±


    Sophia wasn¡¯t so sure they¡¯d done well, but that was fixable. The important thing for now was that they were all still willing to work together.


    Rensyn seemed to feel the same way. He shook his head, but it was with a smile. ¡°No, it won¡¯t interfere. I¡¯ll have to talk to Matt about it, but there are always some groups that don¡¯t come under the commander¡¯s umbrella for one reason or another. I¡¯m glad you five are willing to stay together. Now, tell me ... why do you have a shiny rock on the table?¡±

 Chapter 76 - The Fire Room

    ¡°We found it in the storage room where we found the corpsevine.¡± Sophia gestured at the arm at the far end of the table. ¡°It had rolled under a table, so I don¡¯t really think it¡¯s related to the corpsevines, but it¡¯s weakly magical. I¡¯m not sure what it is, or if it¡¯s exactly what it looks like.¡± Crystals could naturally absorb and hold magical energy, after all. That was what dungeon cores and world core crystal were, but it didn¡¯t just apply to them.


    Sophia had spent enough time around craftsmen to know that the type of crystal or gem mattered but also that just knowing what it was wasn¡¯t enough; good enchanters had to also be able to make sure the right Affinity was present in the stored mana. Unfortunately, Sophia didn¡¯t really know how that worked even at home, much less here, and she certainly couldn¡¯t do it. Her father could determine Affinities by looking at them, but all Sophia could tell was that there was magic there and that it was pretty weak.


    ¡°Right. Of course.¡± Rensyn rubbed his forehead like he had a headache starting to form. ¡°Bring it with you; I¡¯ll show you where to take things like that after we deal with the arm.¡± Rensyn made his way to the other end of the table and loaded the arm into the burlap sack without touching anything but the sack.


    Sophia wouldn¡¯t have wanted to touch it either. She quickly bundled the rock back into the silk bag and tucked them both into her backpack. She had the pack on before Rensyn was done carefully gathering up the bagged arm.


    Burning the arm turned out to be a serious effort, but the way Rensyn did it made it feel almost anticlimactic. He talked to Aimiva for a minute or two, then led the group through the building through a door labeled WARNING - DISPOSAL above a symbol that Sophia would have sworn looked like the biohazard symbol, if she ignored the literal flames that seemed to cover it without burning the door. The runes scratched into the oval that surrounded the symbol were probably the enchantment that kept it running, even though they didn¡¯t resemble the one runic system she knew.


    She didn¡¯t even have to check the symbol with MageSight to know that it was magical, but she did anyway.


    It was less magical than she expected. As far as she could tell, the only thing it did was burn with heatless fire.


    She wasn¡¯t sure how she felt about the fact that the room existed. Were there really enough biohazards here that they had to have a way to dispose of them? Did it mean that they disposed of medical waste here too? That was the only kind of biohazard Sophia could think of offhand, even though she was sure there were others.


    The symbol being similar enough to recognize immediately was just more evidence that something connected this world and her own, not to mention Dav¡¯s. The fact that all three worlds used variations of English that were if anything closer than American and British English were to each other made the similarity seem insignificant.


    ¡°Impressive,¡± Sophia admitted. ¡°But if that¡¯s all it does, why is it there?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a failed enchantment,¡± Rensyn admitted. ¡°It was supposed to go on the door to the flame room itself and be lit only when it was dangerous to open the door, but it always flames so the Registry Master had it placed on this door instead. Everyone knew what it meant, then. The replacement notification decal wasn¡¯t ever made, since by then we didn¡¯t really need it. I don¡¯t think we¡¯ve used the incineration room for anything other than failed alchemical mixes since then. There are probably some in there waiting for the weekly disposal now.¡±


    ¡°Why are you burning this? Isn¡¯t it already dead?¡± Dav sounded a little nervous. ¡°It can¡¯t be hiding, can it?¡±


    Rensyn shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t think so. As far as we can tell, you have to be dead before the corpsevines can affect you, that¡¯s why they¡¯re called corpsevines, and once the corpsevine stopped moving, it was harmless. We burned them anyway; no one wants to find out we¡¯re wrong the hard way by having a corpsevine sprout in the compost pile. We don¡¯t know how they got into the West Conservatory. Coming in with another plant or some soil from outside¡¯s the best guess anyone has.¡±


    Sophia frowned at that. She hated the idea that they just didn¡¯t know and accepted it. ¡°Sounds like we need to look at the compost once we kill all the corpsevines.¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t know what we¡¯re looking for,¡± Rensyn admitted. ¡°But no one will stop you from looking. Come on, follow me; you¡¯ll need to know what to do when the fight starts. You¡¯ll probably have at least one shift here, even though none of you are fire mages.¡±


    It really wasn¡¯t that hard. The next room held a collection of metal tables that all had ceramic coverings that almost looked like lids, except that the edges were thicker than the middle. They wouldn¡¯t hold a thick layer of liquid but they were clearly made to hold liquid. Each table was mounted on a set of giant metal wheels that looked ridiculously simple, nothing more than a metal rod that supported the table¡¯s weight inserted through the middle of a pair of disks that could rotate freely.


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    ¡°Those wheels are terrible.¡± Dav said it before Sophia could.


    Rensyn shrugged. ¡°They don¡¯t burn and they don¡¯t have to go far. If they get stuck, we can just clean them out and they work again. They¡¯re better than the skids we used to have or carrying everything by hand. That¡¯s what we did before the corpsevines; it¡¯s not that hard to move a bunch of potion bottles.¡±


    Now that he mentioned it, there was a collection of about a dozen small glass bottles and one larger glass jug on the table closest to the entrance. The contents were a range of colors from a muddy yellow-brown to a vibrant bright blue, but when Sophia checked with MageSight they all seemed only very weakly magical. She wasn¡¯t sure what to think about the fact that the solution to failed products was to burn them.


    Now that she thought about it, she had no idea how alchemists on Earth disposed of failed creations. It had never occurred to her to even think about it.


    Rensyn set the arm on the table that already held the collection of weak potions without taking it out of the burlap sack, then nodded at Dav. ¡°Give me a hand with this. It takes two to move one of these tables easily. We need to get it through the double doors at the far end of the room; that¡¯s the flame room.¡±


    As far as Sophia could tell, the tables required some strength to move but the primary problem was that they were awkward because none of the wheels could turn. It seemed like a wheelbarrow-like arrangement might have been better, if the weight were manageable.


    On the other hand, this was good enough and would probably be far better if there were entire bodies on the tables. Sophia could imagine that, the body of the woman infested with corpsevine they¡¯d fought.


    Wait.


    ¡°Did you really bring the bodies back here instead of burning them at the West Conservatory?¡± That seemed like an awful lot of wasted effort to Sophia. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it have been easier to burn them on site?¡±


    ¡°Probably,¡± Rensyn admitted, ¡°at least in terms of distance. I can guess why, but it wasn¡¯t my call to make. Thankfully. All I can say is that I¡¯d much rather guard a transport group for an hour, even several transport groups, than try to guard a flaming beacon surrounded by exhausted fire mages for a day. Corpsevines swarm fire mages. We¡¯re not really sure why, since they¡¯re not the most effective against corpsevines; it¡¯s apparently hard to burn through a body to get at the vines.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me we¡¯re going to have to fight corpsevines again.¡± The words followed the soft snick of the door behind Sophia.


    She turned and saw the second redheaded man in less than an hour. This time, he didn¡¯t remind her of her uncle; the pair of fox ears at the top of his head were enough to make the difference clearly obvious at even the first glance. The higher pitch of his voice helped as well.


    ¡°It looks that way.¡± Rensyn¡¯s void was heavy. ¡°At least we know what to do this time. Thanks for coming, Samuel.¡±


    ¡°Of course. Let¡¯s get this taken care of, shall we?¡± Samuel followed Rensyn and Dav into the fire room.


    Sophia snuck a glance in. The doorway was well over a foot thick, probably to contain the heat. The room itself was the first room she¡¯d seen that actually seemed to be lined with brick. There was a clear circle in the middle of the floor where the bricks looked damaged; it took up most of the middle of the room. There was actually a depression closer towards the middle that seemed only a little bigger than a single one of the rolling tables. As her gaze moved up the wall, she saw that it narrowed into a circular chimney. She couldn¡¯t see out the top of the chimney from where she stood, but she guessed that it probably led outside the building. Anything else wouldn¡¯t make sense.


    Rensyn and Dav pushed the cart into the middle of the circle, almost entirely covering the central depression and making it obvious that it was actually oval instead of circular. There was plenty of room for more carts in the rest of the damaged area; Sophia suspected that five would fit as long as they were arranged properly.


    Rensyn led the way out of the fire room, then cast around for a moment before he grabbed a sign off one of the tables. He muttered something about people not putting things back where they belonged before he hung it on the door.


    Sophia had to chuckle when she saw the words. It was clear that the original message was the blocky words FIRE ROOM IN USE, DO NOT OPEN DOOR. At an angle on top of the black letters, someone else had written Beware the irritated Fire Mage! In red.


    Sophia turned to Rensyn with a grin. ¡°Samuel edited that sign, didn¡¯t he?¡±


    Rensyn chuckled. ¡°Yeah. It works better now. I¡¯m not sure if that¡¯s from the edit or from the stories about what he did the last time someone interrupted him, though.¡±


    ¡°What did he do?¡± Dav sounded a bit more reserved than Sophia, but he couldn¡¯t disguise his interest.


    Rensyn chuckled again. ¡°He somehow managed to burn everything the man was wearing, leaving him in charred rags and soot, without hurting anything other than his pride. Well, and his hair; he got called baldie for a week or two until it grew back. Samuel says it was an accident, that the fire escaped because the door was opened, but no one really quite believes him. What Samuel doesn¡¯t normally tell people is that it was the third time in three weeks, the third time in a row, that the door was opened while he was burning the power out of the failures. I think that two of them were the same person. He had every reason to be irritated.¡±


    From the other side of the thick door, Sophia heard something. It sounded like a soft fwoomp, but that was enough to tell her that she definitely did not want to open that door, even without the threat of a surprise disrobing by fire.


    It was with a set of smiles that everyone followed Rensyn away from the fire room. The room¡¯s purpose was practical, maybe even a little dark, but that meant that even a little humor went a long way.

 Chapter 77 - Shiny Rock

    Sophia blinked as she followed Rensyn through a door marked FINDS EVALUATION. It was close to what she thought of as the ¡°shop area¡± but it wasn¡¯t in any of the shops; instead, it was a short ways down a corridor in the other direction, closer to the armory than the magic item shop or the apothecary.


    Once her eyes adjusted to the bright light, Sophia saw that the far wall was covered in books, while the wall to the left held an odd collection of magical paraphernalia. The wall to the right was mostly empty shelves; there were a couple of wooden boxes but that was all.


    The middle of the room held a table, but even with the table, there was plenty of room to move around. A somewhat familiar face seemed to be taking advantage of the table for a break, based on the matched orange teacup and bowl. Sophia tried to remember his name; she could remember that he was the man from the apothecary shop, but his name escaped her. She¡¯d met too many people in quick succession. It was something like elven? No, that couldn¡¯t be right.


    ¡°Halven! How did you get stuck watching the evaluation room again?¡± Rensyn greeted the apothecary loudly.


    Well, maybe she was right after all. Halven was sort of like elven. She needed to fix his name in her memory; misusing it would be rude.


    Halven chuckled. ¡°You know Johan hates spending time here. I think he just gets bored, but what do I know?¡± Halven shrugged. ¡°I appreciate good reading material and I appreciate a first look at surprises I might want to buy even more. So what are you bringing me?¡±


    ¡°A shiny rock,¡± Rensyn said with a grin, then waved Sophia forward. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure I forgot to show you this place on the tour. This is where you bring stuff you find that you think might be valuable or dangerous to get examined. If no one¡¯s here, check at any of the stores, including the armory; they¡¯ll know who¡¯s supposed to be watching the room.¡±


    ¡°We try to have someone here every afternoon,¡± Halven added. ¡°Once in a while there¡¯s a line but that¡¯s really rare. So. Shiny rock?¡±


    He sounded eager and his eyes started to glow slightly. He must be more bored than he was letting on. Sophia shook her head with a small grin and pulled the silk bag out of her pack, then removed the rock from the bag.


    ¡°I can already tell you that that bag would go for a pretty penny,¡± Halven said, his eyes on the silk bag. ¡°Magical insulation of any sort does, when you find it. I can barely even tell the bag¡¯s insulated; I doubt I¡¯d have noticed without seeing you pull that magic rock out. Where did you get it?¡±


    ¡°Uh,¡± Sophia temporized. She hadn¡¯t bought the bags herself, but she didn¡¯t think there was anything too unusual about them. If this was unusual and valuable here, what else did they not have? ¡°They came with me from my homeland, I don¡¯t know where to get more here.¡±


    Halven shook his head. ¡°Too bad. If you decide you don¡¯t need it, talk to Johan; he¡¯s more likely to need something like that than I am.¡±


    With that, he turned his attention to the geode. He examined it from all sides, then set it down with the open face down on the table. After a moment of staring at it, he got a set of lenses from the shelves to the left and used them to examine the round part of the rock. ¡°I thought so.¡±


    ¡°Mmm?¡± Sophia made an inquisitive noise.


    Halven nodded sharply, then flipped the rock over so that he could see its crystalline interior. He kept nodding as he examine it with one lens after another. ¡°This is a natural magic source. This one¡¯s almost exhausted; I can¡¯t tell if that happened before or after it was broken open. That makes it a lot less valuable; it¡¯s hard to make anything from with such a low concentration of magic. Are you looking to sell it?¡±


    ¡°I guess?¡± Sophia glanced around the group; she certainly didn¡¯t have any use for a slightly magical geode and it didn¡¯t look like anyone else did either. ¡°Do you know why it would be in a storage room at the West Conservatory?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s where you found it?¡± Halven frowned at the geode, then looked up at Rensyn. ¡°Should I be expecting a major mission soon? There¡¯s only one reason I can think of that you¡¯d be sending people there.¡±


    Rensyn nodded. ¡°I¡¯m afraid so.¡±


    Halven blew out a breath, then shook his head. ¡°Suppose I should be glad I¡¯m a Professional. Still, that explains why it¡¯s so weak; it was probably broken open before the corpsevines showed up. As for why it¡¯s there, well,¡± he tilted a hand over like he was revealing a secret in his hand, ¡°magical plants need magic. Natural magic works the best.¡±


    Halven grinned at Sophia. She could tell that he liked explaining things; that was probably part of why he was happy to take the ¡°finds examination¡± duty that Johan apparently didn¡¯t like. ¡°Conservatories plant stones like this, generally unbroken, in parts of the greenhouse where they want to encourage specific magical plants. I can¡¯t tell what element this was attuned to; from the colors, it was probably water or lightning, but the colors aren¡¯t always definitive. It would have slowly leaked that magic and enabled them to grow plants that needed that environment. Once it was broken it couldn¡¯t be used because it would leak magic too quickly; it was probably set aside until the magic was low enough to plant shards of the crystal instead. These days, that¡¯s about all it¡¯s good for, to accelerate the growth of plants that just need a little magic but no specific environment.¡±


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    Sophia nodded. Knowing that it was simply a normal tool of the West Conservatory eased her concerns about what they were going to find, but she had to wonder if the geodes might not have something to do with the corpsevines. They hadn¡¯t spread out of the Conservatory building, at least according to Lillah; was it possible they needed the extra mana of geodes like that? If they did, was it possible the first corpsevine arrived in Casterville with one of the geodes? ¡°Where do they come from? Do you dig them up, or¡­?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure they all come on trade caravans,¡± Halven said with a careless shrug. ¡°I don¡¯t know what the actual origin is; I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever asked. Are you interested in selling this one?¡±


    Sophia wasn¡¯t sure the origin really mattered, now that she knew they weren¡¯t local. It raised the chance that the corpsevine came in with a geode, but if it had did that mean that somewhere else was worse off or were the growing conditions better here? Sophia didn¡¯t even know where to begin.


    No, that wasn¡¯t true. She could begin by selling this geode and getting some cash to split with her group. Keeping it wouldn¡¯t help her look into where the corpsevine came from. ¡°Yeah, I think we are. What are you offering?¡±


    The tavern was relatively quiet, since it was between mealtimes, but they weren¡¯t the only people in the room. The food was actually pretty good, a well-spiced hearty stew with some sort of a thick flatbread, but it was the only option. You apparently had to eat when others did to get a choice.


    Well, they did still offer a choice of beverage. Sophia and Dav were having lemonade; neither of them wanted anything alcoholic and the only other nonalcoholic option available was milk. Today seemed like a lemonade day more than a milk day.


    Sophia was contemplating seconds when Rensyn joined the group at their table. She¡¯d just decided that she probably shouldn¡¯t when he pulled out a chair and dropped into it.


    It had only been about an hour since he left them at the Finds Evaluation room, but Rensyn looked like he¡¯d been running around for that entire time and really needed a break. He closed his eyes for a moment when he sat, then shook himself and leaned forward. ¡°We need to talk about leveling. All five of you are Level One, right?¡±


    Sophia nodded. He already knew that.


    ¡°Right, so, that should be fine for a corpsevine or two as long as you stick together. Don¡¯t let anyone go off alone; make sure you always know where everyone in your group is. Corpsevines are essentially ambush predators and we¡¯ll be heading into their territory. There are several different types; watch out for anything fully covered in vines. They¡¯re spellcasters.¡± Rensyn paused and glanced around. ¡°That is, if you¡¯re going to participate in the extermination?¡±


    Sophia was suddenly far more interested in the extermination. Spellcasters meant more spells for Cliff to collect. He hadn¡¯t picked up anything from the corpsevine cutting they killed, other than confirmation that it was actually called a Fresh Corpsevine Cutting when it was added to his collection. ¡°I¡¯m planning to.¡±


    Her agreement was echoed around the table. Oddly enough, Dav was the last one to chime in, and his response was the positive reaction of the others. ¡°Is it worth any Wisps? We didn¡¯t get anything from the one we killed earlier.¡±


    Rensyn chuckled. ¡°Not from the kill, no, but have you checked since you talked to me?¡±


    Sophia hadn¡¯t. She hadn¡¯t seen any reason to; why would telling people about what they¡¯d done be worth more than doing it? That didn¡¯t make any sense.


    She checked her Status anyway. It flicked open just long enough for her to see her Wisps. There were 272. That meant she¡¯d gained 250 since the last time she checked it. ¡°That¡¯s more Wisps than the flame beavers!¡±


    Rensyn nodded. ¡°That¡¯s why people say the Guide doesn¡¯t assign Wisps in a way that makes sense. It¡¯s not based on what you do or on how hard it is, at least not completely. The impact to the world matters, and there have to be some factors we don¡¯t know about as well. This was just a reconnaissance mission, but Oh, that reminds me; did I mention that you two are getting a reward from the Registry for your efforts to rescue that town? It won¡¯t be awarded until the evaluation of the village is complete in a couple of weeks, and you¡¯ll get more from the extermination mission, but it¡¯s something.¡±


    That was a surprise. Sophia hadn¡¯t expected anything; that wasn¡¯t why she helped. That was just what you did in an emergency.


    ¡°Thanks.¡± Dav didn¡¯t sound as puzzled as Sophia felt; instead, he sounded grateful. ¡°We appreciate it.¡±


    Rensyn gave a single-handed wave, as if he were pushing the gratefulness past himself. ¡°It¡¯s Registry policy to give rewards for things we¡¯d have paid for if they¡¯re taken care of before we know about them, as long as we can confirm it. It makes it more likely the problems are dealt with while they¡¯re small. That¡¯s not what we need to talk about, we need to talk about the Wisps you received for searching for corpsevines. Normally, I¡¯d say you should spend them on completing your kit and figuring out which of your possible directions you want to go, since it¡¯s always best to do that at the lowest Level possible. Unfortunately, there¡¯s no safe place in a war zone for a Level One. A second Level gives you a better chance to react if something goes wrong, like a corpsevine¡¯s vine dropping on you from above.¡±


    Somehow, Sophia didn¡¯t think that example came out of nowhere. It sounded like it came from experience.


    Rensyn didn¡¯t slow down. ¡°I don¡¯t recommend going all the way to Level Three; that¡¯s too much of a cost on your future, and Level Two should be enough if you¡¯re careful. I do think you should consider Level Two. Do all of you meet the standard recommendations for Level advancement?¡±

 Chapter 78 - Not Here

    Sophia didn¡¯t even know what the standard recommendations for Level advancement were. All she knew was that everything was supposed to cost more Wisps afterwards. That seemed like a good enough reason to wait until there was a reason to advance or she ran out of things she wanted; it was pretty obvious that advancing would unlock more Abilities.


    She was pretty sure that whenever she did advance, she¡¯d want to put some Wisps into upgrading some of her Abilities. The numbers next to each one were the slot level and ability level. According to Arryn, the merchant who escorted Dav and Sophia to Casterville, taking Abilities at the lowest possible Level and upgrading them each time it was possible was the cheapest way to get good Abilities at higher Levels if you kept using the same Abilities. If you changed them out, it could cost, but Arryn was still convinced it was worth it because it let you use those Abilities along the way.


    The logic made sense to Sophia but it didn¡¯t tell her when it was time to Level.


    ¡°I¡¯ve been ready for a while now,¡± Amy admitted. ¡°There¡¯s no point in Leveling if I¡¯m going to stay in Casterville and float between groups as an archer. I¡¯ve been saving points. I might pick up a couple Abilities I¡¯ve been considering, but that still leaves enough.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re about ready, too, but only barely,¡± Rae contributed. ¡°Moti needs to Dedicate for the Attributes and I¡¯m missing a Sphere Ability and an Unaffiliated Ability, but that¡¯s all.¡±


    Rensyn nodded and turned his attention to Dav and Sophia. ¡°You two don¡¯t even know what I¡¯m asking, do you?¡±


    Sophia shook her head. If this was like Path Tiers, she was probably minimally ready to move to Tier Two, but she had no idea if that was a good analogy or not. She knew she¡¯d really prefer another few Abilities. They¡¯d only been at this for a few weeks, which seemed fast compared to rising in Tiers.


    ¡°I have the general idea,¡± Dav admitted. ¡°I don¡¯t feel like I should be ready, but at the same time this seems like a lot of abilities for only one level. What are the guidelines?¡±


    Rensyn seemed to stare into the distance rather than meeting Dav¡¯s eyes. It was clear he was looking at something as a reference, probably his own Status. ¡°At the left, you¡¯ll have Body and Core. Most people focus on one or the other; you¡¯ll want that one at least as high as your level. If possible, and it¡¯s almost always possible at low levels, you should aim for twice as high as your level. No matter how high it is, you¡¯ll want to increase it at least once before you level; it¡¯ll only get more expensive. If you use the other one at all, you¡¯ll want to keep it at least half as high as the other; the main exception to that is people without a Core, of course. The usual advice for them is to look for a way to create a Core. Since you two are spellcasters, you have Cores.¡±


    Sophia nodded. With her Body at 5 and Core at 7, she definitely met the minimums he mentioned and would want to increase them simply because of the cost. She wanted to try that anyway, since she wanted to know what it did. Knowing that it would make her body or magic stronger was nice, but it didn¡¯t tell her what it was like. Was it like the Voice¡¯s Enhancements, or was it different from anything she knew?


    ¡°The other two columns vary from Sphere to Sphere. If you have a highly restrictive set of choices one to three per category even after choosing other options, you¡¯ll want to take everything in case there¡¯s something hidden behind the third choice; that happens sometimes. Most people shouldn¡¯t do that; it¡¯s spreading them too thin. The usual number for the rightmost column is two to four per category, with at least four that aren¡¯t from Unaffiliated, and always Dedicate to gain anything that gives you an additional category, even if it¡¯s not the direction you plan for your Spheres. You¡¯ll want to increase anything that¡¯s relevant and buy anything that aligns with your Sphere¡¯s direction at later levels, but most people don¡¯t change direction after Level One until the first Sphere change.¡±


    Sophia badly wanted to ask what he meant by Sphere change, but she was pretty sure that asking would mean Rensyn didn¡¯t finish his explanation. She could probably ask Amy, Rae, or Moti about it later anyway.


    ¡°The middle section is active abilities, split into categories,¡± Rensyn continued. ¡°It¡¯s spells and things that act like spells; things like that can appear in the other sections, but that¡¯s all that goes in the middle. If you manage to get an extra category, that¡¯s usually where it ends up. There¡¯s no good way to say how many of those you should have either per category or overall; it varies too much. You want at least one per category and you should take everything you think you¡¯ll use regularly. Don¡¯t overdo it or you¡¯ll end up dropping things when you find out what¡¯s available later; that happens the most in that section. There are two models, really, people who pick a few bread-and-butter abilities from each category and people who try to cover absolutely everything.¡±


    Sophia definitely didn¡¯t cover absolutely everything, but she felt like she had the abilities she¡¯d use the most often. ¡°I¡¯m on the low end,¡± she admitted, ¡°but other than increasing Body and Core once, I think I meet that.¡±


    ¡°I might have enough Wisps. Maybe.¡± Dav pulled up his Status. He looked through it quickly, then frowned. ¡°Probably not. Should Core be twice the level I¡¯m leaving or twice the level I¡¯m going to, and how important is Mana Core Specialization?¡±


    Sophia couldn¡¯t remember what Dav¡¯s Core score was, but from his question she could work out that it was under four. It was probably less than three, since at a three the one point Rensyn recommended that everyone add would take him to four.


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    Rensyn looked a bit shocked for a moment but quickly got his expression back under control. ¡°Ah, it should be twice your current Level before you Level, so the Level you¡¯re leaving. For Mana Core Specialization, if it¡¯s the direction you want to take your magic, you should absolutely take it. Specializations block other possibilities, so so don¡¯t take it if you aren¡¯t certain.¡±


    ¡°Right, enough points then. Barely.¡± Dav pulled up his Status again but didn¡¯t get very far before Rensyn set a hand on his arm.


    ¡°Not here, especially not if you¡¯re Leveling or choosing a Specialization,¡± Rensyn stated firmly. ¡°Most of the time, choosing Abilities is barely noticeable, but some things are different and a Level is often one of them. Specializations vary a lot. It¡¯s always best to choose Abilities in private in a safe place you can easily clean afterwards, just in case.¡±


    ¡°Clean afterwards?¡± Sophia stared at Rensyn, horrified. What the heck did the Guide do to people?


    Rensyn shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t like cleaning up puke, and if I let you do it here and you got ill, Mara would make me clean it up.¡±


    A shout of ¡°You¡¯ve got that right!¡± came from the waitress at the other end of the room.


    Sophia blinked. That wasn¡¯t what she¡¯d thought, somehow, though she suddenly wasn¡¯t sure what she¡¯d thought he meant. That did seem like enough reason to not pick abilities in a restaurant.


    ¡°Okay, then, if you¡¯re all good?¡± Rensyn stopped and looked around the table. Sophia nodded along with the others. ¡°If you decide not to Level, let me know in the morning. If you don¡¯t say anything, I¡¯ll assume you did since you¡¯re all close enough.¡± He pushed away from the table and headed away slower than when he came.


    There was something about his walk that made Sophia think he wasn¡¯t looking forward to his next stop, whatever it was.


    There really wasn¡¯t a good place for them to go if there was a good chance one or both of them would become violently ill. The bathing pools were public, which seemed like a poor choice of a location to risk being ill. The toilets were a better option, but it wasn¡¯t like the two of them could go into one stall together. Instead, they ended up back in their room.


    Sophia had a plastic tarp in the camping supplies she kept in her bag. At least, she thought she did. She hadn¡¯t used it recently, but surely it was still in there?


    Dav watched as Sophia pulled item after item out of her backpack. Eventually, he must have decided he¡¯d watched for long enough. ¡°Are you looking for something?¡±


    ¡°I thought I had a tarp in here.¡± Sophia reached in and pulled the next thing out, a notebook with a pen clipped to the cover. ¡°But now I¡¯m beginning to wonder if I actually know what all I¡¯ve been carrying. I don¡¯t remember this notebook at all, and I¡¯m pretty sure that that binder is something I last looked at years ago.


    The next thing she pulled out was a self-contained cooking set that barely fit through the opening that Sophia knew she¡¯d never used but that absolutely matched her mother¡¯s favorite picnic set. ¡°And I think I know who to blame. Dammit, Mom, I know there¡¯s extra space but you¡¯re not supposed to hide stuff in my things!¡±


    Dav made a sound that was awfully reminiscent of a muffled snort, but when Sophia looked up his face was perfectly expressionless. In fact, it was expressionless enough that Sophia knew it had to be deliberate; she knew what she¡¯d heard.


    Sophia finished emptying her bag to the periodic sound of muffled chuckles. Every time she looked up, Dav had a straight face, but he was watching her and she could see the laughter in his eyes. After the first few minutes, she couldn¡¯t even be mad about it; it was pretty funny that her mother had hidden useful stuff in her bag. It was a mix of everyday items for travel and papers and books. As far as Sophia could tell, there wasn¡¯t anything that would be useful in a fight. Instead, it was things that would make her life more comfortable.


    Once she realized that was her mother¡¯s goal, Sophia couldn¡¯t even maintain her pretense of anger. It was just too funny that her mother had snuck comfortable pajamas into her delving kit.


    The books and papers, on the other hand, were a completely different story. Two of them were novels that she¡¯d probably left in there by accident; the puzzle book was similar. When you were going to be without access to external power for more than a day in a dungeon, it was wise to bring something that didn¡¯t depend on batteries, even if you did have a charger that worked on mana.


    She could also have believed that a few of the books and notebooks were left from her school years; when she got the backpack, she remembered just moving everything over because it was too much effort to go through it all. She couldn¡¯t believe that was where they all came from, however, since several of them were clearly notes for books on magic her father was writing.


    The notebook that was full of information on cross-universal messaging and travel made it even more clear. That wasn¡¯t something her father would have simply had on hand; it was something he¡¯d assembled after her mother¡¯s vision. She wasn¡¯t certain what to do with the fact that he snuck it into her pack rather than giving it to her.


    Sophia took another look at the pajamas, then nodded to herself and flipped to the back of the notebook. Her father wasn¡¯t that sneaky. He would have handed it to her, told her to keep it with her, and expected her to do so because it was a good idea and not that hard. She would have, too. No, this was someone else¡¯s idea. At a guess, it was someone who her father had entrusted the notebook to for a good reason.


    Several of the pages at the back of the notebook were blackened, but she could guess what they¡¯d once held: a spell to duplicate the contents of one notebook in another near-identical notebook. Sophia sighed. She knew what happened now; her father must have entrusted the notebook to Ita so that she could get it to update, then Ita slipped it into Sophia¡¯s belongings and told Sophia¡¯s father that Sophia had it. Ita wouldn¡¯t even have meant it as a trick; she¡¯d have thought she was being helpful.

 Chapter 79 - Mana Specialization

    ¡°What do you think he wants?¡±


    Sophia looked up from the pile of books and notebooks to frown at Dav. ¡°Who?¡±


    ¡°Rensyn,¡± Dav clarified. ¡°I mean, I can understand why he sent us after the possible corpsevines. I can also see why he wants us to level to help us survive. What I don¡¯t understand is why he¡¯s paying so much attention to us at all. It¡¯s clearly not normal; Amy, Rae, and Moti didn¡¯t have mentors before Rensyn grabbed them for our group. So why us?¡±


    Sophia frowned. Dav wasn¡¯t wrong; he¡¯d pointed out something odd. ¡°Rensyn said they always assign mentors to new Called. Could they have had a mentor back when they were new? How long have they had Spheres, anyway? It seems like the first level goes really quickly.¡±


    Dav frowned. ¡°Maybe, maybe not. We¡¯ve basically had three real sources of Wisps, right, the snakes, the beavers, and the vines? Or should we count the metal insects, too?¡±


    Sophia frowned for a moment, then shrugged. ¡°We probably should. It was a lot more Wisps than the moss or the creepums. I just don¡¯t know why those particular things were worth so much more; it seems like the moss should have been worth a good bit, too.¡±


    Dav shrugged. ¡°I think I¡¯m starting to get a feel for it. The ones that aren¡¯t going to be a problem for anyone aren¡¯t worth much, unless there¡¯s a Nest or something like the Shard of Kestii that can be recovered. The moss wasn¡¯t going very far and the snakes weren¡¯t near anyone who wasn¡¯t going out to look for them. That doesn¡¯t explain the creepums, though; they were actively attacking the building.¡±


    Sophia shrugged. ¡°If you¡¯re right, then ¡­ maybe the Guide didn¡¯t count them because Aymini and Vramt were there? I¡¯m pretty sure the creepums were annoyances to them, not real opponents. If you¡¯re right, that might explain why the Wisps for the corpsevine came after we reported in; the news mattered, killing the corpsevine didn¡¯t.¡±


    Dav nodded. ¡°Which is why Rensyn told us to run. Why didn¡¯t he just say that, though?¡±


    Sophia shrugged. ¡°Maybe he didn¡¯t think he needed to? The others didn¡¯t seem surprised to get Wisps later.¡±


    ¡°Maybe,¡± Dav agreed with a frown. ¡°So, did you find what you were looking for? A tarp, right?¡±


    ¡°Oh, yeah.¡± Sophia had actually forgotten why she started digging through her backpack, but she was pretty sure she¡¯d seen a tarp gp by. That wasn¡¯t the only useful thing she¡¯d seen, either; for some reason, there was a large metal cooking pot. Sophia didn¡¯t think she could blame that one on her mother; she vaguely remembered adding a pot to her kit back when she started delving with the vague notion of cooking in the dungeon. She¡¯d even done it once or twice. ¡°I think this will work better than the tarp, easier to clean and it¡¯ll actually hold ¡­ stuff. Do you want to go first or shall I?¡±


    Dav shrugged. ¡°I know what I¡¯m going to pick. I might as well.¡±


    His words were calm, but his body was tense. Sophia could see the eagerness in his eyes, so she grinned and waved him on. She wasn¡¯t about to spoil his fun, even if she was nervous because of Rensyn¡¯s warning.


    Dav¡¯s eyes lost focus as he contemplated his Status. A moment later, he groaned, twisted away from her, and leaned over the pot. Sophia was sure she¡¯d hear the sound of vomiting any minute, but she didn¡¯t. Instead, he made a nearly suppressed moaning noise and took a couple of slow deep breaths.


    ¡°Are you okay?¡± Sophia gently reached for Dav¡¯s shoulder. Her fingers tingled before she even touched him. Sophia frowned at the sensation. It felt like extremely concentrated magic, but that didn¡¯t make sense.


    Or did it? With Rensyn¡¯s recommendation, Dav was probably taking either Spell Reservoir, which Sophia remembered vaguely noticing herself, or Mana Specialization, which Rensyn warned might cause illness and was therefore probably worse. A quick glance with her MageSight told Sophia that her guess was right: there was a concentrated field of mana surrounding Dav. It stretched less than half an inch from his skin and was so bright that Sophia couldn¡¯t get a good look at it. From the way it felt, there had to be essence, as well, but that wasn¡¯t really a surprise; where one appeared, the other usually did as well.


    Sophia hesitated for a moment, her desire to comfort Dav warring with her knowledge that unknown magic could be dangerous.


    Sophia snorted at her own overcaution. This was something Dav triggered by choosing an Ability, not unknown magic. The Guide was powerful, true, but the fact that it could grant Abilities meant that it knew what it could and couldn¡¯t do; it wouldn¡¯t harm her simply for being near it. Neither Dav¡¯s clothes nor the floor were affected, as far as she could tell. It was fine.


    She set her hand on his back instead of his shoulder, trying to comfort him with her touch. The magic buzzed and tingled but it didn¡¯t do anything; as far as Sophia could tell, it was simply residue from whatever was happening to Dav. ¡°Dav? Are you okay?¡±


    Dav didn¡¯t answer her the first time, but this time he spoke in a strained voice. ¡°Yeah. It hurts, but it also doesn¡¯t. It¡¯s strange.¡±


    Before Dav could properly describe what he was feeling, it ended. The tingling sensation of magic around him faded rapidly as it dissipated into the air.


    Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Dav took a moment to relax before he turned back to Sophia. When he did, she caught her breath. The purple and black marks on his face had spread a bit, but they now seemed to be part of his skin, rather than something that laid over the skin. Of course, that assumed she could still call it skin; it looked almost like shimmering purple scales. ¡°Mana specialization?¡±


    It was really quite attractive, too. Sophia found herself reaching up to touch where the scales crossed Dav¡¯s cheek before she thought twice about it. They felt warm and smooth, firmer than ordinary skin with slightly recessed areas where the scales met.


    Dav reached for Sophia¡¯s hand. Once he captured it, he held it against his cheek for a moment, then shifted it to his mouth and kissed the back of her fingers. ¡°Yes. Rensyn said it might cause nausea, but I wasn¡¯t expecting that. Whatever that was.¡±


    Sophia frowned. The nearest mirror was in the bathroom. She didn¡¯t want to tell him to leave, but she did want him to know what she could see.


    No, wait. She¡¯d seen a handheld mirror in the stuff she pulled out of her bag, hadn¡¯t she?


    Sophia freed her hand from Dav¡¯s loose grip for long enough to check the pile of stuff she hadn¡¯t really sorted yet. Under a shirt that she¡¯d have sworn vanished mysteriously from her closet a couple of years earlier, she found a small mirrored plastic circle. She didn¡¯t remember where she found it, but she definitely did remember that she¡¯d used it for a few months to check her appearance when she was out and about. Once she started routinely delving dungeons, it didn¡¯t seem worth bothering with; it wasn¡¯t like she was wearing makeup then anyway.


    She held it out to Dav. ¡°Here.¡±


    Dav took the mirror with a puzzled frown. It didn¡¯t take him long to catch on that she wanted him to look at himself; after all, why else would she hand him a mirror? ¡°A mirror? Why ¡­ oh. Um.¡±


    Dav¡¯s left hand rose to his face and traced along his cheekbone, then up his forehead and into his hair, clearly trying to feel where the scales ended. He started moving his mouth from side to side and wrinkled his brow. ¡°That¡¯s, huh. It looks different and it feels different to my hand, but it doesn¡¯t seem any less sensitive and everything seems to move normally. I think it¡¯s just cosmetic?¡±


    Sophia nodded, despite her suspicion that there was more to it than ¡°just cosmetic.¡± He was right in every way that mattered, since there was nothing to be done even if it did mean something. ¡°The only thing I¡¯m worried about is how people will react to the change. At least there¡¯s an easy explanation.¡±


    Dav nodded, then frowned suddenly as if something unpleasant had occurred to him. ¡°You know, I never did try out that Sight summon. I was worried about what it would look like, but I haven¡¯t tried it just in case it stuck. I guess now¡¯s the time.¡±


    Before Sophia could agree, Dav had already gone through with his thought. It was clearly obvious as his eyes started to softly glow in a light purple light and his pupils narrowed, then lengthened vertically. ¡°Whoa. That¡¯s ¡­ did you know that you glow? Everything glows, but you glow more.¡±


    Sophia grinned at Dav. ¡°Check your mirror first, your eyes changed. I think I like it. It makes sense for a sight-based spell, and at least your eyes don¡¯t look like they¡¯re filled with fire and you didn¡¯t get that third eye on your forehead you were afraid of.¡±


    ¡°It sort of fits, doesn¡¯t it? Hah.¡± Dav¡¯s fake laugh was entirely humorless as he put the mirror down. ¡°It¡¯s like having a beacon out, so I bet it¡¯s temporary. I wonder if it changes each time like the beacons?¡±


    He didn¡¯t try to answer his own question. Instead, he shook his head and frowned at the wall.


    Sophia watched for a moment, then realized he was trying to figure out what ¡°everything glows¡± meant. She glanced at the mirror, then remembered that there was something she wanted to find out about his new sight-based ability.


    Sophia started to build a simple spellform. An omnidirectional floating sphere of light was actually fairly easy to make; it didn¡¯t require nearly as many conditions as one that would follow directions after it formed. She still took her time, to give Dav a chance to notice it without her actively directing him at it. She wasn¡¯t sure what he was seeing right now, since everything didn¡¯t glow with magic to her, but it still seemed like a good first thing to check.


    ¡°What are you - you¡¯re casting a spell, aren¡¯t you? Is that what you mean when you say spellform?¡±


    Sophia looked up at Dav and found him staring intently at her hands, or more accurately at the pattern forming in the air above her hands. She flushed as she realized that she had once again made the mistake of moving as if it would help her build the spellform. It was a crutch and one she needed to get used to not using. She yanked her hands down, then realized what Dav said. ¡°You can see it?¡±


    Dav nodded. ¡°It¡¯s pretty complex. Is this what you have to do to make a spell?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s one way,¡± Sophia agreed. ¡°It¡¯s reliable but pretty slow. I can teach you, if you want.¡± A single individual spell wouldn¡¯t be that hard, but teaching him everything he needed to know to not only cast spells but design his own was a matter of years, not hours. She was suddenly grateful for whoever decided to stuff her backpack¡¯s extra capacity with material from her childhood. She wouldn¡¯t have considered it important, but it gave her something she could use while teaching Dav.


    Assuming he wanted to learn, of course, but who wouldn¡¯t want to be able to cast spells?


    Dav grinned. ¡°I¡¯d love to, but we should finish leveling first. Which means I need to stop looking at everything glowing.¡±


    Sophia was surprised to find that she was disappointed when his eyes returned to normal. The purple eyes looked odd at first, but she definitely had to admit that he was right about them: they looked like they belonged, somehow.


    Dav blinked rapidly a few times. ¡°It¡¯s odd. It¡¯s almost like literally everything glowed, but I could tell what was brighter. You were the brightest thing in the room, followed by your pendant and your backpack. Strangely, there was one other spot.¡±


    Dav turned and pressed on a spot on the wall that looked like the rest of the wall, except that the wood was slightly darker than the surrounding area. Sophia hadn¡¯t paid any attention to it until then.


    A section of the wall opened and revealed a small empty space, like a hotel safe except that it was built into the wall. The rectangle was obvious when Sophia traced it with her eyes, but it wasn¡¯t the only such rectangle in the room; the walls were paneled in a pair of different colors of wood, and the pattern of the paneling made rectangles like that all over the room. ¡°Huh. I wonder if there are more openings or if that¡¯s just to disguise this one?¡±

 Chapter 80 - Mana Specialization … Attunement?

    A short search didn¡¯t reveal any more hidden compartments or passages. Dav gave up first and retreated to the bed with the pot, just in case he needed it.


    He didn¡¯t. The first sign he¡¯d finished was when his new Status screen appeared in Sophia¡¯s vision.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Dav


    </td>


    <td>


    Summons:


    </td>


    <td>


    Unaffiliated Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Chaos-Warped Human


    </td>


    <td>


    (Bastion of Health, 1, 1)


    </td>


    <td>


    Innate Communication (Bonus, Free)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    (Eye Image)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Thorn Emitter, 1, 1)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Mana Core Specialization: Eldritch, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Body: 9


    </td>


    <td>


    (Eyes that See, 1, 1)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Empty, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Core: 3


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Species Spells:


    </td>


    <td>


    Species Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Shield: 20


    </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Empowerment, 1, 1)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Bonded Armor, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Overcharge, 1, 1)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Mana Specialization Attunement, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Wisps: 31


    </td>


    <td>


    (Eye Image)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Spell Reservoir, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Attunements:


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Spheres


    </td>


    <td>


    Contraceptive Amulet, 3


    </td>


    <td>


    Eldritch Summoner Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Eldritch Summoner (Hallow)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Reinforcement, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Level: 2


    </td>


    <td>


    Eldritch Armor, 7 (Growth)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Weapon Alteration, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Level: 1


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Perfect Fit: Dav


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Rapid Assembly


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Synchronization Required


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Sophia examined the Status for a moment, then realized something she probably should have known earlier. She¡¯d forgotten until she saw it in Unaffiliated Abilities with an empty slot after it. If he was barely able to get what he wanted, he certainly didn¡¯t have the spare points for an empty slot. ¡°Wait. You already had Mana Core Specialization. Why did you ask about it?¡±


    That was what she¡¯d thought he was doing when he changed earlier, too. What had he done instead?


    Dav looked down and to the side, like he didn¡¯t want to look at Sophia. ¡°I was really asking if I made a good choice earlier, but once I saw this ¡­ it wasn¡¯t there until after I took the one in Unaffiliated.¡±


    Another short message appeared in Sophia¡¯s vision.


    Mana Specialization Attunement


    Permanently reduces the negative effects of using a specialized Mana Core with a non-attuned body and increases the power of all Abilities using your Specialized Mana.


    ¡°The description¡¯s clear enough that if taking a Specialized Mana Core is worthwhile, it had to be worth taking. I just ¡­¡± Dav shrugged without looking up. Sophia suspected he might have flushed in embarrassment if his new scales didn¡¯t hide it, but they did. ¡°I forgot I didn¡¯t mention the difference. It¡¯s still a Mana Specialization.¡±


    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    ¡°It¡¯s all right,¡± Sophia said as she set a hand on Dav¡¯s arm. ¡°It does explain why you changed so obviously, though. I¡¯m a little surprised you took it, with your earlier worries.¡±


    Dav looked up. He sounded a bit sheepish as he answered the implied question. ¡°It didn¡¯t even occur to me that it would be visible. The mana core specialization wasn¡¯t and this just said it reduces negative effects. I probably should have realized it could happen.¡±


    Sophia started to agree, then realized there was really no point in beating Dav up about it. He¡¯d missed it and already felt bad enough about it; the fact that they¡¯d have to deal with the consequences of his altered appearance later were enough. ¡°So, ah, it doesn¡¯t look like you were able to get that much else. What are the spells?¡±


    ¡°I wanted to get a second point in Core, but that was going to take seventy-five Wisps instead of fifty,¡± Dav grumbled. ¡°If I did that, I couldn¡¯t get any Spells. As it is, I could only get two; those two were really twenty each even though the slots were cheaper.¡±


    ¡°Maybe it means they¡¯re good?¡± Sophia took another look, but she wasn¡¯t sure what the difference between Empowerment and Overcharge was.


    ¡°Eldritch Empowerment lets me grant a minor eldritch boon to myself or others,¡± Dav said. ¡°I figure it¡¯ll be useful somehow once I figure out how to use it. Eldritch Overcharge is simpler; I can channel extra mana into my Summons to make them more effective or last longer.¡±


    Sophia nodded. She wasn¡¯t sure she¡¯d have taken Empowerment, but Overcharge sounded good. There was only one other thing on the sheet that concerned her. ¡°Do you think the synchronization required for your armor means you need to wear it for a while again?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, probably,¡± Dav agreed. He groaned softly, then reached over to his armor and triggered its Rapid Assembly ability. ¡°Why don¡¯t you get started on your Level while I wait for it to synchronize?¡±


    Sophia pulled up her own Status and frowned at it. She definitely had the points to increase her Body and Core and Level, but if she did that before she bought other things, they would be more expensive. That seemed odd, but it kept being repeated so she had to believe it was true.


    When she compared her Status to the recommendations Rensyn gave, the only thing she was missing was Unaffiliated abilities. She hadn¡¯t been impressed with the options, but it was worth another look. She was also a bit short of Spells and Martial Abilities from Cliff, but the only cost there was slots and there wasn¡¯t anything in Cliff¡¯s list that she really wanted to add at the moment. She hadn¡¯t even used Rush yet!


    There absolutely were Abilities she¡¯d already seen in the Species and Spellblade categories that she wanted, but she¡¯d just have to wait on those. She had three Abilities in each and none in Unaffiliated.


    Sophia opened up the category and made her way past the same lists of uninteresting abilities as before. Okay, maybe Sword Training would be useful, but surely she could practice without it? Offensive Shield Use was similar; maybe it meant the Guide would help her, but Sophia just couldn¡¯t believe that it would make that much of a difference. Similar abilities could be granted by the Voice back home, but they usually went to people who didn¡¯t have a trainer; either way, you had to put the time in. The Skill simply meant that you could learn without someone else to teach you and actually get some things right.


    It wasn¡¯t until she made it farther than she had the previous time that she saw a category that actually interested her. She couldn¡¯t even be sure it had been there; things seemed to appear and disappear periodically and it might not have been there before she picked her spells and MageSight.


    The category labeled Arcane Manipulation and it sounded absolutely perfect for Sophia.


    It was. Ability after ability was interesting. It seemed that she could increase the power of her Force spells, decrease their visibility, and even change their shape, all at the cost of extra mana when she cast the spell. Sophia doubted the Abilities would be cheap; she knew what it took to change a spellform and this had to be similar.


    That meant the real question was what she needed. She¡¯d also have to consider how many she could afford, but she needed to start with the ones that would make the most of a difference against the corpsevines. At the same time, she couldn¡¯t consider only the corpsevines; that would be setting herself up for failure later. An ability that worked only on plants, if there was one here, might be very useful against corpsevines and useless later.


    Sophia took her time. There were at least a dozen abilities she wanted in the section, but there was no way she could afford them all. There were hints in a few of the Abilities that they were intended to work with spells she didn¡¯t have. She was definitely going to have to look again later.


    In the end, she narrowed her choices to three: Disruptive Magic, Visual Targeting, and Spell Hardening. Disruptive Magic was her favorite, even though she didn¡¯t know if it would be useful against the corpsevines at all. It would let her use her Arcane spells to disrupt spell structures. Sophia wasn¡¯t certain if that meant spells she saw cast, enchantments, or both. She suspected it would have some effect on both, but that one would be far more difficult to disrupt than the other. Either way, it would be useful the moment she encountered spellcasters and she¡¯d already seen that monsters could cast spells; the Rage Beavers were spellcasters. The only reason she didn¡¯t immediately take it was that the one corpsevine she¡¯d seen didn¡¯t use any spells at all.


    Visual Targeting, on the other hand, was especially useful if she wanted to hit things that were either moving quickly or a long way away. It allowed her to maintain control of a spell as it traveled and hit exactly where she was looking. It would slow down her spellcasting but she wouldn¡¯t miss. It would help her hit enemies¡¯ weaknesses. For the corpsevines, it might let her use Force Bolt to sever their vines, but that was probably all it would let her do.


    Spell Hardening was almost the opposite of Disruptive Magic. It was a spell that she probably wouldn¡¯t have looked twice at under most circumstances; simply boosting the power of a spell, which was an option that didn¡¯t quite make her top three, sounded more interesting most of the time. The corspsevines, however, were the perfect enemies to use Spell Hardening on. With Spell Hardening, her Force Bolt would penetrate farther into the flesh shielding the vine¡¯s central core and have a better chance of breaking the core. Unlike the Empower Spell ability that she¡¯d seen before, it didn¡¯t say it was more damaging, simply that it stayed together longer and therefore penetrated farther.


    There were other Abilities that would be better than Spell Hardening in other circumstances, but she really couldn¡¯t pass that one up now. She decided she¡¯d get all three if she could afford it.


    A moment later, she had them. She was pretty sure she could afford a fourth Ability in the same category, but she hesitated and glanced down at her Spellblade list. It never made her list before because it didn¡¯t seem relevant, but wasn¡¯t there an ability in there that had something to do with fighting monsters she¡¯d seen before?


    40 Wisps was a lot to spend on a slot so that she could look, but Sophia decided to go for it. She knew she¡¯d want the slot for something later, so it wasn¡¯t a waste. There were a lot of useful Spellblade abilities.


    It took a while, but Sophia eventually found what she was looking for. It wasn¡¯t a single Ability; instead, it was an entire category of abilities called ¡°Collected Enemies.¡± It was pretty clear that this was a large part of what the Spellblade¡¯s connection to Cliff¡¯s Collection was supposed to be from the sheer number of abilities that were present.


    She could cast a spell to locate a particular type of collected enemy, boost her spells or Martial Abilities against them or against ¡°related creatures,¡± become invisible to them, grant herself their form as either an illusion or an actual, if temporary, shapeshift, or even borrow their abilities in some way. Sophia wasn¡¯t certain how that was different from using collected Spells and Martial Abilities, but maybe it didn¡¯t need a slot?


    She wasn¡¯t going to find out the answer to that any time soon. She simply didn¡¯t care enough about it to try it, not at the high price these Abilities carried and even more so when she could see an Ability that was even better than she¡¯d expected. In fact, there were several Abilities that were probably amazing. The problem was that she had to pick only one.

 Chapter 81 - Level Two

    Collected Knowledge would simply allow her to know what Cliff did about monsters in his Collection without having to look it up. It meant she would know about both weaknesses and things to be careful of based on the Species and possibly Sphere of enemies, if monsters worked the same way as the people around her did.


    It wasn¡¯t entirely clear, but Sophia suspected that if Cliff managed to Collect information on people with Spheres, she¡¯d eventually start to know what people could do as well in the same way. Her Sphere was so flexible that she knew that wasn¡¯t enough information to be a complete predictor, but it would probably help if she had to fight someone. Technically, it was all information she could have by asking Cliff, but the Ability meant she wouldn¡¯t have to.


    She probably wasn¡¯t going to take it. Cliff seemed to be willing to speak up when he saw something important, and he already had that ability or something close enough.


    The other four that caught Sophia¡¯s eye were mirrors of each other. One would let her magic shatter her opponents¡¯ shields more easily based on their similarity to something Cliff had Collected, while the other amplified the damage of her spells after the shield was broken. The last two were the same thing, but for her Imbued Blades.


    Sophia wanted Collected Knowledge. It didn¡¯t directly enhance her ability to fight the way the others did, but it would be incredibly important if she ever ran into something with a strength or weakness that Cliff knew about and she didn¡¯t. She was certain she¡¯d take it at some point, but was it the right choice now? Did Cliff know anything about the corpsevines that the locals didn¡¯t?


    The immediate answer was easy: he didn¡¯t. Sophia already knew what he could tell her about the Fresh Corpsevine Cutting they fought and there was nothing there she didn¡¯t already know; it was also basically what they¡¯d been told by Rensyn. In fact, the only new knowledge he had was the modifier ¡°fresh¡± in front of the creature¡¯s name. It implied that there were other options, but not what they were.


    Collected Knowledge would probably have that problem a lot. She¡¯d really only learn things after the first time she saw them. In that sense, it was more of a memory aid than anything else. She probably didn¡¯t need a memory aid right now.


    It was easy to discard three of the other four abilities. She was going to try to specialize in spellcasting, which meant the ones for her Imbued Blades weren¡¯t what she wanted. On top of that, while shieldbreaking was useful, so was hurting things after the shields were broken and the corpsevines didn¡¯t have shields.


    Her choice was between Collected Knowledge and Antithetical Destructive Spell. For the corpsevines, Sophia thought Antithetical Destructive Spell was probably the best choice. She knew it would work on them and be useful.


    She rejected it in favor of Collected Knowledge anyway.


    Collected Knowledge led in the direction she wanted to go more than simple destructive power, but that wasn¡¯t the deciding factor. It didn¡¯t occur to her until the last moment, but while Antithetical Destructive Spell would undoubtedly make fights that they could already win easier, it would make only a small difference on fights that were tough. Collected Knowledge might make no difference at all, but where it did make a difference it was likely to be large - and it seemed more likely to matter in the tough fights. Perhaps it wouldn¡¯t matter against the corpsevines, but it was worth the chance. She could take Antithetical Destructive Spell later.


    Unlike Dav, Sophia didn¡¯t feel anything because of any of her new Abilities or her Level, beyond a slight tickling sensation as mana moved around her. The only one that might have had an effect was Collected Knowledge. She was glad it didn¡¯t, because she hadn¡¯t even considered it until after she took the Ability.


    A glance at her Status satisfied Sophia, though she definitely wanted to talk to Dav about both of them picking up the Individual Telepathic Link ability when they had the points. They¡¯d said they¡¯d consider it when they had more points, but they both had to have it or it was useless and Dav wouldn¡¯t have had enough points.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Sophia


    </td>


    <td>


    Spells:


    </td>


    <td>


    Unaffiliated Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Warped Human


    </td>


    <td>


    (Rush, 1, 1)


    </td>


    <td>


    Innate Communication (Bonus, Free)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    (Feather Image)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Spell Hardening, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Body: 6


    </td>


    <td>


    Martial Abilities:


    </td>


    <td>


    (Visual Targeting, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Core: 8


    </td>


    <td>


    (Stunning Roar, 1, 1)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Disruptive Magic, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Shield: 30


    </td>


    <td>


    Species Spells:


    </td>


    <td>


    Species Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Force Bolt, 1, 1)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Aura Armor, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Wisps: 1


    </td>


    <td>


    (Force Blast, 1, 1)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Spell Reservoir, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Feather Image)


    </td>


    <td>


    (MageSight, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Spheres


    </td>


    <td>


    Attunements:


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Spellblade (Hallow)


    </td>


    <td>


    Contraceptive Amulet, 3


    </td>


    <td>


    Spellblade Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Level:2


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Imbue Blade, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Animate Blade, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Collector (Linked)


    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Animate Spell Blade, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Level: 2


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Collected Knowledge, 1, 1)


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    She flicked the screen to Dav. He zeroed in on a difference she hadn¡¯t paid attention to. ¡°Why is your Shield thirty? Mine¡¯s only twenty.¡±


    Sophia shrugged. She couldn¡¯t answer that. All she could do was guess. ¡°Well, Cliff¡¯s Level also went up. Maybe that¡¯s it?¡±


    ¡°Maybe.¡± Dav sighed. ¡°I wonder if there are any Abilities that give more Shield?¡±


    ¡°Possibly under Unaffiliated?¡± It sounded like the kind of thing that would be there. If she¡¯d thought of it before she increased her Level, she¡¯d have looked. It might have been worth taking, given the way everyone talked about delaying Leveling as long as possible.


    That reminded Sophia to check: just how bad was the hit to point costs from Leveling? With the way everyone talked about it, it had to be pretty severe.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Body: 6


    </td>


    <td>


    Wisp Dedication - Sophia


    </td>


    <td>


    Ability Slots:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    75 Wisps


    </td>


    <td>


    Available Wisps: 1


    </td>


    <td>


    Spellblade Spell: 30 Wisps


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Feather Image)


    </td>


    <td>


    Spellblade Martial Ability: 30 Wisps


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Core: 8


    </td>


    <td>


    Unslot Ability:


    </td>


    <td>


    Species Spell: 40 Wisps


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    75 Wisps


    </td>


    <td>


    Spellblade Spell: 1 * Slot Level * Spell Level


    </td>


    <td>


    Unaffiliated: 70 Wisps


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Spellblade Martial Ability: 1 * Slot Level * Spell Level


    </td>


    <td>


    Species: 50 Wisps


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Spheres


    </td>


    <td>


    Species Spell: 5 * Slot Level * Spell Level


    </td>


    <td>


    Spellblade: 90 Wisps


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Spellblade (Hallow)


    </td>


    <td>


    Unaffiliated: 5 * Slot Level * Spell Level


    </td>


    <td>


    (Feather Image)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Level:2


    </td>


    <td>


    Species Ability:201 * Slot Level * Spell Level


    </td>


    <td>


    Unaffiliated Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    20 Wisps


    </td>


    <td>


    Spellblade Ability: 10 * Slot Level * Spell Level


    </td>


    <td>


    Dedication Requires Available Slot


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Collector (Linked)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Species Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Level: 2


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Dedication Requires Available Slot


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    No Dedication Possible


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Spellblade Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Dedication Requires Available Slot


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    ¡°Oof.¡± Sophia scanned the list again. Was there anything that wasn¡¯t double its previous cost?


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Dav grabbed for the pot with one hand while he held the other out to touch Sophia reassuringly. ¡°It didn¡¯t hurt you, did it?¡±


    Sophia shook her head, inwardly pleased that Dav was concerned about her but more interested in reassuring him. ¡°No, no, I¡¯m not hurt. It¡¯s the prices. I think everything doubled.¡±


    Or had it? Sophia stared at the Spellblade Ability Slot cost. Hadn¡¯t she paid 40 for it? If it went up by the usual amount, that would make it cost 100 Wisps, not 90. The others seemed to have doubled from their current cost, and she didn¡¯t have an open slot to check prices to see if those went up. They probably had, but how much was a good question. With that kind of price increase, getting Individual Telepathic Bond was going to be even harder.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think Body and Core increased,¡± Dav said. He sounded a little puzzled. ¡°Everything else did, but those two are the same as after I increased them once. Do you think that¡¯s why Rensyn said not to do more with it?¡±


    Sophia looked at the left side of the screen and found that he was right; 75 Wisps was only half again what she paid for the first increase. It was a notable increase, but it certainly wasn¡¯t double the way almost everything else was. ¡°That can¡¯t be the whole story or he wouldn¡¯t say to always increase it one. It¡¯s really annoying that they don¡¯t seem to be able to predict how the Wisp costs will rise.¡±


    ¡°Did any of yours go up by more than double?¡± Dav dismissed his screens and turned towards Sophia. ¡°My Species ability slots did, but the Species Spell Slots didn¡¯t, they¡¯re only up by about fifty percent. I think.¡±


    Sophia shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure my Spellblade slots didn¡¯t quite double, but I don¡¯t have anything that¡¯s over double. At least, not anything I can see; I can¡¯t see what the Abilities themselves cost.¡±


    Dav paused, then called up his Status. ¡°Hmm. Unaffiliated¡¯s the only place I have an empty slot, and I don¡¯t remember a lot of the costs. Most of them seem to be double, I think, but there are some I don¡¯t remember and some of the others are actually cheaper, I think?¡±


    Sophia blinked at that. Why would some of them be cheaper? ¡°What are you seeing?¡±


    Dav didn¡¯t answer immediately.


    Sophia waited; he was clearly taking his time to read through the list. It took her a moment to realize that there was something different about him and another moment of puzzling to realize what it is. ¡°Is your armor done synchronizing? It looks different.¡±


    Since Dav first bonded the armor and changed its appearance from stone, the armor had always looked sort of like the surface was made of purple scales, but now they weren¡¯t just purple. They were mostly purple but there was also blue and many of them had some iridescence. They also seemed to be very, very shiny, as if they were polished. It still didn¡¯t look like real scales.


    At least as importantly, the armor had shifted its form somewhat. Sophia couldn¡¯t quite name the armor, but it reminded her of something from a movie she¡¯d gone to with her aunt set in Roman times about Scipio Africanus. She was pretty sure the plot wasn¡¯t historically accurate, but the armor was really similar to what she saw in the movie, so she mentally tagged it as ¡°sort of Roman.¡±


    ¡°I haven¡¯t checked,¡± Dav admitted, ¡°but I expect so. All of the ones I¡¯m seeing that are cheaper have to do with my armor. I wonder if it¡¯s not that they¡¯re cheaper now but that they were overpriced earlier?¡±


    Sophia squinted at the idea. ¡°I¡¯m not sure that makes sense, but maybe? You mean this is the price they always should have been?¡±


    Dav barked out a sharp laugh. ¡°Well, closer. Four hundred is less than five hundred, but I¡¯m not paying that many Wisps for the ability to temporarily shroud my armor in shadows at either price. Covering it with a dark cloak would do the same thing and it wouldn¡¯t cost mana to maintain.¡±


    ¡°Ah,¡± Sophia started. That was quite a bit more than she thought that was worth, too. ¡°Do you think it will come down more?¡±


    ¡°I hope so. It explains why no one can give us a straight answer, at least. They don¡¯t understand it either.¡± Dav flicked away his screens, then stretched. ¡°I can move more easily, especially my shoulders. I hadn¡¯t realized it was binding a little; I thought it was just the weight. This seems lighter, too.¡±


    ¡°Or maybe it¡¯s because you increased your Body?¡± Sophia had to offer the obvious alternative.


    Dav shook his head. ¡°I doubt it. I don¡¯t think you were around when I asked Revina about Body and Core. She said that increasing Body doesn¡¯t actually change how strong you are. It sounds like it¡¯s pretty fuzzy, that it sort of improves everything but only in the areas you focus on?¡± Dav shrugged. ¡°She did say that the most common starting Body is two and Core is zero, or one for spellcasters. She wouldn¡¯t tell me what hers was, but it was probably close to that. I figure we¡¯re both well ahead of the curve there.¡±


    Sophia didn¡¯t have a good way to test her physical body, but testing her magic was easy enough. ¡°Give me a minute.¡±


    It took longer than a minute. In fact, Sophia was still testing her magical prowess with exercises she¡¯d learned growing up when Dav interrupted her for dinner. ¡°Any luck?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Sophia answered. ¡°I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s the Core increase or the level, but my aura¡¯s larger and my mana pool is deeper. I don¡¯t think I have any more ability to sense details or work with them, but I think I can push a little more mana into spells as well. When we have the points, I think I should buy another point in Core and check again.¡±


    She should do that after they both bought Individual Telepathic Link. It was expensive and she definitely didn¡¯t need the cost to go up any more.

 Chapter 82 - Shedding Color

    Lightning struck the ground near Physalix. He raised one of his tentacle arms and shook it in the general direction of the Hungering Spark. ¡°Yen! Control your lightning.¡±


    Yen¡¯s amused answer was easily heard over the thunder that echoed across the grassland. Physalix did not even realize that this was odd; after all, why would mere sound make a mental communication difficult to hear? ¡°My Domain is always under my control. It did not strike you.¡±


    Physalix wanted to snap at the lightning-creature that it should not have even come close to hitting, but it knew better. Its control of its temporary companion was not yet that high. Yen could decide to attack Physalix; it was always hungry and while Physalix was certain it could prevent Yen from actually managing to consume Physalix, having to kill Yen would be a huge setback in the hunt for the bright spark. Yen would surely taste good, but a snack wasn¡¯t worth the loss of Yen¡¯s abilities in the hunt for a far better meal.


    Worse, Yen could decide that it wanted to chase the bright spark without waiting on Physalix. Yen could move far faster than Physalix. That was almost as annoying as the fact that the lightning monster had a Domain that Physalix could do nothing about. It could not follow the link to the bright spark, but it knew the direction they were traveling in. All Yen had to do was hurry ahead and kill everything it found and it would surely find the bright spark.


    It was good that Yen had not realized this. Yen could not think beyond its hunger and Physalix had promised it delicious food. That was all Yen seemed to need. Physalix still wanted more control. It was not yet powerful enough.


    Physalix looked into the distance towards the stone jungle. There had to be prey there, prey that would let it grow stronger. It was also the wrong direction for both the bright spark and the little spark. They were almost to the little spark. It was time to choose; should Physalix hide for the bright time once again or should they press on in search of the little spark?


    Physalix did not like the too bright and too hot ball in the sky. It could tolerate it now, with the Water Retention Ability it gained after it ate the spicy fish two nights before, but it still did not like it.


    The hot bright time was when the small spark moved and it always moved away, towards the bright spark. Physalix was tired of chasing the small spark.


    Physalix trudged onwards as it thought. The decision was a foregone conclusion; the simple fact that it kept moving meant it had already decided. It was tired of chasing the small spark. Physalix was going to pursue it until it caught it, then it was going to either eat the small spark or convince it to help capture the big spark for Physalix to eat.


    Physalix no longer cared which. It was tired of walking. It was not made to walk long distances like this.


    Dawn came and went and Physalix kept moving. The Hungering Spark¡¯s Domain kept up easily, though Yen did not show itself except in afterimages of its lightning.


    For once, the small spark did not run away. It moved, but it moved off to the side, away from the direction of the bright spark.


    Physalix had to choose: did it follow the far away bright spark or did it follow the closer small spark?


    The small spark was close. The bright spark would take days of travel to reach, maybe more. As long as the small spark did not run too far, it was worth finding the small spark. Physalix followed the feel of the small spark.


    It led to a strange stone jungle, one that was not overgrown the way the earlier stone jungle was. There were some plants, but they were mostly the small ones that lived on rock rather than the big ones that pushed between the rocks. Physalix scraped some of the small plants off a stone and ate it.


    It was no tastier than the big plants. Physalix would not eat that unless it had to; the small spark would be far more yummy.


    Yen was not as picky. It saw Physalix try to eat the small plants and appeared beside the Land Jelly for the first time since the hot bright thing climbed into the sky. It carved a large mat of small plants off a rock and shoved it into the space that opened in its chest.


    ¡°This is edible but not very filling,¡± Yen projected at Physalix. ¡°Are we near the yummy spark? Is there better food?¡±


    It carved more of the small plant from the rock, taking some of the stone with the plant. A large tong extended from the Hungering Spark¡¯s middle and scooped up the greenery while it waited for Physalix¡¯s answer.


    ¡°We are close, but the small spark may be an ally in the hunt for the bright spark,¡± Physalix warned Yen. ¡°You must not eat it unless I tell you to.¡±


    Yen did not send any more thoughts. Instead, lightning sparked from its location and rose into the sky. Physalix knew that meant Yen would not be back for some time. It did not like being told there was nothing to eat and was off finding something better than the small plants.


    Or perhaps it was hunting more of the small plants. Physalix did not know; it only knew that Yen did not mind the big plants and seemed happy with everything about the small plants except for their size. Yen could eat a lot, far more than Physalix could eat.


    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    The effects of the Domain of the Hungering Spark seemed lessened as Physalix made its way through piles of tall gray stone. It could tell it was getting closer and closer to the small spark.


    It turned a corner and thought it might even be close enough to see the small spark. It looked around and a splash of many colors in all of the gray caught its eye from exactly the direction the small spark was in.


    A small furry animal sat in an opening in the stone piles. It seemed like it should have been white and gray and black, but bright colors marred whatever camouflage it should have had in the dull environment. Strangely, the small plants and even some of the rocks near it were also brightly colored, as if the animal granted color to everything around it. It was clearly not a domain like the Hungering Spark¡¯s.


    If anything, it should be a problem for a small animal like that. It might be the small spark, but it looked positively delicious. Brightly colored yummy small animals wanted to be eaten.


    ¡°You have been following me. What do you want?¡± The small animal¡¯s high pitched voice clearly carried across the distance to Physalix.


    That seemed wrong to Physalix, but it did not know why. Maybe it was because Yen spoke in Physalix¡¯s mind? The animal had a mouth; there was no reason it could not speak.


    ¡°I can feel your spark,¡± Physalix answered bluntly. ¡°You look delicious, but I seek better prey. Will you aid me in hunting the bright spark?¡±


    A loud crack of thunder announced Yen¡¯s arrival behind Physalix. It must have noticed that Physalix stopped.


    The furry animal lowered its head and flattened its ears. ¡°You want to eat the bright spark?¡±


    Physalix felt its mouth moisten at the thought. The bright spark would be truly yummy. Far yummier than fish, even spicy fish. ¡°Yes. It is a long way from here but the prize is worth the walk. It is mine and I will eat it.¡±


    ¡°It travels with others. Will you eat them as well?¡± There was an odd note in the colorful animal¡¯s voice. It almost sounded like it was telling Physalix what to do. Normally, Physalix would object, but it would happily eat more bright sparks.


    ¡°There are more sparks? If there are more sparks, I can share them. Would you like to eat a small spark?¡± Physalix could barely contain its excitement.


    ¡°I want to eat a spark,¡± Yen projected from behind Physalix. ¡°Is this a spark? It looks yummy.¡±


    The colorful-furred animal lifted its head to look beyond Physalix at Yen. ¡°I can feel you. You have changed. You are not the ????§Ü I knew any more than I am the man I once was.¡±


    Physalix knew the animal said a name. It even knew the name was Yen¡¯s. What it didn¡¯t know was what the name was. It wasn¡¯t Yen, but Physalix could not hear what the name was. It was wrong. It was painful.


    Physalix felt a sudden pain from one of its arm-tentacles and whipped around to see Yen withdrawing one of its energy claws with a fragment of tentacle dangling from it.


    ¡°Idiot!¡± Physalix roared mentally. ¡°Claw the one who hurt you, not me!¡±


    ¡°You have not changed,¡± the animal¡¯s voice sounded a little softer and slower. ¡°I should have expected that.¡±


    Physalix felt an odd pain, almost like tearing, followed by a sharp ping! noise inside its head that scrambled all of its senses for a moment. Even before its vision cleared, Physalix knew it could no longer feel the small spark it followed to find the animal. The animal had cut the link between them.


    ¡°Kill it,¡± Physalis projected in the hope Yen could hear its words. ¡°You can eat the fluffy spark.¡±


    When it could see again, both Yen and the colorful animal were gone. The brightly colored rocks and small plants were there. Physalix wondered if the color meant they would taste better or worse.


    It could not move well right now, so it might as well find out. Yen would catch the small spark and it would be done.


    The brightly colored rocks were not yummy.


    The multicolored small plants were better than the rocks. They were even better than normal large plants. There was a flavor to them that reminded Physalix of the taste the small spark once had. It was far weaker, but even a little of that taste was good.


    Physalix would have preferred to eat the small spark himself, but the colorful small plants would have to do. Yen could catch the small spark; Physalix did not think it would be able to. Telling Yen to save the small spark for Physalix would only make it angry. Giving it the small spark meant Yen would owe Physalix and that would make it easier to claim the bright spark when the time came.


    Knowing there were other sparks with it made it even easier. Physalix could distract Yen with the other sparks while it ate the bright spark. Yen would even thank it for the chance to eat more than its share. That was how Yen had been, even in the time Physalix could not truly remember. He was easy. The other one was less easy but the other one should be eaten now. Physalix was certain the animal was the other one.


    Physalix finished the colorful small plants, then looked around. Yen should be back by now.


    Before Physalix could decide if it should climb over the shelf of piled-up rock to hunt for Yen, a bright light erupted from somewhere in the stone piles ahead of Physalix. It almost looked like a larger version of Yen¡¯s lightning, but Yen¡¯s lightning was green. This was pink and orange and blue. It seemed far more like the colors of the small spark.


    If the small spark could make lightning stronger than Yen¡¯s, something was very wrong. Physalix couldn¡¯t quite believe that the small spark could overwhelm Yen. Maybe they hurt each other?


    If they hurt each other, maybe Physalix could eat the pieces?


    The lightning did not last long, but it pushed Physalix into struggling over the rocks. It started to head towards the lightning, but Yen arrived first.


    ¡°It got away,¡± Yen complained. It was almost a whine. ¡°It ran into a hole in the rock and then yummy-looking colors with no taste came out. When I looked inside again it was gone.¡±


    ¡°Show me the hole,¡± Physalix ordered Yen. This was even better than giving Yen the chance to eat the small spark. Physalix now had a failure it could remind Yen of. It might even be able to eat the small spark as well as the bright spark!

 Chapter 83 - Lady Essia

    Sophia wasn¡¯t sure why she assumed they¡¯d head out to deal with the corpsevines the next day when the corpsevines had been there for years. Maybe it was the fact that Rensyn asked them to go ahead and use their Wisps?


    That wasn¡¯t what happened. Instead, the Vocational Registry building was a hive of activity, with people hurrying through the lobby at all hours. It reminded Sophia of the Adventurer¡¯s Guild at home on a holiday weekend, when everyone who liked delving but didn¡¯t do it for their income came to visit and at least half the groups needed experienced guides. Most people didn¡¯t really want to spend their life fighting monsters, after all. If dungeons weren¡¯t the only significant source of Etherium and the main source of mana stones and monster cores, there would probably be a lot fewer delvers.


    At the same time, it was odd. Unlike the rushes at home, which were always a bit crazy but also expected and planned for, this seemed far more haphazard. It was like they had a plan but never used it. They might even be coming up with the plan as they went.


    Whatever the reason was, Sophia and her team were kept busy running errands all over Casterville. When they weren¡¯t carrying messages, they were training. Sophia welcomed the physical training; she hadn¡¯t fought with anyone who was distinctly better trained than she was since she was thrown into a new world, and it showed.


    The magical training was less impressive. Sophia did not care about wand technique and had no desire to learn it. Unless the wand was enchanted to carry a spellform, all using a wand did was indicate that you were casting and where the spell would come from; it was far better to use aura manipulation. The fact that the people Rensyn found to teach her didn¡¯t know how to use their auras to create proper spellforms and could only do extremely basic Intent-based magic without a Guide-granted spell meant that there was nothing they could teach her in terms of how to cast magic.


    It wasn¡¯t until Rensyn tapped Samuel, the Fire mage, as a teacher that Sophia actually had a magic instructor she could trust. He took an entire training session to find out what she could do and what she already knew instead of starting with ¡°the things every young mage should know¡± and then proceeded to start teaching her things she didn¡¯t know, starting with how the Guide separated Spells and Martial Techniques.


    It was annoyingly simple. Spells required mana, while martial techniques were more tiring. Martial techniques also always required appropriate movement, but Samuel noted that most people didn¡¯t require that a difference because most people had to move to cast spells.


    There were martial techniques for things that seemed like spells, like flying or teleportation or even offensive abilities. There were spells for things that sounded a lot like material techniques, like sharpening a blade or running faster.


    The more Sophia heard, the more she wanted a Martial Technique other than Stunning Roar. It was of limited use, but the real problem was that she couldn¡¯t learn anything from it. The emotional state that was required to use it made it almost impossible for her to carefully examine what the Ability did. It had to have a power source, and ¡°makes the user tired¡± wasn¡¯t all that helpful as a description.


    Sophia clearly needed to hunt some more monsters that used Martial Techniques so that Cliff could learn them. She¡¯d also have to get enough Wisps to buy the slot, but that shouldn¡¯t be too expensive, even at Level Two.


    Sophia clearly needed to find Rensyn. When Samuel said he was done for the day, she hurried into the lobby. Aimiva was at the reception desk, exactly as Sophia expected. There were several people in front of Sophia, but the line wasn¡¯t that long. As Sophia watched, the man at the front of the line got a key, nodded deeply to Aimiva, and headed to the stairs.


    ¡°What¡¯s going on here?¡± The young girl who was now at the front of Aimiva¡¯s line set a small cloth pouch on the desk in front of Aimiva. It clinked with a tone that sounded like metal; Sophia assumed it was probably coins. ¡°I could barely get anyone¡¯s attention to take the deer when I brought it home and they said everyone was running because of something here at the Registry?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s nothing you need to worry about, Lady Essia. We¡¯re preparing for a big hunt; there are some monsters on the outskirts that need to be dealt with. I¡¯m sure your mentor will let you know if you¡¯re on the call list once it¡¯s figured out. I assume you want a room?¡± Aimiva¡¯s smile was calm and professional, but it was blatantly obvious that she didn¡¯t think she should tell the girl anything.


    It made Sophia sympathetic. She could remember all too many times where people didn¡¯t want to talk to her. It didn¡¯t matter if it was because of who her parents were or just that they thought she was too young to worry about things; it was always intensely frustrating.


    Lady Essia seemed to be in her mid teens, probably sixteen or seventeen. Her brown hair and freckles reminded Sophia a little of Amy, but she had four ears instead of two and her upper ears weren¡¯t wolves¡¯ ears. Sophia wasn¡¯t certain what they were; they were too rounded and full for any of the animals she could think of immediately. They definitely weren¡¯t dog¡¯s ears. They were closer to racoon ears, but even that was wrong, and they were a bit too pointy for bear ears. Her lower ears were even pointier, although they were shorter than Sophia¡¯s.


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    A closer look at the girl¡¯s clothing showed that she was richly dressed, with several layers of clothing. She had fur weaved into her hair near the top and what looked like reddish hair extensions forming braids; they didn¡¯t quite match her natural hair color, but that almost seemed deliberate. The pendant she had around her neck was clearly her Registry badge. It was, if anything, even fancier than the ones Dav and Sophia wore, so it had to be one of the nicer ones that came with additional benefits. That probably explained the mention of a mentor.


    ¡°Yep,¡± Lady Essia agreed. ¡°I¡¯m not sure how long I¡¯ll be here this time, it depends on when Father realizes he hasn¡¯t seen me for a few days. He was way too busy to interrupt his schedule for his daughter, so ¡­¡±


    Essia shrugged. She didn¡¯t seem particularly upset; it was more like this was normal. ¡°I¡¯m guessing a couple weeks. Where is Mentor Samuel, anyway? I think I figured out the twisting thing he was trying to teach me while I was hunting and I want to see if I¡¯m doing it right.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure,¡± Aimiva admitted. ¡°Probably in his workroom; that¡¯s where he usually is. I know he¡¯s not out in the field, but he could be elsewhere in Casterville.¡±


    Sophia shook her head and spoke up. ¡°He¡¯s out in the practice yard; he said something about working on his weaves when he sent me inside.¡±


    Aimiva mouthed a ¡°thank you¡± towards Sophia while Lady Essia¡¯s back was turned before she grabbed a key. ¡°Here you go, Lady Essia. You¡¯re in the usual room.¡±


    ¡°Thank you!¡± Lady Essia chirped, then moved to the side. Sophia noticed that she kept glancing between the exit and Sophia, almost like she was nervous.


    Before Sophia could decide whether she should check on the girl or not, Aimiva finished with the man in front of Sophia and called her forward. ¡°What do you need, Sophia? Is something wrong with your room?¡±


    Sophia shook her head. ¡°No, nothing like that. I was just wondering if you had any idea where Rensyn is?¡±


    Aimiva shook her head. ¡°You¡¯re not going to be able to find him ¡®til this evening; he¡¯s coordinating something for the Commander, so he¡¯s in Casterville running around. He¡¯ll be back for dinner, but it may be a late dinner.¡±


    Sophia nodded. That was when she¡¯d seen him for most of the past week, if she saw him at all. ¡°That¡¯s what I figured. Thanks.¡±


    Sophia turned away from Aimiva only to find that Lady Essia had bounced up to her. She was shorter than Sophia had thought; Lady Essia was only as tall as Sophia¡¯s chin.


    ¡°Can you lead me to Mentor Samuel?¡± Lady Essia glanced towards the door again, then back at Sophia. ¡°Since you know where he is? Are you taking lessons from him too? He¡¯s the best, isn¡¯t he?¡±


    Sophia blinked at Lady Essia¡¯s string of questions. The reason Aimiva was relieved by Sophia¡¯s intervention was suddenly a lot more obvious. She turned and led the way out the door before she answered. ¡°Yes, I am. I hadn¡¯t realized he had any other students; have you been taking lessons from him for long?¡±


    ¡°Oh, years and years,¡± Lady Essia answered with a wave of her hand behind her. ¡°My Father doesn¡¯t have time to teach me, so he arranged for Mentor Samuel to visit the Palace three times a week when I was little. He¡¯s unhappy I took a Vocation instead of waiting for a Profession and blames Mentor Samuel for it, though, so that doesn¡¯t happen anymore. I have to come here if I want to learn more. It shouldn¡¯t be a problem but Father doesn¡¯t like it when I remind him I¡¯m an adult so I don¡¯t usually get to stay here for long. He doesn¡¯t object to the animals I hunt even if he does make me take guards. It makes it really hard to gather Wisps, I can¡¯t do anything important and even when I¡¯m doing something useful I have higher Level guards which makes it so that I barely get any Wisps. I¡¯ll never Level at this rate.¡±


    ¡°Calm down and breathe, Essia.¡± Samuel¡¯s amused voice interrupted Lady Essia¡¯s increasingly high pitched rant. ¡°I know it¡¯s tough, but your father doesn¡¯t want you hurt.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve had a Vocation for a year and all I have is three spells,¡± Lady Essia countered. ¡°I was able to choose two of them when I picked my Vocation! One spell in a year isn¡¯t tough, it¡¯s useless.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re a lot better at control than you were,¡± Samuel countered. ¡°Undirected healing is fine for restoring shield, but not for bodily healing or purification. One spell also isn¡¯t all you¡¯ve gained; be honest.¡±


    ¡°Fine. One spell and two Starcaller Special Abilities. I can stun my enemies and temporarily blind anyone who attacks me. I still have to use a weapon to actually kill deer! No mage is supposed to have to use weapons,¡± Lady Essia whined.


    ¡°I do,¡± Sophia countered. ¡°So does Dav, and I know Samuel knows how to use a knife even if he doesn¡¯t prefer to. That¡¯s not really what¡¯s upsetting you, is it?¡±


    Lady Essia looked like she¡¯d just lost the ground under her feet. She turned to Samuel for support but he shook his head. She looked down and muttered. ¡°No. It¡¯s just - I thought I¡¯d have a spell for everything by now. It¡¯s been a year and I¡¯m not even level two.¡±


    Sophia felt her irritation with the girl melt. Essia was clearly a bit spoiled, but under that she seemed to have the ability to admit when she was wrong. Sophia could also understand the girl¡¯s position.


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t my father that tried to keep me safe, it was my mother,¡± Sophia told Essia. ¡°You¡¯re what, seventeen? I didn¡¯t manage to convince Mom that I could go out in groups I found for myself until I was eighteen, almost nineteen. It sucks, but I remember telling myself it meant my Mom cared.¡±


    ¡°And I think I have a solution,¡± Samuel said. ¡°Lady Essia, just how good is your Purify spell now?¡±

 Chapter 84 - Mission Briefing?

    Lady Essia¡¯s frown morphed into a smile at the question. ¡°Oh! I almost forgot to tell you! I think I figured out the twisting thing you use to anchor the spell in place so it doesn¡¯t move when the person does!¡±


    ¡°Show me.¡± Samuel held his arm out to Lady Essia, clearly intending it to be the target of her spell. He watched intently as the girl pulled a wand out of a pocket. A series of soft words spilled from Lady Essia¡¯s mouth as she cast the spell.


    Sophia listened for long enough to recognize that, like everyone else she¡¯d seen cast spells, Lady Essia spoke in Bridge and used words related to the spell she was casting. Even without knowing it was a Purify spell, the chant of ¡°Separate poison and disease, draw them out, expel dangers from the body¡± would have told her what the spell was supposed to do. She triggered her MageSight and saw a complex spellform hovering over Samuel¡¯s arm. It was indeed finding things in his blood and removing them from his body, but surely he wasn¡¯t actively poisoned?


    ¡°You¡¯re gripping it too hard,¡± Samuel told Lady Essia. ¡°The body can manage minor toxins on its own; there are cases where you need to cleanse that deeply but they are rare and usually mean the person is dying already. Untwist it just a little ¡­ yes, there. Well done. Now you get to hold it for several minutes. Try to keep it at that level while we talk.¡±


    Sophia saw the spellform shift slightly. She wouldn¡¯t have described it as ¡°gripping too hard¡± or untwisting anything; to her, it looked like Lady Essia allowed the spellform to spread slightly so that it would take far fewer minor things. Indeed, it didn¡¯t seem to actually do much right now, which made sense since she was testing it on someone who didn¡¯t need the spell.


    Well, whatever worked for you was what worked for you. The way her father explained things didn¡¯t always make sense to Sophia either, and he was one of the people who taught her from the time she was little.


    ¡°We need as many healers as we can get,¡± Samuel started. ¡°Especially people who can purify wounds; physical healing is easier than purification. I think we can get you a choice; you can either stay here at the Registry and heal people who are sent back to get them back on their feet to continue the fight, or you can do the same at the advance base we¡¯re going to set up in the western end of Casterville, outside the city nexus¡¯s reach. Either one will be a good place to earn Wisps.¡±


    Sophia frowned at that. ¡°Why outside? Wouldn¡¯t it be safer inside?¡±


    ¡°Placing an advance base inside a Nexus makes the entire Nexus withdraw,¡± Samuel answered immediately. ¡°Bases that are well outside the contested area can be inside a Nexus, but not ones that are close enough to potentially be attacked. It¡¯s one of the reasons Vocational Registries are outside the closest Nexus where it¡¯s possible; sure, it¡¯s convenient for people coming back from missions and it means we can have practice facilities that are just outside, but those are conveniences. Being able to use any Vocational Registry as a base when something comes up is more important. If this were smaller, that¡¯s what we¡¯d do; going around the city takes time but would make sense if we were only moving a dozen people. As it is, a location closer to the fighting makes sense.¡±


    Sophia blinked. That made exactly no sense. ¡°Why would the Guide make it harder when it also rewards doing stuff that protects people?¡±


    Samuel shrugged. ¡°No one really understands the Guide. My guess is that it thinks of that as hiding behind Professionals, but Rensyn thinks it¡¯s because it doesn¡¯t want to make things too easy. Whatever the reason is, that¡¯s how it works. So, Essia, where do you want to be?¡±


    ¡°Father will come here,¡± Lady Essia answered immediately. ¡°He¡¯d make me go home. Closer to where I¡¯m needed is good too.¡±


    Sophia tried not to laugh at Lady Essia¡¯s priorities. ¡°You¡¯re going to have to stand up for yourself eventually or your father will always treat you as a child.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve tried,¡± Lady Essia answered with a wrinkled nose. ¡°He doesn¡¯t want to see it. Says I¡¯ll grow out of it and take a Profession once I¡¯m old enough. Bah.¡±


    Samuel shook his head slightly but didn¡¯t directly comment. ¡°In that case, you¡¯ll need an escort. Sophia, has Rensyn yet told you what you¡¯ll be doing?¡±


    Sophia shook her head and considered Lady Essia for a moment. She could already tell where Samuel was going. ¡°I¡¯ll have to check with the others, but I don¡¯t think we want to stay in a base the entire time.¡±


    She knew she didn¡¯t want to. She also didn¡¯t think that was Rensyn¡¯s plan. If they were going to stay safe behind guards, they wouldn¡¯t need to Level, even if they were backup for the guards in case something sneaky slipped by. They could already handle a single corpsevine and more Shield would only help that so much.


    Samuel shook his head. ¡°There¡¯s little point in keeping a healer-purifier at an advance base if we don¡¯t send her out where she¡¯s needed. There are potions that can help against the corpsevines¡¯ poisons; Halven is making a bunch of them. The problem is that the potion and the poison both attack the body; it takes a lot of healing to recover from using the potion to delay the poison. Anyone you can get to fast enough will recover far, far faster than someone who had to use the potion, even if it¡¯s only enough potion to reach the advance base.¡±


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    That sounded like a very fast acting poison indeed. It was certainly far worse than the ones Sophia was used to.


    On second thought, that might be because every dungeon she knew of that had creatures with poison was already mapped. Unless you were the initial explorers, you knew if there was poison and what protective gear and antidotes you needed to carry. It seemed like that wasn¡¯t the case here; instead, they had healers try to handle things and a shortage of healers.


    ¡°How will we know where we¡¯re needed?¡± There wasn¡¯t any sort of long-range communication here; if there were phones, at least half of the messages Sophia had carried in the last week wouldn¡¯t have been necessary.


    Probably a lot more than half.


    Samuel grinned. ¡°The easy way. We make them come to us. It¡¯s up to the Commander, but I bet you¡¯ll be with the Fire mages. Essia doesn¡¯t have any means to get to patients faster, so it¡¯s the best place for her. I guarantee there will be plenty of fighting.¡±


    Getting everyone to agree was easy. The Quinn twins were happy to help, while Amy was even more stir-crazy than Sophia was and was thrilled to hear there was a plan. Dav insisted on meeting Lady Essia, but once he did he said she was like the little sister he never had. Rensyn was actually the last person let in on the plan, but once he heard about it he was almost as thrilled as Lady Essia was.


    From there, things moved quickly. Sophia¡¯s group was one of the last few to be given a task, but once everything was arranged, they were sent out to the advance base. It was in an old run-down mansion overgrown with greenery and surrounded by trees that were clearly old when the original issue with the corpsevines happened a decade before. There were signs of recent repair; the windows were all intact and the doors had clearly been replaced, but other than that the only sign there were people there was the path that had been cleared to the entrance.


    If Sophia had her directions right, the building was very close to the West Conservatory. She was fairly certain they were a bit more north and farther from Casterville, but the route they took to get to the no longer abandoned building that would be their advance base didn¡¯t take them near the West Conservatory.


    Once they were inside, the first thing Sophia noticed was that all of the windows were reinforced with metal behind the glass and the room had an inch-wide line of old dust that surrounded it everywhere except the doorways. It was far too even and there was much dust to be just a poor cleaning job, which told Sophia that it probably wasn¡¯t just dust. It didn¡¯t seem to have a magical component to it, so it wasn¡¯t part of a ward spell.


    Sophia wished she understood wards better than she did. She could deal with simple wards; that was, after all, how she used to sneak into the cookie jar when she was a teenager. She never got into trouble for it, even though it ticked her nanny off when she ¡°spoiled her dinner.¡± She was pretty sure her father considered bypassing wards to be good training.


    For this, though, the important thing was that it wasn¡¯t a ward. It wasn¡¯t magical. It had to be a completely mundane method to discourage corpsevines. Sophia doubted it would do much against corpsevines hidden in a body, but it might well discourage the vines themselves. She knew it would make her sleep more easily, even without knowing exactly what it did.


    ¡°Ah, you made it. Welcome to our new home away from home,¡± a familiar voice greeted Sophia. She looked up and found herself staring up at a familiar red-headed and fox-eared visage. ¡°Come on up, while we¡¯re here you five will be on the top floor. Some of us elderly folks don¡¯t do stairs as quickly as you youngsters,¡± Samuel joked.


    Sophia probably shouldn¡¯t have been surprised that the Fire Mage leading the contingent they were grouped with was Samuel. Looking back at how everything happened, she should have expected it.


    ¡°You wanted a healer for your team, didn¡¯t you?¡± Dav put Sophia¡¯s thoughts into words before she could, but his tone said something different. She felt a little resentful about being pushed around, but Dav sounded almost admiring.


    ¡°Eh,¡± Samuel lifted one shoulder in a sort of casual half-shrug as he replied. ¡°We were going to have a healer sent to travel with us no matter what we did. Essia¡¯s one of three healers at this particular advance base and I¡¯m one of the two distraction team leads. I didn¡¯t have to push for a healer; I just had to make sure Essia was the one I got. It wasn¡¯t hard; we know each other and can work together. That¡¯s not true of all of the healers here.¡±


    Samuel showed them to the suite that would be their rooms for however long the fight against the corpsevines lasted, then disappeared downstairs to meet with the Commander. Sophia took the chance to ask Lady Essia a question that had been bugging her off and on since she met the healer. ¡°Samuel never uses your title. Why is that? Do you want us to use it or not?¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± Lady Essia sounded surprised. ¡°You don¡¯t know? It¡¯s the old saying about the Registry, Samuel follows it.¡±


    Sophia gave Lady Essia a blank look.


    ¡°You know! Rank stops at the door, that old phrase,¡± Lady Essia explained. ¡°Wait, you didn¡¯t know? How?¡±


    Amy chuckled. ¡°I wondered when you¡¯d notice. Those two came from a long way away. Wherever they¡¯re from, it¡¯s an odd place. They don¡¯t have Vocational Registries, they call them something else. Also, Rae? Pay up.¡±


    She extended a hand towards Rae, who sighed heavily and pulled a few coins out of the pouch at her waist and set them in Amy¡¯s hand.


    Sophia shook her head in amusement. She¡¯d clearly missed when that bet was placed. ¡°So do you want us to call you Essia or Lady Essia?¡±


    Lady Essia shrugged. ¡°Rank stops at the door, I suppose. Essia is fine.¡±

 Chapter 85 - Forest Memories

    More people trickled into the old house over the next few hours. Most of them arrived as individuals, rather than as groups, and Samuel cheerfully led each of them to their assigned rooms. He seemed to know everyone, even the people who were assigned to the other teams. Sophia watched him work for a while, then went to find Dav.


    He wasn¡¯t in their room and he wasn¡¯t in any of the common areas on the first floor. Sophia was certain he wasn¡¯t in anyone else¡¯s room, which only left one place: the roof. Access to the roof was through the attic area; there was a door set into the slanting side of the roof that flipped up to let people crawl onto the roof. It was open when she got there.


    Dav wasn¡¯t the only person on the roof, but he was the only one who seemed to be watching the scenery while lost in thought instead of searching for something. It wasn¡¯t quite like being in private, but as long as they were relatively quiet, Sophia expected the sentries would mostly ignore them.


    Sophia made her way towards where Dav sat and knelt next to him. She whispered, ¡°Penny for your thoughts?¡±


    Dav¡¯s head flew up and he froze for a moment until he saw Sophia. He let out a deep breath. ¡°I didn¡¯t hear you. Ah, not that many. I¡¯m just thinking about home.¡±


    Dav didn¡¯t talk about his past that much. Sure, he¡¯d spilled some details that made it obvious he hadn¡¯t had the easiest life, but at the same time he didn¡¯t seem to want to say much more. He tended to focus on the present, the same way Sophia did.


    Sophia didn¡¯t want to push him too much, but at the same time she was curious. ¡°Oh?¡±


    Dav waved at the trees that surrounded the old house. ¡°There wasn¡¯t anywhere like this near Alinport. Oh, there were places that sort of looked like it in the Dust zone, but all that had was trees. Over there, you see that overgrown gateway framed by the trees?¡±


    Sophia followed his wave, then nodded. It was obviously an entrance to an enclosure that surrounded the house they were in. It wasn¡¯t how they¡¯d entered, but then again it didn¡¯t look like there was much left of the wall even though the stone gateway was remarkably intact. There was even part of a metal gate left.


    ¡°Something like that could happen, but in front of it, off to the left, do you see the fallen limb?¡±


    Sophia squinted. This time, it wasn¡¯t very obvious. ¡°Do you mean between the two trees? Are you sure that¡¯s not just a big root?¡±


    Dav shrugged. ¡°It doesn¡¯t look like a root to me. Whatever it is, it¡¯s the kind of thing you look for in the Dust Zone. The Dust would gather around it to change the fallen limb into the perfect fallen log, whatever that means. That means the Dust is in the open where it can be attacked more easily. I¡¯d have called it in for the reward and then started running; you don¡¯t want to be near an attack on Dust.¡±


    He paused and looked up at Sophia. His expression was hard to read, with both a smile and the lines left behind by tears. ¡°Here, it¡¯s just a fallen limb. Maybe some mushrooms will grow there or maybe an animal will make it its home, whatever happens with fallen logs. The Dust isn¡¯t going to modify it and we don¡¯t have to attack it. It¡¯s different, you know?¡±


    Sophia nodded slowly and settled into a spot next to Dav. She hadn¡¯t realized just how different things had to be for him. She wasn¡¯t entirely sure she did know, not really. ¡°For me, it¡¯s like being on a world a long way from home. It¡¯s strange, sometimes frustrating when things don¡¯t work, but it¡¯s an adventure. One that I know my parents won¡¯t pull me out of. I wanted an adventure, to get away from what I did. I know a lot of people would want my old life, but I wanted something different. Something more. But if you¡¯re not happy with it¡­¡±


    Dav huffed slightly and smiled. ¡°I didn¡¯t say I wasn¡¯t happy, I said it was different.¡±


    Sophia knew she¡¯d blundered. She wasn¡¯t sure what she should have said or even if there was a right thing to say, but she clearly hadn¡¯t managed whatever it was. ¡°Do you want to go back?¡±


    ¡°Back to the way it was back home, you mean?¡± Dav shook his head. ¡°I¡¯d rather bring my parents here, if I could be sure they¡¯d be protected.¡±


    With what they¡¯d seen of this place, the Broken Lands, Sophia was fairly sure that wasn¡¯t guaranteed. ¡°If we can manage that, it might be better to get them to Earth. They¡¯d be safe there. Safer than here, at least.¡±


    Dav frowned. ¡°Do you really think that¡¯s possible?¡±


    Sophia nodded confidently. ¡°¡®Course it is. I know we can get to Earth, and if we can get to Earth, we can get to other places too, like your homeworld.¡± She paused, then decided that a little light teasing might work. He really didn¡¯t seem bothered by his scales, so it was probably fine. ¡°Assuming your parents will recognize you with the cosmetic work you¡¯ve had done.¡±


    Dav stared at Sophia blankly for a moment, then his hand rose to his face. ¡°I¡¯d actually forgotten about that. Mom will have words for me, I¡¯m sure. Hah.¡± He shook his head again, with a wide smile this time.


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    Sophia was definitely going to have to remember that something about his altered appearance and how his parents would react amused Dav.


    ¡°Oh, there you two are. Anything interesting happening up here?¡±


    Sophia whirled towards the attic entrance, startled by Amy¡¯s voice. She was disappointed she wouldn¡¯t get to talk to Dav alone anymore, but she knew better than to exclude Amy. People who fought together didn¡¯t have to be friends, but they did have to work together and rejecting someone was a great way to make that impossible. ¡°Looking outside and talking about the past,¡± was the best Sophia could come up with.


    ¡°We don¡¯t have forests like this at home,¡± Dav added, then invited Amy to join the conversation. ¡°Are you from an area like this?¡±


    Sophia wanted to smack herself for not doing the same. She was the one who¡¯d dealt with fellow adventurers for years; why did it seem like Dav was better at it than she was?


    Amy walked over to the couple and looked over the edge of the building. Her eyes wandered over the forest for a long moment before she answered. ¡°In the warm season, perhaps, but Rockhold is far colder than Casterville. We¡¯re a Shard of hunters, not farmers. This forest is a good place to hunt, for now, but I don¡¯t think it will last us much longer.¡±


    Sophia couldn¡¯t let that assertion stand without question. ¡°Why not? We just got to Casterville.¡±


    ¡°And you¡¯ll leave it before you take another Level, unless you want to stay for a very long time,¡± Amy countered. ¡°Or perhaps soon afterwards, if this mission goes well. Casterville is safe, and safe means things are slow for Called and Professional alike. I certainly don¡¯t plan to stay for too long, though I¡¯ll give this team a chance. I think there¡¯s potential, as long as Rae doesn¡¯t get us into too much trouble.¡±


    ¡°You think Rae¡¯s going to get us into trouble?¡± Sophia shook her head. ¡°I thought for sure the trouble maker was Moti.¡± She didn¡¯t add the other possible troublemaker, since that was Amy herself. She was abrupt and could seem rude, even though Sophia was pretty sure she was just direct and blunt. That seemed impolite to say, even though it was true.


    Amy grinned. ¡°Moti likes his jokes, but it¡¯s Rae that attracts problems. I¡¯d say you would as well, you¡¯re too nice, but it¡¯s more likely that they¡¯ll go after your lovesick puppy¡­¡±


    Sophia wasn¡¯t sure what it was about trading insults that made people come together, but whatever it was, both Amy and Dav certainly had it. By dinnertime, they¡¯d traded enough good insults that Sophia had lost most of them, but they were clearly having a wonderful time.


    It wasn¡¯t something Sophia had ever been any good at, but she was pretty sure she¡¯d be able to get Dav to laugh by calling him a half-snake half-monkey forest newt with a severe case of gigantism and not enough sense to stay in water. The insult didn¡¯t make any sense but it was funny.


    Twelve hours later, things were not nearly so funny. Sophia did not like early mornings, but Samuel apparently had the same idea as Rensyn: if they got moving before it was really light out, they¡¯d be in place while the corpsevines were still sluggish.


    Samuel was in the lead as they passed through the gate she¡¯d seen with Dav the previous day, then made their way towards the West Conservatory. He was, surprisingly, the only Fire mage in the group. Sophia had assumed there would be more, but apparently one was enough.


    The closer they got, the more nervous Sophia became. She did not like dealing with things she couldn¡¯t see coming. She knew they weren¡¯t supposed to be attacked by vines outside the West Conservatory, but she also knew that they didn¡¯t really know what they were getting into.


    That was why Rensyn wanted them to level, after all.


    Sophia was so busy watching her surroundings that she nearly ran into Essia when she stopped. A glance forward told Sophia why: Samuel wasn¡¯t moving forward. Instead, he was looking around.


    The Fire Mage turned around with a grin on his face. ¡°We¡¯re almost there. All we need to do is get past that line of archways and we¡¯ll be in the area where corpsevines were found ten years ago. That¡¯s where we¡¯re going to start. I just hope we don¡¯t have to burn the forest this time.¡±


    Sophia blinked at that. Burning the forest down had not been mentioned as an option. She probably should have considered it. Fire mages were people who liked fire, after all, and the surroundings did look pretty flammable.


    ¡°Why did they build the wall like that?¡± Dav asked from behind Sophia. ¡°Is it even a wall?¡±


    Samuel shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s for display and marking the boundary, not to keep anything out. There are similar markers near the other Conservatories, though this one was probably the most elaborate. The others are maintained; this one hasn¡¯t been, not since the Conservatory was abandoned.¡±


    It looked like a lot more than ten years¡¯ growth to Sophia. Maybe that was an effect of the corpsevines¡¯ Domain?


    Sophia frowned. ¡°Is the corpsevines¡¯ Domain the reason the plants are so well established? Wouldn¡¯t that mean there could be corpsevines out here?¡±


    Samuel frowned, then shrugged. ¡°I hope not, but there¡¯s only one way to find out. Come on, we need to get a bit closer in and we need to get there soon or we¡¯re going to be delaying the main attack.¡±


    Sophia didn¡¯t really need the reminder that the distractions were supposed to be well underway before the main attack went into the Conservatory. She was definitely interested in exactly what sort of distraction one Fire mage could cause that meant he needed fifteen other people to guard him plus a healer with five guards of her own. Samuel was the strongest of them, but he wasn¡¯t that much stronger.


    Her answer came about five minutes after they passed through the archways. Samuel stopped, pointed at the sky, and said, ¡°You can watch, but not for long.¡±


    A ball of red fire rose from his hand and bloomed into an explosion of fire in the sky. It shattered some of the tree branches and they began to fall like burning rubble towards the ground. As if Samuel¡¯s spell was a signal, the sound of another explosion rocked the suddenly silent forest moments later.

 Chapter 86 - Waves

    Sophia watched the sky. The flash of fire didn¡¯t seem to have lit a fire in any of the branches it hit, which was probably deliberate on Samuel¡¯s part but felt lucky to Sophia. She didn¡¯t like the idea of being caught in a forest fire.


    Over the next few minutes, she saw three other flowers of fire appear at or above the treetops.


    ¡°We¡¯re all ready,¡± Samuel said as he turned his attention to the trees around him. ¡°Now we just have to wait. If we don¡¯t see any corpsevines in the next few minutes, we¡¯ll move a bit closer to the West Conservatory and try to get their attention again.¡±


    It was more like ten or fifteen minutes before Samuel decided they weren¡¯t close enough and had them move closer, then closer still. The wait was the hard part; they had to try to stay alert in case of attacking corpsevines but they didn¡¯t know when they would appear and could only guess that they¡¯d be coming from the direction of the West Conservatory. It was possible they hadn¡¯t started far enough out.


    Rare fiery explosions in the distance told Sophia they weren¡¯t the only group having the problem, though one of the four groups seemed to be actively fighting instead of simply sending up flares. ¡°Why did we start so far out?¡±


    Samuel chuckled. ¡°We didn¡¯t. We started well inside the area where corpsevines were found ten years ago. We know they¡¯re here somewhere, but exactly where is-¡±


    ¡°Deer!¡± The shout stopped Samuel¡¯s explanation in its tracks.


    Sophia thought the guard who shouted was Liam, but she might have confused him with his brother Eliah; they looked and sounded almost the same. Sophia looked in that direction and immediately understood the strange shout. It wasn¡¯t just a deer; the animal was covered in a net of vines and roots that certainly wasn¡¯t natural or normal.


    Samuel didn¡¯t waste a moment in introspection. A condensed red flare erupted from the tip of his wand and hurtled at the animal immediately. A second and a third followed, erupting before Sophia could even tell what damage the initial attack did.


    Sophia threw a pair of Force Bolts at the deer. One emerged from her floating Animated Blade, but the second started a clear foot in front of Sophia. She wanted to cheer; she couldn¡¯t yet alter the starting location of spells cast through Animate Spell Blade, but she¡¯d managed to properly aura cast her other Force Bolt!


    Spikes from Dav¡¯s Thorn Emitter and arrows from Amy and three of Samuel¡¯s guards followed the spells into the vine-infested buck. The thorns weren¡¯t aimed, but they penetrated deeply into the deer¡¯s body. The arrows were all focused on the head, where they hoped the corpsevine¡¯s central node would be found.


    The deer leapt directly for Samuel. It was met by a large shield shoved into its legs and lower belly by Liam. He staggered backwards a step as the deer¡¯s mass overcame his lunge, but the deer crumpled to the ground with broken bones in both of its forelegs. It tried to struggle upright, but the best it could manage was to stand on the stubby broken bones.


    Sophia stared in horror. She¡¯d seen bones broken before, of course, but she¡¯d never seen anything that was so insensate to pain that it would stand on the ends of the broken bones. Even skeletons and zombies didn¡¯t do that, though that might be more because of the inability of their spells to adjust than any sensitivity to pain.


    The vines on the deer¡¯s shoulders writhed and started to unknot. They were similar to the first corpsevine¡¯s long tongue-vine and belt-vines, but they had trouble reaching as far. That didn¡¯t really matter when they curled around the edge of Liam¡¯s shield and yanked; the deer lurched, but Liam¡¯s shield was yanked away from his body. It might have mattered if the deer-infesting corpsevine had anything backing it up.


    Samuel was clearly not in shock. Another set of fiery bolts whipped towards the deer¡¯s skull. Two were intercepted by the vines that weren¡¯t trying to control the shield whipping forward, but the third one burned the flesh of the deer¡¯s head enough to reveal the squirming vines hidden inside its skull.


    Sophia wrestled down her revulsion as she realized she¡¯d just been shown a target. Her next pair of Force bolts hit directly on the mass of vines. She¡¯d never know if it was her strike or the well-aimed arrows from others that worked, because just as the deer shuddered and collapsed, Liam¡¯s brother Eliah shouted, ¡°Left!¡±


    Sophia tore her attention away from the deer to find what Eliah saw. It took her a moment to focus on the quickly-moving creatures and realize that they weren¡¯t monkeys.


    No, they were squirrels. Giant squirrels roughly the size of chimpanzees with leaves fluffed out on their backs in a way that reminded Sophia of a turtle¡¯s shell flooded towards the group in a wave.


    This was exactly why she took Force Blast as well as Force Bolt. There were far too many of them to target one at a time; she needed to deal with all of them. The twin spells hurtled towards the squirrels slightly slower than the first of Samuel¡¯s fire spells. It started as a single yellow point but quickly grew into a explosion of heat and light.


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    Half of the squirrels were in pieces, squished by Sophia¡¯s spell or torn apart by Samuel¡¯s explosion. Some bits of vine still twitched, clearly still alive but so shredded that they were no longer dangerous. For the moment, at least.


    ¡°Save your spells,¡± Samuel told Sophia as he threw another explosive spell at a group of three squirrels that escaped the trio of spells. ¡°Use your floating blade to kill the ones that can¡¯t move; it¡¯ll be better than arrows or having someone get close. I¡¯ll yell if I need your help, better to have you in reserve for when I¡¯m tired. Keep your eyes on Essia; we¡¯re going to need her all too soon.¡±


    Sophia grumbled, but she could see the sense in his directions. This was supposed to be a long fight; she really should be using weapons instead of spells, no matter what she preferred.


    A glance over at Lady Essia told Sophia that the girl was fine, if a bit closer to the front than Sophia liked. She was up with Liam, clearly healing his shield arm; something must have been damaged when the deer-vine yanked it away from him. The good news was that that was on the other side of the group from the squirrels, which seemed to be a far more annoying threat than the single deer.


    Sophia stabbed one squirrel-remnant after another. It was frustrating, especially when there were clearly too many of the little things.


    Samuel couldn¡¯t hold the squirrels off. Surviving squirrels slipped past his zone of fiery death and in amongts the group where he didn¡¯t dare use his large spells. However much Sophia wanted to help, she knew her spells wouldn¡¯t do any better; like Samuel, she only had spells to hurt enemies, not to control the ground they walked on. There wasn¡¯t anyone like that with the group.


    Instead, the Quinn twins were doing their best to distract the squirrels while the more heavily armed and armored warriors killed them. Moti seemed the more effective of the two; his spells seemed to work on the controlling plants and make them slow or even stop for a moment, head the wrong direction, or even attack the wrong thing. A squirrel biting a tree was amusing, but not as helpful as when the turtleshell of vines on another squirrel unfurled, wrapped around the first squirrel, and started to crush it. When that happened, Sophia had a nearly clear shot at the crushed squirrel¡¯s vine cluster. She even managed to get the confused squirrel as well before it recovered.


    Nothing as convenient happened again. It was clear that Moti had to get lucky to manage anything that good.


    Sophia found that she couldn¡¯t effectively manage to finely control her Animated Blade and still fight herself. One way or the other, she could only really pay attention to one at a time; the other could certainly flail towards an enemy and get its attention, but it wasn¡¯t even close to equal with the one she paid attention to. It was useful, certainly, and she could switch back and forth.


    In many ways, it was the same basic problem that meant she could only double-cast the same spell at the same target. She could only split her attention so far. Animate Blade wasn¡¯t quite like holding it in her own hand, so she had to concentrate, and while she was used to using a knife it wasn¡¯t her preference. She was clearly going to have to practice using the blade while she fought physically herself if she wanted to be any good at it.


    Periodic yelps told Sophia that the squirrels weren¡¯t going down without a fight. She found that out for herself late in the swarm when she missed a strike and the still intact squirrel darted to her leg. She felt a sharp pain in her calf and could only hope that meant it had slipped past her armor and not gone straight through it.


    A quick Force Bolt put paid to the squirrel¡¯s ambitions. She really shouldn¡¯t spend the mana on it, but what was the point of having spells if you couldn¡¯t use them to kill the monsters that hurt you?


    When she took a step forward, Sophia felt something tug at her leg. It hurt and didn¡¯t want to respond, but that wasn¡¯t all; there was something weighing down her leg.


    The squirrel¡¯s body hung from her leg by the vines on its shoulders. That had to be the reason her leg felt off. She yanked it out; it would bleed, but hopefully that would help with whatever toxin the vines were using. As she did, she felt her necklace already starting to warm a little in warning. She fed it a little mana to help it deal with the venom and shouted, ¡°The squirrels¡¯ vines are toxic!¡±


    She was certain that Samuel at least already knew. He¡¯d talked them through some of what they might see; squirrels wasn¡¯t on his list, but frogs were. Sophia thought she¡¯d rather see giant squirrels.


    No matter what they were, they were the reason they had a healer and therefore the reason Sophia was there. She was supposed to protect Lady Essia so that she could heal.


    Sophia turned back to her protectee and realized that Dav was the only one of Essia¡¯s five bodyguards who actually stayed close enough to guard her. He was next to her, steadily killing any squirrels that got past the others with the aid of his Thorn Emitter.


    Interestingly, the beacon seemed to work far better on the squirrels than it had on the deer. It was accurate enough that almost every spike hit a squirrel, and the squirrels were small enough and unprotected enough that more than half of the thorns severed a limb or destroyed the vines¡¯ central node and made the squirrel collapse. Only the ones that hit in the center of the squirrel¡¯s body left them capable of fighting and even those squirrels were impaired by the damage to the central vines that served as muscles.


    Sophia took the few steps that were necessary to cover the third side of the triangle around Essia that neither Dav nor his Thorn Emitter could manage. It was empty for now, but Sophia couldn¡¯t be sure it would stay that way.


    She¡¯d just reached her spot when a shout drew her attention back to the direction of the West Conservatory. The squirrels weren¡¯t dealt with yet, but something else was clearly on its way, something that struck from the dappled shadows.

 Chapter 87 - Under Assault

    Sophia searched the shadows for the mystery attacker. Was it the vines on the trees themselves or was it something else carrying the vines? She was fairly confident it was the second, with the way the corpsevines worked, but she needed to find it so she could guard against it.


    The next few yells she heard were all because of squirrels. She helped as best she could with her Animated Blade, but it was only slightly faster than the squirrels themselves. After the third squirrel was killed by someone other than her, Sophia realized she had to keep her blade to a small area. She¡¯d already cleaned up the ones damaged by Samuel¡¯s large fire spells, so she directed the blade to float closer to her; it would guard access to Lady Essia better if it was closer.


    Movement near the blade pulled Sophia¡¯s attention. A shout moments later made her focus on the movement and she caught a clear, if partial, image of a spotted tail and an animal¡¯s hindquarters. With a little more of an idea of what to look for, she was finally able to see it the next time it emerged from the shadows to quickly savage someone: a spotted cat with greenery growing from its fur, often in areas where it looked like spots should be.


    It was behaving far more like a cat than Sophia expected a plant to manage, but the cat¡¯s wide eyes and jerky movements were wrong. It might be trying to hide and pounce, but there was something off about it. It didn¡¯t move like a healthy predator or hunter; instead, it moved like a zombie.


    A vine-animated zombie was actually a pretty good description of the bodies animated by the corpsevines. Sophia suppressed a shudder at the thought. There were undead dungeons on Earth; they didn¡¯t bother her nearly as much as this did.


    A moment later, one of Samuel¡¯s guards managed to smack the cat with his large hammer. Sophia hadn¡¯t really paid much attention to the fact that they were all armed differently, that was normal, but it suddenly made even more sense. They didn¡¯t know what they were going to fight, but having a variety of specialties made it easier to adapt. A maul wasn¡¯t what Sophia would have expected to work well against a stealthy opponent, but once the cat showed itself in the wrong place it was quickly squished.


    A hand touched the back of Sophia¡¯s armor. She felt Lady Essia¡¯s aura, so she didn¡¯t try to block the young woman when she performed a quick search for issues. There was a pulse of mana, followed by a tingle near Sophia¡¯s injured knee and the pain disappeared. Essia¡¯s voice whispered in Sophia¡¯s ear, ¡°I¡¯ve repaired your Shield and closed the puncture in your leg, but there was nothing to purify; you must have fought off the corsevines¡¯ venom already.¡±


    Sophia didn¡¯t feel like explaining it was her necklace in the middle of a fight. ¡°I¡¯m protected,¡± she admitted. ¡°Can you heal the others?¡±


    ¡°You and Dav,¡± Essia said. She sounded almost exasperated. ¡°I guess that¡¯s why Samuel wanted you two, the best guards for a healer are people she doesn¡¯t have to heal.¡±


    Sophia¡¯s eyebrows flew up. She hadn¡¯t even realized Dav was hurt; he certainly hadn¡¯t shouted the way some of Samuel¡¯s guards had. More than that, Dav didn¡¯t have any protection against venom like Sophia¡¯s necklace. She wondered if he hadn¡¯t been targeted by a squirrel or if he was somehow more resistant.


    ¡°As for the others, not from here,¡± Essia stated and turned to face the group. ¡°I have to touch them.¡±


    That meant Essia either had to get closer to the monsters or Sophia had to bring the injured to Essia. Since the injured were still fighting and the corpsevines were getting more common instead of less, Sophia knew which one they needed to try. The sooner any venom was handled, the better, but pulling people out of the fight early had its own risks.


    ¡°Behind that tree, watch out!¡± Rae called out. Sophia spun, but Rae¡¯s warning was not aimed at her. Instead, it was aimed at Liam, who had clearly run to the new front of the group after Essia finished healing him. He was just in time to repeat the shield-blow that started the fight with the deer. This time, the recipient was a second large cat, though this one was sandy-colored, larger, and more heavily built. It reminded Sophia of a lioness, though that wasn¡¯t quite right even before she considered the leaves draped along the cat¡¯s upper back.


    The new cat didn¡¯t repeat the trick of the deer and grab the shield with its vines, but it also wasn¡¯t disabled by the shield blow. Sophia could already tell that getting healing to Liam and Eliah, the pair of brothers that were two of the three with large shields, was going to be difficult. It was also important.


    Liam was fine for the moment. Eliah, on the other hand, had three squirrels actively biting him while he tried to deal with a vine-wrapped racoon. He definitely needed help and no one else seemed to be available.


    ¡°Dav! Help me get those squirrels off Eliah!¡± Sophia called out, then directed Essia¡¯s attention towards Eliah. The girl darted forward faster than Sophia expected. ¡°Essia, dammit, slow down before you trip!¡±


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    Sophia picked her way across the forest floor behind the healer as she focused most of her attention on her Animated Blade. It was maneuverable enough to get at the squirrels and she managed to kill two of the three before Essia made it to the warrior.


    Essia stopped a step behind Eliah. She seemed unsure of what to do, which made sense with the way the man was moving around to deal with the racoon. He nearly moved into Sophia¡¯s blade and she had to yank it out of the way instead of killing the third squirrel.


    That was when Dav arrived. He¡¯d left his Thorn Emitter back where they started, but he had his sword and caught the zombified raccoon squarely on the back of its neck as it lunged towards Eliah. Two pieces of racoon squished into Eliah¡¯s shield and he stopped for a moment in apparent confusion.


    Sophia took that moment to kill the third squirrel. They all still hung from vines connected to Eliah, but at least it was a start.


    Eliah collapsed to his knees and seemed to balance against his shield. ¡°This is so much worse than the stories.¡±


    Sophia had to chuckle at that. She¡¯d heard some of the stories about the fight against the corpsevines a decade earlier; they varied from horror tales to songs about heroism. Few of them seemed to have the sort of information she¡¯d have wanted if this was a dungeon, but she¡¯d been able to learn enough to know that the real problem wasn¡¯t out here; it was the groups that actually entered the West Conservatory and faced the corpsevines in their home that were truly in trouble.


    Even so, she hadn¡¯t realized just how fierce the opposition to a Fire Mage was. It was clear now why there were a dozen people to guard Samuel and Essia.


    Sophia leaned forward and tugged on one of the squirrels. ¡°I assume this needs to come out?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Essia said with a frown. ¡°If you remove it, I¡¯ll get started on the healing.¡±


    While Sophia helped Essia with Eliah, Dav summoned his Thorn Emitter and a Healing Beacon. That was his limit; he couldn¡¯t manage more than two summons, no matter what they were, and he couldn¡¯t have two of the same summon active at a time. It was a limit that Dav kept muttering about improving as he leveled, but Sophia was certain it would take practice if he wanted to stretch the limit of the Ability. Either way, it wasn¡¯t like he could afford more than that for a long fight anyway. He could manage one beacon almost indefinitely, but maintaining two beacons drained his mana faster than it recovered.


    Right before Sophia removed the vines from the third squirrel zombie, a wolf padded over to the group. Sophia took a long, careful look and noticed a complete lack of both vines and hostility. ¡°Amy?¡±


    The wolf gave a clear nod and moved between them and the forest. Sophia wasn¡¯t certain when the shapeshifter had decided that it was worth the risk to use her wolf form, but it was obvious that arrows weren¡¯t the best choice against vines.


    ¡°More coming from the southwest!¡± Rae shouted from somewhere behind Amy. ¡°Samuel, your fire!¡±


    Sophia spared a glance in that direction. There were vine-zombie wolves approaching. These seemed to be in worse shape than anything they¡¯d faced yet; the flesh was actually missing in places, held together by the vine outer netting Sophia had noticed on a few of the other monsters.


    One of them swayed and tripped over its own front feet. Sophia recognized that: it was Moti at work, slowing them down. He couldn¡¯t actually stop anything, and his killing power was very limited, but this was still an excellent place for his powers because he seemed to be able to use his handful of tricks on a wide range of opponents and give others their chance to shine. Most of them didn¡¯t work for long and they lasted less time with each application, but that just meant he needed to delay another monster. There was no shortage of zombies right now and it looked like that wasn¡¯t going to change any time soon.


    Later, the next few hours would exist in Sophia¡¯s memory more as snapshots of action than as a coherent experience. She remembered Essia declaring that Eliah could return to the fight and she remembered moving with Essia, Dav, and Amy the wolf on to the next patient, but she couldn¡¯t really remember who it was. There were too many, but they blurred together.


    The Quinn twins didn¡¯t directly help guard Essia; instead, they helped guard the entire group by finding things before they attacked and slowing them down enough to let the more effective combatants act. They were useful enough in that role that any thought Sophia had of calling them over to help watch over Essia was quickly dismissed.


    Sophia remembered more animals joining the fight; she took note of some but others would be a complete surprise when she encountered them. The most memorable one was when Amy seemed to fight herself. It took Sophia a long moment to realize that the wolf Amy fought was another gray wolf, controlled by vines. They were far too similar until Sophia took a good look.


    That wasn¡¯t the end of the fight, but it seemed to herald the end. Essia had to stop helping others to heal Amy after that fight, including removing some vines that tried to plant themselves in her mouth. She wasn¡¯t even close to done healing Amy when she called over to Samuel. ¡°I¡¯m not sure how much more healing I can do, it¡¯s getting a lot harder!¡±


    That seemed to be what Samuel was waiting on. ¡°Fight as we leave! Liam, Eliah, you have the rear; Dav, carry Amy if you have to.¡± He stopped his slow series of fire spells and threw another bloom of fire up into the sky. Sophia didn¡¯t have time to look to see it, but she was certain it was a signal of some point.


    The last coherent group of enemies to attack that day were, oddly enough, opossums. Like the squirrels, they carried vine-shells on their back that could attack independently of the opossum.


    Sophia found that she was glad the opossums were last. They were sturdier than the squirrels but slower and after so long fighting, power was easier than precision.


    Once they were outside the boundary wall, the few surviving opossums turned and disappeared into the forest. A hundred feet after that, Samuel told everyone to stop and take a rest break. It was sorely needed, though Sophia noticed that Essia returned her attention to healing Amy and Dav pulled out a healing beacon and tried to stay alert.


    They were all exhausted.

 Chapter 88 - The Real Threat to Casterville

    ¡°That went well,¡± Samuel stated firmly. ¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting so many enemies this close to the edge of the corpsevines¡¯ control, but that probably means we¡¯re pulling them in from closer to the Conservatory.¡±


    ¡°Is that why they hit us in a more or less steady stream?¡± Dav hovered over Essia as she healed Amy. His healing beacon glowed a little to the side.


    It was different from any of the beacons Sophia remembered. To an extent, that was true of all of them, but this one felt different, even if Sophia couldn¡¯t say why, other than to say that it felt like it should be moving while the others seemed static. It reminded her of a frozen wave, even though it was very distinctly green and black and sort of bowl-shaped.


    It was strange, but it probably didn¡¯t mean anything. If it did mean something, Sophia knew she wasn¡¯t going to figure it out any time soon.


    ¡°Eh, likely,¡± Samuel admitted. ¡°That¡¯s why we were near the edge of what we thought was their territory, at least. We have to thin the numbers before we can do anything useful. The other reason, probably, is the other groups; four groups isn¡¯t that many, but it¡¯s enough to split the corpsevines into more manageable numbers. I¡¯m hopeful that the group headed for the Conservatory itself managed something, but we won¡¯t know that until tomorrow morning at the earliest.¡±


    Sophia suddenly had a very bad feeling. She was used to clearing dungeons, which had clear goals and endpoints; this didn¡¯t, unless the endpoint was ¡°kill all of the corpsevines.¡± When you finished a dungeon level, you could leave, even if you missed a few monsters. That wasn¡¯t true here; the problem they were facing was evidence of how bad missing a few could get. Worse, they didn¡¯t even know how many there were. ¡°How long do you think we¡¯ll be out here?¡±


    ¡°In the forest? We¡¯ll be back at the base well before dark.¡± Samuel winked at Sophia and clued her in that his less than helpful response was intended to trigger exactly the sigh and rolled eyes that she gave him. ¡°I don¡¯t know how long it will take to kill the corpsevines. If Master Jessamine and her team made it into the main Conservatory, it should only be a few days while we clear out whatever¡¯s out here. I don¡¯t expect that to happen; there were too many corpsevines too far from the Conservatory.¡±


    Sophia frowned at the confirmation of her fear. This needed to be done, but it wasn¡¯t going to be nearly as fast as a dungeon. The way Samuel spoke, she could probably expect days or weeks of the same thing. It might even take months; there was no way to know.


    ¡°In some ways, it¡¯s better if it takes longer,¡± Samuel added. ¡°I already have one, but most of you don¡¯t have a Major Defense Feat. Three, as it happens; the corpsevines ten years ago gave me my second. No one really knows what it takes to get one, but one day of fighting won¡¯t do it. A couple weeks usually will if it¡¯s in the defense of a city, and this should count. Probably.¡±


    ¡°Major Defense Feat?¡± Sophia kind of knew what a feat was; she¡¯d accomplished one when she and Dav arrived after crossing between worlds, one when they killed the monster box that held the Shard of Kestii, and a third when the warped version of one of Cliff¡¯s hawks attacked her and was killed. The Guide had called each of those a Feat and given something for them: the language skill, access to Spheres (or, at least, a Hallow), and an ability that actually belonged to Cliff, not Sophia. That meant the Feat probably belonged to Cliff as well, but apparently the fact that he was ¡°linked¡± to her meant she was able to see it. ¡°Does that mean there¡¯s a special reward for it?¡±


    ¡°Of course, that¡¯s the point of pursuing Feats.¡± Samuel paused as if he wasn¡¯t going to say anything more. Right before Sophia gave up and asked him to elaborate, he continued with a grin. ¡°The first Major Defense Feat is one of the easier ones to get; the benefit is useful but minor. It grants the Unaffiliated Ability Nexus Defender.¡±


    This time, Samuel didn¡¯t continue after the pause, so Sophia had to ask. ¡°What does that Ability do?¡±


    Instead of answering, Samuel turned to Amy. ¡°You can stop pretending you can¡¯t shift back. We need to get moving, and I¡¯m pretty sure Sophia will be upset if she finds out you¡¯re healthy and letting Dav carry you anyway.¡±


    Sophia wasn¡¯t actually certain how she felt about that.


    Amy, on the other hand, clearly had an opinion. She got to her feet, even though she winced when she put weight on her left forepaw, then unceremoniously launched herself at Samuel. Amy¡¯s flying headbutt caught him by surprise and knocked him down.


    Samuel shook his head as if dazed, looked up at the annoyed wolf standing on his legs and chest, then laughed. ¡°Fine, you can have some more healing time.¡±


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    Sophia couldn¡¯t resist it anymore. Samuel¡¯s poleaxed expression was too amusing not to laugh. She tried to keep it quiet, but she didn¡¯t think she succeeded very well. Her laughter seemed to set off several of the fire mage¡¯s guards as well.


    Amy snorted and pawed Samuel¡¯s face with her damaged leg. It was off to see a wolf express her opinion so clearly.


    Samuel sighed. ¡°And I won¡¯t imply you¡¯re trying to take advantage of Dav. Now would you let me up?¡±


    Amy snorted again, then stepped off of the fire mage.


    ¡°You were telling us about Nexus Defender?¡± Dav¡¯s voice clearly revealed the laughter he tried to suppress. He might have more control than Sophia, but even his straight face wasn¡¯t good enough for this.


    Samuel sat up and brushed himself off. The leaf in his hair meant that wasn¡¯t particularly successful, but Sophia wasn¡¯t about to tell him that. ¡°Ah, yes. Nexus Defender. When you are in a Nexus that is assaulted, you regain your Shield. That¡¯s all it says, but even that is very important for a Called if you¡¯re in a city under attack. It also opens up the entire Nexus Defense ability chain.¡±


    ¡°I thought that was the point of a Nexus, to protect the inhabitants.¡± Sophia frowned. When she thought about it, that explanation couldn¡¯t be complete; after all, the story of the Lion of Catshold talked about cities coming under attack. That didn¡¯t make sense if everyone lost their abilities.


    Slightly behind Samuel, Amy blurred and turned from a wolf standing on three legs to a woman on her knees. The transformation itself took several seconds. Sophia couldn¡¯t keep herself from watching; it was surprisingly different from the way her siblings shapeshifted. Amy seemed to blur and stretch into her other shape, with her clothing and gear appearing while she was still mid-shift.


    Samuel let out a long sigh, which pulled Sophia¡¯s attention partially back to the fire mage. ¡°It is, but the Nexus doesn¡¯t stop everything. Something like the corpsevines has a hard time getting in; it would probably have to surround at least half of the Nexus before the Nexus came under attack. Until then, the monsters and the things they control simply can¡¯t enter. After that, they can - and if the Called in the city don¡¯t have Nexus Defender, the Professionals have to defend the city. Sometimes that works.¡±


    Samuel didn¡¯t sound very enthusiastic about the idea of Professionals defending a city. Sophia could think of several possible reasons for that; they wouldn¡¯t have Abilities to help, though they might well have good equipment. It also was possible he didn¡¯t like the idea because he looked down on Professionals, but Sophia doubted that; no, it was far more likely he thought that Abilities were important for defense.


    If attacking a city required first at least partially sieging it, Sophia could see where he was coming from. After all, no one wanted to be in a besieged city. At the same time, a city that was built for defense was very hard to attack; even unskilled defenders could hold off a surprisingly large number of attackers if they were prepared and had the right tools.


    That was the real reason the Registry mobilized as quickly as it did, wasn¡¯t it? The corpsevines were a potential threat to the city, not only the people who lived outside the formal city limits. Sophia didn¡¯t know how widespread they were, but the plans seemed to assume that they could be around a quarter of the city¡¯s wall. That wasn¡¯t the ¡°more than half¡± that Samuel mentioned, but that could change fairly quickly if the plants grew faster because they were more established. They certainly had the ability to travel already.


    Sophia still didn¡¯t understand why they let it get as bad as it did. Had they really thought they¡¯d taken care of it and ignored all of the issues outside the city?


    ¡°I guess you have to take more Abilities after Nexus Defender to actually be able to use your Abilities?¡± Dav sounded somewhat annoyed.


    Samuel nodded. ¡°One more, yes. The others in the chain grant specific defensive Abilities; they¡¯re usually taken by people who plan to create settlements in the wild lands. They¡¯re very good, but¡­¡±


    Sophia nodded. Samuel didn¡¯t really need to finish the sentence. Abilities that could only be used in defense of a settlement were by nature extremely limited. Abilities that were restricted in how they could be used weren¡¯t at all common back on Earth, but they did exist.


    ¡°There are entire Vocations for that,¡± Amy interrupted. ¡°Casterville doesn¡¯t value them because this place is weak, but my people know their value. They are rare, but anyone who can gain that type of Vocation is supported and helped until they are strong enough to help us all. Let¡¯s go; I am tired of sitting.¡±


    ¡°I can heal you a little,¡± Essia offered. ¡°At least let me restore some more of your Shield.¡±


    The girl looked drained, even exhausted. Sophia frowned and took a good look with her Mage Sight. It wouldn¡¯t let her see exactly how much mana was left in her system, but it did let her see that Essia was leaking essentially no mana into her aura. That was the sign of someone who¡¯d nearly exhausted their mana.


    ¡°When we¡¯re back at the mansion,¡± Amy answered. ¡°Save whatever you¡¯ve got left in case someone really needs it. We¡¯re away from the corpsevines but that doesn¡¯t mean we¡¯re away from everything.¡±


    Despite Amy¡¯s concern, they didn¡¯t see anything dangerous before they made it back to the temporary base.


    That evening, Sophia discovered that there was not a communal bath in the temporary base like the ones she¡¯d gotten used to since she landed in the Broken Lands. The only setup they had for cleaning up after the fight was a set of basins filled with water from a fortunately functional roof cistern. They didn¡¯t even have a single-person bathtub.


    At least Samuel didn¡¯t mind when she asked him to heat the water. A cold sponge bath wasn¡¯t as bad as a room temperature shower, but a warm sponge bath was better than either. She and Dav helped wash each other, but it just wasn¡¯t the same.


    At least she had her tent. She didn¡¯t trust the soundproofing on the old building¡¯s walls.

 Chapter 89 - Too Hot

    The next morning dawned bright, clear, and hot.


    The day started before true dawn, while it was still cool. It was a comfortable walk from the mansion that served as their base to the slightly singed clearing where they fought the corpsevine-infested animals the day before. They pulled the corpses together and Samuel set them on fire just before the day truly started to brighten. Sophia didn¡¯t think bodies would burn well on their own, but this was magical fire; it didn¡¯t have to be fed by what it consumed.


    According to Samuel, the reason they burned the bodies was that the corpsevines might not be quite dead. Most of the time, destroying the nexus was enough, but sometimes enough survived to reanimate the body in a few days. Burning the corpse completely prevented that. It also served as an excellent beacon to draw in corpsevines, since they would try to extinguish it.


    Sophia¡¯s first thought when she heard that was the arm they¡¯d brought back to the Registry. It seemed both amusing and macabre that it might get up and move on its own, but it certainly explained why Rensyn insisted on burning it.


    A chill ran down Sophia¡¯s spine when she realized that it could have moved at any time; they hadn¡¯t taken any precautions against that. Sophia hadn¡¯t even watched it when it sat revealed on the table. The desire to burn the bodies was clearly a result of hard-won experience.


    Not that Sophia was cold. If anything, she was far too warm. Was it the fire?


    No, it couldn¡¯t be. She wasn¡¯t that close to the fire and she felt warm all over, not just on the side near the fire. Something strange was going on.


    ¡°Going to be a hot day today,¡± one of the guards muttered, then turned to Samuel. ¡°Should a few of us run back to the base for more water?¡±


    A hot day today? Sophia shook her head. ¡°Does the weather usually change this quickly here?¡±


    ¡°It can,¡± Samuel admitted. ¡°It usually takes a few days to move that much, but we were probably due for a hot spell anyway. As for water, no, I¡¯m not sending anyone back to the camp. We¡¯ll cut the day short instead. The corpsevines aren¡¯t here yet, but they will be before you could get back with water.¡±


    As if to underscore Samuel¡¯s concern, a pair of oversized skunks charged towards the fire from the opposite side of the small clearing. They were confused enough that Sophia and Samuel quickly put them down before they reached the fire.


    Samuel shook his head. ¡°Normally, I¡¯d say to add them to the fire, but I think not today. We can come back this afternoon after a water break and see if there¡¯s enough left of the fire. If it¡¯s going to stay hot, we¡¯ll need to-¡±


    Samuel was interrupted as a zombie deer bounded out of the forest and leapt at the fire. Wherever it stepped, the fire dimmed and started to smoke instead of burning cleanly. Samuel swore at it and threw fire at it, Sophia turned to the forest instead of the fire.


    There were more deer zombies. They ranged from nearly skeletal with plants covering what should have been hide to partially skin-covered pale flesh with distorted bones. Or were those bones at all? Could they be solidified vines imitating bones? That seemed to fit the corpsevines¡¯ motif all too well. It also explained why the spotted cat¡¯s spots were being replaced with greenery; the vines knew something was different there but not what.


    Sophia started to direct her Animated Blade over to the deer, then realized that if they were going to head back to the mansion early, she didn¡¯t have to be so careful with her mana. A pair of Force Bolts ripped through the air and impacted on the largest zombie deer¡¯s skull.


    It shuddered once and fell. Sophia wasn¡¯t thrilled that they¡¯d have to drag it over to the pyre later, but she was very happy to know that the zombies were weaker against her spells than the more intact creatures. It made sense, since there was less there to protect the plants, but somehow she¡¯d expected the fact that they were farther along in the process to mean that the corpsevines were stronger and could resist magic at least enough to compensate.


    This time, Samuel didn¡¯t tell Sophia to save her magic, either.


    The next few hours passed quickly as one group of corpsevine-infested animals after another charged towards the pyre. It made the fight a lot easier in some ways, but they all seemed to have a limited ability to douse the fire if they got too close. Samuel kept busy reinforcing the fire and dealing with any creatures that reached it while everyone else tried to stop them.


    Most of the animals that day were nearly intact; only the deer and a single giant rat were in the advanced stage of zombification. Sophia noticed that there were no snakes, birds, or small creatures; the opossums were the smallest things the corpsevines appeared to be able to reanimate. She was happy about that, for as far as it went; smaller creatures could be more limited but they were also harder to spot and could get places larger animals simply couldn¡¯t.


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    Three hours into the fight, Sophia had to revise her estimation of the pyre¡¯s usefulness. It split the enemies and delayed them, effectively asking as a wall that also hurt the zombies, but it also attracted far more corpsevines than Samuel¡¯s spells had the previous day. There was no downtime to recover between waves; instead, they seemed to slowly lose ground until there were enough ¡°small¡± enemies that Samuel blanketed the area with a wall of flame that barely avoided the Called. After that, there was a small breather before more came, but each wave seemed bigger than the previous one.


    Sophia found herself standing with Dav near Essia, using both her Animated Blade and her sword, along with spells for the larger monsters. For once, she felt like she was more than holding up her end of the fight; a single good hit from Force Bolt or either of her weapons was enough to take down one of the squirrels, and with the Animated Blade she had a level of deadly reach across the battlefield that no one other than Samuel had. When she started to run lower on mana, she saved what she had left for big monsters or when she just couldn¡¯t get there in time.


    The worst times were when Essia moved to another injured person. Where possible Dav brought them to her, but it wasn¡¯t always possible. After the second time, they found a standard plan that worked well. Amy led in her wolf form while Dav stayed close to Essia and killed anything that got past the others. Sophia brought up the rear and handled the widest area, with her spell and floating blade.


    The Quinn twins did what they could, but they had to work for the entire group instead of just protecting Essia because of the way their abilities worked. There were several times where Sophia knew Rae or Moti did something because she felt a little better or saw an enemy hiding in the trees¡¯ dappled shadows that she¡¯d have sworn wasn¡¯t there a moment earlier, but it was always small things. They weren¡¯t flashy, but they were definitely useful.


    Lady Essia had her hands full with a string of injuries. Twice, they were even injuries to herself. The first injury happened when another spotted cat managed to sneak past Sophia, Dav, and Amy and bit Essia before they knew it was there. The second was the result of a large wave of gigantic opossums. They seemed if anything less infested than the opossums of the previous day, but that made them faster and more dangerous.


    Or maybe Sophia was just more tired. It was ridiculously hot.


    The opossums seemed to be the last straw. Samuel smothered the area in fire that somehow managed to avoid the Called and most of the clearing¡¯s greenery but still killed most of the zombies.


    ¡°Kill the rest as we back out,¡± was Samuel¡¯s instruction. ¡°I¡¯m nearly out of mana, but I can¡¯t attack unless we want to attract more corpsevines. Essia, how bad is it?¡±


    ¡°Hurts,¡± Essia gasped, ¡°Didn¡¯t break my shield but there¡¯s venom. Can heal it. Need time.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve got her,¡± Dav said as he knelt down in front of Essia, set her arms over his shoulders so that she was tight against his back, then picked her up by her thighs. He stood up smoothly and retrieved his sword as he stood. Despite her size, it looked almost like an adult carrying a child piggyback; she was simply not heavy enough to bother Dav.


    Sophia knew it had to be because of his high Body score and that she could theoretically take hers just as high, but she also knew that she wasn¡¯t going to do that. For all that she envied his strength, she was strong enough to do everything she needed to do and that was enough to make dedicating enough Wisps to catch up a waste. Her Core was far more important; she¡¯d rather have more mana than more physical strength.


    Some of the corpsevines ignored the group as they fled, but a lot of the smaller ones followed. It should have been easier than the fighting up to that point, except that Samuel did nothing. That left Sophia to take over Samuel¡¯s role as well as her own. The retreat was a blur of reactions, listening to Rae for creatures she¡¯d missed and narrowly killing them before they hurt anyone too much.


    Sophia quickly dropped the Imbuement on her blade as well as Dav¡¯s; only the one on her Animated Blade was left. Even with that, by the time they reached the wall filled with arches, Sophia was nearly out of mana. She felt relief as they stepped through the archway.


    It was like a slap in the face when the zombie animals followed. Sophia stopped where she was and used the wall¡¯s protection to catch the animals as they made it through the wall. Amy and Samuel¡¯s guards helped, but Dav stayed back with Essia on his back.


    It worked. She¡¯d later find out that two zombie squirrels did use a different archway, but Rae saw both of them and Moti delayed them long enough for Samuel¡¯s guards to kill them. Sophia didn¡¯t notice at the time.


    Sophia barely managed to get her Animated Blade back to herself and end its Imbuement. She was exhausted and she ached in a way she didn¡¯t remember happening since she was a child and first learning magic. She¡¯d strained something.


    After that, all Sophia remembered was stumbling into the mansion, having Samuel push water on her, then making it to her tent and collapsing on the bed. She didn¡¯t manage to strip out of her armor, much less get under the sheets.


    Sophia knew nothing more until she woke up. She was sore and her armor and clothing was positively covered in leaves and dirt. Her mana wasn¡¯t full, but it was well above halfway so she knew she¡¯d slept for hours. The only good thing was that there was very little blood; corpsevine zombies didn¡¯t seem to have any, and while her shield was repeatedly tested, she hadn¡¯t taken any bad injuries.


    She definitely needed to repair or replace her lower leg armor. Her shin and her kneecap armor seemed to be working, but the corpsevines really liked to attack the back of her leg. It was less protected to begin with and what material was there was shredding under the repeated assault. She didn¡¯t think she¡¯d be able to get dragonscale here, unfortunately, but surely there was something she could use.


    Sophia stood and realized that she had a pounding headache and didn¡¯t need to pee. As hot as it was outside, that meant she needed more water. She¡¯d get some for Dav, as well; he was still asleep but she knew he¡¯d need it when he woke.

 Chapter 90 - Message from the Registry Master

    When Sophia went downstairs for water, she found out that someone had set out some food that didn¡¯t require reheating. On another day, she might have turned the bread and cheese into a sandwich and toasted it, but for today she was just as happy to eat them as bread and a chunk of cheese. It was too hot to cook. A handful of peanuts and a pear turned the assortment into a decent meal.


    No one else was moving around much. A lot of people were still napping and those who weren¡¯t asleep were quietly taking care of things in the relative cool of the house¡¯s shade.


    It made Sophia miss air conditioning.


    Dav arrived downstairs less than an hour after Sophia, grateful for the water she left next to him. Amy, Rae, and Moti weren¡¯t far behind, but Essia didn¡¯t appear until Sophia went upstairs and found her drawing in a sketchpad that she hid the moment she noticed Sophia was there.


    Sophia pretended she hadn¡¯t seen the drawing. There was no good way to bring up the fact that Essia was drawing pictures of Dav without his shirt on. She didn¡¯t have all of the details right, but it was still a good study of male musculature.


    They were halfway down the stairs when Sophia decided that maybe there was a way to bring it up. Even if she embarrassed Essia, she wasn¡¯t certain she cared. She wasn¡¯t upset at the girl for idolizing Sophia¡¯s boyfriend, and that was probably what Essia was afraid of. ¡°When you finish the drawing, can I have a copy?¡±


    ¡°Eep!¡±


    Sophia stared at Essia as the teenager hurried downstairs at least twice as quickly. She¡¯d never actually seen anyone say that before, but she was certain that was what Essia said. She didn¡¯t think the response meant either yes or no; it was more like ¡°oh fuck she saw what I was drawing.¡±


    Sophia wasn¡¯t at all confident she¡¯d get a copy, which was definitely too bad. It would be nice to have a picture of Dav, and she hadn¡¯t seen a camera since she got here.


    Come to think of it, did this world even have the ability to copy images? She knew they didn¡¯t have the tech, but she wasn¡¯t sure if they had appropriate spells or enchantments or not. Surely there was a Profession that could manage it, at least?


    Was there a Profession that could take pictures, or would it be more like sitting for a sketch or a painting? For that matter, was artist a Profession at all? It seemed possible, Skills that could enhance or preserve color or even allow for clean editing of a drawing would be useful, but Sophia hadn¡¯t seen anything that would tell her if that was possible or not. It was possible back on Earth, but the Guide was different enough that she simply wasn¡¯t sure.


    Sophia definitely needed to explore the city and see what there was to see when this conflict with the corpsevines was over.


    ¡°Good, you¡¯re all here.¡±


    Samuel¡¯s words pulled Sophia out of her introspection and back into the real world. A glance around told her that Samuel was correct; he was the last one to join them, at least if Essia and Sophia didn¡¯t count.


    ¡°A messenger from the Registry came while most of you were sleeping.¡± Samuel paused while two of his guards shouted questions. He smiled but the smile didn¡¯t reach his eyes. ¡°First, the weather witches expect the heat to last another three days. It wasn¡¯t expected until tomorrow, but they¡¯re still confident it will only last a few days and not turn into a hot season. Second, yes, Registry Master Jessamine and her team tried to reach the West Conservatory yesterday while we distracted as many corpsevines as possible. We were successful enough that they were able to penetrate into the building without being noticed. They fought a number of plant-creatures, including something that they believe was the corpsevines¡¯ final guardian.¡±


    Samuel¡¯s description of what happened should have made Sophia happy, but she couldn¡¯t help but think there was something more coming. Samuel wasn¡¯t celebrating; if anything, he looked like he¡¯d gotten bad news. He also sort of looked like he hadn¡¯t slept.


    Samuel lifted his leather satchel and retrieved a couple of thick, stiff pieces of paper. They looked almost like posterboard for a moment, but at a second look they were more like plastic, only about an eighth of an inch think and fairly stiff but a little flexible. The biggest difference between whatever it was and plastic was that it wasn¡¯t shiny. ¡°Look at these; they¡¯re artists¡¯ renderings of the two worst monsters they fought. The vine-skull was a mage, while the plant-face was a brute that also controlled the plants near them. Neither of them seems to be just a corpse, though both are clearly imitating something.¡±


    That answered Sophia¡¯s question about art-type Professions, didn¡¯t it? They had to exist and clearly they could create copies fairly quickly even if it wasn¡¯t like using a printer or a copier.


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    The first drawing had to be the ¡°vine-skull.¡± It was a decent description, really; there was what looked like a human skull with teeth and glowing red dots for eyes that was surrounded by vines that made up a fake human body. It seemed sort of like a plant-lich to Sophia, but somehow she doubted it had the Death affinity.


    The second picture was positively weird. It had a background that had to be a greenhouse, but the monster filled most of the greenhouse. If she had to describe the monster, it was sort of like a roaring gorilla covered in many different kinds of plants with leaves growing from the top of its head. She couldn¡¯t tell if it had eyes or not; there were a couple of reddish orange spots that looked like they were supposed to be eyes, but they could just as easily have been fruit.


    ¡°Killing the larger vine-brute broke the corpsevines¡¯ Domain,¡± Samuel continued. It sounded like good news but he delivered it as if it was anything but. ¡°That may be why they followed us when we ran this morning; there¡¯s no longer a reason for them to stay in the area they¡¯ve been limited to. It should make them weaker and unable to recover, but we don¡¯t know that they won¡¯t be able to spread. We¡¯re going to be out here until the pyres stop attracting corpsevines.¡±


    Sophia could see why it wasn¡¯t great news; she didn¡¯t want to spend days or weeks dealing with hordes of zombie animals any more than Samuel did. It seemed necessary, but that didn¡¯t make it fun. That was still not as bad as Samuel¡¯s expression seemed.


    ¡°Once we finish that, we¡¯ll be able to regroup at the Registry building, but we probably won¡¯t be done. The Guide designated the West Conservatory as a Leveled Challenge.¡±


    Sophia frowned at that. She had no idea what a Leveled Challenge was. A glance around the room told her that Samuel¡¯s guards and the Quinn twins probably knew, since they seemed horrified, but Amy, Essia, and Dav all looked just as puzzled as Sophia felt.


    Before anyone could actually ask, Samuel shook his head. ¡°A Leveled Challenge is managed by the Guide and scales itself to the people who enter. There are a number of reasons the Guide forms them, but this one has to mean that they killed the source of the corpsevines¡¯ Domain but missed something important and the Guide took over the area instead of letting them grow back again. You never know what the Challenge reward is, but there¡¯s always a team award for a partial completion and a team and area award for successful resolution. My guess is that the area award will be an expansion of the Casterville Nexus to include the entire corpsevine-infested area and the death of any remaining corpsevines in the area. I¡¯m not alone in that guess; in addition to the Challenge reward itself, Registry Master Jessamine has authorized a ten-crown award for the group that completes the Challenge. Each.¡±


    Samuel paused for just long enough that Dav noticed Sophia¡¯s confusion and leaned over to inform her that ten crowns would buy a fairly cheap enchanted weapon at the Armory or a bunch of potions. It might even stretch to a wand in the magic store, but probably not to enchanted armor. On the other hand, it would pay their living expenses for a very long time, including a lot of visits to the baths. He sounded happy with the reward but not overwhelmed.


    Sophia could tell where Dav¡¯s thoughts were. She grinned at him, then bumped her shoulder into his and put an arm around his back. He chuckled softly and lifted his arm over her head so that he could hold her as well.


    ¡°The Leveled Challenge has a time limit.¡± Samuel¡¯s blunt statement suddenly explained why he wasn¡¯t happy. ¡°We have four hundred days to complete the Challenge before it breaks. If we¡¯re lucky, that means the threat of the corpsevines is gone. If we¡¯re not lucky, Casterville will be shredded by corpsevines. It¡¯s possible we can hold them at the Nexus boundary, but if the Registry Master doesn¡¯t think it¡¯s likely, I don¡¯t either. That means we really only have three hundred days to properly complete the Challenge and a hundred days to evacuate Casterville.¡±


    The pictures suddenly took on a whole new meaning. They weren¡¯t just ¡°here¡¯s this hard thing we did,¡± they were more like ¡°here¡¯s something you might have to kill, be prepared.¡± The only question was why the Registry Master¡¯s team didn¡¯t immediately head back in and take care of it. Was there really any reason Sophia would be more capable of handling it than someone with more experience and Levels, even if the Challenge was supposedly scaled to participants? Higher Level people ought to have a lot more variety in their Abilities, and that ought to make figuring out a puzzle easier, even if the combat was equally hard.


    ¡°This Challenge can only be attempted by any particular individual once every ten days,¡± Samuel added, almost like he¡¯d seen Sophia¡¯s thoughts, ¡°And the members of Registry Master Jessamine¡¯s party have to wait a tenday before they can try. They¡¯re putting together a schedule, but we¡¯ll probably be split into two groups in three or four days. Until then, we¡¯re going to keep killing corpsevines in this region.¡±


    ¡°Is the Registry Master requiring us to take on the Leveled Challenge?¡± One of the guards asked. Sophia was pretty sure it was Eliah, but it could have been his brother Liam. They looked very similar and she kept guessing wrong.


    Samuel shook his head with a sad look. ¡°No, but if you decide not to, you¡¯ll probably be out here culling corpsevines until we¡¯re certain they¡¯re all gone.¡±


    Sophia had to ask. This sounded like something she needed to know. ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t you want to take on the Challenge?¡±


    ¡°Challenges are deadly,¡± Eliah answered immediately. ¡°A Leveled Challenge is especially bad, because you can¡¯t simply outLevel it. Worse, they¡¯re scaled to your Level, not your actual capabilities; it¡¯s possible to end up in a Challenge that you simply can¡¯t beat and that you can¡¯t run from. You have to have a well-rounded group, and some people just don¡¯t belong in Challenges at all. Once we know what the Challenge is, maybe, but until then I¡¯m not going in without a healer and I¡¯m certain Lady Essia won¡¯t be scheduled. Even if she wasn¡¯t the Mage-Chancellor¡¯s daughter, she¡¯s Level One.¡±


    Sophia looked over at Essia. She had a scowl on her face but she didn¡¯t argue.

 Chapter 91 - Challenging Assumptions

    ¡°You say that because you don¡¯t know what danger is,¡± Amy disagreed with a glare. ¡°A Leveled Challenge is the safest and most effective way to gain Wisps. Yes, you have to be careful, but that¡¯s always true. We know a lot about this Challenge; it¡¯s going to have something to do with corpsevines. There will likely be enemies that are like what we¡¯re fighting here, puppeted bodies. There will also be creatures like what the Registry Master saw, constructed mostly from vines. That means we need people who can fight and a healer. Essia would be perfect, but as long as we can get in and get out, Dav will do fine. We can take some alchemicals for whatever he can¡¯t heal.¡±


    Sophia raised an eyebrow at that. Amy almost refused to participate in the corpsevine extermination because she wasn¡¯t willing to bind herself to accept the orders of a commander, but she was happy, even eager, to take on a challenge that a more experienced person thought was too dangerous. It was very clear that Amy¡¯s standards were different; Sophia needed to figure out if they aligned with Sophia¡¯s or not.


    So far, she rather thought they did. The Leveled Challenge sounded a lot like a level-appropriate dungeon, and she definitely liked that idea. She¡¯d need a good group for it, but so far it seemed like she had one. She was covering more of the magical end than she liked, but magic wasn¡¯t everything. Amy could help her out with distance. The Quinn twins weren¡¯t straightforward with what they could do, but that didn¡¯t mean they weren¡¯t useful. Dav was the last on her list, but in some ways he was the most vital, since he was the healer and could also smack anything that tried to get too close into the next room.


    Possibly literally.


    ¡°The Challenge itself will be about seeing something the Registry Master and her team missed. The Guide doesn¡¯t think it¡¯s something that requires Levels, or this wouldn¡¯t be a Leveled Challenge. That means we¡¯re as likely to find it as anyone else. We might even be more likely, since that¡¯s exactly what Rae does. You can go or not, but don¡¯t try to talk my group out of it because you won¡¯t risk yourself. Talk to Samuel and maybe think a little; take alchemicals or see if the Registry¡¯s willing to allow healers extra trips!¡± Amy was positively shouting by the time she finished.


    ¡°Maybe something like the reason the corpsevines came back?¡± Sophia offered. ¡°It was missed the first time, so maybe it was missed again and that¡¯s why the Guide decided to make it a challenge?¡±


    Sophia didn¡¯t know that much about the Guide yet, but it kind of sounded like something the Voice might do, though the Voice would probably give a quest through a Quest Giver instead of making an entire new temporary dungeon. The Guide seemed to interfere more while being less straightforward, but the world itself was also more broken than back home. Maybe the Guide couldn¡¯t be more straightforward than it was for some reason.


    Or maybe it just didn¡¯t want to explain itself. Sophia hadn¡¯t forgotten or forgiven the Guide for shoving Cliff into her chest and permanently affecting what Spheres she had. If it had asked, she might well have agreed, but it didn¡¯t even consider that. It did what it wanted to and didn¡¯t care about whether or not she and Cliff were willing. That didn¡¯t seem to bother Cliff but it certainly bothered Sophia.


    ¡°Could be,¡± Amy agreed. ¡°Even if it isn¡¯t, it¡¯s something to look for. Sometimes a Challenge will have more than one goal. Finding any of them is rewarded well and that one sounds like it would be worth a lot of Wisps.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s very true,¡± Samuel interrupted, ¡°But we can talk about whether or not we want to take on the Leveled Challenge tonight after we get back from a second bait run. That was the other other news in the message: we aren¡¯t the only group being attacked by far too many corpsevines, but we are the only group that doesn¡¯t have any casualties that had to be sent back to the Registry for better care. We are also the largest group. The Registry Master offered me a choice, and I¡¯m passing it along to you: Do we push farther into the forest and try to reach the West Conservatory or do we send people to help another group?¡±


    Sophia was a little surprised they were asked. She could only think of one reason they weren¡¯t just told what needed to happen. This had to be because of Amy¡¯s stark refusal to allow others to make choices for her. Whoever sent the message was afraid that Amy would refuse to participate at all if they told her what to do and probably also worried that she¡¯d get the rest of them to go along with her. Sophia didn¡¯t say anything about it, but she sent a tight grin towards Amy.


    ¡°We¡¯re barely holding it together and the Registry Master wants us to get closer to the Conservatory?¡± Eliah wasn¡¯t the only person to speak, but his voice was the loudest. ¡°Does she want us dead?¡±


    Sophia had to snort at that. ¡°We¡¯re barely even trying hard and you think we¡¯re at our limits?¡± She paused for a moment to make sure everyone heard her but not long enough for Eliah to come up with a rebuttal. ¡°We¡¯re used exactly one strategy: light a fire to attract everything and then try to kill it as it comes. It¡¯s worked this far partly because nothing¡¯s come from behind us, but it¡¯s not the only thing we can do.¡±


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    ¡°We can¡¯t kill them any faster, and that¡¯s what she wants,¡± Eliah countered. ¡°Samuel¡¯s running himself out of mana, or Lady Essia is, and the rest of us are wearing our arms out hitting things. It¡¯s impossible.¡±


    Sophia noticed that he didn¡¯t mention her mana levels or Amy wearing out her teeth, but that was truthfully a small quibble. The bigger problem was that he was still thinking inside a very small box. It was one Sophia liked as well, the one she usually used when she went into a dungeon, but this wasn¡¯t a dungeon. It was the real world. ¡°It¡¯s very possible. We can¡¯t do it the way we¡¯ve been doing it, but we also don¡¯t have to. This is exactly what traps are for.¡±


    Eliah squinted at Sophia. ¡°Traps? How do you plan to trap a plant? It¡¯s not like it¡¯s going to fall into a pit and we don¡¯t have time to dig one anyway. We¡¯d need a trapper Sphere for that, and we don¡¯t have any.¡±


    ¡°The same way we¡¯ve been attracting them!¡± Sophia didn¡¯t add ¡°you idiot,¡± mostly because she hadn¡¯t really thought about it either until now. The plan Samuel came up with was working well enough, but it wouldn¡¯t work if they had to do more than they were already. Eliah was right about that much. ¡°Look, we know they¡¯re attracted to fire and they¡¯re also vulnerable to it, right? We don¡¯t want to set the forest on fire, so we can only use it where it¡¯s safe, but there¡¯s no reason we can¡¯t set a fire then leave, right? That will draw them in from the other teams. We don¡¯t have to fight them, we just have to relieve the pressure enough that they aren¡¯t overwhelmed.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t really a trap, but it kind of was. It was a lure and a delay; it didn¡¯t have to hurt anything to help with the problem.


    ¡°That¡¯s probably not enough, but it¡¯s a start,¡± Samuel agreed. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I can move fast enough to set that many fires, though, not if I also fight.¡±


    ¡°Who says you have to set the fires?¡± Sophia grinned. It was coming together a bit more now. ¡°You¡¯re the only one with fire Abilities but that doesn¡¯t mean we can¡¯t set nonmagical fires. I can even manage basic fire Spells, they just aren¡¯t fast enough to fight with. We can set things on fire. I¡¯m more worried about not burning the forest down while we¡¯re in it.¡±


    Fire was easy. Uncle Blaze said things wanted to burn. Sophia¡¯s physics tutor said it differently; he said that oxygen was one of the three main components of the fire triangle and the other two were fuel and heat. Oxygen and fuel, ¡°stuff that could burn,¡± were everywhere in a forest.


    Heat was easy to get because energy wanted to become heat; that was what thermodynamics was about. It wasn¡¯t entirely true, especially not when magic got involved, but the important part was still true: if you had energy of any sort, you could make heat and enough heat applied to the right things made fire.


    Even without magic, fire was easy. Most of the time, Sophia didn¡¯t use a spellform or even carry a fire-wand that had a basic spellform built in; matches were far more convenient and so cheap that there was really no reason to use magic most of the time.


    ¡°It takes too much wood and too much time to burn the corpsevines without magic; we tried that. Fire magic was a far better solution, but it meant we had to defend the fire mages when they became lures. We had to use bigger groups. You¡¯re suggesting we go backwards and use small fires to be additional distractions.¡± Samuel pulled a chair away from the table and sat down. ¡°Come look at the map and tell me what you think.¡±


    It took a while to plan their route that evening. Sophia appreciated the extra time to wait in the relative cool of the building enough that she wasn¡¯t even bothered when Samuel admitted that he had never planned to have them head out for a second run of the day until after dark, when whatever fires they lit would be very visible but they wouldn¡¯t, and the planning time was coming out of their rest time. The planning was too important for Sophia to be upset..


    As it turned out, they didn¡¯t leave at the original planned time anyway. Instead, they spent more than an hour at dusk gathering tinder and small branches. If they were going to light a lot of nonmagical fires, they needed things that would burn easily without creating so much smoke that they were a problem. The corpsevines were bad enough.


    Samuel seemed to think that the biggest benefit of the plan was that it would be easy to run if there were too many corpsevines. Sophia thought it was better than that, but the only way to know for sure was to try it. The first night was going to be a test run; they wouldn¡¯t push any deeper than they had earlier in the day unless it went well.


    The final plan required them to split up into three groups.


    Eliah, Liam, and Skarn would prepare a lot of different small clearings to hold fires, stripping away the ground cover for safety and setting up the initial fire. The goal was to build fires that wouldn¡¯t spread and that also wouldn¡¯t be easily seen for a while, so that the people who set them could get away before the corpsevines noticed. If they were set properly, they would also be fairly easy to turn into bonfires in a few minutes, to attract the attention of corpsevines.


    Samuel wouldn¡¯t do anything different from the previous days, but he¡¯d have a smaller group. Two of his original guards, Padi and Mike, would stay with him, along with Lady Essia, Moti, and Rae. No one was particularly comfortable making the visible group that small, but they couldn¡¯t split into three groups and still have enough people. They worked out a set of signals so that Samuel could call for help or tell people to move to a different part of the plan with fire in the sky. There weren¡¯t many signals, but anything would help.


    The last group was Sophia, Dav, and Amy. Amy was by far the best person at moving unnoticed in the woods, especially in her wolf form. Their job was to kill corpsevines while they were distracted by the different fires.


    Sophia was a little surprised when she found out that she and Dav were the next best; she¡¯d expected some of the locals to know what they were doing in the woods, but it seemed like they treated the woods as something to avoid, not something to learn how to deal with.

 Chapter 92 - Hide and Fight

    It was still hot, but at least they had more water.


    Sophia, Dav, and Amy were able to clear two areas and set up small campfire areas before dusk. Unlike their previous trips in, they encountered no corpsevine zombine animals. Sophia knew they were around somewhere, but she didn¡¯t know where. It was positively spooky to be in a seemingly normal forest when she knew what could be behind any tree or bush.


    They lit the first beacon as the light dimmed into dusk. Sophia drank one of the potions of improved vision she¡¯d bought back in Fallen Kestii and handed another to Amy. Dav didn¡¯t need one; he could already see in the dark. It helped, but it wasn¡¯t as good as true daylight; everything was dim and shadowy and it was hard to make things out. It was still better than without the potion, enough better that Sophia could fight even if she couldn¡¯t read a map.


    Sophia, Dav, and Amy waited and watched to see what would come. They expected a string of corpsevines, more than they could handle. They were not disappointed.


    They also expected the corpsevines¡¯ attention to be fixed on the fires, allowing them to kill the corpsevines from a distance without too much difficulty. Once again, they were not disappointed. Dav¡¯s Thorn Emitter and Amy¡¯s arrows were useful on the smaller and more skeletal corpsevines, while Sophia¡¯s Force Bolts and Animated Blade handled the larger ones.


    It worked well until the fire started to dim and the corpsevines began to pay attention to other things. By then, there were enough corpsevine-infested animals that Sophia would have wanted the whole group, including Samuel, not just the three of them. They left the retreat a little too late and ended up fighting between the trees in the dark. It was a mess and one Sophia couldn¡¯t really follow. She didn¡¯t dare ignite her Magelight and create a beacon for all of the corpsevines, but she couldn¡¯t see in the dark.


    Fortunately, Dav could. He led them to the next planned spot and dealt with the corpsevines while Sophia added some lamp oil and quickly started the wood burning. She wanted the flame as high as possible quickly. It would mean it wouldn¡¯t last as long, but they needed the distraction.


    They didn¡¯t wait for the fire to actually go out after that; they were on their way once they¡¯d culled a good number of corpsevines. Even with the increased speed, the time to get the fire going and attract new corpsevines meant that they were only managing a new fire every hour or so.


    Even with the nap, Sophia badly wanted to stop for the night and get some rest after the fifth fire. The problem was that the corpsevines were still coming. They were a bit slower now, possibly because they¡¯d killed a lot of them or possibly because it was so deep in the night; Sophia didn¡¯t know which. Either way, they couldn¡¯t stop yet.


    The first break in the pattern came at the seventh fire. She lit it, Dav set up his Thorn Emitter, and they retreated to wait for the flood of enemies.


    There was no flood of enemies. Instead, a single skeletal boar monster with its ribcage covered in dried vines slowly tromped out of the dark forest.


    In many ways, the boar was an easier fight than the hordes of small enemies, but it required getting closer. Sophia¡¯s blade bounced off the skull, and while the arrows and thorns were able to slip between the boar¡¯s ¡°ribs,¡± they didn¡¯t accomplish much.


    Dav was able to walk up to it while it scattered the wood that made up the campfire and simply sever the skull from the rest of the ¡°body.¡± He immediately jumped backwards, which was proven to be a wise decision when the vines in and around the boar¡¯s ribcage detached and started flailing like some sort of demented tentacle beast.


    One of the tendrils smacked Dav¡¯s Thorn Emitter. It was pierced by a thorn, but the thorn didn¡®t do much to the vine. A moment later, three more vines curled around the summoned beacon and started to crush it.


    ¡°Dammit,¡± Dav muttered. ¡°Not going to get any mana returned from that one, am I.¡± He took a few more steps back and nearly ran into Sophia.


    Sophia grabbed her Animated Blade out of the air. She could move it as fast as she could walk, but that took attention and was far more difficult when she couldn¡¯t see the blade. ¡°Let¡¯s move on. I¡¯m not sure if you got the node or not but this fire isn¡¯t going to attract anything more.¡±


    ¡°It might,¡± Amy disagreed with a chuckle. ¡°And if he didn¡¯t get the node, the fire will.¡±


    Sophia twisted back around and took a good look at what she could see of the flailing mass. Now that Amy mentioned it, it did kind of look like there were some spots on the whipping vines that were suspiciously bright. ¡°All the more reason to run, then. I don¡¯t want to be here if it figures out how to pick itself up and move again.¡±


    It might set the forest on fire, but that didn¡¯t seem likely; it was far more likely there would be a few local fires that would flame up then fade away. The forest was lush and green. She hadn¡¯t seen any rain in the past few days but it was clear that there was enough for the plants. Starting fires deliberately was difficult enough that an accidental fire was probably unlikely. At least, she hoped it was; there was no convenient river for her to use as a makeshift fire hose this time.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    No, Sophia was far more worried about it picking the right direction and actually managing to grab one of them. The other large animals infested by corpsevines didn¡¯t turn into masses of flailing, crushing vines when they were killed, but this one did and she definitely did not want to be crushed.


    They didn¡¯t run far before it was obvious that Amy¡¯s prediction was right: by ¡°killing¡± the boar in the middle of the scattered fire, Dav accidentally set its dry vines on fire and that spread to the rest of them. The fire flared high as the monster flailed, but it was already fading by the time the motion ceased. They weren¡¯t going to be able to attract anything else with that fire.


    The next fire presented a slightly different surprise. A rotting, leaf-covered bear slowly lumbered over to it. Sophia caught a good look at it and realized that the flesh was partly gone from its skull, but its nose was still there along with a lot of its fur. There almost seemed to be a flaking coating over the skull, like pale flesh that was still melting away, but Sophia didn¡¯t think that was what rotting flesh actually looked like. Maybe it had something to do with how the bear died?


    Crisscrossing vines covered its belly well enough that Sophia wasn¡¯t certain if the flesh there was also rotten or if it was simply covered up.


    Sophia shook her head in disbelief. ¡°Do you think we should leave this one alone?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not as dry as the last one,¡± Amy muttered, ¡°But I think it won¡¯t like the fire much more if we can drop it into it. Think you can do it, Dav?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Dav said flatly. ¡°Not in a single hit. The neck¡¯s too thick and the height doesn¡¯t help. I can¡¯t cut down a tree with one hit either and that thing¡¯s damn near a tree on its own.¡±


    The bear zombie moved forward slowly, peppered by thorns from Dav¡¯s Thorn Emitter. It ignored them and kept its attention on the fire. Sophia watched and tried to come up with a plan, but the bear was just too far outside their plans. With more people, it would be easy enough, but for the three of them it was better to watch and wait.


    ¡°Maybe it will set itself on fire,¡± Amy hoped.


    Sophia didn¡¯t think it would, but she also didn¡¯t see any reason to punch holes in Amy¡¯s ideas any sooner than necessary. She doubted Amy really thought it would happen.


    The bear stepped into the fire and scattered the wood. It then sat on it and seemed to smother the fire with its own mass. Smoke rose from the clearing and Sophia had to suppress a laugh. ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s how Smokey Bear is supposed to stop forest fires.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Dav sounded puzzled as she turned towards Sophia.


    Sophai shook her head. ¡°Nothing. Just a bad joke about an ad campaign from when I was a kid.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± Dav stated. He sounded somehow both cautious and curious. She wished she could see well enough to make out Dav¡¯s expression, but the light wasn¡¯t good enough.


    Wait, how did she see the smoke?


    Sophia looked up and realized that the sky was starting to brighten. ¡°It¡¯s almost dawn.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s almost time to call it for the day, then,¡± Dav agreed. ¡°I think we¡¯re leaving the bear here, think we can mark it on the map so Samuel can cme kill it?¡±


    Sophia grinned a tight grin at that. ¡°As long as it¡¯s still here, yeah. One more clearing before we head back?¡±


    ¡°As long as it doesn¡¯t have another bear,¡± Amy answered. ¡°I can kill a live bear without too much trouble, even a monster bear, but corpsevines make everything harder.¡±


    Sophia didn¡¯t entirely agree, but she didn¡¯t entirely disagree either. Plants weren¡¯t like animals; they lived slower. Corpsevines seemed to live at almost animal speed, but they still lacked many of the weaknesses animals had. If she could somehow remove the magic that animated them and allowed them to move and act like animals, they¡¯d be easy to handle. Unfortunately, she didn¡¯t know how to do that. ¡°It¡¯ll probably be another big animal, but hopefully not a bear. Unless it¡¯s the same one.¡±


    They ignited the fire in the center of the last clearing of the night and backed off. They expected it to take a while, since each of the large creatures took longer than the previous one. Sophia half expected that it would be the same bear, but that wasn¡¯t what came out of the forest.


    She did not expect a walking, three foot tall spiky but well-trimmed bush. It approached the fire from the side, planted itself next to the fire, and watched it as the fire almost immediately went out. It didn¡¯t walk onto the fire like the others; it simply sat near it and extinguished it. That clearly meant that it was more magical than the others they¡¯d fought, but it was at least alone.


    Sophia focused on the creature and tried to figure out what the ambulatory bush was at its core. If nothing else, she needed to know where the corpsevine¡¯s central node was, and that was usually in the head.


    It had clearly once been an animal, and it was just as clearly now controlled by a plant even though its outer covering looked more like spiky leaves than vines. It was much, much too large but the only animal Sophia could think of to compare it to was a hedgehog.


    It was even curled up into a ball. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that it was a corpse piloted by a hostile plant, Sophia could have called it cute.


    It was her job to kill it, cute or not. Sophia sent her Animated Blade towards it for the easiest possible kill. If she could kill it before it even noticed she was there, that would be best.


    Her blade floated behind the plant-hedgehog, then stabbed down through the skull where the nexus was on the other infested animals they¡¯d fought so far.


    Sophia expected it to fall limp. She had to have hit something important even if she¡¯d missed the node.


    She was therefore completely shocked when it rolled into a true ball. It looked more like a topiary than before. A moment later, spikes shot out from the defensive zombie hedgehog.


    ¡°Maybe I should make my Thorn Emitter look like that next time,¡± Dav muttered grumpily. ¡°It would be better than what I got this time.¡±


    Sophia looked at the Thorn Emitter. She did have to admit that it looked more like a weird fusion of a handheld weapon and the stem of a thorny rose than it did like a stationary beacon that acted on its own to throw spikes at enemies.

 Chapter 93 - Healers Needed

    Several of the spikes hit Sophia¡¯s armor and stuck to it. Sophia didn¡¯t take the time to deal with them; sure, they went straight through her shield, but that was what armor was for. There wasn¡¯t much that would go through dragonscale armor, even if the scales were just shed scales from a number of different young dragons reworked by a craftsman and attached to ordinary cow leather and then minimally enchanted. It still seemed to stack up well against the armor she could actually afford from the Registry. It didn¡¯t have the fancy features Dav¡¯s armor had, but in terms of protection it was just as good.


    Sophia tugged mentally on her Animated Blade. It seemed to be stuck, so she pulled harder. After The blade suddenly flew free of the plant mimicking a hedgehog. She tried to guess where the corpsevine¡¯s vitals were if they weren¡¯t in the head. The most likely area was the thick midsection, which meant somewhere in the back, probably, but it could be more like the belly which would put it in the middle of the ball.


    They probably couldn¡¯t run from the hedgehog; it clearly considered them more of a threat than the fire at this point and it probably didn¡¯t see from its head anyway. They had to kill it or it might follow them back to their base and that was definitely not on the list of things Sophia wanted to deal with. A spike-throwing hedgehog had never been on the list either, but she didn¡¯t seem to have a choice about it now.


    Another spray of projectile leaves sprang from the green ball, straight towards Sophia. She covered her eyes with her arm. This time, she actually felt the impacts. Two of them struck her forearm and one lodged in the side of her hand. It felt more like a stinging papercut than an actual wound.


    Sophia definitely didn¡¯t want one of those things to hit an eye. The fake monster hedgehog¡¯s accuracy was terrible, but if it kept throwing out dozens of darts at a time, it would eventually hit something important. Sophia half wished she had a real shield, but what she had was a knife.


    A knife and a lot of mana. The question was - Force Bolt or Force Blast? Bolt would penetrate better, but if she was lucky, Blast might damage the spikes and make it have a hard time throwing them.


    ¡°Wish I could do that,¡± Dav muttered as he sprinted past Sophia, followed almost immediately by Amy, who was still in her wolf shape. ¡°Fucking roaming miniboss.¡±


    Sophia was definitely going to have to tease him about that comment later. For now, though, her question was answered: Force Bolt was the better choice. She couldn¡¯t shape Force Blast well enough to not hit Dav.


    Dav got there first and crunched into the side of the spiky green ball. Sophia didn¡¯t wait to find out if that was enough; she threw a pair of Force Bolts at the creature, one from her and one from her Animated Spell Blade. One of them impacted near the damage and didn¡¯t seem to do much, but the other hit exactly where Sophia aimed: inside the protective layer of plant matter, where Dav¡¯s sword had cleared the way.


    It wasn¡¯t enough to kill the creature, but the next set of sprayed projectiles had a dead spot on that side below the injury. It wasn¡¯t enough to say for certain where the corpsevine¡¯s control node was, but it helped. It also gave Sophia a place to shelter.


    Sophia felt something warm as she moved into the safer area and reached up to find that the heat came from her neckline. Her necklace was warning her that the spikes were poisoned. She should have expected that; why else would the plant throw something that did only superficial damage and therefore wasn¡¯t stopped by the Guide¡¯s shield?


    At least the necklace would take care of it. She¡¯d still want to check in with Essia later but she knew she¡¯d be fine. She¡¯d have to make sure that Dav and Amy were healed first.


    Amy snapped at the plant. Somehow, she caught the zombie hedgehog¡¯s actual head in her mouth and yanked it backwards, partially unraveling the ball. She threw the head to the ground and almost seemed to lean on it. There was no way it was going to get away from the next hit or even return to the ball shape.


    It took several more strikes from both Dav and Sophia while Amy held it in place before the hedgehog stopped flinging spikes, but that seemed to be all it was capable of. It was an unpleasant task and one that saw them all hit several more times, but there was no longer any danger of anything other than more random poisoned scrapes.


    Amy had a surprisingly large number of small sharp green burrs in her fur. Dav had quite a few stuck to his armor and one that seemed to actually be stuck to the patterned part of his cheek.


    Sophia looked down and found quite a few on her armor. The one that hit her hand was still there, too, so she used her other hand to remove it. ¡°We should get out of here.¡±


    Amy-the-wolf shook her head, then shapeshifted. A few of the tiny green spikes fell away, but most of them attached to her clothing instead. She dug in her bag. ¡°I need to take an alchemical. Stupid plant has a numbing agent on the spikes, might do paralysis too.¡±Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    Her voice did sound a little slurred and it took her a moment to find the potion bottle in her pouch. Her hand closed around it. She held it in one hand and flipped the metal ring up with the other. The stopper slid out of the inch-tall glass bottle with an audible pop and flipped to the side, held to the jar by the rest of the metal sealing contraption. Amy drank the potion in a single gulp then dropped the empty vial back in her pouch. ¡°That¡¯ll help until we get to Essia. Either of you need one? I always carry extra alchemicals.¡±


    Sophia had a weird moment where she realized that Amy always called the alchemist¡¯s concoctions alchemicals instead of potions. Moments like this were when she realized she really wasn¡¯t home. She shook her head. ¡°No, I¡¯ve got an item, I¡¯m fine. Dav?¡±


    Dav shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m not feeling anything, but better safe than sorry I guess?¡±


    Amy produced a second potion and moments later they were on their way back to the mansion that served as their base. Not long after they headed out, flames lit the sky in the distance. Sophia recognized one of the prearranged signals. Fortunately, it was that signal that said Samuel¡¯s group was done for the night. Sophia was amazed they¡¯d held out longer than she had; she hadn¡¯t expected it to work out that well.


    Liam waved at Sophia and her group as they passed through the archways that more or less formed the border with corpsevine territory. He looked exhausted but he was clearly watching their retreat, in case Samuel and Essia came back at a run. That wasn¡¯t part of Sophia¡¯s plan, but she had to admit that it was a good idea, despite how tired they were.


    The fact that both Amy and Dav needed to see Essia as soon as possible made it an even better idea, at least if Essia had any mana left. They might have to wait until after they reached the mansion if she didn¡¯t, and Samuel¡¯s group was definitely out there long enough for Essia to run out of mana. It was also getting to be daylight and the plan was to leave before the corpsevines¡¯ activity picked up, so Essia might still have mana. Sophia couldn¡¯t know.


    Sophia made her way to Liam. ¡°I guess the others aren¡¯t back yet?¡±


    Liam shook his head. ¡°Should be close. You three going to stay here with me or head on to the base?¡±


    Sophia glanced around and realized she couldn¡¯t see either Eliah or Skarn. ¡°Are you alone here?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Liam answered with a nod. ¡°Skarn found a tree with his face, and Eliah ¡­ well, he¡¯s not worth having around if Skarn is injured. It¡¯s nothing serious, but we had to head back early so I figured I¡¯d watch here. It¡¯s better than watching Eliah fuss over Skarn.¡±


    Sophia blinked. Liam¡¯s words added an entirely new dimension to the relationship between Eliah and Skarn. She¡¯d barely noticed Skarn as anything more than one of Samuel¡¯s guards, but when she thought about it she realized that she couldn¡¯t remember ever seeing one of them when the other wasn¡¯t present. Admittedly, she probably wouldn¡¯t have paid that much attention to Eliah if he hadn¡¯t argued with Amy about heading into the West Conservatory as part of the Leveled Challenge.


    ¡°Might as well stay,¡± Dav rumbled from behind Sophia. ¡°They should be here any moment. They shouldn¡¯t have left you out here alone.¡±


    ¡°They didn¡¯t notice,¡± Liam said with a slight grimace and a shrug. ¡°It¡¯s fine; their nightvision eyedrops wouldn¡¯t have lasted much longer anyway. Wait, is that Samuel? Why didn¡¯t Essia heal him?¡±


    Sophia turned to look. Samuel¡¯s red hair made him easy to find, and once she found him she could see everyone else. Only Samuel seemed injured; he limped with the assistance of one of his guards while Essia followed closely behind them. They moved slowly, but they didn¡¯t seem to have any corpsevine-infested monsters following them. That made it better than the retreat earlier in the day.


    Samuel seemed pleased at first when he saw the people waiting for him, but the smile quickly flipped into a frown. ¡°Where are Eliah and Skarn?¡±


    ¡°Back at the base,¡± Liam repeated. ¡°Skarn found a tree with his face, Eliah¡¯s taking care of him. What happened to you?¡±


    Samuel snorted. ¡°The last monster we saw was a mage. It could make stone spikes rise from the ground; one of them got my leg. Essia stopped the bleeding, but she doesn¡¯t have the mana to do more than that. If you see any that look like vines imitating a skeleton, watch out.¡±


    ¡°I can bring out my healing beacon,¡± Dav offered. ¡°It should be able to fix a leg injury.¡±


    Samuel shook his head. ¡°When we¡¯re back at the base. It¡¯s good that we have two healers.¡±


    That reminded Sophia. ¡°How much mana do you have left, Essia?¡±


    ¡°Not much,¡± the girl admitted. ¡°Not enough to heal anything big.¡±


    ¡°Do you have enough to look for and cure toxins? Numbness and maybe paralysis, that¡¯s what you said isn¡¯t it?¡± Sophia looked towards Amy to make sure she remembered correctly.


    ¡°When we¡¯re back at the base, unless it has to be handled now,¡± Samuel directed. ¡°We¡¯ll all be more comfortable there. What did you run into?¡±


    ¡°An imitation hedgehog,¡± Sophia started. Despite how slowly they moved, they reached the base and settled in to recover in the central room downstairs before Sophia was able to finish her story. Samuel didn¡¯t react much to the news of the spike-throwing giant fake hedgehog, other than making sure Essia checked all Sophia as well as Dav and Amy and insisting that they remove all of the sticky barbed spikes, then burn them, so that they wouldn¡¯t poison anyone else.


    Samuel laughed when Essia muttered about Sophia and Dav not needing her help. He seemed even more amused by the fact that they retreated instead of killing the monster bear and suggested that they¡¯d start with looking for it as a whole group that evening, before they split up again.

 Chapter 94 - Taika

    Food, a sponge bath, some time cuddling with Dav, and sleep made Sophia feel far better that afternoon. It was still really too warm for anything other than some basic exercises, and Sophia knew she¡¯d get plenty of exercise during their night shift hunting corpsevines in the forest.


    She started to replace most of her normal exercise with some mana training, but ended up helping Dav with mana threading instead. It was different from her usual practice, but it was more fun to see Dav¡¯s take on it. He didn¡¯t quite approach things the same way she did. Today, he wanted to spin the thread instead of compressing it. It made the thread harder to control while also achieving superior compression.


    Sophia was going to have to play with that.


    They quit practicing when Sophia¡¯s stomach rumbled. With the door to their room open, Sophia could smell dinner cooking from downstairs. It turned out to be stew, adequately cooked and decently seasoned but certainly nothing special. The bread that went with it was dense and filling but not particularly flavorful. Sophia suspected that this was probably as good as it was going to get while they were at a ¡°remote base.¡±


    The sound of the front door closing drew everyone¡¯s attention away from the uninspired meal. Samuel stepped out of the entry room and into the dining room a moment later. He took a moment to look around the room, then nodded. ¡°Good, everyone¡¯s already down here. Matt stopped by and we had a long talk about where things stand and what we want people to do.¡±


    It took Sophia a moment to remember who Matt was. Samuel had to mean the redhead with the Commander vocation that was coordinating the effort against the corpsevines. She¡¯d expected a messenger again at the most, not the person theoretically in charge. Maybe Samuel had called him somehow? That was definitely possible, even if the Registry didn¡¯t have good means of long-distance communication.


    ¡°He likes the distraction plan, even though we killed fewer corpsevines with it than with the single big bonfire; we pulled enough corpsevines away from Ahmed¡¯s group that they didn¡¯t take any casualties. We¡¯re to go ahead and attack tonight just like last night, with the added note that we¡¯re supposed to try to burn as much of the plant monsters as possible.¡± Samuel gave a cautious look towards Amy, as if he expected her to argue with the direction. He let out a silent sigh when she nodded instead. ¡°After that, he wants me to send about half of us into the Conservatory¡¯s Leveled Challenge. Since we¡¯ve stirred up the corpsevines on this end, that means coming in from the city. I recommend heading to the Registry as soon as we¡¯re done in the morning, so you can rest there. You can get a guide to the Challenge as soon as you¡¯re ready, if Matt doesn¡¯t guide you himself.¡±


    ¡°Who¡¯re you going to send?¡± Amy¡¯s chin rose slightly as she asked.


    Samuel smiled. ¡°You, Dav, and Sophia, if you¡¯re willing. You three seem to work well together, and that means I can keep Moti and Rae to guard Essia along with me. They¡¯re really more suited to working with large groups.¡±


    Sophia glanced over at Rae. She had a huge grin. The grin on Moti¡¯s face was smaller but still unmistakeable. Sophia suspected the reason was simple: they were being praised for their effectiveness and felt like they¡¯d earned the praise.


    ¡°Is three people enough?¡± Dav voiced a concern that Sophia hadn¡¯t thought of yet. Once he did, she wondered as well.


    ¡°It¡¯s a Leveled Challenge,¡± Amy stated firmly. ¡°They adjust based on who enters, not just on how many Levels you have, for the fights at least. Whatever the core of it is won¡¯t change. People have tried flooding them with as many low-level people as possible and that just makes them harder. No matter how many people it will take, the best group for a Leveled Challenge is a group that can work well together.¡±


    Samuel gestured towards Amy, clearly saying without words that she answered it as well as he could have. ¡°If you¡¯re all good with the plan, I¡¯d like to get some food, then we can talk about the route for tonight and how we¡¯re going to handle that bear.¡±


    Why did I have to wish for comfort and safety when they wished for power?


    The thought bounced around Taika¡¯s head as he ran as quickly as he could. It meant abandoning his preferred plush shape for a larger one, but it was the only way he¡¯d be able to reach the people he wanted to reach before the walking sea monster and the cloud-lightning monster got there.


    He knew they had once been his friends Sadik and Akmir. He also knew that they were no longer his friends. That was very, very clear now that he could see their emotions as colors. All Sadik felt was hunger; Akmir felt that same hunger, but it was nothing next to the abomination¡¯s lust for power.


    Taika did not feel that hunger at all. Instead, he felt a different drive, one that was exemplified in the Sphere that was the only thing on his Status when he called it.


    Sphere: Comfort Animal () was all it said other than his name. It didn¡¯t give him any clues about what he could do or how. The empty spot gave him a feeling of uneasiness whenever he looked at it. He was certain that was why he felt a connection to six creatures when he woke up and condensed the refracted sunlight that surrounded him into a comfortable shape. It wasn¡¯t his original human shape, but he didn¡¯t care; chinchillas were better than humans.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    He¡¯d figured out a lot of things about the Sphere in the weeks since he appeared. He could dissolve his shape and reform it elsewhere, as long as there was light and color and he could even make his own light and color. He could manage illusions, as well, but they seemed to be limited to things he thought of as helpful, rather than harmful.


    Sometimes he wondered if his shape was an illusion. The fact that he was currently running as a two-tailed fox made him think that it probably was, but the fact that he¡¯d found very few shapes that worked seemed to say otherwise. Oh, he could change his coloration and general appearance easily, but so far he¡¯d only discovered three base shapes he could assume. Oddly enough, the cat was almost as fast as the fox while the chinchilla was only about half as fast.


    None of them were great for running all day. He¡¯d tried. Fortunately, if he let himself dissolve into colored light to rest during the daytime, he recovered quickly and could run again. While he ran, he couldn¡¯t prevent his mind from slipping back to the reason he ran.


    The first of the six creatures he found was actually a trio: two humans and a third presence that seemed attached to the woman. Taika didn¡¯t approach them. He watched from the light.


    His favorite place to hide was the woman¡¯s Magelight, when she bothered to light it. The rest of the time, he had to hide behind an illusory imitation of the landscape. He gave up after a few days; the place with the purple windows was safe but oppressive. He didn¡¯t like having most of the available light tinted purple.


    In any case, they seemed nice enough but they also didn¡¯t seem to need him. He could still remember the last actions he¡¯d taken before he was thrown into the terrifying darkness. He didn¡¯t know how to approach them without admitting that he¡¯d tried to kill them the last time he saw them.


    He knew it was a dumb choice now; really, he¡¯d known it then. That didn¡¯t make him feel any better about it. Sophia and Dav would have to be foolish to accept his word that he wasn¡¯t going to betray them again.


    After that, he hunted for the creature that flew. It was a dark hawk and seemed to drip more of that darkness, which made him cautious. He was a creature of light now; should he try to protect one made of darkness?


    The question answered itself when the hawk attacked Sophia from above and behind her without warning. It was quickly defeated and Taika did not try to interfere. He was not compatible with the hawk.


    Taika let them leave without him, but he watched as they used the odd spire to vanish and landed somewhere far away. He could feel the connection and was fairly certain he could walk along it without the full light show, but he wanted to check on the two who were still nearby first. He¡¯d rather comfort a friend instead of a stranger.


    Sadik had been a friend since childhood. Looking back, Taika was fairly certain Akmir became ¡°friends¡± with the duo partly because Sadik was easy to lead, but that no longer mattered. Taika was different now and he hoped Sadik and Akmir were as well.


    They were, but in completely the opposite way. Taika rejected their hungers without a second thought. Sadik and Akmir were dead and these things that held some of their memories were not them. At least, he hoped they weren¡¯t; if they were, he¡¯d never truly known either of his friends. He preferred to think they were warped.


    Taika regretfully snapped the link that remained between him and his old allies. He was completely unable to fight, so he snuck through the gate without truly opening it. That should delay the Hungry Ones he¡¯d once considered friends, but he wasn¡¯t sure how long it would last. From there, he ran as fast as he could. The only three people he could still feet, the three people who might be able to fill that empty spot on his Status, needed to be warned that danger was coming.


    When Taika reached a forest, he kept going. He was tired, but he trusted that he could outrun trouble. They were close. He hoped that they¡¯d survive. Without them, he wasn¡¯t sure he¡¯d ever get rid of the empty feeling that came from not having someone to comfort.


    Or was it the fact that he didn¡¯t have anyone to comfort him that made him feel so empty?


    The full group headed for where they left the corpsevine-infested bear. They didn¡¯t know if it was still there, but it seemed likely; as far as they could tell, the corpsevines didn¡¯t move unless they sensed something they could kill and take back to be infested. With the Domain broken, nothing new should be getting infested.


    Hopefully. If they were certain, they might not have to kill all of the corpsevines.


    They all became more careful when they passed the line of archways that more or less marked the old Domain line; corpsevines were far more likely there.


    Soon after that, Sophia heard a high yipping noise from ahead followed by a large crash. She paused for a moment to see what the others would do, but Samuel picked up the pace. ¡°Hurry. I¡¯d rather fight a distracted corpsevine than two of them.¡±


    Samuel clearly didn¡¯t have much faith that the corpsevines couldn¡¯t spread. Sophia had to admit she didn¡¯t either. There were so many of them that it just didn¡¯t seem reasonable, even with the ten-year time since the last time they were culled.


    The noise came from the clearing where they avoided the zombie bear. The clearing looked different, now, with the undergrowth trampled and torn. It was clearly the same clearing, however, because the zombie bear was there.


    It seemed to be chasing an oddly colored fox with mostly dark fur that almost looked like it had been dyed multiple colors at the neck and along its sides. The fox kept dodging out of the way of the bear each time it swiped at it.


    For a moment, Sophia thought the fox¡¯s tail was injured. After a moment she realized that it wasn¡¯t. Instead, the tail looked odd because it was split at the base. There was only one multi-tailed fox that Sophia could think of. ¡°What is a kitsune doing here?¡±

 Chapter 95 - A Cautious Approach

    Taika ran as quickly as he could. He had no idea if the trio he could feel ahead of him were any better than his once-friends, but he¡¯d never find out if they were killed before he could get there. He didn¡¯t think that was likely, the hungry lightning and the sea monster were probably far behind him. The sea monster probably didn¡¯t have a way to catch up, but Taika couldn¡¯t count on lightning not being able to travel.


    Especially not with the storms that seemed to either follow it around or lead it places. He¡¯d seen that as the duo traveled.


    Taika paid only minimal attention to what he was running across, especially as the light began to dim. It wouldn¡¯t be obvious to people who weren¡¯t as attuned to light as Taiks now was, but it was hours past the brightest part of the day and the light, which was definitely not sunlight even if it was a good imitation, was on its way to darkness. They were very close and seemed to be getting closer faster than he was running; surely he could make it to them before nightfall?


    When he entered the clearing, he had only a moment to react to finding the carcass of a dead bear in front of him. There was only one thing to do when he was moving at speed, so he bounded up, bounced off the oddly vine-covered body, and bounced down on the other side.


    It should have been safe. The bear was dead. That didn¡¯t explain the sudden rush of wind he felt near his tails. Maybe there was something hidden behind the bear he¡¯d missed?


    Taika whirled. He kept as much speed as he dared, but he couldn¡¯t turn and run at full speed at the same time. It was a good thing he did, because something shot through space from the now-standing bear and almost hit Taika, even with his dodge. Taike yipped in surprised protest; the bear was dead! It wasn¡¯t supposed to be standing!


    Taika barely dodged a distinctly non-playful swat from the bear. He dodged around a tree, then found himself face to face with the bear again. This time, he found the best place to escape was straight ahead, between the bear¡¯s legs.


    He couldn¡¯t fight this thing! He could barely fight at all; what he could do was illusions and misdirection and he hadn¡¯t had time to set any up!


    The dodge through the bear¡¯s legs gave him a moment; it was slow to turn.He wasn¡¯t quite fast enough to set up an illusion before the bear was on his tail again, so he threw light at the bear¡¯s eyes. It wouldn¡¯t fool anything, but it should at least dazzle it and slow the bear down for a moment.


    Takia barely made it out of the way of the bear¡¯s next swipe. It didn¡¯t even seem to notice the light!


    ¡°What is a kitsune doing here?¡±


    Taika spared a glance towards the source of the words and was glad he did, because it meant that he saw the fire that came from Sophia¡¯s companion. He¡¯d never seen the mage before, but he knew a mage when he saw one. Whoever he was, his fire blast was aimed at the bear.


    Taika scrambled out of the way just in time to avoid the hot embers that splashed from the bear¡¯s hide as it was hit. He glanced back to see which way he needed to dodge next and almost tipped over his own paws in surprise.


    The bear was now on fire and had completely lost interest in Taika. It charged towards the fire mage. One of the people in heavy armor slammed into the bear shield-first and pushed it to the side before it reached the mage.


    The bear still managed to swipe the mage, but only the tips of its claws connected with an odd shimmer that formed in front of the man. Taika could see that the shimmer was damaged but the mage was not.


    Taika relaxed a little. That meant the mage was powerful enough to have a shield, and a mage that powerful should have no problems with a bear, even a bear that could revive itself. Taika retreated to the far edge of the clearing to watch. He couldn¡¯t think of any way he could help, but that didn¡¯t mean he was about to abandon his rescuers.


    The bear was sturdier than Taika expected. It also had an odd attack where ropes emerged from its damaged fur and attempted to strangle opponents. Taika watched the fight without moving until he saw that, but he couldn¡¯t let that go unopposed. He also couldn¡¯t hurt the monster. That just wasn¡¯t something he could do.


    He circled around the fight and grabbed the foot of the man in the fake bearhug and tugged. Strangely, the man slid back towards him as though the ropes weren¡¯t there at all. Taika couldn¡¯t see if he moved through them or what, but he was free.


    He seemed shocked to be free. It took a moment for him to stop struggling and attack the bear again.


    There was no other large threat from the bear. The enraged tentacle-bear managed a few swipes, but Taika could see that it was fading while the humans seemed to be concentrating on killing it.


    The human Taika pulled from the bear¡¯s grasp was not one of the two it could feel a nascent link to. That was the man in the purple armor and the woman in a green cloak. Purple armor was fighting the bear, while green cloak stood in the back. He could tell she was using magic of some sort, but not what kind.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    Taika slipped back into the trees. He¡¯d watch but he wasn¡¯t quite ready to speak yet. Not while they were fighting a bear, even one that they had to rescue him from.


    The bear finally fell. Sophia relaxed a little, but she knew she wouldn¡¯t be truly comfortable until it was completely burnt.


    She glanced around, looking for the twin-tailed fox. It was nowhere to be seen. ¡°Did anyone see where the colorful fox went? I lost track of it after it pulled Liam out of the corpsevines.¡±


    ¡°Is that what happened? I figured it was one of the Quinns,¡± Liam admitted. ¡°Do you know what it is? You called it something.¡±


    ¡°I called it a kitsune,¡± Sophia admitted easily. ¡°If it hadn¡¯t somehow made you slip through the vines, I¡¯d think I was seeing things, but maybe it actually is one. They¡¯re foxes with multiple tails, in legend some of the more powerful ones can appear human. They¡¯re supposed to be tricksters. I don¡¯t really know much more about them than that; they¡¯re not one of the real myths I know about. Do you have them here?¡±


    ¡°Most fox monsters are either huge or elemental beasts,¡± Samuel answered from the side. ¡°Around here, they¡¯re mostly earth, wind, or shadow. That could have been a shadow fox or a light fox, but it would have to be a powerful one, more powerful than we should go looking for. I suspect it¡¯s something a lot more rare than that, an intelligent beast that wanted to help us because we helped it. If it were hostile, well, I¡¯m glad it doesn¡¯t seem to be. I¡¯ve never heard of one with multiple tails, but I¡¯m not sure anyone ever counted.¡±


    Sophia glanced around again. ¡°I can¡¯t find it. Should we search for it, or¡­?¡±


    Samuel shook his head. ¡°Let¡¯s not invite trouble. Be very cautious if you see a fox, but we need to get started killing corpsevines. You know where the clearings that were already prepared are and you have the firewood, right?¡±


    Sophia nodded. ¡°Same as last night.¡± The plan wasn¡¯t quite identical, but it was close enough, especially for Sophia. The bigger differences applied to the other two groups. If she weren¡¯t leaving right after this, she¡¯d have considered talking to Samuel about runic traps, but realistically that wasn¡¯t something she could manage in a night. She didn¡¯t remember her runes well enough to build something that would work as a reliable trap without having someone there to trigger it, and at that point the plan they were already working on was just as good and far easier.


    The night¡¯s fights were very similar to the previous night, with a couple of very large exceptions. The first was literally large. Shortly before sunset on their way to the third clearing, the noise of something moving nearby made the trio freeze in place. They cautiously moved forward and found a corpsevine-infested human. This one did not look even remotely alive; instead, it looked like a skeletal mask supported by a set of dried vines that imitated bones, with leaves that covered the upper surfaces. It was somehow far less horrifying than seeing the vine extend from the woman¡¯s mouth in the catacombs.


    It seemed to be on its way to the fire where Samuel was still burning the dead bear. It didn¡¯t take much for them all to jointly decide that they needed to ambush it. The ambush was shockingly easy, easy enough that none of them was certain whether Dav or Sophia killed the vine. They all agreed it went down on the first hit, but even after they looked at the vines they couldn¡¯t tell if the important spot was in the chest or the head.


    They were close enough to Samuel¡¯s group that they went ahead and detoured to deliver the dry vines that made up its body to be used as fuel for the fire. The last thing they wanted was for it to turn out that a possible spellcaster wasn¡¯t quite dead and could recover.


    After that, it mostly followed the same pattern with hordes of small corpsevine-infested beasts in the early evening and fewer larger creatures as the night went on. There were fewer than the previous night; Sophia had to hope that was because they¡¯d already drawn some out of the territory they were in right now. All of the other reasons for the shortage either didn¡¯t make sense or were very bad for someone else.


    The second surprise came in the middle of the night as Sophia struggled to light a fire. She was exhausted after hours of fighting and travel at a time when her body still thought she should be sleeping and the fire just didn¡¯t want to stay lit.


    Something small touched the back of Sophia¡¯s leg soon after she actually managed to get the fire going. . She smiled to herself and fed in a small stick a little larger than the tinder that was currently burning, then turned to tell Dav she wasn¡¯t quite ready.


    He wasn¡¯t there. She turned and saw Dav with his back to her, still watching the trees for enemies. What touched her leg if it wasn¡¯t Dav?


    A little bit more of a turn revealed that the touch on her leg was from a very large rodent. It was larger than a chihuahua but smaller than a cat, fluffy and heavily furred with a wide, bushy tail instead of the skinny tail of a mouse or a rat, but the ears looked just like mouse ears.


    It was also shockingly colorful, even in the very low light level, with purple eyes and grayish-blue and purple bands on its face and a multicolored ruff just below its chin.It somehow looked familiar, even though she knew she¡¯d never seen anything quite like it before.


    Sophia took the time to get a good look at the creature. It definitely didn¡¯t have any vines on it, which was reassuring. There hadn¡¯t been anything this small in the past hour, and certainly there hadn¡¯t been any that were alone, so he could be pretty confident it wasn¡¯t a corpsevine.


    Soophia took a deep breath to calm her racing heart. This didn¡¯t seem like something that was going to attack her, even if it had somehow snuck past both Dav and Amy. She raised her voice a little so that both of them would hear her.


    She didn¡¯t think the critter would understand her, but her only options right now were violence, offering food, and talking. Violence seemed pointless, her food was in her backpack so it couldn¡¯t be smelling it, and talking would make noise and let her companions know something got past them. It was the obvious choice. ¡°Hello there. Are you looking for something?¡±

 Chapter 96 - Why are there two of you?

    Sophia expected the colorful critter to shy away from her voice, possibly even run. She didn¡¯t expect it to lower its head, shake it, and then speak.


    ¡°Why are there two of you?¡±


    Sophia stared for a long moment. ¡°You can talk?¡±


    The cute rodent¡¯s head fell forward until his snout smacked against Sophia¡¯s leg. The position made it very obvious that his mouth didn¡¯t move when he spoke. ¡°Yes. I can talk. I know I look like a chinchilla, but I used to be human and I¡¯m still smart like a human. At least, I think I am. Aaah.¡± The rodent lifted one of his forepaws and dramatically covered his eyes.


    ¡°Chinchilla?¡± Sophia took a good look, then shook her head. She knew this wasn¡¯t her mind playing tricks on her now; she didn¡¯t know what a chinchilla was, beyond a creature some people kept as a pet. They were supposed to be cute, which seemed true enough. ¡°I didn¡¯t think chinchillas came in rainbow colors?¡±


    ¡°They don¡¯t,¡± the chinchilla agreed, ¡°but I am always colorful. Why are there two of you? Are you the bright spark or the outer shell?¡±


    Sophia frowned, then shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you mean, but I don¡¯t have time right now. I need to get this fire blazing; we¡¯ll have a few minutes once it¡¯s lit while we¡¯re watching for corpsevines before we move on. We can talk then.¡±


    She kept a piece of her attention on the sneaky rodent. She didn¡¯t think he meant her harm at this point, but he¡¯d already proven he could sneak past Amy and Dav and she really did need to keep an eye on the fire until it was bright enough.


    When it was close, she called out quietly. ¡°Amy! Dav! Fire¡¯s lit. Do you see any?¡±


    ¡°No.¡± Dav¡¯s voice came from the treeline. When she looked that way, Dav stood there, calmly watching her.


    No, she was wrong. He wasn¡¯t watching her. He was watching the chinchilla. She had kind of alerted him earlier, hadn¡¯t she?


    ¡°I don¡¯t see any either,¡± Amy reported from the opposite direction. She was in a tree that let her overlook a decent amount of the surrounding woods, as much as could be seen through the trees at least. She wouldn¡¯t come to ground until corpsevines appeared or they decided to move on anyway.


    Sophia headed towards Dav. Normally, she¡¯d split off and watch a third direction, but if she was going to be paying attention to a gaudy rodent, she wanted someone close enough to watch her back.


    ¡°The other survivor. I do not remember your names,¡± the rodent stated calmly after he was close to Dav. ¡°I am Taika.¡±


    Taika sounded familiar, but Sophia couldn¡¯t quite place the name. What did he mean, ¡°other survivor?¡±


    ¡°You were one of the bandits?¡± Dav sounded surprised. ¡°Wait, didn¡¯t Sophia kill you?¡±


    Bandits? The only bandits Sophia could think of were the trio who tried to destroy a dungeon and blame her for it, and they were lost in the Origin.


    Well, actually, that might explain a talking flamboyantly bright chinchilla pretty well now that she thought about it. Anything could happen in the Origin, especially if you weren¡¯t attuned to it the way Sophia was. Dav was changed by his time there as well, and Sophia had done the best she could to shelter him from it. The bandits were unlikely to have any protection.


    Taika shook his head. It was a disconcerting movement from a creature as small as he was. ¡°I am alive. I remember ¡­¡± Taika trailed off. It took him a moment to come up with an appropriate way to continue.


    ¡°Foolishness. Mine and that of my companions.¡± He agitatedly pawed the floor as he stopped again. It was obvious that Taika was having trouble figuring out how to say what he needed to say.


    Sophia glanced up at Dav, then back down at the chinchilla. She wanted to be angry at him; not only had he and his compatriots managed to fling her across the Origin to another universe where she couldn¡¯t even call home, they¡¯d done it while trying to kill Cliff.


    The anger whiffed out as quickly as it started to form. If she hadn¡¯t been flung into another universe, she wouldn¡¯t have met Dav. She enjoyed the adventure, mostly; it was sometimes tedious but there were new people to meet and new dangers to fight. The corpsevines were the first enemy she¡¯d seen enough of the first time she saw one; everything else was like visiting a dungeon she hadn¡¯t seen before. Even the fact that she often didn¡¯t know what she was getting into was exciting.


    More than that, though, she just couldn¡¯t quite be mad at the chinchilla Taika because of something the human Taika did. She wasn¡¯t certain which of the bandits he¡¯d been; she hadn¡¯t really paid attention to their names. She also didn¡¯t really care. He wasn¡¯t that person anymore. That was obvious just by looking at him, and she suspected his mind was changed just as much as his body was. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    She still wasn¡¯t certain about Dav. He didn¡¯t seem to notice anything wrong and she couldn¡¯t point to anything; she simply hadn¡¯t known him at all before that delve. Maybe he had changed, maybe he hadn¡¯t. He¡¯d certainly changed a lot less physically than Taika.


    ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m here. My companions, Sadik and Akmir, are gone but their glows still live and they hunt the bright spark you carry. I do not know why they do not see the other glows that I see, your second glow and his glow,¡± Taika gestured at Dav with his head, ¡°but they only hunt the bright spark that sits in your chest.¡±


    Sophia didn¡¯t have to think to know what the bright spark in her chest was. ¡°Cliff? Why would they hunt Cliff?¡±


    ¡°They want to eat the bright spark.¡± Taika¡¯s mouth twitched. His entire face was very mobile, and while the expression wasn¡¯t the same as a human frown, Sophia could still recognize that he was unhappy. It was something about the whiskers and the ears. ¡°Who is Cliff? Is Cliff the bright ¡­ are you pregnant?¡±


    Sophia frowned at the question. Why would he think she was pregnant? What did that even have to do with anything?


    Was that a giggle she heard from Dav?


    ¡°Cliff is probably your bright spark, if you¡¯re seeing me and Sophia glow. Her mana core is a lot brighter than anyone else¡¯s I¡¯ve seen. I¡¯m pretty sure that¡¯s because Cliff augments it.¡± The amusement seemed to drain out of Dav¡¯s voice as he continued. ¡°If your former friends want to eat Cliff, we¡¯re going to have to stop them.¡±


    ¡°Why are you telling us?¡± Sophia didn¡¯t really want to ask but she had to. ¡°How did you find us, anyway?¡±


    ¡°I followed your sparks,¡± the chinchilla answered the second question. ¡°You are clear to me. They are not my people so you must be.¡±


    ¡°What.¡±


    Before Sophia could say more, a shout came from Amy. ¡°Giant cat!¡±


    Sophia hid herself behind the tree she stood next to and watched as a decaying sabertooth cat zombie stalked into the clearing. Unlike the bear, it seemed a little more alert to danger; it moved slowly and even though the head didn¡¯t turn, Sophia had the impression that it was looking around using whatever senses corpsevines had.


    Hearing didn¡¯t seem to be one of them. Sophia had never seen a corpsevine react to noise. She still tried to minimize the noise she made. Not only was it good practice, it was possible that their hearing was bad rather than nonexistent.


    ¡°It¡¯s wrong, like the bear,¡± Taika stated.


    It seemed loud in the quiet, but when Sophia really thought about it, she wasn¡¯t sure he made any noise at all. He was speaking in her head, wasn¡¯t he?


    He didn¡¯t seem to be able to read her thoughts, only project his own, so it was merely annoying rather than problematic.


    Wait, how did he know about the bear? Did he watch or did he mean a different bear?


    ¡°How so?¡± Dav¡¯s whisper was a quiet rumble.


    ¡°All of its life is in its shoulders, with only thin strands everywhere else except the head. There¡¯s a bright spot in the head that ought to be in the chest, where its mana is.¡± Taika sounded frustrated. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen the glows for that long but I know that¡¯s all wrong.¡±


    ¡°The plant is alive, not the cat,¡± Sophia told Taika. ¡°And that says the important point to destroy is either the head or the shoulders, probably the head. Ready?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡± Dav triggered the Thorn Emitter he¡¯d placed on the other side of the fire. That was the signal to start the attack.


    Dav and Amy charged towards the plant-infested monster cat while Sophia sent a pair of Force Bolts at the plants coating the sabertooth¡¯s back. She wasn¡¯t going to be able to get through the skull as easily as Dav¡¯s sword could, but she could destroy some of the vines that might try to restrain him and stop him. That was her job until Amy was close enough to take over. They¡¯d found that an early attack on the vines made everything smoother.


    Everything seemed normal until the moment Sophia¡¯s Force Bolts and Dav¡¯s thorns hit the giant cat. They shredded several vines, but the cat didn¡¯t charge either attacker or keep heading towards the fire. Instead, it seemed to become aware of Dav and Amy almost immediately.


    It slashed a paw at Dav¡¯s charging form. Between his shield and his armor, he didn¡¯t seem hurt, but he landed on his side about ten feet away from the cat. At the same time, the cat somehow twisted out of the way of Amy¡¯s leap; her teeth caught only a single vine, which broke the moment she tried to pull on it. The cat followed Dav to the ground, almost like it had planned it.


    ¡°Fucking hell,¡± Sophia whispered. She hadn¡¯t seen any of the corpsevine-controlled animals move that quickly. She¡¯d thought they couldn¡¯t. There wasn¡¯t time for more curses; she had to do something about it.


    This time, she had to get Dav out of trouble.


    Sophia sent her Animated Blade closer. While it moved, she threw another pair of Force Bolts at the creature, but this time she aimed for the head. One of them hit, but the cat managed to get its head out of the way fast enough that the slightly delayed bolt from her Animated Spell Blade only grazed the side of its skull. Even the one that hit didn¡¯t penetrate the bone. She knew it would take multiple strikes, but at least it was a start.


    Amy leapt for the back of the giant cat. It tried to slide out of the way without letting Dav free, but it didn¡¯t dodge far enough. Amy didn¡¯t get a good grip on the cat¡¯s shoulder, but she did manage to bite the vines that whipped through the air right above it. That was enough; Sophia knew she could ignore the vines for the moment. Amy would handle them.


    The cat twisted and bit the nearest part of Dav, which turned out to be his left leg, just below the hip. Sophia expected the bite to be mostly stopped by Dav¡¯s shield, but although it became clearly visible for a moment, the two large spikes at the front of the cat¡¯s mouth went straight through it.


    They also went right through his armor and into his leg.


    Dav howled as he tried to push himself up from the ground with a pair of spikes anchoring a giant cat to his leg. He managed to get to his knees, but the damaged leg and the weight of the cat made anything more difficult. He managed to swing his sword with a single hand, but all he could reach were some of the vines flailing at Amy.

 Chapter 97 - Purple Blood

    Sophia was going to have to kill the cat while Dav and Amy occupied it. They weren¡¯t making much progress. Neither was the corpsevine-infested cat, fortunately.


    Which of the two targets Taika mentioned should she try first? The skull was the most common location and Taika said there was a concentration there as well as the shoulders. The shoulders could be all the vines that had now risen up to fend off Amy, but Sophia couldn¡¯t think of what else could be in the skull. If she was wrong, that would waste time she wasn¡¯t sure she had and it had already proven to be sturdy. ¡°Taika! Is there still a bunch of, what did you call it, light at the cat¡¯s shoulders?¡±


    ¡°Uh.¡± Taika froze and stared at the giant cat for a long moment. ¡°It¡¯s a lot weaker. The glow in the head is still there. The vines above the cat glow more than the bones do. That¡¯s so strange.¡± The colorful chinchilla sounded both intrigued and disgusted.


    That was all the confirmation Sophia needed. The spot she wanted was in the head, so she had to get through the skull.


    Or did she? Could she manage to go around the skull? She couldn¡¯t go in through the mouth, since that was wrapped around Dav¡¯s upper leg, but that also held the cat¡¯s head in place and Dav¡¯s attempt to stand had twisted it to the side.


    Sophia ran a few steps to the side and found that she could see the cat¡¯s lower jaw. It wasn¡¯t a great angle, but it might still work. It had a better chance than trying to go in through the eyes; they were too small for her Animated Spell Blade to fit. She¡¯d have to try to aim spells at the eyes if she wanted that to work, and her aim with Force Bolts was questionable enough that she wasn¡¯t happy about the idea.


    Sophia hurriedly pulled the Animated Blade over to just under the jaw, then shoved it forward. It was just like controlling it with her muscles even though it used her mind; she knew what it was supposed to do and her years of practice with spellforms meant that controlling a floating blade seemed as simple as doing it physically.


    Not that controlling it physically was all that easy without practice either; it wasn¡¯t. Fortunately, Sophia had enough practice at both.


    It took force to push the blade into the decaying skin under the sabertooth cat zombie¡¯s chin. Sophia could tell when the knife hit the open mouth by the improved movement.


    The zombie didn¡¯t even seem to notice. It bit down on Dav¡¯s leg again, which knocked Sophia¡¯s knife into the side of Dav¡¯s armor and also let the tip of her blade impact its upper palate. Sophia didn¡¯t wait for a better chance; she just shoved on the Ability animating the blade to push it as deep as it would go, then a little deeper. Blade¡¯s guard dented the damaged skin where it entered the cat¡¯s neck and even forced it to tear a little more before it finally penetrated far enough to hit the important part of the corpsevine.


    Sophia kept pushing for several seconds after the cat stilled, until she realized it was dead.


    ¡°That didn¡¯t go well.¡± Sophia tried to pull her blade back out, but it was stuck and she felt surprisingly low on mana. Had she pushed additional mana into the Ability to get it to move farther? It seemed likely. That was one way to enhance maintained spells, after all, so it was almost a reflex for her. She¡¯d have to watch out for whenever she ever ran into a situation where she was mana-limited.


    Sophia ended up having to get Dav to pull her knife out from where it was embedded deep in the cat¡¯s skull. It was chipped, which would work fine for a floating spellcasting location but was definitely a sign that she needed another new knife before they took on the Leveled Challenge in the West Conservatory. She shouldn¡¯t try to shove this one into another critter¡¯s skull. It might not work. Even if it did, the knife probably wouldn¡¯t survive.


    That was less important than the fact that it might not actually penetrate.


    Sophia set the blade in the air next to her then carefully helped Amy remove the pair of long teeth from Dav¡¯s leg. As they came out, they were followed by a rush of Dav¡¯s purple blood. Sophia immediately pulled some roughly bandaged the area over the armor. The fire was still lit, calling other corpsevines. They couldn¡¯t stay here.


    Amy tried to break the pair of teeth off the skull, then growled to herself and chopped through the neck. By the time she finished, Sophia had Dav more or less on his feet, supported by his arm around her shoulder. They limped into the darkness away from the fire.


    ¡°We should be far enough now,¡± Amy broke the silence.


    Dav leaned heavily on Sophia while she looked around.


    Sophia hadn¡¯t given up on finding him a log or something to sit on. She eventually picked out a wide root. It wasn¡¯t perfect, but it would be a better place to sit while his injury healed than the ground. ¡°Can you get down to this root without hurting your leg too much?¡±Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Dav shook his head with a frown. ¡°No, but maybe¡­¡±


    Before Sophia could ask what ¡°maybe¡± Dav was talking about, she saw the green glow she¡¯d come to expect from his healing beacons. This beacon didn¡¯t look like any she¡¯d seen before. If anything, it looked like a sawed-smooth tree stump with mushrooms rising from the bark on the far side, except that the areas where the bark was missing glowed a virulent almost neon green and looked more like glass than wood.


    It was clear that Dav had decided that he didn¡¯t want to get on the ground and had decided to try to solve it with his healing beacon, since he needed to summon it anyway. It was the best beacon Sophia had ever seen Dav summon. It might or might not be exactly what he envisioned, but it would certainly serve its purpose.


    ¡°Very nice. That should work.¡± Sophia supported Dav as he settled onto the horizontal surface of the beacon. It didn¡¯t shift at all under his weight.


    A moment later, Taika hopped into Dav¡¯s lap. He balanced carefully on Dav¡¯s uninjured leg, then softly headbutted Dav¡¯s hand in a gesture that was so familiar that Sophia had to laugh. He was wordlessly asking for scritches.


    Dav cautiously rubbed the chinchilla under his chin. Taika shifted forward a little and Dav¡¯s hand ended up buried in the colorful ruff of fur around his shoulders. ¡°We should have left when the cat came in, the same way we did for the bear.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure we could have gotten away easily,¡± Amy countered. ¡°Didn¡¯t you notice that the cat didn¡¯t move like any of the other critters we¡¯ve seen? It might have followed us if we tried to run.¡±


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter,¡± Sophia interrupted before the disagreement could become a true argument. ¡°We didn¡¯t run, we fought and we won. It¡¯ll slow us down since we have to wait for Dav to heal, but we killed the sabertooth cat and that should be very helpful to others. I guess those teeth are worth something?¡±


    Amy gave a sharp laugh. ¡°Shieldbreakers? Yeah, they¡¯re worth a lot. That cat had to be past its first upgrade for that. Something like that doesn¡¯t belong in this forest. Back home, sure, but here?¡± Amy shook her head.


    ¡°What¡¯s a Sphere upgrade?¡± It couldn¡¯t be a level. Sophia finally knew what an Ability upgrade was, when you increased the power of an Ability by directly upgrading its slot and the Ability itself, but this sounded like something else. Maybe it was like a Tier increase back home? A single Tier usually wasn¡¯t worth enough to be that important, but she couldn¡¯t think of anything else Amy might mean.


    ¡°I keep forgetting how little you know,¡± Amy said with a grin and a small shake of her head. ¡°The first Sphere upgrade is at level four; we assume it¡¯s the same for monsters. You have a choice then to upgrade, split, merge, or increase your Spheres and you also gain a Primary Sphere Ability. The Primary Sphere Ability is based on the Sphere and all of your Abilities, so there are a lot of options, but a few of them are very common. Shieldbreaking is one of them. If that¡¯s not your Sphere Ability, you can imitate it by getting a Shieldbreaking weapon, which requires materials from an appropriate monster.¡±


    ¡°That makes sense. Is it every four levels?¡± Shieldbreaking seemed like a good Ability. If she could attack straight through an opponent¡¯s Shield, it seemed like monsters would be a lot easier to kill. At the same time, if they could get through hers, things might be a lot deadlier than she thought at higher levels.


    ¡°Primary levels,¡± Amy corrected. ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to it; that¡¯s when I can really start thinking about going home. With the Leveled Challenge, it might be possible without leaving Casterville. Anyway. Dav, why is your blood purple?¡±


    Sophia had hoped that Amy would miss it, with the terrible light conditions. Apparently, firelight plus nightvision eyedrops was enough to see color well enough to tell the difference between Dav¡¯s purple blood and the deep red of normal human blood.


    ¡°Does it matter?¡± Dav sounded tired. ¡°I know you¡¯ve already guessed that I¡¯m Warped. It¡¯s not something I can hide.¡±


    Amy chuckled. ¡°Yeah, but a bloodwarp? What did you gain? Is it something other people should repeat?¡±


    ¡°You sound excited about it?¡± Sophia was completely confused now. ¡°Arryn seemed to think we should try to hide the fact that Dav is Warped, and deliberately took us to Casterville instead of Hailport because Dav can¡¯t completely hide it.¡±


    No matter what her Status said, Sophia knew she wasn¡¯t Warped. It didn¡¯t know what she was, so it called her Warped, but she wasn¡¯t changed by the trip through the Origin.


    ¡°Hailport? Why would you want to go there? Hailport¡¯s almost as bad as Mazegate. Might even be worse, now; I don¡¯t think anyone in my family¡¯s been there since they had that war.¡± Amy sounded dismissive.


    Dav traded a glance with Sophia. She nodded at him to tell him to go ahead. He smiled at her, then turned to Amy. ¡°We haven¡¯t talked about the past, have we. We¡¯re not from the Broken Lands, but we don¡¯t know how to return home, either of us. After we got here, the first person we met was from Hailport. We didn¡¯t know where else to go. Aymini introduced us to Arryn and he brought us here, instead.¡±


    Sophia hadn¡¯t expected him to lay it all out like that. Maybe it was for the best; Amy was passionate and open and didn¡¯t seem at all concerned about what other people thought about her. She also openly disagreed with the way things were done in Casterville and the Vocational Registry, which meant a different worldview.


    ¡°You¡¯re not from the Broken Lands.¡± Amy¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Are you from Midgard or Jotunheim? Do you know a way to return other than the Maze?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m from Terra,¡± Dav said with a shake of his head. ¡°And I already said we don¡¯t know a way back. What¡¯s the Maze?¡±

 Chapter 98 - Comfort Animal

    Amy stood there silently for a long moment. Sophia gave her the time she needed to recover from her surprise.


    Amy shook herself. She almost looked like a dog shaking water out of her fur for a moment. ¡°The Maze is ¡­ well, it¡¯s a maze. It¡¯s supposed to lead to the Gateways to Midgard and Jotunheim and probably other places, but no one¡¯s been able to find the way since the Broken Lord broke the pathways. The monsters are too dangerous; if you go more than a little ways in, you find monsters more suited to Patrons than to anyone left in the Broken Lands. It¡¯s a deathtrap, but it¡¯s also the only real place to gather Wisps in the Broken Lands for anyone past Level Ten. It¡¯s supposed to be slow, but slow is still faster than taking years to gain a new Ability.¡±


    If no one could get through the Maze, it explained why Amy wanted a way to travel that wasn¡¯t the Maze. ¡°Sounds like something we should look into when we¡¯re strong enough. Maybe there are Gateways there that lead home.¡± Sophia doubted it, but she didn¡¯t have any better clues. If she could establish two-way travel, she could come back and explore more later.


    At least, she could if she didn¡¯t lose whatever she gained from the Guide. She¡¯d lost her skills from the Voice when she crossed universes.


    No, surely that wouldn¡¯t happen again if she used a Gateway. That sounded like something deliberately constructed; the Guide was probably on both sides. There probably wasn¡¯t a way home there. It was still worth a look. She missed her family, a bit, even if she already knew she¡¯d want to come back and explore more after a visit home. More importantly, Dav¡¯s parents sounded like they needed help.


    ¡°No one can get through the Maze. No one¡¯s even tried in years.¡± Amy sounded disappointed. ¡°I hoped you¡¯d have another way. If I could bring that home, no one would mind that I only show one side of the family.¡± She sighed heavily. ¡°Too good to be true. Still, you two are welcome to come when I head home. Everyone will want to hear tales of another place, even if you don¡¯t know how to get there, and you¡¯re strong enough to get some respect.¡±


    That wasn¡¯t the best invitation Sophia had ever heard. Fortunately, it was one she didn¡¯t have to worry about right now. ¡°Dav? How are you holding up?¡±


    ¡°Ehh, could be better. My leg¡¯s better, still aches a bit but I should be able to walk far enough to let it heal while we deal with the next fire. The armor¡¯s closed up as well; I can still see where the damage was, but it¡¯s trying to repair itself. I guess it¡¯s good to know that it doesn¡¯t work fast enough to help in a particular fight.¡± Dav paused for a moment.


    ¡°Self-repair¡¯s a good enchantment,¡± Amy agreed. ¡°There are ways to help it along, but they¡¯re not really necessary for damage like that. I can show you what I mean tonight, if it¡¯s not done by then?¡±


    Sophia was pretty sure Self-Repair wasn¡¯t on Dav¡¯s Status for his armor the last time she saw it. She frowned in thought.


    Wait, that was before the ¡°synchronization¡± finished after he gained a Level, wasn¡¯t it? She remembered talking to him about it and how armor-related Abilities were cheaper, but not about any changes to the way his Status displayed his armor information.


    Yeah, that made sense. He probably hadn¡¯t realized she didn¡¯t know and she¡¯d forgotten to ask. Neither of them pulled up their Status screens all that often; there wasn¡¯t much reason to, outside of checking Shield levels and Dedicating Wisps.


    ¡°I¡¯ll take you up on that,¡± Dan answered absently. ¡°I¡¯m at thirteen ¡­ no, fourteen Shield. Why did it just go up?¡±


    Shield did increase with rest, but it took hours, not minutes. They¡¯d never managed to catch it when it happened before. Neither Sophia nor Dav was that interested in staring at their Status just to see the number change.


    ¡°You¡¯re sure your Healing Beacon doesn¡¯t have any ability to bolster Shield?¡± Amy waved at Dav. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen you sit on it before, maybe you had to be closer?¡±


    Dav shook his head. ¡°No, I¡¯m sure it doesn¡¯t. It interacts with the body, not with whatever makes Shield. I know that, the same way I can choose which it affects and who it doesn¡¯t.¡±


    Sophia frowned at Dav for a moment, then smiled at the only person who hadn¡¯t spoken. The chinchilla shared a name with one of the bandits who stranded Dav and her in the Broken Lands, but he didn¡¯t seem at all like the man. If he had some sort of shield recovery Ability like Lady Essia, that was even less like the original Taika. ¡°Are you doing it Taika?¡±


    ¡°Uh, maybe?¡± Taika didn¡¯t sound confident at all. ¡°I don¡¯t really know what I can do except illusions.¡±


    ¡°What does your Status say?¡± Amy sounded like she thought she was asking an obvious question of someone who just wasn¡¯t thinking.


    A screen appeared in front of Sophia. She wrinkled her nose in confusion. It was clearly a sort of a limited Status screen, but it was very different from her own. It only had Taika¡¯s name and the designation Comfort Animal, but there was an oddly colorful star that bounced in the parenthesis after Comfort Animal.


    The star¡¯s movement was oddly soothing as it slowly rose and fell inside the parenthesis.


    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°It¡¯s different.¡± Taika sounded confused. ¡°The word Sphere is gone and there¡¯s a strange shape after the words Comfort Animal.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen that before, but I think I¡¯ve heard of it.¡± Amy¡¯s frown contrasted with the wonder in her voice. ¡°The bouncing star, I mean. It means you¡¯ve used an ability that has different directions it can go and picked one. I¡¯ve never heard of that happening to a Sphere. If you concentrate on the star, it should let you know what your remaining choices are.¡±


    Taika grumbled deep in his throat. He didn¡¯t sound happy.


    Sophia recognized the look. It was just like the way Dav looked when he was examining his Status for possible Abilities to gain by Dedicating Wisps. Sophia was sure she looked the same, as well.


    ¡°I think it is Taika,¡± Dav said after a while. ¡°My Shield just went up another point.¡±


    ¡°I found what I lost,¡± Taika said on the heels of Dav¡¯s conclusion. ¡°If you can call that lost. I¡¯d rather be a Beast than a Monster. I can¡¯t take a Sphere of my own.¡± Taika gave a heavy sigh. ¡°I had to choose that before I could choose anything else. I¡¯ve probably been able to see the rest for days and just didn¡¯t realize it. I make people feel better. That¡¯s what I do. I think it includes helping recover Shield.¡±


    Sophia could tell there was more Taika didn¡¯t say, but his body language said that he felt sad and defensive, not deceptive. She was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, for now.


    ¡°I just gained Comfort Animal as a known Beast,¡± Cliff¡¯s mental voice whispered joyfully in the back of Sophia¡¯s mind. ¡°I didn¡¯t even know I could learn Beasts, or what a Beast is! They¡¯re smart animals that range from barely smarter than a natural animal to ¡­ huh, there is no upper end. There¡¯s no way to tell a Beast from someone with a full Status other than the limited Status. It does make the Monster category clearer, Monsters have a natural drive to attack people that Beasts don¡¯t have. They get something from killing people they don¡¯t get from killing Beasts.¡±


    Sophia blinked at the stream of excited babble. Was this the most she¡¯d ever heard Cliff say at once?


    ¡°Monsters advance by killing and by eating concentrated sources of magic. I think that means there¡¯s something solid at the center of a Nexus, like a Nexus Core.¡± Cliff¡¯s mental voice sounded almost apologetic. ¡°I think I may make you look especially delicious to monsters that can see me.¡±


    Sophia focused on asking the question mentally; she could, but it was far harder than simply speaking out loud. ¡°Does that mean you were listening to what Taika said?¡±


    ¡°I always listen.¡± Cliff¡¯s voice was calm and didn¡¯t sound at all sheepish. ¡°I usually don¡¯t care. When it means I might be eaten, I care.¡±


    Sophia sighed. It wasn¡¯t like she could blame him for listening when he was literally part of her body. The only person she could blame was the Guide. Sophia was pretty certain that if the Guide were present, she¡¯d want to beat him up.


    Or her. Sophia wasn¡¯t certain which gender the Guide preferred, but it didn¡¯t matter. Sophia was perfectly willing to beat up a woman who did what the Guide did to her.


    Sophia shook her head. She didn¡¯t want to sit any longer; she needed to move. ¡°How¡¯re you doing, Dav?¡±


    Dav pushed himself to his feet. He shifted Taika from his lap to his shoulder. The chinchilla seemed to shrink a little as he settled in place. ¡°I seem okay, now.¡± He paused for a moment to check his Status. ¡°I¡¯m at sixteen Shield, should be good enough. Let¡¯s get moving. It¡¯s that way, right?¡± He dismissed his Healing Beacon as he pointed almost in the correct direction.


    ¡°A little more to the right,¡± Amy corrected him. ¡°Follow me.¡±


    The rest of the night passed relatively uneventfully, with similar corpsevine encounters as the previous night (fortunately without a bear).


    Taika was definitely smaller by morning. He fit comfortably on Dav¡¯s shoulder, instead of having to hold himself there with his rear paws behind Dav¡¯s back.


    ¡°I see you found the fox,¡± was Samuel¡¯s greeting when they met at the archway that led back to the mansion.


    ¡°What?¡± Dav sounded confused. ¡°Where?¡±


    Samuel grinned widely and didn¡¯t try to keep his chuckle quiet. ¡°On your shoulder. Spirit animals are rare, and that has to be a spirit animal. So it¡¯s the fox.¡±


    Taika lifted his head and looked at Samuel. ¡°What¡¯s a spirit animal?¡±


    Sophia noticed that he didn¡¯t deny masquerading as a twin-tailed fox. She couldn¡¯t say she was overly surprised; now that Samuel pointed it out, they were similarly colored and Taika was clearly a shapeshifter. She should have seen it herself.


    ¡°Beasts as strong as monsters that aren¡¯t,¡± Samuel answered as if it was obvious. ¡°No one knows much about them; you just see them sometimes in the wilderness. You know that¡¯s what they are because they run away instead of towards you. It¡¯s best to let them go; you never know how powerful they are. Spirit animals always have Abilities that aren¡¯t just their own physical strength, so even the smallest can be deadly dangerous. They¡¯re also not limited by the area they live in the same way monsters are, so you can¡¯t predict them. I¡¯ve never heard of one that could speak before.¡±


    Taika didn¡¯t answer the implied question.


    ¡°Does that mean Peaches is a spirit animal?¡± Dav didn¡¯t seem to care about the fact that the miniature chinchilla on his shoulder spoke. Sophia was pretty sure they¡¯d been whispering back and forth much of the night, so it probably wasn¡¯t novel anymore.


    Samuel shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t think so. Arryn says he isn¡¯t, and he doesn¡¯t sound much like the legends the way a fox that becomes a mouse does.¡±


    Sophia shot a glance at Taika. He did kind of resemble a mouse at that size, now that Samuel mentioned it. The tail was wrong and the overall shape didn¡¯t quite seem right either, but it was a decent first guess.


    ¡°Speaking of things that aren¡¯t where they should be,¡± Amy interjected, ¡°We ran into a corpsevine-infested sabertooth cat that was definitely past the first upgrade. It had shieldbreaking teeth.¡± She held up the pair of teeth she¡¯d finally separated from the big cat¡¯s skull. ¡°It also moved too well and wasn¡¯t as easily distracted by fire, so I think there¡¯s more to it than just the vines holding the skeleton together because the teeth are powerful. I think they get something from whatever they take over.¡±


    Samuel sighed. ¡°That would explain the corpsevine mages, wouldn¡¯t it? You three be careful in the Challenge. Don¡¯t push harder than you can manage, even if a spirit animal is following you around.¡±

 Chapter 99 - Half of Your Job

    ¡°Do you have somewhere I can hide?¡± Taika asked a few minutes after they entered Casterville. ¡°I don¡¯t like the way people look at me.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ve barely seen anyone,¡± Dav countered.


    He was right. Sophia had seen less than a dozen people, so far. Every single one of them was armed, even though not all were armored and most were alone. It was obvious to Sophia that not only was the west end of the city busier than it had been, the residents were worried they might need to fight.


    ¡°I want to keep it that way. I don¡¯t like the way they look at me.¡± Taika visibly shivered.


    Dav shrugged. ¡°You can fit in my backpack, if you like? It¡¯s not as spacious as Sophia¡¯s, but I think you¡¯ll still fit.¡±


    Taika scrambled into the bag.


    ¡°Dammit Taika, I didn¡¯t say you should get heavier!¡± Dav complained teasingly. The smile on his face said that he wasn¡¯t truly even annoyed. ¡°Here, I¡¯ll leave an opening at the top so you can peek out. If you want to stay hidden, you¡¯ll have to duck down.¡±


    ¡°I can do that,¡± Taika agreed shakily.


    Sophia noticed that Taika did look around when the streets were empty, but even before Sophia noticed someone walking towards them, Taika¡¯s head disappeared inside. This time, Sophia paid attention to how the woman with a spear regarded them. She seemed wary, as if concerned they would attack at any time. Did she really not know that they were safe inside the bounds of the Nexus?


    Maybe she didn¡¯t know exactly where those bounds were? They weren¡¯t all that far from the line yet, just a few minutes¡¯ walk.


    ¡°I think I see what you mean,¡± Sophia told Taika. ¡°It doesn¡¯t make me feel like hiding.¡± If anything it made her angry, even though she knew she had no reason to be angry. These people should not be afraid of her and even if they were, they shouldn¡¯t be able to lash out in fear. They shouldn¡¯t even be afraid.


    The trip back to the Registry didn¡¯t take long by the clock, but it certainly felt a lot longer than the trip to the country mansion had.


    It was midmorning by the time they arrived. Sophia wasn¡¯t certain who decided to head for the tavern for breakfast instead of their rooms. It could have been the smell of well-cooked food that made the decision, rather than any one person.


    ¡°Ah, you¡¯re back.¡± Mentor Rensyn snagged the fourth chair for the table and sat down. ¡°And with a pet too. Amy, did you pick up a monster-taming Ability while you were out there?¡±


    Amy chuckled. ¡°Taika¡¯s not mine. He¡¯s with Dav, mostly. We rescued him from a corpsevine-infested monster and he decided he wanted to travel with us. He seems friendly and has an Ability to help Shield recover over time, so we didn¡¯t see any reason to object.¡±


    Sophia was pretty sure Amy had just implicitly lied while telling the truth. Everything she said was true, but she didn¡¯t mention either the fact that Taika could talk or the fact that he¡¯d warned them of creatures tracking Sophia because they wanted to eat her. Admittedly, Sophia wasn¡¯t sure Amy remembered that last bit, but Sophia definitely wasn¡¯t going to forget it.


    There had to be a reason Amy didn¡¯t want to give Rensyn the full details about Taika. Sophia guessed that it was best to wait. He¡¯d find out in time when Samuel talked to him, but it wasn¡¯t like Amy lied. Sophia was definitely going to ask once they were alone.


    Rensyn nodded and moved on to the reason he¡¯d dropped by. ¡°Fair enough; a companion shouldn¡¯t unduly affect the Challenge. Might even make it easier; Leveled Challenges can be strange. I take it the Quinns stayed with Samuel?¡±


    ¡°He wanted them to stay to protect Essia,¡± Sophia answered in between bites. ¡°They weren¡¯t that interested in the Challenge, either.¡± Sophia regretted that a bit; she thought Rae¡¯s uncanny ability to see things that were very well hidden might be useful in figuring out the point of the Challenge. Other than that, she couldn¡¯t say much about the twins. They kept to themselves.


    On second thought, maybe it wasn¡¯t the Quinns who kept to themselves. Sophia hadn¡¯t exactly made an effort to include them, had she? She¡¯d been spending a lot of time with Dav and hadn¡¯t made any time for the others. Amy was pushy enough that she turned up whether she was invited or not, and neither Sophia nor Dav pushed her away after that. The Quinns might simply be less confident they were welcome.


    Sophia needed to do better than that. She knew how important it was for a group that fought together to spend time together. She promised herself that if they ended up back with the Quinns, she¡¯d make an effort to invite them to do things together.


    Rensyn shorted, then nodded. ¡°Then they have a place. I bet I can get them added to Essia¡¯s future group, if Samuel already approves them. That is, if you three don¡¯t mind?¡±


    Sophia noticed that although he asked if the three of them minded, his attention was on her.


    ¡°We don¡¯t mind,¡± Amy interjected. ¡°Five people really isn¡¯t enough for two pure support specialists. They were great with the larger group, but the three of us aren¡¯t really enough to take full advantage of them. I¡¯d happily take them into a Minor Challenge, but they¡¯d only be good in a Leveled Challenge if there were a dozen people with them.¡±This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Rensyn waited a moment, as if he hoped Sophia would disagree with Amy. When she didn¡¯t say anything, he shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s half the problem they¡¯ve had. If either of them had a straight combat Sphere or they were willing to be split ¡­¡±


    Rensyn shook his head. He started off talking clearly, but by the end his words were mumbled, more spoken to himself than to the people around him. ¡°I hoped they¡¯d fit with you three, since you¡¯re relatively combat-heavy with low flexibility. It sounds like I should aim for a support team instead. It¡¯ll make it harder for them to level, but I have to find something for Essia anyway. Well, Samuel has to, and if that¡¯s the Quinns then it solves my problem for now. If only I could find a heavy guard for them that can also manage light scouting, I might be able to set them into some of the more dangerous parts of the forest instead of letting Essia wander around with her father¡¯s guardsmen¡­¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s half of your job, isn¡¯t it?¡± Rensyn¡¯s muttering reminded Sophia of someone from back home. Becca¡¯s formal job was different, but Sophia knew she was always trying to build groups that could work well together as well. Sophia sometimes thought Becca was half the reason the dungeons in New York City were as well managed as they were, and Becca always said that party matching and management was half of the job.


    Rensyn shook his head and refocused on Sophia.


    ¡°Most of my job is teaching,¡± Rensyn corrected Sophia. ¡°People find their own groups. Mostly. I just worry about those two. And, well, Essia¡¯s going to get mentored. Good healers do, even if she weren¡¯t the Mage-Chancellor¡¯s daughter.¡±


    It was nice to hear that, at least. Healers seemed oddly scarce here, compared to back home. Sophia knew that they were less common off Earth as well, so it was probably just her background. It was probably because video games always had healers. People assumed they were needed for dungeon runs, after all, so healers were always in demand, even beyond the health care needs of non-delvers.


    Not that Sophia paid much attention to that. Her mother and uncle did, that was enough for one family.


    ¡°If only her father valued her the way she should be valued,¡± Rensyn muttered. ¡°He treats her like a less capable mage. It¡¯s common here and probably why most of the healers here aren¡¯t very good, but the man should know better.¡±


    Sophia raised an eyebrow at that. ¡°Why would you look down on healers? That makes no sense.¡±


    Rensyn shrugged. ¡°The Mage-Chancellor¡¯s position is that alchemicals and sleep are enough. He¡¯s not wrong, if you can take things slowly. He¡¯s not thinking about what actually happens during a fight, especially not something like the corpsevines. We can¡¯t take that slowly, not now. If we¡¯d kept watch over the area, maybe, but ¡­¡±


    Rensyn closed his eyes and shook his head slowly. He didn¡¯t continue until his eyes were open again, and when he did his voice had changed from the aggrieved tone he had earlier to one that almost sounded sad. ¡°I¡¯m not sure we¡¯ll be able to talk him into evacuation, either, but that¡¯s not your concern. You need to worry about the Leveled Challenge and doing away with the need for the evacuation. If you can do that ¡­ well, it will definitely be a Feat. I don¡¯t know what the Feat will grant, but it¡¯s likely to be good, in addition to a significant amount of Wisps.¡±


    Rensyn glanced around the trio. His voice steadied as he spoke. ¡°You can never predict how many Wisps the Guide will grant, but completing the Leveled Challenge¡¯s combat has been enough for an Ability for those below the first upgrade. It¡¯s half that between the first and second, and very little after that. If it weren¡¯t Leveled, we¡¯d call it a first-upgrade Challenge.¡±


    Rensyn paused as if he had to make sure everyone was following. Sophia was, and she saw Dav nod as well. Amy looked bored.


    Rensyn waited an extra moment, then continued even without a nod from Amy. ¡°Challenge runs have been faster than we expected, with most groups finishing in four to six hours. We have enough groups willing to go through the Challenge that we¡¯re scheduling everyone every five days; that way, there¡¯s enough time for people to complete other tasks as well and we can work in newcomers fairly quickly. It¡¯s well known that the most likely time to fully complete a Challenge like this is the first run, and we want it complete.¡±


    Sophia frowned at that. It didn¡¯t make sense that things became harder after the first run when you knew what you were looking at. Did it really become harder or did that just mean that people didn¡¯t try new things on later tries because they thought they knew what was going on?


    ¡°Since this is your first time through the Challenge, I can let you pick what time of day you want to start and we¡¯ll shuffle the other teams around you. So far, what I¡¯ve heard is that the corpsevines act like corpsevines on the outside, so they¡¯re the most active starting a few hours after sunrise.¡±


    ¡°You haven¡¯t been inside?¡± Amy pounced on Rensyn¡¯s words before Sophia could.


    Rensyn shook his head. ¡°Registry staff won¡¯t enter the Challenge until right before the evacuation begins several months from now. Professionals don¡¯t gain much from a Challenge, so we don¡¯t enter them even if we¡¯re capable unless we have to. If we do have to go in, we want it to be after everyone¡¯s had a chance; later runs are far less impactful even for Called.¡±


    Sophia raised an eyebrow at that.


    Well, she tried. Knowing her luck, both eyebrows probably went up.


    Sophia shorted softly. She couldn¡¯t even seem cool to herself, could she? ¡°Should we be worried about people being upset if we do finish the Challenge?¡±


    Rensyn shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t care if people are upset, and neither should you. There¡¯s enough danger out there hunting corpsevines; we don¡¯t need a Challenge that will force us to evacuate all Professionals from Casterville. Now, when do you want to head in?¡±


    Sophia noticed that he didn¡¯t say no. A wry grin crossed her face. Maybe that was the real reason many groups didn¡¯t solve Challenges: even if they were less impactful, which probably meant fewer Wisps, repeating the same thing was easier than doing something new. It was exactly the reason some people would repeatedly farm the same dungeon back home: they knew they could do it and it was safe money.


    ¡°I want to be able to see what I¡¯m doing,¡± Sophia answered. ¡°I also need to sleep. Dav, Amy?¡±


    ¡°Hm?¡± Dav seemed to shake himself. He blinked tiredly. Had he just passed out at the table? ¡°Yeah, sleep¡¯s good.¡±


    Well, he could see in the dark. He probably didn¡¯t care that much.


    ¡°Very early morning tomorrow,¡± Amy contributed. ¡°We¡¯ll be a bit tired, but if we spend a lot of today resting we can be ready for it. I know there are also some alchemicals that will help, and it puts the corpsevines at their lowest activity.¡±


    ¡°Sounds good to me,¡± Sophia agreed.


    ¡°Morning it is, then,¡± Rensyn agreed after a glance at Dav. ¡°I¡¯ll let Aimiva know to give a wake-up call shortly before sunrise.¡±


    Sophia looked at Dav and shook her head. She sure hoped he¡¯d wake up enough to make it up the stairs mostly on his own; carrying him would not be fun.

 Chapter 100 - Breakfast Thieves

    Sophia was awake when the soft knock on the door said that it was finally time to get up and get moving. She turned to shake Dav, only to find him already sitting up and turned towards her. ¡°You were awake, too?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Dav admitted, then yawned. ¡°My body doesn¡¯t know what time it is. I¡¯ve got to have some coffee.¡±


    ¡°You can say that again,¡± Sophia agreed. She was pretty sure she was more awake than he was, but that wasn¡¯t saying much. Breakfast and coffee was exactly what she needed.


    Once they were downstairs, Sophia started by mixing up her coffee. The correct mix was easy: just as much milk as there was coffee, then add honey until it tasted mildly sweet. She liked her coffee as a sturdy caffeinated milk drink, not as something strong enough to stand a spoon in, and that meant that she didn¡¯t really need much honey.


    Well, maybe a little more honey. It might be just as helpful as the caffeine in getting her going this morning.


    She could only be grateful that Casterville had coffee. She¡¯d been to places that didn¡¯t. The area didn¡¯t seem appropriate for coffee plants, but she¡¯d seen Arryn¡¯s wagon, which was far bigger on the inside than the outside; it might be imported. It could also be grown in one of the other Conservatories, since it clearly wasn¡¯t grown in the West Conservatory.


    Sophia glanced over at Dav. He was, as usual, about halfway through his first much darker cup of coffee by the time she started hers.


    Amy walked in right after the food arrived and snagged a square of toast from Sophia¡¯s plate before setting three bottles down in front of Sophia. They were clearly glass, about the size of a soft drink can, with a stopper at the top and a leather band wrapped several times around the neck. A tiny tag dangled from the end of the leather.


    There was a design Sophia didn¡¯t recognize on the side, but it was the liquid inside that really caught Sophia¡¯s attention. It was yellow at the bottom and a sort of flecked blue at the top, with an inner glow that made Sophia momentarily turn on her MageSight to confirm that the bottle held some sort of magic.


    Amy held the toast with her teeth as she pulled another trio of bottles in front of Dav, then pulled out a chair and plopped down into it.


    ¡°You could have ordered your own toast,¡± Sophia complained.


    Amy took another bite with a grin. ¡°Yeah, but I¡¯m hungry now. I¡¯ll get you more toast when I order. I bet you didn¡¯t think to stop by and talk to the alchemist, did you?¡±


    Sophia chuckled at Amy¡¯s brazen answer. She didn¡¯t honestly care that much about the toast when she had an entire plate of food. Eggs, sausage, and a muffin would do just fine even without the toast.


    ¡°Is that where you got these?¡± Dav waved a hand at the glass containers. ¡°The alchemist?¡±


    ¡°Yep.¡± Amy waved at the barmaid to get her attention. ¡°I guessed you two wouldn¡¯t think of it. They¡¯re energy drinks, perfect to give you a bit more alertness. They¡¯ll even boost mana and shield regeneration a bit, though not nearly as much as actual rest or food does. Don¡¯t drink more than one an hour unless you want to be violently ill, and two hours is better.¡±


    Sophi¡¯s mouth quirked into a smile at Amy¡¯s tone of voice. ¡°Know that from experience, do you?¡±


    ¡°Uuuugh,¡± Amy answered. ¡°Never doing that again. Especially not with one that¡¯s about to go bad; the side effects are worse. It¡¯s easy to tell; if the yellow is gone or turns orange, toss it. That usually takes a couple weeks. These days I only buy ¡®em if I think I¡¯ll use them real soon. Three should be enough for each of us for the Challenge, even if we take our time.¡±


    ¡°I want to take all the time we need, even if it¡¯s longer than most,¡± Sophia countered. ¡°I don¡¯t see how we can possibly search the whole East Conservatory in four hours, or even in six. We can kill all of the corpsevines, probably, but that can¡¯t be all there is to this. If it was, someone would have fixed it by now.¡±


    ¡°You think we can actually solve it?¡± Amy¡¯s words were somewhere between a statement and a question. ¡°I¡¯m happy to try, but it won¡¯t be easy. It¡¯s only been a couple days, but almost everything¡¯s been tried.¡±


    Sophia frowned as she nodded. The one benefit of staying in the Registry building for almost a day after they decided when they¡¯d head to the Conservatory other than comfortable beds was the chance it gave them to talk to people. Rensyn had not-so-quietly discouraged asking around, but none of the three of them let that stop them from asking questions. They didn¡¯t want to try things that had already been tried if they didn¡¯t work. ¡°I know, but we also know it won¡¯t kick us out after we kill everything. We have time to search the place. That has to be part of the Challenge, and at least half of the people I talked to didn¡¯t bother.¡±


    ¡°Just killing the corpsevines is an easy way to make some money.¡± Amy didn¡¯t try very hard to hide the disdain she held for people who didn¡¯t do more than that. ¡°Searching the place takes time and isn¡¯t worth more unless you actually finish the Challenge permanently, and a lot of people would rather have a straightforward combat Challenge than have to travel around to find enemies. Sure, the Wisps aren¡¯t all that good the second time, but they¡¯re never good past level one, maybe two, near Casterville.¡±This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    Dav winced and glanced around the room. ¡°Maybe tone it down a bit while we¡¯re still near others?¡±


    Sophia¡¯s fork clanged on her plate as she went to spear her last large piece of sausage. She looked down, then realized that it was missing. A colorful lump between her and Dav tore another bite off the sausage he stole while Sophia wasn¡¯t watching her plate. ¡°Dammit, Taika, not you too!¡±


    As it turned out, Sophia had to order more breakfast at the same time Amy ordered hers. Fortunately, Rensyn didn¡¯t arrive and tell them the previous group was back from the West Conservatory until after they both had the chance to eat.


    The entrance wasn¡¯t through the same tunnel that Lillah Gardener showed them; instead, they could travel directly from the city down an overgrown path that was probably once a road. These days, even the path was more than a foot deep in greenery. There was a slight risk that they¡¯d run into a corpsevine outside the Leveled Challenge, but it was early enough that it was very unlikely.


    Indeed, long before they saw an enemy, the Guide told them they were in the Challenge.


    You have Entered a Leveled Challenge!


    Challenge: Lair of the Corpsevine


    This Leveled Challenge must be fully completed within a year of its origin. Failure will result in a Monster Challenge on the nearest Nexus City, Casterville.


    First-time completion of this Leveled Challenge will qualify as a Minor Feat.


    Full completion of this Leveled Challenge will qualify as a Major Feat and result in additional rewards for both the participants and the nearest Nexus City, Casterville.


    The message wasn¡¯t the same as the one Sophia remembered from shortly after she and Dav landed in the Broken Lands when they ¡°passed within the area of a Shard of Kestii,¡± but it was close. Sophia wasn¡¯t sure if that made it nostalgic or if it just brought home how rare it was for areas to be limited by the Guide. Probably both.


    Amy grinned. ¡°I¡¯ve always wanted to do a true Challenge. This one should be pretty easy, since we¡¯ve fought a bunch of corpsevines before. The fighting bit, at least.¡±


    ¡°Might be a bit harder than you think,¡± Dav cautioned. ¡°We don¡¯t have Samuel as backup and we don¡¯t have other fires as distractions. I don¡¯t want to be attacked by multiple groups at once.¡±


    Amy shook her head. ¡°This is a Leveled Challenge. That¡¯s not supposed to happen unless the Guide thinks it¡¯s reasonable.¡±


    ¡°Is it reasonable to expect the fights to be easy when they¡¯re scaled to us?¡± Dav shrugged. ¡°Let¡¯s be a little cautious.¡±


    Sophia shook her head at the byplay, then reached up to Dav¡¯s backpack. ¡°Taika, you probably shouldn¡¯t be in Dav¡¯s backpack. Can you fight or scout?¡±


    ¡°Mmm,¡± Taika almost squeaked as he looked around. ¡°Not for corpsevines. They are harder to see than real animals. I think I can make you harder for them to see, too. Will that work?¡±


    ¡°Sure, let¡¯s give that a try.¡± Sophia reached up and caught Taika around the chest. The brightly colored fluffy fuzzball let her lower him almost halfway to the ground before he squirmed out of her grip and jumped up onto a tree branch where he could speak to her without looking all the way up.


    Taika crouched on the branch and closed his eyes as he concentrated. The air around him wavered with magic as his fur took on a green tinge. In places, it seemed to turn into leaves, while in others it just dyed his fur in an odd irregular pattern. It wasn¡¯t what Sophia expected when she thought ¡°harder to see.¡± It was more like camouflage than invisibility.


    Sophia concentrated for long enough to use her MageSight. She was right; he was moving quite a bit of magic. It didn¡¯t seem to be concentrated just on Sophia; instead, it seemed to fill the air around the entire group. It was quite a bit of magic and while it seemed well controlled in its effects, Taika didn¡¯t seem to be able to control the area he affected very well. ¡°This is going to be all you can do for a while, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    Taika didn¡¯t answer. Instead, waves of color washed across the entire area. It was only an illusion, clearly, but Sophia thought it might well work if the corpsevines depended on the senses it fooled.


    Sophia turned to look at the others to make certain they were covered by the illusion as well. Amy seemed to be covered in leaves and vines, with a waterfall of vines that ran down her back over her hair. Dirt marks appeared on her face; they looked almost more like small bits of mud than ordinary dirt.


    Sophia turned to look at Dav; she had to see what Taika¡¯s illusion did to him.


    His armor was still visible, but it was duller and the scales looked like leaves, now. Like Amy, he had leaves in his hair. Taika even managed to change the color of the scales on Dav¡¯s face.


    Dav chuckled and grinned at Sophia.


    Sophia tilted her head at him. ¡°What¡¯s funny?¡±


    ¡°You look like a wood elf,¡± Dav said with another chuckle. ¡°Your ears are really obvious. I can really see what Arryn meant, now.¡±


    Sophia sighed and dug a small mirror out of her back and took a look. It wasn¡¯t as funny as Dav seemed to think, but she could sort of see what he meant. She was covered in leaves just like the other two and her eye color was wrong, green instead of purple. The really annoying part was that she looked even younger than usual.


    Sophia frowned at Taika. ¡°Did you have to give me freckles?¡±

 Chapter 101 - Leveled Challenge (Forest)

    Taika lowered his head and blinked his eyes repeatedly. Sophia tried not to laugh; he looked almost exactly like someone who was tired after a large spell. He shook himself, then held his arms up, clearly asking to be picked up.


    Sophis picked Taika up and cradled him on an arm. ¡°So you have to sustain the illusion, or will it last on its own?¡±


    Taika yawned. ¡°It¡¯ll last for a bit, but it won¡¯t reflect its surroundings without my attention. Out here, that¡¯s mostly watching shadows and when you brush against something.¡± Taika yawned again. ¡°I have to keep watching. Can you put me in Dav¡¯s pack?¡±


    Sophia shook her head at the sleepy chinchilla and set him inside the pack. ¡°Can you stay awake?¡±


    A soft pop, like air being let out of a container, pulled Sophia¡¯s attention to Amy. She held one of the energy drinks she¡¯d brought to breakfast and had clearly just removed the stopper. ¡°Anyone have a small bowl or something for Taika to drink from? This is exactly what these alchemicals are for.¡±


    Sophia blinked, then quickly sorted through the assorted junk in her pack that she hadn¡¯t gotten around to tossing yet. It took her a bit to find her tableware, but she did have bowls as well as plates and utensils. She pulled out a small square Corelle bowl.


    It was her favorite pattern from a few years back, a rounded square bowl with a pattern that looked like random streaks of color that ran around the inside of the bowl parallel to the rim in the white background. If she didn¡¯t know it was commercially produced and a consistent pattern, she¡¯d probably have thought it was a child¡¯s pattern instead. It also seemed to be one of the few bowls she actually had in her bag.


    Sophia set the bowl on the ground, then set Taika next to it while Amy filled the bowl about half an inch deep with the blue liquid, less than a quarter of the bottle. A faint green glow shone from the middle of the bowl. Sophia frowned; Taika was quite a bit less than a quarter her size. ¡°Is that much safe?¡±


    Amy shrugged. ¡°You always have to take enough for it to glow or it just doesn¡¯t do anything. This isn¡¯t enough to notice for me, so I figure it¡¯s the place to start. My guess is that he¡¯ll need this much again to really wake up, but he¡¯s small. I could be wrong.¡±


    Taika glanced between the two women , then down at the bowl. The liquid vanished without further movement on Taika¡¯s part. ¡°Backpack. Now, please.¡±


    Sophia picked up the bowl and tried to shake out any remaining drops of liquid. As far as she could tell, there weren¡¯t any. ¡°What did you do with the liquid? This isn¡¯t an illusion.¡±


    At least, she was pretty sure it wasn¡¯t an illusion. Taika would have to be very good to hide the liquid and all secondary signs of it. She couldn¡¯t come up with any reason he¡¯d even try. She brushed the bottom of the bowl off on her pants; they looked like they were covered in plants but they felt like pants instead of plants. She ran a finger along the inside of the bowl. It felt glass-smooth and dry, so she relegated it back to its spot in her dimensional backpack.


    ¡°It was almost an illusion, color and magic. So I absorbed it,¡± Taika answered in a matter of fact tone of voice.


    The explanation didn¡¯t really explain anything to Sophia, but she probably shouldn¡¯t have expected it to make sense. Taika had clearly been altered by his time in the Origin, and even if he seemed more coherent than Sophia would have expected, the Origin was strange enough that his answer could have been the literal truth. Perhaps he wasn¡¯t an illusionist but was instead a creature with control of magical color?


    Sophia shrugged internally. It didn¡¯t really matter; for practical purposes, a creature with control of magical color was still an illusionist and Taika still seemed trustworthy.


    After Sophia loaded Taika back into Dav¡¯s backpack, they continued forward for only a bit over a minute before Amy held up a hand and gestured for them all to stop. She then had them quietly creep forward until they could see what she was looking at.


    Only a few feet away, there was an obvious corpsevine. It was the most advanced corpsevine Sophia had ever seen, with a human skull covered in a series of lines of roots connected to a body made entirely of roots, vines, and leaves. At least, Sophia thought that was what made up the monster¡¯s ¡°muscles;¡± she couldn¡¯t think of anything else plantlike that would somehow manage to closely resemble muscle mass.


    If it were fleshy, Sophia would have considered it horrifying, with exposed bones that blended into flesh at the arms, legs, and abdomen. Since it was plantlike, it seemed wrong but somehow less horrifying. The one thing she could say about it from a distance was that it was almost certainly a brute. It might be more powerful than the bear, since that was ¡°only¡± a plant-zombie, but at least it was smaller.


    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ¡°Should we fight it or try to slip by it?¡± Dav whispered, just loud enough to be heard, probably not loud enough for the sound to carry to the corpsevine. It probably couldn¡¯t hear anyway.


    ¡°We should be able to take it by surprise,¡± Amy offered. ¡°That would help.¡±


    ¡°Do we need to fight it to beat the Challenge?¡± Sophia asked Amy. ¡°If we do, we should definitely sneak up on it now, before it knows we¡¯re here.¡±


    Amy frowned. ¡°Probably not? Well, probably not if we¡¯re trying to resolve the Challenge. If we just want to beat the Challenge, we might need to kill it.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t want it behind us,¡± Dav offered. ¡°At least, not if we can kill it quietly. What if whatever¡¯s inside the Conservatory can call for help? If we leave it out here, we might have to fight it along with others.¡±


    That was a good point. However much Sophia wanted to take advantage of Taika¡¯s illusion to skip what promised to be an annoying fight, she couldn¡¯t completely discount Dav¡¯s guess. At the same time, she wasn¡¯t sure it was correct.


    ¡°Everyone we talked to killed everything they saw. Only about half of them saw anything before they reached the building and none of them ever had anything chase them inside,¡± Sophia summarized. ¡°Did they just miss it?¡±


    ¡°Probably,¡± Amy concurred. ¡°So it probably won¡¯t come after us once we¡¯re inside. We never saw corpsevines communicating, just chasing what they could sense. I think we can skip this one. I¡¯m just not sure we should.¡±


    ¡°If both of you think we should kill it, I¡¯m game,¡± Sophia stated. ¡°Same plan as usual, or should we try something different?¡±


    ¡°Taika, can you tell where the nexus is on the corpsevine?¡± Dav took his backpack off and turned it so that the opening in his backpack had a clear line of sight to the monster.


    Taika¡¯s answer was disappointing. ¡°I can see three, one in the head, one just under the false ribcage, and one in the belly area. It¡¯s strange; they aren¡¯t evenly distributed. I can see connections from the head along the arms and from the belly down the legs, but the one in the middle doesn¡¯t go anywhere. It barely even seems to talk to the other two.¡±


    Sophia frowned at that. Did that mean it was really three corpsevines? ¡°The last time you saw two, there was one central spot and a bunch of wrapped vines that looked like a central spot. I don¡¯t see a lot of wrapped vines here, but we¡¯ve never seen a corpsevine with more than one node.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll know after we kill it,¡± was Amy¡¯s practical answer. ¡°Arrows might work on the lowest one, but I don¡¯t want to count on it, so I¡¯ll shift. Dav, you need to get its attention so that it¡¯s not protecting its vitals from me. Can you get the one near the ribcage, or do you need to go after the head?¡±


    ¡°The head is more exposed,¡± Dav answered. ¡°Also, if it¡¯s controlling the arms, dealing with that one will help with everything else. Sophia can go after the head as well, then we¡¯ll both switch to the chest while you deal with the lower one.¡±


    ¡°One moment,¡± Sophia said with a slight frown. She might be able to use a spell to get to the nexus, but it turned out that Spell Hardening wasn¡¯t quite as useful as she¡¯d hoped. It applied to every spell she cast, making them sturdier, but the increase was minor. It did help with penetration, but bone was still too much for her spells. It might help more if she increased its level, but that would require also increasing the level of the spells it applied to and she¡¯d probably do that first anyway.


    More importantly, there was something tickling her mind about what Dav said. If it¡¯s controlling the arms ¡­ did that mean the lowest one was controlling the legs? That seemed to make complete sense, but in that case what was the one in the middle doing?


    Wait. Corpsevines could use magic. If there wasn¡¯t a physical reason, maybe there was a magical one; that was what she¡¯d been trying to think of. How could she have missed it?


    Sophia knew she needed to practice more with her MageSight; it should always be active, not something she had to remember to use. It would still be better when she really triggered it, but if it was active at a low level, she¡¯d see something and that would remind her to use the Ability properly. She¡¯d get there, as long as she kept practicing, but it was annoyingly slow.


    With MageSight active, the entire area glowed slightly with magic. Sophia guessed that was probably the Leveled Challenge; dungeons had a background glow, too, and this was pretty similar. The corpsevine monster was far stronger than the background, however, and that told her the first thing she needed to know: she was wrong about it just being a brute. ¡°It¡¯s a spellcaster, or it has a spell active at least.¡±


    The corpsevine didn¡¯t move while Sophia inspected it, even after she moved a little closer to get a good view of it. There was a chance she was within its vision, but it didn¡¯t seem to notice it. She¡¯d give credit to Taika for that; even if all his illusion meant was that they could get closer before the monster realized they were there because they decided not to sneak past it, that was useful.


    The magic seemed to cover the torso and head but didn¡¯t extend as far as the limbs past the shoulder and hip joints. It was sort of a cloud, which hid the structure that should have been there, the structure that would help her figure out what the spell was.


    She hated to admit that her father was right, but she really, really needed more practice with seeing magic. Yes, it was easier when it was within her aura and she could both see and feel it that way. She couldn¡¯t afford to try that here; the corpsevine might detect it, and she didn¡¯t want it to suddenly attack while she was concentrating on its magic. She needed to be able to figure out what spells were outside her aura.


    It took Sophia minutes of uncomfortable staring at the minor gradations of light to see the lines that wrapped around the edge of the cloud. The mana moved in a pattern, a set of rotating ovals and ellipses that could only be one thing. She couldn¡¯t see the inside of the spell to make out the spellform, but she had a good guess what the spell it was maintaining was.


    It was a spell she didn¡¯t expect to see on any monster she fought, but maybe the Leveled Challenge thought it was fair because corpsevines could normally be killed just by disabling their nexuses, without going through the Guide¡¯s shield. ¡°It has a shielding spell of some sort. I can¡¯t tell if it blocks physical attacks or just magic, but it¡¯s there.¡±

 Chapter 102 - Disruptive

    Sophia bit her lip. She¡¯d taken the Ability but hadn¡¯t run into anywhere to actually try it out. She really should have asked Samuel for help, so that she¡¯d know exactly how it worked. She hadn¡¯t, so the fact that she was going to be testing the ability when she needed it to work was her fault. ¡°I might be able to disrupt the shield.¡±


    ¡°Can you do it from a distance or do you need to be up close?¡± Amy didn¡¯t question Sophia¡¯s conclusions; she clearly wanted a plan, not a debate.


    Sophia pulled up the limited description she had of Disruptive Magic. It was just as short as she remembered.


    Disruptive Magic


    Use Arcane magic to disrupt spell structures.


    Force Bolt and Force Blast were both Arcane. Force Bolt was cheaper, but without knowing where to hit the spell it would probably not work. She could make an opening with it but unless she hit an important part of the spellform, it would simply reform, and she couldn¡¯t see through the protective shield. She was going to have to use Force Blast.


    ¡°Dav, you¡¯ll need to stay a step away from it when I hit it quickly twice, then go for the chest immediately. You can go for the head after that, but I don¡¯t think I can keep it from recasting the shield, and there are vines hidden inside the chest cavity; I think the chest one controls them and I don¡¯t want them to grab you.¡± Sophia paused and tried to figure out why she knew there were vines hidden inside the creature¡¯s chest. It made sense, with the extra space it built itself behind its neck and the way corpsevines acted, but there was no obvious sign of vines.


    Oh. Of course. Collected Knowledge was finally being useful. Sophia hadn¡¯t really noticed any information from it before, but there was no reason she should have; the corpsevines they¡¯d fought so far had been pretty straightforward. The Ability might also be part of the reason she stopped to look for a shield, now that she thought about it; ¡°something seems wrong¡± could easily have been the Ability prodding her into looking for what the third corpsevine did.


    ¡°I can do that,¡± Dav agreed. ¡°Are you going to go after the one in the belly next, then? I know you don¡¯t like trying to get through bone.¡±


    ¡°If I can,¡± Sophia agreed. ¡°If not, I¡¯ll let you two handle it.¡±


    Amy nodded sharply, then seemed to shrink as she shifted into her wolf shape. A moment later, Sophia heard an annoyed huff from Taika as greenery appeared on the wolf. Sophia grinned to herself. Taika probably wasn¡¯t as exhausted as he pretended.


    Dav and Amy circled around behind the monster. It didn¡¯t react as they slowly approached. Sophia waited until they were both just outside its easy reach, then triggered the Disruptive Magic ability and threw a pair of Force Blasts at the monster to destabilize its shield. The one that started from her floating Animated Spell Blade reached the monster first; the blast clearly outlined the shield, but Sophia couldn¡¯t tell if it penetrated or not.


    The second blast, the one from her aura, hit less than a second later. While the spell once again splashed on the shield, Sophia could see several places where arcane energy slipped through crack in the shield and widened them. There were enough weak spots that Sophia thought her chance of hitting something vital in the spell¡¯s structure was good.


    Now if only she hit it hard enough to take the shield down.


    Dav¡¯s sword arrived a moment after Sophia¡¯s spell, and Sophia immediately wondered if she¡¯d missed an option. His sword wasn¡¯t Imbued, but should it have been? Was her Imbue Blade Arcane? Could she have given Dav a Disruptive enchantment on his sword?


    Dav¡¯s sword flashed through the space where the shield had been and kept going. As it passed, it cleared the way and Sophia could finally see the dissipating spell structure that once supported the shield.


    Well, what was left of the spell structure. It was in tatters, and all Sophia managed to see before it completely vanished was that it was crude but powerful. She might have been able to get away with only one Disruptive spell, but her second was so quick on its heels that the spell was still there. She couldn¡¯t cast a different spell with her Animated Spell Blade anyway, so the only thing it cost was mana.


    Admittedly, it cost a lot of mana. Disruptive spells seemed to be roughly twice as expensive as a normal spell, and Force Blast was more expensive than Force Bolt to begin with. She still had enough mana to fight, but not if she had to do that too many more times.


    Dav¡¯s sword smashed into the corpsevine¡¯s ribcage, shattering bones as it went. It didn¡¯t quite reach the center of the chest, but Sophia could see green ooze from the vines it cut as it passed nearby.


    The monster slammed into the ground from the force of Dav¡¯s blow. It seemed stunned or at least momentarily surprised for long enough that Amy leapt for it. Her wolf jaws closed around the creature¡¯s skull, then a crunch revealed that its fake bone was weaker than her jaw strength. The arms stopped trying to move almost immediately.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    Sophia didn¡¯t wait for the creature to recover; she still had mana left and that meant she could shoot it. A pair of Force Bolts lanced out from her aura and her blade, directed at the area of the belly Taika identified, just above the pelvis. For once, Hardened Spell proved its worth as the arcane projectiles cleanly sliced through the stiff leaves and smashed the corpsevine¡¯s control of its legs into nothingness.


    Vines from the intact half of the corpsevine¡¯s body tried to grab Dav, but all they reached was his legs. He adjusted his aim and struck again. This time, he hacked through the remainder of the vines that protected the corpsevine¡¯s heart and went straight through it as well.


    Most of the vines attempting to restrain Dav fell away immediately. He brushed the remainder off with a frown. ¡°That was easy. I expected more.¡±


    Amy shifted back to her human shape. This time, Taika didn¡¯t replace the vines immediately. ¡°This is a Leveled Challenge. No one¡¯s certain exactly how that works, but only the last monster or two is supposed to be challenging as long as you use everyone well. A lot of people make them harder by trying to avoid using magic or taking them too fast, but I was always taught that you take any Challenge as slow as it will let you. There are hidden things and they reward you for finding them.¡±


    Sophia nodded slowly. She was starting to get the impression that Amy was, if anything, less experienced than Sophia herself but just as well trained. ¡°Your family¡¯s all Called, aren¡¯t they?¡±


    Amy gave a fluid shrug. ¡°Of course. We¡¯re not like the soft people around here.¡±


    Sophia didn¡¯t really know how ¡°soft¡± the people of Casterville were. She hadn¡¯t been there long enough; a week while the place prepared for what might as well have been war against the corpsevines didn¡¯t really count. ¡°Professions seem important.¡±


    Someone had to grow the food, build the houses, and make the arms and armor. There was more to life than that, a lot more, but even in a heavily militarized society, there were always a lot of people who didn¡¯t fight every day.


    ¡°They are,¡± Amy replied surprisingly. ¡°But everyone should have a level or four in a Called Sphere. Everyone should be able to fight the weakest threats; only children, the injured, and the elderly belong in the Vaults. They don¡¯t even have proper Vaults here!¡±


    Amy clenched her right hand, then shook herself. It reminded Sophia of a dog shaking herself dry, but maybe that was because Sophia knew of her other shape. ¡°Eh, you¡¯ll see when I take you home. It¡¯s completely different; I think you¡¯ll like it there.¡±


    Sophia raised an eyebrow. Amy wanted to take her home? Surely she didn¡¯t mean that the way it sounded. Surely.


    Before Sophia could figure out how to ask what Amy meant, the other woman was already kneeling over the woody body of the corpsevine. ¡°There should be something here. Sometimes it¡¯s on the body, sometimes it¡¯s in the area, but Challenges like to give rewards for each fight. Modir says it¡¯s a way to encourage you to fight without requiring it.¡±


    If there was a reward, there was a decent chance it was magical. Sophia concentrated on her MageSight and started to search the area around where they fought the creature while Dav joined Amy at the body. When Sophia glanced at Taika, he seemed to have curled up in Dav¡¯s backpack for a nap. Sophia was certain he was awake at the end of the fight.


    It wasn¡¯t long before Sophia found herself staring at a small cluster of magical mushrooms growing between the roots of a tree. They were small and brown and looked exactly like three other clumps of mushrooms she¡¯d examined and discarded in the past few minutes, but this cluster was slightly magical. ¡°Amy? Is this what you meant?¡±


    Amy abandoned the body and came to see what Sophia found. ¡°A mushroom?¡±


    She didn¡¯t sound impressed.


    ¡°It¡¯s magical,¡± Sophia explained, ¡°Or at least more magical than anything else I¡¯ve found.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s probably it, then.¡± Amy shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s not what I hoped for, but I guess it makes sense, magical plants as a reward for killing plant monsters.¡±


    ¡°Mushrooms aren¡¯t plants,¡± Dav contributed unhelpfully.


    Sophia gave Dav a look. As far as she was concerned, Amy was correct enough. ¡°They¡¯re thematically similar, it¡¯s close enough. Anyone know how to gather them safely, or which parts to gather?¡±


    ¡°Depends on what they¡¯re used for,¡± Dav said as he knelt down to look. ¡°It also depends on the mushroom. I don¡¯t know this one, at least not well enough to be safe; there are at least a dozen different kinds of little brown mushrooms, and they¡¯re really hard to tell apart. I¡¯d normally leave these alone; they¡¯re not safe to eat.¡±


    Sophia blinked at Dav. Mushroom identification was not one of the things she¡¯d expected him to know. Maybe it was from his childhood? He had mentioned that he didn¡¯t have much money growing up, maybe his parents took him out to gather food the same way Sophia¡¯s father and uncle taught her how to camp while traveling and how to judge how long travel food should last?


    ¡°We should take them anyway,¡± Amy suggested. ¡°We can sell them to Halven, the Apothecary. He can probably figure out what they are and how to use them. A magical plant here has to be a reward, it should be useful for something.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t have a basket to carry them in,¡± Dav objected mildly. ¡°I don¡¯t want to put them in my pack, not when I don¡¯t know what they might do.¡±


    Sophia shrugged. She didn¡¯t have a good container, either, not for this. She wasn¡¯t even sure what a good container was.


    ¡°That¡¯s easy to fix,¡± Amy stated confidently. ¡°We have vines. Lots of vines. It won¡¯t be a good basket, not with these vines and without water, but I can make something that will hold mushrooms.¡±


    A few minutes later, Amy¡¯s prediction was proved accurate: it was a terrible basket. It wasn¡¯t even and the spaces between the different vines where Amy weaved them together were sometimes a lot wider than Sophia liked. It was still a far better basket than Sophia could have made at all without help, never mind in just a few minutes.


    Most importantly, the other half of Amy¡¯s prediction was also true. It would hold the mushrooms.

 Chapter 103 - Choose a Door

    Dav¡¯s sword sliced through the protective spell without slowing. The Disruptive Imbuement that allowed its passage shattered, but its work was done before Dav even impacted the woody false flesh of the second humanoid corpsevine they¡¯d seen in their cautious stalk through the forest.


    Sophia relaxed a little at the evidence that it worked and switched to a pair of Force Bolts aimed at the softer belly. This was the second manlike corpsevine they¡¯d found in the forest, and it went down as easily as the first. Now that Sophia knew she could Imbue Dav¡¯s sword to break the enchantment ahead of time, she knew they¡¯d be easy enough if they ran into more. That didn¡¯t seem particularly likely, after the hours they¡¯d spent searching the forest outside the West Conservatory.


    Really, the manlike creatures were the easiest corpsevines they¡¯d fought as they cleared the area out, even though they were the only spellcasters and the only ones with three cooperating corpsevines. They were just too fragile once Sophia broke the spell, since Taika¡¯s illusion meant they were always able to take the monsters by surprise.


    This time, the prize seemed to be some sort of magical berry bush. It held two very different berries, which Sophia thought was pretty unlikely in the wild, but it seemed pretty normal for here. They¡¯d located a ton of magical plants. Sophia just hoped they¡¯d all still be good by the time they got them back to the Registry to sell them.


    Sophia added her haul of berries to the basket and frowned at it. If they found much more, either Amy would have to spend the time to make another basket or Sophia would have to put the now-empty energy drink bottle that held the potentially poisonous mushrooms into her pack. There just wasn¡¯t much room left.


    ¡°Are you sure we can let those yellow mushrooms stay in the basket with everything else?¡± Sophia hadn¡¯t ever seen anything quite like them and Dav said that they were similar to one he knew but not quite right.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Amy answered absently as she tossed in another handful of berries. ¡°Halven has an Ability for that. I told you that back when we were dealing with the first set of mushrooms, he can separate things out. It¡¯s a common Ability for alchemists, something to do with purifying. He¡¯ll complain, but he won¡¯t really mean it; he¡¯ll be happy we brought him anything. He¡¯s always wanting new reagents.¡±


    ¡°On that note,¡± Dav said as he dropped a single berry on top that was at least four times the size of any of the other berries, ¡°I think we¡¯ve pretty well cleaned out everything we¡¯re going to in the forest. We¡¯ve found six possible entrances; which one should we enter by?¡±


    They¡¯d spent a lot more time in the forest than anyone Sophia had talked to before they left the Registry. As far as she knew, everyone had entered through the front entrance. No one had even mentioned other possible entrances. ¡°Not the front. How about the side courtyard, the one with the white flowers? I think it¡¯s the farthest one from the building, which makes it the opposite of the front entrance.¡±


    ¡°That or one of the two in the back,¡± Dav half agreed. ¡°I¡¯m fine with the side entrance. We can check the others out before we enter the building if there¡¯s nothing there.¡±


    ¡°Probably not,¡± Amy disagreed. ¡°There has to be a reason no one mentioned the possibility of leaving through anything but the front. I bet choosing the correct door is part of the Challenge. You may be able to see additional areas if you pick the right entrance.¡±


    That sounded like something a dungeon might do back home, but Sophia hadn¡¯t seen any sign of hidden areas in what she¡¯d seen here in the Broken Lands. ¡°Is that something that happens in Challenges? Is there a clue to know which entrance you need to use?¡±


    Amy shrugged. ¡°Sometimes? I haven¡¯t done that many myself, I just know the stories.¡±


    Sophia nodded reassuringly. Amy was confident enough that Sophia sometimes forgot that while she knew more than Sophia or Dav because she¡¯d lived in the Broken lands her entire life, she¡¯d spent most of it as a child. Sophia probably had more experience with dungeons than Amy did, even if the dungeons were completely different.


    ¡°Then either it expects people to return multiple times or there should be a clue, and you said people usually get it on the first try if they¡¯re going to get it at all, right?¡± Sophia turned to Amy. ¡°That means there should be a clue where to go.¡±


    ¡°Maybe it locks in your first choice, and if you choose wrong you can¡¯t pick again,¡± Dav suggested. ¡°That would explain why it¡¯s usually the first try, too. If you pick wrong the first time, you¡¯re out of luck.¡±


    Sophia frowned at Dav. ¡°Don¡¯t be such a downer. If there¡¯s no clue, there¡¯s no reason to try. I can¡¯t believe that the Guide wants it to be solved by luck.¡± She bit her lip, then admitted the rest. ¡°Maybe by the persistence of a larger group, but then wouldn¡¯t it want to reward everyone that helped for their part in determining which paths were wrong and therefore which was right? No, I think we should look to see if there¡¯s a clue anywhere. Did anyone see anything?¡±Stolen novel; please report.


    Dav shook his head. ¡°There are six entrances, the front to the east, the one with white flowers to the north, two to the south ¡­ I think those had red and purple flowers. The back entrances had one that was plain ivy and one with brilliant blue flowers. I don¡¯t remember if there was anything about the plant life at the front that was different, but it was the only one with a door instead of just an archway. Huh. I guess they did all have something different. Maybe that¡¯s the clue?¡±


    Amy thought for a moment, then shrugged. ¡°I wasn¡¯t looking, but all it¡¯s going to take is time. I think we¡¯ve cleaned out the forest anyway. Why don¡¯t we go look at each of the entrances and see if we notice anything?¡±


    This time, they came closer and looked carefully. The nearest entrance was on the east end of the building, close to the south end, the one Dav identified as ¡°plain ivy.¡± They approached closer than they had before and Sophia suddenly saw it. ¡°There, in the upper left, between the ivy. I think that¡¯s the only carving I¡¯ve seen other than the sign at the front that said West Conservatory.¡±


    Once they were close enough, Sophia could make out the design. It looked sort of like a flower, with eight symmetrical points and a distinct flower in the center. Sophia wasn¡¯t certain what kind of flower it was, maybe a carnation or a rose? The top of the eight points was longer and was capped with another flower that had to be a rose that had just started to bloom. That meant they were both probably roses.


    Sophia turned to Dav, since he seemed to remember the flowers better. ¡°Were any of them roses?¡±


    Dav frowned and shook his head. ¡°The blue ones and the white were on the vines, I remember that. I didn¡¯t look as closely at the red and pink ones, but I remember some of them on the arches so they probably were too.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve heard of climbing roses,¡± Amy countered.


    Sophia shrugged. She had no idea if climbing roses really climbed on their own or if they needed a trellis. ¡°It sounds like we should check the flowers, then. Which one do you think it will be? The classic rose is red, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    Amy shook her head. ¡°Blue roses are the most magical. These are magical plants, blue seems a lot more likely.¡±


    Sophia had never heard of a natural rose that was really blue. That could be true, but how would they know which to go for?


    ¡°There¡¯s no color magic on it,¡± Taika added from Dav¡¯s backpack. ¡°I¡¯d see it if there was. That¡¯s just the color of the stone.¡±


    ¡°Maybe we should check another entrance and see if it¡¯s the same. That might tell us something,¡± Dav pitched in before Sophia could get in an argument with Amy about rose colors.


    Sophia glanced at Amy. When Amy shrugged, she took that as agreement.


    The next archway they checked was the other one at the back of the building. As Dav remembered, it had a different vine, with variegated leaves and intense blue flowers. The same symbol was on the archway, although it was at the top of the arch and Sophia had to move one of the flowers to see the whole thing.


    ¡°Definitely not roses,¡± Amy commented. ¡°There are no thorns, and that¡¯s the wrong shape. They¡¯re blue, but this probably isn¡¯t where we¡¯re supposed to go.¡±


    ¡°The north one is white,¡± Dav said. ¡°I don¡¯t know what sort of flower it was, but it also wasn¡¯t a rose. I remember that much.¡±


    Sophia frowned at the symbol again. Why was there a rose on the north end of -


    Wait a minute.


    Sophia let the vine fall back into place and turned to Amy. ¡°Is north at the top of maps around here?¡±


    ¡°Usually, yeah,¡± Amy agreed. ¡°When you can figure out which way is north. Magic can interfere with compasses, and some shards don¡¯t have a consistent sunrise direction.¡±


    ¡°And the little directional thingy on the map that indicates it, usually with at least four points but sometimes eight, is called a compass rose, right?¡± Sophia rubbed her forehead. She¡¯d completely missed it until Dav said ¡°north¡± while she was looking at the symbol and her eyes naturally moved up to look at the rosebud.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s what they¡¯re called ¡­¡± Amy trailed off as her attention turned back to the partially covered carving. There was enough visible to see that the largest direction, the one with the rosebud, was north. ¡°We¡¯re supposed to use the north entrance, aren¡¯t we?¡±


    Dav closed his eyes in a long, slow blink. ¡°The fact that it¡¯s a rose isn¡¯t important, except as a clue to the pun. Why is it always puns?¡±


    The symbol repeated again at the north archway, but they didn¡¯t pay it that much attention this time. They also paid only a little attention to note that there were actually several types of white flower near the archway, though Amy did triumphantly point out a single rosebush with exactly one, partially in bloom, flower to Dav with a wide grin.


    To Sophia, it was both confirmation that they were in the right place and a sign that while the Guide might use puns, it didn¡¯t necessarily require people to know outside information. That was a good thing, especially since she and Dav were missing a lot of local knowledge. Taika couldn¡¯t help; only Amy could serve as a local guide, and even she wasn¡¯t from Casterville.


    The first northern archway was made of stone like the others, but that led to a short corridor in the ivy-covered walls that turned left and then right before opening into a second set of arches. This time, they seemed to be built from the vines themselves and were festooned with white flowers.


    Sophia kept glancing upwards, convinced she saw signs of moving vegetation. Each time, it was just the breeze, but she didn¡¯t like it.


    In the distance, there seemed to be a group of people headed towards them. That set them all on guard; they didn¡¯t know if Taika¡¯s illusion would be good enough or not. It wasn¡¯t hard to tell that they were enemies; the top half of each person¡¯s body was covered in green and white vegetation, just like the vines that surrounded the group.

 Chapter 104 - Four Hours

    Sophia froze in place. The group in the distance was the first time they¡¯d seen a group of corpsevines inhabiting anything larger than a turtle. Admittedly, they were large turtles, but a group of turtles where the largest one came up to a little higher than Dav¡¯s knee was still more than a little different from a whole group of people.


    Sophia took a deep breath and reassured herself. There was no reason for concern; Taika¡¯s illusion should still work. That meant they had time to plan. They might even be able to slip past them if they wanted to, but Sophia didn¡¯t think they would.


    The group ought to be less powerful individually than the corpsevines they¡¯d been handling outside, likely significantly less powerful since this was a Leveled Challenge. They would probably still be harder to handle because there were so many of them and the only multi-target attack they had was Sophia¡¯s Force Blast. They¡¯d have to be weaker than a human to be killed by that; it smashed the entire area but wouldn¡¯t do much more than knock someone over. Admittedly, a human could be badly injured if they fell wrong.


    Sophia, Dav, and Amy were all Level Two. Sophia wasn¡¯t certain how strong Taika was, but her guess was Level One; he certainly hadn¡¯t mentioned dedicating Wisps. He didn¡¯t even know what that was when she asked, which made it weird that he had Abilities. Whatever Level he was, there were only four of them, so a group of corpsevines in a Leveled Challenge ought to be pretty weak individually, especially if the Guide expected them to take on other groups afterwards.


    A series of fair fights was just a way to get killed; the fact that Leveled Challenges were rarely fatal meant the fights weren¡¯t fair. Properly approached, they should be easy.


    ¡°I can¡¯t even tell how many of them there are,¡± Dav whispered. ¡°Taika?¡±


    ¡°Six. No, seven,¡± Taika answered Dav¡¯s implied question. ¡°They¡¯re all in that flower-covered area. They don¡¯t seem to think anything¡¯s wrong, but I¡¯m not sure I could really tell if they did. I don¡¯t see any sign of multiple corpsevines on any of them, there¡¯s just the one obvious corpsevine on each of them.¡±


    Oh, that was the trick, wasn¡¯t it? If they had fire, a single spell would probably be able to handle all of them. ¡°Are the vulnerable parts exposed?¡±


    ¡°I think so,¡± Taika answered quickly.


    Sophia started to grin. Maybe they were weak enough that they¡¯d be really easy after all. She took a moment to confirm that the corpsevines had no mana spellforms visible, then turned to Amy. ¡°Can you tell if they have shield? Not the spell the constructs had, the one the Guide provides?¡±


    Amy shook her head. ¡°They won¡¯t have one. We won¡¯t find one on anything animated, like these are. That has to be provided by the Called or the monster, the Guide doesn¡¯t help.¡±


    That would have been nice to know about a week earlier. Sophia started to say something, then stopped herself. She didn¡¯t need an argument and it really wasn¡¯t Amy¡¯s fault. Sophia thought Amy hadn¡¯t really realized the corpsevines¡¯ ¡°cuttings¡± fell into that category until later. It was probably common knowledge that Sophia and Dav simply didn¡¯t have.


    ¡°Oh, they¡¯re like summons?¡± Dav asked.


    Sophia gave Dav a dirty look for not sharing that tidbit. She knew it wasn¡¯t fair, but that didn¡¯t mean she liked not knowing things.


    Dav shrugged. ¡°I asked Rensyn about it back at the Registry. I thought you heard, but maybe you were too busy looking at wands?¡±


    Sophia grumbled internally.


    ¡°Uh, the corpsevines are getting pretty close. Shouldn¡¯t you do something about them?¡± Taika¡¯s voice was a little higher pitch than normal.


    Sophia¡¯s head snapped around, but Taika was getting nervous over something that wasn¡¯t yet a problem. The corpsevine cuttings had covered about a third of the distance in their steady walk, which still left them a good distance away. He was right that it was no time to be distracted. ¡°Are there any others close enough to hear some spells?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll check,¡± Amy said before she hurried forward. She ducked behind an overgrown support and seemed to vanish, though Sophia occasionally caught a hint of movement headed towards the corpsevines.


    Dav shook his head. ¡°I¡¯ll never understand how she does that.¡±


    Sophia patted him on the back. ¡°Well, if you didn¡¯t walk like a lumbering ox¡­¡±


    Dav laughed. Fortunately, he kept it soft.


    The corpsevine-infested people had covered more than half of the remaining distance before Amy reappeared from behind a support on the opposite side of the path. ¡°I had to keep it quick, but I didn¡¯t see anything. Fire¡¯s probably a bad idea; I definitely didn¡¯t go far enough to check for anything that might come after fire.¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Sophia shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m more worried about noise; my spells aren¡¯t very visible unless you¡¯re watching for magic.¡±


    ¡°Corpsevines don¡¯t seem to react much to noise,¡± Dav pointed out. ¡°I know we¡¯re being quiet, but I think that¡¯s because we know we¡¯re sneaking, not because they can tell.¡±


    Sophia blinked twice at that. She should have known that; she just hadn¡¯t put it together. She had the feeling he was right, which was probably her Collected Knowledge Ability. She really ought to pay more attention to it, once she figured out how.


    Sophia sighed. ¡°Right, then. It¡¯s time for me to use Force Blast for what it¡¯s made for. Be ready in case we actually have to finish them off.¡±


    Sophia waited until the other two were ready for a fight, then lifted her Animated Blade to roughly the same height as her eyes but moved it out to near the edge of her aura. She dualcast a pair of Force Blasts right next to each other. They¡¯d be Hardened, since that applied to all of her spells, but Sophia didn¡¯t expect that to make too much difference. The only real hope was that if the corpsevines¡¯ central nodes were as exposed as Taika thought, she might break a few of them. That would be completely worth the spells, since it would make the fight afterwards simple.


    All of the animated corpsevines fell in unison. Sophia stared in surprise and spoke slowly. ¡°I thought that would be harder.¡±


    ¡°We should check that they¡¯re all dead,¡± Amy contributed, ¡°But we¡¯re not that far in yet. As long as we stay smart, we should be fine.¡±


    Dav picked up the basket full of prizes. ¡°Why don¡¯t you start searching for a magical plant while Amy and I check the bodies?¡±


    Sophia shook her head in disbelief. She couldn¡¯t shake the feeling that this was too easy. Yes, she knew that everyone she¡¯d talked to made it through the Leveled Challenge by charging forward and fighting each group of enemies as they found them, so even minimal strategy ought to make it really easy, but it still felt almost like cheating. No dungeon back home would allow this much use of a single strategy. At least, not after the first group to use it left. ¡°Thanks, Taika. This wouldn¡¯t be so easy without you.¡±


    ¡°Eh,¡± Taika sounded dubious. ¡°I think that one would have gone the same without the illusion, you¡¯d just have to hit them while they were running towards you instead of walking. We saw them with lots of time to spare.¡±


    Somehow, that made Sophia feel better.


    For the first time in the Leveled Challenge, the reward wasn¡¯t a plant. Instead, the only magical thing Sophia found was a warm rock. That seemed to be all it could do, warm the surroundings just enough to be felt. To Sophia, that made it a reagent rather than a directly useful item; there simply wasn¡¯t enough heat there to use it directly, unless all you wanted to do with it was have a pocket warmer.


    The white-flowered archways quickly turned into a maze filled with oblivious monsters. Three groups later, they thought they¡¯d finished exploring the maze and Sophia was starting to run low on mana. They found a door and decided to stop for a bit to rest; both Sophia and Taika needed some time.


    Roughly twenty minutes into the rest break, Dav pulled Sophia out of her mana-recovery meditation because a single corpsevine wandered by. To save Taika¡¯s mana, his illusion wasn¡¯t present, but Sophia managed to kill it without getting close using her floating animated blade and save her mana.


    When they searched it, they didn¡¯t find anything of value and nothing had appeared in the area either. Sophia more than half wondered if it wasn¡¯t a reminder to get moving. ¡°Where did that guy come from?¡±


    ¡°No idea,¡± Amy answered. ¡°Maybe we didn¡¯t actually kill one of them?¡±


    Sophia shook her head but didn¡¯t say her thoughts out loud. She didn¡¯t want to give the Guide, or whoever ran the Leveled Challenge, any ideas they didn¡¯t already have. ¡°I thought we confirmed them all, but maybe not.¡±


    Sophia looked into the distance, trying to see any more corpsevines. Should she go back to meditating or should they go on? She was still low on mana, but she had enough for a couple of spells, even if they were Force Blasts.


    Dav walked to Sophia and took a long look down the arched pathway. ¡°It¡¯s been about four hours, hasn¡¯t it? I wonder what they¡¯ll think when we¡¯re late?¡±


    ¡°I think that was inside the Challenge, without the walk to it,¡± Sophia countered. She was happy to turn her attention to something other than being hurried along. ¡°And Rensyn said that was the low end. We¡¯ve got time before anyone starts to wonder. I¡¯m not sure how much of this place is left; we haven¡¯t even made it inside the building yet.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯ll know we¡¯re still in here when the next group can¡¯t get in,¡± Amy answered. ¡°I¡¯m not sure how the Guide will manage it, but it¡¯s supposed to be really obvious that you can¡¯t start the Challenge. Maybe a message or something?¡± She shrugged. ¡°You two ready to get moving? I don¡¯t like sitting still.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡± Sophia had less mana than she wanted, but that simply meant she¡¯d need to let the others do their thing for a bit and use her Animated Blade as a floating knife instead of a spell platform. ¡°Who wants to get the door?¡±


    ¡°I will,¡± Dav volunteered. He seemed just as anxious to move on as Amy was. Bored was probably more accurate; Sophia had noticed that Dav was always doing something. Lately, his time was mostly spent on either sword drills or studying the material she¡¯d found in her bag, and he couldn¡¯t really do either in the Challenge if he was also watching for enemies.


    Dav¡¯s figure seemed to shimmer for a moment before he was once again covered in leaves. Taika didn¡¯t cover Sophia or Amy in illusion. He was probably as short on mana as Sophia was.


    Sophia made sure to step enough to the side that nothing would be able to see her through the door. Amy mirrored her on the other side of the door, then Dav opened it.


    He was greeted with a roar and a rustling noise. He jumped backwards, out of the reach of a vine that grabbed for him. ¡°I think the illusion isn¡¯t working!¡±


    Sophia couldn¡¯t help the laugh that escaped her at that moment. It wouldn¡¯t have been funny if the vine actually grabbed Dav, but seeing him dance away from it as it tried to reach him was hilarious.


    The initial vine was joined by a second, then a third. None of them reached more than a few feet from the entrance, but there were plenty there to make this fight difficult if they just ran in there.

 Chapter 105 - Vine Mummy

    The vines fell back inside the room as if they realized they couldn¡¯t reach far enough to catch anyone. That wasn¡¯t a good sign; it meant there was something controlling them that was smart enough to have them stop. It also meant that they were actually tied to the location in some way, which was better news.


    Sophia took a few steps to the side, careful to stay well out of the reach of the vines but close enough to get a look inside. She needed to see what was in the room to decide what to do about it.


    The creature inside the room looked like a mummy wrapped in vines. It had bright orange mana-lights where its eyes should have been and its feet seemed like clusters of roots that extended into the vine-covered floor. Curtains of vines hung on the walls of the room; that was clearly what had tried to reach Dav when he opened the door. Just as clearly, they were controlled by the vine-mummy.


    They couldn¡¯t safely enter with the fines there, but they looked loose and looked easy to damage. That might or might not be true, but it gave Sophia an idea: they might be vulnerable to her Force Blast. She turned a little towards Dav. ¡°Hold the door open, I¡¯m going to see if I can take out the vines.¡±


    Before she finished speaking, the vines writhed and formed a barrier protecting the monster from view. That was probably in response to her words, which probably meant this monster could detect sound, but it definitely didn¡¯t show understanding. If anything, it meant the vines were easier to damage because they¡¯d hold firm and break rather than just moving as she hit them. Blasting them into whatever walls or ceiling the room had would work, but breaking apart a net would be even easier.


    It would also be easier to damage with more traditional weapons, but Sophia wasn¡¯t about to ask Dav to try. The vines moved too quickly.


    Sophia gauged her mana and shook her head. She didn¡¯t have any to waste. She needed to be more judicious with it than she had been outside; yes, it made things easy, but she only had so much. She threw a single Force Blast to see how it did.


    The vine wall shook and a couple of strands broke, but it wasn¡¯t enough. Other vines started to weave their way into the openings formed by the damaged vines.


    Sophia frowned. That didn¡¯t work nearly as well as she hoped. One more spell might do it, but she didn¡¯t think so. She needed to hit it hard. This time, she levitated her Animated Spell Blade up and carefully released a pair of Force Blasts from as close to the same point at as close to the same time as she could manage. She aimed them up instead of towards the mummy, on the theory that that was where the vines seemed to hang from, but other than that she didn¡¯t restrict the spells¡¯ expansion.


    The second spell tore into the vines while they were still completely taut from the blast of the first. Vines broke and the anchors that held them to the ceiling and walls collapsed, then the vine wall plummeted to the ground and revealed the vine mummy. Sophia had no doubt that the vines were still dangerous, but they would be badly hampered and should be far harder for the mummy to control.


    At least she achieved something for all the mana she just spent.


    Taika didn¡¯t wait for a question. ¡°The whole thing is alive, even the vines. The strongest part is the head, but it might not be the only spot.¡±


    ¡°My turn,¡± Amy stated bluntly. Her words were almost immediately followed by an arrow that slammed into the vine mummy¡¯s head. It was far larger than the ones she normally used, clearly designed to cut its way through softer materials instead of penetrating deeply.


    Dav started to move forward, but Sophia stopped him with an outstretched arm.


    ¡°I want to see if Amy¡¯s right.¡± Sophia could already guess what Amy was thinking: this particular corpsevine didn¡¯t obviously seem to have the bone protection of the others. Instead, it was either animating or controlling the vines in the room. If Amy could kill it from a distance, that was a huge advantage.


    Unfortunately, it was not to be. The broad-headed arrow sliced through several of the vines that wrapped the mummy¡¯s head, then skidded away. The injury revealed pitted ivory bone still covered in tiny bits of plant matter.


    The vine mummy¡¯s eyes flashed a brilliant red, then one of the vines that wrapped around its shoulders flew up, stabbed into the ceiling above it, and pulled the vine mummy forward, to the edge of the room. All motion in the other vines stopped as the vine mummy¡¯s feet cleared the floor. Roots trailed away from the vine mummy¡¯s feet. It looked like a plant ripped from the soil more than like the infested monsters they¡¯d fought earlier.


    ¡°The vines just died?¡± Taika sounded confused. ¡°No, they¡¯re not dead, they¡¯re still alive but they¡¯re normal plants now where they weren¡¯t before.¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Sophia shook her head, annoyed. She knew what that meant. ¡°It was controlling them somehow. It probably had to be stationary for that, that¡¯s why it didn¡¯t come out. When we didn¡¯t go in¡­¡±


    It was worse than that, though. They would almost certainly face more of the same later, and she wasn¡¯t going to have enough mana to keep ripping up the vines. That meant they had to find another way to deal with it. Amy¡¯s arrows worked once the vines were out of the way, but they weren¡¯t likely to be able to do it if the vines could still act as a barrier. Sophia didn¡¯t know how to deal with that offhand.


    She also didn¡¯t have time to think about it.


    The mummy vine threw up its hands. The vines wrapped around its shoulders imitated the motion. Sophia expected them to lunge at her or Dav, since they were the closest, but instead she felt an intense dryness, even desiccation, emanate from the mummy. It didn¡¯t hurt, exactly, but it was intensely uncomfortable.


    Sophia could see the vines and leaves on the mummy turning green and starting to form new leaves as she watched. She tried to shout a warning, but her tongue was too dry.


    Well, if she couldn¡¯t speak, she didn¡¯t have to. Sophia¡¯s blade stabbed into the mummy¡¯s shoulder near where some of the vines separated from the mummy¡¯s body. More importantly, he hit the shoulder itself. If it had to raise its arms to use the spell and she could stop that, she¡¯d stop the spell.


    Dav swung straight for the head. He put his full force into the swing and it smashed deep into the corpsevine¡¯s skull. The spell didn¡¯t end. Sophia could still feel the moisture drain, and as she watched, new vines seemed to spring up to replace the ones Dav smashed.


    One of Amy¡¯s broad-headed arrows thudded cleanly into the newly unprotected cluster of vines. The corpsevine shuddered, more of a reaction than either of the previous attacks, but it didn¡¯t fall. If anything, it seemed even more determined.


    The eyes flashed again. The dryness intensified and spread, though it seemed stronger to Sophia¡¯s right, the side that she hadn¡¯t hit with her knife.


    The monster¡¯s right arm fell as Sophia yanked her blade out of the shoulder. The spell seemed to shift even more to Sophia¡¯s right; her left side still felt dry, but it no longer felt like it was being blasted by hot desert air.


    She needed to stop the spell before it managed to use it to heal its arm the way it was healing its head.


    The vine mummy didn¡¯t even try to stop her when she swiftly flew the blade to the other side and stabbed the other shoulder. It probably couldn¡¯t move without breaking the spell, and the spell definitely had a limited range.


    That thought made Sophia decide that she needed to make some distance from the mummy. She could control her Animated Blade as long as it was within her aura¡¯s reach, so she might as well get that far from the mummy. It was harder at the edge, but if that got her outside the range of the mummy¡¯s desiccation spell, it would be worth it.


    It was still dry, but not nearly as dry as when she was closer.


    Sophia didn¡¯t see Dav¡¯s next attack, but when she turned, she could see that the mummy was trying to re-grow its entire head. Unfortunately, it was still standing and Sophia could tell that its right shoulder was writhing, which was probably the plant-monster trying to move the shoulder back where it needed to be to maintain the withering spell. She telekinetically pulled her Animated Blade from its left shoulder, let the arm fall, then stabbed her blade back in. Hopefully that would pin the arm in place.


    Two more arrows thudded into the monster, then Dav smacked it again. This time, he went after the arm Sophia had initially disabled. He didn¡¯t manage to cut through the vines, but it would slow the monster¡¯s ability to recover. With the arms out of the picture, the desiccation spell was far less powerful.


    From there, the fight was a straightforward matter of slicing the vine mummy into pieces small enough that they couldn¡¯t drain the liquid out of everything around them. It took far longer than any previous fight against a corpsevine, but eventually the creature was in small enough pieces that they didn¡¯t feel the effect anymore. They still took the time to build a fire and burn most of its body; they hadn¡¯t taken the time with previous corpsevines, but this one deserved it.


    Pulling the monster out of its lair worked out well; it was obvious that the vine mummy preferred to immobilize enemies using its control of the vines around it, then desiccate them. Once it couldn¡¯t immobilize its targets, it became a battle of attrition that Sophia, Dav, and Amy could win.


    It took quite a bit of water and an entire one of the alchemical energy drinks Amy had provided before Sophia felt decent again. Sophia took a moment while she was rehydrating herself to check with Cliff and see if he knew what spell the corpsevine used.


    He did, but it wasn¡¯t a spell. It was a Martial Technique called Siphon Sap, and it basically did what she¡¯d seen the plant monster do. Sophia considered adding it to her repertoire, but the requirement to stay completely still while using the ability made it less than attractive. It was strange; all of the Martial Techniques she¡¯d found so far had major drawbacks or limitations. None of them just worked the way spells did.


    She was done examining the new option when something else on her Status caught her eye: her Shield wasn¡¯t full. She was pretty sure it was full before they ran into the vine mummy, which meant she¡¯d lost five Shield during the encounter. That was bad news; it was the first time she¡¯d seen anything that wasn¡¯t a direct, obvious attack damage the Guide¡¯s Shield. It was also something that would be hard to recover from, since Shield recovered very slowly.


    Dav, who was close to the monster for longer than Sophia, lost fourteen, while Amy lost only one. That worried Sophia; Dav didn¡¯t really feel hurt, any more than Sophia did, just dehydrated. Until Sophia noticed that her Shield was reduced, Dav hadn¡¯t even realized his Shield was damaged. That could be deadly, if they assumed they could take a hit and they couldn¡¯t.


    Taika had no idea how much Shield he lost; he still couldn¡¯t see a full Status. He didn¡¯t seem particularly affected, so Sophia guessed that it was probably fine. It was a good thing that Taika normally rode in Dav¡¯s pack; he could help speed up Dav¡¯s passive Shield regeneration while they searched the room and traveled onwards.

 Chapter 106 - Summoner of Plants

    The search of the mummy¡¯s room took a while. There were bones mixed in with the vines, but fortunately they seemed to be mostly animal bones. Sophia didn¡¯t look closely; she didn¡¯t want to know if any of them were human. All she could say was that she didn¡¯t see any human skulls.


    In the end, all they found was that there was exactly one vine that seemed intact. It was slightly magical, but seemed dead even though it was intact. Sophia couldn¡¯t tell what it did; it might be some sort of good rope, but it could just as easily be a material that, when properly processed, would make wonderful fluffy towels that could always absorb a little more water. Given the source, Sophia was willing to guess that the second option was more likely.


    Despite the fact that it seemed dead, Sophia was quite thorough in removing all possible roots.She almost wanted to burn it, but she hated the idea of giving up the treasure she¡¯d fought for, even if it wasn¡¯t the primary reason she was there.


    With that in mind, she still wasn¡¯t willing to hurry on her precautions; it might not be a corpsevine, since they weren¡¯t overtly magical unless they were casting a spell, but they¡¯d just fought one that could control vines. Sophia tucked the magical vine inside the glass energy drink bottle she¡¯d just emptied and made certain the stopper was not going to come off easily. That was the best she could do, and it ought to be quite good. She didn¡¯t think they could reach into the dimensional space of her pack, but she wasn¡¯t going to risk it.


    The way forward was on the other side of the vine mummy¡¯s room. It was obvious, and led to a twenty-foot-long corridor which just as obviously didn¡¯t lead to the area to the left or right of where they entered. The only exits were where they entered and a door at the far end. Despite as thorough a search as they could reasonably manage of both the vine mummy¡¯s room and the corridor, there was no entrance. Either there wasn¡¯t one at all or it was through a passage elsewhere.


    Even Amy couldn¡¯t answer that question. She didn¡¯t know the original layout of the West Conservatory and she also didn¡¯t know how the Leveled Challenge might have changed it. She was confident that it had changed; it didn¡¯t make sense for the six entrances to not come together somewhere in the middle in a real building. The fact that which entrance they used mattered meant that the Leveled Challenge had changed things.


    Sophia was in no hurry. The fight had pushed her back below half of her maximum mana available. She didn¡¯t want to stop and meditate again, but she was happy to take things a bit slow.


    Dav opened the far door with Sophia and Amy well back from the entrance. He jumped back in case of another forest of vines, but that wasn¡¯t what waited on the other side of the door.


    Instead, there was a short landing that led into fairly wide set of stairs that led up to another landing, where an archway led off to the right. Light filtered down from above through a clouded glass opening.


    Halfway up the stairs was a woman, or more likely the corpse of a woman supported by a corpsevine. She wore some sort of green robe, dark brown gardening gloves, and a green leaf-like mask that covered her eyes and nose. Under the circumstances, Sophia had to wonder if that was actually leaves, rather than a mask.


    Her shoulders and head supported swaths of plants and she held another plant in her hands. Unlike all of the other corpsevines Sophia had seen, these plants did not appear to be primarily vines; in fact, they looked more like ornamental plants and flowers. There were also no visible roots anywhere.


    That was not reassuring, somehow.


    The woman¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change as she lifted the plant in her hands and gestured as if she was throwing the plant to the ground. It didn¡¯t leave her hands, but a ball of green mana did. When the mana impacted the floor, it shimmered and shifted into an eyeless monster covered in vines, leaves, and thorns that grinned hungrily at the group.


    ¡°Kill the summoner!¡± Amy shouted as an arrow left her bow. It zipped towards the plant-infested mage, but the summoned monster¡¯s upper leaves seemed to stretch upwards to intercept the projectile. It slammed into the leaf, penetrated, and ripped the leaf in two, but the arrow¡¯s power was spent before it hit the woman. It thudded weakly into her robes then fell to the stone floor.


    Sophia didn¡¯t need the instructions, but she appreciated them. They told her what Amy was going to be doing next. Sophia needed to do the same thing, but she needed to act without the plant monster getting in the way and she could barely see past it. The limited space of the stairs was a problem, since the plant monster nearly filled them.


    She needed to get past the summon.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    Or did she? It was a summon. That wasn¡¯t easy to counter, but most summons were magic pulled from the Origin; regardless of what Affinity they used. That meant she could break the maintained spell that gave the summon its shape and That was true at home, and while the Guide was very different from the Voice, magic itself seemed the same. It wouldn¡¯t be easy, but it might well be faster than trying to kill it or get around it.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think I can hit the summoner, but I can take out the summon,¡± Sophia called out as she pushed her MageSight as far as she could. She needed to see the structure of the spell that maintained it and figure out what the best way to remove it was. A simple slash with a Dispelling Imbued Blade would work, but only if that hit the right spot.


    Unlike Amy and Sophia, Dav didn¡¯t call out his intentions. Instead, he clearly decided to be sneaky. He ostentatiously planted himself in the middle of the doorway, ready to block the summoned creature the same way it blocked access to its summoner. At the same time, a Thorn Emitter appeared on the stairs, behind the summoner. This time, it looked like a leafless thorny bush with blue and red spiked puffballs at the end of each branch.


    Sophia grinned. That ought to catch the summoner off guard, then keep her occupied for a bit. If they were really lucky, it would hit something vital, but Sophia didn¡¯t expect that. The Thorn Emitter could throw a lot of spikes, but they were all small and unlikely to actually harm a corpsevine too much.


    The summoned plant-creature stomped down the last couple of stairs and backhanded Dav.


    Dav tried to block the blow. The result surprised Sophia: he actually stopped the attack with his sword. Even though the blade sunk more than halfway into the summoned creature¡¯s hand, He didn¡¯t skid backwards at all. Instead, he just grunted, twisted his sword, and pulled back into a guarded posture. He lost a single step, that was all.


    The summoner lifted the plant again. It flashed with mana for a moment, then roots sprang from the floor around Dav and Sophia. Amy, who was even farther back, seemed to escape the summoner¡¯s attention.


    Sophia saw the area was limited, so she tried to dive out of the way of the roots, away from the summoner. She nearly succeeded; only her right boot was struck by one of the flailing roots. It started to close around her foot, and she quickly shifted her attention from the summoned creature to her aura. She flared it and pushed on the root the same way she¡¯d move her Imbued Blades.


    It worked. Her aborted dive turned into a handspring before she smacked her side roughly into one of the corridor¡¯s walls, a small distance from the roots. She could credit her Aura Armor for that; this was only the second time she¡¯d successfully used it consciously. It was normally a very small passive deflection, but it allowed her to do something slightly bigger if she paid attention. She was now farther than the roots could reach, but that didn¡¯t make Dav safe.


    Sophia snapped her attention forward. She needed to banish the summoned monster, but that meant she had to have a free moment to concentrate on it to analyze the spell traces and see where to cut. She couldn¡¯t help but glance at Dav to make sure he¡¯d also avoided the roots, but she was certain that even if he hadn¡¯t, he could free himself.


    They were wrapped around his legs, holding him in place when he blocked and shifting his position as he moved to attack the summoned plant monster.


    Sophia blinked at that. That wasn¡¯t at all what she expected; it almost looked like the roots were helping him rather than trying to restrain him. At least that meant she didn¡¯t have to try to free him immediately.


    A pair of arrows zipped over the plant monster¡¯s shoulders. It managed to block one, but the second one slipped through the space where the very first arrow shredded a leaf when it was blocked and caught the summoner in the plants that extended like a hat above her head.


    Her head rocked backwards, then she turned without any change in expression towards the Thorn Emitter behind her. Did she think that was where the arrow came from?


    Whatever the summoner thought, Sophia had her moment. She could study the mana flows in the summoned plant monster and she hurried to do so. The monster seemed to have a braid of spell energy more or less where the spine would be on a real monster like that, which meant that whatever created the monster design based it on actual anatomy, sort of, and damaging or destroying that would probably make the creature dissipate. That wasn¡¯t what Sophia was looking for; hurting that would be just as hard as killing it normally.


    What she was looking for was the stream of energy that ran from the back of the monster¡¯s neck to the plant in the summoner¡¯s hands, straight through the summoner when she was in the way, as she was at the moment. That had to be what she was looking for. Sophia pushed Disruptive Magic into the ImImbuement on her Animated Blade and stabbed it into the line she could see.


    Three things happened almost at once.


    First, her now nonmagical knife dropped onto the stairs, then bounced down them to the lower landing with the ringing sound of metal striking stone.


    Second, the summoned monster poofed into a cloud of mana that swirled in place for a long moment, then seemed to almost condense as it fell into Dav. Sophia could see it sink into his body, but the only noticeable effect was on the roots that still wrapped around his legs as they grew thorns that matched the monster¡¯s claws. They all hooked outwards, away from Dav¡¯s armor.


    Third, another arrow sped through the mana cloud and thudded into the head of the summoner. She spun around, still expressionless, and raised the plant above her head once more. This time, she seemed to have realized where the arrows came from, because a large thorn formed in the air in front of her focus before it sped towards Amy. Sophia couldn¡¯t spare the time to check on her, but a grunt told Sophia that Amy didn¡¯t escape unscathed.


    Sophia quickly pulled another knife from her belt and Imbued it. She¡¯d removed the monster blocking the way to the summoner, but the fight wasn¡¯t over and she didn¡¯t want to be weaponless.

 Chapter 107 - Tactical Retreat

    The summoner raised her plant-focus again, but this time only to eye level. A gray-green cloud seemed to pour from the plant. It washed over Dav first and blocked him from view. When it reached Sophia, she coughed. It smelled and tasted absolutely vile, almost like rot. It was nearly impossible to see any distance; she could barely see her hands and definitely couldn¡¯t see her feet, much less the summoner.


    That was probably the point of the cloud, though Sophia was certain it was supposed to do more. Her necklace agreed with her; she could feel it as it warmed and counteracted whatever effect the cloud was supposed to have. She hoped Dav would be fine.


    The entire cloud reeked of mana as well as its natural horrible scent. To her ManaSight, it was a webwork of complicated magic, a three dimensional construct that managed whatever the cloud was supposed to do as well as the area it covered. A significant portion of its power was actually spent on keeping whatever the cloud was made of dispersed; unlike a proper fog, the atmospheric conditions definitely weren¡¯t right for it.


    That made it the perfect thing to attack. If the spell had to keep it from clumping to keep whatever it was in the air, it would probably fall to the ground and stop spreading if that was broken.


    Alternatively, Sophia could try to dispel the entire spell. That looked more difficult, this time, because there was no active link back to the spellcaster. She probably couldn¡¯t control where the cloud went or what it did; Sophia would have to find and destabilize the central core of the spell structure itself. That ought to be far easier than with the summoned monster, because it wasn¡¯t hidden inside a solid body, but Sophia couldn¡¯t see far enough in the haze to make out where it was.


    Well, there was a third option. If she used Disruptive Magic with a Force Blast, she could hit the entire spell at once. With as decentralized as the spell was, it would almost certainly dismiss it. Unfortunately, it would also have to his Dav and Sophia, as well as costing far more mana than a more precise application. Either of those problems put that option out of the running.


    No, she definitely needed to start by damaging the spell. The question was which magic she should use as a carrier, Force Bolt or her Imbued knife? Neither was perfect, since there was a wide area she needed to cut through. Imbuing a knife would take less mana, since she¡¯d already done it, but she¡¯d have to re-Imbue it afterwards. That was still a little cheaper, but it wasn¡¯t enough of a difference to really be worthwhile. The true value in a Disruptive Magic Imbuement was that it let someone else actually manage the attack. Yes, she could use it to reach anywhere in her aura, but she could do that with a Force Bolt as well and a Force Bolt could be sent outside her aura as well.


    She really needed to cut several places in the spell. Three would be enough if she just wanted it to stop expanding and dispersing and supporting itself, but more would be needed to actually get rid of it. Could she do all of that with a single disruption other than a Force Blast?


    She couldn¡¯t control a Force Blast well enough. She could probably shape it a little, but ¡°a little¡± was all she could manage and that wouldn¡¯t work, especially not when she wasn¡¯t certain where Dav was. She needed more control than that.


    She ought to be able to control a Force Bolt as long as it was still inside her aura. So far, she¡¯d only cast and released it as an attack spell, but there was no reason she had to do that; it was a pretty basic arcane spellform and she knew how to modify that to make it follow a pattern or even be aura-controlled. She¡¯d just have to override the Guide¡¯s guidance on how to create the spell. It might be a little slower, but it would work.


    Probably.


    She¡¯d done it before, but that was back home where there were people around to help if she failed and hurt herself or her surroundings. She hadn¡¯t failed in years, but she definitely had failed back when she was originally learning how to modify the Voice¡¯s spells. She just had to hope that that was similar enough to modifying the Guide¡¯s spells.


    Sophia carefully cast Force Bolt with Disruptive Magic, but instead of the quick push she usually used to send it on its way, she grabbed the spell and sent it on a looping path through the cloud, starting close to her and working her way out. She still couldn¡¯t see where it was going, unfortunately, but she was pretty sure she could adequately destabilize the spell without getting too close to Dav or Amy.


    As the Disruptive Force Bolt smashed through the delicate spell structure, it lost bits and pieces of its own structure. Sophia was quickly able to tell that it wouldn¡¯t make it through everything she wanted to get, so she slowed it down even more. She was already starting to get a better picture of how the actual supporting structure of the spell was built, and it was both flimsier than and slightly different from her initial guess.


    Sophia¡¯s spell was more than half gone when the cloud near her started to dissipate. She held the spell tightly and guided it to the specific places it needed to hit and watched the rest of it unravel. She was glad she waited, too, because the battlefield changed while she couldn¡¯t see.


    The vines around Dav¡¯s legs were gone, as were the thorns. He stood a few steps higher than his original position, more or less at the plant monster¡¯s original place. While Sophia watched, he battered his way through a quickly-growing thorned hedge that had appeared on the stairs and gained another step forward. The hedge withered for several inches around him as he took that step.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Amy was also closer to the summoner than before the cloud. She lay on the ground in her wolf form, coughing and gasping for breath. Sophia could guess what happened; she must have shifted and charged towards the summoner, only to be caught by the cloud. Taika was with her; Sophia hoped that the colorful chinchilla could help her.


    There was no sign of the summoner anywhere. Instead, Sophia could see light from the archway that led off to the right at the top of the stairs. ¡°Did she really run while we couldn¡¯t see?¡±


    ¡°Seems like it,¡± Dav said as he slowly chopped his way up another level. ¡°I think we scared her. Not sure why she didn¡¯t summon another monster.¡±


    ¡°She probably couldn¡¯t,¡± Sophia suggested. That was the only reason she could think of. Sophia certainly hadn¡¯t been managing to destroy the woman¡¯s spells as fast as she could cast them. On the other hand, Sophia had probably used a lot less mana. ¡°Maybe she was out of mana?¡±


    ¡°Unlikely.¡± Amy¡¯s voice was hoarse from her coughing. Sophia recognized it only because there wasn¡¯t anyone else who could possibly be speaking. A look back showed that Amy had returned to her human shape as she slowly crawled back to where she left her bag.


    Sophia hurried over to Amy¡¯s bag, grabbed it, and carried it to Amy so that she could stop crawling. She didn¡¯t know what Amy needed, but she could manage that much.


    ¡°Thanks.¡± Amy reached into a small pocket of her backpack and pulled out a tiny bottle filled with a purple liquid. She tugged the miniscule cork out of the top, then swallowed the mouthful of liquid.


    Amy coughed again, then continued. ¡°I think that was a corpsevine that killed a Gardener-Mage. Anywhere else, they¡¯d just be a Head Gardener, but here you have to be a mage too.¡± Her damaged voice didn¡¯t make her words any less bitter. ¡°We wouldn¡¯t have a chance against a real Gardener-Mage, so I bet the Registry Master killed the real one and we¡¯re a lesser version. That¡¯s probably true of everything here.¡±


    That was probably true of everything here, which was something Sophia was going to have to think about later. She didn¡¯t like the idea of being relegated to fighting the kiddie versions of monsters, but at the same time she knew she was no match for the real thing. ¡°So why does that mean she didn¡¯t run out of mana? If she¡¯s been nerfed, maybe her mana was too?¡±


    ¡°Nerfed?¡± Amy sounded puzzled for a moment, but she didn¡¯t wait for Sophia to explain. ¡°No, no, I get it. Weird word. No, that¡¯s not why. Gardeners are Professionals, and production Professionals don¡¯t fight with Abilities, that¡¯s not how those Professions work. Everything she threw at us was something she prepared ahead of time. That¡¯s why she could put them out so fast. I bet she ran away to get something she wasn¡¯t carrying.¡±


    Amy hunched over with a coughing fit the moment she stopped talking.


    ¡°We¡¯ll see her again,¡± Dav agreed. ¡°How are you doing?¡±


    ¡°Get out your healing beacon,¡± Taika answered for Amy. ¡°Whatever was in that cloud ripped up her throat and lungs.¡±


    Amy coughed, then retched. Her next cough produced an unsettlingly huge quantity of purple mucus, which she coughed onto the floor near Taika. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t hurt,¡± she choked out before she dissolved into another coughing fit.


    Dav hurried to Amy¡¯s side and summoned his beacon. Usually, it appeared on the surface. This time, it seemed to grow from a crack in the ground instead. It appeared as a simple purple bud, but over about twenty seconds that bud rose and opened, turning into a surprisingly realistic purple flower with an almost glowing orange center. It was clearly influenced by what they¡¯d just fought. That made sense; it was on Dav¡¯s mind.


    Sophia wondered if the purple color was because of the vial Amy drank; if Dav thought of that as medicine, the color could easily get mixed in with his Intent when he summoned the beacon. That was something Sophia would have to warn him against. In this case it didn¡¯t matter, but clarity of Intent was very important if you wanted to modify an Ability or cast your own spells.


    Amy coughed up mucus several more times before she seemed to breathe easily. During that time, Sophia kept one eye on her and another towards the top of the stairs; she didn¡¯t want the summoner to catch them off guard.


    ¡°So what was the purple vial?¡± It hadn¡¯t disappeared from Sophia¡¯s thoughts, but she waited to ask until Amy seemed more capable of speaking.


    Amy shrugged. ¡°Alchemical purge. It¡¯s enchanted to help anything that doesn¡¯t belong in the body leave, but it¡¯s pretty unpleasant. Like most alchemicals, you don¡¯t want to take too many of them too close together; that¡¯s why Essia was so helpful, and probably a lot of why most groups wouldn¡¯t be in here more than once a week even if they could be. I thought about getting some for you two, but I didn¡¯t think you¡¯d need them.¡±


    Amy looked at Sophia, then Dav, then back at Sophia. ¡°Which is completely unfair, you know? I¡¯m sitting over here coughing my lungs out and you two are acting like it was a normal mist!¡±


    I¡¯m still not sure why it doesn¡¯t affect me,¡± Dav admitted. ¡°I haven¡¯t really wanted to look into it, either. Not when I think it¡¯s the same thing that made my blood purple.¡±


    Amy looked towards Dav and tilted her head. ¡°I wonder if your blood would be a good alchemical component? I¡¯m sure you can recover quickly with your healing beacon.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re not checking!¡± Dav sounded a little panicked.


    ¡°No, we¡¯re not,¡± Sophia agreed with a hard look at Amy. ¡°Right, Amy?¡±


    Amy flushed and looked down. ¡°I, uh, no. Not if you don¡¯t want to.¡±

 Chapter 108 - Round Two

    Taika broke the uncomfortable silence that followed Amy¡¯s verbal retreat when he climbed into Amy¡¯s lap. ¡°They¡¯re not actually angry with you, you know.¡± His voice was more than loud enough for both Amy and Dav to hear as they searched the area for possible treasure.


    Sophia paused her search and sighed. Of course the ¡°comfort animal¡± was an empath. That made sense; it would tell him who needed to be comforted. He probably saw emotions as colors or something. It was also annoying; you couldn¡¯t hide anything from an empath. Sure, they might not know the details, but they knew you were hiding something.


    Maybe she was overreacting. It wasn¡¯t like Taika was her mother, and this was a good time to show empathy. Sophia would have preferred to just let it be forgotten, but that was the thing about empaths: Taika clearly knew Amy wasn¡¯t about to forget it.


    ¡°He¡¯s right,¡± Sophia admitted. ¡°I overreacted. I could see someone trying that, but I don¡¯t think you would.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not something to make light of,¡± Dav added quietly. ¡°I¡¯ve seen something all too similar, and with the attitude towards the Warped that we were warned about, it¡¯s all too believable. At the same time, I¡¯m not sure I want to completely abandon the idea. If there¡¯s some way to share my immunity without the side effects of your alchemical purge, maybe there¡¯s something to it. I don¡¯t know Halven well enough to talk to him about it. So let¡¯s move on. All right?¡±


    Amy gave a weak smile but seemed a little more relaxed than she had a minute earlier.


    The search of the stairs didn¡¯t reveal a reward. Sophia wasn¡¯t too surprised by that; while they made the summoner run, they didn¡¯t kill her. They¡¯d found something at the site of each previous battle in the Leveled Challenge, but each previous battle ended in the destruction of all enemies.


    ¡°It¡¯s too bad we couldn¡¯t follow immediately,¡± Sophia muttered, then raised her voice a bit. ¡°But at least I have most of my mana back. How are you two?¡±


    ¡°Eh,¡± Dav answered quickly. ¡°I¡¯m fine physically. Still down a few Shield, but we should move on anyway.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m fine as well.¡± Amy still seemed a bit quiet, but she met Sophia¡¯s gaze firmly. ¡°The alchemical is unpleasant but it works well. Dav and Taika have handled the rest of the healing; I can breathe deeply again.¡±


    Amy shifted Taika into her arms then climbed to her feet. ¡°I¡¯m not sure if it¡¯s good or bad that we couldn¡¯t follow immediately. If the Gardener-Mage was ready for us, waiting didn¡¯t cost us much.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s done is done.¡± Dav offered his backpack to Amy and waited while she helped Taika into it, then he headed up the stairs. ¡°Let¡¯s try to kill her this time.¡±


    Sophia chuckled and grinned. ¡°Yeah.¡±


    The archway at the top of the stairs led into a short corridor whose door was wide open. Beyond the door, Sophia could see plants and sunlight. In the distance, Sophia was fairly certain she saw glass panels set into the walls and ceiling as well; somehow, they¡¯d gone from the base of the building to the top level by climbing only a short flight of stairs.


    At first, it seemed peaceful, but Sophia didn¡¯t trust it. She just wasn¡¯t sure exactly what to do about it. Most of the plants weren¡¯t vines like in the vine-mummy¡¯s room, but that didn¡¯t mean the plants couldn¡¯t be animated.


    Her lack of trust was proven correct the moment Dav crossed the threshold into the greenhouse area. A new type of plant monster rose from its concealed position on the floor and roared at them. Sophia was profoundly grateful that it did so, because its camouflage was really quite good; while its limbs were only covered in green vines and leaves, its head and crest almost seemed to be made of a single broad-leafed plant. Sophia wasn¡¯t certain she¡¯d have seen it if it hadn¡¯t revealed itself.


    The monster made the greenhouse look small, but that was only because of the size of the monster itself. It was at least twenty feet tall and more than ten feet wide. Even its teeth were gigantic; the largest was probably a foot long. Sophia had seen large monsters before, but this one was still among the largest she¡¯d ever considered fighting.


    Sophia immediately swapped to her ManaSight and looked for the same things as the previous summon. If they were there, she could quickly break the summons and get on with the hunt for the summoner.


    It wasn¡¯t there. There was surprisingly little mana tied into the plant monster; it was far closer to what a corpsevine looked like than what the summoned monster looked like. The blood drained out of Sophia¡¯s face as she realized that this meant that this monster either wasn¡¯t what the Gardener-mage had prepared or it was something she¡¯d prepared using time rather than a single investment of mana. There had to be something else in the room.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    The monster didn¡¯t wait for Sophia to search. Instead, it lunged forward and tried to bite Dav. Its teeth snapped fruitlessly several inches from Dav¡¯s face as he took one step backwards and made a short slice forwards, cutting a few vines but staying carefully balanced and guarded. He gave ground again on the next attack, then again on the one afterwards. Each time, Dav made the monster miss and cut a vine here and a root there without making any large moves.


    One more step back and it became very obvious what Dav had done: he¡¯d lured the monster into the hallway. It was tall and wide, but the monster was gigantic. It had to crouch in the fifteen-foot-tall corridor and every time it moved, it hit one wall or the other. It didn¡¯t have room to move, but Dav did. Most of the monster¡¯s strikes and bites somehow ended up in a wall while Dav slowly cut it to pieces. It was all the more impressive because the monster was easily three times Dav¡¯s height and far more massive; it ought to have been able to use that to its advantage, but somehow it didn¡¯t.


    It was the best display Sophia had ever seen from Dav. It clearly showcased the fact that he was trained to fight monsters, not people; he used his small size to his advantage and had no difficulty with the odd angles created by the massive difference. He wasn¡¯t even giving ground anymore; somehow, he¡¯d give a few steps then he¡¯d somehow get the monster to seemingly willingly retreat those same few steps. Sophia watched for over a minute before Amy tugged her backwards.


    ¡°Where¡¯s the summoner?¡± Amy hissed in Sophia¡¯s ear. ¡°I can¡¯t see into the greenhouse.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t either,¡± Sophia whispered back. ¡°And I don¡¯t think I¡¯m going to try to get around the monster.¡±


    Almost as if it heard her, the monster¡¯s left arm slammed into the wall beside it. Stone, or more likely concrete, flaked off the surprisingly sturdy wall.


    ¡°We should help,¡± Sophia concluded. ¡°It¡¯s not like it¡¯ll hurt, even if it¡¯s not much.¡± She decided to save her spells, but with Dav keeping the monster busy, she could use her knife to do exactly what Dav was doing and slowly cut the monster to pieces, one plant at a time.


    There were no weak points. The red spots that seemed almost like eyes weren¡¯t soft and weren¡¯t how the monster saw; it saw just as well as it ever had after Sophia cut them out. Even its mouth turned out to be more of a weapon than a weak point. Even so, both Sophia and Amy kept up their attacks; they¡¯d wear down the monster eventually. It wasn¡¯t healing.


    Sophia didn¡¯t know how Dav did it. He was in shape, but that wasn¡¯t enough to let someone fight in the highly athletic manner he did for most of an hour. At some point, he placed a healing beacon behind them, so perhaps that was the trick.


    Sophia¡¯s guess was that it was more likely to be an effect of his Eldritch Empowerment; they¡¯d tried to figure it out, but she still wasn¡¯t sure what to expect whenever he used it. The one thing that was consistent was that it was always related to what Dav was thinking about when he used the Ability, even if it rarely worked the way anyone expected.


    Sophia often envied Dav. He was confident in what he could do and at times like this, it was clear how much of a difference his strength and skill could make. Sophia felt like her abilities were less useful; sure, she could stab someone without getting close to them, break a spell that the Gardener prepared ahead of time, or put out a fire, but she couldn¡¯t stand between a monster three times her size and people she wanted to protect and expect to take it down without tricks.


    Sure, Dav was using the relatively tight space and surprisingly sturdy walls to help, but Sophia wasn¡¯t even sure she could manage it even with tricks like that. She just didn¡¯t have any way to stop the monster. She didn¡¯t have a real barrier spell of any sort and even if she did, the creature would probably punch straight through it. That was why Dav had to dodge everything.


    When the monster finally fell, Dav swayed on his feet. Sophia moved to catch him, but he leaned most of his weight against a wall. ¡°Are you okay?¡±


    ¡°Eh,¡± Dav grunted. ¡°I will be, I¡¯m just being hit with it all at once. I¡¯m also completely out of mana. No idea where it went, it just all vanished when the boost ended.¡±


    That was weird, but that made it almost normal for Dav. Sophia had no idea how that would work; if she had a chance, she¡¯d want to study the spellform it created. Unfortunately, the spellform for Eldritch Empowerment was both insanely complicated and different every time; she¡¯d made exactly zero progress at understanding it so far.


    ¡°Do you need a break?¡± Amy asked. ¡°I want to move forward, but it¡¯s not like everything else doesn¡¯t already know we¡¯re here.¡±


    Dav shook his head. ¡°Just a short breather. I won¡¯t be able to summon anything for a while, but I don¡¯t think waiting will really help with that.¡±


    The summoner didn¡¯t wait for them to make up their minds. Before Dav even finished the sentence, a strange reddish head with green eyes and plantlike hair pushed into the corridor carried on red tentacles. It was clearly another plant-monster.


    It was also very obviously a summoned monster. Now that she knew where to look, the link back to the summoner was easy to find. Sophia recalled her Imbued knife, pushed Disruptive magic into it, then sent the knife back out and sliced through the link before it reached Dav.


    Sophia¡¯s knife clattered to the floor


    ¡°That one was a summons,¡± Sophia said with satisfaction. It wasn¡¯t nearly as nasty a monster as the one Dav held off while the three of them killed it, but she¡¯d also taken care of it in mere moments. ¡°We should head on in before the summoner sends more.¡±

 Chapter 109 - Death of a Corpsevine

    They returned to the first room with glass walls they¡¯d seen. It still seemed impossible that they¡¯d reached the top level with that one short flight of stairs, but the peaked glass roof told Sophia otherwise. The inside of a building she saw didn¡¯t match what she remembered from outside, but that didn¡¯t mean that much; there might be an enchantment on the building. It seemed even more likely that the conversion into a Leveled Challenge had messed with the layout; after all, they still hadn¡¯t found any route to the main entrance and that didn¡¯t make sense.


    Without the great plant-monster, the room seemed almost empty; many of the plants had disappeared. They¡¯d probably been part of the monster, either as the components of its false muscles or simply as camouflage. Either way, they were gone. It was clear that there were no concealed corpsevine-infested monsters, unless they were the size of a normal squirrel.


    At the far end of the room, Sophia could see the summoner. She was too distant to make out her expression, but Sophia knew she wouldn¡¯t have one. Sophia sent her knife racing ahead as she ran for the woman, but she didn¡¯t make it there in time.


    The summoner raised the plant in her gloved hands up to her face. Vines exploded from it at the same time that more leaves unfolded from the plant-hat the Mage-Gardener wore. It almost seemed to merge with the new vines, like the cap of a mushroom made of plants. The vines grew longer and longer and lifted the now completely concealed woman nearly to the ceiling of the room.


    The room shimmered and sparkled weirdly as a wave of power swept out from the altered summoner and filled the room. What plant life was left in the partially denuded greenhouse began to grow visibly quickly and lumps began to form, lumps that could easily conceal corpsevines.


    It felt somehow fake to Sophia, though she couldn¡¯t say why.


    A moment later, she felt indignation from Cliff and the scene in front of her seemed to shift. A lot of the greenery vanished and what was left stopped growing. It seemed to blur a little, while the monster sharpened.


    ¡°Can¡¯t share for long,¡± Cliff stated tersely. ¡°I want the parent shrub. Can¡¯t let it hide from you.¡±


    One part of what was going on was clear: Cliff somehow managed to share what he saw with Sophia. The implication that the monster in front of her was where the corpsevine ¡°cuttings¡± all came from also wasn¡¯t lost on her. The fact that he could apparently break illusions but was only willing to do so if it affected Sophia¡¯s ability to Collect a monster was ¡­


    ¡­Well, actually, it seemed a lot like Cliff. He cared about what he cared about and other than that he simply didn¡¯t want to bother.


    Sophia skidded to a halt just outside the range she thought the vines could reach. Right now, they were supporting the plant-cap, but Sophia couldn¡¯t be certain they¡¯d continue doing that, and if this was truly the ¡°parent¡± of the cuttings they¡¯d fought, she didn¡¯t want to get too close to it.


    She ignored the fact that Cliff called it a shrub. Perhaps it was, but if so it was an awfully large shrub. One that Sophia didn¡¯t want to fight. She wasn¡¯t actually sure what to do next; would her spells work on it? It didn¡¯t seem to have any real weak points, unless they were hidden in the cap or maybe the center of the stalk where the summoner seemed to have vanished.


    The sounds of destruction behind her made Sophia glance backwards. Dav was beating on a plant-covered timber while Amy desperately fought a broad-leafed plant. Taika¡¯s head was barely visible in Dav¡¯s backpack, but it was still clear that his attention was fixed on the ¡°corpsevine¡± Dav fought. Neither plant fought back, but Sophia was certain her allies thought they were. Illusions sucked; worse was the realization that without Cliff¡¯s help, she might also have been fooled. ¡°None of those are real, the only real monster is over here!¡±


    Her shout might help or it might not. While fighting, you might not hear or see even obvious things; they might not hear her even if the illusion didn¡¯t do anything that made it more difficult. Even if they did hear her, if they didn¡¯t think they had time to step back and figure it out, they wouldn¡¯t.


    Sophia snapped her attention back to the monster plant in front of her. It hadn¡¯t moved any closer while she was distracted and it didn¡¯t seem to be attempting to reach her at all. Did it think she was also lost in illusion?


    For that matter, could it think at all? Did that even matter?


    Sophia shook the distractions away. The real corpsevine parent was dead, killed by the Registry Master a few days earlier. She was certain of that; she¡¯d gotten that much of the story from Rensyn. This was just an imitation made by the Guide for the Leveled Challenge. She hadn¡¯t heard of anyone else fighting something like this, but if they were caught in an illusion the way Dav and Amy were, they would have reported something different from reality anyway.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Come to think of it, that might be another piece in the puzzle of why no one had fully completed the Challenge. If you couldn¡¯t see part of it, it would be hard to finish, wouldn¡¯t it?


    The corpsevine still hadn¡¯t moved. Sophia decided that meant it probably wasn¡¯t going to unless she provoked it, so she took a few cautious steps backwards and set her back against a pillar. It wasn¡¯t completely safe, but the pillar was nearly plant-free and she¡¯d take what she could get at this point. It was time to find out if her spells would work on the corpsevine parent and what it would do.


    She aimed her Force Bolt at the bottom of the plant-cap, where the tentacles joined it. Joints were often weak points and she didn¡¯t have any better idea of where to aim, so it was worth a try.


    Unexpectedly, the spell stopped right before it hit the plant. Sophia recognized the effect; she¡¯d seen it often enough when something hit her. This corpsevine, unlike every previous one, had a Guide-granted shield that she had to wear down before she could actually hurt it.


    The corpsevine definitely noticed Sophia¡¯s attack. Several of the vines closest to her moved towards her and seemed to search the area, but they weren¡¯t even close to reaching her now and they didn¡¯t seem to have any real idea where she was.


    Sophia gave the search a moment to die down, then launched another Force Bolt. She was not in good shape for mana, but a glance at Dav and Amy told her that they weren¡¯t coming out of the illusion easily. Both of the plants they were attacking were well shredded, but they seemed to think they were fighting for their lives against dangerous opponents. She shouted again, ¡°Guys! The real threat is over here!¡±


    This time, Dav clearly heard her. ¡°Can you hold it off while I deal with this thing?¡±


    He was dodging like he had against the giant plant and seemed to think that he was fighting a threat equal to that when it was little more than a fence post.


    Sophia wasn¡¯t sure what to say. Speaking didn¡¯t seem to work, but maybe she could break the illusion?


    There was only one problem with that: she couldn¡¯t even see the illusion. When she looked with her MageSight, all she could see was a single spell that covered the entire room. It was complex and well-reinforced; if that was the illusion, it was no wonder Dav and Amy were caught in it. It was one heck of a trap.


    Even if it was apparently a trap Cliff could simply see through. Sophia wanted to find out why that was, but questioning Cliff wouldn¡¯t help. He was unlikely to know the answer and even if he did, she didn¡¯t think he¡¯d care enough about the ¡°why¡± to explain.


    Sophia was confident she could eventually break the illusion as long as the corpsevine didn¡¯t repair it. That actually seemed possible; something this elaborate wasn¡¯t a quick thing to make. The problem was that it also wouldn¡¯t be fast to remove unless there was a central support, and the only central support Sophia saw was the fact that the spell was powered by the monster. Killing the corpsevine on her own was probably the fastest way to remove the illusion.


    That would change if the corpsevine actually found her, but it had been less than a minute and the corpsevine already seemed to have forgotten it was attacked. It seemed unlikely it could have recovered much shield in that time, so Sophia threw another Force Bolt at it. She aimed for the same spot; it probably didn¡¯t matter, since she doubted the shield was weak enough to fall after only the first attack, but it was still worth a try.


    It hadn¡¯t.


    Sophia waited for it to stop, then threw another Force Bolt. It was stopped as well, but her fourth one stressed the shield beyond its limits and it continued into the solid exteriors of the vines. One of the tendrils fell to the floor, completely severed by the attack.


    Sophia stared, stunned by the effectiveness of the attack. The vines were almost as wide around as her arm; she hadn¡¯t expected to completely cut through one with a single spell, especially not one that was weakened by having to penetrate the shield first.


    She glanced back at her companions, but they were still occupied by their assault on the other plants. She was going to have to take care of this herself, and it suddenly seemed a lot more possible. The corpsevine still hadn¡¯t moved from its position and Sophia was starting to be convinced that it couldn¡¯t. The reason it infested corpses was to have something mobile that could bring pretty to it, possibly even kill it first. That lined up well with illusions that would make its enemies attack the wrong things, but it meant the main plant was effectively helpless against someone who could see through the illusion and didn¡¯t have to come within its reach.


    Sophia threw Force Bolt after Force Bolt into the monster. They were a lot cheaper than Force Blasts, especially since she was only using one at a time and wasn¡¯t trying to alter them in any way, but they still weren¡¯t enough. The corpsevine was still standing when she simply didn¡¯t have enough mana to cast another spell, even with taking it slow and careful.


    Sophia wasn¡¯t willing to completely drop her awareness of her surroundings, so she couldn¡¯t fully concentrate on regaining mana, but she had gathered mana in dangerous situations before and she was certain she¡¯d do it again in the future. She cast a new Force Bolt once she had the mana to do so.


    It was very obvious the corpsevine was dead when she finally cut through enough of the vines that the ¡°cap¡± snapped to the side, then fell to the dirt-covered tile floor with a thump. Sophia sighed, glad to finally be done. The four Force Bolts after she ran out of mana that it took to kill the corpsevine more than tripled the amount of time killing the monster took. She really wished she could have gotten help from Amy, at least; she was just as glad to not have to send Dav into the corpsevine¡¯s reach.


    That reminded her to check the spell threaded throughout the room. As she hoped, it was dissipating rapidly. It wouldn¡¯t be long before she could talk to her friends about what was going on and what she¡¯d seen.

 Chapter 110 - Challenge Cleared

    Minor Feat Completed!


    For your Minor Feat of clearing a Leveled Challenge, you have been granted a reward!


    Reward: Force Blast, its Ability Slot, and all prerequisites have been improved from Level 1 to Level 2!


    This Ability was commonly used during completion of the Minor Feat.


    Feat Completed!


    For your Feat of clearing a Leveled Challenge for the first time, you have been granted a reward!


    Reward: Animate Spell Blade, its Ability Slot, and all prerequisites have been improved from Level 1 to Level 2!


    This Ability was commonly used during completion of the Feat.


    Feat Completed!


    For your Feat of defeating a Level-appropriate group combat challenge without assistance, you have been granted a reward!


    Reward: Force Bolt, Spell Hardening, Visual Targeting, Collected Knowledge, and their Ability Slots have been improved from Level 1 to Level 2!


    This Ability set was commonly used during completion of the Feat.


    Major Feat Completed!


    For your Major Feat of defeating a Level-appropriate group combat challenge without assistance for the first time, you have been granted a reward!


    Reward: All Abilities and their Ability Slots used during completion of this Feat have been increased by one Level.


    Abilities that are higher Level than their Sphere will exhibit power appropriate to their Sphere''s Level. The Ability Level of Rush could not be improved.


    (Feather image)


    Your Patron greets you!


    I''m impressed. I certainly didn''t manage to increase any Abilities past my Sphere level this early in my journey. You''re more focused than I was, but that''s probably a good thing. You''re not alone.


    You will be happy to know that you didn''t deprive your companions of their credit, either; they will have gotten a Minor Feat / Feat for their first time cooperative completion because they helped you get here and then didn''t interfere in something you could handle alone.  It isn''t as good as the without assistance Feats, but it''s the same value as the Feat for cooperating in the final kill of clearing the Challenge. It''s possible to miss that Feat in several ways; this is one of the few that give a different Feat instead.


    If you can resolve the Challenge as well as clearing it, I believe you will find the rewards very worthwhile. I can guess what they will be, but it is only a guess. The Guide does not always do what I expect.


    The only other advice I can give right now is to see if Taika will bond to either you or Dav. If he does, I will be able to affect his Spheres and make him a better companion for the three of you.


    --The Wanderer


    The message appeared in front of Sophia¡¯s vision moments after the corpsevine¡¯s cap hit the floor. She ignored it to check on Dav, Amy, and Taika. All three of her companions seemed fine, if shaken by the experience.


    Amy¡¯s attention was directed in front of her, apparently at her own version of the message. ¡°You beat it without us, huh? What was I fighting, then?¡± She looked around her, but didn¡¯t seem to find what she was looking for in the destroyed bits of plant and pot and wood support.


    ¡°It was an illusion,¡± Sophia told her with a small shrug. ¡°I tried to let you know, but you didn¡¯t listen.¡±


    Dav snorted. He sounded a little disgruntled, probably at the fact that he was fooled. ¡°I should have known. It explains why the thing never hit me even though it should have, a few times. Every time I started to wonder, I had to concentrate on the fight instead of thinking about anything else. It wasn¡¯t just visual, was it?¡±


    Sophia shrugged more obviously this time. ¡°It was definitely tactile, too, or you wouldn¡¯t have been able to hit it, and there was definitely some feedback involved. As for menatl stuff, I have no idea. A visual illusion can do that, if it¡¯s designed to keep your attention well enough. That¡¯s what I¡¯m told, at least. I can manage a simple illusion, basically just a light spell, but that¡¯s colored light, not the stuff of illusions or dreams. I never really tried to learn those, just the techniques for countering them.¡±


    Sophia knew exactly why she never tried to learn illusions, even if she didn¡¯t admit it to her parents. Illusions just weren¡¯t interesting. You couldn¡¯t kill a dungeon monster with an illusion. Now that she¡¯d seen Taika¡¯s illusions, that seemed like a very surface evaluation. She really should have tried harder.


    ¡°How do you counter them?¡± Dav didn¡¯t seem interested in why Sophia couldn¡¯t cast illusions.


    ¡°You look for anything that might be off, something that doesn¡¯t match what you¡¯re seeing. Like¡­ if you stab something and it doesn¡¯t bleed, or doesn¡¯t seem to be there at all. Maybe it doesn¡¯t have a smell, whatever. There are a lot of things that can match, and a lot of them have different explanations, but sometimes it¡¯s an illusion. Once you figure it out, what happens depends on how it was made. If it¡¯s all in your mind, it might vanish or turn into a mental fight. If it¡¯s someone controlling light, well, the light¡¯s not going to go away because you know it¡¯s not really a monster, but you can act with what you know. Illusion Affinity spells tend to break apart if you really see through them, but the Dream Affinity often warps them into something else.¡± Sophia paused and bit her lip. There was a lot more she could say, but without demonstration she wasn¡¯t certain how helpful it would be. ¡°Taika manipulates light and color, that¡¯s why you can see his disguises but not feel them. I¡¯m not sure how much else I can teach you quickly.¡±The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°Oh, wow,¡± Amy interrupted. ¡°Did you two get the same Feat rewards that I did?¡±


    ¡°I haven¡¯t looked,¡± Dav answered without looking towards Amy. ¡°I don¡¯t want the distraction if there are more monsters, it can wait until we¡¯re out of here.¡±


    Amy shook her head. ¡°There won¡¯t be any monsters, one of the feats was for clearing the Challenge. That means clearing it of monsters or at least of all of the important ones; any we missed will have vanished. That¡¯s one of the rules of Challenges. The clear feats are one of the reasons to do them, but this one is something else. It¡¯s free Ability levels!¡±


    Sophia glanced at the window that still partially covered her view and it snapped into full visibility again. ¡°What¡¯s so amazing about that? I thought Wisps was the normal award, and these aren¡¯t all that expensive, even if there are a lot of them.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡± Amy sounded shocked. ¡°I mean, I know you didn¡¯t get much time with Rensyn, but surely your parents¡­¡±


    ¡°Weren¡¯t Called,¡± Sophia finished the sentence. It was the easiest way to explain their ignorance; no one seemed to accept just how ¡°far away¡± Sophia¡¯s home was, or at least they didn¡¯t seem to really understand when she said the Voice was different. The fact that Dav didn¡¯t have anything like the Guide at all where he came from just didn¡¯t compute at all.


    ¡°Oh, right.¡± Amy flushed slightly. ¡°You said that earlier. Uh, the difference is that if you buy the levels, the cost increases. Since these were Guide-increased, buying them to Level three will cost what it would have taken to get them to level two, and so on. It only applies to these specific Abilities and slots, but it will keep the cost down no matter how high you go. At higher levels, those cheaper Ability and slot increases are supposed to be really important. The only thing better is a bonus ability in a free slot; those keep up with your Level and don¡¯t increase the cost of anything else, but those one come from Grand Feats and no one knows how to do those reliably. Even Major feats are usually one-time things.¡±


    With Amy¡¯s reassurance that there would be no more monsters, Sophia felt comfortable enough to check her message in more detail. Even without the reassurance, she was confident there weren¡¯t any nearby; if there had been, they¡¯d have intervened during the battle, not now after it was over. She certainly took long enough.


    Sophia¡¯s eyes widened as she saw the full list. ¡°That¡¯s a lot of Abilities.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s why it¡¯s amazing,¡± Amy agreed. ¡°I expected bonus Wisps, since that¡¯s what other people got, plus maybe an Ability slot or unlocked Ability from the first-time feats, but this is better. I even had a couple of Abilities go up two levels!¡±


    Sophia looked at her last Feat again. She had the feeling it was more than a couple of her Abilities that went up two levels. She¡¯d have to talk to the others later and see if they could manage to get everyone the ¡°without assistance¡± Feat and Major Feat some time in the future. The Major Feat seemed huge and that meant it was a good thing to spread around, even more so because it was only available once per person.


    ¡°Huh,¡± Dav sounded surprised. ¡°We got a Feat for being caught in an illusion while you killed the corpsevine? That seems weird.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve heard of this one,¡± Amy disagreed. ¡°It¡¯s hard to get because you have to actually be able to kill the monster without being in too much danger. If you get seriously hurt, even if you succeed, the Feat is downgraded and the people who stand by and don¡¯t help you don¡¯t get a Feat at all. You¡¯re supposed to decide as a group when to stand back and when to go for it, and when to step in if it¡¯s too risky. There¡¯s actually also a feat for rescuing someone who¡¯s trying to get the Feat and can¡¯t, but that one only happens if they actually needed rescuing. Modir says not to try for it unless you¡¯re really certain you can get it, because the risks aren¡¯t worth it. I think she might change her mind for Ability levels.¡±


    Sophia wasn¡¯t so certain; her experience with family said that they were a lot more concerned for her safety than they were for her progression. Maybe Amy¡¯s modir - mother? - was different, but she doubted it. She knew better than to say anything out loud, though, so she pulled up her Status instead. She really wanted to see what had changed.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Sophia


    </td>


    <td>


    Spells:


    </td>


    <td>


    Unaffiliated Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Warped Human


    </td>


    <td>


    (Rush, 1, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Innate Communication, Bonus, Free)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    (Feather Image)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Spell Hardening, 3, 3)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Body: 6


    </td>


    <td>


    Martial Abilities:


    </td>


    <td>


    (Visual Targeting, 3, 3)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Core: 8


    </td>


    <td>


    (Stunning Roar, 1, 1)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Disruptive Magic, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Shield: 30


    </td>


    <td>


    Species Spells:


    </td>


    <td>


    Species Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Force Bolt, 3, 3)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Aura Armor, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Wisps: 108


    </td>


    <td>


    (Force Blast, 3, 3)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Spell Reservoir, 3, 3)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Feather Image)


    </td>


    <td>


    (MageSight, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Spheres


    </td>


    <td>


    Attunements:


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Spellblade (Hallow)


    </td>


    <td>


    Contraceptive Amulet, 3


    </td>


    <td>


    Spellblade Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Level: 2


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Imbue Blade, 3, 3)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Animate Blade, 3, 3)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Collector (Linked)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Animate Spell Blade, 3, 3)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Level: 2


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Collected Knowledge, 3, 3)


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    There were definitely a lot more than ¡°a couple¡± Abilities pushed to level 3 by the Major Feat. If that meant they¡¯d always cost as much as an Ability two Levels lower than they were, Sophia could see why everyone really pushed getting a good number of Abilities while you were low Level; this was going to save her a lot in the future. Why hadn¡¯t Rensyn mentioned this as the reason?


    Maybe this wasn¡¯t the reason to have a lot of Abilities early on? She was pretty sure the reason she was given was that it was cheaper to buy them and upgrade them as she Leveled than it was to buy them outright later, which was also a good reason. This only made it better.

 Chapter 111 - A Bounty of Choices

    Sophia frowned at the one oddity on her Status. Rush ¡°could not be improved.¡± In a way, she was surprised that even the slot improved; she¡¯d only used it once in the entire Leveled Challenge. She just didn¡¯t need to spend her mana on quick movement very often when she could send her Animated Spell Blade ahead instead. At the same time, nothing else had gone up unevenly. Was that because Rush came out of Cliff¡¯s Collection? Did they have a Level cap?


    She looked through her options and found that there was a screen she hadn¡¯t seen before for upgrading Abilities and Ability Slots. There were no Abilities she could upgrade; Rush showed up, but it was noted as ¡°No Upgrade Available.¡± She could upgrade the Slot for Stunning Roar, but she was certain it wouldn¡¯t upgrade either, so she didn¡¯t bother. In fact, the only thing that made sense to do was to unslot Rush and slot in Hydrokinesis, if she could.


    Wait, did Cliff have new options for her?


    The monster, apparently, was a Juvenile Corpsevine Crown. Sophia definitely didn¡¯t want to face an adult if that thing was only a juvenile, but it sort of made sense; this was a watered-down version of the real thing. That probably explained why it didn¡¯t really have any way to deal with her other than the illusion once they killed the cuttings and the summons. She was still a little surprised that the Crown didn¡¯t display any of the abilities of the summoner, but maybe one of the Abilities Cliff Collected would explain that oddity.


    When Cliff showed Sophia the list, she got a surprise: the list was separated by Level now. The first thing she checked was Hydrokinesis, only to be disappointed. It wasn¡¯t listed as level 2; instead, it was listed as ¡°other¡± with no explanation. She suspected it was being counted as a higher level than she could use, probably because she¡¯d cast it as part of a ritual spell. It did move a lot of water.


    Spells


    Level 1:


    Rush


    Flaming Spark


    Spit Fire


    Buffet


    Slice


    Level 2:


    Eldritch Overcharge


    Root Grab


    Eldritch Empowerment


    Offensive Illusion Field


    Other:


    Hydrokinesis (higher level than 2 - actual level requirement unknown)


    Martial Techniques


    Level 1:


    Stunning Roar


    Consuming Rage


    Level 2:


    Siphon Sap


    Summon Echo


    Poison Pollen Fog


    Shaped Growth


    Crown¡¯s Cutting Consumption


    Once she actually looked at the rest of the spells, she was happy. Root Grab had to be the spell the summoner used to hold Dav in place and try to hold Sophia in place. She was pretty sure she¡¯d want that one. Offensive Illusion Field was another winner: it had to be the spell the ¡°Crown¡± used to distract Amy and Dav. It also went on the list that she planned to pick up once she checked the description.


    The list of spells answered a question she hadn¡¯t realized she had when she saw that Dav¡¯s Eldritch Overcharge and Eldritch Empowerment appeared there, but his Summons weren¡¯t there. Those must not be either spells or Martial Techniques, since he¡¯d used them a lot in front of her but Cliff had either never Collected them or never shown them to her. It also meant that Amy¡¯s shapeshifting must not be a spell or Martial Technique, since it wasn¡¯t there.


    Sophia was hopeful when she saw the Martial Techniques. There were finally enough there that she might be able to find something more useful than Stunning Roar, which she hadn¡¯t used in far too long. Consuming Rage and Siphon Sap were still not options, and she had no idea what Shaped Growth was, but Summon Echo looked promising.


    Eldritch Overcharge


    Channel extra mana into Summons for additional power or duration.


    That seemed a little odd when she realized it was a spell; did she have to cast it before or after the summon spell? It might make more sense for Dav, whose summons didn¡¯t seem to be spells, but it would probably still work for her. As it was, it would only be useful if she had the ability to summon something. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    The fact that there was a Summon ability in Martial Techniques meant she should keep the spell in mind. It might work exactly the same way as it did for Dav.


    Root Grab


    Empower existing roots to grow and attempt to grab your enemies, preventing movement. May target up to Level number of creatures.


    That was a better description of the spell than she¡¯d seen on most of the Guide¡¯s spells. The limitations were fairly clear, primarily the fact that there had to be roots to use and that it wasn¡¯t designed to stop spells, only movement. It definitely explained why only Sophia and Dav were targeted, as well. It was definitely staying on the list of spells she wanted.


    Eldritch Empowerment


    Gain or grant a minor eldritch boon.


    Sophia definitely needed to ask Dav what he¡¯d figured out about that one. It was very unclear; was there any reason at all for her to pick it up when Dav already had it? He was specialized for the Affinity, so his version would likely be stronger than hers.


    Offensive Illusion Field


    Cover an area in an illusion of monsters created from the surroundings. The illusion includes visual, tactile, and olfactory senses and responds to actions taken by targets based on their expectations. Duration is based on the mana supplied, area covered, and number of targets included.


    That was another decent description, and another one that Sophia was definitely putting on her short list, probably above Root Grab. She suspected that that last line was the reason the Juvenile Corpsevine Crown couldn¡¯t really deal with her once Cliff broke her out of the illusion: it didn¡¯t have any mana left. It must have counted on recovering enough to do something useful before anyone broke free, but she killed it first.


    That made her ¡°without assistance¡± victory seem a little hollow; not only did Cliff have to break her free, but the fact that Amy, Dav, and Taika were there was why the monster spent all its mana on stopping them. Sure, they didn¡¯t directly help, but she wouldn¡¯t have had such an easy time without them. On top of that, if they hadn¡¯t killed the huge guard first, there was no way Sophia could have dealt with it. She could only be glad that the illusion didn¡¯t start until after that monster was dead.


    Wait, was that because Dav pulled the monster out of the big room and into the hallway? That seemed all too possible. If they¡¯d been caught in the illusion while the big monster was still there, Sophia didn¡¯t think it would have gone nearly as well, and that was as much luck as anything.


    Okay, it was a good decision purely for fighting the monster, so that wasn¡¯t just luck, but it certainly wasn¡¯t because they were knowledgeable about the illusion.


    Summon Echo


    Summon an echo of your power to fight for you. The echo is tied to and controlled by the summoner. Other Martial Techniques may be used through the echo if the form is appropriate, but the echo cannot cast spells.


    The idea of a summon that wasn¡¯t created with mana was odd enough that Sophia didn¡¯t believe it. Of course, many of the other Martial Techniques were similar; they almost had to use mana. They simply used it in a way that was more physical and less like spellcasting. A summon was still odd, but it made a little more sense to think that it was based on the caster and that she had to do its fighting for it. This one was definitely going on Sophia¡¯s list; she¡¯d happily replace Stunning Roar with it. Either of the two spell options would remove any remaining need for that Martial Technique anyway.


    Poison Pollen Fog


    Send out your pollen in a dense fog that poisons all who enter.


    That was a shorter description, but Sophia didn¡¯t need a longer one. She wasn¡¯t certain the ability would even work for her; she didn¡¯t have pollen. She wasn¡¯t going to take it anyway, since it was very bad for Amy and she couldn¡¯t guarantee how well it could be controlled. It was definitely interesting that the ability didn¡¯t really mention how blinding it was, beyond saying it was a ¡°dense fog.¡±


    Shaped Growth


    Encourage the growth of nearby complex lifeforms into a desired form. May return growth capabilities to the natural maximum if the lifeform is supplied with sufficient support. May be used to combine different lifeforms.


    That was clearly how the giant monster was made; it explained why it seemed to be made of a bunch of different plants that had to all be cut up separately. It was probably also how corpsevine cuttings were made and might well explain the monsters that seemed to be plant-like imitations of the base creature. It didn¡¯t explain how the Corpsevine Crown controlled them, but perhaps it was able to grow some sort of instinct into them.


    Of course, she didn¡¯t even know if this was necessary to create cuttings. Maybe it was only used on them to modify them and the cutting-creation process was something else. That seemed to make a lot of sense.


    It also didn¡¯t seem to apply only to plants. That was both somewhat nausea-inducing and interesting to Sophia. She could easily see the spell as holding the potential to do amazing things like regrow a lost limb. She knew that was difficult to do normally; Healers who had that capacity could do it because they had special spells for it. It would be much slower than most, since it was limited to the ¡°natural maximum,¡± but that was better than nothing.


    At the same time, it could easily be used for much more offensive things. Sophia knew she wouldn¡¯t have the patience for that.


    It went on the list of Martial Techniques she¡¯d keep in mind, but she probably wasn¡¯t going to take it any time soon. No one had lost a limb, after all, so there was no reason to spend a slot on it. She could always take it later if it was important.


    Crown¡¯s Cutting Consumption


    Devour a cutting to gain its form and abilities temporarily. Abilities that do not belong to the cutting cannot be used while in its form. Duration of the form depends on the relative power of the Crown and the cutting. The Crown may dismiss the form at any time to return to the Crown¡¯s native form and regain use of its abilities. This does not have to be in the same location as the consumption. The cutting cannot be recovered.


    Sophia had expected Crown¡¯s Cutting Consumption to be what she saw when the summoner vanished, but the description of the Martial Technique said that she was only technically correct; what she saw then was actually the end of the Technique. It explained why the monster didn¡¯t summon something else; that wasn¡¯t its own ability. It also explained how the corpsevine itself could move around: it used its cuttings.


    It didn¡¯t explain why they found it in the large glassed-in room, but that could be as simple as it being where the monster usually was and the fact that the summoner-cutting ran away from them. Those were good excuses, but Sophia suspected that the real reason was that this was a Leveled Challenge, and the Guide wanted it to be where it was, at the end of the Challenge.


    Overall, Sophia was thrilled with the new options. The reason they were here was to protect the city, but if that wasn¡¯t a problem, the Leveled Challenge would have been worth it for this, even without the Ability Levels and Wisps she¡¯d surely gained as well.


    Sophia glanced over at her Available Wisps and her face fell. She¡¯d only gained about a hundred or so; that wasn¡¯t even enough for the telepathy ability she wanted. She could probably afford some of the new Techniques or a spell or two, but she¡¯d promised herself that she¡¯d pick up the telepathy before she forgot again. She had to wait.

 Chapter 112 - Search the Greenhouse

    Sophia glared at her Status, then half-defiantly dedicated the wisps for an Unaffiliated slot. There was no reason not to, she knew what she wanted next. She leaned over and poked Dav. ¡°Remember to save Wisps for the Telepathic Link Ability.¡±


    ¡°Which one are you looking at?¡± Amy crouched next to Sophia. ¡°If you¡¯re taking a communication Ability, I should make sure I take it too. At least as long as you¡¯re still thinking about working with me?¡±


    Amy sounded a little hesitant on the last sentence, but Sophia didn¡¯t think she really thought Sophia was going to turn her down.


    ¡°Individual Telepathic Link,¡± Dav answered before Sophia could. ¡°I looked through everything and I didn¡¯t see any better options.¡±


    ¡°You were level one when you looked, weren¡¯t you?¡± Amy didn¡¯t pause long enough for either of them to answer. ¡°Modir warned me about that, she said that there are some Abilities that are locked behind higher levels. Taking the lesser versions can give something more specialized or make the higher ones cheaper so it¡¯s not really a problem if you take the lesser ones first, but she said to always check after you Level in case there¡¯s a better choice. I¡¯ve heard of that one, but it¡¯s supposed to be something that only people who are really committed to working together take.¡±


    Amy paused, bit her lip, and blushed slightly. That was fascinating; it was the first time Sophia thought she¡¯d ever seen Amy embarrassed. She¡¯d seen her frustrated before but not embarrassed. ¡°The higher levels of the Ability let you communicate more than words. A lot more.¡±


    Sophia grinned at the insinuation. That made ¡°really committed to working together¡± take on a whole new meaning, didn¡¯t it?


    ¡°Heh,¡± Dav gave a polite laugh. ¡°I see what you mean, but I can also see where being able to, say, show someone else what you¡¯re looking at could be very useful. Is there an ¡­ advanced version of it that allows for more people, or do we need to get it more than once?¡±


    ¡°Take it more than once?¡± Amy sounded puzzled. ¡°I ¡­ don¡¯t think you can? You can only take an Ability once, you have to take an Ability that¡¯s based on it to get a better version.¡±


    Dav shook his head. ¡°That seems limited, if all you want is the same thing again with someone else.¡±


    ¡°You remove the Ability from its slot then re-slot it to change your choices,¡± Amy explained. ¡°I¡¯m not sure if either of you can do it or if both of you have to, but that¡¯s how you change your choices on any Ability with choices.¡±


    In some ways that made sense; it meant you couldn¡¯t quickly move a link from one person to another and bypass the limitation on it. At the same time, it seemed like a seriously limited workaround, especially if you couldn¡¯t have more than one link at a time. She still wanted the link with Dav, but she might have to put it off for a group link of some sort. At home, she¡¯d use a technological solution or maybe an item that imitated one of the vast variety of similar spells, but that wasn¡¯t an option here. There wasn¡¯t anything like that in the store, even at the insane prices they charged for magical items.


    Wait, that was an idea. She was certain there wouldn¡¯t be a telepathy spell on her list since it was Mind magic rather than Arcane, but she still wasn¡¯t certain exactly what would be on Dav¡¯s list. It seemed possible for something called ¡°eldritch,¡± even if she wasn¡¯t certain she wanted to allow an eldritch entity into her head.


    Well, an eldritch entity other than Dav, at least. She¡¯d let Dav into her head whenever he wanted. ¡°Dav, did you check your spells for telepathy?¡±


    Dav nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll check again, I want to look for new spell options anyway.¡± He turned to Amy before he continued, ¡°I want to talk about the future before we make any decisions. It sounds like you want to make a group of just the three of us and leave Casterville?¡±


    ¡°Four,¡± Taika added.


    Dav smiled and patted the now bright pink-and-orange chinchilla on the head. ¡°Four. We need to figure out why you¡¯re so different. Maybe there¡¯s something we¡¯re missing.¡±


    Sophia tilted her head to the side. Was that a roundabout way of asking about the bonding the Wanderer mentioned or was it just Dav being Dav and trying to look at all of the options? Sophia couldn¡¯t tell. She wasn¡¯t even certain if the Wanderer had sent him a message; he hadn¡¯t gotten one after they killed the Hawk of the Black Blood, but he also didn¡¯t get a Feat notification. If they were tied to Feat notifications, he could well have gotten one here. She wasn¡¯t about to ask in front of Amy; she still felt cautious about the Wanderer¡¯s instructions not to mention him.


    She definitely needed to find out more about Patrons at some point. Maybe there was an obvious reason the Wanderer was disliked that she didn¡¯t know?


    While she was musing, Dav and Amy started looking around the room. Sophia got up to join them. There had to be something here. If nothing else, there ought to be treasure of some sort; several monsters started in the large greenhouse room, even if they didn¡¯t fight them all there.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°Any idea what we¡¯re looking for?¡± Sophia called out to Amy after half an hour of fruitless searching. She¡¯d checked the area near the Juvenile Corpsevine Crown and found nothing with any magic; she was currently carefully searching the various plants all around the room. Maybe one of them was the reward?


    ¡°Nope,¡± Amy answered. She sounded a little depressed. ¡°Could be anything. There¡¯s a reason Challenges often stick around for years, they¡¯re supposed to be really hard to solve.¡±


    ¡°This shouldn¡¯t be that hard,¡± Dav countered.


    Sophia looked over towards her boyfriend. He was at the corpse of the Juvenile Corpsevine crown. Was he digging? It kind of looked like it.


    ¡°The problem is that the corpsevines came back after they were eradicated, right?¡± Dav removed soil packed around the corpsevine¡¯s central vines. ¡°So that¡¯s probably the reason for the Challenge. We need to figure out how it came back and stop it from happening again. This is a plant, not a mushroom, so there are only so many ways it can spread and those are generally visible, though they can be underground. Right now, I¡¯m making sure there aren¡¯t any roots we need to be worried about. Once we¡¯ve dug this up, we should burn all of it to ash and charcoal. Then we can start looking for the other options, a seedling or a seed somewhere. The corpsevine controlled other plants, but it couldn¡¯t spread through them, so it¡¯s here somewhere. It might not be in this room, but it¡¯s somewhere in the part of the building we can reach. That¡¯s the point of that puzzle; we¡¯re in the right place. We just need to find the problem and fix it.¡±


    That was more words than Sophia thought she¡¯d heard Dav say in quite a while. It was also a solution that put the pieces they knew together in a way that Sophia felt like she should have already seen. It was obvious, at least now that he walked her through it.


    ¡°And when were you going to ask for help digging?¡± Amy sounded positively pugnacious as she stalked over to him. ¡°Where did you get that shovel anyway?¡±


    Dav waved at one of the walls. ¡°Found it. Didn¡¯t see another shovel, but there are other gardening tools.¡±


    Sophia hoped they wouldn¡¯t have to completely sterilize the greenhouse to solve the problem. She could see that as a possibility; some plants could survive with ridiculously small amounts of themselves present. On the other hand, weed killer did work, as long as you used enough of the right stuff. Sophia didn¡¯t really know what ¡°enough¡± or ¡°the right stuff¡± was for most plants, much less corpsevine, but weed killer of some sort seemed like something that might be in a greenhouse. She supposed they might do everything manually, but that seemed like a lot of unnecessary effort.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to finish checking for magic in the plants, then see if there¡¯s a storeroom we missed on the way in,¡± Sophia told Amy and Dav. It looked like they were going to be busy digging for a while.


    Dav acknowledged Sophia¡¯s words by raising his hand, then turning it palm-up. It wasn¡¯t the thumbs up gesture Sophia was used to, but it was clearly still positive. She wasn¡¯t sure she¡¯d ever seen Dav use the motion before, but it certainly looked like one he was used to.


    In the end, Sophia found two plants in pots that seemed to concentrate magic. One of them, a tiny bonsai tree, held it in the central trunk; Sophia wasn¡¯t sure if that meant it would release it to flowers or seeds or if it had to be extracted from the trunk somehow. She was no alchemist.


    The second one was a fernlike plant. When she found it, Taika had already noticed it and was nibbling on the fronds. ¡°Taika? What are you doing?¡±


    ¡°Eating the yummy plant?¡± Taika sounded like he wasn¡¯t sure if he should be defiant or abashed, so it came out somewhat confused. ¡°It tingles and sparkles and tastes better than anything since breakfast.¡±


    Sophia sighed. ¡°That¡¯s because everything we¡¯ve eaten since breakfast was designed to keep. Or the energy drink.¡± Sophia made a face at that. It definitely worked and she definitely didn¡¯t want to face the energy drink again. She had one left and suspected she was going to need it before they made it back to the registry, which was kind of a horrible thought. It didn¡¯t taste that bad at first, but after two of them it seemed positively revolting.


    Taika made a retching noise. Sophia giggled at the thought that the chinchilla felt the same way about the energy drink that Sophia did. Of course, Taika had an advantage; he could ride in Dav¡¯s backpack. He wasn¡¯t going to have to drink more of the horribly sweet, salty, and simply overdone concoction.


    Taika took another bite of the fern. He crouched down a little and had his left eye very clearly directed at Sophia, as if he expected her to swat him or something and was ready to jump away.


    Sophia laughed instead. He reminded her of a cat who knew he wasn¡¯t supposed to be where he was, but wasn¡¯t about to move unless you made him. Taika was smarter than a cat, but that didn¡¯t mean much apparently. ¡°Taika, you shouldn¡¯t eat the fern. It¡¯s magical and who knows if it¡¯s dangerous or not?¡±


    Taika ostentatiously chewed the fern and swallowed it. ¡°It isn¡¯t. Not for me. Dav can eat it, too. You and Amy shouldn¡¯t eat much, but it¡¯s a lot worse for Amy than it would be for you.¡±


    Sophia¡¯s eyebrows rose. That seemed like an oddly specific ability. ¡°You can tell if plants are poisonous or not by eating them?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not poisonous,¡± Taika asserted. ¡°It¡¯s the opposite, it makes things excited and move fast. The lightning¡¯s probably not good either, but that doesn¡¯t feel like it would hurt anyone. It tastes kind of like the energy drink did, only not awful.¡±


    Sophia couldn¡¯t help but wonder if that meant the fern or something a lot like it were used to make the energy drink. It would make sense if valuable plants were grown in a Conservatory, after all. She just wouldn¡¯t have expected it to be a fern. ¡°Well, please stop eating it. I¡¯d like to see if we can sell it to the apothecary. You already know what you could learn by eating it.¡±


    ¡°Learn by eating?¡± Taika tilted his head up and almost seemed to frown at Sophia. It was an odd expression on a neon rodent. ¡°I¡¯m eating it because it tastes good, not to learn about it. I got that much from getting close to it.¡±


    The chinchilla gave a last look at the fern, then turned away instead of taking another bite. Sophia decided that now would be a good time to tuck it in her spatial backpack; if she didn¡¯t, she was sure Taika would end up checking it later to see if it still tasted good.

 Chapter 113 - Search the Building

    Sophia shook her head at the cheeky rodent, then turned back to Dav and Amy. ¡°I think I¡¯ve found everything in this room, and I don¡¯t see anything more that could be the problem. I¡¯m going to go see if we missed something on the way in. There have to be storage areas around here somewhere.¡±


    Dav looked up from his hole. He shoved the shovel deep into the soil below the dead corpsevine. It stopped abruptly with a sound like metal hitting stone, muffled by the dirt that was still in the way. ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t want one of us to come with you?¡±


    Sophia shook her head. ¡°I¡¯ll stay close enough to yell if I need help, but I don¡¯t think I will. This was really remarkably linear.¡±


    Dav looked reluctant. Sophia was pretty sure she heard him mutter something about this being another reason for telepathy as he turned back to the hole in the dirt.


    Sophia wasn¡¯t even outside the room when she realized that they hadn¡¯t missed a storage area; instead, it was hidden from them. Directly outside the glassed room was not the broken stone walls of the corridor where Dav danced with the giant monster. Instead, a new glass wall revealed a corridor with wide windows separated by stone supports and low stone walls no more than a foot above the floor under the windows. The plants in the corridor were all situated on the windowsills. There were several doorways off the corridor on the right that led deeper into the building, as well as one at the end of the hall that seemed to lead down a set of stairs.


    The first door Sophia came to was indeed a storage area, but all it held was tools and pots, several of which were half-full of soil. None were magical, so Sophia turned back to the large room. She had to tell Dav and Amy what she¡¯d found; they had far more to search than they thought. Sophia¡¯s guess was that this was a clue from the Guide that what they needed to find wasn¡¯t in the room with the Juvenile Corpsevine Crown, though she wasn¡¯t about to tell the others to stop. Burning the source of the corpsevines was a good start and was probably necessary even if it wasn¡¯t sufficient.


    "What is that?¡± Amy¡¯s voice echoed down the corridor as Sophia turned around. She sounded surprised more than worried, but it was still enough that Sophia moved quickly to find out what else had gone wrong.


    ¡°Give me a moment, I¡¯ll get it out where we can get at it.¡± Dav¡¯s back was to Sophia as she hurried into the room; she couldn¡¯t see what he was working on until she drew close. All she could see was that he was lifting something covered in green leaves out of the hole they¡¯d dug in the ground. He set it on the undisturbed ground near the hole, then stepped back with a frown.


    Why were there green leaves underground? That didn¡¯t make sense.


    As Sophia moved closer, she saw that the leaves were tightly wrapped around a rock shell that seemed to be filled with some sort of bluish-purple stone. Some of them were slightly crushed, but it looked like most had sprung back to their original positions after being lifted out of the ground. Sophia had a feeling that she was forgetting something, like she should know what she was looking at, but she couldn¡¯t quite put her finger on it. She was pretty sure she¡¯d never seen vines wrap around a stone like that.


    Sophia reflexively checked it for the glow of magic. All she saw was a slight residual hint of mana deep with the shadowed blue rock. That was enough to finally make the connection. ¡°The rock we found the first time we visited here, the one that helped plants grow. This is weaker, but the magic¡¯s similar. Do you think this could be another one?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a lot bigger,¡± Amy said doubtfully, ¡°and it¡¯s not nearly as colorful. This is barely two colors and basically no pattern, while that was a bunch of different colors.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure it is,¡± Dav disagreed. ¡°One of the corpsevine¡¯s roots was buried in that cavity in the rock. This here is a vine, but it¡¯s not the same as the corpsevine; it has to have been helped to grow or it wouldn¡¯t be there. I wonder.¡±


    He reached into his backpack and pulled out a small folding knife, then cut the vine away from the rock and tossed it on the pile of corpsevine they planned to burn. ¡°Did that change anything?¡±


    Sophia watched with mild fascination as mana leaked out of the damaged vines. They weren¡¯t yet dead, though they likely would be soon. When she turned her attention to the stone, it looked essentially unchanged. The mana inside was perhaps a little easier to see without the vines in the way, but that was all.


    She shook her head. ¡°Not as far as I can tell, but the vines definitely had mana in them.¡±


    Dav nodded in easily apparent satisfaction. ¡°Who would pay attention to a rock, even a magic rock, if everyone knows it¡¯s supposed to be there? I think we have our culprit.¡±


    Sophia gave Dav a puzzled look. The culprit was the corpsevine; magical rocks might help them grow, but they weren¡¯t the cause of the situation.


    Dav didn¡¯t directly acknowledge Sophia¡¯s confusion. ¡°Halven told us these are usually buried unbroken to spread natural mana in the greenhouse. I found another piece of rock earlier that I think would fill in part of that opening; I bet the rest of it is here if we keep looking. My bet is that either the corpsevine actually came here inside the rock shell and broke its way out or was too close to the rock when it was planted and made its way in. They probably can¡¯t grow large enough to be harmful without the additional mana.¡±The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Sophia nodded slowly. That matched what they knew. It couldn¡¯t be the whole story, but either scenario Dav presented made all too much sense. ¡°Use your Sight skill; does it show you how much mana is still in the rock?¡±


    Dav blinked a couple of times then smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand. ¡°I could have been helping you search this whole time, couldn¡¯t I?¡±


    Sophia tried to suppress her grin as she shrugged. She was pretty sure she failed. ¡°Someone had to watch for monsters, and your ability takes mana to use. Mine doesn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Now you¡¯re just trying to make me feel better,¡± Dav grumbled as his eyes began to glow purple. He turned his gaze on the rock and frowned. ¡°I see what you mean, that¡¯s barely there at all. It¡¯s stronger than the corpsevine, but not by much.¡±


    Sophia frowned and took a close look at the corpsevine. She couldn¡¯t even tell that there was more mana there than the background. There might be some residue from the spells it had used, but she couldn¡¯t be certain. That was something else she¡¯d want to talk to Dav about later; she wanted to know if he was more sensitive than she was or if he just didn¡¯t see the background mana.


    Either was possible, but the difference could be very important when she started to teach him to use external mana. There was no hurry; she didn¡¯t plan to cover that until shortly before he did his own first ritual. For now, she¡¯d handle the mana management of any ritual they worked together.


    Sophia shifted her attention back to the rock. ¡°If it needs mana to grow and act that¡¯s stronger than what¡¯s available here, I don¡¯t think one nearly empty rock would be enough for it to still count as a threat important enough for this Leveled Challenge. I bet there¡¯s something more we still need to find.¡±


    ¡°Does that mean we need to dig up the entire floor?¡± Amy did not sound pleased with that idea.


    Sophia shook her head. ¡°I hope not. There should be a plan somewhere of where the geodes are buried if we need to; that sounds like something that would fit this Challenge. A clue we have to search for that tells us exactly where to dig sounds like something that would fit everything we¡¯ve seen so far.¡±


    Sophia really, really hoped she was right. If they didn¡¯t find a clue like that, her next best idea was sterilizing the entire area of the Conservatory, all of the dirt, and that would take hours, maybe days, even with tools to help. Creating those tools would take time, too, and materials Sophia didn¡¯t have. She definitely didn¡¯t have the ability to manage it as a ritual here, not in this mana level, so a runic inscription was the best option and that wouldn¡¯t be easy. She was pretty sure she had the right books in her bag to figure it out, but that would have to be something they tried on a future trip if they failed here.


    Sophia turned to Amy as she realized it had never occurred to her to ask how you knew when you fully completed a Challenge. She¡¯d assumed it wasn¡¯t until you left, like a dungeon back home, but the Guide did give all those feats out after they killed the Juvenile Corpsevine Crown.¡°Does the Guide let us know when we do what it¡¯s looking for, or do we have to wait until we leave to know if we¡¯ve finished the Challenge?¡±


    Amy paused and frowned. After about a minute, she closed her eyes and shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m not sure. Some of the stories talk about it like it¡¯s immediate, but there¡¯s also the Mountain Fire Walk and everyone knows that one ends the moment you leave. Maybe it depends on what the Challenge is?¡±


    Sophia sighed. Knowing when to stop probably made it too easy. ¡°Why don¡¯t we stop here and search the rest of the building? There might be some useful wood to burn this with or something else useful. I don¡¯t want to start a fire in a building while we¡¯re still searching it, and I¡¯m worried that leaving might say we¡¯re done with the Challenge.¡±


    ¡°I want to dig up the rest of the roots,¡± Dav disagreed, ¡°But if you two want to go search the rest of the building, go ahead.¡±


    Sophia couldn¡¯t bring herself to leave Dav there working on his own. With all three of them working, it only took another half hour to dig up what was left of the giant corpsevine. There were no more geodes or large magical stones, intact or broken.


    All of the rooms on the north end of the top floor were similar to what they¡¯d already seen, glass walls and ceilings and filled with plants or half-empty storage areas with a few tools but nothing Sophia recognized as a weed killer. On the south end of the building, the storage rooms were the same, but the plants in the glass rooms were all dead and dried out.


    They spent some time creating a pyre for the corpsevine from the dead plants. They didn¡¯t light it, but by the time they went down the stairs, it was ready to be set on fire.


    The next floor down was darker, but not dark. There were bright spots in the ceiling that spread light across the interior rooms; Sophia¡¯s guess was that it was done with mirrors, since there was no sense of magic. It was an impressive feat of engineering, even though it wasn¡¯t as bright as the top level and some of the lights were dim or even dark even though it was still daytime, probably some time in the early afternoon. Something must have damaged, blocked, or moved those particular mirrors inside the walls.


    Other than the lighting, the rooms were similar until they reached the room directly under the one used by the corpsevine crown. Against the concrete west wall of the room, where Sophia was fairly certain they¡¯d find a storage room, was a set of shelves that looked almost more grown than cut, though the lack of bark on the shelves themselves made that hard to believe. The shelves held some potted plants, but that wasn¡¯t the important thing.


    No, the important thing was that the shelves held an entire collection of small geodes and bits of crystal. Every single one of them, even the crystalline pieces, glowed to Sophia¡¯s ManaSight. It made absolutely no sense from what she¡¯d been told; why were so many collected together and how were they still emitting a lot of mana when they had to have been open for more than a decade?


    Unless that wasn¡¯t the whole story. Could the corpsevines have been collecting them here somehow, or breaking open sealed geodes?

 Chapter 114 - It’s Not Alone

    ¡°It needs mana to spread,¡± Sophia muttered. Her voice became louder and higher pitched as she continued. ¡°To make cuttings, at least. More mana than it can make on its own, probably more than the area can support, next to Casterville. I bet that¡¯s why they aren¡¯t normally an issue; the fact that it found its way into an artificially high mana environment has to be why it¡¯s a threat at all. This explains a lot; I bet it stole all of the mana geodes from the south end of the building and that¡¯s why it¡¯s dead. There probably aren¡¯t any left underground, either. That doesn¡¯t explain this display; why are they all still highly magical? They¡¯re more magical than the one we took to Halven, they can¡¯t all have been open for ten years. Where are the dead ones?¡±


    ¡°They could, if that one was older and these were newer,¡± Dav disagreed, ¡°but you¡¯re right, this isn¡¯t a good sign. The corpsevine isn¡¯t smart enough to put them all here; they¡¯d be with it on the top floor or down on the ground floor where it was using them to make corpsevine cuttings.¡±


    ¡°Putting the stones in the middle seems pretty smart to me, then,¡± Amy commented. Sophia couldn¡¯t tell if she was agreeing or disagreeing with Dav. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t want to carry them around all the time.¡±


    Dav shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s exactly it. I¡¯m not sure it¡¯s even smart enough to figure out that the higher mana level came from the rocks; figuring out it needed to break them open and put them in a central location sounds simple to us, but it¡¯s a plant and I don¡¯t think it really understands things the way we do.¡±


    Before Amy could voice any arguments beyond a frown and a shake of her head, Dav continued. ¡°We killed all of its monsters. That made it use what it clearly considered its biggest weapon against us, the illusion that caught you and me. If it had caught Sophia, too, it might have worked; we might have exhausted ourselves and retreated. It wouldn¡¯t have solved things if we came back, and it didn¡¯t work at all when Sophia saw through it, so why didn¡¯t it try anything else?¡±


    ¡°I think it didn¡¯t have enough mana,¡± Sophia contributed. ¡°That spell has to have wiped it out, and I must have killed it before it was able to recover enough to do anything else. But I see what you mean; it was a bad plan. It couldn¡¯t even run away since it gave up the only cutting it had left. Why didn¡¯t it save a spare cutting, just in case?¡±


    ¡°It didn¡¯t think of it. That¡¯s probably also why it didn¡¯t hold back a monster to use with the illusion.¡± Amy paused and seemed to think through the situation. ¡°I think I see what you mean. That seems like a pretty basic emergency plan, and it was definitely planning for emergencies. Maybe it didn¡¯t expect anything to get past the giant monster, but couldn¡¯t support the monster itself while we were in the hallway?¡±


    Dav shook his head. ¡°Maybe, but I doubt it. I think it¡¯s simpler than that. Plants aren¡¯t tool users; it didn¡¯t give the cuttings any instructions beyond what instinct gave them. It was more of a planner than I¡¯d expect, but it didn¡¯t think about what happens when plans go wrong. I can agree with you that far, but I doubt it would have moved the rocks. It¡¯s easy to believe it would break them open, but I doubt it would move them like this; it¡¯d probably take the bodies it wanted to turn into corpsevines to the rocks. The bodies were being moved anyway, after all. No, I think it¡¯s much simpler than a smart plant. I think the corpsevine crown isn¡¯t alone.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not alone?¡± Sophia repeated Dav¡¯s words to make sure she heard them correctly. ¡°You think someone is working with the monster, helping it?¡±


    Dav nodded. ¡°If Lillah Gardener can walk safely among the corpsevines, why couldn¡¯t the Head Gardener-Mage? Sure, maybe she was caught by surprise and killed, but she looked awfully healthy and so did the woman we found right at the beginning of this all. I think someone¡¯s feeding bodies to the corpsevines, helped it take out people who were threats to it, and has generally kept it around as a threat. I don¡¯t know why yet, but there could be a lot of different reasons.¡±


    Sophia shuddered at the thought of someone helping literal monsters take over bodies. Despite her revulsion, she couldn¡¯t really argue against the conclusion; it made a lot of things that didn¡¯t make sense come together. It wasn¡¯t just the stones, either, though the more she thought about it, the more that seemed like good evidence. ¡°That would explain why the threat disappeared for years, and also why all of these are new. I wonder if the new corpsevine was planted with a cracked geode and these were added at the same time. Whoever did it wouldn¡¯t even have to be able to sneak in if they did it all at once.¡±


    ¡°Monsters do not need the help,¡± Amy said with a snort. She looked down at the mess of geodes and shook her head. ¡°Doesn¡¯t mean they don¡¯t get it sometimes, just that whoever did it needs to be found and killed. We need more; we need to know who did this.¡±


    ¡°Someone from another Conservatory?¡± Dav suggested. ¡°They¡¯d have access to geodes, the materials to grow a young corpsevine, and a place to do it.¡±


    ¡°But not the reason,¡± Sophia countered. ¡°The West Conservatory is already dead, it¡¯s not competition. No, I think it¡¯s someone who wanted something much bigger. Maybe they had help from another Conservatory, maybe not, but I think someone wanted the city.¡±This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    ¡°How does that work?¡± Dav shook his head. ¡°Samuel said they¡¯d evacuate the city if the Challenge wasn¡¯t resolved before the monsters broke out in a year and attacked, but that doesn¡¯t let anyone take over.¡±


    ¡°If he manages to defend the city and the Mage-Chancellor has already left, it does,¡± Amy countered. ¡°That¡¯s enough that he might be able to convince the people who return to support him over the man who fled. I¡¯d expect the people who stay to be Called, but there are some Professions that can be useful in a siege or he might plan to take a Profession once the siege is won.¡±


    Sophia didn¡¯t like the idea the two of them cooked up, that this might be a plot to take over the city. That wasn¡¯t how rulership was supposed to work. At the same time, this wasn¡¯t home. She couldn¡¯t guarantee that things worked well here. ¡°Do we have to deal with that? I don¡¯t know how to fix a plot like that.¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t have to,¡± Amy admitted. ¡°But if we don¡¯t do something, we¡¯re probably giving up on completing the Challenge. Maybe finding these geodes is enough, but if there¡¯s also a clue in here to who¡¯s responsible, finding it is probably the point of the Challenge.¡±


    ¡°The Guide does that?¡± Sophia wasn¡¯t sure why she was surprised. Having a Challenge Dungeon based on political machinations that included a monster outbreak really wasn¡¯t any different from having it based on the monster outbreak itself, but it felt different somehow. It felt like the Guide was interfering more, somehow, even though it did exactly the same thing.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Amy answered confidently. ¡°It explains a lot about why this is a Leveled Challenge instead of a static one. Most of the time, a monster infestation Challenge is a copy of the real monster. Leveled Challenges are the tricky ones, the ones you can¡¯t just beat your way through. So having a Leveled Challenge where we have to find out how this happened, enough to satisfy the Registry Master that she needs to do something? Yeah, that sounds like something that might be in a Leveled Challenge. Finding the geodes might be enough, but having to find that and something else surely is.¡±


    Sophia stared at Amy consideringly. She sounded confident, mostly, but there was a hesitation on the last few words that made Sophia wonder. Amy knew more than they did, but Sophia didn¡¯t think she¡¯d ever been in a Challenge before. She knew it all from stories and what she was taught growing up, which was definitely useful but not the same as having been there.


    ¡°How do you know she¡¯s not involved? The Registry Master, that is.¡± Dav¡¯s question was entirely too reasonable when Sophia thought about it.


    Amy laughed. ¡°A Registry Master? Why would she want to take over a city, especially a weak one like Casterville? She has more power as Registry Master than she would as Mage-Chancellor. He has to deal with all of the other Professional mages in the city, she runs the Registry and can tell him what to do for anything that affects Called.¡±


    ¡°Maybe she wants both?¡± Dav proposed.


    Amy shook her head. ¡°Only a Professional can rule a city, and a Professional can¡¯t run a Registry. Anyone who tried would be kicked out by all the neighboring Registries as soon as they found out. It¡¯s happened before, to bigger places than this. Places that actually matter.¡±


    Sophia knew that didn¡¯t necessarily mean anything. Some people didn¡¯t learn from history; they thought their situation was different. Perhaps a place that ¡°didn¡¯t matter¡± would not get the same response. At the same time, Sophia had never met the Registry Master; all she knew was that Arryn, the merchant they traveled with to reach Casterville, thought she was a fair person and a decent Registry Master. That wasn¡¯t much to go on.


    Sophia shook her head. ¡°We have to trust something. Why don¡¯t we trust her for now unless we find something that means we shouldn¡¯t?¡±


    Amy looked like she wanted to protest the Registry Master¡¯s innocence again, but she didn¡¯t say anything. Sophia was certain they¡¯d have the argument again if they did find something that indicated she was involved.


    Dav smiled. ¡°Fair enough. I¡¯d rather have someone who can take what we find and deal with it so that we don¡¯t have to.¡±


    ¡°You and me both,¡± Sophia agreed. She had no idea how to deal with a huge plot to destroy a town to take it over and she didn¡¯t really want to have to figure it out. ¡°Let¡¯s hope we can do that. Uh, if there is something, the most likely places are up with the corpsevine or between here and the front door, right?¡±


    ¡°We didn¡¯t find anything while we were digging up the corpsevine, and we moved a lot of dirt. I can go through it if you think I should?¡± Dav didn¡¯t sound eager to follow his offer.


    Sophia shook her head. ¡°We can all go up there if we have to. Why don¡¯t we search around here first?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll start here,¡± Amy stated firmly. ¡°Why don¡¯t you two try to find the entrance?¡±


    Sophia looked at Dav with a shrug. She didn¡¯t think it would take both of them, but she also didn¡¯t think it was necessarily a problem. ¡°Let me pick up the geodes first, that¡¯ll make your search easier.¡±


    Sophia was halfway through picking up the geodes when she heard something clatter against the wood shelf. When she looked down, she saw something golden. It wasn¡¯t magical, so she leaned forward to take a good look. She could see a bent metal bar that looked like it was supposed to clip into a slot that it could no longer reach. ¡°Guys? I found something.¡±


    When she flipped it over, it was a golden, or at least gold-washed, two-inch brooch chapped like a bird with its head turned to the side. The wings had blue and red enamel for the upper layers of the feathers, but the long feathers were the same golden color as the head and back of the brooch. The belly was a single large enameled ¡°stone¡± that looked like fire with smoke rising from it on a dark background.


    It was exactly the sort of thing that she could believe was dropped and lost while a bunch of rocks were carted in and then broken open, and it almost had to be identifiable.

 Chapter 115 - Let’s Skip the Misunderstanding

    Dav was the first person to reach Sophia¡¯s side. ¡°That¡¯s awfully fancy for a gardener.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. I don¡¯t know whose it is, but it definitely seems like what we¡¯re looking for,¡± Sophia agreed. ¡°Amy?¡±


    Amy held a hand out for the brooch. Once Sophia dropped it into her hand, she turned it over and checked the back, then held it up to her eye to get a better look. ¡°It¡¯s not magical?¡±


    Sophia shook her head. ¡°Not as far as I can tell, but it looks expensive.¡±


    ¡°It is,¡± Amy agreed. ¡°The enamel work is exquisite, so even though the materials aren¡¯t the best, it¡¯s still probably worth a few crowns.¡± She seemed to realize that Sophia wasn¡¯t quite certain what that meant, because she continued. ¡°It¡¯s worth more than we¡¯ll get for the Challenge, even with the plants we found and the reward from the Registry. My guess is that it¡¯s probably not worth as much as closing the Challenge, but I could be wrong. If it belongs to someone who will pay to get it back, it could be worth several times that amount.¡±


    ¡°We won¡¯t get that if we hand it over to the Registry of evidence that someone encouraged the corpsevines, I assume.¡± Dav¡¯s words were a splash of cold water on the avarice Sophia felt at Amy¡¯s guess at the pin¡¯s value. ¡°We certainly won¡¯t be able to convince anyone we¡¯ll keep quiet about their involvement at that point.¡±


    Sophia¡¯s mouth fell open as she connected the dots between Dav¡¯s statement and Amy¡¯s. ¡°You think we should blackmail the person who started this?¡±


    Amy¡¯s ¡°No,¡± overlapped with Dav¡¯s, ¡°That¡¯s Amy¡¯s suggestion.¡±


    High pitched barking noises made all three of them turn to find the source. Sophia couldn¡¯t help but blink at the sight; waves  of colored smoke seemed to waver around Taika and color the nearby plants as the chinchilla laughed.


    ¡°Taika?¡± Dav sounded worried. ¡°Do you need help?¡±


    ¡°Hahahah,¡± Taika laughed again, then coughed as he tried to recover. The illusionary smoke dissipated as the chinchilla tried to catch his breath.


    ¡°What¡¯s so funny?¡± Amy pushed.


    ¡°You three,¡± Taika wheezed. ¡°You despise the question you asked, Dav dislikes it, and Sophia is clueless.¡±


    Sophia wanted to protest. She wasn¡¯t clueless ¡­ at least, not after Dav made it very clear what Amy was asking about. Without his comment, she was pretty sure she¡¯d have thought that Amy actually meant it was a House symbol or something with sentimental value, not that they¡¯d be getting paid for silence.


    ¡°I have to know who I¡¯m working with,¡± Amy muttered.


    ¡°And now you do,¡± Dav said calmly, but his smile didn¡¯t escape Sophia¡¯s notice. ¡°But somehow, I don¡¯t think the fact that Sophia¡¯s completely clueless about money and I¡¯m willing to wait and feel out your intentions are what you were looking for.¡±


    ¡°Hey,¡± Sophia protested. ¡°I¡¯m not completely clueless about money.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± Dav agreed with a wink. ¡°Mostly clueless.¡±


    Sophia rolled her eyes at the teasing. Even without the wink, she¡¯d have known that Dav didn¡¯t entirely mean what he said and certainly wasn¡¯t saying it to be mean.


    ¡°No, that wasn¡¯t the point,¡± Amy agreed. She gave Taika a short glare, but there didn¡¯t seem to be much heat in it. ¡°Fine, have it your way. The way I see it, we can keep this and try to sell it after we leave Casterville, we can turn it in to the Registry Master and tell her what we think is going on, or we can try to find out who it belongs to and sell it back to them. Once it¡¯s out of our hands, we¡¯d obviously have nothing to give to the Registry Master. That¡¯s really the only way to sell it in Casterville.¡±


    Amy didn¡¯t elaborate on her reasoning for why selling it in Casterville to anyone but the original owner was risky, but Sophia didn¡¯t really need her to. If you could blackmail someone with something, they obviously wouldn¡¯t want it floating around and they might try to claim it was stolen or something.


    Sophia was sure there was more to Amy¡¯s reasoning, but it really didn¡¯t matter. ¡°We¡¯re obviously going to give it to the Registry Master. You said you¡¯re pretty sure she¡¯s not involved; that¡¯s enough for me. No one should be releasing monsters on their own town for political gain.¡±


    ¡°You missed one,¡± Dav added.


    Sophia frowned at Dav. ¡°What?¡±


    Dav shook his head slightly. ¡°Not you, Amy. We could also look into it ourselves and wait on handing over the pin until we know more about what¡¯s going on, in case she is involved or won¡¯t believe us. If she is involved, we can probably get Lady Esme to introduce us to her father and hand it over to him. I¡¯m sure he isn¡¯t involved, since he¡¯s the target.¡±


    That sounded like it might be a good idea, except that Sophia had no idea where to start to do something like that. ¡°You want us to investigate a possible conspiracy on our own?¡±


    Dav shook his head more firmly. ¡°No, I want to hand the pin over to the Registry Master or the Mage-Chancellor and leave Casterville. This sounds like a real mess, maybe even a purge, and you don¡¯t want to be anywhere nearby when a purge happens. They tend to splash.¡±Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    Taika cackled again. ¡°So ¡­ Funny¡­¡±


    Sophia looked at him and shook her head. ¡°Let¡¯s get moving before he forgets how to breathe. We¡¯re heading back to the Registry once we¡¯re done here, right?¡±


    Amy nodded and turned to inspect the rest of the room, paying special attention to anything hidden behind or under plants.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± Dav scooped up the chortling chinchilla and tucked him in the top of his backpack while Sophia picked up the rest of the geodes. There were no more surprises hidden on the shelves.


    The trio checked the rest of the building without finding anything else unusual, then made their way to the top floor where the corpsevine sat on a pile of dead plant matter. Sophia set it alight.


    She jumped when words appeared in front of her vision.


    Leveled Challenge: Lair of the Corpsevine fully completed!


    Major Feat Completed!


    For your Major Feat of fully completing a Leveled Challenge, you have been granted a reward!


    Reward: Your Body and Core are increased by 1!


    This was a challenge with physical, mental, and magical components which required the appropriate application of relevant Abilities.


    Grand Feat Completed!


    For your Grand Feat of fully completing a Leveled Challenge for the first time, you have been granted a reward!


    Reward: One Physical, Mental, Magical, or Team Ability will be added to your Species Abilities as a Bonus Ability in a Free Ability Slot.


    Only the category for the Ability may be selected. The Ability chosen will be influenced by your Species.


    Nexus Major Feat Completed!


    The Leveled Challenge: Lair of the Corpsevine has been fully completed!


    Reward: Bonus Wisps will be granted near the Casterville Nexus for all actions related to defending the Nexus for the next year. Actions related to removing any remaining corpsevine threat will be doubled during that time. These bonuses apply to people of all Spheres below the first upgrade.


    The Lair of the Corpsevine Leveled Challenge was a Nexus Defence Challenge completed by a team below the first upgrade.


    Grand Feat Completed!


    For your Grand Feat of completing a Nexus Major Feat for the first time, you have been granted a reward!


    Reward: You may choose either increased Wisps granted for all actions related to one aspect of the Nexus Major Feat completion until you reach the first upgrade or one Bonus Ability and Free Ability Slot related to one aspect of the Nexus Major Feat.


    The Nexus Major Feat was completion of a Nexus Defense Leveled Challenge. Possible aspects are: Nexus Defense, Corpsevines, Sapient Investigation,  Plants, Flame, or Natural Magic.


    Sophia barely noticed that there was no message from the Wanderer as she moved the message out of the way of her vision. ¡°Let¡¯s get moving. We can handle this after we¡¯re outside the building.¡± She didn¡¯t want to stay in a building with a huge fire on the top floor, whether or not it was mostly made of stone and glass. There were a lot of things in the building that could burn, and she wasn¡¯t sure how good the ventilation was either.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Amy agreed. ¡°I have a bad feeling that the announcement of the Leveled Challenge being fully completed went out to everyone, since it¡¯s a Feat that applies to everyone in the Nexus.¡±


    ¡°Why is that a problem?¡± Sophia asked as they headed down the stairs. ¡°Weren¡¯t we supposed to finish it if we could?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Amy said with a clear air of someone explaining something that should be obvious. ¡°That¡¯s why the Registry had a reward. The problem is that a lot of other teams were expecting to get Wisps and pay from the Challenge for months, and now they won¡¯t. Some may not have even been through here once. The pay is more of a problem than the Wisps; most people around here will say they¡¯re trying to progress, but they really aren¡¯t, and the Feat reward should help a lot too.¡±


    ¡°Especially the corpsevine removal bonus,¡± Dav added. ¡°Is the pay for this really that much better?¡±


    Amy nodded. ¡°If how often you could enter weren¡¯t limited, there would be people in there all the time. It¡¯s high enough to get a lot of groups to plan around it, instead of only going in when it¡¯s convenient.¡±


    That gave Sophia something to think about as they made their way down the stairs, out of the building, across the seemingly empty woods, and into the city. The area once covered by the Leveled Challenge was similar to what they saw inside, but not quite the same; for one thing, the grounds were a lot smaller. For another, there was actually an overgrown roadway that led from the front entrance to one of Casterville¡¯s gates. The gate was well inside the area covered by the Nexus, but Sophia was certain that was deliberate.


    They didn¡¯t see another team of Called until they were close to the Registry, just like they hadn¡¯t seen one on the way in. Sophia had to guess that they had waited at the Registry for Sophia¡¯s team to finish, but they¡¯d probably given up once they saw the Nexus Feat notice.


    When they slipped in the door of the Registry, they found Rensyn waiting for them in a chair near the entrance. He was at least half-asleep, like this was the first chance he¡¯d had to rest in far too long, but he stirred as they walked in, then pushed himself to his feet. ¡°Welcome back! Please, follow me.¡±


    Sophia frowned at that as a sliver of suspicion formed in her mind. Why was he waiting for them? Why did he want to lead them somewhere? Could he be the owner of the enameled bird brooch?


    ¡°We need to talk to the Registry Master,¡± Amy said firmly before Rensyn got more than a step away. ¡°I think she¡¯ll be happy to make time to see us.¡±


    Rensyn¡¯s shoulders seemed to tighten as he turned and stepped over to Aimiva, who once again manned the reception desk. ¡°Aimiva, does the Registry Master have a few minutes?¡±


    ¡°Did they¡­?¡± Aimiva tilted her head sort of towards Sophia without completing her sentence.


    ¡°Who else?¡± Rensyn answered.


    ¡°Then yes, she does. The Mage-Chancellor left a few minutes ago; she¡¯ll make time for them. You can go on up.¡± Aimiva waved towards a blank door Sophia hadn¡¯t seen anyone use yet. She¡¯d assumed it was a supply closet or something.


    As Rensyn turned away from the desk, Sophia noticed as Aimiva tapped a spot on her desk that shone weakly with magic as it activated. Sophia wasn¡¯t sure if she¡¯d just warned the Registry Master or if she¡¯d just unlocked a door, but either way it seemed like they weren¡¯t going to be a surprise. That made Sophia relax a little; Rensyn definitely had to take them to the Registry Master now. Even if he was the culprit, he wasn¡¯t going to be able to hurt them without someone catching him quickly.


    She hoped he wasn¡¯t the culprit. Sophia didn¡¯t like doubting someone who¡¯d given her advice, especially not good advice.

 Chapter 116 - Shield of the Sun

    The stairs were functional, wide enough for two people to pass each other easily with a wooden handrail, but they were far less fancy than the other stairs Sophia had seen in the building. They were clearly the staff stairs, not the ones visitors would use. That meant they were headed to an area where visitors weren¡¯t expected, the working parts of the registry. Whatever that meant.


    At the top of the stairs, a hallway led in either direction but Rensyn led them to the left, past several doors marked with symbols Sophia didn¡¯t recognize. It seemed like the strange symbol on the incinerator door wasn¡¯t the only odd marker in the building. ¡°Why aren¡¯t the doors labeled with what they are, or at least numbred?¡±


    ¡°Tradition?¡± Rensyn made it sound more like a question than an answer. ¡°If you don¡¯t know what¡¯s on the other side of a door, you don¡¯t need to know. It¡¯s also easier to teach the staff distinct symbols that are related to each room than it is to teach them to read. That can happen later.¡±


    That sounded a lot like how a pictographic language might develop to Sophia, but she couldn¡¯t say that was a bad thing. When you got right down to it, modern Earth had a pictographic language, too. Everyone knew what a stop sign looked like, even if the word wasn¡¯t there, and bathrooms were often identified with symbols rather than words. When she thought about it like that, it really didn¡¯t seem that different, and that was before she started thinking about things like brand symbols and logos.


    Rensyn stopped in front of a door with a symbol that looked like the letters VR in a shield. Oddly, the letters were very high up, like there was supposed to be something below them in the shield, but nothing was there. Sophia couldn¡¯t tell if there were scratch marks there or if she was just imagining it; if there was ever something at the bottom of the symbol, whoever removed it did a good job of repairing the plaque.


    Rensyn tapped on the door. When he didn¡¯t get a response, he knocked a bit louder.


    ¡°Come in,¡± a tired woman¡¯s voice stated.


    The door opened to reveal a tired-looking woman in clothing that could almost have been a uniform. Her eyes were keen behind her spectacles. ¡°Rensyn and the group that cleared the Challenge. I wasn¡¯t expecting to see you up here today. Most people celebrate clearing a challenge with a party, not a visit to someone like me.¡±


    The woman¡¯s sharp eyes quickly flicked across the group, then softened as she smiled. ¡°I¡¯m Registry Master Jessamine, once known as the Shield of the Sun.¡±


    A sudden intake of breath from Amy told Sophia that ¡°Shield of the Sun¡± meant something. This didn¡¯t seem like the time to ask.


    The Registry Master continued as if Amy¡¯s surprise was only to be expected. ¡°I know who you three are, or four if I count your fuzzy mascot. I understand you asked for me downstairs?¡±


    Sophia managed to speak up before Amy this time, probably because Amy was still off balance from the Registry Master¡¯s title. ¡°Yeah. We fully cleared the Leveled Challenge, and we think the corpsevines didn¡¯t just appear again. We think they were helped.¡±


    Registry Master Jessamine seemed to sag a little for just a split second. ¡°I hope you¡¯re wrong. I¡¯ll need the whole story from you, but first, do you have any idea who could be responsible? It explains a lot of things, but there isn¡¯t anyone I can think of that would do that.¡±


    Sophia bit her lip, then reached into her bag. ¡°We found a pin in the Challenge. I don¡¯t know whose it is, but it doesn¡¯t look like something a gardener would wear.¡± She held the enameled phoenix out to the Registry Master.


    ¡°Ah,¡± Master Jessamine said. She stared at the brooch for a long moment, then started to speak quickly. ¡°It definitely doesn¡¯t look like the Gardener¡¯s, but I can¡¯t believe - no, that¡¯s the wrong order. I need to change and I need the whole story. Rensyn, I need you to send for the Mage-Chancellor and gather the Registry¡¯s leaders for a formal session. We¡¯ll need the Commander, the Head Mentor - you can sit in for that since we don¡¯t currently have one. Johan will be attending as the Mage-Chancellor¡¯s second instead of as the Registry¡¯s merchant, so be sure to get Halven as well. Samuel is the Head Mage, he¡¯s a good choice for this anyway. I¡¯ll take the Head of Combat spot. We don¡¯t have a Head Healer, Halven will have to cover for that since he¡¯s basically filling the role anyway. We¡¯ll be on the top floor.¡±


    Rensyn blinked, then paled. ¡°The top floor? This is that serious?¡±


    The Registry Master nodded. ¡°It could be. Get moving; we need to take care of this before anything else goes wrong. Oh, and don¡¯t tell any of them why I¡¯m calling them; you can tell them this is a new emergency if you like, but that¡¯s all you know. Got it?¡±


    Rensyn nodded, then looked at Sophia, then Amy. ¡°Should I take them with me? It¡¯d be good training.¡±


    The Registry master shook her head firmly. ¡°Getting the full tale from them is more important right now. They handled Lady Essia well enough, training can wait.¡±Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    Rensyn turned and hurried away. A smile appeared on Master Jessamine¡¯s face and she shook her head slightly. ¡°¡±I wonder if he¡¯ll remember to invite Aimiva? Probably not, but that¡¯s just as well.¡±


    Her next words were slightly louder. ¡°Stay here for a few minutes; there isn¡¯t room in my office. I need to change, then I¡¯ll escort you upstairs.¡± She handed the pin back to Sophia, then disappeared inside the room that was clearly the Vocational Registry Master¡¯s office.


    Come to think of it, that was probably why there was a VR in the shield on her door. Sophia wondered if the missing symbol might have been a sun, since she was supposed to be the ¡°Shield of the Sun,¡± whatever that meant.


    ¡°Well, we have time.¡± Sophia turned to Amy for an explanation. ¡°Why is it so impressive that she was the Shield of the Sun?¡±


    ¡°Everyone¡¯s heard of¡­¡± Amy stopped and shook her head. ¡°What am I saying? Of course you haven¡¯t heard of the Shield of the Sun, you don¡¯t know anything. There are tons of stories about her, the defense of Avre Heights, the fight against the Great Kraken of the Southern Sea, the Witch of the Golden Woods ¡­ and that¡¯s even before I mention the rest of the Constellations! The Jester, the Blazing Fox, the Sea Speaker ¡­ they did a bunch of things, but the biggest was that they actually reached the third region of the Maze! It¡¯s been decades since anyone else did that, and no one¡¯s gotten past the third region since the time of the Broken Lord!¡±


    Sophia glanced at Dav for a moment, then asked a question she hadn¡¯t thought to ask earlier. ¡°Just how long ago was that?¡±


    ¡°The Broken Lord?¡± Amy shook her head. ¡°Well, it¡¯s 1628 AS now, so a bit over sixteen hundred years?¡±


    That was a very long time. Sophia wasn¡¯t sure what to do with the knowledge now that she knew, but at least it explained some things. ¡°What does AS stand for?¡±


    ¡°After the Shattering,¡± Amy answered easily. ¡°It¡¯s when the Broken Lord ¡­ you know, broke.¡±


    That meant it was probably also when Kestii, the city they landed in when they first arrived in the Broken Lands, originally fell. As far as Sophia was concerned, the city wasn¡¯t in nearly bad enough shape for sixteen hundred years of not being lived in. Sophia opened her mouth to ask exactly what that really meant, because it was clearly referring to history Sophia still didn¡¯t understand, but she wasn¡¯t quite fast enough.


    ¡°But enough about that!¡± Amy declared. ¡°I want to tell you about the Shield of the Sun. Did you know she once fought a hydra on her own?¡±


    No, Sophia didn¡¯t know, but she was certain she would soon. This was a side of Amy Sophia had never seen before, a fan gushing about her favorite star. Sophia could ask about the Broken Lord later.


    ¡°After that, she punched the Lightning Grizzly with her shield, just like that,¡± Amy demonstrated with her left arm. ¡°And it collapsed to the ground where she was able to climb on its back and ride to the rescue of the rest of the Stars.¡±


    ¡°Telling tales about me?¡± The door opened as Registry Master Jessamine spoke. She stepped outside, closed the door, and headed off down a hallway without looking back. ¡°Let¡¯s get moving, there¡¯s another set of tales I¡¯d like to hear.¡±


    Sophia rose to her feet a little slower than Dav and Amy, so she trailed everyone as they followed the Registry master down the hall and up another set of stairs. These stairs were plain, just like the previous set, but the room they led into was positively bare. The only decoration in the small room was a stone pillar in the center of the room. The walls were poorly-fitted stone with no visible mortar, except for a rectangular panel on one wall that looked like it had a border and was covered in what looked like writing from three or four different languages.


    Sophia couldn¡¯t read any of them, but the border looked familiar. It looked a lot like the border of a runescript with how it interlocked and guided the mana floating in the air, but it was incomplete. The way the mana moved supported that; it was influenced by the runes, but it didn¡¯t actually do anything, just swirled a bit.


    Dav shifted a little to the side and let Sophia get her first good look at Master Jessamine¡¯s new outfit. It clearly referred to her title, with shield-shaped patches on the sleeves and skirt and several circular embellishments that looked sort of like a star and its corona.


    ¡°That will do,¡± the Shield of the Sun announced as she turned to face the trio. ¡°This is one of the Registry¡¯s secrets, in case it wasn¡¯t obvious. This is a miniature version of a Nexus Stone, which lets us control a particular selection of spells that are built into it.¡±


    She looked around the group, then smiled softly. ¡°They¡¯re not exactly unknown, of course, but I¡¯m going to ask that you not talk about it. Every few years, someone tries to steal a minor Nexus Stone from a Registry somewhere in the Broken Lands, and I¡¯d rather no one tried that here. All they ever manage is to break them, because they have to be built for exactly the location they¡¯re used in, but somehow no one believes that until they break it. This Stone doesn¡¯t do much; it only covers this floor, but it does mean that no one outside can listen in on what happens here or get in here without my permission.¡±


    That sounded more like a ward stone than a nexus stone to Sophia, but she lost that thought as the appearance of the wall changed in front of her eyes. The stone blocks became smaller squares, each with its own symbol, and the rectangle seemed to disappear. Unlike the previous pattern, none of the new symbols seemed to be magically active. She was pretty sure that several of them were words, but the entire wall was nothing more than word soup; it didn¡¯t make any sense.


    Sophia frowned and pointed at the wall. ¡°Is that an illusion?¡±


    ¡°That is the reason these rooms are left mostly empty,¡± Jessamine stated without even turning around. ¡°The nexus stones seem to act like part of the Maze, changing reality around them in order to achieve the effects they have. These walls are supposed to be impenetrable, so they are always walls, but that isn¡¯t true of things that are left unattended. People and things they are carrying or using are not affected either; don¡¯t worry about that. Nexus stones can¡¯t cause Warping.¡±

 Chapter 117 - The Top Floor

    ¡°No one will be up here for a bit, and I¡¯ll know before they arrive. They¡¯ll be coming from the other direction anyway,¡± the Registry Master explained. ¡°Now, can any of you tell me exactly what happened while you were in the Challenge and what you¡¯ve concluded? I want all of the details.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure you know the Challenge starts outside the building, in a forest with some of the corpsevine cuttings?¡± Dav answered immediately. He waited long enough for the Registry Master to nod, then continued. ¡°We made it to the building without too much trouble; we¡¯d been killing the cuttings in the forest before that so it wasn¡¯t too bad. The only thing we noticed was that there were some that imitated humans; they weren¡¯t really any tougher, and I didn¡¯t think about it much at the time. Once we reached the building, we decided to check the entire exterior before we went in¡­¡±


    Sophia looked over at Amy and shrugged. She got a wink in response. If Dav wanted to tell the story, Sophia wasn¡¯t about to interfere and it seemed like Amy was just as happy to let him talk as well.


    ¡°...after that, it was an easy walk back to the Registry.¡± Dav finished the story with only a few questions from Registry Master Jessamine for clarification as he went. He didn¡¯t leave anything of note out, which was fine with Sophia.


    The only time the Registry seemed surprised was when he mentioned what the Feat and Wisp rewards were, but she didn¡¯t comment on it beyond confirming Amy¡¯s insistence that they were excellent and saying that they¡¯d want to have a long discussion with Rensyn about what it meant for their future. Sophia took that to mean that it was unusual but not unheard of.


    She also guessed that the Registry Master didn¡¯t think Rensyn was the person who owned the bird pin. Sophia hadn¡¯t really thought he was; his hatred and fear of corpsevines seemed real and she didn¡¯t want to think that he was someone who¡¯d set up what he considered a horrifying monster just to get ahead. He didn¡¯t seem the type for that.


    Not that she really knew what the plan was.


    The Registry Master nodded at the end of the tale. ¡°That was a good summary Dav, thank you. I agree; the pin was one of the things you needed to find, and was something we missed. I seem to remember seeing the rock display when we killed the original corpsevine crown, but I didn¡¯t even think about it. There may well be another seed hidden there that you¡¯ve prevented from sprouting by removing the rocks, but without taking care of the person behind it there¡¯s a good chance this will happen again in a few years.¡±


    Master Jessamine snorted and shook her head. ¡°To think this happened under my watch. Sophia, I¡¯ll need the pin.¡± She held a hand out towards Sophia.


    Sophia blinked at that, then handed the bird pin to the Registry Master. It seemed like Master Jessamine wasn¡¯t joking when she said she knew who they were. If she knew both Dav¡¯s name and Sophia¡¯s, she had to know Amy¡¯s as well. At this point, Sophia wasn¡¯t willing to bet that the Registry Master didn¡¯t know Taika¡¯s, and he was both a small animal and hadn¡¯t been with them for very long.


    ¡°Thank you. Follow me, please.¡± The Registry Master¡¯s words were clearly a courtesy; she didn¡¯t look back as she led the small group through several small rooms to a larger stone room with a door that slid from one side and completely filled the opening they entered from. Once it was closed, it was very difficult to tell there was a door there at all; the only obvious way out was at the far end of the room, where a rectangular stone opening led to darkness.


    It was only when Sophia saw the darkness that it occurred to her to wonder exactly where the light came from. It came from above, but there were no obvious lights or even light spells; instead, some of the stones in the ceiling glowed. They were weakly magical, but so was everything else. They were similar enough to the stones next to them that Sophia had to wonder if the apparent light was just as much an illusion as the rest of their surroundings.


    It was almost enough to make one paranoid, but Sophia could see the lines of the spellform that surrounded them. If she had to, she could break it. It probably wouldn¡¯t be easy and might have some bad consequences for anyone near the enchanted device that maintained it, but she could do it.


    ¡°I came as quickly as I could,¡± Halven¡¯s words surprised Sophia; she hadn¡¯t heard the apothecary enter the room. ¡°I take it this has something to do with the Nexus Major Feat? I didn¡¯t think we¡¯d have to address that in a formal meeting.¡±


    Sophia stared at the apothecary. He wore some complicated form of robe; it was clearly meant to be formal, but it didn¡¯t quite seem to lie right, like he hadn¡¯t quite gotten it on correctly. That was bad enough, but the fact that his formal robe seemed to be covered in ducks was a bit too much for her. That couldn¡¯t be right. Surely she was seeing it wrong.


    She closed her eyes and opened them again. Nope, those were definitely still ducks and geese, waterfowl of one sort or another. Some of them might have been duck-adjacent monsters, but the black and white one on his sleeve looked just like something she could have seen on a beach.


    Could the pin be his? It was similarly bird-themed, though it definitely didn¡¯t look like a duck to Sophia. She¡¯d guess it was a phoenix, which was anything but waterfowl.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    Master Jessamine shook her head. ¡°No, not directly. That will be a boon for us all, but we have some other things to take care of. Did you bring the chairs?¡±


    ¡°Ah,¡± The surprised look and slight red flush on Halven¡¯s face as he patted his sides where there might have been pockets in another outfit made it impossible for Sophia to control her expression. She had enough trouble not actually laughing out loud.


    Master Jessamine nodded. ¡°Would you run downstairs and grab them? Please make sure Aymini knows we¡¯re up here, as well.¡±


    ¡°Right.¡± Halven¡¯s embarrassment didn¡¯t seem to have faded any as he turned and hurried back into the dark corridor.


    Jessamine had a grin on her face as she shook her head, but she didn¡¯t say anything.


    By the time the next person came through the opening, the room had completely shifted; the doorway even seemed to be in a different spot, in a corner instead of in the middle of the wall. Sophia expected that to be simply an illusion until a snake-man stepped through the new doorway. Was it actually moving, was it changing her perception, or was it simply concealing a larger opening? Any of the three options seemed possible.


    Sophia really wanted to study the spellform that made it work. For once, her father¡¯s obsession with spellforms, especially the spellforms for wards, made a lot of sense to her right now. He could take something like this apart and make it recognize him as someone who could control it, or at least let him through. All she could do was break it, and that was not nearly as useful.


    Maybe the Registry Master would let her study it after the meeting? Sophia didn¡¯t have much real hope in that, not when what she wanted to learn was how to break it. She could wish for it, but it probably wasn¡¯t worth pursuing. She¡¯d need to find something else to study.


    It was disappointing, but right now she needed to pay attention to people like the snake-man who¡¯d just entered. His outfit was also a robe, but it looked more like colored dyed leather than the shiny silk of Halven¡¯s robe or the duller but sturdier-looking material of the Registry Master¡¯s dress. A tail escaped from under the folds of his colorful robe. The presence of both hands and feet meant that he was far less snakelike than the descriptions she¡¯d heard, but his head looked far more like a snake¡¯s than a lizard¡¯s.


    Sophia hadn¡¯t actually met the snake-man, but she knew who it had to be: Johan, the actual owner of the overpriced magic item shop in the Registry. Whenever she was in there, it was an employee, not the owner, who was visible if anyone was there at all.


    Her guess was confirmed by the Registry Master¡¯s greeting. ¡°Johan. I wasn¡¯t expecting you so quickly.¡±


    The human-shaped snake gestured dismissively with his clawed left hand. ¡°I was in the back, checking the records. I have not been able to buy anything of quality since that merchant came through; with the new Challenge, far more has sold than normal. I expect that to continue with increased Wisp awards for the next year.¡±


    His voice was slightly raspy but completely without the hissing sound that movies tended to add to snake-people. His feelings were not obvious on his face, but his voice revealed his satisfaction with the current situation. His tone changed to concern as he continued. ¡°We are not going to be discussing anything that will change that here, I hope?¡±


    The Registry Master shook her head, but whatever she was going to say in response was lost as a clatter of running footsteps heralded Halven¡¯s return. Once again, he wasn¡¯t carrying any chairs; instead, he had a stack of small seat cushions. He handed one to each of them, but Sophia wasn¡¯t quite sure what to do with hers until she saw Johan set his cushion down in midair. It supported itself in the air as it shimmered and expanded into a large, comfortable-looking overstuffed chair whose seat was exactly as high as the height he triggered it at.


    It was an oddball of a magic item, clearly made to make moving seating easier, but Sophia wasn¡¯t going to argue. She picked a spot against the wall where she could see everything, then set her cushion down and waited for it to expand. Dav picked a spot next to her, while Amy took her other side.


    Sophia wondered how long they¡¯d have to wait. It could be a while; Samuel was on the list, and as far as Sophia knew, he was still out at the temporary base they¡¯d used while they were hunting corpsevines. Sophia knew the Registry had ways to contact people; she¡¯d seen that when they met Rensyn and he was called to break up a fight in the restaurant. Samuel would still have to make his way back to the Registry and change, since ¡°formal¡± apparently meant ¡°wearing a robe.¡±


    It would have made more sense for the Registry Master to call a meeting for the next day, wouldn¡¯t it? A few hours¡¯ delay might even have been enough.


    As if summoned by Sophia¡¯s doubt that he could get there in time, the next person through the darkened doorway was the foxkin fire mage. He looked anything but happy to be there, or maybe it was his clothing he despised. Sophia had to admit that while the black robe with red and gold accents probably advertised his specialty, the entire thing would have been better if it imitated a real fire the way one section near the bottom of his robe did. The rest of it simply clashed with his red hair.


    Samuel didn¡¯t bother trying to question the Registry Master when he arrived. He simply snatched the pillow Halven held out to him, made a chair, and threw himself into it. His scowl never budged.


    ¡°What do you think got into him?¡± Dav leaned across the armrest of his chair and whispered to Sophia. ¡°He¡¯s usually so cheerful.¡±


    Sophia shook her head and whispered back. ¡°I think it¡¯s the clothes, but maybe he just doesn¡¯t like formal meetings or thinks he shouldn¡¯t be here?¡±


    If the bird really was a phoenix, a bird associated with fire and rebirth, it could belong to Samuel. That would explain his expression; he could be upset that his plan was upended by the completion of the Leveled Challenge. She bit her lip, then offered the thought to Dav. ¡°Do you think it was his?¡±


    Dav frowned, then slowly shook his head. ¡°Can¡¯t rule it out, he¡¯s good at killing corpsevines, but he¡¯s not egotistical enough.¡±

 Chapter 118 - All Gathered Here

    Sophia frowned. Dav definitely meant that he didn¡¯t think Samuel was behind the corpsevine resurgence. She wasn¡¯t so sure about his reasoning; she didn¡¯t know Samuel well enough. She certainly didn¡¯t want to think that he¡¯d be responsible, but then those were the people who could succeed, weren¡¯t they?


    She couldn¡¯t quite dismiss the option out of hand, with the connection between fire and phoenixes, but she definitely wasn¡¯t ready to accuse him either. He seemed more likely than Halven, but Sophia didn¡¯t really like either of them as options. Maybe the Registry Master was inviting people here to get them to help her find out who the culprit was?


    Sophia couldn¡¯t think of any other reason she¡¯d keep the four of them there. Why, she hadn¡¯t even given them a chance to change!


    The lack of fresh clothing was made even more obvious when Aymini hurried into the room. The blonde receptionist usually dressed in fashions that made her look younger and a bit unsophisticated, but her formal dress was completely different. It looked like white silk with accents in green and red covered by a wide golden belt with a moon covering over the buckle. With her hair down other than a small crown of braids and a set of crescent moon earrings and necklace, she looked several years more mature than normal.


    Aymini heaved a sigh as she slowed down. ¡°Looks like I¡¯m in plenty of time. Jen is covering the front desk, she¡¯ll send the others up when they get here. You have the cushions, Halven?¡±


    Halven nodded and held a cushion out to Aymini.


    ¡°Thanks.¡± Aymini nodded at him and took the cushion. She looked around the room, then made her way to the wall where Taika (still in Dav¡¯s backpack), Dav, Sophia, and Amy sat in a row. ¡°Do you have any idea what this is about?¡±


    Sophia wasn¡¯t sure why Aymini chose to ask her. She wasn¡¯t the one who called the meeting and she felt completely out of place here right now.


    ¡°Not until everyone¡¯s here,¡± Registry Master Jessamine intervened. ¡°I¡¯d like to only go through it all once, and that means after the Mage-Chancellor arrives.¡±


    ¡°Right.¡± Aymini said. Her tone was fairly respectful, but she rolled her eyes before she set her cushion down in the air a few feet from the trio, closer to the center of the room. She was close enough to talk back and forth fairly easily but also between them and everyone else. It was obvious that was deliberate on Aymini¡¯s part, like she expected them to be important to the meeting.


    If that was the reason, Sophia couldn¡¯t argue with it. It made sense that Aymini would assume they were the reason the meeting was called; they were the only people there who weren¡¯t in dressy formal clothing, plus Sophia somehow doubted that these meetings were commonly called with no notice and with strangers present.


    Rensyn was the next to arrive. It took Sophia a moment to realize that he¡¯d clearly showered and changed before he arrived; his outfit was very similar to what he¡¯d worn earlier. Unlike the others, his robe was more like a long shirt; it was only closed to the waist. Below that, it was split and even that only came to his knees, revealing the pants and boots he wore below. Sophia strongly suspected that he didn¡¯t bother to have better clothing because he didn¡¯t care about it.


    Rensyn found a spot near Aymini to sit. Once he had, Jessamine picked a place facing towards Rensyn and Aymini to set herself down. With Halven and Samuel on one side and Johan opposite them, they were now roughly in a circle that did not include Taika, Dav, Sophia, or Amy.


    ¡°Did the Mage-Chancellor say how much longer he would require?¡± Jessamine asked with a smile. ¡°He¡¯s necessary.¡±


    ¡°He was eating, but he said he would hurry,¡± Rensyn answered. ¡°I¡¯m not sure how long that means.¡±


    ¡°Not long, unless he decides he needs to change attire,¡± the Registry Master answered. ¡°He might even get here before the Commander. What is keeping that man?¡± She sounded annoyed.


    ¡°I¡¯m trying to run a war!¡± The words echoed up down the dark corridor ahead of Matt Walsh, the man they met over a geode and a corpsevine-infested arm. ¡°It¡¯s not over, even if we¡¯re getting higher rewards from it now!¡±


    The redheaded Commander stalked into the room like he was on a runway, showing off. His hair billowed behind him and his hands clutched one side of his robe, as if it made him more accessible. Like Rensyn, his robe didn¡¯t reach the floor; instead, the greenish teal and red top covered a red skirt or robe that did reach the ground. Both pieces had the same gold pattern of a bird with its wings to each side and a huge tail whose plume stretched below it. Sophia would have called it a peacock if the tail were behind the bird; as it was, it was clearly a stylistic representation but she wasn¡¯t certain what it represented.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    Sophia frowned at the symbol. Was that supposed to be a phoenix like the pin? It was in gold, so there was no color clue to help her, but if she squinted it was certainly a lot closer in shape than Halven¡¯s waterfowl. There were three strong candidates present for the person responsible for the corpsevines based on their clothing symbology, but none of them seemed to fit perfectly.


    Of the three, Commander Matt Walsh seemed to have the best position to take advantage of the corpsevines to take the city. He was, after all, the man tasked with defending the city against the corpsevines; that meant he would get the credit for success or the blame for failure. One way or the other, it would go to either him or the Mage-Chancellor. Sophia supposed she should add the Registry Leader to that list; she was also responsible for the defense of the city. Of those three, the only one they hadn¡¯t eliminated as a likely culprit was the Commander.


    Even so, Sophia was starting to doubt it was as simple as their first guess. Few things were that simple, and could he really set it up so that they had to evacuate and yet still know he could win? For that matter, could he even guarantee they¡¯d have to evacuate? That wasn¡¯t even mentioned before the Leveled Challenge was created. Maybe this really was nothing but pointing fingers at the air because there had to be someone to blame.


    While Sophia stewed on the thought that she might be completely wrong, Registry Master Jessamine asked Commander Walsh about the progress of the effort against the corpsevines. That turned out to be more than enough of a question to fill the time they had before the Mage-Chancellor arrived; the two talked until they were interrupted by the sound of footsteps.


    The newcomer was definitely related to Lade Essia. He was taller and thinner than his daughter, with similarly pointed ears and a prominent chin. His furry ears were very similar, as well; Sophia still couldn¡¯t exactly identify which animal they belonged to. His hair was messy; part of the golden band woven into it seemed to be loose in some places. It was clear he must not have changed before heading over.


    That impression was enhanced by the clothing he wore. Unlike the others, it wasn¡¯t shiny silk; instead, it was rich-looking cotton, in several colors, with wide golden bands at the neck and shoulders. Sophia wasn¡¯t sure if she could name all of the pieces of his outfit, but he was wearing at least three layers despite the recent heat wave. He even had a cloak or more likely a cape pinned to his split vest by a brooch that supported a line of semiprecious stones on each side. Below his belt, the dangling jewels turned into a strip of cloth with gilded edges and patterns around the stones.


    Golden bracers and earrings completed the outfit. Sophia had no trouble imagining the man as a powerful rules, but she also had no trouble imagining him as a petty one. It was hard to tell what he was like from the clothes. The one thing she knew for now was that when the Registry Master said to come quickly, he came. That was clear evidence in favor of Amy¡¯s assertion that there was no reason whatsoever for a Registry Master to want to rule a place like Casterville.


    ¡°Registry Master,¡± the Mage-Chancellor inclined his head towards Master Jessamine. ¡°You requested my presence?¡±


    She nodded with a smile. ¡°Mage-Chancellor Ansari, please have a seat. Aymini, can you get the door?¡±


    Halven handed another cushion to the Mage-Chancellor while Aymini made her way to the entrance. As it closed, Master Ressamine turned to Commander Matt Walsh. ¡°Commander, before I forget, this turned up recently. I think it may be yours; did you happen to lose it?¡±


    The phoenix brooch glinted in the light from the glowing blocks in the ceiling. Sophia had a hard time tearing her eyes away from it to look at the back of the man the Registry Master was accusing without him even realizing what she was doing.


    The Commander¡¯s voice was calm, even pleased, as he reached for the pin. ¡°Yes, thank you. I¡¯ve looked everywhere for it; I couldn¡¯t figure out where I lost it.¡±


    ¡°The pin on the back is bent,¡± the Registry Master stated. ¡°I suspect that it bent from the stones you carried to the West Conservatory, or possibly from the effort it took to break them open.¡±


    Sophia could tell when the Registry Master¡¯s meaning made its way through the Commander¡¯s mind. He froze with the brooch in his hand for a moment that was just a little too long to seem innocent, then slipped the brooch into a pocket. Sophia no longer doubted the man¡¯s culpability; he knew exactly what the Registry Master meant. It might or might not be his plan, but he was definitely involved.


    ¡°Taking rocks to the West Conservatory?¡± Mage-Chancellor Ansari shook his head. He placed the cushion near the Registry Master¡¯s seat, then took his spot once the chair formed. ¡°I don¡¯t remember that in the plan.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s because it isn¡¯t,¡± the Commander stated firmly. ¡°I¡¯m not sure what you mean, Jessamine?¡± He settled back down into his seat. As far as Sophia could tell, he didn¡¯t seem uncomfortable at all. He might know what the Registry Master was implying, but he¡¯d clearly decided that his best chance was to deny everything and try to ride out the problem.


    Master Jessamine smiled in response, but it didn¡¯t look pleasant. Instead, it looked somehow both fierce and tired at the same time. It definitely wasn¡¯t a look of triumph, but there was also no give there. Instead of addressing the Commander¡¯s question, she turned to Rensyn and asked him something Sophia didn¡¯t expect. ¡°Mentor Rensyn, you were the first to bring the idea of a corpsevine resurgence to me, after some of your mentees found one. What made you send them out to look?¡±


    Sophia was certain Master Jessamine already knew the answer to her question. It would be foolish to ask in this setting if she didn¡¯t. This was obviously all part of a plan to put the Commander off balance and deal with him, probably under the Mage-Chancellor¡¯s authority as well as her own, before he had a chance to hide his tracks.


    Mentor Rensyn, on the other hand, was clearly caught by surprise. ¡°I, ah, heard some rumors about people disappearing on the west side of the city. That worried me, of course, that¡¯s how it happened last time. I didn¡¯t really think it was, it¡¯s never corpsevines, but this time it was.¡±


    Registry Master Jessamine nodded encouragingly. ¡°Can you remember who told you about the rumors, or where you heard them?¡±

 Chapter 119 - Evidence

    Rensyn frowned for a moment and seemed to think about the question. ¡°I remember worrying about it for at least a week before Aymini assigned Sophia and Dav to me, but I can¡¯t remember who mentioned it first. It was always the same. There were people missing in western Casterville, but no one knew how many, who, or when. It was all too similar, but there was no request to look into it.¡±


    Rensyn shook his head slowly. ¡°I didn¡¯t know what to do about it until I tried to put the two new people with the Quinns and added Miss Hunter. I expected it to be a long walk where they could talk and figure out how to work together. Even if there were corpsevines, five Called is more than enough to go to the Conservatory and look around safely, as long as they stay together. I just wanted to be reassured that there weren¡¯t corpsevines. I didn¡¯t expect them to find any.¡±


    Sophia was pretty sure that wasn¡¯t what Master Jessamine wanted to hear, but if that was the case she hid it well.


    The Registry Master nodded encouragingly. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you bring the rumors to me so that I could put up a request to look into it?¡±


    Rensyn looked up at her, clearly startled. ¡°Matt said you knew and couldn¡¯t, wouldn¡¯t, do anything until you had more than rumors. So I had to figure it out myself.¡±


    Sophia blinked at Rensyn. Did he really not realize that he¡¯d just thrown his friend under the bus? Even she could tell that Master Jessamine¡¯s question implied she didn¡¯t know and therefore Rensyn¡¯s answer meant Matt deliberately stopped Rensyn from telling her. She snuck a glance at the Mage-Chancellor. His expression didn¡¯t reveal much, but she doubted he missed the implications either.


    This had to be a show where he was the intended audience, but just as clearly it was a show where the Registry Master hadn¡¯t had the chance to prepare the other actors. That was clearly the point.


    ¡°He came to you with the rumors?¡± The Registry Master pushed a little more.


    Rensyn shook his head. He still didn¡¯t seem to have caught on to what was going on. ¡°No, I went to him. He always knows what the best way to proceed is. He¡¯s a Commander, after all.¡±


    The Registry Master nodded. Sophia expected her to ask the Commander why he said what he did, but she turned to the snake-man instead. ¡°Johan, you came to me with a concern a couple of months ago. Please tell everyone here what it was.¡±


    The snake-man lifted his shoulders and let them fall. ¡°Someone¡¯s been stealing from us, both items and gold. I haven¡¯t been able to figure out who or how, no matter how I look into it. It¡¯s not just the Registry, either; the Casterville supplies are also being pilfered. It¡¯s hard to tell exactly what¡¯s being taken; all we¡¯ve managed to figure out is that what we take in doesn¡¯t match what¡¯s being spent plus what we have left. Whoever it is, they aren¡¯t tripping any of the alarms we¡¯ve set up or alerting any of the guards, even the new ones.¡±


    ¡°How much has been stolen?¡± The Mage-Chancellor leaned forward, clearly very interested now. ¡°I knew there was a problem, but is it more than a few dozen crowns?¡±


    ¡°Over five thousand crowns¡¯ worth,¡± Johan¡¯s words clearly surprised the Mage-Chancellor. ¡°From the Registry. Half that, roughly, from Casterville. Worse, it¡¯s not coming back; there are no signs of someone spending too much or selling items they shouldn¡¯t have. We have no idea where it went. It just evaporated.¡±


    ¡°How could a thief get away with that much?¡± The Mage-Chancellor sounded astonished. ¡°We don¡¯t keep that much in one place!¡±


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t a thief,¡± Dav¡¯s words drew everyone¡¯s attention. He waved towards Johan. ¡°You ¡­ I¡¯m sorry, I don¡¯t know your name. You said you couldn¡¯t catch anyone sneaking in or with things they shouldn¡¯t have, right? That probably means it was someone who was supposed to be there, if the missing wealth ever existed in the first place.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean, if it ever existed?¡± Johan sounded offended. ¡°Money doesn¡¯t just disappear.¡±


    ¡°It does if it¡¯s just marks on paper,¡± Dav countered. ¡°Now, I can¡¯t say that¡¯s what happened; I don¡¯t know what happened. But you either have someone embezzling or you have someone faking your numbers. Maybe both.¡±


    Sophia tried to hide her smile at Dav saying what happened right after he said he wasn¡¯t doing that.


    ¡°That would explain why your numbers don¡¯t add up, too,¡± Dav added. ¡°All you have to do is miss one place when you¡¯re faking numbers and it doesn¡¯t work. You said you think a lot is missing; what if that was the point? What if whoever¡¯s doing this wanted to make you think you were wealthier than you really were?¡± He paused, then chuckled softly. ¡°It¡¯d be a good way to hide a smaller theft, too.¡±


    Sophia wondered exactly how Dav knew that was possible. Was it something he¡¯d done, or was it just something he¡¯d seen in a show somewhere? There was a massive difference but either one could explain what he¡¯d said.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    ¡°Whatever the reason is, you¡¯ve reached the same conclusion I did.¡± The Registry Master¡¯s voice was cold and sharp. ¡°Someone we trust is behind it, someone with access to both the Registry and Casterville vaults. Or, I suppose, records; you could be correct about that. It expands the number of people who could be responsible slightly, but there still aren¡¯t many and most are in this room. We don¡¯t know who it was or I¡¯d have done something already, so let¡¯s go back to the matter of the corpsevines. Commander Walsh, you were the one who identified the arm. Were you certain of your observation?¡±


    The redhead in the phoenix robe nodded confidently. He seemed a little amused rather than shocked, but Sophia knew that wasn¡¯t proof of anything. ¡°Yes, it was definitely infested, as I told you.¡±


    The Registry Master nodded. ¡°And Samuel, you burnt it, correct?¡±


    The foxkin was still slumped in his seat, but he no longer sounded like he was sulking. Instead, he sounded like he was trying to suppress his interest in the happenings around him. ¡°Yes, Rensyn insisted it needed to be burnt. Given his past, well, I didn¡¯t question it.¡±


    Once again, the Registry Master simply nodded in response. ¡°They brought one other thing out of the West Conservatory on that trip. Halven, I believe you were the one who examined the broken magic stone?¡±


    Halven nodded. The smile on his face seemed almost sinister for a moment, but Sophia brushed the idea away. She was surely imagining things. ¡°Yes, they brought me a natural magic stone that was broken shortly before the corpsevine resurgence was announced. It was broken a long time ago, so the magic had diminished enough that the shards were little more than an enrichment agent for plants.¡±


    ¡°Can you tell how long it was broken before they brought it in? Was it broken before the first fight against the corpsevines?¡± Master Jessamine¡¯s voice softened a little. It was still clear, but there was no longer a sharp edge to her words.


    Halven nodded confidently. ¡°That was ten years ago, so yes, definitely. It was broken at least that long ago, maybe twice as long. The shards were fairly weak; it should have been broken into usable fragments several years before they brought it to me.¡±


    Jessamine¡¯s expression shifted into a smile. She was clearly happy with his answer. ¡°Can you tell how long another one has been broken?¡±


    Halven nodded. ¡°Approximately, yes.¡±


    The Registry Master turned to look at Sophia. ¡°The stones you picked up in the Leveled Challenge; bring them out. All of them.¡±


    Sophia blinked in surprise. She hadn¡¯t realized Master Jessamine cared that much about that part of the story. She¡¯d seemed more focused on the phoenix pin.


    Sophia shrugged to herself. She might not understand the plan, but there was certainly no reason not to do as the Registry Master asked. They hadn¡¯t really talked about it yet, but Sophia expected that they¡¯d sell the rocks; none of them had a use for them any more than they¡¯d had for the first one. She pulled one out, then paused; where should she put them?


    Movement caught her eye and she saw Halven gesture to a spot near his seat. That made sense; he was going to look at them, after all. They made a nice pile when she laid them all out together.


    ¡°This is the group that fully completed the Leveled Challenge, then?¡± The Mage-Chancellor¡¯s voice was smooth, as if the news of someone stealing large amounts from him was already forgotten. Sophia doubted that was truly the case; he was probably just keeping up appearances.


    ¡°Yes.¡± There was actual warmth in the Registry Master¡¯s voice. ¡°They¡¯re a promising group. They set out to figure out how to actually solve a Challenge instead of just killing everything. From what they¡¯ve said, it really wasn¡¯t that hard, if you knew about the geodes.¡±


    Her voice turned a little rueful but stayed warm and approachable. ¡°It should have been fairly easy even without that knowledge, now that I know what they found. I missed the clues; it didn¡¯t even occur to me to wonder why half of the building was dead while the other half had living plants. That was before the Challenge was created, of course, but it¡¯s still something I should have considered.¡±


    Sophia grinned as she set out the last few separated crystals. That was confirmation that what they¡¯d solved wasn¡¯t entirely a situation set up by the Guide; instead, it was based on the real situation. She¡¯d already assumed that was the case, because of the pin, but it meant that the geodes they¡¯d pulled out of the Challenge were probably also from reality and not false duplicates.


    Unlike the monsters. At least their actions meant there shouldn¡¯t be more corpsevines created; that was the important thing.


    When Sophia picked up her pack after placing the last piece of stone, she found that Halven was already examining one of the rocks. He had something in his hand that looked like a jeweler¡¯s loupe to Sophia, but it was easy to tell it was enchanted. She couldn¡¯t tell what the enchantment was without a closer look, and that didn¡¯t seem polite, so she simply watched.


    ¡°A year,¡± was Halven¡¯s verdict. His voice was steady, but it was the voice of a doctor delivering a bad diagnosis rather than an enchanter exploring an enchantment. ¡°Roughly, at least. No longer than a year and a half, could be as little as three months if it was in a highly draining environment. It will take me a while to go through all of them, but based on the general magical level I¡¯m seeing, none of them predate the first corpsevine attack when the West Conservatory was abandoned. If these were found inside the West Conservatory, someone placed them there after it was abandoned.¡±


    That was the first time anyone openly stated the truth the Registry Master was working up to, but as Sophia looked around she saw that the only person who seemed surprised was Mentor Rensyn. Everyone else had either already figured it out or had good control of their expression.


    ¡°Thank you,¡± Master Jessamine said into the sudden silence. ¡°That was the last piece of confirmation I needed. The geodes weren¡¯t the only thing found there; there was also a brooch. The brooch I gave back to Commander Walsh at the beginning of this meeting. Tell me, Matt, why? Why did you bring the corpsevines back?¡± Her voice seemed to break a little at the end of her question.

 Chapter 120 - A Frantic Defense

    ¡°You¡¯re blaming the corpsevines on me because I lost a brooch?¡± The Commander was clearly trying to deflect the accusation, but it was just as obvious that he wasn¡¯t sure where to start.


    ¡°Enough, Commander.¡± Mage-Chancellor Ansari interrupted the man¡¯s bluster, then turned to the Registry Master. ¡°That¡¯s why you brought up the theft, isn¡¯t it? You think the geodes are related to the corpsevines somehow and you think they were part of what was stolen.¡±


    Master Jessamine nodded. Despite the fact that she was responding to the Mage-Chancellor, her eyes didn¡¯t leave Commander Matt Walsh. ¡°I don¡¯t want to kill the Commander until he tells us who else was involved. If he won¡¯t, we¡¯ll have to find out through other means.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t tell you because I wasn¡¯t involved!¡± Commander Walsh protested. ¡°I didn¡¯t do any of it!¡±


    ¡°Uh huh. Then maybe you should start-¡±


    Commander Walsh leapt towards the Mage-Chancellor. A glint near his right hand told Sophia he had a weapon. She reflexively started to cast a barrier Skill, only to realize that she didn¡¯t actually have one yet; that was a Skill from Earth that she hadn¡¯t replaced yet.


    The Registry Master moved quickly, just barely fast enough to interpose her body between the Commander and the Mage-Chancellor. As she moved, the shield pattern on her left shoulder brightened and seemed to grow. By the time the Commander carried smashed into it, the shield was more than half Master Jessamine¡¯s light and glowed with a bright yellow light that made it difficult to see.


    ¡°Shield of the Sun,¡± Amy whispered. ¡°I never thought I¡¯d see it, that¡¯s incredible.¡±


    When Jessamine threw the Commander backwards, he landed on his back almost exactly between Sophia¡¯s position next to the geodes and Samuel. The fire mage reacted slower than Sophia; she pulled her sword from its sheath and threw herself forward, Imbuing the blade as she stabbed with it. Her sword met the Commander¡¯s shield at almost the same moment his knife met hers. It was a more than fair trade as the tip of his knife skittered off the scales that covered her armor, while her sword tore his clothing and managed to open a small but bloody wound in his shoulder.


    Sophia didn¡¯t know how powerful the Commander was in a fight, but she did know that this wasn¡¯t his type of fight. It wasn¡¯t her preferred distance, either, but at least it was one she was trained for and her armor put her at a significant advantage. He might well have a higher Body than she did, but she was used to fighting people who were stronger.


    ¡°I¡¯ll kill her!¡± the Commander yelled. ¡°Stop or I¡¯ll kill her!¡±


    Sophia thought it was ridiculous of him to claim he could kill her when he was the only one who was injured. At the same time, it made her action easy to decide; this time, she went for the throat. The Commander accepted the injury, mostly blocked by his shield, and kept moving forward. One arm grabbed her and pulled her towards Matt¡¯s chest, while the other brought his knife towards her throat.


    The knife stopped when it hit bare flesh. Commander Walsh snarled at the others. ¡°Open the door or I will kill her!¡±


    Sophia was confident this was his plan all along, he¡¯d just planned to capture the Mage-Chancellor instead of a low level girl. Sophia wasn¡¯t about to let it work, low level or not.


    He wasn¡¯t in armor. She was. That meant he was wearing soft shoes, while hers had a hard sole. She let go of her sword; it would only get in the way for this. She immediately stomped on his foot, then let herself fall downward as she pushed up on his elbow. The wince at the force that made it past his shield and into the delicate bones of his foot loosened his grip enough that she slid right out of his hold; his knife didn¡¯t even cut her skin as she slid past it, which was a trade she would have happily accepted.


    A moment later, the Registry Master slammed into the startled Commander. The impact knocked Sophia over as well, but that was fine. She staggered backwards in time to see a furious Master Jessamine snatch Sophia¡¯s sword from the floor and impale the Commander through his chest. She had to have pushed right through whatever Shield he had left to do that, which impressed Sophia more than she¡¯d expected. It meant the Registry Master was significantly more powerful than the Commander, in addition to being someone who specialized in strength-based close combat.


    Sophia backed up a step, but couldn¡¯t go farther without landing in Halven¡¯s lap. Despite the fact that Master Jessamine seemed to have things under control now, she pulled one of her knives off her belt and Imbued it, just in case. With that and the Imbuement still active on the sword in the Commander¡¯s chest, she had options.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    The Commander coughed, then seemed to dissolve into flame. A bird made of fire flashed from his location to the now-closed entrance. He tried to fit through a crack, but wherever he went, he splashed off the stone wall.


    A moment later, a cage made of fire floated around him. The phoenix flailed a wing at it, then seemed to flinch backwards as the part of the wing that hit the bars of the cage seemed to flash into a more natural fire, then dissipate as smoke.


    ¡°I never thought I¡¯d have to use this on your firebird Ability,¡± Samuel stated sadly. ¡°But you know I can¡¯t let you run now, not after what you just did. I want to believe that you attacked out of fear and had nothing to do with the corpsevines, but I don¡¯t. If you didn¡¯t, you¡¯d have protested your innocence and let us look into it. I know you that well. Now, are you going to talk or should I just collapse the cage?¡±


    The caged bird opened his mouth, but only the crackling noise of a fire escaped.


    ¡°Hold him in place, Samuel,¡± Master Jessamine stated as she climbed to her feet. ¡°Once I have a cell opened, you can encourage him to fly that way.¡± She paused, then held the sword out to Sophia. ¡°Thanks for the weapon, but you¡¯ll want to get it inspected. I can tell you have some sort of reinforcement on it, it would have shattered on his shield if you didn¡¯t, but you should get it checked anyway. If it is damaged, Halven or Johan can add a replacement to the reward for this. Speaking of which, Halven, get a total for the geodes. We¡¯re going to buy all of them; add the appropriate rewards for the Challenge and her actions here. Johan, make sure you direct the trio at appropriate tools; they¡¯re going to need them. Rensyn, when you recover from your shock, they¡¯re definitely going to need some advice. This is probably going to trigger another Feat for them soon, and you won¡¯t be able to advise them much longer.¡±


    By the time she finished talking, the Registry Master stood at the left wall of the room. She set her hand on it and an archway appeared. ¡°Samuel, get the bird in here.¡±


    The cage floated towards the opening. The phoenix tried to escape several more times, but after the fourth escape attempt completely removed its left wing, it lay on a seemingly solid fire ¡°floor¡± as it was carried into the dark opening. Sophia was certain the Commander could have killed himself by ramming his head into the cage, but it seemed he wasn¡¯t willing to go quite that far.


    With the cage and the phoenix, there was enough light to see that the opening led to a stone room with no other visible openings. It seemed to be deeper than its width, but Sophia couldn¡¯t really measure either dimension from the outside with the poor light she had available. Moments after Samuel set the cage down on the floor of the cell, a stone door slid smoothly and silently across the opening.


    Jessamine relaxed. She looked tired and had a haunted look in her eyes. She shook her head slowly. ¡°There¡¯s a lot we need to do to clean up this mess, but that just means we need to get started. Aimiva, please open a way out for Rensyn and the group that finished the Leveled Challenge; they may as well move on to what they need to do next while the rest of us handle the situation. On that note, you should plan to leave Casterville. Normally, I¡¯d say that your destination should be Innington, because they¡¯re pushing out into some of the weaker Wildlands and would be a good place to hone yourselves.¡±


    She turned to Dav and gave him a tired smile. ¡°That¡¯s not an option for you, I¡¯m afraid. Your Warp is too obvious and Innington is too close to Hailport; you¡¯d have to wear a mask. That might work, and it would still be better than the Long Road to Masiri. They may be one of our best trade partners, and they don¡¯t care about Warps, but you have more women than men. They will assume things you won¡¯t want to deal with. I certainly didn¡¯t. That leaves Izel or Rockport. Izel¡¯s likely too dangerous, but I believe one of you hails from there and may know the safer areas. Rockport would be my choice; while they do trade with Hailport, they¡¯ll work with anyone with the money, Warped or not, and there are several stable Challenges near the city. Talk to Rensyn about it and make your choices.¡±


    The Registry Master turned away from them and started talking to the Mage-Chancellor. Sophia started to listen in, but Rensyn called to them and ushered them outside the room and downstairs through a completely different, far grander, set of stairs.


    Despite the Registry Master¡¯s prediction, there was no notification of a Feat. Sophia couldn¡¯t really bring herself to care; however good they were, there had been a lot of them right at the end of the Challenge. Whatever the Registry Master expected was probably included in one of the ones they¡¯d already received.


    Rensyn seemed tense, and Sophia couldn¡¯t help but remember that he was the one who called in the Commander to help deal with the corpsevine situation. It was clearly in no way his fault; he¡¯d been used by Commander Walsh to set things up the way the Commander wanted them to happen. Sophia still wouldn¡¯t be surprised if he felt responsible or guilty for being used. She also suspected that they¡¯d been friends, or at least friendly.


    Rensyn led them back to the room where they¡¯d first met Matt Walsh, where they showed him the geode and introduced Lillah Gardener. Sophia frowned; she hadn¡¯t thought about the woman who knew about the corpsevines in days and she was pretty sure she hadn¡¯t heard anything about her. ¡°What happened to Lillah Gardener? Wasn¡¯t she going to help locate corsevines?¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s dead,¡± Rensyn stated as he dropped into a chair. His voice was rough with emotion. ¡°The first day of the assault. Killed by a corpsevine she didn¡¯t see, at least that¡¯s what the report said. I¡¯m not sure I believe it, now. One more thing to lay at Matt¡¯s feet, whether he arranged it or simply didn¡¯t stop it. My guess is that he put her somewhere dangerous and hoped something would happen. I¡¯m not sure if I¡¯m being too easy on him or too harsh, right now. Maybe he arranged it or maybe he just made a mistake, I don¡¯t know. I can¡¯t believe he planned this. Corpsevines?¡±


    Rensyn closed his eyes for a moment and let out a breath. When he opened them again, he was still tense but seemed to want to move on. ¡°Let¡¯s talk about some more pleasant things for a while. You should have a lot of Wisps available after fully clearing a challenge; where are you thinking about dedicating them?¡±

 Chapter 121 - A Long-Delayed Discussion

    A crack of thunder echoed across the room moments after Rensyn¡¯s question. Sophia ignored it; she couldn¡¯t hear any rain, but they were in an interior room on the ground floor; it was surprising enough that she could hear thunder. Hearing rain would be more of a surprise.


    She shook her head. ¡°Not that many. The rewards from the feats were mostly increased Ability levels, not Wisps.¡±


    Rensyn straightened in his chair. ¡°Oh? That¡¯s an excellent award. It means you¡¯ll be able to use what Wisps you have for your other Abilities and for new ones. You might¡­¡±


    Rensyn stopped with a frown and looked over at Amy. ¡°I know what Amy¡¯s headed towards. Shifters are unusual, but you¡¯re wanting to be a versatile scout and fighter, aren¡¯t you? You have a small and quick form and a long distance agile form now; the next two choices are usually a big bruiser or flight. What are thinking?¡±


    ¡°Flight,¡± Amy answered immediately. ¡°The book says owl is available at level two, and that leads into the nightowl line of Abilities. I was thinking about it even before I met these two, but with them I think the nightowl should work well. I might even shift over to scout and support, but that¡¯ll have to wait until I can upgrade my Sphere. Other than that, I need to pick up some general archery Abilities; I wasn¡¯t nearly as useful against the corpsevines as I should have been. I want the shieldbreaking line, even if it¡¯s not very useful against things like the corpsevines.¡±


    Rensyn nodded. ¡°That sounds like a plan that would fit in a lot of different groups, though if you don¡¯t buy any of the wolf line you won¡¯t be able to effectively fight in that form past the first upgrade. Are you sure you want to specialize? Nightowl is useful, but there are things that are immune to its Abilities.¡±


    Amy seemed determined. ¡°The corpsevines proved that my wolf shape can¡¯t get in close the way they can against anything with poisonous attacks or anything that I can¡¯t bite. That¡¯s at least as limiting. I might go with one of the esoteric wolf Ability lines, but I haven¡¯t decided which yet.¡± She bit her lip and looked down. ¡°I already know what I¡¯m doing with my other shape.¡±


    ¡°Your other shape?¡± Sophia couldn¡¯t resist asking. ¡°I didn¡¯t realize you had another one.¡±


    Amy flushed a little and kept her gaze on the floor. ¡°Weasel. My other shape is a weasel. Wolf food.¡±


    Sophia wasn¡¯t sure why Amy was acting like she was ashamed of it. ¡°Sounds like a useful shape. They¡¯re small and can get all sorts of places you wouldn¡¯t think they could get, sort of like cats and squirrels.¡± She winced a little at a painful memory. ¡°And if you ever have one jump on top of you and bite you when you weren¡¯t expecting it, you¡¯ll know they can fight, too.¡±


    Okay, that was a dungeon weasel, but it was in a very minor dungeon full of forest critters. Sophia remembered expecting the wolves to be dangerous and was even wary of the deer, but it was the tiny wildlife that surprised her. They had to make their way into sensitive spots to really hurt her, but they did. More than once. She was properly geared for it, so it wasn¡¯t truly dangerous, but it was certainly memorable.


    Another crash outside said the storm was getting closer. It wasn¡¯t the first rainstorm Sophia had seen in the Broken Lands, but it certainly sounded like it was probably the most violent. Maybe she¡¯d get a chance to admire it once they were done with Rensyn.


    ¡°Have you decided which way you¡¯re taking your weasel shape?¡± Rensyn asked gently.


    ¡°I planned on darkness, but I¡¯m not sure now. Might be too much overlap with the Night Owl,¡± Amy muttered.


    Sophia tried to remember the elemental arrangements she¡¯d figured out from her available Abilities. Wait, she wrote it down somewhere, didn¡¯t she? A quick search of the notebook Sophia kept in her bag said that yes, she had. The common sub-elements were Heat, Light, Ice, Acid, Stone, Metal, Wood, Sound, Lightning, Force, Corruption, and True Death, with higher-level elements of Fire, Air, Water, Earth, and Magic. Darkness wasn¡¯t even on the list, so it had to be one of the ¡°more exotic¡± elements, probably the one the Nightowl had given the name.


    Most of the elements didn¡¯t seem very appropriate for a stealthy weasel, but she could see ways that they could be. Acid could make or enlarge holes, perhaps, while Water or Air might let the weasel flow through even the tiniest cracks. Even Earth or its sub-elements might be useful, if they would let the weasel merge with them and move through them. One sub-element stood out above the others. ¡°How about sound? Owls are really quiet in flight, but it sounds like you¡¯re going for darkness there, so maybe go for sound from the weasel?¡±


    ¡°Maybe,¡± Amy half-agreed. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯ve thought about releasing the shape instead. It would save me a slot, plus everything I¡¯d need to put into it to make it useful, and if I¡¯m not going to use it¡­¡± She shook her head instead of continuing the thought. ¡°I planned to upgrade into a more flexible shifter, but now I¡¯m thinking I might want a more focused setup. For now, I think I¡¯m going to use what points I have to add the owl; I can¡¯t add an element until next level and I can¡¯t specialize into a shape like nightowl until I get an upgrade. With that limitation, I¡¯m thinking that I¡¯ll pick up a few archery Abilities but otherwise push to the first upgrade.¡±


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    Rensyn seemed fully involved in giving advice now. ¡°That¡¯s one of the common routes, pick your specialty and push into it so that you can get the Abilities you need to make it work. I recommend reviewing the archery book so you can see which Abilities will support you before you start.¡±


    ¡°Archery book?¡± Sophia glanced at Dav, but he looked just as interested and puzzled as she did. ¡°Is there a book that lists possible Abilities and when they¡¯re available?¡±


    Rensyn started to say something, then chuckled and shook his head. ¡°I thought I mentioned them when we first talked, but we were in such a hurry that I didn¡¯t go over your current Abilities in detail; I must have also forgotten the book. Yes, that¡¯s one of the things the Registry does; we try to collect as much information as we can on Spheres and Abilities so that people can plan their future. We also provide common Ability groups to make picking them easier; there are a lot of Abilities that are niche and others that almost everyone with a particular Sphere takes. For you two, I know I¡¯m going to be recommending some swordsmanship Abilities for Dav, but I¡¯m really not sure what to recommend for a siege mage. I guess we should talk about where you want to go before I start pushing the paperwork at you.¡±


    ¡°Telepathy,¡± Dav said before Sophia could speak up. ¡°Or some other form of battlefield communication. I want to be able to talk to Sophia, Amy, and Taika even when we¡¯re in the middle of a fight or at a distance from each other, when we can¡¯t see or hear each other. If possible, it should be silent, but quiet is acceptable.¡±


    Rensyn pursed his lips in thought for a long moment before he answered. ¡°That¡¯s a hard one because there are a lot of communication Abilities. It might appear on your spell list; that¡¯s the first place to look, but I¡¯m not sure what we have in the way of summoner spell lists.¡±


    Sophia nodded at Dav¡¯s answer. She wasn¡¯t sure telepathy was her absolute top priority, but it was well up there. ¡°I need to know more about Force, Corruption, and True Death spells, and probably some more about spellbreaking. I know the basics, and have one Ability that seems to work pretty well, but it¡¯s not quite the same.¡±


    She frowned at the thought of spellbreaking. It seemed generally less useful here than on Earth; even in a city named after spellcasters, there weren¡¯t all that many and no one used wards. Well, no one used small wards; she¡¯d seen exactly two so far and neither the one upstairs nor the one that guarded Fallen Kestii was what she usually thought of when she talked about wards. More importantly, few of the monsters used spells. ¡°I wasn¡¯t able to break the illusion the corpsevine crown used, and that¡¯s one of the things my Affinity is supposed to be for.¡±


    ¡°Force is very common, so we have a good list,¡± Rensyn answered. ¡°Corruption is unusual; a lot of people avoid it because they associate it with Warping. It¡¯s usually only taken by people who specialize in it, so there should be some listed, but we probably don¡¯t have much information on how it interacts with other elements. True Death is going to be the difficult one; I think our list of True Death spells comes from a couple of very specific undead-killing Spheres that were past the first upgrade when they gained access to the sub-element.¡±


    Sophia shook her head. ¡°I need to know what they do more than what the spells are, most of them are the same as my available Force spells, just with a different sub-element.¡±


    ¡°Are you willing to share what you have?¡± Rensyn seemed eager. ¡°It might help you organize your thoughts; more importantly, it may help someone else who¡¯s trying to figure out their future.¡±


    Sophia shrugged. She didn¡¯t see any reason not to; it would take her a little time, but it sounded like she needed to go through them all anyway. ¡°Sure.¡±


    ¡°Then let¡¯s get started,¡± Rensyn stood. ¡°We can get into more detail about it once you¡¯ve had a chance to look at what we have that might help you choose a way forward. I can help you with equipment, too, once Halven figures up what you¡¯re owed.¡±


    This definitely seemed more like what Sophia expected from a mentor than the half-scrambled actions Rensyn made when they first met. She now knew that was because of Commander Walsh playing on Rensyn¡¯s terror of the corpsevines, but it still made her question him a bit. Throwing a team together to go look for something that terrified him before bothering to figure out how he could help the people he was supposed to be mentoring didn¡¯t seem like good mentoring to Sophia, but at least he was trying now.


    This time, the thunder was followed by something far more ominous than the noise itself: a warning from the Guide that they had entered the Domain of the Hungering Spark. That was all the message said, which made it more like the snake nest back in the ruins of Fallen Kestii than the Leveled Challenge or even the area of the Shard of Kestii; both of those had more information than simply the announcement. Sophia didn¡¯t take that as a good thing; this was something the Guide felt it should announce, after all. It probably just meant that the Guide didn¡¯t think there was anything else to say.


    Sophia knew they hadn¡¯t moved, so either the Domain was new or it was moving. Given that it was called the ¡°Domain of the Hungering Spark¡± and she could hear thunder, Sophia had to guess the two were related. Was there a lightning elemental outside or something? Was there even a storm at all?


    Rensyn paused long enough to read the message, then blurted something about talking more later as he hurried out of the room.

 Chapter 122 - Death Days

    ¡°Don¡¯t go outside.¡± Taika¡¯s voice startled Sophia. He sounded both sad and scared. ¡°That¡¯s him. The one who wants to eat everything.¡±


    It took Sophia a moment to realize what Taika meant. This was one of the two beings Taika had warned them about, the two who had broken Cliff¡¯s dungeon and thrown them across the Origin to the Broken Lands along with Taika. Unlike Taika, who was warped into an possibly illusionary chinchilla that was driven to comfort and help, they were warped into beings that wanted to consume what they found.


    She felt a little sorry for them, but her anger was much stronger than her pity. They might not have known what their actions would mean, but they knew they were wrong. The fact that they didn¡¯t know how to handle the Origin didn¡¯t excuse them, not when they were the cause in the first place. She could pardon Taika since what little remained of the original person seemed to want to fix his mistakes, but she couldn¡¯t forgive the other bandits.


    No matter how she felt about them, however, Taika was right about one thing: if the ¡°Hungering Spark¡± was after her specifically the way Taika said he was, she needed to stay inside and let others fight. She was far weaker than many of the people here, after all; all she¡¯d accomplish by going outside was to endanger herself.


    She hated it. The last thing she wanted was to have others fight her battles for her. It wouldn¡¯t bother her if she could fight alongside them, but the idea of not being able to contribute rubbed her nerves raw. It was worse that she was probably the reason they had to fight. Well, okay, Cliff was really the reason, but that was basically the same thing.


    Sophia needed to do something even if she couldn¡¯t fight now. The best thing she could do was to spend her Wisps. She had enough to buy something, as long as it wasn¡¯t too expensive; maybe she could find something that would replace telepathy. That would be something.


    Sophia pulled up her Status to confirm how many she had and froze. When did she get over a thousand Wisps? How? That was more than five times as many as she¡¯d had available the last time she checked. ¡°Amy, Dav, how many Wisps do you have? Did you just get a lot?¡±


    Amy¡¯s choked gasp told Sophia she wasn¡¯t just imagining things.


    Dav, on the other hand, managed to limit his reaction to a simple ¡°Huh. I bet that¡¯s from resolving the corpsevine situation by turning over the bird pin. I wonder if it includes the bonus from closing the Leveled Challenge.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re probably right, but what I care about right now is that we have enough to do something,¡± Sophia stated firmly, ¡°And I want to go for it. Amy, do you know where the records of spells and whatnot are?¡±


    ¡°Aimiva can get them for us,¡± Amy said, then shook her head. ¡°Or whoever¡¯s at the reception desk if Aimiva is still upstairs.¡±


    The sound of thunder punctuated Amy¡¯s words. She looked towards the entrance and shook her head. ¡°I need sleep, but there¡¯s no way I can sleep with that going on. Come on, follow me; we can bring the books back here.¡±


    As it turned out, there were some books but most of it was on loose pages bound together with something that glowed softly to Sophia¡¯s MageSight. If she had to guess, they were the magical equivalent of the standard three ring binder from Earth, allowing pages to be easily added and removed.


    The collection was huge and hard to navigate, even with Aimiva¡¯s help once she returned. It was clear that this was a large portion of the reason for a mentor; Rensyn ought to be able to direct them to what they needed from experience while they had to guess and hope they found the right collection of pages.


    Most of the notebooks were relatively small, no more than a few dozen pages, but a few were huge. When Sophia investigated one of them, she found out that they were collections of popular setups and lists of Abilities that worked well together or that didn¡¯t work the way they were intended, often with short descriptions of what they were supposed to do and where they worked or failed.


    Unsurprisingly, while there were hundreds of different Species and warped variations listed, neither Dav nor Sophia found anything that matched what they had available. For Sophia, they did manage to locate a few records of individuals with warps related to Force, Corruption, or True Death, but none of them seemed draconic and none were related to the higher-level element. As Rensyn predicted, there were a number of incomplete records of spells of the sub-elements; fortunately, they were also able to find one record of an arcane spellcaster and several different descriptions of the sub-elements, so at least there was something.


    Dav had even less luck. There was nothing in the entire library labeled eldritch, as far as they could tell, and while his Species listing also called out chaos, the only records they could find of chaos-related warps were far worse than Dav¡¯s. The abilities those people received were also far less reliable than Dav¡¯s, which was both reassuring and completely unhelpful. He was going to have to search through the Guide¡¯s thoroughly unhelpful interface on his own.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    When it came to Spheres, both Sophia and Dav had more luck. Their Spheres weren¡¯t identical to any that they could find, but they were both able to find Spheres that seemed close to the Abilities they¡¯d already selected. It wasn¡¯t perfect, but it was a starting point.


    Amy had the best luck, unsurprisingly. She was able to find her Species, her current Sphere, and a number of options for her future choices. She was even able to find three different writeups of historical nightowls to give her an idea of what they¡¯d selected and how well it did or didn¡¯t work.


    Aimiva shooed them away to have dinner before the kitchen shut down for the night. After eating, they made their way to their rooms and passed out, exhausted after a very long day.


    The next morning, Sophia woke to the sound of raindrops on her window, the bright glare of lightning, and the sound of thunder. The storm wasn¡¯t gone; if anything, it was stronger than when they went to sleep.


    When Sophia and Dav arrived downstairs for breakfast, the dining room was completely full; people were sitting around talking instead of heading out to whatever their plans for the day were. Sophia called over one of the waitstaff to make their order and asked why everyone was inside.


    The answer was a complete surprise. Everyone below the first upgrade was being told to stay inside until the storm was gone, while those over the first upgrade who could fly hunted for the source of the Domain. It seemed oddly festive for a group that was essentially trapped inside and under siege; no one seemed to feel like they were actually in any danger. Instead, it was a holiday.


    Part of the reason for that became obvious when they were told they didn¡¯t have to pay; until the doors were open again, the Registry was covering a crown¡¯s worth of food and drink per person each day. The waiter called it ¡°enough to eat and have a couple drinks with your meals or enough to get drunk but not stay drunk,¡± so Sophia guessed that most people probably chose one or the other. Sophia was just happy that the waiter counted Taika as a person in his own right, so his food was covered as well.


    When their food came, the waiter shooed some people who were clearly just using the chairs away so that Dav and Sophia could sit and eat.


    Amy bounced in a few minutes later and joined them. She seemed just as cheerful as the people around them. The fact that there was an open chair at Dav and Sophia¡¯s table seemed to make her even happier. She waved at a waiter, then looked at the others. ¡°What¡¯s the matter, you two? Don¡¯t like death days?¡±


    ¡°Did someone die?¡± Dav sounded puzzled. ¡°I thought this was because of the storm.¡±


    Amy shook her head. ¡°No, it¡¯s just what we call them back home. If you go outside the guarded area, you die, so you have to stay inside. It¡¯s a death day. I think they call them Registry parties here, which is true enough I guess but I don¡¯t like it as much. They¡¯re not very common here, probably only a couple days a year. What do they call them where you¡¯re from?¡±


    Sophia shook her head. ¡°We don¡¯t have them.¡± When Amy looked puzzled, Sophia clarified. ¡°It¡¯s because of whatever is creating the domain, right? We have kaiju sometimes, but this has been going on for hours. For anything that big, we¡¯d evacuate the area. Well, except maybe for hurricanes; they¡¯re so big it¡¯s hard to get people out. It isn¡¯t a party, though.¡±


    Sophia bit her lip. She didn¡¯t think she¡¯d given a good answer, but at the same time it wasn¡¯t all that different, was it?


    ¡°Kaiju?¡±


    ¡°Huge monsters,¡± Dav answered. He was staring at Sophia as he spoke, rather than Amy. ¡°Monsters bigger than this building. You really have those?¡±


    Sophia shrugged. ¡°In the New York City metro? Once or twice a year. There¡¯s a nexus a little ways offshore that likes to produce monsters. Dad hasn¡¯t been able to figure out why it spits them out instead of turning into a proper dungeon. Only the kaiju ever get to land, and they¡¯re killed pretty soon after that. Other than that, it¡¯s one or two a decade, I think.¡±


    Dav shook his head. ¡°And I thought Dust storms were bad.¡±


    Sophia frowned at Dav when he didn¡¯t continue. ¡°What¡¯s a Dust storm?¡±


    Dav shrugged. ¡°Sometimes Dust gets blown away from the area it controls. When there¡¯s a Dust warning, everyone heads inside until it¡¯s safe to go out. A storm like this one would be safe; Dust doesn¡¯t do well when it¡¯s too wet or around lightning. High winds with no rain, that¡¯s Dust weather.¡±


    Dust sounded pretty terrifying to Sophia; anything bad enough that you had to worry about it that you couldn¡¯t see with your own eyes sounded bad. It was clear Dav was far more concerned by the idea of kaiju. ¡°It¡¯s all in what you¡¯re used to, I guess.¡±


    Dav smiled and shook his head. ¡°You¡¯re right about that. It¡¯s been years since I had to worry about Dust storms. They were common in my hometown, but it¡¯s near the border. There was one while I was in New Miami a couple years ago and it was like everyone panicked; most people didn¡¯t really know what to do. It was funny afterwards, when we knew it was over.¡± Dav glanced around the room, then grinned. ¡°This would be a pretty good place to wait out a Dust storm, actually. The exterior¡¯s stone and glass. I¡¯m not sure about the roof, but any building like this at home would have everything handled. It¡¯d probably be a designated Dust shelter.¡±


    Sophia shook her head. She could imagine it; the scene when people were warned about a Dust storm when they weren¡¯t used to them was probably a lot like the first time someone who¡¯d trained but never actually fought monsters went into a dungeon. People made the strangest mistakes.

 Chapter 123 - Not Really Down Time

    The storm stayed for two more days. For Dav and Sophia, the primary issue with the storm was that they couldn¡¯t step outside to exercise; even the practice yards were considered off limits because of the storm and the Domain. Rather than spend their time drinking, they threw themselves into research.


    Sophia also managed to finally get Dav to open up about his family. He was an only child and his parents spent most of their time working to bring in enough money to keep the family fed and sheltered. He¡¯d said more than once that he grew up in a border town, but it wasn¡¯t until he started to describe his experiences that Sophia realized just how different they were from her own life.


    For all that Dav grew up in the shadow of the ongoing fight against Dust, his memories of the past really had little to do with it. As a child, it was around but he wasn¡¯t expected to deal with it in any way other than calling for help. Instead, it was his parents¡¯ poor circumstances that defined Dav¡¯s early life.


    Sophia grew up surrounded by her family and her family¡¯s friends, including a number of aunts and uncles that were related by friendship rather than by blood. Dav grew up almost alone, without even many other children. Sophia was taught by her family, while Dav was at the mercy of the educational programs he could reach through his implant. His parents cared enough to help where they could, but they simply didn¡¯t have the time to pay attention to him the way Sophia¡¯s family did.


    Sophia learned to fight from a wide range of mentors and people who fought monsters for a living. Dav learned to fight in games; the combat his parents knew was against Dust, and Dust didn¡¯t fight like a creature. Games were also where Dav performed most of his social activities. In some ways, it explained a lot about him and in other ways it explained very little, but at least Sophia now knew that the reason Dav didn¡¯t talk about himself and his past wasn¡¯t because it was something he was unhappy about. It simply was something that he didn¡¯t see any reason to share because it wasn¡¯t relevant.


    Amy spent a little time with the duo and listened to them both talk about their pasts, but she didn¡¯t say much. Sophia knew her parents were both Called, but that was really all she knew about them. Sophia got the impression that Amy was also from a larger family, like Sophia, but that hers was less cohesive than Sophia¡¯s.


    For all that they spent hours talking, they spent still more time reading over everything they could find in the Registry¡¯s records that might be useful. Nothing was perfect, but there was a lot that was at least similar.


    It was midmorning on the last day of the storm when Rensyn finally returned to the room the group had appropriated for research. Amy was nearly done, but both Sophia and Dav still had a lot left. Rensyn checked in with each of them, then brought more suggestions. It would be up to them, but Rensyn was finally acting like the mentor he was supposed to be.


    Rensyn was unable to find a Spellblade Sphere that used abilities learned from others, but he was able to locate several who specialized in using heir blades as spell platforms, the way Sophia¡¯s Animate Spell Blade line went. That was enough to let her know that a good part of the reason things weren¡¯t quite working as well as she wanted was that she didn¡¯t have the right Martial Techniques to make the build come together. If she wanted it to work, she needed to learn them from people who fought the same way she was trying to fight.


    Rensyn also suggested that Sophia might want to specialize her Sphere at the first upgrade to go a more concentrated spellcasting direction. That would take care of the missing Martial Techniques, because the specialized Sphere wouldn¡¯t rely on Martial Techniques at all; in fact, if it was enough of a specialization, she might lose them entirely. Sophia wasn¡¯t sure she wanted to do that, but she promised she¡¯d consider it as an option when she knew what her choices were.


    Dav had a similar problem; he¡¯d been relying on his strength and skill with a blade rather than his Sphere. Unfortunately, the closest comparisons Rensyn could find for a summoner that depended on summons that couldn¡¯t move was a summoner that created traps, and all three of the examples Rensyn could find also had spells for movement or other ways to force enemies into the traps. That wasn¡¯t useful for Dav, since his primary combat summons was essentially an archer. Dav ended up reviewing a lot of different summoners¡¯ abilities to try to find ways to make his Thorn Emitter actually useful.


    Taika asked Rensyn for anything he had on Comfort Animals. Rensyn wasn¡¯t able to find anything at all with that name, but he did find some information on ¡°animal associates¡± that he shared with Taika. Taika still couldn¡¯t actually access his Status beyond his name and the words Comfort Animal, so he couldn¡¯t even tell how similar it was, but he still wanted something to think about.


    Sophia quietly asked him about the ¡°bonding¡± the Wanderer¡¯s message mentioned, and after his reading Taika was able to tell Sophia that that required her or Dav to have an appropriate Ability. All of the examples Taika could find in the material Rensyn located also made the animal subordinate to their bondholder if they accepted, which Sophia wasn¡¯t about to do, so the matter remained in limbo.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    The day after the storm ended, even Sophia could tell that peoples¡¯ moods had soured. At breakfast, she thought it was simply hangovers, but by dinnertime it was clear that there were more people in the building than normal even though they could leave. No one directly said anything, but but the problem was clear: a lot of people had spent more than they should have, either in anticipation of more money from the corpsevine rewards or during the time they were stuck inside, and there was no easy way out of it.


    No one had pointed a finger at Sophia, Dav, and Amy yet as the people who cleared the Leveled Challenge and removed it as a source of easy money, but Amy quietly told Dav and Sophia that she expected it would happen in the next few days. Too many people knew to keep it silent. They could stay, but Amy didn¡¯t want to.


    Sophia thought about that as she got ready for bed. Did she want to leave? Amy wanted to. Rensyn hadn¡¯t mentioned it since the storm, but it was clear the Registry Master expected them to leave. Sophia wasn¡¯t sure. She felt like she¡¯d only just arrived in Casterville. ¡°What do you think, Dav?¡±


    ¡°About what?¡± Dav slid his legs under the sheets, then turned on his side to look at Sophia.


    Sophia flushed a little at the reminder that she hadn¡¯t been speaking out loud. ¡°About leaving Casterville. It feels like we only just got here.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s been a busy time,¡± Dav agreed. Or maybe he was disagreeing? Sophia wasn¡¯t sure. ¡°I don¡¯t think you¡¯ve noticed, but everyone knows we¡¯re outsiders and treats us like that. I don¡¯t mean the Quinns or Samuel or Rensyn or Amy; I mean the other teams. They aren¡¯t pushy about it, but they don¡¯t treat us like they treat each other.¡±


    Sophia frowned. She hadn¡¯t noticed, but when she thought back to the storm she could see it. The other teams called out to each other and people floated from table to table. Sophia, Dav, Amy, and Taika didn¡¯t. They stayed at their table and talked to each other; that was all. No one even came over to see what the colorful animal on the table was.


    Even if she could see that, though, she wasn¡¯t sure why that was an answer to whether or not they should leave Casterville. ¡°Are you saying we need to stay longer so that we fit in or that we should go because we don¡¯t?¡±


    Dav shook his head. ¡°No, it¡¯s more that there¡¯s no reason to stay. We¡¯re not going to fit in. We¡¯re different; once people know we cleared the Leveled Challenge, that¡¯s only going to get worse. Some will resent us for it, others will be thankful. Either way, it makes us different and different isn¡¯t always good.¡±


    Sophia nodded slowly, then sighed. It was hard to argue with that. ¡°I¡¯m not even sure why I want to stay,¡± she admitted. ¡°I miss home, but this isn¡¯t home. Why would that make me want to stay here?¡±


    Dav shook his head with a soft smile, then leaned forward and kissed Sophia. ¡°Sleep on it,¡± he advised. ¡°If you really don¡¯t want to leave, we won¡¯t. If it¡¯s just missing home, though, maybe we can ask Amy what she¡¯d think about visiting her home?¡±


    That was an interesting idea. Sophia would have to think about it. It wouldn¡¯t be at all the same thing, but maybe it would help.


    The conversation moved from words to physical actions when Dav reached up to massage Sophia¡¯s tight shoulders. There were few words said after that.


    The next morning, the conversation over breakfast centered on where they should go, rather than whether or not they should leave. Amy was in favor of heading to her homeland, but she warned that it was far more dangerous than near Casterville and that she couldn¡¯t take them to meet her parents. When Sophia asked why, all Amy did was shake her head. ¡°We can go to Izel, but my family is unlikely to be there. I¡¯ll know more when we arrive.¡±


    Sophia decided not to push. It sounded like Amy didn¡¯t want to talk about it and also like she didn¡¯t really know what to expect. In some ways, that didn¡¯t surprise Sophia too much; her family also traveled a lot, and long travel times could mean that you spent more time on the road than you did where you supposedly lived. There was a reason she had a really good and comfortable tent.


    Even after they settled their destination, it took three more days and a lot of reading before Sophia felt like she was ready to start choosing Abilities. Amy was already done; Dav wasn¡¯t, but he asked Sophia to wait while he chose the communication ability he wanted. It was actually two Species abilities that looked like they would work well together, Eldritch Splice and Eldritch Mental Diffusion. He¡¯d actually selected Eldritch Splice on a hunch to see what it unlocked specifically because it said it didn¡¯t do anything on its own. When several other abilities appeared that mentioned ¡°linked individuals,¡± he felt vindicated.


    They were both shockingly cheap, far cheaper than any of the other telepathy possibilities even with the fact that it was going to cost two Ability slots, so if it didn¡¯t work Dav would be able to remove them from the Species slots and buy something else. On top of that, both Amy and Rensyn were surprised when Dav mentioned it was a pair of Species abilities; apparently, anything as specialized as telepathy was unusual as a Species ability and having it available at such a low Level indicated that it was a possible direction to take in the future.


    Eldritch Splice


    Connect to other compatible entities of your choice. This ability has no obvious direct effect but may allow the use of other abilities with or by linked individuals.


    Eldritch Mental Diffusion


    Allows all appropriately connected partners to project some or all of their thoughts so that other linked individuals can sense them. Quality and duration of shared thoughts depends on compatibility and strength of the linked bond. This ability does not allow for true synchronicity, control, or unity.


    It was by far the longest description on any of Dav¡¯s Abilities and it made it clear what some of the other Abilities he might be able to get might do.

 Chapter 124 - Marked

    If this worked, it would be far better than having each of them take an Ability, especially since she was pretty sure they¡¯d be able to share images and feelings as well as words. They¡¯d spent quite a while looking and adding the ability to share senses normally required either a spell past the first upgrade or several Abilities from all participants if there wasn¡¯t anyone with a Sphere or Species that specifically gave mental abilities.


    Sophia hadn¡¯t expected that to be a focus of Dav¡¯s Species, but apparently it wasn¡¯t completely unknown even if it was rare. Once Dav found the Ability, Rensyn had pulled all of the records he had of Species with mental Abilities and the results were disappointing: there were exactly three. All three had Abilities like Dav¡¯s, though one of them could only connect with others of its Species. There were a number of other similar Abilities, but Sophia wasn¡¯t going to count on Dav¡¯s future Abilities matching them.


    Sophia considered the Ability descriptions for a long moment. Whatever his future Abilities might allow, these were very limited. While Sophia knew how to push the boundaries of an Ability, Dav didn¡¯t yet. She was teaching him and might well use Eldritch Mental Diffusion as an example; it already seemed similar to how he controlled his Thorn Emitter, so at some level the ability was probably innate now.


    Sophia wasn¡¯t certain she¡¯d have trusted an ¡°eldritch¡± ability from someone else, but she knew two very important things here. First, it truly meant the Potential of the Origin, and she was a daughter of a being of the Origin. For all that this world called it chaos or eldritch, it wasn¡¯t foreign to her. Second, this was Dav. She trusted him, and in the end that was what mattered.


    Sophia smiled. She¡¯d probably try to avoid sharing the memory of memes, but some of them would probably slip through. ¡°We should give it a try, see what it¡¯s like.¡±


    Dav nodded, then reached out and touched Sophia¡¯s arm. She didn¡¯t expect to feel anything, so when her shoulders and back began to sting, sort of like a small electric shock, she jumped. It didn¡¯t hurt and it was gone almost as quickly as it started, but it was a complete surprise.


    She rubbed a spot near her shoulder that was easy to reach, then paused when she saw a hint of color that shouldn¡¯t have been there. She frowned and pushed her shirt out of the way. There was definitely color, purple and an almost aqua blue feathers that stretched from her back over her shoulder and stopped a little above her collar bone. ¡°What the heck?¡±


    Sophia didn¡¯t think about it before she pulled off her shirt. She couldn¡¯t really see her back very well, but what she could see looked an awful lot like a colorful tattoo. It took a few minutes of scrambling for mirrors before she could actually see her back. Rensyn was oddly unhelpful, since he spent the entire time trying not to look at Sophia. She just ignored him.


    Once she could finally see it, the new ¡°tattoo¡± looked a lot like it was supposed to be colorful feathered dragon wings, though Sophia could easily tell that they were both only the outer wing and wouldn¡¯t be functional anyway. They seemed to shimmer and even change color slightly as she looked at them.


    Sophia set the mirror down and shook her head. She wasn¡¯t sure what she thought about it. She¡¯d never really considered getting a tattoo. Some people picked one up for each dungeon they visited, while others got body art for anything from their favorite character to something that looked cool. She could appreciate it, but it wasn¡¯t something she¡¯d ever even thought about for herself.


    ¡°I don¡¯t hate it?¡± That was about as far as she¡¯d gotten. She pulled her shirt back over her head as she thought about it. She kind of liked it, really. Even the parts that were on her shoulders weren¡¯t that obvious; all she had to do was wear a shirt and they wouldn¡¯t be noticed.


    She¡¯d always envied her siblings¡¯ wings; this wasn¡¯t the same, but she¡¯d also heard them whine about just how awkward wings were. Maybe she¡¯d eventually find a way to use the tattoo to fly? It seemed unlikely but she definitely couldn¡¯t rule it out.


    ¡°I think I can remove it, if you want.¡± Dav didn¡¯t sound certain.


    He also looked almost ashamed. Sophia wanted to reassure him that it wasn¡¯t his fault; they hadn¡¯t known how the Ability would work. At the same time, she was afraid that would just emphasize her surprise and make him feel worse. She decided that the best thing to do was move on. ¡°No, really. It¡¯s fine. We should try the other Ability, the one that lets us send thoughts.¡±


    ¡°I should have sent her an image of her back. That would have been a good test. I wonder if I still can?¡± Dav¡¯s mental words were followed by a view of her back. It was a little blurred except for the back; that was very clear. A blurred image of Sophia¡¯s face followed almost immediately. It seemed focused on her eyes and her ears; her horns should have been in the picture, but they were barely noticeable at all.


    Sophia grinned at that. She knew what was happening; she¡¯d practiced telepathy before. This was different but it was also the same. The last image wasn¡¯t intentionally sent; it just leaked through because he hadn¡¯t managed the thoughts properly. She kept her mouth closed and carefully projected just the words she wanted Dav to hear. ¡°It worked, even the image. It seems a lot like other forms of telepathy so far. You need to work on keeping your messages to exactly what you mean to send, it¡¯s way too easy to project things you don¡¯t mean to.¡±Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    She paused, then squinted one eye before speaking out loud. ¡°You know, it¡¯s not fair that you gave me a tattoo and you didn¡¯t get one. Or did you get one and not say anything?¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t feel anything,¡± Dav admitted. He didn¡¯t have anything on his back when they checked, either.


    ¡°Does it work?¡± Amy asked while Dav put his shirt back on. She sounded impatient.


    Sophia blinked, then realized she¡¯d only told Dav that it worked. She hoped he¡¯d heard her. ¡°Yes, at least I can hear Dav. Did you hear me?¡±


    Dav nodded, then looked at Amy. ¡°Do you still want to go forward with this, even though it leaves a visible mark?¡±


    Amy shrugged. ¡°This is a bit bigger than I expected, but Abilities that create permanent effects always leave a visible mark. I¡¯ve seen some a lot worse than wings.¡±


    Sophia wasn¡¯t sure how to feel about it now. She certainly hadn¡¯t expected it, since similar Skills back home didn¡¯t always leave visible evidence. The fact that Amy expected them to might not mean they always did here, but Sophia suspected that it was something the Guide did. She settled for just shaking her head slightly.


    A moment later, the rest of Amy¡¯s sentence registered and Sophia realized that the assumption that Dav¡¯s skill would always cause the same mark was probably wrong. She didn¡¯t know why it came out as wings this time, but the Guide considered Dav¡¯s Species chaotic. Sophia expected it was something he could guide to an extent, so perhaps it would come out as wings if he thought it would? Amy didn¡¯t seem to have a problem with that, so she probably ought to let the assumption stand.


    She did feel like some warning was important, though. Sure, she could let Amy be surprised the way Sophia had been, but that didn¡¯t seem fair. Maybe she could even help channel the change into something Amy would like. ¡°It will probably look a little different on you. Maybe that would be a good thing; you want to be a Night Owl, right?¡±


    ¡°A mark on my normal body won¡¯t change that,¡± Amy answered, but she also smiled. She clearly didn¡¯t hate the idea, the same way Sophia didn¡¯t hate the image she¡¯d ended up with. Sophia decided not to say more. Dav wasn¡¯t great at deliberately defining what his beacons looked like, and he¡¯d had practice at that.


    Amy reached forward and took Dav¡¯s hand. She was clearly impatient. Sophia could tell when Dav went ahead and used his ability both because he shrugged towards Sophia and because Amy shivered at the odd sensation, then pulled up her shirt with her back towards the others. That clearly answered one question: Dav¡¯s Ability was definitely not limited to one person.


    Rensyn choked and turned to face the wall. Sophia chuckled at that; how ever had he managed when he traveled and fought? Neither Sophia nor Amy cared that Dav was looking at Amy¡¯s back; it was her back for goodness¡¯ sake and anyway it was the result of his Ability. He ought to be able to see it.


    Sophia took a good look at the new ¡°tattoo.¡± It was very different from Sophia¡¯s, even though it was still a pair of wings. It looked like it was done completely in black ink, with the paler sections the color they were because Amy¡¯s skin color came through. It was also a very different sort of wing, even though it was still just the outer part of a wing. The top was a smooth curve instead of having the spike at the knuckle that Sophia¡¯s ¡°tattoo¡± had. It also wasn¡¯t extended over Amy¡¯s shoulders the way Sophia¡¯s was; instead, it continued further down her back. Once again, they looked very much like something you might get as a wing tattoo instead of like proper wings.


    Sophia nodded to herself, then tried to send what she was seeing to Amy along with the words, ¡°I think I can see that as a Night Owl¡¯s wings.¡± A wordless image from Dav overlaid what she saw for a moment; the colors were slightly different, but it was also clearly Amy¡¯s back.


    This time, it felt a little weird. She didn¡¯t see any way to choose who she was speaking to; this wasn¡¯t a set of links between people. It was more like talking, really; either Dav or Amy could ¡°hear¡± what she was ¡°saying¡± if they chose to listen. That was extremely useful and very limiting at the same time; she couldn¡¯t use it to have a private conversation with Dav.


    Sophia discarded some of her half-formed ideas for the evening. She didn¡¯t want to have to warn Amy not to look. That was like telling someone not to think about a pink elephant; it would happen by accident even if it wasn¡¯t deliberate. She was pretty sure they¡¯d all end up leaking something they didn¡¯t want others to see along the connection at some point, but there was no point in guaranteeing it.


    ¡°Is that really what it looks like?¡± Amy asked out loud as she twisted a little to see her back in the arrangement of mirrors. ¡°You two can see it better than I can, that¡¯s not really fair. I guess I have to go for Night Owl now, don¡¯t I?¡± Amy had a wide grin that said that either it was a joke or she was happy with being ¡°forced¡± to pursue the path she¡¯d already chosen.


    Sophia didn¡¯t even have to touch Dav to feel the tension leave him at Amy¡¯s overt happiness. She thought she was feeling a sense of relief over the link as well, but if so it was both minor and very obviously from Dav, not herself. That was good in several ways; it meant that strong emotions could be sent but that they wouldn¡¯t influence the recipient more than simply knowing how another person felt naturally would.


    ¡°My turn.¡±


    The words surprised Sophia. Her eyes followed the sound down to Dav¡¯s ankle, where Taika had clearly just headbutted Dav. She suppressed a giggle as Dav picked up the colorful chinchilla.


    Fireworks were Taika¡¯s first message. Even when it was all in his mind, he seemed to prefer playing with color to using words.


    Sophia had to suppress a smile when she saw that Taika¡¯s mark was, if anything, even more obvious than hers or Amy¡¯s; his back and tail looked like they were covered in feathers, almost like wings. They weren¡¯t; a simple touch told her that it was just poofy colored fur.


    Taika tried changing his appearance several times, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn¡¯t make the appearance of feathers on his back completely disappear and he couldn¡¯t make them be anything more than poofy fur. He could return his tail to normal, however, which he definitely seemed to like.

 Chapter 125 - Spell Selection

    They were clearly going to have to practice to make it a habit to echo their words there and listen for what others said, but just as clearly the telepathy worked and wasn¡¯t overly intrusive. The range wasn¡¯t clear, either, but it didn¡¯t need to be all that far. This was definitely good enough to stick with.


    Sophia¡¯s question now was which way to take her Path. Sure, they didn¡¯t call them Paths here, but it was close enough.


    Amy was already done; she¡¯d taken what she called the ¡°fast route¡± and picked up the Owl form, one additional Sphere Ability that directly enhanced the new form¡¯s ability to hide, an Unaffiliated Ability that was apparently the first ¡°shieldbreaking¡± Ability for arrows, and the free Species Ability from the Grand Feat. Amy¡¯s free Species Ability, a Team-type Ability that helped her trick the eye when fighting with people she considered her pack, wasn¡¯t available to either Dav or Sophia. She had increased her Body and Core even though the bonus meant they¡¯d actually gone up two that level, then took her level to three.


    Taika was also done, but that was because he didn¡¯t actually get any choices. He had apparently gotten the Feat awards, but he had no idea what was picked or if anything was picked. He acted like it didn¡¯t matter and Sophia thought he might even believe it, but it was clear it bothered him on some level.


    Dav, like Sophia, was having issues deciding what else to pick. Since he picked up the two telepathy-like Species abilities, he had fewer Wisps to play with, but he didn¡¯t seem to like any of the Summoner options Rensyn was able to find. Sophia suspected he¡¯d end up focusing on his swordsmanship skills and increase his level without taking more Abilities unless he found some more spells he wanted.


    Sophia wasn¡¯t so certain about herself. She had several options and wasn¡¯t sure which one would make her the happiest. If she leaned into magic, she could probably specialize or split her Sphere at level four to get a pure spellcasting class, similar to what she¡¯d had in the past. If she chose instead to hunt down the missing Martial Techniques, she could transition into a more normal Spellblade, and simply upgrade the Sphere. If she focused on her Animated Blades, she could relatively easily transition into a Bladeswarm Mage with the ability to control a swarm of blades and attack from any of them.


    Each option had ancillary support options that could make it fit a different number of roles in a group. The mage was probably the least flexible, oddly enough, because few people specialized in Force or Corruption magic and True Death magic was only used by people who specifically fought those enemies. A Spellblade¡¯s extra options depended on both spells and Martial Techniques. The spells would be similarly limited from what Rensyn found, Martial Techniques usually required either physical practice or developing a sense of your surroundings that sounded an awful lot like Sophia¡¯s aura training. The secondary abilities of a Bladeswarm Mage all depended on the blades, but they could be used as sensor points as well as attacks.


    Those were the most straightforward options. If she wanted to, she could also focus on spellbreaking or her other sub-elements; each of those had a mage-type that used them and they could probably also flavor a Spellblade or Bladeswarm Mage if she preferred. She didn¡¯t; they would be stronger at their specialty, but she didn¡¯t want to give up any of the sub-elements. They looked too useful.


    In some ways, the most straightforward option was one Rensyn didn¡¯t even mention: she could double down on the basis of her Sphere and try to help Cliff collect a lot of monsters and therefore monster Spells and Martial Techniques. It would be a far less focused Path in terms of what it did but it would probably be more flexible and it would definitely support Cliff better. That thought alone was almost enough to make Sophia decide to take that route. The only reason she hadn¡¯t was that she honestly didn¡¯t like it. Collecting monsters¡¯ abilities and using them against the monsters sounded great, but honestly they all sucked so far. More than that, while she liked fighting monsters and seeing new things, she didn¡¯t like the idea of having to do it if she didn¡¯t feel like it.


    Her thoughts spun in circles until she overheard Dav ask Rensyn, ¡°Is that really why Eldritch Weapon Alteration didn¡¯t work? I assumed it was because I didn¡¯t have any Attunement slots.¡±


    Sophia blinked and focused on the two of them. She hadn¡¯t even realized Dav wasn¡¯t using one of his Abilities. Admittedly, she¡¯d probably have assumed the same thing Dav did, that the problem was his bonded armor.


    Rensyn shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s not Attunable. An Ability shouldn¡¯t require Attunement slots, but it probably does need an Attunable item. I¡¯ve never seen one quite like yours, but a lot of swordsmen get Abilities that will let them call a weapon to their hand or rapidly don armor, even armor without that specific enchantment. It lets them get other enchantments, and that can be a good use of an Ability slot. Let¡¯s head to the Armory and get you a new weapon; that one¡¯s a little short for you. We can probably find something that fits you better.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m used to this weapon,¡± Dav answered doubtfully, but he got up to follow Rensyn anyway. ¡°I don¡¯t want something so big it gets in the way¡­¡±


    Sophia shook her head fondly as they left. She could already tell that Dav would be getting a new weapon. She expected him to be very happy about it; he¡¯d want to spar immediately when he got back, or at least when he finished choosing how he was going to spend his points, so she needed to get a move on.


    Sophia stared at her Abilities, then sighed to herself. She didn¡¯t actually have to choose which way she was going forward now, except for whether or not she wanted to keep boosting her Species-based spellcasting. A pure Spellblade that focused on damage wouldn¡¯t. She already knew she wasn¡¯t going to do that. Corruption Bolt and True Death Bolt were both absolutely on her list of things to pick up.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    She browsed through the rest of the spells before admitting that there really wasn¡¯t much else there for her that she hadn¡¯t seen in the Registry¡¯s records. She wasn¡¯t interested in another Blast ability; it simply wasn¡¯t powerful enough to be worth the mana cost. She¡¯d keep Force Blast for the variety, but there seemed to be no point in picking it up for the other sub-elements. She doubted she¡¯d use it often. It was annoying how many of the spells seemed to be ¡°hurt things in a differently shaped area;¡± that wasn¡¯t what she was looking for.


    She¡¯d picked out a few options before, but she decided to pass on them for one reason or another.


    Quickstep would need a lot of practice or she¡¯d throw off her friends¡¯ movement when she tried to get them to move faster, and Dav was normally very good with his footwork. Amy used a bow, so it seemed less useful for her the same way it was less useful for Sophia. She¡¯d keep it on the list, but that was where it would stay for now.


    Basic Kinesis was a low-weight, short-range utility telekinesis. She could come up with a ton of uses for it, but they were all uses where she could just go do it herself. Sure, there were some edge cases like catching a ring someone threw off a cliff into a volcano, but Sophia didn¡¯t think she¡¯d run into the Broken Lands¡¯ equivalent of a good version of Isildur¡¯s Bane about to be destroyed any time soon. Slots got expensive surprisingly quickly, so she didn¡¯t really want to reserve one for a spell she could usually skip just by standing up.


    Weaken Spell, on the other hand, led her to a few more spells that seemed useful. It still didn¡¯t seem like enough when she could simply break spells, though on second thought it would have been useful against the illusion cast by the Juvenile Corpsevine Crown. That spell was too powerful for her to break but she could certainly have repeatedly weakened it. That might have let Dav or Amy escape or even gotten it to the point where she could break it. That was still too rare for her to slot it, but perhaps she should keep an open Spell slot in case she needed one of the spells she hadn¡¯t already chosen in a hurry.


    More importantly, there was now an entire set of spells in the same category as Weaken Spell. Weaken Enchantment was close enough to Weaken Spell to make Sophia doubt herself; that might be the one she wanted against the illusion, she wasn¡¯t sure. Maybe either one would work. Weaken Construct was a True Death spell that bypassed Shield and could reduce the Body or Core of anything affected by True Death. Weaken Creature was the Corrosion equivalent; it worked on most ¡°normal¡± creatures. They were both listed in the various spell lists but until she saw them next to each other, she hadn¡¯t realized they were really the same thing.


    As useful as they sounded, they were both noted as being of only limited use, because the creatures you wanted to use them on tended to be only minimally damaged by the ability; it was estimated as normally only removing one or two points each of Body and Core at a significant continuous mana cost. There were times when that was worthwhile, but the primary use apparently was to gather a group of spellcasters with the ability and gang up on a single creature no one could manage on their own. When used that way, they were strong, but when used in a small group they wiped out the spellcaster¡¯s mana to turn a creature the rest of the group could fight without the spellcaster into one they could fight a little more easily.


    Sophia fully expected that there were ways to make the spells useful, but she wasn¡¯t yet ready to really start modifying the Guide¡¯s spells. They were just far enough from what she knew to make her uncomfortable with the idea, especially when she didn¡¯t already know what modifications she wanted to make. Maybe she¡¯d do it later when she could afford to break a spell. It certainly seemed like she didn¡¯t really need that many different spells to be effective.


    She had to laugh when she found a spell that was designed to ¡°kill contagion borne by food and drink.¡± She didn¡¯t need a spell to do that, or more accurately she didn¡¯t need a spell from the Guide to do that. She had several different ways, including a Death-based spellform that was only useful on microorganisms when she didn¡¯t mind possibly killing everything in a small area. That was her father¡¯s preferred method. That fact made it even more amusing to know that the Guide classed it as a Corruption sub-element spell.


    In the end, the most interesting spells were Attractive Affix, Parrying Presence, and Embody Element. They were all clearly named more for the alliteration than the descriptiveness, which made Sophia wonder if they¡¯d been named by someone other than whoever named most of her spell options. It was actually a bit of a surprise to see them, because while Embody Element was noted as requiring level two, both Attractive Affix and Parrying Presence were supposed to require level three.


    Attractive Affix and Parrying Presence were also noted as extremely rare, since they seemed to require actual attunement to the Force sub-element, and they both had an additional interesting feature: they were cheaper and more effective if you had a dual attunement with either Corruption or True Death as well. Sophia¡¯s guess was that they were really ¡°magic¡± element Abilities, but that was something the Registry didn¡¯t have records for. The note said that they were marginal with the dual attunement, so Sophia expected they¡¯d be quite affordable with her actual affinity with magic itself. She wouldn¡¯t be surprised if the fact that her draconic element was magic was the reason they were available early, as well.


    Embody Element, on the other hand, was a spell that could be used with any affinity; it was on almost all of the spellblade spell lists. Sophia was glad to pick it up, and nearly as glad to know that it simply wasn¡¯t available before level two. She¡¯d have felt dumb if she missed something as useful as Embody Element, now that she knew what it did, but the description was bad enough that she doubted she¡¯d have selected it without the records.


    Attractive Affix


    Affix a mote of your magic to a creature or object and attract other magic, including both spells and enchanted objects. The attraction is weak but may disrupt distant attacks or make the affixed creature or object easier to target. Attractive Affix does not increase the chance of hitting sensitive locations.


    Parrying Presence


    Manifest a mote of your magic around a creature or object to repel other magic, including both spells and enchanted objects. The repulsion is weak but may disrupt distant attacks or make the creature or object harder to accurately target. Parrying Presence is more likely to disrupt targeting than to completely deflect a blow, though attacks that are poorly aimed may be redirected completely.


    Embody Element


    Manifest your element physically. Exact effects depend on the element embodied.


    Sophia could afford all three of them, so she took all three.

 Chapter 126 - Shockingly Cheap

    The three spells required fewer Wisps than Sophia expected, consuming a little over two hundred Wisps between the three Spells and Ability Slots, even though they all started at Ability level two. It made her want to fill in her Spellblade Spells and Martial Abilities; with only one slot open in each, they¡¯d be really cheap.


    Wait. She¡¯d been ignoring the new Spells and Martial Techniques Cliff copied from the Corpsevines. What did he have, again?


    Spells


    Level 1:


    Rush


    Flaming Spark


    Spit Fire


    Buffet


    Slice


    Level 2:


    Eldritch Overcharge


    Root Grab


    Eldritch Empowerment


    Offensive Illusion Field


    Other:


    Hydrokinesis (higher level than 2 - actual level requirement unknown)


    Martial Techniques


    Level 1:


    Stunning Roar


    Consuming Rage


    Level 2:


    Siphon Sap


    Summon Echo


    Poison Pollen Fog


    Shaped Growth


    Crown¡¯s Cutting Consumption


    Sophia skipped the level one Abilities she¡¯d already dismissed to concentrate on the far more interesting Level two spells and Martial Techniques. The two Eldritch spells were Dav¡¯s. Since she was certain to see them used again, they were the only Abilities on Cliff¡¯s list that she could count on being able to improve. She wasn¡¯t sure if they¡¯d improve automatically if she picked them up or if she¡¯d have to spend Wisps, but either way the fact that they could improve was a point in their favor if they were useful at all.


    Wait, why were they at level two at all? Sophia was pretty certain that Dav hadn¡¯t upgraded them before they went into the Challenge, which meant Cliff wasn¡¯t exactly copying the spell he saw into his Collection. They had to be level two because Dav was level two, even though the Spell wasn¡¯t. Sophia hoped that meant they were automatically upgraded; it would suck if she could learn things that cost more than they were worth simply because they were known by someone or something at a higher level than the Ability.


    There was only one way to find out: actually use one of them. Even then, she expected that her use of it would be worse than Dav¡¯s, since she didn¡¯t have his Affinity. Despite that, it seemed worth trying; the Ability Slots weren¡¯t that expensive and neither was removing Abilities she didn¡¯t want anymore, so if it turned out to be useless she could replace it with something else when she found it.


    Eldritch Overcharge didn¡¯t seem useful for her; it specifically overcharged summoning spells. Eldritch Empowerment, however, did. It wasn¡¯t very clear, but that just meant she¡¯d need to treat it like an Intent-based spell that she had to completely direct as she used it. It might even be usable for something like her new Parrying Presence, but that was a spell that seemed better to have separate for reliability.


    Eldritch Empowerment


    Gain or grant a minor eldritch boon.


    While she was at it, she wanted both Root Grab and Offensive Illusion Field. She wasn¡¯t sure how often she¡¯d use them, but they were both Spells that could be useful in the right circumstances.


    Root Grab


    Empower existing roots to grow and attempt to grab your enemies, preventing movement. May target up to Level number of creatures.


    Offensive Illusion Field


    Cover an area in an illusion of monsters created from the surroundings. The illusion includes visual, tactile, and olfactory senses and responds to actions taken by targets based on their expectations. Duration is based on the mana supplied, area covered, and number of targets included.


    Sophia removed Rush, bought two new Spell slots, and slotted the three Spells. At 72 Wisps, adjusting her Spellblade Spells was even cheaper than she expected. Well, if she wanted Rush back she could buy another slot, but she didn¡¯t really think it was worth it. That would cost another fifty Wisps, and while she had used the spell, she was pretty sure it wasn¡¯t all that important.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    If she had the spare Wisps after everything, she could come back and add the additional slot. It was time to move on to the Martial Techniques. If she was lucky, some of them might fill the gaps in her Spellblade setup; there were a number of different common Martial Techniques that might work, so it wasn¡¯t entirely unlikely that she¡¯d found one.


    Siphon Sap was still useless, since she couldn¡¯t do anything else at the same time and it took time to work. She knew that just from watching the monster. Poison Pollen Fog was also a hard no, since it didn¡¯t come with a way to control the fog or any personal protection from it. If she were working with a wind specialist like Revina, she might consider it possible but as it was, the Technique was likely to be worse than useless.


    Crown¡¯s Cutting Consumption was just as easy to discard as Poison Pollen Fog. While it wasn¡¯t actively detrimental, she literally couldn¡¯t use it because she couldn¡¯t make cuttings of herself to consume.


    Summon Echo, on the other hand, looked awesome. Now that she didn¡¯t have to save for a telepathy ability and she really understood the benefit of having a lot of different categories, she was definitely picking that one up. It would complement her Animated Blades, effectively mirroring them since she could cast a spell through them and use a Martial Technique through the Echo. It was probably also very similar to the Martial Duplicate Technique, though she couldn¡¯t know that for certain until she tried it out. If she was right about where it came from, it didn¡¯t create a duplicate of the spellcaster.


    It was also a Summon ability. That meant Sophia should pick up Eldritch Overcharge after all.


    Summon Echo


    Summon an echo of your power to fight for you. The echo is tied to and controlled by the summoner. Other Martial Techniques may be used through the echo if the form is appropriate, but the echo cannot cast spells.


    Eldritch Overcharge


    Channel extra mana into Summons for additional power or duration.


    Shaped Growth was last because it was more difficult to decide on. It was a weird Martial Technique both because it was long term and because it was extremely freeform based on the description. Sophia wasn¡¯t about to raise her own army of monsters to fight for her. That was both unethical and stupid, since it didn¡¯t give any control over them. She also wasn¡¯t about to graft bits of monsters onto herself, for all that the Technique seemed to imply that it was possible.


    The only change she might make to herself was wings, and she already knew that wasn¡¯t a good choice for a mostly humanoid form. They got in the way and were mostly used to affect the person¡¯s orientation in the air rather than actually directly fly. Flight without magical support was simply not practical unless she also figured out how to properly shapeshift.


    That made it fairly combat ineffective, except possibly as a way to recover after a particularly bad fight. Outside of combat, well, maybe she could reverse physical Warps? That seemed useful, even though it was probably more for appearance than anything else. Dav didn¡¯t seem unhappy, but he also didn¡¯t think he had any options. Sophia was certain that Aymini would have accepted back when she was first Warped, though she seemed used to her small stature and cat ears these days.


    In the end, what made Sophia¡¯s decision was the fact that it was incredibly cheap. After she dropped Stunning Roar, she¡¯d only have one Martial Technique. Adding a second one only cost thirty Wisps, and if she needed to remove it to make space that would only be another four. She might as well.


    Shaped Growth


    Encourage the growth of nearby complex lifeforms into a desired form. May return growth capabilities to the natural maximum if the lifeform is supplied with sufficient support. May be used to combine different lifeforms.


    Unfortunately, Summon Echo and Shaped Growth didn¡¯t completely solve her problem with missing Martial Techniques. She didn¡¯t have anything to make her spells or weapon blows hit harder as she concentrated or ¡°moved properly,¡± whatever that meant. She didn¡¯t have anything that would let her shatter armor or cause severe Shield damage or even bypass it with more of her strike than Shield normally permitted through. She didn¡¯t have a way to move extremely quickly or hide herself from her opponents or harden her skin so that she was nearly impervious to damage even after her Shield was gone. She certainly didn¡¯t have a way to make her weapon glow with the fires of Gehenna; she was certain she¡¯d never get that one.


    What she had instead was another way to potentially deal damage at the same time. From what she¡¯d read, that was a known path for Spellblades, but it was usually considered inferior because it was difficult to do too many things at once. Sophia had already noticed that; she couldn¡¯t cast different spells from her aura and her Animated Spell Blade.


    She was also bumping into mana limits, which was the other thing Martial Techniques were good for: they didn¡¯t cost mana. There was even a type of Spellblade that used a Martial Technique to cast spells. Sophia wasn¡¯t interested in that particular specialization, even though she could see the benefit of a slightly less powerful spellcaster that never ran out of spells.


    She¡¯d have to see how bad the summoned echo was. From the description, it could range from requiring her complete attention to something more or less autonomous that she could give general commands to. The first would be useful only because it didn¡¯t cost mana and kept her away from the fight, but the second might well change the situation entirely.


    She looked forward to finding out. She really hoped it wouldn¡¯t be a huge disappointment like the other Martial Techniques she¡¯d found.


    She could do that after she picked the rest of her Abilities. They weren¡¯t going to change, no matter what she found out when she tried out the Ability, so she might as well pick them. Unaffiliated was easy; all she needed to do was fill in the slot she¡¯d bought to look at her options. There were a number of useful options, but nothing that really stood out.


    Rensyn¡¯s suggestion of another spellcasting modifier sounded good, but she could already cast spells from her aura instead of a wand without moving or speaking. The other options he considered important were not available to her at her level.


    No, she was going to take Amy¡¯s suggestion. Keep Warm was a boring choice in a lot of ways, but they were headed to Amy¡¯s homeland. If she said that the cold was as dangerous as any enemy, Sophia was going to believe her.


    Keep Warm


    You retain heat better in the cold and warm up more quickly. Environmental cold must deplete your Shield before it can cause permanent damage to your body.


    It didn¡¯t hurt that it was very cheap and there was little reason to improve it past the level where she bought it; a higher level would make it easier to stay warm in the cold, but Amy¡¯s opinion was that higher levels were for people who spent their lives in the cold; for them, the benefit of having their Shields work against the environment was what they needed.


    Species was a little harder since she needed to fill both her open slot and the free slot from the Major Feat, so she skipped it to look at Spellblade. Like Unaffiliated, she only had one slot to fill and was probably not going to take any more slots before she leveled.


    For that slot, she had a lot of possibilities but only three real choices. Rensyn wanted her to take Spellblade¡¯s Blades, which was the basic weaponry Ability for a Spellblade. It was on every single spellblade list. Rensyn couldn¡¯t explain why it was important; in fact, he was absolutely shocked that she could fight without it.

 Chapter 127 - Always too many choices

    Amy¡¯s take was that Sophia was really more of a spellcaster, so she didn¡¯t need a Blades ability. Amy thought the Minor Imbue Blade Group Ability was better, because it would allow Sophia to Imbue a number of Amy¡¯s arrows with a minor Imbuement that was would dissipate as soon as the ¡°blade¡± hit anything, but it was still a way Sophia could give Amy¡¯s primary weapon the same bonus she was giving her own and Dav¡¯s. It wasn¡¯t clear exactly how many arrows were in a group, but Sophia could definitely see the potential benefit. It was a little self-serving of Amy, but that didn¡¯t mean it was a bad choice.


    Dav thought she should lean into the benefits Cliff gave her and select one of the abilities she¡¯d already found that worked based on Collected Knowledge. Sophia was pretty sure that part of the reason he was more interested in those Abilities was that they were based on the fact that made her Spellblade Sphere unique: she was linked to Cliff and both limited and empowered by his Collection. It would be taking a new path with both the risk and possible reward that came with not following the herd.


    Rensyn was definitely more worried about the risk, while Amy didn¡¯t care one way or the other and Dav was strongly in favor of trying it out. Dav¡¯s argument that it was worth it because it wasn¡¯t that expensive to change if it didn¡¯t work really resonated with Sophia.


    She was pretty sure she was making her decision because she thought it was the right one and she was interested in seeing where Cliff¡¯s Collection led her. She wasn¡¯t the type of person to do something just because it was what her boyfriend wanted if she thought it wasn¡¯t the right choice.


    No, it was the right choice. She didn¡¯t need Spellblade¡¯s Blades and Minor Imbue Blade Group was only a minor improvement for Amy.


    There were still only four Abilities that seemed to use Collected Knowledge to harm enemies, and they came down to a choice of more damage to the shield or the creature and whether it was with a spell or a blade. Sophia was primarily a spellcaster and it seemed like shields were the primary defense of most monsters, so Antithetical Shattering Spell was definitely her choice for the slot she¡¯d already bought. If she had extra Wisps, she¡¯d pick up Antithetical Destructive Spell as well; it would have helped against the corpsevines.


    Antithetical Shattering Spell


    You know how best to use spells to break the Shield of enemies that you have Collected Knowledge of.


    Now that she thought about it, that might even be a large step towards covering her missing Martial Techniques. If it took her spells up to the power of a proper ¡°shieldbreaking¡± spell once she had fought an enemy before, that wasn¡¯t that different from a Technique she had to use. It might even be better because there was nothing she had to do while she was fighting. The only downside was that it wouldn¡¯t help the first time she fought something, unless maybe being similar was enough.


    Yes, she definitely wanted to take Antithetical Destructive Spell. She might want the other two, as well, but that would probably depend on what she found out from Summon Echo. She hoped it duplicated her weapon if it needed one; having to carry extra weapons for her summoned creature would be annoying.


    She didn¡¯t think she¡¯d have enough Wisps to take it immediately, especially not if she wanted to move up to level three to match Amy. Sophia thought she might hold off on that for a bit, since she actually had enough Shield to make do and she definitely didn¡¯t have the Wisps to upgrade all of her Abilities and Slots if she did level. It simply wouldn¡¯t be that beneficial yet. She was pretty sure that saving to upgrade her Abilities to level three was why Amy hadn¡¯t bought many Abilities.


    On the other hand, maybe Amy just didn¡¯t have many categories for her Abilities. Sophia had six, but Dav only had five, and they both had a Species Spell Reservoir. Amy could easily have only three or four categories, which would mean far fewer cheap Abilities.


    Sophia shook her head and focused on her Species Abilities. She wanted to finish while everyone else was gone so that she could pay attention to them, which meant she needed to get on with it.


    She had a bunch of options for her free Ability, but she was going to take Magic Attuned Aura. She¡¯d found it early in the section of Magical feats and read it to the group; both Rensyn and Amy told her to take it immediately and not worry about missing something else good. She¡¯d finished going through the long list, even the Physical, Mental, and Team Abilities, but at the end she had to admit that Magic Attuned Aura was hard to beat.


    Sophia couldn¡¯t find anything like it in the records Rensyn found, but that was because the similar examples all had to do with a specific element or sub-element Sophia didn¡¯t have. It was apparently a famous Ability tree for people who focused on a single element, regardless of what their other focus was, but neither Rensyn nor Amy had ever heard of it being able to affect all magic. Registry Master Jessamine had Light Attuned Aura, which was apparently a large piece of why she was called the Shield of the Sun. Samuel had Fire Attuned Aura, which explained why none of his fire spells set the forest on fire; he told them not to.


    Magic Attuned Aura


    Your aura resonates with the power of magic. You can weakly affect magic within your aura in any way you choose.


    Sophia took her time and searched for anything that became available because she now had Magic Attuned Aura, but she couldn¡¯t find anything new. If it unlocked anything, it was something she didn¡¯t have access to yet for some other reason.


    Sophia hesitated before choosing her next Species Ability. It was also an Aura Ability, but it was one she¡¯d hoped to hold off on. Unfortunately, now that she had Magic Attuned Aura, she was pretty sure she needed it. MageSight was nice, but it didn¡¯t tell her what was magical inside her aura and she couldn¡¯t affect things she didn¡¯t know were there. At the same time, there was a trick Amy mentioned that Sophia was going to try; sometimes, Abilities required each other to unlock but the old Ability didn¡¯t have to be in an Ability slot. If it did need to be there, the Guide would warn you if you tried to remove a required prerequisite.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    There was no warning. Sophia¡¯s addition of Aural MageSense and removal of MageSight went smoothly. It was actually a little disconcerting; she couldn¡¯t turn off her Aural MageSense, though she could manage to not pay attention to it. It was like hearing; the sense couldn¡¯t be closed but that didn¡¯t mean she was always listening. It was also strange to realize that Aural MageSense was significantly shorter range than MageSight, because she couldn¡¯t sense any magic that wasn¡¯t in her aura now that MageSight was gone. Sophia almost reslotted MageSight, even though she knew she had other Abilities she wanted more right now.


    Aural MageSense


    Feel the magic within your aura.


    She still had one slot open and it was the hard one. She didn¡¯t even have to look back at the abilities she¡¯d noted as possibilities earlier; a whole new set of Species Abilities were available and some of them were amazing.


    Magical Translucence


    You can choose to diffuse magic that strikes you, reducing its effect on you and spreading a weakened effect over a wider area.


    She didn¡¯t even have to ask to know that Magical Translucence was good. The only real question was how common magic was. She could easily see it having similar abilities that were either better or possibly shareable at higher levels, as well.


    Scaley


    Call upon your heritage to gain the scales of your ancestors.


    The description didn¡¯t actually say what the scales did, but if they were really dragon scales, Sophia didn¡¯t need to know more. Dragon scales could be broken, but it wasn¡¯t easy.


    Manifest Wings


    Temporarily create a pair of wings formed of magic that can lift you into the sky.


    Sophia wanted to be able to fly. It wasn¡¯t a practical wish, but she still wanted to be able to fly.


    Discordant Magic Aura


    The magic that surrounds you is yours. It is more difficult for others to cast spells within your aura.


    The Ability didn¡¯t sound like it cared whether the other person was an ally or not, but that wasn¡¯t entirely a bad thing. It simply meant she needed to have control of her aura; even if she couldn¡¯t control the discordance, she could always withdraw her aura from around her allies. She¡¯d probably eventually learn to control it. The real question was if it was a permanent addition to her aura or an Ability she had to use; there were advantages and disadvantages for both possibilities.


    Magic Sapping Aura


    The magic that surrounds you is yours. Drain some of the power from spells within your aura.


    Like the discordant aura, the sapping aura didn¡¯t mention a way to exclude spells she didn¡¯t want to weaken. That was worse for the sapping aura; it would drain spells that were cast to air Sophia as well as ones meant to hurt her, and Sophia couldn¡¯t exactly exclude a spell cast on her from her aura. The upside was that it would work even when the spellcaster wasn¡¯t inside her aura. The Ability also didn¡¯t mention where the magic that was drained went; did it simply dissipate in the air and turn into natural magical residue or could Sophia steal some of it for her own mana pool?


    It almost didn¡¯t matter what the answer was. Sophia thought the aura was interesting, but she wasn¡¯t going to choose it at this point and would probably never choose it. She expected to overall be aided by magic more than she was hindered, so it would only be hurting herself.


    Harmonious Magic Aura


    Your magic is in tune with the world around you. It is easier for others to cast spells within your aura.


    This Ability was exactly the opposite of the Discordant Magic Aura. Sophia liked it more, and she had to wonder if it was possible to take both and change between them.


    Maybe she could learn to manage one or both on her own? She expected that to be extremely difficult, but if she managed it she¡¯d have exactly the sort of fine control she was worried about.


    The list of possible auras that could affect magic in one way or another went on and on. She could boost others¡¯ spells, but that one did mention that it cost mana. She could make her aura visibly radiate magic, gently push people away from her, erode their energy, or draw those with false life towards their end. Sophia could fairly easily figure out that all four of those were her elements and sub-elements. She wasn¡¯t impressed.


    She could apparently also boost or hinder any specific element or common sub-element with her magic; that list was impressive but also basically useless as far as Sophia was concerned. She wasn¡¯t confident it would be a noticeable change with any elements other than the ones linked to magic; more importantly, Amy didn¡¯t have a preferred element and Dav¡¯s element wasn¡¯t on the list.


    After the auras, Sophia only found one more extremely interesting Ability. She had no idea whatsoever when it would be useful, but that made it more interesting.


    Prismatic Magic


    Split magic into its constituent elements.


    There were also four options she¡¯d noted as being possible upgrades from the older list. Two of them were upgrades to her shield, and she simply wasn¡¯t getting hit so they didn¡¯t seem that important. The other two were worth another look.


    Warped Breath


    Infuse your breath with your Warped element, then exhale to damage your enemies.


    Death¡¯s Embrace


    There are those that walk the line between life and death. Many are difficult to harm, yet you know the way to bring them to the sweet embrace of death as easily as the living.


    Range still seemed like a possible issue for Warped Breath. If it actually had a useful range, like dragon¡¯s breath from the stories, it would be quite useful.


    Death¡¯s Embrace would be great if she was fighting things that needed it, but that was why she had the spell True Death Bolt. It probably wouldn¡¯t be as effective, but she also wasn¡¯t fighting those enemies.


    With this many good options, Sophia tossed away any notion of moving up to level three immediately. She was definitely buying some more Abilities. The only question was which ones.


    They weren¡¯t all the same price, but she was still pretty sure she could work out how many she could get. She had one slot open; if the prices went up the way she expected, she¡¯d definitely be able to afford two slots and three Abilities. Four was only possible if she took Warped Breath, Death¡¯s Embrace, Prismatic Magic, and one of the two shield improvements that she¡¯d already dismissed. Any other set of choices was simply too many Wisps. That meant she had three slots available, not four.

 Chapter 128 - Forgetfulness

    Sophia struck the magic-draining auras off the list first. If it was that important, she had other tools to deal with enemy spells. On top of that, her new Magic Attuned Aura Ability could probably do the same thing, even if it required more work. It likely wouldn¡¯t be as powerful, but she had to make a choice.


    Harmonious Aura took longer to dismiss. She was far more likely to have allies in her aura than enemies, after all, and Dav did have spells. It wasn¡¯t his primary thing, though, and once again she could get some of the same benefit from her Magic Attuned Aura. It simply wasn¡¯t worth the slot.


    Death¡¯s Embrace was the next one she decided against. It hadn¡¯t been important yet and she did have a spell. Like the aura abilities, it probably wasn¡¯t as good as the ability she was ignoring, but it wasn¡¯t worth it.


    Magical Translucence and Scaley were defensive Abilities, while Warped Breath was offensive and Manifest Wings was situational. She still had no idea how to categorize Prismatic Magic. Nothing in the Registry¡¯s records hinted at an Ability like that.


    She didn¡¯t need another attack, not really. Warped Breath was probably similar to Force Bolt; it could wait.


    Her only real defensive Ability was Aura Armor, and-


    Sophia froze and stared at her Status in shock. She could trade the Ability out. Why hadn¡¯t she thought of that earlier? Yes, it helped her avoid getting hit, but only a little. If she had scales, she wouldn¡¯t be hurt badly even if something did manage to hit her; that should be more valuable. She couldn¡¯t be sure how much of an improvement the second level in Aura Armor was, but she was sure actual dragon scales were better. She could just barely afford to drop it and pick up Scaley as well as three of the other Species Abilities.


    So. She could afford three Abilities and she¡¯d narrowed her list down to Magical Translucence, Manifest Wings, and Prismatic Magic. She was done.


    She felt pretty good about it, too; the only minor hiccup other than how long picking everything was that she had to improve the slot level of her first Martial Ability in order to set Summon Echo into the slot. She had enough spare Wisps to cover that, though it was a lot closer than she really wanted to admit.


    One quick look through her various Status screens later, Sophia buried her head in her hands. How could she have forgotten that she had not one but two bonus abilities on offer? She¡¯d only picked one!


    At least she could hold it over her friends¡¯ heads. She bet they¡¯d forgotten about it, too.


    Well, technically, she could choose increased amounts of Wisps until she reached the first upgrade, but her recent experience choosing Abilities made it obvious why Amy valued bonus Abilities so much. The free slot alone was huge, because it didn¡¯t increase the cost of additional slots and that added up quickly; her Spellblade Spells and Martial Abilities were dirt cheap because she didn¡¯t have to pay for the Abilities and there weren¡¯t many slots, while her Species Spells and Abilities were getting very pricey.


    Since the Grand Feat didn¡¯t mention the Ability¡¯s category, Sophia¡¯s best guess was that it was going to be Unaffiliated.


    She went ahead and picked the Ability rather than additional Wisps, then checked her Wisp Dedication screen. It wasn¡¯t under Unaffiliated; instead, it seemed to be its own category. Sophia tried not to get her hopes up, and her caution seemed justified when she found out that it was separate because she could choose an Ability of ¡°any unlocked type that is related to the Nexus Defense, Corpsevines, Sapient Investigation, Plants, Flame, or Natural Magic categories.¡±


    This was going to take some time and research.


    By the time the door opened again and Amy stuck her head in, Sophia had managed to dismiss Spellblade Spells, Spellblade Martial Abilities, Species Spells, and Species Abilities from her options. Cliff didn¡¯t have anything new for her and while there were definitely some interesting things, like a Fire Blast spell, Sophia didn¡¯t see anything that she really wanted.


    ¡°I thought you said you were almost done?¡± Amy scooted the rest of the way inside and let the door close behind her. ¡°I¡¯ve been waiting at the practice range.¡±


    Sophia blinked, then flushed. She shook her head; this time, it wasn¡¯t her fault. Not entirely, at least. ¡°I could use some help. What category did you pick for your other bonus Ability? Any suggestions for mine?¡±


    Amy frowned. ¡°I took a Team ability, I know I told you that.¡±


    Sophia shook her head and felt herself grin. ¡°Not that one. The other bonus ability. The one that had a bunch of corpsevine and Nexus Defense options.¡±


    Amy blinked, then visibly paled. ¡°By the Broken Lord¡¯s Broken Sword,¡± she muttered. ¡°I forgot about that. Uh¡­¡±


    Sophia suppressed her snicker. That was exactly how she felt about it. It was funny to see the normally self-assured Amy off balance, but she really did need some advice and it wasn¡¯t worth more than a momentary joke anyway. ¡°I originally thought Natural Magic might work for me, but it¡¯s not what I thought it was at all. I thought it would be working with the raw, unattuned or muddily attuned mana that collects naturally and near spells, but that¡¯s not what it is at all. Natural Magic is plants and animals, and it specifically excludes anything that will work on people with Spheres. I guess it might work on Taika?¡±


    Taika was a monster, but so was the corpsevine, so Sophia expected it would work. She wasn¡¯t sure why all of the Abilities that actually looked useful specifically prohibited people with Spheres, but they did. She wasn¡¯t convinced it was useful.


    Amy grimaced. ¡°Natural magic is mostly for people who use their environment to their advantage. It can be really good, but it requires a matching Sphere. I might be able to find something, since I can take on the shapes of animals, but it would be really specific. I¡¯m ¡­ uh¡­ huh, I wonder if that¡¯s there¡­ oh, good it is.¡±


    Amy refocused on Sophia. ¡°I¡¯m going to take Shared Tag. It was my second choice as a Team ability, but it looks like it¡¯s considered a Sapient Investigation ability as well. It should let me set a tag on someone or something and track them using the tag instead of physical traces; you and Dav and maybe Taika will be able to see it as well. It¡¯s a bit of a specialty Ability, but it can be carried by touch or any Ability, even an arrow, so it should help in a number of different circumstances. My father swears by it.¡±


    Sophia tilted her head to the side. ¡°Was getting to level three more important?¡±Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Amy nodded firmly. ¡°I¡¯m going to jump to level four as soon as I can. There are a couple of level three Abilities I need to reach Night Owl, but the good stuff isn¡¯t until after I specialize.¡± She stepped forward and looked at the notes Sophia had scattered across the table. ¡°What have you looked at so far?¡±


    ¡°I think I¡¯ve looked through everything twice; the list really isn¡¯t that long,¡± Sophia admitted with a sigh. ¡°Nothing really looks good, but I wouldn¡¯t have thought much of Shared Tag either. I think the best thing I¡¯ve found is a Nexus Defense Spellblade Ability; it wasn¡¯t on my other list, so I marked it down.¡±


    Sophia hunted for the sheet of paper she¡¯d used for the short list of Abilities that might be possible. She¡¯d tried to pick the best one from each category and they were generally pretty lackluster. Fire Bolt was on the list, as was an Ability that made corpsevines ignore her and ¡°reduced the presence¡± of people she was with. She tapped the Nexus Defense ability, which was the only one she¡¯d picked that looked like it was probably a Spellblade ability.


    Nexus Knowledge


    Share the knowledge you have collected with the Nexus about monsters that are currently attacking the Nexus, giving all defenders a reduced version of the benefits you receive from Collected Knowledge and all related Abilities.


    Amy¡¯s face scrunched in what seemed to be disbelief. ¡°Why haven¡¯t you already taken that? What does Collected Knowledge do?¡±


    Sophia shrugged slightly. ¡°It makes it easier to remember what I know or maybe what I should know about a monster I¡¯ve fought before. I¡¯m pretty sure it fed me some things about corpsevines, since we fought so many of them. It seems like a pretty minor benefit. I only have one related Ability; it¡¯s a shieldbreaking ability with spells. It seems like it could be useful, if it ever came up, but are we ever going to be in that situation? With Abilities as limited as they are, I want to make the best choices I can.¡±


    ¡°I hope we never have to defend a nexus,¡± Amy agreed, ¡°But we almost had to, here, and I¡¯ve been in cities that were under attack.¡± She grinned as if living in a world where attacks were normal wasn¡¯t a big deal. ¡°It¡¯s pretty limited, definitely, but if we need it I think it¡¯ll be more useful than you think.¡±


    Sophia gestured at the list. ¡°You look. Those are the best ones I could find.¡± Amy definitely had a point; there was no reason not to fill the slot with a rarely used Ability if she wouldn¡¯t use any of the other options either.


    The second-best ability on the list was definitely the Sapient Investigation Ability, but it was just as specialized as Nexus Knowledge, even though it could have been useful if the Registry Master hadn¡¯t known who the bird pin belonged to. Guilty Glow would make an item that belonged to someone glow to Sophia¡¯s vision when she looked at both it and the person who owned it. She couldn¡¯t use it to track someone down easily, just to confirm ownership. It seemed quite a bit less useful than Amy¡¯s Shared Tag.


    It didn¡¯t take Amy long to read the list. When she finished, she set it down and nodded decisively. ¡°Definitely Nexus Knowledge. But you already knew that, didn¡¯t you?¡±


    Well, there was a reason Sophia pointed it out to Amy. She¡¯d thought it was her best choice. She went ahead and selected it and saw the Ability appear in her Spellblade Abilities as she¡¯d expected. She was pretty sure she was over the recommended number of Abilities in several categories, but she was happy with where she stood.


    Technically, she didn¡¯t have to take anything more before she pushed up to level four, but she was confident she¡¯d check the different options at level three. She didn¡¯t think she¡¯d take any abilities before then, unless Cliff Collected something especially good.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Sophia


    </td>


    <td>


    Spells:


    </td>


    <td>


    Unaffiliated Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Warped Human


    </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Empowerment, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Innate Communication, Bonus, Free)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    (Feather Image)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Root Grab, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Spell Hardening, 3, 3)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Body: 7


    </td>


    <td>


    (Offensive Illusion Field, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Visual Targeting, 3, 3)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Core: 9


    </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Overcharge, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Disruptive Magic, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Keep Warm, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Shield: 30


    </td>


    <td>


    Martial Abilities:


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Summon Echo, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    Species Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Wisps: 7


    </td>


    <td>


    (Shaped Growth, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Scaley, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Spell Reservoir, 3, 3)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Spheres


    </td>


    <td>


    Species Spells:


    </td>


    <td>


    (Aural Magic Sense, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Spellblade (Hallow)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Force Bolt, 3, 3)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Magic Attuned Aura, Bonus, Free)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Level: 2


    </td>


    <td>


    (Force Blast, 3, 3)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Magical Translucence, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Corruption Bolt, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Manifest Wings, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Collector (Linked)


    </td>


    <td>


    (True Death Bolt, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Prismatic Magic, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Level: 2


    </td>


    <td>


    (Attractive Affix, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    Unavailable:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Parrying Presence, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    Aura Armor, 2


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Embody Element, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    MageSight, 2


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Feather Image)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Attunements:


    </td>


    <td>


    Spellblade Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Contraceptive Amulet, 3


    </td>


    <td>


    (Imbue Blade, 3, 3)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Animate Blade, 3, 3)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Animate Spell Blade, 3, 3)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Collected Knowledge, 3, 3)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Antithetical Shattering Spell, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Nexus Knowledge, Bonus, Free)


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>

 Chapter 129 - Davs Choices

    The door to the room clicked open before Sophia had made it any further than standing up. She grinned; Dav stood in the doorway. That made it a perfect time to ask him the question that she¡¯d asked Amy. ¡°So, Dav, what did you get for your other free Ability?¡±


    ¡°You mean, other than Eldritch Splice?¡± Dav grinned at Sophia. She hadn¡¯t realized he¡¯d picked that for his  free Ability, but it made sense; it was probably a Team Ability. ¡°I found a Summon that wasn¡¯t available on my regular list, Eldritch Fire Bud. It looks interesting, especially combined with one of the Eldritch Summoner Abilities I found, but I really won¡¯t know until I try it out. What did you pick?¡±


    ¡°Nexus Knowledge,¡± Sophia admitted with a momentary flash of envy. She wasn¡¯t sure which was worse, the fact that Dav found something that might be useful frequently while she had to live with something that was very specialized or the fact that he¡¯d remembered while both Amy and Sophia had forgotten. She was sure her Ability would be good if she ever got to use it, but it chafed a little that she couldn¡¯t even try it out.


    ¡°Amy and I are done; we¡¯re about to head out to the practice yard to try out our new Abilities. Want to come with us?¡± Sophia kind of wanted to see what would be called a Fire Bud; the two terms didn¡¯t seem to quite go together. Knowing what Dav¡¯s Abilities generally looked like, it was certain to be interesting.


    ¡°I want to try out my weapon Ability again and see if the sword really is the reason it didn¡¯t work. It shouldn¡¯t take long; I¡¯ll join you as soon as I¡¯m done.¡± Dav drew a sword and set it on the table. There was nothing special about it; it was a very plain sword with a straight blade, a flat cross guard, leather wrapped around the hilt, and a spherical pommel with what looked like a small knob of metal at the far end of the sphere. Both the blade and the hilt were longer than Sophia would prefer for herself, but Dav was taller than she was; it was probably properly sized to be comfortable for him.


    Sophia stopped where she was. Unless this was like his armor, it wouldn¡¯t take long; there was no reason not to wait. He¡¯d had the Ability for a while; it would be good for him to actually have a chance to use it.


    Dav shivered in place, then a colored wave of his mana seemed to wash across the sword. It was the weirdest thing; Sophia felt it instead of seeing it, but it was still purple. It wrapped around the sword like oddly flexible fingers, then pushed into it. The sword shimmered and began to visibly change.


    A pattern shimmered into view on the side of the blade near the hilt and both the crossguard and pommel turned golden. A braided purple cord extended from the pommel and turned into a tassel while the leather wrapping the hilt turned the same bright purple. An area on both the pommel and the crossguard seemed to bubble upwards, then open almost like an eye to reveal a glassy surface with a dark stripe in the middle surrounded by some sort of purple multicolored fluid that actually moved as Sophia watched it.


    ¡°I¡¯d say that worked,¡± Amy stated. ¡°Where did you get a growth weapon?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not,¡± Dav answered. ¡°It¡¯s not even attuned, at least I don¡¯t think it is. This is an Ability, but one that I can only have on one weapon at a time. I think. I¡¯m not even sure it does anything directly; I think it¡¯s necessary for some of the other Abilities I have to work correctly. That seems to be a theme now, with both this and the telepathy Ability having an Ability that doesn¡¯t do much but is required for other Abilities.¡±


    ¡°Cornerstone Abilities can be like that,¡± Amy agreed. ¡°It¡¯s hard to know when you have one sometimes; that¡¯s one of the big things the Registry¡¯s lists are good for. Nightowl has a couple, one for each of the major attack types. They have very minor benefits but are necessary for the stronger Abilities.


    ¡°That sounds like Imbue Blade,¡± Sophia answered. ¡°It was useful but minor, but it¡¯s needed for a lot of other Abilities. The thing is, Dav¡¯s do seem to be more limited; he really can¡¯t do anything with them until he has the second Ability.¡± Maybe she shouldn¡¯t envy the fact that he¡¯d gotten a useful Ability after all. She didn¡¯t have any Abilities that just took up slots that she couldn¡¯t remove.


    Sophia paused. She didn¡¯t remember any Abilities that depended on Dav¡¯s weapon Ability. ¡°Does that mean you¡¯re done, too?¡±


    Dav nodded and shared his Status with Sophia. She wasn¡¯t sure if he shared it with Amy or not, but she hoped not; Sophia still wasn¡¯t sure what the problem with Hallows was, really, but it did clearly show that his Sphere was a Hallow. Amy was a friend, but Sophia didn¡¯t know if that one word would change things or not and she wasn¡¯t quite willing to risk it.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Dav


    </td>


    <td>


    Summons:


    </td>


    <td>


    Unaffiliated Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Chaos-Warped Human


    </td>


    <td>


    (Bastion of Health, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    Innate Communication (Bonus, Free)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    (Eye Image)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Thorn Emitter, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Mana Core Specialization: Eldritch, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Body: 10


    </td>


    <td>


    (Eyes that See, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Sword Forms, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Core: 4


    </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Fire Bud, Bonus, Free)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Extended Leap, 2, 2)Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Sheathe, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Shield: 20


    </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Anchor, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    Species Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Arrows, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Bonded Armor, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Wisps: 13


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Mana Specialization Attunement, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Species Spells:


    </td>


    <td>


    (Spell Reservoir, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Spheres


    </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Empowerment, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Splice, Bonus, Free)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Eldritch Summoner (Hallow)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Overcharge, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Mental Diffusion, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Level: 2


    </td>


    <td>


    (Spellwarp, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Aura, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    (Eye Image)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Warp Space, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Empty, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Attunements:


    </td>


    <td>


    (Light and Dark, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Contraceptive Amulet, 3


    </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Projection, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    Eldritch Summoner Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Quickstep, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Reinforcement, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Eldritch Armor, 7 (Growth)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Aurora, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Weapon Alteration, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Level: 2


    </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Weapon, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Empower Summon, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Perfect Fit: Dav


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Unbreakable Summon, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Rapid Assembly


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Embody Summon, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Self-Repair


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    ¡°Eldritch Sheathe and Eldritch Weapon are the Abilities that need me to have a weapon that¡¯s mine,¡± Dav added before Sophia could ask. ¡°An Attuned weapon will work for Eldritch Weapon but Eldritch Sheathe isn¡¯t as clear. I think it might require the Alteration Ability.¡±


    Sophia nodded as she hunted the Abilities down. They weren¡¯t where she expected them, since one was a Summon and the other was a Spell, but she supposed she shouldn¡¯t be surprised. Eyes that See was a Summon Ability that altered Dav¡¯s vision; an Ability that ¡°summoned¡± something around a weapon and called it a sheathe didn¡¯t seem out of place.


    Now that all of them were finished and too low on Wisps to change anything, the three friends packed up the remaining paperwork and returned it to Aymini before they headed out to the practice area. This time, instead of separating, they stayed together. Since they were going to test Abilities like Dav¡¯s new Fire Bud summon, they headed to the section of the practice area covered in sand.


    Amy didn¡¯t have much new to show off; all she really had to show was her new owl shape. She refused to show her weasel shape, but she was happy to show off her owl shape. She was definitely an owl, but she wasn¡¯t the barn owl Sophia expected; instead, she was predominantly white with a striped sort of pattern and a strong face outline that looked almost like a mask.


    The first time Amy tried to fly, she fell instead. It was obvious what she¡¯d spend the training session doing while Dav and Sophia checked out their new Abilities: Amy was going to have to learn how to fly. Sophia suppressed her spike of envy and reminded herself that she now had a flight Ability as well. She hoped she didn¡¯t look as silly as Amy did.


    The second time Amy fell, Dav silently summoned a Healing Beacon. It was odd, even for Dav¡¯s beacons, since it looked almost like several different plastics melted around each other as it rose from the sand. It almost looked like it should have been something, but Sophia couldn¡¯t imagine what black material surrounding a clear cylinder holding a frozen bubbling waterfall of green might mean.


    Sophia and Dav walked a little ways away from Amy¡¯s practice area and started to share their Abilities. Many of them were very straightforward, so they tried them a few times and moved on. They traded Ability information back and forth, starting with Sophia¡¯s Eldritch Empowerment. She found that she had very limited control over it; the first time she tried it, it swept up sand from around her and covered her in a surprisingly solid sandy defense that didn¡¯t impede her movement at all. When she dismissed the spell, the sand simply collapsed to the ground, leaving Sophia to dig her feet out of the small mound.


    Dav¡¯s Sword Forms was an advanced version of a basic swordsmanship Ability; it was more to help Dav practice and learn when there was no one who could directly train him than for its combat utility. Extended Leap, on the other hand, was almost exclusively a combat ability; it would let Dav jump a little higher or a little farther than he otherwise could. It got a fair bit of use as Dav worked out exactly what it let him do. It was especially nice because unlike a spell, it was always active.


    Sophia¡¯s Root Grab made roots grow from the sand and attempt to capture Dav. She only managed to grab one leg, but that was enough for them both to decide that the spell was useful; even with his high Body, he couldn¡¯t easily pull free once the roots grabbed him.


    Dav¡¯s Eldritch Aura was invisible but Sophia could feel it and she was pretty sure it wasn¡¯t just her Aural Mana Sense. It didn¡¯t bother her, but it distinctly reminded her of the Origin. She had no doubt that it would be unpleasant at best for others, even Amy.


    Sophia¡¯s Offensive Illusion Field turned the entire area into a desert to Dav¡¯s senses. She dropped it almost immediately when he froze in place and started to shiver. He didn¡¯t explain his reaction and she didn¡¯t ask; she just made sure to hug him until he relaxed and told herself she¡¯d never use that particular spell on Dav again.


    Dav tried Empower Summon on the healing beacon, but there was no way to know what the effect was; they weren¡¯t hurt. Amy would have to tell them if it helped later. All Dav could tell Sophia was that it took all of his concentration; there was no way he could fight while maintaining the Ability. Unbreakable Summon was similar; whether or not the summon was actually unbreakable, it took Dav out of the fight. That was how two Abilities were described in the Registry¡¯s records, so it was only a little disappointing to know that while they were key Abilities for most summoners, Dav would probably use them rarely.


    Sophia skipped down to Summon Echo next. Since it was her only summoning spell, she wanted to try it both with and without Eldritch Overcharge. She wasn¡¯t sure what to expect; there were so many options. Her best guess was that she¡¯d get something that she had to control, but she wasn¡¯t entirely certain.


    The gardener-mage hadn¡¯t done much while the creature Sophia assumed was her echo was fighting, but she had cast Root Grab, hadn¡¯t she? On top of that, Amy¡¯s guess was that the gardener-mage was a Professional and probably didn¡¯t have many combative Abilities. Sophia hoped the echo would be able to act independently; it would make things a lot easier.

 Chapter 130 - Sophia’s Echoes

    There was no better way to find out than to try it and no better time to try it than now. Sophia triggered the Martial Technique and watched it. Unlike any spell she knew, there wasn¡¯t a spellform that was filled with mana; instead, she had to move in a pattern the Guide showed her. A pulse of mana drained with each movement; the Guide shifted each one slightly to form a symbol stamped in the air with mana and connected to the other symbols with small threads of mana. Even before the short dance was complete, Sophia could vaguely sense a runic pattern. It wasn¡¯t in any of the languages she knew, but she could still tell what it was and it answered one of the questions she¡¯d had about Martial Techniques the whole time.


    They did cost mana. It simply wasn¡¯t the spellcaster¡¯s mana that was used. Instead, the technique user created a pattern that was enhanced into a runescript by the Guide. The runescript that pulled on the natural mana that surrounded everyone and created the effect of the Martial Technique.


    The idea of using mana to create a runescript wasn¡¯t new to Sophia, but she¡¯d always been taught that it was inferior to spellforms because, without a medium, any runescript capable of maintaining itself would be far more complex than the equivalent spellform. If you were going to take the time to use a runescript to avoid the mana cost and do it yourself, you were better off using a physical medium and simplifying the runescript; it would be faster. Summon Echo was definitely not an exception to that; the runescript was dizzyingly complex and Sophia could tell she wasn¡¯t seeing all of it; her Aural Mana Sense was decidedly not sensitive enough.


    Even with the Guide¡¯s help, ¡°casting¡± Summon Echo took several seconds. A ball of multicolored light formed, floating above the sand, then seemed to explode into confetti and a very small feathered dragon, at least compared to other dragons. Her long colorful horns made her height similar to Sophia¡¯s, but her shoulder was only somewhere around Sophia¡¯s waist. She glowed in the light, almost like she was internally lit by the magic she carried.


    Sophia felt a small spike of envy directed towards her summon. She looked a lot like how Sophia had always envisioned her dragon-form, if she ever managed to figure out how to properly shapeshift. She was even not far off from the correct size for a dragon Sophia¡¯s age. It was clear now what Summon Echo was doing; this was an echo of a part of Sophia. She wasn¡¯t a duplicate or controlled by Sophia, but Sophia still guessed that the echo would try to do what she thought was best for Sophia, or at least the reason she was summoned.


    This echo was summoned to test the ability.


    As if she heard that thought, the small dragon grinned at Sophia, then crouched and sprang into the air and flew up into the sky far enough to be among the lowest clouds. She zoomed down and flared her wings at the last moment, curving back up into the sky only to dance in the air at the sheer joy of being freed from the bonds of gravity.


    Sophia was pretty sure it was exactly what she would have done if she were suddenly able to fly easily and freely the way the little dragon did. She felt Dav¡¯s warmth as he moved to stand next to her and watched the sky with her, but it was a long moment before she realized that he didn¡¯t always seem to know where to look for the dragon, while Sophia did. That must be part of the spell, as well.


    Sophia turned to look at their other companion. Amy didn¡¯t seem to notice the dragon until she flew a little too close to the owl, who had finally made it well up into the sky. Amy almost seemed to jump when she saw the dragon; her wing twitched and she slid sideways and started to fall. The feathered dragon bolted forward, slid under Amy, and caught the on her back. The protrusions Sophia had assumed were spines or spikes of some sort flexed under Amy¡¯s weight and bent, more like stiff feathers than anything else.


    The dragon glided to the ground and landed near Sophia and Dav. She stayed still only long enough for Amy to slide to the ground, then she zipped up into the sky to dance with the clouds once more. Amy stood uncertainly in the sand, her feathers ruffled but clearly none the worse for the experience.


    Muffled laughter from beside Sophia gave her Dav¡¯s opinion on the whole sequence. He¡¯d clearly seen it all. Sophia suppressed a matching smile; owl-Amy¡¯s ruffled feathers and spread wings told a story of consternation that was surprisingly hilarious. It only got funnier when Amy turned on the couple, clearly indignant, then waddled away rather than trying to fly.


    ¡°I shouldn¡¯t laugh,¡± Dav muttered from next to Sophia, ¡°But that expression! I didn¡¯t know owls could say that much without words.¡±


    Sophia nodded as she lost the battle against her grin. It was funny, especially since she somehow knew that her summon hadn¡¯t meant to interfere with Amy¡¯s flight; she¡¯d just wanted to fly with someone else.


    Sophia wanted to be up there in the sky with her, and maybe she would later. For now, she wasn¡¯t done testing Summon Echo, so she shook her head and focused on what she knew and what she needed to do. The smile stayed fixed on her face.


    She now knew she could summon an echo that would act independently, though there was also a tether that pulled a little mana from her each moment the summon was active; that made sense, especially since summoning the echo cost no mana in the first place. She couldn¡¯t be certain how good the small dragon would be in a fight, but if nothing else she¡¯d be useful as a flying attacker; she could move quickly and with the scales and claws of a dragon she ought to be able to fight well.


    Sophia suspected that she also had a breath attack of some sort, though until the little dragon came close enough again Sophia couldn¡¯t ask her to use it. She might know where the dragon was but she couldn¡¯t give her commands over that linkage. She had no doubt that the dragon would respond to verbal commands, however; she¡¯d just have to wait until she calmed down enough to return.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Could she summon another? What would the effect of Eldritch Overcharge be on the Martial Technique and the Echo? How much mana would it cost? She wouldn¡¯t be able to evaluate how much better it was in a fight until she was in one, but she could at least find out if there were any negative effects.


    Sophia glanced over at Dav and found him glowing with the same soft green light as his Healing beacon. ¡°Testing something?¡±


    ¡°Embody Summon,¡± Dav answered with a grin. ¡°I finally have a good way to make my beacons mobile, even if I can only embody one at a time.¡±


    The green glow faded. Dav pointed at the ground and Sophia saw a dart, no that had to be a thorn, shoot out of his finger and thud solidly into the sand. Dav winced and rubbed that hand with his other hand. ¡°And I¡¯m not going to use Thorn Emitter that way. That stung. I think I can maybe¡­¡± Dav trailed off and Sophia saw a series of dark bumps rise from his skin and his armor. They developed wicked, hooked points, then disappeared almost as quickly as they appeared. ¡°Nope, not that either. Ow.¡±


    Sophia frowned. She wasn¡¯t sure which Summon spell that could have been. ¡°Was that the fire bud?¡±


    Dav shook his head. He continued rubbing his hand. ¡°Thorn Emitter again. Embody Summon is weird; Healing Beacon only had one path it could take but Thorn Emitter had two, clearly throwing thorns or simply having them. I don¡¯t like either of them.¡± He paused for a moment, then chuckled. ¡°I¡¯m not sure if I want to try Eyes that See or not. It affects me to begin with.¡±


    Sophia shrugged, then offered, ¡°Better to try it now?¡±


    Dav hesitated a moment longer before he triggered the Ability and cast his Summon. His eyes began to glow and turned purple but didn¡¯t change shape the way the spell normally shifted them. More glowing eyes opened all across his armor, replacing individual scales with eyelids. It was one of the oddest things Sophia had ever seen, especially when they all blinked in unison.


    Dav started to turn his head, then froze and clearly dismissed the effect. The eyes closed, turning back into the normal patterning of the armor. ¡°That could be useful, but it¡¯s going to take practice. It¡¯s not seeing magic like normal, it¡¯s seeing everything around me instead.¡± He paused and bit his lip. ¡°Does it actually make more eyes?¡±


    Sophia nodded slowly. ¡°Some of the scales on your armor become eyelids. It¡¯s an interesting effect.¡±


    Dav raised an eyebrow at her statement. Sophia could only envy the fact that he could move one at a time. ¡°That still seems worth it, but it¡¯ll take some getting used to. Care to spar after we finish going through our Abilities?¡±


    Sophia nodded. She looked forward to that; even if she didn¡¯t, it was probably the only way Dav was going to get to try out his Sword Forms Ability.


    ¡°Your turn again,¡± Dav said with a grin. ¡°I want to test my other summons before trying them with Embody.¡±


    Sophia tilted her head to the side. She was pretty sure it was still her turn since she was still testing Summon Echo, but maybe it counted separately since she was also testing Eldritch Overcharge for the first time. On the other hand, it wasn¡¯t like they¡¯d set up formal rules or anything; they were just showing off for each other.


    Sophia really hoped this would be spectacular. Summon Echo was good, but surely an Overcharged one would be better?


    Sophia cast the spell, then started the Summon Echo Martial Technique movements. She could see how the spell interacted with the technique¡¯s runescript; it affected both the Affinity and the size of the connections between the different runic symbols drawn with her mana. It was a complex interaction that was probably only possible because the Martial Technique was done with a runescript. That made her wonder exactly how the spell worked with Dav¡¯s Summons. It clearly did, since he¡¯d used it with the older ones, but Sophia was pretty sure those were closer to spells than runescripts. Maybe it widened the mana threads used to make the spellforms?


    As Sophia completed the short dance, a ball of darkness shot with light, like a cloudy night sky, floated above the sand in much the same position as the ball of light that formed after a normal Summon Echo. It spread quickly and exploded in a profusion of light and darkness that revealed a far darker purple dragon outlined against a night sky for a moment before the backdrop faded away and left the dragon behind.


    This dragon was taller than the original echo; her shoulder was the same height as Sophia¡¯s, which made her the size of a large horse rather than a big cat. Her scales were a variegated deep purple instead of the paler blue of the original summon, but they were still filled with light. Her wings were batlike, far more like the traditional Western dragon than the birdlike wings of the other Echo. They were still colorful, but instead of glowing brightly-colored feathers, they were filled with shifting images that reminded Sophia of the false-color pictures of stars and nebulae taken by Hubble.


    The dragon nodded at Sophia with a wide grin before she took off into the sky to fly loops with her sibling. Sophia grinned up at them for a long moment, then realized she needed to see just how many of them she could summon. The mana drain wasn¡¯t significant and an army of dragons would be absolutely awesome.


    Sophia moved in the steps of the Martial Technique, but nothing happened. They might as well have been the steps of a normal dance, rather than a Martial Technique that was the next thing to a spell. It seemed like the Guide wasn¡¯t about to let her summon more than two Echoes. Sophia had to wonder if that was a true limit or if it was simply because her Ability was level two? It could also be because she¡¯d Overcharged the second one; maybe you were only supposed to have one Echo, but Eldritch Overcharge could overcome the limit?


    Sophia tried again, but although she could cast Eldritch Overcharge, the Summon Echo Martial Technique still failed to do anything at all.


    As Sophia gave up, she watched both dragons descend from the clouds and land near Amy. They seemed to be trying to teach her how to fly by example. Sophia watched for a few minutes, but Amy started following their directions fairly quickly. Sophia hoped it helped; Amy was having severe issues even getting off the ground. The flight Sophia¡¯s first echo interrupted was the only time Sophia had seen her actually get high, and she was only about ten feet or so above the sand when she was startled.

 Chapter 131 - Testing New Abilities

    Sophia and Dav watched Sophia¡¯s echoes encourage Amy. Amy seemed skittish at first, but it wasn¡¯t long before she figured out they were trying to help her fly. It quickly became apparent that the dragons had the significant advantage of magically-assisted flight, but that didn¡¯t mean they couldn¡¯t help.


    Somehow, Dav kept the presence of mind to go ahead and use his Summon Eldritch Fire Bud Ability while they watched the two dragons fly. What came out of the ground was a very colorful tiny bud of a flower with a lick of flame that formed at its very tip and a small sandy stem. The entire thing was no more than an inch wide and Sophia couldn¡¯t feel any heat from it even though she stood less than a foot away from it. She wouldn¡¯t want to step on it, but that was all.


    The flying show was far more interesting than the minor walking hazard. The dragons moved past simply showing off and started trying to seriously teach as Sophia watched. Amy followed their actions, running a few steps then attempting to launch herself into the air. Each time, she landed roughly before she had her wings fully spread. Both dragons tried to help, but neither one seemed certain how to help Amy manage her takeoff.


    ¡°Huh, interesting. It¡¯s warming up.¡±


    Sophia looked down to see what Dav was talking about and saw him kneeling a little ways from the fire bud with his hand stretched out towards it. It was at least twice the size it had been originally and it had opened up in the center to reveal a larger fire. A heat haze rose above it. So far, it seemed like it might make a decent campfire, but Sophia wasn¡¯t sure what the point was. Maybe it would grow more?


    The flower didn¡¯t change quickly, so after about a minute, Sophia turned her attention back to the flight lessons. They¡¯d made progress while she wasn¡¯t looking and now that they had, the division of labor was obvious. The original echo with the feathered wings would show Amy how she adjusted her wings and feathers to achieve different effects, then the larger overcharged echo would scoop Amy up and fly her a few feet off the ground so that she could jump and practice without needing to take off each time. At first, they were little more than awkward glides, but it wasn¡¯t very long before Amy started to add some more use of her wings.


    It was interesting to watch, as much for the way the echoes managed to talk Amy through the motions without actually speaking as for the actual flight.


    Sophia felt a little warm, like she was standing too close to a campfire. When she looked in that direction, the reason was obvious: she was standing too close to a campfire. The fire bud had quadrupled in size and the fire now covered most of its interior. The flame changed color, as well, but Sophia¡¯s guess was that it was a change in what was burning rather than simply in temperature as the multicolored fire was surrounded by more normal red flame.


    Sophia took a step back, her attention now firmly on Dav¡¯s Ability instead of her own. It was changing quickly now; instead of taking minutes, it seemed like only seconds before the fire intensified once more. It sank a little as the sand shifted under it, but it was still easily a foot taller than mere moments earlier. The flame flickered above it and the haze seemed to hide everything on the other side of it, even though it wasn¡¯t that warm. At least, Sophia didn¡¯t think it was; it was hard to tell when she couldn¡¯t get close to it. Maybe it was smoke rather than just haze?


    Sophia stepped back again as the Eldritch Flame Bud seemed to flower in front of her eyes. It was easily as tall as her waist, now, and spread flame and dark smoke dotted with bright flecks far wider than it was tall. She could feel the uncomfortably hot temperature against her skin even though she was at least fifteen feet from the flower it emanated from.


    As she watched, she started trying to figure out how to incorporate the slow-growing flame into a fight. It was almost more of a trap than true attack, since it gave more than enough time for someone to get away. At the same time, it started off seemingly inconsequential; she could easily see a monster being surprised and trapped if it was used properly. The other option was to try and anchor the enemy in the area it would grow into, if the anchor would stay. Sophia suspected that her Root Grab probably wouldn¡¯t, but that didn¡¯t mean she couldn¡¯t try.


    Sophia watched the solid tendrils of the flower, probably its leaves, writhe for several minutes. The fire flower had stopped growing in size and intensity, but it stayed where it was.


    ¡°I think it would grow faster if I overcharged it,¡± Dav commented, clearly talking about his Ability. ¡°That might be useful, but I¡¯m really hopeful about using it with Embody.¡± He snorted then grinned, clearly amused. ¡°Assuming I¡¯m far enough away from everyone and everything I care about, at least. I bet it would have helped a lot against that giant monster if I could wilt it just by being near it.¡±This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Dav relaxed a little as he deactivated his summon. The flaming flower collapsed into a pile of sand, once more the same color as its surroundings. Sophia suspected it was very hot sand, but she wasn¡¯t about to go step in it to find out for sure.


    Sophia grinned at Dav. She could come up with a dozen different ways bringing a human flamethrower to a fight could go wrong, but she didn¡¯t have to think hard to come up with ways it could also be useful, at least not as long as they were careful. That was why they were in the sand, after all. ¡°Let¡¯s see it.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s your turn,¡± Dav protested weakly. To Sophia¡¯s ears, it sounded more like he was protesting because he thought he was supposed to than because he actually didn¡¯t want to try out the combination.


    Sophia raised an eyebrow at him. ¡°You haven¡¯t finished the Ability.¡±


    Dav raised an eyebrow and paused for just long enough that Sophia thought he was going to object again, then grinned. The first thing that changed was Dav¡¯s eyes as they brightened and began to glow with red fire. ¡°Shall we spar a bit while it grows?¡±


    Sophia wasn¡¯t about to pass up the chance to see what difference Dav¡¯s Sword Forms and Extended Leap made in a fight, so she eagerly joined him. It was quickly obvious that he needed practice; several times, he seemed to try to move two different ways at once, almost as if his practice and the suggestions of his new Ability were giving different suggestions and he wasn¡¯t quite sure which to follow.


    While they were fighting, Sophia felt an odd feeling, like the snap of a magical thread, and called a short halt while she figured out what was going on. A long look at Amy, where she saw only Amy and the overcharged Echo, told her what the snap was. A moment later, the overcharged echo dissipated into bright sparks with the same feeling of a magical link breaking. The summons could stay around for quite a while, but not forever.


    Sophia tried to summon another, to make sure she could, but although she could feel the magic pulsing with each step and being stamped into a pattern, each step also felt like she was touching a sore spot that might become a bruise. She persevered anyway, but when she finished the martial technique, she wasn¡¯t rewarded with a small dragon. All she saw was a dragon-shaped puff of magical light, as if the dragon she¡¯d tried to summon immediately dissipated.


    Maybe there was a reason the Guide only allowed two at a time. If nothing else, she¡¯d definitely discovered a limit she needed to be aware of. She wondered how long it would be before she could summon an echo again; she¡¯d have to try later. For now, she needed to get back to the spar with Dav.


    The two of them went back and forth until Sophia realized she was dripping with sweat and it wasn¡¯t the exercise; instead, it was the wisps of flame and the heat that Dav radiated. She called a halt and backed off; they weren¡¯t going to accomplish any significant progress like this and they¡¯d more or less established how long the Ability took to become really noticeable. It was slow but could matter in a longer fight.


    Sophia watched carefully this time. When it began to look like fire he was on fire, rather than simply dripping fire, she had to ask. ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re okay? That looks very uncomfortable.¡±


    Dav shook his head. ¡°It isn¡¯t. If anything, it feels warm and comfortable. Why?¡±


    Sophia tried to send him an image of what he looked like with fire crawling up his skin.


    Dav didn¡¯t have a good answer for the image. ¡°Huh. Well, I guess we just have to wait.¡± He sat down where he¡¯d been standing and looked around. After a moment, he pointed off to Sophia¡¯s left. ¡°Oh hey, look!¡±


    Sophia followed his directions. In the distance, Amy was flying. It looked more like a desperate scramble in the air than the smooth flight of an owl, but even that was a marked improvement from earlier in the day. ¡°Good for her.¡±


    Sophia watched Amy for a moment longer, then turned back to Dav. She didn¡¯t want to miss anything.


    The fire crawling across Dav¡¯s skin changed colors, then his skin began to darken into a deep purple. His hair seemed to clump and begin to wave like the Eldritch Fire Bud¡¯s leaves, while the flame seemed to travel inside Dav, then break out from his chest, neck, and head. Some of the flame seemed to solidify into dark whirls that covered his armor, but the armor itself seemed to melt away and turn into flame. By the time Dav was completely engulfed in fire, Sophia would not have been able to recognize him if she hadn¡¯t known who he was.


    ¡°That¡¯s pretty disturbing,¡± Sophia noted as she sent Dav another image. ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re fine?¡±


    ¡°Yes?¡± Dav didn¡¯t sound nearly as certain as Sophia wanted him to. He seemed to think the same thing, because the fire in his chest almost immediately started to dim, followed by the flames around him. It took most of a minute for Dav to return to more-or-less normal and brush the ash that formed on his armor off. Sophia tried to approach him, but he continued to radiate too much heat for her to get close.


    ¡°That was different,¡± Dav said with a frown. ¡°It felt like I was expanding, turning into fire. I¡¯m not sure I could actually hold my sword at the end. I don¡¯t feel like I¡¯m injured, but¡­¡±


    ¡°But you think you shouldn¡¯t do it again any time soon, sort of like poking a bruise?¡± Sophia filled in. ¡°I know the feeling, that¡¯s why I can¡¯t summon anything. Is it your Embody ability giving you issues or the Fire Bud?¡±


    Dav frowned for a moment, sighed, and turned his attention to the sand. A fiery flower pushed its way up from the sand. Dav let it stay for a long moment before he dismissed it and let the sand fall back where it started. ¡°Definitely Embody. The summon doesn¡¯t seem to have an issue.¡±


    Sophia nodded and frowned in concentration as she tried to remember his full list. ¡°Then all you have left is spells, like me?¡±


    Dav shook his head. ¡°Also a few summons. Otherwise, yes.¡±


    Sophia skipped Shaped Growth, since she had nothing to shape. It was the last thing on either of their lists that would take significant time to test out, so they finished up fairly quickly. Sophia¡¯s spells all worked more or less as expected, though she could already tell that several of them would reward clever use; she might well be able to use Attractive Affix or Parrying Presence on someone in between a spellcaster and their target to throw off their aim. It wouldn¡¯t be much, but even a small amount could be useful.

 Chapter 132 - Finishing Up

    Dav¡¯s summons were pretty boring, really. Eldritch Sheathe covered his sword in black tendrils that he could unwind to use to grab things that touched his sword. They weren¡¯t very long, but Sophia could see it being useful to trip someone or maybe even disarm them. Eldritch Anchor was similar to Sophia¡¯s new Rott Grab; she wished it were a spell so that she could replace Root Grab with something she could get again at a higher level later, but otherwise it was extremely similar. Eldritch Arrows literally summoned arrows. They were magical and Amy was certain to like them, but that was really all Sophia could say about them.


    His spells were more interesting partly because Sophia might well be able to get them later. Spellwarp was like weakening or dispelling a spell, except that the spell sometimes had additional consequences. Out of the six times they tested it, two spells completely were broken, two were significantly weakened, one exploded, and the last one somehow turned the sand it hit into glass, as if it were hit by lightning. Sophia suggested that Dav try some visualizations when he used the Ability; hopefully, that would help guide the warp to do what they wanted.


    Warp Space seemed to be a movement Ability; it let Dav make steps that were far too big. He thought it might let him step past some small barriers as well, but he couldn¡¯t warp space far or go anywhere he couldn¡¯t see. If he wanted to bring Sophia with him, he had to carry her.


    Light and Dark literally created areas that were brighter and areas that were dimmer. Dav was able to blind Sophia with both as long as he placed them correctly, so there was definitely potential in the spell.


    Eldritch Projection and Eldritch Aurora were similar in their effects; both of them made Sophia feel the presence of the Origin. Neither had any real effect on her, but it seemed likely that they¡¯d be bad for others. The difference was that Projection had the same sort of reach as Sophia¡¯s Bolt spells, while Aurora created a wavering light around Dav and affected only a small area around him but could be maintained while he did other things.


    Quickstep seemed to do the same thing as Warp Space, but it was cheaper and Dav could cast it on Sophia as well as himself. That made them go back and reexamine Warp Space. It turned out that Warp Space didn¡¯t have to move an entire person; Dav could use it to attack things that were far from him as long as he did it quickly. The mana cost seemed to depend only on how far away Dav tried to reach and it was expensive enough that he was going to have to use it sparingly.


    Eldritch Weapon seemed to be similar to Sophia¡¯s Imbue Weapon. It was possible to put both on Dav¡¯s blade at the same time, but it was hard to tell how much of a difference it made.


    As Dav tested his new Spells, Sophia tested her new Magic Attuned Aura. It did exactly what it said: she could affect Dav¡¯s magic as he cast it, making it stronger or weaker. She could even affect it in other ways, like making it spread farther or completely miss certain spaces. It was difficult work and Sophia knew it would take practice, but it was a significant addition to her toolkit, as long as she worked with other spellcasters. For now, it was too difficult to affect her own spells, but she was certain that would change with time and practice.


    Magical Translucence was weird. Dav¡¯s spells and summons both had a hard time affecting Sophia, which was definitely nice, but it certainly wasn¡¯t perfect. His Eldritch Anchor still worked on her; it was just a little easier to free herself. The thorns from the Thorn Emitter didn¡¯t seem to be affected at all, but Sophia could get far closer to the Fire Bud. The weirdest effect was with Light and Dark; if he hit her with any Light at all, Magical Translucence scattered it enough that it brightened any nearby Dark areas. It also didn¡¯t dazzle her vision at all, unlike normal. Neither of them could think of a way to use that, but it was still interesting.


    Prismatic Magic, on the other hand, was both difficult to use and very useful. If she timed it exactly correctly, she could use it to cheaply dissolve a spell Dav cast into its component parts, making it sparkle in her Aural Mana Sense but accomplish nothing. The problem was that it didn¡¯t work on a spell that was already in place, only on one that was in the middle of being cast. With that, it didn¡¯t seem any better than the normal method of dispelling spells; if anything, it was worse. She was pretty sure she was missing something important, but she wasn¡¯t sure what. Maybe she¡¯d figure it out if she played with it.


    Perhaps it wasn¡¯t meant as a combat Ability? Sophia wasn¡¯t a craftsman, but she knew the very basics of enchanting and that involved separating things sometimes. Maybe it could be useful there?


    If that was what it was used for, it was a significant disappointment. That wasn¡¯t what Sophia wanted to do with her life. There had to be more to it.


    The last Ability Sophia tried out was her own flight Ability, Manifest Wings. She saved it for last because she knew that it would take whatever time she gave it; she loved to fly. She¡¯d only managed it with others¡¯ spells and magical items in the past, so flying under her own power sounded wonderful.


    Sophia glanced over at Amy and found her practicing vertical takeoffs. It was amazing how much she¡¯d improved since she started; it¡¯d only been a few hours, now. Sophia hoped she¡¯d be good as quickly as Amy managed it.


    Sophia felt her mana reserves plummet as she triggered the Ability. The mana flowed through her body and out through her spine, then spread out behind her. She glanced backwards and saw glowing colors; it looked almost like light moved in waves along her new (if temporary) wings.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Sophia glanced at Amy again. She really, really hoped she could fly without that much trouble. This almost had to be more like her dragons¡¯ flight and flight using items, because a human wasn¡¯t like an owl; she wasn¡¯t made to fly. Her wings also weren¡¯t nearly large enough.


    She closed her eyes tightly as she spread her wings wide and flapped. If nothing else, she didn¡¯t want to get sand in her eyes; that wasn¡¯t any fun.


    She opened her eyes once she felt her feet leave the ground. It really was just like using a flying harness; she even seemed to naturally float face-down with her wings above her. She could feel it as her magical tail tapped lightly against her feet as she turned, then she spread her wings to glide forward. She didn¡¯t need to flap at all as long as she wasn¡¯t trying to gain height. Magical flight was awesome!


    She didn¡¯t even realize that Amy was above her until she saw an image projected by the owl of herself above the sand of the yard. The glow on her wings definitely was moving, and it took the colors with it, changing her feathers as it pulsed along them. Her feathered tail trailed behind her, changing more slowly than the wings but still a beautiful medley of colors in the sunlight.


    Sophia flew until she noticed that Amy was back in her normal shape and sitting next to Dav in the sand. Neither of them said anything, but she reluctantly admitted that she¡¯d known what she needed to know about her Winged Flight Ability for a while now. It made flying easy, at least when she was only trying to carry her own weight.


    The wings formed behind her clothing but she could still feel them connected to her back, so using the Ability while carrying a backpack on her back was probably not a good choice, but she could carry it around her front instead. The Ability took a lot of mana to start, but as long as she stayed straight and level it used mana as she flew only slightly faster than her natural regeneration rate; she could travel a long way in the air as long as she was willing to be low on mana when she landed. Trying to climb high or weave around obstacles would reduce the distance she could travel significantly.


    The only thing she could think of that she hadn¡¯t tested was how much she could carry. Dav didn¡¯t have a way to fly. Her initial guess was that her limit would turn out to be how much mana it would cost, but it might just have a weight limit instead. Whether or not it was limited, Sophia knew she wouldn¡¯t be able to carry Dav, even if she could manage it at all; he was taller than her and heavy. A short flight would be her limit before she wasn¡¯t able to carry him physically, no matter what the Ability could do.


    Sophia stumbled when her feet hit the sand. She flushed a little before she reminded herself that Amy had done far worse when flying. Of course, Amy actually had to fly; Sophia didn¡¯t. Her wings were useful when she had to maneuver and helped quite a bit when she was gliding, but it was her mana that was used to lift her in the air.


    Dav actually clapped as she landed. Sophia¡¯s blush climbed higher on her face as she dismissed the wings, then awkwardly cleared her throat. ¡°Uh, if we¡¯re all done here, should we go see what we can buy to help on the trip?¡±


    Rensyn watched the winged woman dance in the sky. He didn¡¯t know how she did it; while there were similar spells, the closest one he knew of was Spellwings, and it was a first-upgrade spell. Anything lower than that had to be recast every few minutes and she¡¯d been flying for nearly an hour.


    Maybe she was recasting it in the air instead of landing the way anyone else would? Whatever her background was, she was far more comfortable with spellwork than anyone her age should be; Rensyn was pretty sure she could teach Samuel a few tricks, and he¡¯d been a practicing mage longer than Sophia had been alive.


    ¡°I¡¯m a lot happier about sending them to Izel now.¡± Jessamine¡¯s comments pulled Rensyn¡¯s attention away from the window. ¡°That girl is well on her way to being a proper bladestorm mage, while the boy is finally accepting that he needs to use his magic to support his sword instead of the other way around. Good job.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t do much,¡± Rensyn admitted. ¡°All I did was help them look through the Registry¡¯s records, something I should have done when they arrived.¡± He bit his lip, then added the part that bothered him the most, ¡°Before I sent them out to look for corpsevines.¡±


    ¡°Yes, you finally did your duty,¡± Jesamine chided him. She sounded a lot less upset with it than Rensyn felt like he deserved, and her next words told him why. ¡°Except for advising them against taking so many active Abilities. You know better and it¡¯s your job to make sure they learn it from you instead of in a fight when they run into a monster focused on passives when they don¡¯t have the counters. They¡¯re not high enough level for that to kill them yet, but it¡¯s still bad practice; do better next time.¡±


    Rensyn nodded, relieved to know that there would be a next time. He knew he¡¯d messed up repeatedly, and blaming Matt only went so far. ¡°I¡¯ll talk to them about it. Amy didn¡¯t take that many, but she¡¯s planning to rush her first upgrade.¡± He shook his head, then asked the question he knew he needed to. ¡°Why are you happier about sending them to Izel? Is there anything I need to go over with them?¡±


    The Registry Master smiled at Rensyn. ¡°Now that is the right question. If they were anyone else, the answer would be yes. As is, you need to share the maps we have of the tribal lands near Izel; beyond that, Amy will know more than you do about the tribes and their situation. Night Owls only come from that area, and they¡¯re honored by the tribes. I don¡¯t know of any repeatable Challenges in the area that are weak enough for people below the first upgrade, but Amy is from Izel. She should know places I¡¯ve never heard of.¡±


    Jessamine took another long look out the window, then turned away and shook her head. ¡°I¡¯d better send a few messages. I wonder if Ermine is still handling the Registry in Izel?¡±

 Chapter 133 - Shopping

    The light was already dimming as they walked inside, which meant it was too late in the day to buy anything; all of the stores would be locked for the night. It also meant that the tavern would be busy. Sophia wasn¡¯t looking forward to that, but if they were lucky they¡¯d be able to find someone they knew and join their table.


    Sophia looked towards Dav. ¡°Think we should try to get Rensyn to let us into the Armory or just go get dinner?¡±


    ¡°Dinner,¡± Amy answered immediately. ¡°I didn¡¯t even know I was hungry until I could smell the food.¡±


    ¡°Food sounds good to me,¡± Dav agreed. ¡°We can ask Aymini about Rensyn on the way in; I expected him to watch us try out our new Abilities, but he wasn¡¯t there.¡±


    Sophia couldn¡¯t smell it yet, but she had to admit that thinking about food was already making her hungry. ¡°Food it is.¡±


    The tavern was just as busy as Sophia guessed, with absolutely no open tables and very busy wait staff. Sophia let her eyes wander across the room for a moment, but she didn¡¯t get very far before a lack of color caught her eye. Was that the Quinn twins? And were they sitting next to Lady Essia?


    More importantly, were those empty seats at their table?


    Sophia hurried across the busy room with a grin. ¡°Mind if we join you?¡±


    ¡°Sophia!¡± Lady Essia¡¯s startled expression shifted to a wide grin. ¡°Of course! We just got back to the Registry; you have to tell us what¡¯s been happening here! We were stuck in the temporary base for days while that storm was over the city and then Samuel insisted that we stay out there and kill corpsevines! I think he¡¯d have done that even if Father didn¡¯t tell him to.¡±


    Sophia blinked at the sheer fervor in the girl¡¯s voice. She sometimes forgot just how young Lady Essia was, but this brought it home. One thing about her words bothered Sophia. ¡°Wait, while the storm was over the city? Wasn¡¯t it over you, too?¡±


    The Mage-Chancellor¡¯s daughter shook her head. ¡°Nope. We could hear it, but it only rained as it passed over us after it left the city. In some ways, it was lucky; after the rain stopped, a new group of Called finally came and replaced us there. Would you believe they even had a note from my father to Samuel?¡±


    Sophia could guess why the city¡¯s ruler wanted his daughter surrounded by people he trusted outside the city right after a plot to unseat him was discovered. It really wasn¡¯t hard to connect the dots. She wasn¡¯t sure if Lady Essia knew the details. ¡°Do you know why?¡±


    Lady Essia¡¯s braids lifted when she shook her head. ¡°Samuel wouldn¡¯t say. It made him really sad so I didn¡¯t push. I¡¯ll ask Father when I get home; he¡¯ll tell me. He always does.¡±


    Sophia nodded slowly. That was probably the best way to handle it, since the girl was confident she could find out by asking. ¡°Did you have a party during the storm? We did; Amy called it a Death Day¡­¡±


    They talked for hours about everything from the strange storm to the changes in the corpsevines since the Challenge was killed, as well as the Abilities they¡¯d chosen. Lady Essia already had her plan put together, and the large number of Wisps she¡¯d received when the Challenge was completed and the threat was ended along with the ones from the corpsevine cleanup afterwards meant that she¡¯d been able to advance until she was nearly ready to pick up her third level.


    Fortunately for Sophia¡¯s peace of mind, Essia didn¡¯t ask to travel with them to Izel. Instead, she asked them to delay their departure another day so that she could wish them a ¡°proper goodbye¡± that evening. Sophia was happy to delay that long; she wasn¡¯t sure they¡¯d manage to leave in the morning anyway, since they still needed to buy supplies for the trip.


    Lady Essia didn¡¯t know much about the area around Izel, which she called the ¡°tribal lands.¡± Amy grinned at that and said that was the way the clans liked it; they wanted outsiders to stay in Izel. Essia looked disappointed, but quickly moved on to talking about how she wasn¡¯t ready to leave Casterville. When she was ready, she¡¯d go to Rockport. She had a plan worked out and spent longer telling Amy about it than Sophia really wanted to hear.


    Rae and Moti were relatively quiet, but they seemed happier than when Sophia met the Quinns. They were less forthcoming about their Ability choices than Lady Essia, but they were very clear that they planned to stay with her in both Casterville and Rockport. Sophia wished she¡¯d had more of a chance to get to know Rae, but that clearly wasn¡¯t going to happen any time soon.


    The only thing that they didn¡¯t talk about was the fact that they were the people who completed the Leveled Challenge. For Sophia, that was because she didn¡¯t want to talk about Samuel¡¯s plan. She couldn¡¯t come up with a way to talk about it that wouldn¡¯t lead there, and she¡¯d rather talk about flying anyway. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    By the time they went to bed, it wasn¡¯t just Dav that was annoyed at being unable to fly.


    It took most of the day to manage their shopping and in the end, Sophia was pretty sure they only finished because they already had most of the supplies they needed between Sophia¡¯s pack and the gear Amy used when she traveled from Izel to Casterville.


    It was a pleasant surprise for Sophia when she found out that both Dav and Amy could ride. She wasn¡¯t too surprised about Amy, but Dav was a city boy, and a poor one at that. It had never occurred to her that he might have learned to ride the same way he learned to fight, in games, but he was actually a very good rider. Sophia was actually the worst of the three, because most of her riding time was on creatures other than horses.


    Amy insisted on warm clothing for both Sophia and Dav, and it took a while until she was satisfied. They eventually found what they were looking for at a shop that sold high-end clothing and had somehow ended up with a lot of the flame beaver hides. The fur was part of an enchantment that would warm up the wearer of the clothing. It wasn¡¯t precise, but the person wearing the clothing could affect the temperature to some extent by adding more mana.


    Most of the women¡¯s clothing was too restrictive for Sophia; she wanted to be able to move in her gear, in case she had to fight. She eventually managed to find one that was less restrictive than the rest; it was almost too big, but that simply made it easier to move. It was green and red velvet with reddish brown fur trim and golden embroidery; a blue enameled brooch covered the topmost button, the only one visible from the outside.


    Sophia had to admit that it looked pretty good, even if was more elaborate than she preferred.


    Annoyingly, Dav had less trouble than Sophia. He was tall enough to use the men¡¯s cloaks designed for hunting; all he had to do was find one that was the right length. The shopkeeper somehow managed to talk him into a leather vest to wear under the fur-trimmed green cloak.


    Once they had the trip supplies straight, they made time to look into upgrading their combat gear. What they had was functional, which made it less important than being able to travel safely and comfortably, especially since there was a wide range of prices for better combat gear.


    Amy took them around to a number of small shops and loaded up on cheap alchemicals, everything from the energy drinks she¡¯d brought to the Challenge to temporary charms to deter monsters. They were sold in large bundles, because it took several scattered around a campsite to have any effect and they only lasted a single night, but Amy thought they were worthwhile.


    Sophia was more interested in the alarm talismans, but she ended up buying some ¡°charm paper¡± and ¡°enchantment ink¡± instead. They weren¡¯t the same as what she was used to using for runescripts, but they should work for a single night, they were far cheaper, and more importantly she could actually set the boundary.


    Amy said that good portable alarm enchantments existed, but they didn¡¯t find any in Casterville; even if they had, Amy said that they cost as much as a good set of second-upgrade enchanted armor, which made the paper and ink seem even cheaper. It would take a little time each night to scribe the runescript in her notebook onto the charm paper, but that was a small cost compared to even cheap armor and Sophia was certain that second-upgrade armor wasn¡¯t cheap.


    Armor in general turned out to be a problem. The fact that the armor Dav had was better than anything they could find wasn¡¯t a surprise, and neither was the fact that Amy was happy with the enchanted armor they already had. When Amy found out that Sophia¡¯s armor wasn¡¯t enchanted and couldn¡¯t be attuned, she insisted that they look for some that could.


    Nothing they found came even close to the quality of her current armor, despite the damage it had taken in the time she¡¯d been in the Broken Lands. Dragonscale armor was lighter, more resilient, and more protective than anything they could find in Casterville.


    Instead of new armor, Sophia settled on an enchanted leather armor repair kit; it wouldn¡¯t replace lost or broken scales, but she could use it to do almost anything else. She could even use some of the scales that someone slipped into her back back home for repairs, as long as they lasted. She might have to source some supplemental leather if the armor took enough damage, but that was all.


    Once she knew how good Sophia¡¯s armor was, Amy started trying to find someone who could enchant it. Unfortunately, no one could do it quickly; the best offer they got was ¡°leave the armor here for a couple months and I can probably get it done.¡± That wasn¡¯t acceptable, so it was something they¡¯d have to handle once they were in Izel.


    Weapons, on the other hand, were definitely available. Amy managed to talk Sophia into getting a spear and a shield that she could use with the spear or with the sword she already had. They were minimally enchanted, with an enchantment that surprised Sophia: Image Shift.


    The name only made sense after she knew what it was, but what it meant was that both the spear and the shield could literally turn into an image of themselves. The enchantment only worked with individual attuned items, which limited its use, but it seemed like a great way to carry things. The only real downside was the fact that it took both mana and time to restore the item, but Sophia figured that would be fine; she still had her sword and her collection of knives. Being able to turn the two bulkiest things into tattoos was worth it.


    Trying out the enchantments led to one other surprise: Dav¡¯s weapon could do the same thing. It became a far more elaborate tattoo that covered his entire forearm, instead of the small symbol Sophia¡¯s spear and sword became on her hand, but the ability to make it disappear and reappear could be useful under the right circumstances. Dav didn¡¯t expect to use that property of his weapon often; it simply took too long to return to its solid form.

 Chapter 134 - Farewell

    The farewell party was not what Sophia expected.


    She expected a small get-together with friends in one of the Registry¡¯s meeting rooms, probably with food. That much, she got right, but it was far more than that.


    Lady Essia reserved all of the meeting rooms, hired a band, and invited everyone at the Registry. It was large enough that the Registry¡¯s tavern was actually closed to meal orders because the kitchen was cooking for the party. The bar was open, but anyone who wanted food was sent to the party rooms. Sophia was pretty sure everyone in the Registry building stopped by, and she didn¡¯t even know most of them!


    A lot of people didn¡¯t know what they were celebrating, either; Sophia overheard people wondering about it. The top guess seemed to be that it was a celebration of the end of the corpsevine hunt. Sophia didn¡¯t bother to correct them; she didn¡¯t know them, so why should they care that she was leaving?


    Almost everyone she¡¯d met in Casterville stopped by to congratulate her. Even Lady Essia¡¯s father, Mage-Chancellor Ansari, stopped by. He took the time to thank them for their service to the city and quietly presented them with three identical bracelets. Each one had a eight-pointed star charm dangling from one side and a larger eight-pointed star inside a circle on a longer chain.


    The bracelets could serve two purposes. First, they could be used as compasses; that was what the larger star did when it was held flat, then had mana channeled into it. The leg of the star that was closest to north would glow. It would work even in places where a compass wouldn¡¯t, but the Mage-Chancellor didn¡¯t seem to know how it worked.


    Sophia asked.


    She planned to check it against the compass she carried as they were traveling and see what it said. If nothing else, it might be interesting to see if the Broken Lands had different magnetic and magical norths; after all, it wasn¡¯t like a place that wasn¡¯t a spherical planet would have a true north.


    Which reminded her. One of these days, she needed to find out what was at the edge of the maps. Did they use the portals because they were convenient shortcuts or because it wasn¡¯t actually possible to cross some sort of divide? All she knew was that the roads stopped. No one seemed to have gone to look, at least not anyone in Casterville.


    The more important use, as far as the Mage-Chancellor was concerned, was that the bracelets could find each other. That required tucking the smaller charm into the larger one; once that was done, the charms would glow to find any other charms that were close enough. It wouldn¡¯t show distance clearly, but in general the farther away a bracelet was, the less it would show.


    The one warning he gave was that the bracelets were made to work together. If they added a fourth person, it wouldn¡¯t be easy to add a fourth bracelet; that would require an enchanter to also modify the existing bracelets, and it was usually better to just buy a new set made as a group.


    Sophia didn¡¯t mention Taika. The gift was something she hadn¡¯t thought of that could be useful; she didn¡¯t see any reason to object because it couldn¡¯t track down someone the Mage-Chancellor probably thought of as a pet or summoned creature. They¡¯d simply have to plan carefully how to use them. Amy would definitely get one, since she was the scout; other than that, they would have to decide who was staying together.


    It quickly became obvious the Mage-Chancellor hadn¡¯t kept the bracelets a secret. In fact, it was clear that the party wasn¡¯t a surprise to any of the main guests other than Sophia, Dav, Amy, and Tika; several other people presented small charms to add to the bracelets, and it seemed very unlikely that they¡¯d all gone out and gotten them in the past day.


    Samuel¡¯s was a group of three feather charms. One was red, one was green, and the last was blue and white. The colors were apparently simply for style; they were charms that would lighten the weight of the wearer¡¯s possessions. They wouldn¡¯t work on living things, but it could make a load easier to carry or to fight in.


    Sophia tried it out immediately and found out that it was noticeable but small; it would probably only matter for long distances or long fights. With her pack¡¯s extra storage space, it wasn¡¯t that necessary, but she was still grateful for the thought.


    Rensyn gave them small snowflake charms with the explanation that everyone liked a chilled drink sometimes. They weren¡¯t strong enough to cool a large area, but he was careful to point out that they could create a very intense cold in a very small area if that was needed, far colder than was needed to chill a drink. He said it as if he was trying to get them to be careful, but Sophia wondered if he was hinting at other things a localized extreme chill could be used for.


    Lady Essia¡¯s contribution wasn¡¯t magical. Instead, she got them each a colorful but warm scarf to go with their winter clothing. Sophia¡¯s was even extra long ¡°so that she could wrap her head and her horns and not have to worry about damaging her hood.¡± They already had scarves, but Sophia was still grateful; Lady Essia¡¯s were better. It was obvious she¡¯d thought about what they would actually need and done her best to get it while they were out shopping.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    The Quinns gave a joint gift: charms in the shape of symbols Sophia thought were almost certainly runes. They were each different, but would serve a similar purpose of helping to deal with the unquiet dead: one to help find them, one to affect them when they manifested in a form powerful enough to harm others, and one to disperse the energies if they were not strong enough to manifest.


    Sophia tried to tell them not to give away things they might need, but Moti insisted. They didn¡¯t need them, but Sophia and her friends might need them. Moti sounded a little troubled as he said that, so Sophia asked what he meant. He was reluctant to talk about it, as if it were something bad, and in the end all he did was mutter something about seeing Death¡¯s shadow.


    When she heard that, Sophia relaxed; she¡¯d been worried that something was actually wrong. Death was everywhere and wasn¡¯t something Sophia was particularly concerned about. Moti seemed confused by her reaction, almost like she expected her to be mad at him for saying anything, and she had to reassure him that she wasn¡¯t upset.


    Since Sophia was the one with True Death spells, she ended up with the rune that would help see ghostly energy. Those spells would affect ghosts just as much as they¡¯d affect golems; she didn¡¯t need another charm for that. She simply had to know which was there. The charm looked sort of like an h, but Sophia strongly doubted it was the letter.


    The last gift came from Registry Master Jessamine. Like Lady Essia¡¯s, hers was not magical. Unlike all of the others, it also wasn¡¯t immediately useful. Despite that, Sophia thought it might be the gift with the most long-term potential.


    The Registry Master gave them a set of notebooks and said they were copies of her notes on the various Challenges she¡¯d seen over the time she spent traveling as the Shield of the Sun. The last two notebooks were filled with observations on the Maze.


    Sophia had to ask what the Maze was. She¡¯d heard it mentioned a number of times, especially in reference to portals that might be able to get her home, but she hadn¡¯t really worried about it once she found out that it was in a dangerous area, dangerous enough that no one knew if the portals were even still there; no one had used them in centuries.


    The explanation she got was maddening. The Maze was, once upon a time, the heart of Kestii¡¯s trading empire, connecting many different cities and even worlds to Old Kestii. It was also the access point to hundreds of different Challenges, the primary place Called went to gain power, and the source for nearly all of the goods Professionals used.


    That was before it broke in the Shattering; as Amy put it, that was ¡°when the Broken Lord broke.¡± The Registry even knew which day it happened: Samhain, the holiday closest to what Sophia thought of as Halloween, one thousand, six hundred, and twenty-eight years ago. It was the first day of the current calendar. New Year¡¯s Day was definitely not the same day in the Broken Lands as it was back home.


    The Shattering was a catastrophe worse than any Sophia knew of on Earth since the creation of the Voice and the slow loss of Earth¡¯s magic millenia before she was born. Only the arrival of the Voice and the consequent return of magic was widespread enough to compare, and it was far less destructive than the Shattering. It cut communities off from each other, which would have been bad enough even without the loss of everyone who was in the Maze. The emergence of large numbers of monsters where there had never been any didn¡¯t help.


    Sophia had some doubt that it was as peaceful as the stories said; it was clearly a myth of a golden age, and she knew enough about golden ages to know that there were always severe issues. She simply didn¡¯t know enough about this one to know what they were. She suspected that no one else did either.


    After the Shattering, the Hallowed all fell sick and were unable to defend the population. The first to recover were the Hallowed of the Broken Lord, who led the charge against the monsters and helped carve out a few pockets where people could safely live around Nexuses that protected against monsters. None of the new cities were in the locations of old cities; those places were monster-filled deathtraps too dangerous to even scour for supplies.


    The Patrons other than the Broken Lord were supposed to have fought their way through the Maze after the Shattering in an attempt to fix things. Registry Master Jessamine said there were many stories of the effort told in old hero-tales, but some things were clear. Most of them traveled in a group, with only the Mage, also known as Lady M¡¯Beja, and the Wanderer making their way alone. The Mage could open pathways no one else could see with her understanding of the Maze, while the Wanderer was a mysterious figure who helped others who were lost in the Maze and seemed to be avoided by all of the monsters; they would run when he came close.


    Sophia had to ask what happened to the other Hallowed. The Registry Master shook her head and told Sophia that she didn¡¯t know; they were never mentioned again in any story. Jessamine assumed that meant they either didn¡¯t survive the illness or were killed later without much impact on the new cities. What she could say was that the only Hallowed since the Shattering were Hallowed by the Broken Lord.


    What she could say was that the Hallowed of the Broken Lord were the reason people talked about Called instead of specifying whether their Sphere was a Vocation or a Hallow. They were common enough that there were always some around, and they tended to be powerful warriors, but they didn¡¯t like being called Hallowed.


    Sophia had some dark suspicions about what wasn¡¯t being mentioned. There was no reason for the Wanderer to tell them to hide the fact that they were Hallowed if everything was peaceful. Perhaps it was to protect them against accusations of lying, but Sophia doubted that. It seemed far more likely that there was an active threat. She could only hope that it wasn¡¯t connected to whatever happened during the Shattering.


    Registry Master Jessamine was clearly convinced that the Maze was a large part of what made the world wonderful before the Shattering. Sophia supposed that made sense; why else would she spend years trying to make it through the Maze?


    For Sophia, it definitely sounded like somewhere she¡¯d want to go eventually. Even if she couldn¡¯t use it to find her way home, it would be a fun adventure. She probably wouldn¡¯t spend years trying to get through it, however. That seemed like a bit much.

 Chapter 135 - An Unwelcome Storm

    Sophia could already tell she was going to regret agreeing to ride instead of walking. It was definitely the right choice, but she could already feel the first signs of soreness that said she was really going to regret it that evening. At least Dav had his Healing Beacon; it ought to be able to relieve the issues. She didn¡¯t yet know if it would interfere in callus formation, but it probably wouldn¡¯t.


    Maybe she could ask him to get it out when they stopped for lunch? They¡¯d been on the road for a few hours, so the break would be welcome. It wasn¡¯t like they were in a huge hurry; they¡¯d be camping for a few nights before they reached the exit anyway. There weren¡¯t many villages on the way to Izel, at least not near Casterville. Amy said there were more once they crossed through the portal, but there still wasn¡¯t always going to be one at every good stopping point.


    Lunch came and went. The healing beacon did help, but Sophia was quickly sore again. None of them seemed to have much to say, but Sophia wanted something to distract herself from the discomfort; she definitely didn¡¯t want to have to ask them to stop early for her. ¡°Is there a name for the area near Izel? I know this region is just called Casterville.¡±


    ¡°Outsiders usually call it the tribal lands,¡± Amy answered easily. ¡°I¡¯m not sure why; yes, the clans are important, but that¡¯s not unusual. The other common name is the north; to get there, you almost always have to travel to an entrance that is north of wherever you start.¡±


    Sophia turned towards Amy. The other woman had a slightly mischievous grin.


    ¡°What Clan would you guess I belong to?¡±


    Sophia frowned. She had no idea. ¡°I don¡¯t even know what Clans you have.¡±


    Amy frowned at Sophia then looked the other direction. ¡°Dav! What Clan do I belong to?¡±


    ¡°Wolf,¡± Dav answered without a pause. ¡°That¡¯s the answer you want, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    Amy barked a laugh. ¡°Too cautious, both of you. Yes, Wolf is the Clan I claim among outsiders. It is easier if most can guess the Clan, or believe they can. Outsiders are not welcome far from Izel, and Izel ¡­ well, you will see. At home, there is no Wolf Clan; we are all People of the Shattered Sky. My Clan is the Clan of the Aurora, the Night Lights. Our Shard is the Skylands.¡±


    Amy paused and looked at Sophia, then Dav, then back to Sophia. ¡°But you are traveling with me, and that means you are not just outsiders. You are outsiders to the entire Broken Lands; that matters. I will have to tell my family about you, once I am officially back.¡±


    Amy took a breath and almost frowned. Her voice sounded intense when she spoke. ¡°Which will not be until after I reach the first upgrade. If I want to pursue Night Owl, I have to go home, but I have to go home as an outsider.¡±


    For some reason, Amy¡¯s near-glare settled on Sophia. This wasn¡¯t quite how she expected her question to go, so Sophia guessed this was something Amy had been thinking about saying for a while. Sophia did that sometimes herself.


    Sophia didn¡¯t see any reason to argue; it was best to find out what Amy was trying to say. ¡°Okay? Is there something I should avoid saying?¡±


    Amy shook her head. ¡°Just call me Wolf Clan if anyone asks. They probably won¡¯t, unless they decide you¡¯re of the People, but you could be.¡± She paused for a long moment. ¡°You both act like it.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Dav interrupted. ¡°How are your people different from the people in Casterville?¡±


    ¡°Attitude.¡± Amy didn¡¯t hesitate at all with her answer. ¡°The Challenge was the most obvious, you didn¡¯t even question completing it; the question was how, not whether or not we should. No one else tried. I¡¯m sure the Registry Master would have tried, eventually, but surely someone else would have realized that doing the same thing as everyone else wouldn¡¯t work?¡±


    Dav frowned. ¡°It had only been a day, maybe two. We asked what others saw, I¡¯m sure someone else would have too.¡± He took a deep breath, then admitted, ¡°A lot of them didn¡¯t want the Challenge completed. All they wanted to talk about was the rewards. But we¡¯re not local and we were planning to move on; that doesn¡¯t make us different, it just says we had different goals.¡±


    Sophia frowned at Dav¡¯s statement. He¡¯d already been planning to move on? Sophia hadn¡¯t even thought about it. She certainly didn¡¯t mind leaving, but she also hadn¡¯t planned to leave quickly. There just wasn¡¯t much for them in Casterville. She had the impression that a lot of the local work was ¡°local¡± only in that it was on the same Shard; it might be several days¡¯ travel away. She hadn¡¯t really gotten around to looking into it, with everything that happened.


    ¡°You¡¯d have made the same choice if you lived in Casterville,¡± Amy argued. ¡°You wanted to complete the Challenge because it was just that, a challenge, and because it was a threat to the city.¡±


    ¡°It needed to be handled,¡± Sophia contributed. ¡°No reason to drag it out, there¡¯s always other things to do.¡± This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    Sophia knew that was true, even if she didn¡¯t know what those other things were for Casterville specifically. If there really wasn¡¯t anything to do, she could study her notes. She wasn¡¯t anywhere near being able to send a message home yet, and that set was in Dav¡¯s bag anyway, but there were still a lot of things she could study left. She also could have tried to work with Samuel, or simply taken a day and gone flying. That would have been fun.


    ¡°It¡¯s not just that, either,¡± Amy continued as if she¡¯d made her point. ¡°It¡¯s the way you deal with people and go after what matters, not talk around things. That¡¯s what we do in the Shattered Sky, we don¡¯t have time for those games.¡±


    ¡°I think you mean that we fit with you.¡± There was a clear smile in Dav¡¯s voice as well as on his face. ¡°There are always politics, that¡¯s what being around people means. I like to be direct, when I can, and I don¡¯t think Sophia knows how to be anything but blunt. That means you know where we stand, and¡­¡±


    A cold, wet spray hit Sophia from nowhere and she looked up, distracted from Dav¡¯s spiel. The day had been clear and hot, but there were storm clouds there now. They were dark with rain and while she didn¡¯t hear any thunder, she was pretty sure she saw lightning spark from one cloud to another in the distance.


    It was still early to set up camp, but it was better to lose some time than be caught in a sudden downpour. They could travel in the rain, but Sophia didn¡¯t see any reason that they should. Casterville didn¡¯t seem to get that much rain; the only long storm she¡¯d seen was the one that made the Registry keep everyone inside for two days and that was the Domain, not the storm.


    Other than that, she¡¯d only seen small showers that lasted a couple of hours then were gone. This didn¡¯t look like a small shower. Sophia frowned up at the clouds for a moment longer, then interrupted. ¡°Guys? There¡¯s a storm coming in. It¡¯s moving fast. If we want to get under cover, we need to stop now instead of looking for a stream to camp near.¡±


    ¡°...multi-day hunt, we can¡¯t¡­¡± Amy trailed off in the middle of whatever she was saying to Dav and looked up at the sky. ¡°I don¡¯t like that. It wasn¡¯t there when we stopped, and we should have been able to see it.¡±


    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Dav frowned at the dark clouds. ¡°It could have blown up while we were talking. I wouldn¡¯t have noticed it.¡±


    ¡°Look at how much closer it is already,¡± Amy pointed at the clouds. ¡°And how sharp the line is. There¡¯s a little water coming here on the wind, but no. We have a few minutes until it reaches us, but that¡¯s all, definitely less than an hour. It¡¯s moving much too fast for a normal storm.¡±


    Sophia felt herself tense up. ¡°You¡¯re thinking of the storm back at the Registry.¡± She certainly was. ¡°The one with the Domain. The one Taika said was hunting me.¡±


    There was nothing around that could serve as good cover or protection like the Registry building. The tent was good, but it was made to protect against weather, not monsters. She might be able to create a ward in the time they had, but only if she was ready for it and knew exactly what to ward against. She didn¡¯t. She had what she bought in town and that was it; it wasn¡¯t intended for blocking monsters and she didn¡¯t know how to block a Domain.


    Maybe a Domain was like an aura? That made some sense, but an aura the size of even a small storm would be humongous. What was she supposed to do with that?


    ¡°I don¡¯t think I can hide from it,¡± Sophia muttered. ¡°Taika? You know what it is, right? Do you have any ideas?¡±


    Taika didn¡¯t answer. In fact, now that Sophia thought about it, Taika hadn¡¯t said anything since lunchtime. Sophia turned to Dav. He¡¯d already dismounted and opened his saddlebags to reveal a colorful ball of fluff.


    Sophia was pretty sure she heard a snore coming from the fuzz. She wasn¡¯t sure why it was funny, but the fact that Taika was asleep at a time like this was somehow utterly hilarious.


    Dav reached into the saddlebag and shook Taika. ¡°Wake up, we need you.¡±


    The ball of colorful fluff unrolled and yawned widely, then Taika pushed his head outside to look at Dav and Sophia. The fluff on top of his head was brightly striped today, but the color stopped at his forehead almost like he was wearing a colorful cap. It made him look sleepy and confused, which set Sophia laughing again.


    Taika¡¯s eyes opened wider. ¡°What¡¯s so funny?¡± He sounded almost offended.


    ¡°She¡¯s worried about the storm,¡± Dav said to bring the rodent up to speed. ¡°Over there.¡±


    Taika looked up at the sky. His expression was hard to read, but Sophia didn¡¯t think she imagined it when she saw him frown. ¡°That looks like the Hungering Spark¡¯s storm.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Sophia agreed when she managed to catch her breath. ¡°You¡¯ve dealt with him, do you think you can hide me from him? It¡¯s me he¡¯s after, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    Taika tilted his head to the side, then straightened and shook his head. ¡°My illusions worked well last time but he should know better now. I can only hide you visually and I don¡¯t think he¡¯s looking for you with his eyes.¡±


    ¡°Maybe you can use your illusion?¡± Dav suggested. ¡°The one the corpsevine used to catch both Amy and me?¡±


    ¡°Maybe,¡± Sophia agreed. She¡¯d tried it on Dav while they were testing Abilities and sworn she wouldn¡¯t use it on him again. Using it on something trying to kill her seemed like a good idea. ¡°If we can catch it at all. That was the problem when it was over the Registry, wasn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Dav agreed, ¡°But if it¡¯s coming for you, it has to come to you. I heard it moved fast, but hopefully your illusion will hold it in place so we can do something about it.¡±


    ¡°I can try to grab it with Root Grab,¡± Sophia offered. ¡°Sort of a second layer. And you can use Eldritch Anchor. Do you have a way to tie it down, Amy?¡±


    Amy shook her head. ¡°Not yet. I thought about taking one of the arrow enhancements that can do that, but with the Abilities you and Dav picked up, there didn¡¯t seem to be a reason to. There are some really good Night Owl Abilities for individual control, but I won¡¯t have them until after I¡¯m a Night Owl.¡± Amy paused, then offered, ¡°I do have a couple of chain arrows; they¡¯re awkward to use but they can work if we have to. They¡¯re probably not as good as your Root Grab.¡±

 Chapter 136 - You can’t hold lightning

    Sophia felt odd trying to avoid the fight with something that would keep pursuing her. She really wanted to get it over with, but at the same time she didn¡¯t know how dangerous the Hungering Spark was. The people at the Registry certainly seemed to think it was dangerous enough to keep everyone inside. The right decision was probably to delay the fight and try to prepare, if possible.


    Not that Sophia really expected it to work. It seemed more likely that their preparation would make a fight easier instead of avoiding it. She certainly wasn¡¯t going to avoid one if she could take the Hungering Spark by surprise.


    The storm arrived faster than Sophia estimated. The notice that they¡¯d entered the Domain of the Hungering Spark was no surprise when it arrived at the same time as the first real rain. Sophia dismissed it and triple-checked their preparations. They were insufficient but they were also all they had time for. They had time to hobble their horses under a tree and move away from them, but that was about it. If they¡¯d tried to get the tent up as well, they might have managed it, but the tent wouldn¡¯t protect them against this storm.


    Instead, Taika created an illusion of a tent. It looked warm and comfortable from the outside, but it did nothing to actually protect them from the rain. Sophia wore her new cloak; it was really too warm for the day, but anything was better than getting soaked if they did manage to avoid a fight. Sophia had no doubt they would end up wet if they had to fight, but that would be worth it.


    Dav¡¯s healing beacon was already set up and he was ready to summon a Fire Bud if Sophia grabbed the Hungering Spark with Root Grab. He waited in the false tent with Sophia. They could see the horses, in case they turned out to attract the Hungering Spark¡¯s attention, but they really expected that it was hunting Sophia.


    Amy and Taika were a little ways away, ¡°sheltering¡± under an illusion of a tree in a spot where they had a good view of both the tent and the hobbled horses. While there were a number of trees around, Amy was happier with Taika¡¯s illusion; with an illusion, she could stand inside the apparent tree and she didn¡¯t have to guess which direction the monster was coming from to be hidden. Dav needed to be near Sophia in case the Hungering Spark went after her, but neither Taika nor Amy had any reason to get near it.


    Sophia¡¯s dragons rested in a pair of trees in the other direction. She couldn¡¯t command them, but she was fairly certain they knew she¡¯d summoned them for battle. They both seemed serious, watching the area instead of flying into the air to play as they had the first time he summoned them.


    Several minutes passed after the rain started and Sophia started to wonder just how long they should wait. She¡¯d overlooked something important during her plans, hadn¡¯t she?


    How long should they wait? It stayed over Casterville for two days; what if it decided to stop over them? She¡¯d assumed that if it didn¡¯t see them, it would keep going and be gone quickly, but what if she was wrong?


    She was about to send the question silently to everyone else when a crack of thunder sounded like it was right next to her. Sophia turned towards it and saw intertwined red and green lightning strike the ground. It hit again and again and quickly began to form a shape.


    It was far too close for Sophia to assume it was a coincidence. She watched as the creature that had to be the Hungering Spark solidified in front of her. Her guess was confirmed by a clear mental shout of ¡°That¡¯s him!¡± from Taika.


    The Hungering Spark looked like a creature made of black muscle fibers and lightning, humanoid but only if a human was made purely of black lines. There were clearly no bones, but somehow it still held its shape. Small bits of white lightning flickered across its body, while green lightning crackled from its hands. A single red light glowed in the center of its face like an eye. The only portion of its body that seemed both colorful and solid was an odd red cylinder that filled a hollow in its abdomen and seemed to continue up into the chest area.


    Lightning crackled around the Hungering Spark. Sophia watched its head move from side to side. The single bright red light in where a cyclops¡¯s eye would be brightened and dimmed as it searched the area. Its movements were almost mechanical, with very little wasted motion.


    ¡°Where are you, Bright Spark? I can smell you,¡± a voice echoed. It had to be the Hungering Spark¡¯s, but it sounded more human than Sophia expected, smooth rather than crackling with lightning. ¡°I want to taste you. You smell delicious, do you taste good?¡±


    The red fleshy cylinder in its belly seemed to bulge, then more of it descended from above and it became clear what it was: a tongue. It was long and thin and narrowed as it went until it was nearly pointed at the tip. As it reached its full length, lightning crackled from the tip of the Hungering Spark¡¯s tongue. It moved weirdly slowly, slow enough to be seen, and changed colors as it went. A cloudy haze formed behind the lightning; Sophia couldn¡¯t tell if it was smoke or simply because of the glare, but it was quickly clear that the light sparking off its tongue was brighter than the lightning elsewhere on the Hungering Spark as it shone through the darkness.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    The lightning seemed to twist and turn, seeking all around the Hungering Spark. Sophia didn¡¯t see any reason to wait; if it could smell her, it wasn¡¯t going to leave until it found her. There was no protected city with a significant number of stronger people searching for the creature. There was only Sophia, Dav, Amy, and Taika; the horses were not going to matter in a fight. Sophia hoped the creature would ignore them.


    Sophia started it off with her Offensive Illusion Field. She couldn¡¯t see anything, but the Hungering Spark certainly seemed to.


    Its tongue swung to the left, past where Sophia and Dav hid, and seemed to throw even more lightning. ¡°There you are! Oh, and you taste good. Yes, resist, bring your power to the surface. Fighting will make you taste better.¡±


    Sophia shivered internally. There was something deeply troubling about listening to something talk about how she would taste when it ate her. She saw Dav¡¯s Eldritch Fire Bud appear under the creature¡¯s feet and carefully prepared her own weapons. Amy waited, in line with the plan; they wanted it firmly fixed in place before she began to attack.


    Roots surged out of the dirt and glowing purple branches appeared from nowhere as Sophia¡¯s Root Grab and Dav¡¯s Eldritch Anchor closed around the monster at the same time. They wrapped around it and halted its movement for a moment.


    An arrow from Amy scorched through the area where its tongue was without slowing at all. Sophia blinked; that wasn¡¯t what she expected. Maybe Amy hit the lightning instead of the solid tongue?


    Sophia¡¯s roots were the first to fail as the reason Amy¡¯s arrow missed suddenly became obvious: the Hungering Spark was moving. Sophia could see its legs in front of the roots as it twisted and slid towards her. Dav¡¯s Eldritch Anchor held for only a moment longer, then lightning seemed to solidify in place again.


    The Hungering Spark stared directly at the illusory tent they hid in. ¡°I smell you. You fight me, you hold me, but you cannot hold lightning. I will always escape and singe you, cook you, eat you.¡± Its head shifted left, then right, before turning back to the tent. ¡°You must be there, you must.¡±


    Its presence thinned a little, then it reached up with a hand and unleashed a torrent of green lightning that filled the area in front of it with sparks bright enough that Sophia had to look away for a moment. When she looked back, it hadn¡¯t moved but the lightning had returned to playing around its hand instead of covering the area. It looked insubstantial, filled with lightning, but the tongue still looked as solid as ever. Unfortunately, it also looked agile.


    It slashed through the same space with its other hand. ¡°No matter how many others you throw at me, I will sear their flesh from their bones and eat their sparks but I will not become full. I always hunger. Always. And you will feed me!¡±


    Sophia used her Animated Blade to throw a Force Bolt at the Hungering Spark. She expected to see it splash on the Hungering Spark¡¯s shield, but it didn¡¯t. The Force Bolt continued straight through the Hungering Spark¡¯s chest. It was pure luck that she¡¯d aimed it down a bit. The Force Bolt barely touched the Hungering Spark¡¯s tongue after passing through its body, but the effect was still obvious. The tongue dropped away quickly, uninjured but clearly moved. The Force Bolt disintegrated, its energy spent on the Hungering Spark¡¯s shield.


    The Hungering Spark roared wordlessly. Its tongue whipped out and closed around air, then seemed to pull it back into the cavity in its chest. Sophia assumed that meant it was still caught in her Offensive Illusory Field, but it didn¡¯t seem as effective on the Hungering Spark as it was on Amy and Dav.


    Sophia quickly shouted into the shared mental communications link, ¡°Hit the tongue! It stays solid while the rest isn¡¯t!¡±


    That was the moment Sophia¡¯s dragons decided to strike. Her dark Overcharged dragon raked its claws through the Hungering Spark¡¯s insubstantial head with no effect, while her brightly colored feathered dragon spat wisps of colored light at the back of the Hungering Spark.


    It recoiled when the light hit it, staggering a step forwards and hissing in either pain or irritation; Sophia couldn¡¯t tell which. ¡°Your people taste of nothing but memories but your magic sings of power,¡± the Hungering Spark called out. ¡°Spicy but delicious, I can taste you all around me.¡±


    It spun and seemed to taste the air right behind it, where the dragon started. Its back seemed to be leaking multicolored lightning, the same lightning its tong gave off, but only in tiny sparks. When it didn¡¯t find anything, it spun back around. ¡°Hiding and fighting, Bright Spark, the more you struggle the better you will taste.¡±


    Sophia hoped the sparks emerging from its back meant the dragonfire hurt the Hungering Spark. She wasn¡¯t sure damaging its tongue would be enough to kill it; they needed a way to affect the rest of it. Her main attack passed right through it and so did Amy¡¯s arrows. It was affected by spells meant to hold it a little, but they didn¡¯t last; it could simply step through them. So far, the only thing they had that definitely affected it was illusions and Sophia was pretty sure that was only delaying it, not stopping it.


    An arrow hit the shield around its tongue, followed by another. The third was stopped by a sudden wall of lightning, then the Hungering Spark was two steps closer to Sophia and Dav. It was like it had ridden the lightning it created to block Amy¡¯s arrows, then somehow left the lightning behind to form a solid wall protecting it from her. ¡°I see you where you hide, bright and shining, hidden only by wood and cloth. Wood burns and cloth tears, both taste of ashes and soot. You taste of light and strength. I will not share your power, I will take it as my own!¡±


    The sky seemed to darken as the Hungering Spark spoke.


    Sophia glanced up. It wasn¡¯t just an illusion; clouds gathered above them ominously. The Hungering Spark was about to try something Sophia didn¡¯t think she had any way to deal with.

 Chapter 137 - Living Lightning

    Lightning blanketed the area around Sophia. It stung as tiny bits leaked past her shield. The periodic surprising shocks were the only sign she was surrounded by lightning, but Sophia didn¡¯t know how long her shield would last. There was very little she could do except hope that it would last long enough.


    She saw the lightning thicken in front of her, near the Hungering Spark, then coalesce into two pillars of lightning. The air around her still seemed charged, but the pain stopped as if the real power of the Hungering Spark had been pulled into the pillars of energy. It brightened to the point where Sophia couldn¡¯t look at it and left dark regions in her vision in the time it took to look away. Each one gave off loud CRACKs of noise loud enough that Sophia was fairly certain she wouldn¡¯t be able to hear anything for a bit.


    Fortunately, she didn¡¯t have to. Her shout through the mental connection to attack while it was distracted was met with similar yells from both Amy and Dav, along with a whimper from Taika.


    Almost all of the attacks passed through the monster, though one of the spikes from a Thorn Emitter Dav summoned while Sophia wasn¡¯t looking did manage to hit the creature¡¯s tongue. It skidded off the Hungering Spark¡¯s shield, but at least it was something.


    Sophia¡¯s dragons dove in for another pass. This time, her feathered dragon¡¯s claws narrowly missed the monster¡¯s tongue and the larger shimmering purple dragon flared slightly above the monster.


    Sophia frowned as she watched the weird black lightning try to wrap around the Hungering Spark¡¯s head and arms. Unlike all of the other attacks they¡¯d tried, her dragons¡¯ magical breath attacks both touched the monster. She didn¡¯t think they worked particularly well, but that was hard to tell while the Hungering Spark still had its shield. The attacks made even more lighting crawl across its skin where it was hit, however, which said it was accomplishing something.


    Why were their breath attacks different? It couldn¡¯t be because they were magical; Sophia¡¯s Force Bolts passed right through the monster¡¯s body like it wasn¡¯t there. It wasn¡¯t power, either; the results from both of Sophia¡¯s dragons seemed similar. If anything, the effect from her Eldritch Overcharged dragon was actually less than the effect of her normal dragon¡¯s breath, though it was close.


    Sophia stopped attacking while she thought; she wanted to save her mana for a little longer. Maybe she could spellbreak its protection?


    The Hungering Spark seemed to ignore all of the attacks. It watched the twin pillars of lightning instead. Just when Sophia thought they were going to clear, both seemed to turn into tornadoes of lightning instead of wind, then rushed into the mouth-belly of the monster. Its tongue seemed to curl around the lightning for a moment.


    Unluckily, one of Amy¡¯s arrows passed right through where the tongue would have been if it weren¡¯t caressing the lightning headed for the Hungering Spark¡¯s belly. It was too mobile to make a great target, especially when it was mostly hidden from Amy¡¯s view by the rest of the monster¡¯s body.


    Sophia tried to hit the tongue with an Attractive Affix, but the spell didn¡¯t want to work. It refused to cover only the tongue and insisted on spreading to the rest of the body. Sophia watched as several of Dav¡¯s thorns were pulled away from the tongue towards the creature¡¯s main body. It was worse than useless.


    The monster shouted something. Sophia had no idea what; she could barely make out the fact that there was noise. What she did notice was that it reached up towards the sky and seemed to throw several lightning bolts straight up.


    No one was hurt yet, but this wasn¡¯t working. Sophia had to come up with something better, and that meant getting rid of the monster¡¯s protections somehow. Neither Dav nor Amy had the tools to do that. The monster didn¡¯t seem to have noticed them, so at least Taika¡¯s spell was working; that seemed like the only thing that had gone right so far.


    Sophia concentrated on the Hungering Spark. She paid attention to her Aural Magic Sense instead of her vision; what did it tell her?


    She could feel the mana of her own spell. It dimmed quickly once she dismissed it, but there was no other spell on the monster. She could feel it throw torrents of mana at the sky, but none of its mana stayed around it. There was nothing to spellbreak.


    The damn thing didn¡¯t make sense. It had to be an Ability, but what Ability would make you insubstantial except for your tongue? The term ¡°Domain of the Hungering Spark¡± made a little more sense if it was literally hungry lightning, but -


    Sophia¡¯s consternation was interrupted by lightning bolts that rained down around her. They were far smaller than the pair of pillars and moved more slowly, but they were still too bright to look at. She had better luck avoiding the three strikes that targeted the illusory tent by feeling the mana as it moved ahead of the lightning than Dav did with his eyes; she managed to only be brushed by one, while Dav was btoo close to one and squarely hit by another.


    She could barely even see his mouth move because of how damaged her vision was. She definitely couldn''t hear what he was saying out loud.


    Fortunately he also sent it across the mental link. ¡°I¡¯m going to stack everything and try to pin it in place, starting with my Anchor. Be ready to hit the tongue with everything you¡¯ve got!¡±Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    This time, the Eldritch Anchor worked well. Dav must have targeted the tongue rather than the body of the Hungering Spark. That was the only thing that made sense. He crouched slightly and sprang across the fifteen feet to the Hungering Spark in a single bound.


    As he landed, his sword stabbed towards the suddenly stationary gigantic tongue. Sophia could actually see it as Dav¡¯s sword, covered in both strangely twisting multicolored light and mana that felt like a series of glowing black runes etched into the sword¡¯s metal, punched through the monster¡¯s shield and into the flesh. It didn¡¯t penetrate far, but it was enough that when the sword was pushed out by the shield, lightning flowed like blood from a cut artery.


    Arrows from Amy, spikes from Dav¡¯s Thorn Emitter, and Force Bolts from Sophia rained off the shield, weakening it but not penetrating the way Dav¡¯s strike had. Another strike from Dav managed no better. Sophia didn¡¯t care that nothing had gotten through yet other than a single strike from Dav¡¯s sword; that was how it went with the Guide¡¯s stupid Shield.


    It was finally working! They¡¯d wear down the Hungering Spark¡¯s protection, then-


    The Hungering Spark pushed a hand forward and covered Dav in lightning. Sophia might not be able to tell what the monster was shouting, but there was no doubt about what Dav¡¯s scream meant. Worse, Sophia didn¡¯t know how long his shield would hold out. He had less than she did for some reason and she was certain that they had less combined than the Hungering Spark did.


    Worse, Dav didn¡¯t move to try to get away or to smash the creature made of lightning and stormclouds. He seemed paralyzed by the shock as it ran through him and into the ground. Sophia didn¡¯t have a way to fix it. She could only think of one thing that might work to get the lightning off Dav. It probably wouldn¡¯t work, but she had to try something.


    Sophia pushed a Parrying Presence onto her lover¡¯s body. Shockingly, the monster¡¯s hand deflected to the side and the lightning rained mostly onto an area to the right of Dav instead of into him. Dav collapsed to one knee and panted.


    He was out of the fight for the moment, but he was clearly still alive. That was bad but not as bad as Sophia had feared. As she watched, a small green flame appeared next to Dav¡¯s foot. It quickly sprang upwards and spread outwards. As it went, it solidified into yellow-rimmed green leaves around a yellow-green translucent glowing bud that held swirling green light. It wasn¡¯t hard to guess that this was a Healing Beacon.


    It was bad that Dav felt he needed healing before the fight was over, but a very good thing that he was still able to summon anything. If he had to fight, he should be able to do something, but Sophia couldn¡¯t count on having him at his full capabilities against the lightning monster.


    ¡°Kill the fucking elemental for me, will you?¡± Dav¡¯s mental voice was weak but welcome.


    Weirdly, the first thought that passed through Sophia¡¯s mind in her relief was that it wasn¡¯t a fucking elemental, it was a lightning elemental, or possibly a storm elemental. There was some weirdness about the fact that it wanted to eat everything, too, but it definitely wasn¡¯t a fucking elemental.


    Sophia continued to pour her mana into less than effective attacks aimed at the creature¡¯s tongue. Maybe they could make it bleed out. Sure, it didn¡¯t bleed ordinary blood, but the lightning that came from its injuries was sort of like blood, wasn¡¯t it?


    ¡°We will.¡± Amy¡¯s words carried a sense of conviction. Sophia wasn¡¯t sure how she could be so certain when they didn¡¯t even know how to handle it; it wasn¡¯t like it was really even alive. Elementals weren¡¯t, exactly.


    Sophia stopped in the middle of forming her next Force Bolt. She felt like smacking herself. She was being an idiot. She really should have realized it earlier; it wasn¡¯t just a coincidence that the creature didn¡¯t make rational sense for a living being.


    It wasn¡¯t exactly alive. That was important.


    Either True Death Bolt or Corruption Bolt ought to work well; it wasn¡¯t possible without magic, so it fell under True Death¡¯s ¡°beings created by magic,¡± and it definitely had a core element to corrode with Corruption. Sophia figured she¡¯d try True Death first. The Guide might not track how well you understood things, but Sophia was certain she understood Death better than Corruption.


    Anything could die.


    True Death Bolt


    Discharge a bolt infused with the magic of True Death to damage your target. True Death has little effect on natural creatures. It is extremely effective against beings created by magic, such as magical constructs and the walking dead.


    Corruption Bolt


    Discharge a bolt infused with the magic of Corruption to damage your target. Corruption erodes the core element of a being.


    A true Death Bolt aimed at the tongue didn¡¯t do much; it glanced off the shield just like one of her Force Bolts. That was still encouraging, since it didn¡¯t do even that much against most living things.


    Sophia aimed her next True Death Bolt at the Hungering Spark¡¯s glowing red eye.


    The attack struck exactly where she wanted it. Even better, the impact was announced by a large splash of lightning boiling out of the Hungering Spark¡¯s head at exactly the point where the True Death Bolt impacted.


    There was no sign of the protection of the Guide¡¯s shield. Sophia wasn¡¯t sure if the True Death bolt ignored it or if it simply wasn¡¯t there because the monster was normally invulnerable to damage anywhere except the tongue, but her guess was that there wasn¡¯t any shield. It had clearly activated the shield on the tongue, after all.


    Sophia saw the monster¡¯s attention shift from Dav to her. She doubted it could tell exactly where she was; not only had she destroyed its eye, she was still shielded from view by Taika¡¯s tent illusion. That didn¡¯t seem to matter; its hand moved unerringly towards Sophia and slow-moving colorful lightning boiled towards her.


    The mana in the lightning sang to Sophia¡¯s aural sense with a ravenous desire to sear everything in its path.

 Chapter 138 - How did it find me?

    Sophia flinched and reached for a defense immediately. She¡¯d seen what that lightning did to Dav and absolutely did not want it to hit her, so she even for a moment. She didn¡¯t have time to think or layer defenses; she only had time for one Ability.


    She picked Magical Translucence. Unconsciously, she also tugged on the magic with her aura, limiting its reach, but the effect of that was small.


    The effect of Magical Translucence didn¡¯t last long, but it was still impressive to Sophia. For Dav, the lightning impacted his shield; only the lightning that pushed through his shield actually hit him, but it was still enough to paralyze him while he was being hit. With Magical Translucence, Sophia didn¡¯t see any sign of a shield blocking the lightning strike.


    She could feel the magic as it passed though where she was standing. It made her ache, but it didn¡¯t hold her in place. A moment after the first bit of lightning hit, Sophia threw herself to the side and out of the direct path of the lightning. A single hop was enough because the Hungering Spark didn¡¯t seem to realize she¡¯d gotten out of the way. The lightning continued to sheet through the area where Sophia had stood a moment earlier.


    If the Hungering Spark couldn¡¯t see she¡¯d gotten out of the way, how did it find her in the first place after she destroyed its vision?


    Sophia¡¯s eyes followed the lightning back along its path to its origin with the Hungering Spark as she scrambled backwards. She froze when she realized that in her haste to get away from the raging energy, she¡¯d abandoned the illusion of the tent. The lightning didn¡¯t move towards her; in fact, the Hungering Spark didn¡¯t seem to realize she wasn¡¯t there.


    Sophia traced the lightning back to the tent and realized that the Hungering Spark found her because she made the easiest mistake possible when using her aura to cast a spell: she¡¯d thrown the True Death Bolt from her position straight towards the monster. It was more accurate, which was nice, but it also meant that all the monster had to do was figure out where the attack came from and use something big enough to cover that area. The Hungering Spark¡¯s lightning was more than broad enough; as it was, it hadn¡¯t quite hit her squarely.


    She could do better than that with aura casting and she could definitely do better than that if she used her Animated Spell Blade! Yes, it would be a little slower to deliberately cast the spell from a portion of her aura that wasn¡¯t in line with her vision, but if that meant the monster would be fooled about where to attack, it was completely worth it. Letting it waste its energy attacking the ground was a far better choice than leading it to her location.


    Sophia tried to form a Death Bolt at the edge of her aura, but nothing happened. Her mana didn¡¯t move. It took her a moment to realize that she was still covered in the effect of Magical Translucence. She hadn¡¯t even realized she could hang on to it for more than a moment. It was great news, in a way, but apparently she couldn¡¯t use Magical Translucence and cast anything at the same time. That made all too much sense; if she wasn¡¯t entirely there to magic, how could she manipulate it precisely?


    At the same time, Sophia didn¡¯t like it. Her body should be translucent, but there was no reason her aura had to be translucent as well. At least, she didn¡¯t think there was. The Ability she currently had handled both, but maybe there was one that would let her adjust things more. If nothing else, she was pretty sure that her Magic Attuned Aura still worked; maybe she could use that to enable herself to cast spells while she was translucent to enemies¡¯ spells.


    It was something to work on in the future. For now, she would simply have to remember that she couldn¡¯t hold the defense and attack at the same time. For that matter, she probably couldn¡¯t use the defense and fly at the same time; that was still magic. Maybe it would work if she already had her wings out?


    Sophia shook herself back to the fight she was in. She could test things later.


    The Hungering Spark¡¯s tongue twisted and curled. It seemed to try to lick the lightning that it sent at Sophia¡¯s previous location, even if that meant it was hit by more of Amy¡¯s arrows. It didn¡¯t seem to care about them; that and the fact that its shield hadn¡¯t yet fallen made Sophia wonder just how tough it was. Was it stronger because it only had to cover part of the monster¡¯s body?


    The Hungering Spark¡¯s tongue had to be still partially restrained, but Dav¡¯s Eldritch Anchor seemed to be failing. Sophia needed to kill the monster.


    She sent her Animated Spell Blade off to one side of her aura and started casting from it and another location in her aura not far from the blade; the last thing she wanted was for the monster to be unable to decide which spot to attack, split the difference, and end up hitting Sophia again. She wasn¡¯t sure she¡¯d be able to get her Magical Translucence functioning in time. Even if she did, she already ached; she wasn¡¯t sure what another lightning strike would do to her. Translucent wasn¡¯t perfectly clear; she was hit with something. That had to be why she ached.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Like the first Death Bolt, both of her attacks ripped into the Hungering Spark¡¯s body without hitting any sort of protection. Both connected with its upper body; she had to avoid the tongue to avoid the shield, which meant avoiding the belly, but she could try to hit the upper chest. Lightning surged out of the injuries.


    The Hungering Spark responded by attacking both directions. The lightning didn¡¯t come close to Sophia herself, but it smashed cleanly into her Animated Spell Blade. For the first time, she felt her Imbue Blade Ability fail through the action of something else, instead of through her own dismissal or use of the Imbuement. It didn¡¯t hurt, but she could definitely feel it as the link to her blade snapped.


    Sophia saw Dav finally stand up. He raised his sword, clearly intending to stab the Hungering Spark, so she shouted at him mentally. ¡°Don¡¯t hit it! It can only find you by tracing your attacks back, I¡¯ve blinded it!¡±


    Dav stepped backwards. Sophia saw him look down, then relax a little before he projected words back at her. ¡°Can you get him back to the Fire Bud? It¡¯s about to bloom.¡±


    Before Sophia could answer, the dragons she¡¯d forgotten about plunged down from the sky. This time, it seemed like they¡¯d learned from their previous attacks, because neither one tried to attack physically. Instead, they both spat glowing sparks at the monster, the same magical breath that burned it when they first attacked.


    The Hungering Spark didn¡¯t seem to know where to hit after that. It flailed towards the dragons, but completely missed the larger purple dragon and barely clipped the tail of the pastel feathered dragon. Sophia watched them ascend back into the sky. The injured dragon seemed to have more trouble controlling its ascent than before, but it was still able to stay in the sky.


    Sophia took the Spark¡¯s distraction as a good time to hit it with another True Death spell, carefully aimed from a slightly different direction that wasn¡¯t close to herself. It seemed to confuse the monster even more. It was quickly apparent that other than the belly-mouth, an eye, and its limbs, the Hungering Spark didn¡¯t have any vital points. It was definitely not alive in the normal sense of the word.


    Careful strikes to try to bleed out the elemental was clearly the best option Sophia had, but leading it into the Eldritch Fire Bud might speed things up. The faster this was done, the better; she couldn¡¯t count on the Hungering Spark not having surprises of its own that could turn everything around.


    Sophia scrambled to her feet and hurried in a wide circle around the Hungering Spark and the Eldritch Fire Bud. Once she had a good view of it again, she could see what Dav meant. The Fire Bud was about halfway through the process; it would be warm now but not horribly hot. She needed to lure it forward a few steps, back to where it started.


    Another look at the Spark told her that that might be easier than she expected, unfortunately. The Hungering Spark had turned to follow her as she moved around it. It clearly didn¡¯t know exactly where she was, but just as clearly it had some idea something was moving and was more worried about that than about where it had last been attacked from. Maybe it had realized she was the attacker?


    Come to think of it, it had stopped attacking the false enemies of her Offensive Illusion Field after it performed the big attack on two spots near it then ate the lightning. That probably meant it had seen through that layer of illusion. At the same time, it hadn¡¯t targeted her while she was in Taika¡¯s tent except for returning her attack; was that because she wasn¡¯t moving or because Taika¡¯s illusion still worked?


    It wouldn¡¯t hurt to have Taika try again. She projected the words across the mental link. ¡°Taika! Can you set up an illusion to give me something to hide behind and also something that hides Dav¡¯s Eldritch Fire Bud? Maybe you can make it look like it isn¡¯t there?¡±


    Sophia made it all the way to where she wanted to be before Taika answered. His response wasn¡¯t particularly reassuring. ¡°Maybe?¡±


    ¡°Please try,¡± Sophia requested. She couldn¡¯t really ask more than that. ¡°Dav, are you ready to anchor the Spark again if I can get it close enough?¡±


    Dav¡¯s mental voice, unlike Taika¡¯s, had a laugh under it when he responded, ¡°Maybe.¡±


    Lightning speared towards Sophia from the Hungering Spark. It wasn¡¯t quite aimed correctly; it seemed to be aimed at where she had been a moment before instead of where she was now. Sophia had to dive to the side, but she was able to completely get out of the way.


    The Hungering Spark¡¯s inaccuracy probably had something to do with how it was finding her. It couldn¡¯t be hearing or sight; she destroyed its eye and the thunder was far too loud to hear over. That limited how it could sense her, and there was an obvious possibility: aura. In this case, Sophia guessed it was probably the thing¡¯s Domain. It was named after the creature and had to do something. While it probably empowered the monster¡¯s lightning, it would make sense if the Hungering Spark could also use its Domain to get a rough feel for where things were.


    That might explain how it broke out of the Offensive Illusion Field, too. It could tell there wasn¡¯t anything there when it ate the lightning, and that would confirm the lack of feeling from its Domain. That might be enough even if it preferred to use its glowing red eye, and it would have to use the Domain now that it couldn¡¯t see.


    Sophia more than half wished she had electrical abilities, too. If she did, maybe she could blind it or make a dead spot. As it was, she didn¡¯t even have a way to try to ground out the lightning, so she had to abandon that idea and hope Taika¡¯s illusions would work. She wasn¡¯t very confident, not if it paid attention to its Domain. Taika¡¯s illusions weren¡¯t solid.


    Sophia crawled away from where she landed after her dive. She didn¡¯t know if that would make it harder to find her, but it was worth a try. She covered her movement with a True Death Bolt from the far end of her aura, to try to fix the Hungering Spark¡¯s attention in that direction and distract it from her.  It didn¡¯t seem to multitask well.

 Chapter 139 - Bleed Out

    One of the dragons, the larger purple one with leathery wings, appeared from the sky. Sophia wasted a moment wishing she could speak to it mentally or direct it the way Dav could direct his summons. As it exhaled glowing magical light at the monster, Sophia shouted, ¡°Pull it this way! Get it over the fire flower!¡±


    She couldn¡¯t even hear her own shout and had no idea if the dragon could hear her. If it could, she didn¡¯t know how. It disappeared back into the sky, but a moment later it was struck by lightning that descended from above. It glowed for a long moment, then dissipated into the magic that formed it. Most of the magic seemed to be glowing purple or black, but there were a number of blue and silver bits as well.


    Sophia was still swearing to herself when a bird flashed down from above and swept through the edge of the lightning, then somehow flipped and flew right through the Hungering Spark¡¯s chest. The bird flared her wings and revealed herself as Sophia¡¯s other dragon. She spat multicolored fire at the monster as she slowed and seemed to halt in place just over the Eldritch Fire Bud.


    The feathered dragon was slow to gain height; she looked almost like she was hovering in place.


    The Hungering Spark flickered as it shifted forward, almost directly under the dragon, then raised its arm. Nothing seemed to happen until its lightning-covered hand touched the dragon. When it did, another bolt of lightning connected the sky to the ground straight through the dragon. The feathered dragon disappeared the same way as the other dragon, though the sparks that were left behind were a rainbow of paler colors.


    Sophia had the impression that the disappearing motes of colored magic were almost smug. She had no idea why she felt that until she heard Dav¡¯s mental shout, ¡°Got him!¡±


    Maybe the dragon was right to be smug. It cost her existence, but the Hungering Spark was almost directly over the blooming Eldritch Fire Bud, anchored in place by Dav¡¯s Eldritch Anchor. Sophia could summon the dragon again later.


    Sophia rose to her feet and attacked the Hungering Spark¡¯s legs. Where she bled it of its lightning probably wasn¡¯t important; bleeding it as much as possible was. It didn¡¯t walk, it teleported, but that didn¡¯t mean its legs weren¡¯t useful somehow.


    The Hungering Spark never managed to free itself from the Anchor. It threw lightning after each of Sophia¡¯s True Death Bolts, which seemed to drain it even faster. Amy ran out of arrows before Sophia ran out of mana, even though she started with her normal full amount and had a set of arrows summoned by Dav as well. Dav ended up summoning her more.


    When Sophia ran out of mana, all she could do was watch with Dav. He had to hold his Eldritch Anchor and keep the Thorn Emitter focused on the Hungering Spark¡¯s tongue. Amy continued to plink Dav¡¯s Eldritch Arrows off its shield, as well, but mostly they were waiting for the monster to bleed out.


    There was no last minute surprise. In the end, they knew the Hungering Spark was gone because the Guide told them. Sophia expected the storm to dissipate, but it didn¡¯t.


    Feat Completed!


    For your Feat of defeating a monster with an Upgrade advantage, you have been granted a reward!


    This Feat is awarded to all participants, but as the Feat was completed together, the reward is also shared.


    Reward: Assisted Domain Condensation


    The Domain of the Hungering Spark will be condensed into an item appropriate to the Domain and its creator. The item may or may not be immediately useful.


    (Feather Image)


    Your Patron greets you!


    I see one more creature like this one following you. It is more powerful than the Hungering Spark, though I suspect it is also less straightforward in a fight. I don''t know if that will make it easier for you to defeat or not. Unfortunately, all I can suggest is to keep trying to grow stronger; as long as you aren''t caught by surprise, your trio is quite capable.


    Your build is not one I would have chosen, but it has some interesting possibilities. I wish I could take the time to discuss it with you, but that isn''t allowed. I can give you what information I can fit here but I cannot spend the hours with you that I would like to. My top recommendation for you is to look at your Summon Echo Technique; it is more flexible than you think. It is rare, so gaining a better version will be difficult, but the original version has a minimum Level far higher than you are. I hope you are as capable as I think you are.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    I do not wish to talk to you about the Maze, but I think it is necessary. I do not know how much you have learned, but the Maze is the greatest artifact that remains of the time when the Guide was new, a prize we won in the Tower of Kestii. I believe it is more myth than knowledge, now, but I can tell you a little of the past. The Broken Lands was not always broken; that should be obvious. When the Guide came, Kestii was a continent-spanning empire ruled from a city that bore the same name as the Empire. It was a time of upheaval and I cannot even begin to fit everything that happened here, but there was a Challenge from the Guide and we won it. We won the chance to choose our destiny. All of the world won, not simply Kestii.


    And then the Broken Lord threw it away for his lands. He did not know that was what he was doing, but that doesn''t change the consequences. The only vestige of the victory here now is the Patrons, and the Broken try to keep us out as much as they can. You must still be careful.


    The other advice I have for you is to ask Amy about the Tower of Kestii and the Broken Temple. I do not know which side she has chosen, but both are common in the Realm of the Shattered Sky. You should listen carefully and see how much you trust her. A child of the Tower could be very helpful to you and your friend but a follower of the Broken Lord would simply kill you if she found out you were Hallowed of another.


    --The Wanderer


    As with so many of the Guide¡¯s messages, there was a lot to unpack. First, despite the fact that the Hungering Spark could easily have killed them, the Guide gave a far less impressive Feat award than for the corpsevine crown. Sophia hoped the item it promised would be good, but the real reward wasn¡¯t anything the Guide could give.


    The real reward was the fact that they survived. She ached, Dav still looked hurt, and both of their outfits were completely trashed, but that could all be fixed. Sophia suspected they¡¯d probably have to buy new cold weather gear when they reached Izel.


    Second, the way the Feat talked about splitting the reward implied that it could be completed by groups large enough that it would be difficult to determine who a reward should go to. That could happen even in small groups, but Sophia was certain it was more common in larger groups, at least up until the ¡°group¡± was large enough to have an actual command structure and procedures for allocating loot or more likely pay. The key bit of information there was that unless the Guide specifically gave you something that couldn¡¯t be taken away, others could try. That wasn¡¯t really a surprise but it was still good to know.


    The message from the Wanderer was even more interesting, even as it was concerning at the same time. Sophia could count; she knew there were three bandits originally, which meant that the ¡°one more¡± the Wanderer talked about was probably the third bandit. Given Taika¡¯s testimony, it was a blob with tentacles that liked water, probably something like a jellyfish. That sounded like something that might be physically formidable while the Hungering Spark was all about its lightning.


    Sophia didn¡¯t know if there were any more monsters from Cliff¡¯s dungeon likely to come after her, but she suspected not. Neither Taika nor the Wanderer had mentioned them, and the Wanderer seemed to have noticed the others, even if he hadn¡¯t always warned Sophia adequately.


    Sophia was pleased with how well Summon Echo worked out for the fight; while they could probably have won without it, the dragons both gave Sophia a clue that led her to using more effective magic and lured the Hungering Spark over Dav¡¯s Eldritch Fire Bud at the end of the fight. They could and would follow verbal directions and could hear them when Sophia couldn¡¯t.


    Well, either that or they were somehow getting ongoing limited direction from her. Sophia wasn¡¯t entirely certain.


    No matter why they could follow directions, however, it made them even more useful. Even before the Wanderer mentioned the Martial Technique, Sophia was kind of worried about what would happen when she leveled. She couldn¡¯t improve the Martial Technique without fighting another monster with the same technique, which meant she¡¯d need to find something similar if she wanted the same utility. The fact that the Wanderer called it rare only made that worse.


    The only other option was figuring out how to upgrade Techniques and that was something no one could help her with. There might be a way if she could find someone who knew how to make or modify Techniques, but she wasn¡¯t sure where to start on that and she was certain most people learned them from their Sphere. Other people didn¡¯t copy techniques any more than they copied spells.


    Maybe the Wanderer could have helped if he could sit down with her and have that multi-hour conversation he wanted. Sophia suspected he¡¯d have some ideas, at least. That was apparently not possible, so she¡¯d just have to do the best she could and try to improve it herself.


    Sophia didn¡¯t know what to think about the rest of the message. It was definitely nice to know why the Wanderer originally told them not to reveal that they were Hallowed, but Sophia didn¡¯t have any idea how that helped her. It was amusing that the Wanderer started off by mentioning the Maze, but apparently didn¡¯t want to talk about it in any detail and decided to talk about ancient history instead.


    Sophia really didn¡¯t want to get involved in anything that affected the fate of the Broken Lands. She¡¯d heard the stories and while they were exciting to hear about, they sounded pretty awful to have to deal with. Unfortunately, she did want to go home eventually and the Maze was the only clue she¡¯d heard about a possible way to travel to another world. It was something she¡¯d need to keep in mind for when she was ready to start working towards leaving. For now, she was far more interested in seeing more of the Broken Lands. She hadn¡¯t seen anything yet.


    She had to find out more about the past, and asking Amy the Wanderer¡¯s question seemed like a good place to start once she was ready to find out. First, though, she needed to deal with the rest of the aftermath of the fight.


    Starting with the continual lightning strikes coming from the spot where the Hungering Spark died. If that was what the Guide meant by Domain Condensation, it was a violent process.

 Chapter 140 - Remnants

    Lightning from the clouds struck the ground where the now-dead Hungering Spark¡¯s body rested. A moment later, there was a second strike, then a third.


    Dav¡¯s mental voice was shaky when he reported that the lightning dismissed the Eldritch Fire Bud. Sophia was pretty sure it would have dissipated on its own soon, but it didn¡¯t get the chance.


    The lightning was constant. Sophia shielded her eyes from it and waited for it to slow down. The lightning all carried mana, but that wasn¡¯t as blinding as the light itself. She could feel something float up from the ground with her Aural Mana Sense, so she risked a look and found that there was an irregular flattened cubic crystal floating point-up being struck by colorful magic-enhanced lightning that then flowed into the ground.


    She¡¯d clearly been wrong before; this had to be what the Guide meant by Domain Condensation. The crystal was the wrong shape, but the magic flowing through it seemed similar to monster cores back home. Sophia could recognize that, but she didn¡¯t know what it meant; cores were dangerous, even though they were commonly used to create and power enchantments. She¡¯d never had much to do with them since she had no desire to enchant things beyond the small projects she¡¯d done as a child. They were far too fiddly.


    The one nice thing about the magical lightning was that it wasn¡¯t nearly as blinding as real lightning. It was probably not lightning at all; Sophia thought it was actually magical leakage. That could look like lightning if it was intense enough.


    The strikes continued on and on, overwhelming anything else in the area. Sophia used the time to hunt down the knife that was hit by the Hungering Spark¡¯s lightning; sure, it had dispelled the Imbuement, but the blade might still be usable.


    When she found it, the knife looked like it had holes melted into it in odd patterns. It was also covered in similar magical lightning, similar enough that it took Sophia a moment to decide that at least some of it was coming from the blade. She was pretty sure it was reacting to the storm of magic, since it felt far weaker than everything else she could feel, but there still seemed to be something there.


    Sophia considered it for a long moment, then dug in her pack for an insulated bag. The blade was still good, so it would be useful. It might also be worth taking the blade to an enchanter to see if the magic it was bathed in had changed the metal into something valuable; she didn¡¯t know if that happened here but it did occasionally happen back home.


    She didn¡¯t have any good magic-isolating gloves, but she did have some silk-lined bags with appropriate enchantments on the exterior. They were intended to help preserve magical materials she collected inside dungeons, not to protect her, but that was close enough. She did legitimately want to preserve any interesting properties the metal might have picked up and anything that prevented the magic from dissipating or being contaminated would also prevent it from reaching her.


    It really was too bad she didn¡¯t have the right gloves, though. That might be something to fix in the future.


    It took a little time to wrap the damaged blade in some extra cloth and tuck it into the bag, all without touching it. When she finished, she looked around. Dav and Taika were seated on a fallen log a decent ways away from the lightning show next to a healing beacon. Amy was over with the horses; she was probably calming them down.


    The lightning show was still happening. The uneven cube had become even less even and turned into spikes that looked almost like rock candy radiating from a central glowing point. There was something sticking out of that point, something that didn¡¯t look angular and hard like everything else. It was long and tin, somewhere between pink and red, and almost looked wet.


    It took Sophia a long moment to realize that she was looking at a tongue that seemed to extend farther from the glowing central point of the lightning show as she watched.


    The tongue was horrifying enough that Sophia couldn¡¯t turn away. It seemed somehow appropriate; after all, not only was it the Hungering Spark, it had seemed to eat its own lightning and it had definitely threatened to eat her.


    A tongue was not what Sophia expected as a reward from the Guide. Her past rewards were straightforward and mostly developed her Hallow. What was she supposed to do with a tongue?


    All she could think of was that maybe it would be useful for someone who made things, but even then there was only one thought that dominated.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Ew.


    It wasn¡¯t until the severed tongue flopped lifelessly to the ground that Sophia started to dig in her bag for something to carry it in. It was at least the size of her arm, maybe even the size of a leg; what was she supposed to do with a tongue that big?


    She didn¡¯t want it in her bag, but at the same time they didn¡¯t have any other way to carry it. Worse, at that size she didn¡¯t have any insulated silk bags big enough for it. She wasn¡¯t prepared for an object that big. Even two bags wouldn¡¯t do it; not only would they leak mana, she wasn¡¯t certain it would fit anyway.


    She had a couple tarps; one of them would have to do. It wouldn¡¯t prevent the tongue from slowly leaking mana or decaying if that was something it was likely to do, and it also wouldn¡¯t block anything electrical, but it would at least keep any tongue slime off the rest of her stuff.


    Sophia pulled the tarp out, then looked towards the tongue. It was half-hidden behind a small pile of burning branches, but that wasn¡¯t what grabbed her attention. Off to the left of the tongue, a tree blazed with fire. Sophia didn¡¯t know if it was set on fire by lightning or by the Eldritch Fire Bud, but it didn¡¯t matter: she definitely didn¡¯t want to get too close to it. It didn¡¯t look like the rain was going to put it out any time soon, unlike the smaller burning piles of fallen branches that littered the area.


    The fight was clearly hard on the local landscape.


    Sophia definitely didn¡¯t want to get too close to that tree. She looked to its right and frowned; the tongue was probably far enough away, but she wasn¡¯t entirely happy about the distance. Was there any other way she could move the tongue?


    Sophia couldn¡¯t think of one. She could manage some light telekinesis with a spellform and a couple minutes, but she wasn¡¯t sure that was enough to pick up the tongue. It wasn¡¯t very strong.


    She also didn¡¯t have any good fast movement Abilities. Dav, however, did. If he could get in quickly, grab the tongue with the tarp, then get out, he¡¯d probably be fine. Sophia could give him a Parrying Presence ¡­


    No, on second thought, she couldn¡¯t. Parrying Presence was a spell and Sophia didn¡¯t have enough mana for it. She grumbled to herself and walked over to Dav and Taika. She wasn¡¯t sure she¡¯d have asked him to get it even if she could put a protective spell on him, but without it she definitely wasn¡¯t going to. It wasn¡¯t worth risking his life for. They could get it once the tree was no longer a threat. It probably wouldn¡¯t be long.


    They watched as the tree burned. With all the rain, the fire didn¡¯t spread. They were soaked and scorched, but they were lucky to be alive and just as lucky that the destruction of the Hungering Spark¡¯s domain resulted in a massive rainstorm.


    Sophia wasn¡¯t sure how long she watched the tree burn before Dav actually spoke. ¡°This is the second time I¡¯ve seen a tree scorched like that.¡±


    Sophia felt Dav¡¯s warm presence beside her. He wasn¡¯t quite touching her, but he wouldn¡¯t have to shift much to touch. She forced herself to relax a little and leaned against him, instead. ¡°When was the first?¡±


    ¡°About five years ago.¡± Dav¡¯s voice was warm and happy, not at all like how Sophia felt. She couldn¡¯t get any closer, but she felt Dav¡¯s arm close around her comfortingly and warmly when she tried. ¡°It was before I found my new niche, I thought a certification might help me find work. I was the oldest one there, of course, but I was also the only one who¡¯d already taught himself nearly everything they covered. I still don¡¯t know why they thought traveling to a quiet edge zone was a good idea. Everyone else was from a Safe City.¡±


    Sophia could almost hear the capitalization Dav placed on the last two words. He was clearly emphasizing just how different he was from everyone else in the group at the time. Sophia suspected he¡¯d been alone for most of his life, even though he was surrounded by people.


    ¡°There was a Dustfall, probably from an attack a long way away. It was just a minor Dust storm, nothing to be worried about as long as you were prepared, but they weren¡¯t. One of the students panicked when he saw a tree start to be morphed by the Dust and set it on fire instead of using a shocker. I don¡¯t know if he didn¡¯t have one or if it just didn¡¯t occur to him.¡± Dav tightened his grip on Sophia for a moment, then loosened it again. It felt like a warm hug. ¡°It worked, naturally. He was fined for destruction of the tree later, but we all got to watch as the Dust in the tree went up in flames. Dust gives off sparks when it burns; it¡¯s not like the lightning was, because it¡¯s smaller, but it¡¯s similar.¡±


    ¡°It sounds like a good memory,¡± Sophia offered. She wasn¡¯t sure she¡¯d have felt that way about it, but Dav clearly seemed to. ¡°Did you stay in contact afterwards?¡±


    Dav shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t remember his name and I doubt he ever even knew mine. The only people from that course I stayed in touch with are Jem and Vira. That¡¯s how I met them; the instructor had a shocker, but she didn¡¯t have any idea how to use it and she also didn¡¯t have a Dustcloak. Jem, Vira, and I did.¡±


    Dav paused and shook his head with a fond grin. ¡°We even worked together a few times, but they¡¯re different enough that it was usually one or the other working with me. It¡¯s funny; everyone always assumed I was dating one or both of them, but they were interested in each other, not me. They actually had an argument about which of them got to have me on their half of the wedding when they got married a couple years ago. Vira won, but I¡¯m pretty sure it¡¯s because Jem let her.¡±


    They watched the fire burn for several more minutes before the only limb that was really close to the tongue fell. It landed a decent distance away, which left the entire tree falling to the side the only major threat. Everything except the tree was smothered by the rain by then and Dav was certain he¡¯d have time to get out of the way if the tree fell as long as Sophia warned him. It took him a little time to convince Sophia it was safe, but in the end she agreed and Dav was the one who hurried in, wrapped up the tongue in Sophia¡¯s tarp, then carried it safely to the horses while Sophia watched the tree.


    Even with Amy calming them, the horses were not happy to be as close to the fire as they were. It was a good thing the land was essentially flat, because they had to swing wide around the still burning tree.

 Chapter 141 - Elsewhere

    Physalix knew when Yen died. The tiny glowing spark he could feel in the distance that was his strongest supporter flared bright with his false, hungry lightning before it went dark forever.


    Physalix would never know for certain how it happened, but he could guess. The Hungry Spark had clearly tried to eat something too powerful for him and been eaten instead. The target of his hunger might have been the bright spark they followed, but Yen could not actually sense the spark. It was far more likely that it was something else in the same direction, something Yen stopped to eat on the way while he followed Physalix¡¯s latest directions.


    The other option was that it was something that hunted Yen. The fact that the Hungry Spark had a Domain that announced its presence was foolish but it was also something Yen did not mind. He had full confidence in himself and saw no reason to hide.


    Physalix was not the same as Yen; he was smart where Yen was only hungry. It was certainly unfortunate that he lost his attack dog, the creature that was far more obviously dangerous than Physalix. Yen could have been useful in a fight. Physalix had planned on using Yen to get close to the Bright Spark so that Physalix could steal and consume it while Yen still fought. That wasn¡¯t possible now.


    Worse, the Bright Spark was moving again. If it went through another of those broken-light tunnels, Physalix might lose it. They were hard to activate; it was almost like the tunnel did not want Physalix and Yen to travel.


    Worse, they were hard to find. A solitary peak with a tunnel was easy enough, but a cave in a mountain was not. Many caves had mountains, and it would take too long to test them all. At the same time, there was no chance he could follow them to the next tunnel. That was supposed to be Yen¡¯s job, but Yen was dead.


    Despite the distance, the bright spark was even brighter than before. Physalix was not going to give up on it.


    That meant Physalix needed two things: a plan and minions. Minions could cover the rest of his weaknesses; they could carry him and find the way for him. They couldn¡¯t sense the bright spark, but that was good. That meant they wouldn¡¯t try to steal it from him.


    The plan would have to come after he had minions. He¡¯d have to adjust it for them anyway.


    Where could he get minions?


    The answer came from the past he no longer truly remembered. Monsters worked together in dungeons. He was a monster. He needed a dungeon of his own.


    The land around him was still craggy and mountainous. Unlike Yen, he couldn¡¯t travel very far in a day, so he was still near the tunnel the colorful fuzzy small spark used. Mountains were often a good place for dungeons, those dungeons were often left alone.


    Physalix could feel some small sparks around himself. Maybe that was the place to start. They might lead him to a place where he could get the support he deserved, something better than foolish stomach-for-brains that tried to eat something too big for itself.


    The closest one wasn¡¯t in the right direction, but it wasn¡¯t that far. He would leave once it was dark enough to travel.


    For that, if nothing else, Physalix missed Yen. With Yen around, it was always cool, dim, and damp. Travel was much less unpleasant.


    Hours later, once the shadows covered the entirely-too-shallow stream where Physalix hid, he emerged. The bright light wasn¡¯t gone, but it was shadowy enough for him to move around in the mountains. He made his slow, painful way across the rocky terrain.


    The way to the tiny spark he felt wasn¡¯t as easy as he expected; he could cross water, but unlike Yen, Physalix had no way to cross open air. Light was already beginning to return when he found an opening in the side of the mountain.


    Physalix entered, worried that it might be another colorful-light tunnel that would take him away from the bright spark. His worries were somewhat soothed when he realized that the cave was far more natural in appearance, but they didn¡¯t disappear until he saw the message that told him he¡¯d found the first step in what he was looking for.


    Now he just had to figure out how he was going to take control of a group of Rock Newts. They weren¡¯t exactly what he wanted to find, but they did make sense as something to find in the mountains, and the largest of them was certainly large enough to carry a Land Jelly. They might well be just what he needed.


    If he could figure out how to control them.


    Message from Ermine, Registry Master in Izel, to Jessamine, Registry Master in Casterville


    Jess,


    You¡¯re joking, right?


    No, never mind, you¡¯re not joking. You¡¯d never joke about this. You were always too serious. Dammit, Jessamine, why did you have to stick a Hunter with a pair you¡¯re trying to get into the Maze? Especially THAT Hunter? I asked you to watch over her, not get her killed!Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    For that matter, what possessed you to even think about the Maze when you¡¯re talking about people who aren¡¯t even past the first Upgrade yet? I don¡¯t care what Arryn said or how they cleared a Leveled Challenge the first time they tried one, that¡¯s far too much pressure to put on them. I also don¡¯t care that both of them are mages; yes, it¡¯s impressive that they both already have hybrid Spheres but you and I both know that isn¡¯t THAT unusual.


    Worse, who put it into your mind to direct them to Izel? Amy Hunter was supposed to be gone for at least another two years, probably five, before she returned; even with Challenge rewards and companions, this isn¡¯t a safe place for anyone who isn¡¯t willing to stay in the Safe Zones.


    Please tell me you didn¡¯t actually mention the Maze to them. I don¡¯t care how much training they have; the girl could be Lady M¡¯Beja reborn, able to read the language of magic itself, and it wouldn¡¯t be wise to send her to the Maze early.


    You did, didn¡¯t you?


    Fine. I¡¯ll put together a plan they can follow to reach the first upgrade. You tell that old meddling merchant that he owes me for this, got it?


    And no, supplies intended for the youngsters won¡¯t cut it, though I want some of those as well. They deserve it if he¡¯s going to use them as pawns. He owes me some of the catseye rubies he¡¯s been hoarding, plus a fitted winter suit. I¡¯ll let him pick the down and the enchantments, but they¡¯d better be good.


    Ermine


    The Wanderer smiled at the duo that held his hopes for a land he¡¯d once called his home. He was glad they¡¯d chosen to fight, but at the same time regretted it. It was the only chance they had to return wherever they came from, assuming the place still existed, but their chances were terrible. It would almost certainly be better for them if they gave up and settled somewhere safe.


    It wouldn¡¯t be better for the old Kestii Empire that became the Broken Lands, but the Wanderer would rather save the living than worry about the dead. Kestii was long gone, and he no longer had any idea who shared his blood or if anyone did at all. There was a good chance he had family in the Skylands, but it had been long enough that he simply didn¡¯t know. Family and bloodlines were not something he could see, any more than he could trace the path the two lost children took to reach Kestii.


    There had been others in past centuries, but few were healthy enough to Hallow. Most were claimed by the Guide for its own, like the lightning-monster they killed. As it was, he was barely able to Hallow Dav. It was a good thing he¡¯d learned from past Hallowed; he¡¯d limited Dav¡¯s options to Hallows that would help him cope with the Warping he¡¯d suffered rather than ones that would allow him to twist until he became the Guide¡¯s to play with.


    The Guide got enough. Even when there were more survivors, they rarely survived for long. This was the smallest group the Wanderer had seen in centuries and they¡¯d already survived longer than any group he could recall in that same time. It was far more common to have an entire shattered Shard land in the depths of Kestii, and when that happened only the monsters reached the surface. There was more than one reason the old, broken city was abandoned.


    The Wanderer forced his attention away. He had other places to deal with, other problems to handle. The Broken Lands were, essentially, a side task that he handled because he liked helping the abandoned, and it was hard for a land to be more abandoned than the Broken Lands.


    It was nearly impossible for any Patron other than the Broken Lord to Hallow in the Broken Lands, and no matter what the Broken Lord¡¯s pawns thought they were doing, they followed their Patron¡¯s plans. The Wanderer had other Hallows of his own there, but far fewer than the Broken Lord. He also chose not to constrain their actions or beliefs; that way led only to ruin as far as the Wanderer was concerned.


    The Wanderer was certain the Broken Lord thought he was doing the right thing. He was also completely certain the Broken Lord was wrong. He didn¡¯t have to understand why the Broken Lord wanted to shatter the parts of the Old World that still held together to know that it wasn¡¯t worth it.


    It was several days later when the Wanderer¡¯s attention was drawn back to the Broken Lands. This time, it was fortunately not another crisis. Instead, it seemed that Sophia had finally followed his advice and managed to bond the Comfort Animal, pulling it from the Guide¡¯s control to the Wanderer¡¯s.


    No, that was odd. It wasn¡¯t bonded directly to Sophia; instead, it was tied to the strange solidified mana orb that she called Cliff, the one he¡¯d managed to give a linked Hallow. That was more or less the position he¡¯d expected for Taika; since Sophia had Cliff, she clearly had the capacity to bond, yet somehow she hadn¡¯t.


    The Wanderer was no expert in bonds. That was the Beastmaster¡¯s territory, not his, and Aeric Openhand was not a close friend of the Wanderer¡¯s. They didn¡¯t hate each other; they simply didn¡¯t have anything in common. Aeric worked with a large team, even if it was a team he¡¯d built that were mostly animals and monsters, while the Wanderer worked alone or with only a few close allies. The Wanderer was pretty sure Aeric opposed the Broken Lord, but in truth he wasn¡¯t certain the other Patron was even active anymore. More than one had disappeared in the past millennium and a half.


    The Wanderer stared at the completely anomalous two-stage bond, then chuckled. ¡°It¡¯s good to be surprised. Maybe you are just what I needed after all.¡±


    He smiled as he offered a Hallow to the Comfort Animal. It wouldn¡¯t change much, for now, but with the Wanderer¡¯s help Taika wouldn¡¯t be limited to only the Species and Type Abilities the Guide picked for him.


    The Hallow Taika chose told the Wanderer that his recommendation was good. It was a very limited Hallow and extremely synergistic with Taika¡¯s former Type, close enough that the Comfort Animal Abilities he had were easily redirected into his new Psychic Bulwark Hallow. It wasn¡¯t perfect, but it was only a small broadening of the existing Type to reach the Hallow, less than an Upgrade.


    There were even enough Wisps left from the Hallow choice that the Wanderer was able to use them to stabilize Taika¡¯s Species. That was weirdly easy, in fact; the options that the Wanderer thought were in line with Taika¡¯s choices and preferences were cheap. It was almost like something was already stabilizing him.


    He was fairly confident that Taika would be happy with being a Radiant Chinchilla Eidolon. That allowed the Wanderer to keep his Species Abilities. It meant he¡¯d have trouble gaining any illusions that weren¡¯t based on sight. If Taika truly wanted those, he could get there with an appropriate Upgrade or two to his Hallow. It also meant that Taika could take other related Abilities, and the Wanderer thought Taika might like some of them.


    Many people thought Light was only good for seeing or fooling others into seeing what you wanted them to see. The Wanderer knew they were deeply mistaken.


    He looked forward to seeing what all of his new Hallowed did in the years to come.


    END OF ARC 2: WARPED

 Warped End Notes

    Author¡¯s Commentary on Broken Lands: Warped


    Warped is in some ways supposed to be a change from Building Blocks. Sophia and Dav are starting to get their feet under themselves and starting to figure out what they want to do. At the same time, they¡¯re both still strangers in a strange land, trying to fit in and not quite managing it.


    The fact that they walked into a mess of incompetence and plotting didn¡¯t help. Worse, they didn¡¯t realize that they both could and should ask for help.


    I originally planned to show more than one Shard in Warped, but there wasn¡¯t space. The main plot took longer than I expected (it always does). In some ways, it feels like it was a bit sideways, since it¡¯s not obvious that someone engineered the corpsevine crisis until the end. At the same time, this wasn¡¯t supposed to be a mystery they were trying to solve; it was supposed to be more of a ¡®why is this here?¡¯ where suddenly the misplaced object (the phoenix pin) makes everything else come together. It still feels a little weak, but at the same time it makes sense that they wouldn¡¯t see it; no one was supposed to, at least not in the mind of the plotter.


    The Guide did, of course. There are some background reasons it handled it the way it did. I¡¯m not sure I want to talk about them here, since they tie into the Guide¡¯s actual motivations and limitations and that may be important in the future. All I¡¯ll say on that is that for now that isn¡¯t something Sophia and Dav can even try to influence. Sophia has family members that can play on that level, if she can get in contact with them, but she¡¯s nowhere near that powerful and they don¡¯t even know where she is (probably).


    The secondary plot (which is where the title came from) feels like it got shoved to the side a bit more than I expected, but at least Taika got some screen time. Looking back, setting up Physalix (the Land Jelly leader) and Yen (the Hungering Spark) as two characters who were after the same thing and had very different capabilities may have been a mistake; Yen can move far too quickly. He just has to take his storm with him. The basic problem with that is that it makes giving updates on them very difficult. There was no time to give a ¡®they¡¯ve made it to the Shard¡¯ update before the Domain arrived over Casterville; those two events were separated by hours, not days. The only thing I can think of that I could have added is a scene where they¡¯re trying to figure out how to follow Taika.


    Hmm. Yeah, that would have been a good addition. It wouldn¡¯t need to be long, either.


    Speaking of titles, the next Arc is tentatively titled Night Owl. I¡¯m sure you can guess why, since we¡¯re headed to the Skylands, Amy¡¯s home Shard. I even already have a cover image (which I¡¯ll put up with the teaser).


    That brings us to the last thing I want to mention for now - the art. Throughout this book, I¡¯ve kept trying different things with it. Some of them have been more successful than others. I¡¯ve replaced some images with others as I figured out how to make them better (Sophia¡¯s art is probably the best example of this, though there are a number of others). I¡¯ve also learned a lot about editing the images myself through trying to make things work better. From that standpoint, the art¡¯s been a huge success.


    I don¡¯t think I¡¯d want to write everything with this heavy amount of art, but it¡¯s been a really interesting project this time.


    I hope you¡¯ll join me in seeing the project continue in Night Owl. I think I have some fun things planned.


    ~Lillene


    Latest Status


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Sophia


    </td>


    <td>


    Spells:


    </td>


    <td>


    Spellblade Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Warped Human


    </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Empowerment, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Imbue Blade, 3, 3)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    (Feather Image)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Root Grab, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Animate Blade, 3, 3)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Body: 7


    </td>


    <td>


    (Offensive Illusion Field, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Animate Spell Blade, 3, 3)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Core: 9


    </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Overcharge, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Collected Knowledge, 3, 3)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Antithetical Shattering Spell, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Shield: 30


    </td>


    <td>


    Martial Abilities:


    </td>


    <td>


    (Nexus Knowledge, Bonus, Free)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Summon Echo, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Wisps: 47


    </td>


    <td>


    (Shaped Growth, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Spheres


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Spellblade (Hallow)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Level: 2


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Collector (Linked)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Level: 2


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Psychic Bulwark (Linked)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Level: 2


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Attunements:


    </td>


    <td>


    Unaffiliated Abilities:


    </td>


    <td>


    Species Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Contraceptive Amulet, 3


    </td>


    <td>


    (Innate Communication, Bonus, Free)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Scaley, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Spear, 2


    </td>


    <td>


    (Spell Hardening, 3, 3)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Spell Reservoir, 3, 3)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Enchantment: Image Shift


    </td>


    <td>


    (Visual Targeting, 3, 3)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Aural Magic Sense, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Shield, 2


    </td>


    <td>


    (Disruptive Magic, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Magic Attuned Aura, Bonus, Free)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Enchantment: Image Shift


    </td>


    <td>


    (Keep Warm, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Magical Translucence, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Manifest Wings, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Prismatic Magic, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Unavailable:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Aura Armor, 2


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    MageSight, 2


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Species Spells:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Force Bolt, 3, 3)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Force Blast, 3, 3)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Corruption Bolt, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (True Death Bolt, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Attractive Affix, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Parrying Presence, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Embody Element, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Feather Image)


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Ability Descriptions


    Sphere: Spellblade


    Use Spells and Martial Techniques in your partner¡¯s Collection to enhance your magical and physical combat ability.


    Spellblade Spells:


    Eldritch Empowerment


    Gain or grant a minor eldritch boon.


    Root Grab


    Empower existing roots to grow and attempt to grab your enemies, preventing movement. May target up to Level number of creatures.


    Offensive Illusion Field


    Cover an area in an illusion of monsters created from the surroundings. The illusion includes visual, tactile, and olfactory senses and responds to actions taken by targets based on their expectations. Duration is based on the mana supplied, area covered, and number of targets included.


    Eldritch Overcharge


    Channel extra mana into Summons for additional power or duration.


    Spellblade Martial Abilities:


    Summon Echo


    Summon an echo of your power to fight for you. The echo is tied to and controlled by the summoner. Other Martial Techniques may be used through the echo if the form is appropriate, but the echo cannot cast spells.


    Shaped Growth


    Encourage the growth of nearby complex lifeforms into a desired form. May return growth capabilities to the natural maximum if the lifeform is supplied with sufficient support. May be used to combine different lifeforms.


    Spellblade Abilities:


    Imbue Blade


    Enhance the spiritual body of your blade with mana to create a projectable imitation.


    Animate Blade


    Command an Imbued blade to move and attack.


    Animate Spell Blade


    Animated Blades may also be commanded to cast spells. These spells consume mana as if they were cast by the controller.


    Antithetical Shattering Spell


    You know how best to use spells to break the Shield of enemies that you have Collected Knowledge of.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    Collected Knowledge


    You understand the monsters in your partner¡¯s Collection.


    Nexus Knowledge


    Share the knowledge you have collected with the Nexus about monsters that are currently attacking the Nexus, giving all defenders a reduced version of the benefits you receive from Collected Knowledge and all related Abilities.


    Unaffiliated Abilities:


    Innate Communication


    Innate Communication is the most comprehensive of the set of Communication Abilities for sapients. It includes understanding of all forms of the language and the necessary knowledge to easily communicate in those languages so long as the capability exists. Languages that require methods not possessed by the possessor of Innate Communication cannot be used without that method.


    Spell Hardening


    Your spells are more resilient. They are more difficult to dispel by any means, including simple resistance. Spell duration is increased where the duration is set by normal spell degradation due to local conditions.


    Visual Targeting


    Maintain control of your spells. As long as they stay within your vision, you can guide and shape them as if they were within your control. Requires additional concentration. Increases mana requirements.


    Disruptive Magic


    Use Arcane magic to disrupt spell structures.


    Keep Warm


    You retain heat better in the cold and warm up more quickly. Environmental cold must deplete your Shield before it can cause permanent damage to your body.


    Species Abilities:


    Scaley


    Call upon your heritage to gain the scales of your ancestors.


    Spell Reservoir


    Learn to cast the spells of your species. Does not include any Spell Slots or Spells. If selected, all Species spells will be reserved for the Reservoir.


    Aural MageSense


    Feel the magic within your aura.


    Magic Attuned Aura


    Your aura resonates with the power of magic. You can weakly affect magic within your aura in any way you choose.


    Magical Translucence


    You can choose to diffuse magic that strikes you, reducing its effect on you and spreading a weakened effect over a wider area.


    Manifest Wings


    Temporarily create a pair of wings formed of magic that can lift you into the sky.


    Prismatic Magic


    Split magic into its constituent elements.


    Unavailable Species Abilities:


    Aura Armor


    Use your aura to slightly deflect attacks before they reach your shield.


    MageSight


    See magic in all its forms.


    Species Spells:


    Force Bolt


    Discharge a bolt of magical force to damage your target.


    Force Blast


    Create a rapidly expanding shell of magical force at a distance to damage targets in the area.


    Corruption Bolt


    Discharge a bolt infused with the magic of Corruption to damage your target. Corruption erodes the core element of a being.


    True Death Bolt


    Discharge a bolt infused with the magic of True Death to damage your target. True Death has little effect on natural creatures. It is extremely effective against beings created by magic, such as magical constructs and the walking dead.


    Attractive Affix


    Affix a mote of your magic to a creature or object and attract other magic, including both spells and enchanted objects. The attraction is weak but may disrupt distant attacks or make the affixed creature or object easier to target. Attractive Affix does not increase the chance of hitting sensitive locations.


    Parrying Presence


    Manifest a mote of your magic around a creature or object to repel other magic, including both spells and enchanted objects. The repulsion is weak but may disrupt distant attacks or make the creature or object harder to accurately target. Parrying Presence is more likely to disrupt targeting than to completely deflect a blow, though attacks that are poorly aimed may be redirected completely.


    Embody Element


    Manifest your element physically. Exact effects depend on the element embodied.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Dav


    </td>


    <td>


    Summons:


    </td>


    <td>


    Unaffiliated Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Chaos-Warped Human


    </td>


    <td>


    (Bastion of Health, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    Innate Communication (Bonus, Free)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    (Eye Image)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Thorn Emitter, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Mana Core Specialization: Eldritch, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Body: 10


    </td>


    <td>


    (Eyes that See, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Sword Forms, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Core: 4


    </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Fire Bud, Bonus, Free)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Extended Leap, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Sheathe, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Shield: 20


    </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Anchor, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    Species Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Arrows, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Bonded Armor, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Wisps: 53


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Mana Specialization Attunement, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Species Spells:


    </td>


    <td>


    (Spell Reservoir, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Spheres


    </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Empowerment, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Splice, Bonus, Free)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Eldritch Summoner (Hallow)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Overcharge, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Mental Diffusion, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Level: 2


    </td>


    <td>


    (Spellwarp, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Aura, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    (Eye Image)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Warp Space, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Empty, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Attunements:


    </td>


    <td>


    (Light and Dark, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Contraceptive Amulet, 3


    </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Projection, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    Eldritch Summoner Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Quickstep, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Reinforcement, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Eldritch Armor, 7 (Growth)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Aurora, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Weapon Alteration, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Level: 2


    </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Weapon, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Empower Summon, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Perfect Fit: Dav


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Unbreakable Summon, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Rapid Assembly


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Embody Summon, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Self-Repair


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Ability Descriptions


    Sphere: Eldritch Summoner


    Call on the eldritch power of Chaos Itself.


    Eldritch Summoner Summons:


    Bastion of Health


    Summon a beacon to heal yourself and those you consider your allies.


    Thorn Emitter


    Summon a beacon to assault your enemies.


    Eyes that See


    Summon the Sight of the Eyes that See.


    Eldritch Fire Bud


    Summon a beacon that will bloom into flame.


    Eldritch Sheathe


    Sheathe an item in eldritch substance that you can control.


    Eldritch Anchor


    Fix a creature or object in place.


    Eldritch Arrows


    Summon arrows of eldritch substance or power.


    Species Spells:


    Eldritch Empowerment


    Gain or grant a minor eldritch boon.


    Eldritch Overcharge


    Channel extra mana into Summons for additional power or duration.


    Spellwarp


    Twist a spell until it triggers or breaks.


    Warp Space


    Distance is only an illusion for you.


    Light and Dark


    Gather light and leave darkness behind.


    Eldritch Projection


    Project the power of Chaos upon your enemies.


    Quickstep


    Step around instead of through. May be cast on others.


    Eldritch Aurora


    Pull Chaos around yourself as a mantle.


    Eldritch Weapon


    Enhance a weapon with the power of Chaos.


    Unaffiliated Abilities:


    Innate Communication


    Innate Communication is the most comprehensive of the set of Communication Abilities for sapients. It includes understanding of all forms of the language and the necessary knowledge to easily communicate in those languages so long as the capability exists. Languages that require methods not possessed by the possessor of Innate Communication cannot be used without that method.


    Mana Core Specialization: Eldritch


    Align your mana core with the Eldritch power that runs through you.


    Sword Forms


    Practice your forms to improve your use of the sword as a weapon and a defense. This advancement of the Basic Swordsmanship Ability focuses on positioning and movement rather than brute strength.


    Extended Leap


    Travel farther when you jump.


    Species Abilities:


    Bonded Armor


    Forcibly bonding with your armor has permanently connected it to you. Armor abilities draw on your mana. Continued use and empowerment may awaken or create additional abilities.


    Mana Specialization Attunement


    Permanently reduces the negative effects of using a specialized Mana Core with a non-attuned body and increases the power of all Abilities using your Specialized Mana.


    Spell Reservoir


    Learn to cast the spells of your species. Does not include any Spell Slots or Spells. If selected, all Species spells will be reserved for the Reservoir.


    Eldritch Splice


    Connect to other compatible entities of your choice. This ability has no obvious direct effect but may allow the use of other abilities with or by linked individuals.


    Eldritch Mental Diffusion


    Allows all appropriately connected partners to project some or all of their thoughts so that other linked individuals can sense them. Quality and duration of shared thoughts depends on compatibility and strength of the linked bond. This ability does not allow for true synchronicity, control, or unity.


    Eldritch Summoner Abilities:


    Eldritch Reinforcement


    Reinforce your body with eldritch power.


    Eldritch Weapon Alteration


    Channel your eldritch might through a weapon and claim it as your own.


    Current Eldritch Weapon: Sword Tattoo. Attunable.


    Empower Summon


    Focus your will on a summon to increase its power.


    Unbreakable Summon


    Focus your will on a summon to prevent it from being destroyed.


    Embody Summon


    Manifest your summon physically. Exact effects depend on the summon embodied.


    Cliff¡¯s Collections


    Spells


    Level 1:


    Rush


    Flaming Spark


    Spit Fire


    Buffet


    Slice


    Level 2:


    Eldritch Overcharge


    Root Grab


    Eldritch Empowerment


    Offensive Illusion Field


    Other:


    Hydrokinesis (higher level than 2 - actual level requirement unknown)


    Martial Techniques


    Level 1:


    Stunning Roar


    Consuming Rage


    Level 2:


    Siphon Sap


    Summon Echo


    Poison Pollen Fog


    Shaped Growth


    Crown¡¯s Cutting Consumption


    Ride the Lightning


    Storm Phase


    Bleed Lightning


    Devour Ashes


    Lightning Rain


    Monsters


    Devouring Moss


    Ruins Constrictor (giant snake, constrictor)


    Giant Sloth (incomplete, Abilities unknown)


    Enraged Beavers


    Flickering Rage Beavers


    Corpsevine Cutting {6 variants}


    Juvenile Corpsevine Crown


    Storm Elemental


    Hungering Spark


    Beasts


    Comfort Animal


    Radiant Chinchilla Eidolon


    Non-Attuned Magical Items


    Dav¡¯s Sword (Eldritch Altered, Tattoo)


    Charm Bracelets with Compass that can find North or other related bracelets


    Feather Charms (Lighten Carried Loads)


    Snowflake Charms (Chill Area)


    Charm Rune of Spirit Sight (Sophia)


    Charm Rune of Affect Undead (Dav)


    Charm Rune of Sense Undead (Amy)


    Tongue from Yen, the Hungering Spark (Properties Unknown)


    Half-Melted Knife that glows with colored lightning (Properties Unknown)

 Warped Character Gallery

    Warped Cast


    Sophia Rothmer


    <hr>


    Dav Carolan


    <hr>


    Physalix the Chaos-Warped (Land Jelly)


    <hr>


    Aimiva, Vocational Registry Receptionist, Casterville


    <hr>


    Rensyn, Vocational Registry mentor, Casterville


    Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    <hr>


    Halven, Casterville Vocational Registry Apothecary, Casterville


    <hr>


    Raevyn ¡°Rae¡± Quinn, Bean Sidhe Spirit Seer


    <hr>


    Moti Quinn, Bean Sidhe Spirit Touched


    <hr>


    Amy Hunter


    <hr>


    Yen, the Hungering Spark


    <hr>


    Lillah Gardener


    <hr>


    Matt Walsh, Commander


    Samuel, Fire Mage


    <hr>


    Lady Essia, Healer


    <hr>


    Taika, Comfort Animal / Radiant Chinchilla Eidolon


    <hr>


    Jessamine, Registry Master of the Casterville Vocational Registry, Shield of the Sun


    <hr>


    Johan, Merchant, Registry Guild of Casterville


    <hr>


    Ansari, Mage-Chancellor of Casterville, Lady Essia¡¯s father


    <hr>


    The Wanderer


    <No Image>

 Night Owl Teaser and Cover

    The Broken Lands are new to both Sophia and Dav, but they¡¯re starting to find their way. The Guide seems less and less like the Voice Sophia is used to, but they¡¯ve finally managed to figure out how people manage: by working together and sharing information. They¡¯ve even made a friend, Amy Hunter, who is leading them to her home. So far, this has been the adventure Sophia was looking for, even if she¡¯s still not sure how to get home. That¡¯s fine; she doesn¡¯t need to yet.


    They¡¯ve turned one former bandit to their side and killed another. There¡¯s one more bandit out there, but after dealing with the Hungering Spark, Sophia and Dav feel confident in moving on. Taika is certain the walking jellyfish is following them, but doubts he will ever catch up.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    They aren¡¯t aware of just how much attention they¡¯ve drawn. Several powerful individuals have their eyes on Sophia and Dav, all with different reasons and different goals. The Wanderer wants them to be happy more than he wants them to fulfill his plans, but that isn¡¯t true of everyone watching the duo that is now a quartet.


    Many things await them in the Skylands, not least of which is Amy¡¯s past and family.

 Chapter 142 - Not Without Surprises

    Three hours after the fight, Sophia finally remembered to check and see what she¡¯d gained from it. There were no new spells, but for once she was happy about that. The Hungering Spark had some very interesting Martial Techniques.


    A glance at her Status told Sophia the bad news. The Hungering Spark was far less rewarding than the Leveled challenge. She gained forty Wisps from it. Based on what Amy said, that was a lot for an individual monster, but it wasn¡¯t anywhere near what Sophia wanted.


    Cliff learned five Martial Techniques from the Hungering Spark, but it only gave them forty Wisps. That was barely enough for Sophia to buy one level two Martial Technique slot, and she wanted three of the Techniques.


    A second look at the list made Sophia sigh in aggravation.


    Ride the Lightning


    Move from one location to another with the lightning. You are not protected from the lightning. Requires conditions appropriate for lightning.


    Storm Phase


    Become the stormcloud. While merged with the storm, your Shield is disabled. Protects from attacks that will not damage storm clouds. Environmental conditions may cause damage.


    Bleed Lightning


    Lightning is the lifeblood of Storm Elementals. You have learned to send that lifeblood to your enemies to harm them. Be wary lest you harm yourself more than your enemies.


    Devour Ashes


    Food is best when it¡¯s burnt. Quickly gather the ashes of your next meal.


    Lightning Rain


    Call lightning down like rain from a storm. Requires appropriate weather.


    Devour Ashes was easy to reject. Sophia thought she¡¯d skip Bleed Lightning, too. She definitely didn¡¯t want to have her blood turn into lightning inside her and throwing blood at enemies when it wasn¡¯t lightning wasn¡¯t much of an attack. The way the Hungering Spark used it seemed useful, but Sophia was happy to look for another way to get the same result. It might work with Storm Phase, but she¡¯d definitely want to try that Technique first.


    Lightning Rain was the next one Sophia cut off her list. As much as she loved the idea of calling down lightning strikes to deal with an army, she wasn¡¯t likely to fight an army any time soon. She was much more likely to fight things like the fire beavers or the corpsevines or even the Ruins Constrictors, and none of those were in a storm.


    Ride the Lightning looked awesome, even if it was potentially harmful. Sophia was pretty confident it would work fine with Storm Phase active; that was definitely what the Hungering Spark did. She wasn¡¯t sure what ¡°conditions appropriate for lightning¡± meant, though; if it only meant ¡°during a thunderstorm,¡± it wouldn¡¯t be that useful to her. The Hungering Spark brought a storm with itself wherever it went. Sophia didn¡¯t.


    At the same time, it might just mean that it required moving through the air. Lightning didn¡¯t move through the earth and she wasn¡¯t sure about water. If that was the limitation, it would be useful.


    Not that she could try it out. Since she could only buy one slot, she had to use it for Storm Phase. It sounded like a really good Technique for her, too; it wouldn¡¯t stop her from using magic but it would protect her from most attacks. Even magic passed through the Hungering Spark. She¡¯d have to check and see if it had a vulnerability like the Hungering Spark¡¯s tongue, but even if it did it seemed worth using.


    Sophia was happy to have the new Technique, even if it didn¡¯t seem like she¡¯d get to use it any time soon. She couldn¡¯t exactly turn into storm clouds on the back of a horse, no matter how much she wanted to. The horse would walk right through her.


    She almost wished there would be another attack. They were hours away from the spot where the Hungering Spark met them and Dav and Amy were talking about roads. Who cared about roads?


    Sophia knew that she was grumpy over the lack of Wisps to get the Techniques she wanted, not over the roads, but that didn¡¯t make her any less grumpy. It wasn¡¯t until Amy mentioned that the attack from the Hungering Spark might not have happened if they¡¯d been on an active enchanted Transit Road instead of the road they were on that Sophia really started to pay attention.


    She remembered the road to Casterville; they¡¯d met it soon after they entered the Shard. Arryn, the merchant they accompanied on the trip, explained that it did the same thing as a Nexus. Now that she knew a bit more about local Nexuses, Sophia thought there was more to it. The road didn¡¯t discourage monsters by creating a lower-magic area where Abilities were less powerful and monsters were uncomfortable. It was more like the second feature of the City Nexus that actually supposedly kept monsters out unless there was a full-scale assault on the city.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    That didn¡¯t matter here, though. As Amy said, there were no enchantments on this stretch of road. Sophia couldn¡¯t even see any signs that there had once been enchantments.


    Dav was ahead of Sophia. ¡°I thought you said this was the direct route from Casterville to Izel. I thought that meant it would have a good road.¡±


    Amy shook her head. ¡°This is a good road, mostly. It¡¯s just not a Transit Road. If we went through Rockport, we could be on Transit Roads the entire way, but that would take at least an extra month of travel. We¡¯re lucky the old road is still passable. I think it dates back to the Empire, and other than the bridges, we¡¯ll only have to leave it to cross Shards.¡±


    Amy paused, then admitted, ¡°I¡¯ve never taken this road before. I came the long way when I left home, just sort of drifted until I ended up in Casterville. It wasn¡¯t what I expected.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡± Dav somehow managed to imbue the single word with the sense that he¡¯d seen as much of Casterville as he wanted to see.


    Or maybe Sophia was just projecting her feelings. She was happy to be moving on. Amy¡¯s homeland sounded interesting; Amy promised people who were interested in exploring and seeing new things. Sophia couldn¡¯t wait to get there.


    It was a week and a half from Casterville to the spot where they had to turn off the ¡°main¡± road they were on and onto a smaller one. For the entire trip, they saw aggressive wildlife three times. The first was a day after the storm, when a green snake decided to wrap itself around the left foreleg of Sophia¡¯s horse while they were stopped near a stream. It was easily frightened off by the horse itself, but Sophia had to walk for the rest of the day while Amy made sure the horse wasn¡¯t too injured to ride.


    Sophia didn¡¯t mind. She finished the day less sore than she had the previous night.


    The second attack, if it could be called that, was a hawk that decided Taika looked like a delicious bunny. Sophia didn¡¯t see why it missed, but once it had it got to find out that while Taika was fluffy, he wasn¡¯t alone. Amy was very happy about the feathers and meat she took off its corpse afterwards.


    The closest they came to a real fight was on the eighth day out from Casterville when a group of wild dogs found their campsite during breakfast. They were easily chased off, but not until after one brave dog managed to steal the sausages Dav was cooking for and dump the bowl that held pancake batter into the fire.


    Sophia helped Amy chase the dogs off while Dav cleaned up the campsite and restarted breakfast. ¡°Is this normal?¡±


    ¡°Is what normal?¡± Amy tugged gently on her reins and her horse turned away from the fleeing canines. ¡°Opportunistic wolves? Yeah, they¡¯ll take what they can get. I think we¡¯ve chased them far enough; they¡¯re not likely to follow us now.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t think they¡¯ll come around and attack Dav, do you?¡± Sophia felt guilty about leaving him behind. She hadn¡¯t even thought about it, but now she was imagining something bad happening while she was gone and he was alone. What if there was another dog they didn¡¯t see?


    Amy shook her head. ¡°Nah, not when they got part of our breakfast. It won¡¯t feed them all, but we¡¯ll be gone before they get back together and start hunting again. They look healthy, so they¡¯re not likely to risk taking us on after they¡¯ve alerted us they¡¯re here.¡±


    Whether Amy was right or not, they didn¡¯t see the wild dogs again that day. Instead, they had a long argument about whether they were wolves or wild dogs. They didn¡¯t look much like wolves to Sophia; the long shaggy coats were a golden color that reminded her of a happy, friendly dog rather than the image she had of an aggressive wolf. At the same time, Amy had a point when she said that they lived on their own and weren¡¯t domesticated.


    It was a nice way to pass the morning. As far as Sophia was concerned, it was worth the late start and lost breakfast food.


    That afternoon, they reached a spot where the road seemed to dive into a hollow before it turned to the left. Amy led them part of the way down the slope, but kept her attention to the right.


    ¡°Are we close?¡± Dav asked before Sophia could.


    ¡°It should be here soon,¡± Amy confirmed. ¡°It¡¯s supposed to be easy to find; you just look for a cave where the road turns. I¡¯ve seen a couple caves, but they were both way too small.¡±


    It was only a few minutes before Dav pointed out a dark spot on the cliff wall. A few minutes later, the cave was obvious, just like Amy said it was supposed to be. Sophia frowned at it. ¡°It looks awfully natural.¡±


    ¡°That has to be it.¡± There was relief in Amy¡¯s voice. ¡°The portals can look like anything. I went through one before I got to Rockport that looked like I was walking into an old building.


    Sophia cocked her head to the side and took a long look at Amy. She was supposed to know where she was going, but it sounded an awful lot like she wasn¡¯t certain this was the right place. Sophia wasn¡¯t sure what they¡¯d do if it wasn¡¯t; there wasn¡¯t exactly anywhere nearby to get directions. She¡¯d just have to hope Amy was right.


    Dav led the way into the cave. He continued past the point where it grew dark and Sophia had to remind him to stop for a moment so that she could light her magelight. Sometimes it was annoying to travel with someone who could see in the dark.


    Once the cave was lit, it was clear that it continued on for a while and stayed high enough that they had no trouble remaining mounted. They were well inside the cave when it suddenly lit up with nearly blinding colored light. In the distance, Sophia could see a white spot where the lines of color met. She twisted in her saddle to look behind her and saw only darkness where the lines started, just like the first time she moved between Shards.


    The feeling of magic building around her was similar as well. It was definitely teleportation magic of some flavor, but there was still something about it that completely eluded her, and she knew it wasn¡¯t just the hidden spellform. It was closer to an enchantment than a normal spell, but she couldn¡¯t even say why she knew that. There was just something about the way the magic came together that seemed like it was controlled by an item instead of a person.


    Sophia wasn¡¯t sure if the transfer took longer this time or if she was simply impatient to move on. It could have been both. There were new adventures waiting for her on the other side of the portal.

 Chapter 143 - Autumn

    When the light finally faded away, Sophia was no closer to understanding how the tunnel-conduits moved between Shards. It probably should have been frustrating, and the fact that she couldn¡¯t repeatedly use the tunnels until they gave up their secrets was definitely annoying. That magic itself was fascinating, but the only way she could study it more was to wait long enough to be able to use a conduit again. It definitely wasn¡¯t worth the wait.


    The first thing Sophia noticed was the mana level of the area. It was quite a bit thicker than near Casterville or the part of Old Kestii they¡¯d explored, closer to the level she was used to on Earth. It was comforting, almost like being back home. It felt strange, almost stagnant, but at least it was dense enough.


    The air, however, was less comfortable. Sophia shivered as a breeze brought the salty scent of the sea to her along with more than a little chill. It probably wasn¡¯t all that cold, but it was a cold shock after the hot muggy summer days near Casterville.


    Amy confidently led the way towards the exit, but paused just before her horse would have walked through the former portal. It met the wall of a different cave smoothly, as if they were the same cave, without even a line, but Sophia knew the sand and rocks hadn¡¯t been there before the switched shards. Nothing was; it was a blank wall.


    It was anything but a blank wall now. The cave widened, then opened onto a view of a beach covered in sand with a surprisingly large number of large black rocks. If the rocks came from the sea, it had to happen only in severe storms.


    The cliff that held the cave looked like it hugged the sea. It was too small to make a good harbor, but it probably meant the waves were small unless there was a gigantic storm. Above the cliff, the vegetation was orange-brown with only a hint of green.


    Sophia frowned and looked down. There were orange leaves caught in the rocks in the cave, as if they¡¯d been carried in by the sea. ¡°Is it autumn here?¡±


    ¡°Summer is short in the Skylands,¡± Amy half confirmed. ¡°It could be. I remember when I left home, it seemed like it was hot for half a year.¡±


    ¡°The seasons don¡¯t always match between Shards,¡± Dav added. ¡°Arryn mentioned it, back when he was talking about what we should expect in Casterville. Well, he said that Casterville and Old Kestii do have the same seasons, but the way he said it made it clear that isn¡¯t always the case.¡±


    Sophia gave her boyfriend a puzzled look. She didn¡¯t remember that conversation at all. She did remember Arryn talking about Casterville a little, but nothing about the weather or the seasons. ¡°I guess it¡¯s good that one of us paid attention.¡±


    ¡°Um, yeah,¡± Amy agreed. She sounded a little flustered. ¡°Ah, we should get going. This area¡¯s supposed to be safe, but I don¡¯t like being near the sea.¡±


    Sophia frowned. It seemed a little cool, but the sea looked beautiful. ¡°Why not?¡±


    ¡°Monsters,¡± Amy answered easily, her earlier awkwardness pushed aside. ¡°They don¡¯t usually come near land, but when there¡¯s a storm ¡­¡±


    Sophia looked out in the distance. ¡°It doesn¡¯t look like there¡¯s a storm.¡±


    ¡°Good.¡± Amy rode out onto the beach, then clearly took in the scenery for long enough to find a way off the beach and onto better ground. ¡°This way. There¡¯s no good road here; you have to get near a settlement to get a road. Well, that or find one of the old roads. They¡¯re all over the place.¡±


    ¡°We have a choice of which way to go,¡± Amy told the others as she let her horse pick its way through the rocks that partially blocked the easiest route away from the beach. ¡°We can either head north to the mountains, then cut east until we find a Transit Road or we can head northeast and try to hit the Road sooner. There are supposed to be a lot of old roads here, but no one could tell me what shape they¡¯re in. They could be good or they could be destroyed by time; they¡¯re really old.¡±


    ¡°Is there any reason to pick one route over the other?¡± Dav sounded interested. Well, Sophia knew he was more into geography than she was. It sounded like they didn¡¯t have enough information to make a decision anyway, so whatever the others picked would be fine.


    Sophia tuned out the discussion and focused on the land around her. Amy said the area was supposed to be ¡°safe.¡± That meant it would be a good baseline for what Sophia should expect in the area when she was in less safe areas. She didn¡¯t want to jump at a noise that was nothing more than a small harmless bird singing but she also didn¡¯t want to ignore something that was important. That meant learning the area.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    The cliffs near the beach were absolutely covered in short bushes. Most of them had leaves that seemed to have changed colors with the season; if they¡¯d ever held fruit, it was long gone. There were a few birds¡¯ nests in the bushes, but most were on the ground near the center of a bush.


    That was interesting; it meant the birds were more concerned about threats from the sky than the ground for some reason. It probably meant there were some predatory birds in the area, but given the size of the nests it probably didn¡¯t mean that there was anything that would threaten a human. She¡¯d have to keep an eye out for Taika, but that wasn¡¯t new.


    Sophia turned her attention to the sky and noticed several large birds slowly circling high in the air. It was impossible to tell how large or how far away they were, but the way they glided in the air reminded Sophia of a hawk or an eagle. None of them seemed to pay any attention to the group on horseback as they left the beach, but Sophia was still relieved when they entered the forest.


    It was surprisingly easy to move in the forest; unlike the forest near Casterville, there was very little ground cover, just trees and some fallen branches and leaves. Sophia started to enjoy the ride. She was even starting to get used to the saddle; each day hurt less than the one before it.


    They passed two streams before lunch, but when it came to be time to look for a camp, there was no sign of running water. They decided to press on a little farther before making a dry camp for the night.


    All too soon after they made that decision, Sophia heard a scraping noise she didn¡¯t recognize. When she turned to look, it didn¡¯t make sense. It took her a moment to realize that the scraping noise was a turtle rubbing the edge of its shell against a tree.


    The fact that it was rubbing the bottom edge of its shell against the tree and making a mark easily two or three feet off the forest floor didn¡¯t help. It was easily the largest turtle she¡¯d ever seen. Turtles didn¡¯t come in that size. They also didn¡¯t have spikes or horns growing out of their shells that glowed a soft yellow-orange in the dimming light.


    Sophia gaped a moment longer, but when the turtle started to walk towards her, she shook off her surprise. ¡°Monster turtle! That way!¡±


    ¡°Stay still,¡± Amy whispered. ¡°If we want to hunt it, we don¡¯t want to get its attention first. Go for the head if you can; the rest is too well protected. I think it¡¯s an Earth-aligned turtle, so we may have to retreat if it notices us too soon. I don¡¯t have anything that can break through a rock shell.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t until Sophia heard Amy¡¯s words and wondered why she¡¯d whispered instead of using the mental link that she realized she¡¯d made exactly the same mistake.


    Or was it a mistake? If the others weren¡¯t listening, they might not hear over the telepathic connection. It wasn¡¯t like she spoke in their heads; it was more like leaving a message unless they were paying attention. Sophia tried to keep a corner of her mind on the link, but it was often easier to talk out loud. That was clearly something else they needed to practice. For now, it might be better to say something out loud if she really needed the others to know immediately.


    It took a moment for Amy¡¯s actual words to process. ¡°You want to hunt a turtle?¡±


    Amy nodded with a grin. ¡°There¡¯s a lot of meat on a turtle that big, and turtle meat¡¯s good. Even better, it¡¯s worth a decent amount of money. If we can get it to a Professional cook, they can cook it so that it promotes healing and increases mana regeneration. It¡¯s not the same as alchemy, but it¡¯s similar and everyone has to eat.¡± She paused, then corrected herself. ¡°Almost everyone.¡±


    Sophia ignored the obvious question of who didn¡¯t have to eat. She knew it was possible to live off of natural mana; humans usually couldn¡¯t, but while most people here were basically human it was clear that some weren¡¯t.


    The problem was practical. Raw meat could last for a while if it was properly cleaned; it had to be cooked anyway. Sophia still wanted to preserve it as quickly as possible; it tasted better when it was fresh. She frowned at the turtle. ¡°I don¡¯t have any way to store ¡­ no, wait. If we freeze the meat before we put it in my pack, it should stay frozen.¡± That was one of the benefits of the way her expanded-space backpack was made; it didn¡¯t stop time, but it did more or less isolate everything she put inside it. Other things that were nearby might get chilled, but it would be slow. It wasn¡¯t good for storing hot meals, since they would still get yucky and probably start growing bad things, but it did mean that hot drinks cooled slower and cold things stayed cold longer.


    The only question then was if she had enough mana to manage that much meat. She was pretty sure she remembered the spellform, and if she didn¡¯t she knew it was in one of the notebooks Ita slipped into her pack before she left home. ¡°I should be able to freeze some of the meat. There¡¯s a lot there, though, so I¡¯m not sure it¡¯ll all fit in my pack. We might have to leave some behind.¡±


    ¡°I can find the nearest clan,¡± Amy offered. ¡°It¡¯ll be out of our way, but I¡¯m sure we can get them to prepare it in exchange for some of the meat. Then we won¡¯t have to carry as much and we can have it preserved and cooked well.¡±


    ¡°We should find that clan anyway.¡± Dav¡¯s attention was on Amy instead of the turtle. ¡°Get local knowledge about dangers and better directions. Are you sure we shouldn¡¯t wait until we¡¯re closer to hunt something, though? Are things like that rare?¡±


    Amy bit her lip and stared at the giant spiky turtle for a long moment before she reluctantly answered. ¡°They¡¯re not that rare. The land can only support so many, but in areas of the wildlands where the magic is heavy there are often more. I just thought this would be a good kill since it¡¯s right here. Also, turtle soup sounds really good right now.¡±


    ¡°It looks like a lot of work, even after we kill it, but if you want we can get you that turtle soup.¡± Sophia was beginning to like the idea. She¡¯d never really thought about using spells for food preservation, but it really ought to work. It wasn¡¯t exactly what she expected from the adventure she wanted, but in some ways that was a good thing. Expectations were boring. ¡°How hard will it be to get through its shield?¡±

 Chapter 144 - Lan’ti Glarewing

    Letter from Lan¡¯ti Glarewing to his sister Ci¡¯an Aurorachild


    Great news, sis!


    Mom finally approved the expedition back to that ruined building in the Western Wildlands! There are going to be more of us than I wanted. I never expected her to let me leave with only my team, but I didn¡¯t think she¡¯d make me take two other full First Upgrade teams plus an entire double-team of First Upgrade Professionals!


    Well, all right, one of the teams of Professionals is my fault; I wanted Xin¡¯ri and Volat to help, since they¡¯re the best experts I know for runic symbology and ancient Kestii. That meant bringing their assistants.


    The second Professional team is the real support personnel, and I have to admit that we will probably need them. This isn¡¯t going to be fast and we need someone to handle everything from getting water and cooking to repairing any tools Volat breaks (because he¡¯s always breaking things).


    The other two Called teams are for hunting and security. The area is relatively low-mana for the western Wildlands, but that definitely doesn¡¯t make it safe. The first time we were there, a family of spiketails was using the ruins as a nest (not a Nest, the lowercase one). We cleaned them out, but who knows what¡¯s moved in since we left?


    The plan is that we¡¯ll be at the ruins site for four months, but we may have to head home early; it depends on when the migrations start out west. They¡¯re done for this year, so we leave Izel tomorrow. We¡¯re bringing quite a bit since we expect to winter at the ruins, but we¡¯re going to supplement with hunting as we go. The winter will give us a safe time to investigate the ruins. If we can, we¡¯ll camp in the building; the room we used last time should still be safe.


    I won¡¯t be able to get any of your letters while I¡¯m gone, but write anyway! I¡¯ll check with Ermine as soon as I get back to Izel. I loved your description of the sea voyage; were the fish really that large?


    How is Casterville? I never made it through there, but I¡¯ve heard mixed things from others who stopped there during their Youth Journey. Have you had any luck meeting people you think you might be willing to work with for the long haul, especially people willing to come to the Skylands? My team are my closest friends and I want the same thing for you.


    That reminds me; Uncle Los¡¯en got himself in a fight again. You¡¯d think he¡¯d learn not to wear jewelry with the Stepped Pyramid design openly. I think he goes out looking for trouble sometimes, but this time I¡¯m not sure Mother can get him out of it. The Broken Temple¡¯s Hilt is a full appeasement ceremony and indentured service to the Temple instead of a private apology. You know Mother¡¯s not going to stand for that.


    I don¡¯t think Uncle would be willing to do it anyway. He¡¯s always hidden his feelings about the Broken Sword poorly, and it¡¯s only gotten worse.


    I¡¯m going to be glad to be out of Izel, and I¡¯m grateful you aren¡¯t in the Skylands at all.


    Many hugs,


    Lan


    Lan¡¯ti handed the letter over to the Registry¡¯s receptionist. Rory was an older man, far older than Lan¡¯ti. Lan¡¯ti was also fairly confident he was a Professional, though he wasn¡¯t certain what Profession Rory had. He¡¯d been the Izel Registry¡¯s main receptionist for longer than Lan¡¯ti had held his Calling. ¡°This needs to go to Amy Hunter. Last I heard, she was on her way to Casterville.¡±


    Rory turned around and pulled a pouch off the table behind him, then slid the letter into the pouch. ¡°Master Ermine left a message, said she¡¯d like to talk to you when you came by. You might want to head over to her room. Might be it¡¯s about your sister.¡±


    ¡°Thanks.¡± Lan frowned, but headed to the right instead of back out the door. The Registry Master¡¯s room wasn¡¯t far from the entrance down the hallway. Lan thought that was because she liked knowing what was going on, but it was also possible that it was just the best room for her. It did have huge windows on the outside that were enchanted to allow her to see out but not let others see in, which had to have been created when the building was built. He¡¯d never even seen inside the room, since she always pulled the inner doors closed before she opened the outer door.


    He knocked on the door, then waited. It wasn¡¯t long before Ermine appeared in the doorway. As always, she was dressed more like one of her Called than the Registry Master. If he didn¡¯t know who she was, she wouldn¡¯t have been able to tell, even with her very rare equine ears, more like a donkey¡¯s than a horse¡¯s.


    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    ¡°Lan Hunter,¡± she said with a grin. ¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting you so soon. Weren¡¯t you here last tenday?¡±


    Lan¡¯ti shook his head. It had been two tendays, but that wasn¡¯t important. ¡°Rory said you had news of my sister?¡±


    Registry Master Ermine nodded, but her grin seemed somewhat strained now. ¡°I do. It¡¯s good news, mostly; she¡¯s settled on Night Owl as her Upgrade, even though she¡¯s only Level Three.¡±


    Lanti let out a sigh and relaxed. That meant she was healthy. It also meant Ci¡¯an had found a group she trusted enough that she didn¡¯t think she had to do everything. That was great news. ¡°Amy always loved the stories of Night Owls. Wait, does that mean she¡¯s headed to Izel?¡±


    There was one huge problem with Night Owls, and it was the same reason there weren¡¯t many, any more than there were many Wild Geese. Both Upgrades required visiting a specific Challenge before the First Upgrade. It was a Challenge that required a group you could trust, but that was all Lan¡¯ti knew about it. He knew it was near Izel and mostly challenged by First Upgrade groups, but he didn¡¯t know which of the Challenges it was.


    No one wanted people heading into Challenges where they would just die, so the more dangerous ones weren¡¯t revealed unless you were going after that particular Upgrade and the Registry Master thought you could do it. It still happened, of course; there were always idiots. Night Owl had one of the higher death rates, even with the Registry Master restricting what groups could attempt it.


    Lan¡¯ti trusted his sister. She wouldn¡¯t be trying it if she didn¡¯t think her companions were both good enough and trustworthy.


    Ermine nodded. ¡°Yes. I don¡¯t expect her to arrive for a few months, but I¡¯ve already started putting together a training plan. It¡¯s difficult, since I don¡¯t know much about the two people with her, other than knowing that they impressed Jessamine.¡±


    ¡°Jessamine?¡± Lan¡¯ti didn¡¯t know who Master Ermine meant.


    Ermine nodded. ¡°The Registry Master in Casterville. Your sister and her friends took on and completed a new Leveled Challenge in Casterville. I don¡¯t know what the Challenge was, but it impressed Jessamine and the Shield of the Sun has never impressed easily.¡±


    Lan¡¯ti blinked. He might not know who Jessamine was by her name, but he definitely knew who the Shield of the Sun was. ¡°The leader of the group with the deepest Maze run in a century is in Casterville?¡±


    Somehow, that bit of news shocked Lan enough that it wasn¡¯t until after he was several minutes¡¯ walk from the Registry building that he realized he hadn¡¯t asked for any more details about his sister¡¯s situation, or even if Registry Master Ermine could get a message to her to tell her not to come to Izel.


    She probably couldn¡¯t, not if Ci¡¯an had already left Casterville.


    That meant he needed to talk to his mother before he left Izel in the morning, and the talk would be about his sister instead of simply well-wishes for the trip. It was a good thing their mother was in Izel right now.


    Or maybe it wasn¡¯t, now that Lan¡¯ti thought about it. After all, the reason she was in Izel was the same reason Lan¡¯ti needed to warn her that her youngest was returning to the Skylands. If only Uncle Los¡¯en didn¡¯t decide to piss off the Temple!


    Amy¡¯s method of finding the nearest Clan was not what Sophia expected. She¡¯d expected a magical beacon or some kind of communication device.


    Instead, Amy flew above the trees and looked for the nearest sign of fire. The first time, she didn¡¯t find anything, so they traveled more or less northeast through the woods. After a couple of hours, Amy reported back that she saw something in the distance, so they changed their route to head towards whatever it was that Amy saw.


    The woods were mostly peaceful as they traveled. They passed several more giant turtles, though only one had the same sort of spikes that the first one did. To some extent, that made Sophia think that maybe they¡¯d made the right choice about which one to hunt; the non-spiky giant turtles were far less magical and therefore probably had only mundane meat. The one thing they might have that was better than the spiky turtle was an intact shell that wasn¡¯t cracked at each point where a spike protruded through it.


    Sophia couldn¡¯t think of a good use for a turtle¡¯s shell, but she was certain there was one. Maybe it would be useful in armor or something. They¡¯d saved what they could, but it wasn¡¯t in good shape at all.


    There were a number of other animals as well, but the vast majority of what they passed was herbivores content to leave them alone as long as they didn¡¯t come too close. Sophia was certain she saw a bear with yellow streaks in its fur, but it was a long way away and it disappeared beyond other trees before she could point it out.


    The only real problem they had came when they found a stream that cut deeply into the forest floor. The depression it was in was surrounded by trees, but there were none near the water. Fortunately, it was shallow so they only had to detour upstream most of a mile to find a place where the slope was gradual enough to let the horses cross.


    It was enough of a delay that it was late afternoon before Sophia could smell wood smoke on the breeze. Fifteen minutes after that, they emerged from the trees into a clearing filled with signs of long-term but temporary habitation. There were tents scattered around the clearing. Some had dirt floors, but others seemed to have some sort of elevated floor to get the inhabitants above the ground.


    A fire burned in a square hearth set with rocks; a nearby large pot told Sophia what that fire was intended for. In the distance, smoke rose in a haze from other fires hidden by a larger group of tents.


    Sophia swept her eyes across the clearing, but one thing was clear: this wasn¡¯t a camp set up with defense in mind. There were no walls or ditches to slow enemies down. There wasn¡¯t even a large amount of space to give people time to react to attackers. Instead, it looked like the place was set up for everyday use. This was not made by people afraid of the monsters in the forest.

 Chapter 145 - Welcome to the Clans

    ¡°Welcome.¡±


    Sophia turned her body to try to find the voice. It came from behind her. After a moment, she saw the man behind her. He was transparent and glowed a little, but for all that he looked a lot like the way Hollywood depicted ghosts, Sophia could tell he wasn¡¯t one. Sophia could see where his feet disturbed the leaves covering the ground.


    Just as importantly, there was no feel of Death mana from him. Ghosts always felt like Death.


    A moment later, the man was completely visible, with the land behind him no longer showing through his body. Sophia frowned; that implied the translucent was either some sort of teleportation or, more likely, that he¡¯d been invisible a moment earlier. Greeting someone from behind them while invisible was rude. ¡°You did that deliberately, didn¡¯t you?¡±


    The man smiled, but he seemed almost surprised at Sophia¡¯s reaction. Had he expected her to be frightened or something?


    ¡°Welcome to our camp,¡± he stated firmly, completely ignoring Sophia¡¯s question. ¡°Are you here for shelter for the night?¡±


    Amy spoke up before Sophia could decide how to answer. ¡°Yes, and we killed a spiked turtle yesterday evening. We¡¯d like to trade the meat and shell.¡±


    The man nodded and waved at one of the nearby tents. ¡°Talk to Rhianne. She¡¯s always happy to trade.¡±


    By the time he finished speaking, he was already fading away. Sophia watched him vanish completely and tried to get a feel for the magic he was using. It was different from her own, because he didn¡¯t seem to have to actively cast anything. It wasn¡¯t an enchantment, either, because she¡¯d be able to see it when it activated even if it otherwise hid and there was nothing to see.


    It reminded her more of a monster¡¯s ability than a spell, like it was something he could just do rather than something he¡¯d learned. It was almost more like he had to use an Ability to appear instead of becoming invisible, which was truly annoying. She couldn¡¯t even follow the mana he was using to stay invisible!


    Sophia huffed to herself, annoyed, then realized that Amy was already off her horse and headed inside the tent. By the time she managed to dismount the torture device masquerading as living transportation and get inside the tent, Amy was already almost done explaining the trade they wanted to make.


    Sophia took the time to get a good look at where they were. Rhianne was an older woman, probably in her sixties. She seemed human, but Sophia was beginning to think that everyone in the Broken Lands was probably at least a little Warped. She clearly wasn¡¯t whatever the man outside was.


    Amy had clearly interrupted Rhianne in the middle of doing something. Sophia couldn¡¯t tell if she was cooking or performing alchemy. There were no obvious cooking pots, but there also weren¡¯t any beakers. Whatever she was doing, it involved herbs and small gourds, since that was what seemed to fill the tent.


    ¡°Yes, we can do that,¡± Rhianne agreed. ¡°Half of the meat seems fair. Our half will be dinner tomorrow night, I think; you may of course partake as well. Let me see the shell.¡±


    Sophia pulled off her pack and extracted one of the shell fragments, as well as one of the spikes that pierced it. The spike was blunt but had clearly pushed the shell apart where it erupted.


    Rhianne took a long moment to examine both pieces, then nodded firmly. ¡°Ah, I see. Yes, this is from a Stoneshield Turtle. It¡¯s too bad it¡¯s not a steelback; those have excellent shells for making armor. Stoneshield turtles actually have very fragile shells, for giant turtles. They depend on their ability to grow stone around themselves instead. You must have caught it by surprise; that¡¯s the only way to kill a Stoneshield.¡±


    Sophia nodded. ¡°We did. We all hit it at the same time and it died before it could react. It kept trying to fight us even after it lost its head, but it was all physical.¡±


    ¡°Turtles do that,¡± Rhianne agreed. ¡°Are you three hunters or Called?¡±


    Sophia blinked at that. For some reason, she¡¯d assumed that hunters who hunted monsters would be Called, not Professionals. Sure, the primary hunter in Old Kestii was a Professional, but he only hunted things like giant snakes, and he prepared extensively for that.


    Preparation would probably work on the giant turtles, too. Sophia guessed there was no reason that a hunter had to have Abilities designed to fight monsters. There must be Abilities designed to help with traps and killing game, too. Maybe that was the sort of Ability the man who welcomed them just outside had? Being unseen would be helpful in hunting.


    ¡°Called,¡± Amy answered absently. ¡°We¡¯re heading to Izel for one of the Challenges near there. I need it to upgrade into Night Owl.¡±


    Rhianne¡¯s eyebrows rose. ¡°I didn¡¯t take you three for Moon clan. Starfall, maybe.¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    Amy shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m Aurora Clan. Dav and Sophia are from a long way away, far outside the Skylands.¡±


    ¡°Aaah.¡± Rhianne nodded as if Amy¡¯s statement explained a lot more than she¡¯d said. ¡°Well, welcome to the Clans. We are Cloud Clan; this is one of our autumn hunting camps. You picked a good time to come through and ask to trade meat for smoking. You must be coming from one of the outlands, then.¡±


    Outlands had to mean ¡°another shard.¡± Sophia nodded. ¡°Casterville, through a cave near the beach.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s where we met Amy,¡± Dav added with a gesture towards her. ¡°It was still summer in Casterville when we left. Now, where did you say to take the meat?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll show you,¡± Rhianne said before she stood with a groan. ¡°We can talk to Hinraeth, as well; he¡¯s been muttering about sending someone out to hunt a turtle, lately, so I suspect he¡¯ll be interested in your shell fragments. Possibly also the Stoneshield spikes; I¡¯m not sure he has any Stoneshield vials left.¡±


    Hinraeth turned out to be the hunting camp¡¯s alchemist and apothecary. He was interested enough in the bits and pieces that they¡¯d taken off the Stoneshield turtle¡¯s body that he took all of them in exchange for a pair of Stoneshield vials and a vial of shattershell oil.


    Amy tried to get more of the shattershell oil instead of the Stoneshield vials, but he held firm and she eventually gave in to the argument that he only had a few and that turning the shell she was trading for it into more would take months. She did manage to pry a few heatstones out of him as well, but that was all.


    They stayed at the hunting camp for three nights. The first two nights were necessary, because the turtle meat took more than a day to prepare and smoke, but they could have left midmorning on the third day. It was Dav¡¯s fault that they didn¡¯t.


    Well, it was sort of Dav¡¯s fault. Sophia was definitely going to blame him if anyone asked, not that anyone was likely to ask.


    The Cloud Clan seemed welcoming, but it was always clear to Sophia that they were outsiders. She expected that would be true wherever they went in the Broken Lands, but she couldn¡¯t quite get used to it. Dav, on the other hand, seemed comfortable with being a stranger.


    That night was cool but not yet cold, a nice night for sitting around a fire and talking. Almost everyone was doing something while they talked, even if it was only whittling or spinning thread. Sophia was repairing her armor. It might not have been damaged by the turtle, but she hadn¡¯t yet fixed everything that the Hungering Spark damaged. She wasn¡¯t even sure she¡¯d be able to, but she had to try.


    The outfit she¡¯d worn that day was scorched, but she¡¯d thought her armor was okay. It wasn¡¯t. She hadn¡¯t realized the damage until she started looking, but not only were some of the scales brittle from the lightning, the leather they were attached to was also starting to flake in places. She could patch it up, but she couldn¡¯t really fix it. She¡¯d need some new leather pieces to attach the scales to. The good news about that was that she didn¡¯t have to worry about finding dragonhide or something equally horrifying; the scales were attached to ordinary cow leather.


    Sophia¡¯s attention was on her armor when she heard Dav ask about the man who did the vanishing act when they found the camp.


    ¡°He appeared behind you and welcomed you?¡± Hinraeth was one of the rare exceptions who wasn¡¯t actively working on anything that evening.


    Dav nodded. ¡°Completely caught me by surprise, I¡¯d have sworn there wasn¡¯t anyone there a moment earlier.¡±


    ¡°May not have been,¡± Hinraeth said with a grin. ¡°That was probably Larryt. He loves his jokes. The other three probably wouldn¡¯t have said anything at all; they prefer to let strangers think the camp¡¯s unguarded. Larryt likes to watch people jump.¡±


    It took Sophia a moment to decipher the smile and the tone of voice. He was amused, definitely, but there was also a hint of ruefulness. It made Sophia think that Larryt wasn¡¯t above pulling jump scares on people in his own Clan.


    Sophia knew people like that. They were often funny and annoying at the same time, and that was if they restricted their humor to appropriate times. If they didn¡¯t, they could be downright hazardous.


    ¡°How did he do it? Is there a potion of invisibility or something?¡± Dav asked.


    Sophia blinked. She hadn¡¯t even considered potions. She¡¯d dismissed enchantments, but she hadn¡¯t thought about something that was used up as it worked. It seemed unlikely, since he was willing to appear and then disappear again, but she supposed she couldn¡¯t rule it out. She wasn¡¯t nearly as familiar with potion mana signatures. They did tend to be weaker, so it was possible she¡¯d overlooked it.


    ¡°Not that¡¯s worth anything,¡± Hinraeth said with amusement clear in his voice. ¡°If someone tries to sell you one, buy from someone else unless they¡¯re really clear about what it does and does not hide. Most invisibility potions aren¡¯t worth the side effects; they make you harder to see but not impossible and they don¡¯t hide your scent or presence or aura at all. No, what Larryt has is an Ability called Mistform. Can¡¯t be seen or smelled and doesn¡¯t affect the world more than a mist can. The only real way to find someone in Mistform is to feel for their aura. The only one of the three of you that I¡¯d expect to be able to do that is her.¡±


    Hinraeth pointed directly at Sophia. ¡°You have your aura restrained; it¡¯s not leaking your intentions or even your power. That takes skill, but why aren¡¯t you using it to feel what¡¯s around you?¡±


    Sophia flushed as she set her armor down. ¡°I should be. I just don¡¯t think about it. It¡¯s not polite to wave my aura in front of everyone like I¡¯m trying to get their attention, and I¡¯m so used to being around people that I just sort of forget when I¡¯m outside.¡±


    ¡°The best solution for that is practice.¡± Hinraeth gave Sophia a look that she recognized all too well, the elder telling a youngster that she should already know what he was telling her.


    She did, she really did. ¡°It¡¯s not easy.¡±


    ¡°Few things worth doing are,¡± Hinraeth agreed. He leaned back a little and seemed to contemplate Sophia for a moment before he added. ¡°If you want, I think we can allow you the same training we give Clansmen with your issue.¡±


    Sophia gave the man a dubious look. ¡°I¡¯m not in your Clan. What would you want in return?¡±


    She wasn¡¯t actually sure she wanted whatever he thought of as training. If it was what they gave people in their own Clan, it was probably both helpful and not at all fun. She couldn¡¯t think of anything that would make training awareness of any sort quickly fun.


    ¡°A Challenge trade,¡± Hinraeth stated softly. ¡°That seems fair.¡±

 Chapter 146 - Challenge Trade

    Sophia frowned at the alchemist. ¡°When you say Challenge trade, you mean¡­?¡±


    Hinraeth took a swallow of his drink, then lowered it and nodded. ¡°You use a Challenge in our territory, with what we know about it, and you let us send a group to a Challenge near Izel.¡±


    Sophia frowned at the apothecary. He seemed completely serious, but he ought to know that she couldn¡¯t do that. ¡°I¡¯m not from here. I can¡¯t give you that.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re Aurora Clan, aren¡¯t you?¡± Hinraeth shrugged. ¡°It seems like a simple trade.¡±


    ¡°I am,¡± Amy interjected. ¡°Sophia isn¡¯t. Which Challenge do you want to trade for?¡±


    ¡°Any of them,¡± Hinraeth stated confidently. ¡°We can work out which one it is later, depending on which one we need.¡±


    Amy shook her head. ¡°I know better than that. You have one in mind or you wouldn¡¯t have asked.¡±


    Hinraeth raised his eyebrows. It was a good imitation of being surprised, except that he couldn¡¯t hide the smile that spread across his face a moment later. ¡°I do have a few ideas. The Star Walk Challenge is -¡±


    ¡°Off limits for a trade,¡± Amy interrupted. ¡°Anyone who meets the requirements is allowed to enter, and I can¡¯t help anyone who isn¡¯t allowed to enter. You know that, so stop trying to gain points elsewhere. If you want to trade Challenges, pick one that can be traded.¡±


    For some reason, Hinraeth¡¯s smile grew even wider. He didn¡¯t bother to deny Amy¡¯s accusation that the reason he asked for that Challenge wasn¡¯t the Challenge itself. ¡°Woodwraith Forest, then.¡±


    Amy paused in thought, then nodded. ¡°Maybe. Woodwraith is not open often, but I can probably manage a slot in a reasonable time period once we reach Izel. Do you want to fill an opening, send one team, or have one person escorted?¡±


    This time, Hinraeth seemed startled. ¡°You could reserve a full opening?¡±


    Amy smiled. It seemed sharp. ¡°If what you¡¯re offering is good enough. So far, I don¡¯t think it¡¯s even close. Tell me, what are you offering?¡±


    Hinraeth shook his head slightly but the smile didn¡¯t dim at all. Sophia was beginning to get the idea that he really liked the process of bargaining. ¡°One run of our Spirits of the Woods Challenge. It¡¯s a Stable Limited Leveled Challenge, one group each tenday, with no repeated attempts for four season-turns. We¡¯ll give you the same preparation and assistance we¡¯d give a group of our own people trying it before their First Upgrade, which means limited information about what you¡¯ll face. I can also offer the assistance of a First Upgrade protector who has completed the Challenge.¡±


    Amy shook her head. Her expression looked solemn, but joy hid in her eyes. She definitely enjoyed this; Sophia was glad it was Amy who was handling this, despite the fact that this probably meant that non-fun perception training was in Sophia¡¯s future. This was fun to watch but it would have been far less fun to do the haggling herself, even if she knew what the relative value of things being offered was.


    ¡°That¡¯s barely worth a spot on a Wraithwood team. It¡¯s a Stable Challenge. What does it teach?¡± Amy gave Hinraeth just long enough to take a breath, then added, ¡°And I don¡¯t mean practice with aura detection. There¡¯s always more than one thing.¡±


    Hinraeth shook his head. His smile had faded a bit but it was still present. ¡°I can trade that, but only if you can promise either a full team spot or a spot on an escorted team, either will work.¡±


    Amy chuckled as she nodded. ¡°Still trying to get the better of the trade, aren¡¯t you? Well enough; I¡¯ll let you have this one, as long as we can take the next opening in the Challenge. Deal?¡±


    Amy put her hand out as if she was going for a handshake. Hinraeth gripped her wrist, then she gripped his.


    ¡°Deal,¡± Hinraeth agreed, then released Amy¡¯s wrist. ¡°You¡¯re pretty good at this.¡±


    ¡°I had to learn,¡± Amy said with a grin. ¡°And I¡¯m really happy to be back home!¡±


    Hinraeth shook his head. ¡°I¡¯ve never left the Skylands, but I¡¯ve heard stories.¡±


    Sophia shook her head as Hinraeth started to ask about what it was like elsewhere. She leaned over to Dav and quietly asked, ¡°Do you know what a stable Challenge is?¡±


    ¡°I can guess,¡± Dav answered. ¡°But I think we¡¯ll find out soon.¡±


    Sophia nodded, then realized something that should have occurred to her earlier.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    There was no reason she had to be the only one who had to suffer during training. Dav wasn¡¯t very good with his aura yet, but he could use it. If this was how the Cloud Clan taught aura use, it would be good for him to have the lesson as well. A smile spread across her face as she looked up at her boyfriend. ¡°Do you feel like practicing with your aura before we head into the Challenge?¡±


    The next morning came early, with a wakeup call at first light, followed by a quick breakfast that was already over waiting for them by the time they made it out of the tent. Sophia definitely got the feeling that this was something the camp had dealt with before. Amy took the time over breakfast to explain some of what she knew about what they were getting into.


    A stable Challenge was one that couldn¡¯t be closed by properly completing it and also wouldn¡¯t spill into the outside world if it wasn¡¯t handled; if no one went in, it didn¡¯t change. They were rare rewards from other Challenges or possibly from certain extreme Feats; Amy wasn¡¯t sure where they came from other than that they were rewards from the Guide.


    What she did know was that they were far more limited than normal Challenges in how frequently people could enter and they all had the potential to give special rewards. Some of those rewards were hidden, while others were obvious. The hidden ones weren¡¯t always the best; they tended to be specialized, while the more obvious ones could be used by anyone.


    Amy knew some of the rewards from the Wraithwood Challenge she¡¯d traded away a team¡¯s entrance for their own Challenge. Its most famous reward was from the Bramblestone, a rock that anyone could try to use near the entrance. If you could manage to infuse it with your mana, it would attune you to Wood mana and allow you to learn related Abilities and Spells from the Guide. If you were already attuned to Wood mana, it might even show you the shape of the Wraithwood Bramble spell. If you successfully cast it from seeing it, the Guide considered that a Major Feat and would grant you the Spell.


    Sophia hoped Amy wouldn¡¯t get in any trouble for trading Challenge entry slots away, but she had to assume that Amy knew what she was doing. She knew more about the area and her own Clan than Sophia did. Amy didn¡¯t seem concerned.


    Amy had just finished her explanation when a man appeared from nowhere. It was the same man who met them at the entrance to the hunting camp, Larryt, and once again he appeared out of nowhere. This time, Sophia was fairly certain she heard a twig snap as he solidified.


    ¡°The Challenge Gate opens at noon today,¡± Larryt stated firmly. ¡°I was supposed to guide my sister¡¯s team, but instead I¡¯m leading you and my sister will have to go with a cousin. Markus will probably guide them, I think he¡¯s available.¡± He paused for a moment. ¡°I¡¯m not sure if I should be glad you delayed them or upset that I won¡¯t be in there with them. They weren¡¯t ready.¡±


    Sophia blinked at that. She¡¯d never considered what it might mean to have a place that would only accept one group of people every ten days, but clearly one of the things it meant was that you went during your slot whether or not you were ready. ¡°Will they have to wait long?¡±


    Larryt shook his head. ¡°No, when we trade Challenges like this it doesn¡¯t bump anyone out of order; you just have to wait for the following opening. If you trade your own opening, you¡¯re moved, but that¡¯s different. In any case, are you ready to leave? It¡¯s a couple of hours¡¯ walk to the Challenge, but if we hurry you will be back here before sunset.¡±


    Larryt led the way. He set a quick pace, either to get them there quickly or to discourage questions.


    If the reason was to not have to talk, Dav defeated the purpose a few minutes after they left the Cloud Clan¡¯s campsite. ¡°Why aren¡¯t we riding?¡±


    Larryt chuckled. ¡°Do you want to leave your horses outside the Challenge with no one to watch them?¡±


    Sophia took the point. They¡¯d probably be fine, but there was definitely no way to count on it. She also wasn¡¯t certain Larryt even had a horse; most of the horses she¡¯d seen in the hunting camp were draft horses, clearly sturdy stock for hauling things. She was a little surprised they were using horses at all instead of mules or oxen.


    Sophia frowned as she watched Larryt¡¯s back. ¡°Why are you fading in and out?¡±


    Larryt¡¯s sigh was clearly audible. ¡°I¡¯ve only had Mist Form for a year.¡±


    ¡°So you¡¯re practicing with it?¡± That didn¡¯t seem right. Sure, maybe he was practicing to try to make it work faster, but this seemed like an odd time to do that sort of practice. This was the time to tell them what they needed to know about the Challenge, since there hadn¡¯t been time earlier.


    ¡°Not exactly,¡± Larryt admitted. His words came slowly, as if he wasn¡¯t entirely happy about them. ¡°I¡¯m trying to stay solid. And failing.¡±


    Oh. That made a lot more sense, somehow. It also changed the way Sophia felt about his initial greeting; maybe he hadn¡¯t meant it completely as a jump scare after all. ¡°You have to concentrate to not turn into mist?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s how it works,¡± Larryt admitted. ¡°I guess this is as good a place to start as any. Mist Form is one of the Abilities you can learn from the Spirits of the Woods Challenge. There¡¯s more than one version of the Ability; Mist Form is the most common version we try to learn, the best balance of usefulness and difficulty. Which really means it¡¯s useful even when you¡¯re having trouble with it. It requires two Abilities to work well, Mist Form and Solidify. It¡¯s Solidify that I need more practice with. I can already move well in Mist Form.¡±


    ¡°You can¡¯t fight while you¡¯re in Mist Form, can you?¡± Sophia paused in place. ¡°Wait a minute. Can I show you something?¡± As she spoke, she checked the description of the Ability she wanted to ask him about. It was the same as she remembered.


    Storm Phase


    Become the stormcloud. While merged with the storm, your Shield is disabled. Protects from attacks that will not damage storm clouds. Environmental conditions may cause damage.


    Larryt continued for another step before he stopped and turned to look. ¡°What is it?¡±


    Instead of answering, Sophia triggered the Ability. She¡¯d only used it once before to test it out, but that meant she knew what to do. It was strange; she could no longer feel her own weight on the ground, because she didn¡¯t have any. The feel of the wind and sun were stronger, especially the wind as it tried to move her.


    This time, she realized one more thing. How was she seeing her surroundings? She shouldn¡¯t be able to see if she didn¡¯t have eyes.

 Chapter 147 - Walk and Talk

    Sophia tried to look down and see herself, but all she saw was a very heavy mist that made it hard to see the ground. That had to be what she looked like right now, a person-shaped mist.


    Looking down also felt weird. She could still see ahead of herself; it was like seeing out of her peripheral vision because she wasn¡¯t paying attention to it, but it was still there, in the corner of the eye that she didn¡¯t have.


    So was everything behind her. Sophia didn¡¯t have to move to see; she could just see everything.


    It was too much. Everything blurred and mixed together.


    Sophia shook her head and tried to focus. She knew she wasn¡¯t blinking rapidly to clear her vision, but at the same time she sort of was. Her surroundings cleared and she was looking forward again. She could still sort of see other things around herself, but as long as she didn¡¯t focus on anything else, she didn¡¯t get turned around.


    ¡°That¡¯s not any of the Abilities I¡¯ve seen before.¡± Larryt¡¯s voice sounded a little odd, like he was farther away than he actually was. Sophia was glad she could hear at all; if things were a bit muffled, that was a small price to pay. ¡°It¡¯s a little like Cloud Body. That¡¯s a defensive Ability; for all that we¡¯re the Cloud Clan, almost everyone prefers Mistform, because you¡¯re very hard to find. Cloud Body¡¯s fast, but using it in a fight takes longer than learning Mistform. But that¡¯s not Cloud Body, your clouds are too dark.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s called Storm Phase,¡± Sophia admitted. Her voice seemed to echo. Her voice reminded her of the way the Hungering Spark sounded. That made sense since it was always in Storm Phase except for its tongue.


    Sophia tried to partially materialize. As she more than half expected, it was all or nothing for her, at least without more practice. She staggered as the world snapped back to normal around her. She steadied herself on a tree and took a deep breath.


    She hadn¡¯t even moved, but she felt tired like she¡¯d spent the entire time running. That happened on her first test of the Martial Technique, as well, but at least it seemed to kick in only after she released it; she¡¯d just have to make sure she didn¡¯t fall out of it in the middle of a fight. She¡¯d be fine in a moment, as soon as she caught her breath.


    ¡°Storms?¡± Larryt faded out of sight. Unlike Sophia¡¯s Ability, Mistform didn¡¯t seem to affect his voice. ¡°I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s close enough or not. There¡¯s an area that very few teams can reach without help; Cloud Body can make it far easier. I¡¯ll tell you about it if you get far enough in the Challenge.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean, if we get far enough in the Challenge?¡± Dav looked thoughtful. ¡°Is there a point we shouldn¡¯t go past since we¡¯re low level?¡±


    Larryt was barely visible enough for Sophia to see him shake his head. ¡°It¡¯s a Leveled Challenge, nothing depends on level. It¡¯s not like any other Challenge you¡¯ve ever been in. Let¡¯s get moving and I¡¯ll tell you about it as we travel.¡±


    Larryt started with the history of the Challenge, beginning with where it came from and some of the famous people who figured out how it worked. It was somewhat interesting, but it didn¡¯t seem relevant to trying to complete the Challenge. She perked up a bit when he started to describe the structure of the Challenge. The very first thing he mentioned was that there was no combat at all in the Challenge; instead, it was a series of tasks or puzzles.


    Sophia found it very interesting that this was a Challenge with no fighting. That happened occasionally in dungeons back home, but she¡¯d gotten the impression that it never happened in the Broken Lands. When she asked, Larryt admitted that he¡¯d overstated the lack of fighting; it wasn¡¯t that there wasn¡¯t any, but none was required. When Sophia asked him what that meant, all he was willing to say was that there were choices in the dungeon and fighting was never required.


    Since Larryt had been through it before and they hadn¡¯t, he could guide them but not solve puzzles or direct them too much on their tasks; if he did, it would count as a failure for all of them. There would also be a ¡°spirit guide¡± provided by the Challenge that would tell them what the Challenge thought they needed to know, but the Cloud Clan always sent a guide as well. The spirit¡¯s guidance was more limited than what Larryt was allowed to provide.


    Sophia wondered if there was a benefit to going in blind if they managed to figure it all out anyway. Her guess was that there probably was, based on the way the corpsevine Challenge worked out, but that required being able to figure it out without hints. ¡°How much help do you give?¡±


    ¡°As little as I can and still let the team through,¡± Larryt answered easily. ¡°The less help you need, the better the rewards are supposed to be. There¡¯s usually one or two teams each year that get a lot farther than anyone else and get poor rewards even though their guide says they didn¡¯t help much, but it¡¯s true for everyone else.¡±


    Sophia could think of several reasons that might happen. Lying about how far they¡¯d gotten or about how much help their guide gave was definitely at the top of the list, as was downplaying whatever rewards they¡¯d received. Getting knowledge they shouldn¡¯t have before they entered was also a possibility, though Sophia didn¡¯t know how the Challenge would know. The one thing she could definitely say about it was that if outside knowledge made the rewards worse, that was definitely one way to discourage looking for information before you entered. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    It definitely made her more hesitant to ask questions.


    Larryt was completely willing to tell them that they¡¯d start in a foggy forest and that he didn¡¯t know what the first task would be. It could be anything from solving a maze with surprises, whatever that meant, to finding the right objects somewhere in the area to qualify to move on. After that, they¡¯d move to other areas and other tasks.


    Sophia asked if using her aura was important. It seemed like it should be, since that was the excuse the apothecary Hinraeth used to ask for a Challenge trade.


    His answer was less than helpful.


    ¡°It can be,¡± Larryt agreed. ¡°I don¡¯t have good aura perception, but I¡¯m told it can help a lot with some of the tasks. I shouldn¡¯t tell you how even if I knew, but I have to admit that I¡¯m not sure which ones it matters for.¡±


    With that, Larryt returned to describing in extremely general terms what they¡¯d see once they were inside. He added so many qualifiers that the only thing Sophia could say for certain about the Challenge based on his description was that it took place in a forest. Everything else seemed subject to change as they moved through the Challenge.


    Sophia was relieved when he moved on to talking about the rewards. The Challenge apparently awarded a small number of Wisps based mostly on how many stages they passed. If all you did was the assigned tasks, that was all you got. Larryt didn¡¯t want to talk about how any of the rewards were achieved, but he said he¡¯d try to direct them towards where they should look as much as he could when they got there.


    Sophia suddenly had another possible guess as to why some groups might emerge with strangely low rewards: was it possible they¡¯d concentrated on doing only the obvious? Maybe their Clan guides didn¡¯t help them enough because they didn¡¯t direct them at the other things they should have done?


    ¡°The reward we value the most is the Abilities,¡± Larryt continued. ¡°I know of five that can be learned from the Challenge. Most people take several attempts to learn any Ability, but you can certainly try for more than one if you want. There are three people I know of in Cloud Clan who managed to learn two Abilities in a single Challenge.¡± Larryt sounded proud of his clanmates.


    ¡°How many times had they tried before?¡± Amy sounded doubtful.


    ¡°Ayri learned two Abilities on her first time in the Spirits of the Woods Challenge,¡± Larryt countered.


    Sophia suppressed a snicker at the fact that he didn¡¯t mention how many times the others had visited. They clearly hadn¡¯t done as impressively as Ayri.


    ¡°How many tries did it take you to learn Mistform?¡± Dav asked. ¡°It looks useful, even if I¡¯m not sure it¡¯s the right thing to add to my kit.¡±


    ¡°Three,¡± Larryt answered easily. ¡°Good enough that once I master Solidify, I can try for another Ability. I probably won¡¯t be coming back here for it; none of the other Abilities in the Spirit of the Woods Challenge are worth the Wisps for the Ability Slot for me. I¡¯m not sure which one I¡¯ll try for. Most scouts with Mistform pick up Concentrated Strike, but I don¡¯t want any of the second upgrade Vocations that branch off of it. Draining Touch is¡­¡±


    Larryt stopped in the middle of his sentence and seemed to flush a little. ¡°You aren¡¯t interested in my build. I should be telling you about the Challenge anyway. Anyone from Cloud Clan would know, but the Abilities we know of are Cloud Body, Mistform, Spirit Sight, Spirit Shriek, and Stunning Touch. Cloud Body and Mistform are together; there should be a third Ability there, but no one has managed to learn it. It¡¯s probably a different form of Resolidify, which is why no one learns it; you can¡¯t use it until you have Mistform. Maybe there¡¯s something more to it, but it¡¯s not worth the Challenge runs when I already have Resolidify.¡±


    ¡°Why does it normally take multiple attempts to learn an Ability?¡± Dav asked slowly. ¡°Does it have something to do with why you¡¯re confident we won¡¯t have to camp overnight in the Challenge?¡±


    Larryt nodded. For once, it was easy to see his motions because he was completely visible. ¡°It¡¯s a Stable Challenge. They all have something that makes you keep going. In Spirits of the Woods, if you stay in one place for too long, the spirits gather. If you don¡¯t keep moving, they will remove you from the Challenge. It depends on how well you do before the plaza, but you usually have less than an hour to study Mistform or Cloud Body.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s one of the things that makes the Woodwraith Challenge valuable,¡± Amy added. ¡°Multiple groups enter at once and as long as any of them keep moving, the area near the Wraithtree can be fairly safe, which lets a few people stay there for hours as long as they have people guarding them. That¡¯s why one escorted slot in Woodwraith is worth a team slot with a guide here.¡±


    ¡°I doubt I¡¯ll ever have the chance to run Woodwraith for myself,¡± Larryt said with a chuckle. ¡°If I did, I¡¯d probably be one of the mushroom collectors; that¡¯s how we usually use the slots we trade for in Woodwraith. I think Hinraeth was trading for an escorted slot, though, probably for Ayri.¡±


    Larryt shook his head. ¡°Woodwraith is a completely different sort of Challenge from Spirits of the Woods, a lot longer and with more options. Spirits of the Woods doesn¡¯t let you do different things at once. In fact, if you move past the earlier choices quickly, you have more time at the later ones. Most Cloud Clan groups try to pick up Cloud Body or Mistform, so that doesn¡¯t help, but you might have a better chance at learning the later Abilities if you hurry past the plaza.¡±


    He frowned in thought for a moment, then shook his head. ¡°Stunning Touch will be easy for Sophia to reach, but Dav and Amy probably can¡¯t get there, so you should skip it. It¡¯s not that useful without Mistform, since you have to stay in contact with whatever you¡¯re trying to stun. I think you probably want to spend your time on Spirit Sight or Spirit Shriek. Spirit Sight makes auras partially visible, while Spirit Shriek harms anything that hears it unless they have a Spirit Ability.¡±

 Chapter 148 - Spirits of the Woods Entrance

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Sophia said slowly. ¡°Amy, you know more about this than I do; is there something we should be looking for?¡±


    ¡°Not for you or me,¡± Amy admitted. ¡°But I couldn¡¯t pass up the chance at a Spirit Challenge for Dav and Taika.¡±


    ¡°None of them sound like summons,¡± Dav objected. ¡°I¡¯m a summoner. I can see why it might be good for Taika, but standing back and hiding isn¡¯t exactly my role.¡± Sophia could hear the emphasis he put on the last few words. He was clearly saying he didn¡¯t want to stand back and let others fight for him.


    ¡°You¡¯re a summoner at the moment,¡± Amy agreed. ¡°That¡¯s part of the point of trying to gain Abilities from Challenges, they can help you change your Sphere when you hit the first upgrade or choose a new Sphere. I think a Spirit Ability might fit you well, especially since your Warp has something to do with telepathy. That ought to mean Spirit-related Abilities fit you well too.¡±


    ¡°Which one?¡± Dav didn¡¯t sound convinced.


    Sophia couldn¡¯t blame him; she wasn¡¯t sure which one fit him the best any more than she was certain which one she wanted. She¡¯d definitely look at all of them just to see if she could figure them out, but the one she¡¯d probably spend the most time on was Spirit Shriek ¡­ if all of the others were trying for Spirit abilities. If they weren¡¯t, maybe she¡¯d see if she could work on Stunning Touch while the others did whatever they were doing. It ought to be possible to ¡°touch¡± anything in her aura with a spell, and that was probably the largest problem with that Ability.


    Of course, that assumed it was a spell. Sophia wasn¡¯t certain it was.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure,¡± Amy admitted slowly. ¡°I just couldn¡¯t pass up the chance when I heard there was the possibility of an opening that might let you get a Sphere that suits how you want to fight more than your current one. We won¡¯t have another chance at this Challenge.¡±


    Naturally, that was when Larryt spoke up, ¡°Ah, we¡¯re here. Watch out for the ridges on either side of the trail.¡±


    Sophia¡¯s question vanished as she stared at a thin bar covered in green moss that rose from the ground. A matching line ran parallel to it on the other side of some wooden planks that looked like they¡¯d been set into the ground to reinforce and provide better footing on a trail. It reminded her strongly of train tracks.


    When she stepped over the near rail and onto the trail, then looked ahead of her, the impression was reinforced. That mound of sticks ahead of her with a black opening where the trail met it like a tongue heading into a mouth resembled nothing so much as a train tunnel from a nightmare.


    Dav paused just outside the path and looked down. ¡°Those rails can¡¯t be natural.¡±


    Sophia was glad she wasn¡¯t the only one who saw them that way.


    ¡°The ridges, you mean? They aren¡¯t,¡± Larryt agreed. ¡°They cross the Skylands, like the Old Roads. They probably date back to before the Breaking, just like the Roads. These are overgrown, but outside the forest you can see that they¡¯re made of some sort of metal, or at least something that looks like metal. No one¡¯s been able to break it, and the ridges go several feet deep into the earth. They¡¯re always the same distance apart, too. We use them as pathways. You don¡¯t have to worry about the ground breaking on a ridgeway.¡±


    ¡°A lot of the Skylands Challenges are on ridgeways or Old Roads,¡± Amy added. ¡°Not all of them, but a lot. I bet if we walked around the Challenge, we¡¯d see the ridgeway come out of the hill.¡±


    ¡°I did that the first time I was here, after we finished the Challenge,¡± Larryt admitted. ¡°It looks like it goes into the Challenge, but it doesn¡¯t. The ridgeway stops at the entrance. It¡¯s odd, I¡¯ve never seen a ridgeway just stop anywhere else.¡±


    Sophia shook her head in disbelief. They had a centuries-old rail system that was intact and didn¡¯t use it because they didn¡¯t know what it was. That was insane; surely they could use it for animal-drawn wagons, if nothing else.


    On the other hand, the knowledge of what the rails were had to have been lost for a reason. Maybe that reason was that they simply weren¡¯t practical to use; after all, they couldn¡¯t build new ones. What if their current towns weren¡¯t where the rails ran? It wouldn¡¯t make sense to take a longer route that required moving things from one vehicle to another or replacing the wheels to get on and off the rails, or maybe they just didn¡¯t move enough stuff at once to make it worthwhile.


    Sophia knew she shouldn¡¯t assume she knew better just because she knew something they didn¡¯t. That didn¡¯t make it easy, but it did mean that she could figure out that this wasn¡¯t the time. She¡¯d ask about it once they were in Izel, but for now she should keep her mouth shut. Larryt was definitely not the right person to ask and this pair of rails was really too overgrown to use anyway.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    She wasn¡¯t sure who the right person was, but surely there was someone in Izel.


    No, wait, she had a good idea who the right person to ask was: Arryn, the old merchant who brought her and Dav from Old Kestii to Casterville. He knew a lot about the world and he was a traveling merchant. He¡¯d know why they didn¡¯t use the rails, and he¡¯d be in a good place to spread the knowledge of what they were if the only reason was that they didn¡¯t know what they were and how to use them. She could write him a letter, then talk to Izel¡¯s Registry about having it sent.


    Somehow, that made her feel better even though she hadn¡¯t actually done any of it yet.


    Sophia took one more look at the dark maw of the Challenge and realized that at least half the reason she was hung up on train tracks was that she didn¡¯t really want to enter the dark tunnel, which was silly. There wasn¡¯t going to be a train coming out of it; there was literally nothing to be afraid of.


    She had to steel herself anyway. Once she had, she didn¡¯t want to wait any longer. ¡°Let¡¯s get going.¡±


    Sophia led the way into the Challenge. There was a moment of full darkness, which slowly cleared as she moved forward to reveal a heavily foggy scene. Twisted trees covered in strangely leafy moss filled the foggy sky, while lumps of greenery and flowers dotted the floor. It was a scene that fit the nightmarish entrance yet also seemed peaceful, foreboding yet also calm.


    An insubstantial blonde woman dressed in armor and carrying a shield walked slowly towards the group. She floated a little above the ground, and while she seemed to walk, her steps didn¡¯t quite match the way she moved forward.


    Sophia took a long, careful look but was unable to find a weapon anywhere on her person; she didn¡¯t even seem to have a knife at her belt. What she did have was a pair of slender horns that protruded from her head, reminiscent of a minotaur¡¯s horns even though she appeared otherwise human. Symbols on her face and cheeks might once have been magical, but they were now simply decorative.


    Sophia could feel the Death mana that surrounded her. The woman was definitely a ghost; there wasn¡¯t enough mana around her for her to be a wraith, and few of the natural undead were so tied to a physical form that they would walk while floating. Fortunately, she didn¡¯t seem at all hostile.


    Larryt hurried forward. He seemed to blink in and out more quickly than he had on the long walk, probably because his concentration was on the ghost in front of them.


    It was strange, really. Larryt seemed more worried about them than he was about the ghost; he kept glancing backwards as he hurried ahead of them. Sophia shook her head. ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Larryt? Isn¡¯t this the spirit guide you mentioned?¡±


    Larryt swung around to face them. Words spilled out before he finished the turn. ¡°You must not¡­¡±


    Sophia tilted her head, then glanced back to see what made him stop. She didn¡¯t see anything odd; sure, Taika¡¯s head poked up from Dav¡¯s backpack the way it often did when he was paying attention, but that wasn¡¯t particularly shocking.


    ¡°Er, yeah,¡± Larryt¡¯s face darkened in a flush as he continued. Sophia had no idea what he was thinking. ¡°I, ah, this should be the spirit guide for the challenge. Don¡¯t, ah, don¡¯t threaten her. That can go badly.¡±


    Sophia stared at Larryt. That was what he was worried about, after he told them to expect a guide? ¡°What, did you attack her the first time you tried this Challenge?¡±


    ¡°Um, it wasn¡¯t her,¡± Larryt rushed to explain. ¡°The spirit guide we got was a ghost bear, and uh, ¡­¡±


    ¡°And you forgot everything you¡¯d been told about the Challenge?¡± Dav supplied with a huge grin. ¡°Is that what you meant when you said it wasn¡¯t usually a combat Challenge? Relax a bit. We were listening, even if you weren¡¯t.¡± Dav moved his attention from the transparent Cloud Clan scout to the ghost. ¡°Hi there!¡±


    The ghost nodded. Her movement was smooth and graceful, but it seemed almost formal. ¡°Greetings and welcome to the Spirits of the Woods Challenge. I am Si¡¯a, one of the guardians of this place. We stand in the Spring Woods.¡±


    Sophia tried to fix the name in her head. It definitely wasn¡¯t a language she recognized, even though Si¡¯a seemed to be a blue-eyed blonde. Well, this was a world with a completely different history from Earth¡¯s; the weird thing was that they spoke English, not that they had different names.


    Si¡¯a turned to look directly at Larryt. ¡°One of you has been here before; are you here to participate or to watch?¡±


    Larryt looked surprised. Sophia didn¡¯t see what was so odd about it; the Challenge obviously kept track of who had been in it before, if there was a longer per-person lockout than the lockout between attempts. ¡°Watch, I guess?¡±


    Si¡¯a nodded. ¡°You may not interfere or even hint at anything that they could not learn without asking me. If you do, you will be removed. You will not be allowed to attempt any part of the Challenge, only watch their progress. As long as you do not violate the rules, you will not be removed until the last participant is removed. This will still be considered a Challenge attempt, as you gain the benefit of watching. If you wish to preserve your attempt, you must leave now.¡±


    It sounded like a rehearsed statement, but Larryt seemed more and more bewildered as Si¡¯a spoke. ¡°I¡¯ll stay, but ¡­ why didn¡¯t the bear ask any of that the first time I was here?¡±


    Si¡¯a grinned widely. ¡°The first time you were here, you tried to shoot your guide, lost quickly, and were removed from the challenge moments after you entered. When did he have a chance to ask?¡±


    Sophia failed to suppress a snort at Larryt¡¯s expense. That explained his surprise and also his overly dramatic attempt to get them to not attack the ghost. It also meant that she was going to take anything he said carefully; he clearly wasn¡¯t above not mentioning things that made him look bad.


    She already suspected that he wasn¡¯t the best possible guide, but he was what they had. She¡¯d just have to pay attention and remember that she could ask Si¡¯a when she had questions. She was probably more reliable. It also sounded like Larryt wouldn¡¯t be allowed to answer anything Si¡¯a wouldn¡¯t, which made her wonder what exactly the point of having him there was.

 Chapter 149 - Ghosts of the Woods

    A warm hand closed comfortingly on Sophia¡¯s shoulder before Dav leaned close to her. ¡°Do you want to take the lead or should I? I think Sia¡¯s directions might be better than Larryt¡¯s.¡±


    ¡°Especially for the first visit,¡± Sophia groused. How did they get stuck with a guide who¡¯d failed his first visit so badly that he didn¡¯t even get to finish it?


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Dav agreed. ¡°That does seem to matter here, doesn¡¯t it?¡±


    Sophia turned a little to look at her boyfriend. He sounded positively annoyed at the fact that the first time mattered. She awkwardly patted his arm, but it didn¡¯t really seem to help. Maybe he¡¯d be happier if they got moving? ¡°Go ahead, Dav. It sounds like you¡¯ve got a question, I¡¯m not sure what to ask her.¡±


    The only question Sophia could think of was to ask what their first task in the Challenge would be, since Larryt repeatedly emphasized that they were supposed to complete tasks to move forward. Now that she knew just how little Larryt knew about the Challenge, though, she wasn¡¯t so certain.


    Dav gave her a tight grin and a nod before he looked up at the ghostly warrior. ¡°Si¡¯a? What should we know about the Challenge overall? Are there any rules we should follow?¡±


    Sophia blinked and wondered why that question hadn¡¯t occurred to her. Was she still putting too much weight on what Larryt told them?


    Si¡¯a gave a small nod before she spoke. ¡°Touching a spirit in the Challenge counts against you. That is true no matter who the spirit is and whether it is deliberate or not. If you do something I do not like, I will touch you; that counts. I will not harm you otherwise, but you will be removed from the Challenge and I will not have to deal with you.¡±


    Sophia blinked. ¡°That¡¯s why you don¡¯t have a weapon! You don¡¯t need one.¡±


    Si¡¯a laughed brightly. ¡°True enough. My weapon is the Challenge itself. If you are wise, I won¡¯t need it.¡±


    ¡°Is that it?¡± Dav frowned. ¡°Or, no, you¡¯re saying that you don¡¯t need other rules because you can decide to have us removed if we do something wrong, whether or not there¡¯s a specific rule. I see.¡±


    Si¡¯a nodded. ¡°One watcher, five participants, two of whom are closer to spirits than most that I see. I look forward to seeing your choices. Does that mean you are ready?¡±


    Dav glanced at Sophia. She nodded, her attention distracted by the strange fact that Si¡¯a identified them as five people. One was clearly Taika, but who was the other? The only other person she could think of was Cliff.


    Actually, now that she thought about it, calling Cliff a spirit probably wasn¡¯t entirely wrong. He wasn¡¯t dead, but Sophia guessed that wasn¡¯t a requirement.


    Calling Taika a spirit seemed odd, given his physical presence, but Sophia couldn¡¯t think of anyone else it might be. It was true that he seemed to change a little every time she looked at him; was it possible that he was less physical than he pretended?


    ¡°Yes, we¡¯re ready,¡± Dav confirmed. He must have gotten Amy¡¯s agreement while Sophia wasn¡¯t paying attention. Sophia wasn¡¯t sure if he¡¯d explained why Si¡¯a said there were five of them or not.


    ¡°Then watch where you step; the first task is one of care, though speed is also required. Find the stream that fills this forest with life.¡± Si¡¯a smiled as she finished, then inclined her head towards them.


    Larryt spoke up with a warning. ¡°Watch your step means that there may be hidden spirits. You can find them if you¡¯re careful. Don¡¯t step on them. Touching one won¡¯t put you out of the Challenge, but enough can.¡±


    Sophia saw Si¡¯a nod at Larryt. She seemed to approve of the way he clarified the point of her directions, even though she didn¡¯t say that out loud. It made Sophia think; was this the reason Hinraeth suggested the dungeon as practice with aura sensing? She ought to be able to feel spirits with her aura.


    ¡°Should we head forward or is there a better way to search?¡± Dav looked around the clearing. ¡°There¡¯s a huge tree behind us, but other than that I don¡¯t see anything that really limits the area we have to check.¡±


    ¡°I can fly up and search,¡± Amy offered. ¡° If we¡¯re looking for a stream, the plants ought to show where it is from the air.¡±


    That made more sense than Sophia¡¯s idea of trying to figure out which way was more downhill by walking for a while. If nothing else, Amy ought to be able to tell that from the sky as well. It was basically the same way they found the Cloud Clan hunting camp, though this time Amy would be looking for water instead of smoke.


    Surely that was too easy, though? Both Sophia and Dav could fly. Now that she thought about it, Larryt probably could as well. Mistform wasn¡¯t just invisibility; he could probably drift upwards. Even if a group didn¡¯t have someone who could fly, though, climbing a tree might be enough. Maybe it wasn¡¯t too easy; maybe that was how they were supposed to start. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    ¡°Be careful when you¡¯re flying,¡± Sophia offered. ¡°I don¡¯t know if there will be any spirits up there or not.¡±


    ¡°I will,¡± Amy said with a nod before she shimmered and reduced in height to her owl shape. A powerful flap of her wings ruffled the plants around them as she lifted into the air.


    Sophia watched her as she rose into the sky. For the first ten feet, her flight was smooth and easy, but by the time she was fifteen feet in the air, Sophia was certain she¡¯d seen bird-Amy sideslip to avoid something in the air. By the time she was as high as the tops of the trees, it was almost a dance, with Amy clearly moving around something. There clearly weren¡¯t huge numbers of spirits up there, but any was enough that Amy had to be careful. She seemed to rise and fall slowly as she wheeled around and checked all directions, then floated to the ground.


    The striped owl reached shoulder height and hovered for a moment, then shimmered and turned into Amy. Amy fell straight down. Her feet landed first, then she tipped forward. Her knees hit next, followed by her hands. ¡°Closer to the ground next time,¡± she muttered as she picked herself up.


    ¡°You ok?¡± Sophia asked. She reached a hand out towards Amy, then pulled it back as Amy reached ehr feet without taking the help.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± A blush covered Amy¡¯s face as she spoke. ¡°Nothing to it. So, uh, I think it¡¯s that way.¡± She pointed forward and to the right, away from the tree that held the Challenge entrance.


    ¡°Saw you dancing up there,¡± Dav added. ¡°What do the spirits look like?¡±


    ¡°Lots of little birds,¡± Amy answered. ¡°They were transparent and a little hard to see, but not too bad as long as I paid attention. There were definitely more than I saw out in the real forest. They weren¡¯t afraid of me either.¡±


    Sophia nodded slowly. In a way, that made sense; this was the Spirits of the Woods Challenge. A lot of little bird ghosts would fit right in. ¡°Do you think all of the mammals, maybe even all of the large animals in here will be spirits?¡±


    That would explain so much of why Si¡¯a told them to be careful where they stepped. There could be a lot of small animals in a forest. There had to be a minimum size, though; there was no way anyone would be able to avoid all of the ants, for example.


    ¡°Could be,¡± Dav agreed. ¡°In which case, uh. I probably shouldn¡¯t lead. I may be from the middle of nowhere, but I¡¯m still a city kid. Amy, do you think you can tell us where to step?¡±


    ¡°I think flying may be easier,¡± Amy said with a frown. ¡°But Dav can¡¯t fly, so that won¡¯t work. Um.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t fly either,¡± Taika spoke up from within Dav¡¯s pack. ¡°If you can point out the spots to avoid, I can make them really obvious without touching them, would that help?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know if I can,¡± Amy admitted. ¡°At least not very far ahead of myself.¡±


    ¡°I might be able to,¡± Sophia offered. She was now pretty sure this was exactly what Hinraeth was talking about for aura training. ¡°It won¡¯t be very precise, but I should be able to ¡­ sort of feel them with my aura?¡±


    It took a few minutes to work out the details, but the pieces fit together well. Sophia felt ahead of them with her aura, then pointed out areas to avoid as she searched. Taika tagged the areas as well as he could with glowing balls of pale light that floated above the ground. Amy led the way, picking through the hedge of marked areas to find the easiest path and searching for the auras Sophia found as she went. Sophia served as her backup, feeling the area in case any of the spirits moved. They each also watched their own steps, even though they followed in Amy¡¯s wake.


    It took time, but they were able to feel their way towards the greenery Amy saw in the distance without disturbing any of the animal spirits. It became faster as Sophia realized that she didn¡¯t have to carefully search for any possible hint of another aura; all she had to do was feel for the telltale tinge of Death magic that emanated weakly from the ghosts.


    Even with that, Sophia thought it was slow. She grinned when she heard Larryt complain about how quickly they were moving. Her grin widened more when Si¡¯a told him to stop talking about the task. Unfortunately, he did. It was too bad; if he¡¯d kept talking, he might have said something useful.


    Once she could finally see the stream, Amy paused and turned to look at Si¡¯a. ¡°Is this close enough?¡±


    The ghost warrior smiled. ¡°Now you must choose your direction, upstream or down. Do you seek the beginning or the end? Choose your way and follow it until you find your destination.¡±


    ¡°What does that mean?¡± Amy sounded annoyed. She glared at Si¡¯a, but all the ghost did was shake her head.


    Larryt cleared his throat. ¡°I can¡¯t tell you which way to go. I don¡¯t know which way to go; this isn¡¯t a puzzle I¡¯ve seen. Ah, think about what the guide said; there¡¯s always a clue. Don¡¯t be too upset if you guess wrong, all it costs is time and you¡¯re already moving quickly.¡±


    Sophia shook her head, annoyed. That was probably supposed to help, but she hadn¡¯t been listening for a subtle clue. ¡°Si¡¯a, which way should we go?¡±


    The guide shook her head, but repeated her earlier instructions anyway. ¡°Choose your direction, upstream or down. Do you seek the beginning or the end?¡±


    ¡°The beginning or the end,¡± Sophia echoed, then turned to the others. ¡°Any ideas which way we should go? I¡¯m betting the beginning is upstream.¡±


    ¡°Then watch where you step; the first task is one of care, though speed is also required. Find the stream that fills this forest with life,¡± Dav quoted. He had an oddly glassy look to his eyes, as if he were repeating words he saw in front of himself or maybe something he heard. He blinked and the look vanished, leaving Sophia to wonder if maybe he¡¯d just had his eyes open for too long. ¡°That¡¯s how she described the first task. If this is the river of life, do we want the beginning or the end?¡±


    Sophia glanced back along the wandering path they¡¯d taken. ¡°Upstream, I think. There are spirits at both ends, but all of the spirits here are ghosts. We¡¯re supposed to avoid them, so that means we should avoid where they come from.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a choice,¡± Amy muttered. Sophia was pretty sure she didn¡¯t have an argument against the direction, but she certainly didn¡¯t seem happy about it. ¡°That means we need to turn left. What do I need to watch out for?¡±

 Chapter 150 - Mist in the Sun

    Travel was slower along the stream. They ended up traveling upstream farther from the water than Sophia liked, but at least they could still see it in the distance. Even with the slower travel, it was less than an hour before the landscape began to change. At first, it was subtle; there were fewer spirits and there were fewer types of plant, more flowers and fewer bushes and trees. It wasn¡¯t too long after Sophia noticed the change that they were able to move closer to the water.


    Eventually, they reached the source of the stream. Sophia expected it to be a small hillside spring, but it was instead a shallow pool of water in a stone-lined hollow below a huge tree. That tree, along with two others, were carved into squared-off pillars with inset runes that glowed an eerie orange color. Stone steps created short paths that led between the three trees. Flowers covered the areas that weren¡¯t paths, water, or well-kept grass.


    It was very obviously not a wild area, unlike the forest they¡¯d just traveled through.


    ¡°This is the first rest point,¡± Si¡¯a said with a soft smile. ¡°I am the only spirit permitted near the three pillars until your time in the Spring Forest is over. I will warn you when it is time to move on.¡±


    ¡°These trees, I¡¯ve never seen anything like them,¡± Amy muttered as she walked up to the closest one. ¡°Is this the first learning point you mentioned, where you can learn Mistform or Cloud Body?¡±


    ¡°It should be,¡± Larryt agreed. ¡°It¡¯s always three trees and the symbols look right.¡± He sighed, then muttered, ¡°I think they look right. They¡¯re the right color, but they¡¯re not clear to me.¡±


    ¡°You watch,¡± Si¡¯a stated firmly with a hint of chill to her words. ¡°You¡¯re allowed here but no more. Do not expect things you have not earned.¡±


    It was probably not the best time to ask, but Sophia doubted she¡¯d remember if she didn¡¯t ask now. ¡°Ah, Si¡¯a? Can you tell us about the meaning of the riddle now? What the beginning and the end actually meant?¡±


    Si¡¯a tilted her head to the side. For a long moment, Sophia thought she was going to refuse to answer or claim she didn¡¯t understand the question. Her expression softened and an eyebrow rose. ¡°It will not help. The question is different each time, as is the ground. It is the meaning that you give it that matters.¡±


    ¡°I still want to know,¡± Sophia insisted.


    Si¡¯a raised her shoulders slightly, then dropped them as if she¡¯d reconsidered shrugging. ¡°With your choice of meaning, upstream led here and downstream led onwards into summer. For another, upstream might lead to winter or to a thicket of spirits that cannot be passed. There are some who must cross the water instead, but for you that would have led to enough spirits to make you turn back; it was not possible to cross without touching a spirit of the water or air.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s no point in asking them what the choices mean,¡± Larryt added. ¡°The guide always says something like that, that it¡¯s the meaning you give it. It doesn¡¯t really matter which choice you make; you hope you¡¯re right and if you aren¡¯t you take the other path when you find out you aren¡¯t.¡±


    Sophia shook her head. She was pretty sure there was something in what Si¡¯a said that didn¡¯t match Larryt¡¯s depressing confidence that the choices didn¡¯t matter. It sounded almost like the Challenge adjusted to the reason behind the choice. It probably wouldn¡¯t always be easy to dictate where things were, but it would almost certainly be better than random chance as long as she explained her reasoning out loud so the Challenge could hear it. ¡°That may be how the Cloud Clan does it, but I¡¯m going to keep trying.¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear what she said? She said that for you this was the right way, but someone else would find only a path to the winter forest. You pick a path, then try a different way if it doesn¡¯t work.¡± Larryt sounded frustrated.


    ¡°No, she said that with Sophia¡¯s choice of meaning, upstream led here.¡± Dav¡¯s words were quiet but clear. ¡°That sounds a lot like the destinations change based on what you think the question means. That is definitely not random chance; I bet that if you decide to flip a coin because you don¡¯t know which way to go and it doesn¡¯t matter, you will always pick the wrong direction. I know that¡¯s what I¡¯d do if I were the one making the choices. Now, can we stop wasting time arguing and find out which pillar is which?¡±


    Larryt gaped at Dav for a long moment, then seemed to remember he was supposed to be a guide. ¡°The one closest to us should be Mistform, with Cloud Body off to the left. Ignore the one to the right. I can¡¯t make you move on, but you shouldn¡¯t spend much time here; those Abilities are hard to learn and you¡¯d be better served saving the time to use on later Abilities.¡±


    Sophia glanced over at Si¡¯a to see how she took the information Larryt was handing out. It seemed far less cryptic than Si¡¯a liked, but all she did was roll her eyes and shake her head.  Sophia guessed that was probably because Larryt¡¯s information wasn¡¯t prohibited but also wasn¡¯t complete.


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    She grinned. Maybe it would be good to ask Si¡¯a to confirm his information, or to give more. She definitely wasn¡¯t asking Si¡¯a just because she was annoyed at Larryt and wanted to rub it in. That would be childish. ¡°Si¡¯a? What can you tell us about the pillars?¡±


    A smile flickered across Si¡¯a¡¯s face for a moment, just long enough to make Sophia wonder if the ghost knew exactly what Sophia was thinking or not. ¡°These three trees hold a spell. That is all I can tell you about them.¡±


    Sophia nodded. That wasn¡¯t new information; it matched Larryt¡¯s description. She made her way up to the first tree; she might not be interested in either Mistform or Cloud Body since Storm Phase did everything she needed, but she still wanted to look.


    ¡°Three spells, one per tree, or one spell across three trees?¡± Dav asked Si¡¯a behind her. ¡°The way you said that, it sounds like there¡¯s only one spell, but Larryt said there are two.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t tell you more about the trees,¡± Si¡¯a repeated. ¡°Look at them yourself and see what you can figure out.¡±


    It was too bad there wasn¡¯t another clue, but Sophia hadn¡¯t really expected one. Larryt was definitely not the best guide they could have gotten, but that didn¡¯t mean he didn¡¯t know anything. She could disagree with him without assuming that he was always wrong.


    There was something familiar about the design on the pillar, but Sophia couldn¡¯t immediately place it. She was certain it was something she knew well, which made it frustrating, but surely it would come to her in time. With her luck, it would probably occur to her right after they left and she couldn¡¯t go back and confirm if she was right or not.


    Sophia walked around the pillar, examining the drawings. There had to be a place to start.


    She was about a quarter of the way around the tree when a word caught her eye. She glanced up and saw a short series of hieroglyphs carved into the wood above the glowing part of the pillar. They were familiar to Sophia; Bridge was the second language she learned and she was just as fluent in it as she was with English or Suras. The hieroglyphs were almost exactly the same as the ones her ever-so-great grandfather¡¯s people used for Bridge. It took her a moment to puzzle out the translation.


    ¡°Mist in the Sun?¡± She was pretty sure about the translation. She might prefer to write Bridge in the alphabet she was used to, but the hieroglyphs were more commonly known once you were off Earth. She had to know them if she wanted to buy anything that was imported. Sophia turned towards Larryt and raised her voice. ¡°Larryt? Didn¡¯t you say the Ability was Mistform, not Mist in the Sun?¡±


    ¡°It is,¡± Larryt climbed the stairs to stand beside Sophia. He glanced at the tree, then shook his head. ¡°Is the description in there somewhere? I don¡¯t remember seeing any words.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not in English, and the glyphs are a bit stylized,¡± Sophia admitted. ¡°The part that doesn¡¯t glow, above the words. Most of that¡¯s just decoration, unless it¡¯s a language I don¡¯t know, but this bit says Mist in the Sun. What¡¯s the description?¡±


    She was pretty sure it wasn¡¯t another language, because it was the same pattern over and over again, but she couldn¡¯t guarantee anything. The fact that her Innate Communication Ability didn¡¯t seem to do anything didn¡¯t mean it wasn¡¯t a language. She literally hadn¡¯t seen it do anything at all yet. Of course, she also hadn¡¯t really tested it, had she?


    ¡°Mistform, let¡¯s see. Here it is.¡± Larryt muttered to himself with his attention on the image in front of himself instead of on Sophia. ¡°Become mist in the sun, intangible and difficult to notice. It¡¯s a pretty good description of what it feels like; people forget you¡¯re there even if they should know better.¡±


    Sophia nodded. It was strange to see a fragment of the description above one quarter of the pillar. She walked around the other four sides, but there didn¡¯t seem to be any other actual words above or below the glowing symbols. There was only one other thing she could think of; she really needed to know if that Ability would translate a language she didn¡¯t know. Unfortunately, it wasn¡¯t easy to test on herself.


    Dav had the same Ability. He was already looking at the same pillar she was, but he was on the wrong side to see the words, since he was still below the steps instead of next to the tree.


    Sophia smiled and did something she probably should have months ago when they first landed in that cavern under Old Kestii. She spoke to Dav in Suras, a language he definitely shouldn¡¯t know since it wasn¡¯t even a human language. ¡°Dav? Can you come here?¡±


    Dav looked up and blinked. His head tilted sideways a bit and a frown crossed his face for a moment before he started to climb the steps. ¡°Sure.¡±


    His words were in Suras, not English. Sophia froze for a moment and stared at him. Did he really not know the language? ¡°What language are we speaking?¡±


    Dav seemed to pause for a moment, then frowned. Sophia was pretty sure that was when he realized he wasn¡¯t hearing English words.


    His next words were in English. ¡°I¡¯m not sure. I¡¯m talking in English now, but what you said earlier wasn¡¯t. I only know a few words in other languages, and I don¡¯t even know what that language is.¡±


    ¡°Suras,¡± Sophia answered easily, back in English. ¡°I spent a lot of time on Suratiz as a kid, usually some of every summer. I realized we never tested Innate Communication, and I want to know if you can read that.¡±


    Dav huffed slightly, then shook his head. ¡°I figured it was the excuse for why everyone spoke English.¡± A grin spread across his face. ¡°Never went back to check that assumption when I found out this all was real. I guess I can tell the difference. Now, where ¡­ oh, up at the top? It says the sun shines through the mist. No, wait, it says the mist glows in sunlight. Why is it changing?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s Bridge,¡± Sophia said with a slight grimace. ¡°I¡¯d translate it as Mist in the Sun, or maybe sunlight, but both of those are equivalent. I think I¡¯m seeing it as a label while you¡¯re seeing it as a sentence; it could be either.¡±

 Chapter 151 - Mist, Fog, Veil?

    ¡°Bridge is a language?¡± Dav sounded doubtful. ¡°That¡¯s a strange name for a language.¡±


    Sophia shrugged. Bridge was almost as familiar to her as English was, since she¡¯d grown up in a multilingual household where the languages everyone knew were English and Bridge. ¡°That¡¯s its name. The translation, anyway. Is it any weirder to translate the name of a trade tongue than to use a word for a people that is long gone?¡±


    Dav started to say something, but stopped with his mouth open. After a moment, he shook his head. ¡°I want to say that it is but I don¡¯t know why.¡±


    Sophia grinned. It was nice that Dav always tried to come up with actual reasons for things. It was one of the things she liked about him. ¡°Are there any other words on the pillar? I didn¡¯t see any, but I want to know if I missed some.¡±


    She had a strong suspicion that the Ability might help Dav in a way it wouldn¡¯t help her, since she spoke the language.


    Sophia moved on to the next pillar, the one Larryt identified as the source of Cloud Body, while Dav examined the first one. It also had a label above the glowing design. Sophia silently translated it as Shadowed Clouds, or maybe the Clouds¡¯ Shadow. It was just as clearly related to the Ability the Cloud Clan had figured out as the first one was, but it still seemed like an odd name. She shook her head and turned towards Larryt. ¡°Do you know what the description of Cloud Body is?¡±


    Larryt shook his head. ¡°I¡¯ve seen it used, that¡¯s all.¡±


    That wasn¡¯t helpful.


    Neither was Dav¡¯s conclusion that there were no other words on the pillar.


    When Sophia turned to check the last pillar, a glow near the Mist in the Sun pillar caught her attention: a second identical pillar rose next to the first. She blinked, then realized what had to be going on. ¡°Taika? What are you doing?¡±


    ¡°Memorizing the tree,¡± Taika called back. ¡°Isn¡¯t that what we¡¯re supposed to be doing?¡±


    Sophia was pretty sure it wasn¡¯t.


    ¡°You¡¯re supposed to duplicate the-¡± Larryt¡¯s words stopped suddenly. Sophia glanced over at him and saw him standing with a startled expression on his face. Sophia could see why he was startled; Si¡¯a stood directly in front of him with her arm in his chest. He clearly wasn¡¯t supposed to say more.


    ¡°We¡¯re supposed to see if we can figure out how to do something with the symbols on the pillars,¡± Amy stated quietly. She stood to Sophia¡¯s left, near the Shadowed Cloud pillar. ¡°Normally, you meditate while envisioning the symbols and think about what they do. We¡¯re only going to be able to learn Abilities that resonate with us, because we don¡¯t have the time to practice what we see. Those Abilities are supposed to be the best because they fit you; it¡¯s just that finding them can be really hard. Most Challenges won¡¯t have anything you resonate with. That¡¯s why learning Abilities on the first try is impressive.¡±


    That sort of helped, but Sophia was still not confident about what they were supposed to do. It didn¡¯t sound like Taika was doing anything wrong after all. Trying to make an illusionary duplicate wasn¡¯t how Sophia would choose to learn something, but it was how Taika dealt with the world.


    Sophia wasn¡¯t sure what to expect from the third pillar. She couldn¡¯t see anything immediately obvious about it that was different from the others, but something had to be different or the Cloud Clan wouldn¡¯t ignore it. She wasn¡¯t going to spend much time on it, but she did feel like it should be checked.


    It was very similar to the first two, with orange glowing symbols on all four sides and a label above one of the sides. The third pillar¡¯s name was just as uselessly symbolic as the first two; what did Spirits¡¯ Veil or Veiled Spirit even mean? The fact that Spirit specifically meant the animating spirit in a being didn¡¯t help; it was also the word for ghost, since that was the remnant of that very spirit. Soul might be a better translation, though that came with connotations Sophia didn¡¯t feel like thinking about.


    Sophia shook her head. She still had the distinct feeling that she was missing something and -


    Wait. From where she stood, she could see where all three of the names appeared on the tree-pillars. They were too far apart to actually read the names, but they all faced towards each other, or maybe towards a central spot. There was a spot more or less in the middle with something that could be a worn stone floor; maybe that meant something other than a path. Sophia couldn¡¯t really tell.


    That still wasn¡¯t what she was missing. Sophia cast her eyes over the pillar again, then turned to watch Taila¡¯s reproduction. It was more interesting to see him build it out and try to adjust the circuits than it was to stare at the glowing patterns with no real idea what to do with them. Sure, she could try to hold them in her head and get them to do something, but was there actually a point in that?


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    Sophia slowly made her way over to Taika¡¯s illusion. There was something about it that pulled at that nagging feeling of familiarity. It was almost right, but not quite.


    She stared at it until it began to swim in front of her eyes. She just knew that whatever was nagging at her would come to her later; that always happened. It was annoying.


    Instead of trying to dig for what it was, she began to look for differences between the illusion and the actual pillar. At first, there were quite a few and they were easy to find, but it took only a few minutes before the illusion improved enough that Sophia had to actually compare the shapes of the glowing symbols to see where they weren¡¯t curved correctly. She wasn¡¯t the only person helping Taika, either; both Dav and Amy were quietly offering comments when they saw something.


    ¡°We really should start moving on if you aren¡¯t trying to learn the Abilities,¡± Larryt prompted them. ¡°You will need the time later.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Dav answered before Sophia could. ¡°This is how Taika thinks he might be able to learn Mistform. This may not be how you learned the Ability, but if our illusionist can move without being seen or hurt, that can only help.¡±


    Larryt might have a point, and he was certainly trying to be helpful, but he wasn¡¯t thinking about Taika as part of the party. Sophia wasn¡¯t entirely sure about Dav¡¯s reasoning there. Taika was already something of an escape artist, so Sophia wasn¡¯t sure he needed Mistform; that would be more useful for their scout. Unfortunately, Amy seemed uninterested in it.


    Still, if Taika wanted to try, Sophia wasn¡¯t about to argue about it. She might not think he needed Mistform, but it was his choice and it wasn¡¯t like anything else was all that important. On top of that, Sophia could see other reasons to let Taika continue. This might not be the best place for it, but it was good practice in visualization for all of them. Visualization was important in illusions, obviously, and it was key for most spells as well. Amy might not cast spells, but Sophia was certain that the attention to detail wouldn¡¯t be useless for her either.


    This was also fun, oddly enough. It might make a good game to add to their evening routine.


    When Sophia looked back at Taika¡¯s image, she was thinking about spells rather than symbols. The line in front of her eyes looked exactly like the times she failed to properly form the connection between two parts of a spell; it had a bend where it flowed into the next piece of the spellform. That would be a weak point in any spell, since it was outside the shaping that turned it from a mere mana loop into an active spell component; it was literally just a connection.


    She shook her head. This wasn¡¯t a spellform; it was some sort of Ability trainer-


    Was there any reason that it couldn''t be a spellform?


    The spot on the tree where the kink was in Taika¡¯s image was straight on the tree. Sophia pointed it out to him, then began to trace the symbols on the tree with the thought that they were spellform components rather than a mystery language or abstract nonsense meant to guide her thoughts in a specific direction.


    No wonder it seemed familiar to her. Almost everything she saw was familiar to her, if written in glowing light instead of mana itself. Most of the ones she didn¡¯t recognize were made up of bits she did know; they were just put together weirdly. It wasn¡¯t even close to the best spellform diagram she¡¯d ever seen; there was something clunky and formulaic about it rather than elegant and optimized. It was still a spellform.


    She had no idea what the spell would do. Well, no, that wasn¡¯t true; it had to be either something related to Mistform or the Mist in the Sun that the label said. She hummed to herself, then pulled a notebook and pencil out of her backpack. There were only a handful of spell components per pillar; if she could identify them all and how they fit together, she could probably determine what the spell was.


    Spells weren¡¯t exactly like programming, but they were similar and this was a very simple spellform.


    Sophia sketched all of the spellforms on the first pillar. She was much, much faster than Taika because she knew what the shapes were supposed to look like and could simply write them down. Once she was done, she looked over the four sketches and frowned. Some of the connections were wrong; she could tell that they were connected more or less around the pillar, in a three-dimensional shape that made her want to smack whoever came up with it. The complexity wasn¡¯t necessary.


    It also wasn¡¯t a complete spellform. There were a handful of connections on three of the pillar sides that didn¡¯t connect to the next side. She could probably tie them off; that would be a complete spell, but it was clearly not what was intended. It definitely was related to mist, and if she tied it off like that it would target the spellcaster, so the connection to Mistform was obvious.


    It didn¡¯t have a proper exit condition; if she tied it off, it would connect back to the starting point and simply keep pulling on the spellcaster¡¯s mana in a more or less infinite loop. That sounded a lot like the way Mistform worked, too.


    It would be easy enough to fix, but Sophia didn¡¯t quite believe that anyone who could write such a brute of a spell would leave an obvious flaw like the dangling connections. They would be obvious the first time you tried to cast it. That probably meant there was more to the spell hidden somewhere.


    She didn¡¯t even have to look far, because the conclusion was obvious: there were two more pillars with similar glyphs. They were probably spellforms, too, and this was probably all one spell. It was a nonsensical way to arrange it, but that didn¡¯t mean it wasn¡¯t true.


    The open connections were all on the sides of panels near one of the other two pillars. The side that didn¡¯t have any missing links was the one that faced the outside. That was close enough to confirmation for Sophia.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say it was Mistform?¡± Taika¡¯s voice broke through Sophia¡¯s concentration. ¡°The Ability I was just offered isn¡¯t Mistform. It¡¯s Invisible Ink!¡±

 Chapter 152 - Tripartite Spell

    Sophia giggled. She hated the way she sounded when she giggled, but she couldn¡¯t help it. The image of the brightly-colored chinchilla holding a pen in his mouth so that he could write a letter in invisible ink was far too amusing.


    She was certain that manifesting a pen wasn¡¯t what the Ability would do, but that didn¡¯t chase the image that flashed through her mind.


    ¡°Larryt, what category is your Mistform in? Unaffiliated?¡± Dav sounded serious, rather than amused.


    ¡°I, yes, but ¡­invisible ink?¡± Larryt sounded confused.


    Sophia¡¯s giggles morphed into a frown. Things weren¡¯t adding up. Larryt seemed to be convinced that the only Ability that could be learned from that pillar was Mistform, but Taika learned something else and Sophia was pretty sure that it was only part of a larger spellform. At the same time, Sophia couldn¡¯t see the spellform when Larryt used the Mistform Ability he¡¯d supposedly learned from the pillar.


    In some ways, it made sense that they might not learn the same spell. In order to make the spellform work at all, you ¡®d have to connect the dangling threads to something, and if you connected them differently it could significantly change the final spell. That didn¡¯t explain why it would be predictable for the Cloud Clan, though; that ought to happen whenever people learned Abilities.


    Unless ¡­ could the Guide be awarding the Abilities based on some criteria other than successfully finishing the spellform? That could explain a lot. For one thing, Sophia was pretty sure that Taiks hadn¡¯t completed the spellform. All he did was copy the pillar using his illusions. That wasn¡¯t enough to cast a spell, but it was apparently enough for the Guide to award an Ability.


    And in that case, the Ability you were given as a Feat wasn¡¯t solely based on the example you used; how you went about learning it was also important. That would explain why the Cloud Clan all learned the same Ability; they all approached learning it the same way because they were all taught how to do it. It also explained some of what Amy said about the Whispering Woods Challenge, where the Ability gained was similar but not always the same. They probably approached it differently. That seemed especially likely if people knew more than one prerequisite could lead to related but distinct Abilities.


    She really did need to talk to Amy about why Challenges here were used to learn Abilities while they weren¡¯t used that way elsewhere. If nothing else, it should have come up while they were looking at possible options at the Registry. Was there a way to learn the Martial Abilities and Spells for her Spellblade Hallow that didn¡¯t require Cliff Collecting them from a monster? Maybe even upgradeable ones?


    ¡°Taika?¡± Dav turned to face the indignant-looking rodent. ¡°How about you? What category is Invisible Ink in?¡±


    ¡°Category?¡± Taika shook himself, then sneezed softly. Sophia thought it was intended to be a snort, but it was far too adorable for that. He sounded positively indignant as he continued. It was tremendously cute. ¡°Species. I have no Unaffiliated abilities and a lot of Species Abilities, but no-o, this is another Species Ability. I can¡¯t even use it!¡±


    Sophia tilted her head to the side. ¡°Wait, when did you start being able to see your Abilities?¡± The last she remembered, all he could see was that he was a Comfort Animal. He had no control over his Status at all.


    Taika perked up immediately. He leaned back on his rear legs and somehow looked almost impossibly pleased with himself. ¡°A few days ago. Nights, really.¡±


    Sophia waited for Taika to elaborate, but he didn¡¯t. ¡°It just suddenly started working?¡±


    ¡°He probably had to complete his Vocation-granting Feat,¡± Amy offered before Taika could answer. ¡°I¡¯ve heard that sometimes that can happen, you can see your Status but not do anything with it until you have the Feat.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s it,¡± Taika agreed. There was a note in his voice that made Sophia think there was more to it, but he clearly didn¡¯t want to talk about it. He probably just didn¡¯t want to talk about what he¡¯d had to do to complete the Feat. If he were more normal, Sophia was certain that their experience inside the corpsevine Leveled Challenge would have completed the Feat and let Taika choose a Vocation.  Whatever he had to do, it didn¡¯t seem important compared to his achievement here.


    ¡°So what does Invisible Ink do?¡± Sophia was pretty sure that it would be a clue as to what that piece of the spell would be if she managed to actually cast the entire three-part spell.


    Taika wrinkled his nose. ¡°It¡¯s another color for my illusions. I¡¯m not sure how invisible can be a color, but that¡¯s what it says. It also says that it¡¯s very difficult and draining to use. If it really is invisible, I can think of so many ways to use it.¡±


    He didn¡¯t seem nearly as enthused as Sophia thought he should be. The Ability sounded amazing. Right now, Taika could hide people only by creating an illusion that covered them. To some extent, he could create a false background, but because he did it with light that background might not change correctly.


    If his illusion could be ¡°invisible,¡± maybe he¡¯d be able to hide a lot more things, whether that was people or traps or simply part of the terrain he didn¡¯t want enemies to see. It was hard to make it look like a bridge was out if looking at it from the side meant that you saw the river where the far bank should be, for example. Making the bridge invisible should fix that.


    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Sophia could also think of applications for other purposes; there were so many times where you wanted to see inside something or someone. Her first thought was for healing; healers had to learn how to see inside their patients if they wanted to do well, but she was certain that being able to see a certain depth would help for a whole range of things that people usually used technology for. Technology was certainly a better answer for something that could work on everyone than an Ability that was difficult to get and required an illusionary talent to begin with, but technological solutions weren¡¯t really available here.


    What might be even more important, though, was that Taika might be able to look for secret compartments or hidden passageways or even traps with it. She hadn¡¯t seen any of note in the Broken Lands, but that didn¡¯t mean they didn¡¯t exist; it just meant that they¡¯d spent their entire time so far in places where their opponents were not very smart.


    The reason Taika wasn¡¯t happy might be as simple as the fact that while he now had the Ability, he didn¡¯t have a slot for it so he couldn¡¯t actually use it. Sophia was pretty sure she¡¯d be upset if she had an awesome Ability locked away because she didn¡¯t have the Wisps to buy a slot for it.


    She might be about to have that problem, now that she thought about it. If the spell in the three pillars was useful and the Guide gave it to her as a spell, she¡¯d only be able to use it as a spellform and not as an Ability until she had the Wisps to buy another spell slot. That didn¡¯t seem that bad right now, but she also didn¡¯t know what the spell was yet.


    ¡°Sophia? What do you think?¡± Dav set a hand on her shoulder as he asked the question.


    Sophia shook her head and frowned. She¡¯d clearly missed something. ¡°About what? Sorry, I was woolgathering.¡±


    Dav smiled gently. Sophia was pretty sure he¡¯d already known she wasn¡¯t paying attention. ¡°Taika wants to try to duplicate the other pillars as well. He thinks it¡¯ll go faster, but we have already spent quite a bit of time in this area. Larryt thinks it¡¯s pointless, since the two Abilities overlap.¡±


    Sophia noticed that Dav didn¡¯t give either his opinion or Amy¡¯s. She grinned at his clever misdirection. It wasn¡¯t like he needed to say what his opinion was; he clearly wanted to stay. That was obvious by the way he put the question. The only real question was how Amy felt; he could be trying to convince Amy or he could be trying to present a united front to Larryt. It was hard to know.


    Well, she probably could have known if she¡¯d been paying attention. That happened sometimes.


    Either way, Sophia¡¯s answer was going to be the same. ¡°I think he should go for it.¡± She turned towards Taika. ¡°Try the Cloud pillar on its own, then try building all three of them. I¡¯m pretty sure that¡¯s how this is actually intended to be done. I¡¯m going to copy down the spellforms on the other two pillars, then see if I can put them together and cast the spell. We might as well both work at the same time.¡±


    ¡°Spellform?¡± Dav sounded surprised. ¡°That¡¯s what this is? It doesn¡¯t look much like the ones in your books.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a different style,¡± Sophia admitted, ¡°And I¡¯m not sure what¡¯s up with the fact that it¡¯s made as three pillars; I¡¯m used to trying sheets or packets together. I want to take it apart and figure out why it¡¯s made the way it is, but we¡¯ve only got an hour or so to spend here. Probably less, now. That¡¯s not anywhere near enough time to really figure out the spell. I¡¯m going to have to cast it based on the example, then take it apart later.¡±


    Sophia glanced at Amy, curious to see what her reaction was. She had her hands on her hips and was grinning at Larryt. That was enough to make Sophia wonder exactly what happened while she wasn¡¯t paying attention and not anywhere near enough to make her actually ask.


    Especially not when she had a spell to learn.


    Instead of opening that can of worms, Sophia made her way to the second pillar. She had to carefully avoid Taika and Taika¡¯s illusion, but now that she¡¯d figured out the way the glyphs were written, it was simple enough to copy them down.


    The third set of runes was even easier, since Taika wasn¡¯t there yet. She managed to finish the sketch and was working on making sure she had all of the connections right when Taika grumbled something about shadows and made his way to the third pillar. She could ask what that was about later.


    Once she was pretty sure she had the spell right, Sophia rechecked all three pillars against her updated sketch and caught a handful of small mistakes. They were small, but creating the spellform essentially blind wasn¡¯t going to be easy. She¡¯d certainly make more mistakes.


    Sophia walked away from everyone. She stopped when she felt spirits of the dead at the edge of her aura; they meant she¡¯d gone as far as she could. It was always better to practice new magic in a place that could handle it if something went wrong. Something would. It might not be on the first casting, while you were going really slow and triple checking everything, but it would happen eventually.


    Sophia kept her eyes on her drawing as she built the spell. It was difficult, but she¡¯d drawn spellforms based on diagrams before. It was easier in some ways than copying someone else¡¯s spell and in other ways harder. You knew exactly what the shapes were supposed to be, but not how the other person managed to get there.


    She finished the Mist in the Sun pillar first. When she did, one of the reasons the spell was split into three separate major structures was immediately obvious: it supported itself and the amount of attention she had to devote to keeping it going dropped to almost nothing. It was almost like the pillar was an individual component of the spell instead of a major fraction of it.


    The same thing happened with the Shadowed Clouds pillar, but this time Sophia expected it. She took a moment to stretch her stiff shoulders before she continued. The next thing she tried was connecting the two pillars she had.


    It didn¡¯t go well. The connections between the two pillars tried to pull them together and the formerly stable spell pieces started to try to twist out of place. Sophia snapped the connections and soothed the manaflows. It took longer than she liked, but the spellform was once more stable. She¡¯d clearly have to build the third pillar, then quickly and evenly connect all three.


    Once the Spirit Veil pillar was complete, Sophia had to race to complete the spell before the connections pulled the pillars out of alignment and wrecked it. She managed it, but it was closer than she liked.


    Something shifted in the air around her. She knew she should figure out what the spell did, but she was too busy staring at the slightly see-through fox floating about five feet in front of her face watching her.

 Chapter 153 - Part the Veil

    The floating fox seemed to stare at Sophia. It swiped a paw at her from much too far away to actually connect, but Sophia jumped anyway.


    It took her entirely too long to realize that she was watching the fox through an image created by the Guide. When she did, she stepped back a couple of steps and took the chance to look at it.


    Grand Feat Completed!


    For your Grand Feat of casting the primary spell shown in the Spring Plaza of the Spirits of the Woods Challenge, you have been granted a reward!


    This Feat is awarded to anyone who casts the Grand Spell Part the Veil while standing in the Spring Plaza of the Spirits of the Woods Challenge without having cast it before or gained it as an Ability previously.


    Reward: Grand Spell: Part the Veil


    Like all Grand Spells, Part the Veil is highly flexibile and variable, with effects that vary depending on the spellcaster and their Attunements. Common Spell Fragments include Spirit Sight, Spirit Walk, Summon Spirit, Solidify Spirit, Mistform, Out of Phase, and Exorcise. The Grand Theme is a connection to the Realm of the Spirits.


    (feather image)


    Your Patron greets you!


    You''ve definitely surprised me this time. I only know one person who can directly learn a Grand Spell. The rest of us learn Spell Fragments and Ability Fragments, then try to combine them together into a Grand Spell or Grand Ability. I wonder if you have a particular connection to this specific Grand Spell or if you are a true prodigy like Lady M''Beja?


    If you can learn more, you will need to decide if you should. The time spent on learning a second Grand Spell could also be spent on learning Spell Fragments of the spell you have. For many people, possibly even most, starting with a Grand Spell you know something about is a far better way to create a useful diverse Ability set than starting from many different points and trying to make them work together.


    It will not be relevant for you for a long time, but a Grand Ability or Grand Spell is required to truly reach the third upgrade; it is almost like that is how you are supposed to gain your Sphere and its Abilities, but the Guide gives a lesser version earlier. For now, what you need to know is that your Grand Spell can do very little on its own, but you can derive Spell Fragments from it to do anything within its Grand Theme. Those can be slotted as Sub-Spells of the Grand Spell.


    I doubt those around you will know much of Grand Spells. They are rare in the Broken Lands. Most that I have seen are granted with the second Upgrade and are pallid imitations of the real thing, because the Broken Lord limits his followers'' Sub-Spells the same way he limits their Abilities: they can do the one thing he wants them to do very well, but they do not have the flexibility to do more or the power to stand against him. The followers of the Tower of Kestii are not shackled by his limits but few are Hallowed and therefore do not have the aid of a Patron in reaching a Grand Ability early.


    I wish you luck. I fear that you will need it all too soon.


    --The Wanderer


    Sophia took a deep breath, then let it out. She felt herself calm slightly, so she did it again.


    The floating fox wasn¡¯t a real fox; it was a fox spirit. She could also feel it with her aura, a small spot with denser Death mana at nearly the height of her head. She¡¯d clearly granted herself the temporary ability to see spirits when she cast the three-part spell without proper direction. It probably meant she¡¯d been thinking about the spirits outside.


    It might even be because of the small fox spirit. Her mind might have drifted to it while she was finalizing the spell, since she could feel it in her aura. It sounded like this was well within the spellform¡¯s design, since Spirit Sight was listed as one of the common Spell Fragments. As odd spell effects went, seeing spirits was minor.


    There was no message about learning Spirit Sight, though. Maybe that wasn¡¯t how it worked for Spell Fragments?


    Checking her Status should be an easy way to find out.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Sophia


    </td>


    <td>


    Grand Spell: Part the Veil


    </td>


    <td>


    Spellblade Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Warped Human


    </td>


    <td>


    No Spell Fragments Known


    </td>


    <td>


    (Imbue Blade, 3, 3)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    (Feather Image)


    </td>


    <td>


    No Slots Available


    </td>


    <td>


    (Animate Blade, 3, 3)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Body: 7


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Animate Spell Blade, 3, 3)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Core: 9


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Collected Knowledge, 3, 3)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Antithetical Shattering Spell, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Shield: 30


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Nexus Knowledge, Bonus, Free)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Wisps: 7


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Spells:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Empowerment, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Spheres


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Root Grab, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Spellblade (Hallow)


    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Offensive Illusion Field, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Level: 2


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Eldritch Overcharge, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Collector (Linked)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Martial Techniques:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Level: 2


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Summon Echo, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Shaped Growth, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Psychic Bulwark (Linked)


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Storm Phase, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Level: 2


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Attunements:


    </td>


    <td>


    Unaffiliated Abilities:


    </td>


    <td>


    Species Abilities:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Contraceptive Amulet, 3


    </td>


    <td>


    (Innate Communication, Bonus, Free)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Scaley, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Spear, 2


    </td>


    <td>


    (Spell Hardening, 3, 3)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Spell Reservoir, 3, 3)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Enchantment: Image Shift


    </td>


    <td>


    (Visual Targeting, 3, 3)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Aural Magic Sense, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Shield, 2


    </td>


    <td>


    (Disruptive Magic, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Magic Attuned Aura, Bonus, Free)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Enchantment: Image Shift


    </td>


    <td>


    (Keep Warm, 2, 2)


    </td>


    <td>


    (Magical Translucence, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Manifest Wings, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Prismatic Magic, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Unavailable:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Aura Armor, 2


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    MageSight, 2


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    Species Spells:


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Force Bolt, 3, 3)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Force Blast, 3, 3)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Corruption Bolt, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (True Death Bolt, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Attractive Affix, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Parrying Presence, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Embody Element, 2, 2)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    <td>


    (Feather Image)


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Not much had changed since the last time she looked, which made the changes easy to see. The Grand Spell was definitely its own section, which seemed like a good thing. She¡¯d expected to have to find a place for it in one of the two Spell sections, and for a moment she¡¯d almost worried that it wouldn¡¯t fit in either. It wouldn¡¯t be the first time she¡¯d gotten something she literally couldn¡¯t use from the Guide.


    She couldn¡¯t do anything with it until she either managed to figure out how to make a Spell Fragment or got more Wisps so that she could open up a slot under the Grand Spell. She probably needed both.


    Only one other thing on her Status attracted her attention. Her Spheres had a new entry; first was her Spellblade Hallow, then Cliff¡¯s Collector Sphere, with the note that it was Linked. Under Collector, there was a new Psychic Bulwark Linked Sphere.


    It wasn¡¯t hard to guess that Linked meant it belonged to someone else, especially not when she didn¡¯t see it listed anywhere else on her Status. It seemed unlikely that it belonged to Cliff, so Sophia found herself glancing at Taika. He hadn¡¯t mentioned a new Sphere, but he had just mentioned being able to see his Status. Psychic Bulwark didn¡¯t seem to perfectly match his illusionary Abilities, but it seemed likely that those were Species-related the way Invisible Ink was.


    With that, Sophia could believe that Taika might choose something to protect the mind. That sort of fit the idea of a Comfort Animal. Sort of.


    She could ask him about it later. Right now, something more important was on her mind. ¡°Does anyone know anything about Spell Fragments?¡±


    ¡°You managed to learn a Spell Fragment?¡± Amy¡¯s shock was obvious. ¡°That¡¯s amazing. Do you think it¡¯s because you used all three pillars? Is Taika going to learn a Spell Fragment too?¡±


    Sophia shifted her attention to the colorful chinchilla. He¡¯d finished the second pillar and was now at the third, with the images of the first two tree-pillars nearly completed. She expected he¡¯d start on the third one soon. She really wasn¡¯t sure what would happen, though she was pretty certain it would be different from what she ended up with. ¡°Maybe. Did he learn an Ability from the second pillar? Are either of you going to try?¡±


    The moment she asked, she realized it was a dumb question. Dav clearly was trying; he was seated in the middle of the three pillars with his eyes closed.


    Amy was just as clearly simply waiting. She shook her head. ¡°There isn¡¯t much point, not if I¡¯m going to follow the Night Owl route. I won¡¯t be able to afford to slot them. That might push Night Owl out of my list of options. It¡¯s specialized enough that you have to really focus on it to actually have it land on your list.¡±


    Sophia tilted her head to the side. That didn¡¯t sound at all like the list she¡¯d had to choose from, which was so long it was nearly impossible to deal with. ¡°How many options do you get?¡±


    It wasn¡¯t until the words were out of Sophia¡¯s mouth that she realized it might seem like a strange question. Fortunately, Amy didn¡¯t take it that way; she seemed to consider it part of the same ignorance Sophia had shown before. ¡°It¡¯s a little more complex than that. Didn¡¯t Rensyn go over it with you?¡±


    Sophia shook her head. She didn¡¯t think he had. It was possible she¡¯d lost it in everything else he talked about, but she was pretty sure he¡¯d pushed it off as something they didn¡¯t need to worry about yet.


    ¡°Right, then I should.¡± Amy nodded firmly. ¡°You get the option to split your Sphere, take a new Sphere, merge two Spheres - well, obviously I can¡¯t do that since I only have one Sphere - or upgrade your Sphere. Splitting or taking a new Sphere lowers your Level and you have to get back to the upgrade point. Merging can lower your level but it doesn¡¯t always. Upgrading your Sphere, well, that¡¯s why we call it the first upgrade.¡±


    That seemed ridiculously complex and unnecessary, but Sophia could follow so far. She nodded silently.


    ¡°Okay, so, most people get either three or five upgrade paths. The Broken Lord¡¯s Hallowed only get one, but they¡¯re fine with that. It¡¯s a faith thing.¡± Amy¡¯s expression twisted for a moment, before she smoothed it out and continued. ¡°I had five choices of my original Sphere, so I expect to get five upgrade options.¡±


    She started counting them on the fingers of her left hand. ¡°There should be a direct upgrade to my current Sphere, one that is specialized to emphasize my most commonly used Abilities, one that emphasizes the usual role I fill in a fight, one that is broader in some way and will let me branch out to do something else, and one that, well, it¡¯s called the Guide¡¯s Choice. It can be anything. Sometimes it¡¯s completely weird and nothing like your previous Sphere and other times it¡¯s an extremely specialized version of your Sphere that depends on variations of a single Ability.¡±


    Sophia nodded to show she was following. It was nothing like her initial set of options, which was a huge uncurated list. She didn¡¯t know if that was deliberate or simply because she was an unknown. She also wasn¡¯t sure she wanted to ask; Amy had mentioned that the Broken Lord¡¯s Hallowed only got one choice. What if getting a lot of choices made it was obvious she was Hallowed and Amy held that against her?


    She really did need to feel Amy out about the Broken Lord and ¡­ what did the Wanderer call it? The Tower of Kestii?


    ¡°People who only get three usually get the two specialized choices and the Guide¡¯s Choice, so they¡¯re more likely to try to guide their options with additional Spheres and merges or splits, which ¡­¡± Amy turned her head sharply and stopped in the middle of her explanation.


    Sophia had to turn to follow her gaze.


    Dav had just stood up. He had a frown on his face. He shook his head, then looked at Amy. ¡°Why is the Guide calling this an Ability Fragment? It looks like a whole Ability to me.¡±

 Chapter 154 - Don’t Say More

    There was a short silence as Dav¡¯s question registered. Sophia grinned at him, then shared the thought that occurred to her at the news that she wasn¡¯t the only one who was able to achieve something special from the pavilion. ¡°You know, somehow I think the Cloud Clan is going to have an easy time trading Challenge slots now.¡±


    Amy laughed. Her amusement was evident in her words as she countered Sophia¡¯s suggestion. ¡°Only if you two tell them how you did it. I saw you do it, and I¡¯m not confident I could repeat your success. Might be fun to try, but I¡¯m not sure there¡¯s enough time left. Si¡¯a?¡± She turned towards their guide. ¡°You said you¡¯d let us know when it¡¯s time to move on?¡±


    The ghostly woman in armor nodded. ¡°You still have time.¡±


    Sophia noticed that she didn¡¯t volunteer how much time was left.


    Amy didn¡¯t ask again; instead, she shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s not worth the time. I thought that before, and it¡¯s still true. If it were the right Ability Fragment, we could come back ¡­ Dav, what did you learn?¡±


    Dav gave Amy a somewhat annoyed look but answered her anyway. ¡°Spirit Shatter. The description isn¡¯t very helpful; all it says is ¡®purge spirits with your eldritch chaos.¡¯ It says it¡¯s an Unaffiliated Ability Fragment; what does Fragment mean there?¡±


    Sophia grinned at the way he slipped the question into his answer. For once, she had an answer for him, too, if it was like the Grand Spell she¡¯d gotten. That list gave her an idea what his Ability might be, too. The word Purge was a big hint. ¡°Apparently you can put multiple Fragments together to create a more capable Ability, maybe even its own category. I think yours might be an exorcism Ability, something that can get rid of spirits that shouldn¡¯t be there?¡±


    ¡°Hmm.¡± Dav didn¡¯t sound pleased with the idea. ¡°Normally I¡¯d say that wasn¡¯t all that useful, but we¡¯re in a place full of spirits. Are there other places like this, ones where we might have to actually fight?¡±


    Unexpectedly, it was Larryt that gave the answer. ¡°You¡¯re headed to Izel, aren¡¯t you? The quickest route from here is to follow the old road through the Olhan ruins. That¡¯s where the Challenge seed for the Spirits of the Woods Challenge came from. The ruins are full of spirits; a spirit-based Challenge appears there several times a year. Those spirits aren¡¯t like the ones here; they¡¯ll eat you if they can.¡±


    Larryt paused and shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll be trading this Challenge for anything for a long time, not if there¡¯s a way to get an exorcism Ability here. The Ghost Riders Challenge offers one, but it¡¯s a far more difficult Challenge.¡±


    Sophia frowned. She wasn¡¯t quite sure what to think about the idea that you might choose Abilities that would influence your future because you happened to live near a particular type of monster. That wasn¡¯t that big a problem on Earth. At the same time, it was undeniably true that people who lived near the ocean were more likely to take Skills that dealt with water in some way; was that really all that different?


    Also, if you lived near a ghost-infested ruined city and didn¡¯t plan to leave, you might well want a Sphere that dealt with ghosts. Maybe that was even a good thing?


    Amy tapped Sophia on the shoulder and pointed at her head. It took Sophia a moment to realize that she was trying to silently say that she wanted to talk mind-to-mind instead of out loud, but once she did she found a question from Sophia already waiting. ¡°I can see how Taika managed it, and he has strange enough Abilities with his illusions that few people will be able to duplicate his success. He¡¯s also a lot slower than you two. I can tell you did something but I¡¯m not sure what. Don¡¯t say how you managed this until we talk to the Cloud Clan¡¯s elders. We can trade that knowledge for a lot, like an escort to Izel. Maybe more.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure anyone here can do what I did,¡± Dav answered silently. ¡°Other than Sophia, that is. I can, ah, remember an image really well if I choose to, so I did that then tried to build a mental image. It looked a little like some of the patterns Sophia¡¯s been teaching me, but I just don¡¯t have the mana control to draw anything even close to that complex so I just sort of blanketed the image in mana. I figured that has to be more or less what you described and what Taika is doing, just faster and more accurate since I know the image is right.¡±


    Sophia raised an eyebrow at Dav. She could guess what ¡°remember an image really well¡± had to mean; he meant that he took a picture. That left only one possibility; the normal human memory was simply not that good at details, other than a few exceptional individuals. It really shouldn¡¯t have been a shock, given his background, but it somehow was.


    ¡°You have cyberware?¡± The words slipped out across the mental link before Sophia realized she was going to say anything. She was glad they were silent; only Dav, Amy, and Taika would be able to hear them.


    ¡°Cyberware?¡± Dav¡¯s thought carried the tone of confusion, the same way his voice would if he spoke out loud. If anything, it was clearer in his thoughts.


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    It was clear Dav didn¡¯t understand the term. That was a surprise to Sophia; a lot of slang did seem to be common between their worlds, so why was cyberware nor one of the common words? ¡°Uh, implants? Tech connected to your nervous system, maybe your brain?¡±


    ¡°Oh, of course.¡± Dav sounded a little off balance still. ¡°It¡¯s basically what everyone has. The only upgraded component is the interface, and I¡¯ve had that since before I was on my own. A limited sandboxing area with high throughput and low latency is important for what I do.¡± He paused, then asked a question that sounded almost a little strained. ¡°Are you saying you don¡¯t?¡±


    ¡°Not yet,¡± Sophia admitted. Dav seemed pretty uncomfortable about it. Maybe mentioning her future plans might help? ¡°I probably will at some point, some of the things Tek¡¯s working on look really nifty, but I don¡¯t feel like being the test subject for Tek¡¯s work. She sometimes forgets things, and some of those things can be pretty uncomfortable. It¡¯s not really important to a delver, not the way it would be to you.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t have Dust.¡± Dav projected the words as if they were a revelation. He ought to know that Earth didn¡¯t have the nanite infestation his homeworld had by now. ¡°Which means you don¡¯t need an identity beacon. Why didn¡¯t I think of that?¡±


    Oh. It wasn¡¯t the lack of Dust that was a surprise to him, it was the realization that it meant a lot more than what was obvious. Sophia guessed that made sense. ¡°Are you uncomfortable because I don¡¯t have one?¡±


    Dav paused, then admitted the truth. ¡°A little, even though I know you don¡¯t need one here. It makes me worry about what would happen if I took you home with me.¡±


    Sophia was pretty sure there was a magical solution to protect herself from Dust, but that didn¡¯t change her answer. ¡°When we head there, you can go with me to get one.¡±


    It was a small price to make him comfortable. She¡¯d look into how to disable it and also how to block Dust as well, but they could talk about that when the time came. If nothing else, Sophia was certain that Tek would like to get her hands on a piece of technology that could talk to nanites and also was cheap enough that everyone on a world had one. There wasn¡¯t anything quite that ubiquitous on Earth.


    Dav nodded, then walked up to Sophia and enclosed her in his arms. It wasn¡¯t tight at all; in fact, it was barely even a hug. He seemed to just want to know that she was there.


    There was silence for a long moment, then Amy seemed to mentally clear her throat. It wasn¡¯t really audible; instead, it was more like a feeling that she wanted to politely change the topic. ¡°Can you teach me, too?¡±


    Sophia blinked at Amy. It took her a moment to focus on the question after Dav¡¯s emotional moment. ¡°Teach you ¡­ oh, you mean teach you spellcasting, the way I¡¯m teaching Dav?¡±


    She¡¯d assumed the other woman was so focused on her shapeshifting Abilities and her bow that she wasn¡¯t interested in magic. That was pretty common; people who were more physical usually preferred to focus on enhancing themselves with mana instead of casting spells. It could be just as powerful as traditional magic.


    Maybe Amy wasn¡¯t really interested in spellcasting; maybe she was more interested in learning how to learn Abilities the way Dav had. That wasn¡¯t a bad reason at all.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t realize you were interested. Sure. Do you know¡­¡± She stopped short. Amy wasn¡¯t going to know what her Affinities were; that wasn¡¯t how the Guide showed things. ¡°Um, do you have an attuned mana core?¡±


    Amy shook her head. ¡°Is that a problem? Night Owls don¡¯t usually have mana cores until they¡¯re at least level six, and there are only a few attunements that are really compatible. That¡¯s when you need to decide whether you want to specialize again or broaden back out when you hit the second upgrade. I can take it any time after the first upgrade, if that¡¯s necessary.¡±


    Sophia tilted her head to the side and decided that the second upgrade was a discussion for a later time. There wasn¡¯t anything about it in the stuff they¡¯d reviewed at the Registry; it went into detail on first upgrade options. It sounded like that was because it was another chance to change your direction. It definitely wasn¡¯t the time to bring up the comment on the third upgrade from the Wanderer. ¡°No, it¡¯s fine. If you had an attunement, it¡¯d change which spells you¡¯re best at, but I can probably still teach you how to start. It¡¯s not easy and I¡¯m not a great teacher, so it¡¯ll take years, but we can start once we¡¯re out of here.¡±


    ¡°You taught him an easier way to gain Abilities than looking for personal resonance. If you can do that, I don¡¯t care how long it takes. I may not be able to the sigh-thing with images, but I shouldn¡¯t be much worse than Taika. Even if I can¡¯t make them show up in the real world.¡± Amy¡¯s thought ended as she turned to look at the colorful chinchilla. He stood in the center of a trio of duplicate pillars. She smiled, then spoke out loud. ¡°Do you think Taika¡¯s almost done?¡±


    ¡°It looks like it,¡± Sophia agreed. Amy must have decided that they¡¯d talked about everything Larryt wasn¡¯t supposed to hear and that this was a good segue back to normal speech. Sophia half wanted to ask if Amy actually wanted to learn spellcasting or if she only wanted to learn what Dav actually did; those two things were very different. Well, she could ask later when they weren¡¯t around Larryt.


    As far as Sophia could tell from where she stood, Taika¡¯s pillars were done, but he didn¡¯t seem happy about them. He looked from one to the next to the third, then shook his head. Normally, he looked incredibly adorable when he got frustrated, but this time Sophia could almost see the smoke rising from his ears.


    No, wait. That wasn¡¯t smoke and it wasn¡¯t rising from Taika; it was fog and it covered the entire area between the three pillars, deepening the shadows near their base. Light seemed to gleam off the top of the pillars for a long moment, before the entire construction shimmered and faded away, taking both the glow and the fog with it.


    Sophia was pretty sure Taika had to have succeeded. It was well within his capability to do that as an illusion, but she couldn¡¯t see why he would. The fact that his frustration was no longer evident in the exhausted-looking ball of fluff grinning where he lay on the stone floor was also a clue.

 Chapter 155 - The End of Spring

    Dav gave Sophia a tighter squeeze, then let go. He scooped up his pack, then headed over to the fluffball sprawled on the ground. ¡°How did it go? Did you get what you wanted?¡±


    ¡°I haven¡¯t checked,¡± Taika admitted. He sounded tired, but not as tired as he was clearly pretending to be. He didn¡¯t even lift his head to look at Dav. ¡°Eh. Call the Clouds looks pretty useless. Why would I need to cover an area in clouds?¡±


    That sounded an awful lot like a fog bank to Sophia. She could come up with uses for it, but her first reaction was similar to Taika¡¯s; how would it be better than the illusions he could already cast? Did it have some sound dampening capability, maybe?


    Even if it did, was it worth an Ability slot?


    ¡°If we had Dust here, I¡¯d have a very good answer to that,¡± Dav answered immediately. ¡°Dust doesn¡¯t do well when it¡¯s that wet. Here, though? I¡¯m not sure.¡±


    ¡°If you save a few Wisps, you can open a slot for it and drop it in if you really need it,¡± Amy offered. ¡°That can get expensive, but sometimes it¡¯s worth it. A lot of people save some Wisps for Abilities they don¡¯t need often enough to dedicate a slot.¡±


    Sophia wasn¡¯t sure how she felt about that. It was true that removing an Ability from its slot to put a new one in was a lot cheaper than buying a new slot, and it seemed likely that would only become more true as they leveled. It still felt weird to think about having Abilities she couldn¡¯t use without paying a permanent cost.


    ¡°The other one is better,¡± Taika continued. He seemed to think Amy¡¯s suggestion didn¡¯t need a response. ¡°Veil of Sun and Shadow is sort of like Invisible Ink, except that it works on spirits. It says it works by drawing a veil in front of their eyes. Maybe that¡¯s more like the clouds after all? I still don¡¯t think it¡¯s worth taking right now.¡±


    Amy¡¯s voice spoke in Sophia¡¯s mind instead of her ears. Sophia was certain she was talking to Taika, but they all could hear when she spoke through Dav¡¯s telepathy. ¡°If it¡¯s an Ability Fragment, you probably should find a slot for it, but we can talk about why when we have more time. Please don¡¯t say anything more about it right now. Larryt should have expected you to gain different Abilities but the less he knows, the more I can trade the knowledge for when we get back to the hunting camp.¡±


    Sophia stopped paying attention at that point; they¡¯d already talked about keeping Larryt out of the loop for now. Amy could fill Taika in. Sophia had a far more important question on her mind: if Taika was awarded three Abilities, one from each of the first two pillars and one from the three pillars combined, could Sophia gain more Abilities that way as well? Would they be Spell Fragments for the Grand Spell or something else?


    Sophia started to build the spell that was the first pillar, the pillar of Mist in the Sun, but she was less than halfway through it when Si¡¯a interrupted.


    ¡°Spring is nearly over. Come, walk with me.¡± The spirit walked to the edge of the platform, then stepped off onto a stone path partially covered in grass that Sophia would have sworn wasn¡¯t there a moment earlier. ¡°Stay on the path; so long as you do, the spirits of Spring will not bother you.¡±


    ¡°Hurry.¡± Larryt had a concerned frown on his face as he spoke. ¡°When the guide says to follow her, she means now.¡± He gestured towards the path.


    Sophia sighed and tried to continue to build the spell white she walked. It wasn¡¯t easy, but it was something she¡¯d practiced in the past. She¡¯d always hated those lessons, too, especially when one of her siblings was the ¡°distraction.¡± They never tried to hurt her, but they knew exactly how to get her attention away from what she was supposed to be doing.


    The only good thing about it was that she could walk and cast at the same time. It was slow, but that was still better than letting the spellform fall apart and having to start over.


    Si¡¯a stopped as they came around a bend and waved for them to go ahead of her. ¡°You must lead; I shall follow. Follow the path. Do not stray from it.¡±


    Sophia looked ahead. The uneven stone path led between trees, flowers, and more than a few rocks directly into a pool of water. She could see some rocks in the water, but she couldn¡¯t see if the path continued through them or not. Not far past there, a waterfall blocked any chance she had to see farther. Was that a deep pool of water or was it an optical illusion?


    Normally, she¡¯d bet on a deep pool of water under a waterfall, but this was a Challenge. The rules here might be different.


    Dav led the way, carrying Taika in his backpack. Amy was close behind him, and Sophia couldn¡¯t let them get too far in front of her. She glanced back and saw that Larryt was a bit more distant, with Si¡¯a not far behind him.


    Sophia tried to split her attention between keeping her footing and the spell she was trying to cast. It was so close that she knew she could finish it if she just had a moment!


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    Sophia stepped into water at the same moment that she finally finished the pillar. It stabilized slightly, but she didn¡¯t really have time to think about it. She picked places to tie together based more on location and convenience than anything else and swore to herself that the next time she tried this, it would be after she took apart the spell and figured out what all the bits did and how they worked together.


    She could still see Amy¡¯s boots walking through the water ahead of her, so she followed as best she could while she completed the spellform. It hung there in front of her for a long moment, then seemed to flash brightly. Sophia blinked, but realized it didn¡¯t help. The brightness wasn¡¯t in her eyes; it was something else she was seeing.


    She shook her head quickly and glanced around. It was really too bright to see, but she could almost make out small shapes packed closely together watching them, off the path but not by much.


    A moment later, it was gone, faded away like a morning mist.


    Suddenly, the sign above the first pillar made sense: it said Mist in the Sun, and it was talking about the spell she¡¯d just sort of cast. It was a flash of brilliance too bright to see that vanished almost immediately. While it lasted, she was pretty sure she¡¯d seen all of the spirits that surrounded them.


    It was nearly useless, and the Guide seemed to agree. There was no message from it about a Feat or a spell learned. At the same time, she¡¯d definitely learned something. The descriptions above the pillars were what the spell on each pillar did on its own. They were all meant to work together, but a spell always did something. It might not be what the caster intended, but you couldn¡¯t put that much energy somewhere and not expect something to happen. The descriptions were not very helpful, but at least they were something.


    Sophia didn¡¯t want to even glance at the ¡°sun¡± again.


    Water hit her in the face, which made Sophia finally look up. She was almost under the waterfall; water had splashed off Amy and hit Sophia. Dav was somewhere ahead of them both. The water was barely above her ankles, which was kind of odd, but no odder than the fact that the path was smooth and didn¡¯t seem worn by the water at all. It was a little slick, but that was why she had good boots. They shouldn¡¯t slip.


    Sophia took a deep breath and stepped forward, following Amy. She still couldn¡¯t see the curtain of falling water.


    It was cold and wet and got everywhere, but it was also only two steps wide. When she no longer felt the pounding rain above her, Sophia opened her eyes. Weirdly, even though she still heard the waterfall behind her, there was no sign of it or of the cave she¡¯d guessed had to be there. Instead, the path continued a little ways forward and became a stream.


    When she looked back, all she saw was the same stream.


    Sophia shook her head at the impossibility. It was clearly Challenge weirdness; dungeons back home did the same thing sometimes and it wasn¡¯t worth worrying about. At least the weather was warm enough; she¡¯d dry out soon. It might even be warm enough that she¡¯d welcome the cool of the water once they started moving.


    What mattered now was what lay ahead of them, not what was behind them. The stream in front of Sophia and her friends looked fairly shallow as it meandered into the distance, with some white areas where it ran over rocks. The ground rose slowly to either side, covered in grass and flowers and trees. It looked pretty similar to the earlier landscape, as far as Sophia was concerned. Maybe this was supposed to be summer in a place where there wasn¡¯t that much of a difference between early summer and late spring.


    ¡°We are all here. Good.¡± Si¡¯a smiled at them, but didn¡¯t explain why they might not have all made it through the waterfall.


    Sophia decided not to ask. She was pretty sure she didn¡¯t want to know, at least not while she was still in the Challenge. No one else asked, either.


    ¡°As Spring is a test of care and of choices, Summer is a test of preparation and determination. Water is of utmost importance in the woods, and carries great meaning to a spirit. Summer is a time of abundance, so we shall follow the water.¡± Si¡¯a didn¡¯t wait for them; she walked around the group and continued onwards without leaving the stream.


    Sophia sighed. She was already very wet, but there wasn¡¯t much water in her boots. She was pretty sure that was going to change.


    ¡°Larryt? What is she talking about?¡± Dav sounded puzzled.


    ¡°Who knows?¡± Larryt shrugged. ¡°The spirit guides say things like that sometimes. If it¡¯s a clue, nobody knows what it means.¡±


    Sophia shook her head before Dav could ask her as well. ¡°I¡¯ve got nothing. Maybe it will be clearer when we see what she wants us to do other than walk through water? Hah.¡± Sophia chuckled as an odd thought occurred to her. ¡°Well, maybe I have one thing. She said it¡¯s a test of preparation, and I can safely say that I¡¯m really, really glad I have dry socks in my pack.¡±


    Amy¡¯s eyes widened in horror and she pulled her pack off to check it quickly. A moment later, she let out a sigh of relief after a quick peek inside the biggest pocket. ¡°Looks like we weren¡¯t in the water long enough. The pack¡¯s made to deal with rain, but that was ¡­ pretty severe.¡±


    Sophia thought that calling the waterfall a pretty severe rain shower was understating things, but at least it was straight down. It would have been worse if it fell sideways. It really was too bad that she hadn¡¯t had an umbrella, but really, who carried an umbrella that could stand up to a waterfall on a delve?


    Sophia knew better than to ask that out loud. She¡¯d seen what some people kept in their packs. An umbrella just wasn¡¯t one of the things she had in hers.


    ¡°I¡¯m dry, too,¡± Taika¡¯s voice came from somewhere inside Dav¡¯s pack. He must have hidden and pulled the cover over himself, the way he sometimes did when he wanted to sleep. ¡°Probably drier than any of you. Aren¡¯t you supposed to be walking?¡±


    ¡°Oh yes, your dry comfortable fuzziness,¡± Dav said with a wry smile. ¡°Your steed shall start moving. Are you sure you wouldn¡¯t like to walk on your own? Perhaps after a nice swim to cool down?¡±


    Sophia knew that Dav didn¡¯t actually mind; Taika wasn¡¯t a burden to him and Taika walked far slower than any of the rest of them. She also knew that he was completely not above dumping Taika in the stream if he got too uppity about being carried.


    ¡°No, no, that¡¯s fine! I¡¯m happy being dry!¡± Taika¡¯s quick response said that he knew it, too.

 Chapter 156 - Climbing Bridge

    Si¡¯a led them onwards. It wasn¡¯t that bad walking in the stream, though Sophia was very glad she had good boots and dry socks waiting for her. The footing was occasionally questionable but the water never got more than knee deep and in those areas it was nearly still.


    No spirits approached them, which gave her time to think about their ¡°spirit guide.¡± Sophia wasn¡¯t certain if Si¡¯a was actually the ghost she seemed or if she was just a construct of the Challenge. She wanted to say the ghost was a construct, given how strictly she followed the rules of the Challenge and how little she seemed to have to do otherwise, but at the same time there were hints of personality that showed through. Perhaps not a ghost but a remnant fragment? There was a wide range of options, and Sophia never could remember all of them.


    Sophia¡¯s abstraction meant that she didn¡¯t look up from the stream until she ran into Dav¡¯s back. When she did, she knew exactly why he had stopped.


    The stream they were following ended at a group of waterfalls. Sophia couldn¡¯t tell if several streams came together here or if the stream at the top of the cliff was split somehow, but either way they all seemed to be relatively small, at least at the moment. They met in a large, shallow pool.


    A large wooden structure extended across much of the pool. Sophia wasn¡¯t sure what it was. It looked sort of like a wooden bridge with hanging planters, but it was freestanding and didn¡¯t actually connect on either side. Weirdly, it actually had several levels, but the only connection to any of the higher levels Sophia could see was only about halfway up the bridge and came in at an angle, not directly across. No, it definitely wasn¡¯t a bridge.


    The one connection was strange anyway, because it seemed to stop where it met the platform¡¯s support; Sophia couldn¡¯t see any way to get to or from that spot other than walking across the walkway from the cliff.


    A long wooden walkway led up to a different support at ground level, and a second shorter platform with stairs led from the pool of water to the far support, below where the one actual bridge met the same support. In fact, it led behind the support; maybe there was something there that Sophia couldn¡¯t see yet?


    Maybe it was a viewing platform and there was a ladder on the far side to get to the different levels? That was the only way it made any sense to Sophia.


    Not that she had any idea why there would be a viewing platform in the middle of a Challenge.


    ¡°This is the beginning of the Test of Summer,¡± Si¡¯a waved towards the platform as she spoke. ¡°You must climb the Summer Span to reach the cliff. You may also choose to skip the Test of Summer by climbing the Stairs of Surrender. If you choose to surrender, you will still be able to move on to Autumn, but you will no longer be able to complete the Test of Summer.¡±


    ¡°What she means is that you have to climb the wooden uprights,¡± Larryt added with a small frown. ¡°There¡¯s a lot more to it than that says, though. This test is always here, and it¡¯s a lot more difficult than it sounds. You can use whatever tools you have, but you can¡¯t fly. You have to be touching the wood at all times while you¡¯re climbing. Mistform and Cloud Body work because you can sort of float and you can do it next to the Summer Span. You also can¡¯t go directly to the last bridge; you have to cross all of the bridges, which means the best route is straight up from the end of this pier, then across the lower bridge to the far pillar, across the upper bridge, and down to the final bridge.¡±


    Larryt glanced at the group, then shook his head. ¡°If you let go, even for a moment, you will be removed from the Challenge. Worse, this is the easy part of the Test of Summer. Unless you specifically want Stunning Touch, you should take the stairs.¡±


    Sophia gave a considering look at the wooden contraption with an eye to climbing it now. There were some places that would definitely be difficult, but she didn¡¯t see any that weren¡¯t possible. ¡°Touching the wood, or is touching something that is touching the wood close enough? Can one person carry another?¡±


    She was the most worried about Taika, since she wasn¡¯t sure how well he climbed. He could jump incredibly far, but that would violate the ¡°must always be touching wood¡± rule. When she thought about it, that was probably the point; she knew people who could easily have jumped the distance, back home. They probably wouldn¡¯t have much trouble with the climb, either, but she could still see the point.


    ¡°Ah,¡± Larryt looked less certain now. ¡°Ask Si¡¯a? I¡¯ve never seen anyone succeed without Mistform.¡±


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    Sophia turned to the warrior woman¡¯s ghost. It took her a while to figure out all of the restrictions, since Si¡¯a answered in imagery and riddles, the same way she¡¯d given the initial task. Larryt¡¯s information, limited as it was, helped Sophia know what type of questions to ask.


    It was a somewhat weird group of restrictions. They were allowed to help each other as they climbed and to use tools. As long as they had what Si¡¯a called ¡°firm contact¡± with the structure, it was fine. The definition of ¡°firm contact¡± was a little weird. Sophia could build a set of steps for them to walk up if she had the materials and then everyone could walk up them ¡­ as long as the steps were wholly supported by the existing structure and installed by one of the people participating in the test. She couldn¡¯t create platforms in the air for people to walk up, even if those platforms touched the wood, because they weren¡¯t supported by the structure.


    Similarly, Dav could carry Taika in his backpack while he climbed but they couldn¡¯t lift Taika using a rope once they¡¯d reached the top. They could lower a rope down from above and have someone climb the rope, but that person had to keep contact with the wooden surface. If they lost their grip, they¡¯d be removed from the Challenge, even though the rope was tied up above.


    Sophia tried to figure out what the difference between tying a rope and creating a platform was, but she didn¡¯t get a satisfactory answer. In the end, she decided it probably had something to do with the assumption that if she built a platform as she climbed, she was using it to climb, while if she lowered a rope down afterwards she was only helping the person behind her. It was still a weird restriction.


    The last thing Sophia asked was about gear. Enchanted gear was allowed, as long as it didn¡¯t let her break the ¡°rules.¡± Just as importantly, there was no restriction on the gear after she¡¯d completed her climb; it didn¡¯t have to stay in contact with the wood. That meant she could use her good gear instead of limiting herself to easily replaced equipment. She was pretty sure that some of her stuff would be hard to replace.


    Sophia dug her climbing gear out of her pack and set it on the wooden pier. She had excellent gear, enchanted to make the process easier but based on normal climbing gear, a compromise between cost and practicality. She had plenty for a full party of five that intended to traverse the Cliff Dungeon; after all, that was where she was when she and Dav were sucked into the Broken Lands. The fact that she hadn¡¯t needed it in the dungeon simply meant that it was all in excellent shape. ¡°We are all planning to climb that thing, right?¡±


    ¡°After you explain what all of this is,¡± Amy answered with a grin that seemed to become wider and wider as Sophia pulled more stuff out of her backpack. ¡°It sounds like you have a plan.¡±


    What she had, really, was self-anchoring pitons that would solidly set themselves in wood or stone and climbing harnesses that could be securely anchored to a rope, the pitons as they climbed, or both. The rope could also be connected to the pitons to make firm and- or foot-holds in awkward places. She also had a self-anchoring net, but that wasn¡¯t that useful here. If they fell, they¡¯d be kicked out of the Challenge, and from what Larryt said that was handled pretty safely. They wouldn¡¯t fall far enough to even hit the net.


    She also had special climbing gloves and boots that would securely grip the rope and pitons. They wouldn¡¯t be much use with the wood, since they were designed more for stone, but she¡¯d take what she could get. It was a good thing that Amy was close to Sophia¡¯s size; she had a lot of extras in that size. She only had two sets of each that were large enough for Dav. Unlike the rest of her gear, the gloves and boots were fully powered, with enchantments that would wear out with use. They¡¯d make it through this climb, but it would definitely take a chunk off of their lifespan and Sophia didn¡¯t think she could replace them. Still, if she didn¡¯t use them, what was the point in having them? She did have spares.


    Triggering the pitons required charging them with mana, setting them in place, then activating them. It was something Sophia knew she could do easily, and Dav was able to manage it as well once she showed him how. Amy could manage it if she tried enough times, but it wasn¡¯t reliable.


    Sophia felt the mana flows and knew that Amy¡¯s mana control wasn¡¯t good enough. Sometimes she didn¡¯t adequately charge the enchantment, which meant it didn¡¯t go off when she triggered it, while other times she failed in the triggering step. It was a good thing that the pitons could accumulate mana but resisted being overfilled; if she failed, she could just try again and be more likely to succeed. They were made to be used safely by amateurs, after all.


    Before they started, Si¡¯a led Larryt across the water to the platform, then up a hidden ladder that apparently looped around behind the support pillar and onto the walkway that was their goal. They¡¯d watch from there.


    Although Dav was the strongest and did have some climbing experience, Sophia was the most experienced with her equipment, so she led the way. It was an easy climb on the pitons until she reached the first planter, where she had to string a rope support from the pitons and drag herself up along it. It was a good thing that touching the pitons counted as touching wood, because she got down to one hand on a piton while the other reached for the next spot and her legs were supported by rope several times.


    Dav and Amy had it a little easier, since everything was laid out for them, but they still had to actually climb their way up. Taika had it the easiest, of course, since all he had to do was stay inside Dav¡¯s backpack.


    It was slow as they took it one step at a time, but it was also steady. When Sophia finally reached the first walkway, she waited for the others, then recalled all of the equipment she¡¯d used so far. Sure, she probably had enough to make it to the end of the course, but why wait? If she failed and fell after all, she wouldn¡¯t be able to recover her gear; worse, it was keyed to her. No one else could make the pitons release and float to them. That was a standard safety precaution.

 Chapter 157 - Amy’s Real Plan

    None of the individual steps were all that hard. They weren¡¯t easy, but Sophia was certain they were possible even without the gear she had. That worried her, because there had to be a reason Larryt thought they shouldn¡¯t try, and she couldn¡¯t see it yet.


    At the same time, Larryt didn¡¯t know what they could do. If they could reliably pass the test, why shouldn¡¯t they? Maybe Stunning Touch would be worth it, especially since they were all likely to use their own methods and put their own spin on the Ability.


    The climb down at the end was the easiest part; climbing down using a rope was explicitly allowed, as long as they kept contact with the wood and that was easy enough. Once she was back on solid ground, Sophia found her thoughts drifting to the Abilities again. What were the odds that she had a Spell available somewhere in her huge list that would do exactly what the Stunning Touch Ability did? Sure, she hadn¡¯t found it, but she also didn¡¯t look for it.


    What she didn¡¯t have was anything labeled a Grans Spell, Spell Fragment, or Ability Fragment. That was clearly the real benefit of the Challenges, not just saving the Wisp cost of Abilities. Of course, maybe there was more than that for most people? If Amy¡¯s list of Sphere options was only going to have three to five choices, maybe there weren¡¯t many Ability options, either?


    Had they inadvertently revealed the fact that they were Hallowed of the Wanderer to Amy and Rensyn while they were researching options? Sophia didn¡¯t remember anything that would say they had, but she was pretty sure she wouldn¡¯t have noticed. They¡¯d focused more on how they could get access to Abilities and Spells they didn¡¯t have as choices than what they did have available, so maybe they¡¯d gotten lucky?


    Was the real reason Amy thought Dav¡¯s ¡°Species¡± focused on mental Abilities because she thought there wouldn¡¯t be any there if it didn¡¯t?


    ¡°Sophia?¡± Dav gently touched Sophia¡¯s shoulder. ¡°You okay there? You seem pretty distracted.¡±


    Sophia shook her head, more to shake away her negative thoughts than in answer to her boyfriend. ¡°Yeah, sorry. I was thinking about how Abilities from Stable Challenges fit with everything else. They seem ¡­ I don¡¯t know, a little pointless if you can already choose the Ability, so are they just for getting things you don¡¯t happen to have in your list?¡±


    ¡°More or less,¡± Amy answered. ¡°Fragments are more than that, of course; they¡¯re a whole new way to develop that isn¡¯t dependent on your Sphere. Normal Abilities are just more options, with some influence on your Upgrade choices. They¡¯re worth collecting if you can, in case you can get something good, but at the same time they¡¯re usually not that important unless they¡¯re something you plan to use. The Ability Slots take too many Wisps, and Stable Challenges don¡¯t give out many Wisps.¡±


    ¡°Is that why you were in Casterville?¡± Dav asked Amy while Sophia turned to retrieve her gear. ¡°I thought you said this area was too dangerous for you alone, but it seems like you should be able to get help, maybe others who could work with you?¡±


    Amy sighed. ¡°No, I couldn¡¯t. At least, not people I wanted to work with.¡± She sighed and shook her head before she continued. ¡°Most people group with others of about their age from their Clan. There isn¡¯t anyone within five years of my age in either direction in my Clan. Trying to find people from other Clans to work with wouldn¡¯t have worked, not for me. It was better to look outside. That¡¯s normal anyway; most Called leave the Skylands until they¡¯re either at their first Upgrade or they¡¯ve decided they want to follow one of the known Upgrade Paths that requires a particular Stable Challenge. That¡¯s why I came back.¡±


    Dav nodded. He clearly remembered their reason for returning, just like Sophia did. ¡°So how do you plan to get the Wisps? Is that what¡¯s dangerous?¡±


    ¡°It can be,¡± Amy admitted. ¡°It would be if we were trying to get them near Izel. The thing is, my brother¡¯s been trying to put together an expedition to the Wildlands for years. He wants to retrace the steps of an expedition that found ruins. Old ruins.¡± Her eyes sparkled with excitement.


    ¡°Ruins?¡± Larryt had clearly overheard at least the last few words. ¡°You found ruins near the hunting camp?¡±


    Amy¡¯s eyes widened and she shook her head. ¡°No, not near the hunting camp. They¡¯re in the Wildlands somewhere.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± Larryt seemed to deflate a little. ¡°The Wildlands. Figures.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s important about ruins?¡± Sophia glanced between Amy and Larryt. Ruins were history, and sure, history could be interesting, but that wasn¡¯t enough to cause the sort of reaction Amy and Larryt seemed to both have to it. She didn¡¯t know Larryt well, but Amy rarely ever talked about history and when she did she moved past things quickly. All of the history enthusiasts Sophia knew back home were more than happy to talk about details.


    ¡°You never know what you¡¯re going to find in ruins,¡± Amy answered easily. ¡°There¡¯s always danger, but a lot of times there¡¯s valuable stuff there just waiting to be taken. Most of it¡¯s too damaged to use immediately, but not all. Even the damaged stuff is worth a lot to Professionals, if they have the right Profession. If they can figure out how it works, sometimes they can make ones that actually do work.¡±


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    Oh. She wasn¡¯t interested in the history of the ruins, she was interested in the stuff in the ruins. It seemed a lot like Indiana Jones, in a lot of ways; didn¡¯t he explore old ruins and tombs and stuff and take things out so they could be studied?


    ¡°So why would an expedition to the Wildlands be less dangerous?¡± Dav asked before Sophia could figure out what else to ask. ¡°It sounds more dangerous than staying near a city, not less.¡±


    ¡°It is and it isn¡¯t,¡± Amy answered unhelpfully. ¡°I left Izel for a lot of reasons, but one of them is that there¡¯s nothing worth any Wisps that¡¯s worth doing near Izel, not for a level one Called. There are always more people who want the easy Wisps than there are things to do to get them, so leveling is really slow. A lot of people leave the Skylands for a few years to level faster. Many actually pick up Professions instead of continuing to try; some never get past level one. The rest take years to get the Wisps to level, and most of those Wisps come from Nexus Defense during monster horde attacks. ¡±


    Sophia didn¡¯t need to ask why that would be dangerous. A horde of monsters sounded a lot like a dungeon break, and that was dangerous even if you could normally deal with them; having defenses in place would help, but that didn¡¯t mean people didn¡¯t die in every attack.


    ¡°We¡¯re still really too weak for any of the tasks that are worth doing, but a Wildlands expedition is different. There will be people on the expedition that can handle the monsters. There have to be quite a few people at the first upgrade at a minimum, but not everyone has to be that powerful. Even if you don¡¯t fight, you get some Wisps, more if you find anything useful in the Wildlands and ruins are one of the places to look. It¡¯s slower than a Nexus Defense, and if you get really unlucky the expedition can disappear, but it can be good for everyone.¡± Amy rubbed her hand along her pants leg for a moment, then admitted, ¡°That¡¯s part of why I pushed us to come to the Skylands so quickly, my brother said he¡¯d make room for us if I returned with people we can trust who are strong enough to watch my back.¡±


    ¡°Do you think he¡¯d take one more person?¡± Larryt offered. ¡°I am past the first upgrade.¡±


    Amy chuckled and shook her head with a wide grin. ¡°Not a chance.¡±


    ¡±Aww.¡± Larryt sounded disappointed but he didn¡¯t sound surprised. It was obvious he hadn¡¯t expected a different answer.


    Sophia frowned. The wildlands sounded familiar. She leaned over to Dav and whispered, ¡°Wasn¡¯t Catshold carved out of the wildlands?¡±


    ¡°I think so,¡± Dav agreed. ¡°But I don¡¯t think Arryn used that term for it, I think he just said it was wilderness.¡±


    Sophia nodded with a frown. It still sounded like the same thing to her.


    ¡°Now that you are all here, we can move on. Congratulations on completing the first part of the Test of Summer.¡± Si¡¯a had an edge to her voice that once again made Sophia think there was more there than just a construct. She turned sharply and led the way along a trail made of tiny pebbles that led around the edge of the cliff face. It ended in water, the water that fed the waterfalls they¡¯d seen earlier.


    Sophia was still wearing her climbing boots and socks that weren¡¯t wet and they were about to go traipse through water again. Dammit.


    For a moment, she considered asking everyone to wait and change boots, but realistically the climbing boots were probably better for this anyway; they wouldn¡¯t slip easily even if the rocks were slick. She also still had extra socks. It was probably best to continue as they were.


    ¡°Where is that mist coming from?¡± Amy sounded worried.


    Sophia looked up the stream. To the right, there was a cliff covered in trees; to the left, the slope was gentler but there were still piled up rocks. The mist Amy was talking about was farther down the stream. It was more like fog than mist, and it hid the lower part of the cliff from Sophia¡¯s view.


    ¡°That¡¯s not mist,¡± Larryt said. He had a stern expression that kept twitching, like he was poorly hiding a smile. ¡°It¡¯s water, and it¡¯s the first sign of the reason I told you not to bother with the Test of Summer. It only wastes time.¡±


    The reason that water would look like fog was easy to figure out, even though the nose was easily explained as being from the waterfalls they already knew about.. ¡°There¡¯s another waterfall, isn¡¯t there? A bigger one.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t obvious where the waterfall was, but it looked like it came from the left. Maybe it was hidden by the trees? The slope did go up in that direction, even if it was more gentle than the cliff to the right.


    ¡°Wait and find out,¡± Larryt said as the noise of falling water seemed to lessen and the fog started to dissipate. He set out into the stream ahead of Si¡¯a.


    The noise and fog came and went several times as they made their way up the stream. That worried Sophia, but there wasn¡¯t anything she could do about it if neither Larryt nor Si¡¯a wanted to say anything, and it was clear they didn¡¯t.


    Weirdly, the water around their feet never seemed to change much; it didn¡¯t run faster or rise higher even when the waterfall was clearly more powerful. Sophia wasn¡¯t certain if that was just because there wasn¡¯t enough water coming off the waterfall to make a big difference or if the Challenge was somehow overriding the water level. Either seemed possible.


    It was probably to be expected that when they were close, they walked into the spume of the waterfall. When the fog cleared, Sophia looked upstream. It was easy to see; there was a jagged wall covered in water and small plants that still dripped heavily. A few places were even wet enough that they probably still qualified as waterfalls.


    The weird thing about the wall was that it was a wall, not a cliff. It was clearly artificial, made of a wide range of rectangular blocks that were placed haphazardly into a wall that could only be considered flat in that all of the outward faces were more or less flat; the closer blocks stuck out at least a foot and probably more than the blocks that were the farthest back.

 Chapter 158 - Waterfall Wall

    ¡°The second task of the Test of Summer is to climb the Waterfall Wall,¡± Si¡¯a stated bluntly. ¡°You can end your Test here if you do not wish to attempt the Waterfall Wall.¡±


    That was clear, at least, but it made Sophia frown. Yes, there was falling water in the wall, but the name made it sound worse than what she saw. She also couldn¡¯t quite put the fact that they¡¯d seen a lot more spray earlier out of her mind. ¡°Waterfall Wall?¡±


    Larryt barked a sharp laugh. ¡°Yes. This is the same as the previous climbing wall, except that it¡¯s stone and water will sometimes rush out of it in places. If you lose your grip, you¡¯re out. If you can¡¯t hold your breath long enough, you¡¯re out too, but I¡¯ve never heard of that actually happening. People always lose their grip first. Someone tries every few years, but without Mistform or Cloud Body to protect against the water, it¡¯s hopeless. It¡¯s supposed to be hard even with the right Abilities, you have to avoid the full force of the water. I haven¡¯t done it myself, and probably never will. I don¡¯t need Stunning Touch.¡±


    It was clear what Larryt thought they should do, but that only made Sophia feel defiant. She needed to see the force of the water to be certain, but if it wasn¡¯t too strong, her equipment could handle it. They¡¯d be really slow because they¡¯d have to make sure the harness was always connected to the pitons, rather than simply standing on them or grabbing them, but the setup was supposed to allow you to sleep safely on a cliff wall. She¡¯d never had to use it that way and definitely wanted to avoid it, but it should still work for this.


    They¡¯d also have to maintain direct contact with the wall or with a piton at all times. With the water, that might be difficult, but it ought to be possible if they had time to prepare for each waterfall. She needed to watch a couple of cycles.


    ¡°Amy? You probably want to put your pack in mine, it¡¯ll keep your pack dry. Dav, uh, do you think you can get a harness on Taika?¡± Sophia walked closer to the wall as she talked. The really nice thing about this setup was that she could get next to the wall if she wanted to without having to worry about swimming. It got up to her knees, which meant her feet were quickly soaked, but that was only to be expected. If everything went well, she was going to be under a waterfall soon.


    ¡°It¡¯ll take me a while to make a custom harness but I think I can do it,¡± was Dav¡¯s answer. ¡°Taika¡¯s so small that it¡¯s a complete redo; I¡¯ll have to build it around him.¡±


    Larryt sighed and muttered something about being done soon.


    Sophia knew he was trying to help and was probably annoyed at being ignored, but she also knew that he was underestimating them. She was honestly more than a little surprised that no one else had tried using climbing gear, but it was certainly true that the land nearby was relatively flat and there were those odd rules about a rope not being enough of a connection. Maybe there was a reason for that.


    It was also entirely possible that people hadn¡¯t tried because the first few attempts were successful due to the rope rule and there was already a known method. It wasn¡¯t like they had a huge number of people who could try; the Challenge only admitted a group every ten days and if you failed you had to wait a year to try again if you could get a slot. That was a huge incentive to stick to what you already knew would work.


    That incentive didn¡¯t work on Sophia, at least not this time. They¡¯d already gained more from the Challenge than any of them had expected. Even more importantly, there was nothing specific that they needed from the later sections.


    Spirit Sight sounded somewhat useful if they planned to travel through the Olhan ruins, the source of the Challenge seed for the Challenge, but realistically Sophia could already easily navigate around the spirits of the dead. Its more general use of seeing auras was more commonly useful, but still something Sophia could already manage with her own aura.


    Spirit Shriek wouldn¡¯t be useful at all unless Amy and Taika picked up ¡°Spirit¡± Abilities, so Sophia completely discounted it. For that matter, she didn¡¯t know if Dav¡¯s new Spirit Shatter would count or not, since it wasn¡¯t in an Ability Slot.


    It wouldn¡¯t surprise Sophia at all if the people Larryt mentioned failing were ones who came to the Challenge to try to gain Mistform or Cloud Body; from what he said, it was pretty safe to lose so there was no real harm in failing. The fact that they didn¡¯t all try made Sophia guess that many of them tried for later Abilities as well. She was still pretty confident that many of the failed attempts were people who knew they were done and figured they had nothing to lose.


    The sound of falling water drew Sophia¡¯s attention up to the top of the wall. Water gushed over the top and arced well away from the wall. Some of the water stayed closer to the wall, but it was more like a heavy shower when it reached Sophia instead of the punishing blast she expected. The speed it came out at the top increased, which pushed more of it away from the wall, then more and more parts of the wall started to gush water.


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    From a distance, it probably looked completely impossible to climb or even hold on while the water was running. Next to the wall, Sophia could see that it wasn¡¯t nearly that bad. If you didn¡¯t have a secure handhold, you probably would be swept away when you slipped, but most of the wall actually wasn¡¯t that bad. Moving and placing new supports would be effectively impossible, but holding on to ones you¡¯d already placed correctly would simply require care. She¡¯d have to place some of the pitons to secure the hand- and foot-holds on the blocks that she¡¯d normally use as places to step, that was all.


    There were areas of the wall she¡¯d have to completely avoid. Some of those were because there was really no good way to move around, but the fact that some of those areas acted like additional waterspouts made it far worse. She couldn¡¯t see all of them; well, actually, she couldn¡¯t see any of them right now with the water in her eyes. She was pretty sure she could find the ones near her when the water was running slowly, at the beginning or end of each gush. She¡¯d have to pick her way from safe spot to safe spot and have Dav and Amy follow in her wake.


    It was doable. Sophia suspected the climb was probably possible even without her gear, as long as you had a way to securely grip the wet rock, but she wouldn¡¯t want to try free climbing it. At the same time, she knew some people would take that as a challenge if this were back on Earth. It might even be popular, as long as the Challenge exit process was safe for when they fell. It was probably possible, but that didn¡¯t mean completing the challenge without good gear was likely.


    It made sense that the Cloud Clan wouldn¡¯t have many people who were expert rock climbers; they might not even worry too much about climbing trees. After all, if a good portion of the Clan could turn into mist or cloud and float up to where they wanted to be, why should they practice climbing?


    ¡°What do you think?¡± Dav¡¯s shout was barely audible over the water as the waterfall slowed. He waded through the only water in front of the wall to reach her. It was barely any deeper than it had been before the gush started. ¡°Can we do this?¡±


    Sophia turned towards him and saw him carrying Taika. The normally fluffy chinchilla looked far more like a drowned rat than usual; Dav must have been too close to the water to keep him out of it. Dav looked like he¡¯d stepped into a shower in his clothes, too. His pack was wet on the outside, but the inside was probably still fine.


    Sophia reached for the backpack and tucked it into her own pack before she answered. Her pack would keep anything inside it dry; that was the benefit of having an enchanted pack. ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s easier than it looks. It won¡¯t be easy, and we¡¯ll have to be careful, but we can do it.¡±


    ¡°Not easy¡± turned out to be an understatement. Holding on against the water with well-placed supports wasn¡¯t hard the first time, but by the tenth it was a problem every time they had to stop. Sophia didn¡¯t want to stop but she also didn¡¯t want to start moving again. She knew they couldn¡¯t stay where they were, though, so she forced herself to move on every lull and stop with plenty of time to prepare for every surge of water.


    Sophia had to backtrack and find a different route up the wall three times. Two of the three, she was able to tell far enough in advance that she had Dav wait while she checked ahead, but the third time it looked good until it wasn¡¯t. That time, Amy had to move, followed by Dav, followed by Sophia. It was the longest backtrack of the three and it left them all frustrated. By then, Sophia was grateful she¡¯d decided to leave her pitons in the wall for as long as possible. She hadn¡¯t realized she¡¯d ever need to go back that far.


    When she reached the top of the wall, Sophia heaved herself over the last rock and crawled forward out of the water channel far enough to leave room for both Dav and Amy, then collapsed to the ground. Even a few minutes¡¯ rest was welcome; she was tired. Exhausted might have been a better word. She didn¡¯t even lift her head to look as the others joined her.


    She wasn¡¯t certain how long she lay there before Sia¡¯s voice made her stir and at least turn over so that she could see. It couldn¡¯t have been more than a few minutes.


    ¡°Congratulations on completing the Test of Summer. You have shown great determination in the face of plenty.¡± Si¡¯a had a fierce smile on her face. ¡°It is time to move on, before you stiffen too much. Cone, I must lead you to the Summer Tower.¡±


    Sophia pulled herself to her feet. She didn¡¯t want to stand, but there was something in what the ghost said; she needed to move or she¡¯d turn into a pretzel after that much unusual effort. She probably needed to stretch, as well.


    It took a few minutes to get everyone out of the climbing gear, recall it all from the wall, and return everything to where it belonged. Sophia was surprised when she held Amy¡¯s pack out to her and Amy asked if she¡¯d keep carrying it; Amy hadn¡¯t realized Sophia had enough room.


    Si¡¯a waited patiently. When they were finally ready, she didn¡¯t seem at all impatient. ¡°The Summer Tower is down this path. All who completed the Test may follow it.¡±


    Larryt did not even try to follow them; he stayed with Si¡¯a.


    The path Si¡¯a pointed them to was narrow and seemed to be incomplete, with broken blocks sticking up from the ground. It led through a forest that was far greener than they¡¯d seen before, with the floor completely covered in ferns that did not impinge on the path at all. It was clear where it ended: at the ¡°Summer Tower,¡± which was not at all what Sophia expected from the name.


    The Summer Tower was a stone obelisk deeply carved with symbols that rose at the end of the path. The symbols were clear to see, even on the dark side, but did not seem to glow more than was necessary to be seen.

 Chapter 159 - Stunning Touch

    It was easy enough to tell that the symbols on the pillar were another spellform. Sophia was certain it worked the same way as the three etched trees, for all that these did not glow orange. That made her task straightforward, along with Dav¡¯s and Taika¡¯s.


    Amy¡¯s was not as simple, and Sophia saw no reason to have Amy watch without trying. Unfortunately, she wasn¡¯t sure she could help, either. Gaining Abilities from a Challenge the way the locals did it clearly worked, but not reliably and with worse results than treating the symbols as the spellform they obviously represented.


    Actually, this seemed like a good time to tell the others that she¡¯d managed something special, since Si¡¯a was keeping Larryt away. ¡°So, uh, I didn¡¯t want to say it in front of Larryt, but I didn¡¯t get a Spell Fragment from the Spring area. I didn¡¯t get something I can slot at all. I got an entire new category called a Grand Spell.¡±


    Dav nodded, clearly unsurprised. Taika didn¡¯t even give Sophia that much; he sniffed at her as if she were unimportant, then started examining the monument.


    Amy¡¯s reaction, however, was everything Sophia could have wanted. She stared at Sophia, took a deep breath, and sputtered incoherently. Sophia made out the words category, Grand Spell, and Fragment, but other than that she wasn¡¯t certain what Amy said.


    ¡°It sounds good,¡± Sophia admitted, ¡°But right now it¡¯s useless. Even less useful than what Dav and Taika got. I tried making something with one of the three trees the way Taika did and it didn¡¯t do anything. There¡¯s probably a trick I¡¯m missing. If nothing else, I¡¯m sure I need to get Spell Fragments that tie together. Or something. I just wanted you to know before I forgot.¡±


    Sophia knew she would have forgotten if they waited until they were outside the Challenge. She wasn¡¯t good at remembering things she reminded herself to remember, especially not when they were things she was trying to remember not to say in front of some people.


    Dav squeezed Sophia¡¯s shoulder lightly.


    Sophia turned and found him smiling at her. She returned the smile and brushed a hand along the scales that adorned his cheekbone. There really wasn¡¯t anything she needed to say; Dav¡¯s gesture said it all.


    He gently squeezed her shoulder again, then turned towards Amy. ¡°I think I have an idea of how this works. I also expect that it will be harder for you than it is for Taika; I suspect he has an affinity with spirit-type spells. That¡¯s probably why he picked up three. I¡¯m not sure if I do or not, but I can at least walk you through what I did and see if you can get it to work. If it doesn¡¯t, you can try the usual way. How does that sound?¡±


    Amy sighed, then seemed to shake herself. ¡°It¡¯s not really necessary. None of these are useful for becoming a Night Owl.¡±


    It was a weak protest, and Dav clearly saw that. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s give it a try at least?¡±


    Amy shook her head reluctantly. ¡°I don¡¯t want to delay you enough that you don¡¯t get your chance. You should try, then talk to me about it afterwards. I can try for the next one.¡±


    ¡°It won¡¯t take me that long,¡± Dav countered. ¡°Not now that I know what to do.¡±


    It took Dav a couple more minutes, but it was already obvious that Amy was going to agree as long as Dav was willing to keep asking.


    Sophia moved forward to the obelisk. It was indeed covered in spellforms. Once again, the pieces were familiar to her but the way they were assembled was not. It was another pillar-like shape, but at least this one didn¡¯t have missing connections; they all lined up properly.


    Sophia kept an ear out for Dav¡¯s explanation as she sketched the spellform into her notebook, first as a copy of what was on the obelisk and then in her own preferred notation. Dav was mostly ignoring the visualization part of making the spell; given his advantage, that made sense. It was something he couldn¡¯t help Amy with. It sounded like it was something Amy was already familiar with anyway.


    Instead, he was focusing on how to push mana out to envelop the image once Amy had it solidly. It wasn¡¯t how Sophia would build and energize her spellform, but it was clearly related. It was probably simpler to push mana out all at once to fall into an image than it was to build the spellform. In a lot of ways, it reminded Sophia of the far more variable Intent-based casting than the rigid spellforms that she usually used.


    It was kind of funny to use Intent to push mana into a spellform using its image, but it would probably work if you held the image clearly enough in your mind. It would waste a lot of mana, but if you didn¡¯t have the control to do it properly, it was a decent workaround.


    From what Amy said, Dav¡¯s instructions weren¡¯t all that far from what she¡¯d been told to do by her family. They¡¯d spent most of their time on the visualization part; apparently, filling it with mana was where personal ability came in. It made sense that some people were better at some sorts of magic than others; that was always true. There were even some people who were simply bad at using magic at all, though almost everyone could learn something if they wanted to.


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    At least, everyone Sophia knew of. The only people she knew who couldn¡¯t use magic at all were the people who¡¯d never tried.


    Once she finished her sketches, Sophia had to completely concentrate on the spell and lost track of Dav and Amy. The sketches looked oddly familiar as she started to build the framework, so she flipped back to diagram of the Grand Spell. It took a moment, but she quickly identified the oddity: each of the four sets of connections on the spell lined up perfectly with connections on the Grand Spell, almost like they¡¯d been designed to be built together.


    In fact, Sophia was willing to bet that was exactly the case. She wasn¡¯t sure if it meant she could drop one of the pillars in the Grand Spell or if the spell was supposed to have four pillars instead of three; there were several possible ways to make it work out. That was something she¡¯d have to try after she was out of here, as she took the spell apart. For now, she needed to build this one spell.


    The spell on the obelisk was all one piece, unlike the one in the Spring plaza, but that didn¡¯t actually make it easier. It was less complicated than the entire Grand Spell, but it was still more complicated than any one of the three pillars of that spell. Unlike the three-part spell, this entire spell had to be balanced at once and that meant she had to work her way around the pillar, adding pieces without unbalancing it.


    It wasn¡¯t easy, but it was well within Sophia¡¯s ability. She¡¯d learned spells harder than this in the past. She made a few mistakes, but she only had to completely start over twice. The first time, she made a mistake and noticed it too late to fix it without starting over. The second time, the spellform actually unbalanced and slipped out of her control. Fortunately, it was before she¡¯d energized the spell, so there were no consequences besides a momentary sharp shock to her aura as the spell collapsed.


    When she finally did succeed, the world around her seemed to pause for a moment, almost like it was listening. Amy and Dav were long since done talking, and there were no small animal noises in the Spirits of the Woods Challenge, but even the water in the distance and the wind in the trees seemed to take a pause.


    Or maybe that was simply how it seemed to her as a far stronger feeling like the shock she¡¯d gotten from the collapsing spell ran through Sophia¡¯s aura. It wasn¡¯t painful this time, but it was a little distracting. She knew she could direct it at any of the auras she felt around her, but the only ones she could feel belonged to Taika, Dav, and Amy. She didn¡¯t want to distract them, and this spell was supposed to be Stunning Touch. She allowed the spell to dissipate instead.


    It wasn¡¯t until after she released the spell that she wondered if that would still count. Did she have to affect something to get the Guide¡¯s recognition?


    A screen congratulating her on gaining the Spell Fragment Stun Spirit told Sophia that she didn¡¯t need to worry. This time, there was no message from the Wanderer; it was nothing more than a simple notice.


    Feat Completed!


    For your Feat of casting the spell shown in the Summer Obelisk of the Spirits of the Woods Challenge, you have been granted a reward!


    This Feat is awarded to anyone who casts the Spell Fragment Stun Spirit while near the Summer Obelisk of the Spirits of the Woods Challenge without having cast it before or gained it as an Ability previously.


    Reward: Spell Fragment: Stun Spirit


    Spell Fragment: Stun Spirit is a Fragment of the Grand Spell: Part the Veil.


    Stun your opponent''s spirit rather than their body. They may still take actions that do not require thought.


    When she looked up, Dav was already done. His new Ability was another Ability fragment, Stunning Dread. Like Sophia¡¯s spell, it didn¡¯t say that it required touching. Instead, all it said was that Dav could make his opponent freeze in terror. As with most of Dav¡¯s Abilities, the description was lacking; they¡¯d have to test it out once they were out of the Challenge.


    Amy finished shortly after Sophia. She¡¯d only managed the Ability Stunning Touch. She seemed to bounce back and forth between joy at managing to gain an Ability the first time she tried for it and envy of Dav¡¯s Ability Fragment. For some reason, she seemed a lot more interested in it than she was in Sophia¡¯s Spell Fragment even though they seemed similar on the surface.


    Taika took the longest, just like he had taken the longest in the Spring Plaza. He barely had time to give the name of his new Ability Fragment, Stunning Light, before the trio heard Larryt¡¯s footsteps on the path.


    ¡°The way to the Autumn Forest is past the obelisk,¡± Si¡¯a announced before she led the way to a matching path that Sophia was absolutely certain had not been there before. It wound through the forest. Before long, a fog started to gather and Sophia started seeing trees with colorful leaves.


    A dozen yards after that, all of the trees were covered in red, yellow, or orange leaves and fog covered the distant forest. Si¡¯a stopped and waved ahead, towards a spot where the path split. ¡°As the summer is a time of preparation and plenty, the autumn is a time of work and gathering the results. There are many ways to succeed, but care and attention to detail will show you the route.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a maze,¡± Larryt added. ¡°If you take the wrong route, you¡¯ll end up back here. There¡¯s always something that shows what the right way is, but it¡¯s different every time. It can be anything from the number of leaves on a branch to the presence of a spirit in the road on the path you shouldn¡¯t take. It¡¯s possible to solve the maze by picking a direction and keeping track of your route and which paths lead back here, but that¡¯s slower. There seems to be more to it than that, too; people who get almost every branch correct get a lot more time at the reward than those who take the hard way lost in the process. Try to figure out the clue. That¡¯s all I can tell you, but I¡¯ll stand here so that you know when you¡¯ve gone the wrong way and have to start over.¡±

 Chapter 160 - Stay on the Path

    ¡°Any guesses?¡± Sophia wasn¡¯t sure where to start on picking a path forward. From what Larryt said, it could be anything. There was no way to know. Si¡¯a¡¯s clue didn¡¯t really help, either; sure, care and attention to detail were important, but which detail?


    ¡°Do you sense any spirits?¡± Dav asked as he moved towards the tree at the split.


    ¡°Oh, right.¡± She should have looked, since she was the only one who could sense them with anything other than her eyes, and they were really quite difficult to see. It took her a long moment to feel both directions. ¡°There aren¡¯t any on the road. There are ¡­ three, no, four, in the tree in the middle of the Y and a few scattered on either side of the path in both directions. Should I count them?¡±


    ¡°Not yet,¡± Amy answered. ¡°Are they clustered or scattered?¡±


    ¡°There are groups in a couple more trees,¡± Sophia answered after she checked again, ¡°but there are also some in the underbrush and those are generally singles.¡±


    ¡°Then we¡¯d have to know how far to look, unless you see another tree with exactly four?¡± Amy offered.


    Sophia counted all of the trees. ¡°There¡¯s one with three, but the other two near the crossing with multiple spirits have six and eleven.¡± She pointed them out, but it didn¡¯t make a pattern to her.


    ¡°The tree here has one mostly leafless branch pointing right,¡± Dav offered. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s a directional clue?¡±


    ¡°Could be,¡± Sophia agreed.


    ¡°There¡¯s a large branch and a small branch pointing left, though. How do we know which one¡¯s right?¡± Amy objected.


    ¡°The only way to know is to try.¡± Dav glanced in both directions, then looked back at the others. ¡°Why don¡¯t we try right and see if it works. If it doesn¡¯t, we¡¯ll go left and check the next intersection for the most branches or the biggest branch in the tree at the fork.¡±


    Sophia shrugged. She was fine with it. Amy was also agreeable, and Taika was apparently asleep already.


    The right branch led them back where they started.


    The left path led, as expected, to another split in the path. Unfortunately, this time there wasn¡¯t a tree exactly in the middle of the split. There was a tree that was closer to the split  a little to the left and a tree that was farther away but still close to the right. After some discussion, they decided that since the closer tree was bigger, they¡¯d treat it like it was the bigger branch and head that way.


    It led back to the beginning.


    That led the group to start over. They carefully combed the first area for anything else that might have indicated to go left, from the fact that there was more leaf litter on that side to the higher number of ghosts in trees on the left as opposed to the right. When they got back to the second split, most of that still indicated the left.


    Dav didn¡¯t say anything as Sophia ran through checking everything they¡¯d looked at. It wasn¡¯t until the fourth thing that she realized she hadn¡¯t even gotten a quiet ¡°uh huh¡± from him and actually looked at her lover. He was staring straight ahead, completely focused on something she couldn¡¯t see.


    Sophia knew exactly what he had to be doing: he was comparing pictures of the two intersections. It only made sense; he had to be looking for what they¡¯d overlooked. Sophia was certain there was something they were missing. It was probably even something really simple, something so obvious she¡¯d feel like an idiot once it was pointed out.


    Dav shook his head and blinked a moment later. That wasn¡¯t a good sign. ¡°The color balance changes at the split, but I don¡¯t think that¡¯s it. It¡¯s not off enough to be obvious. Let¡¯s go right and get another example. Unless one of you came up with a good idea?¡±


    Sophia shook her head as Amy answered out loud. Neither of them was happy with their guesses.


    Dav stopped moments after the third split came into view and groaned. ¡°We need to go right this time.¡±


    Sophia frowned at him. ¡°What are we missing?¡±


    ¡°We need to follow the road and not turn off it,¡± Dav answered quickly. ¡°Both times, the correct route was a smooth curve and the other direction was a sharper turn. It was also narrower, so either we need to follow the wide way or the one that turns gradually. Both of those are to the right.¡±


    Sophia sighed. That definitely fit the ¡°easy to see once you know what the answer is¡± criteria that she¡¯d guessed it would follow, just like the tree branch they¡¯d initially guessed. ¡°Seems worth a try to me. Amy?¡±


    Amy shrugged. ¡°We¡¯ll only know if we try it, and it¡¯s easy enough to check.¡±


    The next five splits were easy, with the wide route also forming the gentler curve while the other path turned away. On the one after that, the two paths were both wide, so they picked the gentle curve. A few minutes and another eleven splits later, they saw Si¡¯a and Larryt waiting for them in the distance. At first, Sophia thought they¡¯d gotten something wrong, but this time there was no branching path in front of the duo; the path continued forward.


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    ¡°Congratulations on completing the Autumn Paths,¡± Si¡¯a said with a nod.


    Sophia sighed and relaxed at the words. Until she heard them, she¡¯d been worried that maybe they¡¯d failed so badly they were being kicked out or something.


    ¡°You were faster than many, but not even close to the fastest,¡± Si¡¯a continued. ¡°You will have a chance to try your luck with the Autumn Stone.¡±


    The Autumn Stone, as it turned out, was a more or less flat rock covered in glyphs that sat on top of a pair of wider, moss-covered flat stones like it was sitting on a table. This time, the symbols stuck out from the stone, like someone had carved down everything but the marks themselves, and they formed a circle around a large sigil in the center. A small set of glyphs was embossed on each of the sides.


    This was a structure Sophia recognized: a very simple spellform in the middle, surrounded by modifiers. The central symbol was even similar to the generic structure that would affect the spellcaster¡¯s vision. ¡°This is Spirit Sight, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes,¡± Larryt answered. He sounded surprised. ¡°Good guess.¡±


    Sophia didn¡¯t tell him it wasn¡¯t a guess. It was far more likely that a vision-related glyph would be in the middle of a spell called Spirit Sight than one called Spirit Shriek.


    Just like in the previous spot, all four of them made their attempts to gain an Ability. Sophia, Dav, and Taika were confident, while Amy was hopeful.


    This time, Sophia was the first to finish. The spellform just wasn¡¯t that hard to make and it didn¡¯t try to fight at all. She knew she¡¯d cast the spell properly when Si¡¯a seemed to become vivid in front of her eyes, even more vivid than the rest of her surroundings. The animal spirits around her also became obvious instead of nearly invisible wisps of fog.


    It probably wasn¡¯t a surprise that the clusters of spirits in trees were mostly birds.


    Feat Completed!


    For your Feat of casting the spell shown in the Autumn Stone of the Spirits of the Woods Challenge, you have been granted a reward!


    This Feat is awarded to anyone who casts the Spell Fragment Spirit Sight while near the Autumn Stone of the Spirits of the Woods Challenge without having cast it before or gained it as an Ability previously.


    Reward: Spell Fragment: Spirit Sight


    Spell Fragment: Spirit Sight is a Fragment of the Grand Spell: Part the Veil.


    See the spirits which surround you. This spell does not view auras, but it can reveal spirits that are not native to the forms they occupy.


    Dav finished second, with an Ability Fragment that was otherwise identical to Sophia¡¯s Spell Fragment. Amy took only a little longer, and ended up with an Ability rather than an Ability Fragment once again. This time, its description was otherwise identical to Dav¡¯s and Sophia¡¯s.


    Sophia had to assume that this meant that the much simpler spellform led to less variation in the possible Abilities. That would also explain why the Spell or Ability seemed to be the same as the one Larryt knew of.


    Unfortunately, Taika almost immediately made Sophia question that guess, because he learned a different Ability. Illuminate Spirit would allow him to make them obvious for everyone, not just Taika himself. Sophia guessed there was still more to it; maybe that was because Taika¡¯s innate Abilities were illusion-based, so that was how he was able to see it?


    Clearly there was at least some influence of the person gaining the Ability ¡­ or maybe it was the method used? Sophia, Dav, and Amy all used methods that were closer to each others¡¯ and also closer to the ¡°standard¡± method than Taika¡¯s, which relied on creating an illusionary duplicate of the spellform. Maybe that was the real reason.


    Si¡¯a ushered them onwards and the world quickly turned to winter. Somehow, Sophia ended up in frint, just behind Si¡¯a. It made it easy to see the land in front of her, but she only knew her friends were behind her because she could feel the crunch of the falling snow beneath their feet; even that was muffled by the snow itself. It scattered with each step as she moved forward. Sophia¡¯s left foot slipped sideways a tiny amount on one step and she slowed down and made sure to carefully plant her weight firmly with each step.


    The one thing that didn¡¯t change was the air temperature. Oh, it was cool, cooler than the autumn they¡¯d just left, but it wasn¡¯t cold. The snow and ice weren¡¯t cold either, even though the snow melted into cool water when Sophia picked up a handful. It was very obviously stage dressing rather than reality, and whoever set it up did not know how the cold was supposed to feel any more than they knew the true heat of summer.


    Snow gathered on Sophia¡¯s shoulders and pack as she moved forward. It was not quite a blizzard; she could still see where she was going and where she¡¯d been. It was bad enough that Sophia initially thought that the blurs she could see were an artifact of the snow, but as she got a little closer to the nearest one, they clearly weren¡¯t. The spell Spirit Sight was still active and there was some sort of spirit gathering in the woods that was visible only as blurs of light or darkness, even with the help of the spell.


    It was easy enough to confirm. Sophia dispelled the spell¡¯s effect, then looked again. The strange blurs were gone.


    There was one major problem: Sophia didn¡¯t know what they were. She stopped where she was and looked towards Si¡¯a. ¡°Where are you leading us?¡±


    Si¡¯a inclined her head as she paused. ¡°The first Test of Winter does not have to be seen or discussed, merely experienced. All you must do is stay on your feet and reach the end of this path. Come.¡±


    Si¡¯a turned and walked forward once more. She passed right next to where Sophia had seen the nearest insubstantial spirit. There was no effect, but Sophia didn¡¯t expect an effect.


    Wait, haven¡¯t Si¡¯a said she was a spirit of Winter? Were these more spirits of Winter?


    Sophia decided not to take the time to recast the Spirit Sight spell; she could feel her way with her aura just fine, especially if the spirits felt of death the way the other spirits of the Challenge did. She extended her aura and moved forward a step, before she once again halted in surprise.


    To her aura, there weren¡¯t individual spirits ahead. The entire area positively radiated Death magic. Oh, there were places that were a bit stronger or weaker, but they weren¡¯t coherent. With Sophia¡¯s heritage and training, she would be fine, but she wondered about the others. ¡°This area is full of Death magic. It¡¯s hard to say what that will do, but most people find it tiring and saddening. It sounds like we just have to get through it.¡±

 Chapter 161 - Should Have Known

    ¡°I don¡¯t like the sound of that. Is it dangerous?¡± Dav stopped behind Sophia and bushed the snow off her shoulder before he set his hand on it.


    ¡°Not as long as you keep going, and the Challenge will fail you before it becomes truly hazardous if you don¡¯t,¡± Larryt answered. ¡°Or if you get lost. That usually doesn¡¯t happen unless people run, though, so don¡¯t do that. Some people have an easier time than others. I¡¯m not looking forward to it.¡±


    Sophia frowned at that. Maybe she could give some really basic advice, at least? ¡°If it¡¯s just the influence of the magic in the area, you can resist it with your aura. Think about, uh, holding a bubble around you that is yourself where it¡¯s not allowed to enter.¡±


    Her father could make that sort of an area easier to bear, but she wasn¡¯t sure she could. Her aura use was limited and she didn¡¯t have any Abilities specifically for reducing the effect of Death magic on people.


    Or ¡­ wait. Did she?


    Sophia smacked her forehead. This wasn¡¯t the reason she¡¯d picked up Magic Attuned Aura, but there was no reason it should help, at least a little. The effect was caused by Death-attuned magic! It was definitely worth trying.


    Magic Attuned Aura


    Your aura resonates with the power of magic. You can weakly affect magic within your aura in any way you choose.


    ¡°It might also help to stay close to me,¡± she added. ¡°I think I can reduce the effect a little if you¡¯re inside my aura.¡±


    ¡°I should be able to shelter everyone,¡± Taika piped up. He must have woken up without Sophia noticing. He sounded weirdly frustrated for someone with a solution. ¡°That¡¯s why I took my Sphere. But I can¡¯t. I don¡¯t have the Ability for it. Not yet. I can see it but I can¡¯t take it!¡±


    Oh. The frustration made complete sense. Sophia would be frustrated if she knew she should be able to help her friends but she couldn¡¯t.


    ¡°We¡¯ll just have to try. It can¡¯t be that bad, not if people ordinarily get through it. Amy, would you like to be in front or should I?¡± Dav clearly thought Sophia shouldn¡¯t be in front.


    That made sense; she should be in the middle. That would let her hold her aura relatively close and still protect both of them. It might make more sense if Dav was in the front, since Taika was in his backpack and that would let her hold the aura a little tighter, but realistically it wouldn¡¯t make a difference. She was going to have to cover a little extra area anyway, since someone might get a step ahead or behind at some point.


    ¡°I will,¡± Amy answered easily. ¡°You can catch me if I have problems, while I probably can¡¯t stop you. You can even carry me if things go really wrong. Might as well keep your eyes on me.¡±


    Sophia blinked at that. She couldn¡¯t say Amy was wrong, but it seemed like a weird way to decide their order. In the end, though, it didn¡¯t really matter; anyone who had issues would probably be kicked out of the Challenge before they could be helped.


    ¡°No, he can¡¯t,¡± Larryt interrupted. ¡°Winter¡¯s path has to be done on your own feet. The first part of the test does, anyway.¡±


    Sophia blinked at that, then turned towards Dav and Taika. Why hadn¡¯t he mentioned that earlier? It was important! ¡°Then Taika should lead. Otherwise we¡¯ll walk away from him.¡±


    ¡°I can run,¡± Taika muttered. He still seemed upset at the lack of an Ability he thought he should have. ¡°It¡¯s not even hard.¡±


    He didn¡¯t object to having to walk beyond that; instead, when he jumped out of Dav¡¯s pack, what landed on the ground was a twin-tailed fox, very similar to the form Sophia had first seen Taika in. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go. I¡¯m tired of talking.¡±


    Sophia failed to suppress her snort at the fact that whether or not he had the ability to protect others, he definitely still had minor shapeshifting ability. She envied him for that, if for nothing else.


    The death field made good practice for Sophia as she tried to use her Magic Attuned Aura. It was a new Ability and she needed the practice; better yet, she could tell when it was working better and when it worked less well by the reactions of her friends. By the time they made it across the entire area, Taika, Dav, and Amy were all twitchy and tired at the same time.


    Sophia, Larryt, and Si¡¯a were essentially unaffected. Sophia was fairly certain Larryt was simply passed through and the energy was natural to Si¡¯a, so it made sense.


    ¡°Either your aura helped a lot or it¡¯s a good thing you¡¯re low level,¡± Larryt said as they stopped to give everyone a moment to recover. ¡°None of you are as badly off as I expected and none of you ran. Someone usually runs.¡±


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    ¡°It is both,¡± Si¡¯a answered, surprising Sophia. ¡°Those at a higher Upgrade are expected to have some means of protection, so their test is harsher. Still, a good showing; before the first Upgrade, only half of all groups who reach this point complete it without loss. It helps that you treat the Challenge with the respect it is due; not all groups do.¡±


    That settled it for Sophia. There was definitely someone at home behind Si¡¯a¡¯s eyes. She simply wasn¡¯t certain it was the woman Si¡¯a seemed to be. It seemed possible, even likely, that Si¡¯a was a projection of the Challenge itself; she certainly sounded offended that it always wasn¡¯t taken seriously. That made Sophia wonder if her attempts to approach it the same way she would a dungeon at home meant that she was actually facing a slightly easier Challenge.


    If she was, she wouldn¡¯t mind. She knew she was lucky that she was very resistant to death magic, but the waterfall climb completely sucked, even with her gear. She definitely didn¡¯t want to try it if it was any harder.


    ¡°So, what¡¯s next?¡± Sophia glanced down at Taika, who seemed to have recovered but was definitely still playing up his exhaustion. ¡°And do we have to all be on our own feet for it?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Si¡¯a answered the second question first. ¡°You may be carried to the next step if you so choose. No matter how you pass through, you will be separated. The second test of Winter depends on yourself, not on your allies or your things.¡±


    Sophia glanced over at Larryt. He shook his head and muttered that he couldn¡¯t say anything about the last test.


    Sophia brushed Taika off and loaded him into Dav¡¯s pack. When she first lifted him, he was still a fox, but by the time she settled him into place, he was back to his usual chinchilla self.


    ¡°Winter depends on the past and on your preparation, but all too often it depends on the preparations of others,¡± Si¡¯a started at the same time as she turned and began to walk. ¡°In this forest, that means the Heart of the Forest. Winter chills the Heart and will eventually send it into a frozen sleep. Spring will not come until the Heart warms and thaws.¡±


    The snow on the path they followed through the woods slowly seemed to melt away as snow stopped falling from the sky. The path widened as rain started to fall, freezing where it hit unless it hit one of the travelers. The ground darkened and widened; before long, they were traveling on an unnaturally smooth dirt floor covered in a sheen of ice from the frozen rain.


    ¡°Your task, each of you, is to thaw the Heart. Those of you who succeed will be allowed into the Spirits¡¯ Den. Those who fail will be removed from the Challenge. If all of you succeed¡­¡± Si¡¯a paused and turned to look at them. ¡°Well, I am a spirit of Winter, so my gift will be of Winter. A memory for the memory, you might say.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t long at all before Sophia could see something odd in the distance. It started with a glow on the horizon, but it quickly became clear that she was seeing light refracting towards them from the icicles that hung from an arch above the path. It seemed to have grown there, formed from a large tree on either side of the path.


    Si¡¯a disappeared through the archway, then Larryt cleared his throat. Sophia paused.


    ¡°I can¡¯t tell you much about this part of the Winter Challenge, even if it weren¡¯t restricted,¡± Larryt told the expectant group. ¡°Sometimes it¡¯s a straightforward puzzle, other times it¡¯s something you have to do with whatever¡¯s in the place you¡¯re moved to. I¡¯ve even heard about different solutions to what seemed to be the same puzzle. Few people fail to get through, but that¡¯s probably because we¡¯ve all heard the puzzles before.¡±


    He scuffed the ground. It was a poor choice, because he¡¯d forgotten he was on ice and he slipped. He managed to catch his balance before he actually fell, but it completely broke the nearly solemn feeling his previous words caused. He flushed a little and clenched his right hand for a moment before he said anything more. ¡°I don¡¯t know what gift she¡¯s talking about. I¡¯ve never heard of anyone earning a prize from this Challenge other than the Abilities.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s probably because we¡¯ve all passed all of the Challenges so far,¡± Amy offered. ¡°There are other stable Challenges that do that, especially when a single person can fail and leave the rest of the party going. Skipping a Challenge or failing it means your group doesn¡¯t get the bonus.¡±


    Larryt frowned at her. ¡°What Challenges do that? I¡¯ve never heard of that.¡±


    Amy shrugged. ¡°Star Cave does; that¡¯s where the Starlight Swords come from. It¡¯s also why they¡¯re so rare; having everyone complete everything is hard, and each group only gets one sword. That¡¯s one, maybe two swords a year on a good year, and that¡¯s with at least half the groups that enter trying for the final reward. Some years, no one succeeds at all. Other years, it¡¯s a Starlit Spear or something.¡±


    ¡°We should get moving,¡± Sophia interjected before Larryt could ask what other stable Challenges had a bonus for everyone completing all of the stages. ¡°We have limited time, remember?¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± Dav said with a nod. ¡°I bet we¡¯ll all disappear when we step through the archway, like Si¡¯a. I¡¯ll see you on the other side.¡±


    Dav moved forward without waiting for a response and vanished before Sophia finished saying ¡°Good luck!¡±


    ¡°Good luck to you too,¡± Amy said with a grin, then stepped through. Sophia followed on her heels.


    The moment she stepped under the archway, the scene in front of her disappeared, just like stepping through a portal back home. Her surroundings were replaced by a frozen room. An opening in the roof let in light and let her see the strange surroundings.


    The wall in front of Sophia was covered in a strangely circular ice design that almost looked like it had stylized tree branches growing out of a central wheel or window. To either side, pillars shaped like or maybe made from frozen trees supported shelves stocked with lumps of ice or possibly ice-covered items. Behind her was a sheet of ice that almost looked like a frosted mirror; it didn¡¯t even reflect a blurred image of herself.


    The floor was split in the middle, revealing a table supported by the roots of a large tree in front of the ice mural. The sides of the split were snow-covered ice, while the middle looked like a bubbling spring frozen in the act. The bubble even seemed to glow a little.

 Chapter 162 - Solo Puzzle

    ¡°Now what am I supposed to do?¡± Sophia stared at the setup in front of her for a long moment as she waited for directions, but no spirit appeared to say anything.


    She carefully made her way forward to the centerpiece of the room, the ice circle surrounded by tree branches or maybe roots set onto another circle of ice. If she stood over the bump in the ice in front of the table, she could reach the center circle. She started to touch it, but pulled back her hand when she was less than an inch away and took another look at the ring of branches.


    They all had a central, core branch and were evenly placed around the circle, all twelve of them. The four at the cardinal directions seemed a little longer and wider than the other eight; they were clearly more important. It was almost like a compass, but that would subdivide into eighths, not twelfths.


    ¡°It¡¯s a clock,¡± she muttered. ¡°But what does a clock have to do with melting a heart? Is there a specific time I need to set? Can I even set a time? There are no hands on it.¡±


    Maybe she needed to search the area around her? There were all of those shelves.


    Sophia picked up one of the cubes of not-cold-enough-to-be-real ice. It was opaque, but cool water started to drip off of it immediately and moments later, she held a small white pebble. ¡°Okay, then yes, this has to be a thing.¡±


    Sophia set the pebble back where she¡¯d gotten it and watched it for a moment. It didn¡¯t seem to gather any ice, so she started picking things up and melting them as quickly as she could. She wanted to see what was there in case it gave her a clue.


    Many of the lumps turned into water and nothing more, but when she finished, she had a collection of pebbles. The vast majority were white, but a handful were black. Eight of them, one black and the rest white, started on the table; the rest came from shelves around the room and even from the snow-covered surface she thought of as the floor.


    There were seven black stones and forty two white stones. Sophia could already guess that that would be a time to enter on the clock, once she figured out how, but she didn¡¯t have any way to enter a time. There were no clock hands. Maybe she should follow her first instinct and touch the clock? Maybe they were hidden under the ice, the way the stones were?


    Sophia set her palm against the circle in the middle of the clock face and expected it to melt. It didn¡¯t; instead, it began to glow a bright light blue. ¡°Maybe I just turned it on? Would that make the branches that are already there the clock hands?¡±


    Sophia shrugged to herself and touched the seventh main branch, just to the left of the one in the bottom middle. It also lit with the same light blue light, though only the central branch lit up; the side branchings didn¡¯t.


    Sophia frowned at that, then nodded decisively. ¡°That must be the hour, the side branches must be the minute. Then ¡­ is it up from the forty or down from the forty five? Let¡¯s try up, that makes more sense I think.¡±


    She touched two of the side branches on the eighth main branch. They lit up, but nothing more happened. ¡°Maybe I need to light up forty-two minutes? Or all seven hours?¡±


    Sophia tried all of the combinations she could think of, but nothing happened. She did learn that she had to select the minutes in order on each branch, but the branches were completely separate. She also learned that she could touch a branch again to dim it. Touching the center of the clock would dim the entire clock face, resetting the entire puzzle.


    ¡°At least whoever designed this made it easy to check my work,¡± she muttered as she stared at the uncooperative piece of glowing art. ¡°I have to be missing something. What is it?¡±


    She started to step back and look over the room to see what she missed, but her foot caught on the large bump under her feet and she had to catch herself on the snow-covered ledges to either side of her. She laughed ruefully. ¡°And what I missed has been sitting there staring at me the whole time, hasn¡¯t it?¡±


    Sophia bent down to touch the large lump that was half-buried in the floor. It took both hands and at least twice as long as any of the other lumps before she was able to free the baseball-sized black rock from the floor. ¡°Yep, that¡¯s a big miss all right. Eight forty two, not seven. Okay.¡±


    Sophia quickly tapped in the new time, then when nothing happened tried the second most likely option of lighting her way up to that time. This time, when she paused to see if anything happened, the center or the circle turned a golden yellow, almost the color of sunlight. It seemed to shift back into the wall, deforming until there was a hole in the middle that formed a half-sphere large enough for Sophia¡¯s fist, then it went dark again.


    No, not just dark; the entire center area became black. Sophia stared at it for a moment, then looked down at the table. The last black stone she¡¯d found was almost exactly the right size for that hole, wasn¡¯t it? That would make the black color a rather large hint.


    Sophia picked it up and pushed the black stone into the hollow. It slid easily into place, then stopped with a click that sounded more like stone and metal than ice and stone. A wave of golden light spread over the stone, then out through all of the branches. Once it reached the tips of all of the branches, the two large vertical branches seemed to deepen in color, then split down the middle.


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    The entire slab of ice-covered stone split down the middle. As each half rotated towards Sophia, she leapt backwards and watched as it knocked the pebbles she¡¯d left on the table onto the floor. The now-golden stone she¡¯d placed in the center of the clock face floated in thin air, while the twin sides each had a curved bite missing where it fit between them.


    She heard the pebbles splash, like they¡¯d landed in water. That drew her attention to the floor, which was melting as she watched. It wasn¡¯t deep yet, but Sophia didn¡¯t know how deep it was going to get.


    Sophia looked back up at the new opening that revealed only a stone wall. The edges glowed with golden light as the orb floated up to settle in at the top of the opening. Once it was in place, the dark wall seemed to ripple and disappear, replaced with an opalescent gleam. Sophia chuckled; she knew exactly what that was.


    A portal.


    Or, at least, something meant to look like one. The Challenge clearly didn¡¯t need to show its portals that way, but just as clearly this was her instructions: step through the portal. The fact that the water was still rising and the snow on the ice ledges was starting to melt was only an additional incentive.


    Sophia pulled herself up onto the tree root-supported table, then crawled through the portal since it wasn¡¯t quite tall enough to stand.


    She found herself kneeling in a snowy clearing dominated by a single large tree. It drew her attention before she even registered the people around her, partly because it was such a dominating presence and partly because of the way it echoed the puzzle she¡¯d just solved, with a large ice-blue circular glyph set into its trunk surrounded by a series of small symbols, while a golden ball of light with its own fiery structure floated in an empty place in its crown.


    Sophia was slightly disappointed to realize that she wasn¡¯t the first person there. Both Dav and Amy were already in the clearing; Amy was staring at the tree, while Dav grinned at Sophia. His pants looked damp from the knees down, which told Sophia that either he¡¯d taken longer to get through the portal after he opened it than she had or he¡¯d had a different puzzle.


    Si¡¯a and Larryt also waited in the clearing, but Taika was nowhere to be seen. Well, at least Sophia wasn¡¯t last.


    ¡°Brrr,¡± Taika¡¯s voice came from behind Sophia. ¡°Did it have to get water everywhere?¡±


    Apparently she wasn¡¯t very far ahead of last place, though. Sophia swung around. Taika did not look like he¡¯d gotten wet at all, although the spots of color that floated away from him gave away his feelings. He might have escaped the water, but he still wasn¡¯t happy about it.


    Sophia grinned at the irritated rodent. ¡°You don¡¯t look wet.¡±


    ¡°Hmpf. I know better than to stand in water,¡± Taika answered, still grumpily, before he moved forward slowly. ¡°Unlike some of you. Water isn¡¯t good for chinchillas. We don¡¯t dry easily. So, now, this tree is the winter thing I need to copy?¡±


    Water wasn¡¯t good for chinchillas? Sophia blinked at the rodent. She¡¯d never cared for one, so it wasn¡¯t a surprise that she didn¡¯t know. It was a good thing that Taika did.


    ¡°Yes, this is the Heart of the Forest in Winter,¡± Si¡¯a answered Taika. ¡°The Spirit Tree. It calls us here to dance around it, which we will do once you leave. Go ahead and study the Tree.¡±


    Sophia took that as more of a recommendation than an invitation. It was a reminder that they had limited time. She walked around the tree and found that, unlike the pillars elsewhere in the Spirits of the Woods Challenge, the symbols she could see on the side where she started were the only symbols present. That had to be the spellform.


    At first, it seemed like it was missing connections, but as Sophia sketched the symbols she could see where they should be, and a closer check of the tree showed her that the connections were etched into the bark itself; they simply weren¡¯t lit like the symbols were.  They weren¡¯t the firmly placed links the other displays had; instead, they were more like suggestions, but suggestions that she knew she should follow. She marked those lines in another color, so she¡¯d know they were different when she went back over her sketch later.


    The orb in the crown of the tree was different and problematic. First of all, it was weird; she could clearly see every single part of it and how it was made whenever she looked at it, even though it was far enough away that it should have been blurry or blocked by a tree branch at some angles. It was always visible.


    Second, less disturbingly, there were no indications of how it connected to the spellform on the trunk of the tree. That was a problem that could only be solved through experimentation; even a small change in the connection location or method could have a significant effect on the power and stability of a spell. Sometimes it would even change the effect, especially if you shuffled the order of the connections. Sophia¡¯s guess was that that had something to do with the strange lack of information on this spellform, but that meant she had a lot of things where she had to guess if not right, then right enough.


    There were several likely options from the way the symbols on the side of the tree and the orb sat in relation to the tree itself. She might simply need a simple connection from the top of the circle, or maybe the symbol that floated above it, to the orb. She might need to encase one in the other; her guess was that it would be the blue symbols around the golden sun, but either was possible. The last option, and the one she thought she was going to try first, was to imitate the tree itself and curve the blue symbols slightly and set the orb on the far side of the partial cylinder, as if it were in the bark at the back of the tree.


    It might work or it might not, but it met all of the requirements to be a proper spellform. It would be interesting to see what it did. Sophia was sure it would have something to do with ¡°Spirit Shriek,¡± whatever that Ability was.

 Chapter 163 - The Gift

    Feat Completed!


    For your Feat of casting the spell shown in the Spirit Tree of the Spirits of the Woods Challenge, you have been granted a reward!


    This Feat is awarded to anyone who casts the Spell Fragment Spirit Lullaby while near the Spirit Tree of the Spirits of the Woods Challenge without having cast it before or gained it as an Ability previously.


    Reward: Spell Fragment: Spirit Lullaby


    Spell Fragment: Spirit Lullaby is a Fragment of the Grand Spell: Part the Veil.


    Soothe spirits to sleep with your song. The effect is strongest for spirits. The effect weakens with lower ability to hear the song.


    Sophia stared at the Guide¡¯s information in shock. It was definitely not the effect Sophia expected. In fact, it was almost the exact opposite of what she expected, lulling spirits to sleep instead of harming those with no Spirit Abilities. She wondered what would cause a lower ability to hear the song; that part wasn¡¯t obvious. Maybe it was talking about non-spirits?


    ¡°Spirit Shriek is exactly what I thought it would be,¡± Dav said from Sophia¡¯s side. ¡°It sends shockwaves using something called a spirit voice, injuring those with no ability to resist but with no effect on actual spirits. Is that what you got?¡±


    Sophia shook her head. ¡°I got a lullaby. Somehow, I don¡¯t think that¡¯s going to be nearly as useful in a fight.¡±


    Dav shrugged and grinned at her. ¡°Might keep us out of one, though.¡±


    Sophia nodded a silent agreement. She couldn¡¯t think of when that would be important, since she was perfectly willing to fight spirits, but that didn¡¯t mean it couldn¡¯t happen.


    ¡°Do you think there¡¯s time for me to try to get another spell?¡± Sophia asked Dav. He was the fastest, which meant he probably had a good idea how long the others would take; they couldn¡¯t afford the time at the other stops since they were saving time for the end, but maybe they had some extra time?


    ¡°It won¡¯t matter,¡± Si¡¯a answered before Dav could. ¡°Even if you come back, a different variation on the same pattern will not grant you a new Feat.¡±


    Sophia frowned, then objected. She might not know what they were, but she did know how many there were. ¡°Taika got three from the Spring Pavilion!¡±


    ¡°Three Abilities that were either unrelated or with a significant difficulty increase, yes. He will also be unable to gain more Abilities from this Challenge.¡± Si¡¯a answered. Her voice shifted to being a soft whisper that Sophia wasn¡¯t certain even Dav could hear for her next words. ¡°And you gained a Grand Spell and three Ability Fragments. Do not be upset that the Guide expects you to put them together.¡±


    If that wasn¡¯t a confirmation that Si¡¯a was a manifestation of the Challenge, Sophia wasn¡¯t sure what would be. It didn¡¯t really make her feel better; it was a very arbitrary limit and she¡¯d never liked those. Still, complaining wasn¡¯t going to help.


    Sophia sighed and plopped into a sitting position on the ground. There was no reason at all to stay standing.


    Dav settled down beside her and put an arm around her shoulders. He didn¡¯t say anything, which was probably for the best; she was annoyed and all too likely to take it out on him. Instead of that, his wordless support helped her feel better.


    Before she knew it, Dav was shaking her awake. Sophia stirred blurrily then sprang to her feet. She wasn¡¯t sure how she¡¯d fallen asleep; while she was tired, this wasn¡¯t exactly a good place for sleeping. Had she missed anything?


    Well, apparently she¡¯d missed both Amy and Taika finishing their Feats. That had to be why Dav had woken her up; as she glanced in his direction, he was setting Taika into his pack.


    ¡°Here is my gift to you,¡± Si¡¯a stated calmly, then walked over to Sophia. She held out a cord that looked like it was shimmering pastel ribbon braided around a flexible central support, though the ribbon was longer than the support. There seemed to be three loose ends, one on one side and two on the other, made of some sort of nearly clear crystal with a bluish center, almost like ice. The various ribbons seemed to melt into one side of the crystal.


    When Sophia accepted it, it was cool to the touch, but like the Winter part of the Challenge, it was not nearly as cold as ice should have been.


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    ¡°This is a Cord of Spirit Ice. It can do two things. First, if you bind a spirit with it, it will freeze them in place until you bind it; beware, for it will not bind all spirits, and some who are bound can still escape.¡± Si¡¯a waited for Sophia to nod, then continued. ¡°If it binds someone who is not a spirit, it does nothing. If that binding is then cut, it will melt into them and push them past the Veil into the spirit realm, where they will stay until the cord freezes again. It freezes quickly; a day should do, perhaps even the span of a night if the spirit realm is cold.¡±


    ¡°That is not nearly as good as a Starlight Sword,¡± Larryt muttered almost angrily.


    Sophia saw a flash of anger cross Si¡¯a¡¯s face.


    ¡°Then you will be happy that you will never receive one,¡± Si¡¯a spat at the Cloud Clan guide. ¡°If I could, I would ban you from this Challenge. I cannot, but I will never guide you through this Challenge. That much I can say.¡±


    Larryt gaped at the venom in her voice. Sophia wasn¡¯t sure what to say, either; the reaction was unexpected in the previously calm Spirit Guide.


    ¡°Please ignore him,¡± Amy said and stepped forward. ¡°We can see how good it is; I can think of a dozen different ways to use it already if we¡¯re dealing with spirits of any sort, and if we aren¡¯t, it seems like a good way to escape a dangerous situation, and one that can be used more than once at that. Thank you.¡±


    Si¡¯a snorted at Larryt, then turned to Amy with a nod. Her expression eased a little. ¡°Well enough. I should have known he would not see the value in it; he sees no value in this Challenge, other than the one Ability he learned here that he uses poorly.¡±


    Sophia snuck a glance at Larryt. She tried to hide her amused smile at the insult.


    Larryt seemed unbothered by it. He shrugged and said something, but whatever he said was inaudible. A moment later, he vanished.


    ¡°You removed him from the Challenge?¡± Dav was the first to say what everyone had to be thinking.


    ¡°Of course.¡± Si¡¯a gave Dav a bright grin and seemed to relax even more than before. Sophia thought she looked almost comfortable, without a tension that wasn¡¯t obvious until it was gone. ¡°You are done; there is no reason for any of you to stay. You were polite, unlike him. He does not need to hear what else I would say. You four were a pleasure to guide; few attempt all of the tests and fewer still succeed. Of those who do, very few are enthusiastic and throw themselves at every challenge. I have not given out a Cord of Spirit Ice in decades; most times, I give a Spirit Ice Crystal. The Cord of Spirit Ice has three.¡±


    Sophia glanced at the cord in her hands, then back at the Spirit Guide. She knew exactly what Si¡¯a was talking about, but she didn¡¯t know why it was important.


    ¡°A Spirit Ice Crystal on its own simply cools the spirit. The physical effect is limited, but the effect on the emotions of a physical being is more profound. It cannot change your mind, but it can make it easier to think in tough times. While they are part of the Spirit Cord, they will have no effect on anyone unless they are bound by the Cord.¡± Si¡¯a smiled at the group. ¡°I am not sure any of you need that, but it may still be useful.¡±


    Sophia glanced at Amy. If anyone in the group was emotional when she probably shouldn¡¯t be, Amy was the likely culprit. At the same time, Sophia wasn¡¯t sure she¡¯d say Amy¡¯s outbursts were that bad; she was outspoken, but it wasn¡¯t like she went into a blind rage. The only person Sophia had seen do that was Dav, and she couldn¡¯t entirely blame him for trying to chop the giant snake into itty bitty pieces after it fell on her.


    ¡°For a Cord of Spirit Ice, the Spirit Ice Crystal does three other things. First, if you break one while it is wound around a spirit, the spirit will be frozen even after the cord is removed. Second, if you break one while it is melted into you, it will almost instantly freeze the Cord and push you back to your proper side of the Veil. You can affix another to the location where a Spirit Ice Crystal once was, but the one you broke will never recover.¡±  Si¡¯a glanced around the group. ¡°The last thing to know is that while the Cord of Spirit Ice normally requires some time to recover between uses, that changes if all of the Spirit Ice Crystals are broken. The first time it is used without one will be the last; it will evaporate into mist after it is used.¡±


    Dav waited only a moment after Si¡¯a stopped talking to ask for clarification. ¡°Does that mean that someone can be stuck on the far side of the Veil, as a spirit?¡±


    Si¡¯a shook her head. ¡°No, you will return as soon as the Cord no longer has the ability to keep you there. It will likely be faster than the time it would take to properly freeze again.¡±


    Sophia frowned back down at the Spirit Cord. How exactly had Si¡¯a handed it to her? Was that also one of the properties of the Spirit Ice Crystals? Did they somehow let someone who was physical or a spirit touch them? Sophia had heard of things that could do that, but they were rare. If they could, that might be more useful than all of the special properties Si¡¯a had already mentioned.


    Before she could ask, the snow-covered forest disappeared and Sophia once again stood on the trackway that led into the Spirits of the Woods Challenge. Si¡¯a¡¯s voice whispered softly in her ear, ¡°I wish you well, young one. I have given your Bonded a gift as well, though one I doubt you can use. It cost me nothing but may mean a great deal to him.¡±


    ¡°Dust take it,¡± Dav muttered. ¡°I didn¡¯t have the chance to ask how long we needed to wait between uses.¡±


    Sophia blinked at Dav, then muttered the question she knew she¡¯d forget to ask if she waited. ¡°Cliff? Did she mean you?¡±


    ¡°I can modify my templates to create spirit and winter versions,¡± Cliff answered in Sophia¡¯s mind. He sounded absolutely thrilled. ¡°Not for Abilities or Spells, but for Monsters and Beasts. The Winter Spirit Rage Beaver is very interesting. Not very powerful, but completely different from the original.¡±


    That was more words than she¡¯d heard from Cliff in weeks. It might even be more words than he¡¯d ever said at once; Sophia wasn¡¯t sure. The one thing she was certain of was that he was definitely the person Si¡¯a meant and he was very happy with her gift. Well, she was sure of one other thing; there was nothing she could do with it for now. ¡°I¡¯m glad you like it.¡±


    Cliff didn¡¯t respond, but Sophia had expected that. He never did.

 Chapter 164 - To Izel

    The walk back to the Cloud Clan¡¯s hunting camp gave them time to telepathically talk while they seemed to walk in silence. No one really wanted to talk to Larryt, and he didn¡¯t seem to have anything to say. Somewhere during the walk, he even vanished, though Sophia could feel his aura and knew he was still present. He¡¯d simply allowed his Mistform to take over.


    Sophia got to hear all about the new skills; Dav¡¯s and Amy¡¯s were basically what Larryt had described, while Taika¡¯s were all illusions except for the last one, which was some kind of protective Ability for others¡¯ minds, probably to protect against things like Spirit Shriek.


    Amy shared what she knew about Grand Spells and Grand Abilities, which honestly wasn¡¯t much. What Sophia had gathered from the Wanderer covered most of it; you collected Fragments, which you then put together into a personally-customized Grand Spell or Grand Ability that effectively became an additional category. You could never buy Fragments, but there was some way to learn them that didn¡¯t involve Challenges. She¡¯d heard legends of people with more than one Grand Spell or Grand Ability, but she¡¯d always thought they were simply myths.


    Well, other than the Patron of Magic. She was supposed to know all of the Grand Spells and yet she rarely shared them.


    When Sophia tried to ask more, Amy changed the subject to their negotiations with the Cloud Clan. No one objected to the idea that Amy should be the one to negotiate with them. Her proposal that they should sell the Cord of Spirit Ice, on the other hand, brought a question from Dav.


    ¡°Are you sure it¡¯s worth selling it?¡± Dav frowned and glanced at Amy. ¡°It seems like it would be a good way to get out of a tight spot.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not so sure. Do you want to try to cut it while you¡¯re in a hurry? I don¡¯t think that¡¯ll be easy.¡± Amy shook her head.


    Sophia grinned to herself. This had to look off to Larryt, since it was all silent as far as he could tell. She was happy to see it; they hadn¡¯t spent as much time practicing the telepathy as they should. They needed to be used to listening for the messages and responding using silently, even under stress.


    Sophia knew she wasn¡¯t as good at that as she should be.


    ¡°I thought I¡¯d try to cut the ribbon, where it goes flat,¡± Dav answered. ¡°Surely we can get something made that will do it easily?¡±


    ¡°The spirit trap part will be worth more here than they would be elsewhere,¡± Amy countered. The fact that she didn¡¯t answer Dav¡¯s question was an implicit admission that yes, they probably could get something made. ¡°They regularly send people into a spirit-infested city.¡±


    Sophia decided it was time to pitch in. On Dav¡¯s side, of course. ¡°Where they kill the spirits, not capture them. They can¡¯t use the bit where they get sent to the spirit world as an escape either, not with hostile spirits there. I¡¯m not sure it will sell for more here than elsewhere. Also, do we really need the money?¡±


    ¡°Not yet,¡± was Dav¡¯s answer. ¡°We might when we get to Izel, especially if we can¡¯t get access to anywhere to earn more fairly quickly.¡±


    Amy took longer to think. They were nearly back at the Cloud Clan¡¯s hunting camp when she made her request. ¡°I can look into it and we can decide once we know what they¡¯ll offer, at least if I think it¡¯s any good. How does that sound?¡±


    Dav and Sophia agreed easily. Taika didn¡¯t seem to care one way or the other. Amy was going to be negotiating the sale of the information they¡¯d gained on the Challenge, after all; there was no reason she shouldn¡¯t see if they could get more out of them. They probably weren¡¯t going to get what the information was worth, between the fact that Larryt already knew some of it and the fact that someone obviously already knew the Challenge could give out Spirit Ice Crystals, not to mention the fact that they didn¡¯t plan to stay for long to negotiate.


    It was still worth trying; they¡¯d surely be interested in the fact that there was more than one Ability available in the Spring pavilion, as well as the variations they¡¯d managed to obtain from the other seasons. Amy was also going to try to get something by talking about the way they climbed the waterfall, but she wasn¡¯t sure it would actually be worth much.


    Sophia tried to stay out of the negotiations, but Dav sat in on them to support Amy. He told her that evening that he didn¡¯t have to do much; his presence and the occasional comment was enough to keep Rhianne and Hinraeth, the two Cloud Clan members negotiating with Amy, from ganging up on her. That was all Amy needed.


    It seemed that the information was worth more than Amy expected, but the Cord of Spirit Ice was worth far less than she hoped. Overall, the deal was good: an escort all the way to Izel who knew the route and wasn¡¯t Larryt. Amy also managed to get them to offer a slot into any of the Cloud Clan¡¯s Stable Challenges, even all of them if they wanted to stick around. That was a huge gift, but she was pretty sure it wasn¡¯t because of her superior negotiating skills; in fact, she was pretty sure that they wanted to see if the group would figure out anything about the other Stable Challenges. They might have to trade for the information afterwards, but that would still be worth it.


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    They weren¡¯t going to stay to try the Challenges. Amy wanted to get home before her brother left. She had no idea when that would be, but it could be any time. It was autumn already and that was a good time to travel into the Wildlands. He might already be gone.


    They left the following morning. Their guide was an older, weathered man who introduced himself as Irrik. He was clearly Called; the blue pendant he wore revealed his connection to the Registry. He didn¡¯t talk about himself and no one asked. He seemed completely unlike Larryt, serious and calm.


    It probably helped that he never disappeared from sight. As far as he was concerned, he was their guide; that meant they needed to be able to find him. The other way he differed from Larryt was far less obvious to everyone but Sophia: he had some limited control of his aura. She could tell roughly how powerful he was, and she suspected he¡¯d be able to hold his own against the four of them fairly easily.


    Sophia was pretty sure that meant he was past his second upgrade, not just his first the way Larryt was. Larryt didn¡¯t really feel much stronger than Dav did.


    Two days later, they could see the Olhan ruins, the place where the Challenge Seed for the Spirits of the Woods dungeon came from. They never got close enough to do more than see the partially collapsed walls and spires in the distance, but it still gave a different feeling from seeing a mountain. It was smaller and somehow sadder.


    By then, they were out of the woods and into strange mountainous territory, following the old path that had to have once been train tracks even though nothing was left other than a pair of rails and a dirt trail. It wound around the mountain near Olhan before it vanished, buried under a decades-old landslide. Irrik told them that it was still there, but there was no point in trying to get to it. More of the mountain fell every few years.


    He also said that it was safe at the moment; the slides happened when there was bad weather, and the weather had been clear near the mountain for a tenday. They would have gone a different route if the weather were worse.


    Sophia felt like she spent the entire time they were on the mountain staring at it, watching for an avalanche. Every time she looked down, she thought she heard something move higher on the slope and her attention flipped back up there until she forced it back down to watch where her horse was going.


    It was exhausting, even though crossing the area prone to landslides didn¡¯t actually take that long. It was a huge relief when they reached an area that still had the pair of tracks that indicated it was the old road. Sophia didn¡¯t know how reassuring that was until they were there. It didn¡¯t matter to her that it wasn¡¯t the same old road as they¡¯d followed towards the mountain; the two routes met in Olhan, but Irrik wanted to avoid the ruins and kept them closer to the mountain.


    With Irrik¡¯s guidance, they rarely saw anything more hostile than a creature hunting for its dinner. Sophia wanted to think the land was peaceful, like back home, but Irrik¡¯s tales around the evening campfires said that peaceful was not the right word. Autumn was the best time to travel; food was plentiful and nothing was desperate enough to attack them when they were in a group, seemed large, and had Irrik displaying his status.


    Well, nothing other than some mice that scattered when they were found. It was almost funny; the mice were normal animals that clearly survived by being opportunistic and breeding quickly, even though they were surrounded by far stronger predators. They couldn¡¯t feel the aura so it didn¡¯t bother them.


    Days passed after they left the Cloud Clan¡¯s hunting camp. Every fourth day, they stopped to hunt for food; they carried rations, but Irrik wanted to use as little of that as possible. He didn¡¯t think they¡¯d get snowed in on the road, but that was apparently possible any time after the leaves changed color.


    Irrik turned out to be a surprisingly good cook with only what they were able to forage in the local area. His duck with local greens was particularly good; it didn¡¯t have the oily texture Sophia had run into with some fowl, and it also was deliciously crispy and not dry at all. She had no idea how he managed that over a campfire and suspected he might be using some sort of Ability. If he was, she wasn¡¯t about to complain.


    It was a long time to spend on the road. Sophia had spent longer, but she couldn¡¯t recall any time where that travel was in near-wilderness like this, especially if it was along an ancient route. Most places she¡¯d traveled had at least some villages along trade routes, and that was what she¡¯d traveled along in the past.


    Apparently there was no real regular trade route from the Cloud Clan lands to Izel. People obviously traveled it since Irrik knew the route, but it was obviously uncommon. They hadn¡¯t seen anyone else making the long trek either way. There might be another route, but Sophia suspected the real answer was that the Cloud Clan simply didn¡¯t go to Izel very often.


    After all, why would they?


    The lack of roads meant that the Skylands weren¡¯t well integrated and probably didn¡¯t have a central authority that could control them, but that was consistent with everything she¡¯d heard about them.


    Twelve days after they left the Olhan ruins behind, fourteen days after leaving the Cloud Clan campsite, it began to snow as the sun grew lower in the sky. The road stretched ahead of them towards a solitary mountain that rose into the sky. Most of the trees still held their leaves, but Sophia wasn¡¯t sure how long that would last.